County of marker: Lawrence County
Location of marker: US 14A, Bridal Falls, Spearfish Canyon
Marker erected by: Black Hills National Forest, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture
America's Scenic Byways
All historic images used courtesy of the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center, Deadwood
Background photo: tracks running through Spearfish Canyon in 1911 at Robber Roost Curve by W.B. Perkins
Marker text:
Spearfish Canyon Through Time
Bridal Veil Falls
"But how it is that I've heard so little of this miracle and we, toward the Atlantic, have heard so much of the Grand Canyon when this is even more miraculous? All the better eventually...(that the Dakotas are not on the through line to the coast.)
No, I shall be burned for a heretic when I make the statement. But I should be thanked as a prophet and hailed as a discoverer by that jaded public who have 'seen everything' and stick to the 'through lines'. The greatest scenic wonders of the world I know now are touched on grand safe highways but not on railroads. My hat is off to South Dakota's treasures.
Nature seeds from man not imitation but interpretation. A third type f earthly marvel [Spearfish Canyon] was now added to the two [Badlands and Black Hills]. All unique and unparalleled elsewhere in our county."
- Excerpts from a letter by world-renowned architect, Frank Lloyd Wright,
September 28, 1935,
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, 1995
Bridal Veil Falls and Spearfish Canyon have been popular tourist attractions for many years. For over a century visitors have been traveling to Spearfish Canyon to see its majestic waterfalls, sheer rock cliffs and colorful autumn leaves.
Since the waterfall was first seen by early pioneers it has been called many names, among them, Lower Spearfish Canyon Falls.
The Many Uses of Spearfish Canyon
Thousands of year ago Native American tribes lived, hunted and practiced traditional ceremonies in the Black Hills. Today several tribes including the
Oceti Sakowin, the seven council fires of the Great Sioux Nation, still consider the Black Hills their traditional homeland. These tribes have oral histories about the Black Hills that have been passed down for generations.
In 1879, the Homestake Mining Company diverted Spearfish Creek into several flumes for their hydro-electric plants in Spearfish Canyon. The original Homestake power plants, clay-pipe waterlines, and pump houses seen throughout the Canyon are still in use today.
As early as 1913, automobiles were traveling through the Canyon. The route known as the "Black and Yellow Trail" became popular for traveling from the Black Hills to Yellowstone National Park. Eventually, portions of the old railroad beds and the trail wer paved into what is now Highway 14A.
The Railroad
The "Spearfish Line" was built by the Grand Island and Wyoming Central Railroad, a subsidiary of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad. Trains began running in 1893.
In 1904, the company was merged into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. In 1933, a massive flood damaged the railroad beyond repair, and the remaining rails were dismantled as far back as the mining camp of Portland (near Terry Peak) in 1934 and 1935. The railroad grade is still visible just below the waterfall.
- Rick Mills, South Dakota State Railroad Museum