Spring 2013 Destination Deadwood

Destination Deadwood and the Black Hills April ~ May ~ June 2013Page 2

Destination Deadwood is published by Seaton Publishing, Inc., 315 Seaton Circle, Spearfish, SD 57783 • (605) 642-2761 ©2013 Destination Deadwood All rights reserved

DESTINATION DEADWOOD STAFF: Letitia Lister - Publisher Dru Thomas - Ad Director/Project Manager

GRAPHIC DESIGN STAFF: Vicki Strickland ~ Melissa Barnett ~ Jennifer Boese ~ Roxanne Lewis ~ Bernie Butcher

ADVERTISING SALES STAFF: Sharon Mason ~ Sona O’Connell ~ Chrissy Blair ~ Kari King ~ Judy Nuber

VARIOUS PHOTOSCOURTESY

THE ADAMS MUSEUM

CONTENTS

Deadwood Trolley Schedule Trolleys run at regular intervals between all hotels, motels and other key stops throughout Deadwood. Cost per ride is $1 per person. Hours are subject to change. The hourly trolley schedule is posted on backs of the Main Street Trolley signs.

Memorial Day to Mid-September Sunday-Thursday 7:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Friday & Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Winter Schedule Sunday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. to12:00 midnight Friday & Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.

For more information: City of Deadwood Trolley Department 102 Sherman St. Deadwood, SD 57732 605-578-2622

Going for the Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3History comes Alive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4&5Lodging, Dining & Gaming Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Schedule Of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 & 8World’s Purest Copper Being Formed in Lead . . . . . . 9&10Winners In Deadwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Mickelson Trail Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Legends of Deadwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 & 15Deals in the Black Hills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Area Attractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17, 18

Mickelson Trail Marathon June 2

Discover 26.2 miles of absolute Black Hills beauty during the annual Mickelson Trail Marathon that starts and finishes in historic Deadwood.

For more information, visit the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon website. http://www.deadwoodmickelsontrailmarathon.com/

Wild Bill Days June 14 - 16

Celebrate the life and times of Deadwood’s most famous resident, Wild Bill Hickok, with a weekend full of free entertainment! With two free evening outdoor headliner concerts, featuring Night Ranger Friday and Blood, Sweat & Tears Saturday on the Main Street stage, that’s just one awesome aspect of Wild Bill Days. You can also check out the National Dock Dogs Competition and find out who has the fastest gun in the West as real gunslingers compete for the title of “World Fast Draw Champion.” There’s also a weekend-long Wild West auction, featur-ing items from the real Wild West. There’s something for all tastes and ages. National DockDogs Competition will be back for its third year -- All dogs are welcome! Call (330) 241-4975 or email [email protected] for more info or to get signed up!

Friday, June 149 a.m. - 5 p.m.: Old West Auction & Show at Deadwood Mountain Grand11 a.m.: National DockDogs Competitions begin, held every 1.5 hours, on Main Street

- call (330) 241-4975 to register. All dogs welcome.11 a.m.: Deadwood March of Dimes Celebrity Shoot-Out Fundraiser - fast draw

shooting competition at Deadwood Pavilion11:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.: The Ghost of Seth Bullock at Adams Museum, where Gordy

Pratt will portray the ghost of the frontiersman.4 p.m.: Free main Street Concert 5:30 p.m.: DockDogs Extreme Vertical Competition on Main Street8 p.m.: Free main Street Concert – Night Ranger Saturday, June 15All Day: Cowboy Fast Draw Championships at Deadwood Pavilion9 a.m. - 5 p.m.: Old West Auction & Show at Deadwood Mountain GrandAll Day: Treasures, Trash & Cash city-wide rummage sale in Lead, Deadwood and

Central City, call (605) 578-1401 for info; maps are available at the Deadwood Chamber office and at NeighborWorks Dakota Home Resources

11 a.m.: DockDogs Speed Retrieve Competition on Main Street11:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.: The Ghost of Seth Bullock at Adams Museum, where Gordy

Pratt will portray the ghost of the frontiersman.Noon: Old West Auction - Deadwood Mountain Grand12:30 p.m.: DockDogs Big Air Competition1 p.m.: Dana Dental Arts/Texaco Country Showdown on Main Street Stage, where

free live music continues until 10 p.m.2:30 p.m.: DockDogs Big Air Competition4 p.m.: FREE Concerts on Main Street Stage Begin - Country Showdown winners

from Friday night will perform!5 p.m.: DockDogs Speed Retrieve Finals5:30 p.m.: DockDogs Big Air Finals8 p.m.: Free main Street Concert – Blood, Sweat & Tears Sunday, June 16All Day: Cowboy Fast Draw Championships at Deadwood Pavilion9 a.m. - 5 p.m.: Old West Auction & Show at Deadwood Mountain GrandNoon: Old West Auction at Deadwood Mountain Grand

Deadwood Event Schedule

Welcome to Deadwood!Dear Visitors,

Thank you for choosing the beautiful Black Hills as your travel destination. The Board of Directors and Staff of the Deadwood Chamber & Visitors Bureau

would like to welcome everyone who has traveled to the hills for a vacation or if you’re just passing through. We appreciate your business and look forward to see-ing you in historic Deadwood.

Spring is here and as always the Deadwood Chamber & Visitors Bureau has some great events planned. Check out these great events and call Black Hills Central Reservations for great room rates as well as the best packages anywhere at 1-800-344-8826.

May 4 - Cinco De Mayo - Come celebrate Cinco de Mayo on Deadwood’s Main Street! This all-day festival will be held Saturday, May 4 and will include food, music and more fun for the entire family than can fit in this paragraph. Check out www.deadwood.com for a complete listing of events.

June 2 - Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon – Join us for one of the most beautiful and scenic marathons in the world. The Mickelson Trail marathon draws thousands of runners each year as contestants run through the heart of the Black Hills of South Dakota.

June 14 - 15 Wild Bill Hickok Days – Get ready to kick off summer with Deadwood’s Wild Bill Hickok Days celebration. This event has literally some-thing for everyone. We’ll feature the extremely popular Old West Auction and Show, Cowboy Fast Draw Championships, the wildly entertaining Dock Dogs competition, Wild West re-enactors and some of the best national music acts free on Main Street. This year will feature the great Night Ranger and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Thank you again for choosing Deadwood as your travel destination. We hope to see you very soon. For more information on any Deadwood special event, check out our website at www.deadwood.com.

Pat RobertsPresident

Deadwood Chamber & Visitors Bureau

Destination Deadwood and the Black Hills Page 3 April ~ May ~ June 2013

Going for the gold

By Jaci conrad Pearson

Black Hills Pioneer

SPEARFISH — Getting a person’s feet wet gold panning can’t mirror history any closer than doing it in the creek where one famous Deadwood resident set up shop.

“We do it the way the old timers did it,” said local gold panner Mike Berg, owner of Crow Peak Outfitters. “We muck ore out of the creek. With me, there’s no mechanical. We use our hands and backs. It’s pretty labor intensive when it’s done like it was in the Gold Rush days.”

First of all, Berg takes his group to the famous Potato Creek — the same creek where Potato Creek Johnny found his 7 ounce gold nugget — located above Iron Creek Lake, just outside of Spearfish at around 10 a.m. His gold panning site is situated on land owned by Charlie Fillmore and his sister, whose father owned and operated the now abandoned Fillmore Mine, which was operational until World War II.

“I always tell people, ‘You don’t just go to the stream and go gold panning, like you see in some of those old pho-tographs of men kneeling down,’” Berg said. “I tell them ahead of time, ‘This is hard work, but you’re going to find gold.’”

Next order of business? Panning out some gold. Under the direction of Berg, groups begin by mucking the rock and ore out of the creek.

“We run the material through a classifier that separates the fine gold ore from the larger rock,” Berg explained. “This goes into a large tub that we then run through a rocker sluice to further separate the gold from the tailings. The sluice is washed out backwards into another tub. We then scoop out the fines and put into a gold pan and work it down to the mother lode for your pocket.”

Berg said that traditionally when people start panning the process begins with six five-gallon buckets and slowly dwindles down to one five-gallon bucket. A few hours into the process and as panners are tiring, the work is actually just starting.

“Once it gets into the pan, that’s when the hard work begins,” Berg said. “That’s why I’ve made my own milk stools for people to use. If they last four hours, considered a full day, they’re doing good.”

Berg said he and his helpers give very clear instructors on how not to lose that hard-earned color in people’s pans and gold panners get away with whatever gold and gem stones they find.

“We have never not found some,” Berg said. “Most peo-ple find between $20 and $30 worth of gold, which is sev-eral hundred flakes. Many get garnets, which are precious stones, too.”

Although he has never made a find even close to Potato Creek Johnny’s monstrous 7.346 troy ounce discovery, Berg has found several substantial, but smaller nuggets in the area.

With a little bit of luck and a lot of true grit, vacationers can try their hand at an age-old profession.

“What motivates people to do this is the historical as-pect,” Berg said. “The ability to experience history this way and to say, ‘I went and gold panned right where the old timers did it, right where Potato Creek Johnny might have stood.”

Berg and his wife, Rochelle, both of Spearfish, estab-lished their guide business, which also features fishing and hunting trips, in 1986, when Berg was still involved in teaching school, administration and coaching. The two are now devoted full-time to the guide business and a local bed-and-breakfast they own and operate.

Berg has been gold panning for a dozen or so years and gathers ideas from various sources, but has learned the art through hard work and experience on Potato Creek.

“I went online and watched gold panning shows. They give some good tips,” Berg said. “Most of my stuff is third generation rebuilt. I just kept refining it and re-fining it down to where it is now — simple and easy to use. Anybody could build this with supplies from Ace Hardware, right here in town.”

One small detail, though.“I order pans online and I’ve got different sizes,” Berg

explained. “If people want to buy them, I just usually sell them to them at cost at the end of the trip.”

