HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG1285.AM: Carl Gustaf Olander, 1882-1975
Poem: undated
Holdrege, Phelps County, Nebraska: Railway mail clerk
Size: One item
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Carl Gustaf Olander, the son of John M. and Gustava (Carlson) Olander, was born in Sweden on July 4, 1882. The Olander family immigrated to the United States in 1883. The 1900 U.S. census shows that Carl was living with his parents at Oneida in Kearney County, Nebraska. The census also shows three younger sisters; Anna V., Edith M. and Esther C.
By 1910 Carl was married to Mae C. Olander and was living in Holdrege, Nebraska. His occupation is listed as a mail clerk for the rail road. The 1920 census shows they had a nine year old son, Palmer M. In 1928 (according to John Olander’s obituary) Carl Olander was living in Sterling, Colorado. Carl G. Olander died in Denver, Colorado on September 1, 1975.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection consists of one item, a poem written by Carl G. Olander. The poem is titled, “Nebraska.”
INVENTORY
Poem entitled, “Nebraska.”
Text of poem: (spelling and punctuation uncorrected)
NEBRASKA.
When you tell of worthwhile places,
Dont forget your old home state;
Have in mind her goodly graces-
Let us all these points relate.
Have you saw her sweep of praire,
And her waving fields of grain;
Do you know her breezes airy,
And her sunshine and her rain.
Do you know her miles of border,
And her many rivers fine;
Fertile farms in regal order,
Onward to her western line,
From that wide and stately river,
Running by her eastern side;
Where her bluffs run down to quiver
In its twirling frothing tide?
Have you drove her well kept highways,
Ribboned cross her ample space?
Have you roamed her hidden byways;
Saw their splendor, face to face?
How old nature, in her bounties
Lavished all her goodly ware;
Touched her many tiers of counties,
With a measure heapt to spare.
Well we know her far flung spaces,
In her empire, risen west;
Where her young and hardy races
Live contended, happy blest.
Farther north her sand hills ranging,
Gently rolling from the view;
Where her sons are quickly changing
The old order to the new.
Eastward turn a land of bounty,
Realm of beauty unsurpassed;
There each fertile well kept county
Lies in wealth and plenty massed.
Let us view her teeming cities,
Dotted here and there o’er plain;
Reads their rise, like lyric ditties,
Elf’d in fancies wide domain.
What a vivid transformation;
Yesterday her praires lay,
Wild untamed since first creation,
Yet unscathed by human sway.
Men yet live to tell the story;
Epic theme for future age-
Let all time enhance their glory,
Blazoned well on printed page.
Pioneers; your hands are folded;
Wanton time knows no remorse:
Well you planned, and well you molded,
While the years went on their course.
You have witnessed greater changes
Than the past has ever shown;
Span of time in all her ranges,
Such an era never know.
C.G. Olander.
Subject headings:
Olander, Carl Gustaf, 1882-1975
Poetry
Poets — Nebraska
Revised TMM 01-12-2011
