With chirping birds, splashing fish, swaying wildflowers, bounding deer and angling fishermen along the Grace Coolidge Fishing Trail, it is a fun peaceful walk in the woods. The trail is about 6 miles round trip. It follows the Grace Coolidge Creek from the trailhead across from the Grace Coolidge campground to Center Lake. The meandering trail crosses the creek multiple times and passes 6 dams along the way, creating perfect spots to pull out your fishing gear and test your skills.
The creek is named for President Calvin Coolidge's wife, Grace. Prior to the Coolidges' arrival here in the summer of 1927, the creek was called Squaw Creek. The creek's name was not changed out of any sense of early political correctness, but rather as part of an overall effort to woo favors from the President of the United States.
Summers in Washington, DC were steamy without air conditioning. The White House was also being remodeled. So the first couple chose the recently constructed State Game Lodge, in what is now Custer State Park in South Dakota's Black Hills, to be their "Summer White House". Area politicians, boosters and Gutzon Borglum (future sculptor of Mt. Rushmore) were falling over themselves to gain the attention and favor of the President. Knowing that the President was an avid fisherman, it was arranged to have him fish in the newly named Grace Coolidge Creek. Wanting to make sure his time fishing was a success, the creek was packed with plump sluggish trout fattened on horsemeat and liver at the state hatchery in Spearfish, SD. The fish were so tame and numerous, success was assured. The entire Legislature of South Dakota showed up along with Governor Bulow and one of its senators. A big dinner was held featuring the freshly caught trout. Unfortunately, the trout tasted more like horsemeat and liver than trout.
About this time, Coolidge, who assumed the presidency upon the untimely death of Warren G. Harding, was pondering whether he should run again for the highest office in the land. He had already served two years as Vice President and then two more as President. He had been overwhelmingly reelected. He was popular and could have run for a second full-term. Maybe he saw the Great Depression coming. Maybe it was the death of his son. Maybe he was sick of people trying to curry favor. Maybe it was the peaceful surroundings of the Black Hills that made him want to leave Washington behind. Maybe it was the liver-tasting trout that pushed him over the edge. We don't know. "Silent Cal", a man of few words, had numerous slips of paper printed with the following statement: "I do not choose to run for president in 1928". He passed these slips of paper to reporters at his executive office in Rapid City and then left, answering no questions.
Coolidge's desk from his time at the "Summer White House" is still there. Since the lodge is still a lodge, you may sleep in the same room where the Coolidges had stayed that summer. You can write your postcards on the same desk where Coolidge pondered his future plans.
My personal favorite Coolidge quote is as follows:
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
