-
Title
-
Scottsbluff Narratives, 1936_007
-
Alternative Title
-
1936 Scottsbluff Narratives
-
Date
-
1936
-
Creator
-
Frank Shoemaker
-
Description
-
Frank Shoemaker - Sandhills Narratives
-
Identifier
-
321301
-
Transcription
-
1 1936 Apr 4 A longish trip (Saturday) in a bare area on a chill day; Merrill Mattes and I, 9 a m to 5 p m. There is a searching wind; snow patches are about; I am just recovering from a severe cold; I have lost a glove. An informative and on the whole a very pleasant trip, extending about fifty miles eastward from Scottsbluff, to where the Wildcat Range of post-tertiary formation has its remnant easternmost outposts. We had to leave the car at two points and go afoot six or eight miles on each occasion; for farm roads are sodden and dangerous. Court House and Jail Rocks, five miles south of Bridgeport, are the ultimate eastern outliers of the Wildcats, 500 and 600 feet above the river level; Brule base sloping away characteristically in weathered ridges; and above, Gering formation, more resistant, in sheer walls, affording the "castellated" note. The Arikara cap of sandstone, still persistent to the west, has yielded here to age-long winds and rains. These hardy buttes persist, and through the period of recorded human history, both Indian and white, have served as landmarks. They are visible for fifty miles or more from several directions. There are, of course, legends galore about these rises; their utilization as points of defense by one Indian war party against another; how "outlaws" (to the credit of the Indians, that lovely term is given to white men only) in early days were surrounded here and paid the penalty; etc. - Unhappily, the stories always lack detail: what Indian tribes? What "outlaws"? and when? and what source s of information can be cited?
-
Rights
-
To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
-
Is Version Of
-
frank_h_shoemaker_321301-00947.jpg
