Tongue River Crossing

The besiegers the panel describes had reason to take the road builders for soldiers. Days earlier General Connor's troops had destroyed an Arapaho village downstream, and when Sawyers's wagons began crossing here on September 1, 1865, Arapaho warriors who had been in that camp believed the train was military reinforcement. Congress had voted $50,000 for the road at the urging of Iowa congressman Asahel Hubbard, a shortcut meant to send Montana's outfitting trade through Sioux City. Sawyers did reach Virginia City, and drove the route again in 1866, but it never became a working road.

What the plaque says

Tongue River Crossing Historically, this area of the Tongue River served as a trail and stage road crossing. The Bozeman Trail, road to the Montana gold fields, crossed here beginning in 1864. The Bozeman cut through the Powder River Basin, violating the Fort Laramie Treaties, which designated the area as tribal lands for the Northern Plains Tribes. Use of the trail contributed to the "Plains Indian War" and military occupation of the region. In the summer of 1865 a road building expedition managed by James A. Sawyers set out from Niobrara, NE headed to Virginia City, MT. When the expedition reached the Dry Fork of the Powder River, its route merged with the Bozeman Trail. General Patrick Connor attacked and destroyed an Arapaho village downstream on August 29, three days before Sawyers Expedition arrived at this crossing. In retaliation, an Arapaho war party laid siege to Sawyers encampment for 13 days until a military escort arrived. From 1879 through 1895, the Bingham Post Office operated near here on the north side of the Tongue River. Between 1879 and 1885, Bingham also served as a stage station along the Rock Creek Stage Line. This 400-mile line ran from Rock Creek on the Union Pacific Railroad in southern Wyoming to near present day Billings, MT. In 1882 the Northern Pacific Railroad stretched through Montana and the stage line served the important role of connecting the two railroads. By 1890 a variety of shorter rail and stage routes connected areas within the two states and the need for a Wyoming to Montana stage route came to an end.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Connor Battlefield State Historic Site — 3.4 mi
  In 1865 General Connor's troops attacked Black Bear's Arapaho village here while many of its men were away; women and children died with the warriors.
• Trail End State Historic Site — 15 mi
  A Texas trail hand's Flemish Revival mansion, five years in the building, that he barely lived in once Wyoming sent him to the governor's office and the Senate.
• Sheridan Inn — 15 mi
  A hunting-lodge hotel with sixty-nine gables, where Buffalo Bill is said to have auditioned Wild West acts from the porch.
• Rosebud Battlefield State Park — 26 mi
  The ridges where Crook's column was stopped eight days before the Little Bighorn, remembered by the Cheyenne for one woman's ride.

More markers nearby

• Bozeman Trail — steps away
• First Woman Mayor in Wyoming — 2.2 mi
• The Battle of Tongue River — 3.3 mi
• Connor Battlefield State Park — 3.4 mi