This panorama was taken at Stanton's Cave just under the drip line. The drip line of a cave is the position under which rain water drops from the cliffs above and lands at the entrance of the cave. Look up toward the sky and you can see the cliff overhead is directly across the zentih. Stanton's Cave is over 215 feet long with a maximum width of 55 feet across its large inner room. The cave is formed in Redwall Limestone which is conducive to forming solution caves. In 1889, a group representing a railway company, ventured down the Colorado River in an effort to find a rail route from Colorado to Arizona. During the early stages of the venture, Frank Brown drowned near Salt Water Wash. A few days later Harry Richards and Peter Hansbrough both drowned in 25 mile rapid. The quick succession disasters prompted Robert Stanton, engineer on the project, to abandon the venture until a later time. He stashed boats, survey gear, photo gear, and some food in the cave. As the result of his actions, the cave was given his name - Stanton's Cave. Several months later Stanton retrieved the stash and, with better river safety gear, continued the survey trip. Bones from Townsend's Big Eared Bats have been carbon dated that show occupation of Stanton's Cave by bats as long as 6,000 years ago. Over recent years, since the 1970s, the bat population declined to nearly nil due to disturbances as the result of archaeological work in the cave. The bat population is now recovering thanks to National Park Service diligence in doing a better job of protecting them. The bat friendly, heavy steel gate across the cave entrance is the primary method to minimize disturbing the bat nursery and hibernaculum. An archaeological study of Stanton's Cave revealed a large number of split twig figures which were constructed by natives and placed in the cave. The split twig figures were dated to nearly 4,000 years old. However, there is no evidence that the cave was ever occupied for living. It is suspected that the split twig figurines were placed in the cave for religious or shamanic reasons. You can view this and other Grand Canyon panoramas, with maps and more detailed descriptions, at GCPano.org. You can directly view this panorama at url https://project.gcpano.org/?enterAt=StantonsCave.pan GCPano.org