NPS There are many amazing places to visit in the Bighorn Canyon area. Each offers unique insights into how peoples of the past adapted to this challenging environment. Click on the links to begin your own visit to these historic places. The Bad Pass Trail, marked by rock cairns, weaves its way along the rugged western edge of Bighorn Canyon, it has been a highway of human activity for over 10,000 years. Fort CF Smith was the scene of constant turmoil. It was built to help guard the Bozeman Trail, but was under virtual siege for much of its troubled existence. The Yellowtail Dam was sixty years in the making, when it was finally completed, Bighorn Canyon was remade into an industrial and recreational wonderland, but not without controversy. Four Historic Ranches interpret every era of ranching history in the American West. From open range to dude ranching, the Bighorn Canyon area has been the setting for lives and landscapes reshaped by stock growing. The Fort Smith Medicine Wheel is a deeply spiritual resource to the Crow people. It is a place of legend, meditation and mystery to this day, The Hayfield Fight was an against all odds fight, that tells a story by turns, of courage and fear, discipline and survival. Kane town site began as a railroad shipping point, eventually turned to dust then mud. Yet it still speaks to us, telling of a community now gone, but never forgotten. Kane & Iona Cemetery is full of stories. It is the reservoir of dreams and legacies. Though the names on the headstones may be unfamiliar their stories are universal. |
Last updated: February 24, 2015