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State Historic Preservation Office
Richard Collier Photo Display Opening Reception Dec. 5

National Register of Historic Places


Names Hill

Lincoln County

Date Added to Register

Wednesday, April 16, 1969

Smithsonian Number

48LN39

Read all about it

Names Hill is a series of vertical cliffs rising above the valley floor along the west bank of the Green River. Names Hill is one of three locations most notable along the Oregon-California Trail where emigrants paused to carve their names in soft limestone cliffs. Many of the names are still legible. The most famous name visible today is that of Jim Bridger. The inscription reads ''James Bridger, Trapper, 1844''. Names Hill's earliest reported inscription is 1822. Names Hill must have been known to the early trappers and explorers in the region. Located adjacent to the Green River, it was in the very center of the fur-trade activity. The names ''J.J. Shay - 1825'' and ''Twig - 1832'' are mute testimony of some early day travelers. The first emigrants train to pass Names Hill was probably the Stevens Party of 1844. That year one such emigrant added his name ''T. Bonney'' and the date ''July 25, 1844''.

Department of State Parks & Cultural Resources