ONE is accustomed to think of Nebraska as a state with, but a brief history. And when we consider her history in relation to her forty-four sister states this is perfectly true. In another sense, however, the state has a history surprisingly old. Fully sixty years before the founding of Jamestown in Virginia and three quarters of a century prior to the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to New England shores, did white men travel over the great plains of which Nebraska forms a part, and write narratives minutely describing the fauna and flora of those parts. Not from the east but from the far southland, Mexico, came the adventurers who were first to gaze upon her virgin beauty of plain and hill. It fell to the lot of the romantic Spaniard to shed poetic glamour over the first pages of Nebraska history. And it came with the far famed expedition of Cavalier Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, which left Compostela, Mexico, February 28, 1540.

     From an early date wild stories had been afloat in New Spain (Mexico), telling about a marvelous province, Cibola, in which were said to be seven magnificent cities, far surpassing the city of the Montezuma in riches and splendor. Several expeditions were dispatched to find the much coveted prize, but all these, daunted by the terrible journey across mountain and through desert waste, despairing of success, returned empty-handed. It was not till the year 1536 that the government determined to make a concerted effort to reach Cibola. In that year Cabeza de Vaca and three companions---the only survivors of the Narvaez Expedition, which had been shipwrecked at the mouth of the Mississippi -- arrived at San Miguel on the Gulf of California. These men told marvellous tales of their tramp from gulf to gulf, of how their Indian captors had carried them from (44) tribe to tribe and how in course of these wanderings they had at one time come to mavellous cities, built of stone and brick and surpassingly rich in gold and silver. These tales gave new life to the "Cibola" stories, and stirred the covetous Spaniards to immediate action. The friar Marcos de Niza was accordingly sent forward on a preliminary expedition. This was in 1539. Marcos who evidently did discover one of the Zuni or Moqui pueblos in upper Arizonia or New Mexico, brought back glowing reports to Coronado, the governor of New Gallicia. He had, said he, not alone found fair Cibola, but the half had not been told about its marvels.

     An expedition was now organized which had for its avowed purpose the conquest and Christianization of this fairy realm. And accordingly the governor in own person set forth with a large force of horsemen, infantry and native allies, supplied with artillery and large stores of ammunition and foodstuffs. With much difficulty he made his way across the mountains

and into eastern Arizona, and there stormed the strongly built stone pueblo of Hawiku, which may yet be seen in its ruined state. This was, no doubt, one of friar Marcos "Seven Cities." Not finding the fabled riches here, Coronado sent out expeditions to the west and north, which explored the country as far as the mud pueblos of Tusayan and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. But as these expeditions were equally unsuccessful, the small army was ordered eastward and wintered on the banks of the Rio Grande in New Mexico.

     During the winter of 1540-41 the river tribes were subjugated after fierce resistance. Such shocking cruelty did the Spaniards display in their fights with the tribes that these in a dire extremity preferred death by fire to the small mercy of their Christian conquerors. At this juncture an Indian warrior appeared before Coronado with a strange story about "the great kingdom of Quivera" lying many leagues to the northeast. A wonderful land indeed was this, "with its river seven miles wide, in which fishes large as horses were found; its immense canoes; its trees hung with golden (45) bells, and dishes of solid gold." This remarkable tale had all the effect that could have been intended for it. The credulous Spaniards took the bait and one self sacrificing red man, thinking more of ravaged kin than life, led the way into the Stalked Plains of Texas, drawing the hated white man as far as possible from the poor, tortured, peace-loving tribes at home.

     After 700 miles of weary plodding across "mighty plains and sandy heaths" the explorers reached the banks of a great river which they called "St. Peter or St. Paul," and which from all reports must have been the Arkansas. Prior to leaving this stream the leader ordered the main body of his soldiers back to the old camp on the Rio Grande; with only 30 picked and mounted men did he then continue the search for Quivera. Northward, day after day, till 48 had sped by, did they continue--not always in a straight line, but searching out the country as they advanced.

