Lone Willow

Not many settlers were in the area before 1884. Judge Tucker, U.S. Commissioner at Valentine, convinced the Rev. John Scamahorn of Sullivan, Indiana, that northwest Nebraska was “a paradise for agriculture development” while in attendance at the Louisville Exposition in 1882. The next year, Scamahorn and a few friends came out to look it over. He returned home and organized a colony. In the winter of 1884, he and 104 sturdy folks journeyed to rail’s end at Valentine, then on west by means of ox drawn wagons. They set up their tents beside the “Lone Willow”, the only tree of any size in the area, near the present site of Gordon. A nine-trunked old willow tree still stands as a landmark to their campsite. The good reverend conducted church services and using a shoe box for stamps, set up the “postal service”.