Fall Meeting: Historic Barn Tour!

October 1st- Be a part of our Historic Barn Tour presented by Mr. Leo Orme.
The day begins with lunch at The HARCC at 11:30 am- a lovely meal catered by Cheyenne Crossing Catering.  At 12:15 pm we will load up the bus to tour Historic barns of Lawrence County, narrated by Mr. Leo Orme.
The tour takes approximately 3 hours.  Wear comfy shoes and consider bringing water.
$25 per person includes lunch and the tour.  Contact Donna Watson for your ticket: 605-578-9770
The first 40 people get to ride the bus, so call soon!
Mr. Orme's book, "Historic Barns of Lawrence County" will be available for purchase as well.

Look for us at The Book Fair!

September 22 and 23 @ Deadwood Mountain Grand
Come purchase golden nuggets of history! We'll be selling the following books at our booth:
--A Timeline of Lawrence County by LCHS
--Deadwood's Mt. Moriah Cemetery by Mike Runge
--Historic Markers of Lawrence County booklet by Norma Kraemer and LCHS
and possibly more!
Stop by or miss out!

Pioneer Families: Your histories are needed!

Attention members: We need members of families who were early pioneers of Lawrence County.  We're currently collecting histories of pioneer families for our sequel book, Some History of Lawrence County, Volume 2.
Please contact us at mardavani@yahoo.com ASAP for more information!

Invitation to the Ft. Meade Museum Social

Attention History Buffs:  We at The Lawrence County Historical Society have been cordially invited by The South Dakota Historical Society to their Fundraising Social at Ft. Meade Museum on THURSDAY AUGUST 18TH -- 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM.
Come and enjoy:
-Badger Clark poetry set to music by Pegie Douglas
-Free Tours of the Museum
-Beverages and Hors d'oeuvres
-Silent Auction
$25 suggested donation at the door
RSVP to 605-773-6298 or info@sdshf.org by Monday Aug 15.  

Spring Meeting 2017!

Attn LCHS members! On Sunday April 23rd at high noon, Mr.  Richard Kaan will be speaking about the stage coach and freight wagon routes in the Black Hills.
$15 per person gets you lunch and history! At the HARCC (150 Sherman Street in Deadwood.) Catered by Cheyenne Crossing.  For reservations call Donna Watson at 605-578-9770.
Be there or be bored!

ATTENTION LCHS MEMBERS: There is a board meeting scheduled for Monday March 13th at 4 pm at the HARCC (150 Sherman in Deadwood.) All members are welcome, and encouraged to attend.  Your ideas are needed! We'll be discussing our Spring event... We hope to see you there!

Whitewood will commemorate Calamity Jane's last photo taken there

Whitewood, South Dakota will be placing a plaque on the sidewalk where Calamity Jane had her last photo taken.  Stay tuned for more details!

Whitewood To Install a SD Historical Marker on July 3rd, 2016

 

Whitewood  Installs A South Dakota  Historical Marker

Whitewood, SD  -  On July 3 at 11:00 am in the center of town, Whitewood will hold a dedication ceremony for their first South Dakota Historical Marker commemorating the first train from the East in the Northern Black Hills.

“Our entire community has been involved in this project.   We held bake sales to earn the money needed to purchase the marker with people buying a plate of cookies for $20,” said Whitewood Chamber of commerce President Rita Bestgen.   Through a grant, the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation provided half the cost of the marker.  “We are very grateful to the DAR ladies for helping get this Marker,” said Besten.

Chris Nelson, W Historic Preservation Specialist with the South Dakota Historical Society, worked with community members to establish the evidence that the first train from the East in the Northern Black Hills pulled into Whitewood in November of 1887.   Whitewood remained the “End of the Line” until the railroad main line was completed through St. Onge to Belle Fourche in 1890 and the branch line to Deadwood was completed the same year.   One Whitewood Historic researcher commented about how difficult it was to get the wording on the Marker just right..   “To tell the whole story in so few words was hard.  Chris was very helpful with this,” she said.

Over six years ago the Whitewood Library began gathering and filing historical photos, documents, resident stories, and other material on the town’s history.   These files were used to document the information needed to complete the Marker application.

Whitewood’s Mayor Mitch Harmon will introduce the speakers at the July 3 ceremony.  “This is a great day for our small town, and to and celebrate this patriotic weekend.   It is so important to remember the role we played in the development of the Northern Black Hills."  The public is invited.

 

Deadwood Saints and Sinners, by Jerry Bryant

Local historian and author Jerry Bryant now has his book Deadwood Saints And Sinners  available on amazon.com, booksamillion.com, and barnesandnoble.com.  Get your copy today!

Spring Meeting 2016!

We are proud to announce our annual Spring Meeting on May 15, 2016 at High Noon, at the Homestake Adams Research & Cultural Center in Deadwood.
$15 gets you lunch and a most unique presentation.  Please contact Donna Watson at 605-578-9770 for reservations and more information.
There will be a fascinating presentation that will focus on the Botanical Legacy of Deadwood's Chinatown District.  Archaeological excavations from 2001-2004 revealed several major structures in Deadwood's Chinatown District.  Also noted were privies and a ceremonial pit that was probably used for disposal of personal items.  The Black Hills State University (BHSU) herbarium – a plant research facility located in Spearfish, South Dakota – has recently analyzed materials collected from the site. 

The presentation will introduce the BHSU herbarium and its botanical research projects, summarize the known history of Deadwood's Chinatown District, report on the composition of plant specimens recovered to date from the study site, and offer preliminary insights on uses of plants by the Chinese population.

u won't get such detailed information anywhere else!

