Paul Geyer sits in the driver’s seat of his new vehicle, while Otto Sauer rides in the passenger seat. The photo was taken somewhere in Madison County, Nebraska.

James R. Vernon uses what may be a Waterloo Boy steam tractor to power the belt for a thresher on his farm located southwest of Lorenzo, Nebraska, in Logan County, Colorado.

This photo was taken prior to 1915. The original source of horse-power was still used to pull the water tanker and haul the crop in a box wagon. 

Local farmer Henry Schmitz (who would have been about 21 at the time the photo was taken) of Paul, Nebraska, may have been on the cutting edge of agricultural technology if he acquired the new Rumely Advance Straw-Burner with which he is standing.

The Sunshine School in District No. 70, in Knox County near Niobrara, Neb., was one of the last one-room school houses in the state, and therefore, in the country.

According to historian Matthew Spencer, in 1918, Nebraska had nearly 7,000 of these old-fashioned structures still being utilized. In 1986, there were still 385 one-room schoolhouses. In only two decades they would all be gone, due to department of education reclassification policies.

Relatives of Herb Deets, Otto, Ernest and  Paul Taubenheim, are cutting hay in the late 1920s. 100 years later Deets is putting up hay also for his livestock.

Aksarben 1953 pen of champions, five club steers. Bill Willers is on the left with his champion club steer.

There is a lot of history depicted in this 1955 postcard advertisement from radio station WOW.

The first bit deals with WOW, a radio station in Omaha started by the Woodmen of the World in 1923 as WOAW. The call letters became WOW in 1926.

Robert W. Kohler was born in Arizona Township some time before the turn of the 20th Century. He was initially a farmer, but a creative focus saw him become the town blacksmith.

He built and ran his own blacksmith shop in Arizona Township for many years. He continued some farming and merchant work on the side, but his mind was as fertile as the rich soil he farmed. From it sprouted many metallic originations, some of which he patented.

Wilmer and Clarence Stevens with their father George (Bruiser) Stevens and their mule Rusty. Circa. 1920.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, farm families from Iowa and Kansas were making their way further west to, hopefully, greener pastures.

Among these ag migrants were the future grandparents of Leonard C. Hadachek of Wray, Colo.

Making hay in a whole new way

Hay — alfalfa, grasses, clover or legumes — is a great source of protein for feeding animals. In the 1940s, there were major advances in the machinery that cut, dried, processed and stored the crop.

Tony rides again

Dean Stuck, Hugh Terwilliger and Rex Stuck are riding a horse named Tony in Ringgold County, Iowa in 1936.

1954: A year of change

Clare W. Roe started farming in Jewell County, Kan., in 1931. According to its Office of the Register of Deeds records, he purchased 240 acres in the northwest quarter and the west half of the northeast quarter of the county for $11,760 in September of that year.

Lurkey turkeys

This photo, originally appearing in the May 6, 2011 edition of Midwest Messenger, depicts the turkey farm of Etta and Claude Paine, circa 1940s. Their grandson, Jim Weber, recalled looking for the red turkeys’ eggs on their Nebraska farm as a child.

Henry McDonald and his wife Ethel owned a 150-acre farm located on Pratt Drive, six miles south of Knoxville in Marion County, Iowa. They raised corn, dairy cattle and a few sheep on the farm situated near the convergence of English Creek and Wolf Run. They also raised a passel of children.

Nine children in all — six boys and three girls. The McDonald siblings were not separated by too many months in age. There was the eldest, Raymond Lee, followed closely by brothers Walter Glen, Thomas Lain (named for his grandfather), Isaac Herbert, Frank, Jr., and John Malcolm (called Johnny). The sisters were Zella Mae, Ruby Floretta and, youngest of all, Mary Maratha.

This photograph, originally published in the Aug. 6, 2010 edition of Midwest Messenger, features John F. Hladky of Morse Bluff in Saunders County, Neb.

Send your old livestock photos to support@midwestmessenger.com; P.O. Box 239, Tekamah, NE 68061

Cream dream team

Martin David Christensen and his little brother Harry. When Martin was a teenager, he had a cream route from their home place west of Exira, Iowa. Circa 1915. Photo as taken by Clara (Christensen) Nissen.

