5

  "Dutch Joe" we called him. We were the homesteaders upon the high tables and in the rich black valleys of the sandhills west of Valentine in the eighties. We were upon the skirmish line of the American advance. We were fighting to prove that American homes could be made in the heart of the sandhills, - the last remnant of the "Great American Desert" making its last stand upon the Hindenburg line of resistance to the American spirit. The fight was fierce for the skirmishers. We plunged into the deep canons of the Niobrara and tore from their rugged entrenchments thousand year-old cedar trees, "snaked" them down the canon, split them into posts, hauled them forty miles to Valentine and traded them at six cents apiece for flour and bacon. We followed the trail of deer and elks for a week to bring home a bit of fresh venison. Pitch pine logs were our fuel. Water was our first necessity and our greatest difficulty. From the rich, smooth gramma grass table-lands where most of us had built our cabins and staked our hopes for a free American home, we could look miles away down the pine clad canons of the Niobrara. At the bottom of the canons ran splendid, gurgling brooks of clear, cold water. Lazy settlers homesteaded there and built their cabins at the waters' edge, where there was no plow land. The high table homesteaders hauled their water in barrels, sometimes a distance of seven miles, while they broke out their first fields and laid the foundations for a real farm home.
  The first experiments at digging wells on the high table were failures. Some dry holes were sunk two hundred feet and abandoned. It was then that Dutch Joe appeared on the horizon. His real name was Joseph Grewe. He was born in Westphalia, Germany, in 1854 , served two years in the German army at Cologne and came to Nebraska. in 1879. He was married in Cuming county in 1881 and homesteaded in Cherry county in June, 1884. He was a sturdy fellow of medium height, with a pleasant smile, firmly set, determined lips, and extraordinary muscular development. He undertook to prove that water could be obtained upon the high tables and dug his first wells down through the hard, dry Niobrara chalk took over two hundred feet to the abundant underflow of pure, cold water beneath.
  What a celebration was held when the first Dutch Joe well reached water upon the "German Table." It was for us an epoch making date, like that of the Declaration of Independence. It was a measuring rod by which each settler could calculate the probable cost of securing water upon his own homestead. After that Dutch Joe was in constant demand. Other settlers would break out prairie for him, do his farm work and haul him cedar posts while he dug their wells. In the next seven years he dug over 6,000 feet of wells in the settlement, ranging from 100 to 260 feet in depth. There was no well digging machinery in the region at that time, and the settlers were too poor to import any. Dutch Joe's wells were large, round cylinders,

straight as a gun barrel from the gramma grass roots to the gravel underflow. Some of us who watched him work called him "The Human Badger." I have never seen a man who could strike his spade into the top soil and sink out of sight in such an astonishing short space of time. In a single day he was known to dig a well sixty-five feet deep. What a treasure he would have been upon the Flanders front today!
  The Sioux Indian war of 1890 came, the terrible day at Wounded Knee on December 29. Many of the settlers were scared and ready to leave their hard earned homesteads. Joe Grewe persuaded his neighbors to let him go to the seat of war and investigate. When he returned he was able to persuade them that the danger was by, and the settlers stayed by their homes. It is now one of the most prosperous settlements in the sandhill region.
  One day in 1894 Joe was called upon to go down to the bottom of the first well he had dug in the settlement and clear out some obstruction. From the bottom of the well he gave the signal to hoist a bucket full of loose rock. When the bucket had almost reached the top it slipped from the steel catch which held it to the rope and falling swiftly 200 feet crushed the head of the German hero of the sandhill settlement. The steel catch was an original invention of Mr. Grewe made by himself and designed to save time by quickly detaching the bucket from the rope for unloading. Many years' service had worn the steel catch, unnoticed, until it was ready for this last act in a frontier tragedy. The family of Joseph Grewe still live in the sandhills region. His children have grown into lives of usefulness, some of them teaching school. Men who risk their lives on fields of battle are justly held as heroes. Those who risk and lose them in the cause of making human homes in what was once a desert are also heroes. Among these I write the name of Joseph Grewe. Let no one who has never dug in the darkness and danger of a deep well dare dispute it. -
A. E. S.

