23RD DAY
(JULY 24TH) OF CUSTER'S EXPEDITION TO THE BLACK HILLS IN 1874. TRAIL IS 11 MILES STARTING AT THE INTERSECTION OF RD 585 AND THE ROAD TO THE GRAVESITE OF CUNNINGHAM AND TURNER AND ENDING IN COLD SPRINGS CREEK. THE STRTING POINT IS 95 MILES FROM RAPID CITY. TAKE I-90 WEST FROM RAPID CITY TO SUNDANCE, WY., AND EXIT AT #187. GO SOUTH ON RD 585 TOWARDS NEWCASTLE , WY., AT 14 MILES FROM SUNDANCE AND JUST EAST OF A LARGE MOUNTAIN (INYAN KARA) IS A ROAD LEADING UP A DRAW TO A GRAVESITE. MAPS COVERING THE JULY 24TH TRAIL ARE: INYAN KARA MT. QUADRANGLE; DRY DRAW QUADRANGLE; AND MOSKEE QUADRANGLE.
July 26th
#1 Latitude N44 13 O3
Longitude W104 16 14
This is the intersection of Rd 585 and the road to the gravesite.
#2 Latitude N44 13 00
Longitude W104 15 57
This is the reading recorded by the engineer, Ludlow, for the campsite of July 22nd and 23rd, 1874.
#3 Latitude N44 13 05
Longitude W104 16 22
This is the assumed location of the campsite of july 22nd and July 23rd.
Custer wrote, "On the evening of the 22nd we halted and encamped East of and within four miles of the base of Inyan Kara, desiring to [ascend] that peak the following day. It being the highest on the Western range of the Black Hills."
Winchell said, "We are encamped four or four and a half miles East, 5 degrees North from 'Hung-ya Kaga' (the name Inyan Kara given to the mountain by Warren and Raynolds [this actually should have been Dr. Hayden, a geologist] is a corruption of the Indian Hung-ya Kaga which I carefully obtained from our guide, Cold Hands.) and in a ravine with water a short distance below where Lt. Warren camped." [Cold Hands is the literal tanslation of Hung-ya Kaga.] Lt. Warren and Hayden explored and mapped this area in 1857.
Ludlow also wrote of the same area, "The command remained in camp while the party started out to make ascent of Inyan Kara about five miles distance. It resembles a lunar mountain having a rim in shape of a horseshoe, one and a half miles across with an elevated peak rising sharply from the center."
Forsyth stated, "Camp #19 on Inyan Kara Creek about three miles distance from the mountain which is one of the highest peaks in the Black Hills. While at breakfast this morning about 4 a.m. we heard a shot and with in five minutes one of the men of Company M named Ritter, was brought in a prisoner, having shot and mortally wounded another man named Turner, of the same Company. Almost at the same time, Dr. Williams, announced the death of Pvt. Cueminham (sic) of H Company by dysentery. The General ordered his body brought back to ur present camp, and just as we reached here this evenng, Private Turner, who was wounded this morning, died also. They were both buried at sunset this evening."
Grant wrote, "One man died this morning, named Cunningham, and one man named Turner was shot in a quarrel and died just after getting him into camp. Both were buried on a little hill near Inyan Kara (sic) Creek. This stream has a great many fish in it (Chub). Inyan Kara (sic) mountain was a little to the West of our camp and is nearly 6,500 feet high."
#4 Latitude N44 13 04
Longitude W104 16 03
These are the designated graves of Cunningham and Turner.
Winchell stated, "We set out from camp nearly East and at once ascend the slope underlain by carboniferous limestone."
Ludlow wrote, "The trail led us up the creek valley a short distance, then turned abruptly East, climbing the hills and winding among a succession of wooded heights and open valleys."
Custer said, "I decided on the following morning to move due East and attempt the passage of the Hills."
According to Forsyth, "We left camp 19 at 5 a.m. and moved due East over hill and dale."
Garant also wrote, "Our course of march today was in an Easterly direction."
#5 Latitude N44 13 03
Longitude W104 15 46
Good ruts are just North of the center of the draw.
#6 Latitude N44 13 14
Longitude W104 15 38
Winchell stated, "The first ridge we pass over has a
very steep descent towards the East and is about one hundred feet
high and a fourth of a mile across. We pass on East, a fourth
of a mile across the strike of rock when we go down another step,
about a hundred feet through a grove a small trees and shrubs.
I soon discover a good exposurse in the bluff on the right made
up of limestone and loosely cemented sandstone. Ascending the
East side of this valley, we pass again over the forgoing sandstone,
magnesium limestone, and carboniferous limestone and reach a flat
very similar to that on the other side of this valley."
#7 Latitude N44 13 30
Longitude W104 15 00
Winchell is quoted, "Over this flat we travel several miles..."
#8 Latitude N44 13 38
Longitude W104 14 53
Ruts going through and at right angles to the bottom land are visible.
Grant wrote, "We passed over some very rough country where there was splendid water and good timber, some of the trees being as much as three feet in diameter."
Winchell stated, "We descend again in a perfectly similar ravine where [find] water; and finally ascending from it we travel again over a flat of exactly the same sort for almost four miles towards the East."
#9 Latitude N44 13 48
Longitude W104 14 09
There are good ruts on the East side of the dam.
