"To me it seems, that to look on the first land that was ever lifted above the wasted waters, to follow the shore where the earliest animals and plants were created when the thought of God first expressed itself in organic forms, to hold in one's hand a bit of stone from an old sea-beach, hardened into rock thousands of centuries ago, and studded with the beings that once crept upon its surface or were stranded there by some retreating wave, is even of deeper interest to man, than the relics of their own race, for these things tell more directly of the thought and creative acts of God. -- Jean Louis Agassiz.

     IT DOES not come within the scope of this work to dwell at any length upon the evolution of our state from the primal rock. Such a discussion, while interesting in the extreme, belongs rather to the field of science than to that of history; the space herein allotted it is therefore necessarily somewhat limited. Particularly is this true since the bulk of the text is intended to narrate the story not so much of Nebraska as a whole, as the living, throbbing history of a limited section of the state -- the Loup Valley. However, a passing glance at the geological structure of Nebraska may not be altogther out of place.

     In the aeons of time since Creation, our planet, the Earth, has passed through many marvelous changes. At first a companion star to the Sun, blazing a path through the universe, cooling gradually, its enshrouding mantle of vapors condensing to water, the Earth became involved in a universal, shoreless ocean. Then countless ages slowly slipped away; the first folds of contracting firerock-crust of the earth appeared, and we had the first dry land. In the Western World the wedge-shaped Laurentian Highlands, approaching the shores of Hudson Bay, had appeared, and strips of land were slowly emerging to the east of the present Appalachians, and in the western part of the United States stretching from Colorado to California. This was during the so-called Archian Time--the dawn of earth-building And all through this immense age, as far as we know, Nebraska formed a part of the bed of a turbulent ocean.

     Now followed the Paleozoic (Ancient Life) Time during which the land (18) areas were gradually enlarged, and myriad forms of strange organisms appeared. Geologists usually divide this aeon into three distinct ages: The Age of Invertebrates--subdivided into the Upper and Lower Silurian Eras--when numberless Sponges, Corals, Starfishes, Molluska and other strange animal types dominated the ocean depths, and a few terrestrial plants appeared; the Age of Fishes, or Devonian Era, when the ocean swarmed with sharks, gar-pikes and turtlelike placoderms of huge size; and the Carboniferous Age--subdivided into Subcarboniferous, Carboniferous and Permian Eras--when coal plants grew and the coal measures were formed.

     During neither the Age of Invertebrates nor the succeeding age of Fishes did dry land appear in Nebraska. Vast land stretches had however been added to the Archian backbone and numerous islands dotted the present states of Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa.

     The Subcarboniferous Era, too, must be passed over as unproductive so far as Nebraska is concerned. But we now approach the Carboniferous Age proper, of absorbing interest because then did the first dry land appear in Nebraska, and because during its progress were the greatest and most valuable coal measures formed.

     That the Era was of great duration there cannot be the slightest doubt. "A murky, cloudy atmosphere, surcharged with carbon-dioxide gas, enveloped the earth and gave it a uniform hothouse temperature. A vegetation remarkable in its luxuriance sprang up. Conifers much akin to the Araucanian pines of present day equatorial regions flourished and ferns of surpassing grace and beauty grew to the size of mighty trees." The American Continent over its broad surface was now just balancing itself near the water's edge, part of the time bathing in it and then out in the free air. From Pennsylvania to eastern Nebraska and central Kansas, it presented a changing view "of vast jungles, lakes with floating grove islands, and some dry-land forests." Vast amounts of vegetable debris accumulated, forming peat beds of varying depths.

     The era of verdure then gradually drew to a close. A general settling of vast land areas took place and salt water by degrees submerged the low lands, destroying every vestige of the late prolific vegetation. Thus, we may picture the old peat-marsh, with its bottom full of stumps and roots, in position as they grew, with its surface covered over with heaps of leaves, branches and prostrate tree trunks, to have been overwhelmed and buried. Subjected to enormous pressure from accumulating top sediment and slow chemical change, it, in time, became one of the several coal measures. Alternate submergance and emergance of the surface crust readily explains the alternation, in these rockbeds, of coal seams with layers of sandstones, conglomerate, shales, clays and limestones. The second and largest coal measures of this age extends from Texas and Arkansas northward through Kansas and Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. The westward boundary is near the central part of Kansas, and crosses the state line into Nebraska near the banks of the Blue River, whence it takes a northeasterly trend, (19)

(20) leaving the state in southern Washington county. It will thus be seen that part or the whole of some twelve counties in our state overlie these interesting beds. In Richardson county a workable stratum has been encountered, though borings at Lincoln and other places seem to indicate that profitable mines should not be looked for in Nebraska.
     
