76 Nebraskaland • August-September 2025
PORTRAITS FROM THE PAST
Deer hunting at Swanson Reservoir, 1976
From left: Leon Barkdahl; his son, Chip; Ken Drinkwyne; Bob
Turpin; Scott Mcdonald; and my dad, Jerry Mittelstadt. Bob
was the superintendent at Swanson. Leon, Ken, Scott and my
dad all worked for the Department of Corrections, then called
the Reformatory. Navy, Air Force and Marines represented. The
deer check station was in Trenton on the big hill going north
out of town. Legend has it that Scott's Datsun needed some
help getting up the hill. That was Dad's first trip there. We have
hunted that area ever since. I still have Dad's canceled permit,
and that deer is now mounted. – Matt Mittelstadt, Lincoln
Mounted Boy Scout troop at the Douglas County Fair, 1930
A mounted Boy Scout troop handling the crowds at the Douglas County Fair. My father, William Hannan, is to the far right.
My three brothers, William, Robert and James Patrick, and I, still own the original farm along Highway 64 just west of Leshara
(5 miles west of Valley). Robert owns the farmstead with the original farm house built in 1902. William built his house on
10 acres along Highway 64. James lives in Mead and I live in Greeley, Colorado. The remaining 190 acres of the original 300
are farmed by cousin Matt Hannan who lives north of the farm. We do not know the whereabouts of any of the other nine
horsemen of the mounted Boy Scout troop, but if magazine subscribers have any knowledge, they can write to me.
– Richard Hannan, Greeley, Colorado
