F-385957
Bliss Creek Meadows on Upper South Fork—within the South Absaroka Wilderness Area.
Frank Hammitt Grave.—Frank Hammitt was one of the first six forest rangers appointed in the United States. He met his death by plunging over the precipitous walls of Russell Creek Canyon near its mouth, on July 25, 1903. His grave is near the south base of Antelope Mountain, beside the Crandall Road. Hammitt was trained for the priesthood, but gave it up for the life of a cowboy. For 7 years he was chief of cowboys with Colonel Cody’s Wild West Show before he became a forest ranger.
Jack Crandall Grave.—On July 1, 1870, a prospector named Jack Crandall and his partner, T. Dougherty, were on their way to a rendezvous with some miner friends on the headwaters of the Clarks Fork River. The two men made camp on Crandall Creek and, as they prepared their evening meal, were killed by a marauding band of Indians. The miners’ picks were driven into the ground and their severed heads were spitted on the ends protruding. The grave of these men is marked by a huge boulder on which is a large bronze plate giving a brief history of the incident. It is located on the north side of Crandall Creek, about three-fourths of a mile upstream from the Crandall Creek bridge, on the Sunlight-Clarks Fork Road.
Pahaska Tepee.—Pahaska Tepee, situated alongside the Cody-Yellowstone Highway, 51 miles west of Cody, is the original hunting lodge of Colonel Cody, which he built in 1901. Here he entertained such distinguished guests as Albert I, Prince of Monaco, statesmen, and the more famous members of his troup.
Sheepeaters’ Tepees.—Ancient tepees of the “Sheepeaters” made entirely of poles are to be found in different parts of the forest. There is a group of three, well preserved, on Tepee Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of Crandall Creek, where the trail crosses. Another is located about 1 mile above the Timber Creek Ranger Station, along an old logging road. They can be reached only with saddle horses.
The Old Stockade.—In August of 1891, a cowboy discovered a log stockade on Beartooth Plateau, on the divide between Little Rock and Bennett Creeks, about 3 miles north of Deep Lake. The stockade, resembling a corral about 50 feet in diameter, had been made of huge logs laid up similarly to those in a log house. Here and there along the walls loopholes had been cut, obviously to permit shooting through them. The stockade was old when found. Who it was built by and why is not known. The logs had been cut with a sort of an ax or a hatchet, yet only a portion of the work appeared to be that of white men. Some of the chopping appeared to have been done by a man familiar with the use of an ax, while other logs were literally “gnawed off.” The old stockade is still standing. It can be reached only afoot or with horses.
Wapiti Ranger Station.—The Wapiti Ranger Station, situated along the Cody-Yellowstone Highway, 30 miles west of Cody, is the oldest ranger station in the United States built with Government funds. It was erected in 1901.
F-385979
A typical trappers’ cabin on the South Fork.