  Students of the early history of Nebraska must often have noticed that among the younger, people and especially among high school pupils, the subject is regarded with indifference. They are much more familiar with the story of the Greek who ran twenty-four miles to carry the news of a victory than they are with that of the early settlers who raced to the west to save Nebraska and Kansas to the cause of freedom.
  I had a theory that interest in early Nebraska history might be awakened by inducing school children to play some of the more dramatic incidents, along the lines of the first history play given by university students on the campus. Last year I put the theory to a test with gratifying results.
  The first experiment was in Garfield county. Though the settlement there dates back only to 1871, it was full of action. The first men in the valley had to defend their homes against hostile Indians. There were two or three skirmishes near where Burwell is now situated. The valley was made safe to settlement only by establishing a fort with a company of regulars between Burwell and Ord. Of all this the younger generation of Burwell know little and cared less. Their attitude was just typical.
  In April, 1916, I visited the high school and grades, talked to them about the early settlements and proposed that one of the Indian battles be carefully acted out on the actual battle-ground. They received the idea with enthusiasm, and committees were at once appointed to visit the spot, work out the details, and provide the costumes and other "property."
  Two weeks later when I came back through Burwell there was intense interest, if not excitement, over the Indian battle. This had spread all over the country. The older settlers had gathered and discussed the event. They had cudgelled their memories for facts. They had decided who were the oldest in the valley, which log cabins were the earliest, and had raked up enough romance to furnish material for half a dozen plays. All this the younger generation had ab-

6

sorbed. It was a new theme, surpassing in importance the story of Hannibal crossing the Alps.
  The necessary twenty-five Indians had not only found costumes, but about forty girls had decked themselves out as Indian maidens and demanded a part in the play. This led to a new difficulty which was solved by establishing an Indian village near the Loup river, just north of town. Wigwams were hastily erected and all phases at village life were shown, including one courting scene where a lone buck had slipped back from the war party to talk with his "Night Bird." The climax of the village scene came when a courier on a pony dashed into the village bringing news of the fight with the whites.
  This village scene was photographed by a motion picture camera, and by fully a dozen kodaks. About seven hundred spectators watched the performance, many at them coming from an adjoining county.
  The next day the battle scene was enacted seven miles up the valley from Burwell. So keen was the interest that many young folks walked the whole distance from town to see it. Fully five hundred people were on the ground, some coming a distance of thirty miles. There were fourteen automobile loads from Ord, which is over twenty miles away.
  The play was put on in a very creditable manner allowing the settler-soldiers in their search for the hostiles, the council of war, the ambush arranged by the Indians, the surprise attack, and the running fight in which footmen and horsemen mingled. Toward evening the spectators were back at Burwell and went out to one of the early log cabins where the arrival of settlers fresh from the battlefield was staged.
  This little spectacle, with the newspaper comment it caused, brought about a general discussion of the early history of the Loup valley extending into several counties, which in turn brought to light many things of genuine historic value.
  A few weeks later a similar experiment was tried in a small way at Bellevue. At the oldest log cabin of the town the small children staged a frontier scene. The first settler was shown at the door. His wife was busy with her housework. Three or four Indians were lounging about. Then followed the arrival of a party of easterners from the river landing, their greeting at the cabin, their curiosity about the savages, and finally their survey of the rich Nebraska land under the guidance of the pioneer. This little play stirred again local interest in the romantic early history at old Bellevue.
  A year later I tried the history-play on a western community. About fifteen miles southeast of North Platte is a wonderful locality called Moran Canyon and the Jackmore Flats. In scenic beauty it holds a high place. In early days it was the haunt of Indians, the hiding ground of outlaws, the camping place of emigrants, and at one time Buffalo Bill made his headquarters there.
  With a camping party I spent several days in the canyon. It is one of the greatest freaks of nature in the state - a series of gashes cutting deep into the hills; just the shape of a giant hand with the fingers distended. The walls of the canyons rise a hundred feet or more, and fringes of cedars add to their beauty. The bottoms are little grassy valleys.
  The school people of North Platte and the farmers in the Jackmore neighborhood were invited to come and take part in the play, which was arranged to allow the progress of civilization from the primitive solitude down through a series of scenes or tableaus - the Indian wigwam, the arrival of the first plainsman, the coming of the soldiers, in regular order, the wagon trains, the government surveyors, the first farmers and stock raisers, the modern farmers and fine stock men, and finally the procession of automobiles loaded with pleasure seekers.
  The result was beyond all expectation. Many attended who had never seen the canyons before. Farmers turned out with their families. They assisted in every way in arranging the details, providing the covered wagons and the live stock. It was a day that will long be talked about in that part of Lincoln county, and with that talk comes the raking up of all the early history of that section of the Oregon Trail.
  These experiments were conducted without expense to anyone, and could be followed up in many parts of the state. The stories of the early settlements are full of romance, and a blistery play can be arranged in any community with the enthusiastic co-operation at young and old. It is a field in which the State Historical Society and the public schools can work together with great profit to both.

