Sturgis, Deadwood, Mamoth Springs in South Dakota

1st August 2012 - Sturgis, South Dakota

Sturgis in the Black Hills of S. Dakota - Mecca of Bikers. Comes alive during August when the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held. It is what Oshkosh is to aviators, Tour de France is to cyclists...get the drift?

A wall size mural of a  previous  rally in Sturgis.

One of the many quaint buildings in town.

Not all bikes are black and mean looking - this one could almost be related to Butter.

The settlement of Deadwood began in the 1870s and has been described as illegal, since it lay within the territory granted to Native Americans in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie. The treaty had guaranteed ownership of the Black Hills to the Lakota people, and disputes over the Hills are ongoing, having reached the United States Supreme Court on several occasions. However, 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.

The town of Deadwood is littered with charming historical buildings. As befitted a "boom" town of the west, there were saloons, brothels and variety theatres. Today, most of them have been converted to cafes, casinos and restaraunts.

The grand staircase of the Midnight Star Casino on Main Street at Deadwood.

Owned by movie star, Kevin Costner - this beautiful casino is worth a look see even if you are not a gambler.

Not only does the Sturgis Rally generate income for Sturgis but the surrounding tourist areas benefit as well.

The world's larges mammoth research facility can be found at Hot Springs, S. Dakota. The mammoth site is open all year round and is an active paleontological site.

Take a walk back in time to the Ice Age and see the fossil remains of 59 Columbian and woolly mammoths (Mannie's relatives) as they lie 26,000 years ago.

Scientists believe during the Ice Age, mammoths, camels, wolves and giant bears roamed the area. The mammoths came searching for warmer climes and water. They found water at a giant sink hole - once they got down the sides of this treacherous hole, the giant mammoths were not able to get back up and therefore perished.

Paleontologists doing their stuff. Todate, 52 Columbian mammoths have been found at this site.

An almost complete skeletal remains of a mammoth. All the fossils were of male mammoths - ha! who gets into more trouble in this day and age....boys!!

The woolly mammoth was smaller than a Columbian mammoth (sorry Mannie!)
Identified by its hairy coat and large curved tusks, the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was a descendent of the steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii). The woolly mammoth, living south of the ice sheets, ranged from northern Europe, across Siberia, and into North America. Smaller in comparison with the Columbian mammoth, the woolly stood 11 foot at the shoulder (330 cm), and weighed 6-8 tons. Scientists believe that huge glaciers, advancing from the north and east, forced the woolly mammoths to the western area of what is now the state of South Dakota.Three woolly mammoths have been discovered in the Hot Springs sinkhole.

The Columbian Mammoth, (Mammuthus columbi) was a descendent of Mammuthus meridionalis (Mammuthus meridionalis) the ancestral mammoth that entered North America via the Bering Land Bridge about one million years ago. The Columbian mammoth ranged from Alaska, and the Yukon, across the mid-western United States south into Mexico and Central America. Huge, standing almost 14 foot at the shoulder (420 cm), and weighing 8-10 tons, the Columbian mammoth could consume about 700 pounds of vegetation a day. The life span for a Columbian mammoth was 60 to 80 years.

Robie and Sharon - don't they make a nice couple..aaawwww!