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One of the interesting sights here in the early days was to watch the Ponca Indians cross the Niobrara river on the ice when the river was frozen and yet not frozen so solidly that it was safe to cross.
The Ponca Indian reservation was west of the Niobrara river, the river being between it and the town, and the only way the Indians could get to Niobrara was by crossing the river.
The current of this river is very swift and in places the water is deep, and if a person broke through the ice-crust and was swept underneath the ice by the swift current-- it was just too bad.
To make the crossing as safe as possible the Indians were in the habit of cutting themselves a ten foot pole. They would grasp this in the middle and hold it in front of them when crossing on the ice, and if they did happen to break through the ends of the pole would catch on solid ice and they could pull themselves out without being swept under the ice by the current.
Nevertheless it was risky proposition, and in order to eliminate it the Government build the first bridge across the Niobrara river in this vicinity. That was done in 1885.
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