an Indian signal station. From the cliff top here the buildings of
the Diamond C Ranch and the site of the Battle of Killdeer Mountains
(_see above_) are visible to the S. Part way down the southern slope
of the mountain, from E. to W. in the order named, rise the odd rock
formations known as the THREE SISTERS, the COLISEUM, and SOLOMON'S
TEMPLE. The Three Sisters are slender spires pointing upward from a
common base; the Coliseum, which belies its name, is a tall pillar of
sandstone shaped like an hourglass; and the Temple is a long, narrow,
gray formation. Continuing W. along the rim of the cliff, the hike
trail leads to EAGLE ROCK, so named because of the eagle nests once
numerous here, and after touching the timbered edge of Dead Man's
Gulch, retraces its route to Oakdale.
Few large wild animals remain in the Killdeer Mountains, but in 1848-49
John Palliser, an English sportsman, and his party killed five grizzly
bears here. Deer were once plentiful also. Pioneer cattlemen still tell
of the Wolf Leader, a savage animal, half wolf and half collie, that
led a pack of wolves in depredations upon the herds of the region.
Conspicuous because of the white ring around his neck, the Wolf Leader
was the bane of ranchers for many years before he was trapped.
West of Killdeer the route proceeds along the valley of Spring Creek
through the foothills of the Killdeer Mountains to the junction with US
85 at =141.5 m.=, =24 m.= S. of Watford City (_see Tour 4_).
TOUR 9
(McIntosh, S. Dak.)--Hettinger--Bowman--Marmarth--(Miles City,
Mont.). US 12.
South Dakota Line to Montana Line, 94 m.
Milwaukee R. R. parallels route.
Graveled roadbed.
Accommodations in principal towns.
US 12 cuts across the southwestern corner of North Dakota through an
area where herds of cattle and flocks of sheep graze on the hardy
prairie grasses that grow in the small valleys between high, rough,
brown mesa-topped buttes. The day of the pioneer homesteader and
rancher is barely in the past here, and only within recent years has
diversified farming gradually been adopted. Near its western end the
route passes through the southern part of the Badlands, a strange land
of fantastic enchantment where ever-changing combinations of color and
shadow form a background of weird beauty (_see Tour 8_).
US 12 crosses the South Dakota Line at =0.0 m.= on a railroad overpass
at White Butte, S. Dak. (_see S. Dak. Tour 2_).
At =1 m.= the route passes through a level area adjacent to HIDDEN WOOD
CREEK (L), also called Flat Creek. Along its course, approximately a
mile apart and covered with brush, are two cutbanks known as BRUSHY
BANKS, near which the Custer Black Hills expedition camped on the way
from Fort Abraham Lincoln in 1874.
On Hidden Wood Creek in this vicinity in 1882 was situated the main
camp of the Indians from the Standing Rock Reservation who took part
in the last big buffalo hunt of the Sioux tribe, said to be the last
large hunt in the United States, held under the direction of Maj. James
McLaughlin, then Indian agent at Fort Yates (_see Side Tour 8C_).
In the years following the Custer episode in 1876 (_see_ HISTORY _and_
FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATE PARK) many of the Sioux, except the faithful
few who accompanied Sitting Bull into exile in Canada (_see Side Tours
6B and 8C_), returned to the reservations to assimilate the white man's
civilization. Before the white man's restrictions had been placed upon
them the Plains Indians had been trained from childhood to the pursuit
of the buffalo, for the buffalo was the staff of the Indian's life,
providing food, shelter, and clothing. The hunt in 1882 caused much
rejoicing among the tribesmen, offering them a temporary respite from
the humdrum reservation life, and a brief return to the activity which
had once existed in this land that was rightfully theirs.
Long and extensive preparations were made for this hunt. Strict
religious ceremonies invoked the blessing of the Great Mystery. Running
Antelope, whose picture was on the old five-dollar Treasury notes, was
generalissimo of the affair, while under him, leading the different
bands, were such famed Indians as Gall, Rain-in-the-Face, John Grass,
Fire Heart, Kill Eagle, Crazy Walking, Spotted Horn Bull, Gray Eagle,
and Charging Thunder.
Approximately 2,000 men, women, and children, including a few white
men, made the 100-mile journey from Fort Yates to the scene of the
hunt, and McLaughlin estimated that more than 600 mounted red men took
part in the actual killing. The herd, said to number 50,000 head, was
first sighted near White Butte, 10 m. S. of the present South Dakota
town of the same name, and covered the valley from that point to Haynes
(_see below_). On the first day of the hunt 2,000 buffalo were killed,
and the second day was given to skinning and cutting up the dead
animals. The third day found the Indians again on the chase, and this
time 3,000 bison were killed. The Hidden Wood Creek camp was maintained
until all the meat was cured and ready to take back to the reservation.
