hands of marauding Indians was negligible. The Diggers along the
Humboldt River in Nevada accounted for some stragglers; the Plains
Indians were a bit thievish but peaceful--for a time, at least. True, at
nights the wagons were arranged in a circular compound and guards were
posted; but an Indian attack on the emigrants Hollywood style, was a
rarity.
Although visions of an Indian raid served as a healthy influence on
emigrant vigilance, daily preoccupation with the necessities of life was
a more pressing concern. There were three primary needs--food, grazing,
and good campsites. Although some of the better organized companies had
ample provisions, many others miscalculated and suffered accordingly.
True, buffalo, antelope, and other game were hunted; but the wildlife
was frightened by the endless, noisy, dusty column, and the hunters who
galloped forth with romantic notions of a dashing buffalo hunt often
came back empty-handed.
The ideal campsite would boast a good spring and a generous supply of
timber for campfires and the repair of wagon gear. There were a few such
campsites--Scotts Bluff with its springs and its ponderosa pine and
cedars was one of the best--but these soon suffered from the pressure of
converging crowds. Clear springs were muddied, the sparse groves of
timber were chopped away, and the grass vanished from overgrazing or
withered in the summer sun.
[Illustration: _In camp at Chimney Rock._ Original sketch in Oregon
Trail Museum.]
The emigrant guidebooks--Hastings, Fremont, Joseph Ware, and
others--were usually adequate as a rough index to the whereabouts of
obvious landmarks and choice campsites, but they were deficient in sound
advice to the tenderfoot. It wasn't always possible to reach a good
campsite, and then one had to camp out on the prairie, conserving the
precious water supply and eating a cold supper. Smart emigrants learned
the old trappers' practice of gathering _bois du vache_ (dried buffalo
dung) to make an acrid but usable campfire.
A typical wagon train with all its encumbrances, plus quicksand, mud,
creek crossings, and other difficulties of terrain, could make but 15 to
20 miles per day over the level plains. In rough mountain country,
progress was even slower; and there had to be frequent halts to rest
worn-out, emaciated stock and to mend faulty gear. Thus it took perhaps
4 months for a train to reach a California gold camp. (Starting on May
15, the crest of the migration wave would pass Scotts Bluff about mid
June.) Some were later still, and had to be rescued from early snows of
the Sierras. A disconsolate few would spend the winter at Fort Laramie
or Salt Lake City.
Wherever and whenever they arrived, the Forty-niners were in scarecrow
condition with few worldly possessions. Stoves, anvils, plows,
furniture, and hardware of every description were thrown overboard from
prairie schooners to ease the strain on the animals. Often this
sacrifice was in vain; dead horses and oxen, littered the road to
California gold.
How many Forty-niners? The population of California increased some
40,000 in 1849; it is estimated that 15,000 sailed around Cape Horn or
made sailing connections at Panama; of 30,000 who went overland, perhaps
5,000 died en route. In seven succeeding years, 1850-56, the California
gold rush was resumed each spring. No official census was possible, but
a register kept at Fort Laramie helps to estimate that during the period
150,000 people journeyed overland westward. The peak year was 1852, when
an estimated 50,000 emigrants poured through Scotts Bluff Pass.
_Oregon-California Trail Geography at Scotts Bluff_
Today the hills of the North Platte Valley are not accounted among the
scenic wonders of the United States; in Oregon Trail days, to emigrants
who had been bored with the flatness and drabness of the Platte scenery,
and who would be too exhausted later to appreciate the grandeur of the
Rocky Mountains, the landmarks along the Platte had a captivating charm.
Courthouse Rock and Chimney Rock were the appetizers; Scotts Bluff was
the grand climax.
A typical journal entry of 1849 is that of Alonzo Delano:
June 9: The wind blew cold and unpleasant as we left our pretty
encampment this morning for Scott's Bluff, a few miles beyond. The
bare hills and water-worn rocks on our left began to assume many
fantastic shapes, and after raising a gentle elevation, a most
extraordinary sight presented itself to our view. A basin-shaped
valley, bounded by high rocky hills, lay before us, perhaps twelve
miles in length, by six or eight broad. The perpendicular sides of the
mountains presented the appearance of castles, forts, towers,
verandas, and chimneys, with a blending of Asiatic and European
architecture, and it required an effort to believe that we were not in
the vicinity of some ancient and deserted town. It seemed as if the
wand of a magician had passed over a city, and like that in the
Arabian Nights, had converted all living things to stone.
