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Clockwise from above:
A LONE BOATER navigates the
mighty Missouri River west of South
Sioux City. The river runs along
Nebraska’s eastern border.
OMAHA RESIDENT SENG INTHAMONi
tosses a carp back into the spillway
at Gavins Point Dam east of Lewis
and Clark Lake on the Nebraska’
South Dakota border. Inthamone
was hoping he landed a catfish.
THE FORMER OBERT PUBLIC SCHOOI
sits silent at the corner of Second
and Miller streets. Corrugated plas
tic and chipboard cover some of the
brick building’s broken windows.
DAVE, A 6-YEAR-OLD Macy resident,
tries to separate Sheba and Smokey,
- two copulating neighborhood dogs.
If you are careful and pay atten
tion, the everyday magic of places
and faces along Nebraska’s Missouri
River unfolds. Sleepy valley villages
ducking cottonwoods connect with
bustling towns and trusting people.
These are the sights and sounds
of an often unnoticed Nebraska, and
the Missouri is their companion.
Eleven miles downstream from
the Santee Indian Reservation,
Gavins Point Dam stretches across
the Missouri, connecting Nebraska
and South Dakota.
The roar of 275,000 cubic feet of
water spilling every second through
the dam’s 14 tainter gates serves as
the mid-morning mantra of an eager
fisherman.
With his 15-foot rod and 40
pound test line, Seng Inthamonf
reels in a 14-inch carp. While the
Omafia resident has fished the spot
for yearS* his luck Saturday is nomi
nal, he says, pitching the fish back
into the spillway.
With a chunk of catfish from an
earlier snare, Inthamone hopes to
bait a better catch. For now, the trick
isn’t working.
“It’s a carp. I’ve got to let him
Every gambler knows
Up the road and across the dam,
Warren and Donna Schomburg bid
goodbye to a weeklong road adven
ture taking them through Illinois,
Minnesota, South Dakota and, final
ly, back to Gavins Point Dam, one of
Warren Schomburg’s favorite spots.
The Shelton couple, both in their
60s, are high off Warren
Schomburg’s slot winnings the night
before at Ft. Randall Casino, 71
miles into South Dakota.
“I won enough money to pay for
my day,” Warren Schomburg says,
the triumphant telling barely audible
over the rolling river 35 feet below.
“We’re becoming river rats.”
On the road
Highways connecting hamlets
near the Missouri are the country
side’s main currents, bypassing
eddies of community activity.
Sunflowers pop up as rogues in
fields of corn and beans. Locusts
near the road sing the harmonies of -
Indian summer song over the drone
of locusts farther away.
And the band plays on.
In Obert, population 35, rustic is
the rule. Of the 5^ double-hung win
dows in the former Obert Public
School, 17 are busted. Strewn
loveseats and closets of corduroy
and blue jeans betray the long-lost
secret of the building’s former use -
as a home.
Bees buzz atop goldenrods
sneaking through the crumbling
sidewalks in front.
Flights of fancy
Heading down Nebraska
Highway 12 ancf U.S. Highway 20,
travelers encounter South Sioux
City. After an odorous introduction
to the municipal sewage treatment
plant, a family-owned airstrip pre
sents itself on the plain.
J.P. Martin is among the third
generation of Martins to work the
place, where Grandpa Tommie’s
1939 Piper Cub is the pride and joy.
According to the Piper company, the
two-seater is the longest singly
owned Piper held by the same family
anywhere in the world, Martin says
following a flight in the plane.
“It’s been the company’s bread
and butter for a long time. I’m pretty
lucky. I get to fly just about every
thing God and man invented.”
His favorite flyer is a German
built Schleiker K-7 glider owned by
Please see RIVER on 14
Story by Jim Goodwin
Photos by Dan Luedert