CHARLES EDWIN BESSEY, 1845-1915

Bessey was a nationally known professor of botany and horticulture and a gifted administrator at the University of Nebraska from 1884 to 1915. He is recognized as one of the leading botanists of his generation. Bessey worked to establish scientific experimentation in agriculture, and his research and reports on plant life in Nebraska helped the agricultural development of the state. Bessey dreamed of a forest growing in the Sandhills of Nebraska. His efforts resulted in the establishment of two man-made federal forest reserves on the Dismal and Niobrara rivers, which later became the Nebraska National Forest.