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Nebraska
Nebraska () is a U.S. state|state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States. Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Chiwere language|Otoe words ''Ñí Brásge'' (contemporary Otoe ''Ñí Bráhge'') or the Omaha-Ponca language|Omaha ''Ní Btháska'' meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state. History
On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, divided by the 40th parallel north|Parallel 40° North. The territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha.
In the 1860s, the first great wave of Homestead Act|homesteaders poured into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government. Many of the first farm settlers built their homes out of sod because they found so few trees on the grassy land.
Nebraska became the 37th state in 1867, shortly after the American Civil War. At that time, the capital was moved from Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha to Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln after the recently assassinated President of the United States Abraham Lincoln.
The Arbor Day holiday began in Nebraska, and the National Arbor Day Foundation is still headquartered in Nebraska City, Nebraska|Nebraska City.
Nebraska has a long history of Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska|civil rights activism, starting in 1912 with the foundation of Omaha's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter.
Geography
Nebraska is split into two time zones. The Central Time zone comprises the eastern half of the state, while the western half observes Mountain Time.
Nebraska is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwest; and Wyoming to the west. The state has List of counties in Nebraska|93 counties; it occupies the central portion of the Frontier Strip.
Three rivers cross the state from west to east. The Platte River runs through the heart, the Niobrara River flows through the northern part of the state's region, and the Republican River traverses through the southern part of the state.
Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The easternmost portion of the state was scoured by Ice Age glaciers; the Dissected Till Plains were left behind after the glaciers retreated. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of gently rolling hills; Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln are located within this region.
The Great Plains occupy the majority of western Nebraska. The Great Plains itself consists of several smaller, diverse land regions, including the Sandhills (Nebraska)|Sandhills, the Pine Ridge (region)|Pine Ridge, the Rainwater Basin, the High Plains (United States)|High Plains and the Wildcat Hills. Panorama Point, at 5,424 feet (1,653 m), is the highest point in Nebraska; despite its name and elevation, it is merely a low rise near the Colorado and Wyoming borders.
A past Nebraska tourism slogan was "Where the West Begins"; locations given for the beginning of the "West" include the Missouri River, the intersection of 13th and O Streets in Lincoln (where it is marked by a red brick star), the 100th meridian west|100th meridian, and Chimney Rock National Historic Site|Chimney Rock.
Nebraska, a doubly landlocked state, claims to have more miles of river than any other state.
Highest elevations
- Panorama Point
- Hogback Mountain (Nebraska)|Hogback Mountain
- Mount Edna
- Lovers Leap Butte
- Table Top Mountain
- Lone Pine Butte
- Gabe Rock
- Pants Butte
- Eagle Nest (Nebraska)|Eagle Nest
- Wildcat Hills
- Squaw Mound
- The Hat (mountain)|The Hat
- Bighorn Mountain
- Chalk Buttes
Federal land management
Areas under the management of the National Park Service include:
- Agate Fossil Beds National Monument near Harrison, Nebraska|Harrison
- California National Historic Trail
- Chimney Rock National Historic Site near Bayard, Nebraska|Bayard
- Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska|Beatrice
- Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail
- Missouri National Recreational River near Ponca, Nebraska|Ponca
- Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail
- Niobrara National Scenic River near Valentine, Nebraska|Valentine
- Oregon National Historic Trail
- Pony Express National Historic Trail
- Scotts Bluff National Monument at Gering, Nebraska|Gering
Areas under the management of the National Forest Service include:
- Nebraska National Forest
- Oglala National Grassland
- Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest
Climate
Two major climates are represented in Nebraska: the eastern half of the state has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification ''Dfa''), and the western half of the state has a semi-arid continental steppe climate (Koppen ''BSk''). The entire state experiences wide seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation. Average temperatures are fairly uniform across Nebraska, while average annual precipitation decreases east to west from about 31.5 inches (800 metre|mm) in the southeast corner of the state to about 13.8 inches (350 mm) in the Nebraska Panhandle|Panhandle. Snowfall across the state is fairly even, with most of Nebraska receiving between 25 and 35 inches (650 to 900 mm) of snow annually. http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/products/atlas.html
Nebraska is located in Tornado Alley; thunderstorms are common in the spring and summer months. The chinook winds from the Rocky Mountains provide a temporary moderating effect on temperatures in western Nebraska during the winter months. http://www.nebraskaclimateoffice.unl.edu/weather.summary.Dec99, http://www.tcdne.org/climate.htm
References
Bibliography
Surveys
- Chokecherry Places, Essays from the High Plains, Merrill Gilfillan, Johnson Press, Boulder, Colorado, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-227-7.
