Photo: Ammodramus, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
A section of hills along the South Platte River near Sutherland. Because the bluffs come very close to the river, early travelers were forced to traverse the bluffs above the bottom land. Some of the most clearly defined and well preserved remnants of the Oregon-California Trail remain here as evidence of the great westward migration of the mid-nineteenth century. Ruts can clearly be seen at the eastbound Interstate 80 rest area one mile east of the Sutherland interchange. On the National Register of Historic Sites.
O'Fallons Bluff is a section of bluffs about 20 miles (32 km) long that run along the south side of the Platte River near Sutherland in Lincoln County, Nebraska. The Oregon and California trails ran up and over these bluffs. They were characterized by American pioneers 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 station was located about 5 miles (8 km) west of where the wagon trails went up the bluff. During construction of Interstate 80, 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.
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