Years later when the railroad was built, many of the settlers made a
nice profit shipping the bones of the buffalo carcasses left from this
hunt.
HAYNES, =3 m.= (2,540 alt., 167 pop.), was named for George B. Haynes,
general passenger agent of the Milwaukee R. R. when it constructed its
main line in 1907.
At =5 m.= are the junctions with ND 8, a graveled highway, and with an
unimproved county dirt road. US 12 turns L.
1. Right from the junction on the unimproved road to the rammed-earth
home and garage of the SCORIA LILY RANCH, =5 m.= The owner, Col. Paul
S. Bliss, naturalist and author of three books of North Dakota verse,
has had the two buildings erected as an example of the practical use of
earth for permanent, low-cost farm buildings. In the building process
earth is packed into plank forms. After "setting" it forms a durable,
heat-and cold-resisting wall.
2. Straight ahead on ND 8 to the abandoned workings of the STATE MINE,
=0.5 m.= (R), an underground lignite mine once owned and used for
experimental purposes by the South Dakota School of Mines. The mine was
abandoned several years ago when the coal vein caught fire. The coal is
still burning, and occasionally at night the red glow of this earthly
furnace is visible where the tunnel timbering and earth have caved
in, leaving the hillsides pockmarked and scarred. Nearby on two short
rails is a rusty railroad steam engine, its gears fast in the grip of
rust and its wooden cab nearly eaten away by wind and rain. Deserted,
it stands where it was last stopped before the rails of the spur from
Haynes to the mine were taken up.
At =9 m.= on US 12 is the junction with an unimproved county dirt road.
Left on this road to PRAIRIE SPHINX BUTTE (R), =2.5 m.=, where the
steep sandstone outcroppings at the top of the formation resemble the
features of the Gizeh Sphinx.
HETTINGER, =13 m.= (2,668 alt., 1,292 pop.), seat of Adams County, is
at the foot of a high hill rising from the valley of Hidden Wood Creek.
Adams County was formerly part of Hettinger County, named for Mathias
Hettinger, a Freeport, Ill., banker. When the counties were separated
in 1907 each wished to retain the original name, and a compromise was
finally effected whereby the new county could use the old name for its
county seat. The new brick COURTHOUSE (R) was built in 1929.
Hettinger's first newspaper editor was a man of unusual enterprise. As
he hauled his press overland from Dickinson, he stopped everyone he
met to tell them about his forthcoming publication, and by the time he
reached Hettinger he had procured nearly 100 subscriptions. In 1908
this paper, the Adams County _Record_, was appointed official paper for
Hettinger, and in one of the first resolutions it published citizens
were instructed to remove their buildings from the streets, where, in
the rush of locating, they had built with little regard for the town
site plat.
BUCYRUS, =22 m.= (2,778 alt., 124 pop.), was first known as Dolan, in
honor of the contractor for the Milwaukee R. R. grade there. During the
grading a new name was sought for the town, however, and Bucyrus, the
trade name of one of the huge steam shovels in use, was suggested and
adopted.
REEDER, =31 m.= (2,810 alt., 395 pop.), was named for E. O. Reeder,
who at the time of the founding of the town was chief engineer for the
Milwaukee R. R. Alden Scott Boyer, now a well-known American and French
cosmetics manufacturer, operated a drug store here in 1909-13.
Right from Reeder on ND 22, a graveled road, to LOOKOUT POINT, =2
m.=, an elevation from which five towns, Reeder, Bucyrus, Gascoyne,
Scranton, and Buffalo Springs, are visible.
WHETSTONE BUTTES (L), =9 m.=, a high range of hills visible for
miles, are topped by a peculiar sandstone formation which is so hard
that pieces from it were used by the Indians and early settlers for
sharpening their tools and weapons.
GASCOYNE, =38 m.= (2,759 alt., 97 pop.), is L. of the highway.
Northwest of town is a railroad RESERVOIR (_swimming and picnicking
facilities_).
SCRANTON, =43 m.= (2,773 alt., 381 pop.), is a namesake of Scranton,
Pa., because both are coal-mining towns. The first mine here opened in
1907, preceding the railroad which arrived late that year and providing
the impetus for the town which grew up. The discovery of suitable clay
resulted in the establishment of a brick plant, the product of which
can be seen in many of the buildings in the town. On each side of the
highway as it passes the Milwaukee R. R. station are two round markers
picturing the head of a Texas longhorn steer and carrying the legend,
"Comin' up the Texas Chisholm Trail." The markers indicate one of the
trails by which cattle were brought to this part of the Great Plains.
