TEN DAYS IN MONTANA. 131 



Thirty miles out from Mandan we entered the Curlew 

 valley, a very handsome country, by the way, which will one 

 day be a rich farming district. The Curlew river is a small, 

 clear stream of pure water, and will be useful for stock rajs- 

 ing. At this point we saw our first antelope. There were 

 two of them grazing on a hillside about four hundred yards 

 from the road. As the train came in sight they stood and 

 looked at it for a minute and then turning their white rumps 

 to us, skurried away over the hills out of sight. From this 

 point west we saw them almost every hour in the day. This 

 valley is a famous feeding-ground for them. The conductor 

 informed us that there is a herd of from twenty-five to forty 

 that graze here all the time. He said that some days they 

 would all be together, on other days scattered out in small 

 herds. Beavers are plentiful along this stream and its tribu- 

 taries, and since ^the railroad has been built they are making 

 trouble in some instances by cutting away the piles under 

 bridges and culverts. 



Soon after entering the Curlew valley we were shown a 

 ranche owned by a man named Warns, who has lived here 

 about ten years. His house stands on the top of a high 

 rocky bluff or butte, and is stoned up on the outside in such 

 a way as to render it bullet-proof; in fact, it is a stockade, or 

 fort, on a small scale. It is said that the Indians have tried 

 several times to kill or capture him, but he has always been 

 able to hold his position against them. He refuses to say 

 whether he has ever killed any Indians or not, but says that 

 if General Custer were alive he could tell where several of 

 them are buried, not far off. He is said to have been a warm 

 personal friend of Custer's. 



Near Eagle's Nest station our attention was called to 

 "Young Man's Butte," a high peak, so named from the fact 

 that some years ago a young lieutenant of the army, who 



