Hunters, Miners, Cowboys, and Homesteaders

“The Gorge, Scott’s Bluff.” sketched by Dodge in 1865.From Perkins’ Trails, Rails and War.

In 1862 there was a bloody uprising of the Minnesota Sioux. Hostilities spread to the Plains, with grave danger to lines of communication and army outposts with garrisons depleted by the Civil War. During this period, Fort Laramie was a headquarters post, occupied during the crucial years principally by the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, under Col. William O. Collins. There was a chain of outposts up and down the North Platte, from Mud Springs near present Bridgeport to South Pass, Wyo. These were frequently harassed bySioux and Cheyenne warriors. One of these beleaguered outposts was adobe-walled Fort Mitchell, about 2 miles northwest of Mitchell Pass.

Initially called “Camp Shuman” for its builder and first commander, Capt. J. S. Shuman, it was constructed in 1864, according to official records, and was last heard of in 1867. The little fort (and later nearby “Scott’s Bluffs Pass”) was named for Brig. Gen. Robert B Mitchell (1823-82), commander of the Nebraska Military District, a citizen of Kansas Territory who earlier fought gallantly in the Civil War and later became Governor of New Mexico Territory. Fort Mitchell saw its share of frontier action. Colonel Collins’ report of 1865 to the regimental adjutant advises:

Co H has been Stationed at Fort Mitchell 55 Miles East of Laramie on the Platte River. The company participated in the celebrated Indian fights at Mud Springs and Rush Creek where 150 Men under Command of Lt Col Wm O Collins fought from fifteen hundred to two thousand of the dusky warriors, since that time this Company has carried the Mail from Julesberg to Laramie. This has been heavy and laborious duty, yet they have never flinched but have had the Mail through in good time. Besides this company has built one Mail Station, near the noted Land Mark Chimney Rock, besides repairing the one at Mud Springs.

Cavalrymen leaving Fort Mitchell.Original sketch in Oregon Trail Museum.

William H. Jackson sketch of Fort Mitchell at Scotts Bluff.

The Battle of Mud Springs in February 1865 was an aftermath of the siege of Julesburg by a horde of Sioux and Cheyenne who were enraged by a massacre of Cheyennes at Sand Creek, Colo. In zero weather the small garrison at Fort Mitchell joined Colonel Collins’ forces in an attempt to intercept the north-bound Indians. After skirmishing and light casualties, the Indians withdrew across the North Platte.

A second engagement near Scotts Bluff was known as the Battle of Horse Creek. In June 1865, Capt. William D. Fouts led a company of the 7th Iowa Cavalry who were escorting 185 lodges of supposedly peaceful Brule Sioux from Fort Laramie to Fort Kearny. Between Horse Creek and Fort Mitchell the Indians treacherously attacked, killing Captain Fouts and three soldiers. The Fort Mitchell garrison rode out to aid the Iowans, but again the Sioux retreated across the Platte. Colonel Moonlight at Fort Laramie, advised by telegram from Camp Mitchell, futilely pursued the Indians with a cavalry force.

Other skirmishes, including besieged wagon corrals, ambushes in Mitchell Pass, and troops from Fort Mitchell galloping to the rescue, are reported in the literature, though with scanty evidence.

Fort Mitchell was occupied at various times by units of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, the 12th Missouri Volunteers, and the 18th U. S. Infantry. The last identifiable commander was Capt. Robert P. Hughes, of the latter regiment. He was detached there in 1866 by Col. Henry B. Carrington who, with 2,000 troops and 226 mule teams, was en route to construct posts along the Bozeman Trail in the PowderRiver country. Among the few brief eyewitness descriptions which survive is this impression of Colonel Carrington’s wife:

... [Scott’s Bluffs are] of mixed clay and sand, plentifully supplied with fossils, and throw a spur across the Platte basin so as to compel the traveler to leave the river and make a long detour to the south, or to pass through the bluffs themselves. This passage is by a tortuous gorge where wagons can seldom pass each other; and at times the drifting snows or sands almost obscure the high walls and battlements that rise several hundred feet on either side....Almost immediately after leaving the Bluffs, and at the foot of the descent, after the gorge is passed, we find Fort Mitchell. This is a sub-post of Laramie of peculiar style and compactness. The walls of the quarters are also the outlines of the fort itself, and the four sides of the rectangle are respectively the quarters of officers, soldiers, and horses, and the warehouse of supplies. Windows open into the little court or parade-ground; and bedrooms as well as all other apartments, are loopholed for defense.

