Central Platte Valley

In Dawson County, much of the early history centered on pioneer routes to the West. The Mormon Trail to Utah and the first transcontinental railroad passed through on the north side of the Platte River, while the Oregon Trail and the Pony Express followed the south side. Conflict with Indians was not uncommon in the early days of settlement. In 1864, the Plum Creek Massacre occurred at a site near here in Phelps County when Sioux Indians attacked a wagon train, killing several men and taking prisoners. In 1867, nearby, a group of Cheyenne led by Chief Turkey Leg cut the telegraph line, derailed a locomotive, and killed several Union Pacific Railroad employees before the Army's Pawnee Indian Scouts, commanded by Major Frank North, drove them away. Permanent settlements began to appear after the railroad was built, and one of the earliest was Plum Creek, later renamed Lexington, where the first settlers moved from a stage station on the south side of the river shortly before the railroad arrived.

Nebraska · United States