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diff --git a/34844-0.txt b/34844-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fb51c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/34844-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15423 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences, by Nebraska Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences + +Author: Nebraska Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution + +Release Date: January 4, 2011 [eBook #34844] +[Most recently updated: January 15, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Brian Sogard, Sharon Verougstraete and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEBRASKA PIONEER REMINISCENCES *** + + + + +[Illustration: MRS. LAURA B. POUND + +Second and Sixth State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the +American Revolution. 1896-1897, 1901-1902] + + + + +COLLECTION OF +NEBRASKA PIONEER +REMINISCENCES + +ISSUED BY THE + +NEBRASKA SOCIETY OF +THE DAUGHTERS OF THE +AMERICAN REVOLUTION + +[Illustration] + +NINETEEN SIXTEEN + + +THE TORCH PRESS + +CEDAR RAPIDS + +IOWA + + + + +FORETHOUGHT + + +This Book of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences is issued by the Daughters +of the American Revolution of Nebraska, and dedicated to the daring, +courageous, and intrepid men and women--the advance guard of our +progress--who, carrying the torch of civilization, had a vision of the +possibilities which now have become realities. + +To those who answered the call of the unknown we owe the duty of +preserving the record of their adventures upon the vast prairies of +"Nebraska the Mother of States." + + "In her horizons, limitless and vast + Her plains that storm the senses like the sea." + +Reminiscence, recollection, personal experience--simple, true +stories--this is the foundation of History. + +Rapidly the pioneer story-tellers are passing beyond recall, and the +real story of the beginning of our great commonwealth must be told now. + +The memories of those pioneers, of their deeds of self-sacrifice and +devotion, of their ideals which are our inheritance, will inculcate +patriotism in the children of the future; for they should realize the +courage that subdued the wilderness. And "lest we forget," the heritage +of this past is a sacred trust to the Daughters of the American +Revolution of Nebraska. + +The invaluable assistance of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and +the members of this Book Committee, Mrs. C. S. Paine and Mrs. D. S. +Dalby, is most gratefully acknowledged. + + LULA CORRELL PERRY + (Mrs. Warren Perry) + + + + +CONTENTS + + + SOME FIRST THINGS IN THE HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY 11 + BY GEORGE F. WORK + + EARLY EXPERIENCES IN ADAMS COUNTY 18 + BY GENERAL ALBERT V. COLE + + FRONTIER TOWNS 22 + BY FRANCIS M. BROOME + + HISTORICAL SKETCH OF BOX BUTTE COUNTY 25 + BY IRA E. TASH + + A BROKEN AXLE 27 + BY SAMUEL C. BASSETT + + A PIONEER NEBRASKA TEACHER 30 + BY MRS. ISABEL ROSCOE + + EXPERIENCES OF A PIONEER WOMAN 32 + BY MRS. ELISE G. EVERETT + + RECOLLECTIONS OF WEEPING WATER 36 + BY I. N. HUNTER + + INCIDENTS AT PLATTSMOUTH 41 + BY ELLA POLLOCK MINOR + + FIRST THINGS IN CLAY COUNTY 43 + BY MRS. CHARLES M. BROWN + + REMINISCENCES OF CUSTER COUNTY 46 + BY MRS. J. J. DOUGLAS + + AN EXPERIENCE 50 + BY MRS. HARMON BROSS + + LEGEND OF CROW BUTTE 51 + BY DR. ANNA ROBINSON CROSS + + LIFE ON THE FRONTIER 54 + BY JAMES AYRES + + PLUM CREEK (LEXINGTON) 57 + BY WILLIAM M. BANCROFT, M. D. + + EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 62 + BY C. CHABOT + + RECOLLECTIONS OF THE FIRST SETTLER OF DAWSON COUNTY 64 + BY MRS. DANIEL FREEMAN + + EARLY DAYS IN DAWSON COUNTY 67 + BY LUCY E. HEWITT + + PIONEER JUSTICE 72 + BY B. F. KRIER + + A GOOD INDIAN 74 + BY MRS. CLIFFORD WHITAKER + + FROM MISSOURI TO DAWSON COUNTY 75 + BY A. J. PORTER + + THE ERICKSON FAMILY 76 + BY MRS. W. M. STEBBINS + + THE BEGINNINGS OF FREMONT 78 + BY SADIE IRENE MOORE + + A GRASSHOPPER STORY 82 + BY MARGARET F. KELLY + + EARLY DAYS IN FREMONT 84 + BY MRS. THERON NYE + + PIONEER WOMEN OF OMAHA 90 + BY MRS. CHARLES H. FISETTE + + A PIONEER FAMILY 93 + BY EDITH ERMA PURVIANCE + + THE BADGER FAMILY 97 + + THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER IN FILLMORE COUNTY 102 + + PIONEERING IN FILLMORE COUNTY 107 + BY JOHN R. MCCASHLAND + + FILLMORE COUNTY IN THE SEVENTIES 109 + BY WILLIAM SPADE + + EARLY DAYS IN NEBRASKA 111 + BY J. A. CARPENTER + + REMINISCENCES OF GAGE COUNTY 112 + BY ALBERT L. GREEN + + RANCHING IN GAGE AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES 123 + BY PETER JANSEN + + EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF GAGE COUNTY 127 + BY MRS. E. JOHNSON + + BIOGRAPHY OF FORD LEWIS 129 + BY MRS. (D. S.) H. VIRGINIA LEWIS DALBEY + + A BUFFALO HUNT 131 + BY W. H. AVERY + + A GRASSHOPPER RAID 133 + BY EDNA M. BOYLE ALLEN + + EARLY DAYS IN PAWNEE COUNTY 135 + BY DANIEL B. CROPSEY + + EARLY EVENTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY 137 + BY GEORGE CROSS + + EARLY DAYS OF FAIRBURY AND JEFFERSON COUNTY 139 + BY GEORGE W. HANSEN + + THE EARLIEST ROMANCE OF JEFFERSON COUNTY 147 + BY GEORGE W. HANSEN + + EXPERIENCES ON THE FRONTIER 152 + BY FRANK HELVEY + + LOOKING BACKWARD 155 + BY GEORGE E. JENKINS + + THE EASTER STORM OF 1873 158 + BY CHARLES B. LETTON + + BEGINNINGS OF FAIRBURY 161 + BY JOSEPH B. MCDOWELL + + EARLY EXPERIENCES IN NEBRASKA 163 + BY ELIZABETH PORTER SEYMOUR + + PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 166 + BY MRS. C. F. STEELE + + HOW THE SONS OF GEORGE WINSLOW FOUND THEIR FATHER'S GRAVE 168 + _Statement by Mrs. C. F. Steele_ 168 + _Statement by George W. Hansen_ 169 + + EARLY DAYS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY 175 + BY MRS. M. H. WEEKS + + LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL AT LINCOLN 176 + BY JOHN H. AMES + + AN INCIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF LINCOLN 182 + BY ORTHA C. BELL + + LINCOLN IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES 184 + BY ORTHA C. BELL + + A PIONEER BABY SHOW 186 + BY MRS. FRANK I. RINGER + + MARKING THE SITE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK COUNCIL AT FORT + CALHOUN 187 + BY MRS. LAURA B. POUND + + EARLY HISTORY OF LINCOLN COUNTY 190 + BY MAJOR LESTER WALKER + + GREY EAGLE, PAWNEE CHIEF 194 + BY MILLARD S. BINNEY + + LOVERS' LEAP (POEM) 196 + BY MRS. A. P. JARVIS + + EARLY INDIAN HISTORY 198 + BY MRS. SARAH CLAPP + + THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 203 + BY MINNIE FREEMAN PENNY + + AN ACROSTIC 204 + BY MRS. ELLIS + + EARLY DAYS IN NANCE COUNTY 206 + BY MRS. ELLEN SAUNDERS WALTON + + THE PAWNEE CHIEF'S FAREWELL (POEM) 208 + BY CHAUNCEY LIVINGSTON WILTSE + + MY TRIP WEST IN 1861 211 + BY SARAH SCHOOLEY RANDALL + + STIRRING EVENTS ALONG THE LITTLE BLUE 214 + BY CLARENDON E. ADAMS + + MY LAST BUFFALO HUNT 219 + BY J. STERLING MORTON + + HOW THE FOUNDER OF ARBOR DAY CREATED THE MOST FAMOUS + WESTERN ESTATE 235 + BY PAUL MORTON + + EARLY REMINISCENCES OF NEBRASKA CITY--SOCIAL ASPECTS 240 + BY ELLEN KINNEY WARE + + SOME PERSONAL INCIDENTS 242 + BY W. A. MCALLISTER + + A BUFFALO HUNT 244 + BY MINNIE FREEMAN PENNY + + PIONEER LIFE 246 + BY MRS. JAMES G. REEDER + + EARLY DAYS IN POLK COUNTY 248 + BY CALMAR MCCUNE + + PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 252 + BY MRS. THYRZA REAVIS ROY + + TWO SEWARD COUNTY CELEBRATIONS 254 + BY MRS. S. C. LANGWORTHY + + SEWARD COUNTY REMINISCENCES 255 + COMPILED BY MARGARET HOLMES CHAPTER D. A. R. + + PIONEERING 263 + BY GRANT LEE SHUMWAY + + EARLY DAYS IN STANTON COUNTY 266 + BY ANDREW J. BOTTORFF AND SVEN JOHANSON + + FRED E. ROPER, PIONEER 268 + BY ERNEST E. CORRELL + + THE LURE OF THE PRAIRIES 272 + BY LUCY L. CORRELL + + SUFFRAGE IN NEBRASKA 275 + _Statement by Mrs. Gertrude M. McDowell_ 275 + _Statement by Lucy L. Correll_ 277 + + AN INDIAN RAID 279 + BY ERNEST E. CORRELL + + REMINISCENCES 281 + BY MRS. E. A. RUSSELL + + REMINISCENCES OF FORT CALHOUN 284 + BY W. H. ALLEN + + REMINISCENCES OF WASHINGTON COUNTY 286 + BY MRS. EMILY BOTTORFF ALLEN + + REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER LIFE AT FORT CALHOUN 288 + BY MRS. N. J. FRAZIER BROOKS + + REMINISCENCES OF DE SOTO 289 + BY OLIVER BOUVIER + + REMINISCENCES 290 + BY THOMAS M. CARTER + + FORT CALHOUN IN THE LATE FIFTIES 293 + BY MRS. E. H. CLARK + + SOME ITEMS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY 295 + BY MRS. MAY ALLEN LAZURE + + COUNTY-SEAT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY 298 + BY FRANK MCNEELY + + THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF FONTENELLE 299 + BY MRS. EDA MEAD + + THOMAS WILKINSON AND FAMILY 305 + + NIKUMI 307 + BY MRS. HARRIETT S. MACMURPHY + + THE HEROINE OF THE JULES SLADE TRAGEDY 322 + BY MRS. HARRIETT S. MACMURPHY + + THE LAST ROMANTIC BUFFALO HUNT ON THE PLAINS OF NEBRASKA 326 + BY JOHN LEE WEBSTER + + OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE NEBRASKA SOCIETY, D. A. R. 333 + BY MRS. CHARLES H. AULL + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + MRS. LAURA B. POUND _Frontispiece_ + + OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT NEAR LEROY, NEBRASKA 18 + + OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT ON THE NEBRASKA-WYOMING STATE LINE 18 + + MRS. ANGIE F. NEWMAN 22 + + DEDICATION OF MONUMENT COMMEMORATING THE OREGON TRAIL AT + KEARNEY, NEBRASKA 27 + + MRS. ANDREW K. GAULT 50 + + MONUMENT MARKING THE OLD TRAILS, FREMONT, NEBRASKA 78 + + MRS. CHARLOTTE F. PALMER 90 + + MRS. FRANCES AVERY HAGGARD 127 + + OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT NEAR FAIRBURY, NEBRASKA 139 + + MRS. ELIZABETH C. LANGWORTHY 155 + + MRS. CHARLES B. LETTON 168 + + BOULDER AT FORT CALHOUN, COMMEMORATING THE COUNCIL + OF LEWIS AND CLARK WITH THE OTOE AND MISSOURI INDIANS 187 + + MRS. OREAL S. WARD 203 + + OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT ON KANSAS-NEBRASKA STATE LINE 240 + + MRS. CHARLES OLIVER NORTON 252 + + OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT NEAR HEBRON, NEBRASKA 268 + + MRS. WARREN PERRY 305 + + MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN, ANTELOPE PARK, LINCOLN 326 + + MRS. CHARLES H. AULL 333 + + MONUMENT MARKING THE INITIAL POINT OF THE CALIFORNIA + TRAIL, RIVERSIDE PARK, OMAHA 337 + + CALIFORNIA TRAIL MONUMENT, BEMIS PARK, OMAHA 337 + + + + +SOME FIRST THINGS IN THE HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY + +BY GEORGE F. WORK + + +Adams county is named for the first time, in an act of the territorial +legislature approved February 16, 1867, when the south bank of the +Platte river was made its northern boundary. There were no settlers here +at that time although several persons who are mentioned later herein had +established trapping camps within what are now its boundaries. In 1871 +it was declared a county by executive proclamation and its present +limits defined as, in short, consisting of government ranges, 9, 10, 11, +and 12 west of the sixth principal meridian, and townships 5, 6, 7, and +8, north of the base line, which corresponds with the south line of the +state. + +Mortimer N. Kress, familiarly known to the early settlers as "Wild +Bill," Marion Jerome Fouts, also known as "California Joe," and James +Bainter had made hunting and trapping camps all the way along the Little +Blue river, prior to this time. This stream flows through the south part +of the county and has its source just west of its western boundary in +Kearney county. James Bainter filed on a tract just across its eastern +line in Clay county as his homestead, and so disappears in the history +of Adams county. Mortimer N. Kress is still living and now has his home +in Hastings, a hale, hearty man of seventy-five years and respected by +all. Marion J. Fouts, about seventy years of age, still lives on the +homestead he selected in that early day and is a respected, prominent +man in that locality. + +Gordon H. Edgerton, now a resident and prominent business man of +Hastings, when a young man, in 1866, was engaged in freighting across +the plains, over the Oregon trail that entered the county where the +Little Blue crosses its eastern boundary and continued in a +northwesterly direction, leaving its western line a few miles west and a +little north of where Kenesaw now stands, and so is familiar with its +early history. There has already been some who have questioned the +authenticity of the story of an Indian massacre having taken place +where this trail crosses Thirty-two Mile creek, so named because it was +at this point about thirty-two miles east of Fort Kearny. This massacre +took place about the year 1867, and Mr. Edgerton says that it was +universally believed at the time he was passing back and forth along +this trail. He distinctly remembers an old threshing machine that stood +at that place for a long time and that was left there by some of the +members of the party that were killed. The writer of this sketch who +came to the county in 1874, was shown a mound at this place, near the +bank of the creek, which he was told was the heaped up mound of the +grave where the victims were buried, and the story was not questioned so +far as he ever heard until recent years. Certainly those who lived near +the locality at that early day did not question it. This massacre took +place very near the locality where Captain Fremont encamped, the night +of June 25, 1842, as related in the history of his expedition and was +about five or six miles south and a little west of Hastings. I well +remember the appearance of this trail. It consisted of a number of +deeply cut wagon tracks, nearly parallel with each other, but which +would converge to one track where the surface was difficult or where +there was a crossing to be made over a rough place or stream. The +constant tramping of the teams would pulverize the soil and the high +winds would blow out the dust, or if on sloping ground, the water from +heavy rains would wash it out until the track became so deep that a new +one would be followed because the axles of the wagons would drag on the +ground. It was on this trail a few miles west of what is now the site of +Kenesaw, that a lone grave was discovered by the first settlers in the +country, and a story is told of how it came to be there. About midway +from where the trail leaves the Little Blue to the military post at Fort +Kearny on the Platte river a man with a vision of many dollars to be +made from the people going west to the gold-fields over this trail, dug +a well about one hundred feet deep for the purpose of selling water to +the travelers and freighters. Some time later he was killed by the +Indians and the well was poisoned by them. A man by the name of Haile +camped here a few days later and he and his wife used the water for +cooking and drinking. Both were taken sick and the wife died, but he +recovered. He took the boards of his wagon box and made her a coffin +and buried her near the trail. Some time afterwards he returned and +erected a headstone over her grave which was a few years since still +standing and perhaps is to this day, the monument of a true man to his +love for his wife and to her memory. + +The first homestead was taken in the county by Francis M. Luey, March 5, +1870, though there were others taken the same day. The facts as I get +them direct from Mr. Kress are that he took his team and wagon, and he +and three other men went to Beatrice, where the government land office +was located, to make their entries. When they arrived at the office, +with his characteristic generosity he said: "Boys, step up and take your +choice; any of it is good enough for me." Luey was the first to make his +entry, and he was followed by the other three. Francis M. Luey took the +southwest quarter of section twelve; Mortimer N. Kress selected the +northeast quarter of section thirteen; Marion Jerome Fouts, the +southeast quarter of eleven; and the fourth person, John Smith, filed on +the southwest quarter of eleven, all in township five north and range +eleven west of the sixth principal meridian. Smith relinquished his +claim later and never made final proof, so his name does not appear on +the records of the county as having made this entry. The others settled +and made improvements on their lands. Mortimer N. Kress built a sod +house that spring, and later in the summer, a hewed log house, and these +were the first buildings in the county. So Kress and Fouts, two old +comrades and trappers, settled down together, and are still citizens of +the county. Other settlers rapidly began to make entry in the +neighborhood, and soon there were enough to be called together in the +first religious service. The first sermon was preached in Mr. Kress' +hewed log house by Rev. J. W. Warwick in the fall of 1871. + +The first marriage in the county was solemnized in 1872 between Roderick +Lomas or Loomis and "Lila" or Eliza Warwick, the ceremony being +performed by the bride's father, Rev. J. W. Warwick. Prior to this, +however, on October 18, 1871, Eben Wright and Susan Gates, a young +couple who had settled in the county, were taken by Mr. Kress in his +two-horse farm wagon to Grand Island, where they were married by the +probate judge. + +The first deaths that occurred in the county were of two young men who +came into the new settlement to make homes for themselves in 1870, +selected their claims and went to work, and a few days later were +killed in their camp at night. It was believed that a disreputable +character who came along with a small herd of horses committed the +murder, but no one knew what the motive was. He was arrested and his +name given as Jake Haynes, but as no positive proof could be obtained he +was cleared at the preliminary examination, and left the country. A +story became current a short time afterward that he was hanged in Kansas +for stealing a mule. + +The first murder that occurred in the county that was proven was that of +Henry Stutzman, who was killed by William John McElroy, February 8, +1879, about four miles south of Hastings. He was arrested a few hours +afterward, and on his trial was convicted and sent to the penitentiary. + +The first child born in the county was born to Francis M. Luey and wife +in the spring of 1871. These parents were the first married couple to +settle in this county. The child lived only a short time and was buried +near the home, there being no graveyard yet established. A few years ago +the K. C. & O. R. R. in grading its roadbed through that farm disturbed +the grave and uncovered its bones. + +In the spring and summer of 1870 Mr. Kress broke about fifty acres of +prairie on his claim and this constituted the first improvement of that +nature in the county. + +J. R. Carter and wife settled in this neighborhood about 1870, and the +two young men, mentioned above as having been murdered, stopped at their +house over night, their first visitors. It was a disputed point for a +long time whether Mrs. Carter, Mrs. W. S. Moote, or Mrs. Francis M. Luey +was the first white woman to settle permanently in the county; but Mr. +Kress is positive that the last named was the first and is entitled to +that distinction. Mrs. Moote, with her husband, came next and camped on +their claim, then both left and made their entries of the land. In the +meantime, before the return of the Mootes, Mr. and Mrs. Carter made +permanent settlement on their land, so the honors were pretty evenly +divided. + +The first white settler in the county to die a natural death and receive +Christian burial was William H. Akers, who had taken a homestead in +section 10-5-9. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. J. W. +Warwick. + +In the summer of 1871 a colony of settlers from Michigan settled on +land on which the townsite of Juniata was afterward located, and +October 1, 1871, the first deed that was placed on record in the county +was executed by John and Margaret Stark to Col. Charles P. Morse before +P. F. Barr, a notary public at Crete, Nebraska, and was filed for record +March 9, 1872, and recorded on page 1, volume 1, of deed records of +Adams county. The grantee was general superintendent of the Burlington & +Missouri River Railroad Company which was then approaching the eastern +edge of the county, and opened its first office at Hastings in April, +1873, with agent Horace S. Wiggins in charge. Mr. Wiggins is now a +well-known public accountant and insurance actuary residing in Lincoln. +The land conveyed by this deed and some other tracts for which deeds +were soon after executed was in section 12, township 7, range 11, and on +which the town of Juniata was platted. The Stark patent was dated June +5, 1872, and signed by U. S. Grant as president. The town plat was filed +for record March 9, 1872. + +The first church organized in the county was by Rev. John F. Clarkson, +chaplain of a colony of English Congregationalists who settled near the +present location of Hastings in 1871. He preached the first sermon while +they were still camped in their covered wagons at a point near the +present intersection of Second street and Burlington avenue, the first +Sunday after their arrival. A short time afterward, in a sod house on +the claim of John G. Moore, at or near the present site of the Lepin +hotel, the church was organized with nine members uniting by letter, and +a few Sundays later four more by confession of their faith. This data I +have from Peter Fowlie and S. B. Binfield, two of the persons composing +the first organization. + +The first Sunday school organized in the county was organized in a small +residence then under construction on lot 3 in block 4 of Moore's +addition to Hastings. The frame was up, the roof on, siding and floor in +place, but that was all. Nail kegs and plank formed the seats, and a +store box the desk. The building still stands and constitutes the main +part of the present residence of my family at 219 North Burlington +avenue. It was a union school and was the nucleus of the present +Presbyterian and Congregational Sunday schools. I am not able to give +the date of its organization but it was probably in the winter of +1872-73. I got this information from Mr. A. L. Wigton, who was +influential in bringing about the organization and was its first +superintendent. + +The first school in the county was opened about a mile south of Juniata +early in 1872, by Miss Emma Leonard, and that fall Miss Lizzie Scott was +employed to teach one in Juniata. So rapidly did the county settle that +by October 1, 1873, thirty-eight school districts were reported +organized. + +The acting governor, W. H. James, on November 7, 1871, ordered the +organization of the county for political and judicial purposes, and +fixed the day of the first election to be held, on December 12 +following. Twenty-nine votes were cast and the following persons were +elected as county officers: + + Clerk, Russell D. Babcock. + Treasurer, John S. Chandler. + Sheriff, Isaac W. Stark. + Probate Judge, Titus Babcock. + Surveyor, George Henderson. + Superintendent of Schools, Adna H. Bowen. + Coroner, Isaiah Sluyter. + Assessor, William M. Camp. + County Commissioners: Samuel L. Brass, Edwin M. Allen, and + Wellington W. Selleck. + +The first assessment of personal property produced a tax of $5,500, on +an assessed valuation of $20,003, and the total valuation of personal +and real property amounted to $957,183, mostly on railroad lands of +which the Burlington road was found to own 105,423 acres and the Union +Pacific, 72,207. Very few of the settlers had at that time made final +proof. This assessment was made in the spring of 1872. + +The first building for county uses was ordered constructed on January +17, 1872, and was 16x20 feet on the ground with an eight-foot story, +shingle roof, four windows and one door, matched floor, and ceiled +overhead with building paper. The county commissioners were to furnish +all material except the door and windows and the contract for the work +was let to Joseph Stuhl for $30.00. S. L. Brass was to superintend the +construction, and the building was to be ready for occupancy in ten +days. + +The salary of the county clerk was fixed by the board at $300, that of +the probate judge at $75 for the year. + +It is claimed that the law making every section line a county road, in +the state of Nebraska, originated with this board in a resolution passed +by it, requesting their representatives in the senate and house of the +legislature then in session to introduce a bill to that effect and work +for its passage. Their work must have been effective for we find that in +July following, the Burlington railroad company asked damages by reason +of loss sustained through the act of the legislature taking about eight +acres of each section of their land, for these public roads. + +The first poorhouse was built in the fall of 1872. It was 16x24 feet, +one and one-half stories high, and was constructed by Ira G. Dillon for +$1,400, and Peter Fowlie was appointed poormaster at a salary of $25 per +month. And on November 1 of that year he reported six poor persons as +charges on the county, but his administration must have been effective +for on December 5, following, he reported none then in his charge. + +The first agricultural society was organized at Kingston and the first +agricultural fair of which there is any record was held October 11 and +12, 1873. The fair grounds were on the southeast corner of the northwest +quarter of section 32-5-9 on land owned by G. H. Edgerton, and quite a +creditable list of premiums were awarded. + +The first Grand Army post was organized at Hastings under a charter +issued May 13, 1878, and T. D. Scofield was elected commander. + +The first newspaper published in the county was the _Adams County +Gazette_, issued at Juniata by R. D. and C. C. Babcock in January, 1872. +This was soon followed by the _Hastings Journal_ published by M. K. +Lewis and A. L. Wigton. These were in time consolidated and in January, +1880, the first daily was issued by A. L. and J. W. Wigton and called +the _Daily Gazette-Journal_. + + + + +EARLY EXPERIENCES IN ADAMS COUNTY + +BY GENERAL ALBERT V. COLE + + +I was a young business man in Michigan in 1871, about which time many +civil war veterans were moving from Michigan and other states to Kansas +and Nebraska, where they could secure free homesteads. I received +circulars advertising Juniata. They called it a village but at that time +there were only four houses, all occupied by agents of the Burlington +railroad who had been employed to preÎmpt a section of land for the +purpose of locating a townsite. In October, 1871, I started for Juniata, +passing through Chicago at the time of the great fire. With a comrade I +crossed the Missouri river at Plattsmouth on a flatboat. The Burlington +was running mixed trains as far west as School Creek, now Sutton. We +rode to that point, then started to walk to Juniata, arriving at Harvard +in the evening. Harvard also had four houses placed for the same purpose +as those in Juniata. Frank M. Davis, who was elected commissioner of +public lands and buildings in 1876, lived in one house with his family; +the other three were supposed to be occupied by bachelors. + +We arranged with Mr. Davis for a bed in an upper room of one of the +vacant houses. We were tenderfeet from the East and therefore rather +suspicious of the surroundings, there being no lock on the lower door. +To avoid being surprised we piled everything we could find against the +door. About midnight we were awakened by a terrible noise; our +fortifications had fallen and we heard the tramp of feet below. Some of +the preÎmptors had been out on section 37 for wood and the lower room +was where they kept the horse feed. + +The next morning we paid our lodging and resumed the journey west. +Twelve miles from Harvard we found four more houses placed by the +Burlington. The village was called Inland and was on the east line of +Adams county but has since been moved east into Clay county. Just before +reaching Inland we met a man coming from the west with a load of buffalo +meat and at Inland we found C. S. Jaynes, one of the preÎmptors, +sitting outside his shanty cutting up some of the meat. It was twelve +miles farther to Juniata, the railroad grade being our guide. The +section where Hastings now stands was on the line but there was no town, +not a tree or living thing in sight, just burnt prairie. I did not think +when we passed over that black and desolate section that a city like +Hastings would be builded there. The buffalo and the antelope had gone +in search of greener pastures; even the wolf and the coyote were unable +to live there at that time. + +[Illustration: OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT ON NEBRASKA-WYOMING STATE LINE + +Erected by the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution of Nebraska +and Wyoming. Dedicated April 4, 1913. Cost $200] + +[Illustration: MONUMENT ON THE OREGON TRAIL + +Seven miles south of Hastings. Erected by Niobrara Chapter, Daughters of +the American Revolution at a cost of $100] + +Six miles farther on we arrived at Juniata and the first thing we did +was to drink from the well in the center of the section between the four +houses. This was the only well in the district and that first drink of +water in Adams county was indeed refreshing. The first man we met was +Judson Buswell, a civil war veteran, who had a homestead a mile away and +was watering his mule team at the well. Although forty-four years have +passed, I shall never forget those mules; one had a crooked leg, but +they were the best Mr. Buswell could afford. Now at the age of +seventy-three he spends his winters in California and rides in his +automobile, but still retains his original homestead. + +Juniata had in addition to the four houses a small frame building used +as a hotel kept by John Jacobson. It was a frail structure, a story and +a half, and when the Nebraska wind blew it would shake on its +foundation. There was one room upstairs with a bed in each corner. +During the night there came up a northwest wind and every bed was on the +floor the next morning. Later another hotel was built called the Juniata +House. Land seekers poured into Adams county after the Burlington was +completed in July, 1872, and there was quite a strife between the +Jacobson House and the Juniata House. Finally a runner for the latter +hotel advertised it as the only hotel in town with a cook stove. + +Adams county was organized December 12, 1871. Twenty-nine voters took +part in the first election and Juniata was made the county-seat. + +We started out the next morning after our arrival to find a quarter +section of land. About a mile north we came to the dugout of Mr. +Chandler. He lived in the back end of his house and kept his horses in +the front part. Mr. Chandler went with us to locate our claims. We +preÎmpted land on section twenty-eight north of range ten west, in what +is now Highland township. I turned the first sod in that township and +put down the first bored well, which was 117 feet deep and cost $82.70. +Our first shanty was 10x12 feet in size, boarded up and down and papered +on the inside with tar paper. Our bed was made of soft-pine lumber with +slats but no springs. The table was a flat-top trunk. + +In the spring of 1872 my wife's brother, George Crane, came from +Michigan and took 80 acres near me. We began our spring work by breaking +the virgin sod. We each bought a yoke of oxen and a Fish Brothers wagon, +in Crete, eighty miles away, and then with garden tools and provisions +in the wagon we started home, being four days on the way. A few miles +west of Fairmont we met the Gaylord brothers, who had been to Grand +Island and bought a printing press. They were going to publish a paper +in Fairmont. They were stuck in a deep draw of mud, so deeply imbedded +that our oxen could not pull their wagon out, so we hitched onto the +press and pulled it out on dry land. It was not in very good condition +when we left it but the boys printed a very clean paper on it for a +number of years. + +In August Mrs. Cole came out and joined me. I had broken 30 acres and +planted corn, harvesting a fair crop which I fed to my oxen and cows. +Mrs. Cole made butter, our first churn being a wash bowl in which she +stirred the cream with a spoon, but the butter was sweet and we were +happy, except that Mrs. Cole was very homesick. She was only nineteen +years old and a thousand miles from her people, never before having been +separated from her mother. I had never had a home, my parents having +died when I was very small, and I had been pushed around from pillar to +post. Now I had a home of my own and was delighted with the wildness of +Nebraska, yet my heart went out to Mrs. Cole. The wind blew more +fiercely than now and she made me promise that if our house ever blew +down I would take her back to Michigan. That time very nearly came on +April 13, 1873. The storm raged three days and nights and the snow flew +so it could not be faced. I have experienced colder blizzards but never +such a storm as this Easter one. I had built an addition of two rooms on +my shanty and it was fortunate we had that much room before the storm +for it was the means of saving the lives of four friends who were caught +without shelter. Two of them, a man and wife, were building a house on +their claim one-half mile east, the others were a young couple who had +been taking a ride on that beautiful Sunday afternoon. The storm came +suddenly about four in the afternoon; not a breath of air was stirring +and it became very dark. The storm burst, black dirt filled the air, and +the house rocked. Mrs. Cole almost prayed that the house would go down +so she could go back East. But it weathered the blast; if it had not I +know we would all have perished. The young man's team had to have +shelter and my board stable was only large enough for my oxen and cow so +we took his horses to the sod house on the girl's claim a mile away. +Rain and hail were falling but the snow did not come until we got home +or we would not have found our way. There were six grown people and one +child to camp in our house three days and only one bed. The three women +and the child occupied the bed, the men slept on the floor in another +room. Monday morning the snow was drifted around and over the house and +had packed in the cellar through a hole where I intended to put in a +window some day. To get the potatoes from the cellar for breakfast I had +to tunnel through the snow from the trap door in the kitchen. It was +impossible to get to the well so we lifted the trap door and melted +fresh snow when water was needed. + +The shack that sheltered my live stock was 125 feet from the house and +it took three of us to get to the shack to feed. Number two would keep +within hearing of number one and the third man kept in touch with number +two until he reached the stable. Wednesday evening we went for the +horses in the sod house and found one dead. They had gnawed the wall of +the house so that it afterwards fell down. + +I could tell many other incidents of a homesteader's life, of trials and +short rations, of the grasshoppers in 1874-75-76, of hail storms and hot +winds; yet all who remained through those days of hardship are driving +automobiles instead of oxen and their land is worth, not $2.50 an acre, +but $150. + + + + +FRONTIER TOWNS + +BY FRANCIS M. BROOME + + +With the first rush of settlers into northwest Nebraska, preceding the +advent of railroads, numerous villages sprang up on the prairies like +mushrooms during a night. All gave promise, at least on paper, of +becoming great cities, and woe to the citizen unloyal to that sentiment +or disloyal to his town. It is sufficient to recount experiences in but +one of these villages for customs were similar in all of them, as +evidence of the freedom common to early pioneer life. + +In a central portion of the plains, that gave promise of future +settlement, a man named Buchanan came out with a wagonload of boards and +several boxes of whiskey and tobacco and in a short space of time had +erected a building of not very imposing appearance. Over the door of +this building a board was nailed, on which was printed the word "SALOON" +and, thus prepared for business, this man claimed the distinction of +starting the first town in that section. His first customers were a band +of cowboys who proceeded to drink up all of the stock and then to see +which one could shoot the largest number of holes through the building. +This gave the town quite a boom and new settlers as far away as +Valentine began hearing of the new town of Buchanan. Soon after another +venturesome settler brought in a general merchandise store and then the +rush began, all fearing they might be too late to secure choice +locations. The next public necessity was a newspaper, which soon came, +and the town was given the name of Nonpareil. It was regularly platted +into streets and alleys, and a town well sunk in the public square. +Efforts to organize a civil government met with a frost, everyone +preferring to be his own governor. A two-story hotel built of rough +native pine boards furnished lodging and meals for the homeless, three +saloons furnished drinks for the thirsty twenty-four hours in the day +and seven days in the week; two drug stores supplied drugs in case of +sickness and booze from necessity for payment of expenses. These with a +blacksmith shop and several stores constituted the town for the first +year and by reason of continuous boosting it grew to a pretentious size. +The second year some of the good citizens, believing it had advanced far +enough to warrant the establishment of a church, sent for a Methodist +minister. This good soul, believing his mission in life was to drive out +sin from the community, set about to do it in the usual manner, but soon +bowed to the inevitable and, recognizing prevailing customs, became +popular in the town. Boys, seeing him pass the door of saloons, would +hail him and in a good-natured manner give him the contents of a jackpot +in a poker game until, with these contributions and sums given him from +more religious motives, he had accumulated enough to build a small +church. + +[Illustration: MRS. ANGIE F. NEWMAN + +Second Vice-President General from Nebraska, National Society, Daughters +of the American Revolution. Elected 1898] + +After the organization of the county, the place was voted the +county-seat, and a courthouse was built. The court room when not in use +by the court was used for various public gatherings and frequently for +dances. + +Everybody had plenty of money and spent it with a prodigal hand. The +"save-for-rainy-days" fellows had not yet arrived on the scene. They +never do until after higher civilization steps in. Old Dan, the hotel +keeper, was considered one of the best wealth distributors in the +village. His wife, a little woman of wonderful energy, would do all the +work in a most cheerful manner while Dan kept office, collected the +money and distributed it to the pleasure of the boys and profit to the +saloons, and both husband and wife were happy in knowing that they were +among the most popular people of the village. It did no harm and +afforded the little lady great satisfaction to tell about her noble +French ancestry for it raised the family to a much higher dignity than +that of the surrounding plebeian stock of English, Irish, and Dutch, and +nobody cared so long as everything was cheerful around the place. +Cheerfulness is a great asset in any line of business. The lawyer of the +village, being a man of great expectations, attempted to lend dignity to +the profession, until, finding that board bills are not paid by dignity +and becoming disgusted with the lack of appreciation of legal talent, he +proceeded to beat the poker games for an amount sufficient to enable him +to leave for some place where legal talent was more highly appreciated. + +These good old days might have continued had the railroads kept out, +but railroads follow settlement just as naturally as day follows night. +They built into the country and with them came a different order of +civilization. + +Many experiences of a similar character might be told concerning other +towns in this section, namely, Gordon, where old Hank Ditto, who ran the +roadhouse, never turned down a needy person for meals and lodging, but +compelled the ones with money to pay for them. Then there was Rushville, +the supply station for vast stores of goods for the Indian agency and +reservation near by; Hay Springs, the terminal point for settlers coming +into the then unsettled south country. Chadron was a town of unsurpassed +natural beauty in the Pine Ridge country, where Billy Carter, the Dick +Turpin of western romance, held forth in all his glory and at whose +shrine the sporting fraternity performed daily ablutions in the +bountiful supply of booze water. Crawford was the nesting place for all +crooks that were ever attracted to a country by an army post. + +These affairs incident to the pioneer life of northwestern Nebraska are +now but reminiscences, supplanted by a civilization inspired by all of +the modern and higher ideals of life. + + + + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF BOX BUTTE COUNTY + +BY IRA E. TASH + + +Box Butte county, Nebraska, owes its existence to the discovery of gold +in the Black Hills in 1876. When this important event occurred, the +nearest railroad point to the discovery in Deadwood Gulch was Sidney, +Nebraska, 275 miles to the south. To this place the gold seekers rushed +from every point of the compass. Parties were organized to make the +overland trip to the new El Dorado with ox teams, mule teams, and by +every primitive mode of conveyance. Freighters from Colorado and the +great Southwest, whose occupation was threatened by the rapid building +of railroads, miners from all the Rocky Mountain regions of the West, +and thousands of tenderfeet from the East, all flocked to Sidney as the +initial starting point. To this heterogeneous mass was added the +gambler, the bandit, the road agent, the dive keeper, and other +undesirable citizens. This flood of humanity made the "Old Sidney Trail" +to the Black Hills. Then followed the stage coach, Wells-Fargo express, +and later the United States mail. The big freighting outfits conveyed +mining machinery, provisions, and other commodities, among which were +barrels and barrels of poor whiskey, to the toiling miners in the Hills. +Indians infested the trail, murdered the freighters and miners, and ran +off their stock, while road agents robbed stages and looted the express +company's strong boxes. Bandits murdered returning miners and robbed +them of their nuggets and gold dust. There was no semblance of law and +order. When things got too rank, a few of the worst offenders were +lynched, and the great, seething, hurrying mass of humanity pressed on +urged by its lust for gold. + +This noted trail traversed what is now Box Butte county from north to +south, and there were three important stopping places within the +boundaries of the county. These were the Hart ranch at the crossing of +Snake creek, Mayfield's, and later the Hughes ranch at the crossing of +the Niobrara, and Halfway Hollow, on the high tableland between. The +deep ruts worn by the heavily loaded wagons and other traffic passing +over the route are still plainly visible, after the lapse of forty +years. This trail was used for a period of about nine years, or until +the Northwestern railroad was extended to Deadwood, when it gave way to +modern civilization. + +Traveling over this trail were men of affairs, alert men who had noted +the rich grasses and wide ranges that bordered the route, and marked it +down as the cattle raiser's and ranchman's future paradise. Then came +the great range herds of the Ogallalla Cattle Company, Swan Brothers, +Bosler Brothers, the Bay State and other large cow outfits, followed by +the hard-riding cowboy and the chuck wagon. These gave names to +prominent landmarks. A unique elevation in the eastern part of the +county they named Box Butte. Butte means hill or elevation less than a +mountain, Box because it was roughly square or box-shaped. Hence the +surrounding plains were designated in cowman's parlance "the Box Butte +country," and as such it was known far and wide. + +Later, in 1886 and 1887, a swarm of homeseekers swept in from the East, +took up the land, and began to build houses of sod and to break up the +virgin soil. The cowman saw that he was doomed, and so rounded up his +herds of longhorns and drove on westward into Wyoming and Montana. These +new settlers soon realized that they needed a unit of government to meet +the requirements of a more refined civilization. They were drawn +together by a common need, and rode over dim trails circulating +petitions calling for an organic convention. They met and provided for +the formation of a new county, to be known as "Box Butte" county. + +This name was officially adopted, and is directly traceable to the +discovery of gold in the Black Hills. The lure of gold led the hardy +miner and adventurer across its fertile plains, opened the way for the +cattleman who named the landmark from which the county takes its name, +and the sturdy settler who followed in his wake adopted the name and +wrote it in the archives of the state and nation. + +[Illustration: UNVEILING OF MONUMENT AT KEARNEY, NEBRASKA, IN +COMMEMORATION OF THE OREGON TRAIL + +Left to right: Mrs. Ashton C. Shallenberger, Governor Shallenberger, +Mrs. Oreal S. Ward, State Regent Nebraska Society, Daughters of the +American Revolution; Mrs. Andrew K. Gault, Vice-President General, +National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution; Mrs. Charles O. +Norton, Regent Ft. Kearney Chapter, Daughters of the American +Revolution; John W. Patterson, Mayor of Kearney; John Lee Webster, +President Nebraska State Historical Society; Rev. R. P. Hammons, E. B. +Finch, assisting with the flag rope] + + + + +A BROKEN AXLE + +BY SAMUEL C. BASSETT + + +In 1860, Edward Oliver, Sr., his wife and seven children, converts to +the Mormon faith, left their home in England for Salt Lake City, Utah. +At Florence, Nebraska, on the Missouri river a few miles above the city +of Omaha, they purchased a traveling outfit for emigrants, which +consisted of two yoke of oxen, a prairie-schooner wagon, and two cows; +and with numerous other families having the same destination took the +overland Mormon trail up the valley of the Platte on the north side of +the river. + +When near a point known as Wood River Centre, 175 miles west of the +Missouri river, the front axle of their wagon gave way, compelling a +halt for repairs, their immediate companions in the emigrant train +continuing the journey, for nothing avoidable, not even the burial of a +member of the train, was allowed to interfere with the prescribed +schedule of travel. The Oliver family camped beside the trail and the +broken wagon was taken to the ranch of Joseph E. Johnson, who combined +in his person and business that of postmaster, merchant, blacksmith, +wagon-maker, editor, and publisher of a newspaper (_The Huntsman's +Echo_). Johnson was a Mormon with two wives, a man passionately fond of +flowers which he cultivated to a considerable extent in a fenced +enclosure. While buffalo broke down his fence and destroyed his garden +and flowers, he could not bring himself to kill them. He was a +philosopher and, it must be conceded, a most useful person at a point so +far distant from other sources of supplies. + +The wagon shop of Mr. Johnson contained no seasoned wood suitable for an +axle and so from the trees along Wood river was cut an ash from which +was hewn and fitted an axle to the wagon and the family again took the +trail, but ere ten miles had been traveled the green axle began to bend +under the load, the wheels ceased to track, and the party could not +proceed. In the family council which succeeded the father urged that +they try to arrange with other emigrants to carry their movables +(double teams) and thus continue their journey. + +The mother suggested that they return to the vicinity of Wood River +Centre and arrange to spend the winter. To the suggestion of the mother +all the children added their entreaties. The mother urged that it was a +beautiful country, with an abundance of wood and water, grass for +pasture, and hay in plenty could be made for their cattle, and she was +sure crops could be raised. The wishes of the mother prevailed, the +family returned to a point about a mile west of Wood River Centre, and +on the banks of the river constructed a log hut with a sod roof in which +they spent the winter. When springtime came, the father, zealous in the +Mormon faith, urged that they continue their journey; to this neither +the mother nor any of the children could be induced to consent and in +the end the father journeyed to Utah, where he made his home and married +a younger woman who had accompanied the family from England, which +doubtless was the determining factor in the mother refusing to go. + +The mother, Sarah Oliver, proved to be a woman of force and character. +With her children she engaged in the raising of corn and vegetables, the +surplus being sold to emigrants passing over the trail and at Fort +Kearny, some twenty miles distant. + +In those days there were many without means who traveled the trail and +Sarah Oliver never turned a hungry emigrant from her door, and often +divided with such the scanty store needed for her own family. When +rumors came of Indians on the warpath the children took turns on the +housetop as lookout for the dread savages. In 1863 two settlers were +killed by Indians a few miles east of her home. In the year 1864 +occurred the memorable raid of the Cheyenne Indians in which horrible +atrocities were committed and scores of settlers were massacred by these +Indians only a few miles to the south. In 1865 William Storer, a near +neighbor, was killed by the Indians. + +Sarah Oliver had no framed diploma from a medical college which would +entitle her to the prefix "Dr." to her name, possibly she was not +entitled to be called a trained nurse, but she is entitled to be long +remembered as one who ministered to the sick, to early travelers hungry +and footsore along the trail, and to many families whose habitations +were miles distant. + +Sarah Oliver and her family endured all the toil and privation common +to early settlers, without means, in a new country, far removed from +access to what are deemed the barest necessities of life in more settled +communities. + +She endured all the terrors incident to settlement in a sparsely settled +locality, in which year after year Indian atrocities were committed and +in which the coming of such savages was hourly expected and dreaded. She +saw the building and completion of the Union Pacific railroad near her +home in 1866; she saw Nebraska become a state in the year 1867. In 1870 +when Buffalo county was organized her youngest son, John, was appointed +sheriff, and was elected to that office at the first election +thereafter. Her eldest son, James, was the first assessor in the county, +and her son Edward was a member of the first board of county +commissioners and later was elected and served with credit and fidelity +as county treasurer. + +When, in the year 1871, Sarah Oliver died, her son Robert inherited the +claim whereon she first made a home for her family and which, in this +year, 1915, is one of the most beautiful, fertile farm homes in the +county and state. + + A DREAM-LAND COMPLETE + + Dreaming, I pictured a wonderful valley, + A home-making valley few known could compare; + When lo! from the bluffs to the north of Wood river + I saw my dream-picture--my valley lies there. + + Miles long, east and west, stretch this wonderful valley: + Broad fields of alfalfa, of corn, and of wheat; + 'Mid orchards and groves the homes of its people; + The vale of Wood river, a dream-land complete. + + Nebraska, our mother, we love and adore thee; + Within thy fair borders our lot has been cast. + When done with life's labors and trials and pleasures, + Contented we'll rest in thy bosom at last. + + + + +A PIONEER NEBRASKA TEACHER + +BY MRS. ISABEL ROSCOE + + +In 1865, B. S. Roscoe, twenty-two years of age, returned to his home in +Huron county, Ohio, after two years' service in the civil war. He +assisted his father on the farm until 1867, when he was visited by F. B. +Barber, an army comrade, a homesteader in northwestern Nebraska. His +accounts of the new country were so attractive that Mr. Roscoe, who had +long desired a farm of his own, decided to go