{{Short description|Discoverer of Carlsbad Caverns}} {{Infobox person | name = James Larkin White | image = James Larkin White.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Jim White | birth_date = {{birth date|1882|7|11|mf=y}} | birth_place = Mason County, Texas | death_date = {{death date and age|1946|4|26|1882|7|11|mf=y}} | death_place = Carlsbad, New Mexico | occupation = Cave promoter/explorer }} '''James Larkin White''' (July 11, 1882– April 26, 1946) was a cowboy, guano miner, cave explorer, and park ranger for the National Park Service. He is best remembered as the discoverer, early promoter and explorer of what is known today as ''Carlsbad Caverns'' in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico.
==Birth== {{blockquote|I want to be a cowboy.|Jim White|One Man's Dream}}
Jim White was born on July 11, 1882, on a ranch in Mason County, Texas.<ref name="Borderlands">{{cite web |url=http://epcc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=309255&sid=2603429 |title=Jim White Explored Carlsbad Caverns for Years |accessdate=October 11, 2010 |author1=Ruth Reyes |author2=Kyndle Tooke |author3=Audra Graziano |author4=Casandra Jimenez |work=Borderlands |publisher=El Paso Community College}}</ref> He started working in the cattle business at a very early age and preferred it to the school his father forced him to attend.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> He preferred "bustin' broncos to books and blackboards".<ref name="Borderlands"/> One day, when Jim had had enough of school, he begged his father to let him do something else. "I want to be a cowboy", he said.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> So, when he was 10 years old, his father agreed to take him to the southeastern corner of the New Mexico Territory.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> He left him at the ranch of John and Dan Lucas (''XXX Ranch''<ref name="Borderlands"/>).<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> His father bought land at Lonetree, just west of the developing town of Eddy (Carlsbad today), and moved the rest of the family there three years later.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> Jim occasionally stayed at his family's small horse farm, but mostly lived and worked at the Lucas ranch.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/>
==Discovery== {{blockquote|... any hole in the ground which could house such a gigantic army of bats must be a whale of a big cave.|Jim White|Jim White's Own Story}}
An inscription reading "J White 1898"<ref name="CHU9">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20040225.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217025509/http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20040225.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 17, 2008 |title=Cave History Update; CHU #9–February 25, 2004 |accessdate=September 26, 2008 |author=Neal R. Bullington |work=Cave History Update |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> was discovered deep within Carlsbad Caverns in the 1980s.<ref name="CHU9"/> It provides witness to the presence of a 15- or 16-year-old Jim White.
While riding his horse through the Chihuahuan Desert looking for stray cattle<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> with a fence mending crew<ref name="The Early Years"/> for the Lucas brothers, Jim saw a plume of bats rising from the desert hills.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> It appeared to be a volcano, or a whirlwind but did not behave quite like either.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story">{{cite book |title=Jim White's Own Story, the Discovery and History of Carlsbad Caverns |last=White |first=Jim |year=1932 |publisher=Jim White and Charley Lee White |editor=Frank Ernest Nicholson}}</ref> He tied his horse to a nearby tree and worked his way through the brush to the edge of a large opening in the ground.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> Jim described the moment by saying, "I found myself gazing into the biggest and blackest hole I had ever seen, out of which the bats seemed literally to boil".<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/>
==First exploration== {{blockquote|Standing at the entrance of the tunnel I could see ahead of me a darkness so absolutely black it seemed a solid.|Jim White|Jim White's Own Story}}
A few days later,<ref group=note>''Cave History Update; April 27, 2005'' paraphrases Jim White Jr. in saying that his father "... probably took about a month getting ready to go into the cave the first time".</ref> he returned to the cave with some rope, fence wire and a hatchet.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" /> He cut wood from some nearby shrubs and assembled a makeshift ladder.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" /> He lowered the ladder into the opening and using a homemade kerosene lantern, descended approximately {{convert|50|ft}} to the first serviceable ledge.<ref name="The Early Years" /> He climbed down an additional {{convert|20|ft}} to a floor.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" /> Using the "sickly glow"<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" /> of his lantern, he made his way into the cave. He felt as if he "... was wandering into the very core of the Guadalupe Mountains."<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" />
