Once our traveling adventures for the spring were over we settled in for our short volunteer stint at D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, South Dakota. We were here five years ago and it is surprising that all the operations and venues are still very similar and familiar.
We do like it here!
As you enter the Hatchery grounds the first building you encounter is the gift shop with a viewing area for the fish. It is a below–the-ground viewing area with thick glass windows that you can view and take pictures of all the large Rainbows, Browns, Cutthroat and a few Brook Trout that reside there. We refer to this as the “assisted living pond” – the large, old fish get fed and taken care of for the duration of their lives. Once in a while we get asked if someone can fish in this pond because of the size of the behemoths – although it would be exciting I suspect they would be rather mushy to eat. Linda “works” in the gift shop as well as one of the other venues that I will talk about later.
This is one of the displays at the Hatchery called Boat #39. It’s a Great Lakes style of cabin cruiser used at Yellowstone Lake in the 1920s to assist in the early years of fish culture for the Federal Government. The entire family of the superintendent would travel to Yellowstone during the summer to harvest fish eggs and transport them back to Spearfish. They probably used boats just like these on that big, windy lake.
This is the original Hatchery building completed in 1899. It is now a museum with self guided tours. The Hatchery also houses an archive with over 175,000 historical items and documents for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I man the venue and welcome guests as well as answering questions of all sorts. The kids always provide some interesting moments and entertainment with the questions they ask.
An artist by the name of Jim Maher produced two sculptures for the grounds of the Hatchery. This one is called Spring Stocking and the model for the one standing in the rear was Arden Trandahl, one of the Hatchery’s superintendents in the mid 90s. I had the opportunity to meet him one day at the museum – he gave me quite a lesson on the history of the building. The honor was all mine!
My favorite venue to man is the Fish Car #3, an old Fisheries Commission fish transportation car. Although the car is a replica (the original was dismantled long ago) it is a gem with outstanding workmanship and a fascinating history that I have a fun time explaining to the tourists and guests who come to visit. It does occasionally get a bit repetitive but then a young boy or girl comes by and asks a question that brings a smile and renewed interest on my part.
Linda provides guided tours in the Booth House – the original home of D.C. Booth, who was the first superintendent of the Hatchery. The home was built in 1905 and has been maintained in as close to original and period correct condition as possible including all the appliances and furnishings that have been donated or on loan to the Hatchery.
This is the other sculpture on the grounds by Jim Maher. The young girl was modeled by his daughter Katie. It is called Generations – grandfather and granddaughter enjoying a day out fishing together.
There are many weddings performed here at the Hatchery and this sculpture has been the background for many wedding pictures over the years.
Below are some of the sights on the Hatchery grounds that we see each day.
Here is one of the many male Mallard Ducks residing in the nearby city park. They are a source of entertainment for all the campers and volunteers as they waddle around doing their seasonal things - chasing the females and begging for food.
Another resident of the Spearfish City Park is the Wood Duck, a medium-sized perching duck. I had to look that one up and it turns out that these ducks actually have claws on the toes of their webbed feet! That allows them to “perch” on branches and tree limbs. Most ducks can’t do that. Besides being really colorful, these guys have a habit of nesting in trees – normally in cavities within the tree with the best sites being above the water. That way when the little ones are born they can just walk to the edge of the nest and jump - and hopefully land in the water for a soft landing. These little guys are totally self-sufficient a day after they hatch and can swim and find their own food by this time. And we had to wait at least 18 years for that to happen with ours – some things are just not fair!
Here is another picture of the male Wood Duck. They are one of the most colorful and striking ducks that I know of.
On our days off we wander around the area just enjoying the sights. This is Spearfish Falls near the Savoy area, about 14 miles from home.
For many years these falls were nonexistent due to the water being diverted for use by the Homestake Mining Company. Then in 2003, the water was allowed to run freely again. It is a bit out of the way and you need to hike down a rocky path one way or choose the other which is a well-worn path - but it is the type of place you can just sit and enjoy your surroundings.
The roar of the water drowns out the traffic from the nearby road and the mist is really refreshing on a hot summer day – unless you wear glasses, then it’s a bit irritating. But it is a good and peaceful place to unwind.
Bridal Veil Falls is about half way between Spearfish and Savoy/Spearfish Falls. It is the easiest of the three waterfalls in Spearfish Canyon to locate and can be seen from the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway (US Hwy 14A). It’s a small waterfall only about 60 feet high and turns into a type of veil as it hits the various ledges.
There seems to be quite a few “Bridal Veil” falls around the country – I know of at least four that we have visited over our traveling years. I believe Niagara has one of them and the Columbia Gorge another – both of those are spectacular – this one, pretty. We had quite the encounter one day while visiting – a young woman was crossing the street and flashing her left hand at us. Of course, you guessed it, she was just asked to get married and received an engagement ring – at Bridal Veil Falls!!
