LEAD, S.D. (AP) - Listen long enough as winds comb through the boughs of towering pines and you’ll hear the century-old whispers of steam-fired trains chugging through the forest to service the fabled Homestake Gold Mine.
Now, more than 100 years after hundreds of faceless miners scraped and blasted a rail bed through the remotest regions of the Black Hills, hikers and mountain bikers have the opportunity to retrace the route of a narrow-gauge railroad that brought needed supplies from Deadwood to its sister city of Lead and the Homestake Mine, the Rapid City Journal reported .
The new three-mile Homestake Railroad Grade Trail returns to life a major transportation portal that traces its origins to 1890, when the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad constructed the line to haul myriad supplies to the burgeoning gold camp of Lead.
According to Rick Mills, director of the South Dakota State Railroad Museum in Hill City, the region’s newest hiking trail allows outdoor enthusiasts the opportunity to explore a segment of Black Hills history that has virtually been erased over time.
“It’s significant because this was one of the lines that has not really been explored by historians,” Mills said last week. “Three tiers of tracks once existed in Lead, so this allows people to see how they used the grades, the contours of the land, to see Pluma and the east side of Lead.”
Mills also said the new trail, established courtesy of an easement from Barrick Gold Corp., the Canadian company that purchased the Homestake Mine and its land holdings, presents vistas that allow hikers to view the ethnic neighborhoods of Lead, as well as the historic neighborhoods of Deadwood.
“You will get to see the different little communities that made up Lead and Deadwood that you otherwise would never see,” he said. “This trail presents a whole new perspective, and it allows us to look at our collective past.”
Two years in the making and achieved largely through the volunteer efforts of the Northern Hills Recreation Association, the path through the forest begins at trailheads located at the Dog Park near Lead’s massive Open Cut and at Deadwood’s new Powerhouse Park.
In its fourth year, the nonprofit recreation association, armed with a mission to “promote economic growth through family fun recreation,” hosted 48 mountain bikers on the new trail in its Mile High Bike Challenge in July, according to NHRA Vice President Dustin Heupel.
Amid putting the finishing touches on the newly opened trail last week, Heupel credited his organization’s most recent success to a diverse membership that includes the towns of Lead, Deadwood and Sturgis, as well as representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, state Game, Fish & Parks, Backcountry Horsemen, and outdoor recreation enthusiasts, as well as the support of Chicago-based Coeur Mining.
“Hundreds of volunteer hours have gone into this project,” Heupel said. “Ideally, we want to link all the communities in the Northern Hills with walking and biking trails, and this was the easy one to deal with first.”
Heupel noted Sept. 9 grand opening and dedication ceremonies of the trail are set for 9 a.m. at the old headframe near the Lead trailhead and at 11 a.m. at Deadwood’s Powerhouse Park.
Lead City Administrator Mike Stahl, who represents his community on the recreation association, said the new trail provides tangible evidence of the 141-year-old link between the sister cities of Lead and Deadwood - a connection that was never abandoned, even after the original narrow-gauge track was torn up in 1934.
“We started to realize about five years ago that there was no reason for us to be separate communities, and this trail provides a unique way to link the two towns,” Stahl said. “This is economic development, and it will encourage people to come here and stay longer. It’s evidence of a good partnership.”
That same “partnership” recently led the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission to award a $9,000 grant to the recreation association for interpretive signage and restroom facilities. As scheduled, eight signs will be placed along the trail next spring that will include trail maps, historical facts and descriptions of the two towns’ historic neighborhoods, explore the 125-year history of the Homestake Mine and examine what it took to transport supplies to the largest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere.
But for Stahl and other backers, the Homestake Railroad Grade Trail will give local residents and Black Hills visitors a new opportunity to step back in time and revel in a natural environment away from the worries of their everyday lives.
“This beautiful trail gives users the chance to get away from everyone in just a short time,” Stahl said. “In five minutes, you’re out in the bushes under a canopy of Ponderosa pines and you can have a solitary experience, a group experience, or a historical experience in just a few moments.”
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Information from: Rapid City Journal, https://www.rapidcityjournal.com
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