Prospector Statue Of Johnny One Feather
Rapid City, South Dakota
On the drive between Rapid City and Mount Rushmore, one of the roadside distractions is a large fiberglass statue of a prospector, hawking a gold panning operation for tourists.
The man who posed for the statue is the man who ran the business behind it: Johnny One Feather. Johnny told us that he was a green beret who did three tours of duty in Vietnam, was shot three times, was imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton (where he met John McCain), and went on to become a Hollywood stuntman.
Johnny said he posed for the statue in 1979. That claim may be accurate -- we've seen the same prospector statue at other locales, perhaps knockoffs from the original Johnny mold. Or Johnny just willed himself to eventually look like the existing old prospector mold.
The gold panning set-up is in front of a mural that depicts a mountain stream with a lone prospector working it -- Johnny One Feather.
"Johnny One Feather" Aanrud passed away on March 6, 2018. At that point the Gold Panning Black Hills Gold business appeared to be closed.