Heritage Gateways
Official Sesquicentennial K-12 Education Project
sponsored by the Utah State Board of Education, the BYU-Public School Partnership and the Utah Education Network
Pioneer 1847 Companies
1847: April 17-23 Good Progress Over the Flat Nebraska Plain
Date: April 17, 1847
The fairly level Nebraska prairie allowed the Mormon pioneers to make good time as they followed the north bank of the Platte River.
Each day the company paused for an hour or two in the middle of the march to allow the animals to rest, drink and graze. Otherwise the teams would exhaust themselves before it was time to make camp in the evening.
The pioneers passed a large Indian village on April 21 near what is now Columbus, Neb., and more than 200 Pawnee turned out to greet them and ask for gifts.
Late in the week, the Loup River took the company away from the Platte and forced the pioneers to cross the wide stream to get back to the banks of the Platte. Attempts to ford the Loup were frustrated on April 23 because of quicksand under the shallow water
Source: 111 Days to Zion © Copyright 1997 Big Moon Traders and Hal Knight. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This includes educational uses.