World United States South Dakota Belle Fourche

Ginny's Journeys Ginny's Adventures 2009

Belle Fourche on July 4th Jul 4, 2009

The name of the town is pronounced bell foosh – a French name meaning pretty fork, because that’s where the Belle Fourche River and the Redwater River merge. Funny to name a river “pretty fork”, eh? And both rivers are small and very gray.

This town of about 3500 people has a great parade and is home to the Black Hills Roundup rodeo. This is where the buck started 90 years ago! The last big cattle roundup in the West occurred at Belle Fourche in 1902. The town was one of the most important livestock shipping trailheads in the West. It still ships wool and the warehouses are the largest in the nation. It is a service center for NW SD, SW ND, and NE Montana. I guess Wyoming has its own livestock shipping places and it seems that nearby SE Montana is excluded or snobbish.

The geographic center of the United States is located about 20 miles north of here in a cow pasture, which is inaccessible, so they commemorate it at the Chamber of Commerce with a walkway of all the state flags and a 21 foot diameter compass made out of SD granite.

So, I spent my 4th of July in a town with a lot more going for it than I thought it would have! The parade started on time at 10 AM and lasted for over an hour. I expected to see lots of horses, but there weren’t that many. The graduating classes of 1999, 1989, 1979, 1969, and even 1959 had floats or old cars. A major trucking company had 3 tractor trailers in the parade with their horns blasting. There were cattle carriers, too. I was impressed that one of the senators from South Dakota walked in the parade; maybe this is where he’s from. Kids made out better than on Halloween with the amount of candy, freeze pops, Frisbees, and balls thrown out. The boys on the sidelines and on the fire trucks and such had a great time with water gun or hose fights. OK, some of the girls got in on it too, but they were definitely the minority.

The rodeo was okay – I watched them ride bucking horses, rope calves, ride around barrels and ride bucking bulls. Only 2 of 10 cowboys stayed on a bull for 8 seconds, so only those two won prizes in that category. The girls rode around the barrels.

They had their fireworks on the 3rd, along with Mt. Rushmore, so I missed that. Oh, I went by Mt. Rushmore around 7 PM last night in the very thick fog, and there were cars parked along the road for over 3 miles in both directions! Keystone was packed with every parking lot full, too. People were walking along the road, climbing up rocks, whatever they could do to find a spot to watch. I heard the show was delayed but went off despite the fog. The news showed their best shots - pinkish fog!! So, they showed last year's show for us viewers.

Beulah had a great fireworks show at 10 PM that lasted over 1/2 hour! It took place outside the garage at the campground, so all I had to do was come out and look up! My neighbors said the parade was good and surprisingly long - people came from miles around, I guess. Remember the population here is only 33- parade started at 3:33 PM! We all laughed about how the big thing is water fights between the fire trucks and the audience.