Banner County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the western part of the U.S. state of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

in the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

region of the United States. As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

, its population was 690. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is the unincorporated community of

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...

; there are no incorporated municipalities within the county. In the Nebraska

license plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificatio ...

system, Banner County is represented by the prefix 85 (it had the eighty-fifth largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922). Banner County is part of the

Scottsbluff Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The population was 14,436 at the 2020 census. Scottsbluff is the largest city in the Nebraska Panha ...

, NE Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

When Nebraska became a state in 1867, a single county encompassed the entire

Panhandle A salient (also known as a panhandle or bootheel) is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on ...

.Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey—Banner County.
Retrieved June 22, 2010. In 1870, the Panhandle's southern half was organized as Cheyenne County. The arrival of increasing numbers of settlers led to the partitioning of the county in 1888: the eastern third became

Deuel County Deuel County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Deuel County, Nebraska: named for Harry Porter Deuel, a long time railroad official who resided in Omaha, NE * Deuel County, South Dakota Deuel County ( ) is a county in the U.S. ...

; the middle third became present-day Cheyenne County; and the western third became Kimball, Scotts Bluff, and Banner Counties. The last of these was named by citizens who declared it would become the state's "banner county", and "the brightest star in the constellation of Nebraska counties". Upon the county's organization, the settlement of

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town **B ...

was chosen as the temporary county seat. Four communities aspired to be chosen as the permanent county seat: Ashford,

, Freeport, and Banner. Two special elections proved necessary before Harrisburg was chosen. The initial settlement of the area was by cattle ranchers, drawn by good pastures in the Pumpkin Creek valley. In the late 1880s, these open-range ranchers were displaced by an influx of settlers; by 1890, almost every quarter-section (160 acres, or 65 ha) was claimed by

homesteaders The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of ...

. However, the good moisture years that had attracted these settlers were followed by a severe drought in 1893 and 1894, which drove many of the new settlers away; the number of farms in the county declined by more than half, from 565 in 1890 to 226 in 1900. The land thus vacated was again used by ranchers, who raised both crops and cattle. The 1904 passage of the

Kinkaid Act The Kinkaid Act of 1904 (ch. 1801, , Apr. 28, 1904, ) is a U.S. statute that amended the 1862 Homestead Act so that one section (1 mi2, 2.6 km2, 640 acres) of public domain land could be acquired free of charge, apart from a modest filin ...

, which allowed homesteaders to claim brought a new wave of settlers; however, even these larger tracts were often insufficient to support a family, and many of the Kinkaid claims were eventually sold to established cattle ranchers. The county's growth was hindered by the absence of railroads: the nearest lines ran through Kimball, to the south, and Gering, to the north. Roads were also slow to develop in the county: in 1921, only dirt roads existed. The difficulty of reaching markets tended to discourage commercial crop farming in the county. Gabe Rock from NW 1

Irrigation

Rainfall in Banner County is light and variable; the average yearly precipitation at the Harrisburg weather station is . Farmers responded by resorting to irrigation. The first irrigation well was drilled by the late 1920s, and others quickly followed. By the late 20th century, center-pivot irrigation systems were in use through much of the county. By 2000, the Pumpkin Creek basin had approximately 500 registered irrigation wells."Pumpkin Creek Basin (PCB) Sub-Area".

Retrieved August 31, 2010. Groundwater pumping combined with drought conditions ended surface flow in Pumpkin Creek by 1993, and significantly reduced the valley's groundwater levels.Pope, Joanna. tp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NE/Outgoing/News/NebraskaSuccessStories/PumpkinCreekEQIP.pdf "Conservation Takes Pressure Off Pumpkin Creek". NRCS-Nebraska. Retrieved August 31, 2010. In 2001, the North Platte Natural Resources District, which regulates water use in the watershed, declared a moratorium on the drilling of new wells, and limited existing operations to of irrigation water per year. Complicating matters, lawsuits were filed contending water use in the Pumpkin Creek valley depleted flows into Lake McConaughy and interfered with the prior water rights of downstream irrigators.

ICBMs

Beginning in the early 1960s,

intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapo ...

s (ICBMs), based at Warren Air Force Base near

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistic ...

, were installed in western Nebraska,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

, and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

. From 1960 to 1963, 90

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geogra ...

sites were constructed in Nebraska. Construction of the launch sites, and upgrading of the roads leading to them, led to an economic boom in western Nebraska. Beginning in 1963, the Atlas series was replaced by Minuteman missiles, which used solid instead of liquid fuel, and which were launched from underground silos. In the 1970s, there were 82 Minuteman III sites in the Panhandle, of which 20 were located in Banner County.

Geography

According to the

US Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the county has an area of , of which is land and (0.02%) is water. Banner County lies on what was once a tableland sloping away from the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. Over geologic history, it was eroded by Pumpkin Creek and other watercourses, and much of the county now lies below the original High Plains level. The county can be divided into four major geographic divisions: the low-lying and relatively flat valley of Pumpkin Creek, which occupies about 40% of the county's area; a tableland, in places smooth and in others deeply dissected, occupying the southern one-third of the county; the Wildcat Hills, a highly dissected

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

that crosses the county's northwestern portion; and a small portion of the

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 In a ...

valley in the county's northeastern corner.

