The Journal of Spelean History
Volume 39, No. 1, Issue 127 January – June 2005 The Journal of Spelean History
Official Publication American Spelean History Association History Section National Speleological Society
Volume 39, No. 1, Issue 127 January-June 2005
The Association Back Issues The American Spelean History Association (ASHA) is an Internal Organization of the JSH began publication in 1968 and copies of all National Speleological Society and exists for the back issues are available, although many early study, dissemination, and interpretation of issues are reprints. The cost is $2 per copy for 1- spelean history, and related purposes. All 2 copies, $1.50 per copy for 3-6 copies, or $1 per persons who are interested in these goals are copy for 7 or more copies. Add $0.50 postage cordially invited to become members. Dues are for one copy or $1 for two or more copies $2 per issue of the Journal of Spelean History. ordered at once. Order back issues from the Dues can be paid for up to 20 issues ($40). Treasurer. Checks should be made payable to “ASHA” and mailed to the treasurer. Officers
The Journal President: Dean Snyder, 3213 Fairland Drive, Schnecksville, PA 18078 The Journal of Spelean History (JSH) is the Association’s publication and is mailed to all members. JSH includes articles covering a wide Vice-President: Carolyn E. Cronk, 1595 variety of topics relating to man’s use of caves, Blueberry Hills Road, Monument, CO including historical cave explorations, saltpeter 80132 and other mineral extraction, and show cave development. All members are strongly encouraged to contribute material and to Secretary-Treasurer: Bob Hoke, 6304 comment on published material. ASHA assumes Kaybro Street, Laurel, MD 20707 no responsibility for statements made by contributors. Trustees: Larry E. Matthews, Marion O. Smith, Gary K. Soule, Jack Speece Authors are strongly encouraged to submit electronic copies in Microsoft Word, with minimal formatting, by email. Images should Editor: Greg Brick, 1001 Front Avenue, be saved as jpg. Photos and illustrations will Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55103 be returned upon request. ASHA cannot [email protected] publish copyrighted material without permission. Contributors are themselves responsible for determining whether material Printing: Bob Hoke is copyrighted and securing the appropriate permissions.
2 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005)
Editor’s note: To avoid delays, contributors are strongly urged to submit electronic copies in Microsoft Word, with minimal formatting, and with images saved as jpg, via email. Priority is given to new material, not previously published. If you are sending lengthy clippings or reprints, please word-process them yourself and mail a copy of the original (for proofing). Send submissions to Greg Brick, [email protected]
Visit the new ASHA website at www.cavehistory.org
Contents
Spelean Post Offices of the United States Part Two: Idaho through Montana Thomas Lera……………………………....4
“A Chaos of Darkness and Rocks”: Harriet Martineau’s 1834 Visit to Mammoth Cave Steve Horstmeyer………………………………………………………………………...18
On White Fish and Black Men: Did Stephen Bishop Really Discover the Blind Cave Fish of Mammoth Cave? Aldemaro Romero and Jonathan S. Woodward………………………………………….23
A Minnesota Show Cave Advertisement from 1852 Greg A. Brick………………………………………………………………………….....33
Cave Clippings……...…………………….……….……..…….………………….……34
Front Cover: Harriet Martineau in 1833. See Steve Horstmeyer’s article in this issue.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 3 Spelean Post Offices of the United States Part Two: Idaho through Montana
By Thomas Lera
This is Part Two of a series on the spelean post offices of the United States, alphabetically arranged. Part One, covering the states from Alabama through Hawaii, was published in the last issue (No. 126). The remainder, covering Nebraska through Wyoming, together with additional notes, will be published in future issues.
IDAHO SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Lost River 1885 – 1912 Butte Niter 1904 – 1918 Caribou
Niter, Idaho Four-bar Cancel
ILLINOIS SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Cave 6/27/1847 – 3/26/1879 Franklin Cave-in-Rock 62919 10/24/1849 – OPEN Hardin Cave Valley 2/7/1893 – 7/20/1894 Jackson Rock and Cave 3/13/1832 – 10/24/1849 Hardin
ILLINOIS SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1848 – 1871 Kankakee Lost Creek 1874 – 1884 Clinton
Cave-in-Rock (previously known as Rock and Cave, Big Cave, Ford’s Ferry, and Robbins Ferry) is located in Hardin County on the north bank of the Ohio River in southeastern Illinois and has a population of 450. Much history is associated with the village, mainly revolving around the “cave" from which the town got its name. Charlevoix's History of New France, published in 1744, contains the first documented mention of the cave. A map was drawn from data obtained by Martin Chartier who had come from France in 1729 to visit the area. He called it “le caverne dans le roc,” which
4 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) was once the hangout for river pirates and counterfeiters, and is now part of the Cave-in- Rock State Park.
Soloman Perkins, the first permanent settler, had lived in Cave-in-Rock, on his 320 acre farm prior to March 3, 1807, when he was granted permission to remain on the site of the new town. Around 1807, Phillip Coon and his family settled on the edge of Cave-in-Rock where the "Hessville community" was located. During the 1813 May Term of the Gallatin County Court of Common Pleas, a man named Lewis Barker was given permission to have a road surveyed from his ferry to the U.S. Saline Works. In 1814 he bought the section of land where Cave-in-Rock is now located. As the result of a petition signed by inhabitants of Rock and Cave Township, Barker and Coon were appointed to plan a new road to the U. S. Saline Works that would connect with Barker's Ferry at the Rock Cave with the Kaskaskia Road. The highway that ran through Crittenden and Hardin counties, Kentucky, became known as Ford's Ferry Road. In early days it was the main highway across this section of the country for pioneer settlers traveling from Kentucky and regions to the east.
A plat of Cave-in-Rock was recorded in 1839 but the village was not incorporated until 1901. Early records often refer to the town as Rock-in-Cave, but sometime in the 1830's the name began appearing as Cave-in-Rock. The village was located in Pope County until 1839 when Hardin County was annexed from the counties of Pope and Gallatin. Records before 1839 can still be found in the county court houses of Pope and Gallatin, although most records were destroyed when the original courthouse burned in 1884. Until the late 1870's, the main street of Cave-in-Rock was Water Street, which ran in front of the businesses facing the Ohio River. However, when the town burned in 1884 the businesses were rebuilt facing away from the river and Water Street became Main Street.
Now known as Thompsonville, the town of Cave was also a stop on the Illinois Central Railroad. The Thompsonville Post Office is still open.
Cave, Illinois Manuscript Cancel and Cave In Rock CDS with Target Killers.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 5 INDIANA SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Alum Cave 1/22/1884 – 1905 Clay / Sullivan Cave Spring 6/19/1854 – 8/15/1862 Decatur King’s Cave 8/28/1870 – 7/10/1873 Harrison Spring Cave 7/18/1866 – 9/12/1866 Owen
INDIANA SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1841 Lawrence Lost River 1837 – 1878 Orange Lost River 1879 – 1896 Martin Sinks 1882 – 1905 Harrison Sinking Creek 1826 – 1828 Washington Sinking Spring 1837 – 1852 Lawrence
Indiana town name information is limited, however this author can say that most of them derived their names from nearby natural features, such as cave spring or point, a limestone cove, or even man-made features like cave mills. While detailed information on all of the post offices and postmasters can be found in The Postal History of Indiana by J. David Baker, Volumes I and II published by Leonard H. Hartmann, Philatelic Bibliopole, Louisville, Kentucky, a brief synopsis follows.
Alum Cave Post Office was established in Clay County on January 22, 1884, with Milton C. Dell as its first postmaster. The county boundaries eventually changed and Alum Cave is now located in Sullivan County.
Cave Spring in Decatur County was established June 19, 1854, with Edward A. Jocelyn as postmaster.
William H. Pfrimmer was the first postmaster of King’s Cave in Harrison County when it was established, August 29, 1870.
Owen County’s Spring Cave Post Office was established July 15, 1866, and closed September 12, 1866, with James F. Nicholas as its only postmaster.
Alum Cave Circle Date Stamp.
