User:CliffC/Sandbox9
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Floyd Collins (July 20, 1887 - c. February 13, 1925) was a cave explorer and guide in the central part of the state of Kentucky, USA. On January 30, 1925, while trying to discover a new entrance to the system of underground caves that is a popular Kentucky tourist attraction, Collins became trapped in a narrow crawlway fifty-five feet below the surface. Efforts to save him became a worldwide media sensation, the first such of the 20th century. After four days where he could be fed, a cave-in closed the entrance passageway to everything except voice contact. Collins died of exposure and starvation after about fourteen days underground, three days before a rescue shaft could reach his location. His body was recovered two months later.
This page is currently under construction, check back in a few days. Meanwhile, because this is a "sandbox", or temporary work page, it probably contains all sorts of incomplete, incorrect, random, and/or otherwise misleading data. |
Collins is noted for having discovered Crystal Cave, now part of the Flint Ridge Cave System of Mammoth Cave National Park, in 1917. He is sometimes referred to as "The Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known."