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TRANSPORTATION
ROADS AND HIGHWAYS
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TRANSPORTATION
ROADS AND HIGHWAYS
Since Nebraska had no organized government until it became a territory, the only roads prior to that time were trails blazed by travel across the plains. Some of these, the Oregon trail for example, were among the most traveled roads in the world. The first government highway was authorized by congress on February 17, 1855. This road was to extend from a point opposite Council Bluffs to New Fort Kearney. Prior to this time a few post and military roads had been established by act of congress, and new ones were added by an act of March 3, 1855. On March 3, 1857, congress appropriated $30,000 "for the construction of a road from the Platte river via Omaha reserve and Dakota City to the Running Water river." This road followed the Missouri river for 208 miles and was several years under construction.
The first territorial legislature, by an act approved March 16, 1855, provided for the manner of surveying public roads. Sixty-six feet was the prescribed width of such roads. A number of acts approved March 14 and 15 of that session appointed commissioners to lay out territorial roads from certain settlements to certain other settlements or specified localities. In all 155 territorial roads were projected by the twelve territorial legislatures. For some years after 1867, the state legislatures passed similar laws. Most of these acts provided vaguely that the cost of a road should be borne by the counties through which it ran. In one case-that of the road from Plattsmouth to Archer-it was provided that all able-bodied male inhabitants between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five should work on the road two days of each year.
On January 26, 1856, the first county road law was approved. Authority concerning roads was vested in county commissioners. Roads were to be kept open and in repair forty feet wide. A poll tax of two days' labor annually was required of able-bodied male citizens between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, outside of the incorporated municipalities. The commissioners might levy a tax, not to exceed two mills, on the county outside the municipalities for roads. -Road districts were to be established and road supervisors appointed by the commissioners. Congress was memorialized by this legislature for aid in the building of certain roads. Congress was again memorialized by an act of November 4, 1858, to appropriate for the construction of a bridge across the Platte.
An amendment to the county road law approved January 11, 1860, named four rods (66 feet) as the legal width of a county road. Another amendment approved January 11, 1861, made the office of road supervisor elective. Another act of the same date regulated the disposal of the road fund. One-third of the entire road fund was to be expended by the commissioners for the general benefit of county
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One of the early attempts at road making was the old steam wagon road, which was projected from Nebraska City out into the west in 1862. The county commissioners of Otoe county agreed to spend $2,000 in preparing a road for the steam wagon. This pioneer motor vehicle broke an axle a few miles out of Nebraska City on its maiden trip and the steam wagon project was abandoned. The "Steam wagon road" remained as part of the Denver trail and was one of the most traveled highways in the west.
The legislatures of 1869, 1871 and 1873 declared section lines to be public roads in the various counties. Such roads were to be four rods wide.
The Platte river bridge fund was created by the legislature of 1871. The foundation of the fund was derived from the sale of fifty sections of land from the government grant of land for internal improvements. This fund was used to pay the interest on bonds issued by counties to construct bridges across the Platte.
The legislature of 1875 added to the duties of road supervisors that of putting fire guards along the roads, and required the secretary of state to publish and distribute the road laws to road supervisors. These laws are now published privately, and distributed by county boards.
The constitution of 1875 abolished special taxes by requiring all taxes to be levied upon valuation of property. This abolished the special road tax of four dollars on each quarter section then existing. This tax was levied, however, in certain counties in 1876, and the succeeding legislature formally legalized those levies.
The road law was rewritten by the act of March 1, 1879. County boards designate road districts outside of the incorporated municipalities, and road overseers are elected as other officers are elected, for terms of two years, except in counties having township government, where they are appointed for one year. The funds for establishment, improvement, and maintenance of roads are derived:
One-half of all the money collected as road fund constitutes a county road fund to be divided equally among the several commissioner districts of the county, the other half of the money so collected
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The county surveyor in counties of over 50,000 population is the superintendent of construction in road and bridge work. He makes all surveys and prepares plans and specification;, and inspects material. All bridges costing over $500 must be built from uniform plans approved by the state department of public works. The legislature of 1911 made an annual levy of one-fifth of a mill for aid to counties in building bridges over streams one hundred or more feet wide. Provision was also made for the appointment of county highway commissioners by county boards. In counties having 50,000 or more population the county surveyor is to perform the duties of highway commissioner.
