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Down the Road: Hike, watch wildlife and fish at the 50-acre park about a mile from Atkinson, Neb.

Curt Arens, Editor, Nebraska Farmer

June 17, 2022

6 Slides

Many Nebraska communities have interesting and expansive park systems, but Atkinson’s Mill Race Park and campground, located only a mile from downtown along the Elkhorn River just off Highway 20, is truly unique.

The park itself is only about 50 acres, but it includes the old mill race “falls,” backing up a 14-acre fishing lake adjacent to the Atkinson-Stuart Country Club golf course.

There is plenty of room for picnics and daytime use, but there are also campsites available for overnight stays. A highlight of the park, besides the mill race and the lake, is the Ken Butterfield Memorial Bluebird Trail, looping about a half-mile through the park.

The trail includes benches, interpretive signs outlining various habitats and ecosystems represented within the park, and lots of bluebird houses.

Walkers are bound to notice turkey, deer and plenty of birds, including bluebirds, while they stroll the wide, concrete, all-weather trail. There are low-habitat areas of rainwater basin collection, more high-land habitats of pine and hardwood trees, and open areas of native prairie and wildflowers.

The original lake impoundment was built in 1894 by the Atkinson Milling and Irrigation Co., and was operated for milling purposes and hydroelectric power generation until 1929 when high water washed out the dam. After being rebuilt, the dam washed out again in the 1960s and in 1984.

In 1991, a joint effort between several agencies — including the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the Nebraska Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — rebuilt the Atkinson Dam and deepened the lake, expanding its surface to 14 acres.

There are larger parks, but the quiet and serene Mill Race Park is a great place to view wildlife, enjoy a quick hike or picnic, or just hang out and wet a line in the fishing lake.

Learn more at atkinsonne.com.

About the Author(s)

Curt Arens

Editor, Nebraska Farmer

Curt Arens began writing about Nebraska’s farm families when he was in high school. Before joining Farm Progress as a field editor in April 2010, he had worked as a freelance farm writer for 27 years, first for newspapers and then for farm magazines, including Nebraska Farmer.

His real full-time career, however, during that same period was farming his family’s fourth generation land in northeast Nebraska. He also operated his Christmas tree farm and grew black oil sunflowers for wild birdseed. Curt continues to raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa and runs a cow-calf herd.

Curt and his wife Donna have four children, Lauren, Taylor, Zachary and Benjamin. They are active in their church and St. Rose School in Crofton, where Donna teaches and their children attend classes.

Previously, the 1986 University of Nebraska animal science graduate wrote a weekly rural life column, developed a farm radio program and wrote books about farm direct marketing and farmers markets. He received media honors from the Nebraska Forest Service, Center for Rural Affairs and Northeast Nebraska Experimental Farm Association.

He wrote about the spiritual side of farming in his 2008 book, “Down to Earth: Celebrating a Blessed Life on the Land,” garnering a Catholic Press Association award.

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