For more than twenty years during the mid-nineteenth century, between 1846 and 1868, thousands of Mormons traversed southern Nebraska, going east and west, utilizing a network of trails aggregating well over 1,800 miles, considerably more than the famous 1,300-mile-long Mormon Trail from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.
To date, interest in and knowledge of these Nebraska trails has focused largely on the pioneer route of 1847. But there were many other trails and variants. A new picture of Mormon migration in Nebraska is emerging, showing that state to have been much more widely traveled by Mormons than has heretofore been recognized. We are just now beginning to appreciate the dimensions and magnitude of the Mormon use of Nebraska trails.
