St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-07
WIND CAVE.
South Dakota Has a Cave Which
Rivals the Mammoth.

South Dakota Has a Cave Which
Rivals the Mammoth.
Special to the Globe.
CHAMBERLAIN, S. D., Feb. &c. Sem
echal, prominent gentleman of this
city, has just returned from a trip
through the Black Hills country. While
there he visited Wind cave. place that
is attracting the attention of all visitors
to that section. The cave almost rivals
the celebrated Mammoth cave of Ken
lucky. Mr.. Senechal gives the follow
ing description of what he saw there:
"The cave is situated about twelve
miles from Buffalo Gap on the Fremont,
Elkhorn & Missouri Valley division of
the Northwestern railroad. 1t was dis
covered six years ago by j. Bingham,
and now belongs to r. B. Moss and j.
ID. Mcdonald, who have greatly i'm
proved it, and intend to build a summer
resort there. Guides are necessary to
any one exploring the cave. The en-
trance is marked by monument OF
limestone about twelve feet high and
twelve feet at the base. The first de-
scent is by a series of steps blasted
in the wall of the cave, and short lad
ders distance of about fifty feet. At
this depth there are succession of in
Vulnerable large grottos, called the
upper chambers. New ones are being
constantly discovered. A peculiar feat
ure of the cave is the draugbt of air. 1t
does not seem to be controlled or affect
ed by the changes OF the wind, but
the current changes several times in
twenty four hours. Sometimes it is
drawing or sucking inward, and at
other times blowing out. The pressure
is strong enough to carry ones hat in or
out, as the case may be.
proceeding into the cavity | saw
number Of large passages and gr0ttOeS,
all decorated with stalactite formations
of snowy Wilderness. The different
chambers have been given names, like
the oven, the bridal chamber, the well,
which is a hole l50 feet deep; the prai-
RE dog town. where there are several
mounds with holes in the center, closely
resembling the dog towns of the sur
rounding prairies; the church Steeple.
and others. Then comes lOug and tor
tuOuS passage, where one has to crawl
over the camel's back into the postoffice,
alarge room, rs feet lcng, 25 feet feet wide
and Is feet high. The Stalactites here
form series of brown boxes
edged with white along the wall.
Then comes the cataract room, fully
fifty feet high, where stalactiteS take so
many fantastic shapes. Next is Roses
misery, narrow assure, where we had
to lie fiat on our sides and draw our
selves through by the projections on the
rocks. This is called after a man named
Rose, who was stuck here until he
nearly persisted. In one place the lime
water falling from the ceiling has pro-
duced shapes called the Elephant and
the Calf, which the visitor will recog-
niZe, provided his imagination is vivid
enough. A narrow passage leads to
what is called the lovers retreat, little
off the main passage; this room is 40
feet long by Is feet wide, Is feet high,
beautifully crystaliZed in diamond
shap and box work. with several pro-
jections forming natural seats.
From this room, through the main
passage, we enter monument hall. This
room is fully 100 feet long and from 5 to
Is feet wide, with many projections
from the floor from to 6 feet high
and resembling monuments. The walls
and roof are crystaiiZed in the forms Of
boxes and snOwflakeS. This hall ex-
tends an unknown distance, but it mar
rows down too much to admit of en-
trance. My guide told me he had been
some 200 feet further than L went.
L
and there is undoubtedly another OPEN
ing to the surface.
From this point we went back to the
oven, near the entrance of the cave,
from which we crawled through long
passage to the stalagmite room, with
stalactite and stalagmite from floor to
roof, with crystalization OF frost and
boXWOrk. From here we made half
circle through narrow passage into
small room, whence we assembled a sort
of corkscrew passage about sixty feet
long, entering beautifully crystalized
room about fifteen feet in diameter.
called the parlor. From this we went
through passage, said to be 1000 feet
long, three feet high and four feet wide.
This passage glistens with crystaliZa-
lions in all forms. We then entered
large room about fifty by twenty-five
feet, and twenty-five feet high, also
beautifully crystalized. On entering
the cave there IS cold draught, and one
needs heavy clothes; but after dropping
about fifty feet we passed into the
dressing room," where we left our
surplus clothing. At last we climbed
up forty feet almost vertically, and were
astonished to find ourselves at the foot
of 10 hill