The Black Hills (1962)

the [Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen this is Jack Douglas and this is that part of America which a certain old cowboy song refers to as the dreary Black Hills dreary don't you believe it the truth is that the Black Hills country of South Dakota is one of the most beautiful Scenic spots in all America this is your armchair vacation and mine to the Black Hills [Music] black Hill's National Forest is enormous thousands of square miles of wooded mountains in northeastern Wyoming and Southwestern South Dakota this armchair vacation will take us to the South Dakota Black Hills now the Su Indians called these Hills pahas sappa or Black Hills Hills that appear black because of the masses of Ponderosa Pines now the great black black trunks combined with a green black foliage make the hills seem blackish at a distance but not close up notice here that the trees in the foreground are greenish but in the distant Horizon they seem dark blue or black Rapid City has been called the gateway to the Black Hills it's a clean attractive and growing city and has a population of about 50,000 and from Rapid City virtually everything worth seeing in the Black Hills is seldom more than a few hours drive so that many sers are inclined to make it their vacation headquarters and fan out in a different direction each day Canyon Lake is just a mile and a half from downtown Rapid City so if you're in the mood to rough it a bit you'll probably walk the distance fishermen however will run not walk because the lake is heavily stocked with trout incidentally there are excellent Motel accommodations on the lake for those who don't wish to stay in the [Music] city Reptile Gardens just 2 mi south of the city is a big tourist attraction owned by Mr Earl brelby a man who has been fascinated by reptiles since childhood now these are rare Chinese rat snakes which Earl recently smuggled out of Hong Kong but frankly Earl as far as I'm concerned you can give them back to to Hong Kong they scare me to death well this is more my speed and perhaps more to your liking as well the Giant galapagus: [Music] using Gators from the Florida Everglades forcing the Gator's Jaws open isn't too difficult for an experienced Handler like Elshire but when the gator decides enough is enough the Handler must let go at Split Second notice the Gators are just small enough to wrestle and young enough to be full of fight they'll snap and bite and Bob has been bit three times now here he's trying to flatten the gator on its back and once this has been accomplished the gator is harmless it says here unless it decides to come two but this one is literally out for a few seconds and comes to only when Bob gives it a tap on the jaw Gators tortoises and thousands of reptiles at reptile gardens near Rapid City also south of the city about 10 mi from downtown You may wish to pull up the the Horseless Carriage Museum in addition to 100 antique cars such as this 1910 Speedster the museum also has exhibits of unusual watches toys guns and other interesting Collections and this of course is the famed Stanley Steamer vintage 1905 and by the way did you know that in that same year 1905 a similar model was driven at a speed of 197 mph a truly classic and a handsome car the average family has youngsters and certainly they shouldn't be ignored on a vacation well for a starter take them to Storybook Island and you won't even have to leave the city limits there are castles to walk through rainbows to walk under bridges to cross and all manner of fun things to see and do here's what we mean [Music] another fun spot for all ages is dinosaur park perched on hilltops overlooking Rapid City well you can really turn the youngsters loose here they can't harm the figures although it's more than likely they'll have some Tall Tales to tell when they return [Music] home we're now at Hill City about 25 miles Southwest of Rapid City and we're passengers on a real oldtime Narrow Gauge Railroad in fact the steam engine is so old that it saw years of service in Alaska and every body hereabouts calls it kondik Casey from Hill City kondik Casey will huff and puff through the scenic Countryside for around trip of 10 miles it's an hour and 15minute ride and the youngsters aren't the only ones who will be Spellbound the Black Hills Central stops at the halfway point a clear known as Oblivion well you can picnic here and then take a later train back to Hill City if you wish Mount Roosevelt named after president Theodore Roosevelt should be a must on your tour of the Black Hills this Tower is just one of the reasons for from the top of this Tower you'll be treated to a longdistance view that's the equal of any in America for from this Vantage Point you'll be looking at parts of of Wyoming Montana North Dakota and South [Music] Dakota Mount Roosevelt is on the way to one of the most famous towns of the Old and New West and this is it this is Deadwood South Dakota back in the 1870s when the settlement was first known as Deadwood Gulch this was a WI gold mining camp as rough and raw as any in the west now some old western towns disappoint the sightseer but not Deadwood well what's to see and do Main Street as a starter is full of Bargains and memories such as the Old Prospector shop a