Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River; the nation's 40th-largest city, Omaha's 2018 estimated population was 466,061. Omaha is the anchor of the bi-state Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area; the Omaha Metropolitan Area is the 59th largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 944,316. The Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA Combined Statistical Area encompasses the Omaha-Council Bluffs MSA as well as the separate Fremont, NE Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of the entirety of Dodge County, Nebraska; the total population of the CSA was 970,023 based on 2017 estimates. 1.3 million people reside within the Greater Omaha area, within a 50 mi radius of Downtown Omaha. Omaha's pioneer period began in 1854, when the city was founded by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa; the city was founded along the Missouri River, a crossing called Lone Tree Ferry earned the city its nickname, the "Gateway to the West".
Omaha introduced this new West to the world in 1898, when it played host to the World's Fair, dubbed the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. During the 19th century, Omaha's central location in the United States spurred the city to become an important national transportation hub. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the transportation and jobbing sectors were important in the city, along with its railroads and breweries. In the 20th century, the Omaha Stockyards, once the world's largest, its meatpacking plants gained international prominence. Today, Omaha is the home to the headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies: mega-conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway is headed by local investor Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world, according to a decade's worth of Forbes Magazine rankings, some of which have ranked him as high as No. 1. Omaha is the home to five Fortune 1000 headquarters: Green Plains Renewable Energy, TD Ameritrade, Valmont Industries, Werner Enterprises, West Corporation.
Headquartered in Omaha are the following: First National Bank of Omaha, the largest held bank in the United States. Notable modern Omaha inventions include the following: the bobby pin and the "pink hair curler" created at Omaha's Tip Top Products. S. at Omaha's KOWH Radio. Various Native American tribes had lived in the land that became Omaha, including since the 17th century, the Omaha and Ponca, Dhegian-Siouan-language people who had originated in the lower Ohio River valley and migrated west by the early 17th century; the word Omaha means "Dwellers on the bluff". In 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by the riverbanks where the city of Omaha would be built. Between July 30 and August 3, 1804, members of the expedition, including Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, met with Oto and Missouria tribal leaders at the Council Bluff at a point about 20 miles north of present-day Omaha. South of that area, Americans built several fur trading outposts in succeeding years, including Fort Lisa in 1812.
There was fierce competition among fur traders until John Jacob Astor created the monopoly of the American Fur Company. The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area in 1846. While it was temporary, the settlement provided the basis for further development in the future. Through 26 separate treaties with the United States federal government, Native American tribes in Nebraska ceded the lands constituting the state; the treaty and cession involving the Omaha area occurred in 1854 when the Omaha Tribe ceded most of east-central Nebraska. Logan Fontenelle, an interpreter for the Omaha and signatory to the 1854 treaty, played an essential role in those proceedings. Before it was legal to claim land in Indian Country, William D. Brown was operating the Lone Tree Ferry to bring settlers from Council Bluffs, Iowa to the area that became Omaha. Brown is credited as having the first vision for a city where Omaha now sits; the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854 was presaged by the staking out of claims around the area to become Omaha by residents from neighboring Council Bluffs.
On July 4, 1854, the city was informally established at a picnic on Capital Hill, current site of Omaha Central High School. Soon after, the Omaha Claim Club was formed to provide vigilante justice for claim jumpers and others who infringed on the land of many of the city's founding fathers; some of this land, which now wraps aro
Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area
The Omaha Metropolitan Area known as the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is an urbanized region centered on the city of Omaha, Nebraska. The region extends over a large area on both sides of the Missouri River in Nebraska and Iowa, in the American Midwest; the Omaha Metropolitan Area is the 59th largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 933,316. As defined by the Office of Management and Budget, it consists of eight counties—five in Nebraska and three in Iowa; the region is locally referred to as "Greater Omaha", "the Metro Area", "the Metro", or "Omaha". The core counties of Douglas and Sarpy in Nebraska and Pottawattamie in Iowa contain large urbanized areas; the Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA Combined Statistical Area encompasses the Omaha-Council Bluffs MSA as well as the separate Fremont, NE Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of the entirety of Dodge County, Nebraska. The total population of the CSA was 970,023 based on 2017 estimates.
