About 180 Riders To Traverse Famed Sidney-to-Deadwood Trail
DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) — Veteran South Dakota teamster Gerald Kessler used to say, “You don’t miss much at 4 miles per hour.”
More than 180 horse and history lovers, steering 40 wagons, will heed the commands of trail bosses as they traverse more than 100 miles of the famed Sidney-to-Deadwood Trail from Friday to Sept. 5, in one of the largest trail ride re-enactments in modern memory, albeit at a decidedly leisurely pace. The trail ride and wagon train begins in Ardmore near the Nebraska border.
The nine-day trek of teamsters and outriders from 15 states will retrace the hoof-prints of the Pony Express and the wagon ruts of countless stagecoaches and freighters that hauled thousands of would-be miners and madams, as well as more than 22 million pounds of goods, from Sidney’s Union Pacific Railroad hub to the muddy, bloody streets of Deadwood in 1878-79 alone.
“It’s really a re-enactment of what went on in the old times,” said 84-year-old Gordon Odell, of Belle Fourche, who is chairing the ride with his wife, Lily. “We’ll battle the teams like they did then and make it up the hill to Deadwood, which is always a big deal.”
And Odell would know. The son of Montana and South Dakota homesteading ranchers, he and Lily started participating in wagon trains in 1976, and they’ve completed more than 40 to date.
“We love horses, driving ’em, all the people you meet and it’s just a lot of fun,” said the veteran teamster, whose pair of 1,000-pound husky Halfingers, which resemble miniature Belgiums, pull his rubber-tired covered wagon. “The scenery is wonderful and the thrill of doing something your ancestors did is pretty special.”
The Sidney, Nebraska, to Deadwood trail was highly popular in the late 1870s and 1880s, as hopeful prospectors de-boarded at Sidney’s railroad depot and set out for the gold camps of the Northern Hills in wagons and stagecoaches and on horseback, according to Jon Mattson of the Days of ’76 Museum, which is sponsoring the ride. Trail riders back then did the trip in one shot; this year’s ride will be spread over nine days with one rest day in Custer, he told the Rapid City Journal ( ).
Organizers would still welcome new registrants and the cost to participate is $160 per person, with children 12 and under free, Mattson said. A catered meal will be available each evening and breakfast will be offered most mornings for a modest charge, he said. Transportation has been arranged each night to take participants back to the morning’s jumping off point to retrieve trailers, motorhomes and other vehicles, Mattson said.
“This ride represents a chance to re-live history on a real pretty trail through the Black Hills,” he said. “Participants are coming from all over the country, including Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Colorado and Minnesota.”
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Information from: Rapid City Journal,
