Family patriarch Leonidas (Lee) Collins was a Baptist fundamentalist and teetotaler – meaning he abstained from drinking alcohol. He, with his first wife Martha Collins (nee Burnett), had eight children: Elizabeth (who died at three months old), James, Floyd (b. 1887), Annie, Andy Lee, Marshall, Nellie (b. 1900), and Homer (b. 1903).

Martha died of tuberculosis in 1915, and Lee remarried the widow of a Mammoth Cave guide Sarilda Jane Buckingham, known as Miss Jane by most. James died of typhoid in 1922, Annie and Andy Lee separately moved to Illinois, and Marshall married and moved onto his own farm, leaving Floyd, Nellie, and Homer at home.

The Collinses were farmers, mainly of corn and oats. They did fairly well compared to the farms around them, but income wasn’t great. They shared a small, one-floor house with a high-pitched roof. The children all attended school in the one-roomed Mammoth Cave School from July through Christmas. Many students didn’t reach the eighth grade, and often alternated between attending school and assisting with the chores at home.

• 

• 

The Collins’ property sat on Flint Ridge, and Floyd started exploring caves at the age of six, wandering alone in salt caves about a mile from home. Floyd only completed the fifth grade before he began working on the farm and exploring nearby caves in his free-time. He became known for his skills and was even hired by caver Edmund Turner as a local guide. Seeing professional cavers during the height of Mammoth Cave popularity boosted Floyd’s aspirations for finding commercially successful caves. “[Floyd] saved enough money by age twenty-five to buy thirty acres of his own land adjoining his father’s. Much to his delight, he discovered a small cave on it, which he called Floyd’s Cave.”

In 1916, Floyd was sure he had discovered a larger cave on the Collins’ property. Wanting to pursue it, but understanding that cave wars and money debates tore families apart – Lee didn’t support Floyd’s excursions anyway –  he had his father agree in writing that if the cave was profitable, they would split 50/50. After two weeks of hard work, Floyd reached what he called Wonder Cave, now known as Crystal Cave.

• 

• 

The Crystal Cave entrance made some money, but failed to be popular – it was too far away from the Mammoth Cave entrances to attract many of the dwindling tourists, with travel hindered by the Great War. In 1924, Lee moved to sell the property and, when Floyd fought him, threatened to sue Floyd. But Floyd believed that Crystal Cave was connected to the entire system, and he had a plan.

His goal, to make his own property profitable and join the ranks of famous cavers, was to find a connection between Morrison’s New Entrance to Mammoth Cave and Crystal Cave. There was a sandhole with a narrow passageway on Beesley Doyle’s farm that Floyd though would be a shortcut to solid limestone below. Floyd negotiated with Doyle and the surrounding landowners Edward Estes and Jesse Lee. Floyd’s pitch was convincing enough: they agreed to let him search their land for half of the profits and let him stay with them while he worked.

Lee was still upset by Floyd’s recklessness. Miss Jane was worried about his endeavors; Floyd had confided in her about a dream he had of being trapped and she felt as though it was a premonition. Even Homer was concerned about this particular cave. But, Floyd set out for what would be called Sand Cave on the morning of Friday, January 30th.