Nebraska
Ne·bras·ka
N0043000 (nə-brăs′kə) Abbr. NE or Nebr.Nebraska
(nɪˈbræskə)Ne•bras•ka
(nəˈbræs kə)n.
| Noun | 1. |  Nebraska - a midwestern state on the Great Plains |
n.
Nebraska
Nebraska
(nəbrăs`kə), Great Plains state of the central United States. It is bordered by Iowa and Missouri, across the Missouri River (E), Kansas (S), Colorado (SW), Wyoming (NW), and South Dakota (N).Facts and Figures
Area, 77,227 sq mi (200,018 sq km). Pop. (2010) 1,826,341, a 6.7% increase since the 2000 census. Capital, Lincoln. Largest city, Omaha. Statehood, Mar. 1, 1867 (37th state). Highest pt., 5,426 ft (1,655 m), Kimball Co.; lowest pt., 840 ft (256 m), SE corner of state. Nickname, Cornhusker State. Motto, Equality before the Law. State bird, Western meadowlark. State flower, goldenrod. State tree, cottonwood. Abbr., Nebr.; NE
Geography
Nebraska is roughly rectangular, except in the northeast and the east where the border is formed by the irregular course of the Missouri River and in the southwest where the state of Colorado cuts out a squared corner. The land rises more or less gradually from 840 ft (256 m) in the east to 5,300 ft (1,615 m) in the west. The great but shallow Platte River, formed in W Nebraska by the junction of the North Platte and the South Platte, flows across the state from west to east to join the Missouri S of Omaha. The Platte and the Missouri, together with their tributaries, give Nebraska all-important water sources that are essential to farming in this agrarian state. Underground water sources are also widely used for irrigation. The river valleys have long provided routes westward, and today the transcontinental railroads and highways follow the valleys.
From the Missouri westward over about half the state stretch undulating farm lands, where the fertile silt is underlaid by deep loess soil. Nebraska's population is concentrated there; many are farmers who produce grains for the consumer market or for feeding hogs and dairy cattle. In this region also lie Nebraska's two major cities—LincolnLincoln.
1 City (1990 pop. 15,418), seat of Logan co., central Ill., in a farm area; inc. 1865. It is a shipping and industrial center in an agricultural area with light manufacturing.
..... Click the link for more information. , the capital and an important insurance center, and OmahaOmaha
, city (1990 pop. 335,795), seat of Douglas co., E Nebr., on the west bank of the Missouri River; inc. 1857. The largest city in the state, it is a busy port of entry and a major transportation center.
..... Click the link for more information. , the state's largest city and an important meat and grain distribution center—as well as many of the state's larger towns.
To the west and northwest the Sand Hills of Nebraska fan out, their wind-eroded contours now more or less stabilized by grass coverage. Cattle graze on the slopes and tablelands, protected in the severe winters by the sand bluffs and the valleys. The climate is severely continental throughout Nebraska; a low of −40°F; (−40°C;) in the winter is not unusual, and during the short intense summers temperatures may easily reach 110°F; (43°C;). Rainfall is almost twice as heavy in the east as in the west. Yet in the west along the river valleys the mixture of silt and sand is watered enough to yield abundantly to cultivation, even under semiarid conditions. In the far west the land rises to the foothills of the Rocky Mts. and displays spectacular bedrock foundations.
Hundreds of fresh and alkali lakes in the state attract sportsmen and campers. The pioneers' migration west over the Oregon Trail is commemorated by the Scotts Bluff National Monument and the Chimney Rock National Historic Site. Other points of interest to the traveler include Father Flanagan's Boys Town, near Omaha; the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, near Valentine; and the Homestead National Monument, near Beatrice.
Economy
Agriculture is Nebraska's dominant occupational pursuit. The state's chief farm products are cattle, corn, hogs, soybeans, and wheat. Nebraska ranked second among the states in cattle production in 1997. Wheat farming flourishes on the southwest plateaus, while irrigation along the Platte and its tributaries has increased the sugar-beet crop. The Univ. of Nebraska maintains agricultural experiment stations throughout the state. A program of soil conservation includes a shelter belt running across the state to check the effect of wind erosion, and dryland-farming techniques have been encouraged. Forest conservation is stressed, and the state (the birthplace of Arbor Day) has been very active in planting forests.
