This area of the Tongue River long served as a trail and stage road crossing. Beginning in 1864, the Bozeman Trail, a road to the Montana gold fields, crossed here as it cut through the Powder River Basin in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaties, which designated the area as tribal lands for the Northern Plains Tribes. Use of the trail contributed to the Plains Indian War and military occupation of the region. In the summer of 1865, a road-building expedition managed by James A. Sawyers set out from Niobrara, Nebraska, headed to Virginia City, Montana. When the expedition reached the Dry Fork of the Powder River, its route merged with the Bozeman Trail. General Patrick Connor attacked and destroyed an Arapaho village downstream on August 29, three days before Sawyers' Expedition arrived at this crossing. In retaliation, an Arapaho war party laid siege to Sawyers' encampment for 13 days until a military escort arrived. From 1879 through 1895, the Bingham Post Office operated near here on the north side of the Tongue River. Between 1879 and 1885, Bingham also served as a stage station along the Rock Creek Stage Line, a 400-mile route that ran from Rock Creek on the Union Pacific Railroad in southern Wyoming to near present-day Billings, Montana. In 1882, the Northern Pacific Railroad stretched through Montana, and the stage line served the important role of connecting the two railroads. By 1890, shorter rail and stage routes within the two states ended the need for a Wyoming-to-Montana stage route.