Terry Cemetery area targeted

With gold prices nearly double what they were 10 years ago, Wharf Resources indicates they're moving forward with plans to expand their mining operations near Terry Peak -- and that could have implications for the Terry Cemetery.  

Although Wharf started its application process in September, it's been pretty much under the radar ever since.  That is, until a story by Kevin Woster emerged last week in the Rapid City Journal.  Woster wrote that the proposal "worries some nearby landowners and could force the relocation of more than 200 graves in the Terry Cemetery."

Above is a bit of history regarding the Terry Cemetery as depicted in the LCHS 1994 publication "Cemeteries and Graves in Lawrence County and Environs," edited by Irma Klock.

We suspect Wharf's proposal will gain additional attention in coming days as folks have an opportunity to comment on their plan.  If you wish to be heard, you should act by Tuesday, January 11th.  For a wealth of information -- and an opportunity to comment -- go to the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources web site.

As a sidebar, we are reminded of the appropriate steps taken some years back by Hershey Food Corporation when they discovered an old cemetery on land they were preparing to convert to a parking lot near their west plant in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  As it turns out, it was an old Hammacher family cemetery, ancestors of many Hamaker families now living in western South Dakota and western Nebraska.  Hershey stepped up to the plate and did the right thing by taking leadership in helping to preserve this historic cemetery.  We believe their actions serve as a model of corporate and civic responsibility.  

We hope Wharf Resources will display the same kind of leadership, but a public nudge in that direction might help.  

Con Stapleton: Deadwood's First Marshal

Submitted by Jerry Bryant
LCHS president

Born in 1848, Con Stapleton first set foot on American soil on 17 May 1872 in New York City. He had departed Ireland from Queenstown and made the journey berthed in the steerage section of the sailing steamer Manhattan.[1]

The Manhattan was a large two masted steamer that carried cargo and immigrants from Europe to the United States. On the voyage that brought Con Stapleton to the United States she was carrying more than 600 passengers, most of whom were traveling 3^rd class.

No records have been found indicating what Stapleton was doing between his arrival in the States and his appearance in Deadwood in 1876. He first appears in the Black Hill Pioneer when he was elected town marshal as part of the initial quasi-legal city government, on 16 September 1876.[2] On 25 September 1876, he was in the news again when John Manning and others of the community advertised the formation of the Democrats of Lawrence County. Con Stapleton was noted to be one of the newly elected delegates to a proposed convention that would occur on September the 29^th.[3]

Marshal Stapleton had his first real taste of duty when he received information and a photograph of a man who was wanted in Marion County, Iowa. The man, Horry Williams, had been convicted of murder. The judge asked him, after he was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment, if he had anything to say. His reply was short and to the point, “You may pass sentence on me, but I will never serve the term.” Later, as the sheriff was transporting him to the State Penitentiary, he overcame the sheriff and beat him to a “state of insensibility.” He then made good his escape. 

On the 24^th of March, Stapleton solicited the assistance of Captain Hardwick and hit the trail in search of the desperado. They first traveled to Elk Creek, where they found that they were on the right trail, but a day and a half late. They slept overnight at Elk Creek and by 6:00 a.m. were back in hard pursuit. They rode to Battle River, and followed its course to Iron Creek. Here they encountered a cabin whose residents confirmed that the man they were looking for had been staying there and that he was presently out hunting. Stapleton and Hardwick decided to wait at the cabin for William’s return. At just about 5:00 p.m. the cabin door opened and they stood staring into the face of Horry Williams. Williams put his gun up at the request of his host, Dr. Woods and sat down to dinner. While eating and engaged in conversation, the Marshall and the Captain arrested him.  Williams was transported back to Deadwood without incident, where the authorities in Iowa were notified. Captain Hardwick then returned Williams back to Iowa and prison. [4]