west. + +He started in March, 1867, was delayed in Chicago by a snow blockade, +but arrived in Omaha in due time. On March 24, 1867, Mr. Roscoe went to +Decatur via the stage route, stopping for dinner at the Lippincott home, +called the half-way house between Omaha and Decatur. He was advised to +remain in Decatur for a day or two for the return of B. W. Everett from +Maple Creek, Iowa, but being told that Logan creek, where he wished to +settle, was only sixteen miles distant, he hired a horse and started +alone. The snow was deep with a crust on top but not hard enough to bear +the horse and rider. After going two miles through the deep snow he +returned to Decatur. On March 26 he started with Mr. Everett, who had a +load of oats and two dressed hogs on his sled, also two cows to drive. +They took turns riding and driving the cows. The trail was hard to +follow and when they reached the divide between Bell creek and the +Blackbird, the wind was high and snow falling. They missed the road and +the situation was serious. There was no house, tree, or landmark nearer +than Josiah Everett's, who lived near the present site of Lyons, and was +the only settler north of what is now Oakland, where John Oak resided. +They abandoned the sled and each rode a horse, Mr. Everett trying to +lead the way, but the horse kept turning around, so at last he let the +animal have its way and they soon arrived at Josiah Everett's homestead +shanty, the cows following. + +The next day Mr. Roscoe located his homestead on the bank of Logan +creek. A couple of trappers had a dugout near by which they had made by +digging a hole ten feet square in the side of the creek bank and +covering the opening with brush and grass. Their names were Asa Merritt +and George Kirk. + +Mr. Roscoe then returned to Decatur and walked from there to Omaha, +where he filed on his claim April 1, 1867. The ice on the Missouri river +was breaking though drays and busses were still crossing. Mr. Roscoe +walked across the river to Council Bluffs and then proceeded by train to +Bartlett, Iowa, intending to spend the summer near Brownville, Nebraska. +In August he returned to his homestead and erected a claim shanty. The +following winter was spent working in the woods at Tietown. In the +winter of 1869 fifty dollars was appropriated for school purposes in +Everett precinct and Mr. Roscoe taught school for two months in his +shanty and boarded around among the patrons. + + + + +EXPERIENCES OF A PIONEER WOMAN + +BY MRS. ELISE G. EVERETT + + +On December 31, 1866, in a bleak wind I crossed the Missouri river on +the ice, carrying a nine months' old baby, now Mrs. Jas. Stiles, and my +four and a half year old boy trudging along. My husband's brother, +Josiah Everett, carried three-year-old Eleanor in one arm and drove the +team and my husband was a little in advance with his team and wagon +containing all our possessions. We drove to the town of Decatur, that +place of many hopes and ambitions as yet unfulfilled. We were +entertained by the Herrick family, who said we would probably remain on +Logan creek, our proposed home site, because we would be too poor to +move away. + +On January 7, 1867, in threatening weather, we started on the last stage +of our journey in quest of a home. Nestled deep in the prairie hay and +covered with blankets, the babies and I did not suffer. The desolate, +wind-swept prairie looked uninviting but when we came to the Logan +Valley, it was beautiful even in that weather. The trees along the +winding stream, the grove, now known as Fritt's grove, gave a home-like +look and I decided I could be content in that valley. + +We lived with our brother until material for our shack could be brought +from Decatur or Onawa, Iowa. Five grown people and seven children, +ranging in ages from ten years down, lived in that small shack for three +months. That our friendship was unimpaired is a lasting monument to our +tact, politeness, and good nature. + +The New Year snow was the forerunner of heavier ones, until the +twenty-mile trip to Decatur took a whole day, but finally materials for +the shack were on hand. The last trip extended to Onawa and a sled of +provisions and two patient cows were brought over. In Decatur, B. S. +Roscoe was waiting an opportunity to get to the Logan and was invited to +"jump on." It was late, the load was heavy, and somewhere near Blackbird +creek the team stuck in the drifts. The cows were given their liberty, +the horses unhooked, and with some difficulty the half frozen men +managed to mount and the horses did the rest--the cows keeping close to +their heels; and so they arrived late in the night. Coffee and a hot +supper warmed the men sufficiently to catch a few winks of sleep--on +bedding on the floor. A breakfast before light and they were off to +rescue the load. The two frozen and dressed porkers had not yet +attracted the wolves, and next day they crossed the Logan to the new +house. + +A few days more and the snowdrifts were a mighty river. B. W. was a sort +of Crusoe, but as everything but the horses and cows--and the trifling +additional human stock--was strewn around him, he suffered nothing but +anxiety. Josiah drove to Decatur, procured a boat, and with the aid of +two or three trappers who chanced to be here, we were all rowed over the +mile-wide sea, and were at home! + +Slowly the water subsided, and Nebraska had emerged from her territorial +obscurity (March 1, 1867) before it was possible for teams to cross the +bottom lands of the Logan. + +One Sunday morning I caught sight of two moving figures emerging from +the grove. The dread of Indian callers was ever with me, but as they +came nearer my spirits mounted to the clouds--for I recognized my +sister, Mrs. Andrew Everett, as the rider, and her son Frank leading the +pony. Their claim had been located in March, but owing to the frequent +and heavy rains we were not looking for them so soon. The evening before +we had made out several covered wagons coming over the hills from +Decatur, but we were not aware that they had already arrived at +Josiah's. The wagons we had seen were those of E. R. Libby, Chas. +Morton, Southwell, and Clements. + +A boat had brought my sister and her son across the Logan--a pony being +allowed to swim the stream but the teams were obliged to go eight miles +south to Oakland, where John Oak and two or three others had already +settled, and who had thrown a rough bridge across. + +Before fall the Andrew Everett house (no shack) was habitable--also a +number of other families had moved in on both sides of the Logan, and it +began to be a real neighborhood. + +One late afternoon I started out to make preparations for the night, as +Mr. Everett was absent for a few days. As I opened the door two Indians +stood on the step, one an elderly man, the other a much-bedecked young +buck. I admitted them; the elder seated himself and spoke a few friendly +words, but the smart young man began immediately to inspect the few +furnishings of the room. Though quaking inwardly, I said nothing till he +spied a revolver hanging in its leather case upon the wall and was +reaching for it. I got there first, and taking it from the case I held +it in my hands. At once his manner changed. He protested that he was a +_good_ Indian, and only wanted to _see_ the gun, while the other +immediately rose from his chair. In a voice I never would have +recognized as my own, I informed him that it was time for him to _go_. +The elder man at last escorted him outside with me as rear guard. Fancy +my feelings when right at the door were ten or more husky fellows, who +seemed to propose entering, but by this time the desperate courage of +the arrant coward took possession of me, and I barred the way. It was +plain that the gun in my hand was a surprise, and the earnest entreaties +of my five-year-old boy "not to shoot them" may also have given them +pause. They said they were cold and hungry; I assured them that I had +neither room nor food for them--little enough for my own babies. At last +they all went on to the house of our brother, Andrew Everett. I knew +that they were foraging for a large party which was encamped in the +grove. Soon they came back laden with supplies which they had obtained, +and now they insisted on coming in to _cook them_, and the smell of +spirits was so unmistakable that I could readily see that Andrew had +judged it best to get rid of them as soon as possible, thinking that +they would be back in camp by dark, and the whiskey, which they had +obtained between here and Fremont, would have evaporated. But it only +made them more insistent in their demands and some were looking quite +sullen. At last a young fellow, _not_ an Indian--for he had long dark +curls reaching to his shoulders--with a strategic smile asked in good +English for a "drink of water." Instead of leaving the door, as he +evidently calculated, I called to my little boy to bring it. A giggle +ran through the crowd at the expense of the strategist but it was plain +they were growing ugly. Now the older Indian took the opportunity to +make them an earnest talk, and though it was against their wishes, he at +last started them toward the grove. After a while Frank Everett, my +nephew, who had come down to bolster up my courage, and the children +went to bed and to sleep, but no sleep for me; as the gray dawn was +showing in the east, a terrific pounding upon the door turned my blood +to ice. Again and again it came, and at last I tiptoed to the door and +stooped to look through the crack. A pair of very slim ankles was all +that was visible and as I rose to my feet, the very sweetest music I had +ever heard saluted me, the neigh of my pet colt Bonnie, who had failed +to receive her accustomed drink of milk the previous evening and took +this manner of reminding me. + +This was the only time we were ever menaced with actual danger, and many +laughable false alarms at last cured me of my fears of a people among +whom I now have valued friends. + + + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF WEEPING WATER, NEBRASKA + +BY I. N. HUNTER + + +Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Hunter were pioneer settlers of Nebraska and Weeping +Water, coming from Illinois by team. Their first settlement in the state +was near West Point in Cuming county where father staked out a claim in +1857. Things went well aside from the usual hardships of pioneer life, +such as being out of flour and having to pound corn in an iron kettle +with an iron wedge to obtain corn meal for bread. When the bottom of the +kettle gave way as a result of the many thumpings of the wedge, a new +plan was devised--that of chopping a hole in a log and making a crude +wooden kettle which better stood the blows of the wedge. This method of +grinding corn was used until a trip could be made with an ox team, to +the nearest mill, forty miles distant; a long and tedious trip always +but much more so in this particular instance because of the high water +in the streams which were not bridged in those days. These were small +hardships compared to what took place when the home was robbed by +Indians. These treacherous savages stripped the premises of all the live +stock, household and personal effects. Cattle and chickens were killed +and eaten and what could not be disposed of in this way were wantonly +destroyed and driven off. Clothing and household goods were destroyed so +that little was saved except the clothing the members of the family had +on. From the two feather beds that were ripped open, mother succeeded in +gathering up enough feathers to make two pillows and these I now have in +my home. They are more than a half century old. A friendly Indian had +come in advance of the hostile band and warned the little settlement of +the approach of the Indians with paint on their faces. His signs telling +them to flee were speedily obeyed and in all probability this was all +that saved many lives, as the six or seven families had to keep together +and travel all night to keep out of the reach of the Indians until the +people at Omaha could be notified and soldiers sent to the scene. On +the arrival of the soldiers the Indians immediately hoisted a white flag +and insisted that they were "good Indians." + +As no one had been killed by the Indians, it was the desire of the +soldiers to merely make the Indians return the stolen property and +stock, but as much property was destroyed, the settlers received very +little. A number of the Indians were arrested and tried for robbing the +postoffice which was at our home. My parents were the principal +witnesses and after the Indians were acquitted, it was feared they might +take revenge, so they were advised to leave the country. + +With an ox team and a few ragged articles of clothing they started east. +When he reached Rock Bluffs, one of the early river towns of Cass +county, father succeeded in obtaining work. His wages were seventy-five +cents a day with the privilege of living in a small log cabin. There was +practically no furniture for the cabin, corn husks and the few quilts +that had been given them were placed on the floor in the corner to serve +as a place to sleep. Father worked until after Christmas time without +having a coat. At about this time, he was told to take his team and make +a trip into Iowa. Just as he was about to start, his employer said to +him: "Hunter, where's your coat?" The reply was, "I haven't any." "Well, +that won't do; you can't make that trip without a coat; come with me to +the store." Father came out of the store with a new under coat and +overcoat, the first coat of any kind he had had since his home was +invaded by the red men. + +An explanation of the purpose of the trip into Iowa will be of interest. +The man father worked for was a flour and meat freighter with a route to +Denver, Colorado. In the winter he would go over into Iowa, buy hogs and +drive them across the river on the ice, to Rock Bluffs, where they were +slaughtered and salted down in large freight wagons. In the spring, from +eight to ten yoke of oxen would be hitched to the wagon, and the meat, +and often times an accompanying cargo of flour, would be started across +the plains to attractive markets in Denver. + +Father made a number of these trips to Denver as ox driver. + +The writer was born at Rock Bluffs in 1860. We moved to Weeping Water in +1862 when four or five dwellings and the little old mill that stood near +the falls, comprised what is now our beautiful little city of over 1,000 +population. + +During the early sixties, many bands of Indians numbering from forty to +seventy-five, visited Weeping Water. It was on one of their visits that +the writer made the best record he has ever made, as a foot racer. The +seven or eight year old boy of today would not think of running from an +Indian, but half a century ago it was different. It was no fun in those +days to be out hunting cattle and run onto a band of Indians all sitting +around in a circle. In the morning the cattle were turned out to roam +about at will except when they attempted to molest a field, and at night +they were brought home if they could be found. If not the search was +continued the next day. Some one was out hunting cattle all the time it +seemed. With such a system of letting cattle run at large, it was really +the fields that were herded and not the cattle. Several times a day some +member of the family would go out around the fields to see if any cattle +were molesting them. One of our neighbors owned two Shepherd dogs which +would stay with the cattle all day, and take them home at night. It was +very interesting to watch the dogs drive the cattle. One would go ahead +to keep the cattle from turning into a field where there might be an +opening in the rail fence, while the other would bring up the rear. They +worked like two men would. But the family that had trained dogs of this +kind was the exception; in most cases it was the boys that had to do the +herding. It was on such a mission one day that the writer watched from +under cover of some bushes, the passing of about seventy-five Indians +all on horseback and traveling single file. They were strung out a +distance of almost a mile. Of course they were supposed to be friendly, +but there were so many things that pointed to their tendency to be +otherwise at times, that we were not at all anxious to meet an Indian no +matter how many times he would repeat the characteristic phrase, "Me +good Injun." We were really afraid of them and moreover the story was +fresh in our minds of the murder of the Hungate family in Colorado, Mrs. +Hungate's parents being residents of our vicinity at that time. Her +sister, Mrs. P. S. Barnes, now resides in Weeping Water. + +Thus it will be seen that many Indian experiences and incidents have +been woven into the early history of Weeping Water. In conclusion to +this article it might be fitting to give the Indian legend which +explains how the town received its name of Weeping Water. The poem was +written by my son, Rev. A. V. Hunter, of Boston, and is founded on the +most popular of the Indian legends that have been handed down. + + THE LEGEND OF WEEPING WATER + + Long before the white man wandered + To these rich Nebraska lands, + Indians in their paint and feathers + Roamed in savage warlike bands. + + They, the red men, feared no hardships; + Battles were their chief delights; + Victory was their great ambition + In their awful bloody fights. + + Then one day the war cry sounded + Over valley, hill and plain. + From the North came dusky warriors, + From that vast unknown domain. + + When the news had reached the valley + That the foe was near at hand, + Every brave was stirred to action + To defend his home, his land. + + To the hills they quickly hastened + There to wait the coming foe. + Each one ready for the conflict + Each with arrow in his bow. + + Awful was the scene that followed, + Yells and warwhoops echoed shrill. + But at last as night descended + Death had conquered; all was still. + + Then the women in the wigwams + Hearing rumors of the fight, + Bearing flaming, flickering torches + Soon were wandering in the night. + + There they found the loved ones lying + Calm in everlasting sleep. + Little wonder that the women, + Brokenhearted, all should weep. + + Hours and hours they kept on weeping, + 'Til their tears began to flow + In many trickling streamlets + To the valley down below. + + These together joined their forces + To produce a larger stream + Which has ever since been flowing + As you see it in this scene. + + Indians christened it Nehawka + Crying Water means the same. + In this way the legend tells us + Weeping Water got its name. + + + + +INCIDENTS AT PLATTSMOUTH + +BY ELLA POLLOCK MINOR + + +Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Vallery were living in Glenwood, Iowa, in 1855, when +they decided to purchase a store from some Indians in Plattsmouth. Mr. +Vallery went over to transact the business, and Mrs. Vallery was to +follow in a few days. Upon her arrival in Bethlehem, where she was to +take the ferry, she learned that the crossing was unsafe on account of +ice floating in the river. There were two young men there, who were very +anxious to get across and decided to risk the trip. They took a letter +to her husband telling of the trouble. The next day, accompanied by +these two young men, Mr. Vallery came over after her in a rowboat, by +taking a course farther north. The boat was well loaded when they +started on the return trip. Some of the men had long poles, and by +constantly pushing at the ice they kept the boat from being crushed or +overturned. + +Mrs. Vallery's oldest daughter was the third white child born in the +vicinity of Plattsmouth. And this incident happened soon after her +arrival in 1855. Mrs. Vallery had the baby in a cradle and was preparing +dinner when she heard a knock at the door. Before she could reach it, an +Indian had stepped in, and seeing some meat on the table asked for it. +She nodded for him to take it, but he seemed to have misunderstood, and +then asked for a drink of water. While Mrs. Vallery was getting the +drink, he reached for the baby, but she was too quick for him and +succeeded in reaching the baby first. He then departed without further +trouble. + +At one time the Vallerys had a sick cow, and every evening several +Indians would come to find out how she was. She seemed to get no better +and still they watched that cow. In the course of a week she died, +evidently during the night, because the next morning the first thing +they heard was the Indians skinning the cow, out by the shed, and +planning a "big feed" for that night down by the river. + +The late Mrs. Thomas Pollock used to tell us how the Indians came +begging for things. Winnebago John, who came each year, couldn't be +satisfied very easily, so my grandmother found an army coat of her +brother's for him. He was perfectly delighted and disappeared with it +behind the wood pile, where he remained for some time. The family +wondered what he was doing, so after he had slipped away, they went out +and hunted around for traces of what had kept him. They soon found the +clue; he had stuffed the coat in under the wood, and when they pulled it +out, they found it was minus all the brass buttons. + +Another time one of Mrs. Pollock's children, the late Mrs. Lillian +Parmele, decided to play Indian and frighten her two brothers, who were +going up on the hill to do some gardening. She wrapped up in cloaks, +blankets and everything she could find to make herself look big and +fierce, then went up and hid in the hazel brush, where she knew they +would have to pass. Pretty soon she peeked out and there was a band of +Indians coming. Terrified, she ran down toward her home, dropping pieces +of clothing and blankets as she went. The Indians seeing them, ran after +her, each one anxious to pick up what she was dropping. The child +thinking it was she they were after, let all her belongings go, so she +could run the better and escape them. After that escapade quite a number +of things were missing about the house, some of them being seen later at +an Indian camp near by. + + + + +FIRST THINGS IN CLAY COUNTY + +BY MRS. CHARLES M. BROWN + + +The first settler of Clay county, Nebraska, was John B. Weston, who +located on the Little Blue, built a log hut in 1857 and called the place +Pawnee Ranch. It became a favorite stopping place of St. Joe and Denver +mail carriers. + +The first settler of Sutton was Luther French who came in March, 1870, +and homesteaded eighty acres. Mr. French surveyed and laid out the +original townsite which was named after Sutton, Massachusetts. His +dugout and log house was built on the east bank of School creek, east of +the park, and just south of the Kansas City and Omaha railroad bridge. +Traces of the excavation are still visible. The house was lined with +brick and had a tunnel outlet near the creek bottom for use in case of +an Indian attack. Among his early callers were Miss Nellie Henderson and +Capt. Charles White who rode in from the West Blue in pursuit of an +antelope, which they captured. + +Mrs. Wils Cumming was the first white woman in Sutton. She resided in +the house now known as the Mrs. May Evans (deceased) place. Part of this +residence is the original Cumming home. + +At this time the population of Sutton consisted of thirty-four men and +one woman. In the spring of 1871, F. M. Brown, who was born in Illinois +in 1840, came to Nebraska and settled on a homestead in Clay county, +four miles north of the present site of Sutton. At that time Clay county +was unorganized territory, and the B. & M. railroad was being extended +from Lincoln west. + +September 11, 1871, Governor James issued a proclamation for the +election of officers and the organization of Clay county fixing the +date, October 14, 1871. The election was held at the home of Alexander +Campbell, two miles east of Harvard, and fifty-four votes were cast. +Sutton was chosen as the county-seat. F. M. Brown was elected county +clerk; A. K. Marsh, P.O. Norman, and A. A. Corey were elected county +commissioners. When it came to organizing and qualifying the officers, +only one freeholder could be found capable of signing official bonds and +as the law required two sureties, R. G. Brown bought a lot of Luther +French and was able to sign with Luther French as surety on all official +bonds. As the county had no money and no assessments had been made all +county business was done on credit. There was no courthouse and county +business was conducted in the office of R. G. Brown, until February, +1873, when a frame building to be used as a courthouse was completed at +a cost of $1,865. This was the first plastered building in the county +and was built by F. M. Brown. + +In May, 1873, a petition for an election to relocate the county seat was +filed, but the motion of Commissioner A. K. Marsh that the petition be +"tabled, rejected and stricken from the files" ended the discussion +temporarily. In 1879 the county-seat was removed to Clay Center. Several +buildings were erected during the fall of 1873 and Sutton became the +center of trade in the territory between the Little Blue and the Platte +rivers. + +Melvin Brothers opened the first store in 1873 south of the railroad +tracks, now South Sanders avenue. At that time it was called "Scrabble +Hill." + +In 1874 the town was incorporated and a village government organized, +with F. M. Brown as mayor. + +Luther French was the first postmaster. + +Thurlow Weed opened the first lumber yard. + +William Shirley built and run the first hotel. + +L. R. Grimes and J. B. Dinsmore opened the first bank. + +Pyle and Eaton built and operated the first elevator. + +Isaac N. Clark opened the first hardware store. + +Dr. Martin V. B. Clark, a graduate of an Ohio medical college, was the +first physician in the county and opened the first drug store in Sutton. +In 1873, during the first term of district court, he was appointed one +of the commissioners of insanity. In 1877 he was elected coroner. + +The Odd Fellows hall was the first brick building erected. + +The Congregational church, built in 1875, was the first church building +in the county. + +William L. Weed taught the first school, beginning January 20, 1872, +with an enrollment of fourteen scholars. + +In 1876 the Evangelical Association of North America sent Rev. W. +Schwerin to Sutton as a missionary. + +In the early seventies the Burlington railroad company built and +maintained an immigrant house on the corner south of the present Cottage +hotel. This was a long frame building of one room with a cook stove in +either end. Many of the immigrants were dependent upon a few friends who +were located on the new land in the vicinity. Their food consisted +largely of soup made with flour and water; any vegetables they were able +to get were used. Meat was scarce with the immigrants. They had +considerable milk, mostly sour, brought in by their friends. The +immigrants remained here until they found work; most of them moved on to +farms. The house burned about 1880. + +In the early days Sutton was a lively business place with all the +features of a frontier town. Now it is a city enjoying the comforts of +modern improvements and refined society. