Friend, Saline Co., Nebraska, is located on Highway 6 and its Chamber of Commerce advertises it is “the midway point of the nation on Highway 6.” This heartland community had its beginnings in 1870, when Charles Friend arrived in Nebraska to work on a new railroad grading hearing west from Lincoln, Nebraska. He decided to homestead along the route, spending the spring and summer of 1870 “sleeping on his claim.” That winter, Friend returned to Lincoln, clerking in a store. The following spring, he returned to Saline Co., where, with a few boards and a new door, he built a general store on the front of his house. In June a post office was established in the store, and he was appointed postmaster. The settlement of Friendville was approved on August 1, 1871.
It is not known which railroad route to California was used by the Winslow family: the Southern Pacific’s New Orleans-San Francisco Route (completed in January 1883) or the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe (which reached Los Angeles in August 1883). Since the Winslows lived in Friend, Nebraska, it is likely that the Southern Pacific Route would have been chosen; traveling on the ATSF route would have required a southeastern trip along the Missouri River to Atchison, Kansas.
On the other hand, if the trip was made in the early spring, the more southerly route might have been used. Travel to the San Joaquin Valley of California along either route was possible, because, by 1885 Kingsburg was reachable via the Southern Pacific’s branch traveling south from Sacramento, or from Los Angeles north on the same route.
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