Wind Cave National Park is a national park of the United States located 10 miles (16 km) north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota . Established on January 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt , it was the sixth national park in the U.S. and the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world. The cave is notable for its calcite formations known as boxwork , as well as its frostwork . Approximately 95 percent of the world's discovered boxwork formations are found in Wind Cave.
27-588: Wind Cave is one of the best known examples of a breathing cave . The cave is recognized as the densest cave system in the world, with the greatest passage volume per cubic mile. Wind Cave is the seventh longest cave in the world with 154.2 miles (248.16 km) of explored cave passageways (as of 2021) and the third longest cave in the United States , though it is only the second longest cave in Custer County, South Dakota behind Jewel Cave . Despite
54-620: A Kaskaskia paleo karst terrain, complete with solution fissures , sinkholes , and caves. Thus, an unconformity exists between this limestone and the overlying Pennsylvanian Minnelusa Formation. These red sands and clays filled in cavities. Those cavities not filled in were coated in dogtooth spar . Subsequent deposition of the Permian Opeche Shale, Permian Minnekahta Limestone , Triassic Spearfish Formation , and Tertiary White River Group followed. Paleocene and Eocene erosion removed these overlying sediments, in
81-470: A feature of western South Dakota weather. If a fast-moving storm was approaching on the day the Bingham brothers found the cave, the atmospheric pressure would have been dropping fast, causing the cave's higher-pressure air to rush out all available openings, creating the wind for which Wind Cave was named. The Lakota , Cheyenne , and other Native American tribes who traveled through and made camps around
108-683: A wine cave. I’ve been to the Wind Cave in South Dakota, which I suggest you go to.” South Dakota public figures, including the state's Representative Dusty Johnson , used it to promote tourism to Wind Cave National Park. The cave is featured in Dan Jorgensen's novel And the Wind Whispered . Breathing cave A breathing cave or barometric cave is a rare type of cave in which atmospheric pressure gradients between
135-444: Is considered a non-self-sustaining wild population. Throughout the years, the great plains have seen a considerable rise in temperature. Being that Wind Cave is located in the great plains, these temperature rises have already started to affect the park and the area around it. The average temperature rise across the plains has been two degrees Fahrenheit, with some areas seeing increases as high as five degrees Fahrenheit. This trend
162-807: Is one of only four free-roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America. The other three herds are the Yellowstone Park bison herd , the Henry Mountains bison herd in Utah , and on Elk Island in Alberta, Canada . The Wind Cave bison herd is currently brucellosis -free. The black-footed ferret and whooping crane are on the endangered species list. The whooping crane population in Wind Cave National Park
189-411: Is projected to cause drought like conditions in the area. Several roads run through the park and there are 30 miles (48 km) of hiking trails on the surface. The park had an estimated 656,397 visitors in 2018. More than 109,000 people toured the cave itself in 2015, the most since 1968 before cave tours were limited to 40 people each. The Wind Cave visitor center features three exhibit rooms about
216-508: The demiurge creation of the world . Originally called Washun Niya, Wind Cave played an important role in the traditions and culture of the Lakota people. The fables of these people tell the story of Tokahe, the first human to emerge from the cave, symbolizing an emergence from the underworld. His story and presence at Wind Cave is an important part of Lakota history, and heavily influences their origin story. Wind Cave and other areas throughout
243-538: The geology of the caves and early cave history, the park's wildlife and natural history, and the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the park. Elk Mountain Campground, located in a ponderosa pine forest, is about 1.25 miles (2.0 km) from the visitor center. The campground has 75 sites for tents and recreational vehicles and is open year-round with campfire programs offered in
270-436: The 1960s. The park is in an unincorporated area of Custer County . Wind Cave National Park protects a diverse ecosystem with eastern and western plant and animal species. Wildlife that inhabits this park include raccoons , elk , bison , coyotes , skunks , badgers , ermines , black-footed ferrets , cougars , bobcats , red foxes , minks , whooping crane , pronghorn and prairie dogs . The Wind Cave bison herd
297-532: The Black Hills were important to the native people in other ways beyond spirituality. Nicknamed, euphemistically, as a “supermarket,” the areas surrounding the cave provided abundant resources for native survival. Often during the winter seasons, such areas served as ideal spots for camps; much of the game they hunted preferred the shelter provided by the cave and made these areas ideal to become Lakota settlements and hunting grounds. The eventual dispossession of
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#1732783197256324-475: The Lakota people followed the consistent history of dispossession of indigenous peoples across the country. In 1851 a Treaty was formed at Fort Laramie , entering the tribe into a legal relationship with the U.S. government. Another Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 redefined and reduced the borders of Lakota land within the Black Hills. Article two within that treaty allowed for forts to be built within Lakota land and in 1874 General George A. Custer began surveying
351-547: The McDonald family began developing the cave for tourism. 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. Alvin fell in love with the cave and kept a cave diary. Others who worked at Wind Cave and helped explore it between 1890 and 1903 include Katie Stabler, Emma McDonald (Elmer's wife), Inez McDonald (Emma and Elmer's daughter), and Tommy McDonald (brother of Elmer and Alvin). By February 1892
