Bordeaux to Spotted Tail road trip
Discover Northwest Nebraska’s Bordeaux to Spotted Tail road trip takes adventurers on a lengthy adventure that explores some of the region’s most prominent locations from the legendary fur trade to the days of homesteaders settling Northwest Nebraska. This trip is specifically aimed at those who like to take their vehicles over technical terrain. It’s recommended you have a four-wheel-drive vehicle for this trip, although a less-technical alternate route is offered. In the case of bad weather or heavy rains, Spotted Tail Road may not be passable.
This trip is a little over 20 miles and offers opportunities for sightseeing, photography, birding, wildlife viewing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, camping and fishing. Two museums are featured along the route.
Begin your trip heading east out of Chadron on Highway 20 for about three miles until you reach one of the region’s premier tourist destinations: the Museum of the Fur Trade and Bordeaux Trading Post. The museum was founded by Charles E. Hanson, Jr., and houses over 6,000 artifacts of the fur trade. Among the exhibits are the oldest known point blanket (made in 1775) and a large collection of firearms including some owned by Kit Carson and Tecumseh. While at the museum, be sure to make your way outside to the south and the site of James Bordeaux’s trading post, established in 1837 for the American Fur Company, which still stands on the property.
The White River and the creeks throughout the region, which lay along the route of the Fort Pierre to Fort Laramie trade route, played an important role in the fur trade of Northwest Nebraska and the larger region. Joseph Bissonette, Henry Chatillion, Louis Chartran and Hubert Rouleau were well-known traders and mountain men who frequented the area, but perhaps none were as well-known as Bordeaux for his prowess in the local business. Some came to refer to the area as “Bordeaux’s District.”
The selling of Fort Laramie and Fort Pierre to the military and the changing nature of the relationship between whites and Native Americans in the region took their toll on the trade business and in 1872 Bordeaux and his eldest son gave up the post.
Famously, Bordeaux’s trade business nearly met its fate during its first winter in 1849 when it was raided by a Crow war party that looted and attempted to set fire to the post. The Crow absconded with as many as eighty horses and mules belonging to Bordeaux, but were pursued by a group of Brule who camped in nearby Beaver Creek (in modern-day Sheridan County). The Crow broke off a contingent of warriors meant to stall the Brule pursuit and the two groups of Natives had an altercation at a butte just east of modern-day Crawford. The butte is still known as Crow Butte and is featured in another Roads Less Traveled adventure. Though there was just one casualty of the battle, the altercation impacted the fur trade in the region when it discouraged company officials from building a large trading post along the White River to replace Fort Laramie and serve the Sioux.
Bordeaux Creek, which the next leg of your journey will follow, bears his name although records exist, including maps made by Bordeaux himself in the late 1850s, and by James Bridger in the 1860s, that refer to the creek as “Frederick’s Fork” or “F. Laboue River” after Frederick Laboue, another American Fur Trade Company man who may have had a hand in the trade near what is now Bordeaux Creek and in the establishing of the trading post itself. When you’ve enjoyed all the museum has to offer, from the parking lot, look to the northwest. About a half-mile in that direction, across the highway is the former site of Chadron’s P.B. Nelson Saloon, post office and stage station that stood in 1878. Not much further northwest along Bordeaux Creek was also the site of a cabin and trade post belonging to Joseph Bissonette from 1872 to 1877.
Exit the museum parking lot headed west and travel about half-a-mile before turning south on Bordeaux Road, which you’ll follow for some time as it tracks through the Pine Ridge alongside Bordeaux Creek. In later years, the Bordeaux area would play a large part in the settling of the area by homesteaders. A group of 20 individuals, led by Levi G. Sweat made up the “Sweat Colony” who took claims in the Bordeaux area sight unseen and traveled to the region in 1884 by wagon after departing their train in Valentine, Nebraska. Among the colony’s ranks were E.E. Egan, who would establish the first newspaper in the area, and Clay Grantham who will feature later in this adventure. “The sturdy integrity of the men of the Sweat Colony was a potent factor in shaping the affairs of the fast-settling country…and the pictures in the campfire dreams came true in the years of the Dawes County history,” wrote Egan.
About two miles from turning south on the road, look to the west to see the area along the creek where Brule Chief Spotted Tail and his people made camp from 1870 to 1872. Spotted Tail was a prominent Chief in the region for many years and was a factor in much of the Native American history to take place in and around Northwest Nebraska in the mid-to-late 1800s.
