Editing Mammoth Cave National Park

{{short description|National park in Kentucky, United States}}
{{Redirect|Mammoth Cave}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Mammoth Cave National Park
| iucn_category = II
| photo = Mammoth Cave Rotunda (USGS Lwt02830).jpg
| photo_caption = The Rotunda Room at Mammoth Cave
| map = Kentucky#USA
| relief = 1
| map_caption = Location in Kentucky##Location in the United States
| location = [[Edmonson County, Kentucky|Edmonson]], [[Hart County, Kentucky|Hart]], and [[Barren County, Kentucky|Barren]] counties, [[Kentucky]], U.S.
| nearest_city = [[Brownsville, Kentucky|Brownsville]]
| coordinates = {{coord|37|11|13|N|86|06|04|W|region:US|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coords_ref = 
| area_acre = 52830
| area_ref = <ref name="area">{{NPS area |year=2011 |access-date=March 7, 2012}}</ref>
| established = {{start date and age|1941|07|01}}
| visitation_num = 533,206
| visitation_year = 2018
| visitation_ref = <ref name="visits">{{NPS Visitation| access-date=March 8, 2019}}</ref>
| governing_body = [[National Park Service]]
| website = [https://www.nps.gov/maca/ Mammoth Cave National Park]
| embedded1 = {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
  |child = yes
  |ID = 150
  |Year = 1981
  |Criteria = Natural: vii, viii, x
  }}
| Designations = National Park
World Heritage Site
International Biosphere Preserve
International Dark Sky Park
Blue Waterway
}}

'''Mammoth Cave National Park''' is a [[List of national parks of the United States|national park of the United States]] in south-central [[Kentucky]]. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the [[List of longest caves|longest known cave system in the world]]. The park's {{convert|52,830|acre|ha}} are located primarily in [[Edmonson County, Kentucky|Edmonson County]], with small areas extending eastward into [[Hart County, Kentucky|Hart]] and [[Barren County, Kentucky|Barren]] counties. The [[Green River (Kentucky)|Green River]] runs through the park, with a [[tributary]] called the [[Nolin River]] feeding into the Green just inside the park.

The cave system has formally been known as the '''Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System''' since 1972, when a connection was discovered between Mammoth Cave and the even longer system under Flint Ridge to the north.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exploring the World's Longest Known Cave (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/exploring-the-worlds-longest-known-cave.htm |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> As of 2022, more than {{convert|426|mi|}} of passageways had been surveyed,<ref name="NPSintro">{{cite web |date=May 22, 2018 |title=Mammoth Cave National Park FAQ |url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/faqs.htm#:~:text=To%20date%2C%20explorers%20have%20surveyed,cave%20system%20in%20the%20world. |url-status=live |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=April 10, 2025 |website=nps.gov |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref><ref name="400_miles">{{cite web |date=September 8, 2022 |title=Mammoth Cave just got a little more "Mammoth" |url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/news/mammoth-cave-just-got-a-little-more-mammoth.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214025217/https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/news/mammoth-cave-just-got-a-little-more-mammoth.htm |archive-date=February 14, 2023 |access-date=May 12, 2023 |website=National Park Service |publisher=[[National Park Service]] (NPS)}}</ref> over 1.5 times longer than the second-longest cave system, [[Mexico]]'s [[Sistema Sac Actun|Sac Actun]] underwater cave.<ref name="NSS_LONG">{{cite web |author=Bob Gulden |author-link=Robert Gulden |date=January 7, 2018 |title=Worlds longest caves |url=http://www.caverbob.com/wlong.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102100710/http://www.caverbob.com/wlong.htm |archive-date=November 2, 2015 |access-date=May 29, 2018 |work=Geo2 Committee on Long and Deep Caves |publisher=[[National Speleological Society]] (NSS)}}</ref>

The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941, after oft-contentious eminent domain proceedings whose consequences still affect the region. It was named a [[World Heritage Site]] on October&nbsp;27, 1981; an international [[Biosphere Reserve]] on September&nbsp;26, 1990; and an International Dark Sky Park on October 28, 2021.

==Mission==
[[File:Mammoth cave, Kentucky, US, tourists inside.jpg|right|thumb|Tourists inside the cave]]

The park's mission is stated in its foundation document:<ref>{{cite web |title=Foundation Document Mammoth Cave National Park |url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/management/upload/MACA_FD_SP_Low-Resolution.pdf |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=23 March 2021 |archive-date=9 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161209114109/https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/management/upload/MACA_FD_SP_Low-Resolution.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{Blockquote
|text=The purpose of Mammoth Cave National Park is to preserve, protect, interpret, and study the internationally recognized biological and geologic features and processes associated with the longest known cave system in the world, the park’s diverse forested karst landscape, the Green and Nolin rivers, and extensive evidence of human history; and to provide and promote public enjoyment, recreation, and understanding.
}}

==Geology==
Mammoth Cave developed in thick [[Mississippian age|Mississippian]]-aged [[limestone]] [[Stratum|strata]] capped by a layer of [[sandstone]], which has made the system remarkably stable. It is known to include more than {{convert|426|mi}} of passageway.<ref name=NPSintro/><ref name="NSS_LONG"/> New discoveries and connections add several miles/kilometers to this figure each year.

The upper sandstone member is known as the [[Big Clifty Sandstone]]. Thin, sparse layers of limestone interspersed within the sandstone give rise to an [[Karst|epikarstic zone]], in which tiny conduits (cave passages too small to enter) are dissolved by the natural acidity of groundwater. The epikarstic zone concentrates local flows of runoff into high-elevation springs which emerge at the edges of ridges. The resurgent water from these springs typically flows briefly on the surface before sinking underground again at the elevation of contact between the sandstone [[caprock]] and the underlying massive limestones. It is in these underlying massive limestone layers that the human-explorable caves of the region have naturally developed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geology of Mammoth Cave National Park {{!}} U.S. Geological Survey |url=https://www.usgs.gov/geology-and-ecology-of-national-parks/geology-mammoth-cave-national-park#:~:text=Mammoth%20Cave%20National%20Park%20is%20known%20for%20housing%20the%20world%27s,,%20tunnels,%20and%20underground%20rivers. |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=www.usgs.gov}}</ref>

[[File:Mammoth cave 01 - 1887.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave'', woodcut (1887)]]
The limestone layers of the [[stratigraphic]] column beneath the Big Clifty, in increasing order of depth below the ridgetops, are the [[Girkin Formation]], the [[Ste. Genevieve Limestone]], and the [[St. Louis Limestone]]. The large Main Cave passage seen on the Historic Tour is located at the bottom of the Girkin and the top of the Ste. Genevieve Formation.

Each of the primary layers of limestone is divided further into named geological units and sub-units. One area of cave research involves correlating the stratigraphy with the cave survey produced by explorers. This makes it possible to produce  approximate three-dimensional maps of the contours of the various layer boundaries without the necessity for test wells and extracting core samples.

The upper sandstone caprock is relatively hard for water to penetrate: the exceptions are where vertical cracks occur. This protective layer means that many of the older, upper passages of the cave system are very dry, with no [[stalactite]]s, [[stalagmite]]s, or other formations which require flowing or dripping water to develop.

