(This article first appeared in the March print edition of the Hendersonian.)
In the year that future dictator Adolph Hitler published “Mein Kampf,” Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan squared off in the Scopes Monkey Trial and Al Capone was running amok in the Heartland, another big story—from southcentral Kentucky—captured the headlines and attention of the world.
It was the plight of cave explorer Floyd Collins, who became trapped by a rock fall while working on creating a new entrance to the cave system that 16 years later would officially become Mammoth Cave National Park.
For 14 days in late January and February 1925, rescuers made various attempts to extricate Collins, whose left leg became pinned by a 27-pound rock as he was trying to exit the passage known as Sand Cave after a day’s work.
The locals and family who noticed he was missing located Collins and tried to rescue him. But additional rock falls and increasing instability of the cave walls surrounding Collins made the operation a dangerous one. Eventually falling rocks sealed the cave explorer in.
Newspaperman William “Skeets” Miller was actually able to reach Collins before that happened to interview him for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
The situation, thanks to Miller’s news accounts and those of other reporters who amassed at the site, were supplemented by regular news bulletins on the brand-new medium of radio. Thousands of volunteers and sightseers arrived from near and far, prompting sales of concessions and souvenirs in a circus-like atmosphere.
But the 37-year-old Collins wasn’t to be rescued and died around Feb. 13, 1925, before responders could tunnel to him from a more stable route. Cause of death was likely hunger and thirst compounded by hypothermia. The rescue party reached him about three days after he died, but didn’t recover his body until later in the spring.
The saga of Floyd Collins is a notable part of Mammoth Cave’s history and is in the spotlight this year on the centennial of his death. The notoriety of Collins’ fate is credited with being a catalyst for the formation of the park.
Mammoth Cave National Park’s 52,830 acres are mostly in Edmonson County with a couple of small areas extending into Hart and Barren counties. The Green River runs through the park on its way to its confluence with the Ohio River in Henderson County.
The cave system itself has officially been known as the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System since 1972 after a large passageway beneath Flint Ridge was found to be connected to what had already been mapped as Mammoth Cave.
As of 2022, more than 426 miles of passageways had been surveyed and mapped, strengthening its description as the longest cave system in the world.
Mammoth Cave National Park, established on July 1, 1941, has some other impressive descriptors. It is a World Heritage Site (1981), and international Biosphere Reserve (1990) and an International Dark Sky Park (2021).
Noteworthy about Mammoth Cave National Park
• Year-round cave tours and seasonal ranger-led programs interpret the history and geology of Mammoth Cave. You must purchase a tour ticket to go into the cave, and reservations/advance purchase are strongly recommended. They often sell out during the summer vacation months. Types of tours change seasonally and are listed on the park’s website one to three months in advance. You can expect to find short and long walking tours, lantern tours, adventurous crawling tours and even fully wheelchair accessible tours. View the current schedule at https://www.nps.gov/maca. Tour names include Mammoth Passage, Grand Avenue, Historic, Domes and Dripstones, Frozen Niagara, Gothic Avenue, Violet City Lantern and River Styx. Descriptions are available on the web site.
• Cave tours are the biggest attraction at the park, but there are other things to do while visiting. Three campgrounds and at least two dozen backcountry sites are available for camping. The park has 80 miles of trails. Canoeing, kayaking and boating are available on both the Green River and its tributary, Nolin River. Visitors can also bicycle, fish, ride horseback and stargaze. The International Space Station can often be seen passing overhead.
• The park itself and surface features are entrance-fee-free. It is open every day. Visitor Center hours vary by season but is generally open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, except Christmas Day.
For more information, go to www.nps.gov/maca
