Moving to Nebraska - Omaha, Lincoln, Hastings, Norfolk
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Nebraska lies immediately to the north of the geographic
center of the conterminous United States, bounded on the north by South
Dakota, on the west by Colorado and Wyoming, on the south by Kansas, and
on the east by Iowa and Missouri. The extreme length of the state from
south to north is 330 km (205 mi), and its extreme breadth from east to
west is 727 km (452 mi). The total area of the state is 200,356 sq km
(77,359 sq mi), making it the 16th largest of the 50 states.
The name of Nebraska comes from the Oto Indian word nebrathka, which means
"flat water," referring to the Platte River. The nickname of "Tree Planters'
State" was selected by the legislature in 1895 in official recognition
of the pioneers' efforts in planting trees on the prairie. In 1945 the
state's official nickname was changed to "Cornhusker State" in honor of
the University of Nebraska's football team.
LAND AND RESOURCES
Nebraska lies within two major physiographic regions of North America,
the central lowlands and the Great Plains. In the central lowlands and
along the Missouri River elevations average about 255 m (840 ft), rising
to about 365 m (1,200 ft) in the northeast. Elevations also increase westward
to about 915 m (3,000 ft) in the southwest and to about 1,525 m (5,000
ft) in the northwest. The highest elevation in the state is 1,654 m (5,426
ft), in Kimball County.
The topography changes from level to gently rolling prairie in the central
lowlands. The eastern section of this area is a part of a glacial till
plain that has been subjected to extensive weathering and erosion to form
a well-developed drainage system. Farther west is the Sand Hill region,
which occupies about 52,000 sq km (20,000 sq mi). It is characterized
by sand dunes covered with short grasses and is interspersed with numerous
valleys and shallow lakes. The High Plains section of the Great Plains
lies to the west and south of the Sand Hills region.
Soils
Deep, rich silt loams and sandy loams cover about 109,000 sq km (42,000
sq mi) in the eastern third and southwestern quarter of Nebraska. These
soils are especially noted for their fertility in growing corn, grain
sorghums, and wheat. The Sand Hill section has sandy or sandy loam soils
used almost exclusively for grass cover and grazing. Since the introduction
of the center-pivot method of watering circular land plots, the use of
irrigation has increased rapidly on these sandy soils. About 754 sq km
(291 sq mi) of the Sand Hill region were under irrigation in 1975. The
High Plains, with its broad tablelands and extensive areas of bottom land,
occupies about 39,000 sq km (15,000 sq mi), mostly in the western panhandle.
This westernmost section has a wide variety of loamy and sandy soils.
The chief factor limiting the use of these fertile soils is the shortage
of moisture, particularly in the west.
Drainage
The Missouri River, following the state's northeastern and eastern border,
is the eventual destination of all streams in Nebraska. The Platte River
is the state's longest river. The North Platte, flowing from Wyoming,
and the South Platte, entering from Colorado, join near the town of North
Platte and flow generally eastward to enter the Missouri about 20 km (12
mi) south of Omaha. Other major rivers include the Loup, Niobrara, and
Republican rivers. Most major lakes within Nebraska are artificial, and
smaller ponds are associated with the high groundwater table.
Climate
Nebraska has light precipitation, relatively low humidity, hot summers,
cold winters, and great variations in temperature and precipitation from
year to year. Mean January temperatures are -5 degrees C (23 degrees F),
with the coldest temperatures in the northeast, while the July mean temperature
is 24 degrees C (76 degrees F), with the warmest temperatures in the southeast
and south central sections. The growing season varies greatly from year
to year and averages about 172 days in the southeast to about 122 days
in the extreme northwest. The annual precipitation in the southeast averages
787 mm (31 in), in the central portion 584 mm (23 in), and in the panhandle
432 mm (17 in). About 77 percent of the precipitation falls during the
months of April to September, with approximately 45 percent of the annual
total from May through July.
