Wind Cave National Park

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Wind Cave National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)

Location:	South Dakota, USA
Nearest city:	Rapid City, SD
Coordinates:	43°34′0″N, 103°29′0″W
Area:	28,295 acres (114 km²)
Established:	January 9, 1903
Visitation:	850,000 (in 2003)
Governing body:	National Park Service

Boxwork

Bison grazing on prairie grasses

Wind Cave National Park is a United States national park 10 miles (18 km) north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. 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 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. The cave passed Hoelloch cave in Switzerland on February 11th, 2006 to become fourth-longest in the world with 119.58 miles (192 km) of explored cave passageways. Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States.

[edit] Early discovery and exploration

The Lakota people, Native Americans who lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota, spoke of a hole that blew air, a place they considered sacred as the site where humanity first emerged from the underworld where they lived before the demiurge creation of the world.

The first documented discovery of the cave by early explorers was in 1881 by brothers Tom and Jesse Bingham. They heard a sound of wind rushing out from a 10 by 14 inch (250 by 360 mm) hole in the ground. According to the story, when Tom looked down into the hole, the wind was blowing out so hard that it blew his hat off of his head.

The wind they heard and felt explains the cave's name. The wind moves depending on atmospheric pressure on the surface and inside the cave. When the pressure is higher outside than inside the cave, wind rushes into the entrances; when pressure is higher inside the cave, the wind rushes out of the entrances.

Since the first discovery in 1604, few people ventured more than a few feet (metres) into Wind Cave, but it wasn't until the early 1890s, when a 16 year old boy named Alvin McDonald began exploring, that Wind Cave was discovered to extend beyond the original hole.

Alvin McDonald's father, J.D. McDonald, was employed by the South Dakota Mining Company to find gold in the cave, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Instead, an opportunity was discovered to send tours into the cave. These early tours explored the cave by candlelight and by crawling through some sometimes narrow passageways.

[edit] Surface resources

Wind Cave National Park protects a diverse ecosystem with eastern and western plant and animal species. Some of the more visible animals include elk (also called wapiti), bison (the only population of pure-blooded bison that is not infected with brucellosis), pronghorn antelope and prairie dogs.

Several roads run through the park and there are 30 miles (50 km) of hiking trails, so almost the entire park is accessible. The park had 850,000 visitors in 2003.