     And here let us pause long enough in our search for the promised land to peruse a quaint but graphic description of early day life on the great buffalo plain, as it comes from the pen of the Spanish chronicler, the first civilized man to see such wonders: "The men." he says, "clothe and shoo themselves with lether, and the women which are esteemed for their long lockes, cover their heads . . . with the same. They have no bread of any kinds of graine, as they say, which I account a very great matter. Their chiefest foode is flesh, and that oftentimes they eate raw, either of custome or for lacke of wood. They eate the f atts as they take it out of the oxe, and drinke the bloode hotte, and die not therewithall, though the ancient writers say that it killeth, as Empedochs and others affirmed. They drinke it also colde dissolved in water. They seeth not the flesh for lack of pots, but rost it, or so to say more properly, warme it at a fire of Oxedung; when they eat, they chaw their meate but little, and raven up much, and holding the flesh with their teeth, they cut it with rasors of stone which seemeth to be great beazstialitie; but such is their manner of living and fashion. They goe together in companies, and moove from one place to another as the wild Moores of Barbarie, called Alarbes doe, following the seasons and the pasture after their oxen.

     "These Oxen are of the bignesse and color of our Bulles, but their hornes are not so great., They have a great bunch upon their fore shouldres, and more haire on their fore part than on their binder part, and it is like wool. They have as it were an horse-manne upon their backe bone, and much haire and very long from their knees downward. They have great tuftes of haire hanging downe at their chinnes and throates. The males have very long tailes and a great knobbe and flocke at the end: so that in some respect they resemble the lion, and in some other the camell. They push with their hornes, they runne, they overtake and kill an horse, when they are in their rage and anger. Finally it is a foule and fierce beast of countenance and form of bodie. The horses fledde from them, either because of their deformitie, or because theye had never seen them."

     In July the expedition reached a group of tepee villages somewhere (46) near the borderline between Kansas and Nebraska. Coronado, at last satisfied that he had been duped by his crafty guide, straightway hanged that unfortunate to a tree on the banks of a stream which may have been the Republican or the Blue, in Nebraska. Farther to the north, he was told, was another large stream, presumably the Platte. No records are left to show that he approached this river any nearer.

     This we know, however, that he now turned eastward, marching till he reached the banks of a "large tributary of the Mississippi," no doubt the Missouri. And there he set up across with the inscription: "Thus far came Francisco de Coronado, General of an Expedition."

     Upon returning home to his province our explorer wrote a lettter to the Viceroy of New Spain, in which he states that "the province of Quivera is 950 leagues (3,230 miles) from Mexico. The place I have reached is 40° in latitude. The earth is the best possible for all kinds of productions of Spain, for while it is very strong and black, it is very well watered by brooks, springs and rivers. I found prunes like those of Spain, some of which were black, also some excellent grapes and mulberries. "

     Much good ink has been wasted in efforts to determine the exact northward limits of Coronado's march. One of the most learned of the scholars writing upon this subject is Judge Jas. W. Savage, whose interesting paper is found in the Nebraska State Historical Society's report for the year 1880. The gist of this gentleman's argument is that Coronado simply could not have failed to have reached the Platte or at least the Republican in Nebraska. He says that "from the point where he left his army, Coronado must have proceeded in a direction west of north. "They had diverged too much toward Florida," says Castanada. The time occupied in the march by the detachment is uncertain; Castanada gives it as "forty-eight days, while Coronado says in one place that it was forty, and in another forty two days. Taking the lowest of these numbers, and conceding that it includes also the twenty-five days spent by the general in exploring Quivera, and there was ample time to reach the Platte or the Republican River." Now here we have it, "there was ample time," but have we the proof? Everything being equal, as we say, he should have reached both the Republican and the Platte, but, alas! what does this prove? Such hypotheses are dangerous to say the least, and we must not in our enthusiasm run away from the hard, cold fact. To the writer it does not appear that the evidence in the case is sufficient to substantiate the allegation; he prefers, therefore, to let, the case rest upon Coronado's own statement that he reached 40° north latitude. And this may mean that he never set foot on Nebraska soil, and again, that he advanced some distance into the state.

