Spearfish, SD July 27

We arrived in Spearfish on Tuesday afternoon and set up camp in the Spearfish City Campground.   It's right on the Spearfish Creek, one of the premier trout fishing creeks in SD.   It's on the edge of the historic DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, so on Wednesday afternoon we walked across the street to take a look.  

The Museum is housed in the original 1899 hatchery building which was once filled with wooden troughs, incubating trout eggs and running water.   The fishery manager and his family lived upstairs in the house.  

The railcar tells the story of an era when railroad cars were used to transport fish across the country.   Crews lived and worked in the cars from early spring until October delivering fish and stocking lakes and streams.   This beautiful exhibit was constructed from a 1910 passenger car following the design of Fish Car # 3 - the first fish car built.  

The Booth house was built in 1905 was the living quarters for hatchery superintendents and their families until 1983.  

The picture of us by the pond is just one of several ponds containing rainbow and black spotted trout.   There are also ducks in the pond.   For two people who don't fish, this was a very educational tour!