Massive freighting of supplies by ox and mule trains was a direct result of the establishment of Fort Kearny and other western military posts. The Mormon War and the discovery of gold in the territories of Colorado and Montana increased this trade, and Nebraska City became a major freighting center between 1858 and 1865. Early freighters used the Ox-Bow Trail which looped northward to the Platte Valley and west to Fort Kearny. The competition with other Missouri River Towns forced the freighters to seek a shorter, quicker route. The new route, the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny Cut-off, passed near this point. It was originally marked by a plowed furrow of over 180 miles. In 1862 Joseph Brown brought to Nebraska his famed steam wagon, an invention that would hopefully revolutionize plains freighting. Bridges were constructed and other improvements were made to facilitate this machine. The experiment was a failure and the wagon never got beyond the outskirts of Nebraska City; even so, the cut-off is also known as the "Steam Wagon Road."
Overland freighting reached its peak in 1865 when over 44 million pounds of supplies were shipped from Nebraska City. The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad across Nebraska, however, signaled the end of major freighting on this trail.
HM Number | HM1IGK |
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Tags | |
Marker Number | 174 |
Placed By | Nebraska State Historical Society, Department of Roads, and York County Historical Society |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Sunday, December 21st, 2014 at 9:01pm PST -08:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 14T E 621673 N 4520084 |
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Decimal Degrees | 40.82276667, -97.55713333 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 40° 49.366', W 97° 33.428' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 40° 49' 21.96" N, 97° 33' 25.68" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 402 |
Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling West |
Closest Postal Address | At or near I-80, York NE 68467, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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