Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico / The Story of its Early Explorations, as told by Jim White

by Jim White

Scenes in and near Carlsbad Caverns National Park

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.

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.