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From her account on the previous page, it seems that in 1874 Mrs. Hunter was a bit edgy about relocating her family (especially her young daughters) to the site which her husband had chosen for the location of a spa and health resort. She was concerned, if not afraid, about the demanding nature of indigenous Crow, and their bold and insatiable curiosity about the White Men at the Hot Water. As a transplanted Southerner, displaced by the Civil War, undoubtedly Susan Hunter had not encountered many "wild" Indians in her formative years - and surely none that had camped next to her house! It must have been an horizon-expanding, or possibly even a mind-blowing experience for a young mother from the South.
More items from the Livingston Enterprise newspaper from that timeframe: the spring and early summer of 1874 - "Set a-foot - Our friend Mr. William Dawes, who left this place a few days since for the Judith Basin, while encamped at Big Timber, had both of his horses stolen by Indians, thus leaving him afoot. He returned to the Agency to await the arrival of parties coming up form the Basin. May 1874 - "There is a demand over at the Crow Agency for mules. The Indians pay very fair prices in robes for small active mules in good order...The Indigent Sick - The Board of County Commissioners, having determined for the present to abolish the County Hospital, in conformity with instructions Dr Hunter last week brought in the sick, four in number, who have been stopping at the White Sulpher Springs [misnomer - "White Sulpher Springs" is located a hundred miles north from Doctor Hunter's property]on the Yellowstone. We believe it is the intention of the Commissioners to send two of the patients to their homes in the States, and one other, who is insane, the the Territorial Asylum at Helena, and provisions will be made for the maintence and care of the other.
May 1874 - "Dr. Hunter, W. H. Bailey and Major Miller went over to the Doctor's Springs on the Yellowstone, Tuesday.
June 12, 1874 - "Our esteemed young friend Frank Rich is in town, having come in with his muletrain. The boys and girls are all pleased to see Frank back home again.
July 3,1874 - "Local news - Dr. Hunter reports new potatoes as large as hen eggs on his Yellowstone ranch...We had a call from Dr. Hunter, of the Yellowstone Valley. The Dr. is the proprietor of the White Sulpher Springs over there, and has also a farm which he is cultivating. He has potaoes and peas large enough for the table and his cabbages are half grown." Item: "Survey of the Yellowstone - From Peter Koch, Esw., Deputy U S Surveyor, who has just returned from Helena, where he has been on business connected with the Surveyor General's Office, we learn that the Yellowstone Valley WILL be surveyed this summer." Item: "Seventy-five horses were stolen a few nights since from the Crow Indians near the Agency. It is supposed the Pen d'Orille Indians committed the theft. The Crows camped below the Agency have moved to and above the Agency in consequence of a report brought in by a Crow war party that the Sioux were moving up the river in that direction in large force."
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