Bismuth, South Dakota | |
|---|---|
Ghost town | |
  Bismuth Location of Bismuth in South Dakota. | |
| Coordinates: 43°51′00″N103°23′53″W / 43.8499883°N 103.3979684°W [1] | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  South Dakota |
| County | Custer |
| Elevation | 4,472 ft (1,363 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-7 (MST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-6 (MDT) |
Bismuth is a ghost town in the Black Hills of Custer County, South Dakota, United States. [2]
The region surrounding Bismuth was a hunting ground and sacred territory of the Western Sioux, as well as the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho. [3]
The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie guaranteed Black Hills land rights to the Sioux and Arapaho. However, a military expedition led by George Custer found gold in 1874, causing the Black Hills Gold Rush. Native groups resisted the thousands of white settlers that came to the area over the next year; the conflicts culminated in the Black Hills War in 1876. Despite Native American victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also referred to as Custer's Last Stand, the Black Hills War resulted in the Sioux relinquishing their rights to the Black Hills to the United States government in 1877. [3]
The 1874 gold rush and subsequent land seizure gave rise to a series of boomtowns, mines, and other settlements in the region, including Bismuth. The most notable example of these boomtowns is the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, which was the largest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before it closed in 2002. [3]
Bismuth existed circa 1901 as a small community of half a dozen homes. It once included a store and a baseball team. As of 1974, an old house remained of the town, but it's unknown if any structures are still standing. [2] The site is now part of a wildlife preserve and a manmade lake. [4]
The name Bismuth refers to the metal bismuth, the 83rd element of the periodic table. It occurs naturally in the Earth's crust and is mined for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and industrial purposes. It's unclear why this is the town name. Bismuth is mined in the United States; however, South Dakota has no documented bismuth mining claims, past or present. [5]
Bismuth is located in the Black Hills National Forest, on the eastern edge of the Black Elk Wilderness. It was on the modern day site of Lakota Lake, Custer County. Bismuth is approximately 1.5 miles northwest of the ghost town of Spokane and five miles southeast of Mount Rushmore. [2]
Like much of the Black Hills, Bismuth has a mixture of species commonly found in the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, northern boreal forests, and eastern deciduous forests. Ponderosa pines are the most common tree, but spruce, aspen, birch and oak also grow in the region. There are large white-tailed deer and mule deer populations as well as a smaller elk population. Mountain lion sightings are rare, but coyote sightings are frequent. Native bird species include mountain bluebirds, western tanagers, goshawks, and ospreys. Bald eagles occasionally visit in the winter. [6]
Little remains of Bismuth today.
The area where Bismuth stood is now part of the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, named for South Dakota conservationist and politician Peter Norbeck. It was established by the Norbeck Organic Act of June 5, 1920. The preserve encompasses the Black Elk Wilderness, named after Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota holy man. Mount Rushmore, a mountain sculpture depicting four American presidents, and Black Elk Peak, the highest point in South Dakota and the highest point in the United States east of the Rockies, are also located within the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. [7]
Lakota Lake provides rainbow trout fishing and permits non-motorized boating. There is also a picnic area and access to the system of Iron Creek Trails. [4]
South Dakota is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota Sioux Native American tribe, which comprises a large portion of the population with nine reservations currently in the state and has historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the 17th largest by area, but the 5th least populous, and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. They are the 39th and 40th states admitted to the union; President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the statehood papers before signing them so that no one could tell which became a state first. Pierre is the state capital, and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 192,200, is South Dakota's most populous city.
The Lakota are a Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux, they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western Dakota (Wičhíyena). Their current lands are in North and South Dakota. They speak Lakȟótiyapi—the Lakota language, the westernmost of three closely related languages that belong to the Siouan language family.
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples. Collectively, they are the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, or "Seven Council Fires". The term "Sioux", an exonym from a French transcription ("Nadouessioux") of the Ojibwe term "Nadowessi", can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or to any of the nation's many language dialects.
Pennington County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 109,222, making it the second-most populous county in South Dakota. Its county seat is Rapid City. The county was created in 1875, and was organized in 1877. It is named for John L. Pennington, fifth Governor of Dakota Territory, who held office in 1875 when the county was formed.
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota, United States. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the sculpture, called Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. The sculpture features the 60-foot-tall (18 m) heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation, respectively. Mount Rushmore attracts more than two million visitors annually to the memorial park which covers 1,278 acres. The mountain's elevation is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.
Black Elk Peak is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the Midwestern United States. It lies in the Black Elk Wilderness area, in southern Pennington County, in the Black Hills National Forest. The peak lies 3.7 mi (6.0 km) west-southwest of Mount Rushmore. At 7,244 feet (2,208 m), it is the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Though part of the North American Cordillera, it is generally considered to be geologically separate from the Rocky Mountains.
