Nebraska - Part Two

Here we are again - just in another part of the state.

Large pioneer ranches were established in this region of Nebraska in the 1870's and early 1880's. Charles F. Coffee was one of these pioneers, with ranch headquarters on Hat Creek in Nebraska and Rawhide Creek in Wyoming. By June, 1886, the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad (later the Chicago and North Western) reached the present site of Harrison. On August 15, Coffee shipped the first train load from Harrison to Chicago.

Coffee Siding, located here to avoid higher freight rates in Wyoming, became an important shipping point for Nebraskans. Wyoming ranchers also trailed herds here for shipment. Near the 1,023 footlong siding, Coffee built seven cattle pens. Cattle awaiting shipment were pastured on the Niobrara River south of here. As many as three cattle trains, each consisting of not less than fourteen cars, were sometimes shipped at a time.
Ranching continues as the major industry in Sioux County, but development of better roads and use of huge cattle trucks have reduced dependence on railroads. Sidings and pens used continuously through the 1940's were removed in 1958, and little remains to mark Coffee Siding and the pioneer ranching activity it represented.

Remnants of the trestle

Remnant of a rail bed

"Near here are ruts left by the famed 1874 Sioux Expedition, a U.S. military force sent to establish Camps Sheridan and Robinson. The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie had guaranteed food and supplies to the Sioux and other tribes in exchange for lands ceded to the United States. To distribute annuity goods, Red Cloud Agency was established on the North Platte River below Fort Laramie. In 1873 the agency was relocated to the White River Valley near present-day Crawford.

Misunderstandings between Indian leaders and agents hampered the distribution of supplies during the winter of 1873-74. In three separate incidents in February, hostile bands of Sioux killed freighter Edward Gray, Red Cloud agent Frank Appleton, and two soldiers from Fort Laramie, including Lieutenant Levi Robinson. General Philip Sheridan responded by organizing the Sioux Expedition.

In early March nearly one thousand troops followed an old fur-trade route from Fort Laramie to the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies. The establishment of Camps Robinson and Sheridan maintained an uneasy peace until the outbreak of the Sioux War two years later. Camp Robinson was renamed Fort Robinson in 1878 and the improved Fort Laramie—Fort Robinson Trail helped supply this outpost on the plains."