A RIDE WITH THE REGULARS IN WYOMING. 



RED CROSS. 



On the first day 01 August, 1890, by the 

 kind permission of Col. Guy V. Henry,* 

 commandant at Fort McKinney, Wyo- 

 ming, I accompanied 3 troops of the 

 9th U. S. Cavalry and Company K of the 

 21st Infantry on their practice march into 

 the Big Horn mountains. Fort McKinney 

 is \Y\ miles from Buffalo, Wyo. 



The trip was to drill the men in practical 

 field duty, such as they would be expected 

 to perform in a veritable campaign. Also, 

 to renew the old Phil Sheridan trail. 

 Frank Grouard, who accompanied Crook 

 in many of his movements against the 

 Indians in early days, was the guide. We 

 were accompanied by a pack train of 24 

 mules in charge of Al Reiner, chief packer, 

 and by two 6 mule wagons. 



The pack train left the post at 7.15 a. m. 

 The infantry had gone before, to take ad- 

 vantage of the cool part of the forenoon. 

 Lieut. McCaskey, of Company K, was in 

 charge of the transportation, and I accom- 

 panied him. When we reached the Sis- 

 tere lime kilns, where our first climb com- 

 menced, we found the wagons occupying 

 very unfavorable positions, both for them- 

 selves and all who were to follow. One 

 wagon was at the foot of the hill, the other 

 not quite half way up, with the 12 mules 

 yanking and hauling and breaking chains. 

 At last part of the load was removed, and, 

 after a while, the road was cleared so the 

 pack train and cavalry could pass. With 

 the tired infantrymen sittting and stand- 

 ing around in groups, the government 

 wagons and teams, the pack mules run- 

 ning this way and that, the cavalry, and, 

 last but not least, some wagons loaded 

 with lumber coming down the hill, a reg- 

 ular parrot and monkey time was, of 

 course, the result. About the middle of 

 the afternoon we went into camp at Wood- 

 ard's sawmill, 16 miles from the fort. 



We were on top of the lower ranges, 

 or levels, below the snow capped peaks. 

 Away to the Northwest loomed Clouds 

 Peak, crowned with snow, which in the 

 sun gleamed out like burnished silver. 

 We left camp at 6.30 on the morning of 

 August 2d, and took to the woods. With 

 the exception of a few beautiful parks, the 

 country is thickly wooded. After we had 

 gone about a mile the head packer missed 

 a mule. Two of the men and I went back, 

 and, taking a side trail, finally found it in 

 a park quietly feeding. While adjusting 



* Afterward General Henry, now dead. 



the pack a band of elk jumped up on the 

 other side of the willows, about 50 yards 

 from where we were standing. There were 

 2 bulls, 4 cows and 2 calves. We were not 

 prepared for them, so they got away scot 

 free. The following day the wagons re- 

 turned to the post, taking all superfluous 

 luggage with them, and we did not start 

 so early as usual. Our course was up a 

 branch of the North fork of Crazy Woman. 

 The troops went ahead, and I, with the 

 pack train, brought up the rear. In some 

 way the soldiers lost the guide and went 

 off on a trail by themselves, and the pack 

 train took still another trail. After a 

 good deal of hard work and tumbling over 

 windfalls and into sink holes we finally 

 met just before crossing the summit. 

 There we found our first snow. It was 

 hard climbing on account of the slide 

 rock, and a fool mule, that wanted to be 

 funny, slipped, went down, and, rolling 

 over and over, vanished from view. She 

 may be going yet; anyway, she had a 

 good start. We made camp at 1.45 p. m. 

 on Ten Sleep creek, a beautiful stream, full 

 of trout. 



On August 4th we began our march at 

 6 a. m. through a beautiful little valley, 

 flanked on either side by heavy pine tim- 

 ber. We stopped at Ten Sleep lakes from 

 8 a. m. to 2.40 p. m. Imagine yourself go- 

 ing up a gradual incline through heavy 

 pine timber, the ground so thickly car- 

 peted with pine needles as to muffle all 

 footsteps. Through the stillness there 

 comes to your ear a puzzling sound. It 

 seems as though it was directly under 

 foot, and you involuntarily step aside for 

 fear of breaking through the upper crust 

 of some subterranean cavity. The sound is 

 caused by water flowing from the lakes 

 through the rocks under your feet. In 

 approaching the lakes you come upon an 

 apparently circular pile of huge, irregular 

 blocks of stone, several feet higher than 

 your head. Surmount this pile and you 

 see, a few feet below you, the first lake — 

 so cold and deep and clear it seems a deep 

 indigo blue. On one side, where a sand- 

 stone cliff towers above its surface, is a 

 shore line for a short distance. Every- 

 where are the huge broken rocks; some 

 of them 40 or 50 feet across, and tumbled 

 about in helpless confusion. This lake is 

 alive with trout, and has some large ones, 

 too. The majority of them, however, 

 average about i J /i pounds. The upper lake- 

 is toward the mountains, or Northca-t. 



$51 