Almost immediately after leaving the Bluffs, and at the foot of the descent, after the gorge is passed, we find Fort Mitchell. This is a sub-post of Laramie of peculiar style and compactness. The walls of the quarters are also the outlines of the fort itself, and the four sides of the rectangle are respectively the quarters of officers, soldiers, and horses, and the warehouse of supplies. Windows open into the little court or parade-ground; and bedrooms as well as all other apartments, are loopholed for defense.

All trace of Fort Mitchell has disappeared but a ground plan of the enclosure is preserved in the Collins Collection of the Colorado Agricultural College. Three authentic contemporary sketches of Fort Mitchell have been discovered; one of 1865 by an unidentified soldier of the 11th Ohio reproduced inThe Bozeman Trail; one by an unidentified artist with the Hayden Territorial Survey of 1867, published inU. S. Geological Survey of Wyoming, in 1871; and the one by William H. Jackson, preserved in the Oregon Trail Museum.

Hostilities on the Plains came to a climax when Colonel Carrington built Fort Reno, Fort Phil Kearny, and Fort C. F. Smith on the Bozeman Trail. This trail extended from Fort Laramie northwestward to Virginia City, Mont., scene of a new gold rush. Capt. William J. Fetterman and 80 men were slain in an ambush in December 1866 at Fort Phil Kearny (near present Buffalo, Wyo.). In 1867 Red Cloud’s warriors were repulsed at the Wagon Box and Hayfield Fights; but the Government decreed that this trail to the Montana mines must be abandoned. By the second treaty of Fort Laramie, in 1868, the Sioux were granted an extensive hunting domain between the North Platte and Missouri Rivers.

The treaty of 1868 marked the end of major Indian hostilities in the North Platte Valley. In 1870 Red Cloud was induced to visit the Great White Father (President Grant) in Washington; he was also taken to New York City, where he gave an impressive oration in his native tongue to the assembled palefaces. Red Cloud wanted an agency and trading post set up near Fort Laramie, long the traditional camp of the Oglala Sioux. The Government wanted to set up the agency far north of the Platte, on the White River. To humor the Indians, still in a resentful mood, the first Red Cloud Agency was established on the north bank of the Platte, half way between Fort Laramie and Scotts Bluff, at present Henry, Nebr., on the Wyomingboundary. This became the temporary home of more than 6,000 Dakota Sioux (mainly Oglala and Brule), 1,500 Cheyenne, and 1,300 Arapaho.

Chief Red Cloud.Original sketch in Oregon Trail Museum.

Under the prevailing peace policy the Episcopal Church took over the Sioux Agency. Their first agent was J. W. Wham. Unable to control Red Cloud and his excitable warriors, Wham was soon replaced by another churchman, J. W. Daniels. It was not easy for the victors of the Bozeman Trail war to mend their ways. The Sioux ambushed Pawnee buffalo-hunters in 1873 at Massacre Canyon on the Republican River; others joined hostiles on the Powder River in an attack on the Crow Indians and on the Northern Pacific survey parties on the Lower Yellowstone River. In 1873, Daniels finally managed to persuade these “peaceful” Indians to move the agency to White River, where Fort Robinson was established the next year.

The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874, the attempt to reduce further the Sioux reservation, the swift events which culminatedin the disastrous Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, and the subsequent rounding up of the scattered Sioux to be placed on Dakota reservations, the killing of Crazy Horse at Fort Robinson—all these events occurred far to the north of Scotts Bluff. The only “wild Indians” to appear again in this area were Dull Knife’s Cheyennes, who passed here in 1878 in a spectacular northward flight from their hated reservation in Oklahoma.

