USA > Nebraska > The history and government of Nebraska > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
MAP III. GEOLOGICAL MAP: LAYERS OF ROCK.
A. Coal Measures. D,F. Colorado Group. B. Permian. E. Area of the Lake Deposits.
C. Dakota Group.
surface of the State cover a little more than six counties in the southeastern corner.
The name Carboniferous is applied to the age of coal. The following period the geologists call the Permian. Almost all the rocks of this time that appear in Nebraska are in Gage county. They resemble rocks previously made, but are
14
History of Nebraska.
without coal. During the two following pe- riods Nebraska was out of water, and the re- sults are apparent only in the valleys, which were made at that time by the water just about where they are to-day. Then the sea came again at the slow sinking of the land, and the valleys became
gulfs or bays, into which were brought THE TWO many kinds of stones, sands, and clays. GROUPS
OF THE Such are the shaly and hard sandstones, CRETA-
CEOUS PERIOD. quartzite, lignite, etc., called altogether
the Dakota Group. The surface of the State where this is exposed, is in the northeast, next to the Missouri, extending to the south and southwest through Saunders, Lancaster, Sa- line and Jefferson counties. Next west of these rocks comes the Colorado Group, in the eastern and northeastern part of the State, with a small area in Cheyenne and Keith counties. The readi- ness with which these rocks are broken gives them the name of rotten limestone, and the presence of chalk in them in some localities causes them to be called chalk rock. They consist of limestones, shales and clays. All rocks of the cretaceous period were deposited by the sea, and fossils of marine life occur throughout them. The THE
FRESH-
remaining surface of the State was cov-
WATER LAKE. ered during the next period by a fresh- water lake. This left upon its bottom all the
kinds of rock that were formed earlier. The layers of each period overlap the earlier layers, with the newest at the West and the earliest at the southeast.
15
Physical Features.
From rocks comes directly and indirectly the soil that covers them. Air, water, heat and cold, and many other forces besides, act upon the hardest substance, cracking and crumbling it, and finally reducing it to dust. All the rocks laid upon the face of Nebraska ages ago now themselves are covered by this dust, mixed with decayed vegeta- ble and animal life that lived upon it. The de- posits on the surface of Nebraska make as fertile soils for the farmer as are known in the world. The special soil of each locality, however, SOILS. needs to be studied by the one who tills it. The accumulations from the wearing of the rocks receive special names, according to the time or manner in which they came. Thus there is the glacial drift, that was scattered over the State by the action of the great ice fields that once lay north of Nebraska. There are also loess, adobe, alluvium, muck, peat and marl, each of great value to plant life.
The inhabitants of Nebraska laugh at the old geographies, in which was told a story of the "Great American Desert" west of the Missouri PLANT River. After James Monroe took his first
LIFE. journey over the Allegheny Mountains into the Ohio valley in 1785, he wrote to Thomas Jefferson as follows: " A great part of the territory is miserably poor, especially that near Lakes Michigan and Erie; and that upon the Mississippi and Illinois consists of extensive plains which have not had, from appearances, and will not have
16
History of Nebraska.
a single bush on them for ages. The millions of bushels of grain raised in that region every year show that Mr. Monroe was very much mis- taken, and so were the geographers later, when they made a guess about the lands be-
THE
IDEA tween the Missouri and the Rockies. A OF A
DESERT party of explorers and scientists, after spending the winter of 1819-20 a few miles north of where Omaha now is, followed the Platte River to the south fork, and turning south made their way
back along the Arkansas River. They thought that they had "completely established one im- portant fact: that the whole division of North America drained by the Missouri, the Arkansas and their tributaries, between the meridian of the mouth of the Platte and the Rocky Mountains, is almost entirely unfit for cultivation and therefore uninhabitable by a people depending upon agri- culture for their subsistence." 2
All the plant life that grows wild in a particu- lar state or country is called its flora. Students have been diligently at work collecting the dif- ferent kinds of plant life that grow in Nebraska and up to 1892 they have found about 2,500 spe- ies. When each hill and valley has been FLORA.
searched, no doubt the number will be very much larger. Each locality usually has a variety of plants that have become suited to its soil, elevation, and climate, or have been brought
1 Bancroft, History of Formation of Const., i., 480-1.
2 Gov. Black, quoting the published narrative of Long's Expedition, 1819, written by Dr. James. Council Journal, 6th Session, p. 9.
