O'Fallons Bluff is a section of bluffs about long that run along the south side of the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major American river, in the state of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, w ...

near

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

in Lincoln County,

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. The

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

trails ran up and over these bluffs. They were characterized by

American pioneer American pioneers, also known as American settlers, were European American,Asian American, and African American settlers who migrated westward from the British Thirteen Colonies and later the United States of America to settle and develop areas ...

s heading west to Oregon and California as sparse in vegetation with a number of violent incidents involving Native Americans. In the early 1860s, a

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. During its 18 months of opera ...

station was located about west of where the wagon trails went up the bluff. During construction of

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

, the steep part of the bluffs were cut away but wagon ruts remained, which are marked by iron hoops signifying wagon wheels. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

History

There is relatively little recorded on O'Fallons Bluff other than diary entries by American pioneers heading west to Oregon and California. The bluffs were close to the Platte River and, due to the terrain, the Oregon and California trails ran up and over the bluffs. Most sources indicate that the bluffs were named after

Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the U.S. government. Agents established in Nonintercourse Act of 1793 The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the Un ...

Benjamin O'Fallon Benjamin O'Fallon (1793–1842) was an Indian agent along the upper areas of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He interacted with Native Americans as a trader and Indian agent. He was against British trappers and traders operating in the Unite ...

, but the origin of the name may be unclear. The area around the bluffs were described as an "

alkali In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...

belt" and alkali was found in both the water near O'Fallons Bluff as well as the soil rendering much of the area near the bluffs devoid of vegetation. On June 13, 1881, Emily Towell wrote in her diary that "There were few flowers to be seen, only withered

poppies Poppies can refer to: *Poppy, a flowering plant *The Poppies (disambiguation) - multiple uses *''Poppies (film)'' - Children's BBC remembrance animation *Poppies (Mary Oliver poem), ''Poppies'' (poem) - a poem by Mary Oliver *"Poppies", a song by P ...

, prickly pears and

sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising around 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to ...

. Now and then we glimpsed a few spears of green grass." Although there are few detailed accounts, O'Fallons Bluff was known for incidents between Native Americans and non-Native Americans who traveled there. For example, Thomas Twiss (an agent for the Upper Platte Indian Agency) reported that Almon W. Babbitt and two companions were killed by 13

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

Native Americans at O'Fallons Bluff in 1856. Eugene Ware, a junior officer in the 7th Iowa Cavalry in 1863, wrote about several incidents involving Native American attacks in the area. On June 18, 1846 the

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California interim government, 1846-1850, California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent ...

passed by O'Fallons Bluff on their journey along the Oregon Trail to California. In 1859, the

Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was a stagecoach line that operated in the American West in the early 1860s, but it is most well known as the parent company of the Pony Express. It was formed as a subsidiary of the ...

used O'Fallons Bluff station as a

station. The station was located around south and west of Sutherland, Nebraska and west of where the Oregon and California Trails climbed up the bluffs.

After construction of Interstate 80

Much of O'Fallons Bluff was removed when

was constructed, though remnants of wagon-wheel ruts from the Oregon and California trails still remain. These trail ruts parallel to Interstate 80 ranging from only a few feet (or meters) to about a mile (a little over a kilometer) from it. The remaining ruts that run up and over O'Fallon's Bluff are marked by iron hoops representing wagon wheels and can be seen close to Interstate 80. In 1864, Eugene Ware reported that General

Robert Byington Mitchell Robert Byington Mitchell (April 4, 1823January 26, 1882) was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and the Governor of the New Mexico Territory from 1866 to 1869. Early life and career Mitchell was born on April ...

stopped on O'Fallons Bluff, had it fortified, and ordered a company of cavalry to guard it. In 1966, archaeologists excavated a rectangular portion of a ditch at the base of O'Fallons Bluff that was thought to be the remnants of the fortifications erected in 1864. However, after excavating over of trenches, only scattered animal bones were found.

References

External links

Village of Sutherland
{{National Register of Historic Places Geography of Lincoln County, Nebraska Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska National Register of Historic Places in Lincoln County, Nebraska

History

After construction of Interstate 80

References

Further reading

External links