The Aladdin tipple is getting a second chance at life, thanks to a major federal grant and a newly minted preservation board.
The Alliance for Historic Wyoming confirmed with Cowboy State Daily that it has secured permission from Crook County to seek proposals to save the structure, and that it’s a first step toward reversing the county’s “let it fall gracefully” policy.
“We’re trying to understand where the building is at right now, what we can do to save it, and what the steps would be moving forward,” Alliance for Historic Wyoming Executive Director Megan Stanfill told Cowboy State Daily. “It was deemed unstable back in 2018, and here we are eight years later and it’s still standing. It’s persistent.”
While the project is gaining institutional momentum today, the grassroots push to save it began during a solo Wyoming photo shoot about three years ago.
Debbie Cobb, a staff member with the Alliance for Historic Wyoming, was photographing historic sites when she came upon the tilting wooden giant in Aladdin.
Seeing the chain-link fence and the warning sign that said it was in imminent danger of collapse stopped her cold.
She went immediately to the Crook County Museum in Sundance to talk about the situation with curator Rocky Courchaine before calling her boss to urge that the tipple be placed on Alliance’s watch list.
For Cobb, saving the tipple is personal.
“I like to joke that you can call me Loretta Lynn because I’m a coal miner’s daughter,” she said. “I grew up in the energy industry in northeastern Wyoming. I have a personal connection to the mining industry in our state and there isn’t a lot of mining history still standing in the region.”
Historians believe the Aladdin structure was built around 1895, Cobb added. Because it’s managed to stay upright against decades of Wyoming wind, despite little maintenance, it occupies a legendary status among preservationists.
“Technically, every other wooden tipple in the U.S. that was built before 1900 has already collapsed,” Cobb said. “That’s one reason why I think it’s important to save this piece of history. It helps us contextualize the history of an industry that is so important to Wyoming’s economy.”
Mining Funding Preservation
While a total stabilization price tag has been estimated at $1.2 million, modern Wyoming energy production has already quietly stepped up to help seed a rescue fund.
A couple of years ago, St. Louis-based Arch Coal, now Arch Resources, which operates massive surface mines in the Powder River Basin, stepped in as a corporate sponsor through its “Sabers Program.” That’s a mine-safety initiative where employee safety reports trigger corporate donations to a chosen monthly cause.
Arch Coal selected the Alliance specifically because it was interested in saving the coal tipple, Cobb said.
That resulted in a donation just more than $9,000, which the Alliance used to establish its official Watch List Fund, a dedicated war chest targeting endangered properties. The Aladdin Tipple is designated as the top active priority.
“The $1.2 million estimate is high,” Cobb acknowledged. “But when you take into consideration the cultural heritage behind using that money to save a building that can tell the story of Wyoming — I mean, there has been money spent on worse things.”
Half Million In Federal Grants
Beyond that initial corporate seed money, a massive federal funding mechanism has also appeared that could help drive preservation of Aladdin’s coal tipple anew.
In September, the Alliance for Historic Wyoming was one of 25 organizations nationwide selected to receive funding through the National Park Service’s Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Fund. The Alliance received a $550,000 award to establish a pool of grants for physical, “brick-and-mortar” preservation projects in rural communities.
“The program we’ve set up represents the state seal,” Stanfill said. “So all the themes on the state seal. You have equal rights, mines, oil, grain and livestock.”
The tipple could highlight mines, she added, and is worth saving as a rare and tangible link to Wyoming’s early coal-mining era.
“The Aladdin coal tipple is the last remaining wooden coal tipple in the region,” she said. “When you look around the state, you see more mechanized tipples. So this tipple really represents an earlier part of the state’s mining history.”
When constructed, it was also meant to be temporary, she added.
“Here we are over 100 years later and it’s still holding on,” she said. “It’s still persistent.”
To extend a grant for the tipple, the Alliance required a qualified local entity that could apply for and receive the federal funds, a role that can be played by the newly formed Crook County Wyoming Historic Preservation Commission.
Aladdin Tipple Powered By Gravity
Built by the Black Hills Coal Company, Aladdin’s tipple is widely recognized by historians as the last surviving 19th-century wooden tipple in the American West.
Its mechanics were simple and powered by gravity.
As coal was dumped into its top, gravity fed it down through a series of screens that sorted the bounty into nut, egg, and lump sizes before dropping the coal directly onto railroad cars bound for massive gold smelters near Lead and Deadwood, South Dakota.
Local people also took wagons to the tipple to acquire coal for their homes and businesses.
It was a vital energy resource that helped nearby towns grow. Those towns at the time included Aladdin and Barrett, though the latter is now a ghost town.
Historical records show about 35 men employed at the Aladdin coal mine and tipple at the start of 1899. That figure more than doubled by the end of that year, hitting 80.
Aladdin’s tipple hit peak production in 1901 at about 40,000 tons of coal. Eventually, the 18-mile Wyoming and Missouri River Railroad stopped its run to the tipple.
For a time, a little four-wheeled gas engine car on the railroad line ran people from Aladdin to Belle Fourche, South Dakota, for shopping.
Coal tipples became obsolete with the widespread implementation of conveyor belts later in the 20th century. Many were torn down or abandoned without concern for any future historic value.
A Tourism Debate
Despite its historical pedigree, the tipple still faces a stark economic reality. It will cost a lot to restore and it’s located in a remote stretch of northeast Wyoming with limited motorist activity.
Heritage tours are organized regularly, Stanfill said. She said she believes it has potential to attract tourists despite its remote location, if it were in better shape.
“I bring people out to the tipple whenever I can,” she said. “And when I’m up in Crook County, I definitely try to stop even if it’s not on my way.”
Cobb, meanwhile, is pushing to add new signage and an on-site donation box, as well as a trail camera to better monitor the structure.
They are also doing what they can to raise the profile of the tipple. That effort will get an unexpected boost next week, Stanfill added.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation will soon feature Aladdin’s Tipple in its quarterly Preservation Magazine as one of the country’s most endangered historic treasures.
Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
