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Columbian Mammoth at The Mammoth site of Hotsprings, South Dakota

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Short Faced Bear-

So how big was this bear anyway? When we think of modern grizzlies and polar bears their size is staggering, but this prehistoric monster was bigger still. On all fours it would have stood eye-to-eye with a 6ft grown man. Rearing up on their hind legs, some specimens would have topped twelve feet tall.

Large adult grizzly bears stand around nine feet tall, and polar bears are a bit bigger, standing around ten feet. Arctodus Simus would have towered over them all. To further put this in perspective, regulation height for a basketball rim is ten feet. A bear standing almost as tall as a regulation NBA basketball backboard is beyond terrifying.

Polar bears are regarded as the biggest modern bear species. Adult male polar bears might weigh around 1,200 pounds, and the heaviest on record weighed in at just over 2,200 pounds. By comparison, this prehistoric bear would have weighed in around 2,500 pounds. One specimen of the South American giant short-faced bear unearthed in 1935 may have tipped the scales at a colossal 3,500 pounds!

To make matters worse, this bear wasn’t just huge; it could also run. With longer legs in comparison to modern brown bears and a leaner, lankier build the short-faced bear may have been capable of reaching speeds as high a 40 miles-per-hour

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Hotsprings South Dakota was a quaint town with big surprises of its history, museum, and friendliness throughout its community.

Discovering The Mammoth Site was a rewarding and educational experience that will not disappear in our memories.

This is the same town where Alvin McDonald visited to sell his specimen found in Wind Cave National Park. His journal describes his venture of restocking supplies, selling his finds, and advertising the cave tours to tourists from the cave pictures I took before.

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Warm artesian-fed spring waters created a pond that was attractive to wildlife. Findings at the site include the remains of megafauna such as giant short-faced bears along with those of shrub oxen, American camel, llama, wolves, coyotes, birds, minks, ferrets, prairie dogs, voles, and moles. Invertebrate discoveries include several species of clams, snails, and slugs.

The majority of the mammoth remains have been identified as those of Columbian Mammoths, although the remains of three Woolly mammoths have been found as well.

Mammoths that slipped into the sinkhole found it difficult to escape. Researchers measuring the pelvic bones of the remains have determined that most of the victims were young males.

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The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota is a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs, South Dakota. It is an active paleontological excavation site at which research and excavations are continuing.

The area of Mammoth Site of Hot Springs enclose a prehistoric sinkhole that formed and was slowly filled with sediments during the Pleistocene era. The sedimentary fill of the sinkhole contains the remains of Pleistocene fauna and flora preserved by entrapment and burial within a sinkhole. This site has the greatest concentration of mammoth remains in the world.

As of 2016, the remains of 61 mammoths, including 58 North American Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths had been recovered. Mammoth bones were found at the site in 1974, and a museum and building enclosing the site were established. The museum now contains an extensive collection of mammoth remains.

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Thursday February 26th, 1891

(6:35 in cave) (Monument Hall Route 1 trip)

I put up 2 stone claim notices this forenoon & started in the cave to work between the Post Office & Red Hall. M.A. Moore & I put in a shot but it did not do much good. At 2:25 this afternoon we returned to the entrance at 6:00 P.M. M.A. Moore & I returned from the Sampson's Palace Route at 3:00 A.M.

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Page from Alvin McDonald’s Journal:

Saturday February 21st, 1891

--- not in cave ---

J.M. Moore & Father started for Hot Springs this morning & Father has not got home yet (7:50 P.M.) I have not been in the cave today, on account of not feeling well, more than anything else. I started an itemized map of the Sampson's Palace Route today & got the most of the Geode Hall Branch finished in good colors. The day has been cold but I guess tomorrow will be warmer, because the wheel is giving us music. Am getting homesick after staying out of the cave so long.

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Today in Alvin’s Journal depicts his day spent outside the cave.

Friday February 20th, 1891

--- not in the cave ----

It has been a quiet day with no visitors & a great deal of snow has thawed with the North West Winds. Father got home from Custer City and reported all well in that place and at Moss City. He said Samuel J. Lowell of New York City was at Moss City on business

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Thursday February 19th, 1891

(4:05 in Cave) (Monument Hall, Cataract, Specimen & Guide Discovery Routes 1 trip)