Traveling harvesters, hobo hotels and the automobile

Traveling harvest crews have long been part of Nebraska’s agricultural scene. But the ways of these itinerant workers change with the times, as this 1925 account reports:

The tractor take-over

The gradual transition from horse to tractor power on Nebraska farms was well underway by 1916 for many reasons. Horses were expensive to buy, feed, and maintain. Farmers needed about five acres of land to grow the oats, hay, and fodder that each horse needed for the year.

Afternoon Albion buggy ride

Mr. and Mrs. Gabral Johnson, Albion, Neb. Taken late 1890s.

Nebraska corn makes royal debut at agriculture exposition

The World’s Industrial and Cotton Exposition opened in New Orleans on Dec. 16, 1884. As the largest world’s fair held in the United States to that date, it attracted international attention. Many nations, including England, France, China, Japan, Austria, and the South American countries, had exhibits. The Nebraska display was largely the result of the efforts of ex-governor Robert Furnas and a small group of volunteers.

Missile bases bring Nebraska to Cold War front

On a Friday afternoon in October 1958, more than 1,000 people gathered in Mead, Neb., for the opening of the Farmer’s Union Co-op Grain Elevator. Flyers distributed throughout the county invited everyone to an open house to marvel at “Saunders County’s Newest Largest Most Modern Landmark of Progress.” The four-story structure towered over the town. Built along the railroad tracks, the new grain silos could hold more than 300,000 bushels, and the temperature within the bins was monitored and maintained by state-of-the-art electronics. To celebrate the achievement, cigars were passed out to men, and women who attended were given flowers. The local newspaper reported that the commotion of the event caused the town’s first traffic jam. All told, the project boasted a price tag of $200,000.

The milkman of Omaha

His entrepreneurial spirit was big, but his heart was bigger.

The game is afoot in Nebraska

When A. N. Ward reminisced about his early hunting exploits with a reporter from the Omaha World-Herald in 1910, he recalled the days when the Nebraska prairie abounded with wild game. Ward, according to census records, was 70 years old and had lived in the vicinities of first Arapahoe, and then Milford, for nearly half a century. The Sunday World-Herald's account of his hunting yarns, published on Oct. 2, 1910, noted: "In recounting some of his experiences of the early days in the state, Mr. Ward said that he was thoroughly convinced that he killed the last wild buffalo killed in Nebraska. 'With Dan Prime and John Russell,' he remarked, 'I was up at the head of the Birdwood river, in McPherson County, hunting blacktail deer. In October 1881, and on coming into camp down the valley, the second day we were out, I saw this buffalo, which proved to be a two-year-old heifer, coming out of the shallows where it had been for water. I made a capital shot, killing the heifer stone dead at 160 yards, with a bullet back of the left fore-shoulder. That was the last buffalo killed in the state, or at least the last one of which I could get any authentic account. In fact, I never heard of one being killed later, but was told that a herd of six or seven were seen later that month up on the Dismal.'"

Getting rid of the need for bees

Bees aren’t just about honey.

Peeping chicks

Bathtime baby with young chickens watching. Photo taken early summer in the early 1930s.

Pests on the Plains: The potato bug

With the sole exception of grasshoppers, perhaps the most hated insects to afflict the pioneer farmer were potato bugs. So prevalent were they at one time in Nebraska that one of the state’s early nicknames, the “Bug Eaters,” was said to refer partly to them. According to John A. MacMurphy, secretary of the Nebraska Territorial Pioneers Association, writing in November 1894, an easterner came to Nebraska to visit relatives during the lean years of the 1870s and on his return home, was asked about conditions here. According to MacMurphy’s account, the man responded, “Oh, everything is gone up there. The grasshoppers have eaten the grain up, the potato bugs ate the ‘taters all up, and now the inhabitants are eating the bugs to keep alive.”

Saluting the American flag

According to a Congressional Research Service report, the National Flag Conference adopted the National Flag Code on June 14, 1923. June 14 commemorates the day the U.S. adopted the Stars and Stripes as its official flag in 1777, and had been celebrated as Flag Day since President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1916 (Library of Congress). Americans further elevated the flag when President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional act into law on March 3, 1931 that made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem (History.com).

Keller's picks

Roy Keller corn picking day on his farm at Ashland, Neb.

