Tag: cave wars

The Kentucky Cave Wars

~ Hannah Keating ~ 1 Comment

By the 1920s, Mammoth Cave had become a popular (and profitable) tourist attraction. It had been visited by actor Edwin Booth, brother of infamous John Wilkes Booth, as well as singer Jenny Lind and violinist Ole Bull. Their impromptu performances in various chambers of the caves nicknamed “Booth’s Amphitheatre” and “Ole Bull’s Concert Hall,” sparked even more tourist traffic.

Booth’s Amphitheatre in Mammoth Cave National Park

Residents of Cave City soon realized that having control of an entrance on their land was profitable. Charging visitors to enter provided a rare source of income, as rural American farmers dealing with economic recession.

However, the competition for customers escalated. Competing farmers would purposefully place misleading signs, saying other entrances were closed or flooding, to drive the tourist traffic to where they could reap the benefits.

“Some natives estimated that by 1925 as many as a third of all visitors to the Mammoth area were diverted to the smaller, private caves by nefarious means, (37).

A sign posted during the Cave Wars

Rural Life and Sources of Income

~ Hannah Keating ~ Leave a comment

After WWI, the United States became a major exporter to devastated European countries. Despite experiencing an economic recession, the average income for Americans rose. This statistic didn’t represent all American households, however. The uptick was in part upper-class manufacturers and developers profiting off of European demand. The rich were getting richer.

A rural family farm

For farmers in rural communities, average income fell by 21% by 1924. This number continued to fall through 1925. Taxes rose as the rate of foreclosures started to increase.

This demand for another source of income contributed to the desire to attract tourists with money start and the subsequent Cave Wars in Kentucky.

Tourists outside the entrance of Crystal Cave

The media circus surrounding the Floyd Collins incident allowed nearby farmers, like Bee Doyle, to profit off of the sheer number of people arriving who needed food, lodging, and warmth. The carnival nature of it all was less about rescuing this man and more about being there when it all went down.

The insular community of the Kentucky natives contributed to the “us v. them” complex when “outlanders” arrived to assist in the rescue. Money, contribution, and power were all incredibly important.