Nebraska's largest industry is food processing, notably including beef production. The state has diversified its industries since World War II, and the manufacture of electrical machinery, primary metals, and transportation equipment is also important. Deposits of oil (discovered in Cheyenne co. in 1949–50) contribute to the state's economy. Omaha and Lincoln are centers for insurance and telecommunications industries, and Offutt Air Force Base, near Omaha, was the cold-war center of the Strategic Air CommandStrategic Air Command
(SAC), former command of the U.S. air force (see Air Force, United States Department of the) charged with organizing, training, equipping, administering, and preparing strategic air forces for combat; it was headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base.
..... Click the link for more information. .
Government and Higher Education
Nebraska's constitution was adopted in 1875. It was amended in 1982 to ensure that rangeland and farmland could be sold only to a Nebraska family-farm corporation. The executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term. By constitutional amendment in 1934 the legislature was made unicameral (it is unique in the United States), with 49 members elected on a nonpartisan basis for terms of four years. The state elects three representatives and two senators to the U.S. Congress and has five electoral votes in presidential elections. In 1986, Nebraska's Kay A. Orr became the first Republican woman to be elected governor of a state. E. Benjamin Nelson, a Democrat elected governor in 1990 and 1994, was succeeded by Mike Johanns, a Republican elected in 1998 and 2002. Johanns resigned in 2005 to become U.S. secretary of education, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Dave Heineman, who won election to the governorship in 2006 and reelection in 2010. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, won the office in 2014 and 2018.
The state's leading institution of higher education is the Univ. of Nebraska, at Lincoln, Omaha, and Kearney. Creighton Univ. is at Omaha.
History
Hunters, Explorers, and Fur Traders
Nebraska's soil has been farmed since prehistoric times, but the Native Americans of the plains—notably the PawneePawnee
, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). At one time the Pawnee lived in what is now Texas, but by 1541, when Coronado visited Quivira, they seem to have been settled in the
..... Click the link for more information. —devoted themselves more to hunting the buffalo than to farming, since buffalo, as well as the pronghorn antelope and smaller animals, were then abundant in the area. The Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his men were the first Europeans to visit the region. They probably passed through Nebraska in 1541.
The French also came and in the 18th cent. engaged in fur trading, but development began only after the area passed from France to the United States in the Louisiana PurchaseLouisiana Purchase,
1803, American acquisition from France of the formerly Spanish region of Louisiana. Reasons for the Purchase
The revelation in 1801 of the secret agreement of 1800, whereby Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, aroused uneasiness in the United
..... Click the link for more information. of 1803. The Lewis and Clark expeditionLewis and Clark expedition,
1803–6, U.S. expedition that explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and the country beyond as far as the Pacific Ocean. Purpose
..... Click the link for more information. (1804) and the explorations of Zebulon M. Pike (1806) increased knowledge of the country, but the activities of the fur traders were more immediately valuable in terms of settlement. Manuel Lisa, a fur trader, probably established the first trading post in the Nebraska area in 1813. Bellevue, the first permanent settlement in Nebraska, first developed as a trading post.
Steamboats and Wagon Trains
Steamboating on the Missouri River, initiated in 1819, brought business to the river ports of Omaha and Brownville. The natural highway formed by the Platte valley was used extensively by pioneers going west over the Oregon Trail and also the California Trail and the Mormon Trail. Nebraska settlers made money supplying the wagon trains with fresh mounts and pack animals as well as food.
Nebraska became a territory after passage of the Kansas-Nebraska ActKansas-Nebraska Act,
bill that became law on May 30, 1854, by which the U.S. Congress established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. By 1854 the organization of the vast Platte and Kansas river countries W of Iowa and Missouri was overdue.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1854. The territory, which initially extended from lat. 40°N to the Canadian border, was firmly Northern and Republican in sympathy during the Civil War. In 1863 the territory was reduced to its present-day size by the creation of the territories of Dakota and Colorado. Congress passed an enabling act for statehood in 1864, but the original provision in the state constitution limiting the franchise to whites delayed statehood until 1867.
Railroads, Ranches, and the Growth of Populism
In 1867 the Union Pacific RR was built across the state, and the land boom, already vigorous, became a rush. Farmers settled on free land obtained under the Homestead ActHomestead Act,
1862, passed by the U.S. Congress. It provided for the transfer of 160 acres (65 hectares) of unoccupied public land to each homesteader on payment of a nominal fee after five years of residence; land could also be acquired after six months of residence at $1.
