EP #12 - Slacker Dave Loves Going Places With Matt Steinhausen

This is episode number 12 of the Slacker Dave Loves Nebraska podcast!

On this episode Dave hangs out with our favorite Nebraska Historian, Matt Steinhausen! This week we head to Branched Oak in the beautiful Oak Valley to talk about Crounse Nebraska, a small village that was located in the area where Branched Oak Lake is located. Along the way Matt surprises Dave with a trip to Branched Oak farm for a tour of Doug and Carla's sanctuary and learn some history of the area from Doug. We end the trip at The Ding in Raymond Nebraska for a wrap up of the day and some food (yes, Matt had a Patty Melt).

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome into Emah, Arlington to Rule Slacker Day. Love the fresca. Standing bearing rock for Welch and Welcome to Slacker Day. Love the fresca. I can watch James in the roll. Some runs if you please. The Frenchie filled with cheese. He's the one who loves it all of us through and through Slacker Day. Loves the fresca. Slacker day. Loves the fresca. Slacker day. Loves the blaska. And now, Slacker Dave.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Hey, uh, welcome to episode number. I don't know what episode number this is. It I think things are getting messed around, so I'm not going to start saying that. And I'll just tell you on the on the thing. But hey, I'm Dave. Welcome to the uh Slacker Dave Loves Nebraska podcast. Uh it's a beautiful day out today. I am at, I don't know if anybody can see if anybody can guess where I'm at at the moment before we say it out loud. Because I know somebody's gonna be knowing this. Somebody's gonna go. I know where they're at. Well, I'm here with, of course, Matt Steinhausen, official, uh, the uh unofficial, official, you know, you know the official historian. Uh historian of the Nebraska for the Slacker Day Love Nebraska podcast. Uh, and then Doug Ditman. We are at uh Branstoke Farms. Uh Matt and I were going out to uh Brandstokes. We're gonna talk a little bit about Crowns, Nebraska. And Matt goes, I got someplace we're gonna stop first. And I'm like, this is kick ass.

SPEAKER_03 1:49

I said I had something up my sleeve, and I actually had something up both sleeves. And big surprise, uh, Dave had no idea. We came out to see Doug, and Doug was uh outside to greet us.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Heck yeah, working, working, man.

SPEAKER_05 2:02

That's right, before it gets too hot. I'm glad I'm glad you're here.

unknown 2:05

So it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Talk louder, Doug. I'm glad you're here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll work it out. But we're going straight off the rails right now. Thank you. Because I think I if I'm guessing and if they go in order, I think we might be on episode 13.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

I think it's 12. Okay. I'm gonna call it 13. But I don't know if this will be 12. Exactly. It might not go in order. Yeah, so I gotta stop doing that.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

I agree. I'm just gonna call it 13, and if we do another one, it'll be 13A, 13b.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

I'm saying 12.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

Okay, 12 it is.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yep, yep. Because the last one, uh 11 was with Basil. Rick uh Rick congratulated us on being able to turn it up to 11 now.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Right on. Well, hey, but I wanted to talk to Doug because we're gonna we're out here to talk about Krounce, Nebraska and the Oak Valley. Oh, beautiful Oak Valley. It's a well, we're overlooking it. If you turn the camera around, you're overlooking the Oak Valley, which is Oak Creek, and it comes down from where Branched Oak Lake is and flows. We're looking towards the south, and it flows towards the east through Raymond and into Lincoln, and then it and then it intersects with Salt Creek down kind of where Oak Lake is. And the reason uh Branched Oak Lake is called Branched Oak, it's because where two branches of Oak Creek merge is where they put the dam. So it's not Branched Oak Creek, it's Oak Creek. Uh, but when they built the dam, there was a little town down there called Crounce. And uh I called Doug yesterday and I said, Doug, what do you know about Krounce, Nebraska?

SPEAKER_05 3:41

And he said uh oh, there was still the uh women's extension club we used to meet when I first moved out here. And uh and of course, Branched Oak Road, if you take it that way, it dead ends right into the lake. We used to go to Krounce.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

That's right. Krounce was on 112th and Branched Oak Road, I think.

SPEAKER_05 4:00

So when you come down from Malcolm, that road dead ends right into the lake. And so that would be a dramatic shot for you, Dave.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're gonna go there.

SPEAKER_05 4:10

Yeah, so that's cool.

SPEAKER_03 4:11

You also talked, told me about autoliebers. Oh, yes, and you told me that the women from Krounce, uh there there was a Methodist church there, and they they helped join up with the Methodist Church in Raymond, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

That is correct, yes.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

And we're gonna go to Raymond later. And while we're on the subject, do you guys know what Raymond was named for?

SPEAKER_05 4:31

Raymond Brothers Grocery.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

I am Raymond, you know the Raymond Brothers Grocery, wholesale grocery building in the Haymarket.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

I am Raymond was one of the brothers or or of the family and the town of, and he was a railroad agent, and he helped get the rails through, and they named Raymond for I am Raymond. Oh, so it was still a railroad guy. He was a railroad guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know that had the railroad, but now going off the rails because we go off the rails. Speaking of rails, do you have something to say, Doug?

SPEAKER_05 5:01

Well, I was gonna say uh he was hauling a load, the story is he was hauling a load of groceries to Raymond, and they were mulling over uh what they should name it. And he said, Well, I'm feeding you, why don't you call it Raymond?

