Located just 30 miles from Jewel Cave National Monument is the completely different underground world of Wind Cave National Park.
Wind Cave became the United States’ seventh National Park in 1903. It was discovered only a few decades earlier in 1881 by Jesse and Tom Bingham. The brothers were on the prairie when they heard a loud whistling noise. They approached a small opening in the ground and Jesse’s hat was blown off his head – hence the name Wind Cave. As was mentioned at the beginning of the video in the post on Jewel Cave, this wind is sometimes known as the cave “inhaling” or “exhaling” and is caused by changes in atmospheric pressure between the cave and the outside world.
Much of the early exploration of Wind Cave was done by teenager Alvin McDonald. Alvin’s father, JD McDonald was hired by the South Dakota Mining Company to manage the mining operations at Wind Cave. However, it was soon discovered that there was nothing worth mining, but that a profit could be turned by selling tours through the cave. The McDonald family homesteaded at the entrance to the cave and widened the openings and natural passages within the cave for tours. My tour guide told a story about a large barrel shaped opening in one of the cave rooms. The McDonald’s, acting as tour guides, told guests that this hole was so deep that they could throw a coin in and never hear it hit the bottom. They challenged people to try it and many did and were struck with the truth of how deep it must be when they never heard their coin land. In reality, the hole wasn’t all that deep, but a sheet was stretched across it part way down to keep the money from ever reaching the bottom and making a sound. At the end of the day the McDonald’s would climb in and retrieve all of their extra money.
The first explorer to enter the cave unwound a piece of twine as he went so he could find his way out. However, Alvin took to painting his initials as he went. But not his actual initials. Alvin developed a secret code to notate his adventures through the cave’s passages and rooms. It’s a complex eight step process that begins with ordering the name “Last, First Middle,” involves two separate codes, and ends with a -8 rotation which eventually turns the initials for Alvin Frank McDonald into ZUQ. My initials VDP would be WOP. (I wish I could say I cracked the code. I didn’t. But there is a website that runs the algorithm for you: https://zuq.curiousconcept.com/#). ZUQ can still be seen throughout the cave today.
There are other initials within the cave and people are still working to determine the meaning of all the markings.
Sadly Alvin died at age 20 of typhoid fever. Two years earlier (and only one year into his cave exploration) he wrote that he had “given up the idea of finding the end of Wind Cave.” That’s probably a good thing. Over 100 years later it’s estimated that still only 5% of the cave has been discovered.
On my visit I took the Fairgrounds Tour that travels only half a mile out of the 100 miles of mapped passages. Unlike my lantern tour at Jewel Cave, the Fairgrounds Route is mostly paved and lined with electric lights – a very different experience. The abundance of light allowed me to see the features of the cave much more easily.
Wind Cave’s most well known feature is its boxwork. These thin honeycomb like fins of calcite are found in very few caves but is found in abundance within Wind Cave.
The nearby Jewel Cave is known for its shimmering calcite crystals, a feature clearly lacking in Wind Cave. I asked my tour guide how the caves could be so close but so different. He told me that it all has to do with the geology of the Black Hills and the different regions where the caves are located. Wind Cave has some bling of its own in the form of popcorn and frostwork formations.
Not all of Wind Cave National Park is found underground. It is also home to nearly 30,000 acres of wildlife sanctuary where I found bison, deer, pronghorn, and turkeys.
My visit to Wind Cave was another reminder of how much exploration there is yet to be done in the world. It was also a reminder of how it’s possible to get a lot done in a little amount of time – Alvin McDonald only got to explore the cave for less than three years, but his contributions to the park are legendary. My visit also humanized our National Park System. Our parks aren’t just beautiful areas and geological wonders, but they also represent the people that discovered them and worked to understand them, even before they were National Parks.
What’s your favorite National Park story? Where are you going to explore? What are your initials using Alvin’s code?
Go. Live.
For more information on Wind Cave National Park visit: http://www.nps.gov/wica
