Finally…Cooler Weather in the Black Hills

23-28 July, 2012

I got my wish, we have cooler weather now, and it is now in the mid 70s and 80s which is very pleasant.  Of course, it came at a price – lots and lots of thunderstorms with thunder, lightning and torrential downpours. We were fortunate in that we weren’t caught outdoors when one of the storms hit. 

Visited Mt. Rushmore, both during the day and in the evening. At night they give a nice program and then light up the monument. Very patriotic.  Boy, the place has changed since we were last there over 25 years ago.  A very entertaining film on the making of the monument, some great exhibits showing some of the original equipment, a terrific café and gift store. They now have a walkway that lets you walk up to the base of the monument and you can do an audio tour that explains everything.  Really enjoyed our visit. When we came back for the evening program, we had dinner in the café – I had buffalo stew and it was delicious! While we ate dinner, we were treated to a lightning show behind the monument and kept ourselves nice and dry inside.  The storm had the good sense to clear out by the time the program started.

The Crazy Horse Memorial has made lots of progress in the past 25 years as well.  When we last passed through the Black Hills, I don’t think they had much more than a small visitor center and you could barely recognize that a face was being created. Now the face is complete, they are working on the arm and they are blowing away the stone around where the horse’s head will be.  There is a large visitor’s center, American Indian Museum and the sculptor’s home and work space is open for tour.  I didn’t realize that the sculptor has previously worked for Borglum, the man who created the Mt. Rushmore monument. The scale just boggles the mind. Of course, when it will be finished is anyone’s guess.  They have been working on it for over 50 years and it would appear that there is at least another 50 years to go.  I sure hope that there is enough passion and commitment to continue the work.

Spent a day in Rapid City, catching a couple of quilt shops and visiting Landstrom’s Black Hills Gold factory. The downtown section is nicely preserved – kind of a 30’s looking place. They have statues of presidents on every corner, as well as other dignitaries.

One of the key features of the Black Hills is the many scenic drives. We took a wildlife drive through Custer State Park and saw lots of critters, including bison, deer, antelope, big horn sheep, turkeys and burros. Now I don’t know if the burros are actually wild – they seemed to like being around people and the people seemed to know to bring food for them (even though there are copious signs about not approaching wildlife).

Another drive looped through the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road. Though not that long in distance, the drive took most of the day because of the many twists and turns as well as scenic turnouts.  What a great day to do it – the skies were mostly clear and the temperatures were quite comfortable. Saw a large group of deer and a family of turkeys. Played chase with the steam train that goes between Hill City and Keystone, crisscrossing paths several times. Russ and I had taken that train ride 25 years ago and I remember that, at one point, the train had to wait at the bottom of a grade for several minutes to build up enough steam to make it to the top.

Finished up our visit to the Black Hills with a drive along Spearfish Canyon. After the Needles/Iron Mountain drive though, the Canyon was a little tame. Wasn’t able to get back the way I wanted because Deadwood was closed to through traffic (a parade was going on), so we backtracked and took a longer route down to Custer.

The Black Hills are a highlight of our trip so far. I loved the gentle green meadows with wildflowers and the unusual rock formations.  And we saw so much wildlife! Not to mention the monuments.  It is easy to see why the area is such a popular tourist destination. It will be quite a change going back into the dry flatland of the Midwest.



At the Mount Rushmore National Monument.

These two little guys were more interested in playing with the water than looking at the big guys on the mountain.

The Crazy Horse Memorial as it will be compared to its current state.

The memorial is huge - look at the tiny people on the arm!



Chief Joseph was pretty wise in many ways.

"Any snackerals for us?"



A big horn sheep showing how it is done.

Mount Rushmore at night - the streaks are from the torrential downpour that occurred about 20 minutes before the lighting of the memorial.

One of the carved out tunnels on the Needles Highway.

These needle formations were all along the highway.

Our intrepid photographer!

 

This is the narrowest of the tunnels, we had to pull in our mirrors in order for the van to fit through.

The tunnels were designed to frame views, including this one of Mt. Rushmore.



There are several of these "pigtail" bridges, all made of wood and designed to fit in a very small space by winding the road around and under itself.

Another view of Mt. Rushmore, along the Iron Mountain Road.

Playing tag with the steam train that runs from Hill City to Keystone.

Spearfish Canyon.

Devil’s Tower, Wyoming

20-22 July, 2012

We headed east out of Scobey and connected with US Highway 85, in North Dakota, to go south to the Black Hills. The CAN/AM highway runs north/south, starting at the Canadian border and ending at the Gulf of Mexico. It is a very nice two lane highway where we averaged 60 mph. We ended up taking it all the way to the Black Hills. Someday, I think that I would like to finish the drive to the Gulf of Mexico, kind of like a North/South Route 66.

As soon as we entered North Dakota, we ran into lots and lots of trucks, drilling platforms and work camps working the Bakken Formation. We had been warned by folks in Scobey that the farther east you go into North Dakota, the rougher the environment would be. Boy, if we were only on the edge of it, I am glad we didn’t go any further east.  It was disturbing to see how ad-hoc the housing is and how dusty/dirty everything is because of the trucks. Not a pleasant place to work. And I am skeptical that the companies are focused on being environmentally responsible citizens. But, we all want our oil.

I understand why they call eastern Wyoming and western North Dakota the Great American Desert.  It is very dry, mostly sagebrush and few rivers/streams. There are ranches, but they are far apart.  We saw many old, fallen down ranch houses and barns – very picturesque but reminders of lost dreams. 