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:17

Well, okay. Yeah, and by the way, that that grove, since you're talking about the Oak Valley, that grove of Burr Oaks on the north end of Raymond, when they first pulled into town, it was kind of uh kind of like the Lorrax, they parked their wagons under those oak trees. So they're very old, and uh that's right, has been the seed source for all my oak trees.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

So you have burr oak trees out here, you've created an oak savanna. That's right, and you're using oaks from that grove down by Raymond.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

Yeah, the original grove, yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Doug's farm here is approximately what two miles away the crow flies, northwest of Raymond, about three miles northwest of Raymond. And it overlooks the Oak Valley, which is beautiful. Part of the reason, Dave, I wanted to come out here to Doug's Farm is because it the view of the Oak Valley uh uh and it is a historic farm where we're at because this was at one time, it was the home of the first ever Roots Falcon Roots Music Festival. You hosted it here. Where was the stage?

SPEAKER_05 6:20

Just to the north, but that was fantastic. Boy, I missed that one. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

It was the perfect uh spot for it.

SPEAKER_05 6:28

Did anybody come for Gregory Allen Isaac? That's that's nice. That's my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

That and that Gregory Allen, that was probably the perfect venue for that guy.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

You know, it was pretty hot at that. Was it this time of year?

SPEAKER_05 6:42

It was always in June.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Okay. So it had to been 15 years ago now or thereabouts?

SPEAKER_05 6:48

Oh, it was like 2015 through 17.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

So we're at a we're at the 10-year anniversary of, you know, or 10, 11. Anyway, I just thought that would tie in a little bit with Nebraska history because it is the slacker Dave Loves Nebraska show.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

And plus we like going off the rails and then coming back on the rails. We need Basil with us. He's a derailler, but he keeps us on the rails, which is ironic. Hey, but I wanted to do this, and I don't mean to take control. No, go right ahead, go right ahead, man. I wanted to walk around and I want to go up to Doug's Tower, and maybe Doug can tell us a little bit about the farm as we walk up to the top of Doug's Tower to overlook the Oak Valley and to check out some of the masonry because Doug has always been a fan of brick masonry, all kinds of masonry, stone masonry. And he said, he told me the other day that one of his inspirations was watching uh the brick be laid on 13th and O Street when they decorated it with that star at the center of 13th and O, which has been almost 40 years.

SPEAKER_05 7:52

So it was it was 1976.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

So, yeah, it was 50 years ago. This summer. Wow, 50 years ago. So here we are, and part of that inspiration has led to what we're gonna experience here. So, Doug, let's meander our way towards the tower, and you can tell us a little bit about your building. This was at one time, I'm gonna interrupt you before you even start. This was at one time your dairy barn.

unknown 8:16

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

This was the parlor where you milked cows and kept milk, and you had a creamery here for a while. That was the creamery. And uh, but now Doug has converted the farm, and I'm gonna call it a sanctuary or a retreat. I'm gonna call it a retreat. Uh I I like sanctuary. I love it. So instead of growing food, he's growing souls. Heck yeah. Uh it's a beautiful place. But let's walk around a little and check it out, Doug. And let's walk down towards the tower.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

I'm gonna yeah. I want to pet a bee.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

So Doug Doug built this tower a few years back. What two, three years ago now? Yeah. Doug got married right here. This was his altar. Where his cattle used to stand waiting to be built. Beautiful. It's neat, and it's you you can hear the barn swallows, maybe. They're everywhere. All right, let's go check out, watch your step. Let's go check out that tower.

SPEAKER_05 9:27

I know John Jochum drove the concrete truck the day that we poured this.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

John Joachim, member of the uh natural resources district in the uh in the state of Nebraska, the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District. I love all the glass work. You can't imagine how much wine Doug and I had to drink to get all these bottles emptied so we could use them. It's for a good cause. Look at this view, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Did you make your did you make the uh oh man?

SPEAKER_05 9:58

Madeira falsa.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

What does Madeira falsa mean, Doug?

SPEAKER_05 10:06

False wood.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Ah, false wood.

SPEAKER_05 10:09

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

Is Gustavo here now? Nice.

SPEAKER_05 10:24

We can have town.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

Okay. Well that's uh I'm gonna I'm gonna lead our way up the go ahead. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 10:32

There you go. Mike Plescotch did the iron work. Iron mic.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Mike Plescotch did the iron work. He built this curvy rail perfectly. Are those your guys at hand?

SPEAKER_05 10:46

That's my hand and Carlos. Oh, that's sweet. And our wedding bands.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

So, Dave, uh, we were talking earlier about Krounce, Nebraska. And Krounce was located, this is the uh this is the Oak Valley out here, and Krounce was located exactly three miles that direction, and we're gonna drive there in a little bit. But we wanted to I wanted to get a kind of an overview of the valley before we meander our way out that direction.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

So the poker roots were just on the oh God, on the other side of that uh that's right, right there. That grove right there.

SPEAKER_05 11:32

And then don't forget the capital. That's where the oak creek flows, where it meets the salt. I don't know if you can see that on it.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

So Doug says the Oak Creek goes towards the Capitol in the Salt Creek in Lincoln. It's quite a ways in the distance, and we have a little haze here from Canada wildfires.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

Which yes, so it's a little hazy, but otherwise pretty spectacular out here. Not much wind. Doug, this has been great. Do you have anything else you want to? I'm gonna move over to you by the microphone. Do you know anything else about Crounce, Nebraska, or the Oak Valley?

