text:
Spies like Us
It's the Swinging Sixties and James Bond has burst onto the scene. My mate Kenny Fletcher and I are both 23, living at home with our parents, and neither of us has a girlfriend. But Fletch has an idea: "Hong Kong is full of girlfriends! Let's go to the Orient!" So we go. We live it up in all the Hong Kong nightclubs, and befriend the famous Sydney reporter Steve Dunleavy, who is a reporter by day and a bouncer by night. Robert Culp and Bill Cosby arrive to make the TV series I Spy. We discover that Hong Kong is not only full of girlfriends in cheongsams, but also spies who are hanging around watching "Red China" right next door. China in 1965 is a forbidden and forbidding place where they invented not only gunpowder but also political correctness. Fletch is heading off to play tennis at the French Open in Paris, so we decide to rendezvous there. Fletch travels via Egypt and Manila, but I want to go via China and Russia. Australia doesn't recognize China; we've got no consulate, so there's no way an Aussie can get in to the country. But I do, and then of course get into big trouble, the sort of trouble which only a magician could help me get out of.
I have written Spies Like Us from the point of view of a 23-year-old in 1965.
This memoir was serialized around Australia on ABC Radio on Australia All Over. To go with the reading (by Shakespearean actor Peter Curtin) Ian "Macca" McNamara wrote a song that rings true like a 007 theme.
"It's a knockout." Piers Akerman, Daily Telegraph
"It's a winner." Mary Rose Liverani, Weekend Australian
"It's a ripper." Ian 'Macca' McNamara, Australia All Over, ABC Radio
I never realised how famous Fletch was until I got up one morning and read in the South China Morning Post that the Americans were in Hong Kong to make a TV series about us. It was to be filmed in full colour and called I Spy.
The Post said the TV series would be the big show of 1965. It was about an international tennis champion who goes to live in Hong Kong, and brings his best mate along with him. Well, Fletch was the only international tennis star who had ever shifted to Hong Kong to make it his world touring base. Plus he had brought his best mate with him. Naturally, the American producers changed Fletch's nationality and made him into an American tennis player, to suit their audience. Handsome Hollywood actor Robert Culp—who did not look unlike Fletch—was chosen to play the part. They couldn't call the tennis player "Kenny Fletcher", so they called him "Kelly Robinson": with exactly the same number of letters in each name. Kelly's sidekick and buddy in the series was "Scottie", whereas Fletch always called me "Hughie".
According to the article, Scottie was to be played by an unknown American comedian who had never acted before in his life, a bloke called Bill Cosby. In the series, the producers said, Scottie would travel overseas to live with his tennis champion mate in Hong Kong: just like us. Then the pair would tour the world together, as we planned to do. And, just like me, Scottie didn't play tennis at all, and wasn't the star of the duo. While his famous tennis buddy was out wooing the girls in the stands, Scottie generally stayed in his room and, like me, read poetry. I wondered how they knew so much about us.
The paper said the two I Spy jetsetters would spend very little time on the tennis court. Which was pretty spot-on too. But still, it showed just what a popular sport tennis was in America these days: even though we had all the champions.
"Most of the time Kelly and Scottie chase beautiful girls; drink in nightclubs; gamble at exotic casinos; dress in dinner suits for millionaires' parties; and catch aeroplanes, ferries and rickshaws," the story said.
They would get into scrapes in bars, and mix with tough international blokes: who I imagined would be just like Steve Dunleavy, or John Ball, or even our tall, handsome, debonair Pakistani mate, Farid Khan, who was not only an Olympic hockey player and Colony squash champion but also boss of more than 150 Pakistani watchmen.
The only extra dimension added by the TV show was that, unlike us, they were both spies. I knew for sure that Kelly, I mean Kenny, wasn't a spy. But that was showbusiness.
After all, such a series would have to compete with James Bond films for popularity, and our lives did get a bit dreary every now and then. But Fletch had always said a champion tennis player was a great cover for a spy. "Tennis is played in every country in the world, so you can go anywhere you like without arousing suspicion. Plus you always get to meet all the right people," he said, long before the Yanks even thought of I Spy.
Kenny had played tennis behind the Iron Curtain in Moscow, had met the Shah of Persia, had had dinner at 10 Downing Street with the British Prime Minister, and had even shaken hands with royalty in England: all because he had played in several Wimbledon finals on television. He had even played tennis in Saigon in the midst of the Vietnam War. Just about the only place he hadn't been invited was Red China. But they never put on tournaments.
The Post said Culp and Cosby were arriving in the Colony in a couple of weeks to film outdoor scenes on Hong Kong's famous harbour and up on Victoria Peak. It was thrilling to think Ken's move to Hong Kong had excited interest in faraway Hollywood: even if no one at home in Australia gave a damn. Fletch didn't seem to mind that the American producers hadn't bothered to tell him about the show.
When I picked him up at the airport on his return from his triumph in the Philippines and told him that he was about to become an international TV star, Fletch said: "Anyway, I'm the original. At least that bloke Culp has a good-looking dial. They'll have to get a stand-in to play the tennis scenes for him but."
"The only difference is, Fletch," I said, "the producers have turned us both into a couple of spies."
"You mean, Hughie," said Ken, "the only difference is that they've made you black."
Ken was right. It turned out that Bill Cosby was black. I was very pleased to hear that he was the comedian of the duo.
Everyone in Hong Kong was talking about I Spy because the only other Western TV series ever set in the Colony was Hong Kong, made five years before in 1960. Coincidentally, Australia had a starring role in that series too because the main actor, Rod Taylor, was an Australian: but he was made into a Yank as well. Instead of being about tennis and spies, Hong Kong was about dope-peddlers and smugglers, and every scene took place behind a beaded curtain. Which showed just how wrong Hollywood could be, because there were no beaded curtains in Hong Kong. Rod Taylor played an American newspaper correspondent who hung out in a place a bit like the Firecracker Bar—Tully's Bar—and helped the British fight crime in the Orient. Everyone in Australia liked the theme song, Honourable Hong Kong Rock, which mixed Chinese gongs and electric guitars, conducted by Lionel Newman. The Lunn family, except Fred, used to watch it every week because Rod Taylor drove around in the same type of sports car that I owned, a Sunbeam Alpine. Fletch, of course, knew Rod Taylor, and had once gone out on the town with him in the south of France. Tennis players often mixed with film stars for some reason.