Although the Chisholm Trail is believed to have run no farther N. than
Abilene, Kan., the name has often been loosely applied to other trails
running N. of that city, unofficial extensions of the original route
from the Panhandle region (_see Tour 4_).
BUFFALO SPRINGS, =48.5 m.= (2,850 alt., 75 pop.), was known briefly
as Ingomar, but in 1907 received its present name, suggested by the
nearby springs which once served as a watering place for the bison that
roamed the plains. East of town is a railroad RESERVOIR (_swimming_,
_fishing_). A COLLECTION (_open; inquire directions at post office_) of
Indian artifacts, pioneer relics, petrified woods, and other curios,
gathered by Ed Gorman, may be seen at his hardware store.
BOWMAN, =56.5 m.= (_see Tour 4_), is the junction with US 85 (_see Tour
4_).
RHAME, =73 m.= (3,184 alt., 356 pop.), named for M. D. Rhame, district
engineer of the Milwaukee R. R. when it was established in 1907, has
the highest elevation of any town in the State. It is in a high valley
between two large, flat, scoria-capped buttes.
At =78 m.= is the junction with an unimproved country dirt road.
Right on this road, across the railroad, to FORT DILTS STATE PARK (L),
=2 m.=, marking the site where Capt. James L. Fisk's 80-wagon immigrant
train, bound for the Montana gold fields, was corraled in defense
formation for 14 days in September 1864. The expedition, accompanied
by a cavalry detachment of 50 men, left Fort Rice in August, and
encountered no trouble until September 1, when a wagon overturned
in crossing a steep-sided creek. Fisk detailed another wagon and a
detachment of eight cavalrymen to remain and right the overturned
vehicle. As soon as the main party was out of sight over a hill, a band
of Hunkpapa Sioux--part of the group met by Sully at the Killdeer
Mountains (_see Side Tour 8D_) and in the Battle of the Badlands
(_see Tour 8_)--who were at that time engaged in hunting buffalo,
attacked the detachment, killing nine and mortally wounding three. The
expedition heard the rifle shots and returned to aid their comrades,
but were too late to do more than rout the Indians. Just as the natives
were being driven off, Jefferson Dilts, a scout for the expedition,
returned from reconnoitering in the Badlands, and rode directly into
the fleeing band of Sioux and was killed.
The expedition moved 10 m. the next day, and when it broke camp the
morning of September 3 a large box of poisoned hardtack was purposely
left behind. The Indians swooped down and hungrily devoured it, and it
is said that 25 died from the effects of the poison, more than were
killed by the expedition's bullets. That day the wagon train advanced
only 3 m. before going into corral and beginning to throw up a defense,
which they called Fort Dilts. Oxen and plows were used to obtain sod
with which a dirt wall 6 ft. high and nearly 2 ft. thick was built
outside the ring of wagons. The cavalry was stationed between the wall
and the wagons. That night 16 volunteers slipped through the Indian
lines and after 3 days and nights of hard riding reached Fort Rice,
whence Col. Daniel J. Dill and a detachment set out at once. They
arrived September 17, but by that time the Hunkpapa had departed for
Cave Hills, S. Dak., where they had learned a large herd of bison was
running. They had lingered only a day or two after the fortification
was thrown up, sniping at it occasionally, before their interest waned.
The State park, which contains approximately 9 acres belonging to the
State historical society, was dedicated to Jefferson Dilts in 1932.
Within the fenced area are the remains of the sod fortification, and
eight Government grave markers have been placed inside it in memory of
those who lost their lives in the episode.
MARMARTH, =87.5 m.= (2,709 alt., 721 pop.), is at the confluence of
Little Beaver Creek, Hay Creek, and the Little Missouri River. Known
as the "city of trees", Marmarth is almost an oasis in the treeless
Badlands country. Its name is derived from the mispronunciation of her
own name, Margaret Martha, by a small granddaughter of the president
of the Milwaukee R. R. The town had its inception in 1902, and grew
rapidly following the advent of the Milwaukee R. R. in 1907 and
the establishment of a railroad division point here the next year.
Proximity to the Little Missouri and its tributaries has not always
been advantageous; the town has been flooded five times--1907, 1913,
1929, and twice in 1921. To prevent another flood a dam has been built
on Little Beaver Creek W. of town, and dikes have been put up around
the town adjacent to the streams.
