Museum celebrates tourism industry in the Hillls

By Dan Daly, Journal staff | Saturday, February 10, 2007

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RAPID CITY — Nothing said “I saw Mount Rushmore” quite like a plastic back scratcher with the four famous faces on the handle.

Paul Niemann, who spent years in the wholesale souvenir business at Rushmore Photo & Gift, said that souvenirs have a very fundamental purpose: proof to the folks back home that you really did take a vacation in the Black Hills.

“People buy souvenirs so they — and others — can believe they’ve been somewhere else. And God bless ’em for doing it,” Niemann said.

Over the years, that proof has taken many unusual forms. Mount Rushmore ashtrays, motel matchbooks, silk pillow covers and fuzzy felt pennants. And old picture postcards portraying idyllic scenes bathed in pastel colors that made even an old cow pasture look as if it’s just a quarter-mile this side of heaven.

These old Black Hills souvenirs, along with historic photos, maps, brochures, rare video footage and even a giant billboard have been assembled into a Journey Museum show that tells the story of South Dakota’s second-largest — and most colorful — industry, tourism.

“Seeking the Hills, A Journey Through Black Hills Tourism” opens today at the Journey’s Stanford Adelstein Gallery and runs through Aug. 11.

The museum show is a tribute to the tourism industry and the impact it has had on the West River economy, said Ray Summers, museum director. Vacationing and tourism, he said, is a time-honored tradition of discovery, relaxation and spiritual enrichment that dates back to the Lakota people who traveled to the Black Hills.

Modern Black Hills tourism began not long after the Gold Rush days. Evans Plunge opened in 1890. Wind Cave became a popular stop a short time later. Rustic lodges such as the Palmer Gulch Lodge and the Latchstring Inn served the needs of travelers.

And in the 1920s, Sen. Peter Norbeck, builder C.C. Gideon and sculptor Gutzon Borglum changed Black Hills tourism in ways that are still reaping benefits today.

Reid Riner, curator-director of the Minnilusa Pioneer Association, which is housed inside the Journey, is in charge of organizing the show. He said the photos and artifacts are on loan from a variety of sources.

For instance, Holy Terror Antiques in Keystone offered fun, old souvenirs like the Mount Rushmore backscratcher.

And Marilyn Oakes, granddaughter of C.C. Gideon, loaned a framed copy of the blueprint for one of her grandfather’s most unusual designs, the pigtail bridges of the Iron Mountain Road. And a number of Black Hills attractions have dipped into their own photo and artifact collections to help put the show together.

In addition, Historical Footprints, a Lead-based film production company, has produced a 17-minute video with rare footage of Black Hills tourism. It will be playing in the gallery.

“I think people will be interested in the tourism show. All of us grew up with this,” Riner said.

Winter hours at the Journey Museum are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The museum plans a special reception in the gallery on Sunday, Feb. 25, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. At the reception, museum and tourism officials will honor the tourism businesses that have been operating 50 years or more.

In addition, a series of eight Sunday afternoon talks are scheduled to run from March through June.

Topics will include the Lakota perspective, Peter Norbeck’s vision and the history of filmmaking in the Black Hills. Railroad author Rick Mills will lead an all-day bus tour of the Black Hills railroading landmarks on Saturday, May 12.

For more information on the talks, call 394-6923 or go to www.journeymuseum.org.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or Dan.Daly@rapidcityjournal.com