Lawrence County The county of Lawrence is the most wealthy, populous and important in the Black Hills region, containing over one-half of the total population, and a proportionate amount of the accumulated wealth, and having an area of 2,000 square miles, equivalent to about fifty-eight congressional townships. It is bounded on the north by Butte County and the Belle Fourche River, south by Pennington County, east by the two branches of the Cheyenne River, and west by Wyoming Territory. It formerly extended to the Belle Fourche; but when Butte County was organized, the line between them was run so as to take off nearly a tier of townships on the north. The county measures in extreme length from east to west eighty-seven miles, and across the widest portion north and south thirty-two miles. The portion lying east of Range 9 is in places only fourteen miles in width. About one-third of the county lying in the southwest part is hilly and mountainous, and mostly covered with a good growth of pine timber; the remaining two thirds, stretching from the foothills to the two branches of the Cheyenne River, constitute a portion of the broad-spreading plains which sweep around the Hills on the north, south, and east. The third and fourth highest points in the Hills, Crook’s Tower and Terry Peak, are both in Lawrence County, and possibly Custer Peak may be the fifth.* There are also other high points, like Bald Mountain, Crow Peaks, Black Butte, Bear Butte, etc. The average height of the hilly region of the county may be estimated at 6,000 feet above sea level, while the open country varies from 2,000 to 3,500 feet, the lowest points being along the Cheyenne. The hilly portion, especially within a radius of a half a dozen miles around Deadwood, is exceedingly rough and broken, and the Hills descend very abruptly toward the plains on the north and the east, the streams having a descent of from 150 to 200 feet per mile until they reach the open plains. Toward the southern part of the county there is a more level region around the headwaters of the streams and especially on the great limestone plateau. At present time the bulk of the profitable mining operations is in Lawrence County; but with the advent of railways and capital, this condition of things is quite likely to be changed, for it is understood that other portions of the Hills are equally rich in minerals as those around Deadwood. The principal drainage basins of Lawrence County are those of the Redwater River, and Spearfish False Bottom, Whitewater, Bear Butte, Alkali, Elk, and Box Elder creeks. Beaver Creek, in the extreme west, and Rapid Creek, in the south, drain small areas of the county. The Spearfish is the longest stream wholly within the county, and carries a large volume of water, about the same as Rapid Creek at Rapid City. The great gold region of Deadwood is on the headwaters of the Whitewood, and the silver mines of Galena are on the Bear Butte Creek. The best developed agricultural portions of the county are in the Spearfish, Redwater, and Pleasant valleys, and on the Centennial Prairie. The valleys of the other important streams are filling up with enterprising farmers, and within a few years the whole arable area of the county will be under cultivation. Lawrence County was named in honor of Colonel John Lawrence, who is still a resident and was the first county treasurer. The colonel was fourteen years a resident of Yankton, and has also resided at Sioux Falls. He has held the offices of Sergeant of Arms of the House of Representatives at Washington, Deputy United States Marshal of Dakota, for twelve years; has been a member of both branches of the Territorial Legislature, and was connected with Indian affairs for many years. The county was organized in April, 1877, but the destruction of the records by fire in 1879, makes it impossible to give the exact date, as the recollections of the earliest settlers do not always agree. It was the intention to make Crook City the county seat, and the first meeting of the commissioners was held there; but they adjourned to Deadwood without transacting any public business. A general election afterward made Deadwood the permanent capital. The first officers of the county, as near as we can ascertain, were as follows: County Commissioners, Fred T. Evans, John Woolsmuth, Captain A.W. Lavender; Probate Judge, C. E. Hanrehan; Register of Deeds, James H. Hand; Treasurer, Colonel John Lawrence; Assessor, ____James; Sheriff, Seth Bullock; Attorney, _____ Flannery; Coroner, Dr. Babcock; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Captain C. H. McKinnis. The county surveyor was subsequently elected. Hon. Granville G. Bennett was first Judge of the Circuit Court, and General A. R. Z. Dawson, Clerk. The Deadwood Pioneer of January, 1882, states that C. H. McKinnis was the first probate judge, and C. E. Hanrehan, register of deeds. We are unable to reconcile the discrepancy. The present county officers are: Commissioners, J. W. Garland, Samuel Roy; Sheriff, John Manning; Register of Deeds and ex officio County Clerk, Joseph S. Tracy; Treasurer, William M. Baird; Judge of Probate, Neil McDonough; Clerk of Court, A. R. Z. Dawson; Attorney for the Black Hills District, A. J. Plowman; Surveyor, George S. Hopkins; Coroner, B. P. Smith; Assessor, F. M. McLefresh; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mrs. M. J. Hugill. The first court house was destroyed by great fire of 1879, together with all the records. A new building has since been erected in the east part of Deadwood, on Sherman Street. It is constructed of brick, two stories in height, and conveniently arranged for business. The cost was about $12,000. Lawrence County has expended large sums in the construction of roads and bridges, and many of the roads are excellent, particularly those leading from Deadwood to Lead and Central cities, to Spearfish, Crook City, and Sturgis. The great flood of May, 1883, played terrible havoc with the roads located in the main gulches and canons. The roads between Deadwood, Central, and Lead, were badly washed, and the one leading to Sturgis through the canons of Bear Butte Creek, beyond Boulder Park, was completely destroyed. All of these roads have since been put in order, and most of them are in much better condition than before the flood. Some of the more expensive are toll roads, ordinary taxation not being sufficient to keep them in repair. The wonder of the stranger is how the people manage to keep up so many miles of good roads as they do. The assessed valuation of Lawrence County, in 1882, was $4,136,330, or more than four-fifths of the total valuation of all the Hills counties. The levy was thirty-six mills. The bonds of the county, running for twenty years at ten percent interest, are worth on the market seventy-five cents on the dollar. The total assessed valuation of the three counties of Custer, Pennington, and Lawrence, for 1881-2, was a trifle over $5,000,000. The total bonded debt, $442,000, and the floating debt, $121,167.35. The county asylum for paupers is located at Spearfish City. The county fairgrounds are situated about 2 miles northeast of Deadwood, on a broad plateau surrounded by lofty mountains. The main stage road to Sturgis and Fort Meade passes the grounds. City of Deadwood. – Deadwood, the business capital of the Black Hills, is situated in the deep gulches of the Whitewood and Deadwood creeks, at an elevation of 4,630 feet above sea level, according to careful calculations by the United States Signal officers. It is on the northern slope of the Hills, and within four miles of the margin of the plains, in a direct line on the north, and the descent in this distance is over 1,000 feet. It is approximately in latitude 44? 23’ north, and longitude 26? 40’ west from Washington; and the twelve miles in an air line from the western boundary of Dakota. Terry Peak, one of the highest elevations of the Hills, is distant in a straight line seven miles southwest, and Custer Peak, another very high point, about eleven miles nearly south from Deadwood. The hills immediately around the city rise from 200 to 800 feet, the most conspicuous being what is termed “White Rocks”, on the east, which lifts an enormous mass of Carboniferous limestone 700 feet above the gulch, and forms a prominent feature of the landscape, though it is overtopped by other hills not far away. The climate of this locality is naturally a very healthful one, whatever of unusual diseases there may be being due to the presence of mineral particles carried by the flumes of sluices which supply the city with water. The water is naturally very pure and soft, coming mostly from the ancient slate and schistose rocks, but in its passage through the flumes, which are somewhat cheaply constructed, fine particles of mica find their way into it and these produce irritation of the bowels and kidneys. The difficulty is easily remedied, however, all that is required is being some form of filtering reservoir, which sooner or later will probably be constructed. Deadwood owes its remarkable growth and prosperity to the rich placer and quartz gold mines in its vicinity. Prospectors found their way into the Deadwood Gulch (so named from the great amount of dead timber found there by the early miners) from several directions, late in the fall of 1875, and the first cabin is claimed to have been erected by Jack McAleer. The grand rush commenced early in the spring of 1876, and the valleys of Whitewood and Deadwood creeks were soon occupied by miners, who came from all parts of the country. Cabins were reared along the streams, and Deadwood began to take on the appearance of civilization, though there was little attempt at regularity in laying out streets or putting up buildings. The site now occupied by the busy city was as wild and rugged as could be found on the continent, and the first comers disputed with the wild beasts of the forest for possession of the ground. A huge grizzly, or silver tip, was killed on the slope of the hill near where the Methodist church washed away in the flood of 1843, afterward stood, and the whole gulch was covered with a dense growth of pine timber, much of it dead, and a tangle of nearly impassable underbrush. The Whitewood and Deadwood gulches were staked off into mining claims, numbered, and occupied, and each claim owner put up his cabin where he could best find room, in the valley or on the hillside, as circumstances determined. According to the Pioneer town was originally laid out April 26, 1876, by Craven Lee, Isaac Brown, J. J. Williams, and others. Lee Street was named after one of the proprietors. A provisional city government was organized and E. B. Farnum chosen mayor. Farnum