According to legend, the town and creek of Big Sandy were named for the muleskinner "Big Sandy" Lane after a flooded crossing during one of his long treks from Cow Island to Fort Benton, when his colorful complaints were said to have dried the creek so he could cross, though a more likely version holds that he lost a wheel there and set up camp, after which the creek and camp took the name Big Sandy. Whatever its origin, the campsite and crossing were used by the Cow Island and Fort Walsh Trails. While Fort Assiniboine was being built in 1879, McNamara and Marlow erected a warehouse at the trail crossing. Not until 1886 did Swanson establish the first commercial business, a saloon in a tent. The town began with a boxcar serving as a depot and a one-room shack for the section foreman, while the rest of the settlement consisted of the M and M warehouse and nine saloons, mostly tents on wooden platforms. After a few hours at the bar, nightly sport involved hooking horses to the platforms and dragging the saloons wildly across the prairie with tent flaps flying, while bar owners chased after them yelling and swearing. It was a rip-roaring town filled nightly with gandy dancers, cowboys, Indians, soldiers, and nine saloons that provided the only entertainment.