Web Page
So, what was it like to live in a sod house? Some people found life in a sod house unendurable, others felt like they were on top of the world. It is difficult to judge the way of life by today’s standards because each person looked at their life in a slightly different way.
For example, dirt floors were found in the majority of the early sod homes. A family that could afford them might fasten carpets to the dirt floor. ... Read more
Web Page
Keeping warm in the winter was a common problem for residents of the plains, and different groups had different solutions to the problem. For instance, John W. Hartman came to eastern Nebraska in 1890 and got to know some of the first generation of settlers. Hartman wrote,
"John Gilbert was a stage-driver working for the government. . . . The Pawnee were great friends to John Gilbert. Many of their tribe would come each fall to make Gilbert a visit. In ... Read more
Web Page
Because there were so many cattle in Texas and so few people, the cattle were worthless. But those same cattle were worth a lot in the north, where Americans’ taste for beef had grown. The four-dollar steer in Texas was worth 30 to 40 dollars in the north. The problem was getting the worthless cattle to the place where they had value.
The creation of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads solved that problem. Texans could drive their cattle north ... Read more
Web Page
The ends to which a rancher might go to acquire land were quite extensive. Some used a provision of the amended Homestead Act that allowed Civil War veterans or their widows and orphans to acquire land. These ranchers would locate war widows and have them file for the land, then get the land from the widow, who often never stepped foot on the property.
In one inventive, if reprehensible, scheme, land speculator John A. Walters of Lincoln took particular advantage of ... Read more
Web Page
Construction of the Tri-County Project began on March 13, 1936. Kingsley Dam was completed in 1941.
Part 1: Digging & Filling in the Dam
Part 2: Laying Concrete Blocks
Part 3: Construction Camp
At the time of its construction, Kingsley Dam was the second largest hydraulic-fill dam in the world. (Only Ft. Peck Dam in Montana, which remains the largest hydraulic-fill dam in the ... Read more
Web Page
Just as the Nebraska economy was settling down after the war, the blizzard of 1948-49 hit. Its magnitude staggers the imagination. It was the worst blizzard in recorded history. A series of storms began in November of 1948 and continued straight through to February of 1949. The snow stopped trains, buried houses, and threatened nearly a million head of cattle. Operation Haylift was a massive, perhaps desperate, effort to save livestock.
By the fourth week in January, it was evident that ... Read more
Web Page
One day after the Kansas troop train misunderstanding, a young, 26-year-old woman, Rae Wilson, wrote to the North Platte Bulletin (now North Platte Telegraph) and suggested running a canteen for soldiers traveling through North Platte.
"During World War I the army and navy mothers, or should I say the war mothers, had canteens at our own depot. Why can’t we? . . . I say get back of our sons and other mothers’ sons 100%. Let’s do something and do ... Read more
Web Page
For most Nebraskans, the first sign or the war’s impact was the unprecedented rationing of more than 20 essential items. The first item to be rationed nationwide was sugar, which was soon followed by coffee and shoes. Nebraskans lined up at their local schools, where teachers issued ration ... Read more
Web Page
The rationed item that produced the greatest inconvenience was probably gasoline. Each motorist was assigned a windshield sticker with the appropriate letter of priority ranging from "A" to "C". Trucks received a special "T" sticker. Most of the population received low priority "A" stickers, allowing only three to five gallons of gasoline a week.
Gasoline was rationed in an effort to save gas and tires, because supplies of vital rubber from the Far East had been cut off. Along with gasoline ... Read more
Web Page
Along with rationing, Nebraskans became well educated in the art of collecting scrap materials. These could be recycled into weapons and other equipment essential to the war effort. Scrap iron was the most obvious choice for collectors. Papers were the easiest to get and were reused for packaging weapons.
"Disposables" such as grease, were used to manufacture explosives and artificial rubber. Leftover food grease was used to manufacture ammunition.
