Abandoned Deer Creek Arch

In 1876, the Omaha and Northwestern Railroad (O&NW) completed 42 miles of new railroad, extending from Omaha to Tekamah, Nebraska.  The following year, 10 miles would be constructed between Covington and Coburn, Nebraska by the Sioux City and Nebraska Railroad (SC&N).  In 1879, the O&NW would be purchased by the Omaha and Northern Nebraska Railway (O&NN), and 16 additional miles between Tekamah and Oakland, Nebraska would be completed. In 1880, 54 additional miles between Coburn and Oakland would be completed, and the O&NN would be purchased by the SC&N.  The SC&N would  be sold to the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway (Omaha Road) in 1883, which was in turn leased by the Chicago & North Western Railway.  The C&NW had amassed a large amount of trackage throughout the Midwest.  This route served as a southern extension of the Omaha Road mainline from Wisconsin to Sioux City, via the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  The Omaha Road would formally be merged into the C&NW in 1959.  As C&NW operated a parallel route along the western edge of Iowa, this line quickly became a branch line and was considered excess.  In 1958, the Thurston to Pender segment would be abandoned, followed by the Pender to Lyons segment in 1963.  Further abandonments came in 1972, when the Emerson to Pender segment was abandoned, followed by the Tekamah to Lyons segment in 1975, the Covington to Emerson segment in 1976, the Blair to Tekamah segment in 1980 and the Omaha to Blair segment in 1981.  The C&NW would be purchased by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in 1995.  Today, much of the route is abandoned, but UP continues to operate small segments of trackage in Blair and Omaha.