June 2023 • Nebraskaland 37
river in 1852, but the story never seemed plausible to most
historians. Even shallow-draft steamboats of that era usually
drew at least 4 feet of water, but the Platte's braided channels
were frustrating even in fur trade-era canoes or bullboats.
Apparently, the anchors arrived by train, not by steamboat.
In 1866, the army built a pontoon bridge near Fort McPherson,
and Civil War-era bridges used steamboat anchors to hold the
pontoons in place.
The Brady anchor, in other words, tells a story not of
steamboat travel, but of the transcontinental railroad and
of stagecoaches, freight wagons and other traffi c along the
Great Platte River Road. And because Fort McPherson was
involved in military campaigns during the Indian Wars,
the anchor speaks to the conquest of the Plains and the
dispossession of Native tribes.
Like the anchor, the Platte River has many stories to tell.
Just getting from one side to the other was an adventure.
N
Visit History Nebraska's website at history.nebraska.gov.
This 4-foot-tall anchor weighs at least 100 pounds. It was
found in a hayfi eld near Brady. HISTORY NEBRASKA
