The Big Cave / Early History and Authentic Facts Concerning the History and Discovery of the World Famous Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico - Abijah Long; Joe N. Long

For the visitor who is coming from El Paso, the Guadalupe Range must be crossed, and the pass is located next to Guadalupe Peak, the highway reaching an altitude of 5,288 feet at this point. Guadalupe Peak is the highest mountain in the Guadalupe Range and it is also the highest point in the state of Texas.

It was near this spot that the Butterfield Stage passed on its way from St. Louis to San Francisco. The famous trail passed the southern tip of the Guadalupes near Guadalupe Peak, coming this far south in order to avoid the snow covered Rockies which made winter travel impossible and summer travel difficult. In 1857 the Butterfield Stage brought mail to the little settlements in southern New Mexico, giving the people there a more frequent contact with the rest of the world. The Butterfield Line was discontinued four years later, yet the history of its brief existence lives on in the minds of New Mexico residents today.

The Guadalupe foothills are covered with shrubs and hardy vegetation, growing above the limestone, shale and gypsum below which are harbored numerous caves similar to the Carlsbad Caverns. There is Deep Cave, appropriately named by Carl Livingstone, its discoverer, and Slaughter Cave, also known as New Cave, which is one of the best known. It has been explored and contains many beautiful and unique formations. Some of the cavern sequences in the motion picture "King Solomon's Mines" were filmed in New Cave. Difficult access to its entrance keeps it closed to the public.

McKitterick Cave is located near McKitterick Springs, some 18 miles west of Carlsbad, and holds fond memories for many of Carlsbad's older residents. They recall how, as long ago as 1885, the gay young blades would take their ladies fair on a trip to the cave as a form of amusement, leaving early in the morning and packing a mid-day lunch.

Others, not as famous, are Hidden Cave and Cottonwood Cave—part of more than thirty in the area well enough known to have names, and only a few of more than a hundred smaller caves which perforate the foothills in the area. Many of these are located within the park boundaries.

At the edge of the boundary, the traveler arrives at the turn-off point to the Caverns' entrance. If the journey is made in winter, zero temperatures can be expected at the coldest times. In summer the desert heat may reach 100 and often does. Winter or summer, the route is open, for the Caverns never close, being open to the public the year 'round. In winter the sandy soil may be buried under a blanket of freshly fallen snow, the air with a light snap and crystal clear 'neath a warm winter sun. In the summer months a bluish desert haze often filters down on the surrounding countryside, but it does not stop even the slightest breeze from whipping up a soft funnel of dust from the dry, parched earth, or sending a tumbleweed rolling along a haphazard path towards an undetermined destination.

But the traveler's destination by this time has almost arrived. Highway No. 7 leads seven miles up Walnut Canyon road through rocky mesas covered with choice examples of desert flora, and well they might be nice, for now, inside the park boundary, park laws protect their safety and no one is allowed to touch them. They live their normal lives secure and aloof from man's sometimes destructive inclinations.