A program by the Nebraska State Historical Society to refurbish the nearly 500 historical markers across the state has reached the northern Panhandle.

The markers are cast aluminum with silver letters against a blue background, but with age and the elements the paint fades and chips. As a result, the Historical Society is repainting 35 of them this year, including the Butte Country marker on Highway 20, north of Crow Butte between Chadron and Crawford.

The marker was removed by Nebraska Department of Road crews for the work and will be reinstalled sometime in the next few weeks. There are 29 such signs in Dawes County.

The Butte Country marker tells the history of Crow Butte, the historical significance of it and other buttes in the area, and of the Treaty Tree site about a half-mile to the north where the U-S government made an unsuccessful attempt in 1875 to buy the region from the Sioux nation.

Although the State Historical Society is responsible for the maintenance of the historical markers, with the help of the NDOR, the initial cost of construction falls to the group or organization proposing a new sign and convince a panel the site and subject are worthy.

The markers sometimes fall victim careless drivers…as happened to the Chadron State College sign at 10th and Main…or to metal thieves…the fate about a decade ago of the Fort Pierre-Fort Laramie Trail marker in the roadside park on Highway 385 just north of its western junction with Highway 20.