Notes on Stinking Water

Stinking Water Creek flows by the village of Palisade in southwest Nebraska. It is where my grandparents lived and where my mother, aunts and uncles grew up. Legend holds that once long ago a hard winter killed a great herd of bison who sought shelter along the creek. After spring thaw, they rotted and fouled the water of the creek, giving it its name. It is a beautiful place of life, renewal and memory.