These 10 Historic Sites on Texas’ Longest Highway Will Blow You Away!

By Stew Magnuson

At almost 900 miles, U.S. Highway 83 in Texas is the longest two-lane highway in any of the 50 states. It has been derisively called the “Road to Nowhere,” but not for history buffs. Travelers can take a deep dive into the Lone Star State’s history visiting these 10 sites on what some call The Last American Highway. 
 Travelers on Highway 83 will follow in the footsteps of Texas legends such as Colonel Rip Ford,  Bonnie and Clyde, Coach Tom Landry, Freddy Fender, Chief Quanah Parker and Astronaut Alan Bean
Want to know more? Click here to read The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas. Click here to join The Fans of U.S. Route 83 page on Facebook.

  
Brownsville

Just a few miles west of Highway 83 north of Brownsville, Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park is where future president General Zachary Taylor squared off with Mexican General Mariano Arista in the first major battle of the Mexican-American War.

Rio Grande City

General Robert E. Lee came to the Rio Grande Valley in 1860 to quell a border uprising. While he only stayed here a few weeks, this one-story home inside the former Ringgold Barracks has been known ever since as the Lee House. 

                                                Roma

Step back in time in Roma, which was the last navigable port for steamboats plying the Rio Grande. The buildings are so well preserved that the town was used as a backdrop in the Marlon Brando film, Viva Zapata!

Laredo

Six Flags Over Texas? Not in Laredo. The short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande puts that tally up to seven. This small building on St. Augustine Square in Laredo was said to have housed the capitol of this wannabe republic that sought independence from Mexico. The rebellion only lasted ten months.

Crystal City

A World War II internment camp housed Japanese, German and Italian families whom the authorities believed at the time to be a threat to the nation. Visitors can still see the foundations of the buildings just to the east of the town’s high school.

Menard

The Presidio San Saba, located on the edge of the town’s golf course, was where the Spanish Empire clashed with the Comanche Empire for control of Texas on March 16, 1758. The nearby mission was overrun by thousands of warriors and the massacre spelled the begging of the end for the Spanish rulers. 

Abilene

Frontier Texas! is a 14,000 square foot history museum dedicated to West Texas’ Wild West Days located in downtown Abilene. The “Guns of the West” is a highlight of this interactive museum. Learn about early settlers, the buffalo hunters and the Comanche Empire in its other exhibits.

Wellington 

Perhaps the most infamous incident to happen on Highway 83 was when Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame, accidentally drove a stolen car into the Salt Fork of The Red River north of Wellington on June 10, 1933. A nearby family came to help but were taken hostage for their troubles. Bonnie suffered from her injuries for the remainder of her short life.

Shamrock

This is where the 1,885 mile long U.S. Highway 83 intersects with the famous Route 66. The town has preserved the historic art deco-style U Drop Inn/Conoco station so travelers can relive the golden age of motor travel. Check out the booth where Elvis dined.

Perryton

Perryton is the “Top of Texas.” Visit the Museum of the Plains, which displays some of the massive steam-powered tractors that helped move the town building-by-building to its present location when the railroad came through in 1919. 



BONUS! Keep your eyes peeled for the arrow sculptures in the Texas Panhandle that commemorate the life of Comanche Chief Quanah Parker. Here is one just off Highway 83 in Canadian, Texas. 

Stew Magnuson is the author of The Highway 83 Chronicles, a series of three books that uncovers forgotten history found along U.S. Highway 83 in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas and the other two books in the trilogy are available by CLICKING HERE, or in bookstores and museum gift shops along the road including: Museum of the Plains, Perryton; Gageby Store, Canadian; Olde Town Mall, Shamrock; Pioneer West Museum, Shamrock; The Book Nook, Hamlin; Cactus Books, San Angelo; Frontier Texas; Abilene; Texas Star Trading, Abilene; The Crossing Travel Market, Winters; and Getty Street Marketplace, Uvalde.
The Twig in San Antonio and BookPeople in Austin.

Highway 83 Expert Magnuson Embarks on Texas Book Tour

Stew Magnuson, author of The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas, will be loading up a car with a trunk full of books, and a digital projector to embark on a barnstorming book tour of the communities found along what was once called the Great Plains Highway.

The journey begins at the top of Texas in the panhandle Sunday, Oct. 21 and ends 450 miles later at the foot of Hill Country in Junction on Oct. 27.

