Carlsbad Caverns (cont.)

Home > Carlsbad Caverns (cont.)

Related Guides

Popular Cities in New Mexico

Top Ten Travel Lists

Expert Travel Guides

Family Vacations

Beach Vacations

Where Next? Travel Blog

Photo Galleries

Screensavers

From Primedia Publications

Page:

Carlsbad Caverns (cont.)
America's original "Fantasyland."

That was also the year "Colonel" Tom Boles came aboard as superintendent. He ran the park for the next 19 years, transforming it from a minor spot on national park maps to a major attraction in the system through aggressive fund-raising, imaginative publicity, site development, and shrewd public relations, especially inviting celebrities to the place. In the 1930s Will Rogers and Amelia Earhart visited, and Rogers allowed himself to be photographed in one of the old bat gauno buckets as he was lowered into the cavern through the newly drilled elevator shaft before the equipment was installed. One of the last Civil War veterans, Walter Gedney, was another high-profile visitor in the late 1930s. In 1943 Clark Gable showed up for a photo session.

The practice of inviting the famous to make a pilgrimage to Carlsbad continued long after Boles' tenure at the park. In the 1950s it was Roy Rogers and Dale Evans; in 1964 Walt Disney came to marvel at the original "Fantasyland." Hollywood even came to film movies here, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and Gargoyles (1972).

With the 1920s boom in tourism, better access to the caverns had to be provided. In 1931, the Park Service put in twin electric elevators, a great improvement over the early guano-bucket descents and even the long hikes down the Main Corridor from the Main Entrance (still used by visitors today).

In June 1939, famed collector of the odd and unique, Robert Ripley, came to Carlsbad Caverns, not to admire the geologic formations but to check out the story of Ranger Leslie Thompson. Thompson became a minor celebrity in 1931 when, preparing to lead a tour group down to the caverns, he stepped into an empty elevator shaft and plunged 125 feet before he could grab the cable and stop himself, 625 feet short of the floor of the Big Room below. A second elevator was brought down and rescued him, much to the amazement of his tour group when the elevator doors popped open topside and out stepped the slightly disheveled ranger. Ripley printed the story in his next issue of Ripley's Believe It or Not!

They were finally talked into surrendering after five or six hours of negotiations and all the lunches they could eat.

Not all the caverns' visitors have been welcome. On July 10, 1979, four terrorists took a seasonal employee hostage in the Underground Lunch Room, demanding millions in ransom and an escape plane. They were finally talked into surrendering after five or six hours of negotiations and all the lunches they could eat.

Over the years the ancient walls have witnessed increased tourist traffic, continuous improvements, and even expansions. In 1972 there were only 19 miles of known passageways; today almost thirty miles of dark, winding trails are mapped. Occasionally, during tours, the rangers turn off the lights in one of the chambers, plunging everything into total darkness, to remind visitors of what a trip into the cave was like for its first human visitors and the dangers of Jim White's and others' explorations. A few years back a man was accidentally left behind when the last tour of the day departed for the surface. After the lights were turned out, he spent a long, black night alone.

Page: