Big Blue River (Kansas)
For the stream that flows from Johnson County, through Kansas City, referred to as the Big Blue see Blue River The Big Blue River is the largest tributary of the Kansas River. The river flows for 359 miles from central Nebraska into Kansas, until its confluence with the Kansas River at Manhattan, it was given its name by the Kansa tribe of Native Americans, who lived at its mouth from 1780 to 1830, who called it the Great Blue Earth River. The river passes through agricultural land; some of the larger towns along its course, in addition to Manhattan, include Beatrice, Nebraska. Shortly before intersecting with the Kansas River, the Big Blue discharges its waters into a reservoir called Tuttle Creek Lake, which lies northeast of Manhattan; the reservoir is a man-made flood-control measure, held back by a dam composed of the limestone and gypsum dredged out of the floodplain by bulldozers left to rust underneath the flooded area. The land surrounding the reservoir is a state park area, although the Great Flood of 1993 decimated much of the northern area.
The river continues as the outflow from Tuttle Creek Lake for five miles before intersecting with the Kansas River east of Manhattan. Nebraska and Kansas have entered into an agreement of appropriation where Nebraska has full use of the river's water, except that from May 1 to September 30 Nebraska must allow a certain variable flow to pass into Kansas. To date, there has been no shortage of water in the river. List of Kansas rivers Lakes and dams in Kansas List of Nebraska rivers U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Big Blue River
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
Grand River (Missouri)
The Grand River is a river that stretches from northernmost tributary origins between Creston and Winterset in Iowa 226 miles to its mouth on the Missouri River near Brunswick, Missouri. Its watershed of 7,900 square miles, with three-quarters in Missouri, makes it the largest watershed serving the Missouri River in northern Missouri. Fort D'Orleans was erected by French explorer Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, believed to have been at the mouth of the Grand on Missouri River in 1723; the fort has been obliterated by floods. The area was part of Ioway Indian tribal territory through the 1820s; the Ioway chief Big Neck had his village on the Grand River before 1824 and into 1829. The Big Neck War: In July 1829, a large party of Iowa Native Americans, led by Chief Big Neck, returned to their former hunting grounds in violation of treaty. One of the Ioway's dogs killed a pig and they threatened the white women; the settlers sent messengers south to Macon counties asking for help. Captain William Trammell responded with a party of some two dozen men to help.
By the time of their arrival, the Ioways had left the area and moved upriver into what is now Schuyler County. Trammell's force, augmented by several of the men from The Cabins and engaged the Ioway at a place called Battle Creek, killing several Native Americans including Big Neck's brother, sister-in-law, their child; the Trammell party lost three men in the skirmish, including Captain Trammell himself, one additional casualty died of his wounds shortly afterward. Discretion being the better part of valor, the surviving whites returned to the cabins, collected the women and children, headed south for the Randolph County settlement of Huntsville. A group of militia under General John B. Clark pursued and apprehended Big Neck and his braves, capturing them in March 1830. Soon, several fled to the current state of Iowa; the jury found on March 31, 1830, that: "After examining all the witnesses, maturely considering the charges for which these Iowa Indians are now in confinement, we find them not guilty, they are at once discharged."
The acquittal of Big Neck seemed to have brought the war to a peaceful, if uneasy, conclusion. A few months white settlers returned to The Cabins, this time in greater numbers, this time to stay permanently. In 1835 the Missouri Legislature declared it a navigable stream to the Iowa line, although steamboat traffic never extended much further than Chillicothe. Boats had difficulty with the river's changing water levels, sometimes it was too low for them to travel that far upriver; the town of Bedford is named for a steamer. In 1837-38, Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, said Adam-ondi-Ahman near Gallatin, Missouri was the site where Adam and Eve lived after being evicted from the Garden of Eden; the West and East Forks of the Grand rise just south of Creston in Iowa. The Middle Fork rises at Iowa in Ringgold County, Iowa; the three forks merge just south of Missouri in Gentry County. That is where the river assumes the single Grand River name; the biggest confluence of streams is at Chillicothe, where the Thompson River and Shoal and Locust creeks merge with the river.
