Black Hills, S.D. - Rushmore Cave - a photo on Flickriver

Black Hills, S.D. - Rushmore Cave

            The Postcard

A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name. The image is a glossy real photograph, and the photography was by Harms. The card has a divided back.

Rushmore Cave

Rushmore Cave is the closest show cave to Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the United States. It is the ninth longest cave in South Dakota, measuring a distance of 3,653 feet (1,113 metres).

Discovery of Rushmore Cave

It was discovered in 1876 when a log flume that supplied water to mining operations in the town of Hayward broke and spilled water onto the side of the hill. As the water moved down the hill it started flowing into a small hole in the hillside.

The local miners who went up to fix the flume noticed this abnormality, and were interested to find out where the water was going. After fixing the flume, the men decided to go inside and explore. After about 30 feet (9.1 m), the men came to a large drop off which went down about 15 feet (4.6 m). 

They exited the cave, and cut down a tree which they used as a ladder to access the cave. The miners then saw that the majority of the cave was made out of limestone. Knowing that limestone doesn't contain any gold deposits, they abandoned the cave as a mining opportunity, and left it alone. 

Some of the local townspeople heard news of this discovery, and became curious as to what they might find inside the cave, which later became a tourist attraction.

Features of the Cave

The cave has a cornucopia of rooms including the Entrance Room, Post Office, Image Room, Big Room, Fairyland, Rope Room, Geode Room, The Rouge Room (Party Room), Arrowhead Room, and the Floral Room.

The cave also includes boxwork and many dripstone formations including stalactites, stalagmites, columns, helictites and flowstone.

Boxwork is a honeycomb-like structure that can form in some fractured or jointed sedimentary rocks. A helictite is a type of stalactite that changes its axis from the vertical at one or more stages during its growth, and typically looks like a twig.

Flowstone occurs when water rich in calcium carbonate flows along the walls or floor of a cave, depositing layers of calcite. Formations can look smooth and glossy, or create hanging 'curtains' and draperies. Flowstone can form both in the air and under water in a cave.

Taken on: December 3, 2020

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postcard

old

nostalgia

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Black

Hills

South

Dakota

Rushmore

Cave

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Harms

divided

1876

log

flume

Hayward

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Sets appears in: • Caves, Tunnels and Grottos • United States

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