Lead, SD to Deadwood, SD - Tuesday, August 31, 2010

In the morning we ate breakfast in the campground's restaurant decorated with pictures of motorcycles, campers and advertisements. Picked up a newspaper about this year's recent Sturgis motorcycle rally. At this year's rally, Pee Wee Herman was auditioning for extras in his new movie on his bike adventure.

After breakfast we drove into the Lead to the Black Hills Mining Museum. The museum covers gold mining and the economic development cultural/social history of Lead. Kathy found a telephone operator's panel.

The museum was in an old Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store. Some ex-miners had converted the basement into a simulated mine. A young man guided us on an interesting tour explaining the history of the Homestake Mine and the process of gold mining mixed with jokes, e.g., alcohol is not allowed in the mine because everyone is a minor.

The Homestake Mine is the deepest mine and the second largest producer of gold in North America . It goes down 8,000 feet below the surface. The mine closed in May 2001. (Google pictures)

Now the mine is being converted to look for neutrinos and dark matter particles. The new lab is called the Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake. At this time they are draining the mine of water. By May 2009, the water was drained down to 4,850 feet.

The 4,850 foot level was the central clearing level when the mine was in operation. This level contained the mine's most extensive and sophisticated railway and communications system and many major workshops. Each day, miners went to this level first before proceeding to the level where they would work for the day. The Sanford Underground laboratory is going to put their first detectors at this level.

After the tour, Kathy and I went to look at the big mining hole in the middle of Lead. Homestake started as a surface mine. The surface mine continued off and on until 1998. The hole is 1,200 feet deep and a half-mile across. It is big.

One the way our of Lead, we stopped for lunch at the Pizza Lab. Kathy and I had three kinds of pizza: ranch vegetarian, pesto tomato, and a thai chicken pizza. We agreed that the thai chicken was the best. Though the place is a really good pizza place, Chris was disappointed that they had not emphasized the "lab" theme. You can see the kitchen from the front. They could have had bubbling beakers and tesla coils sparking between the kitchen and front. (Video of a tesla coil playing 2001: Space Odyssey) The servers could dress in lab coats and laugh maniacally, i.e., like a mad scientist, when they served your pizza.

We drove the short distance to Deadwood. After finding our campground, Kathy and Chris took the trolley in to see a murder of Hickok in the #10 Saloon (video) and the Trial of Jack McCall. (video) The shows Kathy and I saw were more relaxed than the ones recorded in the videos linked to.

Fifteen minutes before the trial began, the main actors in the trial including Jack McCall played music. The music was humorous. My favorite was "Ghost Chickens in the Sky" to the tune of "Ghost Riders in the Sky." The audience helped by making chicken noises after each line and in the chorus of "Bwaak Bwaaa Bwaaa" instead of "yeppie yi yo, yeppie yi yeaa." (video by Sean Morey, the writer of the song) (Other Sean Morey songs)