The vicinity of Scenic is known to scientists as the greatest fossil field in the United States. Scenic is also an Indian trading post.
South of Scenic are some of the most spectacular examples of erosion in the United States. Some of the names assigned to them are: “Castle of the Ancients,” “The Altar of the Gods,” “Castle Rock,” “Castle Turrets,” “The Sphinx Twins,” “The Silent Sentinel,” “Amphitheater of the Wilds” and “The Devil’s Golf Course.” These remarkable formations almost hold us in reverent awe, so stupendous are they in their unusualness and grandeur.
LOWER ENTRANCE TO DILLON PASSCanedy Photo
“Hell’s Ten Thousand Acres,” from Scenic south are equal in some ways to the Grand Canyon of Colorado in their ruggedness. “Hell’s Sunken Gardens,” south also, surpasses in beauty and magnitude anything of its kind in the world.
Bad Lands Museum, Scenic
Wounded Knee Battlefield, the last stand of the Sioux, is also south of Scenic. Here hundreds of Indians, men, women and children, were massacred by the soldiers when they stubbornly resisted the coming of law and government to take from them their hunting grounds. These Indians were all buried in one long grave, marked now with a tall marble slab on which are chiseled the odd names of the Indian dead.
The management of the Museum Filling Station is very enthusiastic about the “Great Badlands.” They will furnish any additional information desired and will furnish guides at a reasonable cost to those who desire such in visiting the wonders to the south.
From Scenic, trail 40 leads on to Rapid City. Some of the finer views of the Badlands are found along this road.