Father started to Custer City this morning on business. At 1:10 P.M. J.M. Moore & I started in the cave with the intention of finding the source of Wind River (a thing that I and August Anderson give up more than six months ago). To get to Wind River, we had to go on the Monument Hall Route, as far the Post Office & then take the Cataract Route from the Post Office. To the right of this end of the third division of the Post Office we climbed up about 60 feet (angling) & came into the cataract. In the North East end of the Cataract we crawled into a small passage leading to the left & came into a small room (after going about 25 feet). From here we turned to our left about 50 feet & then to our right into the Wind River chamber. Here we found a heavy quartz wash and a good many big rocks in the bottom of the room. We explored about 20 minutes without favorable results. I finally found a place that I could get through, by breaking a while with the hammer, & had ....... on top & bottom of the hole. After breaking through, we came into a room with no regular shape or dimensions that I could see, (probably 30 yards across). From the West end of this room we found a passage leading to the right & I had the pleasure of being the first human being that ever went through it (because I made the first tracks). After we got through this passage we came into the first natural room that I ever saw in the cave, (there not being any fallen rocks), with dimensions about 17 feet in diameter x 10 feet high. From that we got into a confusion of passages (all natural) leading first to the right and then to the left, about 25 or 30 feet at each angle, & then got into a large room with no regular shape. From there we got into a passage leading to the right & then to the left, but kept getting smaller until we were forced to make our progress on our hands & knees. When we got through we came unexpectedly on a cotton wrapping twine. I recognized the twine as the one we stretched yesterday on the Specimen Route & found that we was near "Turtle Room" (about 25 feet above it). J.M. Moore and I have the honor of, not only connecting the Cataract & Specimen Routes, but finding another way to get to the Post Office without going past the Brides Chamber. We was not satisfied with finding one thing of so much importance, but determined to explore fore more. So we came along the string we had found already stretched until we got even with the stalactites that J.M. Moore found yesterday & then made our string fast to it and left it. We went through a small hole on our hands & knees that led us into a good sized room, (about 30 x 20 feet, irregular), that had quartz wash in the bottom of it; but was nothing like the Wind River wash. From this room we took a small passage leading to the North West that was nearly lined with calcite crystals. The passage kept get larger until it opened up into a larger room with regular dimensions (about 45 x 15 feet). We looked around about 15 minutes before we found the passage that we wanted to take, but I finally found it in the North West Corner of the room. The passage was pretty small at first but there was some wind coming out of it & that inspired us to keep moving on because, in Wind Cave, whenever you find a passage that has wind in it, it shows the passage is of some importance. It was a natural passage & we followed it over a hundred feet before we found the big room we expected to find. The room was very irregular & was about 150 feet across in the shortest place. There was a whole network of passages leading in every direction .... & we found that some one had been in the room before we had because the was tracks in the coft floor. We tried to follow the tracks out of the room, but when we got on the solid rock floor again, there was no tracks, so we gave it up after about half an hours search & returned to the large room again. We took another passage this time from the west end of the room & after we followed it a while, we found tracks in it & then found a beaten trail & things began to look natural to me,

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Wind Cave is the first cave national park and currently, the 6th most extensive cave network in the world. It's most famous for its large concentration of a fairly rare cave formation known as boxwork. Boxwork is formed when dissolved calcium carbonate crystallized in cracks in surrounding rock. The surrounding rock then erodes away and leaves the boxlike calcite crystals.

Alvin McDonald would collecting boxwork formations as specimens to sell at the nearby town of Hotsprings,SD.

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Sunday February 15th, 1891

(2:03 in cave) (Crystal Route 1 trip)

Father and I packed a box of curiosity this morning. At 10:35 A.M. I started in the cave to get some mineral crystals. I went to the south end of Crystal Palace Via the old stalactite rooms and the deep hole near them. I first worked out the pocket of mineral crystals that I discovered on the 13th, and then went on the circle that I found the last time Brown's folks was in the cave with me. When I got about half way around the circle, I found a mineral crystal that was capped with calcite cut crystals. When I got nearly around circle to the left I discovered a young crystal cave & worked it partly out, but I did not take any of it out of doors. I came back to the mineral crystal I first worked out & loaded up ready to come out of the cave. When I arrived at the entrance, George McManus, (our first neighbor down Wind Canon) took me by surprise. After dinner I went home with him, the first time have been down to his place this year, and came back about dark. The weather was cloudy when I got up this morning and has been getting colder ever since. This is the coldest evening we have had this winter, so far. I got out of the cave today at 12:38 P.M.

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Saturday February 14th, 1891

(9:00 in cave) (Monument Hall Route 2 trips)

At 8:00 A.M. Father and I started in the cave to work on Roe's Misery. We got in the first shot to the left of the misery and about 9 inches deep. It tore out about one tone of rock & broke it up pretty fine We put the second shot, directly behind the place where we put the first shot. The third shot blowed out at top (Boxwork). I put the fourth shot in a hole (already drilled) at the other end of Roe's Misery & tore out about a ton & a half of rock. We came out for dinner at 12:30 P.M. We went in the cave again at 1:30 P.M. & came out at 6:00 P.M. We put in two shots in the forenoon & two shots in the afternoon. J.M. Moore went to Hot Springs this morning to see how his brother was and get some candles. He got back this evening before father and I got out of the cave & reported all well. He brought out a Winchester rifle with him to kill rabbits with, as there is no other game in the country at this time in the year.

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Thursday Feb. 12th, 1891

(4:10 in cave) (Guide Discovery Route 1 trip)

Father returned from Hot Springs at 1:30 P.M. At 6:00 P.M. J.M. Moore, Elmer and I started on an exploring trip on the Guide Discovery Route. Choosing the right wing of the route, we undertook to explore the hole that O.K. Rounds and I found on 26th day of October 1890, and found it hard climbing. When we got to the bottom we found a place that I had been in before, a room with mud in the bottom of it.

