The trail along the south side of the Platte River was the main route to Oregon and California. Fur traders traveling to the Rocky Mountains took the first wagons over it in 1830, Oregon-bound missionaries followed in the mid-1830s, and the first group of settlers set out for Oregon in 1841. After gold was discovered in California, the number of emigrants reached 40,000 in 1849. Most traveled in ox-drawn wagons averaging about fifteen miles a day. In the 1850s and 1860s, freight wagons and stagecoaches carrying passengers and mail also used the road. From April 1860 until October 1861, the Pony Express carried mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. Fort Kearny, east of here, provided protection and supplies for travelers, supplies could also be purchased at nearby Dobytown, and one of the many road ranches along the Oregon-California trail stood just southeast of here. Wagon travel on this overland route declined after the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Kearney, Nebraska · USA