Audio
MItchell Pass
Transcript
In 1843 Scotts Bluff witnessed its first mass migration as the emigrant families went west in search of better lives. In the early years there were few guidebooks or accurate maps available. Emigrants hired fur traders guides or used landmarks like the Scotts Bluff to guide them westward.
Here at the start of Mitchell Pass families lined up to take their turn through the bottleneck pass. To the south is Sentinel Rock, to the north is Eagle Rock. Prior to 1851, Robidoux Pass, located about eight miles to the South was favored. Emigrants likely knew of Mitchell Pass but found it rough and unimproved until approximately 1851. It’s thought that soldiers from nearby Fort Laramie made the improvements to Mitchell Pass to shorten their supply routes.
As you continue hiking you will notice the paved trail has ended and a new path is now dirt. The dirt section represents an original segment of the historic trails. Besides the Oregon Trail, three other trails converged along what many historians refer to as the Great Platte River Road. These are the California, Mormon, and the Pony Express trails. Depending on the weather you may experience this segment much like an emigrant traveler did, under oppressive heat of the sun, against winds you must lean into to keep upright, or in ankle deep mud that threatens to engulf your shoes.
In this segment many people expect to find two track wagon ruts. You won’t see ruts at Scotts Bluff National Monument, but rather a swale, which is a large bowl-shaped indention in the ground. Here the trails were carved through sandstone and siltstone both of which easily weather and erode in wind and the rain. This bowl shape is wide at the beginning of the segment and narrows as you continue through the pass.
Continue along the trail to your next stop, the distance between these two stops is a little longer than what you have experienced along the trail so far. When the trail surface becomes paved again you are just about to your next stop where you will be paralleling the historic trails.
Description
Stop 10 of the Oregon Trail Pathway Audio Tour
Credit
Audio recording by Ray Richards
Date Created
07/22/2024
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