Unknown gems in Western Nebraska

First stop on Wednesday morning, on the way South from Chadron: Fort Richardson State Park. The History Center there just opened up for us! Beautiful Pine Ridge scenery, history, lodging and museums.  Fort Robinson was operated as a fort from the early days of the Old West until after World War II. It was the site of the 1879 Cheyenne Outbreak and the death of famed Sioux Chief Crazy Horse (photo below). Original buildings survived and are in use at the park today, often used as unique accommodations. The fort also served the Red Cloud Indian Agency, as a cavalry remount station, K-9 dog training center, POW camp and beef research station. It became a state park in 1962.

The  Trailside Museum of Natural History nearby the fort is is home to the "Clash of the Mammoths", a fossil display featuring two bull mammoths who died with their tusks locked in combat. This  fossil was found less than 15 miles from the museum.

Agathe Fossil Bed in Harrison - our next stop (photo below) after a long drive on a straight road with few human encounters but 360 deg. views.

Beautiful drive, blue skies, temps up to 75 deg F. After a quick stop at old Whiteaker's Store - a unique western store -  in town we visited the Agathe Fossil Bed National Monument, which is, again, about mammals, but which is also about a very unique landscape, and, at the same time tells the story of a friendship between rancher James Cook. On his land the fossils have been found and he became good friends with Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota. Exhibited in the Visitor Center, the Cook Collection consists of Native American artifacts the Cook family received in the late 1800s and early 1900s from close Indian friends (photos below).

 

 

 

Visiting Chimney Rock NM (right photo), closeby Scottsbluff already, one of the most famous landmarks for settlers' traveling on the trails to the West.

Scottsbluff, sister city to Gering, is ,,, sugar beets! Big sugar beet industry there. But, there is Scotts Bluff as well, another fascinating geological formation, at the same time, a landmark for peoples from Native Americans to emigrants on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. We drove up the Scenic Drive to the overlook on Wednesday late afternoon (photos below) and had beautiful light, clear skies and great views from up there. 

 

 

On Thursday morning we still visited the Visitors Center with its famous William Henry Jackson Collection (right), the largest collection of his drawings in the U.S. We learned about the geologic processes that formed this unique landmark on the prairie: layers of sandstone, siltstone, volcanic ash and limestone deposited over millions of years. Also, we hiked one of the trails, same route settlers may have taken:

Scotts Bluff, the town where we stayed overnight, isn't too remarkable itself. It has a Main Street, of course, but tourism is sort of unknown (as it was in Chadron). But,,, they have a microbrewery, Flyover Brewing, and, boy, they had good beer!