Above all, Berg wants a person’s gold panning experi-ence to be a fun one.

“I don’t make it like a job. I do it where they want to come back and have fun,” he said. “We have snack breaks

when people get tired and lunch. I always tell them, ‘Remember, you’re the one on vacation.’”

Berg said that a vile to save the gold comes as part of the package.

“This is hard work grubbing the gold from the creek but can really be fun when you pan out a good pan with a cou-ple of dozen flakes in it,” Berg said. “Nothing shines like gold in the bright sun shine or as they say, some color in your pan.”

Berg, and others in the Black Hills offer guided panning services, however people can join groups that already lay claim to gold-rich lands, and people can also file claims with the state to obtain rights to search out their own wealth or just have a good time.

Black Hills still has many gold panners

There’s still gold in these hills. Visitors to the area can find guides who will help them pan for gold the way the old timers did it during the gold rush. You may not strike it rich, but if you are in the right area you can still find some color in your pans on a fun family activity. Courtesy photo


By Jaci conrad Pearson

Black Hills PioneerDEADWOOD — They’re seven of the

best character actors in the west, wielding everything from six-shooters to stringed instruments, all in the name of bringing Deadwood’s rich gold rush history to life throughout the summer season.

Most afternoons, beginning May 25 through Labor Day, the cast and crew of Deadwood Alive! can be found on the streets of Deadwood performing gun fights and evenings taking The Trial of Jack McCall to the stage.

A family-friendly show, kids are included from the get-go and incorporated into the show. Suited up in wacky western attire and seated on the stage – they’re the jury. Beware, big people – the remaining adult audience members are randomly chosen for impromptu witness roles.

Intermittently mixing music with McCall’s trial, the show is a jovial one and a great lighthearted take on this his-tory lesson. Adults and kids will enjoy

the music and play.“Trial of Jack McCall,” as it plays in

Deadwood, has been rewritten by Randy Christensen of Rapid City, a character actor who portrays prosecuting attorney Colonel George May. An elementary school coun-selor where he also coaches chess and dra-ma, Christensen also teaches graduate level classes on Deadwood, Lead, Spearfish and Ft. Meade history.

While the crux of the trial is historically factual, members of Deadwood Alive! take full privilege in ad-libbing.

“It’s historically accurate, but it’s also hysterically accurate,” Christensen said. “It’s all based on what we know from his-tory regarding the trial, but there’s a lot of improvisation thrown in there. What people see is pretty close to what happened at the trial.”

Same premise with the Main Street gun fights.

“The Pioneer did a great job of covering every gun fight we do, although we don’t know all that was said,” Christensen said. “That gives us our own artistic liberty to

add. We can say what we think they proba-bly said.”

Christensen has surrounded himself with some very interesting character actors and musicians including: ‘Crooked Nose’ Jack McCall, played by Sean Baxter of Deadwood, who also plays stand-up bass; John Swift, played by Andy Mosher of Deadwood, who also plays banjo; Judge William Littlebury Kuykendall, played by singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Anderson of Lead; Captain Wm. Massie, played by local resident Wm. Keio Bukovac a long-time character actor in Deadwood; and Mr. Whitehead, a role that will soon be filled following auditions.

While Christensen and his Deadwood Alive! crew have put on the show in its current form for just over a decade, the Trial of Jack McCall is quite a long-running production.

“The trial is the longest-running show of its kind in America,” Christensen said. “It’s been running since the 1930s, so that’s a great claim to fame for the trial.”

Deadwood also received one more claim to fame that the Deadwood Alive! actors are directly responsible for.

“Last year, True West magazine named Deadwood the number one city for old west entertainment in America,” Christensen said.

In order to gauge audience enthusiasm levels, Deadwood Alive! surveyed onlook-ers for the first two months of the year.

“We heard things like, ‘This is the best show I’ve seen on vacation.’ We continually hear that Deadwood is the best spot people have stopped on vacation, because of the street shows. We hear tons of appreciative comments,” Christensen said. “We also hear ‘It didn’t happen that way, because I saw it on HBO Deadwood.”

Lee Harstad of the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce said that the Western actors are an integral part of the visitor experience in downtown Deadwood.

“Deadwood is rich in history, and being able to provide a glimpse into the past through our Deadwood Alive! troupe is a very important part of the Deadwood visitor experience,” Harstad said. “The group, with performances ranging from the daily street shows, like the shoot-outs, sing-a-longs and card games with the kids, to the Trial of Jack McCall, gives guests the feeling of being back in time, and offers them an en-tertaining history lesson unlike any other.”

Christensen emphasized that gun safety is paramount for the group.

“We shoot black powder and cream of wheat cereal, which disperses out into the air within the first five to 10 feet of us,” Christensen said. “The guns we carry on the streets are pretend guns. We don’t touch the others until the gun fight begins and at that point, we’re so accustomed to gun safety, it’s just second nature. We’ve never had an incident here in Deadwood because of safety codes we adhere to and the partner-ships we have with the Deadwood Police Department, Historic Preservation and the Chamber of Commerce.”

Gunfights are held at 2 p.m. in front of Four Aces/Hampton Inn; at 4 p.m. in front of the Celebrity Hotel and Oyster Bay; and at 6 p.m. in front of The Franklin Hotel.

The Trial of Jack McCall starts promptly at 7:30 p.m., with the capture of McCall in front of Saloon No. 10 and the escort of the accused up Main Street to the Masonic Temple for a 7:45 p.m. performance by the Dover Brothers, followed by the hour-long Trial of Jack McCall, beginning at 8 p.m.

The Dover Brothers also perform original old-time period music from the Gold Rush

SEE DEADWOOD ALIVE! Page 5

History, high jinks comes alive

Deadwood Alive! Shows bring Deadwood’s history to the streets and the stage

Kids and adults alike are welcomed to the stage in “The Trial of Jack McCall for the Shooting of Wild Bill Hickok,” in the main floor of Deadwood’s Masonic Lodge at 8 p.m. most nights. Pioneer photo by Jaci Conrad Pearson


DEADWOOD ALIVE!Continued from Pg. 5

era in front of Mustang Sally’s at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Performances are held every day but Monday.

Just a little bit of insider advice from Christensen for visitors to Deadwood.

“Try to get to the shows a little bit early,” he explained. “During the summer, you might get three-quarters of a block away. We get 500-plus people at the 4 and 6 p.m. shows, so get there in time to get close to the action. And don’t be surprised if it gets a little bit loud -- it’s a gun fight.”

From gunfights in Main Street to involving the audience in the daily “Trial of Jack McCall”, the notorious criminal who assented Wild Bill Hickok, members of the Deadwood Alive! troop entertain Deadwood visitors daily. Pioneer file photos


Lodging

Aught Six Grille(Deadwood Mountain Grand)1906 Deadwood Mountain DrDeadwood, SD 57732(605) 559-0386deadwoodmountaingrand.comHave a light lunch or a moonlit dinner on the Aught 6 Grille’s deck overlooking Whitewood Creek. Or sit down inside to enjoy a quiet dinner of slow-roasted prime rib, fresh walleye or baked ziti -- accompanied by one of the nearly 60 wines on our extensive wine list.

The Deadwood Grille(Located inside The Lodge at Deadwood)100 Pine Crest Lane, Deadwood (Located on Hwy. 85 across from Tatanka)

605-571-2120877-DWD-LODGwww.DeadwoodLodge.comEnjoy the distinctive flavor of our Chef inspired menu, filled with unique appetizers, exquisite Seafood, Certified Angus Ranch House Steaks, and Chef Richard’s signature cuisine. The Deadwood Grille features an extensive wine selection, paired with our professional and courteous staff, to ensure you have a great dining experience. Open daily for breakfast and Dinner.

Gold Nugget Buffet(First Gold Hotel & Gaming)270 Main Street Deadwood, SD 57732

605-578-9777 800-274-1876 www.firstgold.com 3 Buffets served every day in theGolden Nugget Buffet rooms. USDA Coice Prime Rib served nightly and on Friday & Saturday Prime Rib & Crab. Deli opens nightly.

Oggie's Sports Bar &Emporium(Located inside The Lodge at Deadwood)100 Pine Crest Lane, Deadwood (Located on Hwy. 85 across from Tatanka)605-571-2120877-DWD-LODGwww.DeadwoodLodge.comOffering an extensive menu,

Oggie’s Sports Bar is a great place to meet your friends and share some spirits as you are surrounded by 12 HD TVs, where you can catch the game, or just check scores while playing pool or darts. Open daily at 10:30am.

Slime Plant Bar & Lounge (Deadwood Mountain Grand)1906 Deadwood Mountain DrDeadwood, SD 57732(605) 559-0386deadwoodmountaingrand.comEntertainment every night, and the menu includes tasty appetizers, salads and a nice variety of pizzas. Wash it all down with a cool Mother Lode Margarita or a couple of the ever-pop-ular Slimeball Shots.

gaming

dining

HOTELS & MOTELS

Deadwood Mountain Grand1906 Deadwood Mountain DrDeadwood, SD 57732(605) 559-0386deadwoodmountaingrand.comDeadwood’s only Boutique Hotel. The new 98-room luxury hotel is perched on a hill overlooking Historic Deadwood. Three executive king rooms along with five king suites deliver the most breathtaking views in town. Linger and enjoy the views at the creek side lobby, or enjoy an invigorating visit to the swimming pool and fitness center. You will enjoy everything from the on-site 250 car

parking garage, to the world-class concierge service.

Elkhorn Ridge RV Resort & Cabins 20189 US Hwy 85Spearfish, SD 57783605-722-1800877-722-1800www.elkhornridgervresort.comLocated in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, and ideally located minutes from historic Deadwood, legendary Sturgis, and Spearfish on Interstate 90 at Exit 17.An upscale RV Resort and Campground with 186 RV Sites, 36 Cabin Sites, Shower &

Laundry Facilities, Swimming Pool, Hot tubs, Playground, Gift Shop and General Store, lighted tennis & basketball courts, horseshoe pits and an event center for groups of all sizes. Enjoy breakfast or lunch in the Lodge at the Corner Café.

