In 1874… Gold was discovered in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. That year Col. George Armstrong Custer had led a large scientific Expedition to the Black Hills looking for a suitable location to establish a new Fort…and to investigate earlier ‘rumors of Gold’. Indeed, the famous Catholic Missionary, Father Pierre Jean De Smet, had written earlier about seeing gold possessed by Lakota Sioux Indians during his 1840’s Western travels. This 1874 gold find proved unfortunate, however, because even though the 1868 Treaty of Laramie had ‘forever’ granted the Black Hills to the Lakota Band of Indians… the discovery of gold caused a rush of thousands of gold prospectors into the Black Hills that was in clear violation of the Treaty. This created a crises that ultimately brought about the Black Hills War of 1876 – 77, taking the lives of Colonel Custer and five Companies of his 7th Cavalry at the famous 1876 ‘Battle of the Little Bighorn‘.
This post is about one of the lingering after effects from the influx of thousands of prospectors – Ghost Towns. These rapidly built gold mining ‘boom towns‘…lived briefly & lived brilliantly, but most ultimately had to close down when the gold played out… becoming just ghost towns.
These towns were located in some of the prettiest places in the mountains… and connected to each other by steam locomotive trains. Today, most of these towns are only known as ‘little spots on the map’… with just a hint of what once was. Mystic… founded in the same year of ‘Custer’s Last Stand’, 1876… and once named ‘Sitting Bull‘… is just such a town.
Mystic is located deep in the mountains, along what was once the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad line. Click on the map below for more detail.
Upon driving in to the area, the first thing one notices is this sign showing the historical location of Mystic, adjacent to Castle Creek, and the Burlington Railroad.
Site marker for the 1876 gold mining town of Mystic… now a ghost town… and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Driving a little further down the road, we come across a modern day ‘marker’ for Mystic… Clearly, folks are still coming… and going… thru Mystic, just by different means. This next picture shows the Mystic Trailhead for the Mickelson Trail, a Rails-to-Trails pathway for bikers and hikers, 109 miles long, stretching from Edgemont, SD to Deadwood, SD.
Modern day site marker for Mystic… a trailhead rest stop on the Mickelson Trail… a ‘Rails to Trails’ bike & hiking path that was constructed over the abandoned Burlington Northern Railroad track right-of-way, stretching 109 miles from Edgemont, SD, to Deadwood, SD.
A map of the gold mining town of Mystic, courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places… Click on image to enlarge it.
Map of the Mystic National Register District. Click Here to enlarge image… Apologies for glare… it was a sunny day.
A surviving building that was a grainery’ in Mystic’s mining days. It must be about 135 years old…
According to the National Historic District Map, this abandoned building was a grainery.
These building ruins were once a bar n alongside the RR tracks…
According to the National Historic District Map, this was a Barn.
In the next picture, hard to see in the middle behind pine tree, are the ruins of a Railroad Section House, a special overnight house for Railroad employees.
According to the National Historic District Map, this difficult to see ruin was a Section House…. A ‘Section House‘ is unique to Railroads, and was used to provide overnight accommodations to Railroad workers… or sometimes just for storage. They have been phased out of usage.
Looking in the other direction, in the distance, we can see McCahan Memorial Chapel… at the intersection of Frink Rd, and Mystic Rd.
Looking in the other direction… in the distance is the McCahan Memorial Chapel, constructed in 1930 out of logs.
This log structure, McCahan Memorial Chapel, was constructed in 1930, from funds provided by a Philadelphia Woman of the same name.
McCahan Memorial Chapel.
Click on picture to enlarge to a more easily readable size.
Click on the small image to the right for a readable view of the Chapel description. This Church was built by Presbyterians, and as the population declined, regular services were discontinued in 1952… BUT, it is available for an occasional wedding…
Like this Wedding a few years ago of our good friends, Greg and Suzy Joy…
Greg & Suzy Joy, McCahan Chapel, Mystic, SD
Greg & Suzy are the folks that introduced us to this charming little Ghost Town of Mystic, SD… and were willing to share a couple of their wedding Pictures with us. It was a beautiful day in Mystic…
Click on these pictures to view fully expanded images.
