Editing Columbus, Nebraska (section)

===Native Americans and Exploration===
In the 18th century, the area around the confluence of the Platte and the Loup Rivers was used by a variety of Native American tribes, including [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]], [[Ponca]], and [[Omaha (tribe)|Omaha]].<ref>Olson, James C. and Ronald C. Naugle.  ''History of Nebraska''.  University of Nebraska Press.  1997.  p. 32.</ref>
The Pawnee are thought to have descended from the Protohistoric Lower Loup Culture;<ref>[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/stories/0301_0101.html "Emergence of Historic Tribes: The Lower Loup Culture".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308143236/http://nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0300%2Fstories%2F0301_0101.html |date=2016-03-08 }}  NebraskaStudies.Org.  Retrieved 2010-01-09.</ref> 
the Otoe had moved from central Iowa into the lower Platte Valley in the early 18th century;<ref>[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/stories/0301_0105.html "Emergence of Historic Tribes: The Oto & Missouria Tribes".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225070518/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0300%2Fstories%2F0301_0105.html |date=2016-12-25 }}  NebraskaStudies.Org.  Retrieved 2009-01-09.</ref> 
and the closely related Omaha and Ponca had moved from the vicinity of the Ohio River mouth, settling along the Missouri by the mid-18th century.<ref>[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/stories/0301_0104.html "Emergence of Historic Tribes: The Omaha & Ponca Tribes".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227192755/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0300%2Fstories%2F0301_0104.html |date=2016-12-27 }}  NebraskaStudies.Org.  Retrieved 2009-01-09.</ref>
In 1720, Pawnee and Otoe allied with the French massacred the Spanish force led by [[Villasur expedition|Pedro de Villasur]] just south of the present site of Columbus.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040821080107/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/markers/texts/villasur_expedition_1720.htm "The Villasur Expedition—1720".]}}  Nebraska State Historical Society.  Retrieved 2010-01-09.</ref><ref>[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/stories/0301_0113.html "Villasur Sent to Nebraska".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525202818/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0300%2Fstories%2F0301_0113.html |date=2017-05-25 }}  NebraskaStudies.Org.  Retrieved 2010-01-09.</ref> In 1739, the French traders Pierre and Paul Mallet stayed at the Pani-Maha village near this site while making the first known French voyage to Spanish-ruled [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20630397 |title=Before Lewis and Clark : documents illustrating the history of the Missouri, 1785-1804 |date=1990 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |others=Abraham Phineas Nasatir |isbn=0-8032-3322-1 |location=Lincoln |pages=28 |oclc=20630397}}</ref>

In the 19th century, the "[[Great Platte River Road]]"—the valley of the Platte and North Platte Rivers running from [[Fort Kearny]] to [[Fort Laramie]]— was the principal route of the westward expansion.<ref>Mattes, Merrill J. (1969).  ''The Great Platte River Road''.  Nebraska State Historical Society.  p 6.</ref>
For travellers following the north bank of the Platte, the Loup River, with its soft banks and quicksands, represented a major obstacle.  In the absence of a ferry or a bridge, most of these followed the Loup for a considerable distance upstream before attempting a crossing: the first major wave of Mormon emigrants, for instance, continued up that river to a point about three miles downstream from present-day [[Fullerton, Nebraska|Fullerton]].<ref name="Mattes 1969, p. 132">Mattes (1969), p. 132.</ref>