However, the sandstone caprock layer has been dissolved and eroded at many locations within the park, such as the Frozen Niagara room. The contact between limestone and sandstone can be found by hiking from the valley bottoms to the ridgetops: typically, as one approaches the top of a ridge, one sees the outcrops of exposed rock change in composition from limestone to sandstone at a well-defined elevation.<ref>In some cases, slump blocks of sandstone have broken off the ridgetops and tumbled down the limestone slopes below, rendering the local contact layer less clearly defined.</ref>

At one valley bottom in the southern region of the park, a massive [[sinkhole]] has developed. Known as [[Cedar Sink]], the sinkhole features a small river entering one side and disappearing back underground at the other side.

==Visiting==
[[File:Mammoth Cave tour.jpg|thumb|A ranger-guided tour of the cave]]
The [[National Park Service]] offers several cave tours to visitors. Some notable features of the cave, such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man's Misery, can be seen on lighted tours ranging from one to six hours in length. Two tours, lit only by visitor-carried paraffin lamps, are popular alternatives to the electric-lit routes. Several "wild" tours venture away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty tunnels.

The Echo River Tour, one of the cave's most famous attractions, took visitors on a boat ride along an underground river. The tour was discontinued for logistic and environmental reasons in the early 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/faqs.htm|title=Frequently Asked Questions - Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov|access-date=2022-01-11|archive-date=2021-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125085821/https://www.nps.gov/maca/faqs.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mammoth Cave headquarters and visitor center is located on [[Mammoth Cave Parkway]]. The park can be accessed directly from [[Interstate 65 in Kentucky|I-65]] at Exit 48. The parkway connects with [[Kentucky Route 70]] from the north and [[Kentucky Route 255]] from the south within the park.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/directions.htm|title=Directions & Transportation - Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov|access-date=2022-01-11|archive-date=2021-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201092004/https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/directions.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==

===Prehistory===

[[File:Mammoth Cave WHS plaque.png|thumb|The [[World Heritage Site]] plaque]]

Human activity in Mammoth Cave traces back five thousand years. Several sets of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] remains have been recovered from Mammoth Cave, or other nearby caves in the region, in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Most were [[mummy|mummies]], representing examples of intentional burial, with ample evidence of [[pre-Columbian]] funerary practice.

An exception to purposeful burial was discovered when in 1935 the remains of an adult male were found under a large boulder. The boulder had shifted and settled onto the victim, a pre-Columbian miner, who had disturbed the rubble supporting it. The remains of the ancient victim were named "Lost John" and exhibited to the public into the 1970s, when they were interred in a secret location in Mammoth Cave for reasons of preservation as well as emerging political sensitivities with respect to the public display of Native American remains.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Research beginning in the late 1950s led by [[Patty Jo Watson]], of [[Washington University in St. Louis]] has done much to illuminate the lives of the late [[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic]] and early [[Woodland period|Woodland peoples]] who explored and exploited caves in the region. Preserved by the constant cave environment, dietary evidence yielded [[radiocarbon dating|carbon dates]] enabling Watson and others to determine the age of the specimens. An analysis of their content, also pioneered by Watson, allows determination of the relative content of plant and meat in the diet of either culture over a period spanning several thousand years. This analysis indicates a timed transition from a [[hunter-gatherer]] culture to [[plant domestication]] and [[agriculture]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Another technique employed in [[Archaeology|archaeological research]], at Mammoth Cave, was "[[experimental archaeology]]" in which modern explorers were sent into the cave using the same technology as that employed by the ancient cultures whose leftover implements lie discarded in many parts of the cave. The goal was to gain insight into the problems faced by the ancient people who explored the cave, by placing the researchers in a similar physical situation.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Ancient human remains and artifacts within the caves are protected by various federal and state laws. One of the most basic facts to be determined about a newly discovered artifact is its precise location and situation. Even slightly moving a prehistoric artifact contaminates it from a research perspective. Explorers are properly trained not to disturb archaeological evidence, and some areas of the cave remain out-of-bounds for even seasoned explorers, unless the subject of the trip is archaeological research on that area.

Besides the remains that have been discovered in the portion of the cave accessible through the historic entrance of Mammoth Cave, the remains of cane torches used by Native Americans as well as other artifacts such as drawings, gourd fragments, and woven grass moccasin slippers are found in the Salts Cave section of the system in Flint Ridge.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===Earliest written history===
The {{convert|31,000|acre|ha|adj=on}} tract known as the "Pollard Survey" was sold by [[indenture]] on September&nbsp;10, 1791. in [[Philadelphia]] by William Pollard. {{convert|19,897|acre|ha}} of the "Pollard Survey" between the North bank of [[Bacon Creek (Kentucky)|Bacon Creek]] and the [[Green River (Kentucky)|Green River]] were purchased by [[Thomas Lang, Jr.]], a British-American merchant from [[Yorkshire]], England, on June&nbsp;3, 1796, for £4,116/13s/0d (£4,116.65). The land was lost to a local county tax claim during the [[War of 1812]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

[[File:Mammoth Cave Historic Entrance.jpg|thumb|The historic entrance at {{coord|37|11|14|N|86|06|13|W|}}]]
Legend has it that the first European to visit Mammoth Cave was either John Houchin or his brother Francis Houchin, in 1797.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mammoth Cave Historic Entrance (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/mammoth-cave-historic-entrance.htm |website=www.nps.gov |publisher=United States Government |access-date=16 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> While hunting, Houchin pursued a wounded bear to the cave's large entrance opening near the Green River. Some Houchin Family tales have John Decatur "Johnny Dick" Houchin as the discoverer of the cave, but this is highly unlikely because Johnny Dick was only 10 years old in 1797 and was unlikely to be out hunting bears at such an age. His father John is the more likely candidate from that branch of the family tree, but the most probable candidate for discoverer of Mammoth Cave is Francis "Frank" Houchin, whose land was much closer to the cave entrance than his brother John's. There is also the argument that their brother Charles Houchin, who was known as a great hunter and trapper, was the man who shot that bear and chased it into the cave. The shadow over Charles's claim is the fact that he was residing in Illinois until 1801. Contrary to this story is Brucker and Watson's ''The Longest Cave'', which asserts that the cave was "certainly known before that time." Caves in the area were known before the discovery of the entrance to Mammoth Cave. Even Francis Houchin had a cave entrance on his land very near the bend in the Green River known as the Turnhole, which is less than a mile from the main entrance of Mammoth Cave.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

[[File:Mammoth Cave Saltpeter Mine.jpg|thumb|Saltpeter Mine Ruins in Mammoth Cave]]
The land containing this historic entrance was first surveyed and registered in 1798 under the name of Valentine Simon. Simon began exploiting Mammoth Cave for its [[Potassium nitrate|saltpeter]] reserves.

===19th century===
[[File:R.E.Call (1897) Map of the Mammoth Cave.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Map of Mammoth Cave (1897)]]
In partnership with Valentine Simon, various other individuals would own the land through the [[War of 1812]], when Mammoth Cave's saltpeter reserves became significant due to the [[Embargo Act of 1807|Jefferson Embargo Act of 1807]] which prohibited all foreign trade. The blockade starved the American military of saltpeter and therefore [[gunpowder]]. As a result, the domestic price of saltpeter rose and production based on nitrates extracted from caves such as Mammoth Cave became more lucrative.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In July 1812, the cave was purchased from Simon and other owners by Charles Wilkins and an investor from Philadelphia named Hyman Gratz. Soon the cave was being mined for [[calcium nitrate]] on an industrial scale, utilizing a labor force of 70 slaves to build and operate the soil leaching apparatus, as well as to haul the raw soil from deep in the cave to the central processing site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/history4.htm|title=...And Pass The Ammunition - Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov|language=en|access-date=2017-10-29|archive-date=2017-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107024639/https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/history4.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

A half-interest in the cave changed hands for $10,000 (equivalent to over $150,000 in 2020). After the war when prices fell, the workings were abandoned and it became a minor tourist attraction centering on a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[mummy]] discovered nearby.

