Floyd Collins
William Floyd Collins was an American cave explorer who became trapped and died in what became Mammoth Cave National Park. The incident earned major media attention during the efforts to rescue him.
During the early 20th century, in an era known as the Kentucky Cave Wars, spelunkers and property owners entered into bitter competition to utilize the bounty of caves for commercial profit from tourists, who paid to see the caves. In 1917 and 1918, Collins discovered and commercialized Great Crystal Cave in the Flint Ridge Cave System, but the cave was remote and visitors were few. Collins had an ambition to find another cave he could open to the public closer to the main roads, and agreed with a neighbor to open up Sand Cave, a small cave on the neighbor's property.
On January 30, 1925, while working to enlarge the small passage in Sand Cave, Collins became trapped in a narrow crawlway below ground. The rescue operation to save him became a national media sensation and one of the first major news stories to be reported using the new technology of broadcast radio. After four days, during which rescuers were able to bring water and food to Collins, a rock collapse in the cave closed the entrance passageway, stranding him inside, except for voice contact, for another 10 days. Collins died of thirst and hunger, compounded by exposure through hypothermia after being isolated for a total of 14 days, three days before a rescue shaft reached his position. Collins's body was recovered two months later.
Although Collins was unknown publicly for most of his lifetime, the fame he gained from the rescue efforts and his death resulted in him being memorialized on his tombstone as the "Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known".
Early life and family
William Floyd Collins was born on July 20, 1887, the son of Leonidas "Lee" Collins and Martha Jane .The Collins family had already suffered hardship prior to Floyd's death in 1925, as his mother, Martha, died from tuberculosis in 1915, and his older brother James Collins had died in 1922 from Typhoid fever. Floyd's siblings included Homer Collins, Nellie Collins, Marshal, Anna, and Andy Collins. After the death of his mother, Floyd's father remarried to Serilda Jane "Miss Jane", who was the widow of a caver who died in 1915. Miss Jane died in 1926, just a year after Floyd, after which Lee married for a third time.
Floyd Collins was born on the Collins family farm, located approximately east of Mammoth Cave near the Green River in Kentucky. Collins began entering caves by himself at the age of six in search of Native American artifacts to sell to tourists at the Mammoth Cave Hotel. In 1910, he discovered his first cave, Donkey's Cave, on the Collins farm. In 1912, Edmund Turner, a geologist, hired Collins to show him the caves of the region. Consequently, Turner and Collins assisted with the discovery of Dossey's Dome Cave in 1912 and Great Onyx Cave in 1915.
Great Crystal Cave
In September 1917, while climbing up a bluff on the family farm, Collins noticed cool air coming from a hole in the ground. Upon widening the hole, he was able to drop down into a cavity that was part of a passage blocked by breakdown. In December 1917, after further excavation of the breakdown, Collins discovered the sinkhole entrance to what he would later name "Great Crystal Cave."His father deeded Collins a half interest in the cave, and they immediately decided to commercialize it. After tremendous preparation by the entire family, the transformed show cave was opened to tourists in April 1918. The cave attracted a low number of tourists due to its remote location.
Sand Cave – 1925 incident
Collins's initial venture and entrapment
Collins hoped to find either another entrance to the Mammoth Cave or an unknown cave along the road to Mammoth Cave to draw more visitors and reap greater profits. He agreed with three farmers who owned land closer to the main highway. If he found a cave, they would form a business partnership and share in the responsibilities of operating the ensuing tourist attraction.Working alone, Collins explored and expanded a hole within three weeks that would later be called "Sand Cave" by the news media. Collins explored several narrow passageways, including one which was reportedly no larger than 9" tall, and reported finding a large grotto chamber. The discovery was not corroborated by anyone else, but Collins worked several hours a day, for weeks on end, to create a more accessible entrance for tourists.
On January 30, 1925, after several hours of work, his gas lamp began to dim. He attempted to leave the passage quickly, before losing all light to the chamber, but became trapped in a small passage on his way out. Collins accidentally knocked over his lamp, putting out the light, leading to the misplacement of his foot on what seemed to be a stable wall of the cave. The passage shifted, and he was caught by a rock that fell from the cave ceiling, pinning his left leg; additionally, torrents of loose gravel fell and completely buried his body. He was trapped from the entrance.
Discovery and rescue efforts
Neighbors began to worry for Collins the next day and went to find him. Though none of them were brave enough to take on the smaller passages it took to reach Collins, they were able to get close enough to communicate with him and learnt he was trapped. His younger brother Homer was soon phoned and made his way to the scene, and he was the only person able to make it through the small passages to get to Floyd before reporter Skeets Miller, Lieutenant Robert Burdon of the Louisville Fire Department, and family friend Johnnie Gerald crossed the boundary in the coming days. Homer brought Floyd food and liquids to retain his energy, and many ideas were thought up by locals and tourists alike as techniques to get Floyd out of the cave. On February 2, 1925, a plan was devised to hoist Collins from the cave using a harness, rope, and the strength of multiple men. This attempt failed, and it injured Collins, pulling his torso directly upwards and against the ceiling of rock above him. Rescuers ultimately decided the best way to get him out was to dig out each rock that surrounded him and leverage the large rock off his foot.Eventually, an electric light was run down the passage to provide him with lighting and some warmth. Due to the attention the disaster gained, hundreds of inexperienced cave explorers and tourists stood outside the mouth of the cave. The cool winter air caused them to light campfires that disrupted the natural ice within Sand Cave, causing it to melt and create puddles of cool water, one of which Collins himself lay in. On February 4, the cave passage collapsed in two places due to the ice melting. Attempts were made to dig the passages that led to Collins's back out, but rescue leaders, led by Henry St. George Tucker Carmichael, determined the cave impassable and too dangerous, which brought the decision to dig a shaft straight down to reach the chamber behind Collins.
Collins survived for more than a week while rescue efforts were organized. The cave drew air inward, meaning no mechanical equipment could be used to dig into the cave, as it was feared that the fumes would suffocate Collins in the process. A shaft would have to be dug downwards with nothing but pickaxes and shovels. It was estimated that the team of 75 volunteer workers would be able to dig this shaft within 30 hours, at a rate of per hour. The first ton of dirt moved efficiently, though around, the shaft became so narrow that only two men could work at a time. By, workers hit boulders under the surface and began to use pickaxes. A series of pulley systems was used to remove rocks from the hole, but the pace of work slowed as they dug nearer to Collins. A radio amplifier had been jerry-rigged to the copper wire that connected Collins's light bulb. A scientist believed the amplifier could detect vibrations whenever Collins moved. The amplifier crackled 20 times every minute, a hopeful sign that Collins might be breathing.