Dakota Territory Stagecoach Card - Sidney Short Route
Custer City, Dakota Territory, 1876 - 2¾ x 4½ inches
 
A rare card advertising Clarke’s Centennial Express stage line during the height of the Black Hills Gold Rush. Issued for Booth’s Hotel in Custer City, the card served both as a ticket office notice and a logistical guide, with the reverse detailing routes and distances connecting Sidney, Nebraska, with Deadwood and other Black Hills destinations. The Sidney route formed one of the principal transportation corridors into the Black Hills following the gold discoveries of 1874–1876, facilitating the movement of miners, freight, and mail into the rapidly developing frontier settlements. With only a single institutional example recorded (Yale University), the card represents a scarce survival of stagecoach ephemera from Dakota Territory during the Gold Rush period.
 
Condition: Excellent.