When Wilkins died his estate's executors sold his interest in the cave to Gratz. In the spring of 1838, the cave was sold by the Gratz brothers to Franklin Gorin, who intended to operate Mammoth Cave purely as a tourist attraction, the bottom long having since fallen out of the saltpeter market. Gorin was a slave owner, and used his slaves as tour guides. [[Stephen Bishop (cave explorer)|Stephen Bishop]] was one of these slaves and would make a number of important contributions to human knowledge of the cave, becoming one of Mammoth Cave's most celebrated historical figures.<ref>{{Citation |last=Sides |first=Stanley D. |title=History of Exploration at Mammoth Cave |date=2017 |work=Mammoth Cave |series=Cave and Karst Systems of the World |pages=63–76 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53718-4_4 |access-date=2024-04-08 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-53718-4_4 |isbn=978-3-319-53717-7}}</ref>

Stephen Bishop was an [[African-American]] [[History of slavery in the United States|slave]] and a guide to the cave during the 1840s and 1850s, was one of the first people to make extensive [[map]]s of the cave, and named many of the cave's features.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Stephen Bishop was introduced to Mammoth Cave in 1838 by Franklin Gorin. Gorin wrote, after Bishop's death: "I placed a guide in the cave – the celebrated and great Stephen, and he aided in making the discoveries. He was the first person who ever crossed the Bottomless Pit, and he, myself and another person whose name I have forgotten were the only persons ever at the bottom of Gorin's Dome to my knowledge."{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

"After Stephen crossed the Bottomless Pit, we discovered all that part of the cave now known beyond that point. Previous to those discoveries, all interest centered in what is known as the 'Old Cave' ... but now many of the points are but little known, although as Stephen was wont to say, they were 'grand, gloomy and peculiar'."<ref>Brucker and Watson 1976, pp. 272–73</ref>

[[File:HOVEY(1897) The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.jpg|thumbnail|upright|''The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky: An illustrated manual'' (1897)]]
In 1839, [[John Croghan]] of [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] bought the Mammoth Cave Estate, including Bishop and its other slaves from their previous owner, Franklin Gorin. Croghan briefly ran an ill-fated [[History of tuberculosis#Sanatorium movement|tuberculosis hospital]] in the cave in 1842–43, the vapors of which he believed would cure his patients. A widespread epidemic of the period, tuberculosis would ultimately claim the life of Dr. Croghan in 1849.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In 1866, the first photos from within the Mammoth Cave were taken by Charles Waldack, a photographer from Cincinnati, Ohio, using a very dangerous method of flash photography called magnesium flash photography.<ref>{{cite web|date=2018-08-02|title=150 Years Ago, A Cincinnati Photographer Brought Mammoth Cave Into Focus|url=https://www.wvxu.org/history/2018-08-02/150-years-ago-a-cincinnati-photographer-brought-mammoth-cave-into-focus|access-date=2021-12-03|website=WVXU|language=en|archive-date=2021-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203153803/https://www.wvxu.org/history/2018-08-02/150-years-ago-a-cincinnati-photographer-brought-mammoth-cave-into-focus|url-status=live}}</ref>

Throughout the 19th century, the fame of Mammoth Cave would grow so that the cave became an international sensation. At the same time, the cave attracted the attention of 19th century writers such as [[Robert Montgomery Bird]], the Rev. Robert Davidson, the Rev. Horace Martin, Alexander Clark Bullitt, [[Nathaniel Parker Willis]] (who visited in June 1852), [[Bayard Taylor]] (in May 1855), William Stump Forwood (in spring 1867), the naturalist [[John Muir]] (early September 1867), the Rev. Horace Carter Hovey, and others.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kentuckyexplorer.com/nonmembers/00-05030.html |title=Thompson, Bob: Early Writers Flocked To Mammoth Cave (2000) |access-date=2006-02-11 |archive-date=2016-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314082157/https://kentuckyexplorer.com/nonmembers/00-05030.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref> As a result of the growing renown of Mammoth Cave, the cave boasted famous visitors such as actor [[Edwin Booth]] (his brother, [[John Wilkes Booth]], [[Abraham Lincoln assassination|assassinated]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1865), singer [[Jenny Lind]] (who visited the cave on April&nbsp;5, 1851), and violinist [[Ole Bull]] who together gave a concert in one of the caves. Two chambers in the caves have since been known as "Booth's Amphitheatre" and "Ole Bull's Concert Hall".

===Early 20th century: The Kentucky Cave Wars===
[[File: Mammoth Cave Gothic Ave.jpg|thumb|upright|Historic signatures on the ceiling of Gothic Avenue]]
The difficulties of farming life in the hardscrabble, poor soil of the cave-country influenced local owners of smaller nearby caves to see opportunities for commercial exploitation, particularly given the success of Mammoth Cave as a tourist attraction. The "Kentucky Cave Wars" was a period of bitter competition between local cave owners for tourist money. Broad tactics of deception were used to lure visitors away from their intended destination to other private show caves. Misleading signs were placed along the roads leading to the Mammoth Cave. A typical strategy during the early days of automobile travel involved representatives (known as "cappers") of other private show caves hopping aboard a tourist's car's running board, and leading the passengers to believe that Mammoth Cave was closed, quarantined, caved in or otherwise inaccessible.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In 1906, Mammoth Cave became accessible by [[steamboat]] with the construction of a lock and dam at [[Brownsville, Kentucky]].

In 1908, [[Max Kämper]], a young German mining engineer, arrived at the cave by way of New York. Kämper had just graduated from technical college and his family had sent him on a trip abroad as a graduation present. Originally intending to spend two weeks at Mammoth Cave, Kämper spent several months. With the assistance of Ed Bishop, a Mammoth Cave Guide, Kämper produced a remarkably accurate instrumental survey of many kilometers of Mammoth Cave, including many new discoveries. Reportedly, Kämper also produced a corresponding survey of the land surface overlying the cave: this information was to be useful in the opening of other entrances to the cave, as soon happened with the Violet City entrance.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The Croghan family suppressed the topographic element of Kämper's map, and it is not known to survive today, although the cave map portion of Kämper's work stands as a triumph of accurate cave cartography: not until the early 1960s and the advent of the modern exploration period would these passages be surveyed and mapped with greater accuracy. Kämper returned to Berlin, and from the point of the 1906 construction of the dam at Brownsville, pointing out that this made a full hydrologic study of the cave impossible. Among his precise descriptions of the hydrogeologic setting of Mammoth Cave, Martel offered the speculative conclusion that Mammoth Cave was connected to Salts and [[Colossal Cavern|Colossal Caves]]: this would not be proven correct until 60 years after Martel's visit.<ref>Watson 1981 pp. 15–16</ref>

In the early 1920s, George Morrison created, via blasting, a number of entrances to Mammoth Cave on land not owned by the Croghan Estate. Absent the data from the Croghan's secretive surveys, performed by Kämper, Bishop, and others, which had not been published in a form suitable for determining the geographic extent of the cave, it was now conclusively shown that the Croghans had been for years exhibiting portions of Mammoth Cave which were not under land they owned. Lawsuits were filed and, for a time, different entrances to the cave were operated in direct competition with each other.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In the early 20th century, [[Floyd Collins]] spent ten years exploring the Flint Ridge Cave System (the most important legacy of these explorations was his discovery of Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave and exploration in Salts Cave) before dying at Sand Cave, Kentucky, in 1925. While exploring Sand Cave, he dislodged a rock onto his leg while in a tight crawlway and was unable to be rescued before dying of starvation.<ref>Brucker and Murray 1983</ref> Attempts to rescue Collins created a mass [[media sensation]]; the [[Floyd Collins#Media attention|resulting publicity]] would draw prominent Kentuckians to initiate a movement which would result in the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park in 1941.

