The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-08-31
THE BLACK HILLS

to say right in the beginning that we
enjoyed every minute of our outing.
1t was our first trip to the play
grounds of South Dakota.
We left Wood about seven o'clock
Saturday morning, August Is, and
drove to Rapid City, the gateway to
the wonderful scenery to be found in
the Black Hills. We arrived there
at about 80 the same day. The oc-
casion Of our trip was to attend the
summer meeting Of the South Dakota
Press Association, who were guests
of the Black Hills Press Association.
and the Black Hills people certainly
showed the newspaper editors OF the
state a mighty good time.
Monday the editorial party boarded
special train at Rapid City for a
trip through Rapid Canyon on the
Couch line or the Canyon route. This
road is but thirty four miles in length.
and it is wonderfully scenic line.
1t is a trip that no one visiting the
Hills should miss. We left Rapid
about eleven o'clock a. m, and had
a wonderful chicken dinner under the
shade of the pines at Laola Park, and
after lunch our train went on up to
Mystic, the end of the line, where 1t
connects with the Burlington railroad
A heavy freight train preceded US
down the canyon to Rapid, and un-
fortunately this train was badly
wrecked, and as a result our special
train was delayed and we did not
reach Rapid until about four o'clock
the next morning. However, the par
ty took this delay and inconvenience
in good spirit and had a good time
in the canyon, even though we had to-
miss a mighty good fish fry in the
tourist park, that was billed for five
O'Clock p. m. Monday evening, so the
first day of the outing was disap
pointment to the people Of Rapid City
to the railroad people, and the least
disappointed were the editors, for
they enjoyed the little inconvenience
and had real good get-together
meeting. 1t was raining when we got
out of the special at Rapid early
Tuesday morning. Everybody went
to bed and got few hours sleep and
was up bright and early to begin the
next days trip, which was to take us
to Belle Fourche, Newell, and other
points in the irrigated district, but
the rain Of the night before, which
measured $40 inches at Belle Fourche
made it necessary to cancel the pro
gram for that day, and We spent the
day at Rapid, visiting the School of
Mines, where w visited the Museum
and listened TO most interesting lee
ture on the Black Hills by Dr.
o 'Harra, who is perhaps the best
posted man in the country on the
geology of the Hills, and we learned
lot about the hills and the geologi-
cal formations to be found there.
Wednesday morning we boarded
the train for Deadwood, and there
were taken to Roosevelt Mountain
where we got good view of the
surrounding country, and also saw
the Roosevelt monument, then we were
taken to Spearfish by auto where a
fish fry prepared by the good people
Of Spearfish was awaiting us, and it
certainly was a well prepared dinner
and was thoroughly enjoyed by the
entire party. Spearfish has one OF
the best tourist parks that we have
seen in NAV cay and there was Il
large number of tourists camped in
the park at the time we were there.
They expect to double the size OF
their tourist park next year, as it is
filled to capacity during the heavy
tourist season, and more rOoEi is
needed to take care of the increasing
traffic. 1t is an ideal place to camp
and its fame as camp ground Is
known far End wide among tourists
visiting the hills At Spearflsn we
visited the State Normal schoCI and
also the Fish Hatchery. We returned
to Deadwood for the night and those
of the party who enjoyed dancing at,
tended dances at both Deadwood and
Lead, that were given by the people
of these two famous Hill towns. The
next morning the entire party boarded
trains for Lead, where practically
every member of the party visited
the famous Homestake mine, and the
greater majority of the party entered
the mine and were taken through the
mine at the S00-foot level and shown