About the Fur Trade: Exploring the vast, wild lands west of the Missouri River in the 19th Century, fur traders pushed into uncharted areas, building remote trading posts to swap the Indians goods for furs. It took a fair and courageous trader to be successful in these isolated outposts. Such was Louis B. Chadron. His good relationship with the Brule Sioux in the upper White River valley earned him great respect. The town, park and creek bear his name, which changed over time to Chadron.

Somewhere under the waters of the city reservoir, just north of the park, is the site of Chadron's trading post, built in the winter of 1841-42. Owned by the Sibille and Adams Fur Trading Company, it was operated by Chadron until 1845, when the company sold out. This outpost was very similar to the nearby Bordeaux Trading Post, a replica of which can be seen at the Museum of the Fur Trade, east of town.

The Pine Ridge: An arch-shaped escarpment some 100 miles long and up to 20 miles wide, the Pine Ridge consists of intermingled stands of ponderosa pine and prairie. It is rugged country with broken ridges, buttes and small streams. The northern edge of the High Plains in Nebraska, it was formed during the Cenozoic Era, 65 million years ago. At the beginning of this period the Rocky Mountain and Black Hills uplifts began. As they rose, erosion took place and the sediment eventually formed a tableland, the High Plains of which the Ridge is a part. During the last million years, wind and water eroded the High Plains, carving the present topography of the Ridge.

Located on several overlapping geographical ranges of bird and plant life, the Ridge boasts a great diversity of both flora and fauna. Over 80 species of trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses occur here, along with some 50 species of song, shore and game birds.