Nick Sakarada - Japanese Americans in the North Platte Valley

In the final episode of this Series, David Wolf talks with Vickie Schaepler, Coordinator for the Legacy of the Plains Japanese Hall and History Project.  Built 1928-29, the Japanese Hall has served as a community center, theater, reception hall, church, school, dormitory, cultural center, and much more.  Vickie also expands out to talk about Nebraska's rich Japanese American history.  

In this episode, David Wolf talks with Nick Sakarada about his family's history here in the North Platte Valley.  Nick is a second-generation, Nisei, Japanese American.  His father came over to work the railroads, and the family eventually settled in Colorado.  They moved up to the Scottsbluff, Nebraska area to farm.  He has been here ever since and shares his stories about farming, his and his family's service during World War 2, and his work in the sugar beet industry.  

Dan Holtz joins our hosts Dave Wolf and Vicki Schmitt to talk about his use of original songs to tell the stories of people, places, and things in Nebraska. 

Nancy Gillis joins the Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum David Wolf, and Vicky Schmitt, to discuss the effects of the Homestead Act and its impact on Native Americans during the great migration across the United States. 

Barb Netherland joins David Wolf and Vicki Schmitt to talk about the Overland Trails, the Paul and Helen Henderson Collection, and the importance of diaries in depicting everyday life on the trail.  The Henderson Collection features thousands of documents, maps, diaries, and other pieces of information on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails.  Several volunteers have spent thousands of hours indexing the collections, and it is available for researchers to look at.  

Brian Croft talks with David and Vickie about the history of maps in Nebraska. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, but has spent the last 16 years teaching Composition, Literature, and Nebraska History at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff.  He lives with his wife, Erica, and their two children, enjoying the wide spaces and abundant wildlife afforded by the Panhandle.  An avid collector of maps and ephemera focusing on Nebraska, Brian appreciates any opportunity to share his passion for history, be it in the classroom or the community, and he knows the importance of understanding our personal, social, and political histories.

Pete Cawiezel, a Morrill, Nebraska, and rural Sioux County native.  Pete has been a very active community member since 1998.  He serves as the Director of the Morrill Museum located in the Morrill Public Library.  He is currently serving his second term as President of the Morrill Public Library Board.  Not stopping with Morrill, Henry, Lyman, Lingle, Southeast, and Torrington, Pete also is active in the Harrison community as a member of the Sioux County Historical Society, a volunteer at their museum, and a helper with the annual Historical Trek in that area.  Every community is a beneficiary of his love for the community which Pete says he “truly enjoys.”

David Wolf, Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, is joined by Jerry Lucas. 

It was not long after the Lewis and Clark Expedition when American, British, and French trappers and traders started to use the North Platte River as a highway to the Rockies.  Jerry Lucas, local historian, and trapper interpreter joins us to talk about the early fur trappers and traders, some of the big personalities, and the many myths surrounding Scotts Bluff's namesake, Hiram Scott.  

Scotts Bluff National Monument has been a landmark for humans from native Americans to emigrants on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, and is still a beacon for travelers today. 

David Wolf, Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, is joined by Eric Grunwald, Lead Interpreter at Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering, Nebraska, to talk about the history and relevance of the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

Scotts Bluff National Monument has been a landmark for humans from native Americans to emigrants on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, and is still a beacon for travelers today.  Eric Grundwald, the Lead Interpreter at the Scotts Bluff National Monument, joins us to about the 30 million old geological histories, it becoming one of the most mentioned landmarks for travelers on the trails, and the process of it becoming a national monument.

SEASON 1 EPISODE 3 "VOICES ON THE PRAIRE WIND"

David Wolf, Director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, is joined by Vicki Schmitt and Larry Gibbs to talk about the history of sugar beets, the sugar factories, and the communities in which they evolved in the western Nebraska/Wyobraska areas. 

Larry Gibbs is a member of the Legacy of the Plains Board.