The Travels of a Journalist—46 FROM YELLOWSTONE TO BLACK HILLS: AN ENCOUNTER WITH FOUR PRESIDENTS
Posted on December 4th, 2010

By Shelton A. GunaratneƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚©2010 Professor of mass communications emeritus @Minnesota State University Moorhead

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When we left West Yellowstone, Montana, Sunday (7 Dec. 1996), our intention was to explore the southeastern section of Yellowstone from Moran (pop. 414) to Cody (pop. 8,835). In the morning, we drove 127 miles south from West Yellowstone (pop. 1,177) to Jackson (pop 8,647), Wyoming, via U.S. 20 (then SR 32 and SR 33) along the eastern border of Idaho. Jackson is a major gateway for millions of tourists visiting nearby Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the National Elk Refuge.

Our aim was to see at least the northern end of the Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone NPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s immediate neighbor to the south, on this tour.

The Grand Teton NP, established in 1929, covers an area of 484 sq. miles. ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s named after the Grand Teton, the tallest mountain (13,770 ft.) in the Teton Range. As we reached the top of Teton Pass on SR 33, we had an excellent view of the Idaho countryside. We stopped at the Jackson Visitor Center to get information on the Grand Teton NP.

Then, along the Jackson Hole Valley, we headed to the Moose Visitor Center, where we ate our lunch. Our next stop was South Jenny Lake, where we walked to see the lakeshore. Moving northeast, we went to the top of Signal Mountain to get a good view of Jackson Lake and the Teton Range to the west. Our last stop in the Grand Teton NP was the Colter Bay Visitor Center/Moran, the south entry point to the Yellowstone NP.

Back in Yellowstone, we drove past Lewis Lake for a stop at the Grant Village Visitor Center (named after President Ulysses S. Grant, who signed the bill that created the YNP in 1872), where we saw a documentary on the 1988 Yellowstone fires. Then, we stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin for a last look at the geysers. YellowstoneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s geyser basins reminded me of my 1984 near-encounter with Pele, the goddess of fire, at the Halemaumau Crater in Hawaii.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  She was kinder to me on this occasion.

It was past 7 p.m. when we came to the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center from where we saw the Lake Lodge where we ate dinner the previous day (Saturday 6 July).

We left the Grand Loop Road on the north shore of the Yellowstone Lake and followed the Eastern Entrance Road (closed in the winter) to Cody, a stretch of 70 miles that was in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-very poor shapeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in the Sylvan Pass area. Yoke-Sim did all the hazardous driving past Pahaska Tepee and Wapiti all the way to Cody, where we arrived at 8 p.m. and checked into Big Bear Motel. We ate a modest dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Overall, we covered a distance of 333 miles for the day.

Cody is named after William F. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Buffalo BillƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Cody (1846-1917), who received the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor awarded by the U.S. government, in 1872. He was one of the most colorful figures of the American Old West. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center, located near the center of the city, contains five museums in oneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indians Museum, Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Cody Firearms Museum, and Draper Museum of Natural History.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

After spending three nights in the YNP, we were ready to say goodbye to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Old Faithful,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Pele and their associated progeny to re-explore an area along the Wyoming-South Dakota border that all four of us had visited nine years before, in 1987ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚the Black Hills.

On to Black Hills

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Monday (8 July) morning, we left Cody for Rapid City, S.D., 419 miles to the east. On the way, along U.S. 14, we stopped to visit the museum in Greybull (pop. 1,815); crossed the Bighorn Scenic Byway (from Shell to Dayton) through the Bighorn National Forest to view the Shell Canyon and the Granite Pass (8,950 ft.); and stopped to visit the Connor Battlefield (where the 1865 Battle of the Tongue River took place) at Ranchester, Wyoming (132 miles northeast of Cody), almost on the Montana border, before getting on to Interstate 90 to head further east to South Dakota.

On I-90, Junius took over driving from Sheridan to Moorcroft, a stretch of 135 miles.

We reached the rest area in Moorcroft about 5 p.m. Over refreshments, we reminisced how we camped at the KOA campground nine years ago on our visit to DevilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tower on the eastern border of Wyoming on a Saturday (1 Aug. 1987), just 32 miles northeast of where we were.

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Carmel, Junius and I swam in the pool [of the KOA Campground] to refresh ourselves,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ I had written in my diary [1 Aug. 1987]. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-And we walked to Belle Fourche River to look at the red rock at the front of the DevilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tower.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ The two kids could barely remember what we did on that visit. Wikipedia says that the tower, which the Lakota Indians called Mato Tipila (ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Bear LodgeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚) rises 1,267ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ft above the surrounding terrain, and that its summit is 5,112ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ft above sea level. The so-called tower is a volcanic neck (or the core of a volcano exposed from erosion). President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a national monument in 1906. It lies in the northern Black Hills between Hulett (pop. 408) and Sundance (pop. 1,161) in northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. Several fascinating legends explain the origin of DevilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tower:

One story traces the tower to seven little girls who were playing outdoors when they spotted several giant bears heading toward them. The hapless girls climbed up a rock and invoked the help of the Great Spirit, who raised the rock from the ground towards the Heavens to save the girls from the bears, which left deep claw marks when they attempted to climb the steep rock. (Those are the marks that appear today on the sides of Devils Tower.) When the girls reached the sky, the Great Spirit turned them into the Pleiades star constellation.

