Day 6, Saturday, August 20, Deadwood, Lead, Spearfish

We arose this morning to a bright, clear and cool morning. Temperature was in the upper 50's. As the morning progressed, the few clouds dissipated and we had a nice day. The high got up into the lower 70's.

We ate breakfast at the Lee Street Station in Deadwood. It was a converted Phillips 66 gas station and it was good food. It also took awhile to get served due to its obvious popularity.

After breakfast, we visited the Adams Museum. This is a museum dedicated to Deadwood and the Badlands.

We then strolled down Main Street Deadwood and visited some of the shops we missed yesterday. It was around 10:00 am, but the streets were mostly deserted.

Our Hotel Room. Building on left, second floor, corner room with shade mostly closed

The Hickok Hotel front

The current No 10 Saloon

The original location of the No 10 Saloon where Wild Bill was shot

We then got the car and drove off to Leads (pronounced "leeds"). This is the home of George Hearst's Homestead Mine. It is only about 3 miles west of Deadwood, but about 1,000 feet higher.

Upon arrival in Leads, we stopped at the Black Hills Mining Museum and took the tour. In their basement, they have an extensive reproduction of the Homestead Mine. This was built back in the 1980's when liability concerns forced them to stop tours through the actual mine. Before ending mining operations in 2001, the mine had reached a depth of over 8,000 feet with shafts and drifts totally over 400 miles. Between 1876 and 2001, over 41 million ounces of gold had been recovered from 167 million tons of rock. On average, it took over 4 tons of extracted rock to generate one ounce of gold.

Then we went to the site of the Homestead Mine open pit. Surprising to me was the fact that the majority of the surface mining was done in the last twenty years of the mines operation, i.e., between 1983 and 2001. Between 1880 and 1983, the mining operations were all below ground.

After the mine was shut down, the Sanford laboratory was given the opportunity to use the extensive facilities to build their neutrino collection system. This research facility continues to operate today.

When finished in Lead, it was only about 1:00 pm, so we decided to drive off to Spearfish taking the scenic route over the Terry Peak Summit (6,200 feet) and down through the Spearfish canyon. It was a beautiful drive. Spearfish is at an elevation about 1,000 feet below Deadwood (~3,500 feet). Once there, we drove through town and decided to visit the D. C. Booth Historical Fish Hatchery. It was very interesting and the only historical hatchery in the country.

Trout are not native to the Black Hills and were imported from eggs gathered from trout in Yellowstone National Park.

Trout

The Booth Home

Replica of the No 3 Fish Train 

The boat used to harvest trout eggs in Yellowstone

Lots of BIG trout (Brown, Rainbow, Cutthroat, Brook) 

We got back to Deadwood around 4:00 pm. We went to the hotel and relaxed for a bit before going across the street to the Legend Steakhouse in the Franklin Hotel. T had a 24 oz bone-in prime rib plus a salad plus a 6 oz lobster tail plus a loaded baked potato. I had a 14 oz rib eye plus salad plus loaded baked potato. We split a platter of bang-bang shrimp as a starter. Needless to say, neither of us were able to eat it all. T brought part of her prime rib to the room.

Tomorrow we check out of the Hickok Hotel and head toward Billings, MT. On the way, we plan to swing by the Devil's Tower in Wyoming and then the Montana Pictograph Cave State Park outside of Billings.

Day 5, Friday, August 19, Rapid City, Deadwood

This morning, we checked out of our Rapid City hotel. Before leaving town, we visited the South Dakota State University's O'Hara Museum of Geology on the SDSU campus. It was very interesting.

After leaving the museum, we had lunch at the local On The Border before heading out of town. We took the scenic route west on SD-44 over to US-385 north. Before reaching Deadwood, we reached an elevation of 6,200 feet. Deadwood is at an elevation of 4,500. When we arrived at Deadwood, the temperature was a moist 45F.

One disappointment upon arriving at Deadwood. I had booked two nights at the Historic Bullock Hotel through their web site. Upon arrival, it seems the booking company had instead booked us at the Hickok Hotel and Casino two blocks away. The only disappointing thing about this is that T had been led to believe the Bullock Hotel was haunted and she had brought her divining rods. The Bullock was full so we had to go ahead and stay at the Hickok. Nice room, just not where we wanted to be.

After checking-in, we went for a tour of the Adams House Museum. Again, incredibly interesting. No pictures of the interior were permitted, but this Queen Ann house, built in 1892 with telephones, running water and electricity. This is amazing since it was situated among the shanties and tents that the majority of the residence lived in at the time. They even had a REFRIGERATOR, not an ice box, but a REFRIGERATOR. The electricity was provided by the Homestead Mining Company generators at their nearby mines. I was more impressed than T.

We had popcorn and cocktails at the No 10 Saloon before walking the boardwalk to the hotel before retiring to our hotel.

Bullock Hotel...Where we did NOT stay

Mount Moriah, where Wild Bill in buried

No 10 Saloon

At 6:00 pm I heard a commotion outside our window. Pulling the shades, they were having a street gun fight re-enactment. Not sure what the scene was, but they put on a good show...at least the crowds lining the street seemed to think so.

Around 8:00 pm, we went down to the casino/bar and had a pizza made for us. We took it back to the room and settled in for the night. Tomorrow, we will have breakfast and tour the main drag before visiting the Adams Museum here in town. This is different than the Adams House Museum we visited yesterday. This afternoon, we may drive over to Lead (pronounced "leed") which is just a few miles west. This is a mining town and, apparently, a none too friendly neighbor to Deadwood in the early years.

Day 4, Thursday August 18, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park and Crazy Horse

Last night we turned in relatively early. I awoke just before 7:00 am and T was up shortly thereafter. We dined at the hotel and left around 9:00 am for Mount Rushmore. It was a 25 mile trip from the hotel. This was T's first visit to the memorial and my second. My first was at an age of 10-12 years old. I don't remember a lot about it except it was extremely hot. Today however, the weather was very good. It got up to about 81F just before noon with clear skies. Humidity was low at an elevation of around 5,500 feet. A front came through in the afternoon and by the time we got back to Rapid City, it was 57F. The high tomorrow is only supposed to be 60F.

It was not overly crowded. No problem finding a parking spot. We sat through a 20 minute video and only stayed about 90 minutes.

After leaving Mt. Rushmore, we went back through Keystone and took the scenic drive down through the Black Hills National Forest and the Custer State Park. It was only a 67 mile trek, but the roads were so winding, we averaged only about 30 mph. Beautiful scenery. There were several one-lane tunnels carved through rock that made it very interesting.

The CC Gideon Tunnel

Mt. Rushmore seen from the Norbeck Overlook

This tunnel was only 8 feet 11 inches wide

Needles Highway

A needle

The highest elevation we knowingly achieved was at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park (6,145 feet). It is a man-made lake created in 1881 by building a dam across Sunday Gulch.

Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park, 6,145 ft

The Dam Spillway

The Gulch

Then we proceed over to the Crazy Horse memorial. Started in 1949, it will be impressive if it is ever completed. What is impressive now is the all the commercialization (visitor center, restaurant, exhibitions, etc.) that the Crazy Horse Foundation has spent its money on. I mentioned to T that if they had spent that money on the monument itself, they would probably be much further along.

Tomorrow we check out of our Rapid City hotel. T wants to visit the Geological Museum. Then we will head up to Deadwood where we will stay two nights.