Rural Sites
Camp Clarke Bridge Site [25-MO-68] Listed 1974/11/08
The Custer expedition's discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 created a need for supplies in the gold fields. The most direct route to the mines was overland from the Union Pacific Railroad at Sidney. A bridge was required so freight wagons and stagecoaches could cross the North Platte River. The bridge was designed by freighter and architect Henry T. Clarke and completed in June of 1876. The massive structure contained sixty-one trusses and spanned over 2,000 feet. Other structures were built near the bridge including a hotel, stores, corrals, shops, and a military blockhouse, referred to collectively as Camp Clarke, near present-day Bridgeport. Construction of a rail line in South Dakota and the decline of the Black Hills gold boom reduced travel over the Sidney-Black Hills Trail by the mid-1880s. Today, no structures remain at Camp Clarke.
Mud Springs Pony Express Station [25-MO-72] Listed 1973/04/24
From 1859 through the late nineteenth century, Mud Springs Station, located near present-day Dalton, served travelers on the Julesburg "cutoff" connecting Lodgepole Creek to the main Oregon Trail. Mud Springs was constructed in 1859, originally as a stage station and used later as a Pony Express home station. It provided meals, lodging, and fresh horses. After the Pony Express ceased, the station operated as a stagecoach and telegraph station. In February of 1865 employees of Mud Springs were attacked by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors until troops from Fort Laramie and Fort Mitchell arrived.
Chimney Rock [MO00-001] Listed 1966/10/15
Chimney Rock was the most famous landmark on the Oregon-California Trail. This natural formation is a slender spire rising over 300 feet from a conical base, an isolated erosional remnant of the bluffs at the edge of the Platte valley near Bayard. It is composed of layers of Brule clay of Oligocene age and layers of volcanic ash. The site is owned by the State Historical Society, which operates the Ethel and Christopher J. Abbot visitor center.
Courthouse and Jailhouse Rocks [MO00-003] Listed 1973/04/24
Located in the Bridgeport vicinity this complex includes Courthouse and Jailhouse Rock, two prominent erosional remnant buttes; a portion of the Overland Trail dating 1856-69; an early historic Plains Apache archeological site; and remains of the Courthouse Pony Express Station. From as early as 1812 through the westward migrations of the mid-nineteenth century, travelers recognized the rocks as major landmarks.
Urban Sites
Morrill County Courthouse [MO04-002] Listed 1990/01/10
After a vote of a proposed division in November 1908, Morrill County was officially separated from Cheyenne County on March 9, 1909. County seat contenders were Bridgeport and Bayard. Bridgeport was more centrally located and won the election. Acting quickly, the county residents passed a bond issue to help finance the cost of a new courthouse. Construction began in 1909 and the following year the Classical Revival-style building was completed.
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