The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-30
FORT KBOGH A HISTORIC POST
TIE CENTRE OF MANY INDIAN
WARS TO BE ABANDONED.

the Indians Power Was Broken Miles
City, Once Tough. Two Miles Away.
HELENA, Mon, June 25.-Fort Keogh,
soon to be abandoned by order Of the War
Department, is in a region OF historic in
terest. 1t was named for Miles Keogh,
brevet Colonel and Captain Of the Seventh
Cavalry. who dice with Custer about ninety
miles from the site OF the post in 1915. The
own two miles east Of the post is named
for Gen. Nelson A. Miles, founder of Fort
Keogh. The county is named for Gen.
Custer and nesT it are the towns of Forsyth,
Terry and Camp Crook, all named for
famous Indian fighters.
Fort Keogh was a direct result of the
Custer fight on the Little Big Horn. Dozens
OF Indian campaigns nave started from il
since Miles built it in 1877. The post was
originally established in the same year as
the Custer fight and was at first merely a
camp known as the Tongue River can
Torment. 1t is about one mile from the
Yellowstone River and a mile and a half
from Tongue River in the lower Yellow
stone valley.
Miles used the camp as the base of the
expeditions he led in 1875 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 a natural one for a military
post and it was determined to establish a
permanent military post there.
Keogh was built years before a railroad
reached the valley. All material used in
it's construction and not produced in the
country was brought from the East by
steamboat and by wagons from Bismarck.
Nd. Oxen were the draught animals of the
period and the bullwhaoker was a distinct
frontier type. .
The country produced little except meat
in those days and the Govern ment shipped
by boat and OK team practically every
thing except the lumber used in construct
ing the buildings. A large sawmill was
brought and set up in the BAG Lands, four
teen 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 mix and the teams.
The route to the mill lay through extremely
rough country, and miles of road had to be
built by excavation and a dozen bridges
had to be put UP. The road built by the
soldiers more than thirty years ago is in
use and in good condition to-day.
The fort was built around a 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 reservation is
ten miles square and has been pronounced
second only to Fort Riley as a field for
mAnauvres. Every possible condition OF
Topography is in IL.
1t begins with a broad. level valley at the
river and extends southwark through the
Bad Lands. 1t embraces part OF two large
rivers, abundant timber, 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
10 a 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 in early days as one of
the toughest spots on the map, owes its
existence to the post. Hugh Early. a
veteran frontiersman and scout for Gen.
Miles during the Indian days, says it was
built as the result OF a fight between a
civilian and a soldier.
There we're always a lot Of gamblers and
buffalo hunters hanging round the army
camps in those days" says Early. land the
Tongue River cantonment was no excep-
ton. One Of the toughs and a big soldier
got in a fight one day and upset the whole
camp.
The General INlilesl broke up the row
and issued an order that no civilian would
- al1oxral 10 M mr. paarar than fvpa Tnilao
from the post. was working for the Gov
eminent then and that afternoon | rowed
the General across Tongue River.
The General had some men and a sur
veyor's chain with him. He had the men
measure exactly two miles from the river
and sent word to the camp followers hat
they must camp below that spot.
The town started that very day. I
picked up some old drift logs and threw
them together to make a shack. II was
the first house in the town and there was a
faro game running in it that very night.
In derision the gang named the tow Miles
City"
When the soldiers moved from the can
Torment to the present site Of the post the
town moved a corresponding distance up
the Yellowstone to where it is to-day. 1t
kept It's name ana also kept W miles from |
the post.
It retained its t~oughness through the
huha days and the earlier days of the
stock business. mo Bible west Of Bis
marck and no God west Of Miles City was /
o common saying until well into the 'sgs.
The buff alo hunter and the soldier were
always excellent friends, but the cowboy
and the soldier did not mix well. The
result Of this condition was m any a battle
IN Miles City.
Although the Indian power in eastern
Montana was broken az r result OF the
campaigns Of Miles, Terry. Crook and
others, the country was the scene of many
minor Indian uprisinCs during the fifteen
years following the establishment OF Fort
keogh, Reogh had its ghost dance eT-
perience and had IL earlier than the trouble
in South Dakota that. led 10 the death OF
Sitting Bull and the fighting between In
dams and troops rou the Pine Ridge
9 gency.
One OF the most serious OF these upris-
ings was led by a chief known as Sword
bearer. Sword Bearer had the ghost dance
idea several years before the Pine Ridge
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