Deadwood, South Dakota

Deadwood, named for the dead trees found in its gulch, is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,380 at the 2000 census. The city includes the Deadwood Historic District, a National Historic Landmark District, whose borders may be the city limits.

Watch your back and play the Deadwood quiz.

Questions

1. What treaty guaranteed the Black Hills for the Lakota American Indians?

2. Who announced that there was gold in those Black Hills?

3. Who was the frontiersman, along with his brother, led a wagon train of commodities to boost Deadwood's business community?

4. What did Al Swearengen control in Deadwood?

5. What was Deadwood's reputation?

6. What happened on September 26, 1879?

7. What was he name of the narrow gauge railroad?

8. What is the name of the Deadwood saloon were Wild Bill Hickock was murdered?

Answers

1. The Treaty of Laramie of 1868 had guaranteed ownership of the Black Hills to the Lakota people.

2. In 1874, Colonel George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Hills and announced the discovery of gold on French Creek near present-day Custer, South Dakota. Custer's announcement triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood, which quickly reached a population of around 5,000.

3. In early 1876, frontiersman Charlie Utter and his brother Steve led a wagon train to Deadwood containing what were deemed to be needed commodities to bolster business, including gamblers and prostitutes, which proved to be a profitable venture.

4. Al Swearengen opened a saloon named the Gem Variety Theater in April 7, 1877. He controlled the opium trade in the town.

5. It became known for its wild and almost lawless reputation, during which time murder was common, and punishment for murders not always fair and impartial.

6. A fire on September 26, 1879, devastated the town, destroying over 300 buildings and consuming everything belonging to many inhabitants. Without the opportunities of rich untapped veins of ore that characterized the town's early days, many of the newly impoverished left town to try their luck elsewhere.

7. A narrow gauge railroad, the Deadwood Central Railroad, was founded by Deadwood resident J.K.P. Miller and his associates in 1888, in order to serve their mining interests in the Black Hills.

8. On August 2, 1876, while playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, in the Black Hills, Dakota Territory, Hickok could not find an empty seat in the corner, where he always sat in order to protect himself against sneak attacks from behind, and instead sat with his back to one door. He was shot in the back of the head with a .45-caliber revolver by Jack McCall.

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