Theodore Roosevelt killed his first grizzly bear a short distance W. of
Marmarth on the Little Beaver, and just N. of the town on the Little
Missouri he shot his first buffalo. Many years later, when he was
campaigning for the Presidency, on an appearance in Minneapolis he met
a Marmarth pioneer. When informed the man was from Marmarth, at the
mouth of Little Beaver Creek, the President exclaimed, "A town there?
Do you have boats tied to your back doors?" He had visited the site
only at times of high water.
Marmarth is a shipping point for cattle brought overland from range
grounds in this State, Montana, and South Dakota. The stockyards,
which cover an area of 45 acres, and contain 86 pens and 15 loading
chutes, are built on the site of the old O-X (O Bar X) ranch. Nearby,
on Hay Creek, still stands the squat old ranch house in which Theodore
Roosevelt was once a guest.
Activity in the Little Beaver Dome, an oil field near Marmarth (_see
below_), brought the town a boom in 1936. Business buildings and
residences that had long stood idle were quickly occupied.
At =88.5 m.= is the junction with ND 16, an unimproved road.
Left on this highway to the junction with a country trail, =2 m.=; L.
here =1 m.= to THE WOMAN IN STONE, a 50-foot rock which shows the head
and face of a woman, even to the hairline, clearly outlined against
the sky. The form of the sandstone is the result of countless years of
weathering.
On ND 16 to a junction with a well-defined prairie trail, =16 m.=; R.
on this trail to the NUMBER TWO WELL of the Little Beaver Dome, =21 m.=
Work has not advanced far on this well, but results of the Number One
Well, just over the State Line in Montana, show a crude oil apparently
high in gasoline and kerosene content, very light, but darker in color,
and with a somewhat different odor from that usually associated with
mid-continent crude oils. The Little Beaver Dome is part of the Cedar
Creek Anticline, a geologic formation of arched rock strata extending
from eastern Montana into southwestern North Dakota. It is one of the
greatest natural gas fields in the United States.
US 12 crosses the Montana Line at =94 m.=, 95 m. E. of Miles City,
Mont. (_see Mont. Tour 17_).
TOUR 10 (Water Route)
Medora--South Roosevelt Regional State Park--Beaver River--North
Roosevelt Regional State Park--Cherry Creek--Missouri
River--Elbowoods--Stanton--Fort Clark--Washburn--Bismarck.
Route: Little Missouri and Missouri Rivers.
Medora to Bismarck, 350 m. (by river), 10 to 20 days.
N. P. Ry. parallels route from Stanton to Bismarck.
=Special equipment:= Light duffle, including 7 x 7 tent, waterproof
sleeping bags, waterproof duffle bags, complete change outdoor
clothing; flat-bottomed boat capable carrying 1,000 lb., of not
more than 5 in. draft for party of three; complete camping gear. No
accommodations available.
=Food:= Fourteen days supply, carried in paraffin-treated bags;
mainly canned goods--soups, meats, vegetables, and milk; flour,
salt, sugar, coffee, and cocoa; dried fruits. Butter hard to keep.
Biscuits can be made en route.
=Water:= Carry light water cask or bag. Refill at various ranch
houses. Use chlorine or iodine in settled river water.
=Warning:= No trip for "tenderfeet" unless accompanied by
experienced guide and riverman; select night camps on high ground
at safe distance back from river's bank, overhanging banks may
cave in, creek and gully bottoms subject to suddenly rising water
if rain falls; tie boats to trees on high ground, boat may be
lost in sudden rise of river if tied too low; avoid drifting near
overhanging cutbanks along stream, landslides dangerous to small
boats occur occasionally; watch channels for snags; high, upstream
winds dangerous on Missouri; carry antivenom serum for treatment of
possible rattlesnake bites.
=Seasons:= Latter part of June or first weeks of July. Spring
floods and early June rise make rivers treacherous; dry seasons of
late summer may require portage of Little Missouri.
=Maps:= Highway Planning Survey, Bismarck, N. Dak., can furnish
county maps.
For the experienced camper, for the seeker of adventures, for the
lover of nature, this route offers much pleasure; it is on the Little
Missouri River through the heart of North Dakota's Badlands and down
the Missouri River to Bismarck. During past ages the Little Missouri
has been the chief agent in cutting into the prairies of North Dakota
the wide slash that is the Badlands region. Rain and surface waters
have washed away the soft upper layers of the deposits made by
successive prehistoric seas, and, continually seeking lower levels, in
the slow process of erosion through the centuries have left a jumble
of jagged buttes. The sides of these buttes expose the various strata,
each the testimonial of one age in the geological history of the area.