     The closing period of the Paleozoic aeon was the Permian Age, in which the ocean once more prevailed, though with gradually contracting limits. The greater part of Nebraska was yet a part of the ocean bed, covered by turbulent waters. On stormy days the breakers must have roared along the shore and hurled their spray against the limestone cliffs now marked by a line drawn from Beatrice in Gage county to Blair in Washington county. Some fifteen of our present day counties in southeast Nebraska had by this time lifted their surface above the waters; all else were engulfed in the briny deep.

     The Permian Age is in reality a transition period which ushers in the next great aeon of time, the Mesozoic or Middle Life. This is also called the Era of Reptiles "for never in the history of the earth were reptiles so abundant, of such size and variety, or so highly organized as then." The era includes three periods: 1. The Triassic, so named for the triple rockbeds in Germany; 2. The Jurassic, named after the Jura Mountains in France; 3. The Cretaceous, from the Latin creta, chalk, referring to the formation of large chalk beds in England and continental Europe.

     Careful examination of the rock strata of our state fails to disclose the least trace of a Juro-Triassic deposit. The probable explanation of this fact seems to be that this region had now, all of it, by some upward movement of the earth, become dry land. The continental sea had retired to Kansas on the south and Colorado on the west. The indications are that Nebraska then drained westward, emptying her surface water into Colorado, where flood-time deposits of Triassic and Jurassic land fossils are now to be sought. If the above supposition is correct, it stands to reason that the deposits of the age, which were all of them submarine, could not have been formed in Nebraska, hence we find our Permian rocks directly overlaid by rocks of the Cretaceous period.

     During these numberless centuries of dry land existence in Nebraska,

(21) And yet the marsh was slowly becoming upland, though the climate was still moist and warm. A tropical vegetation of myriad species of giant ferns and noble cycads again clad the land with brilliant hues. These immense thickets and forests teemed with animal life. Most striking were the giant Brontosaurus of the Wyoming fossil beds, often measuring 60 feet in length; the Atlantosaurus, which reached the phenomenal length of 80 feet; and the lately discovered gigantic Stegosaurus, remarkable for a series of huge bony plates mounted along the back. As if these curious creatures were not enough to give character to the time we find uncanny, birdlike reptiles, pterosaurs, swarming the upper air and adding much to this the strangest and most interesting of faunas.

     The Cretaceous period marks the beginning of the end of the Mesozoic Era. A general subsidence now set in which seems to have embraced even the Rocky Mountain region. The latter, together with the eastward-lying plain, was once more brought to the water level. A marine bay broke northward from the Gulf of Mexico and, before the middle of the period, covered Texas, Indian Territory, part of Kansas the western half of Nebraska, and much territory lying northwestward.

     Thus the Rocky Mountain nucleus was again reduced to groups of islands, as in Paleozoic times, and all western Nebraska (22) was once more, tho now for the last time, a part of the ocean bed 'Toward the later part of the period the continent slowly rose again and the great western internal sea was narrowed and made shallow, the connection between the Gulf and the Arctic Seas was interrupted, lakes of fresh water, bays and swamps with brakish water, took the place of the ocean, and vast quantities of vegetable matter were formed in the marshes of this closing epoch. But this was more than a period of emergence; indeed a great geologic revolution was preparing. From the plains on the, east to the Wasatch, the entire Rocky Mountain region was thrown into a series of earth folds; the crust was bent and the mountain system, as we have it today, was lifted up, getting a drainage seaward. Nebraska now faced eastward, a part of the continental plain.

     The Cretaceous deposits in Nebraska are of vast extent and importance. For convenience the strata have been classified into the following groups: The Dakota, extending from near Dakota City, where many outcroppings are to be found, in a south-westerly direction, underlying practically every part of the state; the Fort Benton Group, lying conformably on the Dakota Group in the eastern part of the state; the Niobrara Group, extending from the mouth of the Niobrara River, dipping under the central-portion of the state and reappearing again in the southwest in Harlan county; the Fort Pierre Group lying above the Niobrara deposits, cropping out in Knox county and other places; the Laramie Group, exposed in southwestern counties.