The legislature of 1917 complied with the terms of the federal aid road act of July 11, 1916, by pledging the good faith of the state to provide the necessary funds.
A revolution in Nebraska highway construction and maintenance was accomplished by the legislatures of 1917 and 1919. In principle this revolution was a return to the old territorial system of establishing highways by direct act of the legislature.
The new legislation is based upon Federal Aid Road Acts approved July 11, 1916, and November 9, 1921. These provided for grants of money to states for the construction of public highways, provided the states would appropriate equal sums and that the state highway system should meet the approval of the federal engineers.
Under this act, the state had expended on July 1, 1926, $6,059,199, and the federal government had supplemented this with $5,474,202 which had served to complete 1,768.3 miles of road projects as mapped out by the state department of public works and approved by the federal bureau of public roads. The funds to meet federal aid, since April, 1925, are derived from a tax of two cents a gallon on gasoline sold in the state, except that used in agriculture. The state highways are maintained by the department of public works from funds derived from motor vehicle license fees. The number of auto plates issued January I to June 30, 1926, was 362,091, and the amount of money paid in was $3,333,721. Of this sum, five cents for each original motor vehicle registration is retained by the county treasurers as the cost of collection, two and one-half per cent of the remainder is used for paying for the license plates and other costs of administration of the motor vehicle laws. Thirty per cent of the balance is available for the maintenance of the state highway system and seventy per cent is credited to the road dragging funds of the several counties.
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NEBRASKA'S NATURAL RESOURCES
By G. E. Condra, Director, Conservation and Survey Division, University of Nebraska
Nebraska has resources of the kind that will, if properly utilized, support her people and institutions when less richly endowed parts of the world become impoverished. Our heritage in the line of natural resources and the conditions under which they occur is much more favorable than most people think. The basic or fundamental factors affecting the life and, industry of the state are the fertile soils, favorable water supplies and the invigorating elements of climate.*
This paper, based on
the research and survey activities of the Conservation and Survey
Division of The University of Nebraska, sets forth useful facts
for the citizens of the state. No attempt is made to over-boost in
order to increase the population of Nebraska at the expense of
other commonwealths; rather it is recognized that the efficiency
and success of the people are more to be desired than mere
numbers.
SOIL RESOURCES
Nebraska has more than one hundred kinds of soil in three well-defined regions. These soils are being studied and described by the State Soil Survey of the Conservation and Survey Division in cooperation with the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of. Agriculture. Fifty-four counties have been surveyed in detail and the land classification has been completed for most of the state.
The soils are the state's greatest resources, Their proper management and conservation present problems of no small importance. Persons wishing information regarding the soil regions, soil types and a list of published county reports should consult Bulletin 15 of the Conservation and Survey Division.
A detailed discussion
of the soil resources is not made in this paper because of lack of
space and because such information is now available in the reports
published on a number of counties.
MINERAL RESOURCES
Nebraska is not well endowed with mineral resources. No gold, Silver, lead and zinc deposits of value have been found. Precious stones and rare minerals are of uncommon occurrence; The state hag some useful mineral materials, as stone, clay, sand and gravel, volcanic ash and potash. There are small deposits of coal and there is some chance for the discovery of oil and gas.
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STONE
There are exposed in the state about forty beds of limestone and chalk rock and several beds of sandstone. These beds were described in Bulletin No. 5 of the Conservation and Survey Division.
Quite large stone
quarries operate at or near Weeping Water, Louisville, Meadow and
South Bend. Most of the stone, which is produced from the
well-known Deer Creek Limestone, is crushed and used in concrete
and for other building purposes. Smaller quarries operate on other
beds at a number of places, but for local use. An increasing
amount of the middle part of the Deer Creek Limestone, which runs
high in calcium carbonate, as at the Meyers quarries near Weeping
Water, is being ground and shipped to Chicago and other places and
used as filller (sic) in putty, paint, paper, etc., and in asphalt
pavement.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF STONE
Though the state has stone in formations quite well distributed, little of it is well suited for use in the surface layer of concrete roads. The dimension stone cannot compete successfully with the well-known building stone shipped in from Indiana, Ohio and other states.
