Deadwood, South Dakota Aug 2010

During the past 3 years of travel, Sue and I have come across some interesting spots in this country of our. This time we arrived in Lead / Deadwood, South Dakota. These two towns have so much history in their 130 years of existence. There is a lot of activity going on year round in this area. In Deadwood at the Fire Hall there is a memorial dedicated to the Firefighters, past, present and future.





Deadwood Fire Hall














First In Last Out Firefighter Memorial




































Downtown Deadwood is pretty much the same in appearance as it was in the early 1900's, storefronts with apartments upstairs and hotels. Today the storefronts are now casinos and the hotels are hotels with casinos and restaurants. What appeared to be apartments above the storefronts were actually brothels that ran up until the 1980's. Today as you walk the main street you will see mannequins in the windows dressed up as they did when they were in business. Colonel George Armstrong Custer led and expedition to the Black Hills and then announced the discovery of Gold and caused the Black Hills Gold Rush and from there the town went lawless and the population raised to almost 5000. Today it is around 1300 people.




Deadwood is also known for where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back while playing a game of five card draw and holding the famous "Dead Man's Hand" of aces and eights. He was shot by Jack McCall and was later tried and convicted and hung for killing Wild Bill Hickok. He was buried in the town cemetery as well as the famous Calamity Jane. In front of the "Original Saloon #10 there is a sign stating this is where the shooting took place and a few doors up the street there is another sign where they captured the assassin Jack McCall. At the Masonic Building during the summer months they have a re-creation of the trial of McCall every weekend.




The Chamber of Commerce sponsors many activities during the year. The week we visited, it was "Kool Deadwood Nights" with a classic car auction and car show with over 700 cars on display some for sale and most for show. The main street is turned into a outdoor concert theater where you place your chairs on the street anytime after 11 am and the concerts start at 5 pm. On Friday night "Sha Na Na" was the featured act with two local bands to open and on Saturday "The Platters" performed along with 2 other acts. Both concerts had an estimated crowd of over 10,000 to 15,000.




I will post pictures of some of the cars on another blog soon.






Bullock Hotel and Casino
(Hotel has been featured on "Watch Ghost Adventures" on TV as it has been reported as being haunted)







Original Saloon #10 where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back.

Statue in front of the 4 Aces Casino of Wild Bill Hickok

Location where Jack McCall was captured.





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Main street mostly casinos with a few hotels.

Upstairs of storefronts that were actually brothels until 1980's. The mannequins in the windows are in their business dress of the times. This is just 2 windows but there must be at least 12 windows that in display. Just part of the history.