17
Physical Features.
there by accident. A large state usually has sev- eral regions with somewhat different flora. Ne- braska has three: the part along the Missouri,
the most western portion and the interven-
THE
THREE ing district. In the eastern part is found RE-
GIONS. the kind of plant life that resembles the flora of the Mississippi Valley at the same latitude. In the western part appear species that belong to the Rocky Mountains. The central part of Nebraska is a section of the Great Plains stretch- ing far to the north and to the south, which have their own peculiar set of plants.
Salt and alkali are found at places in the State. This allows the growth of plants not usually found except along the coast of the sea. Such a region is the Salt Basin near Lincoln, the flora of which is very interesting on this account. Another SPE- special feature of botanical study in Ne- CIAL braska is the abundance of native grasses, FEA-
TURES. of which 154 species have been already discovered. The composites, or plants like the sun flower and golden rod, are plentiful, and this state is fairly the home of plants having pods like the pods of peas and beans (Leguminosæ).
There is a question among botanists whether this treeless plain was always so. There are ev-
WERE idences which seem to tell a story of great
THERE forests anciently. If it is true that trees
FOR- ESTS once covered the surface of the state from LONG
AGO? the mountains to the Missouri, the annual burning off of the grass by the Indians explains 2
18
History of Nebraska.
why the trees were almost all gone when the settlers entered Nebraska. Now there are no more great prairie fires, and Arbor Day has be- come a legal holiday in the State. Botanists think, however, that the trees were gradually spreading up the valleys from the east before the farmer came.
The large mammals that have inhabited Ne- braska are fast becoming extinct. As late as 1872 a grand duke of Russia came to Nebraska for a buffalo hunt, and a party of government
ANIMAL officials and Indians, led by Buffalo Bill,
LIFE.
had a grand chase. In Zoology there is a difference between a bison and a buffalo. The animals hunted in Nebraska were bison, but they are almost always spoken of as buffalo. They roamed over the plains in great droves, and were
BUF. the chief game of the Indians. They have
FALO OR now disappeared from our limits. Elk, BISON. deer, and antelope, were numerous when settlement was begun, but they are now rare. Even many years ago bears seem to have been few. Now they are scarcely heard of. The smaller animals, such as wild cats, wolves, coyotes, and foxes, become fewer with the growth of popula- tion, like the buffalo and deer. They are hunted less and escape more easily, so that they remain when the buffalo is gone. A complete study of the small animals like moles, mice, and squirrels, has not been made, so that the whole number of mammals cannot be stated with accuracy.
19
Physical Features.
Of the reptiles in the State probably the ser- pents have been most carefully studied. Twenty- SER- three species are known, among which PENTS. are three kinds of rattlesnakes. None of the others are poisonous.
About four hundred species of birds are found in the State. These include those birds which stay here all the time, and those stopping BIRDS. in Nebraska during their yearly migra-
tions. The study of the insects of the State is very interesting because their number is very large. This arises from the favorable position of Nebraska. It holds a midway place in the country, both between the north and the south and be- tween the east and the west. Kinds of insects that appear only in one of these regions are usu- ally found here. Insects are like plants in re- spect to altitude .. Some prefer high places and IN- some the plains, and on account of the SECTS. range of elevation a large number of in- sects find a home in the State. Probably more species of the grasshopper kind are found here than anywhere else in the country. The annals of Nebraska tell of the dreadful "grasshopper year," but the insect that visits the State in swarms is a locust. The year 1874 is popularly known as the grasshopper year, because such large numbers came at that time. In reality, however, some section of the State is visited al- most every year by these travelers. A dry coun- try without trees favors them. They stay most
20
History of Nebraska.
of the time in the high plains at the head waters of the great rivers which rise in the Rocky Moun-
LO-
tains, from parallel 40° far to the north
CUSTS. into British America. From this part of the country, which is called their Permanent Home, they come out upon the surrounding country in swarms. Their number depends upon
the kind of season. As far back as there is rec- ord of this country, locusts have visited it, and they will continue to visit Nebraska as long as they multiply rapidly in their dry, treeless homes. When trees have been planted through the West, it is supposed that the locusts will not increase so rapidly, while the insects and birds that are harmful to them will be present in greater num- bers than before.
AUTHORITIES AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
ELEVATION AND SLOPE-Sources of information are mainly (1) Elevations given by Railroads;
(2) Bulletin of U. S. Geol. Survey, No. 76., A Table of Elevations.
DRAINAGE-Rand, McNally & Co., Pocket Map of Nebraska 1892.