     "In the twenty-five years since Judge Savage presented his paper a great deal of new light has been shed on the subject. The route of Coronado has been minutely studied. It has been established beyond question that the Quivera Indians were the Wichitas,--they being the only Indians in all that region who built grass houses. A great river which (47) Coronado crossed on his way to Quivera has been very closely identified as the Arkansas. With these two points conceded it is not hard to fix the valley of the Kansas river in the vicinity of Fort Rily as the true site of Quivera. Here are the remains of a vast former Indian population, --acres of rough flint axes, knives and arrow beads, and at a distance of a few miles other remains of a finer flint workmanship mixed with thousands of fragments of pottery. Exploration begun in 1896 on this site by Mr. J. V. Brower of Minnesota, culminated in

 the declaration by him that he had rediscovered Quivera."--A. E. Sheldon in Semi-Centennial History of Nebraska, Lincoln. 1904.

     It is surprising how often even really great scholars will overreach themselves in their zealous endeavors to substantiate their claims and to prove their contentions. Much eager credulity is too often displayed in attempts to prove one's pet theory. And in this respect it seems to me, our (48) esteemed friend, Jugde Savage, was no exception. He states in a note to his paper "that the engineer of the new branch of the Union Pacific Railway, now building northward along one of the forks of the Loup, report numerous ancient mounds along their route, and many evidences of once populous cities. Specimens of the ancient pottery, with the shards of which the ground is thickly strewn, are almost identical with those still to be found at Pecos and other cities in New Mexico. This fact is peculiarly interesting in view of one of the statements of the Turk, just before his execution, to the exasperated Spaniards, that the cities to which he was conducting them were still beyond."

     The "new branch of the Union Pacific Railway" here spoken of is none other than the Republican Valley (Union Pacific) Railway between Grand Island and Ord, and then refers more particularly to that section of the road which lies between St. Paul and Ord. To think that the railway engineers should have found "evidences of once populous cities" on the beautiful Loup will certainly come as a surprise to the many old settlers of the Valley who as early as 1872 became familiar with almost every foot of ground between "Athens," and "The Forks" of the Loup and the Calamus, but who never dreamt of any such great past for their beloved valley. Many of them were good old plainsmen, too, and well versed in Indian lore. They were not ignorant of the fact that theirs was an "Indian country," and that it had for years been the stamping ground of two great, contending Indian nations, the Pawnees and the Sioux. Almost any pioneer from the early seventies can show a goodly collection of chipped arrows spear heads, war clubs and specimens of pottery. They were acquainted, and well acquainted with the so-called mounds, but never had cause to disassociate them with the Indians of their time. Even now the zealous collector may when the ground is burned over chance upon chipped flints and shards of broken pottery in great abundance. The author, who has been identified with the valley for almost 25 years and who knows by sight the outline contour of almost every hill bordering the valley for 50 miles or more, has spent much time in excavating the "mounds" and has been well repaid for his efforts with a store of wampum flints and pottery. But that these "mounds" and deserted camps bore "evidences" of some great and buried civilization certainly never occurred to him. Indeed, his knowledge of Indian lore, limited as it is, has but a very prosaic explanation for the "evidences, " and forces him thus, at one fell stroke, to rob the valley of the distinction of having been the wonderful province of Quivera, the realm of Tartarrax, "the long-boarded, gray-haired and rich, who took his noon day sleep in a garden of roses, under a huge, spreading tree, to the branches of which were suspended innumerable gold balls, which sounded in exquisite harmony when shaken by the wind.''

     The "once populous cities" we do not hesitate to state, were chateaux en Espagne in the minds of men more at home in engineering than in ethnology. Old, deserted Pawnee and Sioux camps took on marvelous shapes in their imagination and the hilltop burial grounds became, by (49) some strange mind contortion, mounds of unknown wealth and antiquity. No, let us stick to the fact. The North. Loup Valley was at no time the home of the semi-civilized Indian. But up and down its whole length the barbarous plains Indians, for untold ages, lived and fought and died. His bones lie buried there and the Manitou still guards the sacred places of the departed.