“A book is never truly finished until I have a chance to present it to the communities in which it took place. I’m really excited to talk about the joys of traveling Highway 83 in these small towns I have grown to love,” Magnuson says.

His multi-media lecture draws upon his extensive collection of historic and present day photos of life along the road, which extends more than 2,000 miles from Canada to Mexico.

Attendees will be amazed by how much there is to see and do on Highway 83 in Texas, and beyond. 

The tour dates are:

Saturday, Oct. 21

West Texas Trails Meeting

(registration required)

Snyder, Texas

Sunday, Oct. 22

Fall Foliage Festival (signing only)

Canadian, Texas

11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday. Oct. 23

Perry Memorial Library

Perryton, Texas

Noon

Tuesday, Oct. 24

Collingsworth County Public Library

Wellington, Texas

7 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 25

Anson Public Library

Noon

Hardin-Simmons University Campus

Skiles Building, Room 131

Abilene, Texas

8 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 26

Carnegie Library of Ballinger
Ballinger, Texas

Noon

Menard Public Library

6 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 27

Kimble County Library

Junction, Texas

Noon

Award-winning author Magnuson set out in 2009 to chronicle the past and present along this historically rich highway, traveling its length over the course of a two trips. Over the past eight years, Magnuson has carved out a place as the foremost expert on the fifth longest federal highway. He founded and administers the Fans of Route 83 — The Great Plains Highway page on Facebook, which now has more than 3,600 members. His usroute83.com website serves as a place for travel tips for those who want to explore the road. He writes the Highway 83 Chronicles blog about current events.

He successfully published two previous books about the road, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83: The Dakotas and; The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma. He has appeared on South Dakota Public Television and Nebraska Public Television, and done dozens of book talks and radio spots extolling the pleasures of traveling what was once called the Great Plains Highway.

Magnuson is also the author of The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder: And Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns. Published by Texas Tech University Press, it was named the 2009 Nebraska Nonfiction book of the year, a finalist for the Center of Great Plains Studies book of the year, and was recently named one of the Nebraska’s 150 most important literary works to mark the state’s sesquicentennial this year. He also penned Wounded Knee 1973: Still Bleeding, a brief account of the Wounded Knee occupation.  

Join the Fans of U.S. Route 83 Facebook page HERE.

Stew Magnuson is the author of the Highway 83 Chronicles, a series of three books about history and life found along U.S. Route 83. The final book, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas was released in March 2017 and follows The Last American Highway: The Dakotas, and The Last American Highway: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma, edition.

All three are available ONLINE or in bookstores and gift shops along Highway 83.

For signed copies or retail opportunities contact him HERE

Highway 83 Town of Stapleton, Nebraska to Have its Day in the Sun

By Stew Magnuson

Photo: By Stew Magnuson

To say that Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 will be the biggest day in the history of the Highway 83 town of Stapleton, Nebraska, may be an understatement.

That will be the day when it will be one of the Top 10 best spots in the nation to see the Great American Solar Eclipse.

Estimates of the numbers of folks who will flock to this town of 299 souls range anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000, but the truth is, no one really knows how many to expect.

Stapleton is what I consider my second hometown. My father and uncle were raised there and I spent many summers and holidays visiting my grandparents, who were lifelong residents. The VFW Post is named after my cousin, Staff Sgt. Edwin L. Magnuson, who died fighting in Italy in World War II.

Its previous claim to fame was being profiled as a typical small town” in the Jan. 2, 1971 New Yorker, in an article title “A Peaceable Town.” I devoted a chapter to Stapleton in my book, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83; Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma.

Now the spotlight will be on this quiet village again.

Town leaders have known about the eclipse for years, and at first were promoting it with banners on light poles and thinking up fund-raising opportunities. A local expert and eclipse fanatic was brought in to brief them on the type of crowds to expect. They moved the annual county fair and rodeo to the Saturday and Sunday prior to the eclipse as visitors from around the world were expected to come in advance (See schedule below). There will be TV crews from as far away as Poland there to report the event live.

The fairgrounds and local golf course will be charging a small fee to those who want a good spot to watch. Excitement for the prospects of Stapleton’s “day in the sun” is turning into apprehension. The eclipse has so far garnered little attention in national media, but the hype machine will soon be ramping up as the day grows closer.

