The Dickinson press., 1915-10-23
EARLY HISTORY

we are COlu ny MIS-. OuSCef IN ner
little book entitled "Boots and Sad
dies" of her husbands weary march
westward by the way of Sweet Briar,
the Little Muddy, etc. When his
column reached the immediate vicin-
ity of where the Eeagles Nest section
house stands on the N. P, it encount-
cred most difficult and delaying
obstacle in the shape of what is
termed "soap wells" Here are cracks
and holes in the earth filled with a
soapy mixture of gypsum and water
that seems as though the origin of
the sticky substance was spring of
water filled with gypsum in solution.
Whether the water is spring or just
simply surface water does not matter,
the fact is that these holes and ditch
es filled with this solution offer an
obstacle to travel by wagon, that is
most harassing and difficult to over
come. Here Clusters forces were de-
layed long time in traversing the
boggy fiat north of where the railway
now runs, and it is related that the
train was only extricated by taking
the dunnage with which it was loaded
off the wagons to the hard land ad-
JOAll11S, Wy 1dllu dllu CIle UdChS VI
mules and horses, then when the
wagons were empty they were taken
apart and carried to where their loads
were and there re-assembled. Certain
it is that as late as 1882 the innum-
cradle tracks Of wagons were quite
plainly to be seen, although six years
had elapsed since Clusters train came
that way. Clusters next camp west
ward was in the vicinity Of Custer's
Lookout, a large mound some two
miles east of Young Mans Butte.
When at Antelope station on the N.
P. Ry., both these historical land
marks are visible at the same time,
one to the east and the other to the
west.
Relating to the camp on Knute
Stanger's land a little northwest of
the land mark, called Caldwell's butte,
will say that here in 1882 the former
camp of Clusters cavalry (the 7th
U. 81 was plainly to be seen, and
some of the articles used were left
behind. There were fragments of
table ware; etc. The first Mrs. Cald-
we'll here picked up Delaware cup
and saucer (this fact furnished Mr..
Caldwell the basis of his cattle brand
which is we'll known as the cup and
saucer brandy and here Mrs. G. S.
Cryne found leaky canteen with the
covering still intact, inscribed 7th O.
S. c., the sling was, and still is, in a
good state of preservation and is
greatly priced by it's finder.
Clusters trail crossed the N. P. Ry.
to the north side on section 3, just
north of where Mr.. Kittell's house was
(the place is now owned by Anton
Freer), the trail after crossing the
railway very quickly was merged in
the "Old Government Trail" but only
to continue with it about two miles.
After crossing Green river, where
the old Pony Express station was To-
Gated, Custer climbed the hills to. the
west and then struck straight west to
Pleasant Valley, leaving "The Old
Trail" to decend to the "Valley of the
Heart" and crossing this stream for
the last time at the "Third Crossing
it wended it's way westward, not to
be met again by the "Custer Trail''
until the Bad Lands had been crossed
by both trails somewhere near the
battle ground of little Big Horn, -
where Clusters massacre took place.
The place designated on the old
topographer' maps as Pleasant Valley
is not where Dickinson now stands
but farther north over in the valley
beyond the divide-the pumping sta
ton is in this valley proper.
| Thus we trace the two most i'm
portant trails through the county of
Stark, but in 1882 there was yet an
other trail we'll marked in places that
is not generally known, and which is
hardly ever spoken of except by men,
bers of. the Christian Colony, who
CHANGED to see the large black sand
stone rock lying northwest of where
J. F. Perry located on the prairie.
Here the Jenny expedition of U. S.
Topographers camped in 1871 and in
scribed on this rock several names of
| men connected with the corps of OBJ
\ servers. Here we see the inscrip-
ton Of Capt. Jenny's name deeply cut
| in the sandstone with the date, 9th
day of September, 1871. There were
to the 9Th u S. Cavalry and the
stakes of the tent ,guyes that had
been left stuck in the ground when
the camp had been removed, were
still to be seen eleven years later
| WllGH we CdIuG dIU WOuuSISNS aCtCs ~
And these are the men that named
what are now called "The Davis
Buttes," ssThe Naked 4 Buttes" and
the ssTamblin Butte, !" "The Malikofr."
But the notorious fool "The Tender
foot" could not let an ancient and
honorable name stand for land
mark, he must preforce have his
name attached to something or. he
u J.
these two remarkable land marks
were re-christened what they now
are known by locally but the old
Typographical map still bears the
original names, etc.
G. S: CRYNE,
Fl. O. S. a., Stark CO., m. ID.
making great preparation this year
and hope to be able to entertain the
crowds of people better than ever.
They now have the finest German