Last updated: January 17, 2023
Place
Murdock Wagon Ruts
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
5961 State Hwy 40C Link, Alda NE, 68810. West side of Alda St. (S Alda Rd) and North of W Guenther Rd.
Significance:
Historic wagon train ruts
The Murdock site is located on the south side of the Wood River, two miles south of present-day Alda, Nebraska, and one mile southwest of the Wood River Crossing. The swales seen in the ground on this 2.4 acre site are from decades of wagon wheels, plodding livestock and pioneers on foot. They have survived because the small patch of ground between the modern road and the river was preserved for generations as pastureland.
The Mormon Pioneer Party crossed the site on April 29, 1847, and William Clayton reported, "The morning very cool. There seems to be very little rain in this country and no dew. . . . After traveling about two miles came to a pretty stream of good water [Wood River], about ten feet wide on an average, but at the fording place about a rod wide. . . . We then traveled on a table or prairie gently ascending for four or five miles but very even and good traveling."
During the 1860s a sawmill and dwelling, referred to as the Murdock Homestead, were located here.
Site Information
Location (5961 State Hwy 40C Link, Alda NE, 68810.) West side of Alda St.(S Alda Rd) and North of W Guenther Rd.