the gordon stockade

This is worth a stop especially if you have kids. It first was used by the Gordon Party but later became a stopping place for thousands of Gold Prospectors on their way to make their fortune. Primitive restrooms and trash bins are also available. This is where Stockade Lake got its name when they dammed French Creek. Enjoy!

I saw the stockade from Highway 16A and decided to check it out. The following information is taken from the website for this park.In the summer of 1874, an expedition led by Lt. Colonel George A. Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills. Under the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, however, this region belonged to the Plains Indians, and white settlement was not allowed.Word of the discovery spread quickly, and a group of gold seekers from Sioux City, Iowa, moved into the Black Hills the following winter. Upon their arrival, the Gordon Party built a log fortress on the bank of French Creek to protect themselves from possible Lakota attacks.The Gordon Party's stay was short lived and not very profitable. Within five months, they were removed from the Black Hills by the US Cavalry.Following their eviction, a flow of fortune seekers came to these newly discovered mountains of gold. It was more than the army could control and within two years, nearly 10,000 settlers illegally inhabited the Black Hills.

A preserved historical landmark explained in pictorial displays as you approach the stockade from the parking lot. Inside, a section of the original cabins are wired off to protect them from human decay and to protect humans from weathered-roof decay.As my wife and I strolled around the stockade, I started to enter a sod-covered structure used by the inhabitants. It appears this building and all accompanying structures are protected by a gang of birds. They began to attack. We immediately retreated. Shades of Hitchcock's The Birds. Be cautious! These birds are not hospitable.