He fell asleep. When he woke up, he was in total darkness,
for his lantern had gone out. Trapped
and alone, all Floyd could do was wait for help to arrive.
How had he gotten himself into this predicament? Floyd
Collins had grown up in the cave country of Kentucky and had explored his first
cave when he was six. He loved caves so much that he unwisely dropped out of
school to spend more time on his hobby. As
a teenager, he even saved most of the money he earned so that he could buy a
piece of land with a small cave. He
named it Floyd's Cave, removed some of the stone formations in it, and sold them
to tourists.
Eventually, he discovered a large cave on his family's land. First called Wonder Cave, then Crystal Cave, it was filled
with spectacular cave formations such as gypsum flowers, helictites, and
draperies. 
The Collins family
believed that they could make money by charging people to tour the cave.
But the cave was four miles from the main highway, down a rutted and
often muddy dirt road. Because they couldn’t afford to improve the road, they were
unable to attract many tourists to their cave.
But Floyd had another plan. Many caves in the area had more
than one opening. He wondered if other caves closer to the main highway might
connect to Crystal Cave. He thought
that Sand Cave, on the land of nearby farmer, might provide a natural connection
to Crystal Cave. That way tourists could park on the main road and walk through
Sand Cave to reach the wonders of Crystal Cave.
Sand Cave wasn’t much of a cave--just a passage twisting
downward. An educated person might have had serious reservations about wriggling
through such a narrow passage. But
not Floyd. He believed that he
could get himself out of any cave, especially if it was going to lead to a
profit for him and his family.
Now Floyd was trapped. Because he had told no one where he
was going, almost twenty-four hours passed before his friends and family found
him. On Saturday, they helped free his upper body and warm him up a bit with a
gasoline lantern. They widened the
opening to the narrow passage and removed two bushels of rocks. But they needed
help. On Sunday, his family offered a $500 reward for anyone who could free
Floyd.
By Monday morning, newspapers across the United States had
begun to report his predicament. Hundreds of people congregated outside Sand
Cave. Members of the Louisville
Fire Department were on hand, as were many newspaper reporters. In fact, one newspaper reporter even crawled into the cave
and attempted to reassure Floyd-- afterwards filing new stories which won him a
Pulitzer Prize.
Later that day, someone suggested pulling Floyd out of the
cave.
"Go ahead," Floyd replied.
"Pull me out even if you tear my foot off."
A harness was put around his body, and three men tried to
hoist him free. They were able to
straighten his position, but the rock that pinned his leg wouldn't budge. They,
too, were forced to give up.
Eventually, rescuers were able to enlarge the passage and
bring in a crowbar to dislodge the rock. They
wiggled and moved it, but each time the rock slipped back into place. Then a
dirt-and-rock slide crashed into Floyd, and the passage around him began to
crumble. Workers refused to enter the narrow crawlspace, for fear that tons of
rock would fall onto them, trapping them as well.
Since no one would go inside the cave, rescuers decided to
sink a shaft that would intersect with Floyd. On February 16, they shaft reached
Floyd. Miner Edward Brenner was the
first to see Floyd's face. He was
dead, with a cave cricket sitting on his nose.
When he was buried, his tombstone read: GREATEST CAVE EXPLORER EVER
LIVED.
