Day 7 - The unique Badlands

Since the settlers era, an almost continuous series of armed conflicts took place between the US Army and the Native Americans, upon which various treaties were concluded with the US government. The last major conflict would be the Wounded Knee massacre that took place after repeated violations of these treaties by the US. Some of the Sioux Native Americans lived in terrible conditions in the Pine Ridge Reserve in the southern Badlands, where they were forced to live. Some of the Sioux had fled the reserve. At the end of December 1890 the group was caught and transferred to Wounded Knee. More than 300 Native Americans were killed, including women, babies and children. Those who could flee were chased kilometers outside the camp and killed too. The Native Americans chief Bigfoot led a group of Sioux through the Badlands to escape the American army. They were also captured and transferred to Wounded Knee.

The Badlands are a particularly rough area with rock formations and deep gorges as a result of 500,000 years of soil erosion.

During the pioneer period, French trappers called this area 'mauvaise terre à traverser' - 'bad land to cross', Badlands. This because of the labyrinth of seemingly uninhabitable canyons. But the Native Americans knew better. They lived of the bison hunt and there was water in the White River, you just had to know the way. The bald landscape is unbelievable beautiful, even though the rock feels somewhat threatening. Depending on the time of day, the colors of the rocks change. It is a prairie landscape with grasses that survive in the very dry and very cold winter climate. Trees and plants with long roots don’t have a chance here. That's why the erosion got such free play here. Water and wind created rocks of incredible perfection. The landscape has a somewhat desolate view. Especially in the afternoon sun,  the sun rays create only gray and white tones. But the shapes have a distinctive beauty. 

While I am looking around, I see myself riding on horseback across the prairie, wind in my hair, leaving everything behind. What a sense of freedom must the settlers have known. With some imagination, I see an Native American on the look-out, looking in the distance, smoking the peace pipe. We do a few small hikes like the Window Trail that brings us to a fenced viewpoint and the Door Trail, a walk through a deep canyon landscape and even deeper trenches and creeks. At the time, several fossils were found. They are proof of the various climates that prevailed here and of the wide variety of animals that lived here over the years. The Fossil Exhibit Trail shows examples of those fossils. Along the side of the road, a couple of bighorn sheep are grazing. 

Years ago, they were also threatened with extinction. Like the bison they were a prey for the hunters. Later in the day, the sun causes the red colour to come out in the rocks, which makes the surroundings feel a lot warmer.

Badlands might be a bad country for the settlers, but it is a land of unusual beauty. The baldness, the desolate, every unique rock and canyon gives it warmth. Unfortunately, horse and cowboy, horse and Native American and horse and carriage are replaced by modern cars. Sometimes you need to cry for how it was before.

One of the bigger towns founded in the Black Hills at the time of the gold rush is Deadwood. The town was named by the first settlers because of the dead trees. The city has an infamous history as a gold rush town in the Wild West, which can be seen in the Deadwood TV series. The town itself was a lawless place in Dakota territory at the time: a lot of murders happened and correct punishment took hardly place. Deadwood still has that real western feel. Here you really feel the wild west as you walk around. You expect to see a cowboy coming out from a saloon at any time looking for his horse. 

Those cowboys are also appearing for a shootout in the main street. The reinactment is played with real revolvers, albeit with loose gunpowder. The noise is very loud. That’s how it must have been  in the wild west. If only I had a cowboy outfit…

The town is famous for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok in 1876. He was born as James Butler Hickok and had a legendary reputation. Typical scenes from Westerns are inspired by stories about him, such as duels in a market square and shootings in response to a game of poker. He worked, among other things, as a rider of the Pony Express, at which time he killed a grizzly bear with a knife. The legend was born. He was friends with Buffalo Bill with whom he went bison hunting. He acted as a sheriff in a town in Nebraska where he survived a shooting, sustaining 11 shotwounds. During the American Civil War, he worked as a scout for the army. On August 2, 1876, he was shot by Jack McCall during a game of poker. Normally Wild Bill always sat with his back against the wall to prevent these situations. He had offered McCall the same day money to buy food as McCall had lost his money the day before. Probably this was a drunk response. McCall was initially aquitted for murder by a non-regulatory tribunal. A year later, he was still convicted to the death penalty. At the time of his death, Wild Bill had two eights and two aces in his hand. Since then, this is called the 'dead man's hand' in poker. Every evening, Wild Bill dies again in Deadwood.  In Saloon 10 his murder is reinacted. 

After the murder in the saloon, the spectacle continues into Deadwood's streets where McCall is eventually arrested. In the saloon, the poker hand and also the chair on which Wild Bill was sitting when he was shot dead, is on display. To finish the evening, we visit the grave of Wild Bill at Deadwood Cemetery. The evening has fallen and it's awfully dark. Perhaps not the best time to visit the cemetery. With the help of the flashlights on our smartphones, we find his grave almost immediately. Next to him is the equally famous western legend Calamity Jane buried. She was born as Martha Jane Cannary and probably had a relationship with Wild Bill. She dressed like a man, drank like a man and cursed like a man, even though she prostituted herself too. It made her an example for the many independent thinking women of her time.