===The national park movement (1926–1941)===
[[File:MammothCaveNPS.jpg|thumb|River Styx cave boat tour]]
As the last of the Croghan heirs died, advocacy grew among wealthy citizens of Kentucky for the establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park. Private citizens formed the Mammoth Cave National Park Association in 1924. The park was authorized May&nbsp;25, 1926.<ref name="WallacePublications">{{cite book|author1=David Rains Wallace|author2=United States. National Park Service. Division of Publications|title=Mammoth Cave: Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1m9bRiB4iv8C&pg=PA35|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-912627-72-4|page=35}}</ref>

Donated funds were used to purchase some farmsteads in the region, while other tracts within the proposed national park boundary were acquired by right of [[eminent domain]]. Unlike national parks in the sparsely populated American West, thousands of people were forced to move to form Mammoth Cave National Park. Eminent domain proceedings were often bitter, with landowners paid what were considered to be inadequate sums. The resulting acrimony still resonates within the region.<ref name="RamsayKoster2010">{{cite book|author1=Doug Ramsay|author2=Rhonda Koster|author3=Guy M. Robinson|title=Geographical Perspectives on Sustainable Rural Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1KC8CDe0xi8C&pg=PA405|year=2010|publisher=Rural Development Institute|isbn=978-1-895397-81-9|pages=405–06}}</ref>

For legal reasons, the federal government was prohibited from restoring or developing the cleared farmsteads while the private Association held the land: this regulation was evaded by the operation of "a maximum of four" [[Civilian Conservation Corps|CCC]] camps from May&nbsp;22, 1933 to July 1942.<ref>Bridwell 1952, p. 60.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wku.edu/Library/nps/ccc/index.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819034828/http://www.wku.edu/Library/nps/ccc/index.html|url-status=dead|title=Civilian Conservation Corps at Mammoth Cave National Park|archivedate=August 19, 2006}}</ref>

According to the National Park Service, "By May 22, 1936, {{cvt|27402|acres}} of land had been acquired and accepted by the Secretary of the Interior. The area was declared a national park on July 1, 1941, when the minimum of {{cvt|45310|acres}} (over 600 parcels) had been assembled."<ref name=masterplan1970>{{cite web|title=Mammoth Cave NP: Master Plan|url=http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/maca/master_plan/appa.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2015-05-20|archive-date=2016-01-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103082253/http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/maca/master_plan/appa.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Superintendent Hoskins later wrote of a [[summer tanager]] named Pete who arrived at the guide house on or around every April&nbsp;20, starting in 1938. The bird ate from food held in the hands of the guides, to the delight of visitors, and provided food to his less-tame mate.<ref>Hoskins 1941</ref>

[[File:Mammoth Cave sign.jpg|upright|thumb|Park sign]]

===Birth of the national park (1941)===
Mammoth Cave National Park was dedicated on July&nbsp;1, 1941. The same year saw the incorporation of the [[National Speleological Society]]. R. Taylor Hoskins, the second Acting Superintendent under the old Association, became the first official Superintendent, a position he held until 1951.

The New Entrance, closed to visitors since 1941, was reopened on December&nbsp;26, 1951, becoming the entrance used for the beginning of the Frozen Niagara tour.<ref>Bridwell 1952, p. 60</ref>

===The longest cave (1954–1972)===
[[File:Mammoth Cave Mammoth Dome.jpg|thumb|upright|Staircase tower in Mammoth Dome]]

By 1954, Mammoth Cave National Park's land holdings encompassed all lands within its outer boundary with the exception of two privately held tracts. One of these, the old Lee Collins farm, had been sold to Harry Thomas of Horse Cave, Kentucky, whose grandson, William "Bill" Austin, operated Collins Crystal Cave as a show cave in direct competition with the national park, which was forced to maintain roads leading to the property.

In February 1954, a two-week expedition under the auspices of the [[National Speleological Society]] was organized at the invitation of Austin: this expedition became known as C-3, or the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition.<ref>Lawrence and Brucker 1955</ref>

The C-3 expedition drew public interest, first from a photo essay published by Robert Halmi in the July 1954 issue of ''True Magazine'' and later from the publication of a double first-person account of the expedition, ''The Caves Beyond: The Story of the Collins Crystal Cave Expedition'' by Joe Lawrence, Jr. (then president of the National Speleological Society) and [[Roger Brucker]]. The expedition proved conclusively that passages in Crystal Cave extended toward Mammoth Cave proper, at least exceeding the Crystal Cave property boundaries. However, this information was closely held by the explorers: it was feared that the National Park Service might forbid exploration were this known.<ref>Brucker and Watson 1976 p. 31</ref>

In 1955, Crystal Cave was connected by survey with Unknown Cave, the first connection in the Flint Ridge system.

Some of the participants in the C-3 expedition wished to continue their explorations past the conclusion of the C-3 Expedition, and organized as the Flint Ridge Reconnaissance under the guidance of Austin, Jim Dyer, John J. Lehrberger and E. Robert Pohl. This organization was incorporated in 1957 as the [[Cave Research Foundation]]. The organization sought to legitimize the cave explorers' activity through the support of original academic and scientific research. Notable scientists who studied Mammoth Cave during this period include [[Patty Jo Watson]] (see section on [[#Prehistory|prehistory]]).

In March 1961, the Crystal Cave property was sold to the National Park Service for $285,000.<ref>Bridwell 1952, p. 59.</ref> At the same time, the [[Great Onyx Cave]] property, the only other remaining private [[inholding]], was purchased for $365,000. The Cave Research Foundation was permitted to continue their exploration through a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Park Service.

Colossal Cave was connected by survey to Salts Cave in 1960 and in 1961 Colossal-Salts cave was similarly connected to Crystal-Unknown cave, creating a single cave system under much of Flint Ridge. By 1972, the Flint Ridge Cave System had been surveyed to a length of {{convert|86.5|mi}}, making it the longest cave in the world.

===Flint–Mammoth connection (1972)===
[[File:River Styx.jpg|thumb|River Styx, one of the cave's semi-subterranean waterways, emerges onto the surface in the park.]]
During the 1960s, Cave Research Foundation (CRF) exploration and mapping teams had found passageways in the Flint Ridge Cave System that penetrated under Houchins Valley and came within {{convert|800|ft|m}} of known passages in Mammoth Cave. In 1972, CRF Chief Cartographer John Wilcox pursued an aggressive program to finally connect the caves, fielding several expeditions from the Flint Ridge side as well as exploring leads in Mammoth Cave.

