The
first true explorer of Wind Cave was Alvin McDonald,
who was the son of Wind Cave's early caretaker Jesse McDonald. Alvin documented
many of his caving adventures in a diary,
measured passageways and drew cave maps. Our understanding of the early exploration
of Wind Cave comes largely from his records.
Alvin began
exploring the cave in 1890 at the young age of seventeen. To say that Alvin was
curious about the cave is like saying John Muir "liked" nature. Alvin
was enthralled by the cave. In March of 1891, he spend 134 hours in the cave
on
35 trips using candles to light the way and balls of twine to mark his travel
routes. After being out of the cave for only two days Alvin wrote, "Am getting
homesick after staying out of the cave so long."
It
is thought that Alvin used balls of twine not only to mark passages, but to measure
them. Stringing twine along passageways proved to be a very inaccurate measuring
technique. In fact, during the 1890's the cave was advertised as having over 97
miles of passageway. In reality, about 5 to 10 miles of cave had been explored.
The assertion of 97 miles may have been more than just a measuring error. Such
inflated claims also lured more tourists to the cave. The McDonalds operated a
cave tour business in a partnership with another family, the Stablers, throughout
the 1890's.
The fall of 1893 brought terrible sorrow to
the McDonalds when Alvin contracted typhoid fever when on a trip to the Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. He had traveled there with his father to operate a booth
advertising the wonders of Wind Cave. Alvin and his father also sold cave specimens
to the public, a common practice before Wind Cave received protection as a national
park. Shortly after returning home, Alvin McDonald died at the age of twenty on
December 15, 1893.
The partnership that existed between
the McDonalds and Stablers seemed to dissolve with Alvin's passing. A battle for
ownership of the cave ensued when the McDonalds charged the Stablers with keeping
too much of the profits and the unauthorized sale of specimens. The Stablers claimed
rights of ownership to the cave and its minerals, while the McDonalds claimed
rights of ownership to the land and cave access by the Homestead Act. A review
of the claims by the General Land Office denied the Stablers claim to the cave
and ruled that the McDonalds failed to meet the requirements of the Homestead
Act and voided their claims to the land. The General Land Office also recommended
that the land be set aside as a "public reserve." In 1903, this public
reserve became Wind Cave National Park.
With the creation
of Wind Cave National Park came greater concerns for the preservation of the cave.
However, exploration was not viewed as vital to the cave's protection until many
years later. At the turn of the century the park's attitude toward exploration
was "with a view towards ascertaining the practicability of opening up more
of the cavern to the public." During this era, national parks in general
tended to focus more on providing public recreation than environmental protection.
The focus shifted more toward environmental protection after World War II. |
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