As the story goes, brothers Tom and Jesse Bingham were exploring an area of South Dakota’s western rolling prairies in 1881. While riding their horses up a draw, they heard a strange whistle of wind blowing on a calm day. Jesse headed over to investigate a hole in a rock, from which the sound appeared to come. As he peered into the hole, a gust of wind from the hole blew the hat right off of his head…
Guide to Wind Cave
A Whistling Cave
Although the existence of the sacred cave was known for generations to the Lakota people, white settlers who arrived in the mid-nineteenth century did not take note of it until 1881 when Tom and Jesse Bingham heard the sound of whistling winds and found the hole.
Soon, curious locals were descending into the cave’s depths, finding their way by a combination of candlelight and string that would be used to retrace their steps on exit of the underground chambers. Local miner Charlie Crary is believed to be the first person to enter the cave, but the first to document their journey was Frank Herbert, who headed into the cave with a small party, several of whom “got scared” and turned back, leaving Herbert and and a friend to make their way on their own.
Alvin McDonald
In 1889 the mineral rights to the cave were purchased by the South Dakota Mining Company, who hired J.D. McDonald to manage their claim, and search for gold. Most of the initial mineral exploration in the cave was done by McDonald’s 16-year-old son, Alvin, who never found gold, but found endless hours of pleasure in discovering miles of passageways that had never been observed by human eyes.
Alvin was the first to systematically explore the cave and record his findings. He named rooms, passageways and formations while mapping much of what he explored, along with keeping a journal of his explorations.
“After running out our string we returned to the flat room with the four passages leading from it. I and Walter left Frank with the string so we couldn’t get lost and explored the other passages. I found nothing in the west passage and he found nothing in the East passage.
Then we both went [into] the N.E. passage and found a room of beautiful crystallized box, lattice and bracket work together with some fine geodes. After backing up in good shape we started for the entrance and arrived at 6:30 P.M. after 9 hr 15 minute trip. Were plenty tired when we got out….
.…Have given up the idea of finding the end of Wind Cave. Good night”
Alvin McDonald – January 23,1891
The South Dakota Mining Company soon fell upon hard times, and stopped paying McDonald for his exploration. However, it had became obvious to the would-be gold seeker that there was likely more money in the tourism industry than in questionable gold mining pursuits.
Wonderful Wind Cave Co.
In 1892, McDonald partnered with John Stabler to create the Wonderful Wind Cave Improvement Company. Stabler, who lived in nearby Hot Springs, would promote cave tours to travelers and would finance the construction of a hotel near its entrance. Invitations brought governors and statesmen such as William Jennings Bryan, while publicity stunts such as the “discovery” of a petrified man in the cave, lured unsuspecting tourists who could view the stone figure for a small fee.
The following year, during a promotional Wonderful Wind Cave Company exhibition in Chicago, Alvin McDonald contracted typhoid fever, and died at age 20. His father took his body back to the cave, and he is today buried on a hill above the entrance to the cave, where a bronze plaque marks his grave.
Lawyer Up
As public interest in the cave grew, the faltering South Dakota Mining Company revived its desire to hold onto the underground cavern, filing suits against the Wonderful Wind Cave Company, who had filed homestead claims to the land.
Over the next decade, the land above the cave became the subject of great disagreement, between not only the South Dakota Mining Company and the Wonderful Wind Cave Improvement Company, but between McDonald and Stabler themselves, as Stabler formed the Black Hills Wind Cave Company in an attempt to wrest the cave from the hands of McDonald.
As it turned out, the area surrounding the cave had never undergone a federal government survey, and thus possession of a clear title was basically impossible to ascertain. Further, mineral claims were found to be invalid, due to the fact that no meaningful mineral extraction had ever taken place.
A Public Resort
Thus, in 1899, the commissioner of the general land office in Washington D.C. reported that since McDonald had no legal claim, and there were no minerals in question, the land was to be held by the Department of Interior, and “that the cave be reserved by the government as a public resort”.
Thus it would be… Four years later, the endless caverns first explored by young Alvin McDonald joined an elite club that held such regions as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Mount Rainier and Sequoia. President Theodore Roosevelt’s signature created Wind Cave National Park on January 9, 1903. It was now the nation’s seventh national park, and the first national park in the world designated to protect a cave.
Wind Cave is certainly not one of the widely known members of the national park club, but it is certainly a gem in the system. This is one of the easier places to view stunning wildlife without the throngs of crowds that are found in the more popular western parks.
The fact that such a sick cave exists just below wandering herds of bison is just icing on the cake.
Guide to Wind Cave
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