08/23/2026
Take a second and imagine what making the journey out to the park was like in 1895. Today, visitors to Great Basin National Park can drive across Sacramento Pass, turn toward Lehman Caves, and arrive at the visitor center on paved roads, but that has not always been the case.
In the 1890s, there was no Highway 50. No Nevada 488. No automobile—the first automobile would not arrive in Snake Valley until 1910.
And yet, people came to Lehman Cave.
By the late nineteenth century, eastern Nevada and western Utah were connected by a web of wagon roads, stage and mail routes linking mining towns, ranching communities, and regional centers.
From the west, travelers could make their way from Ely toward Osceola, then cross Sacramento Pass on a wagon road into Snake Valley. From the east, wagon roads connected Snake Valley with Frisco and Delta, Utah. Frisco and Ely were themselves part of the broader stage and mail network that moved people, news, and supplies across the region.
The exact routes taken by individual Lehman Cave visitors were rarely recorded. But we know they came. Tourism at the cave began soon after Absalom Lehman opened it to visitors in 1885 and was well established by the end of the century.
And reaching the cave was only part of the adventure.
Early visitors entered without today's paved trails, electric lights, handrails, or carefully engineered tour route. Their journey continued underground by candle or lantern light, over rough passages, ladders, and—in places—ropes.
The way we move across the Great Basin has changed enormously.
Horse and wagon gave way to rail connections and automobiles. Wagon roads became highways. A difficult journey across isolated valleys and mountain passes became a drive measured in hours.
But perhaps one thing hasn't changed.
For more than 140 years, people have heard that something extraordinary lies beneath the Snake Range...
and decided it was worth the journey.
Photo Credit: Great Basin Association
