Solomon Star arrived in Deadwood in the fall of 1876 accompanied by his friend and business partner, Seth Bullock. They immediately set about establishing a hardware business and the Deadwood Flouring Mill Co. at a cost of $60,000. Deadwood was flourishing and the influx of miners created a need for such retail businesses.
Star was appointed as Deadwood’s second postmaster in 1877, taking over the position after the first postmaster absconded with post office funds. The postal service was anything but efficient in those days. Many letters went unclaimed for weeks and the cost of mailing a letter was wildly inflated. Long lines formed at the windows as miners came in from the outlying areas to claim their mail. The mail was only handed to the addressee so it was pointless to send a representative from each camp to collect mail for the whole camp. Of course, that forced more miners to town where they would spend their gold, but it caused a great deal of consternation among the locals.
As a member of Deadwood’s first City Council and ten-time Mayor, Star was accustomed to winning elections. One particular election year he found himself challenged by Romeo Dwyer. In retaliation Star closed down Dwyer and Jack O’Dell’s saloon calling on a little used law (in Deadwood anyway) - prohibition. But it was the only such establishment he did close. He also raided Hattie Bell’s “Castle” because Mrs. Bell was Dwyer’s Mother. Public opinion forced him to back off a little.
Star was among a visionary group, formed in 1876, who recognized that the log cabins, tents and hastily-built wood frame buildings in Deadwood Gulch, all equipped with various devices to burn wood to ward off winter winds and built quite closely to one another, presented a great fire hazard. The committee was to inspect every chimney, provide ladders for reaching upper stories and require water barrels and fire buckets in every building. Fire Companies were organized and became quite practiced. All of this preparation did little to ward off the great fire of 1879 which destroyed 300 buildings.
