131 251
NEBRASKA
A Guide to the Cornhusker State
NEBRASKA
A GUIDE TO THE CORNHUSKER STATE
/
Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project >of the
Works Progress Administration for the State of Nebraska
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
ILLUSTRATED
Sponsored by The Nebraska State Historical Society
THE VIKING PRESS NEW YORK
MCMXXXIX
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JUNE 1939
COPYRIGHT 1939 BY THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PRINTED IN U.S.A. BY THE STRATFORD PRESS
>55
All rights are reserved, including the rights to reproduce this book
or parts thereof in any form
_ v _ V V *V_ > K. V V V V \ \ V
r Y^ r / f f r / " ~/~~r~ r !~~
Foreword
SOME of us in Nebraska know what it is to have made the first wagon
track across an unbroken sea of grass into a new land, with no guide but
the sun, the distant hilltops, and our own resolution.
I remember more than one such road. We had to find our way, dis-
cover our own fords, devise our own gully crossings, and leave a trail
which others could follow and improve.
This book is another road starter. It is the first attempt to put into one
compact handy volume the story of Nebraska's land and its people and a
guide to every part of the State. It is the first Nebraska Baedeker.
Its preparation has called into the Federal sendee more than one hun-
dred writers, researchers, draftsmen, and photographers, for a period ex-
ceeding two years. In the course of their work they have handled thou-
sands of books, newspapers, and manuscripts, and have traveled Nebraska
from the black prairie soil along the Missouri to the pine tree ridges be-
yond the sandhills.
The Superintendent and staff of the Nebraska State Historical Society
have had the privilege of assisting in an advisory and critical capacity.
ADDISON E. SHELDON, Superintendent
Nebraska State Historical Society
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
F. C. HARRINGTON, Administrator
FLORENCE S. KERR, Assistant Administrator
HENRY G. ALSBERG, Director of Federal Writers' Project
Preface
NEBRASKA: A Guide to the Cornhusker State is a group enterprise. In
its initial stages field workers, assisted by volunteer consultants and school
children, gathered data, interviewed old settlers, consulted newspaper files
and all available records. They also clocked the mileage for tours along
State and Federal highways. In district and branch offices the original field
notes were checked, and manuscripts prepared. In composing final copy
the State editors tried to see their State in a broad perspective and, at the
same time, to preserve the flavor of the local material. Preference was
given to midwestern idiom and spelling. It is the hope of the editors that
the book presents an accurate and vivid picture of the State. If those who
find inaccuracies will report them to the Federal Writers' Project, correc-
tions will be made in future editions.
For comment and criticism on technical subjects, the editors are in-
debted especially to members of the faculty of the University of Nebraska
and to the historians and archeologists of the State Historical Society. The
libraries of Lincoln and Omaha and in other parts of the State graciously
assisted in research and in providing reference material. The editors wish
also to thank State and local governmental offices for their interest and
cooperation.
Gratitude for valuable aid and criticism is due in particular to Dr.
Erwin H. Barbour, Paul R, Beath, Dr. Earl H. Bell, Dr. Nels A. Bengtson,
Margaret Cannell, Art Carmody, John Champe, Dr. George E. Condra,
John F. Cordeal, Theodore C. Diers, Gilbert H. Doane, Peter Ebbesen,
Gerald Gentleman, Vera Griswold, Dr. Paul H. Grummann, A. T. Hill,
H. P. Kauffman, F. Dwight Kirsch, Mabel Langdon, Dr. John T. Link
(deceased), Dr. Alvin L. Lugn, Dr. Martin S. Peterson, Dr. Louise
Pound, Russell T. Prescott, Dr. James M. Reinhardt, Mari Sandoz, Dr.
James L. Sellers, Dr. Addison E. Sheldon, John S. Stryker, Dr. Cleon O.
Swayzee, Charles W. Taylor, Dr. Lowry C. Wimberly, A. B. Wood, and
William L. Younkm.
J. HARRIS GABLE, State Director
RUDOLPH UMLAND, Assistant State Director
NORRIS GETTY, State Editor
Contents
PAGE
FOREWORD, By Addison E. Sheldon, Nebraska State Historical Society v
PREFACE Vli
GENERAL INFORMATION xk
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
/. The State in Review
MODERN NEBRASKA 3
NATURAL SETTING: 6
Geography and Climate; Geology and Paleontology; Animal Life, Plant
Life, Natural Resources and Their Conservation
INDIANS: 26
Prehistoric Culture; Historic Indians
HISTORY: 44
Period of Exploration, Territorial Organization, Settlement, Statehood
GOVERNMENT: 69
The Unicameral Legislature
AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMER 73
INDUSTRY AND LABOR 82
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 90
ETHNIC ELEMENTS 101
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS 105
EDUCATION AND RELIGION 114
ART AND Music 120
ARCHITECTURE 127
THE PRESS 133
LITERATURE 137
//. Cities and Towns
BEATRICE 147
FREMONT 154
GRAND ISLAND 162
HASTINGS 169
LINCOLN 176
NORFOLK 205
NORTH PLATTE 211
OMAHA 219
CONTENTS
///. Tours
TOUR 1. (Sioux City, Iowa)-South Sioux City-Tekamah-
Omaha-Nebraska City-Falls City (Hiawatha,
Kans.) , 205 m
[us 73-77, us 73 E, us 73-75, us 73] 257
Section a. Missouri River Omaha, 99.2 m. 258
Section b. Omaha-Kansas Line, 105.8 m. 267
TOUR lA. Omaha-Bellevue, 5.5 m. [STATE 31] 277
TOUR IB. Junction with US 73-75-Rock Bluffs 6 m.
[Unnumbered road} 280
TOUR 2. (Sioux City, Iowa)-Winnebago-Fremont-Lmcoln-
Beatnce-(Marysville, Kans.) ; 200 m
[us 73-77, us 73^-77, us 77] 282
TOUR 3. (Yankton, S. Dak.)-Norfolk-Columbus-York-
Fairmont-Hebron-( Belleville, Kans ) ,
235.8 m. [us 81} 287
TOUR 4 (Fairfax, S. Dak.)-Butte-O'Neill-Bartlett-St Paul-
Grand Island-Hastings-Red Cloud- (Lebanon,
Kans.) ; 241.4 m. [us 281} 291
'TouR 5. (Colone, S. Dak )-Springview-Bassett-Taylor-
Ansley-Kearney-Elm Creek-Holdrege-AIma-
(Woodruff, Kans ) , 257 m. [us 83] 297
TOUR 6. (Hot Springs, S. Dak )-Chadron-Alliance-
Bridgeport-Sidney-( Sterling, Colo.) ;
174 m. [STATE 19] 301
TOUR 7. (Sioux City, Iowa) -South Sioux City-O'Neill-
Valentme-Chadron-Harrison-(Lusk, Wyo.) ;
446.8 m. [us 20] 305
Section a. Missouri River-Bassett, 180.9 m - 306
Section b. Bassett-Wyoming Line, 266 m. 311
TOUR 8. (Missouri Valley, Iowa) -Fremont-Grand Island-
Kearney-North Platte-Sidney-r (Cheyenne,
Wyo.) ; 447.7 m. [us 30] 325
Section a. Missouri River-Kearney, 178.1 m. 327
Section b. Kearney-Ogallala, 145.4 m. 336
Section c. Ogallala-Wyoming Line, 124.3 m - 344
TOUR 8A. Maxwell-Fort McPherson National Cemetery-
Cottonwood Canyon, 5.1 m. [Unnumbered road] 348
TOUR 8B. North Platte-Maywood-McCook, 75.7 m. [us 183] 350
CONTENTS
TOUR 9. (Council Bluffs, Iowa ) -Omaha-Lincoln-Hastings-
Holdrege-McCook-Imperial- (Holyoke,
Colo.); 389.2 m. [us 6]
Section a. Omaha-Hastings, 161.7 m.
Section b, Hastings-Colorado Line, 227 5 m.
TOUR 10, (Sidney, Iowa) -Nebraska City-Lincoln-Grand
Island-Alliance-Crawford-(Ardmore,
S. Dak.) ; 525.6 m. [STATE 2]
Section a. Missouri River-Grand Island, 151.4 m.
Section b. Grand Island-S. Dak. Line, 373.6 m.
TOUR 11. (Rockport, Mo.)-Brownville-Beatrice-Franklin-
Trenton-(Wray, Colo.); 386.3 m. [STATE 3]
Section a. Brownville-Oxford, 248 3 m.
Section b. Oxford-Colorado Line, 138 m.
TOUR 12. Ogallala-Oshkosh-Bridgeport-ScottsblufT-
(Torrington, Wyo ) , 155.5 m. [us 26]
TOUR 12 A. Bridgeport-Chimney Rock-Genng-Scotts Bluff
National Monument-Horse Creek Treaty
Monument-Wyoming Line, 59.4 m. [STATE 86]
TOUR 13. Junction with US 2O-Ponca-Niobrara-Lynch-Butte-
(Burke, S. Dak.); 169.3 m [STATE 12]
CHRONOLOGY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
IV. Appendices
XI
352
353
356
360
361
365
372
372
378
382
388
394
401
407
413
Illustrations
CORN IN FLOWER Page 2
Photograph by Dwtght Kirsch
CHALK BLUFFS, NIOBRARA RIVER 13
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
of Nebraska
SKELETON OF LARGEST MAMMOTH, NEBRASKA STATE MUSEUM,
LINCOLN 14
Photograph by A. L. Lugn
PHEASANT 17
SUTHERLAND POWER HOUSE 23
Photograph -from Nebraska Game, Forestall on and Parks Commission
IRRIGATION 24
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
SPOTTED TAIL 31
Photograph from State Historical Society
OMAHA INDIAN VILLAGE 35
Photograph from Bureau of American Ethnology
WINNEBAGO INDIAN WOMEN 37
Photograph from State Historical Society
OMAHA INDIANS, MACY 41
Photograph from Game, Forestation and Parks Commission
WHITE-FACED CATTLE 51
Photograph from State Historical Society
STEAMBOAT ARRIVAL, OMAHA CITY (1868) 57
Photograph from State Historical Society
Ox TEAM, 1887 61
Photograph from State Historical Society
LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER, STATE CAPITOL 71
Photograph" from Hale Studio
CUTTING WHEAT 75
Photograph by Richard W. Hufnagle
FARMSTEAD COOPERATIVE MEETING, FALLS CITY 77
Photograph from Farm Security Administration
POWER FARMING, WESTERN NEBRASKA 78
Photograph from State Historical Society
GANG PLOW, PINE RIDGE 80
Photograph from Farm Security Administration
xii
ILLUSTRATIONS XU1
STOCKYARDS, OMAHA 84
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
PACKING APPLES 86
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University o'f Nebraska
PEELING PINE FOR FENCE-POSTS 89
Photograph from Farm Security Administration
OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT BY FRED L. KIMBALL 91
Photograph from Game, Forestation and Parks Commission
BUILDING THE UNION PACIFIC 95
Photograph from State Historical Society
INITIATION OF Zephyr, NOVEMBER 12, 1934 99
Photograph from State Historical Society
JOSLYN MEMORIAL, OMAHA 128
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL, STATE CAPITOL 129
Photograph from State Capitol Commission
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING BUILDING 131
Photograph by Rjchard W. Hufnagle
THE PIONEER 135
OLD JULES SANDOZ 139
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
BLUE RIVER, BEATRICE 151
FISHING IN SAND PIT, FREMONT 155
Photograph from Game, Forestation and Parks Commission
CATHEDRAL, GRAND ISLAND 167
FARMSTEADER'S SON WITH PRIZE 4-H CLUB CALF, FAIRBURY 170
Photograph from Farm Credit Administration
AIRVIEW, LINCOLN 181
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM 183
Photograph from State Historical Society
HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM 186
Photograph from State Historical Society
ART DEPARTMENT, MORRILL HALL 187
Photograph by Dwight Kirsch
CAPITOL 191
Photograph by Richard W. Hufnagle
XIV ILLUSTRATIONS
STATE CAPITOL 193
Photograph by Claude Pilger
DECORATION, STATE CAPITOL 195
Photograph from State Capitol Commission
MAIN HALL, STATE CAPITOL 199
Photograph from State Capitol Commission
O STREET, LINCOLN 202
Photograph by Macdonald Studio
SHIPPING CATTLE AT NORFOLK 206
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
SHANTYTOWN KID 215
Photograph by Hansel Meith, courtesy of Life Magazine
WORKERS ALLIANCE MEETING 217
Photograph by Hansel Meith, courtesy of Life Magazine
MORMON MONUMENT, BY AVARD FAIRBANKS, FLORENCE 221
Photograph from Omaha Chamber of Commerce
UNION STATION, OMAHA 226
Photograph from Omaha Chamber of Commerce
SOUTH OMAHA BRIDGE 251
Photograph from Omaha Chamber of Commerce
NEBRASKA'S LAST VIRGIN TIMBER 259
Photograph from Farm Credit Administration
THRESHING 265
Photograph by Dwight Kirsch
ARBOR LODGE 273
Photograph by Richard W. Hufnagle
DROUGHT, 1934 285
Photograph from Farm Credit Administration
WHEAT IN SHOCKS 289
Photograph by Richard W Hufnagle
STOLLEY STATE PARK 295
Photograph from Game, Forestatton and Parks Commission
MAILBOX, KEARNEY FARMSTEADS 297
Photograph from Farm Credit Administration
SOD HOUSE 300
Photograph from State Historical Society
CHADRON STATE PARK 303
Photograph from Game, Forestatton and Parks Commission
POTATO CELLAR 305
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
ILLUSTRATIONS XV '
SANDHILL HAYFLAT 307
Photograph by Ejchard W. Hufnagle
CATTLE AT SANDHILL LAKE 309*
Photograph from Conservation and Swvey Division,
University of Nebraska
BUFFALO IN GAME REFUGE NEAR VALENTINE 31 L
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
LAKE MINNECHADUZA 314
Photograph by Richard W. Hufnagle
SNAKE FALLS " 315
CROW BUTTE 319
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
SMILEY CANYON 323
Photograph from Game, Porestation and Parks Commission
HARVESTING POTATOES 329
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
LONE TREE MONUMENT 331
Photograph by Richard W. Hufnagle
FORT KEARNEY MONUMENT 335
Photograph from Game, Forestation and Parks Commission
PONY EXPRESS STATION, GOTHENBURG 339
Photograph by H. L. Williams
IRRIGATION DITCH 341
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
AIRVIEW OF SUTHERLAND PROJECT IRRIGATION DITCH 343
Photograph by Hansel Meith, courtesy of Life Magazine
TABLELINE 345
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
GRETNA FISH HATCHERY 355
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
COMBINES AT WORK 357
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Division,
University of Nebraska
BLOWOUT WITH YUCCA ROOTS 361
Photograph by Dwight Kirsch
EARLY MORNING, SANDHILLS 367
Photograph by Dwight Kirsch
XVI ILLUSTRATIONS
TOADSTOOL PARK 371
Photograph by Dwtght Ktrsch
DANIEL FREEMAN AT FREEMAN STAGE STATION 375
Photograph from State Historical Society
CUT-OVER LAND 379
Photograph from Farm Security Administration
CHEESE CREEK RANCH, 1864 385
Photograph from State Historical Society
EZRA MEEKER AT CHIMNEY ROCK 389
Photograph from State Historical Society
WILDCAT HILLS RECREATIONAL AREA 391
MITCHELL PASS 393
Photograph from Conservation and Survey Dtvision t
University of Nebraska
Maps
MAP OF NEBRASKA Back Pocket
TOUR KEY MAP Front End Paper
TRANSPORTATION MAP Reverse of State Map
LINCOLN Reverse of State Map
OMAHA Reverse of State Map
NORMAL ANNUAL TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION Page 9
PLEISTOCENE CORRELATION 11
After Drawing by A. L. Lugn
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION 15
Drawn by A L. Lugn
TERRITORY OF NEBRASKA, 1854 54
BEATRICE 148-149
FREMONT 158-159
GRAND ISLAND 164-165
HASTINGS 172-173
LINCOLN, DOWNTOWN AREA 178
NORFOLK 208-209
NORTH PLATTE 212-213
OMAHA AND VICINITY 223
OMAHA, DOWNTOWN AREA 228
<<<<<<<<<<<<(<<<!>>>)>>>>>))>)>
General Information
(State maps showing highways and transportation routes tn pocket, inside of
back cover)
Railroads: Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R. (Burlington); Union
Pacific R.R. (UP); Chicago & North Western Ry. (Northwestern);
Missouri Pacific R.R ; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R R. (Rock Island) ;
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha R R. (St Paul & Minneapolis) ;
Chicago Great Western R.R. ; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific
RR.; Illinois Central R.R.; Wabash R.R.; Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe R.R. Most railway mileage in southern and eastern portions of the
State.
Highways: 13 Federal and 93 State highways. Ordinarily no inspection
at State border. Highway patrol. Gasoline tax 60. (For routes see State
map.) .
Bus Lines: Union Pacific Stages; Interstate Transit Lines; Burlington
Trailways; Eastern Nebraska Lines; United Motor Ways; Santa Fe Trail-
ways ; Missouri Pacific Trailways ; Chicago and Northwestern Lines ; Black
Hills Stages; Crawford-Gordon Line; ScottsblufT-Sterling Motor Line.
As in the case of railroads, the sandhills area of Nebraska has relatively
few routes.
Air Lines: United Airlines planes (New York to Pacific Coast) stop at
Omaha, Grand Island, and North Platte Twelve planes carrying pas-
sengers, mail, and express are cleared daily from division terminal, Omaha
Mid Continent Air Lines operate north and south out of Omaha, mak-
ing connections there with the United Airlines. Charter planes available
at Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Hastings, Norfolk, Columbus, Kimball,
ScottsblufT, and Alliance
Motor Vehicle Laws (digest) Maximum speeds: 20 m.p.h. in business
district; 25 m.p.h. in residential district; 50 m.p.h. on highways. Opera-
tor's license required after 30 days' residence in State; nonresidents may
operate passenger cars for period during which their cars are licensed in
States in which the owners reside. Minimum age for drivers: 16 yrs. Hand
signals required. Personal injury or property damage (over $50) must be
reported to department of roads and irrigation at Lincoln within 24 hrs.
or, when accident occurs in town, to local police department.
XX GENERAL INFORMATION
Prohibited: Glaring and dazzling lights; cut-outs, sirens, or whistles;
more than one spotlight; passing another vehicle when within 100 ft. of
any bridge, viaduct, or tunnel, or when traversing intersection or railroad
grade crossing. (Local speed limits, prohibitions, etc., given in General
Information for large cities. If in doubt concerning any motor vehicle laws,
communicate with department of roads and irrigation at Lincoln.)
Poisonous Snakes and Plants: Rattlesnakes still infest certain areas of
western Nebraska ; hikers should carry snake serum in their first-aid kits.
Poison-ivy along wooded streams, particularly in the eastern part of the
State. If contact takes place and blisters appear on the skin, medical atten-
tion should be given at once.
Climate and Road Conditions: In summer the days are usually so warm
that travelers often drive at night. Summer nights are usually cooler in
the western than in the eastern part of the State. In general, spring and
fall days are warm and pleasant; but sudden changes of temperature,
necessitating warmer clothing, are not uncommon. The severest winter
temperatures often exceed 20 E, and frequently blizzards block the
roads. Sandhill roads are often blocked by fine sand, and it is advisable
for the traveler to carry a shovel. Tire chains should be part of the motor-
ist's equipment for travel on unimproved country roads in wet weather.
Recreational Areas: There are five recreational areas in Nebraska. The west-
ern tableland at the far end of the Panhandle subdivides into a northern
section, where the streams are good for trout fishing and the badlands
give opportunity for fossil hunting, and a southern area where the rugged
country of Wildcat Range attracts the hiker and Lodgepole Creek provides
trout fishing
The sandhill or lake country takes in most of north central Nebraska
and extends westward into the Panhandle. Recreation in this area includes
many kinds of fishing (trout, bass, catfish, crappie), and hunting (ducks,
pheasants, prairie chickens) and the diversions afforded by State parks,
numerous recreation grounds, and the two areas of the Nebraska National
Forest.
South central Nebraska, including the canyon country, is an area of
considerable historical and scenic interest, with occasional recreation
grounds.
The eastern farming country consists largely of flat fenced-in fields and
pastures ; there is little opportunity for tourist recreation outside of parks
and recreation grounds except for fishing and small-game hunting along
streams.
GENERAL INFORMATION XXl
The northeastern river country, along the bend of the Missouri and
mouth of the Niobrara, is small in area, but rich in scenery and sports
facilities. There are State parks, game reserves, and stretches of wooded
country; duck and pheasant hunting is excellent. (See STATE MAP).
Hunting: Nebraska has good pheasant hunting (especially in Cedar,
Greeley, Mornll, and Wayne Counties) and duck hunting (especially
Adams, Box Butte, Cedar, Clay, Howard, and Keith Counties). Squirrels
are hunted in the southeastern counties; rabbits are common throughout
the State; raccoons are sometimes seen along watercourses in central Ne-
braska. A few of the fur-bearing animals muskrat, opossum, skunk, and
weasels are occasionally trapped for their pelts. In some districts coyote
hunting is a popular sport; hunters spread out to form a huge flying
crescent, beat the bushes and comb the gullies, and drive the animals into
a clearing where they go down before dogs and guns.
Fishing: Nebraska has many miles of flowing streams and more than a
thousand lakes and ponds, many of them stocked with game fish by the
State fish hatcheries. Bullheads and catfish are common in the muddy
eastern creeks and rivers; trout provide the best sport in the western
swift-flowing streams. Bass are found in some of the lakes ; perch, crappie,
and sunfish are common.
Pish and Game Laws (digest) : Game fish are defined as any fish except
buffalo, carp, quillback, suckers, gars, and squawfish. The following
regulations were effective through August 1938; minor changes may be
made from time to time. For limits and regulations peculiar to State-
owned lakes, see manual published by game commission at Lincoln.
Licenses- Required of all persons 16 yrs. of age or over May be pur-
chased from county clerks, and at hardware and sporting goods stores,
filling stations, banks, and resorts near fishing lakes Hunting and fishing
permit for resident, $i 10. Hunting permit for nonresident, $10 and up;
fishing permit for nonresident, $2 and up; both charges depending on
charges in State in which person resides. Fishing permit for alien, $5.10.
Trapping permit (required of all persons, regardless of age) for resident,
$2.10; for nonresident and alien, $100.10 and up.
Open Season for Fishing (dates inclusive; figures indicate minimum
length of fish): Bass (large- and small-mouth) (10 in ), Apr. i-Apr. 30
and June i5-Nov 30. Rock Bass (6 in.), Apr i-Nov. 30. Great North-
ern Pike (15 in.), wall-eyed pike (12 in.), and sauger or sand pike (10
in.), May i5-Nov. 30. Trout (keep all), Apr i-Nov. 30. Crappie (6
GENERAL INFORMATION
in.), Apr. i-Nov. 30. Perch and sunfish (keep all), Apr. i Nov. 30.
Catfish (10 in.) and bullheads (6 in.), Apr. i-Nov. 30.
Daily Bag (fish taken from midnight to midnight): Trout, 10 (in
State-owned lakes) ; bass (large- and small-mouth), 5 ; pike (any species),
5 ; catfish, 10, perch, 25 ; other game fish, 15. One may have in possession
at one time not more than 25 of any of these species: crappie, sunfish,
rock bass, bullheads, perch; not more than 10 large- or small-mouth bass,
5 pike, 15 catfish, 10 trout (5 in State-owned lakes) ; nor more than 25
game fish of all kinds.
Prohibited: Snagging; fishing with line having more than five hooks
thereon, or with artificial bait having thereon more than three triple-
gang hooks. Unlawful to take any game fish by means other than angling
with hook and line, except that seine fishing is permitted in Missouri
River under special permit.
Open Season for Hunting (dates inclusive): Mink, Nov. i-Feb. 15;
rabbits, Jan. i-Dec. 31; squirrels, Oct. i-Nov. 30; raccoons, Nov. i-
Feb. i; opossum, Nov. i-Feb i. No open season on beaver, buffalo,
deer, mountain sheep, antelope, mountain goat, muskrats, otter. Water-
fowl and other migratory birds, season designated yearly by Federal au-
thority; usually in November. Pheasants (male), dates and counties speci-
fied yearly by commission. No open season on plover, prairie chickens,
grouse, wood duck, curlew, quail, partridge, and wild turkey.
Limits: Squirrels, 7; raccoons, 2; opossum, 3; snipe (Wilson and jack-
snipe), 15; ducks, 10 ; geese, 5. One may have in possession at one time
no more of any species than the daily bag limit, and no more than 40
game birds of all kinds
Prohibited: Use of explosives, chemicals, smokers, or spears; shooting
from public highway, from any but hand-propelled boats, or from air-
planes; hunting any birds earlier than one half hour before sunrise or
later than sunset, or with any artificial light , trapping or snaring of birds ;
use of gun larger than 10 gage in hunting game birds; destruction of
eggs or nests ; hunting or trapping on private land without permission of
owner.
'Picnicking and Campmg: There are facilities for picnicking, hiking,
swimming and riding in most of the 7 State parks and 26 recreation
grounds maintained by the State Game, Forestation, and Parks Commis-
sion. Many parks have swimming pools, stores, auditoriums, and cabins.
Recreation grounds, less cultivated than the parks, provide additional
opportunities for boating, fishing, and camping. (See Index on State map.)
<
Calendar of Events
Events varying in date from year to year are scheduled in the week in which they
usually occur
State Day (school holiday)
Arbor Day
Apple Blossom Day
Ivy Day (University of Ne-
braska)
Farmers Fair (College of Agri-
culture)
Nebraska Writers' Guild Meet-
ing
Ak-Sar-Ben Races
Passion Play The Gift of God
Panhandle Stampede
Ak-Sar-Ben Races (continua-
tion)
Oregon Trail Days
Burwell Rodeo
Massacre Canyon Pow-wow
Wmnebago Pow-wow
Omaha Pow-wow
Rock County Rodeo
Wahoo Buckaroo
Friendly Festival (3 days)
State Fair
Camp Clark Days (4 days)
Popcorn Days (2 days)
King Korn Karnival (4 days)
Fall Frolic
State Historical Society Meeting
Native Sons and Daughters of
Nebraska
Ak-Sar-Ben
Corn Husking Contest
Organized Agriculture Week (4
days)
Mar. i
State-wide
Apr 22
2d-3d wk
State-wide
SE. Nebr.
May ist wk
Lincoln
ist wk
Lincoln
2d wk
Lincoln
June 1-30
3d wk
4th wk
Omaha
Chimney Rock
Alliance
July 1-4
Omaha
wk includ-
ing July 17
Gering
Aug. ist-2d wk
ist-2d wk
ist-2d wk
3d wk
3d wk
3d-4th wk
3d~4th wk
Burwell
Trenton
Winnebago
Macy
Bassett
Wahoo
Hay Springs
Sept. ist wk
ist wk
ist-2d wk
3d wk
3d~4th wk
Lincoln
Bridgeport
North Loup
Plattsmouth
Columbus
Oct. ist wk
Lincoln
ist-2d wk
Omaha
Nov. 3d-4th wk
Dec. ist wk
Lincoln
PART T
Jr JL\ JCV 1 JL
CORN IN FL0^5(^ER
em
E traveler crossing Nebraska gets an impression of broad fields,
JL deep skies, wind, and sunlight; clouds racing over prairie swells;
herds of cattle grazing on the sandhills ; red barns and white farmhouses
surrounded by fields of tasseling corn and ripening wheat; windmills and
wire fences; and men and women who take their living from the soil.
Statehood came in 1867, and many of the old inhabitants can remem-
ber the land before it was touched by the plowshare. Corn grows on slopes
where buffalo once grazed. Tractors pull plows and harrows over land
where the war whoops of Sioux and Pawnee once echoed. Spades turn up
the remnants of old Indian villages and the bones of ancient dinosaurs.
Graves mark the routes of the great overland trails.
Here the Middle West merges with the West. The farms and small
towns in the eastern half suggest the rich, more densely populated country
of Iowa and Illinois. The cities have much of the fast tempo and business-
like ways that prevail in the larger cities of the Midwest. But, in western
Nebraska, fields give way to the great cattle ranches of the sandhill area,
life is more leisurely and manners are more relaxed. Something of the Old
West still survives & cowboy riding hard against the sky, a herd of white
faces coming down from the hills to water, bawling calves at branding
time. Here neighbors think nothing of strolling across a mile or two of
prairie to pay an evening call, and one can travel for hours without find-
ing a sign of human habitation. On the high plateaus of the Panhandle,
where the wind cuts along the broad valley of the Platte, rocks and buttes
rise. Occasionally a coyote may be seen crossing a "blowout" hollowed by
the wind among the dunes.
In the hundreds of small country towns that dot the State, life revolves
around the lodges and clubs. Influences sift through from the two coasts
by way of magazines, movies, and radio, but the talk is predominantly of
crops and weather, grasshoppers, chinch bugs, and the price of cattle and
hogs.
The farm region has suffered much in the past from years of drought,
insect pestilence, and depression. But debt-ridden farmers seed their fields
3
4 THE STATE IN REVIEW
again. It is this determination to remain on the land, this never-ending
struggle of human strength and will against natural forces, that character-
izes the Nebraska temperament. The pioneers watched their crops shrivel
under the hot winds and drought, yet they doggedly plowed their corn
rows ; old Jules Sandoz saw his sandhill orchard beaten to the ground by
hailstones, and planted his trees again. These men changed a wilderness
into a State of productive farms and ranches. Many of their holdings are
now heavily mortgaged or have passed into the hands of absentee land-
lords; but few among their descendants, even though they may be pre-
pared to follow other occupations, can be persuaded that they belong else-
where than on the land.
Much of the soil is still fertile, but rainfall is often insufficient, and sun
and winds play havoc with the land. Today many Nebraskans are con-
cerned with the issues of conservation of water resources, defenses against
soil erosion, new and better ways of farming, and the development of
public power projects. In thickly settled eastern counties, many farmers
look with favor upon programs of rural electrification and planned agri-
culture. But in western counties pioneering in the old sense still continues
to some extent. Families living in cheap frame and sod houses, often
twenty miles or more from the nearest town, depend on their individual
effort to fight the hazards of nature.
Only two of Nebraska's cities have populations of more than 25,000
Omaha with 214,000 and Lincoln with 79,000. In Omaha an industrial
present overlays the not remote past of a great cattle and railroad town.
Lincoln, with its university, churches, and its modern Capitol, represents
(in contrast) the political and educational aspirations of innumerable
small towns and farms. Its educators train youths as vigorous as the farms
to which, in large measure, they will return; its legislators arrive fresh
from talking to their constituents face to face. People take a personal and
peculiarly close interest in government. This, along with a tenacious love
of the land, is a characteristic trait.
The State's two most important annual gatherings are held at Omaha
and Lincoln: the Ak-Sar-Ben at Omaha, renowned for its pageantry, and
the State Fair at Lincoln. At the fair, town and country meet in lively
confusion. It is at once holiday and farm institute. The crowds look with
pride and interest at great exhibits of livestock, of prize vegetables and
flowers, of improved farm machinery and implements. The fair represents
all Nebraska.
That Nebraskans are practical in temper a trait growing out of their
continual struggle for life has been shown frequently by their choice of
MODERN NEBRASKA 5
leaders regardless of caste or political label. The man and his actions are
what count. In the election of 1936, the confusion of usual party lines in
Nebraska was the cause of Nation-wide amusement: Democrats and Re-
publicans supported each other or went to the aid of Independents in
whatever way they considered expedient.
The careers of the two most colorful Nebraskans in national life
William Jennings Bryan and Senator George W. Norris though ap-
parently dramatic anomalies, follow the Nebraska pattern. It was Bryan's
close touch with the everyday world, the simplicity and honesty of his
views progressive at the time that endeared him to his State. Senator
Norris, through his long years as champion of conservation and the use of
the Nation's resources for the benefit of all, has won support at home by
his understanding of the needs and problems of the common man.
Influenced by the industrial development of the East and by the inde-
pendence and individualism of the West, Nebraska seems to follow a mid-
dle course of liberalism rooted in the soil. Despite the contrasts in topog-
raphy, it is unified by its small towns and rural districts where each man
knows his neighbor.
v y y i v v
Geography and Climate
IN 1842, Lieut. John C. Fremont led an expedition to explore the
country lying between the Kansas and Platte Rivers. On his return, he
attempted to descend the Platte, but gave up the venture after dragging
his boat for three or four miles over the sandy bottom of the river. In his
report to the Government he wrote: "The names given by the Indians are
always remarkably appropriate ; and certainly none was ever more so than
that which they have given to this stream the Nebraska, or Shallow
River!"
When the Secretary of War read the report and noted this Indian name
for the Platte River, he suggested it as the name for the new Territory
west of the Missouri River. This Territory extended from the Missouri
River to the Rocky Mountains and from the fortieth parallel to the Ca-
nadian border, including wholly or in part the present States of Nebraska,
Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Mon-
tana. The name of the Territory became that of the new State on March
i, 1867.
The State of Nebraska is a little north of the geographic center of the
United States, and the greater part of its area lies in the Great Plains, be-
tween the Rocky Mountains and the Central Lowland. The Missouri River,
the only natural boundary of the State, separates Nebraska from Missouri
and Iowa on the east and from part of South Dakota on the northeast.
South Dakota bounds the State on the north, Wyoming and Colorado on
the west, and Colorado and Kansas on the south.
According to the latest computations, the total area of Nebraska is 77,-
520 square miles, of which 712 are water surface. The surface as a whole
slopes to the southeast. Altitudes range from about 825 feet in the south-
eastern corner of Richardson County to about 5,430 feet in western Ban-
ner County. The topography is somewhat diversified, but in general about
half of the area is of the Dissected Plains type (much eroded moraine
6
NATURAL SETTING 7
country), and the remainder is made up of constructional plains, as yet
mostly undissected by erosion.
The eastern end of the State, a strip averaging about seventy miles in
width and paralleling the Missouri River, is part of the Dissected Till
Plains. The Loess Region, a triangular area of approximately 42,000
square miles underlain by thick loess deposits, extends over the southwest-
ern half of the State. Of this, about 14,000 square miles remain uneroded.
The Sandhills region in the north central and central western part of
the State is the most clearly defined topographic subdivision and occupies
about 20,000 square miles, including some small outlying areas. It is more
suitable for grazing than cultivation. The surface is a rolling plain of
wind-blown sand and dunes lying on ridges and hills of eroded bedrock
formations. The sand is now largely stationary, for the roots of prairie
grasses and other vegetation have checked wind erosion.
The remainder of the State, a little more than 15,000 square miles, is
made up of undissected high bedrock plains or tables, rough broken areas,
and valley plains and terraces. Some of the higher land in the western
part is used for grazing, and some for the growing of wheat, potatoes, and
hay. The sugar beet is a principal crop in the irrigated valleys.
The Platte River is the main stream of the State, and is formed by the
confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers east of the city of North
Platte. From this point its valley is wide and flat until, at Ashland, it en-
ters the narrow bedrock gorge which it follows to the Missouri River at
Plattsmouth The elevation of the Platte River above sea level is about
2,760 feet at North Platte and decreases gradually to 1,180 feet at Fre-
mont. The upland plain between these points descends from an elevation
of 200 to 300 feet above river level to 100 or 150 feet. The North Platte
River enters the State from Wyoming and flows through a fertile irrigated
valley for about 180 miles to its junction with the South Platte River east
of North Platte. The North Platte Valley is nearly 800 feet deep at
ScQttsblufT, and from 200 to 300 feet below the uplands at North Platte.
The elevation of the North Platte River above sea level ranges from more
than 4,000 feet at the Wyoming State Line to about 2,760 feet east of
North Platte. Pumpkin Creek, Blue Water Creek, and Birdwood Creek are
the main tributaries in Nebraska.
The discharge of the South Platte River, which enters the State from
Colorado, is variable and leaves a dry bed in the summer It flows at ele-
vations above sea level ranging from about 3,430 feet at the Colorado
State Line and 3,200 feet near Ogallala, to 2,760 feet where it joins the
North Platte. The uplands along the South Platte range from 200 to 300
8 THE STATE IN REVIEW
feet above the river level. Lodgepole Creek, its most important tributary,
flows eastward through Kimball, Cheyenne, and Deuel Counties, and
leaves the State to enter the South Platte a few miles west of Julesburg,
Colorado.
The Loup River is the largest tributary of the Platte, and is formed by
the union of the North, Middle, and South Loup Rivers. These three
streams originate in the Sandhills region, are fed by spring and seepage
water, and flow southeastward through the Loess Hills region to the Platte
River Valley. The well-defined valleys along their courses range in depth
from shallow basins in their upper levels to depressions of from 100 to
200 feet in the lower reaches.
Large quantities of water are discharged from the Platte River Basin
during the winter and spring months, but at times during the dry season
the discharge shrinks to practically nothing in the region between Gothen-
burg and Columbus. This shrinkage is partly due to high evaporation, but
perhaps mainly to the large seepage loss from the Platte Valley through
the buried gravel sheets that dip away from the Platte to the southeast.
Here this same water reappears in seepages and springs. In the dry sea-
son, the water discharged into the Missouri River from the Platte comes
mainly from the Loup and Elkhorn Rivers.
The Elkhorn River heads in Brown County, flows for the most part
through a wide flat valley, and drains much of the prairie plains, portions
of the high plains tables, and a large area of the Loess Hills of northeast
Nebraska. Where it enters the Platte River Valley the upland plain is
from 100 to 150 feet above river level.
The Niobrara River, the largest crossing the northern part of the State,
is mainly a Nebraska stream. It is normally only a few feet wide where it
enters the State in Sioux County, but it increases gradually to a small river
where it leaves the high plains and enters the sandhills in the middle part
of its course. Several important and many small tributaries flow into the
Niobrara River from deep canyons on either side. The more important
are Snake Creek, Gordon Creek, Minnechaduza Creek, Plum Creek, Long
Pine Creek, Keyapaha River, and Verdigre River. The elevation above sea
level of the Niobrara River at Agate is 4,440 feet, at Valentine 2,500
feet, and at Niobrara 1,250 feet.
The Republican River, near the Kansas-Nebraska line, drains the south-
ern part of the Nebraska Plain and the more dissected areas of the Loess
region south of the Platte River. A few well- developed tributaries enter
it from the south, and a great many smaller streams flow into it from the
north. The Big Blue River, tributary of the Kansas Blue River, drains a
NATURAL SETTING 9
part of the Dissected Till Plains and the eastern end of the Nebraska
Plain; its valley ranges in depth from 50 to 60 feet in its upper course to
from 130 to 150 feet near Wymore. The West Blue, its chief tributary,
is 88 miles long. The Little Blue River crosses the Nebraska Loess Plain,
and its drainage basin lies almost wholly within this area. The Big and
the Little Blue join in Kansas, about 20 miles south of the State line.
44 I8"
45*18' 46*
Precipitation -
Temperature-
NORMAL ANNUAL
TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION
Each of the three regions of the State has distinct climatic character-
istics; the western tablelands, for example, are generally cooler in summer
than the eastern plains, owing to the difference in elevation All the re-
gions, however, have in common the variability of typical inland climate.
Averages have little meaning. While the normal mean annual temperature
is 48 7 F. and the average range of temperature from winter to summer
around 100 degrees, Nebraskans have shivered near stoves when it was
47 below zero and have sought coolness in cellars when temperatures
were up to 118. The normal winter mean is about 20, and the summer
75. The average date for the beginning of winter is December 6, but this
season may start as early as October or as late as January. The climate is
generally healthful. The proportion of cloudless days is high, the rela-
tive humidity, on the average, is low, and fogs or mists are few.
Throughout the year the northwest wind generally prevails, but the hot
winds of summer blow from the south or southwest. A type of west wind
called the cbmook blows across the Rockies into northwestern Nebraska,
causing that corner of the State to be warmer in winter than some other
regions in the same latitude.
10 THE STATE IN REVIEW
The cyclonic areas that bring most rainfall to the State (the southwest-
northeast disturbances) fortunately reach Nebraska during the growing
season Rainfall, however, is not evenly distributed over the State, the
eastern part having almost twice as much rain as the western. For this
reason population is greater in the east; so also the proportion of land
under cultivation and the value of farm lands.
The more devastating of Nebraska's droughts occurred in the years
1894, 1934, and 1936; and the State's severest winters were those of 1857,
1873, 1881, and 1936. The periods between winter and summer have
usually been pleasant. Spring has changeable weather ; fall brings the most
clement weather and colorful countrysides of the year.
Geology and Paleontology
When Nebraska is divided into natural regions on the basis of soil,
consideration is given only to that thin layer of earth lying nearest the
surface, which is continually being formed by the action of plants, ani-
mals, and weathering. The material lying under this topmost layer, the
parent material from which soil is made, is sometimes called the mantle-
rock, as contrasted with the hard bedrock beneath.
The formation of this mantlerock, or soil-stuff, was largely the work of
four agents water, plant and animal life, ice, and wind. The chief work
of the ice was completed several thousand years ago, when the last of the
glaciers melted. The process of glacial earth formation may be thought of
somewhat as follows: A glacier came down from the north, carrying in
its frozen mass a layer of boulders, sand, and fine ground rock picked
up from the land surfaces it overrode. Eventually the ice melted and a
layer of rock, sandy earth, or till was left. Such was the genesis of much
of the mantlerock in eastern Nebraska, the only glaciated part of the State.
As the ice slipped down across eastern Nebraska, it dammed certain
eastward-flowing rivers. In consequence, the sand and gravel carried by
these streams were deposited in the river valleys. Later, when the glacier
melted, the water flowed away in great sheets and rivers, taking with it
some of the finer soil. In this manner layers of the mantlerock formed in
the central part of the State, beyond the glacial path. This process oc-
curred twice in eastern Nebraska, which was covered by both the Ne-
braskan and Kansan ice sheets.
During the eras between glaciers, before grass and shrubs had time to
grow, the winds began their part in distributing fine soil. When a farm-
er's wife finds red Oklahoma dust on her cabbage patch after a storm, she
II
NATURAL SETTING
is observing the same process as that which did much to create Nebraska's
loess the rich yellow-gray earth of the eastern and southern portions.
This Peorian loess, named for the last of the interglacial periods, is the
result partly of glacial action and ramwash, but mainly of wind action
that brought soil from the desert regions in the west.
The various strata formed by glacial and wind action are shown in the
figure "Pleistocene Correlation." In the western part of the State, marked
"NW. Nebraska Sand Hills," these deposits form a relatively thin layer,
NORTHWEST NEBRASKA
SAND HILLS
SOUTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA
PLEISTOCENE
CORRELATION
EASTERN NEBRASKA
CRETACEOUS
SHAl
CARBONIFEROUS AND
OLDER BED ROCK
mantling an eroded terrain of preglacial (Tertiary) sediments; the top
sand is the material left after the fine silt and clay had been sifted out by
the winds. South central Nebraska has a heavier deposit, being nearer the
glacial region. The two layers of gravel at the bottom of the cross sec-
tion, the Holdrege and Grand Island formations, are the results of river
sedimentation, and of inwash to and outwash from the Nebraskan and
Kansan Glaciers; each is from 40 to 100 feet thick; and each has a thin
layer of interglacial clay above it.
The Holdrege and Grand Island gravel strata are of great economic im-
portance to the State. They supply most of central Nebraska's ground
water and are the medium through which water seeps away from the Platte
12 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Valley to the southeastern part of the State, reappearing there in the form
of springs that feed the Republican, Big Blue, West Blue, and Little Blue
Rivers. The two gravel layers with their dividing clay layer are called the
Platte series. Just above the Platte series is the Loveland loess-clay; this
layer with the wind-blown loess above it constitutes the Plains series.
The cross sections of eastern Nebraska are similar to these, the principal
difference being that here the glacial deposits consist of till left directly by
the ice, rather than of washed-m sand and gravel. The David City forma-
tion at the bottom of this cross section is a gravel layer of early glacial
origin. How the strata continue into Iowa is shown in the section on the
right of the figure.
The younger strata of the bedrock are rich in fossil remains. Since
1852 the fossil beds of Nebraska have received almost constant attention
from paleontologists, and they continue to yield species of animal life
previously unknown. For example, the shovel-tusked mastodon was dis-
covered here in 1927, and shortly afterward the same kind of fossil re-
mains were reported in the Gobi Desert. Thanks to the liberal financial
support of the late Charles H. Morrill, the Nebraska State Museum has
been able to support completely equipped expeditions in the field since
1893. The chief fossil beds in the State are at Agate in Sioux County, 23
miles south of Harrison on State Highway 29, and in Sheridan County,
about 1 6 miles south of Hay Springs.
Paleontological research in Nebraska owes much to Dr. Erwm Hinck-
ley Barbour, veteran paleontologist and director of the Nebraska State Mu-
seum. The Morrill expeditions under his direction have made important
contributions to science. The researches of Dr. George E. Condra and
others of the Nebraska Geological Survey have thrown invaluable light on
the invertebrates of the Pennsylvanian and other early strata.
Nebraska strata provide significant indications of the great "Age of
Mammals." More than 60 million years ago a continental uplift took
place during which the Rocky Mountains were formed. Fresh-water
streams pouring down from the newly formed mountains fed the brack-
ish lakes that remained as the last remnants of the Cretaceous Sea. Slowly
these lakes became fresh. The climate was semi-tropical and the vegeta-
tion correspondingly luxuriant. Toward the close of this period, called
the Cretaceous, the warm-blooded mammals appeared. Small and insignifi-
cant, but agile, they were destined to replace the dominant saurians of the
earlier world.
Exposures in Nebraska of the next, or Tertiary period, include the Brule
clay of the northwestern Badlands, and the Chadron formations. The
CHALK BLUFFS, NIOBRAEA RIVER
country at that time was apparently very flat, and in seasons of flood great
regions were covered with shallow temporary ponds. These, along with
deposits of volcanic ash, helped to preserve the bones of many animals.
The decreasing number of warmth-loving species (such as the crocodile)
found in these deposits indicates that the climate was becoming cooler.
The huge animals commonly known as titanotheres were the largest
creatures of this period, At first small and hornless, they developed
greater and greater proportions, sometimes reaching a length of 14 feet
and a height of 10 feet at the shoulder. Powerful and heavy-bodied, their
appearance became even more impressive with the development of mas-
sive, flattened, and shovel-like horns extending beyond the snout. The
animals were browsers and it is likely that the coming of the grasses, which
replaced the more succulent vegetation of the lower Oligocene, resulted
in their extinction and the rise of the herbivores.
Common also are the oreodonts, an exceedingly numerous and varied
group of animals slightly piglike in appearance and size. They must have
lived in great numbers in the forests and along the streams, feeding upon
the vegetation of the time It is generally agreed that the camel, com-
monly regarded as an Old World animal, is also American in origin, and
its progenitors are recognizable in the Oligocene. The Oligocene horses
SKELETON OF LARGEST MAMMOTH, NEBRASKA STATE MUSEUM, LINCOLN
were already well started on their evolutionary road, but were still con-
siderably smaller than modern sheep ; they were three-toed, and had teeth
adapted only for browsing upon soft vegetation. Their future development
awaited the rise of the great grasslands.
The next epoch, the Miocene, is a long period which has been estimated
as beginning some twenty million years ago and extending approximately
eighteen million years to the Pliocene The climate which probably today
would be called subtropical, was nevertheless becoming imperceptibly
cooler.
Unusual animals of this period were the horned gophers, the huge
Dmohyus, a primitive type of pig six feet or more in height with formi-
dable tusks and head, grazing camels, and tall browsing giraffe-camels
with very long necks and legs Saber-toothed tigers as well as true cats had
increased in size, and there were huge bearlike dogs. Browsing horses
were still present, but true grazing types were developing and replacing
the older forms An odd shambling beast called Moropus, distinctly re-
lated to the horse, also existed. Unlike the horse, howe/er, he was
equipped with a set of large claws, which he probably used to uproot
edible tubers.
NATURAL SETTING 15
With the coming of Pliocene time additional forms of the mastodon ap-
peared, a few of which had been found in the upper Miocene. But the pe-
riod is comparatively little known, and it was not until the oncoming
glaciation at the close of the Pliocene caused a crisis in living conditions
all over the world that any striking changes appear in the geological chro-
nology in Nebraska.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION
The yellow loess representing various stages of the Pleistocene, as well
as the deposits from the melting ice, left a graphic record of the changing
climatic conditions in the State, which five times lay partially under or at
the very edge of the advancing ice sheets. The time-range of that epoch is
generally estimated at a million years The Pleistocene and recent times to-
gether are generally taken as representing the Quaternary or "Age of
Man," as contrasted to the Tertiary, which is regarded as the "Age of
Mammals."
The movement southward of northern life before the edge of the ad-
vancing ice sheets brought many typical northern species into Nebraska.
The advances and withdrawals of the ice sheets were accompanied by
similar changes in the fauna corresponding to the warm and cold periods,
the duration of a single warm or cold period extending over many thou-
sands of years. It is unlikely that the great proboscide hordes that swarmed
over Nebraska throughout the Pleistocene were all adapted to endure
such temperatures as the woolly mammoth could withstand. From their
peculiar adaptations it may be inferred that they fed upon succulent
aquatic plants during interglacial times.
l6 THE STATE IN REVIEW
The giant beaver, the largest known rodent of past or modern times,
approximating the black bear in size, inhabited Nebraska. This animal
originated in America in the early Pleistocene and disappeared along with
the camels. Both the horse and the camel are known from apparently later
deposits in the Southwest, but they have not as yet been recorded from
Nebraska deposits following the Iowa glaciations. The musk-ox, typically
Arctic, is known from deposits correlating with the time of the second
glacial period.
The great imperial mammoth disappeared comparatively late, probably
in the short interglacial period preceding the onset of the final Wisconsin
ice. Its extinction probably marks the disappearance of the western forests,
as its tooth structure indicates that it was a browsing animal. The woolly
mammoth apparently came late in the Pleistocene. It was a grazing ani-
mal, and survived the final glaciation only to disappear at its close.
The bison are represented by several huge and long-horned specimens.
As the end of the Pleistocene approached, they tended to grow smaller in
size and to resemble more closely the modern species. There is some diffi-
culty in determining whether or not one or two of these forms became ex-
tinct either before or after the final glaciation, though evidence from other
areas shows that several forms, at one time regarded as having become ex-
tinct in the Middle Pleistocene, actually survived into its closing phase.
Animal Life
Of the animals known to the early settlers of Nebraska, many are now
found only in zoos or on game reserves. Best known of these vanishing
types are the buffalo, the pronghorn antelope, and the mule deer. Grizzly
bears have been known to range into Nebraska, but not in recent years ;
and the beaver, abundant in the early days of the fur trade, is now seldom
found.
Among animals still common in the State are the coyote, kit fox, jack-
rabbit, badger, striped ground squirrel, and prairie dog, whose character-
istic "towns" are often a refuge for the prairie rattler. Smaller rodents are
numerous and are probably increasing since the wholesale destruction of
so many birds of prey. In the woodlands the porcupine, woodrat, and red
squirrel are still plentiful. The skunk is common over the entire State.
Prairie chickens, grouse, and various migrating waterfowl, while still
present, must have been far more abundant in the prehistoric past. In the
sandhill country with its numerous small lakes and ponds, water birds still
breed in large numbers. This area was probably avoided by the great buf-
* ' 'j^i
3#v<$?
^t".Wi
PHEASANT
falo herds, because of its sparse pasturage, so thin that many acres are nec-
essary to support one cow. Nevertheless, birds and small mammals, includ-
ing the raccoon, are still abundant in the brushy areas of wild plum,
sagebrush, and greasewood. Sand cherries, wild plums, raspberries, and
large quantities of small seed provide excellent food for birds.
Partly to assist the farmers in the destruction of insect pests, the State
Game Commission imported a few dozen pheasants in 1915. Three vari-
eties were included: the Chinese ringnecked, the English ringnecked, and
the Mongolian. During the next decade approximately 500 pairs were im-
ported. The pheasants now in the State, some three million in number
according to an estimate made in 1936, are a mixture of the original
varieties.
The broadleaf forests of the Missouri bluff and bottomlands in the east-
ern section of the State contain a fauna similar to that of the woodlands in
eastern States. The wooded ravines, marshes, ponds, and shifting sand-
bars provide a varied habitat, in contrast to the western grasslands.
This topographical variety in the State helps to account for the large
number of birds that live in Nebraska or pause here during migration.
Common among the more than 400 species known in the State are the
robin, most f amiliar of early-spring singers , the sparrow, who plagues the
farmer by nesting in hen houses; and the blackbird, noisiest in the fall
when his tribe holds convention before going south. Mourning doves are
l8 THE STATE IN REVIEW
numerous ; every motorist knows their habit of alighting on country roads
and not taking flight till a car is almost upon them. Any old-fashioned
barn in the State is likely to have its flock of wild pigeons, and maybe an
owl or two. Barn swallows build their mud nests in stables and hoghouses ;
in the evening they like to swoop down across the farmyard and tease the
cats.
Meadowlarks might be more numerous if they did not build their nests
on the ground; even so, they are common enough to be called the State
bird. Mocking birds have been heard in the State, but the best singing bird
that is commonly known is the brown thrush. Its twin phrases, remarkably
varied, are nothing like the harsh angry burr with which it threatens any-
one who comes near the nest. Wrens and martins are occasionally seen.
Catbirds, orioles, woodpeckers, crows, and jays are all well known to Ne-
braskans. Hawks are less numerous than they should be; farmers too often
shoot any hawk as a chicken thief, although many species do no harm and
are valuable in killing insects and rodents.
Ducks and geese in their seasons of flight make Nebraska lakes and
ponds their feeding grounds. The season in which they may be hunted is
at present fixed by Federal authority. Tamest of migratory birds is tho
pink-breasted Franklin gull that swoops around the plowman and alights
on the freshly turned earth to hunt for food. Some farmers believe they
can prophesy ram by the behavior of these gulls or by that of mourning
doves, "rain crows," and killdeer.
Many of the fish that live in Nebraska rivers and creeks come up from
the Missouri River and its tributaries. The average Nebraska fisherman
thinks mostly in terms of carp, catfish, crappies, and bullheads (species of
catfish) ; he knows the sunfish by its colors, the crawfish because it steals
his bait. In the streams of western Nebraska are trout; in the lakes are
bass Other" fish caught in the State are perch, suckers, wall-eyed pike, buf-
falo fish, and pickerel. Frogs, eels, and turtles are also found.
Plant Life
Plant life in Nebraska shows striking differences due to the two dissimi-
lar grass areas. One, lying north of an imaginary line drawn from the
southwest corner of the State to the mouth of the Niobrara, is rather arid;
the other, lying below this line, is more humid.
The vast plains of the western portion of the State, when first entered
by the white man, were covered with the short perennial grasses that gave
this territory its name "the short grass country." The dominance of this
NATURAL SETTING Ip
type of grass is due to the scanty rainfall which is seldom over 20 inches
annually. Cactus and other desert plants are found locally where condi-
tions are favorable, as in the neighborhood of the Badlands. Pines along
the higher slopes of Wildcat Range and Pine Ridge migrated into these
areas from farther west. The forests of the Pine Ridge country, along with
those of the Niobrara and Lodgepole districts, include an area of some 500
square miles. They are made up mostly of western yellow pine and some
red cedar, although certain other coniferous trees, like Norway pine and
white spruce, have been introduced. Birches grow in the canyons of the
Pine Ridge country.
In the eastern half of Nebraska, where rainfall is heavier and extends
over a longer period, the total available ground water is seldom exhausted.
Under these favorable conditions the tall prairie grass appears. It begins
to grow much earlier in the season than does the short western species.
Most of the trees now peculiar to eastern Nebraska (excepting introduced
types such as the tree of heaven) migrated into the State from the south
and southeast along the Missouri and its tributaries. Among these are the
oak, basswood, sycamore, and hickory, found along the bluffs of south-
eastern Nebraska.
Certain trees are common to both eastern and western Nebraska the
cottonwood, for example, which provided shelter, fuel, and building logs
for the pioneers Willows are common in all the valley bottoms, along
with the elm, the ash, and box elder. Walnut trees are sometimes planted
and cultivated; they also grow wild along the rivers. Shells found in the
refuse from early Indian villages show that walnuts were long used as food
by the aborigines. The hackberry is distributed over all the State and is an
ancient form, being known from fossil deposits of previous geological
periods.
Among native shrubs and smaller trees are the wild plum" and choke-
cherry, both utilized by the earliest inhabitants of Nebraska. The Osage-
orange, which is common as a hedge in eastern Nebraska, is a compara-
tively recent introduction.
Nebraska has also a considerable number of wild flowers, including the
violet, wild rose, larkspur, phlox, spiderwort, blueflag, poppy, mallow,
waterlily, petunia, columbine, yellow ladyslipper, and several species of
anemone, as well as the goldenrod and sunflower. In years when winds
and drouth are not too severe, the variety and number of wild flowers are
particularly remarkable in parts of the western tablelands, as in Scotts
Bluff County. Well before the last snows, often before the last zero
weather, the first flowers tiny blossoms of dwarf moss-phlox appear on
20 THE STATE IN REVIEW
the southern edges of high ridges. They are sun worshippers the whole
south side of a clump may be fully in bloom, while only scattered blos-
soms appear on the north side. A small townsendia with half a dozen
daisylike blossoms, about an inch from the ground, also blooms early in
this same area.
Later in the season, when the early rains have come, there are flowers
throughout the whole region from the highest ridges to the lowest Bad-
lands. On the hopelessly unproductive Brule Clay appear clumps of yellow
umbels above pinnate leaves for a time the dominant Badlands flower;
it is the pseudocymopterus, and has no common name. Masses of tiny-
flowered orophaca with their lavender blossoms grow in patches several
square feet in area. In addition there are vetches, evening-primroses, and
phlox of several species. In the grass just off the Badlands a common
flower is Nuttall's violet with its ovate-lanceolate leaves and small yellow
flowers.
Soapweed (Yucca an gusti folia), a species of lily, grows in a variety
of places from low plains to ridge tops; the bladelike leaves hold their
green through even the severest winters, and in season the plant bears
cream-colored blossoms on a stout stem.
In late spring or early summer wild roses of two or three species ap-
pear, generally in or bordering ravines. One of the more common is the
prickly rose (Rosa acicularis) with purple-red buds and pink blossoms,
similar to the common wild rose of Northern Europe and Asia. An occa-
sional Mariposa lily is found. There are several species of mustard, with
yellow flowers and curious handle bar seed pods.
One of the larger summer flowers is Fremont's primrose; its blossoms,
about two inches in diameter, are pale lemon-yellow, but as they age and
begin to fade they pass through shades of yellow-orange, orange, and
orange-red. Pentstemon appears in many species, an upright plant with
bunches of trumpet-shaped flowers, generally white or blue. At least five
species of cactus bloom in the summer; the flowers are of delicate texture,
yellow or rose. Low mallows with salmon-colored flowers line the road-
sides; also gaura, with reddish blossoms.
In early fall the cleome comes into bloom, showing loose clusters of
lavender-pink blossoms along the roads. This plant is used in decorative
planting, and its seeds are often gathered for turkey feed. In fall, too, ap-
pear the only mass formations of flowers, acres of sunflowers of several
species, most of them native. Some reach maturity and full bloom at a
height of only six inches, and these patches furnish good shooting
grounds, as pheasants have a liking for sunflower seed. The goldenrod,
NATURAL SETTING 21
Nebraska's State flower, is a close rival of the sunflower in its profusion
of bloom.
The fall-blooming Chrysothamnus is a bushy plant from two to seven
feet high, known in New Mexico as "rabbit-brush." It is related to the
goldenrod and bears great masses of yellow flowers, completely dominat-
ing its area and lasting in full bloom until killed by cold weather.
Late in the year comes Mentzelia, which grows in the worst Badlands.
The starry cream-colored blooms resemble waterlilies and open only at
night or on cloudy days.
Natural Resources and Their Conservation
The most valuable of Nebraska's natural resources is the soil, capable
of producing crops with comparatively meager rainfall. More than half
the top soil of the State is underlain by deposits of rich wind-blown loess;
and the alluvial lands of the river valleys are very fertile. Since trees cover
only about three percent of the State's total area, the forests are of little
actual value as timber. But following the creation of the Nebraska Na-
tional Forest in 1902, the benefits of forest groves as windbreaks and in
the ultimate enrichment of soils have been generally recognized.
Sand and gravel are the most important commercially of the State's min-
eral resources. There are more than 75 large sand and gravel pits, situated
mostly along the rivers in the southeastern part of the State. Although
their output is used chiefly near the points of production for surfacing
roads, making concrete, and other local purposes, considerable amounts
are shipped to neighboring States.
At Lincoln, Hastings, Beatrice, Fairbury, Nebraska City, and other
places in the eastern part of the State occur large outcrops of clay, suitable
for the manufacture of brick, tile, and pottery. Limestone quarries have
been opened near South Bend, Meadow, Louisville, Weeping Water,
Roca, and other points in southeastern Nebraska, producing stone for
building purposes, roadbeds, river improvement work, and the manufac-
ture of cement. Chalk, shale, and limestone are also found and used in
building.
Among mineral deposits with no present commercial importance are the
extensive beds of volcanic ash located along the Republican River Valley,
These have not been extensively worked in recent years because of cheaper
production in neighboring States The area around Lincoln has under-
ground deposits of salt water.
All attempts to find paying quantities of oil and natural gas in Nebraska
22 THE STATE IN REVIEW
have failed, but the search perhaps has not been sufficiently exhaustive.
Small deposits of coal have been found in the eastern portion of the
State, but the veins are not thick enough to make mining profitable.
In addition to its rivers, Nebraska has a good supply of ground water
that makes possible the steady flow of such rivers as the Loup, the Nio-
brara, and the Blue. The State as a whole has excellent well water and in
many places the supply is great enough to make well-irrigation possible.
Since the great droughts of 1934 and 1936 the people of Nebraska have
become aware of the possibilities of irrigation. Their interest has been
stimulated by successful crop production in irrigated districts and the
availability of Federal funds for irrigation projects. The estimated extent of
irrigation in the State is as follows: from canals with water diverted from
streams, 570,000 acres; by pumping from ground water and streams, 60,-
ooo acres; by subirngation from ground water, 1,300,000 acres; by spray-
ing from municipal and rural water supplies, 40,000 acres. The chief
irrigated areas lie along the Platte and North Platte Rivers in Scotts Bluff,
Morrill, Lincoln, Dawson and Buffalo Counties.
Projects under construction (1938) (see Tours 8 and 12) begin with
the Kingsley Reservoir in Keith County where the waters of the North
Platte River are impounded by the Kingsley Dam just west of Keystone.
As part of the Sutherland Project, the dam not only stores water for irri-
gation and for conversion into electrical energy, but also diverts water
from the river, which is conducted by a series of canals to the Sutherland
Reservoir and to a power-house just south of the city of North Platte. Tail
water is reconducted into the South Platte just above its junction with the
North Platte.
Farther downstream on the Platte is the Tri-County Project, also called
the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation Project, which is de-
signed to irrigate 557,000 acres south of the Platte River, in Gosper,
Phelps, Kearney, and Adams Counties, and to produce power. It includes
the Middle Diversion Dam, south of Lexington, the Plum Creek Reser-
voir, and the Johnson Canyon Power Plant.
The third important unit is the Loup River Power Project (see Tours 3
and 8), in Nance and Platte Counties, where the waters of the Loup River
are impounded by the Genoa Diversion Dam, carried to the Monroe Power
Plant and the Columbus Power Plant. This project is designed to supply
power to the cities of Columbus, Norfolk, Fremont, Sioux City, Lincoln,
and Omaha.
In the spring of 1934 the Soil Conservation Service, in cooperation with
the college of agriculture and the conservation and survey division of the
SUTHERLAND POWER HOUSE
university, began work on a soil-and-water-saving program. The Works
Progress Administration and the Resettlement Administration have also
done work along the same line. The complete soil-erosion control pro-
gram for Nebraska includes gully control, contour farming, strip crop-
ping, terracing, construction of ponds and reservoirs, winter cover-crops,
systematic crop rotation, pasture-land management, and protection against
prairie and forest fires.
The work of reforestation in Nebraska has just begun. In time the for-
est resources will be enlarged through discovery of trees suitable for the
region and through systematic planting. The two national forest reserves
in Nebraska, Bessey Division ( see Tour 7) and Halsey Division ( see Tour
10), have already demonstrated that certain types of pines will thrive even
in the sandhill areas. The United States Forest Service has planted several
million young trees in a narrow tract of land extending across the State
from north to south, known as the Shelter Belt, designed to check ero-
sion and furnish timber. Other work of the service includes the planting
IRRIGATION
of trees on rough lands for timber, for demonstration purposes, and pos-
sible climatic effect.
Both Federal and State Governments have their place in the conserva-
tion program. The two national forests raise and distribute millions of
small trees for planting throughout the State. The Federal Government
also maintains sanctuaries for waterfowl in Garden and Cherry Counties,
and a game reserve for buffalo, elk, antelope, and deer in Cherry County.
There are two State game reserves one in the Wild Cat Hills in Scotts
BlufF County, and one at Niobrara in Knox County and four State fish
hatcheries. The hatcheries, occupying areas ranging from 30 to 200 acres,
are located at Gretna, Benkelman, Rock Creek, and Valentine; all fish
produced at these points are shipped to a "holding station" at Lincoln
from which they are distributed to practically all the important streams
NATURAL SETTING 25
and lakes in the State. Finally, the Conservation and Survey Division of
the University of Nebraska is studying the wildlife habitats of the State.
This biological survey will be used as a basis for the future activities of
the Nebraska Game, Forestation, and Parks Commission.
Prehistoric Culture
THE Plains Region, of which Nebraska is a part, has no such spectacu-
lar and impressive evidences of the past as exist in the Southwest or
Old Mexico. There are no great rums, no carved monuments resisting the
centuries. At one time the Plains area was considered archeologically bar-
ren. But today a different view prevails, largely owing to the efforts of the
Nebraska State Museum, the Department of Sociology of the Univer-
sity of Nebraska, the State Historical Society at Lincoln, and local col-
lectors. The discoveries made during the past few years in this State and
surrounding territory have aroused the attention of many scientists.
A series of striking finds, made by the Morrill Paleontological Expedi-
tions of the University of Nebraska, consisted of artifacts and the bones
of extinct bison in old loess deposits. These finds established the presence
in the western portion of the State of an extremely ancient culture, first
reported from a site near Folsom, New Mexico, from which it takes its
name: the Folsom culture. Conservative scientists estimate that this culture
existed 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. The Plains at that time are believed to
have been better watered than at present, owing to climatic conditions at-
tendant upon the withdrawal of the last great ice sheet that extended into
this area. Here primitive man hunted about the water holes of the slowly
drying plains, and slew the last survivors of the glacial period the giant
bison, the musk ox, the mammoth. And here he left the strange grooved
points, uniquely and beautifully worked, that have come to be known as
Folsom points.
The Nebraska State Museum at Lincoln has an exhibition of artifacts
belonging to this ancient culture, as well as restored and mounted skele-
tons of the extinct bison associated with them. The Nebraska State Histori-
cal Society Collections are on exhibition in the Capitol at Lincoln.
Investigations by Dr. W. D. Strong, Dr. E. H. Bell, Dr. W. R. Wedel,
Mr. A. T. Hill, and others have revealed a moderate amount of cultural
26
INDIANS 27
variation among these early peoples. It appears that this section of the
Plains was dominated twice by Indians possessing a purely hunting cul-
ture. Between these two periods was a third in which horticulture and
hunting were of nearly equal importance. The first of the hunting periods
is believed to have begun with the appearance of the Folsom people and
to have lasted for an indefinite length of time. Doubtless on the high
plains of western Nebraska the hunt always remained predominant, but in
the central and eastern sections are traces of horticultural peoples. Though
the young men of the farming tribes made long warlike journeys, farming
operations were still carried on.
The oldest evidences of man in eastern Nebraska are known as the
Sterns Creek culture and are found near Plattsmouth. This site also con-
tains the oldest evidence of horticulture and pottery-making known in the
State. Apparently the people lived in small surface houses with reed-
thatched roofs, small poles, and bark walls. They had pottery with dis-
tinctive conical bases and scallop decorations around the rims. Stone arti-
facts are comparatively scarce Work in bone seems to have been excellent:
it included awls, needles, bone beads, and knapping tools of antelope
horn. Dr. Strong, of the Bureau of Ethnology, believes that this culture is
related to an early Algonkian woodland culture that entered the Plains
from Iowa or Wisconsin. The woodland aspect is evident in the predomi-
nance of deer bones over those of bison.
Overlying the Sterns Creek culture, and therefore later in origin, is a
second horizon on the eastern edge of the State, known as the Nebraska
culture. These people lived in square or rectangular earth lodges, and
grew maize. The number and variety of vegetal remains, as well as an
abundance of bone hoes, indicate a fully developed horticulture. The peo-
ple made good pottery, reddish brown in color, fairly well polished, and
varying widely in size.
The Loess Plains, the tall-grass prairie crossed by the Platte and Repub-
lican and other rivers, is an area highly favorable for agriculture. Here
the earliest horizon, known as the Upper Republican culture, was investi-
gated under direction of A. T. Hill. In the villages most of the earth
lodges were square in outline, but some were round. Graves were on the
tops of hills. Shell ornaments were common, including pendants cut from
conch-shells, apparently brought in by traders from the Gulf Coast. In one
ossuary were wooden-disk ornaments covered with a layer of native cop-
per. Various material traits common to the historic plains Indian are lack-
ing, and to the expert eye the culture resembles that of the southeastern
28 THE STATE IN REVIEW
United States. It is very probable that this culture, tentatively designated as
Upper Republican, is prehistoric Pawnee.
Farther west in the area of the high plains, where rain was often inade-
quate for farming, is a site that is from the standpoint of chronology
one of the most remarkable in the United States. On top of an isolated
mesa known as Signal Butte, 4.5 miles south and 18 5 miles west of the
city of Scottsbluff, a Smithsonian expedition under Dr. Strong excavated
three distinct and superimposed levels of human occupation, separated by
sterile layers of barren wind-borne deposit. The uppermost level is prehis-
toric and suggests a relationship to the Upper Republican culture in its
ceramics ; it is the only one in which pottery occurs.
The middle layer has been estimated on the basis of climate studies, still
of a very tentative and uncertain nature. The material collected from this
layer is rather scant and cannot be assigned to any culture with certainty,
though it is now presumed to go back some 5,000 years. The bottom layer,
exceedingly rich in material, contains small, leaflike arrow-points that
may bear some distinct relationship to the Folsom culture. Flat awls, bone
beads, worked shells, various types of knives and scrapers have also been
found.
Recently Dr. Bell, of the University of Nebraska, has unearthed in old
shelter caves in Cheyenne and Morrill Counties traces of intermittent occu-
pation over considerable periods of time. The culture seems to have been
quite uniform and there is much evidence of ceramic industry. The indica-
tions seem to be that the people were culturally related to the semisubter-
ranean earth-lodge dwellers along the Platte and Republican farther east.
The shelter-cave people may, in fact, have been seasonal hunting parties of
the eastern tribes. The discovery of inhabited shelter caves is a new ele-
ment in Nebraska archeology.
Other archeological sites along the Platte and the Loup Rivers have
been excavated by Mr. Hill of the Nebraska State Historical Society Arche-
ological Survey. These are called "protohistoric," that is, revealing the
first faint evidences of contact with the white man. The earth lodges here
are round, apparently having completed the transition (begun in the Up-
per Republican culture) from rectangular to circular. They still have the
four-post central foundation of this earlier culture, however, and in some
cases are more elaborate than the later houses of the historic Pawnee. The
ceramic wares of these villages are also related to those of the later peo-
ple, but are much more complex and finely finished.
The State Historical Society has given invaluable assistance to the devel-
INDIANS 29
opment of archeological research in Nebraska by inventing a special scien-
tific technique for Plains archeology, subsequently adopted by the Smith-
sonian Institution and now in general use throughout the area. The society
has explored more than 125 house sites in 30 villages, recovering several
thousand specimens of prehistoric life. It has also created an archeological
museum of Western Plains material in the State Capitol and has published
four bulletins on Nebraska prehistoric life, and other special articles a
total of 544 pages and 120 illustrations, forming one of the largest bodies
of scientific literature on Nebraska prehistoric people.
Historic Indians
The Pawnee. At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806)
the Pawnee was the largest indigenous tribe of Nebraska Indians, their
number probably reaching 10,000. There were four divisions: the Chain
or Grand Pawnee with their villages on the south bank of the Platte oppo-
site the site of Schuyler; the Kitkehaki or Republican Pawnee on the
south side of the Republican River near Red Cloud; the Skidi or Loup
(Wolf) Pawnee on the Loup fork of the Platte River; the Pitahauerat or
Noisy Pawnee on the Platte near the Grand Pawnee. Shortly after 1804
these tribes became united on the Loup near Fullerton and were known as
the Great Pawnee Nation.
According to their traditions, an early plague had cut their number in
half. Within historic times other factors, chief among them the white
man's diseases and liquors, further lessened their numbers. Although there
were from 10,000 to 12,000 Pawnee in 1838, by 1861 only 3,400 re-
mained in the Nebraska area. This decrease was caused largely by a chol-
era epidemic in 1849, which brought death to half of the Pawnee Nation.
The first treaty between the Pawnee and the United States was made at
St. Louis, June 18-22, 1818. By the treaty of Fort Atkinson (Council
Bluff) signed on September 28, 1825, the Pawnee acknowledged the su-
premacy of the Federal Government and agreed to submit all grievances to
it for adjustment. In 1833 ^7 ceded to the United States all their lands
south of the Platte River, and in 1848 they sold an 8o-mile strip on the
Platte which included the Grand Island. By the treaty of Table Creek
(Nebraska City), September 24, 1857, all their lands north of the Platte
were assigned to the Government, excepting a tract on the Loup River
(now Nance County) where their reservation was established. In 1875
the Pawnee tribes, ceding their Nebraska reserve, removed to Indian Terri-
30 THE STATE IN REVIEW
tory in Oklahoma. The difficulties resulting from the last removal, how-
ever, caused many deaths. In 1879 there were only 1,440 Pawnee, and by
1906 their number had decreased to 649.
A state of almost incessant war existed between the Pawnee and their
Indian neighbors Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa,
and Osage These feuds culminated in the summer of 1873 when a large
hunting party of Pawnee, under Sky Chief, was surprised and defeated by
twice the number of Sioux, a combined force of Brule Indians from Spot-
ted Tail's band and Ogalalla from the Cut-off band. This last great battle
between Indian tribes on American soil took place in Hitchcock County
near Trenton.
Tension rarely occurred between the whites and the Pawnee. With the
outbreak of the Sioux-Cheyenne War and following the Plum Creek and
Little Blue massacre of August 1864, Frank North enlisted a company of
Pawnee scouts to take the field against the warring tribes. During the
early days of railroad building the famous "Pawnee battalion" protected
the Union Pacific from attacks by hostile Indians.
Notwithstanding the hunting and fighting aspects of their culture, the
Pawnee were essentially farmers. They raised corn, beans, melons, and to-
bacco in the river bottom-lands; the women did most of the work. Each
family had a small plot of ground, one-fourth to one-half acre, to which
it had the first right as long as the ground was cultivated Wild fruit and
game made up the balance of their food. Implements consisted of spades
made of stone or flint bound to wooden handles, and hoes made from the
shoulder-blades of buffalo. Each summer in June the Pawnee went off on
a big buffalo hunt, leaving the crops to take care of themselves until they
returned in September.
The Pawnee lived in permanent villages, earth huts, or lodges, and skin
tepees. Their most characteristic home, the earth lodge, was made of mud
with posts and poles as permanent upright bracing. Small poles, twigs, and
grasses were used as binders. The lodges were built in circular form from
25 to 60 feet in diameter; the entrance, an addition usually extending to
the east, was one-half the house diameter in length. The floor level was 10
to 35 inches lower than the ground level. A fireplace was in the center of
the lodge, the smoke passing through an opening exactly above it.
The Pawnee tribal organization was based on village communities rep-
resenting subdivisions of the tribe. Each village had its own name; its
medicine bundle of sacred objects, and priests who had charge of the rit-
uals and ceremonies associated with these objects; and its own council
composed of hereditary chiefs and other leading men. The tribe was held
SPOTTED TAIL
32 THE STATE IN REVIEW
together by two forces: the ceremonies pertaining to a common cult in
which each village had its place and share, and the tribal councils made
up of the chiefs of the different villages. The Pawnee Nation was united
in a similar manner: its grand council being composed of the councils of
the tribes. In the meetings of these councils, all questions touching the
welfare of the tribe were debated.
War parties were always initiated by some individual and were made up
of volunteers. When a village was attacked, the warriors fought under
their chief or some other recognized leader. Buffalo hunts were tribal, and
special policemen were appointed to maintain order and to see that each
family got its share of the game. The meat was cut in thin strips, "jerked'*
(dried), and packed in parfleche cases for future use. This, along with
maize, was regarded as a sacred gift; religious rites were connected with
the planting, hoeing, and harvesting of the grain as well as with the build-
ing of Pawnee lodges. Basketry, pot-making, weaving, flint, stone, and
bone work were practiced to some extent.
Pawnee braves shaved the head except for a narrow strip of hair from
forehead to the scalp-lock which stood up like a horn. This ridge was
called pariki, a corruption of which may have resulted in the word Pawnee.
Beard and eyebrows were plucked, but tattooing was seldom done. A scarf
was often tied around the head like a turban. Breechcloth and moccasins
were the only essential parts of a man's clothing, although leggings and
robes were worn in cold weather and on special occasions. Face painting
was common, and heraldic insignia were frequently painted on tent-covers-
and on the robes and the shields of the men. Women wore their hair in
two braids at the back; the parting as well as the face was painted red.
Moccasins, leggings, and robes were the ancient feminine dress; later,
skirts and tunics were worn. After marriage a man went to live with his
wife's family and descent was traced through the mother. Polygamy was
not uncommon.
Religious ceremonies associated with the cosmic forces and the heavenly-
bodies were observed by the Pawnee. The dominating power was Tirawa,,
generally spoken of as "father," and his messengers were the heavenly
bodies, the winds, thunder, lightning, and rain. A series of rites, relating
to the bringing of life and its increase, began with the first thunder in the
spring, reached its climax in human sacrifice at the summer solstice and
closed after the maize was harvested. At every stage of the series certain
shrines or medicine bundles became the center of the ceremony. Each bun-
dle was in the care of a hereditary keeper, but its rituals and ceremonies
were conducted by a priesthood open to all proper aspirants. Secret soci-
INDIANS 33
eties, growing out of a belief in supernatural animals, existed in each tribe.
Their functions were to call the game, to heal disease, and to confer occult
powers. Their rites were elaborate, their ceremonies dramatic. The most
impressive and lengthy of these, the Hako Ceremony, has been fully re-
corded by Alice Fletcher in the twenty-second annual report (1900-01)
of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
The Oto and the Missouri. At the time of their earliest contact with the
white man, the Oto were one of three related tribes (the Oto, the Iowa,
and the Missouri), all belonging to the Chiwere group of Siouan linguis-
tic stock. Unlike the Pawnee, the Comanche, and other Plains Indians,
they appear never to have been numerous. In 1761 the Oto were located
on the Platte River between its mouth and the Pawnee country to the west.
Here they were found by Lewis and Clark in 1804, but the explorers re-
cord that the Oto had formerly lived on the Missouri River above Omaha.
Later, greatly diminished by wars, the Oto migrated to the neighborhood
of the Pawnee on the Platte River north of Ashland. They lived for a time
under Pawnee protection and here were incorporated with the Missouri.
The ancient village site of the Oto was about ten miles north of Ash-
land. Its 200 earth lodges, each 30 or 40 feet in diameter, all faced the
river front, with gardens on the subirrigated bottom and grazing fields in
the rear. The Oto ceded part of their lands to the Government in 1833
and another part in 1854. With the coming of the white settlers, they were
moved to a reservation near Beatrice in Gage County, which they relin-
quished in 1881, when they were removed to the Indian Territory.
The Oto were not warlike or aggressive. They were farmers, traders,
and trappers, and were usually found in the neighborhood of some more
powerful tribe such as the Pawnee whose protection they sought.
The Missouri Indians, according to tribal history, were attacked and
almost annihilated in 1720 by the Sac, the Fox, and their allies. After this
they were dispersed; five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took
refuge with the Kansa, and the remainder joined the Oto, with whom
they shared the same reservation, although for a time they retained their
own chief and their own language. The Missouri as a tribe never ceded
any land to the Government, but they were a party to the Oto transactions
both in 1833 and in 1854. In 1881 their lands were taken along with
those of the Oto, and they were sent to Oklahoma. The Oto and the Mis-
souri together numbered 1,600 in 1836 and only 390 in 1906. A slight
increase in population has taken place during more recent years.
The Oto and the Missouri seldom harmed the whites unless they were
34 THE STATE IN REVIEW
balked in their attempts to prevent starvation by stealing food. They were
more troublesome to settlers on Salt Creek than to any others in the east-
ern part of the State, but even here the threat was not so much to life as it
was to property. Although these tribes obtained much of their living from
the soil, they depended to some extent on the buffalo, and it was their
custom to go on a buffalo hunt twice a year.
Of Oto tribal customs that survived through Nebraska reservation days,
none, perhaps, was more singular than their method of disposal of the
dead. They used no coffins, but placed the dead in a sitting position within
a grave about four feet in depth, with an opening at the top only large
enough to admit the body. The relatives joined in loud wailing while the
old women, who dug the grave and whose duty it was to conduct the bur-
ial, placed a layer of heavy sticks and a buffalo robe or a blanket over the
mouth of the tomb and piled earth upon it. Sometimes a pony, decorated
with bright colors, would be strangled with a lariat at the graveside and
left to be consumed by the wild animals. Then its skull was placed on top
of the grave mound, and a piece of its tail or mane was attached to a pole
beside the place of burial. Sometimes, especially when the ground was
deeply frozen, the Oto did not bury their dead. Upon their reservation
were two ancient oaks, standing within a few feet of each other, the limbs
and forks of which were laden with the mummified remains of men, wom-
en, and children. These were wrapped in skins, old blankets, or bark, and
bound with rawhide thongs so securely that no storm could dislodge them.
The Omaha. Long ago the name of this tribe was Maha. Their origin is
obscure, but it is probable that they and other Siouan tribes came down
the Ohio River to the Mississippi. Here some of them chose to go down-
stream, others upstream; the Maha were the "upstream-people." They
lived near the mouth of the Missouri River for many years and then, with
many other tribes, began a slow migration northward along the water-
course. Only the Ponca and the Iowa tribes accompanied them through
present Missouri and Iowa to Minnesota. Here the Yankton Sioux made
constant war on them and killed many of their number. They journeyed
again, this time turning to the southwest into the region between the Mis-
souri River and the Black Hills. The next migration of these three tribes
took them down the river where the Ponca built a village at the mouth of
the Niobrara, while the Iowa went on to Iowa Creek and later settled
opposite the site of Florence. The Omaha, after living at Bow Creek,
moved on down the stream and established themselves on an extensive
tract of land in northeastern Nebraska, where they maintained permanent
OMAHA INDIAN VILLAGE
residence for more than two hundred years. In 1856 they were removed to
a reserve in Thurston County. Numbering about 600 in 1804, tk e Omaha
had increased to 1,400 by 1836. There were 1,276 in 1910, and since then
their number has remained fairly constant.
Of all the Nebraska tribes the Omaha were most constantly friendly in
their relations with the white man. During the days of State settlement
they had no military class. Their chief, a civil and religious leader, could
not lead a war party unless it was a very large one.
A few of the Omaha chieftains achieved distinction, among them Black-
bird, who was very powerful, cruel, and tyrannical in his influence over
the tribe. He destroyed those who displeased him, administering poisons,
particularly arsenic, the use of which he learned from the traders who
supplied the drug. About 1800 the Omaha were visited by a smallpox
plague that killed off about two thirds of their number. Blackbird was one
of the victims.
Big Elk, a worthy representative of this friendly tribe, sat in council
with the members of Long's party in 1819, bringing four hundred of his
warriors with him. Constantly affirming the friendship his people felt for
the whites, this chief used persuasion rather than coercion. Traders and
agents esteemed him as amiable, intelligent, and dependable. Always urg-
36 THE STATE IN REVIEW
ing his followers to prepare for the white man's government and the pur-
suits of dvili2ed life, he brought up his adopted son, Joseph La Flesche
(Iron Eye), to succeed him. The latter, a French-Ponca by birth, was a
chief of great wisdom and foresight. His son, Francis La Flesche, became
the historian of the Omaha tribe.
The popular hero of the Omaha, Logan Fontenelle, son of a French
trader and an Omaha woman, was killed in a battle with the Sioux on
Beaver Creek in Boone County in 1855. Speaking English, French, and
several Indian tongues, he was active in preserving peace between his peo-
ple and the whites.
The Pone a. After several centuries of intermittent warfare and migrations,
the Ponca settled on the Missouri at the mouth of the Niobrara River.
Their hunting grounds extended west along this stream, where they met
the various Sioux bands, principally the Oglala and the Brule. At first the
Ponca were friendly with them and together they often fought the Pawnee.
Originally they numbered about 1,000; but in 1804, according to the rec-
ords of Lewis and Clark, the ravages of smallpox had greatly reduced
their number.
During early Territorial days the Ponca lived quietly and peacefully in
their green valleys and on their river islands, cultivating the rich lands.
By 1856, however, the whites were crowding in upon them, and two years
later a treaty removed them to the treeless prairies farther west. Here the
Ponca, uncertain of their future, lost hope and made little attempt to es-
tablish themselves. In 1865 the Government, to reward "their constant
fidelity," allowed them to return to their former homes and the graves of
their ancestors on the lower Niobrara. Settled again, they once more took
up husbandry and prospered.
But the Ponca were not to remain long in undisputed possession here.
The whites were clamoring again for the Indian lands, and in 1876 an act
of Congress provided for the Ponca's removal to Indian Territory "with
their consent." Eight years previous to this the entire Ponca reserve, by the
terms of the treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), was turned over to the Sioux
a blunder never explained which increased the depredations and the
hostility of the Sioux. Despite their precarious condition, only a few Ponca
could be persuaded to leave the Niobrara, and in 1877 another act forced
their unwilling removal. Out of 700 Ponca who left the Nebraska reserva-
tion, 158 died in Oklahoma within two years, a calamity attributed to bad
climate and nostalgia.
In 1903 there were 236 Ponca in Nebraska and 556 in Oklahoma. At
WINNEBAGO INDIAN WOMEN
present about 300 Ponca live in the State, enjoying full American citizen-
ship and holding their lands in severally. They have adopted the dress and
the manners of the white man, and are among the most enterprising and
successful farmers of the Niobrara country.
The Winnebago Like the Santee Sioux, the Winnebago, one of the eleven
divisions of the great Siouan family, came to Nebraska by adoption after
the Territory was organized. Their language is closely related to the Mis-
souri, Oto, and lowan tongues. In 1670 the Winnebago were driven from
their original home in the Wisconsin woods near Green Bay and almost
exterminated by the Illinois Indians, but later they were permitted to
return. Their history is darkened by war, alcohol, and disease. Oddly
enough, it was not their aggression toward enemies but their loyalty to
friends that brought disaster. They aided the French against the British in
pre-Colonial days and their cause was lost. Later they were the allies of
the British against the Americans and again went down to defeat In the
Black Hawk War of 1832 they had the misfortune to be neighbors of the
Sac and the Fox. This compelled their removal from Wisconsin to Cedar
Creek in northern Iowa, and the change from the sheltering woods to the
wind-swept prairies of Iowa caused much suffering. In 1846 they were
38 THE STATE IN REVIEW
again removed, this time to the scarcely more suitable Prairie Reservation
near Crow Wing, Minnesota. Soon after this they were taken to Blue
Earth, Minnesota.
After the Sioux uprising in Minnesota in 1862, the settlers demanded
the expulsion of the Indians. The Winnebago had not joined the hostile
bands, but they, too, were forced to move. They were hurried from their
homes, crowded on boats, and finally driven to the Crow Creek Reserva-
tion near Pierre, South Dakota. Here they again found themselves close
neighbors of their ancient foe, the Sioux, who were more unfriendly than
before.
The Winnebago, terror-stricken, abandoned their reserve in the severe
winter of 1863-64. Through the driving snows of the frozen plains, des-
titute and sick, they at last found their way to the lodges of the Omaha in
Thurston County. Of the 2,000 who had left the Dakota reservation, only
about 1,200 survived the journey. The Omaha, true to their traditional
hospitality, opened their doors to the Winnebago, gave them food and
shelter, bound up their wounds. By a treaty of 1865 the leading men of
the Omaha sold a strip of their reservation to the Government, which in
turn deeded it to the Winnebago as a permanent home. In 1874 an addi-
tional tract was turned over to them.
Thus the Winnebago, after a series of disastrous removals, came to rest
in Nebraska, the last Indians to enter the State. Their reservation in
Jhurston County extends along the Missouri River.
Other Tribes. Of the remaining tribes the Kansa, or Kaw, once claimed
land in eastern Nebraska, but part of it was ceded to the United States as
early as 1825, and consequently, this tribe does not have any significant
part in the Indian history of the State. The Sauk and Fox, the Iowa, the
Santee Sioux, along with the Winnebago, were all brought into Nebraska
in comparatively recent times. Of these the Sauk, the Fox, and the Iowa
came in the late 1830*5. In 1842 the Iowa numbered 479, the Sauk and the
Fox 414; in 1910 the two groups numbered respectively 273 and 87.
Their common reservation comprised a narrow strip of land in the south-
east corner of the State, extending into Kansas. All of it was allotted in
severalty. The Santee Sioux, because of their connection with the Minne-
sota uprising of 1862, were removed from that State to Crow Creek, South
Dakota, in 1863. Three years later they moved again, to a smaller reserva-
tion in northern Knox County. When they came to Nebraska they num-
bered 1,350; in 1910 there were 1,155. During the last 25 years the
Santee have slightly increased in numbers.
INDIANS 39
The Wild Tribes. The Indians west of the traditional Pawnee country in
what is now Nebraska were not native tribes. They had no permanent vil-
lages, and they did not cultivate the soil. Theirs was more strictly a Plains
culture, characterized by the horse and the tepee. Bitterly opposed to the
encroachments of the white settlers and accomplished in fighting rather
than in the domestic arts, these Indians played a spectacular role in the
conquest of the West, one that tends to obscure the more substantial and
advanced pursuits of the sedentary tribes. The wild Indians, so called to
distinguish them from the natives who lived in villages, claimed a large
portion of present Nebraska as their hunting grounds; and their bands,
bent on hunting or fighting, ranged freely over the western part of the
State.
The Cheyenne and the Arapaho, allies of the Ogalalla Sioux, appear to
have maintained their habitat between the forks of the Platte River in
1804. Later, Maj. Stephen H. Long reported them on the Platte, and in
1843 Fremont recorded that they were as far east as the site of Grand
Island. It is probable that these tribes, both of Algonkian stock, originally
followed the buffalo and drifted down from the northeast to the Platte
Valley. The date of their coming is not known. Along with the Comanche
and the Kiowa, they roamed over the country to the north, southwest, and
west. Restless and active, the Cheyenne and the Arapaho were perhaps the
bravest and hardiest fighters to contest the supremacy of the white pio-
neers in western Nebraska,
The Sioux, represented in Nebraska by the Ogalalla and the Brule, orig-
inally moved out upon the Plains from the east and northeast, driving be-
fore them first the Crow and then the Pawnee, Mandan, and Arikara. For
a hundred years they were disposed to be friendly and hospitable to the
whites. But relations between the two races were clouded in the years fol-
lowing 1834 when pioneers on the Oregon Trail trespassed on the hunt-
ing grounds of the Sioux; severely strained in 1846-50 when the Califor-
nia gold rushes brought wanton disregard of rights guaranteed by the
Government; and broken in 1854 when the Sioux, encamped along the
North Platte, eight miles below Fort Laramie, killed a lame cow that had
lagged behind a Mormon emigrant train and, being pursued, ran into the
Indian camp. The Indians, hungry, waiting for payment and provisions
long overdue, shot the cow for food. The Mormons reported their loss
at the fort. To punish the Indians, the commandant, Lieut. John Grattan
turned his cannon on their encampment and fired two shots, killing Con-
quering Bear, head chief of the Sioux Tribe. Grattan and his command
40 THE STATE IN REVIEW
were instantly killed, and the Sioux, smarting under their injuries,
plundered a trading post in the vicinity and later killed a mail carrier.
These actions were avenged by William Selby Harney, later major general
who surprised a camp of Brule Sioux under Little Thunder on Blue
Water Creek in September 1855. Eighty-six Indians were killed, and
numerous women and children were captured.
The Mormon cow episode started hostilities which did not cease for
some 40 years. In 1871 the old Red Cloud Agency was established near
Henry on the north side of the Platte in Scotts Bluff County, and removed
two years later to Fort Robinson in the upper valley of the White River.
The Spotted Tail Agency was set up some 40 miles east of it in Beaver
Valley. In this White River region the final events of the Sioux war of
1876-77 took place, and here Crazy Horse and his war-weary followers
came to surrender in April 1877.
In February 1861 the Arapaho and the Cheyenne ceded their Nebraska
lands to the United States. On August 31, 1876, the Sioux did likewise,
and the next year the bands of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail moved north-
eastward in two great columns to establish their permanent homes on the
reservations of South Dakota.
Indians of today. Seven different tribes of Indians Pawnee, Omaha, Oto,
Ponca, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho numbering about 40,000 people
and speaking three distinct languages, once lived in what is now Ne-
braska. In 1913 only 3,784, including non-indigenous tribes, remained;
other survivors had been removed to reservations in surrounding States.
At present there are approximately 4,000 Indians in the State. Of these,
300 Ponca live on the river 10 miles west of Niobrara. East of the Ponca
and also in Knox County are the Santee Sioux, numbering 1,200. About
100 Sauk and Fox are found in southeastern Nebraska, the site of their
former reservation. On separate tracts in Thurston County live 1,175
Winnebago and 1,200 Omaha, the State's only reservation Indians.
Except among the Omaha and the Winnebago, little more than their
coppery complexions remains to show the lineage and traditions of the
Indians. Under the jurisdiction of the Santee Sub-Agency, which serves as
a guardian over their holdings, both the Ponca and the Santee are, in ef-
fect, bona-f.de citizens of the United States. Annually, in August, the
Ponca commemorate the ancient hospitality of the Omaha by bearing gifts
to them. The Santee still retain a tribal council. Their children, educated
in the Santee Normal Training School, in mission schools, or in public
schools, speak English fluently and only in some cases the Indian tongues.
OMAHA INDIANS, MACY
A striking gift of voice and a general love of music characterize many of
these young people.
The Sauk and the Fox of southeastern Nebraska, also citizens, own
some of the best farming land in that region. Two customs suggestive of
their old ways are still observed the family reunion, prompted by a cer-
tain feeling of tribal unity; and a memorial service for deceased members
of their Grand Medicine Lodge. Other religious observances are of a
Christian character.
The agency in Thurston County, ancestral home of the Omaha, haven
of the Winnebago since 1865, offers considerable evidence of Indian cul-
ture undisturbed by civilization. Here the Winnebago, occupying a tract of
land 7 by 24 miles in extent, maintain friendly relations with the Omaha,
but seldom intermarry, since the two tribes are separated in traditions, sen-
timent, and social relations. As early as 1887 their lands were allotted in
severalty, the head of each family receiving 160 acres. At present many of
these Indians rent their land to white farmers, and some land has been
sold to white men. A United States superintendent at Winnebago super-
vises matters pertaining to Winnebago farms.
42 THE STATE IN REVIEW
The Winnebago are intelligent and alert; they speak and write English.
The men wear the clothes of the white man but occasional scalp-locks are
still seen. The women generally wear modern dress, but at times use a
modification of the traditional Indian garb a shawl worn over the head,
or the hair dressed in braids. Their taste for bright ribbons is noticeable.
The Winnebago are gregarious but do not encourage undue curiosity.
In social organization the Winnebago have two divisions, the Upper or
Air Division, and the Lower or Earth Division. The first has four subdi-
visions: Thunderbird, War People, Eagle, and Pigeon; the second is made
up of eight: Bear, Wolf, Water Spirit, Deer, Elk, Buffalo, Fish, and
Snake. A member of either group must always marry a member of the
opposite group.
Winnebago religion is a mingling of aboriginal forest customs with
Christianity. The Sun and Thunder are among the heavenly powers, pre-
sided over by Manito, the Spirit of the World, with whom personal rela-
tions may be established by fasting and prayer. Since 1900 a new cult has
appeared among the Winnebago "Peyote" or * 'Mescal/' The name is de-
rived from the button of the mescal cactus which is eaten by members of
this sect. It is estimated that one third of the tribe adheres to the Peyote
religion, one third to Christianity, and one third to the Medicine Lodge or
the old pagan worship.
Ceremonial dances take place annually at Winnebago. Here for two days
in August the Indians celebrate old times, hold councils, revive ancient
songs and legends. Two important tribal ceremonies, the Medicine Dance
and the Winter Feast, are still performed. The first of these (Mankani) is
observed by a secret society of men and women, the second (Wagigo) is
a feast designed to make the men strong in war.
Schools for the Winnebago children are maintained by various religious
denominations. Here, in addition to the required fundamentals, they learn
blanket-weaving, basketry, and beadwork. Characteristic artistry is shown
in these handicrafts and in the making of bracelets and rings, buckskin
dresses and moccasins, bows and arrows, headdresses, and rugs.
The Omaha reservation, also in Thurston County, is about 80 miles
northwest of the city of Omaha, 25 miles south of Sioux City, Iowa.
Macy, the site of the original Omaha Agency, is the center of community
life (see Tour 1). The Omaha children, like those of the Winnebago, are
wards of the Government and receive training in the public schools. Tra-
ditional Indian dress is seldom worn in the Omaha reservation, although
beaded moccasins, bright shawls, and braided hair are not uncommon
among the older women.
INDIANS 43
Most of the Omaha are Christians. They attend church at the Pentecost
or the Blackbird (Dutch Reform) Church in Macy, one of the oldest
places of worship in Nebraska. Memory of the dead is kept alive by
feasts, prayers, and holy songs. Perhaps the most interesting cultural sur-
vival among the Omaha is the annual Pow-Wow Council, which they
hold in August in a grove of oak trees just outside the village of Macy.
Here a hundred tents are set up around a permanent bark council-lodge,
some forty feet in diameter. Symbolic dances are performed to the beat-
ing of drums. Traditions, myths, and songs are part of the ceremonies.
Much of the color and action of old Indian life is revived for a few days,
and then the Omaha settle back into their usual lives as farmers, church-
goers, and laborers.
<<<<<<<<<<<<< <#> > > >
Period of Exploration
IN THE early decades of the sixteenth century, long before Virginia's
Jamestown was founded or the Pilgrims reached Plymouth Rock,
Spanish conquistadors of New Galicia (Mexico) were moved by a mis-
sionary zeal almost as strong as their greed for gold. The plains of the
Middle West were soon to bear the hoof prints of the first white man's
cavalcade, a company of Spanish horsemen under the gentleman adven-
turer, Coronado. These were, in all probability, the first Europeans to set
foot in what is now Kansas and Nebraska.
In 1541 Coronado with 30 soldiers, seeking Quivira, moved northeast-
ward from the Arkansas River under the guidance of Ysopete, an Indian.
The party marched for 40 days and came upon an Indian village somewhere
near the present Kansas-Nebraska line. Here the adventurers heard of a
large watercourse farther to the north presumably, the Platte. From this
point the white men moved eastward, possibly reaching the Missouri
River. Though Coronado claimed to have discovered Quivira, it is not
known precisely where he found it; the Republican River Valley in Ne-
braska has been named as the most likely place.
Despite the disillusionments that Coronado reported, stories of the
wealth of Quivira persisted throughout the century. There were, however,
no further expeditions until 1598, when Don Juan de Onate was given an
award to colonize New Mexico. In the next year, he began to explore the
region northward and in 1601 visited the Quiviras, "whose grass huts
identify them with the later known Wichitas." He did not find the treas-
ure he sought.
About sixty years later, in 1662, another Governor of New Mexico,
Don Diego de Penalosa, established contact with the Qmviras. He is sup-
posed to have held council with 70 chiefs from the "city of Quivira," but
recent research indicates that his story is not substantiated by other records.
The French were the first to enter the fur trade in the Northwest and
HISTORY 45
began trading in Wisconsin, the center of the fur trade, as early as 1634.
They did little actual exploring until 1673 when Louis Joliet, accompanied
by Father Jacques Marquette, led an expedition from Lake Michigan up
the Fox River, crossing to the Wisconsin, and descending that river and
the Mississippi to 34 N. latitude.
Marquette, in his narrative of the canoe trip down the Mississippi
River, from the mouth of the Mesconsin (Wisconsin) to that of the
Arkansea (Arkansas), mentions the Pekitanoui (Missouri) River but he
did not, apparently, explore the latter It flowed into the Mississippi, he
said, "with such rapidity that we could not trust ourselves to go near it."
So the mouth of the Missouri River was the nearest Marquette came to the
Nebraska region; but among the existing records prepared by Joliet and
Marquette, there is an accurate map of the Missouri River course. Work-
ing from their own observations and from what the Indians had told
them, the explorers marked the Mississippi River, its tributaries, and even
the names of the Indian tribes that lived in what is now Nebraska. On the
Missouri were placed the "Pani (Pawnee), Octotatoe (Oto), and Maha
(Omaha). 1 '
France's claims to the entire territory drained by the Mississippi were
established finally by the Sieur de la Salle, who in 1682 explored the basin
of "the Father of Waters" and took possession of it in the name of the
King of France.
Thereafter, French voyageurs and traders were active along the Missouri
and tributary waters. The Platte region was the territory of the Pawnee
Indians, and Father Hennepin placed them correctly on his map. That the
French were helping them in their wars with southern tribes was apparent
in 1699, when Navajo warriors appeared at a Spanish fair laden with
spoils unusual in native warfare powder-flasks, sword belts, waistcoats,
shoes and other trophies of European make. The Navajos, too, "praised
the French for their valor . . . and their readiness in reenforcing their
allies."
The French in the next twenty years persistently reached out among the
tribes of the Spanish zone. Uribarri, at El Cuartelejo (eastern Colorado)
found indications of French contact in 1706; the Pawnee, aided by some
French, had set out to attack the Apache at that place some time before
his arrival. Uribarri was unable to find the French center, but their per-
sistent penetration of the Spanish zone worried the government.
In 1719 Governor Valverde himself led an expedition on to the plains
of Quivira, but did not go farther north than the Arkansas River. He inti-
mated, however, that the Apache "knew of French settlements on a very
46 THE STATE IN REVIEW
large river, called in New Mexico the Rio Jesus Maria, two towns on its
northern bank being recently established." This river was the present
South Platte which, said Valverde, separated Apache lands from those of
the Pawnee Indians. Du Tisne was in charge of French activities in the
Missouri region in that year, and French influence was strong.
Determined to oust the French and to assert Spanish authority, a large
expedition under Pedro de Villasur left Santa Fe in June or early July of
1720. Traveling always to the northeast and probably passing along Val-
verde's route, Villasur's party crossed the Arkansas River on rafts and
pressed on. Reaching the South Platte River (the Rio Jesus Maria) on
August 6, * 'about eight leagues from the junction/' Villasur sent out
scouts who soon returned to report Indians some eight leagues away. The
Spaniards now crossed the North Platte River, which Villasur called the
Saint Laurent. Following its course, they encamped at the point where
"the river Jesus Maria unites with this stream;" Villasur adds that "if we
had not crossed, it would be impossible to do it." On the loth, they came
opposite the village of the Pawnee Indians; overtures made by the Span-
ish were not well received, and Villasur thought it safer to fall back and
recross the North Platte. They were encamped on the south bank on Au-
gust 13. Next day at dawn, the Indians attacked so suddenly that Villasur
was killed while still unarmed. The day went to the Pawnee but they, too,
had lost so many that they were unable to pursue the Spanish survivors.
The site of the battle was, possibly, on the south side of the North Platte
River, near the present town of North Platte ; or near the present Colum-
bus, at the junction of the Platte and Loup Rivers.
When the Villasur expedition was planned, Spain was at war with
France, but before the massacre on the Platte occurred the two nations had
made peace. Thereafter French penetration into the Spanish zone was
viewed more quietly as competition for trade rather than as a struggle
for empire.
For some years after 1720, the Spanish sought to keep the French and
their Indian allies away from New Mexico by strengthening their own re-
lations with buffer Indian nations within the Spanish zone of influence. As
the years passed, Indian aggression was more feared than French. The lat-
ter found their own task of holding peaceful contact with the Indians
along the Missouri and tributary waters quite difficult enough. One
French post was completely obliterated by the Indians in 1725. This per-
haps contributed to the fact that "after 1727 the French, with the excep-
tion of one intrusion in the middle of the century, were no longer a seri-
ous threat to New Mexico."
HISTORY 47
In the Margry papers, prepared for the French Government, is the Mal-
let report, the one authentic account of French contact with the Missouri
and Platte regions during this period. It is probable that the Mallet broth-
ers, Paul and Pierre, came up from New Orleans in 1738 and passed the
winter near the mouth of the Niobrara River, after visiting the villages of
the Missouri (100 leagues up the river from present St. Louis), the Octo-
tatoe situated at the mouth of the Platte River, and the Panimaha (Skidi
Pawnee), 60 leagues farther up the Missouri.
Leaving the Panimaha villages on May 29, 1739, the Mallets moved
southwestward. Four days later they came to a broad river which they
named the "Platte." A i2-day trek up the banks of this stream brought
the French traders to a point well above the fork of the North and South
Platte. Having crossed what is now the State of Nebraska, they turned
southward and reached Santa Fe on July 22.
French interests in the mid-area of the New World, protected by vari-
ous trading posts from New Orleans (established in 1718) to the Great
Lakes region, remained almost undisputed until the French and Indian
War, when British victory resulted in a realignment of Colonial posses-
sions in America.
For several decades after 1606 the English sovereigns made land grants
to groups who would establish colonies in America. The latitudinal bound-
aries of the various grants were definitely specified, but the royal gener-
osity knew no longitudinal bounds between the Atlantic and the Pacific,
and Nebraska Territory lay in the claims of three Colonies: Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Virginia. The position of England in America was more
clearly defined after the French and Indian War. France, defeated in
1763, gave up almost all of her claims east of the Mississippi to England,
and those west of the river to Spain. Thus Nebraska again came under
Spanish rule.
The treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, fixed the
western boundary of the United States on the Mississippi River, and made
the new republic a neighbor of the Spanish-held Louisiana territory. In
1800 Napoleon demanded from Spain the retrocession of Louisiana, and
the Spaniards, already losing their power, were forced to comply. By the
Treaty of Madrid, March i, 1801, the whole Louisiana country includ-
ing Nebraska once more became French territory. This status was short-
lived, however, for in 1803 Napoleon sold the territory to the United
States.
In 1804 an expedition authorized by Congress at the request of Presi-
dent Jefferson set out to explore the new and unknown country gained by
48 THE STATE IN REVIEW
the Louisiana Purchase. Commanded by Menwether Lewis, with William
Clark as his lieutenant, this expedition was instructed to go up the Mis-
souri River as far as possible, cross the Rocky Mountains, and then pro-
ceed to the Pacific Ocean, preparing maps and reports and establishing
friendly relations with the Indian tribes along the line of march.
In the spring of 1804 Lewis and Clark entered the Louisiana country;
in their company of 47 men were four interpreters, including Clark's Ne-
gro slave, York.
About a month and a half later they camped near the mouth of the Big
Nemaha River, in present Richardson County. Here they saw elk, In-
dians, wild fruit, and "the river that was bordered by high bluffs." Passing
the Little Nemaha River on July 15 and the mouth of the Weeping Water
five days later, the party reached the Platte on the 2ist and camped a
short distance above its confluence with the Missouri. About 30 miles
above the Platte, a council was held on August 3 at which Lewis and
Clark spoke to 14 Oto and Missouri Indians, telling them of the change
in the government and of the desire of the Great Father at Washington to
be friendly with them. This meeting took place on a high bluff, later
known as Council Bluff, situated near the present town of Fort Calhoun
(see Tour 1). Continuing up the river Lewis and Clark reached Blackbird
Hill (see Tour 1) on August n. Here they found the burial place of
Blackbird, fierce chief of the Omaha, who had died of the smallpox four
years before with 400 of his men. By August 20 the party had reached a
point on the Missouri near the present site of Sioux City, Iowa.
On September 7 the expedition pitched its last camp on Nebraska soil
at a point six miles from the present north State line; the trip thus far
had occupied 116 days. Ultimately, the party crossed the Rocky Moun-
tains and descended the Columbia River to the Pacific. The return trip be-
gan on March 23, 1806, and this time the explorers spent 12 uneventful
days in the Nebraska area, reaching St. Louis on September 23, 1806.
In July of 1806 Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike was commissioned by Presi-
dent Jefferson to establish cordial relations with the Indians, to ex-
plore the Plains, and to gather information about the Spanish. Pike and
his company moved up the Osage River and traveled across country to
the Pawnee village on the Republican River. On September 29 Pike held a
great council with the Pawnee, persuading them to shift their allegiance
from Spain to the United States.
The explorers of the prairies were agreed that this country offered rare
opportunities to hunters and traders for deer, elk, antelope, beaver, mink,
and otter were plentiful, There had been some fur trade since the first
HISTORY 49
settlers came to the New World, but very few trappers had ventured be-
yond the Mississippi. In 1802 Cruzatte's post was located two miles above
Council Bluff and in 1807 various companies sent their agents into this
area to exploit the fur trade. One of these, Spanish-born Manuel Lisa, the
"founder of old Nebraska," moved up the Missouri and the Yellowstone
as far as the Big Horn, where he established a trading post. Thereafter
he made annual trips up the watercourse from St. Louis. Fort Lisa, the base
of the Missouri Fur Company, was founded in 1812 on the Missouri River
ten miles above the site of Omaha (see Tour 1).
According to tradition, the site of Bellevue the first permanent settle-
ment on Nebraska soil, was discovered and named by Manuel Lisa about
1807 when he made his way up the river to a point beyond the present
town. As a matter of fact, however, there is no mention of Bellevue in
the fur-trading records until after 1823, when the settlement had a trad-
ing post and the Council Bluff Indian Agency (see Tour 1A). Bellevue
was not the only settlement to get its start as a trading post, for similar
posts were established at Cabanne's post, nine miles above Omaha, about
1825 ; and at Table Creek, now part of Nebraska City, about 1846. Trad-
ers and trappers were also active in the western part of present Nebraska
although no permanent or prominent posts were established.
In 1810 Wilson Price Hunt, a partner in the newly formed Pacific Fur
Company, led an expedition overland in order to find places where trad-
ing posts might be established. The party, outfitting at Montreal, came via
Lake Michigan and the Fox, Wisconsin, and Mississippi Rivers to St.
Louis. To avoid the expense of wintering there it moved 450 miles up the
Missouri and spent the winter of 1810-11 at the mouth of the Nadowa
River, near the present St. Joseph, Missouri. In January, Hunt went to St.
Louis for more hunters and an interpreter and embarked again from St.
Louis on March 12, 1811, with a party of recruits. On April 21, 1811,
the winter quarters at Nadowa were abandoned and the entire party started
the long journey to the Pacific. Near Omaha, they waited for an official
in the party to finish his business with the Oto and Omaha Indians. The
party then went up the Missouri to the Ankara village near present Pierre,
where they obtained horses for a trip by land to the Columbia River.
Hunt and his men were joined on June 2, 1811 by Manual Lisa and his
party; later they went their different ways and Hunt's party finally reached
the mouth of the Columbia River, where they arrived at Fort Astoria.
On June 29, 1812, a party of seven men led by Robert Stuart started
back overland from Astoria bearing dispatches to John Jacob Astor of
New York. After suffering many hardships they reached a point in
50 THE STATE IN REVIEW
present Wyoming, and there made themselves secure for the winter.
With the first spring thaw the party launched two canoes and attempted
to float down the North Platte River. Forced to abandon their boats be-
cause of the shallow water, the seven men packed their equipment on an
old horse previously obtained from the Snake Indians, and set out on foot
down the North Platte Valley. In the early part of April they reached the
first recognized landmark an island 70 miles long in the Platte River,
now Grand Island. Three days later an Oto Indian met them and took
them to his village, where they encountered two white traders from St.
Louis. After trading their horse for a canoe, Stuart and his men again took
to the river. On April 18 they reached the Missouri, moving from there to
St. Louis, and then on to the company headquarters in the East. The
Stuart party made valuable discoveries about the topography of Nebraska,
particularly in the North Platte Valley.
In 1819, the Yellowstone expedition, sent by the government to es-
tablish a strong post at the mouth of the Yellowstone River and to make
scientific inquiry into the natural features of the country, had its base at
Engineers' Cantonment, six miles below Council Bluff. From here, under
the leadership of Maj. Stephen H. Long, it explored the South Platte
Valley to the river's source. The last camp in present Nebraska was made
on June 26, near the boundary between Deuel and Keith Counties.
Long believed that the land lying between the Missouri and the moun-
tains would be difficult to settle because of its scarcity of timber and water ;
he reported: "It is a region destined by the barrenness of its soil, the in-
hospitable character of its climate, and by other physical disadvantages,
to be the abode of perpetual desolation "
The expedition of Major Long placed the Great American Desert a
region extending from the Platte Valley to the Red River in Texas on the
map. For the next 50 years Long's pronouncement that the Platte Valley
was "almost wholly unfit for cultivation" was generally accepted.
The way taken by Stuart's Astonan party became, with few variations,
the route of the Oregon Trail; it led across the Rockies near the South
Pass, along the North Platte Valley, and then down to Missouri. The first
wheeled conveyance to follow this course was a wagon taken part way up
the Platte Valley by the William Ashley party of 1824. To Milton Sub-
lette goes the credit for making the first wagon road. Moving northwest
from the mouth of the Kansas River, the Sublette party came up the valley
of the Little Blue and then proceeded westward along the south side of
the Platte and the North Platte, finally reaching the head of Wind River
in the mountains of Wyoming.
WHITE-FACE CATTLE
On the first of May, 1832, Captain Bonneville started out with a com-
pany from St. Louis. Though the expedition accomplished little, Bonne-
ville inspected Nebraska's Chimney Rock (see Tour 12 A), estimating that
this formation of clay and sandstone could be seen at a distance of 30
miles, and (incidentally) inspired Washington Irving to write The Ad-
ventures of Captain Bonnewlle. In the same year Nathaniel J. Wyeth,
eager for the furs of the distant Columbia country, drove his wagons up
the Platte Valley through the South Pass and on to Oregon. At this time
and again in 1834, when he repeated the trip, his wagon wheels deepened
the ruts of what was soon to be known as the Oregon Trail.
