On July 17, 1877, at a spot where the eroded ruts of the Bismarck-Deadwood Trail remained plainly visible, Indians massacred the Wagnus family after watching from Bear Butte with envy as their lands passed to whites. Two brothers and the wife of one, homesick and disappointed, were leaving the "land of Gold" and trying to catch the main outgoing wagon train when they were ambushed, slain, scalped, their oxen shot, and their effects despoiled.