Here is our deed as recorded, the land was purchased outright for cash and trade!

(After many years of thought towards developing it for energy efficient home sites).

(This couple bought it by sealed bid at a courthouse auction, when it was offered by the City of Deadwood).

We traded them our motor home and most of our cash reserves at the time, paying ten times what they paid.

  David had several cuts on broken glass from digging in the city dump, Jennifer got poison ivy and had just lost her job... We had been working with them for years on improving the land and thought ownership by a simple young girl would be accepted more by the local people. (Who normally do not like outsiders controlling anything of value within the city). They did find out things about the land that I was not able to discover but had problems getting a permit to build any permanent structures.

Their tent was now damaged from a very heavy late winter snow and both of them were tired of local politics... By this time both had been harassed a number of times over the years, the courthouse and history people were now tired of endless questions... Several local "power-people" were pressuring them to sell... They were more than happy to see it go to some "nice" folks like us instead! (They also wanted to go discover America in our self-contained camper).

At the time we formally made the trade two investors in the Military owned the house on lot E... They seldom had a renter that stayed all winter! (And they always dumped the frozen plumbing parts, along with any junk left by evicted renters on down the hill every spring).

Before we paid the last of the money and loaded our motor home with all the 12 volt items they would need to live in comfort we spent the summer finding out all they knew to this point. This included the city of Deadwood's future plans to finally have good roads above and below the property, although both easements would cost us some of the land.

But that information was recorded on the deed. (This was not considered to be a bad thing anyway... very little useful land was lost). The map below is typical for the old days, not very accurately shown, also copied from other crude maps out of the past!

As our family continued to sweeten the deal with more camping items this couple told us more information they had gathered... Including details about the original ice-storage dugout located on the southeast corner, (across the road in the side of the hill). Although this map appears to show no useable land across the road, there is actually enough room for an under-ground garage or something in that bottom corner!

The following "gossip" is partly hear-say and cannot be totally proven... but it is the most correct information everyone who was interested was able to gather on the history of this land from the beginning, to this date in time. (Much of the important information came from multiple sources)...

During the gold rush, but after the City of Deadwood had permanent structures, with locations requiring ice for the storage of food... It was decided to correctly dam up the spring creek water source at the bottom edge of town. (For a pond that large blocks of ice could be cut from in the wintertime, stored in the shady hillside, and delivered to all city buildings in the summer). The land was given to the man who agreed to cut the blocks for the "iceboxes" and deliver them when requested. (It is not known who the original person making this agreement was, only his first name appears at times, and it is a nickname)... He may not have wanted anyone to know his true name, this was actually very common during the gold rush days of Deadwood. Local gossip is that the dam was originally very crude and only designed for the supply of clean and clear water for drinking and running fines into a smaller sluice that was located at the edge of what would become Elizabethtown... This area was located just below, the end of the sluice was about where the Big D station is now. (During the early spring of 1877 the dam was improved after the value of the ice now stored was realized as necessary for keeping beer cold all summer)!

It is stated that when the Catholic Cemetery was laid out there was already an elaborate dug-out cave dwelling located above the natural "devil's bathtub" located at the upper area of this land on the creek... Most sources say that dwelling was improved the second year of the gold rush in the summer of 1877. (The fires or flood, the following few years, erased all proper documentation of this information). History records that most other water flowing naturally into the areas around Deadwood was very polluted due to the constant use of it to separate all dirt and minerals from the gold. (Clean water was becoming hard to find... the sparkling clean water from what was then called Diamond Springs became valuable). All men who panned for gold in any of the seven springs supplying this water soon migrated back to the location where gold was found, as it joined with the main creek just below the dam! Some say the pond area was originally leveled as a large camp site for those guarding the original source of good drinking water just above... others say the upper dugout was the location of the sharp-shooter who was the final overseer, for any who tried to get up hill to dirty this water. Some say much of this happened right when gold was first discovered down by the rodeo grounds... and it got very dangerous in this area after the second discovery above Deadwood closer to what became Central City! (Many thousands came into this gulch during the summer of '76 and the following winter proved that sunny south hillside was better protection from the elements than almost any other location within close walking distance to the biggest and best town). I think this is the reason you find very old and strange things all over this hillside... it was a nice place to camp in the winter, until the town built permanent housing! I think that hillside was inhabited by many who wintered the first year of the gold rush and the control of this area was not under any small group until later... maybe until after the fires of 1878 or '79. (But someone wintered there in the late fall of 1875 and found enough gold the following spring to start that major rush to this area shortly after). I think this to be the truth from logical reasoning... after walking throughout the entire Deadwood area when the air temperature is far below freezing. (Try it sometime and you will see what it could be like in the time of the gold rush! Remember to pretend there is no modern structure and all you have with you is some canvas for a tent). When it is far below freezing at noon on the shortest day of the year just a week before Christmas the warmest place in many miles is that area above the big black rock where the natural bathtub is located. I found the air temperature above that rock had remained much above freezing in February... While at the same time it was more than 10 below zero, while walking up the creek in the shadows. (That day we also had a breeze out of the south and it caused a very cold wind-chill reading along the south-facing streets above Deadwood, but the wind did not reach the area around the large rock due to that nice tall cliff just to the south). Even if I was a rough and tough pioneer I would have remained at that location... and dug a hole for my shelter right where it was the warmest. (Many years ago a very mysterious and wise medicine man stood just above this location and said the area had a great deal of history... much of it quite violent due to the great value of that location to any who found it. He said this dark history also went back to a time before his people in fact... he even scared that friend of mine who was the interpreter during this visit! (That wise man died over twenty years ago, but talked of this visit to his son during his final nights in late October of 1986... years after it happened). You will notice on all video of our family cleaning the Catholic cemetery after that time... we no longer used this area for dumping from that time on! We also spent some quiet time with the kids around the old dugout several times in the summers, during the slow time for Deadwood in the 1980's.

