Aerial.America.S05E07.Nebraska
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00:00In case you think that the Great Plains are nothing but straight, endless roads, or just
00:07fields of corn that stretch on forever, think again.
00:12Here in Nebraska, there are also natural spires that pierce the sky, beaches that don't look
00:19like they belong in the Great Plains at all, and herds of creatures that have roamed the
00:24American heartland for millennia.
00:28Ariel, Nebraska soars across great, wide-open spaces, where the American West begins.
00:36Spaces that inspired one early settler to write her now-famous stories of life on the
00:41frontier, and led a Nebraskan farmer to invent a machine that transformed the great American
00:47desert into these familiar circles of plenty.
00:52It was at a small Nebraskan high school that a young comedian turned his magic act into
00:5735 infamous years on The Tonight Show.
01:01And it was in the state's biggest city that a savvy investor first turned the profits
01:05that would make him one of the world's richest men.
01:08But while the people of Nebraska have known great victory, they have also suffered enormous
01:14hardship.
01:16It's here that a native tribe was forced into exile on a trail of tears, where great storms
01:21of dust once drove many right off their land, and where terrifying tornadoes still ravage
01:28entire towns today.
01:30From the air, there's no end to the wonders of this Great Plains state, from rugged badlands
01:37where amazing ancient creatures once roamed, to a river valley still lined with the scars
01:42of those who settled the West, to miles of open prairie, where American buffalo still
01:50roam.
01:52All this in the surprising land of Nebraska.
02:20When summer arrives in Nebraska, there's no doubt why its nickname is the Cornhusker
02:35State.
02:36Row after row of this one crop stretches to the horizon in every direction, almost everywhere
02:42you look.
02:44But these glistening green and gold stalks are not yet ready for harvesting.
02:51Farmers wait until they're dry and brown before getting out their combines and turning their
02:55fields into profits.
02:58Ninety-three percent of Nebraska land is used for farming and ranching, which creates the
03:04tapestry of green and brown patterns that many of us see down below when we fly across
03:09the American heartland.
03:12But 200 years ago, none of these elaborate patterns existed.
03:23Until the 1830s, the only visible sign of human impact on the land would have been small
03:28settlements of Plains Indians.
03:32But that quickly changed in the 1830s and 40s, when hundreds of wagon trails started
03:36to be etched in the land by the tens of thousands of people that began flowing across the Great
03:41Plains in one of the biggest migrations in American history, and one that turned the
03:48Nebraska River Valley into the Route 66 of the 19th century.
04:00Most pioneers who set out for Oregon and California knew that crossing the endless prairie of
04:05the American heartland wasn't going to be easy, and that's why so many followed the
04:12wide and relatively flat Platte River Valley through Nebraska.
04:18Those traveling on the Oregon Trail came up through what's now Missouri and Kansas, while
04:24Mormon settlers on their way to Utah arrived through the Iowa Territory.
04:29To avoid conflicts with the other settlers, the Mormons followed the north bank of the
04:35While those on the Oregon Trail generally followed routes on the south bank, but all headed west.
04:46Mountain men, fur trappers, freedom seekers, and gold hunters all converged here.
04:52One traveler, William Johnston, described what it was like.
04:55There seemed to be an unending stream of emigrant trails.
04:59It was a sight which, once seen, can never be forgotten.
05:05These routes were so well-traveled that wagon ruts from that era can still be seen from
05:09the air, etched in the land a century and a half later, at a place called Windlass Hill.
05:18This hill was too steep for the wagons to roll down, so the pioneers locked the wheels
05:23instead and dragged their wagons down Windlass Hill, carving these deep ruts in the landscape.
05:34At the time, this region was only sparsely inhabited by Native Americans, and while settlers
05:39may have read sensationalized stories of Indian attacks, there was little actual risk of attack
05:46while they crossed Nebraska.
05:49What they did have to deal with were wagons tipping over, fierce sun and storms, poisonous
05:55snakes, and illness and accidents far away from doctors, not to mention the daily challenge
06:01of feeding themselves and their oxen.
06:04As one traveler wrote, there was no wood, poor grass, plenty of muddy water, and unclean
06:12water could spread disease.
06:14Many died from cholera on the route, and were buried in unmarked graves along the river
06:20where they fell.
06:22A few families managed to bury their dead here at the Ash Hollow Cemetery before they
06:27forged on.
06:30West of Ash Hollow, the open prairie stretches on, seemingly forever.
06:37It was here that many travelers started to scan the horizon, eagerly hoping to spot the
06:42first of a series of famous landmarks that would provide proof of their progress, two
06:48soaring sandstone buttes known as Courthouse and Jail Rocks.
