Fascinating day on the Prairie

I cruised across the Great Plains today through Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota.  Stormy weather was the rule, and made for spectacular skies, and dramatic photos.  Here the clouds are looming above the grasslands near Billings.  I had almost forgotten how dramatic cloud pictures are here...makes Monterey look verrry tame.

I visited the Little Bighorn National Monument for the first time.  Here, on Last Stand Hill, is where Custer and about 200 of his troops were wiped out by about ten times as many Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors.  The Indians charged up this hill, surrounding the US troops, who died on this spot.  Custer fell about where the black monument is located in the middle of the picture.  Both sides fought valiantly, but it should be remembered that the cause of the Sioux war in 1876 was the massive incursion of white prospectors into the Black Hills in 1874, when gold was discovered there.  This was in violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty, which gave the hills to the Sioux, who loved them and would not sell them to the US government when such an offer was made.

Near the top of Last Stand Hill is this memorial to the Native Americans who fought and died at the Little Bighorn.  It's pretty awesome, especially when silouhetted against a stormy sky.

This pic gave me an idea of the terrain contested during the battle.  The Indians had a large encampment, about 7000 people, in the river valley among the trees and in the open country.  In the early stages of the battle, Major Marcus Reno attacked the encampment with only a couple hundred troops.  Bad idea.  The Sioux and Cheyenne quickly routed his forces, and they retreated up the ravine in the middle of the picture and made a stand near the spot where I took the photo.  Though many of Reno's troops were killed, others survived to tell the story, unlike Custer's men.

The area between Last Stand Hill and the Reno-Benteen memorial is private land, used for grazing.  Horses still roam free here, a symbol of the Old West.

This plaque is at a rest area near Broadus, in far SE Montana.  Blow it up to read the inscription better.  Kind of sums up the mentality hereabouts...drive over the vast prairie for awhile and you'll understand.