Think about the most romantically notorious Wild West town you ever heard of, and most likely Deadwood would head the list. Deadwood has more than its share of legends, heroes, and brigands who traveled through or made their homes here: Wild Bill and Calamity Jane to be sure, but also Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, Captain Jack Crawford (the "Poet Scout"), California Joe, Seth Bullock, Poker Alice, and many more. No other frontier town--not Dodge City, Tombstone, Abilene, or Cripple Creek--could claim them all. Deadwood is the champion, and was the happening place in the late 1870s. This legacy lives on today as casino gambling--perhaps ironically but fittingly--financed the preservation of historic downtown Deadwood begining in 1989, an area that is now designated a National Historic Landmark.
