Badlands Residency Day 35
Finally, I feel like I accomplished some things today! It's not that I haven't done anything this trip, but I've been really frustrated by both the weather and the lack of response from people I query for information on the south unit. My main purpose in this residency, aside from working with the youth camp, was to focus on learning and exploring the south unit more. Well, yesterday someone I contacted actually got back to me, she's the curator for the collections at Oglala Lakota College. She said they have a lot of information I may be interested in, so today I drove down to meet her and begin to go through what they have. It was wonderful. As I expected, there really wasn't much of anything in books, but she was able to give me access to a 45 minute interview with an important Lakota man who was the director of OSPRA (Oglala Lakota Parks and Rec Admin) - the agency that co-manages the south unit with the NPS. She had been told the the interview contains good information on the south unit. Haven't watched it yet, but I'm excited! Also, a few years ago someone from Ellsworth AFB donated a computer to the college library that contains a plethora of documents all pertaining to the bombing range. I was able to take home a copy of the forty-one documents, and I can't wait to pour over them.
While I was at the college, the librarian was more than helpful, introducing me to all kinds of people in an attempt to find more potential sources of information. After a tour of the science building by one of the instructors and some conversations with others, I walked away with a handful of names to attempt to contact. One of them is an acquaintance of an acquaintance whose family were original land-holders in the south unit. They were amongst those displaced by the bombing range and then the park. I don't have contact information for him, but I was told to go drop by his workplace. I tried on the way home, but failed to find the right building. It's an hour drive from where I'm living, but I'm going to try to get back down there or find a phone number for the place. After today, I feel like I have a good handle on the modern history of the south unit - now I'm hoping to get some of the older stories, too.
I got home around dinner time. Katie's birthday was this week, and she had asked me multiple times to come meet up with her and her family for her big celebration tonight in Deadwood. A bunch of them were going to a music concert and they had a block of rooms so it wouldn't cost anything to come out (someone knows someone and I think the rooms were complimentary). I didn't go to the concert, but met up with Katie's aunt and uncle and we hung out for an hour or so before everyone else was available. We all met up at Saloon #10, a restaurant/bar in old downtown. The place seems very old and has great features. They had the chair Wild Bill was shot in, as well as his last hand of cards, though from what I understand this is not the actual location where Wild Bill was done in. They had a live band, and we had a huge group of people. I already knew a few of Katie's uncles and her sister, and got to meet aunts and cousins and their spouses. It was such a good time, lots of dancing and laughing. Definitely something I needed after having worked myself into feeling stressed over this south unit stuff. Having seen only a little of Deadwood, at night and via trolley, I would like to come back sometime and see it by daylight.
While I was at the college, the librarian was more than helpful, introducing me to all kinds of people in an attempt to find more potential sources of information. After a tour of the science building by one of the instructors and some conversations with others, I walked away with a handful of names to attempt to contact. One of them is an acquaintance of an acquaintance whose family were original land-holders in the south unit. They were amongst those displaced by the bombing range and then the park. I don't have contact information for him, but I was told to go drop by his workplace. I tried on the way home, but failed to find the right building. It's an hour drive from where I'm living, but I'm going to try to get back down there or find a phone number for the place. After today, I feel like I have a good handle on the modern history of the south unit - now I'm hoping to get some of the older stories, too.
I got home around dinner time. Katie's birthday was this week, and she had asked me multiple times to come meet up with her and her family for her big celebration tonight in Deadwood. A bunch of them were going to a music concert and they had a block of rooms so it wouldn't cost anything to come out (someone knows someone and I think the rooms were complimentary). I didn't go to the concert, but met up with Katie's aunt and uncle and we hung out for an hour or so before everyone else was available. We all met up at Saloon #10, a restaurant/bar in old downtown. The place seems very old and has great features. They had the chair Wild Bill was shot in, as well as his last hand of cards, though from what I understand this is not the actual location where Wild Bill was done in. They had a live band, and we had a huge group of people. I already knew a few of Katie's uncles and her sister, and got to meet aunts and cousins and their spouses. It was such a good time, lots of dancing and laughing. Definitely something I needed after having worked myself into feeling stressed over this south unit stuff. Having seen only a little of Deadwood, at night and via trolley, I would like to come back sometime and see it by daylight.