CARLSBAD CAVERNS Circular of General Information 1936

FEES

A fee of $1.50 for guide service is charged each adult entering the caverns.

No charge is made for children 16 years of age or under when accompanied by adults taking responsibility for their safety and good conduct.

A charge of 50 cents in each direction is made for each adult using the elevator. Half fare is charged for children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. No charge is made for children 5 years of age or under when accompanied by adults assuming responsibility for their safety.

ADMINISTRATION

The representative of the National Park Service in immediate charge of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park is Thomas Boles, superintendent. He maintains headquarters in the town of Carlsbad, N. Mex., 28 miles north of the caverns. He is assisted in protecting the park by a force of rangers, headed by a chief ranger, who live near the caverns entrance in a group of buildings especially designed in Pueblo Indian style.

The National Park Service maintains an information bureau at the superintendent's office in Carlsbad. Information also may be obtained at the chamber of commerce and at any of the hotels, camps, garages, or transportation offices in Carlsbad.

HOW TO REACH THE PARK

BY RAIL, AIRPLANE, AND AUTO STAGE

By a combination of rail and bus, Carlsbad Caverns National Park is served by the Santa Fe System on the north and the Missouri Pacific-Texas and Pacific Lines and the Southern Pacific Lines on the south. The town of Carlsbad is the rail terminus via the Santa Fe, the local line branching off at Clovis, N. Mex. There is a regular bus service from Carlsbad to the caverns and return, the charge for this service being $3 for the round trip during the summer season. During the remainder of year the $3 rate applies only when three or more persons make the trip. It is $4 each for two persons and $8 for only one. Visitors coming from the railroads to the south and west may obtain bus service at El Paso or Pecos, Tex. In addition to being the main entrance to the park on the Southern Pacific Transcontinental Lines, El Paso is also the airplane gateway.

BY AUTOMOBILE

Excellent motor roads lead to Carlsbad Caverns National Park from all directions. One of the most recently designated national highways is United States Highway No. 62, which extends from Niagara Falls, N. Y., to El Paso, Tex., and probably intersects more transcontinental highways than any other road in the country. Among these are United States Highways Nos. 66 and 70. State Road No. 2, which it also intersects, connects the park with Santa Fe and Mesa Verde National Park and also, through its intersection with United States Highways Nos. 380 and 60, with the Grand Canyon National Park and the Petrified Forest National Monument.

Motorists on United States Highway No. 80, known as "The Broadway of America", or the "Bankhead Highway"; on United States Highway No. 290, the "Old Spanish Trail"; and on United States Highway No. 90, the "Mexican Border Highway", may reach the park via Pecos, Tex., and Carlsbad.

Coming in from the southwest over United States Highway No. 62 to El Paso, motorists continue along this road to Carlsbad Caverns, a distance of 150 miles through country of especial interest. Leaving the eastern limits of El Paso, the highway crosses the desert floor for 25 miles to the Hueco Mountains. Through these mountains it goes with long, sweeping curves and easy grades to a vast plain of semiarid grazing land. Not far to the north of this highway the old Butterfield stagecoach route was laid out in the fifties.

About 90 miles east of El Paso the highway crosses the salt lake beds, which were the cause of the Salt War of San Elizario in 1877. Slightly more than 100 miles out of El Paso the highway joins with the Van Horn-Carlsbad Highway and soon enters the Guadalupe Mountains, winding up through the canyons which the Butterfield stagecoaches once traversed, and swinging around Guadalupe Point and El Capitan, the highest points in Texas. At the entrance to Walnut Canyon, about 150 miles out of El Paso, is the park entrance. Here motorists should turn to the left to reach the entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns. From the junction at the park entrance one drives through Walnut Canyon over a recently constructed highway which winds gracefully between the cactus-covered hills to the parking terraces at the caverns entrance.

Walnut Canyon Highway.

ACCOMMODATIONS

There are no overnight accommodations available in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, but modern hotels and tourist camps in nearby cities and towns along the approach highways offer various types of service at prices ranging from $1 to $2 for camps, and from $1.50 to $3 for hotels. The National Park Service exercises no jurisdiction over these accommodations.

In the park itself, however, a store is maintained near the caverns entrance where refreshments, soft drinks, pictures, photographic supplies, cigarettes, candy, post cards, and souvenirs may be purchased. This is operated by the Cavern Supply Co., the only public utility operating in the park under Government franchise and supervision. Rates and service at the store are approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

The Cavern Supply Co. also serves luncheon at the 750-foot level in the caverns for the convenience of visitors making the 6-hour trip. Orders for luncheon, at the moderate cost of 60 cents, are taken as the visitors start on the cave trip.

Another service furnished by the company is a day nursery near the caverns entrance, where babies and small children are cared for. A charge of $1.50 a day for each child is made for this service which includes lunch. Although there is no limit placed on the age of children going through the caverns, parents will derive much more enjoyment from the trip if not accompanied by very small children, especially those under 4 years of age.

NEARBY PLACES OF INTEREST

Carlsbad.—About 28 miles northeast of the caverns, at the intersection of United States Highway No. 62 and New Mexico Highway No. 2 is the city of Carlsbad. Located in the heart of a Government irrigation district, is an oasis in the cactus-covered desert. Accommodations at modern hotels and tourist camps are available for 2,000 people. Paved streets arched by shade trees, and the municipal beach freshened by mineral springs, afford welcome contrast from the surrounding desert. The largest potash mine and refinery in the world are located near Carlsbad. The Pecos River is well stocked with game fish, and large and small game may be found in nearby mountains. A free museum contains exhibits of caverns formations and archeological relics of the region. An airport is located 3 miles south.

