Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Wind Cave

by Mike Graf

  “Ten miles!” James exclaimed. “That’s a huge cave.”

  “Yes it is,” Mom replied. “But they’ve now found over one hundred thirty-six miles of cave there. It’s currently the fourth longest cave in the world.”

  “And I hear they’re still exploring more,” Dad said.

  “Back to Alvin,” Mom continued. “Unfortunately he died at the age of twenty due to typhoid fever, but he and his caving partners sure were interesting.”

  “What did they do?” James asked.

  Mom paused from talking to watch the highway. They approached the 101 junction and Mom turned west toward the Black Hills and Wind Cave. Then she continued.

  “Alvin’s family, the McDonalds, and another family, the Stablers, owned the rights to Wind Cave and they wanted to promote tourism there. They tried some schemes including one with a famous mind reader named Paul Alexander Johnstone.

  “Apparently this Johnstone guy was so good at mind reading that to promote the cave and get more people to visit, the McDonalds and the Stablers set up a publicity stunt with him. They hid a small hat pin somewhere within the cave.” Mom paused to emphasize, “Mind you there’s more than ten miles of known cave passages at this point. So this guy Johnstone, then, was going to go down in the cave and find the hat pin just by reading the mind of the person who hid it.”

  “Hey, I kind of read ranger Eric’s mind in the Badlands,” James recalled.

  Mom smiled. “Yes, you did.”

  “So,” James leaned forward in his seat. “What happened then? Did he find it?”

  Mom saw a junction up ahead and slowed the car down. “There’s our next turn-off,” she announced.

  Mom headed north on Highway 385, just south of the park boundary. Mom purposely didn’t answer James’s question, but still continued talking about Wind Cave. “I also went onto the park’s website to find some of the names of the cave rooms.”

  “The people who explored and discovered each room get to name them, right?” Dad asked.

  “Exactly. So I don’t know if these are newly named rooms, or some of the old, original ones. But here are a few names I remember: A.F. McDonald room, the Air Tube, Alligator, Angel’s Wings, Antarctica, Applehead, and Arm Pit.”

  Morgan and James laughed at that one.

  “And those are only a few of the ones listed that start with A,” Mom added.

  “Maybe we should skip the Arm Pit room,” James concluded.

  “Oh yeah, and Attic,” Mom remembered one more.

  “I can only imagine what each of those rooms looks like,” Dad said

  Finally the Parkers drove past the Wind Cave park boundary sign. Just ahead was a small traffic jam of cars. And in the nearby fields was a herd of bison. Mom pulled the car over and the family got out and watched the two-thousand-pound animals graze on the prairie grasses.

  “I guess it’s not just caves that this park is all about,” Dad mentioned.

  Meanwhile James looked over the park map. “The caves are just ahead at the visitor center,” he realized.

  Dad also glanced at the map. “That means,” Dad thought aloud, “that we’re probably standing directly above some of the one hundred thirty-six miles of cave passages right now.”

  “I wonder if there are people down there,” Morgan exclaimed.

  The Parkers watched the bison for a few more minutes. Then they drove on, taking the side road to the visitor center. The large parking lot was loaded with cars. The family parked, then walked past the flagpole and into the building.

  Once inside, Morgan, James, Mom, and Dad stopped and took in all the hubbub. An information desk crowded with people was just to the left and the gift shop was to the right. Straight ahead, stairs led down to cave tours and a museum of displays. At the back of the room, people were in a line buying cave tour tickets.

  Meanwhile, a ranger announced, “The Natural Entrance Tour meets outside the building, down the stairs at the shelter in five minutes!”

  Mom went to the front desk first to check in. She then proceeded to the back to get their tickets. “We’ll meet you downstairs,” Dad said as he, James, and Morgan went to learn about the park and look at the displays.

  A few minutes later, Mom came down holding up four tickets. “Our tour is in a little less than an hour at one thirty,” she said.

