This marker sits astride the Ox-Bow Trail, also known as the Old Fort Kearny or Nebraska City Road. Beginning in the 1840's, this route carried thousands of emigrants and millions of pounds of freight destined for the settlements, mining camps, or military posts of the West. Many travelers were Mormons bound for the Great Salt Lake Valley. The trail, looping north to the Platte from such Missouri River towns as Plattsmouth and Nebraska City, resembled an Ox-Bow, after which it was named. Just west of here was an important ford across Salt Creek, where limestone ledges form a natural low-water bridge. Travel over the trail declined in the mid-1860's with the development of more direct routes from the Missouri to the Central Platte Valley.
The water supply for the City of Lincoln comes from wells in the Platte Valley near here. In 1932 this pumping station was built, and a 36-inch water main laid to Lincoln. A treatment plant and an additional 48-inch main were added in the 1950's.
Saunders County Historical Society
Ashland Chamber of Commerce
Nebraska State Historical Society
Ashland City Water Treatment Plant
Saunders County
Marker 219
"THE GRAHAMS
The earliest Grahams who came to Nebraska were Robert Barton, (the second) who became the mayor of Lincoln for two terms, and his brother, John Lawrence, (SR.) who became a miller on Rock Creek in northeast Lancaster County. They had been freighters on the old Ox Bow Trail before settling down to raising families.....Submitted by Alice (Gilkeson) Graham" provided by link bellow:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nesaunde/1983hist/saco83-p243.html#graham
Also, see "Graham Marshall Skelton" family tree in Ancestry.com to attain more information. For free if you register. Wives and family played pivotal roles and said tree honors them.
1889
New York Puablic Library, Geneology Department
The History of Lincoln, Nebraska by Hayes Cox 1889."
Robert Barton-Graham (II) 1880 elected as a member of the house of representatives of the state legislature, 16th session.
Mayer 1889, treasurer for two terms.
1870 He and his sole sibling, John Lawerence Graham (Sr.) built a flowering mill in Miller precinct, Lancaster County.
"OX-BOW TRAIL. Starting from Nebraska City, the Ox-Bow Trail, also called the Fort Kearny and Nebraska City Road, headed northwest and crossed Salt Creek near present-day Ashland, followed Wahoo Creek to a point near present-day Cedar Bluffs in Saunders County, and then continued westward on the south side of the Platte River. Eight miles east of Fort Kearny, the Ox-Bow Trail joined the old Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri. It was 250 miles from Nebraska City to Fort Kearny by this "ox-bow" route.
Advantages of this route were the rock-bottom ford across Salt Creek at Ashland and the plentiful supply of water and wood. Also, those who followed the Platte felt more secure on a well-traveled route. However, the eastern Platte valley with its sand and its swampy areas was impassable when wet, and this, coupled with the longer roundabout route, caused Alexander Majors of the Russell, Majors, and Waddell Freighting Company to have surveyed from Nebraska City to Fort Kearny, a more direct route, which became known as the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny Cut-off."
As provided from this link:
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/NSHS/EDLFT/edlft12.html
More history and other names for this exact trail...:
http://www.lasr.net/travel/city.php?NE+wahoo+ox-bow-trail&TravelTo=NE0318032&VA=Y&AttractionCategory=&Attraction_ID=NE0318032a005
Image of the marker and great history:
http://www.ashlandhistoricalsociety.org/Pages/RAILROADSofAshlandNE.aspx
Additional images and map of trail to a degree:
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=old+Ox+Bow+Trail&fr=mcafee&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmormontrails.org%2FTrails%2FVariants%2FOxbow%2Fnebvar.jpg#id=2&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmormontrails.org%2FTrails%2FVariants%2FOxbow%2Fnebvar.jpg&action=click
From Mormontrails.org
Who else was part of this wonderful historical marker and US history, of "Manifest Destiny" to the West?
I hope this helps and provides some value.
Regards,
Wes Graham