Recent research has cleared up long-standing confusion about the
geography of the Oregon-California Trail in the vicinity of Scotts
Bluff. Today Scotts Bluff is understood to mean the large bluff within
the national monument, between the river badlands and Mitchell Pass,
which separates it from a ridge extending westward at a right angle;
about 10 miles south of the river, parallel to this ridge, lies the
Wildcat Hills, which extend for over 25 miles, from Chimney Rock to
Robidoux Pass (see map). Because of this modern nomenclature, some
historians have misunderstood the emigrant diaries, failing to realize
that in Oregon Trail days Scotts Bluff, frequently spelled "Scott's
Bluffs," commonly referred to all these hills, including the Wildcat
Hills. William Kelly, above-mentioned, showed remarkable acumen in
likening the outline of Scotts Bluff to a shepherd's crook, with the
present Wildcat Hills as the straight staff and present Scotts Bluff as
the flair at the end of the crook.
Similarly, the identity of the pass at Scotts Bluff has frequently been
misunderstood. In historic times there were actually two different
passes here. The first, which would be at the bow of the shepherd's
crook, is now called Robidoux Pass, and this was predominantly used
during the period up to and including 1849. In October 1850, Government
explorer Capt. Howard Stansbury, returning from Salt Lake, reported the
first evidence of wagon wheels through the gap now called Mitchell Pass.
Explanation for the splitting of the Oregon-California Trail at Scotts
Bluff lies in its peculiar topography. The main bluff lays like a giant
whale across the valley floor, blocking the way, with impenetrable
badlands between it and the river. Although the existence of Mitchell
Pass was, of course, known prior to 1850, it was little used because of
its rugged badlands character. Travel via Robidoux Pass involved a wide
swing away from the river, beginning at a point west of present Melbeta
and proceeding down present Gering Valley, south of Dome Rock. In T. H.
Jefferson's _Map of the Emigrant Road_, it is called Karante Valley.
Emigrant John Brown in 1849 noted that "14 miles from Chimney Rock the
road [to Robidoux Pass] leaves the river.... [It] lies through one of
the finest valleys I ever saw and is decidedly the best twenty miles of
road we have travelled." Maj. Osborne Cross, leading a company of
mounted riflemen to Fort Laramie, described the ascent to Robidoux Pass
as "_the first high hill_ since leaving Fort Leavenworth. This is partly
covered with cedar, which was the first we had met on the march."
[Illustration: "_Camp at Scott's Bluffs._" From The Old Journey.
Contemporary sketch by Alfred Lambourne.]
[Illustration: _Mitchell Pass looking west._ Courtesy, Downey's
Midwest Studio. Scottsbluff, Nebr.]
It is suspected that the U. S. Army Quartermaster from Fort Laramie was
the first to take wagons through Mitchell Pass, possibly doing a little
engineering to widen the passage and ease the grade. Later emigrants,
finding wagon tracks now going toward Mitchell Pass, readily switched to
the new route. The two branches came together once more east of Horse
Creek.
During the summer migration of 1850, equal in volume to that of 1849,
the Robidoux Pass route up Gering Valley was still favored. Bennett
Clark refers to his "encampment within a semicircle of high bluffs,
which rise abruptly from the river's edge and sweep around rain-bow
like." To Franklin Street this camp at Scotts Bluff was "one of the most
delightful places that nature ever formed." To Thomas Woodward, "Every
place seems like a fairy vision. It is no use trying to describe [Scotts
Bluff] for language cannot do it." To Mormon emigrant Leander V. Loomis
the view of the bluffs from the north side of the river was "highly
beautiful, almost approaching the sublime." His journal contains this
delectable entry of May 30:
This morning there arose a heavy clowd between us and Scotts Bluff,
which hid it entirely from view, and as it rolled away Showing first
its lofty peak, which ascended Some 300 feet in the air, and which was
covered with Small Pine or cedar trees, the scene was highly Novel,
and no less beautiful we could see as it were, standing upon a clowd,
a huge rock, covered with small trees, and as the clowd would rise and
fall, it presented mutch the appearance of a Theater, the trees
presented the appearance of the actors, the Rock, of the Stage--the
clowd of the curtain, and nature itself was the tragedy they were
Acting, each one playing there parts to perfection.
In 1851 use between the two passes was perhaps equally divided. William
C. Lobenstine writes:
... We approached the Scotch Bluffs [sic], which we saw the evening
before golden in the light of the setting sun, and our whole attention
was attracted by the grandeur of the former, still more beautiful
country. The appearance of these sand hills, although from far off
like solid rock, has a very accurate resemblance to a fortification or
stronghold of the feudal barons of the middle age, of which many a
reminder is yet to be met with along the bank of the Rhine. The rock
itself is separated nearly at its middle, having a pass here about
fifty to sixty feet wide, ascending at both sides perpendicular to a
height of three to four hundred feet. The passage through here was
only made possible in 1851 and is now preferred by nearly all the
emigrants, cutting off a piece of eight miles from the old road. We
passed through without any difficulty and after having passed another
blacksmith shop and trading post, which are very numerous, protection
being secured to them by the military down at Fort Laramie, we
encamped for the night.