SPEAKER_05 12:16

Let's see. Well, uh Crounce, of course, the uh branched oak road. You said it was 112. I believe it was 112th. Yeah. So um the old roads are still there, and of course they just dead in to dive right into the lake.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

And we have to drive from the west end of the lake to get to where crowns used to be. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 12:37

Yeah. And of course, there was uh, well, there was a school, there was an elementary school, and there was a church, and there was a store and a little creamery where you could sell cream and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Was uh there was a post office there as well. Do you think the post office was in the store? I read the post office ended pretty early. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:58

Okay. So apparently there, yeah, I heard there was a post office. And then the Stearns family was a big family over there. And uh, this whole district here was plowed very late because it was considered saline. It's salt. So it's all salt land. So this was good ranch country. As a matter of fact, I remember the first, I remember the first man on this farm who uh plowed from from ranch land in the farmland. And uh his name was Bert Graham. He came out in 1894 and he died in uh 67. And you remember him. I do remember as a little boy. So uh, you know, this is our history is very short. So these were the saline lands, it was all ranch country. And matter of fact, I remember a neighbor, uh Lanier Baxter, when he was a boy in the 20s, he remembered Mr. Dooling, an old man, that had uh, when he was a boy, ran cattle all through the where Branch Stoke Lake is and stayed out all summer with the cattle. And it was all good ranch country. Yeah, this is great. Matter of fact, the south rim of the valley is still Virgin Crick, and it's just beautiful land.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Well, this is a great view up here, Doug. This is incredible. I appreciate you taking the time. One of the other things, Doug, you that you told me about was that uh Ranch Oak Lake was created as an uh like a legislative act by a guy named uh Otto Liebers, who had a dairy farm in South Lincoln. And we're gonna talk about him more when we get to the lake. Did you know Otto?

SPEAKER_05 14:33

Did you I don't I didn't I don't remember Otto Lieber's, but there's of course there's a uh just a beautiful glacial erratic there that's dedicated to him. And I love it. It kind of looks like I don't it's a wonderful stone. But of course, auto lever's I do remember his uh farm on the southeast corner of Fort Uh Cheney, yeah, limestone house. Yep. And I think he was involved getting the cream break going.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

He also ran uh him and his family ran Skyline Dairy, uh, where the IBEW hall is now.

unknown 15:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Uh so we'll talk about that a little more when we go to Otto's uh old dairy road right there. Exactly. Oh boing, bing, bing, bing. One degree of separation. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

I think we're uh we're gonna we're gonna put it. So the marker at Branch Jove for Crowns is on Lieber's Point. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

And then your uh of course, your folks would probably love that uh Lieber's, of course, means lover uh or lovers. So Lieber's Point. So it's lovers point. The romantics out there, that's lover's point. So it's it's just it might be potentially a great place to go. There's a nice, nice beach there, so you can go at least.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Well, uh thank you so much for letting us come on to your farm and give us this quick tour.

SPEAKER_05 15:53

Thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Uh we might have to do another one sometime out here. I'm all in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

We might have to redo this one. Dave never lets us redo anything. No, no editing. No editing.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Whatever is said, said anytime.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

Thanks, Doug. This has been great. I really appreciate it. Thanks for coming out.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

And it's beautiful, such a beautiful. This is uh dreamy. As we go off, I want you to be back. Hey, I want to thank Duffy Tavern for being a sponsor of the Slacker Dave Loves Nebraska podcast. I want to thank uh Scott and the whole family uh for uh believing in my uh thing here.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Uh James, uh tell us why we should come to Duffy. You should come to Duffy's for original music and for a local community scene and come and see me and the rest of the people here that I want to take care of you, bring you into that community vis-a-vis that local music scene. Come to Duffy's every day. Open every day. Thank you very much. Thank you, David.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Hey, want to give a big thank you to Rick Peters for sponsoring the Slacker Dave Love Nebraska podcast. Rick is an independent insurance agent, uh AMS Insurance Center. The phone number is 402-476-3599. He's a great guy, great personal service. Amanda and I have been uh customers of his for years. You're just a real good guy. You just you want to come see him. But the most important thing about Rick is he is a host of not one but two shows on KZUM 89.3 FM. Uh he hosts Rockin' Bones on Friday nights from 6 to 7.30. Rockabilly and all that kind of related fun music. And then Tuesday mornings from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. It's the sugar frosted chocolate bomb diggity good time show. And you never know what you're gonna hear on there, but you know, they call him Rickabilly. I like to call him Rickopedia. He knows a lot, great shows. Thank you very much. All right, we're back. We're at uh Libra's Point in at the Branch Stoke Lake State Park, uh northwest of Lincoln. And we are at Libra's Point right here. And then let me give you a quick panoramic. We're on the uh yeah. Yeah. The V.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

