Megalithic Marvels - Alaska's Cave of Secrets

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

In 1899, the Alaskan Gold Rush was on, and all the news out of Yukon, Canada and Alaska was gold, gold, gold. But a steamboat captain named D.C. Bayse wrote to the papers about another treasure he and his shipmates discovered in Alaska: a forgotten civilization...SHOW NOTES:Book -Mysteries of the Old West by E.B. Wheeler

Stargate Voyager. So in this episode, we are going to talk about Alaska's Cave of Secrets. And this is a true story taken from the book, Mysteries of the Old West, by E.B. Wheeler. And I will link this book in the show notes of this episode if you want to learn more about it. Now, I've found this true story intriguing for a few different reasons. One is it delves into ancient history and what appears to even be ancient history. architecture and artifacts. Two, this takes place in the 1800s in the Gold Rush era of the Wild West, which is a part of history I really like. And lastly, it takes place in Alaska, which is actually

where my daughter was born back in 2015, when our family lived there up in what we call real Alaska in Fairbanks, where you get minus 40 below temperatures. It is the most extreme place I have ever lived. And not just because of the extreme wildlife up there, whether the bears, the moose, but we're talking, again, sub-zero temperatures, extreme darkness to where in the winter the sun is setting like at 3 p.m. But then in the summer, the sun is up non-stop. And you have to tape your windows just so you can go to sleep.

But then you have to deal with the isolation, especially up there in middle central Alaska near Fairbanks, because Anchorage, the next big city, is eight hours away by car. So imagine that. You've got extreme temperatures, extreme darkness, and extreme isolation. And it makes for an extreme place to live. So again, once you survive the winter and then spring is about to set in about May, they call it the Great Melt where everything is melting. you're finally starting to see blades of grass, you're so happy, but that's when they come.

I'm talking about the killer mosquitoes that will literally swarm everything. And even in a fairly large city like Fairbanks, you've got to live doused in bug spray or insect repellent, sadly, which is often toxic. Or you've got to really make sure you're covered in layers and even kind of wear this hat and mask situation. So again, Alaska is just extreme. And also there's extreme people in Alaska. And by extreme, I mean extremely awesome. Some of the toughest, hardest, hardest working people I've ever met live up there in Alaska. And it's because they have to be. You've got to be tough as nails to live in this place. All right, let's jump into

this true story called Alaska's Cave of Secrets. 1890, the Alaskan gold rush was on, and all the news out of Yukon, Canada and Alaska was gold, gold, gold. But a steamboat captain named D.C. Base wrote to the papers about another treasure he and his shipmates discovered in Alaska, a forgotten civilization. No one at the time was interested in history when they thought of the fortunes waiting to be made in the gold field. So Bay's claims got little attention, and the mystery his crew uncovered has been lost to us once again. Early European explorers and fur trappers in Alaska and the Yukon had heard rumors of gold in the area, but the firs were more profitable and less work than panning for gold in the frigid Yukon waters. In the 1880s, a series of gold discoveries brought some miners to Alaska,

and in 1896, native Togish siblings, Skookum Jim Mason, and Kate Carmack, along with Kate's Anglo-American husband, George Carmack, and Jim and Kate's nephew, Dawson Charlie, found gold in Rabbit Creek off the Klondike River. So much gold layered between rocks that it looked like cheese sandwiches. When the news reached the rest of the United States in 1897, it triggered a huge gold ride. Over 100,000 people attempted to reach the Klondike that summer. The Canadian government required them to bring enough food for one year so they wouldn't starve to death in the frigid, snowy environment, which meant that each person was bringing almost a ton, 2,000 pounds of food and mining supplies. Most miners opted to make the massive climb over the Chilcote or White Pass, which required multiple trips to bring their supplies over the mountains. pass, but those who had a little money to spend could take the longer but faster and easier way

of going up the Yukon River by boat all the way across Alaska and up to Dawson City. D.C. Bays was the captain of the steamboat Oil City, one of the boats that made the long, dangerous journey up the Yukon. In October of 1898, when the Oil City was on the Yukon near the Alaskan town of Russian Mission. Bays saw signs of ice in the river. It was early for the river to freeze over, but Bays was worried. Once the river froze for the winter, it would be too icy to travel for six months. He found a side stream near Russian mission, and the man on the boat prepared for a long, cold winter near the Arctic Circle where the sun barely rose above the horizon for months at a time. They had some provisions on board their

steamship, but with little to do and little to eat, the men sometimes went out hunting when the weather was clear. There wasn't much to catch, but they sometimes found grouse or rabbits. On one of these hunting trips, Captain Bays went out with the ship's steward, a Chinese immigrant named Lynn Q. As the steward, Lynn was in charge of food and supplies. They decided to venture farther into the icy wilderness than usual, hoping to find meat to bring back to the ship. They climbed a high ridge and found a sort of valley among the rocks. Captain Bays sat down to rest after the difficult hike, but Lynn explored a little further. Lynn spotted what looked like a large animal den in the rocks.

