When we say "Mammoth Cave", we involuntarily imagine the fossilized remains of giants of the ice age, which were discovered by the discoverers in underground halls. In fact, the English word Mammoth means "huge". Therefore, the cave has nothing to do with mammoths. Nevertheless, her visit is extremely exciting. This is an amazing underground world, consisting of giant halls, long passages, branched galleries. Rivers flow here, waterfalls rustle, there are lakes. In the Mammoth Cave there are special representatives of the fauna - eyeless shrimps, blind fish. This underground labyrinth has not yet been fully explored. At the moment, we can talk about five hundred and eighty-seven kilometers in length. And this shocking figure makes Mammoth Cave one of the undisputed leaders of the longest underground galleries. But every year speleologists discover new passages and halls! Read about the wonders of this underworld in this article.
Where is Mammoth Cave
Based on the vast extentunderground galleries, we can say that they stretch under the entire ridge of Flint Ridge (Flint Ridge) on the western spurs of the Appalachians. Mammoth Cave has several exits to the surface of the earth. Moreover, it was previously believed that Crystal, S alty, Unknown are separate underground systems. However, speleological studies carried out in the middle of the last century established that all of them are connected with Mamontova. And in 1972, an expedition of scientists discovered a passage to the huge system of underground galleries Fisher Ridge. The main, official entrance is located near the town of Brownsville (Kentucky, USA). Eighty kilometers away is the city of Bowling Green, with which the cave is connected by highways 31E, 31W and I-65. The nearest airports are located in Indianapolis and Nashville.
Meaning
Since scientists established a connection between underground galleries under the Fisher and Flint ridges, Mammoth Cave has become the longest in the world. On this basis, UNESCO in 1981 included it in its List of Natural World Heritage Sites (number 150). If we connect the caves, which occupy the second and third places in terms of length in the world, then even then Mamontova would be one hundred and sixty kilometers longer than them. Officially, this amazing creation of nature is called the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System. It can be translated as "Giant Cave System under Flint Ridge". But not only because of the size tourists visit this place. Mammoth Cave (photos show this) has something to surprise its visitors. A mummified body was found herean Indian who died two thousand years ago while mining gypsum. Due to the special microclimate and the absence of bacteria in the air, the clothes and tissues of the corpse were perfectly preserved. We have already mentioned the mysterious eyeless inhabitants of the underground rivers Echo and Styx. Scientists cannot yet attribute these creatures to any known species of fish. A national park has been created around Mammoth Cave to preserve the virgin nature and the bat population.
How the cave system formed
Earlier, on the site of the modern state of Kentucky, a shallow and warm sea splashed. Millions of mollusks lived and died in this water area, and their shells sank to the bottom, crumbled, pressed under the weight of others. Thus a thick layer of limestone was formed. Then the sea began to recede, leaving a wide and impervious layer of Big Clifty sandstone. About ten million years ago, the process of limestone karstization began. The sandstone acted as a cover: it did not allow rainwater to wash away the chalk from above. Washing out of limestone took place in the bowels of the earth by the waters of an ancient underground river. Therefore, Mammoth Cave is also interesting because it has few formations typical of grottoes - stalactites and stalagmites. Only in some places, rainwater bored out to the surface of the earth, and also, seeping through the sandstone, created the Frozen Niagara halls and others.
Opening the cave
Both the main entrance and other openings, which were previously considered manholes in separate grottoes, have long beenfamiliar to the local Indians. This is evidenced by individual burials and the bodies of the dead, as well as bundles of burnt reeds, which primitive researchers used as torches. The mummy of a gypsum miner, crushed by a five-ton block, was found five kilometers from the entrance. But among Europeans, Mammoth Cave became known only from 1797, and even then thanks to chance. Two hunters, chasing a wounded grizzly, saw a huge entrance to the bowels of the earth.
S altpeter mining site and local attraction
Enterprising colonists immediately found a use for their find. The first owner, V. Simon, mined potassium nitrate here and became rich, because then there was a war with England. In peacetime, when the demand for the constituent component of gunpowder fell, the cave turned into a local landmark. Just then, the mummy of an Indian was discovered. In order to lure the few visitors to the cave, its owner, F. Gorin, in 1838 appointed his slave, Stephen Bishop, as a guide. It is to this man that we owe the first map of the underground labyrinth. Bishop managed to cross the "Bottomless Pit" and found out that the Mammoth Cave, which was then considered to be 16 kilometers long, was much longer - 40 km. This slave guide came up with many names for halls and galleries that are now used by modern tour guides.
Tuberculosis Sanatorium, National Park
J. Kogan bought the cave and in addition Bishop from the previous owner and decided to establish a sanatorium for consumptives in the bowels of the earth. sick people camenot very much, but gradually the popularity of Mammoth Cave as a tourist site went beyond the state. In the 30s of the last century, local residents, through a lawsuit, achieved the alienation of the land around the entrance from the descendants of Kogan. In 1941, Mammoth Cave National Park - "Mammoth Cave - National Park" appeared.
Tours
About 500,000 tourists visit the cave every year. The Directorate of the National Park offers visitors several types of excursions, different in duration, cost, length of the route and its complexity. Prices start at four dollars (one-hour Discovery Tour). The six-hour journey (12 USD) is especially popular. Tourists are guided along Cleveland Avenue, whose walls are gleaming with plaster. Then the travelers have a snack in the "Snowman's Dining Room". The route passes through the narrow and deep gorge of Boone Avenue and ends at the Frozen Niagara Hall. The lighting throughout this tour is electric. But you can find out what the Mammoth Cave looked like earlier, when it was explored by the pioneers. For this, there are several "wild" tours (46 USD). Visitors are given helmets, torches, and they go through the labyrinths of underground halls and galleries, where sometimes they have to climb in the dust.
