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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Buffalo & Ten Sleep WY and Reed Point MT

On July 16, we traveled to Buffalo Wy. As we neared Buffalo we stopped to take a few pictures of the Bear Mountains











After we got settled in the campground we took a went into Buffalo to see a little of the town. Clear Creek runs though the town . And, true to it’s name the water is crystal clear. There is a Bicentennial Mall with this sign that we thought had a good message



There several old/historic buildings in the town. Like so many towns in these small western communities that were settled in the late 1800’s there are many original building still standing (and some in the process of falling down).










One of the historic buildings is the Occidental Hotel. It was foundednin1880 and underwent a restoration that was started in 1997 and completed in 2008. National Geographic Traveler took survey of place to stay and the Occidental Hotel was one of the 129 that made the list. There more than 600 hotels nominated.

They many famous people of the old west stay there. They included “Buffalo Bill’, Teddy Roosevelt, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and members of their gang, and Calamity Jane. There are many picture of these people and headlines of the day on the walls. More picuters are at: http://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/2208










There are many scenic drives in the area. The next day we decided to take RT 16 to the town of Ten Sleep. Rt.16 is also one of the main routes to Yellowstone. The scenery is fantastic! Ten Sleep is only 65 miles away but with all the stops we made to look and take pictures, the round trip took most of the day. Pictures of the trip to Ten Sleep can  be accessed at: http://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/2208





Ten Sleep is not a large town and got it’s name from the Indians that populated this region. They would measure distance by the number of times they would sleep over night between destinations. It turns out that Ten Sleep was the half way point as they traversed the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming. We ate lunch in the local saloon / pizza / family dining establishment.










The next day we continued to Reed Point, MT. On the way there we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. This is one of those places that you could easily spend all day. This battle started on June 25, 1876 and ended the next day. That was only 134 years ago, which really isn’t that far back in history.

“The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Planes Indians to preserve their ancestral way of life” “There were approximately 7000 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho, including 1500-2000 warriors, encamped along the Little Bighorn River “. Their leader was Sitting Bull. The government was forcing all Indians to live on reservations, the Indians were resisting. Not to different from our government is doing to us today.

The problem we had was finding a place to park. We were in the motor home and towing our car. The spots we could fit in near the Visitors Center were all filled so we drove on the road that connects the two battlefields, stopping where we could. Our first stop allowed us to look back on “Last Stand Hill”. This is where Custer and his troops died. It is the site of the Custer National Cemetery. Pictures cannot tell the story of the battle so what we did was to take pictures of the signs that explained what was going on during the battle. I have attempted to put the pictures into a semi-logical order to tell the story. You can accss them at: http://jackbarbic.shutterfly.com/2324  The park map they handout at the gate does an excellent job of telling the story. I have not been able to find it on-line, however, here is a URL that has some of the story. http://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm










There are memorial markers at the spot or very near to the spot where the soldiers and Indians fell.










There are actually two battlefields that are approximately four and one half miles apart, with many stopping points with interpretive signs describing the many skirmishes that took place during the battle. It was moving to read the signs, look at the pictures of the Indians and soldiers and then look beyond the sign and see the land that it actually took place on.


So, reluctantly we left and we continued on our way.

Reed Point was just a one night stop over . We arrived about late-afternoon and set up. It clouded over and we had some rain. After that I took a walk around “the Town” and took some pictures. As we travel we sometimes wonder what caused a town to be where it is. Well,,,




 










And, I think they do roll up the sidewalks at night………………..








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