6 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) IOWA SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1854 – 1860 Des Moines Lost Creek 1896 – 1907 Mahaska
KANSAS SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Cave 1901 - 1914 Greene Cave Spring 1874 - 1878 Butler Cave Springs 1882 - 1903 Elk
KANSAS SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1864 – 1872 Washington Lost Creek 1873 – 1877 Linn Lost Spring 1861 – 1864 Marion
Cave Springs, Kansas Manuscript Cancel and Cave, KS Four-bar Cancel
KENTUCKY SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Cave City 42127 1860 – OPEN Barren Cave City Station # 1 Unknown Barren Cave Hill 1879 -1926 Warren Cave Point 1892 - 1893 Franklin Cave Ridge 1916 - 1950 Metcalfe Cave Spring 6/29/1848 - 5/1/1851 Scott Cave Spring(s) 1880 - 1946 Logan Cave Springs Station 1869 - 1880 Logan Caverna 5/4/1869 - 12/22/1879 Hart Caverock 1908 - 1910 Knox Caverun 1902 - 1913 Bath Caves 1857 - 1905 Carter Horse Cave 42749 3/1/1860 - OPEN Hart Mammoth Cave 42259 1842 - OPEN Edmonson Peter Cave 1878 - 1892 Martin Proctors Cave 1894 - 1906 Edmonson Russell Cave 1879 - 1900 Fayette Twin Cave 1900 - 1901 Meade Wind Cave 40494 1902 - 1996 Jackson
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 7 KENTUCKY SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1794 – 1799 Mason Limestone 1883 – 1936 Carter Lost Creek 41348 1849 – OPEN Breathitt Natural Bridge 1923 – 1942 Powell Sinking Creek 1828 – 1830 Warren Sinking Creek 1889 – 1890 Breckenridge Sinking Valley 1930 – 1935 Pulaski
Kentucky has a long spelean post office history, beginning with the discovery of Mammoth Cave. The cave is surrounded by a 52,369-acre national park which was established in 1941, and lies, in part, within adjacent Hart, Barren and Edmonson counties. Since its inception on December 23, 1842, with postmaster Archibald Miller, the post office has intermittently served the cave community and is still in operation today. It is located in the vicinity of the cave’s Historic Entrance, one-half mile east of the Green River, three miles north of KY Route 70, and 14 miles east of Brownsville. The Mammoth Cave System is the longest in the world at 348 miles. Guided tours, while only 5 miles in total, take 6 hours.
Mammoth Cave Manuscript Cancel dated June 28 (1847) and Mammoth Cave Slogan Meter from the L & N Railroad.
In 1863, a slave, Jonathan Doyle, discovered a cave some 4½ miles south of Mammoth Cave. It later acquired its name from the Proctor brothers, who were prominent area politicians and businessmen. The most notable brother Larkin J. Proctor, an attorney and legislator, operated the Mammoth Cave concession area for visitors just before and after the Civil War. His nephew, John R. Proctor, was the Kentucky State Geologist in the late nineteenth century. From March 23, 1894 through March 1906, William L. Hawkins operated the Proctor Cave Post Office, on Kentucky Route 70, just north of then Mammoth Cave Railroad tracks.
8 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005)
Proctors Cave CDS dated August 28, 1904 and Cave City Double Circle Cancel on a Registered Leter dated September 4, 1886.
Cave City Post Office is located in Barren County at the junction of US 31 West and Kentucky Route 70, seven miles north of Glasgow, about 15 miles from Mammoth Cave. In 1853, the Knob City Land Company of Louisville acquired the site from Thomas T. Duke, with plans for a resort to profit from proximity to Mammoth Cave. The tract was surveyed and laid off into town lots. On June 12, 1860, Beverly Curd, the storekeeper and postmaster of the Woodland general store and Post Office (established in 1850), moved its location to Knob City. The town was later renamed Cave City, either for the many caves in the area, or for the one large cave within the future city limits, and was incorporated in 1866. Two of the most popular tourist caves are Crystal Onyx Cave and Onyx Cave. Cave City has one of two known “Cave” Confederate Post Offices, the other being Cave Springs, Georgia.
Horse Cave Precancel issued June 1932 (PSS 704)
Horse Cave lies at the junction of US 31 W and Kentucky Route 218 in Hart County, five miles south of Munfordville. Horse Cave got its name when outlaws hid their horses in the huge entrance of Hidden River Cave. Major Albert Anderson of Barren County, established the town in the 1840’s, and later, in 1858, donated land for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad depots. Major Anderson’s deed to the railroad carried one restriction—the name of the station must always be Horse Cave. The post office was established March 1, 1860, with William J. Baird as postmaster, and the town was incorporated in 1864.
This was the age when the “Great Cave Wars” were just beginning as Mammoth, Crystal, Onyx, Hidden River, and several other caves were opened and all attempted to capture the tourist market. Every adjective was used to lure the unsophisticated tourist to the caves: "the largest,” "the best,” "the longest,” "the most beautiful,” "satisfaction
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 9 guarenteed,” "greater than Mammoth Cave,” and so on. Tourists spent hundreds of dollars at the caves, which meant economic growth and stability for the towns.
On May 4, 1869, local residents changed the name of Horse Cave to Caverna in an attempt to form the new county of Caverna, with their town as the county seat. Once the town had officially changed its name, the citizens attempted unsuccessfully to convince the railroad to change the name of its station. In 1879, the residents took a referendum to the state legislature to create a new county; their effort, however, was again soundly defeated due to the lobbying efforts of adjacent counties. Faced with defeat in both the Kentucky Legislature and at the hands of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, the residents of Caverna changed the name of their post office and town back to Horse Cave. Caverna, however, has been preserved in the name of the independent school district shared with neighboring Cave City.
Caverna, Kentucky CDS.
Wind Cave Post Office lies near the fork of the Lick Branch of the War Fork of Station Camp Creek, 6½ miles northeast of McKee in Jackson County. Established by Godfrey P. Issacs on April 14, 1902, it was named for a local limestone cave whose entrance was 50 or 60 feet high. “It is as impressive as anything you would find in Mammoth Cave. A cool breeze comes out of there because warm air goes into the top of the thing and then cool air comes out the bottom, down next to the ground,” said a local resident in 1902. The post office closed in 1998.
Cave Ridge is part of the Fisher Ridge Cave System which, at 65 miles, is the 9th longest cave system in the world. Cave Ridge, located in Metcalfe County, just east of Cave City, is a small town where many caves, including Diamond Caverns are found. Its post office was open from 1916 to 1950.
Wind Cave, Kentucky Four-bar Cancel with spelling error “WIMD.”
10 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005)
Cave Ridge and Lost Creek, Kentucky Four-bar Cancels.
Russell Cave County Postmark dated December 21, 1882 with target killer.
LOUISANA SPELEAN POST OFFICES
There are no spelean or spelean-related post offices in Louisana.
MAINE SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1858 - OPEN Aroostook Limestone River 1849 - 1853 Aroostook
Limestone, Maine, founded in 1869, is located in Aroostook County, which borders New Brunswick, Canada. It is currently a farming community with a population of 1,245 that produces potatoes, broccoli and other kale crops, and has an abundance of deer, moose, and black flies in residence.
Limestone, Maine CDS with Duplex Killer.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 11 MARYLAND SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Cave Town 21720 1815 - OPEN Washington The Caves 1878 - 1879 Baltimore
Cavetown, Maryland, a little village nestled at the foot of South Mountain, derived its name in 1815 from a large natural cavern on the edge of the town, popularly known as Bishop's Cave. The town is celebrated for its romantic, picturesque location and its healthy atmosphere. Bishop's Cave itself was located about 300 yards east of the village. The mouth of the cave was 58 feet wide but the entrance, covered by an arch-like ceiling, was only about 6 feet high. The total length of the cave was 363 feet, with the first of several chambers measuring about 140 feet long and nearly the same in width, ranging from 15 to 20 feet in height. Two additional passages terminated in a small crystal-clear icy lake. In 1823, James Camper illuminated the cave and from July 4th to 6th, local residents visited this natural wonder for a fee of 12½ cents. By 1912, quarriers had made the cave unsafe, and by 1920 it no longer existed.
Joseph Spangenberg wrote in a 1748 Moravian Journal, "on July 12 they passed over the South Mountain and came on the same day to the Canigotschik, where they inspected a remarkable cave, which passed through the earth for 300 yards. In its opening 1000 people can stand, then it separated into two branches.”
This author was unable to locate any information in Baltimore County on The Caves Post Office, which was probably a family name-related town.
Cavetown, Maryland CDS with Target Killer and Doane Number 3 Handstamp.
MASSACHUSETTS SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
There are no spelean or spelean-related post offices in Massachusetts.
12 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) MICHIGAN SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1892 – 1984 Alger Sink Brook 1861 – 1864 Allegan
Limestone, Michigan CDS with Target Killer.
MINNESOTA SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1879 – 1881 Murray
MISSISSIPPI SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Cuevas 1/19/1893 – 4/30/1956 Harrison Cuevas Rural Station 5/1/1956 – 4/13/1973 Harrison of Pass Christian
The Holy Office of the Catholic Church of Spain identified Cuevas as a Spanish Sephardic (Jewish) family surname-meaning cave. There are no caves found in or around Cuevas, Harrison County. Cuevas is named after Juan Jose de Cuevas who discovered Cat Island. This author has retained the town in this publication as the word means cave; however, other speleophilatelists may choose to exclude it.