Evidence of this dwelling can still be found very close to the bottom-right corner post stake of lot B, (about in the center of the land on the west half of the property, above where the original perennial garden plants still remain).

NOTE: The rhubarb, horseradish, and strawberries survived our "RoundUp" chemical treatments necessary to remove the poison ivy. A bit of damage was done to some of the fruit trees originally located along that path down to the water... The last time I checked this land now only produces three fruits and five berries. (At one time, during the "depressed" days of high unemployment in Deadwood, many idle city workers helped to improve the roads and walkway throughout this property). It is not known who planted all the fruit and berry trees along the walking paths, but the growth-rings and other evidence shows they began to appear before 1885, and continued to be planted until about 1950.

Some evidence has been found showing improvements added between 1876 and 1878, (during the first part of that time this land was not really a legal part of America yet, when the town was truly part of the Wild West... Letters coming here asking for more information about this location were still addressed only as Deadwood, Dakota Territory).

Our only "still-missing relative" connected to the gold rush was list here as W. W. Sullivan, (actually his name was Owen William Sullivan, and being one of the "Stinkin' Irish" he was not given a formal burial. But according to the Deadwood newspaper he never picked up letters addressed to him after May 10th of 1876). In 1983 I was led to an area just above lot F... and told that was the location of his death and final resting place... I was also told his bones were later scattered by the varmints! (This medicine man gave me very little information other than that... I gave him some tobacco and became interested in this land from that point on). 20 years later a "crystal ball lady" told me Owen O'Sullivan had changed his name twice and was connected to claim # 7... Also that he died over the gold found close to that area! (But I paid her $20 and helped out a bit getting this information). One other person who was "touched" did tell me another clue I found very interesting! And also went to almost the exact location above lot F, without knowing any part of this story... right when I tried to sell the land the first time before 2002. 

I know better than make up stories about dead people, but I still like to think we were destine to own this land and that it has some connection to a forgotten part of my past. (Most people who want to get this land away from me often wish I was dead too, and in the meanwhile they do not want anymore un-provable stories told about who lived there first or planted all those fruit trees... but I would like to believe it was Owen)! 

History states this was a very scary area to be a drunken fool... even while remaining in public view, but especially if drunk and while carrying gold. Every day that passed in the early history of Deadwood had more recorded deaths, many outlaws and renegades were killing each other and anyone else who got in their road. (And it was said they could not "carve a notch" on their pistol for any Indians, Mexicans, Negroes, Chinese, or Irish... they did not count).

Now, back to the facts... After most of the town was burned in both fires, during the fall of '78 and '79, law and order finally came to stay and protected many from that point on... Also those who were a part of this permanently settled areas of America were now more involved after that time and common sense normally prevailed. 

The next surviving document shows the land formally deeded to a married couple in 1882.

