When European settlers first came to Cuming County they saw only what the Omaha, Pawnee, Otoe, and Ponca, and a few early trappers and traders had always seen: grass. They found acres of big bluestem, little bluestem, switchgrass, and sideoats grama. With slough grass growing as tall as a man on horseback, landmarks such as a lone tree or a bend in the river helped them find their way home to families burrowed into their dugouts like gophers on a mound-dotted prairie.
Beginning in the 1860s, railroad tracks crisscrossed the state, bringing Germans, Bohemians, Scandinavians, Irish and more. Eventually, a network of dirt roads, graveled county roads and paved highways replaced the deer paths and Indian trails. So has run the winding path of Cuming County’s continual transformation into a patchwork quilt of farm fields, cattle yards, homes and businesses, stitched together with the firm threads that make a county strong.
Highlights of Cuming County include:
• Offers a fun overview of the early years of Cuming County containing little known facts and seldom-seen photos.
• Contains interesting bits of interviews of Cuming County residents taken in years past by members of the Cuming County Historical Society.
• Includes information gathered from newspaper clippings of the early 1900s.
Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.
Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places. Have we done a book on your town? Visit arcadiapublishing.com.
