“Converging Black Hills Gold Trails”

during the days of the gold rush (1876-1886), through this gap, formed by bear butte creek, three major trails converged: The Bismarck-Deadwood passenger and express, the Ft. Pierre- Deadwood and Sidney, Nebraska-Deadwood.

These trails headed northwest to Crook City a mile south of the present town of Whitewood and over to Deadwood. Later, enterprising local people built a toll road up Bear Butte and Boulder Creeks to Deadwood, cutting the long route by many miles.

With the coming of the railroads in 1886 these trails began phasing out as freight and passenger lines. However, many segments of the roads were used by individual pioneers and homesteaders. In fact, Interstate 90 just above us was built from Rapid City to Whitewood on virtually the same roadbed as the pioneer gold trails.

As you stand here today you can hear the echoes of slow grinding ox teams carrying heavy mining equipment, the faster horse, and the mule outfits pulling lighter loads? Perhaps you can hear the unified hoof-beats of the nearby Ft. Meade Cavalry - - and the ‘Forward-Ho’ command and execution.

This was the opening of the Black Hills of today.

Meade County, Hwy 34 milepost 34.2