06:55Whoever first named these impressive formations could never have known that the names they
06:59gave them would soon be legendary, and mark a welcome sight for the tens of thousands
07:04who followed.
07:09Setting eyes on Courthouse and Jail Rocks was only a temporary fix.
07:15As soon as the pioneers guided their wagons past these dramatic bluffs, they were trudging
07:19again across more monotonous prairie, and were soon scanning the horizon once more for
07:26a second marker on the trail, a sight that took most travelers two more days to reach.
07:37When they finally did, they were awed by what they saw, a stunning pinnacle that shot
07:44500 feet up from the prairie, and appeared to pierce the sky, Chimney Rock.
07:53For pioneers who had not yet set eyes on the landscapes of the American West, Chimney Rock
07:58was a hint of the wonders that lay ahead, which was one reason that this was the most
08:03mentioned landmark on the trail.
08:06Chimney Rock is actually made of clay, not stone, and until recently was five feet taller
08:12than it is today.
08:14A lightning strike in 1992 sheared five feet off the top of this impressive spire.
08:23Ever since it was first spotted by westbound pioneers, Chimney Rock has remained a favorite
08:28landmark for many crossing Nebraska, which is why an image of the rock towering over
08:34a covered wagon was chosen for the Nebraska State Quarter.
08:40Today Interstate 80 passes by Chimney Rock.
08:44This transcontinental highway stretches from New Jersey to San Francisco and follows the
08:49Platte River Valley as it passes through Nebraska, just like the Oregon and Mormon trails once
08:55did.
08:59Travel west on this highway and you'll be on your way to Salt Lake City, but travel
09:04east and you'll pass right through Nebraska's biggest city.
09:10A place once famous for liquor, brothels and gambling, but is now celebrated as the home
09:16of a visionary investor known as the Oracle of Omaha.
09:241862 was a big year for Nebraska.
09:32That's when President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation supporting the first transcontinental
09:37railroad.
09:39The dream was for cars on rails, not wagon wheels, to steam across the Great Plains and
09:45help ferry people and goods from New York to California.
09:49For the new westbound rail lines, Lincoln chose a starting point in the Nebraska Territory,
09:56the city of Omaha.
10:01In 1865, work started on one of the biggest infrastructure projects in U.S. history as
10:08the Union Pacific workers in Omaha began racing west to meet workers of the Central Pacific
10:13Railroad who were laying their own tracks east from Sacramento, California.
10:19Omaha is still a major rail hub and is still home to the Union Pacific.
10:28But today, many don't think of Omaha for its railways, but for another corporate giant
10:35that's hard to spot from the air.
10:38Fly over the city of Omaha and Nebraska today and you'd never know that it's home to one
10:42of the biggest and richest companies in America.
10:46That's because its headquarters aren't covered with a giant corporate logo.
10:50This plain-looking office tower is home to Berkshire Hathaway, the $430 billion company
10:58founded by a man known as the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.
11:04He's one of the most successful investors in history and got his start right here in town.
11:12Buffett grew up in this small white house on Barker Avenue.
11:17From a young age, he proved he had a knack for investing.
11:21He used to buy Coca-Cola from his grandparents' grocery store and then sell it for a profit.
11:27He would later go on to become Coca-Cola's biggest shareholder.
11:31In high school, he invested in a tenant farm and ended up making more money than his teachers
11:37did.
11:38Then, at 25, he launched his own investment firm with $100,000 in capital.
11:45Today, Buffett's personal net worth is over $50 billion.
11:50But he still lives in a house he bought for about $31,000 in 1958, which he claims is
11:57one of his best investments ever.
11:59In 2006, Buffett revealed plans to give his multi-billion dollar fortune to charity, the
12:06biggest gift of its kind in U.S. history.
12:13When Warren Buffett was born in 1930, Omaha was undergoing big change.
12:19For more than 30 years, it had been ruled by a notorious crime boss named Tom Dennison,
12:26whose nickname was the Old Gray Wolf.
12:30Dennison had arrived in Omaha in 1892 with $35,000, which he turned into a fortune controlling
12:36the city's thriving prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging businesses right up until
12:41the 1930s.
12:43In 1932, Dennison was charged with conspiracy, but a jury was unable to decide on a verdict
12:50and the case was declared a mistrial.
12:53By the time the Old Gray Wolf died in 1934, new reforms were cleaning up Omaha.
13:03One symbol of the new city was a newspaper called the Omaha Star.
13:08It was launched by Mildred Brown in 1938 as Omaha's first black newspaper.