An even more important event had happened in the week Ken was away: a rumour had gone around that Hong Kong's banks were all going to go bust. Chinese had formed mile-long queues outside banks throughout the Colony to try to get their money out. Of course, pretty soon the banks ran out of cash and shut their doors. People wept in the streets despite assurances from the British Governor that their money was safe. At one stage the bigger banks tried to restore confidence by taking bars of gold out of their vaults and putting them on display on the front counter, but nothing could convince the Chinese that the rumours were wrong and that the banks had enough money to pay everybody back. The fact that some banks printed their own Hong Kong dollar notes added to the confusion.
A top British financial expert had been hurriedly flown out from the Bank of England to try to stem the run: and it turned out that he was one of Arch's best mates. So he had dinner at our flat on arrival. And was Ah Ping glad to meet this balding, middle-aged banker that night. She had disappeared for the previous two days, queuing with everyone else to try to get her money out. Then when her bank closed its doors, poor Ah Ping came home in tears.
"Ah Ping lose money Dragon Master. Ah Ping lose life money. Life money gone Master."
Suddenly she looked old and grey and broken. It was hard to imagine that she could go downhill so quickly. Arch and I knew nothing about the situation, but we tried unsuccessfully to comfort Ah Ping, assuring her that everything would work out alright.
But Ah Ping was convinced it was the end of the world as she knew it: "No more money. All gone," she said, crying her eyes out into a tea towel.
Then Arch told Ah Ping how he had this mate, a banker, who had arrived to fix everything up. Ah Ping put on a feast for that banker the like of which had never been seen before.
For once she acted the servant and waited on him hand and foot, forgetting about her two Masters. He was presented with shark's fin soup, steamed fried rice in lotus leaf, rice dumpling filled with duck and wrapped in bamboo leaves, steamed spare ribs with red pepper sauce, and, her speciality, curried king prawns. All were served on the Communist Chinese store blue plates I bought, which had bits of rice embedded inside the china.
"Bank Master dai yut. Big Bank Master save Ah Ping money," she said, as she served the banker lashings of food.
Bemused by all the attention from this small old Chinese lady wearing her hair in a grey bun—and not knowing that we had promised he would rescue her from an old age of poverty—he kept remarking on what wonderful lives we lived in the Colonies. I felt particularly sorry for Ah Ping because Fred was always quoting his old man, Grandpa Hugh Lunn, as saying: "Age and want are an ill-matched pair."
Over the Daan tarts with coconut pudding, Arch's British mate—they were in the same hockey club in London—said the only way out of the run on the banks was for the Hong Kong tellers to stand at their counters and pay every last customer in the Colony back their money. To the last Hong Kong cent. Ah Ping nodded enthusiastic agreement, and I noted that after a while the banker began addressing her rather than us: "They must keep paying until there isn't one person left on a queue. Once that is done, the population will regain confidence and they will all queue up again to put their money back," he said. This would require astronomical amounts of cash, and there were not enough Hong Kong dollars in print.
"Pay money back. Cash," said Ah Ping. "Bank Master brave Master, good Master."
"Yes, you can't pay people back with the assets that make a bank rich," he said, as Ah Ping took a seat on the fourth chair. "Gold bars, promissory notes, lease agreements, buildings, bills of exchange, business stock, mortgages, share certificates, houses: none of these are of any use in this situation. It has to be cash. So, today, I have ordered seven Boeing 707 loads of British bank bills flown out from London. It's almost all British five-pound notes. It's the only way to end the crisis."
The first of the seven plane loads of money was at that moment winging its way over India: and we were the only people in Hong Kong to know. Ah Ping waved her arms up and down like a bird as she flew back down the hall for the tea.
Jackets content goes here.
Click Here to go to the Order Form


The FlangeBoss FBX flange spreader features a pin through bolt hole design that allows the tool to stay in place and never fall out from between the flanges. The FlangeBoss FBX Series utilizes a central cam wedge that when rotated through the flange gap, spreads the flanges to the desired width. The FlangeBoss FBX flange spreader is perfect for changing out pancake blinds or swapping ring joint gaskets. Each model of FlangeBoss fits a specific series of flanges and they all fit 1/2" through 24" diameter pipe.


text:
Title: Mammoth Cave National Park
Subject: National Register of Historic Places listings in Edmonson County, Kentucky, National Park Service, Green River (Kentucky), Edmonson County, Kentucky, Olympic National Park
Collection: 1941 Establishments in Kentucky, 1941 Establishments in the United States, Archaeological Sites in Kentucky, Biosphere Reserves of the United States, Caves of Kentucky, Civilian Conservation Corps in Kentucky, Landforms of Barren County, Kentucky, Landforms of Edmonson County, Kentucky, Landforms of Hart County, Kentucky, Limestone Caves, Mammoth Cave National Park, National Parks in Kentucky, Protected Areas Established in 1941, Protected Areas of Barren County, Kentucky, Protected Areas of Edmonson County, Kentucky, Protected Areas of Hart County, Kentucky, Show Caves in the United States, World Heritage Sites in the United States
IUCN category II (national park)
The Rotunda Room at Mammoth Cave
Edmonson, Hart, and Barren counties, Kentucky, U.S.
52,830 acres (21,380 ha)[1]
508,054 (in 2012)[2]
vii, viii, x
1981 (5th session)
Reference no.
Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. National Park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. The official name of the system is the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System for the ridge under which the cave has formed. The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941. It became a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981, and an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990.
The park's 52,830 acres (21,380 ha) are located primarily in Edmonson County, Kentucky, with small areas extending eastward into Hart County and Barren County. It is centered on the Green River, with a tributary, the Nolin River, feeding into the Green just inside the park. With 400 miles (640 km) of surveyed passageways Mammoth Cave is by far the world's longest known cave system, being over twice as long as the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave.[3][4]
Limestone labyrinth 1
Visiting 2
Prehistory 3.1
Earliest known history 3.2
19th century 3.3
Early 20th century: The Kentucky Cave Wars 3.4
The National Park Movement (1926–1941) 3.5
Birth of the National Park (1941) 3.6
The Longest Cave (1954–1972) 3.7
Flint–Mammoth Connection (1972) 3.8
Recent discoveries 3.9
Related and nearby caves 3.9.1
Biology and ecosystem 4
Misconceptions related to the Mammoth Cave System's name 5
Cultural references 6
Park superintendents 7
General references 10.1
Brucker series 10.2
Archaeology 10.3
Geology 10.4
Limestone labyrinth
Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestone strata capped by a layer of sandstone, making the system remarkably stable. It is known to include more than 390 miles (630 km) of passageway;[5] new discoveries and connections add several miles to this figure each year. Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve the cave system.
