This is the final entry on my 2010 Road Trip blog.

We had spent the night in Hardin, MT, a few miles east of Billings.   The next day, as we drove through Billings we stopped to tour the beautiful Moss Mansion.  No photos allowed inside unfortuantely but even the outside and garden were pretty nice. Our drive that day took us to Great Falls.  Once we make the decision to head for home John tends to get in destination mode and we don’t spend a lot of time finding stops of interest; so we pretty much have driving days.

From Great Falls we went back to Fort Benton. Since we were not able to tour the fort and museum on our way down to Yellowstone we stopped in again on the way back to BC.

At Fort Benton there is also the Museum of the Northern Great Plains which had interesting exhibits and a ‘typical’ town heritage street. In the museum is a taxidermy group of six buffalo.  These animals were collected by a man named Hornaday in 1886 on behalf of the National Museum in Washington, DC, when the species was on the brink of extinction, in order to preserve an example of these great creatures.  The animals were on display in the Smithsonian for 70 years and the big bull’s image was the model for several national symbols and issues. Coins, paper currency, postage stamps, the Great Seal for the Department of the Interior, and the National Park Service badge all bear his likeness.  The group was returned to Ft. Benton in 1955 but was put in storage until the it was completely restored in 1996 in the original positions and put on display. After we toured the museum and town we entered the fort.  Fort Benton was established in 1846, a full generation before the Civil War, and was the last fur trading post on the Missouri River before a 642-mile overland trek on the Mullan Road that would get you to Walla Walla, Washington. Inside the replicated trading post we were greeted by the ‘trader’ who gave us the lowdown on the items that were the common goods kept in stock. John ‘wore’ a hide as a demonstration. The one constant as we drove around Montana and Wyoming that summer (and I would think every summer) is the massive number of mosquitos that meet their end on the truck and windshield.  It was a daily chore to clean them off. We spent the night in Havre, then Spearfish, ID, then Nelson, BC and finally, after three weeks, we were home again.  This endeth the blog.  Thanks for tagging along.

My Daddy’s “Drive North America” books says, “Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation is the site of perhaps the most famous event in Plains Indian history.  Here, in 1876, along the cottonwood-shaded banks of the Little Bighorn River, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer made his legendary last stand – a rout of some 260 soldiers of the 7th Cavalry by almost 3,000 Sioux andCheyenne warriors.”

Another of Dad’s travel books, “Handpicked Tours of North America,” describes the situation like this: “The Cheyenne, a few Arapahos and Sioux  under the Sioux warrior Sitting Bull trespassed on Crow land in the biggest congregation of Indians ever assembled on the plains. The brochure I picked up at Monument gives some background: “The Lakota and Cheyenne left their reservation in the Black Hills in frustration over the invasion of their given lands by thousands of gold seekers who swarmed into the area in violation of the Ft. Laramie Treaty.  The government tried to keep the prospectors out to no avail and also tried to buy the land from the Indians to circumvent hostilities; also without success. Thus the indians resumed raids on settlements and travelers along the fringes of Indian domain.  They were ordered to return before Jan 31, 1876 or be treated as hostiles “by the military force.”  When the Indians did not comply, the army was called in to enforce the order.  Some Crow scouts accompanied the U.S. Cavalry units as they set out to force the trespassers back onto their own reservations.” “The Bureau of Indian Affairs, misjudging the situation, told the army that only 800 warriors were involved. The fact was that 10,000 to 12,000 Indians had joined Sitting Bull’s forces, including some 4,000 warriors who were among the best cavalrymen on earth, many of them armed with the latest repeating rifles, which they had obtained from reservation traders.”

“Unknown to Custer, another army unit had encounterd the natives on Rosebud Creek, east of Little Bighorn.  The army had been fought to a standstill and forced to withdraw.  This success further encouraged Sitting Bull to continue into Little Bighorn Valley and set up camp.”

“Custer was leading one arm of a pincer movement, and had rushed his cavalry unit into a position where he could block an expected Indian retreat as another army unit advanced.  He located the Indian camp at dawn on June 25 and divided his regiment into three battalions to surround and attack a superb, eager-to-fight army, which he was unaware outnumbered him five or six to one.”