was a merchant, and held his court regularly, sitting on a sack of flour or box of bacon, dispensing justice with an impartial hand. The council was made up of Keller Kurtz, Sol Star, Frank Philbrook, Joseph Miller, and James McCauley, with John A. Swift for City Clerk and Colonel Stapleton, City Marshal. The first minister of the gospel is supposed to have been Rev. ____ Smith, who was killed by the Indians between Deadwood and Crook City, on Sunday, August 20, 1876. The first practicing attorneys were Joseph Miller and William George; and Dr. A. W. McKinney is claimed to have been the first local physician. According to the authority already quoted, Messrs. Gardner & Thompson erected the first frame house on the ground since occupied by Nye’s Opera House. Furman & Brown opened the first general stock of groceries, Julius Deetkin the first regular drug store, Baer & McKinniss the first wholesale liquor store, and M. M. Gillette the first jewelry establishment. The first newspaper material was brought in from Custer City by W. A. Laughlin, who had attempted to start a paper at Custer, but was carried away by the stampede for Deadwood. On the 8th of June, 1876, Laughlin and Merrick issued the first number of the Black Hills Pioneer, the first newspaper issued in the Hills. It is recorded that the office was in a swamp, and the press occupied a tent on the hillside above. The type-setting was done in a cabin with a roof made of poles, and the water was sometimes knee-deep on the earthen floor. The first issue was a half- sheet and from such small beginnings has grown the respectable and ably conducted journal. Two days later, on the 10th of June, a paper made its appearance at Crook City. Among the early merchants of Deadwood, were Miller & McPherson, Garrison & Co., William Munter, J. M. Woods, Evans & Herrick, John N. Nye, Hilderbrand & Harding, Jensen & Bliss, D. P. Burnham, Mathiesen & Goldberg, Wardner & Bittinger, Eiler, Ben Holstein, Gibb, Stone & Co., R. C. Lake, Graves & Curtis, William Brown, Vaughn & Decker, Cuthbertson & Young. Among the early landlords were C. H. Wagner, John Ammerman, King & Gregory, C. W. N. Ruggles, and Frank Welch. The first theatre was opened in Deadwood July 22, 1876. The building, a frame, was enclosed around the four sides, but had a canvas roof, and the floor was of earth, covered with sawdust. It is said that during the first performance a heavy rain fell, drenching the audience and the stage; but the play went on and the greater part of the audience remained to the end. The years 1876 and 1877 were characterized by much lawlessness and a considerable number of men were killed in the frequent quarrels. The town was full of gamblers and hard characters, and shooting was a common pastime. About the first of August, 1876, one Jerry McCarty was arrested and tried for killing a young man with a knife. The trial took place at Gayville. A. S. Simonton acted as the court, John A. Smith was the clerk, A. H. Chapline, attorney for the prosecution, and Joseph Miller for the defense. A guard of twenty armed men took the place of the sheriff and the posse. A jury was drawn, witnesses were present, and the trial which took place in the open air, continued into the night. The jury rendered a verdict of not guilty. The mob were in favor of lynching the jury, but the guard leveled their weapons and stood them off. The prisoner was brought to Deadwood, where he was given a horse and gun and directed to leave the Hills at once. He leaped into the saddle, put spurs to his horse and with one farewell whoop disappeared at full speed down the gulch. On the second of August, 1876, occurred the murder of “Wild Bill”, the famous scout, gambler, and pistol-shot of the frontiers, by Jack McCall, another of the same stripe, who claimed that Bill had killed his brother, which was quite likely true. Wild Bill was in a gambling saloon on Main Street, about opposite where the Gem Theatre now stands, busy playing cards at a table, when McCall crept up behind him and shot him through the head. The assassin then backed out of the saloon and down the street with a heavy cocked revolver in each hand, and escaped for the time being. He was afterward captured and tried before a provisional court and acquitted. Subsequently he was arrested by the United States Marshal and taken to Yankton, where he was tried in a district court, convicted of murder and promptly executed. Wild Bill’s remains were interred in the old burying ground, but have been since taken up and re-interred in the southeast part of the new cemetery on Mount Moriah, where two of his comrades erected a plain wooden slab over his grave on which is engraved a characteristic epitaph. On the same day in which Bill was slain a Mexican came galloping up Main Street, with the head of an Indian hanging at the horn of his saddle, from which blood was still dripping. The people believed that an attack by the savages was imminent and the excitement was great. They made up a purse of sixty dollars and presented the Mexican for his heroic deed. A mail line was established between Cheyenne and Sidney on the Union Pacific Railroad and the Black Hills in the early part of 1876. H. G. Rockfellow was the proprietor and the mail was carried on ponies. His charges were fifty cents per letter. A post-office was established in the spring of 1877 and R. O. Adams was appointed the first postmaster. The distributing point had previously been on Main Street, but Adams opened the first regular office on Sherman Street. He continued until the last of June, 1879, when Solomon Star was appointed and continued to act until November 1, 1881, when the present incumbent, J. A. Harding, succeeded him. On the 1st of January, 1882, the office was removed to its present location on Main Street. The office is now one of the most important in Dakota. Eleven regular mail routes center at Deadwood, and the mail arrivals number about fifteen each way every twenty-four hours. The principal routes are those via Pierre and Sydney. Before the opening of the C. & N. W. Ry. to Pierre, the northern mails came via Bismark. The general business of the office up to the close of 1883 was the largest in the Territory, and the money order business exceeds by far that of any other. The total receipts and disbursements for 1883 amounted to nearly $190,000. The general postal receipts were within a fraction of $10,000 and the net surplus paid over to the United States was about $3,300. The number of pouches received and sent out was over 13,000. The money order business is very extensive. The town had become a popular and busy city when the great fire of September 26, 1879 almost totally destroyed it in a few hours. The buildings were almost wholly of pine wood and were swept away like straw. The loss was estimated at $1,500,000. But notwithstanding their terrible losses the people began to rebuild before the ruins were done smoking, and like Chicago, a few years earlier, a new city, much more substantially built, arose phoenix-like from the ashes of the old. The town was incorporated as a city by the Territorial Legislature in 1880. It is divided into four wards, each having two members of the common council. Like other metropolitan cities Deadwood is an aggregation of small hamlets and villages consolidated into one compact city. Among the distinctive appellations of various localities were Montana City, Elizabethtown, Cleveland, and Fountain City. Besides these portions of the city have at later dates been known as Ingleside, Forest Hill, City Creek, Chinatown, etc. The city is supplied with water mostly by the Homestake Hydraulic Company, which brings it in flumes and sluices, at elevations sufficent to give a head for the greater portion of the city of over 200 feet. The fire department is well organized and very efficient, consisting of three uniformed and thoroughly equipped companies, which are always prompt in the performance of their dangerous but necessary duty. Deadwood is a place of very extensive business, being the great distributing point for the principal mining interests of the Hills. There are probably over a hundred firms engaged in the various kinds of commercial and mercantile business, and the main street of the city presents as busy an appearance as that of any town of its size in the Union. From the files of the Pioneer we find that in 1881 the capital invested in various kinds of business was about $1,200,000; average stocks of goods carried, $1,250,000, and the total sales and receipts $3,774,000. The sales of the prominent branches were: Groceries 904,000 Liquors(Wholesale) 285,000 Hardware 285,000 Dry Goods 200,000 Clothing 188,000 Furniture 122,000 Boots and Shoes 93,000 Drugs and Medicines 51,000 Jewelry 40,500 Books and Stationary 50,000 Fruit and Confectionery 30,000 Saloons 252,500 Hotels 121,000 Bakeries 41,000 Millinery 12,000 Express 17,000 Barbers 18,000 Butter and Milk 50,000 Restaurants 81,500 Merchant Tailors 10,000 Blacksmith and Wagon Shops 48,000 Brick and Stone Masons 18,000 Meat Markets 155,000 Sash, Door and Blinds 150,000 Printing 50,000 Hides and Pelts 100,000 Fuel 80,000 Boarding Houses 24,000 Livery and Corral 90,000 These figures may be somewhat varied for 1883, but will certainly not be lessened. The Great Flood of 1883 – The disastrous flood which occurred in May, 1883, and swept away immense amounts of property – the accumulation of years – in the northern Hills, was a calamity to Deadwood, Central, and other towns in the neighborhood, equal in proportion to the great fire of 1871 which burned $200,000,000 worth of property in the city of Chicago. Deadwood had been almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1879, but had been rebuilt and greatly improved and was in a flourishing condition when the terrible avalanche of waters came down upon it in 1883. Such a calamity might have been foreseen had the people who built up the cities of the narrow gulches taken a sober thought upon the surroundings. But a similar catastrophe had never before been experienced, and people overlooked the tremendous possibilities of the situation. Within seven miles of Deadwood, the great backbone of the northern Hills uplifts more than 7,000 feet into the heavens, and the whole region for miles around is filled with lofty mountain peaks, steep rugged hills, and deep gulches and canyons, through which the numerous streams rush toward the plains with a fall of 200 feet to the mile. About the middle of May a heavy fall of snow occurred on the mountains, and this was followed on the 17th and 18th by a steady warm rain which brought the accumulated snows down into the narrow valleys with a rush like Niagara, sweeping