Originally published in Nargun - Journal of the Victorian Speleological Association Inc, Volume 27, No.2, August 1994, pp7-17, Copyright 1994 Victorian Speleological Association Inc, Victoria, AUSTRALIA. Reformatted for PDF presentation by Glenn Baddeley, Mammoth18e.doc 2-Nov-2012 http://home.pacific.net.au/~gnb/caving/papers/EarthwatchMammothCave-GlennBaddeley-1994a.pdf Copyright Glenn Baddeley 1994, 2012.

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park Kentucky, USA Glenn Baddeley DATES: 26th October to 5th November 1993 PARTY: From the Archeology Department, Washington University, Illinois: Dr. Patty-Jo Watson (CRF), Principal Investigator Dr. Mary Kennedy, Field Supervisor George Crothers (NSS), Post-graduate student Kurt Siegal, Post-graduate student Earthwatch volunteers in 1993 Team IV: Glenn Baddeley (VSA), Victoria, Australia Tim Wight, Victoria, Australia John Saunders, Cambridge, England Bob Pearson, Florida, USA George Coyne, New Jersey, USA National Parks Service rangers from Mammoth Cave National Park: Bob Ward, Park historian and Park liaison George Corey, Senior Cave guide Rick Ohlsen, Park ecologist and Cave guide Other participants: Charles (Chuck) Swedlund, Photographer, Illinois, USA CAVES: Mammoth Cave, Great Onyx Cave, Hidden River Cave

Earthwatch In June 1993, Tim Wight, a good friend of mine from uni days, showed me a magazine called "Earthwatch". It is published quarterly by the Earthwatch world-wide organisation, which specialises in sponsoring research in a wide range of subjects concerning the natural world, and the impact of humans on our planet. One such endeavour is an ongoing project to locate, record, survey and photograph artifacts of the prehistoric presence of man in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA. It is being conducted by Washington University with the cooperation of the National Parks Service, who operate Mammoth Cave National Park. The well known cave archeologist, Dr Patty-Jo Watson, was the principal investigator.

The opportunity was irresistible, the timing was right, the money was at hand, so we booked in on one of the four 1993 volunteer teams. The excitement of anticipation grew over the ensuing months as the necessary paperwork, visas and such were arranged. We were on the last crew for the year, which turned out to be only half the usual ten people. In fact, by the time six full days of field work was over, we had managed to cover as much ground as the larger groups. This was mainly due to the less intensive coordination and training effort required from the field supervisors.

Getting there is half the fun Travelling from Melbourne on Sunday 24th October 1993, we ended up in Louisville, the capital of Kentucky, after 19 hours in the air and 25 hours in

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

total. The local date and time was the same as 10 minutes before we left Melbourne.

Hidden River Cave and the American Cave Museum On 26th October, Tim and I rented a car very cheaply and drove about 130 km south from Louisville to Glasgow in south central Kentucky. It was decided that we would stay overnight in Glasgow before heading on to Mammoth Cave National Park the next evening. Cruising along the 165 interstate highway to the radio sounds of country music and announcers with a southern drawl, it was soon realised that we would have to learn to like country music, or buy some cassettes in a hurry. Despite the vast freeway system, we chose to travel on secondary roads Nargun 27(2):7-17, August 1994 Page 1

which allowed driving at a more leisurely pace. The single-lane sealed road passes through some beautiful open countryside over gently rolling hills. The fields were green and the towns clean and quiet, a stark contrast to the busy and claustrophobic cities. The autumn colours were vivid browns and yellows, although the locals always insisted that the "trees were past their peak" at the end of this "fall" season. This side route also allowed a quick visit to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site. As usual, the tourist facilities were excellent, with a historic exhibit in the visitor centre and acres of souvenirs on display. In typical American style, the forested site was dominated by a imposing stone structure of classic Roman architecture, complete with massive columns and a long run of steps. Abe's parents must have had great foresight to construct this building for his birth. In fact, all it housed was a meagre one room log cabin. I was impressed by the honesty of the display where it stated that this was not the actual cabin that Abe lived in as a child, but a similar one constructed on the approximate site. Nearby is a small well used by the Lincoln family, which is obviously a small opening into an underground river system. Travelling further south, the landscape became a huge sinkhole plain. The fields were dotted with hundreds of shallow dolines, carpeted in grass and some containing a little water. Road cuttings revealed light grey limestone, with indentations etched by the rain. There are no surface streams of any description, yet this part of Kentucky receives at least 1.3 metres of annual rainfall. We all know where it has gone! Just 20 km short of Glasgow, a 5 km detour leads into the small town of Horse Cave. This town is built around, and above, the only reliable source of water within 20 km - an underground river. A natural 50 m diameter sinkhole dominates the middle of town, and it slopes down 40 metres to the underground river. It is an interesting sight to peer from the sidewalk of the main street straight down into the gaping hole. The cave is called Hidden River Cave, and is currently being explored and surveyed to extend its 30 km length. It drains at base level to the

