In 1970, Congress enacted a Wilderness Act and designated 43,000 acres north of Terry in the badlands as a Wilderness Study Area. The Calypso Trail and Scenic View offer a grand look at the badlands area. Father DeSmet met with the Hunkpapa Sioux at the Sitting Bull Council on June 20, 1868 for a peace conference. They met at Sitting Bull’s camp about 4 miles above the mouth of the Powder River. DeSmet was not able to convince Sitting Bull to sign a peace treaty, but the council was considered a success because Sitting Bull did agree to allow some white travel and settlement. Terry was originally a firewood stop for steamboats. By 1876, the location at the mouth of the Powder River was known as the Powder River Depot because it was used as a military supply point prior to the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The Yellowstone River served as the return route for Captain William Clark’s party of the Historic Lewis & Clark Expedition. On July 30, 1806, Clark and his party camped on the Yellowstone near the mouth of the Powder River. When the Northern Pacific Railroad reached the area on October 8, 1881, company officials named the town for General Alfred H. Terry. Following the Civil War, Terry spent 18 years in this part of the country as commander of the Department of the Dakota and later as the commander of the Division of the Missouri. At the time, the Dakota Territory stretched from present day Minnesota to Montana.