Undoubtedly the Missouri and Little Missouri were navigated by many an
Indian hunter in search of the big game that once roamed the region,
and by many a brave seeking the scalp of some unwary opponent; but
Baptiste Le Page, the French explorer who made the voyage from the
Black Hills (which title then designated all the rough upland country
W. of the Missouri here) to the mouth of the Knife River in 45 days in
1804, is believed to have been the first white man to journey down the
tortuous Little Missouri into the Missouri, called Wakpa Hehanka (_elk
river_) by the Sioux. Le Page joined the Lewis and Clark expedition at
one of the Indian villages near the mouth of the Knife River.
While Le Page drifted down almost the entire course of the Little
Missouri, the modern would-be explorer following this route slips his
boat into the historic waters more than halfway down the stream at
MEDORA (2,265 alt., 200 pop.) (_see Tour 8_), and heads downstream with
the current.
North of Medora the river flows through a comparatively wide flood
plain dotted with groves of cottonwood, box elder, and ash trees, with
high, many-colored buttes rising on both sides to form the deep valley.
At about =1 m.= (R) is SHEEP CREEK, an intermittent tributary named for
the bighorn mountain sheep that were found in the Badlands when white
men first visited them. Along Sheep Creek are a few bull pines, _Pinus
ponderosa scopulorum_, probably the northern limit of the species in
the State.
At about =1.5 m.= (L) is ANDREWS CREEK, and at about 1.8 m. downstream
from Medora the river crosses the southern boundary of the South
Roosevelt Regional State Park (_see_ ROOSEVELT REGIONAL STATE PARKS).
At =2.8 m.= the park highway fords the Little Missouri, and at times
of low water caution is necessary here in navigating the ford. To the
R. after passing the highway is one of the park picnic areas, and just
below these grounds is the mouth of KNUTSON CREEK (L), at about =4.3 m.=
Below the buildings (R) of the PEACEFUL VALLEY RANCH (_see_ SOUTH
ROOSEVELT REGIONAL STATE PARK) is the mouth of PADDOCK CREEK (R), =5.8
m.=, and at about =8.8 m.= the route passes JUEL CREEK (R). At about
=11.5 m.= is GOVERNMENT CREEK (R), and at about =17 m.= WANNAGAN CREEK
(L), the northern boundary of the park.
A few miles below the boundary is the PARKER RANCH (L), formerly
the Wadsworth, said to be the first cattle ranch in the Badlands.
Downstream from these buildings is ASH COULEE CREEK (R), named for the
many ash trees that line its broad valley. It should be reached in
a day of ordinary drifting. (_Good camping place for first night is
opposite the mouth of this little stream._)
During the entire first day's journey the unusual beauty of the
Badlands formations is revealed, but even more detail is evident as the
setting sun lengthens the shadows cast by the hills and intensifies
the reds, ochers, grays, greens, and taupes that form the weird color
combinations of the region.
At =40 m.= is the SITE OF THE CABIN OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S ELKHORN
RANCH (L). Only a few foundation stones and a depression in the
flat river flood plain show where the cabin stood. The Rough Rider
President, who ran cattle on two ranches in the Badlands in the 1880's
(_see Tour 8_), spent the greater share of his time at the Elkhorn,
using it as headquarters for hunting expeditions into the surrounding
country.
Nearest neighbor of the future President was Howard Eaton, whose
VI Ranch at =48 m.= was near the mouth of BEAVER RIVER, the Little
Missouri's largest tributary. (_Opposite confluence here is good
camping place._) Beaver River was first called Big Beaver Creek to
distinguish it from Little Beaver (_see Tour 9_).
North of Beaver River the stream pursues its way in a meandering
course, winding 14 m. to cross a single township, and passing MAGPIE
and BEICEGEL (Bicycle) CREEKS. Magpie receives its name from the
long-tailed black and white bird that is found in the area, while
Beicegel (despite the spelling) is named for the Beisigl brothers who
were early ranchers along its banks. They still (1938) live in North
Dakota near Lemmon, S. Dak. (_Bet. Beicegel Creek and a point 2 m.
farther down river are many places suitable for camp._)
Thus far the river current has been anything but swift, and the stream
has been flowing between banks quite widely separated. As the trip is
resumed on the fourth day the river soon narrows and becomes a swiftly
rushing stream. Snags and submerged tree trunks that heretofore were
easily avoided now become a danger to the unwary voyager. The added
speed makes navigation more difficult, and a snag through the bottom of
the boat at this point would precipitate disaster, the probable loss of
equipment adding to the hardships of getting out of the rough country
on foot.
In the vicinity of REDWING CREEK are some of the finest views of
the entire journey. Grotesque formations carved in the wind-blown,
rain-washed buttes are set off by cedar-dotted slopes and river flats
covered with sage.