An annual or daily Nebraska Park Entry Permit is required to enter this park, there is also a small fee to tour the grounds. This Virtual Cache is available from 8:00 AM until sunset daily year round. You may sign the Park guest book located in the Post Headquarters if you so desire to let the Park know geocachers have visited.
To log this Virtual Cache you must upload a photo of yourself to your found log standing in front of or somewhere next to the historical marker located at the posted coordinates (N 41° 43.454 W 099° 01.488) holding your GPS or a Sheet of paper with your geocaching name and the date written on it. There are two Historical Markers be sure you have the correct one!!! Face photos are not required but allowed if you choose. If you do not want your face in the photo you can have a photo of your GPS or a Sheet of paper with your geocaching name and the date written on it. Either way the Marker has to be in the background. Logs without the verification photo will be deleted.
Fort Hartsuff was first established as “Post on the North Fork of the Loup River”. Congress initially appropriated $50,000 to build the Fort. It was renamed Fort Hartsuff after Major General George Lucas Hartsuff who died 16 May 1874. It stood as a buffer between settlers and Native Americans, and to protect the Pawnee from the hostile Teton Sioux Indians, in the North Loup River Valley from 1874 to 1881. The post was built as an open plan western fort with the living quarters and administrative buildings placed around a central parade. The post was ordered abandoned 13 Apr 1881 after Fort Niobrara was completed in 1880. The buildings were sold to the Union Pacific Railroad for $5,000. 1897 the site was purchased by local investors. It became a farm headquarters until donated to the State of Nebraska in 1961 by Glen and Lillian Auble of Ord, Nebraska. The Fort was once comprised of 1280 acres, today the remaining 13 acres of land is under the management of the Nebraska Game and Parks.
Because the main fort buildings were constructed of a lime/concrete mixture, many have survived. Nine major buildings have survived and have been restored. The original buildings include the Post Headquarters, the Enlisted Barracks, the Officers Quarters, the Commanding Officers Quarters, the Post Hospital, the Quartermaster Storehouse, the Laundress Quarters/Bakery, the Quartermaster Stable and the Guardhouse. Additionally, a wagon scale, blacksmith and carpenter shop and privy have been reconstructed. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is responsible for restoration and maintenance of the Park as a part of the state-wide Historical Parks system. The Park and surrounding district was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Three Soldiers died while serving at Fort Hartsuff and were originally interred in the Fort Hartsuff Post Cemetery (now private property) and were later Disinterred and reburied in Fort McPherson National Cemetery, Maxwell, NE. They were:
Pvt John O Montgomery Died of Alcoholic poisoning at Fort Hartsuff, NE. Nov. 24th 1874
Sgt William H Dougherty Killed in action with hostile Indians near Gracie Creek in the Battle of the Blowout, April 28th 1876.
Pvt Henry L Rogers died of Typhoid Fever in Post Hospital at Fort Hartsuff, NE. Sept 25, 1879.
Placed By A Nebraskache Member
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.