     When Coronado, discouraged and heartsore, forever turned his back upon Nebraska, the darkness of barbarism again settled down over the plains, not to be dispelled for another 200 years. Not till after the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1808 did men's minds turn to the possibilities of the great unknown West. The Lewis and Clark Expedition left St. Louis on the 14th of May, 1804, and spent two whole years exploring the great purchase. The reports brought back tended to familiarize the east with this vast region and its unlimited resources, and paved the way to the first commercial enterprise between the two sections of our country. Even before Lewis and Clark skirted the state had enterprising Frenchmen crossed the Missouri in quest of pelts. Pierre and August Choteau, brothers engaged in the fur trade, are known to have passed beyond the forks of the Platte away back in 1762. They may at that early date have trailed along the Loup, fully a hundred years in advance of the first settlers. 

     Traders, hunters and explorers soon began to pour into the "Indian country," beyond the Missouri. The first known settlement on Nebraska soil was a trading post founded at Bellevue by a wealthy Spaniard, Manuel Lisa, in 1805. The American Fur Company organized by that early captain of industry, John Jacob Aster, established its Missouri headquarters at Bellevue in 1810. This post became the center of a monster traffic with the Indian tribes as far westward as the mountains. Other posts were established for like purposes at Omaha, in 1825, and at Nebraska City, in, 1826.

     Lack of space forbids a detailed account of the men, the first to blaze the way for later comers to the territory. A bare list of names and dates of a few must suffice. Lieutenant Zebulon Pike travelled through southern Nebraska on his way to the Rockies in the fall of 1806. Thos. Nutell and John Bradbury spent a part of 1808 in the territory botanizing. Major Stephen Long crossed the Missouri into Nebraska on the 10th day of June 1819, and traversed the state from east to west. William Asheley, the head of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company of St. Louis, ascended the Missouri in boats, to the mouth of the Yellowstone. This was in 1822. Colonel John C. Fremont left St. Louis in May, 1842, bound upon his important trip across the purchase to the mountains. He spent part of the summer in Nebraska.

     At this juncture an event of much interest, occurred. It was the advent of Mormons to Nebraska soil. This religious sect had been driven from its home at Nauvoo, Illinois, and was now, after much buffeting around, massing on the banks of the Missouri, preparatory to crossing the (50) "Great Desert" to the Promised Land beyond the reach of law. Immediately above Omaha, where the present town of Florence lies, some 15,000 Mormons established a camp, spoken of as "Winter Quarters." Here they remained through 1845-46, and to all intents began permanent settlement. Such inroads did they make however on the timber up and down the valley that the Indians, angered at what they considered wanton devastation of their lands, sent a bitter complaint to the government. This resulted in a peremptory order for the Mormons to move on. The terrible journey to the Great Salt Lake was thus begun. Months of toil and hardship, of suffering and death, amidst the burning desert sands and at the hands of hostile Indian bands finally brought the wearied advance guard into the beautiful Jordan Valley. But at what a cost! The trail from "Winter Quarters" to Salt Lake City was indelibly marked out for later comers, Castaway garments, broken and burned vehicles, bleaching bones of cattle and horses fallen by the wayside, and graves-of weary pilgrims scattered along the rout of a thousand miles told the cost.

     Many a disheartened wanderer shrank from facing these hardships and preferred to settle along the route of progress in the fertile valleys of Nebraska. In this way numerous small Mormon settlements sprang up along the Platte and its opened forks. The most interesting of these, in many respects, was the Genoa settlement in Nance county, Nebraska Territory in 1854. Here a large tract of land was enclosed and divided among a hundred families comprising the original settlers and foundations for solid prosperity were laid. Unfortunately for them this land was part of the tract set aside by the government for the Pawnee Indians, under the treaty of 1857. On account of this circumstance they could not obtain title to the lands. In addition to this trouble frequent raids upon their cattle and horses by Sioux and Pawnees
alike made life precarious. It thus came about that the settlement was abandoned and today only a few low, crumbling earthworks mark the spot.

