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<br />00\1:;'1 <br /> <br />OTHER RESOURCES <br /> <br /> <br />Ilopulation of the Big Blue Basin was estimated by <br />counties from Ihe U. S. Census of Ilopulation and historic <br />changr.:-s in population from Ul70 to 1900 arc shown in <br />Table 2. <br /> <br />People <br /> <br />Population of the basin f('acht>d its pt";Jk of approxi- <br />mately 140.000 in ]890. comp;m.'d to thl." 1960 total of <br />nearly 107.700. This loss in population of appruximakl}' <br />3~.OOO has he~'n an almost sh:ady lkdint' from ] k9Q <br />intcrruph:d only by the early ] ()QO's and hastcnl'd by <br />{'conomi, lkprl'ssion in the 1890's :mu 1430's. The: loss of <br />farm population and the bek of growth in thl' urban :Jrt"as <br />havC' been the major factors in the dedint' of population in <br />the ba!>in. <br /> <br />Till.' historical bast' of the population in the basin has been in the nLfal areas which <br />provided 65 percent of the 1960 populalion. This account!> for tht.' rebtively even dislribution <br />of population throughout the 'basin, as evidenct.'d by the population density map. Figurt' 10. <br /> <br />For purposcs of analysi.., the population was broken down into three broad calt"gorks <br />of urban, rural nonfarm, and rural farm, Thest' categories arl' defined as follows: <br /> <br />Urban--Consists of thc population of those cities of ~,500 or I;uger. <br /> <br />Rural ;.Jonfarm--Collsists of the population of tllosc plact's of It'ss than ~.500 and <br />those living in rural areas, hut not c1as....ified as farml'!"S. <br /> <br />RurJI Fann~-Consists of the people living on farms, <br /> <br />Tabk 9 shows this population brcakdown. both by nllmber and by percentage, for the <br />last thn'e (ellsus periods for the Big Blue Basin and thl.' Statt' of ~ebraska. <br /> <br />Six urhan arl'as lit.' within the basin and in I \)60 made up 3~ percent of tht' basin <br />population. These six urhan areas increased in population by 20 pt'rccllt from 1940 to 1960, <br />but by only live pt'fcent during the last lell years of that period. The- proximity of thl' urban <br />arcas, Lincoln and Omaha, to thc north and t.'ast of the basin. has hampl.'rcd th\:' historic <br />gro....th potentials of thes(' six urban arl'as. However. future growth is C'xpcctt'd to occur in <br />Beatrier, ('rl.'lt', and Seward because of their location with rdationship to Lincoln, The urban <br />areas of the basin ~f\'e primarily as trade and st'rvicc centers for the surrounding agricultural <br />area. <br /> <br />An increasingly larger percentage of the basin population now resides in the rural <br />nonfarnl areas. The rural nonfarm category has illL'feast.'d from 2Q pt'rct'nt of the total <br />population in 19.tQ to nearly 36 percent in 19bO. <br /> <br />,0 <br />