Shoshone Ice Caves

On August 14th,  we went to the Shoshone Indian Ice Caves.  They were made from the lava tunnels and is the largest Lava Ice Cave known, created millions of years ago.  It descends 90 feet under the lava.  It is three blocks long and 30 feet wide and 40 feet high.  It holds over 20,000 tons of ice and is 1,000 feet long. The temperatures inside vary from 28 to 33 degrees.

 The Ice Cave was discovered in the 1900's by a little boy looking for a lost goat.  He noticed that the ground was cool where the opening was and explored it further and found the ice covering the entire cave.  He told his family and they came to see the cave for themselves.  Then the government found out about the ice.  They sold the ice to the town people.  The government wanted to make more ice so they blew out the back wall of the cave to get more room.  This caused a change in the condensation of the air and the ice started to melt.  The air flow is compressed in the cave much like our refrigeration equipment today.

 By 1930's the ice was gone and the government shut down the cave and ice business.  Later the Robinson family bought the land in the 1940s and Russell Robinson studied the ice cave and closed the wall back up, built walking areas inside, all by himself without help from outsiders.  The ice returned and it is still make it today.










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