The German prince, Maximilian von Wied-Neuwied, came from New
York to St. Louis in the spring of 1833, accompanied by Charles Bodmer,
artist, and Jager Dreidoppel, his hunter. He joined the American Fur
Company and obtained passage on its steamboat, the Yellowstone. This
craft left St. Louis on April 10, 1833, carrying the Maximilian party, sev-
eral French voyagers, and servants of the fur company, about 100 persons
in all. During his travels this explorer-prince touched at many points on
the Nebraska side of the Missouri, among them the mouths of the Great
52 THE STATE IN REVIEW
and the Little Nemaha Rivers, Bellevue, and Cabanne's trading post. His
line of travel, however, is less important than what he had to say about the
new country in his writings, published in 1838 at Coblenz, Germany. In
one of his volumes, an art portfolio, appeared pictures and drawings of
Indians, tools, pipes, cabins in fact, anything he happened to see. On
this trip Maximilian completed and corrected the map of the upper Mis-
souri prepared by William Clark. Unfortunately, a great deal of the scien-
tific data gathered by Maximilian's party was lost when the American
Fur Company's steamer Assimbom burned near the present site of Bis-
marck, North Dakota, on June i, 1835.
Father Pierre Jean de Smet was the first Catholic missionary to the In-
dians of the Platte region and the upper Missouri area. He came up from
St. Louis in 1836 to what is now Council Bluffs, Iowa, to minister to the
Pottawattomie. For the next 30 years he was one of the most active mis-
sionaries in America. In the course of exploring the plains and mountains
and founding missions, Father de Smet crossed Nebraska four times over
the Oregon Trail and skirted the Missouri waterfront no less than seven-
teen times.
The last of the great explorers before Nebraska became a Territory was
the "Pathfinder," John C. Fremont. The first expedition led by Fremont,
with Carson as his guide, was out three and one-half months and surpassed
its intentions. These men were sent to explore the country between the
Missouri and the Rockies and between the Kansas and the Platte Rivers,
and prepare maps and reports of the entire area.
Fremont followed the Oregon Trail through Nebraska to the Forks of
the Platte, where his party split into two companies, each taking a fork of
the river, and both meeting again at Fort Laramie to go on to the South
Pass. Evidence of their presence is still visible on the rocky bank of Wyeth
Creek (now called Rock Creek) near Fairbury, where they carved the
names John C. Fremont and Christopher Carson and the date 1842 (see
Tour 11).
On the return trip Fremont's party attempted to navigate the upper
Platte, but their boats were wrecked in the Platte Canyon near the site of
Casper, Wyoming, leaving the men to proceed on foot with what luggage
they had saved. Tramping down the Platte Valley, they reached the trading
post of Peter A. Sarpy at Bellevue on October i, 1842.
Before there could be any extensive movement of settlers to the Ne-
braska Territory and points west, roads permitting the passage of wagon
caravans had to be opened. In 1830 both the East and the West were
awaiting the work of the pathfinders: the East wished to tap the rich
HISTORY 53
trade possibilities of the Northwest, and the West was interested in mak-
ing mineral and agricultural resources known to possible settlers. Two
famous overland trails the Oregon and the Mormon converged in the
present State of Nebraska, followed the Platte Valley and separated at its
western border (see Tour 8). These trails aided settlement and doubtless
hastened territorial organization.
Territorial Organization
On December 17, 1844, Congress first considered a bill to create a new
political unit west of the Missouri, to be known as the Territory of Ne-
braska. Difficulties arose over the question of slavery and the movement
did not succeed. On May 30, 1854, after five months of debate, Congress
passed the bill first proposed by Stephen A. Douglas. It created two Ter-
ritories: Kansas, up to the 4Oth parallel, and Nebraska, between 40 and
49 N. up to the Canadian border; they extended from the Missouri River
on the east to the Rocky Mountain divide on the west. The bill was im-
mediately signed by President Pierce.
It is significant that with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act the
Republican Party was born. The slavery issue was historically important in
Nebraska, for with the North and South dividing on the question there
was a call to organize the Republican Party which advocated "no more
slave territory anywhere." On January 18, 1858, a State organization meet-
ing for that purpose was held in Omaha.
Most of the people in Nebraska were opposed to slavery, but settlers
coming here from the South brought slaves whom they found difficult to
hold. A branch of the Underground Railroad running from Missouri
through the corner of Nebraska by way of Falls City, Little Nemaha,
Camp Creek, and Nebraska City was a means of escape. It is said that
John Brown often came through this corner of Nebraska with runaway
slaves.
For first Governor of the new Nebraska Territory, President Pierce ap-
pointed Francis Burt of South Carolina. Burt's administration was cut
short by his death on October 18, 1854; and Secretary of State Thomas B.
Cuming automatically became Acting Governor. Cuming immediately or-
ganized a government, took a census (revealing 2,732 people in the Terri-
tory), and held an election for a legislature.
This first Territorial legislature, composed of 26 representatives and a
council of 13, convened on January 16, 1855, at Omaha City a little
town "in the woods fronting the Missouri." In the course of successive
THE STATE IN REVIEW
HISTORY 55
Territorial legislatures, many attempts were made to remove the seat of
government to Bellevue, to Nebraska City, to Florence, and to paper towns
like "Douglas" and "Neapolis." From the first, the legislative sessions
were the scene of intense activity between the warring factions of the north
and the south Platte regions. The "Platters" of the southern counties
greatly outnumbered their opponents and at one time threatened to secede
and join Kansas; but they could effect no change of site for the capital
during the life of the Territory.
The first legislature borrowed from the Iowa statutes-at-large a body of
laws for governing the Territory; defined the eastern counties between the
Niobrara River and Kansas, leaving the rest of the region an unorganized
wilderness; set up laws governing roads and ferries; passed an ordinance
prohibiting the selling or giving away of liquor; and approved a measure
providing for free common schools. By appointment from Washington in
February 1855, Mark W. I2ard of Arkansas became the second Governor
of the Territory, and Cuming again became the Secretary of State.
In 1856 the second legislature met and gave its approval to liberal
banking regulations which at first brought an unnatural, ephemeral pros-
perity based on wildcat currency, and later led to the financial panic of
1857. Throughout the West, banks closed their doors and settlers found
themselves holding worthless paper in place of money. Not for many years
did they forget the poverty, distress, and pain that characterized the "wild-
cat days" of 1857.
The capitol at Omaha City was completed in January 1858. Dissatisfac-
tion over the capital site continued, however, during the administration of
the Territorial Governors who followed Izard William Richardson, Sam-
uel Black, and Alvin Saunders. Other problems that created division were
the slavery question, the repeal of prohibition, and the First Territorial
Fair, held at Nebraska City in September 1859. In 1860 Nebraska voted
against becoming a State.
The Territory of Nebraska gradually lost its outlying areas* Colorado
and Dakota in 1861 ; Idaho (including present Montana and Wyoming)
in 1863. In 1864 Nebraska had been reduced almost to its present size
and shape. It was in this year that Congress approved an act permitting
Nebraska to become a State whenever her people were ready.
In February 1866, the legislature met to frame a State constitution,
which was ratified by the people on June 21. This document restricted the
franchise to white men and consequently failed to meet the approval of
Congress. But after a special session of the Territory's legislature declared
in effect that "white in their constitution meant any color whatsoever,"
56 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Congress passed the bill to admit Nebraska as a State over President An-
drew Johnson's veto. The legislature of Nebraska met on February 20,
1867, and framed an acceptance; President Johnson, by proclamation on
March i, 1867, recognized the existence of the free State of Nebraska,
37th in the Union.
The legislators of the State immediately returned to their quarrel over
the location of the State capital. This time a special commission headed by
David Butler, the first State Governor of Nebraska, selected a site on the
open prairie, between Salt and Antelope Creeks. The site, originally a
small village named Lancaster, was officially named Lincoln.
Settlement
Fort Atkinson on the Missouri, 16 miles above the present city of
Omaha, was the first military stronghold and the first town in Nebraska
Territory. Shortly after its founding in 1819, this fort had a population
of 1,000 persons, among them soldiers, laborers, hunters, teamsters, and
Indians. The community had its own sawmill, gristmill, brickyard, and
stone quarry; hundreds of acres of land adjoining the town were farmed.
The first school and library were here. The fort was in existence only until
1827.
There is no record of permanent settlers along the southeastern river
front of the State until about the time the Territory of Nebraska was
organized. Stephen Story, said to have been the first white settler of South-
eastern Nebraska, lived in present Richardson County in 1844, He rested
his claims upon squatter sovereignty, and others probably did the same. A
number of small towns scattered between old Fort Atkinson and the
State's southeastern extremity served as points of departure for the pioneer
vanguard. The most important of these were Omaha City and Brownville.
With the passage of the Nebraska-Kansas Bill and the creation of the
Territory of Nebraska in 1854, the Union became more or less conscious
of the Middle West, its nature and advantages. Settlers moved in from
the East; others came up from the South on steamboats of the Missouri.
The newcomers usually secured provisions at Omaha or Nebraska City
before setting out for the unknown region in which some found homes
and fortunes, while others found only grasshoppers, drought, disappoint-
ment, and ruin. These pioneers, like their predecessors, favored river val-
leys for their land claims.
The squatters of the late fifties confined their holdings largely to the
eastern part of the State, from Dakota City (platted in 1858) south to
STEAMBOAT ARRIVAL, OMAHA CITY (1868)
the present Kansas-Nebraska State Line. North of the Platte they were
distributed along the Elkhorn River from Fremont to Philadelphia (now
West Point) ; south of the Platte the Nemaha Valley attracted many. Both
of these areas offered singular advantages. In addition to flowing water
and fertile soil there were extensive growths of timber elm, cottonwood,
ash, box elder, soft maple, oak, walnut, hickory and willow trees which
were used by the settlers for the one-room log cabins and dugouts typical
of early days in the river areas. At this time, too, the Mormons established
encampments in the north on the Niobrara and at Genoa in the Loup Val-
ley, where ridges marking the substructure of their homes still remain.
More significant was the settlement of the Salt Basin, some 60 miles south-
west of Omaha City in what is now Lancaster County
Before 1859 land-claimants, who moved in advance of public surveyors
and ignored the statutes-at-large, had no valid title to the acres they took;
they were simply squatters. But their claims generally were respected, espe-
cially when valuable improvements had been made. At that time, under
the laws of the United States, a settler could take only 160 acres of sur-
veyed land to which the Indian title had been extinguished. These early
settlers made their own friendly arrangements with the Indians, did their
own surveying, and staked out 320 acres. Security for the squatters was
5 8 THE STATE IN REVIEW
furnished by "claim clubs" which defined and protected their holdings.
Anticipating the regular land offices, these organizations tended to favor
the original settlers at the expense of later claim jumpers.
After 10 years of agitation for free land in the western frontier country,
the first of a series of homestead laws was passed in 1862. It ultimately
brought more, than 100,000 homesteaders into what is the present State
of Nebraska. The Homestead Act of May 20 provided for "distribution
of public lands without compensation to homemakers who for five years
resided upon, cultivated, and improved such lands/'
The homestead measure of 1862 did not, of course, immediately clear
the way for the systematic settlement of the Nebraska area, although it
was the official signal for the rush. On January i, 1863, Daniel Freeman,
whose homestead was the first one granted under the new law, took steps
to secure a tract of land on Cub Creek in Gage County (see Tour 1 1). Al-
though some homesteads were taken north of the Platte in these early
years, the region was mainly unsettled until the demobilization of thou-
' sands of soldiers at the end of the Civil War in 1865, the creation of the
State of Nebraska in 1867, and the completion of the Union Pacific Rail-
road through the State in the same year, gave impetus to westward mi-
gration. Treaties were made with the Indians by the Federal Government
canceling their claim to lands, and opening it to white settlement. The
Sioux and Cheyenne tribes, however, resisted the advance of the whites.
The Federal Government took recognition of the Indian troubles in Ne-
braska by establishing various military posts at strategic points. These forti-
fications were built to check intertribal warfare, to protect the great com-
munication lines through Nebraska, and to discourage Indian depredations
and attacks upon the white settlers.
Of the forts instrumental in the building and settling of Nebraska, the
following were important: Fort Atkinson, established in 1819 and aban-
doned in 1827 ; old Fort Kearney (now Nebraska City) on the Missouri
50 miles south of Omaha, established 1847 and abandoned 1848; new
Fort Kearney on the south side of the Platte opposite the upper end of
Grand Island, established as Fort Quids 1848 and abandoned 1871 ; Fort
Grattan at the mouth of Ash Hollow south of the North Platte, Garden
County, established September 1855 and abandoned October 1855; Fort
McPherson on the south side of the Platte, southeast of North Platte,
established as cantonment Fort McKeen, the cemetery of which remains
under national supervision; Fort Sidney, adjoining the town of Sidney,
established 1867 and abandoned 1874; Fort Omaha on the Missouri above
Omaha, established 1868; Fort HartsufT on the north side of the Loup
HISTORY 59
River, 76 miles from Grand Island, established 1874 and abandoned 1881 ;
Fort Robinson on the White River near the present town of Crawford,
established 1874, still maintained for cavalry purposes; Fort Niobrara on
the south bank of the Niobrara, established 1880, now part of a wildlife
reserve.
These posts were almost all situated in river valleys, principally the
Platte Basin, the areas of first settlement, but only a few were located to
aid settlement. Thus, Forts Kearney, McPherson, Grattan, Sidney, and
Mitchell were established to protect overland communication. The pur-
pose of others was to serve as operation centers for military regulation
and campaigns against the Indians. Fort Hartsufr* and Fort Niobrara were
established to protect settlement. The pioneers more often than not pushed
out ahead of the forts and staked their claims where the. land was most
promising, regardless of Indians and soldiers.
Before 1867 the Sioux Indians claimed all the country north of the
Platte as their hunting grounds. But a dispute concerning the Black Hills
road to the gold country led to fighting; at the end of this war, in 1877,
the Sioux relinquished their land in western Nebraska and removed to
South Dakota. In 1875-77 ^ Pawnee, who ranged through the valleys
of the Platte, the Loup, and the Republican Rivers, were removed to Okla-
homa, as were the Ponca, who claimed the Niobrara country, and finally
the Oto in 1881. When the Indians had been disposed of, most of north-
ern Nebraska was thrown open to settlement.
Indian wars in the northwestern section of Nebraska, known as the Pan-
handle, continued long after the eastern half of the State was well on the
road to complete settlement. It took 36 years from the time of the first
serious uprising, in 1854, to bring the Indians under white control. Conse-
quently, there were very few white settlers in the Panhandle until the sur-
render of Crazy Horse, Sioux war chief, in 1877. But while the West
was the scene of the last great fights between the Indians and the white
men, settlers were steadily pushing forward into the well- watered counties
south of the Platte River, into the Loup Valleys of central Nebraska, and
far along the Platte itself.
Probably nothing in the natural history of the West has excited more
interest than the grasshopper plagues in the seventies. As early as 1856 the
Rocky Mountain grasshoppers, probably encouraged by continued dryness
and warmth during the summer months, swarmed over present Nebraska
and parts of the neighboring States. In the next 17 years there were six
more invasions, less destructive to crops, but discouraging to the farmers.
The locusts made their worst and most memorable attack in 1874. The
60 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Indians prepared a mash of the grasshoppers and ate it, faring better than
the settler who depended for a living upon the crops the pests overlooked.
Many pioneers sold or gave away their claims and returned East; at least
one drove a wagon with the sign* "Eaten out by grasshoppers. Going back
East to live with wife's folks." Others, determined to stick it out, took up
the hunting life of the Indians, living on dried buffalo meat and trading
the hides for other supplies. Still others retreated to the older communi-
ties where conditions were better and worked there as hired men.
The forerunners of the cattlemen in Nebraska were the owners of sup-
ply stations along the Oregon Trail in the Platte Valley, who kept a few
head of cattle on hand to be traded for the travel-worn stock of the pass-
ing emigrants. Sizable herds developed, but they never reached the pro-
portion of the immense droves that came north from Texas in the years
following the Civil War.
One Captain Streeter is said to have wintered 821 head of cattle on
Ash Creek (south of the site of Broken Bow) during the season of
1869-70 with a loss of only two animals. This demonstrated what was
already more or less obvious; that buffalo grass, blue joint, and sorghum
grass, which had long nourished bison, elk, and antelope, would also sus-
tain horses, cattle, and sheep Furthermore, watercourses were plentiful,
and the terrain often provided natural shelter for livestock in the form of
ravines, draws, washouts, canyons, and bluffs. With wild forage grasses,
shelter, and water ready at hand, the cattlemen lacked only favorable trans-
portation facilities to cover the State with their herds.
These were provided by the completion (1867) of the transconti-
nental railway through Nebraska: the stocking of the plains along the
line of the Union Pacific may be traced by the location of the chief ship-
ping points of that road. In 1870 the first herds were loaded at Schuyler
(terminal of the Chisholm Trail), 60 miles west of Omaha, where 35,000
cattle were sold. Later Kearney, North Platte, and Ogalalla (terminal of
the Texas Trail), farther up the Platte Valley, became the leading ship-
ping points.
Many conditions favored the first ventures in ranching. In valleys and
lagoons there were bluestem, rye, and gramma grasses for spring and sum-
mer grazing, and buffalo grass in the uplands for winter pasture. The
ranchers themselves seized upon the good herding grounds and built their
ranches on every available watercourse, to the exclusion of actual settlers.
The cattleman-homesteader feuds of the late seventies in west-central Ne-
braska were marked by wire-cutting, killing, rustling, and general lawless-
ness. But in spite of this, the plowmen moved steadily westward. By the
OX TEAM, 1887
i88o's Custer County, long considered a natural grazing country, had been
settled, and the large cattle interests were being slowly restricted to the Pan-
handle in the northwest and to Cherry County just east of it.
In the winter of 1 880-81, a severe blizzard was followed by sleet, then
snow, and more sleet; the surface of the snow was covered by ice which
crashed beneath the feet of the cattle, cutting their legs, until they dropped
from weakness and starved. Cold weather continued until March. From
50 to 75 percent of some herds perished ; and men, wealthy at the begin-
ning of the winter, found themselves bankrupt by spring. Many cattle-
men quit the business and left the country in disgust.
A variety of favorable conditions aided the settlers in western Nebraska
between 1880 and 1890. It was a free-land period. By preempting, a settler
could claim 160 acres of ground, live on it for six months, and then buy
it from the Government for $1.25 an acre. The homestead law of 1862
was still in effect. Another measure, the Timber- Claim Act, was passed in
1873. Under its provisions a settler might obtain title to a i6o-acre tract
by planting trees on ten acres and tending the trees for eight years By
taking advantage of these laws a man could acquire 480 acres of land in a
short time. Also, various railroads were pushing their lines through the
62 THE STATE IN REVIEW
western half of the State. While the Burlington was laying its rails up the
Republican Valley and across the plains to Denver, the Fremont, Elkhorn,
and Missouri Valley (now the North Western) began its long road up the
Elkhorn, then across northern Nebraska and on to the Black Hills. The
Missouri Pacific, coming into the State from the southeast, and the Rock
Island, pushing its line across Nebraska to the Rocky Mountains, added
their share to the increasing railway mileage. And the rainy summers that
came later heartened the grangers by demonstrating that the soil of west-
ern Nebraska could grow excellent crops.
In 1885 and 1886, dirt farmers moved up the Platte Valley toward the
cattle country, where they divided the land, located their claims, and
stocked them with horses and cattle. The ranchmen who were already set-
tled regarded these grangers as aliens and poachers. Numerous fights
broke out between the two classes. The cowmen, outnumbered by the
farmers 100 to i in 1885, tried desperately to preserve their ranges by
fencing in large tracts of land, digging wells, and having their cowboys
make homestead, preemption, and tree claims. The farmers countered by
making entries within the grounds claimed by cattlemen. In the courts the
cattle interests found little satisfaction: the juries were made up of
farmers.
Passage of the so-called Kinkaid Law in 1904 promoted the speedy
settlement of the rest of the cattle country, particularly the sandhills. This
act provided that any settler in the new region might homestead as many
as four quarter-sections (640 acres) instead of 160 acres as before. In an
area of poor soils and limited rainfall, adapted only to stock raising, large
land units were a prime factor in prosperity for the settlers, since from 15
to 20 acres were required to pasture one cow. The Kinkaid Act ended
access to free ranges and thus broke down the last stronghold of the old-
time cattlemen in this State. The cattle, however, remained not the rangy
Texas longhorns and the immense wild herds that figured in the early
roundups, but the more substantial beef and dairy types and smaller droves
unaccustomed to the open prairie and more closely herded. Beef produc-
tion in this section did not cease, or even materially diminish, with the
passing of the open range cattle days.
The disappearance of the open ranges was the final step in the settle-
ment of Nebraska. The Indians, pioneers, and cowboys were succeeded by
the dirt farmers and the latter-day cattle raisers. Railroad branch lines were
laid where bridle paths had been ; log cabins and sod houses gave way to
neat frame dwellings. Slow ox teams were replaced by draft horses. The
exploitation of agricultural resources had begun.
Statehood
Soon after the first legislators convened in their new Capitol at Lincoln,
they took up the problems of a new constitution, railroad regulation,
liquor control, and the construction of insane asylums, penitentiaries, and
schools.
It is significant that in 1870-71, during the administration of Governor
David Butler, the foremost figure in early State politics, the first State-wide
herd law was passed, restraining "stock from roaming at large in the State
of Nebraska." In 1871 Butler was impeached and removed from office for
illegal use of public school funds. Later he made full settlement for the
funds, and in 1882 was elected by his home people State senator from
Pawnee County, as a sign of confidence.
A prominent contemporary of Butler was J. Sterling Morton, remem-
bered chiefly as the founder of Arbor Day, proposed by him and insti-
tuted by resolution of the State Board of Agriculture on January 4, 1872.
The salt deposits in present Lancaster County were known to the earliest
settlers. This mineral was then so rare that in 1869 a legislative act au-
thorized the exploitation of Nebraska salt the State to receive a royalty
of two cents for every bushel of salt refined. Anticipating great wealth
from the new enterprise, business men made the extraordinary proposition
that the National Capital be removed to Kearney or Lincoln, where it
would also be close to the immense deposits of salt. Advocates of the
change held a national convention at St. Louis in 1870; Nebraska Con-
gressmen were instructed to vote against expenditures for material im-
provements at Washington in the firm belief that the Capital of the
United States would be moved into the West.
Vital to Nebraska's agricultural interests was the cooperative enterprise
that had its beginnings m the Grange of the seventies and the Farmers'
Alliance of the eighties. Both these organizations represented cooperative
efforts to improve conditions for farmers: fewer middlemen, lower railroad
rates, higher prices for produce, organized buying and selling. They were
the forerunners of the 525 cooperative associations that now exist: eleva-
tors, stores, oil stations, and creameries.
As far as records show, the farmers' Shipping Association of Superior,
Nebraska, was the first successful cooperative organization to be set up in
the State. Formed in 1882-83, it consisted of Nebraska and Kansas farm-
ers brought together in order to pool their marketable livestock to make up
carload lots.
During the nineties cooperative enterprise definitely got into its stride.
64 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Movements of that period included the Farmers Butter and Cream Factory
at Scnbner (1891), the Farmers Elevator Company at Talmage (1891)
and at Fairmont and Syracuse (1892) ; the Farmers Union Insurance Com-
pany at Grand Island (1894) , the Farmers Union Ditch Company at
Kearney (1896). These, together with the Farmers Cooperative Grain As-
sociation of Arapahoe (organized in 1903), were not generally conducted
at the outset in conformity with the so-called Rochdale principles. Accord-
ing to these principles, first laid down in England in 1844 by a group of
weavers at Rochdale, an individual stockholder was restricted to one vote
regardless of the amount he invested, the rate of interest paid on capital
was fixed, and patronage dividends were disallowed in order to eliminate
speculation and to curb private profit.
Gram elevators were the first of the cooperative enterprises. During the
nineties, when they were designed to compete with the 15 or 20 chain ele-
vator systems pouring Nebraska grains on the Chicago market, farmers*
elevators were not very successful, owing largely to the sharp practices of
the big gram men. In the early years of the present century, however,
things went better with the cooperative elevator movement The Vincent
brothers of Omaha, militant farm leaders, used their publication, Central
Farmer, to put cooperative elevators on a sound legal and business founda-
tion. These brothers overcame the railroads' reluctance to grant sites for
independent elevators, and influenced the 1903 State legislature to enact
an elevator site law granting locations for new cooperatives. In January
1903 the State Farmers' Grain Dealers Association was organized at Lin-
coln, and a grain market established at Omaha.
In 1911 a cooperative law was enacted in Nebraska providing for the
payment of patronage dividends, the distribution of earnings (wholly or
partly) on the basis of amount of business transacted by each member of
a cooperative unit. Again, in 1920-21, provision was made for State-
wide adoption of the "one man, one vote" rule, which was already well
established by practice if not by law. Another act authorized the creation
of cooperative associations with the power of using and lending money
to carry on cooperative credit banking. In 1927 the legislature approved a
measure providing for cooperative credit associations with broad enough
charters to enable them to carry on a cooperative banking business.
The Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union, or Farmers Union,
was brought into Nebraska May 29, 1911. Two years later the State or-
ganization, with 40,000 members, became a part of the national unit. Its
objective was the creation of voluntary farmers' associations set up to buy
HISTORY 65
and sell commodities on the best terms, all profits to be distributed pro
rata.
The Farmers Equity Union, which entered the State about 1916, is a
national farmer-consumer organization. Its purpose is to unite the buying
and selling power of a large number of farmers and consumers and to
eliminate profits which otherwise go to middlemen. Established about the
market centers of southcentral and southwestern Nebraska, the coopera-
tive groups of the Equity Union often take the form of local grain ex-
changes that also deal in farmers' supplies. Although there was a Ne-
braska farm bureau with county agricultural agents in 1913, it was not
until 1920 that the State organization became affiliated with the national
set-up. The Farm Bureau has provided farmers with up-to-the-minute in-
formation concerning crops and soils; and has sponsored about 50 non-
stock association farmers' supply stores.
Cooperative stores have had a varied career in Nebraska. By 1936 many
of them were being run in conjunction with the 350 farmers' elevators
scattered over the State. The Farmers Union, with about 25 stores located
for the most part in northeastern Nebraska, also maintains the Farmers
Union State Exchange at Omaha, a wholesale concern with 17 retail stores.
The stores of the Farmers Equity Union have been unusually successful;
most of them are associated with elevators.
There are 50 cooperative creameries (as distinguished from cream sta-
tions) in Nebraska; 20 of them act in both producer and consumer capac-
ities, and deal in other commodities besides cream.
Other State cooperatives are the Nebraska Certified Potato-Growers
Non-Stock Cooperative at Alliance, a concern that grades and handles
most of the seed potatoes grown in western Nebraska; the Republican
Valley Turkey Growers' Association at Red Cloud; the Northwest Ne-
braska Alfalfa Seed-Growers Association at Chadron; the Lincoln Non-
Stock Commission Company at Omaha. Mutual telephone companies,
cooperative banks, and mutual insurance companies give further evidence
of the cooperative movement.
The first quarter of the twentieth century was for Nebraska a period of
progressive legislation. Laws were passed establishing a commission to
regulate rates and services of all common carriers, guaranteeing bank de-
posits, placing State institutions on a non-political basis, putting in mo-
tion a pay-as-you-go highway construction program, and creating a bi-
partisan game, forestation, and parks commission. It was also a happy era
for the merchant, the banker, the schoolmaster, and the farmer. There
66 THE STATE IN REVIEW
were no great floods, drought, or crop- destroying plagues; money was
plentiful; farm lands were in brisk demand, gram prices were high; and
mechanized farming was boosting production.
Nebraska sent 47,801 men to the World War, 1,000 of whom died in
service. The staff of Base Hospital 49 at Allereye, France, was composed
of Nebraska men and women. The State played an important part in sup-
plying foodstuffs to the Allied and American Armies.
For two years after the Armistice, Nebraskans generally speaking
were "in the money." Good crops and skyrocketing prices made possible
a brief era of wide speculation in stocks, bonds, and lands ; an era of farm
expansion and mechanized crop growing. Farmers, borrowing money from
banks prodigal with credit, mortgaging their holdings to the hilt, bought
more acres and crammed granaries already full to the bursting point. It
was the day of the tractor, a machine fitted to bring immense fields under
cultivation.
But an end came to $1.50 corn and $2.00 wheat, to speculative plung-
ing and to selling farms for far beyond their real value. The change started
in 1921, when the Federal Reserve center curtailed bank credit and
wrecked the whole boom-time economic structure. Thousands of Ne-
braska fanners were forced to sell their livestock and produce on falling
markets in order to reduce their notes. Prices paid for grain and livestock
fell off from 50 to 70 percent, and farm property values took a corre-
sponding tumble. Once again Nebraska agriculturists learned the mean-
ing of forced sales, lost farmsteads, and deflated ambitions.
Bad though the situation was, it was only a prelude to the economic
death march which moved over the State, the Nation, and the world in
1929. While the Wall Street crash of 1929 left a number of formerly
well-to-do Nebraskan speculators with no roofs over their heads, a far
greater calamity came when $1.40 wheat dropped to 28 cents a bushel,
and $1.00 corn to 8 cents. This meant certain ruin to countless farmers
operating one to three thousand dollars worth of machinery on tracts of
land heavily mortgaged in expectation of continued bumper yields and
good prices. Some crop growers were able to carry on only by borrowing
to the limit on lands no longer valuable. Only 35,191 of Nebraska's 124,-
417 farms were mortgaged in 1920, but in 1930, 99,981 were debt-ridden.
Many of these ultimately fell into the hands of banks that held paper
against them; in 1936 they were owned by absentee landlords, operated
by tenants often accustomed to the condition of landowners but now re-
duced to the precarious station of sharecroppers when there were crops
to share.
HISTORY 67
The condition of the farmers affected Nebraska merchants, lumber deal-
ers, realtors, school teachers, laborers, and artisans. Housewives stocked
their pantry shelves with the simplest essentials; construction lagged;
school administrators curtailed their programs as tax receipts went down ;
day laborers, formerly sure enough of a place on Nebraska farms and in
Nebraska industries, began the long trek of the unemployed.
The farming class was the first in the State to war against rock-bottom
prices for produce, and against mortgages. The first concerted action in
the Middle West took the form of revolt against the machinery of market-
ing. Originating in Iowa in the late summer of 1932 and sponsored by the
Farm Holiday Association, this movement rapidly gained momentum, par-
ticularly in the dairying areas. Its adherents held mass meetings, picketed
market centers, and clashed with opposing forces. By October the crop-
growers and milk-producers were staging demonstrations and demanding
a moratorium on farm indebtedness. Five thousand farmers swarmed over
a farm near Elgin on October 6, raised $100 to satisfy a first mortgage
calling for many times that sum, and dismissed the holder of a second
mortgage with empty pockets. This enforced liquidation of farm debts
soon became a common practice throughout the farm belt. In northeastern
Nebraska especially, the farmers rose up in rage and stopped tax sales and
foreclosure proceedings.
Throughout November and December of 1932, despite the action of
the Ninth District Court in granting an indefinite moratorium on farm
mortgages (November 15), [Nebraska was the scene of struggle between
debtor and creditor, between near-insolvent farmers and mortgage-holding
individuals, banks, and insurance companies. Violence increased. In some
instances sheriffs refused to execute court orders for public sales.
On January 30, 1933, Governor Bryan set up an extra-legal State com-
mission of conciliation. This commission appointed local boards wher-
ever necessary to arrive at agreements between debtors and creditors, in
order to keep the farmers on the land. Major insurance companies im-
mediately fell into line, suspending all foreclosure actions indefinitely.
The first mortgage moratorium bill, outcome of a series of State farm con-
ferences and mass marches, materialized on March 2, 1933. This measure,
introduced by the Governor himself and passed in double-quick time,
provided for a stay of two years on actual transfer of title, to take effect
before confirmation of the sale. Reaffirmed by the legislature of 1935, it
was at its worst a doubtful victory for the farmers, since individual courts
often continued to authorize transfer of title when real estate was sold to
satisfy a mortgage; at its best it left the farmer in possession although
68 THE STATE IN REVIEW
not absolute of his acres, and upheld the right of the mortgagee to col-
lect whatever he could
After the election of a Democratic administration in 1932, pledged to
a new deal for American agriculture and industry, numerous relief meas-
ures were enacted. For the farm owner there were long-term, low-interest
Federal loans; for the tenant farmer there were corn-and-hog, seed, and
allotment loans. During the dry years, 1934-35, farmers were able to bor-
row 45 cents a bushel on lo-cent corn from the Government, seal their
cribs, and wait for a rising market. The results of the Agricultural Adjust-
ment Administration program of crop control were obscured by the suc-
cessive years of drought, which further cut crop yields as much as 50 to 75
percent. The economic effect of the present (1938) harvest is still un-
determined.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <#> >>>>>>>>>>
E history of the forms of government in operation at various times
since Nebraska became a Territory is both interesting and significant,
reflecting the growth and development of the State.
In the central State government progressive developments have taken
place in all three branches of administration: legislative, executive, and
judicial. Nebraska's first constitution provided for 13 senators and 39 rep-
resentatives; the constitution of 1875 ma ^ e ^ e numbers 30 and 84, with
a clause permitting increase to 33 and 100. The size of the legislature
did not change again until the unicameral plan went into effect in 1937,
which brought the total number of legislators to 43.
In the executive department, the first constitution provided for only
four officers: Governor, Secretary of State, auditor, and treasurer. The 1875
constitution added four new officers: Lieutenant Governor, attorney general,
state superintendent of public instruction, and commissioner of public
lands and buildings. Administrative agencies in the executive department
were reorganized in 1919 into six main departments, each headed by a
director appointed by the Governor. A few additional agencies were
changed by the administration or by special legislation in 1935.
In the judicial branch provided for by the first constitution, the supreme
court was composed of three members, and the district courts were pre-
sided over by these same judges. The constitution of 1875 provided for
six district courts to be separate from and independent of the supreme
court. A constitutional amendment adopted in 1908 increased the number
of supreme court judges from three to seven, and also increased their
salaries. Since then there has been an increase in the number of district
judges (35 in 1938).
The predominant form of county government is the commissioner-
precinct plan, in effect in two-thirds of the counties in the State. This plan
provides for a county administrative board of three members with execu-
tive and quasi-legislative functions. The other counties have the supervisor-
township plan, with an administrative council composed of seven super-
visors elected by districts. The legislature of 1933 passed an act making it
70 THE STATE IN REVIEW
possible for any county to adopt the county-manager plan, but a decision
of the supreme court later held the act unconstitutional.
Four or five developments in city government are noteworthy. Before
1864, each municipality was obliged to secure a special charter from the
legislature before it could be incorporated. This requirement placed so
much of a burden on the legislature that acts were passed in 1864 and
1869 providing for the general incorporation of towns and villages. First-
and second-class cities were to have the mayor and council plan of govern-
ment, and villages were to be governed by a board of five trustees. In 1897
an act was passed providing for the initiative and referendum in Ne-
braska municipal government the first initiative and referendum act
passed in the United States.
In 1911 the Banning Act, a commission plan of city government, was
adopted. The plan provided for a board of commissioners of three, five,
or seven members, depending on the size of the city. A constitutional
amendment in 1912 gave permission to any city of more than 5,000 popu-
lation to frame its own charter, consistent with the constitution and statutes
of the State. Finally the city manager plan was made available by legis-
lative action. In 1936, Alliance was the only city that had adopted this
plan.
A brief summary of the changes made in the State constitution since
Territorial days gives an outline of the political history of Nebraska. The
first constitution (1866), railroaded through the legislature without suffi-
cient consideration or deliberation, was a sketchy statement of the powers
and duties of the various organs of government. The salaries provided for
State officials were, as someone said at the time, not as large as those of
hod-carriers. A convention was called in 1871 to frame a new constitution,
but the instrument drafted by that body was rejected by the voters. In 1875
a convention succeeded in framing a constitution later ratified by popu-
lar vote that has outlined more fully the organization and powers of the
government officials and agencies and increased their salaries.
The 1875 constitution was soon outmoded because it left the amending
process so difficult. A constitutional convention m 1919 proposed 41
amendments to the constitution of 1875; all amendments were later
adopted by popular vote. Defects thus remedied included the process of
amendment. After 1920 many amendments were adopted by popular vote,
so that the State finally got a flexible, adequate constitution.
LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER, STATE CAPITOL
The Unicameral Legislature
A constitutional amendment adopted at the general election of 1934
made Nebraska a center of interest for political scientists and public offi-
cials in all parts of the country. This amendment provided that the State
legislature thereafter should be composed of one house rather than two.
Nebraska was the first State, in more than a century, to break away from
political custom and experiment with a new type of law-making body
The one-house legislature was first recommended in the 48-page report
written by Secretary Addison E. Sheldon in 1914 and adopted by a joint
committee of Senate and House in that year. This report was the basis
of a discussion extending over 20 years. The movement that finally se-
cured the change was largely the result of the work and influence of Sena-
tor George W. Norris, who drew up a tentative plan for the proposed
amendment and worked with a State committee to get the measure brought
to a popular vote in the November election of 1934.
The amendment as adopted in its final form provided for a unicameral
legislature of not less than 30 and not more than 50 members, to be
72 THE STATE IN REVIEW
elected by districts on a non-partisan ballot; it also provided for a con-
siderable increase in the salaries of the legislators. The legislature of 1935
decided there should be 43 members in the new umcameral body, and
divided the State into districts to correspond to that number. Under the
new system the legislature meets once every two years for its regular ses-
sions; special sessions are permissible whenever a majority of the legisla-
tors considers them necessary.
Advocates of the reform contended that the new plan would eliminate
delays and deadlocks incident to the procedure of a two-house body; that
the higher salary and greater prestige attached to membership would attract
a higher type of citi2en ; that the non-partisan ballot would reduce the ele-
ment of politics to a minimum; and that the familiar practice of shifting
responsibility from one house to another would be eliminated. They fur-
ther contended that the new system would be more economical, since the
aggregate of the salaries would be less than that formerly paid to 133,
members, the mileage allowances lower by half, and the employees con-
siderably fewer. The opponents of the reform argued that the new plan
would do away with checks which had operated between the houses of the
bicameral legislature and had prevented hasty legislation. They argued that
the group of 43 members would be much more susceptible to outside in-
fluence than the larger body of legislators, and that the elimination of
party responsibility meant the loss of a beneficial feature. The new system.,
whatever the results, is an important experiment in this field.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< a >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
by white men in Nebraska is hardly more than a hundred
7 ears W. * n ^ e nna l desperate days of the 1857 panic, when no one
had time to consult experts on ways and means of farming in the Great
American Desert, men who had lost their last dollar in the wild land
speculation of the early fifties turned to agriculture as a last resort. And
they farmed in the only way they knew as their fathers had farmed in
Ohio or Pennsylvania or the Old Country.
The result was a period of confusion, good and bad luck, and high-
flown hopes for the future of this western land. Grasshoppers, storms,
and drought kept life exciting enough; yet there remained in those early
years a little of the idyllic quality of Indian farming. In the spring corn
was planted by hand. In summer a horse and a man plodded up one side
of the row and down the other, cultivating the corn with a crude double-
shovel plow. In husking time, when the pioneer went to the field, he
strapped a home-made wooden peg to his right hand by a leather thong
to help cut the husks. It saved his hand and speeded up his work. The
modern cornhusker uses a metal hook also strapped to the right hand. As
a household pastime for winter evenings, the shelling was done by hand.
The whole family might gather around the fire to help, using one ear to
rub the kernels from another. Much of the corn was fed to livestock; some
went into cornmeal and johnnycake. A part of the crop, even in those
early years, came eventually to the levees at Omaha to be shipped down
the river to eastern and southern markets.
Wheat was also shipped out on the river boats in the early sixties and
later. This crop was generally of the spring variety, sown by hand, reaped
with the scythe-and-frame contrivance known as a cradle, and threshed
with a flail or a horse-powered machine. Other crops at that time were
oats, rye, barley, potatoes, vegetables of various kinds, and melons. Wild
hay grew thick on the plains and river meadows; wild grapevines and
74 THE STATE IN REVIEW
plum or berry thickets lined the creeks. Stock and poultry, brought west
with the covered wagons, thrived on the plentiful feed in the new country.
By the time Nebraska became a State in 1867 railroad exploitation of
the Middle West was under way and the agriculture of the region was
entering its greatest boom period. The free land provided by the Home-
stead Act of 1862 had not been a very great drawing force so long as the
war continued and the myth of the western desert prevailed in the East.
Peace and railroad propaganda removed these obstacles. To the cry of "fol-
low Mormons and prairie dogs and find good land," Civil War veterans
flocked into Nebraska, joining a vast stampede of unemployed workers,
tenant farmers, and European immigrants.
Times were hard throughout most of this period of settlement. Grass-
hoppers swarmed over the State in the late sixties and early seventies;
grain prices were low, and freight rates high. In the panic days of 1873,
Nebraska farmers became lean and angry, muttering grimly of action
against their apparent oppressor, the railroads. The bitterness and tension
of those times, the days of the Grange movement, were eased only by the
return of better growing weather. About 1880 the rains became more regu-
lar and the booster spirit once more took hold in Nebraska.
In the subsequent period of good crops, Nebraska became a magnificent
gold-plated fool's paradise. Eastern investors had decided that Nebraska
was a good investment; so they poured money into the region. Farmers
who had slaved on a little land, with primitive equipment, suddenly dis-
covered easy credit available. They slapped green-and-gold printed mort-
gages on all they owned, using the money to buy more land, more horses,
and more machinery twine binders for wheat and mechanical corn plant-
ers. While the dairy industry was growing in eastern Nebraska, fortunes
were spent to extend the beef cattle industry into the semibarren lands of
the western frontier. By 1890 the typical Nebraska family was saddled
with one or two mortgages. Millions of Eastern dollars were staked on the
weather and crops of the State.
The rains continued and the crash held off until 1890. Then drought set
in; pastures and fields were scorched by winds; the cattle industry was
ruined. All but two of the next ten years were dry, and for five years
there were no crops at all in some sections. Abrupt cessation of credit left
thousands of farmers stranded with nothing to sell or eat. In the year 1891
alone, eighteen thousand prairie schooners trundled over the Missouri
River and out of Nebraska. Only the most hardy, determined farmers re-
mained to fight the hard times of the nineties.
The fight was difficult But under the hands of these tougher fanners
CUTTING WHEAT
a more distinctly prairie agriculture began to emerge. Alfalfa came into
some degree of favor as a drought-resistant crop. In the river valleys the
practice of irrigation began (see NATURAL SETTING). In drier parts
of the State farmers learned that if the ground lies fallow in alternate
years, better crops are raised in the other seasons. Many wheat growers
adopted the rotary drill for planting their gram in fall instead of spring,
and harvests doubled.
Considerable progress was made in sugar-beet growing. This crop got
its start in Nebraska in the late eighties, when a number of Hall County
citizens, Henry Koenig among them, became interested in the beet-growing
possibilities of their locality. Acting in cooperation with the State university
and the Federal Government, these citi2ens obtained beet seed and parceled
it out to seventy or eighty Hall County farmers to be tried out in various
soils. It was discovered that native seed was inferior to the small amount
of imported seed which they had accidentally procured ; so a large amount
was ordered the next year from Germany. As experimentation went on,
the farmers found their results were better than those in either Germany
or France. By the nineties, the production of sugar beets was gaining head-
way^
Even with these new gains in crops and methods, there were years when
j6 THE STATE IN REVIEW
farmers went hungry and idle. But out of this very hunger and idleness
came another development the revival of militant agrarian class con-
sciousness and the spirit of revolt. The year 1890 was memorable for its
turbulent mass meetings. Crops were ruined by drought, there was no work
to do, so farmers piled into their buggies and wagons and went to hear
speeches about the tyranny of the railroads and the villainy of eastern spec-
ulators. Feeling flared up in favor of a third political party , the result was
strong support for the Populist movement. In the Presidential election of
1892, Nebraska barely missed going Populist. Cooperative marketing be-
came a common practice during these hard years (see HISTORY). About
1897 the drought cycle came to an end, times improved, and most farmers
went back to conservative views.
The pre- World War years that followed the turn of the century were
fairly serene for Nebraska farmers: the period was one of gradual expan-
sion and moderate prosperity. Western Nebraska was a special center for
development, and before long the high plains of the Panhandle were being
exploited by the "suitcase" farmers men who did not live in the West
but only went there twice a year: once to plant their wheat, and again to
take care of the harvest.
During this period the agriculture of the State fell into the general
scheme that still prevails. This scheme included diversified farming for
nearly all the State: farming which involves raising several crops in a
single area, so that if one crop is hailed out, dried up, or eaten by bugs,
another may survive to tide the farmer over. Because of variations in soil
and climate, different parts of Nebraska put emphasis on different prod-
ucts. The west has become well known for wheat, sugar beets, and pota-
toes; the sandhills and north central drift country for hay and cattle; the
eastern section for corn and hogs. But there have never been many ex-
clusive crop areas in Nebraska. Corn the crop for which the State is most
widely known has been raised in every county in Nebraska. For as Old
Jules Sando2 observed, " Wherever sunflowers grow, you can raise corn."
And Nebraska rarely has a shortage of sunflowers.
The World War did not at first cause much alarm to the farmers of
Nebraska. Indeed, they saw commercial advantage in it, for the European
strife created an increased foreign demand not only for munitions but also
for draft horses, mules, and beef, and for grain produced on the plains of
the Middle West. For these products the Allied Powers paid well with
American credit.
After America entered the World War, there was strict economy on the
farm: many children were brought up on johnnycake instead of bread. But
FARMSTEAD COOPERATIVE MEETING, FALLS CITY
POWER FARMING, WESTERN NEBRASKA
prices continued to boom to fantastic levels. Farmers who lived through
the war years in Nebraska shake their heads and mutter that "everything
went crazy somehow." Com brought $1.50 a bushel, wheat $2. Many
farmers were apparently fren2ied by such prosperity and refused to sell
their products, envisioning even wilder prices. When ordinary land was
offered at the ridiculous pnce of $300 or more an acre, any number of
Nebraska stockmen and grain growers mortgaged all their property in
order to invest in additional acreage and multiply their crops and herds.
They seemed to believe that $2 wheat was certain to come in bumper crops
forever.
When the crash inevitably followed in the early twenties, it was not
only the shiftless farmers who were trapped by foreclosure or crushing
indebtedness. Some of the steadiest of conservative, hard-working farmers
are still struggling against hopelessly large mortgages, trying to pay the
wartime prices for land they bought for themselves or their marriageable
sons. By 1930 there had been so many foreclosures, so many transfers from
owner to renter status, that nearly half the farms in the State were tenant-
managed. This meant that in percentage of tenancy (47.1 percent, ac-
cording to the 1930 Census) Nebraska ranked alarmingly high among the
States.
AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMER 79
The tenancy situation has become an all-important problem in Ne-
braska agriculture of the later thirties. Farm moratoriums and Federal as-
sistance eased the dangerous tension of the farm revolt days but for thou-
sands of Nebraska farmers existence remained uncertain and unstable. It
may appear that every farmer is driving a car; fast tractors, good horses,
and improved machinery are ordinary parts of a summer landscape; and
in years of good rainfall, when the corn stands tall and the wheat is ready
for harvest, it is not immediately obvious that the soil has been harmed.
But many tenants' wives still carry water from windmills, and thousands
of farmhouses lack electricity, because few tenants feel secure enough to
risk investing in improvements on the owners' property and few landlords
are able or willing to bear the expense. If good crops are still raised, it
is due in many cases to the use of improved machinery on land that is
steadily deteriorating as a result of tenant carelessness or misuse. Commu-
nity life also suffers; every year sees an exodus of impoverished farmers
from the typical farm community, and the arrival of others no better off.
In the meantime the tenancy situation in Nebraska is somewhat offset
by the fair standard of farm living. In the middle thirties an average farm
income (in cash and commodities) was about a thousand dollars, some-
what lower than it had been ten years before. Nearly half of this in-
cluding a good deal of food was produced on the farm. The typical
Nebraska farmer likes to boast that "come what may, the farmer always
has something to eat," and his wife usually devotes many hours a year
to the preserving of fruits, meat, and jellies, and to the making of quilts,
rugs, and other furnishings.
Nebraska can make no claim to a self-sufficient agrarian culture, how-
ever. The farmer does a great deal of buying and must have a cash income.
About two-thirds of this farm income in the State comes from the carloads
of fat hogs, cattle, and lambs that are shipped to Omaha and elsewhere,
and from the sale of dairy and poultry produce. The livestock industry is
so important that Nebraska ranks second among the States in hog raising,
and third in raising cattle. The 1,567,000 hogs raised in Nebraska in 1936
were valued at $14.10 per head; the 3,037,000 cattle at $31 per head.
The crop which brings the readiest cash income to the State is wheat. A
total of 47,339,000 bushels was produced in Nebraska in 1936, valued
on the average at $1,03 a bushel. In the production of winter wheat Ne-
braska is surpassed only by Kansas. As the size of farms increases, owing
to foreclosures and other circumstances, and as the fast and efficient grain
combines become more popular with large-scale farmers, wheatfields are
steadily becoming larger in Nebraska. One of the most picturesque phases
GANG PLOW, PINE RIDGE
of the modern farm scene is the wheat harvest in the southwestern table-
land counties. The combines are often seen running long after sundown,
their giant spotlights cutting the darkness.
Corn is less important as a cash crop, but is raised so extensively for
feeding as well as marketing that Nebraska ranks with Illinois and Iowa
as a leading corn State. In normal years the crop averages over 100 million
bushels. In 1936, a drought year, the yield was 26,859,000 bushels, valued
at $1.13 a bushel. Fruit growing is a minor source of income, important
only in southeastern counties. Oats and lesser grains are generally grown
for feeding purposes. Wild hay is not a principal crop, but more of it is
shipped from the State than from any other part of the Nation. Nebraska's
1936 crop of wild hay, 1,114,000 short tons worth $7.60 a ton, was in-
ferior in size and value to the State's tame hay crop for the same year:
1,631,000 short tons at $10 73.
The several varieties of tame hay, notably clover and alfalfa, are signifi-
cant in the future of Nebraska farming Their value as drought-resistant,
soil-building crops is not yet realized by many farmers who choose to fol-
low the ways of their emigrant grandfathers. But with progressive farmers,
the popularity of forage crops is increasing. In some of the western coun-
AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMER 8l
ties more than a hundred ricks of alfalfa may be counted in one landscape.
Sugar beets are also likely to gain in importance: at present Nebraska
ranks next to Colorado in beet production. In 1936 the State produced
783,000 short tons of sugar beets, valued at $5.91 per ton.
After almost a hundred years, the main problem in Nebraska agricul-
ture is the same faced by the early settlers: that of adapting size of farm
and production of corn and livestock to the soil, climate, and economic
conditions of a country that has never been completely mastered. Properly
managed, a farm in Nebraska will usually produce well, and will yield a
stable income as long as prices are fair and financial panics hold off.
Whether proper management will eventually become the rule in Nebraska
agriculture depends largely on what can be done to alleviate the tenancy
situation, and to teach the farmers improved methods of cultivation and
soil conservation.
"T^TEBRASKA had little commercial industry before 1880. In the days
JL N| when the fur companies ruled the Northwest, trading posts did a
brisk business at Brownville, Nebraska City, Bellevue, Omaha City, and
other points on the Missouri River. To these centers, whites and Indians
brought the pelts of bear, marten, gray wolf, otter, deer, elk, and buffalo
animals now rare in the State outside of the refuges established for their
protection. The scarcity of salt on the frontier led to the erection of evapo-
ration tubs around deposits near Lincoln, and their operators enjoyed a
considerable trade with settlers and emigrants until the late sixties, when
the introduction of cheaper eastern salt in quantity made the industry at
Lincoln unprofitable.
The early settlers raised enough sod corn and garden truck to keep
themselves alive, eking out their diet with wild fruits, game, and fish. But
there was no marketable surplus. Sweet sorghum was grown for sirup. Lye
was made from wood ashes, and soap from lye and fats. Commodities like
coffee, tea, sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices were imported with some
difficulty and at a high price. Small gristmills and sawmills were set up on
the streams to care for local needs. Community industries that eventually
grew to commercial importance were flour milling and brick making.
Stock raising in the Platte Valley and the Panhandle was commercial
from the first. In the days of the overland trails, emigrants swapped their
footsore cattle for fresh animals along the route. Later the pioneer herds
were augmented by longhorns moving from the south to Ogallala, Sidney,
and other shipping points. When the railroads opened up markets for Ne-
braska's products farm produce and livestock the farmers and feeders
brought in high grade beef and dairy cattle from the East, and the lean
longhorns began steadily to be replaced by more profitable types. In the
last quarter of the nineteenth century, when most of the State was still
open range, the cattle industry had its most spectacular growth. After the
range was portioned off to settlers the industry continued to be important,
but often it took a place second to farming; smaller and better-selected
herds became the rule. Extensive cattle ranches may still be seen in north-
82
INDUSTRY AND LABOR 83
western Nebraska, but cattle for the prime beef market are fattened on the
feed lots of forage growers. Besides beef and dairy cattle, Nebraska raises
and breeds horses and mules, hogs, sheep and goats. Traffic in horses and
mules is lively throughout the State, but especially at Grand Island and
Omaha.
Dairying, poultry raising, and egg production, which are of compara-
tively recent growth, have become substantial industries. Creameries and
creamery stations are found all through the State, but the majority are in
and around Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Fremont, Hastings, and
Orleans. Most important of their products is butter, with cheese and con-
densed and evaporated milk next in commercial value. Many creameries
serve as agents purchasing and shipping eggs, poultry, and other
products.
Geographic position and topography made Omaha one of the Nation's
railroad centers and Council Bluffs (Iowa), across the Missouri, a transfer
point for the western region. This in turn encouraged the development of
facilities for marketing and for processing the products of the soil. To a
lesser but important degree it has promoted the manufacture of farm im-
plements and supplies. It is estimated that the commercial value of the
State's manufactured goods slightly exceeds that of its agricultural prod-
ucts. This statement is deceptive unless it is understood that "manufac-
tured goods" includes processed agricultural products, and that "agricul-
tural products" means such products in the raw. The Bureau of the Census
reports that $192,126,000 worth of raw materials were turned into $225,-
445,000 worth of finished products by Nebraska manufacturers in 1935.
The leading manufacturing industry is meat packing. Stockyard reports
show that farmers and feeders in the eastern and central counties, and
stockmen in the Panhandle, ship to market an annual average of nearly
1,500,000 beef cattle, not far from 5,000,000 hogs (in normal years), and
well above 1,000,000 sheep. Most prime livestock is shipped to the larger
packing houses in Omaha, and lesser volumes to packers at Hastings,
Grand Island, McCook, Scottsbluff, Falls City, and Lincoln. The four lead-
ing Omaha packing houses employ about 7,000 men, and their annual
product has a value of nearly $150,000,000.
Crop industries, in the order of their importance, are raising and proc-
essing grain and forage crops and sugar beets, and raising potatoes, fruits,
vegetables, and flowers. The sugar-beet industry has become important in
western Nebraska within the past 20 years, though the value of the crop,
as of 1935, was less than a tenth that of the State's wheat crop for the
same year. Crop tonnage in sugar beets for that year was 625,000, a total
STOCKYARDS, OMAHA
surpassed by only three of the nine sugar-beet States. Refined sugar
totaled 95,000 tons
Milling has undergone a revolution in the State since gristmill days.
Large-scale commercial flour, feed, and grain mills operate at Lincoln,
Crete, Omaha, Grand Island, Lexington, Scottsbluff, Hastings, and Ra-
venna; the manufacture of bread and other bakery products is carried on
extensively.
Railroad car making and repairing, a relatively important industry, is
centered in Lincoln and Omaha. Minor industries are the manufacture of
foundry and machine products, canning vegetables and fruits, making fur-
niture, leather goods, wearing apparel, stock feeds, and miscellaneous
articles.
As a rule, metallic ores are imported from other States to be refined and
converted into farm machinery and other finished products Mink, musk-
rat, raccoons, beaver, skunk, and other small animals are still trapped by
farmers and nearly $1,000,000 worth of raw fur is marketed annually.
Building construction employs more people in the State than does any
other enterprise. As in most areas, this industry came to a standstill after
1929 and showed no signs of reviving for several years. In 1937 it gave
INDUSTRY AND LABOR 85
employment to about 16,000 professional, skilled, and unskilled workers,
and renewed the demand for native brick. Ferrous metal plants, automo-
bile repair shops, and a variety of factories employ about 12,000 workers.
About 4,000 work in printing, engraving and publishing, which flourish
especially in the larger cities. About the same number of workers find em-
ployment at miscellaneous manual trades.
Labor struggles in Nebraska's few rail and industrial centers have fol-
lowed the character and trend of labor struggles in similar centers through-
out the country. Nor is the dominant agrarian population of the State a
stranger to the struggle for organization and the betterment of conditions.
The Grange movement of the seventies; the Farmers' Alliance of the
eighties and nineties; farmers' cooperatives for the establishment of ele-
vators, stores, oil stations, and creameries under producer ownership; the
Fanners' Union and the Farmers' Equity Union cooperative organiza-
tions all these represented attempts by various means to obtain a fair
price for farm products and good value for farm money spent.
Staggering mortgage burdens, falling prices, and increased tenantry
were major factors in the farmers' revolt of 1932. Nebraska fanners joined
the Farm Holiday Association to struggle for relief from the pressure that
was turning them into debt-laden laborers for absentee proprietors. They
fought foreclosures and sales for taxes by group action, and gained an in-
definite moratorium on farm mortgages late in 1932. The National Ad-
ministration which came into office in 1933 brought about important
changes in the farmers' economic condition (see HISTORY).
In the latter part of 1936 the Farmer-Labor Party extended its activities
to Nebraska and for a time it looked as though the movement might attain
substantial proportions. Farm Labor Club No. i was established, mainly
by white-collar workers, in the hope that it might serve as nucleus for a
State-wide organization. A few issues of a farmer-labor newspaper were
published and distributed in several towns and areas. The movement
lagged, however, mainly because the passing of the election year brought
relaxation of interest in political matters.
Recently (1938) Labor's Non-Partisan League and the Farmers' Educa-
tional and Cooperative Union have formed the Joint Committee on Coop-
erative Enterprise for the promotion of consumer cooperatives. This may
mark a significant step in the realization of common interest and participa-
tion in a common struggle by both organized farm operators of various
degrees of independence, and organized workers of many occupations, in-
cluding agricultural.
When the movement to organize farm workers spread to Nebraska in
PACKING APPLES
1914, the farmers themselves regarded it with hostility; and this hostility-
increased as the struggle for bettering the conditions of farm workers
progressed. The movement was a project of the I W. W. (Industrial
Workers of the World) which was attempting to organize unskilled labor
not effectively reached by other labor groups. In Nebraska the struggle
was especially acute. This was owing to three factors: Omaha, like Kansas
City and Minneapolis, was a principal labor market for agricultural work-
ers which in the West means migrant or casual workers followers of
the harvest. As the workers moved north through Nebraska after the har-
vests in Oklahoma and Kansas, they were able to bargain with more firm-
ness, for part of their first earnings was still in their pockets. Nebraska
was on the main route to the Far West. Omaha was a key rail transport
center for the transcontinental roads, and it was on these lines that the
I. W. W. put on an intensive campaign to organize all migrant workers and
permit none but "red card" men to ride the freights from job to job
Omaha was also for many years the "slave market" for construction labor
on the railroads extending west.
INDUSTRY AND LABOR 87
The agricultural section of the I. W. W. was chartered in April 1915,
and members assigned to the drive spread out by rail over the agricultural
States of the West. After Oklahoma and Kansas had been covered the
delegates went north, working among the migrant laborers following the
harvest into Nebraska. As a result of pressure, wages were raised, food
improved, and hours shortened for the agricultural workers.
The period of most effective I. W. W. activity in Nebraska coincided
with the first three years of the World War (1914-1917) when agricul-
tural prices were high and labor was in demand. With America's entry
into the War, patriotic sentiment fanned the resentment of Nebraska farm-
ers against the organi2ed farm labor movement, and a "criminal syndi-
calism" law was enacted in 1918. This, together with disruption within
the I. W. W., ended its influence in Nebraska.
At present extensive organizing activity among the migrant toilers of the
sugar-beet fields is being carried on by the C. I. O. (Congress for Industrial
Organization). The owners of the fields plow, seed, and harrow their land,
but contract with the migrant workers for the care and harvesting of the crop,
which require exhaustive hand labor. Shacks at the edge of the fields are oc-
cupied from mid-May to October by the families of Mexicans, Spanish-
Americans, and Germans who toil through the summer, thinning, hoeing,
and pulling and topping. Labor units are figured in terms of families, not in-
dividuals ; the head of a family contracts to care for as much acreage as the
work-capacity of his household seems to warrant ; a family with three work-
ing members usually cares for 20 acres, which average 12 tons of beets per
acre. In 1937 the average payment for care per acre was $20.50. This may be
increased somewhat under the Sugar Control Act of 1937. The same act also
placed a minimum age limit on beet field workers 14 years. Prior to the pas-
sage of the act the work-capacity of a member of the family might be decided
by the father's estimate of what the child could bear, and the present regu-
lation is difficult to enforce. Beet growing has been one of the most prof-
itable forms of agriculture practiced in Nebraska.
Most of Nebraska's Negro workers are employed in industrial plants
and by the railroads. Many came to Omaha to work in the packing houses
during the World War.
As might be expected, most of Nebraska's serious industrial strikes have
taken place in Omaha, with its packing houses, iron and steel works,
creameries, and rail terminals. Of the State's 1,377,963 people, only about
71,000 are employed in manufacturing and mechanical industries, but an
additional 21,500 work for the six major railroad systems. Both railroads
and industrial plants have been the scene of serious and violent disputes.
88 THE STATE IN REVIEW
In 1882 Omaha experienced its first strike to receive national notice. In
February about 75 workmen, engaged in moving dirt for a railroad con-
tractor, struck for better pay. There was a parade, but no rioting. Never-
theless, on March 12 the Governor called out the State militia to impress
the strikers. The militia soon became involved in scuffles with the strikers,
and a by-stander was killed. Federal troops were called out.
Six years later occurred the Great Q Strike, which affected the Burling-
ton's lines throughout the State. During the summer of 1888 the locomo-
tive crews struck so effectively that traffic was brought to a standstill. The
strike was broken by non-union crews from the East.
Railroad labor remained fairly tranquil after this until the spring of
1902, when the machinists and boilermakers walked out at the Union
Pacific shops in North Platte in protest against introduction of the piece-
work system. They held their ground, fighting for their jobs against strike-
breakers with police protection, for almost a year. Local sympathy was at
first with them. Eventually, however, the strikebreakers were accepted by
the townspeople and even by the strikers; the strike died through attrition
and men drifted back to work with a pay raise of a half cent an hour.
More serious and widespread was the Havelock strike of 1922, when a
strike was called for the Burlington shops against a pay cut. Shopmen
struck throughout the State, as they had to a large extent throughout the
Nation. About 2,000 Nebraska shopmen were involved. The violence that
occurred in the course of this strike was without precedent in the State's
labor history.
The streetcar strikewhich began in Omaha in April 1934 is technically still
in effect (1938). After two minor strikes 235 streetcar workers left the job,
demanding recognition of their right to organize. For four days and nights
the strikers and their sympathizers resisted the company's attempts to oper-
ate the cars with strikebreakers. Two persons were killed, scores were man-
handled and injured, streetcars were wrecked and demolished, and motor-
men were beaten and left lying on the streets. After the fourth night,
State militiamen appeared on the scene and the city was placed under mar-
tial law. A truce was drawn up but was quickly broken. The company's
present operators are non-union.
Though such restrictive measures as the anti-picketing and criminal syn-
dicalism laws are still in force, many improvements in labor conditions
have been brought about in Nebraska through legislative means. The
State's labor laws require inspection of industrial plants, and regulate the
working conditions of women and children. Safety and health regulations
have been codified, and compensation has been provided for workers in-
PEELING PINE FOR FENCE-POSTS
jured in line of duty. Wage levels and working hours are determined by
local circumstances or, in the case of organized labor, by arbitration. Un-
der the Wagner-Payser Act an employment service was set up in 1936,
with district offices at Lincoln, Omaha, and Norfolk. The service, now
statewide, handles placements in both private industry and Federal employ.
The usual craft unions exist in Nebraska. The A. F. of L. is now en-
gaged in organizing teamsters and sugar refinery workers throughout the
State. The C. I. O. is making progress in organizing workers in the pack-
ing houses, the steel plants, and other industrial establishments, as well as
in the agricultural area already mentioned.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< B >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A n THE forks of the Platte River, in the sixties, the west-bound trav-
eler might still lose his scalp to the Indians, but he had the privi-
lege, at least, of coming to his doom in a coach-and-four over a new stage
line that boasted fast regular service between Missouri and California.
Once safely in Denver, the traveler needed only a few minutes to get word
of his safety back to the home folks in the East by the newly installed tele-
graph. To Nebraskans in the early sixties this was strange and exhilarating.
Delight in the telegraph, and in the Overland Mail coach with its rec-
ord of no to 115 miles a day, was natural enough to men who had settled
in Nebraska in the fifties, to those who remembered the snail's pace of
gold rush and Mormon migration days. Making their way on horseback,
on foot, or in covered wagons drawn by oxen, the earliest travelers had re-
quired weeks to beat a trail through the sand, mud, prairie grass, and
thickets of Nebraska Territory. Communication was then a matter of "tell
so-and-so I said . . ." or of entrusting notes to travelers for delivery. Even
when the Overland Mail was established at the beginning of the fifties the
coaches carried mail only once later twice a month.
The pony express was organized privately in 1860 and ran twice a week,
carrying "fast mail." "Slow mail" was carried by the coaches. Along the
express route, which followed the line of the Oregon Trail through Ne-
braska, some 80 riders carried mail in their saddlebags at the amazing
speed of 200 miles a day. As a fast mail-carrying agency, the express dis-
appointed no one; as a money-making enterprise, however, it left much
to be desired. Operating costs despite the fact that dispatching a heavy
letter by express from the Missouri River to California cost the sender $25
far exceeded income. After 18 months the enterprise failed, to be suc-
ceeded shortly by the overland telegraph.
The daily stage, as established by Ben Holladay in 1861, also crossed
Nebraska over the Oregon Trail, carrying mail and passengers. The old
90
OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT BY FRED L. KIMBALL
92 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Concord coach, resembling a box mounted on small wheels in front and
larger wheels behind, was drawn by four, or six, horses or mules. Road
history was made and records were broken when Holladay, riding in one
of his boxes on wheels, thundered from Salt Lake to Atchison, averaging
1 60 miles a day, at a cost of $10 a mile!
Under Holladay's management the stagecoach business reached its
height. It was in his time that Artemus Ward, journeying up the Platte
Valley, dryly observed en route that the Platte "would be a good river if
set on edge." During the sixties Holladay's coaches earned most of the
western travelers and western mail. He cleared a million dollars, spending
most of it on oil paintings, bronze lions, and mansions in the East.
In November 1866 the Wells Fargo Company bought out Holladay,
and continued to operate his lines until the railroads supplanted the
coaches as common carriers. The Wells Fargo Company continued in exist-
ence until July 1918, at which time the express companies merged to
form the American Railway Express, now the Railway Express Agency.
The story of freight transportation in Nebraska prior to the building of
the Union Pacific is a story of keelboats, river steamboats, pack horses, and
wagon trains. As early as 1862, however, a bold venture in steam locomo-
tion was made by Maj J. R. Brown. Acquiring a huge "steam wagon"
with lo-foot drive wheels, Brown attached ten "cars" (freight wagons) to
it, proposing to carry some 35 tons of freight over the Nebraska City-Fort
Kearney short cut. This smoke-belching truck-locomotive actually lum-
bered out of Nebraska City one spring morning, rolled over the first 8
miles of its maiden trip, and then broke down. For the next 10 years it
stood rusting by the side of the road, ultimately finding its way into a junk
heap. Meanwhile, freight continued to move at its old lazy rate of 12 or
15 miles a day, the usual gait of the long ox-drawn trains which the rail-
way and not the "steam wagon" eventually displaced.
The first telegraph line in Nebraska Territory was strung from St.
Joseph, Missouri, to Brownville in August 1860; by the end of that month
the New York Times observed that the telegraph had been extended
"westward to the half -peopled wilds of Nebraska." At the formal opening
of the telegraph office in Brownville, a greeting was sent out to the "States
of the Union."
The telegraph was extended westward to Salt Lake City, where it met
the line from San Francisco. Wires were originally strung along the road-
ways, fenceposts often being pressed into service. Telegraph companies
paid the bills ; but frequently public-spirited Nebraskans, more than will-
ing to "annihilate time and space," contributed time and money. With the
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 93
coming of the railroad, however, telegraph lines were built on the same
right of way, and their construction was financed jointly.
Although the Missouri River meanders some 3,000 miles from its re-
mote source, the headwaters of the Jefferson River in Montana, to the
point where it enters the Mississippi 20 miles above St. Louis, the Ne-
braska segment extends only about 400 miles, forming the eastern bound-
ary of the State. While it is true that the stream will permit the passage
of flat-bottomed boats as far north as Great Falls, Montana, during the
season of high water, navigators have seldom ventured beyond the mouth
of the Yellowstone. To all except the Indians and a few trappers whose
travels took them into the unknown land of the Northwest, the Missouri
River system was a mystery until 1804, when President Jefferson sent out
the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
After Lewis and Clark more hunters and trappers came, with keel boats
and mackinaws, bull boats and canoes, and crafts well adapted to the dan-
gers of the Missouri. Keel boats, light draft barges 60 to 70 feet in length,
were hauled up the river by towlines, the men walking along the bank
with the ropes over their shoulders. The mackinaw boat, very common on
the upper Missouri, was a flat-bottomed, sharp-prowed vessel propelled by
oars. The bull boat was ordinarily 25 feet long and 12 feet wide, with a
framework of long pliable poles intersected at right angles by shorter ones,
the entire structure made watertight by a covering of dressed buffalo hides.
Maj. Stephen H. Long and his party were responsible for bringing the
first steamboat up the troubled waters of the Missouri. On September 16,
1819, these men piloted the Western Engineer up to Fort Lisa, somewhat
beyond the present site of Omaha, demonstrating that the Missouri was
navigable for light-draft boats. Eleven years later the American Fur Com-
pany took advantage of this fact and launched the first fleet of engine-
driven boats to travel the Missouri River, including the Yellowstone, the
Assiniboin, the Omega, and the Ntmrod.
As early as 1854, the year of its founding, Omaha City was headquar-
ters for the Great Plains trade in buffalo hides. During its period of great-
est trade, the Omaha levee averaged one steamer a day; it was the landing
place for the West Wind, the Kate Kmney, the Star of the West, the
Omaha, the Fontenelle, and the Fannie Tatum. For the passenger trade
there were fast side-wheelers with fine cabins. Omaha's shipping industry
was thriving by 1857, when no fewer than 50 boats were running on the
Missouri River as far north as that city. During this year 174 steamboats
arrived and left over 13,000 tons of freight.
The height of this river traffic was reached in 1859, when
94 THE STATE IN REVIEW
steamboats arrived and stopped at the Omaha levee. At this time, too,
various steamboat agents were doing a rushing business in the river towns
from Brownville to Fort Benton, Montana. All through the summer
months, boats traveled the Missouri; but winter navigation, for obvious
reasons, was out of the question. As a consequence, the arrival of the first
boat in the spring was a red-letter day for the people of the river landings.
With cheers, amid roaring cannons, they flocked to the levees to see the
boat come in. There were steamboat dances, with the picturesque river cap-
tains as hosts.
In 1866 the Union Pacific Transfer Company instituted its ferry service
between Omaha City and Council Bluffs, Iowa, to handle supplies and
equipment used in the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Al-
though a good deal of the material for the new railway was brought over-
land from the East, most of it came up the Missouri to Omaha on steam-
boats. On July 6, 1866, the Elkborn steamed up to the levee, towing two
Union Pacific barges loaded with 900 bars of irons and 36,000 bushels of
coal.
By 1870 navigation on the lower Missouri had reached its height. But
the owners of stern-wheel and side-wheel steamers were losing their pros-
perity, for their welfare depended largely upon the very thing that was
soon to destroy them the railroads. Today, navigation on the Missouri
River is hardly known although a movement is now under way the Mis-
souri River Improvement Project to deepen this watercourse and confine
it to a permanent channel. If this is done, river commerce may in time re-
gain some of its early volume.
In the first years of the nineteenth century the idea of a transcontinental
railway spread through the North and West. Chief among its early pro-
moters in Nebraska were John C. Fremont and General Leavenworth, com-
mandant at Fort Atkinson who in 1825 urged the building of a Pacific
railway as a military measure The first proposal for the construction of a
railroad was contained in three memorials submitted to Congress between
1845 and 1848 by Asa Whitney, a wealthy New York merchant, who was
willing to build a road from Lake Michigan to the Pacific coast. This pro-
posal failed to win the approval of Congress, but it did put the railroad
project squarely up to that body, and for 12 years following 1850 the
matter was a national issue. Probably the most significant of various pro-
posals considered was a bill drawn up by Stephen A. Douglas which pro-
posed three great lines, one from Texas to the Pacific, one from Missouri
or Iowa to San Francisco, and one from Wisconsin to the Pacific. After the
Gvil War, when northern promoters turned to railroad building, the
BUILDING THE UNION PACIFIC
great trunk lines closely followed the routes outlined in the Douglas
measure.
In 1853 a survey of routes was authorized by Congress. Not until 1862,
however, when southern opposition to northern routes had been removed
by the secession of the southern States, was a route finally decided on.
Two years after the Pacific Railway Act, a second act was passed; it in-
creased the generous subsidies to the builders, and gave the Government
only a second mortgage on the road.
The Union Pacific was authorized to build westward to the borders of
Nevada, and the Central Pacific was to build eastward from the Pacific
Coast to meet it. Because of the land grants, great rivalry developed be-
tween the two companies. The Union Pacific had been granted a two-
hundred-foot right-of-way, as well as land for all necessary stations, de-
pots, shops, buildings, and the like; it had also been granted the right to
take earth, stone, timber, and "other materials" from the public lands for
construction purposes. In addition, "for the purpose of aiding construc-
tion . . . and to secure the safe and speedy transportation of mails, troops,
munitions of war, and public stores thereon," the company was granted
"every alternate section of public land ... to the amount of five alternate
sections per mile on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof and
96 THE STATE IN REVIEW
within the limit of ten miles on each side of said road." The Government
also issued bonds of $1,000 each at the ratio of 16 bonds to a mile.
Since the lands nearest the railroad were the ones most desired by early
settlers, the railroad companies profited greatly through the sale of their
Government grants. Though the Homestead Act of 1862 created the alter-
nate sections as public lands open to settlement, dummy homesteaders and
obliging local officials sometimes invalidated Congressional intentions.
The railroad companies instigated much of the boom literature of the
homesteading period of the West.
The new Union Pacific Company, backed by United States credit and
the fortunes of such men as Thomas Durant and W. H. Gray, obtained,
through land grants, 4,846,108 acres of land in Nebraska alone, chiefly in
the Platte Valley. The first ground for the railroad was broken at Omaha
on December 2, 1863, but the first rail was not laid until July 10, 1865.
Between these dates occurred the heated controversy over the site of the
Union Pacific's eastern terminus. Many people considered that Bellevue,
six miles south of Omaha, was the only logical "gateway to the West."
Omaha, however, was determined not to lose its commercial supremacy.
Eventually it won, and became active in the development of the railway
industry.
Despite many difficulties, westward railroad construction was soon go-
ing forward rapidly. By September 22, 1865, 10 miles of track were in
place, and more was being laid at the rate of a mile a day. Almost 250
miles of railroad were built in 1866, and 240 miles in 1867. In the fol-
lowing year 425 miles of track were completed and the rails of the Union
Pacific and the Central Pacific were united at Promontory Point, Utah, on
May 10, 1869.
Nebraska's first railroad followed the ox-bow line (now replaced by
Lane's Cut-Off) "down the Mud Creek Valley nearly to Bellevue, and
then northwest, following West Papillion Creek to a point of convergence
with the original line, between four and five miles from the place of cross-
ing the Elkhorn." West of the Elkhorn River the railway closely skirted
the north bank of the Platte and passed through Columbus, Grand Island,
and Kearney to North Platte. Here it crossed the North Platte River and
ran up the Lodgepole Valley, between the forks, to Sidney and Kimball,
then across Wyoming to the shore of Great Salt Lake.
As early as August 1866 the Union Pacific was carrying passengers
from Omaha to Kearney, a distance of 190 miles; and by May of 1868 the
same service was available as far as Cheyenne, Wyoming. Five months
later, trains were making regular runs across Wyoming to Bridger's Pass.
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 97
The completion at Omaha in 1872 of the first permanent railroad bridge
across the Missouri allowed the Union Pacific to make connections with
the three lines then spanning Iowa the Burlington & Missouri (now the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy), the Mississippi & Missouri (now the
Rock Island), and the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska (now the Chicago &
North Western).
Other railroad organizations, realizing the potentialities of a country
soon to be peopled by settlers, and encouraged by liberal land grants from
both the Federal and the State Governments, threw branch lines into the
regions south and north of the Platte in the early seventies. The Burling-
ton, starting from Plattsmouth in July 1869, reached Lincoln a year later.
In 1872 this line was extended to form a junction with the Union Pacific
at Kearney. The distance between Nebraska City and Lincoln was spanned
in 1871 by the rails of the Midland Pacific, now a part of the Burlington
system, which later built westward through Seward, York, and Aurora to
Central City. In 1870 the St. Joseph & Denver entered Nebraska, and
reached Hastings two years later. North of the Platte River, the Sioux City
& Pacific was constructed from Missouri Valley, Iowa, to Fremont, and
the Omaha & Northwestern reached Blair. The Union Pacific also built
branches to various parts of Nebraska from its trunk line running through
the State.
Though transportation by rail had its start in Nebraska in the sixties, it
was during the period 1870-1890 that the railroads wielded their great-
est influence in the making of the State. Seeing the financial unsoundness
of building railroads in an area so thinly populated as Nebraska then was,
the Union Pacific and the Burlington established immigration agencies.
They had ready at hand an irresistible bait for attracting settlers namely,
cheap land, the land granted them by the Federal and State Governments.
Handbills were scattered over the East, and even in Europe, offering this
Government-grant land for sale on easy long-time terms, and calling at-
tention to the probability of getting free homesteads.
The bait was taken; immigrants poured into the tavern which the Bur-
lington had built near Lincoln, though disillusionment came quickly
enough for many in the nineties, if not earlier. Still, the country had
been settled; and the railroads justly received much of the "credit."
Today the old steam locomotives, with their diamond-shaped smoke-
stacks, exist only in pictures or museums. Over the old pioneer lines pass
modern passenger trains or freights. The new stream-lined Diesel-powered
train was first represented by the Zephyr, now running between Lincoln
and Kansas City. During the past 65 years there has been a considerable
98 THE STATE IN REVIEW
increase in railroad mileage over most of the State, although large areas in
the northwest are still without railroad facilities. Of the 93 counties in the
State, five have no railroads at all ; and for every seven county seats having
railway service there is one without. The total mileage of the railroads
operating in Nebraska in 1937 was 6,199 miles.
Most of Nebraska's State highways are surfaced with gravel, though the
mileage of paved roads, if continuous, would extend across the State more
than four times. A total of 8,372 miles of highway is marked and main-
tained by the State highway department. Of this total, 5,899 miles are sur-
faced with gravel, 2,059 miles are paved, and 414 miles are graded with-
out surfacing. The 2,770 miles which complete the State's system of 11,142
miles are not yet maintained. Of the paved roads, 965 miles are concrete,
882 bituminous mat, and the remainder brick or asphalt.
At the time coaches were traveling the roads, and rails were being laid
in Nebraska, private transportation that is, travel by "family" vehicles
was showing a steady development. After the passing of the ox and prairie
schooner came the horse-and-buggy era: the days of the sturdy, hard-
riding "democrat wagon;" the family carriage with its polished black
trappings and kerosene lamps; the white mail wagon, square and top-
heavy, that went lurching over the rural routes; above all, the common
one-horse buggy, at its best a dashing rig with red wheels and black top
satisfactory for sky-larking, courting, or simple travel. A few of these bug-
gies and a few surreys have survived. In rainy weather they crawl over wet
country roads, and come to a stop in the bystreets of sleepy towns. But
their day was really past by the close of the World War, for by then the
automobile was becoming popular.
The first automobile in Nebraska made its appearance before 1900 ; to-
day the State has more automobiles and trucks than it has families.
One phase of this growth in motor transportation has been the increas-
ing competition given the railroads by trucks and busses. About two-thirds
of the railway mileage in the State is maintained in direct rivalry with pas-
senger busses, and much freight once carried by rail is now transported by
truck. The principal results of this rivalry have been the establishment of
bus lines by railroad companies and the abandonment, in a few cases, of
railroad branches. There are 22 bus lines now operating in Nebraska.
What motors did for travel in the State, telephones had already done
for communication. The first telephone in Nebraska was set up in Omaha
in 1877 by a telegraph official, L. H. Korty, who spoke through the in-
strument to another official, J. J Dickey, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Numer-
ous private telephone lines strung by these two men preceded the ex-
INITIATION OF ZEPHYR, NOVEMBER 12, 1934
changes later established in Omaha and Lincoln. One problem during the
infancy of the telephone was the devising of a satisfactory signaling mecha-
nism. The original method of signaling involved thumping on the trans-
mitter diaphragm with a pencil; later a hand-bell system was worked out
which is still in use on rural exchanges. Switchboard tending gave rise to
another problem. At first boys were employed as operators, but they proved
to be slow, inefficient, and not always courteous; so they were replaced by
girls.
When the telephone patents expired in the early nineties, the field was
left open to anyone. It came about that some Nebraska towns had two or
more rival switchboards, continually at war, with results somewhat discon-
certing to subscribers. Conditions are now more stable, with the State's
three principal companies, serving two-thirds of the homes in Nebraska,
doing business in comparative harmony.
Radio came to Nebraska some forty years later than the telephone. Be-
fore the present era of elegant cabinets, many tubes, and foreign reception,
neighbors were accustomed to gather about crystal sets, taking turns at
headphones, absorbing the mysteries of serial advertising and tapping toes
to jig tunes. The first interstate broadcasting was done from Hastings,
100 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Oak, and David City (KFOR). There are now ten radio broadcasting sta-
tions in Nebraska, situated in seven towns. KFAB and KFOR, Lincoln;
KGFW, Kearney; KGKY, Scottsbluff; KGNF, North Platte, KMMJ,
Clay Center; KOIL, Omaha and Council Bluffs; WAAW and WOW,
Omaha; and WJAG, Norfolk.
A monitor station is maintained near Grand Island by the United States
Government. Before the coming of radio, inhabitants of rural areas had
relatively little contact with persons and things outside their own imme-
diate sphere. Today the farmer is in touch with the world.
Transport service planes operating on the midcontinent transcontinental
route make four stops in the State at Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, and
North Platte, with Omaha as the division terminal. Twelve planes carry-
ing passengers, mail, and express are cleared from this terminal daily, and
the service is soon to be increased with the operation of 42 -passenger
Clipper Ships. Air lines also operate north and south out of Omaha, with
scheduled trips to Kansas City and the Twin Cities. They make connection
with other lines at Kansas City and St. Paul. Fourteen licensed airports,
ten auxiliary landing fields, and six Department of Commerce intermedi-
ate fields open all sections of the State to air travel. Along the lighted
Federal airways are five radio directional range stations, at Omaha, North
Platte, Grand Island, Sidney, and Hayes Center. All State aviation activi-
ties are regulated by the Nebraska Aeronautics Commission, with offices in
Lincoln.
Ethnic Elements
pioneers, native and foreign, drifted into and across Ne-
JL braska in the first half of the nineteenth century and the Government
established a number of military posts, the Territory had a population of
only 2,732 when it was created in 1854. There was no substantial immi-
gration until the passage of the first homestead act, in 1862.
Germans, who are now the largest group of foreign stock in the State
(35 percent), were the first immigrants to arrive in any number. Follow-
ing the 1848 political upheavals in Germany, many fled to America to
escape oppression at home. A group of thirty-five, most of them originally
from Schleswig-Holstein, left Davenport, Iowa, in 1857, crossed the Mis*
souri at Omaha, reached Columbus then a German settlement of eight-
een cabins and continued as far as the Wood River. On July 5, the set-
tlement that was to become Grand Island was surveyed and divided among
members of the party. In 1866 a group of 124 Germans from Wisconsin
arrived at the present site of Norfolk, at that time still unclaimed prairie.
Because of the hardships of the first winter, the colony was operated along
communal lines, all available supplies being apportioned on the basis of
need (see GRAND ISLAND).
German settlers have made a significant contribution to the State in de-
veloping the sugar-beet industry. The first step was taken in 1887 when
Henry A. Koenig, who came from a section of Germany where this indus-
try was well established, started a movement to try out sugar-beet crops in
Hall County.
The Bohemian (Czechoslovak) group now n percent of Nebraska's
foreign stock has been understandingly interpreted in Willa Cather's
books and thus made known to the country at large. In certain sections a
traveler still sees, on storefronts and mail boxes, only Bohemian names
such as Srb, Sedlacek, Velinek, Koupel, Rosicky and Shimerda. The first
settler was Charles Zulek. Establishing himself in Humboldt in 1856, he
had to walk to St. Joseph, Missouri, then the nearest trading post, for pro-
visions and carry them on his back. In 1865 other Bohemians came in
small numbers and settled in Cuming, Richardson, and Saline Counties.
102 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Meresa Klojda made her way on foot from Wisconsin to West Point, driv-
ing cattle belonging to her relatives. In the same year Bohemians filed on
homesteads near Crete, having walked all the way from Nebraska City fol-
lowing a train loaded with Government supplies.
Most of the early Bohemian immigrants were of the Chalrtpmk or "cot-
tager" class, with common-school education; they were first-rate farmers
and steady hard-working people. In Bohemia they had known nothing of
the isolated farmhouse, but had lived in villages where life was regulated
by the opinion of the community. The frontier was a complete change for
them and called for courageous adjustment.
In general the Bohemians have remained conservative in politics, lusty,
gay, and essentially simple in social life. They love their native music,
with its pronounced and unusual rhythm, especially when played by their
somewhat martial bands. The Sokol (Czech: a falcon), the international
gymnastic society founded in Prague in 1862 to develop strength of body,
keenness, and courage, was formerly powerful. It is now losing influence
in Nebraska, partly because the younger people prefer modern sports. But
life centers in the home, where many of the older generation speak only
their native language. Czech food is still served and it is extraordinarily
good. But contemporary life, particularly in the schools, is blurring the
distinctive national lines.
The first Swedish immigrants, tired from the long trip and the hard-
ships of travel, arrived in Nebraska about 1860. But the Swedes and Danes,
who today make up 17 percent of the foreign-origin group, did not set-
tle in the West in large numbers until after the Civil War. During the
i86o's news of cheap and fertile land in America came to the Scandi-
navians from their compatriots in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Farmers,
who could acquire land at home only with great difficulty, migrated in
such numbers that the Scandinavian Governments were disturbed. (Within
twenty years, Norwegian emigration to America was greater in proportion
to the home population than that from any other country except Ireland;
few, however, came to Nebraska.) The first wave of Swedish immigration
to reach the State settled in Kearney in 1865. This was soon followed by
settlements which grew up at Oakland, Saronville, Axtell, and Holdrege.
These people were capable farmers and lumbermen, persistent and frugal.
They were well adapted not only to frontier life but to the climate of
their new home.
Danish settlement began at the same time but did not reach its height
until about 1880, when substantial settlements had been established. Dana
College (originally named Trinity) was founded by the Danes at Blair in
ETHNIC ELEMENTS 103
1886. Davey in Lancaster County, and Dannebrog in Howard County
were among the first colonies. Dannebrog, together with Dannevirke
(founded in 1874) became a large Danish community.
The Danes are agricultural people and have probably done more than
any other group to advance progressive farming measures. Familiar with
the cooperative idea m their mother country, they have promoted cooper-
ative farm associations and grain elevators, stockshipping associations, and
farmers' mutual insurance organizations. They were active in the Farmers'
Alliance and similar organizations and are identified today with liberal
political groups.
The German-Russians (Russo-Germans) are comparative latecomers to
Nebraska. Their history dates back to 1770 when Catherine of Russia told
Frederick the Great that she would give free land to German settlers, and
exempt them from taxation and military service for a hundred years.
While Catherine's law remained in force, life was comparatively easy for
the Germans who migrated to Russia. But their prosperity ended with the
end of their century of privilege. Burdened with high taxes and military
duties, they sent a Reverend Mr. Starkel and two other men to find a suit-
able place for them in America. Lincoln was chosen and the German-
Russians settled there in large numbers.
Only one percent of the present population of Nebraska is Negro.
Many emancipated slaves came North after the Civil War, attracted chiefly
to Kansas; but when the promised "plenty for all" did not materialize,
they moved into Nebraska and other western States. By 1880 the Negro
population of Nebraska was 2,395; today it numbers 13,752. It is note-
worthy that all but 488 of Nebraska's Negroes are concentrated in Omaha
and Lincoln. The Negro has legal equality since the early 1890*5 there
have been Negro members in the State legislature but economic equality
is largely theoretical. He works chiefly in the lower paid jobs of the rail-
road and packing industries. The group as a whole is becoming better edu-
cated and a number are making their way into the professions and higher
wage-earning brackets. Fraternal and other organizations, chief among
which is the Urban League, are increasingly active in promoting their so-
cial and industrial welfare (see OMAHA).
The present population of Nebraska is 1,377,953 (U. S. Census).
While only 115,300 are foreign born, nearly 480,000 are of foreign
stock: 168,000 German; 52,000 Bohemian; 50,000 Swedish; 33,000 Dan-
ish; 31,000 Russian; 23,000 English; 26,000 Irish; and 16,000 Polish.
Nebraska has more people born in other States than any other Midwest
State except Kansas 363,000 or 26.8 percent. This seems symptomatic of
104 THE STATE IN REVIEW
the hopefulness that inspired migrations, chiefly rural, from older settled
areas. The gradual adaptation to new environment, alterations in attitudes,
and even in physical types among the settlers and their descendants would
be a fascinating study. For here, as Alexander Porterfield wrote in the
London Mercury, "Pole and German, Slav and Czech and Anglo-Saxon
with their varied and conflicting customs and traditions are being slowly
merged into an indigenous whole."
STORIES belong on the frontier, where story-telling whiles away lonely
hours, solves problems, and projects heroic symbols. In this way folk
tales and for that matter folk songs have double value, as fantasy and
as history; in extending life they also reflect ways of living. Nebraska
folklore is thus part of the history of the Middle Western frontier. Tra-
ditions themselves are migrants and settlers, and have a way of becoming
adapted to changing circumstance; but whatever survives of this heritage
of fantasy and faith is valid lore of the region to which it has been
transplanted.
The very place names of Nebraska have their stories, rooted in local tra-
dition. The most obvious of these names like Trunk Butte and Saddle
Butte merely suggest the natural formations they label. Others tell of the
finding of objects that marked the spot: thousands of buffalo and cattle
skeletons at Bone Creek, a relic of an Indian burial at Broken Bow.* Still
others are mementoes of frontier encounters. At Sowbelly Canyon a res-
cue party came to the aid of a band of soldiers who had run out of rations
while hard-pressed by Indians even the dry salt bacon, which was all the
rescuers had, must have tasted good to the soldiers. At Rawhide Creek a
white man from a wagon train was tied to a tree and skinned alive, be-
cause he had kept his vow to kill the first Indian he saw. Sowbelly and
Rawhide bite the tongue and the imagination. But Weeping Water Creek
is one of those specious misnomers that absurdly, if sweetly, testify to the
white man's ignorance of the Indian's language. A confusion of two In-
dian words caused the creek to "weep" instead of "rustle," and gave rise
to a sentimental tale: A beautiful Indian maiden was abducted by a re-
jected suitor while she was bathing in the lake near Weeping Water vil-
lage In the bloody fight that followed the pursuit of her captor, all her
father's tribesmen were slain, and the women mourning their dead wept
a stream of tears.
Certain localities preserve tradition not in their names but in stories at-
tached to the places themselves, and here local history must yield to folk-
lore the more marvelous exploits of frontier heroes and villains. The
105
106 THE STATE IN REVIEW
shooting of Dave McCanles and his two companions by young William
Hickok at Rock Creek Station was thereafter magnified into the "McCan-
les Massacre" in order to glorify the name of "Wild Bill." North of
the Platte was the scene of the nine-months' trek of Hugh Glass after
he had been mangled by a grizzly bear and left by his companions to die.
Along and beyond the Missouri, Mike Fink spread his reputation as a
crack shot and a "ring- tailed roarer" the hero of the keel boatmen.
On the model of these actual heroes the plainsman, with humorous
exaggeration, invented mythical figures who did the business of pioneer-
ing as he would like to have done it. The most recent of these, Febold
Feboldson, has been popularized largely through the work of Paul R.
Beath, who has assembled and edited a collection of Febold tales from
material originally published by Wayne Carroll and Don Holmes in the
Independent and the Times of Gothenburg, Nebraska. According to Mr.
Beath, "Year by year more and more odds and ends of narrative material
have fastened themselves to the Febold legend until to-day his name has
become a by-word with people who know of his adventures." (Nebraska
Folklore Pamphlets, Number 5.) While the scholars worry over the au-
thenticity of Febold, we may enjoy his yarning from the Liars' Bench.
Reminiscent of a long line of tall men from the backwoods, Davy Crock-
ett to the superman Paul Bunyan, Febold "liked a good big job" and,
whether it was drought-busting or killing off grasshoppers and coyotes, he
was generally equal to the task. It was Febold who laid a straight boun-
dary line between Kansas and Nebraska, after Paul Bunyan with his blue
ox, Babe, had failed, ridiculously, by plowing a crooked furrow (now the
Republican River). Febold spent fifteen years breeding eagles with bees
until he had bees as big as eagles. Then all he had to do was hitch one of
his best specimens to a plow, and make a bee-line between the two States.
Febold was always good at picking assistants. Before the days of machin-
ery, he used the happy auger (cousin of the dismal sauger) to pinch-hit
as a digger of post holes. (This was after red cedar posts had taken the
place of the posts Febold furnished by digging post holes in the fall and
letting them freeze all winter, then digging them up before the first
spring thaw, varnishing them, and stringing them with wire ) The auger,
a peculiar animal resembling the kangaroo, had a habit of spinning round
on its heavy corkscrew tail every time it sat down, thus screwing the tail
several feet into the ground. Febold then would sneak up behind the poor
creature and fire a six-shooter, scaring the auger so that it jumped twenty
jfeet into the air and left the prettiest post hole imaginable.
The appeal and the appropriateness of Febold lie in his pioneer in-
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS IOy
genmty and inventiveness the heritage of the modern business man and
politician with whom he has much in common. Realizing that the day of
miracles was over and that the land must be conquered by science, Febold
finally went off to California to study irrigation and forestry against a
second coming though some say he went to enjoy well-earned peace in
his old age.
Antome Barada, strong man of the Missouri River, played Hercules to
the wily Ulysses, Febold. Between them they share legendary honors for
brain and brawn. Antoine, unlike Febold, was not one to take his time
and figure things out for himself; rather, with the innocence of a child
and the restlessness of a tiger, he was apt to lose his patience and dis-
cover things quite by accident. That was what happened, for instance,
when, tired of watching a pile-driver at work on a 40-foot hitching post
for a boat, Antoine picked up the derrick and threw it over into Iowa,
and then smote the post with his mighty fist. The post went so deep into
the earth that it formed an artesian well that spouted 50 feet into the air,
and all in the vicinity surely would have drowned had not Antoine sat
upon the hole until every one had rushed to safety.
Historical foundations have been supplied for both the Febold and the
Antome legends. Bergstrom Stromsberg, Febold's nephew and chronicler,
has been traced by Paul Beath to Olaf Bergstrom, a Swedish adventurer
who led a party of immigrants to America and later disappeared. Antoine
had a historical namesake, the son of a Parisian count and an Omaha Indian
maiden, who lies buried at the little village of Barada (see lour I), where
tales of the mythical hero are especially persistent. Told at old settlers' pic-
nics, during the midday meal of threshing crews, and around red-hot
stoves in wintertime, his superhuman feats in wrestling, throwing, and
long-distance jumping suggest the very contests in which his narrators
might have engaged. So folk tales embalm not only history but folkways
and fantasy.
The trials and triumphs of Nebraska pioneer life are similarly reflected
and commented on with humor (but with none of the gags of Febold,
which smack of literary comedy) in the homesteader and cowboy songs
that are found side by side with the English and Scottish ballads and other
Old World pieces (see MUSIC). The pioneer, when he needed a song
to fit an occasion, was quick to adapt words or tune. "The Little Old Sod
Shanty on the Claim," is a parody of the pseudo-Negro song "The Little
Old Log Cabin in the Lane/' by Will S. Hays (1871), and has been at-
tributed to or claimed by many. In Nebraska, Emery Miller is said to have
written it while holding down a claim in the eighties. As in that other
108 THE STATE IN REVIEW
homesteader's complaint (also recovered in Nebraska), "Starving to Death
on a Government Claim," the bachelor of the soddy shows true pioneer
humor and independence in making the best of a bad deal leather
hinges, paneless windows, howling blizzards, hungry coyotes, and all.
My clothes are plastered o'er with dough, I'm looking like a fright,
And everything is scattered round the room,
But I wouldn't give the freedom that I have out in the West
For the table of the Eastern man's old home.
More loyalty than fortitude is displayed in "The Kinkaider's Song," an
idyllic picture of the sandhills dedicated to Moses P. Kinkaid, author of
the Homestead Act of 1904, which cut the last of the Nebraska free land
into 640-acre sections. "The Kinkaider's Song," still popular at sandhill
picnics and reunions, is sung to the tune of "My Maryland" and is in the
tradition of State songs strong on tribute and weak on rhyme.
The corn we raise is our delight,
The melons, too, are out of sight
Potatoes grown are extra fine
And can't be beat in any clime.
The peaceful cows in pastures dream
And furnish us with golden cream.
So I shall keep my Kinkaid home
And never far away shall roam,
In parodies, however, the sandhiller spared neither truth nor feelings.
I've reached the land of drouth and heat,
Where nothing grows for man to eat.
For wind that blows with burning heat,
Nebraska land is hard to beat.
Al Reneau was a ranchman's name,
Skinning Kinkaiders was his game,
First mortgages only, at a high per cent,
Jew you down on your cattle to the last red cent.
The last word in and of grim realism is the rhyme carved on the door of
a deserted shack in the dry-land table near Chadron in the nineties, as re-
corded by Mari Sandoz in Old Jules (1935) :
30 miles to water
20 miles to wood
10 miles to hell
And I gone there for good.
Hell, as painted by a "sky pilot" at a sandhill revival, is described by the
same author in "Sandhill Sundays" (Folk-Say, A Regional Miscellany:
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS 109
1931) in terms of the same waterless and treeless land familiar to sand-
hill sinners.
You see them heat waves out there on the prairie "> Them's the fires of hell, lick-
ing round your feet, burning your feet, burning your faces red as raw meat, drying
up your crops, drawing the water out of your wells ' You see them thunderheads,
shining like mansions in the sky but spurting fire and shaking the ground under
your feet? God is mad, mad as hell!
In the sandhill country, where the going was tougher, leaner, and lone-
lier, and the folklore tougher, fatter, and more plentiful, history may be
retraced in the amusements of the people. The "nesters" gradually sup-
plemented revivals with husking-bees, feather-stripping parties, socials,
sings, masquerades, literaries, and dances. The literary programs in the
schoolhouses featured spell- downs, songs ("Love is Such a Funny, Funny
Thing/ 1 "Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie"), recitations ("The
Deacon's Courtship," "The Face on the Barroom Floor/'), and debates on
such questions as Popular Elections of Our Presidents, the British Colonial
Policy ("Resolved, that the Irish should be free,") and ("Resolved, that
Grant was a great butcher instead of a great general"). People came to
the dances from as far as forty miles away in wagons or on horseback, in
response to some such invitation as the following inserted in the news
columns of the community paper:
Party and dance at Cravath's December 2. Dinner from one to seven.
Beds and breakfasts for all. Everybody come.
After the midnight snack of coffee and ham sandwiches, there might
be a "chapping" match, in which two swains drew lots and took turns
whacking each other with half of a horsebacker's leather chaps (unlaced
to allow the two legs to fall apart), the victor being rewarded with the
pick of a girl, if he had none.
With the sheepmen came coyote hunts, to round up the sheep killers.
The chase was perhaps less important than the big dinner which followed,
on long boards over barrels in the barn. Later the Kinkaiders, many of
them Easterners, brought in Sunday schools and ladies' aids; and those
who had "Methodist feet," or religious objections to dancing, skipped,
instead, at play-parties or bounce-arounds, to the vigorously rhythmic words
and tunes such as "Skip to My Lou/' "Three Little Girls Went Skating on
the Ice," "Old Brass Wagon." They also ran foot races and played cha-
rades, guessing games, and children's games Pussy Wants a Corner, Drop
the Handkerchief, and All the Ones in Free With the railroads came the
IIO THE STATE IN REVIEW
combination farmer and stockman; sandhill Sundays were ranch Sundays;
and the corral was the scene of informal rodeos or scratching matches, in
which cowpunchers showed ofF before the girls by scratching (roweling or
raking with the spurs) horses that were sullen and refused to pitch.
Just before the coming of the automobile, old settlers and their children
were distinguished from newer settlers by annual barbecues given in their
honor. After the huge dinner (served on tables made of salt barrels and
planks covered with white cloths) there were contests for all fat men's,
sack, three-legged, potato, and peanut races, a wagon race for the women
and, for the young cowpunchers, bucking broncho contests and wild cow,
wild mule, and surcingle races.
Today modern dances have not entirely displaced the shindigs, play
parties, sociables, box suppers, and community fish fries. The old coopera-
tive entertainments also survive, in somewhat commercialized form, in the
many local and seasonal festivals held annually over the State. Old-timers'
reunions compete with carnival features in the King Korn carnival at
Plattsmouth, the Friendly Festival at Hay Springs, the Panhandle Stam-
pede at Alliance, the Oregon Trail Days at Gering, and the Wmnebago
Indian and Massacre Canyon Pow-wows at Wmnebago and Trenton.
In some localities national groups have endeavored to preserve Old-
World customs and traditions in such community observances as Omaha's
Bohemian "Grape Harvest/* the Italian Festival of Santa Lucia (see
OMAHA), and the widespread German Sangerfest (see MUSIC). But
community expression is not limited to holiday celebrations or to dancing,
singing, and playing together ; it is found also, in rural districts, in such
kindly workaday customs as husking corn, plowing for a sick neighbor,
and bringing gifts of food to a house in which there has been a death.
The life of the individual is further colored by traditional belief and
inherited idiom. Local influence is less palpable however, in the proverbial
signs and prophecies, concerning weather, crops, cures, character, love and
marriage, wishes and dreams. These belong rather to the universal lore of
superstition, which is circulated with varying degrees of faith and skep-
ticism. The most interesting folk beliefs have practical relation to farm
life, such as the use of plants and animals in portents and remedies. For
example, a severe winter is predicted by the thickness of corn husks, of the
fur coats of animals, or of the houses built by muskrats. To cure warts,
"Walk in the woods until you find the bone of an animal, rub the bone
carefully over the wart with the side which was next to the ground, then
dig a hole in the ground and bury the bone. When it decays, the wart will
be gone." Other remedies of local interest are those of reputed Indian
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS III
origin, such as the Pawnee wash for inflamed eyes made from the root of
wild roses and the Pawnee salve for burns made from the pulverized root
of the cattail plant.
A stronger local color and regional flavor adhere to speech, especially
to sandhill talk and Nebraska pioneer English. Through the terms and
phrases that have come in with successive waves of migration, the history
of Nebraska settlement may be traced. Fur-traders, trappers, hunters, boat-
men, soldiers, Indians, pioneers, buffalo hunters, railroaders, settlers, spec-
ulators, squatters, homesteaders and townspeople not only opened and
built up a new country but also developed a new language a lingo of the
river, the fort, the post, the trail, the farm, and the ranch. These linguistic
deposits form an invaluable record of the land and the people their food,
clothes, dwellings, household articles, tools, implements, transportation,
trading, and social customs. Peculiarly expressive are the terms describing
the sandhill region: blow-out (hollow), white-cap (a high hill scarred
with blow-outs), choppies or chop-hills (billows of hills mostly bare of
grass), dune-sand (unfit for cultivation), hogback and turtleback (hills
or ridges suggesting these forms), nigger- wool sod, and howler (the ter-
rific wind that brings blizzards). And eloquent of the life of the sand-
hiller are: Kinkaider (settler under the act of 1904), to kinkaid, a kinkaid
(640 acres), Texas gate (several bands of wire stapled to sticks attached
by wire loops to the fence posts), to juice or pail a cow, cream day (Sat-
urday, when cream and eggs are taken to the store), hangout (inland store
or post office), on pump (buying necessities at the store on credit), hay
burner (a boiler-like heating contrivance stuffed with twisted hay and
turned face down on the open stove), bible (mail order catalog), groan
box (organ), grub-line rider (a bachelor or widower who "makes" a good
cook's home just before mealtime to get a free meal), schoolmarm chasers
(eligible young men interested in teachers), and catalog woman (a wife
obtained through a matrimonial bureau).
Tradition touches the lives of Nebraska folk lightly, with a guiding
rather than a restraining hand guiding them wisely and wittily into a
future that has its roots in the past.
With the close of the harvest season and its dawn-to-dark labor, the
farmer is free to indulge his repressed yearning for the sportsman's life.
Frosty mornings, when the newly risen sun slants across the silvered stub-
ble, find the farmer afield with gun and dog, watching alertly for the
white flash of the cottontail. A China pheasant cock, rising with a raucous
cry of alarm, spreads gorgeous wings and sails majestically toward safety,
but the gun cracks and the noble bird drops in mid-flight to the brown
112 THE STATE IN REVIEW
fields below At such moments the modern husbandman reverts in spirit to
his forebears, the pioneer hunters of the virgin prairies.
In small communities, especially, a good deal of recreational activity has
been weakened somewhat in late years by the radio, the movies, and the
ease of getting into an automobile and driving to other towns. But it still
remains for the schools to supply about the only stage entertainment that
the average farmer or small-towner sees from one year's end to another
the junior and senior class plays and the school picnic usually held on
the last day before vacation is a scrambled hilarious affair for parents and
pupils both, leaving the school grounds littered with no end of paper
plates, sandwich crusts, bits of deviled eggs, and other scraps.
The church supper, held once or twice a year with most congregations
as a means of raising money, might not be much of an event for city-
dwellers accustomed to eating out; but for rural people it is something
of a treat to get together in a crowded basement, exchange gossip, inhale
the inevitable smell of coffee, and choose their dinner from two or three
tables loaded down with all kinds of food. The election dinner is much
the same kind of festivity; usually given by the ladies' aid or some other
society in the town hall or church on the evening of election day. The
annual church picnic, generally held on a hot late-summer day, provides
many hard-working Nebraskans with one of their few chances to get to
a park where there are trees, maybe to go swimming if there is a pool,
and to take part in the races or ball games that are ordinarily on the pro-
gram.
Rodeos held in various parts of the State when local finances allow
(as in North Platte or Burwell) still attract good crowds. Purses, if high
enough, draw excellent riders from all over the West. When Indians fur-
nish part of the entertainment generally with dances and ceremonials
the smell of dried meat hung out on lines in their camp is pungent and
unforgettable.
Medicine shows do not travel about as often as they used to, but now
and then one comes along, sets up a tent at the edge of town, and enter-
tains the citizenry with farce and robustious burlesque, the gags adapted
to local consumption. Candy or cure-all remedies are sold between acts,
and cumulative interest during the run is stimulated by some sort of pop-
ularity contest ("Buy one bottle of Pinkney's Liniment and it's ten votes
for your best girl . . .").
Football in Nebraska is more than a diversion for college students. A
State university game is an event talked about and eagerly followed by
rural and urban fans. If the day of a football game is not too cold or
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS 113
rainy, the streets of Lincoln are sure to be jammed with people and cars,
brightened with pennants and chrysanthemums. The highways are crowded
for miles around. Broadcasts of games are picked up in almost every store
and gas station from Omaha to the western border; farmers sometimes
neglect their cornhuskmg in the afternoon to hear the game over the
radio.
Some form of community recreation is generally provided in the course
of the year by town businessmen who often promote an annual Home-
coming Day supposedly an occasion for all native sons in the outside
world to visit the home town. A common feature of Homecoming Day is
the carnival on Main Street with its ferris wheel, merry-go-round, gam-
bling stands, sideshows advertising the biggest snake in the world, and the
like. There are usually races, a ball game, speeches and "readings" de-
livered from an improvised platform; church members sell ice cream and
cake and lemonade from stands or in "Japanese Gardens"; and the town
is in a furore from early morning to late at night.
Business men are responsible, too, for the weekly free movies that in
late years have become so important a part of community life in the sum-
mer. One evening a week a traveling operator is hired to put on a full bill
in the open air. The screen is set fairly high, so that people who drive in
from the country can see the show from automobiles parked behind the
rows of wooden benches. Crowds as a rule are enormous ; the streets are
lined with cars ; the spectators, many of them tired from their day in the
fields, sit quiet and attentive while the film plot unfolds its tale of danger
or romance. Before or after the show, people do their trading in the stores ;
between reels they talk, dodge the wads of grass that children throw at
one another, and watch for f ailing stars.
E pioneer missionaries among the Pawnee^nd Oto Indians were
JL also the first teachers in early Nebraska, as in other frontier sections.
Moses Merrill, a Baptist, preached Nebraska's first sermon at Bellevue in
1833; in the following year the Reverend Samuel Allis arrived to work
among the Pawnee for the next ten years. By 1837 the Baptists had estab-
lished a mission school on Blackbird Hill for the Omaha, and in the fol-
lowing year Father Pierre Jean de Smet began his thirty years of service
as a missionary to the Indians of the Platte and Upper Missouri Valleys.
These men taught the Indians Christian theology, farming, and the rudi-
ments of elementary education.
Education
White people were few in number prior to 1854 because of Federal re-
strictions, but a school had been established at Fort Atkinson (military
post and first Nebraska town) as early as 1820, and the first school for
white children outside of the fort was opened at Bellevue in 1849. Other
.schools were set up here and there through the sparsely settled country in
cabins and dugout. Teachers were paid their small wages by the parents,
and the youngsters bent over the few available books McGuffey's read-
ers, Roy's and Webster's arithmetics, and dog-eared spellers.
The first Territorial Legislature in 1855 enacted a free school law,
providing for school districts and school boards. Teachers were examined
by the school boards, and amusing stories are told of these examinations.
After 1869 when a change was made in the law, elected county super-
intendents examined the teachers The Territorial librarian served as
superintendent of education. Plans were also made for high schools and
colleges. The former, however, were not free, and what little secondary
education existed was confined to the cities in the eastern part of the State
and financed privately and locally.
During the first Territorial decade, 1854-64, the legislature showed
great enthusiasm for chartering colleges which, for the most part, existed
114
EDUCATION AND RELIGION 115
only on paper. Nemaha University at Archer, one of the so-called "paper
colleges," never materialized because the town itself disappeared. Ne-
braska University at Fontanelle, Simpson College at Omaha, Brownville
College at Brownville, existed for only a short time. More fortunate was
the Peru Seminary and College, which was chartered in 1860 and is still
a State teachers' college. In 1864 the Territorial legislature set stricter
standards for founding colleges.
The Enabling Act, passed by the National Congress in the same year,
carried provisions for liberal grants to encourage education in the new
State. These included absolute grants of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sec-
tions in every township for the support of common schools, and seventy-
two sections for the use and support of a State university. Five percent of
the proceeds of all sales by the National Government of land within the
State (minus incidental expenses) was set aside to defray the expenses
of common schools. Approximately 1,600,000 acres of this school land
still remain and are now owned by the State. Its sale is prohibited by a
law enacted in 1897, except for school, church, and cemetery purposes.
The first State legislature (1867) made Lincoln the capital of Nebraska,
and authorized the establishment of a State university in that city. Twelve
acres of land and $100,000 were set aside, and the cornerstone of the first
building was laid in 1869.
The present educational system embracing elementary and high
schools, colleges, and institutions for groups requiring special training
has grown from these beginnings. A measure of its effectiveness may be
seen in Nebraska's literacy rating which is equalled by that of only three
States and excelled by only three.
The elementary school system is thorough and comprehensive. The pub-
lic primary schools take care of 192,000 children, approximately 98 per-
cent of the children between the ages of seven and thirteen, while 22,500
pupils are enrolled in private and parochial primary schools. The rural
school system functions through 6,040 school districts. The one-room, one-
teacher "country schools" are still common, but the trend is toward con-
solidated schools with bus transportation for pupils. More than 220 busses
are now in use, carrying the children to and from the 59 consolidated
schools and 26 rural high schools.
High schools were not free until 1875, when the State constitution in-
cluded them in die public school system. Thereafter they developed rap-
idly, especially in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Today the
State has approximately a thousand high schools, of which 750 are public,
and the remainder either parochial or private.
Il6 THE STATE IN REVIEW
The University of Nebraska opened in 1871 in a single building, with
a chancellor, a faculty of four, and twenty students. Today it includes ten
colleges: arts and sciences, graduate, engineering, law, teachers, pharmacy,
business administration, and dentistry at Lincoln ; agriculture on a separate
campus nearby; and medicine at Omaha. Connected with the College of
Agriculture are experiment substations at North Platte, Mitchell, Valen-
tine, and Alliance; the fruit farm at Union; the State serum plant at Lin-
coln; and a secondary school at Curtis. The total student enrollment for
the university (1935-36) was 11,000, with a faculty of approximately
325.
The State has a well distributed system of modern library facilities. The
Nebraska Public Library Commission, with headquarters in the Capitol at
Lincoln, circulates books to every part of the State, supplementing local
library service. The State Library, which has been developed chiefly as a
law library, is considered one of the best of its kind in the country. Public
libraries are maintained in the larger towns and cities. A recent study
shows that 63 percent of the schools in 79 of the 93 counties also have
libraries.
Teachers are trained at the four State normal colleges at Peru, Chadron,
Wayne, and Kearney. The following institutions provide education and
care for special groups: The Nebraska Institution for Feebleminded at
Beatrice, the Nebraska School for the Blind at Nebraska City, the Ne-
braska School for the Deaf at Omaha, the Girl's Training School at Gen-
eva, the State Industrial School at Kearney, the Nebraska Home for De-
pendent Children at Lincoln, and the Orthopedic Hospital at Lincoln.
Chief among the seventeen denominational colleges, in alphabetical
order, are: Concordia College (Lutheran), Seward; Creighton University
(Roman Catholic), Omaha; Doane College at Crete (under both Congre-
gational and Protestant Episcopal control); Hastings College (Presby-
terian), Hastings; Hebron College and Academy (both Lutheran) ; Luther
College at Wahoo; Midland College (Lutheran), Fremont; Nebraska
Wesleyan University (Methodist), Lincoln; Nebraska Central College
maintained by the Society of Friends, Central City; Union College at Lin-
coln (Seventh Day Adventist) ; and York College (United Brethren).
