Spearfish Canyon and DC Booth Hatchery

From Devils Tower, we stopped at a stop you may be surprised about but not one that we have not done before in other parts of the country! We visited the historic D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD, one of the West’s oldest fish hatcheries which was established by the Government in 1896 and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Today, it serves as a living fisheries museum and still has the original Booth house, a furnished, circa 1905 residence on the National Registry of Historic Places, along with many artifacts. The hatchery was created to propagate, stock, and establish trout populations in the Black Hills of SD and Wyoming. It was surprising to learn that trout were not native to SD and WY and in the beginning they had a “fish car” that was utilized to deliver fish stock. The train is still on the property and it was interesting to see and hear all the stories from the volunteers at the park. You could see “lunker trout” in the viewing room and also see all the tanks of the trout from baby on up. It was really a nice museum and park to visit before heading on to Mount Rushmore.