The ruthless hide-hunters were effective allies of the U. S. Army in ending resistance of the Plains Indian to the white man’s advance. The American bison, or buffalo, had been the staff of life and the major source of food, clothing, and shelter for the Indians. Once vast buffalo herds, blackening the landscape, crossed and recrossed the North Platte River. The many expeditions and the emigrants on the California Road killed the huge shaggy beast wholesale. As a result, most of the herds withdrew to the southern Plains.

Construction of transcontinental railroads and the addition of new military posts along their route created a huge demand for fresh meat; in the East there was a good market for buffalo robes. The result was an intensive campaign of slaughter by professional hunters, armed with heavy Sharps and Ballard buffalo rifles. The stupid creatures were easy game for the hunter, who ran after them Indian fashion or calmly mowed them down from a prone position, as they grazed. In the mid-seventies the Kansas Pacific Railroad alone hauled out the carcasses of 3 million buffalo. It is estimated that more than 30 million buffalo were destroyed during the two decades, 1860-80. Descendants of the few creatures that survived this slaughter are now to be found only in zoos and in Government preserves, such as Yellowstone National Park.

The Black Hills Gold Rush of 1876 by-passed Scotts Bluff. Hopeful prospectors rode the Union Pacific Railroad to Sidney or Cheyenne, then followed trails northward to the diggings. The Sidney-Black Hills route crossed the North Platte over a private toll bridge at Camp Clarke, near modern Bridgeport. The Cheyenne-Deadwood Trail crossed a new Army-built iron truss bridge over the North Platte at Fort Laramie.

The last chapter in the pre-settlement history of Scotts Bluff could be entitled “The Cowboy Era.” The open range cattle industry really began during Oregon Trail days, when sharp traders in the Fort Laramie area discovered that there was profit in exchanging one head of fat cattle for two that were worn out. They also discovered that oxen wintered well in the Laramie River Valley. Demand for cattle increased with the big Utah overland freighting business of the 1850’s. After the Civil War herds of half-wild longhorn Texas cattle were rounded up for the long drive northward to shipping points on the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific Railways. In 1868 Texas cattle reached Kearney, North Platte, and Ogallala.

Hunting buffalo at Scotts Bluff.Original sketch in Oregon Trail Museum.

Loading buffalo bones at Scotts Bluff.Original sketch in Oregon Trail Museum.

Cowboys driving longhorn cattle past Scotts Bluff.Original sketch in Oregon Trail Museum.

In the 1870’s ranchers began to appropriate lush grazing lands in the North Platte Valley and its tributaries. It is said that by 1872 there were 60,000 head on Horse Creek, near Scotts Bluff. After the mop-up of hostile Sioux bands in 1876-77, thousands more were driven from Ogallala past Scotts Bluff toward the vast ranges in the northern Plains. Pratt and Ferris, Swan Land and Cattle Company, and the Coad Brothers were among the big outfits who grazed cattle in the Scotts Bluff area. Rapid inflation of the cattle market, overstocking and overgrazing, coupled with the disastrous hard winter of 1885-86, hastened the end of this short-lived but much publicized era.

In 1885 the first homesteaders, or grangers, arrived to stake out their claims in the Nebraska Panhandle. Gering was platted in 1888. In 1900 the Burlington Railroad was built up the north side of the Platte and the town of Scottsbluff was born. In 1910 a Union Pacific branch line was built up the south bank.

Where buffalo once roamed there are now irrigation ditches, sugar beet, alfalfa, and potato fields, and prime Herefords. The wily Sioux have become peaceful citizens. The dusty roads of the covered wagons have been replaced by broad paved highways and fast automobiles. Bullboats and Conestoga wagons have been replaced bylong freight trains and cometlike aircraft. Scotts Bluff, named for one of General Ashley’s fur traders, the brooding sentinel of the Oregon Trail, now belongs to history.

Badlands at the foot of Scotts Bluff’s north face.Courtesy, Union Pacific Railroad.

Although Scotts Bluff is primarily significant because of its historical associations, its geology and biology are also interesting. Indeed, appreciation of the history of the bluff is enhanced by an understanding of how this bluff was formed and how it influenced migration routes. An elementary knowledge of the plant and animal life of the area, which is today much as it was in the covered wagon era, adds to your understanding of this story.

