Badlands National Park
The Sioux called it “Mako Sica”, which translates to “land bad”. The English language swaps the noun and adjective and the Badlands are born. Badlands National Park is 244,000 acres of fast, eroding landscape along the White River in southwestern South Dakota. The erosion of one inch per year in some spots and one inch per 500 years in sandstone areas results in a constantly changing landscape, with new formations being revealed all the time. Sharp buttes, spires, and pinnacles rise from the ground hovering over the largest preserved mixed-grass prairie in the United States.
The Badlands are the site of one of the biggest paleontological digs. The “Pig Dig” was started in 1993 as the result of finding a bone protruding from the ground and was expected to be a 4-day excavation. What was found was a wealth of fossils – some 15,000 to date – and the digging continues. Though no dinosaur fossils have been unearthed, marine fossils, and extinct mammal fossils have been found - ancestors of the rhinoceros, horse, pig, and cat, as well as birds, reptiles, and invertebrates.
For wildlife watchers, mule deer are the most common of the herd animals at Badlands National Park. White-tailed deer, bison, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep may also be seen. The bison had been missing from the landscape since the 1880s and the last bighorn sheep was shot in the 1920s. In the 1960s, bison and bighorn sheep, as well as the black-footed ferret and the swift fox, were reintroduced to the Badlands. The support and maintenance required to sustain the reintroduced animals is a critical element in the park’s natural ecosystem. Controlling non-native plant growth is another.
The Badlands are aptly named – the land is difficult to traverse, the terrain is oddly rugged, and there is little water. But with the bad comes incredible beauty in the constantly changing landscape, in the native flowers, on the quiet prairie, in the grazing of the animals and in the call of the birds. This protected land holds the secrets to the past underneath the sand and soil. And it continues to fascinate and invite visitors to experience its magnificent vistas.
Badlands National Park is open daily year round. The Ben Reifel visitor center is open daily and is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. The White River Visitor Center is open in the summer only. Hiking, camping, watching the “Pig Dig”, bird and wildlife watching, taking a guided walk, gazing at the brilliant nighttime sky, and more are some of the ways that tourists enjoy their visit at Badlands National Park.
Deadwood
In 1874, the Black Hills Gold Rush began with the discovery of gold on the French Creek. The Homestake Mine was opened farther north in the hills from the original find. From the mine settlement rose a community called Deadwood. Incorporated in 1876, the city was named for the dead trees in the canyon called Deadwood Gulch, where the city was established. Like most successful mining towns, Deadwood was a boomtown, and it wasn’t long before the population reached 5,000 people. Deadwood was a rowdy, lawless town - illegal, in fact, for there were laws against settling on Indian land in the Dakota Territory. Mining towns and lawlessness mixed together was a recipe for opportunists and criminals to try their hand at striking it rich.
Deadwood is probably best known for its many legends. Wild Bill Hickok, the legendary Army scout, lawman, and gunfighter headed to the Black Hills in 1876 as a scout for a wagonload of gamblers, women, and other goods needed in the new town. A month later, Hickok was shot in the back of the head while playing poker. Hickok was buried in Deadwood and his death has left a permanent legacy on Deadwood. In 1879, he was reinterred at Mount Moriah Cemetery, where his grave is now a monument. Buried next to him is frontierwoman Calamity Jane who had a fascination and much-exaggerated acquaintance with Bill Hickok.
A smallpox epidemic in 1876 and an 1879 fire that destroyed over 300 buildings and many personal belongings resulting in many people abandoning Deadwood in favor of a new chance somewhere else. In five short years the boom was over.
The Homestake Mine continued to prosper and when it closed in 2002, it was the oldest, largest, and deepest mine in the Western Hemisphere. Deadwood lives on, with a less wild side. In 1961, the Deadwood Historic District was designated as a National Historic Landmark. When Deadwood legalized limited-wage gambling in 1989, it caused resurgence in tourism. People began to rediscover the historic mining town and the beautiful Black Hills. Today, Deadwood is home to about 2,000 full-time residents.
Tourist to Deadwood, (in addition to the gaming), can enjoy self-guided or guided tours of the historic buildings and sites. There are several museums, historic hotels and saloons, and other fun, family attractions. The Homestake Mine offers tours and information on the mining operation that made the Black Hills a prosperous region. In addition, the Black Hills provide numerous attractions nearby, including Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, and the Wind Cave National Park, all within a short driving distance.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
It took 14 years and nearly one million dollars for the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to emerge from the granite mountainside. Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers began the monumental project in 1927 and completed it in 1941. It was christened Mount Rushmore and it became a symbol of America and her ideals of freedom and democracy. Today, it is Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Tucked away in the natural beauty of the Black Hills of western South Dakota, the majestic monument attracts 2-3 million visitors each year from around the world.
Mount Rushmore was named after a mining representative who asked the local miners the name of a particular granite outcropping. Having no name, it was given Rushmore’s name. In the 1920s, South Dakota historian Jonah “Doane” Robinson conceived the idea of a monument to presidents Washington and Lincoln in the Black Hills as a means of increasing tourism in South Dakota. Meanwhile, in Georgia, American sculptor Gutzon Borglum was memorializing the Confederacy with a mammoth sculpture on Stone Mountain (the world’s largest slab of exposed granite). Upon completion of General Robert E. Lee’s head, Borglum abandoned the project. Robinson read of the work and invited Borglum to the Black Hills. Borglum selected Mount Rushmore for the monument, for the massive granite face and the maximum exposure to the sun.
Founding father and President Thomas Jefferson was added for his contribution to America with his purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Borglum campaigned for the addition of President Roosevelt for his acquisition of the Panama Canal (and for the fact that he had met him personally). (Borglum’s statue of Abraham Lincoln was displayed in Roosevelt’s White House. It is now in the Capitol Rotunda.) Between the four presidents, the memorial honors 150 years of American ideals and the embodiment of Manifest Destiny.
The entire Mount Rushmore National Memorial covers over 1,200 acres. The memorial offers an expansive visitor center, exhibits, programs, and more. The Lincoln Borglum Museum features interactive exhibits on Borglum and the workers, film footage of the project, and original models and tools. Other exhibits highlight the presidents, and the memorial. The Mount Rushmore orientation film, “The Shrine”, is shown every twenty minutes. Ranger-led programs include a 30-minute lighting ceremony in the evening, a walk to the base of the sculpture, and 30-minute programs for children. The Sculptor’s Studio was the second on-site studio for Borglum. It contains Borglum's original 1/12 scale model of the memorial. Dining options at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial include a restaurant, snack shop, and a fudge and ice cream shop. A gift shop is also on the premises.
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is open year round and is closed on Christmas. The Sculptor’s Studio is closed in the winter.