north-west, as part of the 500 square kilometre Bear Wallow ground water basin, and resurges as many springs into the Green River. The cave has a history of sad abuse, including an underground dam, water driven pumps, electricity generation, and tourist boat trips beginning in 1916. About 25 years ago, a sewage treatment system in the cave started discharging raw sewage, and this, with the addition of heavy metal effluent, led to a very nasty pollution problem which had the townspeople retching at the smell (White & White, p 73-77; Jackson, p 156). Recently Hidden River Cave has been taken over by the American Cave Conservation Association, which is based at Horse Cave, and so much cleaning work has been done that the natural fauna is now returning to the cave and the water is actually clear. The ACCA is a non-profit organisation which sponsors conservation and educational projects to protect caves throughout the USA. [See also article by Steve Fitzgerald, Nargun 26(10) -Ed.] The association also owns and runs the American Cave Museum in the building right next door to the cave. We went on the museum and cave tour, led by a uniformed young man who was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. The museum has some great exhibits covering all aspects of history, formation and ground water in caves, including a lot of information about Mammoth Cave. There is an open area in the middle of the museum which contains a huge and impressive column two storeys high and associated stalactites and stalagmites, all fabricated from fibreglass. In another area is a gallery which houses about 50 fantastic cave photographs. Behind the museum an elevator drops four stories into the Hidden River Cave sinkhole. Newly built wooden steps then descend to a platform just above river level. Down here, we had a good chat about the history of the cave and river and the efforts gone into the reopening of the cave in 1993.

cable TV, so the evening was spent in amusement and anguish, flicking endlessly through 60 channels of excrement. MTV showed a rather aggressive and offensive cartoon show called "Beavis and Butthead", which at the time was a hot topic of general debate on whether it should be shown. No doubt we will see it in Australia soon.

Cave country The 165 interstate freeway winds its way south through mid-eastern USA, passing through Louisville, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee. About halfway between these cities it comes to within a few kilometres of Mammoth Cave National Park at exit 53. Turning off at the exit, the intrepid tourist is greeted by Cave City, a motley collection of accommodation, attractions, shops and restaurants, mostly fast food. The 10 km winding road to the actual entrance of the Park is festooned with a bewildering array of diversions, from mini golf to a wax museum, a motel with rooms like giant teepees, and the largest second-hand junk shop in existence, which is not totally locked up at night! Cave City is the heart of tourist "cave country", being close to Mammoth Cave and several privately run tourist caves. Crystal Onyx Cave is set in a wooded camping area. This heavily decorated cave is also an archeological site with 2,500 year old human remains. Mammoth Onyx Cave is in a park called "Kentucky Down Under". We did not have time to visit this place, but apparently it is part-owned by an Australian and includes a remarkable zoo containing many Australian animals and birds. To top it off, there is an operating woodshed and a cafe selling Australian food! The "Guntown Mountain" wild west amusement park contains Onyx Cave which may be toured in the summer months. On the other side of the freeway from Cave City is Park City, a larger and more conventional town. It contains the Kentucky Diamond Cavern show cave.

After another look through the museum, we drove on to Glasgow. The motel had

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

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You may be wondering how "onyx" became incorporated into local nomenclature. The word onyx commonly refers to parallel banded agate, but it may also be applied to marble and obsidian. In caves it may be used to describe any calcite and aragonite formations which have a banded appearance.

First impressions On Wednesday 27th October, we arrived just on dusk, so the initial glimpses of Mammoth Cave National Park were somewhat dimmed. The feeling was still exciting as the occasional white tail deer darted across the road and disappeared into the dark forest. After a quick check-in at the Visitor Centre, we crossed the Green River by ferry and found the turn-off to the Maple Springs ranger station. Everyone turned up by 8 pm, and after introductions some of us headed back out of the park for dinner at Cave City. Overnight the mercury dropped close to zero, but we were all toasty warm in a bunkhouse which had ducted heating. The next day we had introductory talks and slide shows from Mary Kennedy on archeology and the purposes of our expedition, and from ranger Bob Ward on the Park. After inspecting some of the surface facilities provided for the massive numbers of Park visitors (up to 25,000 visitors per day!) we went underground via the inspiring Historic Entrance to become familiar with the general conditions and structure of Mammoth Cave. Over about four hours we strolled along the spacious Broadway, which gently curves for about 2 km to Wright's Rotunda, and then we headed back out again. There was time to take in the many tourist attractions, such as the saltpetre vats, snap a few photographs, and to be shown the cave from an archeological perspective. In a side passage down towards the Black Chambers we saw evidence of gypsum mining, sorting beds, and a climbing pole which was used by the Early Woodland Indians. The immense size of the cave became apparent when I later looked at a map and saw how little of the cave we had actually covered on this trip.

Mammoth Cave

from solution attack from above.

The Mammoth Cave National Park is roughly 22 x 17 km in extent. It is crossed from east to west by the meandering Green River which is at an elevation of 130 m above sea level. The 150 m thick limestone in which Mammoth Cave is formed was laid down in shallow seas 350 million years ago but the most influential factor was a later deposit of impermeable sandstones and silt-stones, the Big Clifty Sandstone, which covered the limestone. Within the Park area the exposed surface of the Big Clifty Sandstone forms the Chester Upland at 260 m above sea level (ASL). To the south and east of the Park this impermeable layer has been completely removed by erosion to expose the underlying limestone, creating the Glasgow and Pennyroyal Plateaux at 180 m ASL. Water draining into these two karst fields sinks into hundreds of "ponors", up to 30 m deep, within 30 km of the Park. The water then continues its journey below the Big Clifty Sandstone via underground routes which follow the shallow northwest dip of the limestone beds, to eventually re-emerge at the Green River. It is these circumstances which made Mammoth Cave so long (550 km at last reckoning). As the Green River eroded deeper into its bed, multiple cave levels developed in the limestone. The overlying sandstone caprock contains a few valleys which extend into the limestone layers, but in the main it has protected the cave system

This makes calcium carbonate speleothems rather rare in Mammoth Cave, but it has promoted the growth of sulphate minerals such as gypsum (satinspar, selenite or hydrous calcium sulphate CaSO4.2H2O), mirabilite (Na2SO4.10H2O), epsomite (epsom salts, MgSO4.7H2O) and others. Deposits of calcium nitrate were extracted from the cave sediments in the early 1800s by dissolving them in water. It was then mixed with wood ash to produce saltpetre (potassium nitrate, KNO3), an essential ingredient of gunpowder.

