The Oregon Trail Journal

June 16 – We boarded the bus at 7:30 am to travel to Alcove Spring. Alcove Spring (Waymark Code: WM1RQQ), located near Marysville and Blue Rapids, Kansas, has been called the most significant historic site on the Oregon Trail. Emigrants typically arrived here in the late spring and often had to camp several days to wait for the Big Blue River’s early season runoff to subside so they could safely ford a quarter mile away. This popular campsite was mentioned in many emigrant journals, noting the cold, clear rushing water, tall native grasses, and beautiful wildflowers blooming in profusion near the spring. There are many carvings on the ledge of the waterfall and rocks in the surrounding area. The mosquitoes were huge and persistent.

Nearby was the memorial gravestone of Sarah Handley Keyes (b. 1776), mother-in-law of James Frazier Reed, later a Donner Party survivor. She was 70 years old, blind and deaf and also suffered from consumption. She was traveling west in hopes of rejoining her son, Robert Cadden Keyes, but she died on May 29, 1846 and was buried at Alcove Spring. The exact location of her grave is unknown. A marker commemorates her journey: “God in his love and charity has called in this beautiful valley a pioneer mother.”

We traveled to Hollenberg Ranch, Kansas which is set on a prairie miles from the nearest town. Hollenberg Ranch is a seven-acre state park and national historic landmark. It was initially built in 1857 as a waystation for the countless emigrants on the Oregon and California trails. Emigrants relied on the ranch for meals, lodging, food, clothing, and livestock. At the Visitor Center I saw a large mural depicting travel on the Oregon Trail by Charles Goslin. The locals served as models for the artist. We ate a picnic lunch at long, shaded picnic tables overlooking the Cottonwood Creek valley.

We crossed the state line into Nebraska. The Platte River accompanied the emigrants most of their way across what is now Nebraska. But to reach the Platte River, the emigrants stayed close to the Little Blue River, moving northwest.

We visited Rock Creek - State Historical Park (Waymark Code: WM1RRG), Nebraska where I saw an Oregon Trail Rut or Swale carved by the many covered wagons that traveled the Oregon Trail, covered wagon replicas, and an Osage orange tree hedge. The deep depression ran downhill, more or less north to south. So many wagons, people and animals traveled the trail that the grass was killed. The soil was ground down to fine powder, which the wind blew away or rain washed to the bottom of the hill. That erosion created this large trail rut or swale.

Rock Creek was a popular camping spot for trappers, traders, and emigrants. Although Rock Creek’s steep-sloped crossing was difficult, the area offered good spring drinking water, wild game for food, wood for fuel, and grass for grazing. Among the most notable early visitors to the area were John Charles Fremont and his scout, Kit Carson, who camped nearby on June 22, 1842.

We visited the Heritage Center at Homestead National Monument near Beatrice, Nebraska. A film introduced the park and the homestead history. From Rock Creek the Oregon Trail cut northwest to the Platte River, meeting it near Fort Kearny. We stayed the night at Best Western Kearney Inn, Nebraska.