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument encompasses the land where the battles took place.  There are paved pathways on a self-guided interpretive trail that winds through the tall grass and past the grave markers.  The Rangers in the visitor’s center willingly answer questions and explain the events of the battle. “After the battle the bodies of Custer and his command were hastily buried in shallow graves at or near where they fell.  In 1877 the remains of 11 officers and two civilians were transferred to eastern cemeteries. Custer’s remains were reinterred at West Point.  In 1881 the remains of the rest of the command were buried in a mass grave around the base of the memorial shaft bearing the names of the soldiers, scouts and civilians killed in the battle.  In 1890 the Army erected 249 headstone markers across the battlefield to show where Custer’s men had fallen.  In 1999 the National Park Service began erecting red granite markers at known Cheyenne and Lakota warrior casualty sites throughout the battlefield to provide a balanced perspective of the fierce fighting that occured here in 1876.”There is now a memorial area commemorating the Indian’s that fought and a marker to honor the Cavalry horses that were intentionally shot to provide some amount of cover from the arrows and bullets. Little Bighorn Nationa Monument is also the site of Custer National Cemetery which is a military burial place still in use today. Once again, I was awed and moved to be walking the ground of an historical event I had learned about in grade school and seen immortalized on screen.

A few miles west of Lead, SD is Roughlock Falls, created by Little Spearfish Creek.  The water flows down a spectacular chasm then tumbles off a 50 foot limestone ledge in a series of cascades.  It is very pretty and one of the most-photograph spots in South Dakota’s Black Hills.

We turned north after visiting the falls and drove up to the old cattle drive staging town of Belle Fourche (beautiful fork); named by French explorers from New France (much of Quebec and the Acadian pennisula – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island – and Newfoundland), where the Belle Fourche and Redwater Rivers join the Hay Creek.  The area was a major fur trading center in the early days and later it was a way-station on the stagecoach line from Medora, ND to Deadwood, SD.

For 14 years (1876-1890) an enterprising fellow named  Seth Bullock bought up properties as homesteaders ‘proved up’ and sold out.  When the railroad refused to pay the high prices demanded by the near-by community of Minnesela to ship the ranchers cattle to the packing plants, Seth offered them free right-of-way through his property if they would build a terminal on his land, near where the present Belle Fourche Livestock Exchange is located.  The first shipment of cattle left Belle Fourche for the east in 1890 and by 1895 2,500 carloads of cattle per month, in the peak season,  were sent eastward, making it the world’s largest livestock-shipping point.  Even today Belle Fourche serves as a large trading area for local farmers and ranchers.

I wrote this historical tidbit because just before we left home to begin this road trip we had watched an old John Wayne western movie, “The Cowboys,” in which a rancher had all of his hands desert him to go to the gold fields and he had to, reluctantly, hire young boys to drive his cattle herd to Belle Fourche.  I was quite tickled to be in the same place.  So many of the beloved cowboy movie sets from my youth became real on this trip.

Another historical side note: In 1959 the  U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey designated a point 20 miles north of Belle Fourche as the geographic center of the United States.  Until then the center of the US was Smith Center, Kansas but with the inclusion of Hawai’i and Alaska the middle point had to be re-configured. (Aren’t you glad I read all this stuff?)

At Belle Fourche we turned west and re-entered Wyoming.  The sky was very grey near Hulett. About 45 miles from the border is Devils Tower National Monument, America’s first; designated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906. The tower is actually the core of a volcano exposed after millions of years of erosion.The base of the tower is cluttered with huge bolders that are pieces of the columns that have fallen off the sides. We walked the mile and a quarter trail all the way around.  The tower is 865 feet high and is featured in many Native American legends. It is a popular climbing spot and we watched several different pairs of climbers navigate the columns.  You have to look very closely to see the climbers just above the trees in the wider shots.  Brave fellows.

By the time we left the sun was lower and cast a lovely golden glow on to the tower.  It was a fascinating place to visit.  The curves at the bottom of the columns were amazing, especially when you consider how large the rocks are.

