Jewel Cave National Monument
| Jewel Cave National Monument | |||
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| Location: | South Dakota , United States | ||
| Specialty: | Stalactite cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota | ||
| Next city: | Rapid City, SD | ||
| Surface: | 5.1537 km² | ||
| Founding: | February 7, 1908 | ||
| Visitors: | 97,395 (2006) | ||
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The Jewel Cave National Monument with the Jewel Cave ( dt. : Jewel Cave) is the third-longest cave in the world with over 324 km charted courses (as of April 2019). It is located in the Black Hills about 13 miles west of Custer in Custer County , South Dakota . It was discovered in 1900 and placed under protection as a National Monument in 1908 . Parts of the cave are open to visitors and it is looked after by the National Park Service .
history
Frank and Albert Michaud discovered the cave in 1900 when they noticed a cool draft from a crevice in a valley. It is unclear why no one discovered this rock opening in the past.
After the cave entrance was expanded with a blast, the Michaud brothers found the cave with calcite crystals on the walls. Hence the name jewel cave . The brothers tried to commercialize the cave by widening the entrance, creating paths inside, and trying to attract tourists. The project failed, but news of the cave reached Washington, DC President Theodore Roosevelt gave the Jewel Cave the status of a National Monument on February 7, 1908 . The National Park Service took over management in 1933 and led cave tours from 1939.
Until about 1959, less than two miles of the cave trails were known. Only then did Herb and Jan Conn, two mountaineers from the area, begin exploring and were able to map 15 miles (15 miles) within two years. However, some of the new discoveries were outside the boundaries of the National Monument, in the area of the National Forest. In 1965 these parts were added to the National Monument. The park administration has installed a 100 m deep elevator and various paths, metal steps and platforms that make visiting the cave easier.
In August 2000 a 340 km² forest fire on the surface damaged 90% of the monument. The visitor center and some historical buildings were spared.
Exploration
By 1979 Herb and Jan Conn had explored and named 100 km of paths in the cave. Since explorations in 2010, Jewel Cave has been considered the second largest cave in the world after Mammoth Cave in Kentucky . Investigations of the air currents suggest that the parts discovered so far comprise only a small part of the cave system. Further explorations by volunteer cave explorers now take several days, as the boundaries of the explored area are far from the entrances.
visit
The Jewel Cave is open all year round. The National Park Service offers three guided tours: the Scenic Tour , which takes 1 hour and 20 minutes over paved paths (electric lights) and 723 steps; the Lantern Tour , which takes about 1 hour 45 minutes with lanterns into the initially discovered part and the Spelunking Tour , where you use helmets and helmet lamps to advance into undeveloped parts of the cave and have to crawl through narrow passages.
Web links
- National Park Service: Jewel Cave National Monument (official site; English)
- Black Hills Community Portal Black Hills Area Guide & Community Portal
Individual evidence
- ↑ Worlds Longest Caves. NSS Geo2, Bob Gulden, April 7, 2019, accessed July 1, 2019 .
- ^ Raid City Journal: Jewel Cave reaches 150-mile mark , March 2, 2010
- ↑ National Park Service: Jewel Cave National Monument - Cave Trip Summaries , accessed January 7, 2016