Keepers of the Caves: A True Account of Twenty Years of Modern Pioneering
Written by Jack Mitchell
 
Jack and Ida Mitchell's story of their 20 year pioneering development of Mitchell Caverns as a Route 66 roadside attraction.
 
This expanded second edition features many new photographs, and restores the missing chapter on the famous botanist Mary Beal. It is one of the most enduring pioneer stories of the East Mojave Desert. Jack and Ida Mitchell came to the desert fleeing from the Great Depression. As with so many before them, they came with a sack of beans, a .22 rifle to shoot rabbits, determination to stick it out. They knew about the caverns that now bear their name and had a vague idea that they might be able to develop the caves into a tourist attraction and make some kind of living. "The rest is history," as the story goes, and this book contains Jack's accounting of that story.
 
Second edition
(Previously published as, Jack Mitchell, Caveman)
175 pages
6.75" X 9.5"
Soft cover
TOTMR #23
Published October 2003
ISBN 978-0914224327