Castle Creek in the Black Hills

The 1874 Custer Expedition to the Black Hills along Castle Creek  (William H. Illingsworth, South Dakota State Historical Society, Photo Site 2 from Progulske rephotography project)1 and approximately the same location in 2016 (CW-2016-06-19-0493). The original photograph point was altered due by road construction.  Over a century of fire suppression, foraging by  high densities of domestic stock and elk, and irrigation ditching for hay fields has altered the 1874 landscape.

This is a valley bottom perspective of a classic photograph taken by Illingsworth looking downwards from the ridge to the left.

Footnotes and Map

  1. Progulske, Donald R. Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology. Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 616. Brookings: South Dakota State University, 1974.