The further south we went in North Dakota, the greener the land became, the more cattle we saw and the more prosperous the ranches looked. We stopped for the night at Medora which at the entrance to the Roosevelt National Park. Teddy Roosevelt owned two ranches here and spent a lot of years before and after his presidency in the area.

The next day, we continued south on Highway 85.  A whole lot of emptiness. Saw a sign pointing to the Center of the Nation, so we took the turn and drove about 8 miles down a gravel road to where an American flag stood in the middle of a field.  There was a hand painted sign claiming this was the “True Center of the Nation.” Later, we figured out that someone was refuting the claim that Belle Fouche, the closest town was the Center of the Nation.  They have a small building in the town with some exhibits on how the Center was calculated (takes into account Hawaii and Alaska) and, I suppose, within the margin of error, they could make the claim.

We camped for a night at the base of Devil’s Tower.  It was a beautiful, clear evening and we really enjoyed watching the shadows change on the mountain. The next morning, we watched some climbers scaling the mountain and visited the visitor’s center.

Now it is on to the Black Hills where we will stay for five days to see the sights. I am still waiting for the break in the weather and cooler temps.  The days continue in the high 90s.

There were all types of oil industry related trucks in North Dakota racing up and down the highway.

Starting to cross the Missouri River in North Dakota.

This is part of the Roosevelt National Park, The red bands are baked soil resulting from the coal veins which, on occasion, catch fire and smolder underground for long periods of time.

One of the neatest playgrounds I have ever seen.  There were all sorts of rooms and play areas inside the "town" for all ages and abilities.  This was in Medora, just outside of Roosevelt National Park.

We had lunch at Crow Butte, population 0.  This was the only building in sight for miles and it was a wonderful surprise - great food and some nice merchandise.

Headed straight south on Highway 85, for as long as you can see.



Drove down a gravel road for 8 miles for this picture.  A bit of a disappointment.

A beautiful sunset at Devil's Tower.

A prarie dog doing the "Macarena"

These hikers were about half way up Devil's Tower.

Scobey, Montana

19 July 2012

We reached Scobey, Montana on Tuesday, 17 July, after three days of travel from Cody. We overnighted in Hardin, Montana where we visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield and Monument.  This is where Custer was killed in a battle with about 1000 Indian warriors.  The interpretive center included information about Custer and Sitting Bull and a little about some of the other major figures in the battle, including Chief Crazy Horse. I found it difficult to understand how the battle action proceeded from the exhibits, but there was an auto CD tour that we took which explained things a lot better. I particularly liked the anthropologist on the CD who had built a model correlating evidence found in battlefields and the associated actions. When all is said and done though, I find battlefields sad and depressing – no one is left a winner.  In this case, this battle, though decisively won by the Native Americans, was the end of the plains way of life for them. The government mounted a huge campaign to force them onto reservations and to destroy their way of life.

The second night was in Miles City, named after General Miles who was a central figure in the aftermath of the Little Bighorn Battle. He led campaigns which forced the Lakotas onto reservations and he is the one that pursued Chief Joseph and the Nez Pearce tribe across Montana. Our campground was near the river and there were lots of little bothersome bugs surroundimg our campsite. So needless to say, even though the campsite was pretty, we didn’t spend a lot of our time sitting outside.

The third day we arrived in Scobey.  This little town of around 1,000 people is about 14 miles from the Canadian border and is in the very top right corner of Montana.  This is where Florence, Russ’ mom, was born when her parents were homesteading 10 miles south of town. The town is surrounded by miles and miles of dry land wheat. In the early 1920s, Scobey was the largest shipper of grain in the world.

We are here to do a little genealogy research and to try and find the homestead. Russ found the land grant on-line and has the description. So we went out to try and find it. Bump, bump, bump down gravel roads, across ridges and down into valleys.  We think we found it – the acreage is now part of a much bigger farming enterprise. There aren’t any buildings on the land, whatever the Kauffmans built has been long gone. When we went to the Scobey museum, we spent time chatting with some locals and they confirmed that we had been in the right area for the homestead.

After visiting the county library (a VERY small building), the local newspaper archives, the county records office and the Scobey museum, we didn’t find lots about the Kauffmans in Scobey.  We know that they homesteaded in 1914 and proved up their claim for 320 acres in 1917. We know that Russ’ grandfather supplemented his income by auctioneering – we found many advertisements in the local paper from 1915 through 1921, including some with a photo of him. We also know that the Kauffmans left Scobey around 1923 to eventually settle in Canton, South Dakota (another place we plan on visiting on this trip.)

So, after two days in Scobey, we are headed to Devil’s Tower and the Black Hills. I don’t plan on doing genealogy research there, just relax and enjoy the beautiful countryside. Hoping for cooler weather, it was 103 degrees on Thursday and 99 degrees the day before that.  I think every day has been in the 90s since we left Long Beach!

Part of a memorial to the Indians that died at the Battle of  Little Bighorn

Only a few sites are noted for the warriors that died in the battle because their bodies had been recovered immediately following the fight.

The hill where Custer made his last stand. Custer fell within six feet of the monument on the top of the hill. The white markers are where other soldiers fell.

We crossed the Missouri on our way to Scobey.

A hitch hiker.

This trail is about 4 miles south of Scobey.

Scobey in the distance.

The fields just beyond the oil derrick were part of Russ' grandfather's farm (at least, we think so.)

More of the Kauffman's farm.

Many homesteaders lost their land because of failed crops and walked away from their claims. Some of the houses are still in the fields.

The "road" to the Kauffman farm.

One of the ads we found showing Irvin Kauffman as auctioneer. This was in 1920.