Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1907-08-22
FORT kE:oaR /
Will Soon be Abandoned. His
). torie Spot in Mon
tana.

Fort Keogh, Montana, soon to be
abandoned by order of the War De-
partment, is in region of historic
; interest. 1t was named for Miles
Keogh, brevet colonel and captain of
the Seventh cavalry, who died with
Custer about ninety miles from the
site of tile post in 1876. The town,
two miles east Of the post is name
for General Nelson A. Miles, founder
of Fort Keogh. The county is named
for General Custer, and near it are
the towns of Forsythe, Terry and
Camp Cook, all.,.named for famous
Indian fighters.
Fort Keogh, says the Cincinnatti
Enquirer, was direct result of the
Custer fight on the Little Big Horn.
Dozens of Indian campaigns have
started from it since Miles built it
in 1877. The post was originally es-
tablisbed in the same year as the
Custer fight, and was at first merely
a camp, known as the Tongue River
cantonment. It is about one mile
from the Yellowstone river and a
mile and half from Tongue river,
in the lower Yellowstone valley.
Miles used the camp as the base of
the expedition he led in 1876 and
1877. as a result Of which he forced
the surrender of Sitting Bull near
where Terry now is, and broke the
Indian power in this region. The
site was natural lone for a military
post, and it was determined to estab-
lish a permanent military post there.
Keogh was built years before rail-
road reached the valley. All material
used in it's construction and not pro-
duced in the country, was brought
from the east by steamboat and by
wagons from Bism arck. N. D. Oxen
were the draughu ::animals of the,
period and the bullwhacker was a
distinct frontier tyne.
The country produced little except
meat in those days and the govern
ment shipped by boat and OK team
practically everything except the
lumber used in constructing 1.-The
buildings. A large saw mill was
brought and set up in the the Bad
Lands, fourteen miles from the site
of the post. The lumber was sawed
there, and hauled by team to the
post. -
Soldiers did much of the actual
work in addition to guarding the
mill and the teams. The route to
Ithe mill lay through extremely rough
country, and miles of road had to be
built by excavation, and dozen
Dridges.had to be put up. The road
built by the soldiers more than thirty
years ago is in use, and in good con-
dition today.
The fort was built around square
of about forty acres. improvements
were made from time to time, but
much of the fort is as Miles, and his
soldiers made it in 1877.
The Fort Keogh military reserva-
tion is ten..miles square and has been
pronounced second onlyto Fort s.Riley
as field for maneuvers. Every possi-
BILE condition of topograpv is In it..
1t begins with a broad level valley
at. the river and extends southwark
through the Bad Lands. 1t en-
braces part Of two large rivers, abun-
dant tim Der, brush and small creeks.
The wide valley with the hills to
the south makes a splendid artillery
range. The natural advantages of
the place led TO suggestion a few
years ago, that the fort be made a
brigade post and that an artillery
range be established there, but the
: suggestion was not adopted.
The town Of Miles City, not less
noted than the post, and known 10
early days as one Of the toughest
spots on the..map, owes its existence
ito the post. Hugh Early. veteran
frontiersnan and scout for General
Miles during the Indian days, says It
was built as the result of fight be-;
tween a civilian and soldier.
'tThere was always"'aF lot of gam
hlore and nnffal0 hunters hanging
around the camp 10 those days. Says
Early. ..and the Tongue river can.
tonmant vas no exception. One Of
the tonphs and a big soldier got ii 9
fight one day and upset the whole
y camp. II l.,.s
The General Miles) broke up
. thes row and issued an order that. no
. civilian Mould be allowed to camp
nearer than two miles from the post,
/ was working for the government
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