This is the oldest truly legal document still remaining at the Deadwood Courthouse... Nothing was deleted except blank space below the sentence stating it was 1.38 acres. Other information does speak of a swimming hole in a letter sent back east in 1877, but it is possible that letter was saved in the wrong envelope. (Some even say La Breche and his French wife were the third people picked by the city to deliver ice from this pond, and the only one to do it for an entire season). There was reference to something called LaBreche's pond before July 3rd of 1882, but it could have just been recorded that way after the fact... Before this time the whores referred to it as simply the whore's pond! (It was also noted at times that it was only to be used by them on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. 

Several other rumors are also told about the original man living on this land, his relationship to this couple or his connections to city planners... To date none of these stories can be backed up by other sources or proven in any logical manner! I will not attempt to further confuses this already murky history. (It also appears they had nobody to pass this land on to and the City of Deadwood later takes this "dump" land back... for non payment of back taxes).

It is also obvious the City of Deadwood devoted many thousands of hours of labor, placed on the roads and walkways... (Not counting all the rock walls surrounding the swimming area). Idle city workers did much of the original work, the WPA rebuilt many walls later on! The wise people at the courthouse later sold this property for almost nothing because of the worries pertaining to bad chemicals that might be found in the old city dump... after the EPA began to order the Homestake Mine "clean-up" of Whitewood creek, which Spring Creek empties into, just a few hundred yards to the right. (EPA and OSHA both lost all teeth in the next administration, the Homestake Mine has closed and cleanup was completed)... But the dump really should be investigated and cleaned out anyway, maybe at the same time the dam is rebuilt. I have found various parts of very old automobiles sticking out of the bank below the road at the edge of the swimming hole! It would be a shame not to recover any Model T or Model A's that did not survive the rough roads into town and were sent over the hill. (Many rumors have surfaced in Deadwood about such happenings, but it would take a large investment for proper digging in that area). I have had many offers from various groups but I have always declined. Time is not the enemy there and maybe that is something for the buyer to do... My main goal was finding out all unknown history before more people that knew the truth had died.

It is not known what happened to the original ice-chopper, or how long he remained in the dugout... The original location of the ice storage cave, (said to be at the bottom left corner of the land and across the creek), is also not known... Most sources say this need was not eliminated until after iceboxes became totally obsolete, many years later! More research is required on this matter before totally documented... (Much will be determined when the road is widened for the new Spring Creek Highway). 

It is also not known why the courthouse records formally link this land directly to lots owned by Seth Bullock's partner, Sol Star... or another lot owned by Wing Tsue! (Something is either missing in the records after the courthouse burned, or someone did not formally want a missing piece of this "documented page link" to be known)... 

If you want to do more research... here is that document:

I am not sure about this information, but I was told an interesting story of why this is in the permanent records! They said at the time it was common to dig tunnels to make it easier to get to and from work... Many Chinese tunnels were a part of Deadwood history then. In the city of Lead three miles up the hill some tunnels were started on one piece of land, then later tunneling under land owned by others! (If gold was discovered while digging it they followed that LEAD until a fight developed if the dig was discovered). By the time this legal paper was placed they were attempting to stop people from digging under your land and removing your gold from another location. The name of that city derived from this term, (LEAD with a strong E, not a soft one... like the heavy metal name used by many tourists).

I do not know if a tunnel was dug from this property, or even started... But if it was an extension of the original cave for the storage of ice supplied to the city of Deadwood, that would make the most sense! (If you started there and stayed mostly level going through the hill, you would come out about in the center of the original town after a few hundred yards). Sol Star was Jewish, but he got along fine with the Chinese people digging tunnels. His hardware store had the tools and the need for the ice as well. (This was before air conditioning... and cold beer may have been more important than almost anything in the summertime). If I was alive then I would have started the tunnel right at the edge of the ice pond, going slightly down hill into the back of the hardware store and lay a track to move the ice with ease. The cold air throughout this tunnel filled with ice would also move down and cool the store, that door to the tunnel being the thermostat. (Do not laugh, people still do this at the present time... get a copy of Mother Earth News with the details of how to do it). Now add the fact that it would be easier to get to work or go to the pond for a swim.

The only question remaining is who would get any gold discovered while doing this dig! (I am hoping there will not be any found, gold fever can get people killed for no reason). If I do not get any tunnel investors interested in this property it will never happen anyway, but we will cross that bridge when necessary, and not worry about it until then. At first I thought it would be nice to offer this investment to poor people like myself. (Maybe that was a mistake, this land really needs a seriously deep pocket involved for proper investigation of some of the history). 

I placed an offer on Ebay, Yahoo, and a few other online services for even the poorest of people to invest.

