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DONATIONS OF ARTIFACTS:
The Tri-State Museum has a vast array of artifacts in our collections. These range from old west photographs, genealogical data, guns, antiques, fossils, historical documents and others. We encourage residents of the Tri-State area or people who have in their possession artifacts from the Tri-State region to donate items to the collections where they can be cared for in perpetuity.
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The Tri-State Museum garners a great deal of support from people just like you. If you are interested in helping our museum and our noble mission, there are many options available to you. Please contact the museum director at 605-723-1200 to sign up.
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Belle Fourche 1914
Belle Fourche is a real country and western town founded in the late 1800's.
We are well known for our western heritage,
center of the nation, and oldest rodeo in South Dakota.
The town of Belle Fourche was only a dream until the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley railroad reached the Black Hills and began looking toward the plains to the west. Seth Bullock, frontier marshal and rancher, quietly worked at persuading officials to build a depot on the site of De Mores, an early day stage station. A large amount of land was donated as a right-of-way across his SD ranch. Only a saloon remained at De Mores. On December 28, 1890, this was joined by the depot and the new town of Belle Fourche was underway. The thriving little town of Minnesela, three miles away, which was established in 1881, had expected to become railroad headquarters but was bypassed. Four years later it also lost its county seat of Butte County to Belle Fourche which had imported over a hundred "citizens" to vote in the election. Minnesela is now a ghost town.
The new settlement was located at the forks of Haycreek, Redwater River and Belle Fourche River; hence the name of Belle Fourche which is French for "beautiful fork." It was soon platted and lots were sold. Free lots were offered to businesses moving in from Minnesela and in spite of the hatred generated by the struggle, many merchants accepted. Early day Belle Fourche was a cow town, catering to the needs and wishes of the cattlemen and cowboys. One street, now 5th Avenue, is still called Saloon Street by old-timers.
Belle Fourche is one of the most important livestock shipping railheads in the West. The wool shipping warehouses are the largest in the US even today. The city is the trading center for a three-state agricultural area encompassing 21,000 square miles in NW South Dakota, NE Wyoming, and SE Montana known as the Tri-State Area. A hub for livestock auctions and wool shipping,
Belle Fourche also is the center of a bentonite- mining industry. The downtown area's architecture retains the aura of the early 1900s; many of the buildings now contain antique shops.
Belle Fourche is still the business hub for the Tri-State Area serving a large area of ranches and farmers.
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