Beginning in the 1840's, the Ox-Bow Trail, also known as the Old Fort Kearny or Nebraska City Road, carried thousands of emigrants and millions of pounds of freight to the settlements, mining camps, and military posts of the West. Many travelers were Mormons bound for the Great Salt Lake Valley. Looping north to the Platte from Missouri River towns such as Plattsmouth and Nebraska City, the route resembled an ox-bow and took its name from that shape. Just west of here, an important ford crossed Salt Creek where limestone ledges formed a natural low-water bridge. Travel on the trail declined in the mid-1860's as more direct routes were developed from the Missouri to the Central Platte Valley. The City of Lincoln's water supply comes from wells in the Platte Valley near here; in 1932 a pumping station was built and a 36-inch water main laid to Lincoln, and in the 1950's a treatment plant and an additional 48-inch main were added.