NEBRASKA THE CORNHUSKER STATE In 1820 United States Army explorer Major Stephen Long journeyed through the Great Plains including today’s Nebraska The major gazed at the vast treeless plains and saw a barren land unfit for farming Major Long called the plains The Great Desert He thought the area was a poor place to settle He couldn’t have been more wrong Today thanks to irrigation and hard-working farmers Nebraska is a fertile land that feeds the nation The state is beautiful in its own way Endless rows of corn recede into wide-open spaces Newly planted trees their branches waving in the prairie wind protect the soil from erosion Ponds and rivers shelter millions of migratory birds in one of nature’s most awe-inspiring spectacles Nebraska is full of people who love their state and its history They are also crazy for their university football team the Cornhuskers for whom the state is named Cornhusking is the manual stripping of husks from fresh corn Nebraska’s most important crop Each spring thousands of sandhill cranes stop at Nebraska’s Platte River on their annual northerly migration 4 NEBRASKA
At 800 feet 244 m high the towering Scotts Bluff is a famous Nebraska landmark
NEBRASKA QUICK FACTS Name Nebraska is a translation of an Otoe Native American word that means flat water referring to the Platte River State Capital Lincoln population 272,996 Date of Statehood March 1 1867 37th state Population 1,896,190 37th-most populous state Area Total Land and Water 77,348 square miles 200,330 sq km 16th-largest state Largest City Omaha population 446,599 Nickname The Cornhusker State Motto Equality Before the Law State Bird Western Meadowlark 6 NEBRASKA
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA State Flower Goldenrod State Gemstone Blue Chalcedony State Tree Cottonwood State Song Beautiful Nebraska Highest Point Panorama Point 5,424 feet 1,653 m Lowest Point Missouri River at Richardson County 840 feet 256 m Average July High Temperature 88 F 31 C Record High Temperature 118 F 48 C in Minden on July 24 1936 Average January Low Temperature 14 F 10 C Record Low Temperature 47 F 44 C in Oshkosh on December 22 1989 Average Annual Precipitation 24 inches 61 cm Number of U S Senators 2 Number of U S Representatives 3 U S Presidents Born in Nebraska Gerald Ford 38th president U S Postal Service Abbreviation NE Missouri River Gerald Ford QUICK FACTS 7