After reaching a chamber, he noted two tunnels leading off in opposite directions, one downward and to the right and one, more level, to the left.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" /> He decided to go left first and discovered the Bat Cave.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" /> He explored it for a while then proceeded down the other tunnel.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story" />
{{blockquote|I followed on until I found myself in a wilderness of mighty stalagmites. It was the first cave I was ever in, and the first stalagmites I had ever seen, but instinctively I knew, for some intuitive reason, that there was no other scene in the world which could be justly compared with my surroundings.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/>}}
By the time he reached the first formations, he had "... crept cat-like across a dozen dangerous ledges and past many tremendous openings ...".<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> He saw more stalagmites, "... each seemingly larger and more beautifully formed than the ones I'd passed".<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> He encountered chandeliers, stalactites, soda straws, flowstone, pools of water, rimstone dams and other formations.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> He dropped rocks into pits to determine their depth.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> He rolled one boulder into a pit and it fell for a couple of seconds and then "... kept rolling and rolling until its sound became an echo".<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/>
Then the light from his homemade kerosene lantern went out.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> The darkness seemed to smother him.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> Jim described the incident by saying, "It seemed as though a million tons of black wool descended upon me."<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/>
After refilling his lantern from a spare canteen of oil, he made his way back to the surface.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/>
==The kid== {{blockquote|... it would be impossible to even exaggerate our experiences during those three days.|Jim White|Jim White's Own Story}}
Jim returned to the cave with a 15-year-old Mexican boy.<ref name="The Early Years"/> His real name is unknown—he was known only as ''Muchacho'', ''The Kid'', or ''Pothead''.<ref name="The Early Years"/>
Five days after Jim's first trip into the cave, he and Pothead made an exploration.<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> Carrying food, water, fuel and homemade torches, they began an exploration which lasted three days.<ref name="The Early Years"/> They took a large ball of string to use to ensure their exit.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/>
They explored approximately the same areas of the cave that the modern tourist trails cover<ref name="Jim Whites Own Story"/> including the Big Room, and the King's Palace and Queen's Chamber.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/>
==Jim White's Own Story== The original record of the early events surrounding Jim White and Carlsbad Caverns comes from a booklet, self-published in 1932, titled ''Jim White's Own Story''. The booklet was ghost written by Frank Ernest Nicholson in exchange for payment of a boarding bill.<ref name="The Early Years">{{cite book |last1=Nymeyer |first1=Robert |last2=Halliday|first2=William R.|year=1991 |title=Carlsbad Cavern The Early Years: A Photographic History of the Cave and Its People |editor-last=Houk |editor-first=Rose|publisher=Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains Association |isbn=0-0916907-0-6}}</ref> Nicholson was a journalist and led the ill-fated ''Nicholson Expedition'' to Carlsbad Caverns in 1929 sponsored by The New York Times.<ref name="The Early Years" />
Jim White had a permit with the National Park Service to sell the booklet from the Underground Lunchroom.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/> Dennis Chavez, a U.S. Senator, helped obtain the permit by putting pressure on the park.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/> At first, the agreement was oral but later, it became more formal.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/> Sales of the booklet ceased two months after Jim White's death.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/>
==The guano bucket== [[File:Jim White Guano Bucket.jpg|thumb|right|Jim White standing next to a guano bucket atop the guano shaft at Carlsbad Caverns. The bucket was used to carry the first tourists into the caverns. He is holding one of his homemade kerosene lanterns.]]
