To and Through Nebraska

In Short

To and Through Nebraska is an eyewitness travelogue and social record written by Frances I. Sims Fulton, a young woman from Pennsylvania who accompanies a group of eastern colonists heading west in 1883. Traveling nearly nine hundred miles across Nebraska by train, wagon, and foot, Fulton documents the realities of homesteading in the Elkhorn, Platte, and Republican valleys. Through torrential rains, frontier boomtowns, sod houses, and encounters with cowboys, the author offers a vivid, deeply human portrait of prairie settlement. The book endures for its clear-eyed honesty, its warm humor, and its authentic preservation of ordinary frontier voices.

The Story

The narrative opens with the hopeful departure of the Nebraska Mutual Aid Colony from Bradford, Pennsylvania. Traveling west by rail, Fulton takes in the passing landscape—the lowlands of Indiana, the majestic waves of Lake Michigan, and the congested, hurried streets of Chicago, where the sight of impoverished women and children searching for coal makes a sharp impression on her moral sensibilities.

Upon arriving in northwestern Nebraska, the settlers' high hopes collide with immediate hardship. Spring rainstorms batter their temporary shelters, and the colony's central tent collapses. Worse still, the homesteaders discover that their desired lands are already claimed or broken up by unusable sandhills, forcing the group to scatter across Holt County rather than form the close-knit, church-and-school-centered community they had envisioned. Undeterred, Fulton uses this setback as an opportunity to travel extensively, taking every available conveyance across the state to observe the mechanics of land-claiming, sod-house construction, and frontier commerce.

Fulton’s journey takes her into the homes of early homesteaders, where she records both their physical ingenuity and their deep emotional isolation. She visits sod houses where women long for news of the East, and she travels down to the bustling towns along the Platte and Big Blue rivers, noting how quickly schools, churches, and newspapers follow the railroad tracks. Her curiosity takes her all the way to Valentine, a rowdy railroad terminus near the South Dakota border. There, despite terrifying warnings about lawless cowboys and stray bullets, she rides in a open baggage car, tours Fort Niobrara, and watches the steady eastward retreat of the massive cattle ranches as incoming farmers claim the land.

In North Platte, Fulton enjoys a warm visit at the home of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, spending time with his wife and daughters while admiring the trophies of his scouting days. As her three-month journey draws to a close, Fulton travels to the newly established capital city of Lincoln. There she faces personal trials, including the temporary loss of her luggage and manuscript, which prompts a period of quiet spiritual reflection. The book concludes on a deeply personal note: after visiting a dying aunt and reflecting on the sacrifices of the pioneer generation, Fulton returns to Lincoln, where she marries, settling down to begin her new life in the West she came only to observe.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Leaving the hills of Pennsylvania behind, Fulton and her fellow colonists travel west by rail, marveling at the vast breadth of Lake Michigan and catching a brief, sobering glimpse of Chicago's crowded streets and urban poverty.

Trouble on the prairie Arriving in northwestern Nebraska during heavy spring rains, the Bradford colony founders as their communal tent collapses and members discover their planned settlement area is pitted with sandhills, forcing them to scatter to individual claims.

Inside the sod house Fulton travels deep into the rural valleys, visiting isolated homesteaders like Mrs. W., who preserves her refined Eastern sensibilities with books of poetry and rag carpets while enduring intense loneliness in a dirt-floored dwelling.

Venturing to the wild frontier Ignoring dire warnings about drunken cowboys and flying bullets, Fulton takes a baggage car to the terminus town of Valentine, observing military life at Fort Niobrara and noting how rapidly homesteaders are displacing the great cattle ranches.

Visiting the scout's home Stopping in North Platte, Fulton is warmly entertained at the residence of "Buffalo Bill" Cody, where she records intimate details of his family life and views the collection of trophies gathered from his western trails.

Reflections at the capital Reaching the young city of Lincoln, Fulton experiences the sudden loss of her trunk—and with it her writing—using the crisis for spiritual prayer before recovering her goods, seeing her book project to print, and getting married as her journey ends.

The People

• Frances I. Sims Fulton, the author and central narrator, is an independent, deeply religious Pennsylvania woman with a sharp eye for detail and a lively sense of humor. Seeking adventure and personal experience, she approaches every hardship—from lost provisions to rough wagon rides—with steady good cheer, eventually choosing to make Nebraska her permanent home.
• Mrs. W., a refined homesteader living in a sod house near the Niobrara River, represents the emotional cost of frontier life for Eastern women. Having lost her family fortune in the East, she works tirelessly alongside her husband to rebuild their wealth through stock raising, yet she candidly confesses to Fulton that her "very soul grows hungry at times for society."
• Arta Cody, the teenage daughter of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, is an educated, dark-eyed young woman who welcomes Fulton to the family’s North Platte residence. She embodies the rising generation of Nebraskans who bridge the wild frontier past of their parents with modern schooling and cultural refinement.
• Mr. Tyler, an eighty-two-year-old veteran of the Mexican War, is one of the earliest pioneer settlers of the Blue Springs area. He recalls arriving in 1859 with only fifty cents in his pocket, grinding corn on a communal iron mill nailed to a post, and eating grape pies made without sugar.

In Its Own Voice

"How glad I am that I have no luggage along to get soaked. My butter and meat was lost out on the prairie or in the river... and some one has used my loaf for a cushion, and how sad its countenance!"

Fulton writes with resilient humor during a relentless prairie downpour that leaves sixteen travelers stranded inside a tiny, leaking frontier cabin.

"No one knows how I long for company; indeed, my very soul grows hungry at times for society."

A pioneer woman living in a newly built sod house confides to Fulton the profound isolation that accompanies building a new home far from Eastern friends.

"Why God bless you, little girl! The Lord will carry you through, so keep up brave heart, and do not be discouraged."

A broad-minded Lincoln benefactor, who had once been mentored by Abraham Lincoln, encourages Fulton as she seeks financial backing to publish her travel diary.

What It's Really About

Beneath its anecdotal travel log, To and Through Nebraska is an inquiry into the real cost of American land settlement. Fulton strips away the romantic mythology of the West to examine what happens when Eastern ideals encounter Western geography. The book demonstrates that the prairie does not instantly yield fortune; instead, it demands immense physical endurance, spiritual faith, and the sacrifice of community ties. Fulton pays special attention to the lives of frontier women, showing that while men often focus on claims and plowing, women bear the quiet burden of social displacement and emotional hunger. Ultimately, the narrative argues that the true building blocks of a state are not merely rail lines and land offices, but human adaptability, mutual kindness, and unyielding optimism.

Why Read It Today

To and Through Nebraska offers readers a refreshingly authentic, non-academic window into nineteenth-century American expansion. Written by an unpretentious woman rather than a land promoter or professional historian, the text carries an undeniable voice of truth. Fulton’s writing is marked by lively observations, sharp dialogue, and a delightful willingness to poke fun at her own discomforts—whether she is wedged into a crowded cabin during a rainstorm or holding tight to a riverboat railing.

Modern readers should be prepared for period-typical features, including occasional archaic spelling irregularities, historical references to Native Americans reflecting nineteenth-century paternalism, and detailed descriptions of regional geography that slow the narrative pace. Yet these elements only reinforce the book's value as a genuine primary document. Readers who enjoy pioneer history, classic travel writing, or early women’s memoirs will find Fulton to be an irresistible companion. Her narrative leaves behind a lasting impression of the immense grit required to turn wild grass into towns, and the quiet dignity of the people who did it.