44 / 64
and explorer Manuel Lisa built a trad-
ing post at Fort Lisa, near present-day
Omaha. In 1822, the Missouri Fur
Company established a permanent
settlement in nearby Bellevue. This
was the first town in Nebraska.
In the 1830s, however, Nebraska—
like Kansas—had become a place to
relocate Native Americans who lived
in the lands east of the Mississippi
River that the U.S. considered to be
more desirable. To compensate, the
federal government made it illegal for
whites to settle in the areas west of the
Mississippi—including Nebraska—
that were now reserved for Indians.
The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act
changed that. The organization of
Nebraska into a territory officially
opened it up for white settlement.
Omaha, just north of the mouth of the
Platte River, became the new territo-
ry’s capital.
Territorial Nebraska originally
included parts of present-day
Colorado, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. As
these lands, in turn, became U.S. ter-
ritories, Nebraska gradually shrank to
its current size.
The impetus for making Nebraska a
territory came from the push to create
a
transcontinental
railroad. Westward
expansion was continuing at a rapid
rate. Establishing a rail connection
along the Platte valley route would
make the journey out west easier and
faster. And with more and more people
and goods passing through its borders,
Nebraska was starting to become a
destination in its own right.
44
Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska
Did You Know?
Celebrated worldwide as a day to
plant trees, Arbor Day was established
in Nebraska in 1872. Today, in the
United States, the holiday is observed
on the final Friday in April.
Did You Know?
Kool-Aid was invented in Nebraska in
1927. It is the official soft drink of the
Cornhusker State.