The Ogallala Aquifer contains about the same amount of water as Lake Huron, but it is not an underground lake. The Ogallala is composed primarily of loose, poorly sorted clay, silt, sand and gravel with groundwater filling the spaces between the grains below the water table.
Nebraska Medal of Honor Recipients
Seventy-three Nebraskans have been awarded the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military honor. They received the medal based on personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.
Nathan Gold
Nathan Jules Gold was born on May 28, 1894, in Hampton, Iowa, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Gold. He moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1902 with his parents and lived there for the rest of his life.
Mari Sandoz
Mari Sandoz was born on Mirage Flats, south of Hay Springs, Nebraska in 1896 as the first of six children. As the eldest child, Mari was given much of the responsibility of caring for her two sisters and three brothers. Young Mari bore the brunt of her father’s explosive temper, but she also shared in many of his exploits as a claim locator, trader and pioneering horticulturist.
John G. Neihardt
John Gneisenau Neihardt was born in a one-room cabin in Illinois in 1881, the third child of Nicholas Nathan Neihardt and Alice Culler Neihardt. In 1886, the family moved to a sod house in northwestern Kansas, and then to Kansas City in 1888. In 1891, he moved with his mother and sisters to Wayne, Nebraska after his father left the family.
John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing was born on September 13, 1860, in Missouri. He was the first child born to John Fletcher Pershing and Ann Thompson Pershing. John had eight younger siblings, but only five survived to adulthood: May, Elizabeth, Grace, Ward, and James. His father owned a general store and also served as postmaster of Laclede, Missouri. Later, Mr. Pershing would purchase land and began farming.
J. Sterling Morton
Julius Sterling Morton was born in the state of New York, on April 22, 1832, to Julius Dewey and Emeline Sterling Morton. J. Sterling, as he came to be known, was the eldest of three children. Morton’s father operated a general store, but in 1834 decided to try his business fortunes farther west and moved the family to Michigan where he became a prosperous produce commission businessman.
Grace Abbott
Grace Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska on November 17, 1878, to Othman Ali Abbott and Elizabeth Meleta Griffin Abbott, both of whom were raised as abolitionists, believing that slavery was a sin. She is the sister of Edith Abbott, who is also a well-known social reformer who worked hard protecting the rights of children. Her father was Nebraska’s first Lieutenant Governor.