further the Sioux reservation, the swift events which culminated in 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.
_Hunters, Miners, Cowboys, and Homesteaders_
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.
[Illustration: _Hunting buffalo at Scotts Bluff._ Original sketch in
Oregon Trail Museum.]
[Illustration: _Loading buffalo bones at Scotts Bluff._ Original
sketch in Oregon Trail Museum.]
[Illustration: _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 by long 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.
[Illustration: _Badlands at the foot of Scotts Bluff's north face._
Courtesy, Union Pacific Railroad.]
_Natural History of Scotts Bluff_
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.
_Elevations._
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.
_Geology._
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.
_Paleontology._
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 a
_Titanothere_, 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-like
_Oreodonts_ ancient forms of rhinoceroses, saber-toothed tigers, dogs,
deer, camels, and rodents. The horse family is represented here by
_Mesohippus_, a three-toed creature about 18 inches in height.
_Plantlife._
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 pear cactus. The dominant grasses are blue grama,
side-oats grama, buffalo-grass, slender and western wheatgrasses, and
woolly sedge.
_Wildlife_.
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.
[Illustration: _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.
_Prehistory of the Scotts Bluff Region_
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:
_Signal Butte._
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.
_Scotts Bluff Bison Quarry._
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.
_Spanish Diggings._
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.
_Scotts Bluff Potato Cellar Site._
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.
[Illustration: _Yucca in bloom at the summit of Scotts Bluff._]
_Ash Hollow Cave._
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 horses and 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.
_Guide to the Area_
_Location of the Monument._
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.
_Trans-Monument Road._
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.
_Mitchell Pass Area._
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.
_Visitor Center._
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.
_Scotts Bluff Summit Road and Summit Area._
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.
_Summit-Museum 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.
[Illustration: _Visitors on the Oregon Trail west of Mitchell
Pass._]
_Badlands Area._
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.
_South Bluff Wild Area._
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.
_Related Areas_
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.
_Administration_
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.
_Suggested Readings_
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
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES