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Title
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Narcissa Whitman, Marker
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Commemorates
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Whitman, Narcissa
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Biographical Text
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Aluminum black marker with arched top. Features include white text and gold circular emblem at the top.
The marker is located on route 26, between Lisco and Broadwater, NE. It was placed there in honor of Whitman, a pioneer missionary and one of the first women to cross the American continent. The marker was erected by the Oregon-California Trails Association and Nebraska State Historical Society.
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Text
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NEBRASKA
HISTORICAL MARKER
GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF NEBRASKA MARCH 1ST-1867
NARCISSA WHITMAN
Narcissa Whitman, trail-blazer and martyred mis-
sionary, is one of the great heroines of the frontier
West. In 1836 she and Eliza Spalding, following
the north side of the Platte on horseback, became the
first white women to cross the American continent.
The Protestant "Oregon Mission" was composed of
Dr. Marcus Whitman, Rev. Henry Spalding, their new
brides, and William Gray. They traveled from New
York to Otoe Indian Agency (Bellevue, Nebraska), then
joined an American Fur Company caravan led by
Thomas Fitzpatrick. From the Green River rendezvous
they journeyed westward with traders of the Hudson's
Bay Company. In November, 1847, Narcissa, her husband,
and eleven others, were massacred by Cayuse Indians
at their Walla Walla mission, now a National
Historic Site.
The missionaries passed this point in June, 1836.
In May, 1847 the Mormon Pioneers passed here en
route from Winter Quarters (present North Omaha)
to Salt Lake Valley, calling these formations
"Ancient Bluff Ruins." Beginning with the California
Gold Rush in 1849 this "Mormon Pioneer Trail"
became "the Council Bluffs Road" to emigrants bound
for the West Coast.
Oregon-California
Trails Association
Nebraska State Historical Society
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Type
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English
Signage
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Project Researcher
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O'Neill, Iris
