On the Road Again (Deadwood and Belle Fourche, South Dakota)

After spending two memorable days in Rapid City, S.D., Mary and I headed west, making stops in Deadwood and Belle Fourche in our whirlwind journey.

We drove through Sturgis, home of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Last year it attracted one million visitors. Maybe I'll return if my wife lets me buy a motorcycle (I'm not holding my breath).

Cowboy statue

Deadwood, a town of about 1,300 founded in 1876, has a lot to offer for tourists,  from history of the wild west (Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane), gambling, museums, historic buildings, gold mines, and the Mount Moriah Cemetery. The historic district was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Now that's a lot of history.

And you'll find lots of casinos, if that's your thing. 

Hickok memorial 

We took a self-guided walking tour of the town, ending at the famous cemetery with the grave sites of Hickok and Calamity Jane. Hickok's bronze memorial was dedicated in 2002, following a $4.8 million restoration of the historic and sacred grounds.

Sheriff Seth Bullock's tombstone was placed at the top the cemetery, another 750 feet from the others, so his wish of being on a plot facing Mount Roosevelt (he and President Theodore Roosevelt were friends) could be fulfilled. 

Gunfights are reenacted several times a day but we were there too early in the morning to witness the gunslingers do their thing. I suppose I'll have to watch reruns of HBO's "Deadwood" to experience those bloody encounters.

Center of the Nation monument

After Deadwood, we made a quick stop in Belle Fourche (pronounced Foosh), a town of 5,600 near the geographic center of the United States. The actual center is about 20 miles north of town, but it's on private property so the monument is located behind the Tri-State Museum and Visitor Center.

Lebanon, Kansas, held that distinction until Aug. 21, 1959, when Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state. It's now the "Geographic Center of the 48 Contiguous States." I wonder if the citizens of Belle Fourche are concerned about Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state?

Buckskin Johnny Cabin

While there we toured the museum and visited the Buckskin Johnny Cabin, built in 1876. As with most places, we wished we could have stayed longer but time was of the essence. We had to take the highway (according to our Tom Tom).

For more images, visit my Facebook page by clicking here for Deadwood and here for Belle Fourche.

Next stop: Devil's Tower.

Until the next time....

On the Road Again (Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Crazy Horse Memorial)

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is certainly a sight to behold after traveling more than a thousand miles -- the majestic busts of  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved out of granite in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941), with the assistance of 400 workers over 14 years (1927-41), used dynamite and jackhammers to construct this piece of earthly art of Harney Peak granite. He selected these four great leaders for symbolic reasons in our country's history: Washington (birth), Jefferson (expansion), Lincoln (preservation), and Roosevelt (development).

Borglum bust at Mount Rushmore

Borglum has an interesting and controversial past, from being involved in the initial carving of Stone Mountain in Georgia to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Read more about him here. 

Mount Rushmore attracts about three million visitors a year. I was thankful that I arrived in the off season because there weren't long lines to the entrance. 

Scale models in Borglum's studio

By the way, you can see the memorial from several vantage points without entering the park. Click here for some facts about the memorial. While there you can hike to the base of the memorial, tour Borglum's studio, and visit the gift shop and information center. 

Sixteen miles away is another landmark -- the Crazy Horse Memorial. The site is a work in progress as only the head of the legendary Indian has been carved. The work was started by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908-1982) in 1948 and has been carried on by his family. Ziolkowski worked with Borglum at Mount Rushmore in 1939.

Face of Crazy Horse

In addition to the massive sculpture that will be carved out of the granite hilltop, the memorial campus includes an Education and Conference Center, Indian Museum of North America, Korczak's studio, restaurant, gift shop, and theater.

I recently read that it will take a hundred years to complete the Crazy Horse sculpture. A park guide informed me that Korczak worked alone for many years, and only today there are 16 workers at the site. The guide said it would probably take 15 years just to finish the outstretched arm and hand. 

Scale model and memorial

Compare that to the 400 it took to finish Mount Rushmore and you'll get an idea about how long it will take. It won't be during my lifetime, or probably that of my grandchildren. Maybe great grandchildren. 

Another interesting item is that the memorial does not take federal or state funds; it's strictly a private endeavor through the nonprofit Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.