Religion
Nebraska's religious history began when Moses Merrill, a Baptist min-
ister, preached the first sermon in Bellevue in 1833. ** e was authorized
by the Baptist board to build a "dwelling house and a school," the cost to
EDUCATION AND RELIGION Iiy
be $500. The missionary priest, Father de Smet, and ministers of other faiths
(as has been noted) also came during the 1830'$ primarily to teach the In-
dians. But during the years immediately following the opening of the Ne-
braska Territory (1854), the chief denominations began to establish
churches among the white settlers.
For a time missionary zeal charted the course of religious history, but it
was mainly influenced by immigration, since racial and national groups
in general maintained their native religious affiliations. The first mission-
aries in Nebraska were Baptist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Catholic,
all arriving in the period between 1833 and 1840.
The largest single church group is the Roman Catholic with a member-
ship of 154,889. Next in membership are the Lutheran with 121,916 and
the Methodist Episcopal Church with 92,820. Total membership of all
other Protestant groups is 406,664. This comprises the Presbyterian, 33,343 ;
Disciples of Christ, 26,182; Congregationalist, 20,977; Northern Baptist,
19,145; Protestant Episcopal, 12,726; and all other denominations (in-
cluding the Jewish), 79,555. Thus Nebraska's total church membership
is 561,553.
The first Catholic Mass was celebrated in Omaha in May 1855 ky a
priest from Saint Joseph, Missouri. Two years later Nebraska was desig-
nated as a separate apostolic vicarate. When the first vicar, the Right Rev-
erend James O'Gorman, was consecrated in Omaha on May 8, 1859, he
found only two clergymen in the territory, serving three hundred families
along the eastern river towns. Growth was quick, however, and four years
later the Catholic population numbered about 7,000, including Indians.
Catholic organization of the region south of the Platte River kept pace.
The first Mass in Lincoln was celebrated at the home of Blacksmith John
Daly in 1867. In that year Gov. David Butler gave three lots at Thir-
teenth and M Streets for the erection of the first Catholic church in
the city. When the Burlington Railroad built its right of way westward
in 1871, the Reverend William Kelly of Lincoln followed the construc-
tion gangs, which included many Catholics. By 1887 the South Platte re-
gion had been made into an independent diocese. Many Catholic groups
came to Omaha and farther West into Nebraska at this time, and special
impetus was given to the Church's growth by the Irish Catholics who set-
tled in Greeley County in 1879.
Pioneer work for the Lutheran faith began when the Reverend H. W.
Kuhn, Trinity Lutheran missionary, came West from Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1858 and preached the first Lutheran sermon in the front room
of the Bates House, Dakota City, in November of that year. At about the
Il8 THE STATE IN REVIEW
same time, the Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, now known as the
Kountee Memorial Church, was organized in Omaha, and the First Ger-
man Lutheran Church was established at Fontanelle. Thereafter, Lutheran-
ism grew steadily and spread throughout the State. Various synods as well as
small schools and colleges were organised. The wave of German immigra-
tion in the early iSyo's further strengthened the Lutheran Church, Today
it includes most of the State's Scandinavian population, particularly the
Swedish colonies at Stromsburg, Wausa, Oakland, and Newman Grove,
and the Danish in Howard County. The Lutheran Church in Dakota City
claims the distinction of being the oldest church building still in use in the
State. It was erected in 1860.
Methodism was brought to Nebraska in the 1850*5 and its growth was
due in large part to the energetic work of its early ministers. Unlike
Catholicism and Lutheranism, its membership was not augmented by large
immigrant groups. The Reverend W. H. Good of Indiana, who was sent
to Nebraska by his Church to report on topography and population in
1854, found about five hundred families and was appointed presiding
elder of the Nebraska district. In December of the same year the first
quarterly meeting of the Church was held in the Old Fort Kearney Hotel
in Nebraska City, and the Reverend W. D. Gage (for whom Gage County
was named) came there to live. The Reverend Hiram Burch, who suc-
ceeded Gage, is credited with having directed the building of the State's
first Methodist church at Nebraska City, in 1856.
The Reverend Edward McKinney, representing the Presbyterian board,
came to Nebraska in 1846, built a mission house, and began work among the
Omaha and Oto. The first Presbyterian church, organized in 1855 by the
Reverend William Hamilton, was built the following year. In Nebraska, as
elsewhere, the Presbyterians divided into the New School and Old School
Assemblies, but reunion was effected in 1870 and Nebraska, Wyoming,
Montana, and Utah became part of the Missouri River Synod. Later, Ne-
braska was made a separate synod.
The first representative of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
to reach Nebraska was the Reverend Foster, who preached a sermon on
the North Platte near the present site of Ogalalla on June 15, 1845. Rich-
ard Brown and Joel M. Wood founded Brownville in 1854 anc ^ organ-
ized the first Christian church in the following year.
In 1834 the first Congregational missionaries (sent by the American
Board) came to Nebraska. They were Rev. John Dunbar, Rev. Samuel
Allis, and their wives. Rev. Reuben Gaylord, who came to Omaha in 1854,
EDUCATION AND RELIGION 119
established the first Congregational churches in the State. He is called
"The Father of Congregationalism in Nebraska."
The Baptist Church was organized in Nebraska City in August 1855
with 22 members, but there had been Baptist ministers in Nebraska for
twenty years before that time. The denomination has in its later years
taken an active part in the temperance movement, seeking to suppress the
manufacture, sale, and use of alcoholic drinks. Most of the State's Negro
population are Baptists or Methodists. In some cases whole congregations
came from the South and either brought their own pastors with them or
sent for them later; frequently the order was reversed, the pastor blazing
the trail and often serving as agent in securing work for his people before
they arrived. The main impetus to Negro church organization was from
the Negroes who came to Nebraska during the "World "War period.
The Mormons do not live in separate colonies in the State today, but
during the years of their migration to Utah, they contributed a unique
chapter to the religious story. In 1846 about 12,000 Mormons camped
temporarily in the Missouri River Valley. One of their settlements, called
"Winter Quarters" at the present site of Florence, a suburb of Omaha
was partially financed by Mormon soldiers who had served in the Mexi-
can War. From this base "the pioneer company'* moved to the Mormon
rendezvous on the Elkhorn and from there, under the leadership of Brig-
ham Young, made the long trek to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. In
1847 fa e Mormons on the west side of the Missouri River were ordered
to leave because the Indians complained that they used up too much game
and timber. Many of them did not join the march to Utah but founded
settlements in Niobrara, Genoa, and elsewhere. For a time they main-
tained their separate identity.
Many other denominations and sects of varying size take their place in
Nebraska's religious picture. The Seventh Day Adventists, the Protestant
Episcopalians, the Mennonites, and the Quakers maintain churches and col-
leges, and there are also some Unitarian, Christian Scientist, and Jewish
congregations.
Paralleling the general trend found in racial and national groups, the
religious denominations are working together in harmony and in some
instances combining for worship under the same roof. A growing tolerance
is uniting members of different denominations in their efforts for social
betterment.
<<<< a >>>>
Art and Music
T in Nebraska has had a swift and eccentric development from
tepee murals to surrealist painting in little more than a hundred
years owing to the rapidity of change in the State's economic and social
life.
At the beginning of the State's history the only art was Indian carved
rocks, decorated calumets and weapons, pictures on tepees, buckskin orna-
mented with painted porcupine quills, and beaded fabrics. The art of the
Indians, however, had little bearing on the later cultural development of
the State, but the life and environment of the Indians themselves fur-
nished subject matter for numerous artist-adventurers who went among
the tribes with canvases and sketchbooks.
The first white painter in Nebraska was Samuel Seymour, official artist
with Maj. Stephen H. Long's expedition. At Engineer Cantonment in
1819 he produced many pictures of councils held with the Oto and the
Pawnee, and numerous sketches of animals and landscapes.
An artist more prolific and more renowned than Seymour was George
Catlin, sympathetic observer of Indian life, who went up the Missouri
River in 1832 and returned in 1833. During that time he made pictures
of Nebraska scenes, and portraits and drawings of Nebraska's Pawnee,
Omaha, Oto, and Ponca Indians. Typical examples from the Smithsonian
Institution's Catlin Collection, Washington, D. G, are Blackbird's Grave,
Bellevue, and Mouth of the Platte River. Karl Bodmer, Swiss contempo-
rary of Catlin, accompanied Prince Maximilian von Wied-Neuwied on his
exploring party up the Missouri in 1833 and painted such Nebraska scenes
as Belle Vue, Major Daugherty's Post, the Steamer Yellowstone on April
19, 1833, and Tents of the Poncas on the Banks of the Missouri.
After 1833 art remained more or less dormant until given new impetus
in 1854 by Stanislas W. Y. Schimonsky and George Simons, artists who
concerned themselves not only with Indians but also with characteristic
views of frontier trading posts, steamboat landings, claim cabins, and
mission buildings. This was the period of romantic landscape and genre
painting in American art. The industrial seaboard was looking to the West
ART AND MUSIC 121
for expansion, and American culture was dominated by this impulse. Dur-
ing the years 1854-59 numerous artists were sent out by eastern publish-
ing houses and railroad companies with instructions to paint flattering pic-
tures of the West, in order to attract prospective immigrants. Many of
these men proved to be able craftsmen.
In the years following 1853 the confusion of homesteading and State-
making left little time for artistic creation. Domestic arts were mostly
crude and strictly utilitarian. Home-made chairs were at best three-legged
stools, and at worst, nail kegs slightly remodeled. Tables were hewn of
cottonwood or simply made from drygoods boxes. Dippers and other
utensils were made by working on solid blocks of wood with a gouge.
Pails and small tubs called piggins and noggens were made of staves at
home. Scrubbing brooms were often made by cutting the lower end of a
hickory pole to splinters; better brooms were fashioned of broom corn.
Housewives practiced the finer domestic arts the making of quilts, hats,
and yarn-and-cardboard mottoes to hang on the wall; spinning the woolen
cloth that was later dyed and made into garments; weaving rag rugs to
spread over the mats of prairie hay on sod-house floors.
The only artist of any consequence during the early years of statehood
was Yosette La Flesche Tibbies, an Omaha Indian born at Bellevue in
1854. Mrs. Tibbies produced many paintings and also illustrated in color
a book printed in 1898: Oo-Mah-Ha Ta-Wa-Tha, by Fannie Reed Giffen.
These illustrations are said to be the first artistic work ever published by
an American Indian.
As the pioneer quality of life faded and the State grew to resemble
older and more settled communities, Nebraskans turned their attention to
cultural self -improvement. In 1877 the State university offered instruc-
tion in "vocal and instrumental music, and in freehand drawing and paint-
ing in all its branches portrait, landscape, and frescoing either in water
color or oils." The university school of fine arts, which was established
eight years later, was reorganized in 1912 to include music and drama as
well as painting. Under the management of Paul Grummann, who suc-
ceeded the painter Sarah Hayden as director, enrollment grew steadily in
the next eighteen years. Since 1932 the department of fine arts, headed by
Dwight Kirsch, has been an important center for art students and artists.
Morrill Hall houses the permanent art collection of the university largely
assembled through the efforts of Grummann and occasionally displays
traveling exhibitions (see LINCOLN).
In 1930 the Municipal University of Omaha established a department
of painting, design, and the theory of art. Headed by Bertha Koch, the
122 THE STATE IN REVIEW
department has acquired a good collection of books on art. It also ar-
ranges occasional exhibitions.
The State's outstanding art collection is housed in the beautiful Joslyn
Memorial at Omaha, which was erected in 1931 to serve as a cultural cen-
ter. The Chappell Memorial Library and Art Gallery, at Chappell, built in
1935, houses an important collection.
Several organizations encourage the development of collections and the
practice of painting and other forms of art: the Nebraska Art Association,
organized in 1888 (see LINCOLN), the Omaha Art Guild (1911), the
Lincoln Artists' Guild (1920), the Omaha Artists' Society (1925), the
Omaha Friends of Art, and the Society of Liberal Arts which is in charge
of the Joslyn Memorial. Numerous women's clubs in the State have shown
an active interest in art.
J. Laurie Wallace of Omaha has contributed to contemporary painting
both as a portraitist and as a teacher. His portrait of William Jennings
Bryan hangs in Morrill Hall. Two of his pupils, Lenore Benolken and
Francis Martin, have done notable portrait work. Robert Gilder, a Ne-
braskan, is well known as a painter of the Missouri River landscape.
Augustus Dunbier, trained in Germany, has painted extensively in the
Taos region of the Southwest. Other Omaha artists are Ruth Tompsett,
Mrs. Stanley Dabies, and John Sherman. Lyman Bvxbe, etcher, was an
Omaha resident for many years.
Among Lincoln artists, Elizabeth Dolan is best known for her murals
in the State capitol and in the Nebraska State Museum in Morrill Hall;
Kady B. Faulkner for her painting Dust Bowl, exhibited in 1937 at Rocke-
feller Center in New York Qty, and for her unusual use of color ; Morris
Gordon for his Winter 1934, shown at the Chicago Art Institute in 1937 ;
and Dwight Kirsch for his paintings of abstractions, sandhill landscapes,
back yard scenes, and still lifes. Kirsch's Aries, a tempera painting shown
at Rockefeller Center in 1936, was bought by the Nebraska Art Associa-
tion for its permanent collection. Martha Turner, Gladys Lux, and Louise
Mundy also work in Lincoln.
Several significant contemporary artists are former residents of Ne-
braska. Lawton L. Parker, the portrait painter, who distinguished himself
at the University of Nebraska, is now living in France. Dale Nichols, a
painter born in David City, has lectured and written extensively on his
own theory of aesthetics. Elizabeth Olds of Omaha, recipient of a Guggen-
heim award, is a lithographer known for her studies of the unemployed,
pf "reliefers" waiting in line, and of the life of the dispossessed. One of
her lithographs, Burlesque, appeared in the book, American Stuf, an an-
ART AND MUSIC 123
thology of work done by members of the Federal Writers and Art Proj-
ects. Grant Reynard, whose home was in Grand Island, is known for his
etchings, lithographs, and watercolors. Robert Spencer (1879-1931),
landscape painter, was born in Nebraska.
Probably the best known cartoonist in Nebraska was Clare Briggs,
whose drawings first appeared in the Lincoln Evening News while he at-
tended college. Herbert Johnson, another cartoonist, was his classmate.
"With five cartoonists from one corner of it," wrote Johnson, commenting
on Briggs, Rollin Kirby, John Cassel, Hy Gage, and himself, "the Corn-
husker State must have much on its artistic, or inartistic, conscience to
answer for."
The sculptural decorations in the State capitol were designed by Lee
Lawrie. The mural decorations and mosaics are the work mainly of Hil-
dreth Meiere and Augustus Tack. Solon and Gutzon Borglum, sculptors,
spent several years in the State. Daniel C. French is represented by his
well-known statue of Lincoln at the west approach to the State capitol.
Ellis Burman, a young sculptor of the Federal Art Project of the WPA,
has created several noteworthy pieces, including the War Memorial and
Smoke Signal, both in Lincoln. Three murals are being executed in Ne-
braska post offices under commission of the Procurement Division of the
Treasury Department: Threshing, by Ethel Lagathan at Auburn; Military
Post and the Overland Trail, by William Bunn at Minden; and Baling
Hay in Holt County in the Early Days, by Eugene Trenthan at O'Neill.
Music
Primitive music has had no marked effect on the development of music
in the State, but a number of composers have used Indian themes in their
work and many adaptations of Indian music have been published. The
earliest of these was Miss Alice C. Fletcher's A Study of Omaha Music
(1893). Recalling her first experience in listening to Indian music, she
writes "The sound was distressing, and my interest in this music was not
aroused until I perceived that this distress was peculiarly my own, every-
one else was so enjoying himself (I was the only one of my race present)
that I felt sure something was eluding my ears; it was not rational that
human beings should scream for hours, looking and acting as did these
Indians before me, and the sounds they made not mean something more
than mere noise."
Recent ethnological studies particularly of the Pawnee, Omaha, Sioux,
Winnebago, and Arapaho show that the greater number of Indian songs
124 THE STATE IN REVIEW
were invocations to the host of spiritual powers who were believed to con-
trol natural forces, and were designed to secure supernatural aid. Accord-
ing to Frances Densmore, who has made extensive studies of Indian songs,
"the Indians used song as a means of accomplishing definite results." The
dignified tribal chants in the Omaha ceremonies concerned with various
stages of childhood were designed to bring blessings to the children. The
great Pawnee Hako Ceremony, lasting for several days, had as its object
amity between neighboring bands. Its spirit was one of peace and goodwill
among men.
Strangest, perhaps, among the collections of Indian music are the songs
dating from the period of the Ghost Dance Religion, when a mystical
frenzy of hope and exaltation spread like wildfire among the despairing
Plains tribes. Among the Sioux, the Arapaho and others, the symbols were
the same the lightning and the whirlwind, symbolizing the hoped-for
great change and redemption of the defeated tribes; the antelope and the
green shoots of spring, expressing the rebirth of Indian culture.
In the mam, dance and song with the Indians were part of a single act,
accented by the complex and subtle rhythms of drums and rattles. The
performers danced their songs or sang their dances. There were, however,
a number of work songs, war songs and others without dance accompani-
ment. Though the melodic structure of Indian songs is different from that
of European music, it is generally highly developed in its fixed patterns.
Almost every activity, feeling and relationship found expression in the
song-dance; the poignancy of personal loss, triumph in war, satisfaction
in food and the benefits bestowed by the omnipresent powers, love of chil-
dren, courtship, invocations to the colors and objects of the boundless
prairies.
The white man's music first came to Nebraska with the early explorers ;
popular tunes from the eastern seaboard, arias from current operas, and
ballads and songs from the Old World. At community gatherings of a
later period, immigrants sang to the music of fiddle, mouth-organ, and
accordion, and danced to some popular call
Oh swing that gal, that pretty little gal,
The gal that stands behind you,
And balance too and pass right through
And swing with the gal behind you.
In 1854 a piano arrived at Peter Sarpy's home in Bellevue. This instru-
ment, now displayed by the State Historical Society, was used for many
years by a niece of the trader-merchant to the wonderment of curious In-
ART AND MUSIC 125
dians, who often listened at the windows. That year, the editor of the
Nebraska Palladium made mention of a serenade "by male sex . . . both
vocal and instrument." In the following year, a solitary fiddler from Coun-
cil Bluffs furnished the music for Territorial Governor Izard's executive
ball. More prolific in musical expression were the German settlers farther
up the Missouri. As early as 1856 their theater at Florence presented
Schiller's Robbers. A year later, they had a singing society and a brass
band. The German Sangerfests, spreading from Omaha to Lincoln, Grand
Island, Deshler, Columbus, and other points, have remained popular ever
since; the brass bands are a common feature of small town public life.
Cowhands drifting into the State in early days brought songs with them
and created others, many of them melancholy songs of hard travel, of
cowboys dying away from home or wanting to go back to old someplace-
or-other. Some of the cowboys' memories of travel are pleasant:
I've worked down in Nebraska
Where the grass grows ten feet high,
And the cattle are such rustlers
That they seldom ever die;
I've worked up in the sand hills
And down upon the Platte
Where the cowboys are good fellows
And the cattle always fat.
Some of the "cowboy" songs that are currently sung in Nebraska were
written expressly for radio, but most of them are genuine folk songs or
follow the tradition melancholy ballads, work songs addressed to the
herd
Whoopee, ti-yi-yo f Git along little dogies !
It's your misfortune and none of my own!
Whoopee, ti-yi-yo ! Git along little dogies !
For you know Wyoming will be your new home!
Musical activities in Nebraska's capital did not begin until the late six-
ties. Public concerts, choir singing, and individual enthusiasm led to the
establishment of a music store in Lincoln in 1869. Four years later the city
had an orchestra and a string quartet. A symphony orchestra was organ-
ized at Grand Island in the early seventies; concerts were given in the
Liederkranz Hall. The old singing school has its modern counterpart in
Lincoln's well-known Great Cathedral Choir, in the choral groups at Blair's
Dana College and Fremont's Midland, and in glee clubs throughout the
State. Doane College at Crete, Nebraska Wesleyan, and Hastings Col-
126 THE STATE IN REVIEW
lege maintain a cappella assemblies; the University of Nebraska has an
orchestra, band, and numerous vocal organizations. Music in Nebraska
reaches its highest level of performance in the symphonic orchestras of
Omaha and Lincoln, which give concerts during the winter season.
Recognizing the interest of young people in music, the State university
has conducted a summer camp for high school musicians, with four weeks
of intensive training in chorus, band, and orchestra. A few years ago, the
Lincoln High School Symphony Orchestra won a national championship.
An important event in scholastic circles is the State high school music con-
test, held in Lincoln in May. The M-I-N-K (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska
and Kansas) contest is held in February at Peru, Nebraska. The Mudecas
contests, once a combination of music, declamation, and athletic meets,
but now devoted only to music, are held in a number of southeastern Ne-
braska towns in the spring. Festivals have replaced some of the inter-
scholastic contests. At district and county events in the spring the schools
unite in giving performances, and the State normal schools also hold
festivals. For two days in the spring, the Sodbusters in Holdrege present
a songfest with orchestral concerts.
Two composers who have attained prominence are Howard Hanson,
born in Nebraska, now director of the Eastman School of Music, and
Thurlow Lieurance, former Nebraska resident, many of whose composi-
tions are based on Indian themes. Other Nebraska musicians are Hazel
Gertrude Kinscella, and the composers Howard Kirkpatrick, J. A, Parks,
Wilbur Chenoweth, Jean Boyd and J. Frank Frysinger.
NEBRASKA displays no style of architecture that the State can call
its own. Builders have generally drawn upon precedents developed
in the East or upon adaptations based upon German, Scandinavian, Czech,
and other influences at work during the pioneer era. In the rich northeast-
ern farmlands, big well-painted houses with dormer windows and screened
porches represent prosperity and conservatism. In the central plains, box-
like houses crouch behind windbreaks of trees or bushes, stripped bare in
the struggle against erosion, pests, and drought. In the sandhills and cow-
country, the typical ranch house suggests by its rambling design the freer,
less formal ways of Western life.
The Nebraska farmer's red or white barn large, strongly built, with a
hay door fitting up into the inverted-V of the roof typifies the large scale
fanning practiced in the Middle West. In the corn country cylindrical
brick silos are common, often chocolate-colored with a white design run-
ning around the top ; there are also cone-roofed pit or bank silos. The big
grain elevators along the railroad tracks in small towns are conspicuous
landmarks on the horizon. They are usually frame or concrete structures,
painted white or red.
The earliest known buildings in Nebraska were Indian lodges. The
Pawnee lodges, round, earth-covered dwellings with center fireplaces and
burrow-like entrances, were 15 to 20 feet in diameter. Council lodges
often measured 50 feet inside and were 20 feet high. None of the original
lodges are extant, but some have been carefully reconstructed on various
Indian reservations in the State.
During the sixties as white settlers moved into Nebraska away from
the wooded streams and onto the plains, sod was of necessity used as a
building material. As a preliminary step, the pioneer farmer selected a
tract of ground bearing a dense growth of grass. The ground was plowed,
and blocks of sod 12 by 36 inches were cut with a spade. The wall was
started by placing three blocks side by side, the long dimension parallel
with the proposed wall surface. Other courses of threes were then laid un-
til the length of the wall frequently 16 feet was defined. Dirt or clay
127
JOSLYN MEMORIAL, OMAHA
was then pressed into the crevices along the sides and at the ends of the
blocks of sod. The second tier of earth was placed in a similar manner,
except that the joints were staggered or "broken" to avoid cutting and
washing from rains. To give rigidity to the structure, the blocks of the
third layer were placed crosswise on the preceding tiers.
With allowances made for doors and windows, this sequence two
layers lengthwise of the wall and the third crosswise was followed until
the desired height was reached.
When the surfaces inside and outside were smoothed with a sharp
spade, the house was ready for its roof. If this had only one slope, three
of the walls were "dropped" and then properly shaped. If it was gabled
and had two slopes falling off from a high center, trees with forks were
cut, trimmed, and used as uprights inside the walls, and the ridge pole
was fixed in the forks. An intricate matting of branches, brush, and long
prairie grasses was often used to hold up the outside roof -covering of sod.
The gable ends were filled in with sod or with lumber, when obtainable.
A board floor was sometimes laid, but most early sod houses had earth
floors. During dry seasons the sod houses stood bleak and gray. When rain
was plentiful, however, the dormant roots in the sod came to life and the
houses bloomed with weeds, morning-glories, and prairie roses. On a,
country road about 10 miles east of Scottsbluff is a sod house in good con-
dition, built in the latter part of the nineteenth century. A few miles north-
east of Bridgeport is another that has been standing since 1885. The &&
ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL, STATE CAPITOL
house of Isador Haumont at Round Valley, built in 1884, has since won
the title of "the finest sod house in the world." Its eaves are 19 feet from
the ground and the walls are 3 feet thick.
In rolling country, settlers and their livestock were often housed in dug-
outs in the sides of hills. These dugouts usually had timbered fronts, rear
and side walls were natural earth, and skins were often used in place of
doors and windows. Adobe houses sometimes appeared where the soil had
the proper cohesiveness for the making of unburned bricks.
Log cabins were once common along the Missouri and the lower Platte ;
they were made of native unhewn or hand-hewn logs, cut to dovetail at
the house corners, and held in place by wooden pegs or by notches. The
roof was of thatch and sod; open spaces between the logs were filled in
with mortar, clay, or sticks A cabin usually had only one or two rooms,
with blankets or skins in its doorway and greased paper over its windows
and a fireplace at one end, made of stone, sod blocks, or wood and clay.
Rough boards or stone slabs were sometimes used for flooring.
130 THE STATE IN REVIEW
With the widespread use of wood-construction during the late nine-
teenth century, plain square structures, one or two stones high and capped
with gable or hip roofs, became common. Windows were tall and narrow,
gable ends, floor and window frames were frequently ornamented with
elaborate scrolls of carved wood. The typical Nebraska farmhouse of to-
day roughly follows this design Verandas and bay windows have been
added; gray stone or red brick often form the walls; fewer fancy bows
(lovers' -knots), spools, and scrolls appear in the woodwork.
The livery stable, common in the horse-and-buggy days, was a huge,
rambling frame building, in mass similar to a modern airplane hangar.
The false-front building, outmoded in most towns, still thrusts its four-
square face here and there between store buildings of modern construc-
tion.
County courthouses, built during the close of the nineteenth century,
were sometimes square, inexpensive frame buildings; sometimes stone
structures in the Victorian Gothic style. The design of the courthouse in
Grand Island is based upon the traditional French "Hotel de Ville" style.
Weathered and ornate, the building has a decorative tower, Ionic pillars
along the front, pink and green metal scrollwork running along the ridges
of the roof, and a clock set in elaborately carved stone. The Douglas
County Courthouse is a good example of grandiose design in the eighties
and nineties. More recent public buildings show a tendency toward the
simplicity of classic forms.
The interiors of the old-time opera houses were much alike. A great
horseshoe balcony, supported by iron posts ornately designed in the Co-
rinthian style, jutted out over the main floor, its edge marking the division
between parquet and dress circle on the floor below. The gallery described
another horseshoe curve close to the lofty, decorated ceiling, and the red or
green plush of the seats was as colorful as the gaudy frescoes covering the
walls. A cluster of gas jets on a crystal globe showered light on the red
and blue and gold of the ornamented box faces. The Liberty Theater in
Lincoln, is one of the few pretentious old opera houses left standing, it
was built in 1891 and is still used as a theater. Other old opera houses are
the Academy of Music in Central City and the Opera House in Fender.
Nebraska cities show many architectural features that are common na-
tionally, such as the standardized fronts of dime stores and other chain
institutions. The older buildings in business sections are likely to be of
the red-brick, over-decorated type that was popular in the late iSoo's;
newer buildings are plainer, usually of light-colored brick. Suburban archi-
tecture increasingly follows modern, functional design, for example, the
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING BUILDING
132 THE STATE IN REVIEW
combination of filling station, parking lot, and grocery store. In residential
sections the squat bungalow type of house is becoming more and more
popular, and is often built in the English cottage or Spanish adobe style.
Sorority and fraternity houses, like the imposing homes of the rich, show
a variety of traditional styles.
Impressive examples of Federal slum clearance and rehousing are the
Logan Fontenelle Homes in Omaha, which occupy an area formerly cov-
ered with dilapidated shacks, houses, and flats. The 29 one- and two-story
buildings of mottled brick, facing landscaped courts, accommodate 284
families. Apartments consist of three to five rooms, and are tenanted by
both whites and Negroes. There are playgrounds for children and recrea-
tional centers for adults. The Homes were built as part of the slum clear-
ance program of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works
at a cost of $2,000,000. Construction was started in 1936 and completed
in 1938.
Churches in Nebraska generally follow Gothic precedents. The First
Presbyterian Church, the First Central Congregational Church in Omaha,
and the First Presbyterian Church in Lincoln are examples. Among the
larger churches recently built is the First Plymouth Congregational Church
of Lincoln, designed by H. Van Buren Magonigle. Other churches are de-
signed in Georgian Colonial, or in a modified Spanish Mission style. Im-
portant among these are St. Cecilia's Cathedral and St. Philomena's Church
in Omaha.
Joslyn Memorial in Omaha, the work of John and Alan MacDonald, is
a notable example of monumental architecture, designed in a free, simple
manner.
The Nebraska Capitol, designed by Bertram Goodhue, is perhaps the
most notable achievement in the career of this distinguished architect (see
LINCOLN). The imposing mass of the structure with its gold-tipped,
buttressed tower somewhat recalls the fortified cathedrals of Albi and
Villefranche (Haute-Garonne) in southern France. The virile character of
the architecture is admirably suited to the plains of the Midwest. Breaking
a number of architectural precedents not only in its solution of the prob-
lem of a State capitol, but in its architectural idiom and treatment of mass,
the Nebraska Capitol is one of the outstanding buildings of the twentieth
century.
The Press
NEBRASKA journalism is comparatively young. The first newspaper
was the Nebraska Palladium and Platte Valley Advocate, edited by
Thomas Morton at Bellevue in 1854-55. Soon after the Palladium other
newspapers began to appear all along the Missouri River, including the
Omaha Arrow, a Nebraska Qty paper called the Nebraska News, and the
Omaha Nebraskian; the last named continued for some ten years. The
influential Nebraska Advertiser, started at Brownville in 1856 by Robert
W. Furnas, had a migratory existence and finally merged with other papers.
In 1858 the press began to move into the interior of the State. In that
year Joseph E. Johnson, a Mormon, published the Huntsman 1 s Echo, set-
ting up his press at a bend of Wood River near the present town of Shel-
ton. The Echo was circulated*among emigrants and freighters on the Ore-
gon Trail, and in its two years of existence, did much to attract settlers to
Nebraska. Its editor was a fluent writer who pictured in glowing terms the
beauties and advantages of Nebraska though later he himself left the
State. He was one of the first to try crop raising here, and he planted
many of the trees that stand in Shelton (see Tour 8).
The first newspaper in Nebraska that boasted of having presses "run
other than by hand" was the Nebraska Republican. It began publication in
Omaha on May 5, 1858, and an engine was connected with its presses in
1867. This paper was succeeded by the Omaha Republican, which had
much to say about slavery and the control of the Territories. Later (1871)
the Republican absorbed the Omaha Tribune and became the first success-
ful daily newspaper in Nebraska
The Nebraska Farmer, first agricultural paper in the Territory, was
founded by Robert W. Furnas in 1859 and is still being published. An-
other agricultural paper issued at about this time, the Peru Orchardtst,
was shortlived. On December n, 1860 the Omaha Daily Telegraph, first
daily newspaper in Nebraska, began publication. The Telegraph was not a
financial success, and in 1861 was sold to the Omaha Nebraskian.
In 1861 a German newspaper, the Nebraska Deutsche Zeitung (later
the Nebraska Staats Zeitung), was started in Nebraska Qty by Dr. Frank
134 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Renner. It had a national circulation and was also read in Germany, bring-
ing many German pioneers to Nebraska.
A paper that did a great deal to help build Nebraska was the Omaha
Daily Herald, started in October 1865 Its editor, Dr. George L. Miller,
first physician in Omaha and a man of much character and vision, was in-
fluential in bringing the Union Pacific Railroad through the State.
These early newspapers were more like magazines than newspapers, no
facilities for gathering news being available. The editors wrote semi-
literary, imaginative articles about the Indians and the West, adventure
and the meaning of life ; they held strong opinions and were not afraid to
state them. Few of the Territorial newspapers were able to survive for
long: in 1860 there were twelve weeklies, one biweekly, and one monthly,
with a combined circulation of 9,750.
After 1867 the year in which Nebraska was made a State came a
period of broad journalistic development; newspapers appeared in nearly
every county, most of them printed with hand-set type One at least, The
Pioneer, was entirely handwritten; it was published "semi-occasionally" in
Norfolk (1872) and not sold for money but traded for wheat, potatoes,
minkskins, and eggs.
These publications were still editorially outspoken, but the editors were
more concerned with politics than with the esthetic attractions of a sun-
set; only a death or a marriage inspired them to flights of imagination.
This was the period of personal journalism, of editorial grudges and
fights. Nebraska newspaper history records that one editor was killed by
cattlemen who disliked his opinions. Syndicated matter on sensational top-
ics such as murders, notorious persons, prize fights, and deep-sea diving
was widely used.
Foreign-language papers Swedish, Danish, Bohemian, and German
did much to encourage immigrants to settle in the State. There were sev-
eral farm papers and numerous publications devoted to single causes: one
for soldiers of the Union Army, one for organized workers of Omaha,
several advocating temperance, and one that agitated for the removal of
the Nation's Capital to Kearney.
In the spring of 1869 Lincoln's Nebraska Commonwealth, edited by
C. H. Gere, became the Nebraska State Journal; and on July 20, 1870, the
same day that the Burlington & Missouri Railroad ran its first train into
Lincoln, the Journal was changed to a daily. The paper soon became one
of the most widely read in the State. In 1882 a Mmden mob hanged the
Journal in effigy as a protest against its editorial support of a verdict grant-
ing a new trial to a desperado and horse thief. Walt Mason, the poet, was
** ,** , A t *^^/v^v,, *^ <<**
THE PIONEER
136 THE STATE IN REVIEW
on the Journal staff, and work by Willa Gather, the novelist, appeared in
its pages.
In 1871 Edward Rosewater established the Omaha Bee and the Pokrok
Zapadu (Progress of the West), the first Bohemian newspaper in Ne-
braska. Rosewater was a Jewish Bohemian immigrant who began life in
America in obscurity and rose to a position of influence. He initiated cam-
paigns that brought improvements to the State and particularly to Omaha.
In 1927 the Bee, then in the hands of Nelson Updyke, a gram dealer, was
consolidated with the Omaha Daily News and became the Omaha Bee-
News. The following year the paper was taken over by William Ran-
dolph Hearst; in 1937 Hearst sold it to the Omaha World-Herald, which
thereby secured a monopoly on local newspaper circulation.
The Omaha World-Herald was a result of the consolidation in 1889 of
the Evening World started by Gilbert M. Hitchcock with the Omaha
Herald. William Jennings Bryan became editor-in-chief of the World-
Herald on September i, 1894. Seven years later (January 1901) Bryan
started his own newspaper, the Commoner, in Lincoln. A national weekly,
devoted mostly to political and religious topics, it continued publication
for 20 years. Its prototype was the Conservative, founded by J. Sterling
Morton in 1898 and suspended after his death, in 1902.
In 1900 the linotype had come into use; there were 38 daily news-
papers, ii semiweeklies, and 518 weeklies in Nebraska 617 in all. The
number rose to 623 during the next decade, but by 1936 it had decreased
to 413 (22 dailies, 5 semiweeklies, and 384 weeklies two of which are
published by Negroes).
Two Nebraska editors have won Pulitzer Prizes for their editorials.
They are Harvey E. Newbranch, of the Omaha World-Herald, for his
"Law and the Jungle/' a protest against a lynching in Omaha in 1919;
and Charles S. Ryckman, of the Fremont Tribune, in 1930 for his "The
Gentleman from Nebraska," an analysis of why Nebraska voters continued
to return Senator George W. Norris to Congress.
NINETEEN thirteen, the year in which Willa Gather published
Pioneers, was followed by a period of intensive production in
Nebraska literature. The region had furnished material for earlier writers ;
Nebraska men and women had already published significant poetry and
prose; and twenty years before, at the University of Nebraska, Miss
Gather's teachers had given direction to a vital literary movement. One of
its leaders, Prosser Hall Frye, edited The Mid-West Quarterly from 1913
to 1918. In O Pioneers Miss Gather rejected the methods of her former
masters, Henry James and Edith Wharton; writing simply and spontane-
ously of the West, she produced a memorable example of the modern
regional novel. In 1915 John G. Neihardt published The Song of Hugh
Glass, the first of his cycle of epic poems. In the same year Edwin Ford
Piper, one of the State's best-known poets, elegized the passing of the free
range in Barbed Wire and Other Poems; Louise Pound published Folk-
Song of Nebraska and the Central West, and Miss Gather her second
regional novel, The Song of the Lark. In 1917 was presented The Pageant
of Lincoln a semi-centennial masque, by Hartley Burr Alexander. In the
following year, Frederick Ballard's Believe Me, Xanttype, became a the-
atrical success, and My Antonta, by Willa Gather, was acclaimed by critics
as a great novel of the Middle West.
The tendency toward poetic or dramatic treatment is as clearly apparent
in the literature of these five years, 1913-1918, as is the interest in re-
gional subject matter, whether historic or contemporary. These two char-
acteristics continue to shape the best of Nebraska's more recent writing,
although Mari Sandoz and Sophus K. Winther bring a more strongly
realistic note to the novel, and the plays of farm people by E. P. Conkle
and Virgil Geddes have little in common with the poetic masques of
Alexander. Nevertheless the State's major writers today are poets in spirit,
whatever their medium descendants of early settlers who were, as Miss
Gather describes them, "impractical to the point of magnificence," and of
pioneers who "dreamed the railroads across the mountains."
It may be that the gray prairie itself, the "drift of the sullen dust"
137
138 THE STATE IN REVIEW
(Herbert Bates), the harsh and circumscribed existence, emphasize in men
and women their own great desires, the opposition of death and life the
lasting themes for poetry. Miss Gather has made this the underlying idea
of all her finest work, and the artist, in one form or another, is a favorite
character. Old Jules Sandoz told his daughter Mari that he considered
"artists and writers the maggots of society," yet requested her to write his
story. From the struggles of Old Jules, a cultivated European, to repeople
again and again a desert country, to make orchards grow in the sandhills,
Miss Sandoz created a great and beautiful epic, Old Jules (1935).
There is no lack of literature concerned with the Nebraska country be-
fore the days of the early settlers. The records of the Lewis and Clark ex-
pedition, the journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Stephen H. Long,
and John Charles Fremont, the autobiography of Kit Carson all describe,
brilliantly or naively, this uncharted land. Father de Smet, the first Roman
Catholic missionary to the region, gives a realistic, sometimes humorous,
picture of the wilderness and its inhabitants, in Letters and Sketches
(1843). Francis Parkman's Oregon Trail (1849) deals to a great extent
with the eastern end of the trail now Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska.
The Pawnee are the subject of John Treat Irving's Indian Sketches (1835)
and The Hunters of the Pratrie (1837). The recently published Forty-
Niners (1931), by Archer Butler Hulbert, gives an illuminating picture
of the period when thousands of Mormons crossed the Nebraska country
on the way to their promised land, and when other thousands marched in
pursuit of gold.
As settlement progressed, needs other than the immediate and material
asserted themselves. Toward the end of the nineteenth century the literary
movement, which was to flower in the 1900*3, began to develop with the
State university as its center. Lucius Adelno Sherman, for many years
chairman of the English faculty and a proponent of humanism, attempted
in The Analytics of Literature (1893) and later volumes to formulate a
precise system of literary criticism. A notable number of Nebraska writers
and members of the university faculty likewise have published volumes of
critical essays: H. B. Alexander, P. H. Frye, Louise Pound, Clarke Fisher
Ansley, Herbert Bates, and Sherlock Bronson Gass.
But the inspiration and intelligent direction given the university stu-
dents did more than published volumes to influence the growth of litera-
ture in the State. This is especially true of two young English teachers,
Clarke Fisher Ansley (later the editor of Columbia Encyclopedia, 1935)
and Herbert Bates, who came from New England in 1891 and returned
to the East in 1897.
OLD JULES SAND02
140 THE STATE IN REVIEW
Bates brought New England and the prairie together in his own early
poetry, Songs in Exile (1896), in which he described with fresh vision
and keen emotion the Nebraska plains. His later work is largely in the
field of literary criticism. Modern Lyric Poetry, an excellent anthology,
was published in 1929.
During this same period William Jennings Bryan was enriching the
literature of oratory with some thirty volumes. His personality and influ-
ence entitle him to a place in the literary pattern of the State as definitely
as in its political history.
The work of Willa Gather, who was one of the early university group,
seems superficially to represent three distinct periods: the first, in which
she was influenced by the method of Henry James the period of her
short stories collected in The Troll Garden (1905), the lyrics in April
Twilights (1903), and her first novel, Alexander's Bridge (1912) ; the
second period, in which she wrote her three great regional novels and the
superb novelette, A Lost Lady (1923) ; and the most recent period, sep-
arated from the other two by several comparatively unimportant books. In
this last phase she returns to the Southwest in Death Comes for the Arch-
bishop (1927) ; writes of French Quebec in Shadows on the Rock
(1931); but in both she retreats from modern life toward an old and
stable spiritual order.
In spite of the apparent changes in point of view particularly within
the last two periods Miss Gather's work shows an underlying unity. Her
theme has always been the struggle of man's spirit against alien forces,
beautifully realized in Alexandra, the heroine of O Pioneers, and in
Antonia. Implicit in most of her work is the faith that in art man can
eternally aspire to, and eternally achieve, something of unquestioned
value.
In the judgment of many critics, A Lost Lady marks the high point in
Miss Gather's career. The earlier novels, My Antonia especially, are warm
and tender recollections of the Nebraska prairies, human fortitude and
courage triumph over the harsh environment. A Lost Lady is a clear and
forceful treatment of the end of the frontier epoch, and of the disinte-
gration of pioneer values and ideals. Miss Gather, in subsequent novels,
seems unable to find the elements of a satisfying philosophy in the mod-
ern world, and to depend increasingly on the religious and cultural ideals
of an earlier society.
Born in Virginia, Willa Sibert Gather moved with her family to a ranch
in Nebraska when she was nine years old, entered the university some six
years later, and then returned to the East shortly after graduation. But the
LITERATURE 141
early years on the ranch were to influence all her work as an artist. Few
writers have so skillfully evoked a place or an atmosphere as Miss Gather
has succeeded in doing in her subtle and admirable prose.
Keene Abbott, another member of the university group, indicates his
gratitude to Clarke Ansley by dedicating to him Tree of Life, a tale of
the prairie. Wine o' the Winds (1920) is a romantic novel of Indian and
Oregon Trail days.
Of a later group of novelists several have gained national recognition:
Mari Sandoz, Ivan Beede, Sophus Keith Winther, Dorothy Thomas, and
Mignon Good Eberhardt. Virginia Faulkner (born in 1913), in The Bar-
barians and Friends and Romans (1934), shows a delightful and sophis-
ticated talent. Mrs. Eberhardt is one of the most tasteful and competent of
modern detective story writers. Clyde Brion Davis, who was born in Ne-
braska, has but recently won wide popularity with The Anointed (1937)
and The Great American Novel (1938), both novels clearly in the Amer-
ican tempo.
One of Nebraska's most popular writers, and best known for her stories
of the pioneers, is Bess Streeter Aldrich. Living in a country town by
choice, keeping close to the farm because she understands and admires its
life, she has written of the physical hardships and spiritual triumphs of
these people with deep insight and sympathy.
Of a very different order are Ma Jeeter's Girls (1933) and The Home
Place (1936), by Dorothy Thomas lifelike, humorous, and sympathetic
portrayals of farm people, in the rhythms of everyday speech. Ivan Beede,
in Prairie Woman (1930), is also a realist, picturing the disillusion and
frustration of Nebraska life in the post- World War period. Danish immi-
grant life in Nebraska is the theme of Sophus Keith Winther 's trilogy:
Take All to Nebraska (1936), Mortgage Your Heart (1937), and This
Passion Never Dies (1938). Earnestly, if not always passionately, con-
ceived, these chronicles of a family who made their way to the Middle
West have much to tell of the social history of the State.
Probably the most important piece of prose literature to come from Ne-
braska since O Pioneers is Old Jules (1935), a biography, which won for
Mari Sandoz the Atlantic Monthly Prize. Old Jules, the author's father, a
Swiss immigrant fiery-tempered, passionate, and lovable settled in the
sandhills section of the State. His last words before he died reveal the
man's indomitable faith and will, "Well build this country up again."
Miss Sandoz's novel, Slogum House (1937), has been described as "a
searing narrative told with dazzling vividness ... the language of the
frontier, of the saloon, of the fancy house . . ." In both biography and
142 THE STATE IN REVIEW
novel, Mari Sandoz treats epic material boldly, but with emotional re-
straint and scrupulous intellectual honesty.
Two significant contemporary writers express themselves through the
medium of the drama. Virgil Geddes draws upon experience of his Ne-
braska boyhood for many of his plays: The Earth Between (1928), Mud
on the Hoofs (1929), The Stable and the Grove (1930), and the trilogy
Native Ground (1932) Like his plays, his short stories and poems, par-
ticularly 40 Poems (1926) and Decisions Before Battle (1938), reflect
the spiritual suffering and demoralization of people living in isolation.
E. P. Conkle's richly humorous and idiomatic plays are also based on
the life he knows, on the ways and speech of Nebraska farm people. Bar-
rett Clark wrote of the short Cnck Bottom Plays (1926) that here was "a
really new note in native playwriting." Though 200 Were Chosen (1935)
and Prologue to Glory (1937) are better known, Mr. Conkle's one-act plays
are popular with college groups and Little Theater companies. Prologue
to Glory, a drama of Abraham Lincoln's early life, was successfully pro-
duced in 1938 by the Federal Theater in New York City.
Perhaps partly because of the number of poet-teachers who came to the
State, poetry had an early and important place in Nebraska literature.
John G. Neihardt, who became professor of poetry at the University of
Nebraska in 1923, was born in Illinois in 1881. A few years later he was
brought by his widowed mother to the frontier town of Wayne, Ne-
braska. From 1901 until 1907 Neihardt lived at the edge of the Omaha
Indian Reservation, near Bancroft; here, and in later wanderings, he be-
came familiar with the land and the legends which he eventually used in
his narrative poems. Though published first, The Song of Hugh Glass
(1915) is really the second member of a cycle of epic tales, planned to
cover the development of the country beyond the Missouri from the time
of Lewis and Clark up to the end of the Sioux Wars. The Song of Three
Frtends (1919) and The Song of the Indian Wars (1925) complete the
trilogy. The Song of the Messiah (1935), while not structurally part of
the cycle, belongs to it in spirit a lament for the destruction of the
Indian people. Neihardt's verse form (the rhyming couplet throughout
much of his work) becomes at times monotonous; but in certain passages
he reaches poetic heights As a whole the cycle is nobly conceived, and
the individual tales are historically correct and movingly told.
Hartley Burr Alexander, professor of philosophy at the State university
from 1908 until 1927, is the author of many studies in metaphysics, liter-
ature, and Indian art and philosophy. As a poet he is especially interested
in symbolism and in the building of masques and pageants involving
LITERATURE 143
metaphysical themes. Characteristic of his work are the Manito Masks
(1925), dramatizations with music of American Indian spirit legends, and
Taiwa (1934), which is based on an Indian version of the Orpheus
theme. Taiwa, it has been pointed out, might be entitled "Pawnee Legend
of the Spirit Bride." The poems in Odes and Lyrics (1922) reflect Alex-
ander's interest in mythological and philosophical themes. His love of
symbolism is clearly apparent in the inscriptions and decorations that he
designed for the Nebraska State Capitol, the University of Nebraska Sta-
dium, Rockefeller Center, and other public buildings.
Edwin Ford Piper, a poet of distinction, has been for many years pro-
fessor of poetry at the University of Iowa, and is now a member of the
staff of the School of Letters, established in 1930 to encourage creative
writing. He was influential in the creation of the school, and is one of the
most active figures in Middle Western literary movements. His own poetic
work, in Barbed Wire and Other Poems (1917), Barbed Wire and Way-
farers (1924), and Paintrock Road (1927), shows great sensitivity to the
country around him and, even more, towards the individuals he meets.
For Piper, the passing of the open range, the cowboy, and the wild life of
the prairie means the passing of something strong and good as well as
picturesque.
The work of many poets not so well known is included in two antholo-
gies of Nebraska Verse, published in 1924 and 1925. Among the younger
poets, one of the most talented is Helene Magaret, whose Trumpeting
Crane (1934) maintains a high level throughout a long narrative poem
and in the lyrics that are an integral part of it. Miss Magaret's work ap-
peared first in the Prairie Schooner, which began publication at Lincoln in
1927. Wilbur Gaffney and Loren Eiseley have contributed, to this and
other little magazines, poems of individuality and power.
Lowry Charles Wimberly, editor of the Schooner, is the author of nu-
merous short stories and studies in balladry. His Folklore in the English
and Scottish Ballads was published in 1928, and a collection of stories,
The Famous Cats of Fairyland, in 1938.
In the folklore field, Margaret Cannell is the author of Signs, Omens,
and Portents in Nebraska Folklore (1933). Following the critical and
scholarly tradition, Louise Pound has distinguished herself in her study of
Poetic Origins and the Ballad (1921). Folk-Song of Nebraska and the
Central West (1915) and American Ballads and Songs (1922) were col-
lected and edited by Miss Pound. She is an editor and one of the founders
of the magazine, American Speech.
The historical literature of Nebraska deserves notice. A multitude of
144 THE STATE IN REVIEW
writers have written local history. The State's history is presented in
Nebraska, by A. T. Andreas (1882), and the three- volume History of
Nebraska by J. Sterling Morton and (chiefly) Albert Watkins (1910-20).
Addison E. Sheldon, State historian, is author and editor of about twenty
volumes, chief among them being Poems and Sketches of Nebraska (1907) ;
History and Stones of Nebraska (1913); Documents of Nebraska Life
(1923) ; Nebraska, the Land and the People (3 vols., 1931) ; Land Sys-
tems and Land Policies in Nebraska (1935) ; and Nebraska, Old and New
(1937).
<<<<<<<<<<<< a )>)>>>
PART II
Railroad Stations: 118 Court St., for Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R ; 2nd and
Court St., for Union Pacific R R.; S. 6th St., for Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry.
Bus Station: 6th and Elk Sts , for Chicago and Northwestern Stages, Interstate Tran-
sit Lines, Sante Fe Trailways, Union Pacific Stages.
Taxis: 150 minimum
Traffic Regulations One- and two-hour parking spaces marked in downtown section.
Main intersection, 6th and Court Sts.
Accommodations: Three hotels; two tourist camps.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 106 S. 6th St.
Motion Picture Houses. Three.
Athletics: Chautauqua Park, 6th St. S. of Blue River. Athletic Park, 4th St. from-
Elk to High
Swimming Riverside Park, on Blue River NW corner of town, fee 25
Golf- Beatrice Country Club, 2 m SE. of town, 18 holes, fee 50^ except Sunday,
750; Westbrook Golf Course, SW. corner of town, 9 holes, fee 25^, except Sun-
days, holidays, 50^
Tennis: Chautauqua Park, loth and Grable Sts. Free.
Annual Events: Gage County Fair, September
BEATRICE (1,235 aft-* I0 > 2 97 PP-) * n ^ midst of fertile farming
country, is both a farm town ana an industrial city a trading post for
farmers bringing cream and eggs to town in the evening, and a manufac-
turing center of more than local importance. The muddy, slow-moving
Blue River winds leisurely through the city, spills over a power dam at
the west side of town, later passes near grimy manufacturing plants, and
finally flows past a spacious park, separating it from the small, drab
houses of the city's poorer inhabitants. The business section stands well
back from the river, and farther to the northeast are the finer residences
the tree-shaded homes of the city's rich manufacturers and land-owners.
The town has always had room to spread out, so most of the downtown
buildings are low, arranged without much logical scheme. The stores and
churches are generally old-fashioned in appearance, ornately adorned with
columns and arches. The many fine trees of the town have suffered from
drought, but they are still the best ornaments of the city. It is a healthy,
prosperous city, unusual in that 60 percent of its citizens own their homes.
Beatrice was named for a girl who saw the town only once or twice
the daughter of Judge John Kinney, one of the founders. The Kinneys
were members of a party that in April 1857 formed the Nebraska Asso-
ciation to establish a settlement in the State. Kinney was president of the
group. A townsite was chosen on the banks of the Blue River, where there
was excellent water and timber; and on July 4, 1857, the new town was
christened. Beatrice Kinney came over with her father from Nebraska
CITIES AND TOWNS
BEATRICE
149
2, Chautaucpa Park
3 Sonderegger Nursery
4, F.DKees Factory
5, Athletic Park
6, County Court House
7-1
BEATRICE
149
150 CITIES AND TOWNS
City to read some of her own verses at the ceremony; but the Kmneys
never had a residence in the town. Originally Beatrice, the name is now
pronounced with the stress on the at, a deviation attributed by some to
brass-voiced railroad conductors.
A United States Land Office was in Beatrice for almost twenty years
after 1868, and through it more than a million acres of land were entered
by homesteaders.
By 1870 Beatrice had more than 600 inhabitants, and was a center for
stagecoach travel and mail distribution. Even at that time the usual trades
were practiced there, from millinery to the law; there was quarrying
nearby, and some manufacturing of lath and shingles. The year 1871 was
eventful for the settlement. That year the Burlington Railroad established
a line to Beatrice ; a county courthouse was completed ; and in September
Beatrice was formally incorporated as a town. Incorporation as a city fol-
lowed two years later.
In the next ten years the population doubled ; and doubled again during
the succeeding ten years. The late eighties was a period of swift growth
and expansion for the city; many "additions" pushed city limits farther
out. In the early nineties the present courthouse and the post office were
built; paving of the streets was under way; and the city had a waterworks
system.
During the early decades of the twentieth century, Beatrice steadily im-
proved its streets and schools, built a library, agitated for a new jail, and
improved facilities generally. During this period more industries grew
up, and the town continued to thrive until the hard times of the 1930*5,
when severe and continued drought in the State made Beatrice realize as
seldom before its dependence on farm prosperity.
By 1937 some of the principal factories nad cut production seriously,
and certain gaps had appeared in the industrial scene. The burning in
February, 1937, of Black Brothers Flour Mill here since 1879 left
the dam at the west edge of town temporarily useless. The Beatrice
Creamery Company centralized its manufacturing in Lincoln, and the
Beatrice plant became a buying and selling agency. The factories of the
town produce silos, showcases, mirrors, cultivators, steel tanks, hardware
specialities, windmills, gasoline engines, and a variety of other products.
And business men continue to hope that better weather will bring better
times.
Walt Mason, writer of syndicated prose-poems lived for a time in
Beatrice; Harold Lloyd, screen comedian, sold popcorn in the streets as a
boy; and Robert Taylor, born Arlington Brugh, cinema idol of high
school girls, performed in high school plays.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. The DEMPSTER MILL FACTORY (open 8-5 weekdays; working
days vary with season; guides), 711 S 6th St., is a two-story rambling brick
building. One of the largest plants of its kind west of the Mississippi, its
products include a complete line of farm water equipment, and a smaller
BLUE RIVER, BEATRICE
line of farm implements. The company was founded in 1878 by C. B.
Dempster who, with $37 of his own and $300 borrowed from relatives,
bought a third interest in a small retail pump and windmill shop.
2. CHAUTAUQUA PARK, 31 acres, south bank of the river from
6th St. eastward, is a combination of the old chautauqua grounds with a
later extension on the west, the fine old trees and winding drives of the
older area making an obvious break with the neatly landscaped addition.
On the grounds are a pavilion, boathouse, bandstand, and other build-
ings. A small creek runs through the grounds, and there is a large rock
garden.
Chautauqua programs were once very popular in Beatrice. From the
time a local chautauqua association of business and professional men was
formed in 1889 until early in the 1900*8, a chautauqua circuit brought to
these grounds each summer a week or so of lectures, plays, music, and
other entertainments. People flocked to the programs from all over the
countryside, in such numbers that there was sometimes neither room nor
food left in any of the local restaurants or hotels. In 1910, after the
chautauqua custom had died out, the city acquired the grounds and made
it a park
MEMORIAL DRIVE, from 6th St. to Nickols Park on Court St., is
a paved drive running about a mile and a quarter along the informally
landscaped southern and western bank of the Blue River. Construction of
the drive was promoted by the American Legion, and was carried out in
the early 1930*5.
152 CITIES AND TOWNS
3. The SONDEREGGER NURSERY OFFICE AND STORAGE
HOUSE (open 5-8 weekdays; guides), 2nd and Market Sts., is a two-
story structure housing the offices, storage bins, and shipping room of one
of the largest seed and nursery houses in the State. In winter the exposed,
dank-smelling roots of thousands of fruit and shade trees line the dimly
lit passageways of the storage houses, awaiting shipment or replanting in
the spring A specialty of the company is its eve n trees, which can
be inspected summer or winter at the nursery farm southeast of town,
entrance on S. loth St.
The late Carl Sonderegger, whose work has been carried on by five
sons, came to America from Switzerland in 1875 and purchased a tract of
unimproved land 20 miles west of Beatrice. Using scientific methods he
developed a well-equipped nursery farm. In 1900 headquarters were
established in Beatrice.
4. The F. D. KEES FACTORY (open 8-5 weekdays; work days vary
with season; guides) , 24 High St., is a low red-brick building, long and
wide in which cornhusking hooks, skates, and numerous other pressed
metal hardware specialities are manufactured The odd-shaped machines
lined up through the factory are used for a wide range of processes from
the shaping of curtain rods to the counting of ball bearings for roller
skate wheels. The founder of the company, Frederick D. Kees, was a Ger-
man locksmith and tool maker, who in 1874 opened a gun and lock repair
shop in Beatrice. He developed one of the first practical cornhusking hooks,
and branched out into the production of other metal articles.
5. ATHLETIC PARK, about 5 acres, W. of 4th St. between Ella and
High Sts., is the scene of high-school football games and other athletic
events, including floodlit baseball games on summer nights. A grandstand
and bleachers overlook the grounds. At the north end is a rock garden.
Though the property of the local school district, the park was partly fi-
nanced by private individuals.
6. The COUNTY COURTHOUSE (open 8-5 weekdays), SE. corner
6th and Lincoln Sts , is a three-story gray stone structure with a square,
solid look about it. The BEATRICE MUSEUM, on the 3d floor (see custodian
for visitmg arrangements), contains relics of early pioneer life: wooden
cradles for grain cutting, a wooden flail used for pounding out grain,
wooden shovels, washboards, old spinning wheels. Two irons of early
origin are here, improvements over the old sad-iron ; one has a firebox for
the burning of charcoal, and the other has a removable interior that was
taken out and heated and put back through a sliding door. Dishes, cast-
iron kettles, parching dishes, oaken buckets, candle molds, and gourd
dippers are on display.
7. The METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ME. corner 6th and
Elk Sts , an imposing structure of Gothic design completed in 1930 at a
cost of $215,000, is constructed of yellow stone from the Silverdale
quarry in Kansas. This stone mellows unevenly, and as years pass the
church takes on a richer, more mottled appearance.
8. The STORE-KRAFT MFG. PLANT (open 8-5 weekdays; guides),
6th and Irving Sts., includes an office building and a large two-story fac-
BEATRICE 153
tory. On the ground floor of the factory great stacks of lumber undergo
the elementary processes in their conversion into showcases and other
furnishings for five- and ten-cent and dollar stores ; finishing work is done
on the upper floor. The company was organized in 1920. It employs about
240 persons, and ships products to many parts of the United States,
South America, and Europe.
" i
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Institution for Feeble-Minded Youth, 2 1 m.; Daniel Freeman Homestead, 4.5 m.
(see Tour 11).
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< fr> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Railroad Stations: Union Station, no S. Mam St , for Union Pacific R R Chicago &
North Western Ry.; Burlington Station, 210 S. Mam St, for Chicago, Burlington
& Qmncy R.R.
Bus Statwns: Union Bus Depot, 630 N Main St., for Union Pacific, North Western,
Blue Pole Lines , Pathfinder Hotel, 97 W. 6th St., for Burlington.
Taxis. 250; over 16 blocks, 350.
Traffic Regulations. Speed limit 15 m in business district, 20 m. in residential sec-
tion. Large free parking space, 6th and H Sts
Accommodations: Two hotels, four tourist camps.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 123 E. jth St
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses: Auditorium, Broad St between 9th and loth
Sts , two motion picture houses.
Baseball. Fremont Baseball Park, 821 S Main St.
Swimming: Kelser Lake, first pit on side of road to Big Island.
Golf: Fremont Golf Club, 548 W. 23rd St., 18 holes, greens fee 5O0; $i Sundays
and holidays.
Annual Events: 4-H Club Fair, August; Elks' Fair, November.
FRJEMONT (1,196 alt., 11,407 pop.), is a college town and agricul-
tural trading center on the north bank of the wide, muddy Platte River
just opposite Fremont Island. Although the town area of about four miles
is quite level, the junction of the Elkhorn Valley and the Platte River
Valley nearby forms a background of hills mantled with timber. Bluffs
near the Platte vary the scenery, and sand pits to the west of the town
have been made State recreation grounds.
The city is a distributing center for the rich Elkhorn Valley farm land
to the north. It is also a minor railroad center. At one time it gave some
promise of becoming an industrial town, but these hopes early disap-
peared, although there are still poultry-packing plants, creameries, and
incubator factories.
August 25, 1856, the first claim stake was driven for "Pinney, Barnard
& Co.'s Town Site." No surveyor's chain was handy, so a rope was used,
which may have stretched, accounting for irregularities in the original
plat. The first step in building Fremont was a resolution passed in 1856
by the Fremont Town Association, which developed from the earlier
company, providing that two lots be given anyone erecting a hewn-log
house 1 6 feet by 20 feet and a story and half high within the following
six months. The association would furnish timber for the cabin, and fire-
wood for a year. The town was named for Col. John C. Fremont, then
candidate for President.
In the fall of 1856, the Pawnee, who had looked askance at the inroads
154
HSHING IN SAND PIT, FR1MON1
CITIES AND TOWNS
the new settlers were making upon their timber land, sent 20 of their
strongest chiefs across the river to inform the settlers that unless Fremont
were vacated within three days the Pawnee would force them out. With
soldiers sent from Omaha the whites burned strawstacks and marched
and countermarched their little army until the Pawnee were sufficiently
impressed with the overpowering force against them. After the settlers
had fed the chiefs there was no further trouble, for the Indians were
merely hungry.
The settlers also were often hungry. There were no good crops for
about three years. Meanwhile they lived on bread and grease, using
buffalo meat to flavor the gravy Credit could not be obtained from
grocers in Omaha on account of the financial panic that swept the coun-
try and such crops as were raised could not be sold for a reasonable sum.
Lots in Fremont sold at 75$ each, to repay the money borrowed by the
company for the original purchase of the town site Money became almost
unknown to these settlers. Even postage stamps were a curiosity The first
year there were not more than three or four cows in the settlement and
their owners were the town's aristocrats. Yet the pioneers of Fremont
found amusement and gayety, going for rides in oxcarts over the surround-
ing prairie, or dancing on the warped floor of a log cabin to a fiddler's
tune.
In 1859 George Turner built a log boarding house. The logs were cut
on a big island in the Platte River, and Turner swam across the channel
with his logs, one by one.
The settlers were recompensed for the hardships they endured, because
Fremont was a natural break in the journey from Omaha to Fort Kearney,
and the emigrants who passed through brought prosperity. A stage com-
pany also routed its coaches through Fremont, further assuring prosperity
to the little settlement. The Mormons often passed through. Their proces-
sions of covered wagons drawn by oxen, and carts drawn by cows, men,
women, and dogs were long remembered. In 1860 Fremont was made the
seat of Dodge County.
Encouraged when the Union Pacific Railroad brought its line through
the town in 1866, the citizens established one of the first newspapers in
the Platte Valley, the Fremont Tribune, in the attic of a furniture store.
The First National Bank began in the back room of a hardware store. In
1869 the Sioux City & Pacific Railroad joined at Fremont with the Union
Pacific. This was an occasion for bell ringing, parades, and speeches on
the future of Fremont and the Elkhorn Valley. Of even more importance
was the building of the Elkhorn Valley branch, which was begun in 1870.
A year later, the town was incorporated. A YMCA was organized before
Nebraska was admitted to the Union.
Many of the early dreams of a great future ultimately vanished. But
as transportation was developed and as the uplands of Dodge County were
drained and made tillable, Fremont became increasingly important as an
agricultural center. Flour mills, a small fur trade, and a canning factory
indicate the town's importance as a market Sand and gravel are the basis
of an industry that is important throughout the State. Midland College,
FREMONT 157
moved from Atchison, Kansas, in 1919, gave the city the cultural influence
it craved. Gutzon Borglum, sculptor, studied in Fremont schools and
Keene Abbott, novelist and journalist, was born here.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. MIDLAND COLLEGE, 720 E. 9th St., coeducational, so named be-
cause it is near the geographical center of the United States, has a lo-acre
campus and seven rectangular red brick buildings, one of which, the
Astronomical Observatory, is outside the campus. The grounds are bor-
dered by low shrubs and are wooded with American and Chinese elms,
hard maples, sycamores, and evergreens. The arrangement of the buildings
is rather formal, the group facing the drive and dominated by the two
newer structures on the east side.
The college was founded at Atchison, Kansas in 1887 by the Board
of Education of the General Synod Lutheran Church, now the United
Lutheran Church. In 1919 the campus and buildings of the Fremont
Normal School and Business College, which was opened in October 1884,
were purchased by Midland College. Nebraska Lutherans and Fremont
citizens subscribed liberally. From time to time new buildings have been
added.
The college grants A.B. and B S. degrees and offers pre-professional
training in such fields as engineering, medicine, law, business administra-
tion, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and journalism. There are seven
schools. Liberal Arts, Education, Fine Arts, Business, Extension, Summer
and Western Theological Seminary.
The best known extra curncular activities include the basketball team,
four times Nebraska College Athletic Conference champions; the a cap-
fella choir, which has traveled more than 22,000 miles from coast to
coast presenting concerts since 1928; and the Midland, weekly newspaper,
which has twice received All- American rating from the National Scholastic
Press Association. There are alumni in 36 States and 7 foreign countries.
The buildings include Administration Hall, near the college entrance,
housing the library, book store, Schools of Business and Fine Arts, and
administrative offices; Clernmons Hall, containing science classrooms and
laboratories and the college chapel, which has a seating capacity of 600;
Beegle Hall, women's fireproof dormitory with accommodations for 80 ;
men's dormitory, which houses 80 men; the gymnasium building, which
includes the college kitchen and dining room; and the central heating
plant All the buildings are three-story except the heating plant.
2. The WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 1643 N. Nye
Ave., is a two-story red brick building of Georgian Colonial design with
columns and balcony of yellow stone; it contains 20 rooms. The seminary
offers two courses, and graduates a class of students for the ministry each
year.
The seminary was removed to Fremont from Atchison, Kansas, together
I 5 8
KEY
i, Midland College
CITIES AND TOWNS
FREMONT
159
Home
5 Dodge County Court
House
6, First Congregational
Church
7 GtyPark
9, Masonic Eastern Star
HomeforChil
dren
160 CITIES AND TOWNS
with Midland College, with which it is connected. Originally housed in
one of the Midland College buildings, the seminary was removed in 1921
to its present site.
3. The LUTHERAN ORPHANS' HOME, 1544 E. Military Ave,
established in 1892, is a three-story red brick building, in the center of 14
acres of gardens, lawns, and playgrounds. The children are educated in a
Christian Day School nearby.
4. BARNARD PARK, E. 6th St. between Irving and Clarkson Aves.,
formerly called Dead Man's Park, was the cemetery of the pioneer settlers.
When the cemetery became too small to serve the city, the bodies were
moved to Ridge Cemetery. Since many of the graves were not marked,
a number of the bodies were left. In the center of the grounds is a foun-
tain surrounded by flowers Accommodations are available for picnickers
and there is a playground for children.
5. The DODGE COUNTY COURTHOUSE (open 8-5 weekdays),
435 N- Park St., a four-story, gray limestone structure, stands on the site
of an old sawmill near the banks of the Platte River Much of the original
courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1867 and valuable records were lost;
a new courthouse, which cost more than $160,000, was built in 1887. In
1915 this structure also burned with loss of records, and the present seat
of county government was built on the same site.
6. The FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, NE. corner Broad
St. and Military Ave., an L-shaped stucco building, houses the earliest
church organization in Dodge County. On November 2, 1856, it held its
first service. The original frame structure, erected about 1885, has been
remodeled, the alterations including the removal of the top of the spire
and excavation of a basement.
7. CITY PARK, Mam St. between 8th and 9th Sts., was planned when
the town was laid out. There is a monument honoring Abraham Lincoln
and one commemorating Fremont soldiers killed in the World War. Band
concerts are held weekly throughout the summer months. The playground
is a recreational center for children.
8. FREMONT AUDITORIUM BUILDING (open weekdays), NW.
corner 9th and Broad Sts., a two-story red brick structure (three stories on
front) with little ornamentation, was completed in 1937 at a cost of
$133,000. The main auditorium, with six entrances, contains about 9,000
square feet of floor space and seats 3,500. Its hard maple floor permits its
use for dancing and for basketball, and the heavy concrete construction of
the outside edges supports heavy machinery when the auditorium is used as
an exposition hall. The stage, 52 by 38 feet, is equipped with a modern
switchboard, border lights and footlights. Municipal offices are housed in
the building.
9. The MASONIC EASTERN STAR HOME FOR CHILDREN (open
9-9 daily), 2425 N. Main St., consists of five modern brick buildings and
a farmhouse, occupying 57 acres of farm land, orchard, and garden. The
home is conducted for orphaned children of Masons and Eastern Star
members. A staff of about a dozen persons cares for the children, who live
FREMONT
in the home and attend the Fremont schools. The farm supplies fresh
food for the home.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Pawnee Council Rock, 3.9 in ; Major Long Monument, 57 m.; Cedar Bluffs,
8.2 m (see lour 2); Fremont Recreation Grounds, 4 m. (see Tour 8).
Railroad Stations: Pine and Wheeler Sts , N. of Front St, for Union Pacific RR,
St. Joseph & Grand Island Ry ; E 6th and Plum Sts , for Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy R R.
Bus Stations Koehler Hotel, Front and Locust Sts , for Interstate Transit Lines,
Yellow Diamond Lines. Stratton Hotel, ist and Locust Sts , for Burlington Trans-
portation Company.
Airport: Municipal Airport, 1 5 m. N. of E. end of E. yth St. for United Air Lines.
Taxi fare 7O0.
Tax/s: 25 for 24 blocks, 5^ each additional half mile.
Traffic Regulations: 25 m. per hour in residential districts; 15 m. on non-arterial
streets, 12 m. in congested districts
Accommodations: Five hotels, eight tourist camps.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 315^2 N. Locust St.; YWCA, 112 N.
Wheeler St.
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses: Two theaters; five motion picture houses.
Baseball Burnett Ball Park, on US 30, E of Burlington viaduct on E. 2d St.
Swimming: The Pier, 500 block on S Pine St
Golf: Fairview Club, 1 m. N. of Soldiers and Sailors Home, 18 holes, greens
fee 250.
GRAND ISLAND (1,861 alt, 18,041 pop.), north of the Platte River,
spreads out on a gradual slope that rises from the broad bottomlands of
the valley. It is a good example of a town that was made by its position
on a railroad near the center of the State and Nation. Without the ad-
vantages of its location Grand Island might still have been only another
trading-post for farmers: as it is, the city is a railroad distribution point
and a manufacturing center of some importance. This geographic position
accounts for Grand Island's popularity as a convention town: the place is
forever being decorated with flags and placards ("Welcome Sheriffs,"
"Welcome Odd Fellows," "Welcome D.A.R.") and swarms of delegates
mill around in the hotel lobbies. The horse and mule market here, the
thing for which most Nebraska farmers know Grand Island, grew to im-
portance largely because of the city's intermediate position between the
stock raisers of the Northwest and the stock buyers of the South.
The streets of Grand Island cut off at angles from the highway, whereas
in most Nebraska towns they run north-south and east-west, in the con-
ventional manner. The reason for the irregularity is significant: the oldest
streets were laid out parallel with the railroad tracks. Grand Island began
early in its history to DC dominated by the railway, and today there are few
towns in Nebraska where "the other side of the tracks" has greater
meaning
Crossing the town from southwest to northeast is like traversing a cross-
162
GRAND ISLAND 163
section of local history. South of the tracks are most of the elements in
Grand Island that represent respectability, tradition, and small-town life:
the courthouse, many of the churches and schools, and the better resi-
dences. There are fine white houses built by well-to-do early citizens, who
made their money from farming, trade, or the professions in pioneer
times. Closer to the tracks are the stores, hotels, and the rest of the prin-
cipal business districts. The streets are narrow here, exemplifying the econ-
omy and thrift of the early German settlers; some of the buildings show
the predilection of the nineties for elaborate architecture. In general the
business district is the creation of small business men who succeeded the
pioneers, bringing increased competition, civic consciousness, and other
complications into the town's way of living. North of the tracks, and on
both sides at the eastern edge of town, is a later development the indus-
trial. In this area are the factories, a mill, and the roundhouse. Here also,
facing the tracks, are dingy tenements where washing is hung out to dry
on lines strung along the porches; and farther out is the dismal expanse
called Foggy Bottoms, with its rows of shacks and cheap frame houses
where the poorer white and Negro working men live. Farther northeast,
on the edge of town, is the airport, representing the most advanced medium
of transportation.
After dark, a conspicuous feature of the city's downtown area is the
peculiar bluish quality of the street lights mercury-vapor lamps, installed
in 1936. Grand Island was the first town in the United States to use this
type of lighting.
The present city of Grand Island dates from 1866, when the Union
Pacific laid out a town along the railroad tracks. The name of the town
and some of the earliest buildings were transferred from an earlier settle-
ment farther south, which was founded in 1857 on the bank of the Platte
opposite a long island known to early French-Canadian trappers as La
Grande lie. The idea of starting the first settlement originated with a
group of men in Davenport, Iowa, who believed that a town in the Platte
Valley might eventually become an important railway junction point, and
that because of its central position the National Capital probably would
be moved there (see HISTORY). Most of the citizens of Davenport re-
garded the undertaking as rash, but the promoters persuaded more than
thirty persons most of them Germans to undertake the venture. The
party arrived at the island in July 1857; more settlers came in 1858, and
most of them were able to make a good living, chiefly by selling farm
products to immigrants going West. The promoters, however, were so
hard hit by the financial panic of 1857, and had so many disagreements
with the settlers, that they backed out of the enterprise and lost the sev-
eral thousand dollars they had invested in the project.
In 1859 a gold-hunter passing through the settlement on his way east
from Colorado set fire to the grass because he hated Germans, and all
houses but one were burned. Citizens of Omaha made up a purse for the
sufferers in Grand Island, and the community was gradually rebuilt. Ill
fortune attended a number of the early settlers and promoters: one died
lit
CITIES AND TOWNS
GRAND ISLAND
KEY
Co Plant
lission Co,
Market
l66 CITIES AND TOWNS
in the poorhouse, one shot himself, another took strychnine, and one was
run over by a train.
In the spring of 1860 William Stolley began what was one of the first
tree cultures in the State. The 6,000 small trees planted on his claim
formed the nucleus of the Stolley State Park (see Tour 4). Although the
Indians had given the settlers little trouble up to that time, Stolley began to
build a fortified log house near his own farmhouse. In 1864 the Indians'
growing hostility made it necessary to hasten completion of the unfinished
Fort Independence. The settlers also fortified the O. K. Store, in the
eastern part of the settlement.
In 1866 the Union Pacific Railroad reached the vicinity of the settle-
ment, and the movement of stores and houses to the new town site was
begun. A post office was established, flour mills started up, and a Land
Office was opened, It was not until 1873, however, that Grand Island was
incorporated as a town. Before that time it had been known as Grand
Island Station.
During the late eighties and early nineties Grand Island had a horse-
and-mule-power streetcar system. Although this means of transportation
was popular, particularly during annual reunions of the Grand Army of
the Republic, the backers went bankrupt and the line was discontinued.
Grand Island today is a freight division point on the Union Pacific
Railroad, maintaining local car repair shops and supply departments which
give employment to more than 300 men. Four large wholesale houses,
dealing in groceries, fruits, and notions, employ some 150 persons. There
are three bakeries, a candy company, three laundries, a lard-rendering com-
pany, and a laboratory manufacturing serum for hog cholera. Among the
important industrial concerns are a creamery, a flour mill, a piston ring
factory, and a wire fence factory. The city has a daily newspaper, the
Grand Island Independent.
Grand Island is the birthplace of Henry Fonda, stage and screen actor,
and of Grant Reynard, the artist, and is the home of Jake Eaton, "cham-
pion gum chewer of the world," said to be capable of chewing 300 sticks
at a time.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. The GRAND ISLAND CATHEDRAL (Roman Catholic), SW.
corner Cedar and Division Sts., is one of the newer buildings in Grand
Island, constructed in 1928. It was designed in Tudor Gothic style by
Brinkman and Hagam, architects, of Empona, Kansas. The exterior is of
buff Indiana limestone, and the clerestory and roof are supported by a
steel framework. The seating capacity of the nave is 900, that of the base-
ment chapel 300. Statues of the four evangelists surround the canopy of
the main altar, and at the four side altars are statues dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin, St Joseph, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Francis de Sales.
A stained-glass window installed in the choir loft cost $6,000. The $10,000
pipe organ was manufactured by the Reuter Company of Lawrence, Kan-
sas. A relic of the Holy Cross, presented to Father Wolfe, deceased, is the
property of the church.
CATHEDRAL, GRAND ISLAND
2. The ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL, 1310 W. Charles St., is a large fire-
proof red brick building conducted by the Sisters of St. Francis Seraph of
Perpetual Adoration. It has a modern X-ray therapy department. The hos-
pital was opened in 1887.
3. The AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR COMPANY PLANT (Tours
1-4 weekdays during season, late summer, early fall), end of W. Koenig
St., was one of the first beet-sugar factories in the United States. In Feb-
ruary 1873 the Grand Island Independent published a description of the
beet-sugar industry m Europe, in which reference was made to the grow-
ing of beets in Nebraska. It was not until 1887 &*& the soil was tested
and found adaptable to the culture of sugar beets ; seed was imported from
France and Germany, and $100,000 was raised by subscription for the
new factory.
The factory grounds cover 80 acres, with good railroad facilities. The
original machinery was shipped from Germany, Austria, and France. In
the beginning the factory handled only 4,500 tons of beets in a season
though figures of the late 1930*5 ran as high as 88,000 tons. One ton of
beets averages about 250 pounds of sugar. Price per ton ranges from $4.50
to $6.50 for the beets, and an average of 20 million pounds of sugar is
made in one season.
The average number employed is 325 ; the plant operates 24 hours with
l68 CITIES AND TOWNS
three eight-hour shifts and has never closed its doors. Beets grown in the
Platte Valley from Grand Island to Cozad are used.
4. MEMORIAL PARK, W. 3d St., between Tilden St. and Garfield
Ave., made from an old dumping ground, has an area of two and three-
fourths acres. Many trees bear names of Hall County's World War dead,
and the park itself is named in their memory.
5. PIONEER PARK, W. ad St , between S. Cleburn and S. Elm Sts.,
was the original site of the Hall County courthouse. When the old court-
house was abandoned, the park was established as a memorial to the
pioneers.
6. BURNETT PARK, E. ad St., across from the Union Pacific shojs,
is operated by the Union Pacific Athletic Club for the benefit of members.
The park is used for carnivals, small circuses, outdoor gatherings, and
athletics, and has a lighting and loudspeaking system. The investment
represents an expenditure of $10,000.
7. The GRAND ISLAND AIRPORT, 1.5 m. N. of E. end of E. 7 th
St., replaced the old airport at the eastern end of Fourth and Seventh
Streets. This field, 640 acres in area, was originally five district farms. Con-
structed by WPA labor at a cost of $302,000, it is one of the finest and
best-equipped airports in the country.
8. The LIVESTOCK COMMISSION CO. MARKET (open; livestock
sales Mon. and Wed., 11 a.m.), E. 4th St. between C.B.&Q. Railroad and
Union Pacific R R. tracks, is a series of red buildings along both sides of
the street, one on the north side being topped with the wooden figure of
a running horse. This market is an outstanding commercial center in
Grand Island, and is a meeting place for mule buyers of the Deep South
and mule raisers of the Northwest. Inside the barns, the high roofs, the
long rows of stalls, and the great stacks of baled hay give an air of spa-
ciousness and depth. There is a semicircular sales arena where the animals
are shown to buyers, and rows of seats rise above it in curved tiers, pro-
viding space for more than 500 people. Auctioneers drone out bids as
horses or mules are led in singly or in pairs, and bidding and buying goes
on until the supply of animals is sold. Cattle, sheep, and hogs are usually
put on the block on Mondays. The area around the market is dominated
by "stockmen's cafes," rooming houses, and other businesses subsidiary to
the livestock trade.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONS
Fort Independence, 2 $ m , Stolley State Park, 2 5 m., Campbell Graves, 14.8 m ,
Martin Farm, 21 .4 m. (see Tour 4) , Site of Gottsch-Tramm Massacre, 72 m. (see
Tour 8) ; U. S. Monitoring Station, 5.5 m. (see Tour 10).
>
Railroad Stations: 202 S. Lincoln Ave, for Chicago & North Western Ry., Mis-
souri Pacific RR.; 501 W. ist St., for Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R.; no W.
3d St., for Union Pacific R.R. St Joseph & Grand Island Ry.
Bus Station; Union Bus Depot, 318 W. 3d St., for Burlington Trailways, United
Motor Ways, Yellow Diamond Lines.
Airport: Municipal, li/ 2 m. W. on i2th St. No scheduled service.
Taxts: 150 first 15 blocks
Traffic Regulations: Congested district, 20 m. per hour; outside congested dis-
trict, 30 m.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 6351/2 W- 2d St.
Accommodations: Five hotels; two tourist camps.
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses; Two theaters, three motion picture houses.
Baseball: League Park, Oswego and 5th Sts.; Harm Recreational Park, Delaware
Ave and South St.
Swimming: Hastings Amusement Park.
Tennis: City Courts, Burlington Ave. and i2th St., seven courts; two free.
Golf: Hillside Golf Club,- li/ 2 m. S. of city; greens fee 50^.
Annual Events: Show of Progress, spring; Music Festival, May; Adams County
Fair, last week in August.
HASTINGS (1,932 alt., 15,490 pop.), the fourth largest city of Nebraska,
seat of Adams County, is in the central South Platte region. In the heart
of the great Kansas-Nebraska wheat belt, the town depends largely upon
the soil for its existence, though it also possesses numerous other industries
and a colfege.
The city skyline is accented on the north by the tall silver-colored
smokestack of the Municipal Electric Light and Power Plant, which sells
power to local residents at a rate 50 percent lower than the average of all
American cities, and on the south by the tall smokestacks of brick and tile
plants, with smaller stacks, elevator towers, buildings, and spires protrud-
ing above the trees. The residential districts extend to the northwest, east
and south, separated from each other by railroad tracks. Second Street, the
main thoroughfare, extends through the city from east to west, flanked by
square buildings with elaborate and bulky cornices and modern stores.
The dominant tone of Hastings is that of a prosperous Middle Western
town.
Hastings is the home of Carolyn Renfrew, writer; of Barney Pearson,
known as "Colonel Idaho Bill," who was a friend of Buffalo Bill, and
who captured wild animals with a lariat; and the home town of Adam
Breede, author, explorer, and archeologist.
Late in 1870 a group of Englishmen, lured by the propaganda of im-
migration societies, came to what is now Adams County. A majority took
169
FARMSTEADER'S SON WITH PRIZE 4-H CLUB CALF, FAIRBURY
homesteads in the vicinity where Hastings now stands. Among them was
Walter Micklen, and upon his homestead the original town site of Hastings
was laid out in 1872.
In 1872 the town marked the western terminus of the St. Joseph and
Denver Railroad and was named for the man who graded the last section
of the railroad into the struggling village. The Burlington Railroad later
developed the town into a division point on the line between Chicago and
Denver.
In 1873 the Hastings Journal was established, and immediately advo-
cated the removal of the county seat from Juniata to Hastings, thus pre-
cipitating a fight that continued until the question was submitted to a
vote in 1877. Hastings won by a decisive majority, but did not actually
secure the county seat until a group of citizens went by night to Juniata,
loaded the records into lumber wagons and raced back to Hastings.
Thereafter Hastings grew rapidly. Farms were broken up and sold, and
HASTINGS 171
unreclaimed land was made to produce. Farmers came to Hastings to do
business. One of its first industries was established in 1878 to meet the
demand for farm machinery. A disastrous fire in 1879 started a building
boom.
The lull in the market in 1887 and the droughts of the 1890*5 were fol-
lowed by the panic of 1893. With the turn of the century, however, came
a restoration of farming and business profits, increased by the World War ;
and from 1920 to 1930, Hastings' industrial growth and steady advances
in other fields brought about an increase in population.
Today the small industries may be divided into four classes: food, auto-
mobiles, machinery, and building materials. Seventy percent of the brick
used in the State is made from brick clay of this region. Hastings also
manufactures windmills, haying equipment, grain bins, stock feeders, and
other farm implements. Surrounded by a fine agricultural section, the city
has important flour and feed mills, and creameries, and is known for its
cooked meat specialities. The Jerusalem artichoke was developed in the
Hastings area by Fred G. Johnson, and is used as a vegetable, as feed for
stock, and in the manufacture of fuel alcohol.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. The MASONIC TEMPLE (open), NW. corner of 4th St. and Hast-
ings Ave., is a light tan brick building with stone trim and arched entrance,
three and one-half stories high. A large lobby, luxurious lodge rooms, a
combination dining room and ballroom, and an auditorium seating 1,000,
are outstanding features. It is one of the few Masonic temples in the coun-
try owned and used by all the various Masonic bodies.
2. ST. MARK'S EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL, SE. corner of 5 th and
Burlington Ave., designed by Ralph Adams Cram, was built at a cost of
$165,000. The building is of stone in simple, dignified thirteenth century
English Gothic style. In the center of the ornamental screens behind the
altar, with statues of St. Mark and St. John occupying niches on either
side, is a wood carving of Da Vinci's Last Sapper executed by Alois Lang,
of Oberammergau, Bavaria.
3. ST. CECILIA'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, SE. corner 7 th St.
and Kansas Ave., constructed of brown Persian tapestry brick, is of Gothic
design. The church was dedicated December 22, 1912; its cost was $70,-
ooo, including the organ. It is distinguished from most buildings of its
type by the absence of obstructing columns between the nave and the side
aisles. From the vaulted ceiling, at the place where columns are ordinarily
used, hang pendants which form a part of the indirect lighting system.
4. PROSPECT PARK, 3d St. between Laird and Woodland Aves., ex-
tending to 5th St , occupies 24 acres, landscaped with rock garden and
pool. It has a pavilion with a seating capacity of 2,839, used for concerts
and plays. Forty-eight-hour camping is permitted in the western section of
the park. There are outdoor brick ovens, a cabin with shower bath and a
range, a shelter house with a large fireplace and rest rooms, wading pool,
and bathhouse for children.
172
CITIES AND TOWNS
KEY
1. The Masonic Temple
2. St. Mark's Episcopal Ca-
thedra]
3. St. Cecilia's Catholic
Church
4. Prospect Park
5. Highland Park
6. Sunnyside
7. Heartwell Park
8. Hastings College
HASTINGS
173
174 CITIES AND TOWNS
5. HIGHLAND PARK, i2th St. between Burlington and St Joseph
Aves. extending to i4th St., is commonly called City Park. The 4o-acre
tract is landscaped and has benches, swings, slides, tennis courts, and picnic
f acihties It is the oldest park in Hastings ; the land was bought by the city
from the Union Pacific before 1876. The JACOB FISHER RAINBOW FOUN-
TAIN, at the 1 2th Street entrance to the park, has eight combinations of
water jets and twelve combinations of lights, used to produce varied forms
and effects. In the south central portion of the park are the MEMORIAL
ELMS, each tree dedicated to the memory of an Adams County soldier who
died in the World War
The HASTINGS CITY MUSEUM, NW. corner Highland Park, not yet
completed (1938), will house the collection formerly contained in the old
Morton School building at 5th St. and Saunders Ave. The old building was
razed to supply brick for the new three-story structure. The museum con-
tains 167,000 specimens of biological and historical interest. It specializes
in the fauna and culture of the Great Plains region and possesses exhibits
of Indian and pioneer relics, historical material, and fossils.
6. SUNNYSIDE (of en), home for the elderly, NW. corner i4th St.
and Hastings Ave., a two-story frame structure, was built in 1914 by mem-
bers of the Hastings Women's Club. In January 1916 the house burned,
and a new home was built immediately; rooms were named in honor of
those who donated money for the new building. The Wiebke Frahm addi-
tion in 1921, and the $20,000 infirmary wing (brick) built in 1931, make
the institution completely modern. It houses 28 women and 10 men, whose
average age is approximately 70 years.
7. HEARTWELL PARK, Forest Blvd. between East Side Blvd. and
Elm Ave., extending to Lakeside Drive, is a favorite resort for picnickers.
The park was acquired by the city about 1900. A dam across a ravine forms
HEARTWELL LAKE by storing water from the street drainage system. The
lake is used for skating in winter. The park has many shade trees, tables,
benches, outdoor ovens, and there are swings, a wading pool, and a shelter
house.
8. HASTINGS COLLEGE (open), Turner Ave. between 7th and 9th
Sts., has nine principal buildings on an 82-acre campus. The brick buildings
are in informal arrangement facing a central walk that extends in a north
and south direction from 7th to 9th St. The buildings east of the cen-
tral walk are: McCormick Hall, completed in 1883, named for the in-
ventor, Cyrus McCormick, who donated $8,000 toward its construction;
Ringland Hall, built in 1884, similar in construction to McCormick; a
library ; and the gymnasium, a solid brick building 100 by 109 feet, capable
of seating 1,200 persons. Also east of the central walk, on 9th St., are
the Domestic Science Building and the Williams' Bible House, both of
stucco. West of the walk are Alexander Hall, erected m 1905 and named
for one of the founders of the college, which provides dormitory accom-
modations for young women; and Taylor Dining Hall. At the north cor-
ner of 7th St and Elm Ave , is Bellevue House, a frame structure for-
merly the Hastings Country Club, added to the campus in 1937. The
president's residence is at 202 9th St., three blocks west of the campus.
HASTINGS 175
The college was endorsed by the first meeting of the Synod of Nebraska,
Presbyterian church, held at Nebraska City, in October 1873. The first
classes were conducted in rooms above the post office in 1882, the first
faculty consisting of five instructors, including Dr. W. F. Rmgland, pastor
of the first Presbyterian church of Hastings and first president of the col-
lege. Forty-four students were enrolled. The present faculty averages 50
members, instructing a student body of 1,000
The LIBRARY (open 8-12, 1-5, 7-9 weekdays; 8-12, 1-5 Sat.) is a tan
brick building completed in 1908, a gift of Andrew Carnegie. Occupying
four rooms on the lower floor, is the COLLEGE MUSEUM. Collections in-
clude species of United States birds, specimens of rocks and ores ; mounted
animals ; ethnological material and collections from Hawaii, the Philippine
Islands, Korea, and other countries. The paleontological collection includes
specimens unearthed in Nebraska.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Campbell Dunlap Graves, 15.6 m. (see Tour 4) t Nebraska State Hospital, Ingle-
side, 1 m. (see Tour 9).
<<<<<<<<<<<< a >>>>>>>>
Railroad Stations Union Station, yth and P Sts , for Burlington and Union Pacific
Lines; 2oth and O Sts for Rock Island R.R., 9th and S Sts. for Chicago & North
Western, Missouri Pacific R R.
Airports: Municipal, 4 m NW. on State 2, taxi fare $x; Union, 5 6th St. and
Union Airport Road, 7 m NE from downtown, taxi fare $1 30; Arrow, 4 m from
downtown on N 48th St., taxi fare $i, no scheduled service.
Bus Stations- Union Bus Depot, 320 S. i3th St., for Interstate Transit Lines, Santa
Fe Trail ways, 320 N. nth St for Burlington Transportation Company, Missouri
Pacific Transportation Company.
Taxis: 12 blocks, 2 50.
Streetcars: Fare io0.
Local Busses Fare io0.
Traffic Regulations: Speed limit 25 m.ph. on arterial streets and boulevards,. 20 in
residential districts, 15 in congested traffic districts and school zones; for left turns
take left traffic lane
Street Numbering: Streets running north and south are numbered, east and west let-
tered "O" is principal thoroughfare, from which numbering begins.
Accommodations," 10 hotels, wide range of rates; boarding houses; tourist camps,
municipal tourist camp, 24th and Randolph Sts., camping privileges
Information Service: Lincoln Auto Club, 1228 M St ; Chamber of Commerce, 208
N nth St.
Radio Stations: KFAB (770 kc.) ; KFOR (1210 kc )
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses: Temple Theater, University Players and oc-
casional road shows, Nebraska, vaudeville and pictures; eight motion picture houses
Athletic Centers: Coliseum, University of Nebraska campus; Stadium, U. of N.
campus , Landis Field, 200 W. P St. , 4-H Club Building, Fairgrounds.
Swimming: Municipal Pool, 23rd and M Sts
Playground: Municipal, 23rd and M Sts.
Tennis: Municipal Courts, 23rd and M Sts., 28th and A Sts ; South St. and Normal
Blvd, fee 250.
Golf: Municipal Links, Pioneers Park, Van Dorn St. to Pioneers Blvd., Burlington
St. west, 18 holes, fee 250, Sat and Sun. 500.
Amusement Park: Capitol Beach, W. R St.
Annual Events: Beaux Arts Ball, Nebraska Art Exhibition, Mar., Ivy Day, Farmers'
Fair, Flower Show, Nebraska Writers' Guild Meeting, May; Butchers' and Grocers'
Picnic, Aug.; Nebraska State Fair, Fall Display Night, Sept.; State Historical Soci-
ety Meeting, Native Sons and Daughters Meeting; opening of "Cornhusker" football
season, Oct , Lincoln Art Exhibition, Christmas Parade, Nov.; Military Ball, Christ-
mas Oratorio, Organized Agriculture Week, Dec.
LINCOLN (1,148 alt, 79,592 pop.), the capital city of Nebraska, is
predominantly an educational center. It is situated in the southeastern part
of the State about 50 miles west of the Missouri River, completely filling
the shallow basin, elliptical in shape, which is traversed by Salt Creek and
its tributaries Rock Creek, Oak Creek, Middle Creek, Antelope Creek and
176
LINCOLN 177
Stevens Creek. Some of its suburban additions lie among the hills. The
valley affords a natural protection against tornadoes, which skirt the city
but seldom hit it directly. Since the changing of the creek channels, floods
are unknown. Variation is a marked characteristic of the climate. In sum-
mer the mercury occasionally climbs to 110; in winter it frequently falls
to 10 below zero.
The gleaming white-stone shaft of the State Capitol is visible from the
tops of the hills on all approaching highways, and completely dominates
the skyline of the city, otherwise broken only by an occasional high build-
ing, such as the square red-brick Cornhusker Hotel, the gray stone Stuart
Building, or Lincoln's skyscraper, the ly-story white-stone Sharp Building.
O Street, once a freighters' trail, but now the main thoroughfare of the
city, stretches east and west through the business district, passing the
Veterans' Hospital, Wyuka Cemetery, and "Automobile Row" in the east-
ern part of the city, and the wholesale district in the western. North of
the business district, among the trees, are the buildings of the University
of Nebraska, city campus ; south and east are broad areas of residences with
a generous sprinkling of churches and schools of varying architecture.
A large number of Lincoln's inhabitants are concerned either directly
or indirectly with State governmental activities or with the support of the
colleges and schools. Each fall between 8,000 and 9,000 students come to
the colleges of Lincoln, giving a youthful air to the city. The business of
providing for them is a major concern of Lincoln restaurants, stores, and
rooming houses. In the morning the people on the downtown streets are
mainly store clerks, office workers, and students, but in the afternoon house-
wives doing their shopping predominate. On Saturdays the farmers con-
gregate in the western O Street district, where hardware and implement
stores cater to their needs.
But all Lincoln is unavoidably weather-minded, since all its business
even its schools depends upon the income of the farmers. Although the
downtown area possesses a certain metropolitan air, the talk of crops and
weather is never-ending on the streets. Every spring the same question
arises: will the rain come before the corn is planted, after it has sprouted,
or not at all?
The city has no crime problem of any consequence. Few murders have
been committed in recent years; the chief offenders against the law are
traffic violators and occasional inebriates. Once known as the "Holy City/'
because it had well over 100 churches, or one for every 700 people, it was
avoided by criminals. The city is a a religious and educational center rather
than an industrial center.
The Lincoln of William Jennings Bryan's day is materially gone. The
older buildings are being renovated or torn down and replaced by new
structures. But the Lincoln whose social character Bryan exemplified re-
mains. The O Street along which "Old Jules' 1 Sandoz walked in 1905
with an eagle he had killed slung over his shoulder, and with a crowd of
small hero worshippers following at his heels, is greatly changed Old-
timers on the streets today can tell almost the complete story of the
phenomenal changes Lincoln has undergone. The city is still young; its
CITIES AND TOWNS
LINCOLN
DOWNTOWN AREA POINTS OF INTEREST
en CD tzn a cm czi
DD qp nn an en LZH
an nn C=D nn
aU LJa an Ura czi
a a nn a
LINCOLN 179
age spans only a lifetime. With its modern office buildings, its Capitol, the
traffic and bustle of its downtown area, it retains a certain rawness; the
prairie remains close upon its borders.
The thing least changed about Lincoln is its social and moral temper,
but there are signs that some of the old conservatism is departing. First,
there was the lifting of the ban on Sunday movies. Then, in 1936, the
Democratic vote began for the first time in many years to approach a
balance of power with the Republican vote.
The basin area was surveyed in 1856, and the following year the county
was surveyed. The first actual settler of the county was John Prey, who
preempted a claim on Salt Creek about 12 miles south of present Lincoln
in 1856. Other claims were taken, and in 1859 the settlers met under an
elm tree on the east bank of Salt Creek and appointed a committee to
determine the county seat. They found the flats glistening with white
saline deposits, bordered by a marsh where wild fowl nested, and by
prairies where deer and antelope grazed. There were elm and cottonwood
trees along the creeks, and scattered fields of sunflowers. The committee
chose a site that is now a part of the city of Lincoln, naming it Lancaster
for Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. For a number of years, however, Lan-
caster was only a town on paper.
In 1856 Capt. W. T. Donovan came to the basin as the representative
of a salt company. He settled at the mouth of Oak Creek, but soon aban-
doned his schemes for making a fortune in salt. During the Indian
scares of the late fifties he removed to Stevens Creek; in 1861 he returned
and settled at Yankee Hill, where he later filed on the first homestead of
Lancaster County. The basin was a lively place in the summer of 1861,
Two salt boilers, Cox and Peckham, carried on an extensive business. Salt
was very expensive, and settlers came from as far as Des Moines, Iowa,
to obtain it.
On July 4, 1863, Elder J. M. Young, Rev. Peter Schamp, Dr. J. Mc-
Kesson, Luke Lavender, and Jacob Dawson arrived at the basin. Elder
Young was looking for a site for a Methodist colony and wanted to
establish a female seminary. After a careful inspection of the surrounding
country, he decided on Lancaster. The following year the town was platted
and a few cabins erected.
KEY TO LINCOLN MAP
DOWNTOWN AREA
1. The City Hall. 6. Lincoln City Library.
2. United States Courthouse and 7. St. Paul Methodist Church.
Postoffice. 8. Site of the Lincoln Sanitarium.
3. The Municipal Building. 9. Nebraska State Capitol.
4. The University of Nebraska. 10. The Lincoln Monument.
5. The Scene of the Lincoln Bank n. Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
Robbery. 12. Lancaster County Courthouse.
ISO CITIES AND TOWNS
Shortly after the founding of Lancaster, the neighboring settlement of
Yankee Hill unsuccessfully contested its choice as county seat. The first
term of the Territorial court of the county was held in November 1864
in Jacob Dawson's cabin. Its half-dozen log cabins, its stone seminary, its
few frame shacks, were almost lost in the Salt Creek Basin In 1867, how-
ever, the event occurred which changed its history completely Nebraska
was admitted to statehood, and Lancaster was chosen as the State capital.
The seat of government had been in Omaha since 1854 For 13 years
dissension and bitterness marked all discussions in the legislature concern-
ing the removal of the capital. Two factions had formed: the North Plat-
ters, favoring Omaha; the South Platters, favoring a site south of the
river. In 1867 the capital removal bill was enacted and a commission of
three members, Gov. David Butler, Thomas P. Kennard, Secretary of
State, and John Gillespie, State Auditor, visited Ashland, Yankee Hill,
and Lancaster to select the location. On July 29 they definitely announced
the choice of Lancaster. In the original draft of the removal bill the name
proposed for the new city was "Capital City." Senator Patrick of Omaha
moved to amend the bill to read "Lincoln," and the village of Lancaster,
designated the capital of the State, was renamed Lincoln.
Early in September 1867 the new city was platted, and lots were offered
for sale. Prices of the lots ranged from $15 to $150, and total proceeds at
the end of the year were approximately $53,000. Plans were immediately
made for the building of a capitol but threats of delay and frustration
hung over the enterprise. It was common gossip that the State treasurer,
an Omahan, under pressure of the anti-removalists, would impound all
money derived from the sale of Lincoln lots. The capitol commissioners
prevented this by acting as their own bursars, and the building was erected,
although with a certain amount of inefficiency and waste. The structure, of
conventional design, was ready for occupancy early in December 1868. A
few days later all State-owned books, documents, and office furnishings
were removed from the former Capitol at Omaha to Lincoln in covered
wagons and in the dead of night for fear the transfer would be resisted by
an armed force of Omahans.
On August 26, 1867, the three founders of Lincoln filed the plat of the
city. On the same day they incorporated the "State Historical and Library
Association/' and dedicated to it a block of land which was known for
many years as the "Historical Block." This association thus became the
first State institution in Nebraska.
Throughout 1867 investors and business men were hesitant about risking
their money in a town that might not be the capital for long. When se-
lected as the capital site, the village had about 30 inhabitants. A year later
the population was 500. The 1868 tide of prosperity brought the town its
first bank, newspaper, jail, tailoring establishment, barber shop, lumber-
yard, livery stable, and clothing, harness, and drug stores. The followers
of Elder Young built the first Methodist church. During this year the
wooden bridge over Salt Creek, at the foot of O Street, collapsed when a
herd of 1,000 Texas longhorns passed over it. The town officials attempted
immediately to call upon the owner of the herd to collect damages, but
AIRVIEW, LINCOLN
they were routed by the cattle; later, herd and owner were gone and no
indemnity was ever collected.
The most lively spot in Lincoln at that time was Market Square, now
(1938) Postoffice Square. The square surmounted a natural knoll, flanked
by squat, false-front business houses, and served as a camping place for
immigrants with their covered wagons, horses, and cattle. It was also a
favorite hang-out for land sharks, horse traders, and tin-horn gamblers
throughout the days of settlement.
The legislature, meeting for the first time at the new Capitol in 1869,
authorized land grants to encourage railroad construction in the State;
the first railroad to reach Lincoln was the Burlington & Missouri River
line from Plattsmouth, in 1870. Before that, stage lines operated through
Lincoln, and the Wells Fargo Company of San Francisco had been han-
dling the city's overland express since 1868
The same legislature passed the bill establishing the University of
Nebraska. The cornerstone of the first building, University Hall, was laid
during the fall of 1869 By 1870 the population of Lincoln was 2,500.
The sale of city lots increased and there was a boom in private and public
building; the State erected a penitentiary and an asylum There was still
much interest in the commercial possibilities of the saline springs. A super-
stition persisted that they were part of a great underground ocean, with
tides twice a day. Wells were sunk more than 1,000 feet and the waters
that gushed out were found to have medicinal properties. As late as 1872
182 CITIES AND TOWNS
deer, coyotes, and other wild animals were killed within city limits. Prairie
chickens and quail abounded on the neighboring prairie.
Lincoln experienced its first major depression between 1871 and 1876.
Soon after the impeachment of Governor Butler, in 1871, the legality of
moving the capital was questioned. Although the legality was soon estab-
lished, the controversy tended to discourage land sales and private enter-
prise, and upset property values. The grasshopper years of 1873-1876
were another cause of hard times. During this scourge lots were sold for
the lowest prices in the town's history, merchants lost their trade, and
many settlers returned to the East. Despite hard times the city grew. The
high school was completed in 1873, two years after the University of
Nebraska opened its doors. Public utilities had their start and gas lights
were introduced, but the city still bore the stamp of the frontier. Emigrant
wagons passed through the city, as many as 30 in a day camping in Market
Square. Saloons flourished, also houses of gambling and prostitution In
1874 the Women's Temperance Union was organized to root out these
evils, and while the success of these crusaders was almost inversely propor-
tionate to their ardor, the movement they launched exerted a moral in-
fluence on the citizenry. From the time of the first temperance crusade
until national prohibition, the wet-dry struggle proved the leading issue in
the political life of the city.
In the i88o's the city had its greatest growth. Its population increased
from 14,000 to 40,000. A telephone exchange, water system, sewerage
system, and street railway were established ; streets were paved with cedar
blocks, and later resurfaced with bricks; other railroad lines extended to
the city. There was a growth of small industries. Stockyards and two pack-
ing plants were built. Large eastern packing companies sent representa-
tives to purchase land in Lincoln for branch plants, but as the cost of the
land was prohibitive, the representatives purchased land in Omaha and
the resulting competition of the large companies with the small Lincoln
firms caused the liquidation of the latter. A last effort was made to manu-
facture salt by sinking a well more than 2,000 feet; but this, like all
previous efforts, proved a disappointment. Nevertheless, money flowed
freely and many of the enterprising citizens grew wealthy. Solid business
blocks, beautiful residences, and a score of public improvements appeared.
Patrick Egan, an important figure in the Nationalist movement in Ireland,
found refuge in Lincoln, and organized an Irish land league. Letters, pub-
lications, and funds supporting the cause of Irish freedom went out of
the city for years.
In 1887 Lincoln was made a city of the first class. In the election held
that year, the candidates of the citizens' reform party were victorious. The
newly elected council immediately proceeded to clean up the city. The
incumbent police judge was found guilty of misappropriation of city funds
and was ousted. The judge filed an affidavit against this action in the Cir-
cuit Court of the United States, and the mayor and councilmen were ar-
rested. The case was heard in Omaha and was decided against the council
members ; the members refused to pay the heavy fines that were imposed,
whereupon they were lodged in the Omaha jail. Paroles and pardons were
HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM
granted a few days later, and on their return to Lincoln the councilmen
were met by a brass band and a cheering, enthusiastic crowd. The United
States Supreme Court eventually reversed the decision of the Circuit Court,
As soon as the farm lands were put under cultivation by homesteaders,
wagons of grain and produce began to roll into town, market prices fell,
and the settlers, who had incurred long-term debts, found themselves in
financial bondage. The price of corn dropped to the lowest point since
the Civil War and discriminatory freight rates kept the produce off eastern
markets. The Nebraska farmers then went political and Lincoln was end-
lessly embroiled.
In the late i88o's William Jennings Bryan came to Lincoln as a young
lawyer and entered politics. He was elected a delegate from Lancaster
County to the Democratic State Convention in 1888, only a few months
after his arrival in Lincoln. Two years later he was elected to Congress,
and in 1896 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for President
of the United States. Two other men, living in Lincoln during this period,
achieved renown in later years: Charles G. Dawes, who had a law office in
the same building as Bryan, and John J. Pershing, who was an instructor
in military science at the University of Nebraska.
The development of Lincoln during the last decade of the nineteenth
century was mainly along cultural and economic lines. In the environs
small communities grew up around Union College, Cotner University,
Wesleyan University, Lincoln Normal University, and the Worthington
184 CITIES AND TOWNS
Military Academy. Enrollment at the University of Nebraska constantly
increased and new buildings were erected. In the city were 38 churches,
26 schools, and 1 3 temperance societies. There were 70 factories, 80 whole-
sale houses, and n banks. Electric trolleys replaced the old horse-drawn
streetcars. The city took particular pride in its new opera house the
Lansing proclaimed the most ornate Romanesque building west of Chi-
cago.
The first years of the twentieth century in Lincoln are bound up with
the life and career of William Jennings Bryan. After being for the second
time an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency of the United States, in
1900, Bryan returned to Lincoln and established The Commoner, a weekly
journal which soon had a circulation of more than 100,000. In 1908 he
was again the Democratic nominee for President. He spoke repeatedly at
the local church gatherings, picnics, and banquets. To the last he was a
radical Democrat in a conservative town. He had two stone lions beside the
driveway of his farm home. One had its mouth open, its fangs exposed;
this one Bryan called Radicalism. The other had its mouth shut; this he
called Conservatism. Bryan moved to Florida in 1916.
At the time of America's entrance into the World War, there were many
Lincoln citizens, German by birth or extraction, whose sympathies were
with the Central Powers, and consequently there was bitter feeling between
pro-Germans and pro-Allies. As late as 1916 students of the University of
Nebraska organized to persuade the legislature to abolish compulsory mili-
tary training, but with America's entrance into the war, the tide turned.
Patriotic fervor gripped the city. German names were frowned upon, the
German language was tabooed in classrooms, and suspected pro-Germans
were carefully watched for evidence of treason Eight university professors
were charged with "lack of aggressive loyalty." A hearing was conducted
by the University Board of Regents and the resignation of three of the men
requested. To the Red Cross, Liberty Loan drives and other activities,
Lincoln citizens contributed generously. Of the county's 3,990 men who
donned khaki, 90 were killed.
Lincoln was prosperous following the war. Although there was general
labor unrest, little of it touched Lincoln In 1920 its population was 55,-
ooo. There was a great increase in enrollment at schools and colleges
Plans were made for the erection of a new capitol. In 1923 city and subur-
ban building construction totaled nearly five million dollars in value.
With the annexation of the suburbs, Lincoln entered upon a new pro-
gram of city planning. The construction of boulevards and drives, parks
and playgrounds, development of restricted residential areas, planting of
trees, and landscaping of lawns, all tended toward a greater and more
beautiful city. Streetcars were replaced by busses. The tower of the new
Capitol, and the Stuart and Sharp office buildings altered the skyline. Lin-
coln during the twenties was definitely booming. Then depression and
drought came again.
The crisis that started in the East in 1929 became a deadening reality in
Lincoln a few years later. The low prices of farm products brought ruin to
the farmers. Many business firms failed and the problem of unemployment
LINCOLN 185
became acute. Labor groups in the city made demands for governmental
assistance. Farmers marched upon the State Capitol and demanded a
moratorium on farm debts. There were many vacant buildings; trade was
inactive.
Federal relief agencies were established to relieve unemployment. Fed-
eral grants were made for the construction of public works. Slowly the
city is reestablishing itself (1938) but the successive years of drouth have
retarded recovery.
POINTS OF INTEREST
(Nos. 1-12 See Downtown Area Map)
r. The CITY HALL, 930 O St., was formerly the U. S. Postoffice
Building. A four-story structure of Gothic design, built of limestone quar-
ried on the Platte River, the old building stands in pleasing contrast with
the more recent buildings. In 1873 the plot was transferred by the city to
the United States Government and named Government Square. Immedi-
ately upon its abandonment as a post office in 1906, the building was utilized
by the city for its offices. Before the door stands the official milestone of
the city, its bronze plate depicting a covered wagon heading eastward.
Among the old-timers who loiter about Government Square are many who
comment that an eastward-moving wagon can only mean discouragement
and failure. The marker was erected in 1926.
2. The UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE AND POST OFFICE, SW.
corner loth and P Sts., a four-story stone structure completed in 1906,
was designed in the classical style of the Federal buildings of Washington.
It stands with grim dignity amidst the shabby business fronts of loth and
PSts.
3. The MIJNICIPAL BUILDING, 323 N. loth St., a two-story brick
building completed in the spring of 1932, houses Lincoln's fire, police,
and health departments, and municipal court. It stands on the block for-
merly known as Haymarket Square. Bounded by 9th and loth Sts. and
Q and R Sts., this square was the city market place after the transfer of
the old market square in 1873 to the Federal Government. Scales were
provided here for weighing hay, cattle, and produce. As the town grew,
the railroads and stores gradually took away the produce business. The
square then provided space for the equipages of country folk and a market
for hay. In 1886 a frame building was erected on Haymarket Square. This
served as a city hall until 1906.
4. The UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA occupies an area extending
from loth to I4th Sts., and from R to W Streets. The campus presents
an orderly appearance with its many tree-shaded walks and formally land-
scaped flower beds, low shrubs, and hedges. The buildings, all of one
general architectural style, Neo-classic, of red brick three stories in height,
are arranged on no definite plan, but face R Street, i2th Street, i4th
Street, the Quadrangle or the Mall.
In accordance with the Land Grant Act of 1862 and the Enabling Act
of 1864, the State legislature established the university on February 16,
HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM
1869, by an act that provided for six colleges. The first building was
University Hall, completed by January of 1871, built of bricks made
locally. Classes began in the fall of the same year with 20 students in
attendance. The university has 10 colleges and four schools, with an aver-
age enrollment of more than 10,000, and with graduating classes of about
900 The departments on which most emphasis is put are those of Agri-
culture and Engineering The university, nevertheless, has supplied a large
percentage of the teachers of the State, and its graduates have excelled
in many fields, especially in chemistry and engineering.
The UNIVERSITY LIBRARY (open 7:50 a.m.-lO p.m., Mon.-Thurs.,
7:50-6, Fri.-Sat.), NW. of intersection of nth and R Sts., was established
on January 15, 1869, when the legislature enacted a statute providing for
the library, by decreeing that all matriculation fees should be appropriated
to its use. The present three-story red brick building was completed in
1895. The collection consists of approximately 300,000 volumes, shelved
in 27 different places, including departmental libraries in various campus
buildings. The library has one of the finest collections in America on the
French Revolution, and a Woodrow Wilson collection of some 1,600
items.
