The Cranes of Nebraska

By Patrick Simons

Nature/Outdoors

To stand by the Platte River near sunset in early spring, is to witness one of nature's most extraordinary scenes. All around, the air is filled with the soft warbling call of the Sandhill Crane. In all directions, thousands of cranes are returning to roost in the safety of the river. Bird after bird flair magnificent wings, and parachute gracefully to earth. A pageant made even more dramatic when framed against a flaming prairie sunset.

Since long before there was a Platte river, the cranes have returned to this place. The oldest known fossil, undeniably that of a Sandhill Crane, is over two million years old. The Platte River, dating back a mere ten thousand years, is but a youngster in geologic terms. The fossil of a crane ancestor, found in central Nebraska, has been dated to between nine and ten million years of age, making the Sandhill Crane one of the oldest bird species on earth.

When cranes began visiting what is now central Nebraska, prehistoric camels, rhinos, and elephants roamed a landscape resembling the east African savannas. The crane survived the extinction of these animals, and into an age dominated by humans. This, greatest of all transitions, has taken place in less than two centuries.

Of the six Sandhill Crane subspecies, three are migratory. All migrating subspecies are represented in Nebraska each spring. The most common of the migrating Cranes is the Lesser Sandhill. Although not a small bird by any means, the lesser Sandhill Crane is the smallest of the group. An adult male can stand four feet tall and weigh over twelve pounds. The sexes look alike, with males being slightly larger. The adult bird is primarily gray in color, with a crimson forehead and white cheeks. The undersides of juvenile cranes are a more reddish brown. The cranes legs are long and dark, and unlike smaller birds, their legs trail behind them in flight. When in flight, the cranes keep their necks straight forward. Their long necks, trailing legs and a six foot wing span, make an impressive sight. Cranes are powerful fliers, able to stay aloft for hours. Like raptors and vultures, the Crane's broad wing span, makes them experts at riding thermals. Cranes ride spiraling thermals upwards to altitudes of two thousand feet or more. They glide northward, losing altitude, until reaching the next thermal, and then repeat the process. This highly efficient method, allows the migrating birds to travel as far as five hundred miles in a single hop.

Cranes spend winters in Texas, Louisiana, Mexico, and New Mexico. In late February they begin their great northward journey. Most of North America's migrating cranes travel via the central flyway. Cranes begin arriving along the Platte only one to two days after departing their winter quarters. Along the Platte, crane numbers peak in late March. The Platte River in central Nebraska is the idea place to take a break during their migration. The broad, shallow Platte affords safety. Thousands of acres of farm fields provide food. Cranes remain along the river, feeding and resting, until about the second week in April, when a mass exodus occurs. An individual bird spends, on average, twenty-nine days in Nebraska. During this layover, they will pack on as much as two pounds of fat.

Of the three migrating subspecies, the Greater Sandhill crane nests in Western Minnesota, and the Interlake region north of Winnipeg Manitoba. The Canadian subspecies nests all across central Canada from Hudson's bay to the Rocky Mountains. As many as eighty thousand Lesser Sandhill cranes journey as far as eastern Siberia, while the rest nest in Alaska, and the Canadian high artic. The body fat, acquired during their Platte River layover, make these prodigious journeys possible. The Platte River rest period is one of the few times a species has benefited from human intrusion. Cranes are estimated to consume as much as sixteen hundred tons of grain missed during fall harvest. This grain would otherwise be lost, or come up as unwanted volunteer vegetation in spring. It's a rare win-win situation for agriculture and wildlife. Before corn and other crops appeared, cranes fed on starchy tubers produced by a variety of aquatic plants. One such plant species was Nuts Edge, which was once abundant in the widespread wetlands bordering the Platte before European settlement.

Cranes nest on the ground, building nests by scraping available vegetation into mounds. Normally two eggs are laid but, because cranes do not fly until about ten weeks of age, it is rare for both chicks to survive. Nesting cranes and their eggs are subject to predation from scavengers, raccoon's, and raptors. Adult cranes are preyed on by foxes, coyotes, eagles, wolves, bobcats, and even large owls. Chicks remain with their parents, until the following spring. If the observer pays attention, three bird groups are easily identified. Cranes have been known to live twenty-five years in the wild. Perhaps, because of their long lifespan, cranes do not attain sexual maturity until three to five years of age.

