The cabin is located in Lawrence County South Dakota, just off of Two Bit Road. The post office is Sturgis, hence the address, and yet we are just 2.9 miles from downtown Deadwood and 30 minutes from Sturgis. Its a bit confusing, but really it is just where the lines were drawn for postal delivery that make it so. The history of the property itself is rather interesting in that Two Bit creek runs through a mining town of the same name complete with a hotel and assey office. As you might imagine, Two Bit road was how you got to the town of Two Bit. Within it there were numerous gold claims. The town name of Two Bit comes from Two Bit Creek which ledgend has it each gold pan would yield 2 Bits. Two Bit Creek runs through the property. Two of those gold claims were on the 14 acres that comprise 21005 Nobel Grand Loop where the cabin is. One claim was called the Elgin Loade Claim and the other was called the B&M Loade Claim. During excavation and construction, one shaft was filled-in and its tailing were used to construct the driveway. The other is still visible on the property and picures of the shaft are on the webpage called “The Cabin”. The Faux miners shed along the driveway is sided with cianide plates found in the area. Within the Golden Hills Sub Division, we occupy what is known as the Iverson Tract. The Cabin was built by Dave Iverson and he named the property “Destiny” as you can see the oak sign whihc was over 100 years old and came from Wisconsin. We are working to restore the entry and the name of the property.
Construction well underway 
Driveway Entry With Origional Destiny Sign now lost to Time 
Old Miners Trail now part of driveway 
Origional Trail before Roads 
Tow Bit roaring during Melt-off 
Culvert failing prior to upgrade 
Driveway flooded before upgrade and drainage 
Stump now the carved bear and felled Spruce tree 
Inspiration for the porch gates 
An actual miners shed upstream near Strawberry 
Golden Crest Processing Plant (Note the vat that now sits in front of our porch 
Two Bit Assey office 
Two Bit Assey office ruins as modeled by Dave Iverson 
Hardings Home in Two Bit 
The Two Bit Hotel
History of the Black Hills (in a nutshell)
There are far more definitive bodies of work, so this is a VERY concise summary. The Black Hills were sacred indian land that the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty granted the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation and the Arapaho Indians. All was well and good, until rumours of gold littering the creek beds resulted in an expedition headed by General Armstrong Custer on July 2nd 1874, with 2 geologists to find out if it was true (but under other pretext for being there). Once, word got out that there was gold in the hills, there was no stopping the waves of miners from sneaking into the Dakota territory risking their lives to get to the gold. Gold was found, the towns of Deadwood and Lead exploded in population. There was no law at all since there was no government until the Hills became part of South Dakota. The Homestake Gold mine bought out or crushed its competitors and became the worlds most prolific gold mine. The Homestake goldmine produced gold right up until 2001 and was the oldest continually producing Gold mine in the world. An estimated 50 million ounces of gold were extracted from the Black Hills. Today, the Homestake Mine is used by the University of California Berkley doing research on Neutrinos and dark matter particles. Way over my head here. Pictures below is the top open pit, the mine extends 8000 feet underground. The Gold bought people, and technology such as trains, telegraph, steam and hydro to the Black Hills faster and without budgetary constraints so the wild west was up to speed with the big cities back east. Logging, mills, farming, and everything imaginable and necessary was developed to support the gold economy. Until the gold ran out and towns like Deadwood declined saved only by gambling and tourism.
370 miles of Tunnels and up to 8000 Feet deep under ground. 
Above Ground “Today”