The Crabtrees Travel to Nebraska
This is an image I (Cal Bivens) have never seen other than in the family album, and the fact that the image is a little soft says to me that it probably isn’t of the postcard types like the soddie and the Indians. I know they added those as representatives of some of their life experiences. My best guess, is that it is an authentic shot of them on the trail. They did come by wagon. The buckboard in the photo does not appear to be the same one in later pictures, but it is difficult to say as Great Grandpa’s [John Crabtree] has the top removed.
There is a photo of a wagon and a buckboard in the old family album and an anecdote of the trip with it. The story tells of an incident one night when the wagons made camp too close to the rairoad track. They seem to have followed the course of the railroad—a sensible thing to do. The horses were unhitched and the seat removed from the wagon so the folks would not have to sit on the ground. Along came a train and the shriek of the locomotive’s whistle spooked the horses which got loose and bolted through the camp, leaping over and narrowly missing a couple of the children.—photo and comment from Cal Bivens