Among the numerous buttes of this section of the country, none has a more interesting history than "Crow Butte." Located five miles east of Crawford, it can be seen for miles in every direction, standing like a sentinel guarding the pine-clad hills on the south and the beautiful White river valley, which winds across the country at its feet on the north. Its battle-scarred sides are evidences of the hard fought battles which occurred between the tribes of hostile Indians that once inhabited this section of the great west. A view of this stately rock can be seen in this issue, showing also the approach to the summit, which is 1,000 feet higher than the surrounding country. The walls on the opposite side near the top have a perpendicular elevation of 100 feet.

Many beautiful Indian legends are told about this historic place. The incident that gave "Crow Butte" its name occurred years before white men saw the plains of Nebraska and when this land was the chosen field of large herds of antelope and buffalo. Here the Indian came in quest of food and raiment and here the tribes met and struggled for supremacy. This was disputed territory between the Sioux and Crow Indians, who were ever bitter enemies, and the entrance of one tribe or the other into this valley meant hostilities, which only ended with the extermination of one band or the other.

It was in the early sixties -- no one can ascertain the exact date, but as the Indian will tell you, "many moons ago," long before Red Cloud agency occupied this same ground -- that two bands of Indians met here and fought unceasingly for hours and hours, until both sides were reduced to less than half their number. Such open fighting, such carnage had never before been witnessed in tribal warfare.