Historic community renowned for its Gold Rush heritage, preserved 19th-century architecture, gaming district, museums, and notable Old West landmarks.
General Information
How to Get There
From Deadwood Gulch Resort (about 1 mi): Follow US-85 Business and Sherman Street toward downtown, then continue to City Hall at 102 Sherman Street.
Overview
Deadwood is a former Gold Rush boomtown in the Black Hills of South Dakota, founded illegally in the 1870s on land the U.S. had promised to the Lakota in an 1868 treaty. Gold discovered nearby in 1874 touched off the Black Hills Gold Rush, and by the late 1870s the lawless camp had swelled to as many as 25,000 people and drawn Old West figures such as Wild Bill Hickok, who was killed here, and Calamity Jane, both buried in the town's Mount Moriah Cemetery.
The entire town is a National Historic Landmark District for its well-preserved Gold Rush-era architecture, much of it dating to before 1900. Nearby, the Homestake Mine in Lead operated from 1877 until 2002, the longest continuously running gold mine in the country, and is open for tours. In 1989, Deadwood became the first small U.S. town to legalize gambling specifically to fund historic preservation, a move that revived the local economy.
The surrounding Black Hills offer hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking on trails including the George S. Mickelson Trail, rock climbing in nearby Spearfish Canyon, and skiing each winter at Terry Peak and Deer Mountain.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Deadwood, South Dakota", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
