John S. McClintock and Deadwood: The Making and the Myths of a Wild West Town

Engaging Deadwood’s history through the lens of her great-great-uncle John S. McClintock’s legendary 1939 memoir, Pioneer Days in the Black Hills, Laura J. Beard shines light on the power of mythology to shape historical interpretation. McClintock’s memoir serves as a guidebook not just to the early days of Deadwood and the Black Hills but also to current modes of engagement with critical issues of truth, memory, storytelling, history, and sovereignty that remain vital in today’s debates over preservation and Indigenous rights.Tourism campaigns continue to promote the “Wild West” town of Deadwood as just as wild today as it was when legends like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Seth Bullock roamed the streets. Those myths and legends of the West are key to Deadwood’s continued economic success, but that success rests on the unsteady foundation of mythological history and the violation of Lakota treaty rights. In her exploration of these issues Beard exposes the complex and nuanced web of myths that generate their own Wild West realities.