HISTORY Stephen Fairchild had always been fascinated with caves and their exploration when the opportunity to lease the Boyden Cavern tour operation presented itself to him in 1972. Fairchild operated the Boyden Cavern tours as a sole proprietorship until the purchase of Moaning Cavern in 1977 when Sierra Nevada Recreation Corporation was formed. At that time, walking tours were the only tours offered at Moaning Cavern. However, being an avid caver, Fairchild decided to introduce a common wild caving technique for the general public to enjoy at Moaning Cavern. This would be the first time a rappel into a public showcave would be offered in the United States. Since it hadn't been done before, Fairchild pioneered the technique and on January 14th, 1984 offered the nation's first rappel into a showcave followed by a guided 2-hour caving expedition called the Adventure Trip. Meanwhile, an interesting piece of property located in Mountain Ranch, just 45 minutes from Moaning Cave, was purchased by Sierra Nevada Recreation Corporation in 1980. Initially, it seemed the land contained two caves: Mammoth Cave and Quill Cave which were opened for spelunking trips almost immediately. Soon after purchase, a room which had been closed for twenty years was rediscovered - the pristine Jungle Room. Steve & John Fairchild knew there had to be a connector to the two caves and eventually, a passageway that led out of the Jungle Room was found that did indeed connect the two. Sierra Nevada Recreation Corporation renamed the entire cave system: California Cavern. To this day, the entrance of the cave through to the Jungle Room entrance is known as Mammoth Cave, the second cave as Quill Cave and the section that connects them: Middle Earth. California Cavern was designated a State Historic Landmark in May, 1983 due to its early discovery and opening as the state's first showcave, the historic Signature Hall and famous early visitors including Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and eminent early naturalist who wrote about the cave extensively in his "Mountains of California." A challenging expedition known originally as the Downstream Circuit is still available at California Cavern, although it is now known as the Middle Earth Expedition. A shorter, simpler expedition perfect for novices to caving techniques and very popular with scouting groups was first offered in 1986 and is called the Mammoth Cave Expedition. Currently the 5500 square foot Visitor Center is being completed at California Cavern which will include 2900 square feet of gift shop, and is expected to be completed by mid-May 2004. In 1996, Sierra Nevada Recreation Corporation purchased Black Chasm, which had been designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in 1976. This cave had never been visited by the general public, since it was vertically oriented and required advanced spelunking experience to navigate. As such it was well known by local speleological societies and there was interest in spelunking still being made available. For that reason, we offered a very challenging Discovery Trip until well after we had developed a walking tour route into the cave. September 30, 2000 saw the opening of the walking tour - early guests had the chance to see the innovative platform, stair and walkway system being built into the cave. This was completed by April 16, 2001 when the 50-minute Landmark Tour was offered, taking guests through to the Landmark Room which contains masses of rare helictite crystals. The Discovery Trip was discontinued when we became concerned that taking guests as it did through some fragile areas, the cave could become damaged. A new route is being considered and updates on this, when and if we reopen the Discovery Trip will be on Black Chasm’s main page. In the meantime, the cave system has been extensively explored and mapped, and some extraordinarily beautiful photos taken by cave photographer Dave Bunnell. Many of these areas will never be accessible to the public because they are just too delicate and easily damaged. Fortunately a new book is being written by Dave Bunnell, which will show and describe these fragile areas in their pristine beauty. Publication of the book is expected by 2005. December 2003 saw the opening of the new 3000 square foot visitors center, filled with nature and science merchandise, Black Chasm souvenirs and displays from its connection to the Matrix movies (the Zion Temple was researched there). In 2001, Stephen Fairchild was approached by US Energy Corporation to run their guided underground mine tour operation. The mine had ceased gold extraction in 1989 due to low gold prices and had established a guided tour open to the general public, which had run into logistical problems. Sierra Nevada Recreation leased the operation and opened its first tours of Sutter Gold Mine on May 12, 2001. Sierra Nevada Recreation Corporation had always been known for cave tours until this time - since its founders were avid cavers who thrilled in cave exploration and delighted in making these beautiful natural environments available to the general public to see and enjoy. A mine is a very different prospect - the environment has not taken millions of years to evolve - it is carved out of the earth over a very short period of time by heavy machinery. There would be no speleothems, no delicate, fragile decorations. However, this underground environment proved equally fascinating. Slicing as it did through the historic Mother Lode, the mine’s cross-cuts showed veins of quartz crystal and for much of the walk tour, guests walked through a tunnel of greenstone from which the quartz has been excavated allowing them to actually walk through the quartz vein. Visitors didn’t walk in, they boarded mining vehicles called Boss Buggy Shuttles and tagged in at the top in their hardhats. Guests loved it, and we did too! For a while, we offered a “Deep Mine Experience” at Sutter Gold Mine, which was an extended exploration through the furthest reaches of the mine. But as the mine equipment degraded, we ceased that operation, and now continue with the very popular 1-hour family tour. The safety chamber underground was re-concreted, and new seats installed in 2001. Gemstone mining flumes, and a picnic area were installed on the property at Sutter Gold Mine in 2002, the gift shop overhauled and construction completed on improvements to the Visitors Center. In 2006 we developed a mine adventure trip in the historic Gold Cliff Mine in Angels Camp. In 2007 the Boyden Cavern tour lease was turned over to an independent operator. In 2007 we opened twin zip lines above ground at Moaning Cavern.