Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press Nebraska's early towns were not settled by peaceful, law-abiding citizens. Because of the territory's strategic position on the westward trail, Nebraska became a home, or a stopping point for every kind of person that had an eye on the West. Many of those would be miners, ranchers, swindlers, gamblers, prostitutes or trappers, couldn't quite keep themselves out of trouble. These are their stories.