How Did Max Kämper and Ed Bishop Survey Mammoth Cave
Rick Olson, Bernd Kliebhan, Rick Toomey · TopSCHOLAR (Western Kentucky University) · 2013
Max Kämper made the first accurate map of Mammoth Cave showing approximately 35 miles of passages. His partner in surveying the cave was Ed Bishop, a capable caver and descendant of Stephen Bishop – the famous slave guide and explorer of Mammoth Cave. To be fair, Edmund Lee’s 1835 map was a reasonably accurate rendering of the known cave at that time, which was only 8 miles. The map is a beautiful piece of cartography, but somehow he measured Mammoth Dome as being 280 feet deep, which would put it below the level of Green River. As well, Black Snake Avenue to Bottomless Pit is not shown correctly. We do not know in any detail how Max and Ed surveyed the cave so accurately. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities and discuss the scant information available to us.