During our 2005 family trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota, the morning after our trip to Hot Springs we started our day at Ken’s Minerals, which Mom and I always visited on every trip we made. It is near the town of Custer. Mom had a pretty sizeable collection of rings that she purchased there over the years. On this visit, I bought a Nativity set made from rose quartz, a powder horn (for an old musket), and an arrowhead. When I mentioned that I collect old weapons, Ken showed me his antique flint lock rifle.
The Gordon Stockade (which was being restored in 2005) was created shortly after General Custer’s men discovered gold in French Creek and the Black Hills were flooded with prospectors. The Black Hills are sacred to the Lakota. The US Government wanted to know what was there, so they sent General Armstrong Custer and several soldiers into the Hills to find out. They camped out near what is the present day town of Custer. In fact, from the photos, the camp looks like it could have been approximately where Ken’s Minerals is now.
While there, they discovered gold. The US wanted to buy the Hills from the Lakota, but the Lakota said, “No way”. So the government just took it anyway. The Pine Ridge Reservation was eventually set up near the Black Hills on the edge of the Badlands. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 took place by the Wounded Knee Creek in an area of the Badlands.
Close to the stockade is Lower French Creek Road. Taking that road, we came upon a monument to the first white woman to enter the Blacks Hills (in 1874). We took a fork in the road there which went by a log schoolhouse, which was the first public school in the Dakota Territory. This was the road to the cabin that a childhood friend of Mom and her sister owned and where Mom and I stayed on several prior trips. This road eventually leads to the cabin that Grandpa and his sister, Teena, owned along French Creek.
When we arrived at the cabin, the new owners were there and in the middle of remodeling the place. They were kind enough to invite us inside and show us around. I was so happy to be able to see inside of it before it was entirely different than it had been when Mom was a child. The owners at that time were also from Hot Springs. Once again, Scott and I videoed Mom outside of the cabin as she told her stories about it.
For lunch we went to the Sylvan Lake Resort. After lunch we walked around by the lake a bit. We came across a woman who had a Scottie, which is the same type of dog that Mom and her family had when Mom was a child and they lived in the Black Hills. From Sylvan Lake we took the Needles Highway back to the State Game Lodge. Along the Needles Highway, several of the rock formations resemble needles. There is one that is called the Eye of the Needle and that is what it resembles.
Back at the State Game Lodge, Scott had signed us up for the Buffalo Jeep Safari. This is a ride in a large jeep off road. It goes to some scenic places not served by roads and also drives amongst the bison herd.
The ranger who was taking us out said that the bison respect what is bigger than they are. So a large jeep doesn’t get bothered. A person (or even two) on a motorcycle or a person walking around do not fit in the category of “bigger than they are”. Every year there are a certain amount of deaths caused by somebody getting out of their cars and getting too close or someone on a motorcycle who thinks that the bison should be intimidated.
On a later trip to the Black Hills, some of us went up the hill behind the State Game Lodge to take a hike. We heard this loud crashing sound below and ahead of us while on the trail. We froze and waited to see what it was. It was a couple of male bison who crossed the trail about twenty five feet or so in front of us. They didn’t pay any attention to us at all. Likely didn’t notice us. We didn’t move an inch until they had gone their merry way and we were certain no more were following them. Then we turned around and went back down to the Game Lodge. Enough excitement for that walk.
On the Buffalo Jeep Safari, we were joined by a couple other jeeps from the State Game Lodge. We saw more pronghorn antelope, some white tail deer, some mule deer, and some elk in addition to a couple different bison herds. We then joined the other jeeps and some wagons from Bluebell Lodge, taking families with children on hayrides, at a remote location in Parker Canyon for a chuck wagon dinner. Western music and a comedian emcee accompanied our western dinner.
When we got back to the Game Lodge, six large, male bison where hanging out by the parking lot. They didn’t seem to be too concerned about us getting out of the jeeps and into our cars. They were far enough away that they obviously didn’t consider us to be a threat. There were a couple more hanging out near our cabins again.
The next morning, it was like a bison convention on the lawn between the cabins and the lodge. We piled into the van to go to breakfast at the lodge and then headed for Crazy Horse after breakfast. The difference in size between Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore is best illustrated by the fact that all four faces on Mount Rushmore would fit on Crazy Horse’s cheek. The project, which is very controversial to the Lakota, including some of Crazy Horse’s descendants, is funded by a private fund and the money brought in by tourism to the site. Once completed it will be the largest sculpture in the world.
Our next adventure was to drive up to Deadwood. Mom and I had been there many years before to visit the nearby Homestake Mine. This was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America. George Hearst (father of William Randolph Hearst) had been one of the owners. On that earlier trip, we had then gone into Deadwood to take a look at the town and the graves of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. The town was quite sleepy and rundown in those days. But that was before the film “Dances with Wolves”, Kevin Costner, and the TV series “Deadwood”. What a difference! This time there was loads of noise, tons of casinos, places to eat and lots and lots of people. In fact, we had some difficulty finding a place to park.
My initial reaction was that the wild west authenticity was gone. But the town had been created by people who had come west to seek their fortune in gold. If you have ever seen the “Deadwood” TV show, that was pretty accurate and many of the people portrayed on the show (at least in the first season) were based on real people. The original Deadwood was extremely wild and dangerous, so this newer version was actually quite tame in comparison.
The earlier “ghost town” version of Deadwood that Mom and I had visited did have signs indicating where the original No. 10 Saloon had been located (where Wild Bill Hickock had been killed) and where Jack McCall (Hickock’s killer) had been caught. They also had a newer version of No. 10 where, for a fee, you could go downstairs and see a tableau of Hickock’s murder with mannequins. The new Deadwood still had those things (except for the mannequins), but they also had refurbished several of the old buildings, including a couple hotels, and had actors portraying the famous characters from the days of the Gold Rush who reenacted Hickock’s murder and McCall’s capture and trial on a regular basis.
We had lunch in a place just across the street from the No. 10 Saloon. Afterwards I tried one of the slot machines and won $2.50 for my quarter. I decided to quit while I was ahead. I’m not much of a gambler.
We went to the Mount Moriah Cemetary to view the graves of Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, and Seth Bullock. When Mom and I had been there before, Hickock and Calamity Jane still had the old-fashioned painted wooden grave markers much as would have been on their graves back when they were first buried. This time Hickock had a large bust on his grave and Calamity had a large urn on hers. Seth Bullock and his wife had a decent sized stone marker on their joint grave.
A little ways outside of the town is a wooden recreation of what the town looked like back in its heyday in the late 1800s. They have costumed interpreters and reenactors do their thing for the tourists. Sometime when I have the time I’ll stop by there to check it out. But I really am much more interested in the real thing.
When we got back to the cabins, it seemed that every male bison in the park was hanging out there. We said goodbye to our sizeable pals, packed our bags and left the following morning after breakfast to get back to the airport at Rapid City.
