THE DISCOVERY OF LONGWELL’S PIT, NEVADA

December 26, 2021


Nevada Exploration is still occurring. 



Chester Longwell was a professor at Yale and a big influence in the research and exploration of geology in Southern Nevada. Longwell wrote a few articles about his geological research. 


His first publication came out in 1921 about the north muddy mountains.


  I was able to obtain this document from Matthew regarding a “vertical hole” that Longwell spotted when he was on horseback. 



Hiking throughout the range I was curious where this cave could be so I dissected the information and found a general area where the cave could be. 


I was not able to get out to search for the cave so Mark, Matthew, and Ryan set out to locate the cave.

Mark said that he wanted to follow a path that a horse would take, and he followed a path that took him to where all the signs in the description could be. 


 Mark looked left and right and found it!!! Nice job mark!! 


The team dropped into the vertical pit entrance and found a large chamber. 


I was able to make it to Longwells Pit and entered the 38 ft pit.  I found it very interesting to see the corrosion on the walls going down and the copulas that were made. 


 The last 15-20 are free hanging and opens up to one room at the bottom. The room is around 30 x20 with popcorn, some aragonite bushes, and a lot of calcite crust on the walls.  


There is a dried-up pond at the bottom with wood and some bones in the corners.  There is also a piece of burnt wood and... a Michelob can at the bottom.  


Who is walking through the desert, drinking Michelob Ultra, and throws a can of beer in a hole they randomly find?


The Pit entrance is quite sharp so bring 100 feet of rope.  This will help to tie off to a rock for backup. Bring lots of padding to secure your rope properly. 

You Might Also Like

0 comments