Recent research has cleared up long-standing confusion about the geography of the Oregon-California Trail in the vicinity of Scotts Bluff. Today Scotts Bluff is understood to mean the large bluff within the national monument, between the river badlands and Mitchell Pass, which separates it from a ridge extending westward at a right angle; about 10 miles south of the river, parallel to this ridge, lies the Wildcat Hills, which extend for over 25 miles, from Chimney Rock to Robidoux Pass (see map). Because of this modern nomenclature, some historians have misunderstood the emigrant diaries, failing to realize that in Oregon Trail days Scotts Bluff, frequently spelled “Scott’s Bluffs,” commonly referred to all these hills, including the Wildcat Hills. William Kelly, above-mentioned, showed remarkable acumen in likening the outline of Scotts Bluff to a shepherd’s crook, with the present Wildcat Hills as the straight staff and present Scotts Bluff as the flair at the end of the crook. Similarly, the identity of the pass at Scotts Bluff has frequently been misunderstood. In historic times there were actually two different passes here. The first, which would be at the bow of the shepherd’s crook, is now called Robidoux Pass, and this was predominantly used during the period up to and including 1849. In October 1850, Government explorer Capt. Howard Stansbury, returning from Salt Lake, reported the first evidence of wagon wheels through the gap now called Mitchell Pass. Explanation for the splitting of the Oregon-California Trail at Scotts Bluff lies in its peculiar topography. The main bluff lays like a giant whale across the valley floor, blocking the way, with impenetrable badlands between it and the river. Although the existence of Mitchell Pass was, of course, known prior to 1850, it was little used because of its rugged badlands character. Travel via Robidoux Pass involved a wide swing away from the river, beginning at a point west of present Melbeta and proceeding down present Gering Valley, south of Dome Rock. In T. H. Jefferson’s _Map of the Emigrant Road_, it is called Karante Valley. Emigrant John Brown in 1849 noted that “14 miles from Chimney Rock the road [to Robidoux Pass] leaves the river.... [It] lies through one of the finest valleys I ever saw and is decidedly the best twenty miles of road we have travelled.” Maj. Osborne Cross, leading a company of mounted riflemen to Fort Laramie, described the ascent to Robidoux Pass as “_the first high hill_ since leaving Fort Leavenworth. This is partly covered with cedar, which was the first we had met on the march.” [Illustration: “_Camp at Scott’s Bluffs._” From The Old Journey. Contemporary sketch by Alfred Lambourne.] [Illustration: _Mitchell Pass looking west._ Courtesy, Downey’s Midwest Studio. Scottsbluff, Nebr.]