Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

Born in the 1870s as a route to Black Hills gold, this 321-mile railroad corridor created and supplied settlements across northern Nebraska. Soon after the trains stopped in 1992, Rails to Trails Conservancy purchased the right-of-way for the nation's longest recreational rail-to-trail project.

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The 19th century's great western migration laced Nebraska with travel corridors -- the Oregon-California Trail, the Pony Express
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route, the Mormon Trail. Most have nearly vanished; their remaining traces are ruts crossing pastures, historical road signs that mark would-be intersections with modern highways, and a few restored way stations.
The routes that have endured were laid with rails and connected population and resource centers. The Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe lines, traced by parallel highways, remain sturdy bones in the nation's transportation network.
Somewhere between the almost gone and the commercially robust routes lies the Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail -- a historical corridor in transition.
Once part of the Chicago & North Western railroad's Cowboy Line, the route covers 321 miles across northern Nebraska from Norfolk to Chadron. From east to west, the trail passes

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through the farmland of the Elkhorn River valley, into Plains ranchland, across the scenic Niobrara River valley, along the northern Sandhills and to the edge of the Pine Ridge.
The Cowboy Trail is the longest rail-to-trail conversion in progress in the United States, which includes a 148-foot high bridge over the Niobrara River at Valentine.

Gold Rush Created Route Across Nebraska

The history of the corridor has been one of vacillating financial fortunes. Indeed, it owes it very existence to the Black Hills 1870s gold rush.

Photo from Nebraska State Historical Society

Before the turn of the century, a steam engine pulling passenger cars crosses the Long Pine Creek.

In 1871 the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad (FE&MV) ran from Fremont to Wisner and had plans to push north to the confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri rivers. But, because of an economic downturn, rail construction stalled at Wisner.
Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in Dakota Territory in July, 1874. Two years later the U.S. government wrested the Black Hills from the Sioux Indians, opening the way for Euroamerican exploration and mining. By sheer good fortune, the FE&MV found itself in the best geographical position to forge a much-needed supply line to the Black Hills.
Running south of the Sioux Reservation, which blocked other railroads from the east, the FE&MV reached Oakdale in 1879, Fort Niobrara and Valentine in 1883 and Chadron by 1885. By the time the first train pulled into Rapid City in July 1886, the larger Chicago & North Western Railway (C&NW) had acquired the FE&MV -- although the name didn't change for another 15 years.
Along its corridor, the railroad created stations every seven to 15 miles and, around most, towns sprung up or grew larger, providing services for increasing numbers of homesteaders and businesses. From Norfolk to Chadron, the names of places -- some still vibrant, some gone -- sketch the line across the state: Kent, Battle Creek, Meadow Grove, Tilden, Hord, Oakdale, Neligh, Clearwater, Ewing, Stafford, Inman, O'Neill, Emmet, Atkinson, Gravel Pit, Stuart, Newport, Rock, Bassett, Long Pine, Ainsworth, Sandridge, Johnstown, Wood Lake, Arabia, Thacher, Valentine, Crookston, Kilgore, Nenzel, Cody, Roxby, Eli, Mesa, Merriman, Bachelor, Irwin, Soudan, Gordon, Clinton, Rushville, Hay Springs, Bordeaux, and Chadron.
There was speculation for years that the C&NW had designs on making its line transcontinental to compete with the Union Pacific. But, shortly after the North Western reached Lander, Wyoming, in 1906, the railroad's management decided that was the end.
As with other railroads across the country, the C&NW was the dominant transporter of both freight and passengers in northern Nebraska from the 1880s through the 1920s. Indeed, without it, many of the towns and homesteads could not have survived. In 1876 the C&NW advertised itself as the "The Sportman's Route" and, for some years around 1900, hunters in the Red Deer Club of Lincoln used the route to travel to Cherry County.
The construction of Mount Rushmore Monument began in 1927 and boosted the number of visitors the North Western transported to see the Black Hills. But freight and livestock was the line's real trade. For years ranchers would load cattle out of the Sandhills and ride with them to the Omaha stockyards. In 1932, the C&NW served 66 farm implement dealers, 117 coal dealers, 48 grain elevators, 55 lumber dealers and 128 gas and oil receivers on the line from Fremont to Lander. But, by the 1930s, improved highways and increasingly reliable cars and trucks provided more-flexible alternatives to rail service, and the Great Depression sent the line into an economic tailspin.

