Black Hills

On the afternoon of August 2, 1876, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickock was playing poker in Saloon No. 10, holding aces and eights, when a scoundrel named Jack McCall walked up behind him and put a bullet in his head. Hickock died instantly, his cards - henceforth known as the "Dead Man's Hand" - scattered on the floor. Today, in a replica of the original structure - the earlier building was destroyed by fire in 1879 - the gambling is still hot and heavy. But, instead of the grumblings of poker players wearing gunbelts and throwing back shots of whiskey, you'll more likely hear the hoots and hollers of folks pouring coins into slot machines.

About 26,000 years ago, a male mammoth, 13 feet tall and weighing six or seven tons, came here for a drink. It slowly lowered its massive bulk down an embankment, had its fill, then attempted to leave. It couldn't. Stuck in a sinkhole, it tried in vain to climb up the steep, slippery sides. Exhausted, the beast lay down and died, its sad fate unknown until 1974 when a heavy-equipment operator, leveling a tract of land for a housing development, pushed the dirt aside and hit a bone.

This is Dances With Wolves country: rugged, jagged, granite spires and canyon walls rising from the Black Hills, buffalo herds roaming the untamed grassy sweeps of the once-Great Plains. And as if the 1990 Oscar-winning film wouldn't be enough by itself to boost tourism here this summer, South Dakota is inviting the nation to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the epic "Shrine of Democracy" - Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Yes, sculptor Gutzon Borglum's world-famous monuments of Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt are 50 years old. The first formal dedication of Mount Rushmore took place on July 4 - that's right, the monument was never formally dedicated upon completion in 1941 - but the entire summer will be used to celebrate the anniversary before a massive park renovation project commences in the fall.

The American Bus Association has announced its selection of the top 100 events in North America for 1991. The Mount Rushmore golden anniversary celebration and formal dedication in South Dakota has been named the top event in the United States. The "International Gathering of the Clans," provincewide in Nova Scotia, ranks as Canada's top event. The focus at Mount Rushmore is on restoration work on the four 60-foot-high presidential faces - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln - carved by sculptor Gutzon Borglum in the granite cliffs of the Black Hills.

Giant celebrity after Obama hug WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - In less than 24 hours, Scott Van Duzer of Port St. Lucie, Fla., has gone from a local pizza store owner to a man wanted across the world after he bear-hugged President Obama Sunday afternoon. "It's been pretty crazy," Van Duzer told the Palm Beach Post Monday afternoon in between television interviews. "I've never been caught up in a moment. " Van Duzer, a native New Yorker, made headlines when he hugged Obama as the president visited Van Duzer's Big Apple Pizza Sunday afternoon while on his campaign tour.

Self-proclaimed "folkabilly" singer Nanci Griffith casually mentioned progressive West German filmmaker Wim Wenders during her performance at the Chestnut Cabaret on Wednesday night. During the course of a 90-minute show, she also brought up apartheid, Belfast and Dan Quayle. And opening-act James McMurtry's set absolutely rattled with existential isolation. Worldly as well as world-weary, these rising stars debunked stereotypes of folk and country music. McMurtry's guitar-playing is just decent.

One has to wonder how Gary Mule Deer and Steve Martin managed to find room for themselves in the apartment they shared in Hollywood back in the '60s, when they were working on their early comedy acts. They both loved props. Lots of props. "At one time I would travel with 300 pounds of props," said Mule Deer, who is appearing this weekend with Johnny Mathis at the Tropicana. "I'm down to 30 now. I try to eliminate two pounds a year. " Mule Deer - who was raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota and returned there to live five years ago after 30 years in Los Angeles - formed an act with Martin when they were both relatively unknown beyond the Southern California comedy club circuit.

As Marvin Clifford played a song from the Earth on a handmade drum, his music intertwined with boom-box rap tunes drifting through an open window at Chester Academy High School. Far from his home in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Clifford went to the school Thursday to teach urban students about the life of American Indians. It is a lesson about his people, the Lakota Nation, a lesson that he enjoys sharing with students. "Since our first encounter with the settlers," Clifford said, "they have been writing historical accounts.

RENO, Nev. - Smokey Bear has done such a good job stamping out forest fires the last half-century that a woodpecker that has survived for millions of years by eating beetle larvae in burned trees is in danger of going extinct in parts of the West, according to conservationists seeking U.S. protection for the bird. Four conservation groups filed a petition with the U.S. Interior Department this month to list the black-backed woodpecker under the Endangered Species Act in the Sierra Nevada, Oregon's Eastern Cascades, and the Black Hills of eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota.

In early 1876, Gen. George Custer led an "exploratory" expedition into the Black Hills of South Dakota, and a flood of gold seekers followed. That land, sacred to the Lakota Sioux, had been preserved for the tribe by treaty. In retaliation, the Lakota and other tribes left their reservations and declared war. While trying to put down the insurrection, Gen. Custer happened upon an Indian village in southern Montana on June 25. The overconfident leader ordered his 261 cavalrymen to attack nearly 2,000 Indians, resulting in one of the biggest fiascos in U.S. Army history.