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF CUSTER COUNTY + +BY MRS. J. J. DOUGLAS + + +In July, 1888, I arrived at Broken Bow, which is situated geographically +about the center of the state. That village looked strange to me with +not a tree in sight excepting a few little cuttings of cottonwood and +box elder here and there upon a lawn. After having lived all my life in +a country where every home was surrounded by groves and ornamental shade +trees, it seemed that I was in a desert. + +I had just completed a course of study in a normal school prior to +coming to Nebraska, and was worn out in mind and body, so naturally my +first consideration was the climatic condition of the country and its +corresponding effect upon the vegetation. I wondered how the people +stood the heat of the day but soon discovered that a light gentle breeze +was blowing nearly all the time, so that the heat did not seem intense +as it did at my Iowa home. + +After I had been in Broken Bow about two weeks I was offered a position +in the mortgage loan office of Trefren and Hewitt. The latter was the +first county clerk of Custer county. I held this position a few weeks, +then resigned to take charge of the Berwyn school at the request of Mr. +Charles Randall, the county superintendent. Berwyn was a village +situated about ten miles east of Broken Bow. It consisted of one general +merchandise store, a postoffice, depot, and a blacksmith shop. I shall +never forget my first impression on arriving at Berwyn very early on +that September morning. It was not daylight when the train stopped at +the little depot, and what a feeling of loneliness crept over me as I +watched that train speed on its way behind the eastern hills! I found my +way to the home of J. O. Taylor (who was then living in the back end of +his store building) and informed him that I was the teacher who had come +to teach the school and asked him to direct me to my boarding place. +Being a member of the school board, Mr. Taylor gave me the necessary +information and then sent his hired man with a team and buggy to take +me a mile farther east to the home of Ben Talbot, where I was to stay. + +The Talbot home was a little sod house consisting of two small rooms. On +entering I found Mrs. Talbot preparing breakfast for the family. I was +given a cordial welcome, and after breakfast started in company with +Mrs. Talbot's little girl for the schoolhouse. The sense of loneliness +which had taken possession of me on my way to this place began to be +dispelled. I found Mrs. Talbot to be a woman of kind heart and generous +impulses. She had two little girls, the older one being of school age. I +could see the schoolhouse up on the side of a hill. It was made of sod +and was about twelve by fifteen feet. The roof was of brush and weeds, +with some sod; but I could see the blue sky by gazing up through the +roof at almost any part of it. I looked out upon the hills and down the +valley and wondered where the pupils were to come from, as I saw no +houses and no evidence of habitation anywhere excepting Mr. Talbot's +home. But by nine o'clock about twelve children had arrived from some +place, I knew not where. + +I found in that little, obscure schoolhouse some of the brightest and +best boys and girls it was ever my good fortune to meet. There soon +sprang up between us a bond of sympathy. I sympathized with them in +their almost total isolation from the world, and they in turn +sympathized with me in my loneliness and homesickness. + +On opening my school that first morning, great was my surprise to learn +how well those children could sing. I had never been in a school where +there were so many sweet voices. My attention was particularly directed +to the voices of two little girls as they seemed remarkable for children +of their years. I often recall one bright sunny evening after I had +dismissed school and stood watching the pupils starting out in various +directions for their homes, my attention was called to a path that led +down the valley through the tall grass. I heard singing and at once +recognized the voices of these two little girls. The song was a favorite +of mine and I could hear those sweet tones long after the children were +out of sight in the tall grass. I shall never forget how charmingly +sweet that music seemed to me. + +I soon loved every pupil in that school and felt a keen regret when the +time came for me to leave them. I have the tenderest memory of my +association with that district, though the school equipment was meager +and primitive. After finishing my work there I returned to Broken Bow +where I soon accepted a position in the office of J. J. Douglass, clerk +of the district court. Mr. Douglass was one of the organizers of Custer +county and was chosen the first clerk of the court, which position he +held for four years. I began my work in this office on November 16, +1888, and held the position till the close of his term. + +During this time many noted criminal cases were tried in court, Judge +Francis G. Hamer of Kearney being the judge. One case in which I was +especially interested was the DeMerritt case, in which I listened to the +testimony of several of my pupils from the Berwyn district. Another +far-famed case was the Haunstine case, in which Albert Haunstine +received a death sentence. To hear a judge pronounce a death sentence is +certainly the most solemn thing one can imagine. Perhaps the most trying +ordeal I ever experienced was the day of the execution of Haunstine. It +so happened that the scaffold was erected just beneath one of the +windows of our office on the south side of the courthouse. As the nails +were being driven into that structure how I shuddered as I thought that +a human being was to be suspended from that great beam. Early in the +morning on the day of the execution people from miles away began to +arrive to witness the cruelest event that ever marred the fair name of +our beloved state. Early in the day, in company with several others, I +visited the cell of the condemned man. He was busy distributing little +souvenirs he had made from wood to friends and members of his family. He +was pale but calm and self-composed. My heart ached and my soul was +stirred to its very depth in sympathy for a fellow being and yet I was +utterly helpless so far as extending any aid or consolation. The thought +recurred to me so often, why is it men are so cruel to each +other--wolfish in nature, seeking to destroy their own kind? And now the +thought still comes to me, will the day ever dawn when there will be no +law in Nebraska permitting men to cruelly take the life of each other to +avenge a wrong? I trust that the fair name of Nebraska may never be +blotted again by another so-called _legal_ execution. + +It was during the time I was in that office the first commencement of +the Broken Bow high school was held, the class consisting of two +graduates, a boy and a girl. The boy is now Dr. Willis Talbot, a +physician of Broken Bow, and the girl, who was Stella Brown, is now the +wife of W. W. Waters, mayor of Broken Bow. + +We moved our office into the new courthouse in January, 1890. Soon after +we saw the completion of the mammoth building extending the entire +length of the block on the south side of the public square called the +Realty block. The Ansley Cornet band was the first band to serenade us +in the new courthouse. + +Mr. Douglass completed his term of office as clerk of the district court +on January 7, 1892, and two weeks later we were married and went for a +visit to my old home in Iowa. Soon after returning to Broken Bow we +moved to Callaway. I shall never forget my first view of the little city +of which I had heard so much, the "Queen City of the Seven Valleys." +After moving to Callaway I again taught school and had begun on my +second year's work when I resigned to accept a position in the office of +the state land commissioner, H. C. Russell, at Lincoln, where I remained +for two years. During the time I was in that office Mr. Douglass was +appointed postmaster at Callaway, so I resigned my work in Lincoln and +returned home to work in the postoffice. We were in this office for +seven years, after which I accepted a position in the Seven Valleys +bank. After a year I again took up school work and have been engaged in +that ever since. We have continued to reside at Callaway all these years +and have learned to love the rugged hills and glorious sunshine. The +winds continue to blow and the sands beat upon our pathway, but we would +not exchange our little cottage in the grove for a palace in the far +East. + + + + +AN EXPERIENCE + +BY MRS. HARMON BROSS + + +An experience through which I passed in northwestern Nebraska in the +early days comes to my mind very frequently. + +When the railroad first went through that region to Chadron, Mr. Bross +was general missionary for the Northwest, including central Wyoming and +the Black Hills country. + +When we first visited Chadron it was a town of white tents, and we +occupied a tent for several days. Then the tent was needed for other +purposes and Mr. Bross suggested that we find lodging in a building in +process of erection for a hotel. The frame was up and enclosed, the +floors laid, but no stairs and no division into rooms. The proprietor +said we could have a bed in the upper room, where there were fifty beds +side by side. He would put a curtain around the bed. As that was the +only thing to do, we accepted the situation and later I climbed a ladder +to the upper floor. + +The bed in one corner was enclosed with a calico curtain just the size +of the bed. I climbed on, and prepared the baby boy and myself for +sleep. As I was the only woman in the room, and every bed was occupied +before morning by two men, the situation was somewhat unique. However, I +was soon asleep. + +About three o'clock I was awakened by the stealthy footsteps of two men +on the ladder. They came to the bed at the foot of the one we occupied, +and after settling themselves to their satisfaction began discussing the +incidents of the night. As they were gamblers, the conversation was a +trifle strange to a woman. + +Soon in the darkness below and close to the side of the building where +we were, rang out several pistol shots with startling distinctness. + +One man remarked, in a calm, impersonal tone, "I prefer to be on the +ground floor when the shots fly around like that." The remark was not +especially reassuring for a mother with a sleeping baby by her side. + +As no one in the room seemed to be disturbed, and as the tumult below +soon died away, I again slept, and awakened in the morning none the +worse for the experience of the night. + +[Illustration: MRS. ANDREW K. GAULT + +Third Vice-President General from Nebraska, National Society, Daughters +of the American Revolution. Elected 1913] + + + + +LEGEND OF CROW BUTTE + +BY DR. ANNA ROBINSON CROSS + + +The early history of Crawford and its environment is replete with tales +of Indian scares; the pioneer settlers banding themselves together and +arming for protection against possible Indian raids, all presenting +lurid material for the most exciting stories, if one could gather the +accurate data. + +The legend of Crow Butte is one of the most thrilling, and at the same +time the most important, of the many tales told by the old settlers +around the winter fireside. + +In the early history of the Sioux and Crow Indians, much strife and +ill-feeling was engendered between the two tribes by the stealing of +horses. As no satisfactory settlement could be arranged between them, it +was declared, after a solemn pow-wow, that a decisive battle should be +fought, and the field for the said conflict was chosen on the land east +of the present site of Crawford. The final stand was taken on one of the +peculiar clay formations known as buttes, found in northwestern +Nebraska. These eminences, dividing this section of the country into +valleys and ridges of hills, add very much to the beauty of the +landscape, by their seeming likeness to a succession of battlements and +old castles. + +This particular butte, standing like a sentinel about five miles east of +Crawford, rises to a height of nearly three hundred feet on the east +side, and is possible of ascent by gradual elevation on the west side. +It appears to stand distinct and alone, forming a landmark on the +horizon that has guided many a settler and traveler to home and safety. +The writer is one of the number of travelers who, from bitter +experiences in long winter drives over the prairie, has learned to +appreciate the landmark of the old Crow Butte. + +The Sioux, having driven the Crows to the top of this butte, thought, by +guarding the path, they could quickly conquer by starving them out. +Under cover of night the Crows decided, after due deliberation, that the +warriors could escape, if the old men of the tribe would remain and +keep up a constant singing. This was done. The young and able-bodied +men, making ropes of their blankets, were let down the steep side of the +butte, while the poor old men kept up a constant wailing for days, until +death, from lack of food and exhaustion, had stilled their voices. As +the singing gradually ceased, the Sioux, while watching, saw white +clouds passing over the butte, having the appearance of large, white +birds with outstretched wings, on which they carried the old men to the +"Happy Hunting Grounds." The Sioux, awed by the illusion, believed it an +omen of peace and declared that forever after there should be no more +wars between the Crows and the Sioux. + +Through Capt. James H. Cook, an early settler and pioneer of this +section, who has served as scout and interpreter for the Indians for +years, I have learned that it was near this Crow Butte that the last +great treaty was made with the Indians, in which the whole of the Black +Hills country was disposed of to the white people. According to his +statement, the affair came very nearly ending in a battle in which many +lives might have been lost. The bravery and quick action of a few men +turned the tide in favor of the white people. + +The following original poem by Pearl Shepherd Moses is quite appropriate +in this connection: + + TO CROW HEART BUTTE + + Oh, lofty Crow Heart Butte, uprising toward the sun, + What is your message to the world below? + Or do you wait in silence, race outrun, + The march of ages in their onward flow? + + Ye are so vast, so great, and yet so still, + That but a speck I seem in nature's plan; + Or but a drop without a way or will + In this mad rush miscalled the race of man. + + In nature's poems you a period stand + Among her lessons we can never read; + But with high impulse and good motive found, + You help us toward the brave and kindly deed. + + The winds and sunshine, dawns and throbbing star, + Yield you their message from the ether clear, + While moonlight crowns your brow so calm and fair + With homage kingly as their greatest peer. + + A longing fills me as I nightly gaze; + Would I could break your spell of silence vast; + But centuries and years and months and days + Must add themselves again unto the past. + + And I can only wish that I were as true, + Always found faithful and as firmly stand + For right as you since you were young and new, + A wondrous product from a mighty hand. + + + + +LIFE ON THE FRONTIER + +BY JAMES AYRES + + +_Prairie Covered with Indians_ + +In July, 1867, a freight train left the old Plum Creek station late one +night for the west. As the company was alarmed for the safety of the +trains, Pat Delahunty, the section boss, sent out three men on a +hand-car over his section in advance of this train. They had gone about +three miles to the bend west of the station when they were attacked by +Indians. This was at a point nearly north of the John Jacobson claim. +There are still on the south side of the track some brickbats near the +culvert. This is the place where the Indians built a fire on the south +side of the track and took a position on the north side. When the +hand-car came along, they fired upon it. They killed one man and wounded +another, a cockney from London, England, and thinking him dead took his +scalp. He flinched. They stuck a knife in his neck but even that did not +kill him. He recovered consciousness and crawled into the high weeds. +The freight came and fell into the trap. While the Indians were breaking +into the cars of the wrecked freight, the Englishman made his escape, +creeping a mile to the north. As soon as morning came, Patrick Delahunty +with his men took a hand-car and went to investigate. Before they had +gone half a mile they could see the Indians all around the wreck. Each +one had a pony. They had found a lot of calico in one car and each +Indian had taken a bolt and had broken one end loose and was unfolding +it as he rode over the prairie. Yelling, they rode back and forth in +front of one another with calico flying, like a Maypole dance gone mad. +When they saw the section men with guns, they broke for the Platte river +and crossed it due south of where Martin Peterson's house now stands. +The section men kept shooting at them but got no game. They found that a +squaw-man had probably had a hand in the wrecking of the train for the +rails had been pried up just beyond the fire. The smoke blinded the +engineer and he ran into the rails which were standing as high as the +front of the boiler. The engineer and the fireman were killed. The +engine ran off the track, but the cars remained on the rails. The +Indians opened every car and set fire to two or three of the front ones. +One car was loaded with brick. The writer got a load of these brick in +1872 and built a blacksmith forge. Among the bricks were found pocket +knives, cutlery, and a Colt's revolver. + +The man who had been scalped came across the prairie toward the section +men. They thought he was an Indian. His shirt was gone and his skin was +covered with dried blood. They were about to shoot when Delahunty said, +"Stop, boys," for the man had his hands above his head. They let him +come nearer and when he was a hundred yards away Delahunty said, "By +gobs, it's Cockney!" They took him to the section house and cared for +him. He told them these details. After this event he worked for the +Union Pacific railroad at Omaha. Then he went back to England. The +railroad had just been built and there was only one train a day. + + +_Wild Turkeys and Wild Cats_ + +Tom Mahum was the boss herder for Ewing of Texas and had brought his +herd up that summer and had his cattle on Dilworth's islands until he +could ship them to Chicago. He bantered me for a turkey hunt, and we +went on horseback up Plum creek. He was a good shot and we knew we would +get game of some kind. We followed the creek five miles, when we scared +up a flock of turkeys. They were of the bronze kind, large and heavy. We +got three, and as we did not find any more, we took the tableland for +the Platte. As we came down a pocket we ran into a nest of wildcats. +There were four of them. One cat jumped at a turkey that was tied to +Tom's saddle. That scared his horse so that it nearly unseated him, but +he took his pistol and killed the cat. I was afraid they would jump at +me. They growled and spit, and I edged away until I could shoot from my +pony, and when twenty-five yards away I slipped in two cartridges and +shot two of the cats. The fourth one got away and we were glad to let it +go. We took the three cats to town, skinned them, and sold the pelts to +Peddler Charley for one dollar. Tom talked about that hunt when I met +him in Oregon a few years ago. + + +_A Scare_ + +On another occasion, Perley Wilson and I took a hunt on the big island +south of the river where there were some buffalo. The snow was about +eight inches deep and we crossed the main stream on the ice. Before we +got over, I saw a moccasin track and showed it to Wilson. He said we had +better get out. "No," said I, "let us trail it and find where it goes." +It took us into a very brushy island. Wilson would go no further, but I +took my shotgun, cocked both barrels, and went on but with caution for +fear the Indian would see me first. I got just half way in, and I heard +a "Ugh!" right behind me. The hair on my head went straight up. I was +scared, but I managed to gasp, "Sioux?" "No, Pawnee. Heap good Indian." +Then he laughed and I breathed again. I asked, "What are you doing +here?" "Cooking beaver," he replied, and led the way to his fire. He had +a beaver skinned hanging on a plum tree and he had a tin can over the +fire, boiling the tail. I returned to Wilson and told him about it. He +said, "It is no use to try to sneak up on an Indian in the brush, for he +always sees you first." I could have shot the Indian, as he only had a +revolver, but that would have been cowardly as he had the first drop on +me and could have had my scalp. We got home with no game that day. + + + + +PLUM CREEK (LEXINGTON), NEBRASKA + +BY WM. M. BANCROFT, M.D. + + +On April 5, 1873, I arrived at Plum Creek, now Lexington, with what was +called the second colony from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Captain F. J. +Pearson, who was in charge, later became editor of the _Pioneer_. Judge +Robert B. Pierce and the Tucker family were also with this colony. On +our arrival the only town we found was a mile east of the present site +of Lexington. It consisted of a section house, a small shanty called the +Johnson restaurant, one story and a half log house run by Daniel Freeman +as a general store, and a stockade built of ties used as a place of +safety for the horses and cows. The upper story of the Freeman building +was occupied by the Johnson family, who partitioned it off with blankets +to accommodate the immigrants, and the only lights we could depend on +were candle dips from the Freeman store at twenty-five cents each. At +this time bread sold at twenty-five cents per loaf. + +There was also an immigrant house 20 by 40 feet located on the north +side of the railroad nearly opposite the other buildings referred to. +This house was divided into rooms 6 by 8 feet square with a hall +between. The front room was used as Dawson county's first office by John +H. MacColl, then county clerk. There was also a coal shed and a water +tank on the south side of the track. The depot was a mile west on a +railroad section where the town was finally built. + +The reason for the change of townsite was a fight by Freeman against the +Union Pacific company. Freeman owned the quarter section of government +land, on which the buildings referred to were located. + +The first house in Plum Creek was built by Robert Pierce, whose family +got permission to live in a freight car on the side-track while the +house was being built. While in the freight car the family was attacked +by measles. In order to gain entrance to this temporary residence a +step-ladder had to be used, and in visiting the family while in the +car, I would find them first at one end of the switch and next at the +other, and would have to transfer the ladder each time. Later on Robert +Pierce was elected probate judge and served until by reason of his age +he retired. + +Tudor Tucker built the first frame house on Buffalo creek five miles +northeast of town. The first store building in Plum Creek was built by +Mr. Betz. The first hotel was built by E. D. Johnson, who deserves much +credit for his work in building up Dawson county. In 1873 the population +numbered about 175. The old townsite was soon abandoned and the town of +Plum Creek on its present site became a reality. + +The completion of the Platte river bridge was celebrated July 4, 1873, +by a big demonstration. It then became necessary to get the trade from +the Republican Valley, Plum Creek being the nearest trading point for +that locality. Since there were no roads from the south, a route had to +be laid out. With this object in view, Judge Pierce, E. D. Johnson, +Elleck Johnson, and I constituted ourselves a committee to do the work. +We started across the country and laid up sod piles every mile, until we +reached the Arapahoe, 48 miles southwest. Coming back we shortened up +the curves. This was the first road from the south into Plum Creek, and +we derived a great amount of trade from this territory. It was no +uncommon thing for the Erwin & Powers Company, conducting a general +store at this time, to take in from one thousand to twelve hundred +dollars on Saturdays. + +The first church and Sunday school was organized Sunday, April 13, 1873, +three and one-half miles north of town at the farm of Widow Mullen. +Those present, including myself, were: Mrs. Mullen and family, Captain +John S. Stuckey, afterwards treasurer of Dawson county, Joseph Stuckey, +Samuel Clay Stuckey and wife, Edgar Mellenger, and one negro servant. +Joseph Stuckey was appointed leader, James Tipton, superintendent of the +Sunday school, and I took charge of the music. The first regular sermon +was preached by a Mr. Wilson who came to Overton to live on a homestead. +He consented to preach for us until we could fill his place by an +appointment at general conference. We held the first regular service +both of the church and the Sunday school in the old frame schoolhouse +located in the east ward. We also held revivals in the Hill hall where +Smith's opera house now stands. + +On this Sunday afternoon about five o'clock the great