Cuevas, Mississippi Four-bar Cancel.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 13 MISSOURI SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Cave Pump 1854 - 1861, 1867 – 1890 Camden Caverna 1876 – 1906 McDonald Cave Spring (1) 1834 - UNK. Crawford Cave Spring (4) 1871 – 1907 Greene Cave Spring (2) UNK. – 1844 Pulaski Cave Spring (3) 1844 – 1867 Wright Cave Station, St. Louis, MO 1900 – 1905 St. Louis Grand Gulph 1839 Oregon Marvel Cave Park 1980 – 1987 Stone Meramec Caverns Rural Station 1965 Franklin of Stanton, MO
MISSOURI SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Lost Spring 1872 – 1873 Reynolds Lost Creek 1833 – 1859 Lincoln Lost Creek 1875 – 1887 Wayne Sinkin 1869 – 1933 Shannon
Cave Spring, now referred to as Willard, on State Highway 126, is named after the Fulbright Spring and Cave, a water supply source for the Missouri Water Company. The Post Office was open from 1871 to 1907, and an example of the postmark, Oct 14, 1884, is shown.
Caverna, a town on Highway 71 named after the numerous caves in the area, is famous for Truitt’s Cave with its underground café.
Cave Station, a branch of the St. Louis Post Office, was open from 1900 to 1905. Originally Station #8, it later became Station #37, located at 2348 Olive Street.
Cave Spring, Missouri Manuscript Cancel and CDS with Target Killer.
14 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005)
Caverna, Missouri CDS with Target Killer dated May 21, 1900 and Grand Gulph CDS.
Marvel Cave Park, Missouri Four-bar Cancel and Double Circle Cancel and Meramec Caverns Rural Station Four-bar Cancel.
Cave Station, St. Louis, Missouri. Registration Handstamp, dated January 17, 1905.
MONTANA SPELEAN POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Cavern 3/29/1909 – 1/31/1936 Jefferson Cavetown 4/2/1878 – 11/9/1880 Broadwater
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 15 MONTANA SPELEAN-RELATED POST OFFICES
CITY / TOWN / ZIP DATE OF OPERATION COUNTY
Limestone 1910 – 1935 Stillwater
Cavern Post Office served the neighborhood of what is now Lewis and Clark Cavern State Park. Hidden in the white limestone cliffs above the Jefferson River, 15 miles southwest of Three Forks and 10 miles east of Whitehall are two dark holes, which are gateways to an underground world of multi-tiered columns, frozen waterfalls, and rock icicles. In 1805 and again in 1806, Lewis and Clark passed along the river below the caverns, unaware of the cavern's existence. Later, fur trappers, miners, emigrants, and railroad builders also traveled the river, unaware of the caverns as well.
One November day in 1892, two men hunting near the cave noticed a spot barren of snow. They became curious, investigated, and discovered an opening in the rocks. Though Indian arrowheads have since reportedly been found in the cave, these were the first men of modern times to enter. One of the hunters, Tom Williams, returned six years after the discovery and began bringing his friends through the cave. Wondering about the possibility of developing the caverns, they approached Dan Morrison, a local miner and investor.
Morrison is the man who actually opened them to the public. He named the cavern "Limespur Cave," began to build a 2000-step wooden staircase inside, which included the now famous spiral staircase. He began an intensive publicity campaign in 1901, touting the cave as a rival to Mammoth and Wind Caves, but it backfired on him.
News of the caverns—which had become popularly known as Morrison Caves—reached the Northern Pacific Railroad. Upon investigation, railroad officials believed the government had granted the Morrison land to them, took him to court in 1908 and won. The railroad immediately gave the land back to the U. S. government, which created a national monument under the new name Lewis and Clark Caverns. Unfortunately, the National Park Service had no money to run the property and the caverns were closed to the public. Dan Morrison continued to petition the government for permission to guide people through the cave, and when his requests were denied, began to arrange tours, hire guides, and collect fees on his own in defiance.
The conflict between Morrison and the federal government continued until Morrison's death in 1932, by which time the government had decided the caverns were more trouble than they were worth and officially transferred the land to the State Park System. In 1937, Lewis and Clark Caverns became Montana's first state park.
Operation of the caverns was transferred to the State Highway Commission in 1953, and, in 1965, the Montana Department of Fish and Game (now Fish, Wildlife and Parks) took over its management.
16 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005)
Limestone, Montana Four-bar Killer.
Cavern, Montana Four-bar Killer.
End of Part Two
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 17 “A Chaos of Darkness and Rocks”: Harriet Martineau’s 1834 Visit to Mammoth Cave
By Steve Horstmeyer
“At the close of a long work which I completed in 1834, it was thought desirable that I should travel for two years… I landed at New York on the 19th of September, 1834…” wrote Harriet Martineau in the introduction to her three-volume work, Society in America (Martineau, 1837). According to Dr. Deborah Logan of Western Kentucky University (in Hilliard, 2002):
Martineau never hid her identity as a woman, as did other Victorian woman writers. She was criticized because she wasn’t writing romance novels, nor did she use a male pseudonym. Martineau is notable for her participation in ‘serious’ non-fiction writing, work traditionally considered the providence of male writers only.
Harriet Martineau was born into the easy life of a bourgeois British family of French descent in 1802. She suffered from poor health, was nearly deaf by the age of twenty and for the remainder of her life always carried an ear trumpet. The work she completed in 1834 was read widely across Europe. Illustrations of Political Economy made her independently wealthy, well known, and ready for a break. Martineau was an outspoken opponent of slavery and in anti-slavery New England she was called on to voice her opposition. During her ten-thousand-mile journey in the former colonies many in the South treated her with suspicion. She observed society and envisioned the great wealth that the natural resources of America would eventually bring, “The United States are not only vast in extent: they are inestimably rich in material wealth…Never was a country more gifted by nature.” (Martineau, 1837) She also wrote romantically about nature and later on, in the introduction to Society in America, there are three attention-grabbing sentences for the student of spelean history:
After a short stay [in Mobile, AL] and a residence of ten days at New Orleans, I went up the Mississippi and Ohio to the mouth of the Cumberland river, which I ascended to Nashville, Tennessee. I visited the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and spent three weeks at Lexington. I descended the Ohio to Cincinnati; and after staying there ten days, ascended the river again, landing in Virginia, visiting the Hawk's Nest, Sulphur Springs, Natural Bridge, and Weyer's Cave, arriving at New York again on the 14th of July, 1835. (Martineau, 1837)
Martineau wrote nothing more about Weyer’s Cave (now Grand Caverns, near Grottoes, VA) but her experiences at Mammoth Cave are an exciting addition to the early social history of the world’s longest cave system. To the present writer’s knowledge, Martineau’s work offers the earliest mention of a female guide at Mammoth Cave—three years prior to the arrival of Stephen Bishop, traditionally but erroneously believed to be Mammoth Cave’s first guide (Meloy, 1969). In the chapter entitled “Solitaires,” Martineau wrote, “Among the most interesting personages in the United States, are the Solitaries; solitary families, not individuals… I witnessed some modes of life which realized all I had conceived of the romantic…”
18 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) A few months after George S. Gatewood, with his father Fleming, mother Elizabeth Slaughter Gatewood, and perhaps his two younger brothers Edward B. and James A. helped Edmund F. Lee complete the first professional survey of Mammoth Cave (Meloy, 1969), this solitary family living near the entrance to Mammoth Cave hosted “the first and greatest woman journalist” (Hilliard, 2002), Harriet Martineau and her party. Using rough estimates of travel times forward from her arrival in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 11, 1834 and backward from her arrival in New York on July 14, 1835, Martineau arrived at Mammoth Cave within a few days to either side of May 20, 1835.
The following is Martineau’s description of her Mammoth Cave adventure:
No solitude can be more romantic than that at the mouth of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky; so called, not because any mammoth-bones have been found there, but because it is the largest explored cave in the world. I was told, not only by the guides, but by a gentleman who is learned in caves, that it can be travelled through, in different directions, to the extent of sixty miles. We could not think of achieving the entire underground journey; but we resolved to see all we could; and, for that purpose, preferred devoting the half of two days to the object, to one entire day, the weariness of which would probably curtail our rambles. After a most interesting and exciting journey of nearly two nights and a day from Nashville, Tennessee, our party, consisting of four, arrived at Bell's hotel, twelve miles from the cave, at half-past seven, on a bright May morning. We slept till one o'clock, and then set off in a stage and four for the cave. My expectations had been so excited, that every object on the road seemed to paint itself on my very spirit; and now feel as if I saw the bright hemp fields, the oak copses, the gorgeous wild flowers, and clear streams, running over their limestone beds, that adorned our short journey.
