County Road 414

County Road 414 was a gravel road heading south from Spearfish Lake that a lot of people used to avoid the Central Avenue intersection. About three miles down that road, the Albany River swings close to that road, before turning south to cross under the state road several miles further south.

It has different County Road numbers in different stories: 414 in Susan, 720 in Bird in the Hand, 417 in Bird on the Field. From the descriptions it is clearly the same road.

There was a place where people often pulled off the road and went down to the river to fish, or, if they were teenagers were more likely to do something else.^SU5

A little two-rut going to a spot back there where people occasionally went fishing was the location that Howie Erikson chose to hide Frenchy LeDroit's beer which he stole.^BITH38 Frenchy and his buddies stopped there to drink beer they'd obtained in Albany River.^BITH40

Ironically considering the beer stashed under the riverbank, the site Eddie Awkerman and Scotty Parsons chose for the football team's illegal beer party was about a mile towards town from the Albany River bridge. There’s a little two-rut that leads back there, and I don’t think much of anyone goes back there.^BOF10

Jack Erikson led a bird watching class for Spearfish Lake Outfitters to the same place for the first session, the morning of the party day.^BOF14