Jewel Cave National Monument

Jewel Cave National Monument
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)

Location	Custer County, South Dakota, U.S.
Nearest city	Custer, South Dakota
Coordinates	43°43′46″N 103°49′46″W / 43.72944°N 103.82944°W / 43.72944; -103.82944Coordinates: 43°43′46″N 103°49′46″W / 43.72944°N 103.82944°W / 43.72944; -103.82944
Area	1,273 acres (515 ha)^[1]
Created	February 7, 1908 (1908-February-07)
Visitors	77,146 (in 2011)^[2]
Governing body	National Park Service

Black Hills and Badlands


Sculpture
Mount Rushmore Crazy Horse
Geologic formations
Badlands Needles Devils Tower Bear Butte Spearfish Canyon
Mountains
Harney Peak
Caves
Wind Cave Jewel Cave
Parks, forests, and grassland
Wind Cave Custer State Park Black Hills National Forest Black Elk Wilderness Buffalo Gap National Grassland
Lakes
Sylvan Pactola

Jewel Cave National Monument contains Jewel Cave, currently the third longest cave in the world, with 179 miles (288 kilometers) of mapped passageways.^[3] It is located approximately 13 mi (21 km) west of the town of Custer in South Dakota's Black Hills. It became a national monument in 1908.^[4]

History

Frank and Albert Michaud, two local prospectors, discovered the cave in 1900, when they felt cold air blowing out of a small hole in a canyon. It is unknown whether any previous inhabitants of the area were aware of the natural cave opening, which was not large enough for a person to enter.^[5]

After enlarging the cave entrance with dynamite, the Michauds found a cavern lined with calcite crystals, which led them to name it "Jewel Cave." The brothers tried to capitalize on the discovery, widening the opening, building walkways inside, and opening it to tourists. Although their venture was unsuccessful, news of the discovery eventually reached Washington. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Jewel Cave a National Monument on February 7, 1908. The area around the natural entrance to the cave was further developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The National Park Service assumed management of the monument in 1933 and began offering tours in 1939.^[5]

As recently as 1959, less than 2 miles (3.2 km) of passageway had been discovered. That year, however, Herb and Jan Conn, local rock climbers, began exploring, and within two years had mapped 15 miles (24 km). Much of the new discoveries lay outside the boundaries of the monument, under land managed by the United States Forest Service. The two agencies performed a land swap in 1965, establishing the present boundaries of the park, and enabling the development of a new part of the cave. The Park Service sunk a 300 feet (91 m) elevator shaft to a previously remote cave area, and built concrete walks and metal stairs and platforms along a one-half-mile loop. The "Scenic Tour" was opened in 1972. Most modern-day visitors tour that part of the cave. In August 2000, an 83,000 acres (340 km²) forest fire burned 90% of the monument and the surrounding area. The visitor center and historic buildings were spared.

Exploration

By 1979, Herb and Jan Conn had discovered, named, and mapped more than 64 miles (103 km) of passages. Although they largely retired from caving by the early 1980s, exploration has continued unabated. Because the areas being explored take many hours to reach, explorers now sometimes camp in the cave during expeditions of as long as four days. The cave is mapped by traditional survey techniques, using compass, clinometer and today with lasers instead of tape measures.^[5]

Its 178.91 mi (287.93 km) of mapped passageway make Jewel Cave the third longest cave in the world, after Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky and Sistema Sac Actun at the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), at 193.07 mi (310.72 km).^[3]

The discovered areas in the cave account for only about 3 to 5% of the estimated total air volume of the cave. The cave volume is estimated by measuring the amount of air that the cave "exhales" when the outside air pressure drops and "inhales" when the outside air pressure rises.^[5]

Hydrogeology

Jewel Cave was formed by the gradual dissolution of limestone by stagnant, acid-rich water. The water enlarged a network of cracks that had formed during the uplift of the Black Hills approximately 60 million years ago. The layer of calcite crystals that covers much of the cave walls was created by the re-deposition of calcite from water saturated with the mineral.

After the water that formed the cave drained, speleothems (cave formations) began to form. Jewel Cave contains all the common types of calcite formations, such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and frostwork, although not in the same abundance as other well-known caves. The dry parts of the cave contain some formations created by the deposition of gypsum, such as gypsum needles, beards, flowers, and spiders. Finally, Jewel Cave contains a very rare formation called a hydromagnesite balloon. Those are created when gas of an unknown source inflates a pasty substance formed by the precipitation of the magnesium carbonate hydroxide mineral.