     Then came the gold fever. This most seductive of metals was discovered in 1848, and by the following year thousands were already moving through the Platte Valley on their way to California. This event was of much importance to the future history of the state. "The moving host left here and there a permanent impress upon the land nor was this all; the land in turn so charmed the eye, and created so abiding an impression on the mind of many a beholder, that wearied with the unequal contest of the (51) camp, they abandoned the pick and spade for the surer implements of husbandry; remembering the beautiful valley of the Platte, they sought its peaceful hills and plains wherein to erect homes for their declining years." In 1851 one William D. Brown established a ferry on the Missouri River between the trading post of "Lone Tree," or Omaha, founded back in 1825, and the present Council Bluffs. The effect was to divert a measure of the traffic held by "Winter Quarters'' and Bellevue and to lay the foundations for the growth of Nebraska's future metropolis. Furthermore the discovery of gold and the consequent growth of empire on the Pacific led to the erection of the trans-continental railway lines. Thus originated the Union Pacific, hugging close the old overland trail, and other trunk lines which together have been the means of throwing open wide the vast resources of the state.

     Indeed did the opening of the great Overland route work wonders in the development in the future state. Favorable reports were by the thousands flocking to the gold coast or returning home, carried to all parts of the country. The exceptional advantages held out to all turned the tide of immigration into the Nebraska valleys, and prosperous communities sprang up along the many rivers. Politicians, too, casting about for more territory to erect into slave states early took a hand in the making of the new commonwealth. But, first, let us pause for a moment.

     In 1803 the most important real estate transaction in American history was consummated. On the 30th of April of that year, Napoleon Bonaparte, acting for France, ceded to the United States that vast region lying between the Mississippi and the Rockies, popularly known as the Louisiana Purchase. Thus, for the paltry sum of $15,000,000--less than four cents an acre-were 1,182.752 square miles of the richest lands in the world added to our domain, and at the same fortunate stroke was the future mastery of the Western Hemisphere by the United States made an assured fact. On the 20th of December the Stars and Stripes were raised in New Orleans "amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants," and the purchase became American soil.

     Prior to the purchase of Louisiana the Ohio river was considered the line of demarcation between the free north and slave south. About year 1820 the slavery agitation began to take on a new and dangerous face. The struggle had by this time come to center in the national congress. Southern politicians feared to lose the balance of power in Congress and persistently hold out for more slave territory, which would mean more representatives in Congress favorable to the perpetuation of their system.

     The province of Maine asked for admission as a state in 1819 and the House of Representatives promptly passed the bill: but when it came before the Senate, a clause providing for Missouri as a slave state was tacked on by the way of amendment. After much heated debate the matter was compromised. The contesting factions accepted an amendment proposed by Jess B. Thomas of Illinois, which provided, "that in all that territory ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which (52) lies north of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery . . . shall be and is hereby forever prohibited." In plain language, Missouri became a slave state and slavery was forbidden in the remainder of the Louisiana territory north of Arkansas. In this way it came about that slavery could never be lawfully carried on within the bounds of the future state of Nebraska.

     When Missouri was admitted to statehood the territory yet unorganized became grossly neglected. Finally in 1834, the jurisdiction of the United States District Court of Missouri was extended over part of it; another portion, was annexed to Michigan Territory, and the remainder became a part of Arkansas Territory. A natural consequence of this arrangement was the great laxity in law and order on the frontier. Almost the only protection against the lawless element in certain parts infesting the territory, was the few military posts scattered here and there at long intervals.

     Naturally enough the settlers began to long for a more stable form of government.

