Wind Cave
| Wind Cave National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Boxwork formation
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 Wind Cave
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| Location | Custer County, South Dakota, USA |
| Nearest city | Hot Springs, South Dakota |
| Coordinates | 43°33′23″N 103°28′43″W / 43.55635°N 103.47865°WCoordinates: 43°33′23″N 103°28′43″W / 43.55635°N 103.47865°W |
| Area | 33,847 acres (136.97 km2) |
| Established | January 9, 1903 |
| Visitors | 617,377 (in 2016) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Official site |
Wind Cave National Park is a United States national park 10 miles (16 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 discovered 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, recognized as the densest (most passage volume per cubic mile) cave system in the world. The cave is currently the sixth-longest in the world with 140.47 miles (226.06 km) of explored cave passageways. Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States.
The Lakota, Cheyenne, and other Native American tribes who traveled through the area were aware of the cave's existence, as were early Euro-American settlers, but there has been no evidence yet discovered that anyone actually entered it.
The Lakota (Sioux), an indigenous people who live in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, spoke of a hole that blew air, a place they consider sacred as the site where they first emerged from the underworld where they had lived before the demiurge creation of the world.
The first documented discovery of the cave by White Americans was in 1881, when the brothers Tom and Jesse Bingham heard wind rushing out from a 10-inch (25 cm) by 14-inch (36 cm) hole in the ground. According to the story, when Tom looked into the hole, the "wind" (exiting cave air) blew his hat off of his head.
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Wikipedia