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The Ephemeral Frontier by Diogenes Kuhr

Marrant Vita's Victorian Needs by Marrant Vita

The Victorian Closet by Astolat Dufaux

A Second Journey by Addison Leigh and Poohneil Streeter

The Dirty Side by Master Glendevon

BlackJack's Ruminations by BlackJack Landar

Alderton Twins by Marrant Vita

Ashton Claire's Life in Deadwood by AshtonC Abbot

Freddy's Playground by Rynn Dryke

Lola and Daisy's Adventuresby Lolaraine McGinnis and Daisy Stratten

The Artful Shopper by Lillie Lamplight

May's Life in Deadwood by Mabel Sideways

Do you have a blog? Send a PM to Estwee to add it to the blogroll!

[Blitzer Renfold]

So here's the assignment, should you choose to accept it. For planning the Deadwood Library 2.0 when we return to 1876:

What are the top 10 pieces of political, social or other history that someone needs to know in order to thrive in the historic roleplay of Deadwood?

No need to overthink, or even list 10. What we're looking for is 10 items of information that we really want to convey to newcomers in what we hope will be a fun way (as you know, we won't even have a library building for several months, so we're looking at some fun and unusual ways to convey history)

So please: what's the top 10 things someone needs to know?

If it helps, here is ye old notecard handed out in Yankton that presently describes our context:


~The Black Hills of the Dakota Territory~

     In July of 1874, General George Armstrong Custer led and expedition of a thousand men into the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory to seek sites for future military posts.  The expedition included ten companies of cavalry, two of infantry,  scouts, teamsters, guides, interpreters, mapmakers, botanists, five newspaper correspondents, and a military band on white horses, who serenaded the explorers with such hits as "The Blue Danube" and composed a new tune, "The Black Hills Polka."

     Rumors of Black Hills gold had been circulating for years, and the expedition also included two prospectors, Horatio Nelson Ross and William T. McKay.  The company set up camp at French Creek, and McKay and Ross panned through the creek's gravel.  In early August 1874, scout "Lonesome Charley" Reynolds rode into Fort Laramie with news that the expedition had discovered gold.

     Telegraphs quickly spread the word of the find.  By December, the first prospecting company arrived at the abandoned French Creek camp.  Building a stockade to protect themselves from the Lakota Sioux who lived in the area, the John Gordon Party found the gold they were looking for,  but the U.S. Army soon removed them for trespassing on Sioux Nation Territory, the Hills given to them by the government at the Treaty of 1868.  As more prospectors arrived to stake claims, the Army eventually gave up trying to keep the miners out.

     Most of the early prospectiong was done in the streams.  Although this produced a steady but small supply of "Placer Gold," few got rich panning.  Thus began a search for the main source, the veins of gold ore that supplied the creeks.  In the fall of 1875, a group of miners looking for this source, moved north into Deadwood Gulch, which soon became the center of the Black Hills gold rush.

     Our timeline here begins in the Spring of 1876 when the rush was in full swing with folks from all walks of life pouring into the Hills to seek thier fortunes, whether it be from mining or setting up businesses to support the miners, or those desparate individuals intending to kill, cheat, or steal thier way to fortune...

[Dio]

in the spring of 1876:

1. U.S. Grant is president.  His administration is in trouble for corruption and badly managed relations with the Indian tribes.

2.  The US is preparing to celebrate the Centennial of its birth with a big exposition in Philadelphia

3. In previous years , the government had tried to keep prospectors out of the Black Hills in compliance with the Ft. Laramie treaty of 1868 which gave the land to the Sioux and Cheyenne--in late 1875, the government decides to stop evicting the miners, a decision which makes the Black Hills Gold Rush begin in earnest in Spring '76.

4. The government is preparing to force the Sioux and Cheyenne to go along with this situation and cede the Black Hills to the US government--this will lead to what is known as the Great Sioux war of 1876-77.  In early '76, The Indian agents have been instructed to tell the "free" bands of Sioux and Cheyenne to report to the reservations.  Their not doing so will be used as the pretext for the start of the war.  Other bands leave the reservations to join them.

5. Forces arrayed against the free Indians include elements of multiple cavalry and infantry units, including 2nd US cav, 3rd US cav., 7th US cav, 4 US inf., 9th US inf. and Crow and Arikara scouts who are traditional enemies of the Sioux and Cheyenne.  The campaign will include the Custer fight at the Little Big Horn in late June of '76 when 7th cav suffers about 50% casualties

6.  Prospectors begin staking claims in the area that will become known as Deadwood in late fall (probably November) 1875.  In January 1876, Deadwood gulch is divided up into 40 placer claims.  Management of life in the camp is provided by miners courts.

