Well, my little teasers about the 1890 ghost town of
Spokane seem to have drawn quite a bit of interest, so here's the rest of the story.
Spokane can be found in the southern Black Hills' Custer County just off the Iron Mountain Road/Highway 16A very near it's intersection with the southern end of Forest Service Road 330. This is just north of northern border of Custer State Park and the
Spokane Creek Campground. This is also very near the intersection with the "Playhouse Road" or Forest Service Road 753. GPS coordinates are N43-50.573 W103-23.031.
If you are on the Iron Mountain Road and come to the gravel Road 330, turn north, but only for a few yards before you will see a dirt road heading east into the trees with a secure Forest Service gate on it. Park here and hike up the gated road about one-half mile to find the first buildings. This is also a well-traveled horse path, so watch for four-legged traffic.
Spokane is probably one of the larger collections of ghost town buildings anywhere in the Black Hills. I did not even photograph every building I saw, and I'm guessing that I missed a few more scattered in the trees.
In Watson Parker and Hugh Lambert's book "Black Hills Ghost Towns," published in 1974, pictures show large headframe and mill buildings that I did not find. I wouldn't be surprised if they are no longer standing.
Spokane's schoolhouse is the largest building I did see. Unfortunately someone has stripped the siding and left it in danger of collapsing under a heavy snow or wind.
Very interesting is this root cellar (or bomb shelter, or dynamite storage facility?) with solid concrete walls and ceiling.
Most of the town is located in a fairly open valley, but wandering up the nearby tree-covered hillsides reveals more like this large house with a couple small mine pits in the yard.
An extra bonus for lovers of "old stuff," several cars are deteriorating along with the structures. One even has the looks of use as a race car before finding it's permanent resting spot here.