I even advertised locally over Memorial Day Weekend, with great success... Most ads read as follows:

 For one dollar they got a share in this property stating control of one cubic foot or one square foot of the flat parts. (The property is not flat and there is almost one hundred thousand cubic feet of interesting land surface that needs developed or improved). If we had one hundred thousand dollars of today's money a few of us could complete all projects planned, including the tunnel. I could also build at least one small solar home, one wind generator, and put a water generator at the dam. The roads and trails could be improved and the old city dump investigated. Several people have also approached me over the years with other plans for this area... All topics would be decided by the owners or controllers by email or in person. If you want to come here to see the progress or do any investigation you should buy into at least the space required for your tent, or maybe $200 worth if you have a large camper to park! (This will be operated like a time share... We cannot handle a few thousand people showing up unannounced just in time for a major Deadwood event, or the Sturgis Bike Rally). 

If you want to live on the property you must do some form of work to improve your investment, we would like people interested in the projects already mentioned at this time! (Throughout this time our family will continue to own or control at least 51% of this property and will have the final say on all other proposed projects as they are addressed, all investors will be updated by email and the web pages, with full discloser and a complete discussion before they are voted on).

You are also not able to declare you want all the cubic feet of the one hundred year old Deadwood city dump! (But we are also not able to declare you now own or control the Devil's Bathtub, or that big rock you sit on before sliding into it). If you are here and want to explore in the dump, dig for gold in the creek or tunnel, level a new tent space, or just take a bath... That is fine by us, just make sure you improve the land and declare your finds, taking turns in the mud bath or bathtub, and use the correct soap. (The land will be considered community property until the final purchase date). We will all obey the laws of the land and the rules of Deadwood... More details and information is provided after you invest at least one dollar. 

A one percent investment would allow you a nice place to stay while visiting Deadwood, and if at least some of the proposed plans or work is completed before this project is sold you should have a nice return on your investment.

I sold over half of the 10,000 offered... Then ran the auction over again at Ebay, (with the remaining 3,142 sold at $2 per share).

That ad read as follows:

Only the wisest shoppers will now own land in Deadwood for a dollar!
But this offering could allow as many as three thousand more investors.

There is 3,142 of them left, the price has doubled... It may double again!
You are bidding on ownership or control of 1 sq. ft. or 1 cubic ft. of land.
(This land is a part of probate 439... a 1.38 acre parcel, close to downtown Deadwood, in the Black Hills of South Dakota).
This auction is the second one in as many weeks, the first week we sold over half at one dollar each, these may go fast.
(With the other 5,538... and the $1,320 labor traded for shares, much work has already been done to improve this area).
Some people involved say this land will be worth over ten dollars per sq. ft. next year... A $2 investment could be wise!
(Last week those who purchased control over their foot for one dollar each have already doubled their money, and none of them are selling... I noticed some have even bought more).

If you want to come here to see the progress or do any investigation you should buy into at least the space required for your tent, or maybe $100 worth if you have a van or camper to park! (This will be operated like a time share... We cannot handle a few thousand people showing up unannounced just in time for a major Deadwood event, or the Sturgis Bike Rally). If you want to live on the property you must do some form of work to improve your investment, we would like people interested in the projects already mentioned in the web pages about the property at this time! (Our family will continue to own or control at least 51% of this property and will have the final say on all other proposed projects as they are addressed, all investors will be updated by email and the web pages, with full discloser and a complete discussion before they are voted on). You are also not able to declare you want all the cubic feet of the one hundred year old Deadwood city dump! (But we are also not able to declare you now own or control the Devil's Bathtub, or that big rock you sit on before sliding into it). If you are here and want to explore in the dump, dig for gold in the creek or tunnel, level a new tent space, or just take a bath... That is fine by us, just make sure you improve the land and declare your finds, taking turns in the mud bath or bathtub, and use the correct soap. (The land will be considered community property until the final purchase date). We will all obey the laws of the land and the rules of Deadwood... More details and information is provided after you invest at least one dollar. A one percent investment would allow you a nice place to stay while visiting Deadwood, and if at least some of the proposed plans or work is completed before this project is sold you should have a nice return on your investment.

So far there are still some fine tent spaces left, and one spot for a smaller motorhome.
(Before planning a vacation to see your investment be sure to reserve those right away).

This Ebay auction is open until June 5th... You can go back to it by clicking here...

