Oregon Trail Ruts Landscape: Cultural Landscape Report, Scotts Bluff National Monument, National Park Service
NPS Midwest Regional Office, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Mundus Bishop Design, Inc., Contractor, ERO Resources Corporation. 2011. Oregon Trail Ruts Landscape: Cultural Landscape Report, Scotts Bluff National Monument, National Park Service. Cultural Landscape Report. NPS Midwest Regional Office. Midwest Regional Office
In the mid-1800s, thousands of emigrant pioneers followed the Oregon Trail for over 2,000 miles from Missouri to Oregon. In 1850, travelers excavated one of the most treacherous segments of the trail, allowing for passage over Mitchell Pass and significantly shortening the travel distance. From this time until the construction of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, thousands of emigrants followed this route over Mitchell Pass toward the West. Scotts Bluff National Monument was established in 1919 to protect the natural and cultural features associated with the Oregon Trail history in this area. Located in Western Nebraska, the monument encompasses prairie land, emigrant trail remnants, hiking trails, and the Summit Road to the top of the high bluff. In addition to the natural features and its historic use as a transportation corridor, Scotts Bluff National Monument is significant for the many trails in the area, the museum collections of William Henry Jackson, and Civilian Conservation Corps development in the park. This combined Landscape Study/Environmental Assessment (LS/EA) is intended to support management decisions for the Oregon Trail historic resources within the monument and to implement to preferred alternative from the 1998 General Management Plan. The report will provide the NPS with documentation and assessment of the character-defining features of the Oregon Trail, document historic and existing conditions, and develop specific treatment recommendations to ensure the continued protection of the Oregon Trail and its natural and cultural resources. The EA portion is an assessment of how implementing the alternative treatment recommendations would affect various environmental factors. The Treatment Alternatives contain recommendations for preserving the emigrant trail resources and significant contributing features of the emigrant trail landscape. These are based on historical documentation, analysis of existing conditions and site history, and the Secretary of the Interior’s standards and guidelines for the treatment of historic landscapes.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- NPS Midwest Regional Office; Scotts Bluff National Monument; Mundus Bishop Design, Inc., Contractor; ERO Resources Corporation
- Date of Issue
- 2011-04
- Publisher
- NPS Midwest Regional Office
- Units
- MWR , SCBL
- Keywords
- Archeology, Bluff, CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, Civilian Works Administration, CWA, Emigrant, Era of Public Works, Historic Trail, Mitchell Pass, Oregon Trail, pioneer, Prairie, Summit Road, Trail Remnant, Trail Rut
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 500001: Scotts Bluff National Monument