Terry

Overview

Calamity Jane's last stop

Much of the gold around Terry was locked in ore that would not give it up to simple milling. That changed in the 1880s, when a smelting and chlorination plant was built in Deadwood, and miners moved into the gulch below Terry Peak. The Golden Reward mine was set up in 1887 to work the ore with the new methods. A Deadwood Central Railroad spur reached the mines in 1890 or 1891 and ran until 1918.

The post office opened in 1892, named for the peak. The town grew up along the sides of the gulch. Between 1900 and 1910 the town reached almost 1,200 people. Calamity Jane, Martha Jane Cannary, died there on August 1, 1903, aged 51. She was buried in Deadwood beside Wild Bill Hickok. Philip Graham, later publisher of the Washington Post, was born in Terry.

The post office closed in 1929. Mining in the area went on. The Golden Reward was reworked as an open pit from 1989 to 1996. SDPB said in 2018 that the townsite sits on private land owned by a mine and that not much is left. Wikipedia names the owner as Coeur Mining and says the site is closed to the public. We couldn't confirm either point with the owner or a dated source.

Timeline

Gold, rail and a famous death

1. 1880sA smelting and chlorination plant at Deadwood makes the area's refractory ore worth mining. Miners settle in the gulch below Terry Peak.
2. 1887The Golden Reward mine is established on a claim staked about ten years earlier.
3. 1890–1891A spur of the Deadwood Central Railroad reaches the mines. It runs until 1918.
4. 1892The Terry post office opens, named for nearby Terry Peak.
5. 1900–1910The town peaks at almost 1,200 residents.
6. Aug 1, 1903Martha Jane Cannary, Calamity Jane, dies in Terry at 51.
7. 1929The post office closes.
8. 1989–1996Modern open-pit work at the Golden Reward produces about 280,000 ounces of gold, by the owner's figures quoted by SDPB.

Record

What we know about the site

We found no published list of what still stands at Terry. The historic maps below show the town as it was: the 1894 Deadwood sheet doesn't name it yet, but the 1900 and 1915 Spearfish sheets mark Terry in the gulch on Fantail Creek, with railroad lines and Stewart Gulch to the south, and the 1915 sheet labels the Golden Reward Mine. The 1961 Lead sheet still marks Terry, with a ski lift on the slope toward Terry Peak.

Historic maps

Terry on USGS maps, 1894–1961

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

18941:125,00019001:62,50019151:62,50019611:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Terry is a few miles southwest of Lead off US 14A and Nevada Gulch Road (SD 473). The routes below were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been checked on the ground. Their last half mile follows an unnamed track toward the townsite, and we couldn't confirm that it is public. The site is reported closed, so treat this as a drive past at most.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Have photos of Terry?

We haven’t added photographs of Terry yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Terry?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Terry

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our South Dakota index.

• Trojan1.2 mi NW · Lawrence
• Flatiron2.4 mi E · Lawrence
• Lead2.8 mi NE · Lawrence
• Terraville3.3 mi NE · Lawrence
• Central City3.3 mi NE · Lawrence
• Blacktail3.8 mi NE · Lawrence
• Lancaster City3.8 mi NE · Lawrence
• Ragged Top3.9 mi NW · Lawrence

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Terry, South Dakota", retrieved October 2026: the ore and Deadwood plant, the Golden Reward, the rail spur, post office dates, the name, peak population, Calamity Jane, Philip Graham, ownership and closure.
2. SDPB, "The Golden Reward Mine," October 29, 2014: the 1887 start on an earlier claim, the location at the base of Terry Peak, 1989–1996 production by Wharf Resources' figures.
3. SDPB, "Vanished South Dakota," October 25, 2018: Terry sits on private land owned by a mine; not much is left.
4. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Calamity Jane", updated September 2026: her death in Terry on August 1, 1903, and burial beside Hickok.
5. ghosttowns.com, "Terry": fact sheet, which lists the remains as unknown.
6. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Deadwood 1894, 1:125,000; Spearfish 1900, 1:62,500; Spearfish 1915, 1:62,500; Lead 1961, 1:24,000.