Montana's DAR Markers . . . Honoring Where History Was Made

When stage coaches travelled the trails from Fort Keogh, Montana,
to Fort Meade, South Dakota, this crossing at the Powder River was
known as Deadwood Crossing. It was later called Elkhorn and finally
became Powderville. There is a river ford nearby and, at one time, a
ferry served stage coaches and other transportation of frontier travelers.
When Dick Richardson carried mail on this route, he crossed the
Powder River in a bull boat, which was a buffalo hide stretched across a
framework to form a tub shaped boat. The trail served as a mail and
freight route, frequented heavily by horse thieves and highwaymen, but
lightly by other travelers.
The stage trail started at Fort Keogh, was mapped as a telegraph
line in 1878, and ended at the Fort Meade cavalry post, established to
protect early miners and settlers.
The cemetery was founded in 1872. Its name, “Boot Hill” is a
common name for old-time cemeteries; the U.S. has at least 40
cemeteries of that name.
SOURCES
• Historic monument records, Office of the Historian General, Washington
D.C.
• State Centennial History, MSSDAR, by Iris McKinney Gray, Vol. V 1894-
1994
• Historical Sites Preserved and Markers Erected by MSSDAR and Its Chapters
1899-1977, by Mrs. R.V. Love and Mrs. E.E. Bruno
• MSSDAR 1982-1984 Pictorial Supplement to Historic Events of 1894-1977,
by Mrs. R.V. Love, Mrs. Sidney Groff and Miss Lorene Burks
• The Billings Gazette newspaper, Billings Montana, “Freedom Picnic in
Broadus Sunday,” July 2, 1976, pg. 9
140