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

In Mammoth Cave there are several formation layers of limestone below the Big Clifty Sandstone caprock. Each formation is further divided into members and then into sub-units. They are all plainly visible in various parts of the cave. The oldest limestone is the Saint Louis Formation, from about 75 to 90 m below the sandstone. Next comes the Saint Genevieve Formation, from 40 to 75 m, and then the Girkin Formation filling the rest. There is a large variety of limestone types, from very fine grained micrite, through crystalline, dolomitic, granular, fossil rich, pebbly, sandy, to crumbly shale mixtures. In places there are also resistant nodules and intrusions of chert or flint (SiO2). The large arched Historic Entrance is the only natural entrance to Mammoth Cave, and has been used by humans for Nargun 27(2):7-17, August 1994 Page 3

thousands of years. It was formed by a surface stream, which still flows over thin sandstone, breaking through the roof of one of the old upper level drainage tubes in the Girkin Formation, close to the Green River, but about 70 m above its current level. The main passage, called Broadway, ranges from 15 to 30 m in diameter and, being half filled with sediment, provides easy walking access to kilometres of passages and chambers, down to various lower levels in the Saint Genevieve and Saint Louis Formations, and up into one higher level along Gothic Avenue. These larger passages have been further modified by sequential collapse of thin beds at roof level. In Mammoth Cave there are four very consistent levels of cave passage at about 180, 168, 152 and 137 m ASL. The highest level consists of wide canyons and tubes partially filled with sediment. The next two lower levels contain many fine examples of the transition from vadose canyons to phreatic tubes. The almost level tubes are all 2 m to 15 m wide and 1 m to 5 m high, with little sediment. Today, water in quantity is only found at the 137 m ASL base level in the cave. Echo River joins to the River Styx at the present water table, and drains into the Green River through an impenetrable spring. It may be navigated in a boat for about a kilometre inside the cave and has been known to flood completely. This lowest level has poorly developed tubes with little entrenchment. The Roaring River and Mystic River are also found at this level. There is another higher level of passage at 200 m ASL in Crystal Cave, named Collins Avenue. This was formed as much as 10 million years ago when the Green River had just managed to cut completely through the Big Clifty Sandstone and enter the Girkin Formation limestone. The cave temperature is constant at 13°C, whereas the surface average ranges from 2°C in January to 24°C in August. Carbon dioxide levels in the cave atmosphere are very low, less than 0.1%. Humidity is always above 80%.

This whole description has been rather simplified from the current literature, but it still gives a feel for the nature of the cave system.

Pre history Over 12,000 years before present much of the North American continent was covered by glacial ice. The Kentucky landscape was inhabited by the nomadic Paleo-Indians. They were huntergatherers who lived in small groups and made stone spear points, of which a few have been found in Mammoth Cave National Park. From about 10,000 years ago the climate became warmer and the area became forested by pines and hardwoods, as it is today. The megafauna gave way to smaller animals, which were hunted by a larger population of Indian tribes in the Archaic period up to about 3,000 years ago. Late in this period, they began exploring Mammoth Cave and Salts Cave, primarily to collect minerals. Why they travelled up to 3 km into Mammoth Cave just to mine gypsum, selenite, satinspar, mirabilite and epsomite is still a topic of speculation. It is likely they used them for ceremonial or laxative medicinal purposes, or traded them for other goods. The resourcefulness of the Indians is evident from the range of artifacts which are found in the caves. They knew how to weave fibrous plants into bags, slippers and basic clothing. Lighting was provided by burning bundles of cane reeds, which grew by the Green River. A bunch about 15 cm in diameter and 1 m long was secured with a neatly knotted tie. As a handheld torch, it has been demonstrated to burn reliably for several hours. Circular patterns of charcoal dots on the cave walls indicates that they used to thrust the end of a burning bundle into the wall to encourage a dimming torch. The burnt cane material is in great abundance and is ideal for carbon radio-dating. Gypsum mining was accomplished by bashing on the encrusted walls with well chosen rocks or purposefully shaped digging sticks. The softer salts were scraped off with mussel shells, and digging also took place in sandy

