474 



NEBRASKA. 



of the Omalias, the Sioux, and other Indian 

 tribes, and the buffaloes in large herds roamed 

 over its vast plateaus and prairies, the grass was 

 burned almost every season, and the forest- 

 trees were thus prevented from growing, ex- 

 cept in the river valleys ; but, with the check- 

 ing of this practice, the trees are springing up 

 over large districts of the as yet uncultivated 

 prairie, and are causing a greater humidity of 

 the climate. The settlers of the State are also 

 planting forest- trees in large numbers. 



The soil of Nebraska is very rich and arable. 

 A fine vegetable mould, porous and friable, 

 covers most of the surface, to the depth of two 

 or three feet, and below it is a light and easily- 

 cultivated loam. Beds of disintegrating lime- 

 stone, plaster, and other lime and sand stones 

 are to be found in different parts of the State. 

 Quarries of excellent building-stone, limestone, 

 magnesian limestone and brown sandstone 

 abound. Southern Nebraska is underlaid, for 

 the greater part of its extent, with coal of the 

 best quality, at a depth never exceeding 500 

 feet, while the veins crop out near the sur- 

 face. 



Perhaps no State in the Union has so small 

 a proportion of untillable land. There are a 

 few patches of drift- sand and a small tract 

 of what the French called the Bad Lands (Man- 

 wises Terres) in the western part of the State, 

 but even these will yield moderate crops if 

 irrigated. Much of the land is admirably 

 adapted to the growth of cereals ; wheat, in 

 particular, yielding from 25 to 30 bushels to 

 the acre, and of a quality so excellent that 

 Nebraska wheat commands a better price in 

 the markets than that grown in any other of 

 the prairie States. Maize, or Indian-corn, is 

 also a crop which will generally yield good 

 returns. The western portion of the State, 

 being considerably higher than the eastern, 

 is a fine grazing-country, and immense herds 

 of cattle from Texas, the Indian Territory, 

 and Kansas, are already driven to its rich and 

 nutritious pasture-lands, to be shipped, when 

 fattened, eastward. 



This young State is destined soon to be trav- 

 ersed in all directions by railroads. The 

 Union Pacific Eailroad, following, after the 

 first few miles, the valley of the Platte, bisects 

 the State from east to west, almost five hun- 

 dred miles of its track being within the limits 

 of the State, and furnishing ready communi- 

 cation with all its central counties. From 

 Omaha, railroads extend to Chicago, to Sioux 

 City, to St. Joseph, Mo., to St. Louis, to Han- 

 nibal, Mo., to Atchison and Leavenworth, Kan- 

 sas, and other points south of that city. There 

 are also already completed in the State, a road 

 from Missouri Valley Junction, Iowa, to Fre- 

 mont, called the Blair cut-off, on the Union 

 Pacific, 37 miles in length, and shortening the 

 distance from the Missouri River to the Union 

 Pacific Railroad about 21 miles ; the central 

 branch of the Union Pacific, starting from 

 Atchison, Kansas, and entering Nebraska in 



the valley of the Republican Fork, and push- 

 ing on toward Fort Kearney. It is now com- 

 ?leted nearly to the State line. Of the pro- 

 ected or partly completed roads, one line 

 will connect the Pennsylvania Central, through 

 Iowa, across the Missouri at Nebraska City, 

 along the valleys of the Weeping Water and 

 the Wauhoo with the existing great line across 

 the continent. A branch will run from Ash- 

 land up the valley of Salt Creek to Lin- 

 coln. This road is now in progress, and is 

 to be in operation west to Ashland and Lin- 

 coln by the 1st of March, 1870. An exten- 

 sion of the Burlington and Missouri road 

 will cross the Missouri at Plattsmouth, and 

 thence continue through Lincoln westward 

 to some point on the Union Pacific. It is 

 now partly graded, and will be running to 

 Lincoln early in the Spring of 1870. An ex- 

 tension of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad 

 is to cut diagonally across the whole State of 

 Nebraska, passing through Lincoln, across the 

 Union Pacific at Columbus, and eventually 

 over the northwestern section of the State, 

 to the extreme northern boundary-line at the 

 mouth of the Niobrara River. Another line 

 is to cross the Missouri at Brownville and con- 

 tinue on to the Pacific road at a point as far 

 west as may be deemed desirable. Then there 

 are lines projected west from Omaha, and 

 along part of the valley of the Elkhorn into 

 Northern Nebraska. 



The State has granted 2,000 acres of land 

 to the mile, to all new railroads, until the 

 lands set apart for that purpose, 425,000 acres, 

 shall be exhausted. 



Large and bountiful provision has been made 

 for the encouragement of education in the State, 

 university, college, normal school, and public 

 school lands being granted liberally. A normal 

 school was founded at Peru, Nemaha County, 

 in 1867, and is prospering. The Legislature 

 in February, 1869, passed a very elaborate 

 school law, covering all points of public-school 

 education in its ninety-five sections. It pro- 

 vides for a State School Superintendent, county 

 superintendents, who shall examine the teachers, 

 granting certificates in three grades of attain- 

 ment, and visit and superintend the schools of 

 the county ; and District Boards of three mem- 

 bers, serving three years (one to go out of office 

 each year), districts of over 150 children 

 having six trustees in their Board. The dis- 

 trict Board to have under their charge the 

 assessment of the school-tax (all schools to be 

 free), the erection of school-houses, and the . 

 providing for the schools. The District- Boards 

 to be elected by the tax-payers of the district, 

 male and female, over twenty-one years of age. 

 The County Superintendent to be elected by 

 the legal voters of the county, and to hold 

 office for two years. The State Superintendent 

 to be elected at a general election, and hold 

 office four years. Provision was made for 

 holding Teachers' Institutes of high grade, in 

 different sections of the State, besides the 



