Rooted in the Plains

The cowboy myth says it was all grit and open range: noble ranchers, hardworking cowhands, civilizing a wild frontier. The truth is messier. In this episode, we trace who actually ran Wyoming in the late 1800s, and the answer isn't "cowboys." It's a railroad, a small circle of cattle barons, and two senators, nicknamed "the Cheyenne Ring", who answered to both at once...

 The fort is still standing. And so are the people who keep its story alive.  In the final episode of our Fort Atkinson summer series, we go to the source: the volunteers who show up on the first weekend of every month, put on the uniforms, and bring the 1820s back to life for everyone who walks through the gates.  A soldier. A blacksmith. A tinsmith. A weaver. And Andrew, our guide through this w...

Summer Season Episode 2 Last week, we left you on a bluff above the Missouri River. November 1819. A Nebraska winter is closing in. Something about to go very, very wrong.  In Part 2 of our Fort Atkinson series, we hear the story from the inside. Through the journal entries of our soldier stationed at the fort in the winter of 1819–1820, we follow the crisis as it unfolds and what would take 157 m...

Summer Season Episode 1 On a bluff above the Missouri River, 200 miles from the nearest American settlement, the United States built its largest military post in 1819. Nearly a thousand people called it home: soldiers, officers, families. They were sent to project American power into the frontier, hold back British fur traders, and keep the peace with the surrounding nations: the Pawnee, the Omaha...

Two years ago, I took a walk around a lake. The tallgrass was moving in the wind, and if I was lucky, a red-winged blackbird. That's where this podcast started. In this episode, I close out Season 2, eight episodes across the Great Plains, from South Dakota to Oklahoma and look ahead to what's coming next. I share a bit about how Rooted in the Plains got started and where I want to see i...

Every episode leaves something on the research desk. The details that didn't quite fit. The rabbit holes that led somewhere unexpected. The questions the records wouldn't answer. Today we're opening the files. In this episode, we go back to three stories from Season 2, the ones I couldn't stop thinking about long after the microphone was off. A Nebraska son hired to evaluate th...

Before the plow broke the prairie, the prairie was already a library. Every plant had a name. Every name carried a use. Every use carried a story. In this episode, we explore the deep relationship between the peoples of the Great Plains and the plant life they had cultivated, tended, and understood for centuries. From the sacred cottonwood along the river bottoms to the purple coneflower in your s...

Note: This episode opens with a gunshot sound effect.  On September 16, 1893, a gun was fired at noon, and 100,000 people surged across the Oklahoma plains in the largest land run in American history. Within 2 hours, 6.5 million acres were claimed. Cities appeared overnight. The frontier, they said, was finally settled. But a young Tonkawa woman was already there, lying flat in the grass at the ed...

In 1876, Chinese immigrants arrived in Deadwood, South Dakota, building restaurants, laundries, medical practices, and a temple that smelled of incense from a block away. By 1880, there were over 200 - possibly 400. But then the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 changed everything. In this episode, we explore how a thriving community faced systematic legal persecution - yet refused to disappear. We&ap...

Between 1901 and 1922, Andrew Carnegie funded 69 libraries across Nebraska, giving the state the second-highest per capita rate of Carnegie libraries in the nation. But why Nebraska? In this episode, we explore how women's clubs, a newly formed state Library Commission, and Carnegie's millions transformed Nebraska from having just 26 libraries to over 120 in two decades. We'll meet...

Content Warning : This episode discusses historical violence, including domestic violence, murder, and attempted suicide. While not graphic, sensitive listeners may want to be aware before listening. Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves walked into his boss's office for his next assignment, a murder warrant. When Marshal Leo Bennett saw the suspect's name, he hesitated. "Maybe another de...

In the 1890s, Great Plains farmers faced a problem: they desperately needed telephones, but the Bell Telephone Company thought rural areas were too expensive and unsophisticated to serve. So, farmers built their own system—using barbed wire fences. By 1920, these homemade networks had made farmers more connected than city dwellers. This is the story of whiskey bottle insulators, party line eavesdr...

In this Season 2 premiere of Rooted in the Plains, we will explore how the Great Plains states chose their official symbols, flowers, birds, trees, and insects. From the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago to grassroots campaigns by women's clubs, discover the surprising stories behind these emblems of state identity. Learn why five states chose the same bird, how Montana kids voted for their s...

The Pawnee people have long looked at the sky for guidance, meaning and connection. In this episode, Matt Reed, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Pawnee Nation, shares stories of ceremony and tradition that tie the Pawnee to the stars, moon and storms. See photos, maps, and glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedintheplains *Part one of a two-part series exploring the stories...

The sky tells its story in many ways through observation, science and technology. In this episode, Dr. Randy Peppler from the University of Oklahoma explores how meteorology and Indigenous environmental knowledge intersect across the Great Plains and how listening to both reveal a deeper understanding of place and weather.  See photos, maps, and glimpses of prairie life on Instagram: @rootedinthep...

Nebraska is far from the ocean, but the land remembers water. More than 100 million years ago, it was the floor of a vast inland sea, and its salt still lingers in the marshes around Lincoln. In this episode, we trace how salt shaped Nebraska’s history, from the Otoe, Omaha, and Pawnee who gathered crystals for trade and food, to settlers who dreamed of a booming salt industry, to the rare plants...

From gunfights at Rock Creek to hot peaches at Liberty Farm, this episode traces the short but powerful run of the Pony Express. Though it lasted just 18 months, its mark across Nebraska endures, from relay stations and home stops to the towns and trails that grew in its wake.  You’ll hear stories from Rock Creek Station, where a deadly conflict launched the legend of Wild Bill Hickok. Liberty Far...

In the years after the Civil war, newly freed men stepped into uniforms and became part of the U.S. Army’s first Black regiments. Known later as the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry, these soldiers built forts, guarded settlers, patrolled reservations and carried the weight of frontier duty across the Great Plains and beyond.  In this episode, we follow their...

In this episode of Rooted in the Plains, we follow the life of George “Bird” Grinnell, naturalist, writer and advocate for the American West. From his early days learning under Madam Audubon to his expeditions across Montana and Yellowstone, Grinnell became a key voice in the conservation movement. He worked alongside Indigenous communities, helped found the Audubon and Boone & Crockett Clubs,...

In this episode of Rooted in the Plains, we open the doors to Nebraska’s opera houses, cultural centers that stood at the heart of prairie towns between 1870 and 1920. Though few ever hosted full operas, these spaces bustled with activity: traveling shows, lectures, community meetings and much more. Built to attract and retain residents, they were often nestled along main streets, reflecting the a...

A deceptively simple invention reshaped the Great Plains. In this episode, we explore how barbed wire transformed farming, ended the era of open-range cattle drives and stirred up fierce legal battles and neighbor disputes. From sod fences, osage orange hedgerows to fence-cutting wars and changing property laws, barbed wire marked a turning point in the region’s landscape and way of life.  We’ll c...

In this episode of Rooted in the Plains, we explore the life and letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart, whose homesteading experience in early 20th-century Wyoming offers one of the clearest windows into the daily lives of frontier women. From milking cows to cutting hay, Elinore’s vivid, often humorous letters reveal a life shaped by grit, joy and self-reliance.  Discover how a housekeeper became an...

Rooted in the Plains is a podcast about the people, places, and moments that shaped the Great Plains. From sod houses and opera halls to conservationists and Pony Express riders, host Nicole brings forgotten voices and buried histories to life. In each episode, you’ll explore stories of resilience, change, and connection — and discover how the past still echoes across the prairie today. Subscribe...