The Grand River Basin has more than 1,000 third order or higher streams. Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge is on the Yellow Creek tributary at Missouri. No dams have been built on the river. At various times plans have been proposed for five dams, with the most prominent being the Pattonsburg Dam at Pattonsburg, Missouri; the United States Corps of Engineers bought out the residents after the Great Flood of 1993. Average discharge for the Grand at Sumner, Missouri is 3,917 cubic feet per second; the maximum instantaneous peak flow of 180,000 cu ft/s occurred in June, 1947. During the 1993 flood 150,000 cu ft/s was reported at Sumner; the Grand descends at a rate of about three feet per mile, although the Pop's Branch near Princeton, Missouri descends at 44 feet per mile. List of rivers of Iowa
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
Indian Territory
As general terms, Indian Territory, the Indian Territories, or Indian country describe an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land. In general, the tribes ceded land they occupied in exchange for land grants in 1803; the concept of an Indian Territory was an outcome of the 18th- and 19th-century policy of Indian removal. After the Civil War, the policy of the government was one of assimilation; the term Indian Reserve describes lands the British government set aside for indigenous tribes between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River in the time before the American Revolutionary War. Indian Territory came to refer to an unorganized territory whose general borders were set by the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834, was the successor to the remainder of the Missouri Territory after Missouri received statehood; the borders of Indian Territory were reduced in size as various Organic Acts were passed by Congress to create incorporated territories of the United States.
The 1907 Oklahoma Enabling Act created the single state of Oklahoma by combining Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, ending the existence of an Indian Territory. Indian Territory known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land within the United States of America reserved for the forced re-settlement of Native Americans. Therefore, it was not a traditional territory for the tribes settled upon it; the general borders were set by the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834. The territory was located in the Central United States. While Congress passed several Organic Acts that provided a path for statehood for much of the original Indian Country, Congress never passed an Organic Act for the Indian Territory. Indian Territory was never an organized incorporated territory of the United States. In general, tribes could not sell land to non-Indians. Treaties with the tribes restricted entry of non-Indians into tribal areas; the region never had a formal government until after the American Civil War.
After the Civil War, the Southern Treaty Commission re-wrote treaties with tribes that sided with the Confederacy, reducing the territory of the Five Civilized Tribes and providing land to resettle Plains Indians and tribes of the Midwestern United States. These re-written treaties included provisions for a territorial legislature with proportional representation from various tribes. In time, the Indian Territory was reduced to; the Organic Act of 1890 reduced Indian Territory to the lands occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes and the Tribes of the Quapaw Indian Agency. The remaining western portion of the former Indian Territory became the Oklahoma Territory; the Oklahoma organic act applied the laws of Nebraska to the incorporated territory of Oklahoma Territory, the laws of Arkansas to the still unincorporated Indian Territory. The concept of an Indian territory is the successor to the British Indian Reserve, a British North American territory established by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that set aside land for use by the Native American people.
The proclamation limited the settlement of Europeans to Crown-claimed lands east of the Appalachian Mountains. The territory remained active until the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War, land was ceded to the United States; the British administration reduced the land area of the Indian Reserve – the United States further reduced it after the American Revolutionary War – until it included only lands west of the Mississippi River. At the time of the American Revolution, many Native American tribes had long-standing relationships with British who were loyal to the British Empire, but they had a less-developed relationship with the Empire's colonists-turned-rebels. After the defeat of the British, the Americans twice invaded the Ohio Country and were twice defeated, they defeated the Indian Western Confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and imposed the Treaty of Greenville, which ceded most of what is now Ohio, part of present-day Indiana, the lands that include present-day Chicago and Detroit, to the United States federal government.