UNIVERSITY HALL, NE. of Library, of red brick, is the oldest building
on the campus; its cornerstone was laid in September 1869 Lumber for
the building was shipped from Chicago to East Nebraska City, then hauled
65 miles overland to Lincoln by wagon ; brick for the building was burned
in a kiln on Little Salt Creek Its doors were first opened to students m
the fall of 1871 ; all the classes were held on the lower floor, the upper
ART DEPARTMENT, MORRILL HAIL
two stories serving as a dormitory. For more than 50 years the bell tower
of "Old U Hall" overlooked the campus and the city. In 1925 the build-
ing was condemned and the two upper stories and the bell tower were
razed. The old campus bell is preserved in the museum as a historical relic.
Classes are held in the remaining story of the building.
The TEMPLE THEATER, in the Temple Building, SE. corner of rath
and R Sts , is the home of the University Players, Lincoln's only theatrical
stock company. The red brick building, with stone trim and columns, cost
$100,000, of which $66,666 was the gift of John D. Rockefeller, Jr The
University Players, a group composed of instructors and advanced students
of dramatic art, present six plays during the school year.
ANDREWS HALL, N. of Quadrangle on i4th St., is a three-story red
brick structure completed in 1928, named for E. Benjamin Andrews,
chancellor of the university from 1900 to 1908.
In the west end of the building is the office of the Prazrie Schooner, a
literary quarterly that has won national recognition for the quality of its
prose and verse. Edited by Lowry Charles Wimberly, it published the first
work of such writers as Mari Sandoz, Dorothy Thomas, Jose Garcia Villa,
Jesse Stuart, Albert Halper, Lionel Wiggam, and William March.
MORRILL HALL, i4th and U Sts., N. of Andrews Hall, is the home of
the Nebraska State Museum and the art collections of the university De-
partment of Fine Arts.
The NEBRASKA STATE MUSEUM, first floor and basement (open S-J
weekdays; 2-5, Sun.), has a fine collection of fossils and natural history
188 CITIES AND TOWNS
exhibits. In "Elephant Hall" are many examples of mounted and fossil re-
mains of elephants, including numerous assembled skeletons. In the center
of the hall is a life group of two African elephants The skeleton of the Lin-
coln County mammoth, the largest species of land mammal inhabiting this
continent, stands almost 14 feet high.
The late Adam Breede of Hastings, Nebr., donated an extensive col-
lection of mounted African animals, among them elephants, lions, cape
buffalo, zebra, hartebeests, rhinoceroses, hyenas, dik-diks, and giraffe.
Murals by Elizabeth Dolan are used as backgrounds for contemporary and
fossil animals.
Other exhibits include a bird collection donated by Lawrence Bruner
and August Eiche; a display of Philippine relics, placed here by Gen. John
J. Pershing; the C. C Engberg collection of Puget Sound marine inverte-
brates ; and various collections of minerals, rocks, fossils, and meteorites.
The ART COLLECTIONS, second and third floors (open 9-5 weekdays,
2-5, Sun., free except during Annual Exhibitions, usually held in March,
when 250 is charged), include original paintings by American artists. One
of the collections is the property of the university, and is known as the
Hall Collection. The other belongs to the Nebraska Art Association, an
organization that has been actively interested in the encouragement of art
in Nebraska since the late 1890*5.
These two collections, worth more than $350,000, represent a cross sec-
tion of American art unexcelled in the Middle West. Through the bequest
of Mr. and Mrs. F. M Hall in 1928 the university received a substantial
income for the purchase of additional paintings, provisions having been
made in the bequest for high standards of selection. The Nebraska Art
Association adds constantly to its collections ; its practice is to buy at least
one painting each year, usually at the time of the annual art exhibition.
Through the bequest of the Halls the university also acquired a num-
ber of etchings by Whistler, Pennell, and Rembrandt, and Japanese prints
by Hiroshigi and Toyokum. Will C. Gregg, an alumnus of the university,
contributed more than 100 prints that he selected from contemporary print
exhibitions.
To supplement the permanent collections the fine arts department has
a traveling exhibition each month. Gallery A, on the second floor, is
usually used for this exhibition.
Facing Memorial Mall on the north is the COLISEUM. Built in 1926,
with a seating capacity of 10,000, it is used for university and public
activities. Here, annually, the university chorus presents a Christmas Ora-
torio ; in the spring commencement exercises are held ; infrequently during
the year grand opera, ballet, recitals, and concerts are presented, and polit-
ical rallies are held.
The HEAT AND POWER HOUSE, i4th and W Sts., built in 1930, is
architecturally the most distinguished building on the campus. In design-
ing the structure, the architects, Ellery Davis and Walter F. Wilson, con-
sidered the utilitarian needs of housing the elaborate machinery necessary
for heating and lighting the scattered buildings of the university and the
distant capitol building. The structure is of old Virginia face brick on a
LINCOLN 189
steel frame, and the architecture is modern. The upper portions of each
of the tall windows are crowned with three receding brick arches. Between
the windows are brick buttresses that extend from the ground to the para-
pet, where they terminate in the Bedford stone that encircles the tops of
the walls.
The STADIUM, between loth and i2th Sts., U and V Sts., was erected
as a memorial to the men of Nebraska who served in the Nation's wars.
Its construction was financed by contributions from students, faculty,
alumni, and friends of the university. The two stands have a seating capac-
ity of 32,000; bleachers provide additional accommodation for 15,000.
The quarter-mile cinder track, considered one of the best in the United
States, was the scene of the national A.A.U. meet several times.
5. The SCENE OF THE LINCOLN BANK ROBBERY, 1144 O St.,
now occupied by a jewelry firm, was at the time of the robbery the office
of the Lincoln National Bank and Trust Company. This was one of the
largest bank robberies in America, the loot in currency and bonds amount-
ing to $2,000,000. On the morning of September 17, 1930, three men
quietly entered the lobby of the bank, flourished guns, and forced em-
ployees and patrons to lie face down on the floor ; then they methodically
scooped up all the currency behind the cages, looted the vault, jumped
into a waiting sedan and sped away. All this was accomplished without
gunfire in less than 15 minutes. The identity of all the bandits was never
conclusively established Two men were given long-term sentences; one
was released. Gus Winkler, a known member of Al Capone's gang, estab-
lished an alibi. Winkler confessed to knowledge of the stolen bonds and
bargained with the authorities for the restitution of $600,000 in securities
in return for his freedom. Much discussion and comment followed; but
Winkler won his point; bonds valued at $575,000 were eventually re-
turned. Winkler was killed by underworld gunmen in 1933.
6. The LINCOLN CITY LIBRARY (open 9 a.m.-lO p.m. weekdays,
2-10 Sun.), NE. corner of I4th and N Sts., was opened to the public May
27, 1902. The modified Renaissance building, of gray pressed brick,
erected with the aid of funds contributed by Andrew Carnegie, has 122,-
ooo volumes, files of many magazines, and a collection of books by Ne-
braska authors.
7. ST. PAUL METHODIST CHURCH, NW. corner of i2th and M
Sts., a red brick building trimmed in stone with Gothic windows, occu-
pies a site used by the Methodists since 1869. The first congregation of
the church was organi2ed in 1867 by Robert Hawkes, an itinerant
preacher. The following year the church, then known as the First Metho-
dist Episcopal Church of Lincoln, increased its membership sufficiently to
erect a $2,000 building. In 1883 a new $45,000 structure was built and
the name changed to St. Paul Methodist Episcopal. In 1899 this building
burned, and plans were made for the present one. At the time of its dedi-
cation, in 1901, it was described as one of the largest and "most elegant"
churches west of the Mississippi.
8. The SITE OF THE LINCOLN SANITARIUM, SE. corner of i4th
and M Sts., is occupied by a fruit stand. The sanitarium, a large brown-
190 CITIES AND TOWNS
stone building, with no hospital beds, was built by Drs. M. H. and J. O.
Everett, primarily as a bath resort. A number of wells were sunk at differ-
ent depths one 220 feet, another 400 feet, and the principal one 900
feet. The water had a high mineral content and was valued as a treatment
for rheumatism and other ailments. A large swimming pool made this a
popular recreational center, often having as many as 800 bathers in one
day. In 1928 the sanitarium was closed, and by 1930 it had been razed.
9. The NEBRASKA STATE CAPITOL, entrance at i5th and K Sts.,
(open 8-5 da^ly; guide tours 10:30, 2, 3, weekdays; 2, 3, Sun.).
The distinguishing feature of the building, in itself a radical departure
in the design of capitals, is the great central tower rising 400 feet, its
height emphasized by the vertical lines of the fenestration and massive
corner pylons. The towering mass of the capitol was designed by Bertram
Grosvenor Goodhue to be visible over a radius of many miles of prairie.
It rises from grounds extending over an area of four city blocks.
The plan of the limestone structure is in the form of a vast square with
a cross on the longitudinal and transverse axes dividing it into four inner
courts.
The long outer quadrangle, one story in height, is raised on a high
podium or base, the top of which forms a continuous promenade.
The exterior of the quadrangle is designed with dignity and restraint.
With its simple fenestration and ample wall surfaces it forms an appro-
priate base to the great central tower.
In the center of each facade is a massive entrance pavilion. The design
of these elements with their arches, heroic sculpture, and corner pylons
establishes at once the monumental scale and idealistic theme of the en-
tire building composition
The great central tower is crowned with a gold glazed-tile dome upon
which stands Lee Lawne's 2y-foot bronze statue, the Sower. Around the
base of the dome is a mosaic bearing a highly conventionalized Indian
emblem, the Thunderbird The figure of the Sower and this mosaic orna-
mentation indicate the symbolism of the building.
The symbolism of the rich decorations is the work of Hartley Burr
Alexander, formerly of the University of Nebraska. It is derived from
many sources ancient and European history, Indian culture, the pioneer
era, modern agriculture, and the ideals of government. These decorations
were executed by Mr. Lawne, Hildreth Meiere, Augustus Tack, and others.
A tour of the outer promenade provides the best view of the inscrip-
tions and exterior decorations.
A narrow frieze below the cornice of the outer quadrangle bears the
names of the various counties of Nebraska. The first unit in the symbolic
decorations on the exterior are the bas-relief panels on the cheek blocks
of the steps leading to the north entrance. The buffalo and maize express
the life of the prairie and on the panels are inscribed quotations from
Indian tribal rituals, songs, and legends.
On the face of the west block is an inscription dedicated to the citizens
of the State and on the east block another dedicated to the pioneers. The
arch of the north portal frames a pioneer panel symbolizing the coming
CAPITOL
of the white man to a new land Decorative borders embellished with corn
and ox skulls line the top of the panel and adorn the soffit of the arch.
The main north portals, executed in bronze grille, were designed by Lee
Lawrie; the decorations symbolizing the life of the open prairie. Above
the north doorway is the inscription, 'The Salvation of the State is Watch-
fulness in the Citizen." On the face of the pylons (left and right) are the
seals of the United States and the State of Nebraska, respectively, and at
their top are the figures of Wisdom and Justice (left) and Power and
Mercy (right), the Guardians of the Law.
A series of eighteen panels on the four corner pavilions and flanking
the pylons of the east and west central pavilions record the history of the
Law. Continuing the circuit around the promenade, the bas-relief panels
on the northwest corner pavilion represent the Mosaic Law and Deborah
Judging Israel. Above the three arches of the west entrance pavilion, left
to right, are three panels depicting the Constitution of Athens, the Law
of the Twelve Tables and the Tribunate of the People. Flanking the py-
lons of the west pavilion are bas-reliefs of Solomon (left) and Plato
(right). The panels on the pavilion at the southwest corner represent
Orestes before the Areopagites and Justinian's Code. The series is broken
on the south facade by the monumental central pavilion. The south en-
1^2 CITIES AND TOWNS
trance to the building, in the base of the promenade, is flanked by a
double flight of terraced steps and by broad ramps which lead from the
street into the basement under the promenade. The south pavilion is de-
signed with three massive arched clerestory windows, at the base of which
is a decorative balcony. The face of the balcony is adorned with pierced
bas-relief panels representing the Declaration of Independence, Magna
Charta and the United States Constitution; symbolic figures on the piers
represent the great Lawgivers of the Ancient World. On the southeast
corner pavilion are panels representing the Anglo-Saxon Code and Milton
Defending Free Speech. Above the arched windows of the east pavilion
(left to right) are three bas-reliefs: Las Casas Pleading the Cause of the
Indian, the Mayflower Compact and Proclamation of Emancipation; flank-
ing the pylons are Burke Speaking for America (left) and the Louisiana
Purchase (right) . On the northeast corner pavilion are two panels devoted
to Nebraska's history, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the Admission of the
State.
Heroic figures surmount the lower buttresses of the tower an Egyptian
scribe, a prophet of Israel, a Greek philosopher, an emperor, a scientist,
and a three-quarter figure of Lincoln.
The first or ground story of the capitol is devoted to various offices of
the State, the Departments of Public Works, Agriculture, Trade and Com-
merce, the Bureaus of Health and Labor, Offices of Motor Vehicles, Board
of Pardons, and the Historical Society, as well as a restaurant.
In the Historical Society's MUSEUM AND PICTURE GALLERY (open
8-5 weekdays, 2-J Sun.) are exhibits such as an ox yoke, made at Pal-
myra, Nebr., in 1870, used in plains freighting; the wooden tombstone of
a cowboy killed and scalped by Cheyenne Indians in 1879; a crude
wooden plow, said to have plowed the first row of corn in Richardson
County; a large gun collection (Kilpatrick) ; pioneer musical instruments;
a collection of pioneer clothing ; the V. J. Bryan collection ; Indian cloth-
ing, war equipment, implements, and peace pipes. The archeological collec-
tions are among the largest and most important of their kind in America,
in the opinion of the Smithsonian Institution. The Newspaper, Pic-
ture, and Manuscript Collections include photographs of historical scenes
and persons, Nebraska newspaper files from 1854 to date, and many valu-
able and rare documents and records. The HISTORICAL LIBRARY consists
of about 100,000 books and pamphlets including the Journal of the First
Colorado Legislature, 1859, valued at $2,000; the Kilpatrick Genealogical
Library; collections and books of Robert W. Furnas, T. H. Tibbies, W.
J. Bryan, and J. Sterling Morton; and volumes on State and western his-
tory and archeology.
On the second or principal floor are the Senate, the House of Repre-
sentatives, the Supreme Court, and various offices of the legislature and
judiciary.
The symbolism of the interior is drawn from three varying sources
the decorations in the north vestibule epitomize the gifts of nature to Ne-
braska's soil; in the great north foyer, the image of the settlement and
future of the land; and in the rotunda at the crux of the plan, the attain-
STATE CAPITOL
194 CITIES AND TOWNS
ments of men, and the story of life which Nebraska's sub-soil so richly
exemplifies. The details in the two chambers of legislature complete the
decorative theme of the interior that of the Senate in the east arm of the
cross symbolizing the world of the red man; while that of the House
Chamber in the west arm of the cross is devoted to the coming of the
white man.
The spacious North Vestibule, square in plan, is flanked by massive
arches which rise in support of a vaulted dome. The colorful ceiling cov-
ered with Guastavmo tile mosaic is adorned with decorative panels sym-
bolizing The Gifts of Nature, the work of Hildreth Meiere. On the soffits
of the arches are tile panels depicting the fauna of Nebraska. Light is ad-
mitted to the vestibule through four semicircular bronze-grilled windows.
The foyer leading from the north vestibule to the rotunda is a long
arcaded chamber, six bays in length, with a high vaulted ceiling. A nar-
row gallery lines the walls between the piers forming a promenade on two
sides of the rotunda. The foyer is lighted by large clerestory windows in
the arch of each bay. The polished mosaic floor is designed with elaborate
geometric patterns. Through the center are symbolic figures a male figure
representing Cosmic Energy, three female figures, Spirit of the Soil, Spirit
of Animal Life, and finally, the figure of Man.
The rotunda, with its great domed ceiling rising ninety-five feet above
the floor, forms the nucleus of the symmetrical plan of the capitol. It is
surrounded by a narrow gallery corridor. The design of the rotunda with
its classic piers, massive pendentives and colonnades recalls at once the
Imperial architecture of ancient Rome and the classic basilicas of early
Christianity. Around the drum of the dome is a promenade gallery set
behind a peripteral colonnade. The columns with their variegated marble
shafts are designed with modified Corinthian caps. The tile ceiling of the
dome is embellished in shades of blue, mauve and burnt orange with a
rosette motif of the Virtues. The buff and black marble mosaic floor has
a large central motif symbolizing Mother Earth, flanked by the goddesses
Agriculture and Commerce, with the young boy Opportunity at her feet.
Around them is a band of prehistoric fauna. Four secondary panels rep-
resent the mythical elements, Air, Water, Fire and Earth. Set into the
floor are intricate bronze grilles. A large bronze lighting fixture embel-
lished with the signs of the Zodiac hangs from the dome.
Framed in the great eastern arch of the rotunda, is the portal to the
Senate Chamber. The doors, of heavily carved wood painted in brilliant
colors, bear the figures of an Indian chieftain, an Indian woman, and the
conventional Indian Thunderbird. They were designed by Lee Lawrie.
The Senate Chamber is almost square in plan with massive corner piers
rising in support of a segmental vaulted ceiling. There is a large gallery
with a decorative bronze railing on three sides of the chamber. The color
scheme of the chamber is in warm shades of buff, brown, blue and gold.
A monumental arched screen flanked by sculptured pylons forms a back-
ground to the presiding officer's desk. Above it is a tapestry designed with
a row of squaws and the Indian Thunderbird motif. The tile mosaic ceil-
ing is embellished with scenes of Indian life.
DECORATION, STATE CAPITOL
At the west side of the rotunda are the leather-covered doors leading
into the House Chamber. The doors executed in deep tones of rust, yellow,
green and blue are embellished with the ancient Assyrian Tree of Life.
They are the work of Hildreth Meiere.
The House Chamber, somewhat larger than that of the Senate, has a
gallery on three sides supported on varicolored marble columns. The mas-
sive beamed walnut ceiling is adorned with scenes of the coming of the
white man, executed in gold leaf. The presiding officer's chair is framed
in a large arched niche
From the south side of the rotunda, a long corridor leads to the Su-
preme Court Chamber in the south central pavilion. This low-ceiled room
with its impressive bench is notable for its fine woodwork. The walls are
wainscoted in walnut with inlays of various woods. The heavily beamed
ceiling is adorned with carved and inlaid decorations.
A wide corridor leads to the various executive offices and lounges in the
outer quadrangle. In the east central pavilion is the Senate Lounge;
a lofty vaulted and wainscoted room with a canopied fireplace. It is de-
signed in the manner of the early Italian Renaissance. In the west central
pavilion is a similar chamber, designated the House Lounge.
The Governor's suite is in the northeast wing of the quadrangle. The
Governor's reception room is decorated with colorful murals by Augustus
Tack symboli2ing a perfect community life and an ideal government.
The design of this beautiful chamber with its rich furnishings, high
196 CITIES AND TOWNS
wainscoted walls, vaulted ceiling and canopied fireplace recalls the elab-
orate fifteenth century architectural designs in Florentine palaces
From the seventh to the twelfth floors of the tower are additional offices
for the capitol These offices are served by four elevators opening off of
the gallery of the rotunda two for passengers, two for freight.
On the gallery floor (south), the NEBRASKA STATE LIBRARY (open 8-5
weekdays), reached through the gallery of the rotunda, contains more than
100,000 volumes. It is said to rank fifth among State law libraries in the
country.
On the fourteenth floor is the Memorial Hall, a large octagonal rotunda-
like chamber, under the crowning dome of the tower. The walls of the
hall are faced with a dark green marble wainscot, and the corners are ac-
cented by slender fluted pilasters. The domed ceiling is of buff and gold
acoustic tile. The upper portion of each wall is pierced by large bronze
grilled windows. Hanging from the ceiling is an unusual chandelier in
the form of an eight-pointed star.
When Nebraska was admited into the Union in 1867, the dispute over
the location of the Territorial capital of Nebraska had been a political
issue for seventeen years. In 1845 Francis Burt of South Carolina was
appointed Governor of the Nebraska Territory by President Franklin
Pierce. Hurt's untimely death prevented Bellevue on the Missouri River
from being selected as the Territorial capital. The first capitol was located
at Omaha. In 1854 a two-story brick structure was erected at a cost of
$3,000 to serve as the first Territorial capitol. In 1858 a second capitol
building was erected in Omaha, a two-story gray, painted-brick structure
of Greek Revival design with a Corinthian colonnade. In 1867 a new site
was named for the capital city in the South Platte district the present
Lincoln The first State Capitol, erected in 1869 at a cost of $76,000, occu-
pied the site of the present structure. The building was a T-shaped, two-
story limestone structure with a central pavilion and a large central cupola.
It was replaced in 1888 by an entirely new structure erected on the same
site. The second State Capitol was designed in the neo-Classic style with a
massive colonnaded and pedimented central section topped with lofty
octagonal dome and flanked by long three-story wings.
ITie construction of a new capitol was approved by the legislature in
1919. A commission was appointed to arrange a program of architectural
competition. Of the designs submitted, that of Bertram Goodhue, New
York architect, was selected by the judges as the most original and ap-
propriate. On April 15, 1922, Gov. Samuel McKelvie broke ground
for the new building, with Marshall Joffre of France present as guest of
honor. The cost, approximately $10,000,000, was financed by tax levies of
.22 mill as the building progressed, the State incurring no indebtedness.
10. The LINCOLN MONUMENT, W. side of the capitol lawn, de-
signed by Daniel Chester French, was completed in 1912. Abraham Lin-
coln is portrayed standing in meditative pose, with head bowed and hands
clasped, before a large granite tablet on which the Gettysburg Address is
engraved. A copy of this statue is in the Chicago Museum of Art ; the
original model is in the Lincoln Tomb at Springfield, 111.
LINCOLN 197
11. The HOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NE. corner of
1 2th and J Sts., a T-shaped structure of reddish-buff limestone, was built
m 1888 at a cost of $40,000. With a tall spire, its entrance flanked by
buttresses, the building is of Gothic design, and was selected by the His-
torical American Building Survey as one of the few churches in Nebraska
typical of the best architecture of the period.
12. The LANCASTER COUNTY COURTHOUSE, loth St. between
J and K Sts., was built in 1888 at a cost of $170,000. The building is of
sandstone, quarried at Berea, Ohio.
13. The ORTHOPEDIC HOSPITAL, SW. corner nth and South Sts.,
was established in 1905 by act of the State legislature to provide a hospital
where crippled children could receive corrective treatment. Special features
of the building include school rooms, solarium, swimming pool, gym-
nasium, and a chapel. Dr. H. Wmnett Orr, internationally known bone
specialist, is chief visiting surgeon.
14. THE CAVE, nth and High Sts. (open daily; adm. 250 per per-
son; special rates to parties of 10 or more), is a series of caverns and
winding passages in an outcrop of Dakota sandstone. The walls, scratched
with names, initials and dates, are streaked in ocherous yellow and hema-
tite reds and browns.
In Pawnee legends it was in the "Nahurac" spirits' cave that medicine
men held mystic sacred rites, and neophytes were proven and initiated. A
snowbound wagon train used its protection; and after the Indian scare in
1862, settlers lived in it all winter. In 1863, when a stone quarry was
started by three men who had acquired title to the land from the Govern-
ment, the removal of the cap rock destroyed the original entrance to the
cave. In 1906, when the caverns were being cleared of debris so as to be
used for a mushroom garden, stones of hidden treasure brought so many
visitors to the place that plans were changed and the cave was kept open
for sightseeing and picnicking.
15. The LINCOLN GENERAL HOSPITAL, 2315 S. iyth St., was
completed in March 1925, at a cost of about $250,000. Its construction
was made possible by bequests from several people, and by a tax levy
voted by the citizens. The five-story building, of red brick trimmed in
stone, is completely modern, with model diet kitchens on each floor. The
hospital has no beds and has high voltage X-ray equipment for the treat-
ment of cancer.
1 6. The OLD BRYAN HOUSE (private), 1625 D St., was the home
of William Jennings Bryan from 1887 to 1902. From here he attended
two national conventions of the Democratic Party and returned as their
Presidential nominee. From the balcony of the little frame house he ad-
dressed throngs of neighbors and friends who came to offer congratula-
tions The parlor fireplace has two tiles on which are portraits of the Bryan
children, Ruth and William, Jr.
17. The FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NE. corner of lyth and
F Sts., was designed in 1925 by Cram and Ferguson of Boston, and cost
$253,000. It is built of red brick and Bedford limestone in a simple
Gothic style. The church chapel and Sunday school buildings form a quad-
198 CITIES AND TOWNS
rangle around a small formal court, which is entered through wrought-
iron gates.
The church proper has a cruciform plan with small galleries over the
entrance vestibule and in the two transepts. The fourth arm of the cross
is occupied by the chancel which accommodates the divided choir and a
central communion table. Back of the table is a large hanging of red
tapestry framed in carved wood. The open roof is supported by arched
trusses, and, like the rest of the trim, is of dark wood ; the walls are of
tinted plaster. The windows, in a grisaille type of stained glass, give color
to the interior.
1 8. The FIRST PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, NE.
corner of aoth and D Sts., was completed in 1931 at a cost of $518,000,
H. Van Buren Magonigle, architect from New York City, designed the
building. Bricks varying in color from gold to deep rose were used in the
construction. The six different tints have mellowed with time, and are al-
ready partially vine covered.
The forecourt, raised above the ground level and measuring 80 by 100
feet, is used for various open-air services, and there is an outdoor pulpit
in the tower. The Pilgrim Stone, a doorstep across which the Pilgrims and
their descendants walked for centuries, was a gift from Plymouth, Eng-
land. Calvin Coolidge selected the inscription for the stone from a sermon
delivered in 1668 by the Reverend William Stoughton: "God sifted a
whole nation that He might send choice grain into the wilderness/' There
also is a stone that came as a gift from Eisleben, Germany, taken from the
house in which Martin Luther was born.
The brick walls of the arcade and of the parish house enclose the court.
At the connection of the parish house and church proper is the 2O-sided
Singing Tower, which rises 171 feet above the ground. At the top of the
tower are figures of the four evangelists with their emblems at their feet:
the lion, the ox, the eagle, and the angel. The use of pictorial symbolism
is carried out in detail in the interior.
The 48 bells in the carillon tower are a memorial to Mrs. Carrie Belle
Raymond, organist and choir leader of the First Plymouth Church for many
years. The bells are chromatically tuned and can be played by hand or by
electric control. They were made by John Taylor and Company, Lough-
borough, England, at a cost of $28,000. The largest bell weighs 4,592
pounds and the smallest 130.
The interior follows the simple early Christian style. The only decora-
tion on the wall above the choir is the Lord's Prayer. Iron work set into
the frames of windows of ground and clear glass depicts various ecclesi-
astical symbols, including the fish, the Greek name for which (ichthys)
spells the initials of a series of Greek words meaning "Jesus Christ, Son
of God, Savior."
19. ANTELOPE PARK extends S. of O St., along Antelope Creek, its
width varying greatly. Immediately south of O St., the park comprises
most of the ground between 23d and 25th Sts. south to J St., including
the municipal swimming pool and tennis courts at 23d and M Sts. and the
City Tourist Camp at 24th and Randolph Sts. The principal portion of
MAIN HALL, STATE CAPITOL
the park lies southeast of 2yth and D Sts., from 2yth to 3oth Sts , south
to A St, thence following Normal Blvd. to South St., and including
Memorial Drive, which extends from the Dance Pavilion, just south of A
St , south to Sheridan Blvd. The park was started in 1905 with the pur-
chase of 31 acres by the city. Two years later 10 additional acres were
donated by William Jennings Bryan. .The park now (1938) comprises
179 acres.
The O STREET COLUMNS, standing at the St. entrance to the park,
were part of the old Federal Treasury Building at Washington. Quarried
200 CITIES AND TOWNS
in Virginia, these sandstone pillars stood on a site selected by President
Jackson in 1836, Abraham Lincoln stood between them to review the Civil
War troops. When the Treasury Building was remodeled in 1907, the
columns were bought by Cotter T. Bride of Washington, an intimate friend
of William Jennings Bryan, and presented to the city in 1916.
The SUNKEN GARDEN, SW. corner of 2yth and D Sts., is a formally
landscaped plot donated to the city to be made into a garden in 1930. In
one of the pools is a concrete statue, Rebecca at the Well, designed by
Ellis Luis Burman, Lincoln sculptor. The statue, a figure of a woman
pouring water from a jug, rises four feet above a rock base.
The animals of the CITY Zoo are housed in a row of pens and sheds
on the bank of Antelope Creek, a few yards NE. of the 2yth and C St.
entrance to Antelope Park. Besides various native animals, including rac-
coons, badgers, coyotes, and skunks, there are bears, wolves, monkeys,
alligators, and other interesting species. South of the animal pens, just east
of the tracks, are the pheasant and geese pens, where birds from Australia,
Japan, and Mexico are exhibited along with species of pheasants that are
numerous in Nebraska. A 200 building, of white, locally quarried lime-
stone, is in process of completion (1938) in the park, on 2yth St., facing
B St. This structure, built by WPA labor, is designed to house a number
of small animals in cages on the north and south sides of the building,
with four larger cages on the east. A special feature is the aviary, occupy-,
ing the entire center of the building, built over a pool and rock garden.
The WAR MEMORIAL, designed by Ellis Burman, stands about 100
yards northeast of the Garfield St. entrance to Antelope Park The cen-
tral shaft rises 23 feet and is surmounted by a 9-foot figure representing
War and Victory. On four lower pedestals surrounding this shaft stand
figures representing soldiers of four American conflicts: The Revolution-
ary War, the Civil War, the Spanish- American War, and the World War.
The PIONEER WOMAN MONUMENT, on Memorial Drive just north of
Sheridan Blvd., was designed by Ellis Burman and donated by the Wom-
en's Club and the Park Board. The figure is of concrete, the pedestal of
stone. The trees along Memory Garden and Memorial Drive were planted
in memory of Lancaster County soldiers who fell in the World War.
20. The WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 2210 Sheri-
dan Blvd., designed by Ellery Davis and Walter F. Wilson, Lincoln archi-
tects, was completed in 1926 at a cost of $150,000. The church is modern
Gothic in a long rectangle of Tijornclifr* clinker brick on a steel frame.
A large cathedral-type tracery rose window set in Bedford stone dominates
the fagade. The interior is of eggshell plaster and dark wood. Columns,
arches, and wooden beams are used much as in the First Presbyterian
Church. The stained glass window, viewed from within, is brilliantly
colored.
The most southeasterly section of Lincoln is COLLEGE VIEW, founded
in 1889 by the Seventh Day Adventists when they chose the site for the
construction of a denominational college. For a quarter of a century the
community consisted exclusively of members of that faith. The nickname
"Peanut Hill," which this section acquired, recalls the visits to Union Col-
LINCOLN 201
lege of Dr. "Cornflakes" Kellogg and other health evangelists advocating
the use of peanuts as a meat substitute. The evangelists gained many con-
verts in College View; peanut roasters and grinders were household neces-
sities. A trolley trip to Peanut Hill for a dime's worth of roasted peanuts
constituted a favorite amusement for Lincoln people for many years. Since
the World War, College View's population has been augmented by peo-
ple of other faiths, and the community now has two Sabbath days.
21. UNION COLLEGE (open) 48th St. between Bancroft and Pres-
cott Sts., and extending to 5ist St., was originally a corn and sunflower
patch. It is one of the higher units in the system of schools belonging to
the Seventh Day Adventist denomination. The school's outstanding feature
is its work program. More than 90 percent of the students are employed
on the i2o-acre farm, in the shops, or in one of the do2en buildings on
the campus.
College Hall, the prominent building with the clock tower, houses the
SCHOOL MUSEUM (open 2-3 Sun.-Wed., during school year), with its
collection of curios from Pitcairn Island. The collection was sent to the
college by Adventist natives of the island. The LIBRARY (open 7.40 a.m.-
9:30 p.m., Sun.-Thurs., 7:40-4:30 Fn.), in the same building, is note-
worthy for its denominational literature. In other buildings are the laun-
dry, gymnasium, print shop, and the dormitories. The so-called White
House is used by the church school, and it houses a group of 100 grade
pupils taught mostly by student instructors.
22. FAIRVIEW, Sumner St., drive extending E. from 48th St., was
formerly the country residence of William Jennings Bryan. The old red
brick mansion, with square tower, green slate roof and quarter-circle
porch, was built in 1902, a typical rich man's house of the horse and
buggy era. The home was built by the Bryans to afford them more com-
modious quarters in which to live and entertain, and replaced the former
home at 1625 D St. In 1923 Bryan donated his home to the Methodists
for a hospital and nurses' home, and in 1925 the adjacent hospital, pro-
viding for 100 beds, was built. Fairview is used as a nurses' home.
23. The COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, Holdrege St.^between 33 rd
and 48th Sts., and extending to Leighton St., is housed in a group of
buildings arranged about a mall and drive, with numerous barns and
sheds to the north and east of the instructional buildings, in grounds for-
mally landscaped with trees, shrubs, and flower beds. The college was pro-
vided for by the act establishing the State university in 1869, but it was
not until 1874 that students could be found to enter upon the agricultural
course of study, and the "farm" was acquired September i, 1874. In 1877
the college became, by legislative act, part of the "Industrial College,"
and was again made a separate college in 1909.
The College of Agriculture has been a formative influence in the history
of the State, though for its first 20 years it struggled along with few
buildings, meager equipment, and almost no students. There was little
faith at the time in "book farming.*' Since then, however, its enrollment
has steadily increased, and it has played an important role in the advance-
ment of agriculture. It sponsored the growth of many farm organizations
O STREET, LINCOLN
and provides an extension service that includes 4-H Club work, farm
demonstrations, and the issuance of 550,000 bulletins every year. In addi-
tion, the college operates the Agricultural Experiment Station, where orig-
inal research is performed and reported. There is an experimental farm
southeast of Havelock, and substations at North Platte, Mitchell, and
Valentine.
The AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING BUILDING, a tan-brick structure di-
rectly north of the Main Drive, has a museum of antiquated farm ma-
chinery. Directly north of this building is the STATE TRACTOR TESTING
LABORATORY, established to test each new type tractor on the basis of
performance. Bulletins reporting these tests are the most popular of all
those published by the university, and are circulated in many foreign
countries.
Two meetings of great interest to the farmer are held on the campus
annually. The first is Organized Agriculture Week, held the first week in
December, when the agricultural organizations of the State meet for a
series of lectures and entertainments Second is the Farmers' Fair, held the
first Saturday in May following Ivy Day. This college fete, under super-
vision of students, presents exhibits and demonstrations. Among features
are a livestock parade, open-air pageant, style show, riding contest, and
vaudeville, wrestling, and dancing On the campus are many rare trees
and flowers. The lilac hedge along Holdrege St. fills the air with scent in
spring; the peony beds along the 35th St. Drive are a mass of color when
in bloom; the avenue of oaks on the Mam Drive attracts motorists in fall
LINCOLN 203
UNIVERSITY PLACE, adjacent to the College of Agriculture on the north-
east, was founded and named by the Methodists immediately upon selec-
tion of the site of Wesleyan University. Willa Gather depicts University
Place as 'Temple Place" in One of Ours, emphasizing its moral tone and
sanctimonious air. The community is a gathering place for retired minis-
ters and adherents of the Methodist denomination; it has frequently been
called the "Holy City Nigh Unto Bethany.'* Even since its annexation to
the city of Lincoln, it has had no movies save open-air presentations in
summer.
24. NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (open), entrance at 5 oth
and Paul Sts., was founded by the Methodist Church to provide a school
of higher education for Methodist youth. The history of the school begins
with the year 1886, when the church appointed a commission from the
conferences and schools to combine all Methodist educational work in
Nebraska in one large school. A site near Lincoln was selected, and the
main building, costing $70,000, directly opposite the main gateways, was
erected. On the 44-acre campus are seven buildings. An average of 50
faculty members instruct a student body of approximately 600. Wesleyan
is strong in its emphasis on religious matters, and numerous graduates
are active in the ministry and in the missionary field The university main-
tains a high degree of scholarship in the Departments of Fine and Liberal
Arts, and in the Teachers College.
25. The HAVELOCK SHOPS (open 8-4 weekdays; guides), N. of
Havelock Ave., a dozen long and high red brick or gray stucco buildings,
mostly three window rows in height but entirely open on the inside, pre-
sent the appearance of a modern steel plant. The grounds include 160
acres of the original 200 acres donated by the Lancaster Land Company
for the Burlington Railroad's Western Division shops. The shops have
had a development parallel to that of the city of Havelock, for as the
shops expanded the town grew, becoming the second largest city in Lan-
caster County and now part of Lincoln. At the peak of employment, the
shops have furnished work for 400 to 800 men, though in times of in-
activity only a skeleton crew is kept for emergency work.
These shops, now devoted exclusively to the building and repair of cars,
are unusual because in their transition from locomotive shops to car shops
much of the former equipment remained here, such as heavy overhead
track cranes and machinery for handling large metal parts. The buildings
include a storehouse and office, a car shop, blacksmith shop, paint shop,
roundhouse, leather drying shed, carpenter shop, and mill.
26. COTNER UNIVERSITY, Cotner Blvd., between Colby St. and
Aylesworth Ave., was founded by the Christian Church of Nebraska in
1889. First known as Nebraska Christian University, the institution was
renamed Cotner University after Samuel Cotner donated a large tract of
land in Bethany to the school. The University Building was completed in
1890. Soon after its founding, the financial depression of the nineties de-
creased the value of its assets, and notes given on lots for construction of
buildings were defaulted. A mortgage was placed on the university, and
business conditions became so bad that the mortgage was foreclosed.
204 CITIES AND TOWNS
Meanwhile classes continued, and after strenuous efforts the school prop-
erty was redeemed and deeded back in 1901. For the next three decades
the university, sustained largely by donations, offered courses to a small
enrollment m four departmental schools. In 1933, following another finan-
cial depression, the university closed its doors. The town of Bethany, now
a part of Lincoln, grew up around the university campus
27. VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION FACILITY (open 1:30-4:30,
6:30-8:30, Mon., Wed., Tburs., Fri., Sun.; 1:30-4:30, Tues., Sat.), yoth
and O Sts., was opened in December 1930 as a hospital for veterans from
Nebraska and nearby States. During the first year almost 1,400 veterans
were admitted.
The 23 buildings on the 32o-acre tract house a 2oo-bed general medical
and surgical hospital serving veterans of all wars residing in Nebraska,
Western Iowa, Southern South Dakota and Northern Kansas ; and the re-
gional office of the Veterans' Administration for the State of Nebraska,
which handles compensation and pension claims and guardianship mat-
ters for veterans of the World War.
28. The LINCOLN AIRPLANE AND FLYING SCHOOL (open
8-5 weekdays), 2415 O St, is one of the oldest civilian schools of avia-
tion in the United States. Established in 1910, it operated originally as an
Auto Mechanics Trade School. In 1920 the school added the necessary
airplanes and mechanical equipment for instruction in aviation. It was
here that Charles A. Lindbergh took his first instruction in flying. In
April 1922 he rode into Lincoln on a motorcycle and enrolled for a
course of flight training. This was the beginning of his great aviation
career and one of the highlights contributing to the steady growth of the
Lincoln School. The Lincoln Airplane and Flying School is Government-
approved for flight and mechanical training, and holds the highest rating
the United States Bureau of Air Commerce confers upon schools of avia-
tion. Flight students receive training in a fleet of 14 modern airplanes of
six different types. The building covers 63,000 square feet of floor space
and is equipped for instruction in all phases of aviation mechanics. The
school attracts students from every State in the Union and from all parts
of the world. Instruction is given in English and Spanish. Flight and
mechanics instructors are Government-licensed and hold Government in-
structors' ratings.
29. The NEBRASKA STATE FAIRGROUNDS, 287 acres, entrance
at i7th and Clinton Sts., were permanently established in 1900. With
hundreds of buildings, four miles of streets, a grandstand seating 12,500,
a race track, an auditorium, an aquarium, stock pavilions, and a camp for
concessionaires, the grounds are well equipped. During the Fair (first
week of September; annually) thousands of visitors pass through the
gates.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
State Penitentiary, 3 1 m. f State Hospital, 5 3 m., State Reformatory, 7.6 m. (see
Tour 2).
))
Railroad Stations: S. 3d and Railroad Ave , for Chicago & North Western Ry. ; 5th St.
and Braasch Ave , for Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Ry., Union Pacific R R.
Bus Station: Norfolk Hotel, for Union Pacific, Corn Belt, Arrow Stage Lines, Center
Service, Rapid Transit, Yellow Diamond, and Nprfolk-Yankton Line.
Airport: 2 5 m. S. on US 81. No scheduled service.
Taxzs; Rates vary; 15^ or 2O0 for one person anywhere in city.
Accommodations: Three hotels; four tourist camps.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, Hotel Norfolk.
Radio Station: WJAG (1060 kc.).
Motion Picture Houses: Two.
Athletics: Nebraska State League Baseball Park, 3 blocks N. of Norfolk Ave. on
4th St.
Swimming: Ta-Ha-Zowka Park, 1 m. S of town on i3th St
Golf: Meridian Heights, 3 m NW. of Norfolk, 9 holes, fee 50^; Norfolk Country
Club, 6 blocks N. of Norfolk Ave. on 4th St., 9 holes, fee 50^.
NORFOLK (1,525 alt, 10,717 pop.), lies among the low hills of the
Elkhorn River Valley, in one of the best farming regions of the State. The
city is a trading center, railroad division point, and the site of several
small industries. It is about three miles west of the sixth principal merid-
ian; a local golf club is named "Meridian Heights."
The square, white houses in the western part of town, many of them
built by Norfolk's German founders, are fronted by neat rows of trees,
and have about them an air of substantial prosperity. The solid brick build-
ings of the downtown section are low and generally unpretentious. Here
and there is the decorative front of a very old building: one has bright-
colored figures in relief a sheep, a bull, and a pig. But most of the
fronts are plain, except for the bristling neon signs and other advertise-
ments. The principal industrial plants are on the western edge of town,
along the tracks, or east by the river. The poorer residential sections are
at the southern and northern edges of town.
In 1866 a group of pioneer German farmers from Wisconsin, who
learned of the fertile Elkhorn River Valley from scouts, packed their pos-
sessions and turned their ox-drawn prairie schooners toward the rumored
paradise. Upon their arrival, a surveyor was employed to survey the land
and apportion equal shares to all who settled. When the surveyor arrived
with his instruments a compass and a bedcord the whole colony turned
out to assist him. The older boys acted as bedcord bearers, the men as gen-
eral overseers. Forty-four families were each given 160 acres.
The founders wanted to name the settlement North Fork, because of its
proximity to the north fork of the Elkhorn River that skirts the city on the
north and east. But when they applied for a charter under this name the
205
SHIPPING CATTLE AT NORFOLK
Post Office Department at Washington shortened the name to Norfolk
Though this angered and astonished the little band of settlers, there was
no formal protest, and the name was accepted. The name is pronounced by
many Nebraskans as though it were spelled Norfork
In 1869 Col. Charles Mathewson and his family came to the village and
built a store on the west bank of the river. Mathewson constructed a grist-
mill, operated by a power dam; and some time later he and his son
Charles started the first bank. The town grew westward, and today the
business section on Norfolk Avenue is nine blocks long. The city was in-
corporated in 1881 and chartered in 1886. In the nineties many new
businesses were started, and schools were so improved that by 1897 the
system was valued at $75,000. In 1902 free rural mail routes were estab-
lished in the vicinity, and the next year free mail delivery began m Nor-
folk
In 1909 Norfolk became a city of the first class A sewerage system was
laid in 1913. In 1922 the senior high school was built at a cost of $450,-
ooo. The same year, a license was granted to Norfolk's radio station
WJAG, which specialized in news about markets, weather, and road con-
ditions.
The district around Norfolk produces mainly corn and other farm prod-
ucts, and raises hay, oats, hogs, milk cows, beef cattle, horses, sheep, and
poultry The city, therefore, is an important center of livestock sales and
distribution
Dr. Richard Tanner, better known as "Diamond Dick," early plains
man and marksman, and hero of many stories in the Diamond Dick novels
of another day, is a native of Norfolk. Dr. Tanner owns one of the first
model-T Fords ever made, and still drives it (1939). Fred Patzel, local
NORFOLK 207
hog-caller, won the national championship in 1926. An attempt to broad-
cast his prize-winning bellow put the local radio station temporarily out
of commission.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i JOHNSON PARK, 2 blocks N. of Norfolk Ave. on ist St., 5.5
acres, is a landscaped plot with flower-lined walks, a lily pond, waterfall,
rock garden, and picnic grounds. Formerly a sand hole and dumping
ground, the area was made into a park in 1935, and was named for a Nor-
folk citizen, N. P. Johnson.
2. The AERATION PLANT (open 9-5 weekdays), E. side of ist St,
one-half block S. of Norfolk Ave., is a square two-story structure of mod-
ern design, built with brick of contrasting shades of brown Erected in
1933, it is equipped with the most efficient machinery obtainable for a
city water supply.
3. The NORFOLK LIVESTOCK SALES COMPANY'S MAIN PA-
VILION (always open; guides; sales Fnday 10 a.m.), 1307 S. ist St.,
houses a sales arena with an area of 64,000 square feet, and has a seating
capacity of 1,800. One-half block east of the main pavilion is the hog and
sheep sales arena with a seating capacity of 1,200 To the south and east
are the yards and loading chutes with space for 3,000 cattle, 7,000 hogs,
and 1,000 sheep. In the main building are the company's offices The barn
adjoining the pavilion has stalls for 150 horses The sales, every Friday
morning, start at ten and often last until after midnight. Four auctioneers,
employed by the company, cry out sales throughout the arena.
4. CENTRAL PARK, Pasewalk Ave. between 5th and 6th Sts. and
extending to Bluff Ave., a landscaped recreation ground facing the senior
high school, contains a tennis court, a children's playground, and a band-
stand used for weekly concerts during the summer.
5. The DEDERMAN LOG HOUSE (unoccupied), 305 N. 8th St., is
the oldest building in Norfolk. Built of willow logs from the banks of
the river in 1868 or 1869, it consists of two rooms and a small upper loft.
Chinks between the logs were filled with clay to keep out the bitter wind
and snow of winter. As the Dederman family prospered, siding was put
on the outside of the house, and lath and plaster on the inside. A two-
room lean-to was later added at the rear.
6. The NORFOLK PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 2-9 weekdays, 2-8 Sun.;
July and August 2-8 weekdays, 2-6 Sun.), SW. corner Norfolk and 8th
Sts., is housed in a modern brick Colonial building, the basement of which
is used as an auditorium. The library was established in 1896, and en-
larged in 1911 through a gift by Andrew Carnegie. On a wall near the
entrance hangs a set of steel-engraved portraits of all the Presidents of the
United States, a gift of Congressman and Mrs. Karl Stefan, residents of
the town.
7 . The SITE OF THE FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOLHOUSE IN NOR-
FOLK, 408 Norfolk Ave., is occupied by a shoe store which retains the
walls of the original building. The school was established in 1871 on the
:208 CITIES AND TOWNS
KEY
z. Johnson Park
s. Aeration Plant
3. Norfolk Livestock Sales Com-
pany's Main Pavilion
4.- Central Park
5. Dederman Log House
6. Norfolk Public Library
7. Site of the First Public School-
house in Norfolk
8. Norfolk Cereal & Flour Mills
Co. Plant
NORFOLK
209
210 CITIES AND TOWNS
northeast corner of 5th St. and Norfolk Ave., but was later moved to the
present site, to get away from the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Often,
during the earliest days of the school, Indians peered m at the windows
while the woman teacher was carrying on classes, amazed that one woman
should have so many children. In this schoolhouse was held the first mur-
der trial in Madison County.
8. The NORFOLK CEREAL & FLOUR MILLS COMPANY PLANT
(open 8-5.30 weekdays; telephone m advance for guide service), 52 E.
Norfolk Ave., a rambling, gray, metal-sheathed building in which cereals,
flour, and feed for poultry and animals are processed, stands by the river
on the site of Norfolk's first gristmill and sawmill, built in 1869 by Col.
Charles Mathewson with lumber and labor brought from Columbus,
Nebr. The first mill was operated by the pit-saw method: a log was laid
across a small pit and was cut by two men, one standing in the pit and
pulling the saw down, the other on the ground level, pulling the saw up.
Customers stood at the edge of the pit and chose their boards.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
State Hospital for Insane, 2 m., Site of Pawnee Battleground, 8 9 m , Rowell
Lake Recreational Grounds, 22 m (see Tour 3)
Railroad Station: 221 E Front St., for Union Pacific R R
Bus Stations' Pawnee Hotel, 217 E 5th St., for Burlington Trailways; 301 E. 6th
St , for Union Pacific Stages and Interstate Transit Lines
Airport 2 m E of town on US 30, for United Air Lines Taxi fare 50$*
Taxts- One person anywhere in city, 152, two persons, 25$*.
Traffic Regulations. Speed limit downtown 15 m p h , residential district 25 m.p h.
One-hour parking in business district Jeffers St mam thoroughfare N. and S.
Accommodations: Six hotels, six principal tourist camps; rooming houses and
smaller camps.
Information Service Chamber of Commerce, Pawnee Hotel, 217 E 5th St.
Radio Station: KGNF (1430 kc ).
Motion Picture Houses Three
Athletics Jeffers Athletic Park, 7th and Jeffers St
Swimming Gerle's Pool, 2400 W 9th St , adults 15^, children io
Tennis. Cody Park, entrance on Jeffers St. 4 blocks N. of i2th St , Jeffers Athletic
Park, 7th and Jeffers St ; both free
Golf: North Platte Country Club, N. of city; 500 greens fee to non-members.
NORTH PLATTE (2,821 alt, 12,061 pop.), seat of Lincoln County,
is a railroad town and trading center, lying on a long narrow delta at the
forks of the North and South Platte Rivers The city is on the boundary
between central standard and mountain time. The former is used. North
and south of the city, across the two rivers, prominent bluffs rise above the
bottomlands.
With its easy, informal atmosphere and way of life, North Platte has
more in common with western and mountain towns than with the sedate,
conservative county-seat towns of eastern Nebraska. The buildings of the
business section, clustered south of the railroad tracks, are mostly plain,
solidly built, and unimposing. There are no traffic lights; people and ve-
hicles bustle about in unrestrained, comfortable, small-town fashion. The
segment of the town that extends north of the railroad tracks, on Jeffers
Street, forms almost a separate village, with an independent air of its own.
The city's favorite ornament whether for a hotel lobby or a grocery store
is a portrait of William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody, and the favorite name
for a park, tourist camp, or institution is "Cody," Buffalo Bill's ranch was
near here (see Tour 8).
As the Union Pacific Railroad was extended toward North Platte in the
sixties, traders and speculators were eager to discover where the railroad
company planned to lay out towns.
On November 9, 1866, Peniston and Andrew J. Miller, having dis-
covered that this place was to be made a construction camp, moved their
trading post here from Cold Water. Gen G. M. Dodge laid out the site
212
CITIES AND TOWNS
KEY
1. Memorial Park
2. The Lincoln County Courthouse
3. The Site of the First Log School-
house in North Platte
4. The Site of the First Store in
North Platte
5. Cody Park
NORTH PLATTE
213
214 CITIES AND TOWNS
of North Platte for the Union Pacific, The first newspaper, the Pioneer
on Wheels, was started the same year, printed m a box car by a man
named Clark. So far as is known no copies are extant. The second build-
ing in the settlement was a log structure moved from Cottonwood Springs
by John Burke and used as a hotel. Several stores were soon built, and
within a few months there were more than 300 buildings in town.
The population of the construction camp was more than 2,000 during
the winter of 1866-1867. With the exception of a few businessmen, this
population was made up of railroad laborers, gamblers, and "toughs."
There was little law and order; from November 1866 to June 1867 North
Platte was known as a wild, rough town.
In June 1867 the railroad was completed to Julesburg, Colo., and the
construction gang was moved there, decreasing the North Platte popula-
tion to about 300. Everything was moved that could be temporary build-
ings, houses, even the town's newspaper Only 20 houses remained. But
that same year North Platte was made a division point on the line and the
Union Pacific built machine shops, a 20-stall roundhouse, and a hotel.
Thereafter the growth was steady, and by 1879 North Platte had a popu-
lation of 1,600. The exodus of 1867 had rid the town of its rough ele-
ment, but law and order was not enforced until 1870, when vigilantes
lynched two thieves and shot a third. Thereafter the city had little dis-
order.
North Platte was incorporated in 1871, and a municipal form of gov-
ernment was adopted in 1875, when Anthony Ries, the elected mayor, pre-
sided at the first council meeting on April 14. In 1876 Ries, serving his
second term, urged that every form of vice be suppressed. An ordinance
was drawn up to "prevent women from entering or visiting saloons,"
which became law on January 16, 1877.
At this time the city had a $20,000 courthouse and a $16,000 school-
house. The Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and Good Templars
represented the fraternal organizations. The business district consisted of
several general stores, two jewelry stores, a confectionery, a liquor store,
flour and feed stores, hardware, furniture, and millinery stores, two black-
smith shops, two wagon shops, lumber and coal yards, and many smaller
establishments
On April 7, 1893, when the population of North Platte was more than
3,000, a prairie fire struck the city. The entire town turned out to fight the
fire, apparently caused by sparks from a passing locomotive. The blaze be-
gan nine miles west of the city and was driven to the south and east, de-
stroying 35 houses in the city, many farmhouses, barns, outbuildings,
fences, farm implements, and stock.
A year- Jong strike occurred in 1902-03 when Union Pacific machinists
and boiler-makers struck in opposition to the piecework system. Local
sympathy was with the strikers: merchants would not sell to strikebreakers,
barbers would not shave them, landlords refused to rent to them. Grad-
ually, however, they were accepted by the town and the strike was thought
lost However, a settlement was finally reached, the piecework system was
SHANTYTOWN KID
2l6 CITIES AND TOWNS
abolished, and strikers returned to work with a cenc and a half hourly
increase in pay.
The first decade of the twentieth century in North Platte was marked
by many improvements, and one of the mam reasons for this growth was
the rapid settlement of the sandhills of western Nebraska from which
North Platte draws much of its trade. Following the drought of 1890, 1. A.
Fort of North Platte converted Representative William Neville to his plan
of an "enlarged homestead" as a way of settling this region. Estimating
that it would take two square miles for a rancher to support a family and
not let his stock overgraze the land, Fort advocated a two-square-mile
homestead requiring five years' residence and improvements. Although
Neville introduced it in 1900, the plan was not enacted into law until
Representative Moses Kinkaid of O'Neill reintroduced it in 1904. (See
HISTORY.) This act, known as the Kinkaid Act, speeded the settlement
of this region, used mainly for cattle raising. Irrigation, using water from
the Platte River, was first attempted in 1866, and permitted some crop
raising, especially sugar beets. Rainfall in North Platte is below the Ne-
braska average, the all-time annual average being 18.54 inches for the city
as compared with 23.52 for the State.
Streets and sidewalks were laid out, graded, and built, with provision
for sewers. New buildings and new homes were erected. A park was built
and trees planted. Various residential additions were developed. Public
buildings, a library, and a post office were built. The construction of an
airport, in 1920, made the city a regular stop for transcontinental com-
mercial planes. From 1910 to 1920 the city's population doubled, and
whereas in 1884 the 350 workers at the Union Pacific drew annual wages
of $360,000, today there are 1,500 workers, whose annual pay roll reaches
over $3,000,000.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. MEMORIAL PARK, Tabor Ave., between E. 2nd and E. 4th Sts.,
and extending to Bryan Ave., is a level area landscaped with trees, flower
beds, an ornamental pool, and winding drives. A fountain in the center
was dedicated by the city's war mothers to the World War dead. In the
eastern part of the grounds is a LOG CABIN MUSEUM (open 1-6 Sun. June
through October) containing pioneer relics. The cabin, moved to the park
in 1924 and since maintained by the D.A R., was originally built as the
home of William Roland; it stood at the present intersection of 6th and
Dewey Sts. The roof is now shingled, but formerly was of sod in which
sunflowers grew. During Indian scares the house was used as a refuge by
women and children, because the roof could not take fire.
2. The LINCOLN COUNTY COURTHOUSE, Jeffers St. between E.
3rd and E. 4th Sts., is a modern building of neoclassic design, constructed
of light-brown brick and white stone, with Ionic columns in pairs along
its western and eastern sides. The grounds to the east are landscaped with
grass and trees. A RELIC ROOM on the second floor of the courthouse
(see custodian for wsiting arrangements) contains a battered chariot pre-
WORKERS ALLIANCE MEETING
sented to Buffalo Bill in England by Queen Victoria. Other items are
tools, cooking utensils, and clothing used by the early residents of Ne-
braska ; relics from old Fort McPherson, including ox yokes, bullet molds,
a huge padlock, a broadax nearly 14 inches wide, double-barreled pistols,
rifles five feet long, bayonets, swords, tomahawks, spears and arrowheads,
Indian clubs, and an old packsaddle; early pictures, newspapers, and rec-
ord books. There is a wheel from the old well on the California Trail,
which was used by the Forty-Niners, and there are many relics of the
Civil War.
3. The SITE OF THE FIRST LOG SCHOOLHOUSE IN NORTH
PLATTE, 502 Dewey St., is occupied by a hardware store. School District
No. i was organized by a few citizens in 1868; a log school building was
put up, with one of the school officers paying the workmen out of his own
pocket. The first two teachers soon resigned; and on November 30, 1868,
Miss Mary Hubbard took over the school. She had fewer than a dozen
pupils and not many textbooks: there was only one Fourth Reader and,
fortunately, only one pupil in the fourth grade. During Indian scares, Miss
Hubbard kept a revolver in the schoolroom. In 1874, after the construc-
tion of a brick schoolhouse, the old log building was purchased at auction
and moved away for use as a stable.
4. The SITE OF THE FIRST STORE IN NORTH PLATTE, SW.
2l8 CITIES AND TOWNS
corner Jeffers and Front Sts., is used as a filling station lot. The original
store, a general trading post, occupied a frame structure built by A. J. Mil-
ler, North Platte's first citi2en, in 1866 just after the town was platted.
The next year Miller and his business partner, William Peniston, had their
cedar-log store at Cold Water (about 25 miles west of Plum Creek)
moved to North Platte and set up beside the frame store The frame
building was then sold and torn down; but the log building was used as
a store for many years, later was vacant, and finally burned in 1910.
A mammoth tent stood just east of the frame store in earliest days,
containing a bar, billiard tables, and gambling devices. The operator, a
man named McDonald, made a great deal of money by following the rail-
road construction gang from camp to camp.
5.. CODY PARK, entrance on N. Jeffers St. 4 blocks N. of i2th St.,
1 20 'acres, is bounded on the west by N. Jeffers St., on the north by the
North Platte River, on the east and south by section lines. The park is well
planted with trees; there are public picnic grounds and athletic facilities.
A lake in the middle is stocked with game fish. Improvements in the
drives and landscaping of the northern part of the grounds have been
brought about through WPA labor.
William Frederick Cody, for whom the park was named, was better
known as Buffalo Bill. He came to North Platte with his family in 1870,
when he was already nationally famous as a scout, guide, and buffalo
hunter, and for more than thirty years he was the town's most famous
citizen. His Wild West Show was organized in 1883 at Scouts' Rest, his
ranch three miles northwest of North Platte (see Tour 8).
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Scouts' Rest Ranch, 25 m., Fort McPherson National Cemetery, 16 9 m., Suther-
land Power Project, 23 4 m. (see Tour 8).
Railroad Stations: Union Terminal, loth and Marcy Sts , for Union Pacific RR ;
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R R ; Chicago & North Western Ry. ; Chicago Great
Western R.R.; Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul & Pacific RR ; Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific RR.; Illinois Central RR ; Missouri Pacific RR., and Wabash RR Webster
St Station, i5th and Webster Sts , for branch line to Sioux City of Chicago & North
Western Ry
Bus Stations: Union, i6th and Jackson Sts , for Union Pacific, Interstate, Chicago &
North Western, Paul Davis, C. C. Cotner, and Omaha- Wahoo 1416-18 Douglas
St, for Burlington, Arrow. 401 S. i5th St., for Missouri, Pacific, and Arrow.
Airport: Municipal, East Omaha at Carter Lake, 5 miles from downtown for United
& Mid Continental Air Lines; streetcar service, transfer to local bus; taxi fare,
special rate, 750.
Taxis: io0 and upward according to distance
Streetcars: Operated in connection with city busses, fare io0, tokens 3 for 250.
Traffic Regulations^ Regulation traffic lights in business district; limited parking in
downtown section; no U turn where traffic lights are installed; L turn prohibited
where warning posted; speed on arterial streets 35 m p h., residence, 30 m.p h., con-
gested districts, 1 8 m p h.
Street Order and Numbering. Streets running north and south are numbered; east
and west, named. Dodge Street is division north and south ; numbering begins from
Missouri River west.
Accommodations: About 50 hotels, wide range of rates. Tourist camps on West
Dodge and Center Sts.
Information Service 1 American Automobile Association, Logan Hotel, 1802 Dodge
St.; Chamber of Commerce, 1700 W.O.W Bldg , i4th & Farnam Sts
Radio Stations: KOIL (1260 kc ) ; WAAW (660 kc.) ; WOW (590 kc.) ; KFAB
(770 kc).
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses: One legitimate theater, winter season; five
downtown motion picture houses, occasional revues; two concert halls; 22 neighbor-
hood motion picture houses.
Athletic Centers- Omaha Athletic Club, I7th & Douglas Sts.; Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum,
66th & Leavenworth Sts.; high school and college facilities
Swimming: Brown, Carter Lake, Morton, Pulaski, Riverview Parks, free. Admission
pools, Jewish Community Center, YMCA., Knights of Columbus Bldg, Krug
Park, Peony Park, Camp Brewster.
Tennis: Free courts, at Bemis, Highland, Miller, Kountze, Riverview Parks; fee,
io0 per person per hour at Dewey, Hanscom, and Woolworth Parks
Golf: Municipal links at Elmwood, Fontenelle, Miller, Benson, and Spring Lake
Parks; fee. 9 holes, 150, 18 holes, 2 50. Dundee Links, Happy Hollow Blvd. and
Davenport Sts , and Valley View Links, 98th and Center Sts , all day play, Sun-
day, 500, weekdays, 350.
Amusement Parks: Peony Park, W. Dodge St.; Krug Park, 52d St. & Military Ave.
Annual Events: Jan : Bowling Tournament. Feb.: Boxing Tournament. Mar : Build-
ing Show, City Auditorium; Tangier Shrine and Ak-Sar-Ben Circus, Ak-Sar-Ben
Coliseum; Electrical Exposition, City Auditorium; Table Tennis Tournament, Rome
Hotel Apr Hillcrest Easter Sunday Services, Singing Tower, Hill-Crest Memorial
Cemetery; Kennel Show, City Auditorium May: Art Guild Exhibition, Joslyn Memo-
rial, Folk Arts Festival, Paramount Theater; Ak-Sar-Ben Horse Races (until July 4),
219
220 CITIES AND TOWNS
Ak-Sar-Ben Track. June: Flower Show, City Auditorium; Speedboat Exhibition and
Regatta, Carter Lake Aug.- Midwest Music Festival, Creighton Stadium, Festival
of Santa Lucia (i week), S loth St, St Philomena's Church Sept- Bohemian
Grape Festival, Sokol Auditorium Oct Ak-Sar-Ben Coronation of King and Queen,
Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, Food Show, City Auditorium; Livestock Show, Ak-Sar-Ben
Coliseum. Nov : Auto Show, Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum; Grand Opera Season opens,
City Auditorium; Drama League Season opens.
OMAHA (1,040 alt., 214,006 pop.), spread out along the west bank of
the Missouri River for 12 miles, and rising far up on the hills to the west,
is an industrial and commercial city in the heart of the farm belt. Though
in the past it was a river town, it is now dependent mainly upon the rail-
roads, which bring lead from Colorado to one of the largest smelters in
the world, cattle, sheep, and hogs to the third largest livestock market of
the Nation; wheat and corn to the Omaha elevators, and to the city's mills
and breweries.
Omaha has not yet lost a sense of surprise over becoming a big town:
at heart it still is a city in the making, with Saturday-night brawls, "drug-
store cowboys," and packing-house workers on parade. Overalls and straw
hats are not out of place in the marble lobby of the Livestock Exchange,
and an occasional Indian is seen on the streets. The city has the small
town's interest in local boys who made good; the front page always has
space for the doings of any "former Omahan," whether he wrote a script
for Hollywood or was arrested for theft in Denver.
The city is fairly well stratified. It has its low-rent areas in certain dis-
tricts along the river, and its "exclusive sections" far to the west, for the
town has never built along the banks of the shifting river where railroad
tracks, factories, and dumps are situated. Life here has more variety than is
usual in Nebraska: gambling halls, dime-a-drink girls, formal banquets, a
community art museum, conventions, folk festivals of European tradition,
and the annual crowning of a King and Queen of Ak-Sar-Ben. The city
has many fine high schools, one of the ranking Catholic universities of
America, and a municipal university.
Omaha's chief source of civic pride is its system of parks and schools.
Omaha is also proud of its Joslyn Memorial, and its metropolitan utilities
district, which supplies gas, water, and ice through a municipal agency.
Notwithstanding the soot in the air and the odor of the stockyards that
pervades South Omaha, the people are practically convinced that although
Omaha could be improved upon, it is better than any other town within a
thousand miles.
Labor generally is unorganized, and at present (1938) there is a vigor-
ous unionization campaign.
Omaha has a large proportion of home owners. The working people are
concentrated in South Omaha and in districts to the east, center, and north
of town. Elsewhere, spread out for miles, are the homes of salesmen, ad-
vertising men, insurance men, realtors, wholesale officials, refrigerator
men, teachers, and second-vice-presidents. Lawns are scanty; the houses are
generally square in shape, and roomily built. On some shabby streets are
massive black warehouses or rusty dumping fields, with railroad yards
MORMON MONUMENT, BY AVARD FAIRBANKS, FLORENCE
222 CITIES AND TOWNS
shimmering in the distance. Trees cover the residential districts generously,
and there are round hills gashed by broad arterial highways. Large
churches rise on green hills to the west; and occasionally, tucked away, is
a street almost European in appearance.
The north side Negro district extends for several blocks on 24th St.
The Easter Sunday turn-out and the Hallowe'en parade are its most gala
occasions. The parade held on Hallowe'en is an authentic folk-festival
brought by the Negroes from the South ; it expresses the Hallowe'en spirit
in harmless release of energy rather than in damage to property. Almost
the whole population takes part, in home-made, improvised costumes,
sometimes ribald, sometimes weird and grotesque. Two newspapers are
published in the district; rival political factions excite much conversation
and many editorials.
Omaha is bordered by the Missouri to the east, with its flats, bluffs and
woodland, and on the other sides by the rolling plains of the farmlands.
Much has been done to change the original setting of the city. The river
channel is in process of improvement, with the object of making Omaha
once again a river port, and obviating such caprices of the Missouri as the
transfer of a bit of Iowa to the Nebraska side, which took place in 1877.
The bottoms, occupied by the railroads, were flooded disastrously in
1 88 1. Afterwards, they were filled in, and sporadic dumping since has
done much to complete this work. Carter Lake, east of the city at Locust
St., was once a swamp, but silt was removed as part of the Carter Park
improvements financed largely by donations from Mrs. E. J. Cornish. The
surrounding bog was filled in and is now occupied by the municipal air-
port and Levi Carter Park.
The altitude of the city varies about 350 feet. Grading and filling in the
downtown area have done away with as much as 60 feet of mound or
ravine; but to the west, Omaha's characteristic hills remain untouched.
Many creeks that were dangerous torrents in rainy weather are now merely
memories, and it is impossible to trace their original path across the city.
Although the mean temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures
of 30 degrees below and 114 above zero have been recorded. In July and
August, sleeping on the lawn of Central High School is a community
habit. Tornadoes are rare, though the one of Easter Sunday, 1913, made
up for all those that never came. Average yearly rainfall is 30 inches; 75
percent falls during the growing season, from April to September.
The site of Omaha was passed by Lewis and Clark (1804), the west-
ward-bound Hunt-Astor party (1810), and the Stephen Long expedition
(1819). A few canny fur- traders lived on the site of Omaha as far back as
the i82o*s: Manuel Lisa, a Spaniard, Jean Pierre Cabanne, a Frenchman,
and a certain Roye or Royce.
As^ early as 1852, land sharks, speculators, and settlers began to congre-
gate in Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the river, awaiting a treaty between
the Government and the Indians that would open Nebraska for settlement.
Impatient with waiting, several emigrants crossed the river and staked
claims, although the land still belonged to the Omaha Indians. The emi-
OMAHA
223
OMA
AND VICINITY
224 CITIES AND TOWNS
grants retreated to Council Bluffs, however, and waited until the treaty
was concluded before they took possession.
Omaha's first boom began immediately upon conclusion of the treaty,
June 24, 1854. The Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company lost no
time in naming the town for the dispossessed Omaha Indians, and in hav-
ing it surveyed and platted. In September an elaborate map appeared, re-
cording the existence of a newspaper and the construction of a brick build-
ing, suitable for the Territorial Legislature. Though no Territorial capital
had been officially selected, the first legislature met in Omaha January 16,
1855. At first, few lived in the new town: many slept in Council Bluffs
while cabins were being built. By the end of the first year, about 20 build-
ings marked the spot where Omaha now stands.
Among the early settlers were A. J. Poppleton, John M. Thayer, An-
drew J. Hanscom, Dr. George L. Miller, the Creightons, the Kountze
brothers, William A. Paxton, Byron Reed, James M. Woolworth, James
E. Boyd, and Joseph H. Millard. These were the men who made Omaha,
most of them the sons of farmers or common laborers, who had seized
upon the money-making opportunities of the West. They rapidly built up
fortunes, some of which compare with the largest in America. These men
were hardy, as the West demanded, and quite capable of taking care of'
themselves under any circumstances. They won their start in freighting,
wholesaling, real estate, building telegraph lines across the continent, and
cattle-raising. With the fortunes thus gained they backed every enterprise
that encouraged the growth of the city.
By 1857 the boomers had given Omaha more than one addition. The
town of Saratoga lay to the north; between this and Omaha was Scrip
Town that included the area north of present Cuming St.; Capital Ad-
dition lay west of Twentieth St. and south of Capitol Hill. A sawmill,
a smithy, and a brickyard formed the foundation of Omaha's indus-
try. In 1858 the capitol was finished and, when not in use by the legisla-
ture, it was used as a school. The mercantile establishment of Megeath &
Company ran delivery wagons from Omaha to Florence, the outfitting
post of Mormon emigrants, six miles north, selling goods amounting to
$2,000 a day. This was the beginning of Omaha's trade with emigrants^
an important factor in the growth of the town.
Most of Omaha's early settlers neither knew nor cared to know the Fed-
eral land laws. They organized a Claim Club to protect an allowance of
320 acres a person, as against the Government's 160, and passed a resolu-
tion that "persons shielding themselves under the Act of Congress to
preempt a man's farm under color of law, shall be treated by us as any
other common thief." Although a certain amount of injustice resulted, the
community was to a large extent benefited, since claim jumping and claim
quarrels were all too common. Only the arbitrary power of the club in
using extreme measures prevented bloodshed. In the beginning, when
each man was required to improve his claim and to live upon it, the mem-
bers of the Claim Club built a house on wheels and moved it from one
claim to another, so that each might say that he resided upon his claim.
When a part of the claim of Postmaster A. D. Jones was staked by a
OMAHA 225
Frenchman, Cam Reeves, a Missourian, was induced to come across the
river to forcibly eject the offender. Such crowds came to witness the fight
that it took three trips of Brown's ferry boat to transport them. The battle
was long but the Frenchman finally fled to Iowa. The performance of Cam
Reeves in this fight was so satisfactory that he was soon afterward elected
sheriff. Even Acting Governor Thomas B. Cuming was benefited by the
club and offered no objection when the members of that body ducked an
Irishman named Callahan beneath the waters of the ice-bound river be-
cause he had been bold enough to file upon the Governor's claim while
hired to work there as a laborer. In later years, the U. S. Supreme Court
upheld these titles, contending that it could not rule against local decisions
of pioneer justice.
The claimants also broke the law by hiring persons to preempt land for
them. By this method, many became owners of real estate. Lawlessness
flourished. Skulls-and-cross-bones drawn on cabin doors warned occupants
that the citizens would not permit their presence in Omaha Now and then
there were lynchings. In March 1858 two horse thieves were lynched by a
small Omaha crowd a few miles north of Florence. The lynchers had only
one rope, so they slung it over a limb and put both ends to use. In an-
other case the citizens held a trial at which only the law and the two de-
fendants were missing. They appointed a judge and jury from their own
number, and the absent defendants were represented by other members of
the crowd. The jury recommended leniency for the one, death for the
other; so the crowd proceeded to the jail and carried out its sentence with
a fervor somewhat more than judicial.
In 1857 the newly incorporated city had the first meeting of its city
council. It considered regulation of bowling alleys and billiard rooms, es-
tablishment of a pound, regulation of liquor sales, suppression of gam-
bling, and selection of an engineer. It also sponsored a $75,000 municipal
hotel, since private enterprise could not stand the expenditure. The treas-
ury was impoverished by a donation of $60,000 toward a new capitol, and
the city issued scrip for the same amount. The panic of 1857, which fol-
lowed soon after, made this experiment a failure. The council had other
means, however, to balance the budget: it usually slashed in half the bills
presented to the city, and allowed citizens to work out their poll tax by
clearing brush from the streets. For nine years Omaha got along with but
one policeman; in 1866 the force was increased to four.
In 1859 the city began to grow again in one of its characteristic sudden
progressions. Emigrants and gold seekers made the city their outfitting
point, and Omaha merchants carried on a thriving trade. At times arrivals
at the Omaha levee averaged a steamboat daily, and there was already a
tradition that the first boat in spring was to be greeted with cannon and a
universal suspension of work "to see the boat come in." During 1859, 268
steamboats arrived at Omaha.
Then the railroads came. The town was elated when Abraham Lincoln
selected Council Bluffs as the terminal of the Union Pacific Line; later,
engineers and Douglas County bonds brought it across the river to Omaha.
In 1863 the construction of the Union Pacific formally began. Two years
226 CITIES AND TOWNS
later, the first train from Omaha ran to Salings' Grove with Gen. W. T.
Sherman, of Civil War fame, and 20 leading citizens riding on flat cars
with nail kegs for seats.
The boom continued. Trade was extended to distant points west, manu-
facturing increased, and many business firms came over from Council
Bluffs. From the Missouri to Capitol Hill the streets were filled with men
dressed in frontier garb and carrying packs, with loitering Indians, active
businessmen, gamblers, and all the characters common to a frontier town.
In Harpers Magazine, September 1869, appeared the following ditty by
John G. Saxe:
Hast ever been in Omaha
Where rolls the dark Missouri down,
Where four strong horses scarce can draw
An empty wagon through the town p
Where sand is blown from every mound
To fill your eyes and ears and throat;
Where all the steamboats are aground,
And all the houses are afloat?
Where theatres are all the run
And bloody scalpers come to trade;
Where everything is overdone,
And everybody underpaid ?
Where whisky shops the livelong night
Are vending out their poison juice,
Where men are often pretty tight
And women often pretty loose?
Where taverns have an anxious guest,
For every corner, shelf and crack;
With half the people going west,
And all the others coming back?
If not, take heed to what I say,
You'll find it just as I have found it, /
And if it lies upon your way
For God's sake, reader, go around it '
The eccentric capitalist, George F. Train, was a great Omaha boomer
until the crash of the seventies. In the Omaha City Directory of 1871 is the
following entry concerning him
Train, George Francis N P A. Owner of
5,000 lots, a hotel, and 10 other buildings
in Omaha, 1,000 lots in Council Bluffs, and
7,000 lots and a hotel in Columbus.
It is said that the initials N. P. A. after his name stood for Next President
UNION STATION, OMAHA
of America. Train ran for the Presidency in 1872 as an independent candi-
date Shortly afterward, while jailed in the Tombs prison in New York
for circulating obscene literature (he had quoted certain Biblical passages
in his paper), he lost his real estate in Omaha. But this was of little conse-
quence, as he had made several fortunes in his long career
The Omaha Horse Railway Company laid its first track during this boom
period, and the first gas works was built. By 1870 there were 100 street
lamps and 198 consumers of gas Shortly thereafter, the Union Pacific
shops opened and the first meat-packing plant was established.
In the next decade (despite temporary set-backs caused by the panic of
1873, a severe drought, and a grasshopper plague) Omaha laid the founda-
tion of its economic independence. In 1870, a new postof&ce building was
erected; in 1872 a new high school (designed for future needs) was com-
pleted on the site of the Territorial capitol at a cost of $225,000; in 1877
a public library was opened; and in 1878 Creighton University was
founded by provision of the will of Mrs. Edward Creighton, who died in
1876. New industries, including a smelting plant, small grain elevators,
and meat-packing plants were established; and the Union Pacific Railway
bridged the Missouri.
The most important development of the eighties was the establishment
of the Union Stockyards. For some time these yards had been merely a
feeding station for stock in transit to the East. But speculators and traders
arrived, then feed buyers and farmers, buyers from packing houses, and
finally the packers themselves. With the establishment of great packing
228
CITIES AND TOWNS
OMAHA 229
houses, thousands of immigrants, the majority Southern Europeans, came
to the city, as weli as such picturesque characters as the Cudahys, whose
story makes up a large part of the history of Omaha. This was the heyday
of the Paxtons, John A. Creighton, J. L. Brandeis, the Kountzes, and
others who brought Omaha into the limelight. Simultaneously, the under-
world began to grow. Fortunes were won in gambling; an old-time actor
said that "Omaha was known from ocean to ocean with cards, dice, or
whatever you wanted to gamble with."
After the flood of 1881 many Council Bluffs citizens who wanted to
move to higher ground settled in Omaha. Another real estate boom en-
sued. Civic improvements included an opera house, the first waterworks
(previous to this, the citizens drank well water, or, when this failed, Mis-
souri River water that had been allowed to settle), the first asphalt paving,
an electric light company, and an electric street railway. Six street railway
companies competed, doing construction work at night. At the same time,
52 brickyards were turning out more than 150,000,000 bricks a year; the
University of Nebraska established its Medical College at Omaha ; and the
first skyscraper in the city, the New York Life Insurance Building, was
built.
The city, however, soon experienced the terrible trials of the nineties
panic, grasshoppers, and drought. Relief was a pressing problem ; strange
political philosophies flourished. It was then that the suburbs of Dundee
and Benson were founded, and South Omaha increased greatly in popula-
tion. Omaha businessmen founded a Chamber of Commerce, and the
Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben was formed tf to promote patriotism among the citi-
zens/' The Knights organized the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, which did
much to attract attention to Omaha. Fortunes were still being quietly built,
although as late as 1892 total capital invested in Omaha manufactures
was only a little over $12,000,000.
In the early 1900*5, during a flurry of prosperity, the Omaha Grain Ex-
KEY TO OMAHA MAP
DOWNTOWN AREA
1. The Douglas Street Bridge 12. Omaha Club Building
2. American Smelting and Refin- 13. Masonic Temple
ing Co, Plant 14. Omaha Public Library
3. Site of the Herndon House 15. Douglas County Courthouse
4. Site of the First Territorial 16. Site of the Cottage of Edward
Capitol Rosewater
5. City Emergency Hospital 17. "World-Herald Building
6. Site of the Diamond Gambling 18. Site of the Douglas House
House 19. Site of the Apex Saloon
7. Union Pacific Headquarters 20. Site of the City Hotel
8. The Federal Building 21. Site of the St. Nicholas Board-
9. Post Office ing House
10. Capitol Hill 22. Municipal Auditorium
n. Joslyn Memorial 23. Union Passenger Terminal
230 CITIES AND TOWNS
change was organized. This organization had a great part in the develop-
ment of Omaha as a grain market. Another and more severe depression
came in 1907, however, and continued for four years.
Beginning in 1910, Omaha grew rapidly and constantly until the de-
pression that began in 1929, with only the Easter tornado of 1913, which
inflicted a heavy death toll, as a major calamity. The city rapidly attained
distinctions which school children learned to count off on their fingers:
" Omaha macaroni is sold in Italy! . . . Omaha pig lead is sold all over the
world!" Omaha's numerous hotels became centers for conventions of all
kinds. Fortunes mounted, and districts more exclusive than ever such as
Happy Hollow and Fair Acres were platted and occupied.
Meanwhile, a second crop of famous characters came into the limelight.
The Joslyns in their castle listened to music and discussed endowing a
public concert hall; Tom Denmson, a gambler, driven into politics to pro-
tect his gambling interests, became the city's political boss. Denmson's
reign began early in the century and continued till his death in 1934. It is
stated that he paid for more funerals, handed out more meal tickets, dug
down in his pocket for more room rents and more tons of coal than any
other individual in Nebraska. James C. Dahlman, Omaha's perennial
mayor, got his start in politics under the wing of William Jennings Bryan;
he was mayor for 21 years, and died in office. Gilbert M. Hitchcock and
Robert B. Howell became U. S. Senators, and were prominent political fig-
ures. Hitchcock, publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, wielded tremen-
dous influence through his paper. Arthur F. Mullen of Omaha became a
power in the Democratic Party.
When the 1929 depression struck, Omaha tried to take it lightly; but
the years of drought and frozen credit picked off one "first" after another,
reducing the city's livestock market to "third," and played havoc with the
grain market. Heavy relief problems drained the county finances, but an
inflow of Federal funds relieved the most pressing relief problems In the
milk strike of 1933 the roads into Omaha were picketed by farmers who
overturned milk trucks, but Omaha did not sympathize with them. When
the streetcar strike came in 1934, however, sentiment was favorable to the
strikers and for a time there was a surprising demonstration of public soli-
darity.
The sources of wealth have shifted from generation to generation. As
the last outfitting post for the West, Omaha grew rich. Emigrants, gold
seekers, Mormons, freighters, Indians, speculators, and land sharks all
contributed.
As the West developed, Omaha became a wholesaling center for farm-
ers and cattlemen Carriage factories, breweries, brickyards, iron works,
flour mills, wholesale houses, department stores, and barbed-wire factories
were built at this time. Some failed, some grew. This phase of Omaha's
economic prosperity grew out of the construction of railroads, which gave
Omaha a dominating position at the center of transport and linked it with
the entire Northwest. The packing industry, established in the eighties,
strengthened the financial position of modern Omaha, but transportation
has remained the most important source of revenue.
OMAHA 231
At first Missouri River steamboats constituted the main link with east-
ern industry. At the height of river traffic thousands of tons of goods were
brought up the river by steamboat. There were some attempts to invest the
"steamboat golden age" with "the glamour of the Old South," but, al-
though there were steamboat dances at which "gallant" captains were pres-
ent, most stories about the old steamboats recall liquor smuggling to the
Indians, or wreckage on the snags of the Missouri. At one time, when
growing Omaha had not enough housing for its new citizens, a steamboat
accommodating 250 persons was purchased to serve as a hotel.
Meanwhile an acute transportation problem the hauling of fuel for
the rapidly growing local industries was solved by the coming of the
railroad. The first to arrive was the Union Pacific, which made its initial
trip west of the river in 1865. A bridge for the Union Pacific did away
with ferry transport for freight goods from the East in 1872. Following
the Union Pacific, seven other railroad lines entered Omaha.
Since 1900 transportation facilities have included bus lines and air-
planes. When the automobile was introduced, about 1910, dealers for each
make advertised that their cars could beat any other from Pappio Bridge to
the top of the brick hill on the west. The challenges to race from Omaha
to Denver were numerous. The automobile has brought a high mortality
record to Omaha, and efforts to stop accidents resulted in another "first"
for the city in 1937 an award by the National Safety Council.
After the first Omaha airport, at Ak-Sar-Ben field, was wrecked by a
tornado, the present municipal airport was constructed. Omaha is an im-
portant stop for transcontinental air traffic.
In brief, Omaha was founded by speculators, had an early boom fol-
lowed by a disastrous depression, and the years since have been a repeti-
tion of that cycle. In droughts, depressions, tornados, and bank failures,
Omaha lost population and wealth, but always emerged to grow greater
and more rapidly than before. Omaha has never lost any asset of impor-
tance except the State capital.
The city, served by 10 trunk lines, is the main railroad center of Ne-
braska. The general headquarters of the Union Pacific Railroad and the
local offices of 16 other roads are at Omaha. More than 150 trains enter
and leave the city daily. Three highway and two railroad bridges connect
with the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River.
If the number of nationalities represented in its population is any crite-
rion, Omaha is a cosmopolitan city. Eighty percent of the populace is
native-born white, but this figure gives no indication of the thousands of
people of foreign extraction who are included. The early American stock
has been thoroughly mixed with German, Danish, Swedish, Slavic, and
Irish from Omaha's earliest settlement. Large foreign-born groups include
the Germans, Czechs, Swedes, Irish, Danes, Italians, and Poles; smaller
groups include English, Jews, Russians, Canadians, Jugo-Slavs, Lith-
uanians, Greeks, French, Swiss, Belgians, Dutch, Welsh, and Mexicans.
The total foreign-born white population is 28,788 ; the total Negro popu-
lation, 11,123. Most national groups have their own social centers, such as
Sokol Hall, Vennelyst Park, the Jewish Community Center, the Urban
232 CITIES AND TOWNS
League, and so on. An International Folk Arts Society, organized in 1926,
perpetuates the art and culture of the Old World among the foreign-
born; annually, it holds its Folk Arts Festival. The Poles, whose first set-
tler arrived in the sixties, settled in "Sheely Town," northwest of the
stockyards around the Sheely Packing Company plant. Like the Mexicans,
the Poles are employed chiefly in packing and railroading. The Mexican
population varies during the seasons from 1,000 to 2,000, for in summer
many leave Omaha to work on farms.
The Jews have most of their business establishments on N. Sixteenth St.
and N. Twenty-fourth St. They are organized largely through the Commu-
nity Center and the synagogues, and have contributed much to Omaha
culture.
The Danes, who did so much in building Omaha, especially in connec-
tion with the dairies of South Omaha, have their own park where they
annually celebrate their Constitution Day. The Germans remain a distinct
national group, with their music societies and their German-language
newspapers. Some are descendants of the old German colonists of Quincy,
Illinois. The Swedes, who have a large national group, annually present
a folk festival at Elmwood Park, in midsummer.
POINTS OF INTEREST
(For Nos. 1-23 see Downtown Area Map)
1. The DOUGLAS STREET TOLL BRIDGE (15$ car and driver, 50
each passenger), foot of Douglas St., a truss-type span with wooden block
roadway, was built in 1887-1889. The total length of the bridge and its
approaches is about 1.5 miles. In 1924 it was widened from 24 to 40 feet
and span supports were added for greater safety.
2. The AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING PLANT (not
open to public), 5th and Douglas Sts., covers 13 acres and has 60 separate
buildings. The 312-foot smokestack is said to be the highest self -supported
metal stack in existence. All railroads entering Omaha have trackage on
the grounds. The plant, one of the world's largest producers of desilver-
ized lead, produces annually an average of 150,000 tons of this metal.
Two hundred men are employed.
The Omaha Smelter was organized in 1870 with a capital stock of $60,-
ooo. In 1882, when it consolidated with the Grant Smelting Co., of Den-
ver, the name was changed to Omaha and Grant Smelting Co., and the
stock was increased to $2,500,000. The American Smelting and Refining
Co. acquired the plant May i, 1889.
3. The SITE OF THE HERNDON HOUSE, NE. corner 9 th and Far-
nam Sts., is occupied by a farm machinery company. The Herndon House,
built as a municipal enterprise in 1858, was the headquarters of the Over-
land Stage.
In May 1867 George Francis Train, eccentric promoter, was breakfast-
ing with a few friends in the hotel when a sudden windstorm came up.
Train requested a Negro to stand with his back against a window which
OMAHA 233
he feared would be blown in. When the hotel steward protested this "out-
rage to the Negro race," Tram became angry and declared he would con-
struct a better hotel within 60 days. Tram carried out his threat. Within 60
days he completed the Co22ens Hotel, on the southeast corner of 9th and
Harney Sts. The site is now occupied by a paper company.
4. The SITE OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL CAPITOL, W. side of
9th St. between Farnam and Douglas Sts., is occupied by the U. S. Rubber
Products Building. The first capitol building was a gift to the city of
Omaha. The ferry company, which laid out the town site, determined
Omaha should become the capital of the new territory and built a brick
capitol at a cost of $3,000. In this building, supplied without cost to the
Territory, and scarcely completed, the first session of the legislature,
which convened in January 1855, was held.
5. The CITY EMERGENCY HOSPITAL, 912 Douglas St., is a three,
story building with a semi-basement. It has double bay windows on the
first and second floors. Built in the eighties of red brick, the house is typi-
cally mid- Victorian in style. It is equipped with 46 beds and is used ex-
clusively for cases of contagious diseases. A venereal clinic also is main-
tained. There are six nurses and one interne on duty. The building and
grounds were willed to the city by Anna Wilson, a notorious queen of
Omaha's underworld, who had accumulated a fortune of nearly a quarter
of a million dollars when she died in 1911. Much of the interior orna-
mentation that made this place famous as the property of Anna Wilson
still remains. The trim of the foyer is richly carved and there are elaborate
panels in the large bathrooms.
When Anna Wilson gave to the city the building she had operated for
many years as a resort of ill-fame, there was considerable talk as to whether
such a gift was to be accepted. But in the end the city took over the prop-
erty. The stone porch columns of carved nude women were removed and
unadorned wooden ones substituted. When she was young Anna Wilson
was the sweetheart of Dan Allen, the gambler. Allen died in 1884 and
was buried in Prospect Hill cemetery ; Anna was buried by his side.
6. A pawnshop occupies the SITE OF THE DIAMOND GAMBLING
HOUSE, 1312 Douglas St. The Diamond was the ornate gambling estab-
lishment of Charles D. Bibbins, H. B. Kennedy, Charles White, and Jack
Morrison, who were the "Big Four" among Omaha gamblers in 1887
They successfully operated their resort until 1893, when it was closed by
town officials. Old timers recall the Diamond as the most luxurious of all
Omaha gambling resorts. The first floor was taken up by a barroom and a
billiard parlor. Often an unsuspecting stranger on entering the barroom
would attempt to pick up a gold piece firmly embedded in the floor. The
victim of the practical joke would have to buy drinks for the house. Ex-
pensive mirrors and pictures of horses and beautiful women decorated the
walls. The second floor of the establishment was devoted to faro, roulette,
hazard, stud poker, and other games of chance and "skill/* Many fortunes
were won and lost at the Diamond. The building was torn down in 1936.
A portion of the west wall, covered with tiled mosaic, remains.
7. UNION PACIFIC HEADQUARTERS, NE. corner ijth and Dodge
234 CITIES AND TOWNS
Sts., contains a MUSEUM on the first floor, Room 116 (open 10-12 and
2-4, weekdays; guide service). The Lincoln corner includes pictures, let-
ters, and furniture from the funeral car, along with a model of the car
used to transport the President's body from Washington to Springfield,
111., for burial Other collections include souvenirs of the Civil War ; ob-
jects of interest in the development of the Union Pacific Railroad; Indian
and pioneer relics; and books and letter files on Union Pacific history.
8. Completed in 1933, the FEDERAL BUILDING, SW. corner of i5th
and Dodge St., an n -story granite, limestone, and brick structure of mod-
ern design, is the work of Kimball, Steele, and Sandham, and George B.
Prinz, architects. It houses the local offices of the Army, Navy, Customs,
Revenue and other Governmental departments. It occupies the site of the first
U. S. Courthouse and Postoffice, built in 1872. It was in this first court-
house that Col. Watson B. Smith of the Circuit Court was murdered
on November 4, 1881. The building was later known as the Army Build-
ing, serving as headquarters of the Department of the Platte; it was de-
molished to make way for the present Federal Building.
9. The OMAHA POSTOFFICE, between i6th and zyth Sts., Dodge
St. and Capitol Ave., is a four-story building of Romanesque design with
a central tower on the east rising 190 feet. The loggia and walls of the
first story are of St. Cloud pink granite, finished in natural rock face ; the
upper three stories and the tower are of sandstone. The building was de-
signed under the direction of James Knox Taylor, supervising architect of
the Treasury. Construction was started in 1892 and the eastern portion
was finished and occupied in 1898; the building was finally completed in
1906 at a cost of nearly $2,000,000. Part of the site belonged to the Fol-
som estate, to which Mrs. Grover Cleveland was an heir; since Grover
Cleveland was President at the time the site was purchased, there was a
charge of favoritism in the choice of location.
10. CAPITOL HILL, between 20th and 22nd Sts., Dodge and Daven-
port Sts., for a decade the site of the Nebraska Territorial capitol, appears
in history for the first time with a 4th of July celebration in 1854. A pic-
nic party from Council Bluffs, Iowa, crossed on the ferry to celebrate the
day on the new town site. In response to a toast to Nebraska, offered by
John Gillespie, later State auditor, Hadley D. Johnson fired a salute with
two blacksmith anvils and started a "spread eagle" speech. The anvil salute
consisted of ramming the hole in the top of the anvil with powder, in-
serting a fuse, turning the anvil upside down and lighting the fuse. The
resultant blast sent the anvil more than 100 feet in the air. To the conster-
nation of the party, the report of the anvils attracted a band of Indians
who were camping at Sulphur Springs. The women and children were
frightened and the entire party hurried to their wagons and drove pell-
mell to the ferry landing. They escaped unharmed.
The second Territorial capitol, erected on this hill in 1857-1858, was a
handsome structure of brick with a colonnade extending around it. Before
the building was completed four of its columns fell with a portion of
entablature they supported; then lightning struck and further damaged the
building. The entire colonnade was later removed as being unsafe. The
OMAHA 235
fourth session of the legislature convened here during the winter of 1857-
1858 (before the building was completed), its members engaging in fisti-
cuffs over the old question of moving the capital and passing a resolution
to adjourn to Florence. Governor W. A. Richardson, however, failed to
recognize the Florence seceders. The legislature continued to meet in this
building until 1867, when the capital was moved to the village of Lancas-
ter, renamed Lincoln.
In 1867 the seat of government finally changed to Lincoln and the capi-
tol grounds became Omaha school property. Between the two walks lead-
ing to the south entrance of CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, which today occu-
pies the hill, is a stone tablet commemorating the old capitol. A column at
the east entrance also bears a bronze tablet, erected as a memorial by the
graduating class of 1910.
ii. JOSLYN MEMORIAL (of en 10-5 weekdays, organ concerts 12:15,
3:30; 2-5:30 Sun., lecture 3:30, organ recital 4; 7:30-9:30 3d Fri.
monthly; tours 2.00 p.m. daily) stands just west of Central High School.
The monument, of Georgian marble designed with extreme simplicity in a
modified classic style, is the work of John and Alan McDonald, architects.
At its base is a row of evergreens that form a striking contrast with the
soft rose marble walls. The Memorial was built at a cost of $3,500,000,
donated by Sarah Joslyn, as a tribute to her husband, George A. Joslyn,
founder of the Nebraska Western Newspaper Union. It was opened to the
fublic in November 1931. The Society of Liberal Arts, founded by Mrs.
oslyn to operate the Memorial, maintains the property.
The severity of the exterior mass is unrelieved by wall openings; the
bas-relief panels at the four corners of the building are the only decora-
tion. These panels, from the southeast, counterclockwise, depict in se-
quence Civic Builders, The Pioneer Press, The Dissemination of Intelli-
gence, The Homesteaders, The Indian Signal Fire, Indian Picture Writing,
The Indian Sign Language, and The Indian Prayer for Life. John David
Brcin, the Chicago sculptor, designed the panels and the plaques above
the doorways.
The main entrance pavilion is in the form of a colonnaded loggia,
flanked by heavy corner pylons. The columns, resembling the classic Ionic
order, are designed with polygonal shafts and caps bearing the conven-
tional Indian Thunderbird motif. The decorations of the bronze entrance
doors portray the virtues Industry, Charity, Faith, Courage, Vision, and
Hope. The round plaques above the south entrance represent the Red
Man and the Red Woman; above the west entrance the Prospector and the
Tiller of the Soil; above the north entrance the Spanish Conquistador and
the Christian Scout. Between the plaques, on each of these three doors, is
inscribed a quotation from an Indian legend, written by Dr. Hartley Burr
Alexander, who also selected the inscriptions for the Nebraska State
Capitol.
In the entrance lobby are two great columns of Porto Oro black and
gold marble imported from the Isle of Palmaria, Italy. Each shaft is in
two sections and is said to be hewn from the largest and most flawless
blocks of Porto Oro ever quarried. The capitals of these columns are of
2$6 CITIES AND TOWNS
ivory-toned marble, and their design is based upon the symbol of rain, the
Thunderbird.
The focal point of interest of the interior is the FLORAL COURT, where
fountains splash into an octagonal pool of blue-green faience tiles embel-
lished with the Thunderbird motif. Rare tropical plants and palms bank
the corners. The concert hall on the main floor, with a seating capacity of
1,200, is decorated in soft shades of rose and gray with lighting fixtures
of rose. Organ concerts are given here. After Joslyn's death the plan for a
public concert hall was enlarged to include an art gallery. The organ, orig-
inally in the Joslyn home, was enlarged for the concert hall. The walls
above the regal-blue marble wainscoting are paneled with sound-absorbing
tile.
Behind the concert stage is the RECEPTION ROOM ; its most distinguish-
ing feature is a large fireplace surmounted by a tapering hood worked in
gold leaf and tones of blue green. The hearth of Benou Jaune marble
duplicates the fireplace in the Joslyn home. The beamed ceiling and wain-
scoting are walnut inlaid with peroba The floor is teakwood. Here, as
elsewhere throughout the Memorial, the Thunderbird is the dominant
decorative theme.
In the library unit, which consists of five rooms on the ground floor, are
books, magazines, and pamphlets on all phases of art.
The Joslyn Memorial has numerous art collections that are shifted fre-
quently to make room for traveling exhibits. Among permanent collections
are the collection from the Art Institute of Omaha, including paintings,
drawings, prints, textiles, sculptures, ceramics, metal, and pottery; the
Barclay Chadwick collection of porcelain, silver, and crystal; the Guy
Barton collection of paintings, furniture, and art objects; the collection
from Danish Women of Omaha, including pottery and silver; the Mr.
and Mrs. C. N. Dietz collection of paintings and art objects; the Mary D.
Flynt collection of Mexican crafts ; the Dr. and Mrs. A. F. Jonas collec-
tion of Phoenician glass ; the Mrs. George W. Megeath collection of sculp-
ture; the Mrs. William Newton collection of ivory, jade, porcelain, and
textiles ; the Omaha Friends of Art collection of paintings ; the Henry W.
Ranger collection of paintings ; the Mrs. John R. Ringwalt collection of
Greek glass ; the Helen Wells Seymour collection of oriental textiles ; and
the Mrs. Florence D. Warner collection of paintings and porcelains.
Special exhibitions are on display monthly. These include oil paintings,
water colors, etchings, camera studies, and other exhibits on loan from
Eastern and European museums Numerous lectures, concerts, and demon-
strations are given at the memorial throughout the year.
12. The OMAHA CLUB BUILDING, NW. corner 2oth and Douglas
Sts., was for a day the executive mansion of the United States, and also
for a few hours, a jail. On President's Day, during the Jubilee Week of
the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in 1898, President McKinley visited
Omaha. The official flag of the Chief Executive floated from the dub's
flagstaff during the President's stay.
In 1905 two cattle barons were convicted in the Omaha Federal Court
for unlawfully fencing Government land in Sheridan County. They were
OMAHA 237
sentenced to spend six hours in the custody of the United States Marshal.
The marshal turned them over to their attorney, who took them to the
Omaha Club for lunch and entertainment. This so angered President
Theodore Roosevelt, who had twice enjoyed hospitality and had a "bully
time" at the Omaha Club, that he dismissed the United States Marshal at
once by telegraph, and kept the wires hot with wrathful dispatches at the
procedure.
The three-story building, of Italian Renaissance architecture, is rectan-
gular in plan. The basement floor is of light granite, the first story of buff
brick and the upper stories of buff brick trimmed in cream terra cotta. The
main entrance, on Douglas Street, includes an ornate but dignified door-
way approached by a flight of steps flanked by a wrought iron railing. The
Omaha Club is an organization of local businessmen.
13. The MASONIC TEMPLE (open 8 a.m.-9 p.m.), NE. corner i9th
and Douglas Sts., is a seven-story structure of gray stone and gray brick. The
first story is of plain gray stone, save for short columns at the entrance on ipth
St., which support an arch extending to the third floor. The walls at the sec-
ond floor level are decorated with masonic emblems carved in the stone,
and the upper floors are decorated with pilasters surmounted by carved
capitals. In the reading room on the third floor is the COLLECTION OF
WEAPONS (open 8 am -9 p.m. daily) of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska,
A.F. & A.M. The exhibit is in glass cases extending from floor to ceiling on
the east side of the room, which includes crossbows, battle axes, swords, dag-
gers, spears, guns and curios from many countries. A razor bears the name
of George Washington. The collection was donated from a number of
sources, and though all pieces are numbered their individual histories were
destroyed by a fire.
14. The OMAHA PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9-9 weekdays; 2-9 Sun.),
SE. corner i9th and Harney Sts., was completed in 1893. It is constructed
of hydraulic pressed brick and is designed in the Italian Renaissance style
by Walker and Kimball of Boston. Cameo-like medallions border the top
cornice, immediately above the names of famous authors carved above each
window on the third floor.
The library was started in 1871 as a private institution; subscriptions
were sold to citizens at $10 a share. This system existed until 1877 when
it was taken over by the city. The first library room was on the second floor
of a building at i5th and Dodge Sts. As larger quarters were needed, it
was moved from place to place until in 1891 the city received the site of
the present building by the will of Byron Reed on condition that a "first-
class, fireproof building suitable for a public library and art gallery be
built upon the lot." Bonds were voted for the erection of the present
building.
Housed in separate rooms of the library is the Byron Reed Collection,
which consists of rare and valuable coins, metals, paper money, bonds and
drafts, and also Reed's private library of books, documents, manuscripts,
files of newspapers, and literary relics. Also on display is a large collec-
tion of Indian curios accumulated by Pat Ryan, a character of early days.
This collection was presented to the library by General Manderson.
238 CITIES AND TOWNS
Another collection contains Babylonian tablets presented by C. M.
Dietz, who was president of the library board for a number of years. There
is an archeological exhibit presented by Dr Robert F. Gilder, Omaha ar-
cheologist, consisting of objects uncovered during a survey, 1907-1912, in
Douglas and Washington Counties.
In 1938 the library contained 202,000 volumes and a nearly complete
file of Omaha newspapers.
15. The DOUGLAS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, Farnam St., between
1 7th and i8th Sts , was completed in 1912 at a cost of $1,000,000. The
first courthouse, finished in 1858 at a cost of $40,000, stood between I5th
and 1 6th Sts. from Douglas to Farnam Sts., an area formerly called Wash-
ington Square. The second courthouse was built in 1885 on the present
site, but the rapid growth of the city and the increase in the volume of
county business made it clear in less than 25 years that a larger, more sub-
stantial building was needed to house the various offices and preserve the
records.
The present building was designed by John Latenser and Sons, Omaha.
The outside walls are of Indiana limestone with very little ornamentation,
except for eight huge columns, with Roman Corinthian capitals, which, in
groups of four, flank the main entrance on the north. On the interior the
halls and corridors are finished with mosaic floors and marble wainscoting.
The ceiling of the large lobby has a pattern of small mosaics, and three
large circular designs fashioned of marble and mosaics adorn the floor.
The rotunda is topped by a dome no feet above the floor, its central por-
tion, of stained-glass panels in yellow and purple tones, separated by
bronze ribs. Around this glass section, forming the lower half of the dome,
are eight large murals, painted by W. H. Rau of New York, depicting the
historical growth of Omaha from the early days to the present. The inte-
rior walls, stairways and pillars are of marble, with decorative border
trims of turquoise and antique ivory or gold. On September 28, 1919, the
building was badly damaged by a mob that lynched William Brown,
Negro, who was confined in the county jail on the third floor.
On the fifth floor is the G.A.R. ROOM (open by appointment), the reg-
ular meeting place of the G.A.R., Spanish War Veterans, American War
Mothers, Civil War Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and several
other similar organizations. The walls are covered with a collection of
framed photographs of famous wartime figures, and war mementoes are
displayed in curtained cases.
16. The SITE OF THE COTTAGE OF EDWARD ROSEWATER,
NW. corner lyth and Farnam Sts., is occupied by the Insurance Building.
Rosewater was founder and editor of the Omaha Bee. The first number of
the newspaper, June 19, 1871, was distributed as a free pamphlet, issued
to convince the public of the great need for a Board of Education. This
measure was then before the people for ratification and through Rose-
water's efforts it carried by a big majority. Rosewater, who introduced the
bill in the legislature, was encouraged to continue publication of the Bee.
It started as an evening paper; the morning edition was added in 1873. In
OMAHA 239
1888 Rosewater erected the Insurance Building, then known as the Bee
Building, at a cost of $500,000.
Rosewater's career was sometimes stormy. In July 1873, when A. D.
Balcombe, editorial manager of The Republican, published a vitriolic ar-
ticle about the editor of the Bee, Rosewater went out to find "Balky'* and
punish him with a rawhide whip. The encounter took place at 14$! and
Douglas Sts., and the editor of the Bee began to apply his whip vigor-
ously. Balcombe had the advantage of height and he disarmed Rosewater,
threw him on the sidewalk, and sat on him. Jesse Lacy came out from his
store and poured red ink on the walk. The battleground remained red un-
til passing footsteps erased it.
The building was bought by the present owners in 1934. The interior
was remodeled and a year-round air-conditioning plant was installed The
remodeling attracted Nation-wide attention. In the two-million dollar in-
dustrial modernization contest conducted by Forbes Magazine, with about
100 contestants, this building won fifth place.
17. The WORLD-HERALD BUILDING (open; tours 9-10, 2-4 daily
except Thurs., Sun.), NW. corner i5th and Farnam Sts., houses Omaha's
oldest large daily newspaper The Daily Herald was founded in 1865 by
Lyman Richardson and Dr. George L. Miller. Dr. Miller was editor of the
Herald for 23 years.
The Evening World was founded in 1885 by Gilbert M. Hitchcock,
whose interests control the publication today. Street sales of the paper
were poor because of the scarcity of the copper cent, which in that day was
considered a curio with no place in business transactions. No one carried
pennies, yet a nickel was considered too high for a single street copy.
Hitchcock, despite caustic criticism, sent out of the city for pecks of shiny
new pennies, which he distributed as change throughout the business sec-
tion Street sales boomed immediately. Hitchcock served 18 years in the
United States House of Representatives and Senate, and was always the
driving force behind his publication.
Since 1889, when the Daily Herald and the Evening World merged,
the paper has been known as the Omaha World-Herald. In 1894 William
Jennings Bryan became editor and held the post for two years, until he
was nominated for the Presidency. In 1937 the World-Herald bought the
Bee-News.
18. The SITE OF THE DOUGLAS HOUSE, SW. corner i3th and
Harney Sts., is occupied by a gasoline station The Douglas House was one
of the first hotels in Omaha. Headquarters of politicians and speculators,
it did an immense business for several years. The theft of half a cheese
from the larder of this pioneer inn occasioned one of the first legal actions
in Nebraska in which the landlord was both plaintiff and prosecuting at-
torney. "The jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, at which the landlord
flew into a rage and ordered the jury out of the house. This was a most
serious situation, as there was no other place to stop. Finally, however, by
the persuasion of friends and the return of the half cheese, the landlord
relented, and thus ended the first lawsuit in Nebraska,"
19. The SITE OF THE APEX SALOON is near the center of the block
240 CITIES AND TOWNS
bounded by Harney, Farnam, i2th, and i$th Sts., now occupied by the
rear of business houses. The saloon was a popular resort in pioneer times.
Two horse thieves had been turned over to the settlers by the Pawnee.
Because there was no jail, the citizens talked the matter over and decided
to shave the heads of the culprits and give each of them 39 lashes. Tied to
the liberty pole in front of the saloon and stripped to the waist, the thieves
were lashed so severely by an Indian with a heavy rawhide whip that he
was stopped. The owners of the stolen stock completed the job.
20. The SITE OF THE CITY HOTEL, SW. corner nth and Harney
Sts., is occupied by the Kirkendall Boot Company Bldg. The old City Ho-
tel was the scene of the reception and grand ball held in honor of Mark
W. Izard, second Governor of the Territory, in 1855. Music for the dance
was furnished by a lone fiddler from Council Bluffs, Iowa. The floor was
icy with frozen scrub-water and several of the dancers fell. When the
Governor's son appeared wearing a white vest and white kid gloves, he
created a sensation. Men far outnumbered the ladies and had to await
their turn to dance. Supper consisted of bacon sandwiches, dried apple pie,
and coffee, and was passed to the guests as they stood about the ballroom.
21. The SITE OF THE ST. NICHOLAS BOARDING HOUSE, near
i2th and Jackson Sts. (exact location unknown), was sometimes called
the "Claim House." Tom Allen built the large log house to board the
men who worked in the brickyard. When the short-lived brickyard closed,
Mr. and Mrs. William P. Snowden operated the house as a hotel. It must
have been good, for when a Muscatine, Iowa, paper made a slighting ref-
erence to Omaha as a city of six houses without a hotel, the Arrow
(Omaha's paper published in Council Bluffs) came back with the fol-
lowing:
"Why, the St Nicholas of New York is not a circumstance to its namesake in
our city Here you may get venison, fowl, bird or fish cooked in any manner you
please. You may smoke in the parlor, put your heels upon the sideboard without
injury to the furniture, or for variety you may spread your buffalo robe on the
green grass and take a comfortable smoke without fear of being run over by a
score of woolly-headed servants "
22. The MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM, Howard St. between i4th and
1 5th Sts., built by the Auditorium Company, was completed in 1904 at a
cost of more than $200,000. This massive, smoke-grimed brick and Bed-
ford stone structure was built to meet the city's need for an auditorium
large enough to house the annual horse show, and to accommodate the
many conventions held in Omaha. In the early days of the Auditorium,
Paderewski and Caruso appeared upon its stage. Sarah Bernhardt played
here in Camille. Audiences listened to the Vatican Choir, and many of
the great orchestras. In 1915 the city purchased the building, which is used
principally for wrestling and boxing matches, conventions, and trade
exhibits.
23. The UNION PASSENGER TERMINAL, loth St. between Marcy
and Mason Sts., consists of two units, the Union Station and the Burling-
ton Station.
The Union Station, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood of Los
OMAHA 241
Angeles, was completed in 1931. The total cost of the station, which cov-
ers 23 acres, was $3,500,000. The terminal is of steel frame construction
on reinforced concrete piling. The massive exterior walls with their but-
tresses and pylons are of cream-colored glazed terra cotta. Over the door-
ways at the north entrance are sculptured figures of the brakeman and the
locomotive engineer; over the loth St. entrance are figures of the civil en-
gineer and the railroad mechanic.
At night the exterior of the station is illuminated by flood-lights. In the
main waiting room are 10 cathedral-like windows of rose, amber, and
green translucent plate glass, flanked by colonnettes of blue Belgian mar-
ble, and a wainscoting of black Belgian marble. The interior is lighted by
crystal and bronze chandeliers weighing 2,000 pounds each. At the east
end is a bronze tablet, commemorating the breaking of the ground to start
construction on the Union Pacific Railroad, the laying of the first rail, and
the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, linking the railroads
of the East and the West
On the west wall in the restaurant are six murals by Joseph W. Keller
of Los Angeles depicting various stages in the development of trans-
portation.
The Burlington Station, loth and Mason Sts , a reconstruction of the
old Burlington Station, was built at a cost of approximately $1,000,000,
and was dedicated in 1930. The building was designed by Graham, Ander-
son, Probst and White of Chicago. It is constructed of steel and concrete,
faced with Indiana limestone. Ionic columns rise at the north entrance,
which faces a U-shaped court. The waiting room is surrounded by a bor-
der of gold medallions in bas-relief near the ceiling. Four modern chande-
liers of crystal and bronze, each weighing 2,300 pounds, hang from the
rose and gold ceiling. The room is completely equipped with overstuffed
furniture. A covered concourse to the north connects the Burlington Sta-
tion with the Union Station.
24. The SITE OF THE LONE TREE FERRY LANDING, E. end of
Davenport St. (site not marked), was a meeting place for the settlers.
William D. Brown of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, was one of the many who
started for California in 1849-1850. Arriving at Council Bluffs, rather
than continue westward, he secured a charter, equipped a flat boat, and
established a ferry across the Missouri River. It was called the Lone Tree
Ferry, but because there were many "lone" trees on the river bank, Mr.
Brown was never able to tell which one was responsible for the name.
Eventually a company was formed and the Lone Tree Ferry became the
Nebraska and Council Bluffs Ferry Company. The new partnership se-
cured a steamboat, the General Marion, from Alton, 111., and hired Charles
H. Downs as captain. In April 1854, Downs moved a small house, 12 by
14 feet, by ferry from Council Bluffs to the Nebraska landing and for a
time used it as his home. Later, Bill Lane occupied this building and
turned it into a gambling house. The early settlers were not purists, but
Bill Lane was too tough a character to be tolerated. When the vigilantes
242 CITIES AND TOWNS
told him to get out, he went to Leavenworth, Kans., taking the house
with him.
25. The UNION PACIFIC SHOPS (open by permission), I3th and
Webster Sts., begun in 1865, and now covering 80 acres, are equipped for
the complete overhaul and repair of all running equipment. The first loco-
motive, the General Sherman, or Engine No i, arrived from St. Louis in
1865 on the packet Colorado. Th* General McPherson, known as Num-
ber 2, and nicknamed "The Grasshopper," also arrived by steamer from
St. Louis. Until the first bridge over the Missouri was completed, in
1872, all machinery and material shipped from the East were brought
across the river from the town of Council Bluffs, Iowa, by ferry or on
trestles built on the ice in the winter. After the disastrous flood of 1881
the grounds about the shops were filled with dirt, and later with sand
pumped from the Missouri River bed. In 1903, shortly after the new
power house was built, W. R. McKeen, Jr., then superintendent of motive
power, invented the track motorcar.
26. JEFFERSON SQUARE, Chicago St. between i5th and i6th Sts., is
the only park remaining of the three originally platted in 1854. Attempts
have been made from time to time to convert it into practically everything
but a park. On one occasion the State Supreme Court was forced to inter-
vene to keep it a rendezvous for the idle men who crowd its benches. The
personnel changes from day to day, but the scene, with its air of frustra-
tion and despair, remains the same. A bathhouse installed a few years ago
is in considerable demand.
27. CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY (student guide available, apply Ad-
ministration Building), 24th St. between California and Burt Sts., Omaha's
first university, is a privately-controlled, privately-endowed institution. It
is administered by Catholics, but welcomes non-Catholic students, and al-
though coeducational in its seven professional schools, it has separate lib-
eral arts colleges for men and women. It has a self -perpetuating board of
trustees under Jesuit management.
