Gold
Most people who came to Deadwood and helped build up the city, came there seeking their fortune in gold. When I was going to school as a 4th grader in Oregon I remembered having the opportunity to pan for gold. I only found two flakes that day but I remember it being so much fun! I really wanted my children to have that experience, so off we went to the local gold mine to tour it and afterword to pan for Gold.
The mine that we toured was named Broken Boot Gold Mine. It's name came from the fact that they found a broken boot in the mine... yes people had simple minds back then. The mine itself is not all that large. And from what they told us it was not a big money maker but we did learn a thing or two and the kids had fun exploring the tunnels.
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| Map of the mine. Like I mentioned before it was not a very large mine and it contained more pyrite(fools gold) than gold. |
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| We were required to wear these helmets for safety... however they very cheaply built and would not stay on anyone's head. |
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| Inside the mine. |
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| Back in the day they used candles to light the mine. One or two candles would be used in each large room... just enough to barely see the other person. Then one guy would hold the spike and the other guy would swing a big hammer using only a slight glare as a guide from the other miners thumb nail. My guess is a lot of thumbs were broken. |
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| Baby fared decently well in the mine. He got a little fussy toward the end of the 20 minute tour. |
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| Jace had to hold his hat on the entire time. He seemed to love it still the same. |
Wild Bill Hickok
Deadwood happens to be the town where Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed. Who is Bill you ask? He was a man who had worked in law enforcement as a Marshall for many years. He is also know for his skills as a gunfighter. One night, him and a man by the name of Jack McCall played poker together. Jack ended up losing all his money and Bill teased him by offering him enough money to pay for breakfast. The following day Bill joined a group of poker players. Normally Bill always sat with his back to the wall, but there was no such available seat. Twice he asked for another mans seat and twice he was refused. Jack entered unseen and shot Bill in the head. The bullet killed him immediately exiting his cheek and lodging itself in the arm of another man.
The Saloon where Wild Bill was murdered still exists and a reenactment can be seen every day around noon. We attempted to see this act. However I do believe that the only members of our family that got to see it were the children who were able to wiggle their way through the crowd to the front. Here are a few pictures.
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| Some of the Men who acted out the murder scene. The man on the right was Bill. |
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| The actual chair that Wild Bill was sitting in when he was shot. |
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| The hand that Bill held, now know as the Dead Mans hand. |
The last event we attended while in Deadwood was a shootout in the middle of the street. The shootout was a reenactment of a time when someone was accidentally shot in the head and lived for another 30 plus days with a hole in his head. In the end he got a head ache, went to bed and never woke up. It appeared that he had died from an infection that a bone fragment had caused in his brain. I attempted to film it but this is what I got...
What is not seen in this video is my sneaky husband pouring water down my shirt! Earlier I had squirted him in the face with a bottle of water... he told me he would seek his revenge when I least expected it... well he did.
And that was the end of Deadwood. We had a lot of fun and again would highly recommend visiting this little town. I snapped a few more pictures as we were walking to the car. Here they are.
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