The Bullwhackers -- Scotts Bluff National Monument, Gering NE
N 41° 49.941 W 103° 42.733
13T E 606931 N 4631964
The historic marker at the end of the interprestive trail along the Oregon Trail at Scotts Bluff National Monument
Waymark Code: WMK353
Location: Nebraska, United States
Date Posted: 02/06/2014
Views: 4
This marker is at the end of teh paved interpretive trail walking track at Scotts Bluff national Monument. Step off from here, and you are walking on the Oregon Trail.
The marker reads as follows:
"THE BULLWHACKERS
Ox drawn wagons carried freight here in the 1860s and 70s
After the great migrations of settlers and goldseekers passed here in the 1840s and 50s, the Oregon Trail remained an important communications and supply route. Wagon trains hauled provisions to Fort Laramie and other army posts west of here. The heavy wagons were pulled by teams of oxen prodded along by trail-hardened men known as “bullwhackers.”
William Henry Jackson, later a renowned frontier artist and photographer, trudged West as a bullwhacker at the age of 23. Jackson and his bull train camped at this site in 1866 during a six-month journey from Nebraska City to Salt Lake City. From sketches made here, Jackson later produced this painting of Mitchell Pass. Other Jackson paintings of scenes along the Oregon Trail are on display at the Visitor Center.
“Bullwhacking is an art not to be learned in a week or a month . . . Only a cunning hand can make an 18-foot whip crack out like a rifle shot – or cut a notch in a lagging bull’s hindquarter.” – William Henry Jackson
[self portrait of William Henry Jackson with his bull whip]"
Marker Name: The Bullwhackers
City: yes
Roadside: no
Other: yes
Web Address if available:: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Post Pictures:
1. Close up of historical marker
2. Picture of surrounding area (would prefer to have the marker in the picture also). Thanks!