Chimney Rock stands in Morrill County in western Nebraska, near Bayard, rising about 286 feet above the North Platte River valley to a peak elevation of 4,228 feet above sea level. It is built from Brule clay interlayered with volcanic ash and capped by harder Arikaree sandstone, and it formed as that resistant caprock protected a narrowing pillar of softer rock while a retreating cliff line eroded away to the south. During the mid-1800s the spire served as a crucial landmark for travelers on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails, and it was designated a National Historic Site in 1956 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Historical sketches, paintings and an 1897 photograph show the formation was taller when first seen by settlers; it has since lost height to ordinary erosion, lightning strikes, and, reportedly, cannon fire from the ground and from aircraft. This entity documents Chimney Rock specifically as a geological formation, distinct from other rock spires that share the common name Chimney Rock elsewhere in the United States.
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