Wind Cave National Park
national park in South Dakota, USA
Wind Cave National Park is a national park of the United States located 10 miles (16 km) north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established on January 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the sixth national park in the U.S. and the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world. The cave has calcite formations known as boxwork, as well as frostwork. Approximately 95 percent of the world's discovered boxwork formations are found in Wind Cave.
Wind Cave is one of the best known examples of a breathing cave. The cave is recognized as the densest cave system in the world, with the greatest passage volume per cubic mile. Wind Cave is the sixth longest cave in the world with 168.02 miles (270.40 km) of explored cave passageways (as of 2025) and the third longest cave in the United States, though it is only the second longest cave in Custer County, South Dakota behind Jewel Cave. Despite the close proximity, no connection has ever been found between Wind Cave and Jewel Cave and most geologists believe the caves are not connected. Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed grass prairie in the United States, as well as the southern terminus of the South Dakota Centennial Trail.
Origin of name
The passages of the cave are said to "breathe" as air continually moves into or out of them, equalizing the atmospheric pressure of the cave and the outside air.
The public source identifies “Wind Cave National Park” as national park in South Dakota, USA. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Wind, Cave and National.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1334313. VIAF identifies the subject as 243850430. The Library of Congress control number is sh89002854. Authority coordinates are 43.556, -103.479. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903 and 2025.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wind Cave National Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.