WIND CAVE Rules and Regulations 1920

RULES AND REGULATIONS.

GENERAL REGULATIONS.
(In effect March, 1, 1920.)

The following rules and regulations for the government of the Wind Cave National Park are hereby established and made public, pursuant to authority conferred by the acts of Congress approved January 9, 1903 (32 Stat., 765), and August 25, 1916 (39 Stat., 535).

1. Preservation of natural features and curiosities.—The destruction, injury, defacement, or disturbance in any way of the public buildings, signs, equipment or other property, or the trees, flowers, vegetation, rocks, minerals, animal or bird life, or other natural conditions and curiosities in the park is prohibited.

No person shall be permitted to enter the cave unless accompanied by the superintendent or other park employee, or by competent guides.

2. Camping.—No camp shall be made along roads except at designated localities. Blankets, clothing, hammocks, or any other article likely to frighten teams shall not be hung near the road.

Many successive parties camp on the same sites during the season; therefore camp grounds shall be thoroughly cleaned before they are abandoned. Tin cans, bottles, cast-off clothing, and all other débris shall be placed in garbage cans or pits provided for the purpose. When camps are made in unfrequented localities where pits or cans may not be provided, all refuse shall be burned or hidden where it will not be offensive to the eye.

Campers may use dead or fallen timber only, for fuel.

3. Fires.—Fires constitute one of the greatest perils to the park; they shall not be kindled near trees, dead wood, moss, dry leaves, forest mold or other vegetable refuse, but in some open space on rocks or earth. Should camp be made in a locality where no such open space exists or is provided, the dead wood, moss, dry leaves, etc., shall be scraped away to the rock or earth over an area considerably larger than that required for the fire.

Fires shall be lighted only when necessary and when no longer needed shall be completely extinguished, and all embers and bed smothered with earth or water so that there remains no possibility of reignition.

Especial care shall be taken that no lighted match, cigar, or cigarette is dropped in any grass, twigs, leaves, or tree mold.

4. Hunting.—The park is a sanctuary for wild life of every sort and hunting, killing, wounding, capturing or frightening any bird or wild animal in the park, except dangerous animals when it is necessary to prevent them from destroying life or inflicting injury is prohibited.

The outfits, including guns, traps, teams, horses, or means of transportation used by persons engaged in hunting, killing, trapping, ensnaring, or capturing birds or wild animals, or in possession of game killed on the park lands under circumstances other than prescribed above, shall be taken up by the superintendent and held subject to the order of the Director of the National Park Service, except in cases where it is shown by satisfactory evidence that the outfit is not the property of the person or persons violating this regulation, and the actual owner was not a party to such violation. Firearms are prohibited in the park except on written permission of the superintendent. Visitors entering or traveling through the park to places beyond shall, at entrance, report and surrender all firearms, traps, nets, seines, or explosives in their possession to the first park officer, and in proper cases may obtain his written leave to carry them through the park sealed.

The Government assumes no responsibilities for loss or damage to any firearms, traps, nets, seines, or other property so surrendered to any park officer nor are park officers authorized to accept the responsibility of custody of any property for the convenience of visitors.

5. Fishing.—Fishing with nets, seines, traps, or by the use of drugs or explosives, or in any other way than with hook and line, or for merchandise or profit, is prohibited. Fishing in particular water may be suspended; or the number of fish that may be taken by one person in any one day from the various streams or lakes may be regulated by the superintendent. All fish hooked less than 6 inches long shall be carefully handled with moist hands and returned at once to the water if not seriously injured. Fish retained shall be killed. Twenty fish shall constitute the limit for a day's catch.

6. Private operations.—No person, firm or corporation shall reside permanently, engage in any business, operate a moving-picture camera, or erect buildings in the park without permission in writing from the Director of the National Park Service, Washington, D. C. Applications for such permission may be addressed to the Director or to the superintendent of the park.

7. Gambling.—Gambling in any form, or the operation of gambling devices, whether for merchandise or otherwise, is prohibited.

8. Advertisements.—Private notices or advertisements shall not be posted or displayed within the park, excepting such as the park superintendent deems necessary for the convenience and guidance of the public.

9. Mining claims.—The location of mining claims is prohibited within the park.

10. Grazing.—The running at large, herding, or grazing of live stock of any kind on the Government lands in the park, as well as the driving of live stock over same, is prohibited, except where authority therefor has been granted by the superintendent. Live stock found improperly on the park lands may be impounded and held until claimed by the owner and the trespass adjusted.

