Pretty Enough to Make Movies

Dancing with Wolves is one of the movies that used this canyon for the scenery in it. But it was well known before the moves came by.

The train on the front of this post card is traveling through what some people (Frank Lloyd Wright, for one) consider the most beautiful canyon in the United States. It is Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is about 70 miles north (and a bit west) of Mount Rushmore. I found this information on the internet about Spearfish Canyon and the railroad. It comes from this website: http://www.spearfishcanyon.com/culture/agrarian.html In 1893, Spearfish Canyon was opened by the railroad. This engineering marvel consisted of three hundred and seventy five curves of sheer up and down hill climbing. In all, the thirty two mile "Spearfish Spur" left Deadwood, rose 1,886 feet in six miles to Trojan (then known as Portland), then down 2,778 in twenty-five miles spanning thirty-three bridges to Spearfish. The ties were bedded in rock the whole way and the freight cars had to be chained to the siding to keep them from rolling to the bottom at Spearfish. The Grand Island & Wyoming Line built the spur but then sold it to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy a short time later for more than $2-million. In an early brochure citing the breathtaking engineering accomplishments, the Burlington called the Canyon trip, "for sheer artistry of description, it need bow to no other." The railroad was very accommodating in those days. The schedule was one train a day, and the crew was most happy to let the fisherman, sightseers, picnickers, berry pickers, and the like off at any place they chose and pick them up again on the return trip. One of the most scenic and thrilling spots on the Spearfish Canyon train ride was Spearfish Falls. The crew would stop the train on the vibrating trestle spanning the falls offering a thrilling sight of the waters thundering impact below. The line as abandoned in 1933 after some severe massive flooding made it too expensive to rebuild. Today, a highway follows along where the rail bed used to be in places. This website has the following to say about the car drive: https://visitspearfish.com/things-to-do/spearfish-canyon The breathtaking limestone palisades of this creek-carved gorge are more ancient than the Grand Canyon – albeit much closer together. Once accessible only by horseback, Spearfish Canyon’s narrow, 1000-foot walls are among the most spectacular scenery in the Black Hills. Passersby can see the canyon en route to other Black Hills attractions on US Highway 14A, which winds through the canyon for nearly 20 miles from the city of Spearfish to Cheyenne Crossing. Built on top of an old rail bed, the highway affords visitors views of pristine natural wonders and historical treasures.

The post card was printed by the Curt Otto Teich Company. It was printed between 1915 and 1930 - the White Border Era. Curt's white border post cards are considered some of the best quality. He printed it for L. B. Holister, an importer and jobber in the city of Lead, South Dakota. I can find nothing on Mr. Hollister. But, there are many post cards on the internet that carry his moniker. That is his logo in the bottom left-hand corner of the back of the post card.