Last updated: July 22, 2024
Place
"Choices" 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 to the right of the paved Oregon Trail Pathway facing towards 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 on the left two-thirds of the wayside. Below the text in this same section are images of trade items (rings, rowels, metal dangles, and beads) found at the site of the Robidoux Trading Post. The upper right hand side of the panel features a map of the Oregon/California Trail routes near Scotts Bluff. The lower right hand side features an image of a gentle pass in the prairie known as Robidoux Pass.
Wayside Title: Choices
Text: What route would you take? Wagon trains that arrived at Scotts Bluff had a choice to make. Although they wanted to stay close to the North Platte River, the bluffs were in the way. Traveling through the badlands next to the river was impossible for wagons. Before 1851 the ravines on the west side of the bluffs prevented wagons from going though the notch ahead of you. They could cross the river to the north side. That meant braving the water current and quicksand. Or they could take Robidoux Pass to the south and make a long detour.
Robidoux Pass received its name from two brothers who built a trading post on the trail. A nearby spring of good water; a blacksmith available for repairs and the chance to buy or trade for needed items helped make this a decent route to travel.
In 1850 soldiers from Fort Laramie or traders in competition with Robidoux created a one-wagon wide trail through the ravines. The new route brought them back to the river eight miles before the old one. Emigrants started to take advantage of the shorter route back to the river in the 1851 travel season.
Visit Robidoux Pass and see if you think it would be a better route.
Quote: From the 1851 diary of William C. Lobenstine
"We approached Scotch Bluffs ...The rock itself is separated nearly at its middle, having a pass here about fifty to sixty feet wide, ascending at both sides perpendicular to a height of three hundred to four hundred feet. The passage through here was only made possible in 1851 and is now preferred by nearly all the emigrants, cutting off a piece of eight miles from the old road."
Image: Trade goods pictured include five metal rings, two rowels (the circular spikes that are part of a boot spur), beaded necklaces, and four metal dangles.
Image Caption: The covered wagon trade lasted for only one and a half months each year. Trade with the American Indians was a year round business. Credit: Rings, rowels, metal dangles and beads found at the Robidoux Trading Post site, Scotts Bluff National Monument Collection.
Image: A map showing the North Platte River on the top, and outline of bluffs on the bottom, and the different routes that the Oregon Trail took through the area.
Image Caption: The map above shows the choice of routes around the bluffs that the wagon trains had beginning in 1851. Credit: NPS
Image: A gentle grassy pass between bluffs.
Image Caption: Robidoux Pass as it looks today. Although the route was out of the way, it was gentler than Mitchell Pass. Credit: NPS
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 on the left two-thirds of the wayside. Below the text in this same section are images of trade items (rings, rowels, metal dangles, and beads) found at the site of the Robidoux Trading Post. The upper right hand side of the panel features a map of the Oregon/California Trail routes near Scotts Bluff. The lower right hand side features an image of a gentle pass in the prairie known as Robidoux Pass.
Wayside Title: Choices
Text: What route would you take? Wagon trains that arrived at Scotts Bluff had a choice to make. Although they wanted to stay close to the North Platte River, the bluffs were in the way. Traveling through the badlands next to the river was impossible for wagons. Before 1851 the ravines on the west side of the bluffs prevented wagons from going though the notch ahead of you. They could cross the river to the north side. That meant braving the water current and quicksand. Or they could take Robidoux Pass to the south and make a long detour.
Robidoux Pass received its name from two brothers who built a trading post on the trail. A nearby spring of good water; a blacksmith available for repairs and the chance to buy or trade for needed items helped make this a decent route to travel.
In 1850 soldiers from Fort Laramie or traders in competition with Robidoux created a one-wagon wide trail through the ravines. The new route brought them back to the river eight miles before the old one. Emigrants started to take advantage of the shorter route back to the river in the 1851 travel season.
Visit Robidoux Pass and see if you think it would be a better route.
Quote: From the 1851 diary of William C. Lobenstine
"We approached Scotch Bluffs ...The rock itself is separated nearly at its middle, having a pass here about fifty to sixty feet wide, ascending at both sides perpendicular to a height of three hundred to four hundred feet. The passage through here was only made possible in 1851 and is now preferred by nearly all the emigrants, cutting off a piece of eight miles from the old road."
Image: Trade goods pictured include five metal rings, two rowels (the circular spikes that are part of a boot spur), beaded necklaces, and four metal dangles.
Image Caption: The covered wagon trade lasted for only one and a half months each year. Trade with the American Indians was a year round business. Credit: Rings, rowels, metal dangles and beads found at the Robidoux Trading Post site, Scotts Bluff National Monument Collection.
Image: A map showing the North Platte River on the top, and outline of bluffs on the bottom, and the different routes that the Oregon Trail took through the area.
Image Caption: The map above shows the choice of routes around the bluffs that the wagon trains had beginning in 1851. Credit: NPS
Image: A gentle grassy pass between bluffs.
Image Caption: Robidoux Pass as it looks today. Although the route was out of the way, it was gentler than Mitchell Pass. Credit: NPS
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Emigrant Trails
Stop 8 on the Scotts Bluff National Monument Oregon Trail Pathway Audio Tour
- Credit / Author:
- Audio Recording by Ray Richards
- Date created:
- 07/22/2024