Edith gets her ducks in a row

Edith Reese feeding her ducks as her husband Earnest works with his horses, on their farm in Nebraska City, Neb. Photo taken about 1912. Submitted by their granddaughter, Janis Gress, also of Nebraska City.

The 19th Century Nebraska veterans pension fight

Governmental bureaucracy is nothing new. Almost a hundred years ago, Nebraska veterans discovered missing records and “red tape” when they applied for military pensions. The Nebraska State Journal reported:

The mystery of Nebraska’s round barns

The following is an excerpt from Roger Welsch’s 1970 Nebraska History article, “Nebraska’s Round Barns”:

Keller's threshing machine

Threshing with a horse drawn threshing machine on Roy Keller Farm in Ashland, Neb.

A butchers’ brawl turned beerfest

Labor Day in 1890 was celebrated on Monday, Sept. 1, although some events associated with the day were celebrated several days before. One, a butchers’ picnic held at Loveland, Iowa, on Sunday, attracted the attention of the Omaha Daily Bee, partly because of the role played by the butchers of Omaha and South Omaha in what the Bee on Sept. 2 described as a rowdy event.

Teacher shortage spawns junior normal schools

Although the United States Superintendent of the Census reported in 1890 that the frontier had ceased to exist, pioneer conditions continued in teacher education in Nebraska into the 20th Century.

Hans harnesses his high-strung horses

Part of Hans A. Hansen’s daily ritual of harnessing his horses included donning a specially fashioned pair of overalls too. The horse was extremely sensitive to biting flies, and was well trained and accepting. He would lift one leg at a time, so the overalls could be slipped on and worn all day while working in the fields.

The failed tree harvest legislation

Of all the land laws affecting Nebraska, the Timber Culture Act of 1873, designed to promote the planting of trees, was perhaps the least successful and subject to many abuses. The author of the act was U.S. Senator Phineas W. Hitchcock of Nebraska. The Timber Culture Act was repealed in March 1891.

Morrissey for county commissioner

A flyer for Bernard Morrissey, who was pursuing a seat as county commissioner of Johnson County, Neb., features Bernard and his grandson inspecting one of their bulls on the Morrissey farm in 1954. (Photo courtesy Bernard’s grandson Bob Hothan, Tecumseh, Neb.)

Tinker toys of the Smolczyk twins

The Smolczyk brothers had a farm toy collection that made the history books — but they didn’t just collect, they invented.

Buster Brahman

This photograph, originally published in the Jan. 14, 2011, edition of the Midwest Messenger, features a Brahman, which was raised as a bucket calf and was said by its owner to break any piece of glass it could reach with its horn.

Hogzilla tours the country

Dazzler, a Poland China from Leigh, Neb., held the unofficial title of World’s Largest Hog in 1928.

Anstey cattle drive

In this photograph originally appearing in the March 8, 2011, edition of Midwest Messenger, George Anstey and his family embark on a cattle drive in 1937, guiding their Herefords to the depot in Massena, Iowa, to be loaded onto a train and sent onto a buyer in Georgia.

A celebration of corn

It may have been the Christmas season, but it was corn that was on everyone’s mind in Lincoln in December of 1905. That year over 500 Nebraska boys and girls descended on the Capital City for the first State Corn Contest. Sponsored by the Department of Public Instruction, the “well-arranged program” enabled contestants from around the state “to enter their exhibits, and visit the state farm, university and manual training and domestic science departments.”

A rabbit "hutch" in your get along

In this photo originally appearing in the April 1, 2011 edition of Midwest Messenger, Margory M. Thomas and Johnny H. Thomas feed rabbits on the Witt Farm in Pottawatomie County, Iowa, sometime in the early 1900s.

The Olson boys ride again

The Olson boys — Lloyd, Caroll, Clarence, and Raymond — pose with their farm animals on the family farm east of Tekamah, Neb., circa late 1930s to early 1940s.

Fur ruffled over early meat inspection laws

Inspection of meatpacking plants used to be a matter of state or local law. Omaha’s meat inspection ordinance in 1901 was the subject of a whimsical account by the Omaha Daily News of October 10, 1901. When shady entrepreneurs tried to game the system, a resulting court battle came down to the size of rabbits:

The class of ’43 at 79

Twila Suhr has fond memories of her old schoolhouse District 79.

