It has taken many decades but I finally got to visit Deadwood, the place where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried. I first learned of them a long time ago from The Plainsman, but also recently from the HBO series "Deadwood". We toured the cemetery (Mount Mariah) and also strolled down Main St where all the action from 1876 took place. We then went up the road to Lead and toured the Homestake Gold Mine operation which George Hearst bought in 1878. His wife had an opera house built in Lead which notwithstanding a terrible fire 20 years ago, is still in operation. We heard an exhausting lecture on a neutrino and dark matter research laboratory operation 4500 feet down in the old gold mine. We also heard a marvelous lecture on Black Hills geology. The day began with a lecture from a Lakota tribesman and a view of the Tatanka sculpture of bronze bison being herded off a cliff by Lakota warriors. Below are some pics.
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| Gold mine latrine |
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| Wild Bill's grave |
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| Hotel built by Seth Bullock, town sheriff and Federal marshal |
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| Downtown Deadwood |
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| Tatanka sculptures funded by Kevin Costner |
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| The Gem, saloon featured in HBO's "Deadwood" series |