The Shooting of David Lunt

A bunch of the boys were sitting around having drinks and talking at Al Chapman’s Saloon on the cold winter evening of the 14^th of January 1877. Included in the group were Con Stapleton and David Lunt.  David was a very well liked man around town with a reputation of being a fair and genial man. The conversation was good, the saloon was warm, and drinks were cheap, when all of a sudden the saloon door burst open. A man named Tom Smith came in and drew his revolver. Smith then stated that if anyone moved he would shoot him. He approached the group that Lunt was with, leveled his revolver and continued shouting threats. At this point Con Stapleton grabbed Smith and attempted to disarm him, when the revolver went off. The ball narrowly missed Stapleton’s head, continued on and struck David Lunt in the forehead. Smith was arrested and brought to trial over the incident, but it appears that the only charge they could get him on at the time was discharging a firearm at a town marshal. At court, the fact that David Lunt was also shot during the fracas did not seem to enter into the verdict.  Tom Smith was taken off to Yankton for a real trial, which would also not consider the fact that Lunt was shot, and by March of the same year could be found walking the street of San Francisco. 

But what about Lunt? Well, of course, everyone thought that he was going to die, and real soon, but instead he got up and started to do the same things he had been doing before he was shot. He actually seemed like his old self, even though a bullet had pass completely through his skull, until the 22^nd of March, when he began complaining of an extremely bad headache. Friends of his who owned the Centennial Hotel, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, took him in and tried to nurse him back to health, but he kept sinking lower and that night about a quarter till 11, he died. Drs. Bevan and Babcock conducted a post-mortem the following morning. Their findings were that the bullet had passed through Lunt’s head, and in the process the bullet had carried an inch and half long bone fragment deep into his brain. The bone fragment caused a large abscess to form and the right hemisphere of the brain began to fill with fluid. Now the determination was made that Smith had committed murder and so Sheriff Seth Bullock sent a telegram to ascertain Smith’s where abouts and to issue a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested in San Francisco and sent back to Yankton for trial. The question that begs to be answered in this story is; how did David Lunt live for 67 days with a bullet hole through his skull and brain?[5] 

The Drawbacks of Not Having a Jail

As usual, most mining camp calamities happen at night and in a saloon, and such is the case of the shooting of Harry Varnes. Thirteen days after the tragedy of David Lunt’s shooting, Harry Varnes was shot and killed at Hanley’s Gayville saloon. The event started over what had been a friendly Saturday evening card game on the 27^th of January, 1877. At the end of the game, one of the players, a Blacksmith named Hartgrove, was angered over the outcome. Hartgrove made several statements that enraged one of the other players, Harry Varnes. Varnes then stood up, raised his chair over his head as to hit Hartgrove with it. The chair never fell, as the saloon’s proprietor restrained Varnes. Simultaneously Hartgrove drew his revolver, but was prevented from firing it by several of Varnes’ friends. 

A short time elapsed and the crisis appeared to have ended, and then Hartgrove walked out of the saloon, but remained outside the door on the walk. Varnes called out to Hartgrove, asking him to come back in and have a drink, but Hartgrove declined. Between 10:00 and 11:00 Hartgrove kicked open the door to the saloon and stood outside. The previous argument was revived, and Hartgrove again drew his revolver and shot at Varnes through the door. With Varnes dying on the saloon floor, Hartgrove vanished into the night.

The next morning at approximately 6:00 a.m., Hartgrove woke up Marshal Stapleton at his room in Deadwood and explained what had happened the previous night, stating that he wished to give himself up. Stapleton replied, “all right; you know we have no jail here, so you must stop for the present where you are.” Hartgrove set down and began waiting. Soon he started complaining of the cold, so Stapleton told him to fire up the stove down stairs, and that he would be along when he was ready. Hartgrove warmed himself by the fire until about 9:00 a.m., when Stapleton came downstairs and joined him. At that time Hartgrove asked Stapleton if he could go consult with his lawyers, who had offices on the second floor of the same building. At this point, somewhere between the stove and the lawyer’s office, Hartgrove decided that he had inconvenienced Deadwood and it’s marshal long enough, and to quote the Pioneer; “That was the last seen of the perpetrator of this dread deed, and no doubt long ere this he is out of the reach of law or justice”[6]