Hunting game on the prairie

Many European and American settlers noted the abundance of game as they moved out onto the prairies. “Prairie-chickens and quails, when I first went on the overland [stage] line were numerous between the Missouri River and the Platte,” said Frank A. Root, author with William E. Connelley of The Overland Stage to California (1901). “They were seen every day from the stage-coach, numbering thousands.”

Bruiser and Maggie's Place

The homestead and horses of George “Bruiser” and Maggie (Morgan) Stevens in Kendrick Township, Scranton, Iowa.

Sleigh parties of the 19th Century

Present day snow ties up more than its share of Nebraska’s traffic, but in pioneer times it added to the ease and pleasure of travel. A good coat of snow made farm hauling easier — much easier than the heavy ruts developed by the thawing weather — and perhaps more important, made sleigh riding one of the year’s most pleasant entertainments.

Ed & Marvine's quackers

Edwin M. Belina and his sister Marvine Koliha are surrounded by the family’s ducks on their farm south of Pilger, Neb., in 1949.

Cook & chicks

Lawrence Cook checks on his new batch of young chicks on the family farm south of Arlington, Neb., in the 1930s.

Tinker Technician Farmer Friend

He loved coffee and pickles, his accordion, and building things with his hands.

Edwin & Bernie

Five-year-old Edwin M. Belina stands near his first sow, Bernie, and her piglets, on the family farm in 1949.

Operation Snowbound relieves 1949 blizzard disaster

January will always call forth discussion of blizzards in Nebraska. One of Nebraska’s most notable, and to many the biggest blizzard ever to hit the state, occurred Jan. 12, 1888. To some, it was the single most devastating storm ever.

Musicians unite for Farm Aid concert

During the 1980s farm crisis, Willie Nelson was outspoken about the needs of farmers.

Poland China hogs by way of Winnetoon

William Kruse Sr. of Winnetoon, Neb., with his black Poland China hogs in the 1940s.

Fruit pyramids at Nebraska State Fair

J. Sterling Morton, as president of the State Board of Agriculture, in April 1874 issued an appeal for agricultural exhibits for the upcoming Nebraska State Fair, to be held in Omaha. The Nebraska Herald (Plattsmouth), of May 21, 1874, and other state newspapers published his request:

Winning the war with pigs

After the United States entered World War I in April of 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Herbert Hoover head of the U.S. Food Administration. Hoover believed that food would win the war and established specific days to encourage people to avoid eating particular foods in order to save them for soldiers’ rations and use overseas: meatless Mondays, wheatless Wednesdays, and “when in doubt, eat potatoes.”

Perfect economic storm sets off Tractorcade

Lincoln police said it was one of the worst traffic jams they’d ever seen, “even worse than the football game.”

The Christmas postal rush

“One great trouble with the Christmas business,” remarked the Nebraska State Journal of Dec. 24, 1892, “is the habit formed by the great unthinking public of waiting until the last minute to put the packages into the post office. Now and then you find level-headed people who begin 10 days before Christmas and drop carefully packed presents into the office in time to go through in good order before the rush commences. But these folks are the exception.

Calves En Route to Frontier County Fair '52

Siblings Mary and Robert Ruppert, center, pose with their 4-H calves near McCook. The Ruppert children picked the calves from their father’s feedyard, and showed them in the Frontier County fair in Stockville, Neb. in 1952.

Missouri River monopoly on catfish

Catfish have a colorful history in Nebraska. Lewis and Clark wrote about fishing in the Missouri River. Just north of an Omaha tribal village they reported catching 318 fish of various kinds, and the next day caught “upwards of 800 fine fish,” 490 of which were catfish.

Better butter in Nebraska

The Fairmont Creamery Company was incorporated March 29, 1884, in Fairmont, Fillmore County, Nebraska. Wallace Wheeler, an implement dealer, and Joseph H. Rushton, an attorney, founded the company for the production and sale of butter, eggs, and poultry. Local townspeople and farmers owned the remainder of the total stock of $5,000. From a small business, the company became one of the nation’s largest food processors, later known as Fairmont Foods.

The 1918 flu pandemic in Nebraska

November 11 marks the centennial of the armistice ending World War I. The war killed some 15 to 19 million people, military and civilian, including 751 Nebraska soldiers.

