Stephen was becoming exhausted. One day Franklin Gorin told Stephen that he was renting two slaves from a man in Nashville, Tennessee. They were named Mat and Nick Bransford. Stephen would train them, and they would work as guides, too. That way Stephen would have some time to rest—and more time for exploration. Mr. Gorin was hoping for more great discoveries.
Nick and Mat were about the same age as Stephen, and the three had a good time together as the new men learned how to be guides. Stephen thought it felt odd to be a teacher, but he always enjoyed talking about the cave. Soon Nick and Mat were ready to lead tours on their own.
One of the people Stephen took on a tour around that time was named John Croghan. He was a medical doctor who lived in Louisville, about ninety miles north of Mammoth Cave.
Croghan visited the cave several times. Stephen noticed that he paid close attention to everything. He even carried a pencil and a little leather-bound notebook with him. He asked Stephen many questions.
One night Stephen saw Dr. Croghan talking with Franklin Gorin. They were walking around the outside of the inn, and the doctor was pointing at things as they talked.
The next morning, Mr. Gorin called all the workers together. He had an odd look on his face. “I have an announcement to make,” he said. “I have decided that the cave needs a new owner. Dr. John Croghan has convinced me that he can make Mammoth a major attraction, the likes of Niagara Falls. He will build a new hotel and make many other improvements.”
Stephen and the other slaves were silent. But Archibald Miller and some of the other white men were asking questions loudly. Mr. Gorin raised his hands for silence.
“Your jobs are safe. You may stay with the cave. Stephen, Nita, all of you . . . Dr. Croghan is your new master. He has promised me that you will continue here. No one will be sent away. God bless you. I will miss you all.”
He turned away quickly. Then Dr. Croghan stepped to the front of the group. His clothing was well made, and Stephen noticed that he carried a gold pocket watch. He looked as though he was a wealthy man.
“Let me tell you how I heard about Mammoth Cave,” he said to the assembled workers. “I studied medicine in Scotland. While traveling in Europe I met some people who had toured Mammoth during their visit to our country. They said that the cave was as grand a wonder as Niagara Falls. And they were amazed that I had never been here. Finally, I came to see for myself.”
He swept his arm across the inn yard. “I am going to build a brand-new hotel, with rooms and services to please the finest gentry. We will improve the road so that coaches can drive right to the door. Stephen, that passage to the river you found—we’re going to dig out the mud so people can get through more easily.”
Dr. Croghan paused for a moment. Then he said to all his listeners, “You are here at a marvelous time for Mammoth Cave. I am pleased to be its new owner.”
And that was that. Stephen and the other slaves had a new master. Archibald Miller had a new boss. Later Mr. Miller told Stephen that Franklin Gorin had sold the cave, the inn, and all the slaves for $10,000. “I don’t think he would have sold if he’d had the money for improvements,” Miller said. “So maybe we’re better off with the doctor. He seems to have plenty to spend.”
And spend he did. Dr. Croghan ordered a new two-story hotel to be built, much fancier than the old inn. New workers and slaves were brought in. Dr. Croghan got the state of Kentucky to pay for improved roads so that stagecoaches would be able to reach the cave more easily. More and more visitors arrived. But with Mat and Nick helping to lead the tours, Stephen still found time to explore.
There were so many passageways down in the darkness! Across the Bottomless Pit were many new trails and chambers. Every discovery needed a name. The narrow passage to the river became Winding Way, and later was renamed Fat Man’s Misery. A broad, arched tunnel became Pensico Avenue. Another of Stephen’s finds was called the Bacon Chamber. Flowing water had carved strange shapes in the ceiling that looked like big slabs of raw bacon.
Stephen became very interested in how the cave had been formed. Many of the wider avenues looked like dried-up riverbeds, with curving walls and rounded ceilings. Others passageways were more like cracks or splits in the rock. Many scientists visited the cave, and Stephen asked them questions. One visitor gave him a book on geology, the study of the earth.
Stephen was delighted, even though he barely knew his letters. In most of the slave states it was illegal to teach a slave to read. Kentucky was one of only three that did not have such a law. But books were expensive, and nobody felt it was important to educate slaves. Stephen spent many hours puzzling out the scientific words in the book. He was determined to learn.
When he finished that first book, he asked Archibald Miller to lend him some others. He remembered H. C. Stevenson’s story about the River Styx, and asked for a book about the Greek myths. And he asked for more about geology.
He also read newspapers that were left behind in the inn. Here Stephen learned what was going on in big cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
The news from Washington, the nation’s capitol, was especially interesting. Late at night, in his cabin, Stephen would read aloud by lamplight to some of the other slaves.
In the year 1836, Arkansas had joined the country as a slave state. In 1837, Michigan joined, too, as a free state. Now there was thirteen of each, free and slave.
The newspapers talked endlessly about what might happen when more territories wanted to become part of the United States. Should the people living there be allowed to own slaves?