CLIMATE-
Monthly and Annual Reports of the Nebraska Weather Service.
Daily Bulletins of U. S. Signal Service.
The Climate of Nebraska (Washington, 1891), Sen. Ex. Docs., 1st Sess., 50th Cong., 1889-90.
Gen. A. W. Greeley, American Weather. ROCKS AND SOIL-
Annual Reports of Neb. State Board of Agriculture, 1889: Article by Prof. L. E. Hicks.
Annual Reports of Neb. State Board of Horticulture, 1887-88, pp. 123-129.
Prof. Samuel Aughey, Physical Geog. and Geol. of No- braska.
21
Physical Features.
PLANT LIFE-
Annual Reports of the Neb. State Board of Agriculture, especially 1889, 1892.
Annual Reports of Neb. State Board of Horticulture, especially 1892.
Contributions from the Botanical Department of the University of Nebraska, New Series, III.
ANIMAL LIFE-
Prof. Aughey, Physical Geography of Nebraska.
State Agricultural Reports.
U. S. Entomological Reports, Articles by Prof. Bruner.
SUGGESTIVE TOPICS AND QUESTIONS.
1. Map out the drainage system of your own county.
2. Where in the State has irrigation been tried, and with what success ? State Horticultural Reports, 1891, p. 148; 1892, p. 78.
3. Can rainfall be artificially produced ? What experi- ments in Nebraska and what results ?
4. For the study of climate, every school should have the U. S. weather bulletins. Undoubtedly they will be sent to high schools asking for them. With the help of Gen. Gree- ley's book called American Weather, the maps afford large room for study of the winds, temperature, and storms of the State and of the neighboring region.
5. What is thesignificance of the terms " low area storm" and "high area storm?" See American Weather, Chap. XIII.
6. WINDS .- Watch carefully the movements of the clouds during a day or a week, and note the following :
(a) The number of different currents blowing at the same time.
1
(b) The direction of each, beginning at the lowest. (Fre- quently the wind is blowing in different directions at differ- ent heights.)
(c) The swiftest current.
(d) Time of day of the greatest wind on the surface of earth.
7. In the study of storms observe (1) the direction from which they come, and (2) changes in the direction of the wind during the storm. How can the direction of the center of the storm be ascertained from the winds ? See American Weather, p. 195.
8. SCHOOL COLLECTIONS FOR SCIENTIFIC STUDY .- Students should make collections for their schools in the several lines to which their attention is called, as flora of the county or township, insects, birds, etc. After a beginning is made and a place has been provided to receive specimens, addi- tions are easily made. Very few school boards will refuse to fix a place for specimens. Collections are as necessary to the study of botany, geology, etc., as the library is to the study of history.
22
History of Nebraska.
II .- THE INDIANS.
When white men first crossed the Missouri, Nebraska was not thickly populated with Indians. The prairies formed an excellent hunting ground, and the few tribes in possession of the
OTOES, country went from place to place in pur- MIS-
SOURIS,
PAW. suit of large game like deer and buffalo.
NEES,
OMA- HAS. Captains Lewis and Clark found the Otoe,
Missouri, and Pawnee Indians located on the Platte, the Omaha tribe to the northeast, and the Ponca tribe near the mouth of the Niobrara. These were estimated to be a thousand or fifteen hundred warriors at that time. Treaties were made with them immediately after France ceded the country, as had been done with others farther east. The two explorers just mentioned made peace with the tribes of Indians all along their way, in the expedition of 1804. Early treaties were almost entirely of peace and friend-
TREA- TIES OF Ship. During the period up to 1830,
(a) Peace,
(b) Com- trade also was regulated by treaty. Fi- merce. (c) Ces - nally the Indians began to give up their sions. lands. Cessions seem to begin about 1830,
when a tract was reserved between the Great Nemaha and Little Nemaha rivers, called the "half-breed tract." From this time, by many treaties, more and more of the country was given up to the United States, until at last each tribe
23
The Indians.
was confined to quite narrow limits, called a re- serve or reservation. Not all the Indians now in
RES- the State were originally here, nor are all
ERVA- the tribes still here that were found when
TIONS. the United States took possession. Some, like the Iowa and Winnebago tribes, were brought from other states to live on land chosen for them in Nebraska. The Pawnees, whose home was here, sold their land in 1876 and were removed to Indian Territory.1
The Lacotas, called by the whites Dakotas, once possessed all the region west of the Missis- sippi, north of the Arkansas River, and east of the Rocky Mountains. This nation of Indians is more commonly known as the Sioux. Four of THE the seven tribes which compose it once oc-
SIOUX. cupied Dakota and Minnesota, and are known as the Santee Sioux. The greatest of the Sioux Nation is the Teton Tribe, whose territory was north of the Platte, from the Missouri to the mountains. The Tetons are made up of seven families, among them being the Blackfeet, the Brules, and the Ogallalas.
