Floyd Collins July 20, 1887 - February 13, 1925

At the November 2009 Timpanogos Grotto meeting, our Secretary/Treasurer Richard Downey stood up to make an announcement and before you knew it he started rambling on a tangent to relate the story of Flyd Collins. Our grotto has many newer cavers and only a few in the room knew who Floyd Collins was, before Richard’s relating of the historical events. It was ironic that just two weeks later and John Jones would be getting stuck in the Nutty Putty Cave that the majority of people in the room would be on site as part of the rescue party.

So who was Floyd Collins? Known as one of the great cavers in history, he broke the top 5 rules of cave exploration.

Floyd Collins:

• 1) Went exploring alone.
• 2) Had only one light source.
• 3) Was poorly clothed.
• 4) Had no helmet or hard hat.
• 5) Did not tell anybody where he was going or when he would be back.

Floyd was trapped 55 feet below the surface. For two weeks he lay trapped in the cave. Floyds’s tombstone read: GREATEST CAVE EXPLORER EVER LIVED.  But Floyd Collins’ example of what not to do reminds us of what we should do to safely explore subterranean passages. Enjoy following the links below to some great information about the life and death of Floyd Collins.

Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins

In Trapped!, authors Roger Brucker and Robert Murray take readers into the mind of this simple Kentucky farmer whose ambition to discover a big cave was fueled by visions of fame and fortune.

In researching Trapped!, Brucker and Murray interviewed dozens of eyewitnesses and studied hundreds of documents to uncover facts about this tragedy that were not previously known. More than a book about a caving tragedy, Trapped! is a story of personal ambition, conflicting egos, and one man's courage in the face of unspeakable terror.

When Floyd Collins entered Sand Cave in 1925, little did he realize that he would soon become a national folk hero. His entrapment and the subsequent efforts to free him attracted national attention and became one of the most sensational news events of the 20th Century.

Floyd Collins was a farmer in the Kentucky hills and an avid cave explorer who, in the winter of 1925, entered a cave that he hoped to turn into a tourist-driven goldmine, and instead became hopelessly trapped.

Rescuers tried everything – digging and hacking at the passageway, sinking a new shaft, and feeding Floyd to keep up his energy. A wealthy Chicago woman sent her surgeon to Cave City by plane to try to amputate Collins’ foot and thus free him, but to no avail. Reporter Skeets Miller squeezed his way between rock and sand debris to interview Floyd and chronicle the drama. Eventually, a passage just above Floyd collapsed, cutting him off entirely from all human contact; and poor Floyd died alone, buried alive. As the historical marker matter-of-factly states at the entrance to Sand Cave, his plight “Aroused the sympathy of a nation.”