You are right, the telegraph link to St. Joe was in place at the same time, it followed the trail systems from St. Joe northwest that eventually linked up to the Platt River trails and west. The main point in my post was there was a highway (trail system) from the convergence of the Platt River and Missouri Rivers at Omaha west that eventually linked up to the Denver, Colorado area via the South Fork of the Platt River trail. At Omaha transportation down the Missouri would put you on the super river highway of the Mississippi. A lot of people were moving along the Platt in the 1860s.