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Recreation

Keith County and Lake McConaughy reign as Nebraska’s recreation capital! “Nebraska’s Western Oasis,” describes the Keith County/Lake McConaughy area. Lake McConaughy ranks as Nebraska’s number one vacation destination. Thanks to a combination of Lake McConaughy and Interstate 80, Keith County ranks number one in per capita travel income. That is one of the reasons why the Ogallala/Keith County Chamber of Commerce lists Keith County and Lake McConaughy as “Nebraska’s Recreation Capital.” Although Keith County ranks 36th in state in population, it ranks seventh in total motel revenues – again thanks to the combination of Lake McConaughy and Interstate 80.

For more than a century and a quarter, Ogallala has ranked among the state’s top tourism communities. As far back as the 1870s, as soon as the trail herds arrived from Texas, Ogallala was a booming, bustling community. Historian Robert Mahnken wrote that Ogallala was “one of of the liveliest if not the finest town along the line of the Union Pacific” (Nebraska History Magazine, 1947). Trail driver Andy Adams, in his book, “The Log of a Cowboy,” called Ogallala “a town which has no night.” When the trail drives ended in September, “The floaters, gamblers, trades-people and dance hall hostesses, who made up a large portion of Ogallala’s mobile population, drifted off to Omaha or Cheyenne to spend the winter,” wrote historian Mahnken. Also traversing Keith County were the Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail and the California Trail.

Today, the dance hall hostesses still kick up their heels! The show takes place at Ogallala’s Front Street, a western and historical attraction, financed by members of the business community and designed to replicate the Trail Drive era. The cast of the Crystal Palace Revue are high school and college students who present a family show each night during the summer season. The Crystal Palace Revue is Nebraska’s longest running summer theater. Besides the Crystal Palace Revue, Front Street has a free western museum, a restaurant serving real buffalo burgers and steaks, a gift shop and the Petrified Wood Gallery.

Because of its western heritage, the Nebraska State Historical Society has designated Ogallala as Nebraska’s “Cowboy Capital.” Ogallala’s original cemetery, called Boot Hill, is now a historic park and is also a tombstone history of Ogallala where cowboys, settlers and outlaws were buried with their boots on. Boot Hill dates from Ogallala’s early Texas Trail days, possibly as far back as the Oregon Trail. Some of the documented graves are marked with wooden tombstones. Overlooking the graves is a bronze life-sized cowboy and horse statue titled “the Trail Boss.”

Ogallala’s Mansion on the Hill, built of brick kilned in Ogallala in 1887, is now operated as a Victorian museum and memorial to pioneer families. It is owned and maintained by the Keith County Historical Society, which has painstakingly restored the mansion to its former beauty. The interior is filled with carved cherry wood, hand painted tiles, solid brass hardware and dormer windows. The mansion remains one of the finest examples of Victorian architecture in all of Nebraska!

The Petrified Wood Gallery is one of Keith County’s treasures and one of Nebraska’s unsung treasures. Twins Howard and Harvey Kenfield donated their collection of more than 45 years to the community. The Gallery is a museum of natural history specializing in ancient woods. A Gallery highlight is the prize-winning collection of three-dimensional petrified wood pictures of ghost towns and houses and barns reminiscent of the Great Depression era of the 1930s. The collection has won honors at gem and mineral shows throughout the nation. The Gallery also has fossilized cones and leaf imprints, Native American artifacts found mostly in the Lake McConaughy area, a gemstone map of the United States and even a rock which bends.Ole’s Big Game Steakhouse & Lounge in Paxton is Nebraska’s best-known watering hole, featuring more than 200 mounted animal trophies. Ole’s opened the night Prohibition ended at 12:01 a.m. on August 9, 1933. Hundreds of pictures and memorabilia share the rustic knotty pine walls with more than 200 trophy heads of North American and African Big Game. Ole’s is also a nationally known restaurant and a favorite for locals as well as travelers.

The gem that draws most visitors to Keith County is gigantic Lake McConaughy, formed by damming the North Platte River, which starts in Colorado and comes to western Nebraska via Wyoming. When at capacity the lake boasts 100 miles of shoreline of white sand beaches and 30,000 surface acres of clear blue waters and some of the best walleye fishing in the nation. The lake is a mecca for sailboat and board sailing enthusiasts as well as fishermen and campers. Concessionaires around the lake offer restaurants, lodging, boat rentals, convenience/grocery stores, guide services, jet-ski rentals, scuba diving and RV campgrounds.

