Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-08-14
THE WIND CAVE
Upon . Government Reservation-A Mys-
terry of Nature.

cling mysteries of nature, is situated
twelve miles from Hot Springs upon 9
government reservation of 10000 Of
more acres and is reached by stages
which start out every morning from the
hotels here and return at night, carry.
ing tourists from all parts Of the world
and 'trippers" from the surrounding
country. The caves were discovered by
John Wells, one of the earliest ranch.
men in this part Of the country. He
heard a mysterious sound while he was
herding bunch of cattle and thought il
came from Indians. He picketed bis
horse and secuted around until he dis.
covered that the noise came from small
hole in the ground. This so puzzled
him that he got some dynamite and
blasted the hole larger, to its present
size, which is cut six feet in diameter.
Then, with neighbor named Bingham,
Wells made an exploration which con-
vinced them that they had fallen upon
one of the wonders of the world and
everybody agrees with them who has
made an investigation.
y
1t is necessary to climb down a nat
ural shaft about 100 feet deep, which has
been made easy by chiseling a flight of
$50 steps in the rock. Reaching the bot
tom, corridor may be followed into a
great chamber, which nature has en-
bellished with fantastic formations up
on the ceiling and the walls, with cry
stal cornices and stalactites and stalag-
mites of the rarest beauty, which the
guides make luminous by the use of
Bengal lights.
Every chamber of wonder leads to
another, sometimes directly through a
small aperature and sometimes through
a corridor between. More than 100
miles Of corridors and 5000 different
rooms have already been discovered, and
recorded upon plot. They vary in
size from few feet in diameter to the
largest, which covers about three acres.
Explorers have gone down 555 feet from
the surface of the earth-the exact
height of the Washington monument
and have discovered three distinct strata
of caverns, one underlying the other.
1t Is believed that there are still other
and similar strata farther down, even go
far as a thousand feet, but no one has
ever gone to the bottom. The former
superintendent, Mr.. Rankin, spent sew
eral days and nights at time in ex-
ploration, carrying rations and water
with him. He always found plenty of
fresh air, but took the precaution to
unreel a ball of stout twine as he went
along, so that he might have no difficulty
in tracing his way back. But really very
little is known about the caves, and
they offer a fascinating study for ge.
ologists and much opportunity for ad-
venture.
The new superintendent, Joseph Z.
Pitcher of Custer City, who took charge
May /, is organizing for a thorough ex-
ploration but is handicapped by the
fact that congress appropriates only ST.
500 a year for all purposes, and his
salary of 5000 comes out of that. Thus
only 5000 is left for things that have to
be paid for. The stage companies who
bring in tourists are required to pay
license of $50 a year, which assists to
keep the roads in repair.
The government obtained control of
the caves in 1893 by buying out the
ranchmen who owned them, with scrip
which may be used in locating upon
any unoccupied government land else
where.
Physicians say that the atmosphere of
the caves is a certain cure for asthma
and sooner or later they will doubtless
be utilized for such purpose. Several
of the chambers near the entrance are
capable of being fitted up for dormi-
tories, and can be easily lighted by
electricity, when wires are strung to the
power house at Hot Springs. There is
no hotel there now, only an eating
house, where good dinner is served to
tourists.
The most interesting of the phenom-
ena, aud it is said to be unique, is the
movement of the air within the caves,
which is either blowing out or blowing
in through the single shaft that forms
the entrance, and varying from hour to
hour in accordance with the pressure of
the atmosphere outside. Sometimes the
roar from the caves sounds like an en-.
gine blowing off steam and the current
is often 80 strong that it is difficult to
enter. Then when the pressure outside
is lightened, the current is suddenly re-
versed and blows the other way-from
the outside into the cavern. These
changes are always irregular and de-
pend entirely upon meteorological con-
ditions.
There is difference of opinion as to
the origin of these caves, but, according
to the peculiar theory, they were once
the interior ofa monstrous geyser, whose
waters were 80 charged with minerals
that they ate into the rock and honey
combed the interior of the earth, as we
find it now. And the minerals in the
water crystallized into the varied and
beautiful forms which give the walls
their splendor. The Indians believed
that the caves were the residence of the
spirits of their dead warriors and al
ways dreaded the sound of the wind nc