One of these bills passed one of the houses of Congress.

"The route was made by the buffalo, next used by the Indians, then by the fur traders, next by the Mormons, and then by the overland immigration to California and Oregon. It was known as the Great Platte Valley Route. On this trail, or close to it, was built the Union and Central Pacific railroads to California, and the Oregon Short Line branch of the Union Pacific to Oregon.

"In 18d2 Henry Farnum and Thomas C. Durant were building the Mississippi and Missouri railroad, a line westward across the state of Iowa as an extension of the Chicago and Rock Island, then terminating at Rock Island, Illinois. They desired to "end that line at the Missouri river, where the Pacific railroad, following the continent forty-second parallel of latitude, would commence. Under the direction of Peter A. Dey, who had been a division engineer of the Rock Island and was chief engineer of the M. & M. in Iowa, I made the first survey across the state of Iowa, and the first reconnoissances and surveys on the Union Pacific for the purpose of determining where the one would end and the ether commence, on the Missouri river. I crossed the Missouri river in the fall of 1853 and made our explorations west of the Platte Yallev and up it far enough to determine that it would be the route of the Pacific road."

General Dodge speaks of the Platte Valley, "then the chief thoroughfare for all the Mormon, California, and Oregon overland immigration."