Tracing Black Hills Railroad History
Date and Time
Thursday May 16, 2019
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM MDT
Thursday, May 16, 2019, at 5:30 p.m.
Location
Black Hills State University, Jonas Hall room 110
Fees/Admission
Free
Contact Information
Lori Terrill
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Description
Black Hills State University’s Leland D. Case Library for Western Historical Studies is sponsoring a talk by Don McRitchie, “Tracing Black Hills Railroad History.” McRitchie is a practicing Civil Engineer in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a long-standing interest in the history of transportation infrastructure. He began an initiative in 2015 to develop a Google-Earth-based map of all Black Hills railroads to an accuracy of +/- 25’. McRitchie will discuss how this mapping project sheds light on Black Hills railroad history. Attendees will get an overview of the online map the author developed showing the location of every rail line that ever existed in the Black Hills. His focus will be on one line in particular–the Black Hills and Ft. Pierre–to provide an overview of its history and illustrate how its legacy can still be found on the ground. The presentation will also cover the techniques and information sources used in this mapping project. Anyone can employ these methods to attempt discovery and mapping of virtually any historic infrastructure in the United States.