Bayard, Nebraska
Bayard is a city in Morrill County, United States. The population was 1,209 at the 2010 census. "Old" Bayard was founded in the 1880s. It was named after the city of Iowa; the first post office at Bayard was established in 1888. The town of Bayard was picked up and moved to its present site in 1900 in order to be on the new Union Pacific Railroad line. CCC Camp BR-61, part of the North Platte Project, was located at Bayard. Bayard is located at 41°45′29″N 103°19′29″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.70 square miles, all of it land. As of the census of 2010, there were 1,209 people, 484 households, 315 families residing in the city; the population density was 1,727.1 inhabitants per square mile. There were 557 housing units at an average density of 795.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 90.3% White, 0.2% African American, 1.1% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 5.7% from other races, 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.8% of the population.
There were 484 households of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.0% had a male householder with no wife present, 34.9% were non-families. 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.1% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.03. The median age in the city was 40.3 years. 25.9% of residents were under the age of 18. The gender makeup of the city was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,247 people, 497 households, 329 families residing in the city; the population density was 1,788.0 people per square mile. There were 572 housing units at an average density of 820.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 90.86% White, 0.08% African American, 0.88% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 6.74% from other races, 1.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.88% of the population.
There were 497 households out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.8% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.9% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.99. In the city, the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 22.4% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, 20.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.1 males. As of 2000 the median income for a household in the city was $30,500, the median income for a family was $39,559. Males had a median income of $32,368 versus $19,167 for females; the per capita income for the city was $14,677. About 10.9% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.1% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over.
John Harms, Nebraska legislator
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. Its source is Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and it flows south for 2,320 miles to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U. S. two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The main stem is within the United States; the Mississippi ranks as the fifteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. Native Americans have lived along its tributaries for thousands of years. Most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies; the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the native way of life as first explorers settlers, ventured into the basin in increasing numbers.
The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, the early United States, as a vital transportation artery and communications link. In the 19th century, during the height of the ideology of manifest destiny, the Mississippi and several western tributaries, most notably the Missouri, formed pathways for the western expansion of the United States. Formed from thick layers of the river's silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile regions of the United States. During the American Civil War, the Mississippi's capture by Union forces marked a turning point towards victory, due to the river's strategic importance to the Confederate war effort; because of substantial growth of cities and the larger ships and barges that replaced steamboats, the first decades of the 20th century saw the construction of massive engineering works such as levees and dams built in combination. A major focus of this work has been to prevent the lower Mississippi from shifting into the channel of the Atchafalaya River and bypassing New Orleans.
Since the 20th century, the Mississippi River has experienced major pollution and environmental problems – most notably elevated nutrient and chemical levels from agricultural runoff, the primary contributor to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. The word Mississippi itself comes from Misi zipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, Misi-ziibi. In the 18th century, the river was the primary western boundary of the young United States, since the country's expansion westward, the Mississippi River has been considered a convenient if approximate dividing line between the Eastern and Midwestern United States, the Western United States; this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase "Trans-Mississippi" as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, it is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, such as "the highest peak east of the Mississippi" or "the oldest city west of the Mississippi". The FCC uses it as the dividing line for broadcast call-signs, which begin with W to the east and K to the west, mixing together in media markets along the river.
The Mississippi River can be divided into three sections: the Upper Mississippi, the river from its headwaters to the confluence with the Missouri River. The Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri, it is divided into two sections: The headwaters, 493 miles from the source to Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca, 1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, Minnesota; the name "Itasca" was chosen to designate the "true head" of the Mississippi River as a combination of the last four letters of the Latin word for truth and the first two letters of the Latin word for head. However, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, the waterway's flow is moderated by 43 dams. Fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation.
The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all contain locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river. Taken as a whole, these 43 dams shape the geography and influence the ecology of the upper river. Beginning just below Saint Paul and continuing throughout the upper and lower river, the Mississippi is further controlled by thousands of wing dikes that moderate the river's flow in order to maintain an open navigation channel and prevent the river from eroding its banks; the head of navigation on the Mississippi is the Coon Rapids Dam in Minnesota. Before it was built in 1913, steamboats could go upstream as far as Saint Cloud, depending on river conditions; the uppermost lock and dam on the Upper Mississippi River is the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock an
Great Plains
The Great Plains is the broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie and grassland, that lies west of the Mississippi River tallgrass prairie in the United States and east of the Rocky Mountains in the U. S. and Canada. It embraces: The entirety of the U. S. states of Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota Parts of the states of Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming The southern portions of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and SaskatchewanThe region is known for supporting extensive cattle ranching and dry farming. The Canadian portion of the Plains is known as the Prairies, it covers much of Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, a narrow band of southern Manitoba. Despite covering a small geographic area, the Prairies are home to the majority of each of the three provinces' respective populations; the term "Great Plains" is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the more vast Interior Plains physiographic division, which covers much of the interior of North America.
