Alaska 2019-02

We walked over the nearby D.C. Booth Historic national Fish Hatchery adjacent to our camping site.  This hatchery was started in 1896 and was instrumental in bringing trout to the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming.  This is the trough running from the original hatchery building in the background to the outfeed ponds and eventually, the river.

We climbed to the top of the nearby hill to see the original ponds and grounds (all of which are dilapidated) and caught this view of the current setup.

This is the Booth House, constructed in 1905 it was the living quarters for the hatchery superintendents and their families until 1983.

Spring Stocking, a bronze sculpture by local artist Jim Maher, of nearby Belle Fourche was completed in 2002 to honor the work and dedication of early hatchery workers and their important contributions to fisheries resources and American culture.

Generation Sculpture is another bronze sculpture by Jim Maher, completed in 1996 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the hatchery.

One of the rail cars was recreated from original drawings, it was used to transport fish across the country.  There was a crew of five who lived and worked inside of the car, delivering fish for broodstock supplies and stocking in lakes and streams.  This car would travel from South Dakota to the east coast, to Yellowstone and to the west coast, transferring fish from location to location.  The crew consisted of a manager, a cook and three techs to keep the fish alive (they lost about 1% in transit, a very good number for the era).

This boat was used to collect trout eggs on Yellowstone Lake to be brought back to the hatcheries.

There are several brood ponds, complete with an underwater viewing room.

The next morning, Cathy and Jason dropped me off for my run on the George S. Mickelson Trail, starting at an elevation of 6,200 ft, climbing to over 6,400 ft before dropping into Deadwood, a little over 13 miles away.  The weather was beautiful as was the scenery on this trail, crossing the river several times via railroad trestles. The trail follows the historic Deadwood to Edgemont Burlington Northern rail line.  The line passed through the heart of South Dakota’s Black Hills and was abandoned in 1983.  We started near the Englewood trailhead, and passed through the Sugarloaf and Kirk trailheads before arriving in Deadwood.

Jason stood on the podium at the finish. He had a tough day, getting up at 0500!

After resting the reminder of the afternoon, we took at drive in the evening to Spearfish Canyon, stopping for the photo-op at Bridal Veil Falls (there seems to be a Bridal Veil Falls on every scenic highway).  This is where we watched a mountain goat climbing the cliffs beside the waterfall the previous day.

On Monday morning, semi-recovered, we drove into Sturgis and walked the main street.

Jason found a gun he liked but it was too big to fit in the motorhome and the bullets would be very expensive.

After Sturgis, we drove through Deadwood to the staging area of yesterday’s race and had a picnic lunch trailside in complete solitude (I had to use 4WD to get the truck into the start area).  After lunch we drove through Lead, then did some antiqueing in Deadwood before heading back to camp, where Cathy and Jason walked to the park and I drove to the library.

Tomorrow we will head to the Little Big Horn battlefield for two days.