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

sedimentary beds for crystals. The mined material was transported in woven bags, hide, and gourd or squash bowls. It was stockpiled and sifted at many "sorting beds" in the cave. Harder to reach ledges were accessed using climbing poles consisting of tree trunks about 10 cm in diameter and up to 5 m long. Other common evidence of human presence is paleo-fecal remains, which indicate the diet of the time (Munson et al, 1968). A few well preserved Indian bodies have been found, known as "mummies", which acted as a great tourist draw-card in the early days. A more respectful approach is now taken, and there are now none on public display. The mining practice continued into the Early Woodland period up to 2,200 years ago, when the Indians began making ceramic pottery and cultivating plants such as sunflower and maygrass. This reduced the reliance on wild animals and plants for food. Villages were established and a more advanced social organisation emerged, as evidenced by ceremonial burials and decorative artifacts. About 1,500 years ago the ceremonial burial activity was at its peak and the trading of minerals and ornaments spread as far afield as the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. For reasons yet to be discovered, these activities and the mining in caves virtually ceased at the end of the Woodland period, about 1,100 years ago. The following 600 years of the Mississippian period saw increasing cultural complexity and vastly improved manufacturing and farming techniques. Less use was made of the Mammoth Cave area due to the very limited farming area of the narrow Green River flood plain. As Europeans began arriving, the native Americans became displaced to the west. This had an effect in Kentucky even before the first European arrival in the area in about 1770 AD. Eventually the Shawnee and Cherokee were forced out, suffering up to 75% mortality due to introduced diseases. Here ended thousands of years of native American settlement around Kentucky.

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Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

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Modern history Mammoth Cave National Park was proclaimed a National Park on 1st July 1941 under control of the National Park Service, a division of the Department of the Interior. It was also designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site on 24th April 1982, and an International Biosphere Reserve in March 1990. The Park area was first settled by Europeans in 1790. In 1798 the cave was found to contain saltpetre, an ingredient of gunpowder, near the main Historic Entrance. Mining soon commenced, and was upscaled when the War of 1812 started with the British. The saltpetre supplied by this and other caves was vital to the American victory. Several desiccated Indian bodies, or "mummies", were found in the cave and knowledge of the cave became widespread by 1816. Public tours started in the same year, despite the arduous journey to get there. Many articles and books were published over the ensuing decades. Stephen Bishop, a Negro slave, became a cave guide in 1838. He spent the next 20 years exploring and mapping many new parts of the cave, preparing a map in 1842 and publishing it in 1845. His copperplate signature is found in remote places throughout the cave system (Brucker & Watson, 1976, p 265). Further exploration and exploitation for tourism has continued unabated from those early times to the present. In 1842 Dr W J Mitchell suggested living in Mammoth Cave as a treatment for tuberculosis, which he had himself. Two stone huts were built in the cave by the then owner, Dr Croghan, and 11 patients lived there over a period of about a year. None of the patients was cured, and some even died in the cave, including the owner. The ruins of the huts are still there today on the main tourist route. Recent research has shown that the tuberculosis bacilli may still be present in the huts. In 1908 a German named Max Kamper spent nearly a year producing a map of the cave system with the Negro guide Ed Bishop (no relation to Stephen Bishop). Doing the first proper survey,

he discovered many new sections and identified five main levels of passage covering 56 km. The map is still used today as a general reference for the main part of the cave, as it includes nearly 200 place names (Brucker & Watson, 1976, p 274). A large colour poster of this map is available from the National Park Visitor Centre for US$5. Electric lights were first installed in 1917 and four new artificial entrances were opened up over the next ten years. The Mammoth Cave National Park Association was formed in 1924 by private individuals to promote the area as a future National Park. Over the next 17 years they acquired the minimum 18,336 hectares (45,310 acres) of land by purchase and donation, and gave it to the Government, a condition of it becoming a National Park. People living in the Park area left, and over 5,000 buildings were razed by the 1940s in an effort to restore the natural environment. Around the 1920s was the period of the "cave wars". Mammoth Cave was well established as a tourist destination, with a fine hotel near the Historic Entrance. However, the roads and transport were still very rough and uncultured. George Morrison blasted the New Entrance in 1921 on land he controlled near the main road and, using shrewd advertising signs, diverted some of the business from the Historic Entrance. This resulted in a court case against Morrison by the Mammoth Cave management for using the name. Morrison won by showing that it was the same cave, and also that Colossal Cave, which was being successfully shown to the public by The Colossal Cavern Company, extended beneath land controlled by the Mammoth Cave owners. Edmund Turner found Great Onyx Cave and built a hotel to attract tourists. The Collins family was exhibiting Crystal Cave, which was found by Floyd Collins in 1917, but it was not a major success because of the very rough access road and the lack of accommodation.

road than Crystal Cave, but became fatally wedged by a small rock in a tight crawlway not far from the surface (Murray & Brucker, 1979). Another famous incident was the discovery of the "Lost John" mummy in 1935 by the Mammoth Cave guides, Lyman Cutliff and Grover Campbell. They found the desiccated body of a Woodland Indian who had been crushed by a boulder he had undermined in his search for minerals (Meloy, 1971). Since becoming a National Park in 1941, containing major caves such as Mammoth Cave, Colossal Cave, Bedquilt Cave, Unknown Cave and Salts Cave, the Park has slightly expanded to include Great Onyx Cave and Crystal Cave. Excluding Great Onyx Cave, they are all interconnected by many named avenues (large tubes and canyons) and some very tight crawlways. A big breakthrough came in 1972 when the Mammoth Cave system (then 93 km) was finally connected to the Flint Ridge Cave system (then 139 km), to make it by far the longest cave system in the world (Brucker & Watson, 1976). Since then the connected systems have been steadily explored and surveyed to about 550 km. Connection into the southern Joppa Ridge Cave system was made in 1981 (Proctor Cave, Morrison's Cave) and the eastern Toohey Ridge Cave system in 1985 (Roppel Cave, 85 km). Toohey Ridge is actually outside the Park boundary, and a further north-eastern link to the Fisher Ridge cave system is certain, which will add at least another 72 km. Most of this has been done through the efforts of the Cave Research Foundation (CRF), incorporated in 1957 with National Parks Service blessing, to specialise in studying and exploring the caves of the National Park.