If you do not do Ebay or want to buy right now just send me mail stating the amount by clicking below:

talktome@rushmore.com

If you write code and like regular html see the following link:

<b><blockquote>
If any of you want a better picture for larger printing send me an email... (Click on link).<BR>
</blockquote></b><A HREF="mailto:talktome@rushmore.com"><B>talktome@rushmore.com</B></A>

This ad, and other ways we attempted to sell this land needs some improvement, but we are learning fast now!

Another thing needing more work is the question of who has legal ownership or all the rights to lot F... (a small triangle of land where we had planned to place the wind generators and water storage tank). It appears the City of Deadwood, (who have recently taken over the ownership of the old cemetery), seems to think they can take this property away without a fight... 

The Deadwood Catholic priest, Fr. Dahms, says he knows it belongs to us... and he knew about the problems with it now being inside the new fence since I first ask him about that corner in about 1983. (At that time the entire lot F had a fence on all three sides of it and we tripped over it while cleaning the cemetery that year). The mayor when I bought it, Bruce Overlander, told me a few years ago that the City was planning on taking it over if I did not respond by some deadline posted in the local newspaper. My lawyer said we had plenty of time to fight them, and it was best to do it at the same time the land sold... therefore not costing extra lawyer fees. (I am not going to include this lot in the sale, just in case there are problems moving the fence back to the original location bordering the top left area on the cemetery side of the roadway). The first thing the city did after taking over this cemetery was to build another new fence, (but they did place a nice gate at the entrance of lot F, at the point of that triangle)! The mayor in the eighties, as well as the current mayor, are both good Catholics... Father Dahms assures me that he will instruct both of them not to argue with me over this point. My wife at first wanted to be buried there, along with all our pets that have died over the last twenty years. (So did some of our children... but they have since grown up and forgotten such nonsense)! To date, I believe there are about a dozen "catholic" pets buried at various locations on that part of the property... most of which have pictures or video taken by my family or myself at their funeral. (Don't laugh... we do a pictorial recording of everything that has happened in our lives! Especially anything that happened on this land, including dumping branches on it, while cleaning the cemetery back in the early eighties).

I do not know if it would be right or proper to involve those nice people who are about to make more big money fixing the graves in this cemetery... Or for that matter, the church, or Bruce, Frances, and the other current or past Catholic Mayors, in any court battle involving this land-grab or not... but we will soon find out!

I have been told any priest is normally good for his word... But he did sign this paper:

One final thing everyone must keep in mind before making this purchase... Namely, all the roads and walking trails, the creek, pond and natural bathtub... Also the dumping area, and other unusable building land, if it is used as it was originally designed.

(Especially the road bordering the entire top beside the cemetery and that easement at the bottom).

This is one of the things that "take away" from the stated 1.38 acres of the original land...

Some people in the past, while trying to make me sell the land, argued the best lots D and E are gone, the rest is useless! (Actually that raised the value of all other building sites when city utilities came around that side of the cemetery). As the natural gas and electricity become more costly the advantages of wind, water and sun make the remaining land even more valuable!

One gal told me it was going to be costly to run off all the ghost too... But some think they may add to much unknown history.

One person subtracted the alley and highway, the roads and trails, also the natural bathtub, pond and entire waterway of the creek. (Then he added the cleanup of the dump and rebuild of the dam... His final offer was $5,000 in cash or I would soon be having trouble with the City! He was right too... I refused and shortly afterwards I got papers served, followed by city equipment and a tow truck. The kids each lost a car and I lost a pickup and a trailer).

The land was now clean, no roads were blocked, and a new offer was placed for one day only, for $10,000... (This gentleman was later run out of the state for other reasons, even his own brother said he would call the cops on him if he returned the following Christmas). This kind of thing does not happen much these days... more big money people with better ideas have now moved here!

Just lately the largest casino investor group in Deadwood bought the house on lots D and E... They also paid a fortune for the  School Lot and then had a fit that I priced my land almost as expensive! (They are currently complaining that some of the junk from their land is beginning to reappear on their property from time to time). If you know who is doing this please stop them or at least have them contact me before anymore damage is done. (I want only to get along with these people and do not want to give them any reason to cause grief to me and mine). NOTE: this paragraph was place in 2006, it no longer is totally true!

I do not want any of the investors to continue to dig without permission either and do not want to argue about how many square feet they own or how much is left to buy either! (In 2007 I bought back all but a few shares from investors who needed the money and thought a bust was coming).

I agree there may be less than an acre of building sites and not much of the land is flat... but most see that as a positive thing!

With the changing times, higher energy cost, and the depression proof Deadwood economy... this investment remains worthwhile!