Boot Hill

Boot Hill was the final resting place for many early westerners who helped make Ogallala a booming cowtown in the 1870’s and 1880’s. Cowboys, settlers, and drifters came to Ogallala when the railroad and the Texas Trail opened a new market for the Texas Longhorn. Although one of the first burials there was a mother and child, many people ended up there after running afoul of the law, some for stealing another man’s horse. Others were killed by re-fighting the Civil War or for questioning a gambler’s winning hand. In July of 1879, three cowhands were buried in a single day, victims of the sheriff’s guns. Another man, Rattlesnake Ed, was buried there after he was shot down over a nine dollar bet in a monte game in the Cowboy’s Rest, a local saloon. Most were buried with their boots on, giving Boot Hill its name. Their bodies, placed in canvas sacks, were lowered into shallow graves and marked with a wooden headboard. Some of the bodies have since been removed, and only the unknown or unclaimed remain in this western cemetery.

Ogallala, Nebraska · United States