Pat Coldiron loves history. She loves the old pictures, the family stories, the overall picture of how an area was built over time.
“History always sparked my interest,” she said.
Three years ago, she started working on a Seward County project, collecting photos and stories of the early settlers for the Images of America project, spearheaded by Arcadia Publishing in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
In the end, Coldiron submitted 210 pages of photos and information. The book is 127 pages.
“I started with little bits and pieces gleaned when I was at the Chamber,” Coldiron said. She is the former director of the Seward Area Chamber of Commerce.
Each incorporated town in Seward County has a section, and the ghost towns and unincorporated villages have their places, too.
Coldiron worked closely with Diane Rohren at the Seward County Historical Society Museum in Goehner to collect information and photos.
“She never failed,” Coldiron said, adding that over 1/3 of the photos she collected came from the SCHS.
She described the Seward County book as “an archive of lives on the prairie.”
Coldiron didn’t just rely on the historical society, though. She drove her blue minivan to every town in Seward County and knocked on doors, looking for people willing to share their stories.
“I’m so appreciative of all the individuals who delved into their family pictures and stories and more,” she said. “It was truly a community effort.”
She said learning Seward County’s history was fascinating. For example, while the westward movement was underway in the 1850s along the Platte River, Seward County lay quiet and pristine. Native American tribes traveled through along the Blue River, and the animals still roamed free.
The Homestead Act opened land for settlement in 1862, and Nebraska became a state in 1867. Civil War veterans moved west for the promise of free land in lieu of payment for services to the Union.
By 1873, the first train came to Seward with J.F. Goehner aboard. The Nebraska City bypass through Milford shortened the freight trails and allowed “a steady stream of humanity” to come through Seward County, Coldiron said.
Homesteaders generally took the Missouri River to Nebraska City or Brownville and walked with their wagons and livestock the rest of the way to their claims.
“When things were good, they were good. When they were desperate, they were desperate,” Coldiron said.
As she researched the county, she drew on historians W.W. Cox of Seward, John Waterman of Beaver Crossing, William D. Smith of Seward, Eldon Hostetler of Milford and Jane Graff of Seward.
“I spent a lot of time reading,” she said.
She was able to find some rare photos for the book, including one of a road ranch near Beaver Crossing taken by the Mormons. She also learned about Julia Steinheider Duncombe, who grew up in Goehner and worked at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
“It’s poignant and sad, the little towns that didn’t make it,” Coldiron said, listing Lehigh and Oak Grove among them.
The book, “Images of America: Seward County,” is filled with pictures, each of which has an explanation with it. Information about the Civil War statue and graves in Blue Mound Cemetery south of Milford, Victor Mills, Don Strinz, part of a plesiosaur skeleton found near Garland and a cattle drive in the 1930s west of Seward made the cut, along with dozens more pictures and stories.
“It’s a small part of our history, and I hope it might spur the next generation to take a look and delve deeper,” Coldiron said.
