The Unique Ice Caves of the Snake River Plain
The Snake River Plain has always been a harsh and unwelcoming place. It’s covered with rocky, barren lava flows. Water is scarce and the summer heat is scorching. The Snake River Canyon, just to the south, and the mountains to the north offered far more pleasant campsites. So why did people use Wilson Butte Cave and the surrounding Snake River Plain? What drew them to this area and how did they survive here?
Why Live on a Lava Field?
Native people used the Snake River Plain for several reasons. They had to pass through the region enroute from winter fishing camps along the Snake River to summer hunting and food-gathering areas in the mountains of central Idaho. The Snake River Plain was also a good place to hunt bison, which grazed the grasslands surrounding the lava flows. But the Snake River Plain had something found nowhere else, something that helped make life possible in this harsh region. Scattered across the lava fields are dark, cold ice caves - natural refrigerators - that could be used to store bison meat for long periods.
Can you imagine the amazement of the first people to discover the ice caves? Now they could freeze meat and store it for times when game was scarce. They would know that they could always find food on their travels through this barren region.
Ice Caves of the Snake River Plain
Archaeologists have found seven ice caves on the Snake River Plain that were used as refrigerators by Native Americans. Although Indian tribes used the ice caves for at least 8,000 years, archaeologists have only known about and studied them since 1986.
Like Wilson Butte Cave, the ice caves are lava-tube caves, except they are larger and portions of the ice caves are located deeper underground. Portions of the ice caves stay colder than 32 degrees Fahrenheit, year-round, and scientists have found evidence of their use as “meat storage units”. They’ve discovered antler tines (possibly used as ice picks), broken hand stones (possibly used as hammers), and bison bones with frozen sagebrush stalks. Bison meat was probably stacked between layers of sagebrush stalks.
Major cold storage caves along the eastern Snake River Plain, near Wilson Butte Cave include Tomcat, Fortress, Scaredy Cat, Bobcat, Wolffang, Bearpaw and Alpha.
The ice caves of the Snake River Plain are an unusual discovery – it’s the first time that archaeologists have documented the use of cold caves as “freezers” in North America. The ice caves also provide valuable insight into the lives of Idaho’s earliest people. They were a unique and unexpected resource which helped people sustain themselves in a challenging environment.