13:15Brown wanted her paper to focus on positive news in Omaha's growing African American community.
13:22She named it the Star because she saw it as a guiding light for many African Americans
13:27who, like her, had traveled up from the South with the Great Migration to seek freedom and
13:32opportunity in northern cities like Omaha.
13:36The Star is still being published today out of its original offices here at 24th and Grand,
13:42directly across the street from another Omaha landmark.
13:51Starting in the 1920s, this red brick building was the heart of Omaha's thriving music scene.
13:58Inside was the famous Dreamland Ballroom.
14:02On any given night, eager fans lined up outside, hoping for a chance to see some of the nation's
14:07greatest jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, and Count
14:13Basie.
14:18Today, Omaha's music scene continues to thrive.
14:23Many know it as the home of the independent label Saddle Creek Records.
14:29But what really put Omaha on the map in the 20th century was baseball.
14:35The College World Series was first played here in 1950 and has been every year since.
14:42TD Ameritrade Park is set to host the series until 2035.
14:49For the rest of the year, this stadium is the home of the Creighton Blue Jays and the
14:53United Football League's Omaha Nighthawks.
15:04From a railroad town to a city famous for an underworld crime boss to a home for jazz
15:10greats and World Series athletes, Omaha has managed to keep up with changing times.
15:17And there's no better place to see that than here, just southeast of downtown.
15:24These towering grain elevators once stored the bounty produced by Nebraska's farmers
15:29before it was loaded on trains heading east and west out of the state.
15:35As the city's suburbs expanded, these soaring silos became harder and harder for farmers
15:40to access, and the rail lines that served them were finally removed.
15:46Local rock climbers started using the empty silos as giant climbing walls.
15:51In 2010, an arts organization launched a project to turn these white industrial relics into
15:56enormous canvases for all the city to see.
16:00Over 1,000 artists proposed banners around the themes of agriculture and transport.
16:06Twenty-six were selected.
16:08Today, this giant art wall celebrates the productivity of the Nebraska landscape.
16:17The grain that once filled these silos flowed in from across the state, from fields that
16:22are still being farmed today.
16:25This agricultural output is astounding, especially when seen from the air, and especially when
16:36you consider what much of this state looked like in the 1880s, like this piece of land
16:41known as the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie.
16:46Amazingly, these 608 acres have never been plowed or planted, which makes this a unique
16:54ecosystem.
16:57It's home to important native Nebraskan species of plants, and offers important nesting sites
17:02for migrating birds.
17:04It's named for writer Willa Cather, who arrived in Nebraska in 1883 as part of a giant wave
17:11of settlement that transformed the Great Plains into the industrial powerhouse it is today.
17:21It all started in 1862.
17:24That's when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law.
17:28Its purpose was to settle vast swaths of what the U.S. government considered empty land,
17:34even though much of this land was still lived on and sacred to many Native American tribes.
17:43For a small fee of just $18, the law entitled anyone over 21 and the head of a family to
17:49claim 160 acres of land.
17:52The only requirement was that they stay for five years and farm it successfully, and if
17:58they did that, the land was theirs for good.
18:03The first person to file a homestead claim was a man named Daniel Freeman.
18:09He lined up at midnight, January 1, 1863, and was granted his 160 acres near what's
18:15now the Nebraska town of Beatrice, becoming America's first successful homesteader.
18:22Today, Daniel Freeman's original plot is the site of the Homestead National Monument, which
18:28celebrates those who took the risk and first settled the Great Plains.
18:33The Heritage Center, at its heart, was designed with a roof to look like an old-fashioned
18:38plow to symbolize the hard work it took to be a successful homesteader.
18:43But it also took great mental strength and patience.
18:50There were very few towns at the time, and the nearest neighbors could be miles away.
18:57Homesteaders often endured extreme isolation and loneliness.
19:04Homestead novelist Willa Cather, a homesteader herself, put it this way in her novel My Antonia.
19:10There seemed to be nothing to see, no fences, no creeks or trees, no hills or fields.
19:18There was nothing but land, not a country at all, but the material out of which countries
19:25are made.
19:26The task of turning 160 acres of empty prairie into productive farmland, using only the simplest
19:34of tools, could be overwhelming.
19:36Alone, out there on the plains, many suffered from what's been called prairie madness.
19:44Some just packed up all they could and gave up.
19:51But others stuck it out.
19:53Today, many family farmers here still work the fields that were first plowed in Nebraska
19:58by their forebears.
20:00These days, modern-day farmers may use high-tech tools, but it's still hard work to turn prairie
20:06soil into profits.
