1940′s United States Census available April 2, 2012
Check out this National Archives vidoe about the 1940s U.S. Census. http://1940census.archives.gov/
Rapid City Public Library seeks memories of the 1972 Rapid City Flood
The Rapid City Public Library is seeking personal stories about the 1972 Black Hills Flood for thier Online Community Archives. For more information or to contribute go to http://www.rcgov.org/Library/1972-flood-instructions.html
“Deadwood marking 50 years as National Historic Landmark”
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_7afea40e-a141-11e0-bc63-001cc4c03286.html
Bear Butte placed on national list of 11 most endangered historic places
http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_05632e10-9834-11e0-9856-001cc4c03286.html
Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center
Here are several links to information about the new Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center in Deadwood.
Rapid City Journal: Ribbon Cutting http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/vmix_695a7c56-9862-11e0-a726-001cc4c002e0.html
Rapid City Journal: Center holds 125 years of history http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_c9f69714-98a5-11e0-8942-001cc4c03286.html
Black Hills Pioneer: Open for Research http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_21b03b24-98f4-11e0-994c-001cc4c002e0.html
Historic Photographs of the Black Hills Gold Rush available on the Library of Congress website
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_71019c46-7b75-11e0-a31d-001cc4c002e0.html
These photos by John C.H. Grabill are an important part of Black Hills History come to light at the Library of Congress. Check them out.
Deadwood Named “Best Place to Live”
in American Cowboy Magazine
American Cowboy Magazine and its website, http://www.americancowboy.com/ has named Deadwood one of the “20 Best places to Live in the West” based pm its authentic cowboy culture and charm, respect for history and heritage, recreational, leisure and outdoor activities and a strong sense of community but with a free-spirited rugged independence.
Volunteers Sought by Adams Research and Cultural Center
Now that the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission has won a $21,500 grant to help catalog and preserve the 800,000 photographs, slides and negatives in the Josef and George Fassbender collection, it is seeking volunteers to help with the work. Interested voluteers can contact fassbendercollection@gmail.com or call Rich Carlson at 941-1964.
“Stage robbers, nooses, and missing gold”
Read Steve Miller’s article about the Canyon Springs stage coach robbery of 1878 at the link. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_b595154a-16e4-11e0-9ee0-001cc4c03286.html
Hermosa Arts and History Association Restores Schoolhouse
See article in Rapid City Journal December 15, 2010 or follow link to story online. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_f78547aa-07f7-11e0-a3e4-001cc4c03286.html
Calvin Coolidge Historical Marker in Rapid City Endorsed by Public Works Commitee
See article in Rapid City Journal December 15, 2010 or follow link to story online. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_370f655a-07ed-11e0-90a0-001cc4c03286.html
West River History Conference Loses Another Dear Friend
Thursday December 2nd, 2010, David D. Laudenschlager West River History Conference Past President passed away. David taught history at Central High School for many, many years. Due to his encouragement, many of his students began to participate in the conference by presenting papers and as volunteers. He was instrumental in starting the award for the best student paper and he arranged for Augustana to offer teacher credits for presenting at the conference. He was also a Lutheran Minister and taught Black Hills History through community education programs for in excess of 25 years.
David was born on August 19th, 1946 and resided in Rapid City. He is survived by his wife Janet Laudenschlager of Rapid City; a son Mark Laudenschlager of Sioux Falls; a daughter Mary Baker Parkston; tow grandchildren; and his mother Ardith Laudenschlager of Rapid City.
A memorial to Peace Lutheran Church has been established.
David is remembered as a proud supporter of the West River History Conference and passionate advocate of Black Hills history. He will be missed.
Veteran’s Day and a Couple of Real Joes
I lost two good friends last week, both on Saturday, Oct. 30. Both were named Joe. One was a G.I. Joe and the other a “regular” Joe, but both are heroes in my book.
Joe Sanders, 90, Rapid City, was someone I met several years ago when he, Jack McCulloh and the late Larry Owen created a trio which decided to map the Black Hills portion of the 1874 Custer Expedition with a GPS and record their finds. For about 10 years, the men walked in the steps that Custer’s Seventh Cavalry had taken, according to maps prepared at the time by Col. William Ludlow. They located site after site and Joe got so good at finding what to look for, he could spot a wagon rut from great distances. Joe was a searcher and practical thinker, but he was also a scientist and taught for many years at Douglas High School. He questioned things that other historians had glossed over, such as two incidents where the Indian One Stab, an unwilling guide, deliberately lured the soldiers on a wild goose chase of several miles duration over the prairie.
