About Us

Big Thunder Gold Mine – Decades of Family Fun, Adventure, and Education

Big Thunder Gold Mine has served as a mecca for fun, adventure, and education for countless visitors over the last several decades, but has evolved to the mega attraction it is today since the McLain family purchased the Mine back in 1993.

Native to the Black Hills and Rapid City area, Sandi McLain and her husband purchased Big Thunder Gold Mine at a local auction that proved to be one of the most influential decisions in their life. While Big Thunder Gold Mine had already served visitors for several decades, the Mine had become run-down and the attraction lost the luster it once had.

With a passion for education, especially pertaining to Black Hills history, the McLain’s were thrilled to learn about the rich history that the very Mine that they had just purchased carried with it, dating back to the height of the Black Hills Gold Rush of the 1890s. Nowhere else in the Black Hills region could you find an educational attraction with such a rich history. Little did the McLain’s know the sheer growth Big Thunder Gold Mine would see over the next several decades.