St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-12

Canyons and Businesses
of that river, the Yellowstone and their
tributaries. The massacre of the brave
Custer and his companions in the valley
of the Little Big Horn, two years later,
was really the beginning of the END Of
hostilities with the relentless red men
of the plains.
On the 14th of June. in the year first
named, an engineering party under the
direction of Gen. Thomas l.. Rosser. as
assistant engineer of the Northern Pa
cifc, started out from Fort Lincoln,
opposite Bismarck. to locate the line
from what is now Mandan to the Vel
lOwStone, at or near the mouth of Glen
dive creek. crossing the river at that
point and thence proceeding up the
Yellowstone to a point l50 miles west
from the crossing at or near the mouth
of Glendive creek. A strong escort for
the safety of the engineering party had
been provided by the United States
government. owing to the failure of
previous attempts to locate line in con.
sequence of the hostility of Sitting Bull
ana his rowing band of warriors. This
escort consisted of the whole of the
famous Seventh cavalry commanded by
Custer, and two battaliOns of infantry,
the whole force being under the COM
mand of Gen. ID. S. Stanley, veteran
of the civil war. In order to expedite
matters, the civil engineers left the
mouth of Heart river, opposite Bis
marck, on the 18th of June, with small
escort consisting of detachment of the
Seventh cavalry, one company of in
fantry and few Indian scouts, the en-
tire party being commanded by Lieut..
Col. E. F. Townsend, of the Ninth regi-
ment, while the main command under
Stanley was being organized at Fort
Rice, thirty miles below Lincoln. and
which was expected to follow week
later, overtaking the detachment in the
Valley of Heart River
within few days of June 25. Singu-
larry enough, the first episode that oc-
cured to the detachment in getting
under way was Skirmish with band
of two Or three hundred Sioux warriors,
Immediately upon the commencement
of the march, in which two of the red
skins were sent to the happy hunting
grounds, and The rest of the party were
driven off. The fighting was done EN-
tirely on the part of the expedition by
tue Cree scouts, who, after tue fight was
over, came bowling back to the fort
with the scapS of their victims swing
ing high In the air. The morning was
excessively hot, and the scouts wore
UuU DICCCuClOuL W SlllClu
their bodies from the scOrching rays of
the sun. Nothing further of a hos
tile nature occurred until the Vel
lOwstOne was crossed, when the
Sioux made a most desperate at
| tempt to surprise and entrap the eXpe-
| dition, but were completely foiled,
| driven away, and escaped by recrossipg
the Yellowstone by the aid of their bull
boats. In this affair the veterinary sur
geon of the Seventh. DR.. Honsiker, and
| a civilian connected with the suffers
| force were killed as a result of straying
| too far away from the moving column.
The country passed over by this expe-
ditiOn comprised One-half of what is
now North Dakota and the eastern por-
ton of Montana. Itincluded the valleys
of the Heart river from its mouth to its
source, the Little Missouri and the yell
lOwstone for $50 miles along the north
ern bank, with the intervening divides
and vast stretch of
High Rolling Prairie.
1t was strenuously contended at the
time, notably by Gen. w. B. HaZen,
then llr command at Fort Buford, that
this country was unfit for profitable
cultivation, basing his opinion evidently
upon his observation of the famous
mauvaises terres, OF bad lands, in the
midst OF which his headquarters at the
| mouth of the Yellowstone were located.
But how completely has experience
| refuted this assumption which, it is
believed. was put forth, published and
reiterated for the purpose of defeating
the construction of the Northern Pacific
by discredlting its securities. Time has
amply INDICATED the sagacity of the
far-sighted and courageous men who
projected and finally, amid almost
insurmountable obstacles, carried the
great work triumphantly through
to the shores of the Occi-
dental sea or its strong right arm,
Puget Sound. Neither the INSCRIPTIONS
| jealousy OF rivals, nor barren plains, nor
| rivers. nor lofty mountains, nor appar-
emily impenetrable forests, nor heights
nor depths. nor all combined have suf-
| feed to prevent the grand conSumma-
ton, and where just nineteen years ago
we struggled by toilsome daily marches,
under burning sun and against the
| desperate protests of willy savages to
| find way for the iron horse, we look
out from the windows of the luxurious
| palace car upon scores of smiling vii
| lagos, thriving, prosperous cities ana
hundreds Of cultivated farms. yielding
enormous crops of grain and rearing
| flocks and herds innumerable for
| the SuStenance and support OF millions
of people. Merely to call these thriving
centers of population, trade and
wealth by name would consume
too MUCH of your valuable space.
Suffice it then to refer in passing to
Brainerd. Detroit and Moorhead in Mill
nesota; Fargo. Casselton, Bismarck,
Mandan and Dickinson, in North Dako-
to; Glendive, Miles City and Livingston
at the gateway to the National Yellow
stone Park. in Montana, all on this side
of the mountains. Many of these places
had
Even No Existence
less than ten or twelve years ago and yet
they are now thriving communities,
with schools. churches, daily newspa-
pers, jobbing houses. factories and all
else that appertains to civilized life.
Livingston is estimated to have pop