Fire at Nebraska National Forest destroys beloved 4-H campground
When the Nebraska State 4-H Campground opened in the summer of 1963, nestled within seven acres of the Nebraska National Forest, hundreds gathered outside the lodge in their Sunday best. The spring-fed Middle Loup River cleaved the valley below. The ballroom glistened inside. And the state 4-H manager sang “Bless This House” beneath the pines.
“It is impossible to acknowledge all of the contributions made by 4-Hers, leaders, parents, county agents and friends in all parts of the state,” E.W. Janike, dean of extension at the University of Nebraska, told the crowd. “Because of their efforts, the state 4-H camp is no longer a dream.”
After a crown fire ripped through the campground on Sunday afternoon, nearly 60 years later, that dream now smolders beneath a rat’s nest of twisted sheet metal and ashen debris.
Where the Eppley Lodge once stood, the late Omaha philanthropist Eugene Eppley remains, frowning in bas-relief on a commemorative plaque that survived the fire. Another survivor is the giant four-leaf clover, still green as grass, painted on the concrete outside. Lamps that once ushered visitors through the trees now droop from their posts, disfigured by the heat. A metal folding chair nests precariously atop a blackened cedar. Thirteen red tin roofs, spread like blankets across the sand, hint at the timber-frame cabins that once stood beneath them.
