SPANISH TRAIL

In 1841, Father Pierre Jean de Smet, a French Jesuit discovered the ruins of an old Jesuit mission in the big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.  The ruins were near the shore of a lake (now called De Smet) at the headwaters of Piney Creek, north of present day Buffalo.  This was found using a map prepared by the Jesuits in 1767, which he had located in their archives in Paris.  It contained accurate maps and sketches.  In 1865, General Patrick E. Conner reported the same ruins, as he led his Powder river Expedition.  In 1866, ruins and an old chimney, known locally as "Slade's Chimney" for the outlaw, who bragged of burying his gold near by.  Some records say the Spanish ventured 800 miles north of Sante Fe during the early 1600s.  Spanish artifacts have been found in numerous areas around Tensleep, dating from these early periods.  Pictographs have been researched by Dr. George Frison, UW anthropology Department.