Historical Markers and War Memorials in Sioux County, Nebraska
Harrison is the county seat for Sioux County
Adjacent to Sioux County, Nebraska
Box Butte County(3) ► Dawes County(44) ► Scotts Bluff County(49) ► Fall River County, South Dakota(19) ► Goshen County, Wyoming(70) ► Niobrara County, Wyoming(22) ►
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The face of this cliff reveals a chronology of geologic events as well as clues about animals and habitat.
Halfway up the cliff face are a series of vertical spiral shapes. First called "devil's corkscrews" (Daemonelix) by local ranchers, these . . . — — Map (db m202240) HM
On River Road at State Highway 29, on the left when traveling east on River Road.
Ample water from the Niobrara River, protective bluffs, and good grazing land made this an ideal place for a ranch. Established in 1879, it was one of the first ranches in the frontier territory of Sioux County. By the early 1900s, it encompassed . . . — — Map (db m202236) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
Nineteen million years ago this was a waterhole in the midst of a wide, shallow river valley. Vegetation was sparse. Occasional clouds of volcanic dust thickened the air and extreme drought conditions prevailed. This waterhole was the lifeblood for . . . — — Map (db m202255) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
In 1981 while excavating a nearby hill, Dr. Robert Hunt of the University of Nebraska uncovered a large carnivore den complex. The dens had been mainly inhabited by wolf-sized animals called beardogs, the largest carnivores in existence 19 million . . . — — Map (db m202267) HM
Harold J. Cook, son of James H. Cook, built this homestead cabin in the early 1900s. He called it East Agate, or "the lower ranch." Fearful that the Carnegie Museum was about to claim the land, his homestead established ownership rights for the Cook . . . — — Map (db m202245) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
Unlike the shallow bank exposed at University Hill, this end of the waterhole had a steep bank about three feet high. Here in the deeper part of the waterhole, thick deposits of undisturbed bones were found, including about twenty chalicotheres . . . — — Map (db m202261) HM
Near River Road at State Highway 29, on the left when traveling east.
Between 1891 and 1904, research teams from the University of Nebraska and the Carnegie Museum excavated many of the Daemonelix spirals. At first thought to be the fossil remains of gigantic plants, they were later identified as the . . . — — Map (db m202243) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
"Shade this all dark with a light sky," Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren wrote about the sketch below, "and you have its appearance at sunset." Warren drew this sketch of the ridge in the distance on August 16, 1857, while exploring the upper . . . — — Map (db m202253) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
This rock face cuts through the shallow north bank of the waterhole. The contorted sediment layers were produced by the feet of mammals walking through the waterhole. The thin white mud layer records several such footprints or tracks. The viscous . . . — — Map (db m202254) HM
On River Road at State Highway 29, on the left when traveling east on River Road.
Based on his friendship with Chief Red Cloud and others, James Cook regularly invited Lakota families from the Pine Ridge Reservation to stay at Agate Springs Ranch. Arriving by wagon and horseback, they made the 150-mile, one-week journey almost . . . — — Map (db m202237) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
The 1904-1923 excavations took place on this trail around University and Carnegie Hills. The trail along the hillsides is at the same level as the waterhole bonebed. Many large bonebed slabs were excavated from this level.
Those excavations . . . — — Map (db m202259) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
This is the southwestern edge of the prehistoric waterhole. The bones of an ancient two-horned rhinoceros called Menoceras were found in enormous numbers during the excavations conducted here. It is believed that these rhinoceroses were . . . — — Map (db m202263) HM
Near River Road, 3.2 miles east of State Highway 29.
Behind this ridge is the site of Quarry A, the first scientific excavation conducted at Agate. In 1904, Olaf Peterson of the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh found fossil bones of many rhinoceroses, most of them from the large, heavy-bodied . . . — — Map (db m202258) HM
On River Road, 3.2 miles State Highway 29, on the right when traveling east.
During this time of scientific exploration, other gatherings took place at James Cook's Agate Springs Ranch. Red Cloud, an Oglala Lakota leader, and many of his friends and family often made the 150-mile trip by wagon to visit from the Pine Ridge . . . — — Map (db m202252) HM
On River Road at State Highway 29, on the left when traveling east on River Road.
During the time of scientific exploration, other gatherings took place at Agate Springs Ranch. Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota and many of his friends and family members would make the 150-mile trip by wagon from the Pine Ridge Reservation. While . . . — — Map (db m202227) HM
Near Forest Road 902, 1.5 miles west of Toadstool Road, on the right when traveling west.
America's prairies
experienced dramatic change
when thousands of families
migrated west, encouraged by
a series of "Homestead Acts."
These acts required prospective
owners to manage their lands based on farming
and grazing practices in . . . — — Map (db m174962) HM
Near Oglala National Grassland (Forest Road 902) 1.4 miles Toadstool Road.
An immense geologic record of the earth's activity is exposed in
this region of the Great Plains. Ninety million years ago, this area
was a vast inland sea. Seventy five million years ago, the uplifts
of the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills caused . . . — — Map (db m174949) HM
On U.S. 20 at milepost 30 east of Vogl Road, on the left when traveling east.
On September 9, 1878, after a year of suffering on an Oklahoma reservation, some 300 Northern Cheyenne Indians began a trek back to their homeland. Dull Knife's band of 149 Indians were captured and taken to Fort Robinson. For months they refused to . . . — — Map (db m9594) HM
Near Montrose Road at Hat Creek Road, on the left when traveling east.
Site where seven companies of the Fifth U.S. Cavalry under Col. Wesley Merritt intercepted 800 Cheyennes and Sioux en route to join Indians in the north July 17, 1876 The Cheyennes and Sioux were driven back to the Red . . . — — Map (db m173965) HM WM
On U.S. 20 at milepost 1,, 1 mile east of the Nebraska/Wyoming State Line, on the right when traveling east.
Large pioneer ranches were established in this region of Nebraska in the 1870's and early 1880's. Charles F. Coffee was one of these pioneers, with ranch headquarters on Hat Creek in Nebraska and Rawhide Creek in Wyoming. By June, 1886, the Fremont, . . . — — Map (db m9584) HM
On State Highway 29, 0.4 miles south of Evergreen Road, on the right when traveling south. Reported missing.
Near here are ruts left by the famed 1874 Sioux Expedition, a U.S. military force sent to establish Camps Sheridan and Robinson. The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie had guaranteed food and supplies to the Sioux and other tribes in exchange for lands . . . — — Map (db m135119) HM
The hills held ancient secrets for paleontologists. The two hills in the distance don’t look like anything special. Even up close the untrained eye will see nothing astounding. But a sandstone layer near the bases of the hills has yielded one . . . — — Map (db m62064) HM
On Unnamed park road west of River Road, on the right when traveling east.
The Fossil Hills Trail leads to the historic location
where a number of quarries were excavated into the Agate bonebed. At University Hill, a hillside cut exposes the bank of a shallow waterhole that existed here 19 million years ago. At . . . — — Map (db m227832) HM
Near Forest Road 902, 1.4 miles south of Toadstool Road, on the right when traveling west.
This sod house is a replica of one built at this site by Kenneth Pelren and Segard
Anderson in 1930. Clay soil held together by a tenacious root system was plowed from the prairie and stacked in a manner similar to modern brick construction. . . . — — Map (db m185043) HM
On US 20 (U.S. 20 at milepost 9) at Kate Street, on the right when traveling east on US 20.
A railroad camp named Summit (elev. 4876 ft.) was located on this site in 1884. When the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad reached here in 1886, an unincorporated townsite named Bowen was platted and designated the county seat of Sioux . . . — — Map (db m9593) HM
