On Tuesday, November 19 Elgin Public Library was again privileged to host author Jeff Barnes. He presented “The Queen’s Road – Nebraska’s Bumpy Ride to Statehood”.
With his historic and colorful images as well as anecdotes, including rare maps, Barnes presented the second chapter in his Queen of the Prairies series.
The presentation covered the second half of the territorial years, examining how and why Nebraska arrived at its present shape, how federal policies promoted white settlement and Native removal forced the territory to become a battleground. It also covered the internal politics which almost brought the southern half to secede to Kansas.
According to co-librarians Barb Bode and Dianne Gunderson, the audience learned about our history with the Pony Express, the transcontinental telegraph and the amazing “Steam Wagon”.
Barnes also spoke about the incident that gave birth to the legend of Wild Bill Hickok, the fight for statehood and the story of how Lincoln became the capital, taking its name from another Nebraska town!
His visit was made possible by Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the Johnny Carson Fund at the Nebraska Cultural Endowment and the Elgin Public Library Foundation.
