DEADWOOD, S.D. — Murder. Lawlessness. Gold.
The reputation of Deadwood in the 19th century spanned a wide range of famous and infamous incidents. From the shooting death of Wild Bill Hickok to the open secret of illegal but tolerated brothels, the town symbolized the untamed culture of the Wild West in what was then known as Dakota Territory.
Shootings and other illegal escapades may have set it apart from its peers, but there were other dangers not exclusive to the community lurking in Deadwood at the time. Like fire, which devastated the town in 1879, a year that is still considered a touchstone in the community 145 years later.
“Deadwood was about three years old there. Gold was discovered in 1875, and Deadwood started to boom up in 1876,” said Kevin Kuchenbecker, historical preservation officer for the City of Deadwood. “That was a challenging time for the Hills and Deadwood and the American West with the Great Sioux War, but by this time in 1879, Deadwood was hopping.”
Photo Courtesy Deadwood History, Inc., Adams Museum Collection
Quick to build, quick to burn
The discovery of gold had sent an influx of prospectors and others from across the country and even around the world looking to seek their fortune in the mineral-rich Black Hills, with Deadwood considered one of the main outposts for new arrivals. At the time, Deadwood was made up of a number of different mining camps, including Deadwood City, which sits roughly on the spot of the current city.
As people flooded the relatively new community, new housing had to be constructed to accommodate these arrivals. That meant erecting makeshift buildings, tents and whatever other structures that could be built in short order.
And there were plenty to accommodate. The population of the various mining camps that eventually morphed into the current Deadwood stood at about 4,000 people, with that number increasing depending on how many other mining camps were considered part of the community.
One warm evening, as residents likely pondered their next prospecting effort, disaster struck. While some records remain lost to time, Kuchenbecker said one thing is known for sure thanks to some diligent record keeping.
“It’s Sept. 26, 1879, and it is warm. The reason we can say that is the National Weather Service donated the records that were saved that would track wind and temperature,” he said. “That early morning, a kerosene lamp tips over in the (Empire Bakery). That catches on fire. Next to that is the hardware store. And that ignites.”
With canvas and pine structures forming both houses and business dwellings, and packed closely together, the fire found little resistance to its spread. It moved quickly, consuming materials it came across without discrimination.
That included items that were even more flammable than the buildings themselves.
“And what are they holding in the hardware store? Eight kegs of black powder. So that goes off and quickly spreads,” Kuchenbecker said. “If you can imagine eight kegs of blasting powder going off in a building — the sparks and debris coming out of there that’s lit quickly spread throughout town, and it’s all said and done.”
The explosion hurls a massive amount of flaming debris into the air, where it rains down slowly across the community, dropping ignition sources on rooftops. If the fire had been moving steadily from building to building prior to the explosion, fire was now pouring down from the sky, creating a burning structure in every direction.
Buildings built for their quick erection time and convenience, for the most part, didn’t stand a chance. Even buildings considered “fireproof,” which generally featured brick or stone facades, still had wooden roofs. When the flaming tinders landed on them, the fire spread from the top down, gutting the structures.
It may have been a relatively new community, but Deadwood had organized a group of firefighters who responded quickly to the blaze. The personnel were willing and ready to take on a fire even as big as this one, but in some cases, their infrastructure was not.
“They did try to fight the fire, but they didn’t have proper water infrastructure and a proper means to fight a fire of that magnitude,” Kuchenbecker said.
So they used the tools and methods they had on hand. They built firebreaks by ripping down buildings in the fire’s path, which did help, but in the end, there was little the responders could do.
It took crews about 24 hours to bring the blaze under control, and by that time, the fire had consumed 175 buildings that housed 270 businesses. In terms of total damage, Kuchenbecker said the fire caused about $1.6 million worth of destruction. That equates to roughly $50.3 million in 2024 currency.
The damage to the community itself was devastating, but in a stroke of good luck, there was only one casualty that resulted from the fire. Casino Jack, a deaf man who was staying in a hotel room that night, did not hear the raised alarm bells and died in the fire.
