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Pilcher, Fontenelle and Sarpy

After Manuel Lisa died, the remaining partners signed a new contract, and Joshua Pilcher became the field representative in charge of the company’s outposts and their fur traders. It was primarily through his efforts that the reorganized company enjoyed a degree of success. He was a merchant and banker in St. Louis, but had joined Lisa’s company due to personal financial problems. He was a junior partner and served an apprenticeship as a trader among the Indian tribes in what ... Read more

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The Challenges of the Plains

Lesson Plans & Activities: 1850-1874: Homestead Act Signed: The Challenges Of The Plains - Grade Level [4-12]

The “Great American Desert” was an erroneous title — but it was one that stuck for nearly 30 years. From extras from the 2008 NET TV production, Beef State

Major Stephen Long coined the phrase during his expedition to the Great Plains in 1819-20. His journey was only the third major exploration of the Louisiana Purchase since the U.S. bought it from France in ... Read more

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Earth Lodges and Tipis

Before Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the "New World," Native Americans living in Nebraska lived in villages made up of small numbers of earth lodges, usually square in shape. Large wooden posts were placed upright in the ground and supported a framework of smaller logs. Then this was covered with grass and earth which provided shelter from the weather.

Nebraska Indian tribes, such as the Pawnee, Oto, Ponca, and Omaha, also lived in earth lodges that were round in shape and made ... Read more

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The Yutan and Eagle Ridge Sites

The Oto and Missouria have left impressive archaeological sites, including the Oto-Missouria village near Yutan.

The Otos immigrated into eastern Nebraska about 1700, building the Yutan village about 1775; remnants of the Missourias joined them in the 1790s.The village was occupied until 1837. It was the first major Indian settlement seen by fur traders on the journey up the Platte to western bison-hunting and beaver-trapping ranges. Spanish correspondence from 1777 noted the presence of this site that was named after the ... Read more

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Sites Reveal Changing Ways

Lime Creek Site: A Glimpse of Early Native Americans on Nebraska's Landscape

Lesson Plan & Activities: Pre-1500: Lime Creek Site: A Glimpse of Early Native Americans - Grade Level [4-8]

9000 to 7000 Years Ago: Nebraska’s First People

The objects from this site were made by some of Nebraska’s first known people: the Paleo-Indian people.

The site is located in southern Nebraska’s Frontier County. Learn more about them in the Activities and Resources.

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John C. Fremont, Pathfinder

Most of us take road maps for granted. It is easy for today’s travelers to get a clear map to guide them on their way. This was not true with early voyagers across Nebraska’s "sea of grass." They had to make their own maps, and one of the most significant chart-making explorers was Captain John C. Fremont.

In 1841 Congress appropriate $30,000 to pay for a survey of the Oregon Trail and named Lt. John C. Fremont to head the expedition. ... Read more

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Stephen H. Long

Stephen H. Long dubbed the Great Plains the "Great American Desert".
From the 1991 NET Television program Platte River Road.

The trappers, fur traders, and river men are generally given credit for exploring the West and opening it to settlement. The Army Corps of Engineers should also be credited. Stephen H. Long was a member of this group. Like most engineers, Long was college-trained and was willing to work with the modern technology of the time. Engineers were different from the ... Read more