Monday, October 6 through October 7, 2025
Why Sydney (6483 souls) one may ask. Remember the “250 rule”. That’s one reason to stop here. Another is we’ve seen Cabela’s RV Campground from the interstate before and it looked interesting. Another reason is the history of the city.
Frontier newspaper editors and publishers called this lawless burgh “Sinful Sidney”, “Wickedest Town in the West”, “Toughest Town on the Tracks” the “Hardest Hole” and even the “Magic City on the Plains.”
Thousands of gold seekers, cowboys, soldiers, desperadoes and freighters frequented the town from 1876-1881 when Sidney became the “Boss City” as the closest shipping point on the Union Pacific Railroad to the gold discovered in the Black Hills and Deadwood.
“Boot Hill” Cemetery, or the original Sidney Cemetery, has existed since 1868. It was first created to bury soldiers of Fort Sidney, who died in gun battle. Sidney eventually became the wildest old west town on the rugged untamed frontier with many colorful characters.
The abandoned Cabelas headquarters complex
Cablelas World Headquarters was located next to its store and campground. It was deeply connected to Sydney for 50 years. Bass Pro Shops acquired Cabela’s leading to the elimination of nearly 2000 jobs placing a significant negative impact on the town’s economy. The complex lies vacant today, however a local investment group purchased the former Cabela’s world headquarters for 1.5 million dollars. The investment group intends to fill the campus with businesses and collaborate with city leaders to support Sidney’s future and help it avoid a boom-and-bust cycle by diversifying its economy.
We are glad we stopped for a couple of nights in Sydney. We did a little snooping, increased our knowledge- and Cabelas was right next to the campground.
So tomorrow look west on I-80 from Sydney and see if you can detect where we’ll be spending a couple of nights. Until then………
Travel With Jil and Mike 