  After a few more minutes at the museum, the Parkers left to go set up their tent at the campground just up the road. They ate a quick lunch at the picnic table there, then drove back just before the tour got started.

  10 Lights Out Underground

  “The Candlelight Tour is meeting now right by the water fountain,” a ranger called out.

  Morgan jumped up from her seat in the lobby. “That’s us!”

  The Parkers walked toward the ranger. He waited for the full group to gather and counted. “Great, ten; everyone’s here.” Then he led them all outside.

  Soon the group was in front of a door. The ranger opened it and brought out a few small boxes with piles of gloves inside. “Okay, everybody, choose a pair that fits.”

  Each person looked for a pair of gloves. Then the ranger passed out silver buckets, each with a candle in it.

  The ranger looked toward the group. “Welcome to the Candlelight Tour. This is my favorite way to see the cave, the old-fashioned way, just like Alvin McDonald and the early explorers did.”

  The ranger studied his companions of the next two hours. “We’re going to spend some quality, intimate time together, so we ought to get to know each other. I’ll start. I’m Wendell, and I’m from here in South Dakota. I like to call South Dakota ‘fly-over country’ because most people fly right over us as they go from coast to coast. Well, anyway, when it’s not summer, I’m a high-school biology teacher. So how about all of you?”

  A person from each group introduced themselves and their companions. There were people from New York, Florida, Michigan, and Indiana. When it came to the Parkers, James did the honors. “I’m James and this is my twin sister, Morgan. This is my dad, Robert, and my mom, Kristen. We’re from California and it’s my sister’s and my first time in a cave. My mom, though, has been spelunking before.”

  Wendell smiled. “A spelunker from the west coast. Well, welcome everyone.” Then he said. “Our journey starts the easiest way possible. Follow me.”

  Wendell led the group toward an elevator. He pressed a button and waited. A moment later the doors opened. “Come on in,” Wendell gestured.

  The group did and the doors shut. Wendell pressed the inside button and the elevator began its descent.

  Soon the cave transportation system stopped and the doors opened again. Wendell guided the group through a small underground room and onto a lighted pathway within the cave.

  Finally Wendell looked everyone over and announced, “Welcome to Wind Cave!” Then he said sheepishly, “I know it’s not the natural entrance. But you wouldn’t want to go in that way anyway. It’s a very small hole the size of a round cowboy hat. You can see it along the pathway on the Natural Entrance Tour. But even those cave visitors don’t go in through that hole.”

  Wendell explained further. “Yes, we’ve made it a little easier for visitors to get in and out of the cave, but beyond here, outside of our pathway, everything has been kept natural. But when Jesse Bingham found the natural entrance around 1881 and peeked in, it blew his hat away. The next time he tried it, the hat got sucked in. You can imagine his reaction! It’s air pressure changes outside the cave that cause the wind in the cave to blow one way or another. We have even measured it up to seventy-five miles per hour. So now you know where this cave got its name. Does anyone know what else Wind Cave is famous for?”

  “Boxwork,” someone in the group called out.

  “Precisely,” Wendell replied.

  “Boxwork is a unique formation found almost exclusively here at Wind Cave. I’ll tell you more about it soon. But keep your eyes out for it along the trail, and follow me.”

  Wendell led t
he group down a cemented and well-lit path. The ten visitors snaked along underground until Wendell called from up front. “Okay, everyone, move to the side.”

  A much larger group of cave tourers was coming in the opposite direction. The Parkers and others stepped to the right and let the long line of people go by.

  Morgan whispered to James. “None of them have candle buckets.”

  “Or gloves,” James added.

  Soon Wendell led everyone past a steel gate. “Head down our special stairs,” he announced.

  One by one each person did. Then Wendell locked the gate behind him and clambered down to meet the group. “Okay,” he beamed. “It’s time for the fun to begin.”

  “Please hold your buckets straight out,” Wendell instructed. “That way wax doesn’t drip on the cave anywhere.”