The well known death of Floyd Collins occurred in Sand Cave in February 1925, just inside the current Park boundary. He was attempting to find a show cave which was closer to the main

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

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The Park today Within the Park nearly 23 km of Mammoth Cave is used for some 13 different guided tours, from 0.5 hours covering 1 km up to 6.5 hours covering 8 km. Not all of the trails have electric lighting. Parts of Great Onyx Cave and Ganter Cave are also sometimes used. In 1992 over 2,500,000 people visited the Park, with 616,000 going underground. Over 6,000 people went underground nearly every day during the peak summer season from June to August. There are 73 permanent staff and rangers, and about 100 seasonal employees work to run the Park. On the surface there are nearly 113 km of maintained hiking and horseback riding trails, through flat and hilly terrain, open forest and virgin woods. There are also facilities for bicycling, boating, canoeing and fishing. Four camping grounds and a motel provide accommodation in the Park. Scattered throughout the Park are some 70 peaceful cemeteries and wooden churches which were spared the restorations of the 1940s. Some are still being used. The most common fauna seen in the second growth woodland of the Park is the Eastern white tailed deer, which carries one of the few pests to humans, ticks. There is also a population of wild turkey, and many other animals such as grey squirrel, chipmunk, racoon, groundhog, skunk, woodpecker, blue heron and American kestrel to name just a few. Over 200 species of animals have been documented in Mammoth Cave, including 42 species of troglobites, such as blind fish, crayfish, shrimp and millipede. As many as 12 trogloxene species of bats frequent the Park caves, including the Big Brown Bat and the Eastern Pipistrel. They are not usually seen in the main toured parts of the cave. Other common trogloxenes include the camelback cricket, pack rat and salamander.

Earthwatch Archeology Expedition The actual underground work took place in a section of Mammoth Cave about 1 km long, extending from the

Violet City entrance, along a large passage at about 168 ASL, to the northern end of a huge chamber called Chief City. The aim is to describe and catalogue the human artifacts in all the parts of the cave which were visited in pre-historic times. This section was selected for the 1993 pilot of this project, to develop field techniques and estimate the resources required. Earthwatch provided the volunteer labour, and Washington University the expertise in cave archeology. For six days from Friday 29th October to Thursday 9th November we slogged it out underground, from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm on each work day. The first day was spent in a low section of passage called Mayme's Stoop. Here the break-down and sediment come to within about 1.2m of the ceiling over a width of 10 m. About 2 m of this width has been hand cleared to a depth of 0.7 m to give some decent walking headroom and a comfortable trail. Crawling around off the trail, we located quite a few artifacts, including burnt cane, torch ties, evidence of gypsum mining and hickory nuts. These were each marked with a small flag and a card describing the artifact in detail. This "discovery" exercise was the most exciting and rewarding part of the expedition; you never knew what

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

exciting artifact would be found next. The next step was to survey their exact locations using a Sokkia survey instrument which had an electronic distance measuring device and data logger built in. Its accuracy was about 5 seconds of arc and less than 1 mm over a 30 m distance. This was all well and good, but a knock on one of the tripod legs would send it out of level, requiring another 5 minutes (or 10 for us novices) to set it up again. The instrument was moved at 50 m intervals along the main trail, which was quite stable, and then used to shoot in the 20 to 50 artifacts that were generally found within range of a given station. The final step was to photograph the more interesting artifacts using a 35 mm SLR camera and flash, and remove the flags and cards. None of the artifacts was touched. This really was quite a lot of mucking around for eight or so people to do in one area. In a whole day we only covered about 50m of passage. The value of good knee pads was soon realised when looking for artifacts, particularly fragments of torch ties the size of paper clips. Every day when the sun was high, we huddled around the gas mantle lantern underground and ate a packed lunch, talking about the artifacts that we really Nargun 27(2):7-17, August 1994 Page 7

wanted to find, such as a woven slipper, or even a mummy. Those that couldn't hold on, or really missed the sun, had a 40 minute round trip to the surface for a pit stop. The working conditions were quite comfortable and dry. The only hazard was accumulated soot from over 150 years of kerosene lanterns and torches, which had settled on everything in a grimy layer. On the second day, we moved on into Chief City, skipping sections which had already been done by the three teams before us in the preceding months. It was a great relief to find the roof height had suddenly jumped to 20m. In the remaining 4.5 days we covered about half of Chief City, which is about 170 m long and up to 40 m wide. A good range of excellent artifacts were found including paleo-feces, an intact bunch of cane 1 m long, woven cordage and fabric fragments, a gourd bowl, a mussel shell and digging sticks. The usual cane fragments, torch ties, charcoal marks and gypsum mining were in abundance. We also catalogued historic artifacts if they were significant and more than 50 years old, such as early signatures and bottles. At the end of each day there was always some packing up to do and then the tedious subterranean walk to the Violet City Entrance. The discussion in the minibus on the way back to the ranger station was always about predicting the evening meal, and how good (or bad) it

would be. It was always transported in from a little "home style" eating house about 20 minutes to the north of the ranger station. Needless to say, we never had a really "hot" feed. Two items stick out in the memory. Kentucky is the home of fried chicken; they fry steak too. Imagine a really cheap cut of steak in a crispy crumbed batter with no shortage of oil. It would have to be an acquired taste. The other unusual practice was the addition of heaps of sugar to cooked vegetables such as peas, beans and carrots. It seems to sum up the American passion for bland, fatty and sweet food. After the expedition, when we got back to Louisville, we headed for the best Chinese restaurant in town, added lots of chilli and ate up big.