Stephen read aloud some of the arguments raging in Washington, D.C. Senators and representatives from the slave states argued loud and long that no one could be forced to give up his slaves. Slaves were property just like horses and farms. If people moved to new territories and took their slaves along, no Northerner was going to pass a law saying they couldn’t keep them there.
The Northern states argued just as loudly that owning slaves was wrong. Although Northerners had owned slaves, too, back in the early days of the country, all of the Northern states had passed laws against slavery by now. Many free blacks lived and worked in Cincinnati, Buffalo, and other big Northern cities.
But in the South, the white men who were getting rich by growing cotton and sugarcane needed thousands of slaves to do the backbreaking work. If slavery was abolished, who would pick all the cotton, chop the sweet sugarcane, care for the farm animals and buildings, cook for the masters, and do all the other hard work? The plantation owners said they couldn’t afford to pay workers to handle all the jobs the slaves did. They absolutely refused to let their people go.
Stephen and the other slaves talked quietly about the debates going on in Washington. They were careful not to let anyone overhear them. Dr. Croghan seemed to be a reasonable master, but if anyone heard them talking about freedom, they might not be allowed to gather together. And slaves who rose up against their owners in Kentucky could be hanged.
Stephen did not have too much time for reading, but he worked hard at it. He realized that if he wanted to become a real expert on Mammoth Cave, he would need to know more about it than anyone else around did.
Beyond the River Styx, Stephen found another long hallway. And beyond that, another river. This one was in an underground tunnel that gave a wonderful echo. It became known as Echo River. Stephen wondered whether it led to the outside. He spent many hours exploring up and down the water.
One day while Stephen was resting along the bank of Echo River, he thought he saw something in the water. He bent closer. It wasn’t his imagination. There were fish down there! Tiny ones, only a few inches long. He’d never seen fish in the River Styx.
Stephen had learned how to grabble—catch fish with his bare hands—when he was a child. Now he laid his hat upside down beside him and waited. When two of the little fish swam within reach, he grabbed.
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Got one! Stephen cupped the wiggling creature in his hands. He dropped it into his hat and looked closer.
What was this! This fish had no eyes!
Were all the river fish blind? Or did he just happen to catch a strange one? He tried for another fish, missed it. He splashed water into his hat, hoping to keep the first one alive. Then he tried again for another fish, and caught one this time.
This fish was eyeless, too!
Stephen had never seen anything so strange. He was glad the little white fish was so tiny. If it had been big, he would have been frightened to look at its eyeless face. There was no sign of any eye socket. Just smooth rows of scales where eyes should be.
What was this! This fish had no eyes!
Visiting scientists had often asked him whether animals lived in the cave. Until now, Stephen had seen nothing but bats and a few beetles, rats, and spiders that lived near the entrance and spent only part of their time in the cave. He knew that scientists would be fascinated by these bizarre fish.
Stephen didn’t hesitate. He opened his water bottle and gently slid the two fish in. Then he filled the bottle to the top with river water. He’d go thirsty on the way back, but it would be worth it.
Under Crevice Pit
Dr. Croghan was in the new hotel when Stephen arrived at the back door. The doctor ordered Nita to bring him the fancy tureen that she used for serving soup. Then he emptied Stephen’s water bottle into the big glass bowl. The fish were still alive. Dr. Croghan leaned over them, marveling.
Newspaper stories quickly followed. Blind cave fish discovered at Mammoth Cave! New species of fish never before encountered! Found only in Echo River, deep within the cave!
Mammoth Cave became a must-see attraction for travelers. Its fame had started to grow with the discovery of Gorin’s Dome. Stephen’s crossing of the Bottomless Pit made it even more famous. Now visitors came by the coachload.
Some of them were scientists who studied animals. Stephen was asked to grabble for the blind fish again and again. In return, he asked the scientists questions. Why didn’t the fish have any eyes? Was it because there was nothing to see? There was never any sunlight deep in the cave. So maybe they didn’t need eyes. But then how did they find their food?
Stephen loved to show new visitors around the cave. Sometimes he pretended that he was a gracious host showing visitors around a marvelous dwelling. Proudly he pointed out the massive rooms, the gaping pits in the floor, the beautiful formations left by dripping water.
But Stephen enjoyed his time alone in the cave best of all. When he was exploring, there was no one to tell him what to do. He was his own master—for a few short hours at least.
It had been about two years since Stephen started exploring the cave. Even after all his discoveries so far, he believed there was much, much more to be found in Mammoth. Sometimes as he sat beside Echo River, he could feel a tiny breeze touch his skin. Where was the fresh air coming from? Did the river open to the outside somewhere that he could find?
Stephen learned about some caves in Europe from a scientist who took his tour. In the 1700s, an adventurer was exploring a cave called Adelsberg. He discovered an underground lake, but he could not tell how big it was because there was no way to walk around it. So he invented a clever way to light up the darkness.
“He brought two large geese underground with him,” the scientist told Stephen. “He harnessed each of them to a tiny wooden boat and set candles on the boats. Then he scared the geese away from the shore. As they paddled about, he was able to see much more of the lake and the cave walls surrounding it.”
