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The Black Hills of South Dakota sit as an interesting geological and cultural cross roads. As an island of terrain and trees the Hills against everything Webb would describe as the Plains. The extreme juxtaposition makes the Hills a center for Native American traditions while it also fueled interest for Eastern Anglo Americans. On a site visit to Homestake Mine in the heart of the Black Hills I got to see first hand the sites that the Native Americans hold so dearly and shear determinism of American entrepreneurs and the learn what happens when the two collide.

Until just recently the Homestake Mine was the largest open pit gold mind in the world extracting literally tons of gold in its 120 year history. The gold discover lead to a huge influx of population on the Plains establish boom towns such as Rapid City, SD and even promoting development in places as far away as Bismarck, ND (some 350+ miles). While the development was deemed progress by Eastern Settlers the Native Americans viewed it as the destruction of sacred grounds. The differences was the root for many skirmishes between Native Americans and settlers and would be a large contributer of conflict in the American- Indian wars of the 1800's.
Seeing the mine itself was spectacular beyond description. The huge rock crater terracing down 400 feet and spanning half a mile in Diameter. The thought of turning a mountain into a crater is surreal, and endeavor I can't even fathom but standing on the side of the cliff, seeing it is breath taking. The mine now sits abandoned no longer able to justify digging deeper to extract the gold. What remains is a symbol of conflict between a cultures with perseverances to harness nature and one that wishes to live within it. I am curious of how nature will reclaim the mine and what conclusions future civilizations elude based existence.

During the trip we were privileged (if that is the word for it) to use the site of the old power houses as a camp. The powder houses once store all of the explosives used to carve out the old mountain. The small brick storage sheds were placed over a mile away from the actual mine for the simple reason of accidental explosion. The site of the old powder houses is full of ruins of old storage house foundations, water pumps, and bridges. It was humbling and inspiring to see the decay of mans creation and reminds me of what our place really is in the planet.