February 19, 2019 • Page 8 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Treasure Awaits! Shop Classifieds 319 Walnut St. • Yankton, SD 57078 605-665-5884 www.missourivalleyshopper.com BULL SALES NO BULL Sales are coming up & NOW is the time to get noticed! Be Sure To Get Your Advertising In! Wind Cave Surpasses 150 Miles In Length WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, S.D. – Cave explorers from Colorado recently surveyed 594 feet in Wind Cave, bringing the total length of surveyed passages to 150 miles. The cavers, Randy Macan, Shawn Lamley, Emma Paul, and Janis Mankovs, surveyed 10 hours Saturday, February 9, in the Half Mile Hall area of the cave. Modern day exploration began in the 1950s, with groups from the South Dakota School of Mines, the Colorado Grotto, and the National Speleological Society. Since then, hundreds of individuals have crawled, climbed, and squeezed through passages while exploring Wind Cave, making it the sixth-longest cave in the world. 30 Bred reGISTered POLLed HereFOrd COWS & BULLS FOr SALe BY PrIVATe TreATY. RCR POLLED HEREFORDS JAMES & BONNIE SIMMERMON AND SONS 38372 291ST STREET • LAKE ANDES, SD Contact a marketing representative at the MV Shopper MV Shopper M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y 319 Walnut Street • Yankton, SD 57078 605-665-5884 • 800-743-2968 MISSOU Fax: 605-665-0288R I VA L L E Y www.missourivalleyshopper.com Your Black Baldy Source Gant Polled Herefords & Angus Annual Sale Fri., February 22, 2019 1 PM at GANT RANCH • Complimentary Lunch 37195 285th St., 2 miles W. of Geddes, SD Selling: 50 Two-Year-Old Bulls Hereford & Angus Hereford Sires: Angus Sires: R on Target • JDH About Time NJW Homegrown • Pyramid Homegrown NJW Trust 167Y • Gant Trust 398C Mogck Bullseye • WAR Upgrade Connealy Thunder • Styles Consensus Gant Homegrown 433E Sire: Pyramid Homegrown 4151 Dam: Gant M326 287A BW 2.1 WW 49 YW 84 M27 Gant Thunder 631A Sire: Connealy Thunder BW 70 WW 650 YW 1280 • First Breeding Season Guarantee • Take Bull Sale Day — Deduct $50/Bull • Delivery is Available • Chisum Peterson, Auctioneer Gant Polled Herefords & Angus Dennis Gant 605-337-2564 • c: 605-680-1542 37214 285th St., Geddes, SD dggant@midstatesd.net Mark Gant 605-337-2340 • c: 605-680-1540 PO Box 15, Geddes, SD markgant@midstatesd.net www.gantpolledherefordandangus.com (605)487-7406 • (605)481-1936 RAISING POLLED HEREFORDS AND FI BALDIES SINCE 1978 90 Bulls For Sale Private Treaty Several will work on heifers. Will be semen checked and have all breeding shots. Over half are sold sight unseen throughout the midwest. Grown not fattened. Will Deliver (605)351-1535 (605)929-0337 “Cave exploration is a critical part of managing the cave because it’s hard to protect something you don’t know you have,” said Park Superintendent Vidal Dávila. “We’d like to thank all the individuals who, over the years, donated their time exploring this massive cave system.” Most of the current cave exploration is done by volunteers from either the local Paha Sapa Grotto or the Colorado Grotto in Denver. On average, 2 miles are surveyed annually, and it is estimated over 3,000 leads, or unexplored openings, remain to be checked. Studies of airflow through the entrances reveal that potentially only 10% of the cave has been found. This echoes the sentiments of the cave’s first systematic explorer, 17-year old Alvin McDonald, who wrote in 1890, “Have given up the idea of finding the end of Wind Cave.” Exploration can lead to discoveries within discoveries, such as those now taking place at the bottom of known cave. Over five hundred feet beneath the surface lies a series of cave lakes. Part of the Madison Aquifer, the first lake was discovered by Herb Conn and David Schnute in 1968. Scientist from the University of Akron are studying the microbial life found in the lakes. Despite living in an environment with no sunlight or photosynthesis, the lakes contain a very diverse bacterial community of over 4,000 species, a large portion of which have never been identified and are unique only to Wind Cave. Perhaps someday the bacteria in the lakes could be used to produce compounds such as antibiotics that might be used as medicine. Wind Cave is open yeararound with winter tours at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. For more information about the cave and its history, visit www.nps.gov/wica