Crisis at the Caverns

THE TAKEOVER OF CARLSBAD CAVERN--JULY 10, 1979
by Bob Hoff

What you and your park people accomplished in that time of crisis and danger is in keeping with the highest standards and precepts of the National Park Service, the Department of Interior, and the entire Federal Service. I want you all to know that you deserve the highest respect and praise of our citizenry.
Quote from Secretary of Interior Cecil Andrus to Park
Superintendent Donald Dayton

Superintendent’s Monthly Log, July 1979

So wrote Secretary of Interior Cecil Andrus to Carlsbad Caverns National Park Superintendent Donald Dayton about Dayton’s park staff in August 1979. What crisis and danger had confronted that park staff less than a month earlier?

The crisis began on Tuesday, July 10, 1979, at 3:20 p.m. when four Odessa, Texas men, two of them hiding firearms, took the elevator down to the underground lunchroom, intent on seizing hostages and making terrorist demands. Elevator operator Celia Valdez and passenger Park Technician Linda Phillips were taken hostage on the elevator ride down, and forced out of the elevator at gunpoint. Valdez escaped at her first opportunity by running into a crowd; for Phillips, being a hostage lasted nearly four hours.

The four terrorists, two Native Americans—Eugene Meroney (31) and William Lovejoy (28), and two Caucasians—Dennis Mark (39) and David Kuczynski (28), cleared the underground lunchroom, demanding that park employees help get the visitors out. During the evacuation of about 200 visitors from, the underground lunchroom, several gunshots rang out. Meroney ordered one of the park employees, Park Technician Jesus Fierro, to help get visitors out of the lunchroom; Meroney left Fierro, but quickly returned, pointed his rifle at Fierro!s feet, cocked the weapon, and pulled the trigger. The rifle failed to fire (“Operator Heard Episode Start,” El Paso Times, July 12 1979).

Holed up in the underground lunchroom, with hostage Park Technician Linda Phillips, their weapons, and a bottle of whiskey, the terrorists made known their demands: to talk to a reporter, to receive a million dollars, and to be flown to Brazil. Whether or not the four terrorists knew about the 100 or so visitors hiding at the Top of the Cross area is unclear, but what is clear is that they allowed some visitors to return to the surface in the elevators. Other visitors and employees walked out through the Natural Entrance.

During the shooting spree by the terrorists, a wooden bench, a wooden door, a wooden handrail, some audiovisual equipment, and a dress jacket were damaged by gunshot pellets. At 4:40 p.m. Carlsbad Current Argus publisher Ned Cantwell arrived and attempted to call the terrorists by telephone; they insisted that he come into the cave and talk to them in person. He went down to the terrorist-controlled underground lunchroom at 5:40 p.m

At 5:25 p.m. FBI Agent Jim Gallagher arrived at park and at 6:35 p.m. El Paso Special Agent Wallace Crossman, specially trained in hostage negotiations, arrived. Crossman assisted Area Manager Jack Linahan and Agent Gallagher in evaluating the gunmen’s demands.6 Crossman ordered an FBI Special Weapons Attack Team, which arrived 8:00 p.m. and put on stand-by.

Negotiations continued between Area Manager Jack Linahan and the hostage-takers via phone. At one point the gunmen offered to release the hostages in return for a bottle of whiskey, but Linahan refused. Linahan did indicate, however, that the US Attorney might be receptive to negotiating their demands.

Eventually, the abductors agreed to release Park Technician Phillips and newspaper publisher Cantwell, if the charges against the four Odessa, Texans would be reduced to misdemeanors. The FBI agreed and Phillips and Cantwell were released at 7:07 p.m.

Having traded their demands for a million dollars and a plane ride to Brazil for reduced criminal charges against them, the four gunmen surrendered at 8:47 p.m. Once arrested, the four terrorists faced bail of $250,000 per terrorist.

Setting the bail was easy compared to what followed. In the days that followed, legal authorities argued two major points:
(1) Who rightfully had legal jurisdiction in this bizarre case—New Mexico or the Federal government?