Thanksgiving in the 1890s

Two Thanksgiving reports from the 1890s illustrate the coming of hard times to Nebraska. The 1890s saw the country’s worst economic depression until the 1930s.

Pack mules and Art

Art Reynolds of Harlan County, Neb. poses with his pack of mules in 1942. Art was the father of Gayle, Arla, Frona, Ruby, David, Lorene, Norene, June and Lois.

How tractors revolutionized agriculture

One of the most useful farm machines, the tractor, was developed prior to World War I. Probably the first big demonstration of gasoline tractors in the United States was held at Omaha, Neb., in 1911. Beginning in 1913, shows were held annually at Fremont, Neb., for several years. The University of Nebraska Tractor Testing Laboratory — the first in the world — was established in 1919 to inform buyers of the relative merits of tractors.

4-H livestock past

Otis Scheer and his 4-H calf on the family farm two miles east of Arlington, Neb., circa 1920s. Otis was the son of Fred and Wilma Scheer.

Putting the ‘heart’ into Heartland

Lending a helping hand is a time-honored tradition among farmers.

Sorting pairs for the war effort

J.J. Johndreau, center, and a hired hand sort pairs to be placed with one of the breeding bulls on the J.N. Johndreau & Son Purebred Hereford Cattle ranch, south of Gordon, Neb., in 1940. Now owned by third generation rancher Roy Johndreau, the Johndreau ranch raised and sold registered Hereford bulls from the 1920s to 1950s. During the annual bull sale in 1943, a single bull was resold and redonated five times, earning more than $2,000 on the sale, which the Johndreaus donated in full to World War II efforts.

Hog sitter

Accompanied by his mother and sister, Leonard Bartels sits atop a hog on the farm in 1924.

Saloon shenanigans on the Farmers’ Excursion

It’s become a cliché that business trips to distant cities can become opportunities for behavior of the “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” variety. This was also true in 1875, even when the travelers were Otoe County farmers and the big city was Lincoln, Neb.

Postcards from the past

There’s a book of memories sitting in a house in Scranton, Iowa.

The greenhorn mule wrangler

In this photo, originally published in the June 17, 2011 edition of the Messenger, two-and-a-half-year-old Gerald Pierson holds the reins tightly on his father’s pair of mules, circa 1930-1931. (Photo courtesy Joann Pierson, Arcadia, Neb.)

Perseverance is the farmer

For Norman Dirks, there was no throwing in the towel.

Farming roots in the forge

There was a time in America’s history when a farm didn’t work without a blacksmith.

Ropin’ ain’t only for cattle

Cowboys occasionally roped more than cattle or horses, as James E. Farley recalled in Solomon D. Butcher’s Pioneer History of Custer County, Nebraska (1901). “Towards the end of my cowboy career,” Farley said, “I worked for the Bar-T ranch, of which David Rankin was principal owner. This ranch was located on the Middle Loup.

World War II spawns new gardening era

World War II wasn’t just about far-off battlefields. The home front was also important. With farming disrupted in much of the world, and with many farm workers joining the military, food became a huge issue.

It’s all in the family (farm)

Maxine has fond memories of her childhood on the farm.

A lead foot and a lotta love

In that old ’28 Chevy, it was love at first sight.

Cornhuskers vital to early 20th century harvests

Cornhusking was once an annual autumn activity on many Nebraska farms. Before the advent of the mechanical corn picker, the corn crop was harvested by hand and “shucked” in the field. This activity usually called for extra hired men, whose only tools were pegs or hooks strapped to their palms.

Nebraska man paves way to tractor transparency

The Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory (NTTL) was established in 1920 in response to requirements of the Nebraska Tractor Test Act of 1919, which required all agricultural tractors sold and advertised in Nebraska to have manufacturers’ performance claims verified by the Tractor Test Laboratory. The act was vigorously promoted by Wilmot F. Crozier of Osceola, a state representative who purchased a tractor that did not perform as advertised. Crozier thought he had purchased a Ford, but afterward discovered that the manufacturer had hired a man with the surname of Ford and was using the man’s name to confuse consumers.

Texas cattle trade booms in Omaha

“The Texas cattle trade has increased wonderfully in Nebraska within the past three or four years,” said the Aug.7, 1875, Omaha Daily Bee, “and this morning a reporter of the Bee took occasion to interview Captain [Eugene] Millet and D. R. Fant — two well-known Texas cattle men, who make their headquarters in Omaha —with a view of obtaining some facts which would prove of general interest to a large number of our readers.”