Access

Jewel Cave is open year round. The Park Service offers three tours: the scenic tour, a half-mile loop through a paved and lighted central portion of the cave accessible by elevator; the historic tour, a candlelight tour through the earliest-discovered part of the cave; and a wild caving tour, through an undeveloped part of the cave near the scenic loop. There are 3 surface trails varying in length and difficulty.^[5]

Much of Jewel Cave is covered with spar crystals, but they are rarely as clear as this cluster.
Spar crystals cover much of the walls in some sections of the cave. Typically they are a dull brown color as in this room.
Aragonite frostwork is another speleothem found throughout the cave, typically in small crusts on the walls.

References

↑ "Listing of acreage as of December 31, 2011". Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
↑ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
1 2 Bob Gulden (November 18, 2013). "Worlds longest caves". Geo2 Committee on Long and Deep Caves. National Speleological Society (NSS). Retrieved July 3, 2015.
↑ "The National Parks: Index 2009–2011". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
1 2 3 4 5 Jewel Cave brochure; National Park Service; GPO, WDC

Conn, Herb; Conn, Jan. The Jewel Cave Adventure: Fifty Miles of Discovery in South Dakota. ISBN 0-939748-01-0. (describes the exploration of Jewel Cave from its discovery to the mid-1980s)
Palmer, Arthur. Jewel Cave: A gift from the past. OCLC 20543502.
The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington, D.C: U.S. Department of the Interior. OCLC 53228516.

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

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Category Portal WikiProject

Protected areas of South Dakota

Federal

National Parks	Badlands Wind Cave

National Historic Sites and Memorials	Minuteman Missile NHS Mount Rushmore NMem

National Monument	Jewel Cave

National Forests	Black Hills Custer

National Grasslands	Buffalo Gap Dakota Prairie Fort Pierre Grand River

National Historic Trail	Lewis and Clark

National Recreational River	Missouri

National Wildlife Refuges	Huron WMD Karl E. Mundt Lacreek Lake Andes Madison WMD Sand Lake Sand Lake WMD Waubay Waubay WMD

National Wilderness Areas	Badlands Black Elk

State

State Parks	Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve Bear Butte Custer Fisher Grove Fort Sisseton Good Earth Hartford Beach Lake Herman Newton Hills Oakwood Lakes Palisades Roy Lake Sica Hollow Union Grove

State Recreation Areas	Angostura Beaver Creek Big Sioux Big Stone Island Burke Lake Buryanek Chief White Crane Cow Creek Farm Island George S. Mickelson Trail Indian Creek LaFramboise Island Lake Alvin Lake Cochrane Lake Hiddenwood Lake Louise Lake Poinsett Lake Thompson Lake Vermillion Lewis and Clark Little Moreau Llewellyn Johns Mina Lake North Point North Wheeler Oahe Downstream Okobojo Point Pease Creek Pelican Lake Pickerel Lake Pierson Ranch Platte Creek Randall Creek Richmond Lake Sandy Shore Shadehill Snake Creek Spirit Mound Historic Prairie Springfield Swan Creek Walker's Point West Bend West Pollack West Whitlock

Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming

Attractions

Scenic routes

Roads	Norbeck Scenic Byway Iron Mountain Road Needles Highway Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway

Trails	Mickelson Centennial Trail

Populated places

Cities	Belle Fourche Central City Custer Deadwood Edgemont Hot Springs Hill City Lead Newcastle Rapid City Spearfish Sturgis Whitewood

Towns	Buffalo Gap Fairburn Hermosa Keystone Pringle Sundance

Unincorporated	Dewey Four Mile Galena Hanna Johnson Siding Nemo Rochford Rockerville Silver City Three Forks

History and people

Native American	Cheyenne people Lakota people Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) established the Great Sioux Reservation Black Hills War, or Great Sioux War (1876) Sitting Bull Crazy Horse Lone Horn Red Cloud Spotted Tail

Old West	Dakota Territory (1861–1889) Black Hills Expedition (1874) Black Hills Gold Rush (1874) Newton–Jenney Party (1875) Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage Route (1876-1887) Sidney-Black Hills Stage Road (1876-1887) Rapid City, Black Hills and Western Railroad (1893–1947) Seth Bullock and Martha Bullock General George Armstrong Custer Dora DuFran Black Elk Wild Bill Hickok Calamity Jane Historian Doane Robinson Sol Star Al Swearengen Charlie Utter

Ghost towns	Addie Camp Bismuth Blacktail Burdock Cambria Carbonate Etta Flatiron Greenwood Maitland Myers City Nahant Novak Pactola Sheridan Spokane Terraville Tigerville Tinton Trojan

Modern	Fossil Cycad National Monument (1922-1957) Stratobowl (1934-1959) Black Hills flood (1972) Sculptors Gutzon Borglum and Lincoln Borglum Author Joseph Bottum Politician Francis H. Case Poet Charles Badger Clark Historian Watson Parker

Road junctions

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