Book Description

Excerpt from Pictorial Guide to the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky: A Complete Historic, Descriptive and Scientific Account of the Greatest Subterranean Wonder of the Western World The Mammoth Cave is justly considered the most wonderfully picturesque natural phenomenon; the most extensive and enchanting subterranean cavern on the American Continent, and perhaps in the whole world. The great traveler, close observer and descriptive writer, Bayard Taylor, says of the Mammoth Cave: "It is the greatest natural curiosity that I have ever visited - Niagara not excepted; and he whose expectations are not satisfied by its marvelous avenues, domes and sparry grottoes, must be either a fool or a demi-god." The different avenues, grottoes, and communicating passages, already explored and known to the guides, number 225, and the sum total of their combined length exceeds 150 miles. Many of these avenues are from 20 to 100 feet in width, and from 5 to 40 feet from floor to ceiling. Some of the largest and finest have in some places a firm, smooth and even floor, affording safe and easy passage, while in other places the floor is rough, rocky or cavernous and not altogether free from danger. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.