     These beds comprise various clays, chalks and sandstones, and are, rich (23) in finds of fossil leaves and remains of animal life. Thus several hundred species of ferns, cycads and conifers have been counted, and some hundred or more reptile forms, ranging in size from twelve to seventy-five feet are known to have existed.

     The last great aeon in geological history is now at hand. This is the Cenozoic Time, or Era of Modern Life. A higher vegetation makes its appearance and the great reptiles are rapidly giving way to higher species of animal life--the mammals. For convenience this aeon is divided into two ages, the Tertiary and the Quaternary.

     The Tertiary Age embraces three epochs, the Eocene, the Miocene and the Pliocene. Of these only the latter two are represented in Nebraska. From our discussion above it will be borne in mind that over the western part of the continent the region of marine waters was past. The Rocky Mountain revolution had left the Great Plains a part of the continent. 

      But this plain was yet very near the sea level, the proof of which is found in the existence of vast lakes of fresh water both east and west of the Rocky Mountain range. These were not, however, contemporaneous, but succeeded one another as the age proceeded. Thus, in Nebraska we find no trace of Eocene lake beds. Conditions were on the other hand quite changed during Miocene times; for then a fresh water lake covered much of the western part of the state, receiving the drainage of the rivers that now have their outlet in the Missouri. Into this lake bed were carried broken down materials from the Rocky Mountain axis and the Black Hills, and from the higher lying Juro-Triassic and Cretaceous deposits. Hither. too, were gathered, as in an immense cemetery, remnants of all the vegetable and animal life of the epoch. A gradual uplifting of strata has left these lake bottoms high and dry. Erosion too has changed their contour much, cutting valleys, leaving cliffs and buttes in endless variety.

     These Mauvais Terres of the French trapper, or "Bad Lands" are today (24) clearly defined in the White River Country of northwestern Nebraska, and covers hundreds of square miles in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. The writer has personally inspected these regions, and nowhere is the story of the past told in more forcible language than in this vast graveyard. Banks full of fossil bones, baccolites, huge petrified tortoises, and fossil leaves tell the story of how Nebraska looked in those times. Magnolias, oaks, palms, figs, maples, lindens and pines grew in wild luxuriance, and the giant sequoias of California grew on every hill. Indeed, a semi-tropical vegetation stretched far away towards the Pole. Droves of Miocene horses frequented the lake shores, the ancestral hog wallowed in the bogs, flocks of monkeys chattered in the treetops, and plain and forest were the haunt and breeding ground of droves of huge mastadons and wicked-eyed rhinoceroces, and tapirs. Such were then the Ha-koosi-tcha, or hard-lands-to-travel over, as the Sioux nomad has seen fit to designate these regions.

     The Pliocene Epoch of the Tertiary Age is marked by a general enlargement of the old Miocene lake bed, particularly eastward and southwestward. The Pliocene strata in Nebraska far outreach the Miocene and are, on this account, found to overlie the Cretacious from the central counties east. These beds were of considerable thickness but thin out eastward since the bulk of the materials forming them came from the mountains. Much of the Pliocene material is exceedingly coarse. Beds of conglomerate rock, made up "of waterworn pebbles, feldspar and quartz in masses, and some (25) small pieces or chips of all the Archian rocks" overlie beds of much worn sandstones and clays.

     Along the Loup Forks, and in other localities, the upper beds have become decomposed and an immense amount of fine sand of a more or less stable nature has heaped up to form the famous "sand hills." Beneath lie strata of compacted gravel; then come limestone formations, yellow grits and

layers of many colored sands and clays. In many places on the North Loup River calcarious outcroppings are seen. Such are the bottom rocks forming the "Falls of the Loup" the sandstones and limestones forming the channel bottom near old Willow Springs in Garfield county, and again near Scotia in Greeley county.

     With the close of the Tertiary Age and the opening of the Quaternary (26) Age a great change came over the earth. In Nebraska the lakebeds gradually drained out, and there is evidence to show that the semi-tropical conditions which had so long existed were now undergoing changes. Arctic conditions began to prevail at the north, gradually extending into what is now the North Temperate zone, pushing, as it were, both fauna and flora equatorward. Much of the old life was exterminated or forced to give way before the rigors of the Glacial Period which was now preparing.