The 1874 state fair: A time to show off

These days, fairs promote entertainment, but when Nebraska was a new state, fairs were mostly seen as a way to promote Nebraska by demonstrating its potential for agriculture.

The potash boom of Antioch

Highway 2 through the Sandhills is one of Nebraska’s most scenic drives. Deep in the Sandhills lakes country, near the tiny town of Antioch, stand desolate, oddly-shaped concrete ruins visible from the highway — as if Antioch had once been a much larger city, or home to some inexplicably large enterprise. And that’s pretty much what happened during World War I when Antioch became a potash boomtown.

The sugar beet palace

The Grand Island Sugar Palace was erected in 1890 to commemorate the birth of the state’s sugar beet industry. Patterned after the Sioux City Corn Palace, the building housed an exposition devoted to the production and processing of sugar beets.

Cornhusking, a Midwestern sport

Cornhusking was once considered almost a sport. There were cornhusking contests, and farmers “kept score” on the bushels shucked per acre per day. Most of the crop was harvested in the field and called for extra hired men whose skill sometimes gained them a reputation well beyond their home communities.

Less magic, more mystery in bean’s origins

There is a mysterious plant in Nebraska’s past.

A kids’ view of Fourth of July in Beaver City, 1897

Two boys in Beaver City published their own little newspaper in the 1890s. Brothers Willie and Jay Green called their four-page, semimonthly paper The Kid. Here’s their take on the local Independence Day celebration in 1897, which included not only speeches and parades, but also elements of popular “Wild West”-style entertainment, and even a balloon ascension:

Frontier hunting accidents in the Midwest

Hunting on the frontier had many drawbacks besides firearms accidents. Among them were mishaps to horses and the problems of preserving and safely storing game after it was killed. The Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln on Sept. 25, 1869, included a letter from Victor Vifquain describing his hunt along the Republican River south of Fort Kearny, Neb. Although Vifquain and his friends intended to hunt chiefly buffalo, they also bagged wild turkeys, elk, and antelope.

The Chicken War of Nebraska

Sometimes it takes a good guy with a chicken to stop a bad guy with a chicken. Consider this strange tale about the founder of today’s Lincoln Journal Star and his revenge on his hen-raising neighbors.

The inspiration behind six generations

Their story is more than a century in the making.

The Chicken Challenge, a timeless social game

A game long played by kids on the farm is perhaps the forerunner of today’s viral challenge trend.

The lighter side of farming

Sometimes one photo is all it takes to remember a lifetime.

Hay isn’t just for horses

When there’s cattle to feed, there’s hay to throw.

Lenger, legendary musician of the Midwest

Noted musician and bandmaster John F. Lenger was born in 1849 in Bohemia. He attended a government school and music conservatory in Prague until he was 14, when he enlisted as a musician in the Austrian army. In 1869 he came to the United States, living in Baltimore and Chicago before settling in Yankton, S.D. In Yankton, he formed the Yankton City Band, the first of many municipal bands he organized during his long life.

A hero of the farming people

“Nellie Bly” was the professional pseudonym of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (1867-1922), one of Joseph Pulitzer’s best reporters at the New York World. She won international fame in 1889 and 1890 by outdoing Jules Verne’s fictional hero in going around the world in fewer than 80 days (72 days, six hours, 10 minutes, and 58 seconds). However, Nellie Bly was chiefly an investigative reporter with a driving zeal for social justice. Although not a political radical, she saw her mission as aiding the oppressed and downtrodden — the “neglected inmates of the New York City madhouse; degraded dwellers of filthy slum tenements; or malnourished, overworked, and underpaid women and children in sweatshops.” (Nebraska History, Spring 1986)

The Missouri River's first pontoon bridge

Although Congress had chartered the Nebraska City Bridge Company in the early 1870s, by summer 1888 only the new Burlington Railroad bridge spanned the Missouri River there. Nebraska City leaders were receptive, when Col. S. N. Stewart of Philadelphia proposed to build a pontoon toll bridge if the community would subsidize its construction.

A solid foundation in mobile farming

The bygone era of community farming

Back in the days before combines, it was just kids, pitchforks and water jugs.

