noon
We passed two grizzly old placer-miners working just off the trail , and stopped and watched them `` pan out '' a few shovelfuls of dirt . They were rewarded by two or three specks of gold , and seemed satisfied . ` Gene told us afterward that one of them was an old California ' 49er , who had used the same pan in every State and Territory of the West . It was a little after noon when we drove into Deadwood -- the last point outward bound at which the Rattletrap expected to touch . It was a larger town than Rapid City , and was wedged in a little gulch between two mountains , with the White Wood Creek rushing along and threatening to wash away the main street . We noticed that the only way of reaching many of the houses on the mountain-side was by climbing long flights of stairs . We drove on , and camped near a mill on the upper edge of town .