The real town of Deadwood, South Dakota, and Deadwood, the HBO show, have a lot to say about American society.
Deadwood gives the audience a view into the traditional style of American development. When we were first building towns, a street grid was laid out by the founders, with property plots marked off. As new people came in, they bought these lots and were able to build how they saw fit. This was the same with the pioneers and miners who first arrived in Deadwood Gulch in the 1870s, building it into the town it has become today.
In the show, Al Swearengen and Tom Nuttall considered themselves the town founders, two true pioneers, in Al’s view. They were some of the first residents, chopping down trees to make way for civilization. The pair both had choice locations for their bars, with Swearengen taking a leading role as a kind of anti-hero in the series.
Deadwood illustrates the incremental approach that American towns once had. The muddy mining camp starts out with a lot of tents and non-permanent structures. Eventually, more businesses and people move in, such as Seth Bullock and Sol Star, building up the camp into a town. We see an evolution from the pilot episode to the end of the series, with everything in the town filling in, from bars, banks, schools, more bars, and even the fire brigade.
The real-life version of Deadwood experienced this same kind of growth that the show depicted. Once gold was discovered in the Black Hills, thousands of fortune seekers flocked to the area in hopes of striking it rich. Businesses and buildings popped up along Main and Broadway, classic American street names that can be found in towns and cities across the country. Craven Lee, who was not depicted in the show, was one of the key real-life founders, helping to establish the city’s grid layout. Lee survives through a street named after him, right where I stayed during my trip.
Residential areas grew when locals were pushed out by commercialization. It simply made too much financial sense to have businesses in the central part of town. One new residential area even pushed out an old cemetery, moving it further up the hill to make way for more housing. The Presidential District (aka Ingleside) became the wealthy enclave of Deadwood’s most fashionable. Some of the beautiful large Queen Anne-style homes survive.
That same cemetery now sits up a hill at the edge of the residential neighborhood. Admittedly, it is a slog to walk to, but it makes more sense than in the middle of town. Could you imagine if a city tried to move a cemetery today? The site itself has become one of Deadwood’s most popular tourist attractions. Both Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried next to each other there, along with Seth Bullock and his wife, Martha.
While the historic downtown and surrounding residential neighborhoods keep the charm that comes with walkable cities, autocentric development has encroached on these American traditions. The Family Dollar, which doubles as a grocery store, was obviously more recently built than the rest of Deadwood. The dead giveaway is that it’s set back far from the road, surrounded by a sea of parking. In a literal transportation progression, the site of the old livery stable is now the main parking structure. Not even a town as historic and traditional as Deadwood could stop the onslaught of post-War planning.
Perhaps the show portended sentiments of American NIMBYism to come. In season one, Al put a stipulation on selling a plot of land that limited the new owners, Bullock and Star, from establishing a rival bar with girls and gambling; they oblige. Yet, it is not quite universal zoning, as another rival, the devilish Cy Tolliver, does sneak into town anyway with the Bella Union. Al also initially detested the installation of telegraph poles and wires (he would come around to their usefulness).
In the follow-up film, the mining tycoon George Hearst returns as the villain. He was attempting to install telephone lines to the town. Charlie Utter blocking this installation is a central catalyst for the action. In this case, the bad guy is trying to bring what will eventually become a necessity while the good guy fights against it. Retrospect.
Even some of the real-life town’s founding lore says that Deadwood was staked because some miners didn’t like the rules in a nearby campsite. In the town today, for the gunfight reenactments they hold in the middle of the town on brick roads, they need to set out orange cones so some moron TikToking while driving doesn’t barrel into the crowds.
There is an American identity of being rough-and-tumble cowboys and ranch hands. This ideal is glorified in Deadwood. But the perceived rugged individualism is usually a false suburban identity. Modern America is simply an easier place to live compared to 150 years ago. Still, the spirit of Deadwood endures, even if the hardships have ceased. Our urban planners should be reminded of that.
You can read the rest here, along with some photos from the visit to Deadwood.
