The Tongue River -- Miles City MT
N 46° 23.854 W 105° 51.953
13T E 433434 N 5138586
A Montana Historic Marker west of Miles City on the I-94 business route gives William Clark's impressions of the Tongue River -- whose waters were somewhat toothsome
Waymark Code: WMK0A6
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 01/24/2014
Views: 8
The Tongue River, which empties into the Yellowstone River near here. Capt. William Clark camped near here on 29 Jul 1806, and were not impressed with the quality of the water.
The text of the state historic marker reads as follows:
"THE TONGUE RIVER
Captain Wm. Clark and ten others camped near the mouth of the Tongue River on July 29, 1806. Clark noted the great number of buffalo in the area and reported that the river was so muddy and warm that it was “Very disagreeable to drink.” Clark referred to the river by its Mandan or Hidatsa name, “Lazeka.”
Construction of Fort Keough, named for one of Custer’s captains killed at the battle of the Little Big Horn, began in 1877. That knob off to the south is Signal Butte. During the Indian Wars the army flashed sun mirror messages to a post in the Black Hills 175 miles away. A cloudy day sure threw a lot of static into that pioneer wireless system.
Miles City, named after General Nelson A. Miles, started in 1877 as a shack and tent town with a population running largely to prospectors and miners from the Black Hills, buffalo hunters, traders, and gamblers. She was wild for a while. When the cattle days of the 1880s arrived many a Texas trail herd came through here and the city soon acquired a national reputation as a cattle and horse market which it has never relinquished."
"Must Sees"at this location":
The Tongue River
The Montana Bar
The Miles City Frontier Museum
Date Waymark Created: 07/29/1806
Do they allow dogs at this location?: Yes
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