The general use of gravel aggregate in concrete has lessened the demand in the state for limestone aggregate, hence there is not now as much need relatively for crushed stone as formerly.
Unfortunately, most of the stone is thickly covered with heavy overburden, making quarrying difficult and the cost of production quite high. These and other conditions have led to the abandonment of quarries and to a consequent reduction in the stone production the past few years. The demand for the finely ground, nearly pure limestone is increasing.
A rather novel method of quarrying is used at the largest quarries along the Platte. It is mining by tunnelling (sic) in on a heavy bed below a cap rock of the Deer Limestone which has strength to support the roof to a width of about 20 feet between pillars of stone not removed. This leaves a net-work of large rooms and pillars. The commercial quarries of Nebraska are as follows:
1. The National Stone Company quarries, two miles northeast of Louisville, work in the Deer Creek by tunnelling (sic). The Cedar Creek and Cullom beds are exposed in the slope below the quarry floor.
2. Murphy quarry, at Louisville, recently consolidated with the National, operates on the Deer Creek by tunnelling (sic).
3. The Kiewitz Stone Company quarry west of Meadow, now consolidated with the National, works the Deer Creek by tunnelling (sic). Formerly the South Bend, Louisville, Meadow beds were worked along an open face.
4. Burlington quarry, two miles north of South Bend, works Louisville, South Bend and the Ashland.
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5. Meyers quarry, three-fourths mile east of Weeping Water, works upper middle part of Deer Creek.
6. Oleson quarry, west of Weeping Water, works upper part of Deer Creek.
7. Weeping Water Stone Company quarry, (formerly the Commercial Land Company quarry), located one and one-fourth miles southeast of Weeping Water, operates on the Deer Creek.
8. Davis quarry, southeast of Blue Springs, works Florence Flint and Fort Riley.
It seems that the
limestones and chalk rock should have considerable importance in
the future as sources of finely crushed rock for liming or
correcting sour soils which occur in the southeastern
counties.
SAND AND GRAVEL
The sand resources have been investigated by the Conservation Division. Bulletins of 200 pages and 60 pages have been published. The first is now out of print but the other, Bulletin 6, is yet available, but nearly exhausted.
The state's sand is widely distributed. The largest alluvial sand deposits, which occur along the Platte, are worked in open pits and by dredging and pumping. Sand and gravel of good quality are produced here on a commercial scale and shipped throughout Nebraska and to other states. There are more than 25 large producing plants, located at Scottsbluff, Gering, North Platte, Kearney, Grand Island, Central City, Columbus,- Schuyler, Fremont, Valley, Ashland, South Bend, Meadow, and Louisville. The pit-run of material is screened or sized for the various uses. The fine sand is used as engine sand and in plaster and the coarser grades for concrete, gravelling (sic) road and other purposes. There are large sand plants in Salt Creek Valley at Lincoln.
Bank sand is worked at many places, about 1,000 pits producing from this source. Among the leading centers of such production are Bayard, Long Pine, Norfolk, Tekamah, Wahoo, Fairbury and Cowles. Much of the bank sand is used locally; some is shipped.
Much of the state's
sand is of good quality for building purposes. It is formed
largely of quartz and feldspar which are very resistant and
durable minerals.
ROAD MATERIALS
These are sand, gravel, subsoil, and stone, all of which have been surveyed and described in Bulletins 5, 6 and 10 of the Conservation and Survey Division and in special papers in the annual reports of the state engineer.
Extensive road building in Nebraska calls for large quantities of sand and gravel for surfacing earth roads and in the manufacture of concrete. Fortunately, there are adequate resources with which
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Perhaps the main road material at this time is the subsoil, which varies greatly in different parts of the state, and which has been graded into roads generally without much regard for 'quality, selection or results. Persons in charge of earth road construction should acquaint themselves with the soil and subsoil sections described in our county soil survey reports, which show not only the section or profile, but the texture of each kind of soil, making it possible, to select heavy or light surfacing materials, as required, if they are present and accessible.
