A 3-Corners weekend

I had a very enjoyable time in the three corners area this weekend.  On Sunday Dwight & Leah took me out to Hale Ponds just east of Bonnie Dam where he likes to go fishing.  I had never heard of it, so enjoyed driving around it.  We took the river road west of St. Francis and wound our way across the south branch of the Republican River, turning right at the next road south where the old town of Jaqua used to be in the early part of the last century.  There is a foundation of an old building there and we wondered if it was part of the old town.

We all took our binoculars to focus in on the many birds around the area.  We saw redheaded woodpeckers, goldfinch, redwinged blackbirds, robins, western and eastern kingbirds, canada geese, turkeys, Swainson's hawk, brown thrush and cowbirds.  We also saw several white tailed deer.

We drove north across Bonnie Dam and caught the Beecher Island road going north into the Arikaree River Valley.

We discovered a monument at the top of "Peate Hill" honoring Peate and Donovan, the two scouts who were the first to reach Forsythe during the Battle of Beecher island.

We read the story of the battle and all the inscriptions on the monument and were thankful for the people responsible for preserving the memory of these soldiers.

We peeked in the windows of the old auditorium where we remember attending programs and picnics when we were children.

We went up the hill to the north and looked at the monument for Roman Nose, the leader of the band of Indians who fought in the battle.

Then took off across country roads, going back across the Arikaree - finally ending up in Haigler.  So we touched all three states during that afternoon. -- Editor