part of the Big Sky Country, famous for its legends of trappers, explorers, fur traders, cow-
boys and Indians of a day gone by. This is the land Lewis and Clark explored on their his-
toric expedition. Kit Carson and other famous explorers and hunters trod this broad land as
did General Custer and other famous army men.
Where the river reaches the lower plain area in Montana after its rapid tumbling journey
down the north slopes of the mountains, it levels out somewhat but is still rapid with many
shallows until it reaches Custer, Montana, where it flattens out and from Custer the river is
negotiable with a small boat. However, it is still swift; the average flow being about 9 miles
an hour with stretches much faster. Below Custer, the river looks so placid and smooth that
a stranger standing on the shore does not realize the dangers involved when boating on this
river. The river is much swifter than first appearances would lead one to believe. A little
carelessness in boating on these waters can, and often does, lead to disaster.
In addition to being fairly fast water, in places there are reefs sometimes reaching across
the full width of the river, and if one is not acquainted with the river, the current could very
easily sweep a boat down onto the rocks with very unpleasant results.
Between Miles City and Terry are a series of rapids and rock dikes that can be negotiated
safely by anyone who is familiar with them and uses care and caution. Two stretches of
these rapids are exceptionally dangerous, and these are shunned by most boaters. One series
of rapids is about one-quarter mile down stream from the mouth of Sunday Creek. These
rapids are the Buffalo Rapids, and they extend from a short distance below the mouth of
Sunday Creek to just below the Burlington Northern Railroad bridge some 2 miles down
stream. The other one, which is worse, is about one mile down stream from the old post of-
fice at Zero, about half-way between Zero and the mouth of Powder River. These rapids are
the most dangerous rapids in all this area. There is a rock dike that extends across the entire
width of the river and most of it sticks out of the water and forms a dam. The water, when it
reaches to within 100 feet of the dike quickens, and by the time it gets to the dam, the water
plunges over the dam like an express train with a fall of 2 to 5 feet. Any boat that hits these
rocks is almost sure to be wrecked. About 200 feet below is another bad one, though not
quite as bad as there are places where, if one uses extreme care, can be negotiated without
trouble.
One time my wife and I were going down this rapid when the prop hit a rock and broke
the prop pin leaving us helpless to keep control of the boat. By that time, we were past the
most dangerous place, and the boat floated on down to calmer waters when it was necessary
to row to shore and replace the pin.
The first dike mentioned of these two is the worst, though. A story is told of two rock
hounds who were unfamiliar with this stretch of the river boating down the river, stopping
occasionally to look for agates, and eventually came upon these rapids.
In the early days when this area was first being settled, there was an army fort, Fort Ke-
ogh, located a short distance west of the present city of Miles City. Steamboats brought sup-
plies up the Missouri and on up the Yellowstone to the army fort and for trappers and explor-
ers as well as for the trading posts. It was impossible to bring the boats over this reef, except
perhaps when the river was extremely high, so the army men blasted out a section of the dike
to make an opening wide enough for the steamships to go through.
These two agate hunters made it down okay, collecting agates, petrified wood, jasper and
other rocks. When they started back, they thought if they could plane the boat they could