JUNE 2016 • NEBRASKAland 41
MARCH 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 41
Much like a satellite dish, or some other form of equipment
in a science fiction movie, one of the rock formations at
Toadstool Geological Park near Crawford points to the Milky
Way on a July night in this moon-like scene.
B
etween 38 and 10 million years ago,
thousands of volcanic events in what
is now the Great Basin area of Nevada
and Utah emitted fine particles of sediment
– many of which were carried downwind.
The particles from that then-hellish place
accumulated over the High Plains ever so
slightly over millions of years. And, in the
millions of years following those eruptions,
erosion has whittled away at the ash and
carried materials from the Rocky Mountains
to make the magnificent rock features of
the highlands of the Nebraska Panhandle.
They seem especially extraordinary to a
visitor who has previously defined Nebraska
as "cows and cornfields." On clear nights,
under the light of the moon or Milky Way,
the visitor might get an even clearer image
of this unique place's grandeur – and an
appreciation for just how small, and young,
we are.
