Unexpected bonus

Making our way to Minnesota, we just planned to drive across Nebraska on I-80. We had been on this road many times in the past, and thought there was nothing more to see. It turned out we were wrong.

I-80 essentially follows much of the route of the early pioneers that left the eastern US and settled the west. The Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Pony Express Trail, and at times the California Trail all wound their way along the corridor that now is home to I-80. Near the town of Scottsbluff Nebraska, we found the Scotts Bluff National Monument. Woodrow Wilson proclaimed on December 12, 1919 that Scottsbluff be designated a National Monument. Its 100^th anniversary is this year, along with that of Grand Canyon National Park.

Scotts Bluff was a vortex for all the trails heading west. The manageable passes combined with the water of the Platt River assured the hordes moving west that they would have some more hospitable experiences. Also, the high rocky features of Scotts Bluff would be essentially a highway sign for the travelers helping them find the right way to their destination.

In all the written journals and diaries of westward pioneers, Scotts Bluff is the second most written of geologic feature and signpost. There is only one geologic feature that is written of more than Scotts Bluff, and that is of Chimney Rock. Being only about 20 miles from Scotts Bluff, we headed to Chimney Rock. We understood that this formation looks nearly identical to how it looked to the early pioneers and settlers. It’s weird to think that we are looking at the same geologic formation that those who settled the west saw.

We caught a bit of a side story while we were here. We have visited many historic sites dedicated to particular people or families that braved the conditions to settle the west. Many of those stories don’t end that well for the heroes. That to would be the case for Rebecca Winters. Rebecca was born January 16, 1799 in New York. Rebecca and her husband Hiram felt the persecution of Mormons in the east and decided to head west with throngs of other Mormons in 1852. 

In their journey they reached the Chimney Rock area of the Mormon Trail. On August 13 1852, she became sick with cholera, which was not at all uncommon along the trail. At the time cholera was fairly common along the trail. They did not know at the time, but it was likely caused by drinking contaminated ground water. Her death on August 15 would have likely gone unnoted as many others except that William Fletcher Reynolds, a family friend, carved her name into an iron wagon wheel rim and marked the site for us to see still today.

Talk to you soon.