First Gold Hotel 270 Main Street Deadwood, SD 57732 605-578-9777 800-274-1876 www.firstgold.com Over 200 deluxe hotelaccommodations, 24 hour gaming halls, dining room, Banquet and meeting rooms available. Full

service lounge. On-site parking.

The Lodge at Deadwood100 Pine Crest Lane, Deadwood (Located on Hwy. 85 across from Tatanka)605-584-4800877-DWD-LODGwww.DeadwoodLodge.comWe offer 140 luxury rooms and suites and Deadwood’s largest indoor water play land. The Lodge also features Oggies Sports Bar, the casual fine-dining of the Deadwood Grille, the Deadwood Convention Center with full banquet services, a 24 hour fitness center, and a spacious Las Vegas style casino.

Deadwood Mountain Grand1906 Deadwood Mountain DrDeadwood, SD 57732(605) 559-0386deadwoodmountaingrand.comGet away to our Vegas-like casino play. Come visit Deadwood’s newest and most exclusive, state-of-the-art gaming locale. Our floor features more than a dozen of the latest slot games. With more than 200 machines in all to choose

from and exciting table games like Blackjack, Three-Card

Poker, and Texas Hold ‘Em. Table games will be open 24 hours on Friday-Saturday only. Sunday-Thursday will open at 11:00 am.

First Gold Hotel & Gaming270 Main Street Deadwood, SD 57732 605-578-9777 800-274-1876 www.firstgold.com Blackjack, 3 card poker and 24 hour slots. Ten casinos featuring our smoke-free Terrace Casino.

The Lodge at Deadwood100 Pine Crest Lane, Deadwood (Located on Hwy. 85 across from Tatanka)605-571-2131877-DWD-LODGwww.DeadwoodLodge.comOpened in Dec of 2009, the Lodge offers a spacious and comfortable Las Vegas-style casino with free on-site parking. The casino features over 260 slot games, 12 table games, roulette, the Rounder’s Poker Room and

the Essentials Gift shop. Receive complimentary bottled beer and well drinks while playing at the tables.

VFW 10 Pine Street Deadwood, SD 57732 605-722-9914 9:30am-12:00am Slots, liquor, live music monthly.Bingo every Mondayat 6:45pm.


scheduLe of events APRIL

APRIL 5Tonic sol-fa Concert(a cappella)6:30 pmOriginally formed at St. John’s University in Minnesota, leads the vocal music world as the nation’s premier a cappella group. Admission charged.Matthews Opera House & Arts Center605-642-7973www.spearfishartscenter.org612 Main StreetSpearfish, SD 57783

APRIL 5First Friday Family Skate Night5:30-8:00 pmBring out the whole family for skating fun. Admission charged.Spearfish Rec & Aquatics Center605-722-1430www.SpearfishRecCenter.com122 Recreations LaneSpearfish, SD 57783

APRIL 6Spring Equinox Festival11:00 am – 7:00 pmYou’ll enjoy a day full of tarot readings and energy healings, dream interpretation, acupuncture, food, wine and more! Days Inn ConventionCenter605-584-1800900 Miners Ave. Lead, SD 57754

APRIL 11Preservation Thursday:A Brief History of the Sitting Bull Silver Mine, Galena,South Dakota12:00 pmJoin Jeff Jacobsen as he discusses the history of Sitting Bull Silver Mine. The Sitting Bull Mine has one of the longest and richest histories of any of the original Black Hills mining claims from the 1870s. From its prolific silver production in the early 1880s, through its precedent-setting lawsuit, and up to the Homestake Mining Company’s exploration, this mine is an important part of Black Hills mining lore. Admission by donation.Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center605-722-4800www.DeadwoodHistory.com150 Sherman St.Deadwood, SD 57732

APRIL 12Clint Black Concert7:00 pmDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1188www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 DeadwoodMountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

APRIL 12-14Spring PolkafestCome dance the weekend away at the Gulch! 4:00 – 9:00 pm — Friday April 12

1:00 – 9:00 pm — Saturday, April 13 12:00 – 4:00 pm — Sunday, April 14 Live music provided by “Just Us Two” Jim & Sue, from Billings, MT and “The River Boys Band” from Southern Nebraska and Northern Colorado. Admission charged. The Gulch has plenty of FREE parking and bus tours are welcome. Rooms are available at Comfort Inn, across the street from the dance. Mention the polka block and receive a special rate. Call 605-578-7550 to book a room. For more information, call Kim at 605-578-1294 ext 422 or [email protected] Gulch Convention Center605-578-1294 ext. 422www.deadwoodgulchresort.com304 Cliff, St.Deadwood, SD 57732

APRIL 19Johnny Rivers Concert7:00 pmDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-0386www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 Deadwood Mountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

APRIL 19Third Friday FamilyMovie Night5:30-8:00 pmSpearfish Rec & Aquatics Center605-722-1430www.SpearfishRecCenter.com122 Recreations LaneSpearfish, SD 57783

APRIL 20Patsy’s Day9 am-4 pmShare in this annual celebration honoring Patsy, the beloved Boston Terrier of William Emery Adams. Make a donation of dog/cat food and receive free admission. Tours for Patsy’s Day are hourly. All donations benefit the Twin City Animal Shelter.Historic Adams House 605-578-3724www.deadwoodhistory.com22 Van Buren Ave.Deadwood, SD 57732

APRIL 23Madhouse Madams vsWild Fire Roller DerbyAdmission charged.Deadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1187www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 DeadwoodMountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

APRIL 26What Women Want ExpoApril 26 — 4:00-8:00 p.m.April 27 — 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.Vendors will come together to create a women’s expo specializing in women’s issues, shopping, education, special interest, fashion, jewelry, self defense and much more.

Community Hall605-892-2676www.bellefourchechamber.org508 6th Ave.Belle Fourche, SD 57717

APRIL 26Tracy SilvermanElectric Violin7:30 pmThe world’s first concert electric violinist, Silverman was recently named one of 100 distinguished alumni by The Juilliard School. Tracy Silverman’s groundbreaking work with the 6-string electric violin defies musical boundaries. Admission charged.Matthews Opera House & Arts Center605-642-7973www.spearfishartscenter.org612 Main StreetSpearfish, SD 57783

MAY

MAY 3-5 & MAY 10-12The Unsinkable Molly Brown, the musical.This spirited tale of a legendary, real-life American original follows the exploits of Molly Brown, whose feisty determination to rise above her impoverished beginnings leads her from the backwoods of Hannibal, Missouri, to the palaces of Europe.Historic Homestake Opera House605-584-2067www.homestakeoperahouse.org309 W. Main St., Lead, SD 57754

MAY 3First Friday FamilySkate Night5:30-8:00 pmBring out the whole family for skating fun. Admission charged.Spearfish Rec & Aquatics Center605-722-1430www.SpearfishRecCenter.com122 Recreations LaneSpearfish, SD 57783

MAY 10-12The Unsinkable MollyBrown, the musical.This spirited tale of a legendary, real-life American original follows the exploits of Molly Brown, whose feisty determination to rise above her impoverished beginnings leads her from the backwoods of Hannibal, Missouri, to the palaces of Europe.Historic Homestake Opera House605-584-2067www.homestakeoperahouse.org309 W. Main St., Lead, SD 57754

MAY 11Theon Stone Seven – Trail Run & Walk8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.The course consists of a seven-mile run or walk that offers unparalleled views of the Spearfish area as you ascend and descend Lookout Mountain. All proceeds benefit the Booth Society.D.C. Booth Historic Fish Hatchery

605-642-7730www.fws.gov.dcbooth423 Hatchery CircleSpearfish, SD 57783

MAY 11Black Hills Volksmarch8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.Check in at Stok Shelter at City Park

MAY 11Black Hills Volksmarch continued....Sturgis Chamber of Commerce605-347-2556Sturgis, SD 57785

MAY 11-13Some EnchantedEvening performance.This spring musical is by Rodgers & Hammerstein Historic Homestake Opera House605-584-2067www.homestakeoperahouse.org309 W. Main St., Lead, SD 57754

MAY 12Create your own InstrumentWorkshop11:00 am-1:00 pmYouth in grades K-12 are invited to the Adams Museum to create their own instruments. We will learn a brief history of instruments including Mr. Adams’ favorite, the piano. Students will have the opportunity to draw an invented instrument of their own and then construct a tambourine, chimes and more. Admission charged.A light lunch will be served. Call Chelsie Bauer, museum educator for reservations.Pioneer RoomAdams Museum 605-578-1928www.adamsmuseumandhouse.org54 Sherman StreetDeadwood, SD 57732 MAY 12Mother’s Day ToursIn honor of Mother’s Day, the Historic Adams House and Days of ’76 Museum will offer free admission to visiting mothers. Show your mom how much you love her by sharing a tour of this beautifully restored Victorian home, and explore rare Native American artifacts at the Black Hills’ newest museum. Please call for more information.Historic Adams House 22 Van Buren Ave.Days of ’76 Museum18 76th Drive605-578-3724www.deadwoodhistory.com Deadwood, SD 57732

MAY 12Mother’s Day Quilt Show10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Display2:00 p.m. Trunk ShowFeaturing an extensive quilt display from the Black Hills region.High Plains Western Heritage Center605) 642-9378 www.westernheritagecenter.com825 Heritage DriveSpearfish, SD 57783

MAY 16Preservation Thursday: Quasquicentennial:South Dakota’s 125th Anniversary12:00 pmAs South Dakotans commemorate the state’s 125th anniversary in 2014, interest in the past has never been greater. Jay D. Vogt will provide an overview of the history of Dakota Territory, the State of South Dakota, and reflect on the past in today’s South Dakota. Jay D. Vogt is Director of the South Dakota State Historical Society and the State Historic Preservation Officer. Admission by donation.Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center605-722-4800www.DeadwoodHistory.com150 Sherman St.Deadwood, SD 57732

