Another Trip to the Countryside

Yesterday (5-2-2020) we took another drive to the countryside, this time headed west on Highway 46 and drove to the Standing Rock site. How many times have we driven by it and never pulled in. I’m glad we did now. We learned the hill on 
which the stone stands was pushed up by glacial action, pushed from the northeast to form the depression for that large water area we could see off in the distance. Then we drove to Little Yellowstone Park, but there really wasn’t much to see yet, only the faintest blush of green on the trees. 

We headed south to the Fort Ransom area, missed a turn, and ended up west of Englevale and the Englevale Slough. That mistake wasn’t so bad though because it reminded me of the area where the haycutting crew put up their hay supply which 
burned up in the big prairie fire in 1867.
On the right road again, we came on the fort and made the requisite stop at the site where facts of history always play on my imagination. The writing rock is west of the fort and we drove down to where the sign pointed; we still haven’t found the darn thing. Again, I tried imagining how the fire roared down on the Metis encampment located down there someplace and how two little girls couldn’t outrun it after their pony cart turned over. In all, twenty of them burned to death.
As we neared Lisbon we made another stop - the Harris Ford. It’s significant because it works in tandem with the Shin Ford in Shenford Township. Because of these two river crossings wagon trains could head west from Pigeon Point in Owego Township via the shortest route. The option would’ve been to go around the big bend of the Sheyenne, thus adding more miles to their trip, like the wagon train did in the winter of 1867 and was stranded in a three day blizzard.
There is a lot of history in this area if we’d only go out to find it. There was only one little hitch in the giddy-up, one might say. At a hilltop site where a “point of interest” took us, I’d parked the car, got out, read the signage, took pictures and got back in. Here’s where it was pointed out I’d neglected my wife. With the car parked so her side was on the north, she couldn’t get her door opened in the strong wind that blew against it.