The Toad's Opinion

[Diane Merkel]

In March 2005, I published an article in the LBHA Newsletter by Jack McCulloh. If this title doesn't catch your attention, nothing will:

"THE TOAD’S OPINION IS FORMED BY LOOKING UP FROM THE BOTTOM OF A WELL"

Jack has reworked the article a bit and would appreciate your feedback on it. Here's the link:

www.littlebighorn.info/messageboards/toad.pdf

[strange]

It takes a troll to know a toad and I'd say thats some mighty fine book learnin' in them thar articles!

Good show! Bravo!

Sincerestly Strange

[elisabeth]

What a fascinating piece. (He'll want to correct the "Calvary" typos and so on, of course.) Great stuff. Let's hope Custer got more than the odd free train ticket as payment for this blatant boosterism ... One thing's for sure, he need never starve; if he'd ever left the army, he could have got a job as a copywriter any day of the week.

I love the pots-and-kettles denunciation of Hazen's "scribbling"!

Some suggest that his feud with Hazen goes back to West Point; others, that it only really got serious in 1868. Anyone know for sure?

[Melani]

Probably they were both right to some extent. The Black Hills are of course a special place, with a rather different ecosystem than the area surrounding them. The Plains were noted for some pretty nasty winters at times, but there were probably also times when the winters were not so severe.

I check the webcams pretty much every day, and I was surprised to see only a light dusting of snow over the last two winters. Or is that global warming catching up with us?

[harpskiddie]

Everybody knows that one cannot forage cattle or grow crops on any of the land under discussion by Messrs Custer and Hazen [sounds like a law firm or an ice cream parlor]. I don't know about the West Point thing - I thought that Hazen had saved Custer's fanny from the fire over that "Stand back and let's have a fair fight" deal. I think 1868 was the start of their problems, but they might have had their genesis in 66 or 67 .

Gordie,
I'm going down to Custer and Hazen's for a sundae......................................................

[Melani]

When I was in Hardin, I was brought up roundly by one of the locals when I said something like the area was only good for stock-raising. He gave me a list of the local crops, which was more extensive than I had thought.

Gordie, are you going to have that sundae at Custer's Last Stand? ;D (ducking and running for cover)

[harpskiddie]

No. They only serve hotdogs, hamburgers and etc. You have to go to Custer and Hazen's for the top quality ice cream confections.

Gordie,
so put me on the highway, and show me a sign, but not Custard's Last Stand.........................

[lizs]

Any more on this debate of grazeability/cropability? Was the whole document published?

[biggordie]

Not Elizabeth:

Hazen's treatise was published in Cincinnati in 1875. I listed it in my Bibliography, but have never read it. It would be difficult to find a copy, I would think, but you might find it on-line. You might a;so try googling the files of the two newspapers mentioned in the Toad's Opinion article, and see if you can access their files.

Gordie