Established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the seventh U.S. National Park and the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world.
The cave is notable for its displays of the calcite formation known as boxwork. Approximately 95 percent of the world's discovered boxwork formations are found in Wind Cave.
Wind Cave is also known for its frostwork.
The cave is also considered a three-dimensional maze cave, recognized as the densest (most passage volume per cubic mile) cave system in the world. The cave is currently the sixth-longest in the world with 140.47 miles (226.06 km) of explored cave passageways, with an average of four new miles of cave being discovered each year.
From 1881 to 1889, few people ventured far into Wind Cave. Then in 1889 the South Dakota Mining Company hired Jesse D. McDonald to oversee their "mining claim" on the cave site. The South Dakota Mining Company may have hoped to find minerals of value, or it may from the start have had commercial development of the cave in mind.
Jesse initially hired his son Alvin (age 16 in 1890) and, beginning in 1891, Alvin's brother Elmer, to explore and help develop the cave.
From the age of 16 until he was 20, Alvin discovered and mapped the first 8 to 10 miles (13 to 16 km) of the cave using candlelight. His exploration and mapping was so extensive and thorough for the time that it was not until 1963, 70 years after Alvin McDonald's death, that major new passageways were discovered in Wind Cave.
It is assumed that there are areas of Wind Cave he explored that no one else has since visited. Occasionally pieces of Alvin McDonald's string are discovered by survey teams in Wind Cave, and his signature is discovered written or carved into a wall or ceiling. As recently as August 2009, Alvin McDonald's signature was discovered carved into the ceiling of a room in the cave where it had been assumed no person had ever visited. The signature was dated July 1893, making it the latest known dated signature left by Alvin McDonald in Wind Cave.
McDonald died of typhoid fever at the age of 20, on December 15, 1893. It is believed he contracted the typhoid in Chicago, where he had been exhibiting samples of the cave at the Columbian Exposition the previous summer. Some people speculate that continued exposure to the cool, damp air of the cave caused him to yield to complications from the typhoid.
McDonald was buried near the entrance to the cave he loved so dearly. A bronze plaque on a stone marks his grave.
On the ground, Wind Cave National Park also protects a diverse ecosystem with eastern and western plant and animal species. Many visible animals inhabit this park include raccoons, elk (also called wapiti), bison, coyotes, skunks, badgers, ermines, black-footed ferrets, cougars, bobcats, red foxes, minks, pronghorn and prairie dogs.
South Dakota: Wind Cave National Park | |
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