Home›Places›Lead, SD›Terry (mining town)
Historic place

Terry (mining town)

Terry Peak area (Terry townsite), Lead, SD

A hard-rock mining boomtown of nearly 1,200 people vanished almost entirely — swallowed by open-pit mining — and it's where Calamity Jane died.

📅 1887–1929🏛️ Ghost TownDemolishedBuilt 1887
Open on the mapSlide back to 1887

The story

Terry grew on the slopes of Terry Peak in the early 1890s around mines like the Golden Reward. A post office opened in 1892, and a railroad spur served the mines until 1918. At its peak (1900-1910) it had nearly 1,200 residents. Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary died here on August 1, 1903, of pneumonia, at age 51. Terry's post office closed in 1929, and its townsite was later consumed by open-pit mining.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

Calamity Jane died in Terry in 1903 — not in nearby Deadwood, where she's more often associated.
At its peak Terry had nearly 1,200 residents.
The town's original site was eventually mined away entirely by open-pit operations.

Connected places

Explore the full web of connections on the map.

Nearby history

Know something about Terry (mining town)? An old photo, a date, a memory of what stood here before?

Add it on the map
Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry,_South_Dakota