Mile 1119: Simpson’s Hollow and Simpson’s Gulch
"One other landmark caught our attention on the trek toward Green River—the graves in the stretch of river bank where the coulee of Simpson Hollow opens out to the Big…
Mile 1088-1094: Dry Creek to Parting of the Ways
"From Pacific Creek the modern road parallels the trail to Dry Sandy Creek. This disappointing watercourse is ordinarily all that its name implies; but we, like the Forty-niners, were regarding…
Mile 1075: South Pass
"It is all part and parcel of the unsatisfactory nomenclature of the trail that South Pass is by no means to the south. The descriptive title was first used by…
Mile 1020: Icy Slough
"The road continually crossed and recrossed the conspicuous ruts left by the caravans which at this point had saved weary miles by cutting off a bend in the river. Men…
Mile 996: Split Rock
"Once we stopped on the indefinite summit of a foothill swell to look our last at Split Rock, one of the less known trail landmarks. From this distance, it was…
Mile 975: Martin’s Cove
"This modest marker, labeled 'Martin's Cove,' indicated a little recess in the hills here in 1856 an unfortunate company of Mormons were caught by early snows and suffered from exposure…
Mile 975: Devil’s Gate
"The route . . . lay along the southwest bank of the Sweetwater for some five miles after leaving the rock [from Independence Rock]. Here [the emigrants] must negotiate a…
Mile 969: Independence Rock
"Like the emigrants, we approached the rock from the east side—a lusty monolith, a mile in circumference, and seemingly one solid piece of gray granite. No wonder that this tremulous…
Mile 946: Willow Springs
"In time [the emigrants] passed. out of the poison-spring region, went over a snappy ridge, and came to Willow Springs at a distance of twenty-six miles from the ferry. In…
Mile 937: Rock Avenue
"We left Poison Spider about the middle of the morning, heading for the next landmark, Rock Avenue. It proved satisfyingly true to its advanced advertising—a hideous stretch of deformed rock…
Mile 917: Upper of Mormon Ferry
"Twenty-eight miles from /Deer Creek was the Upper or Mormon Ferry on the North Platte, near modern Casper. The eaarliest travelers found it, of course, in a state of nature…
Protecting Oxens’ Feet
"[In the Black Hills of Wyoming], Lydia Waters wrote: ' The hoofs of the cattle became so worn they had to be shod. Now the amateur blacksmiths had to show…
Mile 841-878: La Bonte to Box Elder Station
"[We] headed for the succession of creeks which the pioneers had crossed in the next three days' journey. The first was Wagonhound [near Mile 844]. Few knew the name, but…
Mile 804-841: Horseshoe Creek to La Bonte
"From Horseshoe Creek to La Bonte (sometimes called Big Timber Creek) was fifteen and a half miles by the Mormon's roadameter. The casual estimate was two to three miles longer,…
Mile 804: Horseshoe Creek
"That portion of the Platte Valley into which the wagons dropped after leaving the Bitter Cottonwood was a common stretch on the two roads south of the river and afforded…