Spearfish Creek is classified as a permanent cold water fishery with headwaters located approximately seven miles south of Cheyenne Crossing (Interpretive Stop 27.5). Stream flow fluctuates but levels above Interpretive Stop 15.5 are sufficient to support a valuable trout fishery.

Pioneer trout fishermen used the former Canyon rail system to reach favorite casting spots. Trout in Spearfish Creek are not native but were brought from Colorado to a U.S. Bureau of Fisheries hatchery (now the historic D.C. Booth) at Spearfish in 1899.

Spearfish Creek averages 29 feet wide and, at this particular interpretive stop, there are abundant numbers of Rainbow, Brown and Brook Trout.

Eastern Deciduous Forest influence, such as Birch and Aspen, can be seen throughout this area; as can Rocky Mountain Forest vegetation. Beneath the overhanging branches of the Ponderosa Pine grows an abundance of species, limited only by the density of canopy above.

A variety of broad-leafed flowering plants and grasses - including the Pasque flower, state flower of South Dakota - may be found at this site and throughout the canyon drive.

Between mile markers 17.8 and 18.7 is the Maurice Homestake hydro-electric plant. Homestake Mining Company completed the project, which uses a system of flumes and tunnels to make a 12 mile diversion of Spearfish Creek, in 1917. The plant served as a power source for the company's massive underground gold mining operations in Lead, South Dakota for nearly 100 years.