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Monday, July 4, 2011

Touring The Blackhills Of South Dakota

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We woke up this morning and decided it was a beautiful day to do some sight seeing. We fuelled up and headed of out into the Blackhills that surround Rapid City. There a lot of little towns to visit on this round trip. One of the little towns I wanted to visit was Deadwood. I had heard that Kevin Costner owned a casino and there was a bit of memorabilia from his Block Buster Movie “Dances With Wolves” in there. I so wanted to go and see that.

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Postcard Material.
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A old Picture I found of Deadwood.
Deadwood is like a mini Las Vegas, it has Casinos on every corner and in and around any available space they can find. Even pokey machines in Laundry mats etc..I am sure if I had have gone into a public toilet I would have found one in there to. We couldn't find a parking spot any where so I could go see Kevin.Not a single one within cooee.
Deadwood is also the final resting place for James Butler Hickok – Wild Bill Hickok  and Martha Jane Cannary Burke – Calamity Jane. We went to the cemetery see there final resting place.
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Entrance to the Cemetery
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Me
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Dann
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Me next to Wild Bill Hickok’s Grave
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Calamity Jane is buried right next to Wild Bill.
 
A little history on these two.

The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 set off one of the last great gold rushes in the country. In 1876, miners moved into the northern Black Hills. That’s where they came across a gulch full of dead trees and a creek full of gold…and Deadwood was born.
Practically overnight, the tiny gold camp boomed into a town that played by its own rules that attracted outlaws, gamblers and gunslingers along with the gold seekers.
Wild Bill Hickok was one of those men who came looking for fortune. But just a few short weeks after arriving, he was gunned down while holding a poker hand of aces and eights – forever after known as the Dead Man’s Hand.

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Calamity Jane also made a name for herself in these parts and is buried next to Hickok in Mount Moriah Cemetery.Deadwood has survived three major fires and numerous economic hardships, pushing it to the verge of becoming another Old West ghost town. But in 1989 limited-wage gambling was legalized and Deadwood was reborn.
A great visit to a beautiful place was over for us, time to move on
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Calamity Jane standing in from of Wild Bills Grave.
frtgrt

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