Red Buttes Crossing

Location: Bureau of Land Management interpretive site with six plaques, located at the Bessemer Bend of the North Platte River. Near Mile Marker 106 on Highway 220, turn north onto county Road 308 (Bessemer Bend Road) and follow for 1.5 miles, turn right at intersection, continue to bridge and cross, turn right and continue 0.1 mile to Bureau of Land Management Interpretive Site. The total distance from Highway 220 to Stop No. 8 is 2.2 miles.

Wagon

History: Bessemer Bend, known to pioneer travelers as Red Buttes because of the nearby rock formations, represents the last crossing of the North Platte River for emigrants on the south bank. Fur traders pioneered it. Robert Stuart and his party built a cabin near this spot in November 1812 on their return trip to St. Louis from Astoria, Oregon, intending to stay the winter. Although fear of Indian attack led them to abandon the cabin, it represents the first Euro-American structure in Wyoming. Early Oregon Trail emigrants used this crossing when the water within the Platte was low.

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Stop 1 Oregon Trail Burial - Quintina Snoderly · Stop 2 Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park · Stop 3 Richard's (Reshaw's) Bridge and Trading Post · Stop 4 Mormon Ferry, Probable Second Site · Stop 5 Mormon Ferry, Probable First Site · Stop 6 Fort Caspar · Stop 7 Battle of Red Buttes · Stop 8 Bessemer Bend/Red Buttes Crossing · Stop 9 Emigrant Gap · Stop 10 Avenue of Rocks/Devil's Backbone/Clayton's Slough · Stop 11 Willow Springs · Stop 12 Prospect Hill/Ryan Hill · Stop 13 Horse Creek (Greasewood) · Stop 14 Saleratus (Playa) Lake/Sweetwater Pony Express Station · Stop 15 Independence Rock · Stop 16 Devil's Gate · Stop 17 Martin's Cove · Stop 18 Split Rock

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