The house at the cave stands on the greenest sward that earth and dews can produce; and it grows up to the very walls of the dwelling. The well, with its sweep,--a long pole, with a rope and bucket at one end, laid across the top of a high post,--this primitive well, on the same plot of turf, and the carriage in which two travelers--young men--had just arrived, were the only occupiers of the grass, besides the house. We lost no time in proceeding to the cave. The other party of travellers and the guides carried lamps, and grease to trim them with; an ample supply of both; for the guides know something of the horrors of being left in darkness in the mazes of a cave. We went down a steep path into a glen, from which the golden sunlight seemed reflected, as from water; so bright was the May verdure. The guides carried our cloaks; which seemed to us very ridiculous; for we were panting with the heat. But, when we had wound down to the yawning, shadowy cave, with its diamond drips and clustering creepers about the entrance, a blast of wintry wind gushed from it, and chilled our very hearts. I found it possible to stand on one foot, and be in the midst of melting heat; and leaning forward on the other, to feel half frozen. The humming birds must be astonished, when they flit across the entrance, to meet winter in the middle of the glen, and emerge into summer again on the other side.
The entrance of the cave serves as an ice-house to the family of the guide. They keep their meat there, and go to refresh themselves when relaxed by the heat. The temperature is delightful, after the first two or three minutes; and we were glad to leave our cloaks by the way side. The ladies tied handkerchiefs over their heads, and tucked up their gowns for the scramble over the loose limestone; looking thereby very picturesque, and not totally unlike the witches in Macbeth. The gloom, the echo of the footsteps, the hollow sound of voices, the startling effect of lights seen unexpectedly in a recess, in a crevice, or high overhead,-- these impressions may be recalled in those who have wandered in caves, but can never be communicated to those who have not. It is in vain to describe a cave. Call it a chaos of darkness and rocks, with wandering and inexplicable sounds and motions, and all is done. Everything appears alive: the slowly growing stalactites, the water ever dropping into the plashing pool, the whispering airs,--all seem conscious. The coolness, vastness, suggestions of architecture, and dim disclosures, occasion different feelings from any that are known under the lights of the sky. The air in the neighbourhood of the waterfall was delicious to
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 19 breathe; and the pool was so clear that I could not, for some time, see the water, in a pretty full light. That Rembrandt light on the drip of water, on the piled rocks, and on our figures,--light swallowed up before it could reach the unseen canopy under which we stood can never be forgotten. Milton's lake of fire might have brought the roof into view:--nothing less.
The young guides, brothers, were fine dashing youths, as Kentucky youths are. They told us some horrible tales, and on every marvellous story about darkness and bewilderment in the labyrinth of the cave. They told us (before they knew that any of us were English) that "all the lords and lights of England had been to see the cave, except the king." While they were about it, they might as well have included his majesty. Perhaps they have, by this time; good stories being of very rapid growth. They reported that ladies hold on in the cave better than gentlemen. One of the party supposed this was because they were lighter; but the guide believed it was owing to their having more curiosity.
I was amused at their assurances about the number of miles that we had walked; and thought it as good a story as any they had told us: but, to my utter amazement, I found, on emerging from the cave, that the stars were shining resplendently down into the glen, while the summer lightning was quivering incessantly over the "verdurous wall" which sprang unto a lofty height on either hand. There seemed to be none of the coolness of night abroad. A breathless faintness came over us on quitting the freshness of the cave, and taught us the necessary caution of resting awhile at the entrance.
Supper was ready when we returned; and then the best room was assigned to the three ladies, while the gentlemen were to have the loft. We saw the stars through chinks in our walls; but it was warm May, and we feared no cold. Shallow tin-pans,--milk pans, I believe,--were furnished to satisfy our request for ewer and basin. The windows had blinds of paper-hanging; a common sort of window-blind at hotels, and in country places. Before it was light, I was wakened by a strong cold breeze blowing upon me; and at dawn, I found that the entire lower half of the window was absent. A deer had leaped through it, a few weeks before; and there had been no opportunity of mending it. But everything was clean; everybody was obliging; the hostess was motherly; and the conclusion that we came to in the morning was that we had all slept well, and were ready for a second ramble in the cave.
We saw, this day, the Grotto and the Deserted Chamber. Few visitors attempt the grotto, the entrance to it being in one part only a foot and a half high. We were obliged, not only to go on hands and knees, but to crawl lying flat. It is a sensation worth knowing, to feel oneself imprisoned in the very heart of a mountain, miles from the sun-light, and with no mode of escape but the imperceptible hole which a child might block up in five minutes. Never was there a more magnificent prison or sepulcher. Whether the singularity of our mode of access magnified to our eyes the beauties we had thereby come into the midst of, or whether Nature does work most con amore in retired places, this grotto seemed to us all by far the most beautiful part of the cave. The dry sandy floor was pleasant to the tread, after the loose limestone; the pillars were majestic; the freaks of nature most wild and elegant. The air was so fresh and cool that, if only a Rosicrucian lamp could be hung in this magnificent chamber, it would be the place of all others in which to spend the sultry summer's day,--entering when the beauties of the sunrise had given place to glare, and issuing forth at the rising of the evening star.
On our way to the Deserted Chamber, we cut off half a mile by descent through a crevice, and a re-ascent by another. We were presently startled by the apparition of two yellow stars, at what appeared an immeasurable distance. In this cave, I was reminded after a total forgetfulness of many years, of the night- mare visitations of my childhood; especially of the sense of infinite distance, which used to terrify me indescribably. Here, too, the senses and the reason were baulked. Those two yellow stars might have been worlds, many millions of miles off in space, or,--what they were,--two shabby lamps, fifty yards off. A new visitor had arrived; and the old man of the solitary house had brought him down, in hopes of meeting our larger party. One of the gentlemen presently slipped on the loose stones, and fell into a hole, with his back against a sharp rock; and he seemed at first unable to rise. This was the only misadventure we had; and it did not prove serious one. He was somewhat shaken and bruised, and rendered unwilling to go with the rest to the Bottomless Pit: but there was no eventual injury. He and I staid in the Deserted Chamber, while our companions disappeared, one by one, through a crevice, on their way to the pit. The dead silence, and the glimmer of our single lamp, were very striking; and we were more disposed to look round upon the low- roofed apartment, piled with stones afar as the eye could reach, than to talk. I tried to swallow a piece of
20 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) bread or cake, very like a shoe-sole, and speculated upon these piles of stones;--by whose hand they were reared, anyhow long ago. There is much cane--doubtless, once used for fuel--scattered about the deeper recesses of the cave; and these stones were evidently heaped up by human hands; and those not Indian. It is supposed that this cave was made use of by that mysterious race which existed before the Indians, and of which so many curious traces remain in the middle States of the West; a race more civilized, to judge by the works of their hands, than the Indians have ever been; but of which no tradition remains.
Our party returned safe, and refreshed by a draught of water, better worth having than my luncheon of bread. When we left the cave, our guides insisted upon it that we had walked, this morning, ten or eleven miles. I pronounced it four. Others of the party said seven; and the point remains unsettled. We all agreed that it was twice as much as we could have accomplished in the heat above ground; and perhaps the most remarkable walk we had ever taken in our lives. Our hostess was with us the whole time; and it was amusing to see in her the effect of custom. She trod the mazes of this cave just as people do the walks of their own garden [emphasis by present author].
The gush of sun-light pouring in at the mouth of the cave, green and soft, as we emerged from the darkness, was exquisitely beautiful. So was the foliage of the trees, after the rigid forms which had been printing themselves upon our eye-sight for so many hours. As we sat at the entrance, to accustom ourselves to the warm outward air, I saw, growing high in the steep woods, the richest of kalmias, in full bloom. One of the gentlemen ran touring me some; and when it came, it was truly a feast to the eye. How apt are we to look upon all things as made for us! How many seasons has this kalmia bloomed?
We were truly sorry to bid farewell to our motherly hostess, and her "smart" sons. Theirs is a singular mode of life; and it left nearly as vivid an impression on our minds as their mighty neighbour, the cave. If any of us should ever happen to be banished, and to have a home to seek, I fancy we should look out for a plot of green sward, among flowering kalmias, near the mouth of an enormous cave, with humming birds flitting about it by day, and fire-flies and summer lightning by night.
Martineau offers many insights into the caving experience at Mammoth Cave in the mid 1830’s and her account leaves new questions to be answered:
Paragraph 1: Who was the “gentleman who is learned in caves” that told her there were sixty miles of passages that could be explored?
Paragraph 3: The Gatewoods used the entrance to the cave as a cooler where they stored their meat. Ladies wore no special clothing other than a handkerchief on their heads.
Paragraph 4: Telling tall tales was an important part of the cave experience and the guides were not working alone.
Paragraph 7: Some “wild caving” was included in the tour but most visitors opted out of the route to the Grotto because of the crawl. Like today, did early guides routinely offer a variety of tours at different levels of difficulty?