The highest point in the monument area is South Bluff, 4,692 feet above sea level. (The highest point in Nebraska, more than 5,000 feet, is in Banner County, south of Scotts Bluff.) The “high point” on Scotts Bluff proper is 4,649 feet, which is 766 feet above the North Platte River or 700 feet above the badlands at its immediate base. The elevation of monument headquarters is 4,114 feet.

This bluff, like the neighboring Wildcat Hills, Chimney Rock, and Courthouse Rock, is an erosional remnant of the ancient Great Plains. These plains were formed by the deposit of gravel, sand, and silt brought down by rivers from the Rocky Mountains after they were uplifted about 60 million years ago. At intervals, 30 to 40 million years ago, volcanoes to the west also added great quantities of ash and dust deposits. When the process of deposit slowed, erosion gained headway, cutting new river valleys in the Plains. High tablelands were left on both sides of the North Platte Valley. Landmarks such as Scotts Bluff and Chimney Rock have hard rock caps that protect them from erosion.

The lower two-thirds of the bluff consists of Brule clay, an Oligocene deposit of buff-colored, soft-textured sandy clay. The badlands formation at the foot of the bluff dramatically demonstrates the rapid erosion of the Brule clay when unprotected by cap rock. The upper one-third of the bluff consists of the Arickaree formation, gray sand beds of the Miocene Epoch. The uppermost Arickaree beds form the top surface of the bluff. These are laced with hard tubular concretions which help protect the bluff and add to the resistance of the beds to weathering. All the formations exposed in the walls of the bluff are interspersed with thin layers of pinkish volcanic ash.

The Badlands regions of western Nebraska and South Dakota have become world famous for their extensive deposits of fossils of mammals and other animals that lived during the Oligocene and Miocene Epochs of the Cenozoic Era. The Brule clay formation of Scotts Bluff and vicinity is particularly rich in fossil remains of extinct animals of Oligocene age, 30 to 40 million years ago. These exposed remains gave rise to many Indian legends and were frequently noted by curious emigrants. Scientists from many institutions of learning have continued to explore and examine these fossils since 1847, when Dr. Hiram Prout of St. Louis described a jawbone brought to him by a fur trader as that of aTitanothere, a giant rhinoceros-like creature.

Among the most common fossils of the Scotts Bluff vicinity, now in the collections of the Oregon Trail Museum, are giant turtles, pig-likeOreodontsancient forms of rhinoceroses, saber-toothed tigers, dogs, deer, camels, and rodents. The horse family is represented here byMesohippus, a three-toed creature about 18 inches in height.

The conspicuous trees on the summit and north slopes of Scotts Bluff are ponderosa pine and a juniper usually called Rocky Mountain red cedar. In ravines and along the river banks are cottonwood, willow, and boxelder. The most common shrubs in the area are mountain-mahogany, wild currant, and wild rose. Wildflowers include sunflower, daisies, wild sweetpea, golden banner, penstemon, Indian paintbrush, yucca or soapweed, ball cactus, and prickly pearcactus. The dominant grasses are blue grama, side-oats grama, buffalo-grass, slender and western wheatgrasses, and woolly sedge.

During historic times the North Platte Valley was in the heart of buffalo country, but extermination in the 1870’s brought an end to the era of the wild buffalo (bison), which had been the staff of life to the Plains Indians and the main food supply on the white man’s frontier. A small captive herd of bison is preserved today in nearby Wildcat Hills State Park. The bighorn and the grizzly, described by early travelers, disappeared by 1860, leaving an occasional rare skull as their last testament. The pronghorn (antelope) is still common in the tablelands north and south of Scotts Bluff, but deer are the only large hoofed animals which still frequent the monument area. Other survivors include red fox, coyote, raccoon, porcupine, badger, beaver, muskrat, and fox squirrel. Prairie dogs, once abundant, have virtually disappeared.

Titanothere skull from the fossil collection, Oregon Trail Museum.