It was the second room (to the left of the main route) from the bottom of the deep hole near the Guides Discovery. From this room we found our way to the first room, and from there we found a way back to the bottom of the deep hole near the Guide's Discovery. When we was trying to find a way to get down deeper, I found that same ledge of Marble that I found in the Monument Hall & Sampson's Palace Routes.

On our way out we determined to explore a deep crevice near the South Dressing Room, and came down near the end of the Oven. We got out of the cave at 10:10 P.M. after seeing lots of cave and making a few important discoveries.

It is a clear night and quite a bit of snow thawed today. I took the first trip on the Guide Discovery Route today that I have taken on that route this year. Good night A!

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Wednesday Feb 11th, 1891

(5:45 in cave) (Monument Hall Route 1 trip)

Father started to Hot Springs this morning at 7:00 o'clock A.M. J.M.Moore and I started for Monument Hall. When we got just this side of Devil's Lookout we found a ledge of Marble about 26 inches thick. On our way to Monument Hall we found several places that we threatened to explore on way back.

We explored all the places except the last one, but found nothing. When we got up to the middle of the longest stretch on the rope, I determined to explore that little hole, that I threatened to explore on the 25th day of January 1891, when West, Moore & Elmer were with me. I left J.M. Moore at the top of the crevice & started down It (the crevice) when I got about half way down I met with a bothersome obstacle in the shape of a rock.

After hammering it (the rock) out of the way I called for the rope, (because there was a hole below me that I could not see the bottom of) and got it in about a minute. I was surprised to find that the rope would not reach within ten feet of the bottom of the hole, and that was the hardest climbing of the whole business (the bottom of the hole is about level with the bottom of the White Elephants).

I found myself in a wonderful place & among the most beautiful scenery in the volcanic part of Wind Cave. From here I found the most dangerous climbing that I ever experienced. In the first place l got into the middle of (as far as I could tell) a place that I could see neither bottom nor top. After I got out of that scrape I found a room about the shape of Monument Hall and about twice as long. At the far end of this room I saw some beautiful bracket work that was crystallized.

After I left this room about 400 feet behind I came suddenly & unexpectedly to a stop. On the way back I saw the main passage that I had missed but had not the time to explore it because I thought J.M. Moore was getting anxious about me. I found it a good deal harder climbing to get back than I had at first supposed. When I got up the rope we pulled it out of the place, I had just been in and put it in its old place. When we got back to Devil's Lookout we found that ledge of marble in the south end of it.

When we got it to Snow Ball Room we tried to get some Fairy's Palace crystal but with poor success. (J.B. West came on business about sundown or a little after) I and J.M. Moore got out of the cave at 12:45 P.M., the longest trip I have taken on the Monument Hall Route since my first trip to Monument Hall on the 26th day of March 1890.

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Alvin McDonald’s Journal Entry:

Friday February 6th, 1891

(20 minutes in Cave) (Monument Hall Route - 1 trip

At 7:15 A.M., I started for Beaver Valley to work on the Lost Cabin Lode. We found the lode getting richer every inch we dug in it. We got some Galena specimens. I arrived at home at 6:40 P.M. and brought some specimens of Galena out with me. The ledge gets richer the deeper we dig into it. Elmer went into Hot Springs today and he intended to stay at Mores tonight. I went in the cave this morning after a shovel to take a ..... to Beaver Creek with me. Was in 20 minutes. I found that the shot I and Elmer fit in Roe's Misery yesterday tore out the corner that we wanted it to.

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Alvin McDonald Journal Entry Thursday, Feb. 5th 1891

9 1/2 hours in the cave making two trips to Monument Hall Route.

Elmer and I started to work on Roe’s Misery at 7:00 a.m. Se put in one shot with good effect(18 inch hole)

And drilled 18 inches of another hole before coming out. We came@out of the cave at 11:30 a.m. At 12:30 p.m. Elmer and I started back to work on Roe’s Misery. We finished the hole we started but the shot did no good, as we drilled through into a pocket of some kind. We then drilled a hole in the upper left corner( as we go in) I fired the shot. I came out for supper arriving at 5:30 p.m. Elmer brought out a fine quartz crystal that the shot knocked down.

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From the Journal of Alvin McDonald.

Wednesday, February 4th 1891

4 hours in the cave making two trips to Monument Hall Route.

At 8:30 A.M. I started in the cave to work on the path between the Camels Back and the Tobbogan Slide. I put in one shot in a crack to the left of the path and brought down a rock weighing about 1,300 pounds. It lodged the point opposite and I put about a quarter stick of powder as close to the place it was caught as I could get it. But failed to bring it down.

After dinner, Dather went in the Cave and worked the rock loose that I put two shots in this foreman at 7:20 P.M. Father and I went in the cave to explore a place near the Brides Chamber. We found nothing there except pipe stone. We then climbed up the crevice between Devils Pot Hook and the Prairie Dog Towne. We found several geodes and two carrasites, first a calcite nail head crystal, second a crystal found shaped like a dragon.