“Original Site Medicine Rock”

2.6 miles

Don’t look now. Because that site is normally under 50 feet of water, 125 feet from the shore, at a point 1.15 miles northeast along a meandering shore line, from the point this road finally runs into the Oahe Reservoir.

IT WAS A LANDMARK IN ITS DAY. It was a sacred rock, a flat limestone about 12 x 20 (now to be seen US 212 in Gettysburg, 15 miles east). It lay on a hillside just South of the Little Cheyenne River and the man’s footprints and other tracks on it, were regarded as sacred by the Sioux Indians and probably generations before them.

First observed by the Atkinson – O’Fallon Peace Treaty expedition of 1825, it was variously commented on by later river travelers.

When Sully’s expedition of 1863 was a short distance away, Captain John Fielner made a solo jaunt to see the rock. Observed by some Indians, who coveted his horse and gear, they killed him. Sully pursued them, captured and beheaded them, placing their heads on high poles as a warning to Indians who killed without cause. If you do take a look, when you get to the water’s edge, you will be about a mile from Old Forest City, Potter County’s first county seat, now under about 90 feet of water. It too was famous in its day.

Potter County, US 212- at intersection with 296th Street (2006)