  Wendell walked up to each person and lit his or her candle.

  As the Parkers waited, Dad leaned over to James and his family. “This whole mind-reading thing you’ve been talking about has piqued my curiosity,” he shared. “So I’m wondering if any of you can read my mind now.”

  Morgan, James, and Mom thought for a moment. Then Morgan blurted out. “You want to go spelunking, too?” she guessed.

  Dad laughed. “You almost got it. I was thinking just that a minute ago. Right when you said that, though, I was listening to my stomach grumble. I’m really hungry!”

  Mom laughed. “I could have guessed that!”

  Then James smiled. “Can you read my mind?”

  Wendell walked up and attempted to answer James. “Well, I just met you, of course, but my guess is you want to be a cave explorer using these cave buckets just like Alvin McDonald.”

  James beamed. “Hey—you read my mind!” Then he added, “I was also wondering what secret code I would have used to mark my signature.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Morgan interjected. “And I came up with one: MJP.”

  “What does that stand for?” Wendell asked.

  “Morgan and James Parker.”

  “I assume that’s the two of you,” Wendell replied, and then he finished lighting everyone’s candle.

  Next, Wendell walked over to a switch. “Okay, are all of you ready?” Wendell flicked the switch and the lights went out. He announced, “Welcome to Wind Cave the way Alvin McDonald and others saw it. Go ahead and shine your buckets around and check out the cave by candlelight.”

  After a few minutes Wendell said, “So, back in the days when there were no computers, iPods, cell phones, or cable TV, sixteen-year-olds like Alvin at least had this cave to explore.”

  Wendell added, “Now, I have some bad news and some good news for all of you. What would you like first?”

  “The bad news!” James called out.

  “All right,” Wendell replied. “The bad news is cave exploring will not make anyone rich. There is no money to go spelunking down here, or in any other cave.”

  “And the good news?” another person asked.

  “The good news is anyone can do this. If you join a grotto and learn the proper techniques and have the right equipment, we can all become cave explorers and go, potentially, where no man—or woman—has gone before. Okay,” Wendell pointed his light forward. “Keep your buckets flat to help you see straight ahead and follow me.”

  And the group did, quickly leaving the cemented path behind and stepping onto the dirt and rocks on the natural and uneven cave floor.

  The Parkers, Wendell, and the others on the Candlelight Tour trekked along. At one point Mom lifted her bucket, illuminating the cave walls with a shadowy, dim light. “Seeing a cave by candlelight is so much different than a lighted, cemented pathway,” she mentioned.

  The tour led the cavers past an area with some boxwork. Each person studied the unique formation composed of thin blades of hardened minerals hanging from the cave ceiling in mazes of box-like patterns. Wendell pointed out, “Look for some brown, black, and blue colors in the boxwork. That’s the mineral manganese in the rock. It gives these boxes a bluish tint, and because of that we call this area the Blue Grotto.”

  Morgan’s candlelight captured a glimpse of crystals flashing along a rock wall. “Look!” she whispered to James. And the twins studied the tiny, shiny minerals embedded in the rock.

  The tour continued. At times, Mom and Dad and other adults had to duck and maneuver to get past, under, or around natural rock barriers. But in those places, Morgan and James just walked on through.

  Dad grunted and held the base of his back after straightening up in one such place. Then he looked at his kids. “Spelunking might just be an endeavor for the young,” he mentioned, half jokingly.

  The group passed a number 82 etched on one of the cave walls. Wendell called out from up front. “That’s a survey marker from 1902, the year before this was made into a national park. You might have also seen some pieces of string around. Those were placed here by explorers or the Civilian Conservation Corp to help mark their way back out of the cave.”

  Walking on the uneven surface, underground, and by candlelight was slow going. At times, each person had to shine their light backward to help others see potential hazardous obstacles in their paths.

  Soon Wendell stopped again and pointed above. “It’s a tight squeeze ahead,” he announced. “And it’s especially narrow at the bottom. A real potential ankle grabber. I’m going to go first and then call out ‘clear’ once I make it through. Then, one at a time I’d like all of you to do the same.”

