Scotts Bluff National Monument Landscape

The views from the south overlook to the Main Complex, South Bluff, and the Oregon Trail remain as designed in 1958.

NPS

Introduction

Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering, Nebraska, contains approximately 3,000 acres of land and several sandstone bluffs that average 800 feet tall. Pioneers embarking on the great westward migration from 1843-1869 welcomed the sight of the rock formations rising from the otherwise flat Great Plains. In addition to offering visual reprieve from the homogenous landscape, Scotts Bluff provided a source for physical resources, including water and wood. Pacific Fur Company traders first documented the existence of Scotts Bluff in 1812 while establishing a route from the east to the company trading post in Astoria, Oregon. Around 1850, the route, by then a component of the Oregon Trail, moved closer to the North Platte River through the bluffs at Mitchell Pass. The California and Mormon Trails, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Telegraph also utilized this route.

A road through Mitchell Pass, between Sentinel Rock (left) and Eagle Rock (right).

NPS / Scotts Bluff National Monument Cultural Landscape Report

After the establishment of Scotts Bluff National Monument in 1919, development occurred under a series of federal programs. Starting during the Great Depression in 1933, employees hired under the Civilian Works Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and later the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the site, such as the addition of visitor and administrative facilities. The period of significance related to the Monument’s development ended in 1958 with the completion of the last construction campaign under Mission 66. The Mission 66 program sought to improve and expand facilities and services offered at National Park Service sites over a 10 year period in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the National Park Service.

Landscape Description

The North Platte River forms the Scotts Bluff National Monument’s northern border while Highway 92 intersects the area to roughly follow the historic route of the Oregon Trail. Highway 92 runs between two large bluffs: Scotts Bluff and South Bluff. Other natural rock formations include Eagle Rock, Sentinel Rock, and Dome Rock. Wooded vegetation occurs along the bluffs while mixed prairie grasses, shrubs, and forbs define the plains below.

Oregon-California Interpretive Trail on Oregon Trail rut alignment looking east, 2009.

NPS

Several features associated with the period of westward migration contribute to the site's historic identity. These include the natural landscape features, as well as the extant view sheds, Union Pacific railroad, and the Oregon Trail ruts. The appearance of the ruts vary within the Monument—some sections lack definition while others contain two-track ruts or wide troughs.

Visitor center after 1937 addition, June 1939.

NPS / Scotts Bluff National Monument archives

A larger portion of built features contribute to the Monument’s second period of significance from 1933 to 1958 during its development as a commemorative site. These include: the visitor center, comfort station, maintenance shop, amphitheater, residences, and courtyards. Other improvements made to the site during the development period increased accessibility, such as the construction of Summit Road, vehicular tunnels, trails, and parking lots.

Historic Use

Many different Native American cultural groups have utilized the area around Scotts Bluff for the past 12,000 years. The earliest group, Paleoindian peoples, likely hunted megafauna in the area.

In 1812, Robert Stuart, an employee of John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company, was the first Euroamerican to document the rock formations at Scotts Bluff. Another individual involved in the fur trade, Hiram Scott, died in 1828 under mysterious circumstances near the eponymous bluffs. Early explorers, trappers, and traders traveled through Scotts Bluff and helped establish the route for later travelers to the west. These groups included missionaries, military officials, pioneers, and individuals fleeing religious persecution. Early emigrants traveling via wagon train used Robidoux Pass, which avoided the badlands near the Platte River and instead followed a route about eight miles south of Scotts Bluff. Starting in 1850, the popularity of Robidoux Pass declined in favor for Mitchell Pass, which ran closer to the river. Unidentified laborers altered the pass to allow safe wagon travel. Mitchell Pass became part of not only the Oregon Trail, but also the Overland Trail, Pony Express, and transcontinental telegraph.

By the 20th century, travel on the Oregon Trail had declined considerably after the competition of the Transcontinental Railroad. The Union Pacific railroad, completed in 1910, crosses the northern section of the Monument. Around this time, homesteaders and cattle ranchers settled in the region and altered land use patterns.

View of Scotts Bluff National Monument from Dome Rock in 1933

NPS, Scotts Bluff National Memorial archives

Summit Road Construction in 1936

NPS

In order to recognize and preserve the remaining features associated with the Oregon Trail, President Woodrow Wilson established a national monument on December 12, 1919 under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Local leaders and volunteers undertook initial management and few changes were made to the site. During the 1930s and 1940s, federally funded employment programs augmented development. The original design for development prioritized the aesthetics of the natural landscape by specifying building materials to blend in with it, such as adobe brick, stucco, and wood.

In 1933, the National Park Service and Civilian Conservation Corps oversaw construction on the Summit Road, tunnels, Saddle Rock Trail, and parking areas. In 1935, the first wing of the Oregon Trail Museum was completed. Mission 66 improvements followed the established design of the 1930s and 1940s.

Scotts Bluff National Monument was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Two years later, U.S. Congress designated the Oregon Trail as a National Historic Trail. Today, the Scotts Bluff landscape remains a tangible reminder of our nation’s past, including its use by Native American peoples and association with the great westward migration. In more contemporary history, Scotts Bluff also remains historically significant for the additions to the site completed under federal work programs.

View of Scotts Bluff National Monument landscape from Dome Rock in 2015.

NPS

Quick Facts

• Landscape Type: Historic Designed Landscape, Historic Site
• National Register Significance Level: National
• National Register Significance Criteria: A, C
• Period(s) of Significance: 1,930 BP-370 BP to 1958, 1933-1958

Landscape Links

• Scotts Bluff National Monument Cultural Landscape Report and Environmental Assessment
• Library of Congress: Scotts Bluff Summit Road, Historic American Engineering Record
• NPS National Historic Trails
• More about NPS Cultural Landscapes

Left image
Oregon Trail Museum/Visitor Center during construction in 1937.
Credit: NPS

Right image
The same Visitor Center at Scotts Bluff National Monument in 2014.
Credit: NPS

During the arduous, four-year task of constructing the Summit Road, the first permanent buildings associated with the National Park Service were erected at Scotts Bluff.  A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was established at the monument in 1935 and was soon filled with enrollees. The CCC began manufacturing thousands of adobe brick to build the Oregon Trail Center (designated simply as the Visitor Center by 1956). 

The museum was constructed in three stages. The central portion was constructed in 1935. The tower and Paleontology wing, depicted in the image, was begun in 1937 and completed the following year. The final stage was the Jackson wing, completed in 1948.

The stucco clad Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture constructed by the CCC during the New Deal era was subsequently mimicked during later building campaigns at Scotts Bluff National Monument. During the Mission 66 campaign, a federally sponsored program that ushered in the modern streamlined visitor center, Scotts Bluff continued to use the architectural style established during the New Deal.