Day 4: Deadwood & the Monuments

Deadwood is a gorgeous little historic town. During the gold rush of the 1880's over 10,000 people lived here but now there's only about 1,200. Winters must be brutal though with about 250 inches snow each season. Our hotel is the big building in the middle of the picture with white pillars - the "Franklin" ..
Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane's graves are side-by-side in the Moriah Cemetery, along with a few other local characters (prospectors, brothel owners and the sort). Wild Bill was shot in the head in Saloon Number 10 while he was playing poker. About 4 x day they reenact it around town so there's gunfire going off all the time.   Jane was my kind of woman - she rode, shot, swore and drank like a man, worked as a truck driver, scout, entertainer in Buffalo Bills Show and finally as the housemaid at the local brothel. I think I'd have liked her.

Mount Rushmore. 

The Crazy Horse Monument - 50 years in the making so far and probably won't be finished in my lifetime. It will eventually look like the statue in the foreground

My dad & Jack with a Lakota dancer we saw at the Crazy Horse Monument.

 

Today we start to meander south & east, to eventually get back to Ohio by Sunday.