Digging for Our Roots, Part I: Scobey, Montana

19 July 2012

We reached Scobey, Montana on Tuesday, 17 July, after three days of travel from Cody. We overnighted in Hardin, Montana where we visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield and Monument. This is where Custer was killed in a battle with about 1000 Indian warriors. The interpretive center included information about Custer and Sitting Bull and a little about some of the other major figures in the battle, including Chief Crazy Horse. I found it difficult to understand how the battle action proceeded from the exhibits, but there was an auto CD tour that we took which explained things a lot better. I particularly liked the anthropologist on the CD who had built a model correlating evidence found in battlefields and the associated actions. When all is said and done though, I find battlefields sad and depressing – no one is left a winner. In this case, this battle, though decisively won by the Native Americans, was the end of the plains way of life for them. The government mounted a huge campaign to force them onto reservations and to destroy their way of life.

The second night was in Miles City, named after General Miles who was a central figure in the aftermath of the Little Bighorn Battle. He led campaigns which forced the Lakotas onto reservations and he is the one that pursued Chief Joseph and the Nez Pearce tribe across Montana. Our campground was near the river and there were lots of little bothersome bugs surroundimg our campsite. So needless to say, even though the campsite was pretty, we didn’t spend a lot of our time sitting outside.

The third day we arrived in Scobey. This little town of around 1,000 people is about 14 miles from the Canadian border and is in the very top right corner of Montana. This is where Florence, Russ’ mom, was born when her parents were homesteading 10 miles south of town. The town is surrounded by miles and miles of dry land wheat. In the early 1920s, Scobey was the largest shipper of grain in the world.

We are here to do a little genealogy research and to try and find the homestead. Russ found the land grant on-line and has the description. So we went out to try and find it. Bump, bump, bump down gravel roads, across ridges and down into valleys. We think we found it – the acreage is now part of a much bigger farming enterprise. There aren’t any buildings on the land, whatever the Kauffmans built has been long gone. When we went to the Scobey museum, we spent time chatting with some locals and they confirmed that we had been in the right area for the homestead.

After visiting the county library (a VERY small building), the local newspaper archives, the county records office and the Scobey museum, we didn’t find lots about the Kauffmans in Scobey. We know that they homesteaded in 1914 and proved up their claim for 320 acres in 1917. We know that Russ’ grandfather supplemented his income by auctioneering – we found many advertisements in the local paper from 1915 through 1921, including some with a photo of him. We also know that the Kauffmans left Scobey around 1923 to eventually settle in Canton, South Dakota (another place we plan on visiting on this trip.)

So, after two days in Scobey, we are headed to Devil’s Tower and the Black Hills. I don’t plan on doing genealogy research there, just relax and enjoy the beautiful countryside. Hoping for cooler weather, it was 103 degrees on Thursday and 99 degrees the day before that. I think every day has been in the 90s since we left Long Beach!

Part of a memorial to the Indians that died at the Battle of Little Bighorn

Only a few sites are noted for the warriors that died in the battle because their bodies had been recovered immediately following the fight.

The hill where Custer made his last stand. Custer fell within six feet of the monument on the top of the hill. The white markers are where other soldiers fell.