The upper sandstone member is known as the Big Clifty Sandstone: thin, sparse layers of limestone interspersed within the sandstones give rise to an 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 elevation of the 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.
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. For example, 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.
The Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave, woodcut, 1887 (Nuno Carvalho de Sousa Collection, Lisbon)
Each of the primary layers of limestone is divided further into named geological units and subunits. 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 role means that many of the older, upper passages of the cave system are very dry, with no stalactites, stalagmites, 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.[6]
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.
Mammoth Cave is home to the endangered Kentucky cave shrimp, a sightless albino shrimp.
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 lectures delivered by the National Park Service cave guides are varied by tour, so that in taking several tours the visitor learns about different facets of the cave's formation, or of the cave's human history and prehistory.
The Echo River Tour, one of the cave's most famous attractions, used to take visitors on a boat ride along an underground river. The tour was discontinued for logistic and environmental reasons in the early 1990s.[7]
Mammoth Cave headquarters and visitor's center is located on Mammoth Cave Parkway. The parkway connects with Kentucky Route 70 from the north and Kentucky Route 255 from the south within the park.[8]
The World Heritage Site plaque
The story of human beings in relation to Mammoth Cave spans six thousand years. Several sets of Native American remains have been recovered from Mammoth Cave, or other nearby caves in the region, in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Most mummies found represent 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 discovered 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.
Research beginning in the late 1950s led by Patty Jo Watson of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri has done much to illuminate the lives of the late Archaic and early Woodland peoples who explored and exploited caves in the region. Preserved by the constant cave environment, dietary evidence yielded carbon dates enabling Watson and others to determine the age of the specimens, and 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.
Another technique employed in 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.
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.
Earliest known history
The 31,000-acre (13,000 ha) tract known as the "Pollard Survey" was sold by indenture September 10, 1791 in Philadelphia by William Pollard. 19,897 acres (8,052 ha) of the "Pollard Survey" between the North bank of Bacon Creek and the Green River were purchased by Thomas Lang, Jr., a British American merchant from Yorkshire, England on June 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.
Legend has it that the first European to discover Mammoth Cave was either John Houchin or his brother Francis Houchin, in 1797. 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 a tender 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.
The land containing this historic entrance was first surveyed and registered in 1798 under the name of Valentine Simons. Simons began exploiting Mammoth Cave for its saltpeter reserves.
According to family records passed down through the Houchin, and later Henderson families, John Houchin was bear hunting and the bear turned and began to chase him. He found the cave entrance when he ran into the cave for protection from the charging bear.
Map of Mammoth Cave from 1897, penned by R. E: Call
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 British blockade of United States's ports. 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.
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.
A half-interest in the cave changed hands for ten thousand dollars (a huge sum at the time). After the war when prices fell, the workings were abandoned and it became a minor tourist attraction centering on a 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. One of these slaves would make a number of important contributions to human knowledge of the cave, and become one of Mammoth Cave's most celebrated historical figures.
Stephen Bishop, an African-American slave and a guide to the cave during the 1840s and 1850s, was one of the first people to make extensive maps of the cave, and named many of the cave's features.
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.
"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'."[9]
The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. An illustrated manual (1897)
In 1839, John Croghan of Louisville bought the Mammoth Cave Estate, including Bishop and its other slaves from their previous owner, Franklin Gorin. Croghan briefly ran an ill-fated tuberculosis hospital in the cave, the vapors of which he believed would cure his patients. A widespread epidemic of the period, tuberculosis would ultimately claim the lives of both Bishop and Croghan.
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.[10] 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, assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865), singer Jenny Lind (who visited the cave on April 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".
By 1859, when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad opened its main line between these cities, Colonel Larkin J. Procter owned the Mammoth Cave Estate. He also owned the stagecoach line that ran between Glasgow Junction (Park City) and the Mammoth Cave Estate. This line transported tourists to Mammoth Caves until 1886, when he established the Mammoth Cave Railroad.
Early 20th century: The Kentucky Cave Wars
River Styx cave boat tour
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" were 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.
In 1906, Mammoth Cave became accessible by steamboat with the construction of a lock and dam at Brownsville, Kentucky.
In 1909, 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 African-American slave descendant Ed Bishop, 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.
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 view of the Mammoth Cave country, disappeared entirely. It was not until the turn of the 21st century that a group of German tourists, after visiting the cave, researched Kämper's family and determined his sad fate: the young Kämper was killed in trench warfare in World War I at the Battle of the Somme just seven years later, in 1916.
Famed French cave explorer Édouard-Alfred Martel visited the cave for three days in October 1912. Without access to the closely held survey data, Martel was permitted to make barometric observations in the cave for the purpose of determining the relative elevation of different locations in the cave. He identified different levels of the cave, and correctly noted that the level of Echo River within the cave was controlled by that of the Green River on the surface. Martel lamented 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 Caves: this would not be proven correct until 60 years after Martel's visit.[11]
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.
In the early 20th century, Floyd Collins spent ten years exploring the Flint Ridge Cave System (the most important legacy of these explorations was the 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 crawl way and was unable to be rescued before dying of starvation.[12] Attempts to rescue Collins created a media sensation: The resulting publicity would draw prominent Kentuckians to initiate a movement which would soon result in the formation of Mammoth Cave National Park.
The National Park Movement (1926–1941)
Visitors on a tour of Mammoth Cave descend the stairs of the Historic (or Houchins) entrance.
As the last of the Croghan heirs died, advocacy momentum grew among wealthy citizens of Kentucky for the establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park. Private citizens formed the Mammoth Cave National Park Association in 1926. The Park was authorized May 25, 1926.[13]
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. In contrast to the formation of other National Parks in the sparsely populated American West, thousands of people would be forcibly relocated in the process of forming Mammoth Cave National Park. Often eminent domain proceedings were bitter, with landowners paid what were considered to be inadequate sums. The resulting acrimony still resonates within the region.[14]
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" CCC camps from May 22, 1933 to July 1942.[15][16]
According to the National Park Service, "By May 22, 1936, 27,402 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 45,310 acres (over 600 parcels) had been assembled."[17]
Superintendent Hoskins later wrote of a Summer Tanager named Pete who arrived at the guide house on or around every April 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.[18]
Birth of the National Park (1941)
Mammoth Cave National Park was officially dedicated on July 1, 1941. By coincidence, 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 26, 1951, becoming the entrance used for the beginning of the Frozen Niagara tour.[19]
The Longest Cave (1954–1972)
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. Condemnation and purchase of the Crystal Cave property seemed only a matter of time.
