Boot Hill. Nebraska Historical Marker

Boot Hill was the final resting place for many early westerners who helped make Ogallala a booming cowtown in the 1870's and 1880's. Although one of the first burials here was a mother and child, many came by running afoul of the law -- some for stealing another man's horse. Others were killed by re-fighting the Civil War or for questioning the gambler's winning hand. Most were buried with their boots on, thus the name Boot Hill. Their bodies, placed in canvas sacks, were lowered into shallow graves and marked with a wooden headboard. Some of the bodies have since been removed -- only the unknown or the unclaimed remain in this western cemetery.