HBO, 2004–2006 and 2019 · shot in Santa Clarita, set in the Black Hills
A camp that began with a pan of gravel in 1875. HBO built it again on a California backlot and watered it into mud. Pan the gulch for the real one.
Al Swearengen late 1800s
played by Ian McShane 2006
Seth Bullock 1893
played by Timothy Olyphant 2011
Calamity Jane c. 1890
played by Robin Weigert 2019
David Milch 2005
who created it
Deadwood Gulch, fall 1875
A small party of prospectors finds gold in Deadwood Gulch. Seven mining camps form along Deadwood Gulch; in February 1881 they join to make the municipality of Deadwood. Work seven pans down the gulch and see what is left in the crease.
Wall and Main: a pan full of dry gravel from this stretch of the gulch.
Melody Ranch, Placerita Canyon, California
Melody Ranch lists Deadwood among the westerns made on its main western street. It has been a studio since 1915; Monogram sold it to the singing cowboy Gene Autry in 1952.
A western street in Placerita Canyon, Santa Clarita: bone dry, California dust.
The crew keep watering the set down for the dark, dirty look of the town; a background player stands in the cold mud until sunrise. For 1889 the production designer Maria Caso keeps the series’ palette, textures and fabrics, and adds new signs, advertisements and poles for the new electricity.
The film opens with Calamity Jane riding into town on a mule; the wranglers Todd and Tonia Forsberg supply livestock for the series and the film, and many wagons become buggies and buckboards.
In 1962 a fire swept through Placerita Canyon and destroyed the main western street; the Veluzat brothers later bought the ranch and restored it.
Milch first meant to set his story in ancient Rome; with HBO’s Rome already in development, he set it somewhere else. Deadwood: The Movie is first shown on HBO on 31 May 2019. It is set in 1889, as South Dakota celebrates statehood, ten years after the series.
A working studio on private land. The way in is a VIP group tour booked by phone with the studio; otherwise see Placerita Canyon from the public road. Named here, never pinned.
Placerita Canyon, Santa Clarita, California · Groups by arrangement · no public hours listed
The studio where Deadwood was shot books VIP group tours and its museum of film and TV memorabilia, which lists Deadwood, by phone.
How to bookMain Street
Fire destroys Deadwood’s downtown business district: over 300 buildings, and 2,000 people left homeless.
Burned out on 26 September, Swearengen rebuilds the Gem larger and reopens it in December.
Fire destroys the lower business district of Main Street, known as the Badlands; Bullock and Star decide on a hotel rather than a new store.
Fire destroys the Gem; Swearengen leaves Deadwood.
A fire sweeps through Placerita Canyon and destroys the ranch’s main western street; it is later restored.
On 1 December 1876 a telegraph line joined Deadwood Gulch to Cheyenne. Deadwood was made a National Historic Landmark on 3 July 1961, and limited-stakes gaming opened on 1 November 1989.
Mount Moriah, above Main Street
The Lawrence County Commission set up the cemetery in 1878. Hickok was first buried at Ingleside; in the 1880s most of the bodies there were moved up the mountain to Mount Moriah.
Calamity Jane died at Terry on 1 August 1903 and was buried beside Hickok on 4 August. One account calls it a joke by four men, another her own dying request.
Calamity Jane nurses smallpox patients around Deadwood, in late 1876 or 1878; in the series’ first season she helps Doc Cochran in the plague tents.
Seth Bullock is buried at the top of the hill. About 33 Chinese migrants were buried here over fifty years; most were taken home to China, three graves remain, and the 1908 burner and altar were rebuilt in 2013.
Mid-May to mid-October, daily 8:00–20:00, $2 cash; in winter there is only limited upkeep. No RVs or tour buses up the hill: park on Sherman Street.
1 Mount Moriah Drive, Deadwood · Mid-May to mid-October, daily 8:00–20:00 · $2, cash only
Hickok, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock on the hill above Main Street, with a visitor centre in season.
Before you goMain Street and Mount Roosevelt
Seth Bullock, Deadwood’s first sheriff and Timothy Olyphant’s part, built a hotel and a tower.
The hotel, 1896
Seth Bullock and his partner Sol Star ran the town’s first hardware store; when it burned in 1894 they built a hotel instead.
Bullock answered the call to be the town’s first appointed sheriff, though he reached the camp two days after Hickok was killed.
The three-storey, 64-room hotel opened in 1896, with steam heat and bathrooms on each floor.
A working hotel and casino; the lobby opens on Main Street.
The tower, 1919
Bullock and Theodore Roosevelt met in 1892 near the Belle Fourche River.
After Roosevelt died in 1919, Bullock arranged for the Friendship Tower as a memorial to his friend.
Bullock died a few months after its dedication, on 23 September 1919, aged 70.
Take Highway 85 north out of Deadwood for 1.5 miles, turn onto Forest Road 133 and look for the picnic area at the 2-mile mark. The walk is under a mile, then stairs up the tower.
