Wind Cave
Interesting facts
- The opening the Bingham brothers found in 1881 measured only about 25 by 36 centimetres, a tiny hole leading into one of the world's longest caves.
- Nearby Jewel Cave is even longer, so Wind Cave is only the second longest cave in its own county; no link between the two has ever been found.
- The cave lies in three levels within the upper 76 metres of limestone laid down in a Mississippian sea more than 300 million years ago.
- Groundwater beneath the cave now lies about 150 metres below the surface, having dropped by roughly 0.4 metres every thousand years.
- In Lakota oral tradition, Tokahe was the first human to emerge from the cave onto the surface of the earth.
- Alvin McDonald began exploring the cave as a teenager in 1890 and kept a detailed diary of his discoveries underground.
- Where the boxwork fins grow especially large, cavers call the formation cratework.
- Above ground, the park protects the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States.
- The endangered black-footed ferret, once thought extinct, is among the animals living on the park's prairie.
- In a 2019 presidential debate, Senator Amy Klobuchar quipped that she had never been to a wine cave but had visited Wind Cave in South Dakota.
Why it is worth it
Wind Cave is a labyrinth that breathes. Air rushes in or out of its narrow mouth whenever the barometric pressure outside changes, and it was this draught – strong enough, the story goes, to blow the hat off Tom Bingham's head when he and his brother Jesse found the opening in 1881 – that gave the cave its name. Below the grasslands and pine hills of the southern Black Hills of South Dakota lies one of the longest caves on Earth: more than 270 km of passages have been surveyed, packed into such a small footprint that it is regarded as the densest cave system known.
What sets the cave apart is its walls. Thin blades of calcite criss-cross the ceilings and passages in a honeycomb pattern known as boxwork, which was first described here; the great majority of the world's known boxwork is found in this one cave. The fins began as cracks filled with calcite in gypsum-bearing limestone laid down in a Mississippian sea; as the softer rock around them weathered away, the calcite blades were left standing out by up to a metre. Deeper levels add frostwork, cave popcorn and moonmilk, and the first helictite bushes ever recorded were found here as well.
Long before the Binghams, the Lakota knew the hole that blew air. In their tradition it is Washun Niya, the place where the first people emerged from the underworld onto the surface of the earth. After the discovery, a mining company sent Jesse McDonald to the site; no ore was found, and the McDonald family turned to exploring and guiding instead, leading candlelit tours from 1892. On 3 January 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt made the area the sixth national park in the United States and the first anywhere created to protect a cave. Above ground, the park's mixed-grass prairie is home to a free-roaming, genetically pure bison herd, along with elk, pronghorn and prairie-dog towns.
Getting there
Wind Cave lies in Custer County, about 16 km north of the town of Hot Springs. The nearest larger city is Rapid City, about 61 km away in a straight line, and the nearest airport is Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP), about 64 km away. US Highway 385 runs north from Hot Springs into the park, and South Dakota Highway 87 enters it from Custer State Park to the north.
On these lists
43.55804, -103.47955per Wikidata