The Oregon Trail Journal

June 19 – After breakfast, I went for an early morning walk in downtown Gering, Nebraska. I photographed bells in front of us bank, the City of Gering gate, and the Gering Courier Clock (Waymark Code: WM1T6M).

I located and photographed Benchmark: MN0274 at the north entrance to the Scotts Bluff courthouse in the concrete step on the west side of the door. It was a standard disk, stamped Gering 1934.

We traveled to Lingle, Wyoming where we visited the Western History Center. It is a small museum that focuses on the natural and human history of eastern Wyoming. I was the most interested in the items pertaining to the Oregon Trail.

We traveled to Fort Laramie. I was quite disappointed as I thought we would see the fort as the trappers/emigrants saw it – a large, 1840s wood, then adobe structure – not the later military fort. The Fort Laramie was a popular stop on the Oregon Trail. Here the emigrants gathered to rest, repair their wagons, replenish supplies, and talk with their fellow travelers. After a long trip on the muddy Platte River, emigrants welcomed the chance to bathe and wash clothes in the clear Laramie River. Abandoned in 1890, the fort is now a National Historic Site. We watched an orientation film and saw exhibits in the visitor center. I walked around taking photographs. We had a picnic lunch under shady cottonwoods.

We traveled to Register Cliff. This popular emigrant campsite was about a day’s travel west of Fort Laramie. Rising 100 feet beside the North Platte River, the sandstone cliff is covered with the names and dates of people who passed through the area on their way to Oregon or other points west. Unfortunately, many old signatures have disappeared – eroded away or covered over by later signatures.

We traveled to Guernsey where we walked in some of the best ruts on the Oregon Trail made by hundreds and hundreds of wagons in the soft sandstone. The ruts are nearly five feet deep in some places!

At the base of Deep Rut Hill, perched above the Platte River, is the improved gravesite of Lucindy (Lucinda) Rollins (Waymark Code: WM1T6W). Rollins, who may have started her journey in Dayton, Ohio, died here in June 1849. She was probably heading for California. Her cause of death is unknown. The existing obelisk was erected in 1934 by the Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming and "dedicated to the pioneer women of Wyoming." The original headstone was placed behind glass in a niche in the obelisk. Unfortunately, many years ago, the monument was vandalized and the headstone removed. (It was supposedly thrown into the river.) Vandalism continues to threaten this site.

We visited Ayres Natural Bridge State Park. It sits about a mile south of the Oregon Trail. However, some emigrants went out of their way to see it. It is a very peaceful place by enormous red rock formations, leafy shade trees, and crystal clear LaPrele Creek. It remains the only natural bridge with a stream running under it in the United States.

At the Best Western Ramkota Hotel in Casper, Wyoming I had problems with the room. We had dinner at JB’s. I walked back to the hotel. The others visited Fort Caspar, an accurate recreation of the original. I was exhausted and needed to write in my journal before I went to bed.