Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-07-28

with the Indians.
War Eagle assisted him while en-
gagged in the fur trade, and when
Brughier's second wife died, the chief
gave him his last and only child for
his third wife. AS the years rolled
on and the trade began to wane, they
returned to the mouth of the Big
Sioux. y.5= &
There, War Eagle had won his In
dian wife, who shared the honors of
his chieftainship. But she was laid
away in her grave in a pine grove on
the Yellowstone. There, his camp
fires blazed on the banks of the Big
Sioux and his children sported in it's
placid waters-but they were all scat
tered and dead, save this, his last
and only daughter. And when she
sickened and died, they buried her ON
the summit of a high hill facing the
Missouri, near the mouth of the Big
Sioux. The old chief would visit his
daughters grave day by day, and sit
from noon till night waiting and
watching. From that high headland
he could see the winding channel of
the mighty Missouri, fringed with it's
timber belts--embraced within the
present boundaries of three great ad-
Joining states. The old chief would
look out over the land of his forefath-
ers in melancholy silence, until the
shadow of twilight cast a gloom over
his favorite landscape. Then he would
mount his faithful pony and wend his
way back to the Frenchman's cabin.
"But in the autumn of 1851, when
the leaves were tinged in yellow, the
old chief was stricken down in his
last sickness. With thesca stoicism
characteristic of his race, he an.
| nounced that his end was near, and
before he died he made a strange re-
| quest. He asked his friends to dig
his grave on the summit of the high
hill by the side of his daughter, and
that his favorite hunting horse be
buried with him. He wished that he
might recline by the side of his faith
full animal, as he had often done in
life, and that an aperture be left open
in his grave toward the face of the
bluff, that his spirit might look out
from the inner recesses of the grave
and see the white mans smoke
breathing steamboats, as they passed
the headland, stemming the tide of
turgid waters on the mighty Missouri
What conception of a future state
may have prompted him to make such
request is not known. His wishes
were carried out by Brughier and his
friends, and War Eagle was buried by
the side of his daughted with all the
pomp Of an Indian sycamore. -. s
4, "The old chiefs grave still occu-
i pies the summit OF that high head
land, undistrubed by the tresspassing
l pfoughshare. When settlers became
more numerous and cattle ranged che
4 hills, Brubhier enclosed the grave
! with a post and board fence.
4 II was guided to War Eagles grave
q by old Dakota during bright Octo-
Der day in 1857. We found the old
Indian trail at the foot of the wooded
I ravine, which led us upward and along
the heights to the graves Tangled
4 grass and weeds hung over the deep
worn path, and the tall sunf1owers
ratified their heads together as we
worked our way up the steep hillside
| The peak was without tree or shrub
and barren Of any natural growth save
save the native grass that season af
ter season had grown and matted
around the edge of a sunken oblong
surrounded by a group of half-de
eayed posts which had stood like 81
! lent sentinels for years. These gnarl
ed and blackened landmarks coull
plainly be. seen from the river road
4 and in the distance resembled the out
lines Of some old line fence. Many
Of the old decaped boards had faller
from the blackened oak posts, and q
broken stone slab stood leaning at one
J, end of the sunken cavity, showing
neglect and decay. p
4 But nature was more constant II
her surroundings. By some strange
chance the forest trees to the west
J were left indisturbed and their pur
PIE foliage shut out every vestige o.
a human habitation. II War Eagle
I could have looked out over his favor
= tie landscape, no visabIe sign O
I change would have been seen. Tht
Il turgid and turbulent Missouri still
], merged from the foot Of the bluff.
!, into a broad stlvery band as far as til,
) eye could trace its sunlit surface
The border forests along its. Iowa an,
I Nebraska shores receded back in TIL,
+ hazy light, while the distant hill