The Rustic Hotel “ . . . No Second-Rate Affair”

The Rustic Hotel “ . . . No Second-Rate Affair”. Fort Laramie National Historic Site. , As the nation prepared to celebrate its centennial in 1876, electrifying news of a gold rush in the Black Hills flashed across the country. A new bridge over the North Platte River guaranteed that the preferred route to the gold fields passed through Fort Laramie., Post Trader John S. Collins erected a hotel on this location to provide lodging for the gold seekers. Collins christened the new establishment the Rustic. The hotel also served as headquarters for the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage Company. Cheyenne newspapers reported favorably on the new hotel, noting, “From the ‘tone’ of it, we infer that the Rustic is to be no second-rate affair. The manager will accommodate all with clean beds and first-class meals.” Many travelers who stayed at the Rustic thought otherwise., “ . . . I did not quite like the look of the bed . . . with its dingy sheets . . . . I had not slept an hour before a disagreeable sensation aroused me . . . . Ugh! The whole place swarmed with horrid little bugs . . . . Of course, sleep was out of the question for me . . . .”Rose Pender, Rustic Hotel guest, 1883. , The Cheyenne Black Hills Company, The Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage line began operation in April 1876, providing service from Cheyenne to Custer City. Ticket prices ranged between ten and twenty dollars. The trip could be made in three days, weather permitting. Stage service extended to Deadwood in September, a distance of 290 miles from Cheyenne., At first, Indian attacks and stagecoach robberies plagued the new line. The military acted quickly to protect it. The army established camps at strategic locations on the trail and patrolled the most dangerous sections. The stage hauled scores of travelers and millions of dollars of bullion to and from the Black Hills over its eleven-year lifespan.