Nebraska Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

Looking for Nebraska trivia? Try our list Nebraska little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The pronghorn antelope, often seen on the plains of western Nebraska, is the second fastest land animal after the cheetah. The pronghorn can run up to 55 mph for up to half a mile, while the cheetah can sprint at 70 mph.

first appeared: 6/17/2001

Born in Laurel (pop. 920) on Aug. 31, 1928, James Coburn appeared in many movies, including The Magnificent Seven and Our Man Flint, before winning an Oscar in 1998 as Best Supporting Actor in Affliction.

first appeared: 6/10/2001

Paula Bennett, a former schoolteacher in Lincoln, was one of at least 70 independent candidates who ran for the office of president of the United States last fall. Bennett, who grew up near Scribner (pop. 917), filed as an official write-in candidate with the Federal Election Commission.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

Lake Minatare has Nebraska’s only “lighthouse,” a 55-foot-tall observation tower on the shore of the 2,000-acre lake northeast of Scottsbluff (pop. 14,715).

first appeared: 5/27/2001

Near Alliance (pop. 9,555), 38 American-made cars are stuck in the ground and piled upon each other in a manner reminiscent of the large rocks at England’s Stonehenge. Called Carhenge, the sculpture was the brainchild of Jim Reinders, who used to live on a farm at the site and spearheaded construction during a family reunion in 1987.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

Susan La Flesche Picotte of Walthill (pop. 739) was the first American-Indian woman to earn a medical degree. She graduated at the top of her class in 1889 from Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.

first appeared: 5/13/2001

The airport at Ord (pop. 2,277) is named after local aviator Evelyn Sharp, who soloed at age 16 in 1935. In 1944, she died while ferrying a P-38 fighter in Pennsylvania as part of the war effort.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

A giant butterfly is painted atop the city’s water tower in Papillion (pop. 20,048). In French, papillion means butterfly.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

The only woman-vs.-woman gubernatorial race in the United States occurred in the Cornhusker State in November 1986 when Kay Orr defeated Helen Boosalis for the governorship.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

Bur oak often were found alone on the prairie before the first settlers arrived in the state. Because their thick bark protected them from wildfires that wiped out other trees, they sometimes were called the “Firemen of the Plains.”

first appeared: 4/15/2001

Larry, Kim, and Luke Curtis began Shepherd’s Dairy in Anselmo (pop. 189) in 1993 to produce sheep milk, which has twice as much butterfat as cow milk. Most is shipped to cheese factories in New York and Wisconsin, but some is kept and made into milk-based soaps.

first appeared: 4/8/2001

The Nebraska Professional Baseball Museum in St. Paul (pop. 2,268) honors, among others, major league pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, who had 90 lifetime shutouts and won an average of 19.6 games each year during his 19-year professional career. He was born in nearby Elba on Feb. 26, 1887.

first appeared: 4/1/2001

Former president Bill Clinton completed visiting all 50 states during his presidency when he visited Kearney (pop. 28,381) in December 2000. While there, Clinton dedicated the Nebraska Archway, a memorial spanning Interstate 80.

first appeared: 3/25/2001

A torpedo resting on the front lawn of the Saunders County courthouse in Wahoo (pop. 3,821) honors the World War II submarine of the same name, the USS Wahoo.

first appeared: 3/18/2001

Amateur astronomer Bob Linderholm of Cambridge (pop. 1,049) was the first Nebraskan to discover celestial bodies in space. Since 1996, he has discovered five asteroids. He named one for his home state and another for fellow Nebraskan, author Willa Cather.

first appeared: 3/11/2001

Broken Bow (pop. 3,492) was named after pieces of a discarded Pawnee bow found by early settlers of the community.

first appeared: 3/4/2001

At 5,961 square miles, Cherry County (pop. 6,307) is the state’s largest county. It can contain three Delawares at 1,955 square miles each.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

White rock extracted from the Happy Jack Chalk Mine near Scotia (pop. 318) once was used for more than 80 products, including paint, cement, whitewash, polish, and chicken feed. The mine, which ceased operations in 1946, is now open to the public.

first appeared: 2/18/2001

More than 200 wildlife trophies collected by Rosser “Ole” Herstedt as he hunted on every continent for more than 35 years are on display at the steakhouse and lounge named after him—Ole’s—in Paxton (pop. 524).

first appeared: 2/11/2001

Snake River Falls, about 40 miles southwest of Valentine (pop. 2,862), is the state’s largest waterfall by volume. Located in a pine-filled canyon near Merritt Reservoir, the falls’ average flow is about 300 cubic feet per second.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

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