Continue your trip south along Bordeaux Road, keeping a keen eye on your odometer. About seven miles from your turn onto Bordeaux Road you’ll see a small Forest Service road sign indicating Forest Service Road 723. Turn west on Road 723 and into the pine trees. Follow the road until you reach a favorite destination for Northwest Nebraska locals. You’ll immediately know why this area is referred to as “The Cliffs.” Here you’ll find a great area to camp or just stretch your legs and have a quick meal along the way. If you do plan to spend time in the area, be sure to take advantage of the great hiking trails nearby. You can find their routes in the Northwest Nebraska Recreational Trails Guide found on our website under the “Discover” tab.
The next leg of your trip takes you over forest service roads, so be sure to check that your navigation tools are working before continuing. You may also want to reset your trip odometer to help you along the way. Head out from The Cliffs to the west following Forest Service Road 723, in about 1.5 miles you’ll reach a junction with Spotted Tail Road. Turning north here will take you on a spirited ride through the Pine Ridge that necessitates four-wheel-drive. You won’t be rock-climbing, but you will be traversing some technical terrain.
(If you’re not confident in your off-road abilities, follow this alternate route: at the junction with Spotted Tail Road continue west on Road 723 another half-mile until you reach an intersection with King Canyon Road. Turn north on this road and follow it for the next handful of miles until you come to another t-intersection. At this point, head west to Highway 385. Skip forward in this write-up for the continuation of your trip from there.)
Follow Spotted Tail Road through the Pine Ridge, about six miles, until you reach Highway 385, enjoying opportunities for wildlife viewing and photography along the way. Turn south on Highway 385 a little over half-a-mile until you reach a pullout that features the Nebraska State Historical Marker for the Chadron Creek Trading Post.
Just southeast of the ponds that now mark the area was the site of Chartran’s Trading Post, built in 1841 and managed by Louis Chartran from 1842 to 1845. The nearby creek, now named Chadron Creek, was originally known as “Chartran’s Creek” and famously a mispronunciation and misspelling of Chartran led to the name of “Chadron.” Adventurers can continue about another half-mile and turn east on City Dam Road to spend some time at the Chadron Municipal Ponds.
In addition to being a great place to fish, the site of the reservoirs was once the site of the cabin of famous trapper Hubert Rouleau who spent several years at the site following his career as a trapper. Rouleau is described by Francis Parkman who met the man during his adventures among the trappers in the mid-1840s as follows: “Rouleau had a broad ruddy face, marked with as few traces of thought or of care as a child’s. His figure was remarkably square and strong, but the first joints of both his feet were frozen off and his horse had lately thrown and trampled upon him, by which he had been severely injured in the chest. But nothing could check his inveterate propensity for laughter and gayety. He went all day rolling about the camp on his stumps of feet, talking and singing and frolicking with the Indian women as they were engaged at their work.”
Rouleau was known to work alongside others including a trapper called Saraphin. Parkman paints a picture of the two as a pair who took great satisfaction from the dangers of their profession. Rouleau began his fur trade career in Canada and gave up beaver trapping in 1847 but stayed in the region until his death in 1890 near Pine Ridge.
To continue to the last points of interest on your adventure, head back north on Highway 385. Along the portion of road over the next few miles, the highway passes through the area where Quick Bear’s Brule camp was captured by the famous Pawnee Scouts on the same day the U.S. Army captured Red Cloud. In just under four miles, turn west on Country Club Road and follow it to the Dawes County Historical Museum.
The museum houses an impressive collection of pioneer and early-Nebraska antiques, including blacksmith tools, farm machinery, vintage quilts and more. Among the nostalgic room displays are replicas of a general store, a hospital room and a railroad room. Guests can explore the log house, barn, 1890s schoolhouse, pioneer church, and Chicago & North Western Railroad caboose on the museum grounds.
From the museum parking lot, or north lawn, look northwest, referencing a tall hill. At this location, about a half-mile from the museum, is the site where Red Cloud’s camp was captured by troops under General Ranald S. Mackenzie on Oct. 23, 1876. The area is also the location where Dull Knife’s Cheyenne skirmished with and finally surrendered to the U.S. Army in 1878 during their exodus, now known as the Cheyenne Outbreak, to escape their reservation and return to their homeland in Powder River country. The site was also home to Half Diamond E Ranch, established in 1879 which included the post office called Chadron that Egan took as inspiration for his bylines. Just north of the hill runs the military trail from Fort Robinson to Camp Sheridan. On September 5, 1877, Lakota War Chief Crazy Horse made his last ride along this trail.
From the museum, head north on Highway 385 back to Chadron. Be sure to check out our website for additional adventures and locations to grab a bite to eat or spend the night in Chadron. Check out the “Useful Tips” page for more information to help you plan your journey.