The V. Branch Oak Lake is a big V, about like my, if you can see my, and we're here in the V. And what the V is, is there were two creeks that came in here. This was Peanut Creek or the uh west branch of Oak Creek, and this was the uh southwest branch of Oak Creek, and they merged here, and at that merger, they built a dam. And that branch branched Oak Creek, where it branched out, that's where they dammed it, and you got branched oak lake. And so we're at the at that V, we're standing here at that V at what they call Lieber's Point. Libers Point. 1968? 68 is about when the lake was finished. Finished. But it's called Lieber's Point because in 1953, Otto Hugo Liebers, who is a legislator uh in the Unicameral in the state of Nebraska, he introduced a bill called the Watershed District Bill to create watershed districts to help protect uh farmland and towns from flooding. Oh, for the whole state. For the whole state. Oh, and so they created different districts, and we're in the maybe the Lower Platte South district or whatever district we're in, I don't know. We're in a district, but we're below that anyway. We're in one of those districts, and Branchstoke Lake was one of those flood control projects. And so by building a dam on the the branch where the branches of Oak Creek come together, they protected the towns of Raymond, Nebraska, and Lincoln, Nebraska from flooding. And so that's what uh Branchstoke Lake, in addition to being a recreational lake, it is a flood control lake. And Otto Hugo Lieber's, who helped create the legislation that created Branch Stoke Lake and all the other uh lakes in the in the districts for flood control, um, he is originally from Kearney County, Nebraska, 1884, born in Kearney County, came to Lincoln to go to UNL. Yep, yep. Uh, and then he started a farm, uh, went to College of Agriculture, and started a farm uh called Skyline Dairy in 1926. And Skyline Dairy is at 14th and Old Cheney Road. And uh part of his dairy was uh now what is where uh where uh the IBEW Hall is on South 14th Street. Uh for all of you familiar with Lincoln, it's right by Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Yes, yep.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

So Auto Lieber's Branch Stoke Lake has a connection to 14th and Old Cheney, which is kind of cool. Auto Hugo Libers.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

So quick side note. Uh so Wildwood Lake, which is uh straight north of here, not a state park, but it is a uh, oh my god, I'm brain farting on this.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

I'm brain farting myself. We're going off the rails, so that's great. Uh resource? Natural resources lake, uh, or uh uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Oh God. Too bad we can't edit. Oh, I know. Too bad. Well, hey, we'll figure it out. Somebody will correct. We're gonna have a whole show of this. But so I know part of the, I think that's part of the uh, it's not a state, but it's still part of the flood uh control lakes. Yep. And there's uh a lot of those amongst the the uh state.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

I and if I'm not mistaken, I believe Branchstoke Lake is the biggest in Lancaster County.

unknown 21:59

Uh

SPEAKER_03 22:00

I think probably easily bigger. It's obviously bigger than Pawnee Lake.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Oh, yeah, it's big. It's the biggest lake in the area. And then I think, what's bigger? Um McConaughey, of course.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Yes, yes. And then Oh, all of those. Johnson, Sherman, Calamus. Yeah, like those are those are all much, much bigger. Giant, giant lakes.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Yeah. But for this area. This is pretty big. This is pretty much the ocean. You know, living in the middle of Nebraska, this is pretty much close to the ocean. The only triple landlocked state. Only triple landlocked state in the nation. I just learned that. We're the only triple landlocked state.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

I didn't know that until recently. Yeah, you're uh anyway. I want to show this rock here at Lieber's Point. This is a little, I think they probably was excavated here when they when they created it. It's obviously uh a glacial uh was left here by the glaciers that came through during the uh the receding of the ice age. Yep, yeah. Probably from uh, who knows, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Canada, who knows? So anyway, this is Lieber's Point. And the other thing is, there was a town here. And the name of the town was Krounce, Nebraska. And it wasn't even a town. We're gonna call it a village.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

And we are gonna go just a little ways over that way. We're gonna drive over there instead of walk. We can walk.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

I saw, I saw, uh, yeah, let's walk. We're gonna make a decision on the fly. Yeah, we'll just go. Okay. There's people, you know, it's getting busy down here. So we're walking through what was the village. You get on this side, I mean, so we can see the lake, because you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

All right. So we're walking through what was the village of Krouts, Nebraska. And Krouts consisted of uh a store, a creamery, um, a church, and a school. And the school was established in 1870. So Nebraska hadn't even been a state for three years when out here they built a school for the community. And you can imagine why this would be a great place to build uh a little community because you had tricks on either. And you probably had native fur oak trees in the vicinity where you could use those to help build a cabin. Yeah, you had resources. Yeah. So you had water and wood.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

And that's about the two most important things that you could have at that point in time in Nebraska. Like, and with wood, you got some game.

unknown 24:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

With water. The advantage of being on a crick is that um that's where uh there's where the water everywhere out here.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Oh my god, we can't do this. We'll be picking up trucks all day.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

But the uh the advantage of being on uh for for wildlife for hunting and trapping, when you're near water, wildlife needs water. And sometimes when it's dry, the only place there's water is at the creeks. So it makes it easier to uh so Krautz would have been a pretty obvious location for a little place uh to have a small village. Um Krautz was the name of Krautz is interesting because it was named someone's third garlic there. There's like two clothes, two closers. Sorry. That's all right. Someone was making their meal right there on the pigment. So Krautz was named for uh a governor of Nebraska, but he wasn't governor yet when Krautz was named, I don't think. He uh he was a guy from New York, his name was uh you're catching me on the his name was I got it in my notes here. Um I I'm I'm thought he was a legislator. He was. He was he was uh a member of the House of Representatives. Yes. He was when back when Nebraska he was the third ever representative in the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska. And he was also on the first Nebraska Supreme Court.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

