Arkansas Tooth-Pick
"The prairie traveler is not particular about toilet: the easiest dress is a dark flannel shirt, worn over the normal article ; no braces—I say it, despite Mr. Galton—but broad leather belt…
Prairie Medicine
"Captain Marcy outfits his prairie traveler with a 'little blue mass, quinine, opium, and some cathartic medicine put up in doses for adults.' I limited myself to the opium, which is invaluable when…
Trailside Graves
"A grave placed below on a small circular rising ground at a bend of Echo Canon struck me perhaps more: wistfully one reads these records of the dead; one may people the castles…
Trailside Messages
"The bones of buffalo whiten the roadside, and their bleached skulls serve in a double way as records of the passers-by. Many are the names and bulletins pencilled on them; and by continually…
Buffalo Chips
" . . . our fires henceforth during several weeks were entirely of buffalo-chips, which are thickly strewn over any pasture on which you care to camp, and in a quarter of an…
Emigrant Camp
" . . . you can always tell the camping-place of an emigrant train, there are the remains of so many small fires; those of other trains are fewer and larger; we never…
Platte Water
"[T]ravelers found that, at times, it was necessary to sink headless barrels in the river bed to get water. Captain Howard Stansbury found 'innumerable' small wells dug in the sand…
Mile 753: Fort Laramie Milestone
"Fort Laramie marked the end of the High Plains, the beginning of the long upgrade haul to the Rocky Mountains. It was the end of the line for the sick,…
Cow Column
"The 'cow column,' the first migration to Oregon, consisting of near 1,000 persons, passed by [Fort Laramie] in 1843. Thereafter, the white-topped emigrant wagons became a familiar sight in May…
Mile 655: Chimney Rock Landmark
"Chimney Rock was the most famous of all the landmarks on the Great Platte Road. This is not idle rhetoric. . . . Chimney Rock is mentioned of described in…
Ash Hollow
"While Ash Hollow was renowned among California-bound emigrants for its springs, its spectacular entrances, and its sylvan charm, it is best remembered today as a place of tragedy and terror.…
Crossings of the South Platte
Prior to 1859, there were three crossings of the South Platte. "These were commonly known as the Lower, Middle, and Upper crossings (or fords). Their respective locations would be roughly…
Ranches, Stations, and Posts along the Platte
"Prior to 1859 scattered references are found to fly-by-night trading establishments along the Platte and the North Platte, usually in portable tents or tipis operated by squaw men. Robidoux's several…
Settlements in the Platte River valley
"The news from Pike's Peak in 1858 precipitated plans for ranches along the Platte to accommodate the new wave of gold-seekers. There is evidence of a start on such establishments,…
Prairie Fires
"The real menace to the precious grass [in the Platte valley], aside from drouth, was the disastrous prairie fire. . . . According to John Wyeth it was the Indian…