Indians: Anecdotes of White Cow; fifty-six pages of biography; Death of Governor Francis Burt; Annual Address of President Robt. W. Furnas, 1880; the Philosophy of Emigration; Admission of Nebraska Into the Union; Gold at Pikes Peak - Rush for; The Discovery of Nebraska; The Place of History in Modern Education; The Organic Act of the Society; constitution, by-laws and roster of the Society.

  Vol. II, 1887. 8 vo. clo., 383 pp., $1.25; paper in 4 pts., $0.75. Editor George E. Howard.

  The Relation of History to the Study and Practice of Law; Sketches from Territorial History - in the Beginning, Wildcat Banks, Sectional Politics, Politics Proper, Pioneer Journalism; The Capital Question in Nebraska; How the Kansas-Nebraska Line was Established; Slavery in Nebraska; John Brown in Richardson County; A Visit to Nebraska in 1662; Forty Years Among the Indians and on the Eastern Borders of Nebraska; Notes on the Early Military History of Nebraska; History of the Powder River Expedition of 1865; histories of Cass, Dodge, Washington and Sarpy counties; Sketch of the First Congregational church in Fremont, Nebraska; Early Fremont; Historical and Political Science Association of the University of Nebraska; The Discovery of Gold in Colorado; On the Establishment of an Arboreal Bureau; Twenty-seven pages of biographies; Annual meetings of the Society, 1885, 1886.

  Vol. III, 1892. 8 vo. clo., 342 pp., very rare, $3.00. Editor, Howard W. Caldwell.

  American State Legislatures; Political Science in American State Universities; History and Art; Salem Witchcraft; History of Education in Omaha; The Christening of the Platte; Development at the Free Soil Idea in the United States; The Beginning of the City at Lincoln and of Lancaster County; Early Times and Pioneers; The Fort Pierre Expedition; The Military Camp on the Big Sioux River in 1855; Reminiscences of a Teacher Among the Nebraska Indians, 1843-85; The Sioux Indian War of 1890-91; Early Settlers en route; An Introduction to the History of Higher Education in Nebraska and a brief Account of the University of Nebraska; Associational Sermon; Congregational College History in Nebraska; Thirty-three Years Ago; The Pawnee Indian War, 1859; Early Days In Nebraska; Reminiscences of Early Days in Nebraska; Miscellaneous correspondence; official proceedings of the Society.

  Vol. IV, 1892. 8 vo. clo., 336 pp., $3.00. Editor, Howard W. Caldwell.

  From Nebraska City to Salt Creek in 1855; Old Fort Atkinson: The Indian Troubles and the Battle of Wounded Knee; Biographies; Reminiscences of Early Days in Nebraska; history of the Fontenelle family of St. Louis; Old Fort Calhoun; Arbor Day; What Causes Indian Mounds; The First Postmaster of Omaha; Supreme Judges of Nebraska; Omaha Public Library; Judge Lynch's Court in Nebraska; Stormy Times in Nebraska; County Names; Lieut. Samuel A. Cherry; Origin of the name Omaha; Omaha's Early Days; Early Days in Nebraska; Personal Sketch of Rev. Moses Merrill; Extracts from the diary of Rev. Moses Merrill, Missionary to the Otoe Indians, from 1832-1840; Some Incidents in Our Early School Days in Illinois; Papers Read on the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Lancaster County Courthouse; Hardy Pioneers of Dixon County; Nebraska's First Newspaper; Biographies, pp. 215-271; History of Butler County; Tribute to the Mothers and Wives of the Pioneers; Annual meeting at the Society 1891; constitution and by-laws of the Society.

