Dorchester Times: 'Reminds Me Of Those Dust-Bowl Days'

Friday, April 24, 2026

'Reminds Me Of Those Dust-Bowl Days'

It's not your imagination. Nebraska is in a severe drought and it's only April.

In fact, much of Nebraska is drier in April 2026 than during any other April in our recorded history.

Over half of the state, 56%, is now experiencing extreme drought, according to the newest measurements, according to Nebraska Public Media.

One area old-timer, who just turned 96, told us: "This reminds me of those Dust-Bowl days."

NPM reports that the National Weather Service confirmed in early March that Nebraska recorded its third-warmest winter since the Dust Bowl years in the 1930s.

But when looking at both temperature and moisture, the 2025-26 winter is worse than the "Dirty Thirties."

And even the Dust Bowl days didn't feature the level of destruction seen this year from prairie fires that have burned around 1 million acres in western and central Nebraska. This has destroyed pastureland needed to feed cattle this summer and uprooted entire cattle operations in the midst of a beef supply shortage.

The Times talked to three Dorchester-area farmers, all three of who said the drought is among their biggest concerns.

These producers also said that businesses serving agriculture -- those that traditionally benefit from farmer dollars, including lenders and cooperatives -- must share in the pain as drought and depressed crop prices continue to impact the sector.

"It can't be status quo," one of the producers said.

Area producers are going to have to alter some of their practices, another farmer told us. He said some producers were running pivot irrigation as early as April 20 or before, and that such practices would lead to "crackdowns" and "water restrictions" by the state or local NRD. (Note: NRDs in recent years have restricted the drilling of new irrigation wells.)

The only good news is the weather models used by the Times shows between a 50% and 88% chance of rain Saturday, April 25, and 80% to 96% on Sunday. Even Monday brings a 25% to 50% chance of precipitation, while Tuesday offers up to a 60% chance.

1 comment:

AnonymousApril 25, 2026 at 10:33 AM
It's probably time to look at taxing ground water like Wyoming taxes oil and gas companies that extract natural resources, which belong to the public, from the ground.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."