Some of these are :
Fun and River Country
You can see all kinds of irrigation, many trees, miles of corn and other grains and wildflowers, experience all types of water sports, fishing and hunting in abundance.
Mile-long lakes and rivers add much to recreation fun in FUNCOUNTRY.
Hay Country
The development of Nebraska as the “Beef State” was no accident.
Rich prairie grasses provide the basis for this modern day beef empire , and no where can you see more rich and abundant native grasses than in this part of north Central Nebraska.
This is the “Gateway to the Sand Hills.”
As you travel west, you move first through lush, level meadows , and then into the rolling grass-cove red sand dunes of the state ‘s famous Sand Hills.
The native grasses are so abundant in this area that they not only feed the local cattle population, which is considerable, but there is enough left over so that the grass is cured as prairie hay and sold throughout the West for the feeding of cattle in other areas.
Recreation & Cattle Country
Nebraska is the “Beef State” and in no place is it more apparent than in Highway 20 Cattle Country.
You will be driving through Nebraska’s scenic, timeless Sand Hills, which flourish with a variety of grasses that provide for excellent range country. Ranches are measured in miles, not acres.
Thousands of tiny lakes, tucked away in Sand Hills Valleys harbor an abundance of prairie wild life.
It’s a wide open country, known for its unique western hospitality.
Mari Sandoz Country
The enduring Sand Hills, 19,000 square acres of ridges and mounds and the most extensive dune formations in the Western Hemisphere, are likened to the Great Eastern Edge of the Sahara Desert.
This is the land of Mari Sandoz, historian , novelist and teacher, who brought this area’s history and its people to life in her many books, articles and stories.
She first gained fame with “Old Jules” (1935), the story of her father and other settlers who came to the Upper Niobrara region in the late nineteenth century.
Internationally known as a chronicler of the West and as an expert on Indian history, her greatest achievement is her series of six related books on life as it developed with Indian and white man in the trans-Missouri country.
“The Beaver Man,” “Crazy Horse,” “Cheyenne Autumn ,” “The Buffalo Hunters,” “The Cattlemen ,” and “Old Jules” all chronicle the drama of man on the Great Plains more completely and more vividly than any works before them.
Mari Sandoz Books
You, too, can experience what Mari Sandoz experienced as you travel in Mari Sandoz Country.
And there’s more.
There’s scenery and recreational opportunity at every turn.
Pine Ridge Country
Perhaps no area of Nebraska is more scenic than the magnificent Pine Ridge Country.
From majestic Crow Butte to the eerie moonscape of Toadstool Geological Park, Pine Ridge Country offers a panorama which beacons your camera at every turn and there’s history galore.
Fort Robinson, now a state park, is steeped in Western tradition, not to mention its important role as a military outpost in the late 19th century.
You’ll want to wet a line in one of the many outstanding trout streams in the area, hunt for big game, ski, or snowmobile the beautiful area.
It’s all yours for the asking as you begin your visit in Pine Ridge Country.
The epic story of the American fur trade is excellently told at The Museum of the Fur Trade which is located three miles east of Chadron on U.S. 20.
Located on the site of the original Bordeaux Trading Post, the museum vividly portrays the story of the American fur trade with its fine exhibits and excellent collection of early firearms.
To further interpret the fur trade in the Upper Missouri country, the original Bordeaux Trading Post has been reconstructed and each spring, a typical fur trader’s garden is planted.
From 1837 until 1876, Indians brought buffalo robes, furs and ponies to Bordeaux’s establishment to exchange for guns, powder, beads, blankets and whiskey.
