Matt and Carol's Travels: Knee Deep in South Dakota

Today we made a run before the rain drops to Deadwood for a day outing.

Last year we only drove through the town, there was construction everywhere. It was a little different this year. One of the big hotels downtown is growing bigger, closing one side of the the already small downtown street. To give you an idea how narrow the street is, imagine a one lane road with a traffic signal controlling the two-way traffic... now you're there with us. The signal seemed to take an extremely long time to change. We drove the street to the end, where we turned around due to ... road work.

We drove back to the Visitor's Center to find parking, free of course. It was a good starting point for the day. The Deadwood trolley also leaves from the center. The cost for the trolley is $1.00, unless the rider picks up a Trolley Passport. The passport has tear out pages that can be used when riding the trolley. The tear out pages are some of the attractions the trolley stops at.

First we rode the trolley long enough to find food, then we climbed back on for a round trip ride, only to get off at an unscheduled stop.

Information point: https://www.deadwoodhistory.com/about-us/properties.

This is the Adams House. This home was actually owned by two different families, the Adams' family being the last. The home was built in 1892, Queen Anne-style.

Harris, Anna, and Nathan Franklin, the first owners, arrived in Deadwood in 1877. They were Jewish immigrants from a humble beginning. Harris made his fortune through the wholesale liquor business. He gradually expanded to cattle, gold mining, and banking. They purchased four parcels of land, and commissioned a Jewish architect to design their new home.

Harris Franklin had the home built in 1892. In 1892 the home cost somewhere between eight to ten thousand dollars to build. This home had it all, indoor plumbing, electricity, and telephone. In 1905 he sold it to his son for $1 dollar. When Nathan and his family was ready to move on, they sold the home to Mr. W. E. Adams for less than the house originally cost.

When W.E. Adams died in 1934, his second wife left the area, and the house sat dormant for 50 years, everything intact. The house was used as a bed and breakfast for a while, all the furnishings still in the house. In 1992 the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission bought the house.

This home was full of stained glass, this was the front door. Most of the transom windows are stained glass. We started in the front room to the left of the foyer.

This is one of several spectacular fireplaces throughout the home. The tiles were brought in from manufacturers. Look at these walls.

This wallpaper is special and expensive. The wallpaper is an Egyptian linen canvas that was put up as ONE piece... no room for mistakes. The stencil work was hand done. The ceiling was also Egyptian linen canvas, with stenciling.

Stained glass transom coming up.

This door and transom opens to a sunroom that was originally part of the rap around porch.

From the front room we moved to the turret side of the house, which contained what I called the music room. Usually rooms that were circular were good for music and entertaining.

When they went to restore the border work in this room, they discovered that the border was being held in place because of the shape of the room, nothing else. Epoxy sealant was used during the restoration to ensure it does not fall off.

Mr. Adams loved his Victrola... they found over 80 records in the cabinet of the Victrola. If you are not able to zoom in on the label, this one is entitled "Colonel Lindberg Replies to President Coolidge"; and that's Charles A. Lindberg.

When the home was originally built there was only one bathroom in the house, and that was in the master bedroom. However, there was a little room/area just off the entertainment room that had a sink so guests could freshen up after their long journey. This room also served as the telephone niche.

The pattern on the sink is in 24K gold.

The next room was used as a study when the original families lived in the house. At some point the room was used for something else, because a half bath was added in the closet.

Beautiful fretwork over the entrance to the study.

From the study we moved into the formal dining room.

Again, in this room they used Egyptian linen canvas to cover the walls, and hand made border and ceiling stencils. This room had one other oddity in it.

When Nathan Franklin sold the house, he wanted to take the safe with him, he did not because he didn't want to replace the wall covering after the re-model was complete. Remember, the wall covering was a single piece of linen canvas.

The silverware seen on the table was found in the safe when it was opened; it belonged to the Adams family.

Who remembers eating soft boiled eggs out of the shell? this tool was used to cut off the top of the egg before serving.

Looky here, another stained glass transom window.

