Palmyra couple takes readers beyond Nebraska's historical markers to see the historic sites through photos
KENDRA WALTKE/Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 6:00 pm
The blue and silver historical markers tell the stories, simply and to the point.
Of events large and small in Nebraska’s history, and both near and far in time.
They may mark the grave of an otherwise unknown pioneer, or the place where Chief Red Cloud fell.
They may point to the remains of a World War I potash boom town, or show the way to a barren place mostly notable for being derided as desolate by a famous newspaper man.
But the markers don’t include pictures — and that’s where Bobbi and Steve Olson stepped in, using those scenes to create a new book, “Marking Time: Nebraska’s Historic Places.”
The Olsons, who live on an acreage near Palmyra, tour the state as freelance writers and photographers for Nebraska Life magazine, and their work often takes them down lonesome roads the public rarely travels.
That’s key, because sometimes the state historical markers describe scenes that took place a little further off the beaten path. The signs are often placed in prominent spots where they’ll grab the most attention, rather than at the places they actually denote.
“A lot of times people don’t realize what there is to see,” Bobbi Olson said of the historical sites. “They’re what Steve calls a scavenger hunt.”
The Olsons hated the thought of people missing out on the places indicated by the historical markers, so they decided to bring the sites to them, in book form.
And, in a way, they created the book as a nudge to Nebraskans to take that dirt road and go explore the state’s history for themselves.
450 markers
The state has about 450 historical markers, some with subjects suggested by local residents or placed at the request of local groups. The topics are researched and must be approved by the Nebraska State Historical Society. Then, sometimes, local residents pay for the markers themselves.
That community-based nature means the markers often tell unusual and personal stories.
“It’s not always big events; sometimes it’s little events, and sad events,” Bobbi Olson said.
The Olsons’ book has a picture of the Swedish Cemetery, noted by Historical Marker No. 250.
The photo shows intricate crosses created by the first blacksmith in Gothenburg, formed for his dead grandchildren in the 1880s.
Pictures of places such as the Dodge County grave of settler Ann Young, who was buried in a coffin made of her own kitchen floorboards. Her pioneer grave now sits next to a golf course.
But mostly, you won’t find such specific stories in the Olsons’ photo-heavy, coffee table book.
The text was written by David L. Bristow, the Olsons’ editor at Nebraska Life magazine, as a way to tell the story of Nebraska as a whole, rather than focusing on the random snapshots of history told by the markers.
“We wanted the book to have some structure,” Bristow said.
“I felt like we needed more context, more background. Each marker gives you just a little piece of the story.”
So the chapters are divided into themes — Wild Nebraska, Explorers and Soldiers, Settlement, Development — and the text lets the pictures take the focus.
Most pages are a contrast of history and modern life.
The photos are inhabitated by modern Nebraskans, living amid history in both old-fashioned and new-fangled ways: Farmers using heavy machinery to harvest hay near the Spotted Tail Agency of the Indian Wars; children playing at the state’s first rest area, established in 1938; a trio of young cowboys riding rough over the Plains.
Even with their historic focus, the Olsons aim to document the Nebraska of today, though sometimes that shot is fleeting — for example, the book includes a picture of the Kearney Canal powerhouse, an early hydroelectric plant torn down shortly after the picture was taken.
But more than that, the Olsons hope to share a Nebraska you may never find, if you don’t follow the markers created by the the towns and the state historical society.
Some of those markers point to places indistinguishable, except for their emptiness.
One of their favorite pictures shows the spot that famed newspaper editor Horace Greeley — originator of the phrase “Go West, Young Man” — called one of the most desolate places on the continent, back on June 2, 1859.
The Olsons took a photo of the same spot on June 2 nearly 150 years later for their book, and the shot still shows a lone dead tree and dry spiky prairie.
Yet, as the Olsons recall, “Down the hill is a town, and the people there make a go of it,” Steve Olson said.
Sometimes one drive is worth a whole trip, Steve Olson said.
And other times the people they meet, such as fun folks they met on a pit stop in Mullen, make the story.
“You have relationships with people all over the state. We wouldn’t have to drive more than 50 miles to find a friendly face,” said Bobbi.
“But we don’t have friends around here, because we’re never home,” Steve joked.
Perfect recall
At one point, the Olsons had a 3-ring binder that described every historical marker.
“Between the two of us, we could recall almost every marker in the state, where it was, how many times we’d been there,” Bobbi said.
The couple’s home near Palmyra is on a farm that’s been in Bobbi’s family for 100 years.
They began working together when they tied the knot.
“We put a camera in her hands six years ago,” Steve explained.
“ … When we got married,” Bobbi said, breaking in.
“ … I got her a camera for a wedding present,” Steve said.
“It was the biggest discovery of my life,” Bobbi said.
Bobbi’s newfound love for photography rekindled Steve’s old hobby, and they spent their honeymoon shooting.
“We really haven’t set the camera down since then,” Steve said.
And, Bobbi added, they’ve hardly set foot outside the state.
Their mutual interest sent them down the roads to small town festivals, historical sites and unique places across Nebraska.
Four years ago, they turned their interest into a part-time career, and began writing and taking pictures for Nebraska Life.
Since then they’ve helped fuel a B-2 bomber, gone underground in the mines at Weeping Water and helped plant the blowout penstemon, an endangered flowering plant in the Sandhills.
The Olsons both shoot at the same time, giving advice back and forth. Most of the time, they can’t tell whose picture was whose.
“There are lot of things we could take photos of, but we love Nebraska so much, it’s hard to get out of the state,” Steve said.
They’ve put thousands of miles on their car and, though they have “day jobs,” Steve said, they travel as much as they can.
“We find little places you decide you just want to come back and dig a little more into,” he said.
“The thing about Nebraska is that it’s so incredibly diverse,” he said. “Even people who go to see Fort Robinson or the Sandhills, they stay on the highway.”
Taking the back roads, though, “It’s just like magic” — vistas and valleys, filled with sunweathered farmers and scattered wildlife.
“The land is largely untouched,” he said. You may read historic marker 331 — about the 1893 Chadron to Chicago Cowboy Race — and “When you go to the spot, it’s largely the way it was then,” he said.
Of course, the Olsons take lots of little side trips, but, for families, the Olsons said, the historical markers would be a good guide for finding interesting destinations away from the highways.
“It’s a way for parents to bring home history,” Bobbi said.
Such as searching for Old Baldy near Lynch, a round-topped rock formation where Lewis andClark first saw prairie dogs. “You go up to see the tower; some farmer leads you on the land,” Steve said.
Or Smoking Bluff near Newcastle, which also awed Lewis and Clark, Steve said.
“And you’ll never see it if you don’t take a dirt road.”
Reach Kendra Waltke at (402) 473-7303 or kwaltke@journalstar.com.