20:09Back in 1867, it was thanks to the hard work and productivity of its farmers that the Nebraska
20:15Territory was deemed ready to become the nation's 37th state.
20:21When Nebraska was a territory, Omaha had served as its capital.
20:26But after statehood, a town called Lancaster, to the southeast, was chosen instead and renamed
20:32Lincoln.
20:33But it took three tries for Nebraska to build itself a new statehouse.
20:41The first two capitals had to be torn down because of structural problems.
20:45In 1920, the state held a national design competition.
20:52The winning plans promised to make Nebraska stand out from the other 36 states that had
20:56come before it.
20:59It was the first state capital in the nation that did not follow the common neoclassical
21:04designs used by other states and for the U.S. capital in Washington, D.C.
21:09Nebraska's statehouse was designed to look like an office tower instead of a Roman temple.
21:15Finished in 1932, it stands 400 feet tall and is capped by a dome of mosaic tiles.
21:22On top is a statue known as the sower, an iconic figure sowing seeds to celebrate Nebraska's
21:28rich agricultural heritage.
21:35Today, Lincoln is a thriving city of just over a quarter million, thanks in large part
21:41to its university.
21:43Just two years after statehood, the University of Nebraska was founded here in downtown Lincoln.
21:50This new hall and library soon towered over the plains, surely awing many young pioneers
21:56who'd grown up in sod-covered houses on the prairie.
21:59Today, the U of N is still going strong, including its Cornhusker football team, which plays
22:07here at Lincoln's Memorial Stadium.
22:11Ever since it was built in 1923, it's been getting bigger and can now seat at least 81,000
22:18people, one-third of the population of Lincoln itself.
22:23But no matter how many fans have been able to pack its seats, this stadium has been sold
22:27out every game since November 3, 1962.
22:33One reason for that is legendary coach Tom Osborne, who reigned here for a quarter of
22:38a century.
22:39He led the team to back-to-back college bowl titles in 1994 and 1995.
22:45Other University of Nebraska bright lights include Tonight Show host Johnny Carson and
22:49author Willa Cather.
22:54Sports are serious business for U of N students, but you won't find anyone running on this
22:59track on the west side of campus.
23:02That's because it's for farm machines, not people.
23:07It's part of a facility called the Tractor Test Lab.
23:10It was established in the 1920s to protect consumers from false advertising claims made
23:15by tractor manufacturers.
23:18Today, lab workers use this track to run new models of American tractors through their
23:24paces and ensure they meet tough international standards.
23:28Once they receive a stamp of approval from the U of N, they're allowed to be sold in
23:32countries around the world.
23:35Today, tractors are high-tech tools.
23:40Whether they're planting or harvesting, many models are guided almost entirely by GPS technology
23:46that helps make modern-day farming one of the most efficient industries in the country
23:50and creates fields lined with perfectly planted rows of crops.
23:55But it's not tractors that create the amazing tapestry of green and brown circles that we
24:03see when we fly across the Great Plains.
24:06It's the work of a Nebraska native whose dreams of inventing a super-sprinkler enabled
24:11farmers to turn millions of dusty acres into fields of gold.
24:22When summer arrives in Nebraska, it's easy to be convinced that every inch of this state
24:27is covered by fertile fields.
24:30Its rows of corn alone seem to go on forever.
24:33In 2013, farmers here planted 100 million acres of this one crop, the largest amount
24:39since 1933.
24:41But there is a place in Nebraska where the farm fields come to an end, a place where
24:47there's nothing to see but dunes of sand.
24:51It's an area known as the Nebraska Sandhills.
24:55Here, rolling dunes cover 20,000 square miles of land, making this the largest formation
25:02of dunes in the Western Hemisphere.
25:07The Sandhills were created during the last Ice Age, when this region of North America
25:12was suffering from severe drought.
25:15As winds blew across the dry earth, great dunes of sand were formed.
25:21Later, thick grass and plants took root, stabilizing the sand and creating this remarkable landscape.
25:29But these dunes play a key role in making Nebraska an agricultural powerhouse.
25:34They're part of a complex ecosystem that is responsible for supplying Nebraska farmers
25:40and millions of people across the Great Plains with the precious water they need to survive.
25:48That's because under the Sandhills is a geological formation that contains vast amounts of water.
25:55It's so big, it stretches under the states of South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado,
26:01Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and even New Mexico.
26:06It's like a giant underground lake and is called the Ogallala Aquifer.
26:13The impact of this aquifer on the American economy is astounding.
26:18Thirty percent of all groundwater used for irrigating crops in the U.S. comes from this
26:23one water source.