The Sioux Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and various subgroups of the Sioux people which occurred in the later half of the 19th century. The earliest conflict came in 1854 when a fight broke out at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, when Sioux warriors killed 31 American soldiers in the Grattan Massacre, and the final came in 1890 during the Ghost Dance War.
Peter Norbeck was an American politician from South Dakota. After serving two terms as the ninth Governor of South Dakota, Norbeck was elected to three consecutive terms as a United States Senator. Norbeck was the first native-born Governor of South Dakota to serve in office, and the first native-born U.S. Senator from South Dakota.. He is best remembered as "Mount Rushmore's great political patron", for promoting the construction of the giant sculpture at Mount Rushmore and securing federal funding for it.
The Black Elk Wilderness is located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The wilderness was designated by an act of Congress in 1980. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service, Black Elk Wilderness is part of Black Hills National Forest. This 13,426 acre (54 km2) region is considered sacred to Native Americans, especially the Sioux and is named after Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux holy man. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is immediately to the north and much of the rest of the wilderness is bordered by other protected land under the jurisdiction of state and federal agencies.
Custer State Park is a South Dakota State Park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills, United States. The park is South Dakota's largest and first state park, named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The park covers an area of over 71,000 acres (287 km2) of varied terrain including rolling prairie grasslands and rugged mountains.
Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km2) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are located in Custer, South Dakota. There are local ranger district offices in Custer, Rapid City, and Spearfish in South Dakota, and in Sundance, Wyoming.
U.S. Highway 16A (US 16A) is a 36.971-mile-long (59.499 km) scenic United States Numbered Highway. It is an alternate route for US 16. It splits from US 16 in the Black Hills of the southwestern part of the U.S. state of South Dakota. The highway's western terminus is an intersection with US 16, US 385, and South Dakota Highway 89 (SD 89) in Custer. The eastern terminus is at an interchange with US 16 called Keystone Wye south of Rapid City. Portions of US 16A are known as the Iron Mountain Road, named after the peak it summits.
Jonah LeRoy "Doane" Robinson was an American historian who was the state historian of South Dakota. He is known for conceiving of the idea for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills, which he believed would stimulate tourism to the area.
South Dakota is a state located in the north-central United States. It is usually considered to be in the Midwestern region of the country. The state can generally be divided into three geographic regions: eastern South Dakota, western South Dakota, and the Black Hills. Eastern South Dakota is lower in elevation and higher in precipitation than the western part of the state, and the Black Hills are a low, isolated mountain group in the southwestern corner of the state. Smaller sub-regions in the state include the Coteau des Prairies, Missouri Coteau, James River Valley, and the Dissected Till Plains. Geologic formations in South Dakota range in age from two billion-year-old Precambrian granite in the Black Hills to glacial till deposited over the last few million years. South Dakota is the 17th-largest state in the country.
The Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway is a National Scenic Byway in the Black Hills National Forest in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of South Dakota. It is a loop which is composed of portions of U.S. Route 16A (US 16A), South Dakota Highway 244 (SD 244), SD 87, and SD 89. Parts of the byway enter Black Hills National Forest, Custer State Park, and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial; the byway also travels within five miles of the Crazy Horse Memorial. The byway is named after Peter Norbeck, who served as governor of and senator for South Dakota.
The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to 7,244 feet (2,208 m), is the range's highest summit. The Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest. The name of the hills in Lakota is Pahá Sápa. The Black Hills are considered a holy site. The hills are so called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they are covered in evergreen trees.
Dewey is an unincorporated community near the southwest corner of Custer County, South Dakota, United States, less than one mile from the Wyoming border in a prairie region of the Black Hills. There are approximately five or six homes in town. Dewey has a volunteer fire department in the Edgemont city district.
A Fireworks Celebration at Mount Rushmore held on July 3, 2020, was the first and only use of fireworks at Mount Rushmore since 2008. President Donald Trump spoke at the event, which was also attended by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, host of Entertainment Tonight Mary Hart, First Lady Melania Trump and Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr.
Lakota Lake is a small lake in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve of Custer County, South Dakota.
The Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion is a historic event venue on the south side of U.S. Highway 16 northeast of Rockerville, South Dakota. Built in 1934, it hosted the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant, a Lakota tourist performance created by Black Elk in 1927. The pageant ran every summer until its discontinuation in 1957. A major attraction in the 1930s, its purpose was to not only profit off of tourism to the nearby Black Hills and Mount Rushmore but also—according to Black Elk—to represent Lakota traditions in a respectful, authentic way. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 as a venue of enduring cultural and religious significance, and for its association with Black Elk.
Municipalities and communities of Custer County, South Dakota, United States | ||
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| Towns | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
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