BELLE FOURCHE—At just 14 years old, Al Barker learned about a town called Belle Fourche, but it would not be until he turned 51 that he would get to experience all that the town has to offer. “I just love it back here. So I just come back here and hang out with these guys, and there’s a lot of good people here. I’ve made a lot of good friends here,” he said.
You see, as a young kid, Al got the role of a lifetime when he was cast in the John Wayne Western The Cowboys. As a claim to fame for the town, Belle Fourche appears in the movie as the final destination of a 400-mile cattle drive—something residents still talk about today.
However, to Al, it was just a town in a movie. The movie was filmed far away from Belle. “We didn’t (come to Belle Fourche). We were at the Double-O Ranch, which was allegedly in Montana. And we were on a cattle drive, and our destination for our cattle drive was Belle Fourche, to ship the cattle, and so actually, we never came to Belle Fourche,” explained Al. “Actually, that was all done between New Mexico, Colorado, and the set where it appears we arrive in Belle Fourche—where we meet the guy that makes the headstone, and all that… it was a makeshift set. It was out in the middle of nowhere, and we really drove cattle, we really rode horses and we really did the cowboy work, but it wasn’t here.”
Barker has had a lot of life between the 14-year-old boy who heard about Belle Fourche and when he finally came to the actual town. “I’ve had a great couple of careers since then, doing other stuff, and I’ve also worked in like three movies, the Bonanza series and my wife and I did a music video with Toby Keith—I Love This Bar video,” he shared. “I worked a little bit of everything leading up to my law enforcement career, which was 35 years. I retired and then I went back and worked the court for another few years.”
Barker has had an enjoyable work life. “Well, I loved the movie thing, and I loved doing that, and the opportunities I had to go work in other productions in between was always awesome. I always enjoyed that, but I mean, my law enforcement career was the longest and the most dear to me, I would say,” he shared.
Although the actor had been to South Dakota a few times, he never made it to Belle Fourche until 2008 when Stacey Raisanen reached out to him via email to invite him to Belle Fourche. “It was kind of one of those things—okay, is this BS or what? And so I responded back, yeah, I’d be interested if you’re serious, if this is a serious deal,” explained Barker. “Long story short, I mean we came back for that, and then we just continued to come back and build relationships and friendships and whatnot, and a million stories to tell about Belle Fourche and being here and things we’ve done and the adventures we’ve been on!”
Now he comes to visit Belle Fourche as often as he can. In fact, Barker made a visit to Belle Fourche on May 20. He spent the day at Pete’s Clothing and Hodge Bootery, answering questions, signing autographs and hanging around his friends. The character he played at age 14 in The Cowboys, Clyde “Fats” Potter, remains a recognizable part of his connection to the story that first introduced him to Belle Fourche.
When reflecting on life, Barker has a lot to be grateful for, including the little town of Belle Fourche. “Well, I thank God for being here… and what He’s given me and the wife He’s blessed me with. I think I’m pretty blessed to have had the experience that I’ve had and the opportunities that I’ve had, and that blessing of that has led me to meet a lot of great people,” shared Al. “I love it back here—I love Belle Fourche. It is an amazing place to be and amazing people and probably the only thing I don’t love is thinking about some of the lengthy winters!”
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