Pioneer Crossing
Posted by: 
NevaP
N 40° 18.416 W 099° 20.761
14T E 470596 N 4461882
This marker is in a pleasant picnic area by the site of a historic creek crossing in northern Harland County.
Waymark Code: WM3KTN
Location: Nebraska, United States
Date Posted: 04/17/2008
Views: 14
Wagons crossed Turkey Creek here in the late nineteenth century. The marker is located in a small, nicely maintained picnic area west of the Rt. 4 bridge across the creek. There's a geocache here.
The marker reads
PIONEER CROSSING
Crossing streams and rivers, in a region where roads were but trails and bridges were unknown, was a major problem to emigrants traveling by team and wagon. To find or construct a ford, such as Wilson's or Pioneer Crossing, was always necessary.
At an unknown date, a grading was cut in the steep banks of Turkey Creek near here so that wagons could cross from one side to the other with relative ease. Logs were bound together with wire and tied to large trees on both banks, forming a bridge over which the wagons could be driven. Occasionally, however, high water would force the pioneers to camp on the banks of Turkey Creek until the water subsided.
The area was first settled in the 1870's. Andrew Wilson, upon whose land the ford was located and from whom it received its name, received his final homestead patent for this land in 1884. During the 1880's, the name of the ford gradually changed from Wilson's to Pioneer Crossing, as most of those using it were westward bound pioneers. A steel bridge was built across Turkey Creek at this site in 1908.
The marker, #38, was placed by the Alma Chamber of Commerce and the Historical Land Mark Council
Marker Name: Pioneer Crossing
Roadside: yes
Web Address if available:: [Web Link]
City: Not Listed
Other: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
Post Pictures:
1. Close up of historical marker
2. Picture of surrounding area (would prefer to have the marker in the picture also). Thanks!