Powder River Examiner -

On a cold morning just days after the first Christmas of the 20th Century, a group of masked riders descended on a sheep camp along Otter Creek, in Southwestern Powder River County.

The group's intentions were nefarious in nature – their goal was the destruction of the sheep band, with the broader goal of running the sheep ranchers out of what they considered to be cattle country.

The riders, led by accomplished cattleman and future Wyoming governor and US Senator John Kendrick, would kill 2,113 head of sheep that day. Until now the story of the "Kendrick Sheep Raid" has largely gone untold.

Author Forest B. Dunning, a retired rancher and Army Lt. Colonel from Sheridan, Wyoming, details the story of that fateful day in his new book Slaughter on the Otter, The Kendrick Sheep Raid.

The book, released by Farcountry Press in February, provides a detailed account of the raid, as well as providing the reader an idea of the setting of events and motivations which led to the raid. Forest and his son Shane spent a great deal of time poring through old documents to research the raid, as well as interviewing locals in the Birney and Otter Creek areas.

At 112 pages, Slaughter on the Otter is a quick read, and a very interesting insight into a nearly unknown chapter of our early history.

During a recent interview, Forest described his motivations for writing Slaughter, noting that when he was nine years old, he played witness to an account of the raid from one of the original participants. While researching another book, Between Two Tribes, a historical novel based on true events which took place in and around the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in 1890, Dunning came across information about the Kendrick raid. This information brought back memories of hearing the story as a young lad, and provided the motivation to flesh out the story in its entirety. After years of careful research, Slaughter on the Otter was complete.

Dunning will be on hand at Western Chick in Broadus this Saturday, April 20th, from 1-3 pm to sign copies of his book, which are now available at Western Chick. Copies are also available at Forest's website, http://www.slaughterontheotter.com.

Dunning has plans to continue researching our local history, with more writing in the future: "You need a passion for it," he said. The passion for accurate history runs deep in our community; we wish Forest the best in his research, and in the meantime we will enjoy his book.