1940 DAR Penny Pines Forest

The bronze names the woman who chose this program only as Mrs. Henry M. Robert. She was Sarah Corbin Robert, President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who in 1939 made Penny Pines one of the society's golden jubilee projects, each chapter pledging at least an acre at five dollars, a penny a seedling. Fourteen South Dakota chapters paid for the 18,000 ponderosa here, planted by the Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps. This 2017 casting replaces the marker dedicated on November 3, 1940.

What the plaque says

1940 DAR Penny Pines Forest In 1940, fourteen South Dakota chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) contributed funds for the planting of 18,000 Ponderosa "Penny Pines" in a 25 acre tract along the west side of Highway 85, about 4 1/2 miles from Deadwood on the road to Spearfish. Penny Pines, so named for their cost of one penny apiece, were planted by the Black Hills National Forest in conjunction with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The planting commemorated the Golden Jubilee of the National Society DAR (50th anniversary of founding). In 1939, DAR's President General, Mrs. Henry M. Robert, chose the Penny Pine program to help the National Forests recover from over-harvesting, devastating fires, and little replanting. Margaret March-Mount, "Ambassador of Trees," envisioned a nation of healthy trees and was credited with inspiring the National Society DAR to plant five million seedlings in 36 states and the District of Columbia. This marker is a replacement of the original marker dedicated on November 3, 1940.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Deadwood Historic District — 3.6 mi
  A gold-rush town on treaty land, rebuilt in brick after the 1879 fire and rescued a century later by a vote to let casinos pay for its preservation.
• Mount Moriah Cemetery — 3.6 mi
  The hillside where Deadwood moved its dead: Wild Bill and Calamity Jane side by side, Seth Bullock looking at his friend's tower, and the Chinese burner of 1908.
• Homestake Open Cut & Sanford Lab Visitor Center — 5.8 mi
  A 1,250-foot pit on Lead's Main Street, the visible top of a gold mine that went down 8,000 feet in 125 years and is a physics laboratory now.
• Spearfish Canyon — 12 mi
  A limestone canyon nineteen miles long whose waterfalls ran dry for most of a century while the Homestake piped their water to its power plants.

More markers nearby

• Henry Weston Smith — 1.6 mi
• Preacher Smith of Deadwood Gulch — 1.6 mi
• First Deadwood Gold Discovery — 2.9 mi
• Whitewood's Railroad History — 4.4 mi