Camp Clarke Bridge Site

The Camp Clarke Bridge Site in Morrill County, Nebraska near Bridgeport dates from 1875. Also known as 25 MO 68, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[1]

Camp Clarke Bridge Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Nearest city	Bridgeport, Nebraska
Coordinates	41°40′12.59″N 103°10′8.08″W
Area	120 acres (49 ha)
Built	1875
Built by	Clarke, Henry T.
NRHP reference No.	74001129[1]
Added to NRHP	November 8, 1974

It is the location of a toll bridge built in 1875 by entrepreneur Henry T. Clarke, who provided a crossing over the North Platte River for what became the Sidney-Black Hills Trail. The trail provided access for freight wagons, stagecoaches and other vehicles headed to and from the Dakota gold fields, from the Union Pacific railway trailhead at Fort Sidney, Nebraska.[2]

It is about 9 miles east from Chimney Rock and three miles west of Bridgeport, Nebraska. Historic photos show a wooden truss bridge built on pilings in the soft ground of the river. It was "a massive structure... Two thousand feet in length with a solid six to one truss span." It was the only reliable crossing between Fort Laramie and North Platte, Nebraska.[2]

At the time of the NRHP listing in 1974, the North Platte no longer flowed through the bridge location, but was rather slightly to the north.[2]

On February 12, 1899, Camp Clarke recorded a daily minimum temperature of −47 °F (−44 °C), which is the lowest temperature ever recorded in the state of Nebraska.