Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Barry Swackhamer
Taken: August 23, 2014
Caption: Trail Register Marker
Additional Description: Captions: (left) Carved in Stone The names and dates at Register Cliff reflect the peak years of travel along the Oregon Trail during the 1840s and 1850s. Several states are represented in the carvings - Ohio being the most common.; (right) Register Cliff, also known as ‘Sand Draw’, was the first camp west of Fort Laramie. Beside these sandstone cliffs near the North Platte River, emigrants stopped to set up camp, pasture their animals, and rest from the hardships of trail life. Its is common to see cemeteries at river crossings along the trail. The crossings themselves were dangerous. The graves of several unknown emigrants are in the cemetery here at Register Cliff.; (bottom) Young Alvah H. Unthank, 19 years old and bound for the California gold fields, left his mark here in 1850. Alvah never made it to California. Like thousands of other emigrants, he succumbed to cholera, a disease spread by unsanitary conditions along the trail.
Submitted: December 22, 2014, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p296089
File Size: 3.574 Megabytes

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