D E A D W O O D
History
of Deadwood | Links about Deadwood
Information
Sources
Deadwood Gulch from
Scribners monthly - 1877 |
Deadwood
is in the Black
Hills, in western South Dakota, 30 miles east of the Wyoming border. It was
incorporated in 1876. The city is set in a narrow canyon (Deadwood Gulch), with
many streets built up its steep sides. It currently is the county seat of Lawrence
County. The camp was called Deadwood because of the vast amount of dead and down
timber in the region. An attempt to change the name to Miles City, in honor of
the General just then winning his honors for the Indian wars, failed. The town
was first populated during the gold rush in the Black Hills.
History
of Deadwood
The
oldest existing record of discovery of gold in the Black Hills was in 1833,
when a party of seven adventurers came into the Hills from Laramie, remaining
a year and discovering gold. The party was destroyed by Indians near Spearfish
(which is near Deadwood) and all record of it lost for more than fifty years.
What is called the "Thoen
Stone" was found at Spearfish in 1887 by Louis and Ivan Thoen. Reportedly
written on a slab of rock was a message that seven men, led by Ezra Kind, had
come to the hills in 1833 hunting gold, and that they were attacked by Indians.
Apparently they perished in 1833-34.
Next,
in June 1854,
Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, a geologist of repute, visited Bear
Butte on the eastern border of the Hills, and in 1857 Lieut.
Governor K. Warren [see
photo] accompanied by Dr. Hayden and a military escort, passed along the western
side of the Black Hills, and crossed through them, via Harney
Peak, and along the eastern side as far as Bear
Butte. There was not further attempt at exploration until July 1874,
when Gen. Custer with his regiment of cavalry and a corps of scientists came down
from Fort Abraham Lincoln, entering the Hills from the west side, passing through
them, scaling Harney Peak en route and discovering gold upon French Creek, near
the city of Custer. A minute record of this exploration was kept and the substance
of it published in the "Report of a Reconnaisance of the Black Hills of
Dakota, made in the summer of 1874" by Captain
William Ludlow, chief engineer, Department of Dakota, U.S. Army.
The
report of Custer's exploration created great excitement and a rush of gold hunters
was precipitated; but the government intervened and attempted to keep the miners
out until a treaty with the Indians could be negotiated. Some, however, evaded
the military and entered the Black Hills in the autumn of 1874. In the
spring of 1875 the government sent Dr.
Walter P. Jenney, under a military escort in command of Col. Richard I. Dodge,
to make a geological reconnaissance of the hills, and he substantially verified
the findings of Custer.
In
September 1875, the government assembled at Red Cloud agency all of the Indians
claiming rights in the Hills, for the purpose of negotiating a treaty, but was
unable to reach an agreement. After that the military withdrew all active opposition
to miners entering the region and during the fall and winter following a large
number (said to exceed 15,000 assembled), chiefly in the neighborhood of Custer.
It
was reported in the Deadwood News in October, 1880, that the honor of discovering
Deadwood Gulch probably belongs to Dan Meckles, who with a party of seven were
sluicing on Castle Creek. This party had packed an old wagon box, in small pieces,
of which they had made a sluice box and had undergone great hardships to reach
Castle Creek, and after three days' hard work had cleaned up $3-10. Discouraged,
they were thinking of returning, when Meckles came into camp and announced that
he had discovered a gulch where he could get 50 cents to the pan. The party, loath
to believe him, thought they would look it up, and after several days of wandering
brought up near the base of Bald Mountain. Going up near the summit at Terraville,
they got a view of the surrounding country and going down Deadwood Gulch they
camped near where Gayville was to be.
Bill
Gay panned out the first panfull of dirt and got 50 cents; others tried it with
equal success. Convinced that they had struck it, they started in to build a cabin--the
first ever built in the gulch. They named it Deadwood Gulch on account of the
immense amount of dead timber which filled the gulch. The names of the party were
Dan Meckles, J.B. Pierson, Joe Ingoldsby, Wm. Gay, Wm. Laudner, Ed McCay, James
Mayer, Harry Gammage, and old man Haggart. They had saddle and pack animals, some
tools and a little stock of provisions. Elk and deer were abundant and they had
all the meat they wanted.
They
arrived at Deadwood Gulch November 9, 1875, and the same day staked off
their claims, 300 feet long up and down the gulch, and as wide as the gulch. In
a few days they were joined by a party from Montana, and had camped where Spearfish
City stands. Nearly all of them were delighted with the country and declared that
they had found the "Happy Land of Canaan," one of whom, R.H. Evans,
picked out a ranch and declared he would quit mining and go farming. Mr. Evans
kept his word, for after mining and prospecting for many years, he located a ranch
one mile below Spearfish, and became one of the most successful grangers in the
country.
