TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Foreword | [11] |
| PART I THE DISCOVERY | by Abijah Long |
| 1. We Move to Carlsbad | [15] |
| 2. A Big Cave Is Discovered | [19] |
| 3. A Business Venture Appears | [24] |
| 4. The First Guano Is Mined | [30] |
| 5. Life at the Camp | [38] |
| 6. The Big Cave Is Explored | [47] |
| 7. The End of the Beginning | [53] |
| PART II THE FIRST 60,000,000 YEARS | by Joe N. Long |
| 1. The Beginning | [59] |
| 2. Life Enters the Caverns | [64] |
| 3. The First Fifty Years | [74] |
| PART III THE BIG CAVE TODAY | by Joe N. Long |
| 1. From Above | [91] |
| 2. From Below | [107] |
| Bibliography | [127] |
PICTURE CREDITS:
ROBERT NYMEYER, [FRONT COVER], [BACK COVER], PAGES [68], [90], [92], [94], [96], [98], [100], [102], [104], [106], [108], [112], [114], [116], [118], [120], [122] AND [124].
NEW MEXICO STATE TOURIST BUREAU, PAGE [110].
[COVER PHOTO]—Totem Poles in the Big Room
© by Robert Nymeyer
FOREWORD
(By the family of Abijah Long)
Prior to my husband's death in 1934, several of us had asked him to write, in his own words, the story of his early life, especially after moving to Carlsbad at the turn of the century.
He was reluctant to write of his experiences in connection with the Big Cave, as it was called in those days. But after considerable persuasion on our part he did sit down and write what happened in those early years following our move from Texas in 1901.