This old post has but recently been trans-…

chunk 1074 · paragraph 1636

may be men- tioned old Fort Cummings, 18 miles northeast of Doming, which once was a place of consid- erable importance, and around which clings many painful memories. This old post has but recently been trans- ferred from the war to the interior department, and will be sold. The reservation comprises 24,000 acres of land and for several years past, has been used as headquarters for the Carpenter-Stanley cattle company. The water supply is inade- quate for the purposes of irrigation, and if a greater supply cannot be obtained the land will be valueless, except for grazing purposes. The post was abandoned in 1882, but pre- vious to that time was one of the most impor- tant military posts in the southwest. Could the history of this old post be writ- ten, it would furnish volumes of interesting though painful reading, as in the immediate vicinity occurred some of the most bloody battles and massacres known to Indian war- fare. Soldiers, citizens and Indians met frequent- ly, almost under the shadow of the walls of Cummings, and some of the most desperate conflicts recorded in the annals of frontier life occurred here, or in the near vicinage.