Observing the mating ritual of the Sandhill Crane is one of the most enchanting aspects of their Nebraska lay over. The "dance" of the Sandhill Crane involves an elaborate display of bowing, running, and jumping high in the air with outstretched wings. Cranes will occasionally pick up sticks or other available items, throwing them repeatedly. During mating, pairs belt out duets, engaging in a complex behavior known as 'unison calling'. It's thought these behaviors help establish, and strengthen pair bonding. Although cranes normally mate for life, birds that have lost a mate will mate again.

Though the Sandhill Crane is not threatened as a species, the non-migratory southern subspecies are becoming increasingly rare. The non-migratory population has far less control over their nesting habitat, thus leaving themselves more vulernable to predation and human behavior. Good conservation practices have helped the Greater Sandhill Crane to rebound from as few as a thousand birds seventy years ago, to about a hundred thousand today.

You are cordially invited to visit me at, highplainsphotosandframes.com, where you can view the many crane photos posted there. About six weeks from this writing, the cranes will once again be returning to the Platte. The Nikon and I will be there, waiting to welcome them back. A day on the Platte River, photographing cranes, is a very good day indeed.

By Patrick Simons. "Photographer, philisopher, free thinker, a seeker and a wanderer."

Crane Music: A Natural History of American Cranes

The Niobrara River

By Patrick Simons

Nature/Outdoors

In both body and spirit, water is the thing that sustains us all. It is through water all living things connect to the earth. The ocean, lakes, rivers, and streams, we are drawn to water in all its forms. I am drawn, most especially, to rivers. Rivers are on the move. Rivers speak of distant origins, distant destinations, and the endless cycle of life. Rivers carve the landscape leaving behind a window into the earths history.

The river that calls me back, again and again, rises on the high plains of southeastern Wyoming. The Niobrara river takes its' name from the county of its origin. The name is of Omaha and Ponca Indian origin and means "running (or spreading) water." The Niobrara has a more uniform flow than do most plains streams, owing to steady contributions from groundwater and tributaries in the Nebraska Sand Hills. As it nears the Missouri, in its lower course, the river becomes wide and shallow. Over the ages, the Niobrara has carved out a geological and biological treasure. Draining small portions of both Wyoming and South Dakota, the Niobraras' five hundred thirty-five miles primarily drain over twelve thousand square miles of the Nebraska Sandhills, one of the largest stabilized dune fields on earth. The Niobrara valley supports an exceptional biological diversity. At least six different ecosystems intermix in the river corridor including Rocky Mountain pine forest, northern (boreal) forest, eastern deciduous forest, tall grass prairie, mixed grass prairie, and Sand Hills prairie. The valley's fauna is equally diverse. Visitors to the Niobrara valley will find deer, bison, elk, beaver, mink, herons, eagles, vultures, and on rare occasion, mountain lions. The valley floor is also home to a number of threatened and endangered species, including the piping plover, least tern, and the occasional whooping crane.

Approximately one hundred sixty of the plant and animal species found in the Niobrara Valley are at the edge of their ranges. In addition to biologically significant vertebrate species unique to the valley, invertebrates also occupy a special niche. Some ninety-two species of butterflies have been recorded along the Niobrara, sixteen of which are at the edge of their range. Hybridization of three species, Red-spotted purple, Weidemeyeri's admiral, and Eastern viceroy are noted as evolutionary and genetically significant. Often referred to as the "biological crossroads of the Great Plains," the thirty-mile stretch of the Niobrara east of Valentine is of great biological importance. The ranges of closely related species of eastern and western woodland birds overlap. In the deciduous forests, an isolated subspecies of eastern wood rat is found four hundred miles from its nearest relatives in eastern Kansas.

