Lyman Hazen

Lyman Hazen

Quick Facts

Significance:

Business owner and cave developer

Date of Birth:

1841

Place of Death:

Glasgow, Kentucky, USA

Date of Death:

February 10, 1908

Place of Burial:

Mammoth Cave National Park

Cemetery Name:

Joppa Cemetery

Lyman W. Hazen (1841 – 1908) was a business owner and cave developer in the Mammoth Cave area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Upon arrival to the Mammoth Cave area, Hazen operated a floating photography studio on the Green River until he was eventually drawn to the cave business. After Will Garvin’s discovery of Colassal Cavern in 1895, Lyman Hazen was largely responsible for the development and management of Colossal Cavern. The Hazen Entrance to Colossal Cavern was named in his honor. After being bought out of the business at Colossal Cavern by agents of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Hazen opened an artificial entrance into Great Salts Cave that was named for his nephew, Pike Chapman, who was killed in an accident during the process of digging. 

Before coming to Mammoth Cave, Hazen had several run-ins with the law and may have served time in an Iowa prison prior to 1874. A known associate of the outlaw leader Doc Middleton, Lyman Hazen attended a secret meeting between Middleton and detectives in July 1879 when a shootout broke out that left both Hazen and Middleton injured. After the famous shootout, Hazen may have worked as a bounty hunter before leaving Nebraska and eventually retiring to Mammoth Cave.