Shoun,
a freighter, brough in a whipsaw, and got out lumber which he sold for $150 a
thousand. Population increased rapidly, and in December, at a meeting held on
the 9th, the district was named the Lost Mining District, and William Laudner
was elected recorder. In January, 1876, quartz locations were made. The
first one was called the Giant; and the quart district was named Whitewood.
Gold
having been discovered in Deadwood Gulch, a stampede to the diggings almost depopulated
the town of Custer in the spring of 1876.
Summer
of 1876 - Al Swearingen opens the Gem Saloon and Dance Hall [in the Spring
of 1877 it expanded to the Gem Theatre].
August
2, 1876, Seth Bullock and his partner, Sol
Star, arrive in Deadwood with the intent of setting up a mercantile shop.
Wild Bill Hickok was murdered in the original Saloon
No. 10 in Deadwood on August 2, 1876 by Jack
McCall, during a poker game. He is buried in the original old cemetery in
Deadwood. His body is later moved to Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
Aug
5, 1876 - Seth Bullock and Sol Star announce they will open an auction and
storage house (Seth was an auctioneer in Montana) [from "Black Hill's Pioneer,"
newspaper].
On August 12, 1876, according to the "Black Hills
Daily Pioneer, smallpox broke out in the town (mild form). Seven days later a
"pest house" was set up for those afflicted.
On August 19,
1876, according to the "Black Hills Daily Pioneer," Seth Bullock
is elected commissioner and fire warden.
On
August 20, 1876, Rev. H.W. Smith dies, reportedly
following an attack by Indians. He is buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
The Bella Union opens one month and a few days after Hickok's death, namely September
10, 1876. Tom Miller is named as the proprietor in the "Black Hills Daily
Pioneer."
In 1876 General George Crook (1828-1890), Commander of the Department of
the Platte made his first visit to Dakota to remove gold hunters from the Black
Hills before a treaty legalized their entry. In 1876 he fought Crazy Horse on
the Rosebud River and was defeated. Later that season, pursuing the hostiles with
the Third Cavalry and the Fifth Infantry, he found their provisions exhausted
and the praries burned off. Deadwood was the nearest base and he started through
the gumbo. It rained continuously for eleven days and the men lived on horse meat.
Enroute he fought the battle of Slim Buttes. After great hardship he reached Deadwood
in 1876. The "Black Hills Daily Pioneer" of Sep 23 1876 announced
his visit.
In Oct 1876, Sol Star becomes Deadwood City Councilman
["The Black Hills Pioneer'].
In 1877, in an article
entitled, "A Trip to the Black Hills," Leander P. Richardson describes
Deadwood as follows:
"Buildings, known as 'ranches'abound along the lines of all the stage
and freight roads in the Black Hills, forming a peculiar phase of frontier life.
They are hotels, bar-rooms, and stores for general merchandise, all combined in
one, and the whole business is usually transacted in a single room. In fact, but
few of them can boast of more than one apartment. At any of these places, a traveler
can purchase almost anything, from a glass of whisky to a four-horse team, but
the former article is usually the staple of demand.
Down
the side of a steep hill the road wound its way into the lower end of Deadwood
Gulch. The gulch is about ten miles long, and very winding in its course. Through
its bottom stretches a long line of shanties and tents, forming in all, four towns.
At the lower end is Montana City, then come Elizabeth Town, Deadwood City, and
Gayeville (or Gaye City). Our train finally halted in Deadwood City, and we were
immediately surrounded by a crowd of miners, gamblers and other citizens, all
anxious to hear from the outer world. It was Sunday afternoon, and all the miners
in the surrounding neighborhoods were spending the day in town. The long street
was crowded with men in every conceivable garb. Taken as a whole, I never in my
life saw so many hardened and brutal-looking men together, although of course
there were a few better faces among them. Every alternate house was a gambling
saloon, and each of them was carrying on a brisk business. In the middle of the
street a little knot of men had gathered, and were holding a prayer-meeting, which
showed in sharp contrast to the bustling activity of wickedness surrounding it.
[He goes on to describe meeting Charley Utter and Wild Bill
Hickock].
