Although the greatest peacetime emigration in the history of the world took place across the plains of Nebraska, an astounding number of the emigrants met their end suddenly, unexpectedly, and sometimes violently in the Cornhusker State. In fact, says historian Jeff Barnes, by driving on Nebraska’s Interstate 80 one could say they are driving through the state’s largest and longest cemetery – the Platte River valley.
How those emigrants died is the topic of “To Live and Die on the Plains,” Barnes’s presentation on Thursday, May 2nd, at 6 pm in the Alliance Public Library Community Room. This presentation is made possible by Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and the Alliance Public Library Foundation.
A former newspaper reporter and editor, Barnes writes freelance and lives in Omaha. He is a fifth-generation Nebraskan, past trustee of the Nebraska State Historical Society, former chairperson of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, past marketing director of the Durham Museum and present board member of the Union Pacific Museum Association. For more information, contact nstewart@cityofalliance.net or call 308.762.1387.