everything moveable before the raging torrents that leaped like maddened coursers down the encircling hills. The main Whitewood and Deadwood creeks unite near the center of the city, which had been built up with little regard to the insignificant streams coursing their way through it. In the height of the speculative days every possible square inch of land that could be taken from the creeks had been utilized, and buildings of every description crowded each other until the streams were almost hidden from sight. The waters were forced into narrow, tortuous channels, in many instances being compelled to turn suddenly at right angles and sweep here and there amid a maze of posts and timbers on which were reared a great number of buildings, mostly of wood. On Wednesday, May 17, the barometer commenced falling rapidly, and many people began to anticipate a heavy storm, which broke over the Hills on Thursday the 18th with a steady down-pour of rain. At 4 P.M. the water broke over the banks of Whitewood Creek and swept a broad channel through the southern part of the city, taking everything that obstructed its course. Later on, the Deadwood Creek came down with an overwhelming flood, and about 11 P.M. all the city bridges were swept away, and communication between the two divisions of the city was cut off. In the aggregate, not less than 150 buildings were swept away in Deadwood alone, including a fine city school building, the Methodist Episcopal Church and many wholesale and retail mercantile houses. The total loss was estimated by the Pioneer at $250,000. The following table of losses we clip from the Pioneer of May 20: S. F. Jacoby $ 3,000 Zoeckler Bros 1,500 Wilson 1,000 Mahr 1,000 H. B. Barnes 1,000 S. F. Butler 1,500 S. Cushman 2,000 Chas Borcher 2,000 Ban Chinaman 1,000 Sundry Buildings 4,000 City Fire houses 1,500 Jim Weatherspoon 1,000 Herrmann & Treber 500 F. Welch 5,000 Welch, Farley & Co. 5,500 F. Fredricks 7,500 Bews & Allen 1,000 John Mead 4,000 Jake Wertheimer 600 John Wye 2,000 P. F. Keenan 2,500 C. Karcher 800 John Ammerman 2,500 H. H. Keimer 2,500 C. R. LeRoy 2,500 Edmonds & Co. 1,000 J. K. P. Miller 3,000 Bent & Deetken 5,500 Ben Baer 5,000 Fishel Bros. 1,500 M. J. Wertheimer 1,500 F. W. Hamilton 1,000 F. Zipp 1,000 L. R. Graves 6,000 Browning & Wringrose 1,000 Ismon & Ayres 3,500 F. Demouth 500 R. C. Lake 2,000 Star & Bullock 10,000 Adams Bros. 1,000 __ Cornell 2,500 __ Martin 2,500 Mabb Bros. 1,000 Al Swearingen 500 __ Hetzel 2,500 Kidd & Benn 4,000 Theo. Roche 500 Deadwood School District 20,000 Methodist Church 6,500 J. Sanderson 3,000 __ Flag 500 Hank Jewett 2,000 Frank Ayres 4,000 L. F. Whitbeck 2,000 Tom Manning 2,000 __ Needham 1,000 John Black 1,000 Deadwood Flouring Mill Co. 1,000 E. Cuthbertson 1,500 Charles Stacy 500 G. W. Forbes 500 Various Chinese buildings 3,000 Various small buildings, estimated 10,000 Various losses by breakage in removal, estimated 5,000 P. H. Early 2,000 __ Stewart 3,000 __ McClouds 600 Mrs. Gates 500 Mrs. Powers 600 Other buildings 1,000 J. Anthony 1,000 Fink 1,000 Patsy Sullivan 1,500 Total $189,200 It will be seen by the above that the loss in the city of Deadwood alone will reach fully $250,000, and from what we can gather, it is a safe estimate that the total in Lawrence County within the last two days will reach fully half a million dollars. The saddest part of the disaster was the loss of life, which included G. W. Chandler and his wife, and a German hired man named Gustaf Halhuten. The family was swept away with the dwelling. Mr. Chandler was owner of the Lead City toll road, which was badly washed away, as was the road between Central City and Deadwood. Among the serious losses was that of Messrs. Allen & Thompson, who had their extensive new flume, bulkhead, etc., in the Deadwood Gulch either washed away of buried under vast accumulations of sand, gravel, and boulders. The Whitewood Creek and its numerous branches, after the subsidence of the flood, presented a most desolate appearance. The numerous gulches, from the sources of the streams to the plains around Crook City, were one wide scene of wreckage and destruction. There were many narrow escapes of life and property. The disaster was a terrible blow to Deadwood, whose people at first staggered under it; but with their accustomed determination, they soon rallied, and resolved to repair their wasted city, and make it better than before. A new and elegant school building of brick has taken the place of the one destroyed, and to make sure work, it has been erected where the floods cannot again reach it. Efforts are being made to rebuild the Methodist Church, swept away, which will no doubt be successful. The city has rebuilt the bridges in a very substantial manner, and the merchants on Main Street have put in an enormous bulkhead or crib, parallel with the east side of the street, at a cost of some $10,000, for the protection of the city from future floods. It is 700 or 800 feet in length, built up from heavy bed rock of heavy timbers in the form of cribs or sections, with dovetailed joints, the whole solidly filled with heavy boulders and coarse gravel. On the side next the business houses the washed-out places will be filled in like manner, and it is believed that the protection will be ample for years. There are two extensive banking institutions in the city. The First National Bank, the oldest in the Hills, was organized September 1, 1878, with L. R. Graves president and S. N. Wood, cashier. The building at first occupied was destroyed in the fire of September, 1879, but the new books and papers were preserved in the vault. A new building of brick and iron was erected, and the business continued. The original institution changed hands August 1, 1879. The establishment has now a capital of $100,000, fully paid in. It deposits reach an average of nearly $500,000, and its exchange business annually amounts to $10,000,000. Its surplus is large. The Merchants National Bank dates from March, 1879, when Messrs. Stebbins, Post, & Mund opened a private bank with a capital of $20,000, which within a few weeks it was found necessary to increase to $50,000. In November of the same year the Merchants National Bank was organized, and the old one merged into it, with a capital of $100,000. A new brick building was nearly completed when the great fire destroyed it. The day succeeding the fire, work was commenced on a new building, the bank in the meantime continuing business in a temporary building. The new building was completed in the summer of 1880. The institution in the summer of 1883 had a line of deposits averaging nearly $400,000, and an annual business of several millions, with a large surplus. These banks handle the bulk of the bullion product of the Hills, which in itself is something enormous. CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS – The first denomination in the field at Deadwood was the Methodist Episcopal. The first gospel minister in the Black Hills was Rev.___ Smith, who began his labors as a local preacher sometime in 1876, but most unfortunately did not live long enough to see the results of his labors. The Indians were no respecters of persons, and on Sunday, August 20, 1876, when the faithful minister was on his way from Deadwood to Crook City to preach, they waylaid him on the road and murdered him. His remains were taken to Crook City and interred. In the fall of 1877, Bishop Peek sent Rev. James Williams from the Northwestern Iowa conference as a missionary to the Black Hills. He organized the first class in Deadwood, consisting of some half dozen members. A short time before the arrival of Mr. Williams, some of the brethren had secure two city lots in Ingleside, and erected a parsonage. Services were held in private dwellings and cabins for some time, and afterward in the Sherman street Opera house and the old school-house. The Black Hills region was then a part of the Sioux City, Iowa district. In May, 1879, Rev. T. M. Williams, presiding elder of the district, appointed Rev. A J. Whitfield , as a supply and associate, and he was assigned to the charge of the society in Deadwood. Soon after, however, he united with the Congregational Church. In the meantime, Rev. James Williams had been returned to the Hills, and arrived with his family in the fall of 1878. He was a faithful laborer and accumulated considerable property for the society. When the city was destroyed by the great fire of September, 1879, the church and its contents, including a fine organ, was totally destroyed. Following this disaster a Sabbath school was established, with Dolph Edwards as superintendent. In September, 1889, Bishop Warren visited Deadwood and held the first meeting of the Black Hills missions, the Hills having been detached from the Iowa conference and made a separate mission field by action of the general conference in May, 1880, at Cincinnati. At this meeting the bishop appointed Rev. J. Williams to superintend the Hills missions. At the same time Rev. R. H. Dolliver was transferred from the Northwest Iowa conference to the pastorship of the Deadwood society. His appointment dated from September 16, 1880, and he reached Deadwood on the 26th of the same month. The church at this date had funds on hand to the amount of $2,000. In December, 1880, the society was incorporated under the name of “The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Deadwood.” A building committee was appointed and a lot purchased on the corner of Pine and Water streets, at a cost of $1,000, which proved in the end a very poor investment. The lot was improved by building a bulkhead to protect it from Whitewood Creek, and a church was subsequently erected, which with the lot was swept away in the terrible flood of May, 1883. In the fall of 1883, the church had raised nearly sufficient funds to purchase and erect a new building. Congregational - - The beginning of this denomination in Deadwood was in November, 1876, where Rev. L. P. Norcross, the first ordained Protestant clergyman in the Black Hills, began his labors as the agent of the American Home Missionary Society. The first services were held in the old International Hotel, subsequently in the Centennial House, and later in a carpenter shop on Sherman street. In July, 1877, services were held in the first Protestant church edifice erected in the Hills. A church was organized in Deadwood about January 1, 1877, being the first in the Hills. This church escaped the fire of 1879, though many of its members suffered loss of property with the general public. Roman Catholic – The Catholics were early in the field, Father Lonergan being among the first settlers of Deadwood. During his stay he erected a small frame church