DEADWOOD, SD

The Bullock Hotel on Main St

Deadwood bears very little resemblance to the old black and white photos from the gold rush days and just as little resemblance to the thoroughfare seen in HBO's TV series, Deadwood. The wooden buildings built during the 19th century were wiped out by a string of fires and floods. They were replaced by brick & mortar structures. The rebuilt Deadwood's fortunes dried up with the gold mines only to be revived with legalized gambling in the 1980s. Unfortunately, almost no effort was made to rebuild Deadwood in the image of its glory days such as you would see at Old Sacramento State Historic Park.


21st century Deadwood's thoroughfare looks like a street you'd find in downtown Reno. The Bullock Hotel seems to be the only structure where any kind of preservation effort was made. You'll see names like The Gem, Utter's Place, Wild Bill's, or Calamity on some of the current businesses but there's no real connection to Al Swearengen's Gem Variety Theater, Charlie Utter, Wild Bill Hickok, or Calamity Jane.

Seth Bullock built this hotel where his hardware warehouse burned down

The present day thoroughfare

Most of the businesses on Main St are casinos and souvenir shops

Seth Bullock and Sol Star operated a hardware warehouse on this site

Sherriff Bullock should keep an eye on these two dubious characters

The sign says "Utter's Place" but there's no connection to Charlie Utter

 

There are several businesses in town named for Wild Bill Hickok

This is not the site of Al Swearengen's Gem Variety Theater

The upper facade shows this building was built in 1894

Looking down the middle of the thoroughfare

This business's only connection to Calamity Jane Cannary is its name

Local historians claim this is NOT the site of Nutall & Mann's #10 Saloon

The true site is allegedly across the street where the Wild West Casino now operates