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| Pit Mine. 1/2 mile wide, 1200' deep |
Last day in the Black hills for us. I got to sleep in again today while the humans went sight-seeing. Today they went to Deadwood, Lead, and Spearfish, with a side trip to Wyoming (just to say they have been there and so they can put the sticker on the map on the side of our camper). While in Deadwood they decided to by-pass the casinos and restaurants and go a museum about the town then on to Lead to see an old open pit gold mine.
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| Main Street Deadwood SD |
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| Road to Spearfish |
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| Spearfish Canyon |
The actual Deadwood/Lead gold rush began in 1875 and ended in 1877. But, the Homestake Mining Company continued mining gold there for 122 years. Before its closing in 2002, Homestake Gold Mine was the oldest, largest and deepest mine in the Western Hemisphere, reaching more than 8000 feet below the town of Lead. Now I wish I would have gone along---Ron said that the best scenic drive they had driven on the trip so far, was the road between Lead and Spearfish. Towering granite cliffs and massive lodge pole pines lines the road for several miles. In the middle of Spearfish canyon was a peaceful trout stream. Spearfish has a lovely city campground, which we checked out for future trips through the area. It is closed for the season, so we couldn’t stay there this trip. After driving into Wyoming and turning around, they headed back to the camper so I could have my afternoon treat on time (thank you very much!)
Tomorrow it is on to The Badlands, Wall Drug and points east………