My stay in the Deadwood region was of five days'
duration. The mines now in operation are all gluch, or sluice mines, although
prospecting for quartz mining is constantly going on. Five or six, possibly ten,
mines in the whole region pay from $200 to $2,000 per day. The largest amount
I saw taken from any one excavation in a single day was $1,085, which was the
result of the work of seven men employed by the owner. The average Deadwood gluch
mine will just about pay "grub," and those that pay good living wages
are rare. Seven out of every ten men in the whole region have no money and no
means of getting any. The Deadwood ground is all taken up, and men do not dare
to go out prospecting away from the main body, on account of the Indians. Summed
up briefly, the condition of mining affairs is this: placer mines all taken up;
quartz mines the only resource left. In order to work these, capital, machinery
and mills for the crushing of ore must be introduced. Men of wealth will hesitate
about sending capital into a country so far from a railroad, communication, and
about which so little is definitely known. Most of the men now in the Black Hills
are laboring men, inexperienced as miners. Their chances for employment in the
mines, then, are small, and their prospects in quartz mining are even poorer.
The mineral riches of the Black Hills cannot be developed for fully twenty-five
years to come. So far no great success has followed the best efforts; what future
work will bring forth is a matter of uncertainty, of course, but there seems little
reason for prophesying anything remarkable.
Farming
there is out of the question. Throughout a great part of the district heavy frosts
begin in September; snow-storms did not cease last spring until the eleventh day
of June. Every farmer will see what a country where winter reigns from September
to June cannot support its inhabitants upon its agricultural products. It follows,
then, that the necessaries of life must always be imported at immense cost. There
is to be considered the collateral fact that during a greater part of this long
season of ice and snow, placer-miners cannot work. Men can earn enough money in
two months of labor to subsist with profit through ten months of idleness? It
is asserted by miners and engineers, grown gray in experience, that a region where
mining cannot be carried on at least seven months out of every twelve, can never
be of any permanent value to its operators.
I
have no hesitation in saying that i think the Black Hills will eventually prove
a failure. The trip thence would be a severe trial for most men, even if the danger
of being murdered were removed. At present the journey is exceedingly dangerous,
and if by good fortune the gold-hunter succeeeds in surviving his hardships and
getting through alive, his chances for success are few and his expenses necessarily
will be large."
According
to the "Black Hills Daily Pioneer" of Mar 17, 1877, Seth Bullock
was appointed Sheriff.
May
1877 - Seth Bullock and Sol Star are County Commissions [from "Black
Hills Pioneer," newspaper]
July
31, 1887 - Gem Saloon sold for back taxes.
Reportedly
Isaac "Ike" Brown Brown and his partner, Craven Lee opened the first
saloon in Deadwood. By July of 1877 there was over 75 saloons in Deadwood.
Ike also opened a grocery store adjoining the saloon. Over the door of his Store/Saloon
was conspicuously painted a crescent shaped sign " Zion's Cooperative Mercantile
Institution." Again, reportedly Isaac Brown was the man who followed Jack
McCall up Main Street, after he killed "Wild Bill Hickok," and took
the him in custody. Ike took Jack to a cabin behind the saloon and locked him
up to sleep off his alcohol. According to one web site, Judge Kuykendall who was
asked to preside over the trial knew and trusted Isaac Brown. A web site states
he appointed Ike as the first sheriff of Deadwood to guard Jack McCall
and protect the Judge during the trial. [Note: actually this is not true, since
according to local papers, Seth Bullock was appointed sheriff in March of the
same year, 4 months earlier] [Read
more]
Lines
of transportation were established from Laramie, Sidney, Fort Pierre and Bismark
[mostly by stage coach and bull trains] and the population grew rapidly, despite
the protest of the Indians and the war of that summer (1876). A treaty relinquishing
the Hills was negotiated that autumn and proclaimed on Feb. 27, 1877, giving
legal status to the white population and establishing courts and orderly government.
September 28, 1877 - Seth Bullock loses when he runs for sheriff
[from "Black Hills Pioneer," newspaper] John Manning wins (see below).
An
1878 description of Deadwood is as follows:
The
city of Deadwood is located at the northern extremity of the Black Hills, at the
confluence of Deadwood and Whitewood Creeks, and about eight miles in the interior--or
from the foothills where the latter stream enters the prarie. The position, while
not at all eligible for a settlement of any kind, much less for a city of the
pretensions of Deadwood, has been so improved by artificial means, that not only
are a surprisingly large number of people housed within its limits, but the tout
ensemble is very pleasing to the eye. Originally the narrow gulch admitted of
but one strees, but excavations and cribbing have gradually added one after another
until the entire north hill is now cut up into avenues, like steps, appropriately
named, and lined with pretty little cottages and dwellings of more elaborate designs.
