Editing Mammoth Cave National Park (section)

===Recent discoveries===
[[File:Mammoth cave system and surface.jpg|thumb|Mammoth cave system and surface]]
Further connections between Mammoth Cave and smaller caves or cave systems have followed, notably to Proctor/Morrison Cave beneath nearby Joppa Ridge in 1979. Proctor Cave was discovered by Jonathan Doyle, a Union Army deserter during the Civil War, and was later owned by the Mammoth Cave Railroad, before being explored by the CRF. Morrison cave was discovered by George Morrison in the 1920s. This connection pushed the frontier of Mammoth exploration southeastward.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

At the same time, discoveries made outside the park by an independent group called the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition or CKKC resulted in the survey of tens of miles in Roppel Cave east of the park. Discovered in 1976, Roppel Cave was briefly on the list of the nation's longest caves before it was connected to the Proctor/Morrison's section of the Mammoth Cave System on September&nbsp;10, 1983. The connection was made by two mixed parties of CRF and CKKC explorers. Each party entered through a separate entrance and met in the middle before continuing in the same direction to exit at the opposite entrance. The resulting total surveyed length was near {{convert|300|mi|km}}.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

On March 19, 2005, a connection into the Roppel Cave portion of the system was surveyed from a small cave under Eudora Ridge, adding approximately three miles to the known length of the Mammoth Cave System. The newly found entrance to the cave, now termed the "Hoover Entrance", had been discovered in September 2003, by Alan Canon and James Wells.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.thegreatsymmetry.com/cave-exploration/ |title= The Great Symmetry: Cave Exploration |author= James Wells |access-date= 2014-05-05 |archive-date= 2021-01-20 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210120170540/http://www.thegreatsymmetry.com/cave-exploration/ |url-status= live }}</ref> Incremental discoveries since then have pushed the total to more than {{convert|400|mi |km|sp=us}}.<ref name=NPSintro /><ref name="NSS_LONG" />

It is certain that many more miles of cave passages await discovery in the region. Discovery of new natural entrances is a rare event: the primary mode of discovery involves the pursuit of side passages identified during routine systematic exploration of cave passages entered from known entrances.

====Related and nearby caves====
At least two other massive cave systems lie short distances from Mammoth Cave: the [[Fisher Ridge Cave System]] and the [[Martin Ridge Cave System]]. The Fisher Ridge Cave System was discovered in January 1981 by a group of Michigan cavers associated with the Detroit Urban Grotto of the [[National Speleological Society]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hobbs III |editor1-first=Horton H. |editor2-last=Olson |editor2-first=Rickard A. |editor3-last=Winkler |editor3-first=Elizabeth G. |editor4-last=Culver |editor4-first=David C. |title=Mammoth Cave: A Human and Natural History |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319537184 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzgoDwAAQBAJ |access-date=24 July 2018 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423120938/https://books.google.com/books?id=uzgoDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> So far, the Fisher Ridge Cave System has been mapped to {{convert|131|mi}}.<ref name="NSS_LONG" /> In 1976, Rick Schwartz discovered a large cave south of the Mammoth Cave park boundary. This cave became known as the Martin Ridge Cave System in 1996, as new exploration connected the 3 nearby caves of Whigpistle Cave (Schwartz's original entrance), Martin Ridge Cave, and Jackpot Cave. As of 2018, the Martin Ridge Cave System had been mapped to a length of {{convert|34|mi}}, and exploration continued.<ref>{{cite web |last= Gulden |first= Bob |author-link=Robert Gulden  |title= USA Longest Caves |date= July 11, 2011 |url= http://www.caverbob.com/usalong.htm |access-date= 24 July 2018 |archive-date= 5 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100405120738/http://www.caverbob.com/usalong.htm |url-status= usurped }}</ref>

Located {{convert|7|mi}} from the visitors center is Diamond Caverns. On display there is a stagecoach used to ferry visitors from the nearby Bells Tavern train stop in Park City, Kentucky to both Diamond Caverns and Mammoth Cave.<ref>{{Cite news |last=KINSLOW |first=GINA |date=March 28, 2019 |title=Stagecoach on display at National Cave Museum and Library at Diamond Caverns |work=Glasgow Daily Times |url=http://www.mcnpa.org/pdf/MCNPA_190328_Article.pdf}}</ref>