From reading #5 Latitude N44 13 03 and Longitude W104 15 46,
to this reading the indications of the trail could not be verified.
#10 Latitude N44 13 38
Longitude W104 14 01
The ruts are leading downhill.
Winchell is quoted as, "We descend again by steps caused [by] the same formation into the third valley of exactly the same kind. This is handsomely turfed and green with no shrubs in the bottom. Viewed from the bluff before descending into it it formed a long, serpentine belt of green among the trees of darker foilage somewhat suggestive of a slowly winding river."
Grant wrote in his journal, "Our march was very slow on account of the roughness of the country and the fallen timber."
#11 Latitude N44 13 28
Longitude W104 13 23
There the good ruts where the road enters from the South. the trail continues toward the East.
#12 Latitude N44 13 37
Longitude W104 12 53
The tracks are on the North side of the road.
Forsyth wrote, "...passing through a beautiful, little glen up a long hill..."
#13 Latitude N44 13 58
Longitude W104 12 18
The trail comes up out of the drainage and crosses the stream.
#14 Latitude N44 14 09
Longitude W104 12 04
The trail is North of the present road.
#15 Latitude N44 14 23
Longitude W104 12 09
The ruts are headed North and cross the East/West road.
#16 Latitude N44 14 56
Longitude W104 11 57
Ludlow wrote, "After several hours of waiting while search was made for a practical descent, we started again..."
Custer said, "We experienced considerable delay from fallen timber which lay in our pathway. With this exception and a very little digging rendered necessary into a valley the pioneers prepared the way for the train."
Again Forsyth, "...into a burnt piece of pine woods across them and down a fearfully steep hill into a little valley."
#17 Latitude N44 14 59
Longitude W104 12 00
The ruts are leading downhill.
#18 Latitude N44 15 00
Longitude W104 11 46
The trail is leading down the hill and into the main drainage.
#19 Latitude N44 15 04
Longitude W104 11 52
The tracks from this point to #20 have been destoyed by road construction.
#20 Latitude N44 15 20
Longitude W104 11 20
Winchell wrote, "On reaching this valley General Custer turned to the right ascending it towards the center of the main mass of the Black Hills."
#21 Latitude N44 15 28
Longitude W104 11 10
This is the intersection of the Buckhorn Moskee Rd. and the road into the Homestake property. This intersection is 11 miles West of Buckhorn,Wy.
#22 Latitude N44 15 17
Longitude W104 10 56
The ruts are on the North side of the road.
#23 Latitude N44 15 12
Longitude W104 10 51
Winchell stated, "It is at this time very profusely ornamented with flowers in bloom from which circumstances General Custer gave it the name of Floral Valley, although the Indians call it Minne-lusa Valley, on account of a clear and rapid stream which we encountered about a half a mile above the point where we struck it."
#24 Latitude N44 15 04
Longitude W104 10 34
The ruts are on the North side of the road.
#25 Latitude N44 14 40
Longitude W104 10 30
Look for a depression on the North side of the road, this is evidence of a sinkhole in the limestone. At this point, South of the road the stream has been diverted around the sinkhole.
According to Winchell, "This stream seems to sink into the earth and become larger as we ascend."
Ludlow said, "We started again and dropped into the valley of a small stream flowing Northward into the Red Water. Ascending a few miles the stream became more full..."
Grant wrote, "There was no water where we entered the valley, but as we ascended we came upon quite a stream which was very cold and hard water."
In the journal of Forsyth, "... a little valley in which was the dry bed of a little water course."
#26 Latitude N44 14 15
Longitude W104 09 51
The ruts are near the cattle-guard and gate on the road.
#27 Latitude N44 14 11
Longitude W104 10 07
The ruts are Northwest of the road.
#28 Latitude N44 13 07
Longitude W104 09 47
The trail is near the West side of the stream.
#29 Latitude N44 12 47
Longitude W104 09 38
Here there is a good indication of the trail.
#30 Latitude N44 12 34
Longitude W104 09 17
This is a possible site of Illingsworth's picture of Floral Valley.
#31 Latitude N44 12 10
Longitude W104 09 01
This is the assumed campsite for July, 24, 1874.
#32 Latitude N44 12 42
Longitude W104 11 30
This is the campsite recorded by Ludlow for July 24, 1874.
Winchell said, "We have advanced today, though with difficulty, ten and a half miles though but seven in a right line. We are camped in the third valley already mentioned and about five miles from where we first struck it toward the Southeast."
Ludlow wrote, "Ascending a few miles, the stream became more full and camp was pitched."
Custer noted, "...and we reached camp by 2:00, having marched 11 miles. We here found grass, water and wood of the best quality and in great abundance."
According to Forsyth, "Thence up this valley five or six miles to camp, as we came up stream it began to show signs of water and pretty soon it was a beautiful, cool, clear stream which keeps growing larger and larger as we ascend. And the valley keeps growing prettier and prettier while the neighboring hills are covered with pine and aspen and poplar, wild flowers abound in every direction and our horses wade knee deep among them. There are 20 or 25 varieties all in full bloom. The grass is good and the vegetation of all sorts luxuriant. Direction is a little South of East. Distance traveled 11 1/2 miles."
Grant wrote, "The stream where we camped was about 3 inches deep, 2 feet wide and with a current of about 1 1/2 feet per second. Went into camp about 5 p.m."