We’ve Made it to Deadwood!

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

 

Wow!  What an amazing day!  Truly love those mammoths!!  

 

NOTE:  R says I am REQUIRED to identify the cute critter that we posted photos of last night – it’s a black tailed prairie dog, which I’m sure everybody already knew … but R just wanted to make sure!!

 

So, to start!  Up around 5:30 am and down to breakfast about 6:30 am.  Good breakfast buffet, and we were on the road a little after 7 am.  Our first stop was the closest Costco, which happened to be about 6 miles right up the freeway, to fill up with gas.   No line at all, which was great, and we were on our way.  Lots – and I mean LOTS – of traffic heading south as we were going north this morning.  Appears there are many people living to the way north of Denver that travel into the city – or at least to the northern suburbs, because it was very slow going for those heading southbound.  Which might have something to do with our staying to the north of the city, as I must have remembered from last year, when we stayed to the southwest of the city.  Whew!  

Driving from Denver to South Dakota

Made it past Fort Collins, and then things thinned out a bit, and before we knew it, we were in Wyoming!  Not far north of Cheyenne we got off the freeway and started heading northeast, making our way toward South Dakota, as our first stop was Hot Springs, South Dakota, and their Mammoth Site.  

 

We originally visited Hot Springs in 2012, but boy, things have certainly changed a LOT since then!  And while we enjoyed our first visit, the intervening years have really and truly changed the Mammoth Site and made it into a first-class research and investigation center for mammoth studies worldwide!  It’s incredible!  

 

The site was basically privately owned, and in 1974, the owner began excavation of the existing hill to turn it into housing.  However, with the first pass of the bulldozer, huge bones were turned up, and the bulldozing was halted immediately.  Fortunately for history and paleontology, the owner was a really responsible guy, who had a son who had taken some geology classes at Chadron College in Nebraska.  The son contacted his prior professor, who was an expert in mammoths, and came to investigate the site – and ended up staying for years!!  The site owner, Phil Anderson, eventually sold the land at cost to the non-profit organization that was formed by the city of Hot Springs in order to protect and develop the site.

 

It is currently an active paleontological dig site and presents the world's largest concentration of mammoth remains. According to their website: Imagine stepping into an ancient world where 61 mammoths - 58 Columbian and 3 Woolly - once roamed. This National Natural Landmark is not just a museum; it's a journey back in time, offering a glimpse into the Ice Age world.  And, as an active site, there is still much excavation that needs to be done – who knows how many more mammoths will be added to their list?!

 

Got to the Mammoth Site around 12:30 pm.  It was an absolutely beautiful day – somewhere in the low 80’s and sunny, but it really felt lovely and cool – and as we walked toward the building, we were impressed by the boulders and explanatory signage as we “walked backwards” in time to the age of the Mammoths!

 

Saw an explanatory film first, before entering the site itself.  Turns out, the site started as a small natural hot spring (hence the town name…) that was centered around a red sink hole in the ground.  The hot water provided a good environment for plant growth, which sprang up on the edges of the spring, attracting the mammoths.  The difficulty was, however, that the edges sloped down, and when the shale was wet, it became very slippery … and the mammoths would either slip accidentally or deliberately enter the water/spring. However, it was so deep (which the animals didn’t/couldn’t know) and slippery, that once in, they basically couldn’t get out and perished.  

Outside the site.

Lots and lots of bones ...

...everywhere!

Bruce doing what he does best!

Lots of bones and tusks

More mammoth molars

Mammoth complete pelvis

Mammoth molars

Short-faced bear -- HUGE!

Scale of Mammoths (black) vs. modern elephant (gray)

Complete mammoth skeleton...except for the skull!

Mammoth skull with tusks attached

 

When we were there in 2012, we were told that almost all the skeletons were male, but now, it turns out, that all the 61 skeletons were male.  Turns out that mammoths apparently traveled in male-only packs, and I guess either the females weren’t that curious or hungry or in the area!  The tour through the site itself was self-guided, using bar-codes that translated to cell-phone cameras with great signage and dialogue.  It was very, very impressive!

 

Then, as we got almost to the end, and made our way down almost to the site floor, the paleontologist, Bruce, who was excavating, came over to chat with us for a while!  He was terrific!  (Hope R got a photo of him, but not sure that he did!). An older guy, he has been digging there for a few years, every summer … he apparently has a job for life, but he has provided so much material for the sifters (those folks screening the debris in ever finer screens), and the conservators as well as the preparers, that they can’t keep up with him!  Fascinating conversation with a very interesting guy!

 

A very interesting thing about the mammoth bones, though, is that, unlike dinosaur bones, these bones ARE bones, they are not fossilized!  Because of the warmth of the environment, all the minerals from the bones have been depleted, and in order to preserve them, they have to be treated with a preservative, otherwise they are subject to cracking, and disintegrating. 

 

We truly enjoyed our visit to the Mammoth Site and would recommend it highly to anybody interested in archaeology!  You can even sign up to come dig and sift in the summer!!  Just a thought!!

 

From Hot Springs, it was time to head north to Deadwood, where we will be for the next couple of nights.  We first found Deadwood last summer and decided that we wanted to come back.  Lots to see in this area, and the food at the hotel/casino was excellent!  So!  Took the “back way” (non-freeway!) from Hot Springs, which was almost 2 hours … and of course there was some major road construction along the way … UGH!  However, made it about 4:30 pm and were able to get into our room – DoubleTree Cactus Jack’s, room 422 fairly quickly.  Along the way, we first passed the mountain that is being transformed into the Crazy Horse Memorial, as well as a bison!

 

Bison!

Crazy Horse Memorial as seen from highway

City Hall in downtown Deadwood!

Lovely room 422!

Like the louge area!

As we hadn’t had any lunch, we decided to first head to dinner – FLYT, which was (again!) fabulous!  We had a “ditto” meal – wedge salads with bacon, Ranch and gorgonzola, followed by 8 oz. fillets cooked rare, with loaded baked potatoes and Texas toast (even though we’re in South Dakota).  All washed down with an excellent bottle of Josh Sauvignon Blanc … most of which came back upstairs to the room with us!

 

Amazing wedge salad!

As well as great steaks and baked potatoes!

So!  That’s it for today!  Will post and get to bed!  A bit of driving and a bit of sightseeing here in town tomorrow!  So more later!

 

Much love,

m

xxx