Beulah, 1913
Across the Black Hills between 1880 and 1920, small towns arose and subsequently faded. Those towns included
Aladdin, Williams, Farrall, Hay Creek, Deep Creek, Croton and Lightning Flat. Such is Beulah the oldest town in Crook County.
The town is About 16 miles north of Sundance at the confluence of Sand Creek and Redwater Creek.
Beulah presently has a population of about 33. The first settler was Alexander Moorcroft (1845-1895), a Civil War Veteran, Co. G, 30th New Jersey Volunteers, Infantry.
As noted on the next page, the Town of Moorcroft was possibly named named after him.
Local legend has it that the town of Beulah was named after Beulah Sylvester, a school teacher in Exira, Iowa.
Others have speculated that the name comes from Isaiah 62:4. Perhaps also the name alludes to
lines in Chapter 11, "The Heavenly City" in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress in which the land of Beulah is described as a land
bordering on Heaven:
In this country the sun shineth night and day; wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the
Shadow of Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair, neither could they from this
place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here they were within sight of the city they were
going to, also here met them some of the inhabitants thereof; for in this land the
Shining Ones commonly walked, because it was upon the borders of heaven.
 Brands of farmers and
stockmen from Beulah, 1892
It may be speculated, however, that most likely the name comes from a sermon preached by the Reverend Dr. Richard W. Hamilton (1794-1847), see
Sermon IX, Sermons by Richard W. Hamilton, LLD, 2nd ed. Hamilton, Adams Co. London, 1864. Dr. Hamilton's description was
later repeated in William Nichols' Concordance to the Bible, the Bible Explainer, Halifax, 1870:
But a "better country" than this, earth did not contain. It was "a delightsome," and
"a pleasant land;" "a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations." It was variegated and
intersected with all the elements of sublimity and beauty, with whatever was bold and
gentle. It was prolific without a miracle, and the subject of a periodical one. It was
a wealthy place. Aromatic herbs covered its hills, and the fairest flowers decked its
glens. The rose was in Sharon, and the lily in the valleys. The voice of the turtle was
heard in the land. There roamed the vine, and there clustered the date, and there hung the
pomegranate. The cedar towered on the mountains, and the myrtle skirted their sides. No
human hand could raise the clusters of Eschol . The south wind passing over the gardens,
caused the spices thereof to flow out. The seasons revolved in their variety, but with a
blended sweetness. There was the upland breeze, in which the fir could wave its arms, and
the softer air in which the olive unfolded its blossoms. The sun smote not by day, nor the
moon by night. The birds sang among the branches. The dew lay thick on Ilermon. There was
balm in Gilead. The lign-aloe drooped from the river-bank. Kedron and Jordan poured forth
their streams. The rain also filled the pools. Lakes glistened in the landscape, and cooled
the drought. Beautiful, for situation, was mount Zion. The cattle browsed on a thousand hills.
The excellency of Carmel, and the glory of Lebanon, set their pinnacles against the deep azure of Canaan's sky. The year was crowned with goodness. The Lord God cared for that land, and his eyes were always upon it. At the stated periods fell the early and the latter rain. The pastures were clothed with flocks. The ploughman overtook the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that
sowed seed. The barns were filled with plenty, and the presses burst out with new wine. The
little hills rejoiced on every side. Precious fruits were brought forth by the sun, and
precious things were put forth by the moon. The earliest pass, the valley of Achor, was a
door of hope. The vineyards distilled the pure blood of the grape. The fountain of Jacob was
upon a land of corn and wine. The inhabitants were filled with the finest of the wheat.
It flowed with milk and honey. Its heavens dropped fatness. It was surrounded with munitions
of rock. The deep, couching beneath, spread its sure defence. The land might be called Beulah.
The distant glimpse of its prospect refreshed the dying eye of Moses; and of all thine earthly
territory, is emphatically thy land, O Immanuel!
Alexander Moorcroft, born in Ireland, settled in the area in 1876 during the height of the Indian Wars. Indeed,
on several occasions Moorcroft had to defend his little compound from Indian attack. The most famous of the attacks was
on a wagon train heading west from Spearfish. The wagon train had to take refuge and circle the wagons on Moorcroft's farm.
Rifle pits were constructed around the wagons where Moorcroft and the party fought off
about 60 Indians for two days until rescuers could arrive from Spearfish. The actual location of the fight was about 150 yards from the present center of town.
Moorcroft developed about 320 acres and a herd of 35 horses and 150 head of cattle. By the time of
the 1880 Census, the total population of the area had grown to 11.
The town finally began to grow when in 1881 the govrnment let a contract for mail
service from Spearfish to Sundance and Buffalo. This necessitated the establishment of
a stage station. Allegedly, the postoffice was in a corner of the saloon. Additionally, some prospectors came into the area.
