The Bat Cave mine was a bat guano mine in a natural cave located in the western Grand Canyon of Arizona at river mile 266, 800 feet above Lake Mead. The cave was apparently discovered in the 1930s by a passing boater. Several unsuccessful early attempts were made to mine the nitrogen-rich guano deposit within the cave for fertilizer. The U.S. Gu…
The Bat Cave mine was a bat guano mine in a natural cave located in the western Grand Canyon of Arizona at river mile 266, 800 feet above Lake Mead. The cave was apparently discovered in the 1930s by a passing boater. Several unsuccessful early attempts were made to mine the nitrogen-rich guano deposit within the cave for fertilizer. The U.S. Guano Corporation bought the property around 1957. Based on a reputable mining engineer's estimate that the cave contained 100,000 tons of guano, the company constructed an elaborate plan to extract it. A small airstrip was built on a nearby sandbar in the Colorado River, and all supplies and machinery needed were flown in. An aerial tramway was built from the mine to Guano Point on the South Rim, with the cable headhouse built on land leased from the Hualapai Native American tribe. The cableway crossed the river, with a main span of 7,500 feet, and a vertical lift of 2,500 feet. About 30,000 feet of 1.5 inch steel cable were used, to support and pull a cable car large enough to transport 2,500 pounds of guano. The same car was used to transport the miners to and from work. The guano was mined using a large industrial "vacuum-cleaner" with ten-inch hoses. From the cablehead, the guano was hauled by truck to Kingman, Arizona and packaged for retail sale.
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