cache butte

[gg]

does anyone have info as to the exact location that was butte cache/cache butte fur trade post on the white river? i'm new nad hope i have this in the right thread, gg thanks

[kingsleybray]

gg, I have visited the district north of Oglala where Butte Cache is, but I have never tried to actually locate the landmark. But I have a sketch map drawn I think by Philip or Flora Wells and sent to the historian George E. Hyde. The Butte Cache (or Paha chan igna yanka, Hill in the Woods) is located between the east side of White River and the highway coming south from Red Shirt Table. That used to be Highway 18 but may not be today. The butte is just downstream (north) of the confluence of White Clay Creek and White River - a few hundred yards I would guess. Look over to the other side (west) of White River, two creeks come in from that side, Slim Butte creek and Blacktail creek. Butte Cache should be about halfway between the mouths of the two creeks, and on the opposite (east) side of the valley, close to the highway. Best thing to get out the car and go over to the cutbank I remember being there, and hike around. It's worth remembering that the butte was cachee! Hidden in the woods even then, when there was a lot less timber on the plains than there is now.

As to the post itself, it was probably a single log cabin. Maybe the folks on the ground might recall seeing some foundations? You should also check with Gail Potter or Jim Hanson at the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron

Good luck! And merry christmas to everyone!

Kingsley

[gg]

Thanks so much, that is a great help. There seems to be alot of conflicting information as to its wherabouts, but it has always seemed to me that that junction of creek/river would make the most sense for a trade area to be. I read one account that put it 1-2 days travel after crossing White Clay Creek. I can only guess that flooding from a particular area would have made any number of creeks run white, causing someone to believe that a different creek (much farther upriver)was indeed the White Earth/White Clay creek. I have read it to be above the mouth of Wounded Knee Creek, and some maps call what is now Cedar Butte Creek, Cache Butte Creek. Which in turn causes lots of people to believe the post was at its mouth. Thanks again and Merry Christmas. GG

[lgarcia]

GG:
Cache Butte is on the north side of the White River west of Black Tail Creek. It is located in the vicinity of the "South half Section 1-Township 38 west, Range 47 north" Shannon County, South Dakota.
Pahacanwegnayanka (paha = hill; can= trees, wood, forest; wegna = among; yanka = Lies).
In the dim past Black Tail Creek was called Cache Butte Creek. It was at this place that Sitting Bull was to meet with the Ghost Dancers in the spring of 1891 to renew the fight. He was murdered in December 1890.
Happy New Year,
Louie