Hawver Caverns

Updated October 2008

Icicle-shaped stalactites hang from a new room found in Hawver Cave, located in the Auburn State Recreation Area near Auburn. Courtesy Photo

For over a century, this important historical cave system was looted, ignored, vandalized, then denied, then forgotten. Then suddenly, in November 2006, a series of breaking news stories uncovered the dark history and bright future of Hawver Cave.

Mr. Hawver's Home Demolished for In-n-Out Burger Parking Lot

Auburn Journal - October 8, 2008

"...The building that served as home to one of Auburn’s iconic figures from the past was torn down Monday... An Auburn dentist, Hawver dedicated much of his later years to exploring a limestone cave on the lip of the middle fork of the American River canyon – a cave that would reveal the fozzilized remains of several extinct mammal and bird species..."

Mysterious Experts Dispel Mysteries of Hawver Cave

Auburn Journal - July 27, 2007

"...The mysteries of the Hawver Cave are getting a little less mysterious...marking just more than a century since bones and fossils were first discovered by Auburn dentist J.C. Hawver in 1906...More than 400 bones and fossils were pulled from the cave before limestone-mining operations ran a tunnel through the underground site in the 1910s...An Auburn woman who had retrieved a mammoth's tooth in the 1960s...came forward with the tooth as well as a beehive-shaped stalactite from the cave...Dick Hilton, professor of geology at Sierra College, worked with Lorance to bring the 10,000-year-old find up to display standards..."

Grotto Update

Auburn Journal - December 28, 2006

"...The muddy entrance has been made walkable with a load of gravel and the tunnel in front of the gates has been cleared out. There's also been an attempt to knock out some of the concrete by someone obviously put out with the new gates. But the effort barely made a dent. The Auburn dentist who gave the fossil-rich cave his name occupied a couple of local landmarks still standing in the city. .."

Hawver Cave Discoveries Dazzle: Local landmark Boasts Archaeological Treasures

Auburn Journal - November 29, 2006

“Dripping with icicle-shaped stalactites and looking like a vision from another world, a newly-revealed room in Hawver Cave drew “oohs” and “ahhs” Monday…”

Officials Taking Steps To Protect Vandalized Cave

Channel 13 News - November 27, 2006

“Vandals have gone mad time and time again, defacing the cave… For a full report, click the video…”

Fangs Don't Feign: Nearby Cave Tells the 'Real Story' of Foothills History

Castle-like Structures Located Near Hawver Cave Entrance

Auburn Journal, November 21, 2006

"Discovered a century ago this coming December, Hawver Cave's mysteries are being unlocked again ... the Parks Department has moved to install gates on the entranceways to limestone-mining tunnels leading to the storied cave ... those gates could eventually swing open to the public for tours, with an electric train taking passengers into its darkened reaches ... The list of animals includes extinct sabertoothed tigers, ancient cousins of the armadillo and ground sloths ... Four human skeletons were also taken from the caves and determined to be 10,000 years old ... Hawver's cave stood in the way of a rich seam of limestone and so in 1912, mining gutted the center of it .. For the past 46 years, Lorance said the cave and surrounding tunnels, including two underground lakes and four waterfalls, have been ostensibly blocked off to the public ..."

Local Historic Cave Plagued By Vandals

Channel 13 News, Nov 21, 2006

"It's a historic cave filled with prehistoric treasures, but paleontologists aren't the only ones amazed by it. Hawver Cave is located at the Auburn State Recreation Area off Highway 49 near the American River Canyon..."

More Information

Rural Mysteries of the North Fork Polygon