Paragraph 8: Here is another mention of wild caving and the mention of a minor caving accident and “the old man of the solitary house” is likely Fleming Gatewood (b. Jan 23, 1766, d. 1838), then 69 years old. He was still helping out, but in a reduced capacity. Meloy (1969) presents a detailed account of the Gatewood family. This paragraph also mentions the use of cane as fuel and how Mammoth Cave was used by an early race.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 21 Paragraph 9: “Our hostess”, undoubtedly Elizabeth Slaughter Gatewood (b. 1790?), George’s mother, who, we are explicitly told went the entire distance with the Martineau party and appeared quite experienced in traversing the cave. As far as I know this is the earliest mention of a female guide at Mammoth Cave.
Author’s Note: The entire text of Harriet Martineau’s Society in America is available online, courtesy of Pfeiffer University, at http://www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/DSS/Martineau/siatoc.html
References
Hilliard, Maggie, 2002. Harriet Martineau: Victorian Polymath. The Western Scholar 2 (2): 6-9.
Martineau, Harriet, 1837. Society in America. London: Saunders & Otley.
Meloy, Harold, 1969. The Gatewoods at Mammoth Cave. Journal of Spelean History 2 (3): 51-62.
22 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) On White Fish and Black Men: Did Stephen Bishop Really Discover the Blind Cave Fish of Mammoth Cave?
By Aldemaro Romero and Jonathan S. Woodward
Introduction
Printed references in the popular literature on blind cave fishes have a long history. From the sixteenth throughout the nineteenth centuries a number of blind cave fish observations (some certifiable, others not) had been published in China, Europe, and the American continent (Romero 2001). Because none of them met the criteria established by the Rules of Zoological Nomenclature, they are not considered valid by the scientific community. However, in 1842, James DeKay described the northern cavefish (Amblyopsis spelaea), making it the first species of blind cavefish recognized in the scientific literature. When DeKay described A. spelaea, he cited the River Styx in Mammoth Cave as the type locality, that is, where the specimen used for its description (holotype) was collected. Yet, DeKay never visited Mammoth Cave and the specimen, along with the information of when it was collected, and by whom, is lost (Romero 2002). Stephen Bishop, a slave, and the most famous Mammoth Cave guide, has always been credited with the discovery of River Styx and the first sighting of a blind cave fish in that cave (e.g., Brucker & Watson 1987). However, the first published reference to a blind cave fish (“white fish”) in Mammoth Cave appears to be by Robert Davidson in 1840 (p. 55). According to Davidson, he visited Mammoth Cave in October or November 1836 and said that River Styx had been discovered the year before (1835). This chronology challenges the conventional wisdom of Bishop being the discoverer of a blind cave fish for Mammoth Cave and its type locality. Given that Mammoth Cave is inhabited by two different species of blind cave fishes, there is also the question of which of the two was first sighted. In this article we present the results of our own archival and field research aimed at clarifying the question of who might have been the first person to have seen (and probably collected) this fish. To that end, we reviewed all the available printed references to Mammoth Cave that mentioned its fauna previous to DeKay’s 1842 publication. We investigated all possible primary literature related to Robert Davidson in order to clarify the chronology of his visit. We visited Mammoth Cave and tried to retrace the route likely taken by whoever might have been the first person to see a blind cave fish. We researched all the known specimens of the two species of blind cave fishes ever found at Mammoth Cave to see if that information could provide evidence of which of the two species was seen first. We conclude that: (1) Davidson’s chronology, as presented in his book, is probably wrong and that he did not visit the cave until 1838 or 1839; (2) it is possible that Bishop was the first person to sight the fish, but others cannot be definitely excluded from having been involved in this discovery; and (3) that although there are two species of blind cave fish that inhabit the waters of Mammoth Cave, the first one sighted was likely Amblyopsis spelaea, which was also the first one to be recognized in the scientific literature. Finally, we conclude that the facts surrounding Stephen Bishop’s fame need to be further investigated under the perspective of the romantic movement of
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 23 the mid-nineteenth century that gave rise to the “noble savage” mythology as well as on the perspective of race in the United States prior to the Civil War.
The Conventional Narrative and its Challenges
Arguably, Stephen Bishop is the most frequently mentioned person in the history of Mammoth Cave. He was born into slavery probably around 1821 and died in 1857, a year after obtaining his freedom. Bishop was acquired by Franklin Gorin (1798-1877), a lawyer from the nearby town of Glasgow, Kentucky, when the former was about 13 years old. Gorin purchased Mammoth Cave in 1838. Bishop soon became a guide and explorer of the cave. Although by that time the most accessible parts of Mammoth Cave had been visited, explored, and mapped, a major obstacle remained to continued exploration: Bottomless Pit. Bishop is consistently credited with having suspended either a cedar pole or a log pole ladder across Bottomless Pit and thus, was able to significantly expand the known area of the cave (Anonymous 1981, Barr 1986, Anonymous 1992). More significantly, Bishop and others could now visit River Styx and Echo River and observe the blind cave fishes found there (for a good summary of the history of Mammoth Cave see Brucker & Watson 1987). Bishop is also specifically credited with discovering the fish (e.g., Anonymous 1992). However, conventional wisdom on Bishop’s accomplishments in this regard has been challenged (see for example Meloy 1977). First, it has been stated that the first crossing of Bottomless Pit was carried out by Bishop and a visitor, Hiram C. Stevenson, not by Bishop alone (Brucker & Watson 1987, pp. 266-267). Did they together (or perhaps others, later) keep exploring until arriving at the River Styx and/or Echo River and see the blind cave fish? Also, it should be noted that reaching the far side of Bottomless Pit can be accomplished by crawling and an eight-foot climb, something that any caver would have checked prior to risking a crossing on a cedar pole or ladder. A short ladder would have helped, of course. Was Bishop doing the ladder crossing to add an exciting aura to his tour for the more adventuresome visitors? (Brucker & Watson 1987, pp. 268, and Roger W. Brucker pers. comm.). In 1840 Robert Davidson published an account of his visit to Mammoth Cave that seems to support the contention made by some that Bishop was not the first to cross Bottomless Pit and/or to see the blind cave fish. He wrote:
This is a stream of water twenty feet wide, and they said as many deep. It was discovered only about a year ago. Its current is very sluggish, as has been proved by launching a piece of wood bearing a lighted candle, on its bosom. We were informed that a species of white fish [in italics in the original] were found here without eyes, and the keeper of the hotel assured us he himself had seen them, but that their other senses were so acute, the slightest touch of water overhead was sufficient to alarm them, and make them dart off like lightning. There had been a canoe here; but the day before it had got loose from its mooring and floated away. In this visiters [sic] would row down the stream two hundred yards, till stopped by a ledge of rock. Two of my acquaintances, a week afterwards, obtained a new skiff, and resolved to pass the barrier. Accordingly, lifting the skiff over the rock, they launched it on the other side, and rowed, as thought, for two miles. They beheld a great many new scenes and chambers never explored before1. They also saw some of the white fish. As for us, on our visit, we were not favoured with a sight of these natural curiosities,
1 At the time of Davidson’s visit, tours were already being given at river level and it is unlikely that Stephen (or others) would have been deterred from continuing by a few rocks. It is possible that Davidson’s acquaintances might have thought they were discovering new cave, but probably not (Rick Olson, pers. comm.)
24 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) which would have been to the full as interesting a spectacle as Prince Bonbobbin's white mice with green eyes, for which he ransacked the world. All we found was a poor miserable mudfish, caught with the hand by the guide, near the shore, blinded by the light. It was certainly a wonderful thought, that such a body of water should have been flowing here a furlong at least under ground, in the silence and gloom of centuries. (Davidson, 1840, pp. 54-56).
