by the solicitor of the wonderful Wind Cave, who explains that the best
way to reach the cave is by means of the coach and four seen at the
hotel in the morning, and arrangements are made for the following day.
The next morning, seated in the tally-ho coach with strangers who are
soon acquaintances, you start on a beautiful twelve-mile drive to one of
nature's most interesting sights.

"Immediately after leaving town you begin to admire the scenery and
enjoy the cool, refreshing breezes, wafted from the mountains to the
north, down the slopes to the arid plains.

"After climbing a gently sloping 'hog-back' for about eight miles, you
are at the top of the divide and one thousand feet higher than Hot
Springs, which may be seen on the left. Looking ahead you can see Harney
Peak, the highest mountain in the Black Hills district; and on the right
you see Buffalo Gap, through which the creek runs that heads at
Min-ne-pa-juta Springs. The Indians used to drive buffalo through this
gap, hence its name. A small but thriving little town to the eastward
takes its name from this Buffalo Gap. From here you begin to go down a
gentle and winding incline to the cave, which is reached all too soon.

"At the office you register and procure tickets, and then have from
one-half to three-quarters of an hour in which to eat lunch or dine at
the hotel. Then all congregate in the office, from whence the start is
made, after every one has put on a cave cap, _not a suit, as such is
entirely unnecessary_. The guide leads the way to the entrance of the
cave which is separated from the office by some little distance, and is
located in the bed of a long since dry run, which in former times has
bared the carboniferous strata, and within this kind of rock the cave is
found.