I suggest watching the short film in the learning center about Ziolkowski and his inspiring work at the memorial.  His motto was: "Never forget your dreams." And the dream lives on.

After leaving Crazy Horse, we drove through the southern tip of the Badlands region, near Custer State Park. It was a landscape that certainly earned its name. More about that later.

You can see more images at my Facebook page by clicking here.

Next stop: Deadwood, Belle Fourche and Devil's Tower.

Until the next time....

On the Road Again (Rapid City: The City of Presidents)

The morning after reaching Rapid City, my wife and I were up bright and early to venture to the downtown area to see the statues of presidents that line the corners on Main and St. Joseph's streets.

Lincoln and son

As noted in previous posts, seeing the statues was one of the reason we made the trip. We wanted to see Mount Rushmore, and after reading about the statues in a magazine, that sealed the deal to make the thousand-mile drive to South Dakota.






The project, made with private donations, was started in 2000 and the statues are by artists with South Dakota ties. Truly impressive. Something the city can be proud of as well as doing something that can be shared and treasured with future generations.

Nixon

Eisenhower

And we were not disappointed by what we saw walking up and down the two streets . The statues certainly complement the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore.

Kennedy 

The life-size bronze statues are unique and capture the essence of the the former presidents -- from Harry Truman holding the Chicago Tribune declaring Thomas Dewey the winner of the 1948 election to John F. Kennedy holding his son's hand to Abraham Lincoln seating with his son. The details are amazing.

Truman

I'm not going to show images of all the presidents, just a sampling of the statues. You can see them all by clicking here or visiting my Facebook page. Better yet, go to Rapid City and see them in person. It's worth the trip. Maybe by the time you arrive the statue of Barack Obama will be erected.




Here are several other statues and city scenes from this lovely frontier city that is the hub of many activities in western South Dakota. 


 

Next stop: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial

Until the next time....

On the Road Again (Driving Across South Dakota)

On our mad dash to Rapid City, S.D., and Mount Rushmore my wife Mary and I made stops in Mitchell and Chamberlain.

The World's Only Corn Palace

My wife's friends from her workplace suggested that we see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, so we marked that on our map to make a quick visit as we drove across Interstate 90. And I'm glad we did because it's a unique building.

The Corn Palace auditorium 

 

Willie Nelson mural

The current Corn Palace, which doesn't charge admission, has been around since 1921 and attracts 500,000 visitors a year. The murals on the front and inside are decorated each year with corn, grains and native grasses to celebrate  the agricultural heritage of "The Mount Rushmore State" as well as promote events at the Corn Palace. It's a multi-purpose facility for conferences, sporting events, concerts, and much more.




Have you ever stopped somewhere and wished you had more time to visit other places? That's the way we felt after going to Mitchell. We enjoyed the "World's Only Corn Palace," but we would have loved to tour the Dakota Discovery Museum, Prehistoric Indian Village, and the George McGovern Center. We hope there is a next time for us to see those places in this scenic town. Mitchell has a lot to offer tourists.

Our next stop was in Chamberlain, recommended to us by a woman working at the visitors center when we entered South Dakota from Iowa. She raved about the statue of the Indian woman, which had been dedicated only a month earlier. I'm glad she did because it's something to behold, standing on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.

Dignity 

The statue, Dignity, is certainly impressive -- 50-feet tall, weighing 50 tons -- all stainless steel. South Dakota artist laureate Dale Lamphere designed the sculpture to honor the proud Lakota and Dakota heritage of the state. The landmark is located in a rest stop off I-90 so you can take care of some other business while you're there, such as the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.  By the way, South Dakota has some neat visitors centers.



There is also the Akta Lakota Museum at the St. Joseph's Indian School and South Dakota Hall of Fame in this historic town -- places we'd like to visit on a return trip. My only complaint is the 20 mph speed limit, especially after coming off the 80 mph on I-90. Have you ever tried to drive a consistent 20 mph? It's not that easy!

After Chamberlain, we high-tailed it to Wall to see the famous Wall Drug Store. But we were disappointed because the place closes at 6 p.m.  For some reason I thought it would be a 24/7 place, with all the advertising and promotion you see about it along the highway. Oh well, maybe next time. 

More images can be seen at my Facebook page by clicking here. 

Next stop: Rapid City.

Until the next time....