..... Click the link for more information. of 1862, and E Nebraska took on a settled look. The population rose from 28,841 in 1860 to 122,993 in 1870. The Pawnee were defeated in 1859, and by 1880 war with the Sioux and other Native American resistance was over. With the coming of the railroads, cow towns, such as Ogallala and Schuyler, were built up as shipping points on overland cattle trails. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Shows opened in Nebraska in 1882.
Farmers had long been staking out homestead claims across the Sand Hills to the high plains, but ranches also prospered in the state. The ranchers, trying to preserve the open range, ruthlessly opposed the encroachment of the farmers, but the persistent farmers won. Many conservationists believe that much of the land that was plowed under should have been left with grass cover to prevent erosion in later dust storms.
Nature was seldom kind to the people of Nebraska. Ranching was especially hard hit by the ruinous cold of the winter of 1880–81, and farmers were plagued by insect hordes from 1856 to 1875, by prairie fires, and by the recurrent droughts of the 1890s. Many farmers joined the Granger movementGranger movement,
American agrarian movement taking its name from the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, an organization founded in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley and six associates. Its local units were called granges and its members grangers.
..... Click the link for more information. in the lean 1870s and the Farmers' Alliances of the 1880s. In the 1890s many beleaguered farmers, faced with ruin and angry at the monopolistic practices of the railroads and the financiers, formed marketing and stock cooperatives and showed their discontent by joining the Populist partyPopulist party,
in U.S. history, political party formed primarily to express the agrarian protest of the late 19th cent. In some states the party was known as the People's party.
..... Click the link for more information. . The first national convention of the Populist party was held at Omaha in 1892, and Nebraska's most famous son, William Jennings Bryan, headed the Populist and Democratic tickets in the presidential election of 1896. Populists held the governorship of the state from 1895 to 1901.
Twentieth-Century Changes
Improved conditions in the early 1900s caused Populism to decline in the state, and the return of prosperous days was marked by progressive legislation, the building of highways, and conservation measures. The flush of prosperity, largely caused by the demand for foodstuffs during World War I, was almost feverish. Overexpansion of credits and overconfidence made the depression of the 1920s and 30s all the more disastrous (see Great DepressionGreat Depression,
in U.S. history, the severe economic crisis generally considered to have been precipitated by the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929. Although it shared the basic characteristics of other such crises (see depression), the Great Depression was unprecedented in its
..... Click the link for more information. ). Many farmers were left destitute, and many others were able to survive only because of the moratorium on farm debts in 1932. They received federal aid in the desperate years of drought in the 1930s.
Better weather and the huge food demands of World War II renewed prosperity in Nebraska. After the war, efforts continued to make the best use of the water supply, notably in such federal plans as the Missouri River basin projectMissouri River basin project,
comprehensive plan authorized in 1944 for the coordinated development of water resources of the Missouri River and its tributaries, draining an area of c.
..... Click the link for more information. , a vast dam and water-diversion scheme.
Recent attempts to diversify Nebraska's economic base to reduce dependence on meat processing and agriculture have made Lincoln, where state government and the Univ. of Nebraska generate many jobs, a business center, along with Omaha. Among noted Nebraskans have been the pioneer and historian Julius Sterling Morton, who originated Arbor Day, and authors Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, John G. Neihardt, Loren Eiseley, and Wright Morris, all of whom have vividly described the state.
Bibliography
See J. C. Olson, History of Nebraska (2d ed. 1966, repr. 1974); M. P. Lawson and R. E. Lonsdale, Economic Atlas of Nebraska (1977); D. W. Creigh, Nebraska: A History (1977); Nebraska (1985), "Geographies of the United States" series.