Also in May will be the Whitewood History Dedication Ceremony of the Railroad Main Line that went from Whitewood to Belle Fourche! Keep an eye on our website for the upcoming announcement of the date!

Deadwood History hours change November 1st

DEADWOOD – Deadwood History’s Adams Museum, Days of ‘76 Museum and Historic Adams House will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday through October 31, 2015.  The museums are closed on Mondays.  

Winter hours will begin in November with the Adams Museum and Days of ‘76 Museum scheduled to be open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.  Closed Mondays and winter holidays.  The Historic Adams House will be closed November through March, but will open for group tours with advanced reservations.  

Admission to the Adams Museum is by donation; the Days of ‘76 Museum is $5.50 for adults, $2.50 for children ages 7 – 13 and free to children 6 and under; the Historic Adams House is $8 for adults, $3 for children ages 7 – 13 and free to children 6 and under. 

The Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC) is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.  

Free admission is offered to the Adams Museum, Days of ‘76 Museum and Historic Adams House for all Deadwood History members.  Membership allows Deadwood History to offer educational programs, create new exhibits and benefit on-going preservation needs.  

Every form of support, whether it is an individual membership or a donation, is deeply appreciated and allows Deadwood History to continue to fulfill its mission to educate and engage our community.  For information on becoming a member call 605-722-4800. 

Badger Clark captured life in the American West

(Editor's Note:  This feature is provided by the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation, the nonprofit fundraising partner of the South Dakota State Historical Society.)

Badger Clark turned four years of cowboy life into a career as one of America’s most successful cowboy poets.

Charles Badger Clark Jr., was born Jan, 1, 1883, in Albia, Iowa. His father, a minister, moved the family to the Plankinton area three months later. The family later lived in Mitchell, Huron and Deadwood.  Clark attended Dakota Wesleyan University for one year and then lived in Cuba for two years before returning to the Black Hills to work for the Lead Daily Call. When he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, he followed a doctor’s advice to move to a dry climate. He went to Arizona, where he tended a small herd of cattle at a ranch near Tombstone.

“I drearily acknowledge that I was no buckaroo worthy of the name,” Clark wrote.

The compensations he found from cowboy life were freedom and the beauty of the desert range. He expressed his feelings for his new life in verse.

His stepmother, Anna, sent a poem he included in a letter to her to Pacific Monthly magazine in California.

When that poem, “Ridin’,” was published and Clark received $10 for it, he decided he had found a job for life.

“If they’ll pay money for such stuff as that, I’m fixed,” Clark said, according to his biographer Helen Morganti.

Badger Clark

After four years in Arizona, Clark returned to the family home in Hot Springs, where his father had taken the job of chaplain at the Battle Mountain Sanitarium. After his father’s death in 1921, Clark continued to live with his stepmother until she moved in 1926 to what was then called the State Soldiers’ Home and Clark moved to Custer State Park.

Returning to South Dakota did not end Clark’s career as a poet. Anna encouraged her stepson to write a poem reflecting the cowboy religion. Clark told her that he had heard cowboys use biblical expressions, but not in the context of a religious nature, according to Jessie Sundstrom in “Badger Clark: Cowboy Poet with Universal Appeal.”

Nonetheless, Clark did comply with his stepmother’s request, which resulted in one of his most popular poems. “A Cowboy’s Prayer” has appeared on postcards, in greeting cards and is read at rodeos.

The fact that the poem is often attributed to “author anonymous” did not seem to bother Clark.

“Mr. Anonymous has written some marvelously good things in the past and when a man reaches a height where he is identified with Anonymous, that’s success,” Clark is quoted as saying.

Clark’s first volume of poems, “Sun and Saddle Leather,” was published in 1915. The novel “Spike,” containing short stories about life on the Arizona ranch, was published in 1925. “Sky Lines and Wood Smoke” was published in 1935, and “boots and bylines” and “When Hot Springs was a Pup” were published after Clark’s death.

The cowboy poet’s work has never gone out of print. The South Dakota Historical Society Foundation, the nonprofit fundraising partner of the South Dakota State Historical Society, oversees the reprinting and distribution of Clark’s work as well as other materials about him.

Clark took his poems to the people, reading them at schools, colleges, clubs, churches and other gatherings. A commanding presence with a Van Dyke mustache and beard, he would recite his verse wearing knee-high boots, riding breeches and a military-style coat.

He is credited with speaking at the first cowboy poetry event in Elko, Nev., where he entertained a large crowd at the Elko High School gym on April 3, 1926. He was honored at the 2013 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko when an ensemble cast of artists from across the West recited or sang their favorite work of his.

Often speaking for “travel and meals,” honorariums from his speeches and publishing royalties earned him $500 to $700 a year, enough to live at his cabin in Custer State Park. Clark described his home, the Badger Hole, as “four rooms and a path.” It had no running water, no electricity and was heated by burning wood in the range, the fireplace and in a round heater in the living room.

“Sufficient,” he said, “for a bachelor in the backwoods.”

Although never married, Clark was once engaged to a classmate at Deadwood High School, according to Sundstrom.

Gov. Leslie Jensen named Clark the South Dakota poet laureate in 1937, but Clark may have preferred another title, as he signed a letter, “Dutifully your poet lariat, Badger Clark.”

Clark remained the state’s poet laureate until his death from throat and lung cancer in Rapid City on Sept. 27, 1957. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Hot Springs. 

He left a poetic heritage rich in beauty and an understanding of the American West.