Lead, South Dakota
George Hearst bought the Manuel brothers’ claim for $70,000 and set up the Homestake Mining Company. The Homestake Mine in Lead was established in October 1877 and worked until 2002, the longest continuously operating gold mine in the US.
The visitor centre’s deck looks into the 1,000-foot-deep Open Cut; a model inside goes down to the 8,000-foot level.
In the film George Hearst, now a senator, comes back to buy Charlie Utter’s land, which stands in the way of telephone lines he has invested in.
The visitor centre is open daily 9:00–17:00 and free; its deck looks into the Open Cut. Tours of about an hour cost extra.
160 West Main Street, Lead · Daily 9:00–17:00 · admission free · tours extra
Free exhibits and a deck over the 1,000-foot Open Cut; paid tours of about an hour through Lead and the Yates hoist room.
Plan a visit11 places to visit in Deadwood and Lead, in three parts. Melody Ranch in California, where the series and film were shot, is a private working studio: it is named below and shown from the road, but not pinned. Nothing of the Gem survives; its corner is pinned as an area.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public street of brick fronts, hotels and casinos, free to walk at any hour.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Nothing of the Gem survives. Stand at the corner of Main and Wall and look down the street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A Main Street storefront signed as the No. 10’s original location; see it from the pavement.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working saloon with sawdust on the floor and Hickok’s chair above the door.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working hotel and casino; the lobby opens on Main Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. October to April: Tuesday–Saturday 10:00–16:00, closed Sundays, Mondays and winter holidays. Suggested donation $5, children $3.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The old Chinese quarter is now ordinary streets; walk the north end of Main Street.
Main Street, Deadwood, South Dakota
In the fall of 1875 a small party of prospectors found gold in Deadwood Gulch; by spring 1876 seven mining camps had formed along it.
A public street of brick fronts, hotels and casinos, free to walk at any hour.
Main Street at Wall Street, Deadwood
Al Swearengen opened the Gem Variety Theater on 7 April 1877, at the corner of Wall and Main.
Nothing of the Gem survives. Stand at the corner of Main and Wall and look down the street.
624 Main Street, Deadwood
Wild Bill Hickok was shot from behind during a poker game on 2 August 1876, at Nuttall & Mann’s saloon, near what is today 624 Main Street.
A Main Street storefront signed as the No. 10’s original location; see it from the pavement.
657 Main Street, Deadwood
Stu Donavitz opened a bar on this site in the 1930s, the Old Style; Elmer Kellogg suggested he create the Saloon No. 10.
A working saloon with sawdust on the floor and Hickok’s chair above the door.
633 Main Street, Deadwood
Seth Bullock and his partner Sol Star ran the town’s first hardware store; when it burned in 1894 they built a hotel instead.
A working hotel and casino; the lobby opens on Main Street.
54 Sherman Street, Deadwood
W. E. Adams founded the museum in 1930 and gave the building to the City of Deadwood.
October to April: Tuesday–Saturday 10:00–16:00, closed Sundays, Mondays and winter holidays. Suggested donation $5, children $3.
The north end of Main Street, Deadwood
Chinese immigrants came with the gold rush; the community peaked at about 250, with a Chinese quarter on Main Street.
The old Chinese quarter is now ordinary streets; walk the north end of Main Street.
California · not pinned
Melody Ranch lists Deadwood among the westerns made on its main western street. Deadwood: The Movie was shot here too, on the street that is also one of the Westworld sets.
A working studio on private land. The way in is a VIP group tour booked by phone with the studio; otherwise see Placerita Canyon from the public road. Named here, never pinned.
Stay
Seth Bullock’s 1896 hotel on Main Street.
633 Main Street, Deadwood
Seth Bullock and Sol Star’s hotel of 1896, built where their hardware store burned. It still calls itself Deadwood’s first and finest.
See roomsGo there
The Adams Museum, Mount Moriah in season, the Broken Boot in summer, the Open Cut in Lead, group tours at Melody Ranch, and marketplace tours of the Hills.
54 Sherman Street, Deadwood · October–April: Tue–Sat 10:00–16:00 · suggested donation $5, children $3
Founded in 1930: Potato Creek Johnny’s nugget, the Thoen Stone and N. C. Wyeth’s sketch of Hickok.
Plan a visit1 Mount Moriah Drive, Deadwood · Mid-May to mid-October, daily 8:00–20:00 · $2, cash only
Hickok, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock on the hill above Main Street, with a visitor centre in season.
Before you go1200 Pioneer Way, Deadwood · Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, daily 8:00–18:00 · adults $12
A walk into century-old drifts on the edge of town, and a gem-panning lesson instead of gold.
See the season160 West Main Street, Lead · Daily 9:00–17:00 · admission free · tours extra
Free exhibits and a deck over the 1,000-foot Open Cut; paid tours of about an hour through Lead and the Yates hoist room.