On a July 1972 trip, deep in the Flint Ridge Cave System, [[Patricia Crowther (caver)|Patricia Crowther]]—with her slight frame of {{convert|115|lb|lk=in}}  crawled through a narrow canyon later dubbed the "Tight Spot", which acted as a filter for larger cavers. A subsequent trip past the Tight Spot on August 30, 1972, by Wilcox, Crowther, Richard Zopf, and Tom Brucker discovered the name "Pete H" inscribed on the wall of a river passage with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mammoth Cave.<ref>Brucker and Watson 1976, p. 208.</ref> The name is believed to have been carved by Warner P. "Pete" Hanson, who was active in exploring the cave in the 1930s. Hanson had been killed in [[Battle of Attu#Recapture|World War II]]. The passage was named Hanson's Lost River by the explorers.

Finally, on September 9, 1972, a six-person CRF team of Wilcox, Crowther, Zopf, Gary Eller, Stephen Wells, and Cleveland Pinnix (a National Park Service ranger) followed Hanson's Lost River downstream to discover its connection with Echo River in Cascade Hall of Mammoth Cave. With this linking of the Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave systems, the "Everest of speleology" had been climbed. The integrated cave system contained {{convert|144.4|mi}} of surveyed passages and had fourteen entrances.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wells |first1=Steve G. |last2=DesMarais |first2=David J |title=The Flint–Mammoth Connection |journal=NSS News |publisher=National Speleological Society |volume=21 |issue=2 |date=February 1973 |pages=18–22 |url=http://digital.lib.usf.edu:8080/fedora/get/usfldc:N05-00390/DOCUMENT_PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317161319/http://digital.lib.usf.edu:8080/fedora/get/usfldc%3AN05-00390/DOCUMENT_PDF |archive-date=2012-03-17 }}</ref>

===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>

==Climate==

According to the [[Köppen climate classification]] system, Mammoth Cave National Park has a [[Humid subtropical climate]] (''Cfa''). According to the [[United States Department of Agriculture]], the Plant [[Hardiness zone]] at Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor Center at 722&nbsp;ft (220 m) elevation is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -3.2&nbsp;°F (-19.6&nbsp;°C).<ref name="USDA">{{cite web|url=https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/InteractiveMap.aspx|publisher=[[United States Department of Agriculture]]|access-date=2019-07-15|title=USDA Interactive Plant Hardiness Map|archive-date=2021-06-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618111217/https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/InteractiveMap.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{Weather box
|location = Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1934–present)
|single line = Y
|Jan record high F = 80
|Feb record high F = 82
|Mar record high F = 86
|Apr record high F = 91
|May record high F = 96
|Jun record high F = 108
|Jul record high F = 108
|Aug record high F = 105
|Sep record high F = 106
|Oct record high F = 99
|Nov record high F = 93
|Dec record high F = 80
|year record high F = 108

|Jan avg record high F = 65.6
|Feb avg record high F = 71.4
|Mar avg record high F = 78.4
|Apr avg record high F = 85.1
|May avg record high F = 90.7
|Jun avg record high F = 95.2
|Jul avg record high F = 96.9
|Aug avg record high F = 96.1
|Sep avg record high F = 94.0
|Oct avg record high F = 86.6
|Nov avg record high F = 76.7
|Dec avg record high F = 67.5
|year avg record high F = 98.2

|Jan high F = 47.9
|Feb high F = 53.2
|Mar high F = 62.3
|Apr high F = 73.4
|May high F = 81.2
|Jun high F = 88.0
|Jul high F = 91.0
|Aug high F = 90.2
|Sep high F = 85.0
|Oct high F = 74.0
|Nov high F = 61.2
|Dec high F = 51.0
|year high F = 71.5
|Jan mean F = 38.6
|Feb mean F = 42.7
|Mar mean F = 50.9
|Apr mean F = 60.7
|May mean F = 69.0
|Jun mean F = 76.2
|Jul mean F = 79.6
|Aug mean F = 78.5
|Sep mean F = 72.5
|Oct mean F = 61.6
|Nov mean F = 50.5
|Dec mean F = 42.0
|year mean F = 60.2
|Jan low F = 29.3
|Feb low F = 32.2
|Mar low F = 39.5
|Apr low F = 48.0
|May low F = 56.8
|Jun low F = 64.4
|Jul low F = 68.3
|Aug low F = 66.7
|Sep low F = 60.0
|Oct low F = 49.1
|Nov low F = 39.7
|Dec low F = 33.0
|year low F = 48.9

|Jan avg record low F = 4.5
|Feb avg record low F = 10.4
|Mar avg record low F = 18.0
|Apr avg record low F = 29.0
|May avg record low F = 38.6
|Jun avg record low F = 49.2
|Jul avg record low F = 57.0
|Aug avg record low F = 54.1
|Sep avg record low F = 42.9
|Oct avg record low F = 30.1
|Nov avg record low F = 20.0
|Dec avg record low F = 12.1
|year avg record low F = 2.7

|Jan record low F = −20
|Feb record low F = −21
|Mar record low F = −6
|Apr record low F = 18
|May record low F = 27
|Jun record low F = 32
|Jul record low F = 40
|Aug record low F = 37
|Sep record low F = 29
|Oct record low F = 18
|Nov record low F = −8
|Dec record low F = −18
|year record low F = −21
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation inch = 3.73
|Feb precipitation inch = 4.47
|Mar precipitation inch = 5.01
|Apr precipitation inch = 4.92
|May precipitation inch = 5.16
|Jun precipitation inch = 4.84
|Jul precipitation inch = 4.93
|Aug precipitation inch = 3.82
|Sep precipitation inch = 3.95
|Oct precipitation inch = 3.79
|Nov precipitation inch = 4.09
|Dec precipitation inch = 4.78
|year precipitation inch = 53.49
|Jan snow inch = 0.7
|Feb snow inch = 1.4
|Mar snow inch = 0.6
|Apr snow inch = 0.0
|May snow inch = 0.0
|Jun snow inch = 0.0
|Jul snow inch = 0.0
|Aug snow inch = 0.0
|Sep snow inch = 0.0
|Oct snow inch = 0.0
|Nov snow inch = 0.0
|Dec snow inch = 1.3
|year snow inch = 4.0
|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in
|Jan precipitation days = 11.5
|Feb precipitation days = 10.8
|Mar precipitation days = 12.9
|Apr precipitation days = 11.9
|May precipitation days = 12.1
|Jun precipitation days = 11.9
|Jul precipitation days = 10.7
|Aug precipitation days = 9.1
|Sep precipitation days = 7.9
|Oct precipitation days = 9.0
|Nov precipitation days = 9.5
|Dec precipitation days = 11.5
|year precipitation days = 128.8
|unit snow days = 0.1 in
|Jan snow days = 0.4
|Feb snow days = 0.7
|Mar snow days = 0.6
|Apr snow days = 0.1
|May snow days = 0.0
|Jun snow days = 0.0
|Jul snow days = 0.0
|Aug snow days = 0.0
|Sep snow days = 0.0
|Oct snow days = 0.0
|Nov snow days = 0.0
|Dec snow days = 0.4
|year snow days = 2.1
|source 1 = NOAA<ref name=NOAA >{{cite web
| url = https://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=lmk
| title = NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data
| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
| access-date = June 5, 2021
| archive-date = May 13, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210513231311/https://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=lmk
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref name=NCEI>{{cite web
| url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&startDate=0001-01-01&endDate=9996-12-31&stations=USC00155097&format=pdf
| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
| title = Station: Mammoth Cave, KY
| work = U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991-2020)
| access-date = June 5, 2021
| archive-date = 2021-06-05
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210605043927/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&startDate=0001-01-01&endDate=9996-12-31&stations=USC00155097&format=pdf
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
}}

