A large sandstone cliff located near Guernsey, Wyoming, Register Cliff is a chalk-like outcropping that rises some 100 feet above the floor of the North Platte River Valley. Also called Register Rock and Sand Point Station, thousands of pioneers camped here and inscribed their names upon the sandstone while traveling along the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails.

The horizontal precipice was created thousands of years ago by the erosive action of the North Platte River cutting through layers of soft sedimentary deposits.

Some of the first men to take advantage of the broad river bottoms, which provided pleasing campsites, were the early fur traders.

One of the first rock inscriptions dates to 1829. Later, when westward expansion began in earnest, thousands of immigrants traveling along the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails stopped to camp at Register Cliff to rest their livestock in the lush pastures near the river. Here, as at other “register rocks” along the trails, travelers inscribed their names on the rocks.

In many cases, they wanted to mark that they had passed by. Others left their signatures and messages to signal family and friends behind them, along with the date they reached this point. Some left behind the names of those whom they had lost during the hazardous journey.

Register Cliff was the first camp West of Fort Laramie, and pioneers often rested here for a day or two, giving them ample opportunity to carve their names and messages. Though many of the names and dates relate to the peak years of travel along the trail in the 1840s and 1850s, others date back to when only trappers and traders ventured into this region. Unfortunately, several 20th-century carvings were made before Register Cliff came under protection as a historic site.

Descendants have traced several signatures, including A.A. Withrow, who is thought to be Abel “Abe” Alderson Withrow (1832-1911), a saddler from Indiana who moved to California. During the Civil War, he was a part of the “Fighting Californians” assigned to the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry.

One of the most poignant signatures belongs to Alvah Hunt Unthank (A.H.). The 19-year-old, headed for California’s goldfields, carved his name into the sandstone on June 23, 1850. A week later, he died of cholera on July 2, 1850, and was buried in a marked grave outside Glenrock, Wyoming. His gravesite is still intact, sitting silently on a hill about five miles Southeast of Glenrock, opposite the Dave Johnson Power Plant. Later, Alvah’s relatives would travel the same path. His cousin, O.N. Unthank [Oliver Nixon Unthank], signed the rock beneath his name in 1869, and Oliver’s son, O. B. Unthank [Oliver Brandon Unthank], signed again in 1931.

At one time, a small trading post was located near the cliff. In 1861, it became a Pony Express stop and later a stage station. The old Oregon Trail is visible a few yards below the cliff.

Hardship and illness were inevitable along the trail. Of the approximate 55,000 emigrants who traveled these trails during the peak years, some 5,000 died en route. Graves are scattered along the route, three of which sit below Register Cliff. An iron fence now protects these unknown immigrant graves.

Other “register rocks” also exist in Wyoming, including Independence Rock, 180 miles West of Register Cliff, and Names Hill, in western Wyoming.

Charles A. Guernsey, a pioneer cattleman after whom the nearby town of Guernsey, Wyoming, is named, established his ranch buildings a short distance from Register Cliff in the 1890s. Guernsey continued to operate the ranch until 192,6 when it was sold to the Henry Frederick family. Frederick began another ranching operation that continues today. The cave at the base of the cliff face was initially blasted out to store potatoes raised on the ranch, as the stone walls insulated the produce and kept it from freezing in the Winter. Later, they used it for machinery storage.

Frederick gifted a portion of the Register Cliff Historic Site to the State of Wyoming in 1932 for preservation as a memorial to the pioneers’ spirit and accomplishments. The National Register of Historic Places listed it in 1970.

Despite erosion by wind and water and later, effacement by vandals and tourists, much remains of the inscriptions left by the emigrants along the Oregon Trail. A Wyoming State Park today, a walkway and informative signs at the base of the cliff enable the visitor to learn more about this historic site.

Just a few miles to the West, just South of Guernsey, is another Oregon Trail historic site called Deep Rut Hill at Guernsey State Park. Here are the deepest ruts on the old trail.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.

See our Oregon-Mormon-California Trail Photo Gallery

 

Also See:

Oregon Trail – Pathway to the West

The California Trail –  Rush to Gold

The Mormon Trail

Determined For Oregon in 1843

See Sources.