building on the ground where now stands the find brick edifice erected a few years later. The denomination is strongly entrenched in and around Deadwood, having several churches in the vicinity with schools and hospitals attached, and large number of communicants. SCHOOLS – The earliest schools in the Hills were private schools, which continued until counties were organized, when the public school system succeeded them. The first public school is said to have been opened in Central City in the fall of 1877. In the course of that year fourteen public schools were opened in various parts of Lawrence County, and this number had been increased to over thirty in the fall of 1883. The organization of Butte County took a number from Lawrence County, which contained at the time of the division more than forty. The earlier schools of Deadwood were presided over by Professors D. Edwards and A. F. Lewis, with Misses K. Graham and M. D. Edmonds as assistants. In March, 1881, a “Board of Education” for the city was provided for by act of the Legislature, and the city was erected into a special school district, subdivided into four sub-districts or wards, each represented by two members of the school board. In 1881, the city voted to issue bonds for school purposes to the amount of $12,000, and two buildings were erected. One in the first district (Elizabethtown), and a fine central building of brick with six rooms. This last building was carried away by the flood of 1883, but a new one has taken its place. At the present time the public schools of Deadwood are in a flourishing condition. In the spring of the present year, 1884, a school for Chinese was opened in the city, under the auspices of the Congregational church. Out latest information reports fourteen pupils in attendance. SECRET ORDERS—Deadwood contains the usual organizations of secret and benevolent orders usually found in towns of it grade, including Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights of the Pythias, Foresters, Miner’s Unions, Liberal League, etc. The Black Hills’ Medical Society also has its headquarters in the city. There is also a wide-awake and flourishing board of trade. The city has telegraphic communication with the outside world via Pierre and Cheyenne, the line to the latter being opened in 1876. A telephone exchange was established in Deadwood in December, 1880. At the present time all the important towns of the Hills are connected with this system, which has a large number of patrons and is a very successful institution. There are dozens of hotels in the city, among which the principal are the Wentworth, Cosmopolitan, Merchants, Overland, and Avenue, all of which compare favorably with best hotels in cities of like class. MANUFACTURING – Among the important manufacturing interests of the city is the Deadwood Flouring Mill. The Deadwood Flouring Mill Company was organized in 1881, and a fine mill erected the same year. It is a steam mill on the roller plan, and has a capacity for producing 200 barrels of flour every twenty-four hours. The grain used is grown in the Hills exclusively, and no better wheat is produced in the world than that raised in the rich valleys in and around the Hills. In 1883 the Deadwood mills supplied several of the Sioux Indian agencies with flour under contract with the United States Government. The amount shipped was about 1,225,000 pounds, and this demand produced a very good market for the farmers of the Hills region. TRANSPORTATION COMPANIES – Deadwood is noted for the immense amount of business, particularly in the mercantile line, transacted annually. As evidence of this we append facts and figures furnished by the heavy transportation companies doing business in the city. The Northwest Express, Stage, and Transportation Company, with headquarters at St. Paul, Minn., are the successors of the old Minnesota Stage Company, organized many years ago. The Northwestern commenced business with the Black Hills in March, 1877. The first line was put on from Bismarck to connect with the Northern Pacific Railway, changing to Pierre in October, 1880, upon completion of the Chicago & North- Western Railway to that point. The stage line for passengers and express consists of about twenty-four Concord four-horse coaches, running ten per week each way between Pierre and Deadwood. In 1881-2-3, the average number of passengers carried annually was about 5,000. This line also transports all eastern and northern mails, and most of the gold and silver bullion produced in the Hills. Comfortable eating stations are placed at regular intervals along the road, where passengers for a reasonable charge get excellent meals; and there are relay stations for horses on an average about fourteen miles apart. Transportation for heavy freight included 1,000 wagons, 600 mules, and about 1,600 oxen, and all branches of the business employ about some 500 men. The amount of freight handled for 1883 was about 16,000,000 pounds, mostly delivered in Deadwood. This company operated in connection with the Chicago & North- Western Railway Company. Captain Russell Blakely of St. Paul, is president of the company, and W. Selbie agent at Deadwood. Evans Transportation Line – Fred T. Evans, proprietor of this line, which runs in connection with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, first started for the Hills at the head of a freight train from Sioux City in the Spring of 1876, but was overhauled and captured, and his property destroyed by United States troops. In 1877, following the opening of the Hills to the whites, he commenced running a regular line by steamer from Sioux City to Pierre, and thence by wagons to the Hills. The boats were changed from Sioux City to Running Water in 1881, and in 1882 to Chamberlain, to connect with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. Freight is mostly transported between Pierre and the Hills by ox teams. The company employs about 400 wagons ( of P. Schutter’s make ), 1,500 oxen, 250 mules and 175 men. During the year 1883, some 10,000,000 pounds of freight were handled. The company handles considerable bullion, all the flour manufactured by the Deadwood mills for the Indian agencies, and supplies for the Government post, Fort Meade. Fred T. Evans is proprietor of this line, with headquarters at Pierre, and C. A. Davis is his agent at Deadwood. Mr. Evans, in the spring of 1884, purchased and put two steamers on the Missouri to run from Pierre up and down the river. The Wyoming Stage Company is an extensive corporation, having lines in Wyoming, Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, and Utah. The first line to the Hills was opened from Sidney by Marsh & Stephenson, who sold to Gilmer, Salisbury & Co., who were running a line from Cheyenne. After buying out Marsh & Stephenson, they shifted to Sidney and continued the business until July 1, 1882, when the Wyoming Stage Company succeeded them. This company had operated a mail and passenger line from Pierre to Rapid City for about eighteen months previous to buying out the other line. They sold the Pierre line to the Northwestern Company, and opened the line from Sidney to Deadwood July 1, 1882. The company transports mails, passengers, and express goods. Twenty-five covered four-horse coaches are used in the business, and the company employs about fifty men. All western and southern and a share of eastern business passes through their hands. There are relay stations between Sidney and the Hills at intervals of about twelve miles, and the road is open at all seasons. This is an incorporated company. President, J. W. Parker; manager, Frank Clugage; superintendent, T. W. Furlong; agent at Deadwood, H. A. Lawton. Careful estimates of the amount of freight and express goods handled by these companies and other parties at Deadwood for 1883, place the amount at not less than 40,000,000 pounds. NEWSPAPERS – There are two papers published in the city, the Pioneer, the first paper published in the Hills, as recorded elsewhere, and the Times, the first daily paper issued in the Hills. These journals are both well established and successfully conducted, giving full and accurate news from all parts of the Hills and a daily synopsis of the regular press reports from all parts of the world. The Black Hills Pioneer, is published by A. W. Merrick, the oldest publisher in the region, and its editorial department is under the management of Mr. L. F. Whitbeck, a most indefatigable news gatherer and a writer of excellent reputation, to whom we are indebted for a great amount of valuable information, and for the free use of the files of his journal. The Black Hills Daily Times is published and edited by Porter Warner, Esq., a gentleman of prominent standing in the Territory, and one well informed in all matters pertaining to the Black Hills region. It is exclusively a daily and has a large circulation in the cities and the towns and among the miners of the northern Hills. Its columns are daily filled with complete reports from all the mining interests of the region. Deadwood has a large number of professional gentlemen within her borders. Prominent in the legal department are Messrs., McLaughlin & Steele, Van Cise & Wilson, Corson, & Thomas, B. G. Caulfield, Granville G. Bennett, Judge Kingsley, A. J. Plowman, Colonel W. H. Parker, W. A. Hastie, Atwood & Romans, Henry Allen, G. C. Moody, Judge Carey, General Dawson and Thomas Harvey. Deadwood has survived fire and flood and still maintains its reputation as the commercial metropolis of the Black Hills. The great question now is what about the railways? The approaches from the valleys in any direction present many obstacles to the construction of these important highways of traffic and travel; yet it is possible that the people of this mountain city will find means when the proper time arrives, to surmount these as they have others, and in some way, when the great railway companies, which are now pointing toward the Hills, reach the vicinity, a track will be constructed to Deadwood and probably beyond. In any event a narrow gauge road could be built at a reasonable expense which would be sufficient to transact all the business of the northern Hills, and this or a standard gauge road, the Deadwood capitalists and business men will undoubtedly have in due season. Deadwood capital is interested in all parts of the Hills and its business men are everywhere known for their vigorous prosecution of whatever may contribute to the benefit of their business and city. LEAD CITY -- This importatn business center, the second in the Hills in population and business, is situated about three miles in an air line (four miles by road ) southwest from Deadwood, near the head