Stone, produced from various
ledges in the state, has been used for approaches, surfacing and
for concrete.
CLAY
There are several deposits of clay, shale and silt, some of them being suitable for brick and tile manufacture. Unfortunately, however, much of the best clay is interstratified with limestones and cannot be worked unless both clay and stone are produced, i.e., without operating a clay pit and a stone quarry on the overburden, making the cost of stripping an important factor.
The clays in the Dakota formation occur mostly as large, irregular beds exposed at Tekamah, Endicott, Lincoln, Beatrice and at other places. They lie near the surface and can be worked without much stripping.
Clays occur in the Pennsylvanian, Permian, Cretaceous, Tertiary and Quarternary formations. Most of the silt is of recent origin. Clays and shales, interbedded with limestones and exposed in the southeastern counties, are of Pennsylvanian and Permian ages. Some of these beds have been worked, as at Nebraska City, Auburn, Humboldt and Table Rock. The clays produced at Lincoln, Beatrice, Fairbury, Endicott and Steele City occur in the Dakota Formation which is of Cretaceous age. The extensive clays of the Denton and Pierce formations, exposed along the Republican, along, the Missouri in the northeastern counties and in the northwestern part of the state, though suitable for brick making when mixed with silt deposits, have not been utilized very extensively. The Brule clay has been used for brick in a limited way at Chadron.
Silt deposits, carrying some clay, occur quite favorably for working and are widely distributed. The heavier glacial or drift deposits of the eastern counties, also the loess deposits distributed so generally over the southeastern half of the state are. used in brick making, but to best advantage when mixed with clay. Glacial drift and the loess run high in silt but contain some clay and fine sand. -Brick plants operate on the loess at Hooper, Hastings, York and Omaha, but they mix in some clay shipped from the clay beds of the Pennsyl-
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The clay deposits of the
Pennsylvanian formations are being studied in detail in order to
promote their more general use in brick and tile manufacture.
BRICK AND TILE INDUSTRY
Immediately preceding the late
financial depression, there were 36 brick plants in successful
operation in Nebraska. The production in 1918 was 127,000,000
brick and tile (brick measure). There was a decrease to
122,000,000 in 1919, after which some plants closed and the output
was further curtailed, but the plants just about held their output
in 1922-1925. There is heavier production in 1926. The presence of
clay resources and the normal demand for clay products seem to
warrant the further expansion of brick and tile manufacture in
Nebraska.
CEMENT
Cement-making materials, such as limestones, shales and chalk rock, occur at a good many places in the state. Several of the Pennsylvanian limestones and shales of the southeastern counties have been tested and found to be suitable for cement making. The Niobrara Chalk, and the shales immediately below and above it are the state's principal cement resources. The chalk is widely exposed along the Missouri 'between Knox and Cedar counties and in the Republican valley where it is overlain by Pierre Shale and uderlain (sic) by Carlile Shale.
Cement Plant at Superior. Though lime was made at several places in the state several years ago, the manufacture of Portland cement in a large way in Nebraska was delayed until a few years ago when a plant was built at Superior. The plant was operated for a while, abandoned one year, then rebuilt and enlarged. It is owned and successfully operated by the Nebraska Cement Company.
This plant is just west of Superior and the quarry is two miles south of the mill, but in Kansas. The materials, Niobrara Chalk and Carlile Shale, are quarried without hindrance of much overburden and transported to the mill by cars drawn by small locomotives.
Manufacture of Cement. The wet process of manufacture is used. The materials are crushed, ground, brought together in right proportions, mixed to a slurry and burned at a temperature of about 2800 degrees F., producing black nodules called "cIinker." The burning is done with powdered coal fed through the kilns by currents of air. From the kilns the clinker is carried to rotary coolers and then to storage or directly to the grinding machinery. Before being ground the clinker is weighed and about 2 1/2 per cent of gypsum is added to act as a retard for. the set of the cement. The final process in the manufacture is grinding the clinker to cement.
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VOLCANIC ASH
This material, popularly known as silica, is widely distributed in Nebraska and adjacent states. It is light or light gray and powdery or loosely cemented. The particles are fine, hard and sharp, making the material suitable for abrasive purposes.