[Illustration: "_Scott's Bluffs._" From Richard Burton's City of the
Saints, 1860.]
With the migration of 1852, the historical spotlight permanently shifted
to Mitchell Pass. During the early fifties the California migration
reached its peak; the charms of Scotts Bluff and the peculiarities of
the new pass were not lost on the new crop of journalists.
It was in 1852, apparently, that the little-used name "Capitol Hills"
was first applied to Scotts Bluff by Hosea Horn and other guidebook
writers. The origin of this name is suggested in the Sexton diary of
June 10:
Made our noon halt opposite Scott's Bluff, altogether the most
symmetrical in form and the most stupendous in size of any we have
seen. One of them is close in its resemblance to the dome of the
Capitol in Washington.
There is a pass through that is guarded on one side by Sugar Loaf
Rock, on the other by one that resembles a square house with an
observatory. It is certainly the most magnificent thing I ever saw.
In the _National Wagon Road_, a guidebook by W. Wadsworth based on a
trip of 1852, Scotts Bluff is one of the three major landmarks described
on the whole California Road: "Here is some of the most beautiful and
picturesque scenery upon the whole route." Wadsworth labels the Scotts
Bluff of today as "Convent Rock." In 1853 Frederick Piercy made a
remarkable sketch of the bluffs, with buffalo-hunters in the foreground.
He referred to these bluffs as "certainly the most remarkable sight I
have seen since I left England."
[Illustration: THE OREGON TRAIL]
OREGON TRAIL
ST. JOSEPH
KANSAS CITY
MARYSVILLE
OGALLALA
LOWER CALIFORNIA CROSSING
JULESBURG
SCOTTS BLUFF
FORT LARAMIE
INDEPENDENCE ROCK
_SWEETWATER_
SOUTH PASS
FORT BRIDGER
SODA SPRINGS
FORT HALL
_SNAKE RIVER_
FORT BOISE
LA GRANDE
FORT WALLA WALLA
WHITMAN MISSION
_COLUMBIA RIVER_
THE DALLES
FORT VANCOUVER
OREGON CITY
ASTORIA
LEWIS AND CLARK
ST. LOUIS
_MISSOURI RIVER_
_YELLOWSTONE RIVER_
_COLUMBIA RIVER_
CALIFORNIA ROAD
SODA SPRINGS
_HUMBOLDT RIVER_
LAKE TAHOE
DONNER PASS
PLACERVILLE
SUTTERS FORT
SAN FRANCISCO
BOZEMAN TRAIL
FORT LARAMIE
VIRGINIA CITY
MORMON TRAIL
NAUVOO
COUNCIL BLUFFS
OMAHA
GRAND ISLAND
FORT KEARNEY
...
FORT BRIDGER
SALT LAKE CITY
_VIRGIN RIVER_
(to LOS ANGELES)
SANTA FE TRAIL
ST. LOUIS
INDEPENDENCE
COUNCIL GROVE
BENT'S FORT
_PURGATOIRE_
_CIMARRON CUT-OFF_
SANTA FE
OLD SPANISH TRAIL
SANTA FE
_VIRGIN RIVER_
(to LOS ANGELES)
Note: For modern names not shown see your automobile maps.
APRIL 1958 NB 7007
[Illustration: THE OREGON TRAIL NEAR SCOTTS BLUFF
ROBIDOUX AND MITCHELL PASS ROUTES]
_TO ASH HOLLOW_
_PUMPKIN CREEK_
JAIL ROCK
COURTHOUSE ROCK 4100
NORTHPORT
BRIDGEPORT
CHIMNEY ROCK 4242
BAYARD
McGREW
CASTLE ROCK 4473
MINATARE
MELBETA
MITCHELL PASS
GERING 3902
SCOTTS BLUFF 4862
SCOTTSBLUFF
SOUTH BLUFF
Fort Mitchell
MITCHELL
SOUTH MITCHELL
MORRILL
ROBIDOUX PASS
WILD CAT HILLS
_GERING VALLEY_
_HELVAS CANYON_
Fort John American Fur Trading Post 1850-53
_CARTER CANYON_
Robidoux Second Trading Post 1850-51
Robidoux First Trading Post 1849-50
American Fur Co. First Post
_VIEW TOWARDS LARAMIE PEAK_
SIGNAL BUTTE 4563
BALD PEAK 4420
_TO FORT LARAMIE, 50 MILES_
Horse Creek Crossing
APRIL 1958 NM-SB-7009
The Celinda Himes diary of 1853, describing abandoned log structures,
indicates the occasional use of Robidoux Pass in later years. The Helen
Carpenter journal of 1856, freely quoted in Paden _Wake Of the Prairie
Schooner_, clearly describes the fork in the road east of Scotts Bluff,
but indicates that most people now took "the river road" through
Mitchell Pass. She vividly describes also the sheer walls of Mitchell
Pass, the excellent view to be had from the "summit" of the pass, the
many inscriptions in the clay (long since vanished), and a soldier's
grave on the side of the bluff.
