JEWEL
We
got up early on Wednesday and ate a quick breakfast. We broke camp and drove
back into the Badlands of South Dakota, bound for Jewel Cave National
Monument. Prior to the trip I’d
purchased tickets for the Scenic Tour.
The Scenic Tour provides an opportunity to visit various cave chambers
and passages decorated with calcite crystals and other speleothems. The tour features two types of calcite
crystals, nailhead spar and dogtooth spar. These are the "jewels" of Jewel
Cave. In addition, this section of the cave includes boxwork,
cave popcorn, flowstones, stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, and a long
ribbon drapery called the cave bacon.
Jewel
Cave was discovered in 1900 by Frank and Albert Michaud. When it was discovered, the entrance was a
single hole in the mountainside that was too small for human entry. Cold air was blowing out of the hole,
suggesting the presence of a substantial cave.
The Michaud brothers enlarged the entrance using dynamite. Once inside, they found crawlways and
low-ceilinged rooms coated with beautiful calcite crystals that sparkled like
"jewels" in their lantern light.
The discoverers filed a mining claim even though calcite crystals have
little commercial value. Instead, the
Michaud’s attempted to develop the cave into a commercial tourist attraction. They built a trail within the cave and
constructed a lodge on the rim of Hell Canyon.
However, the enterprise failed due to the remote location and the
difficulty of attracting tourists to the area.
President
Theodore Roosevelt established Jewel Cave National Monument in 1908. By 1959, two miles of passage had been
discovered within Jewel Cave. Over the
next three years, Dwight Deal, a geologist, and Herb and Jan Conn, two rock
climbers, began extensively exploring and mapping the cave. By 1961 the known length of the cave was over
15 miles. This included the discovery of
the “scenic area” within the cave.
Construction of additional cave trails, elevator shafts, and a visitor
center occurred in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
Exploration
of Jewel Cave has continued over the next 50 years. Herb and Jan Conn discovered more than 60
miles of cave passageways between 1959 and 1981. By December of 2018, 200 miles of passageways
had been mapped in Jewel Cave. A major
breakthrough took place in March 2014 in the Splinter Section of Jewel Cave.
Since its discovery, over 24 miles of passages have been mapped, with
hundreds of open “leads” that remain to be explored. Due to the
remoteness of the area, cavers spend up to four days in the cave, resting each evening
at a site called Deep Camp. It takes cavers about eight hours to reach Deep
Camp from the visitor center elevators. From there, it takes another four
hours to reach the “end” of the cave.
At
200.3 miles, Jewel Cave is currently the second longest cave in the country and
the third longest in the world. Cavers
believe that it may connect to Wind Cave, which is protected within Wind Cave
National Park. Wind Cave has 140 miles
of mapped passageways, making it the sixth longest cave in the world. If a connection is found between Wind Cave
and Jewel Cave it would immediately become at least the second longest cave in
the world. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky has
410 miles of mapped passageway.
Our
tour included about 30 people, and the ranger leading the tour did a great
job. It was very scenic, but photography
was challenging due to the artificial lighting.
The tour took about an hour and a half.
Afterwards, we had planned to visit Wind Cave and take a tour
there. However, it was a beautiful,
warm, sunny day, and we had both spent enough time underground for one
day. We only had one afternoon left
before we started the long drive east.
We decided to spend it sightseeing and doing short hikes in Badlands
National Park.
Back to South Dakota
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!