Nebraska State Information
www.nebraska.gov
Area (sq mi):: 77353.73 (land 76872.41; water 481.31) Population per square mile: 22.90
Population 2005: 1,758,787 State rank: 0 Population change: 2000-20005 2.80%; 1990-2000 8.40% Population 2000: 1,711,263 (White 87.30%; Black or African American 4.00%; Hispanic or Latino 5.50%; Asian 1.30%; Other 5.10%). Foreign born: 4.40%. Median age: 35.30
Income 2000: per capita $19,613; median household $39,250; Population below poverty level: 9.70% Personal per capita income (2000-2003): $27,625-$30,179
Unemployment (2004): 3.90% Unemployment change (from 2000): 1.10% Median travel time to work: 18.00 minutes Working outside county of residence: 19.40%
List of Nebraska counties:
Nebraska Parks
- US National Parks
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
Chimney Rock National Historic SiteHomestead National Monument of America
Missouri National Recreational RiverNiobrara National Scenic River
Scotts Bluff National Monument - Urban Parks
Glenn Cunningham Lake
Levi Carter ParkNP Dodge Memorial Park
Standing Bear LakeTranquility Park
Zorinsky Lake Park - State Parks
Alexandria State Recreation Area
Arbor Lodge State Historical Park
Arnold State Recreation Area
Ash Hollow State Historical Park
Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park
Atkinson Lake State Recreation Area
Blue River State Recreation Area
Bluestem State Recreation Area
Bowman Lake State Recreation Area
Bowring Ranch State Historical Park
Box Butte Reservoir State Recreation Area
Branched Oak State Recreation Area
Bridgeport State Recreation Area
Brownville State Recreation Area
Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park
Buffalo Bill Ranch State Recreation Area
Calamus State Recreation Area
Chadron State Park
Champion Lake State Recreation Area
Champion Mill State Historical Park
Cheyenne State Recreation Area
Conestoga State Recreation Area
Cottonwood Lake State Recreation Area
Cowboy State Recreation Trail
Crystal Lake State Recreation Area
Dead Timber State Recreation Area
DLD State Recreation Area
Enders Reservoir State Recreation Area
Eugene T. Mahoney State ParkFort Atkinson State Historical Park
Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park
Fort Kearny State Historical Park
Fort Kearny State Recreation Area
Fort Robinson State Park
Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area
Gallagher Canyon State Recreation Area
Indian Cave State Park
Johnson Lake State Recreation Area
Keller Park State Recreation Area
Lake Maloney State Recreation Area
Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area
Lake Minatare State Recreation Area
Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area
Lewis & Clark State Recreation Area
Long Lake State Recreation Area
Long Pine State Recreation Area
Louisville State Recreation Area
Medicine Creek State Recreation Area
Memphis State Recreation Area
Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area
Mormon Island State Recreation Area
Niobrara State Park
North Loup State Recreation Area
Olive Creek State Recreation Area
Oliver Reservoir State Recreation Area
Pawnee State Recreation Area
Pelican Point State Recreation Area
Pibel Lake State Recreation AreaPioneer State Recreation Area
Platte River State Park
Ponca State Park
Red Willow Reservoir State Recreation Area
Riverview Marina State Recreation Area
Rock Creek Lake State Recreation Area
Rock Creek Station State Historical Park
Rock Creek Station State Recreation Area
Rockford State Recreation Area
Sandy Channel State Recreation Area
Schramm Park State Recreation Area
Sherman Reservoir State Recreation Area
Smith Falls State Park
Stagecoach State Recreation Area
Summit Lake State Recreation Area
Sutherland Reservoir State Recreation Area
Swanson Reservoir State Recreation Area
Two Rivers State Recreation Area
Union Pacific State Recreation Area
Verdon State Recreation Area
Victoria Springs State Recreation Area
Wagon Train State Recreation Area
Walgren Lake State Recreation Area
War Axe State Recreation Area
Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area
Willow Creek State Recreation Area
Windmill State Recreation Area - Parks and Conservation-Related Organizations - US
National Arbor Day Foundation - National Wildlife Refuges
Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge
Crescent Lake National Wildlife RefugeFort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge
North Platte National Wildlife RefugeValentine National Wildlife Refuge - National Trails
Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail - National Grasslands
Buffalo Gap, Fort Pierre and Oglala National Grasslands - National Forests
Nebraska & Samuel R. McKelvie National Forests
Nebraska
a state in the central USA, located in the Missouri River Basin. Area, 200,000 sq km. Population, 1.5 million (1970), 61.5 percent of which is urban. The state capital is Lincoln, and the largest city is Omaha.
The state’s terrain is primarily level or rolling; located in the extreme west are the spurs of the Rocky Mountains (elevations to 1,654 m). The climate is temperate and continental. The average monthly temperatures range from —5° to 24°C; annual precipitation totals 450–700 mm. There are coniferous forests on the mountain slopes.