The loss of life may have been relatively minor, but the impact on the physical structures of the community was heavy. So much of what had been built was now lying in heaps of ash on the street. Some figured it could be the end of the community that had just put down its roots.
“They did,” said Rose Speirs, communications director for Deadwood History, Inc., confirming that some members of the community simply moved on after the fire. “They left.”
But not all of them.
Photo Courtesy Deadwood History, Inc., Adams Museum Collection
Some decided to stay, including Harris Franklin. Now a name familiar to downtown Deadwood with his name adorning the historic Franklin Hotel, he had come to Deadwood in 1877 during the rapid influx of new residents during the rush for gold.
He had done well, but the fire set Franklin back.
“He had invested. He was a banker, and he invested in cattle, alcohol, tobacco. He was very diversified. In that fire, he lost everything but the shirt on his back,” Speirs said. “Just a few short years later, he reinvented himself after the fire because of his tenacity to stay in Deadwood.”
Franklin went on to contribute to the rebuilding of Deadwood, including the construction of the historic Adams House in 1892 and the Franklin Hotel in 1903. Speirs said Franklin went on to become, at one point, the richest person in South Dakota.
Like Franklin, those who stayed in Deadwood worked toward rebuilding the town and their lives. New construction was on the rise within a month of the fire, starting with temporary buildings and tents to get businesses and services up and running.
“They said as soon as the soil cooled, they got to work,” Speirs said. “A lot of people left, but even more people stayed. These were hardcore people that were determined to take Deadwood from that raucous reputation and create this business district that meant everything in the world to them. They were highly invested.”
When the new, permanent structures began to take shape, builders embraced more modern construction methods and materials. Soon, buildings composed more of brick began to dominate the Deadwood skyline.
Photo Courtesy Deadwood History, Inc., Adams Museum Collection
Much of what was built during that recovery period is the style seen in the historic downtown today.
“If you look at historic Main Street today, it’s Victorian architecture built of what was then called fireproofs, basically brick and masonry structures. And that becomes the architecture that we have today,” Kuchenbecker said.
The Phoenix Block building, built just following the fire and named for the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes, later became known as the Midnight Star, the casino owned by Kevin Costner.
Effort was also put into upgrading the water and firefighting infrastructure of the town. Along with increased access to water to fight fires, improvements to the local hook and ladder fire companies soon followed.
Deadwood went through a number of highs and lows throughout its history, with fire playing a role in several eras over the past 145 years.
Another fire of similar magnitude struck the community in 1959, then another in 1987. The 1987 fire, which destroyed the historic Syndicate Building, brought considerable renewed attention to the town and paved the way for legalized gambling as a way to raise funds to preserve local historic sites. The funding proved crucial to preserving the history of Deadwood, the entire community of which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
But the rebound from the 1879 fire may have been the most crucial post-fire recovery in the town’s history.
“There have been a variety of booms and busts of Deadwood, and this could have been a bust. It could be a ghost town today if it were not for the tenacity of those early pioneers,” Kuchenbecker said.
Deadwood today is smaller than it was in 1879. The population now hovers around 1,200, roughly a quarter of the number of people who lived there prior to the fire. The economy is no longer driven by the search for gold, but instead primarily by tourism fueled by visitors interested in the town’s connections to Wild West history. Today it welcomes about 2.5 million to town every year.
Erik Kaufman / Mitchell Republic
Every now and then, archeological excavations around town uncover items that date to before and around the time of the 1879 fire. Those artifacts are carefully curated by history experts like Kuchenbecker and the staff at the city preservation office and researched and woven into the story of Deadwood’s history by people like Speirs.
The fire is an important part of Deadwood history, and the occasional discoveries provide valuable lessons about that time. But the real story of the 1879 fire isn’t what was lost, but what was preserved and built back stronger.
That’s a testament to the people who refused to let bad fortune destroy the vision of the small Black Hills community.
“That tenacity of those people who reside here that have leadership roles, that are civic-minded, they’re continually looking at how we continue to make Deadwood a destination. I would say that on Sept. 27, 1879, the day after the fire, there were leaders in the community, pioneers, who said, We can’t let Deadwood die.’”