Wedding table set up… Note the hanging Kerosene Lanterns
Exchanging Vows… an extraordinary setting for an extraordinary Couple.
This is the view of McCahan Chapel today upon entering the Church.
McCahan Memorial Chapel, looking inside from the rear entrance.
The Church Building does not have electricity… so these hangers are for hanging Lanterns.
An interesting feature… these are hooks for hanging lantern lights. There is no electricity in this Church building.
Returning back to the Mickelson Trailhead shelter… our thoughts turn to the original Railroads that ran thru here. The Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad ran on these tracks, along with the Rapid City, Black Hills, and Western Railroad. The last passenger train was in 1947…
A Mystic Trailhead sign… describing the early RailRoad that serviced Mystic. Again, apologies for glare… it was a sunny day. Click on picture to enlarge image for easy readability.
Returning back to the Mickelson Trailhead, we find this unique marker… Mile Marker 74.7 on the trail.
Trailhead Mile Marker 74.7 of the Mickelson Trail.
As it became time to leave… it seemed only appropriate… that as we left Mystic, we encountered this symbolic image of the range & forest land surrounding Mystic today…
Appropriate last view of Mystic… cows on an open range. I would mention – Note the very excellent dirt road… South Dakota has thousands of miles of high-quality dirt roads, especially in the Black Hills. They are a pleasure to drive to see the back country.
Slideshow… A Mystic Ghost town
To view a full-screen, high resolution slideshow of our visit to Mystic, click the ‘curved arrow’ just below the picture on the right. To return to normal display, hit [Esc] key. Otherwise, place cursor over the picture to display the slideshow contol buttons. Comments are Welcomed!
Thank you for taking time to view our post. Alice and I enjoy exploring the South Dakota Black Hills… so many things to see and do – and Lots of History here! Any questions or comments… please feel free to contact us.
Hello, My name is Brian Brown and I am looking for information on the McCahan Memorial Chapel. My father was born in a small log cabin in Mystic, his mother ran the depot and his father worked for the railroad. Years later he and my mom were the first people married in the the chapel. My dad died last fall and I am planning a memorial for him this summer in the Black Hills. I would like to have part of his life celebrating in the McCahan Memorial Chapel, but am having trouble finding out who manages it. Years ago (I was married there in 1990) it was managed through one of the Presbyterian Churches in Rapid City, but I run into dead ends when I call! Do you think your friends who were married there might know a good contact person? I would greatly appreciate any help you can give! Thank you, Brian
Greg Joy is my first cousin and your blog was forwarded to me via Greg and my father. So enjoyed the pictures of Greg and Suzy’s Mystic wedding!
Really enjoyed this article. I love exploring the history of ghost towns and learning about the people who lived there. You have some very beautiful country up there. Hope to return to that country in the near future.
Hi John. It’d be good to see you and Deb again… and up here would be nice! Its beautiful country. We just re-up’d to do workamping at Hart Ranch again next year… All Summer of 2016.
Safe Travels.
Jim
Wonderful article. We learned even more about Mystic 🙂
See you again in May for more exploring. Happy Travels
Greg & Suzy
Hi Greg & Suzy. Yep, lots of exploring yet to be done… we got a list, and it keeps growing.
See ya in May.
JIm
great hearing from you, hope to see you this year out west, going camping this weekend at wolf lake 3 day getaway for me. thanks for the update.
Hi Dennis. Good to hear from you. I think I remember Wolf Lake… up towards Newaygo? Beautiful place.
Yes, this coming year, lets coordinate the ‘out West’ trips… We’d love to hook up again in Tucson, like two years ago. You have a wonderful group of friends, and we’d love to see them again – and you. And hopefully, the Silver Saddle Steakhouse…
Our plans are – be home for the Christmas Holidays again, and then in early January, leave to head back to Arizona for he Winter. I’ll bet a Mister Burger breakfast… and silver saddle? hehehe, lets give it a try.
Take care,
Jim