26:27Scientists discovered the Ogallala Aquifer in the 1890s, but even though they knew it
26:31was there, farmers didn't have an effective way to get that water out of the ground and
26:36onto their crops, which is one reason they suffered hard during a famous period known
26:41as the Dust Bowl.
26:47In the 1930s, farmers across western Nebraska and throughout the Great Plains were overplowing
26:53their fields after years of good rain and productive yields.
26:57When the rain stopped, the winds started to howl, picking up giant clouds of dust since
27:04the grass to hold it in place had been plowed under.
27:09It destroyed entire fields, blinded cattle, and ruined machinery, bringing farmers to
27:14their knees.
27:19One farmer later described what happened.
27:22The birds fluttered, the rabbits ran, and the sky turned black.
27:27We thought it was a twister, the dust lay so thick in the back bedroom we just moved
27:31the mattress into the middle so we could sleep.
27:34Many Nebraskan farmers lost their farms to clouds of dust, even though those same farms
27:40stood right on top of one of the greatest sources of fresh water in the world.
27:45At the time, the technology to tap that water successfully had not yet been invented, which
27:51is why the Great Plains was often called the Great American Desert.
27:55But fly high over western Nebraska today and in places, all you see are green fields, endless
28:02circles and squares of corn, alfalfa, and wheat.
28:07Nebraska now has more irrigated land than any other state.
28:12So how did the Great American Desert become one of the most productive areas of land in
28:17the world?
28:18The answer is a Nebraska inventor named Frank Zyback.
28:24In 1947, Zyback was living in neighboring Colorado.
28:27A tinkerer from childhood, he dreamed of finding a way to tap the water in the Okalala Aquifer
28:33and spread it on fields using a super sprinkler, something that wouldn't require heavy manpower
28:40or moving pipes and pumps every time a new section of field needed watering.
28:46In 1949, he introduced his brilliant solution, which he called the Zyback Self-Propelled
28:52Sprinkling Apparatus.
28:55It was essentially a long sprinkler on wheels that could turn in a circle from a central
29:00pivot point and spray water in all directions.
29:04And best of all, it was self-powered.
29:08The water pumped through its pipes drove gears that turned the sprinkler's wheels.
29:14Zyback returned to Nebraska in 1952, and soon the state's farmers were using his central
29:19pivot irrigator.
29:21All they needed to do was dig a well to the aquifer, pump the water into the irrigator,
29:26and then let it go.
29:29In just 72 hours, even while a farmer slept, a single irrigator could cover an entire field
29:35evenly with the water its crops needed.
29:38Some called it the best thing since the invention of the tractor.
29:43Today, when NASA scientists focus their cameras down on the area that was once called the
29:49Great American Desert, this is what they see.
29:53Endless green circles and squares, all fed by the natural wonder of the Ogallala Aquifer
29:59and an innovative technology designed by a Nebraska native.
30:05The only problem is, as farmers pump more and more water into their fields, the levels
30:10in the Ogallala are dropping dangerously fast, threatening America's breadbasket and the
30:17nearly 2 million people who rely on it for their drinking water.
30:21Some fear that in just 20 years, the water will be gone and the Great American Desert
30:27will be back for good.
30:30That's why some farmers have voluntarily reduced the amount of water they pump out every year.
30:35But strangely enough, scientists have discovered that the desert-like landscape of the Nebraska
30:40Sandhills is essential for the aquifer's survival.
30:45This dune ecosystem acts like a giant sponge, absorbing rainwater and funneling it down
30:52into the aquifer below.
30:54In some places where the dunes dip, the water even comes to the surface, creating wetlands
30:59that are used by ranchers to raise their cattle and helping make this one of Nebraska's most
31:03impressive landscapes, a vast, nearly empty expanse of sand, grass, water and livestock.
31:14Ever since the Dust Bowl, Nebraskans haven't been taking any chances to make sure they
31:18have the water they and their crops need.
31:21In 1936, work began on a giant new dam project to create two new reservoirs known as Lake
31:29McConaughey and Lake Ogallala.
31:32Today, these two lakes provide enough water to irrigate four Nebraska counties.
31:38Twenty-two miles long, McConaughey is the biggest lake in the state.
31:43Its unique white beaches that might look more at home on the Florida panhandle aren't exactly
31:49the kind of sight most expect to see when flying across the Great Plains.
31:55Without the water from Lake McConaughey, many nearby farms would not be able to survive.
32:02And even when they do get water, farmers often have to find creative ways to keep it there.
32:08On sloped fields like these, water can simply run down the field and away, carrying precious
32:13seeds and topsoil with it.
32:16That's why many farmers practice contour farming.
