Roosevelt Inn
RESERVATIONS
1-800-257-8923
RESERVATIONS
1-800-257-8923
Hotel Phone
1-605-666-4599
Hotel email
info@rosyinn.com
Not many people outside of Keystone know about Dave Swanzey. He was an early gold prospector who came to Keystone in the 1890s and staked out a placer claim along Grizzly Creek. There's still gold on his claim, where the Roosevelt Inn sits today. And some of Dave's old diggings can still be seen on the hill behind the property. .
Perhaps Dave's greatest claim to fame happened when he named a rocky outcrop Mt. Rushmore after a New York City lawyer -- Charles Rushmore. Little did he know how famous that granite peak would become.
In his later years, Dave married a reporter from the local newspaper named Carrie Ingalls who, as it turned out, became famous in her own right when her sister wrote a book called "Little House on the Prairie." Dave and Carrie's cabin stood near Grizzly Creek not far from here.
Dave Swanzey is buried in the Keystone Cemetery, just up the road from the Roosevelt Inn. It's the only cemetery in the world with a view of Mt. Rushmore. Also, down by the Post Office -- about a 10-minute walk away -- there is a plaque showing exactly where Dave and Carrie lived.
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