Joe surmised that since details of this portion of the trek were included in some enlisted mens’ diaries but torn out of those of the officers, including Custer, that the leaders were embarrassed by finding out they had been duped by a wily native. It made sense. Then Joe discovered another similar incident. While taking them deeper into the hills, One Stab again derailed the party from the direction they were taking and the wagon train ended up in the area which is now Custer City. Subsequently, gold was found at that location. Joe asked me to help him put together a paper called “Did the Indians Lead Custer to the Gold?,” which he presented and won an award for at a West River History Conference.
But before that, Joe announced that he would like to share this material of the new mapping. It just so happened that the U.S. Forest Service was planning to take another look at a then-and-now study originally done in 1976, showing changes in the forest from the time of the Illingworth photographs taken on the Custer Expedition, to that point 100 years later. This was published in a book titled “Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine.” This again-updated version needed a photographer to also take before and after photos and Paul Horsted was selected to do the work. Joe cheerfully handed over his detailed research materials for the new book and Ernie Grafe was enlisted to write the text. I was hired to research and verify the actual newspaper reports from the time. At some point, Joe and Ernie could not agree on where some of the wagon ruts should have been and Joe retreated from the project, which later became the popular book, “Exploring With Custer,” by Horsted and Grafe.
As Joe and I got to know each other better, he would share other stories, but he was a private man, although not without a gentle sense of humor. The story I urged him to write that has now gone with him were his days as a 21-year-old infantryman during the D-Day Landing on June 6, 1944. Joe was with the fabled First Infantry – “the Big Red One” – so-named from the red numeral one on their shoulder patches.
“Weren’t you scared, Joe?” I asked. “Well,” he said softly, “I felt a lot safer in the water than on that landing ship with shells landing everywhere.” He recounted how the men were required to wade ashore in chest-deep water with their packs and rifles over their heads. Some shorter men became top-heavy and turned upside-down in the too-deep water. Joe carried a rifle for a comrade who didn’t make it. He recalled seeing a steeple blown off a church by American firepower at sea and finally getting even with the French who often cheated the soldiers with spoiled eggs and chickens they would trade for cigarettes. Joe didn’t say what additives the men put in the smokes. Just a few years ago, he finally received his long-overdue medal from Sen. Tim Johnson’s office for his part in the invasion and he made the trip to France for the reunion of D-Day participants, though I don’t recall the year. He was my favorite “G.I. Joe.”
Joe Dromey died the same day at age 95 in Pierre. I don’t recall whether or not Joe served in the military and I am thinking that age-wise, he was probably between wars, but he was about as loyal and trustworthy as any American I ever knew. Joe was a cowboy.
He ranched in an area around Blunt and worked with his Indian neighbors herding and branding cattle in a place he called “the pocket.” Never married, Joe became a sort of caretaker for the town. He renovated an old building in Blunt as a youth center, which he ran and he bought and moved the old country school building into town, setting it up on a lot next to his home. Then he filled it with old school desks, books and other historical items and invited school children to visit, volunteering to share some of the local history with them. He was interested also and instrumental in helping to preserve and keep open the Mentor Graham home in Blunt, Mentor Graham having been the schoolteacher of Abraham Lincoln. Joe thought a sense of place and knowing one’s heritage was important. He researched his family history in Ireland and hoped to write about it one day.
Joe came into my life at a history conference in Madison about 25 years ago. He presented papers on regional history back then and continued to present them at the West River History Conference in Keystone and Rapid City nearly every year though 2008, when he was 93 and was awarded the Zoom Zoom award for being a hustler for South Dakota history. A natural story-teller, Joe regaled his audiences with true stories of ranching, prairie fires, saloons and so many more topics – when his throat cancer caused his voice to fail, Joe took a drink of water, waited a little, and continued on. He was diabetic, too and shortly before the 2008 conference, had a heart attack, but Joe convinced his doctor that he could make it to the conference under the watchful eye of his nephew, Rod Burley, whom Joe raised as a son.
Joe did write a couple of books about some of the stories he remembered and included some of his cowboy poetry, and over the last year or so when I would visit with him by phone or letter, he would tell me about the recovering alcoholic in his building he was trying to help. Joe never put himself first and did not regret it. The phrase, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant,” pretty much sums up my feelings for Joe. And, … he cooked up a heck-of-a- meatloaf.
Goodbye, dear friends.
by Bev Pechan
Hill City Prevailer
Used by permission
