CARLSBAD CAVERN NEW MEXICO JIM WHITES STORY SIGNED 1940S

Description

History
[
edit
]
Elevator house, circa 1933-42. Photo by
Ansel Adams
.
While a young boy,
Jim White
explored the cavern with his homemade wire ladder. He named many of the rooms, including the Big Room, New Mexico Room, Kings Palace, Queens Chamber, Papoose Room, and Green Lake Room. He also named many of the cave's more prominent formations, such as the Totem Pole, Witch's Finger, Giant Dome, Bottomless Pit, Fairyland, Iceberg Rock, Temple of the Sun, and Rock of Ages.
Max Frisch
incorporates the story about White's discovery of the caves in his novel
I'm Not Stiller
.
The town of Carlsbad, which lends its name to the cavern and national park, is in turn named after the
Czech
town formerly known by the
German
name
Karlsbad
(English spelling
Carlsbad
) and now known by the
Czech
name
Karlovy Vary
, both of which mean "
Charles
' Bath[s]."
Until 1932, visitors to the cavern had to walk down a switchback ramp that took them 750 feet (230 m) below the surface. The walk back up was tiring for some. In 1932 the national park opened up a large visitor center building that contained two elevators that would take visitors in and out of the caverns below. The new center included a cafeteria, waiting room, museum and first aid area.
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