Nebraska — The Completely Random Weather state

There’s nothing quite like playing in an April snow or sun-tanning on a tropical December afternoon.

The disappearance of Florence

Florence, Neb., has ceased to exist independently. By annexation it has become part of its larger neighbor, Omaha. Situated in northeastern Douglas County, Florence had the distinction of being the site of the first white settlement within that county. As early as January 1846, the Mormons fleeing across Iowa from Nauvoo, Ill., crossed the Missouri River and began a settlement at the site of Florence, which they called their Winter Quarters.

Entertainment in Nebraska Territory

Although Nebraska's first permanent theater, the Omaha Academy of Music, was not opened until 1867, there had been for a decade prior to this time sporadic theatrical activity in Nebraska Territory, most of it in Omaha. Early Nebraskans had little money for entertainment but like all emigrants to the American West, they brought with them a nostalgia for the culture they had left behind and a determination to re-establish it as soon as possible in their new communities. One of the important elements in this culture was the theater.

Medicine for Lewis and Clark

In 1804 the Lewis and Clark expedition traveled up the Missouri River along present-day Nebraska’s eastern border. Despite the risks of the long journey to the Pacific Coast and back, only one man died along the way. Sgt. Charles Floyd died apparently of a ruptured appendix near present-day Sioux City, Iowa. At that time, even the best physicians would have been unable to save Floyd’s life.

The dangerous art of well digging

Few jobs in early Nebraska required more courage than that of a well digger. Henry Sands of Nebraska City related some of his narrow escapes to the editor of the Nebraska City News, June 22, 1888. Sands was recuperating from injuries sustained when a tub of rock fell on him in a well a few days before:

The near-extinction of Nebraskan buffalo

Some Nebraskans were aware of the values of wildlife conservation years before effective measures were enacted into law. The Daily Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln carried the following editorial in favor of saving the buffalo in its Feb. 1, 1874, edition:

A contentious game of polls

Nebraska, as we all know, didn’t go to a bowl game in 2017. They didn’t go to one in 1938, either, despite a winning record. (The 1940 Rose Bowl was the Huskers’ first-ever bowl appearance.)

The dangers of pre-machinery days

Working in a deep, hand-dug well was risky business in the days before machinery made human descent into the bowels of the earth unnecessary. Graphic evidence of the danger was provided by an account in the April 26, 1877, issue of the Seward Nebraska Reporter.

The comic Valentine

Soggy pioneer life

Reminiscences about pioneer life frequently describe droughts, blizzards, and grasshopper infestations. Job E. Green recalled a more personal event when he wrote his memoirs in 1922. In 1872 he and his wife homesteaded near the future site of Albion in Boone County, Neb. Green wrote,

Carry Nation in Nebraska City, 1902

Carry Nation’s visits to Nebraska in early 1902 were among the few she made to this state. She was in Hastings in March, speaking at the Kerr Opera House and touring local saloons, where she reportedly disapproved of barroom art as well as liquor. In early April of 1902 she arrived in Nebraska City.

From a young age, Jay Lautenschlager’s comfort was on the farm

Don’t blame a toddler if he confuses a tire valve stem for a zerk. Jay Lautenschlager is just 2 or 3 years old in this photo and that grease gun is nearly as big as he is.

Beauty and the Beast with Willa Cather

The Red Cloud Opera House on Feb. 4, 1888, was the scene of an amateur theatrical entitled Beauty and the Beast. Small-town opera houses hosted such entertainments frequently, but the unique feature of this particular play was the inclusion of the young Willa Cather among the cast. Donning suit, top hat, and wax mustache, Cather played Beauty’s merchant father to a large and appreciative crowd.