Notable geographic features along the river's course include the Pine Ridge and the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in the northwest Nebraska panhandle and Smith Falls State Park below Valentine Nebraska. Thirteen miles southwest of Valentine, the Niobrara is joined by the Snake River. The Snake river is a treasure in itself. About six miles west of the village of Butte, the Keya Paha river enters the Niobrara having come down from south central South Dakota. The Niobrara cuts through several rock formations including the Ash Hollow, Valentine, Rosebud, and Pierre. These unique geological formations include fossils of many mammalian species including beaver, horse, rhinoceros, and mastodons; as well as fossils of fish, alligators, and turtles. Most of the Niobrara valley consists of pine covered canyons with many tall sandstone cliff's along the waters edge. The Niobrara National Scenic River protects seventy-six miles of waterway from Valentine east to the Fort Spencer Dam. It is an outstanding example of a prairie river left practically unchanged despite two hundred years of exploration and development.

In 1879, Fort Niobrara was constructed just east of Valentine. The post's mission was keeping the peace between white settlers and Sioux Indians living on the nearby Rosebud Reservation. Life at Fort Niobrara was peaceful and during the twenty-seven years it operated not a single military action was conducted. The fort was abandoned in 1906. Today, the only thing that remains is a single barn and some foundations. By 1912, the status of wildlife on the prairie had become grim. Wolves and grizzly bears were gone. The black footed ferret would disappear within three decades, and there were fewer than one thousand bison left in the wild. A concerned resident of Nebraska offered half a dozen bison, seventeen elk and a few deer to the federal government if land could be found for them. The lands that were once part of Fort Niobrara were pressed into service, and the wildlife refuge was born. Today the refuge exists primarily to protect bison, elk, prairie dogs, prairie chickens, white-tailed and mule deer, burrowing owls, grouse, quail, sand pipers, and the sandhill crane.

Today the Niobrara River is one of Nebraska's biggest tourist attractions. Sadly, the river is in danger of losing its lifeblood -- water. A Wild and Scenic River that attracts tens of thousands of paddlers and outdoor enthusiasts, the Niobrara valley also supports irrigation of more than six hundred thousand acres of farmland. Additional irrigation applications flows that also support fish, wildlife, and recreation. currently pending with Nebraska's Department of Natural Resources could, if granted, seriously endanger the river's future. In the first six months of 2007, five times more water was requested for additional irrigation purposes from the river than in all of the nineteen eighties The 2006 level of the river was the fifth lowest since 1946. In 2007, some irrigators had their pumping restricted because of low water. Kayakers and canoeists today notice more exposed sandbars and rock ledges that make it harder to float this naturally shallow river, which was named one of the best paddling rivers in America by Backpacker magazine.

The Niobrara River ecosystem is also being threatened by an influx of massive animal factories, called concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. Sierra Club activists have been successful in keeping some CAFOs out of the Niobrara watershed, especially where it is joined by Verdigre Creek, a tributary of the Niobrara and a part of the Wild and Scenic River. A partial solution to the problems facing the Niobrara lies with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. By summer or fall 2009, the agency is expected to submit its application for an instream flow water right that would include the seventy-six mile Wild and Scenic section of the river. If granted, this right would ensure an adequate flow of water remains in the river to support the many benefits and services a healthy Niobrara can provide.

On the legislative front, the Natural Resources Committee of the Nebraska Legislature held a public hearing in mid-August 2008 regarding the possibility of changing instream flow regulations. American Rivers and its partners called on the 2009 Legislature to simplify, not hinder or prevent, the instream flow application process. "A healthy Niobrara River demands that Nebraskans continue to carefully balance the needs of communities, wildlife, recreation and agriculture," said Rebecca Wodder, President of American Rivers. "The question for Nebraskans is really very simple: Do we want to take all the water out of the river, or do we want to leave enough water in the river to protect current irrigation, fish, wildlife, and recreation?

By Patrick Simons. "Retired from industry and persuing my passion for photography."

The Niobrara: A River Running Through Time

Mayor Jim

By Patrick Simons

History

After having shot and killed his brother-in-law, James Dahlman thought it prudent to leave Texas. Traveling with his partner, Bennett Irwin, the pair reached the Newman ranch in western Nebraska in March of 1878. Using the name Jim Murray, Dahlman secured employment as a line rider on the Newman spread where his partner's brother, Billie, was foreman. Having been selected as Texas State riding champion at the age of seventeen, and being an expert with the lariat, Mr. Dahlman was a well qualified cowboy.

