Black Hills campground marks 90 years as part of century-old family ranch
April 15, 2026
This piece is sponsored by Prairie Family Business Association.
History surrounds every acre of Sleep Ranch on the northern edge of the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming.
Homesteaded in 1883, the ranch is still owned and operated by a family that’s now entering its sixth generation of ownership.
“Basically, the ranch has been in existence since then,” said Jeff Sleep, whose great-great grandparents immigrated from England to western South Dakota in the 19th century.
Drawn by the allure of the Homestake Gold Mine, the family, which had a mining background, “saw an opportunity to come to Lead and get some land of their own and get a good job,” Sleep said.
Nearly a century and a half later, the ranch supports three families, selling to everyone from private individuals to the industry’s largest packers.
The business includes a commercial cow/calf operation, backgrounding feedlot and yearling/stocker cattle. The family retains ownership on their cattle through a finishing feedlot in Nebraska.
Additionally, the family owns and operates Iron Creek Lake Campground, which marks 90 years in business in 2026.
“Our ranch is spread over quite a few miles, and the lake is in the middle – up in the hills about 13 miles from where we live, and it’s more of a seasonal business located right in the middle of our operation,” Sleep said.
As family history tells it, his great-grandfather Alfred started a gas station in Spearfish in the 1920s that carried the family through the Great Depression, allowing cash flow when many weren’t able to invest.
“He used his funds to buy mining claims, and he was able to buy them for pennies on the dollar, which is where a lot of our land in the Hills came from,” Sleep said.
“The lake itself was a mining claim, and it became a joint effort of some kind with the county and local sportsmen’s groups to use it as a way to provide more recreation in the area.”
Sleep and his wife, Jodi, bought the campground from his parents, who had operated it for 50 years.
The 116-acre property includes more than 70 campsites and 12 cabins for nightly rental, in addition to about 60 permanent cabins or trailers with year-round spots. There’s also a store, small cafe and rental paddleboats and kayaks.
“The center point is the lake, and the infrastructure around it is pretty primitive,” Sleep said. “We try to keep it simple to appeal to a family-friendly environment. We have some families that have been coming for generations.”
The Sleep family also is evolving into its next generation. Son Carson ranches with his parents, while their daughter Sydney Meyer and her husband, Ben, are involved in the campground.
“We’ve really enjoyed getting to know the Sleep family as we broaden our reach in western South Dakota,” said Mason Van Essen, vice president of Prairie Family Business Association.
“They’re a terrific example of a family with a diversified business that knows what it takes to sustain and evolve over multiple generations.”
Lessons in transition
Jeff Sleep has worked on the ranch since graduating from college in 1990 and has managed it since 2016. Transitioning the leadership of the operation from his father, Richard, happened without a choice in 2013 after his father was injured in a four-wheeler wreck.
“That necessitated changes, and I took over running day-to-day operations, and a couple years later I took over the financial part of the business,” he said.
That wasn’t the first somewhat-abrupt transition for the family business. Richard was only 24 when he unexpectedly took over the business when his father, Eugene, passed away at age 50.
“So my father had in his mind that we would do estate work and planning, but the actual mechanics of changing it over still happened mostly out of necessity,” Sleep said.
As the sixth generation enters the business, son-in-law Ben Meyer has stepped up to help run the campground.
He has a civil engineering background and grew up in the Okoboji, Iowa, area.
“That’s also a tourist area, so I grew up around the industry and enjoy the outdoors,” Meyer said. “This was a really neat, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of it and help continue the family business.”
He and Sydney have four kids age 5 and younger, so “it’s really special for them too,” Meyer said.
“It’s an interesting dynamic being a married-in or ‘outlaw,’ but I’m really appreciative of Jeff and Jodi. They’re wonderful bosses, and I’m really thankful for them as mentors and leaders of the business, along with who they are as people.”
There’s an added dynamic to running a seasonal business, which demands a lot of attention in a concentrated time frame, Jodi Sleep added.
“We just really appreciate Ben as well,” she said.
“It’s just interesting the Lord tailored him for the position he has there. He’s really good at it, and we’re constantly mindful of talking to keep relationships and communication open and respectful.”
Reality show feature, glamping and the next generation
Iron Creek Lake Campground reached a national audience earlier this year with an appearance on the Magnolia’s Network’s “Building Outside the Lines.”
“They built a ‘floating paradise’ that we repurposed into a base for one of our new glamping tents,” Jodi Sleep said.
“We are also going to use some of the decor from the show like chairs and accent pieces.”
Two glamping tents will be offered this season, beginning on Memorial Day weekend. Each will have a queen bed, table and chairs and small refrigerator, plus a heating and air-conditioning unit.
“We’ll have cots available to accommodate families and possibly a futon bed or couch in one, with a bunk or another twin bed in the other,” Jodi Sleep said.
Guests also can dine on beef from the ranch.
“Because it is a seasonal business, that also adds some additional stress to it, which is where Prairie Family Business Association also has been very helpful,” she said.
“As we’ve connected with other families, many come from the same backgrounds and share our goals and values, and that’s been very key to working through some of those dynamics.”
The family first connected with PFBA in 2024 after hearing about it through friends and a state agritourism program.
“We’d heard how good of an organization Prairie Family was and how beneficial it was,” Jodi Sleep said. “The resources are so broad.”
The entire family attended the PFBA annual conference and then moved onto a family action plan using PFBA resource providers. At that point, they also included their daughter Samantha, who helps on the ranch but isn’t involved day to day.
“We really appreciated the action plan,” Jodi Sleep said. “It was a good start to help us think through our values and weak spots and strong points and what we want to work toward.”
The family anticipates building additional relationships, Jeff Sleep added.
“We’ve learned through the convention and workshops not just how to improve our estate planning but our business function,” he said.
“That’s been really helpful in terms of structuring meetings and running the flow of the business, and we are building relationships with people who will help us down the road too.”
They both came away “saying this is the best conference we’ve ever been to,” Jodi Sleep added. “It’s the most well run, just very professional, and the information is very pertinent and applicable.”
Meyer agreed.
“I had zero experience with family business before, so it’s been helpful to me because everything is brand-new and I had no idea what I didn’t even know,” he said.
“I’ve been to a lot of professional conferences as an engineer, and this was the most professionally run I’ve ever been to in terms of speakers and quality and actual take-home information. I was really wowed.”
The family is just beginning its connection with PFBA but already seeing the benefits, Van Essen said.
“They’re doing all the right steps – attending the conference, building relationships and went through a family action plan,” he said. “These are accessible to any family business, and many find just as many instant advantages as the Sleep family is discovering.”
To make your reservation at Iron Creek Lake Campground, visit here.
