Floyd Collins’ Crystal Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Flint Ridge Road, in the Eastern Portion of Mammoth Cave National Park. Highways I-65, 31W, 31E from the North; Blue Grass Parkway, the Cumberland parkway, and U.S. 68 from the East; I-65, 31W, and U.S. 68 from the South; U.S. 231, The Green River parkway, and the Western Kentucky Parkway from the West. All connect with Ky. 70 and Ky. 255 to the park. From the Visitor Center 5.2 km on Flint Ridge Road, turn left on unmarked single lane gravel road. (37.2117827, -86.0549720)
Open:	closed. [2024]
Fee:	closed. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Joe Lawrence, Roger W. Brucker (1975): The Caves Beyond: The story of Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave exploration, Cave Books; 2nd Edition (1. August 1975), ISBN-10: 0914264184, ISBN-13: 978-0914264187.
Address:	Mammoth Cave National Park, P.O. Box 7, Mammoth Cave, KY 42259, Tel: +1-270-758-2180, Fax: +1-270-758-2349.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

SEP-1917	cave discovered by Floyd Collins who named it Great Crystal Cave and developed it as a show cave.
APR-1918	opened to the public as a show cave.
1925	Floyd Collins dies in Sand Cave.
1927	cave sold to Dr. Harry B. Thomas, renamed Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave.
18-MAR-1929	body of Floyd Collins stolen.
1961	sold to the National Park Service for USD 285,000 and included within Mammoth Cave National Park.
1961	show cave closed.

Description

Floyd Collins’ Crystal Cave was discovered by Floyd Collins in 1917 on his farm. According to legend he was checking a trap, when he noticed cool air coming from a hole in the ground. He widened the hole and dropped into a passage blocked by breakdown, after he removed the loose rocks he found the cave. He and his family started a show cave business and began living at the Floyd Collins Homestead. He named the new show cave either Crystal Cave or Great Crystal Cave, there seem to be different opinions about this. But there was a drawback: the area had numerous show caves, it was the time of the Kentucky Cave Wars, and this cave was quite remote and hard to reach. Even today there is only a single lane gravel road which ends at the cave entrance, and it turns off from a narrow paved road, which today connects Horse cave with the Visitor Center of Mammoth Cave. This road is called Flint Ridge Road, but is not the main road of the park, which is the two lane Mammoth Cave Parkway. The family operated the show cave for eight years, but Floyd Collins was looking for a better show cave which was closer to a main road and the tourist routes. In this search the caving accident in Sand Cave happened in 1925 and he died. Cynically, his death brought a lot of media attention and therefore many more visitors to the Great Crystal Cave.

But the family sold the cave two years later to Dr. Harry B. Thomas, whose family already operated two other show caves. He renamed it Floyd Collins Crystal Cave, which not only refers to the infamous cave explorer but also makes the cave distinguishable from the other dozen or so Crystal Caves in the area. And he had another great idea for drawing tourists to the cave. Collins' body had been embalmed and buried on the property, which he now owned. So Thomas had the body dug up and placed in a glass-topped coffin in the show cave close to the trail. It resembles Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow. Once his body was stolen, after some time the body was found in a nearby field, except for one leg. After that the casket in the cave was fixed with massive chains. The cave was operated by Thomas' grandson William "Bill" Austin until 1961. In 1961 the cave was sold to the National Park Service for USD 285,000 and was included within Mammoth Cave National Park. It seems they closed the cave immediately, because there were already enough show caves in the area.

The Collins family had objected to Collins' body being displayed in the cave. After the cave was purchased by the NPS they sued the federal government to release the body for a proper burial. The officials of the park actually agreed immediately, but local opposition slowed it down almost 30 years until 1989. It took 15 men to carry coffin and tombstone to the new grave. Floyd Collins descendants had him properly buried in Flint Ridge Cemetery at Mammoth Cave Baptist Church. His grave subsequently became a place of pilgrimage.

Another interesting history of this cave is the connection to the speleological exploration of Mammoth Cave. Under the auspice of the National Speleological Society, a group of 64 people, half of them underground, the other half above ground, explored Crystal cave in 1954. This expedition became known as C-3, the Collins Crystal Cave expedition. In 1955, they discovered the connection to nearby Unknown Cave, extending the cave system further. They also suggested a connection to Mammoth Cave, but this information was closely held by the explorers. They feared that the National Park Service might forbid their exploration if they knew. Joe Lawrence, Jr., an electronics engineer and then president of the National Speleological Society, was the expedition's leader. Together with Roger W. Brucker he wrote a book about this 160-hour expedition into Crystal Cave.

There are two wooden buildings, Floyd Collins Homestead and the former ticket office of the show cave right at the cave entrance. Participants of the C-3 expedition who wished to continue their explorations founded the Cave Research Foundation, Inc, in 1957. The homestead was the first headquarters and base of operations of this group, the cave was still a show cave and the owner William Austin was a member of the association. In 1960, they connected Colossal Cave with Salts Cave, in 1961 Colossal-Salts Cave was connected to Crystal-Unknown Cave. As a result all the caves of the Flint Ridge were actually a single huge cave system. When the NPS bought the cave and also Great Onyx Cave in 1961, the Cave Research Foundation was permitted to continue their exploration through a Memorandum of Understanding. In 1972, they connected the Flint Ridge Cave System with the Mammoth Cave System, which doubled its length. At that time the cave system was

The cave has a narrow entrance at the foot of a limestone cliff in a sort of doline. The area is also called doline country, but most dolines have no cave entrances. After some narrow and low passages the main chamber is reached, Gran Canyon Avenue, which is 70 m high, up to 40 m wide and 100 m long. There are numerous side passages, and also quite spectacular formations of calcite crystals, helictites, and even some gypsum minerals. However, the page which states it was a gypsum cave is wrong, this is a karst cave with a few extraordinary minerals.

Unfortunately most of the speleothems are heavily damaged. This is not only a result of the use as a show cave, it is the result of a break-in in 1995. The burglars looted hundreds of pounds speleothems and sold them to mineral dealers. They also took 2 clay moulded heads which were made by Floyd Collins in 1920. The authorities were unable to find any suspects, but after some years one of the participants stated with his participation. As a result all the perpetrators were soon identified, two were sentenced to 21 months in prison and 3 years probation, a third was sentenced to 33 months in prison and 3 years probation. 8 of the 13 mineral dealers in the Mammoth Cave area were accused of illegally trading in the stolen minerals, which earned them fines of 250 dollars or more. Cave formation sales have been illegal for years, but it took the vandalism of Crystal Cave to draw attention on the problem. Rock shops have indirectly encouraged the looting of caves by creating a market for cave formations. It's rare that such crimes are solved, but its necessary to punish them severely, after all, unique natural treasures are irretrievably destroyed by such actions. Officials and cavers would like to see stricter enforcement of the law and support making the offense of selling formations a felony.

We have listed this cave for several reasons. First it actually is a show cave, although it is closed now for 60 years. We have listed numerous closed caves, mainly because it is pretty hard to find valid data about closed caves. This cave is of special interest because of its connection to Floyd Collins and to the exploration history of Mammoth Cave. And there is another reason: there are actual plans to reopen the cave since 2018. Until today the cave is not officially open to the public, there are no tours offered on the Mammoth Cave website. Now and then tours into the cave are made by caving clubs or the NSS, but there are no guided tours for tourists. While the trails are still there, the railings are made of wood and should not be touched, because they have moulded and are quite fragile. But the NPS has thought about reopening the cave for tours. This would require massive work for renovation or alternatively the restriction on easy cave trekking tours. However, it seems that the last word has not yet been spoken.