We spent that night in Gillette, Wyoming and the next day we drove north through Sheridan into Montana and the site of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

About six miles west of Keystone is the ‘oh-so-famous’ Mount Rushmore National Memorial.  The story goes that a New York lawyer, Charles E. Rushmore, visited the Black Hills on business in 1885 and asked a local prospector the name of the 6,000-foot peak.  The peak had no name and the prospector facetiously answered “Mount Rushmore,.  The name stuck and was never changed.

Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor, arrived in 1927 on a commission from the federal government to carve the likenesses of four U.S. presidents – Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt – on the granite face of the mountain.  Each face is about 60′ high.  It took 14 years and 400 workers to finish the memorial.  Completion day was Oct 31, 1941.  (Korczak Ziolkowski who designed and began the Crazy Horse Memorial also worked with Borglum on Rushmore.)

The faces are visible from a fair distance as you drive toward them.There is a nice plaza and entrance gate behind which all of the flags of the U.S. states are flying.

Once we had taken a dozen or so photos we headed north to Deadwood. Deadwood is a famous (perhaps infamous is a better word) gold rush town.  The entire city is a National Historic Monument.  The famous Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried at Mt. Moriah Cemetery on the hilltop above the town.   Mt. Moriah Cemetery has special permission from the federal government that allows them to never lower the flag. Deadwood was decimated with a smallpox epidemic in 1878 and the graves of many children bear witness to the tragedy.During the gold rush era about 250 Chinese immigrants arrived in the area.  Most worked in the service industries rather than the mines themselves and there is a section in the cemetery that was the final resting place of many.

The city of Deadwood is not very big.  I think the populations is about 1300.  Over 300 buildings were destroyed by fire in 1879 so much of the town rose again from the ashes. Being such a cowboy fan in my youth it was really great to be in a place featured in so many stories and movies.

After leaving Deadwood we continued west to Lead, site of the Homestake Mine.  Homestake for many years was the longest continuously operating gold mine in the United States.  It opened in 1877 and ceased running in 2002.  There is now a visitor’s information center with mining history and equipment displays. The Open Cut was the name of the absolutely massive pit mine that was the bread and butter of Homestake for generations. We spent that night in Lead and the next day moved north to Belle Fourche, SD and turned west again back into Wyoming to see the Devil’s Tower before going to Gillette for the night.

A short distance from Custer is the Crazy Horse Memorial.  This gigantic figure is the singlehanded creation of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski.  By the time it is completed it is estimated that 10 million tons of granite will have been blasted from Thunderhead Mountain. Korczak was completely self-taught.  He never took a formal lesson in art, sculpture, architecture or engineering.  One of his pieces “Paderewski – Study of an Immortal,” won first prize by popular vote at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.   Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear saw the sculpture and wrote to Korczak saying, “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes also,” and invited Korczak to come to South Dakota to carve Crazy Horse.

The artist was 40 years old and had only $174 when he arrived in the Black Hills on May 3, 1947 to accept the invitation.  The first blast took place June 3, 1948 and removed 10 tons of rock from the mountaintop.  Korczak was a firm believer in the free enterprise system and felt Crazy Horse should be built by the interested public and not the taxpaper.  Twice he turned down offers of federal funding.

There is now a huge complex at the site with a clear view of the ongoing construction.  The Indian Museum of North America, the Indian University of North America, and an Education & Conference Center, plus a visitor’s complex with a restaurant and art gallery give tourists plenty to see.  The project is completely funded by visitor’s fees and donations.

Korczak died in 1982.  He understood that the project was larger than the lifetime of one person and left detailed plans to be used with his scale models to continue his work.  His wife Ruth, who previously had worked mainly on raising their ten children, funding, bookkeeping and public relations, continued to direct the project until her death in 2014.  The CEO of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation Board of Directors, plus two of Korczak and Ruth’s children (Jadwiga and Monique) have directed the work since.  His daughter Monique Ziolkowski is also a renowned sculptor and her works as well as several of her father’s are on display in the gallery.                                    “Brothers” by Korczak – 1935 (on loan)