Adjacent counties

The western edge of Banner County abuts the eastern border of the state of

. * Scotts Bluff County - north * Morrill County - east * Cheyenne County - southeast * Kimball County - south *

Laramie County, Wyoming Laramie County is a county located at the southeast corner of the state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 100,512 or 17.4% of the state's total 2020 population, making it the most populous county in Wyoming, ...

- west *

Goshen County, Wyoming Goshen County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 12,498. Its county seat is Torrington. The eastern boundary of the County borders the Nebraska state line. Goshen County produces ...

- northwest

Highways

Nebraska Highway 88 Nebraska Highway 88 (N-88) is a highway in northwestern Nebraska. It has a western terminus at Wyoming Highway 151 (WYO 151) at the Wyoming–Nebraska state line. The road travels eastward to N-71, where it turns south. N-88 continues east to ...

– runs generally east–west, from

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonn ...

La Grange, Wyoming LaGrange is a town in Goshen County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 448 at the time of the 2010 census. Geography LaGrange is located at (41.638359, -104.164330). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a tot ...

, passing north of Harrisburg *

Nebraska Highway 71 Nebraska Highway 71 is a highway in western Nebraska. Its southern terminus is at the Colorado border south of Kimball, as a continuation of Colorado State Highway 71. Its northern terminus is at the South Dakota border northwest of Crawford, w ...

– runs north–south, from Kimball to Gering, passing east of Harrisburg.

Demographics

Banner County's population peaked at 2,435 in 1890 and has since steadily declined. It is one of the least populated counties of Nebraska. As of the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 c ...

, there were 819 people, 311 households, and 237 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 1 person per square mile (0.42/km²). There were 375 housing units at an average density of 0 per square mile (0/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.85%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.12%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.24% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 3.05% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. 5.62% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race. 31.2% were of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, 14.4%

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, 14.1%

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, 8.0% Swedish, 6.8% Irish and 5.0% Norwegian ancestry. There were 311 households, out of which 30.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.10% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 4.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.50% were non-families. 19.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.06. The county population contained 28.80% under the age of 18, 3.70% from 18 to 24, 24.30% from 25 to 44, 27.20% from 45 to 64, and 16.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 108.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,339, and the median income for a family was $41,538. Males had a median income of $25,250 versus $18,750 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $17,149. About 12.30% of families and 13.60% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 19.00% of those under age 18 and 11.10% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

About 60% of Banner County is given over to farming: chiefly

winter wheat Winter wheat (usually '' Triticum aestivum'') are strains of wheat that are planted in the autumn to germinate and develop into young plants that remain in the vegetative phase during the winter and resume growth in early spring. Classificatio ...

and rangeland,"Banner County".''Scottsbluff Star-Herald''.
November 18, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2010. but also

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

, beans,

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet ('' Beta vulgaris''). Together ...

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

es,

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), ...

s, rapeseed, and

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets a ...

. In response to groundwater depletion and drought, the

Natural Resources Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners an ...

has developed a system of cash incentives for farmers in the Pumpkin Creek watershed who convert irrigated cropland to

dryland farming Dryland farming and dry farming encompass specific agricultural techniques for the non-irrigated cultivation of crops. Dryland farming is associated with drylands, areas characterized by a cool wet season (which charges the soil with virtua ...

. Oil was discovered in Banner County in 1919, but the deposits were too deep to be commercially viable at that time. Petroleum production in Banner County began in 1951, and peaked in 1960, when was produced from 397 wells. By 2009, the number of wells had fallen to about 200; but new discoveries in

Weld County, Colorado Weld County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 328,981. The county seat is Greeley. Weld County comprises the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Denve ...

prompted interest in exploring the Niobrara shale, which lies beneath western Nebraska, northeastern Colorado, and southeastern Wyoming. A 2010 sale of oil leases yielded record prices in Banner and Kimball counties.

Education

Banner County is covered by a single school district, with a

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...

school located in Harrisburg. As of 2017, the school's enrollment was 151.Banner County Schools website
Retrieved January 15, 2019.

Communities

Census-designated place

It is the only community in Banner County and the county seat; it is one of two unincorporated county seats in Nebraska."About Us".Banner County official website.
Retrieved December 11, 2017.

Politics

Banner County voters are strongly Republican. In only three national elections since 1900 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate. This has only strengthened in recent years, with Republicans winning over 80% of the vote in each of the past six elections, dating back to 2000.

Notes

References

* Hayes, F. A., and H. L. Bedell (1921).
''Soil Survey of Banner County, Nebraska''.
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. Retrieved November 22, 2015.

External links

Banner County Historical Society
{{Coord, 41.54, -103.72, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-NE_source:UScensus1990 Nebraska counties 1888 establishments in Nebraska Populated places established in 1888