Stapleton has one gas station/convenience store and one small co-op grocery store and one restaurant — no motels.

As my cousin recently told me, every inch of the town is spoken for when it comes to accommodations. I for one will be pitching a tent in a cousin’s yard the evening before. On any other night, I could show up unannounced and have a place to stay. Not on Aug. 20 though!

Those who plan on traveling to Stapleton should come with a full tank of gas, food, water and sunscreen to last the day. Make sure you have IPO certified glasses to view the eclipse.

Travelers should plan on getting there in plenty of time. One can envision traffic jams on Highway 83. Those who don’t make it in time will probably just pull over to watch, which might exacerbate the problem. 

I know the people of Stapleton have been working hard to for several years to accommodate the huge influx of visitors expected. But they can only do so much.

Visitors should come prepared. It would be great if they can spend a little money to help the town defray its costs — buy a t-shirt, a grilled hamburger, watch the eclipse from inside the fairgrounds, etc., but keep in mind that there are no Wal-Marts, Walgreens or 7-11s around. Those are 30 miles to the south in North Platte.

Respect private property and don’t trespass. Dispose of cigarette butts properly. It’s a dry country.

All that being said, it should be worth the trip and the advanced planning.

For many, this will serve as an introduction to traveling on beautiful Highway 83 in Nebraska and the alluring and stunning Sand Hills.

A total solar eclipse is said to be a near spiritual event and for most — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Experiencing it in the wide-open Sand Hills will be amazing.

Friday August 18

Noon - Craft Fair and Flea Market
7:30pm - Logan County Rodeo: $15/Adults, $5/Ages 6 - 11
Saturday August 19
7:30am - 5K Eclipse Run/Walk: $25/person
8:00am - 11:00am - Pork Breakfast at the Fairgrounds
10am - 6pm - Craft Fair and Flea Market
Entertainment throughout the day: For young and old alike, games and activities for kids
2pm - Parade in downtown Stapleton
Food Vendors - On site throughout the day
6pm - Mutton Bustin' and Chicken Scramble for kids ages 3-15 at the Fairgrounds
7:30pm - Logan County Rodeo: $15/Adults, $5/Ages 6-11
8:00pm - 1:00am - Street dance and beer garden in downtown Stapleton, $10/person
Sunday August 20
9am - non-denomination church service at the fairgrounds
10am - 5pm - Craft fair and flea market
Noon - Working Ranch Rodeo at the Fairgrounds: $3/person
Food Vendors - On site throughout the day
Sundown (approximately 8:30) - Eclipse Presentation by Derryl Barr
Monday August 21
Eclipse viewing at the Logan County Fairgrounds! $10/person, ages 5 and under free. Includes viewing glasses, water bottle and entry into the "After the Eclipse" Bash.
Craft fair and flea market, food vendors on site throughout the day.

Join the Fans of U.S. Route 83 Facebook page HERE.

Stew Magnuson is the author of the Highway 83 Chronicles, a series of three books about history and life found along U.S. Route 83. The final book, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas was released in March 2017 and follows The Last American Highway: The Dakotas, and The Last American Highway: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma, edition.

All three are available ONLINE or in bookstores and gift shops along Highway 83.

For signed copies or retail opportunities contact him HERE

Costner, Brando and Tom Hanks: A Cinematic History of U.S. Highway 83

Anthony Quinn and Marlon Brando

By STEW MAGNUSON

U.S. Highway 83 — cutting right down the middle of the nation and traveling 1,885 miles from the Canadian border all the way to Mexico — might seem as far away from Hollywood as it gets. The movie industry has come to Highway 83, though. Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, Kevin Costner, Tom Hanks and Dianne Wiest — all Academy Award winning actors — are among those who have filmed movies in the communities or lands along the Last American Highway.

Here is a cinematic history of U.S. Route 83.

Dances With Wolves. The most honored movie to be filmed near Highway 83 is undoubtedly 1990’s Dances With Wolves, the first Western to win the Academy Award for best picture since 1931. One buffalo hunting scene as well as the Fort Sedgewick scenes were filmed at the Triple U Buffalo Ranch near the Fort Pierre National Grasslands.

Those were the days before computer generated imagery took over and the buffalo hunting scene was reportedly one of the hardest to pull off, according to a June 14, 2014 article in the Capital Journal, which looked back at the 25^th anniversary of the film.