Halloween underground The last day of October, Sunday 31 st, was Halloween. The build-up in the days before could be seen in every town. Carved pumpkins and witches appeared on the front steps of houses, cut-out bats and ghostly sheets moved about eerily in the trees. "Haunted houses" were promoted on the radio, but we never found out what they were. After the archeology work for the day was finished at 4 pm, three of us made a quick trip to a laundrette in Park City to do some washing. Dusk came fairly quickly, and on the way back we managed to catch sight of a few kids dressed in macabre costumes, walking from house to house and obtaining great quantities of sweets. It was all rather a novelty, but we were invited to a special Halloween event in the Park which turned out to be quite unnerving. The cave guides had arranged to do a late night trip for themselves into a remote part of the main Mammoth Cave, and tell scary stories by lantern light. At 6.30 pm, Mary Kennedy drove George Coyne, John Saunders and myself to the surface rendezvous point at the service elevator building. In the next few minutes, several more cars arrived, crunching along the gravel road in the dark. Shadowed faces stood silently in front of the elevator door, waiting in uncertainty of what was to happen on this trip. Senior cave guide, George Corey, finally arrived and the doors were unlocked. The brightly lit car

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

looked like an elevator in any modern building. The twenty of us did the 81 m journey down in two trips, with steel cables belaying the car. At the bottom a tastefully lit concrete path snaked off to the right, emerging after 100 m into the back of the Snowball Dining Room. This would have to be the most remarkable piece of man-made construction in a tourist cave that I have ever seen. A section of passage about 50 m long and 10m wide, with about 3 m roof clearance, has had the floor neatly levelled off, concreted and populated with neat rows of picnic tables. A cafeteria style counter allows the serving of food, and soft drinks are on tap. An area walled off with limestone bricks contains toilets, with the effluent pumped up to the surface. A small amphitheatre has also been built. Apparently it has been closed over the last year, to allow the roof to be cleaned of grime. I don't think food will be served again; it will just be used as a rest point on one of the through tours. The only parties to use the elevator are the "mobility impaired" tours for the disabled. We left the musty and gloomy dining room, headed back to the elevator, and continued on in the other direction, north into Marion Avenue. This section of Mammoth Cave is off the tourist routes, and consists of several long wandering level branches at about 168 m ASL, which all lead to dead ends blocked by break-down, totalling about 2.5 km. It was marvellous to amble along the dry sediment floor, which filled less than a third of an almost perfect tube about 4 m in diameter. The passage gently wound to and fro, following the solutional path of least resistance. Here and there smaller tubes led off, choked with dirt. The light grey Saint Genevieve limestone was quite granular, almost chalky, with dark shadows cast behind the phreatic carvings from the four gas mantle lanterns being toted down near floor level. After about 15 minutes of walking, the volume of talk rose sharply in the group of people just ahead of me and everyone bunched up. We gazed at some writing on the wall. There in neat script lettering 0.15 m high was engraved "Stephen Bishop 1841". Nearby were a couple of other later Nargun 27(2):7-17, August 1994 Page 8

signatures. We were more than 10 km from the Historic Entrance, involving many passages at several levels, yet this determined man had made it here over 150 years ago using a simple oil lamp. For me, this was the highlight of Mammoth Cave. Just short of where the major branching begins, we all huddled around and on top of a large breakdown boulder. One young lady guide kicked off with a recitation of a short Edgar Allen Poe story, which left everyone rather uneasy. Next, a call was made for stories of strange incidents experienced by the guides. The one that sticks in my mind was about a guide following a group of tourists who looked around to see a family of Negroes dressed in white, lagging behind in the semi darkness. Glancing down to operate his torch, the family had totally disappeared when he looked back up. A few people had stories of being followed by footsteps, or unexplained lights moving far down a passage. The names of Floyd Collins and Stephen Bishop inevitably cropped up as possibilities. The trip out was uneventful. Back at Maple Springs, we played cards and drank duty free OP Bundy until way past midnight, and took some photos of a pumpkin into which George Coyne had expertly carved a face and put a candle inside. It looked rather good wearing a caving helmet and light, or at least it did when we were drunk.

A mercy dash to Bowling Green

This leads to a description of the strange situation in Kentucky. This State is world famous for its Bourbon Whisky, and there are dozens of distilleries. However, nearly all of the counties in Kentucky are "dry" by default law, due to a large population of Baptists. The distilleries are not well advertised in tourist brochures, even though most of them are open for public inspection. The product cannot be tasted or sold at the distillery; the visitor has to go to a shop run by the distillery in a nearby "wet" county, of which there are very few. We soon found out where they were. Tim, John and myself jumped in our rental car and after half an hour of driving on the interstate, we turned off and entered the university town of Bowling Green. With glee, we found the first building inside the city limit to be a well signposted liquor shop. Not knowing which was good beer and which was bad, we bought six-packs of everything. After leaving, I realised the shop owner had detected our "not from around here" accents and had charged us accordingly. At least we wouldn't go thirsty over the next four days. Returning to the Park, the supplies were dropped off at Maple Springs. John Saunders, George Coyne, Tim Wight and myself grabbed our trog suits, helmets and cap lamps, and rushed to meet George Corey as arranged. Before knowing it, the elevator doors closed and we whirred 81 m into the depths. After recovering our stomachs at 170 m

