We went to the Oregon Trail today and to Scotts Bluff. Just a bit of history. The Bluff was named after Hiram Scott, a fur trapper from Missouri. He got sick during an expedition going towards the west and his friends left him at the bluff. When they returned a year later the only thing they found was his bones, so they named the bluff after him. This was the passage the wagon trains going to Oregon and California and other westward trips took to get over the mountains in this area. The pass is called Mitchell Pass and it is located between two bluffs that the wagons had to pass through in order to continue their journey. After the US Army arrived and built a Fort near the bluff they also improved the pass and that is when the area got a lot more traffic from the wagon trains going west. The Pony Express also used the pass to get through to deliver the mail to the west. OK, so that is all the stuff I remember from visiting the area today.
Tomorrow we will visit Chimney Rock, which is another area travelers used to navigate through while traveling west. These land marks were the only way the travelers new that they were in the correct areas. Other travelers would give them directions that they use to get through. They did not have Google Maps in those days, if you younger people are wondering. We are going to visit some other Forts around the area (about 50 miles away) tomorrow also.
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