Sturgis and Deadwood

Today's history lesson took us to visit two cities. The history of one city dates back to the early 1900's while the other is a much more recent history taking us back to the early 1930's.

We began our journey back in time to the 1930's. The backdrop is Sturgis, South Dakota. Several guys got together who enjoyed riding their Indian Motorcycles and decided to invite people from the surrounding cities to come out one weekend to compete in some drag racing and hill climbing. They had so much fun that every year since then they continued to have these gatherings and well, the event grew. This past August they had close to 600,000 people come out to celebrate riding their motorcycles around town. Today, we walked down Main Street and tried to imagine what the sights and sounds would be like during the rally. The pictures below show what it looked like today while the other shows what it looks like during the rally. (The rally picture was taken off the Internet.)

Today, the streets are quiet with very little traffic. Most stores are closed with signs hanging on them that they will only open next year for the rally. It almost becomes a ghost town.

Not too far down the road, however, is another town who's history dates back to the early 1900's. You may have heard of it and the famous people that once walked these streets.

Deadwood, South Dakota.

The recent HBO series was about the everyday life in this city. Gold prospecting was the big commodity and the law of the land was strapped to your waist securely tucked in your holster. Wild Bill Hickok walked the streets and would often be found in the gambling houses playing poker. Calamity Jane was another character that was notorious in the area. Ahead of her time for being a women that could handle a gun with the best of them. Today, the tomb site of both of these characters sits high up on a mountain overlooking the city that they once roamed. Buried right next to each other as if still sharing stories to one another.

The city is still vibrant with activity as the Main Street is lined with gambling houses and saloons. The cobblestone streets don't echo with the sound of hoofs but of people running across and cars passing by. Having been rebuilt several times because of fires and floods the city still seems to hold the old town charm of yesterday.

The big draw seems to be the slot machines that you can find everywhere. With no shortage of Senior Citizens pulling on the levers for their shot at the jackpot. Tucked away in each gambling hall there seems to be a little piece of history. A brief conversation with the bartender will draw out the history of that building. In this room we have the spot where Wild Bill was shot. In this room we have where the shooter of Wild Bill was captured. This gambling house is owned by Kevin Costner and has behind the scene photos of when he filmed "Dancing with Wolf's" displayed throughout. In this saloon we have the area where the "Ladies" would work over the supervision of their Madam. So much history. The stories are straight out of the wild west movies that we grew up watching.

This area has so much to offer that we extended our stay to make sure that we had an opportunity to see it all and I am sure that we won't see everything.