Railroads played an important role in the settlement of the Great Plains. Their construction was particularly damaging to the Indian way of life, since railroads helped the military to patrol rapidly along their lines, and villages and farming communities soon grew up along the rights-of-way. The Union Pacific was built across Nebraska between 1864 and 1867. On May 10, 1869, the U.P. tracks joined those of the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, Near Ogden, Utah.

Section crews were stationed along the railroad to keep the tracks and telegraph wires repaired. The Sioux and Cheyenne, knowing the importance of maintenance work, attacked working crews. Several such raids took place in present Dawson County.

Mrs. Timothy Tobin and Mrs. William Costin, wives of section foremen, and their families were threatened by an Indian raiding party on April 29, 1868. Shortly afterward the warriors attacked and killed Mr. Tobin and section hands Schultz and McCarthy. A third employee named Williams, though seriously wounded, escaped to the section house. Fearing for her husband and his crew, Mrs. Costin bravely set out to warn them of the danger. A passing train picked up the survivors; the two slain workmen were buried near her.

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One of the many Swedish settlements in Nebraska during the late nineteenth century was north of Gothenburg in northwestern Dawson County. An enduring symbol of this settlement is Swedish Crosses Cemetery, where three children of Mr. and Mrs. Berg are buried. These unique grave markers were made in a traditional Swedish style between 1885 and 1889 by the children's grandfather, Benjamin Palm. Mr. Palm was the first blacksmith in Gothenburg.

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Here in Dawnson County, much of the early history is concerned with the pioneer trails to the west. The Mormon Trail to Utah and the first transcontinental railroad passed through here on the north side of the Platte River; the Oregon Trail and the Pony Express followed the south side of the Platte. Indian trouble was not uncommon here in the early days of settlement. The Plum Creek Massacre occurred in 1864 when Sioux Indians attacked a wagon train, killing several men and taking prisoners at a site near here in Phelps County. Also near here, in 1867 a group of Cheyenne led by Chief Turkey Leg cut the telegraph line, derailed a locomotive, and killed several Union Pacific Railroad employees. The town of Cozad, near here, lies directly on the 100th Meridian, considered an important goal in the building of the first transcontinental railroad. When the tracks reached this point in 1866, some 250 businessman, senators, congressmen and other notables came here to celebrate. The 100th Meridian is often cited as the "line of aridity," west of which rainfall is usually insufficient to support non-irrigated agriculture.

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Here in Dawson County, much of the early history is concerned with the pioneer trails to the west. The Mormon Trail to Utah and the first transcontinental railroad passed through here on the north side of the Platte River; the Oregon Trail and the Pony Express followed the south side of the Platte. Indian trouble was not uncommon here in the early days of settlement. The Plum Creek Massacre occurred in 1864 when Sioux Indians attacked a wagon train, killing several men and taking prisoners at a site near here in Phelps County. Also near here, in 1867 a group of Cheyenne led by Chief Turkey Leg cut the telegraph line, derailed a locomotive, and killed several Union Pacific Railroad employees. The Army's Pawnee Indian Scouts, commanded by Major Frank North, came to the rescue and drove away the hostile Cheyenne. Permanent settlements began to appear after the construction of the railroad. One of the earliest of these was Plum Creek, later renamed Lexington. The first settlers moved there from a stage station on the south side of the river shortly before the coming of the railroad.

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The 100th Meridian is the 100th longitudinal line west of Greenwich, England which was set by Congress as a major goal in building the first transcontinental railroad. Construction of the Union Pacific reached the Meridian on October 5, 1866. The first passenger train brought 250 notables, including railroad and territorial officials, congressmen and newspapermen to celebrate the event here on October 26, 1866. A large wooden sign designating "The 100th Meridian, 247 miles west of Omaha," which stood close to the track for many years, was replaced in 1933 by the Cozad Chapter of D. A. R. In 1879 Major John Wesley Powell in his report for the United States Geological Survey recognized the 100th Meridian as the natural demarcation line between the humid east and the arid west. Evaporation from the gulf waters supplies most of the rainfall for the eastern half of the United States. West of this line precipitation, which comes largely from the Pacific, is insufficient for agricultural needs without irrigation. Here on the 100th Meridian the humid East meets the arid West.

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