Wyoming-Nebraska Line -- US 26 east of Torrington WY - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The US 26 crosses the WY-NE state line east of Torrington. The WPA writers mentioned it as a starting point for an auto tour in their WPA Guide to the State of Wyoming, as follows:

"[page 292]

TOUR 4
Scottsbluff Neb. – Torrington – Junction with US 87; US 26. Nebraska Line to Junction with US 87, 55.6 m.

Oil surfaced Highway.
CB&QRR parallels route between Nebraska Line and Guernsey.
Good accommodations.

US 26, the North Platte Valley Highway, follows the North Platte River along emigrant trails of the 1840s and 1850s, which in turn followed old Indian trails and early routes of exploration. Here, prosperous irrigated farmland produces sugar beets, artichokes, corn, wheat, and apples. Turkeys are raised in the Valley, and livestock feeding is an important industry. Animals need little shelter aside from occasional windbreaks, for the winters are dry and mild.

US 26 crosses the NEBRASKA LINE, 0 m., 31 miles west of Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. An alfalfa field near here is the site of Robert Stewart’s camp of 1812, where Stuart and his men spent several winter months on the return from Astoria (See History). The highway runs through rolling grassland; in spring and summer break green fields contrast with the gray green sage covered hills, oil and autumn the riverbank cottonwoods and willows are aflame with yellows and reds."

A short granite marker on the US 26 marks the entry point of the Oregon Trail into Wyoming from Nebraska.

The marker reads as follows:

"The Oregon Trail
Entered Wyoming
At this Point
1841

Erected by the Historical Landmark Commission
of Wyoming
1943"

Book: Wyoming Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 292 Year Originally Published: 1941

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