Christmas Tree Park

Christmas Tree Park, Wind Cave National Park, 26611 US Highway 385, Hot Springs, SD 57747-9430, or call (605) 745-4600. Map. E-mail comments about Wind Cave's webpage to: phyllis_cremonini@nps.gov. All pictures are in the public domain but should be credited as 'NPS photo'. The mission of Wind Cave National Park is to preserve and protect the natural resources. Wind Cave National Park is 28,295 acres.

American Indians of the area have many stories about holes in the Black Hills that blow wind, but the first recorded discovery of Wind Cave was in 1881. Jesse and Tom Bingham were attracted to the cave by a whistling noise. As the story goes, wind was blowing out of the cave entrance with such force that it blew off Tom's hat. A few days later when Jesse returned to show this phenomenon to some friends, he was surprised to find the wind had switched directions and his hat was sucked into the cave. Today, we understand that the direction of the wind is related to the difference in atmospheric pressure between the cave and the surface.

The first person reported to have entered the cave was Charlie Crary in the fall of 1881. He claimed to have left twine to mark his trail, others entering the cave later found his twine. These early explorers were the first to see a rare cave formation called boxwork.

Text Credit: Wind Cave History

Leave a comment, make a request, Let this small sampling be a guide to better quality, more plentiful, public domain, royalty free, copyright free, high resolution, images, stock photos, jpeg, jpg, free for commercial use, clip art, clipart, clip-art. more at Public Domain Clip Art and clip art or public domain and Christmas