And so this Krauss guy. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

There we go.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

Lorenzo Kraut. Lorenzo Krautz. It was a captain, actually Captain Lorenzo Krouts. There he is. Captain Lorenzo Kraut. Nebraska Supreme Court justice in 1867. That's the year Nebraska became a state. So he was one of the first justices on the Supreme Court. And then in 1873, he became a congressman. Nebraska's third ever congressman, the state of Nebraska's third congressman ever to go to Washington, D.C. And back then, we only had one congressman because we were so low populated. And then uh he became governor. Uh but this is the this is what I was talking about. There was a school established as early as 1870. It didn't close until 1962. The post office was just a few years, 1873 to 1901. And the church was a Methodist general store and a creamery. Anyway, uh what I wanted to say was uh the my understanding is that the school the church was here, the school was there, and the store and creamery were right here where we're standing right here, where we're standing. And this was an intersection. You can even see the road way off in the distance. It's 112. You see that road? It's 112th out there. This was at the convergence of 112th and branched oak. West Branched Oak Road. So when that road came down through here and met, there was an intersection right here. Oh, it's a cross call district number 47. That's interesting. I hadn't seen that. The funny thing about Crown grew up in uh Lorenzo, Captain Lorenzo, he became a captain during the Civil War. Uh he was from New York State originally. And he uh he studied, he was first a seminarian, and then later on went to law school, and then the Civil War happened, and he became a captain in the Civil War, and he was injured in uh 1862, so he had to he had to drop out. And in 1864, he came to Nebraska and moved to Rullo, Nebraska, where he had a law practice and became part of the when Nebraska became a state, or even before he was part of the territorial government, became a legislator, uh obviously, and a Supreme Court justice. But he and then he later on he lived in Omaha, but he never lived here. They named it for him as a tribute just to his service to the state while he was still serving the state. And I always wondered if that didn't help him get any favors. But I don't think it did. Now here's another thing about Kraunts' history. When they decided to build a lake here, there were still families living out here. And I wrote the names of some of the families down because I think this is kind of interesting. Some people might recognize the names. The names included uh Bolar, Carr, Barrett, Pain, Stearns, Dooling, and Graves. And I bring this up because Doug told us before we left Doug Dittmans to come here. He told us about a uh a person named Stearns, Mrs. Stearns, Grandma Stearns.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Grandma Stearns, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Who got a two-story house here, which is, I think, kind of located about where we're at. By the uh observatory. No, that that's where it is now. They moved it. Oh, they moved it there, yeah. She, but she wouldn't leave the house when they built the lake. And according to local legend, she was sitting on the front porch on her rocking chair.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Yeah, didn't want to leave that rocking chair.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

Wouldn't leave. So before this lake was built, and you can imagine why, she didn't want to leave her home. They forced her out. Eminent no bain domain style. And uh and the last person still living in Kraunce was Granny Stern. Um another thing about Krawnce, so Kraunce quit being a town more or less when the lake a village, when the lake was built, and then they merged kind of with Raymond. And there was still a Krounce women's group, and but the Methodist church closed and they joined up with the Raymond Methodist Church. And that's all the notes I have on uh but we're gonna I think from here, yeah, yeah. We should go drive by the observatory and see if the old Stearns of Granny Stearns' house is still there because they allegedly moved it from here to there.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Well, I just want to tell people, like, so Matt and I have been talking, and this is a perfect example. We're gonna try to start doing some like shorter little segments on state historical markers. Because there's what is there's like 500 of them? Over 400. Over 400 of them. Uh there's a great uh website that you can go to. Uh if you just Google Nebraska State Historical Markers, you'll find the website. Yes. Uh, and they tell the history of everyone. But we, you know, I think we're gonna have to take some trips and hit a bunch of them. You know. I thought it was funny that you said we keep them short.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

All right. Hey, we're ready to move on to the next stop.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

All right, uh, well, all right, let's get out of here. I'm sure uh I'm sure Kane, you're gonna put some cool the ads or something in the middle. It's just a good opportunity for some of those. I like, you know what I what I like when he does it is like when he makes it all shaky and the red and the blue, and then it yeah, it gets all I like it. I love that. Hey y'all, I just want to thank uh Rourke's Tavern for sponsoring Slacker Dave Loves Nebraska. Rourke's Tavern, it's Lincoln's downtown, it's like a neighborhood bar right in the middle of downtown. We're at 1329 O Street, and uh you know, Rourke's I've always described as kind of like the backstage to the Lincoln uh musical community. They do fun things all year round, they got specials every day, they got two pool tables, they do dance parties, they got a chili cook-off every year. So you just want a nice, relaxing time, come on down, see Geordie and the whole family down here at O'Rourke. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

All right, we're back. Matt, where are we at? Well, we don't know for sure, but the mystery is more interesting than the solution.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

We think we're at the two-story Stearns House, which at one time stood in Krounce, Nebraska, about two miles from here, which is now kind of in the middle of where Branch Stoke Lake is. But then they had to move the old Stearns place, Granny Stearns House, and that's the if you look on the uh left side of your image there, I think that's the front porch that Granny Stearns was on in her rocking chair, uh that the sheriff had to come out and call her off. And uh then they moved the house to closer to where the observatory is. Yeah, because we're right on what, 98? I think so, something like that. 96, maybe. There's kind of a clue that this house has been moved, a couple clues. One of them is the front porch is facing north, and normally a front porch of a house would never face north. Uh the other one is that you can see the foundation, that gray foundation, appears to be a newer foundation. Oh, heck, yeah. Which would indicate the house had been relocated to this to this location. So, anyway, we think that's the old Stearns house that is the last remnant of Crounce, Nebraska. You're right on. Where are we going now? We're going to Raymond.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

All right, take us there. All right, let's rock it. I'm still in reverse. Didn't tell anybody that we only were driving in reverse, right? Pretty uh, you know, this area around Lincoln, pretty beautiful spot. Well, I mean, everywhere around Lincoln there's a beautiful spot.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

On a day like today, my mouth, my jaw has been opened all day long. The corn is starting to tassel. The clouds, we got the little, it's the puffy cloud day. There's no wind, everything is green. Oh, yeah. And we're entering you're getting that little golden color on the corn right now. Yep, it's and we're entering what's now the oak valley. Right on that glorious green valley of the Oak Creek. This this road takes us straight to Raymond, so we'll be back when we get to Raymond.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