11. Authorized operators.—All persons, firms, or corporations holding franchises in the park shall keep the grounds used by them properly policed and shall maintain the premises in a sanitary condition to the satisfaction of the superintendent. No operator shall retain in his employment a person whose presence in the park may be deemed by the superintendent subversive of good order and management of the park.

All operators shall require each of their employees to wear a metal badge with a number thereon or other mark of identification, the name and the number corresponding therewith or the identification mark being registered in the superintendent's office, These badges must be worn in plain sight on the hat or cap.

12. Dogs and cats.—Cats are not permitted in the park, and dogs only to those persons passing through the park to the territory beyond, in which instances they must be kept tied while crossing the park.

13. Dead animals.—All domestic or grazed animals that may die in the park at any tourist camp, or along any of the public thoroughfares, shall be buried immediately by the owner or person having charge of such animals, at least 2 feet beneath the ground and in no case less than one-fourth mile from any camp or thoroughfare

14. Travel.—(a) On sidehill grades throughout the park motor-driven vehicles shall take the outer side of the road when meeting or passing vehicles of any kind drawn by animals; likewise, freight, baggage, and heavy camping outfits shall take the outer side of the road on sidehill grades when meeting or passing passenger vehicles drawn by animals.

(b) Wagons used in hauling heavy freight over the park roads shall have tires not less than 4 inches in width.

(c) All vehicles shall be equipped with lights for night travel. At least one light shall be carried on the left front side of horse-drawn vehicles in a position such as to be visible from both front and rear.

15. Miscellaneous.—(a) Campers and others shall not wash clothing or cooking utensils in the waters of the park or in any way pollute them; or bathe in any of the streams near the regularly traveled thoroughfares in the park without suitable bathing clothes.

(b) Stock shall not be tied so as to permit their entering any of the streams of the park. All animals shall be kept a sufficient distance from camping grounds not to litter the ground and make unfit for for use the area which may be used later as tent sites.

(c) Campers and all others, save those holding licenses from the Director of the National Park Service, are prohibited from hiring their horses, trappings, or vehicles to tourists or visitors in the park. No pack trains shall be allowed in the park unless in charge of a duly registered guide.

(d) All complaints by tourists and others as to service, etc., rendered in the park should be made to the superintendent, in writing, before the complainant leaves the park. Oral complaints will be heard daily during office hours.

16. Fines and penalties.—Persons who render themselves obnoxious by disorderly conduct or bad behavior shall be subjected to the punishment hereinafter prescribed for violation of the foregoing regulations, or they may be summarily removed from the park by the superintendent and not allowed to return without permission in writing from the Director of the National Park Service or the superintendent of the park.

Any person who violates any of the foregoing regulations shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 12 months, or both.

REGULATIONS OF MARCH 30, 1912, GOVERNING THE IMPOUNDING AND DISPOSITION OF LOOSE LIVE STOCK.

Horses, cattle, or other domestic live stock running at large or being herded or grazed on Government lands in the Wind Cave National Park without authority therefor will be taken up and impounded by the superintendent, who will at once give notice thereof to the owner, if known. If the owner is not known, notice of such impounding, giving a description of the animal or animals, with the brands thereon, will be posted in six public places inside the park and in two public places outside the park. Any owner of an animal thus impounded may, at any time before the sale thereof, reclaim same upon proving ownership and paying the cost of notice and expenses incident to the taking up and detention of such animal including the cost of feeding and caring for the same. If any animal thus impounded shall not be reclaimed within 30 days from notice to the owner, or from the date of posting notices, it shall be sold at public auction at such time and place as may be fixed by the superintendent after 10 days' notice, to be given by posting notices in six public places in the park and two public places outside the park, and by mailing to the owner, if known, a copy thereof.

All money received from the sale of such animals and remaining after the payment of all expenses incident to the taking up, impounding, and selling thereof, shall be carefully retained by the superintendent in a separate fund for a period of six months, during which time the net proceeds from the sale of any animal may be claimed by and paid to the owner upon the presentation of satisfactory proof of ownership, and if not so claimed within six months from the date of sale such proceeds shall be turned into the Wind Cave National Park fund.

The superintendent shall keep a record in which shall be set down a description of all animals impounded, giving the brands found on them, the date and locality of the taking up, the date of all notices and manner in which they were given, the date of sale, the name and address of the purchaser, the amount for which each animal was sold and the cost incurred in connection therewith, and the disposition of the proceeds.

The superintendent will, in each instance, make every reasonable effort to ascertain the owner of animals impounded and to give actual notice thereof to such owner.