Reed Point, MT and The Big Hole River Trip

Tuesday, June 26, 2011

Subsequent to  the Battle of Little Big Horn and on the way to Matt and Lucy’s house in Butte, MT we had an over night stay in a little town called Reed Point. The population is 96. It was the sheep capital of the US for a while, but has severely dissipated and is vastly unemployed.

We parked the RV and walked the 6 building town. It was pleasant the way some citizens took over the bank building, and the post office to made it a home. They were the nicest looking houses in town. At one time the town offered 6 saloons. Now, there is only one remaining…The Waterhole Saloon.

Wise One

Indian Taco

see how rough this place can be?

What Would Scooby Doo? (for Lauren)

The doors remain open all day and night until closing time, which is 2 AM or when the last person falls off their stool. It is rough, to say the least. We had Sire with us on our walk and Tommy asked me to step inside to see if they served dinner. NO WAY!!! I was NOT going in there with mountain, sheep people in a desolate town….no way! So, he went. Sire followed.

I got to tell you, someday we will all stop judging books by their covers. There were only 5 people in this bar (including the bartender), but they LOVED US!!! Well, okay, they loved Sire! Dogs, cats, birds and even pigs are allowed inside. They had a ‘mascot’ pig named Otis for several years -UNTIL- someone decided to eat him! NO Kidding! They had a feast on their friend! (I told you it was rough!)

We ended up taking Sire back to the camp and coming back to the saloon for dinner and drinks later on that evening. We had THE best time. As long as you act poor as a church mouse, and totally like a gypsy, you’re IN! We played pool, and drank, and ate Indian tacos (which are awesome, btw).

the women is the bartender's mom.

We made a variety of friends, and left our quarters in the wood columns like the patrons before us. We told them we would stop back by on the way back home…but I really don’t think we will! LOL

Once in Butte, we parked at the KOA and headed to meet up with Matt and Lucy. Matt is the son of our very good friends back in FL, JR and Vicky.  Matt has a lot of toys and one of them is a white water raft. He, along with his wife and 2 of his buddies took us up this mountain to The Big Hole River. We put in upstream after dropping Tommy’s truck downstream about 11 or 12 miles. The weather was unbelievably beautiful.

The river takes you along pastures, and cliffs and even by a castle. It was such a great time with a lot of laughs, good snacks (we had Nutella for the first time), but no fish caught for dinner.  We were on the river for over 5 hours. Great, Great day!!!

Lucy and Matt provided us dinner every night. We just had to show up with a vegetable and vodka - for the Moscow Mules.

 Moscow Mules are our new favorite cocktail. They consist of Vodka, freshly squeezed lime, (just a wedge), and Cock and Bull. What that is - is Ginger Beer. It actually has no alcohol content but it works with the lime to create a very refreshing beverage.

The trick to the whole Moscow Mule is to serve it in copper cups. ALL copper, no aluminum content. We have been on the look out for these cups since we arrived. They, apparently, even though this is the capitol of the world for copper excavation, are extremely expensive.  At least $20- $25 a cup.

We haven’t given up yet and plan on spending a couple more days here so wish us luck. Otherwise EBAY will get our business. For now, we are having a wonderful time here in Butte and look forward to several more.

The following day we headed out to a mining museum. I will blog on that in another blog.
Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying our adventure this year.

The Battle of Little Big Horn-

 

Monday, July 25, 2011

On the way from Buffalo WY to Butte MT we passed by the Big Horn Mountain range. We saw a sign for Little Big Horn Monument. When we pulled into the National Park, which we had NO idea it was a National Park, we were shocked. It was huge.

It is a National Cemetery along with monuments for all the fallen soldiers and Indians. This was Custer’s Last Stand! Before I go any further, you need to know that I become enraged when speaking of what we did, and how we did it - to the American Indians. So…if I get off on a tirade, just go with it. I will do my best to be Impartial, but I cannot promise anything….whew….okay, here it goes…

In 1874 Gold was found in the Black Hills of Wy. After the treaties at Ft. Laramie were signed to desiginate a permanent Indian reservation.

June 26 & 27, 1876.

Lt. Col. Custer, (the murdering bastard that he was), ooopppsss that’s not unbiased is it?  along with Capt. Frederick W. Benteen, and Major Marcus A. Reno came across the Big Horn mountains and saw an Indian village. They immediately planned an attack..

Custer took the North, Benteen the East, and Reno the South East. The problem with their plan was, simply,  they were all a ½ a day apart in the timing of the attack. The approximate amount of US Troops involved in the battle was around 600 men.

Reno went first. He had 140 men. The Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians had approximately 1500 warriors. Reno attacked, but retreated because he was outnumbered. He waited for back up.

Second came Benteen to back up Reno. He, along with his men, held off the Indians, but suffered many casualties. Custer came from the North. Custer, George Armstrong Custer, had an ego that was far bigger than his Calvary, and he charged full force down the hill to attack. He was almost overtaken and also had retreated back up the hill.

When all was said and done, the almighty Custer and  41 of his men were found dead on the crest of the hill - after retreating. Coward!

When Reno and Benteen went to find Custer and saw he was dead they pulled out all remaining troops  and reported back to base of their battle. They had to bear the news of Custer’s death. A death that was immortalized to make him an American hero.  George Custer’s brother, Boston, who was a civilian also died that day on the battlefield.

There are 220 soldiers, scouts and civilians buried around the base of the memorial.  In the pictures where you see the white marble headstones scattered over the battlefield, it denotes where the slain troops fell and were originally buried. The red marble headstones represent the Cheyenne, Lakota, Arapaho, and other Indian tribes that fell in those two horrible, long, bloody days.

In 1881 the white men were reentered into a single grave surrounding the monument. The Indians were taken by their respective tribes and given a traditional Indian burial.

The offices remains’ were removed in 1877 to various cemeteries  throughout the country  Custer is buried at West Point.

I was sad walking around. Genuinely  sad! It was the most heartbreaking thing to walk amongst graves where so many lives - on both sides -  were lost. I could go on about how I feel, but I wont put you threw anymore of it. You need to interpret it as you see it. (But on a foot note - please read; Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It is one of my all time favorite books and  - to me - it tells the way it really, truly was.)

Thanks for reading.