Due to the shortage of metals during the war, major appliances were hard ... Read more
Web Page
Before Pearl Harbor, rumors were flying that Nebraska communities would be chosen as sites for government defense plants. Due to the efforts of Nebraska’s congressmen and senators, Mead, Hastings, Grand Island, and Sidney became the locations for ammunition manufacturing plants and storage facilities.
These defense industries created thousands of jobs for Nebraskans and brought additional workers to the state. But they also created severe housing shortages. Many farm families, whose lands were bought at seemingly unfair prices, were displaced.
Web Page
There was a shortage of housing in Hastings because of the number of people who were moving there for jobs. In November, 1942, the construction company brought in about 100 Chippewa and Sioux Indians to work at the construction site.
Hidden racism in Hastings caused residents to assume that different racial groups needed separate housing. Even the local newspaper printed insults about the Sioux workers. As a result, a group of Sioux lived at the plant in tents.
Reba ... Read more
Web Page
The first groups of German POWs to arrive in Nebraska were well-disciplined, regular soldiers. Many were fanatical Nazis, and that was a source of conflict in the camps. These Nazis were more thoroughly indoctrinated in Nazi ideology than most later-arriving POWs.
Initially, Americans had little interest in the politics of the German POWs. Most Americans were politically ignorant or naïve about Nazism. This naïvete is illustrated by a conversation between Fort Robinson commander, Colonel Arthur Blaine, and his interpreter, John Neumaier:
– ... Read more
Web Page
The first rumblings of the 1980s’ farm crisis came in the 1970s. In the early years of the decade, prices for farm products were relatively high. In 1973, farmers across the nation had a total net income of $33 billion. By 1977, record crops had pushed prices down, and the cost of fuel, seed, pesticides and other farm costs had risen — net farm income dropped to $20 billion. In addition, the value of farm land — the "equity" or ... Read more
Web Page
Issues related to the environment, use of drugs and chemicals, and other problems shaped not only public policy, but consumer demand. In meeting these challenges, new and expanding niche markets for cattle grew.
Since the first days of cattle in Nebraska, producers have worked to keep up with the wishes of their consumers. Breeding and feeding technologies were developed to produce the tasty meat that Americans and people around the world wanted.
Most cattle in Nebraska belong to the Angus and Hereford ... Read more
Web Page
Somewhere about a third of the way across Nebraska’s 430-mile expanse, there is an invisible line. On the eastward side of the line, people involved in cattle wear seed corn caps and boots with rounded toes. On the west, the caps yield to cowboy hats and the toes of the boots sharpen and the heels rise.
This line is imprecise and curvy. It does not coincide with other invisible lines: the one that divides Central Time from Mountain Time; the line ... Read more
Web Page
In the 1880s, a new, more radical group attracted new members. The Farmers’ Alliance got off to a slow start. Their second state convention was planned to be held in August, 1882. But it was not well advertised and came in the midst of a harvest season. Only 15 people showed up.
But as hard times developed, the Alliance grew. By 1890, the Alliance claimed 1,500 local chapters and 50,000 members in Nebraska. At that ... Read more
Web Page
The first accepted evidence we have of human beings on the Central Plains is around 12,000 years old. Archaeologists have found spear points near Clovis, New Mexico, and elsewhere that date from that era.There is some evidence that human beings may have lived here even earlier, but that evidence is disputed. Most scientists believe the ancestors of today’s Native Americans walked across a "land bridge" from Asia to ... Read more
Web Page
In the east, there was history of Indian wars. Because of this, some white Americans new to the Louisiana Purchase area thought they needed protection from Native Americans. There were only some minor conflicts, but people still worried.
So in 1820, Fort Atkinson became the westernmost U.S. military post. The fort provided the only government authority in the huge territory west of the Missouri. It was built on the same Missouri River ...
Read more
Web Page
Edward Flanagan was born in County Roscommon, Ireland on July 13, 1886. As a young man Flanagan wanted to be a priest. Father Flanagan moved to America in the 1910s. His first parish was in O’Neill, Nebraska. His second one was in Omaha, Nebraska.
Father Flanagan developed an understanding for the boys and young men who were orphaned by society. He realized that children who ... Read more
