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Title
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A DRIVE IN THE NEBRASKA SANDHILLS IN 1911
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Date
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1911
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Creator
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Frank Shoemaker
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Description
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Frank Shoemaker - Omaha, Lincoln, and Nebraska Narratives
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Identifier
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321301
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Transcription
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A DRIVE IN THE NEBRASKA SANDHILLS IN 1911 Stilwell's Ranch , Cherry county, Nebr. July 14, 1911 1 We are at Stilwell's ranch, on the shore of Hackberry Lake in the western part of Cherry county, after a drive of a little over sixty miles from Thedford in Thomas county; Dr. Wolcott , zoologist from the state university; Prof. Williams , botanist from Wesleyan, and myself. The country for a few miles north of Thedford is practically free from shifting areas and blow-outs, the sand being held in place by the vegetation, which is more varied and better established than in most of the sandhill area. I saw many interesting plants in flower. - The bush morning-glory, three to four feet high, its big pinkish flowers spanning three to four inches; when disclosed by erosion its rootstock is seen to be tremendous; it is long-boot-shaped, and weighs up to twenty-five pounds. - The lead-plant, so called by reason of the color of its foliage, with three inch spikes of tiny purple flowers. The pioneers' name for it was "shoestring," from its long and extremely tough lateral roots near the surface; when a breaking-plow traversed virgin prairie the snap of these shoestrings could be heard for a quarter of a mile. - Purple and white prairie closer, the terminal flower-clusters a half-inch in diameter and two to three inches long; utterly unlike a "clover" to anyone but a botanist. We reached Brownlee - a post-office and a half-dozen houses - at about 12:30, had dinner there, and went on with Rivers Stilwell , who had driven thirty miles from the ranch to meet us. We had a wagon
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
