Saturday, July 31, 2010

On the way to Carlsbad

Sorry it's been so long. I got in trouble and mom and dad took my blog away for a week. Learned my lesson there. Then we went to visit some family and friends for a couple of weeks. Anyway, I'm back now. On the way to Carlsbad, New Mexico, mom told me the story about how one of my ancestors almost discovered Carlsbad Caverns. She said that my great, great, great grandfather, Ben Nichols, who was a cattle drover, was with a man named Jim White in the late 1800's. As they were pushing cattle through New Mexico, they came up on a big hole in the ground. Mr. White wanted to go down into it and explore. But, Grandpa Nichols said that he didn't come all this way to die in a hole in the ground. They rode off, but later Mr. White came back. In 1915, Mr. White took Roy Davis with him. Mr. Davis took some pictures and put them up for people to see in the town of Carlsbad. So then, people wanted to see it. They were lowered 170 feet down into the cave by a big bucket. In 1923, it became a National Monument and in 1930 it became Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Just thought this was an interesting story about how we were almost rich and famous. Wait 'til next time for the rest of the story about our trip to Carlsbad. It won't be long.