Chimney Rock

I won't say that today was a total wash-out, but it did rain most of the day and it was cold, in the 40s. We stayed inside doing trip planning until late this afternoon when the rain paused and we drove the 25 miles south to Chimney Rock.

Visible to wagon trains from several days away, Chimney Rock was the most noted landmark along the Oregon Trail. Rising 470 feet above the North Platte River Valley, Chimney Rock is the most celebrated of all natural formations along the overland routes to California, Oregon, and Utah. Chimney Rock served as an early landmark for fur traders, trappers, and mountain men as they made their way from the Rockies to the Missouri River. To later emigrants, the solitary spire marked the end of plains travel and the beginning of the rugged mountain portion of their journey. Scotts Bluff is  almost an additional two days travel, by wagon.

It was after 5 o'clock when we arrived at the Visitor Center, which was closed.

Love that the warning is in German, French, Spanish and Chinese. We thought we wouldn't have to worry about the rattlers since it was so cold today.

We parked in the Visitor Center parking lot and walked down the road and around a cattle pasture to find a trail out to the rock that Frederick had seen on Google Earth. He had also seen this cemetery, the inscription reads - "During the Westward migration through this pass many died as they looked for a better life."

On May 27, 1847, Brigham Young led the first of many Mormon Pioneers past Scotts Bluff to their new home in the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah territory. Interestingly, the Mormons followed the north bank of the Platte from the Missouri River to Fort Laramie 50 miles west of Scotts Bluff, to keep separate from the "Gentiles" who used the south bank of the Platte. At Laramie, the Oregon and Mormon Trails merged. In the Chimney Rock Cemetery is this marker for Mary Murray Murdoch, "Wee Granny", Born Scotland Oct. 13, 1782, Died near Chimney Rock Neb. Oct. 2, 1856, "Tell John I died with my face toward Zion". 

Many of the Mormon emigrants came from England and Scotland. They were so poor they couldn't afford wagons or draft animals and used carts that they pushed by hand. 

This is as close as we cared to get to the monument. You might notice that there if a line at about the center of the picture, that is where a small valley begins and with the rain it was very slippery. 

The official state marker for Chimney Rock on the Oregon Trail.