Rediscovering Deadwood

You’ve seen the hit HBO show. Now explore the town that inspired it

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The last coach from Deadwood, South Dakota.

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updated 12:30 p.m. ET July 21, 2006

In the fall of 1875, gold was discovered in Deadwood Gulch, Dakota Territory. By 1876, about 10,000 people had turned their camp into an instant city — one gritty enough to inspire an HBO series.

Early Deadwood’s Main Street was crowded with gold seekers. The lucky ones got to spend their earnings in the town’s array of bars and brothels. Today's Deadwood is tamer, but it’s still easy to have fun.

Main Street today

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The town has struck gold again with HBO's show, which features a smoldering Sheriff Bullock and villainous Al Swearengen, owner of the sordid Gem Theater. Tourists stroll Main Street in search of landmarks like the Bullock Hotel (left) and the Gem (no longer standing). They seek out the side-by-side gravesites of the Old West's superstars, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

Hidden in pines, Sheriff Seth Bullock’s grave used to be mostly ignored. Not anymore.

Deadwood's new hero

Timothy Olyphant stars as Deadwood Sheriff Seth Bullock on HBO. Canadian-born Bullock and his partner Sol Starr arrived in town in August 1876 and established a hardware store. Bullock became Deadwood’s first sheriff after the famous murder of Wild Bill Hickok.

The real Seth Bullock

Sheriff Bullock had a long, successful career as a businessman and rancher. In 1884 he met future president Theodore Roosevelt. The two became fast friends, and Bullock volunteered to be a captain in Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War.

Kevork Djansezian / AP file
Actors and stand-ins move about on the main street set of HBO's popular "Deadwood" series during filming Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005, in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Seth's place

The Bullock Hotel (633 Main St.; 605/578-1745) anchors Main Street today. Seth Bullock built it in 1895, when the town was prospering off the Homestake Mine. Its stone construction was meant to prevent a repeat of a disastrous fire in 1879.

You can still stay at the hotel that was Seth’s pride and joy. Its bar is a good place to sit back and collect Deadwood gossip. If you’re a fan of ghosts, check out Room 211, said to be haunted by Seth himself.

Grim, funny, and profane

A stagecoach drives through young Deadwood in a scene from the show. From its first episode, Deadwood created a panorama of the American West not seen before on television: violent, grim, funny, exceedingly profane.

In the words of one local archaeologist, “Our history is based on liars, loners, and lowlifes.”