The story of Creighton University properly begins in 1856, when the
brothers Edward and John A. Creighton settled in Omaha and laid the
foundation for their vast fortune. Mary Lucretia Creighton (d. 1876),
widow of Edward Creighton (d. 1874), perpetuated his memory in her
will by the bequest of $100,000 as a trust fund for the establishment of a
school. During succeeding years, John A. Creighton gave the school more
than $2,000,000.
In 1879, a 7 ear ^ter t* 16 school was founded, the Jesuits assumed the
trust of the fitnd. There are now more than 22,000 alumni in this and
foreign countries. Its faculty of 300 members teach a student body of
over 3,000. The grounds, buildings, and equipment are valued at more
than $5,000,000, with endowment and productive funds estimated at
.$3,000,000.
The university has 20 separate units on the main campus of eight
blocks, extending from 24th to 27th Sts, from California to Burt Sts. The
FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, facing California St., erected
in 1930 at a cost of about $400,000, is a departure from conventional ar-
OMAHA 243
chitecture. It is characterized by strong vertical lines, and built of white
Bedford stone, ornamented chiefly with aluminum spandrels between the
windows. The massive main entrance is adorned with bas-reliefs of Ed-
ward and John A. Creighton.
Other important buildings on the campus include the Astronomical
Observatory, 250 feet north of the mam entrance to the college group, a
circular brick building capped with a sheet iron dome, erected in 1885;
Creighton College Chapel, known as St. John's Church, west of the main
building, of Gothic design, built in 1887 and enlarged in 1923; the Gym-
nasium, at the north of the group, a brick, three-story building erected in
1916; the Law Building, facing the grounds; the Dental College, facing
California St.; and the red brick Auditorium, adjacent to motor drive,
with seating capacity of 900. At 25th and Cass Sts., one block south of the
main group, is the College of Commerce, and the Medical Campus is at
i4th and Davenport Sts., including three buildings of dark brick.
The LOGAN FONTENELLE HOMES PROJECT, 2oth and 24th Sts., be-
tween Paul and Seward Sts., sponsored by the Housing Division of the
Public Works Administration, was financed by $2,000,000, allocated in
July 1935. Completed in 1938, there are 29 one- and two-story brick
buildings, each having from 4 to 14 units, built in two- to five-room
apartments, with laundry service for each unit, and a community center
for each block of buildings. Children's playgrounds and parks are in-
cluded.
28. SULPHUR SPRINGS, between the railroad tracks about three
blocks N. of Locust St. viaduct (accessible only on foot), was known to
the Indians, who attributed medicinal qualities to its ill-smelling waters.
Their unquestioning faith impressed the white man, and many of the
early settlers also believed in its healing virtues The spring still flows,
through an iron pipe, but is no longer used for medicinal purposes.
SQUATTERS Row, nth and i3th Sts, between Nicholas and Locust
Sts., is a village of shacks built of materials salvaged from the Omaha city
dump, upon which it stands. At the east end of Nicholas Street many years
ago, Mrs. Cornelia (Granny) Weatherford settled upon a tract, and nei-
ther floods, police, nor corporations could oust her from her land. Bit by
bit she sold it, mostly to the Union Pacific Railroad, until today (1938)
she holds but one small lot. Since 1897, however, the laws of Nebraska
have not been favorable to squatters, and most of the present inhabitants
of the city dump can make no claim to the property upon which they live.
Vinegar Flats, Blind Pig Alley, and similar names designate particular
sections.
29. LEVI CARTER PARK, around the north shore of Carter Lake,
entrances from Carter Blvd. and Ames Ave., is Omaha's largest park.
Fishing is good in the lake, which is stocked from State hatcheries. This
ox-bow lake was once the channel of the Missouri River, but in July 1877,
the "Big Muddy" played one of its pranks by short-circuiting a bend at
this point and leaving what had formerly been a peninsula of Iowa on the
Nebraska side of the river. The Iowa-Nebraska line, following the former
river bed and cutting through the present Carter Lake, has left an odd
244 CITIES AND TOWNS
pear-shaped segment of Iowa, almost entirely surrounded by Nebraska
territory. There are picnic grounds in the park, and a beach for swimming.
The tract was given the city by Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Cornish. Mrs. Cornish
was the widow of Levi Carter
30. KOUNTZE PARK, 2ist St, between Pmckney and Pratt Sts , is
the site of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, held at Omaha in 1898.
Forty States and 10 nations had exhibits at the fair. The park is used as a
playground, with asphalt tennis courts, and has two small lagoons, where
children fish.
31 PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY (of en 8-5 daily;
guides), 2ist and Wirt Sts., is an endowed institution established in 1891
to prepare young men for the ministry Classes were first held in one of
the Presbyterian churches, and in the old Cozzens Hotel until 1902, when
the present building was erected. The three-story building is of tan pressed
brick trimmed in white stone with slate roof, triple gables on east and
west ends, and a curved stone arch over the entrance.
On the first floor are the reception room, reading room, library of 15,-
ooo volumes, offices, classrooms and chapel; the professors' offices and
recreation room are on the second floor; the third floor is given over to
dormitories. Dining rooms, kitchen and game rooms are in the basement.
The two-block campus is equipped for sports. The school grants the de-
grees of Bachelor of Theology and Master of Theology, and has a "lay
worker's course" in religious education.
32. OMAHA MUNICIPAL UNIVERSITY occupied three buildings
at 24th and Evans Sts., until the completion of its new building on the
campus west of Elmwood Park, purchased in 1937 It was established in
1909 as the University of Omaha by Dr. Daniel E. Jenkins, with the help
of subscriptions secured from citizens, and was transferred to the city in
1931. The faculty consists of 91 members; the student body averages 600.
An innovation in the university's educational program is the work-study
plan, initiated in 1936. Under this plan students work six months in local
business houses, then study six months, and thus gain a practical, first-
hand comprehension of the relationship between college studies and busi-
ness
33. MILLER PARK, between 24th and 3Oth Sts., Kansas and Redick
Aves. (main entrance 30th St. and Kansas Ave.), was named for Dr.
George L. Miller, early newspaperman and Omaha park commissioner.
He was criticized for planting "hoe-handles" in the park. The "hoe-
handles" have grown into the birch drive and the redbuds that make this
one of the show places of Omaha. The park has a lagoon, pavilion, play-
grounds, golf course, and baseball diamond on a 7 8 -acre tract.
34. MINNE LUSA WATERWORKS, between 3oth St. and River
Drive, entrance at 30th and Howell Sts., was built of Warrensburg sand-
stone in 1889 The station, surrounded by five acres of landscaped
grounds, is on the bank of the Missouri River, from which the city gets
its water supply. Omaha's first waterworks system consisted of cisterns
built in the center of the streets, to which water was pumped from the
river by fire engines.
OMAHA 245
In 1880 a group of Omaha capitalists formed the City Waterworks
Company and obtained a 2O-year franchise. Construction on Omaha's first
large reservoir was completed in September 1881. The plant was acquired
in 1891 by the American Waterworks Corporation of New Jersey. In July
1912, after a long series of protests and litigation carried as high as the
United States Supreme Court, ownership passed to the city.
35. From HUMMEL PARK, on River Drive 2 m. N. of Florence, is
a panoramic view of the wooded Missouri River Valley and the river. At
the northeast entrance of the park is a marker identifying the site of Fort
Lisa and the Cabanne trading post about 90 feet from the marker. The
site of Fort Lisa has since been more accurately located (see Tour 1) at a.
point farther north. The CABANNE TRADING POST of the American Fur
Company was established by Jean Pierre Cabanne about 1824. The post
consisted of a row of buildings near the river, among which were stores
and the houses of the company employees. Cabanne' s own house was two
stories high, provided with a balcony. Maj. Joshua Pilcher took charge of
the post in 1833, and on the map of J. H Nicollet, who ascended the
Missouri in 1839, the post is called the Old American Trading House.
The SITE OF FLORENCE, now a residential section, was occupied by
the Mormons in 1846. They called the place Winter Quarters and made it
their last outpost on the long trek to Salt Lake. The Indians welcomed
them, looking to them for food and for protection against tribal warfare;
but in the end they feared the encroachments of the whites and the
Mormons were ejected. Points of Interest 36-39 inclusive, are all situated
in this section.
36. WEBER MILL (open 6 a.m,-8 p.m. weekdays), 9102 N. 3Oth
St., an independent gristmill built shortly after 1854, is still in operation
(1938). It was built of timber sawed by water power and joined with
wooden pegs. The mill has been rebuilt several times and only a few
of the original timbers remain. The mill pond and paddle wheel were
first replaced by steam, and later by electric power. In 1915 an elevator
was added on the west.
37. The FLORENCE BANK, 8502 N. 3oth St., established in 1856,
still has the original nameplate of the first Bank of Florence. The brick
for this two-story building was brought from St. Louis by boat.
38. FLORENCE PARK, 3Oth St. between Mormon and State Sts. and
extending to 3ist St. (main entrance at corners), is one of the oldest
parks in the city. It is a small, level, grassy square of 1.7 acres. On typical
park benches dotting the lawns the old settlers gather on sunny days. A
large cottonwood tree bears a plaque stating that the tree was planted by
Brigham Young when the Mormons wintered in Florence.
39. The claim is made that the MITCHELL HOUSE (private), 8314
N. 3ist St., is the oldest house in Nebraska still in use. Some assert that
Brigham Young once lived in the house. It is a two-story structure, the
lower half of brick, the upper of wood, almost completely surrounded by
a broad porch supported by stout timbers. In front of the house are ever-
green trees set out by James C. Mitchell, who built the house about 1855.
40. In MORMON CEMETERY, SW. corner Northridge Drive and
246 CITIES AND TOWNS
State St., is a monument in bronze depicting the Winter Quarters, by Ar-
vard T. Fairbanks of Detroit, unveiled September 20, 1936, to commemo-
rate the 600 Mormon emigrants buried in this vicinity during the winter
of 1846-47, victims of hardship, cold, and disease. The statue is a bronze
of two nine-foot figures on a three-foot granite base, depicting a father
and mother standing before the open grave of a beloved child.
41. FORT OMAHA, 3Oth St. between Fort St. and Laurel Ave., main
entrance 3Oth and Fort Sts., is a residential post for the Seventh Corps
Area. It was established in 1868 as Sherman Barracks in honor of Lt. Gen.
William Tecumseh Sherman of Civil War fame, who completed arrange-
ments for acquiring the land. Soon afterward the name was changed to
Omaha Barracks, and in 1878 to Fort Omaha.
In the middle eighties the fort was the social center of the city, where
Omaha's "400" held their dances and outings. The post was abandoned
in 1896, but was re-established in 1905 as a school for non-commissioned
officers of the signal corps. A balloon plant was installed in 1909. In 1912
Fort Omaha was again abandoned and all property moved to Fort Leaven-
worth, Kans. It was re-opened as a balloon school in 1917. During the
World War, 16,000 men attended this school.
42. FONTENELLE PARK, main entrance Fontenelle Blvd. and Ames
Ave., acquired by the city in 1892, was named for Chief Logan Fontenelle.
Planted with evergreens, it has picnic, playground and athletic equipment.
43. The NEBRASKA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF (open 8-4.15 week-
days; 2-6 Sun.), 45th St. and Bedford Ave., was initiated in 1867 when
the 1 2th Territorial Legislature passed an act providing for the perpetual
establishment of an Omaha Deaf and Dumb Institute. In 1869, $15,000
was appropriated for the first building, of red brick with stone trimming.
In 1876 a second building was erected and in 1881 the two buildings were
connected by a third. A two-story tan brick gymnasium was provided for
in 1909. A building to care for small children was built in 1913 and a
modern dormitory for older boys in 1933, both structures of red brick.
The 23-acre grounds were donated by Omaha citizens. Nebraska children
over five years of age with defective speech or hearing are admitted. The
course covers 12 grades of regular academic studies, besides special classes
in domestic science, domestic arts, manual training, printing, gardening,
and painting.
44. The WALNUT HILL PUMPING STATION, 38th between Nich-
olas and Hamilton Sts., has an OBSERVATION DECK 275 feet above the
Missouri River from which there is a good view of the city. The grounds
are landscaped. Two fountains are illuminated by colored lights at night.
45. DUCHESNE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE (open 8-8
Mon.-FrL; guides), SW. corner 36th and Burt Sts., is a privately-
controlled Catholic women's college, non-sectarian in administration, in a
select residential section west of the civic center of Omaha. The campus
covers 13.5 acres.
Duchesne College, founded in 1881, has four connected buildings, in a
modified Tudor Gothic style, each with its own entrance, the Administra-
tion Building, the Chapel, the College, and the Academy It is a tuition
OMAHA 247
school with accommodations for 75 resident students and 500 day stu-
dents. It confers the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science.
The academy offers pre-school, preparatory, and high school courses. The
college has a collection of steel engravings, copies of the frieze in the
loggia of the Vatican, illustrating the history of the Popes. The instruc-
tors are members of the Society of the Sacred Heart.
The Duchesne College Players, a drama club organized and directed by
students, sponsors four major productions each year. An annual Mardi-
Gras celebration is held, when the student body elects its queen.
46. ST. CECILIA'S CATHEDRAL, 4oth St. between Webster and
Burt Sts., begun in 1905, is still under construction (1938). This Roman
Catholic cathedral is an imposing structure of Spanish Renaissance design
with twin towers, which when completed will stand 225 feet high. The
walls are of solid masonry throughout, with an exterior of Indiana lime-
stone. The roof is of Spanish Mission tile. Twenty-two massive limestone
consoles rise above the aisle roofs and the apsidal chapels. Around the
triple main entrance are grouped four massive Doric columns of Bedford
limestone, under which bronze doors lead into the vestibules.
The nave and aisles of the church, finished in Mankato and Kasota
stone, are lined with massive piers. A communion rail divides the nave
from the sanctuary, which is pierced with marble grill work admitting
light from the apsidal chapel windows. Above the bishop's seat of the
oak throne is a tooled red leather panel bearing the coat of arms of the
reigning bishop, and above this, carved in oak, is the head of St. Cecilia
modeled from the painting by Raphael. The interior is mainly finished in
marble of various kinds. A votive chapel, known as the Lady Chapel,
finished in oak and Minnesota marble or variegated colors, with a marble
altar and a statue of Our Lady, opens off the north vestibule. The original
plan was drawn by Thos. R. Kimball, added to and completed by the firms
of Kimball, Steele, and Sandham of Omaha.
47. The OMAHA COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE (open only during
rehearsals), 4004 Davenport St., with a seating capacity of 252, is a
theater devoted to local dramatic expression, open to everyone having spe-
cial talent. It was built of brick and stucco, designed by Alan McDonald,
of Omaha, in 1928. The playhouse gives current New York productions,
and has a Children's Theater which gives two or three plays annually.
This playhouse has helped develop the talent of Hudson Shotwell, Rob-
ert Brinkeman, scenic designer, and Henry Fonda, stage and screen actor,
who equipped the Playhouse with seats.
48. BROWNELL HALL, Underwood Ave. and 54th St., founded in
1863, is an Episcopalian college-preparatory school for girls, the first es-
tablished institution of higher education for women in the State. Its first
home was near 24th St. and Grand Ave., in what was once the town of
Saratoga. The students of the first school were warned not to wander far
from the building because of Indians. Pupils arrived in lumber wagons,
stage coaches, or on boats. Sometimes they paid their tuition with wood
or produce.
The school stands on a wooded campus of n acres. Classes are offered
248 CITIES AND TOWNS
from kindergarten to high school, plus a post-graduate year with French,
art, music, dancing, and athletics. TALBOT HOUSE, a two-story rambling
cream and tan frame structure, the remodeled J. N. H. Patrick mansion,
was formerly the quarters of the Happy Hollow Club, and is now the
classroom and office building. WORTHINGTON HALL, completed in 1924,
Is the dormitory. It is a three-story red brick and stone building completed
in 1924 as the first unit of the new plant. Besides the bedrooms, arranged
in suites of two with connecting baths, there are small reception rooms,
an assembly hall, and a chapel.
49. ELMWOOD PARK, W. of 6oth St. between Dodge and Pacific
Sts., is a 207-acre wooded tract with a natural spring of cool, pure water.
Many people visit the spring carrying jugs and bottles to be filled for
home consumption. There are picnic and athletic facilities, an i8-hole
golf course, bridle paths, and tennis courts.
Elmwood Park contains an ALASKAN TOTEM POLE, 12 feet high,
carved by an Indian named Cu-Yu, of a tribe now extinct, for an Indian
chief who believed he had supernatural powers. The death of the chief
before its completion enabled R. E. Sunderland to buy it and present it to
the Park Department in 1912.
50. AK-SAR-BEN FIELD, entrance at Center St. W. of 6oth St., a flat
tract of 170 acres, is the property of the Ak-Sar-Ben Exposition Company,
and is the scene of various civic activities conducted by the Knights of
Ak-Sar-Ben. The entire layout of grounds and buildings was designed by
George B. Prinz, of Omaha. The brick and cement coliseum, which seats
10,000 persons, was built in 1928. The grounds are also equipped with
a mile race-track and a grandstand seating 10,000, horse and cattle barns,
a polo field, and a baseball park. On each Monday night during the
months of June and July a show is staged in the coliseum. Each year a
stage show, written by Omaha men, is presented for guests, who later are
initiated into the organization.
The coliseum is also the scene of the Ak-Sar-Ben Ball and Coronation,
held each autumn. At this time a king and queen, members of prominent
Omaha families, are selected by the board of governors, and crowned with
appropriate ceremonies, surrounded by a court of princesses, countesses,
and pages.
The history of Ak-Sar-Ben began in 1894 when a committee of Omaha
businessmen, returning from New Orleans, were convinced that a festival
resembling Mardi-Gras would bring the people of the surrounding coun-
try into closer contact with the city. A member of the group suggested the
word "Nebraska" spelled backward as an appropriate, catchy name foi
the festival. A priest, a student of languages, interested in the discussion,
suggested that the domain of Ak-Sar-Ben be known as Quivira, the realm
of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, object of Coronado's ill-fated quest.
He also interpreted the syllables comprising the suggested names: Ak,
Syrian, meaning head of the household ; Sar, Arabic, meaning household ;
Ben, Hebrew, meaning brother in the household. The whole word is said
to signify the king, his domain, and his retainers.
OMAHA M9
A coat of arms was adopted, with cattle, alfalfa, corn, wheat, and sugar
beets incorporated in the design.
Costumes, ceremonials and rituals, devised then, are retained with minor
changes. More than 6,000 Omahans have membership in Ak-Sar-Ben } a
non-profit enterprise with a board of governors serving without compen-
sation.
51. The UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE,
42d St. and Dewey Ave., includes four principal buildings all of red brick
with stone trim, simple in design, set in landscaped grounds. The Main
Hospital and Administration Building, four stones, includes two units
connected by a wide corridor and amphitheater. The central part of the
east unit is topped by a promenade paved with tile, and the north and
south ends of each unit have glass-enclosed porches. The North and South
Laboratory Buildings and Nurses' Home, each three stories in height,
flank the main building.
In 1902 the Omaha Medical College, incorporated in 1881, assumed its
present name when it entered into an agreement of affiliation with the
University of Nebraska, whereby the first two years of the medical course
were given at Lincoln, and the last two at Omaha. Since 1913 the univer-
sity College of Medicine has resumed offering the full four-year course,
the first two years of which correspond to the two-year pre-medical course
offered at Lincoln.
The college has a high rating, and about 70 are graduated annually. The
library has 35,000 bound volumes, 16,000 unbound pamphlets, subscrip-
tions to 300 periodicals, with files of the Omaha-Douglas County Medical
Society and of the Nebraska State Medical Society. It has a rare book col-
lection of 2,000 volumes on medicine, science, and chemistry, some dating
from the fourteenth century. The PATHOLOGICAL MUSEUM in North
Laboratory Building (open 9-3 weekdays), contains about 4,000 speci-
mens.
52. The DOUGLAS COUNTY HOSPITAL, 4 2nd St. between Pacific
St. and Woolworth Ave., was designed by John Latenser and Sons,
Omaha, and was built in 1932 at a cost of approximately $1,000,000, in-
cluding its equipment. It accommodates 400 patients, and has a staff of
about 80 physicians and 40 graduate nurses. The building, through a series
of setbacks, achieves an extensive veranda and sun-parlor for each floor
on the south facade.
53. HANSCOM PARK, 52nd St. between Woolworth and Ed Creigh-
ton Aves , a 38-acre tract, was donated to the city in 1872 by Andrew
Hanscom and J. G. McGeath, with the stipulation that it remain a park
and that $25,000 be expended on it within five years. It has a pavilion,
tennis courts, and picnic grounds
The CONSERVATORY (open 8-5 daily), which furnishes plants for the
park system, also contains a collection of orchids given by Mrs. George
A. Joslyn. Another conservatory, resembling a mosque, is devoted to trop-
ical flowers and ornamental plants. A cannon taken from Santiago, Cuba,
during the Spanish- American War, is at the northwest entrance.
250 CITIES AND TOWNS
54. The UNION STOCKYARDS, S. of L St. between 2 8th and 3 6th
Sts., include 4,000 stock pens of varying size, covering an area of 160
acres, with 20 miles of alleys connecting the pens. The combined capac-
ity of the pens is 160,000 head. All pens have overhead walks for view-
ing the stock. They are also equipped with running water, and an aver-
age of 4,000,000 gallons of water is used daily. Approximately 8,000,000
head of cattle, sheep, and hogs are sold annually.
The Union Stockyards Company was organized in December 1883, and
a plot of ground was purchased for $78,250. The following year the first
consignment of cattle, 531 head, was brought in by the Union Pacific Rail-
road and reshipped to Chicago.
55. The LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING, 29th and M Sts.,
designed by George B. Prinz, was built in 1926 at a cost of $1,300,000.
The 1 1 -story building of brick and reinforced concrete, which stands out
above the stockyards, houses three banks, 15 railroad offices, five brand
inspectors* offices, offices of 15 packing houses, and several newspapers.
Two Government bureaus have branch offices in the building: the Bureau
of Markets and the Bureau of Animal Industry. A banquet room on the
loth floor accommodates 1,200 guests. The building is the headquarters
for the livestock exchange, an association of persons who transact their
business through the Union Stockyards. The stockholders reside in 39
States of the Union and in nine foreign countries. Among them, strangely
enough, women outnumber men.
There is an atmosphere of incongruity about the Stock Exchange Build-
ing, for while the methods and equipment used in carrying on this enter-
prise are as modern as tomorrow, something of the old West seems to
linger about the place. Talk of the range is heard in the ornate lobby, and
bronzed cattlemen frequent the bar.
56. The CUDAHY PACKING PLANT (conducted tours 9-2 week-
days), 36th and O Sts , had its inception in a plant built in 1885 by Sir
Thomas Lipton of London, England, internationally-known merchant and
yachtsman. The Lipton plant was sold to the Armour-Cudahy Company in
1887 and operated under that name until 1890, when Philip Armour with-
drew and it became the Cudahy plant. It includes 20 buildings ranging
from one to six stories, scattered over an area of five square blocks. The
majority of the buildings are of brick, although the earlier building hous-
ing the office is a two-story frame structure. The butchering and process-
ing of meats can be seen in this and other packing plants.
57. The ARMOUR PLANT (conducted tours 9:15-10:30, 1:15-2:30
weekdays), 29th and Q Sts., presents an unbroken south wall starting at
the west end of the Q Street viaduct and extending westward up the hill
for three solid blocks, each section higher in a regular progression, giving
a Great- Wall-of -China effect. On the back of the lot, about midway of
the plant, is a $500,000 hog house of brick and cement.
The assembly of buildings presents a rather motley array except for the
Administration Building farther up the hill on Q Street. This structure
of red brick presents a neat appearance, accentuated by the general un-
sightliness of the other buildings.
SOUTH OMAHA BRIDGE
58. The SWIFT PACKING PLANT (conducted tours 9-11, 1-3
^jfjj, 2yth and Q Sts., was opened in 1887, It covers approximately eight
square blocks, and consists of a collection of brick and stone buildings
common to the typical large packing plant.
59. MANDAN PARK, 13^ and Harrison Sts., is a 4i-acre, wooded
tract with rustic paths, ovens and outdoor pavilions. From the high bluffs
in the park there is a fine view of the Missouri River. It is thought that
Lewis and Clark camped here and gave this site the name Mandan Point.
60. MOUNT VERNON GARDENS, i 3 th St. between W and Y Sts,,
is a park landscaped after the manner of the buildings and gardens at the
252 CITIES AND TOWNS
home of George Washington, Mount Vernon, Va. The Omaha Chapter
of the D.A.R. commemorated the bi-centenmal of George Washington's
birth in 1932 by the erection of a marker on Washington Ridge and the
planting of several hundred trees.
Rising from a small landscaped knoll known as Lookout Point, over-
looking the Missouri River just south of the George Washington portico
is the MONUMENT TO MAXIMILIAN, Prince of Wied, noted explorer, who
traveled up the Missouri in 1833. The monument is a huge boulder about
five feet high and two feet thick, on one side of which is a bronze plaque.
Designed by Carl Gloe, of Omaha, it was erected and dedicated in 1934
by the Federation of German- American Societies of Omaha. On Washing-
ton Ridge, at the north entrance to the gardens, is a boulder with a sun-
dial, marking one of the old Overland-Oregon trails.
61. The SOUTH OMAHA BRIDGE (toll charge, car and driver 15$,
passengers 50 each), i3th St. and Missouri Ave, financed by the Pub-
lic Works Administration, cost approximately $1,750,000, and was dedi-
cated in 1936. The west entrance is reached from a landscaped plaza.
The toll house in the center is flanked by pylons, illuminated at night.
After the first span was completed over dry land west of the river, a series
of dikes and pilings forced the stream westward until the old river bed
was emptied, and the eastern span was then built over dry land.
62. RIVERVIEW PARK, 9th St. between Funston and Homer Sts., has
a baseball diamond, swimming pool, lagoon, and zoo. A MONUMENT TO
SCHILLER, designed by Johannes Maihoefer, shows the poet holding a
book in his left hand and a pen in the right. The figure, about four
feet high, is mounted on a granite pedestal of four and one-half feet,
which, in turn, stands on a wide base formed in three low steps. On the
front of the pedestal is a bronze lyre within a laurel wreath. The monu-
ment stands on a crest in the park, commanding a view of the area. In
1917, stimulated by World War propaganda, vandals attempted to de-
stroy the memorial because it was in honor of a German. After the war,
the stone was restored. The Omaha Schwaben Society and other citizens
of German birth or descent erected the monument in 1905.
LITTLE BOHEMIA, i3th and William Sts. and vicinity, is the business
and recreational center of the Czechs. Many of them are employed in the
packing houses in South Omaha. The second generation has learned the
English language and accepted American customs; the older folk, how-
ever, cling to many of their Old- World ways. Their vegetable and flower
gardens are carefully planted and tended.
In this section are many Bohemian cafes and business houses, the Sokol
Auditorium, and offices for the Sokol Gymnastic Societies, where tourna-
ments, dances, and the gay Bohemian * 'Grape Harvest" festival are held
in the autumn of specified years. The celebration includes an evening of
dancing to Bohemian music, native songs, group dances, and short ad-
dresses. The hall is decorated with seasonal fruit, and the grape is most
prominent. The crowd slyly eats the decorations, though discovery is pun-
ishable by fine. Before the evening is over most of the fruit has been eaten
and the fund raised from fines goes to Bohemian charities
OMAHA 253
LITTLE ITALY, E. of roth St. on Pierce St. and vicinity, has many
little houses that cling to the edges of the river bluffs, ravines and sharp
banks. These dwellings are reached by crude stairways, or by steps cut in
the clay. Here most of the Omaha Italians live. The inhabitants, for the
most part, work on the railroads or in the packing houses. Their goats
graze the weed patches; bright flowers bloom in their tiny yards; they
patronize Italian tradespeople and celebrate Italian feast days.
In August there is the festival of Santa Lucia, with much visiting back
and forth, and a celebration that lasts all day and well into the night.
Everyone keeps open house. Italian food is served. Each home hangs out a
flag; streets are decorated in Italian colors; and men, women and chil-
dren appear in native costume. A procession carries the richly dressed
image of Santa Lucia through the streets on a raised platform,
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Fort Crook, 10 5 m., Site of Fort Lisa, 12 m., Site of Long's Camp, 12 5 m ,
Site of Omaha Indian Village, 15.5 m., Site of Fort Atkinson, 16 m., Site of Moses
Merrill Mission, 18.7 m. (see Tour 1) ; Fontenelle Forest Reserve, 1.3 m., Bellevue,
55m, Logan Fontenelle Grave, 5-5 m. (see Side Tour lA) ; Boys Town, 11 m. (see
lour 9).
PART III
<<<<<<<<((<<<<<< -a >>
Tour i
(Sioux City, Iowa) South Sioux City Tekamah Omaha Nebraska
City Falls City (Hiawatha, Kans.); US 73-77, 73E, 73-75, 73.
Missouri River at South Sioux City to Kansas Line, 205 m.
Between Dakota City and Winnebago, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R par-
allels the route; between Blair and Omaha, the Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis &
Omaha Ry , between Omaha and Falls City, the Missouri Pacific R R. The Mid
Continental Air Lines fly this route, but stop only in Omaha Bus service through-
out Hard-surfaced roadbed except for two stretches of gravel (between Homer and
Tekamah, and between a point 5 miles south of Auburn and the junction with State
4)
Accommodations available at short intervals; hotels chiefly in cities.
Between the northeastern and the southeastern corners of Nebraska, US
73 parallels the general course of the Missouri River, here a wide, wind-
ing and rather shallow stream, lined with high wooded bluffs on the Ne-
braska side. In spring and summer the rolling waters of the Big Muddy,
rich chocolate in consistency and hue, set off sharply the green of forests,
fields and orchards along its banks.
Today traffic does not flow up and down the Missouri, but across it on
the great east-west railways and highways that slowly but completely re-
orientated the life and activities of the Trans-Mississippi West. But be-
fore the railroads and highways were built, the Missouri was a great artery
of travel and commerce.
Up the Missouri, the gateway to the Pacific Northwest, came Lewis and
Clark in 1804 on their momentous exploration of the newly-purchased
Louisiana Territory and of Oregon. Plodding slowly up the western bank,
with their small fleet following them, they camped often in what is now
Nebraska. Pur traders and trappers followed them among others, Man-
uel Lisa, the Astorians, William Ashley, Jedediah Smith, Andrew Henry,
Thomas ("Cut Hand") Fitepatrick. In time many trading posts were es-
tablished along the river in Nebraska. Down the river each spring came
the traders in their bullboats, floating their peltries to the market in St.
Louis.
The Missouri also played a part in the legendary career of Mike Fink,
or "Phink," as Mike himself liked to spell it to prove his education.
Many stories are told of the prowess of that "ring-tailed-roarer," hero of
the river boatmen, the Paul Bunyan of his field. Mike and his friend
Carpenter, a trapper, often amused themselves by shooting tin cups filled
with whiskey from each other's heads at a distance of 70 yards ! just to
demonstrate their skill and mutual confidence, they said. Seeing a Negro
boy lounging on the river bank one day, Mike felt his sensibilities out-
raged by the size and shape of the boy's feet. Mike casually shouldered
257
258 TOURS
his rifle and shot off the Negro's heel. He was tried and convicted in
spite of his plea that he was merely trying to do a service by modeling
the boy's foot to fit a boot such as gentlemen wore.
Along the highway, which is never more than a few miles from the
river, the landscape is that of the typical eastern Nebraska prairie. The
route passes through river towns, quiet country villages, Indian reserva-
tions, several small bustling cities ; the orchard district of the State.
Section a. MISSOURI RIVER to OMAHA, 99.2 m. US 73-77, US 73 E,
US 73
The highway crosses the Missouri River, m., on a toll bridge (200 for
car and driver; 50 each -passenger).
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, 1 m. (1,106 alt, 3,927 pop.) (see Tour 7),
is at the junction of US 73 and US 77, which are united between this
point and 19.9 m.
At 2.5 m. is the junction (R) with US 20 (see Tour 7).
DAKOTA CITY, 5.2 m. (1,102 alt., 417 pop ), a quiet country town,
has one of the widest main streets (300 feet) in Nebraska The street is,
in fact, three streets ; a dirt road lies on each side of the . paved strip
through the center of the town. Dakota City was surveyed and platted in
1855-56, and incorporated two years later.
The site of Dakota City was visited by the Lewis and Clark expedition,
which reached the mouth of Omaha Creek in Dakota County on August
1 6, 1804.
When a branch of the General Land Office was established in Dakota
City in 1857, the town aspired to metropolitan status and constructed a
three-story hotel with a two-story wing at a cost of $16,000 in gold The
United States District Court was held here twice a year, adding to the
town's official importance. But when Nebraska was admitted as a State,
there was a decline. The court no longer met here, and the Land Office
was removed to Niobrara Even the hotel was torn down.
The Dakota City LUTHERAN CHURCH (R), a white frame building
with a belfry and green shutters, was the first Lutheran church in Ne-
braska (1860). It was built at a cost of $2,000, spent almost entirely for
material, as labor was donated. For a number of years it housed the Terri-
torial court.
The Yellow Dakota County COURTHOUSE (R), built in 1870 and still
in use, stands just off the highway among trees.
During the early years river traffic attracted many types of people to
the town. Father Martin, who edited the Dakota City Argus when not
doing missionary work among the whites in South Dakota, wrote fiction
about many characters in the town. His serial The Conflict: Love or
Money? included, in only slightly changed form, the names of townspeo-
ple he disliked. Atlee Hart, his rival editor, became Atlee Heartless. The
story ran for almost 10 years. There were no libel laws, and the editor
died of natural causes.
Citizens tell of the day when the steamer Nugget sank after hitting a
snag in the Missouri River at Dakota City. It was carrying a cargo of
NEBRASKA'S LAST VIRGIN TIMBER
whisky, which the men and boys of the town promptly salvaged and drank.
HOMER, 13 m. (452 pop ), a small farming and trading post, lies in
a valley (R), with a T-shaped main street.
1. Right from Homer on a country road to the SITE OF AN OMAHA INDIAN
VILLAGE, 5 m , known as the Large Village Built in the eighteenth century, on
the side of a rather steep hill now devoted to farming, the village had been burned
before the Lewis and Clark expedition reached the site in 1804 In their journals,
however, the village is described as having had 300 huts, abandoned after smallpox
had destroyed 400 men and many women and children Numerous graves are on the
site.
2. Left from Homer on a graded dirt road that runs into heavily timbered coun-
try to LAND'S END, 6 m , an abrupt descent of 500 feet from the top of the bluff
to the river below. At this point the Indians prayed to their Great Spirit for a
bountiful harvest, and here they held a sacrificial dance. After feasting all day, six
of the strongest and bravest men began an endurance dance at sundown To the
beating of the tom-toms, they danced without food or drink until one of them fell
from exhaustion and tumbled over the embankment into the Missouri.
South of Homer the country becomes hilly, and the highway runs along
the western boundary of the proposed LEWIS AND CLARK NA-
TIONAL PARK AND BIRD SANCTUARY (L), a heavily wooded
region extending 25 miles along the Missouri bluffs and covering about
30,000 acres.
260 TOURS
Along the river are steep bluffs, extended views, and wooded hills.
Westward the country is rough and primitive, marked by small lakes,
creeks, swamps, and thick undergrowth, leveling off eventually into rich
farming lands. The proposed park would include a stretch of this broken
country, which is part of the Omaha and Winnebago Indian Reservations
(see below) ; a strip on the Iowa side of the Missouri; and a part of Da-
kota County, Nebr., which includes a camp site of Lewis and Clark. The
Indians favor the proposal, and it is hoped that the region will eventually
be restocked with game animals and other wild life.
WINNEBAGO, 19.9 m. (653 pop.), is a small Indian town. Lined
along its graveled business street, which lies on a slant between two high
hills, are the usual business establishments and churches. The old, weather-
beaten, one-story buildings are white frame for the most part, although
some are red and still others are gray and yellow stucco.
Winnebago (Ind., the disfavored ones) lies within the Winnebago In-
dian Reservation (see below), but the town proper is not included in the
32,250 acres that make up the reservation. On a tree-covered hill in the
northwestern part of Winnebago, 0.2 miles right from the highway, is the
white-frame ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION AND CHURCH, its white crosses
jutting high among the trees. A parochial school was established here in
1910 by Mother Catherine Drexel of Philadelphia. About 50 Indian chil-
dren board here during the school term.
Nearby and farther downhill is the public WINNEBAGO HIGH SCHOOL,
built of red-and-blue brick, and attended by both Indian and white chil-
dren.
On another and higher hill, two blocks left from the main street, are
the six yellow frame buildings of the New York DUTCH REFORMED
MISSION, which has conducted a school for Indian children since the early
1900*5.
At the extreme southern end of Winnebago is (L) the GOVERNMENT
HOSPITAL (visiting hours 10-12 a m., Mon., Wed., and Fn.), constructed
in 1934-35 for the care of Indian patients exclusively.
At Winnebago US 77 branches (R) from US 73E; this route continues
south on US 73E.
At 21 m. is the WINNEBAGO INDIAN AGENCY. (Visitors must obtain
permission to visit reservation at office of agent in administration building.
Federal law strictly forbids transportation of intoxicants into a reservation.
Indian police have power to arrest trespassers.) On either side of the high-
way are white frame buildings housing the commissary, laundry, and em-
ployees of the agency. All business pertaining to the Winnebago and
Omaha reservations is transacted at the red-brick administration building
(L).
The Government employs a farmer to instruct the Indians in agricul-
ture ; a model farm is conducted by the agency at Winnebago. Arable lands
are held by individual Indians under trust patents, and are subject to both
State and local taxes.
Originally from Wisconsin, the Winnebago, who are of Siouan stock,
were driven into this region after the Sioux uprising of 1862. They aban-
TOUR I 26l
doned their Crow Creek reservation near Pierre, S. Dak., m 1863-64,
and reached the Omaha Reservation in the winter of 1864. The Omaha,
their blood relatives, took pity on them, and in 1865 sold 97,000 acres to
the Government as a permanent home for the Winnebago (see IN-
DIANS).
A highly informative history of the wandering Winnebago the record
of their forced migration from their ancestral lands in the Great Lakes
region during three centuries of broken alliances and treaties has been
set down by one of their number, Oliver La Mere. Another eminent mem-
ber of the tribe is Henry Roe Cloud, a full-blooded Wmnebago, now
superintendent of the Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kans.
The Winnebago are alert, educated, sociable. Although fond of such
adornments as bright ribbons, they dress and speak much like their white
neighbors. A movement is under way to preserve and revive their native
arts. Their beadwork and weaving designs show traces of their remote
lake-country origin. In marked contrast to the geometrical forms of other
Siouan tribes, their patterns reflect forest forms leaves and flowers in
delicate coloring. In September 1935 an Indian International Fair and
Art Exhibit was held at the Winnebago Agency Specimens of contempo-
rary handiwork were displayed and ceremonies in tribal costumes per-
formed. Managed by representatives of the Santee and Ponca tribes as well
as of the reservation Indians, the fair was so successful that it will doubt-
less become a regular function of the associated tribes.
1. Left from the Indian agency on the graveled street, over a hairpin curve at 2.7
m , to BIG BEAR HOLLOW, 3 m , a depression resembling the crater of an extinct
volcano. Basin-shaped, surrounded by steep hills, sheer cliffs, deep-cut crevices, and
ledges, it is similar to Devil's Nest (see Tour 13), but is more heavily wooded The
hollow is about 5 miles in diameter and 400 to 500 feet deep. The bottom is like a
primeval forest, vines and underbrush interlace, making the hollow impassable ex-
cept for an occasional trail or solitary footpath winding under arching boughs
The hollow was named for a legendary creature, half man, half black bear, that
is said to have lived here From time to time he descended upon the neighboring
Indian village and carried off comely girls The lover of one of the abducted girls
trained two bear cubs as fighters, and in the end they drove the man-bear from his
den. When the monster tried to return, he was killed by the Indian brave.
2. Right from the Indian agency on a dirt road to HOWARD PARK, 0.7 m.,
named for former U. S. Representative Edgar Howard This 6o-acre, oak-shaded
park is the scene of the annual Winnebago Indian Pow-Wow (4 to 5 days first part
of Aug.; adm. 50$). Years ago the pow-wow had a religious significance, but today
it is a combination carnival, family reunion, old settlers' picnic and county fair. All
the Winnebago, as well as Indians of other tribes, move to the tented pow-wow
grounds, dressed in their traditional costumes. All the bucks wear elaborate feather
headdresses, some reaching to their heels. A black dress with hundreds of elk teeth
attached like spangles, a jacket of solid beadwork of arresting design, a fringed
buckskin dress with bead ornaments, are typical women's costumes.
Beadwork, weaving, moccasins, and farm products are displayed. Rodeos, exhi-
bitions, speeches, and dances are held. The dances are not merely forms of amuse-
ment. The Indians do their war dance and rain dance. The entire assemblage partici-
pates in a few of the dances.
South of the Indian agency US j$E passes through the center of the
WINNEBAGO INDIAN RESERVATION, a strip of land about 7 miles
wide and 24 miles long, containing 97,497 acres, on which live 1,187
262 TOURS
Winnebago Indians. This number includes some who had gone to Wis-
consin previous to the 1934 census.
The reservation today differs little from other farming districts in the
State, except that a tepee often stands near Indian farmhouses. Indians do
not receive money directly as wards of the Government Many are poor;
some have recently been given work by Government relief projects (see
below).
US 73E runs diagonally across a tract of bluffs and through hilly,
wooded country. The many old trails that wind through the reservation
are difficult to traverse in wet weather.
MACY, 30 772. (203 pop.), is an Indian trading post whose old store
buildings face deep-rutted streets. Formerly known as the Omaha Agency,
its present name was formed by taking the second syllable of Omaha and
the last syllable of Agency. The change was made to avoid confusion with
the city of Omaha.
The OMAHA INDIAN RESERVATION includes only the southern
and central parts of the original tract, a part of which the Omaha sold to
the Government in 1865 as a home for the wandering Winnebago (see
above). The irregular tract, measuring 12 miles north and south, and 30
miles from east to west, contains 205,335 acres, on which live 1,642 In-
dians, according to the 1934 census. The population has remained fairly
constant.
Originally the Omaha migrated from the Ohio River to the Mississippi
River; then north to Minnesota, and southwest to the Missouri River and
the Black Hills. After further wanderings they settled in northeastern Ne-
braska, near the Bow, the Logan, the Elkhorn and the Papillion, where
they lived for 200 years. In 1854 they were moved to the present reser-
vation.
Ritual dances are performed by as many as 1,500 Indians at the annual
Omaha Indian Pow-Wow (held at Macy m the latter part of August; adm.
500). During recent years a rodeo and other events have been added. Dur-
ing the pow-wow the Indians exchange gifts of horses, blankets, and bead-
work; sometimes a widow will give away her possessions. White visitors
and the guests from other tribes may receive gifts, but may not give any.
If an Omaha receives a little buckskin bag filled with dried grasses, he
will, according to custom, give in return his most prized possession, per-
haps his best horse, which signifies: "Brother, no matter what happens to
you, I will stand by you forever."
Left from the junction of the main street of Macy and US 73E, on a dirt road, to
the SITE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN MISSION, 35 m , on MISSION POINT. Nothing re-
mains of the mission but an old cemetery, deeded by the tribe to the Nebraska State
Historical Society The trail past the site is usually good, but it has several sharp
turns bordered by deep ravines
The mission was first established in Bellevue in 1847 In 1853 the Rev. William
Hamilton took charge; four years later he removed the mission to its present site at
the south end of the sandstone bluff, 500 to 600 feet high, formerly used by the
Indians as a signal station and by the Spanish and French voyagers as a stopping
place. When the Government took over the education of the Indians, the mission
was abandoned. The building was torn down during the World War and its timber
used for gun stocks and interior finish for houses.
TOUR I 263
There is a legend associated with Mission Point that concerns the tragic love of
an Indian brave (Amos Two Trees) and an Indian girl (Morning Star), whose
lives became involved with that of a white trader While the brave was away on a
hunt, the trader persuaded the girl to leave her betrothed and live with him. Later,
when the Indian returned, the trader abandoned the girl Feeling that she had be-
trayed her people, the girl drowned herself in the river The Indian forced the trader
to drown himself too, and for 50 years thereafter, so the legend says, the Indian
warred continually against the white man.
i Right I m. from Mission Point on a country road to the old HOMESITE OF
JOSEPH LA FLESCHE. The old buildings are gone, including the little store kept by
La Flesche (Iron Eye), adopted son of Big Elk, chief of the Omaha (see IN-
DIANS) But something of the primitive beauty of this region remains The bluffs
lining the river are heavily wooded, and drop abruptly to the river. Across the river
are the flat lands of Iowa La Flesche, son of a Frenchman and a Ponca woman, suc-
ceeded Big Elk as chief of the Omaha because of his energy, integrity, and good
judgment. At one time he organized a police force to prevent drinking among the
Omaha. La Flesche had seven children. One was Francis La Flesche, whose work in-
cluded research in tribal psychology, religious and intellectual concepts, language
origins, and intertribal relations, as well as a monumental history of the Omaha. He
was later associated with the Bureau of American Ethnology in Washington Other
children of La Flesche were Susette "Bright Eyes," later Mrs. T H Tibbies of Lin-
coln, known for her work in behalf of her people; Dr Susan Picotte of Bancroft;
and Carey La Flesche, once chief clerk of the Omaha agency.
2. Left 4 m. from Mission Point to HOLY FIREPLACE POINT and COUNCIL
POINT, park and picnic spots on bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, laid out by
the Indian Emergency Conservation Works Trails lead (R) from the mam country
road to the tops of the hills overlooking the river.
On the side of Holy Fireplace Point is ROBBER'S CAVE (accessible on joot), now
only a small recess in the bluff but once the hide-out of river bandits When an
unsuspecting trapper was seen floating his season's catch down the river, the bandits
would assail his barge, kill him, and take his furs. At one time the opening of the
cave formed a right-angle turn and it was necessary to crawl on hands and knees
to enter Now erosion and the destructive work of vandals have changed it. The
James brothers are said to have evaded capture on one occasion by hiding in this
cave after attempting to rob a bank in Northfield, Minn.
At 32.5 m. on US j^E is the junction with a dirt road.
Left 1.5 m. on this road to a junction with another dirt road; L here to BLACK-
BIRD HILL, 1.7 m , an Indian landmark and observation point It received its name
in 1800 when it became the burial place of the cruel and tyrannical Blackbird, chief
of the Omaha. After his death, according to legend, Blackbird was strapped to his
favorite horse, which was led to the top of the hill. Dirt was piled around them,
making a mound 16 feet high. On top of the mound was placed a pole bearing the
scalps that Blackbird had taken. Four years later (August n, 1804) the hill was
visited by the Lewis and Clark expedition.
When George Catlin, painter and traveler, climbed Blackbird Hill in 1832, he
dug into a gopher hole and found a skull supposed to be that of Blackbird. The
skull is now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "The surface of the
country," wrote Catlin, "is gracefully and slightly undulating like the swells of the
ocean after a heavy storm, and everywhere covered with a beautiful green turf, and
with occasional patches and clusters of trees."
Blackbird Hill breaks through the bluffs along the Missouri River, and rises by
a succession of rounded elevations to a height of several hundred feet, affording a
fine view of the countryside To the east is the river with its wooded islands and
broad valley. To the north and south, parallel with the river, is Blackbird Range,
a group of lesser hills growing smaller in the distance. To the west is an expanse
of rolling prairies, broken by fields, dotted with trees. Several drawings have been
scratched in the yellow sandstone cliffs at the base of the hill. One is of a British
flag, believed to have been carved here during the War of 1812. Others picture
264 TOURS
writing scripts in Pawnee and Arikari characters antedate the Omaha occupancy
One of these has been translated as "the Sun and the Evening Star, the Hunter Elk
and Thunder Bird, the Buffalo Man and Others."
Every October, when the moon is full, a piercing scream is heard from the top
of Blackbird Hill, so it is said It is the anguished cry of a white man who once
leaped from the cliff into the river He had married the sweetheart of his best
friend and schoolmate after the latter had been shipwrecked and given up for lost
But the friend returned after years of wandering to claim the girl The jealous
husband cut his wife's throat and jumped from the bluff, carrying her body. Where
her blood was spilled the grass no longer grew, forming a trail that is still pointed
out as the path the demented man took to the bluff's edge.
At 36.2 m. on US j$E is the junction with a dirt road.
Right 0.3 m. on this road over a steep hill to an INDIAN CHURCH, a little gray
stucco building on the site of a model farm established years ago by the Mormon
Church to assist the Indians The farm experiment proved unsuccessful, largely
from lack of funds. The pastor of the church lives on the farm.
At 39.2 m. is (L) the western boundary of the proposed Lewis and
Clark National Park (see above), marked by a sign. A procession of
heavily timbered bluffs (L) conceals the Missouri River, 2 miles or more
from the highway. The prairie (R) slopes away toward the flat terrain of
east-central Nebraska.
DECATUR, 40.1 m. (1,033 a ^- 683 PP-)> a river town founded in
1855 at what was then a strategic position on the Missouri, has been
moved frequently to follow the changing course of the river. It was named
for Stephen Decatur, member of the land company that founded it.
At 446 m. is GOLDEN SPRINGS (R), now a mere trickle of water
from a pipe in the shade of a clump of trees Ridges of the old stage-
coach road nearby tell the story of the days when the stagecoaches bumped
their way over the Missouri bluffs of Burt County and stopped here for
water. On the walls of the grotto are names carved 150 years before the
coming of the pioneers by Spanish and French explorers, say the In-
dians.
When F. E. Lange, a German mechanic and furniture maker, crossed
the Missouri River in 1853 to seek a suitable habitation, he found Golden
Springs and staked out a squatter's claim. Under the sandstone cliffs south-
east of the springs he set up four logs as a beginning of his cabin, but he
did not return to settle here until 1855. The farm and the springs still
belong to his sons.
TEKAMAH, 56.5 m. (1,054 al t-> I > 8 4 PP-)> though settled by F. E.
Lange (see above), was founded by Col. Benjamin R. Folsom and eight
others from Utica, N. Y., on October 7, 1854, and was incorporated the
following March The name probably comes from an Indian word mean-
ing big cottonwood. The town site was an Indian camping ground or vil-
lage, and the surrounding hills are said to have been used for burial
grounds (see below).
Tekamah, seat of Burt County, is a modern country town with paved
streets and attractive stores. On a lawn near the highway (L) is a monu-
ment honoring the county's pioneers. In the southwestern part of Tekamah
is RESERVOIR HILL, about 200 feet above the main section of the town.
THRESHING
From the summit of this sandstone hill, one of the highest points between
Omaha and Sioux City, there is a broad view of the Missouri Valley
Left from Tekamah, 2 m. on a dirt road to the SITE OF AN OMAHA INDIAN VIL-
LAGE, which was attacked by Yankton and Santee Indians December 12, 1846. Tow-
agaxe, "village maker," was the only Omaha chief present at the time, the other
chiefs being off with their men on a buffalo hunt Eighty were killed The Indian
burial ground was just west of Tekamah
Left from the Omaha Indian village site to TEKAMAH FLATS, a narrow strip
extending along the river from South Sioux City to Blair, reaching its greatest width
(about 10 miles) at Tekamah Being on the Missouri River Flyway, the flats offer
fine duck-shooting in season. The blue goose is also found here.
On a knoll at 63.6 m. is HERMAN (1,033 *&., 4 21 PP-) a
farming town in a typical Missouri River countryside. Named for Samuel
Herman, conductor on the old Omaha & Northwestern R.R., which
platted the town in 1871, this Danish and German settlement is a town
of workers, retired farmers, and small shopkeepers. On the evening of
June 13, 1899, Herman was struck by a tornado which destroyed every
building except the schoolhouse and the M. E. Church, at opposite endis
of the village.
BLAIR, 743 m. (1,232 alt, 2,791 pop.) (see Tour 8), is at the
junction with US 30, which crosses the Missouri River on a toll bridge
(see Tour 8).
266 TOURS
DE SOTO, 80.3 m. (17 pop.), today a ghost of the old steamboat
town that flourished years ago on the Omaha-Decatur road, was the
Washington County seat from 1858 to 1866 In its day it had two
newspapers and a hat factory, the first in Nebraska, making felt from
the hair of rabbit, coon, muskrat, beaver, otter, and wolf. Today the
Missouri River, having left its former channel, is a mile or more to the
east. The old town that served freighters and citizens has almost disap-
peared ; only a grain elevator remains.
FORT CALHOUN, 83.4 m. (1,000 alt, 309 pop.), on a bluff rising
abruptly from the Missouri River, was incorporated in 1858 and named
for John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), American statesman and Secretary of
War under President Monroe.
Fort Calhoun is a trading center for farms producing corn, wheat, and
livestock. Its proximity to Omaha has made it almost a suburb of that
city, yet it retains its compactness and identity. A Harvest Fair is held
each September, and the Washington County Pioneers' Picnic is held the
third Friday in August at the city park.
In 1904, on the hundredth anniversary of the Lewis and Clark coun-
cil with the Indians (see below), a stone monument was set up in the
VILLAGE PARK, which also contains an 1892 cannon from the Water-
vliet Arsenal, and a bird bath honoring the late W. H. Woods, former
resident and historian.
Left on Court St. to the SITE OF FORT ATKINSON, 0.5 m., on the farm of A. W.
Beale, marked by a monument erected in 1927.
The Lewis and Qark expedition camped on this promontory now called Council
Bluff and conferred with the Indians on August 3, 1804. This was the first confer-
ence between representatives of the Federal Government and the Nebraska Indians.
Although there are no ruins on the site and the land is under cultivation, relics
are dug up occasionally. In 1919 a celebration was held here to commemorate the
hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the fort. A movement is under way to
restore Fort Atkinson and make it a State park.
Early in the nineteenth century the Hudson's Bay Company, bidding for the
Northwest fur trade, furnished thousands of Indians in the territory with guns. An
act of Congress (April 29, 1816) prohibited non-citizens from traveling without
passports into territory held by Indians within the United States. Military posts were
established to enforce this act. One was Camp Missouri, built just above Council
Bluff in September 1819, the first military post in Nebraska. In 1819 barracks were
erected for 1,000 soldiers under the command of Gen. Henry Atkinson. In 1820 the
camp was moved more than a mile to the secure and commanding top of Council
Bluff and the name changed to Fort Atkinson, in honor of the commander Fort
Atkinson thus became not only the first fort but the first town in Nebraska Team-
sters, laborers, traders, hunters, trappers, and Indians made up its population of
more than a thousand inhabitants. It had a brickyard, limekiln, sawmill, gristmill,
rock quarries along the river, a school, a library of 500 books brought from the
East, and a bakery.
When the troops were moved to Cantonment Leavenworth (now Fort Leaven-
worth) in 1827, the town was virtually destroyed The soldiers took everything
usable except the buildings, which the Indians burned The ruins were found in
1854-1855 by early settlers of Fort Calhoun, who used the brick and stone to build
houses.
South of Fort Calhoun, on a knoll paralleling the highway, is a Row
OF LOCUST TREES (R), planted in 1824 by early settlers from Indiana
TOUR I
and by soldiers who had brought the seedlings from Kentucky. One hun-
dred years later one of these locusts was transplanted to the Fort Calhoun
park during the centennial celebration.
At 90.5 m. is the junction with the Ponca Rd.
Left IB m on this oil mat road to a junction ; L up a steep hill to a point at
4 m, from which the probable SITE OF FORT LISA is to be seen (R) along the
river
In 1807 Manuel Lisa, born m New Orleans of Spanish parents, moved up the
Missouri and the Yellowstone as far as the Big Horn, where he established a^ trad-
ing post. Thereafter he made annual trips up the watercourse from St. Louis. In
1812 he founded Fort Lisa and began trading in furs, land, cattle, and horses He
also acted as a subagent to the Indians and as arbiter between the tribes and the
Federal Government.
Fort Lisa became the principal trading post of the plains region, and Lisa him-
self was highly influential throughout this area. Up to his death in 1820 his wife,
who spent the winter of 1819 at Fort Lisa, was probably the first white woman to
settle in Nebraska Territory.
Also in this vicinity was a post established about 1825 by J. B. Cabanne for the
American Fur Company 9 or 10 miles above Omaha. Prince Maximilian of Ger-
many, who visited Nebraska in 1833, described the post. "We saw a crowd of Otoe
and Omaha Indians A small brook with steep banks flows down to the river from
a pleasant little wide valley in which are the corn plantations." Before 1840 the
post was moved to Bellevue and placed under the management of Peter A. Sarpy.
At 4.8 m on this dirt road running between the bluff and the Missouri River, to
the SITE OF LONG'S CAMP. Sent by the Federal Government to explore the Platte
River and the mountain region beyond, Maj. S. H. Long and his party, which in-
cluded geologists, zoologists, and an artist, here spent the winter of 1819-1820 (see
HISTORY). The expedition brought the first steamboat, the Western Engineer, to
these waters The amazement of the Indians along the Missouri River is all the more
understandable in view of the fact that the bow was built to resemble a serpent or
dragon, the mouth of which emitted smoke, fire and steam while the boat was in
motion. The Indians explained the phenomenon, saying, "White man, bad man, keep
Great Spirit chained, built fire under him to make him paddle their boat."
OMAHA, 992 m. (1,040 alt, 214,006 pop.) (see OMAHA).
Points of Interest: Creighton University, Joslyn Memorial, Union Stockyards,
Packing Plants, Mormon Cemetery, Carter Lake, and others.
Section b. OMAHA to KANSAS LINE, 105.8 m. US 73-75, US 73
South of Douglas St. in Omaha, m., there are two routes for US 73
24th St. and I3th St.
At 5.4 m. are the south city limits of Omaha and the junction with
State 31, also called Bellevue Blvd. (see Tour 1A).
At 6 m. is the north junction of US 73 and US 75 ; the two routes are
united between this point and 70.9 m.
At 10.5 m. is FORT CROOK (1,050 alt., 75 pop.), an unincorporated
settlement and Army post, named for Gen. George Crook (1828-1890),
who fought in the Civil War and Indian wars. During the summer
R.O.T.C. and C.M.T.C. encampments are held here. The fort proper con-
sists of officers' homes, band quarters, administrative buildings, and bar-
racks, housing nine companies. The red-brick buildings surround a large
parade ground.
Rifle ranges are maintained, and recreational facilities include an 18-
268 TOURS
hole golf course, tennis courts, motion-picture theater, swimming pool,
baseball field, and running track. Sunday band concerts attract many
visitors.
Right from Fort Crook on State 31 to the SITE OF THE OMAHA INDIAN VILLAGE,
5 m., known as "Hill Rising in the Center of a Plain " Built in 1847 on Papilhon
Creek, the village was the home of the Omaha Indians until they sold their lands to
the Government and moved 2 years later to the Blackbird Hills reservation
PAPILLION, 8 m. (718 pop ), was named by the French traders for the many
butterflies found here A mill in this vicinity owned by Peter Sarpy, a pioneer for
whom the county was named, is in good state of preservation.
At 14,7 m. on US 73-75 at the north end of the Platte River bridge,
is a junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to the SITE OF THE MOSES MERRILL MISSION, 4 m., built in
the winter of 1834-1835 by the Federal Government for Moses Merrill, the first
Protestant (Baptist) missionary to Nebraska Indians The old stone chimney and
fireplace still remain on what is known as the John Holonbek farm, west of La
Platte
Moses Merrill came to Bellevue in 1833 with his wife (Eliza Wilcox) and Miss
Cynthia Brown to conduct missionary work among the Otoe Indians, which was con-
tinued until Merrill died in 1840.
Father Pierre Jean de Smet, recording a visit to the Otoe community during this
period, described a meal he was served in the cabin of the first chief The chief's
"queen" seated him on a cushion "shining with grease" and served a stew and a
pie which he dared not refuse for fear of giving offense "Well, well," he said to
himself, "you are not in Belgium; let us begin our apprenticeship in earnest, and so
long as we are in the woods, howl heartily with the wolves." As he ate, a dozen
dogs sat on their hams with their eyes fastened on his dish, ready to be of assistance
in case of need But the stew, he relates, was really excellent, buffalo tongue with a
good gravy of bear fat, mixed with flour from the wild sweet potato
At 16.8 m. is the SITE OF OREAPOLIS, a Territorial community that
attracted pioneers through the medium of a 1 6-page pamphlet. Its slogan
was, "The early settlers make the money."
The site is now included in the U. S. MILITARY RESERVATION AND
RIFLE RANGE. Part of this area of 800 acres has been given to the
PLATTSMOUTH GAME REFUGE, administered by the State in cooperation
with the National Park Service. Food and covering for wild life are
being planted, and bird shelters, truck trails, dikes and ponds are being
constructed.
PLATTSMOUTH, 19.2 m. (968 alt, 3,793 pop.), seat of Cass County,
was named because of its position at the mouth of Platte River. The bluffs
along the Missouri on the east are in striking contrast with the sandy
banks of the Platte north of town. Plattsmouth history extends back to
pioneer Nebraska. The pioneer trader, Manuel Lisa, passed here May 10,
1811. Many old structures are interspersed among its modern buildings
The street curbs in Plattsmouth are higher than average to guard against
spring rains and overflow water from the nearby rivers and hills.
The Plattsmouth Town Company was formed in November 1854, and
the town was incorporated on March 15, 1855. The majority of the set-
tlers depended on river traffic for a livelihood; this traffic was one of the
causes of the boom period in the i86o's. The steady flow of migration
filled the town with caravans, and the merchants of Plattsmouth grew
TOUR I 2< 9
prosperous. The passing of the mouth of the Platte was an occasion for
ceremonious horseplay on the part of the sturdy boatmen. All who had
not come that way before had their choice between being shaved with a
rusty piece of hoop for a razor and a bucket of slush for lather, or treating
their more experienced fellows. Discovering the fertility of the Knox silt
loam of Cass County, emigrants began to settle here instead of farther
west. In 1869 ground was broken for the railroad, and the Burlington
Route built shops in Plattsmouth. The coming of railroads meant the de-
cline of river traffic.
The settlement at Plattsmouth was disturbed by "claim jumpers" in the
years 1853-1856. This gave rise to Claim Club courts, groups banded to-
gether to protect land claims. "Over the river," which came to be the
common phrase expressing Claim Club justice, referred to the fact that
those found guilty of robbing squatters of their claims by intimidation or
fraud were forced to cross the river from Plattsmouth into Iowa. It is cer-
tain that some of them never reached the other side.
The bluffs along the Missouri just south of town yield large quantities
of stone, and their clay soil is well suited for pottery products. Large de-
posits of sand on the banks of the Platte River are exploited commercially.
Plattsmouth has a factory that builds and repairs refrigerator cars, a
vegetable packing plant, and a roller mill, one of the few left in the
county dating back to an early day. The NEBRASKA MASONIC HOME, i3th
and Washington Ave., is maintained for aged Masons and their wives.
King Korn Kar nival, annual fall festival (held -for 4 days, usually
after the middle of Sept.), consists mainly of a display of agricultural
products. Parades of farmers, merchants, and school children with their
pets; band concerts, games, contests, and exhibits; and a double wedding
and the coronation of a king and queen enhance the carnival spirit.
At Plattsmouth is the junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road to LOUISVILLE, 14 m. (1,041 alt, 969 pop.), known for its
fishing. The town was settled in 1870. A POTTERY PLANT (visitors welcome), with
a large daily output, occupies a half acre one block off the main street The LIME
AND CEMENT COMPANY PLANT employs 150 men in making cement from limestone
calcium and rock shale.
Adjacent to Louisville on the north are the PLATTE VIEW RECREATION GROUNDS
(adm. free), having a State-sponsored lake, swimming pool, beach, and stone fire-
places.
SOUTH BEND, 21 m (1,036 alt , 99 pop ), is one of the early towns along the
Platte River that has yielded to better-placed rivals The chief commercial interest is
its sand pits south of town As early as 1857 this vicinity was settled; the first settler
lived a half mile south of the present town Near here was Mullm's Ranch, known
as a hide-out of horse thieves.
At 26.4 m. on US 73-75 is the junction with State i, a graveled road.
Right on State i to MURRAY, 1 m (300 pop ), where have been found frag-
ments of Indian pottery of the Woodland type developed by people of the Algonkian
linguistic stock. Just when these people came into this area is not known. As the
pottery is found 22 feet under the surface, it is possibly very old.
First called Fairview, the town was renamed because there was another Fairview
in Nebraska, The present name honors the Rev. George L. Murray, pastor of the
United Presbyterian Church.
2JO TOURS
At 4.5 m is the junction with a dirt road Right 2.5 m on this road to EIGHT
MILE GROVE CEMETERY (L), an old, grass-banked plot where the pioneers of Eight
Mile Grove are buried
At 4.5 m on the dirt road is the junction with another road , L. here 6 m to
HANGMAN'S TREE, the story of which is told in Bess Streeter Aldnch's A Lantern
m Her Hand In 1854 three claim jumpers and horse thieves were caught, tried,
found guilty, and hanged here All were buried in the same grave near the tree,
which stood in the backyard of the blacksmith shop of Eight Mile Grove Today the
tree stands in a grove in a field west of the road, and is difficult to distinguish from
other trees.
South of Plattsmouth US 73-75 runs through a hilly, orchard country,
little different from that of the northern part of the route.
At 33.2 m. on US 73-75 is the junction with US 34.
Right from US 73-75 on this paved road, paved for 10 miles, then graveled, to
UNION, 0.5 m (316 pop.), a small town on the slope of a hill. The Union sympa-
thies of the settlement during the Civil War gave the town its name
At 18 m. is the junction with a dirt road , L on this road 1 m. to the SITE OF
FACTORYVILLE, once a promising town with a flour mill, stores, hotel, post office,
and Methodist college called Factoryville College. Killers, horse thieves, trappers,
millers, storekeepers, and preachers made up the town's population Factoryville had
its heroes, of whom tall tales are still told. Abijah Munn was a huge man who
worked wonders on the threshing crew. Just for relaxation he would seize a six-foot
man by the scruff of the neck and the seat of the pants, and throw him to the top
of a straw stack. George McWaters could ride at breakneck gallop, putting a bullet
in every fence post on the way. Quinn Bohanan, the town's bad man, had a respect
for learning which, the story goes, expressed itself when he killed a man because he
did not like the number of d's the man wrote in the word "peddler." McWaters
and Bohanan kept the town streets lively by staging fake gun fights.
When the railroad was built on the other side of Weeping Water Creek, how-
ever, the town gradually declined. Nothing remains today but depressions where
the buildings stood.
At 4.1 m on US 34 is the junction with another dirt road. Right on this road 1
m. to NEHAWKA (298 pop ). When the Government granted a post office to the
farmers along the north branch of the Weeping Water Creek, Isaac Pollard, a set-
tler, visited the Post Office Department in Washington on a trip east to select a name
for the new office. He wanted an Indian name for weeping water, but the only one
he could find was too hard to pronounce He chose Nehawka because it sounded
well. Nehawka is thus a white man's approximation to "nigahoe" (Omaha and Otoe
Indian, water rustling). This Indian word is similar to another meaning weeping
water (see below) It was on the Weeping Water Creek near Nehawka that traces
of prehistoric man in Nebraska were first discovered Here the limestone terrace
above the stream is gashed with trenches, and the hills a mile back are honeycombed
with pits and tunnels and covered with the debris of ancient workings. In 1900 an
excavation was made on the Isaac Pollard farm. After two years of work archeolo-
gists and geologists found what they believed to be traces of ancient flint quarries
made many centuries ago.
At 5.6 m. on US 34 is -the junction with a dirt road. Left on this road 2 m. to a
junction; R. from the junction to FOUR FORGOTTEN GRAVES, 2.7 772. (R), marked
by a monument that can be reached only on foot. The graves are so named because
no living relatives of the occupants have been found One grave is that of Alphonso
Young (1864), a pioneer doctor, who, on his return from a case at Old Wyoming,
a steamboat landing town near here, died from freezing or over-exertion in Big
Slough, a swampy ravine Another grave is believed to be that of his son James
Le Roy, 28 years old, who died three years later. The others are those of George
Dillon, who died in 1850, and Thomas McMillan, who died in 1862.
At 12.1 m on US 34 is the junction with State 50. Right 3.5 m. on State 50 to
WEEPING WATER (1,079 alt,, 1,029 pop ), incorporated on February 13, 1857, and
named for Weeping Water Creek, on which the town is situated. According to leg-
TOUR I 2 7 I
end, a powerful Indian tribe once lived near the source of the stream The chief's
beautiful daughter was sought in marriage by the chief of a neighboring tribe, but
she rejected him One day when the girl was bathing in a lake near the village, the
chief carried her off. Her father's warriors pursued the couple, in the fight that
followed all were killed Their women waited for three days, then started in search
of the warriors, whom they found at last, dead upon the battlefield They wept so
bitterly and so long that their tears formed the stream, Weeping Water, which stilJ
flows near the village.
The legend is a white man's invention to account for the name, Weeping^ Water.
The creek, like Nehawka, took its name from the Indian word "nigahoe," which
was confused with a similar Indian word, "mhoage" (water weeding), but the error
has persisted. The French called the creek L'Eau qui Pleure (the water that weeps).
At 35 3 m. is (L) the UNIVERSITY FRUIT FARM (visitors welcome),
an experimental station of the Department of Horticulture, University of
Nebraska College of Agriculture. The farm consists of 80 acres, largely
planted with apple trees, also growing pears, plums, cherries, peaches,
and grapes. On the grounds is a home orchard where the caretaker lives.
There are field crops and native meadows ; in the northwestern part of the
plot is a walnut grove, and in the southeast a pasture.
The surrounding region is at its best in the spring in apple-blossom
time. Orchardists set out signs to guide visitors to the largest and most
beautiful orchards. Apple Blossom Day, as the annual festival is called, is
held in southeastern Nebraska in April or May at the height of blossom
time; the exact date is announced by radio. The tour through the apple
country begins at Union and goes through Nebraska City, Shubert, Falls
City, Peru, Nemaha, Auburn, and other towns along the way.
At 43.7 m. US 73-75 passes the INDIAN TREATY MONUMENT (L),
which commemorates the Table Creek Treaty with the Pawnee (Septem-
ber 24, 1857). On its base are carved the names of many of the signers,
including Comanche Chief, Gray Eagle Chief, and Hawk Chief.
By this treaty the Pawnee ceded to the Federal Government all of their
lands north of the Platte, except for a tract along the Loup River, in re-
turn for $40,000 a year for five years. A certain Samuel Allis, whom the
Indians had robbed "when in distress and in a state of starvation," was
the subject of the most interesting clause. Forgetting his injury, Allis had
gone among the Pawnee and vaccinated more than two thousand of them
when smallpox was ravaging the tribe. At the insistence of the Pawnee,
who "felt that he should be paid for these things," Allis received $1,000
both from the Government and the Indians.
At 44.2 m. (L) is ARBOR LODGE STATE PARK. (Open April 1
to December 1; visiting hours 1:40-5 before June 15, 9-5 after June 15;
adm, free; guide service; no camping.)
Arbor Lodge is primarily a memorial to its creator, J. Sterling Morton,
whose advocacy of Arbor Day made his name known beyond his own
State and country. The park is a center of interest in tree-culture and a
scenic spot of compelling sweep and variety.
In 1855, seven years before the Homestead Law, Morton came with his
bride, Caroline Joy, to take up a home site by squatter's right on a strip of
rich loess land near the new town of Nebraska City. He chose a point
272 TOURS
overlooking the Missouri River and the Iowa bluffs beyond Here he
built a three-room, L-shaped house, with perhaps the first shingle roof
between the river and the Rocky Mountains. The growth of native timber
along the river did not extend to his home site, so he set out shade trees,
evergreens, and an orchard. Later he added vines, shrubs, and flower
beds. Morton early attained leadership in public life. While he was presi-
dent of the State Board of Agriculture, Governor Furnas proclaimed a day
of tree-planting (April 10, 1874) the first Arbor Day. The legislature
declared it a legal holiday in 1885, designating April 22, Morton's birth-
day, for its observance. Morton subsequently became Secretary of Agri-
culture in the second Cabinet of President Cleveland.
Through the generosity of his oldest son, Joy Morton, Morton's man-
sion and 65 acres of the original land including 23 acres formerly given
to Nebraska City for a park were deeded as a memorial to the State of
Nebraska in 1923. Since that time more than 30,000 visitors have regis-
tered annually.
The 52-room MANSION with its hand-hewn timbers and fine stairway
was built over a period of 47 years, through three stages of change and
enlargement, the last in 1902. The three-story T-shaped dwelling is fin-
ished in stucco. Each of the three wings terminates in a semicircular
colonnaded porch.
The visitor, entering the newer central section from the east, passes
through the reception hall, with its historical Indian painting over the
stairway arch. In the Title Room, beyond, a guide service is available.
Across the hall is the drawing room hung with fine Parisian tapestries.
This opens upon a large sunroom with an unusual skylight of Chinese
glass in a grapevine design. The older part of the house includes the
library, or General Denver Room, so named for its one-time occupant,
containing a large collection of Indian objects and notable for its hand-
carved trim; the Document Room, formerly Morton's office, showing his-
torical documents under glass and a number of objects associated with the
visits of President Cleveland, Admiral Dewey, and other noted persons;
and the dining room, with case displays of old silver and china. On the
second floor are several bedrooms of interest, some of them preserving
mementos of former occupants of note. The maple furniture and oil paint-
ings of Caroline Joy Morton's room deserve special notice. The mansion
was once furnished throughout; now only groups of historical interest
remain.
In front of the mansion is a marker indicating a point on the old STEAM
WAGON ROAD (see TRANSPORTATION}. Behind the mansion is the
STABLE AND CARRIAGE HOUSE, containing a collection of pioneer vehicles,
among them a stagecoach used in 1860.
The grounds are divided into two parts, one elaborately landscaped, the
other of timber and meadow maintained in its native state. There are more
than 200 varieties of trees on the park grounds. More than 250 varieties
of birds have been noted in the summer. The pine grove, north of the
stables, was set out by Morton in 1892, with 10,000 trees at 4-foot inter-
ARBOR LODGE
274 TOURS
vals. The matted needles and dense shade of this grove seem to belong
rather to the northern woods than the Nebraska prairie.
The ARBORETUM, laid out in a meadow to the north and east of the
mansion, contains 138 varieties of shrubs and trees, including many of
Morton's planting, arranged to present a continuous pattern of color from
early spring to late autumn. To the south is an Italian SUNKEN GARDEN,
sloping from the central walk in many terraces separated by low hedges
and walls; it is a notable example of careful landscaping.
South of the walk, in a fine old grove, is a LOG CABIN, typical of those
used in pioneer days. In MONUMENT SQUARE, northwest of the lodge, is
MORTON MEMORIAL, a massive bronze statue of the pioneer, set in a plaza
85 by 100 feet. A curved bench about the statue's pedestal bears inscrip-
tions in bronze from Morton's writings.
NEBRASKA CITY, 45.4 m. (961 alt, 7,230 pop.), seat of Otoe
County, is a river town that began as a trading post in the 1850*5. It lay on
the cut-off route of the Oregon Trail.
Nebraska City was founded by Stephen F. Nuckolls, for whom Nuckolls
County was named, and incorporated on March 2, 1855.
While river freighting continued, steamboats landed at Nebraska City,
and cargoes were loaded on overland freighters here. This brought busi-
ness, emigrants, pioneers, new homes, and new money. Nebraska City
grew into a bustling river town, wide open and free and easy, with stores,
warehouses, saloons, dance houses and gambling dens. The resorts were
filled with rollicking bullwhackers, mule skinners and plain teamsters.
Most of them carried a revolver or two, a well-filled cartridge belt and a
bowie knife. Fights and killings were frequent. The town kept up its in-
terest in transportation. The steam wagon (see TRANSPORTATION)
was a disastrous experiment, but in 1871 the railroad came to Nebraska
City, and opened new channels of growth.
Monuments and boulders marking the Oregon Trail and Fort Kearney
have been placed on Central Ave. Fifty feet south of the southeast corner
of 5th St. and Central Ave. is the SITE OF FORT KEARNEY BLOCKHOUSE,
named for Brig. Gen. Stephen W. Kearny.
On S. 19 St., north of the cemetery (L), adjoining an old log cabin, is
the SITE OF JOHN BROWN'S CAVE, which is being restored as a historic
shrine. Here John Brown of Ossawatomie hid runaway slaves traveling the
Underground Railway from Missouri and Kansas. Interest centers in a 10-
by-i2-foot cellar room under the house, a chamber which until recently
had no windows or outside doors. A 3O-foot tunnel cuts through from
this secret room to Table Creek, a deep-banked stream which empties into
the Missouri River close by. A score of fugitive slaves at a time were se-
creted in the dungeon room by sympathizers. If danger appeared, a tap-
ping on the floor above would warn the fugitives to crawl through the hole
to Table Creek and take refuge in its waters. From Nebraska City the Un-
derground Railway crossed the Missouri into Iowa, y|ggp, at Tabor, the
fugitives were outfitted for Canada. .w^
Nebraska City had the first high school building in Nebraska, probably
the first west of the Missouri River, built in 1864 at a cost of $31,000. At
TOUR I 275
the NEBRASKA STATE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND (visitors welcome _ on
weekdays), 824 zoth Ave., approximately 65 blind children are given
boarding-school care until they finish high school or reach the age of 21.
Special training is given in music and the domestic arts.
While Nebraska City is in the center of an apple-raising district, its in-
dustrial activities include garment manufacturing, cigar making, and fruit
and vegetable canning.
Nebraska City has a country club, with a golf course (open to public;
greens fee 75$), and three municipally owned parks. One of the most
attractive is RIVERVIEW PARK (picnic facilities), on 6th Ave., along the
Missouri River. On i3th Ave. is HAYWARD PARK. DRIVING PARK, west
end of Central Ave., has camping facilities.
Nebraska City is at the junction with State 2 (see Tour 10).
At 60.8 m. is the junction with State 67, a graveled road.
Left on State 67 to PERU, 7 m. (902 alt, 835 pop,), a picturesque college town
on the bank of the Missouri, named for Peru, 111 , and incorporated January 13,
1860. NEBRASKA'S PIKE'S PEAK is west of Bluff Rd. The east and north slopes
are steep, and the Indian path to its summit has become a narrow gully. Pike's Peak
is the east end of a range of hills that borders the bottom lands To the east the
river makes a mighty bend around rich bottom land. The road passes the base of
the hill.
Just northwest of Pike's Peak are four INDIAN HOUSE SITES. They appear only as
sunken places in the ground, but among the remains is the outline of a mound with
an entrance on the southeast. Charred posts have been found, the pillars upon which
beams, brush, hides, and earth were laid The floor was from 18 inches to 3 feet
below ground level.
Pussywillows are numerous along the edge of the river, which is dotted with
many wooded islands, often mistaken for the opposite shore.
On State 67 at the south end of town is the NEBRASKA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL,
a group of tall buildings in a setting of trees. The first regular term of Peru Nor-
mal opened October 24, 1867. Immediately in front of the administration build-
ing is a GLACIAL BOULDER, a quartzite block, found southwest of the town and
brought to the campus to commemorate the first commencement exercises, held
in 1870.
Two blocks west of State 67, just south of Pike's Peak, is INDIAN HILL, a clay
mound 100 feet high, once an Indian burial ground.
The founders of Peru chose IndianiHill for the site of the district school. A two-
story brick structure has replaced the old one-room schoolhouse
AUBURN, 65.8 m. (1,051 alt, 3,068 pop.), is at the junction with
State 3 (see Tour 11).
At 70.9 m. is the south junction of US 73 and*US 75.
HOWE, 72 m. (987 alt., 178 pop.), originally named Bedford, was re-
named for Maj. Church Howe, who for several years was United States
consul at Palermo, Italy, and Sheffield, England.
SHUBERT, 85.1 m. (1,075 alt., 387 pop.), was named for Henry W.
Shubert, an early settler of Richardson County.
Left from Shubert on State 62 to BARADA (108 pop ), named for Antoine
Barada (1807-1887), whose exploits as a strong man are as fabulous as the busi-
ness deals of Febold Feboldson (see FOLKLORE).
Barada, son of Count Michael Barada, a Frenchman, and Laughing Water, a
pretty Omaha Indian girl, once pinched a man with his toes until he begged for
mercy. He was so strong he could snap a canoe paddle in two with his hands.
2j6 TOURS
Barada spent his childhood in eastern Nebraska He ran away from Indians when
kidnapped, from Army officers when taken to military school He moved to St Louis,
grew to manhood there, and worked in a flour mill He then returned to his tribe
and parents in central Thurston County, married a French woman in 1837, and
joined the California gold rush in 1849. Six years later he returned to Nebraska,
and in 1887 died at Barada His wife is buried by his side His descendants still live
in the vicinity.
At 91.7 m. on US 73 is the junction with State 4.
Right on State 4 (concrete pavement) to VERDON, 21 m. (355 pop.); at 2 8
m (R) is the VERDON LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS, with a small blue lake (no
camping facilities; fishing for sun fish, crappie, bullhead).
FALLS CITY, 101.1 m. (900 alt., 5,787 pop ), seat of Richardson
County, is near the falls of the Great Nemaha River.
Lying west of the Missouri River bluffs, in a region of high rolling
hills, Falls City is made up of houses partly hidden by tall trees, and a
modern business section around the courthouse square. The COURTHOUSE,
a new red-brick, two-story building, contains a small MUSEUM with relics
of the county's history.
When John A. Burbank came from the East in 1856, he heard such a
convincing discourse about the prospects of Falls City from James L.
Stumbo, who ran the mill at the Nemaha River falls, that he abandoned
his plan of going to Kansas. In the winter of 1856-1857 he joined several
others m forming the Falls City Town Association. They filed on a selected
piece of land. The next winter (1857-1858) the first hotel was built,
and on May 17, 1858, the town was incorporated.
The county seat was moved from Salem and established permanently at
Falls City in 1860. By 1865 the Union House had been built; it was con-
sidered one of the best hotels in Nebraska at that time. The railroad was
built in the early seventies. Later, in the spring of 1877, a fire destroyed
seven large buildings and caused $15,000 damage.
Falls City is primarily an agricultural town. The MISSOURI PACIFIC
R.R. SHOPS are on the southeast edge of town. Falls City is a division
point of the Missouri Pacific R.R., which maintains a general office build-
ing here and employs about 200 men.
The TIEHEN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM, i9th and Fulton Sts., is a two-
story yellow building with auditorium dedicated to Catherine and Agnes
Tiehen and to J. J. Hoffman, pastor. A new ARMORY, built with PWA
funds, is at i9th and Towle Sts.
The Chamber of Commerce annually sponsors a Horse and Colt Show,
usually held in September. The Annual Show of the 4-H Club and the
Richardson County Junior Fair also take place in September,
CITY PARK, i2th and Barada Sts., has a wading pool, playground for
children, tennis court, and picnic grounds. AMERICAN LEGION PARK, Wil-
son and 2ist Sts., has swings and picnic grounds. A large concrete SWIM-
MING POOL on West 25th St. is fed by spring water (adm. to grounds
free; swimming, 250).
Falls City is at the junction with State 4.
Left on State 4 to RULO, 10 m. (920 alt, 719 pop.), laid out in 1857 on land
belonging to the wife of Charles Rouleau, better known as "Old Charley Rulo "
TOUR IA 277
Rouleau was born in Detroit of French parents He joined the Fremont expedi-
tion, came West, and married an Indian girl. Later he brought his wife to Rulo and
took up land under the Half-breed Treaty (see below). He was hotheaded, kind,
and generous, and is said to have given an entire block in the heart of a city to a
stranger who sang a song that captured his fancy. When he died he had squandered
a fortune.
Right from Rulo on a dirt road 1 m. to the SITE OF YANKTON, now on the
Stephen Cunningham Farm All traces of the village have disappeared except the
cellars of buildings. Here 16 skeletal remains and prehistoric Indian pottery have
been found.
The region west of Rulo, as far as the Nemaha River, was known as HALF-BREED
TRACT, set aside for the use of half-breed Indians who were the children of French
trappers and traders. Laws governing Indians could not be applied to the lawful son
of a Frenchman, nor could the half-breed Indian assume the rights of his father.
Consequently, the chiefs of the several tribes and the representatives of the Govern-
ment met in 1830 at Prairie du Chien, Wis , and by a treaty set aside lands for the
half-breeds in Richardson and Nemaha Counties.
At 105.8 m. US 73 crosses the Kansas Line, 14 miles north of Hia-
watha, Kans. (see KANS. TOUR 12A).
Tour lA
Omaha to Bellevue; 5.5 m. State 31.
Brick paving for 1 mile; remainder oiled
Tourist accommodations in Bellevue; none in Fontenelle Forest
Transportation provided by southbound Albright streetcar and Fort Crook bus
Branching southeast from US 73-75 (see Tour 1), at OMAHA, m.,
State 31 follows tree-shaded Bellevue "Blvd. over rolling hills and through
valleys.
At 1.1 m. is CAMP BREWSTER (L), Y.W.C.A. summer camp (open)
named for Clara Brewster, who promoted the development of the camp
and was its director for several years. A main lodge and 24 cottages on a
75-acre tract of land provide accommodations. From INSPIRATION POINT,
just north of the main lodge, is a view of the river and the bluffs.
At 1.3 m. R. on a wide dirt lane leading past the caretaker's lodge to
the entrance of FONTENELLE FOREST RESERVE (adm. free), a State park
and a bird refuge of approximately 600 acres, including several acres of
bluffs overlooking the Missouri.
Basswood, oak, elm, black walnut, green ash, hickory, black willow,
sycamore, linden, black cherry, and the honey locust trees are a haven for
more than 200 species of birds. Trails are bordered in season with wild
flowers. Signal Ridge Trail leads to the highest point in the forest, and
2j8 TOURS
Fern Trail winds along the valley. There are six main hollows: Childs,
Mill, Handsome, Coffin, Mormon, and Spring.
MORMON HOLLOW, so called because a group of Mormons once
camped here, is reached by a foot trail from the caretaker's lodge.
CHJLDS' POINT, part of the Charles Childs Tract, which was the prop-
erty of a pioneer, is a wooded tract of bluff land above the Missouri at a
point where the river makes a wide loop.
The forest was named in honor of Logan Fontenelle (see below).
At 1.8 m. on State 31 is the junction with the Camp Gifford Rd.
Left 1.5 m. on this dirt road, and 400 yards on foot to LOOKOUT POINT, 1.7 m. t
affording a good view.
At 2.2 m. on State 31 is the junction with Grove Rd., a graveled lane.
Left to WAKE ROBIN, 0.2 m. (adm. free), the retreat and studio of Dr. Robert F.
Gilder, archeologist and artist. By the studio is a small building holding paintings
of local scenes.
At 3.5 m. on State 31 is a marker indicating the junction with a dirt
road.
Left on this tortuous and hilly route, overgrown with brush to the intersection
with a foot trail; L. here across fields and through a thicket to the GRAVE OF
LOGAN FONTENELLE, 2 m., an Omaha chief. He was a half-breed, his father being
French Educated in St. Louis, he headed a delegation of his tribe sent to Washing-
ton in 1854. The following year, at the age of 31, he was killed by the Sioux in a
battle on Beaver Creek and is presumably buried at this spot; some authorities be-
lieve, however, that his body was disinterred and reburied elsewhere.
BELLEVUE, 5.5 m. (985 alt., 1,017 pop.), the oldest existing town in
Nebraska and for many years its largest community, was successively a fur-
trading center, Indian mission, steamboat landing, and seat of Territorial
government. Today it is a quiet river town, dwarfed by its neighbor and
one-time rival, Omaha. The fur trader, Manuel Lisa, is said to have given
the site its name, some time after 1807, because of the pleasing view of
the river from this point.
A trading post may have been established at Bellevue as early as 1810,
but the records of John Bradbury, a botanist who went west with the
Astorians in 1811, and of Major Long in 1819 do not mention it. In 1823
Andrew Drips of the Missouri Fur Company was operating a log trading
post at a point about a mile north of the present town. In the same year
the agency of the Omaha, Oto, Missouri, and Pawnee Indians was re-
moved to Bellevue from Fort Atkinson (now Fort Calhoun) by Maj.
Joshua Pilcher. The first document noting a post at Bellevue dates from
1827, when Joseph Roubidou and Baptiste Roi were granted a license to
trade here by Governor Clark at St. Louis.
Most of the early trappers and traders were of French descent and came
from St. Louis, New Orleans, or Canada. Like the other traders, they
intermarried freely with the Indians. Lucian Fontenelle, partner of An-
drew Drips, married an Omaha woman; their son Logan Fontenelle, be-
came a chief of the Omaha. In 1831, after Drips' departure west, Fon-
tenelle sold the post to the Government as headquarters for the Indian
agent, John Dougherty. About the same time the American Fur Company
TOUR IA 279
established a new post here under Peter Sarpy. Descriptions of the flour-
ishing trade center occur in the works of Catlm, who passed here in 1832,
and of Prince Maximilian of Germany, who came a year later.
On November 19, 1833, arrived the first missionaries, Moses Merrill,
his wife, and Miss Cynthia Brown, who were sent by the Baptist Mission-
ary Union to convert the Oto (see Tour 1). In 1834 John Dunbar of the
Presbyterian Church began missionary work among the Pawnee here, and
in 1846 Edward McKinney began such work among the Omaha. A Presby-
terian mission was completed in 1848, the teaching force consisting of
McKinney, his family, and Mr. and MJTS. Daniel Reed, who arrived that
fall. In 1853 William Hamilton took charge of the mission and remained
until the Omaha Indians were removed to their present reservation in
1855.
In 1854 the Nebraska Palladium, a journal published at Bellevue, de-
scribed the simple Sunday religious services at a wagon train encampment
in the vicinity. A tin horn called the worshipers together in a corral
where the devout sat under wagons to take advantage of the shade. A
young theological student, an ox driver in the train, officiated as parson.
In 1856 a new Presbyterian church was built and the mission house was
sold to James T. Allan, who converted it into a hotel, the Bellevue House.
Here Francis Burt, first Territorial Governor, took his oath of office Octo-
ber 16, 1854. He was very ill at the time and lived only two days. It was
Burt's intention to convoke the Territorial legislature here but his succes-
sor, Thomas B. Cuming, favored the younger community of Omaha.
Bellevue was for a time the seat of Sarpy County, but later lost even that
distinction to Papillion.
The site of the trading post cannot be fixed exactly, but it was probably
at a point crossed by the railroad 1 mile north of the station. The post was
a two-story, hewn-log building, 24 by 48 feet, -overlooking the river and
steamboat landing. At this wharf, one of the best on the Missouri, often a
half dozen boats were tied up at one time. The logs of the post, owned by
the Nebraska State Historical Society, are in Lincoln.
Bellevue Blvd. passes the BELLEVUE CEMETERY (L) at the northern
end of the town. Noted pioneers buried here include Judge Fenner Fergu-
son, John Q. Goss, James Gow, and Henry Lpngsdorf . From the entrance
to the cemetery is a beautiful view of the river.
The boulevard turns R. and enters the town on Franklin St. To the R.
is ELK HILL, on the summit of which are the buildings of the former
Bellevue College. CLARKE HALL, is a three-story red-bride structure com-
pleted in 1883, originally both a dormitory and school building. Organ-
ized in 1880, Bellevue College later became the University of Omaha,
which was closed in 1917.
Southwest of the former school on Elk Hill is the CHINESE MISSION,
where Roman Catholic missionaries to China are trained.
The PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, the oldest religious structure in Nebraska,
built in 1856-1858, stands at 2oth Ave. and Franklin St ; its steeple was
destroyed by a tornado in 1908. Here are kept church records, containing
valuable accounts of early community life.
280 TOURS
Opposite the church is WASHINGTON SQUARE, at the southwest corner
of which is the ASTORIAN MONUMENT, of Wisconsin mahogany granite.
At the northwest corner of the square is a MONUMENT TO THE FIRST
MASONIC LODGE IN NEBRASKA, which was founded here in 1854. The
monument was erected in 1932.
The MOUNTAIN RESIDENCE (-private), second house north of i9th Ave.
on the east side of Hancock St., a log structure covered with clapboards, is
one of the oldest structures in town. The OSCAR KAYSER HOME (pnvate),
at 1 8th Ave. and Hancock St , contains a desk used in early local elections.
The SITE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN INDIAN MISSION is indicated by a
marker between i9th and 2oth Aves. on the east side of Warren St. The
mission, built in 1846, was a two-story hewn-timber structure, 36 feet
wide by 80 feet long, on a plateau 80 feet above the river.
The OLD COURTHOUSE, Mission Ave. and Main St, built about 1853,
was the Sarpy County Courthouse up to 1875 when the county seat was
moved to Papillion. Today it is used as a town hall and public library.
Tour iB
Junction with US 73-75 to Rock Bluff; 6 m. Unnumbered road.
Graveled and dirt roadbed; passable except during heavy rains
No accommodations except gasoline pump and store
This route branches west from US 73-75 (see Tour 1), m., 6 miles
south of Plattsmouth, passing cornfields and pioneer houses. There are de-
lightful views, especially in the spring and fall, from the bluffs along the
river.
Crossing a branch of Rock Creek the road passes the white-brick WIL-
LIAM LATTA HOUSE, 2 m., a chalky-looking square structure, one of the
best preserved pioneer structures of the Rock Bluff area. It is reminiscent
of the houses built by Quakers in eastern Pennsylvania.
The NAOMI INSTITUTE (L), 3 m., a red-brick building, used as a school
since the 1870'$, stands a little distance from the road.
At 3.5 m. is a tumble-down, boarded up, little SHANTY (R), where vot-
ing was done in the election of 1866 That year, when the question of Ne-
braska's immediate entrance into the Union was settled by a narrow vote
in favor of statehood, the precinct of Rock Bluff became important be-
cause its vote decided whether Nebraska went Democratic or Republican.
The composition of the State legislature, which was to choose the two
United States Senators, was of great importance. Tenseness increased as it
TOUR IB 28l
was learned that the State House of Representatives would include 17
Democrats and 17 Republicans, while the State Senate was 6 to 5 for the
Democrats, with the Cass County votes still to be counted.
In the Rock Bluff precinct 107 votes were cast for the Democrats and
only 47 for the Republicans. If these votes were counted, the county would
^o to the Democrats, who would thus gain control of the legislature. But
if they were not, the Republicans had enough votes in other precincts to
carry Cass County. Consequently, the charge was made that election of-
ficials had improperly taken the ballot box with them when they went to
dinner at a house a mile from the polling place. Whereupon the county
clerk threw out all the votes, Cass County went Republican, and the legis-
lature elected two Republican U. S. Senators, John M. Thayer and T. W.
Tipton.
A short distance away from the shanty is the dilapidated red and gray
ROCK BLUFF HOTEL (L), once an important center of the community
life. The dwellings in this area are chiefly farmhouses. The route passes
cornfields, district schools, and old groves of trees.
At 4 m. is the intersection of two dirt roads; here was the public square
of the former town of ROCK BLUFF. A little store and gasoline pump,
cornfields, a few warped houses are all that remain of a town that once
aspired to greatness, competing with Plattsmouth to be made the county
seat.
Rock Bluff, well named because of the rocky character of the bank of
the Missouri here, was settled in 1854 by a German, Benedict Spires. Or-
ganized a village in 1856, it had 175 inhabitants, two trading houses, a
mill, a blacksmith shop, a Methodist church, and a post office by 1877.
The road continues to the bank of the Missouri and the SITE OF THE
ROCK BLUFF BOAT LANDING. A depression in the bluff (L) indicates the
FORMER ROCK BLUFF COAL MINE.
Left from the boat landing and across Rock Creek to TURTLE MOUND
(L), 5.4 m. The stone figure of a turtle, about 15 feet long and 10 feet
wide, was found on this hill.
At 6 m. is the junction with the road to KING HILL (L), which is the
highest of all the bluffs in this vicinity and affords a good view of the
river. The road to the top is fairly good. Near King Hill is QUEEN
HILL, only a little less commanding.
Right from the junction 1.1 m , to the intersection with two dirt roads; here is
STERNS CREEK, named for Dr. Fred H. Sterns, who came from the Peabody
Museum, Harvard University, in the summer of 1914, to excavate the WALKER
GILMORE BURIED INDIAN VILLAGE here, so named because Walker Gilmore, of
Murray, first discovered the site. Sterns Creek has cut through the alluvial fill from
10 to 20 feet, exposing at least 21 ancient houses This region is rich in prehistoric
remains and dome-shaped mounds that attract students of archeology (see ARCHE-
OLOGY).
282 TOURS
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<#>>>>>>)>>>>>>>>>>>
Tour 2
'(Sioux City, Iowa) Winnebago Fremont Lincoln Beatrice (Marys-
ville, Kans.) ; US 73-77, US j^W-jj, US 77.
Missouri River at South Sioux City to Kansas Line, 200 m.
Between Dakota City and Fremont, the Chicago Burlington & Quincy R R. parallels
the route, between Fremont and Lincoln,- the Chicago & North Western Ry.; be-
tween Lincoln and Kansas, the Union Pacific R R.
Bus service, South Sioux City to Oakland ; Winslow to Marysville.
Concrete pavement between Sioux City and Homer, between Hooper and Fremont,
and from a point 5 miles north of Lincoln to Beatrice; balance graveled; some
bituminous mat
Accommodations available at short intervals; hotels chiefly in cities.
The route passes through the eastern farming section of the State, which
is characterized by corn and alfalfa fields, and rolling hills.
US 73-77 crosses the Missouri River, m. } on a toll bridge (car and
driver 200; each additional passenger 5$), leading into SOUTH SIOUX
CITY, 1 m. (1,106 alt., 3,927 pop ) ; between this point and WINNE-
BAGO, 19.9 m. (653 pop.) (see Tour 1), US 77 and US 73 are united
(see Tour 1).
WALTHILL, 26.2 m. (1,162 pop.), was named for Walter Hill, son
of a builder of the Great Northern R. R. Settlement of the town began in
1906. Though most of the inhabitants are descendants of the early white
settlers, a few Indians live here, as the town is on the Omaha Reservation.
At 28.2 m. is the junction with US 73W; between this point and Oak-
land the two routes are united.
At 37.2 m. is the junction with State 51, a graveled road.
Right on this road to a junction at 4.7 m.; R here to BANCROFT, 53 m. (1,318
alt., 660 pop ), named in honor of George Bancroft, the historian Here is the
HOME OF JOHN G NEIHARDT (b. 1881), poet laureate of Nebraska (see LITERA-
TURE). Following his graduation from Wayne State Teachers College, he came
with his widowed mother and family to Bancroft, where he edited the Bancroft
Blade Proximity to the Indians here gave him opportunity to study their ways and
customs
OAKLAND, 49.8 m. (1,433 pop.), is in rich corn and alfalfa country.
The town is a center for the raising and shipping of livestock.
At 51.9 m. is the junction with State 9, a graveled road.
Right on this road to WEST POINT, 11.1 m. (1,313 alt, 2,225 pop ), on the
Elkhorn River. It was founded in 1857 by John D Neligh, who set up a brickyard
and sawmill here. The sawmill gave West Point an advantage over its rival, De
Witt. A man named Gaul, hired to build the mill, was later discharged for incompe-
tency. He joined forces with the opposition. Valuable pieces of mill machinery dis-
appeared from time to time. Gaul and a confederate were charged with throwing
them into the river. Omaha mechanics brought in to complete the mill were targets
TOUR 2 283
for constant fire from Minie* rifles in the hands of Gaul and his companion. A party
of 30 men was organized. Proceeding to Gaul's place, they set fire to his hay and
loaded his back with buckshot when he appeared to extinguish the fire. The other
man was captured in a log house north of town and taken to a ravine where he was
tried, convicted, and hanged on an oak tree.
The town, named by early settlers who thought of it as the western extremity of
white settlement, suffered not only from Indian scares but also from wildcat banks.
The Homestead Law of 1862 brought a great influx of settlers, and a district office
was established at West Point in 1869.
Many of the settlers were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. They have been honored
on the bronze monument that marks the site of John D. Neligh's first claim. The
monument stands in NELIGH PARK (campsites free; recreational -facilities), a 27-
acre tract west of Main St. It lies in the old river bed, and contains several lakes
and lagoons shaded by cottonwoods.
At 441 Colfax St. is the CUMING COUNTY MUSEUM (adm. free). This seven-
room house, standing back from the street among large cottonwood trees, was built
in the sixties by the pioneer, John D Nehgh, and for years was noted as a center
of western hospitality to friend and stranger alike. It is the oldest house now stand-
ing and contains pioneer relics.
HOOPER, 70.4 m. (1,228 alt, 985 pop.), has a HOG CHOLERA SERUM
PLANT that supplies the entire region. The town was named for Samuel
Hooper, of Boston, prominent in Congress during the Civil War.
Hooper is at the junction with State 8, which is united with US 77, be-
tween this point and 83-3 m.
Right from Hooper on State 8 (concrete paved) to SCRIBNER, 7.6 m. (1,254
alt, i, 066 pop ), the trade center of a district widely known for purebred cattle
and hogs The Scribner Stock Show has been held every fall for more than 30 years.
The population is largely of German descent. John J. Blair of New Jersey, a promi-
nent railroad official in early days, named the town for his son-in-law, Charles
Scribner, founder of the Scribner publishing house of New York City. Scribner is
headquarters of a power company that supplies electricity to seven towns.
Left from Scnbner 1.5 m. on a dirt road to the Pebble Creek Monument, marking
the SITE OF AN OLD WATER MILL built on Pebble Creek by James Robinson in
1869.
At 77.7 m. on US 77 is the junction with State 91, a graveled road.
Left on this road to FONTANELLE, 4.1 m. (128 pop ), whose name is a mis-
spelling of the name of Logan Fontenelle. It was founded by people from Quincy,
111 , who dreamed of making it the capital of Nebraska Territory. The dream quickly
faded, but the town was the seat of Dodge County until the county line was changed,
placing Fontanelle in Washington County.
In 1855 Fontanelle received a charter from the legislature for a college. It was
named Nebraska University. The following year an academy building was erected as
the first unit For a number of years the school flourished under the auspices of the
First Congregational Church. Later, with the moving of the county seat to Fremont
and the State government to Lincoln, the college, seeking a more central situation,
abandoned its site here, a new college (Doane) was organized at Crete (see Tour 9).
At 79.3 m. is the MAJOR LONG MONUMENT (L), which marks an old
Indian trail followed by Major Long (1820), and later by many adven-
turers and immigrants.
At 83 m. is RAWHIDE CREEK, which may or may not have been the
scene of the event that is related in accounting for the name; the story is
told in connection with other creeks of the same name. A member of one
of the wagon trains traveling through this area had been annoying his
more prudent fellow travelers by boasting that he was going to kill the
284 TOURS
first Indian he saw. One day, supposedly on the bank of this stream, he car-
ried out his boast. Unfortunately for him, the Indian he shot was scouting
for a band lying beyond the hill. The Indians rushed forward, surrounded
the emigrants, and, with considerable restraint, merely demanded the sur-
render of the aggressor. The leaders of the travelers, who had lost patience
with the man after trying to restrain his rashness, recognized that he had
forfeited his claim to their protection and turned him over to the aborig-
ines. The Indians immediately fastened him to a tree and skinned him
alive.
At 83.3 m. is the junction with US 30 (see Tour B).
FREMONT, 85 m. (1,203 al t-> n>407 pop-) (see FREMONT).
Points of Interest: Midland College, Masonic Eastern Star Home for Children,
Lutheran Orphans' Home, Western Theological Seminary, and others.
At 87.4 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to PAWNEE COUNCIL ROCK, 1.5 m , where Gen John M. Thayer
held a council with the Pawnee (1855). In the spring of that year cattle belonging
to settlers along Elkhorn River had been stolen by Indians. The Pawnee were sus-
pected, and Governor Izard sent General Thayer to hold a powwow with Pita
Lesharu, their chief. At this first council of the Territorial government and the
Nebraska Indians, Pita Lesharu denied that the Pawnee were guilty, declaring that
the cattle had been stolen and killed by the Ponca, and gave a pledge that the
Pawnee would preserve peace.
LESHARA, 9 m. (no pop ), is a comparatively new town (1906), named for
the Pawnee chief, Pita Lesharu (man chief), whose tribe lived in this area. The
town is near the site of the old Indian village.
At 92.7 m. on US 77 is a junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to CEDAR BLUFFS, 0.5 m. (517 pop.).
Right from Cedar Bluffs on an unmarked dirt road (between the schoolhouse and
the church) to the SITE OF NEAPOLIS, 2.5 m., indicated by a small white marker.
Neapolis was selected as the capital of Nebraska Territory in January 1858, when
the Territorial legislature decreed that the seat of government was to be removed
from Omaha to a site not less than 50 miles west of the Missouri and not more than
6 miles from the Platte River Numerous towns hotly argued their desirability, but
the legislature finally chose the paper city of Neapolis as the most suitable place.
But this bill passed by the illegal "Florence Session" (see HISTORY) of the legis-
lature was soon voided The hill on which Neapolis was to have been built is still
called Capital Hill.
At 103.7 m. is the junction with State 16, a paved road.
Left on this road 10.6 m. to junction with a dirt road; L. at the junction to
YUTAN, 11.3 m. (313 pop ), named for the Oto Indian chief, letan, whose peo-
ple had a village of some 70 lodges here. The first Sunday school for Indians in
Nebraska was established here. Bits of pottery have been unearthed in the vicinity.
WAHOO, 106 m. (1,187 alt., 2,689 pop ), known chiefly for its odd
name derived from the Indian word for the red berry bushes, has been the
home of Darryi Zanuck, the motion-picture director ; Howard Hanson, the
musician; and Sam Crawford, the baseball player.
The Saunders County Courthouse, built in 1905, is on the SITE OF AN
INDIAN BURIAL GROUND, from which bones, skulls, arrows, and other
relics were unearthed. The town was established on a campground of the
Oto, who held the land south of the PJatte.
THE DROUGHT, 1934
LUTHER COLLEGE, at the north end of Washington St., is a denomina-
tional college owned and controlled by the Nebraska Conference of the
Augustana Synod of Lutheran Churches of America.
Enrollment averages 150. The school has four departments: the Acad-
emy, offering high school instruction ; the Junior College and the Teach-
ers' College ; the School of Commerce ; and the School of Music.
HAVLIK HALL, on Broadway, was a dance hall and saloon in pioneer
days.
At 117 5 m. is a junction with a graveled road
Right on this road to CERESCO, 5 m. (1,189 alt, 391 pop ), named by its set-
tlers for Ceresco, Mich
Right from Ceresco on a dirt road to CAMP KINNIKINNIK, 10 m. (visitors per-
mitted; cabins $1; museum adm. -fee 10$), This camp for boys, which has a museum
containing pioneer relics, is on high rolling ground. There are three creeks and
numerous springs here, as well as a good stand of timber. The kmnikmic bush
grows profusely on the grounds The name of the camp is misspelled to form a
palindrome (a word that can be read backward).
LINCOLN, 136.5 m. (1,148 alt., 79,592 pop ) (see LINCOLN).
Points of Interest* State Capitol, University of Nebraska, State Historical Mu-
seum, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Home of William Jennings Bryan, and others.
See also Lincoln City Guide, American Guide Series (1937)
Lincoln is at the junction with US 6 (see Tour 9) and US 34 (see
Tour 10).
The highway follows S. I3th St.; L. on High St. to i4th St ; south on
I4th St.
286 TOURS
The STATE PENITENTIARY, 139.6 m. (open 9-11, 1:30-4:30 daily ex-
cept Sat., Sun., and holidays), is of gray limestone, three stories in height,
built in 1867. The prison has accommodations for about a thousand con-
victs. Many of the men are given industrial training in the factories within
the walls ; about one-fourth attend the prison school ; and there are facili-
ties for recreation.
Right from the penitentiary on a paved road to the STATE HOSPITAL FOR THE
INSANE, 2.4 m. (open 1-3 daily, except Sat., Sun. and holidays), established in 1870.
When the first building burned to the ground in 1871, the city of Lincoln appro-
priated emergency funds that were later repaid by the State. A new four-story build-
ing of gray limestone, costing $70,000, was finished m 1872. Wings and other
buildings have since been added. Farming, gardening, and stock raising are carried
on by the patients In 1936 there were 1,250 patients and 150 employees.
Right from the hospital to a junction at 2.6 m.; L here; R at 4.1 m to the
STATE REFORMATORY FOR MEN, 4.5 m. (open 9-11, 1-4:30 daily except holidays), a
red-brick structure Here the Western Normal College was opened in September 1892 ;
it was advertised as being elegantly outfitted with solid-oak furniture and woolen
carpets. It functioned only 4 years. In September 1908 the building was reopened as
the home of Nebraska Military Academy After the founder's death the school was
discontinued. During the World War the building was used by the Army.
In 1921 the old college building was purchased by the State for an institution to
house boys and men between the ages of 16 and 30 who at the time of conviction
are considered capable of reform. The youths engage in farming, gardening, stock
raising, and dairying and make license plates and highway markers. Elementary edu-
cation is provided.
BEATRICE, 176.4 m. (1,235 *&., 10,297 pop.) (see BEATRICE).
Points of Interest: Veterans Memorial Drive, Athletic Park, Chautauqua Park,
and others.
Beatrice is at the junction with State 3 (see Tour 11).
WYMORE, 190.8 m. (1,222 alt, 2,680 pop.), was developed as a
division point for the Denver-Kansas line of the Burlington Route. More
than 400 men are employed in the roundhouse, on the repair track, in the
tram service, and in the offices. The town has a flour mill with a daily out-
put of 250 barrels.
This region was an Indian reservation occupied by the Oto and Mis-
souri in 1855. In 1882 the Indians were removed to Oklahoma
There are five parks four belonging to the city and one privately
owned (open to public; swimming).
At 200 m. US 77 crosses the Kansas line, 11 miles north of Marys-
rille, Kans. (see KANSAS Tour 10).
TOUR 3 287
Tour
(Yankton, S. Dak.) Norfolk Columbus York Fairmont Hebron
(Belleville, Kans.) ; US 81.
Missouri River to Kansas Line, 235.8 m.
Between Norfolk and Columbus, the Union Pacific RR parallels the route; between
Stromsburg and Kansas, the Burlington Route.
Bus service between Yankton and Norfolk, by way of Hartington and Randolph;
and between Columbus and to Stromsburg Bus lines Norfolk to Belleville
Graveled roadbed, except for stretch of bituminous mat 16 m. south of Norfolk.
Accommodations limited in small towns , hotels in cities.
This route, like US 77 and US 73, runs through the eastern farming
section of the State. In the northern part the chief crop is hay, and the
country is rough and frequently hilly. Throughout the central and south-
ern parts the road is fairly level, hilly only in spots, with no sharp or dan-
gerous corners.
At m. US 81 crosses the Missouri River on a toll bridge (50$ for car
and driver; 100 each additional passenger), 1.5 miles south of Yankton,
S. Dak. (see S. Dak. Tour 10).
CROFTON, 14.2 m. (733 pop.), named for Crofton Court, England,
is at the junction with State 12 (see Tour 13).
At 24.2 m. on US 81 is the junction with State 84.
Right on this graveled road to BLOOMFIELD, 8.2 m. (1,703 alt., 1,435 pop.),
settled on October 2, 1890, when town lots were offered at public sale The sale
attracted nearly 500 men eager to pay from $70 to $400 for land. After the sale,
which lasted until nightfall, meals were served m a hastily built shanty. The town
was named for Bloomington Dyer, owner of the land
CENTER, 20.4 m. (130 pop.), was so named because it is the geographical center
of Knox County, of which it is the seat The town was founded to end a 4o-year
dispute about which of four towns Niobrara, Creighton, Verdigre, or Bloomfield
was to be the county seat. When a vote did not settle the matter, the county was
surveyed and the geographical center was found to he in a cornfield. Each of the
two owners of the field contributed 20 acres, and thus Center began its existence.
A new courthouse was built in 1934.
Left from Center on State 14 to BAZILE MILLS, 28.3 m. (76 pop ), which was
once an important mill town on Bazile Creek. A woolen mill, built in 1882 about
1.5 miles north of the town, was one of the first in the State.
WAUSA, 31.6 m. (1,780 alt, 754 pop.), the center of a quiet Swedish
community, was founded by two Lutheran ministers, Gogelstrom and
Torell, who named it in honor of the Swedish King, Gustavus Vasa. The
spelling was changed to conform to the sound of the word.
At 41.2 m. is the west junction with US 20 (see Tour 7). Between this
point and a junction at 42.2 m., US 81 and US 20 are one route (see
Tour 7). In this region the highway passes over many low hills that are
almost treeless.
288 TOURS
PIERCE, 53.8 m. (1,583 alt., 1,271 pop.), seat of Pierce County, was
named for President Franklin Pierce. The first settlement was made in
1870, and J. H Brown built the first house of sod and slabs on the bank
of Willow Creek. It served not only as a dwelling but as hotel, post office,
and courthouse as well.
NORFOLK, 68 m. (1,532 alt., 10,717 pop.) (see NORFOLK).
Points of Interest: Norfolk Livestock Sales Company's Main Pavilion, Central
Park, Johnson Park, Dederman Log House, and others.
Norfolk is at the junction with State 8, a graveled road, partly paved.
1 Right on State 8 to the Elkhorn River, 8.7 m.; after crossing the river this
highway passes the SITE OF PAWNEE BATTLEGROUND, 8.9 m. (R). In 1859, as the
Pawnee were migrating up the valley of the Elkhorn after agreeing to give up their
land on the Platte River above Fremont, they robbed the settlers, and shot and
wounded a white man near West Point. Gen John M. Thayer was ordered to fol-
low and punish the Indians. On the morning of July 12, 1859, the soldiers sur-
prised the Pawnee in camp, and charged them. The chief seized an American flag-
and rushed toward General Thayer, shouting, "Good Indian' No shoot'" After a
parley the Pawnee surrendered six men and paid for all damage. The site is stilll
referred to as a battleground, although no one was wounded and scarcely a shot
was fired
TILDEN, 22.1 m (1,679 alt., 1,106 pop.), lying partly in Madison County and-
partly in Antelope County, was named for Samuel J Tilden of New York, lawyer
and Democratic candidate in the bitterly-contested Presidential election of 1876. The
town was surveyed and platted in 1880 At the north edge of Tilden, in the old!
ROWELL LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS, is a modern community SWIMMING POOL,,
the only one within a radius of 25 miles
2 Left from Norfolk on State 8 to NORFOLK STATE HOSPITAL, 2 m Founded in
1887 for the care of the mentally ill, the institution now has 29 buildings on the
grounds. Drives and flower-bordered walks connect the buildings In winter and in-
clement weather underground passageways are used In 1937 there were 1,056.
patients in the hospital, cared for by a staff of 150. The patients help farm the 975
acres owned by the institution
STANTON, 12.3 m. (1,472 alt, 1,479 pop ), seat of Stanton County, was settled!
by Germans from Wisconsin in 1869.