Several extras and experts in the Lakota language were recruited to work on the film from the Rosebud Reservation, which also sits on Highway 83.

“Dances with Wolves introduced filmmakers to the beauty of prairies and blue skies that go as far as the eye can see,” the article said.

Casey Tibbs

Born to Buck. In 1967, rodeo superstar turned Hollywood actor and stuntman Casey Tibbs needed to move a herd of horses off a nearby Indian reservation. He hit on the idea to make a documentary about the trail drive. He wanted to show audiences raised on phony TV westerns the “real West,” while using the beautiful South Dakota prairie as a backdrop. Tibbs was well known in Hollywood (He dated actress Katherine Ross for two years), but couldn’t secure funding. Using his own money he hired a film crew to follow a trail drive, according to the biography Casey Tibbs: Born to Ride by Rusty Richards. He had his pal Henry Fonda provide the narration. Tibbs doubled for Fonda and appeared with him in the move The Rounders. The trail drive ended with a rodeo sequence in Fort Pierre. The independent film did quite well financially and is still available today on DVD. The Casey Tibbs Rodeo Center in Fort Pierre is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its release this year. A documentary about Tibbs’ life, Floating Horses, is currently making the rounds at film festivals.

 

Independence Day. Don’t confuse this movie filmed in Anson, Texas, in 1983 with the 1996 alien invasion blockbuster. It is instead a little remembered gem from the 1980s with a cast of actors who would go on to great careers. Anson stands in for an Arizona town. The movie is a realistic study of small town life that avoids Hollywood stereotypes about those who choose to live their lives in such communities. Its characters ring true. Look quick for the Highway 83 sign in the opening credits. Several scenes were filmed on the road or along it. Anson’s charming town square is in several scenes and one of the main characters lives in an apartment overlooking the highway. Dianne Wiest would soon star in Hannah and Her Sisters, for which she won an Oscar. She was overlooked in this role as a battered housewife. For years, this movie was only available on VHS, but last year it was rereleased on DVD. Worth seeking out! 

 

TO ORDER CLICK HERE!

Viva Zapata! Legendary filmmaker Elia Kazan knew he was up against the clock. He had the money to make a movie about the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, but had to get it done before the studio bosses changed their minds. This was 1952 and the McCarthy Era when movies about socialist revolutionaries were frowned upon, especially in Mexico, which wouldn’t let him film there. But he discovered Roma, Texas, where the historic 19^th century buildings by the Rio Grande provided the perfect backdrop. He signed Marlon Brando to play the title character. Brando was little known to movie audiences, but during production the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire came out, and he would soon be a star. Co-star Anthony Quinn — playing Zapata’s brother — was the only major cast member who had Mexican roots.

The cast stayed in a hotel in Mission, Texas, and had to travel in an unconditioned station wagon to Roma on Highway 83 every day in full costume and makeup. The trip on 83 was even longer for two scenes filmed near another 83 town, San Ygnacio. Quinn would win a best supporting actor Oscar for his performance. Brando and screenwriter John Steinbeck were nominated.

Cast Away. Highway 83 was portrayed in the 2000 movie starring Tom Hanks. How did Highway 83 end up in a movie about a FedEx executive stranded in the middle of the Pacific? SPOILER ALERT! He gets off the island. (It’s a 17-year-old movie, don’t get mad at me!) At the end of the film he reaches a real and figurative crossroads in the Texas panhandle. The mystery woman he meets on a lonely stretch of highway identifies the road as 83 and says if he heads north, there’s a “whole lot of nothing.’” Obviously I disagree with that statement.

However, that’s not actually Highway 83. In the background, viewers can clearly see Texas Farm-to-Market signs, not federal Highway 83 signs. However, the scene was filmed in Hemphill County at the intersection of FMs 48 and 1268. Interestingly, the first book ever written about Highway 83 was by photographer Maarten Laupman and writer Rob Daniels from The Netherlands. They took that phrase and named their book, “A Whole Lot of Nothin.” Link to an article about the book HERE.

Some famous film actors who hail from towns along Highway 83 include: Matthew McConaughey and Dale Evans, both born in Uvalde, Texas. Singer/actor Kris Kristofferson was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas. And if you saw the recent animated movie Cars 3, you heard the voice of Cristela Alonzo portraying Cruz Ramirez. She is from a small town near Highway 83 in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Hidalgo. Josh Duhamel, known for the Transformers movies, was born and raised in Minot, N.D.

