Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cludes many of its original furnishings such as light fixtures, the back bar, tin ceilings, a
piano, and stained glass. Even the bullet holes throughout the bar are mementos of rowdier
days. The place is said to be part museum, part hotel, part bar and restaurant. Visitors can
follow a brochure for a self-guided tour or take a free 15-minute guided tour. Hotel guests
have a variety of individual suites to choose from, each uniquely decorated with different
antiques and features to match the original era. On Thursday nights, the saloon hosts a jam
session featuring high-caliber bluegrass, Western, and folk musicians.
Dry Creek Petrified Tree Environmental Area
To find the unusual Dry Creek Petrified Forest, drive east from Buffalo seven miles on I-90,
take the Red Hills Road exit (exit 65), and drive north on Tipperary Road for five miles to
the Petrified Tree Area access road. In the midst of this sagebrush country, you can follow a
0.8-mile loop that winds through the remnants of petrified trees. They date back 60 million
years to when the area was swampland covered by metasequoia trees. Some of the stumps
are larger than four feet in diameter, and the numerous rings can be identified. The loop
that takes visitors through the area is also an eight-station ecological trail with information
about the process of petrifaction and the unique history of the land.
Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site
Located between Sheridan and Buffalo off I-90, the Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site
(528 Wagon Box Rd., Banner, 307/684-7629, www.philkearny.vcn.com , grounds dawn-
dusk daily, $4 nonresidents, $2 residents, free for children under 18) commemorates the fort
that stood on the site 1866-1868.
The fort was commissioned at the height of the Indian Wars when the Sioux stood by
their vow to fight for their traditional hunting grounds against anyone who dared cross into
the Powder River Basin. Although Col. H. B. Carrington attempted to get permission for
the fort's construction from Sioux chief Red Cloud, it was never given. The soldiers lived
with nearly constant attacks by the Sioux. In the first six months, some 154 people were
killed by Indians, and 700 horses, mules, and cattle were stolen.
At 17 acres, the fort was a complete settlement, with a stockade, a variety of living quar-
ters, a social club, a guard house, a hospital, and even a laundress row. But the structures
alone were little help in keeping the soldiers safe. The battles that took place in close prox-
imity to the fort include the Fetterman Fight and the Wagon Box Fight. By 1868 the railroad
had made the Bozeman Trail obsolete, and the military abandoned the fort as indefensible.
It was burned to the ground, likely by the Cheyenne, in 1868.
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