A Walk Through The Peaceful Valley Essay

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Madison Dodson
5/5/14
Research Paper

A Walk Through the Peaceful Valley: A Glance at the History of Arcadia Nebraska

As you walk down the streets of Arcadia Nebraska, you look from side to side and see nothing more than a quiet little town. What you probably aren’t aware of is the history behind this “little town”. Arcadia is built off of determination, character, and distinctiveness. As you make your way down Main Street, you start to grasp a glimpse of the past. Arcadia Nebraska is a village with quite a story to tell. Not many people know about how this little town was founded or even how it came to be. Arcadia has dealt with struggles and overcome tragedies that most towns simply would have died away if they had faced. In addition to the charm of Arcadia’s perseverance, there are also many fun and interesting facts about Arcadia that will dwell long in your mind. Everywhere you look, stories are deeply rooted into Arcadia’s family tree.
Not all stories have a great beginning, which is kind of the case with the start and founding of Arcadia. Arcadia started out as nothing more than a flat valley by the Middle Loup River. Before the peaceful valley was intruded by the settlers and pioneers of that time, it was home of the Indian, according to A View of the Valley. As time continued to pass, the natural resources of the valley diminished as the “Great White Hunter” invaded and killed most of the land and animals. (A View of the Valley 24) One of these “Great White Hunters”, was a man by the name of George McKeller. (24)
George McKeller was the very first person to settle in the land that is now Arcadia, as stated in A View of the Valley. Not many people are aware that George was the first settler of present day Arcadia. I...

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...him up, thus was the first embalming in Arcadia Nebraska. Other stories classified as “odd” could be related to the story of Walt and his skull. This particular story dates back to about 1933, when residents of Arcadia were helping to clean up the rubble of the school house that had just burnt down. It was said that Dr. Lee, one of Arcadia’s very first doctors, had donated a skeleton to the school. For some reason, one of the volunteers by the name of Walt, had a strange desire to find the skull of this skeleton among the rubble. As much as people tried to convince him that it had burnt up in the fire, he would not give in. Finally to end his obsession with the skull, another volunteer found a sheep skull on his farm and planted it amongst the burnt up remains of the school. Sure enough, Walt saw the skull and was pleased that he had found what he was looking for.

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