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Surveyed in January, 1857, near the south edge of Nebraska Territory way out on the Western frontier, the embryonic settlement of Pawnee was chosen to be designated the Pawnee county seat over the little town of Table Rock, although neither would be incorporated until middle of the next year. Pawnee rested about five miles, as the crow flies, from Table Rock; and it was about seven miles away by mule. The first buildings were being constructed in Pawnee during the spring of 1857, but the place showed little vigor of enterprise. County roads were being laid out during the spring and summer. Believing that a railroad was soon to be built from St. Joseph, MO, through Pawnee county to the Rocky Mountains, the Nebraska Settlement Company bought out the Table Rock Town Company in 1857. C. W. Giddings, general superintendent of the Nebraska Settlement Company, was attempting to induce about 200 New York and Pennsylvania families to migrate to the new territory whose far western boundary had receded eastward. Nebraska Territory was still quite huge in 1857, stretching from Kansas to Canada and from Iowa to the Rockies. But the size of the Territory would be further reduced in 1863. Down in "Bleeding Kansas," an ensuing illness resulted in death due to the injury which Charles Dunn had inflicted two years earlier. In the spring of 1857, Isaac Cody was buried on Pilot Knob, on the edge of the settlement south of Ft. Leavenworth. Isaac's young son would grow up and later enjoy international fame as the incomparable and legendary Buffalo Bill. |
| Copyright © 2000 Dick Taylor All Rights Reserved |