Father Kano (1899-1988) was the son of a prominent family in Japan. He studied agriculture at the Imperial University in Tokyo. Kano’s family hosted William Jennings Bryan, who convinced Hiram to continue his education at the University of Nebraska. He graduated with a master’s degree in agricultural economics in 1918 and farmed near Litchfield, Nebraska, for six years.
Kano served as president of the Japanese Americanization Society in Nebraska. He strived for racial justice, fairness, and equality, testifying before committees of the 1919-1920 Nebraska Constitutional Convention and the 1921 Nebraska Legislature when efforts were made to prevent Japanese from owning land. Kano served as counselor, minister, teacher, translator, and agricultural advisor to the Japanese.
Following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Father Kano was arrested and held in internment camps until 1944. While in the camps, he assisted in education and morale efforts to improve the lives of the imprisoned. After the war, Kano returned to Nebraska. He and his wife taught citizenship classes, enabling 24 Japanese immigrants in Lincoln County to become U.S. citizens on September 8, 1953.
]]>The fort near here was established on the Oregon Trail on the south side of the Platte River in October 1863, on the eve of intensified Indian raids on the Plains. Built next to the well-known Cottonwood Springs and McDonald ranche, it commanded a strategic north-south Indian trail across the Platte Valley. First known as Cantonment McKean and then Fort Cottonwood, the fort in February 1866 was named for Major-General James B. McPherson. It served to protect the important Platte Valley line of travel and communication and was the base for innumerable scouting parties and for field campaigns in 1865, 1866 and 1869. General Carr's campaign in 1869 broke the power of the Cheyenne and cleared the surrounding area from more than temporary Indian threats. The Russian Grand Duke Alexis prepared here for his famous buffalo hunt in 1872. General Custer, Buffalo Bill, the North Brothers and their Pawnee scouts were often at the Fort. The fort was abandoned in 1880, but a portion of the military reservation is now the Fort McPherson National Cemetery where rest soldiers from McPherson and other frontier forts, as well as those who served in more recent wars.
]]>The fort was established on the Oregon Trail on the south side of the Platte River in October 1863, on the eve of intensified Indian raids on the Plains. Built next to the well-known Cottonwood Springs and McDonald ranche, it commanded a strategic north-south Indian trail across the Platte valley. First known as Cantonment McKean and then Fort Cottonwood, in February 1886 the fort was named for Major-General James B. McPherson. It served to protect the important Platte Valley line of travel and communication and was the base for innumerable scouting parties and for field campaigns in 1865, 1866 and 1869. General Carr's campaign in 1869 broke the power of the Cheyennes and cleared the surrounding area from more than temporary Indian threats. The Russian prince Alexis prepared here for his famous buffalo hunt in 1871. General Custer, Buffalo Bill, the North Brothers and their Pawnee scouts were often at the Fort. The fort was abandoned in 1880, but a portion of the military reservation is now the Fort McPherson National Cemetery where rest soldiers from McPherson and other frontier forts.
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