Myrtle fire destroys all 18 buildings on historic Williams Ranch - KOTA Territory News

Myrtle fire destroys all 18 buildings on historic Williams Ranch

The Myrtle fire has claimed its first structures -- 18 of them in all.
 
The good news: They haven't been lived in for decades. The bad news: They represented a crucial piece of Black Hills history.

It was over in a matter of hours, and now the historic Williams Ranch in Custer County is no more.

All 18 buildings burned to the ground between 2:30 and 9 p.m. on Friday.
 
"These structures, including the house, have all been in their original condition and original location since basically 1904," said Michael Engelhart, an archaeologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

He said a group of buildings like that is a rare find in the Black Hills, and it's a serious blow.
 
"So much of history is full of the big stories," Engelhart said. "It's full of the battles, you know, and it's full of the manly acts, and it's full of the pomp. And this is real life."
 
Built between 1894 and 1904, the Williams Ranch was the embodiment of that real life.
 
"This site ... just incorporates and includes so much of the history of the early homesteading era."
 
One thing that makes the site particularly noteworthy is that Albert Williams built all of the structures by hand.

He cut down trees from the surrounding woods and actually milled them by himself at his own personal sawmill.
 
The Forest Service got control of the property in 1984 after a record methamphetamine bust.

Since then, they've been preserving the historic character of the ranch, bringing 20-or-so tours through every year.

Now, it's time to salvage what they can.
 
"Basically we'll just try to gather up every bit of information we can on the site while it's in the condition it's in," hoping to uncover the real history of the Black Hills, said Engelhart.
 
"This is the story of us," he said. "This is the story of the common man."

To make the situation even more disheartening, Engelhart said the ranch was just one step from being added to the National Register of Historic Places.