Nebraska poet’s 100-year time-capsule monument to be opened

Hugh Glass was a pioneer who survived being mauled by a grizzly bear in 1823. His injuries were extensive, including deep cuts on his back and neck, and a broken leg. Believing he would die from his injuries, his party abandoned him and left him without weaponry or food.

Glass did not die. Instead, he set his own leg and began to crawl to Fort Kiowa, which was more than 200 miles away. He reached the Cheyenne River and created a raft to float downstream. His journey lasted six weeks before reaching the fort.

John Neihardt was an American poet born in 1881. He taught at the University of Nebraska and introduced the story of Hugh Glass to popular culture through his 100 page poem, “The Song of Hugh Glass.” Neihardt and the poetry club from Nebraska’s Wayne State College erected a monument to Hugh Glass on Aug. 1, 1923. The concrete monument was located in Lemmon, South Dakota, where Glass was mauled.

The monument includes a time capsule that Neidhardt instructed should be opened 100 years after its creation, in 2023. He stated that it contains an original manuscript, which led some people to believe it could be the original copy of his poem, “The Song of Hugh Glass.”

A group of students from Wayne State traveled to the monument with history professor Joseph Weixelman in June to open the monument. But they were prevented by the Bureau of Reclamation and the South Dakota parks department, who now own the land where the moment is located. Ownership of the monument was determined to belong with the Neihardt family, who had to remove the monument from state property before it could be opened. The monument was taken to the John Neihardt State Historic Site in Bancroft, Nebraska, where it would be split open.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation initially opposed the construction of a new monument to replace the time capsule. “Federal regulation 43 CFR Part 423.28 explicitly outlines that ‘you must not … place memorials, markers, vases, or plaques on Reclamation facilities, lands, or waterbodies,’” wrote Elizabeth Smith, a spokesperson for the Bureau. This led to protests from members of the public and Neidhardt’s family. By Wednesday, Oct. 18, the Bureau had reversed its stance and stated full support for a replacement, arguing that the statute only applies to markers placed by the public.

Neidhadt’s family plans to unveil the contents of the time capsule at the annual spring conference of the Neidhardt Foundation, which takes place in April 2024.

An excerpt from “The Song of Hugh Glass,”

“And when they lifted him,

His moan went treble like a song of pain,

He was so tortured. Surely it were vain

To hope he might endure the toilsome ride

Across the barrens. Better let him bide

There on the grassy couch beside the spring.”

By Aubrey Benton