Wednesday, September 27, 2017

We waited for today to do our loop drive west of Sundance to Devil's Tower, northwest of here.  It is the first National Monument established in the country in 1906 by President Teddy Roosevelt.  The 'tower' was formed by magma which cooled underground and was later exposed after millions of years of erosion, brought on by the Belle Fourche River and the weather.  We hiked the 1.3 mile circumference, which was all a paved trail.  We can hardly call that hiking!

The tower is over 600 feet high and the columns are 10 to 20 feet wide. We actually, saw some people repelling the tower. 

This is an antique shop in the small town of Hulett.  It's customary to pile racks of deer antlers on the outside of the buildings. 

A geo-cache brought us to this coal mining 'tipple'.  The coal is extracted from the mine above, pulled by mule and cart or wagon to the entrance of the mine, and it was sorted at the top and rolled down the chute to waiting railroad cars.  It was transported to Lead and Deadwood, SD to the gold smelters there.  It is believed to be the last wooden such structure remaining in the west.  This coal mine was in operation from 1898 and closed in 1940.  The miners were mostly Europeans looking for a better life. 

This is one of many buffalo jumps that are found throughout the western part of the country and into Canada.  It was closed, so we didn't get to see the actual remains area.  The Indians would round up the buffalo and run them off the deep end of the cliff, where they were killed and butchered for their meat and hides.  It was stated previously in a museum, that the women were the ones that removed the hides, which was very hard labor.  This particular jump was used from 1500 to 1800 A.D.

A geo-cache brought us here, also.  We actually, saw it move with the wind.  It is a small plane and it's a weather vane! 

                                              Can everyone ride a horse without a bridle? 

We stopped at the Visitor Center (for another geo-cache) and get some information on our next stop.  I saw this display, and just had to end our wonderful stay with this.  If you can read the headline on the photo, it's "Westward Ho".  So far, it has been Happy Trails, though!  We loved Sundance and the history of it all.  Tomorrow we move to Guernsey State Park.  We've had a hard time finding a suitable campground in the area we want to stay next, so we settled for this one.  We do like the state parks out this way, so I'm sure it will be fine.