In the State Historical Society Transactions, Volume 3, is a story recording the diary kept by a woman, who with her family was journeying from Wisconsin to California in 1853 (three years before the town of Columbus was established). Evidently there were at the time many groups of pioneers traveling the same route, as she frequently mentions other caravans, and ferries across streams as the Missouri and Elkhorn. And business was brisk at all of the crossings.

Quoted from this printed page about the Columbus neighborhood:

THROUGH THE PLATTE VALLEY

May 25, 1853. We are traveling near the Platte River, and as far as we have seen Nebraska, I think the country much more beautiful than Iowa, but never have seen few flowers in any other country at this season of the year. The snakes I have observed today are all of an entirely different character from those we have seen before arid I should think much more harmless.

May 28, 1853, We came on the ferry at Loup Forks, where we shall be obliged to remain until tomorrow in consequence of the crowd here before us.

May 29, 1853. Cold, the rain pouring down upon our horses, and we must remain until tomorrow.

May 30, 1853. At seven o'clock, we left our encampment and went to the ferry where we remained two or three hours waiting for the company with whom we intend to travel across. The river at the Fork is seven or eight rods wide and twelve feet deep in the current of the stream; the bed and banks of the river are entirely composed of quicksand. The ferryman, Commodore Decatur, was very polite indeed, and when we left, bade us goodbye, calling Frank (my daughter) very familiarly by her name, and wishing the blessing of God might rest upon us, for which we felt truly grateful, as it was the first time we had heard the name of the Supreme Being spoken with reverence since we left Madison; but oh! how dreadfully profaned! Tonight, we have encamped near the river.

May 31, 1853. We have traveled about twelve miles. Our way has been somewhat diversified by hills and valleys, bluffs and prairies; have encamped near the river where we find wood, water and good grass. We have now ten wagons and twenty-eight horses in our train.

June 4, 1853. The Indians are constantly committing depradations (sic) on the emigrants. Our company lost one hundred and forty-eight head of cattle in the storm of Saturday night, but have recovered most of them. Another lost ten horses. Our company keeps a double watch, but possibly the Indians may outwit them notwithstanding. This Nebraska is a miserable, unpleasant place indeed, and can never be inhabited, except by the Red man of the prairies; the climate is very cold and it is almost impossible even for the grass to grow.

This party reached their California destination on October 9, 1853.



DIARY REVEALS TOWN HAD THIRTY HOUSES IN JUNE, 1866

J. P. Dwight, Government Surveyor, passed through Columbus by ox-team. in June, 1866. The following is an excerpt from his diary, dated June 18, 1866:

"We got to Columbus, a village of about thirty houses on the Loup River, where the Overland Trail crosses the river on a pontoon bridge. The bridge is held on flatboats held in place by a cable rope with the west end tied to a tree and the east end to a post.

"On the top of the post is an Indian's skull. The Pawnees, who are a big band here, say that it is a Sioux skull. The Sioux bones are of a reddish color, like those of a fox squirrel. The Siouxs are hostile against both the whites and the Pawnees. The Pawnees are friendly with the white people. They are more numerous here than the whites. They are dressed in all kinds of ways, only the right way. Some of the warriors have their hair cut close to their heads except a ridge at the top. The skin of their heads is painted red and there are red stripes on their faces and bodies and they carry war clubs.




NOTES ABOUT THE FERRY SYSTEMS

LOUP FERRY

The Omaha Times of September 23, 1858, under the head of, "To Cherry Creek Miners," published the following:

The report has been in circulation here, a few days past, that owing to the gold excitement the rates of ferrying on the Loupe Fork at Columbus some eighty miles west of here, have been raised to some four or five dollars. Such we are informed, is not the fact. The rates of ferriage at Columbus are but one dollar, and some sixteen miles of travel is sawed thereby.


GENOA FERRY RECOMMENDED

The Omaha Times of September 30, 1858, under a heading that read: "Genoa and Loupe Fork Fording," seems to be partial to the Genoa crossing. Notice that all of the writers affixed the letter "e" to the Loup in those years.

The item reads:

We understand that many of the Cherry Creek miners from this section prefer fording the Loupe Fork at the thriving town of Genoa, some twenty-five miles west of Columbus, to ferrying at Columbus. There is also a good ferry there. This is the old Mormon Trail so highly recommended by Californians. At Genoa, there are some two hundred settlers, a good saw and grist mill, and an excellent road all the way. The settlers in that vicinity have raised large crops this season. Genoa bids fair to be one of the largest inland towns in our Territory.

PLATTE RIVER

The Platte and the Loup Rivers always presented the hardest problem to the travelers who wished to get "on the other side." And every story concerning expeditions is full of narratives of the trouble encountered.

Bayard Taylor in 1866 made a trip to the lest, going the Kansas way to Denver, and returning by way of the Platte River. His articles were published in the New York Tribune, and later in book form. The experiences of Taylor were similar to all travelers of that day, but crossing the Platte River seemed to be about the worst. He concluded his description by saying: "Such is the Platte --- the meanest of rivers."

In Old Timer's Tale, by El Comancho, he said:

Only one steamer ever navigated the Platte. This was "El Paso," a little stern wheeler that went up to the canyon on the north fork from the Missouri on the June rise in 1852 and came back on the same high water.

However, there were many attempts to ride the sand bars but each of these failed in the attempt to even float down the stream. The Indians thought, did cross and recross without much difficulty, historians tell us.