Alvin's Place

Wind Cave National Park is located about a half-hour south of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We initially didn't know much about it or even have it on our radar of things to do, but our national parks book convinces us that it's probably worth checking out. We decide to make it our destination after leaving Devils Tower. We make our usual late-night entrance after an all-day-and-night drive, and pull in around 11:30pm. Between some detours that weren't planned—or fun—that we won't mention at this point, the road being different than we expected, and the fear that a deer is going to jump out in front of us at any moment (seriously an issue around these parts!) we drive like grandma on Sunday and finally arrive.

The campground is more like a big picnic park area with bermuda style grasses and huge prairie lands. After getting camp set up and cracking a Rolling Rock (Jessica's cheap beer choice, not so good without lime-aid) we realize that we're standing underneath the most spectacular sky either one of us have ever seen! Life is once again good, and our trip—and 12-hour driving day—have meaning.

Wind Cave is surprisingly the seventh-oldest national park and fifth-longest cave system in the world at the moment. Cave exploration is an ongoing craft, and experts know that there must be more than the 135 miles that are documented. An expo at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago sparked enough awe and interest that the government commissioned a survey crew to see it first-hand and report back with their data. They unanimously agreed that it was worthy and joined: Yellowstone (first national park); Sequoia (second); Yosemite (third); Kings Canyon (fourth); Mount Rainier (sixth); and Crater Lake (seventh). With the addition of Wind Cave, what was considered worthy of protection changed.

The history of Wind Cave starts with the Native Americans in the area who revered it as sacred and never tried to explore it. The first westerners credited with its discovery were two brothers who had chased a wounded deer down a ravine and stubbled upon the entrance hole. But the main credit for it becoming a protected park goes to a young boy not yet 18 years old.

Alvin McDonald moved to the Black Hills in 1890 when his father was commissioned to run the South Dakota Mining Co. claim in the area. Gold had been discovered and prospectors were flooding in by the hundreds to find their fortune. Alvin being a young boy was less interested in prospecting and more interested in exploring. One day he happened upon the entrance to Wind Cave. What we haven't told you is that the entrance (photo, below) to the cave is only 14 inches across, from the photo and in person we're more that amazed that anyone could have or would have wanted to crawl into this crack in the ground. For the next three years, Alvin spent every waking moment in the cave and chronicled it in a journal that is displayed on the park's website. It was he and his father who took the exibit to the Worlds Fair in Chicago, started the initially tourism in the cave, and provided the first maps of the caves to the government surveyors. Here's an entry from his journal:

Friday Jan 23rd, 1891
We got up late this morning and I started into the cave at 9:15 A.M. with W Stirling of Hay Springs Neb and Frank Stirling of Sault Ste Marie, Mich. as follows. We started for Mound Builder's Rest and got there at 1:00 P.M. After looking around a while we struck a passage leading to the left and went through a narrow passage for 700 feet before finding anything of interest. We then found a flat room with four passages leading from it. We finally chose the passage that lead south and then East. After following this passage for about a quarter of a mile through open rooms we found a place where there had been a heavy fall some ancient period because the rocks are all stuck together with sediment of some kind. I found a geode with white crystals in it at the bottom of the pile. After running out our string we returned to the flat room with the four passages leading from it. I and Walter left Frank with the string so we couldn't get lost and explored the other passages. I found nothing in the west passage and he found nothing in the East passage. Then we both went the N.E. passage and found a room of beautiful crystallized box, lattice and bracket work together with some fine geodes. After backing up in good shape we started for the entrance and arrived at 6:30 P.M. after 9 hr 15 minute trip. Were plenty tired when we got out and.....supper ..... folks went to bed and left me at 9:00 P.M. and I think I will get to bed at 10:00 P.M. Have given up the idea of finding the end of Wind Cave. Good night, Cora.

Understanding that cave exploration in theses days was made possible with candles and a simple ball of string makes Alvin's accomplishments pretty amazing. At one point on the tour our guide tells us a story from Alvin where his string broke and he ran out of candles before he could find the exit. After 60 hours in the dark Alvin found his way out. Pretty amazing. Then the guide turns off the light and we discover what complete darkness is and that it was very amazing someone didn't find his bones years later!

Another great story from our guide, who himself is an avid Wind Cave explorer, came just weeks before we arrived. He and a few other park employees were mapping a new section of the cave when they came upon a room with several passages leading out. His passageway opened up and as he tells it, his excitement grew as he realized there was a large room at the end. In the caving world when you discover a new room you get to name it. He said there was a special feeling being the first person in this room until his head lamp spotted something on the wall that read Alvin McDonald July 4, 1893, with a smile he knew he was in Alvin's Place.

—Patrick Hardcastle