The beginning of law and order
When Hickok was murdered the leading businessmen of the town decided that a more aggressive policing of the growing town was necessary. They turned to a recent arrival, who had been a sheriff in the Montana Territory, and had come to Deadwood to establish a hardware store. Seth Bullock thus became the first sheriff of the town. One of his earliest tasks as the new sheriff was to inform Deputy Marshal Wyatt Earp that the town did not need his services as sheriff, and Earp returned to his office in Dodge City. Bullock used the profits from his hardware store and proceeds from his job to purchase ranchland in what soon became Belle Fourche.
Bullock eventually lost the hardware store to fire, and rather than rebuild it he and his partner built a 63 room luxury hotel on the site, which they dubbed the Bullock Hotel. Seth Bullock met and became close friends with Theodore Roosevelt during one of the future president’s many visits to the Dakota Territory, and their friendship led to several appointments for Bullock as Roosevelt rose in political influence, including Bullock becoming the first supervisor of the Black Hills Forestry Reserve. Bullock was instrumental in founding the town of Belle Fourche and the completion of the railhead there which made the town the largest livestock railhead in the country.