The Broken Bow Country in Central and Western Nebraska, and How to Get There

A pamphlet promoting the developing town of Broken Bow, Nebraska including a large map, produced two years after the railroad arrived in the area.

Platted in 1882, Broken Bow in Custer County, Nebraska allegedly took its name from the suggestion of a settler who found a broken bow in the field of a former Native American camping ground. In 1884, the railroad reached Broken Bow and the town was incorporated. This pamphlet opens with an account of how to get to Broken Bow via the Burlington Route on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Excerpted from the Chicago Western Rural of 24 July 1886 and Chicago Times of 5 June 1886 are overviews of the "thriving little metropolis"-"a growing center of Western thrift and enterprise." Matters covered relating to Broken Bow and its vicinity include farming, labor, new towns, soil, shelter ("Most of the settlers who have already located in this region have their homes in sod houses. How many have ever seen a sod house?"), education, organized religion, the climate, and so forth. "The trader, artizan, banker, speculator can find profit in operating there, and should go and see." The last page gives ticket rates on the Burlington Route to Broken Bow. The map, entitled Map of Nebraska, shows towns, counties, military installations, Native American reservations, and the network of railways in the state, with those of southeastern Nebraska highlighted in red.