Stew Magnuson is the author of the Highway 83 Chronicles, a series of three books about history and life found along U.S. Route 83. The final book, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas was released in March 2017 and follows The Last American Highway: The Dakotas, and The Last American Highway: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma, edition.

All three are available ONLINE or in bookstores and gift shops along Highway 83.

For signed copies or retail opportunities contact him HERE.

  

Life and Death on Highway 83

Roadside memorial on Highway 83, Seward County, Kansas

By STEW MAGNUSON

It’s not uncommon to be driving along Highway 83 and to spot a roadside memorial with plastic flowers — and perhaps a wreath — marking where a deadly accident took place.

Friends and families place these memorials at the last place on Earth where their loved ones were alive. In South Dakota, the state places permanent “Think” signs at these spots when driving while under the influence, or without a seatbelt, are involved.

On my travels, I have sometimes pulled over to take pictures of these memorials, shaken off the prairie dust, put that vases upright and wondered about what happened there.

While I love Highway 83, these roadside markers are a constant reminder that it is a place of heartbreak for some.

I have kicked around the idea for this column for eight years, but never gotten around to writing it. I decided that it was time. That’s because Highway 83 made national news the other week, and for all the wrong reasons. Thirteen people lost their lives when a truck slammed into a van driving home elderly members of a church in Texas’ Hill Country. It is alleged that the driver of the truck was texting at the time.

The week before, some poor soul on the road between Anson, Texas, and Abilene decided that life was no longer worth living. He got out of his car and walked into a semi in an apparent suicide.

Since I have the search terms “Highway 83” set on Google, I see all of these tragedies on this road in my news feed. There are sadly, too many to mention in this column.

As someone who has kept tabs on this over the years, I urge everyone to be especially careful on Highway 83 from Interstate 70 on south through Garden City and Liberal. Locals have been asking lawmakers in Topeka for years to improve this dangerous stretch of road. But their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. The number of 18-wheelers and cars on this hazardous stretch is growing and it’s a crying shame nothing has been done about it.

Hughes County, South Dakota

Highway 83 from Laredo south to where the expressway begins near Mission was also once notorious, but I was glad to see that improvements were being made to the road the last time I passed through in December 2015.

Making a road wider isn’t always a guarantee that it will be safer, though. I was in the emergency room at a hospital in Bismarck (for a non-life threatening case of poison ivy, not an accident). The ER nurse, after hearing about my project, told me that they saw a lot of car-wreck survivors from the four-lane section of Highway 83 that runs from Minot to Bismarck. That surprised me. The fact that drivers are allowed make left turns onto side roads was the culprit, she said. They go to make a turn and don’t see or misjudge oncoming traffic. They lucky ones make it to her.

Tragedy struck my extended family as well when a cousin driving under the influence of prescription painkillers on Highway 83 north of North Platte wrecked the car, killing her daughter and causing severe injury to her granddaughter.

Depressing. But Highway 83 is no different in these regards than any other road. Last year marked the highest death toll recorded on America’s roads in more than a decade with about 40,000 losing their lives in accidents. Overlooked are those who suffered serious injuries in car accidents: 4.6 million over the course of 12 months, according to the National Safety Council.

But I see other stories in my newsfeed. Some are more heartening.

The first was September 22, 2009, when Jennie Goodwin was rushing to the hospital in Minot with her birth coach behind the wheel, according to the Minot Daily News. Her daughter Mollie made her appearance on Highway 83. The official birth took place in the hospital parking lot.

A pregnant Sheila Nobles was traveling with family from Orange, Texas, to North Platte. Nebraska on December 2, 2010, but had the OK from her doctor to make the trip because her due date was still a ways off, according to the North Platte Telegraph. She started having abdominal cramps when they crossed the Nebraska border. By the time they reached Prairie Mart south of North Platte, the pain became unbearable and her mother pulled over. While in the restroom, Sheila became incapacitated. Her mother got the key from the store manager and entered in time to catch the baby falling out. She named the girl Isabella.

Lynda Oldenkamp approached me after I gave a presentation about Highway 83 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She was born on Highway 83 in 1948.

