Dead Horse Creek

In April 1873, Headquarters, Department of the Platte at Omaha ordered a military scout of the North and Middle Loup River Valleys. The detachment of soldiers was commanded by Captain John Mix of Company M, Second Cavalry, and guided by Conrad “Little Buckshot” Wentworth. The expedition was sent out in response to a Sioux Indian raid on settlements about thirty-five miles to the northwest, an action that resulted in the Battle of Sioux Creek. After completing the scout, the troops were returning when the terrible “Easter Blizzard,” which began on April 13, 1873, struck them. For four days, settlers and storekeepers housed the soldiers, while their animals were left in a sheltered area alongside this creek. During the storm, twenty-five horses and four pack mules were suffocated by snow, and the creek thereafter became known as Dead Horse Creek. Similar incidents from early pioneer life were reflected in stream names.

Loup City, Nebraska · United States