Martin's Cove National Register Form Size
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At an altitude of just over 6000 feet the cove is part of an elevated Rocky Mountain-High Plains valley cut by the meandering, eastward flowing Sweet- water River. A great length of the valley is bounded on the north by the Granite Range, or the Sweetwater Rocks as the range is also called. Al though the Granite Range is not particularly high compared to other Rocky Mountain ranges it has the impressive appearance of a steep rock wall rising up between 1000 and 2000 feet from the valley floor. The highest point in the Sweetwater Rocks is Savage Peak at an elevation of 7843 feet, but the hills which border Martin's Cove on three sides are almost 1000 feet lower in elevation. At the base of these hills is the cove, a south- facing cirque sloping toward the Sweetwater River. m Ten miles south of the Sweetwater are the Ferris Mountains, whose highest peaks reach well beyond 9000 feet in elevation. Five miles southwest are m the Sentinel Rocks, outcroppings of the Granite Range comparable to the main range north of the Sweetwater. Three miles east of Martin's Cove the Sweetwater has carved an impressive, narrow canyon through the Granite Range at a place called Devils Gate, and from there enters upon a wide plain which is the eastern end of the river valley. About 15 miles east of Martin's Cove the river empties into Pathfinder Reservoir. West of the TO cove the river valley is not as wide as it is east of Devils Gate, yet it provides an easy gradient or pathway through flanking mountain ranges for n travelers heading west in the general direction of South Pass at the southern end of the Wind River Range. Martin's Cove probably has seen very little change in nearly 120 years o which have passed since handcart emigrants sought refuge within it. Pines •z. and cedars dot the walls of granite surrounding it, just as they did at the time they were sought for firewood by emigrants on the Oregon Trail. Sagebrush is the dominant type of vegetation found on the sand hillocks within the cove, and has been from the time the Sweetwater Valley was first seen by white men. Along the bottomland of the river sage is met by grass meadows that provide grazing for the stock of today's ranchers just as they did for the stock of Oregon Trail emigrants. An unimproved road or jeep trail enters the southwest part of the cove, branching from a ranch road north of the river. With the exception of the latter the cove shows little sign of human intrusion or development. It is grazing land, and as such is part of the Sun Ranch livestock operation. Further investigation is needed before the campsite and graves of the Martin Handcart Company of 1856 can be located within the cove. For the handcart emigrants of the winter of 1856 Martin's Cove was eight miles west of Independence Rock, or three miles west of Devils Gate. It 1 PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) Q Pre-Columbian | Q 16th Century 18th Century 20th Century n 15th Century Q 17th Century 19th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (if Applicable and Known) November 4-November 9,1856 AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Abor iginal I | Education n Political I| Urban Planning I I Prehistoric f~| Engineering |X] Religion/Phi n Other (Specify) D Historic [~"| Industry losophy I | Agriculture ["I Invention Q Science I | Architecture II Landscape | | Sculpture D Art Architecture | [ Social/Human I | Commerce Q Literature itarian I | Communications n Military Q Theater | | Conservation D Music [X| Transportation STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE "Walking across the plains and mountains of western America" wrote his CO torians LeRoy and Ann Hafen, "was no novelty in the days before the coming Z of the railroad. Bullwhackers regularly tramped beside their yoked o cattle on the Santa Fe Trail; and the covered wagon emigrants, who first rutted the Oregon Trail, often trudged beside their monotonous rolling wagons. Gold seekers to California, and to other eldorados, u sometimes carried their worldly goods flung over their shoulders. =5 The Mormons who pioneered the route to the Salt Lake Valley and those who trekked after them, walked much of the way beside the ox-drawn trains. co But never had handcarts been employed as means of transport for an "Z. entire emigrant company. In these words the Hafens point out the unique aspect of handcart emi Ill gration to the West in the years 1856-1860. Uniqueness, however, cannot LJ always be equated with historical significance. The significance of the handcart emigration should be determined in relation to the mass movement of people to the American West during the mid-nineteenth century. The significance of the westward movement of men, animals, material goods and ideas, in turn, relates to the expansion and settlement of a country. Surely the collective journey of almost 3000 men, women and children who traversed plains and mountains, pulling handcarts for 1300 miles from the Mississippi River to the Great Salt Lake, was a physical and mental feat worthy of recognition. But that feat is part of the story of a longer period of heavy migration over a central overland route called the Oregon Trail, one which took place mainly from 1841 to 1862. During that period the flow of covered wagon emigrants and goldseekers was joined by mule pack trains, and by stagecoaches carrying mail, newspapers, payrolls and passengers. For the short period of about 18 months the Pony Express used the same route until replaced by the first transcontinental telegraph. The handcart migration is not an isolated event, but is tied to the past, to the work of mountainmen explorers who laid out the overland route which became the Oregon Trail. It is also tied to a later era during See Addendum LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGIT'JDE CO OR DIN A_T&S- DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY DEFINING THti CtNTER POINT OF A PROPERTY OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES LATITUDE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds 0 15' 27" o 27 3? » NE 0 14' 15" o 27' 35" SE 0 14' 15" 0 26' 56" sw ? 15'- 27' ° 9.6' q?". APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: 480 B.CTQS (LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES m rn COUNTY: H ^D NAME AND Tl TLE: n Mark Junge, Historian ORGANIZATION Wyoming Recreation Commission 3/23/75 STREET AND NUMBER: o 604 E. 25th Street z CITY OR TOWN: Cheyenne Wyoming 56 As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na I hereby certify that this property is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law ,---~ % National Register. ^-'---jf ? 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the c-iteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. The recommended f*sS/£; ^ Otr^etat, Of/yje' of Archeology arid Historic Preservation level of significance of this nomination is: National [X] State CD Local CD Name ATTEST: Title Wyoming State Historic Preserve- tion Officer Keefaer of The National Regster Date Septenber 29, 1976 Date GPO 931*894 Form 10-300a UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Wyoming NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY Natrona INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER (Continuation Sheet) twir (Number alt entries) Statement of Physical Appearance - 2 was fifteen miles east of Split Rock further up the Sweetwater, and 325 miles east of their destination- the Great Salt Lake. The first three sites are prominent natural landmarks along the Sweetwater River segment of the Oregon Trail, and among the most significant historic landmarks along the entire length of that pioneer route. For today's westward-bound traveler who paral lels the trail, Martin's Cove is also eight miles west of Independence Rock. Leaving State Highway 220 about three miles west of the rock, the traveler can turn north onto the Sun Ranch Road, or old State Highway 220, and follow that road two miles west to the Sun Ranch at Devils Gate. From the Sun Ranch headquarters he can continue to follow the same road for just over two miles to a native stone monument located on the north side of the road.