Vegetation and Animal Life
Natural vegetation ranges from tall prairie grass in the east to the short,
drought-resistant grasses of the west. Trees are usually confined to major
water courses and consist of broadleaf deciduous species, especially elms
and cottonwoods.
Animal life prior to European settlement included American bison, beaver,
deer, pronghorn antelope, coyote, pheasant, quail, grouse, and a variety
of migratory waterfowl. Although the numbers of many of these animals
were seriously depleted, diligent conservation efforts have replenished
some species so as to allow an open hunting season each year.
Resources
One of the great resources of Nebraska is the comparative abundance of
high-quality groundwater; these waters are held in rock strata that collect
runoff from western mountains. Nearly all of the 1.7 billion acre feet
of round water is easily accessible. Although it currently is being withdrawn
at a rate greater than that of annual recharge, the problem of a potential
shortage is not yet acute in most areas. The state's water conservation
efforts are handled mainly at the local level, where authorities have
the means through various laws to protect groundwater quantity and quality.
PEOPLE
The population growth rate of the state in recent decades has lagged behind
the national average. Nebraska's population is overwhelmingly indigenous.
Since the early 1930s the out-migration rate has tended to exceed the
in-migration, the slight population gain being a result of natural increase.
The rate of growth from 1970 to 1980 was a modest 5.7 percent, and between
1980 and 1990 there was an increase of only 8,560 people, representing
a growth rate of 0.5 percent. Nebraska is more rural in character than
the nation as a whole. In 1990 only four cities in the state--Bellevue,
Grand Island, Lincoln, and Omaha--had populations exceeding 25,000.
In addition to its rural nature Nebraska is comparatively homogeneous,
with the vast majority of the population claiming European--particularly
German--ancestry. The nonwhite population in 1990 was 97,827, about 6
percent of the total. Blacks account for about 60 percent of the minority
population, and American Indians account for 13 percent. Persons of Hispanic
origin make up about 2 percent of the state's population, and Asians make
up nearly 1 percent. Of the nonwhite population about 67 percent are concentrated
in the Omaha urban area (Douglas and Sarpy counties), with most of the
remainder living in Lancaster and Thurston counties--the site of the Omaha
and Winnebago Indian reservations--or in Scotts Bluff County.
Nebraska's largest religious groups are the Roman Catholics, Methodists,
and Lutherans. Roman Catholics are generally found in the northern and
east central parts of the state, and Lutherans in the northeast and southeast
corners. Methodists are more evenly distributed.
Education
Nebraska has had a compulsory education law since 1891. Higher education
is available through the state university system (see Nebraska, state
university and colleges of) and several private colleges.
Culture
Major museums include the University of Nebraska natural science museum
in Lincoln, the Nebraska State Museum of History in Lincoln, the Hastings
Museum, the Harold Warp Pioneer Village in Minden, and the Strategic Air
Command Museum at Offutt Air Force Base, in Bellevue. Leading art galleries
include the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha and the University of Nebraska
art gallery and sculpture garden in Lincoln. Omaha and Lincoln both support
symphony orchestras. Art and music interests are promoted throughout the
state. Omaha has several theaters, including the Orpheum Theater, built
in 1927 as a vaudeville house. It has been restored to its original opulence
and now serves as a performing arts center.
The state's most important libraries are those of the University of Nebraska
at Lincoln and the Omaha Public Library. In addition, educational television
funded from public and private sources is available throughout the state.
Historical Sites
The Homestead National Monument of America, located about 65 km (40 mi)
south of Lincoln, commemorates the first farm plot to be claimed under
the Homestead Act of 1862. Chimney Rock National Historical Site and Scotts
Bluff National Monument are important landmarks along the Overland Trail.
Fort Robinson State Historical Park commemorates an important military
post during the Indian wars; Crazy Horse, chief of the Sioux, was killed
there.
Recreation
State parks are located at Chadron, Niobrara, and Ponca. The state maintains
more than 50 other lakes and recreation areas. Sports teams are supported
with great intensity and pride, especially the "Cornhuskers" of the University
of Nebraska at Lincoln. Many towns and counties hold fairs and rodeos
during the summer.
