Letters from the Mammoth Cave" provides a fascinating insight into a mid-19th century visit to Mammoth Cave by Alexander Clark Bullitt. Already familiar to many, Bullitt published one of the earliest, illustrated guides to Mammoth Cave in 1845 based on a visit in 1844. But his return in the second half of 1845 is less well-known. Joseph Douglas' collection of Bullitt's letters, published in the New Orleans Picayune in September and October, 1845, provides a fresh and engrossing look at one of the early narratives of the 'Settlers', as Bullitt described his party. Aside from detailed descriptions of the passages through which his party traveled, cave visitors and enthusiasts will be especially taken by Bullitt's description of his party's encounter with Rigg's and Blackman's Domes-the first Europeans to do so, and the first people to leave a record of the exploration. Taken individually Bullitt's letters are engrossing. As a whole they serve as an important account of the 19th century exploration, the early Mammoth Cave and regional tourism industry, and ideas about what would become know as karst science. --Andrew McMichael, WKU 70 pages, soft bound. From Cave Books.
 "Letters from The Mammoth Cave 1845")
