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The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., May 1, 1909, page 19

THE INDIAN CAVE AT CLIFFS

A large Indian cave has been discovered in the solid rock about two miles from the town of Cliffs. No one knows anything about it this cave, not even some of the old-time inhabitants of the Goodnoe Hills, who have resided in the Columbia Valley for more than 40 years. Nor do the oldest Rock Creek Indians know anything about the cave. W.P. Rauch volunteered to lead the first exploring party of 20 or of Cliff's citizens to this wonderful cave a few days ago, and since that time everybody wants to see it. The cave is a mile from the railroad track. The opening of the cave is reached by a round about walked up a graceful ascent of from one to two miles. The doorway of the cave is between two and three feet high, and about four feet wide, and on account of the loose boulders lying near a footman might pass very near to it without observing that it was a cave. These loose rock shows by their color that they have not been moved for ages, and the quantity of them indicates that they were placed there so as to wall up the mouth of the cave if desired. The entire party went inside, and it was estimated that there was room for 200 more people.
The cave is of circular form, and from eight to nine feet to the highest point of the ceiling. The foundation is that have burned lava rocks, and the condition of the walls and ceiling, show traces of the work of man. A number of paintings, Indians hieroglyphics, etc., are still to be seen on the smoothest rock in the ceiling. Parts of the walls appeared to be smoked, and owing to the formation and it is easy to break off fragments of a lava rock which show very plainly that it had at one time undergone a high degree of heat. A smooth sand floor at the bottom of the cave, and an obstructed opening on the side toward a perpendicular cliff, only a few feet away cave give conclusive evidence that the cave was once used by wild Indians.
The sand used at the bottom of the cave must have been carried their, as there is no soil of this nature within a number of rods, practically everything being of rock formation.
About 50 yards from this cave is another wonder - the handiwork of the Indians of years ago. This consists of an opening cut through the cliff to the perpendicular wall which overlooks the level valley of hundreds of acres below. This window is nearly a foot wide and about three feet in height. No doubt many deer, buffalo or other wild animals have been killed on the flat below by the Indians, who shot through this opening.
The oldest white settlers tell of the remnants of a once large Indian village on the grounds where the town of Cliffs is built, and some of the oldest Indians tell of their "ancotta" fathers living here many years ago when the first white man (supposed to be the Lewis and Clark expedition) drifted down the Columbia River and stopped at this Indian village several days. The finding of many Indian curios, such as stone axes, mortars, pestles, battle-axes, flint arrow points, etc., give further evidence of a tribe once occupying these grounds. Some of the best curios in the Stewart collection that was on exhibition at the Lewis and Clark Fair in Portland were found on these grounds. Some splendid specimens have been found since.
A.C. Butt has a mortar picked up last summer that is perfectly carved, having for an outside border many of the various carvings found on totem polls, and W.P. Rouch has what is said by many to be the best specimen of an Indian pestle. It is nearly 20 inches long, of black stone, carved as perfectly as a lathe could make it, and has a perfect animal head with protruding eyes and a collar around its neck. It gives evidence of having been used hundreds of years, and is still unbroken.