of Gold Run, a tributary of Whitewood Creek, at an elevation of about 5,300 feet above the sea, or nearly 700 feet above Deadwood, high and dry above all possible floods. It is also situated on the richest gold belt as yet developed in the Hills. In Lead are two of the immense stamp mills of the Homestake Company, the largest in the world. Lead City was named from the great gold lead on which three mills were situated, and is the result of the wonderful development of the mines, in fact it may truthfully said that Lead City is the creation of the Homestake Mining Company. The town was located by a preliminary survey, made by “Smokey” Jones and others, in 1876, and re-surveyed in May, 1877, by J. D. McIntyre. The place has grown steadily with the development of the mining business, until to-day it is a busy city of 2,500 people, a large proportion of whom are directly or indirectly supported by the Homestake business. The first mill was erected by the company in 1878, and at the present time the business employs six great stamp mills, containing an aggregate of 580 stamps, a complete railway system, and 1,500 men. Lead City is a place of considerably business, aside from the Homestake mining interests, having a large mercantile trade and important banking interests. A post- office was first established in July, 1879, with Charles Noyes as postmaster, and Wesley Alexander as first mail carrier. A money order department was opened August 3, 1879. SCHOOLS – The first public school was opened in July, 1878, with thirty-five pupils. G. B. Dean was the first teacher. From small beginnings, the schools have grown to important proportions, there being now 200 children or more in the different departments – primary, intermediate, and grammar – and the district has erected a fine two-story school building, in which are employed competent corps of teachers. CHURCHES – The first religious organization to erect a church building in Lead was the Catholic, which built a neat edifice in the spring of 1879. The first Methodist society in Lead City was organized November 15, 1880, by Rev. W. D. Phifer. It consisted of five members only, and the whole society acted as a business committee of the whole. But the membership increased rapidly. The old opera house was occupied at first as a place of worship, afterwards the old school building, and later the Miners’ Union Hall. In the summer of 1881, the pastor, having secured the necessary funds, began the erection of a church building, and having it nearly completed, when it was blown down in a heavy storm. Nothing daunted, the pastor went steadily at work, and on the 11th of August, 1881, the new church was dedicated by Bishop Foss, and the society was free from debt. The structure cost $2,300. It is of wood, thirty by fifty feet in size, and twenty feet high. A well established and flourishing Sunday school is connected with the society. The Congregational Church was organized August, 27, 1878, by Rev. J. W. Pickett, and is in a thriving condition. Among the earliest settlers in this city was Mr. C. F. Swartout. His first visit to the Hills was on the 17th of November, 1875, when he arrived at Custer City from Cheyenne. He remained there until May, 1876, when he went to Chicago. In August, 1876, he arrived in Lead City, and has since been a resident. He put the first amalgamator in the Hills into operation, and managed the first Homestake stamp mill for two years. NEWSPAPERS – The Lead City Daily Tribune was established August 29, 1881, by Messrs., Edwards & Pinneo, who have built up a good business. The Tribune is a wide-awake, newsy, well conducted and well patronized journal. The commercial business of Lead City is carried on by a large number of firms, representing every variety of trade and ordinary business. The total capital invested in business exclusive of mining in 1882 was, according to the Black Hills Pioneer, $500,000; average total stocks carried, $380,000; aggregate sales, $1, 850,000. These figures have been considerably increased since. The heaviest sales were in the grocery line, reaching $250,000. The finest business block in the city, and perhaps in the Hills, is the James Block, built by Mr. Thomas James, and opened in May, 1879. This fine building is 50 by 100 feet in dimensions, three stories in height, and fire-proof. The city has a well conducted and very efficient fire department. The Miners’ Union, with a very strong membership, is one of the flourishing institutions of the place, and there are lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythiasm and strong temperance and literary organizations. The following paragraphs we clip from the Black Hills Pioneer of January, 1882: “The first justice of the peace was Henry Hill, who was elected in June, 1878, and first case tried was a criminal case, June 25. The first bank was established in the spring of 1879. Hy. John Ainly in charge. The first frame house was erected in June, 1877, by James Long. It was the first hotel, and was named the Miners’ Hotel. The first exclusive grocery store was opened by Mealy & Smith, in 1877; the first dry goods, by Silver Bros.; first meat market, by Thomas Jones; first express delivery, by Wesley Alexander; first millinery , by Mrs. John Bragg; first clothing, P. Cohen; first furniture and undertaking, by S. R. Smith. The first woman was Mrs. Carter; first child, Josie Carter; the first baby born, Pearly McCoy; first newspaper, Lead City Telegraph. CENTRAL CITY – This town is situated on the Deadwood Gulch about two miles from Deadwood, southwest, and is made up of a half-score of mining camps and towns, among which are the familiar names of Gayville, the oldest of the cluster; South Bend, Central City, Anchor City, Golden Gate and Blacktail, which now form a continuous town with a population of 2,500, engaged in mining, manufacturing and mercantile business. Here is the great DeSmet quartz-mill of the Homestake company, and many others situated in and contiguous to Central, the noise of whose machinery indicates a great mining center. The first cabins erected in Central are said to have been put up by William Lardner and E. McKay, in December, 1875. The earliest mines in the gulch, the Erin and the Giant, one opened in November, the other in December, 1875. The earliest discoverers were Frank S. Bryant and John B. Pearson, still residents of Central. A considerable town grew up before any steps were taken toward selecting a name for the place. On the 20th of January, 1877, a public meeting was held, at which William Lardner acted as chairman, and A. H. Loudon as secretary. George Williams was elected recorder. I. V. Skidmore, recently from Central City, Colo., was allowed to christen the town after its Colorado namesake. Frank S. Bryant, Edward McKay and George Williams were appointed a committee to lay out the town. John B. Pearson was one of the first settlers, arriving here in December, 1875. Dr. Albert O. Ingalls, now a resident of Central City, was an early visitor to the Hills. In November, 1866, when a member of General Sully’s staff, he accompanied Lieutenant Reynolds, who led a force consisting of parts of the Twelfth Kansas and Thirteenth Missouri infantry volunteers and a detachment of United States regular infantry into the Hills, via the Niobrara River and Beaver Creek. The doctor subsequently became a resident of Central, where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession. At the time he visited the Hills he was on detached duty as a botanist of the expedition. The general business of Central, Gayville, and Golden Gate, etc., for 1881, as summed up by the Pioneer , was ; Capital invested, $374,0000; average stocks, $407,000; aggregate transactions, $ 1,193,600. NEWSPAPERS – There have been several newspapers established in Central. The Herald, by J. S. Bartholomew, was published from 1877 to 1881. The Champion was published in 1877 – 1878, by Charles Collins, and the Enterprise was another venture, by J. T. Webster, in 1881-1882. The Herald, and Enterprise were dailies; the Champion was a weekly issue. CHURCHES – According to the Pioneer the first stated preaching in Central was by ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, commencing in December, 1877. The first preacher was Judge David Ogden, who lived at Anchor City, where he died and was buried. The meetings were held in that part of Central known as Golden Gate. In January, 1878, the Reverend Judge, assisted by a number of other gentlemen, conducted a religious revival and increased the small nucleus of a church society to thirty-four persons. These meetings were held in a school building which stood on the lot since occupied by the American hotel. A class was organized, with Thomas Cook as leader, and a Sunday school with seventy-five members soon grew up under the assignment of J. B. Crooker. Soon after, the sale of the school house compelled them to move, and meetings were held in the opera house, for which $20 a month was paid. It was occupied until October, 1878, with Andrew Craig as local preacher. In July, 1878, the school house in Hidden Treasure Gulch was rented at $12 per month. In November, 1878, Rev. James Williams, of the Northern Iowa conference, was sent to the Hills, and the first quarterly meeting was held. A church building, costing $1,000, was completed in July, 1879. A flourishing Sunday school is connected with this church. Congregational – A Congregational society was organized in September, 1879, by Rev. B. F. Mills, and the society has since erected a comfortable house of worship. Catholic – The Catholic people also have a church with a large number of communicants in Central City. Many of the miners are connected with this church. SCHOOLS—The first public school in the Black Hills is said to have been opened in Central in the fall of 1877, but although she was the first in the field, her people have scarcely kept pace in the matter of comfortable buildings with other towns in the Hills. There are a large number of children of school age in the place and good accommodations are much needed. Central City and suburbs has the usual complement of secret orders, tradesmen and mechanics, a brewery, several hotels, schools, etc. The great flood of May, 1883, was terribly destructive to the cluster of hamlets comprising the city. In Anchor City and Golden Gate the damage was heavy and the placer mines of the entire gulch were either swept away or buried under heaps of rubbish, sand, gravel, etc. Messrs. Allen & Thompson lost heavily, several hundred feet of their flume being either washed away or badly damaged, and the balance buried out of sight. A large number of buildings in Anchor and Golden Gate were carried