On the county road N. of junction with ranch road to a junction with a dirt road, 9 m.; L. here to Oakdale, 9.8 m., part way up the eastern slope of the southern mountain. Formerly a good-sized frontier town, it now has only a residence and a store and post office. It is a very pleasant spot, however, for its trees and many springs of clear, cold water flowing down from the mountain keep it several degrees cooler in summer than the dry, shadeless prairie. Oakdale is a good point from which to make hiking trips into the mountains, but the tourist accommodations are limited.
From the store is a two-hour hike over a precipitous trail up the mountain. Past oak, box elder, poplar, and scrub cedar trees, the path leads to the base of the limestone formation. Here the trail ascends the face of a steep cliff. In the upward climb it passes through a narrow cleft in the rock ironically called Elephant's Pass, and comes at last to the level mountaintop, where there is a magnificent view of the surrounding country taking in 40 or 50 m. in three directions. To the N. and NE. lies the rough country along the Missouri and Little Missouri Rivers, while E. and S. stretches the vast pattern of cultivated fields and virgin grasslands. The table-like top of the mountain is 3,140 ft. above sea level, highest elevation in the range. From here the trail skirts the southern rim of the cliff to Medicine Hole, from which, according to Indian tradition, the first buffalo emerged upon the earth. Today the hole is little more than an elongated three-foot-deep depression in the flat limestone surface of the mountain top. It has been closed by the lodging, on the first ledge, of a number of large rocks thrown into the aperture by curious visitors trying to sound the bottom. It had been explored to a depth of 80 ft. before it was closed, but the extreme cold encountered below that depth made further exploration difficult. In summer a cold draught of air formerly rose from the hole, and in winter a column of steam.
Just W. of Medicine Hole to Signal Rock, said to have been used as an Indian signal station. From the cliff top here the buildings of the Diamond C Ranch and the site of the Battle of Killdeer Mountains (see above) are visible to the S. Part way down the southern slope of the mountain, from E. to W. in the order named, rise the odd rock formations known as the Three Sisters, the Coliseum, and Solomon's Temple. The Three Sisters are slender spires pointing upward from a common base; the Coliseum, which belies its name, is a tall pillar of sandstone shaped like an hourglass; and the Temple is a long, narrow, gray formation. Continuing W. along the rim of the cliff, the hike trail leads to Eagle Rock, so named because of the eagle nests once numerous here, and after touching the timbered edge of Dead Man's Gulch, retraces its route to Oakdale.
Few large wild animals remain in the Killdeer Mountains, but in 1848-49 John Palliser, an English sportsman, and his party killed five grizzly bears here. Deer were once plentiful also. Pioneer cattlemen still tell of the Wolf Leader, a savage animal, half wolf and half collie, that led a pack of wolves in depredations upon the herds of the region. Conspicuous because of the white ring around his neck, the Wolf Leader was the bane of ranchers for many years before he was trapped.
West of Killdeer the route proceeds along the valley of Spring Creek through the foothills of the Killdeer Mountains to the junction with US 85 at 141.5 m., 24 m. S. of Watford City (see Tour 4).
TOUR 9
(McIntosh, S. Dak.)—Hettinger—Bowman—Marmarth—(Miles City, Mont.). US 12.
South Dakota Line to Montana Line, 94 m.
Milwaukee R. R. parallels route.
Graveled roadbed.