The boots worn by the early settlers were coarsely made. Women's shoes were of much the same rude material. Indeed, women and girls often wore men's boots, especially in snowy and muddy weather. The footwear was bought ready made at the stores and seldom were mended, but worn as long as they held together. Women and children usually went "barefoot" from early spring to late in the fall. Men also followed this practice in the season of the year when their work admitted it. Men, women and children roamed over the prairie, through brush and timber, in their bare feet when it seemed impossible for human endurance, and many women and children, whose work did not require protracted hours in the cold and snow, wore no shoes during the winter, substituting for them home-made moccasins fashioned out of remnants of woolen clothes. Cash was always required to buy boots and shoes, and that was generally scarce and often impossible to obtain. A pair of boots or shoes was the limit of affluence for nearly all persons in the country. Going "barefoot" was necessary, if not popular. There was no caste or exclusiveness in the pioneer days of Platte County and necessity established customs. So that when one neighbor tried to "lord it over" another, means, were at hand to discipline the culprit. Often even large girls were laughed out of wearing shoes at summer school. The "barefoot" scholars set the "pace" and insisted on it being observed by all. It was common, during the '60s, to see women and men at religious meetings in their bare feet. This all seems strange to us nowadays; but necessary economy in all things then required sacrifices of this character.

In most country neighborhoods there was some one who mended boots and shoes -- cobblers they were called. Once in a while a farmer, who mayhap had worked in an eastern tannery, would make a try at tanning a few hides at home for himself and neighbors. The leather turned out proved of inferior quality, but as it cost nothing but labor to produce and the raw hides were cheap, the stuff answered many purposes.


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The above is an excerpt taken from 'Past & Present of Platte County, Nebraska' by G.W. Phillips written in 1915. You can read an extensive history of our county by clicking HERE