==Biology and ecosystem==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:223 Mating cave crickets, Pohl-Smith ladder 2 (8320900643).jpg|A mating pair of Cave Crickets of the species ''[[Hadenoecus subterraneus]]''. Found on a Flint ridge. 
File:A cave-adapted millipede in Mammoth Cave National Park.jpg|A cave-adapted millipede found in Mammoth cave 
File:Kentucky cave shrimp (Palaemonias ganteri) (12434722624).jpg|An individual of the species ''[[Palaemonias ganteri]]'', also known as the Kentucky cave shrimp. This species is endemic to this cave system.
File:Orconectes pellucidus (cave crayfish) (Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA).jpg|A Cave Crayfish of the species ''[[Orconectes pellucidus]]'' 
File:Eurycea lucifuga in natural habitat.jpg|[[Spotted-tail salamander|''Eurycea lucifuga'']], also known as the Spotted-tail salamander. Unlike other cave salamanders like the [[olm]], this species has functioning eyes, and still has pigment in its skin. 
File:Mammoth Cave National Park EYELESSF.jpg|''[[Amblyopsis spelaea]]'' (the northern cavefish) is a blind species of cave fish. 
</gallery>The following species of bats inhabit the caverns: [[Indiana bat]] (''Myotis sodalis''), [[gray bat]] (''Myotis grisescens''), [[little brown bat]] (''Myotis lucifugus''), [[big brown bat]] (''Eptesicus fuscus''), and the [[tricolored bat]] (''Perimyotis subflavus'').

All together, these and more rare bat species such as the [[eastern small-footed bat]] had estimated populations of 9–12 million just in the Historic Section. While these species still exist in Mammoth Cave, their numbers are now no more than a few thousand at best. [[Ecological restoration]] of this portion of Mammoth Cave, and facilitating the return of bats, is an ongoing effort. Not all bat species here inhabit the cave; the red bat (''[[Lasiurus borealis]]'') is a forest-dweller, as found underground only rarely.

Other animals that inhabit the caves include: three species of [[cave cricket]]s (''[[Hadenoecus|Hadenoecus subterraneus]]'', ''[[Ceuthophilus stygius]]'', and ''[[Ceuthophilus latens]]''), a [[cave beetle]] (''[[Pseudanophthalmus inexpectatus]]''),{{r|NPS:ISCM}} various species of [[fishing spider]]s (''[[Dolomedes]]'' spp.), a [[cave salamander]] (''[[Eurycea lucifuga]]''), two species of eyeless [[cavefish]] (''[[Typhlichthys subterraneus]]'' and ''[[Amblyopsis spelaea]]''), a [[cave crayfish]] (''[[Orconectes pellucidus]]''), and the [[Kentucky cave shrimp]] (''[[Palaemonias ganteri]]''). In addition, some surface animals may take refuge in the entrances of the caves but do not generally venture into the deep portions of the cavern system.

The section of the Green River that flows through the park is legally designated as "Kentucky Wild River" by the Kentucky General Assembly, through the [[Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves]]' Wild Rivers Program.

According to the [[A. W. Kuchler]] U.S. [[Potential natural vegetation]] Types, Mammoth Cave National Park has an [[Oak]]/[[Hickory]] (''100'') potential vegetation type with an Eastern Hardwood [[Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest]] (''25'') potential vegetation form.<ref name="Conservation Biology Institute">{{cite web|url=https://databasin.org/datasets/1c7a301c8e6843f2b4fe63fdb3a9fe39|publisher=Data Basin|access-date=2019-07-15|title=U.S. Potential Natural Vegetation, Original Kuchler Types, v2.0 (Spatially Adjusted to Correct Geometric Distortions)|archive-date=2019-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703145441/https://databasin.org/datasets/1c7a301c8e6843f2b4fe63fdb3a9fe39|url-status=live}}</ref>

Common fossils of the cave include [[crinoid]]s, [[blastoid]]s, and [[gastropod]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fossils - Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/nature/fossils.htm |publisher=MACA |access-date=2 February 2020 |language=en |archive-date=2 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202193624/https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/nature/fossils.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Mississippian limestone has yielded fossils of more than a dozen species of shark. In 2020, scientists reported the discovery of part of a ''[[Saivodus|Saivodus striatus]]'', a species comparable in size to a modern great white shark.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=David |title=Scientists have found a 330-million-year-old shark's head fossilized in a Kentucky cave |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mammoth-cave-sharks-scn-trnd/index.html |access-date=2 February 2020 |work=CNN |language=en |archive-date=1 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201003732/https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mammoth-cave-sharks-scn-trnd/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The fossil shark species ''[[Glikmanius|Glikmanius careforum]]'' and ''[[Troglocladodus|Troglocladodus trimblei]]'' are known exclusively from within the cave.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schroer |first=Molly |date=1 February 2024 |title=Two new species of ancient sharks identified through research at Mammoth Cave National Park |url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/news/two-new-species-of-ancient-sharks-identified-through-research-at-mammoth-cave-national-park.htm |access-date=27 October 2024 |website=nps.gov}}</ref><gallery widths="130" perrow="5">
File:Saivodus striatus cartilage (NPS Photo).jpg|Jaw cartilage of ''[[Saivodus|Saivodus striatus]]'' found in Mammoth Cave
File:Mammoth Cave Chondrichthyes Braincase (NPS Photo).jpg|Fossilized braincase of a [[Chondrichthyes|cartilaginous fish]] found in Mammoth Cave
File:Mammoth Cave Troglocladodus Tooth (NPS Photo).jpg|Fossilized tooth of ''[[Troglocladodus|Troglocladodus trimblei]]'', known only from the limestones of Mammoth Cave
File:Petalodont Tooth (NPS Photo).jpg|Tooth-plate of a shark-like [[Petalodontiformes|petalodont]] fish
File:The fins spine of a Ctenacanth shark was discovered in a section of Mammoth Cave. Ctenacanth sharks are characterized by having (cd937c26-b714-4574-aed9-f73e960d5995).jpg|[[Dorsal fin]] spine of a [[Ctenacanthiformes|ctenacanth]] shark, exposed from the limestone of Mammoth Cave
</gallery>

==Name==
The cave's name refers to the large width and length of the passages connecting to the Rotunda just inside the entrance.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mammoth Cave |url= http://www1.newark.ohio-state.edu/Professional/OSU/Faculty/jstjohn/Kentucky%20Geology/Mammoth-Cave.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607235239/http://www1.newark.ohio-state.edu/Professional/OSU/Faculty/jstjohn/Kentucky%20Geology/Mammoth-Cave.htm |archive-date= 2012-06-07 }}</ref>  The name was used long before the extensive cave system was more fully explored and mapped, to reveal a mammoth length of passageways. No fossils of the [[woolly mammoth]] have ever been found in Mammoth Cave,<ref>{{cite web |title=Mammoth Cave National Park — Fossils |url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/nature/fossils.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=10 August 2023}}</ref> and the name of the cave has nothing to do with this extinct mammal.<ref name="Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service) 1941 j316">{{cite web | title=Frequently Asked Questions | website=Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service) | date=July 1, 1941 | url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/faqs.htm | access-date=February 20, 2024}}</ref>