32:22Instead of planting in straight lines, they plant in rows that hug the curves of the land.
32:28And they use bulldozers to create ridges between the fields that hold in the moisture.
32:33From high above, it creates impressive patterns on the plains.
32:38Since 70% of all corn grown in Nebraska gets water from irrigation at some point between
32:43the time it's planted and harvested, farmers here welcome the sight of storm clouds on
32:48the horizon.
32:50Without rain that fills up the aquifers under this state and nourishes the crops above,
32:55Nebraska farmers would have nothing to harvest.
32:59But the problem is, the same storms that bring rain can also turn deadly in a matter of seconds.
33:07Nebraska lies in Tornado Alley, which means every year, some farmers here get hit hard
33:15by giant twisters that tear across the plains.
33:20It's May 2013, in the Nebraska town of Edgar, close to the state's border with Kansas.
33:27Just yesterday, a tornado tore right through this small town.
33:32From the air, the damage is clearly visible.
33:35One farmer lost this new corn silo when it was ripped to shreds, its walls wrapped around
33:39a nearby tree.
33:41Another farmer's storage building was leveled.
33:44There's no predicting when or where tornadoes in Nebraska will hit, but farmers and their
33:49property often suffer the most.
33:53Damaged structures, fields destroyed, and trees pulled right out of the ground.
34:03One of the biggest tornado events in Nebraska history took place here in the town of Grand
34:07Island on June 3rd, 1980.
34:11On that one night, a freakish weather event caused seven tornadoes to touch down in or
34:16near this one town, killing five and injuring almost 200.
34:21It inspired a novel called The Night of the Twisters, which later became a television
34:26movie.
34:27Soon after, officials had to figure out what to do with tons of debris caused by the tornadoes.
34:33They decided to bring it all here and pile it up in the center of town at Ryder Park.
34:39Today, that debris pile has been covered in grass and serves as a landmark called Tornado
34:46Hill, a memorial to everything this town lost.
34:52Today, catastrophic winds can transform entire Nebraska communities in seconds.
34:59But in the far west of this state, it took millions of years for wind and rain to create
35:05what is now one of America's most stunning landscapes.
35:16There's a place in Nebraska where it's still possible to imagine what this land was like
35:22long before it was a state, or a territory, or even called Nebraska at all.
35:31A place where the prairie drops away to reveal a moonscape of jagged sandstone cliffs and
35:37canyons.
35:38Some call it Nebraska's Badlands.
35:44It's also known as Toadstool Geologic Park and was formed millions of years ago when
35:49a broad river flowed across western Nebraska and carved a path through a bed of ancient
35:55sandstone rock.
35:56Wind, water, and time did the rest, chiseling the sandstone into forms that might look more
36:02at home on the moon than the Great Plains.
36:08Evidence of amazing creatures that once called this part of Nebraska home have been found
36:12here in fossils.
36:14They included saber-toothed cats, three-toed horses, large creatures that looked like pigs,
36:21and eight-foot-tall, four-ton herbivores called brontotheres that probably looked a little
36:26like today's rhinos.
36:30Those creatures died out roughly 30 million years ago as the Great Plains subtropical
36:35landscape gradually dried out and as new species emerged, including the ancestors of one that
36:43can still be found in Nebraska, elk.
36:52Today 100 head of elk roam free here at the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.
36:59It was created in 1912 by President Theodore Roosevelt to help protect the wildlife that
37:04called the Great Plains home and were being threatened by hunting and settlement.
37:12This refuge covers more than 19,000 acres.
37:15It lies on the banks of a Nebraska treasure, the Niobrara River, which carves a lush, green
37:21path west to east across northern Nebraska.
37:29Before pioneers and settlers claimed this fertile valley as their own, it was the homeland
37:33of a tribe called the Ponca.
37:36They fished its rivers, hunted on nearby prairie, and sheltered in homes made of earth and animal
37:42skins.
37:45The Ponca were one of many Native American tribes that once called Nebraska home, along
37:50with the Arikara, the Pawnee, Omaha, Sioux, and others.
37:57By 1800, historians believe there may have been as many as 40,000 Native Americans living
38:02in the region, but in less than 100 years, their way of life would be destroyed by the
38:09arrival of the U.S. government and thousands of settlers.
38:17It all started in 1804, when a party led by explorers Lewis and Clark set out up the Missouri
38:23River and met with members of the Otoe tribe, here at a place Lewis and Clark called Council
38:29Bluff, a meeting that's remembered today by this group of bronze statues.
38:36Little did the Otoe or Lewis and Clark know at the time that the site of their meeting
38:40would become Fort Atkinson, one of the largest U.S. military forts on the frontier, a gateway
38:47to the West.
