The Platte River Road
The Platte River Road
The overland trails leading west in the mid-1800s converged at Fort Kearny, Nebraska, and then followed the Platte River westward. Paths meandered on the south side of the river and the north to Fort Laramie. At Fort Kearny, the emigrants left the prairie and entered the great plains. At Fort Laramie, they left the plains for the Rocky Mountains. People traveled the Platte River Road for many reasons - most of them economic.
Fort Laramie separated the Oregon seekers from the California ones. Some followed the Snake toward Oregon and others the Humboldt for California destinations. Travel past Fort Laramie was more difficult than it had been through the prairie and the plains. This strenuous section of the journey came when emigrants were already worn out from the miles they had put behind them. Some turned back and only those hardy folks determined to find the end of their rainbow continued to their destination.
Out of the thousands who traveled through the Platte River Valley, a few kept personal journals. We are grateful to these people for an insight into covered wagon travel through miles of wilderness before completion of the transcontinental railway. They relate stories of courage and heartbreak. Some found gold at the end of their rainbow, and some died of cholera and accidents along the way, but the new frontier and opportunities were beaconing so westward they went.
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