(2) Was the guaranteeing of a reduced misdemeanor charge inappropriate for an armed terrorist situation involving so many people When the legal arguments were resolved, the four Texans found themselves in Albuquerque rather than Brazil:

The four gunmen who took over the Cavern on July 10 pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges before U.S. Magistrate Robert McCoy in Albuquerque on August 2 ("1979" added by BH) and were sentenced to one year in prison. According to information received, they will have to serve the full sentence and will not be eligible for paroles.
(Superintendent’s Monthly Log, August 1979)

The hostage situation had ended none too soon on July 10, 1979 for maintenance employee Brenda Buris, one of the 100 plus people trapped at the Top of the Cross. Suffering epileptic seizures, Buris, who was without her medication, became unconscious and faced a life-threatening situation. Park Technician Carol Metzger, who managed Buris’ medical emergency and the other visitors during the long hours of the cave-takeover, controlled the situation until help could arrive once the hostages had surrendered.

For Ned Cantwell, his part in resolving the terrorist situation brought him an unexpected admirer. On July 27, 1979, in Washington D.C. at a President Jimmy Carter Conference, Cantwell stood in line to shake hands with the Chief Executive. When Cantwell reached the President, Carter read Cantwell’s name tag, saw that he was from Carlsbad, and asked him “if he had been the one who went into the Caverns and talked to the four gunmen.” Cantwell admitted the distinction and President Carter told the story to the rest of those present, citing Cantwell for “a great act of heroism.(story from Bob Hoff Oral History Interview of Ned Cantwell--May 22. 1997).

Because the park staff responded so well to that time of crisis and danger, they received a Unit Award for Excellence of Service in January 1980. You might recognize the names of some of these people--Harold West, Bobby Crisman, Manny Cortez, Tom “Boomer” Bemis, Peggy Justice, Diane Esquibel, Celia Valdez, Bob Turner, and Amelia Tully.

July 10, 1979, had indeed included a time of crisis and danger at the caverns. Four armed muddled-thinking terrorists had taken over the underground lunchroom in a cave in a major National Park on a summer visitation day. They took hostages and in the process fired an estimated 100-200 round of ammunition in the underground lunchroom. They indirectly kept over a 100 people in the cave against their will for over five hours. Under these trying conditions, the park staff, local and other law enforcement authorities, and a local newspaper publisher provided for the safety and protection of all the visitors and employees.

And in the process, the NPS staff at CAVE helped returned the cave to its’ rightful owners.

Written in December 1992 for Bob Hoff's History Leads and Resources Reprinted in Dale Pate's Canyons and Caves (Issue 34, Fall 2004)

http://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/upload/C&C34.pdf

Were the Caverns open during World War II?

September 4, 2008

Written response to question addressed to CAVE Superintendent

Some Historical Timeline Events Connected to Carlsbad Caverns
National Park and the Immediate Area during World War II

Your Question: “were the caverns open during World War II?” The answer is yes.






O.K. now that I presumably have your attention--

First off, I did not send these pictures to the people who posed the above question because I didn't have any hard copies of these photos. But aren't they interesting photographs?

Let's look at them closer What can we notice? Both pictures show the elevator building and what we call the Superintendent's building (one pix has more of it than the other). Built in 1932, this building was originally a dormitory and has served a variety of uses since.

The other thing that we notice is that the planes are flying extremely close to the ground. Of course, the planes probably contain trainees from the nearby Carlsbad Army Air Base (see more below). Why would pilots "stunt" like this? Because (I think) there is something in the blood of some pilots that make them do things like this. As a teenage pilot, even before he entered the U.S. Navy as a fighter pilot, my Dad lost his civilian pilot's license for a while due to "looping a bridge" while flying his plane--whatever that means. O.K., I admit it; he was "stunting."

While I enjoy these pictures, I do want to emphasize that this was not typically what military pilots did in the CAVE area. As you might imagine, the complexity of flying planes requires much self-discipline from pilots. And I also want to emphasize that these pictures show probably what was a "once or twice in a lifetime event" in these parts.

By the way, this plane is the B-24 "Liberator."

The following information comes from Caverns Superintendent Monthly Reports of the WW II period as collected in two separate chronologies by Bob Crisman and Peggy Justice. Such SMR information is in italics. I will add explanatory notes, in italics, as I think necessary (Bob Hoff, hereafter “BH”).

