Cowboy Trail

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This page refers to the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska, United States. For the Cowboy Trail in Alberta, Canada, see Alberta provincial highway 22.

The Cowboy Trail is a bicycling, walking and equestrian trail built on right-of-way formerly occupied by the Chicago and North Western Railway in northern Nebraska. When fully complete, the trail will run from Chadron to Norfolk, a length of 321 miles (516 km). It is the longest rails to trails conversion in the United States and it is Nebraska's first state recreational trail.

1 History
2 Trail guide
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Built by the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad (a predecessor company of the Chicago & North Western Railway) in the late 1870s and early 1880s, the "Cowboy Line" was abandoned by the C&NW in 1992. The following year, the Rail-to-Trails Conservancy purchased the railroad's right-of-way for $6.2 million and donated it to the state of Nebraska. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is responsible for the development and maintenance of the trail.

Development of the trail has occurred at a rate of about 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 km) each year; by the end of 2007, 195 miles (314 km) of trail will be open in one continuous section between Valentine and the eastern terminus in Norfolk.^[1]

A short-line railroad (the Nebkota Railway) operates on the westernmost 74 miles (119 km) of the Cowboy Trail (from Chadron to Merriman). The Cowboy Trail in that section will be built on an easement parallel to the railroad.

[edit] Trail guide

There are 29 communities along the length of the Cowboy Trail. Major cities on the trail include (from west to east):

Trailheads are located in Valentine, O'Neill and Norfolk. Completed sections of the trail are crushed limestone. There are 221 bridges on on the trail; all bridges have been converted for recreational use. Two major bridges on the trail are a 1,300-foot (396 m) span over the Niobrara River and a 595-foot (181 m) bridge across Long Pine Creek.

The trail parallels US 20 and US 275 for its entire length. A variety of landscapes are found along the trail: the Pine Ridge, the Sandhills, and the valleys of the Niobrara River, Long Pine Creek and the Elkhorn River.