- Olson James C. and Ronald C. Naugle ''History of Nebraska'' 2nd ed (1997)
- Andreas, Alfred T. ''History of the State of Nebraska'' (1882 highly detailed history
- Creigh, Dorothy Weyers. ''Nebraska: A Bicentennial History'' (1977)
- Faulkner, Virginia, ed. ''Roundup: A Nebraska Reader'' (1957)
- Hickey, Donald R. ''Nebraska Moments: Glimpses of Nebraska's Past'' (1992).
- Miewald, Robert D. ''Nebraska Government & Politics'' (1984)
- Luebke Frederick C. ''Nebraska: An Illustrated History'' (1995)
- Morton, J. Sterling, ed. ''Illustrated History of Nebraska: A History of Nebraska from the Earliest Explorations of the Trans-Mississippi Region.'' 3 vols. (1905-13)
- Wishart, David J. ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'' (2004), 900 pages of scholarly articles
Scholarly special studies
- Barnhart, John D. "Rainfall and the Populist Party in Nebraska." ''American Political Science Review'' 19 (1925): 527-40. in JSTOR
- Beezley, William H. "Homesteading in Nebraska, 1862-1872," ''Nebraska History'' 53 (spring 1972): 59-75.
- Bentley, Arthur F. "The Condition of the Western Farmer as Illustrated by the Economic History of a Nebraska Township." ''Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science'' 11 (1893): 285-370.
- Cherny, Robert W. ''Populism, Progressivism, and the Transformation of Nebraska Politics, 1885-1915'' (1981)
- Bogue Allen G. ''Money at Interest: The Farm Mortgage on the Middle Border'' (1955)
- Brunner, Edmund de S. ''Immigrant Farmers and Their Children'' (1929)
- Chudacoff, Howard P. ''Mobile Americans: Residential and Social Mobility in Omaha, 1880-1920'' (1972)
- Chudacoff, Howard P. "A New Look at Ethnic Neighborhoods: Residential Dispersion and the Concept of Visibility in a Medium-sized City." ''Journal of American History'' 60 (1973): 76-93. about Omaha; in JSTOR
- Coletta, Paolo E. ''William Jennings Bryan''. 3 vols. 1964-69.
- Dick, Everett. ''The Sod-House Frontier: 1854-1890'' (1937)
- Farragher, John Mack. ''Women and Men on the Overland Trail'' (1979)
- Fuller, Wayne E. ''The Old Country School: The Story of Rural Education in the Midwest'' (1982)
- Grant, Michael Johnston. "Down and Out on the Family Farm" (2002)
- Harper, Ivy. ''Walzing Matilda: Life and Times of Nebraska Senator Robert Kerrey'' (1992).
- Holter, Don W. ''Flames on the Plains: A History of United Methodism in Nebraska'' (1983).
- Jeffrey, Julie Roy. ''Frontier Women: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1880'' (1979)
- Klein, Maury. ''Union Pacific: The Birth of a Railroad, 1862-1893'' (1986)
- Klein, Maury. ''Union Pacific: The Rebirth, 1894-1969'' (1989).
- Larsen, Lawrence H. ''The Gate City: A History of Omaha'' (1982)
- Lowitt, Richard. ''George W. Norris'' 3 vols. 1971.
- Luebke, Frederick C. ''Immigrants and Politics: The Germans of Nebraska, 1880-1900'' (1969)
- Luebke, Frederick C. "The German-American Alliance in Nebraska, 1910-1917." ''Nebraska History'' 49 (1969): 165-85.
- Olson, James C. ''J. Sterling Morton'' (1942)
- Overton, Richard C. ''Burlington West: A Colonization History of the Burlington Railroad'' (1941)
- Parsons Stanley B. "Who Were the Nebraska Populists?" ''Nebraska History'' 44 (1963): 83-99.
- Pierce, Neal. ''The Great Plains States'' (1973)
- Pederson, James F., and Kenneth D. Wald. ''Shall the People Rule? A History of the Democratic Party in Nebraska Politics'' (1972)
- Riley, Glenda. ''The Female Frontier. A Comparative View of Women on the Prairie and the Plains'' (1978)
- Wenger, Robert W. "The Anti-Saloon League in Nebraska Politics, 1898-1910." ''Nebraska History'' 52 (1971): 267-92.
== '''External links''' ==
welcome
- Nebraska state government
- Nebraska State Databases - Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Nebraska state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.
- Energy Profile for Nebraska
- USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Nebraska
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Nebraska State Facts
- Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska
- Nebraska Frequently Asked Questions
- Nebraska State Publications Online
- Nebraska city-data
- nebraskastudies.org - History of Nebraska from Nebraska Department of Education, Nebraska State Historical Society, and NET
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Related Images- Nebraska state welcome sign
- Map of Nebraska
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