Yeah, yeah, we're gonna be back. Uh Matt's hoping they have a patty mail. I'm hoping so. I hope that hope the ding's open. Hey, I just want to thank the zoo bar for sponsoring the Slack of Dave Nebraska podcast. Pete, I want to thank you a lot for doing this. Uh I appreciate it. Tell people why they should come to the zoo bar. I mean, where else are you gonna come? Upstead, right there. All right. Thanks, Pete. Arnold Palmer, today for me. Water on ice. Uh so uh we're at the ding. Formerly the ding-aling. Formerly and the ding-aling.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

What's funny is when it was the ding-aling, people called it the ding. And then the chest. No, it's a ding, they call it the ding-aling.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_03 34:58

And actually, it's both. It just, it's just, it's both. Heck yeah. And what we're in Raymond, Nebraska, at the convergence, near the convergence of West Oak Creek, which is where Branch to Oak Lake is, and North Oak Creek, which comes down from the north up by Avenue. And uh, so anyway, North, I think it's North Oak Creek that comes through Raymond.

SPEAKER_04 35:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

And we're uh this what where we're sitting here used to be uh, I believe at one time a grocery store in Raymond, uh right on we're in the main drag, and then uh it got turned into a restaurant. And I believe the mystery is more interesting than the solution, but I suspect it was became the dangling in about 1970 to 72, somewhere in there. And it's been through a whole series of owners and improvements and renovations and sitting unused for a while and then reopening in 2008 and then going through different owners again and again.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Nice little restaurant out in the middle, out of out of out of the city. Yes, you know, nice little nice little destination spot. I'm gonna call it a diner. A diner? I don't know. Bar and grill. Bar and grill. I would go bar and grill. Because uh, you know, like the my mom and dad owned a bar. Yeah. It was a lounge. It was actually Ravy's liquor and lounge. So in the front half, they had a liquor store. Okay, and then the back half there was a lounge. So, you know, it was like you walked in the bar, and then down below there's tall door tables and everything, and then later on they put tall tables at one spot for two people, and they worked perfect. But uh I think the lounge door, okay, the huddle was one of those long bars you walk in, and then the front was a bar, and then the back there was a like a long bar cafe where you just sat there at the at the at the counter and watched the person.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

That's where the cook was, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Yeah. And there was two of those bars on the block. So on the same block when we were in Nebraska, because mind you, you know, I think maybe 1200 tops at one time, there were three bars on the same block. How many of them had kitchens? Two of them. Your parents uh did not have a kitchen. We had a pizza oven. We had a you know the tombstone. The electric tombstone pizza oven and a microwave. Yeah. And then mom would make uh crock pots of soup in the wintertime because she had she had some kids, her kids, like you know, these are people who would come for Christmas, you know, they'd hung out at the bar. That I mean, mom pretty much adopted some of these people. The great, I still some of the greatest people I know, you know. They were just great people and they treated mom well, and you know, uh, but she would make crock pot of soup, and then she had sandwiches. They would come in for lunch every day, this group, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

I love it. I think what I love most about this whole thing is we started talking about the dingling in Raymond. We ended up in making crock pot stew in Wisner.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Oh, yeah, by the way, uh, across the street, there was the uh VFW Club.

SPEAKER_03 38:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

And then another You weren't even counting it as one of the down the street, another one with the huddle, uh, the the Schmidt House. There was another place uh there was a uh thing. Did they spell it, did they spell it? Then there was another liquor store across the street, and then it moved.

SPEAKER_03 38:27

How did Schmidt House? Did they spell it H-A-U-S? Like the German stuff?

SPEAKER_02 38:32

No, no, they they just I figured with a name like Schmidt, you'd go you'd own it. Maybe at one time, but no, not I don't remember.

SPEAKER_03 38:40

The old German spelling wasn't very popular.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Yeah, no, it wasn't very popular at that time. But Raymond, the reason we're here. Yeah, by the way, I love that uh like I called Matt up yesterday uh and I said, Hey Matt, I got an idea for a podcast. I sent him a message, I got an idea for podcasting. Are you in? And he's like, Yep. Yeah, and talked, and I said, I want to go to Branch Oak and go to Levers Point and talk about Krounce, Nebraska. And then, you know, you brought us on uh this wonderful tour to Doug's house. You know, you did research, you have maps, you have plot, you went to the what 19 I have the flat books myself at home.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

I was at the Nebraska 1885 Atlas, and I also had the Lancaster County flat book of 1903, and so I and both of which had maps of that show crown where Branch Stoke Lake is. Yeah, yeah. And it showed the Crick and and so it and the sections, and it even showed uh the 1903 platbook showed the owners of all the different land in the in the sections. And what was so fun about meeting with Doug Dittman is he talked about all the different people who lived around crowns, and they were the same names of the people that I found on those maps.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

Oh yeah, because I mean like really the town left in 60 what 60, early 60s, the closed school closed in 62. I must quote uh uh uh Doug Rosencranz.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

Calling it a town. It's a village is not uh not correct.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

It was a village at best. But it was still a village. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

Still people, commun, I mean, family, communal family, you know, it just there was a church and a school and a store.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

And so that's something.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Yeah. I'm calling it. But I mean, this is 1960 when they start moving them out, 60.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

