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We traveled from southeast to northwest on Nebraska highway 2. This highway goes through the sandhills area of Nebraska, 19,300 square miles of rolling sand dunes with vegetation holding the sand in place for the most part. Much of the area is under cultivation. Corn is the most prominent crop but soybeans, alfalfa and hay are also common. Cattle ranches are also a common sight. Some areas appear to be just open prairie.
From the point which I took this photo, corn, alfalfa and hay fields are visible, when I turned around there was a cattle ranch behind me. In the foreground are two sets of railroad tracks. These tracks run along next to highway 2 and we saw 25-30 trains during the course of the day and all but 3 of them were coal trains between 1.3 and 1.5 miles long, all of them operated by the BNSF Railroad Company.
About midway across highway 2 is the Nebraska National Forest, about 20,000 acres of hand planted forest, the largest planted forest in the U.S. A botanist by the name of Dr. Charles Bessey believed that a forest had once existed in this area and longed to see it restored. This national forest is a tribute to his work.
(No photo, you wouldn't be able to see the forest, for the trees anyway.)
This picture, taken toward the western end of highway 2 shows the remains of a potash processing plant which was abandoned in the early 1920's. During world war one, the U.S. was unable to import potash from Europe. Potash was used in the manufacture of fertilizer, soda and Epsom's salt. A chemist came up with a process which utilized water from alkaline lakes in the sandhills. The water was piped to one of five processing plants, all of which were located near the railroad. Once the processing was done the product was loaded on rail cars and shipped throughout the country. After the end of the war, importing from Europe resumed and the European product was cheaper than the product from Nebraska so the demand for the Nebraska product dried up.
We ended the day in Scottsbluff Nebraska. We are headed to Riverton Wyoming in the morning. Here's what the sky looked like toward the west this evening, not exactly what we would like to see.
