Where The Steam Wagon Broke Down

Nebraska City, Nebraska

In 1862, Nebraska City already knew that it would not be on the planned route of the Transcontinental Railroad -- and enjoy the economic boom that would come with it. So the city was intrigued by a proposal from a Minnesota inventor, Joseph Renshaw Brown, for a "railroad without rails," pulled by "steam wagon," that could cross the trackless prairie all the way to the Rocky Mountains from anywhere, even Nebraska City.

The nine-ton machine, dubbed the "Prairie Motor," was painted red, fueled by burning wood, and it was huge, with wheels 12 feet high. Brown, aided by a crew of three, set off west for Denver with much fanfare on July 22, a trip of 535 miles.

Brown only traveled five miles on the Prairie Motor when it broke down.

A team of horses had to drag the steam wagon to a nearby lodge. Brown went back to Minnesota, and what remained of Nebraska City's abandoned miracle machine was broken up for scrap.

All that remains of "the first self propelled road vehicle used west of the Missouri River" is an old stone monument with a bronze plaque on a rural road, marking the spot where the steam wagon broke down.