Shortly after the favorable Holley survey was completed, Mr. Richard F.
Burges, a prominent El Paso attorney, made a visit to the caverns and
was taken through by Jim White. He, too, was greatly impressed with the
scenic beauties and the majestic grandeur found here and he began
strenuously to exert every effort to bring attention to the cave. He had
caught Jim’s enthusiasm for the project and Mr. Burges’ considerable
influence, both locally and nationally, soon had effect. He was
instrumental in obtaining the 1923 studies of Dr. Willis T. Lee,
government geologist. Dr. Lee returned the following year heading an
exploration party whose finding, published in the National Geographic
Magazine, brought the caverns world-wide attention. Of importance to the
realization of Jim White’s dream was “Major” Burges’ work in acquainting
members of Congress with the beauty and possibilities of the caverns.
Jim White was contacted by the Government for his suggestion as to how
much land should be reserved for the purpose.
Jim White, in later discussing the Land Office request for information,
would say, wryly, “There are several other large caves near Carlsbad
Caverns, and my suggestion was to include all the land covering those
caves. A lot of times I’ve wished that I’d held out one cave for
myself.”
Resulting from the Holley report and Major Burges’ efforts, and
culminating Jim White’s two-decade battle against indifference and
unbelief, came the decision to make the cave area a National Monument.
President Coolidge’s proclamation of October 25th, 1923, created the
Carlsbad Cave National Monument.
Jim White’s application for the position of custodian of the new
National Monument had the support of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce,
and it was accepted. But Jim was informed there was no salary attached
to that job; so then he filed his application for the job of Chief
Ranger, which carried a salary. That position he promptly received.
One day shortly after he’d been made Chief Ranger, Jim White had a party
in the cave. He pointed to the main entrance high above and said to a
visitor:
“Lowering people in the old bucket down to the Bat Cave is too slow.
Some of these days I’m going to build a stairway from where we are
sitting, clear up through that main opening.”
Through the kindness, generosity and foresight of several Carlsbad
citizens, Jim White’s stairway was built a few months later. More than a
hundred thousand people used it during the next seven years, until the
National Park Service completed the trail that slopes gently down the
side of the wall ... a means of entrance far better than the old
stairway.
Dr. Vernon Bailey was sent to the caverns to do the biological survey on
the bats. Seeing the strange mammals hanging aloft in sleep, Dr. Bailey
observed that there couldn’t be more than a thousand in the whole cave.
Jim White told him to stick around and watch them fly. Bailey did. In
his book called “Animal Life of Carlsbad Cavern”, he used the numerical
description “Three million” when he wrote of that first bat-flight which
he watched.
In 1930, the caverns Jim White had explored were redesignated. On May
14th of that year an Act of Congress established the Carlsbad Caverns
National Park, with a resident Superintendent in charge, assisted by a
force of trained rangers, engineers and electricians.
[Illustration: _Government Buildings and Parking Terraces Adjacent
to the Entrance to Caverns_]