Our Family Trip 2015 : Deadwood!

After we left the Devil's Tower, we headed east into South Dakota.  For supper, we stopped in Deadwood, South Dakota.  We found a place to park our pickup and trailer and then headed for Main Street...

 Deadwood was definitely a "wild" west town.  Mostly bars, saloons, casinos, hotels, theaters, saloons, lounges, casinos and more bars on Main Street.  We were beginning to wonder if we would find a place to eat or not...

Deadwood trolley with a DQ in the background.  Hmmm, maybe a place to grab a burger? :)

While we were walking around, we witnessed a shootout in the middle of the street...

All the kids gathered in the middle of the street to be sworn in as Deadwood Deputies...

Rough crowd...

The drama begins...

The suspense builds...

This was an actual enactment to a shootout that happened there years ago.  

The Boone May/Prescott Webb Altercation - true Deadwood history colorfully comes alive in

front of Silverado-Franklin Hotel

One of the first hold-ups Boone May was involved in was in August, 1877, when a Deadwood Coach was held-up at Robber’s Roost. On this occasion, though May wanted to fight it out, he lay down his arms, as a woman and child were in the coach, and the robbers made away with the passenger’s money, weapons and personal goods. A short time later, he ran into one of the bandits, a man named Prescott Webb, in Deadwood and within no time, gunfire erupted between the pair. Though May was hit in the left wrist, he returned fire as Webb jumped on a horse to flee. May’s shots hit Webb in the shoulder, and the horse several times, bringing it down. Webb was quickly arrested by Sheriff Seth Bullock and later that day, Webb’s companions who had aided in the robbery, were also arrested.

In 1878, "treasure coaches” were running regularly between Deadwood and Cheyenne, carrying strong boxes laden with gold, as well as the U.S. Mail. These gold-rich stages became the often target of bandits and after one of these coaches was held up on July 2, 1878, the U.S. Postal Service appointed a number of special agents to bring the outlaws to justice. Boone May and ten other men were soon appointed as U.S. Deputy Marshals and equipped with good horses and ammunition.  You can read more about it here. *

Webb is down (without his horse)...

After the "show" we found a little outdoor place to eat supper...

And then we headed down the road again.  We found our RV Park near Silver City, South Dakota and got settled in for the night...

The next portion of the trip was planned by Kyla.  Everyone knows there is a lot to do and see in the Black Hills of South Dakota and it's best to have an organized plan so see and do as much as you can!  It was great to turn the whole thing over to my oldest daughter and she did a great job of planning our next 3 days!


*excerpt taken from www.legendsofamerica.com