The Geography of Nebraska

Do any of you use Google Earth? If so, as you zoom in on the Haigler area, you have seen the topography of the region which includes various elevations . The sandhills to the north, the flat farmland all around, the "breaks" to the east and the Arickaree river valley to the southwest and the wide Republican valley to the west and east.

I grew up on the south edge of the "canyons" east of Haigler, so our property included hills and valleys and canyons. None of our fields were actually square. The section where our farm was located had pastureland on the east, farmground in the north center and pastureland on the south. We could only farm the "tops" where it was somewhat flat.

I can remember during the early 1950s, my dad hired an outfit to come in and "terrace" the fields west and south of the house. The huge machinery followed the lay of the hills and piled rows of dirt along the sides of the hills to keep the topsoil from washing away during rainstorms.
That very summer, a huge summer storm came up from the west and it rained 4" in a very short period of time. The dirt on those terraces was still loose enough that along the west end of our property this storm left huge gullies where the water had rushed toward the valley taking black topsoil with it. I'm sure my dad was heartsick looking at the damage, but as kids, we had a wonderful time exploring our new world of gulleys and caves.

I found this link to an online book that tells about the geography of Nebraska. You might like to read about our part of the state. Geography of Nebraska, by George Evert Condra, (begin on page 72)