To summarize, Robidoux Pass, 8 miles west of monument headquarters, was
used by the Forty-niners and most of those who preceded them, including
the fur traders, the emigrants to Oregon, Francis Parkman, Kearny's
Dragoons, and the regiment of mounted riflemen under Maj. Winslow F.
Sanderson who in 1849 rode to take over Fort Laramie. Robidoux Pass has
historical primacy as "the first Scott's Bluffs Pass." On the other
hand, "the second Scott's Bluffs Pass," now known as Mitchell Pass, was
used by 150,000 or more emigrants, soldiers, and freighters of the
1850's and 1860's. And it was also the scene of the overland stage, the
Pony Express, and the first transcontinental telegraph. Honors are about
equally divided.
_Gold Rush Trading Posts at Scotts Bluff_
The big climax years for Robidoux Pass were 1849-51. A surprisingly
large number of emigrant journals for these years have survived and most
of them devote a lot of attention to (1) the magnificent scenery of
Scotts Bluff, (2) the unusually fine springs and ample firewood here,
(3) the view from the crest of the pass toward Laramie Peak (then
sometimes called "the Black Hills," and frequently mistaken for the
Rocky Mountains), and (4) Robidoux's log cabin blacksmith shop and
trading post, and its colorful inhabitants.
Again, recent research, involving journals, Government records, and
interviews with Indian descendants, has uncovered facts concerning the
Robidoux establishment which have long been wrapped in obscurity. In
1849 emigrant J. Goldsborough Bruff noted "a cool clear spring and
brook" in the deep gulch around which the wagons had to detour. "Close
by is a group of Indian lodges and tents, surrounding a log cabin, where
you can buy whisky for $5 per gallon; and look at the _beautiful_
squaws, of the traders."
Another illuminating description is that given by Captain Stansbury on
his westward trip of 1849:
[Illustration: SCOTTS BLUFF
NATIONAL MONUMENT
NEBRASKA
APRIL 1958 NM-SB-7008]
[Illustration: _Robidoux's second trading post at "Scott's Bluffs."_
Sketch by Möllhausen, 1851.]
... Three miles from the Chimney Rock, the road gradually leaves the
river for the purpose of passing behind Scott's Bluff, a point where a
spur from the main ridge comes so close to the river as to leave no
room for the passage of teams. There was no water between these two
points, a distance of more than twenty miles, and we were consequently
obliged to go on until nine o'clock, when we encamped at the bluff, on
a small run near a delicious spring, after having been in the saddle
sixteen hours without food, and travelled thirty-one and a-half miles.
The march was a severe one upon the animals, as they were in harness,
after the noon halt, for seven successive hours, without water. The
afternoon was oppressively hot, and the gnats and musquitoes almost
insufferable. There is a temporary blacksmith's shop here, established
for the benefit of the emigrants, but especially for that of the
owner, who lives in an Indian lodge, and had erected a log shanty by
the roadside, in one end of which was the blacksmith's forge, and in
the other a grog-shop and sort of grocery. The stock of this
establishment consisted principally of such articles as the owner had
purchased from the emigrants at a great sacrifice and sold to others
at as great a profit. Among other things, an excellent double wagon
was pointed out to me, which he had purchased for seventy-five cents.
The blacksmith's shop was an equally profitable concern; as, when the
smith was indisposed to work himself, he rented the use of shop and
tools for the modest price of seventy-five cents an hour, and it was
not until after waiting for several hours that I could get the
privilege of shoeing two of the horses, even at that price, the forge
having been in constant use by the emigrants. Scott's Bluff, according
to our measurement, is five hundred and ninety-six miles from Fort
Leavenworth, two hundred and eighty-five from Fort Kearny, and
fifty-one from Fort Laramie.
[Illustration: _Historical objects from site of Robidoux's trading
post._ Collection in Oregon Trail Museum.]
