Last updated: October 27, 2021
Place
"Before the Wagons" Wayside
NPS/ Walker Donnelly
Quick Facts
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
Description of Wayside: Low-profile wayside that is 42 x 24 inches. It has a black rectangular base with two rectangular pillars supporting the wayside panel. The panel is framed in black metal. The wayside is located at the southend of the South Overlook Trail, overlooking the visitor center complex and Mitchell Pass, a gap between two sandstone bluffs.
Wayside Layout: At the top of the wayside is a thin black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is "Scotts Bluff National Monument". Aligned to the right is the text "National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior," and finally the National Park Service arrowhead. The title of the wayside is below the black banner in large black font. The panel has a cream-colored background. Black text is arranged in three columns in the upper half of the wayside. There re two images below the text.
Wayside Title: Before the Wagons
Wayside Text: The bluffs as a landmark and lookout.
It was a treeless expanse. Floods and lightning caused grass fires killed seedlings that tried to grow on the plains. Mixed tall and short grasses grew on the prairie around the bluffs, perfect grazing for the bison and elk that lived here. Only on top of the bluffs were trees able to grow.
To the first people of this area, it was not barren. There was life everywhere. Along with game to hunt, there were fish in the river. Many of the plants had multiple uses including the yucca, prickly pear, chokecherry, sunflower, wild onion and wild licorice. The land was bountiful and appreciated.
Wildlife, including bear, antelope, praiie wolves, coyotes and the all-important bison, roamed the area. What better spot to scout the location of the herds than from the top of the bluff?
The first recorded sighting of the bluffs was by a party of men from John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Companyheaded east from Oregon in 1812. On Christmas Day, Robert Stuart wrote: "The hills on the south have lately approached the river, are remarkably rugged and Bluffy, and possess a few Cedars." The first white men did not leave much of a mark on the prairie. There were few fur traders and they traveled across the plains quickly.
What did your home look like before modern houses and landscaping changed it?
Image: A watercolor painting of Scotts Bluff Circa 1837. In the foreground men are seen on horseback.
Image Caption: In 1837 Alfred Jacob Miller traveled to the fur trade rendezvous in Wyoming and stopped to sketch Scotts Bluff. Later he turned the sketch into a watercolor painting. Credit: ALfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810-1874), Scotts Bluffs Near the Nebraska, ca. 1837, watercolor on paper, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, Museum purchase, 1988.10.17
Image: Scotts Bluff is seen in the background. In the foreground are power lines, industrial buildings and homes.
Image Caption: Modern day Scotts Bluff from the same angle as the Miller painting. The photo shows how the plains around the bluff have changed, but the bluff is remarkably similar to what the first white men saw. Credit: NPS Photo.
Wayside Layout: At the top of the wayside is a thin black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is "Scotts Bluff National Monument". Aligned to the right is the text "National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior," and finally the National Park Service arrowhead. The title of the wayside is below the black banner in large black font. The panel has a cream-colored background. Black text is arranged in three columns in the upper half of the wayside. There re two images below the text.
Wayside Title: Before the Wagons
Wayside Text: The bluffs as a landmark and lookout.
It was a treeless expanse. Floods and lightning caused grass fires killed seedlings that tried to grow on the plains. Mixed tall and short grasses grew on the prairie around the bluffs, perfect grazing for the bison and elk that lived here. Only on top of the bluffs were trees able to grow.
To the first people of this area, it was not barren. There was life everywhere. Along with game to hunt, there were fish in the river. Many of the plants had multiple uses including the yucca, prickly pear, chokecherry, sunflower, wild onion and wild licorice. The land was bountiful and appreciated.
Wildlife, including bear, antelope, praiie wolves, coyotes and the all-important bison, roamed the area. What better spot to scout the location of the herds than from the top of the bluff?
The first recorded sighting of the bluffs was by a party of men from John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Companyheaded east from Oregon in 1812. On Christmas Day, Robert Stuart wrote: "The hills on the south have lately approached the river, are remarkably rugged and Bluffy, and possess a few Cedars." The first white men did not leave much of a mark on the prairie. There were few fur traders and they traveled across the plains quickly.
What did your home look like before modern houses and landscaping changed it?
Image: A watercolor painting of Scotts Bluff Circa 1837. In the foreground men are seen on horseback.
Image Caption: In 1837 Alfred Jacob Miller traveled to the fur trade rendezvous in Wyoming and stopped to sketch Scotts Bluff. Later he turned the sketch into a watercolor painting. Credit: ALfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810-1874), Scotts Bluffs Near the Nebraska, ca. 1837, watercolor on paper, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, Museum purchase, 1988.10.17
Image: Scotts Bluff is seen in the background. In the foreground are power lines, industrial buildings and homes.
Image Caption: Modern day Scotts Bluff from the same angle as the Miller painting. The photo shows how the plains around the bluff have changed, but the bluff is remarkably similar to what the first white men saw. Credit: NPS Photo.