Kristie Wise, age 13, of Longview, Wash., for her question:
HOW DID NEBRASKA GET ITS NAME?
It isn't true, as some people think, that Nebraska came from an Indian word that means "new brass key." The original name was indeed Indian. It came from the Otoe tribe and their word for the territory was "Nebrathka," which meant "shallow water."
The Indian word for the region referred to the Platte, a wide and shining river that winds in large curves for about 400 miles through the state.
If you were to draw a straight line between New York City on the Atlantic and San Francisco on the Pacific, the exact center of the line would be in the state of Nebraska. The same thing would happen if you were to draw a straight line between Seattle, Wash., and Jacksonville, Fla. There at the half way point you would find Nebraska.
The state is bordered by South Dakota on the north, by Colorado and Wyoming on the west and by Kansas on the south. The Missouri River runs the full eastern length of Nebraska, with Iowa and Missouri on the opposite shore.
Nebraska is one of the leading agricultural states in the nation. Thanks for this honor go to the state's very rich and fertile soil and a tremendous underground water supply. The experts say there is about 1 billion acres of underground water in storage at all times. If this water could be pumped to the surface, it would cover the entire state with a lake 20 feet deep. That's a lot of water.
The first white men to visit the Nebraska area were a party of 30 Spaniards led in 1541 by an explorer named Francisco Coronado. Frenchmen Paul and Pierre Mallet gave the Platte River its name in 1739 and Lewis and Clark explored the eastern part of Nebraska in 1804.
The first military post was Fort Atkinson, set up in 1819 to protect the traders from the Indians. In 1823 the American Fur Company started a trading post near the present town of Bellevue, which became Nebraska's first permanent white settlement.
Corn is Nebraska's largest single crop. Most of the corn is grown in the eastern half of the state.
Nebraska is among the first five states in production of wheat, hay, sorghum and sugar beets. Other field crops are oats, barley, rye, beans, soybeans and potatoes.
Fruit is grown in the southeastern part of the state, with apples the largest crop. Cherries, plums, peaches and pears are also grown.
Nebraska is the leading state in the nation in the production of dehydrated alfalfa. Many alfalfa drying plants are located in the west.
Most of Nebraska's leading crops are grown on land that is irrigated. More than 2.5 million acres of land ere at present under irrigation.
About one fifth of Nebraska's workers are engaged in manufacturing industries. Most of these are the processing of foods and related products, which come from the state's agriculture enterprises.