Teaching for $35 a month

The Omaha Daily Bee noted on Oct. 3, 1903, that Nebraska’s corps of rural school teachers was changing, both in the relative percentages of men and women teachers and in the rates of pay awarded to members of each group. To modern readers, the article reveals much about attitudes of the time. The Bee noted:

Today’s (1889) young people aren’t always as bad as you think

College commencement exercises have always been marked by advice showered upon new graduates. The Daily Nebraska State Journal, May 16, 1889, offered its congratulations and recommendations to the “graduates of the present year”:

Rabbit drives in western Nebraska

On top of all the other hardships of the Great Depression of the 1930s, some parts of western Nebraska had an overabundance of rabbits. The Nebraska State Historical Society Library/Archives includes a copy of Kimball County, Nebraska, 100 Years, 1888-1988, which reported:

When Omaha jailed the Lincoln City Council

A city-wide reform program under Lincoln Mayor Andrew J. Sawyer in 1887 culminated in legal maneuvering which imprisoned both Sawyer and eleven members of the city council in the Douglas County Jail in Omaha. Following a move against gambling interests in Lincoln by newly elected Mayor Sawyer, complaints were lodged against Police Judge A. L. Parsons, charging that he had not accounted for all funds collected by him as fines. After an investigation indicated that the charges of corruption were true, the city council discovered it lacked the power to act. A city ordinance was amended and the police judge position in question was declared vacant.

Free auto camps

Long distance travel in the early days of the automobile was difficult, and comforts along the way were few. Motorists pitched their own tents and cooked their own meals in the auto tourist camps that soon sprang up along the nation’s roads. Some were free; others were operated by a commercial businessman. Pay camps, with more conveniences, soon became common.

The Army’s bicycle corps

Bicycling was a national craze in the 1890s. Even the U.S. Army experimented with bicycles as an affordable way to move troops across country. In the summer of 1897 a 1,900-mile bicycle trip was made by the all-black 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps from Fort Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis for the purpose of testing bicycles for military use. Led by Lt. James A. Moss, the soldiers left the fort on June 14, 1897, and passed through Wyoming and the southwestern corner of South Dakota before reaching Nebraska. The July 16, 1897, issue of the Humboldt Leader (on microfilm at the Nebraska State Historical Society in Lincoln) reported the cyclists’ arrival:

Airmail airplanes in Nebraska

An early use of the airplane in Nebraska was mail delivery. The Omaha Daily News, January 8, 1920, microfilmed copies of which are at the Nebraska State Historical Society, included the following account of the first airmail flights into and from Omaha on January 8, 1920.

Little city of a thousand pictures

Cairo was dry. A little too dry, some might say.

Halloween pranks of the 1800s

Nebraska’s newspapers reveal frequent news and occasional comment on Halloween observances, legal and otherwise. The editorial column “Topics of the Times,” in the Nebraska State Journal of Nov. 1, 1883, noted:

Airboating — the Nebraska way

In Nebraska, airboating means more than whisking through some soggy wetlands. 

Kearney’s one and only cotton mill

A cotton mill in Nebraska? It really happened in 1890. The Kearney Cotton Mill was established by the Cumnock brothers, cotton manufacturers from the East. Local men had urged them to build. Before the Cumnocks agreed to build the mill in Kearney, they required the community to grant several concessions on city taxation and water rates, grant them a 20-acre factory site, and pay $250,000. Tax incentives for economic development are not a new idea.

Planting a forest in the Sandhills

Nebraska used to be known as the “Tree Planter’s State,” and the most audacious attempt at tree planting was the project to plant an entire forest in the Sandhills.

Nebraska settlers found a vast expanse of bluestem, which could be highly inflammable. The danger was greatest during the late autumn of a dry season before the winter’s snows or after the snow melted during a dry spring. Smoke indicating a prairie fire was sometimes visible for days, and the horizon correspondingly illuminated at night. Fires sometimes originated as far away as Dakota Territory.

Several prairie fires during historic times have captured the attention of human residents of the Plains. In recent years, some news accounts have reported certain wildfires as the largest in Nebraska history. That claim may be true for the past century or so, but at least one much larger fire burned off a major section of Nebraska and the Great Plains in 1865 — and it was an act of war.

Overland travelers almost always made some mention of buffalo. The mere sight of so many animals in such vast herds amazed them. Estimates have placed the number of bison, as they are more correctly known, at figures ranging from 60 to 125 million prior to the 19th Century.

Horace Greeley, the influential editor of the New York Tribune, on May 9, 1859, set out on an overland journey to California. As he traveled, he sent back to his paper 32 dispatches describing whatever caught his eye as he journeyed overland.

Joseph Schlickbernd’s father displays the beginnings of what would become the Double S Farms and the Schlickbernd Cattle Co., herd.

The Double S is still in the family. Joseph passed away at the age of 94 in 2016.