Omaha Indians The Sacred Pole as per Fontenelle Park

The Cottonwood tree is the state tree of Omaha.  But before that designation it was the sacred pole, which represented the venerable man.

 

Book Review: The Inca Ruins of Machu Picchu

 The Inca Ruins of Machu Picchu a Wonders of the World book by Jennifer Silate, Kidhaven Press, Thomson Gale, Detroit, 2006.

In 1911 Hiram Bingham came to Peru looking for an ancient Incan city, Vilcabamba.  He followed the old Incan road north of Cuzco.  eventually a local told him of, and guided him to ruins on top of a mountain above the Urubamba River.  This turned out to. by Machu Picchu, not the ancient city he was looking for, but it was an impressive site.  He found intricately carved steps, walls tightly carved and jigsawed together.  There tamples.  The ruins contained intricate canals, and a system of agricultural terraces for capturing moisture and raising crops.  The ruins also contain sixteen fountains.

The question came up, What is the purpose for the buildings?  Most studies point to Machu Picchu being a retreat for affluent Inca.  This is derived from the burial sits discovered.  Court documents indicate that the estate of Pachacuti petitioned for the return of his retreat.  It was identified as Picchu.  The beauty of Machu Picchu appears to be a tribute to Pichacuti who had it built as a retreat.  The ruins also appear to contain a private temple.  

Magazine Article Review: Omaha's 1909 Train Robbery

 Omaha's 1909 Train Robbery by David L. Bristow, Nebraskaland Magazine, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Lincoln, Nebraska, April 2026, pp 36-39.

On an eastbound train in Omaha, just after passing 72nd street on the track that now runs parallel just south of I80 two bandits jumped onto the engine wearing masks, and accosted the engineer.  They had him stop where there was a fire signal just west of 42nd where the train went through a ravine which provided cover for the crooks.  They were met there by two or three other men.  In about 15 minutes they break into the ail car and take a great deal of the mail and put it into a car before they all take off and order the train to continue to Omaha.  At the South Omaha station a report was made of the robbery.  This was a passenger train but the robbers did not interact with the passengers other than to fire their guns in the air to keep them under control.  

There were no clues in the case for several dats, other than the automobile.  People were asking about seeing four or five men in a car.  It wasn't until some boys from Brown Elementary School found a couple guns, slouch hats and polkadot masks that there was any progress in the case.  Slouch hats and polkadot face coverings had been used in the robbery.  The boys were playing with the slouch hats at school, and someone from the school noticed them.  Police staked out the area where the items were found, and when the thieves came back they were arrested.  Three men were arrested, but the police were sure there was at least another accomplice.  The were able to get his information from a photo they found with a girl and four men.  Turns out they were a criminal group from the Spokane Washington Area.  Janitors from Brown Elementary found the mail in the attic of the school.  The mail was missing anything of value.  Four men went to jail but one later escaped and lived in Canada.  He was not extrdited because they locals liked him.  

I would recommend this article for reading and for the pictures.  Brown School was at 19th and U.  It has since been demolished and the area used for parking for the middle school across the street.  The boys and the janitors shared in the reward.

Book Review: The Summer of the Bone Horses

 The Summer of the Bone Horses by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Steph Littlebird, Amulet Books, New York, 2015.

The author in this book tells a typical Sioux story based on things that happened to her brother, Eddie.  At the same time the author was with her other grandparents, while their father underwent surgery.  The story talks about her brother's loneliness, which was alleviated somewhat when grandfather gave him a set of old bones and called them horse bones.  Traditionally horse bones were made from buffalo bones, but these were made of cow bones.  Eddie made ropes for them to play with as well as a stable and corral.  he story talked of life on the reservation and iving un rural America.

I enjoyed the story.  This gives an idea of what life was like on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota 70 years ago.

Magazine Article Review: The Search for the Inca's Lost Citadel

 The Search for the Inca's Lost Citadel by Alejandro Muñoz, photographs by Arturo Rodriguez, National Geographic, June 2026, pp 62-85.

Lots of nice photography in this article.  In ancient texts there was talk of a sacred Inca fortress, Aconcagua.  A mountain ruin, T'aqrachullo is now being purported to be this same fortress.  This location is about twice as far south of Cuzco as Machu Pichu is north.  Many silver ornaments have been found which would have been used to make a breastplate.  Of course there is disagreement about whether this place is actually the ancient Aconcagua but as more and more study is done there is more and more evidence this was a sacred place for the Inca.

I highly recommend this article, and the pictures are thought provoking.         

Book Review: The First Thanksgiving: Separating Fact from Fiction

 The First Thanksgiving: Separating Fact from Fiction: Fact vs. Fiction in U.S. History by Peter Mavrikis, consultant Katrina Phillips PhD, Capstone Press, North Mankato, Minnesota, 2022.

I must admit I don't like the tone of this book.  It takes the tone that what you know of Thanksgiving is wrong and I am right.  That attitude turns me off.