away, and the roads in the gulch were damaged to the extent of many thousand dollars. But amid all the terrible uproar and destruction of property, it is satisfaction to know that no human lives were sacrificed, the only person carried away being those spoken of in the history of Deadwood. We have seen no special estimate of the damage by this flood in Central and vicinity, but it must have approximated $100,000. The gulches were terrible scenes of desolation. TERRAVILLE – This town, which dates back to 1877, is a mining town situated in a small gulch between Central and Lead City. It is elevated a couple of hundred feet above Central, but it is not as high as Lead. There are three stamp mills in Terraville, a Congregational church, a school, with a considerable mercantile business at from 600 to 1,000 people. The mills located here are the Deadwood, Terra, and Caledonia. The latter is located in what is known as “Bobtail” gulch, and the company owns a sixty stamp mining mill and a large number of mines contiguous. Extensive mining and milling operations are carried on here, and the town is mostly engaged in one or the other. The amount of capital invested in Terraville in business, exclusive of mining, is about $100,000, and the total transactions for a given year are approximately $200,000. CHURCHES – The only organized church in the place is the Congregational, dating from December, 1880. A neat building has been erected and the congregation is respectable in numbers and standing among the churches of the Hills. SCHOOLS – Terraville forms a school district by itself, and has a very considerable school population, for which as yet the schooling facilities are not altogether what are needed. It would seem to be a sensible idea to unite Central and the cluster of towns around it, including Terraville, into one district and adopt the graded system, with ward schools and a central high school. CROOK CITY – This is one of the oldest places in the northern Hills. It was originally called “Camp Crook”, in honor of General Crook, who encamped on the site with a considerable force in 1875. The general also visited the place a second time in 1876. The town is well situated on the Whitewood Creek, about seven miles by road, northeast of Deadwood at the foot of the Hills where the creek debouches into the open country. It is in a natural basin, having the main Hills on the southwest, and a chain of low hills sweeping around it on the north, east and west. There was considerable excitement here and a numerous population in 1876, when the placers of Whitewood Creek were believed to be rich in float gold. Among the early comers were the following names persons: William Cable, J. B. Whitson, S. W. Valentine, Christian Speigel, A. L. Burk, D. B. Ross, H. M. Vroman, Mrs. Nellie Gray, William Wigginton, Richard Mills, Richard Stevens, E. R. Collins, W. D. Wakeman, Charles Frances, Major James Whitehead, Benjamin Hazen, Samuel Jackson, J. T. Stewart, Christian Kuhl, Moses Haines, James Herringden, Charles Lawn, Thomas Moore, William Smith, J. and B. Logan, John Gallenger, William Wade, Thomas Shannon, Henry Ash, George Mattocks, Ed. Wolf, Rd. Donahue, J. and N. McMahon, Wiley Winton and James Coyne. The Indians were very troublesome in 1876-77 and a number of people were killed by them in the vicinity of Crook City, among whom were Rev. Smith, three of the Wagnus family, a Mr. McLaren and others to the number of from eight to ten, who were buried in the Crook City burying ground. Charles Mason, who went out from Crook to get the remains of Rev. Smith, was also killed. The people were kept in constant fear and alarms were of almost daily occurrence. One of the first stores was opened by Homer Levings; Billy Watson had a bakery and C. T. Hobart put up a saw mill on Whitewood Creek in 1876. The town of Crook City was laid out in 1876 before there were any government surveys in this region. Each settler present drew a lot and there was such a demand that they often changed hands at $500 each. The creek bottom was considered valuable mining ground, and was staked out into claims valued often as high as $400. The town was considered so important that it was originally the intention to make it the county seat, and the county commissioners held at least one meeting there. A justice from Deadwood held court at Crook in 1876, at which Mike McMahon, now of Sturgis, defended a horse thief and made a great amount of fun for the crowd. The first school in the place, and also in Lawrence County, was opened in June, 1877, and Mrs. J. S. Bennett was perhaps the first teacher. It would seem that a regular district was formed, for we find that H. M. Vreman was elected treasurer; W. D. Wakeman, director, and William N. Anderson, clerk. The district was called No. 1 of Lawrence County and still holds the number. A log house was rented and used for school purposes, and there was about thirty scholars in attendance. The town how has a handsome and convenient school building with ample accommodations. CHURCHES – The Methodists organized a church in 1878 and erected a substantial building costing $1,500. It is 22x40 with audience and Sabbath school rooms. This society has been instrumental in doing much good in the temperance cause in Crook City. The gold excitement around Deadwood drew off the major part of the population of Crook, though gulch mining has been continued more or less on Whitewood Creek. A post-office was first established in 1877, with William Logan as postmaster. Herbert Gardner was the first mail carrier between Cheyenne and Crook City. In those days it cost twenty-five cents each for letters. At the present time, the place has only a tri-weekly mail via Deadwood. The town is connected with the Black Hills telephone system. Recently Messrs. J. L. Denman and L. W. Valentine have pre-empted the town site, comprising about 400 acres, and are deeding lots to occupants at a nominal figure. These gentlemen propose to make liberal advances to any railway that may wish to make their town a station. Crook City was honored with the second newspaper established in the Hills, the Crook City Tribune , which appeared on the 10th of June, 1876, two days after the first issue of the Black Hills Pioneer at Deadwood. There are two saw mills located within a short distance of the town, and good pine lumber is as cheap at any point in the Hills, common lumber selling for $14.00 per thousand feet. The business firms of Crook City are W. H. Going, general store; W. S. Chase, do.; W. H. Williams, groceries; J. Van Wert, drugs and medicines; L. W. Valentine, flour and feed; H. H. Vroman & Co., hardware, farming implements, etc.; J. T. Gallagher, agricultural implements; Cheesman & McCathron, saw mill; S. D. Smith, nursery; Mrs. Williams, millinery; J. L. Huntington, hotel. There are also several mechanics’ shops. The town is centrally located for a rich agricultural and grazing region, including Whitewood, Spring and False Bottom Creek valleys, Boulder Park, and portions of Centennial Prairie, and with good shipping facilities, would command a large trade. A large number of wagon roads converge upon the place, and the main road between Deadwood and Bismarck pass through it. It is impatiently awaiting the approach of a railroad to the Hills. SPEARFISH – This lively business town is finely situated on the Spearfish Creek, one of the largest streams in the Hills, at the western end of the beautiful Centennial Prairie, fourteen miles by road northwest of Deadwood, and near the foot of the celebrated Crow Peak, which rises about 6,000 feet above tide, and probably 2,500 feet above the town. Black Butte, another prominent volcanic peak, rises to about the same altitude, two and one half miles southeast of the place, and Joe’s or Spearfish Peak rises 4,000 feet above the sea on the east, within a mile of the town. The surroundings are among the most picturesque in this wonderfully picturesque region, the valley being just wide enough to give the surrounding hills and mountains a magnificent setting. The peculiar features of the “Red Valley” are here very conspicuous , the white line of the gypsum and the vermilion of the Red Beds contrasting with fine effect. Another interesting and refreshing feature of the landscape in this portion of the Spearfish Valley is the fine, thrifty growth of forest trees along the creek, mostly willow, burr oak, elm, box elder, etc. The town is about seven miles, in an air line, south of the Redwater River, which runs through one of the best valleys in this region. It is claimed that James Butcher, now living on Centennial Prairie, was the first actual settler at Spearfish. His cabin was located on the lots now occupied by the store of J. C. Ryan. His first appearance was in the spring of 1876, a very dangerous period for settlers, who were harassed and massacred by the savages almost daily. Mr. Butcher was from Atchinson, Kansas, and only remained at Spearfish for a short time. John Johnston, from Ames, Iowa, also settled at about the same time as Butcher, in April, 1876, and has remained ever since. He is the present postmaster, and proprietor of the local newspaper. Spearfish Town Company – This was an association of gentlemen for the purpose of founding a town somewhere in the Hills, and included from forty to fifty individuals, among whom were Judge W. W. Bradley, president of the company, from Louisville, Ky.; his brothers, T. K. Bradley, Nebraska City and J. F. Bradley, of Missouri; R. H. Evans, J. E. Smith, M. B. Goodell (or Goodale) from Massachusetts; John Powers, J. B. Blake ( who subsequently died in Spearfish), Oliver Craig, of St. Joe, Mo.; Wm. Gay, of Gayville, and others. The company took up 640 acres of land, intending to cover it with scrip, but found that such a course would make the cost above Government price. The town was laid out substantially as at present, in May, 1876, and a good many lots were sold. The company expended $3,000 in surveying and constructing a water ditch, and several hundred dollars additional in surveying a wagon road toward Bismarck. A large and strong stockade was also constructed for defense against Indians, who were very troublesome in 1876 and 1877. A party of young men went from Spearfish in July, 1877, and brought in a party who were surrounded by Indians on the Redwater, including the remains of four persons who were killed by them. This party had been prospecting for and locating coal mines near Hay Creek. The Indian alarms were frequent, and the excitement extended to all places in the Hills. On one occasion a rumor reached Deadwood of an impending massacre of the Spearfish colony, and within a few hours a 100 men, armed and ready for a desperate