     Meanwhile the slavery question would not down. The California problem had opened again partially healed sectional wounds. That rich territory, it will be remembered, lies partly north and partly south of the old line of demarcation -- latitude 36° 30'. Naturally enough this led the pro-slavery people to hope for the erection of a slave state on the Pacific. In this they were however destined to sore disappointment as California, in December, 1849, asked for admission as a free state. The south felt outraged.

     Have we not, exclaimed southern men, been robbed of the richest region acquired from Mexico--the region of the war acquisition best suited to the furtherance of our system! Just so, and hadn't California and extension of slavery to the Pacific been one of the most potent causes of the war? Exactly. Little wonder the contest grew exceedingly bitter, and engendered a dangerous spirit on both sides of the Mason and Dixon line. Again was balm poured upon sectional feeling and the inevitable breach postponed for a few years longer. This came about through the Compromise of 1850. But the remedy proved in time almost as bad as the disease and early proved a disappointment to friends of peace in both sections of the country. Out of it came, in 1857, the Dred Scott Decision by the United States Supreme Court, which to all intents opened all northern territory to the nefarious traffic. A northern democrat who held that the Compromise of 1850 had nullified the Missouri Compromise was Stephen Arnold Douglas, United States Senator from Illinois. For many years this gentleman had been anxious to organize the vast territory lying west of Missouri and Iowa. In January, 1854, Douglas introduced a bill to provide for the organization of all this tract as the territory of Nebraska. The bill provided "that this territory should be admitted to the Union at some future time as one state or as several states, with or without slavery as their constitution may prescribe at this time." Douglas was an ardent (53) advocate of "Popular Sovereignty" and desired to leave the question of slavery or no slavery to the vote of the people of the proposed states. Before its final passage the bill was changed to provide for the organization of two territories, Kansas and Nebraska, instead of just Nebraska. Of these, the latter was to include all that part of the region lying between 40° and 49° north latitude, and extending from the Missouri and the White Earth River to the mountains. The bill finally passed both houses and was signed by President Pierce on the 30th of, May.

     The limits of the new territory were greatly reduced in 1861, when all the region north of the 43d parallel became a part of Dakota Territory. The same year a part of the southwest corner was added to Colorado and the western limit definitely settled on the 110th meridian. This left Nebraska in the shape of a rectangle some 700 miles long and fully 200 miles wide. A further carving down occurred in 1863. Then the portion to the west of the 104th meridian was added to Idaho Territory. This reduced Nebraska to the present limits, if we except a very small strip in the northwest, added to the state in 1882.

     As a first step in the organization of Nebraska Territory, the president, Franklin Pierce, appointed Francis Burt of South Carolina, governor, and Thomas B. Cuming of Iowa, secretary. The governor reached Bellevue October 7, 1854, and took up his abode with Rev. William Hamilton, in charge of the Presbyterian Mission House there. No sooner had the new head of the government arrived than sickness forced him to take to his bed; from this he was destined never again to rise.

     In spite of sickness the oath of office was administered to him by Chief Justice Ferguson. This took place on the 16th of October and two days later the governor was dead. Thus the very first act in the history of the new territory became a sad and tragic one.

     Secretary Cuming immediately took up the reins of government and first of all ordered a census taken. To this end the territory was divided into six counting districts. By November 20th the table of returns from all districts was completed, and showed a population of 2,732, which, no doubt consisted in a great part of "floaters" on their way through the counting districts. The population ascertained, the acting governor next apportioned the 13 councilmen and 26 representatives provided for in the Organic Act among eight voting districts. The first general election ever held in Nebraska occurred on the 12th day of December, 1854, at which time not only were the 89 legislators elected but also a representative to Congress.