     For reasons which it does not come within our province to discuss here the temperature of North America gradually fell so low that the snows of winter, accumulated too rapidly for the summer's warmth to remove. The result was a glaciation of vast land areas. A great ice sheet, forced by its own weight, slowly moved southward, enfolding the earth in its embrace, In the west we, know that it extended almost to the 36th degree north latitude. Traces of the ice movement in Nebraska are abundant. Along the Missouri wherever the superficial deposits are removed the underlying limestone beds are worn smooth as glass and are full of glacial scratches and flutings. Indications are that the drift covered at least the eastern one third of the state. Here are found the beds of blue clay so characteristic of this period; and in strata above these, drift gravel and clay, and next above gravel and water worn boulders of various size.

     After countless ages of polar winter an era of general subsidence took place in the glaciated regions; a great increase in humidity resulted and the ice mantle began to melt and recede. Immense floods were raging in the valleys and the continent from glacier edge to the gulf was converted into an inland sea, full of floating icebergs, which drifting aimlessly about, when they melted, dropped their immense loads of sand gravel and boulders to the lake bottom. These floods covered all of Nebraska with the exception of the Miocene beds of the White River region and the western uplands and a few of the highest crests of the Pliocene deposits which lay too high to be reached by the engulfing waters. The Miocene or Pliocene formations, known to us by such names as Scott's Bluffs and Chimney Rock must, in those times, have been so many islands set in a turbulent sea. The entire Loup region was submerged throughout this period, receiving then those loess-clay deposits which have made it one of the most fertile regions in the state. A change in level now set in. "The farther retreat of the glaciers and the elevation of eastern Iowa reduced the area of this great lake. What had been a great interior sea of turbulent waters now became a system of placid lakes that extended from Nebraska and Western Iowa at intervals to the Gulf." The Missouri, Platte and other well known streams of today drained through them, carrying immense loads of ground-up Pliocene and Cretacious materials suspended in the muddy water. In the course of vast ages the lake beds became filled with this mud (loess) and, after passing through the stage of bog and marsh, became dry land. Vegetation soon covered the virgin earth; and this from its annual decay and accumulation of debris gave us the rich surface loam so characteristic to Nebraska. (27) 

     The chains of river bluffs familiar to every Nebraskan were heaped up while the river yet filled the whole trough from bluff to bluff, and, in fact, while these bluffs themselves were under water. They were in a way piled up on the flanks of the raging, mud-carrying flood current, as the glacial flood declined the waters gradually fell below the top of the bluff formation, and the first terrace or upper bench of the valley flood plain appeared. The waters continued falling and the river dwindled down to a mere run, leaving the valley terrace above terrace, bench above bench. Thus in Nebraska river basins there are often found three and even four such "bottoms." The terrace building at an end, recent time is well along and geological history need be pursued no further. The earth, topographically speaking, must have had practically its present day appearance; vegetation covered hill and valley; the highest orders of mammalia roamed over it and man took possession of it. In Nebraska, indeed, we find traces of a pre-glacial race of man. Discoveries of stone implements, and then chiefly flint arrow heads and spear-heads, have been made deep in undisturbed loess beds, side by side with bones of the mastodon and huge elk of this period. We may thus with some reason presume that man roamed the Nebraska plains ages before the advent of the long glacial winter.
     
     From the foregoing pages it may be noted that in Nebraska formations older than the Pliocene are nowhere exposed excepting the Miocene deposits in the "Bad Lands" of the northwest. The former, indeed, are represented only in a few isolated neighborhoods in the western part, where lofty "buttes" of Pliocine formation tower high above the flood plain. The remainder of the state is covered with glacial drift and loess, the drift being confined to the eastern third. The loess clay forms a soil of inexhaustible fertility, and ranges in thickness from 5 to 200 feet.

     Nebraska, the Land of Shallow Water, lies at the geographical center of the United States, and is bounded by parallels 40° and 43' North and Iongitude 95° 20' and 104° West. The extreme length of the state from east to west is 420 miles, and its breadth from north to south is 208.5 miles. In area it comprises 77,510, square miles, or 49,606,400 acres, of which nearly 500,000 acres represent water.

     The state stretches from the foothills of the Rockies to the Missouri, having a gentle eastward slope. The western halt averages more than 2,500 feet above the sea, to only 1,200, feet for the eastern half. Scott's Bluffs reach the height of fully 6,000 feet, while Richardson county is only 878 feet above the sea. Nebraska is drained entirely by the Missouri and its tributaries. Of the latter the most important are the Platte and the Niobrara, which flow through valleys extending the length of the state from west to east. The Republican comes from western Kansas and, after draining much of the "South Platte Country," returns again to that state. The Elkhorn and, farther west, the Loup are the only important northern tributaries of the Platte. The latter, with its three forks, the North, Middle and South Loup, flows from an interesting lake region in Cherry (28) county and empties into the Platte just above Columbus. This river system will presently be treated more in full.

