Both of Hot Springs' Mammoths Are Now in the Same Hands, and Both Stories Just Got Longer

When are they ever going to finish that? For about two decades, people in Hot Springs have asked that question about the unfinished mammoth on the bare hilltop near Maverick Junction. The Fall River County Herald-Star put that question at the top of its September 3 story, because there is finally an answer.

Steve and Carla Simunek have donated the statue and the hillside it stands on to The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs. The nonprofit is raising the rest of the money and expects to finish the statue sometime in 2027.

A few weeks earlier, on August 11, Mammoth Site researchers published a paper that moved the age of the real sinkhole across town back by more than 100,000 years.

One nonprofit is now responsible for both of the town's mammoths. The statue went up in rows of foam and concrete with long pauses between them, and the sinkhole filled with sediment over a span the new research stretches far past earlier estimates.

The Hilltop Mammoth, Layer by Layer

The statue started in 2003 as a private idea between developer Steve Simunek and John Rock, a retired General Motors vice president. They wanted something near the Highway 79 and 18 intersection that would catch travelers' attention and draw more of them into Hot Springs.

The Mammoth Site wasn't part of that first build. Some people in town have assumed it was. But Dr. Larry Agenbroad, the site's chief scientist and director at the time, did advise local artist Gary DuChateau so the sculpture would match the real animal.

Here is how it got to where it stands now, according to the Herald-Star:

1. 2003: Simunek and Rock come up with the project. DuChateau sculpts a 12-inch model that is cast in a limited bronze edition, then scales it up to a 4-foot version used to plot out the full-size pieces.
2. 2004: Simunek drills concrete and rebar anchors 38 feet into the hill to hold a steel frame 36 feet tall and 50 feet long. Sculpted foam blocks go on top of the frame, wrapped in several layers of concrete and nylon mesh.
3. 2008: The legs and lower body are mostly done when an economic downturn stops the work.
4. 2017: Simunek and DuChateau add another row of foam and concrete, which brings the statue to about 25 feet, its height today.
5. 2026: With work stalled for nearly ten years, the Simuneks give the land and the statue to The Mammoth Site.

A 2014 Loveland Reporter-Herald profile of DuChateau gives the same early outline. Work began in 2004 and stopped around 2007 after the real-estate downturn, with Rock and Simunek credited for the idea. That story is off by about a year from the Herald-Star's 2008 date for the pause, but otherwise it matches.

"I got to the age where I just really wanted to see it get done," Simunek told the Herald-Star. He added that a nonprofit that can raise money from the community is a better home for the project over the long run.

What Finishing It Actually Takes

The remaining work uses the same method as the first two rounds. Simunek will train Mammoth Site staff to place the sculpted foam pieces. Those pieces are made in Colorado, at a company DuChateau used to own. Simunek already has enough foam on hand for one more 3-foot layer, which would bring the statue up to about its back.

Here is where the money stood at the time of the Herald-Star's report:

• Materials estimate: about $60,000, which the Site's 501(c)(3) is raising
• Still needed: about $30,000, according to Mammoth Site President and CEO Presston Gabel
• Matching grant: the Site applied for $15,000 through the Fall River Area Foundation
• Local government: the Site asked Fall River County and the City of Hot Springs for $5,000 each, and the city approved its request at the August 17 council meeting
• Donor recognition: individuals, families and businesses that give $1,000 or more will be listed on a permanent plaque at the foot of the statue

Those figures are from early September. We couldn't find a public record yet of the county's answer on its $5,000, a decision on the foundation grant, or an updated fundraising total.

The city's money also pays for something drivers will see from the highway. Large 4-by-8-foot letters spelling HOT SPRINGS will go on the face of the hill, along with an arrow pointing west toward town. Simunek and a local resident plan to install lights on the statue, which is more than three stories tall. Gabel first told the city council he didn't expect the lit statue to be visible to people driving south from Rapid City. Then the Site realized the trees blocking that view are on the hillside it now owns, and they can be cleared to give the statue 360-degree visibility.

Once it's done, The Mammoth Site will pay for maintenance, security and the electricity to keep it lit. Simunek and Rock originally imagined a visitor center and more Ice Age sculptures on the hill. The Site plans to keep the statue as something to look at from a distance, and it has already put a security gate on the road up the hill.

"This mammoth will stand on that hill for generations, welcoming people to Hot Springs." That's how Presston Gabel described it to the Herald-Star.

The Real Mammoths Took Even Longer

Construction on the statue began in 2004, about 22 years ago. Under The Mammoth Site's building, the sinkhole filled with sediment, and trapped mammoths, over a span the scientists are now describing in six figures.

The new paper, published in Quaternary Research, was led by Shannon Mahan of the U.S. Geological Survey and Dr. Jim Mead of The Mammoth Site. Paul Hanson of the University of Nebraska, Emma Krolczyk of the USGS and Dr. Chris Jass of The Mammoth Site are co-authors. The team used infrared-stimulated luminescence and got dates ranging from 160,000 to 232,000 years ago.

The baseline you compare that to depends on which earlier number you grew up with. The paper calls the former accepted age about 26,000 years, based on radiocarbon dating of mammoth bone. It also says the bones that were dated had no collagen left, which raises questions about how reliable those results were. Cowboy State Daily reported that the very first estimate was around 20,000 years. It also noted that a 2016 study using a related method, optically stimulated luminescence, had already pointed to nearly 129,000. The Mammoth Site's own summary is that the site appears to be "over 100,000 years older than we once thought."

The method dates sediment, not bone. "Simply put, it's a method for determining the last time buried sediments were exposed to sunlight," Jass told Cowboy State Daily.

The biggest change is to the timeline of the trapping itself. Jass told the outlet that researchers used to estimate animals fell in every so often over a span of 500 to 800 years. "The new work means that animals were, possibly, trapped over a span of over 100,000 years." He said the basic story of how the animals got trapped stays the same.

A span that long probably covers big swings in climate. Jass said the layers seem to include both a long warm interglacial period and a long cold glacial one. The team is studying mammoth teeth for signs that the animals' diet changed. Teeth are also being sampled and dated to see whether they agree with the sediment ages, and that work went on at the site all summer.

Jass, speaking to KELO, said the new dating was only possible because the site left the bones, and part of the sinkhole itself, in place instead of digging everything out. KOTA reported that the results may lead scientists to reexamine the Ice Age history of the whole Black Hills.

The collection is the same size as before. More than 60 mammoths have been found, 58 Columbian and 3 woolly, along with at least 87 other Late Ice Age animals. Nearly all of the mammoths are young males, according to Cowboy State Daily. What's new is the stretch of time those skeletons represent.

Seeing Both Before Winter Hours

The statue is meant to be seen from the road, and the hilltop road is now gated. The best place to watch the Maverick Junction work is from Highway 18 or 79, especially once the letters and lights go up.

The Mammoth Site is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through October 31. Winter hours run 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from November 1 through February 28. The site is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Easter Sunday. The visitor walkways look down on an active dig. We didn't find any announcement about exhibit or signage changes since the new paper, so the labels inside may not show the new age yet.

To contribute to the statue or ask about the donor plaque, Gabel asks people to call The Mammoth Site at 605-745-6017.

The team at Black Hills Homes & Land is glad to see a plan in place to finish it. If you own land around Maverick Junction or anywhere along the Highway 18 and 79 corridor and want to talk about what changes like this mean for your property, schedule a free consultation with Joel and the team.