  Vol. V, 1893. 8 vo. clo., 296 pp., very rare, $5.00. Editor, Howard W. Caldwell.

  Records and Their Conservation: The Lincoln Public Library; The Arikara Conquest of 1823; Some Frenchman of Early Days on the Missouri River; Reminiscences of Early Days in Nebraska; Admission of Nebraska as a State; Nebraska Silver Anniversary; Early Life In Nebraska; The Political and Constitutional Development of Nebraska; A Brief History of the Settlement of Kearney County and Southwestern Nebraska; Annual meeting 1892; treasurer's report 1893; List of Members.

  Proceedings and Collections of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

  Second series, vol. I, 1894-95. 8 vo. clo., 264 pp., $1.25. Editor, Howard W. Caldwell.

  Part of the Making of a State; The Life of Governor Burt; Reminiscences of Early Days; Freighting in 1866; Early Nebraska Currency and Per Capita Circulation; Municipal Government in Nebraska; The Soldiers Free Homestead Colony; The effect of Early Legislation Upon the Courts of Nebraska; notes on the Society; Wanigl Olowan Kin; Reminiscences of the Third Judicial District; Freighting Across the Plains in 1856; Necrology and notes on the Society; Some Financial Fallacies among the Pioneers of Nebraska; Proceedings of the Society, 1893-1895; list of members; constitution and by-laws; appropriations, 1883-1895; list of donations.

  Second series, vol. II, 1898. 8 vo. clo.. 307 pp., $1.25. Editor Howard W. Caldwell.

  The Poncas; A Brief Sketch of the Life of Captain P. S. Real;

7

Bellevue, its Post and Present; Edward Morin; Travelers in Nebraska in 1866; The Cost of Local Government - Then and Now; Underground Railroad in Nebraska; Biographical Sketch of Major W. W. Dennison; President's Communication; The First Territorial Legislature of Nebraska, sundry reminiscences, pp. 88-161; Nebraska Women in 1855; The True Story of the Death of Sitting Bull; annual meetings, 1896, 1897; Papers and Proceedings of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences.

  Second series, vol. III, 1898 - The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory and The Journals of William Walker Provisional Governor of Nebraska Territory, 8 vo. clo., 423 pp., $3.00. Editor, William E. Connelley.

 The Wyandots; The Walker Family; The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory; Documents Relating to the Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory; A Brief Sketch of Abelard Guthrie; The Journals of William Walker, First Book; The Journals of William Walker, Second Book.

  Second series, vol. IV: Forty Years or Nebraska at Home and in Congress. 8 vo. clo., 570 pp., $2.00. By Ex U. S. Senator Thomas W. Tipton. Editor, Howard W. Caldwell.

  The Territorial Governors; The Territorial Delegates; The State Governors; Stain Senators; Representatives.

  Second series, vol. V, 1902. 8 vo. clo., 381 pp., $1.50. Editor, Howard W. Caldwell.