fray, left Deadwood and appeared in Spearfish, eager for a fight. As the lands taken up by the town company had not yet been surveyed by the Government, they had trouble with squatters, who insisted they had as much right to settle on the town site as the would-be proprietors. Litigation ensued between the company and those to whom they had sold lots and the squatter element, and the struggle continued in the courts for some time, until the company, getting tired and seeing nothing but continued expense, threw up their plans, and abandoned the scheme altogether. The original company made two surveys of the town site, which was laid out to correspond as near as possible to the Government surveys. Lot owners also made a third survey, employing the county surveyor. The lands were subsequently patented. The present site covers 320 acres. The first merchant was J. C. Ryan, from St. Joseph, Mo., who erected a frame store building 20x40 feet, one story, in the fall of 1877, and opened a general stock of merchandise. Mr. Ryan has continued to the present time enlarging and expanding his business with the increasing demand. In 1883 he erected a two-story building, 26x50 feet, with a Masonic hall in the second story, and a fire-proof cellar under the whole. The first “tavern” was a sort of lunch room of logs, erected by four herders, Pete Riley, Antoine Gerig, Randolph Kelly and J. Ryan, in 1877. One of the party acted as cook and fed travelers. Later in the same year Riley, Gerig, and Ryan built the first regular hotel on the ground now occupied by the “Spearfish House”, and kept it for a few months, when Riley bought out his partners and conducted for one winter, and then sold to the present proprietor, James Rogers. A flourishing academy was in operation for some time under the management of the Congregational society, and the intention is to continue it in the old church building. SCHOOLS – The first school was opened by Miss Pettigrew in a private house owned by John Ingersoll, in the fall of 1878. The present schools, on the graded plan, are accommodated in a good two-story frame building. The total number of scholars in attendance in the fall of 1883, was 110. A bill passed the Territorial Legislature at the session of 1880, locating a State Normal School at Spearfish, but by some failure of the committee appointed to attend to the matter of location, it went by default. Another bill was passed by the Legislature in 1882-83, the citizens gave forty acres of ground as a site, and the Legislature appropriated $5,000 toward the building and $2,000 for teachers’ salaries. A site was chosen on the west side of Spearfish Creek adjacent to the town, and the building was partly erected in 1883. It will probably soon be in successful operation, and must prove of great advantage not only to Spearfish, but to the people of the Hills generally. CHURCHES – The first sermon in the valley is said to have been preached by Rev. George Read. Methodist, in 1878. Mr. Read remained in Spearfish until September, 1883, when he moved to Puget Sound. The Methodists have as yet no house of worship in the place, but have a small membership and a Sunday school. The Congregational Church was represented as early as 1878, and in 1879, a frame house of worship was erected, and used jointly for church and school purposes, until 1883, when the society had become strong enough to erect a very neat and convenient gothic edifice at a cost of $4,000. It stands in the north part of the town and makes a fine shoeing with its lofty spire and generally tasty appearance. It is furnished in handsome style and contains an organ and bell. It is the intention to utilize the old building for an academy. A post-office was established in the fall of 1877, with H. M. Jorgens as the first postmaster. Mr. Jorgens has been followed by J. C. Ryan and John Johnston, the present incumbent, who was also postmaster at Forest City, west of Deadwood, for a short time in 1877. The Lawrence County Agricultural and Industrial Association had its annual fair at Spearfish, in October, 1883. It is mostly a Spearfish institution. The fair was a pronounced success, and the showing of stock, grain, vegetable, fowls, etc., was very fine. Some very interesting races gave great eclat to the occasion. The officers for 1883 were: President, J. C. Ryan, Spearfish; Vice-President, L. W. Valentine, Crook City; Secretary, P. W. P. Lindley, Spearfish. The society has very commodious grounds adjacent to Spearfish Creek, well fitted up. The place has a large and profitable business of various descriptions. There are three good hotels, including the “Overland” and “Spearfish”, a telephone exchange connected with all points in the Hills, a solid banking institution in a new brick building; a live newspaper, the Register; four grocery stores, three dry goods, one clothing, one boots and shoes, two hardware, two drugs and medicines, one furniture, one notions, confectionery and jewelry, one agricultural warehouse, the ordinary mechanics, milliners, etc., one extensive flouring mill, five saw mills with a radius of six mile, a planing mill, and manufactories of brick and lime. Three stage lines connect Spearfish with Miles City on the Northern Pacific Railroad, Deadwood, and other points, the Deadwood stages making two trips daily. MANUFACTURING – A grist mill was built at Spearfish in 1879 by Wardner & Gardner. It was driven by water from the Spearfish Creek, and did a very good business under the old system. In 1883, a new mill upon the roller plan was erected by the Spearfish Milling Company, made up of Spearfish and Crook City capitalists. It has a capacity for producing 100 barrels of flour every twenty-four hours and is very complete in all respects. The power is furnished by an immense flume bringing water from the creek, and the fall is seventeen feet at the mill. Among things worthy of mention is the fine collection of fossils and natural curiosities of John Cashner, jeweler and confectioner, who has been gathering them for a number of years. Among them are the molar tooth of Elephas Americanus, weighing nine pounds six ounces; the skull of a mighty grizzly bear, many mineral specimens, stuffed animals, etc. NEWSPAPERS – The Dakota Weekly Register was established by John Johnston and C. V. Gardner, and the first paper issued June 4, 1881. It is a weekly eight- column folio, all printed at home. Major Wm. R. Snyder, a very competent writer, was for some time its editor and publisher. Since October 1, 1883, Mr. Johnston has been proprietor and publisher. LIVESTOCK – Spearfish is an important center in the livestock business, one of the most important in the Territory. Immense herds are pastured on the extensive ranges lying northeast and northwest of the town, on the Belle Fourche and its branches and the Little Missouri River. The cattle from this region are driven for shipment to points on the Northern Pacific Railway. If the Northwestern, or some other company, should build a line along the northern margin of the Hills, it is probable that Spearfish, or some point on the Upper Belle Fourche, will become a great shipping station for beef cattle, horses, and sheep. An extensive and well cultivated agricultural region lies contiguous to Spearfish, including the Red Water and Belle Fourche valleys, from which comes a good trade. The population of Spearfish is about 600. GALENA – This mining town has grown up in consequence of the development of Florence, Sitting Bull and other silver mines along the Bear Butte Creek. It is situated about six miles in an air line, and 12 miles by wagon road, southeast of Deadwood, and about ten miles in an air line southwest of Sturgis. The place was first settled by prospectors, among the first being E. R. Collins, Esperando Feri, an Italian, James Concette, Danid Dusette, Wm. Ferguson, W. H. Wood, Arthur Finnegan and J. C. Hadley. The town has principally grown up since the advent of Colonel J. H. Davey, and as a consequence of his successful management of the silver mining business. It derives its name from the abundance of lead in the vicinity. CHURCHES – The Methodist people organized a class in Galena at an early day, but as yet have no church building or regular services. The Catholics have an organization and a comfortable house of worship. SCHOOLS – Galena boasts a good school and a flourishing school. There are several business firms in the place, to wit; One general store, one hardware, one drug, three grocery, and one boots and shoes, together with a post- office, two hotels and several mechanic shops. The people are mostly miners, and number about 300. Galena was considerably damaged by the great flood of May, 1883. The town is in a deep gulch with lofty mountains on all sides, covered with heavy timber. If the silver and other mines develop according to expectations, the place will become am important mining center. In the Strawberry and Ruby gulches near by are promising gold mines. Galena has mail and telephone connections with all the Black Hills towns. STURGIS – This growing town is situated on the Bear Butte Creek, in Section 9, of Town 5 north, Range 5 east, 11 miles east by north from Deadwood, and 2 miles west of Fort Meade, between the foothills and the higher portion of the Black Hills. The site is a fine one, being near the junction of three branches of the creek, on dry, level ground, with ample room for expansion on all sides. It is also at the point of convergence of several important wagon roads, and in the center of a good agricultural country. Sturgis owes its location and subsequent prosperity to the establishment of Fort Meade by the United States military authorities, in 1876. It is said that George Bosworth was the first actual settler on the site of Sturgis in June 1876. William Myers settled in the same year three miles below Fort Meade on Bear Butte Creek. William Fletcher settled a little east of Fort Meade at about the same time. The United States occupied a part of his claim. William McMillan settled between Fort Meade and Sturgis in 1877. A military camp was temporarily located on Spring Creek, north of Bear Butte, in the spring of 1876, and during its occupation the present site of Fort Meade was selected for a permanent military post. As soon as it was known where the post would be located, a company of gentlemen, including Major J. C. Wilcox, a former officer of the army; J. M. Rodebank, Arthur Buckbee, Major Lazelle, B. G. Caufield and Judge Dudley, of Deadwood, and J. W. Caldwell proceeded to select a site and lay out a town plat. Major Wilcox claims the honor of selecting the location. Eighty acres were platted, and to this original plat several additions have been made; one