In April 1860 Joseph E. Johnson, a Mormon, established a road ranche at Wood River Center, today’s Shelton, and began publishing The Huntsman’s Echo, the first newspaper in Nebraska west of Omaha. He had earlier edited papers in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha. Johnson closely observed the Nebraska scene and wrote in a vigorous and breezy style reflected in his paper’s motto, “Independent in Everything, Neutral in Nothing.” Johnson’s Ranch became an important supply point for Mormons and other travelers on the Council Bluffs Road, or Mormon Trail, with a general store, blacksmith shop, post office, mill, and a farm that raised crops and vegetables. Buffalo and elk roamed the area, and the Pawnee Tribe lived nearby. Johnson strongly favored preserving the Union and was appalled by the coming bloodshed of the Civil War, but on the grounds that “this Republican reign of terror...is too much for our democratic style of free thought, free speech, and freedom,” he decided to move west to join fellow Mormons in Utah. The last issue of The Huntsman’s Echo was published August 1, 1861.