Ox-drawn wagons carried freight here in the 1860'a and 70's
After the great migrations of settlers and goldseekers passed here in the 1840's and 50's, the Oregon Trail remained an important communications and supply route. Wagon trains hauled provisions to Ft. Laramie and other army posts west of here. The heavy wagons were pulled by teams of oxen prodded along by trail-hardened men known as "bullwackers."William Henry Jackson, later a renowned frontier artist and photographer, trudged West as a bullwacker at the age of 23. Jackson and his bull train camped at this site in 1866 during a six-month journey from Nebraska City to Salt Lake City. From sketches made here, Jackson later produced this painting of Mitchell Pass. Other Jackson paintings of scenes along the Oregon Trail are on display at the Visitor Center. "Bullwhacking is an art not to be learned in a week or a month . . . Only a cunning hand can make an 18-foot whip crack out like a rifle shot - or cut a notch in a lagging bull's hind quarter."| HM Number | HM1MYM |
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| Tags | |
| Placed By | National Park Service |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Sunday, August 16th, 2015 at 9:01pm PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 13T E 606928 N 4631965 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 41.83236667, -103.71225000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 41° 49.942', W 103° 42.735' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 41° 49' 56.52" N, 103° 42' 44.1" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 308 |
| Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling West |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near Old Oregon Trail, Gering NE 69341, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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