Not long after Dahlmans' arrival, western Nebraska was struck by a fierce spring blizzard. The storm drove thousands of Newman cattle into the dreaded Sandhill country, a region then considered dangerous and deadly. Billie Irwin, with Newman's approval, hand selected a team of cowboys, including Dahlman, to scout the Sandhills and recover what cattle they could. Over the next few weeks they discovered not only the lost Newman stock, but hundreds of additional fat, healthy, cattle. Some of the unbranded mavericks were thought to be up to four years old. The cowboy's returned to the ranch headquarters trailing over eight thousand head. Following this experience, rather than trying to keep cattle out the Sandhills, the hills became a place to move cattle into for winter. Today, the Nebraska Sandhills are one of America's most productive range lands.

Dahlmans' killing of his brother-in-law was later ruled self defense and, hearing of this, 'Jim Murray' returned to his rightful name of James C. Dahlman. In 1884 Dahlman married a school teacher named Hattie Abbott and the couple settled in the frontier town of Chadron. It was in Chadron, Dahlman had his first exposure to politics. Over the next twelve years, he would be elected city councilman, Dawes County sheriff, and mayor of Chadron. During his tenure as mayor, he became acquainted with an ambitious young lawyer from Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan. In 1896, Dahlman would deliver the speech at the Democratic national convention, nominating Bryan as a candidate for President of the United States. Bryon and Dahlman remained friends for many years until the issue of prohibition drove them apart.

Jim Dahlmans' life on the frontier led to several other remarkable friendships. W.F. Cody would become a life long friend. His official duties as Dawes County sheriff brought Dahlman into contact with many prominent Native Americans including Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Spotted Tail. In the aftermath of the Wounded Knee massacre, Dahlman met a young Lt. John Pershing who also became his life long friend.

Mr. and Mrs. Dahlman left Chadron for Omaha in 1896, where James had accepted a position with the Livestock Exchange. Omaha, in the 1890's, had the well deserved reputation for being a raucous, wide open city, controlled by the political machine of a gambler named Tom Dennison. Dennison's third ward 'sporting district' was notorious, even by the standards of the day. Dennison operated gambling parlors, saloons and brothels. It is believed Dennison had as many as twenty-five hundred prostitutes in his employ. Since virtually all Dennison's activities fell outside the law, his survival depended on the cooperation of politicians and law enforcement. His third ward could be counted on to deliver the votes necessary to either elect or remove any public official.

The Dennison machine faced a formidable test when, in 1906, the reformist candidate Erastus Benson launched an aggressive campaign against the political establishment. Benson had the strong backing of the Omaha religious community and posed the first serious threat to the machine in years. Dennison's principle ally in Omaha politics was Edward Rosewater, publisher of the Omaha Daily Bee. Rosewater, being a man of considerable political ambition in his own right, had formed an unholy alliance with Dennison. Each man used the other to his advantage. Although both Rosewater and Dennison were Republicans they settled on the strategy of running the Democrat Dahlman against Benson. Dahlman won easily. James C. Dahlman, raised on a cattle ranch in DeWitt County Texas, would be mayor of Omaha for twenty of the next twenty-three years.

It was during this period that Dahlmans' friendship with Bryan began to fray. Bryan was a strong proponent of prohibition, while Dahlman turned a blind eye to Dennison's third ward. When 'The Great Commoner' failed to support Dahlman in his bid for governor in 1910, his defeat was assured. James Dahlman had a mixed record as mayor of Omaha. Positive achievements include getting the state legislature to grant Omaha 'strong city' status, thus giving the city vastly more control over its own affairs. Under the leadership of Dahlman, the water and gas works were acquired from private interests and brought under city control, forming Metropolitan Utilities District, which survives to this day.

The most dramatic event to occur during Dahlmans' tenure as mayor was the Easter Sunday tornado of 1913. Over one hundred people perished in the storm and property damage ran into the millions. Dahlman was roundly criticized for his actions which included refusing all federal aid as well as private donations which poured in from around the country. Dahlmans' response to the tornado, in combination with the reformist movement sweeping the country, led to his being defeated for reelection in 1919. This set the stage for the most dramatic event of all during the Dahlman years. Jim Dahlman may have been out of office but, he was still very much a part of the story.

