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Wind Cave National Park
This magnificent park is 10 miles north of Hot Springs in the
western part of South Dakota and was established by Teddy Roosevelt
in 1903. It was the first cave to be made a national park
anywhere in the world. Most noted for its beautiful displays
of calcite formations known as boxwork and 95% of the world's
boxwork formations are in the Wind Cave. It is also well known
for its frostwork, which is needle like growths that are exquisite
in their design and beauty, which is completely natural. The
Wind Cave is the densest cave system in the world and the fourth
longest, although four new miles are being found each year and
presently it is 131 miles long. Above it the biggest natural
mixed grass prairie in the world is found. It is an incredible
park that should be visited at least once in a person's lifetime.
The Lakota people that lived in the Black Hills spoke about this
hole that blew air and they believe it is sacred and that they came
up from the depths of the earth through this hole. The first
documented mention of the cave was by two brothers that discovered
its existence in 1881, named Tom and Jesse Bingham. Supposedly
Tom looked down the small 10 inch by 14 inch hole and the wind blew
his hat off. Few people went into the cave until the 1890s
when a 16 year old boy called Alvin McDonald started exploring and
the cave was bigger than believed. His father, J. D. was
employed by the South Dakota Mining Company to see if any gold was
there, but couldn't and a chance to give guided tours arose.
These were done with candles and by crawling through narrow
passageways that weren't always easy. The park contains a very
diverse ecosystem with eastern and western plants and animal species
including elk, prairie dogs, pronghorn antelope, bison and black
footed ferrets. This bison herd is one of four that are
genetically pure and free to roam the public lands in North America.
There are a few roads and 30 miles of trails that go through the
park making it almost completely accessible. It had almost a
million visitors in 2003.
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