Charles Nolin, Pony Mail Carrier

Charles Nolin's body was found here on August 20, 1876, the morning after the twenty-four-year-old mail rider left a freighters' camp on Alkali Creek rather than wait out the night. The fieldstone cairn went up on the spot on May 30, 1932, with two survivors of that camp at its dedication, and a silent film re-enacted his last ride. The 1976 state bronze beside it says Deadman Creek and Deadman Mountain were named for him. Deadwood, where he was carrying the mail, stood on treaty land.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bear Butte — 5.9 mi
  Mato Paha to the Lakota and Noahvose to the Cheyenne, a lone mountain off the plains where both nations still come to fast and pray.
• Mount Moriah Cemetery — 11 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.
• Deadwood Historic District — 11 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.
• Homestake Open Cut & Sanford Lab Visitor Center — 13 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.

More markers nearby

• Charles Nolin — 0.9 mi
• Civilian Conservation Corps Camp - Ft. Meade — 1.5 mi
• Bear Butte (Mato Paha) Indian Camp — 1.5 mi
• It Started Here — 1.9 mi