In another dozen miles, I got onto some Lincoln Highway that I had never passed even in a streamlined fashion. The original Lincoln Highway ran through Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913 and it was still running that way in 1928 when the Boy Scouts lined it with concrete markers. In July of 1929, a new bridge opened across the Missouri River at Blair, Nebraska. This shortened the route considerably for long distance travelers and was going to be used whether it was on the Lincoln Highway or not. Was it?

To the federal government, the Lincoln Highway and other named auto trails ceased to exist with the creation of a nationwide numbering system in 1926. The Lincoln Highway Association had ended active promotion of the road with its 1928 marking of the route with concrete posts but it officially existed until 1935. In the same month that the bridge opened, concrete markers were moved from the Omaha route to the Blair route. LHA secretary, Gael S. Hoag, was no doubt right in his position that the posts were the property of the association and could be placed where ever they chose. However, the fact that the posts were relocated in the middle of the night might indicate that the movers weren't completely confident and it certainly did not sit well with folks in Council Bluffs and Omaha. Say the right words to the right people and you can still stir up an argument over whether the REAL Lincoln Highway ever went through Blair, Nebraska.

The first thing that caught my eye was nineteenth century high-tech jail like the one I visited in Indiana many years ago. That's where I headed first and, while I enjoyed seeing the jail, it is no where near as well presented as the one in Indiana. The jails had wedge shaped cells rotating to align with a single door. The concept was a secure one but not a safe one. Eventually fire codes and such caught up with them. This one had its turning mechanism disabled and opening cut for each cell in 1960. It was closed as a jail in 1969.

The third picture is of a display on the construction in Donner Pass where the Lincoln Highway eventually appeared. The display on events at the Promontory Summit joining of east and west contains a golden spike associated with those events. Among my favorite displays were two stereoscopes containing nineteenth century 3D photos of railroad scenes. There are even more hands-on interactive exhibits on the second floor in the areas devoted to the modern railroad and to pre-Amtrak passenger service.