On November the 7^th 1877 Con Stapleton’s job as marshal was finished. The Office of City Marshal ceased to exist and it’s duties taken over by the Sheriff of Lawrence County.  Stapleton stayed in the Deadwood area only a short time during the year 1878. He was featured several times at the Gem Theater, once in a sparring match, another time in a wrestling match, and the last time as the referee for a wrestling match. After February of 1877 Stapleton drifted south to Denver, where it was reported that he had died in September of 1879. He would have been approximately 31 years old.

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[1] . Records of immigrant entries to the City of New York, Ancestry.com

[2] . Black Hills Daily Pioneer, 16 Sept. 1876, pg4 col2

[3] . Black Hills Daily Pioneer, 25 Sept. 1876, pg1 col2

[4] . Black Hills Daily Pioneer, 31 march 1877, pg4 col2

[5] . Black Hills Daily Pioneer, 20 Jan 1877, pg4 col2

      Black Hills Daily Pioneer, 24 march 1877, pg4 col1

[6] . Black Hills Daily Pioneer, 3 Feb 1877, pg4 col3

Wolff tells story of gold and railroads in the Black Hills

The life and death of Wild Bill Hickok added a lot of flair to the history of Deadwood and the Black Hills.

Facts and embellishments regarding Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and other 19^th century characters helped give rise to a burgeoning tourism industry that continues into the 21^st century.

But the growth and durability of old Deadwood links back directly to two things:  gold and railroads.

In his latest presentation to the Spearfish Area Historical Society (12/7/10), Black Hills State University professor David Wolff recounted the discovery of gold and the development of railroads in the Black Hills.
  
A pharmacist-turned-historian, Dr. Wolff is a Past President of the Lawrence County Historical Society and continues to serve on that board.  He is also a Vice-President of the South Dakota State Historical Society and is Chairman of the Adams Museum and House Board of Directors in Deadwood.

There were rumors of gold in the hills in the early 1800’s, Wolff told the audience.

“But who knows?” he asked somewhat rhetorically.

“If the Thoen Stone is to be believed, the Ezra Kind party was here in 1833 and 1834.  If Ezra and his buddies really got all the gold they could carry,  why wasn’t there a gold rush afterwards?  Well, nobody knew about it until Louis Thoen dug the stone up.  Of course, Thoen may have made the stone, but then that’s another story.”

Wolff proffered that both discovery and a rush are required, if such an event is to be considered a true gold rush.  While there were numerous reported “discoveries” earlier in the 1800’s, there certainly was no “rush” of prospectors to the region until 1874.  That’s when the Custer expedition – replete with 110 wagons and a thousand men – entered the western Black Hills near Buckhorn.  It was near present day Custer that year that Horatio Ross and William McKay reportedly found gold in July of that year.

Word spread rapidly, and the rush to the hills was on.  Wolff noted that early prospectors found some gold at Spring Creek, more near Sheridan, and along Rapid Creek.  But it wasn’t much, and for most it wasn’t enough to even pay a day’s wages. 

“If that’s all the gold that would’ve been found in the Black Hills, the gold rush would’ve died.  The men would have lost interest, packed up and left.  It would’ve been like the Big Horns in Wyoming, where there were repeated gold rushes, but they never found any real gold.

But that didn’t happen in the Black Hills, where several “paying locations” blossomed in Deadwood Gulch, along Deadwood Creek and Whitewood Creek.

By the spring of 1876, Fred and Moses Manuel found a large outcropping of ore that became the “Homestead Claim,” measuring 600 by about 1,500 feet.  It became a focal point for hardrock mining.  In the coming months, California entrepreneur George Hearst (at left) arrived on the scene and offered the Manuels and their partners $70,000 for their claims.

