Mile 568: Nine Mile Station
Nine Mile Station was two miles southeast of Chappell, NE. It's not marked on the Pony Express Bikepacking Route, and I can't find an exact location for the marker. I've…
Robidoux’s Trading Post
"The primary business of the Robidoux clan was to trade with the Indians. . . . [T]he Robidoux eastbound caravans were often observed by emigrants: Howell was told by Robidoux…
Mile 655: Chimney Rock Landmark
"Chimney Rock was the most famous of all the landmarks on the Great Platte Road. This is not idle rhetoric. . . . Chimney Rock is mentioned of described in…
Ash Hollow
"While Ash Hollow was renowned among California-bound emigrants for its springs, its spectacular entrances, and its sylvan charm, it is best remembered today as a place of tragedy and terror.…
Crossings of the South Platte
Prior to 1859, there were three crossings of the South Platte. "These were commonly known as the Lower, Middle, and Upper crossings (or fords). Their respective locations would be roughly…
Ranches, Stations, and Posts along the Platte
"Prior to 1859 scattered references are found to fly-by-night trading establishments along the Platte and the North Platte, usually in portable tents or tipis operated by squaw men. Robidoux's several…
Settlements in the Platte River valley
"The news from Pike's Peak in 1858 precipitated plans for ranches along the Platte to accommodate the new wave of gold-seekers. There is evidence of a start on such establishments,…
Bullboats
"Crude rafts and hollowed-out cottonwoods were not suitable for commercial loads. The fur traders first attempted a modification of the circular Indian bullboat. This was an ingenious contrivance, resembling an…
Prairie Fires
"The real menace to the precious grass [in the Platte valley], aside from drouth, was the disastrous prairie fire. . . . According to John Wyeth it was the Indian…
Freighting Near Fort Kearney
Freighting across the Plains became big business with accelerated military campaigns of 1857 and 1858, and one of the biggest was the contracting firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell. Thaddeus…
Fort Kearny Military History
"Fort Kearny was never attacked by Indians, never besieged, and no battle of size was fought within a radius of 100 miles. Its garrison seemed pitifully small in contrast to…
Popskull and Tanglefoot
"There is little doubt that the principle commodity sold here [at Dobytown] was whiskey of a dubious type identified by one victim as 'popskull.' Get. William T. Sherman called it…
Dobytown Description
"'The saloon . . . in which I spend=t most of the evening consisted of a long narrow room with a bar made of rough boards extending the entire length…
Doby Town in 1863
"'There were no streets, and people built their houses wherever preference or caprice dictated. The townspeople were mostly frontiersmen who settled there for the sole purpose of . . .…