Published: November 23, 2021 |

[Click image to enlarge]

The Black Hills Mining Museum celebrated a banner year of visitors this year.

Dave Reddick, treasurer for the museum said the museum saw a total of 6,710 visitors this year, which translated into more than $80,000 in revenue. That’s 6 percent more than the museum’s last banner year in 2019, when there were 6,212 visitors, and more than double the 3,783 visitors who came through the museum in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed tourist season down for the first half of the year.

The Black Hills Mining Museum operates entirely from tourism revenue generated from admissions, tours, gold panning, and gift shop sales. Reddick said it has been exciting to see the increase in visitors as the mining museum recovers from financial difficulties from a little more than four years ago.

“We are well in the black now. It’s kind of exciting. We restructured the board and started doing some things differently. Four years ago we were in debt. As a non-profit, that’s not a good place to be. Our operating costs are completely covered by sales,” Reddick said.

In 2020, Reddick said the mining museum accepted $50,000 that was bequeathed from a local estate. That donation, he said, helped tremendously during the difficult year.

Of the 6,710 visitors this year, about 266 were children between the ages of 13 and 17, with many of those being school tours; 1,684 were senior citizens or military; 1,648 were adult tours of the simulated underground mine; and 2,080 toured the museum. Additionally, the museum sold 1,032 pans for gold panning.

That compares to 2020 visitors, when Reddick said the tourism season didn’t start to really pick up until toward the end of summer. In 2020 there were about 24 students ages 13 through 17; 125 senior citizens or military; 174 adults paid for tours of the underground mining area; and 3,168 paid for general admission to the museum. Gold panning was down significantly, with just 292 pans sold.

In 2019 the museum saw about 195 students ages 13 through 17; 1,776 senior citizens or military; 1,703 adults paid to tour the underground mine; and 1,488 paid general admission for the museum. There were about 1,050 pans sold for gold panning. 

The Black Hills Mining Museum is open for normal operating hours from mid-May through mid-October. During the winter months it is open by reservation and appointment. The facility also houses archives from Lead events and business at the Homestake Mining Company.

The Black Hills Mining Museum board and staff plan to host an open house and public meeting to discuss the future of the museum on Tuesday, Dec. 14. The open house will be held from 3-6:30 p.m., with a public meeting starting at 7 p.m. at the Historic Homestake Opera House.

Source: Black Hills Pioneer

Be in-the-know when you’re on-the-go!