Others wryly note the shrewdness of this makeshift proprietor, Robidoux.
Various journalists refer to two or more "Frenchmen" and their squaws,
and an indefinite number of children. In 1850 James Bennett found here
"an encampment of near a 100 Sioux Indians" (relatives, no doubt!). In
1851 Father De Smet, returning from the Horse Creek Treaty Council,
baptized Robidoux's half-breed children.
In 1851, Robidoux, feeling somewhat overrun by the emigrant hordes,
retired to a secluded canyon about a mile southeast of the original
location. The appearance of this second trading post has been
providentially preserved in a sketch by the German traveler, Frederick
Möllhausen. The site of this post has been identified in present Carter
Canyon.
Who was Robidoux? Although all the facts are not fully established, it
appears that he was Joseph E. Robidoux, oldest son of the Joseph
Robidoux who founded St. Joseph, Mo.; and that the other "Frenchman"
seen there was his uncle, Antoine Robidoux, who earlier achieved
pioneering fame in Utah and California. The younger Joseph is an elusive
figure. He may well have been the Robidoux who led the first American
Fur Company contingent by Scotts Bluff, in 1830, and who was seen at
Fort Laramie in 1846 by Parkman.
What became of Robidoux? Although reported to have died accidentally at
Scotts Bluff, no grave has been identified. There is evidence that he
returned to the Great Nemaha Indian Agency, in northeastern Kansas, in
the late fifties, and died there in obscurity. There are many half-breed
"Robidouxes" on Indian reservations in South Dakota who have identified
the Scotts Bluff Robidoux as their ancestor.
Modern research has revealed another fact long lost sight of. Robidoux's
trading post was not the only one in this neighborhood during the gold
rush. It has now been definitely established that, in the summer of
1849, after they sold adobe-walled Fort John (Fort Laramie) to the U. S.
Government, officials of the American Fur Company removed to Scotts
Bluff. Contrary to a long-held erroneous impression, their new post was
not located near Mitchell Pass (there never was a trading post near
there); it was first located tentatively in Robidoux Pass, within a few
hundred yards of Robidoux's blacksmith shop. Then, for reasons which can
only be surmised, it was moved to a point 6 miles below Robidoux's and 8
miles south of Mitchell Pass, in present Helvas Canyon. In
correspondence of the fur company it was identified as "Fort John,
Scott's Bluffs."
This post, being off the main trail, did not rate much notice by
travelers, compared with the attention given to Robidoux, but there are
occasional references. In 1850 James Bennett states that about 7 miles
below Robidoux's there was a trading post "3 miles to our left, where we
could see a herd of cattle grazing." Sgt. Percival G. Lowe of the
Dragoons, in 1850, reports that "we turned south and camped near a
trading post belonging to Major Dripps."
Andrew Drips, the "mountain man" who had guided De Smet up this way in
1840, was later replaced by Joseph Papin of St. Louis, who died and was
buried here. His grave and the outlines of the second "Fort John" have
been identified. It is not known just when this place was abandoned.
However, when the main artery of traffic definitely moved from Robidoux
to Mitchell Pass, in 1852, "Fort John" and Robidoux's post both
doubtless "withered on the vine," in the manner of a modern-day filling
station which is by-passed by a new highway.
Collections of historical objects found on the surface of the sites of
Robidoux's two posts and "Fort John, Scott's Bluffs" are preserved in
the Oregon Trail Museum. Beads, pendants, danglers, belts, buttons,
medallions, coins, traps, bar lead, bullet molds, and other objects
testify to the variety of activities conducted at these stations.
Although long consigned to oblivion, these primitive commercial
establishments were the true beginnings of private enterprise in the
Scotts Bluff area.
_Coming of the Bullwhackers_
The Grattan massacre of 1854 and retaliation by Harney's forces in 1855
were prologues to the inevitable showdown with the Plains Indians
discussed later. New posts were built, garrisons were strengthened, and
expeditions were launched. In 1857 troops had to be sent to Utah to
quell the rebellious Mormons; at the same time the Cheyennes staged an
outbreak. It became necessary for the Government to move huge quantities
of equipment and provisions westward up the Platte Valley, and the
freighting contractors came into the picture. Notable among these was
the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell of Kansas City (old Westport).
The army freight moved in huge Conestoga wagons drawn by 6 to 8 teams of
oxen. A new profession arose known as "bullwhacker" and we can well
imagine the bedlam that accompanied the passage of a "bulltrain" or the
process of yoking up the bellowing animals in the morning after the
nightly encampment in the wagon compound. The experience of taking a
bulltrain through Mitchell Pass is vividly described by T. S. Kenderdine
in 1858: