The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1914-08-13
SENCWiCk COUNTY
PAST AND PRESENT
Continued from Page -

ard fighters. and II was her they
gathered trtir winters meat Other
tribes gathered for the same purpose,
and the country was hunted over and
fought over ever since there As any
thinF 10 hun tor fight for. Il Was a
dangerous country 10 travel IN. and
the government established chain
Of furts one Of these was Fort Sedg-
wick. and volumes could be written
about that historic place.
Captain Eugene f. Ware OF The eth
Iowa cavalry gives many interesting
iacLs about the place.
Fifty years ago fe~ miles east of
Iulesburg. two buffers met-Spotted
Tail and General Mitchell II was a
peace treaty where each man was
fddlinF for time Spotted Tail wanted
to wait for Spring before taking the
war path, and General Mitchell needed
time To build his forts After "A little
sparring Spotted Tail got up and said
The Sioux nation is not afraid of
the white people; that there were
more reds than whites: that the Sioux
could put more soldiers into the Platte
Valley than the white people could;
that the white people could not fool
them, that the white people were pa
rading all the time before the red man
TO show of their numbers; that the
Ip tl
Valley went back by the Smoky Hill
Route the white men march around
in "A ring so we may see them and he
led to believe that there is a great
number of them. They cannot fool us"
This made General Mitchell lit
tie angry, and he made a speech. wind
ing up by saying that if the Indians
did not stop their marauding and
keep out of the Platte Valley he would
station a soldier on every blade of
grass between the Missouri River and
the Rocky Mountains. The size of the
white mans bluff can better be APP
preciated when you recall that it was
made within Il few weeks of the time
"i the battle of Gettysburg, and the
government needed every man and
every gun down south to save the
union. But the white man got away
with it.
Years before the government paid
any attention to this country, adven-
ferrous white men had established
trading posts in this section of the
west
A Frenchman by the name of Jules
Beni had established trading post
on the south side Of the river, near
the old Indian crossing, known later
as the California crossing. This is due
south from Weir side track, and must
not be confused with another crossing
farther up the river, and known as the
Mormon crossing. Jules was bad
mixture OF French and Indian, but
shrewd and keen. The mouth of the
Lodge Pole Creek was great camp
ine ground for the Cheyennes, and
for generations they gathered there
every fall. Many stories are told OF
Jules Benz That he was a man of af-
fairs is plain. He located his trading
most on The great croas-cCuntry In
dian route ana established road run
ming UP the Lodge Pole Wiley, cross
ing the divide. going by Mud-Springs
and again striking the Oregon trail
Al
Platte valley. This was i0ns to divert
the travel from going over the divide
ii OIrailon& Bluff and down into the
valley by way of Ash Hollow. This
makes jules Bcni for whom Jules
burg waH named, the Pioneer good
roads man of this country. The trad
ing post was known as JulesDurg
Station in the days OF the Pony ey-
press. Afterwards becoming a swing
station for the Ben FEciliday Stage
coaches. Writers differ about the
death OF Jules Benz. lIe and Jack
olaie, foreman of the Ben Holiday
line, had trouble They were both
men OF violent temper anG full Of hat
red toward each other It is related
that jules had killed two of Slade'3
pals, cut Oft their ears and exhibited
them on occasions wheI Siade was
present. This SO angered S,ade that
he took advantage OF jules one day
rnpng linn to Z snubbing post in the
@ro"kadc cut of his ears ani tortur-
cd him TO death. 1t must be remember
ed that men in the Wild become hrutes
very FAST, and most anything could
happen lint d:unkcn iesperado could
thin,l of