Pilgrims were not originally called pilgrims but first-comers or forefathers.  The word pilgrims was applied in the 1800s.  They had planned on landing in the Hudson River area but weather pushed them north.  Before landing, the Wampanoag people had been decimated by disease.  There were abandoned villages which were taken over by the new arrivals.  Squanto was in fact a Native American who had early been taken slave to England, and consequently could speak with the Pilgrims and teach them how to survive in this new world.  Massasoit welcome the newcomers and they lived in peace until after his death.  However his son Matacomet or Prince Phillip was not so accommodating which resulted in a war for many years.  The food served at th first harvest feast included deer and turkey, geese and ducks.  Seafood was also served including cod, eel and clams.  There were vegetables: corn squash, beans, peas and pumpkin.  The original feast lasted for three days.  The pilgrims did not wear fancy clothes, but plain clothing.  Likewise the Native Americans did not tout fancy headdresses.  Thanksgiving was not declared a national holiday until the Civil War era and so proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln.  

History as Presented in the Tech High School Mural

 The interior wall of Technical High School, Omaha School District Administration Building is filled with a mural.  Upon it as depictions of many people important to education in Omaha. 

"Every student, Every day, Prepared for success" Love, Connection,  Language, Results.
Green School Initiative.  Green Schools Initiative to lower resource consumption and teach environmental responsibility across the district. 

Equity, leadership, love.

Lyndon B. Johnson "War on Poverty."  Title 1.  Title 1 provides federal funds to schools with a high percentage of families in poverty.  KIOS 91.5 is Omaha's public radio station

Lerleon Johnson was an advocate for fair school opportunities and housing.
Dorothy Eure was also a civil rights and education advocate.
Dr. Owen Knutzen was superintendent of schools in Omaha from 1967-1982
Senator Ernie Chambers is the longest serving state senator in Nebraska.  He is African American and a civil rights advocate.
Thomas Warren is the first African American police chief in Omaha.
I.D.E.A.  Individuals with Disabilities Eduction Act
Susan Buffett was the wife of Warren Buffett and a civil rights advocate

Johnny Rogers, Heisman trophy winner Tech High School.
Dave Rimington, Professional football, South High School.
Johnny Goodman, golfer, last amateur to win U.S. Open, South High School.
Nile Kinnick Heisman trophy winner, Benson High School, died during WWII.
Ron Boone, professional basketball, Tech High School.
Maurtice Ivy, basketball and track and field, state high school hall of fame and Big Eight player of the year, Central High School. 
Gale Sayers, football an track and field, Hall of Fame in football Central High School.
Ike Mahoney, football, basketball, played professionally for Chicago Cardinals, set scoring record in state tourney in basketball.  Tech High School
Bob Gibson starred in basketball and track at Tech high school and became pro hall-of-famer in baseball.
Kathy Knudsen, volleyball outside hitter and played collegiately for UNO, Benson high school.
James Hartung lead South Omaha to four consecutive state championships in gymnastics, member 1980 Olympic team, won team gold in 1984.
Bob Boozer, basketball, won Olympic gold 1960 and NBA champion in 1971.  drafted ahead of Wilt Chamberlain, Tech High school.
Charles Bryant, football and wrestling at South High School.  Despite small size he earned Big Seven honors as a lineman in football.  He also wrestled in college.  He taught in Omaha area and became the first Black head high school coach in the Omaha area coaching wrestling for Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson.

Gregg Olson, baseball at Northwest High School where he went 27-0 and won four state championships.
Roger Sayers, track and field, football, he won 100 and 200 meter dashes in two consecutive years.  Central High School, older brother of Gale Sayers.
Marlin Briscoe football,  First African American athlete to start at quarterback for a professional football team, South High School.

Jerry Pabst, art teacher later promotored to district art director who donated $ three million to prostrate cancer research
No I.C.E.
Omaha, Ponca, Winnebago, Santee, four Native American Tribes in Nebraska
Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte, first Native American woman doctor
ADA, American with Disabilities Act
Español-Ingles/Spanish-English
Bob Whitehouse, Bryan High School principal, block scheduling pioneers

Tom Harvey, educator and administrator
RaNae Kehrber, teacher and now assistant superintendent Omaha Public Schools
Virtual School
Cheryl Logan, first woman and first African American superintendent Omaha Public Schools, served during COVID

Nebraska History: Lewis and Clark expedition, Emancipation proclamation, Homestead Act, Howard Kennedy, first superintendent Omaha; Dodge School was at 11th and Dodge, built in 1872. 

Great Seal of the State of Nebraska, 1867.
Lake School, built 1879 at 19th and Lake.
Lucinda Gamble, first Black teacher at Cass School and Dodge School.
John Dewey, local allergist and M.D

Ngar, Wang Anita

Omaha High School road shows, 
Kate McHugh, first and only female principal at central High School, first lady of central High School.

J.G. Masters, principle for many years at Central High School

Elizabeth Davis Pittman, first black and first woman judge in Nebraska, member Omaha school board

Dr. Janie Calfus, first female elected to Omaha Board of Education

Omaha Chief of Police John J. (Gentleman Jack) Pszanowski

Lawrence Kline, economist who was born in Omaha

Harrison Tull was a Tuskegee Airmen who became an Omaha educator
John Pehle, Saved countless Jews, exposed U.S. acquiescence and cover-up of the holocaust and became War Refugee Board director

Kindergarten
strike, pay your certified engine custodian

Belle Ryan, assistant superintendent of Omaha schools and Belle Ryan school named for her
First Omaha middle school, Monroe Middle School
Alan Heeger physicist who went to high school Central High and became a Nobel winner for chemistry 

Eugene Skinner Black coach in Omaha, and assistant superintendent Omaha schools,
Dr. Jim Ramirez working in packing industry while going to school to get his doctorate then worked to improve education for minorities.