For several years most of the commercial volcanic ash of our country was produced from deposits in the Republican valley of Nebraska. Much of it was secured from near Stamford where a good quality of material occurs beneath a thin overburden. The overburden was removed with a team and scraper and the ash loaded into cars for shipment to Omaha and other centers, but there is practically no production in the state at this time.
Volcanic ash is used principally
by the large packing plants in the manufacture of Old Dutch
Cleanser, Sapolio, and similar products.
POTASH RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT
The potash resources have been investigated by the Conservation and Survey Division. A preliminary report, Bulletin 8, was published and distributed generally and a detailed report in manuscript was prepared but not published. Bulletin 8 describes the potash region, the chemical composition of brines, the development of lakes, the origin of potash, and methods of reducing crude potash from the brines.
About 300 lakes in the western part of the sandhill region contain enough potash for production under war-time conditions and there is yet a larger amount of brine in the sands below the lakes. Roughly speaking, the potash of Nebraska was produced by the following process: pumping from open lakes and lake-bed sands, transportation to reduction plants, evaporation of the brines to a density beyond the point at which crystallization begins, drying in large rotating kilns, grinding and sacking for shipment.
Extent. The potash industry of Nebraska grew up during the war. About $10,000,000 was invested in plants and pipe lines. There were 300 miles of pipe lines, 9 large plants operating, and 18 small plants operating or building when the armistice was signed. Their daily production was- about 500 tons of crude potash. The industry advanced in three years to a point where the state produced about 60 per cent of the potash output of the United States.
Depression. Soon after the war., the market for domestic potash declined from about $5.00 per unit to less than $2.50 per unit. The plants continued to operate for several months, but the market nearly failed. The amount of production held in storage increased and soon, in view of the low prices and the lack of sales, all the plants
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SALT
Salt was produced at an early
date in the Lincoln Basin, from strong brines which occur at a
depth of about 200 feet. No doubt there remains here some brine
which might be made the basis of production" with processes like
those employed in Kansas, New York and other states.
FOSSIL BEDS
It is too little known that there are fossil beds of value in Nebraska. Some of the richest deposits of the United States are on the Cook ranch at Agate, 'Sioux county. Individual specimens secured from this place and mounted in museums are valued at thousands of dollars. The "Giant Hog," in the museum of the University of Nebraska, is listed by the curator, Professor Barbour, at $50,000,
Some of the largest eastern museums have fossil quarries on the Cook ranch from which specimens are secured for display. The University of Nebraska, through lack of funds, has not been able to maintain the lead in developing this resource.
Many people, including some of
the world's best known scientists, visit the Cook ranch in order
to see and study the fossil beds and collections.
WATER RESOURCES
These resources are ground water, springs, lakes and streams. most of the water is in the ground, not on the surface.
Soil Moisture. The upper part of the soil contain s capillary ground water or soil moisture from which crops are supplied. This moisture, derived principally from rainfall, is one of the state's valuable resources, and its conservation has great importance in agriculture.
Ground Water. Below the capillary water, the mantle rock and much of the bedrock are saturated. The amount of water in this zone would be enough, if at the surface, to make a lake many feet deep. This water is of good quality as a rule. It is the source of well water and springs.
Well Water. Good well water extends under most of the state at comparatively shallow depths. That which is most accessible occurs principally in beds of sand, and in more than one bed at most local-
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Shallow wells are secured on most alluvial lands and sandhill valleys at a depth of thirty to forty feet. Much of the alluvial water is of good quality, in the deeper sands especially. Though the sandhill water is good generally, that at shallow depths in the potash region may contain alkali. Deeper wells at such places afford an abundance of desirable water.
The water of the Pierre Shale lands in White River and Hat Creek basins is scant and of poor quality. The table land wells of the western part of the state are 80 to' 300 feet deep and supply large quantities of unusually good water.
There are places on valley slopes along the Republican and in some southeastern counties, where, it is not possible to secure sufficient well water. They are where the ground water has drained away from the above clay or shale beds, leaving what are called dry zones or belts. These belts are narrow, and on most farms, water can be obtained by sinking wells farther back on the uplands or on the valley floors below.
