Editing Spearfish, South Dakota (section)

==History==
Before the [[Black Hills Gold Rush]] of 1876, the area was used by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]]s (primarily bands of [[Sioux]] but others also ranged through the area). Once the gold rush started, the city was founded in 1876 at the mouth of [[Spearfish Canyon]], and was originally called Queen City.<ref name="visit">{{cite web |url=http://www.visitspearfish.com/aboutspearfish/history/ |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=History |website=Visit Spearfish, South Dakota |access-date=November 22, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203010403/http://www.visitspearfish.com/aboutspearfish/history/ |archive-date=December 3, 2013}}</ref> Spearfish grew as a supplier of foodstuffs to the [[Gold mining|mining]] camps in the hills. Even today, a significant amount of [[truck farming]] and [[market gardening]] still occurs in the vicinity.

In 1887, the accepted history of gold mining in the Black Hills was thrown into question by the discovery of what has become known as the [[Thoen Stone]].<ref>[http://www.blackhillsvisitor.com/main.asp?id=14&cat_id=30299 "The Thoen Stone"]. – ''Black Hills Visitor Magazine''.</ref> Discovered by Louis Thoen on Lookout Mountain, the stone purports to be the last testament of Ezra Kind who, along with six others, entered the Black Hills in 1833, "got all the gold we could carry" in June 1834, and were subsequently "killed by Indians beyond the high hill." There is corroborating historical evidence for the Ezra Kind party.<ref>Tallent, Annie D., (1899). – ''The Black Hills, Or, The Last Hunting Ground of the Dakotahs''. – St. Louis, Missouri: Nixon-Jones. – pp.10–11. {{OCLC search link|191327730}}.<br>—Peattie, Roderick (1952). – ''The Black Hills''. – New York, New York: Vanguard Press. – p.58. – {{OCLC search link|490448}}.</ref>

In the 20th century, the history of Spearfish was tied to mining and tourism. Architect [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], who visited Spearfish Canyon in 1935, later called the area "unique and unparalleled elsewhere in our country," and wondered, "How is it that I've heard so little of this miracle and we, toward the Atlantic, have heard so much of the Grand Canyon when this is even more miraculous?"<ref>[http://www.spearfishcanyon.com/vegetation.htm "Vegetation-Wright Chronicles"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050421063806/http://www.spearfishcanyon.com/vegetation.htm |date=April 21, 2005}}. – Spearfish Canyon Foundation.</ref>

The Homestake Sawmill (previously part of Pope and Talbot, now owned by Neimen Forest Products) was built to supply timbers for the [[Homestake Mine (South Dakota)|Homestake Mine]] in [[Lead, South Dakota|Lead]] (closed January 2002). In 1938, Joseph Meier brought the Luenen [[Passion Play]] to settle permanently in Spearfish and become the Black Hills Passion Play, drawing thousands of visitors every year during the summer months. After Meier's death in 2007, the amphitheater and {{convert|23|acre|m2}} surrounding it were put up for sale.<ref>[http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/10/11/news/latest_news/54f39a5c4712d279862573710041f45f.txt "Passion Play property for sale"]. – [[Associated Press]]. – (c/o ''[[Sioux City Journal]]''. – October 11, 2007.</ref>

{{Wide image|Spearfish, South Dakota 1902.jpg|750px|Panoramic view of Spearfish in 1902.}}