Contact InformationMail: Annual Visitation
Check out older visitation data. Key Boundary AdjustmentsDecember 12, 1919: President Woodrow Wilson signed proclamation #1547, 41 Statute 1779, establishing Scotts Bluff as a National Monument. 2,053 acres were withdrawn from the public domain to be preserved by the National Park Service. Read the monument's enabling legislation.May 9, 1924: President Calvin Coolidge signed a Executive Order 4008 which excluded "NE¼, Section 9, Township 21 North, Range 55 West of the 6th Principal Meridian. This reduced the boundaries of Scotts Bluff National Monument by 160 acres from 2,053.83 to 1,893.83 acres. June 1, 1932: President Herbert Hoover signed Proclamation 1999 incorporating approximately 1,346 acres of prairie lands along the eastern Monument boundary, including Scotts Spring, and the protection of a certain approach highway. 1933: A General Land Office Survey of the Monument boundaries showed that all of the development on the east slope of the bluff was on private land and not within the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Henceforth, all attention was focused on the west side and nothing further was ever done with the facilities at the base of the Boy Scout Trail. 1935: A resurvey of the Scotts Bluff National Monument boundaries resulted in an increase of 182.90 acres. March 29, 1940: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Proclamation 2391 which added 53.34 acres along the north boundary and several islands in the North Platte River. This land was purchased to stamp out illegal hunting and trapping on the Monument where, under Federal Government regulations, the use of firearms is strictly prohibited. This brought the Monument's land to 3,476.27 acres of which about 2,292.15 acres were owned by the government and 1,184.12 acres were privately owned. April 10, 1959: 27.43 acres of land within the proclaimed boundary in the northeast section of the Monument known as the "Badlands" were purchased for $1,500.00. The land was purchased from Mrs. Sadie Hise. June 30, 1961: Congress passed the Public Law 87-68 which reduced the Monument's area. It permitted the exclusion of 350 acres of nonessential peripheral lands, while allowing for the acquisition of 210 acres of additional lands deemed necessary for the preservation of the "scenic and historic integrity of Scotts Bluff and adjacent features". 1961: $15,000.00 was included for acquisition of lands added to the Monument. The legislation was held up for more than a year as local opponents successfully fought a provision of the bill which would change the designation of Scotts Bluff to a National Historic Site. When the stipulation was dropped, the bill was approved. February 2, 1962: A revision was made to the Monument to make its boundary approximately 3,084 acres, about 370 acres less than were included in the previous boundary. The present boundary of federally-owned land was 2,171 acres. The new boundary excludes some agricultural land which was within the original proclaimed boundary and includes a few small tract along the east boundary where development would be an intrusion on the natural scene. January 18, 1966: The National Park Service paid the Oregon Trail Museum Association (OTMA) $2,123.00 for the 20 acre tract (East half of Dome Rock) which it purchased and had held since 1959. September 9, 1970: 85.90 acres were purchased from Lewis J. and Doris T. Herstead for $18,000.00. September 10, 1970: 212.80 acres were purchased from Dorothy E. Morrison for $60,000.00. This property extends north to the river. December 4, 1970: 113.80 acres were purchased from the Frank Investment Company for $16,000.00. August 9, 1971: 58 acres were purchased from Henry Johannes for $21,700.00. March 23, 1972: less than 10 acres were purchased from Harold Helbrum for $64,000.00. 1972: The National Park Service signed an agreement with the Scotts Bluff Country Club to purchase 86.76 acres of land at a cost of $669,400.00. This also included all buildings and about one-third of the nine hole golf course. The Country Club had 5 years to move. 1977: With the acquisition of the 86 acre Country Club property, the clubhouse, pool, & out buildings were obliterated and the area restored to a natural setting. 1981: Property acquisition along the east boundary was largely completed when the 50 acres known as the Heppe Property was acquired. November 3, 1994: a 20 acre parcel, adjacent to the Monument's eastern boundary and lying along the line of approach of the historic Oregon-California Trail, was acquired. This parcel was critical to preserving the view that the emigrants had of Scotts Bluff when they approached it from the east. Though the National Park Service owns the land, a boundary adjustment is needed to make it part of the Monument. 1996: The City of Gering decided on a 20-foot set back for a planned housing development near Scotts Bluff National Monument's east boundary. If this would have been developed for housing, it would have created another modern intrusion on the historic landscape. This property was acquired by the Federal Government on November 3, 1994, but remains outside the Monument boundaries. Legislation is necessary to include this land within the Monument boundaries. 2002: The purchase of 15.28 acres of the Allison in holding along the west boundary brings the federally-owned land of the 3,003.03 to 2,951.23, with 51.8 acres still inholding by the Union Pacific Railroad, State of Nebraska and NPPD. |
Last updated: October 1, 2024