North Platte River Valley Road TripStarting in Henry, the westernmost community in Nebraska, adventure 25 miles in the North Platte River Valley along Highway 26 before ending at Scottsbluff. |
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HENRY IS THE westernmost community in Nebraska, and travelers on course for the setting sun pass through this little burg as the final outpost at the state line. In the time it takes to speak its simple name, they mark the beginning of Wyoming and the end of Nebraska.
No one likes to be at the end of anything, so we decided to begin a trip with Henry, adventuring 25 miles in the North Platte River Valley along Highway 26 before ending at Scottsbluff.
At the Wyoming state line, a stone marker recognizes the Oregon Trail, which – with the nearby Mormon Trail – brought west-bound immigrants through this river valley before it had any towns or farms.
Today’s Platte River seems little more than an anemic muddy stream meandering across the length of Nebraska as irrigation draws have dwindled its flow, but at Henry, the North Platte retains luster of yesteryear.
The spring and early-summer current is deep and fast from Wyoming Rocky Mountain snow melt. Half a mile south of Henry, water rushes through spandrel arches resting on concrete abutments of a landmark bridge.
A few hundred yards west, at the state line, a cable car hangs above the river. Water workers for the Bureau of Reclamation ride it weekly to gauge depth and flow of the river as it enters Nebraska, compliments of lawsuits and water rights agreements between Wyoming and Nebraska.
Water is the story of this valley, and it’s near here that Henry got its name, after the heartsick founder of the yet-unnamed town lost his boy to the current. However, because of the river, the valley is productive farm ground today.
Near where the landmark bridge, at Stateline Island, hungry and destitute farmers in 1887 built the first diversion dam on this river and tapped it with the first irrigation canal. Stateline is no longer an island but is part of the North Platte Wildlife Refuge. Migratory birds and deer fill the valley and prove there is still plenty of life along the river.
The 1887 canal inspired the completion of a larger Farmers Irrigation Tri-State Canal in 1911, which is the farming lifeblood of this valley. The canal and lateral system jogs 330 miles through the valley to irrigate 65,000 acres of farmland before dumping back into the North Platte River and finally into the Lake McConaughy reservoir at Ogallala. Highway 26 skips over the concrete canal between Henry and Scottsbluff like a game of hopscotch.
“It’s what keeps the valley running,” said Kevin Adams, manager of the canal.
Had it not been built, it’s easy to say that Scottsbluff, Gering and other cities in the valley would be glimmers of what they are today.
A good place to stop and see just how the canal diverts water from the North Platte is at the Farmers Irrigation Tri-State Canal head gates, between Henry and Morrill. Nearby is a small house where Curtis Kessler, his wife and children live. The children play on a trampoline in the yard.
Kessler’s job is “water delivery technician.” He makes sure there is enough water in the canal to fill water-purchase orders of farmers growing hay, sugar beets and corn.
During summer thunderstorms, Kessler is out at the river night and day, adjusting head gates to the changing water level. Then, he’s off in his pickup truck to drive the canal ridges, scoping the waterways for breeches and debris. After that, he makes rounds to help farmers tend their own feeder ditches.
“I like seeing the water run by,” Kessler said from atop the head gates. The work days are long, but Kessler knows that his role of connecting water with the farmers is important. The wet years are more gratifying than the dry years, he said, and there are frequent dry years in the valley.