Omaha daily bee., 1921-06-19


tennial period in the career of grea
Nebraska newspaper is chiefly tc
supply a historical background fol-
this main event-to give some &C
count of the circumstances which
caused Its creation and of the con.
ditions in which it fourished. But
it seems proper to take advantage OF
a propitious opportunity for spread
ing some further knowledge of the
history Of the commonwealth than
strictly aprertains to the main pur.
pose.
Moreover, a comprehensive body
of facts, well tested, touching apti-
tude and accuracy, is not only essen
tial to the ordinary purposes of his
tory, but also for the suggestive in
spiration to its picturing in an i'm
pressionistic whole, fiction being its
favorite, and perhaps only practical
BILE, form. AT the present moment
the most effective pictures of social
life, past and present, largely, of
course, because they are the most
entertaining and widely current, are
being painted by the worlds great
fctionists. For Nebraska Miss Ca
ther is brilliantly leading in this
imaginative work.
"The Nebraska Country"
The state of Nebraska is the final
remnant of the vastly larger terri
tory which was naturally shaped to
the longest and otherwise most i'm
portant affluent of the Missouri riv-
er. The untutored American Indian
had John Burroughs sensibility to
the beauties of nature, including
sensitive musical ear.
Each of the three most important
domestic tribes of Nebraska-the'
Omaha. the Oto and the Pawnee-
gave this great river an impression
istic name with the same meaning:
fiat water. As nearly as we can
represent their pronunciation by our
letters the Omahas called it "Ni
Bthaska" and their kinsmen, the
Oto, mi Brathka," mp meaning
water and the other words, "hat."
The French, so far as we know
the first white people to see this
river, in their naming borrowed the
Indian meaning, but, alas, with the
ugly, unmusical translation, Plate
La Riviere Plate. Each of IA of
our states has the same name as its
principal river, all but one native
Indian words or close derivatives,
and all pleasing to both eye and ear.
Platte has the merit, rather measly
as | think. of being shorter than Ne
braska. The natural name of the river
prevailed in maps and in printed and
spoken language until, only rather
recently, while the IA took time
for taste, Nebraska took the distaste-
full short cut
When, through the settlement of
western Missouri and travellers over
the Oregon Trail, the transmissouri
plain became widely familiar to
white people, that section of it, |
roughly rounded. between the divide
of the waters flowing directly into
the Missouri and those flowing into
the Platte, on the north, and the
divide between the Kansas and Ar
kansas rivers, on the south, came to
be called The Nebraska Country,
true tribute to the truly great river
which nearly evenly bisects it.
"The Nebraska Territory"
In the first bill to organize this
country into a territory, introduced
in congress in 1874, it was called
The Nebraska Territory, but it was
commonly called Nebraska by pro-
moters of its political organization
somewhat earlier. In this first bill |
the 43d parallel of latitude was the
northern boundary, and the 38th its
southern. In the first three bills In.
troduced for territorial organization |
the 43d parallel was the northern |
boundary; in the fourth, 43 degrees |
80 minutes; in the other two the |
northern boundary was pushed up |
to the Canadian line, which was
finally adopted.
1t is an interesting incident that !,
when the carvings, up and down, of
the prolific parent territory's vast |
area of 351 ,55S square miles into nu-.
merous other commonwealths had |
been finished, this at first favorite, in
some sort natural, territorial bound
arM was adopted as the northern
limit of the remnant state of Ne
braska.
In the first bill the 3sth parallel of
latitude was the southern boundary;
in the second, of 1848, the 40th; in
the next three, IS degrees. so min
utes; In the final bill, the 37th. The
36 degrees, so minutes line was the
favorite because it was the southern
boundary of Missouri and the divi-
sion, touching slavery, agreed to in
the Missouri compromise; but just
at the last it was discovered that this
line cut through the reservation of
the Cherokee Indians, whose north.
ern boundary was the 37th parallel,
the boundary also between the lands
of the Cherokee and the Usage In
dians. So the natural and very de-
sirable uniform boundary line for
the two great states, Missouri and
Kansas, was sacrificed. At any rate,
the resulting jog lengthens the long
Est, as it seems, of the cases of the
"tail wagging the dog" |
In common parlance, the Nebraska
country comprised the territory op-
posite Iowa and Missouri and the
Mexican line on the west. In a
speech at Platte City June 6, 1853,
Senator Atchison of Missouri said:
"First, then, as to Nebraska. This
territory was formerly called the
Missouri or Indian territory and was
so laid down on the maps. It lies
west of the states Of Missouri and
Iowa and extending to New Mexico
and the Rocky mountains. Within a
few years it has been called Ne
braska, or at least that portion of 1t
which is now proposed to be organ
lied under q territorial government
and opened to the settlement Of
white men,"