As a whole Nebraska has
excellent well water. The supply is large -and quite free from
pollution. The state Conservation and Survey Division assists in
prospecting water resources and in securing the 'necessary quality
and quantity of water for rural and urban purposes. This Division
co-operates with the State Bacteriologist and the State Engineer
in locating and correcting water supplies.
ARTESIAN WELLS
Ground water under pressure is artesian. A flow is obtained by tapping a supply with pressure enough to cause the water to rise to the surface. In many cases the water lifts only a short distance, not enough to overflow.
Number and Distribution. The state has several hundred artesian wells reaching formations of different ages and depths. -Shallow flowing artesian wells, depth 60 to 400 feet, occur in some of the western and north-central counties. Most of them are in western Dundy, western Chase, Sheridan, Cherry, Brown, Rock, Holt and Wheeler counties. The water-comes from deposits of Tertiary age. Some -wells north of Hyannis are 200 to 500 feet in depth whereas most of those in the sandhill area are shallower. Many shallow artesian wells occur in valleys at or near Cook, Tecumseh and Beaver Crossing.
Artesian water of the Dakota formation is reached in Knox, Cedar, Dixon, Seward and Lancaster counties. The depth ranges from go to 1000 feet. Much of the water, though somewhat mineralized, is :suitable for drinking purposes. The survey has records of about 300 of these wells, many of which occur in Cedar and Dixon counties-.'
The deep wells in Lincoln, Beatrice, Omaha and Nebraska City extend to formations of Pennsylvanian and older ages. Most of them yield salt water, some of which is used for sanitarium purposes.
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LAKES
There are many small lakes in Nebraska, some of them permanent, but the larger number intermittent, appearing during a wet season or during wet weather.
Sand Hill Lakes. Most of our lakes are in the sandhills, located in southwestern Holt county and adjacent areas, south of Bassett and Ainsworth, in northwestern Cherry county, east central Cherry county, southeast of Alliance and north of Antioch. Among the best known of the 1000 or more sandhill lakes are Goose, Dora, Willow, Cottonwood, George, Enders, Hagan, Dad's, Dewey, Hackberry, Big Alkali, Beaver, Rat, Jesse, Snow, Crescent and Blue. Some of these are fresh; others contain quite a bit of alkali. Most sandhill lakes. are shallow. They are used for stock water, fish culture and hunting and have supplied potash.
Wet Weather Lakes occur on the Loess Plains, Cheyenne Table, and Box Butte Table. The total area of their beds, is about 225 square miles. These intermittent lakes have some importance in hunting, but their beds are used chiefly as grazing land and for native hay production.
Cut-Off Lakes occur in the Missouri, Elkhorn, Loup and other valleys. Carter Lake, near Omaha, Quinnebaugh, Burt county, and Blyburg and Crystal lakes of Dakota county are examples. Cut-off lakes are used, for boating, fishing, sources of ice and locations for hunting clubs.
Artificial Lakes for ice production are at Seymour, Ashland, Memphis, Falls City, and other places. Some lakes, formed by damming streams for water power, serve as sources of ice and for pleasure resorts. Among the best-known of these are at Seward, Beatrice, Milford, Dewitt, Fairbury, Blue Springs, Holmesville, Deweese, Cambridge, Maywood, Long Pine, Ericson and Valentine.
Irrigation Reservoirs
have been built, two being quite large. They are Lake Alice, north
of Scottsbluff, and occupying about 700 acres, and Lake Minatare,
north of the town for which it is named and having an area of
about 2,509 acres. These lakes are flood waters stored for
irrigation, but are used to some extent for fishing and
hunting.
SPRINGS
There are many springs in the state. Some of them are the source of streams. Springs are common in the Pine Ridge region and along the Niobrara. Seepage is observed about most sandhill lakes. Rivers heading in the sandhills are fed more by springs than directly from the rainfall. The ravines of the Missouri, Elkhorn and Republican
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Fortunately, spring water is
available at most places in the state where it is difficult to
secure good well water.
