History Lives on in Art

In 1866 William Henry Jackson traveled the California Trail as a bullwhacker with a freight wagon train. Though he had no prior experience, he quickly learned to yoke and drive the pairs of oxen that pulled each wagon. Seventy years later he returned to dedicate the new Park Service museum on the east side of the pass, by then a well-known photographer, artist, and supporter of emigrant trail history. He guided park rangers to the spot where he and his fellow bullwhackers had camped for the night. Drawing on his own memories, sketches made during his travels, and later visits to the sites, Jackson depicted scenes of trail life from the Missouri River to the west coast. His watercolor paintings appeared in many books about the trails, and most of his collection was donated to Scotts Bluff National Monument in 1949.

Gering, Nebraska · United States