Buffalo County, Nebraska - Chapter 16: A Broken Axle Edward Oliver and Family En Route to Utah Axle to, 1916

The attention of travelers on the overland route over the Union Pacific Railroad is almost invariably drawn to an inviting farm scene in the Wood River Valley of the Platte just west of the thriving Village of Shelton in Buffalo County, Neb. The first thing to attract attention is a large, roomy, up-to-date looking in all its appointments, farm house standing some twenty rods north of both the highway and the railroad which run parallel at this point. To add to the beauty of the scene, as a background lies Wood River with its border of native trees and their varying shades of green. Immediately south of the river are orchards - apple, plum, cherry and smaller fruits - and a garden, and scattered among the trees are "skips" of bees. A little north and west of the house is a large barn. To the north and east of the house beyond the orchard, in the bend of the river, are large corn cribs full and overflowing, and adjoining these are corrals, where in the winter time hundreds of sheep are fattened for market. Jn front of the house is a well kept lawn extending down to the highway and bordered on either side with evergreen trees ; to the east and west and across the railroad to the south are broad level acres of alfalfa, whose carpet of green is so restful to the eye from early spring to early winter, and when the four cuttings of hay, secured from these broad acres each year, are gathered and stored in stacks scattered over these acres, their size and number are indisputable evidence of the almost unlimited fertility of the soil.

So beautiful is this scene that the Union Pacific Railroad Company has reproduced it as an illustration, with the title, "A Typical Nebraska Ranch Home" and the illustration appeared in Union Pacific folders alongside that of their great Overland Limited passenger train, itself a marvel of comfort and luxury of modern railway travel. This beautiful home with its broad acres is that of Robert Oliver and his numerous family, and while greatly enjoyed by all the members of the family, it also adds in some measure to the pleasure and enjoyment of thousands of travelers who each year journey from ocean to ocean over this great overland route.

Possibly it may be of interest to relate a seemingly trivial incident which caused a large family to locate at this point while Nebraska was yet a territory and thus led to the creation of this and other comfortable, luxurious homes in Central Nebraska.

In the year i860, Edward Oliver, Sr., his wife and seven children, one son married, converts to the Mormon faith left their home in England, their destination being Salt Lake City, Utah. At Florence, a few miles north of the City of Omaha, they purchased a traveling outfit for emigrants, which included two yoke of oxen, a wagon and two cows, and with numerous other families, having the same destination, took the Utah trail up the valley of the Platte on the north side of the river. When near a point known as Wood River Center, now Shelton, 175 miles west of the Missouri River, the front axle of their wagon gave way, compelling a halt for repairs, their immediate companions in the emigrant train continuing the journey, for nothing avoidable, not even the burial of a member of the train, was allowed to interfere with the prescribed schedule of travel, and the dead were buried during the hours devoted to camp purposes.

The Oliver family camped beside the trail and the broken wagon was taken to the ranch of Joseph Johnson who combined in his person and business that of postmaster, merchant, blacksmith, wagonmaker, editor and publisher of a newspaper, a Mormon with two or more wives and numerous children, a man passionately fond of flowers which he cultivated to a considerable extent, a philosopher, and it must be conceded a most useful person at a point so far distant from other source of supplies. The wagon shop of Mr. Johnson contained no seasoned wood suitable for an axle to the wagon and so from trees along Wood River was cut an ash from which was hewn and fitted an axle to the wagon and with the wagon thus repaired the family again took the trail, but ere ten miles had been traveled, the green axle began to bend under the load, the wheels ceased to track, the journey could not thus further proceed. In the family council which succeeded the father urged that they try to arrange with other emigrants to carry their movables and thus continue the journey. The mother suggested that the family return to the vicinity of Wood River Center and arrange to spend the winter. To the suggestion of the mother all the children added their entreaties. The mother urged that it was a beautiful country, an abundance of wood and good water, grass for pasture and hay in plenty could be made for their cattle and she was sure crops could be raised. The wishes of the mother prevailed, the family returned to a point about a mile west of Wood River Center and on the bank of Wood River constructed a habitation, a log hut with a sod and dirt roof, in which they spent the winter. When springtime came, the father, zealous in the Mormon faith, urged that they continue the journey to Utah. To this neither the mother nor any of the children could be induced to consent and in the end the father journeyed to Utah where he made his home to the end of his life. The married son made a home for his family not far distant. The mother, Sarah Oliver, became the head of the family and proved to be a woman of energy and force of character. With her children she engaged in the raising of corn and vegetables, the surplus being sold to emigrants passing over the trail, and at Fort Kearney, nearly twenty miles distant. The emigrants westbound usually had money to pay for vegetables, eggs and com, but too often the emigrant westbound, who labeled his "prairie schooner" "Tike's Peak or Bust," returned later with his label reading "Busted, by Gosh." Sarah Oliver never turned from her humble door a hungry emigrant, eastward or westward bound, and often she divided with such the scanty store needed for her own family. When rumors came of Indians on the warpath the children took turns on the housetop as lookout for the dreaded savages. In 1863 two settlers were killed a few miles east of this point. In 1864 occurred the memorable raid of the Cheyenne Indians in which horrible atrocities were committed and scores of settlers were massacred by these Indians only a few miles immediately south of this point on the south side of the Platte River. In 1865 A. W. Storer, a near neighbor, was murdered by Indians. .Sarah Oliver had no framed diploma from some medical college which would entitle her to use the prefix "Dr." to her name, possibly she was not entitled to be called a trained nurse or mid-wife, but she is entitled to be long remembered as one who ministered to the sick, to early settlers along the trail, to travelers over the trail, and to many whose dwelling place was at or near Fort Kearney, many miles distant. Often the messenger from distressed families miles distant was "Pap" Lamb, whose home was near Grand Island, twenty-five miles to the east, and whose route as stage driver was from his home to Fort Kearney, and when this messenger came Sarah Oliver was accorded the seat of honor beside the driver. ,

Sarah Oliver and her family endured all the toil and privation incident to early settlers, without means, in a new country, far removed from access to what are deemed the barest necessities of life found in more settled communities. She endured all the terrors incident to settlement in a sparsely settled locality in which year after year Indian atrocities were committed and in which the coming of such savages was hourly expected and dreaded. She saw the building and completion of the Union Pacific Railroad near her home in 1866; she saw^ Nebraska become a state in 1867; in 1870 when Bufifalo County w^as organized, her son, John, was appointed sheriff and was elected to that office at the first election thereafter. Her eldest son, James, was named the first assessor of the county, and her son, Edward, w^as a member of the first board of county commissioners and later served with credit and fidelity as county treasurer. When in 1871 Mrs. Sarah Oliver died, her son, Robert, inherited her old home and on that old home, established in i860, is located "The Typical Nebraska Ranch Home" which an attempt has been made to describe.