One of the early guano companies dug a shaft making a more direct route to the guano deposits in the Bat Cave.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> It was serviced by a large iron bucket operated by a gasoline winch.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> This system was used to haul bags of guano out of the cave for use as fertilizer in places like the California fruit orchards.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> The guano was sold for 90 dollars a ton ({{convert|2000|lbs|kg|sp=us}}).<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> Jim White used the guano bucket to transport hundreds of tourists into and out of the cave.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/>
The original guano bucket was used as the stand in the Underground Lunchroom from which Jim White sold his booklets.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/> Jim White Jr. later gave it to a man named Charlie Dugger and it was stored in his garage.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/>
{{Clear}}
==Family== Jim White married Fannie Hill on January 1, 1912.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> She was eighteen and a longtime friend from the town of Lonetree.<ref name="The Early Years"/> Their first house was provided by the guano company.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> It was a "... two room shack, set practically on top of the small bat cave, which was several hundred yards from the main cavern entrance."<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> Jim and Fannie had a son named James Larkin White, Jr., on March 23, 1919.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> Jim moved his family into a four-room house provided by the guano company when Jim Jr. was about two years old.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> It was a few hundred feet farther from the cave entrance.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> They did not have running water at the house; instead, Jim would take a burro to Oak Springs and let it loose to find its way home with two cans of water on its back.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20050427.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217030857/http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20050427.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 17, 2008 |title=Cave History Update; April 27, 2005 |accessdate=February 25, 2009 |author=Bob Hoff |work=Cave History Update |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> Fannie would empty the water into a barrel when the burro returned.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/> They did not get electricity until 1929 or 1930 and it was only on during the day.<ref name="CHU April 27, 2005"/>
==Death== [[File:Jim and Fannie White Headstone.jpg|thumb|right|Headstone of Jim and Fannie White from Carlsbad Municipal Cemetery, Carlsbad, New Mexico, October 12, 2008.]] {{blockquote|He discovered the Caverns in the good old American way of adventuring.|Senator Dennis Chavez of New Mexico|One Man's Dream}}
Jim White died on April 26, 1946, in a hospital in Carlsbad, New Mexico, at the age of 63.<ref name="Buried Treasures"/> He suffered from Bright's disease<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> and died of coronary thrombosis.<ref name="Buried Treasures"/> He told a reporter for the ''Carlsbad Current-Argus'', two days before his death, that he felt well but was not ready to ride a horse to California, again.<ref name="Buried Treasures"/> He is buried alongside his wife, Fannie, at Carlsbad Municipal Cemetery in Carlsbad. The epitaph on his tombstone reads "The Discoverer of Carlsbad Caverns".<ref name="Buried Treasures">{{cite book |title=Buried Treasures: Famous and Unusual Gravesites in New Mexico History |last=Melzer |first=Richard, Ph.D. |year=2007 |publisher=Sunstone Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UxiTZmoAAKgC&pg=PA145 |isbn=978-0-86534-531-7 |page=145 |chapter=No. 129}}</ref>
After his death, a movement was started to have a statue of Jim White erected at the cavern entrance.<ref name="The Early Years"/> Instead, a bronze plaque was placed in the lobby at the park visitor center which reads:
{{poemquote| JAMES L. WHITE 1882-1946 Beginning in 1901, Jim White made the first known extensive explorations of the Carlsbad Caverns. He was chiefly responsible for bringing the attention of the public, scientific groups and the federal government to the importance and significance of the caverns.<ref name="The Early Years"/>}}
In 2011, a large, bronze statue of Jim White descending a wire ladder was unveiled at the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) building in Carlsbad, New Mexico. {{Clear}}
==Chronology== *1882 (July 11): Jim White is born in Mason County, Texas.<ref name="Borderlands"/> *1888: development of the town of Eddy (Carlsbad today) begins.<ref name="Carlsbad History"/> *1892: Jim White moves to New Mexico Territory just a few miles from Eddy.<ref name="Caverns Chronology">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/cave/historyculture/upload/history_site_bulletin.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226053040/http://www.nps.gov/cave/historyculture/upload/history_site_bulletin.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2007 |title=Carlsbad Caverns, Caverns' Chronology |accessdate=July 23, 2008 |work=National Park Service}}</ref> *1893: the town of Eddy is incorporated.