     The machinery of government was now set in motion in all its departments. The first Territorial Legislature convened, in obedience to gubernatorial proclamation, at Omaha City, January 16, 1855, and the bitter contest for the location of the territorial capital was on. Governor Burt had intended to make Bellevue the seat of government; but his early demise gave the acting governor an opportunity to decide in favor of his personal choice, Omaha. For days after the opening of the session crowds of (54) armed men paraded the streets of Omaha and vowed that no session should be held there. Fortunately these hot headed pioneers did not go beyond threats, and our new territorial escutcheon was spared the stains of early, needless bloodshed. Florence, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth, and several towns farther inland, were all eager to capture the plum, and now for twelve years was the fight wagged with unceasing bitterness, at one time indeed causing the secession of a part of the Territorial Legislature in favor of Florence. The struggle developed into a fight for sectional supremacy--it became the North Platte country against the South Platte country. At last when Nebraska in 1867 was admitted to the union, Lincoln in Lancaster county, became the permanent capital.

     It is not our purpose in these pages to attempt a portrayal of the state history of our noble commonwealth. In the passage from this part of the work to the story of the North Loup Valley let it here suffice that the statehood question came up at a very early date. In 1860 the people voted

down a proposal to call a constitutional convention. Congress passed an Enabling Act four years later, and in 1866 a constitution was adopted by the state. Congress immediately ratified this action by passing the "Admission Act" of July 18, 1866. This act was however pocket-vetoed by President Johnson. Next February he again vetoed a similar bill; but this was passed over his veto and Nebraska became a state upon the first day of March, 1867.

     Thirty-seven years of peaceful development have changed the state from the wild "Indian Country" that it was to one of the richest agricultural states in the Union. This evolution, indeed, albeit suprisingly rapid, was not brought about but at some cost. Our fathers, who first broke the virgin prairie, suffered all the hardships consequent upon the settlement of a new country, before we their children could enjoy the fruits of their labor. There were the Indian uprisings, with sad stories of (55) settlements destroyed and families broken up, repeated destruction of crops by swarms of locusts, destructive windstorms in summer and blizzards in winter, hail storms and droughts, in a word, all the evils and hardships that go hand in hand with blazing a trail in the unknown.

     In education, Nebraska bears the proud distinction of having the lowest percent of illiteracy in the United States. The public school system has reached a degree of excellence attained by but few of the older states. 250 public high schools with almost 16,000 scholars, 19 private high schools and academies with 700 students, an excellent state university with 2,500 students, and a dozen flourishing denominational and private schools for higher education are all doing their share in the great work of maintaining for the state the high intellectual rank already attained.

     The increase in population, too, has been remarkable. The census of 1854 showed only 2732. Since that time, by decades, the census shows the following figures: In 1860, 28,841; 1870, 122,993, 1880, 452,402; 1890, 1,058,910; 1900, 1,066,300. In the decade 1890-1900 the population remained almost stationary. This is accounted for by the serious droughts which were especially severe in the early nineties. A number of the western counties actually decreased in population on this account at that time. Since 1900 there has been a steady and even rapid influx in population, and every county in the state has showed a marked increase.

     Nebraska is chiefly an agricultural state. All the cereals are raised, though corn is the most important crop. Up to 1880 the acreage of wheat was almost as great as that of corn, but since that time the acreage of the former decreased more than 2-5 of the entire area devoted to it. Since 1890, however, wheat culture has again forged to the fore to such a marked extent indeed that the acreage which in 1890 amounted to 798,855, was ten years later, 2,538,940. The corn crop acreage increased during the same decade from 5,480,279 to 7,835, 187, and the hay and forage crop from 2,462,245 to 2,823,652.

     The census of 1900 further shows that for the census year $4,137,000 was realized from the sale of dairy products, while an equally great amount was consumed by the farm population. This is remarkable in the face of the fact that a few years ago dairying as we now understand it was of but little importance. Then cattle were raised chiefly for the packing trade. The beef raising industry is nevertheless on the increase. In 1900 there were in the state 2,663,699 head of cattle. In the same year only three states exceeded Nebraska in the number of swine.

     Politically, Nebraska is ranked as a republican state. In every national election save one, that of 1896, when a favorite son, William Jennings Bryan, carried the state, has it cast its electoral vote for the republican candidate. In state politics, as will appear from the appended list of territorial and state governors, the elections have by no means been so uniformly republican:

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