Northern Black Hills

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Another day, another bagel.  This time at a local bagel shop. After breakfast we headed toward the Needle Highway that is part of Custer State Park.  The road was built by Peter Norbeck, a conservationist and former South Dakota Governor and Senator.  His mission to provide the routes with the “grandest views,” was accomplished.  The spires of rocks along this whole route were quite picturesque.

On our way to Lead (pronounced Leed) we stopped for a quick bite at The Hubcap Diner in the town of Hill.   While definitely a tourist town, it is a comfortable place and is located in the middle of the Black Hills.  If ever we visit this area again, we would consider staying there.

Leed was the home of the Homestake Mining Company, and was the largest and deepest gold mine in the North America, until it closed 2002.  First mined in 1876 by a group of mining entrepreneurs, it was taken over by George Hearst (the father of William Randolph Hearst) and two business partners in 1877 for $70,000.

Over its lifetime 43,900,000 troy ounces of gold were removed from the mine.  A huge crater was left behind.  Dan and I hit four golf balls into the crater, thus assuring we would both get to experience a hole in one at least once in our lives.  The mining company carved 370 miles of tunnels some 8,000 feet deep below that massive crater.

In 2007, the Homestake Mine became the home of the Sanford Underground Research Facility.  The main focus of the Lab is on particles called neutrinos.  They are one of the fundamental particles that make up the universe.  It also has something to do with research concerning dark matter and dark energy.  All of this I fully understood for about a micro-second after it was explained to me. We did take a tour of the outside of the facility and saw the huge system they have for raising and lowering people and materials/equipment into the Lab. It was mentioned that it takes 11 minutes to be lowered into the mine; and only approved scientists/researchers are allowed to enter the mine and lab.

Researchers from all over the world are working on various projects together including the shooting of a beam of neutrinos generated at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago 800 miles through the earth to liquid argon detectors underground at Sanford Lab.  All of this is simply mind boggling.

After so much science our last stop of the day was Deadwood, SD best known by most Americans today as the rather bloody Western series found on HBO.  Because it was a rainy day and about 5:00 PM, Deadwood was rather dead.  Dan and I could see that the town would be a lot more fun when the summer crowds come and they can purchase drinks and carry them about town like they do in New Orleans.  We did stop by a few small boutique stores such as Miss Kitty’s Mercantile which sold Indian and Cowboy crafts; and the local Deadwood Distilling Company.

This evening we had dinner and enjoyed the reenactment of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok at the Deadwoods No. 10 Saloon.  Dan had a bit part in the play as the bartender. He served drinks to two call girls and to Wild Bill.  Afterwards, when Wild Bill was killed; he proclaimed him dead; and took the winnings(chips) off the table into his hat.  I’m a bit biased, but I thought he did a terrific job.

It was another very full day and we were glad to get back to the hotel at a reasonable hour.  Even though it rained all day today, it did not stop us from traversing the Northern  Black Hills. part of the Black Hills.