Mammoth Cave Inational Park

MAMMOTH CAVE INATIONAL PARK By MARGARET M.BRIDI)ELL THE STORY OF MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK KENTUCKY A Brief History by MARGARET M. BRIDWELL Drawings by fhe Author ,1 FRONT COVER—HINDU TEMPLE IN MAMMOTH CAVE Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky COPYRIGHT 1952 MARGARET M. BRIDWELL MAMMOTH CAVE, KY. "Established, dedicated and set apart as a national park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. "^ ^ni^odi UCLLOnill Mammoth Cave National Park has a long and interesting history due to a number of factors not d ordinarily associated with a primarily scenic region. First, the trespass of man makes history and this area, even though it is primeval enough to make it of national importance, has been inhabited by white man for nearly two hundred years. Second, the abun dant evidences of pre-historic man in the locality are of sufficient archaeological importance to justify their recording. Third, the geographic location of the region has been of prime national importance histori cally from the middle of the eighteenth century when Kentucky was America's western frontier and the park area itself a challenge to adventurers, hunters and landgrabbers, to the present day when it has become the nearest national park to the center of population of the United States. Fourth, although the cave for mations in Mammoth Cave follow the natural cave processes of all limestone caverns, the presence of great amounts of saltpeter mined in the caves during the War of 1812 influenced the victorious outcome of the war, thus making the cave itself of great national historical significance. OLD MAMMOTH CAVE HOTEL, FROM ORIGINAL DRAWING BY FERDINAND REICHARDT, 1857 I wish to thank Mr. Thomas C. Miller, Super intendent, Mammoth Cave National Park, for the splendid cooperation, valuable time and con stant encouragement he gave me in compiling this brief history; Mr. W. W. Thompson, White haven, Tenn.; Mr. Max Nahm, Judge John B. Rodes and Mr. James N. Mines, Bowling Green, Ky.; Mr. Ellis Jones and Mr. Lute Lee, Cave City, Ky.; Mr. J. J. Ryan, Mr. Thomas E. Owen, and Mr. H. T. Lively of the L h- N Railroad Company; Mr. Ronald F. Lee, Asst. Director, National Park Service; Mr. Courtland T. Reid, Naturalist, Mr. Martin L. Charlet, Chief Guide, and Mr. Carl Hanson, Guide, Mammoth Cave National Park; Mr. H. S. Sanborn, President, National Park Concessions, Inc., and Mr. James Rosenberger, Lexington, Ky., each of whom contributed books, records or personal informa tion without which the story of Mammoth Cave could not have been written. I also wish to thank the National Park Service, Mr. Ray Scott, Photographer and Mr. J. Welling ton Young, Assistant Photographer, National Park Concessions, Inc. Mammoth Cave National Park, for the use of all the photographs in this book. HISTORrC ENTRANCE TO MAMMOTH CAVE THE STORY OF MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK Geographical Setting Geological Formation Flora and Fauna Mammoth Cave National Park, near the center of population of the United States, occupies a most advantageous geographi cal location. It lies one hundred miles south of Louisville, Kentucky, and one hundred miles north of Nashville, Tennes see, and is within a day's drive of forty million people. Dis covered, according to tradition, by a hunter named Houchins who chased a wounded bear into its entrance. Mammoth Cave's subterranean wonders and natural scenic beauty were first shown commercially in 1816, and since that time have been among America's outstanding attractions. Two beautiful navigable rivers, the Green and the Nolin, flow through the park and the wide variety of soil within its boundaries, together with ample rainfall and temperate climate, has resulted in the development of a wide variety of flora. Along the trails and river bluffs several hundred species of flowers and thirty-one varieties of ferns may be seen from early spring to late fall, and more than 100 different types of trees and shrubs, primarily deciduous, with some pines, cedars and other evergreens make up the forests. Near the Nolin River is the Big Leaf Magnolia, and the most promi nent of the small trees and shrubs are the flowering dogwood and redbud. The flora of Kentucky represents the original appeal and present prosperity of the state as there is little doubt that the rich grassland and magnificent timber of the region furnished the chief reason for its early settlement. Kentucky enjoys a most fortunate position geographically and physiographically as a bird region and there are now about 180 species of birds in the park. Among them are the catbird, bluebird, cardinal, woodthrush, quail and robin. The great ornithologists, John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson were drawn to Kentucky on account of its countless numbers of birds, and Audubon