History
1889 - Natural Stone Bridge
Photo By: H. R. Locke & Co.
1907 - Whitewood Creek
Photo By: H. R. Locke & Co.
Smelter and Slag Pile
Near Deadwood, SD
Overview
Learn About Deadwood, SD
The discovery of gold in the southern Black Hills in 1874 set off one of the great gold rushes in America. In 1876, miners moved into the northern Black Hills. That’s where they came across a gulch full of dead trees and a creek full of gold and Deadwood was born.
Practically overnight, the tiny gold camp boomed into a town that played by its own rules that attracted outlaws, gamblers and gunslingers along with the gold seekers. Wild Bill Hickok was one of those men who came looking for fortune. But just a few short weeks after arriving, he was gunned down while holding a poker hand of aces and eights – forever after known as the Dead Man’s Hand.
Infamous Deadwood
The Outlaws of the History
In 1876, Deadwood with its saloon girls, gambling and a whole lot of gun slinging, became the birthplace of the real Wild West. This Black Hills mining town is where Wild Bill’s luck ran out and where men and women like Seth Bullock, Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, Jack McCall, Al Swearengen, Potato Creek Johnny and more carved their legends into the history books. Browse through our history and learn the stories of the men and women that made Deadwood infamously fun.
Practically overnight, the tiny gold camp boomed into a town that played by its own rules that attracted outlaws, gamblers and gunslingers along with the gold seekers. Wild Bill Hickok was one of those men who came looking for fortune. But just a few short weeks after arriving, he was gunned down while holding a poker hand of aces and eights – forever after known as the Dead Man’s Hand.