125 years ago – Belle TIMES, March 16, 1899
NEW BLACK HILLS ROAD. The Illinois -Central Said to be Coming This Way Vermillion, S. D. March 14 – The Illinois-Central Railroad company has a corps of engineers at work in this country and it has been clearly established that the company intends to extend its system to the Black Hills. While no surveying for the line has been done in Iowa, the impression obtains that the Black Hills extension will be built from LaMars, which is about due west of vermillion and is the point from which the Illinois-Central starts upon its long course through Iowa.
Minnesela Echoes The question now is: Who is going to run our post office when in the course of a few weeks Mr. W. A. Mitchell resigns his charge. Quite a few good looking people have positively declined to run it?. We shall find ourselves in a lonely and isolated condition if one of these blustering mornings we wake up to find that our mail has gone past the crane and is standing waiting for us at Belle Fourche.
100 years ago – Belle Fourche Bee March 20, 1924
SPOKE FOR COOLIDGE. Mrs. W. W. Remington of Minneapolis spoke at the court house Friday afternoon of last week in the interest of Calvin Coolidge for president, and delivered what was pronounced as the best political speech given in Belle Fourche during the present campaign. Mrs. Reminton was entirely familiar with the subject on which she talked, handled the tariff adjusted compensation, farm interests, child-labor, Tea Pot Dome, Mellon tax plan, and numerous other topics that are uppermost in the minds of the people at this time, and spoke as one who has given each topic much intensive study. She closed her talk with an appeal for everyone to vote.
TWO THOUSAND ACRES. Fieldman Steck of the Great Western Sugar Co. informs us that he now has two thousand acres signed up to grow beets, and expects to increase this amount by about four or five hundred acres in the next week or ten days. Another dollar per ton bonus on the 1923 crop will be paid April 1st, bringing the total for last season’s crop to $6.60 per ton in this district. A car load of beet seed arrived and was unloaded Tuesday of this week. To better care for the raising of beets on the Great Western Co. farm east of town, Contractor I. N. Nelson is erecting a new four-room house and a born for eight head of horses on the tract adjoining the Stetta place.
75 years ago – Belle Fourche Bee March 18, 1948
STATE BANK DEBITS SHOW INCREASE IN FIRST TWO MONTHS Western Cities Show Gains Of Six to Thirty Percent State Average 17 Percent Bank debits in Belle Fourche totaled $3,491,000 for the month with $3,119,000 for February, 1947. The the two month period, January and February, records show a total of $8,759,000 in 1948, as compared with $7,124,000 ,a gain of 6 percent. The largest increase among the 135 cities listed, was that of Dell Rapids, whose debits showed a gain of 112 per cent in February.
OTHA FROST SEEKS MAYORALTY POSITION Monday of this week was the first day of the official period for circulating nominating petitions for the coming city election. The period will close on April first. Otha Frost has announced that he is a candidate for mayor. A. F. Snyder, present incumbent, has stated that he is not a candidate for reelection. Walter Cunningham and Vern Wilson, present members of the council from wards three and two, respectively, and who terms expire this year, are candidates for reelection. Ed Busfield, in ward one, states that he will not be a candidate for reelection. U to yesterday afternoon there were no announced candidate from ward one. Hold-over members are: J. A. Volyles, ward one; Roy Neslon, ward two; Dr. R. M. Buck, ward three.
50 years ago – Belle Fourche Bee, March 15, 1974
Jacobs’ Stores In Area Sold Black Hills area apparel stores formerly owned by Mr. and Mrs. Berthald Jacobs of Deadwood have been sold to Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Mudlin, Rapid City and Mr. and Mrs. Francis Caneva, Lockport, Ill. Mudlin has been manager of the Lariat Clothiers at Rapid City for 22 years. Caneva has been in the clothing business in Lockport for serval years. The Jacobs stores were established by Sidney E. Jacobs in Deadwood in 1902. The group includes The Hub Clothiers of Belle Fourche, Deadwood and Sturgis, the New York Store of Deadwood, the Hitchin’ Post of Belle Fourche and the Lariat Clothiers in Rapid City. The new owners announced there will be no changes in the present management or personnel of the stores. Present managers are: Pete Krush at the Hitchin’ Post in Belle Fourche; Nina Veitl, at the New York Store, Bill Stewart at The Hub in Sturgis. Mudlin and his family will continue to live in Rapid City. Mr. and Mrs. Caneva and their three children have purchased the Jacobs home in Deadwood. The Jacobs will remain in a consulting capacity for some time.
Hopes for Orman Project Still Alive “It looks as if it may be a long, slow process, but there seems to be no reason to give up hope>” That was the comment of Art Jones, Belle Fourche, Monday following his return from Washington, DC, where, accompanied by Rep. James Abdnor, he met with various Washington officials regarding the status of the Belle Fourche reservoir and the need for repairs on the dam. Assistant Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Sullivan told Jones and Rep. Abdnor that the bureau hopes to have its “safety of dams” policy approved by the department of interior in a matter of weeks. The Bureau’s engineers feel that it would be more expensive to repair the existing spillway than to build a new spillway at a different location. Sulivan said the Belle Fourche Dam still has a “very high priority” in Bureau plans. Rep. Abdnor and Jones also met with Assistant Secretary Kyle of the Bureau of Reclamation. Kyle told the men that he will see if a report on Rep. Abdnor’s bill allocating $3,500,000 for repair of the dam can be moved out of the Department of Interior, considered by the Bureau of Reclamation and sent to Capital Hill so the house committee can proceed with consideration of the measure. The South Dakota representative and Jones also met with Chief Counsel Casey of the house interior committee sub-committee on water and power. Casey suggested an attempt be made to have Chairman Johnson of the subcommittee call a hearing on Abdnor’s bill to force a verbal report by the Department of Interior. Jones said Rep. Abdnor is not pessimistic about the chances for some action to improve the dam. Jones reported all of the Washington officials with whom they talked March 1 were well aware of the situation regarding the Belle Fourche Dam and had obviously studied the matter prior to that time. The possibility that the project might be included in an omnibus reclamation bill was not ruled out. The March 1 meeting with Washington officials follows several months of efforts by Rep. Abdnor, Belle Fourche Irrigation District directors, resident of the area and other members of the congressional delegation to secure some action for repair of the dam so that it can be filled to capacity (thus adding about 25,000 acre feet of water to storage) and to eliminate the danger of serious damage to the structure, which is beginning to show the effects of more that 60 years of service. Jones, vice president and manger of the Belle Fourche Office of the First National Bank of the Black Hills, was called to Washington to present a report on the impact of the Belle Fourche reservoir on the economy of the Tri-State area. He presented a detailed report on the area’s economy and the part which the reservoir and the Belle Fourche irrigation project plays in balancing the area’s economy.
