Mom and I took the one-hour bus tour of Deadwood and the Mount Moriah Cemetery. We learned about the history of Deadwood from the tour guide/bus driver, beginning with the broken treaty between the US government and the Native Americans and chronicaling the wild and lawlessness of Deadwood. When gold was discovered the town exploded with prospectors, saloons, outlaws and no law authority.
We heard about Wild Bill Hickok’s life and his demise here in Deadwood. He was only in Deadwood for a couple of months when he was shot in the head by Jack McCall. Hickok is buried in the Mount Moriah Cemetery. There’s quite a nice bust of Wild Bill and at the base people have left coins and someone has left five cards, the poker hand that Wild Bill was playing when he was shot, a pair of 8’s and a pair of aces, which is to this day called the Deadman’s hand.
Calamity Jane is buried next to to Wild Bill, her dying wish. She was independent, aggressive, and determined to do a man’s job. She was self sufficient, learning the skills traditionally only taught and done by men. She dressed like a man and, in fact, passed herself off as a man to get work.
The Mount Moriah Cemetery also has a Jewish section and a section where Chinese were buried. Many of the buisnessmen in Deadwood were Jewish and many workers were Chinese.
We saw several photos of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill in the Adam’s Museum, our next stop. The museum is full of history, artifacts and documents about Deadwood. Both the bus tour and the Adams Museum were worth the time spent today.