Early Trails Through Marion Township
1900 Nemaha County Plat
 

This  is the plat of Marion township in 1900 with the early trails of 1850 to 1870 added.  This shows the cut-off road which saved about six miles of travel. This long rout would have to be traveled when the creek was high or the banks of the creek were wet.  This map also shows the location of  Ash Point. The north trail out of St. Joseph and the Military Trail out of Leavenworth joined at Ash Point  then continued  west to Marysville or   to Okeito. The trail from the St. Joseph overland trail is marked in doted line. The north trail divided and one branch of the  trail crossed Clear Creek in section 28. The townships were quite different in the early days as Marion township did not exist as it  was part of Center and Clear Creek.

The map would indicate there was to be two railroads between Seneca and Baileyville and this was the intention.  In 1900 the two railroad companies agreed on a price and they both used the same track.  The grading had  been prepared before the agreement was reached. The grading along the track and along the  north side of Baileyville was evident in the 30s and 40s and may still be evident in some places today  however most traces of this have vanished today.,