Book Review: Nebraska History Moments

Nebraska History Moments: Stories & Photos from the Collections of Nebraska History by David L. Bristow, History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 2021. 

This book is based mostly on articles from Nebraska History Magazine.  It is not in any kind of order but is made to be browsed, each story b eing able to stand alone.  For example, There is a picture of Pawnee women.  The Pawnee are the oldest Native American group in Nebraska.  

Bellevue was slated to be the territorial capital, except for the death of the first territorial governor after a couple days it office it would have been.  Thomas Cuming, territorial secretary became acting governor.  He was aligned with those favoring Omaha, and the territorial capital was moved there. 

George Norris supported Unicameral legislature.  Consequently the state legislature house only one house instead of two since 1934.  Consequently there are less salaries to pay.

1908 flooding in Lincoln lead to a series of dams being built on the Salt Creek watershed.  There have been no floods in Lincoln since this.

The small town of Broken Bow (about 1000 people) supported three newspapers in 1882, two Republican newspapers and one Democrat.

Women's suffrage in Nebraska was an issue for many years.  In 1856 a bill for suffrage passed in the lower house, but failed in the upper.  Had is passed Nebraska would have been the first to provide the vote for women.  Nebraska became the second to provide the vote to women in school elections.  However general suffrage was not passed, and when it did it was held up in the courts, so general suffrage for women did not become law in Nebraska until it was passed on a federal level in 1920.  

Camp Robinson provided the Army with its best horsemen.  So announced a sign above the barrack doors at the fort.  Even so there are mishaps with horses as shown in a photograph.  Fort Robinson began as an outpost in the Indian Wars and was active up until WWI.  

This book sports this type of story.  It has over 100 stories in total; 132 pictures.

Black Cowboy: Jesse Stahl

 Jesse Stahl was a rodeo cowboy in California.  He became a rodeo participant at age 30 and competed for 20 years.  He competed in the Salinas rodeo with an incredible ride upon a bronco that would not stop bucking.  Eventually the horse became tired and stopped.  However, perhaps due to discrimination he only took second in the competition.  After this he started to compete riding the horse backwards, or carrying a large suitcase in his free hand, or both.  When Jesse Stahl rode people were provided with a demonstration of great horsemanship.  However he would not when because of his race.  Stahl has been inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame.  He and another Black cowboy would demonstrate the suicide ride. two riders sitting back to back on one horse.  

Fort St. Joseph, Niles Michigan

 Fort Joseph is close to the St. Joseph River in Niles, Michigan.  It was established as a French mission and later adapted as a fur-trading post.  The fort was manned by ten soldiers, a commandant, blacksmith, Catholic priest, interpreter, and additional households.  As a mission it serviced Potawatomi and Miami Indians.  

After the French and Indian War the fort changed hands from the French to the British.  The British maintained it as a fur trade post.  During the Revolutionary War the British used it to supply loyalist who fought against the Continentals.  The British ran the fort after the war, until 1795 when the Americans conducted the Northwest Indian Wars which is considered the start of the American Indian Wars.  The British abandoned the fort and it fell to decay.  The fort was not rediscovered until 1998 and has since been excavated.  A Jesuit medal was found at the site.

Horse Diver Sonora Webster Carver

 Sonora Webster Carver was a horse diver and thousands of people would come to see her jump a horse into a pool of water from a platform 40 feet high.  She became involved after answering an ad placed by William "Doc" Carver in  1923.  Doc's son Al took over the show.  She married Al in 1928.  She performed the trick for seven years without an accident.  However on one jump she was worried for the horse and neglected to close her eyes.  Both her retinas were detached and she became blind.  She did not however give up the act but continued to jump for another eleven years.  She retired in the 1940s after which she became a dictaphone typist and advocate for the blind.  She became adept at braille.  She died at age 99 in 2003.  Released by Disney, Wild Hearts Can't be Broken, is based on her story. PBS has released a documentary of her life.  

Cowgirl Biography: Mamie Hafley, Horse Diver

 Mamie Hafley was a woman who took risks to entertain.  She was a performer in wild west shows.  She would perform acts with gun shooting, sometimes shooting towards others or sometimes towards her with a target held with in her mouth or stuck in her hair.  She would also shoot at targets while she was riding a horse.  She was most famous for participating in horse diving from 40 feet into a 10 foot deep pool.  These acts were very popular for a time.  Over the years there were three accidents.  One time she broke her arm, another the horse landed sideways and was injured, and a third she was pinned in the water an almost drowned.  She did finish the show.  She grew up in Wisconsin where she joined her first show.  She has been voted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.  

Magazine Article Review: The Old College Try: Nebraska's Ghost Colleges

 The Old College Try: Nebraska's Ghost Colleges by John Irwin, Nebraska History Magazine, Lincoln, Nebraska, Spring 2023, pp 2-29.

It is amazing how many colleges have failed in Nebraska.  Admittedly most of them are religious schools, but still pretty amazing.  Here in Bellevue there is Bellevue College which was a Presbyterian institution.  It went through periods of low enrollment and financial difficulty over time.  At one point it called itself the University of Omaha to gain students from a wider area.  Several things contributed to its closure.  The church had difficulty funding the college.  The tornado of 1908 damaged the main building, tearing off the roof requiring repairs.  The final blow was WWI when many of the potential students were off to war and so enrollment dropped off considerably.  At first the school was used to house military people.  Fort Crook (Now Offutt) is close by.  Several other colleges closed as a result of the war, and the flu epidemic.  The great depression also took its toll.  

Martin Luther College in Sterling Nebraska was a Luthren College.  It had a emphasis in music.  It brags of composer Howard Hansen coming from the school.  It closed during WWI to reopen for a time in the 1920s.  Its main building became a residence for disabled children.  

In Wahoo, Nebraska is a more recent college, John F. Kennedy College.  This was a for profit college that survived ten years.  It is most noted for its female athletics and they sponsored softball teams that won the first three women's college world series.  It closed in 1975 due to decreased enrollment due to the Viet Nam War.  Both Ted and Bobby Kennedy visited the college.  

A total of 45 colleges have died in Nebraska over the years.  Some as recently as the 2020s.  This article lists all of the colleges with a brief blurb about what happened to each.  

How Elkhart got its Name

 Am informational  bulletin at Island Park explains how Elkhart Indiana got its name.  It was called An-na-wa-wah by the Potawatomi.  This means Elk's heart.  It seems the Native American people thought the shape of the island resembled and elk's heart.  My vote is they should have stuck with the Native American name.  

The island looks long for a heart, but I have never scene an elk's heart.