There is a wide variety of bird life. Some of the species that have been seen at Scotts Bluff are—double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, black-crowned night heron, mallard, green-winged and blue-winged teal, American merganser, turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, golden eagle, sparrow hawk, killdeer, spotted sandpiper, Franklin’s gull, mourning dove, great horned owl, (western) burrowing owl,western kingbird, horned lark, cliff swallow, American magpie, rock wren, mockingbird, mountain bluebird, Townsend’s solitaire, loggerhead shrike, western meadowlark, and spotted towhee junco.

Although collections of stone projectile points, scrapers, hammerstones, knives, clay pottery, and other primitive Indian artifacts have been assembled from scattered sites in the North Platte Valley, the story of prehistoric man in the Scotts Bluff region is still incomplete. Only a dim outline of the ancient past is beginning to emerge from the patient studies of archeologists.

Vague evidence of aboriginal campsites and signal fires has been found on the summit of Scotts Bluff. However, the story of ancient man in this section of the Great Plains is better suggested by five other nearby Indian occupation sites:

At the western terminus of Wildcat Hills, about 12 miles southwest of Scotts Bluff, archeologists of Nebraska University, in 1932, probed the top of an isolated bluff which is now famous as a key archeological site. A 13-foot vertical cross section revealed three separate levels, each bearing cultural material. The lowest level is believed to represent a hunting complex (Early Lithic Period), perhaps 5,000 years old. The second level (Intermediate Lithic Period), described as Pre-Woodland, is given a tentative age of 1,500 years. The uppermost level (Ceramic Period) contains artifacts of the Dismal River and Upper Republican cultures, including pottery. The primitive farmers representing the Upper Republican culture occupied Signal Butte when Columbus discovered America, while the Dismal River people are believed to have been an Apache group of about A. D. 1700.

In 1933 archeologists of the University of Nebraska State Museum, while excavating in the bank of Kiowa Creek, near Signal Butte, found stone projectile points in association with an extinct form of giant bison. This remarkable find, which established Scottsbluff points as a classic type, was among the earliest of a series of discoveries in the Great Plains which have furnished unmistakable evidence of mysterious big game hunters who inhabited the Plains some 10,000 years ago.

About 60 miles northwest of Scotts Bluff, in Wyoming, lies an extensive area of flinty hills and wastes which have large numbers of ancient quarries. Thousands of artifacts of primitive manufacture suggest the Intermediate Lithic Period preceding the dawn of the Christian era.

Near the east Slope of Scotts Bluff,in 1934, a farmer reported the occurrence of several skeletons and associated stone and bone artifacts while excavating for a potato storage bin. This appears to have been a burial ground of early Nebraska hunters, or foragers, possibly contemporary with the Intermediate Lithic level at Signal Butte.

Yucca in bloom at the summit of Scotts Bluff.

About 100 miles downstream from Scotts Bluff, near a famous Oregon Trail campsite, is a rock shelter, excavated by the Nebraska State Historical Society in 1939, which contained evidence of 7 occupations over a period of 2,000 years. These range from the Intermediate Lithic, or second level at Signal Butte, through the Woodland, Upper Republican, and Dismal River complexes of the Ceramic Period.

When white men first penetrated Nebraska, about A. D. 1700, the Central Plains were divided into hunting areas held by tribes living in large fortified villages. They fed on buffalo meat obtained by seasonal hunts, and on corn, beans, and squash grown near their villages. The Pawnee were the dominant Nebraska tribe when the region was first seen by white men, but the region was soon invaded by Sioux, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and other tribes. With the introduction of horsesand guns by Europeans, the Plains Indians became the bold, wide ranging buffalo hunters and fighters famous in annals of the white man’s Wild West.

Scotts Bluff National Monument adjoins the south bank of the North Platte River, in Scotts Bluff County, western Nebraska, 3 miles west of Gering via State Route 86, and 4 miles southwest of Scottsbluff which is on the north side of the river, on U. S. 26. The highway route on the north side of the North Platte River from Broadwater to the city of Scottsbluff in part parallels the course of the Mormon Trail. If you approach this historic landmark from the east, you can follow the classic Oregon Trail route to this point by driving up the North Platte Valley via U. S. 26 from Ogallala through Bridgeport (Courthouse Rock) to South Bayard (Chimney Rock) and State Route 86 from South Bayard to Gering.