Another legend centers on a Native American who decided to sleep overnight at the base of Bear Lodge, next to a buffalo head. In the morning, he found that the Great Medicine had transported both himself (the sleeper) and the buffalo head to the top of the rock with no way down. He spent another day and night on the rock with no food or water. After he had prayed all day and then gone to sleep, he awoke to find that the Great Medicine had brought him back down to the ground, but left the buffalo head at the top near the edge.

In 1987, we reached the Black Hills by traveling west on I-94 all the way to Belfield, N.D., just east of the Theodore Roosevelt NP, and then turning south on U.S. 85 to enter South Dakota at Ludlow. From there, we proceeded further south through Buffalo to experience the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Geographical Center of USAƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in Butte County. My diary entry for 1 Aug. 1987 records: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We climbed up the hill to find nothing impressive except the sign that said the center shifted from Kansas in 1959 with the addition of Hawaii and Alaska.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Then, we crossed over to Wyoming on SR 34 to get to DevilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tower, which brought in memories of our (sans CarmelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s) visit to the DevilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Postpile National Monument in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., in 1983.

The next (Sunday) morning, National Park Service ranger David Thomas took us on a one-hour tour to explain the natural phenomena along the Tower Trail, where we saw another prairie dog colony. (Prairie dogs are small woodchucks whose bark resembles that of a dog.) Soon after, we drove on U.S. 14 to reach Sundance, the town associated with horse thief Harry Longabaugh, also known as the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sundance Kid.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ The 1969 motion picture ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ starring Robert Redford (as Longabaugh) made the town well known.

Whereas we couldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t see the Crook County Museum and Art Gallery in 1987 because of Sunday closure, its doors were open to us in 1996.

On the current (1996) trip, we stopped at Spearfish (pop. 8,606), S.D., to eat dinner at Cedar House Family Restaurant. About 9 p.m., we arrived in downtown Rapid City (pop. 59,607), also known as the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚Star of the WestƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Gateway to the Black Hills,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ where we checked in at the Family Inn (3727 Sturgis Road) to spend the night.

We met the Chans and their Canadian travel companions, whom we had missed for two days, at the Family Inn the next (Tuesday 9 July 1996) morning as we left to re-visit the Mount Rushmore National Memorial (MRNM), which we first visited (on 5 Aug. 1987) when Carmel was 3, and Junius was 7.

Re-visiting Mount Rushmore

MRNM is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore, near Keystone, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The sculpture is the work of Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941) and his son Lincoln Borglum (1912-1986). The superlative memorial features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of four former U.S. presidentsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s first non-party president George Washington (1789-1797); third president Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), a Democratic-Republican; 26th president Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), a Republican; and 16th president Abraham Lincoln (1865-1869), a Republican. The entire memorial covers 1,278.45ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ acres (5.17 sq. km) and is 5,725ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ feet (1,745 m) above sea level.

Backed by federal funding, Borglum started work on the memorial in 1927, and completed the job between 1934 and 1939. Borglum selected the presidents on the basis of their role in preserving the republic and expanding its territory. The entire project cost a total of $990,000. More than 2.7 million people visited MRNMƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  in 2006.

We reached Mount Rushmore, only 24 miles southwest of Rapid City, along U.S, 16.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  We took the Skyline Drive to the Dinosaur Park, which the kids enjoyed very much, before visiting the MRNM to introduce Carmel and Junius to the sculpture of the Borglums. There, we joined a rangerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s guided tour from the orientation centre to the sculptorsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ studios.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  On our first visit to MRNM in 1987, we camped overnight in nearby Keystone to see the to see the magnificence of the lighted faces of the four presidents at night.

(Next: Jitters and Joys of Camping in and around Black Hills)

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Figure 1: Tour of the Black Hills 1987 and 1996. A=Geographical Center of USA on US85, SD; B=Devils Tower National Monument, WY; C=Moorcroft, WY; D=Sundance, WY; E=Spearfish, SD; F=Rapid City, SD; G=Mount Rushmore National Memorial/ Keystone, SD; H=Custer State Park; I=Wind Cave National Park; J=Crazy Horse Memorial; K=Deadwood, SD; L=Sturgis, SD; M=Newell, SD (exit to Faith).

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Picture 1: The DevilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tower (2006).(Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Colin Faulkingham).

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Picture 2: Borglum’s sculpture of four presidents at Mount Rushmore. (From left) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

(Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Dean Franklin)

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

 


Copyright © 2024 LankaWeb.com. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Wordpress