The Bozeman Trail descended from the high plateau to the Yellowstone River on the east side of Bridger Creek, crossed the creek, and continued one mile to the Yellowstone before going west along the south bank of the river to Yellowstone Ford east of Springdale. Near the end of its nearly five hundred mile length, with sixty-eight miles remaining to the newly established town of Bozeman, the trail west of the Bighorn River was considered safe from marauding Lakota warriors, but a grave two miles east of here shows this was not always true. William K. Thomas, his young son Charley, and their driver Joseph Schultz left the large wagon train they had been traveling with, believing it was safe to travel alone west of the Bighorn crossing. On August 24, 1866, Lakota attacked their camp on the bank of the Yellowstone. William and Charley Thomas were killed near their wagon, and Schultz was killed by the river where he was fishing. The wagon train they had left came upon them later that day, and they were buried in a common grave beside the road.