Standard definitions for United States metropolitan areas were created in 1949. At that time, the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area comprised three counties: Douglas and Sarpy in Nebraska, Pottawattamie in Iowa. No additional counties were added to the metropolitan area until 1983, when Washington County, Nebraska was added. Cass County, Nebraska was added in 1993; the 2003 revision to metropolitan area definitions was accompanied by the creation of micropolitan areas and Combined Statistical Areas. Fremont, in Dodge County, was designated a micropolitan area; the Omaha–Council Bluffs–Fremont combined statistical area has a population of 858,720. Omaha – 408,958 inhabitants Council Bluffs, Iowa - 62,230 inhabitants Bellevue, Nebraska – 50,137 inhabitants La Vista, Nebraska – 15,758 inhabitants Papillion, Nebraska – 18,894 inhabitants Blair, Nebraska – 7,990 inhabitants Glenwood, Iowa – 5,269 inhabitants Plattsmouth, Nebraska – 6,502 inhabitants Ralston, Nebraska – 7,187 inhabitants Chalco, Nebraska – 10,736 inhabitants Offutt Air Force Base – 8,901 inhabitants Population for Iowa metropolitan areas and components, 1950 – 2000 omaha.towncommons.com – wiki website for the Omaha–Council Bluffs metro area
Platte River State Park
Platte River State Park is a public recreation area situated on the southern bluffs of the Platte River two miles west of Louisville, Nebraska. The state park has a steep, rolling topography compared to the surrounding region; the park consists of 519 acres, much of it forested. On August 13, 1982, the park was created from three separate areas: Harriet Harding Campfire Girls Camp, Camp Esther K. Newman, a woodland tract of 104 acres. Vintage cabins from the earlier campgrounds are still in use. Two observation towers provide views of the Platte River Valley; the park has a tennis courts and 10 miles of hiking trails. Guided trail rides are offered in summer. Jenny Newman Lake provides fishing opportunities for those under 16 years of age and their adult supervisors. Paddleboats are offered for rent; the park has a visitor center, an arts and crafts center, picnicking areas, ballfield. A shooting range for rifles and archery was constructed in 2011; the park offers tent camping and cabins. In 2016, the state announced a $34 million program to upgrade visitor experiences at four public recreation areas in the Platte River Valley.
The improvements announced for Platte River State Park include the addition of a ropes course, rock wall, new mountain biking and other trails, a small zip line, improved river access for canoers and kayakers. Platte River State Park Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Platte River State Park Map Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Saunders County, Nebraska
Saunders County is a county in the U. S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 20,780, its county seat is Wahoo. Saunders County is included in NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the Nebraska license plate system, Saunders County is represented by the prefix 6. Saunders County was established by an 1856 act of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature, was organized in 1866; the county was named after John C. Calhoun. Saunders County is bordered on the north and east by the Platte River. Several local drainages move runoff water from the county eastward into the Platte; the county terrain is composed of low rolling hills, which slope eastward and northeastward to the river valley. The county has an area of 760 square miles, of which 750 square miles is land and 9.6 square miles is water. As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 19,830 people, 7,498 households, 5,443 families in the county; the population density was 26 people per square mile. There were 8,266 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile.
The racial makeup of the county was 98.49% White, 0.11% Black or African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from other races, 0.55% from two or more races. 1.03% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 7,498 households out of which 34.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.60% were married couples living together, 6.70% had a female householder with no husband present, 27.40% were non-families. 23.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.90% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.11. The county population contained 27.90% under the age of 18, 6.30% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 22.90% from 45 to 64, 15.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $42,173, the median income for a family was $49,443.
Males had a median income of $33,309 versus $22,922 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,392. About 5.30% of families and 6.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.30% of those under age 18 and 7.00% of those age 65 or over. Ashland Wahoo Yutan Wann Saunders County voters tend to vote Republican. In only two national elections since 1936 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate National Register of Historic Places listings in Saunders County, Nebraska Saunders County Saunders County Government Mead and Hunt. Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey: Saunders County. Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 8/30/07
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, forms part of the Omaha Metropolitan Area, it is located on the east bank of the Missouri River, across from the city of Omaha. Council Bluffs was known, as Kanesville, it was the historic starting point of the Mormon Trail. Kanesville is the northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trails, since there was a steam powered boat to ferry their wagons, cattle, across the Missouri River. Council Bluffs' population was 62,230 at the 2010 census; the Omaha metropolitan region, of which Council Bluffs is a part, is the 59th largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 933,316. While Council Bluffs is more than a decade older than Omaha, the latter has grown to be a larger city and the anchor of the bi-state metropolitan region; the first Council Bluff was on the Nebraska side of the river at Fort Atkinson, about 20 miles northwest of the current city of Council Bluffs.
