File:1850 scratch signature (Main Cave, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA) (38260155496).jpg

Western Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave on Earth, with over 412 miles of passages currently explored & mapped, as of fall 2017. 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.

Shown above is mid-19th century graffiti in Main Cave, the principal trunk passage in the Mammoth Cave Ridge portion of the system. Early tourists often left their names on passage walls or ceilings. This practice (= vandalism) continued well after the area became a park. One method of leaving a signature was making scratches. This scratch signature was done in 1850 by Mat Bransford, one of the most famous guides in Mammoth Cave history (<a href="https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/images/Old_Mat_Bransford_CMS.JPG" rel="nofollow">www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/images/Old_Mat_Bran...</a>).