It can take some time getting into North Platte (pop. 24,500), but despite the heavy-industrial initial appearances there is a lot here to enjoy. The northern approach along US-83 crosses over the North Fork of the Platte River, taking a leisurely little swoop up and over it, passing scenic bluffs, then flashing back through a living history of the days when the train was king. Rusty old weed-filled tracks and abandoned shops and warehouses lie off to the side, steel and brick remnants of North Platte’s blue-collar trade and transportation heyday. From the south the entrance is less memorable, crossing the I-80 strip with its plastic signs and anonymous franchise architecture.
Originally the site of a Union Pacific construction camp, North Platte nearly expired when the workers decamped for Colorado; but the town’s 300 permanent residents were spared when the railroad chose it as a division point, securing its future. The city is still proud of its Bailey Yard, recently decreed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest railroad classification yard in the world. A high-tech visitors center (complete with 15-story Golden Spike Tower) is on the drawing boards, but for now you can view the trains from a high platform three miles west of town on Front Street. (Get directions from the visitors bureau, as it can be hard to find.)
Many of the city parks feature railroad displays, including 90-acre Cody Park along US-83. Within the confines rests Big Boy, one of the world’s largest steam locomotives.
Before the railroad came through, North Platte was a key stop on both the Oregon Trail, which followed the Platte River west past Scotts Bluff and into Wyoming, and the Pony Express. At the dawn of the Automobile Age, North Platte played a starring role along the historic Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road, which followed the Oregon Trail route west along what’s now US-30, eventually ending up in San Francisco.
But North Platte is most widely known as the home of Buffalo Bill Cody. The huge Buffalo Bill Scout’s Rest Ranch, (daily; $2.50 per car; 308/535-8035), four miles northwest via US-30 and Buffalo Bill Avenue, is a state historical park with original dwellings on 16 of the original 4,000-acre spread. Cody’s house, and some outbuildings, look much the way they did when Buffalo Bill lived here, from 1879 to 1913. This is where Buffalo Bill originated his rodeo with the “Old Glory Blowout” in 1882 and later housed his Wild West Show when not on the road. Tours are available, and the buffalo stew cookouts ($5) are popular. The town still whoops it up with the Buffalo Bill Rodeo in June.
Besides Buffalo Bill memorabilia, North Platte has an interesting WW II canteen mock-up (preserved intact from the days when North Platte was a whistlestop for troop trains), a great Railroad Town, and an eight-million-year-old, 200-pound, fossilized land tortoise, all on display at the Lincoln County Museum (daily; 308/534-5640), adjacent to the Scout’s Rest Ranch at 2403 Buffalo Bill Avenue.
Downtown North Platte, on the south side of the railroad tracks, has largely been superseded by the surrounding Interstate sprawl, but the brick-paved streets here still hold some grand old buildings and a few nifty old neon signs, including one for the landmark Fox Theater, at 5th and Bailey Streets. Just north of I-80 is one last great Buffalo Bill stop: the giant Fort Cody Trading Post (free; 308/532-8081), a massive postcard and souvenir store with a very good selection of books on Western Americana and, best of all, a fabulously detailed miniature working model of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, complete with dancing bears, jumping horses, and hundreds of cowboys and Indians.
Because Interstate 80 whips through North Platte, there’s no shortage of fast food or places to stay, including a Motel 6 (308/534-6200) on the south side of town at the US-83/I-80 junction.
You can find out more about the town and region at the North Platte visitors bureau (308/532-4729 or 800/955-4528) at 219 S. Dewey Street, between downtown and I-80.
