Hotel. In 1910 Floyd discovered his first cave, Donkey's Cave, on the Collins farm. In 1912, Edmund Turner, a geologist, hired Floyd to show him caves of the region. Consequently, Turner and Floyd assisted with the discovery of Dossey's Dome Cave in 1912 and Great Onyx Cave in 1915. Later in 1915, Floyd's mother died due to tuberculosis and Lee Collins married a Mammoth Cave guide's widow, Serilda Jane "Miss Jane" Buckingham. Great Crystal Cave In September 1917, while climbing up a bluff on the Collins farm, Floyd noticed cool air coming from a hole in the ground. Upon widening the hole, he was able to drop down into a cavity that was part of a passage blocked by breakdown. In December 1917, after further excavation of the breakdown, Floyd discovered the sinkhole entrance to what he would later name "Great Crystal Cave." Lee Collins deeded Floyd a half interest in the cave and they immediately decided to commercialize it. After tremendous preparation by the entire family, the transformed show cave was opened to tourists in April 1918. However, the cave attracted a low number of tourists due to its remote location. Sand Cave – 1925 incident Collins hoped to find another entrance to the Mammoth Cave or possibly an unknown cave along the road to Mammoth Cave and draw more visitors and greater profits. He made an agreement with three farmers, who owned land closer to the main highway. If he found a cave, they would form a business partnership and share in the responsibilities of operating this tourist attraction. Working alone, within three weeks, he had explored and expanded a hole that would later be called "Sand Cave" by the news media. Collins managed to squeeze through several narrow passageways, one of which was reported as no larger than 9" tall, and claimed he had discovered a large grotto chamber, though it was never verified. He worked on creating a more practical entrance to the grotto for hours a day and weeks on end in order to make it easier for tourists to access. On January 30, 1925, after several hours of work his gas lamp began to dim. He had to leave quickly before losing all light to the chamber, but became trapped in a small passage on his way out. Collins accidentally knocked over his lamp, putting out the light, leading to misplacement of his foot