MAY 17Loretta Lynn Concert7:00 pmDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-0386www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 DeadwoodMountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

MAY 17Third Friday FamilyMovie Night5:30-8:00 pmSpearfish Rec & Aquatics Center605-722-1430www.SpearfishRecCenter.com122 Recreations LaneSpearfish, SD 57783

MAY 24Lee Brice ConcertDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1187www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 DeadwoodMountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

MAY 24-25Northern Hills Senior GamesThe Northern Hills Senior Games is a regional Olympic-style sports festival for adult athletes (ages 50+). Events include a 5K, basketball, bean bag toss, bowling, bike race, golf, jump rope, shuffleboard, swimming, table tennis, and track & field. Various Locations throughout the HillsSpearfish Rec & Aquatics Center605-722-1430www.SpearfishRecCenter.com122 Recreations LaneSpearfish, SD 57783

MAY 25Days of ’76 Official Grand Opening Celebration9:00 a.m.Events kick off with officials and dignitaries recognizing the many people and organizations involved in building Deadwood’s newest history museum. Following the ribbon cutting, guests may tour the museum for free; listen to the music of Cowboy Culture; watch a show by rodeo clown Duane


Reichert; and enjoy arts, crafts and children’s games. A chuck wagon lunch will be available for purchase. from 2-5 p.m., old and new timers alike will gather in the Mary Adams Program Room to share their memories of past Days of ’76 Celebrations and Rodeos.Days of ’76 Museum605-722-4800www.deadwoodhistory.com18 76th Drive Deadwood, SD 57732

MAY 26Larry the Cable Guy - ComedianDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1188www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 DeadwoodMountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

MAY 31The Reunion Beatles Concert7:00 pmDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1187www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 Deadwood Mountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE

JUNE 2Mickelson Trail MarathonDiscover 26.2 miles of absolute Black Hills beauty during the annual Mickelson Trail Marathon that starts and finishes in Historic Deadwood.Friday, May 31 4:00 - 8:00 pm — Packet Pick Up, The Lodge at DeadwoodSaturday ~ June 18:50 am — Mt Rushmore Tour leaves from the Lodge at Deadwood9:00 am - 6:00 pm — Packet Pick Up, The Lodge at Deadwood11:00 am - 12:30 pm — Last minute Race Day Registration for 5K and 1K at Deadwood Gulch Resort.1:00 pm — Kid’s Wonderful 1K, Deadwood Gulch Resort1:15 pm — (buses leave) Immediately following the Kids 1K Mickelson Fast 5K, Deadwood Gulch Resort2:30 pm — Check in Final 2K Kid’s Marathon, Mickelson Trail Deadwood Trail Head, Sherman Street Parking lot3:00 pm — Final 2K Kids Marathon, Deadwood Trail Head, Sherman Street Parking lotStarting at 4:00 pm — Pasta Party, The Lodge at DeadwoodSunday, June 28:00 am —Start Time for Marathon, Half Marathon and Marathon Relay. http://wwwde adwoo dmickelsontrailmarathon.com/Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 4Trolley on the Trail1:00 pmTrolley rides allow those with physical limitations to experience the beautiful George S. Mickelson

Trail. The rides are approximately four hours long. Reservations are required, and each person reserving a space on the trolley will be required to have a handicapped-parking permit. One assistant is allowed to accompany this person, if needed.For more information, contact the Neighborworks Dakota Home Resources605-578-1401www.neighborworksdhr.org795 Main St.Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 6Neal McCoy Concert7:00 pmDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1188www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 Deadwood Mountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 7Downtown Friday Nights6:00-9:00 pmDowntown Main Street is filled with shopping, vendors, food, and live music every friday night throughout the summer. Live Music: DD & The Fayrohswww.downtownspearfish.comSpearfish, SD 57783

JUNE 8Gold Rush Gravel Grinder6:00-9:00 pmMountain Bike Race that begins at Spearfish City Park605-642-2626Spearfish, SD 57783

JUNE 11Lead LiveCommunity event featuring live music and much more.Lead Area Chamber of Commerce605-584-1100www.leadmethere.orgLead, SD 5775

JUNE 11Concert in the Courtyard - Outdoor MusicIn conjunction with the Lead Live.Historic Homestake Opera House605-584-2067www.homestakeoperahouse.org309 W. Main St., Lead, SD 57754

JUNE 14Downtown Friday Nights6:00-9:00 pmDowntown Main Street is filled with shopping, vendors, food, and live music every friday night throughout the summer. Live Music: 10 Minute Feel Good.www.downtownspearfish.comSpearfish, SD 57783

JUNE 14 & 1526th Annual Center of the Nation All Car RallyHermann ParkBelle Fourche605-892-2676www.bellefourchechamber.orgBelle Fourche, SD 57717

JUNE 14- 16

Wild Bill DaysCelebrate the life and times of Wild Bill Hickok with a weekend full of free entertainment! Free concerts on Main Street are awesome. You can also check out the National Dock Dogs Competition and find out who has the fastest gun in the West as real gunslingers compete for the title of “World Fast Draw Champion.” There’s also a weekend-long Wild West auction, featuring items from the real Wild West. Something for all tastes and.Deadwood Chamber of CommerceCitywide605-578-1876, 1-800-999-1876www.deadwood.comDeadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 14–16The Ghost of Seth Bullock11:30 am & 1:30 pmGordy Pratt will portrays the ghost of frontiersman Seth Bullock during Wild Bill Days. Admission by donation. Adams Museum 605-578-1714www.deadwoodhistory.com54 Sherman StreetDeadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 16Father’s Day ToursThe Historic Adams House and Days of ’76 Museum will offer free tours to all visiting fathers on Father’s Day. Treat your dad to a guided tour of the restored 1892 Victorian mansion that features the stories of two of Deadwood’s founding families. The Days Museum commemorates the history of the award-winning Days of ‘76 Celebration and rodeo, and features a unique firearms exhibit.Historic Adams House 22 Van Buren Ave.Days of ’76 Museum18 76th Drive605-578-3724www.deadwoodhistory.com Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 19-23SD High School Rodeo FinalsRoundup GroundsBelle Fourche605-892-2676www.bellefourchechamber.orgBelle Fourche, SD 57717

JUNE 21Picnic on the Lawn: The Unsolved Murder of Di Lee, Deadwood’s China Doll12:00 pm-1:00 pmDi Lee, known to many today as Deadwood’s China Doll, was a woman of mystery. She was rich, single, and said to be the most beautiful woman in Deadwood. Late on the night of November 27, 1877, two, possibly three men, murdered her when she answered a knock on her door. What was their motive? Who were they? Join Jerry Bryant and Bill Markley as they delve into Deadwood’s Chinese community and present the facts of this unsolved cold case. Maybe you will be able to discern as to “who done it?” Bring a lunch and enjoy. Admission by donation.

In case of inclement weather, the lecture will be moved to the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC).Historic Adams House 605-578-1928www.deadwoodhistory.com22 Van Buren Ave.Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 21Downtown Friday Nights6:00-9:00 pmDowntown Main Street is filled with shopping, vendors, food, and live music every friday night throughout the summer. Live Music: Super 55’swww.downtownspearfish.comSpearfish, SD 57783

JUNE 23Florida Georgia Line Concert7:00 pmDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1187www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 Deadwood Mountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732 JUNE 27Northern Hills Community Band Concert7:00 pmCool off and unwind to the sounds of the Northern Hills Community Band. Admission by donation. LawnHistoric Adams House 605-578-1928www.deeadwoodhsitoryc.om22 Van Buren Ave.Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 28Downtown Friday Nights6:00-9:00 pmDowntown Main Street is filled with shopping, vendors, food, and live music every friday night throughout the summer. Live Music: Pumpin’ Ethylwww.downtownspearfish.comSpearfish, SD 57783JUNE 2938 Special Concert7:00 pmDeadwood Mountain Grand605-559-1187www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com1906 Deadwood Mountain Dr.Deadwood, SD 57732

JUNE 28-30Disney’s The Little Mermaid 7:00 p.m. Friday & Saturday2:00 p.m. SundayPB&J ProductionMatthews Opera House & Arts Center605-642-7973www.spearfishartscenter.org612 Main StreetSpearfish, SD 57783

JUNE 2978th Northern Hills Naja Shrine Circus11:00 am – Parade, Main Street 2:00 pm - Performance 7:00 pm- PerformanceDays of ‘76 Rodeo Grounds 605-584-1849

www.deadwoodcircus.comDeadwood, SD 57732

JULY

JULY 2Trolley on the Trail1:00 pmTrolley rides allow those with physical limitations to experience the beautiful George S. Mickelson Trail. The rides are approximately four hours long. Reservations are required, and each person reserving a space on the trolley will be required to have a handicapped-parking permit. One assistant is allowed to accompany this person, if needed.For more information, contact the Neighborworks Dakota Home Resources605-578-1401www.neighborworksdhr.org795 Main St.Deadwood, SD 57732

JULY 3Mile High Show N’ ShineLead Area Chamber of Commerce 605-584-1100www.leadmethere.org160 W. Main StreetLead, SD 57754

JULY 3-694th Black Hills Roundup RodeoNorthstar Amusements Carnival - Downtown Belle FourcheColgate Country Showdown FinalsMiss Rodeo South Dakota Pageant3rd Annual Black Hills Roundup Ranch RodeoPRCA Rodeo Action - July 3, 5 and 6Annual 4th of July Parade, July 4th at 10:30 amRoundup Rodeo GroundsBelle Fourche605-892-2676www.bellefourchechamber.orgBelle Fourche, SD 57717

JULY 4Gold Camp JubileeParade, Fireworks, Vendors, GamesLead Area Chamber of Commerce605-584-1100www.leadmethere.orgLead, SD 5775

JULY 4Independence Day Parade &Community Ice Cream Social605-642-2626Spearfish, SD 57783

scheduLe of events


By Wendy PitLick

Black Hills PioneerLEAD — The purest copper in the world is being formed

at the Sanford Underground Laboratory. Scientists with the Majorana Demonstrator are using that

copper to machine even the tiniest nuts and bolts of their equipment, as well as for a shield with the vacuum-sealed cryostat that will hold the enriched germanium detectors, they are taking great care to ensure the highest level of purity for an experiment that seeks to detect neutrinoless double beta decay, one of the rarest radioactive decays to ever be seen in a laboratory.