The period after the American Revolutionary War was one of rapid western expansion. The areas occupied by Native Americans in the United States were called Indian country, not an unorganized territory, as the areas were established by treaty. In 1803 the United States of America agreed to purchase France's claim to French Louisiana for a total of $15 million. President Thomas Jefferson doubted the legality of the purchase. However, the chief negotiator, Robert R. Livingston believed that the 3rd article of the treaty providing for the Louisiana Purchase would be acceptable to Congress; the 3rd article stated, in part: the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights and immunities of citizens of the United States. Which committed the US government to "the ultimate, but not to the immediate, admission" of the territory as multiple states, "postponed its incorporation into the Union t
Native American Church
The Native American Church known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The religion originated in the U. S. State of Oklahoma in the late nineteenth century after peyote was introduced to the southern Great Plains from Mexico. Today it is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans in the United States and Mexico, with an estimated 250,000 adherents as of the late twentieth century. Many denominations of mainstream Christianity made attempts to convert Native Americans to Christianity in their country; these efforts were successful for many Native American tribes reflect Christian creed, including the Native American Church. Although conversion to Christianity was a slow process, the tenets of the Native American Church were accepted. Formed in the state of Oklahoma, the Native American Church is monotheistic, believing in a supreme being, called the Great Spirit.
The tenets of the Native American Church regard "peyote" as a sacred and holy sacrament and use it as a means to communicate with the Great Spirit. Followers of the Native American Church have differing ceremonies and ways of practicing their religion. For example, among the Teton, the Cross Fire group uses the Bible for sermons, which are rejected by the Half Moon followers, though they each teach a similar Christian morality. Ceremonies last all night, beginning Saturday evening and ending early Sunday morning. Scripture reading, prayer and drumming are included. In general, the Native American Church believes in the Great Spirit. Ceremonies are held in a tipi and require a priest, pastor, or elder to conduct the service; the conductor is referred to as the Roadman. The Roadman is assisted by a Fireman, whose task is to care for the holy fireplace, being sure that it burns all night; the Roadman may use a prayer staff, a beaded and feathered gourd, a small drum and his eagle feather as a means for conducting services.
The Roadman's wife or other female relative prepares four sacramental foods and the "second breakfast" that are part of the church services. Her part takes place early, between 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning; the four sacramental foods are water, shredded beef or "sweet meat", corn mush, some version of berry. To counterbalance the bitterness of the peyote consumed during the services, the sweet foods were added later; the second breakfast is like any other breakfast. It includes boiled eggs, hash brown potatoes and juice; this meal is served just prior to the closing of the church services. Church services are not regular Sunday occurrences but are held in accordance with special requests by a family for celebrating a birthday, or for a memorial or funeral service. Services begin at sundown on either a Friday or Saturday end at sunrise. Thus, a participant "sits up" all night, giving up a full night's rest as part of a small sacrifice to the Great and Holy Spirit and his Son; the church services culminate in a feast for the whole community the following day.
Because peyote is a stimulant, all of the participating members are wide awake, so they, attend the feast. The need for sleep is felt in the late afternoon after the feast. Gifts are given to the Roadman and all his helpers by the sponsoring family at the feast to show deep appreciation for all his hard work.”Common reasons for holding a service include: the desire to cure illness, birthday celebrations, Christian holidays, school graduations, other significant life events. As the United States government became more involved in the control of drugs, the Native American Church faced possible legal issues regarding their use of the substance; the Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 called the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, was passed to provide legal protection for the Church's use of peyote. The controversy over peyote resulted in its legal classification as a controlled drug. Thus, only card-carrying members of the Native American Church are allowed to transport and use peyote for religious purposes.
The Neo-American Church tried to claim LSD and marijuana as sacraments, seeking protection similar to that afforded to peyote use by the Native American Church. The courts ruled against them. Quanah Parker is the individual most associated with the early history of Peyotism and the Native American Church. Other prominent figures in its development include Chevato, Jim Aton, John Wilson, Jonathan Koshiway; these people, many others, played important roles in the introduction and adoption of the Native American Church. Eagle-bone whistle Employment Division v. Smith Freedom of religion in the United States#Situation of Native Americans Freedom of thought Hair drop, Native American Church regalia Indigenous peoples of the Americas The red road Hayward, Robert; the Thirteenth Step: Ancient Solutions to the Contemporary Problems of Alcoholism and Addiction using the Timeless Wisdom of The Native American Church Ceremony. Native Son Publishers Inc. 2011. ISBN 0983638403. -- Describes the Native American Church Ceremony.
Stewart, Omer C. Peyote Religion: A History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987. Listing of Native American Churches American Ethnography – The use of Peyote by the Carrizo and Lipan Apache tribes "Native American Church, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Swan, Daniel C.. "Native American Church". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Cowger, Thomas W.. "Pan-I
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