In the previous posts you met two of Deadwood’s most famous characters. This post will profile two more.
Sol Star
One notable from Deadwood’s history not buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery is Solomon “Sol” Star. Born in Bavaria in 1840, Star was 10 years old when he and his parents emigrated to the United States. They settled in Ohio where Star received his education and worked in his uncle’s store.
A seemingly charismatic fellow with an interest in politics, Star was a registered Republican who moved west where he was appointed by President U.S. Grant as Receiver of the United States Land Office in the Montana Territory. Star found his way to Deadwood in 1876 and once there, he ascended to both political prominence and commercial success.
(Photo from Wikipedia – Public Domain)
Soon after he arrived in the town that came to epitomize the “wild west,” Star was elected to the town council and became its postmaster in 1877. He won election as the town’s mayor in 1884 and served in that capacity for 14 years. He was also elected to both the South Dakota House of Representatives and State Senate where he served a total of six years.
I have three reasons for including this brief discussion of Sol Star. First, in 1899 the state of South Dakota (admitted 1889) had a total Jewish population of 1,750 according to jewishvirtuallibrary.org (By 2016, that number had shrunk to 250 of South Dakota’s total population of approximately 865,000.). This seems to me an indication that, in an era and a place where Jews were likely viewed less than favorably, Star’s political career speaks, at least in part, to his personal charisma. Second, I thought those of you who are (or were) fans of the HBO series Deadwood might like to know a little about the man behind this central character in that scripted drama. And third, while he was living in Helena, Montana, Sol Star met, formed a friendship and, more importantly, a business partnership with
Seth Bullock.
Bullock’s is another name quite familiar to fans of the HBO series. Here’s a bit of his actual backstory:
Seth Bullock was born in Ontario, Canada on 24 July 1849. (Other sources say he was born on that date in 1847.) As a youngster, it seems he was often at odds with his father. He first ran away from home at age 13 an act he repeated at age 16 when he traveled to Montana to live with his sister who promptly sent him back to Canada. His third stay in Canada didn’t last long either and he was back in Helena the year he turned 18.
After an unsuccessful run for a political office in 1867, Bullock was elected to the Montana Territorial Senate in 1871 and again in 1872. During his time in office, he drafted the Yellowstone Act – legislation that paved the way to establish the world’s first National Park when President U.S. Grant signed the bill creating Yellowstone National Park on 1 March 1872.
Seeking a different political course for his life, he won election to serve as the sheriff of Lewis and Clark County in 1873 and during his term he carried out the execution of Clell Watson in a incident portrayed (albeit with something less than historical fidelity) in the HBO series. This is also the period when Bullock and Star joined to open their first hardware store.
(photo from Wikipedia – Public domain)
In the summer of 1876, prompted by Star’s sense that the newly established boomtown of Deadwood offered the opportunity for great profits, the two relocated there arriving on 1 August. The next day, Jack McCall murdered Wild Bill Hickok. Within a month, Bullock had become the town’s standing sheriff after the camp’s first marshal, Isaac Brown, was murdered on 20 August in an ambush while he was traveling between Crook City and Deadwood. Bullock received an official appointment to the post in April 1877 by the territorial Governor John L. Pennington.
After initially setting up their hardware store in a tent, Star and Bullock erected a building
(from truewest.com) that also served as the Office of Star and Bullock, Auctioneers and Commission Merchants. (The building would burn to the ground in the fire that ravaged Deadwood in 1894 to be replaced by the Bullock Hotel that stands on the same site still and I somehow shot this during the day’s 10 minutes of blue sky.)
Serving as marshal of Lawrence County, Bullock stabilized the area and reduced much of the lawlessness that had been rampant in Deadwood. Working together, he and Star made significant contributions to the economic growth of the region. They purchased land in Lawrence and Butte counties, became partners in the S&B Ranch Company, and partnered with Harris Franklin in the Deadwood Flouring Mill.
While expanding their business interests to nearby towns such as Spearfish and Sturgis, they offered 40 acres of free right of way access to the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad to build a railway with a stop at what became the town of Belle Fourche – at one time the largest livestock railhead in the United States.
In the next post, I’ll tell you about a consequential and lifelong friendship between Bullock and a man who would rise to greater fame and importance. One outcome of this relationship would take me to my final site in Deadwood before I once again turn west and return to Wyoming.