Someone had to prepare the torches.

Someone had to gather the mussel shells from the river.

Someone had to provide the food the miners would eat.

Someone had to know the route, or teach the route to those who were learning it.

The knowledge of how to navigate Mammoth Cave — which passages led where, how to get to the richest mineral deposits, how to get back out — was not a solitary achievement.

It was accumulated across generations and transmitted as part of the broader knowledge tradition of the communities that conducted the mining.