The Rise of the Kentucky Cave Wars

In the early twentieth century, the caves of Kentucky became the center of a bitter underground gold rush. At the heart of it all was Mammoth Cave, a prize so valuable that men risked their fortunes, their reputations, and even their lives control a piece of it. The struggle eventually turned deadly and helped shape the future of one of America's greatest natural wonders. Learn more about the Kentucky Cave Wars on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily This episode is sponsored by Quinns. Summer's here and if you happen to live in a place with actual seasons as I do, that means wearing entirely different clothes. Wool sweaters are great when the temperatures drop, but they're not the best option when you're outside in the sun. Quince has European linen pants and shirts that are the perfect warm weather upgrade to add your rotation, starting at just thirty four dollars . 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It's over four hundred and six twenty miles or six hundred and eighty five kilometers long, which is one and a half times the length of the next largest cave system. And that value isn't even a definitive number as there are still parts of the cave that have yet to be explored. The cave is located in south central Kentucky. The majority of the system is currently located within Mammoth Cave National Park, established in nineteen forty one. The cave began developing around three hundred thirty million years ago. It's believed to have once been part of an ancient sea with the rocks and fossil evidence found there supporting the theory. The cave walls are composed of early carboniferous limestone , shale, dolomite, and siltstone, and are covered by a layer of sandstone . This sedimentary makeup has made the cave walls remarkably stable. Anthropologists were able to identify Native American remains inside the cave dating roughly five thousand years ago. They were found in a mummified state, suggesting that they were placed in the cave as part of a burial ritual. The first written records of the cave system date back to the seventeen nineties after a man named Thomas Lang Jr. sold the land. It's believed that the cave wasn't discovered by settlers until seventeen ninety seven. The legend behind the European discovery of the cave system goes as follows John or Francis Hochen was hunting in the area when one of them came across a bear. One of the Hochens decided to follow the bear to the cave's opening, and voila, the mammoth cave system was discovered . Now, whether or not this is the actual discovery of the cave is up for debate . Plenty of caves surrounding the mammoth system had already been discovered, one being as close as just a mile away . However, as far as we know , this is the best guess we have as to how it was discovered. In seventeen ninety eight, the land where the cave's entrance was located was surveyed and registered by Valentine Simon, who then began exploring the cave for its saltpeter reserves, which was used to manufacture gunpowder. Throughout the early eighteen hundreds, the cave became an important military resource for its salt peter, making it a lucrative asset for its owners. Over the course of the century, ownership of the cave changed hands several times, but one notable owner was Franklin Gorin, who bought it in eighteen thirty eight. At this point, the need for salt peter had lessened, so Gordon had the idea to turn the cave into a tourist attraction. He planned to use his slaves as tour guides to show visitors around . One of these slaves was named Stephen Bishop, who is one of the main reasons we have so much information about the cave. While forced to guide tourists around, Bishop created detailed maps of the cave and named many of the notable features within the system . Gorn eventually sold the cave and its enslaved people who worked there to John Corgan, who was a doctor. For a very brief period, Corgan attempted to run a tuberculosis hospital out of it, and this was a horrible idea as Corgan eventually caught tuberculosis from the endeavor and died. Following Corgan's passing, Bishop was sent to a plantation in Louisville, Kentucky, and while at the plantation, Bishop drew a map of the cave from memory, which was later published in a book in eighteen forty four. Unlike the work of many slaves, Bishop was given credit for the recording, which was the main one used for the next forty years . The map was reportedly very accurate despite lacking modern technology. While the cave's distances and dimensions may have been slightly off, the topography and branch connections were highly accurate . Interestingly, when the mammoth cave system was discovered to be connected to the Flint Ridge Cave System over a century later in nineteen seventy two, it was found that Bishop had recorded the passage on his map well over a century beforehand . Fast forward now to the cave wars . The Kentucky Cave Wars began in the late nineteenth century. By this time, the Mammoth Cave was already one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. The cave was visited primarily by wealthy travelers who had arrived by train or stagecoach to witness its marvels. Meanwhile, many locals in the surrounding Appalachian region were living in poverty and saw an opportunity to own and operate a show cave. This was a tempting idea for the locals as there was little opportunity to earn money outside of the tourism industry. Many people hoped to capitalize on this, and it became a competition to find the next big cave entrance to promote. This meant by the nineteen twenties there were dozens of different show caves that were run by different people . Those operating the show caves were incredibly competitive, and many of the region's owners resorted to shady tactics to win as many tourist dollars as possible . And if you're unwilling to go above and beyond to find and promote a cave, you probably wouldn't succeed . To be a cave operator, you couldn't just have any old cave entrance. They needed some pazazazaz or flare to attract tourists. To be successful, the goal was to find an entrance with mineral deposits such as stalactites or stalagmites. Location was also important . Caves closer to the railroad line were more