The southern hill, owing to its abruptness, is valueless for building sites, and,
with the exception of one or two crudely constructed log cabins, regular "old
timers," which threaten to wreck themselves and residences below at any moment,
its breast is bare and ininviting. The city proper, as generally understood (there
is no legally defined limits), is about one mile long, and contains at the present
time about six thousand inhabitants, the male portion being engaged almost exclusively
in mercantile and other legitimate business pursuits. Deadwood, although not immediately
at the mines, is universally
considered the metropolis of the Hills, being
the county seat of Lawrence county, and having the land office, courts, banks,
express offices, stage headquarters, signal service station, and commission houses--conveniences
found nowhere else in the hills--and in addition contains many large jobbing houses,
retail stores of every description; two excellent hotels; two daily, one weekly,
and one semi-monthly papers; two churches--Congregational and Catholic schools;
the telegraph; a fire department; efficient constabulary force; a large and most
excellent society that is daily increasing; and all the concomitants of a well
regulated and prosperous community. Three daily mails, a money order post office,
the telegraph and banks, present facilities for conducting business, equal with
those elsewhere enjoyed. Comfortable dwellings, marts of trade of all kinds, keeping
stocks of graded qualities to suit the tastes and purses of every one, the poor
as well as the rich; a charming climate, plenty of vigorous exercise and universal
prosperity, makes life in the Hills both pleasant and healthful.
Deadwood as
originally constructed was chiefly composed of buildings of pine logs or flimsy
board structures common to mining camps. A great population had crowded into the
narrow gulch and there was a large accumulation of personal property.
July 1, 1879 - Sol Star becomes postmaster of Deadwood [from "Black
Hills Pioneer" newspaper]
At
2 o'clock in the morning of September 26, 1879, the great mass of flammable
material [reportedly starting in Mrs. Ellsnera's Bakery on Sherman Street]. Reportedly
the fire spread to a nearby hardware store, and eight kegs of gunpowder blew up
turning the town into a furnace. The fire apparatus was destroyed before the firemen
could reach it and the city was left utterly at the mercy of the flames. There
was little insurance.
Three hundred buildings were destroyed and two
thousand people were left homeless. Fortunately there was no loss of life. With
the courage of pioneers the citizens at once rebuilt, laying the foundation of
the Deadwood that endures. (Note: the new houses were built from brick or stone,
rather than wood, to help prevent further devastating fires).
In
1880 the sheriff of Deadwood was a John. J. Manning, with his brother Thomas
and cousin John acting as deputies.
1880 United States Federal Census >
Dakota Territory > Lawrence > Deadwood Township (District 120)
Manning, John J.
W M 36 Sheriff, Ireland, SC, NY
Manning, Frankie W F 18 wife Keeping House,
Colorado, Ohio, --
Manning, Frankie W F 2 daughter, Dakota
Manning, Mary
J. W F 25 sister, Wisconsin -- --
Manning, Thomas W M 45 brother, deputy sheriff,
Ireland -- --
Manning, John P. W M 25 cousin, deputy sheriff, Wisconsin, Ireland,
Ire
Manning, Pat W M 22 cousin, Wisconsin, Ireland, Ire
May,
1884 - Sol Star wins election, and becomes Mayor of
Deadwood [From "Black Hills Pioneer," newspaper]
May
1885 - Sol Star badly crippled with rheumatism [From "Black Hills Pioneer,"
newspaper]
The
Chicago and Northwestern railroad reached the Black Hills, via Northern Nebraska
in 1886 and was completed into Deadwood in 1890.
In April,
1892, Antoinette Ogden described her recent trip to Deadwood, in a published
article as follows:
"We traverse into another geological zone. We
are gradually losing the pines too. Within some twenty miles of Deadwood the Hills
are entirely bare, shorn to supply the great reduction works with fuel. The streams
that come tumbling toward us are all of a reddish-brown, like liquid elay. They
have been interrupted in their course, and this is the way they have returned
to their beds, after a whirl through the great mills and a close contact with
gold.
Deadwood, the great mining centre of the Hills, lies in the deep
gulches of the Whitewood and the Deadwood creeks. It has been twice destroyed:
once by fire in 1879, when property to the extent of a million and a half is said
to have evaporated in pine smoke; then again in 1883, when abnormal snows
and rains sent the mountain streams down the gulches in torrents; and strange
to say, it was both times rebuilt upon its original site, with the main street
running down the gulch, and the cross-streets scrambling up the hillsides, over
the very ground where the minders of 1876 staked their claims and panned out their
gold. The wild days of the history of Deadwood are included between 1877 and 1885,
the days of "excitements," of "hurdy-gurdies," and the hazing
of the "tenderfoot;" for, although the town was incorporated as a city
in 1880, its mining-camp character disappeared totally only several years after
that time.
