The Black Hills

I know you’ll be disappointed to read that I have just three more installments of road trip photos.

Deadwood

We spent the night in Deadwood, South Dakota, looking for Joanie’s place but to no avail. They discovered gold in the Black Hills in 1874, and from the rush came the town of Deadwood. They discovered modern gambling in Deadwood in 1989 and from that rush came the preservation of an interesting little town, though one that looks nothing like it did in the TV series. Still, better than most tourist communities, and some amenities including this pretty good restaurant. Several places in Deadwood take the name No. 10 because the original No. 10 was the location of Wild Bill Hickok’s death.

Homestake

Just three or four miles from Deadwood is Lead (pronounced Leed), South Dakota. That’s where the serious gold was. Fred and Moses Manuel and Hank Harney staked their claim called Homestake on April 9, 1876. George Hearst, father of William Randolph Hearst, bought the claim in 1877 for $70,000. The mine closed in 2002 after nearly 40 million ounces of gold and 9 million ounces of silver had been extracted. We tend to think of gold mining as something one does in a cold stream with a flat pan. The real ore came from big industrial mines run by big industrial mining companies.

CrazyHorse

The Crazy Horse Memorial is the world’s largest mountain carving. It is carved with explosives. The work began in 1948. When finished the front part of the mountain will be a horse’s head. The long strait line will be the Oglala Lakota warrior’s arm pointing to the distance. You can see the face. Note the vehicles in the photo at the base of the rock to get some idea of the scale.

Click any of the images for larger versions.

8 thoughts on “The Black Hills”

  2. The thing that worries me about the Crazy horse Memorial is the pointing finger. It’s going to be quite delicate. I have this vision that they’ll get done with the thing after about 300 years work and as they’re posing for pictures in front of it, PLINK!, the finger will break off and shatter in a million pieces.

  3. “…the finger will break off and shatter in a million pieces.”

    Hopefully, landing on the heads of some white bureaucrats, so that Crazy Horse can finally have the last laugh. I think he is the last man on Earth that would have wanted a mountain carved at all, let alone in his image.

  4. Well, in his “image,” because no photographs of Crazy Horse exist. The carving is based on descriptions of him.

  5. Debby, which “white bureaucrats” are you talking about? The Crazy Horse Memorial is a private affair.

    The mission of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation is to protect and preserve the culture, tradition, and living heritage of the North American Indians. The Foundation demonstrates its commitment to this endeavor by continuing the progress on the world’s largest sculptural undertaking by carving a memorial to the Lakota leader Crazy Horse to represent all North American Indians, by providing educational and cultural programming; by acting as a repository for Native American artifacts, arts and crafts through the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, and by establishing and operating, when practical, a university and medical training center for Native Americans.

    Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation

    Besides, as a white bureaucrat for 30 years I am offended at being labelled in a those people way.

  6. I can see why you might have been offended. However, I have to say – we drove by this memorial in 2002 and again in 2007, and now I see your photos from 2009 – and it looks exactly the same every time.

    The lack of any meaningful progress would lead one to assume that the government was in charge.

  7. Well, I knew it was a private endeavor, and that it hasn’t progressed in a very long time. Some say it is his curse, and that it never will be finished. As I wrote above, he never would have wanted a mountain to be carved up at all, let alone to “honor” him. It is said that he revered nature even more deeply than most.

    As for Crazy Horse getting the last laugh on the white bureaucrats, I was referring to the way his people [and the majority of all native people] were treated by the WB’s during his era. I didn’t mean to offend you in particular. I should have been more specific. I understand that there are actually some WB’s who understand the travesties of that time, and who would like to see it made right [a few then; more now]. It wouldn’t have to be the same WB’s who wronged him and his people for him to get a good laugh from the irony of it, though.

    I guess it was a stupid comment on my part.

  8. I didn’t think it was a stupid comment; you don’t make stupid comments.

    But it is just about always wrong to label people into groups — any people — and then throw stones at the group — blacks, Indians, Jews, Muslims, Cambridge Massachusetts police officers, white bureaucrats.

    And I know you, of all the people I know, know that.

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