Perhaps nothing contributes more to the real enjoyment and to the
fascination of a forest than a knowledge of its early history. Many
events within this area played an important part in the growth and
development of northwestern Wyoming. Many of these are nearly forgotten,
and others are not generally known.
The earliest inhabitants of the forest are believed to have been Indians
known as the “Sheepeaters.” Just who the “Sheepeaters” were is not
definitely known. Some historians claim they were an unintellectual
branch of the Snake tribe, others insist that they were renegades and
misfits, driven out of the plains tribes, the Crows, Blackfeet, and
Shoshones, who were forced to the timberclad hills where rough
topography and cover permitted them to evade capture and killing at the
hands of their erstwhile tribal members. They lived in crude tepees
constructed entirely of poles. The “Sheepeaters” derived their name from
the fact that they preyed extensively on mountain sheep and to some
extent on other species of big game. They trapped their prey in pens or
corrals made of stone.
[Illustration: F-308547
_A section of the rugged Beartooth Plateau as seen from the Red
Lodge-Cooke City Highway._]
The first white men entered Wyoming more than 30 years before the
American Revolution. In 1743, Francois and Louis De La Verendrye,
French-Canadian brothers, traveled through the Rocky Mountain region to
establish branch trading posts. Their home and main post was in the
Great Lakes region. They entered the Big Horn Valley from the north and
traveled up Wood River in the southern part of the forest and crossed
the rugged Continental Divide near the Washakie Needles on their way
into the Wind River country.
Years later, in 1807, John Colter, who startled the world with his
fantastic and unbelievable stories of the natural wonders in Yellowstone
Park, traveled up the Clarks Fork River, after leaving the Lewis and
Clark Expedition on the Missouri. Colter’s exact routes of travel are
hotly disputed by historians, but it is well established that he was the
first white man to see the “Stinking Water” River (the Shoshone), so
named by him because of the foul odors from mineral hot springs along
its banks.
The trail along the Clarks Fork followed by Colter was for generations a
transmountain route of Indian tribes living west of the Continental
Divide which led to the great buffalo country to the east. Among the
tribes using this trail were the Bannocks and Lemhi. After hunting among
the herds in the Big Horn Basin and on the plains east of the Big Horn
Mountains, they returned to their homes heavily laden with meat and
hides. These expeditions frequently led to fiercely fought battles with
the Shoshones and Crows, whose territories were being invaded.
The De La Verendryes and Colter were followed by other “mountain men,”
equally venturesome, representing the American and Rocky Mountain fur
companies and smaller independent concerns. These hardy, restless,
rugged individuals, including such men as Lisa, Sublette Brothers,
Fraeb, Gervais, and Bridger, were actually the first settlers in what is
now the State of Wyoming, notwithstanding the common belief that the
first settlements in the Territory were in the eastern and southern
parts. These pioneers exploited the country, trapping fur-bearing
animals and trading with the Indians for their take in the pelts.
Following them came the nomadic prospectors and miners, and after the
miners came the first really permanent residents, the cattlemen. The
establishment of the first Stockyards in Kansas City, in 1870, gave
impetus to the expansion of cattle-raising in the West. From 1870 to the
1890’s, this industry grew with unprecedented speed. Charles Carter, in
1879, trailed in from Oregon the first herd of cattle brought into the
Big Horn Basin. Later came Capt. Henry Belknap, Otto Franc, Col. W. D.
Pickett, and J. M. Carey, all of whom shaped ranches out of virgin
territory on the west side of the Big Horn Basin, immediately adjacent
to the mountain slopes now inside the forest.
From the early eighties the herds increased, and more and more cattle
came into the Big Horn Basin. Homesteaders and settlers were “squatting”
on and taking up large acreages of the best range land, and finally,
there was not enough year-long range for the increased number of
livestock. The advent of the farmer forced drastic changes in livestock
operations. Stockmen were obliged to produce forage crops to carry a
part of their herds through the winter. Eventually it was necessary to
increase the production of forage crops on the land under cultivation,
and this led to the development of irrigation projects, first by the
ranchers, and then by the Federal Government. With water for their lands
and constantly improving transportation facilities, farmers were able to
produce such cash crops as small grain, truck crops, sugar beets,
potatoes, and peas.
As this country was further developed and became more heavily populated,
stockmen grazed their livestock in the higher foothills and eventually
in the mountains during summer, depending upon the Big Horn Basin, which
had formerly been used year-long, for winter range. Thus began the first
actual dependence of the community upon territory within the forest. As
irrigation projects developed, the second—and now perhaps the most
important—great economic value of the rugged mountains in the forest
became apparent in their capacity to conserve and store water for summer
use in the valleys below.
[Illustration: F-385841
_Pilot and Index Peaks, within the North Absaroka Wilderness Area._]
The Federal Government recognized the importance of placing the great
mountain wilderness of the West under control, to assure the perpetuity
and proper use of the natural resources. The establishment of the
Shoshone Forest in 1891 was the first step taken in carrying out this
comprehensive program. The preservation of the natural resources is now
assured, not by the elimination of use of the forage, timber, water, and
other resources of the forest, but rather by the use of all under proper
and progressive management.
[Illustration: F-386010
_The Blackwater Firefighters Memorial._]