TO ASH HOLLOW PUMPKIN CREEK JAIL ROCK COURTHOUSE ROCK 4100 NORTHPORT BRIDGEPORT CHIMNEY ROCK 4242 BAYARD McGREW CASTLE ROCK 4473 MINATARE MELBETA MITCHELL PASS GERING 3902 SCOTTS BLUFF 4862 SCOTTSBLUFF SOUTH BLUFF Fort Mitchell MITCHELL SOUTH MITCHELL MORRILL ROBIDOUX PASS WILD CAT HILLS GERING VALLEY HELVAS CANYON Fort John American Fur Trading Post 1850-53 CARTER CANYON Robidoux Second Trading Post 1850-51 Robidoux First Trading Post 1849-50 American Fur Co. First Post VIEW TOWARDS LARAMIE PEAK SIGNAL BUTTE 4563 BALD PEAK 4420 TO FORT LARAMIE, 50 MILES Horse Creek Crossing APRIL 1958 NM-SB-7009
The Celinda Himes diary of 1853, describing abandoned log structures, indicates the occasional use of Robidoux Pass in later years. The Helen Carpenter journal of 1856, freely quoted in Paden Wake Of the Prairie Schooner, clearly describes the fork in the road east of Scotts Bluff, but indicates that most people now took “the river road” through Mitchell Pass. She vividly describes also the sheer walls of Mitchell Pass, the excellent view to be had from the “summit” of the pass, the many inscriptions in the clay (long since vanished), and a soldier’s grave on the side of the bluff.
To summarize, Robidoux Pass, 8 miles west of monument headquarters, was used by the Forty-niners and most of those who preceded them, including the fur traders, the emigrants to Oregon, Francis Parkman, Kearny’s Dragoons, and the regiment of mounted riflemen under Maj. Winslow F. Sanderson who in 1849 rode to take over Fort Laramie. Robidoux Pass has historical primacy as “the first Scott’s Bluffs Pass.” On the other hand, “the second Scott’s Bluffs Pass,” now known as Mitchell Pass, was used by 150,000 or more emigrants, soldiers, and freighters of the 1850’s and 1860’s. And it was also the scene of the overland stage, the Pony Express, and the first transcontinental telegraph. Honors are about equally divided.
Gold Rush Trading Posts at Scotts Bluff
The big climax years for Robidoux Pass were 1849-51. A surprisingly large number of emigrant journals for these years have survived and most of them devote a lot of attention to (1) the magnificent scenery of Scotts Bluff, (2) the unusually fine springs and ample firewood here, (3) the view from the crest of the pass toward Laramie Peak (then sometimes called “the Black Hills,” and frequently mistaken for the Rocky Mountains), and (4) Robidoux’s log cabin blacksmith shop and trading post, and its colorful inhabitants.
Again, recent research, involving journals, Government records, and interviews with Indian descendants, has uncovered facts concerning the Robidoux establishment which have long been wrapped in obscurity. In 1849 emigrant J. Goldsborough Bruff noted “a cool clear spring and brook” in the deep gulch around which the wagons had to detour. “Close by is a group of Indian lodges and tents, surrounding a log cabin, where you can buy whisky for $5 per gallon; and look at the beautiful squaws, of the traders.”
Another illuminating description is that given by Captain Stansbury on his westward trip of 1849:
SCOTTS BLUFF
NATIONAL MONUMENT
NEBRASKA APRIL 1958 NM-SB-7008