<ref name="Carlsbad History">{{cite web |url=http://www.communitylink.com/us/nm/carlsbad/profile/history.htm |title=Carlsbad New Mexico, History |accessdate=July 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802021039/http://communitylink.com/us/nm/carlsbad/profile/history.htm |archive-date=August 2, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> *1895: Jim White's family moves to join him in New Mexico.<ref name="One Mans Dream">{{cite book |title=One Man's Dream, the story of Jim White Discoverer and Explorer of the Carlsbad Caverns |last=Caiar |first=Ruth |year=1957 |publisher=Pageant Press, Inc. |author2=Jim White Jr.}}</ref><ref group=note>''Cavern's Chronology'' says that Jim White moved with his family to the New Mexico Territory in 1892. ''One Man's Dream'' says that his father took him to the territory and left him in 1892 and the family came to join him three years later.</ref> *1898: Jim White first enters the cave.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/><ref group=note>''Jim White's Own Story'' and ''One Man's Dream'' say the date of first entry into the cave was 1901; but, Jim admits that he is not certain. ''Caverns Chronology'' puts the date at 1898 based on an inscription found in the cave in the 1980s which reads "1898 J. White".</ref> *1899: the citizens of Eddy vote to rename the town to ''Carlsbad''.<ref name="Carlsbad History"/> *1912 (January 6): New Mexico becomes a state.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1915 – 1918: Ray V. Davis takes the first photographs from inside the caverns.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1918: New Mexico Governor W. E. Lindsay incorporated the town of Carlsbad.<ref name="Carlsbad History"/> *1923: Ray V. Davis caverns photographs are first published in the New York Times.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1923 (April 6 – May 8): Jim White guides Robert Holley of the United States General Land Office and Ray V. Davis (photographer) to survey and map the caverns. Holley recommends the establishment of a National Monument.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1923 (October 25): Carlsbad Cave National Monument is established.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1923 – 1927: W. F. McIlvain supervises Jim White and Willis T. Lee in the construction of the first trails, stairs and the installation of the first lights.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1924 (March 20 – September 15): the National Geographic Society sponsors Willis T. Lee, guided by Jim White, to explore the caverns.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1925: entrance staircase is installed replacing the guano bucket as the means to enter the cave.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1926 (May 1): Jim White becomes Chief Ranger of Carlsbad Cave National Monument.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> *1928 (September): Amelia Earhart visits the caverns.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1929 (May 5): Jim White resigns as Chief Ranger.<ref name="One Mans Dream"/> *1930 (May 14): Congress establishes Carlsbad Caverns National Park.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1937 (February 9): Jim White begins selling ''Jim White's Own Story'' in the cave.<ref name="Caverns Chronology"/> *1946 (April 26): Jim White dies in Carlsbad.<ref name="Buried Treasures"/>
==Notes== {{Reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last=White |first=Jim |year=1932 |title=Jim White's Own Story; the Discovery and History of Carlsbad Caverns |editor=Frank Ernest Nicholson |publisher=Jim White and Charley Lee White}} *{{cite book |last=Caiar |first=Ruth |year=1957 |title=One Man's Dream, the story of Jim White Discoverer and Explorer of the Carlsbad Caverns |publisher=Pageant Press, Inc.}} *{{cite book |last1=Nymeyer |first1=Robert |last2=Halliday, M.D. |first2=William R. |year=1991 |title=Carlsbad Cavern The Early Years; A Photographic History of the Cave and Its People |editor=Rose Houk |publisher=Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains Association |isbn=0-0916907-0-6}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} *{{cite web|url= http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20050427.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080217030857/http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20050427.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 17, 2008 |title=''Cave History Update'', April 27, 2005 }} {{small|(744 KB)}}, reprint of an interview with Jim White Jr. conducted by park historian Bob Hoff; originally printed in ''History Leads & Resources'' (September 2, 1994). *{{cite web|url= http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20040225.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080217025509/http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/CHU_20040225.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 17, 2008 |title=''Cave History Update'', February 25, 2004 }} {{small|(517 KB)}}, an essay by park naturalist Neal R. Bullington from May 1968 which attempts to discern who actually discovered Carlsbad Caverns. *[http://epcc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=309255&sid=2603429 ''Borderlands'', Jim White Explored Carlsbad Caverns for Years], an article from El Paso Community College. *[http://carlsbadcavernshistory.blogspot.com Retired Park Historian's CAVE/NPS History], retired park historian Bob Hoff writes about Carlsbad Caverns history.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:White, James Larkin}} Category:American cavers Category:American explorers of North America Category:People from Carlsbad, New Mexico Category:1882 births Category:1946 deaths Category:Deaths from coronary thrombosis Category:Explorers of the United States Category:20th-century American people