throwback to the days when gold was worth more than life itself in Deadwood Gulch also on Main Street you'll be served first your thirsty and snake bit and here is the saloon where deadwood's historic incident took place in this Saloon on August 2nd 1876 Wild Bill hickcock was shot and instantly killed while holding pairs of Aces and eights in a game of poker and in this grocery store Wild Bill's assassin Jack Mcall was apprehended shortly after the shooting deadwood's Boot Hill is known as Mount Mariah cemetery and here they buried James Butler while Bill Hickock Soldier guide Stage Coach guard a marshall of hay City and abalene and a deadly shot with either pistol or rifle Calamity who was about as tender as a tigress was married several times but not to Wild Bill Hickock the man she called her lover will be that as it may she asked to be buried next to Wild Bill's grave and her wish was granted Potato Creek Johnny had many claims to local Fame among them the fact that he found the largest gold nugget in the history of the Black [Music] Hills we're in the town of belfo some 60 Mi Northwest of Rapid City and this parade is the prel to the Black Hills Roundup the biggest Rodeo or rodeo in South Dakota [Music] after the parade the crowd disperses to the rodeo grounds where the first three events are always the same the grand entry the posting of the flags and the mounted quadril [Music] Jan warville riding a handsome horse white [Music] feather janigan writing Roman style here's Jan's husband Jim warvel with his version of Roman style writing the flag is down and here come the Bronco Busters a good ride and here's another even though the rider ends up looking at the sky and here's another tough way to make a living the Brahma or brma bull riders [Music] [Applause] the wild horse race is the big event of the day now these are wild horses from Montana that have never been saddled or ridden each competing three-man team is required to saddle and ride a horse around the track but of the eight teams only two were able to saddle and [Music] ride and now the camera catches a very serious accident watch closely here's one of the two successful Riders and here are the Wild Horses which with those two exceptions couldn't even be saddled well as they say in baseball wait till next [Music] year even from a distance of 2 mi you are AED by the most Monumental sculpturing achievement modern times of course this is Mount Rushmore and here preserved for posterity and solid Granite are the Goodson boram heads of Washington Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt and the immortal Lincoln and here at Rushmore something new has been added in recent years a closeup view from the air in helicopters the four Figures were carved to the scale of men 465 ft tall the work began in August 1927 and on and off the project would last 14 years until October of 1941 the great Borglum died 7 months before completion but by the time of his death only the finishing touches remained so that Borglum didn't affect SE Rushmore almost as it is today the project cost less than a million dollar and rarely has a nation received so much for so little as you drive along Highway 87 in the Black Hills National Forest you'll be tempted to stop as most people do to admire some of Nature's brand of sculpture these are the fascinating rock formations known as the needles the sightseers are Mr and Mrs Eli lioz visiting America from their home in South Africa they were most impressed as we were by this formation called the [Music] cathedral scenes such as this are so typical when you drive through the Black Hills time and again deer and Elk will unexpectedly saunter across the highway to enjoy the San uary of these wooded glends these are tame creatures but not domesticated they're not afraid of cars or people simply because they've never had reason to be afraid so be it always for a closer look at more of Nature's creatures visit kuster State Park Zoo 30 m from Rapid City here you can see the timber wolf at close range and black bear which once roam the Black Hills but now are nearly extinct and here's one of those pictures that's worth a thousand [Music] words also in kuster State Park you'll want to stop at Stockade Lake a paradise for boers swimmers skiers and campers the lake is named after the Gordon Stockade nearby the story of this Stockade goes back to 1874 when 26 men one woman and the boy journeyed Overland from Nebraska to search for gold in the Black Hills now because gold prospecting was outlawed in these Sue territories this was a secretly organized party of Prospectors led by one John Gorton well those 28 Builders of The Stockade suffered much found very little gold and finally were ordered out of The Stockade and the sup territory by the Army this is the cabin of that one woman woman in the garden party Annie talent and close by overlooking the lake this Granite Memorial pays tribute to Annie Talent the first white woman to enter and live in the Black Hills you're still in kuster State Park leisurely driving along minding Nature's Own Business you see quite a few cars stopping at the side of the road so you pull up to check the excitement well here's the cause of it dozens of bir Burrows that roam the park these Burrows are descended from pack animals