053
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053
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Transcription
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FORT ROBINSON
Don Cunningham writes IN NEBRASKA LAND MAGAZINE, "For four turbulent years, Red Cloud Agency, a miscellaneous collection of store houses, corrals, work shops, residence and other structures surrounded by a rough pine stockade, stood on a low hill near White River, two miles west of the present town of Crawford Nebraska. The Red Cloud Agency became Fort Robinson, and the American flag was raised for the first time in Feb. 1876."
Fort Robinson was only about 6 miles from the ranch were I was born. At intervals from 1916 to 1976, before Verna and I came to Sonoma, Fort Robinson was a place frequently visited. When I was as young as 4 or 5, I recall going thru Fort Robinson on the train to visit my Uncle Henry who was living on a homestead close to Andrews, a small town at the head of White River.
My most significant trip to the Fort was in 1917 during World War I. My father raised horses, and there was a big demand by the army for horses to ship to Europe, and he sold 18 or 20 to the U.S. Government. These horses were trained at the Fort and then shipped to England and France. I was only 10 years old and Dad gave me a well trained horse to ride, and when we took them to the Fort, I rode ahead, leading one and he followed behind on his horse. I was so small that he had to shorten the stirrups and help me on. If I was alone I had to lead the horse up to a tree stump or a rock in order to mount.
The families around Crawford often went to the Fort to celebrate the 4th of July. There were polo matches, horse races and jumping. It was a popular hiking spot for young people living in Crawford, and Verna and I spent a good many Sunday afternoons in 1925 and 1926, with our friends, hiking in the hills around Fort Robinson.
From 1939 to 1945 we were again living in Western Nebraska. and made trips to the Fort. It was still being used as a remount station, and at one time had 17,000 horses. It became a prisoner of war camp during World War II, and a training camp for the K9 corp. Dogs were trained and and [sic] used with the guards at the POW camps.
In 1955 the State of Nebraska acquired the 22,000 acres for an experiment station for cattle breeding, and later made it a State Park. When we returned from our overseas assignment in 1967 we lived in Scottsbluff, and made frequent trips to the Fort. The former housing for the military personnel had been converted to accommodations for tourists and we would go there for a week-end vacation.
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Metzger Memories
