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Deadwood, South Dakota
· 1.0 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Get ready to turn back the clock! Deadwood wasn't just a town, it was a lightning strike of gold fever that ignited the Black Hills. It all started in 1876, when gold was discovered in Deadwood Gulch. Suddenly, the area…
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The Lost Chinatown Beneath Main Street
· 1.1 mi · Things to Do
By 1880 Deadwood had the largest Chinatown east of San Francisco with over 200 Chinese residents packed into a stretch of Main Street. There were grocers and…
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Homestake Mine: The Richest Gold Strike in the Western Hemisphere
· 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
The Homestake Mine in Lead operated continuously from 1876 to 2001, producing over forty million troy ounces of gold and reaching a depth of 8,000 feet, making it the deepest mine in North America.
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Lead, SD: Not the Metal You Think
· 2.3 mi
You'd swear this Black Hills town was named for the soft gray metal, the stuff of pencils and pipes. It isn't. The name isn't even pronounced like the metal. It's said "leed," and it comes from a mining term: a "lead"…
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The $40 Motorcycle Wedding
· 9.3 mi · Things to Do
If you want to get married at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally all you need is forty dollars in cash and a valid ID. Both parties must be present which is probably…
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D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery
· 9.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Ever wondered where all those trout in the Black Hills came from? You’re about to discover the birthplace of fish conservation in the American West! This is the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, established…
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Spearfish Canyon: The Temperature That Rose 49 Degrees in Two Minutes
· 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
On January 22, 1943, a Chinook wind caused the temperature in Spearfish to spike from minus 4 degrees to 45 degrees Fahrenheit in just two minutes — the most extreme temperature change ever recorded.
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Sturgis: Nine Riders and the Birth of a Legend
· 11.1 mi · Historical
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally began in 1938 when nine riders competed for a $500 prize on a half-mile dirt track — today it draws hundreds of thousands of riders annually to the Black Hills.
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When They Lit the Streets on Fire
· 11.1 mi · Things to Do
In the 1970s the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally had a wild streak that would be hard to imagine today. At the end of the 1975 event riders doused the streets of…
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Pappy Hoel and the Indian Motorcycle
· 11.1 mi · Things to Do
Clarence 'Pappy' Hoel ran an Indian motorcycle dealership in Sturgis and loved racing more than selling bikes. In 1938 he founded the Jackpine Gypsies…
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The First Rally T-Shirts Were All Maroon
· 11.1 mi · Things to Do
In 1940 just two years after the first Sturgis Rally someone had the idea to sell printed t-shirts advertising the event. Every single shirt was maroon. There…
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Every Cavalry Regiment Served Here
· 11.1 mi · Things to Do
During the great western expansion nearly every cavalry regiment in the entire United States Army rotated through Fort Meade outside Sturgis. The post was one…
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Nine Riders and a Race That Changed Everything
· 11.2 mi · Things to Do
In 1938 a motorcycle dealer named Pappy Hoel gathered nine riders for a race through the Black Hills outside Sturgis South Dakota. That was the first Sturgis…
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The Horse That Survived Custer's Last Stand
· 11.2 mi · Things to Do
After the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 soldiers found a badly wounded buckskin horse standing among the dead. His name was Comanche and he had carried…
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The Treaty That Was Broken for Gold
· 11.2 mi · Things to Do
The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie promised the Black Hills to the Lakota Sioux for as long as the grass shall grow. Six years later Custer's expedition found…
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The Colonel Who Never Saw His Town
· 11.2 mi · Things to Do
The city of Sturgis is named after Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis who commanded the 7th Cavalry at Fort Meade. Sturgis had a personal grudge against the Lakota. His…
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Black Hills National Cemetery
· 12.5 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Pay your respects at this solemn site, the final resting place for over 29,000 veterans. This land became a national cemetery after World War II, a response to the growing need for burial space for those who served. In…
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The Cavalry Post That Guarded the Gold
· 12.6 mi · Things to Do
Fort Meade was built in 1878 just east of Sturgis to protect the illegal gold settlements in the Black Hills. The irony was thick. The Army was guarding miners…
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Fort Meade (South Dakota)
· 13.0 mi · Scraped Hmdb
From the Indian Wars to World War II, Fort Meade played a pivotal role in the history of the American West. Established in 1878, the fort's original purpose was to protect the growing white settlements in the northern…
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Tinton, South Dakota
· 15.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine striking it rich in the Black Hills! That's exactly what the founders of Tinton hoped for. Tinton sprang to life in 1876 as a gold mining camp. It later transitioned to tin production. The Dakota Tin and Gold…
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Bear Butte
· 16.5 mi · Scraped Hmdb
This sacred butte isn't just a landmark; it's a living testament to the enduring spiritual connection between the Plains Indians and this land. Long before European settlers arrived, tribes like the Lakota and Cheyenne…
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Bear Butte: Sacred Mountain of the Plains Tribes
· 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
Bear Butte, a laccolith rising 1,200 feet above the surrounding prairie near Sturgis, has been a site of prayer, fasting, and vision quests for the Cheyenne, Lakota, and other Plains tribes for thousands of years.