PILGER, 24.3 m. (1,410 alt, 578 pop.), center of a hog-raising region, was laid 1
out in 1880 and named for the owner of the land Nearby is the FARM OF ED>
RENNICK, breeder of prize-winning Hampshire hogs From this farm came Blue-
Boy, world champion, that went to Hollywood and appeared in the motion picture
State Fair
WISNER, 32.1 m. (1,380 alt, 1,327 pop ), platted in 1871 and named for a
vice-president of the Sioux City & Pacific R R , is a livestock center in fertile Elk.-
horn valley, serving both as a feeding and shipping point.
At 70.1 m. US 8 1 crosses the Elkhorn River.
MADISON, 83.8 m. (1,581 alt., 1,842 pop.), seat of Madison County,,
was founded in 1866 by a German colony of 24 families from Wisconsin,
led by Herman Braasch. The pioneers returned to bring back their house-
hold goods. Upon their return they found that a party led by Frank
Barnes had taken up land adjoining theirs.
One of Madison's pioneer physicians and its first coroner answered to-
the name of John Quincy Adams Harvey. He became "Doctor** because he
had read a few medical books and did some emergency practice. Called on.
one occasion to a homestead cabin whose occupant had been found f rozea
WHEAT IN SHOCKS
to death, Coroner Harvey opened the door, glanced in, and instantly pro-
nounced his verdict, "Deader 'n hell '"
In 1881 some 200 miles of hedges and 1,500,000 forest trees were
planted in Madison County Watermelons are grown by farmers in the
vicinity, one of whom annually holds a Watermelon Day on which vis-
itors to the farm may eat all they want for 10 cents.
HUMPHREY, 95 m. (1,648 alt, 854 pop.), was laid out and platted
in 1880 by James E. North, county surveyor for the Omaha, Niobrara, and
Black Hills R R. Company. Mrs. Leach, first postmistress, named the town
for Humphrey, N. Y., her former home.
At 110 m. is the junction with State 22, a graveled road.
Right on this road to MONROE, 6 m. (293 pop ) At 9 m. is the MONROE
POWER HOUSE, with three generators capable of developing 7,800 kilowatts at 6,900
volts It is part of the Loup River Power Project.
At GENOA, 14 m. (1,520 alt, 1,089 pop), is the SITE OF AN INDUSTRIAL
SCHOOL FOR INDIANS, opened by the Federal Government in March 1884, and oper-
ated for 50 years. Near Genoa was once the Pawnee Indian Reservation, and the
district is rich in arrowheads, beads, and other relics.
At 15 5 m. is the SITE OF A PAWNEE CITY, believed to be 250 years old. It lies
north of the highway about o 5 miles on the highest point of land at the junction
of the Beaver and Loup Valleys, protected on three sides by cliffs, commanding a
view for many miles The village, once occupied by about 2,500 Indians, has been
excavated. In the largest house were found the bodies of 54 Indians, evidently
290 TOURS
killed while defending themselves against attack. Charred corn and the remains of
an altar indicated that the house had been burned Dozens of caches containing pot-
tery and tools have been unearthed. One rare find was a bow made of elk horn,
one of the first of its kind to be found in Nebraska Some evidence was also re-
vealed to support the belief that the Spanish invasion of 1720 reached this point
Southwest of Genoa is the DIVERSION DAM of the Loup River Project, at 18 m.,
which, with its DESILTING WORKS supplies the canal tapped by both Monroe and
Columbus powerhouses
COLUMBUS, 1177 m. (1,441 alt, 6,898 pop.) (see Tour 8), is at
the junction with US 30 (see Tour 8).
Crossing the Platte River, the highway proceeds through dry bluff lands.
According to an old story, a thirsty traveler passing this way in the early
days spied a sod house off the road and went over to get water. The house
was empty, but nearby was a well with windlass and wooden bucket. He
dropped the bucket down, and it came up dry. He repeated the operation
with no greater success. Then his eye caught a notice on the house, read-
ing, 'This Claim for sale. Four miles to the nearest neighbor. Seven miles
to the nearest schoolhouse. Fourteen miles to the nearest town. Two hun-
dred feet to the nearest water. God bless our home ! For further informa-
tion address Thomas Ward, Oskaloosa, Iowa."
OSCEOLA, 144.4 m. (1,637 ^ I 54 PP-)> surveyed and platted in
June 1872, was named for the famous Seminole chief. Osceola is also the
name of a black medicinal drink used in certain Indian ceremonies. The
surrounding district produces much broomcorn; Osceola has a large
BROOM FACTORY.
Grasshoppers plagued the early settlers and tested their patience to an
extreme. "Our foreign readers must forgive us for giving so much grass-
hopper news," wrote the Osceola Homesteader in July 1874. "We really
cannot help it. The air is filled with them, the ground is covered with
them, and people think and talk of nothing else. It rams grasshoppers,
and snows grasshoppers. We cannot walk the streets without being struck
in the face and eyes by grasshoppers, and we cannot sleep for dreaming
grasshoppers, and if the little devils do not leave for some other clime
soon, we shall go grasshopper crazy."
STROMSBURG, 151.6 m. (1,627 alt, 1,320 pop.), settled by Swedes
who purchased the land here in 1872, lies in the Blue River Valley, on an
elevated plain. Stromsburg was the home of C. H. Morrill, patron of ar-
cheological research, who gave Morrill Hall to the University of Nebraska.
Stromsburg and Osceola were once bitter rivals in their desire to be-
come the county seat of Polk County. An election was held in 1916 to de-
cide the issue. Osceola won, largely because it had widely distributed small
cardboard maps with pins stuck in at Osceola. As the map more or less
balanced on the pin, this proved Osceola's claim that it was "the center of
the county."
At 152.2 m. US 81 crosses the Big Blue River.
YORK, 169.1 m. (1,634 alt -> 5>7 12 pop.) (see Tour 10), is at the
junction with US 34 (see Tour 10).
FAIRMONT, 185.9 m. (1,643 alt, 740 pop.) (see Tour 9), is at the
junction with US 6 (see Tour 9).
TOUR 4 291
At GENEVA, 194.1 m. (1,634 alt -> ^662 PP-) named for Geneva,
N. Y., is the GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL for juvenile delinquents, estab-
lished here to take care of girls formerly sent to the Kearney school The
first buildings were erected in 1891. The institution owns 70 acres of
land; 27 employees care for its 190 inmates.
HEBRON, 222.4 m. (1,458 alt, 1,804 pop.) (see Tour 11), is at the
junction with State 3 (see Tour 11)
At 235 8 m US8i crosses the Kansas Line, 13 miles north of Belle-
ville, Kans. (See KANSAS Tour 9.)
Tour
(Fairfax, S. Dak.) Butte O'Neill Bartlett St. Paul Grand Island
Hastings Red Cloud (Lebanon, Kans.); US 281.
South Dakota Line to Kansas Line, 241.4 m.
Between St Paul and Grand Island, the Union Pacific R.R. parallels the route; be-
tween Grand Island and Hastings, the St. Joseph & Grand Island RR., between
Hastings and Cowles, the Burlington Route. Bus service, main and connecting lines,
O'Neill to Red Cloud
Graveled roadbed throughout, except for occasional short stretches of bituminous
mat or concrete pavement near cities.
Accommodations limited outside cities.
The highway runs through the largest hay-producing region in the
State, through the sand-hill country, and into an agricultural district inhab-
ited mostly by people of Danish descent, whose pioneer farming efforts
have been largely responsible for the development of the region.
At m. US 281 crosses the South Dakota Line, 2.2 miles south of
Fairfax, S. Dak. (see S. Dak. Tour 11). South of this point the highway
runs through rolling prairie country.
At 4.7 m. is the west junction with State 12 (see Tour 13); between
this point and 19.5 m. US 281 and State 12 are united.
SPENCER, 17.2 m. (653 pop.), named for Spencer, Iowa, home of the
town's first settlers, was founded m 1889 near the dam south of the town.
A year later it was removed to the slope where it now stands.
At 19 5 m. is the junction with State 12 (see Tour 13).
At 23 m. the highway crosses the Niobrara River. At the WHITING
BRIDGE POWER DAM (L) is a hydroelectric plant that furnishes power to
a wide territory. From this point there is a view of the river winding
through the hills.
292 TOURS
For several miles the highway passes through a rugged countryside,
then comes to a level stretch, with many sharp curves.
At 45 8 m is the junction (R) with US 20 (see Tour 7).
O'NEILL, 47.8 m (1,978 alt, 2,019 pop ) (see Tour 7), is at the
junction with US 20 (see Tour 7).
South of O'Neill the highway passes through the hay-producing region
of Nebraska. This country is tableland or gently rolling prairie, with black
sandy soil The many lakes, creeks, and streams of the region provide a
good water supply. Unlike the more cultivated farming sections of the
State, the region today looks much as it did in pioneer days.
At 70.8 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on this sandy road, marked by signs, to GOOSE LAKE RECREATIONAL
GROUNDS (fishing free; camping permitted), 4.2 m , 35 acres The lake (dry in
1936) is ordinarily stocked with catfish, crappies, and bullheads
At 82 m. is a filling station and cafe; there is no other station between
this point and Bartlett
BARTLETT, 88.9 m. (133 pop.), a sand hill village, the seat of
Wheeler County, was laid out in 1885 and named for Ezra Bartlett
Mitchell, first settler.
The principal occupations of this section are farming and stock raising.
The North Loup River flows through the southwest part of Wheeler
County, Cedar Creek through the central part, and Beaver Creek and
branches of the Elkhorn through the northeast. The valleys are fertile; the
surrounding sand dunes are used for grazing. There are a few planted
groves, but little native timber.
SPALDING, 111.1 m. (1,878 alt, 839 pop.), a small business com-
munity on the Cedar River, was named for Bishop Spalding, president of
the Irish Catholic Association that founded the town.
At Spalding is the junction with State 32, a graded dirt road.
Right on this road to the junction with a sandy road, 3.4 m ; R here to the
PIBEL LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS (fishing free, 4am. to 10 p.m ), 12.8 m.
Left from Pibel Lake to LAKE ERICSON (adm. 50$, cabins $1 50 a day), 21.7 m.
The lake attracts many duck hunters every fall.
At 124.3 m. on US 281 is the west junction with State 56, a graveled
road.
Right on this road to GREELEY, 6.3 m. (2,021 alt, 857 pop ), seat of Greeley
County The town was founded by Thomas Fox, who bought the land and named
the town for Horace Gieeley The FIRST SCHOOL here was a small building placed
on wheels so that it could be moved as often as desired; the building stands today
as a lean-to on the back of a store building The old FOLEY BUILD.ING was first a
bank, then a newspaper office, later a lawyer's office, grocery store, drygoods store,
finally a cafe, and is now abandoned
At 143.7 m. the highway crosses the North Loup River.
ST PAUL, 147 2 m. (1,815 a ^- 1,621 pop.), is a trading center of an
agricultural area and a shipping point, at the fork of the North and South
Loup Rivers. In 1870 James N. Paul, a surveyor, came up the Loup Valley
with Maj. Frank North, Pawnee scout, on a hunting trip. Paul was im-
pressed with the country and considered founding a town at the river
TOUR 4 293
fork. Having discussed the matter with his brother, Nicholas, and with
the vice-consul of Denmark, Paul and 31 other settlers founded the town
m 1871 and named it Athens because of its physical surroundings. When
it was learned that Nebraska already had a town of Athens, the citizens
adopted the name St. Paul, suggested by Senator Phineas W. Hitchcock
The highway skirts the eastern edge of the town, close to the river, then
curves around to higher ground.
The region west of St. Paul was settled by Danish farmers attracted by
free Government land. In 1870 the Danish Land and Homestead Colony
of Milwaukee, Wis., sent out a committee composed of Lars Hannibal,
John Seehusen, L. M. Petersen, and Paul Hansen. They selected land near
Oak Creek, southwest of St. Paul, and in the spring of 1871 Lars Hanni-
bal and six of his countrymen made the first settlement They made their
dugouts as secluded as possible, fearing the Indian tribes in the North-
west A dozen more Danish settlers soon arrived, followed by C. O.
Schlytern, with a group of Swedish people, who settled southwest of the
Danish colony. In 1872 a post office was established on the homestead of
Lars Hannibal and named for Denmark's national emblem Dannebrog.
In 1873 a few new settlers arrived, but growth was checked for a time by
the ravages of grasshoppers and other pests. The settlements had no mili-
tary protection until Fort HartsufT was built in the fall of 1874.
A railroad was built to St. Paul in 1881, and four years later was ex-
tended to Dannebrog. By this time settlers were crowding in again to grow
wheat and corn, and raise livestock. The railroad provided an outlet for
all these products. Soon other Danish settlements grew up. The town of
Nysted, a typical Danish community, was founded in 1883. Within a few
years it had a Lutheran church, a social hall, and a people's high school,
organized for adult education on the model of those in Denmark. Another
settlement was Dannevirke, named for a wall once built by the Danes to
stop German aggression. In 1910 the Danes in the county numbered
2,400, about one-fifth of the population. With the exception of Omaha,
there are more Danes in Howard County than in any other part of the
State.
At St. Paul is the junction with State n, a graveled road.
Right on State n to ELBA, 10.3 m. (286 pop ), a Danish community incorpo-
rated in 1886 Right from Elba on a dirt road to the RUINS OF AN OLD DWELLING,
13.3 m., partly buried in the banks of Munson Creek in fertile North Loup Valley
The house, a rectangle 27 feet wide by 33 long, antedates Columbus' discovery of
America Ashes, charcoal, flint chips, charred grains of corn, and broken pieces of
pottery have been found in the ruins.
GRAND ISLAND, 168.9 m. (1,864 alt., 18,041 pop.) (see GRAND
ISLAND).
Points of Interest: Roman Catholic Cathedral, St Francis Hospital, American
Crystal Sugar Company Plant, Pioneer Park, Grand Island Airport.
Grand Island is at the junction with US 30 (see Tour 8) and State 2
(see Tour 10). US 281 and State 2 branch south from the city on Locust
St., and are united between Grand Island and a point at 171 5 m.
At 170.5 m. is the junction with State 70, a concrete paved road.
294 TOURS
Right on State 70 to STOLLEY STATE PARK, 0.9 m. (adm. free; no camping
permitted; no cabins available). This grove of trees on the sandy shallows of the
Platte River was planted by William Stolley, who broke ground for the first settle-
ment in Hall County and built Fort Independence The 43-acre park has gardens,
walks, drives, and several old buildings, the solid old FARM HOME OF THE STOLLBYS
(private), now occupied by the park superintendent, an old FRAME SCHOOLHOUSE,
the first in the county, a LOG HOUSE, with the original slough-grass roof.
The park has several shady picnicking spots and grounds for playing baseball,
handball, and volleyball. Early in the summer of 1857 William Stolley arrived here
with a train of heavily laden wagons drawn by 16 oxen, and took up a claim by
squatter's right Born in Germany, Stolley had been for a time assistant to his
brother George, a naturalist, and had spent three years collecting specimens for Pro-
fessor Agassiz in the Lake and Mississippi States Always a fervent advocate of for-
esting the bare prairie land, Stolley set an example in the groves planted on his own
claim. He set out 6,000 trees in 1860, many of which are still alive. The groves now
contain more than 50 varieties of trees, including such exotics as German linden
and birch, Norwegian spruce, Austrian pine, Russian and Persian lilac, kinnikmic,
persimmon, button bush, and yew. Many groves on the prairies of Hall County have
grown from seedlings obtained from Stolley.
In other ways William Stolley was a community leader. He established a market
for the settlers' corn at Fort Kearney, and obtained help from Washington during
the grasshopper invasions When hostile Indians attacked the Oregon Trail emi-
grants and outlying posts in 1864, and many settlers left in a panic, Stolley built
Fort Independence and raised over it a home-made United States flag.
The SITE OF FORT INDEPENDENCE is 150 yards south of the Stolley home A log
structure 24 feet square, with 25 loopholes, it was heavily banked with sod for pro-
tection against flaming arrows The fort had an underground stable 88 feet long,
large enough to accommodate the entire company and its horses Some timbers of
the fort have been used in the present buildings of the park
Stolley grove was presented to the State in 1927 by the citizens of Grand Island
and Hall County. After the drought of 1934 a modern irrigation system was in-
stalled to preserve the timber.
At 171 m. the highway crosses the north channel of the Platte River.
At 171.5 m. is the junction with State 2 (see Tour 10).
At 181.4 m., where the highway turns L., is a junction with a graveled
road.
1. Right here to a junction with a graveled and weed-covered lane at 1.8 m.; R.
here to the CAMPBELL DUNLAP MONUMENT, 2.4 m. On the granite monument,
which is in an enclosure holding five graves, are these names. Infant Tannahill,
1888; Agnes Rentoul Campbell, Mother, 1866; Christian Campbell Dunlap, Daugh-
ter, 1924, John Campbell, Grandfather, 1869; Janet Rentoul Campbell, Grand-
mother, 1867.
The monument serves as a gravestone and also as a memorial of an Indian raid
(July 1867) on the ranch of Peter Campbell, about 10 miles south of Grand Island.
As no men were at home the Sioux gained entrance easily. They killed Mrs. Thurston
Warren and her son, and kidnaped Campbell's two nieces and his twin boys. Sev-
eral months later the Government ransomed these captives from the Sioux by pay-
ing $4,000 and releasing a squaw and a papoose captured at Elm Creek by Ed
Arnold and the Pawnee Scouts At the same time the Indians killed Henry Dose, a
German neighbor, and plundered his house.
2. Right from US 281 4 m. on a dirt road; L. here; R. at 4.5 m.; L. at 5.5 /.;
R. at 6 m.; L at 7 m.; R. at 7.2 m. to the MARTIN FARM, 9 m. (open at all times).
The history of this farm dates back to 1850 when George Martin, an English emi-
grant, was traveling over the Oregon Trail, and decided to settle here. One day after
his home had been established, when Martin and his sons were hauling hay, Indians
appeared, wounded the father, and shot arrows at the sons. The boys turned their
horses loose, climbed on a pony and raced for their lives with the Indians in pur-
STOLLEY STATE PARK
296 TOURS
suit. According to an old story, an arrow hit one boy in the back, passed through
his body, and entered his brother's shoulder, pinning the two together One of the
boys fainted and fell, pulling his brother and the pony over with him Left for
dead by the Indians, the boys were found by their parents who uncoupled them
and nursed them back to health.
Only one of the first farm buildings remains a GRANARY built partly of cedar
logs taken from old Fort Kearney. Many large cottonwoods standing here were
planted by the Martins. In early days Martin kept a tavern and was the postmaster
of the settlement called Martinville.
In this vicinity are examples of TRI-COUNTY IRRIGATION PROJECT
work. Plans have been made to irrigate an area 90 miles long and 20 to
35 miles wide in Gosper, Phelps, Kearney and Adams Counties (see
NATURAL RESOURCES.)
HASTINGS, 194.6 m. (1,932 alt., 15,490 pop.) (see HASTINGS).
Points of Interest- Masonic Temple, Highland Park, Heartwell Park, Hastings
City Museum, Hastings College, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, and others.
Hastings is at the junction with US 6 (see Tour 9)>
US 281 branches south from the city on Burlington Ave.
At 205.2 m. the highway crosses the Little Blue River.
BLUE HILL, 214.8 m. (1,970 alt, 669 pop.), on a tableland between
the Republican and Blue Rivers, was surveyed and platted in 1878. The
small German settlement grew steadily and became a shipping point for
wheat and livestock.
RED CLOUD, 235 3 m. (1,690 alt., 1,519 pop.) (see Tour 11), is at
the junction with State 3 (see Tour 11).
This part of the State is especially suitable for diversified farming. Win-
ter wheat, corn, oats, barley, and other grains are raised, also a large
amount of alfalfa. The many streams that flow into the Republican River
are lined with trees. The country is rolling, some parts more or less
broken.
At 288.3 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road to a junction at 4 m ; R here to the SITE OF THE PIKE PAWNEE
VILLAGE, 5.5 m f on. a. farm owned by A. T. Hill, director of the Nebraska State-
Historical Society Museum, who bought the farm to preserve the site.
Lt Zebulon M Pike and 21 men stopped here in 1806 while on their way to the
Rockies Pike and his party camped across the river from a "commanding hill" that
overlooked the valley and an Indian village.
Pawnee Indians had lived here while one nation after another laid claim to their
bluffs, their ravines, their rivers, and their hunting grounds. Three weeks before
Pike came, 300 Spanish cavalrymen under Colonel Malgares had brought them many
presents and a promise to open a road for trade. The Indians permitted him to hoist
the Spanish flag.
Pike held a grand council with the Pawnee on September 29, 1806, four days
after his arrival, and finally convinced them that they could not have two flags. A
long silence followed. Then an old Indian arose and went to the lodge over which
the Spanish flag floated. He took down the flag, laid it at the feet of Pike, took the
American flag, and raised it on the staff. This ended Spanish authority in Nebraska
and on the plains of the Middle West.
From the many Indian graves here have been unearthed pottery, rude stone and
metal implements, beads, arrows, arrow points (cut by the Indians from metal
hoes), battle-axes, stone clubs, and grain grinders. The extent of the ruins indicates
that the village was large. Excavations have also brought to light many Spanish and
English medals and coins, among them a Spanish peace medal dated 1797 and bear-
MAILBOX, KEARNEY FARMSTEADS
ing the head of Charles III of Spain, and an English medal bearing the image of
George III and the date 1762
The Pike Pawnee site was discovered in 1923 Investigation here by Smithsonian
archeologists indicates that the monument commemorating Pike's council with the
Pawnee near Republic, Kans , is of doubtful authenticity.
At 237.2 m. the highway crosses the Republican River
At 241.4 tn. US 281 crosses the Kansas Line, 15 miles north of Leba-
non, Kans.
Tour 5
(Colome, S. Dak.) Springview Bassett Taylor Ansley Kearney-
Elm Creek Holdrege Alma (Woodruff, Kans.) ; US 83.
South Dakota Line to Kansas Line, 257 m.
298 TOURS
Between Ansley and the junction with State 2, the Burlington Route parallels the
route; between Kearney and Elm Creek, the Union Pacific RR. Bus service between
Taylor and the junction with State 2, and between Kearney and Elm Creek
Graveled road, except for concrete pavement between Kearney and Elm Creek, and
a stretch of oiled roadbed 14 miles north of Alma.
Accommodations limited in small towns , hotels chiefly in cities.
US 83 traverses three different and contrasting types of Nebraska coun-
tryside: the hay-producing region in the north, the sand hill section in the
middle, the farming country in the south. Small towns appear at long in-
tervals in the northern part, at shorter intervals in the south Perhaps the
most interesting part of the route lies in the sand hill region between Bas-
sett and Taylor, where there are few farmhouses, few cattle, and no towns.
The sand hills here differ from those farther west in being smaller, lighter
in color, and more jagged. On the second half of the route, especially
south of Taylor, the countryside is typical prairie land of central Nebraska.
At m. US 83 crosses the South Dakota Line, 22 miles south of
Colome, S. Dak. (see S. Dak. Tour 12).
SPRINGVIEW, 12.7 m. (307 pop.), seat of Keyapaha County, is the
trading center of this north-central Nebraska region.
Keyapaha County (pronounced Key-ab-pa-ba) is named for a river in
the northern part of the county. The name is derived from a Sioux word
meaning turtle hill. Keyapaha is one of the few counties in the State that
has never had a railroad.
At Springview is the junction with State 72, a graveled road.
Right on this road to the junction with State 7, 2.9 m ; L on State 7 to MEAD-
VILLE, 9.1 m. In an interesting spot on the Niobrara River, Meadville lies almost
deserted today. The town was named for one Mead, postmaster, road overseer, ferry
owner, and roadhouse proprietor. Mead had studied for the ministry, but had lost
his faith and took great delight in blasphemy. Capt. Charles H Frady, pioneer mis-
sionary, held a meeting here and brought Mead back into the fold He then became
so devout that, one Sunday, when he happened upon a swimming party, he shot at
the people in the river and threatened to kill anyone he again caught desecrating
the Sabbath.
South of Springview the terrain is almost mountainous, with fir trees,
rolling hills, and the blue Niobrara winding far below. North of River-
view the highway winds its way down into the Niobrara Valley.
RFVERVIEW, 27.4 m. (14 pop.), is in a region that blooms in spring
with a profusion of wild flowers, so numerous and varied that they ap-
pear to be cultivated. There are wild roses, pink and fragrant, and wild
sweet peas in lavender shades. Bittersweet, sumac, and river grasses are
used for winter bouquets.
The highway approaches the river by way of high bluffs that afford a
broad view of the surrounding valley.
At 28 m. US 83 crosses the Niobrara River.
BASSETT, 40 m. (2,326 alt., 635 pop.) (see Tour 7), is at the north
junction with US 20 (see Tour 7).
At 42.4 m. is the south junction with US 20 (see Tour 7). At this point
the highway enters the deserted central part of the sand-hill country; there
is no town for 60 miles.
TOUR 5 299
At 51.5 m. the hills are seen at their best. They are slightly larger and
more rounded than those on the northern part of the route. There are few
trees here.
At 88 3 m. the highway crosses the Calamus River at HORSESHOE BEND,
a ford m the stream. Along the valleys of both the Calamus and the North
Loup Rivers are sites of Indian villages that flourished when the Pawnee
and the Ankari lived in the land north of the Platte. There is good fishing
where the highway follows the river.
TAYLOR, 102 3 m. (272 pop.), the seat of Loup County, was named
in 1 88 1 in honor of Ed Taylor, local pioneer. During the drought and hard
times of the nineties, stores were closed, one or two banks failed, and a
general decline set in. Good crop years returned, however, and conditions
improved All stores have survived the current depression. The County
School Exhibit and Field Day is held annually the first Saturday in May.
Right from Taylor on a country road through CHEESEBROUGH CANYON, 5 m. t
covered with cedars, one of the most beautiful spots in Loup County.
At 103.5 m. on US 83 is the junction with State 53, a graveled road.
Left on State 5 3 to the DRY BED OF Sioux CREEK, 5 7 m , now cultivated land
KENT, 6 m. (no pop ), first town in Loup County and once the county seat, is
now deserted, having an old schoolhouse remaining.
BURWELL, 145 m. (2,182 alt, 1,156 pop ), the seat of Garfield County, has
an annual rodeo, held for 4 days early in August (free camping space) Cowboys
nde for purses and trophies in the usual rodeo contests, and Sioux Indians and
cavalry troops also participate. A carnival and county fair are held in connection
with the rodeo.
Burwell grew up about a post office named The Forks, later known for a time
as Webster's Town, for the man who platted the town site. The Webster family
subsequently changed the name to Burwell, to honor a young woman who was
engaged to a member of the family Situated at a bend in the North Loup River
not far from the mouth of the Calamus River, the town was well planned with an
octagonal public square Later, parts of the square were sold for building sites,
which spoiled the founders' plan and the town's appearance The two-story frame
courthouse is in the southeastern part of the town
In Burwell is a large HAY STACKER FACTORY As terminal of a spur of the Bur-
lington Lines, the town serves as a gateway to the great sand-hill region to the
north, a cattle- and sheep-grazing country Farming is carried on in the North Loup
Valley, alfalfa, bromegrass, and English bluegrass furnish rich hay.
South of Taylor US 83 runs through hilly, heavily wooded country, with
occasional level stretches. Near Taylor, where the sand hills fall away, the
country begins to resemble the eastern Nebraska prairies.
SARGENT, 111.8 m. (2,341 alt, 834 pop.), laid out in 1883, is one
of the oldest towns in Custer County While the Burlington Route was
building a spur to the north in the summer of 1888, Sargent was a lively,
prosperous town. A strike on the system delayed its completion till 1899.
Meanwhile, the drought years of the early nineties brought a decline.
Sargent lies in the Middle Loup River valley, an area favorable for the
raising of grain and livestock. The town's population is largely Bohemian
and Polish.
Right from Sargent on a dirt road to DORIS LAKE (adm. free; camping free),
6 m. Once the site of a flour mill, it now has a power plant. The lake affords good
fishing and swimming, with shaded grounds for picnicking.
SOD HOUSF
At 112.6 m., in a pasture on the A F. Allen farm (R), is the SITE OF A
FORTIFIED CAMP. Just when this fort was built, and by whom, is not defi-
nitely known, as the site was grass-covered when settlers first came into the
country.
On a rise of ground commanding Clear Creek Valley in every direction,
the camp appears to have consisted of 108 rifle pits, arranged in the shape
of an ellipse enclosing 5 or 6 acres Though the sides and bottoms of the
trenches are covered with grass, their form is still distinct.
According to an old story, Indians once robbed a Kearney bank of $40,-
ooo in jewels and gold, which they buried on the Allen farm just before
they were overtaken and killed. The treasure, if there is any, has never
been found. The skeptical owners of the farm have never looked for it A
widow in a nearby town, however, was once persuaded by a gold hunter
in need of a job to pay him a handsome sum to dig for the gold at night.
Nothing was found before he was discovered and driven off. The Aliens
preferred no charges.
WESTERVILLE, 129.2 m. (58 pop), the oldest town in Custer
County, stands in a grove of trees in Clear Creek Valley. Three of the
scattered buildings are more than 50 years old, among them the old vil-
lage church, which has lost its belfry.
At 135.6 m. is the north junction with State 2 (see Toyr 10). Between
this point and 164.1 m., US 83 and State 2 are united (see Tour 10).
TOUR 6 3 01
KEARNEY, 191 m. (2,150 alt, 8,575 pop.) (see Tour 8), is at the
eastern junction with US 30 (see Tour 8). Between this point and ELM
CREEK, 206.2 m. (1,067 alt., 708 pop.) (see Tour 8), US 83 and US 30
are united (see Tour 8). Left on US 83.
HOLDREGE, 226 1 m. (2,327 alt., 3,263 pop.) (see Tour 9), is at the
junction with US 6 (see Tour 9).
Farther south is ALMA, 250 3 m. (1,942 alt, 1,235 pop.) (see Tour
11), at the junction with State 3 (see Tour 11).
At 251.8 m. the highway crosses the Republican River, the source of de-
structive floods in times of heavy rain
At 257 m. US 83 crosses the Kansas Line, 37 miles northeast of Nor-
ton, Kans. (see KANS., Tour 8).
Tour 6
(Hot Springs, S. D ) Chadron Alliance Bridgeport Sidney (Ster-
ling, Colo.) ; State 19.
South Dakota Line to Colorado Line, 174 m.
Between Alliance and the Colorado Line, the Burlington Route parallels the high-
way. Two bus lines follow this route one between Chadron and Alliance, and one
(Scottsbluff-Sterling line) between Alliance and Sidney.
Bituminous mat and graveled roadbed
Accommodations available only in large towns, which are far apart.
The route runs through a scenic, thinly settled tableland region, crosses
the White River, and winds through the Pine Ridge Hills country.
State 19, a continuation of S. Dak. 79 ( see S. D. Tour 14}, crosses the
South Dakota Line, m. 9 43 miles south of Hot Springs, S. Dak.
At 12.9 m. State 19 crosses the White River. For several miles south of
this point, the highway crosses the SUN DANCE PLAIN, which lies on
the east side of the White River just below its junction with Chadron
Creek. On this plain was the Sioux and Cheyenne Sun Dance Camp, of
which no traces remain. In performing the Dakota Sun Dance, the tor-
tured dancers were compelled" to gaze at the sun. When the tribe gathered
for the summer buffalo hunt, secret rites took place in a tepee set up in a
big circle. Here novices were instructed in the mysteries of the dance. A
priest conducted the ceremonies. Regalia was prepared and painted ; songs
rehearsed; buffalo tongues made ready; poles and brush gathered for the
302 TOURS
dance structure. The novice and his companions fasted and gazed at the
sun. After several days and nights, the dancers' backs and breasts were
pierced through with skewers, attached to thongs tied to the center pole.
The dance continued until the dancers tore themselves loose.
Thereafter they were greatly honored because it was believed that
through their courage they had obtained favor or atoned for their tribe
At about 15 m. the highway is opposite the SITE OF O'LiNN, at the
junction of Chadron Creek and the White River. This temporary town
was used by settlers waiting for the town of Chadron to be platted, 1884-
1885.
At 16 8 m. is the west junction with US 20 (see Tour 7). Between this
point and a junction at 19.4 m. State 19 and US 20 are one route (see
Tour 7).
At 23 m. is the SITE OF RED CLOUD'S CAMP (R), where Chief Red
Cloud, leader of the Sioux, surrendered to U. S. military forces on October
22, 1876. Chosen by the Indians because it offered shelter and food, the
site lies between Chadron Creek and a low ridge of hills. About 2 miles
farther south, on Chadron Creek, was the camp of Swift Bear and Red
Leaf, close friends of Red Cloud. Both these camps were surprised by the
Fifth Cavalry under Major Mackenzie, and the Pawnee Scouts under Maj.
Frank North and his brother, Luther North. Both camps were captured at
dawn ; Red Cloud, knowing that resistance was useless, surrendered before
a shot was fired. About 700 ponies, almost all belonging to the Red Cloud
and Swift Bear Camps, were captured and never returned to the Indians.
This hastened the end of the great Sioux war.
The site of the Red Cloud Camp has been identified by members of the
party, including a daughter of Red Cloud.
CHADRON STATE PARK (R), 27.9 m. (open May 1-Oct. 15; cab-
ins; 'horses by day or hour; pool 10$, towel 10$, bathing suit 25$; play-
grounds free), covers 800 acres of rough upland country canyon, forest,
and meadow at a mean elevation of about 3,500 feet. It is for the most
part heavily wooded, with both coniferous and deciduous trees in more
than 50 varieties. The western yellow pine predominates. Wind-carved
pines break from the ribbed canyon walls and spread along the ridges.
The valley land alternates between tall dense groves and meadows. Many
varieties of birds nest here in summer. Wild flowers are numerous, espe-
cially the Scotch harebell, and mariposa lily, and the pasqueflower. Fre-
quent outcrops and buttes vary the contour of the land. There are several
small spring-fed lakes. Chadron Creek, a branch of the White River, runs
diagonally across the park to the north, its course marked by a darker
growth of timber.
Chadron, the first Nebraska State park, became public property in 1921.
At first it comprised 640 acres. A i6o-acre tract was later added by the
Park Board, bringing the area to 800 acres. This country was once the
scene of bitter warfare by the fierce migratory western tribes against one
another and against the whites, and was later a region of feuds, hardly
less fierce, between the ranchers and homesteaders who disputed the land
of which the Indians had been dispossessed.
CHADRON STATE PARK
304 TOURS
The number of visitors registering in a season has varied between 70,-
ooo and 128,000.
In 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps improved roads and installed a
new water system and other conveniences. The natural beauty of the set-
ting has not been impaired by facilities for play and comfort. Among
the trees are a number of unobtrusive cabins for rental ; under a cliff in a
forest clearing is a corral for riding-horses A spring-fed lake stocked for
fishing also affords boating and swimming; other sports provided for are
baseball and horseshoe pitching.
Two large pillars of variegated rocks from the Black Hills mark the
entrance.
Right from State 19 on the paved 3-mile winding park road, just inside the gate-
way is the junction with Clayton Trail; R. on the trail which follows the 1.5 -mile
gorge of THUNDER CANYON, which is shaded by great pine trees. Occasionally the
road rises to the top of the ridge giving glimpses of a distant sky line
On the main park road, a few rods beyond the entrance to the Clayton Trail is
the entrance to Sunset Trail.
Right on this trail, which follows a high ridge to MUSHROOM BUTTE, which
gives a panorama of unusual rock formations and hills From the butte a gradual
descent leads to a shelter house, where cold drinking water and firewood are avail-
able a good place to rest and eat lunch.
At about 0.5 m. on the paved road is the junction with the Red Cloud Trail.
Right on this short trail of easy grades; it affords views of every type of land
within the park. Emerging from timber, it enters a chain of open meadows edged
with pine trees Later it follows the crest of a zoo-foot cliff that affords a long view
of Chadron Creek Valley and the tablelands to the south The trail ends at RED
CLOUD BUTTE. Here it is planned to raise a memorial to the great Sioux chief of
that name, in the region where he attained renown and met final defeat.
Right from the mam paved road at the far corner of the park is the junction with
Skyline Trail, most rugged of all This winds through picturesque heights where
rocks have been blasted out to make footing, and crosses plateaus that overlook not
only most of the park but also Whitney Lake and the far monotonous horizon to
the west, broken only by Crow Butte and Trunk Butte (see 'lour 7) A hundred
miles to the northwest are the Black Hills of South Dakota, sometimes appearing
as a blue haze but occasionally in sharp relief.
At 46 m. on State 19 the highway crosses the Niobrara River.
At 56,5 m. is a junction with State 87. Between this point and the east
junction at 58.7 m., State 19 and 87 are one route.
Left from the east junction to Box BUTTE, 6 m , a hill whose shape is responsible
for its name.
ALLIANCE, 75 2 m. (3,971 alt., 6,669 pop.) (see Tour 10), is at the
junction with State 2 (see Tour 10).
South of Alliance the highway passes the butte and ridge district of
western Nebraska in which are such rock formations as Chimney Rock,
Courthouse Rock, and Jail Rock (see Tour 12).
ANGORA, 97 7 m. (4,266 alt., 70 pop.), near the North Platte River
Valley, is still in the sand hills section. The usual reminders of pioneer
life, sodhouses and a lone grave, are in the village. There is an agate mine ;
silica deposits and fossil beds have been found.
At 105.9 m. is the junction with US 26 (see Tour 12). For 16 miles
State 19 and US 26 are one route (see Tour 12).
At 121.2 m. is the junction with US 26 (see Tour 12).
POTATO CELLAR
At 129.7 m. on State 19 is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to a junction at 1 m ; R here to the SITE OF MUD SPRINGS,
1 7 m , an old stage station, on the Black Hills Trail Mud Springs was so named
because of the nearby buffalo wallows In 1865 an attack was made on this station
by a band of Indians, and the attendants in charge were killed This section was for
a time notorious because of the raids of Doc Middleton, a horse thief.
DALTON, 135 m. (4,268 alt, 453 pop.), founded in 1902, is sup-
plied with water from the springs once used by trail travelers who paid
5O0 for a tankful.
Right from Dalton on a dirt road to YELLOWSTONE CLIFF, 2 m , rising out of the
valley, named for its yellowish sand.
GURLEY, 140.9 m. (232 pop.), was founded in 1914 when the C B.
& Q R. R section house was moved from Mario to this point, where State
19 crosses Rush Creek. Buffalo wallows were near the town
At 153 1 m. is the junction with US 30 (see Tour 8). Between this
point and 154 7 m. State 19 and US 30 are united (see Tour 8).
At 171.7 m. State 19 crosses the Colorado Line, 33 miles north of
Sterling, Colo.
Tour 7
(Sioux City, Iowa) South Sioux City O'Neill Valentine Chadron-
Harrison (Lusk, Wyo.) ; US 20.
Missouri River at South Sioux City to Wyoming Line, 446 8 m.
306 TOURS
Between South Sioux City and O'Neill, the Burlington Lines parallel this route; be-
tween O'Neill and Harrison, the Chicago & North Western Bus service between
Page and Crawford.
All-weather road, paved from South Sioux City to 1 m W of Laurel; except in
towns the roadbed is bituminous mat and graveled.
Accommodations available in larger towns.
In its gradual rise from the Missouri River westward to Wyoming and
northwestward to the Black Hills of South Dakota, US 20 runs through
three general types of country.
In the east is typical Nebraska prairie: undulating fields, numerous
trees, farms, occasional large towns. In the central part of the route, par-
ticularly between O'Neill and Bassett, the land seems to be an almost lim-
itless plateau, devoted to hay farming. There are few trees. Fields are more
scattered than farther east. Several towns along the way are busy hay mar-
kets in the fall.
Hay towns differ considerably from other small towns, even from farm-
ing towns. Most of the hay in this region is stacked in the fields, but some
is stored in vast red or white frame barns. Before the barns stand little
white bungalow offices, often nothing more than sheds, with scale indi-
cators in the front windows. During the fall, when activity reaches a peak
in these towns, yellow and brown farm implements stand on the sidewalk
of tool supply companies for customers' inspection. This region is a lead-
ing hay producing section.
Farther west US 20 skirts the outlying edges of the sand hills. These
grass-covered, treeless hills like dunes in the desert have been called
everything from "the most fascinating region in the country" to "the most
deserted and the dullest." As seen on this tour, the sand hills extend for
little more than a third of the entire route. The dunes form wind-blown
patterns quite unlike those in any other Nebraska countryside. Large bare
and sandy hollows called "blowouts" appear between the hills. Occa-
sionally there is a smooth, grassless stretch, having a windmill in the cen-
ter, with a water tank beside it, circled with hoof prints. The sand hills
are a noted recreation center, particularly in Cherry County, where fishing
is excellent.
The western end of the route marks the beginning of the mountain
region farther west, and of the Bad Lands and Black Hills to the north.
Pine trees and buttes abound. Remnants of the frontier linger. The route
passes through the region that witnessed the last scenes in the Great Plains
Indian wars of 1854-1891.
Section a. MISSOURI RIVER to BASSETT; 180.9 m. US 20
At m. US 20 crosses the Missouri River on a toll bridge (200 for car
and driver; 5$ each additional -passenger) at the southern limits of Sioux
City, Iowa (see IOWA Tour 12). This is one of the oldest bridges across
the Missouri, and one of the most profitable.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, 0,7 m. (1,106 alt., 3,927 pop.), a long town
whose business places stretch along the main street, is on the Missouri
River, just opposite Sioux City, Iowa. High, densely wooded bluffs over-
SANDHILL HAYELAT
look the river to the east, and rich agricultural lands stretch out from
the town in the other direction.
South Sioux City, incorporated in 1889, was named for the Sioux In-
dians, who had a reservation near the town site Part of the town was orig-
inally known as Harney City named for General Harney afterwards
known as Newport, then Covington, South Sioux City and Covington con-
solidated in 1893.
Covington was noted as a tough town and a center of vice, filling up
with saloonkeepers and gamblers from Sioux City when prohibition was
adopted in Iowa Gun fights were frequent on the pontoon bridge between
Covington and Sioux City, and the river was used to dispose of the bod-
ies of losers. One of the rougher saloons and gambling houses was built on
the waterfront and had a chute to the water "Squawkers" who complained
of losing their money were placed in the chute and sent sliding into the
river. Many of the old saloon buildings of those days are still standing.
At South Sioux City is the junction with US 73-77 (see Tour 1) ; R. on
US 20.
At 13 5 m. is the junction with State 12 (see Tour 13).
LAUREL, 40 1 m. (1,473 alt., 864 pop.), is at the junction with State
15, a graveled road.
Left on this road to WAYNE, 17.2 m. (1,455 alt., 2,381 pop ), seat of Wayne
County, named for Gen "Mad Anthony" Wayne.
Wayne, laid out m 1881 when the railroad was being built from St Paul to
Sioux Gty, has grown steadily, showing marked interest in advanced education from
the beginning. In 1888, when *be town had a population of only a thousand, a
308 TOURS
Lutheran college known as the Wayne Academy was established This was short-
lived; but in 1891 the Wayne Normal School opened. This school was organized by
Wayne County citizens who bought a tract of land for $20,000, divided it into lots,
and sold them for $35 each Two city blocks were set aside as a campus The board of
trustees made an agreement with the president of the school that if the institution had
an attendance of 200 students in 5 years, the property would be deeded to him,
which it was.
Wayne College became a STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE by legislative act in 1921.
The campus co\ers 51 acres of rolling ground Of the original structures, only the
art building remains Seven of the 12 buildings have been erected since 1910 All
are of dark pressed brick, trimmed with Bedford stone NEIHARDT HALL, a girls'
dormitory built in 1930, was named for John G Neihardt, Nebraska's poet laureate,
who lived in Wayne while attending the school
Near the western edge of Wayne is the WAYNE CEMETERY. About 100 feet
northeast of the gate is a marker in commemoration of George Heady When Heady
was a boy, he declared he saw a meteor fall south of town, he found it and brought
it home amid jeers of townspeople who said he had dug up only an old rock
Heady, however, kept the object until he was taken to an institution for the aged.
A friend took charge of it then Recently it has been converted into a monument to
Heady The stone is ovoid, with a diameter of 17 inches When an attempt was
made to engrave the rock, it was found to be so hard that no impression could be made
on it. A granite plate had to be engraved instead, and cemented to the stone.
At 63.2 m. is the junction with US 81 (see Tour 3).
OSMOND, 67 1 m. (750 pop ), is a livestock-producing center Many
herds of cattle feed in the vicinity. The amount of land under cultivation
is large ; the chief crops are corn, oats, and hay.
West of Osmond there are many low hills that give the country the ap-
pearance of rolling waves.
ROYAL, 95.1 m. (217 pop.), was first called Savage for a man of that
name who promised to pay for the distinction. He failed to pay, and the
name was changed.
Right from Royal on an unnumbered dirt road ('impassable in wet weather),
marked by a wooden sign (R), to DIKEMAN PARK, 2.5 m. (private, cabins rented).
At the end of a straight drive is a white farmhouse (L), set far back in a dense
grove of tall trees The road to the house passes the large, circular, leaf-covered
DIKEMAN FISH PONDS; in the one that contains bullheads (L) fishing is permitted,
the other (R) is stocked with bass.
ORCHARD, 101.1 m. (1,945 alt., 505 pop.), surrounded by rolling
hills, is a dairy center and has a cooperative creamery.
Left from the west end of Orchard on an unnumbered dirt road to the Antelope
County Marker, 2 S m , a granite shaft about 8 feet square with a cross on top about
4 feet long, marking the HIGHEST POINT IN ANTELOPE COUNTY, from which is a
far view in every direction.
O'NEILL, 129.6 m. (1,978 alt, 2,019 PP-) seat f Holt County, was
named for Gen. John J. O'Neill, founder of an Irish colony here. O'Neill
tried to help as many Irish- Americans as possible to live independently on
farms in the West. Born in Ireland, O'Neill fought for the North in the
Civil War as a sergeant-major and as a captain of Negro infantry Later
he was colonel and inspector-general in the armed Fenian invasion of Can-
ada. Elected a member of the Fenian senate, he subsequently became
president. When President Grant issued a proclamation against Fenian in-
fraction of the neutrality laws, O'Neill was thrown into prison, and the
CATTLE AT SANDHILL LAKE
Fenian raids into Canada ceased. After his release O'Neill came west and
founded three colonies. His first settlement was established here May 12,
1874. Later he founded colonies at Atkinson and in Greeley County.
Late in the nineteenth century the town of O'Neill had a reputation for
lawlessness, largely because of the Barrett Scott case. Barrett Scott, Holt
County treasurer, disappeared in 1892 following rumors that his funds
were short. He was finally found in Mexico and brought back to O'Neill
to face trial. He was kidnapped while out on bail. Scott's body was found
lying near a large stone on the bank of the Niobrara River by the Whiting
Bridge. It was wrapped in a comforter, a 6-foot rope around the neck and
a heel mark on the bald head. Of 40 masked and armed vigilantes sus-
pected of the crime, 12 were tried but acquitted. Years later an eastern
map company, on its map of Nebraska, listed O'Neill as one of the three
important cities in the State, largely because of the notoriety of the Scott
case.
Lying in the Elkhorn Valley, a thousand feet higher than eastern Ne-
braska, the town appears to be on a plateau Weather varies greatly from
that in the eastern half of the State , it is generally cooler here, particularly
between seasons. Holt County is noted for its bluegrass seed.
O'Neill comes to life on Sunday mornings instead of Saturday nights
310 TOURS
By town custom, stores open at 6:30 Sunday morning, so people from the
surrounding country, who come in to early mass, may trade.
O'Neill has an EXHIBIT HALL containing a collection of chalk outcrop-
pings of the region. The town is a shipping point for butter, livestock,
hay, and grain. There are playgrounds, fairgrounds, and a park where
band concerts are given.
O'Neill is at the junction with US 281 (see Tour 4).
West of O'Neill the highway passes through the great hay-producing
country, which extends as far as Valentine in an almost unbroken stretch
of prairie, dotted in the fall with large haystacks.
Extending as far north as Boyd County are small INDIAN MOUNDS scat-
tered over the hilltops. Many of them have been opened and rifled by
curio hunters. These mounds are graves of the type called stone cists
boxes made of limestone slabs and placed in shallow excavations. There
have been found in them stone maces; flint, arrow, and spear points;
sometimes implements and beads made of shells and bones. The older
graves antedate the advent of the white man. Other graves, containing
glass beads, steel, iron, and brass implements, are of a later period.
ATKINSON, 148.5 m. (2,110 alt., 1,144 pop.), named for Col. John
Atkinson of Detroit, who owned much land in the vicinity, is spread out
like a booming oil town. Houses and barns haphazardly placed in the out-
lying area are far removed from the main street's stores and business
places.
West of Atkinson the country is ideal for dairying, and fine herds are
numerous.
NEWPORT, 168.8 m. (2,234 alt 2 73 PP-) is another hay-shipping
town where activity reaches a peak in the fall. Hay is cut, dried, stacked,
tied in loo-pound bales, and hauled in large trucks to the railroads. The
best hay is grown in dry lake beds.
Built on the north slope of the sand hill region, the town is surrounded
by meadows, backed by hills to the west and north.
At 170 m. is a junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road to PONY LAKE, 20 m., one of the best fishing spots in this
vicinity, except when dry in drouth years
Left from Pony Lake on a dirt road to FISH LAKE, 3 m., and CAMERON LAKE,
7 m
US 20 passes through typical sand hill country between Bassett and Val-
entine. Transition from the fertile black soil to the sandy region, how-
ever, is more apparent west of Brunswick.
The highway, in passing over the sand hills east of Bassett, runs through
slightly hilly country. Off the main highways driving can be unpleasant,
even troublesome; roads are soft and tortuous. Contrary to the usual re-
sult, rain improves the condition of the sandy roads. In this region some
are "paved" with hay.
BASSETT, 180.9 m. (2,326 alt., 635 pop.), seat of Rock County, lies
on a long slope, with the high school and the courthouse above and a
group of stores below. A shipping point for wild hay, the town was
named for J. W. Bassett, a rancher, who drove the first herd of cattle into
BUFFALO IN GAME REFUGE NEAR VALENTINE
this section in 1871. The town today has the air of a quiet southern vil-
lage. Its neat yellow, brown, and white houses are set well back on green
lawns under tall overhanging trees.
The WHITON HOTEL, a blood-red stucco building on a corner of the
sandy main street, is a relic of the days when Bassett was less sedate.
Known then as the Martin Hotel, it was frequented by the fast-shooting,
hard-riding, hard-drinking Pony Boys, a notorious gang of outlaws led by
Kid Wade and David C. (Doc) Middleton, cattle rustler, gambler, ex-
convict, and circus performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In 1884
vigilantes caught Wade east of Bassett and hanged him. Middleton lived
on until 1913, dying in the county jail of Douglas, Wyo., while serving
a sentence for bootlegging.
Except for new oak floors, the hotel is much as it was when the Pony
Boys came here to celebrate their exploits and shoot up the town. It has
the same furnishings, now old and worn The gray-haired clerk, a spirited
pistol-toting youth in the past, is now content with the excitement of a
game of solitaire.
Bassett is at the north junction with US 83 (see Tour 5).
Section b. BASSETT to WYOMING LINE, 266 m., US 20
South of BASSETT, m., is the south junction with US 83, 2 m.; R.
on US 20.
312 TOURS
LONG PINE, 104 m. (2,403 alt, 937 pop.), was named for nearby
Long Pine Creek (see below).
Here is the point of change between Central and Rocky Mountain Time.
Left from Long Pine on a graveled road, marked by a wooden pointer, to
HIDDEN PARADISE, 1 m., a commercial park and summer resort (fishing and swim-
ming -free; cabins rented, reasonable rates, dance pavilion). The park lies in a
canyon, hence its name.
At 11.2 m. is LONG PINE CREEK (L), deep and narrow, an attractive
trout stream. On a tree-covered slope at the foot of PINE CREEK DAM
(L) is LONG PINE TOURIST PARK (cabms, $1, $1.30 and $2; boats, 500
an hour; swimming and fishing free) .
At 13-9 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to DEVIL'S GULCH, 14 m , a steep-walled canyon. Here have
been found the fossils of such animals as the mastodon and the camel in great
numbers. (Beware of rattlesnakes, especially in hot weather.)
AINSWORTH, 19.2 m. (2,525 alt, 1,378 pop.), seat of Brown
County, was named for Capt. James E. Ainsworth of Missouri Valley,
railroad construction engineer. The stores south of the courthouse square,
with gray and red fronts weather-beaten and sand-swept, serve a large area
of farms to the north and sand hill ranches to the south. On the east side
of the courthouse square, near the highway near the eastern end of town,
is a log cabin, the AINSWORTH MUSEUM (adm. free), with a few old
relics.
Ainsworth lies in the valley of Bone Creek so named because the val-
ley was once strewn with thousands of buffalo and cattle skeletons. To the
north are the pine-covered canyons of Plum and Pine Creeks and the Ni-
obrara River cool, spring-fed streams, with many trout. The chalk bluffs
along them have yielded numerous fossils.
i Left from the main street of Ainsworth to junction with a dirt road, 4.5 m.;
R, on this road into LONG LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS (partly State-owned; fish-
ing free in State grounds; swimming jree on part not State-owned) Long Lake
covers 300 acres, and holds bass, perch, and crappies Other lakes of the group,
often dry, especially in drought years, are surrounded by a crisscross network of un-
marked trails (Inquire locally for directions, accommodations, and condition of
lakes ) Among the lakes are: HOFELT LAKE, 14 m , 100 acres, yellow catfish
ENDERS LAKE, 30 m., 400 acres; bass, crappies, perch, and bullheads. Fire has
destroyed the hotel and dance hall here, 12 cottages house visitors.
SMITH LAKE, 32 m., 200 acres, pickerel and perch.
2, Right from Ainsworth on a dirt road to FOSSIL PARK (adm. free), 13 m.,
situated in a deep canyon adjoining Plum Creek. This region has yielded fossilized
bones of camels, rhinoceroses, mammoths, and prehistoric horses
Right 2 m. from Fossil Park on a dirt road to PLUM CREEK POWER DAM, the
source of light and power for Ainsworth It is part of the Interstate Power System.
A 5o-foot dam on Plum Creek, which is usually a rushing turbulent stream, creates
a reservoir holding channel cat and trout (fishing free).
West of Ainsworth the countryside is level, sandy, and treeless.
JOHNSTOWN, 292 m (2,604 alt., 229 pop.), appears to have as
many windmills as houses The town site was formerly the homestead of
TOUR 7 3*3
John Berry, driver of the mail stage to Fort Niobrara, and the settlement
was at first named for him Berry subsequently became the right-of-way
man for the railroad as it advanced through this section.
Left from Johnstown on a dirt road to MOON LAKE, 19 m. f one of the best
of the Brown County Lake Group (fishing free). Moon Lake covers 600 acres and
is stocked with pike, sunfish, and carp.
West of Johnstown are low hills. The increase in altitude is noticeable
here in the cooler air.
At 33 m. is the JOHNSTOWN IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE PARK (picnic
grounds, dance Ipavilton), 20 acres in extent. A large TROUT NURSERY is
maintained here by the State
At 36.8 m. the highway crosses the eastern boundary of CHERRY
COUNTY, the largest in Nebraska, with an area greater than that of Con-
necticut, or of Delaware and Rhode Island combined, but sparsely settled,
having a population of only 10,898 in 1930.
WOOD LAKE, 39-9 m. (2,690 alt., 293 pop.), lies in a small wooded
plot near a water tower on a hill, and is the trade center of a large
ranching area.
At 58.7 m. is the junction with US 183, a graveled road.
Left on US 183 to a junction with a dirt road, 2 m ; R here to SIMEON, about
19.3 m. (50 pop ), a post office established m 1885 at the ranch house of Simeon
Morgareidge, close to the CHERRY COUNTY LAKE GROUP, in which there are about
30 lakes, many often dry Fishing is permitted on all but the few lakes given to the
Biological Survey. Almost all are within the CHERRY COUNTY MIGRATORY WATER-
FOWL SANCTUARY, an area of 70,000 acres, directly on a flyway of migratory fowl
Protected from the guns of sportsmen, the waterfowl feed and nest here in the
wild rice, hedge, and pond weed. The sand-hill region of Cherry County was once a
refuge for both wild birds and animals, but almost all animals are gone, except a few
muskrats and coyotes The dry years have greatly reduced the number of wild birds
stopping here, though mallards, blue-winged teals, pintails, and baldpates are still
plentiful
Other lakes in the group include the following, with approximate mileage, ar-
ranged in order of distance (inquire locally as to accommodations and conditions
of lakes) :
TROUT LAKE (rooms and meals, filling station), B m , 400 acres.
HACKBERRY LAKE (filling station), G m, 350 acres.
BIG ALKALI LAKE, 8 m., 800 acres, State-controlled
BALLARD'S MARSH, 8 m, 600 acres; in BALLARD'S MARSH STATE SHOOTING
GROUNDS, 1,583 acres
PELICAN LAKE (12 modern cabins, small grocery store, fishing and hunting
supplies, boats), 10 m., 3 miles long; large-mouth bass, perch, crappies, and bull-
heads ; State-controlled.
DEWEY LAKE (filling station), 11 m, 450 acres.
WILLOW LAKE, 11 m, 500 acres, in WILLOW LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS.
BEAVER LAKE (8 cottages, meals, campers' supplies), 12 m, 450 acres; bass,
bullheads, and perch; in RAT AND BEAVER RECREATION GROUNDS
DAD'S LAKE, 12 m., 4.5 miles long, State-controlled; contains bullheads.
RED DEER LAKE, 15 m., 300 acres; bass, perch, and bullheads
MARSH LAKE, 16 m , largest in Nebraska, consisting of three lakes with con-
necting channels.
At 61.1 m. US 20 crosses the Niobrara River on BRYAN BRIDGE, a long,
silver-sheened structure, named for Charles W. Bryan, once Governor of
LAKE MINNECHADUZA
Nebraska. The river winds through a wide, steeply walled canyon covered
with pines.
VALENTINE, 64 m. (2,584 alt., 1,672 pop.), seat of Cherry County,
is a typical western cow town, with cowpundiers, sportsmen, and weather-
beaten stores Settled in 1882, it was named for E. K. Valentine, a Con-
gressional Representative.
i. Right from the mam street of Valentine on a sandy road through the city park
arch to LAKE MINNECHADUZA (adm. -free; boating, swimming, and fishing), 0.5 m.
The lake (L) was formed in 1892 when a local flour-milling company dammed
the waters of Minnechaduza to furnish power for the mills and to pump water for
the city water plant
Right from Lake Minnechaduza on a winding, hilly, tree-enclosed country road
that passes (R) the VALENTINE CITY PARK (picnicking and camping permitted) to
the STATE FISH HATCHERY (adm. free; open to visitors 7 a.m to 6pm. daily),
1.9 m.
Enclosed by a wire fence, its blue "holding ponds" vivid between green patches
of grass, the hatchery provides many of the bass and trout with which the numerous
lakes and streams of this region are stocked Several large ponds near the hatchery
office and the road are surrounded by pines The main hatchery was established in
1912, with only three ponds It has gradually been enlarged until in 1936 it com-
prised about 720 acres of land and 55 acres of water, in 39 ponds.
Early in 1932, 400 additional acres were acquired 16 miles south of Valentine, on
the head of Schlegel Creek. Here 14 ponds were built, covering almost 48 acres.
The Valentine hatchery also controls small ponds on State farm land near here, 12
on the Federal game reserve, 4 miles east of Valentine (see below), and 20 nurse
SNAKE FALLS
ponds on the trout streams from O'Neill to Chadron Three kinds of trout (rain-
bow, brook, and brown), as well as bass, crappies, bullheads, and sunfish, are
hatched at Valentine, the number of fingerhngs in the pools ranging from 750,000 to
1,000,000.
2 Left from Valentine on a dirt road to a junction at 1 m.; R to a junction with
another country road at about 11 m., along this road following the Niobrara River
and Snake Creek, to SNAKE FALLS, 25 m., an attractive 25-foot fall, just outside the
Niobrara Division of Nebraska National Forest
3 Right from Valentine on State 7 to the NIOBRARA GAME RESERVE, 5 m (adm.
free; 8-2 daily; complete tour of grounds requires more than 4 hrs., guide service
until 2pm daily except Sun.) This national reserve for the protection of big
game animals covers 16,681 acres of rough wooded areas and grassy sand-hill coun-
try bordering the Niobrara River. From 1879 to 1906 this land was part of the
Niobrara Military Reservation, established to control the Sioux Indians of the
Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt pro-
hibited shooting and trapping in the area Four years later, after a Government
survey of the ground, 13,000 acres were set aside by executive order as a protected
breeding ground for native birds The same year the Government enlarged the area
of the reserve and brought in a small herd of bison, the gift of John W. Gilbert
of Friend, Nebr Plans have been made to increase the reserve to 19,800 acres.
The 1937 census of big game animals shows 126 bison, 88 elk, 12 antelope, and
4 white-tailed deer In addition to game birds grouse, quail, prairie chicken,
plover, pheasant many native songbirds nest in the refuge Ducks of several va-
rieties swim on the ponds during migration Mallard, blue-wing teal, and green-
wing teal winter here During the winter the golden eagle and the bald eagle come
in from the north Small game animals native to the country are found along the
watercourses and in the more heavily wooded areas. Ponds and wells in the drier
section provide water for animals and birds
The Niobrara River, flowing turbulently through the northern part of the reserve,
has carved out loo-foot banks in the Brule clay Spring-fed creeks enter the river
at various points, three of them by waterfalls The country to the north, a rough
tableland rising several hundred feet above the valley floor, is cut by canyons and
316 TOURS
ravines, bordered with western yellow pme In the somewhat lower country just
south of the river are steep hills wooded with birch, oak, elm, cedar, and pme Still
farther to the south is the and sandhill region, which under regulated grazing is
covered with grasses. Valuable specimens have been gathered from two fossil-bed
strata in the reserve
On the SITE OF OLD FORT NIOBRARA (1879-1905), near the main office building
of the reserve, stands a small MUSEUM (open 8-12, 1-4 1 adm free). It has exhibits
of bird, mammal, reptile, and insect life, as well as of fossils found m this area.
Visitors to the museum are often greeted by tame deer, which nuzzle the visitor's
hands in search of food.
Scenic spots in the reserve include FORT FALLS, 0.5 m. northeast of museum;
WONDER FALLS, formerly called Shady Nook, 2 3 m east of museum, reached by
automobile, and SEARS FALLS, about 3 m. east of museum.
West of Valentine US 20 runs through sand-hill country. This region is
treeless, sparsely settled, and largely devoted to grazing The hills are
grass-covered, with typical * 'blowouts" and sandy stretches appearing from
time to time. The landscape varies with the season. In early summer hay
bottoms are green and uncut; lakes are broad and deep and blue. In the
fall yellow hay stacks dot the meadows.
NENZEL, 94 1 m. (3,114 alt., 76 pop ), is little more than a trading
post on a hill.
Left from Nenzel on State 97, graveled through an attractive wooded area and
sand hills to the PIONEER PRE-EMPTION HOMESTEAD of the historian A E Sheldon,
9 5 m., on a pine-covered slope
POOR'S RANCH, 9 7 m., another early ranch, is on the Niobrara River, at the
boundary of the forest reserve.
At 10 9 m is a boundary of the NIOBRARA DIVISION of the NEBRASKA
NATIONAL FOREST (adm. free; smoking prohibited, cars must have mufflers;
picnicking facilities} . Although the larger nurseries are in the Bessey Division
(Halsey), the Niobrara Division of the forest exceeds it in extent, having 115,834
acres along the Niobrara River, with 3,290 acres in the planted area Scattered
through the forest are 45 windmills and 8 fire-tool caches, near wells that provide
water for fire protection and irrigation. A lookout tower in the western, corner of
the tract guards a small planting area.
CODY, 101.5 m. (3,100 alt, 408 pop,), named for Thomas Cody, a
railroad construction foreman in early days, is a trading post for the Rose-
bud Indian Agency. With its gray and white frame stores lined up on a
single side of its graveled main street, Cody is very like a movie set for a
western thriller.
Left from Cody on a country road to BOILING SPRINGS RANCH (adm free, no
regular visiting hours), 10 m., one of the famous ranches in the early cattle era.
The great BOILING SPRINGS, a few hundred yards east of the ranch buildings, are
among the natural wonders of the region
At 126.1 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road to the COTTONWOOD LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS, 0.5 m.
(adm free) The 8o-acre lake is owned by the State, and stocked with bass, perch,
and sunfish.
At 152 5 m, is DANE HILL, one of the steepest of the many hills over
which the highway climbs after leaving the plateau country. Near the top
of this series of hills, the sand-hills recede to the northeast and south,
leaving a hard soil area bounded (L) by the Niobrara River and (R) by
South Dakota.
TOUR 7 3 1 ?
GORDON, 156.7 m. (3,556 alt, 1,958 pop.), has a more prosperous
air than many of its neighbors, being a shipping and trading center for
people within a radius of 50 miles Indians from the Sioux Reservation
occasionally visit Gordon and walk its streets; they do not wear tribal
costumes.
Gordon, which lies just outside the sand-hills area, was named for John
Gordon, one of the first settlers who attempted to travel into the Black
Hills with a tram of wagons when that country was still a part of Indian
territory. The Federal Government had forbidden white settlers to enter.
Overtaken south of Cody, in Cherry County, Gordon was stopped by a
lieutenant in command of a detachment of U.S. cavalry. His oxen were
turned loose, his wagons and freight burned, for which the lieutenant was
later dismissed from the service Doc Middleton, a semi-reformed out-
law, ran a temperance bar in Gordon for years after his release from
prison.
Left from Gordon on State 27, a sandy road, to the NIOBRARA RIVER, 11.2 m.
The old Kearney Trail to the Black Hills crossed the river at the SITE OF THE
NEWMAN RANCH, one of the early landmarks of this region, since divided up into
several ranches Newman Ranch was the first place where Jim Dahlman, the cele-
brated frontiersman who became mayor of Omaha, worked as a cowboy. There are
several fresh-water LAKES here (camping and boating facilities should be provided
beforehand; fishing free). Pine and cedar trees line the banks of the river and tribu-
tary creeks Wild flowers are numerous, as are pheasants, grouse, prairie chickens,
quail, and ducks in season
HOME OF "OLD JULES" SANDOZ, 25 m., is now well known because of Mari
Sandoz's spirited biography of her father (see LITERATURE) .
South of the highway the wide valley of the Niobrara River (L) is vis-
ible. To the north the country is rather rough and broken, rising gradu-
ally to a tableland dotted with scattered pines and irregular ledges of cap
rock.
RUSHVILLE, 1714 m. (3,741 alt, 1,006 pop.), named for Rush
Creek, has been visited by many celebrities, largely because the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation in South Dakota is most easily accessible from this
point. Among them were Theodore Roosevelt, Civil Service commissioner
at the time of his visit; "Buffalo Bill" Cody; Gen Nelson A. Miles; John
J. Pershing, when a lieutenant in the Sixth Cavalry serving in the Indian
war of 1891, Frederic Remington, the artist; and Rex Beach, the author.
Calvin Coohdge, while President of the United States, came here to visit
Pine Ridge, and was made an honorary chief of the Sioux; one of the
most widely circulated pictures of him, that in the big Stetson, was taken
nearby
HAY SPRINGS, 184.6 m. (3,831 alt, 853 pop.), lies in meadow
country watered by a number of springs. The SHEFFNER HOME (private;
adm. free) contains a collection of fossilized bones of prehistoric camels,
horses, elephants, and fishes.
The Friendly Festival (three days m Aug. or Sept.) is an annual harvest
celebration, to which farmers bring their best products for display, Games
are provided for children, and carnival concessions occupy the main street.
318 TOURS
There are baseball games, concerts, community plays, and exhibitions of
fancy-work, flowers, cookery, and 4-H Club work.
A boat race, sponsored by the local American Legion, is held every year
in July at Lake Walgren (see below).
1. Left from Hay Springs on a graveled road to the WALGREN LAKE STATE
RECREATION GROUNDS, 7 m. (adm, free, camping permitted, one cabin;
grocery store). The lake, partly owned by the State, has been stocked with crappies,
sunfish, and bullheads. There is a bathing wharf for swimmers The lake is illumi-
nated at night.
2. Left from Hay Springs on State 87, graveled, to junction with a dirt road,
13 m ; L. here to the FOSSIL QUAJRRY, 20 m., by the Niobrara River. The quarry,
excavated by the American Museum of Natural History of New York, has pro-
duced an abundance of fossils. The gravels from which the bones are taken belong
to the Pleistocene age. Among the forms that occur frequently in these deposits are
the mammoth and the early horse.
Between Hay Springs and Chadron a distinct change occurs in the char-
acter of the countryside The terrain becomes semimountainous, with yel-
lowish hills and buttes and occasional pine trees.
Pine Ridge (R), a line of long rolling hills, is covered with pine. A
few scattered buttes appear, seeming to rise directly from the prairie, their
scarred sides almost white under the glare of the sun.
This bare, wild country played a part in one of the most amazing stones
of the Old West, the saga of Hugh Glass, In the fall of 1823 Glass set out
for the Yellowstone Valley with a party led by Andrew Henry Traveling
up the Missouri and then the Grand, the party had reached what is now
the northwestern corner of South Dakota when Glass's great adventure be-
gan. One day he was out hunting in advance of the party and suddenly
found himself face to face with a huge grizzly bear. Now the grizzly is a
formidable animal at any time, as San Francisco gamblers once proved by
matching one with a tiger ; the tiger was killed within a few seconds. A
grizzly with cubs, as in this instance, is doubly formidable and dangerous.
Before Glass could move, the bear had struck him down, pounced upon
him and had begun to bite off large chunks of flesh, which she dropped
to her cubs. Glass was horribly mangled by the time his screams brought
rescue. Unable to carry him and certain that he would die, the party
pressed on as winter was approaching. A purse of $80 was collected and
given to two men who were to remain behind to give Glass a decent burial.
But Glass did not die, much to the alarm of his nurses. On the fth day
they could stand it no longer and slipped away, taking with them all of
the injured man's belongings his gun, his knife, his flint, everything of
use and value which they turned over to Henry as proof that Glass had
died.
Recovering from his delirium and realizing that he had been deserted,
Glass was filled with a towering rage and an invincible will to live long
enough to take revenge. He lay in the thicket for a time, living on fruits
and berries. Still unable to walk, he set out for the nearest post, trying
to drag himself the 100 miles to Fort Kiowa on the Missouri When it
seemed that he was too weak from starvation to proceed farther, he had
the luck to come upon a pack of coyotes attacking a buffalo calf. Driving
CROW BUTTE
them off, Glass fell upon the calf and ate most of it raw, taking along
what remained of it
Glass finally reached Fort Kiowa and there met another party proceed-
ing to the Yellowstone. Notwithstanding his condition, he insisted upon
joining it and set out the very day of his arrival. Disaster overtook the
party not many days later near the site of the future Bismarck, where the
Ankara attacked and killed all but Glass, who was later rescued by the
Mandans and carried to Fort Tilton nearby. But he did not remain there
even overnight, setting out alone that very day for the Yellowstone post.
He arrived 38 days later, only to find that the men who had deserted him
had left for Fort Atkinson (near Omaha). Glass immediately turned
about to follow them, joining a party of four carrying a report to the fort.
The couriers proceeded up the Powder River and crossed to the North
Platte, where they built bullboats of bufialo hides to float down the stream.
Along the way they fell in with a band of Arikara whose chief had re-
cently been killed in a skirmish with Henry's trappers. As the Indians
seemed to be friendly, the party accompanied them into their tepees, where
they were trapped; two were killed.
Again Glass found himself alone as he made his way across northwest-
ern Nebraska toward Fort Kiowa, having nothing but a flint and a knife,
but he was not perturbed. "These little fixins," he said later, "make a man
feel right pert when he is three or four hundred miles from anybody or
anywhere." Living on the new-born buffalo calves he caught on the prai-
rie, he reached Fort Kiowa and promptly started down the river. At long
320 TOURS
last, in June 1824, he walked into Fort Atkinson to confront those who
had so treacherously left him in his extremity almost a year before. No
doubt they thought he was a ghost or a phantom created by a guilty con-
science. Although Glass had sworn revenge, his rage had burned itself
out during his great hardships, and he was willing to forget and be
friends.
At 186 m. is the junction with the Beaver Scenic Rd., graveled.
Right on this road, which runs up hill and down for 5 miles and then winds into
wild, almost uninhabited country to (L) TULLOSS GROVE (adm 5$), 7 m. In the
dense growth of trees in the hollow are cabins, a spring, and a golf course
Right from Tulloss Grove, at 11 m is a view of SQUAW TIT, a swelling mound
straight ahead through the archway of trees, so named by pioneers
At 15 m. is SHERIDAN'S GATE (L), some distance from the road. The buttes were
so named because Philip A. Sheridan presumably passed between them on his way
to Fort Sheridan.
CHADRON, 205 m. (3,371 alt., 4,606 pop.), seat of Dawes County,
is at the edge of the White River Valley, with timber-covered Pine Ridge
in the background. The town is surrounded by buttes and canyons. Both
the soil and climate of this region are favorable for stock raising; corn and
small grains make up the bulk of the crops. Chadron has many good
houses, and in general appearance is a typical western college town.
The town was namea f or a French-Indian "squaw man" (Chardon),
who lived and trapped in this region In 1884-1885, while waiting for
the new town to be platted, the settlers of Chadron lived in O'Lmn (see
above), 6 miles west of this place, upon one of the Sun Dance grounds of
the Sioux (see Tour 6).
Like most frontier towns, this one was wild and rough in its early years
when Dawes County was cattle country, and cowboys frequently came into
town to shoot up the saloons. In 1893, the year of the World's Fair in
Chicago, Chadron was much in the news because of the i,ooo-Mile Horse
Race from Chadron to Chicago, promoted by a publicity-minded news-
paperman in Chadron. Nine riders competed for the first prize of $1,000.
Doc Middleton, former outlaw, was among the competitors. The race was
started by the Chadron police chief at 5 30 pm, June 13, 1893. The
Humane Society, which had attempted to stop the race, kept an eye on the
horses all the way across Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. John Berry was first
to reach the goal, the entrance to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, com-
pleting the ride in 13 days and 16 hours.
Chadron is divisional headquarters of the Black Hills and the Wyo-
ming division of the Chicago & North Western Ry., which has general
shops, warehouses, and storage yards here. Industrial activities here in-
clude flour milling, oil refining, and the manufacture of dairy products.
Great quantities of seed potatoes, grown in the surrounding territory, are
shipped from here to southern growers. Seed alfalfa is a leading crop.
The NEBRASKA STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, at the southern edge of
town, celebrated its silver jubilee in 1937 One of the last State normal
schools established m Nebraska, its enrollment has increased rapidly. The
school has seven modern brick buildings; the gymnasium is finished in
TOUR 7 3 21
marble and oak, and contains a well-equipped banquet room and a swim-
ming pool.
Nearly two-fifths of the campus of 213 acres is covered with buttes and
canyons. Extending across its southern end, pine-clad Pine Ridge forms a
picturesque background for the buildings.
Right from Chadron to the SITES OF THE OLD WHETSTONE AGENCY and THE
SPOTTED TAIL AGENCY, 15 m , which figured prominently in the frontier history of
this area The former, established on the White River at the mouth of Beaver Creek,
a point 15 miles northeast of Chadron, was moved here in 1871. Later it became
the headquarters of Chief Spotted Tail and his band.
Just west of Chadron is the junction with State 19 (see Tour 6).
At 208 m. there is a large natural formation (L) whose shape sug-
gested its name, TRUNK BUTTE,
WHITNEY, 218 8 m. (3,411 alt, 177 pop,), first called Dawes City,
then Earth Lodge, was given its present name in honor of Peter Whitney,
town site agent for the railroad. It lies on the route of the old stage trail
between Valentine and Fort Robinson.
1. Right from Whitney on a dirt road to WHITNEY LAKE (adm free), 3 m., a
body of water created for irrigation purposes but also used for fishing.
2. Left from Whitney on a country road to the SITE OF OLD FORT USELESS, 9 m.,
now on a ranch. It was built for protection against Indians but never occupied.
At 228 m. (L) is a landmark known as the BLACK HILLS TREATY
TREE, The monument, made of fossil trees, stands on the approximate
site of the tree under which was held the abortive Council of 1875, when
an attempt was made to force the Indians to sell the Black Hills.
At 229 m. CROW BUTTE stands (L) apart from Pine Ridge, its straight
high walls visible for many miles. According to legend, a band of Crow
Indians, hard pushed by a Sioux war party, was forced to retreat to the
top of this butte for protection. The Sioux placed their guards on all trails
leading to the summit, and patiently waited for the Crow to come down
and surrender. But the leader of the Crow band conceived the idea of ty-
ing blankets together to make a rope. All the young warriors escaped
down the perpendicular north wall of the butte, 100 feet high. The old
men among the Crow, to prevent any suspicion on the part of the Sioux,
sang and danced all night on top of the butte. No one knows how long
the Sioux kept up their vigil before they discovered they were besieging
just a few old men. But legend does have it that the old men were not
killed, for the Sioux noted what they took to be a spiritual message in the
form of white clouds floating over the top of the butte, and later they
made a lasting peace with the Crow.
At 230 m. US 20 meets a dirt road.
Left on this road to the RIM OF THE WORLD DRIVE (inquire at one of filling
stations) Not marked on maps, this rough, sandy road cannot be followed unless
the traveler is acquainted with the country or has a guide At 9 m., the highest
point on Pine Ridge is reached For 10 miles the road is in the heart of the butte
country, for the remaining 22 miles it is over farming and grazing land. The land-
scape along the route is extremely varied.
322 TOURS
At 32 m. is the junction with State 19 (see Tour 6).
CRAWFORD, 230.5 m. (3,673 alt., 1,703 pop.), is on White River,
in a valley between two ranges of Pine Ridge. Rolling country falls away
to the south. The rough land along the ridge is excellent for grazing. Irri-
gation ditches from the White River furnish a water supply for the town
and for irrigating farms.
Crawford was founded in 1885 and named for Lt. Emmet Crawford of
Fort Robinson. A frontier boom town, Crawford grew from a settlement
with one tent and part of a frame building to a village of 200 inhabitants
within a few days. Its first settlers were typical frontier people carpen-
ters, blacksmiths, day laborers, hunters, freighters, cattlemen, land agents,
gamblers, lewd women, Negroes, and Indians. During the period of its
settlement it was a wide-open town, with a flourishing red-light district.
Calamity Jane lived in a tent here for a short time. When Indians from
South Dakota come to town today, they are greeted with signs in taverns:
"No beer sold to Indians or minors."
The CITY PARK (swimming pool; golf links; race tracks; ptcnzc -facili-
ties) came into the hands of the town in 1906, a grant from the Federal
Government of a part of the Fort Robinson Military Reservation. On the
entrance gate is a tablet dedicated to Moses P. Kinkaid, Nebraska Con-
gressman, who fathered a Homestead Act (see HISTORY). Inside the
park is a monument commemorating the Black Hills Treaty.
At 232 m. is SADDLE BUTTE (R), an irregularly shaped formation.
At 233 m. is the SITE OF RED CLOUD AGENCY (L), on the Fort Robin-
son Military Reservation. For years this was the headquarters of Chief Red
Cloud, head of the Ogalalla Sioux. Here the Black Hills Treaty of 1876,
which ceded the Black Hills territory to the whites, was signed. This
treaty, the legality of which was seriously questioned, followed the Battle
of the Little Big Horn in which General Custer and his command were
annihilated by the Sioux under Crazy Horse.
Near this point (R) is GIANT'S COFFIN or RED CLOUD BUTTE.
FORT ROBINSON, 233-9 m. (3,784 alt., 175 pop.), is one of the
three Army posts in Nebraska still maintained for military purposes, serv-
ing as an important remount service unit. Lying in the northeastern cor-
ner of the Fort Robinson Military Reservation, which covers 36,000 acres
along the White River in Dawes and Sioux counties, Fort Robinson has a
most dramatic setting. It is cupped in a deep valley of Pine Ridge and
flanked by high ridges and plateaus. Behind it a wall of castle-like cliffs
rises sheerly to 1,000 feet.
Fort Robinson was established near the Red Cloud Agency in the heart
of the Sioux country in the spring of 1874, immediately preceding the last
great Indian uprising in the history of the West. Made desperate by the
loss of the prairies, the wanton slaughter of buffalo, by innocent and de-
liberate violations of ambiguous treaties, the Great Plains tribes Sioux,
Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Kiowa took counsel and determined on armed
resistance. At the council fires sat Crow King, Big Foot, Hump, Touch-
the-Cloud, Crazy Horse, Rain-in-the-Face, Sitting Bull, Spotted Tail, and
SMILEY CANYON
Red Cloud. Foreseeing the destruction of their people, Spotted Tail and
Red Cloud would have submitted to the terms of the Fort Lararme Treaty
of 1868. But the demands made upon them were unreasonable, for too
many whites subscribed to the principle that the only good Indians were
dead ones.
For five years Fort Robinson was a scene of excitement, The battles of
Powder River, Tongue River, Slim Buttes, the Rosebud, Custer's disaster
at the Little Big Horn, Mackenzie's clash with the Cheyenne near Crazy
Woman's Fork, and Miles' at Wolf Mountain had repercussions at the
fort But in the end the chiefs, one by one, led in their people, convinced
that the buffalo would not last through another snow. Crazy Horse, who
was the first to break Custer's line at the Little Big Horn, was last to come
in and was stabbed to death here in the guardhouse.
In the old post CEMETERY lie soldiers, civilians, and Indians of the
wars, among them California Joe, Custer's favorite guide, and Little Bat
(Baptiste Gamier), scout and big-game hunter.
Today, as a unit of the Army Remount Service, the fort raises fine
horses and mules on its wide fenced pastures. The depot accommodates
7,200 animals, representing an investment of $3,000,000
The fort has a modern dairy, swine herd, poultry flock, and truck gar-
den, A number of fish ponds belonging to the Federal hatchery at Craw-
ford dot the area. The Civilian Conservation Corps renovated building
324 TOURS
and grounds, conditioned the wood and timber reservation, built dams,
and completed a system of erosion control.
From Fort Robinson US 20 ascends SMILEY CANYON to the top of Pine
Ridge. Following the ridge for a few miles (winding road, proceed cau-
tiously), it runs almost due west to Harrison, lying on a high and rather
flat tableland.
HARRISON, 257 m. (4,857 alt, 480 pop.), was named for President
Benjamin Harrison. At the northern end of the graveled mam street, a
block or two off the highway, is the Sioux COUNTY COURTHOUSE, a gray
stone building. Facing it is the red and white brick building of the Sioux
COUNTY CONSOLIDATED HIGH SCHOOL. There are many vacant buildings,
their fronts plastered with posters, along the wind-blown street. The gen-
eral store, with its hitching rail, is a frame wooden building of weather-
beaten gray. Harrison is a ranch center, with stockyards along the graveled
road that forms the southern boundary of the town
1. Right from Harrison on a country road to a fork at 3 m.
a. Right from this fork into SOWBELLY CANYON On one occasion a number of
soldiers on scout duty from Fort Robinson were besieged here by Indians for sev-
eral days, and nearly starved before help arrived The only food their rescuers had
to offer was dry salt bacon in Plains language, sowbelly hence the name
Right 4 m. from Sowbelly Canyon to MONROE CANYON, in a forested region con-
taining many buttes
b. Left from the fork to the SITE OF THE BATTLE OF WARBONNET CREEK, 12 m.
In 1876 some 800 Cheyenne from the Red Cloud Agency fled the agency and headed
northward. The Fifth Cavalry, with Buffalo Bill as chief scout, went in pursuit and
met them on Warbonnet Creek The Fifth Cavalry swept into action, and soon
forced the Indians to retreat to the agency Here, so runs the story, William F.
"Buffalo Bill" Cody fought a duel with Yellow Hand, a Cheyenne warrior Killing
his opponent, Cody lifted the red man's warbonnet and scalped him. "The first
scalp for Custer 1 " he is said to have shouted.
2. Left from Harrison on State 29 to the AGATE SPRINGS FOSSIL QUARRIES,
23 m., rich in prehistoric remains, on the Niobrara River near the western border
of Nebraska Here the river has eroded the high Box Butte Plateau to a depth of
400 feet and exposed a rich deposit of Miocene fossils
The quarries and the adjoining COOK MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, which
houses many of the finds, are on the Capt James H Cook ranch, a tract of cattle
land extending 10 miles on both sides of the river. Picnicking is permitted on the
bluegrass lawns in the shade of cottonwoods.
The presence of fossils in northwestern Nebraska was long ago reported by
trappers who brought in bones and teeth found along the streams Leidy, in his
Ancient Fauna of Nebraska, drew the attention of the scientific world to the area
as early at 1850 Captain Cook's interest in the region was aroused when he came as
a cattleman to Sioux County in 1878. From Chief Red Cloud he heard tales of
"stone bones" out in the tablelands According to one story, a group of Indians
threatened with slow starvation were granted speedy release by the Great Spirit
through the arrival of a "thunder-horse" that killed them all To substantiate this
story, Red Cloud produced an agatized molar 4 inches in diameter The tooth was
later identified as that of a titanothere, a large animal related to the horse and
rhinoceros families, which lived about 30 million years ago
Later Captain Cook discovered the present fossil quarries while on a trip from
Fort Robinson to Fort Laramie, and eventually he settled near them
In recent years, the Agate Springs quarries have been worked by several expedi-
tions The first was sent out in 1904 by the Carnegie Museum The chief quarries
are on Carnegie Hill (Nebraska), University Hill, Bear Dog Hill, and at Amherst
Point These hills and buttes have been cut by erosion, revealing the fossil deposits
in a layer of rock, averaging about a foot in thickness, which extends through the
TOUR 8 325
hills 60 feet below the silicified limestone layer capping the hills It represents what
was once a layer of mud, in which many animals were embedded while the valley
was building up eons ago. As the mud and its contents solidified, many fossils un-
derwent curious changes. Hollow bones and skulls are occasionally found filled with
beautiful, transparent calcite crystals.
The task of excavation, after the rock above the fossil beds has been blasted out
and picked away, is difficult and exacting Fine awls, brushes, hardening solutions,
plaster, bandages, and splints, all used with great patience, are required to remove
the bones and get them to the laboratory unharmed, to be assembled there by an
expert paleontologist
The most abundant fossil remains are those of a small two-horned rhinoceros.
Interesting and infrequent finds include specimens of the dmohyus, a giant hog, and
the queer claw-footed moropus, which resembled both the ancestral horse and
rhinoceros Specimens have also been found of prehistoric camels, alligators, hawks,
oreodonts odd little animals without modern counterparts and several types of
carnivores A few specimens are housed at the adjoining museum Fossils have been
sent to museums at Yale, Princeton, the American Museum of Natural History in
New York, the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh, and others Some of the finest
specimens are on display in Morrill Hall at the University of Nebraska.
At 266 m. US 20 crosses the Wyoming Line, 23 miles east of Lusk,
Wyo. (see WYOMING, Tour 6 A).
< <#> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tour 8
(Missouri Valley, Iowa) Fremont Grand Island Kearney North
Platte Sidney (Cheyenne, Wyo.) ; US 30
Missouri River to Wyoming Line, 447.7 m.
Union Pacific B. R. and United Air Lines parallel route throughout.
Between Fremont and Wyoming Line, Union Pacific busses, Chicago and North
Western busses, Interstate Transit Lines, and Burlington Trail ways follow this route.
Accommodations available at short intervals, hotels chiefly in cities
Concrete paving between Iowa Line and Ogallala except for a few short graveled or
oiled gravel stretches; oiled between Ogallala and Wyoming Line, few curves and
no steep hills or hazardous railroad crossings.
US 30 is the chief east-west road across Nebraska; it is also the most in-
teresting historically.
For two-thirds of its way it closely follows the Mormon Trail and for
one-third roughly parallels the Oregon Trail, which, west of Grand Island,
ran along the south bank of the river.
For the most part the Oregon Trail was merely a broad course whose
direction was determined by topography and by supply stations Emigrants
crossed the Missouri River m a dozen different places and headed toward
Grand Island The oldest approach, that from Independence, Mo , entered
what is now the State of Neoraska near the boundary of Gage and Jeffer-
326 TOURS
<on Counties. At the Fork of the Plattes most early travelers turned north-
west and followed the North Platte to Fort Laramie, for many years the
most important supply point and information bureau between the Mis-
souri and Oregon Territory.
The pioneer roads bore various names through the decades, according
to the goals and types of emigrants. The Mormons were not the first to use
the north bank of the Platte; they were merely the first large organi2ed
group to travel along it. After 1848 both the Mormon and Oregon trails
were sometimes called the California Trail; after Ben Holladay's stage
line was in operation parts of the Oregon Trail were called the Overland.
The history of the old trails in Nebraska has four phases. The first
was the period of trail blazing, which began in 1813, when the eastbound
Astorians came down the Platte; the second, the period of major Oregon
migration, which began in 1841 ; the third, the period of the California
gold rush ; and the fourth, the period of western settlement, when this road
was "the greatest traveled highway in the world, wider and more beaten
than a city street, with hundreds of thousands of people passing over it."
When in 1846 the Mormons were driven out of Nauvoo, 111., Brigham
Young led them across Iowa to the banks of the Missouri. He was con-
vinced that it was useless for his followers to attempt to build up a com-
munity in the settled East and, influenced by Fremont's reports on the coun-
try beyond the Continental Divide, he prepared to lead the Mormons, as
he said, "out of the United States." The advance groups settled first on the
east bank of the river, in what is now Council Bluffs, but Young soon
transferred the majority to the west bank, making a camp, called Winter
Quarters, in what is now a suburb of Omaha. Early in the spring of 1847
Young selected a group of 146 people, who called themselves the Mor-
mon Pioneers, to travel in advance with him to find the Promised Land.
This band followed the north bank of the Platte, roughly the route of US
30, in part to avoid meeting possible enemies using the Oregon Trail. For
a decade and a half the route selected and marked by Brigham Young was
used annually by Mormon travelers. It ran well back from the bank of the
Platte to avoid sandy swampy ground, led to the mouth of the Loup
River, near the present Columbus in Platte County, continued up the
north bank of the Loup to a point near the present Palmer, then crossed
the Loup and proceedfed south, reaching the Platte at about the point
where wood River now is.
Later, the crossing near Palmer was abandoned in favor of a ford some
two miles east of the present Fullerton, which brought the emigrants to
the Platte some distance east of Grand Island. From there they wandered
along the Wood River Valley. For about 40 miles they found firm level
ground but a little west of the present Gothenburg the trail ran over some
hills and through swamps and sand
Because the road laid out by the Mormons was shorter than the Oregon
Trail, and had better grass and water for much of the way, it carried a
large part of the traffic to the gold fields during the years following 1848.
The first wagon trains of the Salt Lake Express crept over the trail in
1858. The following year these lumbering vehicles made way for the
TOUR 8 3 2 7
swifter coaches of the line that became famous after 1862 under the man-
agement of Ben Holladay, who provided transportation between St. Jo-
seph and Sacramento. For 18 months, in 1860-61, until the transconti-
nental telegraph was completed, the spectacular relay race of the Pony Ex-
press was run on the Oregon Trail.
After 1868 the Overland stages were superseded in Nebraska by the
jerry-built coaches of the new Union Pacific Railroad, but the back country
was served by stages until about 1900.
Today in Nebraska only a few ruts remain, some of them outlined in
summer by wavering lines of yellow sunflowers, to mark the trails worn
by the countless wagon trains.
Scemcally, US 30 runs through one general type of country prairie
and there is little if any contrast between the undulating hills of eastern
Nebraska and the flat land of the central and western sections, although
there is a slow steady rise towards the West. The highway touches the
edge of the sand hills west of Gothenburg.
Section a. MISSOURI RIVER to KEARNEY, 178.1 m. US 30
At m. US 30 crosses the Missouri River on the Abraham Lincoln
Memorial Bridge (car and driver 500, passengers 50 each), 11 miles west
of Missouri Valley, Iowa (see IOWA, Tour 13). Up the "Big Muddy,"
useless for modern navigation, went Manuel Lisa, Andrew Henry, the
Lewis and Clark party, the Astorians, and most of the other men known
in early western history.
BLAIR, 2.6 m. (1,122 alt., 2,791 pop.), seat of Washington County,
is about 80 feet above the Missouri River on the second table of a plateau,
with hills on the north and south.
Blair was founded in 1869, and during that year the county seat was
moved here from Fort Calhoun. The town was named in honor of John I.
Blair, who built the first railroad through the county. In 1864 Blair and
his associates became owners of the franchises of the Sioux City and
Pacific R.R. Company. They were voted $75,000 in county bonds and at
once began construction through Washington County. The building of the
road determined the site of this town.
Although there are some small industries here, this is primarily a
trade center. The BLAIR CANNING FACTORY, at the eastern edge of town,
contracts with the neighboring farmers to plant corn for delivery in the
fall at current prices. The HALLER PROPRIETARY COMPANY PLANT, on
West Nebraska St., compounds a variety of medicines and extracts, and
manufactures the Porter Incubator, the invention of a Blair resident.
Christ Bearing the Cross, an oil brought from Germany in 1880, hangs
in a vault in the COURTHOUSE ; the name of the artist is unknown.
The first settlers here were Scandinavians. Today the majority of the
population is of Danish descent, and most of the rest is of German, Swed-
ish, or Norwegian. The DANISH LUTHERAN PUBLISHING HOUSE, at Front
and 5th Sts., is owned and operated by the United Danish Evangelical
Church. It prints all the Sunday school and church literature for this
synod.
328 TOURS
Right from Blair on West St., graveled, to DANA COLLEGE, 5 m , housed in
three red-brick buildings on the side of a hill The college was established in 1884
as Trinity Seminary for the training of students for the ministry in the Danish
Evangelical Lutheran Church It still functions in this capacity but has broadened its
courses to cover a four-year liberal arts course, granting the bachelor of arts degree
The college is coeducational and has an average enrollment of 225.
At 3 m. is a boulder marking the SITE OF THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE in
the district, which was built in 1866. The inscription on the boulder says
that it is also a marker on "the Old Territorial Military Trail Between
Omaha and Decatur, Established by the Government in 1855."
In ARLINGTON, 17.7 m. (1,162 alt, 622 pop.), is the W. E. AN-
TRIM GARDEN (open; -free), in which is a maze of canals with wind- and
water-powered mechanical contrivances, built by the owner "to pass the
time." In the garden is a model of a feudal castle with moat and draw-
bridge and a collection of unusual bottles.
FREMONT, 25,4 m. (1,195 alt., 11,407 pop.) (see FREMONT).
Points of Interest. Midland College, First Congregational Church, Western Theo-
logical Seminary, Lutheran Orphans' Home, and others
Fremont is at the junction with US 77 (see Tour 2).
At 29.4 m. (L) are the FREMONT STATE RECREATION GROUNDS (adm.
free; camping -facilities; fishing permitted 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Here are 15
sand-pit lakes stocked with bass, crappies, sunfish, catfish, and bullheads.
Signs by the pits tell the varieties of fish in each, and the permissible lim-
its of the catch. Nearby are many trees.
At 31.2 m. a Mormon- Overland Trail marker (R) indicates the SITE
OF LINCOLN, a town that existed from 1856 to 1868. First named Albion,
for the Albion Ranch or Albion Hotel that was here, the settlement be-
came Lincoln when the post office was established. But two and a half
years later the name was changed to Timberville because of Timberville
Lake, where travelers stopped for water. The town disappeared after the
development of Ames began.
Tall trees here line one side (R) of the highway for a mile.
NORTH BEND, 40.2 m. (1,275 alt -> z* 108 PP-)> was settled on July
4, 1856, by several Scottish families from Illinois.
Left from North Bend on graveled State 79, to the Platte River, 1 m., from
which point INDIAN PEAK, the largest in a small range, is visible (R). An incident
of early days suggested the name An Indian chief and his band had come from
Council Bluffs to Turton's Island, now known as Bobkies' Island, to trap beaver.
They were caught in a blizzard, and the chief's son contracted pneumonia and died.
He was carried 3 miles southwest to what is now known as Indian Peak, where
he was buried on top of the hill In the spring the Indians returned and took the
body back to Council Bluffs where they rebuned it. For several years thereafter the
Indians brought bowls of water and crackers to Indian Peak to feed the spirit of
the departed
SCHUYLER, 55 2 m. (1,350 alt, 2,588 pop ), seat of Colfax County,
was named, as was the county, for Schuyler Colfax, Vice President of the
United States in 1869 wnen the town was platted. In the same year it be-
came the county seat. The COMMERCIAL HOTEL was built by H. P. Upton
HARVESTING POTATOES
m 1868. Schuyler was the first point on the Union Pacific from which
Texas cattle were shipped.
Situated m the level farming country of the Platte River Valley, this is
a trade center. The population of 1930 was only about 400 greater than
the population of 1900. Many of the inhabitants are Irish or Bohemian by
birth.
In this vicinity in the i86o's, according to one emigrant, three or four
Indians on ponies suddenly "appeared riding towards us waving their
arms and shouting. We slowed down our teams, but kept moving slowly
and commenced to get our guns ready in case this really meant war. It
was the first time either of us had ever met an Indian on his own hunting
grounds and to say we were frightened is to put it mildly. There was no
house in sight. There was no line of retreat. The Platte river cut us off to
the east and south and there was nothing to shelter us anywhere, only the
plains and the prairie grass to cover us. As they came within speaking dis-
tance we could hear that they were yelling, 'Taboch, taboch '' In short,
they were perfectly harmless and were only begging for chewing tobacco.
We shook our head. 'No chew taboch!' And they turned as quickly as they
had come. 'Heap dam lie' was the limit of their parting salute. As we
drove into the wilderness of grass and plain, a few miles farther on we
saw a small patch of white clover growing among the wild grasses along-
side the trail"
At 66.8 m. is the canal for the Loup River Project (see below), which
carries water from the Diversion Dam ( see Tour 3) under the creeks and
the railroads in concrete siphons to the Columbus powerhouse.
At 68.8 m. is a junction with a country road.
Right on this road to the COLUMBUS POWERHOUSE of the Loup River Project
(see below), 18m, where three turbines under a ii2-foot head of water develop
39,900 kilowatts at 13,800 volts
COLUMBUS, 73 m. (1,447 alt -> 6,898 PP-) seat f Platte County,
330 TOURS
was founded in 1856 by a group from Columbus, Ohio. The town, settled
10 years before the Union Pacific R.R. reached this point, developed as a
supply point on the trail, and many large caravans made it a stopping
point on the way West Ezra Meeker in 1852 passed through Columbus
and crossed the Loup River at this point. This was the home of two men
prominent in Nebraska Indian-war history Maj. Frank North and Capt.
Luther North. Part of the population is of German, Swiss, or Polish ex-
traction.
Most of the 26 industries here are typical of those in midwestern towns
of this area. A WOODEN-SOLE SHOE FACTORY, 2207 nth St., manufac-
tures foot-wear for use in packing houses, foundries, and steel mills. The
Nebraska Continental Telephone Company has its headquarters here. At
the LIVESTOCK SALES PAVILION, western side of town, a sale is conducted
every Saturday, starting at i.oo p.m. and often lasting until midnight.
The building seats 1,000.
The town, lying along the Loup River near its confluence with the
Plattc, is the headquarters of the huge LOUP RIVER PUBLIC POWER DIS-
TRICT PROJECT, first called the Columbus-Genoa Project. In 1936 the
State's three major power and irrigation projects were coordinated into
what has been called "the Little TVA," which extends for 200 miles
across central Nebraska. The Loup River Project covers the lower valley
of the Loup in Nance and Platte Counties. Its program includes only
power development, to augment the supply system of Columbus, Fremont,
Norfolk, Lincoln, Omaha, Sioux City, and other towns. A 3 5 -mile canal,
supplied by a diversion dam at Genoa (see Tour 3), is tapped at the
Columbus Power House (see above) and the Monroe Power House (see
Tour 3).
Columbus is at the junction with US 81 (see Tour 3).
DUNCAN, 81.1 m. (1,495 alt., 241 pop.), was laid out in October
1871.
Left from Duncan on a graveled, marked road to the KUENZLI MUSEUM, 2.5 m.
(adm. 15$, children 10$; open 7-6), owned by Dr. Frank Kuenzli and his son
tindo Dr. Kuenzh, a Swiss, came to America with his father in 1879 and studied
to become a veterinarian While still a child he developed a passion for making
collections. In the museum are hundreds of curious articles from all parts of the
world: reptiles, octopi, Australian birds and butterflies, pioneer and Indian relics,
and military equipment Free lectures and discussions of the collections are given
daily, sometimes several times a day if the number of visitors warrants it. On Sun-
days the lectures are often continuous.
CLARKS, 102.8 m. (1,623 &> 54 PP-) was named for Silas Clark,
a Union Pacific R.R. official. The town's first white settler, who came in
1867, found the Pawnee quite friendly.
At 105.5 m. on US 30 is junction with State 16, which crosses the
Platte.
Left on this graveled road to the DEXTER FARM, 2 m., on which is the SITE OF
THE GRAND PAWNEE HUNTING AND BURIAL GROUNDS, as well as the SITE OF A
PAWNEE VILLAGE. A second village site lies southwest on the farm. A hundred
years ago the course of the Platte River was a mile farther south than it now is, and
it was on this old riverbank that the two villages stood Neither village has been
TOUR 8
331
LONE TREE MONUMENT
excavated or investigated to any great extent; both are on tilled land Along the
edges of the ditches the charred remains of house poles and posts are imbedded in
the soil. Burnt clay and charcoal are also present The sites have been visited by
many curio hunters, who have earned away arrowheads, hoes, axes, pipes, toma-
hawks, and flintlock muskets.
CENTRAL CITY, 114.1 m. (1,699 alt, 2,474 PP-)> * s a kusy commu-
nity served by two railroads. Years ago this section was a wide tract of
rolling prairie with little vegetation and few trees, except for a lone giant
cottonwood on the south bank that served as a landmark for travelers. In
1858 the Lone Tree Ranch was established nearby and it in time became
one of the "ao-mile stopping places" for the Overland stagecoach on its
weekly trips. When the Union Pacific R.R. was built along the north bank
of the river the station established here was named Lone Tree, and in a
332 TOURS
short time three stores, six houses, and a tavern had been built. When the
town site was platted Lone Tree became Central City.
At 114.7 m. on US 30 is a junction with a dirt road.
Left on this River Road to the LONE TREE MONUMENT (L), 3 m,, on the site
of the old landmark, which was killed by the carving of names on its bark The
stone monument, about 10 feet tall, resembles the trunk of a tree When the trunk
was blown down in 1865, part of it was taken to the railroad station and placed on
the platform, where it became the prey of tourists. The banks of the Platte River
are now well wooded
LOCKWOOD, 130 m , is merely a railroad flag station indicated by a
marker alongside the right-of-way.
Left from Lockwood on a graveled road to a junction at 07 m., L here to the
WILLIAM JOHNSON FARM (visitors welcome), 1.2 m Early in January 1868, when
the Loup River was frozen solid and snow covered parts of the stream, a party of
hunters set out to hunt deer and elk They were John Vieregg and Hans Khngen-
berg, who were accompanied by two boys, Christian Gottsch and Christian Tramm
(Frauen). The second day, the men went off alone, leaving the boys in charge of the
team and supplies When the men returned, they found that the boys had been
killed, presumably by Indians, and that the team, blankets, robes, and other sup-
plies had disappeared. The boys' graves are on the farm
GRAND ISLAND, 136 m. (1,864 alt, 18,041 pop.) (see GRAND
ISLAND).
Points of Interest: Catholic Cathedral, American Crystal Sugar Company, Pioneer
Park, Memorial Park, Burnett Park, St. Francis Hospital, Grand Island Airport,
and others.
Grand Island is at the junction with US 281 (see Tour 4) and State 2
(see Tour 10).
US 30 follows Second St. through the city.
At 151 m. is the junction with a country road.
Right on this road to the HOWE FARM, 1 m ; R on private dirt road leading
across a field to an elm tree on the banks of Wood River, 2 m The Smith and
Anderson families came to the neighborhood in January 1862 One morning Smith,
his sons, and the Anderson boy started to the Platte to fell trees for the construc-
tion of cabins At noon, when Anderson came with a wagon to meet them, he found
Smith's wagon here among the willows. The men and horses were gone In the shal-
low water near the bank of the river lay the bodies of the four Anderson's son
was face downward in the sand, his body filled with arrows, while a few feet away
was Smith, grasping the hands of his two boys Presumably, Sioux had killed them.
When WOOD RIVER, 151 6 m. (1,967 alt., 751 pop.), was laid out
in 1874 by the Union Pacific R.R., it had been a thriving community for
two or three years. A. A. Baker, a Canadian, built the first general store.
The moving of the raikoad station resulted in the moving of the town.
The old town site is now occupied by the WOOD RIVER CATHOLIC CEM-
ETERY.
SHELTON, 159 m. (927 pop.), grew from a settlement known as
Wood River Center that stood several miles east of the present town. A
group of English converts to Mormonism, led by Edward Oliver, was trav-
eling to Salt Lake City when a broken axle forced the party to camp and
attempt to repair the break. It was irreparably damaged, however, and
TOUR 8 333
Mrs. Oliver persuaded her husband to turn back. The Olivers spent the
winter in a log hut on the banks of Wood River, about a mile west of the
present town and decided to settle here; Oliver built a store. When a town
was later established here, it absorbed the old settlement and was named
Shelton in honor of Nathaniel Shelton, another pioneer.
A garage is on the SITE OF A LOG STOCKADE, erected for protection
during Indian raids, and used as a depot for the Great Western Stage.
This town had one of the first newspapers published west of the Mis-
souri River, the Huntsman's Echo, established in 1858.
Soon after Brigham Young settled his followers on the land around the
Great Salt Lake the church council began sending groups of pioneers
abroad to proselytize and promote migration to the "Promised Land." The
cost of the journey across the Atlantic and the United States was high and,
because most converts were very poor, the Utah "saints" had to set up an
emigration financing fund. In the middle fifties, when the Utah crops
failed and it became impossible for the "saints" to buy oxteams and outfits
for the many Europeans who had already sailed, Brigham Young decided
to attempt to bring the immigrants on foot from the Missouri ; their lim-
ited possessions and the small children were to be carried in handcarts,
which the immigrants were to drag. Those in charge of the arrangements
along the Missouri lacked Young's executive ability and some of the
groups called brigades were sent off much too late in the season. They
had not reached the Continental Divide when winter overtook them, and
many died.
Members of the brigades starting early experienced hardship but reached
Salt Lake City without very heavy losses. More prosperous travelers who
drove by the pedestrians were distressed by the appearance they presented.
One wrote: "We met two trains, one of thirty and the other of fifty carts,
averaging about six to the cart. The carts were generally drawn by one man
and three women each, though some carts were drawn by women alone.
There were about three women to one man, and two-thirds of the women
single. It was the most motley crew I ever beheld. Most of them were Danes,
with a sprinkling of Welsh, Swedes, and English, and were generally from
the lower classes of their countries. Most could not understand what we said
to them. The road was lined for a mile behind the train with the lame, halt,
sick, and needy. Many were quite aged, and would be going slowly along,
supported by a son or daughter. Some were on crutches; now and then a
mother with a child in her arms and two or three hanging hold of her,
with a forlorn appearance, would pass slowly along ; others, whose condi-
tion entitled them to a seat in a carriage, were wending their way through
the sand. A few seemed in good spirits."
GIBBON, 165.2 m. (2,060 alt, 825 pop.), stands on the site of a
soldiers' colony. Col. John Sharp took advantage of the Homestead Act
and the completion of the Union Pacific R. R. to promote colonization by
ex-soldiers, with the cooperation of the railroad company and the War
Department. Free home sites and reduced railroad fares were offered to the
sixty-one colonists who were recruited in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Massachusetts, and other eastern States. The men arrived here on April 7,
334 TOURS
1871 ; each filed a claim to a quarter section of land and paid a filing fee
of $14 to the U. S. Land Office in Grand Island. Numbers from i to 61
were placed in a hat and shaken up, and each settler drew a number for
choice, not for specific plats. For a time the colonists lived in freight cars.
Settlement progressed rapidly and eight school districts were organized
during the first year.
On April 7, 1891, when the colony had reached its aoth birthday, a re-
union was held; this affair is now an annual event though the last of the
first settlers has died.
At 167 m. is the SITE OF THE JAMES E. BOYD RANCH, once called Ne-
braska Center. The ranch was a caravan stop and supply station. Boyd, who
later (1891-92) served as Governor of Nebraska, probably acquired the
ranch about 1858.
The first settlers of Nebraska Center doubtless came here because they
thought that the site about 3 miles from the Platte and 12 or 13 miles
northeast of Fort Kearney would have some measure of protection
against Indian attacks, and offer opportunities for developing trade.
A small brewery established on the banks of Wood River made about
10 kegs of beer at a time. The beverage was sold at the fort and in nearby
Dobytown for $6 to $8 a keg.
KEARNEY, 178.1 m. (2,146 alt, 8,575 PP-) seat of Buffalo County,
lies on a flat plain on the north side of the Platte River, The town was
named for Fort Kearney (see below) ; the name honored Gen. Stephen
Watts Kearny. (The misspelled name of the town and fort became statu-
tory.)
The first settlement here was called Kearney Junction. The charter of
the Burlington & Missouri R.R. (now the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy)
required that it make connection with the Union Pacific somewhere east of
the looth meridian. Fulfillment of this condition resulted in the establish-
ment of Kearney Junction. The town plat was filed on October 27, 1871.
On December 3, 1873, when the town was incorporated the name was
shortened.
At various times the inhabitants have had high hopes for Kearney. Be-
cause of its central geographic position they tried to have it made the cap-
ital of the State. When that plan failed a convention was held in St. Louis
to launch a drive for making Kearney the capital of the United States.
The town was larger during the boom of the eighties and nineties than it
is today.
Here are the STATE HOSPITAL, which can accommodate 160 tubercular
patients, and a STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, which has an enrollment of
more than 1,000. Both institutions are at the western end of the town.
Kearney is at the junction of US 83 (see Tour 5); between Kearney
and Elm Creek (see below) US 83 and US 30 are united.
Left from Kearney on (paved) State 10 to FORT KEARNEY STATE PARK
(free campsites; baseball diamond; picnicking facilities), 7 m., covering 80 acres
and holding giant cottonwoods, on the site of the famous frontier Army post Still
visible on the grounds axe rifle pits and other earthworks, and a grass-covered mound
FORT KEARNEY MONUMENT
336 TOURS
that was once the powder magazine in which munitions were stored for military use
between the Missouri River and Fort Laramie.
The first Fort Kearney, a blockhouse on the Missouri River at what is now
Nebraska City, was built in 1846-1847 Soon after this first post was occupied it
was determined to move it to a point that would give more protection to emi-
grants on the Oregon Trail.
In June 1848, Lt Daniel P. Woodbury, who chose the site, came here with 175
men and began the construction of fortifications, making and sun-drying adobe
brick and building sod stables Plans drawn in 1852 show that the fort included
two corner blockhouses of heavy timber, powder and guard houses, a lookout (ac-
cessible by ladder) extending along the entire ridge, and officers' quarters. Numer-
ous barracks and other service buildings were added in succeeding years.
During the Civil War regular troops were withdrawn, and the fort was manned
by volunteers, including a number of former Confederate soldiers, who were called
Galvanized Yankees. In 1865 a troop of Pawnee was enlisted to help hold the
Sioux in check, and these men continued to serve here during the building of the
railroad When the railroad displaced the wagon train, the usefulness of the fort
was over It was abandoned in 1871, and a few years later the military reservation
was thrown open for settlement.
Section b. KEARNEY to OGALLALA, 145.4 m. US 30.
West of KEARNEY, m., US 30 follows Watson Blvd., which runs
between rows of trees that form an arch so dense that it is almost like a
tunnel.
At 2.3 m. (R) is a STATE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS, which occu-
pies ii buildings and is equipped to care for 210 boys.
Near here in 1847 the Mormon pioneers first saw herds of buffalo. For
several days before the event, the travelers had noted buffalo tracks and
had begun to use dried buffalo dung chips, in emigrant parlance for
fuel. On the first of May the company sighted a couple of buffalo through
their telescopes, and three of the pioneers started off on horseback in the
hope of killing them and thereby augmenting the dwindling food supply.
A few miles farther west a herd was sighted "about eight miles away;"
William Clayton, the official diarist, said he counted 72 through his glass
and another man counted 74. Later in the day another and larger herd was
seen. Clayton noted in his Journal that the view of the animals "excited
considerable interest and pleasure in the breasts of the brethren, and as
may be guessed, the teams moved slowly and frequently stopped to watch
their movement/'
At 3.5 m. is a junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road to the COTTONMILL LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS (fishing;
camping facilities), 5 m , which include a jo-acre State-owned lake stocked with
sunfish, crappies, catfish, and bullheads.
The roadhouse at 4.8 m., is the former house of the 1733 RANCH, so
named because there was at one time a marker on the section line here that
read, "1733 miles to San Francisco, 1733 miles to Boston." The original
8,ooo-acre ranch has been broken up into many small farms since the
death of its owner, H. D. Watson, who is remembered as the leading
advocate of alfalfa as a Nebraska crop. He made the first dry-farming
experiments in the Middle West, raising fruit and alfalfa.
ELM CREEK, 15 3 m. (2,266 alt., 708 pop.), settled by a few families
TOUR 8 337
in 1873, has had a history marked by misfortune. Blizzard followed bliz-
zard in the eighties, killing many local cattle and sweeping away most of
the possessions of the inhabitants; in 1906, after the town had been re-
built, it was almost wiped out again, this time by a raging fire that de-
stroyed all the buildings along the main street.
Elm Creek is at the junction with US 83 (see Tour 5).
LEXINGTON, 34.9 m. (2,385 alt., 2,962 pop.), is the offspring of a
Pony Express station and trading post called Plum Creek, which was on
the Oregon Trail south of the river. After the arrival of the railroad at
this point, the settlers moved across the river and named their new town
in memory of the Battle of Lexington. For some time the little settlement
was a rendezvous for gamblers, thieves, and hold-up men, who preyed on
miners returning east with gold or silver. For a time the settlement had no
organized government or sheriff, but even after a government had been es-
tablished the officers were ineffective against the hoodlums. The citizens
finally formed a vigilance committee and drove out most of the outlaws.
In 1867, aroused by the building of the railroad through their hunting
grounds and the patrolmg activities of Maj. Frank North and his Pawnee
scouts, the Cheyenne, led by their chief, Turkey Leg, tore up a culvert 4
miles west of town and wrecked the train, a west-bound freight. They
scalped the crew, broke open the boxcars, and stole the contents. Some of
the braves, finding bolts of bright-colored calico, tied the ends to their
ponies and galloped off with brave display.
A COMMUNITY PARK and a SWIMMING POOL provide popular recrea-
tional facilities for the community.
