The Kentucky Cave Wars

Stuff You Missed in History Class

In the 19th century, Kentucky's Mammoth Cave launched an entire, very competitive cave tourism industry in the area, In 1925, Floyd Collins was trapped in the cave system, which was the beginning of the end of the cave wars.

Research:

• Algeo, Katie. "Mammoth Cave and the making of place." Southeastern Geographer, vol. 44, no. 1, May 2004, pp. 27+. Gale In Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A119615129/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f1adfa5b. Accessed 29 July 2024.
• Bullitt, Alexander Clark. “Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, During the Year 1944, By a Visitor.” Louisville, KY. Morton & Griswold. 1945.
• Butler, Telia. “Throwback Thursday – The Kentucky Cave Wars.” WNKY News 40. 3/25/2201. https://www.wnky.com/throwback-thursday-the-kentucky-cave-wars/
• Courier-Journal. “Cave Company is Cited by Dawson.” The Courier-Journal. 7/24/1927. https://www.newspapers.com/image/107046993/
• Lanzendorfer, Joy. “Enslaved Tour Guide Stephen Bishop Made Mammoth Cave the Must-See Destination It Is Today.” Smithsonian. 2/6/2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/enslaved-tour-guide-stephen-bishop-made-mammoth-cave-must-see-destination-it-today-180971424/
• McGraw, Eliza. “How the Kentucky Cave Wars Reshaped the State’s Tourism Industry.” Smithsonian. 7/25/2023. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-kentucky-cave-wars-reshaped-the-states-tourism-industry-180982585/
• Meloy, Harold. “Short Legal History of Mammoth Cave.” National Parks Service. https://npshistory.com/brochures/maca/short-legal-history.pdf
• "Mammoth Cave National Park." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 4 Sep. 2015. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Flibrary.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Freferencecenter%2Farticle%2FMammoth-Cave-National-Park%2F50412&ebboatid=9265652. Accessed 29 Jul. 2024.
• National Park Service. “Early Native Americans.” Mammoth Cave. https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/native-americans.htm
• National Park Service. “Floyd Collins.” Mammoth Cave National Park. https://www.nps.gov/people/floyd-collins.htm
• National Park Service. “George Morrison.” Mammoth Cave National Park. https://www.nps.gov/people/george-morrison.htm
• National Park Service. “Prehistoric Cave Discoveries.” https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/prehistoric-cave-discoveries.htm
• National Park Service. “Stephen Bishop.” Mammoth Cave National Park. https://www.nps.gov/people/stephen-bishop.htm
• National Park Service. “The Kentucky Cave Wars.” Mammoth Cave National Park. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-kentucky-cave-wars.htm
• National Park Service. “Tragedy at Sand Cave.” Mammoth Cave National Park. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/tragedy-at-sand-cave.htm
• Ohlson, Kristin. “The Bransfords of Mammoth Cave.” American Legacy. Spring 2006. https://www.kristinohlson.com/files/mammoth_cave-2.pdf
• Schmitzer, Jeanne Cannella. “CCC Camp 510: Black Participation in the Creation of Mammoth Cave National Park.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society , Autumn 1995, Vol. 93, No. 4 (Autumn 1995). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23383772
• Sides, Stanley D. and Harold Meloy. “The Pursuit of Health in the Mammoth Cave.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine , JULY-AUGUST 1971, Vol. 45, No. 4 (JULY AUGUST 1971). https://www.jstor.org/stable/44450082
• Tabler, Dave. “The Kentucky Cave Wars.” Appalachian History. 4/19/2017. https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2017/04/kentucky-cave-wars.html
• Trowbridge, John. “The Kentucky National Guard and the William Floyd Collins Tragedy at Sand Cave.” 2/10/2021. Kentucky National Guard. https://ky.ng.mil/News/Article/2648067/the-kentucky-national-guard-and-the-william-floyd-collins-tragedy-at-sand-cave/

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