378-590: The area of the caves, down to the Minnelusa. Geologic uplift started during the Laramide Orogeny , which lowered the water table, draining the cave system and enlarging it. Today the water level is 150 m below the surface, which amounts to a drop of 0.4 m every 1000 years. Boxwork was first noted in Wind Cave. These calcite fins were once cracks filling gypsum and anhydrite. Calcite-gypsum pseudomorphs are common. The released sulfuric acid weakened
405-471: The area were aware of the cave's existence, as were early Euro-American settlers, but there has been no recorded evidence discovered that anyone actually entered it. The Lakota ( Sioux ), an indigenous people who live in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, spoke of a hole that blew air, a place they consider sacred as the site where they first emerged from the underworld where they had lived before
432-744: The atmospheric pressure difference between the inside and outside of the cave. When the air pressure outside of the cave is higher than that inside the cave air blows into the cave and vice versa; if the air pressures are at equilibrium there is no airflow. In some breathing caves, the airflow can only be meaningfully measured near the entrance. This tends to be the case in caves which primarily feature large, wide passageways, notably Wind Cave in South Dakota, US, and Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico, US. In caves which mainly consist of narrow passageways, such as Jewel Cave , also in South Dakota and less than 30 kilometers (19 mi) away from Wind Cave (though
459-406: The bedrock, allowing it to weather faster than the calcite. The resultant intersecting fins form open chambers and protrude from the surrounding bedrock by amounts ranging from 0.6 to 1.2 m. Lower levels of the cave have boxworks mixed with frostwork and cave popcorn . Helictite bushes were also first discovered in Wind Cave. Moonmilk is found on many surfaces, while calcite rafts are found in
486-440: The cave was open for visitors; the standard tour fee was apparently $ 1.00 (equivalent to roughly $ 30 in 2021). Tourists explored the cave by candlelight on guided tours. These early tours were physically demanding and sometimes involved crawling through narrow passages. Like the nearby Jewel Cave National Monument , currently the third longest cave in the world, Herb and Jan Conn played an important role in cave exploration during
513-461: The caves are not connected), airflow can be measured in many areas throughout the cave system. The barometric theory of the airflow in Jewel and Wind Caves was first noted by Herb Conn in 1966. Jewel Cave and Wind Cave are the most well-documented examples of breathing caves. All known breathing caves are solutional caves , and breathing caves tend to be much longer than most other caves. Four of
540-401: The close proximity, no connection has ever been found between Wind Cave and Jewel Cave and most geologists believe the caves are not connected. Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed grass prairie in the United States. The passages of the cave are said to " breathe " as air continually moves into or out of them, equalizing the atmospheric pressure of the cave and
567-523: The hole, the wind exiting the cave blew his hat off of his head. 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 valuable minerals, or it may have had commercial development of the cave in mind from the start. No valuable mineral deposits were found, and
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#1732783197256594-408: The inside and outside of a cave cause air to flow in to or out of the cave. The concept of air flowing through a cave is common, however in most caves this airflow is caused by a difference in temperature rather than air pressure; in barometric caves the thermal mechanism inside the cave is not great enough to cause such airflow. The speed of the airflow in barometric caves is directly correlated with
621-451: The land and mistakenly reported a significant presence of gold, despite the geologist on his team of surveyors saying there were no quantities of substance. Miners then began to invade the hills in search of gold, which was against the treaty with the Lakota people, though the government did little to punish such offenses. In 1875 the Lakota title to the land was deemed invalid due to their lack of structural development and supposed “wasting” of
648-482: The land. When the Dawes Act was passed in 1877, the site was opened to settlers and effectively sealed the dispossession of the Lakota from their ancestral lands. The first documented discovery of the cave by white Americans was in 1881, when the brothers Tom and Jesse Bingham heard wind rushing out from a 10-inch (25 cm) by 14-inch (36 cm) hole in the ground. According to the story, when Tom looked into
675-404: The lower levels of the cave system. During the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary debate on December 19, 2019 , candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar referenced the Wind Cave as part of an attack on fellow candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg , who had hosted a campaign fundraiser in a purported wine cave. Klobuchar remarked, “I came here to make a case for progress, and I have never even been to
702-506: The outside air. When the air pressure is higher outside the cave than inside it, air flows into the cave, raising the cave's pressure to match the outside pressure. When the air pressure inside the cave is higher than outside it, air flows out of the cave, lowering the air pressure within the cave. A large cave such as Wind Cave with only a few small openings will "breathe" more obviously than a small cave with many large openings. Rapid weather changes, accompanied by rapid barometric changes, are
729-568: The summer and limited services available in the winter. The three levels making up the Wind Cave system are located in the upper 76 m of the Mississippian Pahasapa Limestone . Deposited in an inland sea, chert , gypsum , and anhydrite lenses within the limestone are evidence of high periods of evaporation. When sea levels dropped at the end of the Mississippian, dissolution of the limestone formed
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