The Finding of the Lovelock Caves

The Finding of the Lovelock Caves

nevada state journal 1953-02-22 p12

Two Giant Indian Skeletons

Art Gallery Plans Sunday Double Feature

This Sunday’s program at the Nevada Art Gallery, 643 Ralston, will feature a talk on the Lovelock caves by Mrs. Clara Beatty, Executive Secretary of the Nevada Historical Society. The Reno Kodachrome Club’s annual fall color contest will also be shown by A. D. Crofut Jr., President of the Club. The program, which starts at 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon, is open to the public without charge.

Mrs. Beatty, a native Nevadan and a graduate of the University of Nevada, will share little-known facts about the Lovelock caves and their discovery. Together with the late Dr. Jeanne Wier, Mrs. Beatty has collected, studied, and catalogued the huge store of literature specimens and history of Nevada dating back to the time the state was part of Utah territory. Mrs. Beatty is director of the historical society’s museum in the state building.

The Lovelock caves were discovered about 1911 by two men while exploring guano deposits some 26 miles south of Lovelock near the old shoreline of Lahontan Lake. The actual exploration covered a span of years from 1910 to 1924. The caves are said to have been the home of a race of giant Indians dating back to the Stone Age, or about 2000 BC.

Mrs. Beatty will share the story of the discovery of the skeletons of giants in the caves, together with their stone and bone implements. The Kodachrome slides to be shown by Mr. Crofut are part of the entries in the annual contest submitted by amateur photographers from throughout the state.

1. Lovelock Giants, Reno Evening Gazette, 1953-02-20, p.8