By 1883, there were three ranches along Redwater Creek.
The American & Cleveland Tin Mining Co. proposed to construct a tin mine and associated smelting plant.
By 1890, The Ellsbury Bros. advertised their facility as having groceries, privisons, dry goods, hotel and
feed stable, blacksmith, Carriage and repair shop. The Ellsworth Bros. also developed a ranch to the West of
Beulah at Farrall. In addition to the Ellsworth Bros. hotel, there were two other hotels,
the East Side Hotel and the West Side Hotel.
By 1890, the town also had an additonal feed stable, two saloons, a 35 barrels a day grist mill on Sand Creek, a barbershop and
a physician, but no lawyers. The presence of only one physician and the omission of a lawyer
was regarded by the [Sundance] Wyoming Weekly Republican, June 18, 1890, as
"sufficient proof of her high physical, mental and moral standard." The grist mill was constructed by Herman H. Reinecke and John J. Fox.
Fox was the miller.
The mill on Sand Creek utilized a three-foot high dam and a Victor Turbine water wheel. The mill cost $8,500 to construct. Reinecke sold his interest to
Albert W. Holcomb. In 1892, Mrs. Fox forecosed on Holcomb's interest. Holcomb became increasingly delusional and in 1897 was "removed" to the
State Hospital in Evanston. The nature of his delusion was that he had a large amount of money in the east.
By 1891, the town had a newspaper, the
Beulah Globe-News. The town was on a roll.
In the 1890's, other homesteaders and stockgrowers moved along the
Redwater for which Beulah served as a source of supplies. As indicated by the brands to the
right, settler included, in addition to Alex Moorcroft,
George W. Bagley, E. L. Benton, Isaac W. Blake, Silas Lincoln, Wiliam W. Williams, and the Vore Broters. Later,
the Vore Ranch would play a significant part in the archeological history of Wyoming.
By 1901, the town had a Modern Woodmen of America Lodge. In 1908, the Right Reverend James J. Keane dedicated the new
Roman Catholic Church of St. John. By 1910, the town had grown to a population of 311. By 1916, the town had a "Rochdale" store.
A Rochdale store was a co-operative store in which sales were for cash. The customers bought shares in the store and the profits were
distributed to the shareholders proportionately to the amount of the purchases. In 1918, the post office moved into the store.
But the seeds of decline in the town had already been sown. As discussed on later pages,
by 1890, the Burlington System began pushing its railroad from Newcastle northward to Upton and Gillette. As it did so, the
necessity of using freighters and stages for goods and freight declined. By 1890, J. J.
McCullough's Buffalo & Burlington Stage & Express Co. began serving Merino (present-day Upton) rather than making connections to
Spearfish. With the construction of the railroad into Aladdin, more traffic was diverted from Beulah.
As previously discussed, a drought hit the area. Dry Farming no longer worked.
 . . . 
Competing advertisements for Beulah's West Side Hotel and East Side Hotel, 1896.
By 1921, the population of Beulah had declined to about 100. In late July, newspapers across the country reported that the entire
town had been "practically wiped out" by a four-foot wall of water and flash flood that roared down Sand Creek. Wires were down and details were not
available. Emergency help, the papers reported, was being sent from Chadron. The flood would not have been the first.
In 1895, a flood had washed out wagon bridges leading to the little town. After the telephone wires were restored the details emerged.
The flood had swept in the early morning hours through a canyon in which tourists were camping. Two of the campers in the darkness headed into the
wrong direction into the flood and drowned.
Beulah mill dam.
The water powered grist mill continued in operation until World War II. It had been acquired by
the D. J. Toomey Produce Co. of Spearfish. Toomey also had a flour mill in Sundance. In 1919, the Sundance flour mill
was updated with its original 45 hp steam engine being replaced by a gasoline engine. The Beulah mill has now been made into a
vacation or meeting rental property appealing to persons who like trout fishing.
Sand Creek at Beulah, 1930.
Of course, trout fishing has its lure. In 1927, Moses "Moe" Annenberg, the publisher of the Daily Racing Form, was on his way to Yellowstone with his son
Walter and stopped for lunch in Beulah and had trout. He was impressed with the fish and inquired as to its source.
He was told that it came from Sand Creek. Impressed with both the fish and the scenery, he looked about for land to purchase.
He ultimately found land owned by Frank La Plante fronting on the creek about five miles south of
Beulan. The land was purchased for $27,500 cash, literally. He was carrying the money with him in his pocket.
Sand Creek near Beulah.
Thereafter,
Annenberg expanded his holdings to some 2,000 acres and constructed a modest 8-bedroom, 6-bath lodge with guest cottages.