The reformist Republican, Edward Parsons Smith succeeded Dahlman, promising to clean up the city. Mayor Smith had Tom Dennison squarely in his sights. Finding themselves on the defensive, Dennison and Rosewater fought back. In the years following World War I, large numbers of African Americans began settling in Omaha. The meat packing industry employed hundreds of black men as strike breakers. The Omaha meat packing industry, in the early part of the twentieth century, was as brutal an industrial setting as ever existed in the United States. This was the situation Dennison, operating through Rosewater's Daily Bee, chose to exploit. Every local racial incident, as well as those all across the country, were sensationalized in the Bee. Other Omaha papers paid little, or no, attention to these stories. A grand jury would later rule that elements of the Dennison organization staged many of the 'assaults' featured in the Daily Bee. The drum beat of inflammatory rhetoric that continued in the Bee all through the summer of 1919, came to a horrific conclusion in September, when a young black man named Willie Brown was accused of assaulting a white girl.

About 2:00 p.m. on the afternoon of September 28th, a crowd began gathering in South Omaha. It is believed this crowd may have exceeded fifteen thousand at its peak. As the afternoon wore on, fueled by alcohol, hate and the Bee, the mob began surging toward downtown, demanding Willie Brown be turned over. City Hall was surrounded and set ablaze by a brick throwing mob. At one point mayor Smith, having been accused of shooting and killing one of the rioters, was himself seized by the mob. Only the heroism of city's detective burea kept the mayor from being lynched. Edward Brown was evacuated to Ford hospital where he hovered between life and death for several days before beginning a slow recovery. Willie Brown was less fortunate. It remains unclear exactly how Brown fell into the hands of the mob. Some witnesses said that other black prisoners pushed Brown from the roof, where they had been evacuated to escape the flames. In any event, Willie Brown was shot, hung, and his body burned by the mob. Although martial law was never officially declared, it was only through the intervention of federal troops, summoned from nearby Forts Omaha and Crook, that order was restored. Major General Leonard Wood, commander of the central military district, arrived in Omaha the following day and, effectively, took control of the city.

There was no solid evidence that an assault ever occurred, and no evidence linking Willie Brown to the crime. Willie Brown was laid to rest in Omaha's Potters Field. No member of the Dennison organization was ever charged with a crime although some were known to have fled the city. One witness to the carnage at city hall was fourteen year old Henry Fonda. Fonda and his father watched the riot and lynching unfold from an upper story window of the elder Fonda's printing plant. The events of September 28th 1919 would haunt the great actor for the rest of his life. Tom Dennison would go on to partner with Al Capone in Chicago and Tom Pendergast in Kansas City to control the Midwest liquor trade during prohibition. Dennison died in an automobile crash in California at the age of seventy-five. Edward Smith never recovered, emotionally or politically, from the lingering effects of the race riot. In 1921 James Dahlman was again elected mayor of Omaha, a position he would hold until his death in 1930.

It is tempting to dismiss Dahlman as having been merely a tool, an unwitting individual, used by political forces that did not have the public good in mind. There is no evidence, however, that James Dahlman ever benefited financially from his association with Dennison and Rosewater. Jim Dahlman died a poor man. So poor, in fact, his wife could scarcely afford to bury him. When they became aware of the Dahlman family's financial state, fifteen Omaha funeral directors donated their services. More than seventy-five thousand people filed past his coffin as it lay in state in the rebuilt city hall. It was said at the time that no man ever had more genuine friends than Jim Dahlman. His, was a truly extraordinary life.

An epilog to the Dahlman story concerns his grandsons, John and James Collett. Both brothers graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. After John Collett was killed in the early days of WWII, the U.S. Navy commissioned the destroyer, USS Collett, in his honor. The first commanding officer of the USS Collett was James Dahlman Collett. Grandpa Jim would have been very proud indeed.

Photo source: Douglas County Historical Society

By Patrick Simons. "Photographer and free lance philisopher."

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See also: Nebraska POW Camps
Historic Photos of Omaha