Nebraska is an agricultural and industrial state. Approximately 14 percent of its labor force is employed in agriculture, and about 14 percent in processing industries. Stock raising, primarily livestock for meat, accounts for more than two-thirds of the value of agricultural commodity production. In 1972 there were 6.8 million head of cattle, including 200,000 dairy cows, and 3.3 million hogs. In 1971 the number of farms totaled 72,000 (134,000 in 1935). A total of 1.5 million hectares of land are irrigated. The principal agricultural crops are corn (11.4 million tons in 1971), wheat (2.9 million tons), and sugar beets (on irrigated lands in the western part of the state). The food-processing industry is well developed; its principal branch is meat-packing. There are also flour mills, creameries, and sugar refineries. Nonfood-processing industries include nonferrous metallurgy, agricultural machine building, and fertilizer. There is some petroleum extraction. As of 1971, the capacity of electric power plants was 2 million kilowatts.
Nebraska
Thirty-seventh state; admitted on March 1, 1867
Nebraska’s admission day anniversary is marked as State Day. On March 1 every year, state law requires the governor to issue a proclamation about the anniversary and call on citizens to celebrate. Schools may mark the occasion with programs about the state’s history. The centennial celebration was held during much of 1967 with festivals, rodeos, pageants, and exhibits.
State capital: Lincoln Nicknames: Cornhusker State; Tree Planters’ State State motto: Equality Before the Law State ballad: “A Place Like Nebraska” State baseball capital: Wakefield State beverage: milk State bird: Western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) State Christmas tree: Colorado blue spruce (planted near
the capital in 1876) State fish: Channel cutfish (Ictalurus punctatus) State flower: Goldenrod (Solidago serotina) State folk dance: Square dance State fossil: Mammoth State gem: Blue agate (blue chalcedony) State grass: Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium),
also called “bunch grass” or “beard grass” State historic baseball capital: St. Paul State insect: Honeybee (Apis mellifera) State mammal: Whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) State poet laureate: John G. Neihardt State river: Platte River State rock: Prairie agate State slogan: “Battle born” State soil: Holdrege series (Typic arguistolls) State soft drink: Kool-Aid State song: “Beautiful Nebraska” State tartan: Nevada Tartan State tree: Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) State village of lights: Cody
More about state symbols at:
www.nlc.state.ne.us/bestofweb/statesymbols.html
More about the state at:
nebraskalegislature.gov/web/public/bluebook
SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 174 AnnivHol-2000, p. 36
STATE OFFICES:
State web site: www.nebraska.gov
Office of the Governor PO Box 94848 Lincoln, NE 68509 402-471-2244 fax: 402-471-6031 gov.nol.org
Secretary of State PO Box 94608 Lincoln, NE 68509 402-471-2554 fax: 402-471-3237 www.sos.state.ne.us
Nebraska State Library
PO Box 98931
Lincoln, NE 68509
402-471-3189
fax: 402-471-1011
www.nlc.state.ne.us
Legal Holidays:
| Arbor Day | Apr 29, 2011; Apr 27, 2012; Apr 26, 2013; Apr 25, 2014; Apr 24, 2015; Apr 29, 2016; Apr 28, 2017; Apr 27, 2018; Apr 26, 2019; Apr 24, 2020; Apr 30, 2021; Apr 29, 2022; Apr 28, 2023 |
| Day after Thanksgiving | Nov 25, 2011; Nov 23, 2012; Nov 29, 2013; Nov 28, 2014; Nov 27, 2015; Nov 25, 2016; Nov 24, 2017; Nov 23, 2018; Nov 29, 2019; Nov 27, 2020; Nov 26, 2021; Nov 25, 2022; Nov 24, 2023 |
Nebraska
Nebraska
- noun
Synonyms for Nebraska
noun a midwestern state on the Great Plains
Synonyms
- Cornhusker State
- NE
Related Words
- Bad Lands
- Badlands
- middle west
- Midwest
- midwestern United States
- U.S.A.
- United States
- United States of America
- US
- USA
- America
- the States
- U.S.
- Grand Island
- capital of Nebraska
- Lincoln
- North Platte
- Omaha
- North Platte River
- Platte
- Platte River
- Republican River
- Republican
- South Platte
- South Platte River
- peeks through
- peeks under
- peeks underneath
- peek through
- peek under
- peek underneath
- peek underneath (something)
- peek under (something)
- peekytoe crab
- peel
- peelable
- peel addiction assessment and referral centre
- peel agricultural advisory working group
- peel away
- peel back
- peel-back
- peel career assessment services, inc
- peel choral society
- peel committee against woman abuse
- peel committee on sexual assault
- peel community development group
- peel criminal lawyers association
- peel deveined
- peel district school board
- peele