Colonel (an honorary title) Thomas Boles was caverns superintendent from 1927 until 1946, and the author of the Superintendent Monthly Reports. Boles was a “people person” who loved to promote visitation to the caverns, but he also realized the importance of protecting its resources. In 1944, one of his favorite visitor programs to have his staff of guides present, the Rock of Ages ceremony in the Big Room, came under criticism from authorities in Washington D.C. I will touch on this more later. (BH)

Superintendent Boles wrote in his December 1941 SMR: (Hereafter, all SMRs written by Boles)—
December 1941--After the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and U. S. entry into World War II, armed ranger patrols of the park power plant, explosives storage shed and developed area were started, along with closure of the park from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. each night. (Bob Crisman Chronology, hereafter “CC”)

In the 1940s, the elevator building, constructed in the early 1930s several hundred yards away from the caverns natural entrance, stood atop the ridge overlooking to the south the site of the ancient Permian Sea. On the hill opposite from the elevator building (to the north) were (and still are in many cases) buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as a triplex residence completed in 1942 by Civilian Conservation Corp enrollees. (BH)

In the “valley” between the two hills sat the Cavern Supply concession building constructed in 1927. This company sold various refreshments and souvenirs to the public. This building was also adjacent to the park ticket office constructed in 1926, a visitor parking lot built in the 1930s, and a government facilities building constructed in the 1930s. (Ibid.)

Occasional Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees groups from other area (New Mexico and Texas) CCC camps visit the caverns; several such CCC groups posed for a picture at the caverns’ natural entrance. Carlsbad Caverns had its own CCC camp at Rattlesnake Springs (six miles distant from park headquarters) with CCC “boys” completing various projects from 1938 – 1942. (Ibid.)

December 7, 1941--War Begins: The state of war, commencing with December 7, will undoubtedly result in curtailment to many activities in the National Park Service and in this the Carlsbad Cavern will be no exception, as each must take its place in the scheme of our National defense; everything else must be secondary. (Peggy Justice Chronology, hereafter “PJ”)

The Carlsbad Cavern personnel is represented by four soldiers in the 200th Coastal Artillery now in the Philippines, as well as one young man in Pearl Harbor, and in each case I know he will make a good account of the responsibilities so suddenly thrust upon him. The 200th Coast Artillery is composed entirely of officers and men from New Mexico and includes not only about 100 from Eddy County, but also three young men from our Santa Fe Office. (PJ)

Note: two men of the 200th Coast Artillery were sons of noted caverns photographer Ray V. Davis. Like many soldiers of the 200th Coastal Artillery, Davis’ sons marched in the infamous Bataan Death March, before dying on a Japanese P.O.W. transport ship sunk by mistake by Allied pilots. (BH)

1942--Carlsbad Caverns Civilian Conservation Corp camp at Rattlesnake Springs disbands after completing a triplex residential structure (started in 1940) and a facilities building (still used today—almost seven decades later-- as a maintenance office.) (BH)

1942-1946 Carlsbad Army Air Base—located on the “flats” between the caverns and Carlsbad, New Mexico, provided training for bombardier pilots, many of whom visited the caverns. (BH)
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/ap_carlsbad_071908/

Note: one of the main organizers--if not the main--organizer of the reunion of Carlsbad Army AIr Base pilots and navigators scheduled this month (referred to in the link above) is our own long-term CAVE employee and caver Tom Bemis, without a doubt a major CAVE oral historian, a major participant in CAVE historical events, and one of the most interesting people you might ever want to meet. (BH)

On October 26, 1942, the first party to visit Carlsbad Caverns by plane lands "on the automobile parking terrace." (Tom Meador 1, 1) (CC)

1943--CCC barracks and equipment at Rattlesnake Springs used by a cadre of 117 soldiers assigned to Carlsbad Army Air Base. (CC)

Feb 10, 1943--Lt. Clark Gable (movie star from Gone with the Wind), Army Air Force, Ft. Biggs, Texas, visited (PJ)

1943—April--World War II gasoline rationing and tire shortages affected travel by the general public. Of the park's 89,126 visitors recorded in 1943, 38%, or 33,596 were members of the armed forces who came partly because of intensive efforts by Superintendent Boles who went to numerous regional bases to personally invite them. Soles estimated that another 40% of the visitation was made up of relatives of these soldiers and 10% from other war related workers in transit, leaving only about 12%, or approximately 10,695 "regular" visitors. This heavy military visitation started in 1942 and continued into 1944. (CC)

