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tant spiritual place to them. Custer named the cave after Capt. William A. Ludlow, the chief engineer for the Department of Dakota. Custer also named a stream in what is now Pennington County Castle Creek because the high cliffs between which it flows reminded him of castles. He presumably conferred the name Gold Run upon a small tributary of Castle Creek.
• While standing on the most elevated portion of the Black Hills, Ludlow named two prominent peaks for Custer and Gen. Alfred Terry.
• Ludlow and Nicolett both retained many place names given by American Indians when making maps.
• The town of Wasta received its name when state historian Doane Robinson selected the Lakota word for "good" for the Pennington County community. Robinson also named the town of Tolstoy in honor of the Russian writer.
• Charles Prior worked in the Minneapolis office of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, deciding where new railroad tracks would go and where towns would be located along the railroad. He is said to have named a community in Brown County Aberdeen because his boss, Alexander Mitchell, came from Aberdeen, Scotland. Prior named another town site Virgil due to his admiration of the Greek poet. He named Alpena for a town in Michigan, Ipswich for his own birthplace in England, Bath and Bristol for cities in England and Woonsocket for a town in Rhode Island. He also named Wilmot, probably after Judge Wilmot W. Brookings. A railway official named the town of Bradley out of gratitude to E.R. Bradley, who saved his life when Bradley intervened in a fight between the official and laborers. Other railroad officials named Alcester, Amherst, Canistota, Junius, Java, Huron, Hitchcock, Renner, Trent, Worthing, Frederick, Mystic, Orient and other towns.
(Continued on page 6)
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