But in the United States, no one before Stephen had done much cave exploring. Stephen had to invent methods of finding his way into the darkness and back again.
He taught himself safe ways to enter unexplored passages. If a crack seemed too tight, he made sure Mat or Nick waited outside, ready to pull him out if he got stuck. He never slid down a slope unless he was sure he could climb back up. His climbing ropes wore out quickly against rocky ledges and slopes, so he frequently asked for new ones. Stephen also stuffed padding into his cap to protect his head from falling stones and jutting rocks.
Stephen had a very good memory. He could remember every hole he struggled through and every strange formation he passed. He always marked his trail, but many times he didn’t really need the markings to find his way back.
Dr. Croghan had workers build a shallow boat wide enough to carry eight people at once. The workers followed Stephen deep into the cave. They tied the boat at the edge of Echo River. Now Stephen and the other guides could take visitors on a boat trip down the silent, black stream.
Stephen loved this part of the tour. First he would tell his travelers to remain perfectly quiet and still, so that the only sound was Stephen’s paddle dipping in the water.
Then he would begin to sing. The cave magnified his voice and made it sound as though two or three men were singing all at once. Stephen’s favorite song was one his mother had taught him.
Wade in the water,
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water,
God’s gonna trouble the water.
The slaves sang many songs that had to do with freedom, and this was one of them. Most of the visitors did not realize that he was singing about the end of slavery, though. They just enjoyed the beautiful tune.
Then Stephen would invite the people on his tour to make their own noises. The ladies clapped their hands and laughed at the sound of the echoes. One gentleman borrowed Stephen’s paddle and slapped it on the water. Others whistled. And on one tour, a man pulled out his pistol and shot it!
The noise was tremendous. All the ladies screamed. Stephen was so surprised, he almost fell out of the boat. The shot echoed over and over. It took a long time to die out.
Stephen noticed that the water in Echo River rose whenever the weather was rainy. He also noticed that Green River—the river outside the cave—would rise at exactly the same times. Were the two rivers connected?
He kept on exploring. Sometimes he would find a new passageway high up a wall, just under the ceiling. Other times he would see a crack that was filled with loose rocks. Something would tell him that there was a new tunnel there. He would spend hours pulling rocks out of the hole—and many times his instincts were right. The crack would get wider and he would be able to push his way into yet another new room or tunnel.
One day in the year 1840, a paying customer from Germany asked Stephen to show him part of the cave that nobody else had visited before. Stephen knew exactly where to go. He took the visitor to River Hall. Then they climbed the sandy slope up the right-hand wall and entered a long stoopway too low for them to walk upright. At the end of the stoopway, they found a collapse of rocks.
Stephen began enlarging the passage so they could get through, passing rocks back to the visitor. It was hard work. Most tourists would have complained and asked to go somewhere else, but Stephen had judged that this particular visitor would help him.
The shot echoed over and over
They dug for a long time. At last, they broke through onto a flat area. In front of them the flat area ended. Darkness lay below.
Both men raised their lanterns high. An amazing sight met their eyes!
They stood on a ledge alongside an enormous pit. Straight across were majestic columns that looked as though they belonged in a temple. The walls were covered with beautiful cream-colored flowstone—formations that looked like draperies, formed by dripping water. The dome was so high overhead that it was lost in the shadows.
The two men were thrilled. They had made an enormous discovery. This was the largest room Stephen had ever found, and it was truly beautiful. And he had a feeling that high overhead was the answer to a riddle he had been wondering about for two years.
Stephen had a
very good sense of where he was in the cave at all times—a good “mental map.” Right now he was sure he was standing far below Crevice Pit, the one Archibald Miller had showed him on his first day in the cave. Stephen remembered Miller’s story about a young slave who was lowered into Crevice Pit on the end of a rope. The slave had reported an enormous, beautiful cave down below—but nobody had believed him.
That long-ago slave was probably dead by now. But Stephen would make sure the guides changed their story about Crevice Pit. All he had to do was get someone to lower a lantern while he waited here below. If he could see the light coming, he would have his proof.
The gigantic shaft became known as Mammoth Dome. It is one of the most spectacular sights in the cave. And it does indeed connect to Crevice Pit. On Stephen’s second trip there, he reached the very bottom of the dome. There he found a broken oil lamp—the one dropped by the miners so many years ago.
The Underground Hospital
In the year 1842, a terrible disease was killing thousands upon thousands of people across the twenty-six states and the western territories. In those days it was called consumption. Today we know it as tuberculosis, or TB.
It struck the young, the middle-aged, and the old. The first signs of illness were fever and sweats, mostly in the evening and at night. The sufferers felt weak. Then their chests began to hurt. This was because the disease was attacking their lungs.
As the sickness progressed, patients began to cough all the time. When they started to cough up blood, their relatives knew it was time to choose a gravestone—the patients were going to die.
Journey to the Bottomless Pit Page 5