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Agate Fossil Beds
The Agate Fossil Beds National
Monument are located near Harrison, Nebraska with the most
significant properties being the valley of the Niobrara River and
the fossils that were discovered on University Hill and Carnegie
Hill. The region is mainly grass covered plains with such plants as
the blue grama, prairie sandreed, little bluestem, needle and thread
grass as well as beautiful wildflowers of sunflowers, spiderwort,
lupin and western wallflower. This site is very well known for the
big number of perfectly preserved Miocene fossils, the majority
found in digs on the two hills. The fossils, dating back 20 million
years ago, are considered some of the finest speimens of Miocene
mammals and include; palaeocastor, land beavers that dug huge
corkscrew-shaped burrows; miohippus which were the ancestors of the
horse; stenomylus which was a gazelle like camelid; menoceras which
is a pony sized rhinoceros, daeodon, a huge pig like ungulate and
amphicyon which resembled a bear dog. Initially the Agate Springs
Ranch, which was a working cattle ranch, owned by Capt. James Cook
and now the museum there has a marvelous collection of some 500
relics from his collection of Plains Indian artifacts. The national
monument was designated in 1965, but not established until 1995,
with the Harold J. Cook homestead (Bone Cabin complex) is listed on
the National Register of Historic Places since 1994. The monument is
managed by the National Park Service. It is worth mentioning that in
the northeastern part of the state of Nebraska, the Ashfall fossil
beds are among the most famous and most important fossil sites in
the world and especially in the United State. The collection
that James Cook was able to build has surprised many visitors coming
to the fossil beds and finding a marvelous visitor center containing
one the best Native American collections in the world. When James
first arrived in this area, he was very fortunate to meet Red Cloud
of the Oglala Lakota Sioux, communicating in made on the spot sign
language. During the years that followed, James would learn more of
the language as the friendship developed and it also grew as did his
understanding of the Sioux language. Red Cloud and many of his
people would come to the ranch over the following decades. Some
would have to travel as much as 150 miles from the Pine Ridge
reservation in South Dakota to visit James; and had to have a pass
to leave and return. When they got to the ranch, and settled into
their camps, they would do work for James, hunt and dance beneath
the trees by the ranchhouse. It soon was evident that the visit was
more than it seemed; with the Indians going back to a routine before
this time, when they followed game and hunted, harvesting native
plants and trading with others. During the visitations, the Lakota
and northern Cheyenne would give James and his family gifts, and in
return, the family would give them beef and hides. Many of the gifts
were hand made specifically for the Cooks, that included buckskin
shirts and gloves; with some being very special, like the shirt that
had belonged to Red Cloud, three generations of pipebags, one
belonged to Red Cloud, one his father and the other his son; and one
of Crazy Horses whetstones. James and his descendants realized that
these wonderful gifts should stay at the ranchhouse, and when the
park service built the present visitor center in the early 1990s,
they created two rooms for the collection. One is an introduction to
the ranch and the Lakota culture, with the second containing many of
the most prominent artifacts; and accompanying photos to tell of the
great friendship and giftgiving.
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North Platte Valley Museum
The North Platte Valley Museum
in Gering, Nebraska sits on the trails of the Oregon-California and
Pony Express that sit in the shadow of the Scotts Bluff National
Monument and about 20 miles from Chimney Rock. This marvelous museum
spins a tale of immense proportions about the fur traders, emigrant
trails, early settlers of the region and the Plains Indians that
came to the North Platte River Valley centuries ago in the western
panhandle of Nebraska. The museum's mission is to collect, research,
interpret and preserve the many relics, documents and other
historical materials that pertain to the wealth of history in the
North Platte Valley. Inside this wonderful museum you will find 20
professionally designed displays sitting in a marvelous 10,000
square foot gallery. On the outside of the museum are real log and
sod houses, constructed in the late 19th century and partly
furnished with pieces that were owned by the families that lived in
them. Another highlighted feature outside is the marker showing
exactly where the Oregon-California Trail. The museum also houses
the splendid Helen and Paul Henderson Oregon Trail Collection, which
is considered to be one of the finest and most extensive research
collection of trail items ever gotten together. Some of the
fantastic items include; the front part of the McGrew Bank, tin
ceiling from Hall's Furniture from Mitchell, tipi, murals, stone
artifacts, the Haig Post Office/Bank, a general store, the Gering
Courier press office, Garlock Cabin, bead work, a bull boat, a
one-room schoolhouse, a 1929 Chevy business coupe and the Mud
Springs pony express station. The Henderson Collection contains
books, documents, maps, photographs and correspondence of the
research collection. The museum also has the wonderful story of
Helen and Paul, who met, married and spent the next fifty years
creating this outstanding collection of trail history and
memorabilia.
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