Cook’s Cattle Drive North, 1876
Cattleman James H. Cook first came to Nebraska in 1876 when he helped drive a herd of cattle from Texas. In 1911 he recalled this event: "In the year 1876 I helped to ...
Platte River
What We Found
Timeline Tuesday: Harrison Johnson’s History of Nebraska
"Our work is done," wrote Harrison Johnson (1822-1885) as he concluded his History of Nebraska, published in 1880. "The volume is completed, and only awaits the ...
76-year-old man takes covered wagon along Oregon Trail to highlight historical significance
Caption: Ezra Meeker and his ox team at Chimney Rock, July 1906. NSHS RG0959.PH5-1
One hundred ten years ago in July 1906 Ezra Meeker stopped at Chimney ...
Marker Monday: Wild Horse Spring
Location
Wild Horse Spring, Eckery, Perkins County, Nebraska
View this marker's location at 40.906586, -101.7283
Marker Text
Named for the beautiful, spirited ...
See? Coronado Made it to Nebraska After All
Historians long believed that in 1541, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado became the first European explorer to reach the Platte River in Nebraska. By the 1890s, historical ...
How to Cross the Platte River at Fort Kearny, 1866
How difficult was it to cross the Platte River without a bridge? This 1866 map gives you some idea. The river was notorious for its braided channel and patches of ...
Joseph Warren Arnold’s Journal of His Trip to and from Montana, 1864-1866
Joseph Warren Arnold was born in Honesdale, Wayne County, Pennsylvania in 1841. He attended school in Springville, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. When he felt the lure ...
Crossing the Platte, the meanest of rivers
The Platte River may be shallow, but crossing it in a wagon was a challenge.
What was this 100-pound steamboat anchor doing in a central Nebraska field?
By David L. Bristow, Editor
Gloria Liljestrand-Barber found this four-foot-high, 100-pound anchor in 1985. It was mostly buried in a hayfield on her ...
Marker Monday: Phelps County
Marker Text
The great immigrant roads to the West which followed the Platte River brought the first settlers to this area. Beginning in the late 1850's, ...
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