The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-06
MAMMOTH whip GAVE
REMARKABLE CAVERN HUNDRED MILES LONG, CONNECTING
TWO THOUSAND CHAMBERS.

The house committee on public lands
has reported favorably on the bill OF
| Congressman Martin providing for the
establishment of a national park to
cover the country about the Wind Cave
in the vicinity Of the Black Hills in
South Dakota. Should this bill pass,
| the Wind cave will soon stand with
| Mia CARA, Yellowstone park and the
| Mammoth cave of Kentucky as one of
Americas most wonderful freaks, says
| the Washington correspondent of the
st. Louis Republic.
Eighteen years ago this summer, as
three. cowboys, racing across the broad
undulating prairies of Dakota, passed
near the foot of a small hill, one of
them was attracted by peculiar hiss
| ing sound, as of escaping steam. He
was some 200 yards in the rear of his
! companions, and without saying a
word or giving any signal to them, he
| turned to the left and rode toward the
| source Of the sound.
AS he drew near a small clump of
| bushes, the kissing sound became more
distinct and it was evident that it came
from the bushes. He dismounted and
| left his horse, walking a short distance
up the side of the hill until the tangled
| underground made further progress
| afoot difficult. The kissing seemed to
which his gaze could not penetrate.
He cut away some of the branches
and tangled vines and pulled away the
| brush. He craWled through the OPEN
| ing and was greeted by the sound of
heavy rumblings, which seemed to pro-
| coed from what appeared to be the
mouth of well short distance back
in the thicket.
He crawled toward the dark hole,
wondering what the strange sounds
meant and how they were produced.
When within about ten feet of the
| opening he was hurled toward the gap
| ing mouth by tremendous draft of
air. He threw out his arms and
grasped the shrubbery and clinging
| desperately, he prevented himself be-
ing drawn into the hole by the power
full suction.
Lying on the ground he heard the
roar which came from the recesses of
| what appeared to be deep cave, but
he did not dare draw nearer to investi-
gate. Then he crawled on his hands
and knees out into the open, mounted
his horse and rode after his com3an-
| ions, who had gone on without him. He
did not overtake them until they had
reached the sod hut at the ranch head
! quarters. There he told the story OF
what he had seen and heard.
His fellows greeted his story deris-
lively, saying, in effect, that it sounded
to them like a fairy tale. But he in
sisted on the truth of his story and on
| the following morning the trio started
back over the trail
AS the cowboys approached, the same
noises were heard, first faint and then
more distinctly. They cut away more
of the brush and underground and re-
vealed the yawning mouth of the cave.
Carefully they approached it on either
| i - H. 1,,I 4 Sc
and later one of the more reckless of
the cowboys offered to go into the deSk
hole if his fellows would hold to the
end of rope, which he fastened about
his body.
Thus equipped the venturesome cow
boy craWled nearer to the mouth of
the cavern and was blown into it with
great force He yelled to his COM
panions, but the sound Of his voice
was lost in the deafening roar. The
others, however, held tight to the rope
and then pulled the explorer back.
He explained that when he first en-
tered the hole he was chilled to the
bone-it was as though he had stepped
inside refrigerator on a summers day.
He had been able to hear nothing and
see nothing, but he thought that If he
remained inside long enough to recover
from the sudden effects of the change
of temperature and to accustom him.
self to the darkness. he could learn
sc me thing of the mysteries of the IN
terror. Accordingly he proposed a few
signals which he could communicate
to his companions in case of accident
or his immediate need of assistance,
and started back toward the mouth of
the cavern. The others braced them
selves, not knowing how great a force
they might have to pull against, and
awaited developments.
Once inside the cave, the explorer
did not find it so difficult a proposition
as he had supposed. The effect of the
torrent of wind was not felt after he
had picked his way some distance along
the rough bottom of the opening 1t
seemed to be tunnel, inasmuch as
he struck his head several times on the.
projecting rocks from above. He crept
along cautiously and finally, after ne
had proceeded a distance Of several
hundred yards, he entered a larger
apartment, in which the reverberations
when he shouted startled him.
He told his partners what he had
found, and later, with several cow
punchers and ranchers in that section,
they made a more thorough investiga-
ton of the inside of the wonderful
cave.
But it was some considerable time
before anything definite as to the ex-
tent Of the subterranean passages be-
came known. They were explored for
miles in several directions. Wonders
similar to those in the Mammoth cave
of Kentucky were found on every hand.
Those who have seen the South Da-
kota cave say that it contains winding
paSSa geS, spacious galleries, deep crew