Left from Lexington on State 21, a graveled road, to a junction with a country-
road at 2 m.
Left on this road 3 5 m. to a junction with another country road ; R. here to the
MIDDLE DIVERSION DAM, 5.5 m. The objective of the Tn-County Project, which
operates just below the Sutherland Project (see below), is the irrigation of about
half a million acres of land in Phelps, Kearney, and Adams Counties, and the de-
velopment of electricity at two power sites along the river. The development,
which was budgeted at 29 million dollars, was approved as a PWA project in
September 1935, and construction began March 13, 1936.
On State 21, at 3 6 m , is the junction with a dirt road; L here and L again at
2 m.; R at 2.7 m ; L at 3.7 m ; R at 8.8 m.; L. at 8 9 m. along an irrigation ditch
to the SITE OF THE PLUM CREEK MASSACRE of 1864, 10 m (Road being rerouted,
1938; inquire locally ) Here is an enclosed cemetery in the midst of a cultivated
field (L).
At the entrance is (L) a Pony Express monument, bearing the usual memorial
emblem of a man on a horse. A dirt road circles the area, in which are 12 mounds,
only one of which is marked
A marker in the center, erected by Phelps County in 1930, commemorates an
event of August 7, 1864. A party of Ipwans, consisting of Frank Morton, his wife,
10 drivers, and a Negro coo were driving along the Oregon Trail when they were
overtaken nearby by Indians The Indians slew all except the woman, whom they
took prisoner and kept for five months. Many Indian relics have been found in this
vicinity
On State 21 at 8 m is the JOHNSON CANYON POWER PLANT, part of the Tri-
County Power and Irrigation Project.
COZAD, 48.7 m. (2,486 alt, 1,813 pop.), lying in a section of the
Platte Valley noted for its many alfalfa fields and haystacks, ships very
338 TOURS
large quantities of hay. Several alfalfa mills and feed-making plants are
passed as US 30 cuts through the town
By the time the Mormon Pioneers of 1847 reached this point the ex-
citement over buffalo hunting was beginning to impede their progress.
Appleton Harmon recorded in his Journal that Bngham Young called the
men together and issued instructions that no more game was to be killed
until needed for food, "for it was a Sin to waste life & flesh/' A day or
two later Harmon wrote: "had to drive the buffalo out of the way whare
we halted the buffalo seemed to form a complete line from the river their
watering place to the bluffs as far as I could se which was at least 4 m.
they stood their ground appurently amased at us until within 30 rods
of the wagons when their line was broken down by some taking fright &
running off others to satisfay thar curiosity came closer within gun shot of
the camp snuffing and shaking their Shaggy heads, but being pursued by
the dogs ranoff, at this time I could stand on my waggon & see more than
10,000 Buffalo from the fact that the Plain was purfectly black with them
on both sides of the river & on the bluff on our right which slopes off
gradualy."
One early journal describes the preparation of buffalo meat, a common
event in this area in the covered wagon days: "Some of our men having
been out with their guns, returned at noon overloaded with buffalo meat.
We then commenced jerking it. This is a process resorted to for want of
time or means to cure meat by salting. The meat is sliced thin, and a scaf-
fold prepared, by setting forks in the ground, about three feet high, and
laying small poles or sticks crosswise upon them. The meat is laid upon
those pieces, and a slow fire built underneath; the heat and smoke com-
pletes the process in half a day; and with an occasional sunning the meat
will keep for months.
"An unoccupied spectator, who could have beheld our camp today,
would think it a singular spectacle. The hunters returning with the spoil;
some erecting scaffolds, and others drying the meat. Of the women, some
were washing, some ironing, some baking. At two of the tents the fiddle
was employed in uttering its unaccustomed voice among the solitudes of
the Platte; at one tent I heard singing; at others the occupants were en-
gaged in reading, some the Bible, others poring over novels. While all
this was going on, that nothing might be wanting to complete the har-
mony of the scene, a Campbellite preacher, name4 Foster, was reading a
hymn, preparatory to religious worship. The fiddles were silenced, and
those who had been occupied with that amusement, betook themselves to
cards. Such is but a miniature of the great world we had left behind us,
when we crossed the line that separates civilized man from the wilderness.
But even here the variety of occupation, the active exercise of body and
mind, either in labor or pleasure, the commingling of evil and good, show
that the likeness is a true one."
GOTHENBURG, 59 m. (2,561 alt, 2,322 pop.), has in its city park a
FUR-TRADING POST (adm. free), that was erected in 1854 on t ^ e Oregon
Trail 4 miles east of Fort McPherson and moved to this place in 1931.
During 1860 and 1861 it was a Pony Express station; later it was used as
PONY EXPRESS STATION, GOTHENBURG
a stage station; after the coining of the railroads it became a ranch
building.
Left from Gothenburg on State 47, a graveled road, beyond the GOTHENBURG
GUN CLUB GAME PRESERVE (L), is an Oregon Trail marker, 2.7 m.
Left from the marker on the first country road, L again across a field to the
LOWER 96 RANCH (visitors welcome), identified by the black "96" painted on the
big concrete silo A lean-to of the tree-shaded black-and-white ranch house is a well
preserved log cabin, whose crevices have been cemented. This was the Pat Mullaly
Pony Express Station.
Right from Lower 96 Ranch to the unmarked SITE OF THE GILMAN RANCH
HOUSE, 10 m. Stage riders used to stop here and Pony Express riders came here
when off duty. Mark Twain wrote of stopping at the station on the trip memorialized
in Roughing It.
At 72.5 m. on US 30 is BRADY (387 pop.).
A hunt that occurred near this place is described by Rufus B Sage in
Rocky Mountain Life (1857):
"A little before sundown, the rain subsided into a thick fog, and an old
bull, in the consequent obscurity, straggled close upon camp.
'The abrupt passage of a rifle-ball through his lights, was his first feel-
ing sense of the presence of danger. The affrighted customer then retreated
a few steps, and, f ailing, surrendered himself to the resistless power of
cold lead.
"A large band of cows also made their appearance, in the same manner,
and our hunter struck out to waylay them.
"Permitting the unwitting animals to advance within good shooting dis-
tance, a discharge from his rifle brought down one of their number. The
340 TOURS
band then recoiled slightly ; but, snuffing the odor of blood, they returned
immediately to their prostrate companion.
"This was enough, a charm now riveted them to the spot, a strange
infatuation had seized upon them. They began by spurning the ground
with their feet, then, bellowing, gored the fallen beast, as if forcing her
to rise, then, rolling upon the grass, in demonstrative sympathy, and,
now that she had ceased to struggle and lay yet quivering in death, they
licked her bleeding wounds and seemed to exercise a kind of mournful
rivalry in the bestowment of their testimonials of affection.
"She is encircled by her companions. An effort to approach from with-
out is resisted by those within. A fight ensues, and all becomes confusion.
Each turns against her neighbor, and continues the strife till the space
around the carcase is again vacated ; whereupon a general rush once more
centers to the spot, and all unite to react the former scene.
"In this manner they persisted in their frenzied devotion to the fallen
one, as if determined to restore her to life and action, or perish by her
side.
"Meanwhile the hunter's rifle had been busily employed. . . .
"All hands vere now summoned to aid at the work of butchery; but the
fast-enshrouding darkness soon drove us back to camp, leaving the task
not half completed.
"Our withdrawal from the premises was the signal for possession by
the eager wolves, whose constant yelpings the livelong night, made the
gloomy interval doubly dismal. By morning, nothing but bones and thick
pieces of skin marked the scene of their recent revellmgs !"
During covered wagon days the practice grew up of writing on buffalo
skulls and shoulder blades along the route. The names of men and com-
panies, dates, and the positions of springs and grass were recorded for the
benefit of friends and other emigrants who were following the early
trains.
Left from Brady on a graveled road to a junction at 4 m.; R. to the UPPER 96
RANCH, 9 m , now the property of V H Davis. A monument here commemorates
the FRED MACHETTE PONY EXPRESS STATION, which has been moved to the Goth-
enburg City Park (see above). The blacksmith shop, built of red-cedar logs, re-
mains.
MAXWELL, 81.5 m. (2,711 alt., 409 pop.), is at the junction with
the unnumbered Fort McPherson National Cemetery road (see Tour 8 A).
US 30 crosses the North Fork of the Platte.
NORTH PLATTE, 94.7 m. (2,821 alt, 12,061 pop.) (see NORTH
PLATTE).
Points of Interest: Lincoln County Courthouse, Memorial Park, and others.
(At the western end of North Platte the time changes from Central
Standard to Rocky Mountain.)
At North Platte is the junction with US 183 (see Tour 8B).
West of this place the Mormon Pioneers of 1847 followed the north
bank of the North Platte (see Tour 12). Emigrants who had followed the
IRRIGATION DITCH
south bank of the Platte to the Forks usually continued westward for some
distance on the south bank of the South Platte before crossing the stream.
An emigrant journal of 1849 describes one crossing the Platte: "Four
boats, each consisting of two dug-outs fastened together, had been made
by emigrants who had crossed before and gone on, others buying their
rights and continuing the work We paid $3 per wagon for the use of the
boats, and swam the oxen. . . .
"We were roused early, and in good season commenced crossing our
wagons. The line for two miles along the river bank presented as busy
an aspect as it ordinarily does in St Louis, or any other small town in the
States. Wagons in pieces, boxes and chattels of all kinds made a scene of
extraordinary activity far out in this uninhabited western country.
"Our 'boat' was called the 'Two Polhes and Betsy,' from their being
two dugouts, with a log between them. Joining forces with the twelve Cin-
cinnati mule trains, the 'boat' started off in style with 30 men to cordelle
it against the current. The men were obliged to work in the water, which
rendered it quite unpleasant; but by 4 o'clock P.M. we were across, and
then drove the oxen down to swim.
"With all of our efforts, swimming and wading from that time until
dark, we could only get three of them across; so had at last to let them
return to the shore, and were obliged to keep watch of them until morn-
ing. The water is remarkably swift and cold, the low temperature prob-
ably due to our proximity to the snows of the mountains. To the south of
us, about four miles from the Platte, there arises a range of very high pine-
clad hills, which appears to terminate in the Laramie Mountains. . . .
34 2 TOURS
"Again resumed our labors by recrossmg the river for the purpose of
crossing our ox-teams, but at first with no better success than the day be-
fore. Here we witnessed scenes far surpassing anything the imagination
ever conceived the long to be remembered crossing of the Platte. No
pencil can portray or pen depict the scene as it really was.
"Fancy tor one moment our feelings on observing the vast aggregation
of oxen, mules, horses and wagons mixed indiscriminately with men
clothed, half -clad and even almost naked, encountering the elements that
were temporarily stopping our progress. By about noon we succeeded in
crossing ; but both men and teams were extremely exhausted.
"The onlookers witnessed sights ranging from the laughable to the
alarming. In one place six men were assisted ashore by hanging to the tail
of a mule, with a rider on him at that, while in another case extreme
efforts were being made to save a man from drowning. A boat, with a
wagon containing women and children, sank but was saved by striking a
bar.
"I was carried by the swift current outside the jam of cattle, and saved
myself by catching hold of the tail of an ox as I passed him, and letting
him tow me to shore. Those scenes are over, though we shall long remem-
ber them. We yoked our teams and drove on over a very rough sand road
for about four miles, where we encamped on the river bank to feed our
oxen and rest ourselves. Many a man here wishes himself back in the
States."
At 96.7 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to SCOUTS' REST RANCH, 0.5 m (adm. free), former home of
"Buffalo Bill" Cody, who entertained here the North brothers, Kit Carson, General
Sheridan, Pawnee Bill, Death Valley Scottie, Buck Taylor, and Bishop Beecher.
William Frederick Cody spent part of his boyhood in Leavenworth, Kans ,
where were the headquarters of the freighting line of Russell, Majors, and Waddell,
supply-carriers for the Government. Young Cody first appeared in the Platte country
as an outrider for his company a sort of office boy on horseback. He often trav-
eled the section of the Oregon Trail that went past his future home. Later, when
the tracks of the Kansas Pacific (now part of the Union Pacific) were moving west--
ward from Kansas City, he contracted to furnish buffalo meat for the construction
workers. It is said that within 17 months he delivered 4,280 buffaloes that he had
shot
When the construction days were over he turned to the stage and for four years
toured the United States in a production called the Pra/rze Watf. He then conceived
the idea of the Wild West Show that made him famous and created many romantic
nobons about the West
Shaded by cottonwoods and facing the grounds where the Wild West Show was
rehearsed is a solid ranch house, rebuilt since Cody's day, and an immense barn.
Everything at the ranch was reminiscent of Cody's shows, the eaves of the main
corral, built in 1887, lok like gunstocks, and the cattle stall partitions have the
outlines of horses.
The plat of the ranch resembles the map of Nebraska.
West of O'FALLONS, 111 6 m. (10 pop.), the bluffs again draw near
the stream; here one route of the Oregon Trail, like a branch of the Union
Pacific Railroad today, crossed to the south bank of the North Platte River,
reaching it at Ash Creek. After the establishment of Fort Sedgwick, near
the present Julesburg in northeastern Colorado, much trail travel went
AIRVIEw* OF SUTHERLAND PROJECT IRRIGATION DITCH
south to the fort before going over to Fort Lararme, the next point pro-
viding protection and supplies. The trail to Julesburg ran along the south
bank of the South, Fork. After 1862 the Overland stages were sent west-
ward along the South Platte and then along the Cherokee Trail, which in
Wyoming roughly followed the route of modern US 30.
SUTHERLAND, 114.6 m. (2,959 *&-> 753 PP-)> was ^ out * n
1869.
Left from Sutherland on a marked graveled road to a junction at 1 7 m.; L here
to the SUTHERLAND RESERVOIR, 3.5 m., a natural depression of 5,000 acres, walled
off with dikes Water is carried to this reservoir through a concrete pipe 14 feet
in diameter and 7,800 feet long; it drops under the South Platte River an its course
from the Kingsley Diversion Dam (see Tour 12).
At 136 m. a monument (L) indicates that the SITE OF ALKALI LAKE
PONY EXPRESS STATION is 1,6 miles to the south.
OGALLALA, 145.4 m. (3,211 alt, 1,631 pop.), seat of Keith County,
was named for the Oglalla (also spelled Ogallala, scatter one's own) band
of the Teton Sioux
After the Civil War, which had ruined the Texas cattle business, it be-
came necessary for the Texans to find new markets for their beef. Con-
344 TOURS
struction of the Union Pacific Railroad provided the first opportunity to
send cattle in large numbers to the slaughter houses east of the Mississippi,
and by 1867 the herds that had been running wild on the lower plains
were being rounded up and driven north to the new railroad line, Ogallala
was one of the first shipping points developed.
As early as June of 1867 the cowboys began to arrive with their herds,
after a long trek during which they had had to fight stampedes, Indians,
and sleep. Toward the end of such trips it was not uncommon for the
cowboys to paste their eyelids open with tobacco, according to Capt. James
Cook in his Fifty Years on the Old Frontier.
By the middle of July in the seventies there were often as many as 15
outfits camping on the banks of the river south of town. The trail was
used until 1895.
After the cattle had been delivered for shipment the cowboys felt that
they had a right to celebrate and the early history of this cowtown is re-
plete with stones of violence. Little or no excuse was needed for starting
a fight. A man named Bill Campbell began insulting two strangers,
brothers named Moy, when he heard them ordering baked beans for their
dinner in the old Rooney Hotel. The Moys stood his remarks on the sub-
ject of "damned Yankee bean-eaters" and "cowardly Yankees" until they
lost patience; when the smoke cleared away Campbell was dead.
Five blocks west of the main street, on a graveled road between loth
and nth Sts., is a plot of ground on the southwest corner of the block,
rising 80 to 100 feet above the South Platte River. This is BOOT HILL
CEMETERY, so called because many of those buried here died and were
buried with their boots on. There has not been a burial since the eighties.
Boot Hill today, except for a faded sign bearing its name, is like any other
hill. No mounds are visible and there are no grave stones.
Old Ogallala lay between the Union Pacific R.R. right-of-way, 10 blocks
south of Boot Hill, and the river. In a park at the western edge of town
is (R) an Oregon Trail memorial, and next to it is a round yellow marker
in memory of the Chisholm Cattle Trail; this most famous of all cattle
trails did not come into Nebraska, though an extension of this trail, often
called by the same name, did
At Ogallala is the junction with US 26 (see lour 12).
Section c. OGALLALA to WYOMING LINE, 124.3 m. US 30.
West of OGALLALA, m., is BRULE, 9 m. (3,287 alt, 329 pop.),
which was named for the Brule (Fr. burned) tribe of the Teton Sioux. US
30 now leaves the South Platte, which turns southwest into Colorado.
Left from Brule on a graveled road to an Oregon Trail marker, 1 m ; R from
the marker about 2 miles (no road) is the LOWER CALIFORNIA CROSSING, where
one route of the Oregon Trail crossed the South Platte Some of the wagons
crossed the river farther west, near Julesburg, Colo. This stretch followed the valley
of Lodgepole Creek for several miles, then swung north to the bank of the North
Platte, which was reached in the neighborhood of the present Bridgeport.
At 10 m. is a Pony Express monument (R), erected by Keith County
TABLELINE
in memory of the DIAMOND SPRINGS STATION, which was eight miles
south.
At 13.5 m., on the north side of the South Platte River, is a marker of
the California Crossing. Here one route of the Oregon Trail turned north-
west to reach the North Platte. In 1862 Holladay rerouted his stages,
which had followed the Oregon Trail by Fort Laramie and through South
Pass, largely because of the hostility of the Indians, and many emigrants
decided that the stage route offered them great protection.
CHAPPELL, 39.3 m. (3,697 alt., 1,061 pop.), was named in honor of
John Chappell, an official of the Union Pacific R.R., who assisted in laying
out the town site. It is in the largest wheat-raising area in Nebraska.
The Chappell Memorial Gallery has a fine collection of etchings, in-
cluding the work of Rembrandt, Whistler, Muirhead Bone, and others,
and a collection of Japanese prints.
West of Chappell the highway follows Lodgepole Creek, so named be-
cause Indians of several tribes gathered poles for their tepees near the
headwaters of the stream. There is a gradual rise in the land between
Chappell and the Cheyenne County valley
Although the natural wildness that characterized this district in pioneer
times has disappeared, the soapweed still grows on the sides of the hills,
and its ivory, bell-shaped blossoms, rising above the green spike leaves,
346 TOURS
appear in May or June. Cactus is also seen, and occasionally a coyote; but
prairie dogs, prairie owls, and rattlesnakes are no longer numerous.
LODGEPOLE, 48.7 m. (3,832 alt., 436 pop.), is the scene of the Old
Settler's Reunion of Cheyenne County, held annually on Labor Day.
Left from Lodgepole to the junction with a country road just beyond the rail-
road tracks; L. here to the JOSEPH OBERFELDER RANCH, 08 m. ( visit ed by permis-
sion of Robert Oberf elder at ranch or in Sidney), which has picnic grounds and
fishing pools.
LILY LAKE here has been formed by the damming of Spring Creek, a tributary
of the Lodgepole
At 65 m. is the eastern junction with State 19 (see Tour 6).
There are several stories of wrecks that occurred in this area m the early
days; indeed in rough country the only advantage offered by the railroads
was speed, since oxcarts were safer and more comfortable. Jerry-built
bridges were liable to fall to pieces without notice, locomotives jumped
the tracks if speeded, and the wooden cars were often set afire by sparks.
It was not until the high death toll brought on large numbers of damage
suits that the railroad companies reluctantly installed safety devices. An-
other hazard of early rail travel, particularly in the West after gold and
silver mining began, came from holdups. Some bandits stopped the trains
in remote places and merely looted the baggage cars, but others wrecked
them and plundered passengers as well as freight.
SIDNEY, 66.5 m. (4,085 alt., 3,306 pop.), seat of Cheyenne County,
was named for Sidney Dillon, New York solicitor for the Union Pacific
R.R. The town, situated in Lodgepole Valley, is surrounded by high roll-
ing plains, broken here and there by imposing cliffs. High bluffs at the
north protect it from winter winds.
The town developed around FORT SIDNEY and grew rapidly because
it was nearer the Black Hills than any other railroad point of consequence
when the 1876-77 gold rush began. The fort, at first a subpost of Fort
Sedgwick in Colorado, was called Sidney Barracks until 1870, when it was
made an independent post. It was established for the protection of the rail-
road construction workers and was maintained until 1894, when the In-
dian wars were over. The troops stationed here took part in the Battle
of Wounded Knee (see INDIANS), Near the highway is a ao-foot grassy
mound that formed part of the rifle range. Across the junction point of
the Union Pacific and Burlington tracks and about two blocks south is a
small hexagonal structure of local limestone that was built as an AMMU-
NITION STOREHOUSE , it is now a part of a residence. One block south of
US 30 on 6th Ave. are two old BARRACKS, now used as dwellings. Op-
posite is a large well-preserved building, said to have been the OFFICERS'
QUARTERS. The stone barn east and south of the Burlington tracks, now
used as a sales pavilion" and barn, is believed to have been a fort stable.
Most of the early Black Hills prospectors bought their supplies in the
settlement here and the dance halls, gambling house, and saloons of the
place never closed their doors. At one time there were 23 saloons in one
block. It is said that during this period about 1,500 people passed daily
through the town. Here, as in other jumping-off places, stores of fo '
TOUR 8 347
stuff and equipment were quickly exhausted and orders rushed to whole-
sale markets could not be filled rapidly enough to meet the demand. Fan-
tastic prices prevailed as the fortune hunters hurried to overtake and pass
those who had already left for the hills.
Shootings were daily events that drew little attention Someone was shot
at a dance one night and instead of stopping the dance the incident only
served to heighten the entertainment. The corpse was propped up in a
corner and the dancing continued. During a later blast of gunfire, another
man was killed. His body was set up beside that of the first victim. It was
not until a third corpse was added to the group that the party came to an
end.
Lynchings were also frequent. A notable * 'stringing up" took place in
May 1879. Charles Reed had been living with Mollie Wardner. A friend
of his, named Henry Loomis, was walking by Mollie' s house one morning
with two other men when Molhe called to them, "Come in, darling, and
bring your friends along." Loomis, who was beginning to be uneasy about
the lack of observance of the proprieties in local life, felt that his friend's
consort was conducting herself improperly and rebuked her. Eager gossips
carried his words to Reed but failed to make clear that Loomis was de-
fending the Reed family honor. Reed set out posthaste, found Loomis, and
shot him without argument. Reed was thrown into jail and after Loomis
had died in considerable agony Loomis' friends whipped up public opin-
ion against the murderer. An outraged mob broke open the jail and car-
ried Reed to the nearest telegraph pole the favorite lynching-tree in most
treeless territories. The end of a rope that had been noosed round his
throat was thrown over the pole's cross-bar and he was made to climb a
ladder that had been placed against the pole. He was offered the usual
courtesy, choice of jumping off or of having the ladder pulled from under
him. Reed made the grand gesture, later imitated by other unfortunates
in like position: 'Til jump off, gentlemen, and show you how a brave man
can die. Goodbye, gentlemen, one and all." His body hung in the breeze
for a couple of days before it was taken down for burial in the usual Boot
Hill Cemetery of the settlement.
There is a legend that during the gold rush days the Union Pacific
warned through passengers against stepppmg off the train during the halt
here if they wanted to leave the town alive.
There is nothing now in the town to remind visitors of these gun-
blaming days, but it still depends to some extent on traffic to and from
the Black Hills, being at the point where the Burlington Line between
Denver and the Black Hills forms a junction with the transcontinental
Union Pacific. Companies manufacturing farm machinery and other com-
modities maintain distribution centers here
Opposite the Union Pacific Depot is the UNION PACIFIC HOTEL, built
at the time the railroad was being constructed. North of the hotel is an
old frame structure, formerly a STAGE-LINE WAREHOUSE used for the
storage of supplies that were to be freighted to the forts, Indian agencies,
and mining towns to the north.
At Sidney is the junction with State 19 (see Tour 6).
348 TOURS
West of Sidney the highway is level and there are few turns. The soil
is sandy and the country somewhat resembles northwestern Nebraska. The
bluffs on both sides of the river are formed of the impure limestone called
"mortar beds*'; they contain many fossilized bones of the period when
this area was a steaming swamp and many now-extinct animals, including
a primitive camel, lived here.
At 80.5 m. is POINT OF ROCKS (R), from which is a broad view of
the craggy, and pine-dotted country. It is said that the Indians sometimes
rolled rocks from the elevation on to Union Pacific trains. Earlier this
point was an observation post for soldiers protecting the railroad construc-
tion gangs. There is now an airplane beacon on the summit. Air currents
in this area affect planes flying between North Platte and Cheyenne, Wyo.
POTTER, 85 m. (4,389 alt , 515 pop.), was named for a General Pot-
ter, who was at one time commander of troops in western Nebraska.
Nearby, LODGEPOLE CREEK disappears underground, but reappears sev-
eral miles downstream. Besides providing water for irrigation here the
stream provides opportunities for fishing, especially near the many dams
built along its course. Bullheads, perch, sunfish, and some bass are found.
(Permission to fish or hunt must be obtained from land owners.)
KIMBALL, 103.2 m. (4,709 alt., 1,711 pop.), is noted for the amount
*of wheat it ships, and is the trade center of an extensive potato-growing
country. It was the southern terminus of the old stage route that passed
through the Wild Cat Range to Gering on the North Platte River.
At 124.3 m. US 30 crosses the Wyoming Line, 0.8 miles east of Pine
Bluffs, Wyo. (see WYOMING > Tour 2).
Tour 8A
Maxwell Fort McPherson National Cemetery Cottonwood Canyon. Un-
numbered roads.
Maxwell to Cottonwood Canyon, 5.1 m.
Graveled and dirt roads.
This road branches south from US 30 (see Tour 8) at MAXWELL,
m. (see Tour 8), and crosses the Platte River.
FORT McPHERSON NATIONAL CEMETERY, 3 7 m. (open sunrise
to sunset; register at office; information from superintendent), was on the
Oregon Trail.
In 1863 Cottonwood Springs, a small settlement, became a stopping
TOUR 8A 349
place for the Overland stages. Since travelers along the Platte in this area
were frequently exposed to Indian attack from ambush, a Government fort
was built in 1863 on tne bluffs overlooking the narrowest part of the pas-
sage and commanding the entire valley. Its buildings, occupying a quad-
rangle 560 by 844 feet, were principally of cedar logs, and included five
barracks, a log guardhouse, a commissary, a hospital, and a canteen. It is
said that the fort at times accommodated as many as 10 companies of
cavalry and infantry. First known as Fort McKean in honor of Maj.
Thomas J. McKean, commanding officer for that territory, the fort was re-
named Fort Cottonwood in May 1864. In 1866 it became Fort McPherson,
in honor of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson. Here emigrants were halted,
their arms and ammunition carefully examined, and their force occasion-
ally strengthened by additional trains with Government supplies bound
for Fort Laramie.
Within a year of the completion of the fort trouble broke out, with the
Plum Creek Massacre (see Tour 8) as one of the results. For more than a
decade soldiers and Pawnee scouts from the post gave help to settlers and
western travelers. A cavalry troop from the fort intervened at the tribal
battle of Massacre Canyon (see Tour 11) in time to save the Pawnee
party from destruction.
Fort McPherson, as the center of community life for a large region, was
the scene of pleasant as well as tragic events. Dances drew soldiers, set-
tlers, and cowboys from ranches whose names are prominent in western
anecdote: Burk's "Flatiron D," Nickels' "96," Walker's "LW," A. D.
Welch's "EW," and Brart's "Double-O." To the fort came trappers, travel-
ers, and Indian volunteers, the latter in half uniforms, with the seats cut
out of their breeches so that the riders might stick to their mounts. High
points in the social life of the fort were the visits of Grand Duke Alexis
of Russia, who came to hunt buffalo in 1872 (see Tour 9), and of the
Earl of Dunraven, who was met at the fort by Doc Carver (see Tour 8B)
and Kit Carson in 1874. With Fort McPherson as its base, the duke's
party rode to the hunt with Buffalo Bill Cody in charge, leading 100 In-
dian warriors.
The burial ground became a national cemetery in 1873. On January 5,
1887, Fort McPherson was abandoned. Now rows of white headstones and
tall cottonwoods are the principal reminder of what was a center of fron-
tier life.
As the Indian wars ceased and various forts were abandoned, the bodies
in other military cemeteries were transferred to this plot. More than 20
posts are represented, among them the key posts of Laramie, Wyo., and
Kearney, Sidney, Hartsuff, Gothenburg, and Farnam in Nebraska. Bodies
were also sent here from Fort Hall in Idaho, and Manila in the Philippine
Islands Of the 1,150 soldiers and members of their families who are
buried here, 558 are unnamed.
Of the original military reservation of 16 square miles, only the 20
acres in the cemetery remain. A low brick wall encloses the older plot and
the green-shuttered, two-story brick residence of the officer in charge of
the cemetery, who is also its historian. Near the middle of the ground is
35 TOURS
a block of marble bearing the names of the 27 soldiers who, with Lt. John
Lawrence Grattan, were killed by the Sioux 8 miles from Fort Laranue,
and were buried here. The cemetery holds the dust of many pioneers, as
well as of a number of Pawnee, whose tribe was friendly to the whites
Spotted Horse, a noted Pawnee scout who aided the soldiers at the fort,
is buried here. Hundreds of graves are unmarked. In more recent graves
are buried many World War soldiers. Plaques, with four-line poems in
silver on a black background, have been placed among the pine-sheltered
graves. Memorial services are held here on Decoration Day.
Right from Fort McPherson on a graveled road to BIGNELL, 5 m. (75 pop.). At
6.5 m. is the junction with a foot trail; L 06 m. on this trail to Sioux LOOKOUT
From this hill the surrounding towns of Hershey, North Platte, Maxwell, and
Brady are visible The canyons around the Lookout were hide-outs for the Indians,
who used the hill to observe wagon trains crossing the plains. On the crest is the
figure of an Indian chief gazing over the countryside
Left from Fort McPherson Cemetery on a graveled road to the mouth
of COTTONWOOD CANYON, 5.1 m., deeply eroded, with a wide floor and
gently sloping sides.
Left from the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon to a Pony Express marker (L),
0.2 m ; and 2 m farther E. is a black iron fence (R) enclosing a tall concrete
statue of a Civil War soldier holding a gun, marking the SITE OF THE OLD FORT
MCPHERSON FLAGSTAFF. Cottonwood Springs, the first white settlement in Lincoln
County, stood here
At 07 m. beyond the Fort McPherson Flagstaff on the same road is another
monument, marking the SITE OF THE RANCH OF CHARLES MCDONALD (R) The
ranch was established at Cottonwood Springs in January 1860.
Tour 8B
North PlatteMaywood McCook; US 183.
North Platte to McCook, 75.7 m.
Graveled roadbed
Limited accommodations.
US 183 branches south from US 30 (see Tour 8) at NORTH PLATTE,
m. (see Tour 8), following S. Jeffers St.
FREMONT SLOUGH, 2.5 m. 9 is a small muddy, winding creek run-
ning parallel with the South Platte River and named for Fremont, who,
with his party of explorers, camped near this point in 1843.
The highway passes the entrance to the UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA EX-
PERIMENT STATION, 3 1 m> (adm. free, open until 9 p.m.). This institution
TOUR SB 351
develops new varieties of crops and demonstrates new methods of farming.
The SUTHERLAND PROJECT POWER PLANT, 3.5 m. (L), has two tur-
bines with a potential of 14,500 kilowatts each, and transmission equip-
ment and space for two additional units. The Sutherland Project is one of
the Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation projects
The REGULATING RESERVOIR, which holds at least three days' supply of
water for the plant, is fed by a canal from the Sutherland Reservoir It has
a capacity of 6,000 acre-feet, and flows through a 3,ooo-foot penstock to
the powerhouse Water from the spillway empties into the South Platte.
At the northern edge of MAYWOOD, 40.4 m. (525 pop.), is blue,
tree-bordered MAYWOOD LAKE (-free fishing on all but one side). It has
been stocked with bass, catfish, and crappies. At the eastern edge of town
is a water-power mill with an old overshot wheel.
At Maywood is the junction with State 23.
Left on this graveled road to CURTIS, B m. (960 pop.), on Medicine Creek, near
the mouth of Curtis Creek, for which it is named. The name of both creek and
town originated in the iSyo's when Curtis, a trapper, settled near the point where
the small creek enters the Medicine
At Curtis is the NEBRASKA SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE (vtstttng hours 8 a.m. to
5pm. daily) This State-governed school, founded in 1911, is at the northern edge
of town, on a rise of ground north of Medicine Creek Valley Part of the range of
nearby hills is included m the 47 5 -acre tract of land used for the school's experi-
ments. A tree project is carried on here in cooperation with the State forest service.
Almost 10,000 trees have been planted during the past 10 years The land along
Fox Creek is irrigated and devoted to truck farming. A herd of highgrade Holstein
cows is kept on the grounds
Among the school buildings is a MUSEUM (open on request), exhibiting speci-
mens of animals native to western Nebraska.
1. Left from Curtis 20 m. on a road not improved but passable except during
rains, to the mouth of a large canyon. From here canyons extend south to the
Republican River on one side, and north to the Platte on the other, with tributary
canyons leading off at intervals. These branch canyons are of more recent origin
and have steeper sides than the main valley Many of them reveal the typical
geological formation of this region* loess above and a reddish clay known as the
Loveland loess below, with the two deposits separated by a black carbonaceous
layer that represents an old soil zone
These deposits, it is believed, were laid down by the wind during the Pleistocene
epoch. Numerous fossils have been found here. The specimen of the mammoth in
the Nebraska State Museum at Lincoln, one of the largest on record, was found a
few miles north of Curtis. (See PALEONTOLOGY.)
During the summer there is an abundance of wild fruit in this area Choke-
cherry trees, wild plum thickets, gooseberry and currant bushes grow in almost all
the canyons. Here also are several species of birds not commonly found in other
parts of the State. One is the magpie, which gives a shrill, throaty warning when
frightened and flies from tree to tree, its long black and white feathers streaming
behind Several species of hawks are indigenous to this region, and occasionally an
eagle is seen.
2. Right from Curtis on State 238 to STOCKVTLLE, 18.8 m. (186 pop ), seat of
Frontier County and the first town in southwestern Nebraska The town was staked
out and settled in 1871 by W L. McCleary, and has changed little since
Stockpile's first white settler was Hank Clifford, who lived with his mother-in-
law, Eena Teglake, a Sioux squaw A monument marks her grave in the Stockville
cemetery.
Stockville was already a year old when, on May 14, 1872, Congress authorized a
352 TOURS
Federal road from Cottonwood Springs, passing south through Stockville to the
mouth of the Red Willow, where two companies of troops were stationed for the
summer.
a. Left 2 m from Stockville on a dirt road on Medicine Creek are high bluffs and
ravines near which are many PREHISTORIC INDIAN VILLAGE SITES, several of which
have been examined. The site of one (Medicine 4) consists of rums of houses and
lodges, constructed of hardwood, and scattered along the high bluff nearly 100 feet
above Medicine Valley Many artifacts have been discovered.
b. Right 3 m. on a dirt road from Stockville on Medicine Creek to the CARVER
MONUMENT Dr W F Carver, a dentist who became an outstanding buffalo
hunter, was one of the colorful figures of the West in the sixties and came to
Nebraska after experiences fitting him for the wildest of Wild West life Born in
Winslow, 111., he left home at the age of 14 because his father punished him
harshly for a boyish prank He lived with the Indians of Minnesota for a number
of years But his white bringmg-up was at variance with the ways of the Indians,
and he left them to hunt and trap alone At the outbreak of the Sioux war of 1862,
Carver joined the U S Army under Gen Henry Hastings Sibley Because of
Carver's knowledge of the country, Sibley made him a guide and scout After Sibley
had driven the Indians out of Minnesota, Carver left for the Nebraska plains in
company with another trapper and established himself for some time on Medicine
Creek near Stockville. But his favorite camping place was to the west in what is
now Chase County, near Imperial In 1876 Carver settled in California
Carver's contemporaries were Texas Jack, Wild Bill Hickok, Johnny Nelson (the
Squaw Man), Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson, and Jim Bndger
Carver and Buffalo Bill organized the first Wild West Show It opened in Omaha
in May, 1883, with Carver billed as the Great Rifle Shot. On one of his "off-days"
Carver became enraged because of his inaccurate shooting, and turned the act over
to Buffalo Bill. The partnership was soon dissolved. When Carver started his owa
show, the two men became enemies and remained so for the rest of their lives
Carver died in 1927 and was buried at his old home in Winslow, 111.
South of Maywood on US 183 is McCOOK, 75 7 m (see Tour 9), at
the junction with US 6 (see Tour 9).
<< H >>>
Tour Q
(Council Bluffs, Iowa) Omaha Lincoln Hastings Holdrege Mc-
Cook Imperial (Holyoke, Colo.); US 6.
Missouri River at Omaha to Colorado Line, 389.2 m.
Between Omaha and Milford and between Dorchester and Imperial, the Burlingtoa
Lines parallel the route. The Burlington Trailways busses follow this highway the
entire distance
Concrete roadbed between Omaha and Holdrege, concrete and bituminous mat be-
tween Oxford and Colorado Line, graveled between Holdrege and Oxford.
Accommodations limited except in larger towns; hotels chiefly in cities.
TOUR 9 353
A typical cross section of the State is traversed by this route, which in
the eastern and central sections runs through slightly hilly farming country
and m the western through a semi-arid region.
Section a. OMAHA to HASTINGS, 161.7 m. US 6.
At m. US 6 crosses the Missouri River (see IOWA Tour 14) on a toll
bridge (car and driver 15$; additional passengers 50 each) at the eastern
city limits of Omaha.
OMAHA, 0.6 m. (1,040 alt., 214,006 pop.) (see OMAHA).
Potnts of Interest. Creighton University, Omaha Municipal University, Joslyn
Memorial, Douglas County Courthouse, South Omaha Stockyards, and others
Omaha is at the junction with US 73 (see Tour 1).
Right from Omaha on US 30- Alt, the former route of US 30 (see Tour 8);
US 30- Alt traverses flat grazing country, proceeding directly west from Omaha
BOYS TOWN, 11 m. (open 8-5), known also as Father Flanagan's Home, is
dedicated to homeless boys There is a mam building, an office building and gym-
nasium, a trades building and assembly hall, a power building, the home of Father
Flanagan, a teachers' home, and dairy barns Most of the buildings are of red brick
trimmed with white stone. The town, situated on 320 acres of farm land, has a
population of 275 boys. It is supported by contributions, numbering among its
benefactors Jack Dempsey, William Randolph Hearst, and the late Will Rogers.
During its history the home has befriended more than 4,000 boys.
Shortly after his ordination, in 1912, Father Flanagan started a hotel for penniless
and transient men In December 1917 he borrowed $90 from a friend to pay the
rental on a house in midtown Omaha Two newsboys who had been sleeping in
the men's hotel came to live with him Three more were placed in his care by the
Juvenile Court. Soon this refuge for the homeless was filled beyond capacity. The
chief food of the first Christmas dinner was a barrel of sauerkraut donated by a
friend. Later the home was moved to the old German Civic Center on South i3th
Street.
With difficulty Father Flanagan was able to finance purchase of the present land.
Here wooden shelters were built to house the increasing number of boys, and the
site was named Overlook Farm. In August 1936 the home was incorporated as a
village. Dan Kampan, 17, the town's first mayor, visited New York City in Novem-
ber 1936 as the guest of Mayor LaGuardia A motion picture, Boys Town made in
1938, starred Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy.
US 6 follows Center Street in Omaha.
MILLARD, 13.3 m. (1,067 alt., 321 pop.), lying in the valley of Little
Pappio Creek, depends for its trade on farmers of the surrounding Doug-
las County area, many of whom are prosperous cattle feeders. Incorporated
as a village in 1885, and named for Senator J. H. Millard, the town cele-
brated its golden jubilee in 1935.
GRETNA, 23.8 m. (1,247 a ^- 477 PP-) * s a farniing town It has
some trucking business, but this is less important than it was before the
new highway was built south of town. Gretna was laid out in 1887, and
developed around a railroad station on the Burlington. Trucks loaded with
cattle, sheep, and hogs bound for the Omaha market are a familiar sight
along this stretch of the highway.
At 26.6 m. is the junction with State 85.
Left on State 85, a good graveled road, to the SOUTH BEND STATE FISH
HATCHERY, B m. (adm. free, picmc areas, camping prohibited) This hatchery, the
354 TOURS
first in the State, is on the north bank of the Platte River So-called pond fishes are
propagated, including bass, sunfish, and crappie The grounds embrace 50 acres of
rough, wooded, bluff land. The hatchery is situated on a level shelf extending back
from the river into a steep ravine Springs gushing from the sandstone of the
ravine supply water for the fish ponds and hatching troughs Not far from the
nverbank is the building that houses the aquarium, surrounded by a lawn and
flower beds. A path leads through native timber to the top of a bluff From this
point there is a good view of the broad Platte Valley and the Platte River with its
long sand bars glistening in the sun.
At 31.5 m. the highway crosses the Platte River, here very broad and
shallow. On the east bank is LINOMA BEACH, a privately-owned amuse-
ment resort with a sand beach for swimming.
Right from Linoma Beach to the NEBRASKA NATIONAL GUARD CAMP, 0.5 m.
(annual encampment tn August).
ASHLAND, 34 8 m. (1,086 alt., 1,786 pop.), was named for the home
of Henry Clay near Lexington, Ky. The highway passes through the south-
ern part of the town, a mile from the business district.
Ashland is at the junction with State 34, a graveled road.
Right on this road to a junction at 7.9 m.; L here to MEMPHIS, 84 m (1,087
alt, 147 pop ), a small country trading place in the fertile valley of Wahoo Creek.
Northwest of Memphis is the MEMPHIS LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS (fishing
and camping), containing a 77-acre lake, one of the largest artificial lakes in eastern
Nebraska.
LINCOLN, 59.5 m. (1,148 alt, 79,592 pop.) (see LINCOLN).
Points of Interest- State Capitol, University of Nebraska, State Historical Mu-
seum, Nebraska Wesleyan University, William Jennings Bryan House, and others.
Lincoln is at the junction with US 77 (see Tour 2) and State 2 (see
Tour 10). US 6 follows O St., Lincoln's main highway.
At 80 m. US 6 crosses the Big Blue River, near CAMP KIWANIS, which
has accommodations for 135 girls.
MILFORD, 80.1 m. (1,403 alt., 852 pop.), was once an important mill
town. Here the Ponca camped when being transferred to a reservation in
Oklahoma. Prairie Flower, daughter of Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca,
is believed to have been buried here.
At the eastern end of Milford, the highway passes the SOLDIERS' AND
SAILORS' HOME (L) and the NEBRASKA STATE INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR
WOMEN (visiting hours, Thurs. 2-4- p.m.).
In SHOGO LITHIA PARK are SHOGO LITHIA SPRINGS, named for a local
Indian girl. Gushing from under a ledge of rock at the rate of 900 gallons
an hour, the water of the springs was highly prized by the Indians for
curative properties.
At 88.7 m. US 6 passes (L) the BLUE RIVER RECREATION GROUNDS
(free camping and fishing), covered by stands of native timber. Wildlife
is protected here by strict enforcement of game laws.
At 92.7 m. is the junction with State 33, a graveled road.
Left on this road to CRETE, 10.4 m. (1,353 alt., 2,865 pop.), first platted as
Blue River Oty in 1870. The railroad was completed to Crete in 1871, and the
town was incorporated in 1873. The population is largely of German and Czecho-
Slovakian descent.
GRETNA FISH HATCHERY
Crete has a flour mill, a creamery, a plant manufacturing camping equipment,
folding election booths, and a brewery. It also has a TREE MENAGERIE, by the high-
way at the eastern edge of town, consisting of many boxwoods trimmed into gro-
tesque shapes.
Near Crete, in a densely wooded spot of 83 acres on the Blue River reached only
by boat, is CAMP STRADER, a summer camp for boys between the ages of 9 and 1 8.
DOANE COLLEGE, situated on a hill in the eastern part of town, was founded in
1872 as a Congregational school and named for Thomas Doane, superintendent of
the Burlington & Missouri River R.R Yearly enrollment is about 250 North of
Crete on the Blue River is HORKY'S PARK (swimming pool, cabins and cottages,
dance hall, outboard motor and rowboats for rent). TUXEDO PARK also offers facil-
ities for fishing, swimming, and dancing.
EXETER, 109.7 m. (1,608 alt, 940 pop.), founded in 1871, has a
factory making tabs for indexing account and record books, cards and files.
FAIRMONT, 117 m. (1,643 ^t., 740 pop.), a substantial little town
in a good farming district, was first called Hespena (land of the west).
Following the plan of the C. B. & Q. R.R. to name the towns along the
line in alphabetical order, Hesperia, sixth in the list, was changed to Fair-
mont in 1871.
SUTTON, 133 m. 1,682 alt, 1,540 pop.), was named for Sutton,
Mass. Once the seat of Clay County, it is the oldest and largest town in
the county. Most of the early settlers were Russian-German peasants.
At 143 m. is the west junction with State 14.
Left on State 14 to CLAY CENTER, 6.2 m. (1,781 alt., 933 pop.), founded
about 1879 to set tle a county seat dispute In 1918 the $100,000 courthouse was
built An incubator factory flourished from 1920 to 1925 A rural trading center,
Clay Center also has a radio station, KMMJ.
HASTINGS, 161.7 m. (1,935 alt, 15,940 pop.) (see HASTINGS).
Points of Interest: Hastings College, City Museum, Sunny side, and others
356 TOURS
Hastings is at the junction with US 281 (see Tour 4).
Section b. HASTINGS to COLORADO LINE, 227 J m. US 6.
US 6 leads west from HASTINGS, m.
At 1 ;TZ. the highway passes Ingleside (R), the NEBRASKA STATE HOS-
PITAL FOR THE INSANE (wsitmg hours 1:30-4.00 p.m.), the largest in-
stitution of its kind in the State, with a total population, staff and patients,
of 1,725 (1937).
At 7.9 m. is a junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road to JUNIATA, 1.6 m. (i,974 alt, 367 pop ), oldest town and
once the seat of Adams County Named for the Jumata River in Pennsylvania, the
town declined with the coming of the St Joseph and Denver R R. to Hastings The
OLD WELL still stands in the center of the town, a bandstand has been built
around it
KENESAW, 17.6 m. (2,051 alt, 614 pop ), numbers among its business estab-
lishments an old blacksmith shop Because so many of its early settlers came from
Virginia, the town still observes Virginia ' Day, though with the passing of the
pioneers the popularity of this event is waning
Left from the northern edge of Kenesaw 1 5 m. to a junction; R. here to a junc-
tion at 3.5 m.
1 Left from this junction 1 m to the McLeod Farm, where on a knoll overlook-
ing the Platte Valley is the BURIAL PLACE OF SUSAN HALE.
Traveling with her husband and a band of pioneers on the Oregon Trail in 1852,
she drank water at a well supposedly poisoned by Indians, became ill, and died
here. Her husband made a rude coffin from the lumber of his wagon and buried
her Then he returned to Omaha, brought back a marble gravestone in a wheel-
barrow, and set it up himself This stone was worn away by sand and chipped down
by souvenir hunters. The grave is now marked by a stone bearing a bronze plaque
and protected by a railing
2 Straight from the junction 0.7 m. to a FARM MUSEUM, on the land of Edward
Ziebarth (adm free; visits by appointment). Many old relics, mostly Indian, are
kept here. Ziebarth holds a State permit to excavate old graves for relics
MINDEN, 35.4 m. (2,165 alt, 1,716 pop.), seat of Kearney County,
was founded by ve men who conceived the idea of forming a town while
working together in a broomcorn field September 1875. Each bought one
quarter-section of land at the center of the county. Joe Hull, originator of
the idea, paid the Union Pacific $3.75 an acre. Town sites and lots were
sold in 1876. The county seat was moved here from Lowell in 1878. The
town was named for Minden, Germany, home of the town's first post
master.
On the eastern side of the town square once stood a bullet-scarred frame
shack, known to cowboys, settlers, and sheriffs of the early days as the
Prairie Home Restaurant. It was the scene of many fights The building
was later torn down to make room for the construction of the new post-
office.
Minden has a plant manufacturing automobile repair tools and a pub-
lishing house printing review and examination books for schools
West of the courthouse is the BETHANY OLD PEOPLE'S HOME (visiting
hours, 2-5, 7-8 p.m. daily). It consists of the Borgaard Memorial and two
smaller frame buildings to accommodate guests. The home was founded
in 1920 by the Rev. J. P Jansen for men and women 65 years of age or
COMBINES AT
older, and is operated by a Lutheran board of trustees on a non-profit
basis.
One block east of the square is GTY PARK (benches and tables).
AXTELL, 45.5 m. (2,222 alt., 328 pop.), often called the town of
windmills, is a Swedish settlement.
On the eastern edge of town several yellow brick buildings, forming a
small village, are visible (R) from the highway. This is the BETHPHAGE
MISSION (mating horns 1-4 p.m. on Tues., Wed., and Thurs.), a chari-
table institution for epileptics, feeble-minded, and destitute persons. It was
founded February 19, 1913, by the Rev, K. G. William Dahl, and is con-
trolled by the Augustana Synod of the Lutheran Church. The average num-
ber of inmates cared for annually is no, from 21 States.
West of Axtell the highway crosses the TRI-COUNTY CANAL, part of
the power project in this area.
HOLDREGE, 58 7 m. (2,237 *&* 3 262 PpO> seat of p kelps County,
was named for George W. Holdrege, master builder of the C. B. & Q.
R.R. A memorial to him was unveiled July 28, 1928. The town site,
platted in 1885, was first settled by a group of Scandinavians. When the
people of the county voted to move the seat here from Phelps Center, the
latter town refused to give up its records. A wagonload of Holdrege citi-
zens descended upon Phelps Center and seized them.
Surrounded by low hills bordering the Platte Valley, Holdrege has a
mill, an ice plant, a foundry, and a i6-acre CITY PARK. An ORPHANS'
HOME in the western part of town was founded in 1883 by Alex Nordin,
a bachelor pastor at Phelps Center, who had adopted three motherless
children.
358 TOURS
When Stokowski conducted his symphony orchestra here on his 1936
tour, he was impressed by the large number of persons who came from
distant places to hear him. One of his audience, a boy of 17, traveled 210
miles, partly on foot, to hear the concert.
OXFORD, 84.6 m. (2,077 alt , 1,155 PP-) is ^ scene of ^ Oxfor d
Fall Festival, held the last week in August. The town is at the eastern
junction with State 3 (see Tour 11); and between this point and Culbert-
son US 6 and State 3 are united.
CAMBRIDGE, 114.5 m. (2,261 alt, 1,203 pop.), has had four names,
the others being Scratchpot, Pickleville, and Northwood. Cambridge his-
tory includes a prairie fire, a diphtheria epidemic when the nearest doctor
was 13 miles away, an Indian scare, and a grasshopper plague. The town
has never had a saloon, though liquor was sold here as early as 1873. It
has had a steady growth since the pioneer days. The region is noted for
its purebred-cattle ranches.
A marker has been erected to show the high-water mark of the flood of
At 118 m. on US 6 is a junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to the BOHEMIAN MONUMENT, 0.5 m., near Richmond Can-
yon, marking the spot where an emigrant party of nine Bohemian families, number-
ing 17 persons, were almost all drowned when a cloudburst sent a 15 -foot wall of
water down the canyon One man, alert to the danger, rescued two of his children
by carrying them up the side of the hill. When he returned for his wife and other
children, he found that they had been swept away. Only five bodies were ever
found, and these were buried in Cambridge Cemetery. The monument was dedi-
cated on May 4, 1924, anniversary of the disaster.
McCOOK, 139.8 m. (2,509 alt., 6,688 pop.), seat of Red Willow
County, is a railroad town and farmers' trading center. The heavy loam
soil of the Republican Valley produces great quantities of corn and alfalfa.
McCook is the division point on the main line of the Burlington Route
between Omaha and Denver. The railroad employs 420 men in its shops,
roundhouse, and station. The town also has a meat packing plant. The
original settlement, consisting of a post office and a few straggling build-
ings, was called Fairview. During a railroad boom in 1882 a hundred
buildings sprang up within a month, and the town was renamed for Maj.
Gen. Alexander McDowell McCook. The town enjoyed another boom
between 1920 and 1930, when its population increased more than 50 per-
cent.
On Main St., opposite the City Park, is the two-story stuccoed HOME OF
GEORGE W. NORRK, born in Sandusky County, Ohio, on July n, 1861.
He taught school to earn the money to study law, was admitted to the bar
in 1883, moved to Nebraska two years later, and soon entered politics. He
served three terms as county attorney and was judge of a district court
from 1895 until 1902, when he was elected to the House of Representa-
tives. He was re-elected as Representative each term until 1913, when he
became a Senator; he has been re-elected three times to the Senate. Senator
Norris, though nominally a Republican, has been an independent. He was
one of the small number of Senators to vote against the entrance of the
TOUR 9 359
United States into the World War. Throughout his career he has worked
for the advancement of direct government; he wrote the Constitutional
Amendment abolishing the lame-duck session of the National Congress,
and also the amendment to the Nebraska Constitution establishing the uni-
cameral legislature. He has been a consistent advocate of public develop-
ment and ownership of power facilities and fathered the act establishing
the Tennessee Valley Authority.
CITY PARK, on Main St., 3 blocks from the downtown district, has a
bandstand and fountains. An ATHLETIC PARK, in the eastern part of the
town, has fields for baseball, Softball, and football.
In KELLEY PARK (ovens, swimming pool, tennis courts), is McCooK
JUNIOR COLLEGE, 1205 E. 3d St., built by Mrs Maude McMillen as a
memorial to her son. It has an enrollment of 140 students. WPA labor was
employed in the construction of the STADIUM nearby. Directly northeast
of the college building is the GOLF COURSE (9 boles, open to pubhc, fee
300 a day), which covers 480 acres. The RED WILLOW COUNTY FAIR-
GROUNDS are in the northwestern part of town.
(At the eastern limits of McCook the time changes from central stand-
ard to mountain time.)
McCook is at the junction with US 183 (see Tour 8B).
At 153.4 m. State 3 (see Tour 11) branches south from US 6.
At 154.9 m. is a junction with State 17, a graveled road.
Right on this road to HAYES CENTER, 22.8 m. (229 pop ), seat of Hayes
County, named for President Hayes
Right from the main street of Hayes Center 10 m to the DUKE ALEXIS RECRE-
ATION GROUNDS, on the banks of Red Willow Creek. In 1872 the Grand Duke
Alexis of Russia, 2 2 -year-old brother of the reigning C2ar, came here to hunt
buffalo, in company with "Buffalo Bill" Cody, General Sheridan, and Army officers
from Fort McPherson.
A camp was made in a sheltered bend of the Red Willow Creek Spotted Tail,
chief of the Sioux, was encamped with a hundred warriors nearby, and Buffalo Bill
induced them to engage in the hunt and do a war dance. The hunt was elaborately
planned, and with Buffalo Bill as chief guide, the Grand Duke succeeded in killing
several buffalo.
A number of years ago the old camp site was identified, and every August a
picnic is held here under the shade trees.
WAUNETA, 183.6 m. (2,938 alt, 793 pop.), was named for the song
Juamta. A little WATERFALL, one block from Main St., on Frenchman
River, served as a refuge for several women and children during one of
the early Indian raids. When reports came of the Indians' approach, the
residents hurried to the falls and hid beneath the ledge of rock over which
the water flows. The Indians did not think of looking there. The water-
fall now operates the local light and power plant.
Wauneta, lying in a valley, with tall cottonwoods lining the main street,
has the appearance of a mountain town.
The road from Wauneta leaves the river valley, passes through a short
strip of sand-hill country, and enters a high tableland section.
IMPERIAL, 202.2 m. (3,281 alt., 946 pop.), seat of Chase County, is
a bright-looking country town built on land once homesteaded by Thomas
JMercier, who gave the town its name.
360 TOURS
At Imperial is the junction with State 48, a graveled road.
Left on this road to CHAMPION, 7.8 m. (100 pop ), named for Champion S.
Chase, former mayor of Omaha, for whom the county is also named
At 10 m. are CHAMPION LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS (fishing).
West of Imperial the road runs along a plateau, with sagebrush in
abundance but few trees.
LAMAR, 223.6 m. (122 pop.), was named for Lucius Quintus Cincin-
natus Lamar, Secretary of the Interior in President Cleveland's first Cabi-
net and later an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
At 227.5 m. US 6 meets the Colorado Line, runs north along the line
for o 2 miles, and turns into Colorado 15 miles east of Holyoke, Colo.
(see COLO. Tour 2).
<<<<<<<<<<<< a >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tour 10
(Sidney, Iowa) Nebraska City Lincoln Grand Island Alliance
Crawford (Ardmore, S. Dak.); State 2.
Missouri River at Nebraska City to South Dakota Line, 525.6 m.
The C B. & Q. R.R parallels this route the entire distance.
Bus service Nebraska City to Broken Bow
Graveled and oiled roadbed, with some paved stretches; open all year. On side
routes roadbeds are fine, soft sand, cars must be driven at rather rapid rate to pre-
vent wheels from settling down into sand; tires should not have more than 30-
pounds of air
Accommodations available chiefly in cities.
State 2 cuts through eastern Nebraska orchard and farm land, runs
through the heart of the sand-hills between Broken Bow and Alliance,
and touches the semimountamous northwestern country near Crawford.
Farther west the highway runs in a general direction toward the Black
Hills of South Dakota.
The central section of US 2 extends across the sand hills, and runs from
the southeastern apple country to the Pine Ridge hills in the northwest.
The sand-hills were formed largely by westerly winds blowing over
sandy formations in dry seasons. The process is still going on. The hills
are covered with fine-grained, wind-blown sand, mixed with coarse gravel
and pebbles at the edges of the sand belts. The hills, most of them
rounded in shape, are not large. The smaller hills, when close together,
have been likened to "so many swells of the ocean which have become mo-
tionless or frozen/' Or they appear petrified, according to some observers-
BLOWOUT WITH YUCCA ROOTS
A realistic picture of the region appears in Old Jules, a biography written
by Mari Sandoz, daughter of a sand hills pioneer (see LITERATURE,).
"Blowouts" in the topographical, not the motoring sense, are peculiar
to the sand hill country. These depressions are caused by cattle tramping
over grassless sandy soil, which becomes loose and is blown away by the
wind. The harder and more frequent the wind, the larger the holes.
The few streams in the sand-hills are spring-fed. Little or no storm
water feeds them, for there is little surface drainage. Much of the rainfall
percolates through the sand to become ground water, of which there is
more than the amount of rainfall would suggest. The quality of the water
varies ; some is potable, but much is slightly alkaline. Although the water-
table is rather deep in several places, farmers find it possible to pump an
adequate supply of water by means of windmills, which are a prominent
feature of the landscape.
In this region large herds of sleek, white-faced cattle are seen, usually
near a windmill, stream, or water hole.
Along the roads are many home-made mail boxes, fashioned of cream
cans, wooden boxes, or similar objects They are usually rather large, as
mail is delivered in batches two or three times a week. Spaced at irregular
intervals, the boxes frequently are miles from a house and the only sign
of its existence.
Living habits of the people in the region are reminiscent of pioneer
362 TOURS
days. People still wear long-robed coats, often of fur. Wagons with long
boxes are seen, flocks of turkeys with bells to indicate their whereabouts,
piles of cow "chips" for use as fuel. Except for large ranch buildings,
houses are plain and simply constructed.
The ranch house, barns, and other structures are often scattered over a
large area and usually lie in a valley near a small spring, creek, or other
source of water. There is almost always a corral, where horses and cattle
are kept and branding is done. The typical sand hill ranch house is a low,
rambling, one-story building, with rooms added here and there as needed.
Buildings are frequently protected on the north and west by a windbreak
of pine, cedar, or cottonwood planted in rows.
Early in the spring the valleys between the sand dunes are covered with
innumerable wild flowers of many kinds, rich in color. They thrive on
sand apparently and usually die when transplanted to more fertile soil.
Grasses native to this region range from the small bunch grass of the sandy
regions to the tall, wide-bladed varieties of the hay meadows. The grasses,
unusually deep in color, make good summer pasturage.
On the side roads are cattle guards a series of short, parallel slats of
wood or iron placed flat on the road over a trench. This home-made device
to catch the hoofs of the cattle prevents them from leaving the ranch and
roaming the highway.
Section a. MISSOURI RIVER to GRAND ISLAND, 151.4 m. State 2.
The route begins at the Missouri River toll bridge, m. (40$ for car,
5$ for each passenger)) 15 miles west of Sidney, Iowa.
NEBRASKA CITY, 1.2 m. (961 alt., 7,230 pop.) (see Tour 1), is at
the junction with US 73-75 (see Tour 1).
West of Nebraska City State 2 runs near what is known as the Steam
Wagon Road (see TRANSPORTATION). Major J. R. Brown was the
inventor of the "steam wagon." Built by John A. Reed, of New York, to
haul freight from Nebraska Gty to Denver, the machine consisted of four
engines of 10 horsepower each. The two front wheels, with which it was
steered, were 6 feet in diameter. The two rear wheels, or drivers, were 12
feet in diameter, with an 1 8-inch tread. The steam wagon, it was claimed,
could run 8 hours on a cord of wood as fuel.
After several tests, all under adverse conditions, the "steam wagon" left
Nebraska City for Denver on July 22, 1862. Several weeks were allowed
for the trip because of the condition of the road. A series of regular trips
was scheduled. Eight miles west of Nebraska City, however, a crank on
the driving shaft broke. New York was the nearest place for repairs. The
Civil War was raging; Major Brown learned his family had been captured
in an Indian outbreak and his property destroyed; he was called into serv-
ice; and before operations were resumed the locomotive was running on
the Steam Wagon Road.
The highway passes through the apple-orchard country of southeastern
Nebraska, with its rolling hills and green valleys.
DUNBAR, 10.4 m. (i, 044 alt., 292 pop.), was a station on B^JL Hoi-
TOUR 10 363
laday's Overland stage line years before the railroad reached the town. For
10 years the town was known as Wilson's, for a ranch of that name; then
its name was changed to Denmson and soon afterward to Dunbar, for the
Dunbar brothers, Thomas and John, each of whom owned land near the
townsite.
At 18.5 m. is the junction with State 50, graveled.
Left on this toad to SYRACUSE, 0.8 m. (1,048 alt, 947 pop ), an outgrowth of
Nursery Hill, a stopping place on the Overland Stage Line from Nebraska City to
Colorado When the Midland Pacific R R , now the Burlington, established a station
here, the two stores in Nursery Hill were moved here Laid out in 1871, Syracuse
was named by George Warner for his former home in New York State
UNADILLA, 23.4 m. (1,078 alt, 194 pop.), platted in 1870 and
settled in 1872, was named for Unadilla (Ind., place of meeting) , N. Y.
Anxious to attract the railroad, the townspeople built a stockyard and a
depot in 1874.
PALMYRA, 31.6 m. (1,142 alt., 344 pop.), was laid out in 1870 on
the land of the Rev. J. N. Taggart, who gave half of his farm for a town
site. His daughter named the town for the ancient city of Palmyra in Asia
Minor.
LINCOLN, 54.8 m. (1,148 alt, 79,592 pop.) (see LINCOLN).
Points of Interest: State Capitol, University of Nebraska, State Historical Mu-
seum, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Home of W. J. Bryan, and others.
Lincoln is at the junction with US 77 (see Tour 2) and US 6 (see Tour
9).
West of the city there are evidences of the SALT BASIN that formerly
extended over the area drained by Salt Creek. Salt was once manufac-
tured and sold here, but efforts to develop the business on a large scale
were abandoned after 1886 because the cost was too great to meet com-
petition (see LINCOLN).
SEWARD, 79.7 m. (1,442 alt, 2,737 PP-) seat of Seward County,
is a thriving, tree-shaded trade town whose housetops are visible a mile
before the highway enters the square. The white rounded dome of the
SEWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE, built in 1905, looms above clusters of
trees. CONCORDIA TEACHERS COLLEGE (R), established in 1894, is a Ger-
man Lutheran seminary in which teachers are trained for work in the pa-
rochial schools west of the Mississippi. Its nine buildings occupy more
than 20 acres in the northeastern part of Seward.
Seward was named for Seward County, which in turn was named for
William H. Seward (1801-1872), Secretary of State under Lincoln. First
named for General Greene, of Missouri, the county was renamed when
Greene joined the Confederacy during the Civil War.
The town site of Seward was surveyed in 1868 and its development as-
sured when the Midland Pacific R.R. (now the Burlington) reached the
town on March i, 1873. For three years Seward was its terminal, which
stimulated growth as a trading center for local farmers. Seward's enter-
prises include flour milling, poultry farming, and brick making.
An OPEN AIR AMPHITHEATER, surrounded by a native rock wall, has
364 TOURS
a stage also built of native rock. At CITY PARK, embracing 40 acres on the
Blue River, are a swimming pool, grandstand, ball fields, race track, and
fine picnic grounds. Here the Seward County Fair is held each fall.
YORK, 108.6 m. (1,634 ait > 57 12 PP-) seat of York County, was
founded by Ghost and Sherwood, agents for the South Platte Land Com-
pany. The town was platted in October 1869, and incorporated in 1872.
Even the severe grasshoppers plague of 1874 did not halt the town's
growth. That year an academy was started. In 1877 the Burlington &
Missouri River R.R. was completed to York. In 1880 the nearby settlement
of New York was added to the city.
York is the trading center of a wide agricultural region, and much of
its business is related to farming The city has a brick and tile plant; a
foundry and engine works manufacturing feed grinders, sash weights,
structural iron, hay tools, castings, pulleys, and elevator machinery; a
music publishing house; factory producing medicine for livestock, feeds,
serums, and dips.
YORK COLLEGE, founded in 1890 by the United Brethren in Christ, has
an ii-acre campus in the northeastern part of town. The college is coedu-
cational and has an enrollment of 400. The NEBRASKA I.O.O.K HOME,
20 Cowan Ave., for members and their families, is situated on a i6o-acre
farm; children living in the home attend York schools. MOTHERS'
JEWELS' HOME, 2ist St. and Division Ave., an orphanage supported by
the Methodist Episcopal Church, has a 170-acre farm and accommodates
100 children. A new fireproof nursery has recently been added.
EAST HILL PARK, HARRISON PARK, and CENTRAL PARK afford recrea-
tional facilities.
Between York and Grand Island the country is low and flat, with few
trees.
At 110.5 m. (L) is the STATE REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN (visiting
day, -fourth Thurs. of each month), consisting of three buildings, enclosed
by a wire fence. The institution opened on May 8, 1920; in May 1933
women prisoners in the State penitentiary were transferred here. The
grounds include a farm of 235 acres.
As the highway enters AURORA, 130.6 m. (1,794 *&., 2 >7 I 5 PP-)>
seat of Hamilton County, it passes tree-studded STREETER PARK (R).
Aurora's history dates from the spring of 1871, when seven men of
Chariton, Iowa, decided to start a town in Hamilton County, Nebr. To
this end each gave $30 to one David Stone, who set out alone to discover
whether land could be obtained by homestead or pre-emption. He selected
a site here, and though the original plan failed, a town was eventually
founded. Named for Aurora, 111 , it was incorporated on July 4, 1877.
In the Hamilton County COURTHOUSE is a MUSEUM containing pioneer
relics (adm. jree t open 8 a.m. to J p.m.).
Left from Aurora on State 14, a smooth graveled road, to DEEPWELL RANCH
MONUMENT (L), 4.6 m. t marking the site of a well and a relay station of the
Nebraska City Cut-off of the Oregon Trail. The monument is an old well with a
barrel top This well of pure water never failed thirsty freighters and emigrants,
and the spot was a popular resting place along the trail
TOUR 10 365
At 131.7 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Bight on this clay road to a junction with another country road, 1 m.; L. here to
SPAFFORD GRAVE, 1.5 m., in a grove of trees. The inscription reads: "Rev. S. W.
SpafFord Died Nov. 9, 1876 Aged 47 years 8 months and u days.
* 'Farewell my wife my children all
From you a father, Christ doth call,
Mourn not for me, it is in vain,
To call me to your sight again.
Lincoln Marble Works."
At 149.8 m. is the junction with State 70 ( see Tour 4).
GRAND ISLAND, 151.4 m. (1,864 alt., 18,041 pop.) (see GRAND
ISLAND).
Points of Interest - Catholic Cathedral, American Crystal Sugar Company, Pioneers
Park, Memorial Park, Grand Island Airport.
Grand Island is at the junction with US 281 (see Tour 4) and US 30
(see Tour 8j.
Section b. GRAND ISLAND to SOUTH DAKOTA LINE, 373.6 m.
State 2.
The route proceeds west from GRAND ISLAND, m.
At 5 m. is a junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road to the U S CENTRAL MONITORING STATION (open at all
hours), 0.5 m, established in 1930 as one of the field and monitoring stations of
the Federal Communications Commission. The site was selected because of its position
near the geographical center of the United States and because of the absence of
any nearby transmitting stations The purpose of the station is to keep broadcasting
stations on their assigned frequencies and to maintain a constant check on the qual-
ity and type of programs being broadcast. The grounds comprise 60 acres, dotted
with antennae of various types for directive reception from all points of the com-
pass. Highly specialized technicians carry on the work day and night.
At 18 m. is the junction with State 60.
Right on State 60, a graveled road, to CAIRO, 1.8 m. (1,954 alt., 425 pop.),
named for Cairo, Egypt. Some of the streets bear Egyptian names The town,
founded in the spring of 1886, is a shipping point for wild hay, alfalfa, grain, and
livestock. The inhabitants are largely German.
At 7.3 m. is the junction with State 58, a graveled road; L. here 5.3 m. to
BOELUS (246 pop ), said to be named for the Belus, a small river in Palestine
described by Pliny. According to tradition its fine sand led the Phoenicians to the
invention of glass.
Left 2 m. from the main street of Boelus on a sandy country road to BOELUS
DAM (adm. free t fishing permitted), on the Loup River, owned by the Central
Power Company.
RAVENNA, 37.4 m. (2,000 alt., 1,559 pop.) &rst called Beaver
Creek, was later named Ravenna for the city in Italy. Its older streets
have Italian names. Grand Avenue, the main street, was formerly called
Appian Way.
One of the earliest settlers of the northern part of Buffalo County was
Erastus Smith, who settled in 1874 on tne s i te f present Ravenna. He
brought with him a small herd of registered shorthorn cattle, the first in
366 TOURS
the county. Numerous Indian relics and human bones of an earlier period
have been found in the vicinity of Ravenna
The town's large AUDITORIUM was built in 1934. Just over the brow of
the hill, near the Junior High School, is WOODLAND PARK, a wooded area
of much natural beauty.
At 42.3 m. is the junction with State 45, a graveled road.
Right on State 45 to LOUP CITY, 15.6 m. (2,091 alt., 1,446 pop.), seat of
Sherman County, named for its situation in the Middle Loup Valley. Settled in
1873, this vicinity had been occupied by the Skidi band of the Pawnee Indians.
Loup is the French translation of skidi (Ind , wolj )
At the end of Main St. is JENNER'S ZOOLOGICAL AND AMUSEMENT PARK (adm.
25$, children 10$; 8 a.m. to sundown), offering a zoo, playground, and picnic
grounds. In the MUMMY CAVE (adm. 10$, children 5$) are more than 10,000
articles, chiefly East Indian and African, including 17 cases of Egyptian mummies
Right from Loup City 4 m on a dirt road to DEAD HORSE CANYON, named in
1873 when 28 horses belonging to soldier scouts died in a blizzard here.
At Loup City is the junction with State 16.
Left on this road 2 m. to the LOUP CITY RECREATION GROUNDS, 30 acres of
land around a 2o-acre lake stocked with bullheads, crappies, and sunfish.
At 47.4 m. is the southeastern junction with US 83 (see Tour 5); US
83 and State 2 are united as one route for 30.7 miles.
HAZARD, 50.4 m. (2,109 alt., 148 pop ), was to have been called
Bunnell. When it was found that this name had been pre-empted by
another town, a conference was called to choose a new one. One delegate
suggested that they "hazard some new name/' "That's it," another said.
"We'll call it Hazard."
At 52.3 m. are the LITCHFIELD RECREATION GROUNDS (L).
ANSLEY, 76.6 m. (2,310 alt, 817 pop.), founded m 1886, lies among
the hills of a rich alfalfa region.
At 78 1 m. is the northwestern junction of US 83 (see Tour 5).
BROKEN BOW, 94.7 m. (2,480 alt., 2,715 pop.), platted in 1882,
is a shipping center for livestock, hay, and grain. It has factories making
cigars and brooms, two hotels, and an airport. After the Post Office De-
partment had rejected several proposed names, Wilson Hewitt, a home-
steader, suggested its present name on finding a broken bow on an old
Indian burial ground.
At 103.9 m. is MERNA (2,671 alt, 439 pop.).
Right from Merna on State So to the 6o-acre VICTORIA SPRINGS STATE
PARK, 10 m. (adm. -free; cabins, picnicking -facilities, playground equipment),
established in 1923.
Victoria Creek flows diagonally across the northwest part of the park and into
the Middle Loup River. Springs in the creek are unlike those found elsewhere in
the State. No two are chemically alike, for their waters become impregnated with
chemicals from the different sandstones through and over which they course
In the early seventies Charles R. Mathews, of Virginia, and Oscar Smith, of
Pennsylvania, settled here Victoria Valley soon became known for its beauty and
its springs Smith built sleeping quarters over his store to accommodate visitors.
Today the mineral waters are used extensively for their curative properties
A crescent-shaped LAKE (boats, bathhouse) in the bend of the creek, fed by hun-
dreds of springs, is stocked with bass, crappies, bullheads, and sunfish
Left from the park 1.5 m. to the CEDAR CANYONS of north-central Custer
County. This area covers from five to eight sections of land in a fan-like projection
'
EARLY MORNING, SANDHILLS
toward the north and at one time formed one of the largest and highest hills in the
loess plains. The old Tim Roberts or Burns Brothers farm is within a few rods of
the canyons. (Information concerning entrances from superintendent of Victoria
Park)
There are no streams through the canyons A few cottonwood, oak, boxelder,
willow, and wild plum trees grow on the canyon floors, together with sumac,
chokecherry, and buffalo-berry. Yucca, wild rose, and morning glory are plentiful
Animals found here include cottontail, and jackrabbits, grey squirrel, coyote,
badger, and several smaller animals Birds are also seen here in large numbers;
among others, magpies, blackbirds, meadowlarks, prairie owls, bobwhires, bluejays,
goldfinches, cardinals, brown thrashers, Arkansas kingbirds, and dovefe. Birds sel-
dom seen in other Nebraska regions are found here the cedar waxwing, the great
horned owl, the black eagle, and the bald eagle.
At LINSCOTT, 126.7 m. (2,708 alt., 4 pop.), the time changes from
central standard to mountain.
At 135.1 m. the highway crosses the Dismal River, along which Febold
Feboldson, the mythical Swede, had his home and performed his wonders
(see FOLKLORE).
West of DUNNING, 135.6 m. (2,624 alt, 212 pop.), is the Halsey
Division of the Nebraska National Forest (see below). For a distance of
20 miles the highway follows the north bank of the Middle Loup River,
and the boundary of the forest lies just south of the river
HALSEY,. 145.6 m. (2,698 alt, 130 pop.), was named in honor of
Halsey Yates, of Lincoln, a member of the party that surveyed the railroad
through this district.
368 TOURS
Left from Halsey on a graveled road to the entrance to the HALSEY DIVISION
OF NEBRASKA NATIONAL FOREST, 1 m. (Adm. free; picnicking facilities;
cars must be equipped -with mufflers, and cut-outs must be kept closed on hay roads;
no smoking allowed; violators subject to prosecution ) The Nebraska National
Forest, established in 1902 during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, comprises
two large areas in the north-central part of the State, the Halsey Division and the
Niobrara Division (see Tour 7). The forest is also a wildlife refuge.
The terrain chosen for this program of forestation was outwardly unpromising
The remote geologic upheaval that raised the Rocky Mountain system exposed large
areas of Tertiary sandstone in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and bor-
dering regions. The most extensive exposure was this fan-shaped area in north-
central Nebraska Early ranchers in the region were handicapped by the absence of
wood, which had to be brought from remote distances. To meet this need and to
further the reclamation of the land, the program of forestation was undertaken.
The Halsey Division, which includes the BESSEY NURSERY, comprises 90,000
acres in Thomas and Blaine Counties, of which 21,122 acres have been planted
(July 1936). In 1903, 70,000 jack pine and 30,000 western yellow pine seedlings
were planted, and the original forest is now well on its way toward maturity.
Approximately 2,500,000 seedlings from this nursery are transplanted every year,
chiefly to the Niobrara Division of the forest.
The forest contains many varieties of trees, hackberry, green ash, red cedar, cot-
tonwood, willow, and aspen. Non-native varieties include jack pine, American elm,
willow, white fir, blue spruce, honey locust, black locust, catalpa, and several other
broadieaf trees.
The mule deer is the only big game animal found in the forest; small game
animals are rabbits, mink, muskrats, badgers, and squirrels Among game birds are
pheasants, ducks, quail, grouse, and Hungarian partridges (introduced). With the
exception of the coyote, which may be trapped in the winter on permits issued
through the local game warden, all animals are protected.
With its false-front frame buildings, its cowboys and ranchers in ten-
gallon hats, MULLEN, 188.9 m. (524 pop.), seat of Hooker County, is
a typical town of midwestern Nebraska and the sand-hills country. Over
the general store, in a large hall equipped with faded scenery, bare walls,
church pews, and kitchen chairs, is the Mullen movie house, showing pic-
tures several nights a week.
West of Mullen State 2 is called the Potash Highway (see below).
At 192.8 m. is a junction with a dirt road.
Left on this tortuous sandy road, to the SITE OF THE NORTH AND CODY RANCH,
30 m (Road is bard to travel, with many crossings) and requires a guide; inquire
locally.) Thousands of acres of grassy sand dunes and broad expanses of level plains,
once the range of buffalo, deer, and elk, were included in this ranch, established in
1877 by three old scouts of the plains Maj. Frank North, Capt Luther North, and
William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. These men did much to eliminate the numerous
cattle thieves who infested this region after the Indian wars were ended. The North
and Cody Ranch was always open to travelers, and many notable people were enter-
tained here.
The Dismal River flows through picturesque country, from the lakes in Hooker
and McPherson Counties, to the Middle Loup River. Along its banks are plum
thickets and chokecherries
HYANNIS, 227.3 m. (3,738 alt, 384 pop.), seat of Grant County, is
a hilly and rather unusual ranch town.
Although they are not of the two-gun, liquor-drinking type described in
fiction, the ranchers and cowboys of the vicinity still walk the streets of
Hyannis in ten-gallon hats, riding boots, spurs, and chaps. Small rodeos
are held here every year.
TOUR 10 369
Right from the main street of Hyannis, past the depot on a dirt road, to the
FRYE LAKE RECREATION GROUNDS, 3 m. (adm free, camping and fishzng per-
mitted}.
Between Hyannis and Alliance is sand-hill country, with here and there
a lake of deep ultramarine lying in a pocket of yellow dunes.
ANTIOCH, 271.4 m. (147 pop.), with its abandoned buildings and
deserted walls, suggests a war-torn village. But it was peace, not war, that
ruined the town There was a great potash boom during the World War.
Antioch suddenly became a bustling town of 2,500, with five factories
working 24 hours a day, producing potash by the carload from the dry
beds of sand-hill lakes. With the end of hostilities the boom collapsed as
abruptly as it had begun A few dilapidated houses and the ruins of five
large potash factories, with rusting retorts, boilers, and steel skeletons scat-
tered about them, remain as reminder of former prosperity.
Many of the smaller houses were moved to Alliance, 15 miles away (see
below). The tar-paper shacks of the potash workers were dismantled and
used by the ranchers. Brick salvaged from the towering chimney of one of
the potash factories went to build the largest garage in Hyannis (see
above). Only one impressive house stands the big stucco home built by
a factory superintendent during the boom. At the height of prosperity the
town had voted bonds for a $100,000 school building; a superintendent
was engaged at $2,500 a year on a three-year contract. Before the close
of his first year there were scarcely enough pupils to occupy the attention
of a single teacher.
ALLIANCE, 2866 m. (3,960 alt., 6,669 pop.), seat of Box Butte
County, lies west of the sand-hills on a high treeless tableland, almost all
of which is tillable. The town is the trading center of an extensive farm-
ing area, shipping many carloads of seed potatoes annually.
Alliance is a relatively new town, settled in 1888 when the Burlington
Lines, which owned the site, advertised a great land sale and ran special
excursion trains for those who came to buy. Previously, a small settlement
known as Grand Lake had been established nearby.
CITY PARK, one block E. of 9th St., is used as a Government testing
ground for the introduction of new plants of various kinds, and has a
swimming pool. In the park is the SOD HOUSE MUSEUM (open Sundays,
adm. jree), a copy of the pioneer houses of the vicinity, containing many
relics of earlier days.
The Panhandle Stampede, a rodeo characteristic of the Old West, is
held here annually for three days during the last week in June. The local
cavalry troop sponsors a horse show and wrestling match, and provides a
band. An annual Race Meet is held here the first week in September.
Alliance is at the junction with State 19 (see Tour 6).
1. Right from Alliance on roth St. and its continuation, a sandy road, to the
ALLIANCE CEMETERY, 1,9 m., in the southeastern part of which are the GRAVES OF
JULES SANDOZ AND His WIFE, marked by a headstone and a monument A man of
imagination and unusual energy, Sandoz was a pioneer horticulturist of the sand-hills
(see LITERATURE).
2. Left from Alliance on a dirt road to the POINT OF ROCKS, 18 m. t a camping
370 TOURS
place on the old Sidney-Deadwood Trail The cool springs on the south side of the
point provided the only water for miles around, and made the point a rendezvous
for early travelers.
North of Alliance State 2 leaves the sand hills and enters more rugged,
semimountainous country.
HEMINGFORD, 306.4 m. (4,259 alt., 1,025 pop.), was founded in
1880 by Joseph Hare, a pioneer editor, who built a sod house on the pres-
ent site of Shindler's store. By 1887 the town had two newspapers: the
Gleaner and the Box Butte Rustler. Supplies and mail came overland from
Hay Springs, 40 miles distant. Prairie fires were a constant menace, often
requiring the energies of the whole town to check them. In 1889 the rail-
road reached Hemmgford, which was incorporated in 1890 and the fol-
lowing year became the county seat, remaining so until supplanted by Alli-
ance in 1899.
The center of a potato-growing country, Hemingford has several large
potato warehouses, equipped with sorters, graders, and conveyors, all elec-
trically operated Dry-farming methods have been successfully applied in
the surrounding territory.
West of Hemingford the road traverses a level tableland dotted in sum-
mer with fields of potatoes, wheat, oats, rye, and some corn. A rust-
resistant variety of wheat is grown here, though the elevation makes the
season short. There are only a few small trees on the Box Butte high
plains to relieve the monotony of the scene.
At 325.8 m. State 2 crosses the Niobrara River, stocked with trout and
offering good fishing.
North of the river State 2 enters gracing country with a few farms on
the occasional level stretches.
At 337.7 m., the highway enters the Pine Ridge and descends BRYAN
CANYON, where there are many odd rock formations. The slope of the
canyon is steep, but the gradient of the winding road is not.
In the White River Valley the highway passes Spring Creek, stocked
with trout. Water from Spring Creek, fed by springs, supplies the fish
hatchery in Crawford
CRAWFORD, 345.1 m. (3,673 alt, 1,703 pop.) (see Tour 7) is at the
junction with US 20 (see Tour 7).
At 353 m. is COTTONWOOD CREEK, the camping ground of Chief
Crazy Horse and his band of Sioux as they came to Fort Robinson to sur-
render in April 1877, thus ending the Indian war of 1876-1877 (see Tour
7).
Northwest of this point the highway enters the BADLANDS of the
State, and passes TOADSTOOL PARK, 366 m., a field of gigantic stone
mushrooms, produced by the erosion of soft clay from under a stratum of
sandstone and gumbo soil, leaving columns of clay capped with wide stone
tops. The park is at the edge of the Adelia Badlands, the larger of two
areas of this kind. Many fossils are found in the vicinity.
At 373 6 m. State 2 crosses the South Dakota Line, 3 miles south of
Ardmore, S. Dak.
TOADSTOOL PARK
372 TOURS
Tour ii
(Rockport,Mo.) Brownville Beatrice Franklin Trenton (Wray,
Colo.); State 3.
Missouri River at Brownville to Colorado Line, 386.3 m.
Between Auburn and Beatrice, and Guide Rock and Colorado Line, the Chicago,
Burlington & Qumcy RR. parallels the route; between Beatrice and Nelson, the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry. Bus service, Beatrice to Superior, one line,
Oxford to Culbertson.
Graveled roadbed, except for a few stretches of oiled road and concrete paving.
Accommodations limited except in larger towns; hotels chiefly in cities.
State 3 passes between the orchards along the Missouri River, through
the southeastern and south central farming sections of the State, and
through the semi-arid plains of the southwestern part. For 200 miles it
runs through the Republican River Valley, a region subject to flood dur-
ing heavy rain.
Section a. BROWNVILLE to OXFORD, 248.3 m.
At m. the highway crosses the Missouri River, the Missouri-Nebraska
boundary, by ferry (75$ for car; $1 -for truck; 24-hour service).
BROWNVILLE, 0.3 m. (893 alt., 426 pop.), is now a mere shadow of
the bustling steamboat town of 3,000 it once was The seat of Nemaha
County for 30 years, it cherished hopes of becoming the State capital.
The Oto Indians surrendered title to their lands here on March 15,
1854. A few months later Richard Brown, of Oregon, Mo., crossed the
Missouri River in a canoe and founded Brownville, which soon began to
grow as feverishly as any boom town. A road was laid out from Brown-
ville to Marshall's Trading Point on the Big Blue River. The first flatboat
ferry, Nemaha County, was put in operation in the spring of 1855 by
Richard Brown. During the next two years settlers came in increasing
numbers ; within one week 50 familes crossed the river to settle here. Sit-
uated on the Missouri River, Brownville presented a busy scene. Boats,
crowded with homeseekers and fortune hunters, chugged slowly up to the
wharf, where townspeople gathered to look over the new arrivals. Disem-
barking, the immigrants huddled about campfires in family groups, talk-
ing, singing, resting, many of them preparing for the long journey west-
ward. Oxen and horses moved restlessly. Some pioneers stayed here ; many
businesses were established and sidewalks laid out. At one time five steam
ferries made stops here, the last of which, the Belle of Brownville, was
large enough to accommodate 22 teams and wagons.
Then came the decline. Other river towns became railroad terminals;
banking difficulties increased hard times; the county seat was moved to
TOUR ii 373
Auburn in 1885 As people moved away, merchants closed their stores;
the long main street d/windled to one block.
With the discovery that fruit trees and vines flourished in the vicinity
Brownville in time became the trade and marketing center of an orchard
region growing apples, peaches, pears, and grapes.
The sturdy red-brick dwellings built long ago today appear old-
fashioned. The first large frame building erected here, known in 1856 as
the FAIRBANKS HOTEL, is now a rooming house. The CITY PARK is on the
site of the old land-office building. The CHRISTIAN CHURCH, built in
1901, supplanted an older church of 1855, the first in Brownville and
probably in the State. The SCHOOLHOUSE of 1867 is still in use.
The SITE OF THE ENLISTMENT OF COMPANY C, First Regiment of
Nebraska, enrolled on June 8, 1861, is marked by a rock at First and Main
Sts. Nearby is a CIVIL WAR CANNON presented to the town by the Govern-
ment.
WALNUT GROVE is the last resting place of many pioneers, Civil War
soldiers, and half-breed Indians. Gov. Robert W. Furnas (1824-1905) is
buried here. Furnas was a leader in Nebraska agriculture and horticulture
for 50 years, and took the initiative in founding the State Board of Agri-
culture and State Historical Society. The first alfalfa grown in Nebraska
was raised in the Furnas front yard in 1871. It was then called Lucerne,
for the town in Switzerland where it originated.
Left from the old cemetery on a winding road to LOOKOUT POINT, once an In-
dian observation post, offering a far view of the countryside, including a corner of
Missouri across the river.
AUBURN, 10.2 m. (1,051 alt., 3,068 pop.), is at the junction with
US 73-75 (see Tour 1), and is in the heart of the orchard country.
TECUMSEH, 32.8 m. (1,114 alt, 1,829 pop.), named for the Shawnee
chief, is the seat of Johnson County.
West of Tecumseh the orchards are fewer.
CRAB ORCHARD, 47.1 m. (1,278 alt., 238 pop.), belies its name, for
it is the trade center of a farming area.
The highway crosses many small rivers and creeks, forming an almost
complete water system for a large and fertile area.
At 67.7 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road to the INSTITUTION FOR THE FEEBLE-MINDED, 0.6 m., created
by legislative act in 1885. It consists of cottages, a modern dairy, barn, laundry,
storeroom, bakery, engine house, pumping station, and water standpipe. In a large
measure self-supporting, the institution cares for more than 1,000 inmates.
BEATRICE, 69.2 m. (1,247 alt-. I0 > 2 97 PP-) ( see BEATRICE).
Points of Interest: Chautauqua Park, Beatrice Museum, Athletic Park, and others.
Beatrice is at the junction with US 77 (see Tour 2), and the junction
with State 4.
Right on State 4, a graveled road, to the FREEMAN HOMESTEAD NATIONAL
MONUMENT, 4 5 m., on the first farm claimed under the General Homestead Act
of May 20, 1862.
Under the Homestead Act, any man or woman of 21 years or more could secure
title to 1 60 acres of public land by living on it for five years and paying fees of
374 TOURS
approximately $18, Daniel Freeman, a Union soldier home on furlough, had the
distinction of filing for Homestead No. i
Freeman had previously established squatter's right to land here on Cub Creek
where he had broken ground and built a log cabin and stable Anxious to secure
title under the new act, Freeman found himself blocked by the fact that the Brown-
ville land office was not to open officially until January 2, 1863, a day after he had
to report at his military post At a New Year's party he happened to meet the
young assistant of the land office receiver In the course of conversation he ex-
plained his problem and gained the sympathy of the young man, who took him to
the office after midnight and recorded his entry. Soldiering occupied young Free-
man till 1865, when he returned with his bride, Agnes Suiter Freeman Fording the
Blue River, swollen with spring rains, they reached the wooded banks of Cub Creek
and built themselves a new log cabin. Little by little they expanded their farm
from the original quarter section to 840 acres, and in time replaced their cabin with
a brick house, long since destroyed by fire. A frame farmhouse now occupies the site
On March 23, 1936, Congress passed a bill, introduced by Senator George W.
Norris, creating the Freeman Homestead National Monument.
On a hill overlooking the valley are the GRAVES OF DANIEL AND AGNES SUITER
FREEMAN. A short distance down the hill is a marker in memory of the Freemans,
a stone taken from the old State capitol when it was torn down.
West of Beatrice State 3 passes through rich farming territory, in which
wheat and corn are the chief crops.
Almost every foot of the ground for miles around Beatrice was at one
time rutted by the heavy wheels of ox-drawn covered wagons. The oldest
Oregon Trail, that from Independence, Mo., ran straight west for about
40 miles, then northwestward across the Kansas River and the Big Blue,
and along the Little Blue toward the low divide that separated the streams
flowing into the Missouri and its tributaries from those flowing into the
Platte. As the number of outfitting towns along the Missouri increased a
half do2en or so feeder trails developed, entering the old route at various
points between Independence and Grand Island. Many trains followed
the Little Blue, which is some miles southwest and west of Beatrice, but
others came up along the Big Blue, passing over the land now occupied
by the town.
By the time the immigrants reached this neighborhood, they were
usually proceeding in an orderly manner. The members of wagon trains
were brought together in various ways ; some trains were composed of peo-
ple from a single neighborhood in the East who had decided to migrate
together and others of the followers of some enthusiastic propagandist for
settlement in the western country. But the majority of the immigrants were
strangers who had formed a loose union in the outfitting towns for the
purposes of protection and companionship. The members of each train
usually set up a semi-military organization before leaving the river. But
the first days of travel were often turbulent, with some travelers refusing
to abide by the rules adopted by the majority and with others exhibiting
their worst traits under the conditions of camp life. The majority of the
women and many of the men had their first experience in outdoor living
at the beginning of the trek. The hardier soon adapted themselves to it but
as far west as Fort Laramie familes were seen headed eastward. By the
time the would-be settlers reached the Big Blue their muscles had begun
to harden and the trek had taken on some of the aspects of a picnic.
DANIEL FREEMAN AT FREEMAN STAGE STATION
At 97.3 m. is the junction with State 15, graveled.
Right on State 15 to a junction with a dirt road at 04 m., L here to a trail,
1.8 m , then R. on foot 500 yards across a field to the GRAVE OF GEORGE WINSLOW
(R), one of the four marked graves along the Oregon Trail in Nebraska
Winslow was one of 25 Massachusetts men, all members of the Newton Stock
Company, who left Boston early in 1849 Cholera broke out in the party, as it did
in many of the day, and Winslow died here on Whiskey Run on June 8, 1849.
FAIRBURY, 100.3 m. (1,317 alt., 6,192 pop.), seat of Jefferson
County, was platted in 1869 by Woodford G. McDowell and James B.
Mattingly, and named by the former for his home in Illinois. Fairbury's
growth dates from 1872, when the Republican River branch of the Bur-
lington & Missouri River R.R., and the St. Joseph & Denver RR., now
part of the Union Pacific system, were completed. In 1874 a Russian-
German colony was established on 27,000 acres of railroad land nearby;
many Fairbury families are descended from members of this colony.
Although it does not have a daily newspaper, Fairbury is the home of
the Dairy Goat ]ournd, a maga2ine devoted to milk-goat farming Wind-
mills, pumps, cylinders, pipes and fittings, and miscellaneous castings are
manufactured here Other enterprises include a packing plant and a FARM-
ERS' UNION COOPERATIVE CREAM STATION manufacturing creamery prod-
ucts. Fairbury has a $600,000 municipally owned electric light and power
plant serving six towns.
For recreational purposes the citizens have CITY PARK, on West 5th St.,
and CRYSTAL SPRINGS PARK, 0.5 m. W. from 3d St., on State 3-8.
376 TOURS
Left from Fairbury on State 38 is ENDICOTT, 6.8 m. (1,287 alt, 242 pop.),
named for William C. Endicott (1827-1900), Secretary of War in President Cleve-
land's first Cabinet.
At 7.1 m. is the junction with a dirt road; L on this road to a fork at 8.6 m ; R
to QUIVERA PARK, 9.9 m , a xo-acre tract of cliffs and unspoiled woodland. John C.
Fremont and Kit Carson passed through the park in 1842.
Left 0.7 m from the entrance to Quivera Park to 10.6 m., R. here to a road at
11.6 m.; R again to a road at 12.6 m ; R. again to 13 m., R to a farmhouse on the
SITE OF ROCK CREEK STATION, 13.4 m. A few boulders and the dry bed of Rock
Creek are all that remain of this historic station on the Oregon Trail Although it
offered fuel, grass, and water, the steep-banked creek always proved one of the most
difficult crossings along the way.
Rock Creek became a stage station in the spring of 1860 when the Central Over-
land California and Pike's Peak Company was established and set about planting
stations every few miles between the Missouri and the Pacific The station here was
leased from David McCanles and placed in charge of Horace Wellman and his wife.
Thev hired J. W. ("Dock") Brink as stock tender, and James B ("Wild Bill")
Hickok, a youth of 23, as his assistant.
Trouble broke out the following year when the company agreed to buy the sta-
tion from McCanles but failed to pay him, except with promises. When McCanles
after many delays demanded payment or possession of the buildings, Wellman pro-
ceeded to Nebraska City and returned with the necessary funds. But when McCanles
came to collect, Mrs. Wellman informed him that her husband refused to see him.
Hickok appeared in the door, pretended friendship, invited McCanles in and offered
him a drink of water before stepping behind a flimsy calico partition. Becoming
suspicious, McCanles put down the dipper and started to leave by another door.
Hickok shot and killed him.
Hearing the shot, two of McCanles's friends came running and Hickok wounded
both. One ran to the back of the cabin, followed by Wellman, who killed him with
a hoe. Wellman saw McCanles's 12 -year-old son and attacked him with the hoe,
shouting, "Let's kill 'em all '" But the boy escaped. The other wounded man was
trailed with his own bloodhounds, which pounced upon him and were tearing him
to pieces when a load of buckshot from "Dock" Brink's shotgun ended his pain.
Hickok, Brink, and Wellman were tried on a charge of murder but acquitted.
The trial, held at Beatrice in July 1861, was the first criminal case heard in the
county.
West of Fairbury is GILEAD, 112.8 m. (1,543 alt, 147 pop.).
Right from the main street of Gilead on a dirt road to an OREGON TRAIL
MARKER, 6 m.; L here to ALEXANDRIA, 8 m. (1,403 alt, 421 pop ).
At 10 m. is the junction with a country road; R. here on this road to a junction
at 11 m., L. here to the JEFFERSON COUNTY RECREATION GROUNDS, 12.3 m., on
the edge of a lake (dry in drought years) .
HEBRON, 125.3 m. (1,458 alt, 1,804 pop.), seat of Thayer County,
was founded and named in 1869 by a group of pioneers identified with
the Disciples of Christ.
In 1911 the HEBRON ACADEMY opened with an enrollment of 25 and
has grown steadily, being well known for its music department.
Hebron is at the Junction with US 81 (see Tour 3).
DESHLER, 1336 m. (1,177 PPO> * s a broom town, manufacturing
every shape and size of broom ana whisk, and shipping i to 3 carloads
daily.
At 134.5 m. State 3 passes a Fox FARM (R), one of a dozen or more
in Nebraska.
TOUR ii 377
RUSKIN, 141.3 m. (1,699 *!* 2 39 PpO ' 1S at ^ e junction with a
dirt road.
Right on this road to OAK, 10 m. (1,592 alt, 218 pop.). In the vicinity are
many monuments marking spots where the Indians clashed with the early settlers.
Left from Oak 1 m on a dirt road to the SITE OF THE EUBANK MASSACRE,
which occurred here on the Eubank Ranch near the mouth of Elk Creek on the
Little Blue River in 1864.
Mrs. Eubank had gone across the river with several children, her sister, and
Laura Roper, daughter of a neighboring rancher, to pick grapes Suddenly they
heard screams from their cabin where her husband had remained with a 12-year-ola
son who was ill. A few seconds later he burst from the cabin, with Cheyenne in
pursuit. The women pulled the children into a thicket, and all might have escaped
detection if one child had not cried out when his father was being scalped. The boy
in the cabin, wounded in the first attack, escaped but was found dead in the under-
brush a week later.
The Indians seized the women and children, and attempted to put them on their
ponies. Mrs Eubank's sister was killed when she resisted, as was a child, as the
helpless mother looked on The Indians rode rapidly west avoiding settlements and
trails. In time, Mrs Eubank and her surviving son were ransomed at Fort Laramie,
and Laura Roper at Denver.
After an absence of 65 years, in 1929, Miss Roper, then Mrs Laura Roper Vance,
of Oklahoma, was brought to Nebraska by the State Historical Society and identified
the site of the massacre in the presence of 150 people from Nuckolls and Thayer
Counties.
At 171.7 m, is the junction with State 78, graveled.
Left on State 78 to the town of GUIDE ROCK, 1 m. (1,650 alt, 690 pop.), named
for a rocky bluff southeast of town. The bluff has an almost perpendicular face, and
served as a landmark for early western travelers. On a clear day it is visible for 20
miles It was an ancient holy place of the Pawnee Indians.
RED CLOUD, 181.7 m. (1,690 alt, 1,519 pop.), seat of Webster
County, is at the junction with US 281 (see Tour 4). The CATHER HOME,
one-half block W. of the courthouse, next to the Methodist church, is the
childhood home of the novelist Willa Cather, born in Virginia in 1876
and brought to Nebraska when she was 9.
Deciding she needed an "office," she had a lean-to built against the
barn. Later removed and appended to a garage, the "office" now serves as
a catch-all for small farm tools.
Red Cloud was also the home of Gov. Silas Garber, during whose ad-
ministration (1874-1876), the State constitution was adopted.
West of Red Cloud State 3 approaches the NARROWS, where the Re-
publican River hugs the north wall of the valley, leaving barely enough
room for the railroad and the highway between the bluff and the river.
At INAVALE, 188.6 m. (1,728 alt, 200 pop.), are graphic reminders
of the flood of 1935 : houses lifted from their foundations and left stand-
ing at rakish angles ; debris hanging high in the trees, indicating the high
water mark of the flood.
The highway passes through a stretch of river valley, with many trees
and an abundance of wild fruit. The white Niobrara chalk and blue Pierre
shale of some sections of the clay bluffs add spots of color.
FRANKLIN, 205.1 m. (1,820 alt, 1,103 pop.), named for Benjamin
Franklin, was first called Franklin City. It was once the site of Franklin
378 TOURS
Academy, founded August 12, 1881, and sponsored by the Congrega-
tional church. When the school closed in 1922, the campus became a city
park.
Left from Franklin on State 10; L at 4.0 m. to the site of an Indian house, known
as the REAMS VILLAGE, 5 m. s on the Ted Hill farm Erosion by Reams Creek has
cut into the west side of the house, exposing quantities of broken pottery The floor
of the house was 18 inches beneath the ground surface, as indicated by a stratum of
charcoal, broken bones, and potsherds. The cache, a hiding place for food and tools,
measured 24 inches in diameter by 18 inches deep. The house was elliptical in form,
differing in this respect from the typical Indian dwellings of the region.
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, a limestone cap forming a table with a scarp 10 to 15
feet high, overlooks the Reams Village. From the northern extremity there is an
excellent view of the Republican Valley
BLOOMINGTON, 209.9 m. (1,848 alt, 431 pop.), has an old race
track and a small cemetery that were apparently used many years ago. At
the south end of the river bridge is a rock bluff, typical of this region. The
office of W. A. Cole in Bloommgton is on the SITE OF A LAND OFFICE
opened in 1882.
At 212 m. is an OLD MILL, built in the i88o's and used for a quarter
of a century to grind corn and provide power. With the depression of
1922 and the building of other mills, this one fell into disuse and has
been partly torn down.
ALMA, 229 m. (1,942 alt., 1,235 PP-)> seat f Harlan County, is a
trading center for a wide farming district. Established in 1871, it is one
of the oldest towns along the Republican River.
At Alma is the junction with US 83 (see Tour 5).
ORLEANS, 235.3 m. (1,996 alt., 985 pop.), has a successful CO-
OPERATIVE CREAMERY, producing butter, ice cream, and ice. Established
in 1917, the Farmers' Equity Cooperative Creamery Association was re-
organized a year later; its creamery has grown steadily and now has
branches in Crawford and Denver, and stations as far west as Montana
and as far south as Texas. Each shareholder is permitted to hold only one
share of stock, valued at $100, on which a 3 per cent dividend is declared.
The remaining profits are divided among the stockholders in direct pro-
portion to the amount of butterfat that each has sold to the creamery
during the year.
Orleans was settled by Roman Catholics, and is largely Catholic today.
In the south part of town is the ORLEANS PUBLIC LIBRARY, built of gray
stone brought from many parts of the United States and Mexico.
OXFORD, 248.3 m. (2,077 alt, 1,155 PP-) (*** T ur 9)> is at the
eastern junction with US 6 ( see Tour 9).
Section b. OXFORD to COLORADO LINE, 138 m. State 3
Between OXFORD, m., and a point 2 miles west of Culbertson,
State 3 and US 6 are one route (see Tour 9)-
At McCOOK, 55 miles west of Oxford, the time changes from central
to mountain.
CULBERTSON, 67 m. (2,568 alt, 820 pop.) (see Tour 9).
At 69 m. is the western junction with US 6 (see Tour 9). Left from
CUT-OVER LAND
this junction on State 3, which runs through a section still showing evi-
dence of the flood of May 31, 1935. The Republican River, normally
shallow and rather narrow, became a raging torrent, reaching a width of
1.5 miles in several places. Farm buildings were swept away, new chan-
nels cut through fields of growing crops, huge trees uprooted and left in
fields. All bridges, wires, and railroad tracks were washed away. The
number of persons drowned in the valley totaled 94. Property damage was
estimated at $10,000,000.
At 76.4 m. is the MASSACRE CANYON MONUMENT (L), a 35-foot
shaft of Mississippi pink granite from St. Cloud, Minn, On this monu-
ment, commemorating the kst battle between the Pawnee and the Sioux,
fought here in 1873, are carved the faces of John Grass (Sioux) and
Ruling-His-Sun (Pawnee) .
For hundreds of years the two tribes had lived in a state of fierce terri-
torial conflict. Long friendly to the whites, the Pawnee had occupied the
southcentral and western part of what is now Nebraska since prehistoric
days, and regarded such occupancy as a hereditary right. When the buffalo
decreased in numbers, a Government treaty was composed whereby the
Sioux were to continue to hunt the migratory herds in a restricted area of
the neighboring region. The immediate cause of the massacre was a report
carried to the Sioux that the Pawnee had trespassed beyond the somewhat
indefinite boundary.
380 TOURS
The Pawnee were on a hunt supervised by their Government trail agent,
J. W. Williamson. Their party consisted of 300 warriors, 400 women and
children, 1,200 ponies, and a thousand dogs. Their leader, Sky Chief, dis-
regarded reports that Sioux were encamped by Frenchman River, believing
the report a ruse to stop the buffalo hunt. Once over the divide to the
northeast, they saw the plain spotted with what they believed were buffalo.
But as they came closer, they found Sioux and Brule warriors disguised in
buffalo robes. Taken by surprise, the Pawnee warriors hurried their women
and children into a ravine and rode on to meet the hostile party. But addi-
tional Sioux appeared and cut off the Pawnee, firing as they rode. Wil-
liamson, trusting in his official authority, tied a handkerchief to a pole
and rode out to parley, but his horse was shot from under him. The Sioux
attacked from both sides. Below in the canyon the women stood in a circle
with arms raised, chanting the song of victory and death.
In a short time the Pawnee gave way, cut loose their ponies from packs
and tepees, and fled down the canyon. This narrow passage, 150 yards
wide, winding for three miles through the hills to the Republican River,
was the scene of the bloodiest work. Cavalry from Fort McPherson ar-
rived in time to save the Pawnee from extermination. But the tribe was
broken. Their gear gone, without ponies to carry the dead and wounded,
they straggled back to their village on the Loup River, never to visit the
hunting grounds again. William Burgess, subagent, reported 56 known
dead and 100 wounded or captured. William Z. Taylor reported the burial
of 65 bodies in one grave.
TRENTON, 792 m. (2,680 alt., 865 pop.), laid out by the Lincoln
Land Company, when the Burlington Route was extended to Denver, was
first called Trail City from its position on the cattle trail leading north
from Texas to Ogallala. In 1885, when the town was moved a half mile
west to its present site on Rush Creek, it was renamed.
At the Massacre Canyon Pow-Wow, held for 3 or 4 days in early Au-
gust at the American Legion Grounds, Sioux from the Rosebud and Pine
Ridge Reservations perform tribal dances. A carnival, baseball games, band
concerts, dancing, and a rodeo are part of the celebration. The most nota-
ble pow-wows were those of 1923, the 5orh anniversary of the battle, and
of 1925, attended by Pawnee and Sioux survivors of the massacre. Among
them were Spotted Weasel, Chief Two Horse, White Wolf, and Ruling-
His-Sun, more than 100 years old, who was prevailed upon to smoke the
peace pipe with his former enemies.
Left from Trenton on a graveled road that runs through unusual territory for 8
miles. The canyons here, though small, have interesting rock formations Here is seen
a whitish-gray Tertiary deposit known as the Arikaree A few trees are scattered here
and there among the rocks. This area has attracted field parties from many mu-
seums. Numerous fossils of large turtles have been found here, as many as 10 or 15
appearing in one ledge.
At STRATTON, 90.6 m. (2,796 alt., 663 pop.), are the BIG TIMBERS
of the Republican River, huge cottonwood trees ranging from 18 inches
to 3 feet in diameter. Formerly the timber stretched along the valley for
12 miles, but many trees were uprooted by the flood of 1935.
TOUR II 38l
At MAX, 100.3 * (2,889 *&> *55 PpO are some typical loess can-
yons.
Right from Max on a dirt road into a region of deep canyons that are crossed on
high bridges The road is passable only in good weather.
At 107 m. is a junction with a steep clay road.
Right on this road to the BENKELMAN FISH HATCHERY (free; open 9-5),
03 m., surrounded by trees. White-tailed deer and pronghorn antelope are also
kept here.
BENKELMAN, 108.6 m. (2,971 alt, 1,154 PP-) seat of Duricly
County, is at the forks of the Ankaree and the Republican rivers. Just
below the forks was Station 18 of the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Ex-
press Company, a tiny log cabin on the south side of the river at the foot
of a bluff.
At sunrise one morning in July 1867, the Seventh U. S. Cavalry under
command of Gen. George A. Custer, while encamped here was attacked
by a large war party of Sioux and Cheyenne. Aroused by the firing, Cus-
ter rushed from his tent into the midst of the battle. The Indians were
driven off and later defeated in a battle that took place three miles north-
west of this place. A few days later, on the Fort Wallace Trail, a part of
Custer's command had a running fight with the Indians. Another party,
consisting of Lieutenant Kidder, 10 men and an Indian scout, was de-
stroyed by the Cheyenne on South Beaver Creek. Their bodies were found
by Custer's men on their march north to Fort Wallace.
A band of Cheyenne led by their old chief, Dull Knife, also camped
here when fleeing through southwestern Nebraska on October 1-2, 1878.
Hating the broad hot plains assigned them in Indian Territory, after the
Government had taken away their lands in Wyoming and Montana, Dull
Knife and his followers escaped in September 1878, and rode north, in-
tending to join Sitting Bull in Canada.
After a skirmish at Dodge City, Kans., the Indians reached the Repub-
lican River just below the forks at Benkelman and camped on Deer Creek.
Troops were called out and camped on the river a few miles below them.
Moving north to Frenchman Creek, the Indians killed a local rancher,
George Rawley, the only white man killed during their flight through Ne-
braska. Near Crawford, in the northwest corner of the State, the larger
part of the band was killed while resisting capture. Dull Knife and others
were captured near Fort Robinson. A few Cheyenne succeeded in reaching
Canada.
At 117 m. is the PRINGLE RANCH (visitors welcome), one of the larg-
est in Nebraska, raising 3,000 to 7,000 hogs annually. The ranch con-
tains 6,000 acres, 1,500 of which are fenced and cross-fenced hog-tight.
Part of the ranch is devoted to diversified farming and cattle raising.
PARKS, 120 m. (3,105 alt., 150 pop.), is at the junction with a dirt
road.
Right on this hilly winding road, marked by a sign at the west edge of Parks
Ave, to the ROCK CREEK RECREATION GROUNDS, 44 m (adm free), with a
5o-acre LAKE offering boating and trout fishing The ROCK CREEK FISH HATCHERY
(adm. free) stocks streams with crappie, sunfish, bass, and 5,000,000 trout a year.
382 TOURS
HAIGLER, 131 m. (3,261 alt., 535 pop.), is on the site of the Three
Bar Ranch, owned by Jake Haigler, the first postmaster.
At 138 m State 3 crosses the Colorado Line, 10 miles east of Wray,
Colo, (see COLO. Tour 2).
Tour 12
Ogallala Oshkosh Bridgeport Scottsbluff (Torrington, Wyo ) ; US
26.
Ogallala to Wyoming Line, 155.5 m.
Between Lewellen and Northport the Union Pacific R R parallels the route; between
Northport and Tornngton, Wyo , the C B & Q R R
Bus Service, junction US 26 and State 19 and Scottsbluff.
Graveled roadbed between Ogallala and Bayard; hilly, with several sharp curves
and bad grade crossings; mostly concrete paved, some bituminous, between Bayard
and Wyoming Line
Tourist accommodations limited.
The highway runs northwestward across high tableland into the Wild-
cat Hills region; for the most part it follows the north bank of the North
Platte River, the Mormon Trail, and parallels the Oregon Trail, which fol-
lowed the south bank. Prior to 1862 nearly all emigrants bound for central
California and Oregon traveled along one riverbank or the other, and
many used the route thereafter. Pony Express riders as well as early over-
land stage travelers went through the valley. The course of the trails was
determined by two objectives Fort Laramie, which offered supplies, in-
formation, and protection, and South Pass, the lowest and broadest break
in the Continental Divide.
Branching north from US 30 (see Tour 8), at OGALLALA, m.
(3,211 alt., 1,631 pop.) (see Tour 8) US 26 runs south of the Kingsley
reservoir.
At 2.5 m. is the junction with State 61.
Right. on State 61, crossing the Platte on KINGSLEY DAM, 7 m, which forms a
storage reservoir with a capacity of two million acre-feet of water This artificial
lake is the first in a system designed to irrigate 178,000 acres of land in Keith,
, Lincoln, Dawson, Buffalo, and Hall Counties the tier north of the Platte River.
The diversion dam will turn part of the overflow toward the South Platte River
through a cut in the plateau that will be 6,850 feet long, and at one point 120
feet deep.
LEWELLEN, 31.8 m. (419 pop.), is in a section that produces alfalfa,
sugar beets, and corn. In May 1847, when the Mormon pioneers camped
TOUR 12 383
in this vicinity, Appleton Harmon was working on a roadometer, de-
scribed by Clayton as "machinery for the wagon to tell the distance we
travel." The monotonous process of counting the revolutions of the wagon
wheels to estimate the length of daily travel was nearing an end.
Left from Lewellen on a dirt road that crosses the North Platte River to ASH
HOLLOW, 3 m., a deep canyon through which one much used route of the Oregon
Trail descended in a series of steep and dangerous grades from the plateau to the
river bed The precipitous but now easily passable road through the canyon, bor-
dered by rank, spring-fed vegetation and arching trees, contrasts strikingly with the
.sweeping yellow wheat fields on the plateau and the sandy banks of the river below
Here and there are traces of the old trail.
On a knoll by the river at the mouth of the hollow is the SITE OF FORT GRAT-
TAN, a frontier post built of sod.
On a grassy slope at the mouth of the hollow, where the road turns close to the
bluff, are a number of PIONEER GRAVES, among them that of Rachael Patterson, a
young girl who was shot by Indians in 1849 while she was going to the spring.
Joe Clary and another early settler, W. H. Gilhard, are also buried here.
Near the wide mouth of the hollow is a moist area where wild roses, choke-
cherries, gooseberries, currants, and ferns cover the ground, below tall ash trees.