  Territorial Journalism; Newspapers and Newspaper Men of the Territorial Period; Pioneer Journalism; Communication of Hadley D. Johnson: Joseph L. Sharp; A. J. Hanscom: Reminiscences of Territorial Days; My First Trip to Omaha; Judge Elmer S. Dundy; The Nebraska Constitution; History of the Incarceration of the Lincoln City Council; A Nebraska Episode of the Wyoming Cattle War; Recollections of Omaha; Death of Logan Fontenelle; Reminiscences of the Crusade in Nebraska; Along the Overland Trail in Nebraska in 1852; Thomas Weston Tipton: Algernon Sidney Paddock; The Farmers Alliance in Nebraska; Reminiscences; History of file First State Capitol: Early History of Jefferson County Overland Route; The Indian Massacre of 1866; Bull Whacking Days; The Pawnee War of 1859; Early Days in the Indian Country; Freighting to Denver; Freighting and Staging in Early Days; Freighting in the '60's; The Plains War in 1865; Overland Freighting from Nebraska City; From Meridian to Fort Kearney; Freighting Reminiscences; Mary Elizabeth Furnas; Freighting - Denver and Black Hills; Early Freighting and Claims Club Days In Nebraska; The Building of the First Capitol and Insane Hospital at Lincoln - Removal of Archives; Underground Railroad in Nebraska; Minutes Annual Meetings, 1898-1900; Minutes Executive Board Meetings; List of Members.

  Nebraska Constitutional Conventions. Volume XI of publications, three volumes, VI, VII, VII. second series; volumes VI and VII, Official Report of the Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1871. Editor, Addison E. Sheldon; volume VII, report of the debates of the. convention of 1871 concluded; The Journals of the Convention of 1875; A History of the Attempt to Form a State Organization in 1860, of the Abortive Constitutional Convention of 1864, of the Formation and Adoption of the Constitution of 1866, and of the Origin of the Conventions of 1871 and 1875. Editor, Albert Watkins. Volume VI, 1906, 552 pp.; VII, 1907, 628; VIII, 1913, 676; 8 vo. clo., per, volume, $1.50.

  (Second series, vol. IX, designed to be volume IV of the Constitutional Conventions, was combined with volume VIII.)

  Second series, vol. X, 1907. 8 vo. clo., 422 pp., $1.50. Editor, C. S. Paine.

  The Mormon Settlements in the Missouri Valley; The Great Railroad Migration into Northern Nebraska; Nebraska Politics and Nebraska Railroads; Territorial Pioneer Days; Campaigning Against Crazy Horse; Personal Recollections of Early Days in Decatur, Nebraska; History of the Lincoln Salt Basin; Early Days at the Salt Basin; Judicial Grafts; My Very First Visit to the Pawnee Village in 1855; Early Days on the Little Blue; Early Annals of Nebraska City; Biographies: Railroad Taxation in Nebraska: The Work of the Union Pacific in Nebraska; Early Dreams of Coal in Nebraska; Unveiling of the Thayer Monument, Waco Cemetery; Proceedings of the Nebraska State Historical Society - annual meetings of 1901 to 1908, inclusive; Museum catalog; Newspapers received by the Society, January 1, 1908; legislative acts affecting the Society; constitution and by-laws; publications of the Society.

  Collections of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
  Vol. XVI, 1911, 8 vo. clo., 296 pp., $2.00. Editor,
  Albert Watkins.

  Dedication of the Astorian Monument at Bellevue; Early Days in and About Bellevue; Kansas-Nebraska Boundary Line; Nebraska and Minnesota Territorial Boundary; Territorial Evolution of Nebraska; Reminiscences of the Indian Fight at Ash Hollow, 1855; The Battle Ground of Ash Hollow; The Last Battle of the Pawnee with the Sioux; The Indian Ghost Dance; Some Side Lights on the Character of Sitting Bull; The Early Settlements of the Platte Valley; The First Catholic Bishop in Nebraska; Birth of Lincoln, Nebraska; English Settlement in Palmyra; History of Fort Kearney; Missionary Life Among the Pawnee.

  Vol. XVII, 1913, 8vo. clo., 382 lip., $2.00. Editor, Albert Watkins.