It has currency as a region of human geography, referring to the Plains Indians or the Plains States. In Canada the term is little used. There is no region referred to as the "Great Plains" in The Atlas of Canada. In terms of human geography, the term prairie is more used in Canada, the region is known as the Prairie Provinces or "the Prairies." The North American Environmental Atlas, produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a NAFTA agency composed of the geographical agencies of the Mexican and Canadian governments, uses the "Great Plains" as an ecoregion synonymous with predominant prairies and grasslands rather than as physiographic region defined by topography. The Great Plains ecoregion includes five sub-regions: Temperate Prairies, West-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, South-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, Texas Louisiana Coastal Plains, Tamaulipas-Texas Semi-Arid Plain, which overlap or expand upon other Great Plains designations; the region is about 500 mi east to 2,000 mi north to south.
Much of the region was home to American bison herds until they were hunted to near extinction during the mid/late-19th century. It has an area of 500,000 sq mi. Current thinking regarding the geographic boundaries of the Great Plains is shown by this map at the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; the term "Great Plains", for the region west of about the 96th and east of the Rocky Mountains, was not used before the early 20th century. Nevin Fenneman's 1916 study Physiographic Subdivision of the United States brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was invariably called the High Plains, in contrast to the lower Prairie Plains of the Midwestern states. Today the term "High Plains" is used for a subregion of the Great Plains; the Great Plains are the westernmost portion of the vast North American Interior Plains, which extend east to the Appalachian Plateau. The United States Geological Survey divides the Great Plains in the United States into ten physiographic subdivisions: Coteau du Missouri or Missouri Plateau, glaciated – east central South Dakota and eastern North Dakota and northeastern Montana.
The Great Plains consist of a broad stretch of country underlain by nearly horizontal strata extends westward from the 97th meridian west to the base of the Rocky Mountains, a distance of from 300 to 500 miles. It extends northward from the Mexican boundary far into Canada. Although the altitude of the plains increases from 600 or 1,200 ft on the east to 4,000–5,000 or 6,000 feet near the mountains, the local relief is small; the semi-arid climate opens far-reaching views. The plains are by no means a simple unit, they are of various stages of erosional development. They are interrupted by buttes and escarpments, they are broken by valleys. Yet on the whole, a broadly extended surface of moderate relief so prevails that the name, Great Plains, for the region as a whole is well-deserved; the western boundary of the plains is well-defined by the abrupt ascent of the mountains. The eastern boundary of the plains is more climatic than topographic; the line of 20 in. of annual rainfall trends a little east of northward near the 97th meridian.
If a boundary must be drawn where nature presents only a gradual transition, this rainfall line may be taken to divide the drier plains from the moister prairies. The plains may be described in northern, intermediate and southern sections, in relation to certain peculiar features; the northern section of the Great Plains, north of latitude 44°, including eastern Montana, north-eastern Wyomi
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state that lies in both the Great Plains and the Midwestern United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north, it is the only triply landlocked U. S. state. Nebraska's area is just over 77,220 square miles with a population of 1.9 million people. Its state capital is Lincoln, its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River. Indigenous peoples, including Omaha, Ponca, Pawnee and various branches of the Lakota tribes, lived in the region for thousands of years before European exploration; the state is crossed including that of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Nebraska was admitted as the 37th state of the United States in 1867, it is the only state in the United States whose legislature is unicameral and nonpartisan. Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Great Plains; the Dissected Till Plains region consist of rolling hills and contains the state's largest cities and Lincoln. The Great Plains region, occupying most of western Nebraska, is characterized by treeless prairie, suitable for cattle-grazing.
Nebraska has two major climatic zones. The eastern half of the state has a humid continental climate; the western half of the state has a semi-arid climate. The state has wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, variations that decrease moving south in the state. Violent thunderstorms and tornadoes occur during spring and summer and sometimes in autumn. Chinook winds tend to warm the state in the winter and early spring. Nebraska's name is derived from transliteration of the archaic Otoe words Ñí Brásge, pronounced, or the Omaha Ní Btháska, meaning "flat water", after the Platte River that flows through the state. Indigenous peoples lived in the region of present-day Nebraska for thousands of years before European exploration; the historic tribes in the state included the Omaha, Ponca, Pawnee and various branches of the Lakota, some of which migrated from eastern areas into this region. When European exploration and settlement began, both Spain and France sought to control the region.
