8-15- 07 #2

It's a long trip from Rapid City to the Wounded Knee site, but I thought it was worth the drive. I went through the Badlands. I see where this area gets its name. There is a little info center where the North end of the park meets the South end. I had been driving for an hour or so, and wasn't sure if seeing the site was worth another forty mi.s. The ranger at the center said I had an option, 21 mi.s of gravel road. I opted for the paved route. The site is not very distinguishable from the rest of the region, but I was now in the grasslands, so I shouldn't have expected anything out of the ordinary. In the first picture is the actual Wounded Knee site, with the visitor's center at the bottom. That tree line in the background is the Wounded Knee River. The massacre site is between the visitor's center and the river. There were three of the natives at the center, who told me a lot, showed old pictures, and pointed out various landmarks. This guy, Elmer, had lived within a mile of the site his whole life. He was there when there was that government stand-off in 1972/1973. I haven't googled that yet, but he said it had something to do with the Sheriff and his "goon squad". I'll get to that later.
This is the monument at the mass grave site. Elmer said it only had room for 41 names on it, so I assume there were more dead. If you zoom in, you can read some of the names. Very interesting names, at that. On the trip out, and back, I got a few pic's of the badlands and the grasslands. It ended up being an informative day, and it was nice to have the individual attention, as I was the only visitor at the time. This is the last day in South Dak., so tomorrow I'm off to Montana. I'll catch y'all later. Ciao, bellas.