==Cultural references==
*A significant amount of the work of American poet [[Donald Finkel]] stems from his experiences caving in Mammoth Cave National Park. Examples include "Answer Back" from 1968, and the book-length ''Going Under'', published in 1978.<ref>Fox, Margalit (November 20, 2008). [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/books/21finkel.html "Donald Finkel, 79, Poet of Free-Ranging Styles, Is Dead"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707041844/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/books/21finkel.html |date=2018-07-07 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved March 30, 2018.</ref>
*The layout for one of the earliest computer games, [[William Crowther (programmer)|Will Crowther]]'s 1976 ''[[Colossal Cave Adventure]]'', was based partly on the Mammoth Cave system.<ref name=Montfort85-87>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Montfort|2005|pp=85–87}}</ref>
*The video game ''[[Kentucky Route Zero]]'' has a standalone expansion, set between its Acts III and IV, called ''Here And There Along The Echo'', which is a fictionalized hotline number providing information about the Echo River for "drifters" and "pilgrims". The game's third act itself also partially takes place within the Mammoth Cave system, and has references to ''Colossal Cave Adventure''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Here and There Along the Echo |url=http://kentuckyroutezero.com/here-and-there-along-the-echo/ |website=Kentucky Route Zero |publisher=Cardboard Computer |access-date=2015-04-28 |archive-date=2015-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501185914/http://kentuckyroutezero.com/here-and-there-along-the-echo/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Jake Elliott, writer and designer of Kentucky Route Zero |url= http://gameological.com/2013/01/jake-elliott-writer-and-designer-of-kentucky-route-zero/ |website= The Gameological Society |publisher= A. V. Club |access-date= 2015-04-29 |archive-date= 2019-09-15 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190915215327/http://gameological.com/2013/01/jake-elliott-writer-and-designer-of-kentucky-route-zero/ |url-status= live }}</ref>
*H. P. Lovecraft's 1905 short story "[[The Beast in the Cave]]" (published 1918) is set in "the Mammoth Cave".<ref>[http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/bc.aspx "The Beast in the Cave"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331040250/http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/bc.aspx |date=2018-03-31 }}. ''hplovecraft.com''. Retrieved March 30, 2018.</ref>
*American rock band [[Guided by Voices]] referenced the cave in the 1990 song "Mammoth Cave" from their album ''[[Same Place the Fly Got Smashed]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Same Place The Fly Got Smashed at the Guided By Voices Database |website=gbvdb.com |url=http://gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=970 |access-date=2015-06-18 |archive-date=2015-06-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618090031/http://gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=970 |url-status=live }}</ref>
*The "Kentucky Mammoth Cave" is used as a metaphor for a [[sperm whale]]'s stomach in chapter 75 of [[Herman Melville]]'s 1851 novel ''[[Moby-Dick]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Moby Dick or The Whale |last= Melville |first=Herman |publisher= Chancellor Press |year=1985 |isbn= 1851520112 |location=London, Great Britain |page=340}}</ref>
*Fiction writer [[Lillie Devereux Blake]] writing for ''[[The Knickerbocker]]'' magazine in 1858 told a fictional story of a woman, Melissa, who murdered her tutor who did not return her love, by abandoning him in the cave without a lamp. According to the story, Melissa goes back into the cave fifteen years later to end her misery. Researcher [[Joe Nickell]] writing for ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' magazine explains that this gives "Credulous believers in ghosts...  confirmation of their superstitious beliefs" who tell of hearing Melissa weeping and calling out for her murdered tutor. Nickell states that it is common to hear sounds in caves which "the brain interprets (as words and weeping)... it's called [[pareidolia]]". Melissa is pure fiction, but author Blake did visit Mammoth Cave with her husband Frank Umsted, "traveling by train, steamer, and stagecoach".<ref name="Nickell 2017">{{cite journal |last= Nickell |first=Joe |author-link= Joe Nickell |title=Murder by Darkness: Does Mammoth Cave's Specter Harbor a Secret? |journal= Skeptical Inquirer |date=2017 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=12–13 |publisher= Committee for Skeptical Inquirer}}</ref>
*The rock band Black Stone Cherry reference Mammoth Cave in their 2008 song 'Ghost of Floyd Collins'

==Park superintendents==
{{colbegin}}
* Robert P. Holland; September 2, 1936 – June 21, 1938; acting
* R. Taylor Hoskins; June 22, 1938 – June 30, 1941; acting
* R. Taylor Hoskins; July 1, 1941 – March 31, 1951
* Thomas C. Miller; April 1, 1951 – June 30, 1954
* Perry E. Brown; July 1, 1954 – September 14, 1963
* Paul McG. Miller; September 15, 1963 – December 30, 1965
* John A. Aubuchon; January 2, 1966 – September 7, 1968
* Robert H. Bendt; September 8, 1968 – January 23, 1971; assigned line supervision of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, September 2, 1970 – April 27, 1975
* Joseph Kulesza; February 21, 1971 – May 31, 1976
* Albert A. Hawkins; July 4, 1976 – August 11, 1979
* Robert L. Deskins; August 12, 1979 – September 1, 1984
* Richard N. Strange; September 2, 1984 – December 8, 1984; acting
* Franklin D. Pridemore; December 9, 1984 – January 2, 1988
* David A. Mihalic; January 3, 1988 – July 1994<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/yose/news/1999/supt1007.htm|title=Mihalic Named Superintendent of Yosemite National Park|access-date=2006-05-28|archive-date=2006-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616141818/http://www.nps.gov/yose/news/1999/supt1007.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Ronald R. Switzer; March 1995 – January 2005
* Bruce Powell; January 2005 – January 2006; acting
* Patrick Reed; January 2006 – 2012 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_053113651.html|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120605041556/http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_053113651.html|url-status=dead|title=Glasgow (KY) Times: Park super enjoying scenery change|archivedate=June 5, 2012}}</ref>
* Sarah J. Craighead; November 2012 – July 2017 <ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.nps.gov/maca/parknews/craigheadisnewmacasupt.htm| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121115133924/http://www.nps.gov/maca/parknews/craigheadisnewmacasupt.htm| archive-date = 2012-11-15| title = Sarah Craighead selected as Mammoth Cave National Park superintendent - Mammoth Cave National Park}}</ref><ref name="nps.gov">{{cite web| url = https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/news/craighead-trimble.htm| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180819011009/https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/news/craighead-trimble.htm| archive-date = 2018-08-19| title = National Park Service announces leadership changes at Mammoth Cave National Park - Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service)}}</ref>
* Barclay Trimble; July 2017 – Present <ref name="nps.gov"/>
{{colend}}
The list is incomplete.<ref name="cr.nps.gov">[http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/tolson/histlist7m.htm National Park Service: Historic Listings of NPS Officials] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522153039/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/tolson/histlist7m.htm |date=2006-05-22 }}</ref><ref>Bridwell 1952 (inside back cover)</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Kentucky}}
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Carlsbad Caverns National Park]]
* [[Colossal Cavern]]
* [[Karst|Karst topography]]
* [[List of national parks of the United States]]
* [[List of longest caves]]
* [[List of caves]]
* [[Biosphere Reserves in the United States|List of Biosphere Reserves in the United States]]
* [[List of caves in the United States]]
* [[List of longest caves in the United States]]
* [[Index of conservation articles]]
* [[Speleology]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|40em|refs=

<ref name="NPS:ISCM">{{cite web |title=Insects, Spiders, Centipedes, Millipedes |url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/nature/insects.htm |website=National Park Service |publisher=United States Department of the Interior |access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref>