The most abiding hatred existed between the Pawnees and the Sioux, who spoke altogether dif- ferent languages. Great battles were fought
1 The Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1891, p. 114, gives the following figures regarding the Indians now within the limits of Nebraska: the number of acres of nndivided land belonging to each tribe, and not owned by individual Indians: Iowa tribe, 11953; Santee Sioux, 1131; Omaba, 65191; Sanc and Fox, 8013; Ogallala Slonx, 32000; Winnebago, 14612. Altogether this amounts to 208 square inlles.
24
History of Nebraska.
before settlers came to disturb them. One
STRUG- memorable conflict occurred in the year
GLES 1832, in what is now Jefferson County, OVER
HUNT-
ING near the mouth of the Big Sandy River. GROUND Sixteen thousand warriors took part in the struggle, which lasted for three days. It is said
that the Sioux lost three thousand men, and that the Pawnees bought their victory with the lives of two thousand.1 The last battle between these same bands occurred in the autumn of 1873, a few miles west of the present site of Culbertson, in Hitchcock County. The Sioux surprised the Pawnees while the latter were at one of their annual buffalo hunts, overpowering and defeating them.2
The history of the relation between the Indians and settlers is one long account of petty troubles. In early times, before the Civil War began in 1861, there seems to have been no general hostil- ity towards the settlers. Histories of counties are full of the details of Indian scares and of the RELA- stealing of cattle and horses, and some TION
BE- loss of life, too, is recorded. On the TWEEN INDIAN other hand it may be said that the Indians AND
SET- were ill treated, not by the peaceable set- (a) Beforetler, but by the rougher class of men who TLER:
1860. always stay on the frontier. The Indians resented any personal injury and took vengeance upon all white people alike. Considering the sav-
1 Johnson, History of Nebraska, 991, where the tradition of the battle is given on the authority of an old French trader, Mont Crevie. 2 Johnson, History of Nebraska, 967-8.
25
The Indians.
age nature of the Indians, one might readily ex- pect more deeds of cruelty than there really were. Settlers kept themselves ready to meet such bands of Indians as tried to do any damage. Reports of cattle thieving were sufficient to bring to- gether hundreds of armed men. Punishment was not delayed, and probably this explains, to some extent, the usually good behavior of the savage tribes. A marked change was apparent as soon as the Civil War began. The Indians became more hostile. While it lasted, not only did they attack and murder small parties and raid settlements
here and there, but the spirit of enmity
(b) Dur-
ing the Civil
caused many bands of savages all through
War. the Northwest to combine in attacking settlements. One of the most notable raids was made August 7, 1864, upon the pioneers of Ne- braska. At about the same hour of the day all the homes except two along a route of two hun- dred miles were surrounded and burned. The in- mates who could not escape were killed, and their provisions and goods were carried off. The out- breaks did not cease when peace came, although the unusual hostility of the Indians during the war was generally attributed to the influence of white men who favored the South. A writer says that in the neighborhood of Lincoln County the attacks of Indians continued for five years. Since Nebraska became a state comparatively little trouble has arisen, because the limits of their res- ervations have become too narrow, and the In-
-
26
History of Nebraska.
dians themselves have improved. Even up to a very recent date, however, Indian outbreaks have annoyed the northwestern frontier. The so-called Indian War of 1890-91, like almost all the previ-
"WAR ous conflicts with Indians, began by the OF 1890-failure of the United States to keep its 1891. "
promises. The starving condition of the Indians was only aggravated by the blunders of agents who did not understand how to deal with them. The fighting that occurred may be truly said to have been due to the policy of the government.1
AUTHORITIES ON II.
Neb. State Hist. Soc. Pub., especially I., 47-49, 73-85; II., 133-166, 246-48; III., 125-190, 279-286; IV., 30-50, 134-140, 160-191, 281-283.
· On Indian Treaties, U. S. Statutes at Large, VII. (Indian Treaties) ; IX., 949; X., 1038, 1043; XI., 729; XIV., 667, 675; XIX., 29, 192, 287, etc.