It was the beginning of the industrial mining that gave wealth to the region for more than a century.  Hearst and his partners developed the infrastructure necessary to process the ore, and many former prospectors went to work for the Homestake.  With the growth of the Homestake Mine, Lead became a true “company town,” while nearby Deadwood became a service center.

Even in those early days, railroads were an essential part of gold mining.  At first, it was mules and horses pulling ore out of the mines in wagons on rails.  By 1879, Homestake ordered a five-ton locomotive that had to be pulled by oxen from Bismarck, North Dakota to the Black Hills.  That engine – dubbed the J. B. Haggin – was a workhorse for the mine, which used rail to haul timbers needed for the mining operation.  Some 130 years later, the J. B. Haggin remains on display at the Adams Museum in Deadwood.

Wolff traced the expansion of rail service by the Fremont Elkhorn & Missouri Valley from Nebraska along the eastern edge of the hills, basically following the old Sidney to Deadwood stage route.  First to Buffalo Gap in 1885, on to Fairburn, Hermosa, and eventually Rapid City.   In 1887, the railroad started building again, creating excitement in places like Deadwood, Sturgis, and Crook City.  Instead, FE&MV built north 10 miles and created the town of Whitewood.  From 1887 to 1890, all rail business in the area came out of Whitewood.

Then came news that the Burlington line was building north out of Nebraska toward the coal field of Wyoming.  After creating their own company town in Edgemont, Burlington announced plans to build track to Deadwood, which was eager to see the local Black Hills & Fort Pierre line connect with main lines outside the hills.  Despite its name, said Wolff, the Black Hills and Fort Pierre Railroad ran from Lead to Sugar Loaf, Brownsville, then Nemo, and just to the edge of the Black Hills.  There was no service to Pierre.

“1890 was an exciting time in the Black Hills as the Elkhorn began building from Whitewood to Deadwood, and the Burlington started building up through the center of the Black Hills in a classic railroad race.”

The Fremont Elkhorn & Missouri Valley railroad, a subsidiary of the Chicago and North Western Railway, arrived first in Deadwood -- December of 1890.  But the Burlington wasn't far behind -- January 1891.  Both companies established depots in close proximity.  C&NW signage for the old FE&MV depot is still displayed on the side of the old depot building in Deadwood.  It is now a tourist information center.

Wolff quoted Sol Star, then Mayor of Deadwood, as saying that with the arrival of outside railroads, “Deadwood is finally a city of permanence.”

Wolff briefly recounted the role of Seth Bullock in helping the railroad develop Belle Fourche, much to the chagrin of nearby Minnesela residents, who had enlisted Bullock’s help to ensure that the line would pass through their community – which is no more.  More details about this event can be found in Wolff’s book Seth Bullock – Black Hills Lawman.

Not the New Christy Minstrels.....but WHO?

These folks took time out from Days of '76 festivities in 1930 Deadwood to pose for this photograph. Jerry Bryant was kind enough to share this photo, and we'd like to try to identify those pictured.   Drop us an e-mail if you can help.

Pay Dirt - A book review by Jerry L. Bryant

 The story of how Uncle Torwal and Whitey were chawed off their Ranch by Grasshoppers and went up in the Black Hills to Sluice Gold for a spell.

Pay Dirt by Glen Rounds - 1938    Holiday House, New York

For those who would like a short taste of what life was like during the Automobile Gold Rush, the children’s book “Pay Dirt” is an absolute delight. The story told is of the Great Depression as seen through the eyes of a ten year old named Whitey. The book describes searching for gold and sluicing in 1931 in and around Hill City, South Dakota. While it was written for children, it contains a wealth of ideas and terms associated with placer mining and also hosts a visit to the Golden Eagle mine, where the mine supervisor, his Uncle’s friend, explains hardrock mining to Whitey. The following is a brief sample of the book’s narrative:

This is a drawing from inside the book.
The author did all of his own drawings.