Up the road a bit in the hills above Deadwood is a town called Lead, the home of the Homestake Mine.
The Homestake Mine was a deep underground gold mine located in Lead, South Dakota. It closed in 2002 and at the time it was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America. This mine produced more than 40 million troy ounces of gold during its lifetime. (Equal to about 50 billion dollars today!)
The mine has a rather dodgy history and was formed by the efforts of George Hearst – the father of William Randolph Hearst. He consolidated and enlarged the Homestake property over a few years by fair but mostly foul methods. He bought out some adjacent claims and took over others in the courts. One of his employees killed a man who refused to sell his claim, but was cleared in court after all the witnesses disappeared. Hearst purchased newspapers in Deadwood to sway the public opinion, and an opposing newspaper editor was beaten up and left for dead on a Deadwood street. He realized that he might be on the receiving end of violence in Deadwood since he wasn’t the only nasty character around and wrote a letter to his partners asking them to provide for his family should he be murdered. In the end, however, Hearst was the one who walked out alive - and very, very rich.
The Homestake Mine is now famous in scientific circles for being the site at which the solar neutrino problem (please don’t ask me what that’s about) was first discovered. This became known as the Homestake Experiment sponsored by Sanford University with researchers from Berkeley and the site is now doing scientific research on neutrinos and dark matter. (When we came here all I wanted to do was work with the fish!)
Between Spearfish and Rapid City, just off the interstate, is a little place called the Petrified Forest. This took me back because back a few years ago we volunteered at the Petrified Forest and it was in Arizona! But we decided to go anyway and found a little privately owned petrified forest in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Considering that they don’t have the Federal Budget the Arizona park has they did quite well. Some bad roads, steep hills and cheesy gift shops but some good displays. If you like petrified logs and stumps along with a little petrified moss you’re good to go.
Most definitely a place for rock heads!
The pic to the right is of a log that petrified quite some time ago and then broke into sections as the earth moved around.
Linda found a solution to wood rot in the wood pile – petrify it! Doesn’t burn very well but it doesn’t attract bugs either.
(If you have ever cut and stacked wood for a fireplace and kept it for awhile you would know what I mean.)
We stopped in at a little tourist town called Keystone a few days ago and ran into a chainsaw woodcarving display – have to admit it was rather interesting. Just the size of these things is enough to encourage a look.
This one we saw as we drove along the interstate didn’t encourage a look – it made me do a double take – twice! Plane on a stick! What will they think of next?
Kind of limits the range though don’t you think?
Of all the National Monuments we have visited, Devils Tower is my favorite.
From our location in Spearfish, Devils Tower is only about an hour away in Wyoming.
The base of Devils Tower is more than four football fields tall. The tower is made up of mostly hexagonal shaped columns, and some have as few as four while others have as many as seven sides. It was the first National Monument in the United States – declared in 1906 by President Teddy Roosevelt (about the same time as Yellowstone was made the first National Park). I found it kind of interesting that the apostrophe in “Devil’s” was mistakenly left out, so the form signed by the president named the monument “Devils Tower” with no apostrophe. That typo was never corrected and so the spelling stuck.
More than 150 rock climbing routes have been established on Devils Tower. The top of the tower was first reached by two local cowboys who constructed a wooden ladder system and attached it to the side of the tower. You can see parts of the wooden ladder on the side of the tower. People do climb this on a regular basis and the National Park Service warns these climbers things they might encounter on the tower: like snakes, spiny plants, poison ivy, falcon attacks, (falcons don’t like crawly things either) wasps, and falling rocks. But they keep climbing!
Here you can see a section of the columns where the rock climbers are. They are the little crawly things that you can barely see on the rocks. The acoustics are absolutely great along here. I believe the climbers actually watch their language because they know that everyone on the ground can hear every word they say – even without raising their voice.
It was fun watching these guys and girls as they worked their way upward – or downward!
Devils Tower from one of the nearby walking paths.
As we made our way out of the monument area we ran into a Prairie Dog town along the road.
This little family group decided to make a “dog pile” on top of dad.
Just outside of Spearfish is the High Plains Western Heritage Center – we decided to give it a visit.
The High Plains Western Heritage Center includes a Five-State Regional Museum founded to honor the old west pioneers of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska. It has over 20,000 square feet of exhibits that feature Western art, artifacts and memorabilia and includes the original Spearfish to Deadwood Stagecoach. It has some outdoor displays with Longhorn Cattle, a furnished Log Cabin, rural Schoolhouse and antique farm equipment.
Gotta love the guy in the hat!
One old lonesome wagon.
Some of the interesting equipment from days gone by!
Once again we leave you with a sunset – this one from Spearfish, South Dakota.
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