The monument area is bisected from east to west by State Route 86, the principal approach being from the east through Gering. The Mitchell Pass route of the old Oregon Trail coming in from the east to the north of Dome Rock intersects this highway just south of the east entrance to Scotts Bluff National Monument. From this entrance to monument headquarters, the highway roughly follows the roadbed of the old Oregon Trail. Near monument headquarters, remains of the trail swing south of the highway before recrossing it to make the ascent through Mitchell Pass, which separates South Bluff from Scotts Bluff proper.

At the crest of Mitchell Pass, State Route 86 continues westward through Mitchell Valley to the Wyoming State line. From the pass, the trough of the Oregon Trail makes an abrupt hairpin turn to get around the head of a ravine, then veers northwestward toward the North Platte River, and the old crossing at the mouth of Horse Creek, near present Lyman, Nebr. In Mitchell Pass and a few hundred yards west thereof, the Oregon Trail trough is exceptionally well-defined despite the passage of nearly 100 years since it was heavily traveled. The unusual depth of the old trail through this area results from the fact that the countless thousands of animals and wagons had to go single file through the Mitchell Pass bottleneck. There is a trail from the Mitchell Pass parking area to the William H. Jackson campsite marker.

The dominant building at the monument headquarters area, just east of Mitchell Pass, is the Visitor Center, which houses the Oregon Trail Museum and monument administrative offices. The principal features of the museum are: (1) The entrance lobby, adorned with bronze Oregon Trail and Pony Express plaques;(2) the main History Room, featuring exhibits relating to Scotts Bluff and the Oregon Trail from earliest explorations to the open range cattle industry; (3) the William H. Jackson Memorial Room, containing a collection of Jackson’s Oregon Trail sketches and watercolor paintings, together with two dioramic scenes of frontier buffalo hunting; and (4) the Prehistory Room, with displays describing the geologic formation of Scotts Bluff, its paleontological (fossil) story, and the prehistoric Indians of the North Platte Valley.

Uniformed personnel are stationed at the Visitor Center throughout the year. Seasonal public services include orientation talks in the museum rooms and at the summit of Scotts Bluff; evening illustrated talks in the museum courtyard; and guided hikes over the Oregon Trail and over the Summit-Museum Trail. Free informational literature and sales publications of special historical interest, and signs, markers, and wayside exhibits are available throughout the year.

During the 1930’s, a paved road 1.7 miles in length, requiring three tunnel excavations, was built from the monument headquarters area to the summit, to enhance visitor appreciation of the bluff’s scenic and historic values. The road leads to a 50-car parking area on top. At the Summit Road entrance gate, adjoining the Visitor Center, cars are welcomed by a uniformed ranger. There is a fee collected here for use of the Summit Road, which is open daily except when weather conditions make driving hazardous.

The summit area is several acres in extent. Surfaced trails reach the principal overlooks. The main trail proceeds north from the area to the High Point of the bluff (4,649 feet above sea level), then meanders to the Observation Point above the north face of the bluff. At the foot of the bluff are the scenic badlands and the North Platte River, while the historic North Platte Valley stretches to the horizon east and west. An orientation map and bronze indicators will enable you to trace the route of the Oregon and Mormon Trails through this valley, and to determine the direction of the following points of interest: Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock, Castle Rock, Rebecca Winters’ Grave; Agate Springs Fossil Quarries, Fort Mitchell, Fort Laramie, and Laramie Peak.

A trail south from the parking area will enable you to reach a point overlooking the Visitor Center, Mitchell Pass, and the beginning loop of the Summit Road. Beyond Dome Rock is Gering Valley, through which was the Robidoux Pass route of the Oregon Trail.