  The Work of the Historical Society; Historical Sketch of Southwestern Nebraska; Nebraska, Mother of States; Nebraska Territorial Acquisition, Addresses by James Mooney - Life Among the Indian Tribes of the Plains - The Indian Woman - Systematic Nebraska Ethnologic Investigation; A Tragedy of the Oregon Trail; The Oregon Recruit Expedition; Influence of Overland Travel on the Early Settlement of Nebraska; Incidents of the Early Settlement of Nuckolls County; First Steamboat Trial Trip up the Missouri; Origin of Olatha, Nebraska; The Semiprecious Stones of Webster, Nuckolls and Franklin Counties, Nebraska; Historical Sketch of Cheyenne County, Nebraska; Organization of the Counties of

Kearney, Franklin, Harlan and Phelps; Annual Address of John Lee Webster, President, 1913; Adventures of the Plains, 1865-67; An Indian Raid of 1867; How Shall the Indian Be treated Historically; Importance of the Study of Local History; History; the Pathfinders, the Historic Background of Western Civilization; An interesting Historical Document; Memorabilia - Gen. G. M. Dodge; A Study of the Ethnobotany of the Omaha Indians; Some Native Nebraska Plants With Their Uses by the Dakota.

  Publications of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

  Vol. XVIII, 1917, 8 vo. clo., 443 pp., $2.00. Editor, Albert Walkins.

  In Memoriam - Clarence Sumner Paine; Proceedings or the Society, 1908-1916; Biography - James B. Kitchen, Jefferson H. Broady, Lorenzo Crounse; Historical Papers; Acknowledging God in Constitutions, Nebraska Reminiscences, The Rural Carrier of 1849, Eastern Nebraska as an Archeological Field, Trailing Texas Long-horn Cattle Through Nebraska; Special Historical Papers -Neapolis, Near-Capital, Controversy in the Senate Over the Admission of Nebraska, How Nebraska Was Brought Into the Union.

  Outline of Nebraska History, 1910, 8 vo. paper, 45 pp. Editor Albert Watkins.

  This publication of the Society comprises a comprehensive bibliography of Nebraska history and a "Summary of Nebraska History" condensed within 22 pages. Its price is fifty cents, but it may be procured free of charge by the Society's sustaining members and public libraries of the state.

No. 1. Origin and Purpose of Nebraska Legislative
  Reference Bureau. Addison L. Sheldon. July 20, 1912.
   6 pp.
No. 2. Preliminary Report Nebraska Employers' Liability   and Workmen's Compensation Commission. Dec. 20,   1912. 48 pp. 10c
No. 3. Legislative Procedure in the Forty-eight States.   Addison E. Sheldon and Myrtle Keegan. Jan. 1, 1914.
  28 pp. (out of print.)
No. 4. Reform in Legislative Procedure and Budget in   Nebraska. (Report of joint legislative committee to   Nebraska legislature of 1915.) May 15, 1914. 47 pp.   (Out of print.)
No. 5. Nebraska Municipalities. Addison E. Sheldon and   William E. Hannan. June 1, 1914. 74 pp. 15c.
No. 6. Bank Deposit Guaranty fit Nebraska. Z. Clark   Dickinson. Nov. 1, 1914. 38 pp. 26 portraits. 15c.
No. 7. The Direct Primary in Nebraska. Niels Henriksen   Debel. Nov. 1, 1914. 112 pp. 25 portraits. 3 diagrams.   20c.
No. 8. Local and Nebraska History in Nebraska Public   Schools. C. N. Anderson. Oct. 1, 1915. 16 pp. 2   portraits. 10c.
No. 9. State Supported Library Activities in the United   States. Edna D. Bullock. Oct. 30, 1915. 58 pp. 4   illustrations. 15c.
No. 10. The Torrens Land Transfer Act of Nebraska.   Thorne A. Browne. June 10, 1916. 60 pp. 6   illustrations. 15c.
No. 11. Legislative Procedure. Myrtle Keegan Mason   (Revision of bulletin No. 3. In manuscript. Will be   published about June 1, 1918.)

Report on the Archives of the State of Nebraska. Addison
  E. Sheldon, 1912. Reprinted from the annual report of   the American Historical Association for 1910, pages
  365-420. 15c.

The Legislative Reference Bureau as a Factor in State   Development. Address by Addison E. Sheldon before   National Association of Conservation Commissioners at   Washington, D. C. Nov. 17, 1913. 7 pp. (Out of print.)

Subject Index of Senate and House Bills, 34th session   Nebraska Legislature, 1915. Edna D. Bullock. March 1,   1915. 126 pp. 15c.

