Badger Clark Collection

Charles Badger Clark was born on January 1, 1883, in Albia, Iowa. His father was a Methodist minister. He grew up living in various towns in what became South Dakota. He graduated from Deadwood High School is 1902. He attended, but did not graduate from, Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota.

After a couple of years spent in Cuba, he returned to Deadwood. In 1906, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and moved to Arizona for his health. He enjoyed working on a ranch during the 4 years he spent in Arizona. While there, his stepmother submitted one of his poems to Pacific Monthly and they published it in their January 1907 issue under the name Charles B. Clark, Jr.

Clark returned to the Black Hills in 1910 and continued writing poetry. He also took on many speaking engagements. In 1924 he moved to Custer State Park where he built a cabin known as the "Badger Hole." He was a life-long bachelor.

He was appointed South Dakota's first poet laureate in 1937 and served in that role until his death in 1957. He died of cancer on September 26, 1957, in the hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Hot Springs, South Dakota.