     The climate of Nebraska is dry and exhilarating. It is subject to sudden changes in temperature, the thermometer being known to have varied from 114° to 42°. The mean temperature for January is, however, 19.7°, for July 74.8°. The nights are for the most part cool and refreshing. Nebraska autumns are delightful, the period from early frost till well toward Christmas is peculiar for its mellow, hazy atmosphere--crisp and bracing --this is the well known "Indian Summer Time." The annual rainfall is 23 inches, most of it falling east of the 100th meridian. The moisture is indeed very unevenly distributed. In the eastern half it averages 30 inches and locally it has gauged as high as 50 inches. In the western half it averages a little more than 19 inches, though on the extreme western border it scarcely reaches 10 inches. Most of the rainfall occurs between April and September, the greatest amount falling in May and June.

     As is peculiar to the great continental plain, the weather is very changeable. Snow storms, or "blizzards," may in winter burst with scarcely any warning, and rage with sudden fury over the prairie which but a few moments before lay bathed in brightest sunshine. Occasional hot winds have in summer repeatedly injured the growing crops. It is only justice, however, to add that Nebraska, east of the 99th meridian is as "safe" for agricultural purposes as any state in the union. West of this line it is better adapted for grazing purposes, where not irrigated. Nebraska climate is extremely healthful. 'The stranger settling within the state cannot help noticing a general quickening of spirit and a strange increase of vitality. His appetite becomes voracious, and he sleeps as never before. The dry, continental climate is surcharged with an invigorating ozone which acts as a new life vigor to him who comes into it from the malaria and ague ridden districts of other states.'

     To the travelling public not intimately acquainted with its topography Nebraska is a part of the Great Plains--this, and no more. Tourists have passed through the state from east to west and pronounced it a monotonous, tiresome prairie. But such impressions are at best faulty and do our great commonwealth injustice. A birdseye view would disclose a varied scene of rich valley and grassy upland, of broad basin and rolling watershed.

     The surface is indeed varied. The river valley, ranging in width from a few hundred yards to miles, is usually wooded along the river bank. Beyond the rich alluvial or sometimes sandy bottom lands lie the chain of border bluffs, steep or rounded and often of considerable height. These once passed, a gently undulating watershed meets the eye, stretching perhaps for scores of miles, or again may be for but a very brief distance, to be cut by a second bluff chain, the border of another water course.

     The northwest is wild and broken but extremely picturesque -- this is the Bad Lands. The Niobrara basin is in great part gently undulating; along the river are many almost romantic spots. Here limestone outcroppings (29) and pine-growths make one forget that this is a prairie state. To the south of the Niobrara are the "sand hills," which are mostly great dunes of Pliocene sands fantastically heaped up. This great region, which by the way, affords excellent range for cattle-grazing is gradually being covered with grasses and shrubs, and will no doubt in time become fit for agriculture. These hills with their grasses and wild flowers, occasional "blowouts" and reed-grown lakes give one an impression of a country yet in the making.

     The valley of the Platte is of a sandy nature near the river bed but, as it recedes is transformed into a fertile, rising plain north and south, losing itself in wavy undulating farmlands, as rich as found anywhere in the country. Westward the state changes from rich prairie, so well adapted to agriculture, to dry plains and sage covered foothills, the typical range country of the west. Toward the southeast are excellent farm lands, beautiful water courses and wooded lowlands. On the eastern border winds the "Big Muddy" through its great flood plain, with chains of towering bluffs on either side-bluffs remarkable for their changeful beauty. "Occasionally," says Professor Aughey, "an elevation is encountered from whose summit there are such magnificent views of river, bottom, forest and winding bluffs as to produce all the emotions of the sublime."

     "There are many landscapes everywhere of wonderful beauty along all the principal rivers. The bluffs are sometimes precipitous, but generally they round off and melt into gently rolling plains. They constantly vary, and in following them you come now into a beautiful cove, now to a curious headland, then to terraces, and however far you travel you can look in vain for a picture like the one just passed.

"Please keep in mind that I do not know anything about the areas covered on any of the maps or historical books I scan in for your benefit,
not who lived there or commercial info, so please try searching the net or check out ... http://www.Cyndislist.com "