Editing Big Horn, Wyoming (section)

==History==

Big Horn is along the valley of [[Little Goose Creek]]. From 1866 to 1868, the military cutoff route of the [[Bozeman Trail]] crossed Little Goose Creek, where Big Horn was later located. The trail was used by travelers going to gold fields in [[Montana]], but was plagued by Lakota attacks under [[Red Cloud]]. [[Fort Phil Kearny]] was established on Piney Creek, but continued harassment by the Lakota led to its abandonment and the withdrawal of the U.S. Army from the Powder River Country under the [[Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)|Fort Laramie Treaty]] of 1868.

According to local historian Glenn Sweem, the main route of the Bozeman Trail did not pass through the site where Big Horn was later founded.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} It lay farther to the east and followed Prairie Dog Creek, eventually leaving that drainage and taking a course now occupied by 5th Street in [[Sheridan, Wyoming|Sheridan]]. From there the trail crossed Goose Creek and continued out Soldier Creek to present-day Keystone Road, eventually crossing Tongue River between where [[Ranchester, Wyoming|Ranchester]] and [[Dayton, Wyoming]], were later located.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

[[Little Goose Creek]] was the site of [[George Crook|General George Crook]]'s camp after the [[Battle of the Rosebud]] against the Sioux and Cheyenne on June 17, 1876. Crook was fishing in the [[Bighorn Mountains]] on Tepee Creek while General [[George Armstrong Custer|George Custer]] fell to the Lakota and Cheyenne at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn|Little Bighorn]], {{convert|70|mi|km}} to the north.

The first settler in the Big Horn area was Oliver Perry Hanna, an adventurer, prospector, buffalo hunter, and Indian fighter who built a cabin on Hanna Creek in 1878.<ref name="google">{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19841015&id=CQFOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-YsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6013,2291895|title=The Free Lance-Star - Google News Archive Search|website=News.google.com|access-date=18 December 2021}}</ref> During the winter of 1878–79, he rode his horse north on the frozen Tongue River to hunt buffalo in the Yellowstone River Country. He participated in the massive hide harvest that wiped out the buffalo on the northern plains. His published recollections told of entire steamships loaded with buffalo hides floating down the Yellowstone River, as well as entire freight trains loaded with buffalo bones. After the buffalo hunting dried up, Hanna made a {{convert|400|mi|km|adj=on}} round trip to Fort Laramie to buy seed and a plow, becoming the first farmer to carve a furrow in what became Sheridan County. Hanna attracted many of the first settlers to Big Horn City, which was established in 1882. He operated the Oriental Hotel across the street from the Big Horn Mercantile for many years. William Frackelton, "The Sagebrush Dentist", credited Hanna as the inspiration for the Crow Tribe's involvement in a July 1902 reenactment of the Little Bighorn Battle in Sheridan.<ref>An Old-Timer's Story of the Old Wild West: Being the Recollections of Oliver Perry Hanna, Pioneer, Indian Fighter, Frontiersman, and First Settler in Sheridan County. Compiled June 1926. Copyright 1984 by Charles Hanna Carter. Printed by Endeavor Books, Casper, WY.</ref>

According to local legend, [[Frank James]] and [[Big Nose George]] were hiding out along Little Goose Creek in 1878. Supposedly, things got "too hot" for them in the [[Black Hills]], so they headed for the unsettled country near the Big Horn Mountains, where they encountered Hanna. This story has been passed down in the written recollections of early homesteaders, but has not been corroborated by outside historical references or the chronology of the [[James Gang]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} The Hilman family employed a mysterious man for a time, who regularly engaged in target practice with his pistol. The family believes this man was [[Butch Cassidy]], based on a note left on his sudden departure from the ranch, which read: "This is the only home I have ever known—Robert Parker."{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

[[Polo]] was first played in the area at a summer fair in Sheridan in 1893. Among the players in the match were ex-members of the Ninth Lancers division of the English Cavalry, who had brought polo from India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flyinghpolo.com/history.htm|title=Polo History|accessdate=28 March 2023}}</ref>

At one time Big Horn had nearly 1,000 residents, a college, a brick factory, a newspaper, two churches, a hotel, a livery barn, two saloons, and a mercantile. It made a bid to be the seat of Sheridan County, but an 1888 runoff election gave the title to Sheridan. There was an exodus of residents and businesses around 1891 when it was learned that the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad was being surveyed through Sheridan. The railroad came to Sheridan in 1893, and since then Big Horn has been a satellite community of Sheridan. Today Big Horn has a mercantile, two bars, several bed-and-breakfasts, a women's club, the Bozeman Trail Museum, a park, and an art museum several miles up Little Goose Creek at the Moncreiffe/Bradford Brinton Memorial Ranch.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

[[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] stayed in Big Horn in October 1984 during a visit with her friends [[Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon|Lord]] and [[Jean Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon|Lady Carnarvon]] at [[Malcolm Wallop|Senator]] and Mrs. Wallop's Canyon Ranch.<ref name="google" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/downton-abbey-close-to-wyoming-ranchers-heart/article_338c1aa8-5c51-53e6-8d0e-a93dbf1b9841.html|title='Downton Abbey' close to Wyoming rancher's heart|author=Mary Pickett|website=Billings Gazette|access-date=18 December 2021}}</ref>