“Whitey admired Uncle Torwal’s droopy red mustache more than a little bit. Somewhere he had heard that he could grow one like it by putting cream on his lip and letting the cat lick it off. But although nothing had come of the treatment so far, he was far from discouraged……Uncle Torwal wore his drawers outside of his shirt, cutting slits in the top for his suspender straps to run through before they fastened to his overalls. This left about an inch of the drawers showing all the way around between the pants and the shirt, and Whitey thought it a very elegant style indeed. He could hardly wait until he wore drawers like that so he could do the same.”

Several Dakota place names are mentioned throughout the book, and even as an adult reader, I found it difficult not to imagine myself delightfully along the same stream panning gold with Uncle Torwal and Whitey.

Author Glen Rounds was a South Dakota Native. He was born in a sod house near the Badlands in 1906. He grew up in South Dakota and on a horse ranch in Montana. He studied art at the Art Institute of Kansas City with Jackson Pollock. Rounds wrote or illustrated 150 books over a 60-year period. He died in North Carolina in 2002. In a brief computer search, I could only find four copies of this book in South Dakota Libraries, and all of them were at the State Library in Pierre. Of the many books by Rounds, "Pay Dirt" was his third book

Revisiting Roubaix Cemetery

A recent inquiry about the cemetery near Roubaix, South Dakota prompted us to explore a bit.  We started with the narrative below, extracted from the 1994 booklet, Cemeteries and Graves in Lawrence County and Environs, published by the Lawrence County Historical Society and edited by Irma H. Clock.  The original information was provided by Ruth Kotti.  We then visited the cemetery, which is perched on a hilltop along Elk Creek Road just north of its intersection with Nemo Road.  We snapped a few photos, which are included below.

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It was not unusual that even in the most unsettled areas of the American West, burial sites, the ordinary method of disposing of the dead came into being. It has long been observed that a hill or a knoll near frontier settlements was the common selection. The Roubaix Cemetery is located in a wooded area at the top of a hill, a short distance from the non-existent town of Roubaix, which was also known as Perry.

Even though some interments are recorded prior to the 1900’s, it is rumored that the land, possibly a mining claim, was originally donated for a cemetery by the Sawyer family after the death of their infant daughter, Bertha Ellan Sawyer, who was buried on January 1, 1906, at the age of 6 days. However, researching the Lawrence County Record of Burials reveals possible earlier burials at the site. Among these were: Patrick Mahr of Brownsville, buried near Brownsville, on May 14, 1884; Henry Hilturen, 10 years old, buried at Perry, in August 1885; Oleans Johnson, age 38 years old, buried near the Sam Mine on September 7, 1885; and

Mrs. Sophie Amanda Pietila, born in 1850, and died October 5, 1888.

Although these people are recorded in the Record of Burials,  nothing substantiates these graves. The only confirmed burial is that of Mrs. Pietila, who has a large granite tombstone marking her grave, as well as the graves of two infant sons, Nels A., who died in October, 1887, at the age of 49 days, and Frank J., who died on October 26, 1888, at the age of 21 days.

Grave markers confirm that there were three infant burials in the1890’s. They were Hilda Balander, who was born in 1889, and died in 1890; Henry W. Pinske, born and died in 1895; and Mary A. Pinske, who was born and died in 1896.

Sometime in the 1970’s, in October, a visual survey was done by Mrs. Esther E. Salmon. She located at least 27 unidentified graves, several of the wooden markers were weathered and worn past reading. When another walking survey was done in 1990-1991, the results compared, the cemetery was found to have two hundred sixty-six marked graves that were identified and listed.

Besides the Sawyer infant, there were 12 other tombstones -- verified burials in the 1990’s. The burials include 7 infants/children and five adults, 3 males and 2 females. 

An early day resident recalled the funeral procession (of) one of these young mothers. A team of horses pulled the heavy lumber wagon carrying the homemade pine coffin. Neighbors sang a mournful dirge as the cortege (procession) wound its way up the steep hill to the cemetery for committal.

