Buffalo Gap, South Dakota, is a semi-ghost town in Custer County just outside the eastern edge of the Black Hills. Strange that it is called a semi-ghost town, but that’s what it is. It would seem that either it is or it isn’t, but I suppose the fact that the current population of the town is about 125 people, could have something to do with it. This small community began as a stage stop on the Sidney-Deadwood Trail for the Northwestern Stage Company during the Black Hills gold rush of 1875-1876. It was named for a gap west of town that once provided shelter for buffalo herds.
Due to its location at the junction of several trails, Buffalo Gap became an important way station and supply depot. As a result, George Boland, the station manager and distributing postmaster for all mail coming into the Black Hills, built a roadhouse that provided food and overnight accommodations for passengers and freighters. By 1880, the gold rush was winding down, but the Black Hills, opened to settlement in 1876, continued to draw newcomers, something I can understand, since my husband and I visit the area every year. In 1885, the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad came through, marking the end of the stagecoach era. That same year, a railroad station was built along Beaver Creek, and the town of Buffalo Gap was officially laid out, serving as a stopover for travelers and a hub linking wagon roads to the Black Hills and Hot Springs.
The arrival of the railroad ended the long, exhausting cattle drives of the past. With large cattle ranches spreading across the Black Hills and Cheyenne River ranges, Buffalo Gap thrived, becoming one of the nation’s busiest cattle shipping hubs. Before long, around 1,200 people called the town home, and it boasted about 140 businesses, including 17 hotels and restaurants, four general stores, a hardware store, a clothing shop, two drugstores, a furniture store, a bank, four Chinese laundries, and 23 saloons.
As with any Old West cattle and gold town, Buffalo Gap saw its share of transients, rowdy cowboys, and outlaws. Doubting the sheriff’s ability to keep order, some local businessmen decided a town marshal was needed. They turned to Arch Wilder Riordan, a former cattle drover who had settled in Buffalo Gap and run a combination drugstore and saloon. Standing six feet tall and weighing about 240 pounds, Riordan had an easygoing manner and was well respected. He took the job for $75 a month and proved effective enough that the town’s rougher crowd hired a Wyoming gunfighter named Charlie Fugit to get rid of him. Their plan was to start a bar fight, and when Riordan arrived, Charlie would shoot him. But when the moment came, Charlie was fatally surprised to find the marshal was quicker and more accurate with his gun. Riordan survived, as he did in several other dangerous encounters, always drawing his weapon only when necessary. Years later, he was appointed a US Marshal.
As often happens in a boom-bust town, things had slowed down by 1885…beef prices dropped, and the open range became overgrazed. The hot summer and drought of 1886 made matters worse, with brush fires destroying much of the rangeland and water sources drying up. Then came the brutal winter of 1886–1887, which brought blizzards sweeping across the West and temperatures plunging to -30° in some areas. Known as the “big die-out,” the cold snap wiped out up to 75% of the northern cattle herds. Afterward, most large cattle operations left the area, and ranching became a local affair. Homesteaders moved in to farm the land, but more years of drought drove many of them away as well.
By the early 1890s, Buffalo Gap’s population had dwindled, leaving its streets much quieter. In 1895, a resident’s cow knocked over a lantern, sparking a fire that burned the town to the ground, much like the Great Chicago Fire and other similar disasters. The town never fully bounced back and was never restored to its former glory. The fire wiped out most of the central business district, and only a few buildings or businesses were ever rebuilt. By 1910, the town’s population had fallen from its heyday of 1,200 to just 280. The drought dragged on for years, and more farmers left. Still, the ranchers gradually returned. During this time, the town auditorium, fairgrounds, community building, and fraternal lodge halls continued to be used for various community activities, from fairs to dances to traveling shows.
While the town was virtually a ghost town by then, it continued to hang on. The auditorium was built to showcase agricultural exhibits for the Buffalo Gap Fair, which was one of the area’s most notable events for years. This annual fair, featuring a rodeo, stock show, and crop displays, brought together local farmers, ranchers, and tourists eager to see the participating Lakota Indians. The Lakota from the Pine Ridge Reservation joined various rodeo contests and camped on the edge of town. Many were celebrated bronc riders, but one of the crowd favorites was the “Tepee-Setting Race,” where two women would drive a wagon around the track and set up their tepees in front of the grandstand. The winning team earned a prize of five dollars.
As was common in the life of any town, the needs changed, and in 1923, a high school was built. In 1926, the Nolan grain elevator was built to support the shift toward grain farming. The horse-breeding industry was thriving, and the town still served as a cattle hub. Then, as cars became common and machines took over farm and ranch work, Buffalo Gap began to shrink. A new state highway routed through Hot Springs and Custer State Park pulled traffic away from town. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the 1930s further cut down the local population.
The beginning of the end came in 1938, when the railroad discontinued its spur line to Hot Springs and stopped shipping cattle from Buffalo Gap in about 1953. By 1960 most of the town’s businesses were closed for good. 
The old Citizens Bank building served as a First Western Bank branch for many years before it finally closed. Today, the town’s main hub is the grain elevator and feed store. The church still holds regular services, and the post office remains open. Most of the residents are gone now…and only a semi-ghost town remains.
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