April storm +started with blizzard from the northwest. It was impossible for any of +us to get away until Tuesday afternoon. On Monday night Captain Stuckey, +Doc Mellenger, and I had to take the one bed. During the night the bed +broke down and we lay until morning huddled together to keep from +freezing. Mellenger and I left Tuesday afternoon, when the storm abated, +and started back toward the old town. The storm again caught us and +drifted us to Doc's old doby two and one-half miles north of the +townsite. By this time the snow had drifted from four to five feet in +depth. The horses took us to the dugout stable in which we put them. +Then we had to dig our way to the doby where we remained from Tuesday +evening until Thursday morning. We had nothing to eat during that time +but a few hard biscuits, a little bacon, and three frozen chickens, and +nothing but melted snow to drink. The bedstead was a home-made affair +built of pine boards. This we cut up and used for fuel and slept on the +dirt floor. The storm was so terrific that it was impossible to get to +the well, fifteen feet from the doby. We became so thirsty from the snow +water that Doc thought he would try to get to the well. He took a rope +and pistol, tied the rope around his waist and started for the well. His +instructions were that if I heard the pistol I was to pull him in. After +a very short time the pistol report came and I pulled and pulled and Doc +came tumbling in without pistol or bucket. It was so cold he had nearly +frozen his hands. Thursday was clear and beautiful. One of the persons +from Mullen's, having gone to town, reported that we had left there +Tuesday afternoon. On account of this report a searching party was sent +out to look for us. + +Another item of interest was the Pawnee and Sioux massacre on August 5, +1873. It was the custom of the Pawnees, who were friendly and were +located on a reservation near Columbus, Nebraska, to go on a fall hunt +for buffalo meat for their winter use. The Sioux, who were on the Pine +Bluff reservation, had an old grudge against the Pawnees and knew when +this hunt took place. The Pawnees made Plum Creek their starting point +across the country southwest to the head of the Frenchman river. They +camped about ten miles northwest of Culbertson, a town on the B. & M. +railroad. The camp was in the head of a pocket which led from a +tableland to the Republican river. The Sioux drove a herd of buffalo on +the Pawnees while the latter were in camp. Not suspecting danger the +Pawnees began to kill the buffalo, when the Sioux came up, taking them +by surprise. The Pawnees, being outnumbered, fled down the caÒon. The +Sioux followed on either bank and cross-fired them, killing and wounding +about a hundred. I was sent by the government with Mr. Longshore, the +Indian agent of Columbus, and two guides to the scene of the massacre, +which was about one hundred and forty miles southwest of Plum Creek, for +the purpose of looking after the wounded who might have been left +behind. We made this trip on horseback. The agent had the dead buried +and we followed up the wounded. We found twenty-two at Arapahoe and ten +or fifteen had left and started on the old Fort Kearny trail. We brought +the twenty-two wounded to Plum Creek, attended to their wounds and then +shipped them in a box car to the reservation at Columbus. + +My first trip to Wood river valley twenty miles north, was to attend +James B. Mallott, one of the first settlers. They were afraid to let me +go without a guard but I had no fear of the Indians, so they gave me a +belt of cartridges and a Colt's revolver. Finally MacColl, the county +clerk, handed me a needle gun and commanded me to get back before dark. +I started on horseback with this arsenal for Wood river and made the +visit, but on my return I stopped to let the horse rest and eat +bluestem. Soon the horse became frightened and began to paw and snort. +On looking back toward the divide, I saw three Indians on horseback were +heading my way. We were not long in getting started. I beat them by a +mile to the valley, arriving safely at Tucker's farm on Buffalo creek. +The Indians did not follow but rode along the foothills to the west. A +party of four or five from Tucker's was not long in giving chase, but +the Indians had disappeared in the hills. A little later, Anton Abel, +who lived a mile north of town, came in on the run and stated that a +file of eight or ten Indians, with scalp sticks waving, were headed +south a half mile west of town. A number mounted their horses and gave +chase to the river where the Indians crossed and were lost sight of. We +never suffered much loss or injury from the Indians. Many scares were +reported, but like the buffalo after 1874-75, they were a thing of the +past in our county. + +My practice for the first ten or twelve years among the sick and +injured, covered a field almost unlimited. I was called as far north as +Broken Bow in the Loup valley, fifty miles, east to Elm Creek, Buffalo +county, twenty miles, west to Brady Island, Lincoln county, thirty-five +miles, and south to the Republican river. Most of the time there were no +roads or bridges. The valley of the Platte in Dawson county is now the +garden spot of the state. As stated before the settlement of 1872 was on +the extreme edge of the frontier. Now we have no frontier. It is +progressive civilization from coast to coast. I have practiced my +profession for over forty years continuously in this state, and am still +in active practice. I have an abiding faith that I shall yet finish up +with an airship in which to visit my patients. + + + + +EARLY RECOLLECTIONS + +BY C. CHABOT + + +After repeated invitations from my old boyhood companion, Dr. Bancroft, +to visit him in his new home in western Nebraska, I left Philadelphia +and arrived in Omaha the early part of April, 1878. Omaha at that time +did not impress me very favorably. After buying my ticket to Plum Creek +(in those days you could only buy a ticket to Omaha) the next thing in +order was to get in line and have my trunk checked, and witness baggage +"smashers" demolish a few trunks, then coolly offer to rope them at +twenty-five cents each. Our train left at 11 a. m. and arrived in Plum +Creek at 11 p. m., good time for those days. The train left with all +seats occupied and some passengers standing. Everybody was eager to see +the great prairie country. We expected to see Indians and buffalo, but +only a few jack rabbits appeared, which created quite a laugh, as it was +the first time any of us had ever seen one run. After we had traveled +about twenty miles, "U. P. Sam," as he called himself, came into our car +and treated us to a song of his own composition. In his song he related +all the wonders of the great Union Pacific railroad and the country +between Omaha and Ogden. I saw him two years later in Dawson county, +playing the violin at a country dance, and singing songs about different +persons at the gathering. All you had to do was to give him a few points +as to a man's disposition and habits with a few dimes and he would have +the whole company laughing. + +We stopped at Grand Island for supper, and in due time arrived in Plum +Creek. Dr. Bancroft was waiting for me and after being introduced to +many of his western friends, we retired for the night. Next morning +feeling the necessity of visiting a barber shop, I asked the doctor if +there was a barber shop in town. Judging from the accommodations at the +hotel I had my doubts. "We have a good barber in town," he replied, "but +I will go with you." On arriving at the corner of what is now Main and +Depot streets we entered a building which I discovered to be a saloon. +I protested, but before I had had time to say much, the doctor asked the +barkeeper where Ed. (the barber) was. "Why, he has gone south of the +river to plaster a house," was the reply. Then I thought "what kind of a +country have I come to, barber and plasterer the same person." Then my +mind wandered back to the far East where I saw a comfortable bath room, +and I thought "What can the doctor see in this country to deny himself +all the comforts of home?" Before I had time to recover from my +reveries, I was surrounded by cowboys who insisted that I drink with +them. I protested and if it had not been for Dr. Bancroft I suppose they +would have made me dance to the music of their six shooters or drink, +but as I was a friend of "Little Doc" (as they called him) that was +sufficient and the tenderfoot was allowed to leave. Then and only then I +saw in the northwest corner of the room the barber's chair. + +I accompanied Dr. Bancroft on many drives over the country going as far +north as the Loup and Dismal rivers. We went several times south to +Arapahoe; in fact it was but a short time before I was acquainted with +most all the settlers in Dawson and adjacent counties. The population at +that time was hardly 2,000 in Dawson county. In a very short time I +began to feel more at home. The hospitality of the people was something +I had never dreamed of; the climate and good fresh air so invigorating +that I soon adjusted myself to surrounding conditions, and before I had +been here a month I decided to cast my lot with the rest of the new +settlers and became one of them. + +While I have had many ups and downs I cannot say that I regret having +done so. When I look back and think of the many friends I made in the +early days and how we stood hand in hand in our adversities as well as +in our good fortunes, I cannot help feeling that we are more than +friends and belong to one big family. + + + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF THE FIRST SETTLER OF DAWSON COUNTY + +BY MRS. DANIEL FREEMAN + + +I came from Canada to Leavenworth, Kansas. Mr. Freeman was a freighter +to Pike's Peak, but was not always successful. He spent $4,000 on one +train and came back with only a team of oxen and a team of ponies. The +next spring, 1862, I bought a stage-coach and using the pony team, I +took my three children, the youngest only two months old, and drove all +the way to Nebraska. My husband was there and had started a little store +just across from the pony express station on Plum creek. He bought +buffalo hides of the Indians and shipped them east. The buffalo were in +easy reach and we had fresh meat every day. We had a big sign with the +word "Bakery" on it. I baked a hundred pounds of flour every day. I +would make yeast bread over night and bake it in the forenoon, and make +salt-rising in the morning and bake it in the afternoon. We got St. +Louis flour that the freighters brought from Denver when they came back. +I sold my bread for fifty cents a loaf and made as much as thirty +dollars a day. I made cheese, too. We had seventy-five head of cows and +milked twenty-five. We would take a young calf and let it fill its +stomach with its mother's milk, then kill it. Then we took the stomach +and washed and wiped it and hung it up on a nail to dry. When it was +perfectly dry we would put it away carefully in a cloth and used it for +rennet to make the cheese. I would put a little piece of it in new +milk and it would form a solid curd. My husband made me a press and a +mold. I got twenty-five cents a pound for my cheese, and sold lots of +it. I got up fine meals and charged two dollars a meal. The people were +glad to pay it. There was plenty of firewood. The trees drifted down the +river and we piled the wood up on the islands, but after the settlers +came they would steal it. There was no need of anybody going hungry +those days, for anyone could kill a buffalo. One day a herd of thirty +came within ten feet of our door, and our cows went away with them. The +children and I walked three miles before we came up to the cows and +could get them back home. We were near the river and it was not far down +to water. We dug holes in the ground and sunk five salt barrels. The +water came up in these and we always had plenty of water. Sometimes we +dipped the barrels dry, but they would be full the next morning. There +wasn't a pump in the country for years. + +The people who kept the Pony Express station were named Humphries. These +stations were about fifty miles apart. There would be lots of people at +the station every night, for after the Indians became troublesome, the +people went in trains of about a hundred wagons. There were many six +oxen teams. The Indians never troubled anybody until the whites killed +so many buffalo and wasted so much. There were carcasses all over the +prairies. The Indians used every part, and they knew this great +slaughter of the buffalo meant starvation for them, so they went on the +warpath in self-defense. They would skulk on the river bank where the +trail came close, and would rush up and attack the travelers. The +soldiers were sent out as escorts and their families often went with +them. One night at Plum Creek Pony Express station twin babies were born +to the lieutenant and wife. I went over in the morning to see if I could +help them, but they were all cared for by the lieutenant. He had washed +the babies and had the tent in order. I do not remember his name now. We +often saw tiny babies with their mothers lying in the wagons that came +by. They would be wrapped up, and looked very comfortable. Water was so +scarce that they had to pay for enough to wash the babies. + +Brigham Young made trip after trip with foreign people of all kinds but +blacks. Most of these could not speak English, and I don't think Brigham +bought any water for them, as they were filthy dirty. Brigham was a +great big fat man, and he kept himself pretty neat. He made just about +one trip a year. One company of these immigrants was walking through, +and the train was a couple of miles long. They went south of the river +on the Oregon trail. There was no other road then. + +On August 8, 1864, the Sioux people killed eleven men at 11:00 o'clock +in the morning, on Elm creek. I was afraid to stay on our ranch, so I +took the children and started to Fort Kearny. On the way we came to the +place of the massacre. The dead men were lying side by side in a long +trench, their faces were covered with blood and their boots were on. +Three women were taken prisoners. I heard that there were two children +in the party, and that they were thrown in the grass, but I looked all +around for them and didn't find any signs of them. Friends of these +people wrote to Mr. E. M. F. Leflang, to know if he could locate them. +The Indians never troubled us except to take one team during this war, +but I was always afraid when I saw the soldiers coming. They would come +in the store and help themselves to tobacco, cookies, or anything. Then +the teamsters would swing their long black-snake whips and bring them +down across my chicken's heads, then pick them up and carry them to +camp. I think the officers were the most to blame, for they sold the +soldiers' rations, and the men were hungry. + +When the Union Pacific railroad was first built we lived on our +homestead north of the river and the town was started on our land. We +had the contract to supply the wood for the engines. They didn't use any +other fuel then. We hired men to cut the wood on Wood river where +Eddyville and Sumner are now. I boarded the men in our new big house +across from the depot in old Plum Creek. The store was below and there +was an outside stairway for the men to go up. That summer Mr. Freeman +was in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York talking up this country. +Mr. Freeman was the first county clerk and his office was upstairs over +the store. We rented some of the rooms to newcomers. We did a big +business until the railroad moved the town to their section, a mile +west. Mr. Freeman kept on trapping, and finally was drowned near +Deadwood, South Dakota. I stayed by Dawson county and raised my family +and they all are settled near me and have good homes. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN DAWSON COUNTY + +BY LUCY R. HEWITT + + +Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Hewitt, in June, 1873, journeyed from Forreston, +Illinois, to Plum Creek, Nebraska. Their object was to take advantage of +the offer the government was making to civil war soldiers, whereby each +soldier could obtain one hundred and sixty acres of land. They stopped +at Grand Island and Kearney, but at neither place could they find two +adjoining quarter sections, not yet filed on. They wanted two, for my +grandfather, Rockwood, who lived with us was also a soldier. At Plum +Creek, now Lexington, they were able to obtain what they wanted but it +was six miles northwest of the station. + +Plum Creek at that early date consisted of the depot. The town was a +mile east and when my parents arrived at Plum Creek, they were obliged +to walk back to the town, in order to find lodging for the night. Rooms +seem to have been scarce for they had to share theirs with another man +and his wife. They found a place to eat in the restaurant owned by Mr. +and Mrs. E. D. Johnson. + +In August of the same year, they made a second trip to Nebraska, this +time with wagon and carriage, bringing with others a carpenter who built +their house upon the dividing line of the two homesteads. This house had +the distinction of being the first two-story house in the neighborhood. +All the others were one-story, because the settlers feared the high +winds that occasionally swept over the prairies. For a few months it was +the farthest away from town. + +In the three months between the two trips the town had moved to the +depot, and had grown from nothing to a village of sixty houses and +stores. The Johnsons had brought their restaurant and placed it upon the +site where a little later they built a hotel called the Johnson house. +Mr. T. Martin had built the first hotel which he named the Alhambra. I +have a very faint recollection of being in this hotel when the third +trip brought the household goods and the family to the new home. It was +in December when this last journey was taken, and great was the +astonishment of the older members of the family to see the ground +covered with a foot of snow. They had been told that there was +practically no winter in Nebraska, and they had believed the statement. +They found that the thermometer could drop almost out of sight with the +cold, and yet the greater part of many winters was very pleasant. + +My father opened a law office in the town and T. L. Warrington, who +taught the first school in the village, read law with him, and kept the +office open when the farm required attention. The fields were small at +first and did not require so very much time. + +The first exciting event was a prairie fire. A neighbor's family was +spending the day at our farm and some other friends also came to call. +The day was warm, no wind was stirring until about 4 o'clock, when it +suddenly and with much force blew from the north and brought the fire, +which had been smoldering for some days in the bluffs to the north of +the farm, down into the valley with the speed of a racing automobile. We +children were very much frightened, and grandmother who was sick with a +headache, was so startled she forgot her pain--did not have any in fact. +Mother and Mrs. Fagot, the neighbor's wife, were outside loosening the +tumble weeds and sending them along with the wind before the fire could +catch them. In that way they saved the house from catching fire. My +father, who had seen the fire come over the hills, as he was driving +from town, had unhitched the horses and riding one of them as fast as +possible, reached home in time to watch the hay stacks. Three times they +caught fire and each time he beat it out with a wet gunny sack. I think +this happened in March, 1874. + +That same year about harvest time the country was visited by +grasshoppers. They did considerable damage by nipping off the oat heads +before the farmers could finish the reaping. My aunt who was visiting us +suggested that the whole family walk through the potato field and send +the hoppers into the grass beyond. It was a happy thought, for the +insects ate grass that night and the next day a favorable wind sent them +all away. + +The worst grasshopper visitation we had was in July, 1876. One Sunday +morning father and mother and I went to town to church. The small grain +had been harvested and the corn all along the way was a most beautiful, +dark green. When we were about a mile from town a slight shade seemed to +come over the sun; when we looked up for the cause, we saw millions of +grasshoppers slowly dropping to the ground. They came down in such +numbers that they clung two or three deep to every green thing. The +people knew that nothing in the way of corn or gardens could escape such +devastating hordes and they were very much discouraged. To add to their +troubles, the Presbyterian minister that morning announced his intention +to resign. He, no doubt, thought he was justified. + +I was pretty small at that time and did not understand what it all +meant, but I do know that as we drove home that afternoon, the +cornfields looked as they would in December after the cattle had fed on +them--not a green shred left. The asparagus stems, too, were equally +bare. The onions were eaten down to the very roots. Of the whole garden, +there was, in fact, nothing left but a double petunia, which grandmother +had put a tub over. So ravenous were the pests that they even ate the +cotton mosquito netting that covered the windows. + +In a day or two when nothing remained to eat, the grasshoppers spread +their wings and whirred away. Then grandfather said, "We will plant some +beans and turnips, there is plenty of time for them to mature before +frost." Accordingly, he put in the seeds and a timely rain wet them so +that in a very few days they had sprouted and were well up, when on +Monday morning, just two weeks and one day from the time of the first +visitation, a second lot dropped down and breakfasted off grandfather's +beans. It was too late in the season then to plant more. + +My mother had quite a flock of turkeys and a number of chickens. They +were almost dazed at the sight of so many perfectly good insects. They +tried to eat them all but had to give up the task. They ate enough, +however, to make themselves sick. + +This time I believe the grasshoppers stayed several days. They seemed to +be hunting some good hard ground in which to lay their eggs. The +following spring the warm days brought out millions of little ones, +which a prairie fire later destroyed. + +The corn crop having been eaten green and the wheat acreage being rather +small, left many people with nothing to live on during the winter. Many +moved away and many of those who could not get away had to be helped. It +was then that Dawson county people learned that they had good friends in +the neighboring states for they sent carloads of food and clothing to +their less fortunate neighbors. + +A good many homesteaders were well-educated, refined people from +Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere. They were a very congenial +company and often had social times together. They were for the most part +young people, some with families of young children, others just married, +and some unmarried. I remember hearing my mother tell of a wedding that +she and father attended. The ceremony was performed at a private house +and then the whole company adjourned to a large hall where everybody who +wanted to, danced and the rest watched until the supper was served by +Mr. and Mrs. Johnson in their new hotel. The bride on this occasion was +Miss Addie Bradley and the groom was W. H. Lingle, at one time county +superintendent of public instruction. + +For some time after the starting of the town of Plum Creek there was no +church edifice but there was a good sized schoolhouse, and here each +Sunday morning the people for miles around gathered. One Sunday the +Methodist preacher talked to all the people and the next week the +Presbyterian minister preached to the same congregation, until the +courthouse was built, and then the Presbyterians used the courtroom. I +have heard the members say that they received more real good from those +union services than they ever did when each denomination had a church of +its own. The Episcopalians in the community were the most enterprising +for they built the first church, a little brick building that seated one +hundred people. It was very plainly furnished, but it cost fifteen +hundred dollars, due to the fact that the brick was brought from Kearney +and freight rates were high. It stood on the site of the present modern +building and was built in 1874. My grandfather, an ardent Churchman, +often read the service when there was no rector in town. + +Speaking of the courthouse reminds me that it was not always put to the +best use. I cannot remember when the following incident occurred, but I +do remember hearing it talked of. A man who lived on the south side of +the Platte river was accused of poisoning some flour that belonged to +another man. He was ordered arrested and two or three men, among them +Charles Mayes, the deputy sheriff, were sent after him. He resisted +arrest and using his gun, killed Mayes. He was finally taken and brought +to town and put into the county jail in the basement of the courthouse. +Mayes had been a very popular man and the feeling was very high against +his slayer, so high, indeed, that some time between night and morning +the man was taken from the jail, and the next morning his lifeless body +was found hanging at the back door of the courthouse. + +One of the pleasures of the pioneer is hunting. In the early days there +was plenty of game in Dawson county, buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, jack +rabbits, and several game birds, such as plover, prairie hen, ducks, +geese, and cranes. By the time we arrived, however, the buffalo had been +driven so far away that they were seldom seen. There was plenty of +buffalo meat in the market, however, for hunters followed them and shot +them, mostly for their hides. The meat was very good, always tender and +of fine flavor. My father rushed into the house one day and called for +his revolver. A herd of buffalo was racing across the fields towards the +bluffs on the north. Father and some of the men with him, thought +possibly they might get near enough to shoot one. But although he rode +as fast as his pony could carry him, he could not get close enough and +the herd, once it reached the hills was safe. The poor beasts had been +chased for miles and were weary, but they did not give up. The cows +huddled the calves together and pushed them along and the bulls led the +way. Father learned afterward that his pony had been trained by the +Indians to hunt; and if he had given him the rein and allowed him to go +at it in his own way, he would have gone so close that father could have +shot one. But he did not know this until the buffalo were far away. + + + + +PIONEER JUSTICE + +BY B. F. KRIER + + +In the early history of Lexington, Nebraska, as in all western states, +there was no crime committed more reprehensible than that of stealing a +horse. One might kill a man and it would be overlooked or excused, but +the offense of stealing a horse was a crime that nothing could atone for +but the "wiping out" of the thief. And generally when the horse thief +was caught the nearest tree or the upraised end of a wagon tongue was +immediately brought into use as a gallows upon which the criminal was +duly hanged without the formalities of courts or juries. It was amply +sufficient to know that the accused had stolen a horse, and it mattered +but little to whom the horse belonged or whether the owner was present +to take a hand in the execution. The culprit was dealt with in such +manner that he never stole another animal. + +This sentiment prevailed among the first settlers of Dawson county, as +was shown in 1871, shortly after the organization of the county. Among +the officials of the county at that time was a justice of the peace, a +sturdy, honest man, who had been a resident of the county several years +before it was organized. One day in 1871 a half-breed Sioux came riding +from the east into Plum Creek (as Lexington was then called). The Indian +stopped in the town and secured a meal for himself and feed for his +horse. + +While he was eating, two Pawnee warriors arrived at the station on a +freight train, from the east. They at once hunted up the sheriff, a +broad-shouldered Irishman named John Kehoe, and made complaint that the +half-breed Sioux had stolen a horse from one of them and had the animal +in his possession. Complaint was formally made and a warrant issued for +the half-breed's arrest upon the charge of horse-stealing, the warrant +being issued by the aforesaid justice of the peace. + +The Sioux was at once taken in custody by the sheriff and brought before +the justice. One of the Pawnees swore the horse the half-breed rode when +he entered the town was his property, and the other Pawnee upon oath +declared he knew it was. The prisoner denied the statement made by the +Pawnees and vehemently declared the animal was his property; that he +came by it honestly, and that the Pawnee had no title whatever in the +horse. + +There was no jury to hear and judge the evidence, and the justice was +compelled to decide the case. He had had some experience with redskins, +and entertained but small regard for any of them, but as the +preponderance of the evidence was against the Sioux, he decided the +latter was guilty, and after a short study of the matter sentenced the +culprit to be hanged. + +There were no lawyers in Plum Creek at that time, a condition that has +not existed since, and each side did its own talking. The Sioux at once +filed a vigorous complaint against the sentence, but was ordered by the +court to keep still. + +Realizing he had no chance, he became silent, but some of the citizens +who were present and listening to the trial, interposed objections to +the strenuous sentence, and informed the court that "as we are now +organized into a county and have to go by law, you can't sentence a man +to hang fer stealin' a hoss." + +This staggered the justice somewhat and he again took the matter under +advisement, and shortly after made the following change in the sentence, +addressing the prisoner as follows "----, Dem laws don't let you get +hanged, vich iss not right. You iss one teef; dat iss a sure ting, and I +shust gif you fifteen minutes to git out of dis state of Newbrasky." + +The Pawnee secured possession of the horse, but whether it belonged to +them or not is questionable, and hit the eastern trail for the "Pawnee +house," while the Sioux warrior hastily got himself together and made a +swift hike toward the setting sun and safety. + + + + +A GOOD INDIAN + +BY MRS. CLIFFORD WHITTAKER + + +The late John H. MacColl came to Dawson county in 1869 to benefit his +health, but shortly after reaching here he had an attack of mountain +fever, that left his lower limbs paralyzed. The nearest medical aid he +could get was from the army surgeon at Fort McPherson, forty miles to +the west. He made a number of trips to attend Mr. MacColl, and finally +told him that he would never be any better. An old Indian medicine man +happened along about that time and he went to see Mr. MacColl. By +curious signs, gesticulations, and grunts, he made Mr. MacColl +understand that he could cure him and that he would be back the next day +at the rising of the sun. True to his word, he came, bringing with him +an interpreter who explained to Mr. MacColl that the medicine man could +cure him if he would submit to his treatment. Mr. MacColl was desperate +and willing to do almost anything, so he agreed. The patient was +stripped and laid flat on a plank. The medicine man then took a +saw-edged knife and made no less than a hundred tiny gashes all over his +patient's body. This done he produced a queer herb, and began chewing +it. Then he spit it in his hand, as needed, and rubbed it into each tiny +wound. That was all, and in three days Mr. MacColl could stand alone, +and in a week he could walk. + +This incident was told to me in 1910 by the sister, Laura MacColl. + + + + +FROM MISSOURI TO DAWSON COUNTY IN 1872 + +BY A. J. PORTER + + +I left southwest Missouri late in October, 1872, accompanied by my +sister, and journeyed by team via Topeka, Kansas, to Nebraska. We spent +our first night in Nebraska at Fairbury, November 8, 1872. Trains on the +St. Joe and Grand Island railroad had just reached that point. + +After visiting a few days with the Carney families near Fairmont we took +the train for Plum Creek (now Lexington) and reached Kearney at 10 +o'clock P. M. All rooms being occupied we sat in the office of the hotel +till morning. None of the Union Pacific trains stopped at that place +except to take mail. At 10 o'clock that night we got a train to Plum +Creek, which place we reached at 12 o'clock. There being no hotel we +stayed in the depot until morning, when we found our brother living on a +homestead. + +During our stay I filed on land six miles northeast of Plum Creek. The +next April I brought my family by wagon over the same route and reached +Dawson county a month after the noted Easter storm of 1873. At that time +we saw hundreds of hides of Texas cattle, that had perished in the +storm, hanging on fences surrounding the stockyards at Elm Creek. + +We remained on our homestead until August, 1876, at which time we came +to Fillmore county and bought the southwest quarter of section eleven in +Madison township, which place we now own. + + + + +THE ERICKSON FAMILY + +BY MRS. W. M. STEBBINS + + +Charles J. Erickson left Sweden in 1864 and for two years lived in New +York, Indiana, and Illinois. In 1866 he moved to Fort McPherson, +Nebraska. He worked around the Fort until 1871 when he took a homestead +nine miles east. The next year, he sent to Sweden for his family. They +arrived at McPherson station--now Maxwell--on September 1, 1872. Mr. +Erickson died in April, 1877. The family resided on the old homestead +until 1910, when they moved to Gothenburg, Nebraska. The sons, Frank and +John Erickson, who still reside in Nebraska, unite in the following +statement: + +"Coming to this part of the state at so early a date we have been eye +witnesses to the development and transformation of the country from a +bleak, wild prairie covered with blue stem grasses, upon which fed +thousands of buffalo, deer, antelope, and elk. The Indians still +controlled the country and caused us to have many sleepless nights. + +"In those early days we always took our guns with us when we went away +from home, or into the field to work. Several times we were forced to +seek shelter in the Fort, or in some home, saving our scalps from the +Indians by the fleetness of our ponies. But how changed now. + +"One of our early recollections is the blackened posts and poles along +the old Oregon trail. As we gazed down the trail these looked like +sentinels guarding the way, but we soon learned they were the poles of +the first telegraph line built across Nebraska. It extended from +Nebraska City to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. When the Union Pacific railroad +was built through here--on the north side of the river--in 1866, the +telegraph line followed and the old line on the south side of the Platte +was abandoned. The old poles were of red cedar taken from the caÒons and +were all burned black by the prairie fires. They soon disappeared, being +used by the Indians and the emigrants for firewood. The old trail and +telegraph line crossed our farm and only a few years ago we dug out of +the ground one of the stubs of a cedar telegraph pole about two feet in +diameter and six feet long, and there are still more of these old stubs +in our fields. + +"In the early seventies the most prominent ranches in this section were +Upper 96 and Lower 96. These ranches had first been the relay stations +of the old Wells Fargo Express Company. At each of these may be seen +well preserved cedar log buildings still in use built by this company +when they first established their express business across the plains in +the middle of the last century. On the advent of the Union Pacific, the +Wells Fargo Express Company abandoned these stations and they became the +property of the 96 Ranch. Although they have passed through the hands of +several different owners they have always retained their names of Upper +96 ranch and Lower 96 ranch. + +"The caÒons leading into the hills from the south side of the river are +named from the early ranches along the valley near the mouths of the +caÒons; Conroy from Conroy's ranch, Jeffrie from Jeffrie's ranch, Gilman +from Gilman's ranch, and Hiles from Hiles' ranch. An exception to the +above is the Dan Smith caÒon which is named after Dan Smith in memory of +the tragedy with which his name is connected. Dan Smith and wife were +working at the Lower 96 ranch in 1871. Mrs. Smith wished to attend a +ball to be given by the officers at Fort McPherson and wanted her +husband to go with her, but he being of a jealous disposition refused to +go. She mounted her horse and started to go alone when he called to her +to come back and take his gun to protect herself from the Indians. She +turned around and started back toward him. He drew his gun and fired, +killing her instantly. She was buried at the Lower 96 ranch and until a +few years ago her grave was kept green. After shooting his wife, Dan +Smith mounted her horse and rode away into the hills to the south. The +soldiers at the Fort twenty-five miles away were notified and the next +day they came to hunt for the murderer. They surrounded him in a caÒon +in the hills and there shot him to death leaving his body a prey for +buzzards and wolves. The caÒon to this day is called Dan Smith CaÒon and +through it is the main road leading from Gothenburg to Farnam, +Nebraska." + + + + +THE BEGINNINGS OF FREMONT + +BY SADIE IRENE MOORE + + +Fremont was named for John C. Fremont, who was a candidate against +Buchanan for president. The first stakes were set August 23, 1856, the +boundaries being finished three days later. "The first habitation of any +sort, was constructed of poles surrounded by prairie grass. It was built +and owned by E. H. Barnard and J. Koontz, in 1856, and stood upon the +site of the present Congregational church." In the autumn of 1856, +Robert Kittle built and owned the first house. A few weeks later his +house was occupied by Rev. Isaac E. Heaton, wife and two daughters, who +were the first family to keep house in Fremont. Alice Flor, born in the +fall of 1857, was the first child born in Fremont. She is now Mrs. +Gilkerson, of Wahoo. The first male child born in Fremont was Fred +Kittle. He was born in March, 1858, and died in 1890. On August 23, +1858, occurred the first marriage. The couple were Luther Wilson and +Eliza Turner. The first death was that of Seth P. Marvin, who was +accidentally drowned in April, 1857, while crossing the Elkhorn seven +miles northeast of Fremont. The Marvin home was a mile and a quarter +west of Fremont and this house was the rendezvous of the parties who +laid out Fremont. Mr. Marvin was one of the town company. + +The first celebration of the Fourth of July was in 1857. Robert Kittle +sold the first goods. J. G. and Towner Smith conducted the first regular +store. In 1860, the first district school was opened with Miss McNeil +teacher. Then came Mary Heaton, now Mrs. Hawthorne. Mrs. Margaret +Turner, followed by James G. Smith, conducted the first hotel situated +where the First National bank now is. This was also the "stage house," +and here all the traders stopped en route from Omaha to Denver. In the +evening the old hotel resounded with the music of violin and the sound +of merry dancing. Charles Smith conducted a drug store where Holloway +and Fowler now are. A telegraph line was established in 1860. The first +public school was held in a building owned by the Congregational +church at the corner of Eighth and D streets. Miss Sarah Pneuman, now +Mrs. Harrington, of Fremont, was the teacher. When court convened, +school adjourned, there being no courthouse. In three years the school +had grown from sixteen to one hundred pupils, with three teachers. The +first public schoolhouse was built at the corner of Fifth and D streets. +In 1866 the Union Pacific was built. The first bank was established in +1867. The _Tribune_, the first newspaper, was published July 24, 1868. +"The Central School" was built in 1869 and the teacher, in search of +truant boys, would ascend to the top, where with the aid of field glass, +she could see from the Platte to the Elkhorn. Today, can be seen on the +foundations of this old landmark, the marks of slate pencils, which were +sharpened by some of our middle aged business men of today. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT AT FREMONT, NEBRASKA, MARKING THE OVERLAND +EMIGRANT TRAILS OR CALIFORNIA ROAD + +Erected by Lewis-Clark Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution] + +Mrs. Cynthia Hamilton, of Fremont, gives an interesting account of the +early days. In June, 1857, she, with her husband, Mr. West, their +daughter, Julia, Mrs. West's brother, the late Wilson Reynolds, and Mrs. +Reynolds, reached the few dwellings then comprising Fremont, after an +eighteen or nineteen days trip in moving wagons from Racine, Wisconsin. +They first stopped at the house of Robert Kittle, corner Military and +Broad streets. This house was made from trees grown on the bluffs +southwest of town, and had a red cedar shingle roof, the shingles shaved +from logs floated down the Platte. After two days, they all moved to a +log house in "Pierce's Grove." While living here, Mrs. Hamilton tells of +hearing a great commotion among the tinware and upon investigation, +found it was caused by a huge snake. In August of the same year they +moved to their homestead, northwest of town, on the Rawhide. It is now +known as the Rohr place. Here they remained two years. In winter the men +made trips to the river for wood, and the women must either accompany +them or remain at home, alone, far from another house. Thus, alone one +day, she saw a large band of Indians approaching. The chief, picking up +an axe from the wood pile, placed it under the window where she sat, +indicating that she must take care of it, else some one might steal it. +He then led his band northward. During all the residence on the +homestead the three members of the family suffered continually from +ague. In the fall of 1859, Mrs. West and her child returned to +Wisconsin, where they remained ten months. During her absence, Mr. West +became a trader with the Indians and once in Saunders county as he was +selling a quantity of meat on a temporary counter, the Indians became +rather unruly. His white companions fled, and Mr. West seizing a club, +went among the Indians, striking them right and left. For this, they +called him a brave and ever afterwards called him "Buck Skadaway," +meaning curly hair. When Mrs. West returned from Wisconsin, she came +down the Mississippi and up the Missouri to Omaha, then a small town. +From there they drove to Fremont, with horse and buggy, via Florence. +Mr. West now bought a cottonwood house, battened up and down. It +consisted of two rooms, and stood on the site of the present residence +of Thad Quinn. Wilson Reynolds bought two lots on the south side of +Sixth street near the West home for twenty-five cents. Here he built a +house made partly of black walnut taken from the banks of the Platte. In +this house, was born our present postmaster, B. W. Reynolds. Mrs. +Hamilton relates that the Indians were frequent callers at her home, one +even teaching her to make "corn coffee," "by taking a whole ear of corn, +burning it black and then putting it in the coffee pot." Food consisted +of vegetables, which were grown on the prairie sod, prairie chickens, +small game, and corn bread. Butter was twenty-five cents a pound. Syrup +was made by boiling down watermelon. Boiled beans were mashed to a pulp +and used as butter. "Everything was high and when the money and supplies +which we bought were exhausted it was hard to get more." Screens were +unknown and the flies and mosquitoes were terrible. In the evenings +everyone would build a smudge so that they could sleep. Not a tree was +to be seen except those on the banks of the streams. Tall prairie grass +waved like the ocean and prairie fires were greatly feared. Everyone +began setting out trees at once. + +"In those days Broad street was noted as a racing road for the Indians +and now it is a boulevard for automobiles," says Mrs. Hamilton. "Yes," +she continued, "I well remember the Fourth of July celebration in 1857. +There were about one hundred people in attendance. Miss McNeil was my +little girl's first teacher and Dr. Rhustrat was our first physician." +In 1861, after a short illness, Mr. West died. He was buried beside his +infant daughter in the cemetery, which at that time stood near the +present brewery. The bodies were afterward removed to Barnard's +cemetery and later to Ridge. The following year, Mrs. West, with her +daughter, Julia, returned to her parents at Racine, Wisconsin, where she +remained for many years. In 1876, as the wife of William Hamilton she +returned and made her home on one of her farms near the stockyards. +Twenty-five years ago this place was sold for $100 per acre while the +old homestead northwest of town brought $25 per acre in 1875. After +selling the south farm she and Mr. Hamilton, who died a few years ago, +bought the present home on Broad street. Everyone should honor the early +settlers, who left their eastern homes, endured hardships and privations +that a beautiful land might be developed for posterity. They should be +pensioned as well as our soldiers. And we, of the younger generation, +should respect and reverence their memory. + + + + +A GRASSHOPPER STORY + +BY MARGARET F. KELLY + + +I came to Fremont, Nebraska, in May, 1870, and settled on a farm on +Maple creek. In 1874 or 1875 we were visited by grasshoppers. I had +never formed an idea of anything so disastrous. When the "hoppers" were +flying the air was full of them. As one looked up, they seemed like a +severe snow storm. It must have been like one of the plagues of Egypt. +They were so bad one day that the passenger train on the Union Pacific +was stalled here. I went to see the train and the odor from the crushed +insects was nauseating. I think the train was kept here for three hours. +The engine was besmeared with them. It was a very wonderful sight. The +rails and ground were covered with the pests. They came into the houses +and one lady went into her parlor one day and found her lace curtains on +the floor, almost entirely eaten. Mrs. George Turner said that she came +home from town one day when the "hoppers" were flying and they were so +thick that the horses could not find the barn. Mrs. Turner's son had a +field of corn. W. R. Wilson offered him fifty dollars for it. When he +began to husk it, there was no corn there. A hired man of Mrs. Turner's +threw his vest on the ground. When he had finished his work and picked +up the vest it was completely riddled by the grasshoppers. I heard one +man say that he was out riding with his wife and they stopped by a field +of wheat where the "hoppers" were working and they could hear their +mandibles working on the wheat. When they flew it sounded like a train +of cars in motion. Horses would not face them unless compelled. One year +I had an eighty acre field of corn which was being cultivated. The men +came in and said the "hoppers" were taking the corn. They did not stay +long, but when they left no one would have known that there had ever +been any corn in that field. My brother from California came in 1876. On +the way to the farm a thunder storm came up and we stopped at a friend's +until it was over. My brother said, "I would not go through the +experience again for $10,000, and I would not lose the experience for +the same amount." The "hoppers" came before the storm and were thick on +the ground. It was a wonderful experience. In those days we cut our +small grain with "headers." The grain head was cut and fell into boxes +on wagons. After dinner one day, the men went out to find the +grasshoppers in full possession. A coat which had been left hanging was +completely destroyed. Gardens and field crops were their delight. They +would eat an onion entirely out of the hard outer skin. I had a thirty +acre field of oats which looked fine on Saturday. We could not harvest +it then and on Monday it looked like an inverted whisk broom. Some of +the "hoppers" were three inches long. The backs were between brown and +slate color and underneath was white. I think we received visits from +them for five years. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN FREMONT + +BY MRS. THERON NYE + + +From the year 1856 until the beginning of the civil war in 1861 the +early settlers of Nebraska experienced nearly all of the ills and +hardships incidental to a pioneer life. Fifty years have passed since +then and to one having lived through those trying days--or to a stranger +who merely listens to the almost incredulous tales of a past +generation--there arises a question as to why any sane person or persons +should desire to leave a land of comparative comfort and plenty for one +of deprivation and possible starvation. + +The early settlers of Fremont were for the most part young people from +the eastern states, full of ambition and hope. There is in the youthful +heart a spirit of energy, of doing and daring in order to realize, if +possible, dreams of a perhaps glorious future in which may be won honor +and fame and wealth. Then again the forces of nature are never at rest +and man, being a part of the great whole, must inevitably keep in step +with the universal law. A few lines written for a paper several years +ago give the first impression of the landscape which greeted the eyes of +a stranger on entering the valley of the Elkhorn river in 1858, April +26: + +"This is the picture as I see it plainly in retrospect--a country, and +it was all a country, with a smooth, level, gray surface which appeared +to go on toward the west forever and forever. On the north were the +bluffs of the Elkhorn river, but the great Elkhorn Valley was a part of +an unknown world. South of the little townsite of Fremont the Platte +river moved sluggishly along to meet and be swallowed up in the great +Missouri. Ten or twelve log cabins broke the monotony of the treeless +expanse that stretched far away, apparently to a leaden sky. My heart +sank within me as I thought but did not say, 'How can I ever live in a +place like this?'" And yet the writer of the above lines has lived in +Fremont for forty-seven years. + +The histories of the world are chiefly men's histories. They are +stories of governments, of religions, of wars, and only in exceptional +instances has woman appeared to hold any important place in the affairs +of nations. From the earliest settlement of the colonies in the new +world until the present time, women have not only borne with bravery and +fortitude the greater trials of the pioneer life, but from their +peculiar organization and temperament suffered more from the small +annoyances than their stronger companions of the other sex. The +experiences of the home and family life of the early settlers of the +great West have never entered into the annals of history nor can a +truthful story be told without them, but thus far no doubt the apparent +neglect has been due to woman herself, who until quite recently has felt +that she was a small factor in the world's affairs. + +In the beginning of the new life in Fremont women had their first +introduction to the log cabin which was to be their home for many years. +It was not as comfortable as it looks picturesque and romantic printed +on paper. It was a story and a half high, sixteen by twenty feet in +size. The logs were hewn on two sides, but the work performed by the +volunteer carpenters of that time was not altogether satisfactory, +consequently the logs did not fit closely but the open spaces between +were filled with a sort of mortar that had a faculty of gradually +dropping off as it dried, leaving the original holes and openings +through which the winter winds whistled and Nebraska breezes blew the +dirt. + +The houses were made of cottonwood logs and finished with cottonwood +lumber. The shingles warped so the roof somewhat resembled a sieve. The +rain dripped through it in summer and snow sifted through it in winter. +The floors were made of wide rough boards, the planing and polishing +given by the broom, the old-fashioned mop, and the scrubbing brush. The +boards warped and shrunk so that the edges turned up, making wide cracks +in the floor through which many small articles dropped down into a large +hole in the ground miscalled a cellar. It was hardly possible to keep +from freezing in these houses in winter. Snow sifted through the roof, +covering beds and floors. The piercing winds blew through every crack +and crevice. Green cottonwood was the only fuel obtainable and that +would sizzle and fry in the stove while water froze standing under the +stove. This is no fairy tale. + +The summers were not much more pleasant. It must be remembered that +there were no trees in Fremont, nothing that afforded the least +protection from the hot rays of a Nebraska sun. Mosquitoes and flies +were in abundance, and door screens were unknown at that time. The +cotton netting nailed over windows and hung over and around the beds was +a slight protection from the pests, although as the doors must +necessarily be opened more or less no remedy could be devised that would +make any perceptible improvement. To submit was the rule and the law in +those days, but many, many times it was done under protest. + +The first floor was divided or partitioned off, by the use of quilts or +blankets, into a kitchen, bedroom, and pantry. The chamber, or what +might be called attic, was also partitioned in the same way, giving as +many rooms as it would hold beds. The main articles of food for the +first two years consisted of potatoes, corn meal, and bacon. The meal +was made from a variety of corn raised by the Indians and called Pawnee +corn. It was very soft, white, and palatable. Wheat flour was not very +plentiful the first year. Bacon was the only available meat. +Occasionally a piece of buffalo meat was obtained, but it being very +hard to masticate only served to make a slight change in the gravy, +which was otherwise made with lard and flour browned together in an iron +frying pan, adding boiling water until it was of the right consistency, +salt and pepper to suit the taste. This mixture was used for potatoes +and bread of all kinds. Lard was a necessity. Biscuits were made of +flour, using a little corn meal for shortening and saleratus for +raising. Much of the corn was ground in an ordinary coffee mill or in +some instances rubbed on a large grater or over a tin pan with a +perforated bottom, made so by driving nails through it. The nearest +flouring mill was at Fort Calhoun, over forty miles away, which was then +a three days' journey, taking more time than a trip to California at the +present day. Nothing, however, could be substituted for butter. The lack +of meat, sugar, eggs and fruit, tea and coffee, was borne patiently, but +wheat flour and corn meal bread with its everlasting lard gravy +accompaniment was more than human nature could bear, yet most of the +people waxed strong and flourished on bread and grease. Oh, where are +the students of scientific research and domestic economy? There were +possibly three or four cows in the settlement, and if there was ever an +aristocracy in Fremont, it was represented by the owners of said cows. + +In 1858 a little sorghum was raised. "Hope springs eternal in the human +breast." Men, women, and children helped to prepare the stalks when at +the right stage for crushing, which was done with a very primitive +home-made machine. The juice obtained was boiled down to syrup, but +alas, the dreams of a surfeit of sweetness vanished into thin air, for +the result of all the toil and trouble expended was a production so +nauseous that it could not be used even for vinegar. + +Wild plums and grapes grew in profusion on the banks of the rivers. +There was much more enjoyment in gathering the fruit than in eating or +cooking it. The plums were bitter and sour, the grapes were sour and +mostly seeds, and sugar was not plentiful. + +The climate was the finest in the world for throat and lung troubles, +but on the breaking up of the soil malaria made its appearance and many +of the inhabitants suffered from ague and fever. Quinine was the only +remedy. There were neither physicians nor trained nurses here, but all +were neighbors and friends, always ready to help each other when the +occasion required. + +In 1856, the year in which Fremont was born, the Pawnee Indians were +living four miles south across the Platte river on the bluffs in +Saunders county. They numbered about four thousand and were a constant +source of annoyance and fear. In winter they easily crossed the river on +the ice and in summer the water most of the time was so low they could +swim and wade over, consequently there were few days in the year that +they did not visit Fremont by the hundred. Weeks and months passed +before women and children became accustomed to them and they could never +feel quite sure that they were harmless. Stealing was their forte. Eyes +sharp and keen were ever on the alert when they were present, yet when +they left almost invariably some little article would be missed. They +owned buffalo robes and blankets for which the settlers exchanged +clothing which they did not need, jewelry, beads, and ornaments, with a +little silver coin intermixed. The blankets and robes were utilized for +bedding and many were the shivering forms they served to protect from +the icy cold of the Nebraska winters. In 1859 the government moved them +to another home on the Loup river and in 1876 they were removed to +Indian territory. + +Snakes of many kinds abounded, but rattlesnakes were the most numerous. +They appeared to have a taste for domestic life, as many were found in +houses and cellars. A little four-year-old boy one sunny summer day ran +out of the house bare-footed, and stepping on the threshold outside the +door felt something soft and cold to his feet. An exclamation of +surprise caused a member of the household to hasten to the door just in +time to see a young rattlesnake gliding swiftly away. In several +instances they were found snugly ensconced under pillows, on lounges, +and very frequently were they found in cellars. + +For more than two years there was no way of receiving or sending mail +only as one or another would make a trip to Omaha, which was usually +once a week. In 1859 a stage line was put on between Omaha and Fort +Kearny. No one can tell with what thankfulness and rejoicing each and +every improvement in the condition and surroundings was greeted by the +settlers. Dating from the discovery of gold in Colorado the pioneer was +no more an object of pity or sympathy. Those who had planted their +stakes and made their claims along the old military and California trail +were independent. Many of the emigrants became discouraged and turned +their faces homeward before getting a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains. On +their way home they sold loads of provisions for a song. The same fall +the fertile soil of the Platte Valley, after two years of cultivation, +responded to the demand of civilization. There was a market west for +every bushel of grain and every pound of vegetables grown. So at least +the patient and persevering ones received their reward. + +The sources of amusement were few, and yet all enjoyed the strange new +life. A pleasant ride over the level prairie dotted with wild flowers, +in any sort of vehicle drawn by a pair of oxen, was as enjoyable to the +young people then as a drive over the country would now be in the finest +turnout that Fremont possesses. A dance in a room twelve by sixteen feet +in a log cabin, to the music of the Arkansas Traveler played on one +violin, was "just delightful." A trip to Omaha once or twice a year was +a rare event in the woman's life particularly. Three days were taken, +two to drive in and out, and one to do a little trading (not shopping) +and look around to view the sights. A span of horses, a lumber wagon +with a spring seat in front high up in the air, was the conveyance. +Women always wore sunbonnets on these occasions to keep their complexion +fair. + +Several times in the earlier years the Mormons passed through here with +long trains of emigrants journeying to the promised land, and a sorry +lot they were, for the most of them were footsore and weary, as they all +walked. The train was made up of emigrant covered wagons drawn by oxen, +and hand carts drawn by cows, men and women, and dogs. It was a sight +never to be forgotten. + +This is merely a short description of some of the trials and sufferings +endured by the majority of the early settlers of this state. Many of the +actors in the drama have passed away, a few only now remaining, and soon +the stories of their lives will be to the coming generation like +forgotten dreams. + + + + +PIONEER WOMEN OF OMAHA + +BY MRS. CHARLES H. FISETTE + + +Very few of those now living in Omaha can have any realization of the +privations, not to say hardships, that were endured by the pioneer women +who came here at an early date. A few claim shanties were scattered at +distant intervals over this beautiful plateau, and were eagerly taken by +those who were fortunate enough to secure them. There was seldom more +than one room in them, so that no servants could be kept, even if there +were any to be had. Many an amusing scene could have been witnessed if +the friends who had been left behind could have peeped in at the door +and have seen the attempts made at cooking by those who never had cooked +before. + +A description of one of the homes might be of interest. A friend of ours +owned a claim shanty that stood on the hill west of what is now +Saunders, or Twenty-fourth street, and he very kindly offered it to us, +saying he would have it plastered and fixed up. We, of course, accepted +it at once and as soon as possible it was made ready and we moved into +it late one evening, very happy to have a home. The house consisted of +upstairs, downstairs, and a cellar, the upstairs being just high enough +for one to stand erect in the center of the room, provided one was not +very tall. The stairs were nothing but a ladder, home-made at that, in +one corner of the room, held in place by a trunk. It was some time +before I succeeded in going up and down gracefully. I happened to be +upstairs when our first caller came and in my effort to get down quickly +caught my feet in one of the rungs of the ladder and landed on the +aforementioned trunk so suddenly that it brought everyone in the room to +their feet. It took away all the formality of an introduction. + +Mr. and Mrs. Hanscom lived half a mile north of the cottage just +described, and had what seemed to others a house that was almost +palatial. It contained three rooms, besides a kitchen, and had many +comforts that few had in those days, including a cradle, which held a +rosy-cheeked, curly-headed baby girl, who has long since grown to +womanhood and had babies of her own. Another home, standing where +Creighton College now stands, was built by a nephew of the late Rev. +Reuben Gaylord, but was afterwards occupied by Mr. and Mrs. W. N. Byers, +who have for many years resided in Colorado. The Gaylords moved from +there to a new home at Eleventh and Jackson streets. Their family +consisted of three children: Mrs. S. C. Brewster, of Irvington, who is +still living at the age of 77 years; a son, Ralph Gaylord; and an +adopted daughter, Georgia, who has since died. + +[Illustration: MRS. CHARLOTTE F. PALMER + +First State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1894-1895] + +A one story house built just in the rear of Tootle and Mauls' store on +Farnam, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, was kept as a +boarding house by Kentucky Wood and his wife. It was considered a +high-toned boarding house, although the partitions were made of +unbleached cloth and the floor of the dining room was covered with +sawdust. Judges Lockwood and Bradley, two of our territorial judges, +boarded there and a dinner was given in their honor by the landlord. The +invited guests included Governor and Mrs. Cuming, Colonel and Mrs. C. B. +Smith, and Dr. Geo. L. Miller. That was the first dinner party ever +given in Omaha. Governor and Mrs. Cuming then boarded at the Douglas +house, Thirteenth and Harney streets, and their rooms were often filled +with the elite of this young and growing city. Mrs. Cuming was very +popular in the little gatherings which were frequently held. She was the +leading light and was always ready and willing to assist in any good +work. Wherever there was sickness she was sure to be found. Mrs. Thomas +Davis was another who was always doing little acts of kindness. She was +the mother of the late Mrs. Herman Kountze, who, at that time, was the +only white little girl in Omaha. Still another who never turned anyone +away from her door who needed help was Mrs. E. Estabrook. + +Mrs. A. D. Jones, our first postmaster's wife, lived at that time at +what was called Park Wild, in a one story log and frame house, which was +afterwards occupied by General G. M. Dodge, the distinguished soldier, +so well and widely known to the whole country as the chief engineer of +the Union Pacific railroad. Among others who were here were Mrs. Edwin +Patrick and Mrs. Allen Root, also Mrs. T. G. Goodwill, who lived in the +Kentucky Wood house that I have already mentioned. She afterwards built +the brick house that still stands near the northwest corner of +Davenport street, facing south. It is an old landmark near Fifteenth +street. + +One of the most prominent women of that day was Mrs. John M. Thayer, +whose home at that time was said to have been the first civilized +appearing home. It was plastered, clapboarded, and shingled. The entire +community envied Mrs. Thayer her somewhat imposing residence. It was in +very strong contrast, however, with the beautiful brick house which +General Thayer afterwards built and occupied for several years, on the +northeast corner of Sixteenth and Davenport streets. + +Mrs. Samuel Rogers, Mrs. William Snowden, Mrs. Thomas O'Conner, Mrs. O. +B. Selden, Mrs. Hadley Johnson, and Mrs. Harrison Johnson were among the +first women who lived in Omaha. Mrs. A. J. Poppleton may be classed +among the number, although at that time she was living in Council +Bluffs, then called Kanesville, where she was one of the leading young +ladies. + +The first hotel in Omaha, a log house, eighteen by twenty feet, one +story high, was named the St. Nicholas. It was first occupied by the +family of Wm. P. Snowden, and stood on the corner of Twelfth and Jackson +streets in 1855. The Douglas house, a two story frame building, was +erected at the southwest corner of Thirteenth and Harney streets. The +rear part was made of cottonwood slabs, and in the winter time it was +said to have been very cold. It was the leading hotel and all the +high-toned people stopped there. The Tremont house, between Thirteenth +and Fourteenth streets, was built in 1856, and opened by Wm. F. Sweezy +and Aaron Root. Mr. Sweezy is still living in Omaha. The Farnham, +between Thirteenth and Fourteenth on Harney, was built in 1858. The +famous Herndon house was built in 1856 by Dr. Geo. L. Miller and Lyman +Richardson. The Hamilton, a brick building, was erected in 1856 by C. W. +Hamilton, C. B. Smith, and H. M. Judson. The proprietors bought their +furniture in St. Louis and brought it to Omaha by steamboat. The upper +part of the house was one large bedroom with beds ranged against the +walls. About once a week the furniture was all removed from this room +and it was temporarily converted into a ballroom. + + + + +A PIONEER FAMILY + +BY EDITH ERMA PURVIANCE + + +Dr. Wm. Washington Wiley, with his wife, Gertrude Miranda Wiley, and +their children, came to Nebraska July 6, 1857, and lived at Saratoga +(now in Omaha) a year and a half. They came from Ohio in covered wagons, +driving their cows along. It took two months to make the trip. + +They caught up with a company of Mormon emigrants when they reached Iowa +City, Iowa, three or four hundred of whom camped along about five miles +ahead of the Wiley family. They stopped at Florence a few weeks to buy +provisions and teams to carry them across the plains to Utah. These +Mormons had two-wheeled carts. These carts were provision carts drawn by +both men and women. + +Mrs. Wiley was of Holland Dutch descent, and inherited the thrift and +capability of her ancestors. She deserved great credit for her quick +action in saving one victim from the Claim Club. This Claim Club was an +organization of prominent Omaha business men. John Kelly, a nephew of +Mrs. Wiley's sister, had a claim of one hundred sixty acres near Omaha. +There were four wagonloads of men out looking for him to compel him to +give them the papers showing his right to the land. The late Joseph +Redman, of Omaha, lived near Mrs. Wiley, and when he saw the men coming +for John Kelly he went to Mrs. Wiley and requested her to warn young +Kelly, as she could get past the men, but he could not. Mrs. Redman went +to Mrs. Wiley's house and took care of the three months' old baby and +five other children. John Kelly was working at the carpenter's trade in +Omaha, about three miles south of Mrs. Wiley's. All she had to ride was +a stallion, of which she was afraid, and which had never been ridden by +a woman. She rode slowly until out of sight of the wagonloads of men and +then hit the horse every other jump. She made him run all the way, +passing some Indians on the way, who looked at her wonderingly but did +not try to stop her. After going to several places she finally located +John Kelly. He wanted to go to the ferry, but her judgment was better +and she said they would look for him there the first thing, which they +did. She took him on behind her and rode to the home of Jane Beeson, his +aunt, who put him down cellar and then spread a piece of rag carpet over +the trap door. The Claim Club men were there several times that day to +look for him, but did not search the house. After dark he walked to +Bellevue, twelve miles, and the next morning crossed the Missouri river +on the ferry boat and went to Missouri. When his claim papers were +returned from Washington he returned and lived on his land without any +further trouble. He would have been badly beaten and probably killed had +it not been for Mrs. Wiley's nerve and decision in riding a fractious +horse to warn him of his danger. + +While Dr. and Mrs. Wiley resided at Omaha the territorial law-makers +disagreed, part of them going to Florence to make laws and part of them +to Omaha, each party feeling it was the rightful law-making body of the +territory. + +In December, 1859, the family crossed the Platte river on the ice and +located on a farm in Cass county, three miles west of the Missouri +river, about three miles southwest of the present town of Murray, +although the old town of Rock Bluffs was their nearest town at that +time. Dr. Wiley and the older children went on ahead with the household +goods and live stock. Mrs. Wiley, with the small children, rode in a +one-horse buggy. She did not know the way and there were no fences or +landmarks to guide her. She had the ague so badly she could hardly drive +the horse. A sack containing $1,800 in gold was tied around her waist. +This was all the money they had, and they intended to use it to build a +house and barn on their new farm. She objected to carrying so much +money, but Dr. Wiley said it was safer from robbers with her than with +him. In spite of her illness and the difficulty in traveling in an +unknown country a distance of thirty-five or forty miles, she reached +the new home safely. She took off the sack of gold, threw it in a +corner, and fell on the bed exhausted. They lived all winter in a log +house of two rooms. There was a floor and roof, but no ceiling, and the +snow drifted in on the beds. Most of the family were sick all winter. + +The next summer they built a frame house, the first in that locality, +which caused the neighbors to call them "high toned." Mrs. Wiley bought +a parlor set of walnut furniture, upholstered in green. + +General Worth, who had been a congressman, wrote to Washington, D. C., +and got the commission, signed by Abraham Lincoln, appointing Dr. Wiley +postmaster, the name of the postoffice being Three Groves. They kept the +postoffice eleven years. + +They kept the stage station five years. It was the main stop between St. +Joseph and Omaha before the railroad went through. They had from ten to +fifteen people to dinner one coach load. The stage coach was drawn by +four horses, and carried both mail and passengers. The horses were +changed for fresh ones at the Wiley farm. At first the meals were +twenty-five cents; the last two years, fifty cents. This was paid by the +passengers and not included in the stage fare. + +Shortly after the discovery of Pike's Peak and gold in Colorado, +freighters, with big freight wagons of provisions drawn by six or eight +oxen, stopped there over night. There were usually twelve men, who slept +on the floor, paying eighteen dollars for supper, breakfast, and +lodging. Mr. McComas and Mr. Majors (father of Col. Thomas J. Majors) +each had freight wagons starting at Nebraska City and taking the +supplies to Denver and Pike's Peak via Fort Kearny, Nebraska. When the +Union Pacific railroad was completed in 1869 the freighters had to sell +their oxen and wagons, as they could not compete with the railroad in +hauling freight. + +The Omaha, Pawnee, and Otoe Indians, when visiting other Indians, would +stop at Dr. Wiley's and ask for things to eat. Sometimes there would be +fifty of them. An old Indian would peer in. If the shade was pulled down +while he was looking in he would call the party vile names. If food was +given him a dozen more Indians would come and ask for something. If +chickens were not given them they helped themselves to all they found +straying around. It would make either tribe angry to ask if they were +going to visit any other tribe. The Pawnees would say, "Omaha no good"; +the Omahas would say, "Pawnee no good." + +Mrs. Wiley kept a copy of the _Omaha Republican_, published November 30, +1859. The paper is yellow with age, but well preserved, and a few years +ago she presented it to the State Historical Society. It is a four-page +paper, the second and third pages being nearly all advertisements. It +contains a letter written by Robert W. Furnas, ex-governor of Nebraska, +and a long article about the late J. Sterling Morton. This was about the +time Mr. Morton tried to claim the salt basin at Lincoln as a +preÎmption, and wanted to locate salt works there. + +Mrs. Wiley always took a great interest in the development of the state; +she attended the State Fair almost every year, spending a great deal of +time looking over the new machinery. + +Dr. Wiley died in 1887 and Mrs. Wiley in 1914. Mrs. Wiley lived to the +age of 87 years. + +Little Erma Purviance, daughter of Dr. W. E. and Edith E. Purviance, of +Omaha, is a great-granddaughter of Mrs. Wiley, and also a namesake. May +she possess some of the virtue and intelligence of her ancestor. + + NOTE: Mrs. Wiley's two daughters, Araminta and Hattie, were + students in the early years at Brownell Hall, then the only means + of obtaining an education, as there were very few public schools. + Some of the children and grandchildren still live on the lands + taken by Dr. and Mrs. Wiley, and have always been among the + well-to-do citizens of Cass county. + + Mrs. Edith Erma Purviance, the writer of the foregoing article, + spent most of her girlhood with her grandmother, who sent her to + the State University, where she made good use of her advantages. + Other children of Mrs. Wiley were also university students or + identified with the various schools of the state. Mrs. A. Dove + Wiley Asche, youngest daughter of Mrs. Wiley, now occupies the old + home, out of which so recently went the brave pioneer who made it + of note among the early homes of the territory.