Tag Archives: history

I know the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery bicentennial celebration was several years ago now.  Makes no difference, my family and I still enjoy dropping in on the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center.  That beautiful facility overlooks the Missouri River just outside Nebraska City. We spent an afternoon there again recently with family that was in town.  We did not frequent the hiking trails nor any of the outdoor exhibits this trip.  There was plenty to see and learn …

My wife thinks I am a hoarder. I believe I am a collector of things. I tell my wife, Polly, that a collector finds special value in one type of thing but the hoarder finds value in innumerable things, thus the reason for keeping everything. I don’t keep everything. Just the cool things of value, whether intrinsically or monetarily, that I find outdoors or outdoors-related to be displayed. I guess you could say that I am into ‘alternate de-cluttering.’ For …

I probably should have blogged about this last month during the paddlefish snagging season.  Sorry, I did not get around to it then, but I am not going to miss this opportunity to highlight a Nebraskaland story you should check out. One of our Missouri River fisheries biologists, Kirk Steffensen, wrote a story on paddlefish and our Nebraska paddlefish fishery on the Missouri River.  I know the fish, that fishery and its history will be of interest to a lot …

Come hear about the history of Nebraska’s military forts May 29 at Fort Kearny State Historical Park. Nebraska historian and author Jeff Barnes will speak at 1 p.m. at the visitor center. Nebraska’s forts were built to promote trade, protect travelers and settlers, fight Indian tribes and then keep the peace. During that time, they hosted some famous names of American history, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Crazy Horse, George Custer, Robert E. Lee, Red Cloud, and Mark Twain. Barnes will …

*UPDATED ON MARCH 17, 2024 They were Irish immigrants who braved the unknown to carve out new lives in a strange new land among native inhabitants. They were about determination, perseverance, strong backs and an unwavering faith in their religion. They never recognized the impossible. They were gritty and tough. They fought and endured a Civil War. They loaded up their belongings and themselves in covered wagons and came here in search of a better life in which to claim …

This is the second installment in a four-part series of articles on spring trout fishing in Nebraska. Next week: 2021 spring trout stocking schedule. By Larry Pape Nebraska Game and Parks Commission LINCOLN, Neb. – Trout are more likely to be found in Nebraska than elephants. Prehistorically, though, this probably was not true. The fossilized presence of mammoth in Nebraska is well described, but trout’s earliest recorded occurrence is from stocking by early Nebraska fish culturists and enthusiasts. Previous to …

Spreading the word on this: Digital archive features first 50 years of Nebraskaland magazine LINCOLN, Nebraska — The first 50 years of Nebraskaland magazine are now available free in digital form online after a three-year collaboration between the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities. Readers can view, browse and search the editions between 1926 and 1976 at Nebraskaland.unl.edu. The years made available capture changes in the magazine from its …

Long ago on grassy hills, a hunter stalks a deer. Wearing skins of the same animal, he loads a thin-shafted spear onto a wooden spear thrower. Rising from cover, he whips the spear into a silent, shallow arch. The stone spear point strikes a mortal wound, but the still-mobile deer bounds away never to be found. Frustrated about the loss of good meat and his prized speckled brown point, the dejected hunter heads home, belly growling. Two thousand years later, …

My wife thinks I am a hoarder. I believe I am a collector of things. I tell my wife, Polly, that a collector finds special value in one type of thing but the hoarder finds value in innumerable things, thus the reason for keeping everything. I don’t keep everything. Just the cool things of value, whether intrinsically or monetarily, that I find outdoors or outdoors-related to be displayed. I guess you could say that I am into ‘alternate de-cluttering.’ For …

It was an unlikely alliance: farmers and bicycle enthusiasts. Both were dissatisfied with the muddy, unimproved roads of the late 1800s. But it would take a lot of tax dollars to build a modern road system, and not everyone wanted to spend the money. And then came a new, noisy, four-wheeled invention … Nebraska’s early roads were unmarked trails across the countryside. Railroads received large government subsidies, but the dirt roads linking farms and towns were seen only as a …