About 3 miles west of the Glade Park Store and Post Office are three
large caves in a cliff of the Wingate Sandstone on the north wall of a
canyon containing a tributary of Clark’s Wash. The middle cave, which
formerly contained a small one-room framehouse and other improvements,
was occupied for about 40 years prior to 1958 by Mrs. Laura Hazel Miller
(fig. 5). A large cave just to the west (left) was used for storage, and
another large cave just to the east formerly was fenced to shelter
domestic animals. Mrs. Miller lived alone most of this time but had a
dog for companionship the last few years she lived in the cave. When my
wife and I visited her in the mid-fifties we had a very pleasant
conversation with this very intelligent woman and could hardly believe
she was 87 years old. She could not understand why anyone could live in
crowded cities as she much preferred the peace and quiet of her cave.
Once a week she walked the 6 miles round trip to and from the Glade Park
Store and Post Office, bought what few necessities she needed, and
telephoned her daughter in Grand Junction. Maybe she had something the
rest of us have missed! She became sick in her nineties and moved to
Grand Junction to live with her daughter. After she died, the property
was sold, and I have since observed that vandals had burned her one room
house and had destroyed most of the other improvements.
[Illustration: CAVE in Wingate Sandstone inhabited by Mrs. Laura
Hazel Miller (visible between gate posts) until 1958. One-room house
was entirely within cave, and smaller storehouses extended back of
the house. Note blackening of cave roof by soot. (Fig. 5)]