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==History== When Nebraska became a state in 1867, a single county encompassed the entire [[Nebraska Panhandle|Panhandle]].<ref name="HB">[http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/epubs/H6000/B009.0386-2002.pdf Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey—Banner County.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222142831/http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/epubs/H6000/B009.0386-2002.pdf |date=February 22, 2006 }} {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19981111190309/http://nebraskahistory.org/ Nebraska State Historical Society.]}} Retrieved June 22, 2010.</ref> 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, Nebraska|Deuel County]]; the middle third became present-day [[Cheyenne County, Nebraska|Cheyenne County]]; and the western third became [[Kimball County, Nebraska|Kimball]], [[Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska|Scotts Bluff]], and Banner Counties.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061116012958/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres/reports/cheyenne_county.pdf Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey—Reconnaissance Final Report of Cheyenne County, Nebraska.]}} {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19981111190309/http://nebraskahistory.org/ Nebraska State Historical Society.]}} Retrieved June 22, 2010.</ref> 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".<ref>Fitzpatrick, Lilian Linder (1925). [http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Maps_Atlas/nebplacenames/placename.html#banner "Banner County".] [http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Maps_Atlas/nebplacenames/index.html ''Nebraska Place-Names''.] Retrieved June 29, 2010.</ref> Upon the county's organization, the settlement of [[Ashford, Nebraska|Ashford]] was chosen as the temporary county seat. Four communities aspired to be chosen as the permanent county seat: Ashford, [[Harrisburg, Nebraska|Harrisburg]], Freeport, and Banner. Two special elections proved necessary before Harrisburg was chosen.<ref name=AB/> 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 [[Homestead Act|homesteaders]]. 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]], which allowed homesteaders to claim {{convert|640|acre}} 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.<ref name=HB/><ref>Hayes and Bedell (1921), p. 11.</ref> The county's growth was hindered by the absence of railroads: the nearest lines ran through [[Kimball, Nebraska|Kimball]], {{convert|11|mi}} to the south, and [[Gering, Nebraska|Gering]], {{convert|8|mi}} 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.<ref>Hayes and Bedell (1921), p. 9.</ref> [[File:Gabe Rock from NW 1.JPG|thumb|alt=Steep-sided rocky bluff surrounded by grassland; green fields in foreground|Corn growing near the base of Gabe Rock, west of Harrisburg]] ===Irrigation=== Rainfall in Banner County is light and variable; the average yearly precipitation at the Harrisburg weather station is {{convert|14.3|in}}.<ref>[http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N41W103+2200+253605C "Harrisburg 10NW, Banner County, Nebraska USA".] [http://www.worldclimate.com/ WorldClimate.com] Retrieved August 31, 2010.</ref> 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|center-pivot irrigation]] systems were in use through much of the county.<ref name=HB/> By 2000, the Pumpkin Creek basin had approximately 500 registered irrigation wells.<ref name="PN">[http://www.npnrd.org/pumpkincreek.htm "Pumpkin Creek Basin (PCB) Sub-Area".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727131812/http://www.npnrd.org/pumpkincreek.htm|date=July 27, 2011}} [http://www.npnrd.org/index.htm North Platte Natural Resources District.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727132437/http://www.npnrd.org/index.htm|date=July 27, 2011}} Retrieved August 31, 2010.</ref> Groundwater pumping combined with drought conditions ended surface flow in Pumpkin Creek by 1993, and significantly reduced the valley's groundwater levels.<ref name="NR">Pope, Joanna. [ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NE/Outgoing/News/NebraskaSuccessStories/PumpkinCreekEQIP.pdf "Conservation Takes Pressure Off Pumpkin Creek".]{{Dead link|date=November 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} NRCS-Nebraska. Retrieved August 31, 2010.</ref> 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 {{convert|14|in}} of irrigation water per year.<ref name=PN/> 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.<ref>Hansen, Sandra. [http://www.starherald.com/articles/2009/03/11/news/local_news/doc49b5f52d6a52a553614291.txt "Lawsuit roils waters in Platte River irrigation fight".] [http://www.starherald.com/ ''Scottsbluff Star-Herald''.] March 10, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2010.</ref> ===ICBMs=== [[File:ICBM Wrights Gap Banner Co NE.JPG|thumb|alt=Fenced area with wind vane and antennas near base of rocky hills|ICBM silo on southern slope of Wildcat Hills in Banner County]] Beginning in the early 1960s, [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (ICBMs), based at [[Francis E. Warren Air Force Base|Warren Air Force Base]] near [[Cheyenne, Wyoming]], were installed in western Nebraska, [[Wyoming]], and [[Colorado]]. From 1960 to 1963, 90 [[Atlas (rocket family)|Atlas]] 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 [[LGM-30 Minuteman|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.<ref name=HB/>
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