Giant celebrity after Obama hug WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - In less than 24 hours, Scott Van Duzer of Port St. Lucie, Fla., has gone from a local pizza store owner to a man wanted across the world after he bear-hugged President Obama Sunday afternoon. "It's been pretty crazy," Van Duzer told the Palm Beach Post Monday afternoon in between television interviews. "I've never been caught up in a moment. " Van Duzer, a native New Yorker, made headlines when he hugged Obama as the president visited Van Duzer's Big Apple Pizza Sunday afternoon while on his campaign tour.

RENO, Nev. - Smokey Bear has done such a good job stamping out forest fires the last half-century that a woodpecker that has survived for millions of years by eating beetle larvae in burned trees is in danger of going extinct in parts of the West, according to conservationists seeking U.S. protection for the bird. Four conservation groups filed a petition with the U.S. Interior Department this month to list the black-backed woodpecker under the Endangered Species Act in the Sierra Nevada, Oregon's Eastern Cascades, and the Black Hills of eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota.

Joe Burke's wife was expecting a call from him Tuesday night, letting her know how his Skidmore College basketball team made out in an NCAA Division III game at Southern Vermont. "At 11:30, she hadn't heard from me," the Skidmore coach said Wednesday. "She's worried, wondering what happened. " Just the longest game in Division III history, equaling the longest game in NCAA history. In his third game as basketball coach for the small, liberal-arts college in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Burke saw his team prevail over Southern Vermont in seven overtimes.

About 26,000 years ago, a male mammoth, 13 feet tall and weighing six or seven tons, came here for a drink. It slowly lowered its massive bulk down an embankment, had its fill, then attempted to leave. It couldn't. Stuck in a sinkhole, it tried in vain to climb up the steep, slippery sides. Exhausted, the beast lay down and died, its sad fate unknown until 1974 when a heavy-equipment operator, leveling a tract of land for a housing development, pushed the dirt aside and hit a bone.

On the afternoon of August 2, 1876, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickock was playing poker in Saloon No. 10, holding aces and eights, when a scoundrel named Jack McCall walked up behind him and put a bullet in his head. Hickock died instantly, his cards - henceforth known as the "Dead Man's Hand" - scattered on the floor. Today, in a replica of the original structure - the earlier building was destroyed by fire in 1879 - the gambling is still hot and heavy. But, instead of the grumblings of poker players wearing gunbelts and throwing back shots of whiskey, you'll more likely hear the hoots and hollers of folks pouring coins into slot machines.

In early 1876, Gen. George Custer led an "exploratory" expedition into the Black Hills of South Dakota, and a flood of gold seekers followed. That land, sacred to the Lakota Sioux, had been preserved for the tribe by treaty. In retaliation, the Lakota and other tribes left their reservations and declared war. While trying to put down the insurrection, Gen. Custer happened upon an Indian village in southern Montana on June 25. The overconfident leader ordered his 261 cavalrymen to attack nearly 2,000 Indians, resulting in one of the biggest fiascos in U.S. Army history.

It's been nearly 10 years since this place was officially the Custer Battlefield, but to the dismay of many, not much else has changed on this austerely beautiful hill in southeastern Montana. The heavily visited site, part of the National Park Service, is still virtually a shrine to Lt. Col. George A. Custer and 261 other members of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry who were wiped out on a hot summer Sunday in 1876. Plans to build a monument to honor the victors - Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all Indians who fought to preserve their way of life against white intruders - have been stalled so long that frustration occasionally boils over.

One has to wonder how Gary Mule Deer and Steve Martin managed to find room for themselves in the apartment they shared in Hollywood back in the '60s, when they were working on their early comedy acts. They both loved props. Lots of props. "At one time I would travel with 300 pounds of props," said Mule Deer, who is appearing this weekend with Johnny Mathis at the Tropicana. "I'm down to 30 now. I try to eliminate two pounds a year. " Mule Deer - who was raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota and returned there to live five years ago after 30 years in Los Angeles - formed an act with Martin when they were both relatively unknown beyond the Southern California comedy club circuit.

Charles W. Hargens Jr., 103, of Carversville, whose drawings of cowboys and Indians, horses and sagebrush appeared on the covers of novels and in the Saturday Evening Post and other national magazines, died Thursday in the health-care center at Pine Run Community near Doylestown. Mr. Hargens gained national recognition more than 60 years ago for illustrations of Western scenes that appeared in or on the covers of the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Liberty, McCall's, Boys' Life and other magazines, many of which were published in Philadelphia.

As Marvin Clifford played a song from the Earth on a handmade drum, his music intertwined with boom-box rap tunes drifting through an open window at Chester Academy High School. Far from his home in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Clifford went to the school Thursday to teach urban students about the life of American Indians. It is a lesson about his people, the Lakota Nation, a lesson that he enjoys sharing with students. "Since our first encounter with the settlers," Clifford said, "they have been writing historical accounts.