F-385841
Pilot and Index Peaks, within the North Absaroka Wilderness Area.
The Federal Government recognized the importance of placing the great mountain wilderness of the West under control, to assure the perpetuity and proper use of the natural resources. The establishment of the Shoshone Forest in 1891 was the first step taken in carrying out this comprehensive program. The preservation of the natural resources is now assured, not by the elimination of use of the forage, timber, water, and other resources of the forest, but rather by the use of all under proper and progressive management.
F-386010
The Blackwater Firefighters Memorial.
PLACES OF ESPECIAL INTEREST
Bliss Creek.—One of the favorite routes of rustlers in earlier days, leading to their favorite rendezvous in Jackson Hole, followed Clark Creek at the head of the South Fork of the Shoshone River. In 1892, a horse thief named Bliss, attempting to escape pursuers, was captured by a posse after a long and grueling chase. He was shot and buried at a point about a mile above Clark Creek, near where a small stream from the north empties into the South Fork. This stream was named Bliss Creek as a result of this episode. Bliss’s grave was marked by a rude pile of stones along the trail until a very few years ago when it was destroyed by a mountain cloudburst. Bliss Creek can be reached only with a saddle horse and is 35 miles southwest of Valley.
Beartooth Plateau.—After two military expeditions had previously failed, the first official crossing of Beartooth Plateau was accomplished during the last week of August 1882 by a scouting party headed by Lt. Gen. P. H. Sheridan. In his party were 71 officers, soldiers, and civilians, 36 packers, 1 hunter, and 5 Shoshone Indian scouts and 1 Squaw. The party reached Cooke City, Mont., on August 24 from Mammoth Hot Springs, and Billings on August 31. The route selected and followed by General Sheridan was almost identical with that of the present Red Lodge-Cooke City Highway.
Dead Indian Hill.—A small war party of Bannocks was attacked by General Miles’ troops just south of Clark, near the northeast corner of the forest, in 1878, shortly after the Nez Perce outbreak. The Indians retreated over what is now known as Dead Indian Hill, about 16 miles southwest of Clark, leaving one of their wounded behind. The following day the Bannock was found by some of the Crow Indian Army scouts, who promptly killed and scalped him. Until recent years a rude pile of stones halfway down the west side of the hill, north of the road and near the drift fence, marked the grave. From this episode the hill got its name. Captain Bennett, in charge of the cavalry troop which engaged the Bannocks, and one of his Crow scouts, Little Rock, lost their lives in the fight. Two streams running down the east face of Beartooth Plateau, just west of Clark, bear the names of these men.
Camp Monaco.—Located about 15 miles north of Pahaska Tepee, along the North Fork of the Shoshone River, is one of the old hunting camps of Colonel Cody, Camp Monaco. Here in September 1913, Colonel Cody took as his guests on a hunting trip, Albert I, Prince of Monaco, and his aide-de-camp, Count Beret. At the close of the successful hunt, the Prince had his artist paint on a large tree at the camp site, “Camp Monaco, 1913,” and a bear’s foot.