Rifle Pit Hill -- US 26 W of Guernsey WY
N 42° 16.037 W 104° 47.414
13T E 517299 N 4679474
Quick Description: The Wyoming historic marker about Rifle Pit Hill, which soldiers used to protect quarry workers and emigrants
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 2/4/2014 10:28:20 AM
Waymark Code: WMK2T3
Views: 4
Long Description:
This roadside historic marker is along the US 26 just a few miles west of Guernsey WY.
The marker reads as follows:
"RIFLE PIT HILL
Rock quarries, visible from several points near this location, were used beginning in 1849 to supply stone and lime for construction projects at Fort Laramie, about 15 miles east. Workers in the quarries were protected by soldiers stationed in fortified rifle pits dug into the crest of a low hill to the northeast. Five such rifle pits, eighteen to twenty four inches deep, form a well-arranged defense perimeter.
The rifle pits also overlook the Cold Spring campground, a popular camping and watering place on the Oregon-California Trail (1841-1868). Another major campground, known as Warm Spring, is located on the far side of the ridge to the south. Such springs were vital to emigrants traveling west. The North Platte River, running high and muddy with Rocky Mountain snowmelt, was not fit to drink for man or beast during the time of year the annual emigration passed this way. A still visible branch of the Oregon Trail is located about 500 feet north of Cold Spring.
Other major emigrant trail landmarks in the immediate area include the Oregon Trail Ruts National Historic Site, Register Cliff State Historic Site, ad a scattering of marked pioneer graves. The Oregon Trail Ruts, where wagon wheel tracks are worn up to five feet deep in a soft sandstone ridge, are the signature trail ruts of the entire Oregon-California-Mormon Trail system. At register Cliff, passing pioneers carved their signatures, hometown names and the date of their passage into the face of amile-long bluff beside the North Platte River. Both places present string visual evidence of the 500,000 westering pioneers who passed this way on their epic journey to Columbia River farmlands, California gold fields, and the religious freedom of the Great salt Lake Valley. Access to all sites is well-marked in the town of Guernsey."
Marker Name: Rifle Pit Hill
Marker Type: Rural Roadside
Addtional Information:
US 26 west of Guernsey WY
Group Responsible for Placement: State of Wyoming
Date Dedicated: Not listed
Marker Number: Not listed
Web link(s) for additional information: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Wyoming history please include that in your log.