A feature of the monument which affords extra scenic and inspirational benefit is a 1.6-mile-long trail extending from the summit to the headquarters area via a series of zig-zags and ledges, a foot tunnel, and “Scott’s Spring.” Not only does this trail afford superb scenic views of the bluff, it enables you to examine at close hand the successive rock strata that comprise the bluff, and to walk through varyingly vegetated slopes and fields. Descent of the bluff on foot by this trail is a popular activity. There are those who arrange to have someone in their party drive the car back down to the headquarters area, while others make the round trip by foot.

Visitors on the Oregon Trail west of Mitchell Pass.

The section between the steep bluff and the river is characterized by a tortuous labyrinth of steep-sided gullies known as “badlands.” The badlands area is of historical interest since it was the impassability of this ground that forced the earliest emigrants on the trail to detour away from the river, first through Robidoux Pass, and later through Mitchell Pass. The badlands are also of exceptional geologic interest as an example of rapid erosion in soft rock beds of comparatively uniform composition. There is a natural bridge in one of the ravines. The area is of special interest paleontologically because of the wealth of Oligocene fossils to be found there. A graveled road within the monument boundaries follows the Gering Canal through the badlands area. This can be reached via the road to Scotts Bluff Country Club, at the east foot of the bluff.

The area within the monument south of State Route 86, including Dome Rock and the South Bluff, is unimproved and no improvements are planned. This is a relatively unspoiled area of considerable scenic value, abounding in features of geological and botanical interest. You are free to ascend South Bluff or roam on foot through this area on either side of Mitchell Pass; however, no fires or overnight camps are permitted. Rough clothing and stout footgear are recommended. Climbing of Dome Rock is extremely perilous, and is discouraged because of the crumbly nature of the Brule clay formation that makes up its steep walls.

Nearby Chimney Rock National Historic Site is preserved by cooperative agreement between the Department of the Interior, the Nebraska State Historical Society, and the City of Bayard, Nebr. Included in the National Park System are these other areas commemorating phases of early western history: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, Mo.; Homestead National Monument, Nebr.; Fort Laramie National Monument, Wyo.; Grand Teton National Park, Wyo.; and Whitman National Monument, Wash.

Scotts Bluff National Monument was carved out of the public domain by Presidential proclamation on December 12, 1919, and contains more than 5 square miles. A superintendent, whose address is Box 136, Gering, Nebr., is in immediate charge.

Chittenden, Hiram M.,American Fur Trade of the Far West. 2 vols. Rufus Rockwell Wilson, Inc., New York, 1936.

Driggs, Howard R.,Westward America(with reproductions of watercolor paintings by William H. Jackson). Somerset Books, Inc., New York, 1942.

Federal Writers’ Project,The Oregon Trail. Hastings House, New York, 1939.

Ghent, W. J.,The Road to Oregon. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1929.

Hulbert, Archer B.,Forty-Niners, the Chronicle of the California Trail. Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., New York, 1931.

Jackson, Joseph H., ed.,Gold Rush Album. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1949.

Mattes, Merrill J., “A History of Old Fort Mitchell.”Nebraska History, XXIV, 71-82 (Apr.-June 1943).

— — —, “Hiram Scott, Fur Trader.”Nebraska History, XXVI, 127-162 (July-Sept. 1945).

— — —, “Robidoux’s Trading Post at ‘Scott’s Bluffs,’ and the California Gold Rush.”Nebraska History, XXX, 95-138 (June 1949).

— — —, “Fort Mitchell, Scotts Bluff, Nebraska Territory.”Nebraska History, XXXIII, 1-34 (Mar. 1952).

— — —, “Chimney Rock on the Oregon Trail.”Nebraska History, XXXVI, 1-26 (Mar. 1955).

Monaghan, Jay,The Overland Trail. The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1947.

Olson, James C.,History of Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1955.

Paden, Irene D.,The Wake of the Prairie Schooner. The MacMillan Co., New York, 1943.

Parkman, Francis,The Oregon Trail. Langhart and Co., Inc., New York, 1931.

Rollins, Phillip A., ed.,Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart’s Narratives. Edward Eberstadt and Sons, New York, 1935.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1961 OF—584508

(Price lists of National Park Service publications may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C.)

Pony Express rider.

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