Like most multi-level homes, the bedrooms were on the second floor, so here we go.

The first bedroom on the right at the top of the stairs belonged to the Adams' daughters, Helen and Lucille.

Sometime after the home was first built, more bathrooms were added to the house. One of the added bathrooms is just beyond the door seen opening to the sink.

One will notice that the toilet is in a prominent place in the bathroom. Apparently during their era, the rich did this to show their wealth, in the fact that they had indoor plumbing.

In the closet between the bedroom and bathroom, the restoration team exposed a section of the electrical wiring that ran through the house.

Moving from the children's bedroom we moved to the bedroom the W. E. Adams' second wife, Mary used as her bedroom.

Do you believe in orbs? Carol took a picture, and there were orbs in it.

Look just under the points of the light fixture; Carol said that the orbs moved about. I took a photo, and the orbs had moved on.

Mary and William met in an interesting way... on the train. When Mary got on the train and went to her seat, she found it occupied... by William's valet. You see, in that era of the rich, the valet traveled with his boss. Anyway, Mary was mad, but she found another seat. So, as the train left the station, William went back to where Mary was sitting and apologized. They hit it off and talked the entire trip... eventually they married. Their relationship was more of very good friends... this is why she had her own room. FUN FACT: There was an age difference of almost 40 years.

Anyway... we moved on to the master bedroom, which originally contained the only bathroom in the house.

The master bedroom was nothing out of the ordinary, with the exception of a sink in the bedroom.

This sink wasn't quite as fancy as the one downstairs, there is no 24K gold on this sink... no one to impress here. It was the bathroom that stole the show.

When the house was a B&B, the shower head was removed to prevent any possible water damage.

Let's step back in time for a minute. When Mary abandoned the house, it remained forgotten for almost 50 years. You ask... what is the big deal. The big deal began when the gutter system was installed. During the era of this house, the gutter system was run in the walls. After 50 years of no attention, the gutters clogged, the rains came, and the master bedroom was severely damaged.

When someone added bathrooms, they went all out, they added one accessible from the hallway. With the live maid living on the second floor, she needed a bathroom.

Hall bathroom.

Maid's bedroom.

This skinny door led to a porch at one time. The maid used it to abuse dirty rugs during her cleaning evolutions.

These folks spared no expense, and it was obvious in the hallway.

This was fretwork over a doorway leading to the stairs leading to the kitchen.

Down the stairs we went... at a cautious pace, the stairs were steep and short, with a turn towards the bottom. Initially there was only one stove, but when the Adams' moved in, they brought their owns stove.

You may have noticed that the bottom stove is electric... one of the first to be produced in the 1920s.

Things have gotten bigger in the last few generations... look at the waffle iron on the electric stove.

A little bit about W. E. Adams. He was community oriented, and a lot of his money went to enlightening others. He did this by creating the Adams Museum. Carol and I walked the few blocks from the house to the museum.

Anyone walking from the house to the museum can stop and read tidbits of Deadwood history.

For example, the Richard Gordon Memorial Park. In 1890 the town government voted and approved the purchase of land for a park to be accessible for public enjoyment. The park didn't come about for fifteen years. In 1911 a fire destroyed a great many buildings on Sherman Street business district. In 1912 construction began on the park. The town of Deadwood received a 10 inch shell from the U.S.S. Maine, with the intention of it being on public display in the park. The park was completed... no shell on display... apparently it had been forgotten about. In 1977 the park was officially named "Richard Gordon Memorial Park".

Now we jump forward to about 2009/2010, and the shell from the U.S.S. Maine has been rediscovered. In 2012 a U.S.S. Maine memorial is erected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of acquiring the shell.

Continuing our walk, we learn about a gentleman named John Hunter. Hunter was Canadian born, but worked in Minneapolis at various jobs, one being a sawmill. In 1877, John and couple of business partners left Minnesota with a portable sawmill, and headed for Deadwood Gulch, Dakota Territory. The partnership dissolved, with Mr. Hunter buying out his partners. For John it was a small financial setback that would be short lived fortunately. Unfortunately a fire in 1879 on Sherman Street brought his business to life. Because he was able to supply construction material, businesses were able to get back on their feet again.