In the 1690s, Spain established trade connections with the Apaches, whose territory included western Nebraska. By 1703, France had developed a regular trade with the native peoples along the Missouri River in Nebraska, by 1719 had signed treaties with several of these peoples. After war broke out between the two countries, Spain dispatched an armed expedition to Nebraska under Lieutenant General Pedro de Villasur in 1720; the party was attacked and destroyed near present-day Columbus by a large force of Pawnees and Otoes, both allied to the French. The massacre ended Spanish exploration of the area for the remainder of the 18th century. In 1762, during the Seven Years' War, France ceded the Louisiana territory to Spain; this left Spain competing for dominance along the Mississippi. In response, Spain dispatched two trading expeditions up the Missouri in 1794 and 1795; that year, Mackay's party built a trading post, dubbed Fort Carlos IV, near present-day Homer. In 1819, the United States established Fort Atkinson as the first U.
S. Army post west of the Missouri River, just east of present-day Fort Calhoun; the army abandoned the fort in 1827. European-American settlement was scarce until the California Gold Rush. On May 30, 1854, the US Congress created the Kansas and the Nebraska territories, divided by the Parallel 40° North, under the Kansas–Nebraska Act; the Nebraska Territory included parts of the current states of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. The territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha. In the 1860s, after the U. S. government forced many of the Native American tribes to cede their lands and settle on reservations, it opened large tracts of land to agricultural development by Europeans and Americans. Under the Homestead Act, thousands of settlers migrated into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government; because so few trees grew on the prairies, many of the first farming settlers built their homes of sod, as had Native Americans such as the Omaha. The first wave of settlement gave the territory a sufficient population to apply for statehood.
Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867, the capital was moved from Omaha to the center at Lancaster renamed Lincoln after the assassinated President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The battle of Massacre Canyon on August 5, 1873, was the last major battle between the Pawnee and the Sioux. During the 1870s to the 1880s, Nebraska experienced a large growth in population. Several factors contributed to attracting new residents; the first was. This helped settlers to learn the unfamiliar geography of the area; the second factor was the invention of several farming technologies. Agricultural inventions such as barbed wire, wind mills, the steel plow, combined with good weather, enabled settlers to use of Nebraska as prime farming land. By the 1880s, Nebraska's population
Miami County, Kansas
Miami County is a county located in east-central Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 32,787, its county seat and most populous city is Paola. The first settlements of the area were by Native American Indian tribes in the 1820s through the 1840s; this was due to their removal from areas east and the designation of the area as part of the Indian Territory. The tribes included were the Miami and Shawnee, the Pottawatomie, Kaskaskia and Peoria, which comprised the Confederated Tribes; the original Miami reservation consisted of 500,000 acres. Early white settlers during that time were serving as missionaries to the tribes. Over time, other settlers continued to arrive to build homes on the Miami reservation, by 1854, the U. S. Government purchased all but 72,000 acres from the Miami tribe. Two notable members of the Confederated Tribes were Christmas Dagnette, Baptiste Peoria. Dagnette was born in 1800, was a nephew of a Wea chief from Indiana, he had received some formal education, spoke several of the Native American languages, additionally spoke English and Spanish.
He had served as an interpreter to the U. S. Government by the age of sixteen. Having moved to the area, now Miami County with the Wea tribe, he served as chief for several years before his death in 1848. Baptiste Peoria was born around 1800, while he didn't receive formal education like Dagnette, he learned the languages of the Shawnee, Delaware and several more of the Confederated Tribes. In addition, he spoke French. Peoria was of both French and Native American Indian ethnicity, like Dagnette, served as an interpreter and as a chief for some time. Baptiste Peoria became a respected member of the Paola Town Company, was instrumental in the founding and development of the city of Paola in the early and mid-1860s, he moved with his tribe in 1868, when they were once again removed to a newly designated Indian territory, died there in 1878. Some of the Native American Indians stayed in the area, became citizens of the United States. A notorious path known as the Trail of Death has been recognized by the states of Indiana, Illinois and Kansas.
Signs in all four states highlight the regional historic pathway. The 27-mile trail through the county follows local roads starting in the north at the intersection of 215th Street and Metcalf Avenue, it moves south along Metcalf Avenue to 223rd Street. There it turns west to U. S. Highway 69. From there, it turns south on U. S. 69 to Kansas Highway 68, where it again turns west along K-68 to Old Kansas City Road north of Paola. There it turns south on Old KC Road to Baptiste Drive in Paola; the trail makes a short turn back east on Baptiste Drive to North Pearl Street, where it turns south again to West Wea Street adjacent to Paola's historic Square. It turns west on Wea Street to South Silver Street, follows what is known as Old Kansas City Road to 327th Street. By turning west on 327th, the trail enters its final path on one road; the county road 327th Street becomes 6th St Osawatomie as it enters the city limits. As it exits the city limits, it becomes Plum Creek Road/ K-7 Highway; the farthest south monument for the Trail of Death is located at Plum Creek Road.