}}

==Bibliography==

===General references===
* Bridwell, Margaret M. (Bridwell 1952) ''The Story of Mammoth Cave National Park Kentucky: A Brief History'' 11th Edition 1971. (First edition copyright 1952.) No ISBN.
* Hoskins, R. Taylor [https://web.archive.org/web/20061107164817/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/regional_review/vol7-1-2j.htm Faithful Visitor] First Park Superintendent R. Taylor Hoskins describes the yearly visits of "Pete" a tame [[summer tanager]] (''Piranga rubra''). In ''The Regional Review'', Vol VII, 1 and 2 (July–August 1941)
* Hovey, Horace Carter (Hovey 1880) ''One Hundred Miles in Mammoth Cave in 1880: an early exploration of America's most famous cavern''. with introductory note by William R. Jones. Golden, Colorado: Outbooks. (Copyright 1982) {{ISBN|0-89646-054-1}}
* Hovey, Horace Carter ''Hovey's Handbook of The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky: A Practical Guide to the Regulation Routes''. (John P. Morton & Company, Louisville, Kentucky, 1909). [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49130 Full text transcription].
* {{cite book | last = Montfort | first = Nick | year = 2005 | title = Twisty Little Passages: An Approach To Interactive Fiction | publisher = Cambridge: The MIT Press | isbn = 0-262-13436-5}}
* Watson, Richard A., ed. (Watson 1981) ''The Cave Research Foundation: Origins and the First Twelve Years 1957–1968'' Mammoth Cave, Kentucky: Cave Research Foundation.

===Brucker series===
[[Roger Brucker|Roger W. Brucker]] has co-authored four nonfiction books and authored one historical novel on the history and exploration of the Mammoth Cave System. They are presented here not in the order of publication, but in the order in which the events of the books' major narratives took place:

* Brucker, Roger W. (2009) ''Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar: Stephen Bishop at Mammoth Cave.'' Cave Books. {{ISBN|978-0-939748-72-3}} (hbk) {{ISBN|978-0-939748-71-6}} (pbk). Based on the true story of [[Stephen Bishop (cave explorer)|Stephen Bishop]], the slave who gained fame as a guide and explorer at Mammoth Cave from 1838 until his death in 1857, this historical novel is written from the perspective of Bishop's wife, Charlotte. Although it is a novel, Brucker has claimed the book does not alter any known historical facts.
* Brucker, Roger W. and Murray, Robert K. (Brucker and Murray 1983) ''Trapped: The Story of Floyd Collins.'' University of Kentucky Press. Told by a scholar of early 20th century journalism and a veteran of the modern period of Mammoth Cave exploration, this book details the events of the entrapment and attempted rescue of [[Floyd Collins]], who was trapped in a cave near Mammoth Cave in January 1925.
* Lawrence, Jr, Joe and Brucker, Roger W. (Lawrence and Brucker 1955) ''The Caves Beyond: The story of the Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave Expedition'' New York: Funk and Wagnalls. Reprinted, with new introduction, by Zephyrus Press {{ISBN|0-914264-18-4}} (pbk.) Details the story of the 1954 week-long C3 expedition from the separate points of view of the leader and an ordinary participant in the expedition, who went on to become one of the leaders of the then-nascent modern period of exploration.
* Brucker, Roger W. and Watson, Richard A. "Red" (Brucker and Watson 1976) ''The Longest Cave.'' New York : Knopf (reprinted 1987, with afterword: Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press) {{ISBN|0-8093-1322-7}} (pbk.) A comprehensive story of the exploration of Mammoth Cave told by two of the founders of the [[Cave Research Foundation]]. An invaluable appendix, "Historical Beginnings", outlines the story of the cave from prehistory to the mid-1950s, where the main narrative begins. The formation of the Cave Research Foundation is described from an insider perspective. A highly personal telling, this work is sometimes jokingly or with irony referred to by cavers as ''Roger and Red Go Caving'', though its revered status in the literature and the reputations of the authors are hardly in doubt. The 1989 reprint includes an Afterword by the authors referring to the 1983 Roppel–Mammoth connection and other subsequent events.
* Borden, James D. and Brucker, Roger W. (Borden and Brucker 2000) ''Beyond Mammoth Cave: A Tale of Obsession in the World's Longest Cave.'' Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. {{ISBN|0-8093-2346-X}}. Taking up where ''The Longest Cave'' leaves off, carries the story of Mammoth Cave Exploration from September 10, 1972, to September 10, 1983, when a connection was surveyed between [[Roppel Cave]] and the southern reaches of Mammoth Cave. Details the origins of the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition (CKKC).

===Archaeology===
* Meloy, Harold (Meloy 1968) ''Mummies of Mammoth Cave: An account of the Indian mummies discovered in Short Cave, Salts Cave, and Mammoth Cave, Kentucky'' Shelbyville, Indiana: Micron Publishing Co., 1990 (Original copyright 1968, 1977).
* [[Patty Jo Watson|Watson, Patty Jo]] (ed.) (Watson 1974) ''Archaeology of the Mammoth Cave Area.'' Reprinted 1997 by St. Louis: Cave Books {{ISBN|0-939748-41-X}}. 31 chapters by the foremost worker in the field of Mammoth Cave archaeology and several of her colleagues. The reprinted edition includes a brief new introduction and a brief updated bibliography.
Carstens, Kenneth C (1980) Archaeological Investigations in the Central Kentucky Karst, 2 vols., Doctoral dissertation, Dep't of Anthropology, [[Washington University in St. Louis]].
Carstens, Kenneth C (1973) Archaeological Reconnaissance in Mammoth Cave National Park.  Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, [[Washington University in St. Louis]].

===Geology===
* Brown, Richmond F. (Brown 1966). '' Hydrology of the Cavernous Limestones of the Mammoth Cave Area, Kentucky'' [Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1837]. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office.
* Livesay, Ann, and McGrain, Preston (revised) (Livesay and McGrain 1962). ''Geology of the Mammoth Cave National Park Area''. Kentucky Geological Survey, Series X, 1962. Special Publication 7, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky. Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky.
* Palmer, Arthur N. (Palmer 1981) ''A Geological Guide to Mammoth Cave National Park''. Teaneck, New Jersey: Zephyrus Press. {{ISBN|0-914264-28-1}}. 196 pp. From the "blurb" on the back cover: "How did Mammoth Cave form? How old is it? Why does it look the way it does? What do the rocks tell us? These and many other questions are answered in this book about America's most popular cave." Written for the lay reader, but with much technical information of interest to those with greater [[scientific literacy]], by a retired professor of geology at [[SUNY Oneonta]].
* White, William B. and Elizabeth L., eds. (White and White 1989) ''Karst Hydrology: Concepts from the Mammoth Cave Area''. New York: Van Nostrand Rheinhold. {{ISBN|0-442-22675-6}}.

==External links==
{{Sister project links|wikt=no|commons=Category:Mammoth Cave National Park|b=no|n=no|q=no|s=Special:Search/Mammoth Cave|v=no|voy=Mammoth Cave National Park|species=no|d=no}}
* [https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm Mammoth Cave National Park website]
* [http://www.mcnpa.org/index.php Mammoth Cave National Park Association website]
* {{osmway|220416402}}
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/35mammoth/35mammoth.htm ''Mammoth Cave: Its Explorers, Miners, Archeologists, and Visitors'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]
*{{HAER |survey=KY-18 |id=ky0272 |title=Mammoth Cave Saltpeter Works, Mammoth Cave, Edmonson County, KY |photos=20 |dwgs=12 |data=37 |cap=2}}

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