The tale of a trail at Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park seems to have forgotten Howard Eaton, a man the institution once honored. Scattered markers refer to the Howard Eaton Trail, but it is no longer maintained. A log-framed sign erected when the trail was dedicated on July 19, 1923, with a photo of Eaton on his favorite mount, Danger, and information about his ties to the park, was eventually removed and not replaced. The sign was planted close to Sheepeater Cliff, near the headwaters of the Gardner River, one of Eaton's favorite camping spots in the park's northwest corner. Who was Howard Eaton, and why has he been forgotten in a place he helped introduce to the public? Howard Eaton was born in Pittsburgh in 1851 and traveled west as a young man. In 1879 he squatted on land near what is now Medora, N.D. (Portions of the rugged badlands of the Little Missouri River are now part of another park, named for Theodore Roosevelt.) With the help of his brothers, Alden and Willis, who followed Howard later, the Eatons combined their separate holdings in 1883 and built up the ranching business five miles south of Medora on both sides of the Little Missouri. They eventually began playing host to guests from the East who visited the West to hunt, camp and roam the still-wild country. The ranch was established only three years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn...more

That's the way the feds treat everyone, sooner or later.  They get what they want and move on.