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--- Postcard From The Wordy Explorers ---

Views and a CCC Built Fire Tower on Mount Coolidge

avatar   Stacy

Posted On 10/31/2020 09:02:09

South Dakota | Custer | Custer State Park | Mount Coolidge | Mount Coolidge Fire Tower | Viewpoint | Panoramic View | Black Hills



Views and a CCC Built Fire Tower on Mount Coolidge


    

The Mount Coolidge Fire Tower stands at the crest of a narrow gravel road inside Custer State Park. Originally built in 1923 as a log tower and caretaker's accommodations, the buildings were replaced with stone structures by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939. Because of their mountain top locations, lookouts like this one help with spotting smoke, fire, lightning and even changing weather conditions.

     The Wordy Explorers





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Do you enjoy seeing historic sites?

Learning more about the history while exploring Custer State Park can actually be fun!

The tower atop Mount Coolidge continues to be manned as a fire lookout and a dispatch center for the state park. We enjoyed the panoramic views of the Black Hills from one of the highest points in the park. Although it was difficult to get a clear picture, we were even able to see Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore from the fire tower.

Charles Badger Clark, the state's first Poet Laureate, wrote poetry from the simple cabin that is said to look today much like it did over 60 years ago. Clark lived in the "Badger Hole" that he built near Legion Lake for his final 30 years until his 1957 death. (Some of his poetry can even be found by a nearby hiking trail, parts of which he built as well!)

The third replica of the Gordon Stockade stands near the park's west entrance. Once gold was discovered during the 1874 expedition led by General Custer, others illegally came to the Black Hills in search of their fortune. It was gold prospectors from Sioux City, Iowa led by John Gordon that built the original stockade in December 1874 in defiance of an 1868 treaty.

Of these 3 historic sites in Custer State Park, which would you want to visit?

#WordyExplorers #CusterStatePark #MountCoolidge #MountCoolidgeFireTower #BadgerHole #CharlesBadgerClark #GordonStockade #GeneralCuster











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