[Illustration: A camp scene Courtesy of South Dakota Historical Society]
One placard reads in part as follows: “This cabin, the oldest in the Black Hills, was built by the U. S. troops under General Crook in 1875. Visitors to the Black Hills were not welcomed here in those days. The Indians, who then owned the land, did their best to discourage them from coming and removed the scalps of such of them as fell into their hands to mark their disapproval of their presence here. The U. S. Army, when they caught any gold seekers attempting to enter the Hills, burned their wagons and outfits and escorted them to Fort Laramie as prisoners.
[Illustration: What the Black Hills looked like to Custer’s Expedition]
“In spite of all efforts to keep miners from entering the Hills, many, in less than a year from the time that the discovery of gold on French Creek had been made by General Custer’s expedition, had reached Custer city and were busy prospecting the country in all directions.
“Then came General Crook with troops and ordered all the miners who were in the Hills to vacate the country by August 10, 1875. While the troops were here they built this cabin, etc., etc., etc.”
We leave the cabin and saunter over to the gold discovery monument just west of it. This is a beautiful thing of Black Hills rocks and cement, with a bronze plate upon it denoting its significance.
North of Main Street is the huge log community house, probably the largest in the Black Hills. It is a gigantic thing and very impressive. We strike camp at noon and leave town by the west road. We are taking 85 to Minnekahta and U. S. 18 from there on to Edgemont. Possibly this is an ill-advised trip, but we make it nevertheless, hoping to see the petrified forest. In this we are not altogether successful.
We pass the state tuberculosis sanitarium composed of many pure white buildings. The place is very impressive, but we do not stop.
Our next point of interest is the large sawmill beside the road. The huge blower and sawdust pile seen in the picture give us some idea of its size. The main rip saws are in gangs of three cutting boards one and two inches in thickness. Cross cut blades cut boards into the longest possible sizes. The bark and refuse slabs are fed into the fire to make steam to run the plant. We do not see any fine work or finishing here.