A Visit to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky by John Wilson

To-day there were three grand points of the cave which we hoped to visit, namely, the Chief City or Temple, the Mammoth Dome, and the Fairy Grotto. We entered about seven o'clock, after a capital breakfast at the hotel, and passed over a good deal of the ground we visited yesterday. We left Audribow's Avenue on our left, came to the Church again, which we could not help taking another look at, went on through the Main Cave, passing the Giant's Coffin, coming to the Great Bend, then entering again the Star Chamber, through which we passed, and came to the Salts Room; here there are layers of salts in the sides of the chamber, and from the roof they hang in crystals. They taste very pure, and not at all unpleasant, and are used medicinally by the people in the neighbourhood of the cave, when they can coax any of the guides to bring them a supply. By kindling a fire in this apartment, or putting all the lamps together so as to create a tolerable heat, the salt comes down in flakes like a fall of fleecy snow. As we trudge along the Main Cave (so called because all the other avenues branch off from it), the mind cannot but be filled with awe while contemplating the wonders of this immense tunnel. It is as if we were walking through the bed of a river, and the ceiling, generally about sixty feet high, looks something like a cloudy sky; indeed, one part of it is called the Floating Clouds.

Soon, however, our ceiling becomes very low, and our road very rough; we are compelled to crawl a considerable way on our hands and knees, and are not at all displeased when we reach the Banquet Hall, for here there is plenty of room to stand up, the ceiling being 40 feet high, and the width of the apartment about 700 feet. We were very glad to sit down too, and Stephen went to a distance and lighted one of his Bengal lights, which showed us the glories of this immense apartment. While we were resting here Stephen sang some negro songs very well -- a merry fellow is Stephen, and has a good voice. One of his ditties pleased us very much -- it was about uncle Ned, an old nigger, who died long ago, and who had no wool on de top ob his head, de place where de wool ought to grow. I sang my poor friend Rooke's song of "My Boyhood's Home," from Amilie, and then we resumed our journey, passing by two cataracts, each of which falls about 50 feet. Our road was very difficult, indeed, and exceedingly toilsome, notwithstanding the fact that one can undergo a great deal more fatigue in the cave than it is possible to do in the open air; but when we reached the point at which we were aiming, our toils were amply repaid by the magnificence of the Chief City, or Temple. This dome is 120 feet high, the roof being of smooth solid rock; it is 300 feet across, and 960 feet in length. In the middle of it is a large heap of stones called the Mountain, up which we clambered to see this immense area of darkness illuminated.