A Google Earth Trip to Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

[1dave]

Google visited in 2013. most of these images are from 2017 where unfortunately the software thought the rubble pile was more interesting than the faces.



















With a lot of guesses, I finally hit a spot from the 2013 visit, then followed the yellow lines.









Taking the path for closer view

[1dave]

[1dave]

I heard somewhere that the land was Cheyenne until the Lakotas captured it somewhere around 1776.
Who did the Cheyenne take it from?

Aug 1, 2018 7:52:38 GMT -7 @fernwood said:

That question goes back too far for me. I am just aware of Lakota heritage on the land. The land where I grew up in NW WI was the site of the largest Native battle in WI, but because the area was so remote, there is little info about it. 4 tribes. The Lakota won the battle for hunting/gathering rights. The Ashinaabee had controlled the land for many years. The Ashinaabee are the remaining Tribe in the area. Sometime along the way, they won another battle. So many Tribal wars are undocumented, but very important in the big picture of things.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hills

Native Americans have a long history in the Black Hills. After conquering the Cheyenne in 1776, the Lakota took over the territory of the Black Hills, which became central to their culture. In 1868, the U.S. government signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, establishing the Great . . .

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota

South Dakota (/- dəˈkoʊtə/ (About this sound listen)) is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory.


Humans have lived in what is today South Dakota for several thousand years. The first inhabitants were Paleoindian hunter-gatherers, and disappeared from the area around 5000 BC.[49] Between 500 AD and 800 AD, a semi-nomadic people known as the Mound Builders lived in central and eastern South Dakota. In the 14th century, the Crow Creek Massacre occurred, in which several hundred men, women, and children were killed near the Missouri River.[50]

By 1500, the Arikara (or Ree) had settled in much of the Missouri River valley.[51] European contact with the area began in 1743, when the LaVérendrye brothers explored the region. The LaVérendrye group buried a plate near the site of modern-day Pierre, claiming the region for France as part of greater Louisiana.[52] in 1762 the entire region became part of the Spanish Louisiana until 1802.[53][54] By the early 19th century, the Sioux had largely replaced the Arikara as the dominant group in the area.[55]

In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory, an area that included most of South Dakota, from Napoleon Bonaparte, and President Thomas Jefferson organized a group commonly referred to as the "Lewis and Clark Expedition" to explore the region.[56] In 1817, an American fur trading post was set up at present-day Fort Pierre, beginning continuous American settlement of the area.[57] In 1855, the U.S. Army bought Fort Pierre but abandoned it in 1857 in favor of Fort Randall to the south.[57] Settlement by Americans and Europeans was by this time increasing rapidly, and in 1858 the Yankton Sioux signed the 1858 Treaty, ceding most of present-day eastern South Dakota to the United States.[58]
Deadwood, like many other Black Hills towns, was founded after the discovery of gold.

Land speculators founded two of eastern South Dakota's largest present-day cities: Sioux Falls in 1856[59] and Yankton in 1859.[60] In 1861, the Dakota Territory was established by the United States government (this initially included North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Montana and Wyoming).[61] Settlement of the area, mostly by people from the eastern United States as well as western and northern Europe, increased rapidly,[62] especially after the completion of an eastern railway link to Yankton in 1873.[63]

In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills during a military expedition led by George A. Custer[64][65] and miners and explorers began illegally entering land promised to the Lakota. Custer's expedition took place despite the fact the US had granted the entire western half of present-day South Dakota (West River) to the Sioux in 1868 by the Treaty of Laramie as part of the Great Sioux Reservation.[66] The Sioux declined to grant mining rights or land in the Black Hills, and war broke out after the U.S. failed to stop white miners and settlers from entering the region.[67] Eventually the US defeated the Sioux and broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into five reservations, settling the Lakota in those areas.[57] (In 1980, the US Supreme Court and Congress ordered payment to the Lakota for the illegal seizure of the Black Hills. The case remains unsettled, as the Lakota refuse to accept the money and instead insist on the return of the land.)[68]

[1dave]

Aug 1, 2018 11:32:43 GMT -7 @adave said:

Aug 1, 2018 9:28:40 GMT -7 1dave said:

Last night on Google Earth is as close as I have been. I'd love to see any photos etc. you can share.

Dave, thanks for sharing.  The wife and I went there last September for the first time, and the area is pretty amazing.  We spent a short 5 days there, simply did sightseeing (no hounding), and we could have used a few more days.  The closest town to the monument is Keystone, where the Rock Shed is located.  Our first stop of the trip was Rushmore at night, but the Rock Shed was the next day.

Flat out, the area is gorgeous.  The Black Hills, Crazy Horse Monument, Badlands, Spearfish, Custer State Park, are all places to see IMHO.  I'd truly like to get back there again for at least double the time we spent.

Since you asked for some additional photos, here are some of Rushmore and the surrounding area.  I could hijack this thread with others, but I won't. 

1.  This view is from the road out of Keystone.


2.  


3.  


4.


5.  Along one of the scenic drives taken just outside the park.


6.  Train that was taken out of Keystone to Hill City.


7.  And, the nearby Rock Shed.


8.


9.

[1dave]

Thanks @adave, I hadn't noticed what state The Rock Shed was in, much less what town.

it is the first place you come to.





Is that Shawn standing out front?








What a fantastic location!