Inscriptions on grave stones disclose that there were 22 burials between the years of 1910 to 1919, generally. According to the information etched on the gray granite monuments marking the graves of two WWI soldiers who died in 1918, one died in Fort Riley, Kansas, and the other died at Camp Johnston, Florida. During the flu epidemic of 1918-1919, indoor public gatherings were prohibited. An early-day former Lead mortician remembers one particular outdoor funeral ceremony, where the minister, bundled in a heavy coat complete with fur hat and mittens, stood in the box of a spring wagon as he preached. Mourners, shivering and shaking in the bitter winter cold, listened to the long sermon, which seemed longer because of the weather.

The Roubiax Cemetery is mainly the resting place of early day residents of the Roubaix, Elk Creek, Brownsville, Box Elder and Custer Peak vicinities.  Today, there are occasional additions to the family plots as well as other burials.

Elected to the governing board of the Roubaix Cemetery Association, which was organized in April 29, 1950, were: Esther E. Salmon, Mary Paananen, and John Hill. All board members were area residents. A fund had been started in May 1949 for a new fence. The board was chosen to supervise major improvements, cemetery maintenance, and the delegation of burial sites. In the ensuring years, board replacements have been: Ralph Rantapaa, Elma Quaschnick and Eva Haka. Currently, Mr. Rantapaa is the board president, Mrs. Quaschnick is the secretary, and Mrs. Haka is the present treasurer.

The dead who rest in this hallowed place -- who are they? They came from all walks of life and had various vocations to make their living. They were the parents who nurtured and, for some, buried their children. They are community leaders, the unsung heroes, those who served their country in all its conflicts, even a veteran of the Spanish American War. Then there are those who are buried there that are known only to God and to their loved ones they left behind, bone, but not forgotten.   ~~Information by Ruth Kotti.

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NOTE:  We've heard this cemetery referred to as the "Andersen Cemetery," so we were alert to any Andersen tombstones.  This plot for the family of  James C. and Petrine Andersen was particularly interesting.  It is shown in the photo above at right.  You can click on the image to see a larger version.  Note that their daughter Gladys Violet Anderson died in 1904, just a few weeks shy of her second birthday.  Her surname was engraved as ANDERSON, while markers for both her parents were engraved as ANDERSEN.  

                                                              

West River History Conference summary

This summary of the 2010 West River History Conference was provided
 by Shebby Lee, President of the organization.

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Participants in the Eighteenth Annual West River History Conference were very pleased with the new venue according to the evaluations and feedback for the conference which ended September 25. The fully-equipped and modern classrooms enhanced the experience and were complimented by the lounge area with its cozy fireplace, and spacious ballroom where booksellers offered biographies and historic books for sale.

Presenters at this year's conference hailed from as far away as AZ, Texas, and NY. As always, attendees also came from the neighboring states of North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska and Minnesota as well as Kansas and all parts of South Dakota.

Attendance was also up over record-breaking 2009, and plans are already underway for next year's conference to be held Sept. 22, 23, and 24 at the Surbeck Center on the School of Mines campus in Rapid City, SD. Check our website often as plans are unveiled for another exciting conference in 2011.

2009 Award Winners

At the Friday awards luncheon, winners of the 2009 conference papers were announced. Winner of the best student paper was Emily Wicks of Faith High School, whose paper was entitled "Annie Oakley: Guns, Romance and Hardships". Second place went to Cassie Foster, Faith High School for her paper, "The Myths and Legends of Belle Starr, the ‘Bandit Queen'".