38:49Soldiers here protected fur traders and early settlers as they fanned out across the Great
38:53Plains and as they came into increasing conflict with the Native American tribes that called
38:59this land home, tribes like the Ponca that would soon lose all their land.
39:08Following treaties signed in 1858 and 1865, the Ponca were forced to crowd onto a small
39:14reservation along the Niobrara River.
39:18But a few years later, in 1868, the U.S. government gave that same land to the Sioux by mistake
39:25in another treaty.
39:28But instead of giving the Ponca back their land, the U.S. government decided to send
39:32the tribe 600 miles away to a reservation that lies in what's now Oklahoma.
39:41In summer 1878, U.S. soldiers marched 660 Ponca south at gunpoint in what became known
39:49as the Ponca Trail of Tears.
39:52Traveling more than 600 miles by foot, most members of the tribe became sick or disabled.
39:57One-third died en route or soon after.
40:04One of those is still remembered today, here, just outside the town of Mealy, when a one-year-old
40:10Ponca named White Buffalo Girl died on the journey.
40:14Her father, Black Elk, made a unique request to the settlers living nearby.
40:18I want the whites to respect the grave of my child, just as they do the graves of their
40:24own dead.
40:25I leave the grave in your care.
40:28To this day, the people of Mealy still honor Black Elk's request and place flowers on White
40:34Buffalo Girl's gravestone 365 days a year.
40:42In 1879, the great Ponca chief Standing Bear left Oklahoma and led a group of Ponca back
40:48to Nebraska.
40:52Before they could reach their homeland of the Nile Brera Valley, the chief was arrested.
40:57He was brought to Fort Omaha, which stood here on the Missouri River.
41:02On the former fort grounds lies the house of General George Crook, who arrested Standing
41:07Bear under orders from Washington.
41:10But Crook quickly realized that Standing Bear's treatment was not only unfair, but immoral.
41:17At the time, the U.S. government did not actually consider Native Americans to be people who
41:21had the same rights as white American citizens.
41:25It was in this house that Crook worked secretly to help publicize Standing Bear's mistreatment
41:31and help the chief sue the government for his freedom by arguing that he too was a person
41:37with the same rights as any other.
41:39Speaking through an interpreter, Standing Bear argued,
41:42My hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain.
41:47If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain.
41:50The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours.
41:54I am a man.
41:56God made us both.
42:00Standing Bear's historic case, which he won, kicked off a long battle for Indian rights
42:05that finally led the U.S. government to grant Native Americans citizenship in 1924 and is
42:11still being waged today all across the nation.
42:18In Standing Bear's lifetime, great change swept across Nebraska.
42:23In the days of his youth, the Great Plains looked much like they had for centuries.
42:28Once, millions of bison roamed freely over endless miles of pristine grassland.
42:34Today, there are just a few herds left, including this one, 350 strong, at the Fort Niobrara
42:41National Wildlife Refuge.
42:44They are the survivors of a tale of gore that began in the 1830s, when hunters started
42:51slaughtering these massive herbivores to collect their tongues, which were a delicacy, and
42:56their hides for leather.
43:02One of those hunters was a man named William Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill.
43:08He acquired his famous nickname in a hunting contest when he killed 69 bison in a span
43:13of just eight hours.
43:15But it wasn't bison hunting that paid for his new home and ranch here in central Nebraska.
43:21It was showbiz.
43:25Long before there were colorful Hollywood westerns, there was Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
43:31The frontier-themed spectacle included horse riding, cattle roping, and an appearance by
43:36Annie Oakley, the notorious sharpshooter.
43:40Buffalo Bill took the show on the road, across the U.S., then to Europe, where he helped
43:44the American frontier grow into legend.
43:47With the money he earned, Buffalo Bill bought 4,000 acres of land here, near North Platte,
43:53and built himself a Victorian mansion.
43:56He called the property Scout's Rest Ranch.
43:59Today, it's the centerpiece of the Buffalo Bill State Historical Park.
44:06And while Buffalo Bill was working as a showman, he was also a real rancher, raising cattle
44:11at Scout's Rest Ranch, in an age when the Nebraska beef industry was just starting to
44:16take off.
44:17Today, there are about four cows for every one person in Nebraska.
44:23They begin their lives on the ranch land that covers half the state.
44:29But their last three to six months are spent in feedlots like this one.
44:34The primary goal of the feedlot is to do exactly what the name suggests, feed and fatten
44:39up the cows before they're sent to the slaughterhouse.
44:43Ranchers pay these facilities so their cattle can be sold to the meatpackers for the highest
44:47price.