In February 1954, a two-week expedition under the auspices of the
IUCN Category II
Caves of Kentucky
National parks in Kentucky
Archaeological sites in Kentucky
Show caves in the United States
Civilian Conservation Corps in Kentucky
Protected areas of Edmonson County, Kentucky
Protected areas of Hart County, Kentucky
Protected areas of Barren County, Kentucky
Protected areas established in 1941
1941 establishments in Kentucky
Biosphere reserves of the United States
World Heritage Sites in the United States
Landforms of Edmonson County, Kentucky
Landforms of Hart County, Kentucky
Landforms of Barren County, Kentucky
National Park Travelers Club Conventions
2003: Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
2004: Rocky Mountain National Park
2005: Mammoth Cave National Park
2006: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
2007: Olympic National Park
2008: Lowell National Historical Park
2009: Sequoia National Park
2010: El Malpais National Monument
2011: National Mall
2012: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
2013: Shiloh National Military Park
2014: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
2015: Chamizal National Memorial
2016 (planned): Independence National Historical Park
Kentucky in the War of 1812
John Adair
Benjamin Franklin Graves
Nathaniel G. S. Hart
Paschal Hickman
Richard Mentor Johnson
George Madison
Charles Scott
Isaac Shelby
Gabriel Slaughter
Zachary Taylor
Great Saltpetre Cave
Mammoth Cave
Newport Barracks
Battle of Frenchtown
The Hunters of Kentucky
Spur's Defeat
Monticello and the University of Virginia
Poverty Point
Carlsbad Caverns
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Kluane-Wrangell-St. Elias-Glacier Bay-Tatshenshini-Alsek1
Pueblo de Taos
Papahānaumokuākea
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park1
La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site
1 Shared with
National parks of the United States
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Capitol Reef
Congaree
Cuyahoga Valley
Grand Teton
Guadalupe Mountains
Haleakalā
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes
Kenai Fjords
Kobuk Valley
Lake Clark
Lassen Volcanic
Petrified Forest
Pinnacles
Wind Cave
Wrangell–St. Elias
List of national parks of the United States (by elevation)
Protected areas of Kentucky
National Historical Parks
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace
NPS National Recreation Areas
Big South Fork
National Military Park
George Washington and Jefferson
USFS National Recreation Areas
Land Between the Lakes
Clarks River
Ohio River Islands
Reelfoot
State Resort Parks
Barren River Lake
Buckhorn Lake
Blue Licks Battlefield
Carter Caves
Dale Hollow Lake
General Butler
Greenbo Lake
Jenny Wiley
Kenlake
Kentucky Dam Village
Lake Barkley
Lake Cumberland
Pennyrile Forest
Rough River Dam
State Historic Sites
Big Bone Lick
Boone Station
Butler-Turpin House
Dr. Thomas Walker
Isaac Shelby Cemetery
Old Mulkey Meetinghouse
Perryville Battlefield
Waveland
Wickliffe Mounds
William Whitley House
State Recreation
Carr Creek
Columbus-Belmont
Dawkins Line Rail Trail
E. P. "Tom" Sawyer
Fishtrap Lake
Fort Boonesborough
General Burnside
Grayson Lake
Green River Lake
Kincaid Lake
Lake Malone
Levi Jackson Wilderness Road
Lincoln Homestead
Mineral Mound
My Old Kentucky Home
Nolin Lake
Old Fort Harrod
Paintsville Lake
Pine Mountain Trail
Taylorsville Lake
Yatesville Lake
Dewey Lake
Kentenia
Kentucky Ridge
Pennyrile
Tygarts
Nature Preserves
Axe Lake Swamp
Bad Branch Falls
Bat Cave and Cascade Caverns
Beargrass Creek
Blackacre
Blue Licks
Jesse Stuart
JJ Audubon
Six Mile Island
Tom Dorman
Breaks Interstate Park
Kentucky Horse Park
Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission
Mammoth Cave National Park website
Mammoth Cave Restoration Camp Official Site
Geographic data related to Mammoth Cave National Park at OpenStreetMap
a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson planMammoth Cave: Its Explorers, Miners, Archeologists, and Visitors,
, 9 February 2010Southern SpacesPeter West, "Trying the Dark: Mammoth Cave and the Racial Imagination, 1839-1869",
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.
Carstens, Kenneth C (1980) Archaeological Investigations in the Central Kentucky Karst, 2 vols., Doctoral dissertation, Dep't of Anthropology, Washington University, St.Louis. Carstens, Kenneth C (1973)Archaeological Reconnaissance in Mammoth Cave National Park. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis.
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).
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.
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, 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).
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 series
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 Faithful Visitor First Park Superintendent R. Taylor Hoskins describes the yearly visits of "Pete" a tame Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra 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). Full text transcription.
Watson, Richard A., ed. (Watson 1981) The Cave Research Foundation: Origins and the First Twelve Years 1957 - 1968 Mammoth Cave, Kentucky: Cave Research Foundation.
^ "Listing of acreage as of December 31, 2011". Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
^ a b Vickie Carson (February 15, 2013). "Mammoth Cave hits 400 miles".
^ Gulden, Bob. "WORLDS LONGEST CAVES". Retrieved 25 June 2013.
^ a b c Bob Gulden (February 18, 2012). "Worlds longest caves". Geo2 Committee on Long and Deep Caves.
^ 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.
^ Mammoth Cave National Park - Frequently Asked Questions
^ National Park Service - Mammoth Cave, Directions & Transportation
^ Brucker and Watson 1976, p. 272-273
^ Thompson, Bob: Early Writers Flocked To Mammoth Cave By Bob Thompson - 2000
^ Watson 1981 pp. 15-16
^ Brucker and Murray 1983
^ David Rains Wallace; United States. National Park Service. Division of Publications. Mammoth Cave: Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. Government Printing Office. p. 35.
