Yellowstone Basin
Preservation Society
Note: Details on Society will follow later……………..
Preservation Activity #2 – Signature Rock
(Lisa & Colter)
When Manuel Lisa Established
his “Fort on the Big Horn” in October 1807, he and Colter scratched their names
[inscriptions] into a large sandstone rock located along side of the “Bad Pass”
trail; so named later in the 1830’s. The constant erosion from environmental
sources is slowly destroying these names. It is the society’s interest to have
these signatures preserved. (John Colter 1810 & Manuel Lisa 1807.) These names were first photographed in 1920.
Manuel Lisa created a fort at the western junction of the Big Horn River and the Yellowstone River
in October 1807. There is much controversy about the location and its name, due
to early errors in extraction information from the records. This fort was not
given a specific name, but was generally referred to as the “Fort on the Yellowstone.” Later it was called “Lisa’s Fort” or
“Manuel’s Fort.” Due to a mix-up in understanding of what happened when Fort Manuel,
a very large fort was established by Manuel Lisa on the Missouri River at the
Knife River confluence, a short distance from the Mandan Village;
this information was often attributed to be the first fort by many researchers.
A brief summary of the Manuel Lisa and events related to the
Fur Industry is presented in:
Manuel Lisa Source
References – Summary collection of events related to the “Fort on the
Big Horn”. Supports above document
Search Site for Fort
Manuel-2010 – Slide notes & presentation of events leading to the
site location
Manuel Lisa & the 1809 Expedition –
Brief [DRAFT] summary into the events related to their journey for the
establishment of “The Fort at Three Forks”
During the past 50 to
100 years several researchers
have tried to locate the positioning of the forts located on the southeast
junction of the Big
Horn
River
and the Yellowstone;
all without success. They have discovered concrete steps/pilings and
miscellaneous structures that are not related to the early forts (Trading
Posts) that were constructed there in the early 1800’s. No wonder! They were
not taking into account that in the late 1800’s Big
Horn
City,
created initially by James Stuart in 1863 (and became a fact soon after 1882 by
NPR), was located on this southeastern corner site. The plat had a town that
was a mile in width, and just under ¾ of a mile in depth. In 1881-2, NPR had a
staging base of operations on this chunk of land when they constructed the
bridge over the Big
Horn
River.
They used two steamers to aid in the construction; NPR#1 and NPR#2.
Additionally the Coulson line provided supplies for their vast ground crew.
This crew and the army command protecting them were living in the vicinity,
certainly on both sides of the Big Horn. Across the river, and about 1-1/2
miles to the west, NPR dug a 1,100-foot tunnel through a small hill at that
area. Just prior to 1906, NPR relocated their rail track location &
elevated the track about 10-12 feet at the Big Horn River crossing– and removed
gravel from the land mass just north of the new track passing across the west
side of the Big Horn River; creating an island that is currently generally referred
to as “Government Island”. That island is PUBLIC USE ONLY according to the BLM
Survey Field Notes (unpublished – and available only at the BLM offices until
Nov 2011 when it was released into the Treasure County
on-line Data Base). Certainly the thousands of men, horses, and equipment used
by NPR in the area could have devastated portions of the local land mass
features. The Lisa Fort is considered to be located at the NE end of the island
- east of the main chute that separates the island into two pieces.
The 1809 Expedition
(1809-1811) summarizes some key features and attempts to explain where the
manpower was utilized during the trek; and the ‘apparent’ fact that
while a few of the expedition members were eventually at the Fort on the Big
Horn for a very short time, there was no physical expansion of that small
facility as verified by the following written agreements:
Appendix A – ST Louis Missouri Fur
Company Association
Appendix B – Escort Agreement for the
Mandan Chief
Appendix C – James Fur Trappers
Agreement (Including list of some known deserters)
Appendix D – Provisions Acquired for
the Expedition
May 2011, Cleve Kimmel (YBPS)