Historical society talk to focus on Dewey

Submitted Story

Published: Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Pictured in 1920, the Dewey train staion was part of a thriving community just east of the SD/WY line in southwestern Custer County.

        At the corner of 1st and Crook sreets in Custer, a sign reads “Dewey, 40 M - Newcastle, 38 M - Custer, 4 -M.” Joann Boggs, speaker for the Custer Historical Society’s meeting  Feb. 7, says, “Although the ‘Custer, 4 M’ is obviously wrong, this sign in town has always intrigued me.  From the sign, it really is 40 miles to Dewey, presently a ghost town on the southwestern corner of Custer County, right on the Wyoming line. But at one time Dewey served a population of 1,000 people in the surrounding area.” Boggs’ written history is possibly the first one ever compiled about this former railroad town. The public is welcome to attend her presentation at the Custer County Courthouse Annex’s Pine Room on Feb. 7 at 2:45 p.m. (following the 2 p.m. business meeting). “At its most prosperous time—a café, lumberyard, three stores, two filling stations, a garage, a pool hall, a livery stable, a dance hall, a weigh station, a post office and a church were all found in ‘downtown’ Dewey. And, then came the Depression with its hard times,” Boggs said. Boggs’ great-grandfather, Charles M. Deo Cook, arrived at the S & G Ranch Station in 1878 as a 23-year-old ranch hand. The Union Cattle Co. out of Laramie, Wyo., actually owned this ranch, part of a large operation taking advantage of the Open Range’s rich grassland.  The S&G actually ran about 10,000 cattle during the 1880s. But 1888 was a bad year with its continuous blizzards, with many ranches losing most of their cattle. With the S&G forced into receivership, the Goshen Hole Irrigation Co. became operators of the land in 1892. Springs that had created a plentiful supply of water became dry when drilling for oil wells in Wyoming created artesian wells west of Dewey. “In l878, the mailing address for my great-grandfather was S & G Station, Custer, Dakota Territory.  The mail would stay at the Custer post office until someone actually rode in from S & G Station to get it—perhaps in the spring,” Boggs said. The town’s name of Dewey was first acquired in 1899 when its first post office required a one-word name. Because of the popularity of Admiral Dewey, a war hero during the Spanish/American War at Manila Bay, Dewey became a common name. “Lew Darrow even named his favorite horse Dewey. A distant cousin of mine was named Dewey Manila,” Boggs said. In 1900, the post office was moved to Edgemont for five years, returning to Dewey in 1905. Documentation shows that the S&G Station did not actually acquire its new name from its post office until the year 1908. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad then reluctantly allowed the name change. The post office continued to operate until 1967 when the mail was sent to Edgemont. In 1982, the building burned to the ground when lightning hit it. Edith and Arthur Cook (Joann’s grandparents) homesteaded the area in l908. “They were able to get two neighboring claims the day before they married.  To prove their claims, they built a house on skids. Every May and November for the next five years, they moved the house from “his homestead” to “her homestead”—a distance of about 60 feet,” Boggs said. A school was established until May of 1963 when the children were finally bussed to Edgemont.  At one time, the high school had established a three-year program.  Students wanting to graduate with a high school diploma would have to live in Edgemont or Newcastle their senior year. In 1964, Boggs’ father, Erwin, died at age 50, leaving three young daughters (Joann, Opal and Cora), his wife, Vivian, and his mother, Edith, to run the ranch. “I remember talking to my grandmother many times about the history of the area. She lived until age 92,” Boggs said. “My mother thought we three girls should have the experience of being on the last run of the passenger train to Dewey in 1969.  She dropped us off in Newcastle with our grandmother.  Then Mother drove the distance to Edgemont where she picked us up.  Our train got us there only a few minutes before she arrived.” In 2009, each day, over 60 trains continue to rush past on the town’s bordering train tracks, carrying Wyoming coal to Nebraska and to points beyond. Because of a renewed interest in uranium, mined successfully from the 1940s until the 1980s, many mining claims have currently surfaced once more in Dewey. Untapped uranium deposits are quite extensive. A new street sign sits off east Dewey Rd No. 769, directing the occasional traveler: south Dewey, north Dewey, east Dewey. Only four people actually live within its city limits. —Submitted by Lois Wells