Rock Creek Hollow

Rock Creek Hollow is a historic site along the Mormon Trail located about 38 miles (61 kilometers) south of Lander, Wyoming.

Rock Creek Hollow is not much more than a stretch of grassland and willows beside a long, sometimes craggy trail. But the campsite afforded the beleaguered handcart pioneers in the Willie and Martin companies and the Hodgetts and Hunt wagon companies some relief. Its location is just west of the challenging 600 feet climb of Rocky Ridge.

The Willie company climbed Rocky Ridge on October 23, 1856, during a severe snowstorm and camped either at Rock Creek or four miles southwest near Willow Creek. Fifteen members of the Willie company are buried in the area. The Martin company met relief wagons east of Rocky Ridge on November 16 and rode in the wagons to camp at Rock Creek Hollow.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operates three historic sites in central Wyoming: Martin's Cove, Sixth Crossing, and Rock Creek Hollow. At these places and others nearby, in October and November 1856, rescuers provided aid to the Willie and Martin handcart companies and the Hodgetts and Hunt wagon companies.  

“Today these sites honor the pioneers for their sacrifice, faith, and determination to gather to Zion, and they also honor the rescuers for their heroic charity. During the summer months, thousands of Latter-day Saint youth and adults come to these places to remember the trek of the handcart pioneers and to hear stories of the other pioneer companies that traveled through the area.”[1]

Today, visitors can gather at Rock Creek Hollow during the summer and hear stories told by missionaries of the Willie and Martin handcart companies. The site now includes several monuments and markers commemorating the events at Rock Creek Hollow in 1856. In 1994, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated a monument to the memory of those pioneers buried there.