Artesia.—In an irrigated district also, is Artesia, a 90-minute ride from Carlsbad Caverns on State Highway No. 2. Hotel and camp-ground accommodations are available, and the town and vicinity have much of interest to offer the traveler. Bountifully stocked by the nearby Federal fish hatchery, the waters of Lake McMillan and the Pecos River offer excellent fishing. The artesian wells and oil refineries attract the attention of visitors.

Roswell.—About 100 miles north of the caverns is Roswell, the home of the New Mexico Military Institute. Here golf, swimming, tennis, and good motion-picture theaters are available. Surrounding Roswell are fine irrigated farms, and many beautiful drives run through this interesting region. The largest artesian well in the world, furnishing 13,000,000 gallons of water a day, is located just east of Roswell. A little farther east is the Bottomless Lakes State Park, surrounded by richly colored bluffs. The Lincoln National Forest, Billy the Kid Land, and the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation are west of Roswell on United States Highways Nos. 70 and 380. Hotels and camp grounds are available throughout this region. There are some 700 summer cabins in the Ruidoso Canyon alone.

El Paso (Gateway to Old Mexico).—This thriving city, 150 miles southwest of Carlsbad Caverns, offers much of interest to the traveler. Fort Bliss, the largest cavalry post of the United States Army and home of the First Cavalry Division, is at the eastern edge of the city. Three old missions, Ysleta, Socorro, and San Elizario, may be visited in the Rio Grande Valley a few miles below El Paso. These missions were built in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Just across the Rio Grande is Juarez, the largest Mexican city on the border. One of its principal attractions is Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, first permanent structure to be built in this valley by Spanish priests in 1659.

Santa Fe.—If you motor north from Carlsbad Caverns to Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon National Parks, you may go through Santa Fe, second oldest permanent European settlement in the United States and capital of New Mexico. The influence of the Spanish settlers and the native Indians is visible everywhere today. This interesting historic background, coupled with the fine climate and natural beauty of the region, has made Santa Fe a favorite resort with travelers. The exact date of its establishment has never been fixed, but much of the evidence available points to 1605. Many ancient buildings, closely connected with its colorful past, still stand. The Governor's Palace, believed to have been erected early in the seventeenth century, is now the home of the Historical Society of New Mexico, the School of American Archeology, and the New Mexico Museum of Archeology. This building was continuously occupied by Spanish and American governors until 1909. Gen. Lew Wallace lived in it from 1878 to 1881, and it was there that he wrote the concluding chapters of Ben Hur. Just north of the city are the ruined earthworks of Fort Marcy, constructed by General Kearny when he occupied Santa Fe in 1846.

Remains of many communal dwellings, built by the prehistoric peoples who occupied this region long before the arrival of the Spaniards, are found throughout the Southwest, and many of them may be seen a few miles from Santa Fe. Just over the New Mexico State line, in the southwestern corner of Colorado, is Mesa Verde National Park, created by the Federal Government in 1906 to protect hundreds of the most notable prehistoric cliff dwellings in the United States.

REFERENCES

ANDERSON, A. W. The Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico (The Cavern Supply Co., Carlsbad, N. Mex.), 1935.

BAILEY, VERNON. Animal life of the Carlsbad Caverns. Monograph of the American Society of Mammalogists No. 3 (The William & Wilkins Co., Baltimore), 1928.

______ Bats of the Carlsbad Caverns. National Geographic Magazine, September 1925.

BELL, H. S. Carlsbad the Magnificent. Nature Magazine, December 1927.

DARROW, F. L. Within the Earth. St. Nicholas Magazine, August 1930.

GRANT, BLANCHE C. Cavern Guide Book, Carlsbad Caverns, N. Mex. (Cram & Co., Topeka, Kans.), 1928.

HESS, FRANK L. Oolites or Cave Pearls in the Carlsbad Caverns, N. Mex. U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 76, art. 16, 5 pp., 8 pls., 1929.

JIM WHITE'S OWN STORY. Jim White, Carlsbad, N. Mex., 1932.

LEE, WILLIS T. A Visit to Carlsbad Caverns (Guadalupe Mountains, N. Mex.). National Geographic Magazine, January 1924.

______ Carlsbad Caverns (N. Mex.). Scientific Monthly, August 1925.

______ New Discoveries in Carlsbad Caverns (N. Mex.). National Geographic Magazine, September 1925.

MITCHELL, G. E. Carlsbad Caverns, a Wonderland of New Mexico. Mentor, August 1925.

NICHOLSON, F. E. The Exploration of Carlsbad Caverns (Railey Printing Co., Inc., Wichita Falls, Tex.), 1930.

PARKER, HARRY C. Notes on Mammals of the Carlsbad Caverns Region. Jour. of Mammal., vol. 13, no. 1, p. 70, February 1932.

WARNER, L. H. Visiting Carlsbad Caverns. National Republic, March 1930.

WETMORE, Alexander. Bones of the Great Horned Owl from the Carlsbad Caverns. The Condor, vol. 33, no. 6 (November—December), pp. 248-249.

WILLIAMS, HENRY EDISON. Christian Science Monitor, edition of April 8, 1932.

MISCELLANEOUS. New Mexico's Big Cave. Literary Digest, November 29, 1924.

______ Elevator to Reach Underworld Wonderland. Popular Mechanics, June 1931.