But Jim White might as well have saved his breath. Convincing the gang at the ranch and camp was a hopeless task, and the Kid’s command of English was so inadequate that he could contribute little except “Si, si!” and nods of enthusiasm. That wasn’t enough. The story fell on unresponsive ears. On the streets of Carlsbad, then called “Eddy”, just a few days after his fiery experience, Jim White met a friend who had once visited Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The friend countered Jim’s story with the belief that there just couldn’t be a bigger cave than Mammoth! ... so before long, two heads bent over encyclopedias and reference books with pictures and information about caves. The more Jim White learned—the more pictures he saw—the more positive he became that the cave he had explored was larger and more beautiful than any cavern then on record! At the turn of the century, Jim White had talked “bats” and “cave” until word went ’round that both the bats and the cave were in Jim’s head! _Scenes in and near Carlsbad Caverns National Park_ [Illustration: Stalagmite] [Illustration: Shuttle bus] [Illustration: Cave touring party] [Illustration: Cave entrance] [Illustration: Stalagmite] PICTURES PROVE JIM’S STORY Jim White’s first descent into the cave was in 1901. During the next few years he was unable to convince anyone of the attractions of the cave sufficiently to have them pay much attention to its beauty. But as early as 1903 interest developed in the guano known to be there. In that year Abijah Long filed a placer mining claim to guano and other mineral rights for twenty acres around the entrance to the caverns. This claim is recorded in the Eddy County Mining Records. Again in 1908, and later in 1910 and 1912, other placer mining claims were filed on land in the vicinity of the cave entrance. This land was never patented. However, the land to the east, over the Bat Cave, belonged to the Santa Fe Railroad and was sold in 1905, and ownership of this forty acres changed hands a number of times before it was finally acquired by the government. Jim continued to work on the ranch for awhile, but when the guano operations began, his interest in the cave induced him to go to work for the company removing the fertilizer. Although it is estimated that about a hundred thousand tons of guano were removed from the Bat Cave between 1903 and 1923, it was probably not a very profitable operation; for at least six different companies had a fling at it. Jim worked for all but one of them off and on, and never did any more than just make a bare living.