No community would be complete without golf courses, and Keith County has two, an 18-hole course, WestWind Golf Course in Ogallala and a challenging 18-hole course, Bayside Golf, at Lake McConaughy, with a log cabin clubhouse. There is an outdoor swimming pool and an indoor pool in Ogallala, and an outdoor pool in Paxton.In addition to nine parks covering 50 acres with 10 ball fields (seven lighted), four tennis courts and five parks with playground equipment, recreational activities in Keith County include Cornhusker Lanes Bowling Alley, the Goodall Recreation Center, the Prairie Theater and Goodall Public Library.

The list of recreational opportunities in Keith County is virtually endless, including:

• The historic Haythorn Ranch, home of Figure Four Traditions Event Center, a 7,200 square foot facility which is available for rental and catering for receptions, weddings, reunions, business meetings, conventions, etc. The ranch also offers group wagon rides and chuckwagon dinners. The Haythorn Ranch is the largest breeder of the American Quarter Horse in the United States.

• Kingsley Dam, which impounds the North Platte River for irrigation and power generation, was completed in 1941. The dam is three-and-one-half miles long and 162 feet high. It is 1,100 feet thick at the base. Construction started in 1936 and the dam was built at a cost of $43.5 million.

• Kingsley Hydroplant, the state’s largest, was completed in 1984 at the cost of $49 million. It is owned by Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation District, the state’s largest irrigation system, which was financed by Nebraska Public Power District.• — Clear Creek Waterfowl Management Area at the west end of Lake McConaughy attracts large numbers of Canada geese, which can be hunted on the controlled shooting area and much of the lake.

• The Eagle-Viewing facility of Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation District is open from January through early March when bald eagles congregate in large numbers below Kingsley Dam on Lake Ogallala.

• The little Catholic-Protestant Church at Keystone was built in 1908. The church is a monument to religious harmony; it was built in a pioneer town too small for two churches. It has a Roman Catholic altar at one end, a Protestant altar at the other end, with reversible pews, which can face either altar.

• The Lilacs of Meadowlark Hill; located 14 miles southeast of Ogallala is the lilac collection of Max & Darlene Peterson. Started in 1969 as a family hobby, it comprises one of the largest privately held collections. Some of the rarest and most beautiful lilacs can be found here – over 800 varieties. The collection can be seen usually around the third week of May.

• Lake McConaughy and Lake Ogallala rank as the number three spot for bird watching in the nation. More than 320 species of birds have been identified on or near the shores of Lake McConaughy/Lake Ogallala. The 2003 Audubon Lake McConaughy Christmas Bird Count of 105 species was the best Christmas Bird Count ever conducted in Nebraska to that date. The 2003 count recorded 67,759 individuals of 105 species.• — A nearby attraction in neighboring Garden County is Ash Hollow State Historical Park southeast of Lewellen. A modern visitor center interprets the geological, paleontologic, prehistoric, Native American Indian, military, 19th century fur trappers and pioneer history. The Ash Hollow Cave further interprets the geologic history. Windlass Hill was described by emigrants on the Oregon, Mormon and California Trail as the steepest descent east of the Rockies. Ruts remain from wagons, which descended the hill. The annual Ash Hollow Pageant retells the humor and tragedy of the emigrant trails and area history. Pageant narrative is based on emigrant and military diaries.

• Open in 2002, the 9,000 square foot, $2 million Lake McConaughy Visitor/Water Interpretive Center is Nebraska’s first water museum. The center also serves as Lake McConaughy headquarters for the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission and for Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation District. The center includes a 50-seat theater, the Cabela Aquarium and the interpretive center focusing on the cultural, natural and economic importance of the Platte River system to Nebraska and the region.

• A popular event at Lake McConaughy is the annual Kites and Castles, which draws visitors and competitors from — several states.

• In addition to area county fairs and rodeos, annual festivals include Brule Arts in the Park, Brule Day, the Paxton Labor Day Celebration and the Ogallala Indian Summer Rendezvous.