Deadwood is one of the few places where the entire town is a National Historic Landmark and where Wild West activities are still reenacted.
Someone told us to visit this place on our vacation. So, we acted on that suggestion today.
When I heard this town preserved the atmosphere of the mid-to-late 1800s, I imagined a “Gunsmoke” town with clapboard buildings lining both sides of the street. I discovered that Deadwood is hardly that. But it still went to great lengths to preserve the history of the “Wild West.” Here’s a picture I took of Historic Downtown Deadwood as Kim and I crossed the street.
We arrived at lunchtime, so we ate at the restaurant in the picture below, which has “Stockade” on top. I took this picture as tourists were being driven down the street in a stagecoach.
One of the big events this town is known for is that Wild Bill Hickok served as sheriff for a very short time. In the same year he became sheriff, he was shot in the back and murdered. You can see the wooden plaque in the picture below that marks the saloon where Wild Bill was killed.
The story is told that a 24 year-old named Jack McCall was playing poker with Wild Bill the day before the murder. Jack repeatedly lost. Wild Bill gave him some money for breakfast and encouraged him not to play any more poker until he covered his losses. The next day, Jack, feeling shamed for being the object of charity, came into the saloon while Wild Bill was playing poker. Jack shot him in the back of the head and then took off. However, the saddle on his horse was not tight enough and he fell off a short distance down the road and was captured. He was eventually tried and hanged and buried in a marked grave. Wild Bill was buried in a cemetery that overlooks the city – a location Kim and I visited. 
Who was Wild Bill Hickok? According to a brochure we received at the cemetery where he is buried:
“James Butler Hickok was already widely known as Wild Bill – a famous lawman, scout, gunfighter, and actor – when he came to Deadwood in 1876. While pursuing his true passion – gambling – Hickok was murdered at Nuttall & Mann’s Saloon #10 on August 2, 1876, by Jack McCall, a drifter.”
Another Wild West personality that once lived here and is buried here is Calamity Jane (a lady who was orphaned as a 12-year-old). The same brochure mentioned above said this about her:
“Martha Canary was better recognized as Calamity Jane, a rugged individual known for her boisterous lifestyle and varied occupations including cook, laundress, prostitute, bullwhacker and a storyteller in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Calamity Jane came to Deadwood in 1876, and acquired a reputation as a notorious alcoholic. On August 1, 103, she died in the mining camp of Terry. Her dying wish … was to be buried next to Wild Bill Hickok, fueling legends of their presumed love for each other. While Canary appears to have had some affection for Hickok, the feeling was apparently not reciprocated.”
After spending time in the town, Kim and I made our way to the cemetery high above Deadwood.
About 100 yards past the cemetery entrance, we came to the resting place of Wild Bill Hickok.
Oh, yeah, remember Calamity Jane’s dying request? It was honored. She was buried next to Hickok.
It cost $2 to enter the cemetery. The man at the Visitor Center who sold us the tickets also told us of Seth Bullock. Seth was a “Rough Rider” and very good friend of President Teddy Roosevelt. Since I’m a fan of Roosevelt and knew of his trips to the Dakotas to get away from the stresses he faced in the East, I wanted to get a picture of the gravesite of his friend.
We were told that Bullock had a location at the very top of the cemetery. What I didn’t realize was he was buried a tenth of a mile high above the cemetery. To get there, I had to walk up a steep gravel road that was 251 feet above the parking lot.
Here is the tombstone of Teddy Roosevelt’s friend above Deadwood in Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
His gravesite literally looked down on the whole city of Deadwood.
While I was making my way up to get a picture of Bullock’s tombstone, Kim had ventured into another part of the cemetery to get some more pictures. One of them was the resting place of a preacher by the name of Weston Smith. The brochure we received at the cemetery said this of him:
“Methodist Minister Henry Weston Smith arrived in Deadwood in May 1876 and is credited for being the first Christian minister in the Black Hills. During the week, Smith worked odd jobs, but on Sundays, he preached in the mining camps. On Sunday, August 20, 1876, Smith was murdered while in route to the Crook City mining camp, nine miles away.”
We eventually left and began the hour and twenty minute trek back to our Airbnb. We drove through some rain, and some very serious downpours. But nothing prepared us for the weather event we would experience when we got back to our Airbnb (a guest suite at a home that feels more like a compound – there are RVs on site).
Matt’s Musings 