We woke up to much nicer weather! Sun out and snow melting. We
headed out in the morning to Rapid City for a look around (and a Starbucks),
then headed to Keystone to see the Big Thunder Gold Mine. Donning our hard hats
and wearing “sensible shoes and jackets” we headed into the side of the hill…
The mine was established in 1882 by two German immigrants trying to intercept
the well-known Lucky Boy gold vein. They mined by hand using hammers and hand turned
drill bits, but by the close of the mine were mere than 200 meters into the
hillside. By 1907 they intercepted the Lucky Boy vein, only to find it had
narrowed out to only a few inches thick and was not profitable. They only mined
about $50 of gold from the vein before they exhausted it. The owners stopped mining
in disappointment, however in 1909 the Columbia mine opened adjacent to Big
Thunder and was averaging up to 10 ounces of gold per ton. The owners started
mining again in the hope of intercepting the Columbia vein. In 1913, they began
seeing signs of the gold bearing vein. The miners had started mining in their mid-30’s
and were now nearly 70 years old. On reaching the vein, they hollowed out a
room 20 feet wide, 35 feet high and 60 feet long. Sadly, the ore they dug from
the room amounted to around $150 in gold (about $3000 in today’s money). The
mines owners hung onto the claim until they both died leaving no heirs, never
giving up hope of striking it rich! Very interesting tour!
Leaving Keystone, we drove south to Hot Springs to visit the
Mammoth Site. Around 26000 years ago a sinkhole formed at the site due to a
collapsing cave. A spring formed at the bottom of the sink hole and attracted
animals to drink. The larger animals often found themselves unable to climb out
due to the slippery sides of the hole and eventually died from drowning and the
bodies sank to the bottom. Over the course of the next 350 to 700 years, the
hole filled with sediments and mammoth remains. The remains in the site are not technically fossils, since they were not mineralized but preserved by the clay and coarse sand that
accumulated within the sinkhole. As of 2012, at least 60 individual
mammoths had been identified. The majority of the mammoth remains have
been identified as those of Columbian
Mammoths, although the
remains of three Woolly mammoths have been found as well.
In 1974, during
excavation for a subdivision, a mammoth tusk was unearthed by the excavator. Recognising
this as an important discovery, the site was preserved and excavated over time.
The excavations continue today. This unique thing about this site is the bones
are preserved in situ, rather than being removed. The dig to date is 22 feet
deep and drilling has estimate there are another 45 feet of bone filled
sediments still below.
Done for the day, we found a nearby RV park and settled in.
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