In 1883,with his sawmill prospering John Hunter partnered with another sawmill owner named James Fish. With their union they created the Fish and Hunter Company. Over the next 40 years they expanded their business to include mercantile, retail grocery, hardware, retail / wholesale lumberyards, and millworks. They built several brick buildings for these businesses.

In comes 1936, and they expand some more, constructing a one story brick building for a planing mill and woodworking shop. Things go good until one fateful night in 1961, when a fire destroys the office and grocery buildings, to the tune of $500,000 dollars. The company did recover, however, Deadwood had lost another landmark to fire. In 1990, the city of Deadwood purchased their old one story warehouse building, and turned it into City Hall.

Deadwood was determined to be a good place for the county seat. With that the first county jail was erected in 1877. It was a 30 foot x 50 foot log structure, with a 12 foot high fence around it. In 1882 Lawrence County conducted its first legal hanging, they hanged James Leighton Gilmore.

In 1886 they began building a new two story brick jailhouse. This jailhouse was a 29 foot x 44 foot structure. A little later a wood gallow was erected for hangings. They were back in business dishing out capitol punishment again. In 1894 they hanged the murderer Cha Nopa Uhah, aka "Two Sticks", and three years later Isador Cavanaugh, aka "Charles Brown".

In 1904, the convicted horse rustler Robert Burns broke out of jail doing substantial damage to the jail. The County Sheriff at the time petitioned for a new jail, deeming the jail unsafe. In 1906 they began constructing a new two story brick jail, 34 feet x 50 feet.

In 1974 they built their current jailhouse, which includes an intake and booking room, sheriff and administrative offices, and the Lawrence County Emergency Management offices.

We finally made it to the Adams Museum. This is an eclectic museum, with all kinds of good stuff in it.

So let's go inside, but before we do, let's talk about how much it cost to visit the museums today. The Deadwood History folk put together a package deal, see three museums for the price of two, even beat the military discount.

The museum uses all three floors of the building. We were told by a voluntee at the Adams House to ask them "how did you get the locomotive in the building". The answer to that question was... knock down one wall, fire up up the locomotive, drive it in, and close up the wall... that was simple.

This was the first locomotive brought into the Dakota Territory in 1879 to work the Homestake mine. This guy hauled roughly 600 tons per day of ore, from the mine shafts to the mills. The mining company used this locomotive until 1906, when it was replaced by the more modern compressed air locomotives. The locomotive was moved to the museum in 1932.

Back in 1929 a prospector came to town touting a very large find from his claim. The miner was John E. Perrett, better known as "Potato Creek Johnny". What was the big news from his claim... how about a 7.3 Troy ounce (8 oz. standard ounce) gold nugget.

The nugget on display is a replica. It was made from another nugget found in the Black Hills in 2010, which weighed 5.27 Troy ounces and placer gold, melted into the replica you see.

Moving along smartly... or at least moving on... we found ourselves in an eclectic section. Items ranged from washing machines to horn chairs.

How's this for a washing machine with a spin cycle.

I'm sure many of you have used on of these. What, you don't know what it is... it's a Kodak panorama camera.

I bet you that I was talking a lot of bull when I mentioned a horn chair, but here it is. I sure hope they got some good ribeye steaks from all those cattle.

The morning of September 26, 1879 will forever live in Deadwood history. On that fateful morning a bakery fire turned into a mass conflagration, and destroyed most of Deadwood's commercial district. Why did it happen... because buildings were made of wood, and built too close together. In their resilience, businesses re-opened, like clothing stores, which had sales from vacant lots. The rebuilding process included using brick and mortar for the new buildings.

Upstairs we went.

How much time do you have on your hands after coming home from work? A miner that immigrated from Canada, and worked his entire life in the Homestakes mine since age 14, found time to make furniture. This table and chairs is 4,500 pieces... his biggest endeavor had 250,000 pieces.