Plan a visitPlacerita Canyon, Santa Clarita, California · Groups by arrangement · no public hours listed
The studio where Deadwood was shot books VIP group tours and its museum of film and TV memorabilia, which lists Deadwood, by phone.
How to bookDeadwood, South Dakota
Live marketplace results for history and walking tours of Deadwood. None is a Deadwood series tour as such; check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursBlack Hills, South Dakota
Live marketplace results for tours of the Black Hills from Deadwood and Rapid City. Check each itinerary for the places on this page.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Deadwood’s Halloween weekend, 30–31 October 2026.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
David Milch on his camp, and Watson Parker’s history of the real one.
David Milch
The series’ creator on the camp and the show, Bloomsbury USA, 2006.
Find the bookWatson Parker
A history of the real town’s first years, University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Mind the mud.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources. The South Dakota places are the real town the series is set in, told as history; only Melody Ranch is a filming place.
12 of 12 places · 37 of 37 Moments
Placerita Canyon, Newhall, Santa Clarita, California
Deadwood begins on HBO on 21 March 2004 and ends on 27 August 2006: three seasons of twelve episodes, created by David Milch.
Milch first meant to set his story in ancient Rome; with HBO’s Rome already in development, he set it somewhere else.
Melody Ranch’s western street becomes the camp of Deadwood.
A fire sweeps through Placerita Canyon and destroys the ranch’s main western street; it is later restored.
Deadwood: The Movie is first shown on HBO on 31 May 2019. It is set in 1889, as South Dakota celebrates statehood, ten years after the series.
For 1889 the production designer Maria Caso keeps the series’ palette, textures and fabrics, and adds new signs, advertisements and poles for the new electricity.
The crew keep watering the set down for the dark, dirty look of the town; a background player stands in the cold mud until sunrise.
The film opens with Calamity Jane riding into town on a mule; the wranglers Todd and Tonia Forsberg supply livestock for the series and the film, and many wagons become buggies and buckboards.
In the film George Hearst, now a senator, comes back to buy Charlie Utter’s land, which stands in the way of telephone lines he has invested in.
Main Street, Deadwood, South Dakota
A small party of prospectors finds gold in Deadwood Gulch.
Seven mining camps form along Deadwood Gulch; in February 1881 they join to make the municipality of Deadwood.
A telegraph line joins Deadwood Gulch to Cheyenne.
Fire destroys Deadwood’s downtown business district: over 300 buildings, and 2,000 people left homeless.
Deadwood is designated a National Historic Landmark.
Limited-stakes gaming opens in Deadwood after a statewide vote.
Calamity Jane nurses smallpox patients around Deadwood, in late 1876 or 1878; in the series’ first season she helps Doc Cochran in the plague tents.
Main Street at Wall Street, Deadwood
Al Swearengen opens the Gem Variety Theater at Wall and Main.
Burned out on 26 September, Swearengen rebuilds the Gem larger and reopens it in December.
Fire destroys the Gem; Swearengen leaves Deadwood.
624 Main Street, Deadwood
Wild Bill Hickok is shot from behind at a poker game in Nuttall & Mann’s saloon.
Hickok, Charlie Utter and Calamity Jane reach Deadwood; the Black Hills Pioneer reports the train’s arrival on 15 July.
657 Main Street, Deadwood
Stu Donavitz opens a bar on today’s site, and is talked into making it the Saloon No. 10.
633 Main Street, Deadwood
Seth Bullock and Sol Star open the camp’s first hardware store.
Fire destroys the lower business district of Main Street, known as the Badlands; Bullock and Star decide on a hotel rather than a new store.
The Bullock Hotel opens: three storeys, 64 rooms, steam heat.
54 Sherman Street, Deadwood
W. E. Adams founds the Adams Museum and gives the building to the city.
The north end of Main Street, Deadwood
The series’ Mr. Wu, played by Keone Young, is based on Wong Fee Lee.
Deadwood’s Historic Preservation Commission begins four years of archaeology in Chinatown.
1 Mount Moriah Drive, Deadwood
The Lawrence County Commission sets up Mount Moriah.
Ingleside’s graves, Hickok’s among them, are moved up the mountain to Mount Moriah.
Calamity Jane is buried beside Hickok, three days after her death at Terry.
The Chinese section’s burner and altar of 1908 are rebuilt.
Mount Roosevelt Picnic Area, Forest Road 133
Seth Bullock meets Theodore Roosevelt near the Belle Fourche River.
After Roosevelt’s death Bullock has the Friendship Tower built on Mount Roosevelt, and dies a few months after its dedication.
1200 Pioneer Way, Deadwood
The price of gold means visitors now pan for gems.
Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center, 160 West Main Street, Lead
George Hearst buys the Manuel brothers’ claim for $70,000 and founds the Homestake Mining Company; the mine is established in October 1877.
Homestake stops working after more than a century.
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