The caverns in Carlsbad, New Mexico are one of the most renowned cave systems in the United States. 16-year-old Jim White discovered the caves in 1898, and in 1915, the first photographs of the caves by Ray V. Davis stimulated public interest in the caverns. Together, White and Davis introduced the world to the wonders that lay deep below the desert floor.

The caverns consist of several hundred interlinked limestone caves in a fossil reef deposited more than 250 million years ago. Deep underground, elaborate stalactites and stalagmites fill a seemingly endless series of cool, humid rooms. Sea specimen such as algae, nautilus, and sponges are preserved within the rock.

In the early 1920s, Jim White had the Carlsbad Caverns surveyed and mapped, recommending that they established as a national monument. By the end of the decade, tourists began to visit the caverns to see the most famous cathedral-like caverns 1,000 feet deep.

Today, more than 400,000 visitors travel to the caverns each year. The park's museum and archives contain nearly 1 million cultural resource specimens that are under preservation and protected for years to come.

Podcast Written and Narrated by Megan Warden, Public History Student at the University of West Florida.