RIVERS AND WATER POWER
The principal rivers are the Missouri, White, Niobrara, Elkhorn, Loup, Platte, Republican, Little Blue, Big Blue, and Big Nemaha. They are used for fish culture, boating, park purposes, water supplies, water power, sewage disposal and irrigation. The flow of most rivers fluctuates considerably during the year but the Loup, Niobrara and Big Blue are quite uniform in discharge.
The Missouri River borders the state on the east for a distance of about four hundred and sixty miles. The fall in this distance averages about one foot per mile yet the current is quite swift. The river has a tendency to shift its course and to damage a large amount of valuable land, having destroyed whole farms within a few days. Methods now used are effective in checking this destruction. The control of the river will require a large outlay. The results, however, should prove beneficial to land owners, railroads, cities along the course, and to the state as a whole.
The Missouri has not been used for power but there has been some talk for its development. Most of the large tributaries, however, were developed for power in the early history of the state and later abandoned on account of the small, irregular flow, floods and channel changes made in connection with drainage of agricultural lands. The water power record of these streams is as follows: Ponca Creek, installed 2, abandoned 2; Bazile Creek, installed 4, abandoned 2; operating 2; Bow Creek, installed 2, abandoned 1, operating 1; Aowa Creek, installed 3, abandoned 3; Elk Creek of Dakota county, 1 installed and abandoned; Omaha Creek, 2 installed and abandoned; Elm Creek, installed 1, abandoned 1; Tekamah Creek, I installed and abandoned; Papillion Creek, installed and abandoned 4; Weeping Water Creek, installed and abandoned 5; Walnut Creek, installed and operating 1; Camp Creek north of Peru, installed and abandoned 1; Little Nemaha basin, installed and abandoned 11; Big Nemaha basin, installed and abandoned 18; total installed, 56; abandoned 52, operating, 4.
The Missouri is used for city water supplies and sewage disposal. The water at 'Omaha and Nebraska City is pumped 'from the river and treated, making an abundant supply of good quality. The river presents possibilities in navigation, yet nothing permanent has been accomplished in this line for Nebraska and adjacent states. The tributaries serve in drainage, for stock water and afford fishing.
The Niobrara, or Running Water, heads in Wyoming, but receives very little water from that source. It is largely a Nebraska stream
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The drainage area of the- Niobrara is about nine thousand square miles of high plains and sandhill country. The prevailing soils of the upper and middle parts of the drainage are fine sandy loam, loamy sand, dunesand and rough stony land. There are areas of very fine textured soils in the lower course.
The Niobrara Valley is quite deep, bordered by rough land in the western part, and somewhat wider before the sandhills are reached. The middle course and upper part of the lower course are deep and bordered by bluffs, stony land, sandhills and small bench lands, Here the river flows over a number of rock outcrops making small rapids. Near the Missouri the valley is wider, bordered by rough Pierre hills and slopes.'
Much of the Niobrara comes from springs issuing from sandhills. There is a quite uniform discharge, of about 870 second feet at Valentine and more than 1,000 second feet at the mouth at the town of Niobrara. The leading tributaries and their discharges are Bear Creek, about 20 second feet; Snake River, 200 to 300 second feet; Minnechadusa Creek, 30 or more second feet; Keyapaha River, 50 to 200 second feet; Eagle Creek, 10 to 25 second feet; and Verdigris Creek, 40 to 100 second feet. These discharges are only approximately correct.
The western part of the Niobrara valley is sub-irrigated from the river and considerable areas are reached by small canals. The middle course has a number of waterfalls in the tributaries. They occur in Snake River, Schlagle and most other creeks and where some of the small streams drop into the river. These falls, the rugged topography and tree growth make one of the scenic parts of the state. There are beautiful parks along Minnechadusa at Valentine and in Long Pine Valley at Long Pine. The Minnechadusa and Plum Creek reservoirs afford fishing, boating and bathing. Trout fishing is quite good in some of the Niobrara tributaries.
Several powers have been built in the Niobrara and its tributaries and about 80,000 theoretical horsepower could be developed. A market for part of this might be supplied by railroads and Sioux City and many other places could be reached by long distance transmission. Snake Creek, the main tributary, would be an ideal stream for powers if it were more favorably located.
