From the moment humans first saw these red buttes, they created an enduring memory and sense of place. Aboriginal people hunted bison on the surrounding plains, trappers came seeking beaver, mink, and otter, pioneers forded the cold North Platte, and early prospectors sought fortune from the land. Though they left no mark on the land, each shared the memory of this bend in the river: a child sat near a campfire on an early summer night and heard a wolf howling while wondering what the Oregon would be like; an Arapaho warrior on the ridge across the river saw the first wagons crossing and rode to tell the elders of his camp; beneath a slate sky and blowing snow in October 1856, a faithful party buried its dead with what frozen strength it could muster; and in 1861 a Pony Express rider hurried westward carrying President Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, followed a month later by news of the start of the War Between the States bound for an anxious California. Much of what was seen then remains visible today, linking brief visitors across time through shared fear, suffering, laughter, hard work, and reflection on what has changed and what has not.