William Floyd Collins (July 20, 1887 – February 13, 1925) 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 sought out another cave closer to the main roads; he 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 (1858–1936) and Martha Jane (née Burnett) (1862–1915). alt=Collins' home (left) and 2nd cave ticket booth (right)|thumb|left|Collins' home – 1st cave ticket booth – (left) and 2nd cave ticket booth (right)

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 (1902–1969), Nellie Collins (1900–1970), Marshal (1897–1981), Anna, and Andy Collins. After the death of his mother, Floyd's father remarried to Serilda Jane "Miss Jane" (née Tapscott), 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.

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.

Death

On February 11, 1925, tests showed that Collins's light bulb had gone out, meaning there was no way to tell if he was still alive. The shaft and subsequent lateral tunnel intersected the cave just above Collins, but when he was finally reached on Monday, February 16, by miner Ed Brenner, he was "cold and apparently dead." Miller's reports were distributed by telegraph and were printed by newspapers across the country and abroad, and the rescue attempts were followed by regular news bulletins on the new medium of broadcast radio (the first broadcast radio station KDKA having been established in 1920). Shortly after the media arrived, the publicity drew crowds of tourists to the site, at one point numbering in the tens of thousands. Collins's neighbors sold hamburgers for 25 cents. Other vendors set up stands to sell food and souvenirs, creating a circus-like atmosphere. The Sand Cave rescue attempt grew to become the third-biggest media event between the world wars. (The biggest media events of that time both involved Charles Lindbergh—the trans-Atlantic flight and his son's kidnapping—and Lindbergh had a minor role in the Sand Cave rescue, too, having been hired to fly photographic negatives from the scene for a newspaper.)

Burials and exhibition of body

With Collins's body remaining in the cave, funeral services were held on the surface. Homer Collins was not pleased with Sand Cave as his brother's grave, and two months later, he and some friends reopened the shaft. They dug a new tunnel to the opposite side of the cave passage and recovered Floyd Collins's remains on April 23, 1925. Author Sharyn McCrumb wrote about this event in the 2010 novel The Devil Amongst the Lawyers. Collins's life and death inspired the musical Floyd Collins by Adam Guettel and Tina Landau, as well as one film documentary, several books, a museum and many short songs.

In 2006, actor Billy Bob Thornton optioned the film rights to Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins and a screenplay was adapted by Thornton's writing partner, Tom Epperson. Thornton's option would be expired, and the film rights were acquired by producer Peter R. J. Deyell in 2011. Fiddlin' John Carson and Vernon Dalhart recorded "The Death of Floyd Collins" in 1925. American rock band Black Stone Cherry features a song titled "The Ghost of Floyd Collins" on their album Folklore and Superstition.

See also

  • Moose River Disaster, mine cave-in covered extensively on radio in 1936

Notes

References

Works cited

  • [First edition: ]

Further reading

  • Tragedy at Sand Cave (U.S. National Park Service)
  • Cave Wars – Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
  • The Tragedy of History's Smallest Underground War