Quick Facts
Location:
2200 D Street, Gering, NE 69341
MANAGED BY:
City of Gering
Amenities
4 listed
Accessible Sites, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Scenic View/Photo Spot
The first trading post at Robidoux Pass was established by either Joseph or Antoine Robidoux. Traders at this post exchanged goods with Indians for beaver skins and buffalo hides. The post also held a temporary monopoly in providing provisions and services to overland travelers and had a blacksmith shop on site that offered emigrants an opportunity to make repairs to trail-damaged wagons and tend footsore oxen and mules.
In autumn of 1850, or spring of 1851 the original Robidoux Trading Post was abandoned and a second Robidoux Trading Post was established in nearby Carter Canyon. It was inhabited by Antonie Robidoux, his Native American wife, and their 5 children. A few of the 1851 emigrants who passed through the area wrote about the Second Robidoux Trading Post in their journals. On June 2nd P.V. Crawford wrote "(We) reached the Bluffs at 9 O'clock at night.... Here we found a trading post belonging to Rubedu, a Frenchman." Also in 1851, German writer, traveler and artist Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen sketched the trading post. Following the opening of Mitchell Pass in 1851, which provided a shorter trail, this and other trading posts in the area fell into disuse.
Eventually, a reconstruction of the second Robidoux Trading Post was built on its original location in Cedar Canyon. After the land on which the reconstruction sits was sold, the new owners terminated their lease and the post needed to be moved. The reconstructed post was moved to its current location in April of 2021 and features a small parking area and accessible sidewalk. Scotts Bluff, South Bluff, and Dome Rock form a picturesque background to this reconstructed piece of Oregon/California Trail history.
California National Historic Trail, Oregon National Historic Trail, Scotts Bluff National Monument
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Tags
* california national historic trail
* oregon national historic trail
* scotts bluff national monument
* trading post
* robidoux trading post
* fur trade
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