7. The rush begins and the miners form a provisional government  and lay out the town of Deadwood in April 1876. it is technically an illegal town, but the government has no interest in evicting the miners. Still, the people have to provide their own protection, as the government will not do so.

8. Gold is valued at about 20 dollars an ounce in the Black Hills, which is a couple dollars more per ounce than it will bring in the New York gold market.  (average laborer's salary at this time is a dollar a day).  

9.  The mining at this stage is placer mining of the surface gold, found by panning in creeks or washing gravel with rockers and sluices.  

10.  Indians are not welcome in the camp because of the war with the Sioux and Cheyenne.  There is some raiding at this point, and rewards will be offered for Indian scalps by the summer.  

[Master Glendevon]

Hey thanks for the notecard info Blitzer, ive had some people ask more in depth on the history of deadwood, would love to hand it out for those interested

[Ezra]

I think Dio covered the essential top 10 fairly well.

[Blitzer Renfold]

This is very helpful! Alright, let's assume for the sake of argument that we break out the important Indian information. Let's further assume I pull it out of the current list cuz it's now it's own list and there's a separate mini-orientation about the Indians and their context. That means Dio's list is now:

in the spring of 1876:

1. U.S. Grant is president.  His administration is in trouble for corruption and badly managed relations with the Indian tribes.

2.  The US is preparing to celebrate the Centennial of its birth with a big exposition in Philadelphia

3. In previous years , the government had tried to keep prospectors out of the Black Hills in compliance with the Ft. Laramie treaty of 1868 which gave the land to the Sioux and Cheyenne--in late 1875, the government decides to stop evicting the miners, a decision which makes the Black Hills Gold Rush begin in earnest in Spring '76.

4. Prospectors begin staking claims in the area that will become known as Deadwood in late fall (probably November) 1875.  In January 1876, Deadwood gulch is divided up into 40 placer claims.  Management of life in the camp is provided by miners courts.

5. The rush begins and the miners form a provisional government  and lay out the town of Deadwood in April 1876. it is technically an illegal town, but the government has no interest in evicting the miners. Still, the people have to provide their own protection, as the government will not do so.

6. Gold is valued at about 20 dollars an ounce in the Black Hills, which is a couple dollars more per ounce than it will bring in the New York gold market.  (average laborer's salary at this time is a dollar a day).  
    
     (Blitz here: This is a good one to note, Dio., and maybe we'll build in a little game where people can guess and learn what various items cost in terms of gold dust.


7.  The mining at this stage is placer mining of the surface gold, found by panning in creeks or washing gravel with rockers and sluices.  

So now there's three more spaces to create a top 10 list. What other items like this do we very much want newcomers to know? What other topics would they need to understand the conversations we'll be having?

[MahailaBertrand]

I just love Dio....

[Madam Dufaux]

I'd say a big one, and I know people have widely diverging opinions on it, is the presence of and/or roles of women in early Deadwood.

I read this article right before I came to DW two years ago, and I think it's still a good summary about women in early Deadwood.

A thriving industry in the camp dominated almost entirely by men, in 1876, it was estimated that approximately 90% of women of the camp were “painted ladies.”

In the book Deadwood: The Golden Years (which you can read large portions of from that link to its Google Books page), author Watson Parker says

The population of the gold rush days of '76 was almost entirely composed of young men; children were a rarity, even middle-aged men, despite the occasional grizzled prospector, were few, and women amounted to between 100 to 150 for the entire Black Hills area, perhaps constituting between 1 percent and 2 percent of the population. (page 131)

That's at the rough estimate of about 10,000 residents at the peak of the gold rush.
By the 1880 census:

Only 29 percent of the population were miners -- the next largest identifiable group, 16 percent, was wives. Laborers were 12 percent of Deadwood's population, and the ratio of males to females was 80 to 28, that is, 35 percent, which meant that over half of the women in town were not wives. (page 132)

The other piece of history I'd like to see explored is about the ethnic population in DW -- not only the Chinese, but the Irish, Italians and other immigrants almost right off the boat at Ellis Island, as well as Jews, Blacks and Indians. Parker's book has some good anecdotes about the latter three groups.

[Dio]

here's another one

- There is no train service to the Black Hills -- goods and people can get as close as Cheyenne (300 miles away), Sidney Nebraska (267miles away) or Ft. Pierre (200 miles away).  Then everything has to be shipped in by wagon (15 day trip from Ft. Pierre).  And everyone has to come by walking, wagon, horse or later on, by stagecoach (the first stagecoach does not come to Deadwood until September 25 1876).

[Master Glendevon]

that will make it interesting