Chapter 12: The Great Plains and Praries

I will begin this post on the Great Plains and Praries, the region that a significant portion of Nebraska falls into, with some of my own personal photos from this great state!

My father, born and raised in Nebraska, with my son, on his second visit to Great Grandmother's residence in Nebraska

Silly pic of Me and Baby enjoying the beautiful fall weather

My Aunt Jane and Uncle Dave's farm in Ponca, NE...this huge piece of machinery is an Auger, it removes beans from grain. There is a truck and trailer to transport the material to store in bins

Here is my Uncle Dave with his Combine which transfers beans to grain trucks which then either go to the elevator in town or to storage bins on the farm.

Uncle Dave combining beans

Beans in October

The bean "head" is transfered from cart to front of combine--there is a separate "head" for corn

View of Missouri River & South Dakota from "Volcano Hill" site, north of Newcastle,NE--was described in the Lewis and Clark diaries

Another shot of the beans on my relatives farm in Ponca. This picture was taken in October right before the crop was harvested

Northeast Nebraska, Township Road

Township Road again...beautiful gently rolling hills, green grass and the grand ever so big Nebraska sky

Speaking of the "big" Nebraska sky--how is this pic for "grand" and "stunning?"

Lovely windmill on my Aunt Jane and Uncle Dave's farm

Another pretty pic, but look at the road. This is what most of the roads are like in rural areas of Nebraska and more largely the Great Plains and Prarie Region--dirt with some gravel for traction. This road looks picturesque in this gorgeous weather, however it definitely does not look as nice in the rain and snow. Frequently driving these roads in extreme weather conditions becomes an insurmountable challenge.

Aunt Jane and Uncle Dave's beans in August

Beans in August, again

Close-up view of bean field

Great Plains as a Region

Most of the state of Nebraska falls into the Great Plains and Prarie Region; only a small eastern portion of the state is categorized as belonging to the Agricultural Core region. Many mistakenly believe this region to be"uniformly and monotonously flat" this is in part due to the two most well traveled interstates the I-40and the I-80 which take the majority of drivers through this region across a flat section. The Great Plains and Praries is actually a region with "substantial variation in landscape." As I've mentioned in previous postings, Nebraska in particular has a very diverse, interesting landscape. The Sand Hills of Nebraska are especially beautiful!

Aerial View of Sandhills

                         

Another misconception about this region is that it is not ethnically diverse. This is not the case. The census statistics below give a brief sampling of Nebraska's diverse population:

RACE AND ETHNICITY FOR HOUSEHOLDS

Number Number Number
White alone 1,529,471 1,529,471 215,333,394
Black or African American alone 68,389 68,389 34,962,569
American Indian and Alaska Native alone 13,250 13,250 2,357,544
Asian alone 24,820 24,820 12,471,815
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 557 557 397,030
Some other race alone 44,869 44,869 17,298,601
Two or more races: 25,620 25,620 5,557,184
Hispanic or Latino 122,518 122,518 41,870,703

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005 American Community Survey; ePodunk

Note: Use caution when comparing estimates from the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS) with the 2000 Census.

Relief and Vegetation
"The characteristic vegetation of the grasslands is grass. But this is a deceptive oversimplification ignoring the variety and distribution of natural grasses." Much of the original vegetation has been destroyed by agricultural. However before fields replaced the grasslands, "a continuous tall-grass prarie, with grasses 30 cm (1 foot) to 1 meter (3 feet) high, covered the moister eastern portions. The most common grass was Big bluestem.

This picture is from a website on the grasses of the Oklahoma prarie, http://www.okprairie.com/Grasses.htm. It shows how tall the Big bluestem grows when it reaches its maximum height in August...not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks of "grass!"

The roots of these grasses extended even further into the soil than the height that they reached above ground. This made plowing a very dificult task. However, it also enabled prarie settlers to cut the sod into bricks, from which a sod house could be constructed.

Building a sod house in western Nebraska

and...

A two story sod house near Broken Bow, NE from 1886

Plains Precipitation: Cyclical Patterns

Annual precipation amounts for the Great Plains region vary but usually averages between 80 to 120% of the national average in non-drought years. 75% of this precipiation falls between April and August which is right in the growing season when crops need rain the most.

Major droughts seem to take place in 20 year cycles, "with the last six centering on the 1890s, 1910s, 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s.

The "Dust Bowl" occurred after the "soil-binding quality of the land was destroyed by years of repeated cropping." Dunes of dust 10ft were pushed up by the dry winds.

A huge cloud of dust; this photo comes from the York, NE Living History Farm.