Wyoming Land For Sale - Wyoming Real Estate

HISTORY OF BEULAH

The present day community of Beulah began as a settlement for those who came to the Black Hills during the great gold rush of the 1870's.

From the 1850's on, there were prospectors in the Sand Creek area searching for gold, but no settlement was ever established until 1877. The great influx of people to the Deadwood area in 1876 led some people venturing further west in the search for gold.

In July, 1877, a wagon train led by Charles Pettigrew left Spearfish and headed west. The party was warned of a possible Indian attack along the way. When the attack commenced, the party was ready to defend themselves. for three days, gun fire was exchanged between the two groups. Finally, someone was able to get away to Spearfish and get help to end the standoff.

The first settler was Alex Moorcroft, who built a cabin along Sand Creek in 1877 and later laid out a town there. Present-day Beulah was first called Sand Creek in 1877 and later renamed after the hymn, "Beulah Land" or as a possible tribute to Beulah Sylvester, an early teacher.

After the quantities of gold proved to be insufficient, settlers were attracted to the Beulah area for its abundant grass and water. By 1880, several cattle outfits had come into the area. In 1881, Beulah served as a relay station for the stage line that ran between Spearfish and Sundance. By 1890, the flour mill was built and operated by a German named H.H. Reinecke. Reinecke ran the mill until it was transferred to Frank Andrews. Andrews has a reputation for quality with his flour. Ranchers would come from over 100 miles away to have their wheat ground up at the Beulah mill. At peak capacity, the mill could process 100 barrels of flour in a 24 hour period. When Andrews died in 1915, the mill was sold to the Tommey Milling Company, who operated it through World Was II.

Another well-known establishment in the Beulah area is Ranch A. What is now Ranch A began as a homested claim of Fack Boyden, who settled along Sand Creek in 1877. Boyden built cabins on his property for vacationing tourists and planted apple trees and a garden. When Boyden owned the propery, Theodore Roosevelt visited between 1886-1901. Roosevelt was a distant relative of Boyden's and visited the ranch with his son to hunt and fish.

Boyden sold the ranch property to George LaPlant, who later sold it to Moses Annenberg in 1931. It was Annenberg who put a great deal of money into the property by building a spacious ranch house and making a variety of improvements and additions.

Beulah remained a flourish ing community until the trade center shifted to nearby Spearfish and Sundance. Among the relics of the past in Beulah that remain today is the Sand Creek Trading Post that we built in the 1880's and was first known as Louis Minzer's grocery store.

Source: The Sundance Times, December 17,1998, By Jennifer McCuire, Crook County Museum and Art Gallery.

 

EMAIL ISLAND'S: island@rap.midco.net
PHONE: Dan Island at 605-642-9080 or 605-431-9080 (cell).

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Please visit Sand Creek Trading Post for more information about Beulah, WY.

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