The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-11-22
Pas SING or ONCE
FAMOUS RESORT
LACK OF ADVERTISING LOST
MAMMOTH CAVE ITS GREAT
POPULARITY.
Was Formerly One Of the Most
Visited Wonders of This
Country.
From DE Minneapolis Tribnne. !


AT one time the Mammoth cave o
J Kentucky was one of the wonders o.
the world. The cave Is there yet, but
only colored picnic parties go there
now, or possibly an occasional person
wanders thither because he remembers
how, in days agone, his father and
mother made their wedding journey
here, and then came home and talked
of it for the rest Of their lives.
! Records can be seen at the nam
moth cave hotel showing the exact
number of persons who have visited
the cave since this hotel was opened
in 1897.
1t is worth while to notice that in
the year 1874 an average of ninety
three persons a day were shown the
wonders of the Mammoth cave, while
in 1908 the average. not counting local
picnic parties, was less than dozen.
In 1874 the population of the United
States was less than 100000 and
there was not a railroad in the state
of Kentucky And yet people came
from all the England and Middle states
by the hundreds.
Edward Everett guided party of
New England school teachers here in
the summer of 1747 They came by
way Of Pittsburg, taking a steamer
thence to greensboro. KY, and then
by stage a two days ride-eighty
miles, to the cave.
The hotel is here now practically
as it was then, and one can easily i
believe that no new furniture has been
added.
From 1910 to 1870 scarcely a person
If note then living but visited the
ave; it was a sort of finishing touch
o ones education and people who .
Gould not talk intelligently of Niagara
Falls and the Mammoth cave had
10 standing in polite society
Everett gave a lecture at Harvard
IN the Mammoth cave. Webster gave
great speech at the cave in 1854,
nd Emerson, in his essays, several
ines refers to his visit here, telling
t the fish that have no eyes to see.
Barnum brought Jennie LIND here,
nd she sat in stalagmtie chair that
; now proudly pointed out by the
uides. n
From the year 1850 to the breaking {
ut of the war in 1851 there we're held Il
yer 300 conventions of learned socie-
es, college alumni, and gatherings Of +
rominent people from all over the Il
orld. Y
It is worth while to note the stern \,
Ict that even the wonders Of area 81
on do not actually attract any spe- Iii
al attention unless some advertising G
an gets busy. The railroads really :.
AXE Niagara Falls go. They are adj "
'rtising 1t continually as continuous re
and filing people with Q IN
sire to go there, then transporting Z,
EN- for consideration. ne
In 1869 the man who owned the WI
cave died. and since then MI
3 cave has been an orphan. There n Oo
3 thirteen heirs scattered in differ tn,
t cities throughout the United to
ties, all valiant booze fighters. in ms
It on spending the beautiful income "a.
It was forced upon them from this les
gnificent paying property. Every Ha
son who went into the cave paid liz
for the privilege-it was a monop- col
People would come, OF course; ant
re was no other cave to go in. ant
Tut soon the people ceased to come. est
he advertising man was dead. Son
slipped back into indiffer- sec
9. They forgot 10 think Of caves Ian,
gently pooh-poohed them. and
ayes are moi necessary 70 human nn JAS
piness.
resident Pierce and fonr members
Ais eAbtnet visatea No Mammoth ~
}, and for a week it was the capt.
II the United States. But has Ted
,ver been there? Not exactly. NOR DON
} any Of his cabinet, and doubt In t
much IL Grover Cleveland ever =.
d of the place. this
le advertising man 10 dead. Mica
of Il