Archway, Trails and Rails

Engine No. 481

Our last day in Nebraska so we headed out this morning to see two more things.  The first was the Trails and Rails Museum which showed life here in Kearney from the 1840s to 1930s.  The curators brought in various buildings from around the area: an 1870 one room school house, a log cabin that they are not sure the beginnings of it but date it to about 1860, a ranch house dating back to 1850s and has continuously lived in until 15 years ago, a German Baptist church dating about 1899, and then there was Engine No. 481 - a steam engine that served the Union Pacific Railway and the Union Pacific Depot intact with all the things that made it so - baggage room, ticket office, waiting room, telegraph, etc.  The town has done a nice job and also on premise is a working blacksmith shop where demonstrations are done periodically.  And like all small town museums/historical societies - it has outgrown the buildings and need to expand.  A high school girl gave us the walking tour and she was quite knowledgeable about the buildings and such.  Great job.

Log Cabin dating 1870

Buildings of the Trails and Rails Museum

From there we went to the Archway.  And at first glance you say - what the heck is that?  It is a memorial built over Interstate 80 which depicts itself as the Gateway to the Great Platte River and Valley.  Built in 1999 and opened to the public in 2000, you walk back into time with interactive displays, you are wearing headphones that is constantly telling you stories of the history of the great migration westward.  From the Indians and the great herds of buffalo, to the emigrants, to the discovery of gold in California, to the settling of the towns along the routes the pioneers took, to their living conditions, to the linking of the railroad across the country, the invention of the telegraph, the advent of the motor car, highways, interstates, etc.  Very well done.  If you are ever driving on Interstate 80 and come upon the Archway in Kearney, please stop and visit this memorial.  

Archway built over Interstate 80

Who is older? Old time mountain man or current?
You road escalator up into yesterday.  

Pretty cool displays with life like models

Buffalo ran right up to you - pretty cool

Pony express rider came in to change horses

Big section on the roads

Peep hole looking down onto I 80

Outside the Archway, across the parking lot, is a Pawnee village.  Pawnee Indians were the residents of this area prior to the emigrants.  A replica of a lodge was built in 2010 with the Mandan Hidasta Indians coming down from North Dakota and building it.  Looked like the one we saw at Knife River in North Dakota.  Also on the grounds was a Pawnee garden where it showed that corn was successfully grown and provided enough food for the local Pawnee reservation for an entire season.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Nebraska and head to Iowa, Sioux City.  Will visit there a couple of days then head to Illinois.  Nebraska was a state we wanted to visit and was surprised at the amount of history that flowed through the state.