Stagecoach Station 2851 B
Remains of a stagecoach station on the historic Cheyenne-Deadwood stagecoach route (active 1876 to 1887) in the Black Hills near Custer, South Dakota.
The route here follows a path used by Native Americans for generations. Arikara, Crow and other tribes were here before the 1800s, then the Lakota Sioux after they pushed out the previous tribes and claimed The Hills as their own.
George Custer’s Black Hills Expedition passed here in 1874 when his caravan of nearly a thousand people - soldiers, a handful of scientists, a photographer and several prospectors - became the first white men to explore The Hills.
Custer’s prospectors discovered gold about five miles from this photo. Within 15 years, the discovery set off a gold rush, a stampede of white settlers, The Great Sioux War, and played a big part in ending the traditional West in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana.
I found this stagecoach station while spending an afternoon following the Custer Expedition’s route as described in ‘Exploring with Custer: The 1874 Black Hills Expedition’ by Grafe and Horsted. This incredible book uses GPS to almost exactly trace the Expedition’s route, and it also contains fascinating details from the numerous documents and diaries written by expedition members during their 'grand picnic' exploring The Hills.
Following the route, I was thrilled to see the same spots where photographer William Illingworth took famous photos during the expedition. One of the fascinating things about the photos is that they show there are actually more trees in The Black Hills today in these places than there were in 1874. In fact, the photo locations are today often obscured by trees.
Stagecoach Station 2851 B
Remains of a stagecoach station on the historic Cheyenne-Deadwood stagecoach route (active 1876 to 1887) in the Black Hills near Custer, South Dakota.
The route here follows a path used by Native Americans for generations. Arikara, Crow and other tribes were here before the 1800s, then the Lakota Sioux after they pushed out the previous tribes and claimed The Hills as their own.
George Custer’s Black Hills Expedition passed here in 1874 when his caravan of nearly a thousand people - soldiers, a handful of scientists, a photographer and several prospectors - became the first white men to explore The Hills.
Custer’s prospectors discovered gold about five miles from this photo. Within 15 years, the discovery set off a gold rush, a stampede of white settlers, The Great Sioux War, and played a big part in ending the traditional West in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana.
I found this stagecoach station while spending an afternoon following the Custer Expedition’s route as described in ‘Exploring with Custer: The 1874 Black Hills Expedition’ by Grafe and Horsted. This incredible book uses GPS to almost exactly trace the Expedition’s route, and it also contains fascinating details from the numerous documents and diaries written by expedition members during their 'grand picnic' exploring The Hills.
Following the route, I was thrilled to see the same spots where photographer William Illingworth took famous photos during the expedition. One of the fascinating things about the photos is that they show there are actually more trees in The Black Hills today in these places than there were in 1874. In fact, the photo locations are today often obscured by trees.