wrote at great length of the unbelievably large roosts of the passenger pigeon, now extinct, on the banks of the Green River. Under the protection of the National Park Service wildlife in Mammoth Cave National Park is rapidly increasing. Com mon tj^es of animal life in the park are the red fox, mink, raccoon, opossum, gray squirrel, rabbit, muskrat and wood- chuck. Beaver, deer and wild turkey have been restocked. Mammoth Cave is noted for the blind or eyeless animals that have adapted themselves to living, generation after generation, in the total darkness of the cave. The first blind cave animal known in the world was the Mammoth Cave Blindfish, dis covered about 1838 in Echo River. These fish became the subject of extensive study and discussion after the first de scription of them was published in 1842. Among the more than fifty species of animal life that have been found in the caves are blind or eyeless crawfish, cave crickets, beetles, spiders, snails and worms. Bats and woodrats live in the cave but come out regularly and are not true cave animals. The chief attraction of Mammoth Cave National Park is Mammoth Cave itself, over one hundred and fifty miles of which have been explored and charted. In addition, there are many other, though smaller, caves in the area. The caves are located near the center of the karst region of Kentucky, a large area drained almost entirely by underground streams. The limestone in which the caves are excavated was de posited on the floor of a shallow, inland sea, a sea that covered Kentucky during the Mississippian period of geologic history, some 240,000,000 years ago. The formation of the caves is the work of water in two rather distinct phases. The erosional phase took place below the water table and was effected by ground water dissolving the limestone along joint and bedding planes, ever enlarging the cracks thus formed until large passageways and rooms were hollowed out. An upward movement of the earth's crust in this region drained the caves by lowering the water table and allowed Green River, the major surface stream in the area, to start its present course of downcutting through the limestone strata. Underground tributaries of Green River, fed from the sinkholes that were now developing on the sur face, modified the cave passageways in many instances. Echo River, largest of these streams, is over 300 feet below the surface, and is probably the most famous underground river in the world. 8 After the caves were drained the second phase of cave development began, that of building the decorative forma tions. Surface water, working its way down through cracks, dissolves some of the limestone, and eventually emerges on the cave ceiling. There the water evaporates and the lime stone is deposited. More water brings more deposition until stalactites are built downward. Excess water falling to the floor builds stalagmites upward. Many fine examples of stalactites and stalagmites are to be seen in Mammoth Cave, the largest and more famous being Frozen Niagara. Mammoth Cave is also famous for its gypsum—depositions of which occur in dry areas in the form of soft cottony-like masses, long needles, curved flower clusters, and crystal studded masses. Gypsum cave formations were first dis covered in Mammoth Cave, and Dr. John Locke of the Ohio Medical College published the first description of them in 1841. PREHISTORIC AND ABORIGINAL HISTORY Mammoth Cave was formed in the Tertiary epoch of the Cenozoic era. Since Tertiary time covers the period from one to 58 million years ago, the cave is "many millions" of years old. At the time of the last Ice Age mammoths, masto- dens, giant sloths, hyenas and ancient horses roamed over Kentucky, fossils of some of which have been found in caves of the Mammoth Cave area. The history of man in Kentucky probably goes back to the Neolothic man who knew the use of fire, made a crude kind of pottery, fashioned rude ornaments and weapons from bone, wood, and shell, and buried his dead. He and his descendants left abundant records in the form of burials, campsites, mounds, refuse heaps, fortifications and cultural objects as mute but irrefutable evidence of their habitation in the region in prehistoric times. Archaeological studies indicate that a number of different Indian groups lived in the Green River and Mammoth Cave area hundreds of years prior to the coming of the white man. Some of these prehistoric groups have been designated as the River People, the Kentucky Cliff Dwellers, Mound Builders, and the Mammoth Cave Indian. Indians remains are found throughout various sections of the United States but Mammoth Cave is unique in that the Indian went so far underground. At Carlsbad evidences of prehistoric Indians are only found at the cave entrance but in Mammoth Cave they are found miles back in the caves.

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