I drove out to Rapid City yesterday evening and spent the night at my friend's grandma's house. She grew up on a ranch in what became the Badlands Bombing Range. Hers was one of the 125 tribal families that were forced to move with just 30 days' notice during WWII. We talked about her memory of that event, which happened when she was 10. Fascinating to hear first hand memories of the hardship and life changing event that it was. Many had to move to town, give away or sell cattle as they could, and then had no real occupation. Something new I learned: many families who were forced to leave moved west to the coast. A bunch settled in Seattle and went to work for Boeing. Others found work at the naval shipyard in southern California. Long after the war, in the 1960s, families were given the option to repurchase their land, but had to pay interest on the amount the government had given them in the 40s. Many lacked the means. Others who had means to purchase land were not always able, the land had to belong to a direct blood ancestor. The ranch that my friend's grandparents worked had belonged to her grandma's uncle, and through a fortunate turn of events they were able to acquire it. There's more to the story, but this isn't the place for all the details.

Today I spent the day exploring the Black Hills, something I hadn't really done yet. I'd been there a couple times, but for specific destinations. We visited some rock shops, had lunch, and then went out into the wilderness to metal detect, pan for gold, hike around, and explore. We spent the evening in Deadwood, staying at the Bullock Hotel, which was originally built and run by the well known historical figure Seth Bullock, a distant relative of my friend. It was an interesting day, and I got to see a lot of the less populated areas of the Hills. It felt a lot like being at home in North Idaho.

In the Hills, west-ish of Keystone.

Pactola Reservoir.

Deadwood.

Here is a very small portion of the over 1200 photographs I took at a local branding yesterday. In respect of the individuals I don't know, I'm trying not to include images that show faces clearly. I have some pretty great shots that I'm not posting, but these below show an overview of the day.

Branding is a loud, smelly business, but a day to look forward to for those involved. It is cause to bring families and neighbors together as they help get the work done faster, and there are breaks and meals for social time. Most of these people have probably already attended several brandings this year, and will help at several more. The communities surrounding Badlands NP are very much still practicing ranching traditions that have been in place for generations. Many people also work for the park, part- or full-time, temporary or permanent. In a nutshell, branding involves riding out to round up cattle and drive them to the corral. Once there, calves must be separated from cows, causing both sides to make a lot of noise in protest that lasts throughout the event. Ranchers on horseback rope calves individually, and bring them over to the wrestlers, who hold the calves secure for the relatively brief process of branding, inoculating, castrating, etc. It is often the kids who do the wrestling; my friend had to move from carrying the nut bucket to wrestling when she was 10 years old. The calves are then carefully let go to run back to the group. This continues until all the calves have been processed, and at that point they rejoin the cows and head back out to graze. After cleaning up and getting horses back to trailers, everyone heads in to eat before either moving on to another branding or going home.