First place in the adult category went to Pat Moore of Chestnut Hill, MA, for her paper, "Answering the Call: Women Missionaires in the West, 1810-1900". Pat has donated her prize to the WRHC scholarship fund. Second place went to Jan Cerney of Philip, SD for her paper entitled, "Missionary Corabelle Fellows. Victim of the Yellow Press". Third place was awarded to Donna Fisher of Deadwood for her paper, "Pursuit of Art: Grace French, Pioneer Artist and Teacher". With so many excellent papers, the judges opted to award an additional Honorable Mention to Barb White of Herrick, SD, for "How Todd Lost His County (and Found it Again Out West)"

In addition to prizes for best papers, the conference presents awards to deserving promoters and preservers of history in our region. The Herb Blakely Award for outstanding contributions to local and regional history, a sense of American Patriotism, and efforts to further the concepts of good citizenship went to Mary Lewis of Wasta, SD. The Zoom Zoom award for outstanding support of local history went to Marcia Hill of Rapid City; and the Sandria Friske Helping Hand Award went to Grove Rathbun of Rapid City.

The conference was made possible with support by the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, Black Hills Corral of Westerners, International, the Society of Black Hills Pioneers, the Reptile Gardens, Keystone Historical Museum, Big Thunder Gold Mine, the South Dakota State Railroad Museum, Lewis Publishing and Dode Lee.

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.

Custer expedition on the plains

Veteran photographer and writer Paul Horsted never fails to entertain – and enlighten. Those traits keep him in demand on the speaking circuit.

His latest venue was today (5/23/10) at the Bay Leaf Café in Spearfish, where he led members of the Lawrence County Historical Society through the chronology and geography of General George Custer’s massive 1874 expedition to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Horsted, who lives north of Custer, South Dakota, noted that the Custer trek was “better documented than any other military expedition of the Old West.” Much of that 19th century documentation was revisited, then reversioned, by Horsted and his co-author Ernest Grafe for their 2002 publication Exploring with Custer – The 1874 Black Hills Expedition. Many maps, documents, and Illingworth photographs are included.

Today, Horsted employed a lively multi-media presentation to tell “the rest of the story” about the expedition. Exploring with Custer dealt with the Black Hills area. His latest endeavor – Crossing the Plains with Custer – is a companion book that traces the Custer expedition from Fort Lincoln in north Dakota Territory to the Black Hills, including their journey back to the fort.

In his books, Horsted also uses his “then and now” display of historic photographs juxtapositioned with his contemporary photography from the same vantage point. It’s a powerful technique that has served him well – especially his book The Black Hills, Yesterday & Today. You can find more about Horsted at his on-line site, Paul Horsted - Dakota Photographic, LLC.

Following his presentation, Horsted took time to answer questions and visit with folks who attended the gathering. Above, he chats with historian David Wolff (center) and Lawrence County Historical Society president Jerry Bryant (right).

During the business meeting of the society, Bryant updated members on the status of trying to save the Trojan School, which he conceded may be difficult to do. In any event, he suggested that the society play an active role in doing what it can to preserve the structure.

Bryant then asked David Wolff to provide an update on the Fassbender photo collection. Wolff noted that there is some lack of agreement over the value of the old collection, providing something of a stumbling block. For the moment, the project seems to be on hold.

There was also a brief discussion about the prospect of acquiring dedicated space for the Lawrence County Historical Society in the new Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center in Deadwood. Considerable enthusiasm was voiced for such an arrangement, and LCHS president Bryant said the board would meet in the near future to discuss the matter.

Finally, members were reminded of the forthcoming LCHS spring tour planned for Sunday, June 13th at 8:00 a.m. More information can be found in an earlier posting about the spring tour.

Paying tribute to the cowboy

Hollywood doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to telling the real story of the American cowboy.

We’d put greater trust in a more unusual form of documenting the American west: poetry.

Cowboy Poetry Week is slated for April 18-24 across the country, and there are a variety of activities slated in the northern Black Hills region to help commemorate the cowboy tradition.

Ranging from a “Brown Bag Poetry Reading” at the Matthews Opera House at noon on Wednesday, April 14th to an evening of “Cowboy Culture” at the High Plains Western Heritage Center on Thursday, April 22nd as part of the Heritage of the American West series, there’s a variety of events that are bound to tickle your fancy. Poetry reading events are scheduled at the public libraries in Rapid City, Whitewood, Spearfish, Sturgis and Belle Fourche. Click on the poster shown here for an overview of the many events that are planned.

