Nebraska Chapter- Oregon California Trails Association

12/12/2025

11/19/2025

When Ezra Meeker finally died in 1928 at ninety-seven, he left behind more than books, markers, or museums. He left behind a trail made visible again—one he had walked, ridden, and flown across to remind a forgetful nation of the road that once carried thousands toward their futures. Meeker had first crossed the Oregon Trail in 1852 as a young husband and new father, steering an ox-drawn wagon through storms, sickness, and uncertainty. The journey nearly broke his family, but it delivered them to the green promise of the Pacific Coast and planted the beginnings of a life that would swing from prosperity to ruin and back again.

On the fertile land of the Puget Sound, Meeker found his fortune in hops, earning a nickname that once echoed from breweries around the world: the “Hop King.” His success built mansions and opportunity, until a swarm of hop aphids wiped out his empire overnight. He chased new ventures—some bold, some desperate—even hauling supplies through the frozen paths of the Klondike in hopes of striking gold. Yet for all his wanderings, one thought kept returning: the Oregon Trail, the very path that had defined his youth, was fading from public memory, swallowed by progress.

So Meeker took up the mission himself. In his late seventies, he harnessed oxen, rebuilt a wagon, and retraced the Trail mile by mile, stopping in towns to erect monuments and tell stories nearly lost to time. He journeyed again by oxcart, again by train, and even once by airplane, a pioneer from another century drifting above the landscapes he had crossed at walking pace. Presidents greeted him, schoolchildren waved to him, and industrial titans like Henry Ford helped him when age pressed hard against his determination. By the time he made his last trek in 1928, Meeker had ensured that the Oregon Trail would endure—not just in stone markers or history books, but in the imagination of a country he refused to let forget.

09/09/2025

The general membership meeting is currently underway at our 42nd annual convention in Pueblo, Colorado. Cory Donnelly from the National Park Service is providing updates from the National Trails Office out of Santa Fe.

09/05/2025

Around 1877, a Sioux village near Fort Robinson, Nebraska, was captured in a striking photograph showing traditional buffalo hide teepees arranged in a communal pattern. The image offers a rare glimpse into daily life on the Plains during a period of upheaval, when Native American communities faced increasing pressure from U.S. military campaigns, forced relocations, and the encroachment of settlers. Each teepee, carefully constructed from tanned hides and wooden poles, reflects the resourcefulness and cultural traditions that had sustained the Sioux for generations.

The photograph is believed to have been taken by 1st Lt. Walter Scribner Schuyler, aide-de-camp to General George Crook, who was stationed in the region from 1876 to 1882. Schuyler’s role with the three-star general often placed him at the forefront of military operations, providing him with access to frontier scenes and Native American encampments. Whether taken for documentation or personal record, the image captures both the resilience of the Sioux people and the stark contrast between their traditional lifestyle and the military presence that increasingly surrounded them.

Beyond its historical value, the photo serves as a visual testament to the Sioux way of life during a turbulent era. It preserves details of their domestic arrangements, social organization, and adaptability in the Plains environment. Today, the image remains a crucial artifact for historians, anthropologists, and anyone seeking to understand the human and cultural landscape of the American West in the late 19th century, reminding viewers of a people navigating survival, tradition, and the pressures of a rapidly changing world.

09/03/2025

When some people think of dangers on the Oregon Trail, they often picture crime, accidents, or wild animals on the trail. These dangers were not in fact the biggest threat or cause of death – disease was. At the peak of emigration in 1849-50, cholera was the biggest killer on the trail, mostly due to poor sanitation practices of the time.

Cholera is spread by a waterborne bacterium called Vibrio cholerae which thrives in stagnant polluted water. Once this type of waterborne bacterium is ingested by a person, it may only take a few hours to prove fatal.

Cholera progresses quickly by attacking the intestines and thus inducing symptoms like vomiting, abdominal pain, cramping and severe diarrhea. Death would often result from the severe dehydration caused by quick fluid loss.

Cholera swept quickly through the wagon trains on the trail. Those who consumed infected food or water would either pass within hours of the disease or be ill for several days. The disease left some families shattered because of the death of those who fell ill from it. In fact, some wagon trains lost two thirds of their people due to the disease.

Image- Black and white photo of Rebecca Winters' Grave, east of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. NPS/George Grant

08/27/2025

08/15/2025

This beautiful water fall is in Idaho.

March of the Mounted Riflemen:
Arguably the most impressing landmark, yet hidden gem, on the Oregon Trail was Shoshone Falls. Being on a bend of the Snake River, it was more than eight miles off of the main road and few ventured to see it but those who did were quite impressed.
"The river here becomes a little contracted and passes through a chasm of solid rock. It commences to fall about a quarter of a mile above the last pitch one hundred sixty feet. ... There seems to be but one opinion, that it equalled in grandeur [and] in proportion to column of water the Niagara falls." - Maj. Osborne Cross, August 15, 1849

Photochrom print of Shoshone Falls from 1898 published by Detroit Photographic Co.
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08/01/2025

Ft. Kearny - no year listed on photo.

07/26/2025

160 years ago today, on July 26, 1865, the Indian Wars battles of Platte Bridge Station and Red Buttes near present Casper, Wyo. result in the deaths of 28 troops including Lt. Caspar Collins.

"The Battles of Platte Bridge Station and Red Buttes" written by Ellis Hein shares the rest of the story.

"A pair of fights on July 26, 1865 in what’s now central Wyoming were two of the most significant battles of the Indian Wars of the northern Great Plains. They resulted in the loss of Lt. Caspar Collins and 27 other soldiers, along with lighter losses among the Cheyenne, Lakota Sioux and Arapaho warriors who attacked them.

The battles were a direct result of the famed Sand Creek Massacre hundreds of miles away in southeastern Colorado Territory the previous November, when Col. John Chivington and 700 troops attacked a peaceful Southern Cheyenne village led by Chief Black Kettle." CONTINUE READING ➡ https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/battles-platte-bridge-station-and-red-buttes

📷William Henry Jackson's 1933 painting of the fight at Platte Bridge. Cavalrymen, surrounded by mounted warriors, are riding toward the foot soldiers at the north end of the bridge who are firing to cover their comrades' retreat. Wyoming State Museum

07/25/2025

March of the Mounted Riflemen:
On July 28, Maj. Osborne Cross noted that his division was behind schedule so he elected to take the Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff that cuts straight west from Dry Sandy Creek across the "40-Mile-Desert," which was a stretch of waterless road that eventually carried travelers over the southern tip of the Wyoming Range. This route was challenging but could be worth the risk as it saved about 90 miles, which amounted to about a week of travel. The worst of it could be covered in two long days of travel and some would cover it in one long day and night.

Pictured here in the center is the Sublette Cutoff. There were many alternative routes that westbound travelers to take and the Sublette was a popular one.
Clip of National Park Service map of the California Trail (Library of Congress digital upload).
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07/15/2025

07/09/2025

In conjunction with Oregon Trail Days, Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering will be host to the National Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association’s Annual Membership meeting. They will have several…