Day 15: Black Hills, SD (Part 2)

After our leisurely drive north through the Black Hills National Forest, we arrived at Deadwood in the mid-afternoon.


Because I'm lazy, I'll let the Encyclopedia Britannica tell you about the town:

"Deadwood lies in a canyon formed by Whitewood Creek in the northern Black Hills, more than 4,530 feet (1,380 metres) above sea level. Built at the base of the steep wooded inclines of Deadwood Gulch and extending up the hillsides, it was named for the dead trees found in the canyon.

The city was founded during the 1876 gold rush, when about 25,000 miners swarmed the surrounding hills. Its turbulent reputation as a lawless outpost of frontier violence was magnified by the Deadwood Dick series of dime novels. Wild Bill Hickok, soldier, scout, and marshal, was killed in a Deadwood saloon on August 2, 1876, by Jack McCall. Hickok is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery, near Calamity Jane, Preacher Smith, Seth Bullock, and other celebrated frontier characters who died in the vicinity; the reenactment of Hickok’s killing and the capture and trial of McCall is a popular tourist spectacle.

A railroad link was completed in 1891, and Deadwood became a regional trading centre. Gambling was central to Deadwood’s history, but it was prohibited in 1905; gaming in Deadwood was again legalized, through a state referendum, in 1989.

The economy is driven largely by tourism, based primarily on dozens of gaming halls. The city itself is a national historic landmark. Pop. (2000) 1,380."

Deadwood was mildly interesting, and it was fun to see the assassination site of Wild Bill, but I wouldn't say it's worth going out of your way for.


Demise of Wild Bill


Demise of Wild Bill's assassin, about a block down the street


Old West card player


Adams Museum from rail station


Main street, with tour bus


One of many gambling halls


At the Stockade


Then back on the road again, to drive all the way back down to the south end of the Black Hills to visit Mount Rushmore, which is very close to our base in Rapid City.


The pretty Pactola Reservoir is along the way.


Also along the way: some bighorn sheep (or similar) clearly not too bothered by humans. David pulled over and walked back for some photos.





As we approached Mount Rushmore, the landscape was beautiful and so was the evening light. Neither of us was super thrilled about the monument itself, but hoped we might have an opportunity for some pretty pictures.


Only two miles to go and still beautiful out - will the sun stay out from behind the clouds?


No, it won't. And it never came back. Not only that, but the sun was behind the monument by this time of day, which is bad.

But we actually enjoyed seeing the famous sight more than we expected, despite all the ridiculous tourist trappings and ugly concrete platform that leads up to it. And I was able to brighten up the photos a bit in Photoshop, which I'm gradually figuring out how to use.


Leading up to the monument is an avenue with the states' flags and accompanying inscriptions.


Here's ours.






The portraits are pretty amazing pieces of sculpture, actually. There's not a lot of room for mistakes when you're carving out of a big rock, and it must have been hard for the sculptor to get any kind of perspective on something so big.

To properly conclude our day of American traditions, we stopped for dinner at a Pizza Hut in Rapid City. Seated nearby were a pair of college-age girls who were doing the same road trip as us, going in the other direction towards Chicago.

Next up: Wyoming! It's a beautiful state and was the highlight of our trip.