Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico: The Story of its Early Explorations, as told by Jim WhiteWhite, Jim
History
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico: The Story of its Early Explorations, as told by Jim White
White, Jim
Carlsbad Caverns National Park (N.M.) -- History; White, Jim, 1882-1946
Through all these years Jim White made frequent efforts to convince
someone—anyone who would listen—about the wonders he had seen beyond the
cave entrance, beyond the rooms containing the guano. Despite his
failure to win more than casual interest, whenever there was a lull in
the guano business, he would take food and other supplies and explore
more of the cave. In fact, Jim succeeded in getting some of the miners
to explore the cave with him during their spare time, as is proven by
the prevalence of names and dates (1904 to 1911) smudged on the
ceilings, walls and rocks as far into the caverns as the King’s Palace.
One day came the thought that if he could get a photographer to make the
trip with him, he could show photographic proof to the world of his
now-favorite scene of adventure. His first attempt met with failure
simply because the man who had the camera wanted a hundred dollars for
the trip. Jim didn’t have a hundred dollars.
Along about 1920, economic conditions were mighty bad. Jim and Mrs.
White were living in a shack near the cave entrance. Jim was always up
at daylight, following the youthful custom long-ago established on the
ranch. One morning, however, Jim didn’t rise with the dawn. For one of
the few times in his married life, Mrs. White was up first.
She made coffee, then returned to the bedroom door somewhat alarmed, and
asked:
“Jim, I’ve never known you to stay in bed so late ... are you sick?”
Jim laughed reassurance. “I’ve just been layin’ here since day-break,
thinkin’. I’ve made up my mind I’m going to get out of this bed and
start showing people that cave, whether they want to see it or not!”
“How are you going to do it?” Mrs. White inquired.
“Right now I don’t know,” Jim stated. “But when I get up, I’m going to
start”.
[Illustration: _The Iceberg—One of the interesting features of the
Caverns_]
Jim lay still a little longer. The idea came that if the world could be
made to see the cave, trails and guard-rails ought to be built, to gain
even a relative amount of safety and accessibility. Jim rose, dressed,
ate breakfast and started. He began moving rocks and leveling
passageways through the first chamber. At dangerous ledges he searched
out cracks in the rocks, into which he drove discarded axles from old
automobiles. From one of these to another, Jim strung galvanized wire to
serve as hand-holds. Working alone most of the time, he seemed
tirelessly ready for an endless task, constantly buoyed by the thought
that he was building a pathway over which many others might travel, into
the incredibly beautiful fairyland so far below the hot desert.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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