Marking the distance from Fremont, once the eastern railhead, a weathered telegraph pole stills stands on an undeveloped section of the trail.

During World War II, the C&NW carried oil from central Wyoming and troops and supplies to Fort Robinson and Fort Meade in South Dakota. The line prospered again with agricultural shipments in the late 1940s. But, the number of riders continued to decline and passenger service ended in July, 1958. With no more riders, most depots, once centers of small town activity, closed and the railroad's management and services were centralized.
C&NW began abandoning distant segments of the line in the 1960s. For a period in the 1980s, the Cowboy Line carried increasing loads of bentonite and coal from Wyoming. But, the company rerouted the business in 1989 and, in 1991, it filed an application with the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon the Norfolk-to-Chadron portion of the line. The last trains ran across the northern Nebraska line on December 1, 1992.

Railbanking Boosted Trail Movement

As the economic forces that created and sustained the Cowboy Line and other rail corridors withered, another movement that would shape their future was taking hold.

As viewed from the Tinsley Grain Elevator in Neligh, the Cowboy Trail crosses in front of Neligh Mill. Built in 1873 and now a state historic site, the mill once produced a popular brand of flour sold throughout the Midwest. The mill's 1880s equipment is still inside.

Recreational trail advocates argued that abandoned rail corridors should not be disassembled. Maintaining the routes as hiking and biking trails, they pointed out, would provide public recreation while keeping the rights-of-way intact for possible future transportation or utility uses.
In 1983 Congress gave this concept legal standing in a one-paragraph provision that established "railbanking" and, in 1990, a U.S. Supreme Court decision affirmed the statute's legality.
Since 1991 two federal authorizations -- known by the initialisms, ISTEA and TEA-21 -- have shifted a small portion of federal transportation spending to bicycle and pedestrian projects. Although the concept is still disputed by some landowners with adjacent properties, railbanking and the stimulus of $3.8 billion in federal funding have created more

This photo, taken about 1915 from the same viewpoint as above, shows the C&NW tracks. The mill was powered by a small dam on the Elkhorn River beyond the buildings.

than 1,000 trails and 11,000 miles nationwide of actively used, public-owned trails during the past 15 years. The longest completed rail-trail is the Katy Trail, winding almost 200 miles through the middle of Missouri. An additional 1,200 rail-trail projects are in the planning stages.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a national nonprofit organization with more than 100,000 members, purchased the C&NW right-of-way across northern Nebraska for $6.2 million in 1993. The next year it donated it to the state of Nebraska. A measure passed by the Nebraska Legislature made the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission responsible for the development and maintenance of what amounts to a 3,893-acre linear park that stretches 321 miles across the state.

Developing the Cowboy Trail

Over the past fourteen years, the Cowboy Trail has emerged a piece at a time. On the 247-mile segment from Norfolk to Merriman, rail and ties have been removed and more than 200 bridges have been repaired or rebuilt with decking and sides added to allow foot and bicycle traffic.

Ron Preusker of Tilden rolls an edge of a recently laid limestone surface near Inman.

Federal TEA-21 funding is used to develop the trail. The cost for each mile of grading, surfacing and installing signs and bridges is about $30,000.
Today a total of 161 miles of trail have been developed. This includes 143 continuous miles from Norfolk to Ainsworth. Another 18 miles connects the City of Valentine to the Arabia Ranch Road trailhead. This last section passes over the Niobrara River Valley on a bridge 148 feet high. It is hoped that the last 30 miles needed to connect Valentine and Norfolk will be completed in 2007.

The Experience: Seeing Nebraska Up-close

Spanning a sizeable chunk of America's outback, the Cowboy Trail experience is largely what one makes of it. It can be a pleasant escape for an evening nature walk, a family getaway for a bicycling weekend, a course for a grueling long-distance run, or a convenient route to explore the Plains on horseback.

