Personal Narrative: My Trip To The South Platte River

I start my trip from the location of frenzied outfitting activity throughout the 1840s and early 1850s, Independence (Missouri) was the jumping-off point for the Santa Fe and Oregon trails. The town includes several historic buildings, monuments and Independence Spring. As the place of convergence of early routes from the Mississippi Valley, this square was the last significant point of supply until the mid-1840s, when Westport also became an outfitting town. When I visited Independence in 1846, I found, "a great Babel of African slaves, indolent dark-skinned Spaniards, profane and dust-laden bullwhackers going to and from Santa Fe with their immense wagons, and emigrant families bound for the Pacific, all cheerful and intent on their embarkation …show more content…
California Hill, encountered immediately after crossing the South Platte, was the first major grade faced by the emigrants and me. This necessitated a climb of 240 feet in just over 1½ miles in order to reach the plateau between the North and South Platte Rivers. Imposing trail ruts are still plainly visible most of the way up the hill. Courthouse Rock was first noted by Robert Stuart in 1812 and quickly became one of the guiding landmarks for fur traders and emigrants. It is a massive monolith of Brule clay and Gering sandstone south of the trail, which was variously likened to a courthouse or a castle. A smaller feature just to the east was called the Jail House or Jail Rock. Courthouse Rock was the first of several impressive natural landmarks along the trail in western Nebraska. In November of 1841, I saw "A singular natural formation, known as the Court House, or McFarlan's Castle . . . rises in an abrupt quadrangular form, to a height of three or four hundred feet, and covers an area of two hundred yards in length by one hundred and fifty broad. Occupying a perfectly level site in an open prairie, it stands as the proud palace of Solitude, amid here boundless domains. Its position commands a view of the country for forty miles around and meets the eye of the traveler for several successive days, in journeying up the Platte. At this site (chimney Rock), where the trail i was forced away from the river and crossed a ridge of soft sandstone, the track is worn to a depth of five feet, creating some of the most spectacular ruts remaining along the entire length of the Oregon-California Trail. The geography of the area dictated that practically every wagon that went west crossed the ridge in exactly the same place, with impressive results. The natural fountains at "Beer Springs" were rightfully