She later emailed me details of the story: “I was born in the back seat of an uncle’s car on December 20, 1948 on the way from Murdo to the Pierre hospital.  My folks’ car was broken down so they had planned to use my uncle’s car when it was time to get to the hospital in Pierre. 

“It was Saturday night when I decided to start the labor pains, and my dad had to go find my uncle who had gone out for the night with his car so that delayed their start to Pierre. They/we didn’t make it and had to stop about 18 miles south of Pierre on the older/original road for the delivery.”

And that is life and death on Highway 83.

 

Stew Magnuson is the author of the Highway 83 Chronicles, a series of three books about history and life found along U.S. Route 83. The final book, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas was released in March 2017 and follows The Last American Highway: The Dakotas, and The Last American Highway: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma, edition.

All three are available ONLINE or in bookstores and gift shops along Highway 83.

For signed copies or retail opportunities contact him HERE.

Highway 83 In Texas Book Now Available

U.S. Route 83 is like no other highway in Texas. It extends from its northernmost border at Oklahoma, passes through the ranchlands and oil patches of the Panhandle, hits a big speed bump in Hill Country, then follows the Rio Grande Valley all the way to Brownsville.

Award-winning author Stew Magnuson set out in 2009 to chronicle the past and present along this historically rich highway, traveling its length in May 2010 with the idea to publish a book about what he discovered. Like Highway 83 itself, it was a long road that took nearly eight years, but it ended on March 27 with the publication of The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas.

Magnuson calls The Last American Highway in Texas a hybrid history-travel book.

“Every town has a story to tell,” he says.

A massacre in Menard marked the beginning of the end for the Spanish Empire in America. Wellington is where the notorious criminals Bonnie and Clyde sent their car careening into the Red River. On a ranch just east of Brownsville, Ranger “Rip” Ford led the charge at the final battle of the Civil War.

Magnuson uncovers the stories of the famous, the infamous and the forgotten as he explores a road like no other in America.

The Last American Highway in Texas is available on Amazon.com and bookstores and gift shops along the highway.

Over the past eight years, Magnuson has carved out a place as the foremost expert on the fifth longest federal highway that runs 1,885 miles from the Canadian border to Mexico. He founded and administers the Fans of U.S. Route 83 page on Facebook, which now has more than 3,300 members. His usroute83.com website serves as a place for travel tips for those who want to explore the road. He writes the Highway 83 Chronicles blog about current events.

He successfully published two previous books about the road, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83:The Dakotas and; The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma. He has appeared on South Dakota Public Television and Nebraska Public Television, and done dozens of book talks and radio spots extolling the pleasures of traveling what was once called the Great Plains Highway.

Magnuson is also the author of The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder: And Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns. Published by Texas Tech University Press, it was named the 2009 Nebraska Nonfiction book of the year, a finalist for the Center of Great Plains Studies book of the year, and was recently named one of the Nebraska’s 150 most important literary works to mark the state’s sesquicentennial this year. He also penned Wounded Knee 1973: Still Bleeding, a brief account of the Wounded Knee occupation.  
The Last American Highway in Texas is also sold at: Prairie Pages, Pierre, SD; PLains Trading Co., Valentine, NE;  Kimber's Convenience Store, Stapleton, NE; A to Z Books, North Platte, NE; Buffalo Bill Cultural Center, Oakley, KS; Keystone Gallery, Scott City, KS; El Quartelejo Museum, Scott City, KS; Finney County Historical Museum, Garden City, KS; Museum of the Plains, Perryton, Texas; Gageby Country Store, Canadian, Texas; Texas Star Trading, Abilene, Texas and Frontier Texas! in Abilene.

For signed copies or retail opportunities, Email Stew Magnuson HERE.

Proposed Sand Hills Wind Turbines Pose Threat to Endangered Cranes

By STEW MAGNUSON

Whooping cranes. Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

 Who in the Sand Hills hasn’t heard the otherworldly sound of a flock of cranes as they slowly make their way south in the fall? Shading one’s eyes and looking up, one can see the silhouettes of the Sandhill cranes as they use the thermal drafts and southerly winds to migrate through Nebraska.

This may be a sight the people of Cherry, Thomas and Logan Counties will only be able to tell their grandchildren about if the plan moves forward to populate the region with wind turbines.

