Showing 97 results

Finding Aid
Donald Progulske Papers
Print preview Hierarchy
Card view Table view
Black Hills Flood
UA 53.93: B01-F02 · Folder · 1975
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Original container had "Don - Flood" written on it. It is assumed these are photographs of the Rapid City, South Dakota Flood that occurred in 1972.
Donald Progulske Papers
UA 053.093 · Papers · 1874, 1972-1995

This collection features photographs from the bulletin “Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology,” published by the Agricultural Experiment Station at South Dakota State University in 1974. The bulletin documents photographic sites from the Custer Black Hills Expedition of 1874. By comparing historical and contemporary scenes, it highlights the changes in vegetation and human impact over the past century. A companion publication, "Following Custer," was released to identify additional 1874 photo sites that were not included in the original study.

William H. Illingworth, hired by the U.S. Army, photographed the Black Hills Expedition in 1874. Though he did not document the exact number of photographs he took, it is believed he produced around 79 glass-plate negatives. Most of these negatives are preserved at the South Dakota State Archives in Pierre, with a few held at the National Archives and the Minnesota Historical Society.

In 1974, Donald R. Progulske, then head of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at South Dakota State University, led the research and fieldwork for these publications. Richard H. Sowell, a photographic technician at the university's Audio-Visual Photo Lab, took the 1974 comparison photographs. Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine serves as a study of humanity's impact on the Black Hills environment. This decade-long project documented the expedition's route, spanning 1,205 miles through North Dakota, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

Sowell and Progulske spent three summers retracing the original photographic sites in the Black Hills. By carefully analyzing the details in Illingworth's glass plates, they located the original sites and took contemporary comparison photos.

One significant insight from Progulske’s research is that while human impacts are enduring, conservation efforts have sometimes gone too far, preventing natural processes like forest fires that thin tree populations. He observed that the Black Hills forest has become “closed,” hindering the growth of new plants and trees. Consequently, some photos could not be accurately replicated due to increased tree density at the original locations.

 Progulske, Donald
Illingworth Photo 1: View toward the Needles, Organ Pipes and Harney Peak in distance, Cap Rock to the right
UA 53.93: B01-F09 · Folder · 1874, 1973
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology
Photo Site 23 Look NNE
Photographers swung their cameras to the right to get these view of areas north of Custer (note foreground rocks). The "A" views are from Illingworth and the matching "B" views were taken in 1973.

  • page 110 Figure 40-A Illingworth photograph
  • page 111 Figure 40-B Sowell photograph
Illingworth Photo 10: Inyan Kara Mountain
UA 53.93: B01-F18 · Folder · 1874, 1973
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology
Photo Site 1 Look WSW

  • Page 40 Figure 6-A Illingworth
    The 1874 photographs of Inyan Kara Mountain on the western edge of the Black Hills. note shadow of photographe, his camera and tripod in the foreground.
  • Page 41 Page 6-B Sowell
    The same scene as in Figure 6-A but taken nearly a century later. Note more trees in the background and that tree stumps still exist and are in vitrually the same sport (foreground) as nearly 100 years earlier.
Illingworth Photo 12: Sioux camp in Castle Creek Valley - view west looking toward Silver Creek
UA 53.93: B01-F20 · Folder · 1874, 1973
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology
Photo Site 17 Look SE

  • Page 88 Figure 29-A Illingworth
    Another 1874 view from Calamity Peak showing a string of tents within a curve of French Creek. Note the wagon road that has been formed to the right of the tent line.
  • Page 89 Figure 29-B Sowell
    In addition to the tickened forest, note that the stretch of gravel road (whih is old Highway 16) runs almost precisely where the wagon road did a century ago. The bends in French Creek are stil identical. The same tree is in the foreground of
Illingworth Photo 14: Formal portrait of Custer Black Hills Expedition
UA 53.93: B01-F22 · Folder · 1874
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology

  • Page 36 Figure 1-A Illingworth
    A "Formal" portrait of the Custer Black Hills Expedition of 1874. It is believed this photo was taken when the wagon train was departing for the Black Hills from the base at Fort Abraham Lincoln on the Missouri River near Bismarck, Dakota Territory, near North Dakota
Illingworth Photo 16: Sioux camp in Castle Creek Valley, view toward Hat Mountain, Buffalo Mountain
UA 53.93: B01-F24 · Folder · 1874, 1973
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology
Photo Site 5 Look SE

  • Page 58 Figure 14-A Illingworth
    Looking down Castle Creek, Illingworth cught another view of the Deerfield encampment showing grazing horses, cluster wagons, tents and campfires in the lush mountain meadow. The lines in the upper center of this photograph are from imperfections in the original glasss plate -- possibly a fingerprint of Custer? of Ludlow? of Illingworth?
  • Page 59 Figure 14-B Sowell
    The top of Hat Mountain in the distance remains in prairie but lower and distant hills have become overgrown with pine. The Deerfield community is around the far bend of the road.
Illingworth Photo 19: Granite Ridge, Gold Quartz Mountain
UA 53.93: B02-F01 · Folder · 1874, 1973
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology

  • Page 66 Figure 18-A Illingworth -
    Gold Quartz Mountain in 1874. Natural fires wer probably the major factor which precented the forest from becoming thicker.
  • Page 67 Figure 18-B Sowell
    Note correspondence rocks (foreground) in this modern match to Figure 18-A.
  • Page 67 Figure 18-C Sowell
    This modern photograph was offset aabout 30 feet to the left to obtain a view of the background hills and thicker pine cover to nearly match Figure 18-A.
Illingworth Photo 20: Indian camp at Deerfield
UA 53.93: B02-F02 · Folder · 1874, 1973
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology
Photo Site 8 Look SW

  • Page 52 Figure 11-A Illingworth
    Part of the encampment shown in Figure 10-A. The open 'park-lie' forest is event on the far slope.
  • Page 53 Figure 11-B Sowell
    A century of ecological changes, mainly caused by man, have allowed pines to become excessibely dense in some area as shown in this companion photographs to Figure 11-A.
Illingworth Photo 3: Castle Rock (Peak), wagon train in background, one wagon in foreground, camp near Limestone Peak
UA 53.93: B01-F11 · Folder · 1874, 1973
Part of Donald Progulske Papers

Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine: A Photographic Study of a Century of Forest Ecology
Photo Site 9 Look NE
The Expedition begins to make camp in an area near the present community of Deerfield, South Dakota. A limestone outcrop is a prominent towering landmark in the distance. Silver Creek flows in the foreground from the left.

  • Page 50 Figure 10-A Illingworth photo
  • Page 51 Figure 10-B Sowell photo