Communications
Nebraska's leading newspapers are the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln
Journal-Star. The state also has numerous radio and television broadcasting
facilities.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
The economic future of Nebraska is encouraging, especially in the areas
of agriculture, manufacturing, and services. Agriculture and related activities,
however, still dominate.
Agriculture
Nebraska ranks among the leading U.S. states in the value of total farm
marketings, and nearly half of Nebraska's labor force is employed, directly
or indirectly, in agriculture. Among the homesteaders that early settled
in the state, corn was a major crop. It has remained a leading farm commodity
of the state, along with cattle, hogs, and soybeans. Other leading farm
products are sorghum, hay, wheat, oats, barley, and rye. Most farms in
the state are rather large, but Nebraska farms still tend to be owned
by single persons or families.
Manufacturing
Nebraska's major industries are agriculturally based, engaged in the processing
of meat, grain, and dairy products. Labor-intensive industries are drawn
to the state's skilled, low-cost labor pool. Manufacturing has become
increasingly diversified, with an emphasis on electric and electronic
equipment, nonelectrical machinery, and chemicals. The major manufacturing
areas of the state are the Omaha, Lincoln, and the Sioux City (Iowa) regions.
Mining
Petroleum, discovered in Nebraska in 1939, is the leading mineral produced
in the state. The production of crude oil centers in the state's southwest
and southwest panhandle. Other minerals exploited are sand and gravel,
found in eastern Nebraska; stone; and natural gas, also found in the southwest
panhandle.
Energy
The low average cost of electricity in the state is a result of a user-owned,
nonprofit system of power generation and transmission. Leading energy
sources in the state are petroleum, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power.
Transportation and Tourism
The central location of Nebraska and the national road network that crosses
it have facilitated tourism in the state. Omaha is an important rail center
with several railroads and is a regional hub of air transportation. Omaha's
Eppley Airfield is the state's busiest airport.
Nebraska has numerous state parks and recreation areas. Most tourists
visit Nebraska while on their way to either eastern or western parts of
the country.
GOVERNMENT
A state constitution was adopted on Oct. 12, 1875, and revised by a 1919-20
constitutional convention and through numerous amendments since that time.
Nebraska is unique in that, since 1934, it has had a unicameral legislature.
It consists of 49 nonpartisan members serving 4-year terms, and it meets
every year for a session of 60 days in even-numbered years and 90 days
in odd-numbered years. Members of the executive branch are elected to
4-year terms on partisan ballots.
Justice is administered by a supreme court and by district, trial, county,
and municipal courts, as well as certain special courts. The 93 counties
are administered by either boards of supervisors or by boards of commissioners.
Nebraska has a few hundred incorporated villages. The minimum population
required for incorporation is 100, but because of population decline in
some urban centers, some of the incorporated communities have less than
100 residents.
HISTORY
Archaeological explorations and excavations indicate the presence of prehistoric
humans in Nebraska as early as 9000 BC. The Pawnee Indian tribe was one
of the first groups to be recorded in the area. Other Indian groups found
by European explorers were the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Omaha, Oto, and Sioux.
With the introduction of the horse by the Spanish, buffalo hunting supplemented
the primitive crop agriculture of pre-European times. It is estimated
that the Indian population numbered about 40,000 at the time of the earliest
white settlement.
Pedro de Villasur and a party of Spanish soldiers were the first Europeans
known to have reached Nebraska (1720), though some French fur traders
and trappers had ventured upstream on the Missouri River by about 1700.
The first Europeans to cross the state were probably Paul and Pierre Mallet,
who traversed nearly the entire length of the modern state in their journey
from the Missouri to Santa Fe, N.Mex., in 1739.
Spain, France, and Great Britain struggled for possession of the Nebraska
region, basing their claims on discoveries and explorations. France ceded
all claims west of the Mississippi River to Spain in 1763, at the close
of the Seven Years' War. Nebraska remained part of Spain until 1801, when
Napoleon purchased the area for France. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson acquired
the Louisiana Territory, which included present-day Nebraska, for the
United States.