Yeah, mid-60s, the lake was done in around 68, I think. So I figure they I mean that's that's not that many generations back. No. As Doug Gipman told us, he still remembers people who were around back when they first who first buried a plow in this area. And who people who still lived around Crowns before it was a lake.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Uh I we did some quick research on the on the drive. Uh Wildwood Lake, NRD Lake. NRD. Natural Resource District Lake.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

Wildlife uh Wildwood. No, did we call it a Wildlife Preserve? Uh Wildlife uh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Wildland Management Area. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

WMA.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Now I looked it up quick, and there is a bunch of native prairie around Wildwood Lake.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

Well, and like Doug said, uh, this was some of the worst, this area around Oak Creek, the different branches of Oak Creek, uh above the valleys was some of the worst area for farming. And so I think that's why some of the prairies remain, is it wasn't economically feasible to try to grow carbs. It was easier to ranch it, graze cattle.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

And if you go to bring it back on the tracks, first hey, look at me. Uh if you go back and see where we're at, and you if if you're here and outside, we're in a valley. We're in a valley. You can see why this would flood for sure uh all the time.

SPEAKER_03 42:05

If anybody's familiar with Raymond, you know.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Raymond floods. It's in the bottom.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

It's down here.

unknown 42:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 42:13

The bottom land is where the gold's at. It's also both sides. It's where the it's where the grass grows tallest. It's where the corn grows tallest, but it's where you take the it's high risk. High risk, high reward.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 42:27

You want to take a break? No, I think keep rolling. Keep rolling. Um, okay. What did they have on the menu? Oh, Matt got a patty melt. We got a patty melt coming. And this is part of our ongoing series of trying patty melts across the state of Nebraska. I've been on this quest for 30 some years. Never had the patty melt at the dingling.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

And they uh offered you the thousand island.

SPEAKER_03 42:54

It's funny you should mention that because Slacker Queen eats her patty melt with Thousand Islands.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

She likes the she likes the Thousand Melt.

SPEAKER_03 43:03

And she had one without, and she said it wasn't bad, but it wasn't.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

She enjoyed, we went to the Highway Diner and she enjoyed it. Oh, by the way, uh hello, Amanda. I love you. Uh uh Yeah, she enjoyed it. She enjoyed it. I think she even sent you a message.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

She sent me a message, said it was it, she said it didn't have Thousand Island dressing, so it wasn't what I preferred, but it was still good.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

Yeah. She uh also uh now I believe is uh hooked on the word onion straws for uh for the uh these where I'll just still call them onion rings.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

I call them onion strings. Strings. She called them onion straws.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

I think that's I think we we uh she was trying to come up with it, couldn't remember rainfart. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:47

We've been having a lot of those lately.

SPEAKER_02 43:49

Oh, you know it it you know, it happens. There's nothing wrong with it.

SPEAKER_03 43:53

Uh it makes us human. What was it Steve Reimos told us at the Capitol? How they made some in the art.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Intentionally, because nature is without not without flaw.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

Yeah, there's yeah, no imperfection. There's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

And so when it comes to imperfection, we've mastered imperfection.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Oh yeah, yeah. Who is it? Somebody was telling me it was like, sometimes, Dave, you say words and it's not the right word, but I know exactly what you mean. And I'm like, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

But hey, while we're have a little lull and going off the rails, I was very wrong in one of our earliest podcasts about I talked about Lewis and Clark, how no one from the original expedition died. And soon afterwards, some of our very in-tune and educated listeners corrected me. And I want to make it for the record. There was a death, at least one, of the original party.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

And then what uh she said can I interrupt real quick?

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Please do. So here's the map I was telling you about. You can feel free to zoom in. Does it show where Kraunce is? It sure does. So here is the uh map, the key up here. Yeah, yeah. We're looking at the maps, and then we have buildings along this side, and Krause is around. Krause was right there, yep. Streets and all, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

Oh wow. That was the only one I've ever been able to find of it. Right. Hey, I'm Dave. What's your name? I'm Josh. Josh, you all are working out?

SPEAKER_03 45:21

I just hang out. Life's been around here. I'm always around. Here we go. There's a there's a finding the podcast. So what we're doing here, Josh, we're gonna get you on camera real quick. There's Josh. We just gave a Slacker Dave Slacker Dave podcast pin. This is Josh. I appreciate it. Yeah, there's some cool stuff in there. So it says Northwest. But some of the real marshes area. We got to come in because this is directly in front of that swim beach, I believe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So some of those old foundations when the water's low enough, we'll have people come in the marina. You guys need anything else? We got everything. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

Thank you very much. Oh, yeah, yeah, because I think I caught my biggest catfish. Like right around. Yeah, oh my god, yeah. Yep. It makes all make sense now. Did you see the it's a fishing map, right? So you can the contour. Like if you look the contour right there, those little three boxes, those are buildings.

SPEAKER_03 46:29

Yep, that's it. And it shows where the creek was, too. Yep. That's the old original flow through creek. Absolutely. The old trail runs up here where the old fence lines and stuff like that are settled up in the trees. Yep. Yeah, we've had boaters come in the marina before, and these little structures out here, right in front of that swim beach on Laver's Point. When the water gets low, low, they will still hit them. Yeah, they will. That's pretty cool. Thanks, Josh. Yeah. Thanks, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

I got you. I got you. You go sit down and you're right where to go.

