Our first stop this morning was Lead, (pronounced LEED) South Dakota. Lead is a mining term, which is quite suitable given that the very existence of Lead (or lack thereof, at this point) is due to gold mining. Lead was another gold rush town in the Dakota Black Hills until George Hearst (someone you love to hate, if you have seen the series) came in and consolidated all of the mining activity, calling it the Homestake Mining Company in 1876. The mine is remarkable in several ways:
- It operated for 126 years before closing its doors in 2002, making it the oldest mine in this hemisphere.
- The huge mine reached 8000 feet under the town of Lead, making it the deepest, and largest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere. (Today, there is one deeper in Brazil.)
- The mine closed due to gold prices being approx. $300 USD per ounce. With the mine not profitable, the owners decided to decommission the mine -- a project that cost $70 million dollars. Now, a few years later, with gold over $1500 USD per ounce, I am sure it's a sore topic for the Homestake Mining Company! It is estimated that in the 126 years, they have only mined 1/4 of the available gold. Anyway, the mine's owners sold this mine in a bulk sale of various mines to another mining company. The Homestake was the only one that wasn't operational. The new owners have donated the mine to be re-purposed for atomic neutrino research. The mine is currently being re-fitted for its new task. This is great news for Lead. It had essentially become a ghost town after the mine's closing. The new laboratory will bring people back to the town.
Our tour was of the surface operations of the mine. They are currently working 24/7 to pump the water out that has filled the mine shafts since decommissioning in order to get the underground laboratory installed. We saw the various buildings, the large machines that lowered people and supplies into the mine, learned about how gold is actually mined from the ore, and got historical insight on the town of Lead.
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| Panning for Gold |
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| Easton watching how Caden does it. |
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| Trying his own pan. |
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| Finding Gold. |
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| Putting it in the vial. |
- Did you know that it takes 7 TONS of ore to get one ounce of gold, which is about the size of a Hershey Kiss??
- The workers would shower and change before leaving the mines. The water collected from the showers and laundry was processed in order to capture the gold dust that washed off the workers.
- The Homestake Mansion, the large home of the mine's manager, is for sale. Check out the 24k gold plated bath fixtures..
After Lead, it was on to Deadwood. Deadwood is home to many stories and characters in its short-lived boom. It also is a huge bone of contention in American History, as the people of Deadwood were all trespassers on territory that was given to the American Indians in a peace treaty.
Deadwood's main claim to fame is that it is the location where Wild Bill Hickok was fatally shot from behind by Jack McCall while playing poker at one of the local saloons. Calamity Jane was also in town for a few weeks and ended up dying in Deadwood from "Bad Whiskey" (i.e. alcoholism). Jane and Bill are buried next to each other, along with other famous (and not-so-famous) characters in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
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| Wild Bill Hickok Grave |
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| Calamity Jane |
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| Fixin' to have a shootout |
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| Being Sworn in as Deadwood Deputies |
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| Taking the Oath |
Easton, with his newly holstered weapons, kept saying his was a ninja despite all best attempts to explain that A) Ninjas don't have guns and B)Those are cowboy guns. I guess you are at liberty to create your own reality when you are 3. ;)
After the shootout, we headed to the Golden Nugget and got a 20 minute tour of underground Deadwood. I found this particularly fascinating and something that isn't ever mentioned in the tourist materials that you get about Deadwood.
Deadwood was originally shanties and tents at ground level. Some of those were replaced with brick or wooden buildings. Flooding was horrific. So, they decided to fill an entire story and the second story became the new ground level of Deadwood. These first buildings have full basements, which used to be store fronts. The fill also created a system of tunnels between the former stores. It is this underground area where the Chinese Immigrants, fresh off of their labor with the railroads, lived and worked. Under the Golden Nugget, you are able to see the old original storefront, the tunnels, opium dens, and a glimpse of the underground life that existed.
We enjoyed Deadwood/Lead. Unless you are a gambler -- the town is full of casinos -- a day will pretty much cover everything you'll probably want to see. And unless you like motorcycles (Sturgis Motorcycle Rally apparel is everywhere) or cheap tourist trinkets/t-shirts, you probably won't find the shopping all that appealing either.
As an aside --- Every shop was selling Sturgis Motorcycle Rally clothing, flags, and all of the trappings. The rally isn't until August and isn't held in Deadwood (or any other of the surrounding towns that are filled with Sturgis stuff). Yet, the there are TONS of people buying the stuff that probably don't own a bike, haven't attended the rally, and potentially aren't even going to be in the same town as where the actual event is held. Is this weird to anyone else?? I compared it to buying a concert t-shirt of a group you've never seen while you happen to be at Disney. I just don't get it...
We're off to Wyoming tomorrow...
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