Even today this fascinating region remains nearly the most remote of all America’s resort and recreation areas. The Grand Canyon lies but an hour’s drive from a major east-west transcontinental highway. Estes Park,[1] in the Rockies, is only seventy miles from the city of Denver. Glacier Park is easily served by the Great Northern Railroad on its overland run, and Yellowstone enjoys direct service by three railroads. But the Black Hills lie beyond the privileges of railroad stopovers, and in order to visit them the tourist has no choice but to plan a vacation trip for the sake of the Hills themselves and not as a side venture from any of the traditional tours of the West. The Hills are worth the effort.
The Black Hills occupy a rectangular realm which is roughly one hundred miles long, north to south, and fifty miles across its east-west axis. The White River Badlands, which are customarily visited on any Black Hills trip, form a depression in the high prairies some forty miles long and fifteen miles across the widest part. This stark and empty waste is to be found some seventy-five miles east of the Black Hills, or, more precisely, east of Rapid on U.S. Highway 14-16.
There are five major access routes to the land of Paha Sapa. From the west, which is to say from Yellowstone Park, five hundred miles distant, the Hills can be reached by U.S. Highways 14 and 16. These routes come in together across the high plains of northern Wyoming, and separate a few hours’ drive from the South Dakota border, 14 veering to the north and 16 continuing through the central section of the Hills.
From the south, U.S. 85 comes up from Denver, four hundred miles distant, crossing the Lincoln Highway at Cheyenne, and continuing along the route of the old Cheyenne-Deadwood stage.
From Omaha and points in the southeast, the Hills are best reached over U.S. 20 across the top side of Nebraska. Although this route is not a major east-west route for interstate tourists, it serves a busy agricultural section and is generally in fine repair.
From the east U.S. 14 and 16, again, bring the tourist through Pierre, on the Missouri River, past the Badlands, and into the Hills through Rapid City. From Minneapolis the distance is just over six hundred miles, while from Chicago it is very nearly a thousand.
For those entering the region from the north, U.S. 12 from Miles City, Montana, is in all probability the best route.
The gateways to the Black Hills are the towns of Hot Springs in the south, Rapid City on the eastern edge, Spearfish or Belle Fourche at the north, and Custer in the west. All these towns offer entirely acceptable accommodations for a touring family; in fact, no one need drive more than twenty or thirty miles from any point in the area to find suitable lodgings at a desired rate.
Hot Springs, on U.S. 18-85A and State 87, is situated at an altitude of 3,443 feet and has a population of approximately five thousand. It is the one sector of the Black Hills that does not owe its original development to the gold rush of the seventies, but was sought out from the earliest days for its natural thermal springs.