A careful reading of two government-funded reports on the effects of wind turbines placed in the paths of North America’s two crane species—the sandhill crane and the endangered whooping crane—spells out the possible fate of these birds in the counties along Highway 83.

The first, a 2009 report produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, describes the dangers to the delicate whooping crane population, which at last count in February 2015 numbered only 442 wild birds.

“The principal known cause of loss [of whooping cranes] during migration is collision with utility lines … Additional power line construction throughout the principal migration corridor will increase the potential for collision mortalities,” the report said. 

“Based on the known threat of wind turbines to other migratory birds, and to their large body size and low maneuverability, it is reasonable to expect that whooping cranes could be killed by turbine blades, given the number of existing and proposed wind turbines within the … migration corridor,” the report said.

Cranes fly at about 1,000 to 6,000 feet so at first glance, there seems to be little risk for collision until one takes into account the many different scenarios where mortality can occur: when they are ascending and descending, when they occasionally fly at night, in poor weather and when searching for wetlands to rest. (Wetlands are found throughout Cherry County.)

Further, there was some evidence in the 2009 report that the birds may adjust to the existence of wind farms. In other words, they will begin to fly miles out of the way to avoid the towers. They then end up in stopover areas that they do not normally use. That puts them at risk of exhaustion, predators and so on.

The sandhill crane was used in this report as a stand-in species because of the whooping cranes’ small numbers.

Six years after this report, another produced this year by the U.S. Geological Survey said there was further research backing up this behavior.

Wind farm south of Minot, ND along Highway 83. By Stew Magnuson

That report, “Wintering Sandhill Crane exposure to wind energy development in the central and southern Great Plains, USA,” at first glance seemed to be good news to windmill proponents, as it found only a 6 percent overlap between the more common cranes and wind farms. That is until you drilled down and got beyond the headline. The future is much less certain.

Six years of research since the 2009 report found more evidence that cranes may begin to take different paths miles out of their normal routes to avoid turbine blades, the report said. This should be alarming to the people of Kearney and Grand Island. UNL's Bureau of Business Research in a report this spring found that the bird watchers who come to the Platte River valley to see the annual migrations in spring and fall contribute $10.33 million yearly into the state’s economy. One wonders how these legions of birders will feel about the State of Nebraska when the first report of a flock of sandhill cranes is found dead underneath a wind turbine — or even more horrifying, whooping cranes. Can anyone claim it will never happen?

Yes six percent doesn’t seem like a lot, but the Geological Survey report only studied existing wind farms. The placing of windmills as far as the eye can see in the Sand Hills was not included in this report.

“A continuation of this seeming compatibility of wintering cranes and wind energy development will depend upon the placement of future towers in locations not highly preferred by cranes,” the U.S. Geological Survey report clearly said.

Here are some other points from the 2009 Fish and Wildlife study.

“Wind farms should not be built near traditional whooping crane stopover locations, and should be placed as far away from the centerline of the whooping crane migration corridor as feasible. Wind farms should not be constructed in areas within a wetland mosaic suitable for whooping cranes to use,” it stated.

Let me spell it out for those who are not from the area: Valentine National Wildlife Refuge.

I keep staring at the maps I’m finding online that tracked GPS-banded whooping cranes and their migration routes and wondering how these projects can go forward. And in Custer County? That’s even closer to the paths. 

And here is something for those investing in these projects to chew on.

“If a whooping crane were to be killed by a wind turbine, [Fish & Wildlife] could request that the wind farm cease operations during all or portions of the spring and fall whooping crane migration periods.”

It continued: “Companies should factor in the scenario of a possible required cessation of operations when selecting a wind farm site.”

The arguments I’ve heard from windmill proponents that housecats kill millions of birds is irrelevant and sad. Besides, I’d like to see the house cat that can take down North America’s tallest birds. Unfortunately, cranes are no match for these windmill monstrosities.

The issue of wind farms in the Nebraska Sand Hills has not yet gone beyond “Not in My Backyard,” or NIMBYism. But it’s time that the citizens downstate and the millions of birders around the world understand what may be in store for these magnificent creatures if these projects go forward.

Stew Magnuson is a proud Nebraskan residing in Arlington, Virginia, whose family roots are in the Sand Hills.  He is the author of two editions of The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83. His book The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, past winner of the Nebraska nonfiction book of the year award, was recently named one of the state's 150 most important literary works. Contact him at stewmag (a) yahoo.com