The region just mentioned, the southeastern part of Wyoming, was traversed by a missionary who, July 24, 1835, encountered a party of 30 or 40 mounted Indians. "They were Ogallallahs, headed by eight of their chiefs, clad in their war habiliments, and presenting somewhat of a terrific appearance.... They told us their whole village was only a few hours' travel ahead of us, going to the Black Hills for the purpose of trading." Late the following day the party overtook the Indians, "consisting of more than two thousand persons. These villages are not stationary, but move from place to place, as inclination or convenience may dictate. Their lodges are comfortable, and easily transported. They are constructed of eight or ten poles about eighteen feet long, set up in a circular form, the small ends fastened together, making an apex, and the large ends are spread out so as to enclose an area of about twenty feet in diameter. The whole is covered with their coarse skins, which are elk, or buffalo, taken when they are not good for robes. A fire is made in the centre, a hole being left in the top of the lodge for the smoke to pass out. All that they have for household furniture, clothing, and skins for beds, is deposited around according to their ideas of propriety and convenience. Generally not more than one family occupies a lodge." (Parker, (1), pp. 66-67.)
Fort Laramie was reached by the Stansbury expedition on July 12, 1849, after advancing about 100 miles beyond the Oglala villages passed six days before. The fort stood on the emigrant road, and was likewise a great gathering place of the neighboring Indians. An interesting account of the visit of a party of emigrants just four years before is preserved: "Our camp is stationary to-day; part of the emigrants are shoeing their horses and oxen; others are trading at the fort and with the Indians.... In the afternoon we gave the Indians a feast, and held a long talk with them. Each family, as they could best spare it, contributed a portion of bread, meat, coffee or sugar, which being cooked, a table was set by spreading buffalo skins upon the ground, and arranging the provisions upon them. Around this attractive board, the Indian chiefs and their principal men seated themselves, occupying one fourth of the circle; the remainder of the male Indians made out the semi-circle; the rest of the circle was completed by the whites. The squaws and younger Indians formed an outer semi-circular row immediately behind their dusky lords and fathers." (Palmer, (1), pp. 25-26.) This was June 25, 1845, and the account of the gathering of emigrants and Indians is followed by a brief description of the fort itself which is of equal interest; "Here are two forts. Fort Laramie, situated upon the west side of Laramie's fork, two miles from Platte river, belongs to the North American Fur Company. The fort is built of adobes. The walls are about two feet thick, and twelve or fourteen feet high, the tops being picketed or spiked. Posts are planted in these walls, and support the timber for the roof. They are then covered with mud. In the centre is an open square, perhaps twenty-five yards each way, along the sides of which are ranged the dwellings, store rooms, smith shop, carpenter's shop, offices, &c., all fronting upon the inner area. There are two principal entrances; one at the north, the other at the south." (Op. cit., pp. 27-28.) Outside the fort proper, on the eastern side, stood the stables, and a short distance away was a field of about 4 acres where corn was planted, "by way of experiment." About 1 mile distant was a similar though smaller structure called Fort John. It was then owned and occupied by a company from St. Louis, but a few months later it was purchased by the North American Fur Company and destroyed. Such were the typical "forts," on and beyond the frontier during the past century.
The Indians would gather about the fort, their skin tipis standing in clusters over the surrounding prairie. Such groups are shown in plate [24], a, b. These two very interesting photographs were made during the visit of the Indian Peace Commission to Fort Laramie in 1868, and it is highly probable the tipis shown in the pictures were occupied by some of the Indians with whom the commissioners treated.
The Black Hills lay north and west of the region then occupied by the Oglala, and although it is known that the broken country was often visited and frequented by parties of Indians in quest of poles for their tipis, yet it seems doubtful if any permanent settlements ever stood within the region. Dodge, in discussing this question, said:
"My opinion is, that the Black Hills have never been a permanent home for any Indians. Even now small parties go a little way into the Hills to cut spruce lodge-poles, but all the signs indicate that these are mere sojourns of the most temporary character.
"The 'teepe,' or lodge, may be regarded as the Indian's house, the wickup as his tent. One is his permanent residence, the other the make-shift shelter for a night. Except in one single spot, near the head of Castle Creek, I saw nowhere any evidence whatever of a lodge having been set up, while old wickups were not unfrequent in the edge of the Hills. There is not one single teepe or lodge-pole trail, from side to side of the Hills, in any direction, and these poles, when dragged in the usual way by ponies, soon make a trail as difficult to obliterate as a wagon road, visible for many years, even though not used." (Dodge, (1), pp. 136-137.)
Col. R. I. Dodge, from whose work the preceding quotation has been made, was in command of the military escort which formed part of the expedition into the Black Hills during the summer of 1875. The traces of the lodges which had stood near the head of Castle Creek, as mentioned in 1875, undoubtedly marked the position of the small encampment encountered by the Ludlow party the previous year. In the journal of that expedition, dated July 26, 1874, is to be found this brief mention: "In the afternoon occurred the first rencontre with Indians. A village of seven lodges, containing twenty-seven souls, was found in the valley. The men were away peacefully engaged in hunting; the squaws in camp drying meat, cooking, and other camp avocations. Red Cloud's daughter was the wife of the head-man, whose name was One Stab. General Custer was desirous they should remain and introduce us to the hills, but the presence among our scouts of a party of Rees, with whom the Sioux wage constant war, rendered them very uneasy, and toward night-fall, abandoning their camp, they made the escape. Old One Stab was at headquarters when the flight was discovered, and retained both as guide and hostage.... The high limestone ridges surrounding the camp had weathered into castellated forms of considerable grandeur and beauty and suggested the name of Castle Valley." (Ludlow, (1), p. 13.) Red Cloud, whose daughter is mentioned above, was one of the greatest chiefs and warriors of the Oglala; born in 1822 near the forks of the Platte, and lived until December, 1909.
Although there may never have been any large permanent camps within the Black Hills district, nevertheless it is quite evident the region was frequented and traversed by bands of Indians, who left well-defined trails. Such were discovered by an expedition in 1875, and after referring to small trees which had been bent down by the weight of snow the narrative continued: "The snow must be sometimes deep enough to hide trails and landmarks, as the main Indian trails leading through the Hills were marked by stones placed in the forks of the trees or by one or more sets of blazes, the oldest almost overgrown by the bark." (Newton and Jenney, (1), p. 302.) And in the same work (p. 323), when treating of the timber of the Hills, it was said: "The small slender spruce-trees are much sought after by the Indians, who visit the Hills in the spring for the purpose of procuring them for lodge-poles."
In another work Dodge described the customs of the tribes with whom he had been in close contact for many years. The book is illustrated with engravings made from original drawings by the French artist Griset, and one sketch shows a few Indians, several tipis, and frames from which are hanging quantities of buffalo meat in the process of being dried. (Dodge, (2), p. 353.) This suggests the scene at Red Cloud's camp. The original drawing is now reproduced as plate [1], the frontispiece.