^ Doug Ramsay; Rhonda Koster; Guy M. Robinson (2010). Geographical Perspectives on Sustainable Rural Change. Rural Development Institute. pp. 405–406.
^ Bridwell 1952, p. 60.
^ Civilian Conservation Corps at Mammoth Cave National Park
^ "Mammoth Cave NP: Master Plan". National Park Service.
^ Hoskins 1941
^ Bridwell 1952, p. 60
^ Lawrence and Brucker 1955
^ Brucker and Watson 1976 p. 31
^ Brucker and Watson 1976, p. 208.
^ Wells, Steve G.; DesMarais, David J (February 1973). "The Flint-Mammoth Connection". NSS News (National Speleological Society) 21 (2): 18–22.
^ James Wells. "The Great Symmetry: Cave Exploration".
^ "Mammoth Cave".
^ "Here And There Along The Echo". Kentucky Route Zero. Cardboard Computer.
^ "Jake Elliott, writer and designer of Kentucky Route Zero". The Gameological Society. A. V. Club.
^ "Same Place The Fly Got Smashed at the Guided By Voices Database".
^ Mihalic Named Superintendent of Yosemite National Park
^ Glasgow (KY) Times: Park super enjoying scenery change
^ http://www.nps.gov/maca/parknews/craigheadisnewmacasupt.htm
^ National Park Service: Historic Listings of NPS Officials
^ Bridwell 1952 (inside back cover)
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Colossal Cavern
Karst topography
List of Biosphere Reserves in the United States
List of Conservation topics
The list is incomplete.[33][34]
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[30]
Ronald R. Switzer; March 1995 – January 2005
Bruce Powell; January 2005 – January 2006; acting
Patrick Reed; January 2006 – 2012 [31]
Sarah J. Craighead; November 2012 – present [32]
Park superintendents
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.
The layout for one of the earliest computer games, Will Crowther's Colossal Cave Adventure, was based partly on the Mammoth cave system.
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 fictionalised hotline number providing information about the Echo River for "drifters" and "pilgrims".[27][28]
H.P. Lovecraft's short story The Beast in the Cave is set in the cave.
American rock band Guided by Voices referenced the cave in the 1990 song "Mammoth Cave" from their album Same Place The Fly Got Smashed.[29]
Cultural references
Even so, many examples of the woolly mammoth have been discovered at the Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky .
No fossils of the woolly mammoth have ever been found in Mammoth Cave, and the name of the cave has nothing to do with this extinct mammal. Rather, the name "Mammoth" refers to the large width and length of the passages connecting to the Rotunda just inside the entrance.[26] This name was given long before the cave system's true extent was fully known. Modern discoveries have proven the aptness of the name.
Misconceptions related to the Mammoth Cave System's name
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.
Other animals which inhabit the caves include: Two genera of crickets (Hadenoecus subterraneus) and (Ceuthophilus stygius) (Ceuthophilus latens), a cave salamander (Eurycea lucifuga), two genera of eyeless cave fish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) and (Amblyopsis spelaea), a cave crayfish (Orconectes pellucidus), and a cave shrimp (Palaemonias ganteri)
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, found underground only rarely.
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 Eastern pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus subflavus).
Biology and ecosystem
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. So far, the cave has been mapped to 117 miles (188 km).[5] 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 nearby caves of Whigpistle Cave (Schwartz's original entrance), Martin Ridge Cave, and Jackpot Caves. As of December 2008, the Martin Ridge Cave System is mapped to a length of 34 miles (55 km), and exploration continues.
Related and nearby caves
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.
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.[25] Incremental discoveries since then have pushed the total to 400 miles (640 km).[3][5]
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. On September 10, 1983, a connection was made between the Proctor/Morrison's section of the Mammoth Cave system and Roppel Cave. 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 300 miles (480 km).
River Styx
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.
Recent discoveries
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 144.4 miles (232.4 km) of surveyed passages and had fourteen entrances.[24]
On a July 1972 trip deep in the Flint Ridge Cave System, Patricia Crowther—with her slight frame of 115 pounds (52 kg)—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.[23] The name is believed to have been carved by Pete Hanson, who was active in exploring the cave in the 1930s. Hanson had been killed in World War II. The passage was named Hanson's Lost River by the explorers.
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 800 feet 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.
River Styx, one of the cave's semi-subterranean waterways, emerges onto the surface in the park.
Flint–Mammoth Connection (1972)
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 86.5 miles (139.2 km), making it the longest cave in the world.
In March 1961, the Crystal Cave property was sold to the National Park Service for $285,000.[22] 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.
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 Patty Jo Watson (see section on prehistory.)
In 1955 Crystal Cave was connected by survey with Unknown Cave, the first connection in the Flint Ridge system.
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.[21]
Kings Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service, California, United States
Haleakalā National Park, United States, Yosemite National Park, Everglades National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
National Register of Historic Places listings in Edmonson County, Kentucky
Mammoth Cave National Park, National Register of Historic Places, Edmonson County, Kentucky, Kentucky, National Park Service
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Yosemite National Park, United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Grand Canyon National Park
Green River (Kentucky)
Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, American Revolutionary War, Lincoln County, Kentucky, Ohio
Edmonson County, Kentucky
Kentucky, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Grayson County, Kentucky, Warren County, Kentucky, Butler County, Kentucky
United States, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Sequoia National Park, Yosemite National Park, Mammoth Cave National Park

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Punjab National Bank said in a filing to BSE that the board of directors of the company at their meeting held have appointed Rajesh Kumar Yaduvanshi as Executive Director in the Bank with effect from April 01 2019 till October 08 2020.
He has assumed the charge of Executive Director on April 15 2019.
Punjab National Bank has informed the Exchange regarding `Listing of New Securities ?? 802063535 equity shares of FV of Rs. 2/- each allotted to GOI on preferential basis.`.
Punjab National Bank has informed the Exchange regarding Change in Director(s) of the company.
Intimation regarding Code of Practices and Procedures for Fair Disclosures [under Regulation 8(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations 2015].
With reference to the above captioned subject please find enclosed the trading approvals given by National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) and BSE Ltd. for trading of 802063535 equity shares of Rs. 2/- each issued at a premium of Rs. 71.66/- bearing distinctive numbers from 3801983494 to 4604047028 issued to Government of India (GOI) on preferential basis.
This is in compliance with the SEBI (LODR) Regulations 2015.
