On the trail of ancient mammoths

Last night we camped south of the Mount Rushmore area near the wonderfully picturesque town of Hot Springs, South Dakota. Our camp, identified simply as the "Hot Springs KOA," was not as scenically situated as some of our previous choices. And truck drivers decelerating out on the main road did so using their "Jake Brakes" instead of their wheel brakes, which meant a lot of racket from time to time. But the owner, a tall slender man named John, was one of the nicest camp hosts we've yet encountered. When I was unable to figure out the intricacies of his WiFi last night after trying for a good hour, John came to the RV and personally fixed the problem. I would, therefore, consider camping their again and unhesitatingly recommend this camp for other travelers coming John's way.

Today, our major goal was to navigate our way to a local museum and archaeological site known simply as, "The Mammoth Site." Short name; very impressive museum. The reason for the museum's existence can be traced to a chap intent on bulldozing off several acres of land in Hot Springs to build a tract of houses. But after several cuts into the hillside, the giant blade began to uncover bones -- very large bones. Fortunately, the builder not only halted his dozer driver, but agreed to turn the property over to a private non-profit that had been hurriedly formed to purchase the property. The builder magnanimously agreed to sell the property for his original purchase price.

This all took place back in, if I remember right, 1974. Working at first out in the open, then under the protection of a simple shed roof, volunteers began to unearth a vast cache of Mammoth bones, even some complete skeletons. Over the years, with lots of donations of time and money, the non-profit group has been able to erect a complete museum over the bone site, a piece of ground approximately 85 feet by 150 feet. Only 2% of the bone bed was not covered by the museum.

The reason for the bone bed is really fascinating. Tens of thousands of years ago a strata of ground, composed mostly of limestone, was covered by many feet of a much harder substance. At some point the limestone started to melt away as water was introduced from below. This formed a large cave. Later, when the size of the cave grew beyond the ability of the surface material to support it's own weight, the surface material fell into the cave. Once this happened and the ground water rose to near the surface, the old cave became a lake. Because the water in the old cave/new lake was warm, much vegetation grew up around the new watering hole.

This water and vegetation proved irresistible to animals, especially mammoths. Unfortunately, since the surface material that overlay the limestone was especially slick in nature the mammoths would put one foot on it and slide uncontrollably into the lake. Since these huge creatures couldn't climb out again they simply sank to the bottom and became part of the buildup of sediment that eventually filled the entire lake over a period of thirty thousand years or so. Because the contents of the lake contained gypsum and other "cement-like" substances, the filled lake turned out to be much harder than the surrounding terrain. This caused it to erode much slower, which then caused the one-time lake to become a hill in modern times.

Now, since the entire lake contents, which descend to a depth of some 65 feet, is under the protecting cover of the museum roof, archaeology professionals and students can excavate at their leisure. The result is a "dig" that is nothing short of outstanding. I hope the photos do it some justice.

Tonight we're holed up in the "Bad Lands" (photo right) of South Dakota in a KOA near, of all places, the village of "Interior," population 77. I tried for the first hour after we parked to glue some patches over the roof cover that I massacred back in Bozeman. I have some glue that guarantees to glue anything to anything, but I had mixed results. I used hunks of plastic water bottle which seemed to have the proper curves in the proper places to seal the corners of the lid that were especially hard hit by the giant tree I inadvertently kissed up against. We'll see in the morning. Maybe I can seal whatever didn't glue with silicone roof sealant. Who knows? I'd just like to keep most of the rain out if possible.

Tomorrow we plan on heading toward the Capital of South Dakota in Pierre. Not only would we like to see it, but it lies north of I90 and will allow us to drive secondary roads all the way to Minnesota. For those of you wondering if we visited Wall's Drug in Wall, South Dakota, we did. Not only did I want to see the business founded in 1931 since I'd seen it on TV on more than one occasion, but I wanted to find a good American pocket knife that I could hang on my key chain. Well, we accomplished the first part of the quest, but the second part of the quest proved virtually impossible. Why? Because all the knives, no matter what price range, were made in China. Heavy sigh!