“Death of the Bismarck Trail”
32
1955
Meade
(Note: any text in italics has been taken from the official SDSHS records.)
Marker Text
On this spot, where the eroded ruts of the Bismarck-Deadwood Trail are still plain to see took place on July 17, 1877 the massacre of the Wagnus family by Indians who from Bear Butte watched with envy the passing of their lands to the whites. Two brothers and the wife of one were leaving the ‘land of Gold’ homesick and disappointed. Seeking to catch the main outgoing wagon train they were ambushed, slain, scalped and their oxen shot, their effects despoiled.”
Location
Meade County, on Highway 79 N at mile marker 118 (1988)