  One by one those on the tour proceeded. Finally it was the Parkers’ turn. Mom went first, followed by James, Morgan, and Dad.

  Once they were all past the tight spot, the group gathered in a larger room. “Welcome to the Tabernacle,” Wendell announced. “We’re going to do a full circle in this room and return. So look around and see if you’ll be able to figure out when we are back here.”

  Each person tried to pick out some features in the underground maze they would be able to recognize later, when they returned.

  Then Wendell gestured. “Let’s everyone find a stable place to sit or stand. I want to show you what a cave really looks like.”

  The guide looked at each person and smiled. “Are you all ready?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Wendell blew out his candle. “Okay, all of you do the same.”

  Each person blew out his or her light. Soon it was completely pitch black. Wendell stayed silent a moment, then whispered, “Now you are seeing what every other cave in the world looks like.

  “There really is no place on earth where you can experience absolute darkness except in a cave, or at the very bottom of a deep ocean, and I doubt any of us will be visiting there any time soon. Caves are a bit easier to get to.”

  Wendell took a deep breath. “Would you like to hear a little story?”

  A few people said, “Yes. Great.”

  Wendell told the story about the mind reader that Mom had shared earlier. He ended it by informing the group that, “The mind reader found the hat pin. And when he came out of the cave there was a big news story about the event. It was quite a frenzy.”

  “So he read Alvin McDonald’s mind!” Morgan exclaimed.

  “Or whoever hid the pin,” Dad added.

  James leaned over toward Mom and said, “How did you know they were going to talk about that?”

  “I didn’t,” Mom replied, smiling, but no one saw it.

  Finally, Wendell said. “Okay, raise your hand if you want me to turn the lights back on.”

  Everyone laughed again.

  “Well before I bring us back into the light,” Wendell said into the darkness, “How do you think we’d get out of here if we didn’t have any light source?”

  “Scream!” some replied.

  “Crawl until I found the passage out,” another said.

  “Pray,” someone else answered.

  “Well, thankfully, none of those options is going to be necessary,” Wendell said. He flicked on his light
er, lit his candle, and then proceeded to light the others.

  Soon everyone was trekking along again. The ranger led the group right next to a formation hanging down from the cave’s ceiling. “This,” he pointed with his candlelight, “is what we call the Eagle’s Talon. It’s where the hat pin was hidden and then found by the mind reader.”

  Everyone looked at the tiny hole as they walked by.

  James mentioned to Morgan as he passed, “I wonder if I hid something in here if you’d be able to find it. You always say you know what I’m thinking.”

  “I think that’s because we’re twins,” Morgan replied. “But even so, with a hundred thirty-six miles of cave, don’t count on me to be a very good mind reader down here!”

  Wendell again gathered the group. Then he pointed with his light. “We’ve got some nice formations of boxwork in here that you might want to take a look at while you’re hanging out. Meanwhile I’m going to have all of you wait here while I take three of you at a time to a very special, extremely delicate cave formation.”

  BOXING UP THE CAVE

  No other cave in the world has as much or as well-formed boxwork as Wind Cave. Boxwork consists of blades of calcite hanging or projecting from cave walls or ceilings. The calcite blades or fins crisscross in boxlike patterns, giving the formation its name. What forms boxwork is not completely understood. But part of the process is that erosion-resistant calcite fins stayed in place over the eons, while highly erodable limestone rock that once filled in the gaps within the boxes dissolved over time, leaving the maze of boxes seen in the cave now.

  The Parkers looked at the cave’s intricately woven erratic patterns of boxes. They shone their candles here and there, studying the unique features. But soon, Morgan and Dad went with one group and James and Mom another to a special room. While there, Wendell pointed to some tiny white crystals conglomerating like miniature frosty hairs or gathered snowflakes on the cave’s ceiling.