About 0.7 m. from the river, a few small cedars growing out of depressions are
believed to mark the SITE OF A TRAPPER'S CABIN built in 1846 This cabin was
later a rendezvous and unofficial post office Nearby is a small grove of ash trees,
and a spring that feeds a reservoir. A marker shows where travelers camped or
jested after the descent
Half a mile below the crest of the hill are REMAINS OF THE JOE CLARY HOUSE ;
Clary was the first settler in the hollow. For a short distance about halfway down
the hill ancient ruts of the trail are visible
A marker indicates where ropes were used to ease wagons down abrupt WIND-
XASS HILL. Old diaries often mention the casualties to men, beasts, and equipment
that were common events of the passage. An English traveler who made the trip in
1849 wrote that no one spoke for two miles, the descent was so breath-taking He
reported that riders dismounted and led their horses, that wagon wheels were
locked and the wagons steadied with ropes, that two mules were crushed by a
wagon that broke loose In addition to such hazards, there was always the danger
of Indian ambush in the narrow passage.
Ash Hollow and neighboring ravines were popular Indian hunting grounds Even
now beads and arrowheads are occasionally found. In the winter of 1835 it was the
scene of a fierce day-long battle between the Pawnee and the Sioux.
An early journal relates that "the affray commenced early in the morning, and
continued till near night. A trader, who was present with the Sioux on the occa-
sion, describes it as having been remarkably close. Every inch of ground was dis-
puted now the Pawnees advancing upon the retreating Sioux; and now the Sioux,
while the Pawnees gave way; but, returning to the charge with redoubled fury, the
former once more recoiled The arrows flew in full showers, the bullets whistled
the death-song of many a warrior, the yells of combating savages filled the air,
and drowned the lesser dm of arms.
"At length arrows and balls were exhausted upon both sides, but still the battle
raged fiercer than before.
"War-club, tomahawk and butcher-knife were bandied with terrific force, as the
hostile parties engaged hand to hand, and the clash of resounding blows, commin-
gling with the clamor of unearthly voices which rent the very heavens, seemed more
to prefigure the contest of fiends than aught else.
"Finally the Pawnees abandoned the field to their victorious enemies, leaving
sixty of their warriors upon the ensanguined battleground But the Sioux had paid
dearly for their advantage; forty-five of their bravest men lay mingled with the
slain. The defeated party were pursued only a short distance, and then permitted
to return without further molestation to their village, at the Forks of the Platte.
"This disaster so completely disheartened the Pawnees, they immediately aban-
384 TOURS
doned their station and moved down the river some four hundred miles ; nor have
they again ventured so high up (the North Platte Valley), unless in strong war-
parties."
At 33.7 m. the highway crosses BLUE WATER CREEK, which in 1855
was the site of the Harney Battle, also known as the Battle of Blue Water
and the Battle of Ash Hollow. Several incidents led up to this conflict,
notably the killing of Lt. John Lawrence Grattan and his force of 28 men
by Sioux in the previous year. Gen. W. S. Harney, commanding more than
a thousand men, was sent into the Platte country to establish order. Al-
though most of the Sioux, when ordered to cross to the south side of the
Platte River, did so, one band of Brules stayed on the north side. Here, at
Blue Water Creek, Harney and his men overtook and attacked them.
OSHKOSH, 43.7 m. (843 pop.), is the seat of Garden County. In 1855
four men established a cattle ranch here but there were not enough set-
tlers to warrant the establishment of a postoffice until 1886.
The soil of this district is somewhat sandy. The prairie is rimmed with
rock bluffs to the south and hills to the north. The land is irrigated and
sugar beets are the principal crop.
At 44.2 m. is the junction with State 27.
Right on this graveled, sandy road (make local inquiries as to condition) to the
4i,ooo-acre Federal migratory waterfowl sanctuary, CRESCENT LAKE RESERVE,
22 m , under control of the Bureau of Biological Survey of the U S Department
of Agriculture. Thousands of ducks of many species nest here during the summer.
The region includes a number of lakes and swamps, among them Crescent Lake,
one of the largest in Nebraska.
At BROADWATER, 74.6 m. (368 pop.), US 26 turns L., crosses to
the south side of the North Platte, and continues northwest, following the
river. Parts of the Wildcat Hills appear to the west
At 82.6 m. is the east junction with State 19 (see Tour 6), which unites
with US 26 for 16 miles.
By an Oregon Trail marker at 88 7 m. is the GRAVE OF AMANDA
LAM AN, member of a wagon train who died here of cholera on June 23,
1850. Her husband left his company to return to St. Louis for a grave-
stone and he returned with it as a member of a later train. In the late
forties and early fifties thousands died of cholera in the United States and
in Europe. Immigrants spread it near the port cities and from these it was
carried along the travel routes. Westbound travelers fleeing the stricken
cities of the Mississippi Valley were in many cases already infected and
they in turn infected campgrounds and springs along the trails.
BRIDGEPORT, 90.4 m. (3,653 alt., 1,421 pop.), is near the place where
the Astorians camped in the latter part of the winter of 1812-1813 (see
HISTORY).
Camp Clarke Days (4 days, first week in Sept.) are observed here an-
nually with a program opened by a parade with floats. The old settlers
are honored; an unusual number of pioneer and Indian relics are dis-
played in the museum. There are water fights, athletic events, band con-
certs, speeches, and a bowery dance. The celebration is in memory of Camp
Clarke (see below).
CHEESE CREEK RANCH, 1864
At Bridgeport are the junctions with State 86 (see Tour 8A) and State
88, graveled.
Left on this road to COURTHOUSE ROCK and JAIL ROCK, 5 m. t which rise
abruptly from a level plain, and form the eastern terminus of the Wildcat Hills.
According to one account, Courthouse Rock was named by early travelers from St.
Louis who thought it resembled their county building. The top stratum of the bluff,
worn away on the edges, roughly suggests a classical pediment. According to an-
other story, the butte was named after a band of 12 outlaws had been tried, found
guilty, and shot to death on the summit Tail Rock nearby, somewhat smaller, is
supposed to have been named by cowboys because of a jail's usual proximity to a
courthouse. The lower part of the buttes is composed of Brule clay, the upper of
Genng sandstone, a banded formation of sandstone and clay cemented with lime.
In recent years hundreds of tourists have emulated the pioneers by carving their
names and accumulated wisdom on the faces of the rocks, unaware that this for-
mation weathers rapidly. A single heavy storm has been known to change the con-
tour of the formation.
There is a story of a Pawnee folk hero, who was rewarded by the gods with a
magic horse when he rescued his aged grandmother, who had been abandoned
nearby on the prairie by the tribe in accordance with custom. With the aid of this
horse he inflicted heavy losses on the traditional enemy, the Sioux, and performed
a hunting feat that won him the chief's daughter for a bride. Between these exploits
he retired to the rocks for communion with his spirits.
Another story connected with this area relates how the Pawnee, forced to retreat
down the North Platte Valley before the encroachments of the fierce migratory
tribes, left a small rear guard, who were outnumbered and forced to take refuge on
top of the bluff. The Sioux encamped at the base, trying to starve out the Pawnee;
but the Pawnee lowered themselves down a crevice, crept through the sleeping
camp, and escaped.
Courthouse Rock was noted by many early explorers and travelers. Parker, the
missionary, thought of it as an old castle. James Clyman, in his diary of 1844, and
Palmer in 1845 described it as an Old World rum. Bryant estimated that its height
was 300 to 500 feet and the circumference one mile.
386 TOURS
A nearby cliff of the same formation had the words "Post Office" carved on it,
and travelers often deposited letters for aftercomers in boxes hewn in the soft
stone base. Gilbert Cole, who passed along the trail in 1852, wrote an account of
the region with its long panorama of rocks, water and sky, its cloud shadows on
the plain, and its herds of buffalo and antelope Jackson's diary tells of how some
cattle drivers who were encamped near the rocks during a thunderstorm were so
interested in the play of lurid lights on the monument that they threw bacon fat
on the campfire to prolong the effect.
BIRDCAGE GAP, 12 m., is a break in the Wildcat Range through which ran
the stages between Sidney and the Black Hills. Parts of the trail are still discernible.
US 26 recrosses the North Platte to NORTHPORT, 91 8 m. (3,688
alt., 150 pop.), and turns L. on the north bank.
At 94 m. is the SITE OF CAMP CLARKE near the SITE OF THE CAMP
CLARKE BRIDGE, used until 1900. In 1876 the first North Platte bridge
for wagons was built here by Henry T. Clarke of Omaha to accommodate
the stages operated between Sidney and the Black Hills For a time troops
were stationed at each end, because of the hostility of the Indians. A toll
of $i for a team, 50$ for a person, was charged At the southern end of
the bridge were a post office, store, saloon, stage barn, and other buildings
that were destroyed by the sweeping prairie fire of 1910.
At 98 m. State 19 (see Tour 6) branches north from US 26.
BAYARD, 107 5 m. (3,753 alt, 1,559 PP-) was name< ^ i n l88 7 for
Bayard, Iowa. The town's chief industrial activity is the manufacture of
sugar from beets grown in what is locally called the Valley of the Nile
because of the area's fertility under irrigation. From any point in the
town is a view of the valley to the south and west, with its line of trees m
the foreground backed by the blue hills of the Wildcat Range across the
river. Standing out distinctly in the center of the valley is Chimney Rock
(see Tour 12A), a landmark on the emigrant trails.
About 30 residents own collections of arrowheads (inquire locally for
those open to public).
MINATARE, 120.4 m, (3,820 alt, 1,079 PP-)> was named for the
Mmnetaree, a Siouan tribe.
At 123.4 m.j where the highway again turns west, is the junction with
a dirt road.
Right on this road to LAKE MINATARE, 5 m., is an artificial lake created for irriga-
tion purposes. It is a game-bird refuge, and is popular with those who like boating
and fishing.
Visible from Mmatare is Scotts Bluff, a landmark that rises 700 feet
above the river (see Tour 12 A).
At 129-9 m. is the junction with a graveled and graded road.
Left on this road 1 m to a junction marked by a red-brick schoolhouse; R. 0.3 m.
on a dirt road through a farmyard; then on foot. It is necessary to crawl under a
barbwire fence to visit the GRAVE OF REBECCA WINTERS, 1.5 m
In the spring of 1852 on her way westward Mrs. Winters, a Mormon, was
stricken with cholera She survived the attack but did not recover and for 500 miles
she traveled on a pile of quilts in a creaky wagon, and died at this point. This place
is much visited by Mormons who have erected a monument here
The grave bears a little bush at one end, a monument, a wagon rim, and a little
headstone, all enclosed by a black-pipe fence. The monument shows an outline of
the Salt Lake Temple.
TOUR 12 387
SCOTTSBLUFF, 131.9 m. (4,000 alt, 8,465 pop.), is the leading Ne-
braska city that has grown up because of irrigation. What was an irrigated
alfalfa field in 1899 is now the chief trading center for a large area of
Panhandle Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. The Scottsbluff region now
has sugar factories, and produces sugar-beets, alfalfa, certified potatoes,
and beans.
Scottsbluff and Gering (see Tour 12), face each other across the North
Platte River, and are connected by a bridge.
The METHODIST EPISCOPAL HOSPITAL, at i8th and Broadway, formerly
a hotel, serves the needs of a large area and has 27 physicians and surgeons
on its staff.
West of Scottsbluff the highway continues along the North Platte River,
through the hill country, where a patchwork landscape of sugar beets, al-
falfa, corn, beans, and wheat is crisscrossed by the irrigation ditches that
have made cultivation possible. To operate a farm successfully in this area
a man must be both a farmer and an engineer. He must spend much time
wading in rubber boots along the ditches, adjusting dams and water gates,
shoveling out ditches, and guiding water into the proper channels.
All summer long beet workers are seen in the fields. On the edges of
the fields are the shacks inhabited from mid-May into October by families
of Mexicans, Spanish Americans, and Germans who come to the area to
work (see INDUSTRY).
At 134 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to the SCOTTSBLUFF EXPERIMENT FARM (open to visitors)^,
4 m , maintained by the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Uni-
versity of Nebraska. The farm has 160 acres of irrigated land and 800 acres of
pasture
MITCHELL, 141.7 m. (3,945 alt, 2,058 pop.), has a sugar factory and
markets honey. The SCOTTS BLUFF COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS are here; the
annual fair is one of the leading events in the State.
HENRY, 155.2 m. (167 pop.), was moved from Wyoming into Ne-
braska because the inhabitants wanted an advantage in railroad freight
rates. Near Henry in Wyoming is the site of the first Red Cloud Agency.
The establishment of this reservation marked the end of Chief Red Cloud's
activities against the whites.
In 1875 the agency was moved near Fort Robinson (see Tour 7), and
the first agency was abandoned.
At 155.5 m. US 26 crosses the Wyoming Line, 8 miles east of Torring-
ton, Wyo. (see WYO. Tour 4).
388 TOURS
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<&)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tour iaA
Bridgeport Chimney Rock Gering Scotts Bluff National Monument
Horse Creek Treaty Monument Wyoming Line; State 86.
Bridgeport to Wyoming Line, 59.4 m.
The Union Pacific R R parallels this route.
Graveled roadbed
Limited accommodations except in Gering
This historically important route follows the Oregon Trail westward
through a picturesque region containing many interesting landmarks.
State 86 branches west from US 26 (see Tour 12) at BRIDGEPORT,
m. (see Tour 12).
At CHIMNEY ROCK, 16 m. (4,242 alt.), a flag stop on the Union
Pacific R. R., the historic landmark of the same name rises abruptly from
the valley floor on the old Oregon Trail. This eroded plateau, a conical
mound of reddish sandstone covering some 40 acres, has interested trav-
elers for more than a century. From the center a narrow shaft rises ap-
proximately 150 feet. Although it is being worn down rapidly by wind
and rain, early explorers were no doubt generous in estimating its height
at 500 feet. Soberly examined, it does not much resemble a chimney. The
Indians called it a wigwam. Its present name is presumed to have been
coined by Joshua Pilcher in 1827.
Standing 350 feet above the river bed, the landmark affords a good
view of the valley and the rugged spur of hills reaching up from the Wild-
cat Hills to the southwest. Franklin B. Bryant, an artist who traveled over-
land in 1849, likened the formation to the Acropolis, a Mexican pyramid,
the crumbling remains of an Egyptian temple, and miscellaneous castles
and palaces.
Chimney Rock was described by almost all early explorers but their
descriptions varied considerably. The Astorians passed it in 1813 but did
not call it by any name. To John C Fremont, the pathfinder, who noted
its latitude and longitude in 1842, it looked like a factory chimney or the
shot tower in Baltimore. The Rev. Samuel Parker, who climbed to the
base of the column^ objected to calling it a chimney and recommended the
name Beacon Hill. He and his fellow-travelers amused themselves by
shooting away small projections at the top of the spire, pieces of which
they carried away as mementoes. Kelley objected both to the name and
estimates of its height, predicting that it would be worn away in 50 years.
Bonneville was content to call it a "shaft" or "column," while the prosaic
diarist of the Birmingham Emigrating Company, recorded that it reminded
him of a potato hole (the mound over a vegetable cache marked with a
stake).
EZRA MEEKER AT CHIMNEY ROCK
In the natural amphitheater at the base of the rock a religious pageant,
The Gift of God, is performed every year on four successive evenings in
mid- June (adm. free). This pageant, written by the Rev. Louis Kaub, por-
trays the life of Christ and is performed by 125 actors assisted by a choir.
The visitors may bring basket lunches and camp overnight on the patrolled
grounds.
At 20.8 m. is McGREW (128 pop.).
Left from McGrew on a dirt road to TABLE ROCK, 11.5 m. South of this point
are STEAMBOAT ROCK, TWIN SISTERS, and SMOKESTACK ROCK.
At 23.3 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road to CASTLE ROCK, 1 m.
GERING, 34 m. (3,902 alt., 2,531 pop.), seat of Scotts Bluff County,
was named for Martin Gering, Civil War veteran, banker, and a member
of the original town-site group formed in 1887. Gering is a division point
for the Union Pacific R. R. Its largest industrial plant is the Great West-
ern Sugar Company's refinery Stock yards and a packing plant were
opened in 1938, with sales every Monday.
The people of Gering, like those of other western Nebraska towns,
identify themselves more closely with Wyoming and Colorado than with
Nebraska. They read the larger Colorado newspapers in preference to
those of Omaha or Lincoln
390 TOURS
Oregon Trail Days, a popular two-day celebration, is held here annually
during the week in which July 17 falls. This date was chosen because a
Sublette expedition, the first group to take wagons across the plains to the
Rockies, camped near the site of this town on July 17, 1830. The program
includes dances and songs of the Sioux, a public wedding, a parade with
floats, and an Old Settlers' Exhibit, housed in the Crumme Building on
the south end of the main street.
Left from Gering on State 29, a graveled road, to a junction with a dirt road
2 m ; R on this road to ROUBIDOU PASS, 8 m., used before Mitchell Pass was
developed for the use of wagons. This road follows an old trail down Gering Val-
ley. The route was used during the great migration to Oregon in 1843-1848, the
California gold rush of 1849, as well as the rush of 1850-1851.
The pass was named for Basil Roubidou, an early French fur trader, who had had
many hazardous adventures. Once, when he was stricken with smallpox, he was
abandoned by his comrades, but was rescued by a Sioux medicine man who nursed
him back to health. At the western end of the pass he established a trading post
(1848), which the Arapaho destroyed about 1852 A stone marker indicates the
SITE OF THE ROUBIDOU BLACKSMITH SHOP. Southwest of Roubidou Pass is SIGNAL
BUTTE, entirely separated from the range and almost perpendicular on each side.
An archeological expedition, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, has found
the remains of three Indian cultures while excavating here
Northwest of Signal Butte, on the bank of a dry creek, is a quarry excavated by
a field party from the University of Nebraska Museum. Here were found the bones
of 30 or 40 bison of a species now extinct. Some artifacts found with the bones
indicate a culture earlier than that of the Plains Indians
HELVAS CANYON, 7 m., is a minor gap in the Wildcat Hills At the time the
Oregon traffic was using Roubidou Pass, a trading post and blacksmith shop were
established here at the mouth of the canyon on a level spot, near a wooded stream
but distant enough so that marauding Indians would have no immediate cover
The highway crosses STAGE HILL, 10 m., so called because the old stagecoaches
from Kimball to Gering took this route On this hill is the WILDCAT STATE GAME
PRESERVE (stove and shelter houses), an 840-acre tract of extremely rugged and
wooded country, reminiscent of the Wild West. The land was purchased by co-
operative associations in the towns of Scotts Bluff County, and presented to the
State in 1930
The geological formations in this section of the Wildcat Range are varied Break-
ing through the grassy slopes of Brule clay are nearly vertical cliffs of sandstone
banded in several colors The ravines and higher slopes are wooded with pine, and
the canyon floors are overgrown with cottonwood, oak, boxelder, willow, choke-
cherry, and buffalo berry. Wild flowers dot the open spaces, notably the wild rose,
cream-colored yucca, and brush morning glory. The drive along the game preserve
presents a continuous vista of the nearer formations and several good views of the
surrounding country The North Platte Valley slopes gently away to the east and
northeast while cutting the farther horizon are the familiar landmarks of the old
Oregon Trail days Signal Butte and Bald Peak to the west, Scotts Bluff to the
north, and down the river to the east the spire of Chimney Rock
The first animals placed in the park, four deer from Texas, were unable to with-
stand the northern climate. Four mule deer from the Kaibab Forest of Utah re-
placed them Elk, bison, and wild turkeys have been successfully introduced. The
Parks Commission has insured an adequate water supply by damming a spring-fed
stream to form a channel. A larger dam had been built near the highway to form
a two-acre lake
The COMMUNITY SHELTER HOUSE, built of natural rock and having a large fire-
place at either end, overlooks one of the most agreeable vistas of the reserve.
FUNNEL ROCK (L) (4,502 alt.), near the preserve, is easily identified by its re-
semblance in shape to an inverted funnel Farther from the preserve is WILDCAT
MOUNTAIN (R) (5,082 alt ), with its high, pine-covered ridge; and HOG-BACK
MOUNTAIN (R) (4,300 alt).
WILDCAT HILLS RECREATIONAL AREA
At 19 m is the junction with State 88. Here State 29 turns R Southeast (L) of
this junction is BIG HORN MOUNTAIN (4,713 alt.), called by the Indians He Sha
(White Mountain).
HARRISBURG, 24 m. (62 pop.), was named for Harnsburg, by a settler from
Pennsylvania Near here are two rocks called LOVER'S LEAP. From one of these
rocks, legend says, the daughter of a Sioux chief jumped to her death, rather than
desert her own sweetheart for an Oglala brave to whom she had been betrothed by
her parents
SCOTTS BLUFF NATIONAL MONUMENT, 36.7 m. (campmg and picnic
facilities), on a tract of 3,240 acres just south of the North Platte River
was acquired by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior
on December 12, 1919. According to plans (1938), nature-study trails,
guide service, and a look-out station equipped with telescopes are to be
established on the northern side of the blurt Trees and shrubs have been
planted, and picnic grounds laid out. Other facilities will be added, in-
cluding three wings for the museum, all to be built of adobe brick of local
clay.
SCOTTS BLUFF (R) was the first butte of dominating height to greet
the plains-weary eyes of pioneers traveling the Oregon Trail. In the diaries
and the published narratives of the period it is always mentioned as an
important landmark and wagon trains often stopped here for two or three
days for sightseeing. The members took advantage of the halt to make
repairs. Many travelers climbed the bluff to view the great trail 600 feet
below.
Scotts Bluff stretches southwest from the Platte River. DOME ROCK,
a conspicuous isolated outcropping, forms the southeast boundary. The
bluff rises to an altitude of 4,662 feet, 750 feet above the river plain. The
lower two-thirds of the bluff consists of flesh-colored Brule clay. The top
third consists of Gering and Arikaree sandstones. The ravines, the north-
392 TOURS
western slope, and the summit bear a light growth of juniper and pine
trees.
In the Adventures of Captam Eonnemlle Washington Irving told the
origin of the name: "A number of years since, a party were descending
the upper part of the river in canoes, when their frail barks were over-
turned and all their powder spoiled. Their rifles being thus rendered use-
less, they were unable to procure food by hunting and had to depend upon
roots and wild fruits for subsistence. After suffering extremely from
hunger, they arrived at Laramie's Fork . . . about sixty miles above the
cliffs. . . . Here one of the party, by the name of Scott, was taken ill; and
his companions came to a halt, until he should recover health and strength
sufficient to proceed. While they were searching round in quest of edible
roots, they discovered a fresh trail of white men, who had evidently but
recently preceded them. What was to be done? By a forced march they
might overtake this party, and thus be able to reach the settlements in
safety. Should they linger they might all perish of famine and exhaustion.
Scott, however, was incapable of moving; they were too feeble to aid him
forward, and dreaded that such a clog would prevent their coming up
with the advance party. They determined, therefore, to abandon him to
his fate. Accordingly, under pretense of seeking food, and such simples
as might be efficacious in his malady, they deserted him and hastened for-
ward upon the trail. They succeeded in overtaking the party of which they
were in quest, but concealed their faithless desertion of Scott, alleging that
he had died of disease.
"On the ensuing summer, these very individuals visiting these parts in
company with others, came suddenly upon the bleached bones and grin-
ning skull of a human skeleton, which, by certain signs they recognized
for the remains of Scott. This was sixty long miles from the place where
they had abandoned him; and it appeared that the wretched man had
crawled that immense distance before death put an end to his miseries."
Two species of trees predominate red cedar and ponderosa pine. Once
fairly well wooded, the bluffs were stripped of larger trees by soldiers and
settlers in search of firewood and building material. A hard stratum of vol-
canic ash just above the talus slope on the west face of the bluff was in-
scribed by early travelers with their names, towns, and dates of departure.
The inscriptions were not photographed or copied, unfortunately, and are
now almost entirely flaked off. A few are preserved in the museum (see-
below).
The OREGON TRAIL MUSEUM (adm. free), at the base of the bluff, is
constructed of red brick painted a buff-cream color to harmonize with the
cliff background. It is designed in modern style without windows; the
exhibits are displayed under indirect light. These exhibits consist of pic-
tures and maps illustrating many aspects of frontier life: Indians, Spanish
exploration, covered-wagon migration, pioneer communication, trapping,
and wildlife. Permanent museum exhibits for the historical wing include
about 150 maps and water colors, and three dioramas. A large collection of
historical relics, fossils, and artifacts has been accumulated through loan
and donation.
MITCHELL PASS
Right from the museum on the Summit Road Built at a cost of $500,000, the
>ad curves at a 7 percent grade up the side of the bluff, passes through three tun-
;ls, and ascends the other side At the foot of the bluff on the eastern side is
IRAM SCOTT SPRING (R). According to an old tradition, Scott's body was found
this spring The dates given for the incident vary between 1828 and 1844. The
>rmg has a flow of 800 gallons a day, and is surrounded by a reservoir which
lables visitors to drink the water That the spring was once an oasis for emi-
ants is shown by the many relics found about it- buckles, wrought nails, pieces of
oken china dating from the fifties Several hundred yards northwest of the spring
a new foot trail, built by the National Park Service in 1934.
MITCHELL PASS, 37 m., divides the bluff in half. Before 1852 trav-
'ers used the Roubidou Pass, 8 miles southwest of this point. Mitchell
ass was considered impassable until it was excavated for wagon traffic in
le early 1850*5, probably by soldiers from Fort Laramie, Wyo. There is no
ithentic record of any wheeled vehicles going through Mitchell Pass until
852, but a few explorers and soldiers may have ridden through on horse-
ack before that time.
Mitchell Pass was used by most of the covered-wagon traffic after 1852;
was also on the route of the first stage lines, the Pony Express, and the
tiginal transcontinental telegraph. At least one wagon train was attacked
ear this point by Indians, who found the surrounding country ideal for
[i ambush This raid occurred in 1866. Fortunately, the caravan was ac-
Dmpamed by a few soldiers, who succeeded in holding off the Indians un-
1 help arrived.
Around the bluff to the north, a few miles upstream, is the SITE OF OLD
ORT MITCHELL, originally Camp Shuman. This fort, established in 1864
y Captain Shuman, afterwards named for Gen. Robert Mitchell, com-
lander of the district, served for a time as an outpost of Fort Laramie.
HAIG, 42 2 m. (270 pop.), was named for Harry Haig, a cattleman,
rother of Field Marshall Haig of World War fame.
HORSE CREEK TREATY MONUMENT, 55.1 m., directly on the old Ore-
on Trail, is near Horse Creek, which lies to the north and flows into the
forth Platte River. The creek is said to have been given its name because
394 TOURS
of the fact that Thomas Fitzpatnck, an early trader, was robbed of his
horses here by Crow Indians in 1824.
Here the largest assembly of Indians in American history gathered in
September 1851. The Federal Government had called this council for the
purpose of arriving at agreements in regard to reservation boundaries and
privileges of whites in crossing them. Messengers had been sent out to the
tribes a year before the meeting. All the Indian nations of the plains and
the foothills, from the Arkansas River to Canada, were informed of the
great council to be held in this central place in the plains region, where
there was water and excellent grazing land for stock. More than 10,000
Indians came: Shoshone, Sioux, Cheyenne, Assimboin, Arapaho, Black-
feet, Arikari, Gros Ventre, Mandan, and Crow. The United States flag
flew daily on the large pavilion, built by the women on the land between
Horse Creek and North Platte River. On September 8 a cannon shot an-
nounced the beginning of the council, which produced the first Fort Lara-
mie Treaty, so known because of the proximity to Fort Laramie, in Wyo-
ming, the nearest place that had a name.
The monument here, unveiled on May 26, 1929, is made of red granite
brought from Sherman Pass, Wyo.; it is about 8 feet high, and has a
rounded top.
At 59.4 m. State 86 crosses the Wyoming Line.
Tour 13
Junction with US 20 Ponca Niobrara Lynch Butte (Burke, S.
Dak.); State 12.
Junction with US 20 to South Dakota Line, 169.3 m.
Between Niobrara and Spencer the Chicago & North Western Ry. parallels the
route
Graveled roadbed throughout
Accommodations limited.
This route averses an area of much interest, for most of its course
following the Missouri River.
State 12 branches northwest from US 20, m. (see Tour 7), 12.8
miles west of South Sioux City.
PONCA, 8 2 m. (1,145 alt, 920 pop.), one of the oldest towns in the
State, was surveyed and platted in 1856 by Frank West and a Dr. Stough.
At one time the town had an unusually fine race track and the annual
TOUR 13 395
races attracted hundreds. The railroad, which reached Ponca in 1876 and
greatly stimulated the town's growth, was abandoned in 1933. The brick
COURTHOUSE, built in 1883, still stands.
Right from Ponca into PONCA STATE PARK, 3 m. (shelters, camping facilities),
consisting of several hundred acres of wooded land overlooking the Missouri River.
At 13.2 m. is the junction with an unimproved road.
Right on this road to the so-called IONIA VOLCANO, 8 m., a steep bluff over-
looking the Missouri River. The clays and shales composing it contain iron sul-
phide, which produces some heat when acted upon by water; this accounts for the
smoking of the blufT, as well as for its name The Lewis and Clark party described
the phenomenon in their reports. Lewis and Clark found mounds south of the bluff
and remains indicating that an Indian town of great size had formerly stood here.
The war-like people who had inhabited the region are said to have been fire wor-
shippers The Ionia Volcano was consequently held sacred No one ventured near
the bluff except at prescribed times; with every full moon the tribesmen assem-
bled here for ceremonies, during which the old and feeble, war prisoners, squaws,
and children were tortured and sacrificed It is believed that the preliminary tortur-
ing was done in a cavern of the "volcano."
NEWCASTLE, 19.4 m. (1,284 alt, 446 pop.), surrounded by fertile
farm land, had only 15 buildings in 1893. In 1892 the local people had
sent a committee to St. Paul, Minn., to induce a railroad company to ex-
tend its line from Ponca to this place. In 1894 the railroad was built and
for 40 years it gave the town access to the Sioux City livestock and grain
markets; on April 19, 1933, it went out of service.
Near MASKELL, 27.6 m. (131 pop.), were fought intertribal Indian
battles, as the numerous arrowheads found on hillsides and in the valleys
indicate Tops of nearby bluffs were used for Indian burials. Students from
South Dakota State University at Vermillion often come here to gather
Indian skulls and other relics.
The nverbanks abound with marine fossils. Along the banks are dams
built by beavers.
West of Maskell is a heavily wooded section popular for pheasant and
duck hunting.
WYNOT, 40.8 m. (348 pop.), in the Bow Creek Valley, came into
existence in 1907 as a railroad stop. Many businesses sprang up here, but
the 1929 depression, drought, and finally the abandonment of the railroad
put an end to them. The name is said to be a contraction of the phrase
"Why not?"; local tradition has it that this was the favorite phrase of a
well-known early resident, an old German. The predecessor of this town,
called St. James, was on a knoll one mile north of the present settlement.
It was abandoned because of trouble with its water supply.
Right from Wynot on a dirt road to the WISEMAN MEMORIAL, 5 m., a monu-
ment erected in 1926 in memory of the five children of Henson Wiseman, who
were slain by a party of Yankton and Santee Sioux in 1863 Wiseman, who was
serving with the Second Nebraska Cavalry, learned of the tragedy a month after it
had occurred Crazed by the event he shot Indians on sight thereafter, always leav-
icig their bodies in attitudes of prayer.
At 43 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to ST. HELENA, 8 m. (83 pop ), organized as a rival of St.
396 TOURS
James Here is a REPRODUCTION OF AN INDIAN VILLAGE (adm. 10$; open all day),
completed in 1934 The lodges are on a village site excavated in 1933 by repre-
sentatives of the University of Nebraska.
CROFTON, 60.7 m. (733 pop.) (see Tour 3), is at the junction with
US 8 1 (see Tour 3).
At 73.1 m. is a junction with a sandy road.
Right on this hilly, twisting road, which passes a garage and oil station at
TEWSVILLE, to DEVIL'S NEST, 6 m., a tract of rough meadow and woodland
along the Missouri River. This region is dotted with hills shaped like old-fashioned
chocolate drops, and is bounded on three sides by grazing land, the south line is a
chalk cliff rising 70 to 120 feet. The highest point m the region is about 450 feet
above the bottom land. Grasses cover the clearings. Cottonwood, elm, ash, burr oak,
and boxelder line the ravines and cover many of the hills. Red cedar, linden, and
Kentucky coffee trees are here also but in smaller numbers. Wild grapes and straw-
berries are plentiful in season.
Formerly the home of wild turkey, elk, and deer, the country now contains only
the more common small game animals, such as the red squirrel and the cottontail
rabbit. The region is visited annually by migratory waterfowl and is the refuge of
quail, pheasants, and the many varieties of songbirds, including the multicolored
canary, finch, oriole, blue martin, cardinal, thrush, plover, mourning dove, and
meadowlark.
According to legend, Devil's Nest was a hideaway of Jesse James and of rustlers
and fugitives of pioneer days The character of the country lends support to such
tales One of the first descriptions of the area is in the Journals of Lewis and
Clark, who camped here in 1804. At that time the rough meadow was separated
from the mainland and the explorers named it Bonhomme Island.
SANTEE, 12 m. (75 pop.), is an Indian settlement on the bank of the Missouri
River. The town was named for the Santee Sioux who were moved here from their
lands in Minnesota and in Dakota Territory after an uprising in 1862.
Indian resentment against the white invasion of their lands in the West had in-
creased gradually The first white visitors were welcomed as curiosities and the
early traders as importers of gadgets and manufactured products. There was no
great hostility shown to the first whites who traveled across Indian lands. Active
resistance came when the natives began to feel the results of the wanton slaughter
of the buffalo that had been their main food supply. The first invaders had merely
crossed the plains but by the middle of the nineteenth century they were beginning
to settle there, forcing the Indians to live on continually smaller reservations The
treaties fixing the boundaries of such land contained provisions for the compensa-
tion of the natives but the administration of Indian affairs was usually in the hands
of corrupt agents who diverted the supplies and moneys intended for the natives
to their own pockets. Protests were made and received but there was no relief.
By 1864 the Indians in many parts of the West, and particularly in Minnesota,
were starving and the braves had become desperate. Word of the outbreak of the
Civil War spread rapidly from one Indian village to the other; the native saw his
chance to drive out his enemies, who, he thought, were weakened by the intratribal
hostilities. Concerted attacks were made in many places; all the stage stations for
hundreds of miles along the overland trail were wrecked simultaneously. The most
serious attack on white settlements took place in Minnesota. Three hundred out of
500 Indians captured in Minnesota were sentenced to death but President Lincoln
commuted the sentences of all but 38. The rest of those captured were brought to
a reservation here.
In 1934, 1,268 Indians were living in this region, which is a reservation though
administrative matters are handled by an agency near Winnebago (see Tour I).
Though Santee today looks like a deserted village, Indians are often seen, especially
near the little general store or around the gasoline pump, the only one in many
miles.
The SANTEE MISSION AND NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL was established here by
Dr. A. L. Riggs on the bluffs overlooking the river. The several dormitories stand
TOUR 13 397
out prominently in the landscape. Here Charles Alexander Eastman (1858-1927),
son of a Santee Sioux and a half-breed woman, received his early education He be-
came a noted physician on Indian reservations and a widely known lecturer on
Indian life
At 84.1 m. is MAIDEN'S LEAP, a loo-foot chalk rock with a profile re-
sembling a man's. There is the usual story to account for the name: an
Indian girl in love with one brave but betrothed by her father to another,
committed suicide by riding one of her father's finest horses over the edge
of the cliff Another story told in connection with the place is that Jesse
James, pursued by Indians, leaped from the cliff on a horse and swam
across the river to safety.
NIOBRARA, 88.8 m. (1,248 alt, 761 pop.), is on the site of a Ponca
village. Favorable reports of the place were current in Kanesville (Coun-
cil Bluffs), Iowa; and in May 1856 a little group of settlers led by B. Y.
Shelley, a physician, went to see it. In the presence of the entire Ponca
band, they marked off the land that is now Old Town
After the men had erected the first building, a small garrison referred
to later as Old Cabin, they returned to Council Bluffs and Sioux City, and
invited others to join them in developing the new town. That winter
(1856) the Ponca, who resented this usurpation of their land, rose against
the settlers. The whites took refuge in Old Cabin, and defended it suc-
cessfully though the Indians burned all the other buildings.
Shelley and three men spent the winter in Old Cabin, and that winter
the tiny new settlement was made the seat of the county, which was at first
called Eau Qui Court (later Knox). The seat was moved away in 1901.
In the early days the town grew steadily. On June 29, 1857, the Omaha
steamed up to the nverbank with a cargo of lumber, and three days later
the first frame building here was completed. This structure, formerly
known as the BRUNS HOUSE, still stands; it is the first directly north
of the Pike store. Before long a United States district land office was es-
tablished m the town. In later years there was some industrial develop-
ment, tomato-canning, meat-packing, flour milling, and brewing being car-
ried on.
On March 29, 1881, the 25th anniversary of the settling of Niobrara,
the Missouri River climaxed a severe winter by overflowing and driving
hundreds of people from their homes and farms, destroying furniture and
goods in stores, and killing livestock. The inhabitants, fearful of future
floods, began to move their homes and stores from the old site, two miles
below the mouth of the Niobrara River on the south bank of the Missouri,
to this place, which is a mile and a half southwest of Old Town.
Niobrara was never the usual rowdy river town It early had an orches-
tra of six pieces that, played for dances and social gatherings, and after
1885 the town gave encouragement to a 24-piece Indian band that had
been organized after a Government order had brought several hundred
Sioux to a mass meeting at the Santee Agency. This band, trained by John
Lenger, the director, gave concerts in Lincoln and Omaha over a period of
12 years.
The G. A. R. HALL, then the community hall, was also the social and
398 TOURS
cultural center of the county for many years. Balls, traveling minstrel
shows, concerts by the Negro pianist, Blind Boone, revival meetings, home-
talent plays, and commencement exercises were held here.
At 90.3 m. the road crosses timbered NIOBRARA ISLAND STATE
PARK AND GAME RESERVE (camping facilities and cabins; picmc
grounds; golf course, baseball diamond, shelter house) in the Niobrara
River. The park is R., the game reserve L. Ferns and violets fill the damp
earth pockets ; many wild flowers bloom here in the summer.
The NEWELL KNIGHT MONUMENT, 91 m., marks the site of a Mormon
camp, and also honors Newell Knight and others who died here.
Sixty-five Mormon f amilies, part of the first large band to leave Nauvoo,
111., after the killing of Joseph Smith, had been sent on from the camp
on the banks of the Missouri where most of the refugees stopped to pre-
pare for a long trip westward in search of a place where they could found
a community without interference from gentile neighbors. The advance
party traveled with 150 wagons but had limited supplies; so when they
reached Pawnee Station which became Columbus where a number of
soldiers were stationed, they were glad to obtain a Government contract
to harvest small grain and corn that had been deserted by laborers who
had fled in fear of the Pawnee While doing this job they received in-
structions from Bngham Young that because of the lateness of the season
they should not attempt to continue westward and should at once estab-
lish a winter camp. A band of Ponca visiting the Pawnee at the time, told
them of a good site here, and volunteered to guide them to it.
The refugees found timber, game, and feed for their stock in the area
and erected shelters at this place; but the weather was unusually severe
and 17 members of the party died. In the spring the Church Council
called the caravan back to the main camp on the Missouri Brigham Young
had been reading the reports of Captain Fremont and had half-decided
on settlement in the neighborhood of the Great Salt Lake.
MONOWI (Ind., flower), 111.8 m. (123 pop.), was so named because
of many wild flowers in the vicinity.
LYNCH, 118.7 m. (498 pop.).
Right from Lynch on a sandy road running beside the schoolhouse to the SITE
OF AN INDIAN TOWN, 1.6 m. f examined in 1936 under the direction of Dr. Earl
H. Bell of the University of Nebraska; students have uncovered shards and other
artifacts, remains of a prehistoric community, whose members were farmers and
utilized the natural subirngation along the Ponca River Only a small part of
the city has been explored; it is estimated that it covered about 1.5 square miles.
Nothing is known of these aborigines to what tribe they belonged, where they
came from, when they lived here. There is some evidence, however, that they left
the region during a long period of severe drought.
At 129.4 m. is the junction with US 281 (see Tour 4). Between this
point and 144.2 m. US 281 and State 12 are one route (see Tour 4).
At 169-3 m. State 12 crosses the South Dakota Line, 12 miles south of
Burke, S. Dak.
PART IV
Chronology
1541 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, with 30 Spanish horsemen, reaches Qui-
vira and Harahey, probably in the Republican Valley along the Nebraska-
Kansas boundary
1 60 1 Don Juan de Ofiate, Governor of New Mexico, explores northeastward
into the Quivira region.
1662 Don Diego de Penalosa, Governor of New Mexico, is said to have estab-
lished contact with Qurvira chieftains.
1673 Johet and Marquette lead an expedition from Lake Michigan up the Fox
River to the Wisconsin portage and down the Wisconsin River to the Mis-
sissippi, descending the latter at lat. 34 N. Returning, they ascend the
Illinois River.
1682 Sieur de la Salle explores the basin of the Mississippi and takes possession
in the name of the King of France,
1719 French influence among Pawnee Indians of Platte region is strongly estab-
lished by Du Tisne.
1720 So-called Spanish Caravan massacred by Pawnee Indians, probably near
the present town of Columbus.
1738 ,Mallet brothers visit the Missouri Indians in Nebraska, spending the win-
ter near the mouth of the Niobrara River.
1739 June. Pierre and Paul Mallet explore the Platte River for 12 days.
1763 France, defeated in the French and Indian War, cedes possessions west of
the Mississippi to Spain. All territory east of the Mississippi, except the
Island of New Orleans, relinquished to Britain.
1800 Death of Blackbird, chief of the Omaha, first Indian prominent in Ne-
braska history
1801 October 15. Middlewestern territory, including Nebraska, returned by
Spain to France.
1803 Louisiana, including Nebraska, purchased from France by the United States.
1804 August 3. Lewis and Clark hold first council and negotiate first treaty with
Nebraska Indians (Missouri and Oto) at Council Bluff, near present Fort
Calhoun
1806 Lt. Zebulon M Pike counters Spanish authority; raises American flag over
a large Pawnee village in Republican Valley.
1807 Manuel Lisa, fur trader, establishes trading posts on the upper Missouri
River.
1 8 10 Wilson Price Hunt leads an expedition 450 miles up Missouri River from
St Louis. Hunt leaves party to winter at mouth of Nadowa River and re-
turns to St Louis
1811 March 12 The Oregon-bound Astorian party under Wilson Price Hunt
leaves St Louis, picks up winter quarter group at Nadowa River, ascends
Missouri River in boats; and goes west from Fort Henry.
401
402 CHRONOLOGY
1812 Fort Lisa, base of American Fur Company, established on the Missouri
River, 10 miles above site of Omaha.
1813 Robert Stuart's company (the returning Astorians) explore the north side
of the Platte through Nebraska.
1819-20 Maj. Stephen H. Long traverses the Nebraska area, pronounces it "unin-
habitable for people depending upon agriculture for subsistence."
Fort Atkinson, first military post and first Nebraska town, established on
the site of Council Bluff Abandoned in 1827
1820 Missouri Compromise makes slave-owning illegal in Nebraska.
3823 First mention of Bellevue in fur trading records. On the Missouri, six miles
below Omaha, Bellevue was first a trading post; and is now Nebraska's
oldest and perhaps most interesting town
1830 Milton Sublette and party make first wagon road across Nebraska; route
later used by emigrants to Oregon
1832 Captain Bonneville leads an expedition across Nebraska.
Nathaniel J. Wyeth makes his first trip across Nebraska.
1832-33 George Catlin visits the Indian tribes along the Missouri, and paints Ne-
braska scenes and Indians
1833 Prince Maximilian von Wied-Neuwied, eminent scientist and author, goes
up the Missouri River His findings, published in the East and in Europe,
call attention to Nebraska
Mr. and Mrs Moses Merrill come to Bellevue as the first missionaries to
Nebraska Indians
1834 Nathaniel J. Wyeth makes his second trip over the Oregon Trail.
1835 The Merrills establish their Otoe Mission on the Platte, eight miles west
of Bellevue.
1836 Father de Smet, first Catholic missionary to Indians of the Platte and upper
Missouri region, arrives at Council Bluffs, Iowa Champion of the Indians
and interpreter, he does much to pacify hostile tribes.
1842 John C. Fremont ("The Pathfinder") crosses Nebraska over the Oregon
Trail In his reports the term "Nebraska" is applied to the Platte River
1844 Congress proposes new political unit to be called the Territory of Ne-
braska.
1846-49 Mormon or California Trail First wagon road on the north side of the
Platte, which carried much of the traffic to California gold fields after
1848, is made by the Mormons.
1851-68 Father de Smet is instrumental in bringing about the Fort Laramie treaties
with the Sioux.
1854 May 30. Territory of Nebraska created when President Pierce signs the
Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
Francis Burt of South Carolina appointed first Governor of Nebraska Ter-
ritory He died October 18, 1854 Thomas B. Cummg appointed Acting-
Governor
Founding of Omaha.
Census gave Nebraska 2,732 inhabitants,
1854-57 Mark W. Izard is appointed Governor in 1854 and serves until 1857
-1855 January 16. First Territorial legislative assembly meets at Omaha City, and
"passes law providing for free common schools, and another law prohibit-
ing sale of ardent spirits."
CHRONOLOGY 403
1857 General bank failures during Nation-wide panic
1857-58 Gen Albert Johnston conducts military expedition across Nebraska to
Utah
1858 First wagons of the Salt Lake Express start over the Oregon Trail.
J Sterling Morton, Acting-Governor.
1858-66 Period of greatest traffic along Nebraska's eastern waterfront.
1859 First shipment of grain from the Territory is sent by steamer to St. Louis.
Ben Holladay's overland stages begin operating between St. Joseph and
Sacramento
Samuel Black appointed Governor
September First Territorial Fair is held at Nebraska City.
1860 Nebraska City Cut-Off, or Steam Wagon Road, opened for travel.
Population (U. S census) 28,841.
1860-61 Pony express founded, 1860; abandoned following year.
1861 Alvin Saunders, Governor 1861-67.
1863 January i First free homestead in United States under general Homestead
Law taken by Daniel Freeman at Cub Creek, Gage County, Nebraska
1865 July. The Union Pacific, pioneer railroad of the Middle West, lays its first
rails at Omaha.
1866 Influx of Texas cattle Beginning of cattle industry in central and western
Nebraska
June 21. First constitution ratified by popular vote.
1867 March i. Nebraska becomes thirty-seventh State of the Union by procla-
mation of President Johnson. David Butler becomes first State Governor,
serving until 1871
July 29. City of Lincoln designated as site of State Capital. State Historical
Association founded
Union Pacific Railroad completed through Nebraska.
1869 University of Nebraska founded at Lincoln; opened 1871.
May 10 Union Pacific Railroad opened.
Burlington & Missouri Railroad lays first Nebraska track at Plattsmouth.
1870 Population 122,993.
1870-71 Nebraska Herd Law enacted; defines grazing limitations and protects dirt
farmer, mabng prairie settlement possible.
1871 Governor David Butler impeached.
June 2 William H. James becomes Acting-Governor; serves until 1873.
1872 First permanent railroad bridge, across the Missouri River completed at
Omaha.
January 4 First Arbor Day proclamation ; created by resolution of J. Ster-
ling Morton.
1873 Last great battle between Indian tribes on American soil is fought in the
Republican Valley near Trenton Massacre Canyon.
Timber-Claim Act passed.
April 13-16 Easter storm, characterized by great loss of life and property,
particularly in the newly-settled central area of the State
Panic of 1873
January 9. Robert W. Furnas begins two-year term as Governor
1874-77 Grasshopper invasions; most serious damage to crops in 1874-75.
1875 New constitution, replacing that of 1866, ratified; goes into effect in
November
404 CHRONOLOGY
Convicts at State Penitentiary rebel and attempt escape.
Silas Garber, Governor 1875-78.
1 875-77 Pawnee and Ponca Indians removed to Oklahoma.
1877 May 6 Surrender of hostile Sioux under Crazy Horse at Fort Robinson
marks end of the Indian Wars on Nebraska frontier.
1879 Albums Nance, Governor 1879-82.
1880 First local Farmers Alliance organized in Gage County; followed by State
Alliance, 1881.
Population (U. S. census) 452,402.
1 880-8 1 Severe blizzards cause death of thousands of cattle. Many ranchers bank-
rupt.
January i. State Home for Friendless opened at Lincoln
1882 Omaha strike called; militia acting as strikebreakers
1882-83 First successful cooperative organization in State, Farmers Shipping Asso-
ciation, set up at Superior.
1883 James W. Dawes, Governor 1883-86.
1885 Nebraska Central College opened at Central City
1885-86 Large migrations of grangers (dirt farmers) into Nebraska cattle country.
1887 John M. Thayer, Governor 1887-91.
1888 January 12. Historic blizzard; great loss of life and property.
Strike takes place over all the lines of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy;
strikers lose.
1889 May i. Industrial Home for Women and Girls opened at Milford.
August i. Asylum for Incurable Insane opened at Hastings.
1890 Great drought; entire Middle West suffers from lack of rain. Crop failures
especially bad in western Nebraska
July 29. People's Independent Party holds first State convention at Lincoln
' Population 1,062,656
First sugar beet factory in the State opens at Grand Island.
January to May. James E. Boyd, Governor.
May. John M. Thayer, Governor until ruling was made February 1892
reinstating Boyd as Governor, 1892-93.
1892 July 4-5. First National convention of Peoples' Party (or Populist Party)
held at Omaha.
August i. Eight-hour law goes into effect.
1893 Financial panic; effects felt until 1900
Lorenzo Crounse, Governor 1893-94
1894 Drought Corn destroyed by hot winds from the southwest; other crops
1895 Silas A. Holcomb, Governor 1895-98.
1896 William Jennings Bryan nominated by Democratic and Populist parties fot
Presidency of the United States.
Goldenrod adopted as State floral emblem
1897 Initiative and referendum law for municipalities passed by legislature
Sheldon Act passed, forbidding sale of school land (first in United States).
1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha.
Machinists and boilermakers strike in North Platte
Spanish War,
CHRONOLOGY 405
1899 William A Poynter, Governor 1899-1900.
1900 Population 1,066,300
George W Norns is elected to Congress (Served m lower house until
1913, and in the United States Senate continuously after March 4, 1913-)
1901 Charles H. Dietrich, Governor
May i. E2ra P. Savage, Acting-Governor upon the resignation of Dietrich,
1901-03.
1903 January. State Fanners Gram Dealers Association organized.
Elevator site law passed
John H. Mickey, Governor 1903-1907.
1904 Kinkaid Homestead Act provides for settlement of the remaining open
range in northern and western Nebraska.
1907 George L. Sheldon, Governor 1907-09.
1909 Ashton C. Shallenberger, Governor 1909-11.
1910 Population 1,192,214.
1911 Banning Act provides for commission plan of city government.
Legislature passes cooperative law
May 29. First Farmers Union local organization is established in Nebraska.
Chester H. Aldnch, Governor 1911-1913
1912 Home Rule amendment to constitution is adopted.
1913 John H. Morehead, Governor 1913-17.
1915 Motor transportation and power. Beginning of mechanized farming
1916 Farmers' Equity Union is organized.
1917 State-wide prohibition of intoxicants.
Keith Neville, Governor 1917-19.
1917-18 World War.
1918 Enactment of laws for construction of hard-surfaced roads.
1919 Samuel R. McKelvie, Governor 1919-23.
1920 Nebraska Farm Bureau affiliates with national body. New State constitu-
tion provides for more complete representation.
Population 1,296,372.
1922 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy strike
1923 Charles W. Bryan, Governor 1923-25.
1925 Adam McMullen, Governor 1925-29.
1929 New York Stock Market crash, beginning of depression which was to
bring ruin to many Nebraska farmers.
Arthur J. Weaver, Governor 1929-1931.
1930 Omaha streetcar strike begins.
Population 1,377,963.
1931 Charles W. Bryan, Governor 1931-35.
1932 Dedication of Nebraska State Capitol.
November 15. Moratorium on farm mortgages declared in Ninth Judicial
District
1932-33 Farm Holiday Revolt.
1933 Governor Bryan establishes State commission to adjust differences be-
tween farmers and creditors.
March 2. Mortgage Moratorium bill passed by legislature.
406 CHRONOLOGY
1934 Unicameral legislature proposal adopted
Drought
Streamlined trains.
1935 Dust storms, Republican Valley Flood.
Robert Leroy Cochran, Governor 1935-
1936 Drought
1937 First umcameral legislature meets.
Bibliography
GENERAL
Bradford, Harry E , and George A Spidel Nebraska; Its Geography and Agricul~
ture. New York, Macrmllan, 1931. 355 p. il
Gather, Willa Sibert "Nebraska, the End of the First Cycle." (In Gruening, Ernest.
These United States. 2d Series New York, Bom & Livenght, 1924. p 141-153 )
Condra, George E Geography, Agriculture and Industries of Nebraska Lincoln,
Chicago, etc , University Publishing Co , 1934. 307 p. il
Nebraska Legislative Reference Bureau Nebraska Blue Book. Lincoln, 1936 Pub-
lished biennially since 1915.
GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY
Barbour, Erwm "Mammalian Fossils from Devil's Gulch, Nebraska." (In Univ. of
Nebraska University Studies. Lincoln, 1914. v. 14, p 185-202.)
Darton, N. H Preliminary Report on the Geology and Underground Water Re-
sources of the Central Great Plains. Washington, Govt. Print. Off , 1905. 433 p.
il. (U. S. Geological Survey. Professional Paper 32 )
Darton, N H Preliminary Report on the Geology and Resources of Nebraska West
of the 103d Meridian. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1903. 69 p. il (U. S Geo-
logical Survey. Professional Paper 17 )
Nebraska. Geological Survey Bulletin. Lincoln, 1906-23. 2d ser. 1927 to date. il.
Nebraska State Museum Bulletin. Lincoln, 1924 to date. il.
Osborn, Henry Fairfield Mastodons and Mammoths of North America. New York,
1926. 46 p il (Am. Museum of Natural History Guide Leaflet 62.)
Schultz, C Bertrand Pleistocene Mammals of Nebraska. Lincoln, ms in Univ. of
Nebraska library, 1933 71 p bibhog (Master of Science thesis.)
Scott, William B. A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere. New
York, Macmillan, 1913. 693 p. il.
PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE
Nebraska Department of Agriculture Nebraska Weeds. Lincoln, 1936 238 p. il.
Nebraska University. Botanical Seminar. Botanical Survey of Nebraska. Lincoln, The
Seminar, 1892-1904 7 vol il.
Pool, Raymond J. Handbook of Nebraska Trees. Lincoln, 1929. 179 p (Univ. of
Nebraska Conservation and Survey Division Bulletin 7.)
Pool, Raymond J. "A Study of the Vegetation of the Sandhills of Nebraska." (In
Univ of Minnesota Botanical Studies. Minneapolis, 1914. v. 4, p. 189-319 )
Swenk, Myron. The Birds and Mammals of Nebraska. Lincoln, 1919. 21 p (Univ.
of Nebraska. Department of Entomology Contributions, no 23.)
Weaver, J E , and T J. Fitzpatrick "The Prairie " (In Ecological Society of Amer-
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109-295 )
Winter, John M. Analysis of the Flowering Plants of Nebraska Lincoln, 1936. 203
p (Univ. of Nebraska Conservation Department. Bulletin 13 )
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Animal Life" (In Nebraska Academy of Sciences. Publications. Lincoln, 1918.
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Wolcott, Robert H, and Frank H Shoemaker. Nebraska's Game Resources and
407
408 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Their Conservation. Lincoln, 1919. 32 p. il (Umv of Nebraska. Conservation
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CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Condra, George E , E. F Schramm, and A L Lugn Deep Wells of Nebraska Lin-
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Nebraska University Conservation and Survey Division Bulletin Lincoln, 1916 to
date
Pool, Raymond J. "The Fuel Situation in Nebraska and the Need for Greater Wood
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v. 10, p. 17-28 )
Weaver, J. E , and W J. Himmel The Environment of the Prairie. Lincoln, 1931.
50 p. il (Univ. of Nebraska Conservation Department Bulletin 5 )
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHIES
Andreas, Alfred T, A History of the State of Nebraska Chicago, Western Histori-
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Barns, Cass. G. The Sod House. Lincoln, 1930 287 p. il. Includes biographical
sketches of pioneers
Beadle, Erastus F. To Nebraska in '$7. New York, Public Library, 1923. 89 p il.
Burch, Lawrence D. Nebraska As It Is. Chicago, C. S Burch, 1878 164 p il
Connelley, William E., and Frank A. Root The Overland Stage to California.
Topeka, Kans , The Authors, 1901 630 p il
Cook, James H. Fifty Years on the Old Frontier. New Haven, Conn., Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1923. 291 p il.
Edmunds, A C Pen Sketches of Nebraskans, with Photographs. Lincoln, Omaha,
R. & J. Wilbur, 1871. 510 p il.
Fremont, John C Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in
the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-44. Wash-
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Hibben, Paxton. The Peerless Leader, William Jennings Bryan. New York, Farrar
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History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark. New
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of 1814, to which all members of the expedition contributed, with an account of
the Louisiana Purchase and notes upon the route
Huibert, Archer Butler. The Forty-niners. Boston, Little, Brown & Co, 1931.
340 p. il.
James, Edwin. An Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Moun-
tains, Performed in the Years 1819-21 . . . under the Command of Major Stephen
H. Long. Philadelphia, H C. Carey, 1822-23 2 v. maps
Kiffin, Elizabeth A. Overland Emigration through Nebraska, 1840-70. Lincoln, ms.
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reproduce rules of emigrant companies.
Margry, Pierre, ed. Memoires et Documents pour Servir a I'Histoire des Ongtnes
Frangaises des Pays d'Outre Mer. Paris, Maisonneuve et Cie., 1879-88. 6 v. il.
Letters and accounts of early French explorers.
Meeker, Ezra, and Howard R Driggs Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Yonkers,
N. Y., World Book Co., 1922 225 p. il.
Morton, J. Sterling, and Albert Watkins An Illustrated History of Nebraska. Lin-
coln, J. North & Co , 1905-13. 3 v il.
Nebraska History Magazine. Lincoln, February 1918 to date. Exploration, statehood,
settlement, archeology, etc
Nebraska State Historical Society. Publications Lincoln, 1885 to date. Includes
transactions, reports, proceedings, collections, etc. The Fort Atkinson Records,
1819-1827, 69 p., in ms. file are highly important for the earliest days in
Nebraska.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 409
Parkman, Francis The Oregon Trail. Boston, Little, Brown & Co , 1930 479 p. il.
Paxson, Frederick L. A History of the American Frontier, 1763-1893 Boston,
Houghton Mifflin, 1924 598 p maps
Pike, Maj. Zebulon M An Account of Expeditions to the Source of the Mississippi,
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Sandoz, Man Old Jules Boston, Little, Brown & Co , 1935. 424 p.
Savage, James W The Discovery of Nebraska and a Visit to Nebraska in 1662.
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Sheldon, Addison E History and Stories of Nebraska. Chicago and Lincoln, Univer-
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version of Morton and Watkins* History (see above).
Thwaites, Reuben G, ed. Early Western Travels, 1748-1846. Cleveland, A. H.
Clark, 1904-7. Especially to be consulted for Nebraska exploration are v. 5
(Bradbury's travels), v. 6 (Brackenridge's journey up the Missouri), v. 14 and
15 (Long's expedition), v. 19 and 20 (Josiah Gregg on commerce of the prai-
ries), v 22 (Maximilian's travels), v. 29 (De Smet's Oregon missions), and
v 30 (Palmer's journals)
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Winship, George P The Journey of Coronado, 1540-42. New York, A. S Barnes
& Co., 1904, 2d ed, Allerton Book Co, 1922, 251 p. il.
GOVERNMENT AND LEGISLATION
Gettys, Luella The "Reorganization of State Government in Nebraska. Lincoln, Ne-
braska Legislative Reference Bureau, 1922. 56 p bibliog. (Bulletin n.)
Hicks, John D, The Populist Revolt. Minneapolis, Univ of Minnesota Press, 1931.
473 P- #
Nebraska. Legislative Reference Bureau. Manual of Nebraska Legislative Procedure.
Lincoln, 1917 to date, biennially
Nebraska State Historical Society. Transactions and Reports. Lincoln See v. 5
(1902), v 6 (1906), v. 7 (1907) for Nebraska constitutions and constitutional
conventions
Sheldon, Addison E Nebraska Civil Government. Lincoln, Chicago, etc , University
Publishing Co , 1924. 2d ed 1935. 350 p il
Tipton, Thomas W. Forty Years of Nebraska at Home and in Congress. Lincoln,
1902. 570 p. il. (Nebraska State Historical Society. Proceedings and Collections.
2d ser, v. 4.)
AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMER
Filley, Horace C. Effects of Inflation and Deflation upon Nebraska Agriculture,
1914 to 1932. Lincoln, 1934, 131 p. il. (Univ. of Nebraska. Agricultural Experi-
ment Station. Bulletin 71 )
Hedges, Harold and F. F. Elliott Types of Farming in Nebraska. Lincoln, 1930.
76 p (Univ. of Nebraska. Agricultural Experiment Station. Bulletin 244.)
Nebraska Farmer. Lincoln, 1877 to date Semimonthly.
Nebraska. State Board of Agriculture. Annual Report. Lincoln, 1868 to date.
Nebraska University Agricultural Experiment Station. Bulletin. Lincoln, 1888 to
date. Mostly concerned with practical farming, but including rural economic re-
search as well.
Rankin, J. O , and Eleanor H. Hinman. A Summary of the Standard of Living in
Nebraska Farm Homes. Lincoln, 1932. 36 p. (Univ. of Nebraska Agricultural
Experiment Station Bulletin 267 )
INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
Anderson, Esther S The Sugar Beet Industry of Nebraska. Lincoln, 1935. 121 p il.
(Univ. of Nebraska. Conservation and Survey Division. Bulletin 9.)
410 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Callen, Ernest G. Administration of Nebraska's Labor Laws Lincoln, ms in Univ,
of Nebraska library, 1932. 559 p. bibliog (Doctor of Philosophy thesis )
Ferguson, Minnie E. South Omaha "Packing Industry Lincoln, ms in Univ of Ne-
braska library, 1934 136 p. bibliog (Master of Arts thesis ) Narrative of the
careers of the packers and growth of the industry
Kuehn, Dorothy A History of Nebraska's Improved Highways. Lincoln, ms. in
Umv. of Nebraska library, 1936 168 p. (Master of Arts thesis )
Kyner, James H. End of Track. Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton Printers, 1937. Touches on
railway history of Nebraska
Nebraska. Department of Labor. Reports Lincoln, 1888 to date.
Nebraska University College of Business Administration The Flourmilling Indus-
try in Nebraska. Lincoln, 1929. 58 p. tables. (Studies in Business 23 ) Analysis
of the present and future of the industry in Nebraska.
Raver, Paul J , and Marion R Sumner. Municipally Owned Electric Utilities m Ne-
braska. Chicago, Institute for Economic Research, 1932. 61 p. (Studies in Public
Utility Economics. Research Monograph 5.)
INDIANS AND ARCHEOLOGY
Bell, Earl H , and others. Chapters in Nebraska Archeology. Lincoln, The Univer-
sity, 1936. v i, 375 p. il
Bushnell, David I. Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West
of the Mississippi. Washington, Govt Print. Off , 1922 211 p. il (U. S Bureau,
of American Ethnology Bulletin 77 )
Dorsey, George A. Traditions of the Sktdi Pawnee. Boston, Houghton MifBm, 1904
336 p. il.
Dorsey, James O. "Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements " (In U S. Bureau,
of American Ethnology. Thirteenth Annual Report, 1891-92. Washington, 1896.
p. 263-288. il
Dorsey, James O "Omaha Sociology." (In U. S. Bureau of American Ethnology.
Third Annual Report, 1881-82 Washington, 1884. p. 205-370. il )
Dunbar, John B. "The Pawnee Indians." Magazine of Am History, Apr. 1880,
v. 4: 241-281; also Nov. 1880, v 5: 320-345
Gilder, Robert F. The Nebraska Culture Man Omaha, H. F. Kieser, 1926, 32 p. il.
Irving, John T., Jr. Indian Sketches, London, J. Murray, 1835. 2 v. 574 p
La Flesche, Francis, and Alice C Fletcher "The Omaha Tribe." (In U S Bureau-
of American Ethnology. Twenty-seventh Annual Report. 1905-1906 Washing-
ton, 1911. p. 15-672. il.)
Radin, Paul "The Winnebago Tribe." (In U. S. Bureau of American Ethnology.
Thirty-seventh Annual Report, 1915-1916 Washington, 1923. p. 35-560. il )
Shine, Father Michael A. The Nebraska Aborigines as they Appeared in the Eight-
eenth Century. Lincoln (?), 1914 (?). 23 p. il. (Nebraska Academy of Sciences.
Publications, v. 9, no. i.)
Skinner, Alanson B. "Societies of the Iowa, Kansa, and Ponca Indians " New York^
The Trustees, 1915. (In Anthropological Papers of Am. Museum of Natural His-
tory v. n, p 679-801. il.)
Smith, Maurice G Political Organization of the Plains Indians. Lincoln, The Uni-
versity, 1925. 84 p. (Univ. of Nebraska, v. 24, nos 1-2 )
Standing Bear, Luther. My People the Sioux. Boston, Houghton Mifflm, 1928.
288 p. il. f
Strong, William D An Introduction to Nebraska Archeology. Washington, Smith-
sonian Institution, 1935. 323 p. il. (Publication 3303 )
Wedel, Waldo R. An Introduction to Pawnee Archeology. Washington, Govt Print.
Off., 1936. 122 p il. (U. S Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 112 )
ETHNIC ELEMENTS
Alexis, Joseph E A "Swedes in Nebraska " (In Nebraska State Historical Society.
Collections. Lincoln, 1919 v. 19, p 78-85.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY 411
Auerbach, Ella F A Record of the Jewish Settlement in Nebraska. Lincoln, ms., in
Library of Historical Society, 1927. 164 p.
Hess, Eldora F. The Negro rn Nebraska, Lincoln, ms. m Univ. of Nebraska library,
1932 82 p (Master of Arts thesis )
Rosicky, Rose A History of the Czechs (Bohemians) m Nebraska. Omaha, Czech
Historical Society, 1929 429 p il.
Stubenhaus, Kieve The Origins and Growth of the Nebraska Population. Lincoln,
ms in Univ. of Nebraska library, 1935. 98 p (Master of Arts thesis.)
FOLKLORE
Cannell, Margaret, and Emma L Snapp. Signs, Omens, and Portents in Nebraska
Folklore, by Margaret Cannell Proverbial Lore in Nebraska, by Emma L Snapp
Lincoln, 1933 112 p. (Univ. of Nebraska. Studies in Language, Literature and
Criticism, no. 13.)
Gnnnell, George B. Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales. New York, Scribner,
1904 446 p. il
Pound, Louise The Folk-Song of Nebraska and the Central West. Lincoln, 1915,
89 p il (Nebraska Academy of Sciences. Publications, v. 9, no. 3 )
Van den Bark, Melvin "Nebraska Pioneer English." American Speech, v 6* 237-
252, 1931; v. 7. 1-17, 1931; v. 7. 161-171, 1932; v. 8. 48-52, 1933
EDUCATION AND RELIGION
Crawford, Robert P. These Fifty Years. Lincoln, 1925 175 p il. (Univ. of Ne-
braska Agricultural Experiment Station Circular 26 ) History of the College of
Agriculture of the Univ of Nebraska.
Davis, Rev Henry T Solitary Places Made Glad. Cincinnati, Cranston & Stowe,
1890 422 p il.
De Smet, Father Pierre- Jean. Western Missions and Missionaries. New York, P. J.
Kennedy, 1859. 532 p. il
Dowling, Rev. M. P. Creighton University. Omaha, Burkley Printing Co, 1903.
272 p il
Hughes, Hayden De Forest The Beginnings of a Formal Education in Nebraska.
Lincoln, ms in Univ. of Nebraska library, 1934. 69 p. il (Master of Arts thesis.)
Johnson, Alvin W The Program of Studies for the Secondary Schools of Nebraska f
1900-55 Lincoln, Union College Press, 1935. 162 p il.
Marquette, David. A History of Nebraska Methodism, First Half Century, 1854-
1904. Cincinnati. Western Methodist Press, 1904. 564 p, il.
Murphy, Francis A. The Foundation and Expansion of the Catholic Church in Ne-
braska, 1850-1900 Lincoln, ms. in Univ of Nebraska library, 1933. 94 p. (Mas-
ter of Arts thesis )
Nebraska. Department of Public Instruction. Reports. Lincoln, 1869 to date.
Nebraska State Teachers' Association The Inequality of Educational Opportunity in
Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska State Teachers Assn., 1926 30 p, il. (Research
Bulletin i )
THE ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE
Bucklin, Clarissa, ed. Nebraska Arts and Artists. Lincoln, School of Fine Arts, Univ.
of Nebraska, 1932 82 p. il.
Fletcher, Alice C , Francis La Flesche, and John C Fillmore "A Study of Omaha
Indian Music" (In Peabody Museum Archaeological and Ethnological Papers.
Cambridge, 1898 v. i, p 237-382 ) Includes examples of Indian music.
"The Nebraska State Capitol." American Architect, Oct 1934. v. 145- 1-93.
Nebraska University Agricultural College Farm Buildings for Nebraska. Lincoln,
1929. 79 p. il. (Extension Circular 722, revised )
412 BIBLIOGRAPHY
LITERATURE AND JOURNALISM
Harvey, Alice G. Nebraska Writers. Omaha, Citizen Printing Co, 1934 nop
McMurtrie, Douglas C "Pioneer Printing in Nebraska " National Printer Journalist,
Jan. 1932.
Prairie Schooner. Lincoln, 1927 to date Quarterly, sponsored by Univ of Nebraska
(For novelists, dramatists, and poets who have written about Nebraska, see essay
NEBRASKA LITERATURE.)
Index
Abbott, Keene, 141, 157
a cappella choir. 126
Agate, 8, 12; fossil quarry, 324-325
Agriculture, 73-81, College of Agriculture,
211; cooperatives, 63, 64, 65,
corn, 80; experiment stations, 350,
farm architecture, 130, Farmer-
Labor Party, 85, Farmers' Alliance,
63, 85, Farmers' Equity Union,
65, 85; Farmers' Union, 64, 85;
Farm Holiday Association, 67, 85,
185, Fruit Farm, 271, tenancy, 78-
79; wheat, 80. See also Industry
Ainsworth, Capt. James E., 312
Ak-Sar-Ben, 4, 220, 229, 231, 248; Field,
231, 248
Aldrich. Bess Streeter, 141, 270
Alexander, Hartley Burr, 137, 138, 142,
143, 190, 235
Alkali Lake Pony Express Station, 343
Allan, James T., 279
Allen, A. F., 300
Allen, Dan, 233
Allen, Tom, 240
Alliance, 304, 369
Aliis, Rev. Samuel, 118, 271
Alma, 301, 378
American Crystal Sugar Company, 167
American Federation of Labor, 89
American Fur Company, 51-52, 93
American Legion, 151
American Smelting and Refining Plant
(Omaha), 232
American Stuff, 122
Amos Two Trees, 263
Andreas, A. T., 144
Andrews Hall, 187
Angora, 304
Animal life, 16-18
Ansley, Clarke Fisher, 138
Antelope Park (Lincoln), 198
Antioch, 369
Antrim Garden, 328
Apex Saloon, 239
Apple Blossom Day, 271
Arbor Day, 271, 272
Arbor Lodge, 272, State Park, 271-273
Archeology, 26-29
Argus (Dakota City), 258
Arlington, 328
Art galleries- Chappell, 122, 345, Joslyn
(Omaha), 122, 132, 235-236;
University (Lincoln), 121
Artichokes, 171
Artists, 121-123
Ash Hollow, 383
Ashland, 7, 33, 354
Ashley, William, 257
Asstmboin (steamboat), 52, 93
Astorian expedition, 49-50, 257, 278,
388, Monument, 280
Atkinson, Col. John, 310
Atkinson, Gen Henry, 266
Auburn, 123, 275
Auditorium (Omaha), 240
Aurora, 364
Automobiles, 98
Aviation, 100
Axteli, 102, 357
Badlands, 12, 370
Ballads, 107
Ballard, Frederick, 137
Ballard's Marsh, 313; State Shooting
Grounds, 313
Bancroft, 142, 282
Baptist Church, 119
Barada, Antoine, 107, 275
Barbour, Dr. Erwm H., 12
Barnard Park (Fremont), 160
Barns, 127
Bartlett, 292
Bassett, 298, 310
Bassett, J. W., 310
Bates, Herbert, 138, 139
Bayard, 386
Bazile Mills, 287
Beath, Paul R., 106, 107
Beatrice, 147-153, 286, Creamery, 150
Beaver Lake, 313
Bee (Omaha), 136, 238, 239
Beecher, Bishop, 342
Beede, Ivan, 141
Bell, Dr. Earl H, 26, 28, 398
Bellevue, 49, 124, 133, 278-280, Ceme-
tery, 279; House, 279
Benkelman, 381, Fish Hatches, 381
Benolken, Lenore, 122
Benson, 229
Berry, John, 313, 320
Bessey Nursery, 368
Bibbins, Chas. D., 233
Big Alkali Lake, 313
Big Bear Hollow, 261
Big Elk, 35, 263
Bighorn Mountain, 391
Bigneil, 350
Birdcage Gap, 386
Birds, 16-18
Bison, 16
Blackbird, 35; Hill, 48, 263, 264
Blackbird's Grave (painting), 120
Blackhills Treaty, 321, 322
Blair, 102, 265, 327-328
Blair, John I., 327
Blizzard of 1880-81, 61
Bloomfield, 287
Bloomington, 378
Bluehill, 296
Blue River, 8; Recreation Grounds, 354
Blue Water Creek, 384
Bodmer, Chas., 51, 120
413
INDEX
Boelus, 365; Dam, 365
Bohanan, Quinn, 270
Bohemians, 101-102, 252, Monument,
358
Boiling Springs Ranch, 316
Bonneville, Captain, 51
Boothill Cemetery, 344
Borglum, Gutzon, 123, 157
Borglum, Solon, 123
Box Butte Rustler (Hemingford), 370
Boyd, James E , 224, 334
Boyd Ranch, 334
Boys Town, 353
Braasch, Herman, 288
Bradbury, John, 278
Brady, 339
Brandeis, J. G., 229
Bran, John David, 235
Breede, Adam, 188
Bridgeport, 384
Bndger, Jim, 352
Bnggs, Clare, 123
Brink, J. W. ("Doc"), 376
Bnnkeman, Robert, 247
Broadcasting station. See Radio stations
Broadwater, 384
Broken Bow, 366
Brown, Cynthia, 268, 279
Brown, John, 53
Brown, Maj J. R., 362
Brown, Richard, 118, 372
Brown, Wm D., 241
Brownell Hall, 247
Brownville, 133, 372
Brule, 344
Brule Sioux Indians, 39
Bruner, Lawrence, 188
Bryan, Chas. W., 67, 313, 370
Bryan, William Jennings, 5, 136, 140,
177, 183, 184, 201, 239, Home,
197
Bryan Bridge, 313
Buffalo, 16
Buffalo Bill. See Cody, W. F.
Bull boat, 93
Bunn, William, 123
Burbank, John A, 276
Burch, Rev Hiram, 118
Burgess, William, 380
Burke, John, 214
Burlington Railroad. See Chicago, Bur-
lington & Quincy RR.
Burman, Ellis Luis, 123, 200
Burnett Park (Grand Island), 168
Burt, Franas, 53, 196, 279
Burwell, 299
Butler, David, 63, 117, 180, 182
Byron Reed collection, 237
Byxbe, Lyman, 122
Cabanne, Jean Pierre, 222, 245, 267;
Trading Post, 49, 267
Cairo, 365
Calamity Jane, 322
California Trail, 326
Cambridge, 358
Cameron Lake, 310
Campbell, Bill, 344
Campbell-Dunlap Monument, 294
Camps. Brewster, 277, Clarke, 384, 386;
Kinnikmnik, 285, Kiwams, 354
Cannell, Margaret, 143
Canning, 84
Capital removal, 180, 235
Capitol, 122, 123, 132, 143, 177, 190-
196, Hill, 234, Territorial, 233
Carillon, 198
Carson, Christopher (Kit), 52, 138, 342,
349, 352
Carter, Levi, 243, Lake, 222
Cartoonists, 123
Carver, Dr. W. F., 352
Cassel, John, 123
Castle Rock, 389
Cather, Willa, 137, 138, 140, 203, 377
Catholic Church, 117
Catlm, George, 120, 263, 279
Cattle industry, 74, 82
Cattlemen, 60
Cedar Bluffs, 284
Cedar canyons, 366
Center, 287
Central City, 331
Central Nebraska Public Power and Irri-
gation Project, 22
Central Park (Norfolk), 207
Ceresco, 285
Chadron, 320, State Park, 302-304;
Teachers College, 320
Champion, 360, Recreation Grounds, 360
Chappell, 345, Memorial Library and Art
Gallery, 122, 345
Chase, Champion S , 360
Chaui, 29
Chautauqua Park (Beatrice), 151
Chenoweth, Wilbur, 126
Cherry County Lakes, 313, Migratory
Waterfowl Sanctuary, 313
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R., 62,
97, 203
Child's Point, 278
Chimney Rock, 51, 388
Chinese Mission, 279
Chisholm Cattle Trail, 344
Christian Church, 118
Churches, 116-119, architecture, 132
By Denomination:
Catholic-
Grand Island Cathedral, 166, Ro-
man Catholic Mission (Winne-
bago), 260, St. Cecilia's (Hast-
ings), 171; St. Cecilia's (Omaha),
247
Congregational
First Church (Fremont), 160; First
Plymouth (Lincoln), 198
Episcopal-
Holy Trinity (Lincoln), 197; St.
Mark's (Hastings), 171
Lutheran:
(Dakota City), 258
Methodist
(Beatrice), 152, St Paul (Lin-
coln), 189
Presbyterian.
First Church (Lincoln), 197;
Westminster (Lincoln), 200;
(Bellevue), 279
INDEX
4*5
Civilian Conservation Corps, 304, 323
Claim dubs, 58, 224, 269
Clark, Silas, 330
Clark, William, 48
Clarke Hall, 279
darks, 330
Clary, Joe, 383
Clay Center, 355
Clayton, William, 336
Clayton Trail, 304
Clifford, Hank, 351
Climate, 9-10
Clyman, James, 385
Cody, 316
Cody. Thomas, 316
Cody, William F. (Buffalo Bill), 211, 218,
324, 342, 349, 352, 359, 368
Cody Park (North Platte), 218
Cole, Gilbert, 386
Coliseum, 188
Colleges. Concordia (Seward), 363; Dana
(Blair), 102, 125, 328, Doane
(Crete), 125, 355, Hastings, 125,
174, Hebron, 376, Luther (Wa-
hoo), 285, Midland (Fremont),
125, 157, Nebraska Central (Cen-
tral City), 116. Union (Lincoln),
201, York, 364. See also Teachers
Colleges
College View, 200
Colorado (steamboat), 242
Columbus, 8, 290, 329, Power House,
22, 329
Columbus-Genoa Project, 330
Committee for Industrial Organization, 87,
89
Commoner (Lincoln), 136, 184
Communication, 90, 99-100
Community Playhouse (Omaha), 247
Concordia Teachers College, 363
Conkle, E. P., 137, 142
Conservation, 21-25
Conservative, 136
Constitution, First, 55; of 1866, 70, of
1875, 69, 70
Cook, Capt. James H., 324
Cooperative enterprises, 63, 64, 65
Corn, 80
Cornish, E J., 244
Coronado, 44
Corner University, 203
Cottonmill Lake Recreation Grounds, 336
Cottonwood Canyon, 350
Cottonwood Creek, 370
Cottonwood Lake Recreation Grounds, 316
Council Bluff, 48, 49, 266
Council Point, 263
Courthouse architecture, 130
Courthouse Rock, 385
Covington, 307
Cowboy songs, 107-108, 125
Cozad, 337
Cozzens Hotel, 233, 244
Crab Orchard, 373
Crawford, 322, 370
Crawford, Lieut. Emmet, 322
Crawford, Sam, 284
Crazy Horse, 40, 322, 323, 370
Creighton, Edward, 227, 242
Creighton, John A., 229, 242
Creighton, Mary Lucretia, 242
Creighton University, 227, 242
Crescent Lake Waterfowl Sanctuary, 384
Crete, 102, 354-355
Crofton, 287
Crow Butte, 321
Cruzatte's Post, 49
Crystal Springs Park (Fairbury), 375
Cuming, Thos B., 53, 225, 279
Curtis, 351
Custer, Gen. George A., 322, 324, 381
Dad's Lake, 313
Dahl, Rev. K. G. Wm., 357
Dahlman, James C, 230, 317
Datly Herald (Omaha), 134, 239
Datly News (Omaha), 136
Daily Telegraph (Omaha), 133
Datry Goat Journal (Fairbury), 375
Dairy industry, 74, 83
Dakota City, 56, 118, 258
Dalton, 305
Dana College, 102, 125, 328
Dance calls, 124
Dances, 110
Dane Hill, 316
Danes, 102-103, 293
Dannebrog, 103, 293
Dannevirke, 293
Davey, 103
Davies, Mrs Stanley, 122
Davis, Clyde Bnon, 141
Davis, Ellery, 188, 200
Dawes, Chas. G., 183
Dawson, Jacob, 179, 180
Dead Horse Canyon, 366
Death Valley Scottie, 342
Decatur, Stephen, 264
Dederman Log House, 207
Deepwell Ranch Monument, 364
Dempster Mill, 150
Dennison, Tom, 230
Denominational colleges, 116
Depression, 66, 230
Deshler, 376
De Smet, Father Pierre Jean, 52, 117, 268
De Soto, 266
Devil's Gulch, 312
Devil's Nest, 396
Dewey Lake, 313
Dexter Farm, 330
Diamond Dick, 206
Diamond Gambling House, 233
Diamond Springs Station, 345
Dickey, J. J., 98
Dietz Collection, 236
Dillon, George, 270
Dillon, Sidney, 346
Dismal River, 368
Doane, Thomas, 355
Doane College, 125, 355
Dodge, Gen G. M, 211
Dolan, Elizabeth, 122, 188
Dome Rock, 391
Donovan, Capt W. T., 179
Dons Lake, 299
Dougherty, John, 278
Douglas, Stephen A , 53, 94
416 INDEX
Douglas County Courthouse, 130, 238
Douglas House, 239
Downs, Chas H, 241
Drips, Andrew, 278
Drought, 3, 10
Duchesne College, 246-247
Duke Alexis Recreation Grounds, 359
Dunbar, 362
Dunbar, Rev. John, 118, 279
Dunbier, Augustus, 122
Dundee, 229
Dunning, 367
Dust Bowl (painting), 122
Dutch Reform Mission, 260
Eastman, Chas. Alexander, 397
Eaton, Jake, 166
Eberhardt, Mignon Good, 141
Education, 114-116. See also Colleges,
Teachers colleges; Universities
Eiche, August, 188
Eight Mile Grove, 270
Eiseley, Loren, 143
Elba, 293
Elementary schools, 115
Elephant Hall, 188
Elk Hill, 279
Elkhorn (steamboat), 94
Elkhorn River, 8
Elm Creek, 301, 336
Elmwood Park (Omaha), 248
Enders Lake, 312
Endicott, 376
Engberg, C. C, 188
Ericson Lake, 292
Eubank Massacre, 377
Evening World (Omaha), 239
Exeter, 355
Exploration, 44-53
Factoryville, 270
Fair, State, 4, 204
Fair Acres, 230
Fairbanks, Arvard T , 246
Fairbury, 52, 375
Fairmont, 290, 355
Fairview, 207
Falls City, 276
"Banwe Tatum (steamboat), 93
Farm architecture, 130
Farmer-Labor Party, 85
Farmers' Alliance, 63, 85
Farmers' Equity Union, 65, 85
Farmers' Fair, 202
Farmers' Union, 64, 85
Farm Holiday Association, 67, 85, 185
Farm moratorium, 79
Faulkner, Kady B , 122
Faulkner, Virginia, 141
Pauna, 16-18
Feboldson, Febold, 106, 107
Federal Art Project, 123
Federal Theatre Project, 142
Ferguson, Judge Fenner, 279
Ferries, 94
Fink, Mike, 106, 257
Fish, 18
Fisher, Jacob, 174
Fish hatcheries, 24, Benkelman, 381;
Crawford, 323, Gretna, 353, Rock
Creek, 381, Valentine, 314
Fish Lake, 310
Fitzpamck, Thomas, 257, 394
Flanagan, Father E J., 353
Fletcher, Mrs. Alice C., 123
Flora, 18-21
Florence, 125, 235, 245
Flowers, 19-20
Folk Arts Festival, 232
Folsom, Col Benjamin R., 264
Folsom culture, 26, 27
Fonda, Henry, 166, 247
Fontanelle, 283
Fontenelle (steamboat), 93
Fontenelle, Logan, 36, 278
Fontenelle, Lucian, 278
Fontenelle Forest, 277
Fontenelle Park (Omaha), 246
Football, 112, 113
Foreign-language newspapers, 134
Forest reserves. See National forests
Forest Service, 23
Fort Atkinson Treaty, 29
Fort Falls, 316
Fort Kearney State Park, 334
Fort Laramie Treaty, 36, 323
Fort McPherson National Cemetery, 348
Forts: Atkinson, 56, 58, 266, Calhoun,
266, Crook, 267, Grattan, 58,
383, Hartsuff, 58, Independence,
166, 294, Kearney, 58, 294, 334,
Lisa, 49, 245, 267, McKean, 349,
McPherson, 58, 217; Mitchell,
393, Niobrara, 59, 316; Omaha,
58, 246, Robinson, 40, 59, 322,
370, Sidney, 58, 346
Fossil Park, 312
Fossils, 12, 188, 312, 318, 324, 325,
351
Frady, Capt Chas. H , 298
Franklin, 377
Freeman, Daniel, 58, 373
Freeman Homestead National Monument,
373-374
Freight transportation, 92
Fremont, 7, 284
Fremont, John C, 6, 52, 94, 138, 154,
388, 398
Fremont Slough, 350
Fremont State Recreation Grounds, 328
Fremont Town Association, 154
French, Daniel C , 123, 196
French explorers, 45
French Revolution Collection, 186
Friendly Festival, 317
Frye, Prosser Hall, 137, 138
Frye Lake Recreation Grounds, 369
Frysinger, J Frank, 126
Funnel Rock, 390
Furnas, Robert W., 133, 272, 373
Gaffney, Wilbur, 143
Gage, Hy, 123
Gage, Rev. W. D, 118
Game reserves, 24, Niobrara, 315; Platts-
mouth, 268; Wildcat Hills, 390
Garber, Silas, 377
INDEX
417
Gamier, Baptiste, 323
Gass, Sherlock Bronson, 138
Gaylord, Rev Reuben, 118
Geddes, Virgil, 137, 142
General Marion (steamboat), 241
General McPherson (locomotive), 242
General Sherman (locomotive), 242
Geneva, 291
Genoa, 289, Diversion Dam, 22
Geography, 6-9
Geology, 10-16
Gere, C. H. f 134
Germg, 389-390
Gering, Martin, 389
German-Russians, 103
Germans, 101
Giant's Coffin, 322
Gibbon, 333
Giffen, Fannie Reed, 121
Gift of God (pageant), 389
Gilbert, John W., 315
Gilder, Dr Robert F , 122, 238, 278
Gillespie, John, 180, 234
Gilman Ranch, 339
Glass, Hugh, 106, 318, 319
Glee clubs, 125
Gloe, Carl, 252
Goldenrod, 20-21
Golden Springs, 264
Good, Rev. W. H., 118
Goodhue, Bertram, 132, 190, 196
Goose Lake Recreation Grounds, 292
Gordon, John, 317
Gordon, Morns, 122
Goss, John Q , 279
Gothenburg, 338, Times, 106
Gottsch, Christian, 332; Gottsch-Tramm
Massacre, 332
Government:
Federal:
Bureau of Ethnology, 27, Central Mon-
itoring Station, 365, Civilian Con-
servation Corps. 304, 323; Forest
Service, 23, Public Works Admin-
istration, 132, 243, 252, 276,
337, Resettlement Administration,
23, Smithsonian Institution, 28,
29, Soil Conservation Service, 22;
Veterans' Administration, 204;
Works Progress Administration,
23, 123, 142, 200, 218
State, 69-72; Game, Forestation and
Parks Commission, 25; Library
Commission, 116
Gow, James, 279
Grand Island, 125, 162-168, 293; Ca-
thedral, 166
Grand Pawnee, 29
Grange movement, 85
Grasshoppers, 59
Grattan, Lieut John, 39, 350, 384
Great Cathedral Choir, 125
Greeley, 292
Gregg, Will C., 188
Gretna, 353
Grummann, Paul, 121
Guide Rock, 377
Gurley, 305
Hackberry Lake, 313
Haig, 393
Haigler, Jake, 382
Hale, Susan, 356
Hail, F. M., 188
Halsey National Forest, 367-368
Hamilton, Rev. William, 118, 279
Handcart brigade, 333
Hangman's Tree, 270
Hannibal, Lars, 293
Hanscom, Andrew, 224, 249, Park
(Omaha), 249
Hanson, Howard, 126, 284
Happy Hollow, 230
Harney, Gen Wm. Selby, 40, 384
Hamsburg, 391
Harrison, 324
Harvey, J. Q. A., 288
Hastings, 169-175, 296; College, 125,
174, Museum, 174
Hatcheries. See Fish hatcheries
Haumont Sod House, 128
Havelock, 203, Shops, 203, Strike, 88
Havlik Hall, 285
Hawkes, Robert, 189
Hayden, Sarah, 121
Hayes Center, 359
Haymarket Square, 185
Hay Springs, 317
Hay towns, 306
Hazard, 366
Hearrwell Park (Hastings), 174
Hebron, 291, 376, Academy, 376
Helvas Canyon, 390
Hermngford, 370
Henry, 387
Henry, Andrew, 257, 318
Herman, Samuel, 265
Herndon House, 232
Hickok, Wild Bill, 106, 352, 376
Hidden Paradise, 312
Highland Park (Hastings), 174
High Schools, 115
Highways, 98
Hill, A. T , 26, 27, 28, 296
Hill, Ted, 378
Hiram Scott Spnng, 393
Historical Society, 26, 28, 192
Hitchcock, Gilbert M,, 136, 230, 239
Hofelt Lake, 312
Hog-Back Mountain, 390
Holdrege, 102, 301, 357
Holdrege, George W., 357
Holladay, Ben, 90, 91, 326, 345
Holy Fireplace Point, 263
Homer, 259
Homestead Act, 58, 62, 96, 283, 322
Homesteader (Osceola), 290
Hooper, 283
Horky's Park (Crete), 355
Horse Creek Treaty Monument, 393
Hospitals: Bryan (Lincoln), 201; City
Emergency (Omaha), 233, Doug-
las County (Omaha), 249; Lin-
coln General, 197; Orthopedic
(Lincoln), 197; St Francis (Grand
Island), 167; Veterans' (Lincoln),
204
Howard, Edgar, 261; Park, 261
418 INDEX
Howe, Maj Church, 275
Howe Farm, 332
Howell, Robert B., 230
Hubbard, Mary, 217
Hull, Joe, 356
Humboldt, 101
Hummel Park (Omaha), 245
Humphrey, 289
Hunt, Wilson Price, 49
Huntsman's Echo (Shelton), 133, 333
Hyanms, 368
Idaho Bill, 169
Imperial, 359
Inavale, 377
Independent (Grand Island), 166
Independent Order of Odd Fellows Home
(York), 364
Indian chiefs Big Elk, 35, 263; Black-
bird, 35, 48, 263, Conquering
Bear, 39, Crazy Horse, 40, 322,
323, 370, Dull Knife, 381, Pita
Lesharu, 284, Red Cloud, 40,
296, 302, 304, 322, 377, Sky
Chief, 30, 380; Spotted Tail, 30,
321, 322; Standing Bear, 354;
Turkey Leg, 337
Indian Peak, 328
Indian reservations, 35, 42, Omaha, 35,
42, 260, 262, 282, Winnebago,
36, 260-261
Indians, 26-43, agriculture, 30; archi-
tecture, 30, 127, art, 32, 120,
261, burial rites, 34, lodges, 30,
mounds, 310, music, 123-124,
plagues, 29, pow-wows, 42, 43,
religious ceremonies, 32, 42; sun
dance, 301, treaties, 29, tribal
organization, 30, 34, village sites,
259, 265, 268, 275, 281, 289,
296, 330, 352, 378, 396, 398;
wars, 30, 59. See also Indian
chiefs; Indian reservations, Indian
tribes
Indian Treaty Monument, 271
Indian tribes: Arapaho, 39, Cheyenne, 39;
Fox, 38, 41, Kansa, 38; Missouri,
33-34, Omaha, 34-36, 42-43, 260,
262, Oto, 33-34, Pawnee, 29-33;
Ponca, 34, 36-37, Santee Sioux,
38, Sauk, 38, 41, Sioux, 39-40;
Wmnebago, 37-38, 41-42, 260
Industrial Workers of the World, 86-87
Industries, 21, 82-84; building, 84, can-
ning, 84, cattle, 74, 80, 82, dairy,
74, 83, meat packing, 83, 182,
milling, 84, potash, 369, salt, 181;
sugar beets, 75, 81, 167, 216
Ingleside, 356
Inspiration Point, 277
Institutions, State
Historical Society, 26, 28, 192
Library, 116, 196
Museum, 26, 122, 187
Penal. Girls' Industrial School (Geneva),
291, Industrial School for Boys
(Kearney), 336; Industrial School
for Women (Milford)- 354; Peni-
tentiary (Lincoln), 286, Reforma-
tory for Men (Lincoln), 286, Re-
formatory for Women (York) , 364
Welfare- Blind, School for (Nebraska
City), 275, Deaf, School for (Oma-
ha), 246, Hospital for Insane
(Lincoln), 286, Hospital for In-
sane (Norfolk), 288, Hospital for
Tuberculosis Patients (Kearney),
334, Ingleside Hospital for Insane
(Hastings), 356, Institute for
Feeble-Minded (Beatrice), 373,
Soldiers' and Sailors' Home (Mil-
ford), 354
Ionia Volcano, 395
Irrigation, 22-23
Irving, John Treat, 138
Italians, 253
Ivy Day, 202
Izaak Walton League Park (Johnstown),
Izard, Mark W., 55, 240
Jacob Fisher Rainbow Fountain, 174
Jail Rock, 385
James, Jesse, 396
Jansen, Rev J P., 356
Jefferson County Recreation Grounds, 376
Jefferson Square, 242
Jenkins, Dr. Daniel E , 244
Tenners Zoological and Amusement Park,
366
ohn Brown's Cave, 274
ohnson, Fred G., 171
ohnson, Hadley D , 234
ohnson, Herbert, 123
ohnson, Joseph E , 133
ohnson Canyon Power Plant, 22, 337
ohnson Park (Norfolk), 207
ohnstown, 312
ones, A D , 224
oslyn, George A., 235
Joslyn, Sarah, 235
Joslyn Memorial, 122, 132, 235-236
Juniata, 356
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 53, 56
Kate Ktnney (steamboat), 93
Kaub, Rev. Louis, 389
Kearney, 102, 301, 334; Teachers College,
334
Kearny, Gen. Stephen Watts, 334
Keel boats, 93
Kees, Frederick D , 152
Keller, Jos. W , 241
Kelley Park (McCook), 359
Kelly, Reverend, 117
Kenesaw, 356
Kennard, Thomas P., 180
Kennedy, H B , 233
Kent, 299
Keyapaha River, 8
Kilpatrick Genealogical Library, 192
Kimball, 348
Kimball, Thomas R., 247
King Hill, 281
King Korn Karnival, 269
Kingsley Dam, 22, 343, 382; Reservoir,
22
INDEX
419
Kinkaid, Moses P., 216, 322, Law. See
Homestead Act
Kinney, Beatrice, 147
Kinney, Judge John, 147
Kinscella, Hazel Gertrude, 126
Kirby, Rollin, 123
Kirkpamck, Howard, 126
Kirsch, Dwight, 121, 122
Klmgenberg, Hans, 332
Klojda, Meresa, 102
Knight, Newell, 398
Koch, Bertha, 121
Koemg, Henry A, 101
Korty, L. H., 98
Kountze Memorial Church, 118
Kountze Park (Omaha), 244
Kuenzli, Dr. Frank, 330, Museum, 330
Kuhn, Rev. H. W., 117
Labor, 85-89; American Federation of
Labor, 89, Committee for Indus-
trial Organization, 87, 89, Farmer-
Labor Party, 85, Farmers' Alliance,
63, 85, Farmers' Union, 64, 85;
Industrial Workers of the World,
86, 87, Strikes, 87-88, 214, 230.
See also Industry
La Flesche, Carey, 263
La Flesche, Francis, 36, 263
La Flesche, Joseph, 36, 263
La Flesche, Susette, 263
Laman, Amanda, 384
Lamar, 360
Land's End, 259
Lange, F. E, 264
Latenser, John, 238
Lavender, Luke, 179
Lawrie, Lee, 123, 190, 194
Leavenworth, General, 94
Le Roy, James, 270
Leshara, 284
Levi Carter Park (Omaha), 243
Lewellen, 382
Lewis, Menwether, 48
Lewis and Clark Expedition, 48, 93, 257,
258, 266, 395, 396
Lewis and Clark National Park (pro-
posed), 259
Lexington, 337
Libraries, 116; Hastings, 175; Lincoln,
186, 189, Norfolk, 207; Omaha,
237, State, 196
Liederkranz Hall, 125
Lieurance, Thurlow, 126
Lily Lake, 346
Lincoln, 4, 176-204, 285, Monument,
196; State Capitol, 190-196
Lindbergh, Charles A , 204
Lmoma Beach, 354
Linscott, 367
Lisa, Manuel, 49, 222, 257, 267, 268,
278
Little Blue River, 9
Little TVA, 330
Livestock Exchange Building, 250
Lloyd, Harold, 150
Lodge Pole, 346
Loess plains, 7, 27
Logan Fontenelle Homes (Omaha), 132,
243
Log cabins, 128
Lone Tree, 332, Monument, 332
Lone Tree Ferry Landing, 241
Long, Maj Stephen H, 35, 39, 50, 93,
120, 138, Camp, 267, Monument,
283
Long Pine, 312
Longsdorf, Henry, 279
Lookout Mountain^ 378
Loomis, Henry, 347
Louisiana Purchase, 47
Louisville, 269
Loup City Recreation Grounds, 366
Loup River, 8, 22, Power Project, 22, 289,
290, 329, 330
Lovers' Leap, 391
Lower California Crossing, 344
Lower 96 Ranch, 339
Lutheran Church, 117-118
Lutheran Orphan's Home (Fremont), 160
Luther College, 285
Lux, Gladys, 122
Lynch, 398
MacDonald, Alan, 132, 235, 247
MacDonald, John, 132, 235
Machette Pony Express Station, 340
Mackinaw boat, 93
Macy, 43, 262
Madison, 288
Magaret, Helene, 143
Magonigle, H. Van Buren, 132, 198
Maiden's Leap, 397
Maihoefer, Johannes, 252
Mallet Brothers, 47
Mammoths, 14-16
Mandan Park (Omaha), 251
Manderson, General, 237
Market Square (Lincoln), 181
Marsh Lake, 313
Martin, Francis, 122
Martin, George, 294
Maskell, 395
Mason, Walt, 134, 150
Masonic Eastern Star Home for Children,
160
Masonic Home (Plattsmouth) , 269
Masonic Temple (Hastings), 171; (Oma-
ha), 237
Massacre Canyon, 379-380
Mastodons, 14-16
Mathews, Chas. R, 366
Mathewson, Col. Chas., 206, 210
Mattmgly, James B , 375
Maximilian, Prince of Wied, 252, 279
Maxwell, 340
Maywood, 351; Lake, 351
McCanles, Dave, 106, 376
McCleary, W. L, 351
McCook, 358-359, Junior College, 359
McCook, Maj.-Gen. Alexander M., 358
McDonald Ranch, 350
McDowell, Woodford G , 375
McGeath, J G, 249
McKean, Thomas J , 349
McKelvie, Samuel, 196
McKesson, Dr J, 179
420 INDEX
McKinney, Rev. Edward, 118, 279
McLeod Farm, 356
McMillan, Thomas, 270
McPherson, Maj.-Gen. James B., 349
Meadville, 298
Meat packing industry, 83
Meeker, Ezra, 330
Megeath Collection, 236
Meiere, Hildreth, 123, 190, 194, 195
Memorial Elms (Hastings), 174
Memorial Park (Grand Island), 168:
% (North Platte), 216
Memphis Lake Recreation Grounds, 354
Mercier, Thomas, 359
Merna, 366
Merrill, Moses, 268, 279
Methodist Church, 118
Mexicans, 387
Midden, Walter, 170
Middle Diversion Dam, 337
Middleton, Doc, 311, 317, 320
Midland College, 125, 157
Midland Pacific, 97
Mid-West Quarterly, 137
Migratory waterfowl sanctuary. See Water-
fowl sanctuaries
Milford, 354
Millard, 353
Millard, Joseph H, 224, 353
Miller, Andrew J., 211, 218
Miller, Dr. George L., 134, 224, 239,
244, Park (Omaha), 244
Minatare Lake, 386
Minden, 123, 356
Minerals, 21-22
M-I-N-K Contest, 126
Minnechaduza Lake, 314
Minne Lusa Waterworks (Omaha), 244
Missouri Fur Company, 278
Missouri Indians, 33-34
Missouri Pacific R.R., 62
Missouri River, 7, 93-94, 257; Improve-
ment Project, 94
Mitchell, 387
Mitchell, Ezra Bartlett, 292
Mitchell, Gen. Robert, 393
Mitchell House, 245
Mitchell Pass, 393
Monitoring Station, U. S., 365
Monroe, 289, Canyon, 324, Power House,
22, 289, 330
Monuments. See National monuments
Moon Lake, 313
Mormon cow episode, 39
Mormon Hollow, 278
Mormons, 39, 54, 119, 156, 224, 245,
333, 338, 340, 386, 398
Mormon Trail, 52, 325, 326-327, 382
Morrill, Chas. H, 12, 290, Hall, 121,
187, 290
Morrill Paleontological Expedition, 26
Morrison, Jack, 233
Morton, J. Sterling, 63, 136, 271, 272;
Memorial, 274
Morton, Thomas, 133
Moses Merrill Mission, 268
Mount Vernon Gardens (Omaha), 251
Mudecas Contest, 126
Mud Springs, 305
Mullen, 368
Mullen, Arthur F., 230
Mullm's Ranch, 269
Mummy Cave, 366
Mundy, Louise, 122
Munn, Abijah, 270
Murray, Rev. George L , 269
Museums. Hastings, 174, Historical So-
ciety (Lincoln), 192, Sod House
(Alliance), 3o9, State (Lincoln),
26, 122, 187, Union Pacific (Oma-
ha), 234, Ziebarth Farm, 356
Mushroom Butte, 304
Music, 123-126
Naomi Institute, 280
National forests, 23; Halsey, 367-368;
Niobrara, 316
National monuments Freeman Home-
stead, 373-374, Scotts Bluff, 391-
393
Neapolis, 284
Nebraska Advertiser, 133
Nebraska Art Association, 122, 188
Nebraska City, 133, 274
Nebraska Farmer, 133
Nebraska-Kansas Bill, 56
Nebraska Palladium, 125, 133, 279
Nebraska School of Agriculture (Curtis),
351
Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln), 134
Nebraska State Museum, 26, 122, 187
Nebraska Territory, 6
Nebraska Verse, 143
Nebraska Wesleyan University (Lincoln),
203
Nebrasktan. 133
Negroes, 87, 103, 222
Nehawka, 270
Neihardt, John G., 137, 142, 282, 308
Nehgh, John D., 282, 283
Nemaha County (flatboat), 372
Nenzel, 316
Neville, William, 216
Newbranch, Harvey E, 136
Newcastle, 395
Newman Ranch, 317
Newport, 310
Nichols, Dale, 122
Nicollet, J. H., 245
Ntmrod (steamboat), 93
Niobrara, 8, 397, Forest, 316; Game
Reserve, 315
Norfolk, 205-210, 288
Normal schools See Teachers colleges
Norns, George W., 5, 71, 358
North, Capt. Luther, 302, 330, 368
North, Maj. Frank, 292, 302, 330, 337,
368
North and Cody Ranch, 368
North Bend, 328
North Platte, 211-218, River, 7, 22
Northport, 386
North Western R.R., 62
Nysted, 293
Oak, 377
Oak Creek, 179
Oakland, 282
INDEX
421
Oberfelder Ranch, 346
O'Fallons, 342
Ogallala, 343, 382
Ogallala Sioux, 39
O'Gorman, Rev. James, 117
Old Jules, 138
Olds, Elizabeth, 122
O'Lmn, 302
Oliver, Edward, 332
Omaha, 4, 55, 93, 133, 219-253, 267;
Art Guild, 122, Club, 237; Grain
Exchange, 229; Indians, 34-36,
42-43, 260, Medical College, 249;
Municipal University, 121, 244;
Reservation, 35, 42, 260, 262,
282, (steamboat), 93, 397
Omega (steamboat), 93
O'Neill, 123, 292, 308
O'Neill, Gen John J., 308
Open range, 62
Opera houses, 130
O Pioneers (novel), 137, 140
Orchard, 308
Oreapolis, 268
Oregon Trail, 39, 50, 51, 52, 53, 274,
325-327, 374, 382, 388, Days,
390, Museum, 392
Orleans, 378
Orr, Dr. H Wmnett, 197
Orthopedic Hospital (Lincoln), 197
Osceola, 290
Osmond,' 308
O Street Columns (Lincoln), 199
Oto Indians, 33-34
Overland Mail, 90
Overland stages, 327
Overland Trail, 53
Oxford, 358
Pacific Railway Act, 95
Packing industry, 83, 182
Paleontology, 10-16, 188, 324, 325, 351
Palmyra, 362
Panhandle, 59; Stampede, 369
Papillion, 268
Parker, Lawton L., 122
Parker, Rev Samuel, 388
Parks, J. A., 126
Parks (town), 381
Parks
State: Arbor Lodge, 271-273; Chadron,
302-304; Fort Kearney, 334;
Niobrara, 398; Ponca, 395, Stolley,
166, 294; Victoria Springs, 366
City: Antelope (Lincoln), 198; Ath-
letic (Beatrice), 152; Barnard
(Fremont), 160; Burnett (Grand
Island), 168; Central (Norfolk),
207, Chautauqua (Beatrice), 151;
City (Fremont), 160, Cody (North
Platte), 218, Crystal Springs
(Fairbury), 375; Elmwood (Oma-
ha), 248; Florence (Omaha),
245; Fontenelle (Omaha), 246,
Hanscom (Omaha) 249, Heart-
well (Hastings), 174; Highland
(Hastings), 174, Horky's (Crete),
355; Hummel (Omaha), 245;
Izaak Walton League (Johnstown) ,
313, Johnson (Norfolk), 207;
Kelley (McCook), 359, Kountze
(Omaha), 244, Levi Carter
(Omaha) , 242, Mandan (Omaha) ,
251, Memorial (Grand Island),
168, Memorial (North Platte),
216, Miller (Omaha), 244; Pio-
neer (Grand Island), 168; Prospect
( Hastings ) , 1 7 1 , Riverview ( Oma-
ha), 252, Streeter (Aurora), 364.
See also Recreation Grounds
Patrick, J. N. H., 248
Paul, James N , 292
Pawnee Battalion, 30
Pawnee Battleground, 288
Pawnee Bill, 342
Pawnee Council Rock, 284
Pawnee Indians, 29-33
Pawnee Scouts, 337
Paxton, William A., 224
Pearson, Barney, 169
Pebble Creek Monument, 283
Pelican Lake, 313
Penalosa, Don Diego de, 44
Pemston, William, 211, 218
Pershing, Gen. John J, 183, 188, 317
Peru, 126, 275, Teachers College, 275
Pheasants, 17
Pibel Lake Recreation Grounds, 292
Picotte, Dr. Susan, 263
Pierce, 288
Pike, Lieut. Zebulon M., 48, 138, 296
Pike Pawnee Village, 296
Pilcher, Maj. Joshua, 245, 278, 388
Pilger, 288
Pine Ridge, 301, 318, 322
Ptoneer, 134
Pioneer architecture, 127
Ptoneer on Wheels, 214
Pioneer Park (Grand Island), 168
Piper, Edwin Ford, 143
Place names, 105
Plant life, 18-21
Platte River, 6, 7, 22
Platte View Recreation Grounds, 269
Plattsmouth, 268, Game Refuge, 26*8
Plum Creek, 8, 337; Massacre, 30, 337,
349, Power Dam, 312, Reservoir,
Point of Rocks, 348, 369
Pollard, Isaac, 270
Ponca, 394; Indians, 34, 36-37; State
Park, 395
Pony express, 90, Stations, 337, 338, 339,
340, 343, 345, 376
Pony Lake, 310
Poppleton, A. J., 224
Populist movement, 76
Potash industry, 369
Potter, 348
Pound, Louise, 137, 138, 143
Pow-Wows, Indian, 42, 43
Prairie Schooner, 143, 187
Precipitation, 11
Presbyterian Church, 118
Presbyterian Mission, 262
Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 244
Prey, John, 179
422
INDEX
Pringle Ranch, 381
Prin2, George B, 218, 234, 250
Prospect Hill Cemetery, 233
Prospect Park (Hastings), 171
Public Library Commission, 116
Public Works Administration, 132, 243,
252, 276, 337
Queen Hill, 281
Quivera, 44, Park, 376
Racial groups, 101-104, 231
Radio, 99; Stations KFAB, 176, 219,
KFOR, 176, KGFW, 100; KGKY,
100, KGNF, 211; KMMJ, 355;
KOIL, 219; WAAW, 219, WJAG,
206, WOW, 219
Railroads, 94-98
Rainfall, 10-11
Rau, W. EL 238
Ravenna, 3o5
Rawhide Creek, 105, 283
Raymond, Carrie Belle, 198
Reams Indian Village, 378
Rebecca at the Well (statue), 200
Recreation grounds Blue River, 354,
Champion Lake, 360; Cottonmill
Lake, 336, Cottonwood Lake, 316;
Duke Alexis, 359, Fremont, 328;
Frye Lake, 369, Goose Lake, 292;
Jefferson County, 376, Long Lake,
312, Loup City, 366; Memphis,
354; Pibel Lake, 292, Plane View,
269, Rock Creek, 381; Rowell
Lake, 288; Verdon Lake, 276;
Walgren Lake, 318, Wildcat Hills,
390; Willow Lake, 313
Red Cloud, 296, 377; Agency, 40, 322;
Butte, 304, Camp, 302
Red Deer Lake, 313
Reed, Byron, 224, 237
Reed, Charles, 347
Reed, Daniel, 279
Reed, John A., 362
Reeves, Cam, 225
Reforestation, 23
Religious denominations, 117
Remington, Frederic, 317
Renfrew, Carolyn, 169
Renner, Dr. Frank, 134
Republican (Omaha), 133, 239
Republican River, 8
Reservations See Indian reservations
Reserves. See Game reserves; National
forests; Waterfowl sanctuaries
Resettlement Administration, 23
Reynard, Grant, 123, 166
Richardson, Lyman, 239
Richardson, W. A., 235
Riggs, Dr. A. L, 396
Rim of the World Drive, 321
River transportation, 93-94
Riverview, 298
Riverview Park (Omaha), 252
Robbers' Cave, 197
Rock Bluff, 281
Rock Creek Fish Hatchery, 381, Recrea-
tion Grounds, 381; Station, 106,
376
Rodeos, 112
Roi, Baptiste, 278
Roland, William, 216
Rosewater, Edward, 136, 238
Roubidou, Basil, 39
Roubidou, Joseph, 278
Roubidou Pass, 390
Rouleau, Charles, 276, 277
Rowell Lake Recreation Grounds, 288
Royal, 308
Rulo, 276
Rushville, 317
Ruskm, 377
Russo-Germans, 103
Ryan, Pat, 237
Ryckman, Charles S., 136
Saddle Butte, 322
St. Cecilia's Church (Hastings), 171;
(Omaha), 247
St. Francis Hospital (Grand Island), 167
St. Joseph and Denver R R., 97
St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral (Hastings),
171
St. Nicholas Boarding House, 240
St. Paul, 292
Salt Basin, 63, 180, Industry, 181
Salt Lake Express, 326
Sand Hills, 7, 316, 360-361
Sand Hill terms, 111
Sandoz, Man, 137, 138, 141
Sandoz, Old Jules, 4, 177, 317, 361, 369
Sangerfest, 110, 125
Santa Lucia Festival, 110, 253
Santee, 396; Agency, 397; Indians, 38;
Mission, 396
Sargent, 299
Sarpy, Peter A , 52, 124, 267, 268, 278
Saxe, John G., 226
Schamp, Rev. Peter, 179
Schimonsky, Stanislas W. Y., 123
Schubert, Henry W., 275
Schuyler, 328, 329
Schwaben Society, 252
Scott, Barrett, 308
Scottsbluff, 387
Scotts Bluff National Monument, 391-393
Scout's Rest Ranch, 218, 342
Scnbner, 283
Sears Falls, 316
Settlement, 56-62
Seward, William H, 363
Seymour, Samuel, 120
Sharp, Col. John, 333
Sheely Town, 232
Sheffner Home, 317
Sheldon, Addison E., 71, 144; Home-
stead, 316
Shelley, B. Y., 397
Shelton, 133, 332
Sheridan, General, 342
Sheridan's Gate, 320
Sherman, John, 122
Sherman, Lucius A., 138
Shogo Lithia Springs, 354
Shooting grounds, State- Ballard's Marsh,
Shotwell, Hudson, 247
Sidney, 346, Barracks, 346
INDEX
423
Signal Butte, 28, 390
Silos, 127
Simeon, 313
Simons, George, 120
Singing Tower, 198
Sioux Lookout, 350
Skidi Pawnee, 29
Sky Chief, 30, 380
Slogum House (novel), 141
Smiley Canyon, 324
Smith, Col. Watson B., 234
Smith, Erastus, 365
Smith, Jedediah, 257
Smith Lake, 312
Smoke Signal (statue), 123
Smoke Stack Rock, 389
Snake Creek, 8
Snake Falls, 315
Snowden, William P., 240
Soapweed, 20
Society of Liberal Arts, 122, 235
Sod house, 127
Sod House Museum (Alliance), 369
Soil Conservation Service, 22
Sokol, 102, 231, 252
Sonderegger, Carl, 152
Song of Hugh Glass, 142
South Bend, 269, Fish Hatchery, 353
South Platte River, 7
South Sioux City, 258, 282, 306
Sowbelly Canyon, 105, 324
Sower (statue), 190
Spaflford, Rev. S. W., 365
Spalding, 292
Spanish explorers, 44 
