Beyond Mammoth Cave
Beyond Mammoth Cave

Author: James D. Borden

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2000-11-20

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 0809390388

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In Beyond Mammoth Cave: A Tale of Obsession in the World’s Longest Cave, James D. Borden and Roger W. Brucker provide gripping first-person accounts of the discoveries, including Roppel Cave, that made Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave three times longer than any other cave in the world. Borden, a relative newcomer, and Brucker, a veteran explorer, bring a personal and sometimes conflicting view of their roles as adversaries in a race that lasted from 1972 through 1983 to find “big cave.” They describe hazardous adventures, precarious climbs, and close calls from falling rocks. The perils are many and the trek arduous as they squirm through muddy tubes, wade in neck-deep cold water, and crawl over sharp rocks and gritty sand. Theirs is a tale of agonizing endurance spiced by spectacular discoveries. But the cave was not the sole obstacle. The explorations were complicated by political intrigue and the rivalry between the Kentucky-based Cave Research Foundation and the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition, each seeking to make discoveries and hide secrets. Extreme stress, of course, evoked extreme behavior, ranging from selfishness to sacrifice, from outrageous humor to the deadly serious response. Beyond Mammoth Cave includes maps by Patricia Kambesis that show the progression of cave discoveries in relation to the topography. Original line drawings by well-known illustrator Linda Heslop capture the dark mystery of the exploration. The book features five black and white photographs as a color gallery of photographs. A sequel to The Longest Cave by Brucker and Richard A. Watson, this book is a comprehensive update of the speleological investigations in the Mammoth Cave region. Brucker’s involvement provides continuity to the investigation.

Beyond Mammoth Cave
Beyond Mammoth Cave

Author: James D. Borden

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2000-11-20

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 9780809323463

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"The big cave sucked us in," write Borden and Brucker, and so begins their account (told in alternating first-person chapters) of the roles they played in extending Kentucky's Mammoth Cave from 144 miles in 1972 to over 300 miles in 1983. Generously illustrated with drawings and maps, their tale is both a history of spelunking and an underground adventure--for the non-claustrophobic--complete with competitive rivalries and physical peril. A sequel to The longest cave, by Brucker and Richard Watson (1973). Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave
Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave

Author: Colleen O'Connor Olson

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 9780939748549

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As you enter the world's longest cave you cannot help but wonder about scary stories. Two centuries of tourists and explorers--some of whom got lost, saw or heard the unexplainable, or just wanted to tell a good tale--cannot leave a cave without stories. Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave is a collection of nineteenth and twentieth century fiction, historical and more recent first hand accounts of unusual experiences by National Park Service employees, cave explorers, and scientists.

Journey to the Bottomless Pit
Journey to the Bottomless Pit

Author: Elizabeth Mitchell

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2019-03-19

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 1504057694

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“A fascinating story.” —LeVar Burton The thrilling adventures of a slave who became known worldwide for his explorations of Mammoth Cave. If you toured Mammoth Cave in Kentucky in the year 1838, you would have been led by candlelight through dark, winding tunnels to the edge of a terrifying bottomless pit. Your guide would have been seventeen-year-old Stephen Bishop, an African American slave who became known around the world for his knowledge of Mammoth Cave. Bishop needed bravery, intelligence, and curiosity to explore the vast cavern. Using only a lantern, rope, and other basic caving equipment, he found a way to cross the bottomless pit and discover many more miles of incredible grottoes and tunnels. For the rest of his life he guided visitors through the cave, showing them how to stoop, bend, and crawl through passageways that were sometimes far from the traditional tour route. Based on the narratives of those who toured the cave with him, Journey to the Bottomless Pit is the first book for young readers ever written about Stephen Bishop. New to this edition: A free teacher’s guide to this book, as well as an interview with current-day Mammoth Cave guide Jerry Bransford, great-great-grandson of Stephen Bishop’s fellow guide, Mat Bransford.

The Longest Cave
The Longest Cave

Author: Roger W. Brucker

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 1987-02-16

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780809313228

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The dramatic story of several generations of cavers whose exciting and dangerous explorations in Kentucky's limestone labyrinths culminated in the big connection between the Flint Ridge Cave System and Mammoth Cave, forming the longest cave in the world.

The Kentucky Cave Wars
The Kentucky Cave Wars

Author: David Kem

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2014-06-05

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9781312175846

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Eighty-two square miles of rolling hills and valleys in south-central Kentucky make up Mammoth Cave National Park, one of four National Park units in the Commonwealth. Our 26th National Park is home to an enormous labyrinth of underground passages. In fact, Mammoth Cave today is understood to be the world's longest known cave system. Over 400 miles of passages have already been discovered, yet Mammoth Cave is not the only cavern in southern Kentucky. More than 300 other cave systems are known to exist within park boundaries, with many more beyond the reach of the national park. The discovery and exploitation of many of these created opportunity and prosperity for many who would seek to compete with the world famous Mammoth Cave. Roughly one hundred years of competition between enterprising cave managers, guides, locals, outsiders, explorers, and those loyal to one cave or another defined an era known as the Kentucky Cave Wars.

Lift Your Light a Little Higher
Lift Your Light a Little Higher

Author: Heather Henson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-09-06

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 148142095X

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The story of Stephen Bishop, a slave and early explorer and guide at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

Beyond Mammoth Cave
Beyond Mammoth Cave

Author: James D. Borden

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13:

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"But the cave was not the sole obstacle. The explorations were complicated by political intrigue and the rivalry between the Kentucky-based Cave Research Foundation and the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition, each seeking to make discoveries and hide secrets. Extreme stress, of course, evoked extreme behavior, ranging from selfishness to sacrifice, from outrageous humor to the deadly serious response." "Beyond Mammoth Cave includes maps by Patricia Kambesis that show the progression of cave discoveries in relation to the topography. Original line drawings by well-known illustrator Linda Heslop capture the dark mystery of the exploration. The book features five black and white photographs as well as a color gallery of photographs."--BOOK JACKET.

Hovey's Hand-book of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky
Hovey's Hand-book of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky

Author: Horace Carter Hovey

Publisher:

Published: 1909

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13:

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"More than four hundred books, pamphlets, scientific reports and magazine articles have been published by different writers besides innumerable newspaper contributions about Kentucky's great cavern... Yet there is a demand, and there seems to be room, for such a practical, condensed, and up-to-date hand-book as is now offered... Its design is to aid the average visitor as he follows the four regulation routes by which the cave is ordinarily exhibited"--Preface.