Charles Anderson Scott, 1875-1961 [RG1563.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG1563.AM:  Charles Anderson Scott, 1875-1961

Reminiscences:  1951
Westmoreland, Kansas and Halsey, Thomas County, Nebraska:  Forester
Size:  Four items

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Charles A. Scott, a native of Westmoreland, Kansas, graduated with a B.S. in Agriculture from Kansas State in 1901. As a Forest Student Assistant in the Bureau of Forestry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Scott served as a teamster and cook for the Nebraska Sand Hills Reconnaissance Survey party during the summer and fall of 1901. In 1902, he assisted in surveying the boundary of the Dismal River Forest Reserve and then planned the Halsey, later the Bessey Nursery, the first federal forest nursery in the U.S. After spending two years developing the nursery, he attended the Yale School of Forestry and, as a Forest Assistant, returned to Halsey to resume management of the nursery and tree planting operations, while also administering Nebraska’s three forest reservations. It was largely through Scott’s efforts that evergreen trees were introduced as suitable and desirable species for the plains states.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of four reminiscences (photocopies only) dating from 1951. This material relates to the development of tree planting in the Nebraska Sandhills and the establishment of the Halsey, or Bessey Nursery in Thomas County. In the first three reminiscences, Scott describes the work done to determine the practicality of planting trees in the Sandhills region. The Dismal River, North Platte, and Niobrara Forest Reserves were established as a result of the work of Scott and his colleagues. The fourth reminiscence is a series of biographical sketches of members of the Nebraska Sand Hills Reconnaissance Survey party.

INVENTORY

Item

1. My Story of the Development of the Tree Planting Project in the Nebraska Sand Hills
2. The Development of the Bessey Nursery
3. The Initial Tree Planting of the Dismal River National Forest
4. The Tree Planting Project of the Nebraska Sand Hills – biographical sketches of members of the Reconnaissance Survey of Western Nebraska team

Subject headings:

Forest reserves — Nebraska
Forests and forestry
Halsey (Neb.) — History
Sandhills — Nebraska
Scott, Charles Anderson, 1875-1961
Thomas County (Neb.) — History
Tree planting
Trees

AIPksa                   04-1993
Revised TMM        05-14-2007

Accession Number 1992.431