Johnson's History of Nebraska. 55-57, and at various pla- ces. This book contains an immense amount of valuable history. Some of the county histories in it are based on the personal knowledge of the writers. It must not be depended ou altogether, because it is frequently inaccu- rate.
Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor, Chap. V., The Sioux; Chap. VI., The Poncas; Chap. VII., The Winnebagoes.
On classification, see No. Amer. Rev., 110: 45, 55, and General Colby in State Hist. Soc. Pub., III., 144-5.
SUGGESTIVE TOPICS AND QUESTIONS.
1. Is the government justified in its method of making treaties with the Indians?
2. Is the plan of reservations successful ?
I Further reading upon the history of special tribes and upon the relation between the government and the Indians may be made in Mrs. Jackson's " A Century of Dishonor."
27
Explorers, Missionaries, and Traders.
III .- EXPLORERS, MISSIONARIES, AND TRADERS.
The story of the coming of white men into the valleys where our state now is, begins far back before the times which are usually associated with Plymouth Rock and Pocahontas. There is even more romance about the expeditions of the Spaniards from Mexico and the South into ANTIQ- UITY the unexplored interior of the western OF OUR
HIS- country than there is about the landing TORY. of the pilgrim fathers, or about the plant- ing of a colony at Jamestown. The Spaniards lived in romance. It adds no real dignity to the history of the states that now occupy these prairie lands, to know that it begins as far back as 1541, when Coronado, a Spanish cavalier, came up across the country from the southwest with a CORO- large body of men; still there is a poetry NADO. about such a beginning that makes it at- tractive. After the conquest of Mexico by Cor- tez, beginning about 1520, that country was ruled by governors. As fast as the natives were con- quered, new districts were formed and governors appointed to rule them. In the western part of Mexico was a province called Nueva Galicia over which Coronado was appointed provincial gov- ernor in 1538. About that time story was told the Spaniards of seven cities of Cibola to
28
History of Nebraska.
the north, in which there were immense treas-
THE ures of silver and gold. Coronado was SEVEN CITIES
OF greatly charmed by the prospect of obtain- CIBOLA. ing vast riches by conquest of these cities, and fitted out an expedition. The place was found in the summer of 1541, far north of Mexico. Most historians think that the present town of Zuni stands upon the spot. Although Coronado was disappointed in regard to the gold, he went fur- ther, to find the land of the Quivera, where also there was untold wealth to be had. It is
THE
LAND not certain just what the route of the
OF THE
QUI- Spaniards was after they left the seven VERA. cities. By the accounts it is certain that
Coronado went east and northeast. It is said that he reached the fortieth degree of north latitude. If he did, he and his companions actually set foot
DID HE on the soil of Nebraska. But he might
REACH easily have been mistaken in supposing NE-
BRAS- that he came as far north as the southern KA? boundary of Nebraska. It is sure, at any rate, that he visited the plains on which the two states of Kansas and Nebraska lie. Whether he really came within the limits of this State is not so important after all. The great fact is that this marks the beginning of the history of white men on these plains. This was the same year that De Soto was wandering from Florida across the southern slopes to the Mississippi. Henry III. was then King of England; Francis I. held the throne of France, Charles V. was plotting
29
Explorers, Missionaries, and Traders.
in the east, and Paul III. was Pope at Rome.
WHAT Europe as a whole was in the midst of WAS THE The Reformation, and Luther had shortly REST OF THE before finished his work. The story of WORLD
DOING? the hills and valleys of Nebraska before the time of Coronado must be told by the rocks and revealed by the traditions of the Red Man.
A Spanish expedition about 1601, of which there is a record, took the same general direction as Coronado's. There is also an account of a third, made by the Count of Penelosa in 1662, but strong reasons are found for believing that this one was merely one of the stories that the Count told over
OTHER in Spain. In 1673 Father Marquette
EXPLO-
RA-
floated down the Mississippi and learned
TIONS:
SPAN- from the natives about the Missouri and ISH AND FRENCH about the Platte. He recorded these riv- ers on a map just as they were told to him, and this drawing is still preserved. Probably this is the first map of the region. In 1719 Dustine came across the country from the southeast and met the tribes of Indians in the eastern part of Kansas. This is significant of the coming of the French into the plains west of the Missouri and Mississippi. Twenty years after Dustine, two brothers by the name of Mallet came into the country north of the Platte, and explored the river as far west as the Forks.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.