Deadwood, SD

June 10, 2013

Deadwood, SD

We left Rapid City for Deadwood on June 6

Deadwood,as the sign says, is the resting place of Wild Bill Hickok.

What Deadwood looked like in 1876

Deadwood today

The wrong side of town. Note the "ladies in waiting" in the windows.

T section was called "The Bad Lands" because this is where most of the fighting, drinking and meeting "the ladies in Waiting" happened.

The other end of town.

Deadwood has burned down twice so the buildings are the rebuilt ones. They still date back to the 1800's

James Butler Hickok (Wild Bill Hickok) and Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity Jane) came to Deadwood working on a wagon train.
He was not a lawman here. He came to search for gold but ended up gambling. He was good enough that he felt that he could make more money that way

In the movies, Calamity Jane and WBH were lovers. Not so. He was married to a lady back east.
He did once say "When she is sober, she can ride and shoot as good as any man.

Original location of Saloon #10. It was burned down and rebuilt on the "good" side of town. The owner, Charles Udder, thought that would be better for business.

Sign over the old Saloon #10

The new Saloon #10. It still dates back to the 1800s.

The poker hand WBH was holding when he was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall.
The picture shows what he would have had. He was actually holding two black aces and two black eights, Now called "Dead Mans Hand. His next card would have been the nine of diamonds.

The chair he was sitting in when shot.

Inside Saloon #10. It is claimed to be the only "Museum with a Bar" in the world.

Jack McCall was later arrested here in this meat market. He was found innocent by a jury and left town immediately. There were several eye witnesses. WBH was not popular because he won so much money at poker.
McCall later was arrested in Laramie and retried, found guilty and hanged.

We went on tour around town. Mike, our tour driver and I started talking. We were both stationed on Guam in the 60' at the Naval Air Station. We had both been on several remote islands near the same time. He was navy but his son was in the USCG. Very interesting.

A plaque leading to the graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

WBH's headstone

CJ's headstone.
Even though she was known for using very foul language, being very coarse and a drunk, she was also known to be very caring. She nursed a rich mans son back to health from smallpox.
When she was on her death bed, she asked to be buried next to WBH. The rich man promised her that she would. He paid for everything including mourners.

The sculptor of MT Rushmore's descendant, James Borglum
and the daughter of the Crazy Horse sculptor, Monique Ziolkowski, designed and sculpted the statue for the City of Deadwood.

WBH relaxing

Deadwood has several reenactments.
This one was the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok

The sheriff at another shooting

This one started over a card game. Two against one but the one won.

Several well known old
west characters passed thru here.
One reenactment showed Doc Holiday killing someone in a shootout.
They claim that all of the reenactments are of rel events as listed in their library.