THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2014
CUSTER AND DEADWOOD, SD
Another extremely busy day.
There is so much to see here.
The Black Hills are beautiful and the history of this part of the
country has become real - it is no longer just a tale or story. Wild West gun fights, saloons, pioneer
settlements, gold mines, Indian tribes and lifestyles …… it just goes on and
on.
This morning we once again left camp at 9:00 a.m. Our first stop was at the CRAZY HORSE
monument. This is a gigantic
undertaking to carve (sculptor) a figure of Crazy Horse riding his stallion
while pointing out to the lands once owned by the Native Americans. The monument is being cut out of solid rock
in a manner similar to Rushmore.
Blasting away pieces of granite, drilling, chipping and even sanding. The figure is far from complete - in fact it
will never be complete in my lifetime.
The story behind this project is one that should be of interest to
everyone. It is a story of love,
ambition and determination to honor the Native American people and it is not
taking one thin dime of taxpayer money.
All income is derived from donations and admission fees.
Below the emerging figure of Crazy Horse and his stallion is
a beautiful museum and gift shop showing Indian made crafts, clothing, hunting
and fighting weapons and tools. Some
are for sale, such as jewelry, while others are part of the collection on
display.
After we left Crazy Horse we drove through the Black Hills
crossing several very steep mountain grades, to the town of Deadwood, SD.
Deadwood is one of many small towns in this part of the
country that have some significant tie to a historic hero, event or
structure. This is the place where Wild
Bill Hickock was shot in the back on August 3, 1876, by Jack McCall while Wild
Bill was playing poker in a saloon.
Wild Bill was a U.S. Marshall that captured outlaws throughout the west
in Abilene, Dodge City, Hays and Nebraska.
In the saloon at the time of the killing, Calamity Jane, who
was a girlfriend of Hickock, cradled the dead Hickock as she yelled, "The
villain, the dirty rat, I'll get him."
Hickock was quickly buried in a pine box up on Boot
Hill. The cemetery sits on what is now
named Mount Moriah. When Calamity Jane
died some years later she requested that she be buried next to Wild Bill. She got her wish and the two graves are
side-by-side.
While visiting the grave sites we notices small rocks and
coins stacked on or near the headstone.
On the headstone of Calamity Jane there were to small (full) bottles of
Jack Daniels Old No. 7 whiskey. When I
asked what all of this meant I was told it was a traditional way for visitors
to show that they had visited the grave.
Again, it was an interesting and extremely busy day. Nancy and I had a lot of fun and were
completely exhausted by the time we got back to the camper.
The next stop will be Cody, WY just outside of Yellowstone. We have been told that if we got tired being tourist here that Cody will wear us completely out. So much to see and not nearly enough time. We could spend a month here and still not see it all.
Crazy Horse Monument. Work is not complete.
Entering Deadwood. Notice the population. It is still a small town literally built into the side of a mountain
Casino's with slot machines and card games are in just about every restaurant and saloon. We ate lunch here. There was a blackjack game going on behind us. You can see the glitzy lights of the slot machines around the dining room. No, neither one of us put anything into the machines.
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