After leaving Ash Hollow Alonzo wrote in his diary on Aug. 23rd, “We have seen no Indians yet although in the midst of the Sioux country. The reason is that the spring emigrants were sick with the cholera etc. The Indians also had the cholera and a great many died and frightened the rest from the river and road so they stand aloof from the emigrants from fear of sickness.”
Silas Richards - "(Aug) 25 morning fair & cool; passed over Cobble hills & by Ancient Bluff Ruins the country being dry & sterile, no good grass. today encamped on the bank of the river about 5 o clock, in the midst of a thundershower, having traveled 10 miles. middle part of the day very warm and hard on teams."
Those traveling the Mormon Trail saw some sights that those traveling the Oregon Trail, on the south side of the North Platte River, didn’t see. Thirty-one miles west of Ash Hollow a line of bluffs called Cobble Hills begins to change the landscape from sand to gravely limestone. By climbing to the top of these cliffs one was supposed to be able to see Chimney Rock in the distance. A series of rock “monuments” were landmarks along this trail from Ash Hollow to Scotts Bluff and beyond.
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A few miles farther another landmark, Castle Bluffs, marks the trail. Originally referred to as the “Ancient Bluff Ruins,” they were named by English pioneers who thought they resembled ruined castles in England. The Emigrant’s Guide warns, “Visitors must be cautious on account of the many rattle-snakes lurking round and concealed in the clefts of the bluffs.”
Court House Rock, composed of Brule Clay and Gering Sandstone and first noticed by explorer Robert Stuart in 1812, became another of the landmarks, on the south side of the North Platte River, for early fur traders, gold seekers, and Mormon emigrants. On August 27th Alonzo noted it, “One portion of the bluffs is known as the Court House from the fact that it has the appearance of an old dilapidated mansion.” The smaller rock to the left became known as Jail Rock.
I fully intended to visit the “Court House” but heavy rain deterred my camera and me.
On August 28th they finally reached the noted landmark. Alonzo recorded his impressions, “Noon halt opposite the celebrated Chimney Rock. We turned our teams out to graze and we started across the river to see one of the wonders of the western world. It truly is. A great natural curiosity it is about 400 feet high from the ground. I climbed up about halfway and carved my name on this great natural curiosity. I also cut my name on a stone and deposited for the inspection of the traveler. There are a great many names there already, but they will soon become obliterated. This monument stands as a beacon to the traveler. Chimney Rock’s appearance is like a very large haystack 200 feet high with a spire about 180 feet high still on the top about 20X30 feet square.”
Others judged it to be 260 feet high. Today’s estimate for the height of Chimney Rock, from tip to base is 325 feet, after 160 years of erosion. The spire itself is 120 feet.
William Clayton, author of The Emigrant’s Guide, thought it looked like “the large factory chimneys of England.”
Silas Richards, in his journal, doesn’t mention Chimney Rock, but he’d been this way before and as captain of the Mormon group was responsible for an entire wagon train—more important concerns than fascinating rock formations.
Courtesy of the William Henry Jackson collection, Scott’s Bluff National Monument
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