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Missouri journalist, humorist, poet, and writer Jerry Schleicher shares photos from a Nebraska centennial family ranch reunion, along with some Oregon Trail history. He writes:Last July 4th, more than a hundred family members from across the nation attended the Schleicher/Henderson centennial family reunion on the Schleicher Angus Ranch in western Nebraska. Surrounded by the Wildcat Hills, the ranch is home to deer, elk, bighorn sheep, wild turkey, bobcats, coyotes and an occasional mountain lion. In the mid-1800s, pioneers traveling the nearby Oregon Trail also reported seeing vast herds of buffalo and grizzly bear in the hills.
Plentiful rainfall kept the cows and calves belly-deep in grass this spring. During an average year, however, this area receives less than 15 inches of annual precipitation, meaning it requires about 35 acres for each cow/calf unit.
An unusually wet spring also produced a profusion of blooms on the yucca plants that grow throughout the area.
Just over the ridge from the Schleicher Angus Ranch, the Oregon Trail crossed Robidoux Pass through the Wildcat Hills. Ox-drawn wagon trains used this pass until 1850, when a wagon road was cut through the canyons at the base of Scotts Bluff, thereby cutting several miles off the trip along the North Platte River. Several emigrants died of cholera, accidental gunshots and other causes near here. This photo shows a marker beside some of their graves.
Angus have been the preferred breed on the Schleicher Angus Ranch for about a century. These mama cows look like they enjoy their home.
Joseph Robidoux established a trading post in the Wildcat Hills in the 1840s to trade with the Sioux Indians who hunted and camped in these hills. As more and more wagon trains traveled through the area, he expanded his trading post to include a blacksmith shop. He soon acquired a large herd of foot-sore oxen from the emigrants, which he would then rest and sell at a profit to successive wagon trains. Emigrants also found large numbers of Sioux camped beside the trading post, and their diaries report seeing Sioux burial scaffolds in the large cedar trees nearby. The site of Robidoux's trading post is just a couple of miles north of the Schleicher Angus Ranch.
Wagon rides around the ranch proved irresistible to many of those attending the Schleicher/Henderson family reunion. As a Missouri resident, I can't help but point out that this beautifully-matched team of mules were bred and trained by Missouri Amish.
Read about Jerry Schleicher and some of his poetry here.
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We're looking for images that give a glimpse of the ranching, cowboy, and rural and working life of the West of today and yesterday. We welcome vintage and contemporary photos: family photos, images of where you live and work, and the area around you.
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