In fact, John Wilkerson, of the University of North Carolina, who is the principal investigator for the Majorana Demonstrator, said his team is taking an extra step and as-signing laser-engraved serial num-bers to each copper part that is ma-chined in their ultra-clean room. The numbers tell scientists which copper plate the parts came from. That way, if they find a piece that is not pure enough, they know exactly where it came from and can dispose of the whole lot.

The process to electroform and machine the parts for the Majorana detector is extensive and meticu-lously accomplished in the cleanest environment imaginable. It starts with highly purified commercial copper from Finland. Then, stu-dents and scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Lab and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, working under the di-rection of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Chemist Cabot-Ann Christofferson, dissolve the copper in sulfuric acid “baths.” The copper is poured onto stain-less steel mandrels that measure 13 inches in diameter by 24-25 inches high. When an electrical current is run through the bath, the individual copper atoms adhere to the mandrel, while the uranium and thorium ele-ments fall away from the steel.

Once the purified copper has stuck to the mandrels, it is transport-ed to the Majorana machining room, where Rapid City machinist Randy Hughes, of Adams ISC, works his magic. He bakes the mandrels in a large oven at about 600 degrees. When the ensemble comes out, it is dropped into a vat of cold, high-ly purified water, where the copper separates from the mandrel.

“It makes a very dramatic sound when it separates,” said Sanford Lab Communications Director Bill

Harlan. “It’s almost like a mini-explosion.” From there, Hughes gets busy cutting the copper on

lathes, and flattening it out into large sheets. Some of those copper sheets will be used as a shield for the Majorana detectors, while others are used to craft tiny nuts, bolts and other parts for the experiment.

“Plates are used for the inner shielding of the detector,” said Wilkerson. “Also, all the parts that we are using in-side our cryostats, all the string parts, are made out of ul-

tra-clean materials and they are largely made out of copper because that is the cleanest material.”

Scientists with the Majorana Demonstrator have been electroforming copper for the experiment since July 2011, and Wilkerson said they are a little more than halfway done. That means they have about another year’s worth of electroforming and machining to do.

World’s purest copper being formed in LeadMajorana Demonstrator to search for rare event

John Wilkerson, the principal investigator

for the Majorana Demonstrator,

discusses the necessity of ultra pure copper that

will be used in the experiment. Shown

below are copper parts that were

formed in the depths of the Sanford Underground

Research Facility. All the parts are created

underground from highly pure copper.

Pioneer staff photos

See PUREST COPPER — Page 10


“We’re really making good progress there,” he said. All of that work is to maintain purity for a series of

germanium detectors that are about the size of a soda can, crafted from strings of highly enriched germanium. There are about five germanium crystals on a string and about seven strings in a cryostat.

“Pure germanium crystals work as semiconductor electronics and it turns out they provide some of the best detection of radioactivity that you can do in terms of properties and efficiency and resolution,” Wilkerson said.

The cryostats, Wilkerson said, are vacuum sealed and cooled to negative 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Majorana scientists are building two detectors using enriched ger-manium, and one prototype detector that uses natural

germanium. The prototype will help scientists test the components of the assembly, to ensure the Majorana Demonstrator will work correctly once it is assembled.

But, after several months of electroforming their own copper and machining it into parts, which they will use to build their detector that will ultimately break through scientific barriers, scientists won’t know whether the copper is pure enough until they actually test the detec-tors. There is no other way in the world to test copper that pure, scientists said.

“We are looking for the rarest decay that will have ever been observed in a laboratory,” Wilkerson said. “The radon in your house has a four-day half life. That means that after four days, half of it has gone away. That also relates back to the array. The numbers are

mind boggling. We are looking for half lives on the or-der of 1025 to 1027. The age of the universe is some-thing like 1011.”

Ultimately, Wilkerson said, the Majorana Demonstrator will be searching for a rare occur-rence called neutrinoless double beta decay, which will prove that neutrinos are their own antiparti-cle. This, he said, will be a major discovery. The Majorana Demonstrator experiment will help sci-entists determine whether they can achieve the sensitivity levels necessary to justify building a much larger Majorana experiment in the future. The Majorana Demonstrator collaboration includes groups from 18 institutions from the U.S., Canada, Russia, Japan and China.

Just how clean is it in the Sanford Lab Davis Campus? Scientists measure “cleanliness,” meaning that an area is free of naturally occurring cosmic rays, in particles per cubic feet.

24 hoursParticle levels in the laboratory space are monitored 24 hours a day.

2,000 particles per cubic feetThe cleanliness level of the transition area that separates the Majorana laboratory space from the Yates Cage area of the mine. To gain access to the Majorana and LUX laboratories, people travel 4,850 feet underground on the cage, wearing coveralls, hard hats and safety glasses. In the transition room, people shed their coveralls and equipment as they are covered in naturally-occurring radioactive materials, and don new hard hats, boot covers, and other personal protective equipment that has been specially cleaned. The change is to protect the laboratory areas from pesky cosmic rays.

50 particles per cubic feetThe cleanliness level of the Majorana Demonstrator clean room, where scientists do their most intricate work to build the delicate parts of their detector.

Zero particles per cubic feetThe cleanliness level of the “glove box.” Majorana scientists build their germanium detectors inside this glove box, a plastic container, which resembles an incubator, and that is filled with nitrogen that is cooled to negative 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and boiled off to remove all air and impurities. Before working in the box, scientists must don four sets of gloves, and completely assemble the small detectors with their hands stuck through the holes of the container. “It is so important that we don’t have radon just from the natural air,” said John Wilkerson, lead scientist of the Majorana Demonstrator project.

FourEquipment that is shipped in for the Majorana Demonstrator can be cleaned up to four times before it is used for the experiment. Once the equipment is taken out of the box, scientists clean it in the transition space. They clean it again before taking it into the clean room. In the clean room they wipe the equipment off again, and then if it is something that will be placed in the glove box for the detector, scientists clean the equipment one more time. Although Wilkerson said most equipment for the experiment is new, used equipment, especially those which contain fans, must be completely disassembled and thoroughly wiped down before it is moved into the laboratory space.

100,000 particles per cubic feetThe estimated “cleanliness” of an average office space.

By the numbers …

Pioneer staff photo

PUREST COPPER Continued from Page 9


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Wild Bill Hickok

Quite aside from images of the Black Hills gold rush and the Sioux Indian wars, Deadwood is famed in the public’s mind as the place where “Wild Bill” Hickok was murdered while playing poker in Saloon No. 10, holding the “Deadman’s Hand” of aces, eights and the nine of diamonds.

Civil War spy, scout and sharpshooter, Indian fighter, frontier lawman and showman with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, Hickok was part of the West’s romantic image — aided no doubt by a Harpers New Monthly Magazine article about him in those terms in 1867.

The reality was more complicated, as a variety of books and Internet resources note.

Hickok joined a flood of miners, shopkeepers, prostitutes, card players, bunco artists and outlaws, invading the raw and just-formed town of Deadwood in June of 1876.

By all accounts, his intent in coming to Deadwood was to separate prospectors and miners from their gold — not at the point of a gun, but at the poker tables with a winning hand and two pistols at hand for any sore

losers in the bunch.Hickok was highly motivated — he was a

newlywed with a wife to support. His bride, the former Mrs. Agnes Thatcher was waiting for Hickok back in Cheyenne.

One of the first of the “fast guns” of the West, Hickok could shoot with a pistol in both hands. He carried his guns butt-forward in his belt — an awkward position for others, but it worked well for him. Historians debate how good he really was as a marksman, but few cared to get shot at by Hickok — calm, deliberate and unflustered when taking aim.

Hickok had a couple of habits that served him well in the rowdy bars of the West. He’d pour his drinks with his left hand, leaving his best gun hand at the ready. When gambling, Hickok wanted to sit with his back to a wall, eliminating the possibility that an enemy could simply walk up to his back and blow his head off.

Ironically, that’s exactly what happened on August 2, 1876, during a card game in the No. 10 Saloon. Hickok walked in and noticed a poker game was in progress, but the only empty seat at the table faced away from the saloon’s doorway. Hickok failed to persuade others at the table to trade seats with him, then decided to take the open seat.

It proved to be a fatal mistake.Focused on a game in which he’d already lost

several hands, Hickok never saw a loafer named Jack McCall walk up within three feet, pull a .45 out of his coat and pull the trigger. The bullet blew through Hickok’s head and out his cheek, lodging in the wrist of a gambler on the other side of the table.

Hickok spilled his hand — pairs of black aces and eights — known forevermore as “Deadman’s Hand.”

Quickly apprehended, McCall said he’d killed Hickok because “Wild Bill” had killed his brother. A miners’ court figured that was an acceptable defense and let him go. The drunken McCall just couldn’t keep his mouth shut about the killing. He bragged one too many times that he’d killed Hickok and was arrested, tried in Yankton and hung on March 1, 1877.

Calamity JaneCalamity Jane: Born Martha Jane Canary near

Princeton, Missouri, in 1852. She was married a number of times — her last husband was Clinton Burke. Noted for dressing, most of the time, in men’s clothing and for wild behavior. Calamity Jane was also known by the early miners and settlers for a kind and generous nature. She died in Terry, an upper Hills mining camp, on August 1, 1903 and is buried, as was her request, “next to Wild Bill.” No authentic record exists that she had any intimate relationship with Bill.

