Top 10 True Western Towns of 2009
By: 01/01/2009
It’s no secret that Deadwood has a preservation budget that is the envy of most, if not all, Western towns. Deadwood’s Historic Preservation Commission, which serves this city of 1,293 folks, will have more than $7 million to play around with next year. That’s the big bucks a town can get when legalized gambling lures 1.5 million people to the city where Wild Bill Hickok drew his last breath.
Hey, the famous gunfighter died at the still-existing Saloon #10 holding cards himself. Let’s face it; gambling is part of this city’s heritage. What better way to usher in the funds to save the rest of its past? And it’s got to feel nice to gamble in a city where you know, if you lose, you’re actually donating to the world of riches that is found outside those gambling halls.
Like most years before it, 2008 was a doozy for Deadwood.
In the spring, folks from the local Adams Museum & House to National Trust officers to architectural historians attended Deadwood’s annual preservation symposium. The highlight of the conference is a two-hour tour of the city’s current projects. (Two hours? That’s a lot of projects!)
The summer brought Western drovers, horsemen and history buffs out on the Fort Pierre-Deadwood Stage Trail to commemorate the last overland wagon run to Deadwood in 1908 (we will be featuring this in our April Travel issue).
The Days of ’76 Museum is still in the midst of its $6 million campaign to pay for a new museum. In 2008, an auction of historic items was put together by Auction Productions (Humboldt, AZ) and Dakota Plains Auction Service (Rapid City, SD), which donated some of the sale’s proceeds to the museum fund. (Colt also donated a single-action Army revolver to the cause.)
The Adams Museum’s eye-opening story of the city’s Chinese community, cultivated from archaeological excavations in the 2000s, continued to draw in folks (four times more than who visited the museum in 1980) in the exhibit’s last year on display.
Children joined in the city’s mission to save the past by attending an archaeology camp that allowed them to participate in a real dig, with field professionals showing them historic preservation and mapping techniques.
That Deadwood includes youth in its efforts to preserve its history is yet another example of forward-thinking leadership that has made this town one of the best in the West.
Comments (2)
The city should make the downtown historic district more western all year long, that is what the tourists want to come and enjoy, just like Jackson Hole area. Wood sidewalks, old storefronts renewed, take down the horrible siding on all those old building and make it historic and western as much as possible. Pull all the businesses together and make a true western downtown. You don't have to all sell western items, just make the buildings western. You have a GREAT start with the Train Depot and surrounding areas!! Keep up the PLAN!! or MAKE A PLAN!! Cheyenne could be a truly great small city and as the State Capital SHOULD have a GREAT DOWNTOWN!!
Sir:
My Son is coming home from Iraq in, about one year. BUT in early July he is coming on leave to look your area over for a possible place to live, get married and raise a family. We will be in WYOMING in the 1st few days of July. Have you got any info that might help him
He has been Special Forces and, I suppose Police work is what he wants.
I am in California but I am not a
"Californian". 707-259-0949 or
wes.mac@comcast.net or P O Box 294.
Yountville, California 94599. WES MAC
Mc Girr
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