It was named by Lewis and Clark for a bluff where they met the Otoe tribe on August 2, 1804. The Iowa side of the river became an Indian Reservation in the 1830s for members of the Council of Three Fires of Chippewa and Potawatomi, who were forced to leave the Chicago area under the Treaty of Chicago, which cleared the way for the city of Chicago to incorporate; the largest group of Native Americans who moved to the area were the Pottawatomi, who were led by their chief Sauganash, the son of the British loyalist William Caldwell, who founded Canadian communities on the south side of the Detroit River, a Pottawatomi woman. Seeking to avoid confrontation with the Sioux, who were natives of the Council Bluffs area, the 1,000 to 2,000 Pottawattamie had settled east of the Missouri River in Indian territory between Leavenworth, Kansas and St. Joseph, Missouri; when this area was bought from Ioway and Fox tribes in the Platte Purchase and part of Missouri in 1837, Sauganash and the Pottawatomi were forced to move to their assigned reservation in Council Bluffs.
Sauganash's English name was Billy Caldwell, his village was called Caldwell's Camp. The tribe were sometimes called the Bluff Indians. U. S. Army Dragoons built a small fort nearby. In 1838–39, the missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet founded St. Joseph's Mission to minister to the Potawatomi. De Smet was appalled by the violence and brutality caused by the whiskey trade, tried to protect the tribe from unscrupulous traders. However, he had little success in persuading tribal members to convert to Christianity and resorted to secret baptisms of Indian children. During this time, De Smet contributed to Joseph Nicollet's work in mapping the upper midwest. De Smet produced the first detailed map of the Council Bluffs area. De Smet wrote an early description of the Potawatomi settlement, which captures his bias: Imagine a great number of cabins and tents, made of the bark of trees, buffalo skins, coarse cloth and sods, all of a mournful and funeral aspect, of all sizes and shapes, some supported by one pole, others having six, with the covering stretched in all the different styles imaginable, all scattered here and there in the greatest confusion, you will have an Indian village.
As more Native Americans were pushed into the Council Bluffs area by pressure of European-American settlement to the east, intertribal conflict increased, fueled by the illegal whiskey trade. The US Army built Fort Croghan in 1842, to keep order and try to control liquor traffic on the Missouri River; however that fort was destroyed in a flood the same year. By 1846 the Pottawatomi were forced to move again to a new reservation at Kansas. In 1844, the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party crossed the Missouri River here, on their way to blaze a new path into California across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Beginning in 1846, there was a large influx of Latter-day Saints into the area, although in the winter of 1847–1848 most Latter-day Saints crossed to the Nebraska side of the Missouri River; the area was called "Miller's Hollow", after Henry W. Miller, who would be the first member of the Iowa State Legislature from the area. Miller was the foreman for the construction of the Kanesville Tabernacle. By 1848, the town had become known as Kanesville, named for benefactor Thomas L. Kane, who had helped negotiate in Washington, DC federal permission for the Mormons to use Indian land along the Missouri for their winter encampment of 1846–47.
Built at or next to Caldwell's Camp, Kanesville became the main outfitting point for the Mormon Exodus to Utah, it is the recognized head end of the Mormon Trail. Edwin Carter, who would become a noted naturalist in Colorado, worked here from 1848–1859 in a dry goods store, he helped supply Mormon wagon trains. Settlers departing west from Kanesville, into the sparsely settled, unorganized parts of the Territory of Missouri to the Oregon Country and the newly conquered California Territory, through the Nebraska Territory, traveled by wagon trains along the much-storied Oregon, Mormon, or California Trails into the newly expanded United States western lands. After the first large organized wagon trains left Missouri in 1841, the annual migration waves began in earnest by spring of 1843, they built up, with the opening of the Mormon Trail until peaking in the 1860s, when news of railroad's progress had a braking effect. By the 1860s all migration wagon trains were passing near the renamed town.
The wagon train trails became less important with the advent of the first complet
Missouri River
The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri; the river takes drainage from a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles, which includes parts of ten U. S. states and two Canadian provinces. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth longest river system. For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle and dependent on enormous bison herds that roamed through the Great Plains; the first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, the region passed through Spanish and French hands before becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.
The Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 19th century laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region and blazed trails. Pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon by the growing numbers of steamboats that entered service on the river. Settlers took over former Native American lands in the watershed, leading to some of the most longstanding and violent wars against indigenous peoples in American history. During the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with hundreds more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut and the river channelized to improve navigation, reducing its length by 200 miles from pre-development times. Although the lower Missouri valley is now a populous and productive agricultural and industrial region, heavy development has taken its toll on wildlife and fish populations as well as water quality.
From the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, three streams rise to form the headwaters of the Missouri River: the longest begins near Brower's Spring, 9,100 feet above sea level on the southeastern slopes of Mount Jefferson in the Centennial Mountains. From there it flows west north, it passes through Canyon Ferry Lake, a reservoir west of the Big Belt Mountains. Issuing from the mountains near Cascade, the river flows northeast to the city of Great Falls, where it drops over the Great Falls of the Missouri, a series of five substantial waterfalls, it winds east through a scenic region of canyons and badlands known as the Missouri Breaks, receiving the Marias River from the west widening into the Fort Peck Lake reservoir a few miles above the confluence with the Musselshell River. Farther on, the river passes through the Fort Peck Dam, downstream, the Milk River joins from the north. Flowing eastward through the plains of eastern Montana, the Missouri receives the Poplar River from the north before crossing into North Dakota where the Yellowstone River, its greatest tributary by volume, joins from the southwest.
At the confluence, the Yellowstone is the larger river. The Missouri meanders east past Williston and into Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir formed by Garrison Dam. Below the dam the Missouri receives the Knife River from the west and flows south to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota, where the Heart River joins from the west, it slows into the Lake Oahe reservoir just before the Cannonball River confluence. While it continues south reaching Oahe Dam in South Dakota, the Grand and Cheyenne Rivers all join the Missouri from the west; the Missouri makes a bend to the southeast as it winds through the Great Plains, receiving the Niobrara River and many smaller tributaries from the southwest. It proceeds to form the boundary of South Dakota and Nebraska after being joined by the James River from the north, forms the Iowa–Nebraska boundary. At Sioux City the Big Sioux River comes in from the north; the Missouri flows south to the city of Omaha where it receives its longest tributary, the Platte River, from the west.
Downstream, it begins to define the Nebraska–Missouri border flows between Missouri and Kansas. The Missouri swings east at Kansas City, where the Kansas River enters from the west, so on into north-central Missouri. To the east of Kansas City, the Missouri receives, on the left side, the Grand River, it passes south of Columbia and receives the Osage and Gasconade Rivers from the south downstream of Jefferson City. The river rounds the northern side of St. Louis to join the Mississippi River on the border between Missouri and Illinois. With a drainage basin spanning 529,350 square miles, the Missouri River's catchment encompasses nearly one-sixth of the area of the United States or just over five percent of the continent of North America. Comparable to the size of the Canadian province of Quebec, the watershed encompasses most of the central Great Plains, stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the
Otoe County, Nebraska
Otoe County is a county in the U. S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 15,740, its county seat is Nebraska City. The county was formed in 1854, was named tor the Otoe Indian tribe. In the Nebraska license plate system, Otoe County is represented by the prefix 11. Otoe County lies on the east side of Nebraska, its east boundary line abuts the west boundary lines of the states of Missouri. The terrain of Otoe County consists of rolling hills which drop down to the river basin, rich soil; the area is devoted to agriculture. The county has a total area of 619 square miles, of which 616 square miles is land and 3.4 square miles is water. Otoe County derives its name from the Otoe Indians; as of the 2000 United States Census there were 15,396 people, 6,060 households, 4,229 families in the county. The population density was 25 people per square mile. There were 6,567 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 97.42% White, 0.29% Black or African American, 0.22% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.14% from other races, 0.65% from two or more races.
2.45% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 6,060 households out of which 32.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.70% were married couples living together, 7.20% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.20% were non-families. 26.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.10% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.01. The county population contained 26.30% under the age of 18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 26.10% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, 18.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $37,302, the median income for a family was $45,295. Males had a median income of $30,682 versus $21,520 for females; the per capita income for the county was $17,752. About 5.90% of families and 8.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.30% of those under age 18 and 7.70% of those age 65 or over.
Nebraska City Syracuse Woodland Hills Otoe County voters are reliably Republican. In no national election since 1932 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate. National Register of Historic Places listings in Otoe County, Nebraska Nebraska City News-Press
Cass County, Nebraska
