The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1897-10-09
ON DIVERGING LINES.
SOME RECOLLECTIONs OF OLD FORT RICE.

SOME REcoLLECTIoNs OF OLD FORT RICE.
IE.,rac. From ]. n. r.ysr. "xa,e,do.e",.c l,,.~~
IN the south bank Of the Missouri. nine miles
u north Of where the Cannonball river joins
that great contenental artery. terminate the range
of isolated and uneven highlands now general!
termed the Little Heart ridge. If the eros Ven.
ire Indians can bring forth plain truth from lAci,
was here one fifth of the remnant of that tribe
rested and were saved from the destruction that
overwhelmed SO many o: their people several
hundred years ago, when the floodgates from the
ice bound Arctic seas were unlooscned and a de.
LUCE of waters poured down the Saskatchewan
depression, that submerged all but the extreme
high points of land, and only decreased in depth
as the waters spread out on the wide southern
plains on its destructive path to join the tepid
stream in the Mexican gulf.
About one mile south of this ridge can be seen
a few isolated bluffs for the most part bare of veg
citation. and on their topmost peaks. round open
ings. that at the distance Of the bluffs base. to an
ordinary eye. seem portfolios from, a frowning
fortress. In these cones, as early as the opening
days Of this century, the FIRST intrepid explorers
of the now dom;nent race. saw fl ing hi;her and
thithe1 from these apertures inc proudest birds in
all this land-the war eagle OF the wild Indians.
Across the Missouri. and northeast Of these
described lands, but some miles away was a body
of water known to the native Sioux as "Mde Hans
ka" or the Long Lake. Apart from its shape
long and narrow-the lake had no significance,
except that its DOGGY shores sheltered broods Of
."1l f..l ~-l g.. 1>>nA.o~ ~~~.- oo--:--
place for hunters of the antelope.
In the order of marking :ime-being then the
month of July. 1864,-part Of the Sully expedi-
ton, a command Of several thousand soldiers sent
out by the government to punish and subdue GER
tain hostile bands Of the Sioux in the northwest,
had reached this vicinity, just described, when
a detachment Of the 5oth regiment Of Wisconsin
volunteers. acting under orders from the Wash.
;ngton war office, and who were encamped near
the creek at the base Of the cone hills. commenced
to slash down the timber Of ne;yhboring groves.
adobe or sun dried brick so familiar in the con
struction Of dwellings, Of the natives of New and
cid Mexico.
The building of a soldier tepee'' at that poin,
was not relished by. the wary Sioux. They could
not understand the motive Of The white soldiers
in wanting to build a "big war house" among the!
cone hills that had long been sacred precinct, of
incubation of their bird of war; whose tail leath.
ers transferred to their own heads were the badge
of a warriors rank-mark@d in dcgree-one tail
feather for each GOO" that would count for AMI
enemy slain. Thus in pride, not even in name
would they associate these invading white soldiers
with the home Of the war eagle. or the miniature
Mount Arrat of the Gres Vcntres. but as long as
the banner Aoated in the breeze. or a log rested up
on the site Of barrack or watch tower. that marked
the historic ground of old Fort Rice. the Yankton
Sioux and their allied bands persisted in calling
that military post, "Mdc Hanska Akicita Tepee'
or as interpreted into plain English, Long Lake
Soldier house.
Across the river from Fort Rice in these days
Of the mill. airy occupation, and a few miles dowr,
stream was a piece Of low land known as the
clover hay bottom" 1t was here-except in
very dry seasons-that the hay contractor could
finish up his provender contract with the post
quartermaster, but in these exceptional cases al
further haul was made upon the matted hay lands
of the Horse Head a few miles further down
stream. But it was the CLOVER hay bottom" that
Interested the writer and some travelling conpan.
ions in the autumn of 1869, when a comrade who
hal done duty in the regimental band at the fort
had told his story of an incident Of the haying|