Camp Clarke Bridge Site

Near Bridgeport, Nebraska, this archaeological site preserves the location of an 1875 toll bridge built by Henry T. Clarke across the North Platte River. Serving the Sidney-Black Hills Trail, it carried freight wagons, stagecoaches, and other traffic between the Dakota gold fields and the Union Pacific railhead at Fort Sidney. Positioned about three miles west of Bridgeport and nine miles east of Chimney Rock, it was considered the only reliable crossing between Fort Laramie and North Platte. Historic photographs show a massive wooden truss bridge about 2,000 feet long. Camp Clarke is also linked to Nebraska’s record low temperature, recorded there on February 12, 1899.

Nebraska · United States