_Page_ EARLY EXPLORATION OF THE GREAT PLAINS 1 FIRST WHITE MEN AT SCOTTS BLUFF 3 REDISCOVERY OF THE CENTRAL OVERLAND ROUTE 4 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FUR TRADE 6 THE TRAGEDY OF SCOTTS BLUFF 7 THE FIRST WAGONS 11 TRADERS, MISSIONARIES, AND ADVENTURERS 13 MIGRATION TO OREGON 16 YEARS OF DECISION, 1846-48 19 SCOTTS BLUFF AND THE FORTY-NINERS 20 OREGON-CALIFORNIA TRAIL GEOGRAPHY AT SCOTTS BLUFF 25 GOLD RUSH TRADING POSTS AT SCOTTS BLUFF 33 COMING OF THE BULLWHACKERS 38 SCOTTS BLUFF—THE ARTISTIC RECORD 41 PONY EXPRESS TO IRON HORSE, 1860-69 42 WARFARE ON THE PLAINS 46 HUNTERS, MINERS, COWBOYS, AND HOMESTEADERS 52 NATURAL HISTORY OF SCOTTS BLUFF 55 PREHISTORY OF THE SCOTTS BLUFF REGION 58 GUIDE TO THE AREA 60 RELATED AREAS 63 ADMINISTRATION 63 SUGGESTED READINGS 64 [Illustration: _Scotts Bluff Visitor Center._ Courtesy, Christian Studio, Gering, Nebr.] [Illustration: Ox yoke.] SCOTTS BLUFF _was a celebrated landmark on the great North Platte Valley trunkline of “the Oregon Trail,” the traditional route of overland migration to Oregon, California, and Utah. Today the massive castellated bluff looks down upon concrete highways, railways, airports, irrigated farms, and bustling communities of the mid-20th century; but it is the same awe-inspiring sentinel which 100 years ago watched the passage of countless trains of ox-drawn covered wagons, and the twinkling of many campfires. Scotts Bluff National Monument keeps alive the epic story of our ancestors who dared cross the wilderness of plains and mountains to plant the western stars in the American flag._