Mammoth Cave pp 63-76 | Cite as
History of Exploration at Mammoth Cave
Abstract
Many forces have led humans to enter caves in the Mammoth Cave area over the past 5000 years. Caves have served as sources of adventure, social gathering, scientific discovery, and exploration. They have been valued for economic benefits including the mining of cave minerals (calcium nitrate from which to make saltpeter for gunpowder) and speleothems as well as their commercial potential as show caves. Caves were used as places of shelter from the elements of nature, for storing produce and meat and as refuge from criminal activity or war. Curiosity drove many prehistoric and historic explorers to enter caves seeking answers to many questions concerning their length, depth, and extent. The curiosity of modern explorers led to the connection of the Flint Ridge Cave System (FRCS) to Mammoth Cave in 1972. Since then, discoveries have continued and nobody alive today will hear of the end of the Mammoth Cave System.
Keywords
Cave System National Park Service Grand Avenue Cave Mineral Cave PassageNotes
Acknowledgements
The author would especially like to thank Gary Berdeaux, Chuck DeCroix, Nick Crawford, Harold Meloy (deceased), Bill Napper, Kay Sides, David and Stephen Sides, Gordon Smith, Norman Warnell, and Richard A. and Patty Jo Watson. I thank all the students I have had the honor to instruct in my class, “Exploration of Mammoth Cave,” for Mammoth Cave National Park and Western Kentucky University’s “Summer in the Park” series. I thank all my many colleagues in the Cave Research Foundation with whom I have been caving since 1962, for adding so much meaning to my life. This is written as part of the author’s research for Mammoth Cave National Park research project, MACA H1.
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