[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 3 (Thursday, January 9, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S125-S126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK CENTENNIAL

 Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize a 
milestone in South Dakota and the United States, the centennial of Wind 
Cave National Park.
  For years, American Indians in the Black Hills had told stories about 
holes that blow wind. In 1881, while exploring in southwestern South 
Dakota, Jesse and Tom Bingham came upon one of those holes, Wind Cave. 
A man named

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Charlie Crary was the first person to enter the cave, and 6 years later 
it was reported to be 3 miles long. An early landowner was once heard 
saying he had ``given up finding the end of Wind Cave.''
  For nearly 20 years, the cave was held in private ownership through 
mining and homestead claims. In the late 1890s, the Department of the 
Interior took jurisdiction over the area after it ruled that no 
legitimate mining development was occurring and that homesteaders were 
not acting in good faith to occupy the land. On January 9, 1903, 
President Teddy Roosevelt, one of our Nation's most revered 
conservationists, signed legislation creating Wind Cave National Park, 
the seventh national park in the country and the first ever in the 
world to protect a cave. Later, Wind Cave officials were put in charge 
of managing new parks in the Black Hills area, including Devils Tower 
National Monument and Mount Rushmore National Memorial, until those 
parks established their own management programs.
  For 100 years, Wind Cave National Park has been one of the jewels of 
the National Park System. Today, the cave is one of the world's longest 
and most complex cave systems, with more than 103 miles of mapped 
tunnels, with more passageways still being discovered. Indeed, we may 
never find the cave's end. Cavers and tourists from around the world 
are attracted by the cave's unique boxwork, a honeycomb-shaped 
formation that covers the cave's ceilings and walls. And while that 
park's namesake is its focal point, the land above the cave is equally 
impressive, with 28,000 acres of rolling meadows, majestic forests, 
creeks, and streams. As one of the few remaining mixed-grass prairie 
ecosystems in the country, the park is home to abundant wildlife, such 
as bison, deer, elk and birds, and is a National Game Preserve.
  As many of my colleagues may know, last year, I introduced the Wind 
Cave National Park Boundary Revision Act. This legislation would 
enhance Wind Cave National Park's value to the public and help visitors 
enjoy it even more by expanding the park in it's southern ``keyhole'' 
region. This land currently is owned by a ranching family that wants to 
see it preserved for future generations. The land is a natural 
extension of the park, with mixed-grass prairie and ponderosa pine 
forests set off by a dramatic river canyon. The area also boasts 
archaeological sites, such as a buffalo jump over which early Native 
Americans once drove the bison they hunted. The addition of this land 
would enhance recreation for hikers who come for the solitude of the 
park's backcountry.
  Wind Cave National Park is a national treasure, and I can think of no 
better way to help the park enter its next century than by approving 
this expansion. The Senate approved the expansion last November, but 
unfortunately, it was not considered by the House before Congress 
adjourned for the year. I intend to reintroduce this legislative soon, 
and hope that my colleagues will again support its passage so we can 
permanently protect these extraordinary lands for future generations of 
Americans to enjoy.
  I congratulate the National Park Service and the staff of Wind Cave 
National Park on the centennial of the park's founding, and wish them 
all the best for the next 100 years.

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