Deadwood Forum: deadwood is DEAD

Deadwood is very alive and exists for the same purpose today as it did when it was born. Greed! It was a gold mining settlement - if gold mining wasn't the very definition of greed than what is? Some of the historical sites may not be the exact same as original but what happens there is. Did you think they didn't have gambling in its founding years? That is how Wild Bill was killed in Saloon 10 - while playing poker!! Its an overly cliche old west town meant for fun and tourism and definitely exists for the same reasons today as it did when founded. If you walk the strip and don't look into a guided tour or go to the museums then you'll get casinos and kitschy tourist stuff, however, if you are interested in true historical sites and facts then there are very different activities and establishments to look into if you just do your research - as mountainmamma said - Adams House is a good example. You could've also done the mining tours, etc.

Well said ALB101!

Nickbeech, obviously Deadwood was not what you expected, unfortunately. However, I do agree with Alb and Mountainmama that although there are "touristy" parts to Deadwood, one can avoid them and focus on the historical aspects. The Adams House and Museum is a high quality attraction that really provides great insight on the town's history.

5,000 miles is a long way to travel to see a place that disappoints, so I hope you had an opportunity to visit other towns in the Black Hills, and I hope you found them more to your liking. The area has a wide variety of attractions for all ages.

My first thought at reading the title of your post is that you couldn't have been at the fabulously fun & lively Deadwood Jam last weekend.

I lived in Deadwood for 3 years just prior to gambling being voted in and Homestake downsizing (mid 1980s) and, as mountainmama says, it was a dying town. Many empty store buildings with creeping decay, tourist shops that closed during the winter. Still half a dozen bars though. And, of course the half a downtown block on Main & Lee St. that was a deep dirt pit because the buildings had been destroyed by a fire in 1987--nearly burned the current #10.

Gambling may include greed, but at the same time, the cobblestone street has been restored as have the antique-look street lamps, no empty downtown buildings, much effort to bring in entertainment & activity, especially summer through fall.

None of the group I was with at the Jam did any gambling, so it isn't that I'm a big fan.

Reading your post I do wonder where your expectations came from.

As for the changed location of the #10 from:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8798

"Lots of real places and things in Deadwood are hard to come by, since most of the town was leveled in the great fire of 1879, or the medium fire of 1894, and 1948, and 1951, and 1954 (and whatever was left may have gone up in the great fire of 1987)."

Sorry your trip did not meet your expectations.

I think I would have done a little more research before travelling 5000 miles to be disappointed. Deadwood has so much info on the net that there really isn't any excuse to be disappointed. I ditto what everyone else has said. I always recommend that people take the city tour. There are a lot of interesting facts that you can find out. I bet you would have been suprised by the information you were given.

Hope you at least saw Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, the caves, Bear Country, Crazy Horse, Iron Mt. Rd....etc., etc., etc.........

Although many posters here make good points, I have to agree, at least a little bit, with nickbeech. I'm sorry, but I live in the Black Hills and Deadwood doesn't have much that interests me beyond Mt. Moriah Cemetery and the Adams Museum (and house). And, oh yeah, the local model railroad club has a great model train layout in the basement of one of the buildings on Main Street -- but that's off the radar for most tourists.

As Wyobean points out, the frontier Deadwood has virtually disappeared and what remains is a downtown circa 1905 a some Victorian houses that are well off the beaten path.

This may qualify me as an oldtimer but I remember the Deadwood of the 50s, 60s and 70s when the main industry was vice. (The Homestake Mine was in Lead). To qualify the Deadwood of that era as seedy is overly nice.

Deadwood today pays homage to the old time gold camp, but to me the 70-odd casinos seem plastic. On the other hand, I'd venture that people who spend hours in front of slot machines probably don't care.

As others have noted, there are other things to do in Deadwood besides just gamble however I am biased (I enjoy casinos) so I use Deadwood as a base location for my Black Hills vacations.

Another words, during the day I venture out and drive around to the various locations in or around the Black Hills then return "home" at night and enjoy the casinos.

Maybe next time pick a different location...

It's also good to do a little research before going anywhere, Deadwood is obviously a gaming town and quite famous for it.

I'm also sorry you were disappointed, but lesson learned I suppose.

I was in Deadwood several weeks ago and was not impressed. All we saw were the casinos, and I realize that gambling is an important part of its history. We tried to find a good place to eat--not gourmet, but simple good food--and really could not find anything. We had a quick lunch at a small establishment in a casino. We spent about an hour in the area--checked out the cemetery and the Adams House--and we decided to head up to Tatanka, about a mile north of Deadwood--Kevin Coster's museum. That was our most enjoyable part of our visit to Deadwood. I'm not into gambling, do appreciate the history of the area, but we loved the Black Hills and found so many other places that we enjoyed. I guess if someone was into gambling, Deadwood would be the place to go.

Funny, I was going to start a post of same title based on experience last Thursday night (9/30/10). Not dead in the sense of nothing there (everything we wanted was there) but there were no tourists. Every place we went in to was almost empty. Really nice for choice of slot machine to play, ease of getting in for dinner and lack of smoke in the air but sort of strange feeling too. 10pm walking up main street...alone, nobody in sight.

Economy? Wrong season of year? Wrong night of the week? I don't know but it was weird. On top of this Iron Horse Inn was charging almost double what we paid there the last time we visited.... and for a smaller room too. If business is that slow they ought to be adjusting the room rates - all the hotels. At least in between ski and summer seasons anyway.