As many of the historical legends which creep into Americana, fiction and fact make up the story of Calamity Jane Dalton Canary Burke, known in the West simply as “Calamity Jane”.

She was the lady bullwhacker whose language was so strong that brave men feared it more than her gun — which nearly always hit its mark.

Several villages - Fort Laramie, Wyo.; Burlington, Iowa.; Princeton or St. Louis, Mo. ... even LaSalle, Ill., claim to be her birthplace, but no one knows for sure.

It is generally accepted that Calamity Jane was the daughter of a soldier named Dalton or Canary and that she was born around1852.

At age 19, Calamity Jane appeared at old Fort Bridger, frequenting the saloons, hurdy gurdy and gambling joints and scorning the ways of women.

Calamity Jane joined the Jenny Expedition into the Black Hills of the western Dakota Territory in the early 1870’s, taking the place of a homesick soldier.

She kept her identity a secret until one day she plunged into a stream for a swim and revealed, much to the surprise of her fellow pilgrims, that she was indeed a woman.

Calamity Jane was allowed to stay with the outfit — there was nothing else to do with her — but was demoted from the ranks to driving a bull team.

Calamity Jane had been a good soldier, but she was an even better bullwhacker.

Her bull whip lashed out viciously to nick any animal that was “gold-bricking,” and her curses surpassed those of the most hardened and toughest bullwhackers in a rough and tough era of the American frontier.

Calamity Jane came to Deadwood during the spring of 1876. The Gulch region became her permanent home for the rest of her life, although she ventured elsewhere many times.

She whooped it up with the prospectors and the gamblers on nearly a nightly basis in the saloons and gambling halls of Deadwood. She

always got what she wanted, a sack of groceries for a sick miner or a ticket home for a wayward saloon girl . . . all at the point of a gun.

Her poker winnings often went to help the down-and-outers who were always found around the camp.

Calamity Jane was said to be in love with Wild Bill Hickok. Maybe she was, but the romance was apparently one-sided. Wild Bill never strayed and never forgot the lovely Agnes, his bride of only a few weeks whom he had left in Cheyenne before traveling to Deadwood to seek his fortune in the gold rush.

When Wild Bill was killed, Calamity Jane was said to have either captured single-handedly or, at least helped to capture his murderer, Jack McCall.

Old-timers who knew this lady wildcat often said they doubted that she had much to do with the capture of McCall. They believed if she had, and if she were carrying a torch for Wild Bill, that she would not have permitted his assassin to live long enough to stand trial.

When smallpox broke out in the Deadwood gold mine camp, Calamity Jane devoted herself to caring for the sick men. She brought most of the patients through. Many a pock-marked old man of the Black Hills in later year called her “an angel”

From Deadwood, when the camp began to settle into respectability, Calamity Jane wandered around the country to places such as Leadville, Alaska, California and Montana, but she always came back to her Deadwood home.

Calamity Jane went East to play in vaudeville. It was said she couldn’t keep sober long enough and her language was too rough for the tenderfoot audiences of Eastern cities.

The cowboys of Belle Fourche, the center of the cattle camps, knew her as a howling drunkard. They often saw her staggering down the street, ride their wild horses, nurse the sick, and cook the best meals they ever had in those parts.

She was married . . . every now and then . . . and kept the name of one of the first of her husbands - Burke. She also had a daughter about whom little is known.

At the turn of century she came back to Deadwood for the last time from one of her

Legends of deadWood

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

Wild Bill Hickok: Born James Butler Hickok in Troy Grove, Illinois on May 27, 1837. He married Mrs. Agnes Thatcher on March 5, 1876 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Wild Bill was murdered in the original Saloon No. 10 on August 2, 1876 by Jack McCall.

According to legend, “The Deadman’s Hand” is aces (clubs & spades) and eights (clubs & spades) with the fifth card being the nine of diamonds.


many far-flung excursions.Every person who knew her at this period told

a different story about her. She was good and kind, she took care of the less fortunate, she was drunk and disorderly, she was a renegade - but none ever said she stole or committed a serious crime.

The end came for Calamity Jane — a tired and unhappy woman, her dark beauty ravaged by hard living — in a boarding house in Terry. A combination of pneumonia and alcoholism carried her off on August 1, 1903.

Her funeral was the largest ever held in Deadwood. One writer declared at the time that “10,000 persons with not one mourner among them” attended the funeral.

She was buried at Mt. Moriah Cemetery beside Wild Bill, forever close to him in death but never in life.

The legend of Calamity Jane continues to grow today as the summer breeze and winter snows roll over her quiet grave on the tree covered hilltop.

Charlie Utter“Colorado” Charlie Utter is known locally as

a good friend to “Wild Bill” Hickok. Indeed, Utter saw to it that his good “pard”

was properly buried. A notice was posted around town, alerting citizens that funeral services would be held “at Charlie Utter’s camp on Thursday afternoon, August 3, l876, a three o’clock p.m. All are respectfully invited to attend.” Utter even wrote Hickok’s epitaph for a grave marker.

It seemed like the least he could do, seeing as how Utter brought Hickock to the Black Hills. Utter organized a wagon train in Georgetown, Colorado, which swung through Cheyenne, Wyo-ming, on the way to the gold strike. That’s where Hickok joined the wagon train.

A Colorado newspaper des-cribed Utter as a “courageous little man” wearing fringed leggings and coat and sporting gold and silver decorated revolvers.

Utter was also fastidious, insisting on a daily bath. In those days, weekly, monthly, quarterly or even annual baths were more familiar to the denizens of Deadwood, who’d gather to view Utter’s bathing with bemusement and wonder.

Utter reportedly chastised his friend Hickok for curling up, uninvited, in Utter’s blankets. Fortunately for Utter, Hickok did not take offense (he was somewhat drunk) as Utter dragged Hickok out of the tent and stripped him of the warm blanket — all the while turning the air blue with a stream of curses. Hickok merely shrugged it off and found somewhere else to finish his nap.

After Hickok’s murder, Utter reportedly turned his entrepreneurial spirit to letter and freight delivery, mining and gambling. The Lead newspaper Black Hills Times, June 24, l879 reported:

“Charles Utter, nuisance, keeping a dance house. To Mr. Utter the Court delivered a very severe lecture, condemning all such practices in unmeasured terms. But in consideration that Mr. Utter had closed the place (Judge Moody) sentenced him to one hour’s confinement and a fifty dollar fine and costs.”

Utter departed Deadwood after a fire swept through and destroyed much of the town on September 26, l879. He was later rumored to be practicing medicine in Panama.

Seth BullockSeth Bullock is a notable Westerner, not only

here in the Black Hills, but in Montana and Wyoming as well.

Before coming to Deadwood, Bullock was a member of the 1871 and 72 sessions of the Territorial Senate of Montana, during which he introduced a resolution calling upon the U.S. Congress to set aside Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park. The Montana Legislature and Congress approved the measure and Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872.

Bullock entered into partnership with Sol Star in the hardware business in Helena, Mont. and the two ventured to Deadwood in 1876 and

opened a highly successful hardware store in the booming gold camp. The hardware store was remodeled and turned into the historic Bullock Hotel, with luxury accomodations for those days.

When a smallpox epidemic threatened the raw town, Bullock was elected treasurer of the Board of Health and Street Commissioners — the first unofficial government.

The murder of Wild Bill Hickok sparked a loud demand for law and order and Bullock was quickly tapped to serve as the town’s first sheriff. With the aid of tough deputies, Bullock quickly tamed the wild streets, bars and gambling halls with minimal fuss

or new graves at Mt. Moriah.More peaceful pursuits followed and Bullock

was soon appointed as the first U.S. Marshal of the Dakota Territory. He found time to ranch on the Belle Fourche River and was the first in the territory to plant alfalfa. His leadership led to building a federal fish hatchery for the Black Hills, in Spearfish.

Bullock founded the town of Belle Fourche (which later became a huge livestock shipping point).

A lifelong friend of Theodore Roosevelt from the 1890s, Bullock was appointed by “Teddy” as the first Forest Supervisor of the Black Hills Forest Reserve, predecessor to today’s Black Hills National Forest.

Roosevelt invited Bullock and his wife to London to “show off the splendid looking”

sheriff and Roosevelt’s “typical ideal American.”

Roosevelt’s death in 1919 shattered Bullock. Despite his own frail condition, Bullock quickly built the Roosevelt Monument on Mt. Roosevelt across the Gulch from Mt. Moriah.

Months later, Bullock died of cancer at the age of 70 and was buried, at his request, on the hill-side above Mt. Moriah.

Potato Creek Johnny“Potato Creek Johnny” or Johnny Perett,

was one of the Old West’s most respected and peaceable men.

Full grown, the Welshman stood an impish 4 foot, 3 inches. He searched the West for adventure and dabbled in many pursuits before settling down to prospecting.

Potato Creek Johnny staked his claim at Deadwood’s Potato Creek. That’s where he stayed until his death in 1943.

While alive, Johnny found what is believed to be the largest gold nugget prospected in the Black Hills. The nugget weighed 7.75 ounces. He sold the nugget to W.E. Adams, and a replica

is on display at Deadwood’s Adams Museum — the real nugget safely tucked away in storage.

Johnny became a local and national hero, loved for his warm personality and magical way with children. He was a favorite of all those who visited his diggings or met him on the streets of Deadwood. He wore his hair long, and peered through spectacles perched on his short nose.

After dying of old age at the age of 77 after a short illness, his body was buried at Mt. Moriah Cemetery, near Wild Bill and Calamity Jane.

When his funeral procession rolled past the Adams Museum, the carillon chimes tolled 77 times.

