Peek at the Past

100 Years Ago

February 7, 1924

Walter Dickinson started out Tuesday with a road grader in an attempt to clear the Spearfish road, which is badly drifted for several miles out of Sundance.

The town of Rozet, fourteen miles east of Gillette on the Burlington, has been platted and town lots are offered for sale, with a 75 percent simmer of oil along with each lot. Looks like an attractive buy. 

The last workman on the Crook County high school building dropped his tools Tuesday night for keeps, the building being ready to turn over to the school board. With this detail and the installation of furniture, all will be set for the pupils and teachers to move in. 

75 Years Ago

February 10, 1949

“Operation Snowbound” moved into Crook County last week with the arrival of snow moving equipment under the direction of a Corps of Army engineers with Harold Smith, Army engineer of Kansas City, in charge of the office set up in the extension office in Sundance. At present twelve track-tractors, three patrols and one rotary are here for use in opening the snow blocked roads. Some added equipment has arrived in Rapid City and more is expected to be here soon. Skip Finch has been rendering quite an important service with his airplane. He took the county agent out to Earl Holcomb’s and Eddie Svoboda’s last week to determine Holcomb’s needs for ranch help and to inform Eddie Svoboda of the contact that was made with the army engineers and the contractor at Newcastle. On Wednesday he flew Mr. Gregory from Sundance to Earl Holcomb’s so he could help him with his feeding. He flew groceries and mail to Paul Cummings on the Bear Lodge ranch, Frank Ehlert and Alva Closson near the Buttes. Sunday he took a contractor’s operator to his caterpillar at the Charles Pearson ranch. He had planned to take another operator to the cat operating on the Aladdin vicinity but weather conditions were too unfavorable. He was to have picked up the second operator at the Hubert Mathews place where the contractor, the operator and the county agent were waiting for him. After deciding not to delay going back to Aladdin, the county agent and he started back to Sundance and in taking off, hit a huge snowdrift and bent one of the airplane’s skis. They decided it best to fly directly to Spearfish where it could be repaired.

50 Years Ago

February 7, 1974

The Crook County Sheriff’s office is currently investigating the shooting of a saddle horse at the Lorey Anderson ranch Saturday right. Sheriff John Peterson said the horse was shot and killed by an unknown person or persons at Anderson’s Miller Creek ranch.

Sale of The Moorcroft Leader has been announced by George C. Siemers, Hotchkiss, Colo. He said the newspaper was sold to Kendall Hansen, publisher of The Upton Gazette, effective Jan. 1. Hansen had leased the Moorcroft newspaper on July 1, 1973 from Robert Holyoak, who had published the paper since Siemers’ retirement two years ago. Vergil Schmidt has been named managing editor.