Thunder Butte

Here's another interesting link to Thunder Butte I have run across. The Weather Hat Company in Bell Fourche, South Dakota, carries an entire line of quality ranch and cowboy hats, including a classic style they have named the “Thunder Butte.” For details, visit their website here and click on the link for “Classic Hats.” Each of the company's hats are made entirely by hand. These are not inexpensive hats, but would be sure to be of the finest construction and true to fit.

According to the Jacket Journal, published by the students of the Black Hills State University in Spearfish, the Weather Hat Company was founded in 1912 and is currently owned by Jack Scholl, who grew grew up on a ranch near Isabel, and his wife Jennifer. Although the original company was founded in Denver Colorado, Jack discovered its remnants in 2002 in a shed in Lead, South Dakota, and purchased the business. Jack and his six employees make each hat entirely by hand using fur felt taken from rabbits and beavers. Jack spends some of the time on the road exhibiting his wares. The photo below, displaying the company's hats, is from the company's booth in Rapid City.




--Mike Crowley

Editor's Note – The images displayed in this blog post belong to and reside on the web site of the Weather Hat Company. Please follow the links provided to visit the company's site.

Thunder Butte has earned it's own entry in Wikipedia! You can see the article here.

For those unfamiliar, Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia whose content is provided and edited by users on the internet. I ran across the article a couple of months ago, and it is really quite quite good.

You can find a brief discussion of the geology of the butte and its surrounding environs, a bit of information about the significance of the butte to the local Lakota people, and even references to the butte in literature – which primarily involves published tales of the 1823 saga of Hugh Glass.

All in all, it's a nice little article. The author was even nice enough to cite this blog as a source for some of the information, which is gratifying. Note that anyone can edit an article in Wikipedia – including you! If you know of any significant details about Thunder Butte and its history, cultural significance, and geology, Wikipedia allows you to edit the article. In fact, you are encouraged to do so!

--Mike Crowley