The Nebraska City Road
"The most underrated and least understood approach to the Platte was that from Old Fort Kearney at Table Creek, which became Nebraska City in 1854. . . .[T]his was a…
Miles Wide and Inches Deep
"The Platte resembled no river any of the emigrants had ever seen before, contradicting their idea of a 'normal' stream. It was miles wide and inches deep; thanks to Indian-set…
The Coast of Nebraska
"The Platte River dominates Nebraska geography, and its dominant characteristic is its flatness. 'Nebraska' is the approximate Omaha Indian equivalent for 'flat water,' and the French word 'Platte' is synonymous.…
Republican River
"Among the several branches of the Pawnee was one called the 'Republican,' because when they were visited near their village near present Red Cloud by early Spaniards, followed by Zebulon…
Pawnee
"[D]efinitely undependable were the Pawnee, whose territory extended from the Big Blue Crossing to the forks of the Platte. The Kanzas, the Potawatomi, and the Sac and Fox were semi-civilized,…
Little Blue Telegraph
"The Little Blue had a telegraph style of its own. Wrote G.A. Smith, 'Thousands of names are written on trees by emigrants.' Benjamin Gatton found not only trees 'skinned and…
Little Blue River
"The main approach to the Great Platte River Road was along the Little Blue River, which had everything the emigrants needed—wood, water, and a valley going in the right direction.…
Mile 137: Marysville, KS
"In 1852 a white man named Marshall squatted on the east bank [of the Blue River] and went into the ferry business on a permanent basis. . . . [He]…
The Big Blue
"It was at the Big Blue, about ten days out of St. Joe, that the emigrants felt the first flick of the Elephant's tail. Here was a chance to repair…
Paying Tributes
"As at St. Joe and in the west bottoms the emigrants had been pestered by 'dirty looking redskins' looking for handouts. These were the more shiftless members of the Kickapoo,…
The Independence Road
"That section of the Oregon-California Trail commonly known in emigrant days as the Independence Road was first used by trading expeditions out of the Kansas City area in the 1830s.…
Council Bluffs—Omaha
"[E]arly in 1846, the advance guard of Mormon refugees from Illinois straggled down Indian Creek and Mosquito Creek into the Missouri River bottom below the old jesuit mission and knocked…
St. Joseph
"Joseph Robidoux, who established a trading post at the Blacksnake Hills about 1825, was a man of vision. He anticipated not only an influx of settlers, but also the need…
Cholera in Independence, MO
"The Asiatic cholera brought along by steamboat passengers from St. Louis was particularly deadly around Independence, and graves multiplied. This, coupled with the rivalry of neighboring Westport and the advantages…
Kansas City
"The complex of sites around Kansas City is the best known, partly because this area was the principal jump-off for the Oregon migration, partly because it was in the business…