Davenport, Nebraska

1878

Nebraska's people have always been one of the state's greatest resources. One early Nebraska promoter, L.D. Burch, had this to say about our citizenry in 1878: "The people of Nebraska represent the best intelligence, working power, faith, and ambition of the country. If any easterner fancies these people a race of stupidities, living a sort of semi- barbarous life on the confines of the 'Great American Desert' a six week's tour of this beautiful prairie State will effectually take the conceit out of him." "The whole State is settled by strong, self-asserting men who know the value of opportunity. If they give less consequence to conventional etiquette, gold and empty pretense, and have a higher appreciation for character, action and working power than their Eastern friends, the difference is clearly in their favor. It is the Western habit to measure men by what they do rather than by what they were before they came here. The superficial man stands no chance among this people of quick, clear perceptions and close discrimination. Taken as a whole, the average Nebraskan leads a much more rational and satisfactory life than his friends of the older states." .