August 19, One third the way there

This is a gorge caused by the rut of the wagon trains in Ash Hollow, NE. They are about 15 feet deep. This was called Windlass Hill and at the top was a sign that said one emmigrant wrote that this was so steep, it was more than perpendicular. A sign said that legend has it that they used winches to get the wagons down, but that there is no written evidence that that was ever done here.

This type sign was everyplace we went today. Needless to say, I stayed on the trails!

These are more of the ruts left by the wagons. It is unbelievable that they can still be seen 160 years later. There are cattle grazing in these fields with the ruts.

This Indian head dress was about 7 feet long from the tip of the top feathers to the floor. Really impressive. This was at the Chimney Rock interpretive center.

This is Chimney Rock, one of the most written about in diaries, of the places seen. It can be seen from 20-30 miles away. The ground all around it is pretty level so it stands by itself. This was considered to be 1/3 the way to Oregon.

This is Jailhouse Rock on the left and Courthouse Rock on the right. These are about 20 miles from Chimney Rock. These are not part of a state or federal agency so you can drive up to them and walk all around them. We did that, but always staying on the path. Ha, ha!

Several of the emmigrants carved their names on the stone which is a soft sandstone. Most of those have eroded over the years.


This post is late again because of a wifi that didn't work very well. One thing we noticed driving through central and west Nebraska were flies everywhere and all the time. There are so many feed lots where they keep the cattle penned and feed them to fatten them that it draws flies. I had forgotten how it was when I was growing up on the farm. They also have much more corn growing than we thought they had. It is very dry here and all the fields are irrigated. Another thing noticeable are the hedgerows. We noticed this several years ago when we went through and they are still here. In Indiana, all the farmers cut them down so they could farm more acres.

I forgot to mention yesterday that one of the volunteers at the Bailey Rail Yard said that the Union Pacific company is going to start laying concrete ties on the tracks. They won't have to replace them as frequently as the wood ties.

As we got into the panhandle of Nebraska the houses are 5 or more miles apart. Also the land has a lot more sand in it and less growing on it where there is no irrigation. We are definitely in the high plains. The wind has blown every day that we have been here. There are the old type windmills all over the fields. It appears that some of them still work.