The water power record of the Niobrara drainage is as follows: Niobrara River, built 9, abandoned 8, operating 1. In the tributaries
Pine Creek, 1 installed and operating; creek east of Pine creek, installed and abandoned 1; creek north of river, western part of Cherry county, installed and abandoned 1; Snake Creek, installed and
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The Cornell project in the trunk stream 3 1/2 miles east of Valentine is the largest water power in the state. It is capable of generating about 2,000 horsepower, which can be increased if a larger market is secured than is now found at Valentine, Crookston, Kilgore and Cody.
The Ainsworth Light and Power Company has a big power plant on Plum Creek from which electric current is transmitted to Ainsworth and Bassett and used for light and power. This is one of the best powers in the state.
The Gillman Mill on Minnechadusa. Creek north of Valentine has operated for several years, although the dam-has been rebuilt three times following washouts. There is a-good city park below the dam and the lake above is used for boating, fishing and bathing.
The Elkhorn River drains sandhill, prairie plain, loess plain and loess hill areas. The valley is wide and shallow in the upper part and deeper in the lower course. The stream is sluggish at the headwaters but quite swift and subject to flooding in its middle and lower parts. The river has a normal discharge at the Platte of 1,200 or more second feet.
North Fork, entering at. Norfolk, is one of the principal tributaries. It overflows some years, interfering with power development and farming, The Logan branch is a small stream in a wide valley floor subject to frequent floodings but better drainage has been effected large ditches. Drainage changes caused the abandonment of three by powers in this valley. One operates at Norfolk.
The trunk stream of the Elkhorn is used for the sub-irrigation of extensive hay flats near its headwaters and has been developed for power at Atkinson, O'Neill, Ewing, Clearwater, Neligh, Stanton, West Point, Scribner, Hooper and Waterloo. All these, except at Atkinson, have been destroyed by high water. The type of construction was not suited to a sandy bed. The Neligh development, 300 horse power under a head of 12 feet, went out a few years ago., Powers were built in tributaries of the Elkhorn at or near Winslow, Oakland Lyons, Pender, Bancroft, Scribner, Beemer, Madison, Norfolk, Pierce, Battle Creek, Oakdale and Ewing, all of which have been abandoned except at Norfolk, Battle Creek, Madison and Oakdale. The water power record of the Elkhorn drainage is-installed 22, abandoned 17, operating 5.
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NEBRASKA BLUE BOOK, 1926 |
Lodgepole Creek, the main tributary of the South Platte in Nebraska, is used almost entirely for irrigation. Water is stored in a reservoir and in several ponds. The reservoir, located seven and one-half miles west of Kimball, holds water for the largest irrigation enterprise of the valley and irrigates about 7,000 acres in the vicinity of Kimball. Much other land in the valley is covered by small ditches. A water power built below Potter has been abandoned for several years.
The North Platte has a wide valley in Scotts Bluff county and across part of Morrill county. The valley narrows and some of the slopes become comparatively steep between the eastern part of Morrill county and Lincoln county. The river is fed principally by snow and spring waters of Wyoming. More than one million acre feet of flood water is stored in the Pathfinder reservoir about 45 miles southwest of Casper and released during the irrigation season. This storage water flows on the river bed and through canals to big reservoirs in Scotts Bluff county, Nebraska. Also some of it is carried directly through big canals to the lands. The North Platte is Nebraska's big irrigation district.
Below the junction of the North and South branch, the Platte occupies a broad valley in which flood plain, bench land and bluff lands are well defined. The river is shallow and spreads out among islands. The discharge decreases in summer until 'the Loup is reached at Columbus, beyond which the volume is considerably greater to the Missouri.
Water Power of the Platte. The North Platte has been developed for power in Wyoming, near Lingle, which is west of the state line, and the current is used generally in the North Platte Valley of Nebraska. A second large power is being installed near Guernsey. The return canals, that is. those carrying seepage water, have volume enough for some power. Tributaries of the North Platte have been developed for power. Pumpkin Creek, though a weak stream, had one power several years ago. Blue Water and Birdwood creeks have steady flows and might support a number of small developments. The five
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© 2002 for the NEGenWeb Project by Pam Rietsch, Ted & Carole Miller