profitable because of the ease of access. Some of the earliest competit ors to the mammoth cave, such as the Diamond Caverns and the Hundred Dome Cave, were popular for their easy access and their fabulous formations within. The opportunity for cave owners expanded after the invention of the automob ile. In the early twentieth century cars became increasingly popular , and suddenly being located on the railroad line mattered a lot less. This meant that other fabulous caves in the region had a chance to compete because people could actually reach them. These entrepreneurs quickly learned that to profit from their cave, they needed to be connected to the main mammoth cave system. Tourists did not come to the mammoth area to see any old c ave, they wanted to see one that was connected to the source. Therefore, if you wanted to make money, finding a back entrance to Mammoth Cave was the best way to go. The first major competitor to the main Mammoth cave entrance was Colossal Cavern. Opening in the early twentieth century, colossal cavern was considered about equal in size to the main mammoth cave entrance. The owners of colossal cavern were also ambitious and sought to connect their c ave system to the mammoth cave system to create a second entry point that could rival the main mammoth entrance. Unfortunately for the colossal cavern owners, they were never able to blast their way to the mammoth cave system . Later research showed that they were actually very close to breaking through, but because they never did, the cave's popularity fizzled out. However, this idea inspired another cave entrepreneur, George Morrison. Like the owners of Colossal Cavern, Morrison wanted to break into the Mammoth cave system, open a secondary entrance, and profit. Instead of blindly digging like those at the Colossal Cavern, Morrison physically searched through the Mammoth Cave System to find a potential exit point into his cave. To do so, he bribed a guide at Mammoth Cave for a map and began searching. By nineteen twenty two, he had opened the second entrance to Mammoth Cave , and this was where the cave wars truly began. At the main Mammoth Cave entrance, the owners felt as though the competition was trying to steal their business , so they needed to fight back. It became commonplace for CAPERS to be hired to push people to visit a specific cave. The term Cappers was used to define the ruthless ticket vendors who intercepted tourist vehicles and pushed them to visit the cave that they owned or worked at. To advertise their caves, Cappers used a variety of methods. One method used by Cappers was to dress as police officers to steer tourists away from the main entrance to Mammoth Cave . They would park on the roads leading to Mammoth Cave and claim it was closed, often citing a quarantine. From there they would attempt to direct tourists to their own cave . Other cappers would pose as tourists and h ype up the cave that they worked for. The goal was to drum up excitement for their own tour and keep others from the main cave entrance. Another method used by the cappers who dress as tourists was to spread a rumor of a major fire in Mammoth Cave and recommend a detour to their entrance. There were some other extreme measures taken, for example, when boats were going down the river towards the Mammoth system. To deter tourists from visiting the main Mammoth Cave entrance, some cappers would literally throw rocks at the incoming boats. Other extreme measures included blocking roads, vandalizing enemy cave entrances, and burning down the competitors' ticket boosts. An extreme method employed by Capritz was to approach tourists and tell them that all cave entrances were the same because they were connected to the same cave system . While this wasn't true, the rumor was enough to prompt some tourists to change their minds about going to the main mammoth entrance and to choose one of the smaller caves. In an effort to protect their investment, the owners of the main mammoth cave entrance went to court and claimed that other cave owners , specifically Morrison, were using the name of their cave as an advertisement for their entrances, which they argued was illegal advertising. For tourists, the confusion around the mammoth cave system was incredibly frustr ating. They would be bombarded with signs and people telling them to visit caves with nearly identical names . This was intentional by the cave operators as it made it difficult to actually visit their intended destination. Competition eventually became violent. On one occasion in nineteen twenty one, an argument broke out between employees from competing caves, and the argument ended with one of the employees shooting and killing the other one. The Kentucky Cave Wars reached their peak in nineteen twenty five around an entrepreneur named Floyd Collins . Collins and his family had previously owned Crystal Cave. His family had invested a lot of money in Crystal Cave and failed, so in hopes of regaining that money and hopefully some more, Collins decided to go searching for a new cave entrance to operate out of known as Sand Cave . While exploring inside Sand Cave, he got stuck in a narrow passage and was pinned to the ground by a rock. The media became fascinated by the story and went to the cave to cover it. With the media there, more people flocked to the Kentucky caves, bringing national attention to the entire situation. Collins died in the cave and his body was removed eighteen days later . You would think that his death would lead people to taking pause in their search for caves, but the reality of the situation was just the opposite. If anything, the Cappers in Kentucky tried to profit from the gruesome nature of his death. The new owners of Crystal Cave exhumed Collins' body and displayed it in nineteen twenty seven. The glass coffin placed inside the cave became a popular tourist attraction. When the United States declared Mammoth Cave a national park in nineteen forty one, it was believed that it would mark the end of the cave wars . But that didn't happen . Instead, private owners in Kentucky would try to compete with the national park for attention, and this continued for roughly twenty years until the Cave Wars officially ended in the early nineteen sixties.