Hasta La Ideas

Spearfish Canyon

2.5 Weeks + 1000 Miles + 4 States + Countless Encounters. Follow Cindy Gilbert, program director for the Sustainable Design program at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, as she bikes from Montana to Minneapolis to raise awareness about sustainability challenges and opportunities in the region while raising need-based scholarship money for students.

Deadwood, South Dakota, is the final resting place for Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, and is home to more buried residents than unburied ones; yet it is unearthing new ways to breath life into its sustainability efforts. Deadwood was founded in 1870 (illegally) to host the onslaught of gold miners that flocked to work in the thriving Homestake Mine of Lead, SD, located a few miles away. Deadwood was intentionally formed to “mine” the miners through gambling, liquor sales and prostitution; today the town focuses on mining tourists (through much the same tactics).

As I wend my way through the gorgeous Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway (above) toward Deadwood, I expected to arrive at a threadbare, “once-was” boomtown but what I found instead was a thriving community that seemed to be mostly orchestrated by the happiest seniors I have stumbled across. They worked in the hotels, casinos, bars, guided tours (I think some might have known Wild Bill personally), drove the trolley, ran the tourist information center. Everywhere I went there was a senior discount. It was the first time in my life I wished I was sixty.

By leveraging the town’s strengths (high population of seniors) and its gaming draw (casinos are mandated to give an undisclosed proportion of revenues to the city for upkeep), Deadwood has been able to give the town a facelift and begin to grow its sustainability efforts. In the future I expect that this new kind of “green” will be a beneficial draw to the town—right after Mount Moriah Cemetery and the casinos’ other type of green.

Here are a few highlights:

Mickelson Trail: In 1998, this 109 mile-long former railway bed was repurposed as part of the Rails to Trails Conservancy to create a beautiful, multiuse and all-ages trail (hiking, cycling and horseback riding). I cycled the northern section of the trail from Deadwood to Hill City and was delighted to see that the trail was well-maintained yet highly-trafficked and dotted with recycled plastic benches throughout. The trail has led to the development of several trail runs, triathlons, and bicycle rides that encourage residents to get outdoors and maintain a sustainable, healthy lifestyle.

Recycled Plastic Benches

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