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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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4 a quarter mile north, where a comfortable two-story frame house has been erected. Cherry county covers 5668 squares miles; it is half as large as Belgium, or the state of Maryland. The Niobrara River - appearing variably on old maps as L'Eau qui Court, Rapid, or Running Water (all names meaning the same, in Siouxan, French, and English) - runs west to east along the northern portion of the county. There are several tributaries; the Snake River, Gordon's and Schlegel's [sic] Creeks. Aside from the pines of the ridges north, and the deciduous growth which wildly marks the course of each stream, Cherry county is almost bare of trees. In the lake region there is an occasional wreck of an ancient timber claim with stunted trees, and perhaps a few which have thriven; but aside from these planted trees, and away from streams, trees are very rare, an occasional hackberry being found. Clumps of often an acre or more of wild plums are very numerous, both along streams and in sandhill draws, always of shrub stature; these afford the chief relief for birds of arboreal habit. This entire region south of the Niobrara - the sandhills proper - is underlaid by a hard stratum rising gradually to the westward. In most of the area the sandhills cover this stratum, but where a valley cuts low enough through the hills to reach sufficient moisture, a luxuriant growth of grass thrives, and a fine hay valley is the result. Where the cut is still deeper a lake is formed. These lakes are uniformly fed by seepage, occasionally by springs at the western end -
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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.