A treaty signed in 1836 forced Indian tribes in the Eastern United States to move west of the Mississippi River, but Pottawatomie Chief Menominee, his tribe, others refused to leave their land. In autumn 1838, the Pottawatomie were removed by force from their villages and underwent a treacherous two-month journey. On the trip, 42 of the 859 Native Americans died, most of them children and the elderly, from typhoid fever and the stress of the passage, they were buried along the route. When they reached Kansas, some Pottawatomie lived for about a decade in Linn County at Sugar Creek Trading Post, now St. Philippine Duchesne Memorial Park. Other Pottawatomie tribes were relocated to various eastern parts of the state; the trail, which marks the route the Pottawatomie took, begins in Rochester, Ind. and meanders through Illinois and Missouri to end in eastern Kansas. The route was documented by Jesse C. Douglas, who accompanied the group on the march; the Trail of Death Commemorative Caravan of Pottawatomie Indians and historians has retraced the 660-mile trail every five years since 1988.
Travelers on the trail today can view artifacts from the Pottawatomie Tribe along with other historical displays at the Miami County Historical Museum located in Paola, 12 E. Peoria St; those displays include a diary of their trip, which hangs just outside the Early American History Room.. When Kansas Territory was incorporated in 1854 due to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was repealed. Bordering the slave state of Missouri to its east, the county and surrounding areas became a location for violence between abolitionists and the "Border Ruffians" of Missouri; these acts of violence and battles that took place from 1854–1858, became known as border wars, Kansas became known as Bleeding Kansas. Kansas Territory was not yet a state, it was a battle on which forces would become dominant, slave or free. Many abolitionists came from other states to live in the area and ensure Kansas' entry as a state as a free, or anti-slavery one; the county's most notable abolitionist was John Brown, who moved to Osawatomie, making it the headquarters for him and his anti-slavery forces.
As a result of this, Osawatomie, as well as the surrounding countryside and communities became the
Sherman County, Kansas
Sherman County is a county located in the U. S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 6,010, its county seat is Goodland. Sherman County was created by the Legislature of 1873, named after General William Tecumseh Sherman. For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U. S. state. In 1886, Sherman County was established. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,056 square miles, of which 1,056 square miles is land and 0.2 square miles is water.
Sherman County is one of only four Kansas counties to observe Mountain Time. Since Sherman County is part of the Wichita media market and the local broadcast stations are repeat signals of Wichita affiliates, prime-time programming in the county is aired from 6 to 9 p.m. local time, rather than 7 to 10 p.m. as is normal in the Central and Mountain time zones. However, cable providers carry the ABC and NBC affiliates from both Wichita and Denver, affording viewers the opportunity to view programs on those networks at the normal prime-time hours. Cheyenne County Rawlins County Thomas County Logan County Wallace County Kit Carson County, Colorado Interstate 70 US-24 K-27 As of the census of 2000, there were 6,760 people, 2,758 households, 1,781 families residing in the county; the population density was 6 people per square mile. There were 3,184 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 93.83% White, 0.36% Black or African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 4.14% from other races, 0.99% from two or more races.
8.45% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 2,758 households out of which 29.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.80% were married couples living together, 6.00% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.40% were non-families. 29.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.40% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.00. In the county, the population was spread out with 24.60% under the age of 18, 11.80% from 18 to 24, 23.90% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, 17.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 104.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.40 males. The median income for a household in the county was $32,684, the median income for a family was $38,824. Males had a median income of $28,012 versus $20,927 for females; the per capita income for the county was $16,761.
About 9.70% of families and 12.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.90% of those under age 18 and 7.30% of those age 65 or over. Sherman County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 and voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30 percent food sales requirement. Brewster USD 314 Goodland USD 352 Goodland Kanorado Edson Ruleton Sherman County is divided into thirteen townships; the city of Goodland is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships. Geographically, Goodland is located at the juncture of Voltaire and Logan Townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size. Standard Atlas of Sherman County, Kansas. A. Ogle & Co. CountySherman County - Official Website Sherman County - Directory of Public OfficialsMapsSherman County Maps: Current, Historic, KDOT Kansas Highway Maps: Current, Historic, KDOT Kansas Railroad Maps: Current, 1996, 1915, KDOT and Kansas Historical Society
Rice, Kansas
Rice is an unincorporated rural community in Cloud County, United States. In the 19th century, Rice was a station on the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad, the town's proximity to the larger trading center of Concordia inhibited its growth. A post office was opened in Rice in 1878, remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1980. Ross Doyen, farmer and Kansas state legislator, was born near Rice
