Great weather…great tour…Thank You, Whitewood!

by Norma Kraemer

The Spring Tour of the Lawrence County Historical had 42 participants sign in for a day of perfect weather as we toured the ghost town of Crook City, SD and the survivor of 125 years Whitewood, SD.  The city of Whitewood were our hosts for the day and outdid themselves in teaching us about the history of their town. 

We started the day with the group driving to the site of Crook City.  Jerry Bryant did a great presentation on the location of the old town with a collection of old photographs he used to take us back in time when it was a bustling mining town. When the railroad chose Whitewood as its terminus, it was the death knell of Crook City. Mary Livingston, the Whitewood historian who made the arrangements for the rest of the day, met us at the Crook City location and then led us to Whitewood, pointing out the location of the old railroad bed that went between Whitewood and Deadwood. 

The next location to visit was the Senior Citizen Center in Whitewood, where a delicious lunch waited for us.  The group enjoyed the soup and sandwiches before going on the walking tour of Whitewood (photo above) that Mary led with the assistance of Whitewood Mayor Deb Schmidt. 

Whitewood is observing the 125th anniversary of the town's founding this year, and Mary Livingston has been researching its history. She distributed a great brochure that showed the historic buildings and their stories.  It included the Lane Hotel, the Jones Building, the Uhlig Store, theBonniwell Building, the Whitewood Banking Company Building, the Methodist Church, the Danish-American Creamery, the Whitewood School, and the United Presbyterian Church. At each location the story of Whitewood and its residents unfolded by the able storytellers.  

City Hall had a display of historic photos for all to read and enjoy and the Presbyterian Church windows, dating from about 1911 were enjoyed by all before we ended the wonderful tour with pie and coffee served in the fellowship hall.  

The people of Whitewood made it a pleasure to have our annual Spring Tour.  Thank you!

Editor's note:  Visit our Spring Tour Photo Gallery to get a glimpse of this great tour.

Despite rain.....Historic Homes Tour a success!

More than 80 people joined the Lawrence County Historical Society for its first Historic Homes Tour yesterday (5/22/11) in historic Deadwood.

Despite relentless rains that had swollen creeks around the area, tour participants began aggregating at the Homestake Adams Archives and Cultural Center (HARCC) shortly after noon, eager to get started on the adventure.

“We were delighted with the turnout,” said event chairman Jeannine Guern. “It was a new experience for us, and we hope to build on this opportunity and create even better tours in the future.”

The Louie LeLonde home was one of five homes
included in the LCHS Historic Homes Tour.

Bad weather and reducing the number of homes on the tour from seven to five didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of participants.

“This was a wonderful experience – rich with history,” one young man told LCHS volunteers after the tour.

For the Lawrence County Historical Society (LCHS), the event netted more than $800.

The society is deeply grateful to the owners of the historic homes included in the tour. They not only allowed participants to come in to their homes – they enriched the experience by sharing information and stories about the historic structures.  You'll find additional photos and narrative information in our LCHS Gallery.

Our sincere thanks go to: Louie LaLonde, Raven Van Tassell, Lynn Namminga, Larry Kracht, and Dustin and Laura Floyd. Without their participation and support, the tour simply could not have succeeded.

The  Dustin & Laura Floyd home is in the midst
of significant restoration and improvement.

Bruce Oberlander of Dakota Graphics was great help with our posters and other print materials, while Mary Kopco and staff at the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center were unwavering in their support for this event.

Lots of LCHS volunteers worked long and hard to ensure the success of the tour. Among them: Donna Watson, Jeannine Guern, Lynn Namminga, Jacke Mitchell, Linda Bryant, Norma Kraemer, Judy Farris, Larry Miller, Marshall Raeburn, Mike Runge, as well as Sam and Linda Namminga.  Also, a tip of the hat to Deadwood Trolley driver Richard Marsolek, who did a superb job of shuttling people as needed between locations.  Of course, the assistance and support from the City of Deadwood, which provided the Trolley, was invaluable.

By the way, you'll find a nice set of interior photographs of the Lynn Namminga home in our Namminga Gallery. 

Many thanks to both First Gold and Four Aces casinos for donating free dinners to two lucky tour participants: Barbara Ayer of Nemo and Doug Kraft of Belle Fourche.  Congratulations Barbara and Doug!

Spring Tour: a few notes and photos

Weather put a damper on plans for the original LCHS Spring Tour in June, but it turned a new leaf in July and provided a very nice day for a tour through several sites in Lawrence and Butte County.

Veteran member Vernon Davis provided the background as a group of morning folks gathered at the Spearfish City Park to begin the tour. Within the park area, there's an old stone grain storage building, artifacts from an old flour mill, a Pioneer Memorial that used to grace downtown Spearfish, and more. Not far from the entry to the park is the site of an old stockade that was built to protect local folks just after the Custer massacre.
                     

Next on the itinerary was St. Onge and the burial site of Jimmy Irion (Iron), the gent hired by the Boughton and Beary Ranch to serve as a lookout against indians while men worked in the nearby hay fields. Irion and several other men were killed by indians on September 10, 1876, and buried atop the bluff where he had died.

A stop at the location of old Minnesela was next, and tour members were able to take a first-hand look at the structure believed to be the only surviving building from the once-thriving community that rivaled Belle Fource as a center of commerce in the area. That building is shown in the photo above at right, as tour members inspected it.

Although we don't have tour day photos from the planned stop at the Center of the Nation Museum and the adjacent log cabin that belong to "Buckskin" Johnny Spaulding, we did click some on a preview trip taken a few months ago. Those preview photos, along with a few others taken by Jerry Bryant during the July 10 tour, can be found in our Historical Marker Gallery.  One of the most delightful spots on the tour route was Cox's Lake. We extracted the photo shown here from a neat panorama shot that Jerry Bryant took on the day of the tour. It's in the gallery, too. The lake is along the route taken by the Colonel Nelson Cole Expedition of 1865. You can see Crow Peak in the background at right, as Vernon Davis shares information about this site.

As others provide more information -- and any photos -- we'll add them to this location.