OVERLAND FREIGHTING IN THE PLATTE VALLEY 1850–1870

• Main Author: Bresee, Floyd Edgar
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2006
• Subjects: History; Indian; Milton; Fort McPherson; Corral; Yoke; Sweetwater; Devil’s Gate
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss/8; https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/historydiss/article/1003/viewcontent/Pages_OCR.pdf

CONTENTS CHAPTER I: THE ROUTE–WHEN AND WHERE: The valley of the Platte; "Great Medicine Road"; The Astorians; Milton Sublette; First use of wagons; General William R. Ashley; South Pass discovered; Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville; Nathaniel J. Wyeth; Periods of the trail; The "Oregon Trail”; The Mormon or California Trail; Active period of overland trade; The eastern depots; The Big Blue; The Little Blue; Where freighters entered Nebraska from Kansas; Big Sandy; Results of a prairie fire; Meridian; Up the Little Blue; King's Ranch; Dogtown; Fort Kearny; Buffalo herds; Kearney City; Plum Creek; The Platte Valley; Fort McPherson; O’Fallon’s Bluff; Alkali Creek; Fort Sedgwick; Route to Denver; Julesburg; Denver, the freighters' “Mecca"; South Platte Crossing; To Ash Hollow; Bridges over the sand; Descent at Ash Hollow; Wagon breaks; Lodgepole Creek route; Landmarks on North Platte; Fort Mitchell; Horse Creek; Laramie River; Fort Laramie; North Platte Crossing; The Sweetwater Valley; Independence Rock; Devil’s Gate; Feeders to Platte Valley; Nebraska City–Fort Kearny; Omaha–Fort Kearny; Platte River Crossing; Shinn’s Ferry; Nebraska City investigates shorter route; Bonds for bridges; Distances; The old trails today CHAPTER II. AN EASTERN BASE: Activity; Parks of wagons, stacks of yokes, piles of chain; The freighters’ section; The freighters’ store; Outfitting establishments; Busy merchants; Where trainmen spent money; Buildings of a freighting company; Employees and their work; Freight carried upriver by steamboats; The wharfs and levees; steamer activity; Overcrowded warehouses; Preparation of train for the trail; Shoeing of mules; Branding of cattle; Yoking wild steers; Hitching up; Naming the wagons; Amount of freight to a wagon; Loading the freight; Social hour for trainmen; Rivalry of the bases; River towns depended on freighting for support CHAPTER III. AN OVERLAND TRAIN: Appearance of a new train; Makes of wagons; Weight and construction of the wagons; Capacity of a wagon; A full-fledged train; Provision, ...