From 1876 to 1877 the pioneers may have said to have fought
the grizzly and the elements. The striking feature of Deadwood today is its decorousness,
at least its outward decorousness. It is, perhaps, that of the blase, who has
had his fill of the kind of excitement which finds a vent in noise and thrills.
Be this as it may, the streets of this town of men, and of men more or less bent
on the same pursuit, and breathing an atmosphere avowedly intoxicating, are as
quiet by night as they are by day. The advent of two railroads, with their narrow
gauges to Lead City and Bald Mountains, their spurs up every gluch and to the
very dumps of nearly every mind, absorbing all the traffic formerly done by ox-teams,
drays, and stages, has cleared the streets of much noise and incumbrance, but
also of much local color. In such towns as this the typical disappears with the
lawless.
July
1892 - Sol Star leaves Deadwood to visit Minneapolis, MN where he will attend
the Republican National Convention.
August
1, 1903 - "Calamity Jane" Cannary Burk dies in nearby Terry, S.D.
She is buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery, next to "Wild Bill" Hickok.
Oct
10, 1917 - Sol Star dies. He is buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
September
23, 1919 - Seth Bullock dies. He is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery.
Deadwood Today
[From Deadwood.org] In the late 1980s, visitors to
the town of Deadwood discovered boarded-up storefronts, crumbling facades and
a community with a once proud past that was slowly suffering from the ravages
of time. That was before an unlikely benefactor-- limited stakes gaming - gave
Deadwood a new lease on life and fueled the transformation of an entire town.
More
than a decade and $150 million later, Deadwood ranks as the largest restoration
and preservation project ever undertaken in the U.S. This is the community of
1,300 residents that decided to save itself. Today, Victorian facades, brick streets,
period lighting and colorful trolleys greet visitors to this, one of the few communities
in America listed as a National Historic Landmark.
[Read
more]
The
average summer temperature is 68° F; the average winter temperature
is 24° F. A short
car-trip away from Deadwood is Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument, Badlands
National Park, Devil's Tower, and Harney Peak, the highest mountain east of the
Rockies. Nearby Rapid City, also founded in 1876, is the county seat and home
to Ellsworth Air Force Base. It's the second-largest city in South Dakota, and
its major economic activities include mining, lumber, and agriculture. The cost
of living in Deadwood is low while good jobs in the gaming and tourism industry
are plentiful.
Official
City of Deadwood Web Site
Map
of Deadwood - from Mapquest
SEE Photographs of Deadwood, old and current
LIVE
WEB CAMS of Deadwood - from South Dakota Public Broadcasting
Deadwood
Chamber of Commerce
Links
about Deadwood
Historic
Deadwood - from Deadwood.org
HBO:
"Deadwood" (main web site) | Also SEE HBO: Deadwood
Set Tours | Also SEE HBO: Deadwood
Costume Design
History
Link - the History of Deadwood
Paranormal
Activity at Bullock Hotel, Deadwood, S.D.
- from Wausau Paranormal Research Society
History
of Deadwood - a bit of old and new history from the writer's perspective and
some great photographs -
from Deadwood.biz
"A
Town Called Deadwood" - a cute booklet written by 6th graders (PDF)
See
OTHER HISTORY NUGGETS from historic newspapers, about Deadwood - from HBO
Message Boards
Information
Sources:
1.
History of the Dakota Territory, by George W. Kingsbury; Chicago, The S.J. Clarke
Publishing Company; 1915, Page 929
2.
Doane Robinson's encyclopedia of South Dakota; Pierre: The author, 1925, page
74, 158, 1009
3.
The golden Northwest : a historical, statistical and descriptive account of northern
by Goldsmith B. West; Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Dakota, Montana and
Manitoba; Chicago: Rollins Pub. Co., 1878, 131 pgs.
4. "A Trip to the
Black Hills," by Leander P. Richardson: pp. 748-756; Scribners monthly, an
illustrated magazine for the people; Volume 13, Issue 6; publisher, Scribner and
son, published April 1877; New York
6. "A Drive through the Black Hills"
by Antionette Ogden: pp. 449-462, The Atlantic monthly. Volume 69, Issue 414,
published by Atlantic Monthly Co. in April 1892