Make smart investment decisions with Star Ratings, a stock selection tool, based upon fundamental, technical and analyst recommendations. Star Ratings provides stock trading tips for Punjab National Bank that will help you decide whether to buy, sell or hold Punjab National Bank. It also provides you with switch proposals on alternative stocks, i.e., which stocks to buy against Punjab National Bank.


Are you on overload yet? I see there are lots of blog posts all around blogland. It was pretty much a home run for Barbara and Mary- and all of us who got to have a part in that. My apologies for rushing through. Truth is, I've got to get packed again and head off to Indiana now for Mo's graduation from IU. Yay! Mo is graduating and coming back to NY! And Andy and I are finished with college tuitions! Yay!
So- this is the second class which was the Folding Travel Tray. Once again, the students outdid themselves. It was a perfect choice for Day 2 when lots of us are managing our art hang-overs. Crafting is hard work! But this one is an easy, peaceful project that can be personalized and enjoyed while visiting at the table. Again, my great, heartfelt thanks to Anna Griffin. Her gorgeous papers and embellishments made the project so elegant and pretty.
Here are just a few of the trays. The classes were both full to overflowing and most got away before I got the camera out.
Wrapping up, in just a few words: I had a blast! Being home in STL, in my old neighborhood (my old house around the corner), old friends, good work, new friends, creative energy and inspired art. The panel at lunch with Amy Butler, Marcia Ceppos, Dena Fishbein and Mary blew everyone away. You could have heard a fork drop as we held our breath listening intently to these 4 women talk as if in a living room. It made me think about all that's ahead and what I can do still. Plenty.
And you need to know that too. There's always more. Stay tuned.... another giveaway or two coming here.


Pretty and pastel? It MUST be Spring! Have a look at the new MAC Pastel Pretty collection. It combines poppy pinks and budding beige hues to create a soft but fun manicure.
Splash into Summer with the new nail lacquers featured in the YSL Pop Water collection. Comprised of four sheer shades, don't underestimate the variety of nail looks that can be created with these beauties.


When I first viewed the new collection from Nars which is a tribute to fashion photographer French Fashion Photographer Guy Bourdin I didn't really look beyond the beautiful colours and enticing gift collections. In a word it's breathtaking. Already a fan of Nars cosmetics I was wowed by the intense colours and textures of the line.
However, upon further research into Guy Bourdin I read that a large number of Nars fans plan to boycott the collection due to his controversial behaviour and the work he created. One thing I do know is that during the seventies magazines like Vogue were pushing the boundaries in their fashion shoots, this was a time in the media where fashion became art and photographers seemed more intent on challenging the viewers comfort as opposed to selling clothes. So during his time Bourdin images probably seemed more typical.
However now, his images; mostly depicting women in high fashion crime scenes seem disrespectful to women to say the least. Bourdin's work is not all about violence, he also explored other themes like surrealism and sexuality. Interestingly though it is his dark work which is famous.
Question is are we all getting a bit too precious or is it irresponsible for a brand such as Nars to tribute such a man and his body of work?


Many of you may recall my love for fashiontoast blogger, Rumi Neely. Originally from Japan, she was actually there for a Nylon shoot during the earthquake. Follow the link, here, to read her personal account of the events.


Archaic cultures lived on the sea islands consuming shellfish and giving rise to shell middens.
Edistow Indians, one tribe of the Cusabo Indians, harvested seafood and grew crops. Spanish Jesuits established a mission to convert the Edistows along St. Pierre Creek but abandoned it within a year. By 1750 the Edistows had all but disappeared due to displacement and disease.
English Lord Proprietors who held dominion over North and South Carolina purchased land from Indians and then granted land on Edisto and other islands for planting rice.
Paul Grimball and family at Point of Pines became the first Europeans to live on Edisto. Spanish pirates destroyed the Grimball house, but its ruins remain.
South Carolina, including Edisto, exported record amounts of rice to Europe and Caribbean buyers. For a short period they exported indigo, also.
During the Revolutionary War, most planters fled to the mainland. The British destroyed property and sold many slaves to the West Indies.
Edisto began growing long-staple cotton from seeds locally developed.
The slave population of 5082 made possible local prosperity from sea island cotton. Wealthy planters built antebellum homes on the island.
General Lee saw the sea islands as indefensible in the Civil War, and white planters were ordered to evacuate. Many slaves were left behind as essentially free people. The Battle of Little Edisto established Union troops on the island who used it as a staging area, burning crops and destroying property. Federal forces evacuated many slaves to St. Helena Island.
Former slaves returned to Edisto expecting the Freedmen's Bureau to distribute land to them as Lincoln had promised, but distribution was reversed by President Johnson, and planters returned to claim their land.
Many former slaves worked as free men on Edisto plantations. Leaders of the African-American community emerged who organized cooperatives to purchase land for the free men. Sea island cotton continued to be a major crop.
A major hurricane combined with several earlier ones completely destroyed Edingsville Beach where summer homes and several churches had become a resort for planters.
The boll weevil ended the cultivation of cotton. Seafood industries and truck farming took its place. The Dawhoo Ferry was replaced by a drawbridge. Dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway linked the North and South Edisto Rivers.
Resort development of McConkey's Island (Edisto Beach) began.
Edisto Beach State Park was built with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Palmetto Boulevard was paved.
A hurricane destroyed most of the homes on Edisto Beach.
Edisto Beach was developed as a year around community.
The McKinley Washington Jr. Bridge opened to link Edisto Island to the mainland.


Buy Tickets to Our Current Show!
Reserve your copy of our first magazine that will showcase students' written and visual art. You can purchase your copy now through January 31st by clicking on the link below. The magazine will be distributed at the High School on May 14th. Hurry and order your copy now!


Is Your Free Autoresponder Making You Money?
Autoresponders are an integral part of most businesses and they can be an asset or an expense. Is your free autoresponder reliable enough to make you money?
a limit to the number of lists you can create.
ads inserted into each message.
limits on the size of the list you can have.
text only message or HTML only messages.
Many new marketers see a professional grade autoresponder as an expense.
Most experienced business owners view their responders and the lists within them as business assets.
Depending on the business owner you talk to, you may hear them say each member on their lists are worth 50 cents to $5 per subscriber per month.
Are you going to trust a business asset like that to a free service that may fail or leave you looking less than professional?
A new autoresponder service called Monster Response just launched and it makes many other services look like wimps when you look at the feature set offered.
