History and stories of Nebraska . d been voted by Congress to builda new capitol at Omaha and fifty thousand more to makea good road from Omaha to Fort Kearney. The joy ofliving in a new country and faith in its bright future werein every heart. The Hard Winter.— Then came the severe winter of1856-57. It began with a great storm on the first ofDecember and grew fiercer with each month. The ravineswere filled with snow. Elk and deer perished. Roads wereblocked. Hardly could the pioneers venture from theircabins to chop the wood which kept their families fromfreezing. This was always known among
History and stories of Nebraska . d been voted by Congress to builda new capitol at Omaha and fifty thousand more to makea good road from Omaha to Fort Kearney. The joy ofliving in a new country and faith in its bright future werein every heart. The Hard Winter.— Then came the severe winter of1856-57. It began with a great storm on the first ofDecember and grew fiercer with each month. The ravineswere filled with snow. Elk and deer perished. Roads wereblocked. Hardly could the pioneers venture from theircabins to chop the wood which kept their families fromfreezing. This was always known among the early settlersas the Hard Winter. Dreams of the Pioneers.— Most of the pioneers werepoor in pocket but they were rich in hope. They saw howblack and fertile was the soil, how thick and tall the grassin the valleys, how smooth and level lay the land ready forthe plow. Much they thought and dreamed and foretoldabout this beautiful land in which they had come to were dreams of the great Pacific railroad, of mills. ^ m < o oO 247 248 A SHORT HISTORY OF NEBRASKA and factories by the riversides, of farms and orchards andhomes and schools where then waved only prairie grass. Money was what was needed, everybody said. Theythought if only they had money to start things, to hire men,to buy goods, to let the world know how good the countrywas, people would come rushing in, the lands would besettled, towns be quickly built and all would easily get richtogether. There were such splendid sites for towns andcities, at the ferry crossings upon the Missouri, where creeksand rivers came together and on the beautiful slopes wherethe woodland and prairie met. Many of these were stakedoff into town lots. Each ones dream was a little morecertain to him than his neighbors dream. Money was needed. There was very little of it in Nebraska for the settlers as yet raised almost nothing to sell. Each man grew a little patch of garden and grain, killed a little game and swapped the li
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