Friday, June 19, 2009

Register Cliff and the UP BigBoy 4004 Locomotive

A short drive from the Wagon Ruts is Register Cliff, where literally thousands of Oregon Trail travelers carved their names into the rock cliff face. This resulted in a very interesting and amazing listing of names from about 1840 on.

Here are a couple of signatures from the 1857 era. Apparently, travelers left their names in the cliffs so friends coming later could see that they got at least this far.

Rick and Orinda left the coach at a parking area and took the HHR to see the cliffs. After we got there, we realized we could have driven the coach up there, but it is no problem to drop the car and tour that way.

I wonder what happened to G.O. Willard from Boston after he passed by in 1855. He still had a very long way to go to get to Oregon.

From covered wagons to railroads! We traveled from Register Cliff to Cheyenne, WY where we spent the night. However, we were able to see the Union Pacific locomotive #4004, also known as the BigBoy, since it was perhaps the most powerful steam engine ever built. Cheyenne remains a major UP service area and we will be checking out the restored depot and State Capital building as well.

Orinda thinks this thing is HUGE! Located in a city park, this is an impressive sight.

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