ASL, a brisk 200 m walk led through the Snowball Dining Room and Washington Hall to the start of the 5 km tourist trail up to the Frozen Niagara Entrance at 220 m ASL. The party would eventually leave via this entrance, but by a much more circuitous route. The familiar tourist trail quickly disappeared as we ducked under a hand-rail and headed down a clean narrow passage. George picked out a one metre diameter phreatic tube, and we scrambled down and along the small twisting passage for some distance, passing many other inviting tubes along the way. After ten minutes, he brought us into the top of a long narrow canyon. This required an awkward chimney down five metres to its base. By now, we had descended another entire level of Mammoth Cave to somewhere below the Boone Avenue tourist trail. The conditions were cool and humid. The canyon varied from two to ten metres high, but the width remained at less than one metre, requiring the occasional side-on approach to get through. We walked along smooth sediment floors, scrambled over collapse boulders and hopped up and down canyons for nearly two hours. The complexity and consistency of appearance made first-time remembering of the route impossible. Points of interest included outcrops and spheroids of chert in the rough and jagged limestone, curly white gypsum flowers on the drier roofs, spectacularly

The next day was our one "rest day" during the expedition, Monday 1st November. Now what is there to do on a rest day? The answer is obvious; go caving! A few days beforehand I had contacted the ranger and senior cave guide, George Corey, with the request to be shown some of the outer reaches of Mammoth Cave. He was quite obliging, as it meant he would get out of leading bus loads of school children on the tourist trips. This was arranged to start at 12.30 pm from the infamous service elevator. This left the morning to dispose of. Being cavers, most of us enjoyed a good drink on occasion. Unfortunately, we had run out of tinnies, so a visit to the nearest bottle shop was in order. Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

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cut pits and domes, and water trickling out of the walls in little waterfalls. One little pool contained a blind crawfish, which looked like a very delicate pure white crayfish, about 10 cm long. This part of the cave is below a small valley on the north-eastern flank of Mammoth Cave Ridge, and has small shafts feeding water to this low level. When nothing interesting had happened for a while, I decided to ask George where the hell we were. After some silent careful thinking, he said Lower Martel Avenue, and that we had just come through Pinson's Pass. He then made a judicious (or fortunate) choice of passages, and we soon ended up at Hawkin's Pass, which crosses into Cathedral Domes. The Domes area contains some very high active shafts and canyons up to 40 m high, formed by waterfalls. The limestone members are easily discerned here. We were sprayed by a light rain from far above while admiring some unique fluting in the oolitic lowest bed of the Saint Genevieve limestone. The flutes were like sides of beef butted against the wall and, when struck with a handy rock, a hollow ringing sound would echo through the spacious and lofty chamber. Leaving Cathedral Domes via Becky's Alley, the party continued through another series of unnamed canyons and tubes for the next hour. These were sparsely decorated with scattered formations of gypsum flowers. Some excitement was added by a low 50 m section joining two passages. It was a smooth belly crawl only 30 cm high in places, which required some effort to negotiate. This was typical of the low accesses which had to be traversed at the very lowest levels of the caves for hundreds of metres during the big push to link up the Mammoth Cave and Flint Ridge systems in the early 1970s. Ours was dry but the link up via Hanson's Lost River was very wet (Brucker & Watson, 1976). Eventually, a set of old wooden steps came into view, which gave access to a passage containing a jumble of fridgesized break-down boulders, and led into the back end of Grand Central Station, a large chamber on the tourist route along Kentucky Avenue. Rows of wooden benches were provided for the footweary tourist, but the party proceeded

with haste along the easy trail for 500 m to Frozen Niagara, the only area of Mammoth Cave with massive calcite formations. A huge sheet of flowstone some 20 m high dominates a series of chambers of average to good decoration. Hand rails prevent people straying off the trails, and cyclone wire netting shields some of the more delicate areas. A mixture of plain 110 volt AC incandescent and fluorescent lighting was used in an uninspiring way. Just as we started on the last hundred metres to the entrance door, a tourist party of about 50 people came in with two guides on the short "travertine tour". This was good for us, because it meant there were buses waiting outside, saving a long surface walk back to the Visitor Centre. George hijacked a driver and just on dusk we were back at Maple Springs cracking open some cold ones and wondering what the surprise meal for the night would be.

