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Published: August 8th 2007
What more can I say? On my recent trip to Rapid City, I took some back roads and went through the town of Lemmon, SD. In the center of town, is a Petrified Wood Park which is pretty good size for a small town park with lots of walkways, sculptures and small fountains. Some of the sculptures are quite tall and there are also rock sculptures and a very large castle that you can go inside and see a dinosaur bone still embedded in the rock.
Who knew? The Park and the town is a nice little roadside diversion as you travel through that part of South Dakota. Also, a great place to grab a snack and fill up the tank.
A few miles south of town, you can take a gravel road to the Hugh Glass Memorial. You'll drive a few miles on the road around Shadehill Dam and the Lake it's made. You come onto the Memorial on a hill overlooking the Lake. The story is worth the drive. According to Roadside America's web site:
"In 1823, Hugh Glass was part of an expedition traveling through the plains near what is now the town of Lemmon. He
was attacked by a grizzly bear, which slashed him from head to foot. While the rest of the party moved on, a young Jim Bridger was left to tend to Glass. Instead, he took Glass’s gun and gear and left him. When Glass came out of his coma, he was alone on a desolate plain, with maggots eating the rot in his back. His leg was broken, so he had to crawl 200 miles to Fort Kiowa and safety. Fever and infection took their toll and frequently rendered him unconscious. The trip took more than two months. Glass eventually caught up with Bridger, but let him live. Fate rewarded Glass’s kindness by having him die in an Indian ambush a few years later. The Monument stands at the end of a winding unpaved road on a bluff near Shadehill, south of Lemmon, overlooking a manmade lake."
Now, that's a story.
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Ralph Lawrence
non-member comment
Hugh Glass
I have read several articles and books detailing what is known of Hugh Glass. Of all the routh and tough Mountain Men, none can hold a candle to Hugh Glass. Some of the others, including, but not limited to, the more famous Jim Bridger, William Sublette, Jedidiah Smith, John Colter, Lewis and Clark, and whoever else, simply cannot measure up to Hugh Glass. He was without question, KING OF THE MOUNTAIN MEN. Period. And he deserves the monument dedicated to his memory. This amazing man did as much as anyone else in opening up the uncharted and largely unknown northwest.The only man who ever came even a distant second to Glass was John Colter, the discoverer of what is now Yellowstone National Park.