Davidson’s book is titled An Excursion to the Mammoth Cave and the Barrens of Kentucky read before the Society of Adelphi of Transylvania University. January 16, 1840. We can therefore assume that his visit to the cave took place before 1840, but when, exactly? Davidson, while describing his visit, says: “It was the early part of October, 1836, that we first set foot in this interesting region” referring to Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky. From there, he and his companions hired a barouche and headed south to Hopkinsville where they spent one week after having traveled for two days. From there they went to Elkton and stopped for a night at Russellville. The next day they passed through Shakertown “just midway on the road between Russellville and Bowling-Green.” They apparently reached the latter town that very same day. Davidson then started describing Mammoth Cave “twenty-four miles from Bowling-Green” and immediately begins the account of his visit. Based on this description one might conclude that Davidson’s visit to Mammoth Cave took place late in October or early November 1836. Furthermore, Davidson mentioned in his narrative that the river where the fish lives “was discovered only about a year ago,” i.e., in 1835. If that were the case, the “white fish” might have been discovered almost three years before Bishop became a guide to Mammoth Cave and thus, contradicting the accepted story that Bishop (and/or his companions) discovered the fish in question. However, Davidson’s narrative is confusing. First, he did not mention by name the body of water where the fish was seen except for calling it “The River” (p. 54). Secondly, he mentioned visiting “the Dome, called Gorin’s Dome, for its discoverer and late owner” (p. 56). Because we do not know exactly when Davidson wrote his book it is hard to determine whether he is referring Gorin as owner at the time of his visit or well after the fact. Gorin purchased Mammoth Cave on April 17, 1838. Does this date mean that Gorin actually explored the cave at least three years before he purchased it? But if Gorin explored the cave at least three years before purchasing it, could he have been accompanied by Bishop himself? Furthermore, Davidson wrote about crossing Bottomless Pit using a ladder after seeing the “white fish.” Was he confused by the passage of time between the occasion of his visit and that of writing his account that he switched the order of events? Davidson probably wrote his account sometime in 1839 because he states that “It was with a feeling like regret that I heard that the present owner, Dr. Croghan, of Louisville, who has just purchased the estate for ten thousand dollars” (pp. 62-63). John Croghan (1790-1849), a physician, did not buy Mammoth Cave until 1839. There is a smoking gun favoring the hypothesis that Davidson got not only the order of events of his trip wrong, but the chronology as well. On page 66, he states that after leaving the cave that night while at the hotel “the landlord afterwards averred, that some of his guests had made a terrible noise in the night, and called out lustily for Stephen, the guide!” Because there are no other guides on record with the first name of Stephen for that period, we must conclude that he was referring to Stephen Bishop.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 25
Figure 1. Title page of Davidson’s book.
26 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) Although Davidson does mention that his party was accompanied by “guides” without specifying names, number, or ethnicity, it is most likely that such guides were, in addition to Stephen Bishop, the brothers Materson and Nicholas Bransford, two other slaves owed by Thomas Bransford of Nashville and hired by Gorin for $100 each per year to serve as guides in the increasingly popular cave tours (Brucker & Watson 1987, pp. 269). This being so, Davidson’s excursion most likely took place in late October or early November 1838 or 1839 because Bishop became guide at Mammoth Cave after April 17, 1838, when Gorin bought the estate. Furthermore, this is consistent with the conventional chronology that Bishop crossed Bottomless Pit for the first time on September 20, 1838. Therefore, Davidson and his party must have been among the first outsiders visiting River Styx. If Davidson’s phrase that the river had been discovered “only about a year ago” before his visit is correct, then it is quite possible that his visit occurred in October 1839.
Can Robert Davidson’s Chronology be Authenticated?
Of course, despite the contradictions, it is possible that Davidson (or others) visited River Styx before Bishop. Is there any documentation on Davidson’s life that could substantiate such an hypothesis? Davidson was a clergyman, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on February 23, 1808. He was the son of Robert Davidson, an educator, theologian, and also a Presbyterian clergyman of some notoriety. Robert Jr. was a graduate of Dickinson College (1828) and Princeton Theological Seminary (1831). He was pastor of the second Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky (1832-1840) and in the latter year became president of Transylvania University, a post he held until 1842. He later held pastorates in New Brunswick, New Jersey, New York City, and Huntington, Long Island. He went to Philadelphia in 1868, where he died on April 6, 1876. We contacted Dickinson College, Princeton Theological Seminary, Transylvania University, and the Second Presbyterian Church of Lexington, KY, to see if Davidson had donated his papers to any of those institutions in the hope that such papers might contain some information clarifying the chronology of his visit to Mammoth Cave. Unfortunately there is no evidence that he did so. Interestingly, all of them had only scant information about Davidson, on the basis of which we have written the above biographical sketch. We could not therefore find any corroborative document on the chronology of Davidson’s visit to Mammoth Cave. What about others? We checked all relevant published descriptions of Mammoth Cave prior to the publication of the scientific discovery of the blind cavefish in 1842. For example, John Hay Farnham (1791-1833) published a letter in 1820 describing Mammoth Cave in which he makes no mention of any fauna whatsoever. In 1832 Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783-1840), a noted naturalist, published an article, “The Caves of Kentucky,” in which he described Mammoth Cave, mentioning its bats and rats. He was a professor at Transylvania College (1819-1826) and explored Kentucky thoroughly (Warren 2004). He also had discovered the cave salamander Eurycea lucifuga. There is no question that if he had had knowledge of (or seen) a blind cave fish in Mammoth Cave he would have mentioned it. In 1835 Edmund F. Lee, who extensively explored Mammoth Cave between 1834 and 1835, published a very precise description of the cave where he cited bats, rats, and a
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 27 “nearly transparent” cricket, but no fish. Dr. Robert Montgomery Bird (1806-1854) of Philadelphia, published extensive accounts of the cave in 1837 and 1838 based on his 1833 and 1835 summer explorations of it in which he mentions the bats, rats, and insects of the cave—but no fish. Another 1838 article, this time anonymous, written by someone who obviously had visited the cave and explored it at length, makes no mention of the fish either (Anonymous 1838). Therefore, it seems that the fish in question was not seen before 1838, which would be consistent with our assertion that Davidson’s visit took place in 1839 and hence, his reference that the river where the “white fish” was found was discovered a year earlier, is consistent with the conventional wisdom that Bishop and/or others did not cross Bottomless Pit, finding the fish, until the autumn of 1838.
But Which “White Fish”?
Blind cave fish from Mammoth Cave were routinely captured by Bishop and others and exhibited at the lodge built by Gorin to accommodate visitors (Brucker & Watson 1987, p. 272). Two species of blind cave fish have been reported for Mammoth Cave: the northern cavefish (Amblyopsis spelaea) and the southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus). Which one was seen first? We surveyed major museum collections of specimens for both species and the results are shown in Tables 1 and 2. We found 29 confirmed records for the northern cavefish and eight for the southern cavefish, having Mammoth Cave as the collecting locality. The data in these tables show that records for the northern cavefish in Mammoth Cave date back to at least 1842, the year in which the species was scientifically described by DeKay (Romero 2002), while records for southern cavefish do not appear until 1879. Therefore, because of the number of records and their chronology, it seems that most probably the first blind cave fish seen at Mammoth Cave was A. spelaea. Furthermore, A. spelaea is larger and easier to see, which would be important when using dim lanterns. Additionally, the base level habitat of River Styx is dominated by this species; T. subterraneus is more prominent in streams with currents above base level (Rick Olson, pers. comm.). Unfortunately, many of the registers of the hotel and cave were apparently destroyed in the December 9, 1916 fire that consumed the old Mammoth Cave hotel (Goode 1986, p. 14). Although some of the post-1842 registers are available (Robert H. Thompson, pers. comm.), none contemporary with the discovery of the blind cave fish are known to exist. With the destruction of those records we have lost any chance of knowing who came to Mammoth Cave and if they could have traveled with Stephen Bishop. However, the specimens at museum collections do indicate that many of the specimens were collected (or brought by) notable people from New England. For example, the first time that a blind cavefish from Mammoth Cave was mentioned in the scientific literature was in a short note in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (Anonymous 1842). There it was reported that a W.T. Craigie donated to the Academy at the May 24, 1842 meeting a specimen of “a small white fish, also eyeless (presumed to belong to a subgenus of Silurus), taken from a small stream called the ‘River Styx’ in the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, about two and one-half miles from the entrance.” In the Academy’s collections today there are four specimens of Amblyopsis spelaea in alcohol that appear linked to this donation. Two are catalogued as
28 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) ANSP 7964 collected by W.T. Craigie, another is ANSP 7963 collected by “Mrs. C.H. Graff, Messrs. Craige & Lambert,” and a fourth is ANSP 7966 collected by J. Lambert. Because of the consecutive numerals, we also suspect that ANSP 7961 and ANSP 7962 (one specimen each) were also collected at the same visit to Mammoth Cave. The names of these and other collectors belong to distinguished people of cities such as Philadelphia and New York.
Conclusions and Further Research
Two major factors influence historical research: one is access to primary sources, i.e., documentation that is contemporary with the facts we are trying to discern; the other is the surrounding mythologies of the facts that create barriers to understanding the real story. The case of Stephen Bishop epitomizes both. Firstly, there are very few contemporary sources on Bishop and his accomplishments. One is a letter of Franklin Gorin’s, an account of Bishop after his former slave had died (Forwood 1870). Another is Marianne Finch’s (1853), an Englishwoman who visited the pre-Civil War South 20 years or so after slavery had been abolished throughout the British Empire. A third is by Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867) (in Randolph 1853, p. 53-54), a noted romantic and idealist of American nature. All these writings took place in the midst of the Romantic Movement which worldwide, was especially profound in the United States, influencing even the first describer of the first blind cave fish species, James DeKay (Romero 2002). That movement created the now famous myth of the “noble savage,” the man of another race who was essentially a good person and whose value as a human being was to be admired and publicized. These characters figured prominently in popular travel accounts. Facts were made to fit (or at least portrayed within) these romantic values. Therefore, in order to understand who Bishop really was and how stories and history interact in this case, we need to look into these facts in the context of nineteenth century romanticism and race in pre-Civil War times. Or maybe we are chasing an illusion in pretending that the real story will really be known.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 29
Table 1. Known specimens of the northern cavefish (Amblyopsis spelaea) collected in Mammoth Cave (for museum acronyms see legend in Table 2).
