Fall River County has a history built around water. Early industries, such as the Refinite Mineral Processing Plant at Ardmore, were built to enhance the water; other businesses, such as bathhouses in Hot Springs and Edgemont, the Michael J. Fitzmaurice Veterans Home (originally named the Soldiers Home), and the VA Black Hills Medical Center (known by longtime residents as the Battle Mountain Sanitarium) in Hot Springs, were established here because naturally warm water and the moderate climate enhanced their missions. Back in the day, small towns had flour mills, creameries, and ice companies, and the towns flourished with each industrial boom. Out in the county, on the government-run experimental farm, crops were tested and people attended agricultural classes and meetings. Oil wells were drilled, sandstone was quarried, and farmers and ranchers worked the land and the cattle. Through the years, county residents have been warm and welcoming, much like the water.

The unsung heroes of Fall River County made the area what it is. They were the men at the lumberyard, the pioneers, homesteaders, cowboys, farmers, homemakers, teachers, quarry workers, service station mechanics, blacksmiths, firemen, and the builders of Angostura Dam. Fall River County and Hot Springs: Views from the Past 1881-1955 showcases these everyday people. Each person played a role in the success of the county, from the children whose chores helped to ensure a family's survival to the visionaries who built irrigation ditches. Sandstone quarries and buildings, sod houses and mansions, cattle and cowboys, work and play, and other images of daily lives are featured within these pages. Using over 200 vintage images and accompanying captions, author Peggy Sanders brings to life the rich history of the area and the incredible residents who made it all possible.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was established on March 31, 1933 by President Franklin Roosevelt as part of his efforts to pull the country out of the Great Depression. The program lasted until July 2 1942, successfully creating work for a half-million unemployed young men across the nation. They were housed, fed, clothed, and taught trade skills while working in forests, parks, and range lands. Paid one dollar a day, each man was required to send home $25 a month; the program provided work for young men as well as support to thousands of families. South Dakota was home to more than 50 camps over the nine-year time span with projects in areas ranging from constructing bridges and buildings in state parks, thinning trees in national forests to mining rock, crushing it into gravel, and graveling roads. Although this volume is set in South Dakota, the photos are representative of camps and men from all over the nation who served in the CCCs.

Custer County, South Dakota, is trees and prairies, Black Hills and buffalo, small towns and friendly people, mining and logging, farming and ranching, history and memories. It is the home of the Crazy Horse Monument. Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park, where the Civilian Conservation Corps left many legacies, are here as well. But the individuals who did the everyday work are the ones who truly made a difference. These are the people who are celebrated within these pages, which contain over 220 vintage photographs, mostly from private collections. The only thing missing is the aroma of sawmills in operation that used to permeate Custer City. As the Custer Chamber of Commerce says, "You should see the Hills from here."

Wind Cave is one of the longest and most complex caves in the world. Complete with more than 100 miles of surveyed cavern passageways below ground and 28,295 acres of diverse ecology above, Wind Cave National Park is an American treasure with an impressive history. The first recorded discovery of Wind Cave occurred in 1881 when brothers Jesse and Tom Bingham followed the sounds of the whistling wind and came upon the cave. In 1903, the cave and surrounding area became Wind Cave National Park, the seventh national park in the nation and the first created with a cave as its focal point. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp near the park headquarters. The CCC built roads and buildings, landscaped and made improvements to better accommodate tours inside the cave.