“Thank you for volunteering!” I was rather surprised to hear that statement from one of the locals when we first came back here in early May. (We haven’t heard it many other places.) Since then I have heard it hundreds of times and I have to admit it makes me feel very good about what we do. We just may have to keep this up for a while.
As we make all the preparations to hit the road once again – heading west and north for our next great adventure - I have to look back on this place called D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and the Black Hills. It is a rather interesting place.
The photo above is of Roughlock Falls, just north of Savoy. The one to the left is Spearfish Falls. We visited both of these on a regular basis while we were here and I even enjoyed them a bit on some of my bike rides in the area.
The Booth House to the left is one of the venues that Linda gave tours at while we were here and the pic above is of Ruby’s Garden, in honor of Mrs. Booth, where we have seen many weddings take place when the garden is in full bloom.
Below is a collage of the interior of the Booth House with its many artifacts and oddities.
As Linda would do her tours, she would have her visitors step back a bit in time with the old Victrola, formal china for tea, poster beds, wooden wagons, ice boxes and kitchen sideboards. The daily life of a Superintendent's family in the early 1900s. The life of the Booth family. (Center pics are of Edward and Katharine Booth-children of D.C. and Ruby Booth.) Which is now kind of stuck in our memories too.
Step back just a bit further in time to the 1880s – the era of the fish cars. Rail cars designed to transport fish for stocking and replenishing waters with fish all around the country. (Before trucks were invented.) A new idea at the time and the fore runner to the modern truck/plane/FedEx stocking taking place today.
The interior of the Fish Car was quite nice with all wood paneling, brass hardware and even a few brass chandeliers. You can think of it as a fore runner to the modern day RV as it was set up with beds (fold down type), bathroom (which emptied onto the tracks), kitchen (with a full time cook), and even entertainment in the form of card tables and windows.
This was the venue that I manned quite often as well as giving a few tours and eliciting a few giggles and exclamations of – oooooh! that's sick! I did enjoy that!
To the left is the Von Bayer Museum of Fisheries – another venue that I manned during our stay here. It is more of a quiet venue with self-guided tours and an occasional scavenger hunt for the young kids who visit. (I gave hints when they got stumped.)
While we were here I found that Linda and I had been included (by picture) in a book published about the Hatchery from our volunteer stay in 2011. We bought the book!
The interior of the museum is filled with artifacts of the past years of the Fisheries. Dating from the 1870s the artifacts are housed in the original hatchery building built in 1899. There is an archive building nearby with over 175,000 items in storage from the Fish and Wildlife Service.
We did enjoy our stay here but now it’s time to move on.
One afternoon after I had finished my bike ride on the Mickelson Trail,(see last Blog!) we stopped in to re-visit the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota. The Mammoth Site came into being back in 1974 when a construction worker uncovered some unusual bones while he was bulldozing the area for a new subdivision. His son recognized one of the finds as a mammoth tooth. The construction stopped, the bone excavations began, and before to long the site was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1980.
This site is fairly unique in that it keeps most of its finds of Mammoth skeletons in place – like you see in the pic to the right. The area that all these skeletons were found (60+) used to be a steep sided water hole that the young (and not too bright) Mammoths fell into and couldn’t, or found it very difficult, to get back out. So here they stayed – forever!
In addition to the Mammoths, there were other animals that fell into this watering hole. They did find a skeleton of an early, and very large, bear who probably thought that trapped Mammoth meat might be a good afternoon snack. Don’t think he really thought that one through.
We have made quite a few trips to the little town of Deadwood while we were here. It is an interesting place with (to me anyway) a fascinating history.
The pic below is from a display in the Days of ‘76 Museum in Deadwood – it is a mirror from the Windsor Hotel in Denver.
The history of Deadwood, South Dakota has filled hundreds of books through the years. It is rather interesting that the so called facts in one book are called fiction in another. Many of the “interesting people” like Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny, Seth Bullock, and Poker Alice were famous in their own right and that fame came with stories, both real and made up. So rather than trying to sort out the “real” facts, I picked a few that at least I could believe.
Deadwood in the late 1870s had 200 men for every woman. Which accounted for some of local “businesses” origins.
The prospectors could find $20 to $25 worth of gold a day in the early days of the gold rush. But they would often lose it in the saloons and brothels in Deadwood. If he managed to not lose it on the many vices available he would probably lose it buying food.
Seth Bullock became Deadwood’s first sheriff in 1877. He and Theodore Roosevelt were good friends. Seth rode in Roosevelt’s 1905 Inaugural Parade, leading 50 cowboys.
Wyatt Earp spent the winter of 1876-77 in Deadwood. He came late to Deadwood and found out that there were no claims left so he started a business hauling winter stove wood to the residents. He left after a short stay.
The queen of female gamblers, “Poker Alice” Ivers, was known to make up to $6,000 a night at the height of her career. She became a legend in the Black Hills and often sat in on big stakes games.
The Sundance Kid spent time in the Lawrence County jail in Deadwood in 1897 for a robbery of a bank in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. After several weeks he escaped and became one of the west’s best known outlaws.
Potato Creek Johnny (Welshman, John Perret) stood only four foot three, but was the stereotype of a well-worn prospector. His fame exploded when he found the largest gold nugget ever discovered in the Black Hills. It weighed 7 ¾ troy ounces. A replica of the nugget is on display in the Adams Museum in Deadwood. The real one is in their safe.
And that is only a few of the “facts” that surround this little town called Deadwood.
Every time we come to the area we re-visit a couple of the iconic venues to refresh our memories.
Did you know:
On average, Mount Rushmore hosts nearly three million visitors a year. (Most were there on the day we visited!)
It took 14 years and 400 men to carve the mountain and during that time no one on the crews died.
The faces of Mount Rushmore are 60 feet high. About the size as a six-story building.
Washington’s nose is approximately 21 feet long. The rest of the faces have noses that measure about 20 feet.
Thomas Jefferson’s face on Mount Rushmore was originally started on the opposite side of George Washington, but 18 months into the carving, they realized the granite was too weak. His face was dynamited off and carved on the other side.
Just a few things I thought you should know.
The Chief Crazy Horse Monument has been continually under construction in the Black Hills since 1948. Don’t know when it will be completed. The children and grandchildren are working on it now.
But once it is completed, the dimensions are expected to be 641 feet wide and 563 feet tall, which would make the Chief Crazy Horse Monument the world’s largest sculpture. Much bigger than Mount Rushmore.
Over the spring and summer we have been able to meet with and visit quite a few of our relatives and friends, as well as meet new “friends”! That always makes it a good year!
Family and friendship is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warm feeling inside!
As we prepare to leave the area, there is a forest fire on nearby Crow Peak – it has been making our days rather smoky and giving us something to watch as the fire fighting planes and helicopters go back and forth.
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
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