As an introduction to the public, the first 100 members get a full featured professional grade responder for $5 per month for up to 500 subscribers.
Monster Response has been developed by and is being run by internet marketers that know what professional business owners need in a great responder. Hurry and claim one of the first 100 spots at a great price and say goodbye to your free autoresponder.
← Is Google Finally Noticing Junk Websites?


A year ago this September, Royal Dutch Shell PLC began the first new oil drilling in U.S. Arctic waters in more than two decades. The company spent $5 billion and dispatched an armada of ships and equipment to offshore Alaska to evaluate the energy resources on its federal leases.
From the beginning, however, Shell's operation faced a multitude of problems -- everything from lingering sea ice to a damaged oil spill containment dome. The Dutch company was never able to secure the permits needed to drill into the hydrocarbon zone on its leases.
The final straw came after the summer season ended. As Shell left Alaska waters, the Coast Guard found multiple technical violations on the Discoverer drill rig, and the Kulluk drill rig ran aground on its way to Seattle.
In the aftermath, Shell's operations were pilloried in a federal report, and the company canceled this year's drilling plans. There's no word yet on exploring in 2014 (EnergyWire, March 15).
Some industry experts have predicted that Shell's setbacks, together with the shale oil and gas boom in the lower 48, have seriously damaged the prospects for Arctic exploration.
But Shell's much-publicized failure hasn't discouraged the world's top energy companies from actively securing long-term oil and gas resources along other Arctic shores, primarily in offshore Russia.
If massive oil reserves are discovered in other parts of the Arctic, the United States would be pressured to speed up drilling off Alaska's shores, said Surya Rajan, senior manager of research for IHS, a commercial analysis company.
"As long as the other countries are moving forward and they demonstrate safe and environmentally friendly operations, the U.S. will look much more seriously at opening up activity and permitting these things a bit quicker," he noted.
Still, the question remains: Is Arctic oil exploration dead in the United States? Not likely, according to most energy experts.
Shell CFO Simon Henry recently told investors that the company is staying the course in Alaska. "According to the probability of success, which has not changed, we still expect to drill," Henry said in a May earnings teleconference.
At the same time, the Obama administration is paving the way for new Arctic drilling. In the coming weeks, the Interior Department is expected to formally ask for public comment on which regions of the Chukchi Sea should be opened for future exploration and development.
Under the administration's five-year plan for offshore oil development, Interior will consider selling Chukchi leases in 2016 and Beaufort Sea leases in 2017 (EnergyWire, June 28).
"From a resource perspective, none of the major oil and gas players are going to abandon the Arctic," Rajan said. "It's going to be very important, just from a portfolio perspective."
In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey raised international interest in Arctic oil and gas resources when it released the first-ever estimate of the region's undiscovered and technically recoverable conventional oil and natural gas resources.
The report estimated that the territory north of the Arctic Circle holds 90 billion barrels of oil and 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with a staggering 84 percent of those hydrocarbons located offshore.
The vast majority of the oil and gas is located in the West Siberian Basin, Alaska's Arctic and the East Barents Basin. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has estimated that Alaska's offshore region contains 23 billion barrels of oil.
At the time the USGS assessment was released, the Interior Department had already held several lease sales in the American Arctic, including a record-breaking 2008 sale in the Chukchi Sea that brought in $2.7 billion.
In that offering, Shell opened its wallet the widest, spending $2.1 billion for 275 Chukchi tracts, including $105.3 million for a single site. ConocoPhillips Co. came in second, paying $506 million for 98 leases. Those bids were based on two years of seismic data that the companies had separately collected in the region.
In the years that followed, however, the economics of the oil and gas industry dramatically changed as more companies adopted hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling technologies to tap into unconventional shale formations in the lower 48 states.
Now the growth of shale oil and gas development, together with Shell's ill-fated 2012 drilling program, has tempered market enthusiasm for Arctic energy development.
In February, an Ernst & Young report warned that despite Alaska's bountiful offshore oil resources, Arctic projects are vulnerable to high cost overruns, long lead times and a lack of support facilities, all of which could sour investment in the region (EnergyWire, Feb. 8).
Shell's inability to sink a drill bit into its Arctic leases continues to weigh heavily on the minds of top energy executives. Harald Norvik, a board member at ConocoPhillips and former CEO of Statoil, recently told Reuters that interest in Arctic energy "is very high, but nevertheless there is more and more concern about the environment and risk part of it."
ConocoPhillips had been seeking to drill off Alaska's shores in 2014 but canceled its plans earlier this year, citing regulatory uncertainty (EnergyWire, April 11).
Despite those concerns, the world's energy giants are queuing up to drill in the Russian Arctic. Shell signed a deal with state energy company Gazprom to jointly explore in the Russian half of the Chukchi Sea. Eni, Exxon Mobil and Statoil are each partnering with state oil giant Rosneft on separate offshore oil projects in other parts of the Russian Arctic.
Norway recently announced plans to allow oil exploration in the northern Barents Sea, adjacent to the Arctic Ocean. Meanwhile, Statoil and Chevron are conducting seismic studies this summer off Canada's Arctic coastline.
Analysts note that the world's eight Arctic nations are far more politically stable than the oil-rich Middle East and African nations. Alaska's oil resources are located in shallow water -- a bonus for companies that are increasingly searching for oil and gas in the deepwater reaches of the Gulf of Mexico.
Rajan of IHS predicted that in the next five years, Arctic exploration will gradually expand not only in Russia, but also in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Norway. "Looking beyond 2015, there's a potential for 20 wells per year or more going forward," he said.
For the foreseeable future, however, don't expect the multinational energy companies to begin building the infrastructure needed to bring that oil to market.
"The companies are in the exploration and appraisal stage," noted Rajan. "At this stage, it is full steam ahead. All they're trying to do is establish where the oil is, how much is there and what is the geographic extent."
Added Kevin Casey of the Arctic Institute: "When we're looking at Arctic development, it's amazing about how slow it moves. Exploration, financing, planning and development -- these are 10-, 15-, 20-year endeavors."
While other countries move forward in the Arctic Ocean, the United States is using 2013 to rethink its approach to the region.
For decades, Washington has acted as an absentee landlord for Alaska, only acknowledging the importance of the nation's northernmost state for military purposes, North Slope oil, and polar bear and caribou habitat.
