Post by Michael Holland

There is a bar in Deadwood, South Dakota, where Wild Bill Hickok was shot from behind on August 2, 1876. The original building burned down in 1879. What stands there now has been a clothing store, a beer hall, a casino, and a souvenir shop. I spent an afternoon there asking a bartender more questions about Hickok and the Wild West than he probably expected on a Sunday. As I traveled through the Black Hills, I found myself thinking about the stories America tells itself: about opportunity, ambition, reinvention, and what happens when gold is discovered somewhere new. America has always been more comfortable with the myth than the archaeology beneath it. This week’s Finding America: The Dead Man’s Hand. Full issue in the link below. 👇 #FindingAmerica #America