The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-15

IHlS is Wlnd cave, IN custer county,
twelve miles north of the city of Hot
/ Springs, in the southern portion of the
Black Hills.
i This cave is in an immense bed of
| limestone-a bewildering labyrinth of
box-work, stalactites. stalagmites, geo.
DIES and frost-work of glistening white
ness, so delicate that at the slightest
! touch it crumbles to pieces. A fitting
playground for the little people with
| whom the superstition of the Indians
! peopled the Black Hills in the days
when they We're afraid eff the somber
mountains, before the pale face came
and the iron horse followed after and
the spirits of the hills were driven out.
4 Professor Morrill, of the Smithsonian
| institute says the formation of the cave
4 is unknown. Other biologists incline ito
1.-THE opinion that it is an extinct gey-
Il sser-perhaps a former outlet for the
A warm mineral waters which now come
u to the surface at Hot Springs and VII
H cinity. Some of the formations show
1.-The evidence of having been formed by
\ water-a warm mineral water; and
some, notably the froSt-work. is so del
ticate that it could not owe it's existence
to the action of water, but must have
been formed by gas or vapor which
CONCEALED as it struck the limestone.
The prevailing formation in the cave
! is what the guides for want of a scien-
tific name, have called boxwork.
Beautiful Formations.
The popcorn formation, as its name
implies, looks very similar to a lot Of
5well popped corn fastened to the walls
and ceilings of the cave. In places the
| balls are smaller than pea; in others
! they are several times as large. This
formation is usually pure white, with
| out the brilliancy that makes the FROST
work dazzle the sight. Akin to the pop
corn work is the SNOWFALL. In various
portions of the cave the walls and cell
! ings look as though a number of boys
had been throwing snowballs at the
/ walls and the snow was just wet
enough to spatter and stick.
I The frost-work furnishes the chief
| beauty of the cave. 1t is formed in the
f!softest rock, and inathe upper parts of
1.-the cave; it is suspended, or shoots up
Tor out, from the base of limestone in
clusters of tiny white needles formed
of infinitesimal crystals, reminding one
of pine trees. The coarsest of this for
| nation is not larger than needle, and
lit decreases in size until it looks like
1.-the finest cotton. There is some of it
Tin the cave which is called mineral cot
/ ton that would deceive anyone if it
were away from the cave. - There is
assome of it hanging to a stone beyond
! the Pearly Gates. which the guides
have called Noah's Beard. that is a
bunch of fine spun white wire several
/ feet long and white as snow. When
the calcium light is thrown on the
| frost-work it flashes and scintillates like
diamonds.
10 Miles of Passages.
The cave is formed of assures or
crevices paralleling one another at a
I distance of from so to 800 feet apart
These assures range in height from
30 to over 100 feet. They are all con-
nected by numerous side passages
scarcely large enough originally to
+, permit an ordinary sized man
to get through; it has been neces-
sary to widen and deepen these con-
Meeting passages in order to make the
cave accessible to tourists. There are
eight tiers of these assures, the lowest
being 500 feet below the entrance. The
chambers have all been found in the
assures, and range in size from twelve
feet square to little more than three
acres.
A recent survey of the cave disclosed
the fact that it covers an area two miles
square. BY simple arithmetical calcu-
lation one can obtain some idea of the
miles of cave there are to be yet eX-
plored. There are eight tiers of ifs
sures; each fissure is two miles long:
in each tier the assures are distant
from fifty to 800 feet over a space two
miles wide, placing all the assures 800
! feet apart there would be fffty-five on
! each tier, or 10 miles; then multiplying
by the number of tiers the result will
be $50 miles, without counting the side
or connecting passages and the size of
the chambers. There are some OPEN
| ings which lead below the eighth tier.
but these have not yet been explored.
Why It Is Called Wind Cave.
Wind cave has been rightly named
In every moment of the year the wind
is rushing in or out of the entrance
with terrific force, it's direction being
regulated by the rise and fall of the
barometer. About 200 yards from the
entrance, no matter whether coming in
or going out, the current of the wind
is always in, and this inward rush pre-
/ walls throughout the entire explored
portion of the cave except in a small
| passage not far from the entrance, out
of the mouth of which the wind comes,
seemingly to meet the main current
and go back into the cave with it in an
| amending and unvarying circle. For
| days the wind has rushed out of the
opening at the entrance, and yet all
the time there was no change in the
direction of its course in the cave In
last March for fifteen days the wind
blew in continually, except for a period
of three hours one day. This was dur
ing the bitter cold weather of last win
ter. Mr.. Folsom, who lives in the house
4 above the entrance, said that during
that time ne saw icicles on the bottom
of the passage leading to the entrance
that were two feet long and not larger
& than a lead pencil. They were formed
in this manner: The cold current of
I wind as it came into the cave followed
the floor, pushing the warmer air to the
top. The evaporation caused by the
meeting of the two currents was so
4 great that a stream of yapor was
formed which rose to the top in the
warm air, collected into tiny drops of
water; which in turn fell back to the
= floor in the cold current. freezing in
stantly. The dropping was so slow and
the drops so small that the icicles Were
= not given a chance to grow except in
length.
II No Animal Life.
i. The steady current of wind may be
4 given credit for the perfect purity of
: the air in the cave, it being dry, sweet
and invigorating, and, as stated, I'M
81 eilangeable in temperature. On a warm
5 day the explorer feels the chill upon
81 first entering, but in a few moments is
comfortable and need not worry about
drafts and colds until the trip is over
! and he steps out into the warm air
again. The guides guard against i'll
I'll effects from the sudden return to heat
3 by OBTAINING tourists several minutes
/. in the room above the entrance before
4 permitting them to 60 outside That
3. the cave has other outlets for this con-
slant stream of wind cannot be doubt
ed but no evidence of any has been