Edible Buffalo Parts
"Conscientious meat hunters could use the greater part of a young buffalo (by remaining in camp a day to make jerky), but the great delicacies were the hump, the tongue,…
Buffalo Chips
"Having been the mainstay of the Indian for generations, the buffalo, at the last of their career, made one outstanding contribution to the white race. Practically speaking, they made emigration…
Mile 333: Dobeytown
"Two miles to the west [of Fort Kearney] we arrived at the spot where once flourished the hamlet called Dobeytown, a squalid settlement of 'dobe huts whose very mention was…
Mile 330: Fort Kearney
"Of the five historic trail 'forts'—Kearney, Laramie, Hall, Boise, and Bridger—we were now approaching the first in point of geography, last in point of time. It was established in 1848…
The Platte River
"The Platte, in trail days, was tremendously wide and shallow. It was of a temperament entirely different from the tossing flood of the Missouri, the deep and steady Kansas, of…
Mile 321: Dogtown
"In the trail days there was a utilitarian, if ugly, settlement at this junction [of the Nebraska City Road with the Oregon Trail] bearing the vulgar title 'Dogtown.' As late…
Mile 318: The Platte River
"And now the emigrants (and we after them) looked forward only a few miles to the first view of the great Platte River. Some say it was first known as…
Mile 312: Summit Station
"The trail lay to our left, easily accessible at all times; and on it, near the summit of the ride, the old stages found the last stop before the long…
Mile 315: Buffalo Wallow Water Holes
"Seven miles beyond [Summit station - Mile 311] were the famous (or rather infamous) buffalo-wallow water holes. Theodore Talbot, who was with Frémont in 1843, minced no words in his…
Mile 258: Liberty Farm Station
"The storm had been local and, after we had worked our way slowly through ten more miles of mud, things became more normal. Along little roadways with reassuringly solid bases…
Mile 235: Oak Grove Ranch Marker
Just after Mile 235, near the town of Oak, is a historical marker commemorating the August 7, 1864 raid on this ranch.
Rock Creek Station
"The overland road entered Nebraska at the dividing line between Gage and Jefferson counties, one-time land of the Otoes, self-styled 'brothers of the whites.' We kept about two miles north…
Mile 151: Hanover
"Early in the morning, near the town of Hanover, we had our first glimpse of the Little Blue—a small and gentle river, always to be remembered fondly by the westbound…
Mile 48: Kennekuk Station
"After Mosquito Creek the toiling caravans passed, in staging days, an important home station called at first Kickapoo Agency and later Kennekuk Station in honor of chief Kennekuk of the…
Early Emigrant Messages in St. Joseph
"[Lodisa Frizelle, an emigrant who was supposed to meet her husband] put a letter in the post office for her husband to claim when he should arrive, telling where she…