Date Collector Catalog Number b. 1843 (?) J.E. Mitchill ANSP 7961 b. 1843 (?) J. Darley ANSP 7962 b. 1843 (?) Mrs. C.H. Graff, Messrs. Craige ANSP 7963 & Lambert b. 1843 (?) W.T. Craig ANSP 7964 b. 1843 (?) J. Lambert ANSP 7966 1844 May J.A. Granger NYSM114641 1851 ? BMNH 1851.11.20.1 1853 June 18 ? NRM 8380 1866 Vatble MNHN 0000-4184 1876 December 24 J. Lindahl NRM 8000 1890? Tison MNHN 1890-0043 1893 H.C. Ganter USNM 00044435 1896(?) ? BMNH 1896.9.30.13 1901 September 1 W.P. Hay USNM 001270562 1905 May 15 C.H. Eigenmann USNM 00127055 1909 October 9 Columbia University, AMNH 879 Dept. Comp. Anat. Coll. 1909 November 16 Füllhorn ZMH 13174 1918 April 9 E.O. Hovey AMNH 12112 ? Finn AMNH 1156 ? Holmes AMNH 1646 ? Mrs. Frederick ANSP 20373 ? ? MNHN 0000-2762 ? Claine MNHN 1890-0042 ? Bromer, Fr. NRM 8001 ? J. Sloan ROM 08046 ? ? USNM 00005863 ? ? USNM 00048867 ? ? USNM 00237001 ? ? USNM 002370043 ? Baum u. K. Hoffmann ZMH 13175 1Specific location: River Styx 2Roaring River 3Echo River
NOTE: The holotype or specimen used to describe the species was collected at River Styx and was deposited at the collection of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York but is today lost (Romero 2002).
30 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) Table 2. Known specimens of the southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) collected in Mammoth Cave.
Date Collector Catalog Number 20 December 1879 ? ZMUC * 2 20 December 1879 ? ZMUC * 3 1884 Swain Gilbert USNM 00036632 1884 ? USNM 00036806 1903 C.H. Eigenmann AMNH 18715 ? ? AMNH 8103 ? ? CAS 1252831 ? W.P. Hay USNM 001011722 1River Styx 2Roaring River
Acronyms for museum collections: AMNH: American Museum of Natural History (New York); ANSP: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; BMNL: British Museum of Natural History (London); CAS: California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco); MNHN: Musée Nationale d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris); NMR: Swedish Museum of Natural History (Stockholm); NYSM: The New York Survey Museum; ROM: Royal Ontario Museum (Ontario, Canada); USNM: United States National Museum (Washington, DC); ZMH: Universität Hamburg, Zoologisches Institut und Museum (Hamburg, Germany); ZMUC: Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen.
Acknowledgements
The following people provided help with our archival work: Robert Benedetto, Librarian for Archives and Special Collections, Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries; James Duane Bolin, Murray State University; Kaiyi Chen, University of Pennsylvania; Jim Gerencser, Dickinson College; B.J. Gooch, Transylvania University Library; Elliot Greenwald, University Archives and Records Center of the University of Pennsylvania; DiAnna Hemsath, University of Pennsylvania; Nancy M. Shader, Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton Theological Seminary.
Rick Olson, Park Ecologist, and Vickie Carson, Public Information Officer of Mammoth Cave National Park, accompanied us in our visit to the cave, and provided very useful information. Mr. Olson read an earlier version of this article and made valuable suggestions. Bob Thompson of Maineville, OH, provided us with stimulating insights and read an earlier version of this article and made valuable suggestions. Roger W. Brucker, of Beavercreek, OH, provided some insights and read an earlier version of the MS and also provided useful suggestions.
This research was partially funded by a NSF DBI-0243765 grant to Robyn Hannigan and Jerry Farris.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 31 Literature Cited
Anonymous, 1838. The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. Chamber’s Edinburgh Journal 6: 234-235.
Anonymous, 1981. Stephen L. Bishop. 1821 – 1857. Explorer and Guide. Mammoth Cave. Journal of Spelean History 15 (1): 11.
Anonymous, 1992. Bishop, Stephen, pp. 82-83, In: Kentucky Encyclopedia (John E. Kleber, ed.). Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Barr, T.C., 1986. Mammoth Cave in the years 1836-1855. Journal of Spelean History 20 (2): 39-40.
Bird, R.M., 1837. The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. The Plaindealer 1 (24): 379-381.
Bird, R. M., 1838. Peter Pilgrim: or rambler’s recollections. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard.
Brucker, R.W. & R.A. Watson, 1987. The longest cave. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Davidson, R., 1840. An excursion to Mammoth Cave, and the barrens of Kentucky with some notices of the early settlement of the state. Lexington: A.T. Skillman & Son.
Farnham, J.H., 1820. Extract of a letter from John H. Farnham, Esq. a member of the American Antiquarian Society, describing Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. Trans. Coll. Amer. Antiquarian Soc. 1: 355-361.
Finch, M., 1853. An Englishwoman’s experience in America. London: Richard Bentley.
Forwood, W.S., 1870. An historical and descriptive narrative of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.
Goode, C.E., 1986. World wonder save. How Mammoth Cave became a national park. Mammoth Cave: Mammoth Cave National Park Association.
Lee, E.F., 1835. Notes on the Mammoth Cave to accompany a map. Cincinnati: James & Gazlay.
Meloy, H., 1977. The legend of Stephen Bishop. Journal of Spelean History 10 (1): 5-7.
Randolph, H.F., 1924. Mammoth Cave and the cave region of Kentucky. Louisville: Standard Print. Co.
Romero, A., 2001. Scientists prefer them blind: the history of hypogean fish research. Environmental Biology of Fishes 62 (1-3): 43-71.
Romero, A., 2002. Between the first blind cave fish and the last of the Mohicans: The scientific romanticism of James E. DeKay. Journal of Spelean History 36 (1): 19-29.
Warren, L., 2004. Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. A voice in the American wilderness. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
32 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) A Minnesota Show Cave Advertisement from 1852
By Greg A. Brick
In the Journal of Spelean History for July-December 2002 (Issue No. 122) I reprinted a newspaper advertisement for Chute’s Cave, in Minneapolis, dating to 1876, in which there is a fairly complete description of the attraction concerned. I added that “Although there are earlier newspaper advertisements for Fountain Cave, in nearby St. Paul, dating back to 1852, they are rather brief.” I am pleased to announce that, as a result of many hours spent squinting at grainy microfilms at the Minnesota History Center, I have come across a more substantial advertisement for Fountain Cave and its associated attractions from that very year. The article was found in the Minnesota Democrat, June 16, 1852. The “handsome lake” referred to is most likely Pickerel Lake in what is now Lilydale, Minnesota.
In the absence of a guest register for Fountain Cave, this piece contains valuable documentation about the presumptive clientele—“our liberal friends of the South”—southerners, apparently, taking the antebellum “fashionable tour” up the Mississippi River on steamboats. This is a valuable datum for social history.
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 33 Cave Clippings
Mummies of Giants Found
Mexican Find Believed 12,000 Years Old.
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2.—Mummies, more than seven feet tall, found in caves of northern Sonora, Mexico, indicated North America was populated by a race of giants in bygone days, according to Paxon C. Hayes, who has just returned from an exploration trip in the Yaqui Indian country. Hayes, with Alex D. Krieger and Sigurd Russell, found mummified remains of 34 giants with head formations indicating they were members of the Mongol race, he said. Embroidered symbols on blue on the mummy cloths, the use of shell ornaments and the deposits of dust which covered the remains indicated the mummies even antedated the Mayans, Hayes believes. More caves, as yet unexplored, have been charted, and arrangements now are being made to cooperate with the Mexican government in sending American scientists to the district, he added. “I am convinced these people migrated to America from a continent now sunk beneath the Pacific, possibly 12,000 years ago,” Hayes said. “Side by side with a race of norman [sic] stature, whose bodies have been preserved by natural desiccation in these dry caves, are the remains of a race of giants and pygmies who obviously used the art of mummification practiced in ancient Egypt. “With them are teakwood artifacts which it would be ridiculous to assume had been carried on the long trek by way of the Bering sea and Alaska. “The small feet of these giants indicate a people that had not walked great distances. “These and other considerations confirm my theory that they came here by boat from a continent in the Pacific of which Australia once was a part, and that the distance by boat at that time was not great. The sinking of this land must have been more recent than geologists usually estimate, probably not more than 12,000 years ago.”