SPEAKER_03 46:58

Good. Well, that was a bonus. So uh what we were talking, we were talking about Thousand Island, and I wasn't ready to commit fully to Thousand Island. Amanda might have you uh convinced to try it. So I they give they gave it to me on the side, and I'm gonna try it. And I really wanna oh that makes sense having that. That makes sense having that uh map. Look at this. This is really creative. This is great what they do. I want to show this off. Oh, yeah, yeah. They did marble rye, marble rye, sauteed onions, sauteed onions, American cheese, and Swiss on the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:34

Both kinds of cheese on oh, I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

Oh I mean, it made sense for the fishermen to know where those structures are, because you know, that's where uh that's where the fish are. That's where the fish are.

SPEAKER_03 47:49

Fish love structure.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

So just to go off the rails just a minute. Uh other than uh starting to do the we're gonna do that thing with Bob. Um and then I think we need to start doing those. I think people enjoy the historical marker thing. I think so. That's a good thing, like if you're driving with your kid, you know, check this out. Teaching it's a great way to teach them history. These prize are good. Yeah, these prize are really good. Uh yeah. It's uh I love history. Uh you know, it keeps it going. And it's it doesn't cost you anything to stop over at uh uh stop at a historical marker. It doesn't cost a thing.

SPEAKER_03 48:39

Only time. I'm my uh wife and kids can attest. There's never been a historical marker I didn't stop for. I'm that god. Dang it, man. Hey, you know what looked at like you know when you see the sign like historical marker, 200 feet, you know, it's like oh man.

SPEAKER_02 49:00

Yeah, it's yeah, you guess what I don't think we could, I don't think we could get very far if we just started to try to circle Lincoln. Like in Lincoln alone, there's tons.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

We started this trip, what, three hours ago? We haven't been recording the whole time. Because there's been so many diversions that we haven't put on here.

SPEAKER_02 49:21

Yeah. We go off the road pretty good. We do. Um speed up the rails. The other thing I'd like to do, if you might be interested in it sometime, we uh hit some historical markers and hit Aurora, Nebraska.

SPEAKER_03 49:38

Oh, I love Aurora. Hamilton County.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

Yeah, we'll do the do the uh uh Planesman music edgerton, Harold Edgerton, yes, stroblang. Revolutionary scientist, hero. I mean, number, I mean he's right up there, you know, he's always gonna be number one for us. Uh Nebraskan uh is uh Mueller is gonna be the one. Rob Mueller. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:04

But Edgerton's up there. Yeah, I mean Harold Edgerton, are you kidding me? Those pictures he took with those strobe lights back in the I don't know, 30s. Those were so cool. And I he's a hero of mine. I've been to the Edgerton Center at uh the Plainsman Museum in Aurora. Also uh in Hamilton County, Nebraska.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

We think uh Manda and I were talking about uh we might take a trip to uh uh Kool-Aid, home of the Kool-Aid. Hastings. Hastings.

SPEAKER_03 50:40

While you're there, you gotta go to Pioneer Village in Minden. Harold Warp's Pioneer Village to invented a type of plastic wrap. That's how Harold Warp earned his fortune. Instead of spending it all on himself, he sent his agents to Nebraska, built a museum, and bought antiques from all over Nebraska and the United States to build this museum, Pioneer Village.

SPEAKER_02 51:05

I mean, there's not a lot of technology in there. No, you know, it's hard to keep the kids uh involved now.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Yeah. I don't think Kool-Aid Museum is gonna do a whole lot more for you.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

I love Kool-Aid Museum. I want to love Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid Days is coming up. That'd be pretty fun. In Hastings? Yeah, but I don't know if I'm gonna make that. You know, that whole work thing and everything like that. I know it will. You know.

SPEAKER_03 51:40

In fact, ever since you started doing a podcast, I've been getting a lot less work done. Oh man, I'm sorry, man. You can always say no. Oh, I can't, because even if I say no to doing them, I still watch them all. And that's an hour or an hour and a half every week that I ain't getting back. And I don't have a smartphone or an app, so I have to sit at my computer to watch it. And I'm enjoying the heck out of it. So thank you for doing it. One of the things I want to say, feathering your cap, when we left Doug Dittman today.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

As we pulled out of the driveway, Doug said, Dave, I just want to thank you for doing this.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

That I mean, that just means everything. I mean, you know, someone like who I respect me to as much as Doug says that to me, I'm like blown away. Talk about warm hug. Mm-hmm right there. Right. But you know, he's just such a good guy. He is. Such a good guy. Well, you got anything else you want to mention?

SPEAKER_03 52:44

Um I don't like Thousand Nylon on my patty.

SPEAKER_02 52:47

You don't like Thousand Island on your patty milk?

SPEAKER_03 52:49

But hey, different strokes for different folks. Yep. It was delicious without. But I only put it on one corner. I'm gonna finish that. But the dingling, great patty milk. The fries are amazing. The fries are good. I'm almost done. But the other thing I want to say is, I mean, this is really delicious. I could use more sauteed onions. Is there such a thing as too much sauteed onions?

SPEAKER_02 53:15

Uh, some people would say yes, but I would say no.

SPEAKER_03 53:19

You know what's right. I'd say no. So we're on that team.

unknown 53:24

You know.

SPEAKER_03 53:24

Saute onions, I'm a fan. Hey, I do want to, we have made, I want to thank you for letting me on here. And I know we've made a lot of mistakes and we go off the rails all the time. Appreciate the patience of the listeners and viewers. We're trying. But I have a I have a blast every time. I'm just honored that you asked me to be a part of this thing.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 53:41

I'm honored. I love it every time.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

You raise the bar, baby. All right, kids. Well, thank you. Uh, until the next time, uh, thank you very much. Be excellent to each other. Yeah. And party on the kid.