Down Memory Lane Aug. 23

10 years ago, 2013 — As promised in the previous month’s meeting of the Custer School District Board of Education, the idea of bussing rural school students from Spring Creek and Fairburn schools to Hermosa School was discussed and approved. After determining costs of gas, travel, automobiles and drivers, Scott Lepke, superintendent of Custer schools, presented the expenses to board members and rural school parents...When the bell rang to kick off the 2013-14 school year at the Custer School District, two new principals were set to begin new roles. Derek Barrios was the new principal at Custer High School and Heather Hiltunen was the new principal at Custer Elementary...Brittnay Entsminger was named the winner of the Miss Day of ’76 queen competition. Entsminger started her career in rodeo and pageants when she was a little girl living in Battle Creek, Mich.
20 years ago, 2003 — Spending at the 2003 Black Hills Motorcycle Rally was at its highest level since 2000, bringing in just below $1 million in tax revenues. Vendors sales in the Southern Hills were up 17 percent while the Northern Hills was up four percent. . . LaToya Grable of Custer won first place in the runway competition during the Miss Teen S.D. Pageant in Pierre.
30 years ago, 1993 — Workers removed 70 tons of rock from Crazy Horse so they could begin work on Crazy Horse’s upper lip. The blast brought the nose out to nearly the full length it would protrude when completed. . . . Ron Bradeen of Bradeen Real Estate announced that sale of the Metropolitan Banks in the Black Hills was an absolute auction and brought more than the appraised value. The Custer building sold for $75,000 to First Western Bank. . . U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson met with Custer residents at Bavar-ian Inn Restaurant. An audience of 25 peppered Johnson with questions.
40 years ago, 1983 —  A fire started in steep, rocky terrain on Elk Mountain, 10 miles southeast  of Newcastle and burned over 1,100 acres. . . . A 79-year-old Edgemont woman, Della Farvour, was in serious but stable condition at Rapid City Regional  Hospital with injuries sustained in an accident on Hwy. 79. The Highway Patrol said she lost control of her car as she was driving north in Custer County shortly after 9 p.m.
50 years ago, 1973 —  Courthouse employees began transferring equipment and records from the old courthouse to the new one. . . Selection of an eight-man jury was completed and testimony began in the grand jury hearing called to investigate incidents between the American Indian Movement and Custer County officials. . . Nominated to fill the four positions on the Custer County Chamber of Commerce board of directors were Harold Bellaires, Bob Kothe, Mike Tennyson, Margaret Ballantye, Lynn Moran, Karl Jackl, Dale Miller, Bob Bradeen, Bill Young and Keith Nelson.
60 years ago, 1963 — The historic edifice which served the Catholics of the Custer parish for over 70 years was torn down by J.J. Williams. The building was a church until 1958, when it was abandoned and given to the Knights of Columbus after construction of a new church. . . More board feet of timber were cut in the Black Hills during the previous year than in the combined total  of the three national forests of Wyoming.
70 years ago, 1953 — A stray bullet struck the radio aerial on a car parked in front of Willis Dry Goods store and ricocheted through the screen door of the store. No one was injured. City police and the county sheriff investigated and found that a group of boys had been target practicing with small calibre rifles at Big Rock Park at the time. It was thought that the stray bullet came from that source.
80 years ago, 1943 — At a regular meeting of the Southern Black Hills Sportsmen’s Club, members voted unanimously to sponsor the construction of a dam on the city property west of Custer. . . Custer took part in a statewide 15-minute blackout. All persons were cautioned to observe the blackout regulations. Merchants especially were asked to have their lights off that night or have them dimmed so they would not show.
90 years ago, 1933 — Harry S. Price of Dayton bid on the property of the Spokane Silver and Lead mine at the advertised receiver’s sale in Custer and started working toward the operation of the mine. . . Mrs. S.E. Ainslee, Miss Millie Heidepriem, Mrs. Walter Willard of Spearfish, Glen and Carl Heidepriem, Mrs. M.E. Nystrom and Mrs. Joseph Kidwell all left to attend the World’s Fair in Chicago.
130 years ago, 1893 — Dr. Walter P. Jenny was elected dean of the School of Mines at a salary of $2,000 per year. The election was satisfactory to Black Hills people generally. . . A party of traveling Seventh Day Adventists pitched their tent in Rapid City and labored with the unredeemed of that place. Prior to their removing to Rapid, the Adventists held meetings at Hill City and succeeded in making 15 or 20 conversions. . . A large party of Custer people departed for Chicago to spend a few weeks at the World’s Fair.
140 years ago, 1883 — A herd of Texas horses from Colorado passed through town. The herd contained about 100 mares and 50 saddle horses. . . H.A. Albien, the leading merchant, returned from a purchasing trip to Chicago. He said everyone he met in Chicago was on the dead run, as though life was too short. He did not let it interfere with his well-known Custer gait, one mile in two hours. . . The shaft on the North Pole mine was down about 80 feet.