North Platte

We are resting in North Platte, Nebraska.   It gives me time to tell you a little bit about this fascinating area.  I hear you.  You just laughed at the idea of the middle of Nebraska being fascinating.  But hear me out.

This is where the pioneers strode across the prairie, with all their possessions loaded in wagons, or prairie schooners, as they headed west on the Oregon Trail. (Or, as Richard and I call it, the OryGone Trail.)  It was the largest human migration in history! Over half a million people travelled west on the Oregon Trail following the Platte River across the prairie. As we drove across on I-80, we saw flocks of wild turkeys and herds of deer feeding in the freshly greened fields.  Such plentiful game must have been really appreciated by the pioneers; they didn’t have any WalMart Supercenters to do their grocery shopping in.

After the westward migration, stage lines followed this same route west.  As did the Pony Express. Today, we visited an original Pony Express station in Gothenberg. It had been relocated from about 20 miles away, but the structure was very interesting.  Richard had to duck to pass through the short doorway.  It was a simple log building with a friendly lady volunteer there to tell us about the history of the Pony Express and the boys who rode it, risking life and limb to carry the mail.  She said they recruited lightweight young men, preferably orphans under eighteen years old and less than 120 pounds.  She said the  youngest rider was only eleven years old!

Of course, the most famous Pony Express rider was William Frederick Cody also known as Buffalo Bill Cody. In 1877, he and two others established a ranch just outside of North Platte.

After the Pony Express and the stage lines, came the steam trains of the Union Pacific, tieing the east and west halves of this country together.

During WWII a small miracle occurred here.  Beginning on Christmas Day 1941 and continuing until April 1, 1946, every troop train passing through North Platte was met by volunteers plying them with coffee, cakes, sandwiches, and other goodies.  Every troop train.   Not some of them.  Not most of them.  Every single one of them. And there were hundreds of troop trains passing through North Platte.  Over 6 million men and women were served by the North Platte Canteen. It is a fascinating story.

Yesterday we went to the Union Pacific railway’s hugemungous Bailey Yard. It is the largest railroad classification yard in the world. Over 10,000 rail cars pass through each day. Union Pacific has opened a fabulous visitor center called the Golden Spike. We took the elevator to the eighth floor and watched in fascination as the trains were being being sorted. I counted 21 rail lines with just engines on them. Then there are the east bound and west bound “bowls” where the train cars are “humped” and organized into new trains. There are 114 tracks in the bowls alone.  You can see the immenisity of it on google maps, if you go to the satellite view.

So, maybe North Platte doesn’t have the excitement of Las Vegas, or the sophistication of New York, but you have to admit, it’s more fascinating than you thought.