Jun 26, 2014

We started our day with a visit to the Hastings Museum which had a good exhibit relative to the early settlement and the Oregon Trail as well as the struggle by the Indians to maintain their hunting grounds and lifestyle. Very difficult times. It had a lot of other displays as well and was impressive. 

 

This is a sculpture at the museum of two brothers who were fleeing an Indian attack during the Indian wars (1864 -65). They were struck by arrows and fell from their horse and left for dead and discovered the next day alive. Both lived to an old age.

This was a shot of a sod (earth block) blacksmith shop which was a replica of that at Fort Kerneau which was the first fort actually established ro protect emigrants on the Oregon Trail. Norm deleted it because he thought I had already loaded it onto the blog. 

 

 

A very impressive memorial and museum to the Oregon California and Mormon Trails and the Pony Express . Impressive. The Mormons were coming from further north to escape religous persecution and all the trails met around the Gothenburg area along the Platte River. It literally spans Interstate 80.

 

A Parkway rest stop where I had an afternoon nap leaning over a table since I woke a few days ago with a couple of huge ants crawling up my arm when I was napping on the grass. The rest area is well layed out and our road authorities could learn a lot. Having said that 2 trucks had to pull out after pulling in because there was an abundance of caravans and RV's so not unlike home there, just better facilities if you get to stop. Having said that this was a small stop compared to many we have seen.

We headed into Gothenburg to see a restored Pony Express Station. It was beautifully restored and the volunteer there was a great guide. We are gob smackd that the Pony Express only ran for 18 months and yet has such a prominent place in history. Perhaps as a tribute to the endeavour of young kids wanting to carve a future and name for themselves in life and history. Needless to say the 3 men who set the company up never made money as they had a massive infrastructure to develop and maintain and never recovered a return on their investment. Private enterprise can be brutal. Unfortunately Nom deleted our only photo.  Doh!

Aware that while we had riden through miles and miles of corn over the last few days that the terrain was changing and the silos which were common place beside rail lines and on private properties may be about to diminish Norm took this as we were leaving Gothenburg. Soon after this the corn fields diminished greatly and we started seeing sandy hills not that far into the distance.

Tonight we are in North Platte which is a quirky place, the township seems to be indiscriminately scattered around a whole lot of intersections of major roads and then it occured to me that since the Oregon Trail times that its likely what it has always been.

Bits and Bobs:

More trains - As we head across the plains we are accompanied by massive trains often several kms long. Today we stopped to take a photo of some silos at Gothenburg and one went past so we counted 2 engines at front, 104 carriages and another engine at the rear. We rode past another 1.5km long with 2 engines in front and 92 carriages. Incredible scale.

Some statistics - The scale of the emigration west was awesome. Around 300,000 on the Oregon Trail with 1 in 17 deaths along the trail and I cannot remember the number on the Mormon trail, considerably less but they experienced a 1 in 10 death rate. Travel up to and along the Platte River area was comparatively easy with reasonably gentle gradients apart from into and out of water crossings and they hadnt reached the mountain passes and as yet neither have we but I suspect we are looking forward to it with a lot less trepidation than they were.

Last night's Accomodation: 

Holiday Inn Expess Hastings, 3605 Cimarron Plaza, Hastings, NE, 68901

Out of town but good facilities and adjacent to a shopping plaza and literally around the corner from a Mexican Restaurant where we had a delicious dinner. Included breakfast, parking and wifi. Very comfortable and good value.