used by the gold prospectors in the old days the SD brand by the way stands for South Dakota these Burrows are extremely affectionate always hungry and if you give them a choice of food their preference is peanut butter [Music] sandwiches windcave National Park forms the Southeastern flank of the Black Hills and here relatively unspoiled is the true Prairie grasslands the Buffalo country of yester year and here come the Buffalo or bison to use the correct name of the American buffalo which is not really a true Buffalo the sign reminds people that bison can be dangerous and cautions visitors to stay near the highway and their cars there are some three 00 bison roaming the 44 square miles of windcave national park and with a lot of care and a little bit of luck their number can multiply and I'm sure we all get a thrill out of seeing these magnificent American Bison in their native habitat a home where the deer and the antelope also Roam and they do at windcave Park especially the fleet footed prorn Antelope which has been clocked at a running speed of 60 mph if the automobiles were not in this picture we could turn back the hands of the clock and imagine ourselves visiting the old west before the migration of the white man outwardly everything is authentic from the wigwams to The gayy Feathered War bonnets but actually this is nothing more than a touch of the past performed in the present the recently inaugurated Su paow at Rapid City right now this paow is almost unknown a small event and most of the spectators are relatives and Friends of the dancers all of them 100% Indian but as the years pass this ceremonial paow is certain to become well known and perhaps someday it'll enjoy the same size and popularity is our marra or the Pendleton Roundup for these are the dances and the drum beats that pre seeded the pilgrims and Americans are sentimentally addicted to their Heritage if there is one person you should meet when you visit the Black Hills this is the man his name is corak juel kovsky in appearance he is a cross between Santa Claus and a prospector down on his luck but appearances can be deceiving juel ksky is one of the finest sculptors in the world today he worked with borlam on Mount Rushmore and in 1939 he won first prize at the New York's World Fair for his bust of padki shortly after winning the padki prize in 1939 juel ksky then living in Connecticut received the letter from a sue Indian chief Henry Standing Bear of Pine Ridge South Dakota the simply worded but passionate letter asked only one question would juwel cuffs consider carving a memorial to The Fearless Sue Chief Crazy Horse so that posterity could be reminded that the Red Man also had great Heroes juul kovsky answered yes and migrated to the Black Hills bringing with him his second wife Ruth and raising a family that today numbers nine children and these are five of his [Music] youngsters well we do not know what kind of a memorial Chief Standing Bear had in mind but in this giant outdoor studio built with his own hands juel kovsky sculpted a magnificent plaster image of Crazy Horse arride a dashing Steed a scale model two stories high yet only 134th the proposed finished size a mere statue carved from a block of stone would not be enough for this Memorial to one Indian would symbolize all the great Indians of American history a whole Mountain another Rushmore that would do the trick nicely Thunderhead Mountain Rising 600 ft above Treeline near kuster was selected only after years of searching planning scrimping and saving and then came 15 years of drilling blasting working almost entirely alone to move some 2 million tons of rock and Earth more Earth and stone than the whole Rushmore project several more years of Preparatory work will go on before juel kusy can even begin the actual sculpting which also will require years of effort but if and when the Crazy Horse Memorial is completed it will look like this 641 ft long and 563 ft High the most colossal sculpture in Mankind's history it would dwarf Rushmore and would be bigger than the Pyramid of Giza or the Colossus of roads now to appreciate its size consider that 4,000 men could stand on the outstretched left arm 4,000 men another statistic a 10-story office building could be placed within the space between the arm and the horse's Man Without federal or state funds which he has refused supported only by donations from tourists or what he earns from the sale of his Works Kack Jew W kovsky pounds away at the mountain that represents a dream and a dream that has become an obsession we all pray that he can finish this Monumental work but in itself that is not what really matters the really important thing is that in an age of skepticism cynicism and scientific reality we have Among Us people who are not ashamed or afraid to cherish a dream and to spend if necessary the Le than perhaps the last years of their lives in the pursuit of that dream when you Journey to the Black Hills be sure to visit this man talk to him try to understand what he is doing share with him the dream that was passed onto him by Chief Standing Bear and which he in turn is obligated to share with us a visit with Kack juel kovsky and his Mountain will I think be the golden memory will Outlast all others your trip to the Black Hills