Gothic Avenue On the evening of Tuesday 2nd November, because there was nothing better to do, Mary, Chuck and all of the Earthwatch volunteers ventured into Gothic Avenue, a large passage at the highest level in Mammoth Cave. It intersects Broadway at about 600 m in from the Historic Entrance. On the north side it is totally filled in with sediment, but the south side winds for about 800 m as a 15 m wide by 4 m high tube, before being blocked by sandstone boulders where it meets a surface valley. Before the valley existed, it would have joined to another major passage on the other side of the valley, Blackall Avenue. This trip made even more apparent the major impact which human visitation has had on this cave. Chuck Swedlund has photographed Mammoth Cave for many years. He supervised the artifact photography for the archeology expedition, but he also runs his own ongoing project for the National Parks Service. From the earliest tourist times, people have been leaving their marks in the cave. The cave guides did it, and the visitors were even encouraged to do it at one stage. Chuck has managed to photograph nearly all of the legible names and writings in Mammoth Cave, and has a

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

computer database of the texts and locations. He has the astounding figure of nearly 4,000 on film and file. Fortunately, most of the graffiti is confined to Gothic Avenue, because its smooth roof is just out of arms reach and makes an ideal canvas. The technique used was to tie a candle to a pole and deposit soot on the roof, forming letters from 5 to 50 cm long. To see hundreds of initials, names and dates filling every square metre of the roof is a sight to behold. It is sad to see such conspicuous graffiti, to the point where it becomes the main feature of the passage, but Chuck thinks it is a very important historical record. Another "feature" of Gothic Avenue is the large number of cairns and monuments constructed from the ample supply of break-down material. Most of them are very neat and square and carry a sign indicating the builders, who are usually an association or people from some town in the USA. This practice resulted from early guided trips where the tourists would spend the whole day in the cave, eating a picnic lunch and having plenty of time for such activities. The only other attractions in this high level passage which may be up to 10 million years old are a few scattered columns and calcite formations which are very ancient and dead. Add to that 170 years of kerosene lantern soot and the place is almost repulsive.

Great Onyx Cave The final caving activity in the Park was to visit Great Onyx Cave on the evening of Thursday 4th November with the Park ecologist, Rick Ohlsen. Great Onyx Cave is closely associated with all the other major interconnected caves on Flint Ridge, but it has defied all attempts to link it in. It was formerly a tourist cave, so parts of it contain steps, hand-rails, trails and the like, but no artificial lighting. From Maple Springs, eight of us crowded into the minibus for the 20 minute drive to the cave. Turning off down a gated dirt road, the small stone room at the entrance came into view of the bus head lights. Rick unlocked the door and we were surprised by a dozen or so salamanders scurrying around on the floor and walls. The little creatures Nargun 27(2):7-17, August 1994 Page 10

were about 10 cm long and had black spots on their red glistening skins. Descending the steps, the entrance area was found to contain a lot of calcite formation, including many columns up to three metres high. This gave way further in to many interesting varieties of gypsum deposit. The passage is in typical style of the rest of the system, with long level tubes extending for about 5 km in two major branches. Rick was a fun guide and his loud bellows of laughter at our explanation of Australian Rules football echoed along the passages. A couple of experiments were currently set up in the cave; a study of cave cricket reproduction, and some environmental instrumentation at the very end of one of the passages. Rick also pointed out some troglobitic spiders and their egg cases. A solitary Eastern Pipistrel bat was sighted.

All good things come to an end The Great Onyx Cave trip proved to be a very relaxing finale to the underground adventures at Mammoth Cave National Park. The next morning the expedition was at an end, and everyone departed with memories of the great and unique experiences had over the nine day stay. Tim and I drove straight back to Louisville, where the next day Tim flew on to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I flew on to Denver, Colorado. I stayed with some friends for a week, and did some driving around, which included a day of down-hill skiing at Loveland in the Rocky Mountains. Winter had only just begun, but an early 0.5 m fall of snow from the previous week still provided very good skiing at 3,800 m ASL. So good in fact, that I was totally worn out by the early afternoon.

Tim and I finally met up in Los Angeles, aboard the United Airlines flight back to Australia. Because of a shortage of seats, I had already been in the air for 12 hours, flying east from Denver to Chicago, and then all the way back west again to LA. This is definitely not recommended. An exceedingly boring flight back to Australia was punctuated by a stop in Auckland, New Zealand, which gave a last minute opportunity to buy some duty free alcohol. The Earthwatch expedition was a great success and provided me with some very fascinating information on archeology. I also found great pleasure in the caving in general. Mammoth Cave National Park is a unique and special place and if you ever get the opportunity to visit Kentucky, I'd certainly recommend a visit to this park.

References BRUCKER, R W & WATSON, R A (1976) The Longest Cave. Cave Research Foundation, Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois JACKSON, D D (1982) Underground Worlds. Time-Life Books, Planet Earth Series, Virginia. LAWRENCE, J Jr & BRUCKER, R W (1975) The Caves Beyond. National Speleological Society, Teaneck, New Jersey. MELOY, H (1971) Mummies of Mammoth Cave. Micron, Shelbyville, Indiana. MUNSON, P J, TANKERSLEY, K B, MUNSON, C A & WATSON, P J (1968) Prehistoric Selenite and Satispar mining in the Mammoth Cave system, Kentucky. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 14(2) MURRAY, R A & BRUCKER, R W (1979) Trapped! University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. PALMER, A N (1981) A geological guide to Mammoth Cave National Park. Cave Books, Teaneck, New Jersey QUINLAN, J F & EWERS, R O (1981) Hydrogeology of the Mammoth Cave Region. In: ROBERTS, T G [Ed] GSA Cincinnati '81 Field Trip Guidebooks 3. American Geological Institute, Falls Church, Virginia, pp 457-506. WATSON, P J [Ed] (1974) Archaeology of the Mammoth Cave area. Academic Press, New York. WHITE, W B & WHITE, E L [Eds] (1989) Karst Hydrology; Concepts from the Mammoth Cave Area. Van Nostrand Reinhold, Pennsylvania State University, New York.

Earthwatch in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA Copyright 1994, 2012 Glenn Baddeley

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