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Rh N E B N E B 309 level before the upward movement was resumed, and thus the many terraces were formed that characterize the valleys. Agricul- That, as explained above, the soils of the State are among the tore. best in the world, chemical analysis and experience alike confirm. Experience has not yet settled the question whether the alluvium of the valleys or the loess of the uplands is the more valuable. Grasses and corn (maize) are the principal products. Corn, especially, is a rarely failing crop. The root crops that grow in temperate latitudes thrive amazingly. Eastern Nebraska is eminently adapted to the growth of apples, which here attain a size, colour, and flavour rarely equalled elsewhere. Grapes, plums, and cherries do equally well. Peaches, though not so sure as the former, are successfully grown south of the Platte. The strawberry nowhere reaches a better size or more luscious flavour than here. Other small fruits do almost equally well. The spontaneous growth of nutritious grasses, the ease with which cultivated varieties are grown, and the enormous yield of corn render the State peculiarly adapted for the raising of cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs. The stock industry is growing rapidly, and is at present doing most to enrich the people. No industry promises better results, however, than the planting of new forests, to which many people are devoting themselves with the most gratifying success. The assessed valuation of the State in 1882 (being only one- third of the real value) was $98,537,475. The cereals produced in 1882 were wheat, 16,405,500 bushels; maize, 82,995,146; oats, 13,437,950 ; barley, 1,919,880. The following amount of stock was reported (a few counties not being returned) : cattle, 815,933; sheep, 376,257; hogs, 821,049; horses, 232,942; mules, 31,314. Tree culture is reported thus: fruit trees, 2,038,111; grape vines, 305,389; forest trees, 40,502,584. Many of the lesser products of the State are not included in this statement. Com- By the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 a high- munica- way was made to the Pacific across Nebraska. The Burlington and tiou. Missouri River Railroad, begun in the same year, was completed to its junction with the Union Pacific at Kearney in 1872. It extended its mainline during 1882 through the Republican valley to Denver, Colorado. In connexion with both these main lines there are important branches; and in 1883 2000 miles of railway had been constructed in the State. Before the Union Pacific was made, freighting across the plains was a large and profitable business. Omaha was conspicuous for its energy in securing this traffic, and grew to be the first city in Nebraska, and has ever since led the State in commerce and in manufacturing enterprises. Educa- A basis for a free school system was laid by Congress in the tion. Act constituting Nebraska a Territory, by which two sections of land (1280 acres) in each township were set aside for this purpose. The State constitution of 1875 provided that all fines, penalties, and licence moneys arising under the general laws of the State should be transferred to the school fund, and that the legislature should provide for the free instruction in the common schools of the State of all persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years. The census of 1880 shows that only 2 5 per cent, of the population of Nebraska over ten years of age are unable to read a smaller proportion of illiteracy than that of any State in the Union, with one exception (Iowa, 2 4 per cent.). A State normal school was established at Peru in 1867, and a State school for the deaf and dumb in Omaha in the same year. The State institution for the blind was established in Nebraska City jn 1875 ; a regular course of study, extending from eight to ten years, is provided. A State university and agricultural college was established in 1869 at Lincoln, a building being erected at a cost of $150, 000, and opened in September 1871, when the population of the State was only 133,000. It provides classical, scientific, and literary courses of instruction. Provision has just been made to open a medical department with a three years course in October 1883. The higher State institutions of learning, as well as the common schools, are open to both sexes, and free. The Insane Hospital was opened at Lincoln in December 1870; the present building, exclusive of the wings approaching completion, cost $165,000. The State penitentiary, established at Lincoln in 1870, was erected at a cost of $312,000. Popula- The population of the State in 1880 was 452,402 (249,241 males, tion. 203,161 females). In 1870 it was 122,993 ; in 1860, 28,846. Of the population in 1880, 95,790 were born in Nebraska, 259,198 in other States of the Union, and 97,414 in other lands the largest number of immigrants being from Canada, Bohemia, Scandinavia, and Germany. In 1860 the population per square mile was 4 ; in 1870, 1 6; in 1880, 5 9. The population has been increasing so rapidly since 1880 that the lowest estimates do not make it less than 675,000 by the end of 1883. The following are the chief towns and their populations in 1880: Omaha, 30,518; Lincoln (the State capital), 13,083; Nebraska City, 4183 ; Plattsmouth, 4175 ; Beatrice, 3386 ; Grand Island, 3550 ; and Hastings, 2817. All these towns have greatly increased, and some of them, like Hastings, have