Monday, February 12, 2024

March 5   "The History of Case No  1

the First National Timber Sales"

     Tom Troxel

7pm  Spearfish Senior Center

1306 10th Street

The Public is Welcome

Friday, February 2, 2024

February Monthly meeting




"Frank Thomson, 93 Years of Adventures" 

presented by Paul Higbee

Tuesday February 6, 2024 7pm MST

 held at the Spearfish Senior Center

 1306 Tenth St, Spearfish, South Dakota

THE PUBLIC IS WELCOME                            

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Saturday, August 31, 2019

September 3- Chris Hills, “Forgotten Prospectors of Tinton”


Sept 3, 2019 at 7:30

Chris Hills will present
the "Forgotten Prospectors of Tinton" on Sept 3 at 7:30 for the first presentation of the season for the Spearfish Area Historical Society at the Spearfish Senior Citizens Center.

Public is welcome.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Tom Louks will present "A Visual History of Spearfish/Dakota Territory - 1875 to 1910" on March 5

The Tuesday March 5 presentation will be on "A Visual History of Spearfish/Dakota Territory - 1875 to 1910 Postcards and Stereo Views" by Tom Louks.

This program of the Spearfish Area Historical Society was originally scheduled for Oct 2018 but is now being presented on March 5, 2019 at 7:30pm at the Spearfish Senior Citizens Center. 

Sunday, January 13, 2019

"An Evening with a Wyoming Cowboy" -- Wilbur Newland

Wilbur Newland
 Wilbur Newland presented "An Evening with a Wyoming Cowboy" on Jan 8, 2019 for the Spearfish Area Historical Society at the Spearfish Senior Citizens Center. 

Wilbur Newland shared cowboy stories (such as cowboy bedroll etiquette), and recited cowboy poetry and Shakespeare for 72 people at the event. 

Backdrops included a typical cowboy tent, a rodeo painting, and a rolling screen presentation of beautiful Black Hills and SD prairie photographs. 
Wilbur Newland "An Evening with a Wyoming Cowboy" - Jan 8, 2019 Spearfish Area Historical Society

Monday, December 3, 2018

"Ft. Meade - Dakota Territory" presented by Randy Bender

Randy Bender presented "Ft. Meade - Dakota Territory" through songs, stories and interchanging costumes to approximately 110 people at the Spearfish Senior Citizens Center on Tues Dec 4, 2018.   

Randy's characters were real people who were buried at the Ft. Meade Cemetery (located at the top of the hill south-west of Ft Meade with a great view of Bear Butte).

Besides the great characters portrayed, there were tidbits of information about Ft. Meade soldiers who were also tasked to do carpentry work, care and shoe-ing for horses (a farrier), and just about anything.  Pay was $13.00 a month.  Sturgis was know as "Scoop Town" because it scooped up a soldier's pay. 

In 1901, Ft Meade forbid wine and beer sales at the Fort, so the sales soared in Sturgis.

Ft. Meade was known as the "Peace-keeper Post", making strides at keeping the peace in difficult times.

In 1892, Ft. Meade was instrumental in starting the ritual of standing and removing hats for the playing of the Star Spangled Banner.  Soon, all U.S. Military Institutions were following that ritual.  In 1931, the song was made the U.S. National Anthem.  Randy led the audience to sing a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. 




Randy brought in antiques from the Fort and also a recent find to be placed at the Ft. Meade Museum.  It is a remnant of the U.S. Prigate Constitution ship keel made into a picture frame with a print picture of the ship.

 

Monday, November 26, 2018

"Lewis & Clark Through South Dakota" by Larry Reuppel

Larry Reupple presented "Lewis & Clark through South Dakota" on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2018 to ninety attendees for the Spearfish Area Historical Society at the Spearfish Senior Citizens Center.
Larry Reuppel at the Spearfish Area Historical Society Nov 13, 2018 presenting "Lewis & Clark through South Dakota"

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson became the third President of the United States.   Spain owned the western land mass in North America and in 1801 signed a secret treaty to transfer it to France.  The United States had no port south in the gulf and was eager to gain a port in New Orleans.  Instead of just the gulf area, France offered the entire land mass of 828,000 sq miles for $15 million.  And so in Dec 1803 America bought the Louisiana Purchase for just 3 cents per acre. 

Jefferson commissioned Merriweather Lewis to explore the new territory.  Lewis offered William Clark the chance to team up with him.  The mail was so slow that Clark was within 24 hours of missing out on the job.  Lewis & Clark   They obtained a 55' x 8' keelboat that could be sailed, rowed, and pulled to venture west, starting from Pittsburg down the Ohio River to camp north of St Louis in the winter of 1803-'04.  From there, they hired 44 men to join their "Corps of Discovery".

On May 14, 1804, Clark and the Corps joined Lewis in St. Charles, Missouri and headed upstream on the Missouri River in the keelboat and two smaller boats at a rate of about 15 miles per day. Heat, swarms of insects and strong river currents made the trip arduous at best.

The day before they made it to Dakota Territory, On August 20, 22-year-old Corps member Sergeant Charles Floyd died of an abdominal infection, possibly from appendicitis. He was the only member of the Corps to die on their journey.
Lewis & Clark map (photo of Larry Rueppel's map)

Their journey into Dakota Territory started on August 21, 1804 with a buffalo hunt and Lewis becoming ill of arsenic poisoning.  They ventured to Spirit Mound north of Vermillion and the James River where they met three Yankton Sioux Indian boys.  They Yankton Sioux were peaceful and accepted the Jefferson Peace Medals - a coin stamped with the image of a handshake.  They were warned of the Teton Sioux further north on the Missouri River.

Lewis & Clark logged new animals into their journals in South Dakota such as a "barking squirrel" (prairie dog) and a "prairie wolf" (coyote).

Near the middle (south to north) of South Dakota, they encountered the Teton Sioux, who were not friendly but a large group agreed to met with the Corps.  There were four chiefs and Lewis thought one was the head chief so offered a coat and hat to him.  This very much angered the other chiefs and the Corp barely made it out on the river, with the Teton Sioux yelling and taunting them along the banks for a long while.   

In early October, the first reference to the Black Hills was made in Lewis & Clark journals as the "Black Mountain".   By late October, they met a friendly Indian tribe the Arikara.  And on Oct 24, they made it to what is now the  North Dakota border.

A little less than two years later, on Aug 20, 1806, they arrived on the northern border of South Dakota on the return journey down the Missouri River.   Going north they had averaged 10 miles a day to journey through South Dakota.  On the return trip they made anywhere from 43 to 81 miles per day.   Going up river through South Dakota took 64 days while the return took 15 days.