Should We Pay the Rainmaker?
"In 1894 the citizens of Callaway were somewhat confused. They had hired a 'rain-maker' to produce moisture in their community, and then, after it had rained, they were ...
Drought
What We Found
Kearney Cotton Mill
A cotton mill in Nebraska? It really happened in the 1890s. The two-story mill opened in the spring of 1892, employing hundreds of workers—many of them women and ...
Melbourne, the Rainmaker
Frank Melbourne was one of the best known of a small group of rainmakers active in the Great Plains during the early 1890s. A native of Australia, he came west from Ohio ...
Drought and Depression in 1890s Nebraska
Nebraska in the early 1890s suffered from protracted drought, and farm prices fell to new lows. Conditions were so unfavorable that immigration, which had more than ...
Drought in Buffalo County
The summer of 1894 was a disastrous one for Nebraska. Faced with almost total crop loss due to drought, farmers sold or mortgaged property, turned loose livestock to ...
Drought Relief by the GAR
During the drought and financial hard times of 1893 and 1894, homesteaders in western Nebraska were especially hard hit. Charitable, fraternal, and religious groups ...
Dust and Snow
During the 1930s, Nebraska suffered one of the most serious droughts in its history. In all parts of the state, rainfall was far below normal. The dry powdered soil ...
Timeline Tuesday: Drought and Depression in 1890s Nebraska
Nebraska in the early 1890s suffered from protracted drought, and farm prices fell to new lows. Conditions were so unfavorable that immigration, which had more than ...
…Talk About the Drought! President Roosevelt Visits Nebraska Panhandle
In an earlier post we we recalled the effects of the 1890s drought in Nebraska. Unfortunately, it would not be the last. In 1936, Nebraska farmers were facing similar ...
When Conversation Runs Dry…
By Joy Carey, Editorial Assistant
November 2012
We are witnessing firsthand the distress a drought causes in an agricultural community. With record temperatures ...
Is Nebraska a “Desert”? No… and Yes!
Ignore the photo above and look at the map below. Is “Great Desert” the dumbest description of Nebraska ever to appear in print? Sure, we’ve all heard “flyover country” ...
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