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The Medicine Creek Valley

The scene is of clay canyons folding downward and inward in progressively complex patterns. Blue-green cedar trees mark the creases in the clay folds. The glistening Medicine Creek curls through the floor of the canyon and pale green prairie grasses sweep ahead of the wind and surround everything. Overhead, a turquoise sky and shifting shapes of cloud formations appeal to artists and dreamers and all who yearn for less noise and more space.

Medicine Creek rises up from the aquifer near Wellfleet in Frontier County and flows generally southeastward to enter the Republican River at Cambridge after a course of 72 miles. The Medicine Creek basin drains an area of slightly under 700 square miles.

The Medicine Creek Valley was formed from the erosion of melting glaciers and wind-blown loess, a dust remaining after the glaciers receded during the Cretaceous period of geologic time. The archeologists tell us that three thousand years ago a farming-based culture populated the Medicine Valley. Medicine Creek, spring fed, and a reliable source of good quality water even in periods of drought attracted early farmers to the region. Even today, residents of Frontier County claim the freshest, clearest, best tasting water in all of Nebraska. The area consistently claims the warmest winter temperatures recorded in the state, and citizens refer to their locality as the “Banana Belt” in Nebraska.

Over 1,300 years ago, these first residents of the Medicine Valley farmed substantially enough to live in permanent houses that we know as earth lodges. Approximately three thousand people live in Frontier County today, and archeological evidence suggests that over 1,000 years ago, the population was approximately the same. An earth lodge lasts 25-30 years. A full-size replica of an earth lodge may be experienced at Dancing Leaf Lodge near Wellfleet, NE. Les and Jan Hosik, owners of the Dancing Leaf Lodge collaborate with the Nebraska Historical Society as well as with archeologists in Colorado and Kansas to interpret archeological findings in the valley.

Les Hosik says, “Before these early farmers made permanent settlements, they had to know they could survive through all seasons. They needed a constant supply of water, and the Medicine Creek is spring fed and flows spring, summer, fall and winter. They required fuel for warmth and cooking fires. Cedar trees provided fuel and building materials, and cedars grow in the canyons. The early farmers planted their crops down on the lower terraces and lived on top of the canyons in sight of neighbors, but separate from one another. They did not live in villages. The times were peaceful and the residents of the valley were healthy, not much disease is evidenced in their remains.

In agricultural-based economies, a balance exists between land and people. Topography dictates the size of fields, and the climate determines the crops that were planted and harvested. The first farmers ground corn into flour, developed hominy, enjoyed sweet corn, traded corn and beans and stored the grains for future use in underground pits. They propagated 30 varieties of corn and 60 varieties of beans as well as sunflower seeds, squash, and pumpkins. Coincidentally, similar food grains are grown in the valley today.

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