Jessica Schluns (left) and Cathy Schluns pass the restored brick depot in O'Neill on an evening walk along the trail.

Whether biking, hiking or horseback riding, the trail offers a few givens for all who travel it.
Regardless of where you enter and exit, travel the Cowboy Trail and you will soon be immersed in nature. The eight-foot wide ribbon of crushed limestone and wooden bridges cuts through a right-of-way, normally 100-feet wide, which provides important cover for wildlife and pockets for native prairie plants. While species differ along the route, rabbits, ground squirrels, pheasants, quail, and many song birds find suitable habitat through much of the trail's course.
The corridor is alive with the sounds and sights of creatures, large and small, often missed by travelers in closed cars moving at 60 or 65 mph. Bald eagles patrol the Elkhorn River valley and, farther west, turkey vultures soar on thermals above the Niobrara River. The corridor also functions as an important migration route for wildlife between habitat areas.
Today's travelers on the Cowboy Trail, and on most other rail-trails, benefit from the work of surveyors and engineers a century ago. To accommodate the needs of locomotives, railroads

The bobwhite quail is one of the many species of wildlife that can be viewed along the Cowboy Trail.

were built with grades of two percent or less and with wide, sweeping curves. Those design elements are a blessing to the self-propelled human being, especially at the end of a long day. On these trials, bikers, hikers and horseback riders have fewer hills, dales and swerves than do motorists on most highways.
Along the Cowboy Trail, travelers discover many ghosts from the corridor's railroad past. Some weathered mileposts, originally telegraph poles, stand as sentinels, and a few still mark the distance to Fremont, the eastern railhead. Next to the trail in the towns and cities along the route, riders will notice many buildings and structures that once served the railroad or businesses tied to it. One of the most prominent is the Neligh Mills, a water-powered grist mill that is open to the public and still has its original 1880s equipment inside.
The only brick depot still standing is at O'Neill. This historical building, which was in dilapidated condition for many years, has been handsomely restored. It now serves as a trailhead and is the home to the Circle G Western Wear store. The Long Pine depot, a wooden building, is now restored and the crew quarters next to it is available to rent for overnight travelers. It is typical of the many structures that once dotted the route.
Every Trail has its high points. The Cowboy's are its long bridges offering spectacular views. East of Valentine, the former railroad bridge - a quarter-mile long and 148 feet high - spans the Niobrara River. And, at Long Pine, a bridge 145 feet high stretches 595 feet over Long Pine Creek.
While no one can foresee the future, the Cowboy Trail offers more promise today than the corridor has seen for years. Certainly, now, with numberous miles of trail completed across the panoramic Plains, it will draw increasing numbers of riders and hikers from Nebraska and beyond in the decade to come.
In August 2000, Bill and Marie Kelly of O'Neill stopped on their morning trail hike to reminisce and look to the future. Bill said, "When I was a kid, we lived on the south side of the tracks here and I used to come up to the station and see if I could get slugs to work in the gumball machines.
"I don't know if it [the Cowboy Trail] will ever amount to what they want it to be, but it's a great place for a walk. They've done a great job in fixing it up."
Given a new life, the old trail awaits a new rush of travelers eager to explore Nebraska's high line.

Rules for the Cowboy Trail

The trail is open for use a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset.
No motorized vehicles are allowed on the trail.
Horseback riding is permitted on the right-of-way, but not on the trail surface. Riders must dismount before crossing bridges.
Bicyclists must yield to all other trail users; hikers must yield to horseback riders. Vehicles have the right-of-way at all road crossings.
All pets on the trail must be on a leash no longer than six feet. Camping, fires, hunting, using firearms and drinking alcoholic beverages is prohibited.
No livestock or grazing allowed on trail or right-of-way unless by special permit.

For more information on Cowboy Trail:
Duane Westerholt
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
2200 N. 33rd St.
Lincoln, NE 68503
(402) 471-5511
duane.westerholt@nebraska.gov

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