Whitewood's Railroad History

The Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley line opened from Rapid City to Whitewood on November 21, 1887, and for three years this was the end of track, nine miles short of Deadwood. The branch up Whitewood Creek to the gulch opened on December 29, 1890. The road became the Chicago and North Western's in 1903, and the Deadwood branch was abandoned in 1970; two of its 1908 plate-girder bridges still carry Whitewood Creek Road. This two-sided 2016 bronze runs the town's railroad story to the 1940s.

What the plaque says

Whitewood's Railroad History In November of 1887, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad pulled into Whitewood. These passenger and freight trains were the first to reach the Northern Black Hills from the East. Whitewood remained the end of the line for three years until Deadwood's branch line and the main line to Belle Fourche were completed. Fourteen trains a day rolled through Whitewood making the town an active community and social center for celebrations. (Continued on other side) Dedicated in 2016 by the City of Whitewood and the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation Whitewood's Railroad History (Continued from other side) The agricultural products of lumber, cattle, horses, sheep, poultry, grain, and flour were shipped out of the Whitewood Terminal. The Dust Bowl Days brought an end to the productivity of the area's ranching and farming, and Whitewood businesses. The railroad freight business suffered. By the 1940s, automobiles and highways began replacing passenger trains. Dedicated in 2016 by the City of Whitewood and the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mount Moriah Cemetery — 7.3 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 — 7.4 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 — 9.7 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.
• Bear Butte — 11 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.

More markers nearby

• Whitewood's Cattle Industry — steps away
• 1940 DAR Penny Pines Forest — 4.4 mi
• Henry Weston Smith — 5.6 mi
• Preacher Smith of Deadwood Gulch — 5.6 mi