One former park employee, Olive “Johnny” Johnson, came to work at the caverns part-time in 1943, hired by Superintendent Boles to help with the staff shortage. A highly respected and loved co-worker, Mrs. Johnson worked on the ranger staff until the 1970s. On several occasions in the 1990s, she provided oral history material based on her experiences for the park history files. On April 23, 2001, she returned to the park to provide training for the ranger guides. Incidentally, she passed away here in Carlsbad several years ago on her 90th birthday. (BH)

August 1944--Approximately 95% of visitors walked in on complete tours and 30% also walked out. (CC)

Sept 3, 1944- Biggest visitation day since Pearl Harbor (12/7/41) with 1,588 visitors (CC)

As I mentioned earlier, one of Superintendent Boles favorite interpretive programs was the Rock of Ages ceremony in the Big Room Visitors liked the ceremony as well with its oftentimes inspiring talks, its turning off of the Big Room lights, and its singing by guides and visitors of the popular ballad Rock of Ages. However, as you will note in the next SMR excerpt, higher Park Service officials saw the Rock of Ages ceremony as “failing to accent the scientific and educational value of the caverns tour." (BH)

October 1944--The four trips we will provide beginning with December 1, 1944 will accent the scientific and educational value of the cavern tour, and will necessitate the discontin­uance of the traditional ceremony at the “Rock of Ages” beginning with that date. (JC)

November 1944—Conclusion--New schedules of cavern tours permitting three complete tours and one extra tour around the “Big Room” each day was put in effect December 4. ...These tours include approximately forty brief lectures on the geological features of the caverns instead of the traditional ceremony at the “Rock of Ages” which for the present has been discontinued...In the meantime I believe that the service now given the public at the Carlsbad Cavern is along the lines desired and suggested by Director (Newton) Drury. (JC)

December 1944-- Lectures, Guide Service and Interpretive Contacts: Complying with the Director=s order, transmitted through the Regional Headquarters, the ceremony at the “Rock of Ages” was terminated on December 5, 1944, and additional trips through the cavern made available to the public... (JC)

Note: The first Rock of Ages ceremony at the caverns occurred in 1927. (BH)

1945-- Travel restrictions eased somewhat with the end of the European portion of World War II. (CC)

July 1945-- Employee workweek reduced from 48 to 44 hours. (CC)

July 16, 1945-- World's first atomic bomb test, north of Alamogordo, New Mexico, seen and felt at Caverns. (CC)

August 1945--Gasoline rationing ended, and caverns’ travel jumped 72%. (CC)

September 1945-- Forty-hour workweek established and Standard Time Resumed in lieu of "War" (Daylight Savings) time). (CC)

January 1946-- Due to shortage of guides, walkout tours were provided only 17 days this month. This, along with elimination of the separate elevator fee caused 96% of the visitors to exit via elevator. Percentage of visitors taking Big Room tour only increased to 27%. Only 6 guides were available weekdays, 12 on weekends to handle 20,000 visitors per month. Employees from other divisions used to assist with visitors o busy days. (CC)

April 1946—Caverns’ guides on military furloughs began returning. (CC)

Summary—Business at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park during World War II occurred on a smaller scale because of the higher priority of the war (1941-45) and the impact of the war on potential visitors and caverns employees. The popularity of the caverns resumed after World War II. (BH)


Bob Hoff
CAVE Volunteer-in-the-Park
Former CAVE Park Historian
Former CAVE Park Guide

A Dedication for the Carlsbad Caverns History Blog: To CAVE Retirees Peggy Justice and Bob Crisman

This blog would not even exist except for the efforts of two people: caverns retirees Peggy Justice and Bobby Crisman.

Peggy Justice retired from CAVE as a Personnel Management Specialist in 1995. In her NPS career, she served 34+ years. When I was a supervisor (1986 - 1992), before being the cavern's historian, she often helped me to make sure that I was complying with federal personnel laws as they applied to decisions that I made about the employees. Under her guidance, other caverns supervisors and I never had to go to jail even once. :)

During the 1998 CAVE Employee Reunion, Peggy put together a biographical collection of entries written by the former employees . The employee reunion book itself is a great source of historical materials, with interesting stories of our employee predecessors, as they remembered themselves and each other and the work that they undertook with each other.