44:48They're fed a high-energy diet that gives the meat its fatty, marbled appearance.
44:55The weight of a cow in a feedlot can nearly double in just 90 days.
45:00Representatives from the meatpackers come here to see what they're buying, and strike
45:04deals with the ranchers.
45:07Then, the cows are shipped to slaughterhouses like this one in Grand Island.
45:16After they're unloaded, each rancher's cows are held in separate pens.
45:21Beef production is the largest industry in Nebraska, and a model of efficiency.
45:27Long ago, when Plains Indians hunted American bison, they found a use for every part of
45:32the animals they killed.
45:34Today, the modern meat industry uses every part of every cow slaughtered for one product
45:39or another.
45:41An average cow weighs about 1,300 pounds.
45:44More than half of that is edible beef.
45:47The rest is used for leather upholstery, fishing line, pet shoes, and even as ingredients in
45:52gummy candies.
45:58In 2006, a federal crackdown on illegal immigrants from Mexico left these meatpacking plants
46:04with a shortage of workers.
46:06So the companies recruited legal immigrants from Somalia instead.
46:10To accommodate these new Muslim workers, who need to pray five times a day, some meatpacking
46:16companies have agreed to give them 15 minutes of additional break time.
46:20But that doesn't slow down the seemingly endless stream of cattle that are herded into
46:24the plant, helping Nebraska slaughterhouses produce close to eight billion pounds of red
46:30meat a year.
46:36With so many cows in this state, ranchers in Nebraska graze them just about anywhere
46:40they can, even on top of these old munitions bunkers just south of Grand Island.
46:48It's easy to drive by this facility and just think it's a series of grass-covered hills,
46:53or imagine that they're homes in a deserted district of The Hunger Games.
46:57But from the air, they're a clear reminder of the important role that Nebraska played
47:02in World War II.
47:06Each structure is a separate bunker, built to hold ammunition, that was made right here
47:11in Nebraska.
47:13In 1942, officials selected the state for the site of an enormous wartime manufacturing
47:19facility called the Naval Ammunition Depot.
47:25Thousands of Nebraskans once worked here, making bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and mines,
47:30all of which were then stored in the bunkers before being sent to the battlefield.
47:36At its peak, this facility produced 40 percent of the munitions used by the Navy during the
47:41Civil War.
47:45Seventy years later, farmers use the bunkers for animal feed, and others think they might
47:50be perfect to house electronic data servers.
47:54A vast complex of World War II bunkers may be a surprising sight on the Nebraska prairie,
48:02but it's not the only one.
48:05To the west, pivot-point irrigation circles blanket the landscape, but there's one circle
48:11here that stands out from the rest.
48:14It's a modern American tribute to a mysterious ancient English monument, Stonehenge.
48:21Except this Nebraska version is called Carhenge, and is made from the stripped-out bodies of
48:27Chevys, spray-painted stone gray instead of from stone itself.
48:32It's the brainchild of artist Jim Reinders, who built Carhenge in 1987 after living in
48:38England.
48:39Reinders designed his monument to be the same as the original, including its 96-foot diameter,
48:45layout, and distance between the cars.
48:48Reinders even positioned the cars along the same compass points as Stonehenge.
48:54He says he built it as a tribute to his father, who farmed the land on which Carhenge lies
48:58today.
49:04One Nebraskan in particular who would have appreciated Carhenge was comedy genius Johnny
49:09Carson.
49:12This is the city of Norfolk, on the state's eastern side.
49:16Long before Carson became the star of The Tonight Show and America's most beloved comedian,
49:21he grew up here.
49:23His family moved to Norfolk when he was eight, and lived in this small brown-roofed house.
49:29When he was 14, he went to this Norfolk school, now named Johnny Carson Junior High.
49:34There, he developed a magic act, which he called the Great Carsoni.
49:38It became a local hit.
49:41Johnny would later feature his Carsoni character on The Tonight Show.
49:49When Johnny Carson left Nebraska as a young man, he was following a long tradition in
49:54this state.
49:55A tradition of heading out across the Great Plains to seek fame and fortune in the West.
50:01But unlike Carson, many before him discovered Nebraska on foot, wagon, and horseback.
50:07That's how they would have first set eyes on these towering forms that are known as
50:12Scott's Bluff.
50:14As they wound their way through these impressive towers of clay, Native Americans and pioneers
50:19alike were awed by the power and ancient beauty of these 33-million-year-old landmarks.
50:26Today, the best way to appreciate these natural wonders, and the wonder of Nebraska itself,
50:35is to experience them all from the air.