View source for Riverside Park

Until it was straightened in ????, the Tongue River looped eastward into the downtown area passing through the areas now occupied by the municipal swimming pool and the boat lake. This is where the steamboats would land in the early summers and where traffic to and from the fort was ferried, swam, waded or walked across when frozen. An area on the west bank of this bend had been reserved by the military for this traffic, so the first businesses were built facing it on three streets that enclosed it. It contained many cottonwood trees that lined both rivers in this area, so became a natural park area.

In his book ''Recollections of Old Milestown,'' [[Samuel Gordon]] described a frontier confrontation. Riverside Park, which still stands today, was rumored to be up for the taking. The "Old West" rule was that if a man were to get four logs placed on the ground in a square, he had the foundation of a building, and could claim the land as his. One such [[Squatting|squatter]] had placed two of the needed logs, and went to get the other two.  A second man saw the two logs, and an opportunity. He placed his two logs with the two currently on site, and stood his ground there. He expected the first man to object and leave. The first squatter was dismissed by the second squatter with, "two logs counted nothing". But the first man pulled out his revolver to settle the dispute. The second man quickly abandoned his claim to the area. Late in the afternoon, tales of the incident reached the fort.  Soldiers came out and sent away all the squatters in the area.

19 Oct 1882: The rubbish should be cleaned out of the park.