You'll find details about the Heritage of the American West April 22nd performance in this news release about “Cowboy Culture.”

Proclamations have been adopted at the state and national level in an effort to give recognition to the Great American Cowboy.

Deadwood's Bad Lands...

The Leland D. Case Library at Black Hills State University will host a presentation and book signing with Michael Trump this Thursday (3/25/10) in Spearfish. A 1990 BHSU graduate, Trump will give the presentation at 7:30 p.m. in the Jacket Legacy room of the David B. Miller Yellow Jacket Student Union.

Trump’s book, Raiding Deadwood’s Bad Lands: Its Illegal History of Prostitution and Gambling is an account of the history of the various raids on vice, concluding with the 1980 closing of the brothels and the Deadwood community’s push to get gambling legalized.

Legal historian Michael Trump researched and wrote a thesis on the 1980 federal raid of the brothels. During his research, he discovered there had been other raids not only on the brothels, but on gambling as well. Raiding Deadwood’s Bad Lands is a history of all the raids, concluding with the 1980 closing of the brothels, and the Deadwood business community’s push to get gambling legalized.

Trump also covers aspects of Deadwood’s early years as a wide-open mining camp. Support for the research and publishing of the book was provided by the Adams Museum & House, South Dakota Humanities Council, Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission and TDG Communications.

The event is free and open to the public with wheelchair accessibility. For more information call (605) 642-6361. Refreshments will be served.

Pioneer aviator Art Smith:the Bird Man

The old Deadwood fairgrounds, located near the “Roo Ranch” a couple of miles east of Deadwood towards Boulder Canyon, was the site of the first airplane landing in Lawrence County.

The year was 1912. It hadn’t even been nine years since the Wright Brothers soared their aircraft above the dunes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina – marking a first in aviation history. And it would be some 15 years before Charles Lindbergh would make the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

A young Indiana stunt pilot named Art Smith (above photo) landed his bi-plane aircraft at Deadwood in the summer of 1912. The Pioneer-Times reported that Smith "bears the distinction of being the first man to successfully navigate an airship in the Black Hills." It was barely two years after his parents had hocked their Fort Wayne home for $1,800 so the 20-year-old could build an airplane.

By all accounts, the Deadwood landing was a grand event and was, fortunately, captured by photographers. This is one of several photos of young Smith, passed along to us by Jerry Bryant. We would like to extend thanks the Adams Museum and House for sharing them. You'll find other photos in our LCHS Gallery.

Smith biographer Rachel Sherwood Roberts recounts in her book, Art Smith-Pioneer Aviator, that the young aviator "was as celebrated as any Hollywood star...he glamorized and popularized flying while testing the boundaries of aeronautic principles." Roberts has written much about Smith, including an article entitled "The Smash-Up Kid" for the Indiana Historical Society. Smith made another trip to the Black Hills in 1913, bringing his new bride, Aimee, with him. The couple was treated like celebrities, and Smith showed Aimee the plateau from which he’d flown the previous year.

The “Historical Footprint” film series at the Roundhouse in Lead recently (1/16/10) showed a film of Art Smith landing his aircraft at the old Spearfish fairgrounds on one of his visits to the Black Hills. It was during his 1913 trip that Art performed in Edgemont during the Fall River County Fair.

Smith had quite a career. Although he was refused as an Army Air Corps pilot in World War I – probably because of numerous injuries he had endured prior to the war, and possibly because of his short stature. He was only 5 feet 3 inches tall. Following the war, he worked for the U.S. Post Office, flying overnight mail between New York and Chicago. He died when his aircraft smashed into a grove of trees near Montpelier, Ohio, in February 1926. He was 32 years old.

Smith was undoubtedly an inspiration to thousands of would-be aviators who witnessed his daredevil stunts as he traversed the country performing in air shows prior to World War I. He reportedly won the admiration of aviators like Wiley Post and Charles Lindbergh before they achieved their fame.