Terraville, South Dakota
Terraville | |
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Ghost town | |
UTC-6 (MDT) |
Terraville is a
History
In the 1870s, four men–Moses and Fred Manuel, Hank Herney, and Alex Engh–entered the area on the hunt for gold. They each filed a claim in Bobtail Gulch on February 21, 1876. That spring, they discovered a rich
The Homestake Mining Company later moved its headquarters and mining activities to Lead.[3] By the 1970s, most of the residents of Terraville traveled to Lead for shopping and work.[4] Terraville didn't have a mayor or law enforcement, except for the county sheriff. In the summer of 1982, the post office closed, the town was destroyed, and the 723 residents were forced to move when the Homestake Mining Company decided to create an open cut mine at Terraville. The Homestake called it the Terraville Test Pit Project. Every building, most of them at least 100 years old, was torn down; at 102 years old, the Terraville Methodist Church was the oldest operating church west of the Mississippi River at the time of its demolition, and plans to make it a historical landmark had emerged.[5] Today, only remnants of the roads remain. An annual reunion for the former residents of Terraville has been held every year since at least 2001 in Deadwood.[2]
Geography
Terraville is located in the Black Hills of Lawrence County, South Dakota. It was built on the peak of a mountain between Lead and Central City, just above the Homestake Mine.[4] Deadwood Gulch and the ghost town of Lincoln are also nearby.[3]
Notable person
- Ruth Mary Reynolds (1916-1989), born in Terraville, American teacher and political and civil rights activist
References
- ^ a b "Terraville". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. February 13, 1980. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
- ^ a b Price, Rae (July 11, 1984). "Former Terraville residents avoided tour". Rapid City Journal. Rapid City, SD.
- ^ a b c d e Klock, Irma H. (August 21, 2001). "Terraville, the town that disappeared". Rapid City Journal. Rapid City, SD.
- ^ a b c d e Parker, Watson; Lambert, Hugh K. (1974). Black Hills Ghost Towns (1st ed.). Chicago, IL: The Swallow Press. pp. 186–187.
- ^ Mix, Nellie (2012). "Remembering Terraville". Black Hills Pioneer. Spearfish, SD: Seaton Publishing Company.[page needed]