File:1861 graffiti (Pass of El Ghor, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA) 2 - 53609472134.jpg

English: Western Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave on Earth, with 426 miles of passages currently explored & mapped, as of March 2024. The name “Mammoth Cave” does not refer to its world-record length, nor to the early discovery of mammoth or mastodon fossils here (actually, fossil proboscidean skeletal remains have been reported from this locality). Rather, the name refers to the immense size of many of the rooms and passages.

It is not certain exactly when Mammoth Cave was discovered. A story about its 1797 discovery by a man named Houchins (or Hutchins) is fictional - the park service knows this, but still tells the story during cave tours. However, Mammoth Cave’s earliest acknowledgement in available historical records dates to 1797.

Seen here is 19th century graffiti in the Pass of El Ghor, a canyon passage that is no longer part of modern tours. El Ghor connects Boone Avenue with Silliman Avenue. Steps leading downward into El Ghor are visible at Mary's Vineyard in Boone Avenue, which is part of the Grand Avenue Tour. The graffiti was written on the limestone surface in July 1861. It apparently depicts President Abraham Lincoln. The American Civil War had started a few months earlier.

The bedrock here is the Ste. Genevieve Limestone (Meramecian Series, upper Middle Mississippian).

Locality: wall of the Pass of El Ghor, Mammoth Cave Ridge, Mammoth Cave National Park, western Kentucky, USA

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(accessed with park permission)