Legends of deadWood

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Mt. Moriah CemeteryThe Mt. Moriah Cemetery was

established in 1877-1878, because of the ever increasing demands on the Ingleside Cemetery which was down the hill. Many buried at the old cemetery were later exhumed and reburied at Mt. Moriah.

Mt. Moriah has numerous sections: Chinese - only a few graves exist, since most bodies were exhumed and returned to China for religious reasons; Jewish - complete with tombstones inscribed in Hebrew; Masonic - one of the most attractive sections; Potters Fields - for early day indigents and prostitutes, most unmarked; also a Civil War Veterans section called War Memorial

The following are some of the more well-known residents:

James Butler Hickok “Wild Bill” (died 1876) marshal, Army scout, gunman and gambler

John Perrett “Potato Creek Johnny”(died 1943) prospector reported to have found the largest gold nugget in the Black Hills

Martha Canary “Calamity Jane” (1850-1903) need we say more?

Henry Weston Smith “Preacher Smith” (died 1876) well-like local Methodist minister

Seth Bullock - One of Deadwood’s most notable citizen’s

W.E. Adams (died 1934) pioneer businessman, Deadwood mayor, est. Adams House Museum

Colonel John Lawrence - governor of Dakota Territory and namesake of Lawrence County

Willis H. Bonham ( 1847-1927) editor and publisher of the Deadwood-Pioneer Times newspaper for nearly 50 years.

Please remember that Mt. Moriah is first and foremost a cemetery. It should be afforded the respect which any final resting place of the dead deserves.

Address: 2 Mt. Moriah Rd(605) 722-0837Owned by the City of DeadwoodParks, Cemetery & Rec Department

Adams Museum & House“Where Legends Live”

Founded by one of Deadwood’s pioneer business leaders in memory of his wife and daughters, they provide a lasting link between today’s visitor and thousand of faceless miners, muleskinner and madams in whose footsteps they walk.

Adams MuseumThe Adams Museum once served as a

cabinet of curiosities but has evolved into the premiere history museum in the Black Hills. Featuring a collection of artwork and artifacts reflecting the natural history and pioneer past of the northern Black Hills. The museum was founded by W.E. Adams in 1930. Step into the past and discover a rare plesiosaur, the mysterious Thoen Stone, impressive collections of paintings, guns, photographs, minerals and Native American artifacts.Adams Museum Hours: April - Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.May-Sept. Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m.54 Sherman Street, Deadwood(605) 578-1714www.AdamsMuseumAndHouse.org

Adams HouseThe Adams House recounts the real

tragedies and triumphs of two of the communities founding families. Following the death of W.E. Adams in 1934, his second wife closed the house. For a half-century, time stood still. Linens lay folded in drawers, fine china remained stacked in cupboards and cookies kept a lonely vigil in their clear glass jar. Painstainly restored

and preserved by leading experts in historic preservation, the Adams House was re-opened to the public in 2000, revealing a time capsule in a place where legends still live. Tour rooms and grounds of this elegant Victorian mansion and learn why it was once Deadwood’s social center.

Historic Adams House Hours: April - Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.Last tour at 4 p.m. May-Sept. Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m.22 Van Buren Ave., Deadwood(605) 578-3724www.AdamsMuseumAndHouse.org

Homestake Adams Research & Cultural Center

The Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC) protects and makes accessible, for the first time ever, the history of the Homestake Mining Company. The 10,000 cubic foot Homestake Mining Company archival collection is of national significance. While there are many aspects that make the Homestake Mining Company unique, it is also representative of an industry of iconic proportions that dominated and helped settle much of Western America. Mining deeds, land

claims, mineral surveys, annual reports, exploration and production records, photographs, assay ledgers, timber contracts and a plethora of other mining-related documents, dating from 1876 to 2002, detail the company’s 126-year history in Lead, South Dakota and far beyond.

As the newest entity affiliated with the Adams Museum & House, Inc., HARCC serves as a destination that appeals to geologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, genealogists, historians, authors, scholars and the general public. It is a testament to the mining industry that helped shape America, allowing it to grow into an industrial nation. HARCC is a research center with a reputation for thoroughness assisting in multi-disciplined fields of study that expand HARCC’s credibility as a national resource, and, by its very nature, creates greater research opportunities on a state and national level.

Monday - Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment.150 Sherman St.Deadwood, SD 57732605-722-4800www.adamsmuseumandhouse.org

Days of ‘76 MuseumThe Days of ‘76 Museum began

informally, as a repository for the horse drawn wagons and stagecoaches, carriages, clothing, memorabilia and archives generated by the Days of ‘76 Celebration. The newly constructed 32,000-square-foot museum is

home to collections of Western and American Indian artifacts, archives, photos and artwork. It houses one of the nation’s most significant collections of American Western history. The four important collections are Wagons & Vehicles, Rodeo Collection, Clothing Collection and Clowser Collection.

Open year round.Hours: April - Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.;

May-Sept. Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m.18 76th Drive, Deadwood, SD 57732 Adjacent to the Days of ‘76 Rodeo arena.605-722-4800

Broken Boot Gold MineStep into history and dig into the past.

In the spring of 1876, the call of GOLD led a flood of miners, merchants, muleskinners and madams to sweep into Deadwood Gulch. The intriguing story of one of America's last great gold rushes comes to life at Deadwood's Broken Boot Gold Mine, established in 1878.

Eager to enter the untamed frontier and

become rich on the gold that was surely concealed in it, Olaf Seim and James Nelson came to the Black Hills and dug a mine just outside Deadwood in 1878. Known simply as Seim's (pronounced SIGNS) Mine, it produced about 15,000 ounces of gold for its two young owners over a period of 26 years - which wasn't very much. In fact, the men averaged only about 1.5 ounces of the yellow metal per day.

But gold wasn't the only metal Seim and Nelson found in their mine. They also found plenty of iron pyrite, or fool's gold.

It closed in 1904, only to reopen briefly in 1917. With World War I raging, demand was high for iron and sulfur - crucial components of gunpowder - and Seim's Mine had enough to become profitable again. But when the war ended in 1918, so did the mine's lease on life.

Seim's Mine sat vacant for thirty-six years. In 1954, a group of Deadwood businessmen wanted to repair the mine and re-open it as a tourist attraction. the mine was leased it to the businessmen. During the renovations to make it safe for tours, the crews found an old worn boot (among other long-forgotten relics) in a back chamber. Seizing the opportunity, they decided to re-christen the mine as the Broken Boot.

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The Broken Boot has been giving tours to visitors ever since. In fact, the Broken Boot has operated longer and more successfully as a visitor attraction than it did as a working mine. Open Mid May - Mid SeptemberTours every 30 minutes - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.1200 Pioneer Way(605) 578-1876. www.brokenbootgoldmine.com

Celebrity MemorabiliaIf you love the movies and the Celebrities then this is the place to go. You will see the Transformer Cars, Herbie the Lovebug, Evil Knievels personal motorcycle, and Ann Margaret’s motorcycle. They offer over 75 displays of Celebrity Memorabilia: Tom Hanks year book, Pirates of the Caribbean sword, Back to the Future, Seabiscuit, Meg Ryans dress in Sleepless in Seattle and so much more. Free Admission.Celebrity Hotel & Casino629 Main StreetDeadwood, SD 57732605-578-19091-888-399-1886www.celebritycasinos.com

Black Hills Mining Museum“Your Complete Black HillsMining Experience”

Share the thrill experienced by the old time prospectors by panning your own GOLD! Walk through time with “miner” tour guides in timbered passages of a simulated underground gold mine. View historic mining artifacts and local history exhibits. This museum includes a historic video presentation of mining in the Black Hills, a gift shop with Gold Panning Books and Supplies and much more.Winter Hours: Museum Only

Oct. - April 9 a.m.-4 p.m.Summer Hours: May-Sept. Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m.323 W. Main St, Lead, SD 57754(605) 584-1605www.mining-museum.blackhills.com

Historic Homestake Opera HouseLead’s Homestake Opera House being restored to former glory

The large, beautiful Historic Homestake Opera House and Recreation center was built in 1914 with the finest materials available at the time. The idea was conceived by Phoebe Hearst, wife of gold magnate George Hearst and his mining superintendent, Thomas Grier as a place of enjoyment for their miner workers and families. The construction was funded by the Homestake Gold Mine.

Vaudeville shows, international ballet, operas, boxing matches and all kinds of performing arts were presented there. Silent

movies and then ‘talkies’ were shown and sound was produced by the popular Wurlitzer organ.

The building was nearly destroyed by fire in 1984, but extensive and ongoing restoration work has made it possible to house live performances and events year-round.

Musical performances are not the only event gracing the stage of the HHOH. Interest in using the facility for meetings, seminars, weddings and private engagements continues to grow.

Restoration projects that have been completed in 2010-2011 include: a beautifully restored women’s lounge; a brand new theater sound system; a renovated stamped concrete courtyard entrance and replacement and installation of new windows and doors located in the theater and the front entrance of the building.

The Historic Homestake Opera House

Society, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, was founded in 1996 and is dedicated to the restoration, use and preservation for future generations of the Opera House, based upon the steadfast belief that this once-thriving creative center is one cornerstone for the preservation, renewal and development of the Lead community.

All this work is credited to generous donors and grants received from South Dakota Historic Preservation, Deadwood Historic Preservation, the Mary Adams-Mastrovich Family Foundation and the City of Lead.

At this time, the theater seats 350. Tours of the Historic Homestake Opera House are available daily by reservation. Please call 605-929-6427 to schedule a tour.For more information:Sarah Carlson, directorPO Box 412313 W. Main StreetLead, SD 57754605-584-2067 office605-929-6427 [email protected] our Facebook page

Homestake VisitorCenter“Waiting to be Discovered”

It’s about hard work, it’s about discovery, it’s about people their families and the history of the oldest gold mine in the West. Homestake is more than a museum. The Homestake Mine was the oldest and deepest mine in the Western Hemisphere reaching more than 8,000 feet below the town of Lead. Since it’s closure in 2002 local and state officials have been working hard to turn the former mine into a world-class scientific research laboratory. You can still take surface tours that offer the rare chance to witness the evolution of American gold mining from the early days of panning and digging to today’s high-tech methods.