doubled their populations since 1880. History. Nebraska was probably first visited by Europeans in 1541, in July of which year the Spanish general and explorer History. Coronado penetrated from New Mexico to a country which he called Quivira, and described as lying about the 40th parallel, and abounding in buffalo, which corresponds with the region of the Platte. It was then occupied by powerful Indian tribes, whose chief ruler was Tatarax. It was subsequently revisited by Padilla, a Franciscan friar who had accompanied Coronado, and who here lost his life. No more records of visits to this region are chronicled for two hundred years. About the middle of the 18th century French missionaries from Canada came to the Missouri, and still later a few traders found their way here. It constituted a portion of the Louisiana territory which was purchased by Jefferson from France in 1803. At that time Indian tribes still occupied the whole region. At some earlier period a more civilized race lived here who made pottery and skilful carvings, built houses and forti fications, and reared mounds which often contain the ashes of their dead. &quot;When Nebraska came into possession of the United States the Sioux Indians were most numerous. The Pawnees, Otoes, and Omahas were next in numbers and in importance. These power ful tribes have all become reduced in numbers by disease, constant wars, and privations. The Sioux, who early gained the ascendency over the other tribes, resided in north-eastern Nebraska. The eastern part of the South Platte region was occupied by the Otoes, and the western part by the Pawnees, between which tribes there were constant boundary disputes. The first settlement by whites was made in 1847 at Bellevue on the Missouri, 9 miles south of Omaha. Here a trading post of the American Fur Company was conducted by Colonel Peter A. Sarpy, a Frenchman distinguished bj r his knowledge of the Indians, his courage, and his enterprise. The Mormon emigration, begun in 1847, traversed several paths, one of which lay through Nebraska, which thus first became generally known throughout the country. During the overland traffic to California that commenced in 1849, depots of supply were established at Bellevue, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, and in the interior at Fort Kearney. The Act constituting Nebraska a distinct Territory, and open ing its lands to settlement, was approved May 30, 1854. Its area then embraced 351,558 square miles, extending from the 40th par allel to British America on the north, its eastern line connecting the Missouri river on the south-east with the Red River on the north, and its western line being the summit of the Rocky Moun tains. In 1861 Nebraska was shorn of its extended territory by the cutting off of portions of it to form Dakota and Colorado Territories. In 1863 it was still further reduced by the forma tion of Idaho Territory. These curtailments left Nebraska a purely prairie State. During the first five years after the organiza tion of the Territory the settlements rapidly increased along the Missouri. Great numbers who mshed to Pike s Peak in 1859 when the gold excitement was at its height, on their return, disappointed and disgusted, stopped and opened farms in the State. This had the effect of starting settlements in the interior. The bottom lands of the Missouri and its tributaries had first been occupied, and it was supposed that the uplands were of inferior fertility. Now, however, these so-called &quot; bluff lands,&quot; composed of loess materials, began to be cultivated, cautiously at first, until experiment proved them to be of the choicest character. Pioneers then began to push out from the rivers, at first only a few miles, but finally wherever lands could be obtained, without regard to the presence or absence of bottom lands. In 1863 the Union Pacific Railroad and in 1864 the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad began to sell portions of their lands in Nebraska, received from the general Government ; and this became a most potent factor in turning a tide of emigration into the State. At the breaking out of the civil war in 1861 the population of the Territory comprised less than 30,000. Yet Nebraska furnished to the Union army during the war 3307 officers and men, includ ing two companies of scouts, partly composed of Indians. In 1866 the legislature prepared a constitution for a State government, which a vote of the people confirmed by a small majority, though the opponents of the measure claimed that it was obtained by fraud. The first legislature under the State consti tution met July 4th, 1866. The bill to admit Nebraska as a State was passed over the president s veto, and proclaimed on March 1st, 1867. The first capital of Nebraska was at Bellevue. It was removed to Omaha in 1855, where it remained until Nebraska became a State, when it was taken to Lancaster, a town of half a dozen houses, whose name was then changed to Lincoln, now (1883) grown to be a city of 16,000 inhabitants. The present State con stitution was framed in 1875, and was ratified in the same year by the people. The first legislature under the new constitution met in January 1877. The house of representatives consists of eighty-four, and the senate of thirty members ; and the legislature meets biennially. (S. A.) NEBUCHADNEZZAR is the familiar form, transcribed from the Hebrew &quot;iSSnp-n?, of the name of the great Baby-