01Summary
The river the Oregon Trail followed across western Nebraska and into Wyoming. Wagons reached it at Ash Hollow and kept to its south bank past Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff and Fort Laramie, then had to cross its cold, fast water near present-day Casper.
02History
The North Platte rises in the mountains of north-central Colorado, near Walden, and flows north into Wyoming. Near present-day Casper it turns east-southeast and runs into Nebraska, where it meets the South Platte at the city of North Platte to form the Platte River. Measurements of its length range from 680 to 716 miles.
Fur traders used its valley long before the wagons came. In late 1812 Robert Stuart and his Astorians, heading east from the Pacific coast, built a cabin beside it near the Red Buttes, then wintered farther downstream and followed the river east in 1813. Explorer John C. Frémont forded it at the Red Buttes in July 1842, and his reports helped guide the emigrants who followed.
Most Oregon Trail wagons came up the south side of the Platte and forded the South Platte in western Nebraska. From the Lower California Crossing near present Brule, wagons climbed California Hill, crossed the high ground between the rivers and slid down steep Windlass Hill into Ash Hollow, where springs, firewood and grass waited beside the North Platte.
From there the road kept to the south bank past Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff to Fort Laramie. By 1860 most travelers, Pony Express riders among them, stayed on the South Platte to Julesburg instead and cut across to the North Platte near Courthouse Rock.
Across the river ran the Mormon Trail. In 1847 Brigham Young kept his pioneer company on the north bank to stay apart from other emigrants, then crossed near Fort Laramie. Later, many north-side travelers stayed on that bank on a route called Child's Cutoff. On the south side, the Oregon Trail followed the river's long curve into central Wyoming.
Near Casper the North Platte swung across its path, so wagons had to cross somewhere between Deer Creek, at present Glenrock, and the Red Buttes west of Casper. In June the river there ran high, cold and fast, 100 to 200 yards wide and more than 10 feet deep in places.
In 1847 Brigham Young's pioneers built a ferry of cottonwood dugouts and left men behind to carry other emigrants across for a fee. Other ferries followed, but until bridges were built nearly everyone swam their livestock across, and drownings were common every June. At the upper ferry on June 10, 1850, Francis Hardy wrote that 'it is said 19 have been drowned in the last 11 days.'
John Richard's toll bridge, called Reshaw's Bridge, opened in 1853, and Louis Guinard's 1,000-foot bridge in 1860. Past the last crossing the trail left the river for the Sweetwater. 'I believe we have left the Platte River for good,' Rebecca Ketchum wrote in June 1853, 'and I am glad indeed.'
03Today
Ash Hollow State Historical Park in Nebraska preserves the wagon ruts on Windlass Hill. At Fort Laramie an iron Army bridge built in 1875 still spans the river at an old emigrant crossing, and the Fort Caspar Museum in Casper, Wyoming, has copies of the Mormon ferry and Guinard's bridge.
04People connected here
05Stops nearby
The Oregon Trail ran about 2,170 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City. The stops just before and after this one are below. You can also follow the whole route on the interactive map.