You will learn about the early years of the mine, the gold recovery process and innovations, such as the hoists that provided access for personnel and materials into the underground. With Homestake’s fascinating tour, displays, mining artifacts and terrific gift shop, your family will be sure to have a blast. Hours: Oct.-April Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; May-Sept. Daily 8 a.m.-6 p.m.160 W. Main St., Lead, SD 57754(605)584-3110www.homestakevisitorcenter.com

Living Map TheatreThe Living Map Theater is a multimedia

presentation covering the Black Hills Gold rush, with a 24 ft X 28 ft 3D map. The movie, with historical photos, actual film, and reenactments tells the gold rush story while lights on the map show where the events happened. The entire program is approximately 35 minutes long and is shown every hour on the hour. Open daily at 11 a.m. May-Dec. 23rd.Closed for winter except for reservations.Black Hills Railroad Roundhouse106 Glendale Drive, Lead, SD 57754605-722-1901www.blackhillsftpierrerailroadroundhouse.com

George S. MickelsonTrail

The 109-mile-long Mickelson Trail follows the historic Deadwood to Edgemont Burlington Northern rail line. SD’s first rails to trails project. Enjoyed by hikers, bikers & horseback riders. 14 trailheads, over 100 converted railroad bridges, four hardrock tunnels & numerous services along the trail. Gentle slopes & easy access.11361 Nevada Gulch Rd.,, Lead, SD 57754. Ph: 605-584-3896mickelsontrail.com

Historic MatthewsOpera House

Back in 1906, the new Matthews Opera


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House was the center for entertainment in the Northern Hills, hosting touring companies and vaudevillians.

Time seems to have stood still, for today the ornate woodwork, the murals and the brightly painted advertising on the act curtain are throw-backs to the turn-of-the century.

Built by a wealthy Wyoming cattleman, the original “cost of the opera house was

no less than $25,000!”In 1906 hundreds of area residents

attended the grand opening to enjoy a touring company’s production of “The Lion & the Mouse.” In 1976 and over the next few summers, “The Phantom of the Matthews Opera House” attracted 27,000 visitors.

In 1989, the Matthews Opera House Society began restoration of the building. In 1997 the lobby and fireplace room were expanded in 1906 decor, an elevator was installed, and dressing rooms were built. Renovation of the theater itself is nearly complete.

Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. for evening performances and 2 p.m. for Sunday matinees. Matthews Opera House is located at 614 Main Street, Spearfish.(605) 642-7973614 1/2 Main St., Spearfish, SD 57783

D.C. Booth HistoricFish Hatchery

D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery is one of the oldest operating fish hatcheries in the country. Established in 1896 to introduce trout populations to the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming, D.C. Booth now serves to protect and preserve fisheries records and artifacts for educational, research, and historic purposes, and provide interpretive

and educational programs for visitors. Not only can visitors to the hatchery

get up close and personal with tens of thousands of trout in ponds and through the underwater viewing window, but the museum at D.C. Booth is one of the largest collections of American fisheries artifacts and records in the country.

The elegant D.C. Booth House, completed in 1905, housed hatchery superintendents until 1984. The home is now decorated with period furnishings and personal mementos.

Visitors can also tour the historic fisheries railcar and learn about the vibrant history of a time when fish were transported from hatcheries around the country to lakes and streams by rail.

For over 100 years, visitors have enjoyed feeding the fish and strolling through the tranquil grounds. The hatchery is open year-round from dawn to dusk.423 Hatchery CircleSpearfish, SD 57783605-642-7730www.fws.gov/dcbooth

High Plains WesternHeritage Center

The High Plains Western Heritage Center was founded to honor the old west pioneers

and Native Americans of five states. This museum features western art, artifacts and memorabilia.

It houses the completely restored “original” Spearfish to Deadwood Stagecoach that was bought in 1890 and last ran in 1913.

A 200-seat theatre features many historic programs, entertainment, and special events year round. It is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.For information call (605) 642-9378. An admission fee is charged with special rates for families, and

organized groups. It is located just off I-90 Exit 14 South, Spearfish. Open 9 am - 5 pm daily.westernheritagecenter.com

Spearfish CanyonNational Scenic Byway

Six hundred million or so years ago, long before man walked this area, it was covered by a huge sea. As waters subsided and land

masses began to appear — 30 to 60 million years ago — drainages such as Spearfish Canyon formed as softer rock was eroded away. Today, this area is part of the Black Hills National Forest.

The Canyon’s high walls are the three dominant rock types. Deadwood shale — at the bottom — which can be identified by its brown color, is multi-layered in appear-ance and ranges from 10 to 400 feet thick. Englewood limestone — in the middle — is pink to red colored and is 30 to 60 feet thick. Paha Sapa limestone — the top layer and thickest layer (300 to 600 feet) — is buff colored and weathered grey and is noted for its caves and fossils.

Archaeological evidence indicates big game hunters and their families (Paleo-Indians) were present in the area and possi-bly in the Canyon at least 10,000 years ago.

Trees and plants from Rocky Mountains, Easter Deciduous, and Northern Forests, and Great Plains areas can be found here. Canyon vegetation is extremely diverse — of the 1,585 plant species found in South Dakota, 1,260 species are in the Black Hills and Spearfish Canyon is representative of that extreme variety.

A great number of bird species may be found throughout the Canyon like turkeys, Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, and Cliff Swallows.

Elkhorn RidgeGolf Club Nestled on the side of a mountain, Elkhorn Ridge Golf Club is a modern Championship 9-hole golf course open to the public featuring breathtaking views of the historic Centennial Valley. These challenging 9 holes afford over 285 feet of elevation change, hidden canyons, elevated tees, and broad sloping greens.6845 St. Onge RoadSpearfish, SD 57783605-722-4653www.golfelkhorn.com

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PHOTO COURTESY:LES VOORHIS/FOCUS WEST GALLERY

DEADWOOD — An historic trail ride connecting two Dakota towns rich in his-tory and lore will conclude the last half of the trip this summer. The northern route will begin on Aug. 31 in Buffalo and end on Sept. 7 in Medora, N.D. The southern route from Buffalo to Deadwood was completed last summer. While travelers in the 1880s took the journey in one shot, present-day organizers split the lengthy trek into two trail rides with the goal of enticing even more people to make the journey.

During the late nineteenth century in the west, all roads led to Deadwood. The site of one of America’s last great gold rush-es, Deadwood attracted thousands of men and women from all walks of life. Hearing the reports of gold in the Black Hills, aristocratic French nobleman Marquis de Mores established his own stage line from Medora to Deadwood in 1884. He charged 10 cents a mile. The route took the stage to Deadwood, through the Black Hills, and to the Badlands. Relay stations were set up every 10 to 15 miles for team changes and passenger breaks. While some passengers may have been keen on getting rich in the gold rush, many historians believe the stage was used mainly as a tourism shuttle between the two cities from 1884 to 1886. In 2013, modern day trail riders will once again relive the journey.

Organizers are looking for teams and riders to join them on this historical ride. The ride will benefit Deadwood History’s Days of ’76 Museum and the Billings County Museum, Medora, N.D. Registration forms can be found at www.daysof76museum.com or by calling Karin Savoie at 578-1657.

Medora to Deadwood trail ride in August


Belle Fourche, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28Cody, WY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .421Crazy Horse Mountain . . . . . . . . . . . .57Custer State Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Denver, CO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .395Devils Tower, WY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90Edgemont, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Evan’s Plunge - Hot Springs, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95Harney Peak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60Hill City, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Keystone, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Mt . Coolidge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76Mt . Rushmore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60Newcastle, WY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Orman Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Pierre, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .220Rapid City, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42Rapid City Regional Airport . . . . . . . .52Sheridan, WY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Sioux Falls, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .395Spearfish, SD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Spearfish Canyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 lvan Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Wall Drug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96West Gate Yellowstone . . . . . . . . . .557Wind Cave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83Terry Peak & Ski Mystic Deer Mountain Ski Resorts . . . . . . . . . . . .8

• Please note mileage is estimated •

Miles to Deadwood

Two hour narrated western history tour

on horseback.

Families welcome!Reservations required.

Centrally located between Deadwood & Lead, 605-722-4241

www.blacktailhorsebackandwalkingtours.com

1-800-562-0846www.DeadwoodKOA.com

[email protected]

KOA-Deadwood1 mile west of Deadwood • GPS: 44.370926, -103.754267

P.O. Box 451, Deadwood, SD 57732

• Cabins, lodges, RV sites, tent sites• Free shuttle to downtown Deadwood, car rental• Free cable TV, Wi-Fi, store, laundry

• Pool, hot tub• Pet friendly• Open mid-April to mid-Oct.

Mad MountainSummer Adventures

ATV RentalsCall for your

summer adventure with us!Over 700 miles of ATV riding.

605.578.1878 • 605.578.7726www.madmountainadventures.com

Located 6 miles south of Deadwood and Lead on Hwy 385.

DISC VERY TOURSDISC VERY TOURSTour and Shuttle Service since 2001

Quality, relaxing, fully narrated, day long adventures in air-conditioned comfort.

• Allentryfeesintothe parkspaidbyus• Freepickupanddropoff atyourhotelorcampsite• Freeall-you-can-eat lunchbuffetatCuster StateParkGameLodge• Smalltours–wenever havemorethan10 peopleatatime

Wevisit: 3 Mt.Rushmore 3 IronMountainRoad 3 CusterStatePark 3 NeedlesHighway 3 CrazyHorse3 PrairieBerryWinery

[email protected]

1-888-524-5655 • 605-722-5788

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