He had the duck to fit through the narrow entrance, but he sneaked inside. His ears alert for any sounds of wild animals. but it was so dark past the entrance that he couldn't tell how far the cave went or what was inside it. He hurried back out. Captain, he called. Come along quick. There's a huge hole in these rocks. Captain Bays scrambled up after Lynn, and he peered inside as well.

We haven't seen any bears, the captain said, and I don't care to look for any in so dangerous a place. He thought for a minute, maybe considering the ship's lack of meat. Then handed Lin his revolver. Back me up. Bays raised his Winchester rifle and fired several times into the caves. The echoes bounced back to them, stinging their ears, as loud as cannon shot. Both men raised their guns and waited for some angry animal to charge out at them. Nothing stirred in the cave.

Shouldn't we go in, Lynn asked. Bays grunted his agreement, and they cleared away the debris from an old rock slide to widen the entrance. They used a stick in some cloth to make a sort of torch and then ducked through the opening of the cave. You go first, Bayes ordered Lynn. The steward wasn't happy, but he took the torch in the revolver and wiggled his way through the narrow opening until it widened into a room about 20 feet wide. In the center was a stone that was set up like a table. The ash from an old fire in the corner showed that they were, weren't the first humans to view this room. The room opened into another that looked even bigger.

The torch reflected off something in the bigger room. Six glittered points. Lin swung the torch around to reveal three bears watching the men. The first bear charged for Captain Bays. He raised his rifle and fired, killing the bear with one lucky shot. Lynn was less lucky. His revolver wasn't big enough to kill a bear, even a young one, and after one shot, he tossed the revolver and torch aside and drew the knife he carried. The bear leaped on him, biting his arm as he stabbed it. Bays tried to find a good shot, but he couldn't shoot the bear without the risk of hitting Lynn as well. Bays shot the third bear instead, and Lynn managed to kill the bear he was wrestling with, though his arms were badly bitten. The torch was almost out now. Bays wiped his forehead. We'd better go back.

send some men with a dog sled to bring the meat back. Now that the animals were dead, they weren't going to waste the meat. It would feed them for quite a while. They made their way back to the ship, and Lynn got his arms cleaned and bandaged. Both men were still curious about the cave they had discovered. Who had lived there in the past? What another stretch of good weather presented itself, they decided to go back. They stuffed their thick socks and shoes with straw for extra warm.

warmth, and they loaded a sled with an oil stove, enough food for several days, and warm wool blankets. It took them five hours to haul their sled back to the cave in the bitter cold, and they were exhausted by the time they got there. Lin set up the oil stove and cooked something to warm them up, which they ate at the ancient stone table. By the extra light of their oil lamps, they began to notice more about the cave. Bayes thought he spotted cave paintings on the walls under the the layers of dirt and ancient soot. They used the straw from their boots to carefully clean the walls, and they uncovered an astonishing set of drawings painted in red on the light-colored walls. The drawings seemed to tell the story of three boats or canoesive people. The people from the

painting had dogs and hunted deer, moose, buffalo, and bears. Bays found it's strange that there there were no sleds or other indications of snow in the paintings. If, as it seemed likely, these paintings told the story of people who had come from somewhere in Asia to Alaska to settle or hunt, why did they not have any drawings of the snow? Was Alaska warmer in the past? Or had they been somewhere farther south and somehow became stranded in Alaska and used the painting to record their previous lives. They clearly wanted to leave a record of their adventures, but it was hard to know what story they were telling. In the larger room in the back, Bays and Lynn discovered that the walls had been carved with sea monsters and other strange animals, as well as stars, perhaps an

ancient map of the skies. A set of what looked like bunk beds had also been carved into the wall. They found a few other remnants in the room. One was a coin that looked Chinese with a square hole in the center, but Lynn didn't recognize it and guessed it must be very old. They also found bones that looked human. It had already grown dark outside, so Bays and Lynn had to spend the night in the cave. Both had an uneasy sleep.

Lynn dreamed that he was being chased by ancient Chinese men, and Bays felt like someone was smothering him in, his sleep. It was as if they had disturbed the spirits of the men who had lived in that cave long ago. When they awoke, they discovered that snow had slid down to cover the entrance to the cave. They were trapped. With limited air supplies available in the cave, they worked to cut away the ice and snow that blocked their path to freedom. They finally escaped and they never went back to the cave. that no one else has ever returned to study the cave and what it means.

Other cave paintings done in red ochre have been found in Alaska, but none that match Bay's description. Does it depict the ancient ancestors of the Native Alaskans making their journey to their new homeland? Or Asian explorers who reached the Americas, perhaps long before Columbus. Did the men and possibly women who lived in the cave settled in Alaska and start a new nation here. Did they ever return to the place they had left? Or did they live out their final days in that cave lost and far from home? Unless someone discovers its location

again, we may never know. And after Bays and Lynn's experience, perhaps the wilderness swallowed the cave under rock and snow slides, keeping its secrets hidden. And that is the true telling of Alaska's Cave of Secrets. Hey, thanks for watching. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Until next time, keep exploring.