Although there were no cattle on the property, he named
the property "Ranch A." The Lodge was constructed with green logs. Thus as the
logs shrank, the lodge had to be rechinked. In the basement to
handle racing information he installed telephone and teletype equipment in the basement. At the time, Annenberg was actually the fifth largest telephone customer of
American Telephone & Telegraph Company in the United States. He also owned a mansion in Miami Beach. He also became the
owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. His wife and daughters were not enamored with Beulah or the lodge and visited the lodge only one time.
His son Walter Annenberg would join him on summer trips to the Lodge.
At the time, it was hoped that Annenberg's presence would bring attention and tourism to the area. Indeed in 1936,
the Walpole Land Co. announced plans to turn Beulah into a divorce colony similar to Reno, Nevada. The plans called for
construction of a hotel, casino and numerous modern cottages. Divorces could be obtained at the
end of 60 days in Sundance without any publicity. It, of course, turned to naught.
Not all, however, were pleased with Moe's improvements to the area. Soon locals discovered that fishing in Sand Creek was blocked by "No Treaspassing"
signs. Additionally, Annenberg cleaned snags and shaved its banks of underbrush. Trout fishing was ruined.
 . . . 
Lewis C. Gray and Rexford G. Tugwell at Ranch A, August 1936. Photos by
Arthur Rothstein.
Professor Tugwell was an Assistant Secretary of Agriclture during the F. D. Roosevelt administration
and visited Wyoming, Montana, and the
Dakotas as part of his campaign to implement centralized planning for agriculture. He was primarily an academician and in the
early 1920's had made the pilgramage to the Soviet Union. He was impressed with Soviet
centralized planning which he believed "spread such prosperity as there is over a wider area of the population." Thus, he developed
the concept of "voluntary socialism." Gray was Tugwell's assistant. Moe Annenberg detested the Roosevelt administration. It is doubtful,
that Annenberg would have knowingly invited the two to the Lodge. Annenberg had loaned the lodge to South Dakota Govrnor Tom Berry
who in turn invited Tugwell and Gray to the facility.
In 1939, Annenberg was indicted for income tax evasion. As the heat was turned up on Moe,
he sought to buy up all photos relating to the property. He missed one photo of his son Walter.
Above, Ranch A Lodge, boarded up, 1940.
Right, Walter Annenberg at Ranch A.
Walter Annenberg later became a well-know Republican philanthropist giving an estimated two billion dollars to
philanthropic enterpises. He was appointed during the Nixon Administration as Ambassador to the
Court of St. James and made an honorary knight, Order of the British Empire, by her majesty, the Queen.
In 1940, Moe Annenberg plead guilty to the income tax charges and was sentenced to prison. Not even the
Lodge was immune from the scorn of the federal prosecutor who told the court, "Not one dime was even spent for a cow on this stake of
the lone ranger." The lodge was boarded up.
Moe Annenberg was released from prison
39 days before his death in 1942. Following Annenberg's death, his heirs sold the property to Wyoming Governor Nels H. Smith and some
partners who used the property as a dude ranch. In 1963, the property was
sold to the Federal Government and subsequently used as a fish gentics center and later as a fish diet development center.
As a dude ranch the property was less than profitable. It is now owned by the State of Wyoming.
In the early 1970's during the construction of I-90, the remains of an ancient buffalo jump was discovered on the southern portion of the Vore Ranch.
As a result, the highway was moved to the south. The Vores transferred the site to be
used for interpretive and educational purposes. From the layers of bones, scientists have estimated
that some 20,000 bison were killed at the site and that it was in use as late as 1800 A.D.
Uncovered buffalo bones at bottom of Vore Buffalo Jump.
Music this Page, courtesy Horse Creek Cowboy:
BEULAH LAND
Music by John R. Sweney
Lyrics by Edgar P. Sites
Verse 1
I’ve reached the land of corn and wine,
And all its riches freely mine;
Here shines undimmed one blissful day,
For all my night has passed away.
Refrain
O Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land,
As on thy highest mount I stand,
I look away across the sea,
Where mansions are prepared for me,
And view the shining glory shore,
My Heav’n, my home forever more!
Verse 2
My Savior comes and walks with me,
And sweet communion here have we;
He gently leads me by His hand,
For this is Heaven’s border land.
Verse 3
A sweet perfume upon the breeze,
Is borne from ever vernal trees,
And flowers, that ne’er fading grow
Where streams of life forever flow.
Verse 4
The zephyrs seem to float to me,
Sweet sounds to Heaven’s melody,
As angels with the white robed throng
Join in the sweet redemption song.
Next Page: moorcroft
|