With climate change leaving the Arctic Ocean ice-free for longer periods each summer, other nations have developed plans to capitalize on energy and mineral development, shipping, fishing, and tourism in the Far North.
But the United States has been slow to respond. In the run-up to the May Arctic Council ministerial meeting, the United States was the only member nation not to have a comprehensive Arctic strategy.
Days before the meeting, the White House issued a vague Arctic white paper that critics said did little to clarify the administration's game plan for the region (EnergyWire, May 13).
Since then, top administration officials have held listening sessions in Alaska and are beginning to draft a governmentwide action plan for Arctic management. That policy paper is expected to be released later this year.
"There's been a dramatic change in the United States' recognition of our role in the Arctic," former Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes observed in an interview.
"We're evaluating how we organize as a government to implement integrated Arctic management and work across the silos of our various Cabinet agencies and other parts of the government," said Hayes, who headed the administration's Arctic program until he left Interior at the end of June.
The Interior Department is also taking a series of controversial regulatory steps that could shape oil and gas development in offshore Alaska for years to come.
Regulators are writing new ground rules for future Arctic energy exploration and development. The administration also is drawing up a "targeted" leasing program. The aim is to allow oil companies, conservationists and Native communities that hunt and fish in the frigid waters to identify the territories that are most critical to their needs.
New Arctic regulations are certain to reignite past battles between the oil interests and environmental activists over Alaska's future.
Industry officials warn that energy companies will avoid the American Arctic if the regulators draft overprescriptive exploration standards.
"The big question is, what will a new regulatory environment look like?" said Richard Ranger, senior policy adviser for the American Petroleum Institute. "We hope the policies developed by the federal government will encourage exploration and not impose limiting restrictions that don't have a risk-based justification."
He cautioned that the industry will resist proposals that limit offshore energy leasing. "If targeted leasing as a longer-term strategy were to have the effect of taking acreage and offshore prospects off of the table, we will have difficulty with it," he said.
But environmentalists see things differently. They want the federal government to permanently ban oil and gas exploration in some parts -- if not all -- of the Arctic.
"Our interest is, how do we put the areas that are important for species and important for subsistence hunters off-limits for future lease sales?" said Marilyn Heiman, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts' U.S. Arctic program. "We don't want to fight these battles every year in places like Barrow Canyon or Hannah Scholl."
Lois Epstein, Arctic program director for the Wilderness Society, called on the administration to adopt Arctic drilling standards that are stricter than the mandates Shell agreed to follow during the 2012 drilling season.
"It's going to be very important to not just issue a proposed rule that codifies what Shell had to do last year, and say that's enough," she argued.
Epstein also opposes new oil and gas leasing in the American Arctic. "Just because the White House has an all-of-the-above strategy doesn't mean you drill everywhere and you have to include the Arctic," she said.
But Epstein also acknowledged that the administration is likely to move forward with new energy development along Alaska's northern shores.
She noted that in recent meetings with environmentalists, BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau "pushed back pretty hard on that."
"He said, 'We're planning to do this lease sale because we need to get information from the industry about what they're really interested in,'" she reported.
For the time being, Shell's proposed drilling program is the only game in town in the American Arctic.
"The main event in the near term is going to be the outcome of Shell's program," said API's Ranger. "I'm not trying to hang the whole thing on Shell, but that's a company that obviously has the assets to proceed in an environment of high uncertainty and considerable cost."
Shell's success or failure will be pivotal to the future of offshore energy development in Alaska, he added.
"Watching the Shell program as it goes forward is going to have a huge influence on what level of investment and interest then proceed in the U.S. Arctic," Ranger said.
Shell has not yet declared whether it will apply for permits to drill next year in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
As Shell spokesman Curtis Smith explained, "Future exploration plans for offshore Alaska will depend on a number of factors, including the readiness of our rigs and our confidence that lessons learned from our 2012 drilling program have been fully incorporated."
Smith added, "The Kullluk is currently in a shipyard in Singapore, and the Noble Discoverer is in a shipyard in South Korea. I don't have a detailed scope of work for either rig at this time."
In the last several months, Shell has made major changes to its corporate leadership that industry analysts say may demonstrate the company's continued commitment to Arctic drilling.
In April, Shell appointed Ann Pickard to oversee the company's U.S. Arctic operations, replacing David Lawrence, who left the company "by mutual consent."
Pickard, who was head of Shell's Australian gas export division, was dubbed "the bravest woman in oil" in 2008 by Fortune magazine for her deft handling of the company's troubled Nigerian oil program.
"Putting someone with such extensive experience on top of their U.S. Arctic program would probably indicate that they are still serious about it," noted Rajan of IHS.
More recently, Shell also appointed a new CEO: Ben van Beurden, the company's downstream director. Industry analysts say van Beurden is not expected to alter Shell's long-term Alaska strategy (EnergyWire, July 10).
But Shell is still licking its wounds after last summer's headline-grabbing technical failures. A Greenpeace activist gleefully asserted that Shell did more to set back Arctic drilling than any of that group's publicity stunts.
"Putting aside the question of the carbon impact of Arctic drilling, the technical challenges are insurmountable," said Ben Ayliffe, international Arctic campaign director for Greenpeace, which is battling Shell's Arctic program. "And if a company the size of Shell can't get it right, that sends a pretty clear message to the rest of the industry."
Other environmental activists insist that it's only a matter of time before Shell gives up its expensive leases and leaves the American Arctic.
"On Arctic Ocean development, I wouldn't be surprised if Shell withdraws when they find an appropriate time," Epstein said. "And then the other dominoes will fall after that," with ConocoPhillips and Statoil also pulling out of the region.
But Pew's Heiman, who worked at the Energy Department during the Clinton administration, asserted that the current lull in the American Arctic won't last.
"It's temporarily quiet," she said. "I'm not as optimistic as some people are" that the energy companies will abandon their offshore Alaska leases.
"Right now the Interior Department is making plans to hold new lease sales," she said. "It's business as usual. Even though Shell is not drilling this summer, we don't know what's going to happen next summer."
Shell and the other major oil companies continue to be lured to the Arctic by the promise of vast oil reserves. All signs are that Shell's Chukchi Sea leases could hold a massive oil reserve, noted Mark Oberstoetter, Wood MacKenzie upstream analyst for the United States and Canada.
"Obviously, they need to drill the wells to prove it up," Oberstoetter said. "But they wouldn't have stuck around for as long as they have or spend the billions on leases without thinking there's something big there."