Chimney Rock

In western Nebraska along the North Platte about 80 miles from Wyoming stands Chimney Rock.  The California, Oregon, and Mormon trails all passed this landmark, which was one of the first natural signs that emigrants were making progress on their journey from the east.  Chimney Rock was a refreshing sight to see, as the monotony of six weeks of travel on the plains started to wear into the travelers.  While the Platte valley is not exactly as dull as most envision it to be (trees grow along the river itself, the plains are quite austerely lovely, and distant bluffs wall in the valley), the rock does tend to stand out among the landscape quite a bit.  

The Lakota had a more colorful descriptive name for it.

Emigrants would stay along the river, about a mile from the rock, perhaps for a day or so.  Some would try to climb to the top, others would just use it as a lovely backdrop for a break and some celebration; the trail was about a third over at this point.  The land would also get a bit more rugged from here on out, as the great uplift of the Rockies actually begins around here.  The result is the rock, as well as the bluffs and mesas that follow it in the miles to the west.  As the Platte carved out a valley for itself through the risen ground, softer layers of rock underneath a hard cap of sandstone eroded away.  Chimney Rock was one of the places where the underlying layers survived, though it continues to erode noticeably even within human lifespans.  For now, it remains one of the outstanding features of a dramatic, windswept, and wild high plains region.