Neither Kristi nor Stephanie showed up at this one.

For some, like me, studying local history is an amusing and interesting distraction from actually creating it. For others, like Paul Horsted, Jon Nelson and Ernie Grafe, it's a compulsion that results in the creation of books that amuse and interest folks like me.

Last night I ate dinner on Thorval and Janet Jensen's ranch on the Belle Fourche river near Colony, Wyoming (between Belle Fourche and Alzada). Below is a detail from Ludlow's map made on the 1874 expedition. My additions are in red.

The occasion was the 2010 Miles City-to-Deadwood wagon train, which had reached the point at which we ate last night. Friday, the train will be at the High Plains Heritage Center in Spearfish, and Saturday it will travel Maitland Road to Lead, then down to Deadwood.

The red X marks where we were last night (July 18-19 campsite). The arrow points to the July 17 campsite, near the present corner where MT, WY and SD meet, on the ranch my brother owns, where I was raised. The distance between the July 17 and July 18 camps is about 20 miles.


Jon Nelson gave us a powerpoint presentation and a talk about the expedition.


And here are some photos of the crowd and the wagons that made the trip.