From the St. Paul Daily News (St. Paul, Minnesota), October 2, 1933.
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Florida Underground
“Talking about adventures in strange places,” said J. S. M. Hodge, of Jonesville, as he settled himself down in a three legged chair in the office, “one year ago I had an experience that I shall not soon forget or repeat. In my neighborhood there are numbers or natural wells. These wells are round, and the walls are of rock. Some of these wells are very deep and others have no bottom. “One year ago my neighbor, Henry Turner, lost a calf, and after searching for it a week he decided that it had fallen in one of these unused wells and came to me for assistance. I told him that the calf was dead, but consented to go down the well. Descending to the depth of about forty feet I came to what I supposed was the bottom. Becoming accustomed to the darkness, I discovered a long, horizontal cave in the rock. The lost calf had a bell, and after listening I heard the tinkling far off in the distance. Moreover it appeared to be partly submerged in water. The hunt was growing exciting, but I could not enter that dark hole, peopled with snakes by the imagination, by myself. Calling to the top, I asked that another man come down with a lantern. My brother came down, and we started on our journey through the earth. We had to crawl, for the crevice was not more than three feet high. We had proceeded about 100 yards when suddenly we came to a large cavern, which could not be measured in the darkness. Just before us was a body of water into which the calf had fallen. We managed to throw a rope around it and pull it up, and then we got out of there with all possible haste. I had no inclination to explore further, and I shudder when I think of the possible danger that surrounded us in the earth.”
34 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) These natural wells are among the wonders unexplained. It is believed by many that in ages past the ground sunk in, leaving these round holes in the solid rock. Mr. Hodge used the water from one of these wells for drinking. It is sixty feet deep, and the water is cold, clear and pure.—Gainesville Record.
From The West Saint Paul Times (West St. Paul, Minnesota), December 7, 1889.
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The following account of an 1873 treasure find in a North Carolina cave adds greatly to the rich history of speleology and lore in that state. This article was furnished to The Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) by the paper’s New York staff and published on Tuesday, April 19, 1887, page 4, column 4. This vivid report is transcribed in its entirety below. Of course the authenticity of the article is undetermined and perhaps lost to time.—Contributed by Larry O. Blair.
Found in a Cave
The Treasure Hunter’s Rich Discovery in the North Carolina Mountains.
I met in Richmond the other day the old man who is known in western North Carolina and western Virginia as the Treasure Hunter, and when I urged a strong desire to know how he came by his title, he expressed his willingness to sit down for a talk. “To begin with,” he said, “I am a single man, and have no relatives in America. I came from England in 1872, and intended to buy land and settle down at Greensboro, North Carolina. At Petersburg, Virginia, while en route, I was taken sick and robbed of my money, some $1,000 [?], and when I reached Greensboro I had only about $25 [?] left. I was naturally broken up and discouraged, and after a little time I drifted into the mountain range to the west of Statesville, found a comfortable cave in which to live, and became a hunter-hermit. For the first three months I saw only two human faces. I became accustomed to this wild and solitary life, and entered the towns only when driven to do so by want of provisions or ammunition. “It was one day in 1873 that I encountered a hunter in the mountains who told me that I was regarded by the outside world as a treasure hunter, and that there was much curiosity concerning my movements. It had been reported that I had found a box of gold in a cave, and a score of men were searching the ranges in the hopes of meeting with luck. This was the first time the idea of treasure crossed my mind. In my rough jaunts I had discovered several caves, but had not stopped to explore any of them, as I had not thought that they had ever been occupied by man. When I separated from the hunter, who appeared to be a very honest man, I sat down to wonder if it were possible for luck to come back to me through some rich find, and though I smiled at the thought when it first came up, I soon became deeply interested, and that night I scarcely slept for speculating on what might turn up. “Bright and early next morning I was off up the range to the northwest, having as my objective point a cave which I had discovered months before in the Iron mountains, southwest of Morgantown. It took me a day and a half to reach it for it was summer, and the mountains were covered with plants, roots and vines to obstruct travel. The mouth of the cave was under an overhanging ledge, where I had crept for shelter from a fierce rain storm, and before leaving the neighborhood I entered it far enough to see that it was a very roomy place, and that fires had been built there at some time by the hands of man. It seemed to me as I pursued my journey that this cave would be more likely than any other to contain something, but the nearer I came to it the more ridiculous seemed the idea of treasure. Refugees and deserters from the confederate army no doubt sought the mountains for hiding places, and after the war they were infested by outlaws and moonshiners. I might possibly find a rusty gun or knife, but I could hope for nothing more. “I came to the spot about noon of the second day, and, to tell you the truth, I was quite disgusted with myself for being carried away as I had been. I built a fire, cooked a partridge I had shot, and made no move toward entering the cave for a couple of hours. Then I forced myself against my better judgment to prepare three or four torches and light one and enter the place. The opening was about as large as a
JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005) 35 hogshead, but scarcely had I gone ten feet when the cave became a chamber. There was a pretty strong draught coming out of it, proving that it had another opening, and the floor and sides were dry as a bone. It was a good place for snakes and varmints, and I proceeded very cautiously on that account. The firebrands I had previously discovered had been undisturbed. The fire had been built just at the entrance of a circular chamber which must have been twenty-five feet across, and the draught would take off the smoke out of the mouth of the cave and scatter it among the thick pines. I found not only a large heap of ashes and charred brands, but a pile of fagots which had been laid aside and never burned. Nearby were a mouldy old haversack, a heap of mould representing a woolen blanket, an army belt, a rusty revolver, a bayonet, a lot of bones of birds and animals, and a pair of boots which had become useless to the owner before he threw them away. “It was plain enough that outlaws, deserters or refugees had made this cave their hiding place, and I began to look for further relics. I started to the right, and circled the chamber just half, and then came to a narrow passageway leading into a second chamber. I went back and circled to the left, but found nothing until I again reached this passage. Leaving a torch burning in the outer chamber, I lighted a second and passed into the next. The rift or passageway was about ten feet long, and there was almost enough draught here to extinguish my torch. The temperature of the cave stood about 50°, while that of the summer day outside was fully 85. “I found the second chamber to be an almost square room, measuring, I should say, 16 x 24. The floor was not so even as that of the other, nor was the roof as high. The draught came out of a rift or blowhole in the roof, but I could not locate the exact spot. I had scarcely entered the place before I knew that an important discovery was on the tapin [?]. There was a bundle of clothes against the rocky side, and two guns, which I afterward found to be shotguns of ancient make, leaned against the side. I approached the heap of stuff and began tearing it to pieces with my foot. The articles were better preserved than in the other room, probably because the room was drier, and because they were directly in the draught of pure air. One of the first things I kicked aside was a small leather trunk, provided with handles like a valise, and used as a valise. It was of English make, and while it must have been many years old before it saw the cave, and had probably been there for several years, the leather was still in good condition and the lock all right. There were in addition to the satchel two iron kettles, some tin and crockery dishes, some rough cutlery, two or three blankets and some bedquilts, a sharp and rusty butcher knife, a suit of rough clothes, a coarse pair of shoes, evidently worn by a female, and a small wooden box in which I found buttons of various sizes and needles and thread. That two or three persons had occupied the cave in company, and that one of them was a woman, there could be no room for doubt. “The trunk was the only thing likely to contain any object of value, and I carried it out through both caves to daylight. Its weight led me to believe it was full of dishes or cutlery, and before I could break the lock and get a sight of the contents I became so nervous that I was all in a tremble. It was a minute or two before I dared inspect the contents. Then I took out several towels, two white shirts, two or three fine hankerchiefs [sic] and then came two buckskin bags, which I knew contained money. One was much the larger, and this I opened first and found it contained silver coins, most of them dollars and halves of American coinage, though there were perhaps fifty Mexican pieces. The other contained gold pieces, the denominations running up to twenties and down to fives. There was altogether $7,963.50. When I got over my excitement I went back and carefully examined everything, hoping to get some clue to the people who had occupied the cave, but found nothing whatever to give me information. I could reason that the people had fled from their homes, taking all their wealth, but how many were there or what became of them were questions no one could answer. The money was not mine if the rightful owners were alive, but I spent six weeks making inquiries, and learned nothing. I then invested the money in lands, which I own today, and although I am no longer a hermit and cave dweller, the title of Treasure Hunter still sticks to me, and many regard me as a wizard.”
All members are invited to contribute material to the “Cave Clippings” department!
36 JSH v. 39, no. 1 (January-June 2005)