Clara Belle “Mustache Maude” Black, Contemporary of Poker Alice,
Calamity Jane, Cashes In

Death has again counted coup on one of the colorful characters of the days when the Indian and cowboy ranged free over the country now included in North and South Dakota, west of the Missouri River. Here the old settlers are mourning the sudden death Monday at her little ranch, high among the foothills west of Fort Yates. A contemporary of Calamity Jane, and Poker Alice of Deadwood fame; known to cowboys and frequenters of the glittering palaces of frontier towns as Mustache Maude, this woman was as fearless as the wildest gunman and was able to “hold her own” in any company.
When the wild and wooly town of Winona, just across the river from Fort Yates, was in its hey day, Mrs. Black and her husband came there and opened one of the big saloons and gambling houses that catered to the soldier and cowboy trade of the flourishing days of the gay nineties. Here on the bank of the Missouri the nights were enlivened by the pistol shots of hilarious cowboys that were often mingled with the despairing cry of some woman who had been ill-treated by a faithless and cruel lover.
Following the abandonment of Winona, the Blacks moved to Siam, at the forks of the Grand River, which at that time, thirty years ago, was in the heart of the cattle country of Western South Dakota. Here a few log shacks served to house a newspaper, store and saloons. Feed for cattle was abundant, and at one time, Mrs. Black, herself had charge of a crew of men putting up hay. Arriving at the camp one morning, she found the men still wrapped in their bed rolls. As the foreman raised his head he saw his boss sitting on her horse contemplating the scene with dangerous eye. “See here,” she drawled, “we ain’t got no cures for bed sores so you better roll out right now.”
During the past fifteen years Mrs. Black had engaged in the cattle business for herself, and during the first years of adjustment, often became involved in litigation. Appearing in court wearing a wide brimmed cowboy hat, a man’s shirt with a tobacco tag dangling from a breast pocket, a short skirt and sometimes boots, she was the center of attraction. But it was when she was called to the witness stand that the crowded court got its greatest thrill and most enjoyment from her ready answers to the sharp questions of keen witted attorneys. Her implicit composure under grueling examination was amazing. But then she had often faced worse men than these in her time.
And never was a neighbor neglected by Mrs. Black when trouble camped on his trail. A sick wife, or child, a shortage of feed in a hard winter, or loss of stock brought immediate assistance from this strange woman of the old, wild west. Thus she displayed the same big heartedness for which Calamity Jane and Poker Alice were noted.
Perfectly at home in a crowd of cowboys of hardy characters of the cattle country Mrs. Black commanded the respect of all in any deal in which she happened to be involved. In her daily work about her ranch she dressed as the ordinary cowboy and she could ride a horse right along with any top hand. She could work in the round-up at branding or shipping time, or could pitch hay in the field with the best of them.
The last time this writer saw Mrs. Black, she was sitting in the shade of a cut bank, out on the Shields road. With some men she had stopped to rest while their horses grazed nearby. They were hauling logs for a new house and her wagons were piled high with cottonwood timbers that had been cut down in the river bottoms. No doubt, Mrs Black did much of the actual work in putting up the house.
Here in a rough country this unique woman shaped her career in conformity with the demands of the time and environment. With the passing of the old frontier that environment has nearly vanished and never again with such characters as Calamity Jane, Poker Alice and Mustache Maude ride across the plains.
Funeral services were held Thursday at Shields and a large crowd was present to pay their last respects to a “fearless woman of the Old West”. Several from Fort Yates drove over to attend.

Taken from Sioux County Pioneer, written by Frank Fiske Sept. 16, 1932