of forty acres by Major Wilcox, of eighty acres by Judge Ash, of twenty acres by J. W. Rodebank and of eighty acres by William McMillan. The land was covered with scrip through the agency of Hon. B. G. Caulfield, who acted for the association, on the 25th of October, 1878. Considerable litigation, as in the case of Spearfish, grew out of the contending interests, but the matter was finally settled in favor of the town company by the Secretary of the Interior. The place had a gradual growth up to the spring of 1883. The terrible destruction of property in Deadwood by the flood of that year caused an impression to go abroad that Deadwood had received a shock from which it could scarcely recover, and on the strength of this idea business received a wonderful impetus in Sturgis. During the season of 1883 the town nearly doubled its population and business, and a large number of good buildings were erected. The place was named in honor of General Sturgis of the regular army. The early settlers experienced all the horrors of Indian depredations during the first two seasons. In 1877 Major Wilcox employed men to cut hay north of Bear Butte, where he had located a temporary ranch. On one occasion the Indians made a raid, killed his cattle, and two men and a woman, emigrants, who had taken refuge at his ranch. Another man took refuge in his “dugout”, a hole in the face of a bluff and stood them off with a heavy Sharp rifle. The major lost all his hay one year by fire set by careless hunters from Deadwood. Sturgis has suffered considerably by fire at different periods, but the flood of 1883 did no material damage in the town. The Bear Butte Creek, which at times is a raging torrent, ordinarily has no water in its channel between Sturgis and the canyon above the town. The water sinks in the canyon, but rises again a little below Sturgis, where the bed rock comes near the surface, and from thence past Fort Meade is a fine large stream affording abundance of water. A post-office was first established here in the winter of 1878-9, with Charles Collins as postmaster. Major Wilcox was postmaster from 1879 to 1882. Captain Harmon from Fort Abraham Lincoln opened the first store in the place. Charles Estner and John Scollard kept the first hotels, commencing in 1878. CHURCHES – There are no established church organizations except the Catholic, which has a fine, convenient edifice, situated a little west of the business portion of the town on a commanding eminence. The site was donated by Judge Ash. SCHOOLS – Sturgis has a good school building, with a flourishing public school, and the people take a lively interest in educational matters. NEWSPAPERS – The Sturgis Weekly Record was established in July, 1883, by Messrs. Moody & Elliot. Mr. Moody is the son of Judge Moody, of Deadwood. The Record is independent in politics, and a lively, wide-awake and readable sheet, all published at home. It is well patronized by the people of Sturgis, to whom it is a valuable accession in a business point of view. The place supports four hotels, several restaurants, a dozen mercantile houses, some doing an extensive business; two banks, a planing and feed mill, and extensive lumber yard, two livery stables, three blacksmith shops, one gunsmith, a millinery establishment, two attorneys, two physicians, and the usual secret and benevolent societies and orders. Sturgis is an important station of the stage, express and transportation lines. It has daily mails in various directions, and telephone connections with all towns in the Hills. The merchants and traders of Sturgis have most of the trade of the Fort Meade garrison, which of itself is quite important, and they also draw extensively from the rich country around. A considerable number of heavy stock men are residents of the city. Within a radius of three miles are situated three sawmills, and good pine lumber is sold at very reasonable prices. Sturgis and Spearfish are the two heaviest lumber manufacturing centers in the Hills. Sturgis, like other Hills towns, is noted for its healthfulness, there having been from the date of its settlement to October, 1883, but one or two deaths from natural caused in the place. The present population is about 600. FORT MEADE – In this connection a brief history of this important military post will be interesting. Our information is partly from an officer of the regular army and partly from the columns of the Black Hills Pioneer. A United States military post was temporarily established in the spring of 1876, in Spring Creek, north of the Bear Butte. According to our best information, this camp was named “Camp Sturgis”, in honor of Lieutenant J. G. Sturgis who was killed in the Custer massacre. The present Fort Meade was located in August following, and named in honor of the gallant commander of the Union army at the battle of Gettysburg. According to the Pioneer , when first established the post was called “Camp Ruhlen.” The original garrison consisted of troops E and M, Seventh Cavalry, and companies F and K, First Infantry, under command of Major Henry Lazelle, of the First Infantry. The following items are clipped from the columns of the Pioneer , of January, 1882: “The name of the post was changed to “Fort Meade,” on January 7, 1879, per general order No. 2, headquarters Fort Meade, D. T. , dated January 7, 1879, issued in compliance with general order No. 27, headquarters department of Dakota, dated December 31, 1878, by Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th Cavalry. On June 14, 1879, the garrison was reinforced by the arrival of band and troops C and G, 7th Cavalry and on July 10, 1879, by the arrival of troops A and H, 7th Cavalry. On July 17, 1879, Colonel S. D. Sturgis, 7th Cavalry, assumed command of the post. On September 9, 1879, Companies D and H, 1st infantry, joined from Fort Sully, thus increasing the garrison to four companies of infantry and six troops of cavalry, besides the band. Strength of the garrison December 31, 1879. Present – Officers, 23; enlisted men, 474. Present and absent – Officers, 37; enlisted men, 562. Companies D, F, H and K, 1st Infantry, left the post en route to Texas, May 13, 1880, and were replaced by companies A, D, H and K, 25th Infantry, which arrived August 17, 1880. Strength of the garrison December 31, 1880; Present – Officers, 26; enlisted men, 559. Present and absent – Officers, 40; enlisted men, 575. On January 5, 1851, Captain D. D. Van Valzah, 25th Infantry, assumed command of the post, Colonel Sturgis departing that date on leave of absence. Colonel Sturgis resumed command May 19, 1881, and relinquished it June 16, 1881, going to Washington. Captain John W. French, 25th Infantry, assumed command June 16, until June 29, date of return from field service of Captain Van Valzah. Captain Van Valzah commanding from June 29 to August 27, 1881, when relieved by Major Edward Ball, 7th Cavalry. The headquarters 7th Cavalry transferred to Fort Lincoln, June 22, 1881, per S.O. No. 92, par. 2, series headquarters department of Dakota. Major Hall commanding the post from August 27, 1881 to October, 1883. Troop G. 7th Cavalry, transferred to Fort Leavenworth, KS., left the post November 10, 1881. Strength of garrison December 19, 1881: Present – Officers, 26; enlisted men, 366. Present and absent – Officers, 33; enlisted men, 421. Date of commencement of building, August 28, 1878 Date of completion of the post, August, 1879. Original appropriation for building the post, $100,000; additional appropriation, $11,000; appropriation for hospital, $13,000; number of civilian employees, 33; annual amount of hay consumed, 1,700 tons; annual amount of corn consumed, 750,000 pounds; annual amount of oats consumed, 1,500 pounds; annual amount of wood consumed, 5,000 cords. Twenty-three sets officers’ quarters, 10 sets men’s quarters, 1 building post headquarters, 8 stables, 2 ice houses, 1 bakery, 2 quartermaster’s storehouses, 1 commissary, 1 set band quarters, 1 hospital – 2 wards; 4 buildings for non- commissioned staff, 2 shops for mechanics, 1 saw mill, 1 reservoir for water supply, 1 magazine, 1 building – church, school, etc.; 1 building – guard house and post cemetery fenced in. Major Ball was succeeded in October, 1888, by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph G. Tilford of the 7th Cavalry, who commands both the post and the regiment. Brevet Brigadier General S. D. Sturgis, governor of the soldiers home at Washington, D.C., is colonel of the 7th Cavalry, but will no doubt remain in his present position until retired from the service. Fort Meade is one of the most important inland posts in the Union and has always a large garrison, averaging ten companies. So long as a military post is needed in Dakota, Fort Meade will no doubt be continued. What effect the opening of the Indian reservation between the Cheyenne and White rivers, which is likely to take place soon, may have, can scarcely be anticipated; but it is probable that Fort Meade will be occupied by the United States Government as long as any in the territory. It is a beautiful and healthful location and convenient to three territories; Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. The Sioux nation is very peaceable at this time, and it is quite likely to remain so, but the presence of a strong force in this region acts as a great peace conservator. In this connection it may not be inappropriate to mention the fact that the only survivor of the Custer massacre is a resident and public beneficiary at Fort Meade. We allude to the celebrated war horse, “Comanche”, which was ridden by Captain Keogh in the terrible battle on the Little Big Horn in 1876. The horse was found after the massacre standing in the river with seven wounds in different parts of his body. He was tenderly cared for and taken to Fort A. Lincoln, and subsequently to Fort Meade, where he is a great pet. He appears at all parades of the regiment, and although over twenty years of age is as frisky as a colt. He originally belonged to Company I, 7th Cavalry, which was Captain Keogh’s company, now stationed at Fort Totten, Devil’s Lake. There are several small towns and important mining camps in Lawrence County, among which are Forest City, near the west line of the county; Garden City, on the False Bottom Creek, west of Deadwood; Pennington, near Lead City; Spring Valley; Greenwood, on Box Elder Creek; Brownsville, on the Homestake company’s railway, Elkhorn and Diamond City, on the head waters of Rapid Creek. Most of these places have post-offices, and are of considerable importance as mining centers. The silver carbonate camp on a branch of Spearfish, and the Uncle Sam gold mines on Elk Creek, are also coming into prominence.