R and J in the USA

We walked through the streets of the historic town of Deadwood, a town that unabashedly and proudly displayed a long history of vices, from booze, to brothels, to casinos. There were markers for were Wild Bill met his demise as well as where the assassin that shot him met his. There was a rough edge to this town cut with the bright colors of almost cartoonish signs built to delight and entice the tourists that were now the main attraction to its streets.

We walked through a town that seemed built for the delights of nighttime in the bright early morning sunshine of the 9 o’clock hour. The streets were quiet, though the signs were loud. We were loving every second of our stroll down Main Street in Deadwood. 

We passed by a Whiskey and Bourbon shop that had lots of funny and snarky signs that we enjoyed reading. Julie saw one that summed up her entire world view and she said, “let’s go in”. It was just after we noticed the door was locked that the proprietor came out and was ready to open for business. 

In the next 10 minutes, Don, the proprietor and official Bourbon Ambassador, gave us a fantastic education on life in Deadwood and the nearby town of Lead and, though we unfortunately would not be partaking in any of the delicious looking whiskey and bourbon in his establishment, we were drinking up every single word he had to say.

As we listened, Julie just tried her best to log as much of the information in her memory to be able to record it for posterity. 

Don had grown up in the area, in the nearby town of Lead.

”Used to be,” he said, “you could get everything you needed to live a life right here in the town of Deadwood. You could get your groceries or get the lumber you needed to build a house.”

”Not anymore?” Julie asked.

”Not since 1989 when they allowed gambling. Then the casinos came in and the town became for tourists. Now we go to Rapid City to get what we need.” As far as we could tell, he was saying it as a lamentation or a celebration – just a report on the state of things.

Don went on to recount his life growing up in Lead and how much he had enjoyed it.

”I’ve seen the world during my time in the service.”

Don listed all the countries he’d been to in his life.

We thanked him for his service. He responded heartily, “Happy to do it!”

He went on to tell us that he enjoyed his time in the service and, more than anything, he just saw it as what it was, a job, like any other. He had been in the army but, in retrospect, had thought he’d have done better to sign up for the Air Force or the Navy just due to the wear and tear his service had taken on his body. It was all the running in boots and carrying heavy things while doing it that had worn his body down. 

“14 years is a long time to be treating your body like that.”

We could only imagine the toll that would take after having only run a mere 5K or two every 5-7 days in cushy and comfortable sneakers and whatever other gear made the run easier. 

“After seeing the world, I just wanted to come home to Lead and raise my family here. It’s such a great place to raise a family.”

We shared with Don how we had heard this sentiment nearly everywhere we went. People growing up in a place that they called home, then wanting to leave to see the world. Then, after all of that, feeling that call homeward. He nodded his head in full agreement and understanding. 

“Yup, that’s exactly it.”

He told us about how he had worked in the mines growing up, just like his father and his grandfather before him.

”Our family has been here a long time.” He told us. “Since the early 1800’s.” 

He told us about the journey down into the mines, how the elevator moved at 32 mph and took you down the full 8,000 feet underground in just a matter of minutes. 

Julie felt surges of her claustrophobia that she had thought was in her past, but had crept up a few times on the trip.

”Were you scared?” Julie asked.

”No. It’s just what I’ve always done. It’s what my dad always did and my grandpa always did, so, I never thought much of it.”

He then went on to tell us that it is the deepest point you can get to in the western hemisphere!

”What did you mine?” Julie wondered – not landing on the obvious.

”Gold.”

”Oh!” We responded.

”Yea, that mine has been giving out gold for over 200 years. It’s closed now, but there’s still plenty of gold there. It’s just that, now, it is way more expensive to pull it out than the gold itself is worth, what with gold prices dropping so much.”

Don then went on to tell us that what they were now doing was building a huge research center to study dark matter and neutrinos deep below the earth.

Julie, an avid physics nerd, went wide-eyed with excitement.

”Wow!”

He informed us that this was a federal project, and an international one. 

Julie had heard of these underground chambers that had been built to study neutrinos, one of the most difficult to study elemental particles in nature because their mass is so small, their charge is neutral (as opposed to the negatively charged and much more massive electron) and they interact with other matter so infrequently that they are very hard to detect, even though they are the most abundant particles that have mass in the universe. Because they interact so infrequently, to study them, you need a chamber that is protected from all of the other readings that might show up on any measurement. So, neutrinos get studied in deep earthen chambers. And almost everything produces neutrinos, so they are everywhere…but they just move right through you. Tens of trillions of neutrinos move through your body every second, but, because they almost never interact with matter, we never feel them!

Anyways, the point is, Julie was excited to hear about this.

”Do you study physics?” Julie asked as Don was describing how the underground chamber would help scientists study the neutrinos.

”No, I just know a bit about it from living here and hearing them talk about the new lab enough.”

Don went on to talk about something he knew plenty about: gold.

”It actually doesn’t look at all like gold in the mines. It is this greenish yellow buttery color. It is not very attractive at all, actually. There is another rock, fool’s gold, that, in the ground is shiny and pretty, but is basically worthless. Gold only becomes what it is after it goes through a process. It actually has a really strong smell to it down there. It’s hard to describe.”

“And, the town of Lead is called Lead because of Gold. It’s about the lines of quartz that lead you to the gold. It’s just how it forms down there.”

We were fascinated and hanging on every word Don had to say.

Don was a fantastic ambassador. Seeing as we don’t drink, it would have been hard to bring us to taste the bourbon, but he certainly ushered us into fascination about the town of Deadwood and this historic corner of South Dakota.  

Don was the one with the mining experience, but after a great conversation with him, we walked away feeling like we were the ones that got lucky and struck gold.