Subject Index of Senate and House Bills. 35th session   Nebraska legislature, 1917. Edna D. Bullock. March 1,   1917. 120 pp. 15c.

Standardization and Revision of Bills for the Nebraska   Legislature, with statistical table showing progress in   other states toward standard bill forms and revision. Dec.   28, 1915. 11 pp. (Mimeographed.) 10c.

Semicentennial History of Nebraska. Addison P. Sheldon.   1904, 376 pp.; illustrations, 194; portraits, 934. (Out of   print.)

Poems and Sketches of Nebraska. Addison E. Sheldon.   1906. 200 pp. 64 illustrations. $1.00.

History and Stories of Nebraska. Addison E. Sheldon.   1913. 306 pp. 160 illustrations and maps. $1.00.

Nebraska Blue Book and Historical Register, 1915.   Addison E. Sheldon and Reference Bureau staff. Jan. 1,   1915. 981 pp. Illustrated: Legislative portraits, 135;   diagrams, maps, etc. (Out of print.)

Records of Fort Atkinson. The first fort and first
  settlement in the Nebraska region. From the manuscript   record of the Sixth Infantry and Rifle regiment, U. S. A.,   for the years 1817-1833, with 112 illustrations. 6   volumes quarto. Addison E. Sheldon, editor. May 1,   1916. (Typewritten.)

Vol. VIII. No. 4. Museums and the People. Erwin H.   Barbour. 12 pp. 5 Illustrations. 10c.
Vol. IX. No. 1. The Nebraska Aborigines as they
  Appeared in the Eighteenth Century. Michael A. Shine.   23 pp. 12 illustrations. 15c. No. 3. Folk-Song of   Nebraska and the Central West. Louise Pound. 89 pp. 4   illustrations. 20c.

8

  No part of Nebraska history is more vital than that which tells the origins of her people. The great nations of the world have been composite unions of many strains of blood, temper and talent. Nebraska is such a commonwealth. All the great nations have given her their sons and daughters. The perfect union of all these elements is still in process. But no student of history can doubt that upon these high and fertile plains, in the dry air of cloudless days, the elements of a future splendid race of men and women are being braided together.
  The diagram below was prepared by Myrtle Keegan Mason, of the Nebraska Legislative Reference Bureau. It is a picture of Nebraska's present population elements derived from the figures of the U. S. Census of 1910. It in drawn exactly to scale and shows at a glance the relative strength of each element in our population. Very important is the column showing the persons with one parent of foreign birth - for these are the children of marriages between the newcomers to America and the native born. Into the solid

block of native born of native parents will be merged the great mass of our people in the next fifty years. The lively imagination of the Irish, the sturdy strength of the English, the canny shrewdness of the Scotch, the mystic ardor of the Welsh, the tireless industry of the German, the fervid energy of the Slav, the open-minded eagerness of the Scandinavian, with seasoning of French wit, Greek and Italian artistic mobility and even a dash of the North American Indian's stoic serenity. This is the Nebraska people of the future.
  Summary of native and foreign stocks in Nebraska population:
  Native white, native parents, in Nebraska, 642,075,  53.8 per cent of total population.
  Foreign. born, native born of foreign parents and native born of mixed parentage, 639,015,  45.2 per cent of population.
  Indian, Asiatic, African, 11,124,  1.0 per cent of population.

Foreign stock in Nebraska (includes foreign
   born, native born of foreign parents, native
   born of mixed marriage)

Germany

201, 713  

37.5   

16.9   

Great Britain and Canada, (except French Canadians)

101,596  

18.9   

8.5   

Scandinavia

98,745  

18.3   

8.2   

Austria and Hungary (chiefly Bohemians)

64, 962  

12.1   

5.4   

Russia (chiefly Germans, coming from German
    colonies in Russia)

24, 885  

4.6   

2.1   

Switzerland (speaking French, German and Italian)

6,307  

1.2   

.5   

French (including Canadian France)

5,178  

.9   

.4   

Italy

4,840  

.9   

.4   

Greece

3,514  

.7   

.3