      “Wild Bill Hickok” by Monique Ziolkowski and James Borglum

Korczak had begun working on the head of the horse first but after his death Ruth changed the schedule to complete Crazy Horse’s head first hoping the 87.5′ face would encourage tourists to come and see the project and bring in funding.  After the chief’s head was finished in 1998 the Crazy Horse Memorial became one of the top ten tourist attractions in South Dakota. The workers are now blocking out the 22-story high horse’s head and it is expected to take decades to complete.  The painted outline (which is 6 feet wide) on the mountain shows the 45-foot ear and the 16-foot wide eye which will be about 260 feet below the head of Crazy Horse. The 1/34 scale model on the viewing terrace gives the visitor a close-up look at what the finished memorial will look like.  The poem will also be carved in the side of the mountain. This custom-painted motorcycle and 1860’s stagecoach from the Deadwood-Cheyenne route were on display in the Visitor’s Center. After we left Crazy Horse we drove the Needles Highway on our way Keystone. This 20 mile section of road has hairpin turns, narrow tunnels and granite spires along the roadside.   The small parking area at the base of the ‘Needle’s Eye’ was packed with cars.  Clambering around on the rocks is a favourite pass time while people wait for vehicles to navigate the tunnel.  The most fun was watching the bus come through.  The mirrors were tucked in and that driver inched his way through with virtually no room to spare.

 We met a herd of Bison that had no issues with holding up traffic.        I loved this directional sign.  Where are we going exactly?This big fellow was right at home walking down the middle of the road. It wasn’t anywhere near Christmas yet this Pronghorn its horns decorated for the holiday.

And a very friendly group of free range donkeys stopped traffic in order to have a visit (and hopefully, some snacks I would suspect).
There was plenty of wildlife to see that day.  We encountered some deer and more pronghorns before finally reaching Keystone, SD for the night.

Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota was established January 9, 1903.  The park isn’t huge, only 28,000 acres and most people  that come here spend their time underground, even though there is plenty of wildlife to see roaming the grasslands.There are 53 miles of explored passages in Wind Cave, making it the third longest cave in the United States and the seventh longest in the world.  The cave is a ‘dry’ cave, meaning there is no moisture creeping through the limestone rocks that create stalagtites and stalagmites.  It does, however, have many unusual mineral formations, including the world’s best collection of boxwork; a calcite formation resembling irregular honeycombs. A distinctive feature of Wind Cave is a strong wind that rushes in and out of the mouth of the cave equalizing air pressure between the inside passageways and the atmosphere outside.  Because it is a cave system the park is open all year round and the temperature underground stays ‘relatively’ constant.

Most caves are thought to have little to no change in temperature but the noticeable wind movement at the entrance to this cave system prompted a study in 1984-85.  A concluding summary was:  “The real weather (i.e. daily changes in the cave’s atmospheric conditions) of Wind Cave is driven by the wind. Few caves experience the volume of airflow which Wind Cave exhibits. On average, almost 1,000,000 cubic feet of air enter or leave the cave per hour when the Walk-In Entrance is open! That’s enough air to completely fill a cave 10 feet wide, 10 feet tall, and almost 2 miles long! Since it takes a long time for a volume of air this large to warm or cool to cave temperature, temperature changes can occur surprisingly deep into the cave on days when the cave is inhaling. The Wind Cave Climate Study of 1984-85 showed that with the Walk-In Entrance open in the winter, temperatures could fluctuate by over 12°F as far into the cave as the Post Office (over 500 feet from the entrance). The entire Half-Mile Tour route is almost always cooler than the 55°F deep cave temperature, mostly due to cold air brought into the cave during the winter. So much for constant temperatures at Wind Cave!”

Tours are led by Park Rangers and if you are claustrophobic you had best stay topside.  Many of the passages are narrow and you need to duck or dodge to avoid formations.  Even the shorter tours include as many as 450 steps up and down.  You descend 200′ below the surface on the tour we took.

I love caves and Wind Cave was quite different from many others we have toured.
                 Wind Cave’s famous calcite boxwork formations.
  Since I like take photographs I lingered at the back of the group to avoid too many bodies in my shots.  This however, did create lots of pictures of John’s back in his Disney “Grumpy” hoodie.