After the Louisiana Purchase President Jefferson requested that a geographical
expedition of the area be undertaken. The Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed
the eastern edge of what was to become Nebraska. Journals of the expedition
were perhaps the first authoritative sources of geographic information
about the state. Later expeditions led by Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1806)
and Stephen H. Long (1819-20) furnished additional information about the
region. It is generally acknowledged that Long's report was responsible
for the questionable image of the area west of the Missouri River, describing
it as unfit for cultivation and part of the "Great American Desert." Because
of the unfavorable image, the Great Plains were at first passed by in
favor of settlement areas farther west. Numerous traders, trappers, missionaries,
and travelers moved across Nebraska between 1800 and 1840. The famous
Oregon Trail followed the Little Blue and Platte rivers through the state
and was used by thousands of wagon trains from 1830 to 1870. The Mormon
Trail to Utah and the Denver Trail to Colorado also crossed the area.
From 1850 to 1860 steamboat navigation on the Missouri River was at its
peak, only to fall off with the advent of rail travel in the 1860s.
Nebraska was part of the Territory of Indiana from Oct. 1, 1804, to July
4, 1805. From that time until Dec. 7, 1812, it was part of the Louisiana
Territory. It then became part of the Territory of Missouri until 1821,
when Missouri became a state and Nebraska part of an unorganized region
usually called "Indian country." On June 30, 1834, the U.S. Congress defined
the boundaries of this Indian country and passed the Indian Intercourse
Act, which excluded white settlers and formalized relations between the
United States and the Indians. The Indian superintendent at St. Louis
was made governor of the area. The first congressional bill organizing
the territory, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, was passed in 1854, and the first
session of the territorial legislature met Jan. 16, 1855. Shortly after
the Civil War the population of Nebraska and the Great Plains began to
grow rapidly, from 2,732 in 1854 to 122,993 in 1870. Statehood was finally
achieved in 1867.
The Populist party controlled Nebraska's state government from 1890 to
1900. From that period until the 1930s, Nebraska's agricultural economy
flourished. The Depression of the 1930s, coupled with a series of drought
years, was especially severe in Nebraska. During the resultant Dust Bowl
exodus, Nebraska lost nearly 4.5 percent of its population, a decrease
that was not offset until the 1950s.
Since World War II the economy has revived, and farm sizes have increased,
although their numbers have decreased. The economic recovery has been
largely due to major growth in irrigation, and, in fact, Nebraska is a
leading state in irrigated farmland. During the mid-1980s Nebraska's economy
suffered because of a widespread U.S. agricultural crisis that involved
low farm prices, heavy indebtedness, and low farmland values. In Nebraska
the crisis also spread to farm-support businesses and banks. By the late
1980s, however, the state's agricultural economy had improved, with a
drop in farm debt and an increase in land values. A drought interfered
with recovery, but its effects were lessened by irrigation. In 1993, however,
the opposite condition--flooding of the Mississippi River and smaller
streams--caused damage to crops and utilities. Of ongoing importance is
Nebraska's increased service sector, a sign of economic diversification.
Philip E. Vogel
Bibliography: Aucoin, James, Water in Nebraska (1984); Cherny, R. W.,
Populism, Progressivism, and the Transformation of Nebraska Politics,
1885-1915 (1981); Creigh, Dorothy W., Nebraska (1977); Federal Writers'
Project, Nebraska: A Guide to the Cornhusker State (1939; repr. 1989);
Hamil, Harold, Nebraska: No Place Quite Like It! (1985); Hickey, Donald
R., Nebraska Moments: Glimpses of Nebraska's Past (1992); Lawson, Merlin
P., et al., Climatic Atlas of Nebraska (1977); Lonsdale, R. E., ed., Economic
Atlas of Nebraska (1977); MacKichan, M., and Ross, R., In the Kingdom
of Grass (1992); Ostler, Jeffrey, Prairie Populism (1993).
(c) 1996 Grolier, Inc.
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