Sheridan, originally called Golden City, was an early

mining camp A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historical mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Bendig ...

in Pennington County,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, United States. It was the first

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Pennington County, from 1877 to 1878. It is now submerged under Sheridan Lake.

History

Founding and growth

Sheridan began as a

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mining camp in the

Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...

, was laid out in the spring of 1875, and was originally called Golden City. It is the third oldest camp in the Black Hills. There were several mines in the area, including: the Queen Bee, J.R., Blue Lead and Calumet. One of the first rich placers was found there in 1875. That October, $3,000 worth of gold was taken out by placer miners. By February 1876, Golden City had several residents, four stores, and many houses. A

stage line A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by f ...

connecting

Deadwood Deadwood may refer to: Places Canada * Deadwood, Alberta * Deadwood, British Columbia * Deadwood River, a tributary of the Dease River in northern British Columbia United States * Deadwood, California (disambiguation), several communit ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

ran through the town, leading to more growth. In 1877, the town was renamed to Sheridan, in honor of U.S. Army General Philip Sheridan. It became the temporary county seat of Pennington County. The

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

was built by the citizens in late 1877 and that October, held the first term of the

U.S. Circuit Court The United States circuit courts were the intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system from 1789 until 1912. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, and had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversit ...

west of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

Decline and abandonment

The circuit court later moved to Deadwood and the stage line changed course. In 1878, the county seat moved to Rapid City. In the mid-1880s, the town caught

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

, and many buildings were destroyed. By 1920, there were only 10 residents in Sheridan, and the nearby mines were quickly failing. Eventually, Sheridan became a ghost town. In 1939, Spring Creek was

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

med and Sheridan was submerged under the new Sheridan Lake. The only thing that remains of Sheridan is a one-story house that was moved to the south just before the creek was dammed, on the edge of a small

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

. This house once belonged to Johnny and Kit Good and had 12 outside doors.

Geography

Sheridan is located in the

of Pennington County. It is north of Hill City, along

U.S. Route 385 U.S. Route 385 (US 385) is a spur of U.S. Route 85 that runs for 1,206 miles (1,941 km) from Deadwood, South Dakota to Big Bend National Park in Texas. Route description , - , TX , 545 , 877 , - , OK , 36 , 58 , - , CO , 317 , 5 ...

. Sheridan is submerged approximately below the surface of Sheridan Lake. Spring Creek empties into the north end of Sheridan Lake. The Good house is located on the east side of U.S. 385, six miles south of the lake and north of Hill City.

References

{{Pennington County, South Dakota Ghost towns in South Dakota Former populated places in Pennington County, South Dakota Submerged places in the United States Populated places established in 1875 1875 establishments in Dakota Territory Populated places disestablished in 1939 1939 disestablishments in South Dakota Mining communities in South Dakota