Peggy was an outstanding National Park Service "Volunteer-in-the-Park for the caverns Cultural Resources program. Besides the huge amount of work that the 1998 CAVE reunion "book" entailed, he took on the prodigious task of researching and compiling a list of chronological events from caverns' primary historical sources dating back to the 1920s. In addition, she typed a number of caverns primary historical sources so that we could share parts of them with interested park employees and researchers. Finally, she worked on compiling and organizing cavern library records for us.

Peggy is a very, very nice, and easy going person and an extremely well-organized and hard worker. She calls me Robert. I won't tell you what she calls me when I mess up. Her daughter Kathy Elmore is Superintendent John Benjamin's right (or left) hand.

I remember a day when our newly arrived division chief decided to try his hand at selling tickets just to see what it was like. He did just fine until a shabbily dressed man wearing overalls, a straw hat tilted low over his eyes, and big sunglasses, appeared at the ticket window. The visitor jabbered in Spanish and dropped several Canadian coins on the counter. The cashier tried to explain in English that he couldn't accept foreign money, but the visitor just kept jabbering away in Spanish, and neither one could understand the other. After the ticket line got quite long,the visitor picked up his coins, walked away, and disappeared in the crowd. As my partner-in-crime (initials MEJ)(I don't know who this was--Bob) and I hid around the corner laughing at the little prank we had set up, we overheard another visitor say how sorry she felt for the man and thought about going back and paying for his ticket. By then, the visitor had gone to his work place, took off his disguise, and finished his normal NPS work day. Yes, we did have fun.

Thank you, Peggy.


Like Peggy Justice, Mr. Bobby Crisman was another very important employee at the caverns. To "set" him in historical context, I want to quote his employee reunion entry written on February 14, 1999:


Overview of Mr. Crisman's National Park Service Career)

Prior to joining the NPS I was one of the original explorers of the Caverns of Sonora in Texas, and I worked on the Texas Cave Survey.

I began my NPS career as a Tour Leader at Carlsbad Caverns NP in 1957 and transferred to Montezuma Castle NM in 1960 as a Supervisory Park Ranger. From 1965 to 1970 I was a Supervisory Park Ranger at Fort Davis NHS and then returned to Carlsbad Caverns where I remained for the next 26 years.

 I wore several hats during this second tour of duty at the Caverns: Park Naturalist, Interpretive Specialist and Management Assistant (also served Guadalupe Mountains NP), and Acting Superintendent. I served several long term Acting Superin­tendent assignments: 11/3/80-2/7/81, 9/1/85-3/29/86, 3/8/88-9/26/88, and 8/16/92-9/15/92.

I served as principal assis­tant to five Superintendents, worked under a total of seven Superinten­dents, and received the Department of Interior Meritorious Service Award and several other awards during the course of my careerWhile at Carlsbad Caverns I helped with the opening of Slaughter Canyon Cave, planning and development of Guadalupe Mountains NP, wilderness and master planning for both parks, and drilling of the utilities shaft into the Caverns.

I helped initiate the cave management program and establishment of the first cave resource specialist position, handled news media relations, concessions management, safety program oversight, and special permits and tort claims.I retired from the National Park Service November 3, 1996, the exact date I had started my NPS career 39 years before.

My wife, Pauline, and I have two grandchildren.

What Mr. Crisman didn't write is that for many of his years at the caverns, he keep and preserved historical documents at the park that might have otherwise been destroyed. He was always a strong advocate of the interpretive program, visitor services, the NPS mission, and the park library as well as many other park resources. In his tenure in the different jobs that he performed, he became a walking encyclopedia of the par's history. At the time that I was park historian (1992-2005) he helped me greatly, directing me to sources, helping me to discover ideas, and patiently assisting me to connect many of those ideas.

Mr. Crisman--a caver, park guide, manager, administrator, historian, resources protector, and human relations practioner (and for me, a mentor in my job as park historian)--truly a man of many talents, skills, and abilities. One of the many things that he accomplished was being in large part responsible for the designation of our park as a World Heritage Site in 1995.


Thank you very much, Mr. Crisman