The Dickinson press., 1906-04-07
HISTORIC
LANDMARKS.
Famous Places and Events
in North Dakota as DeS-
cribed by Lena Brand Of
TAYLOR,

Since the earliest days of our nation.
people have been proud of the parts
their states have played in the his
tory of the land. If you should visit
Virginia, the inhabitants might point
with pride to some spot and say, "Here
is where Washington Stood" or "This is
the site of the battle of Bull Rum"
Then we, as patriotic citizens of North
Dakota, would feel that our state is
poor indeed in historic land marks.
But it is only because our state was
settled so recently that few people real
ize the important part it has in United
States history and in the Developments of
the west. There is a great work open
to one who with diligence and interest
would collect some of the material in
which Dakota abounds.
To be sure, we have no Shenandoah
valley or Mount Vernon to display, but
we have attractions equal to them. Take
for example Lewis and Clark, who were
the first civilized men to 60 up the Mis-
souri, river. Let fancy take you back to
the time of Jefferson. St. Louis, now in
the heart Of the United States, was a
frontier post. The country was inhab-
tied by Indians and buffalos.
At first, many of the Indians were in
clined to be hostile but with splendid
tact, their friendship was won by the
explorers.
Near the present site of Mandan they
found a tribe of Indians more advanced
than any they had met. With these
they spent the winter of 1903 and 1904.
An interesting tradition is current
among the Indians of that tribe as to
how the strangers came among them.
A Catholic priest had the story from an
old chief who got it from his father, the
chief "Three Eagles" It's said that
one day while hunting, Three Eagles
espied the expedition coming up the
river. In fear and establishment the
chief hurried back to his people, to
communicate the wonderful news and
give orders to bring in all the horses
for fear the strangers might be robbers.
Three Eagles and his people watched
the approaching party, scarcely certain
as to whether they were men or appari-
tons, until the captains came boldly up
to them, shouting greetings and extend
ing hands. York, the negro slave Of the
party, filled the Indians with amaze
ment.. In their opinion a white man
was wonderful enough, but a black man
was beyond their powers of comprehen-
sion. So they decided he. must be
"Great Medicine"
Some of the mounds of the Mandan
Indians have been opened and speci-
mems of pottery and other evidences of
their advanced state of civilization
were found.
The winter at Mandan proved fairly
comfortable and in the spring the ex-
plorers went up the river. Lewis and
Clark laid open to the world a land on
which nature had lavished her bounties
From this time the people were brought
to a realization of the possibilities of the
west.
In certain parts of our state, where the
sod is still u%nbroken, we may see a
deeply cut groove in the prairie, some
times resembling an ancient fre-break
overgrown with grass or an abandoned
road. Occasionally we may even find
remains of old camp fires, antelope
bones and old tin cans. All this may
look very unhistoric to you, but it is
nothing less than all that remains of the
famous Custer trail. From old For,
Lincoln the trail could be accurately
traced when western North Dakota wa
first being settled in 1882. Many of the
fords where General Custer crossed are
still in use.
Along this trail there are a few land
marke that are worthy of notice. One is
"Custer's Lookout" about two miles
from Antelope. This was a vantage
point of Custer'e when beset by Indians
1t is long, narrow and sufficiently high tc
command a view of the surrounding
country. West of Clusters Lookout is
another butte, named by the Indians
"Young Mans Butte" Many contra.
dictory legends are told about this hill
Some say that a young soldier of Gus
ter's was killed there by the Indians
Others say that a young Indian, because
of a disappointment in love committed
suicide on the hill top. There may be
no truth in either of these, or many
others, but we know that there is a
lonely grave on the hill top. Whose i,
is,,l cannot say.
Between these buttes the Northern
Pacific nov runs, and a fairly good view
may be had through the car window,
Forty miles north Of Dickinson are the
Kildeer mountains, of historical interest
because here was the site of a battle
between the Sioux Indians and the
trOopc under tho command of Capor,1