Spearfish Canyon and Deadwood

We decided while in Belle Fourche to take a drive along Spearfish Canyon.  We began on the east side, driving through the town of Deadwood.   Once known for its notoriety of gold, gambling and gunpowder, it is now visited primarily for its 86 casinos offering possibly less riches than the gold mines of yesteryear.

However, it is still a colorful town, and maintains its western personality, at least outside in the streets.

  

 

Colorful mannequins adorn the upstairs windows.

Perhaps the two best known names in Mt. Moriah Cemetery are Wild Bill Hickok, killed in a poker game in Deadwood

and Calamity Jane, buried next to him. The Cemetery is truly a “boot hill” high above the town.

After leaving Deadwood and nearby Lead, we started the drive up the canyon, stopping for a walk to see Spearfish Falls.

Also along the route is the misty Bridal Veil Falls.

It’s a beautiful drive, winding between the canyon walls

    and along the Spearfish Creek. 

Geographical Center of the U.S.

Ever wonder where the exact geographical center of the U.S. is?  When looking at the nation as a whole, Alaska and Hawaii included, in 1959, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey announced the center was 20 miles north of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, in a cow pasture.  A red stake was driven into the ground at the determined point.

In 2007, it was agreed that it would be better to erect a monument in nearby Belle Fourche, where it would be more convenient to visitors, especially taking into consideration that the survey itself is acknowledged to be within a 10-20 mile area of the designated point.

Curious as to how they found the center?  I thought the description of a “center of gravity” method was interesting.  A little long to repeat here, if you are interested read the article about half way down this page online from the Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce:  “Center of the Nation”

The large granite monument is attractively displayed at the end of a walk past the state flags of the Union.  

And in case you wondered…. the name Belle Fourche comes from when the area was French owned. The French explorers, admiring the confluence of the Belle Fourche and Redwater Rivers with Hay Creek, named it “Beautiful Fork”.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

  Did you know that in the first stages of dreaming of a mammoth rock monument in South Dakota, thoughts were of carving such western notables as Chief Red Cloud, Buffalo Bill Cody, Lewis and Clark, and various legendary Sioux warriors?  Such was the dream of Doane Robinson in the early 1920’s when he conceived the idea of a carving so big it would put South Dakota on the map.

Encouraged by the popular senator from the area, Peter Norbeck, Robinson wrote to one of American’s most prolific artists, Gutzon Borglum.  Borglum came to discuss the plan, but surprised Robinson and Norbeck by stating  that the biggest work of his life would not be dedicated to local heros; no, it had to be of national subjects who had contributed much to American history.

Four great presidential personages were chosen to represent “an eternal reminder of the birth, growth, preservation and development of a nation dedicated to democracy and the pursuit of individual liberty”.

On August 13, 1925, Borglum finally found the perfect spot for his work atop Harney Peak at 7,242 feet, the highest point between the Rockies and the Swiss Alps.  “Here is the place” he proclaimed.  “American history shall march along that skyline.”

Borglum was 60 years old in 1927 when President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the site, referring to it as a “national shrine”.  Borglum climbed to the summit and symbolically drilled 6 holes into the rock face, beginning a work that would consume the 14 remaining years of his life.

As you gaze upon  the giant heads, you can’t help but be amazed at the skill and labor involved in such a task.  Carving such remarkable likenesses on such a scale at such a height boggles the imagination.

Each head averages 60 feet tall.

George Washington, the Father of our Country

Washington’s nose is 21 feet high.

Thomas Jefferson,  drafter of the Declaration of Independence

Jefferson’s eyes are about 11 feet wide  and his mouth is about 18 feed wide.  He gazes slightly into the heavens, symbolizing his reputation as a visionary and philosopher.

Theodore Roosevelt, creator of many of our National Parks. 

The detail on Roosevelt’s rimless glasses is just enough to convey a hint of them.  Roosevelt had only been dead 8 years.  Borglum designed his head from memory, having been good friends and confidants with him.

Abraham Lincoln

Even the glint in Lincoln’s eyes have not been forgotten.

Several scenic drives surround the location.  We stayed in a campground at nearby Hermosa, south of Rapid City.   We approached the monument along the Iron Mountain Road with views through the tunnels of Mount Rushmore. The memorial contains a large visitor center with displays and films.  The Avenue of the Flags contains four-sided columns, a state with its date of admission to the Union engraved on each side, and its flag flying atop. At the end is a large viewing terrace.  We continued our day in the park by having lunch in nearby Hill City, and returning via the winding Needles Highway with its fantastic views and rock formations.

To view a slideshow from the day, click on the monument below.

 

 

Badlands National Park

Driving into the Badlands is like entering an alien world.  Your senses are assaulted by the hills made of rock rather than soil, by the fantastic colored bands,  and by the expansive views.   The area has fascinated explorers for decades, filling them with a combination of dread and fascination.  The Lakota called it mako sica; the early French trappers  described it as les mauvaises terres a traverser.  Both translate to Bad Lands.

It was hot when we visited the area in 2004 (105 degrees).  Today was hot also, but not quite as bad (92 degrees).  But it seems natural here for heat to be radiating from the stone. 

“Fancy yourself on the hottest day in summer in the hottest spot of such a place without water – without an animal and scarce an insect astir – without a single flower to speak pleasant things to you and you will have some idea of the utter loneliness of the Bad Lands.” Paleontologist T. Culbertson

And yet, there is a beauty all around you.

The many bands of color are from the layers of deposit over the eons of minute grains of sand, silt and clay that have been cemented into solid form.

Conservationist F. Tilden described it as “peaks and valleys of delicately banded colors – colors that shift in the sunshine,…and a thousand tints that color charts do not show.  In the early morning and evening, when shadows are cast upon the infinite peaks or on a bright moonlit night when the whole region seems a part of another world, the Badlands will be an experience not easily forgotten.”

 

Come, take a drive through the park with us.  Click on the brochure to begin:

For more information on the Badlands, click here.

Lewis and Clark Information Center near Chamberlain

Mitchell to Wall, South Dakota

Occasionally, you just happen onto an unexpected treat while traveling, and such is the rest stop on I-90 near Chamberlain, SD.  The state has transformed the rest stop into a Lewis and Clark Information Center.  According to the displays there, the building sits very near the spot the expedition crossed the Missouri River.

The rest stops along I-90 have all had huge concrete tee pee sculptures on the grounds.  The one here overlooks the river with informative displays beneath. As you enter the building, your eye is drawn upward to the keelboat extending from the wall.  The imaginative designer planned it so the stairs ascend through the bottom of the boat to the viewing deck above.Even the crates upstairs have lids that lift up to displays.

The deck overlooks the crossing of the river towards Chamberlain.Several other displays were in the center.

Crossing the river, we drove through rolling hills

seeing cattle and hay fields.  Iowa and South Dakota are high wind areas, and are using many of the modern windmills to provide energy.  The size of the windmill blades always amaze us when we pass a truck transporting one. Mitchell seems to be a place that attracts cheesy tourist attractions (more about that in the next blog) but you never know what you might spot next, such as this sight, (almost missed it)or these