--HARRIETT S. + MACMURPHY. + + + + +THE BADGER FAMILY + + +Lewis H. Badger drove with his parents, Henry L. and Mary A. Badger, +from their home in Livingston county, Illinois, to Fillmore county, +Nebraska. They had a covered emigrant wagon and a buggy tied behind. +Lewis was twelve years old October 5, 1868, the day they crossed the +Missouri river at Nebraska City, the nearest railroad station to their +future home. The family stayed with friends near Saltillo while H. L. +Badger came on with the horse and buggy and picked out his claim on the +north side of Fillmore county, it being the northwest quarter of section +2, township 8, range 3, west of the sixth principal meridian. + +At that time the claims were taken near the river in order that water +might be obtained more easily, and also to be near the railroad which +had been surveyed and staked out in the southern edge of York county +near the West Blue river. + +The Badger family came on to Lincoln, then a mere village, and stopped +there. They bought a log chain, and lumber for a door; the window frames +were hewed from logs. When they reached the claim they did not know +where to ford the river so they went on farther west to Whitaker's and +stayed all night. There they forded the river and came on to the claim +the next morning, October 20, 1868. There they camped while Mr. Badger +made a dugout in the banks of the West Blue river, where the family +lived for more than two years. The hollow in the ground made by this +dugout can still be seen. + +In 1870 H. L. Badger kept the postoffice in the dugout. He received his +commission from Postmaster General Creswell. The postoffice was known as +West Blue. About the same time E. L. Martin was appointed postmaster at +Fillmore. Those were the first postoffices in Fillmore county. Before +that time the settlers got their mail at McFadden in York county. Mr. +Badger kept the postoffice for some time after moving into the log house +and after the establishment of the postoffice at Fairmont. + +In 1867 the Indians were all on reservations but by permission of the +agents were allowed to go on hunting trips. If they made trouble for the +settlers they were taken back to the reservations. While the Badgers +were living in the dugout a party of about one thousand Omaha Indians +came up the river on a hunting trip. Some of their ponies got away and +ate some corn belonging to a man named Dean, who lived farther down the +river. The man loved trouble and decided to report them to the agent. +The Indians were afraid of being sent back to the reservation so the +chief, Prairie Chicken, his brother, Sammy White, and seventeen of the +other Indians came into the dugout and asked Mr. Badger to write a +letter to the agent for them stating their side of the case. This he did +and read it to Sammy White, the interpreter, who translated it for the +other eighteen. It proved satisfactory to both Indians and agent. + +In August, 1869, while Mr. Badger was away helping a family named +Whitaker, who lived up the river, to do some breaking, the son, Lewis, +walked to where his father was at work, leaving Mrs. Badger at home +alone with her four-year-old daughter. About four o'clock it began to +rain very hard and continued all night. The river raised until the water +came within eighteen inches of the dugout door. The roof leaked so that +it was almost as wet inside as out. Mr. Badger and Lewis stayed at the +Whitaker dugout. They fixed the canvas that had been the cover of the +wagon over the bed to keep Grandmother Whitaker dry and the others sat +by the stove and tried to keep warm, but could not. The next morning the +men paddled down the rived to the Badger dugout in a wagon box. The +wagon box was a product of their own making and was all wood, so it +served the purpose of a boat. + +It should be explained that the reason the roofs of the dugouts and log +houses leaked was because of the material used in their construction. +Shingles were out of the question to these settlers of small means +living one hundred miles from the railroad. There were plenty of trees +near the river, so the settlers hewed out logs for ridge poles, then +placed willow poles and brush across for a support. On top of that they +put dirt and sod. When it rained the water naturally soaked through. The +roof would leak for several days after a big rain. + +The next dwelling place of the Badger family was a log house built on +the south half of the quarter section. For some time they lived in the +log house and kept their stock in the dugout stable on the river bank. +Thus they were living during the great April storm of 1873, which lasted +for three days. All of the draws and ravines, even the river, were +packed full of snow that was solid enough to hold a man up. There was +very little snow on the level, it all being in drifts in the low places. +The Badgers had a corn field between the log house and the river. While +the storm raged Lewis wrapped himself in a blanket, and by following the +rows of corn made his way to the dugout stable and fed the horses corn +once each day. It was impossible to give them water. + +Henry L. Badger was commissioned by Governor Butler the first notary +public in Fillmore county. Later he was appointed by acting Governor +James, registrar of voters for the election to be held April 21, 1871, +to elect officers for the new county. At that election he was elected +both county clerk and county surveyor. + +In the late sixties when the county was first settled the country +abounded in buffalo, deer, antelope, elk, prairie chickens, wild geese, +ducks, and turkeys. The muddy stream known as West Blue river was clear +and the fish found in it were not of the same variety as those caught +now. Wild plums grew in abundance along the river bank and were much +larger and of finer quality than the wild plums of today. In those days +glass jars for canning were not as plentiful as now, so they picked the +plums late in the fall, put them in a barrel and poured water over them +and kept them for winter use. + +Lewis Badger tells of going on buffalo hunts with his father and seeing +herds of thousands of the big animals, and driving for ten hours through +the herd. He has now an old silver half dime that he found in an +abandoned stage station on the Oregon trail, when on a buffalo hunt. + +In early days the settlers did lots of trapping. The Indians were +frequent visitors and one time an Indian went with Mr. Badger and his +son to look at their traps. In one trap they found a mink. Mr. Badger +remarked that they got a mink in that same trap the day before. The +Indian said, "Him lucky trap." The Indian would not steal but he wanted +the lucky trap, so the next day that trap was gone and another in its +place. The Indian seemed to get the best of the bargain for it is a fact +that they never caught a thing in the trap he left. + +Sammy and Luke White, brothers of chief Prairie Chicken of the Omahas, +frequently visited the early settlers. Sammy could talk English and was +a good interpreter. He told of a big Indian battle in the western part +of the state wherein the Sioux and Cheyenne, and Omahas, Otoes, Poncas, +and Pawnees all took part and fought for two days and only killed two +Indians. His brother, Prairie Chicken, killed one of the Indians and +scalped him in the midst of the battle. For that act of bravery he was +made a chief. After telling the story of his brother, when asked about +himself, Sammy very modestly said, "Me 'fraid, me run." + +On one of Mr. Badger's hunting trips he killed a deer. When it was +dressed Lewis was sent to the Whitaker dugout with a quarter of the +meat. An Indian, Pawnee Jack, happened to be there at the time and it +stormed so they had to keep him all night, much to their disgust. +Evidently he enjoyed their hospitality, especially the venison, for when +they started him on the next morning he inquired where the "papoose" +lived that brought the "buckskin," meaning the venison. They told him +and he made straight for the Badger dugout and the "buckskin." It +stormed so they were forced to keep him there two nights before sending +him on. + +Although most painfully familiar to every early settler, no pioneer +story is complete without the grasshoppers. They came in herds and +droves and ate every green thing. For days great clouds of them passed +over. The next year they hatched out in great numbers and flew away +without hurting anything. Mr. Badger had a nice young orchard that he +had planted and tended. The grasshoppers ate the leaves off the trees +and as it was early in August they leaved out again and were frozen so +they died. Snakes feasted on the hoppers. Since seeing a garter snake at +that time just as full of grasshoppers as it could possibly be, Lewis +Badger has never killed a snake or permitted one to be killed on his +farm. He declared that anything that could make away with so many +grasshoppers should be allowed to live. Many people asked for and +received the so-called "aid for grasshopper sufferers." In this section +of the country it seemed absolutely unnecessary as there had been +harvested a good crop of wheat, previous to the coming of the hoppers. + +In 1871 the railroad was built through the county. That season Lewis +Badger sold watermelons, that he had raised, to the construction gang at +work on the road. The town of Fairmont was started the same year. In +those days the settlers would walk to town. It was nothing unusual for +Mr. and Mrs. Badger and Lewis to walk to Fairmont, a distance of six +miles. + +When the Badger family settled on their claim, they planted a row of +cottonwood trees around it. These trees have made a wonderful growth. In +1911 part of them were sawed into lumber. There are two especially large +cottonwood trees on the farm. One measures twenty-six feet in +circumference at the base and nineteen feet around five feet above the +ground and runs up forty feet before it begins to branch out. The other +is thirty-three feet around the base but branches into three trees four +feet above the ground. + +Mrs. H. L. Badger was a witness of the first wedding in the county, that +of Wm. Whitaker and Sabra Brumsey, which took place June 28, 1871. The +ceremony was performed by the first county judge, Wm. H. Blaine, who +stayed all night at the Badger home and attended the wedding the next +day. + +Mrs. H. L. Badger died January 11, 1894, and Mr. Badger July 21, 1905. +The son Lewis and family still own and farm the old homestead. + + + + +FIRST WHITE SETTLER IN FILLMORE COUNTY + + +The first settlement in Fillmore county, Nebraska, was made in 1866 by +Nimrod J. Dixon, a native of Pennsylvania. He was married to Lydia +Gilmore, who had previously filed on a homestead adjoining his. Mr. and +Mrs. Dixon continued to reside on their homestead until they moved to +Fairmont, Nebraska, where they are now living, having lived on the farm +forty years. + +Mr. and Mrs. Dixon were married February 28, 1867, at the home of Mrs. +Dixon's father, Elias Gilmore, near Blue Vale. Mr. Dixon got the license +at Nebraska City. From that time until the summer of 1868 they were the +only settlers in the county and were seven or eight miles from the +nearest neighbor. + +In relating her experiences Mrs. Dixon said: "I was afraid to stay +alone, so when Mr. Dixon had to go away I went with him or my sisters +stayed with me. At that time we had to go to Milford for flour and +twenty-five miles to get a plow-lay sharpened. At such times Mr. Dixon +would stay at my father's home near Blue Vale and help them two or three +days with their breaking, in return for which one of the boys would come +and help him. + +"The Indians visited us frequently and I was afraid of them. One time a +number of them came and two entered the dugout and asked for flour. We +gave them as much as we could spare, but they could see the flour +sitting on a bench behind the door and wanted more. We refused, but they +became very insistent, so much so that Mr. Dixon grabbed a black-snake +whip that hung on the wall and started toward them. This show of +resistance was all that was necessary. It proved to the Indians that Mr. +Dixon was not afraid of them, so they gave him powder and shot to regain +his friendship. + +"An Indian came in one day and gave me a lot of beads, then he wanted +flour, which we gave him. He took it and held it out to me, saying, +'Squaw cook it, squaw cook it!' This I refused to do, so he said, 'Give +me the beads, give me the beads.' + +"My baby, Arthur, born January 9, 1869, was the first white child born +in Fillmore county. I recall one time that I was home alone with the +baby. An Indian came in and handed me a paper that said he had lost a +pony. I assured him that we had seen nothing of the pony. He saw a new +butcher knife that was lying on the table, picked it up, and finally +drew out his old knife and held it toward me, saying, 'Swap, swap!' I +said, 'Yes,' so he went away with my good knife. + +"The worst fright I ever did have was not from Indians. My sister Minnie +was with me and we were out of salt. Mr. Dixon said he would go across +the river to Whitaker's and borrow some. We thought that he wouldn't be +gone long so we stayed at home. While he was away a cloud came up and it +began to rain. I never did see it rain harder. The river raised, and the +water in the ravine in front of the dugout came nearly to the door. The +roof leaked so we were nearly as wet indoors as we would have been out. +The rain began about four o'clock in the afternoon. It grew dark and Mr. +Dixon did not return. We thought that he would certainly be drowned in +trying to cross the river. While we were in this state of suspense, the +door burst open and a half-clad woman rushed in, saying, 'Don't let me +scare you to death.' I was never so frightened in my life, and it was +some time before I recognized her as my neighbor, Mrs. Fairbanks. + +"Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks had gone to Whitaker's, who were coopers, to get +some barrels fixed for sorghum, and left the children at home. When it +rained they thought they must try to cross the river and get to their +children. Mr. Dixon came with them. At first they tried to ride horses +across, but the one Mrs. Fairbanks was riding refused to swim and threw +her into the water, so she had to swim back. They were all excellent +swimmers, so they started again in a wagon box which those on land tried +to guide by means of a line. With the aid of the wagon box and by +swimming they succeeded in getting across. That was in the fall of 1869. + +"The only time I ever saw a buffalo skinned was when a big herd stayed a +week or more on the south side of the river. Kate Bussard and I stood on +the top of the dugout and watched the chase, and after they killed one +we went nearer and watched them skin it." + +Mr. Dixon took his claim without seeing it. In October, 1866, he went +to the land office and learned that he could then take a homestead of +one hundred and sixty acres but the new law would soon go into effect +providing that settlers could only homestead eighty acres. Mr. Dixon was +afraid that he could not go and see the claim and get back to Nebraska +City and file on it in time to get one hundred and sixty acres. In +telling about it Mr. Dixon says, "I thought it would, indeed, be a poor +quarter section that would not have eighty acres of farm land, so I took +my chances. + +"In the year 1868, the first year that we had any crops planted, it +almost forgot to rain at all. The barley was so short that it fell +through the cradle. There were no bridges so we had to ford the river. +It was hard to haul much of a load across because the wagon would cut +into the mud on the two banks while the sandy river bottom would stand a +pretty good load. That difficulty I overcame by making bundles or +sheaves of willow poles and placing them at the two banks and covering +them with sand. Later the settlers made a bridge across the river near +the homestead of H. L. Badger. This has ever since been known as the +'Badger Bridge.' The first bridge was made of logs which we procured +along the river. + +"I was making a hayrack of willow poles at the time of the total eclipse +of the sun. It began to grow dark, the chickens went to roost, and it +seemed that night was coming on. + +"The year 1869 was rainy and we raised good crops and fine potatoes that +season. That was the year they were driving Texas cattle up to eat the +northern grass and then ship them east over the Union Pacific railroad. +The cattle stampeded, so they lost many of them and we saw them around +for a year or more. + +"My first buffalo hunt was in 1867. The country seemed to be covered +with great herds and the Indians were hunting them. Twenty of us started +out with five wagons. There were Jake and Boss Gilmore, Jim Johnson, and +myself in one wagon. We had only about three days' supplies with us, +expecting to get buffalo before these were exhausted, but the Indians +were ahead of us and kept the buffalo out of our range. Our party +crossed the Little Blue at Deweese. Beyond there we found carcasses of +buffalo and a fire where the Indians had burned out a ranch. Realizing +that it was necessary for us to take precautions, we chose Colonel +Bifkin our leader and decided to strike another trail and thus avoid the +Indians if possible. We traveled toward the Republican river but found +no track of either buffalo or Indians, so we turned around and followed +the Indians. By that time our food supply was exhausted, but by good +luck we shot two wild turkeys. + +"We were soon following the Indians so closely that we ate dinner where +they ate breakfast and by night we were almost in sight of them. We +thought it best to put out a guard at night. My station was under a +cottonwood tree near a foot-log that crossed a branch of the Little +Blue. I was to be relieved at eleven o'clock. I heard something coming +on the foot-log. I listened and watched but it was so dark that I could +see nothing, but could hear it coming closer; so I shot and heard +something drop. Colonel Bifkin, who was near, coming to relieve me, +asked what I was shooting at. 'I don't know, perhaps an Indian; it +dropped,' I replied. We looked and found merely a coon, but it did good +service as wagon grease, for we had forgotten that very necessary +article. + +"The Indians kept the main herd ahead of them so we were only able to +see a few buffalo that had strayed away. We went farther west and got +two or three and then went into camp on the Little Blue. We always left +a guard at camp and all of the fun came when Boss Gilmore and I were on +guard so we missed it. The others rounded up and killed about twenty +buffalo. One fell over the bluff into the river and it fell to our lot +to get it out and skin it, but by the time we got it out the meat had +spoiled. The water there was so full of alkali that we could not drink +it and neither could the horses, so we started back, struck the freight +road and followed it until we came to Deep Well ranch on the Platte +bottom. We had driven without stopping from ten o'clock in the forenoon +till two o'clock in the morning. We lay down and slept then, but I was +awakened early by chickens crowing. I roused the others of our party and +we went in search of something to eat. It had been eight days since we +had had any bread and I was never so bread-hungry as then. We came to +the Martin home about three miles west of Grand Island and although we +could not buy bread, the girls baked biscuits for us and I ate eleven +biscuits. That was the home of the two Martin boys who were pinned +together by an arrow that the Indians shot through both of them while +riding on one pony. + +"That morning I saw the first construction train that came into Grand +Island over the Union Pacific railroad. If I remember correctly it was +in November, 1867. + +"We took home with us five wagonloads of buffalo meat. I did not keep +any of the hides because I could not get them tanned. Mr. Gilmore got +Indian women to tan a hide for him by giving them sugar and flour. They +would keep asking for it and finally got all that was coming to them +before the hide was done, so they quit tanning, and Mr. Gilmore had to +keep baiting them by giving them more sugar and flour in order to get it +done." + +Mr. and Mrs. Dixon have eight children, all living. They still own the +original homestead that was their home for so many years. + + + + +PIONEERING IN FILLMORE COUNTY + +BY JOHN R. MCCASHLAND + + +In the fall of 1870, with Mrs. McCashland and two children, Addie and +Sammy, I left Livingston county, Illinois, and drove to Fillmore county, +Nebraska. We started with two wagons and teams. I had three good horses +and one old plug. I drove one team and had a man drive the other until I +became indignant because he abused the horses and let him go. Mrs. +McCashland drove the second team the rest of the way. + +A family of neighbors, Thomas Roe's, were going west at the same time, +so we were together throughout the journey until we got lost in the +western part of Iowa. The road forked and we were so far behind we did +not see which way Roe turned and so went the other way. It rained that +night and a dog ate our supplies so we were forced to procure food from +a settler. We found the Roe family the next evening just before we +crossed the Missouri river, October 15, 1870. + +East of Lincoln we met a prairie schooner and team of oxen. An old lady +came ahead and said to us, "Go back, good friends, go back!" When +questioned about how long she had lived here, she said, "I've wintered +here and I've summered here, and God knows I've been here long enough." + +When Mrs. McCashland saw the first dugout that she had ever seen, she +cried. It did not seem that she could bear to live in a place like that. +It looked like merely a hole in the ground. + +We finally reached the settlement in Fillmore county and lived in a +dugout with two other families until I could build a dugout that we +could live in through the winter. That done, I picked out my claim and +went to Lincoln to file on it and bought lumber for a door and for +window frames. + +I looked the claim over, chose the site for buildings, and when home +drew the plans of where I wanted the house, stable, well, etc., on the +dirt hearth for Mrs. McCashland to see. She felt so bad because she had +to live in such a place that I gave it up and went to the West Blue +river, which was near, felled trees, and with the help of other +settlers hewed them into logs and erected a log house on the homestead. +While living in the dugout Indian women visited Mrs. McCashland and +wanted to trade her a papoose for her quilts. When she refused, they +wanted her to give them the quilts. + +I had just forty-two dollars when we reached Fillmore county, and to +look back now one would hardly think it possible to live as long as we +did on forty-two dollars. There were times that we had nothing but meal +to eat and many days we sent the children to school with only bread for +lunch. + +I was a civil war veteran, which fact entitled me to a homestead of one +hundred and sixty acres. I still own that homestead, which is farmed by +my son. After visiting in the East a few years ago I decided that I +would not trade my quarter section in Fillmore county for several times +that much eastern land. + + + + +FILLMORE COUNTY IN THE SEVENTIES + +BY WILLIAM SPADE + + +We came to Nebraska in October of 1870 by wagon and wintered a mile east +of what now is the Red Lion mill. We made several trips to Lincoln +during the fall and winter and one to Nebraska City, where brother Dan +and I shucked corn for a farmer for a dollar a day with team. + +I moved on the William Bussard claim, later the Elof Lindgren farm, in +March, 1871, and raised a crop, then moved on our homestead in section +24, town 8, range 3 west. We built part dugout and part sodup for a +house and slept in it the first night with only the blue sky for a roof. +Then we put on poles, brush, hay, dirt, and sod for a roof. This was in +October, and we lived in this dugout until 1874, then built a sod house. + +In April, 1873, we had a three days' snow storm called a blizzard. In +the spring of 1871 I attended the election for the organization of the +county of Fillmore. I followed farming as an occupation and in the fall +of 1872 William Howell and I bought a threshing machine, which we ran +for four seasons. Some of the accounts are still due and unpaid. Our +lodging place generally was the straw stack or under the machine and our +teams were tied to a wagon, but the meals we got were good. Aside from +farming and threshing I put in some of the time at carpentry, walking +sometimes six miles back and forth, night and morning. + +In July or August, 1874, we had a visit from the grasshoppers, the like +of which had never been seen before nor since. They came in black clouds +and dropped down by the bushel and ate every green thing on earth and +some things in the earth. We had visits from the Indians too but they +mostly wanted "hogy" meat or something to fill their empty stomachs. +Well, I said we built a sodup of two rooms with a board floor and three +windows and two doors, plastered with Nebraska mud. We thought it a +palace, for some time, and were comfortable. + +In June, 1877, I took a foolish notion to make a fortune and in company +with ten others, supplied with six months' provisions, started for the +Black Hills. We drove ox teams and were nearly all summer on the road; +at least we did not reach the mining places till August. In the meantime +the water had played out in the placer mining district so there was +"nothing doing." We prospected for quartz but that did not pan out +satisfactorily, so we traded our grub that we did not need for gold dust +and returned to our homes no richer than when we left. However, we had +all of the fresh venison we could use both coming and going, besides +seeing a good many Indians and lots of wild country that now is mostly +settled up. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN NEBRASKA + +BY J. A. CARPENTER + + +I came to Gage county, Nebraska, in the fall of 1865, and homesteaded +160 acres of land, four miles from the village of Beatrice, in the Blue +River valley. I built a log house 12x14 feet with one door and two +windows. The floor was made of native lumber in the rough, that we had +sawed at a mill operated by water power. + +With my little family I settled down to make my fortune. Though drouth +and grasshoppers made it discouraging at times, we managed to live on +what little we raised, supplemented by wild game--that was plentiful. +Wild turkeys and prairie chickens could be had by going a short distance +and further west there were plenty of buffalo and antelope. + +Our first mail was carried from Nebraska City on horseback. The first +paper published in Gage county was in 1867 and was called the _Blue +Valley Record_. In 1872 a postoffice was established in the settlement +where we lived, which was an improvement over going four miles for mail. +For the first schoolhouse built in the district where I lived I helped +haul the lumber from Brownville, Nebraska, on the Missouri river, +sixty-five miles from the village of Beatrice. The first few crops of +wheat we raised were hauled to Nebraska City, as there was no market at +home for it. On the return trip we hauled merchandise for the +settlement. Every fall as long as wild game was near us we would spend a +week or two hunting; to lay in our winter supply of meat. I remember +when I came through where the city of Superior now is, first in 1866 and +again in 1867, nothing was to be seen but buffalo grass and a few large +cottonwood trees. I killed a buffalo near the present town of Hardy. + +We have lived in Nebraska continuously since 1865 and it is hard to +believe the progress that it has made in these few years. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF GAGE COUNTY + +BY ALBERT L. GREEN + + +The writer has in his possession an old map of the North American +continent published in London in 1796, twelve years after the close of +the American Revolution, whereon the region now comprising the state of +Nebraska is shown as a part of Quivera; that supposed kingdom of +fabulous riches in quest of which Coronado pursued his tedious +wanderings more than three hundred years ago. At the time this map was +published the French had visited Indian tribes as far west as the +Missouri, and it must have been from French and Spanish sources that the +geographer and map-maker gathered the information that enabled him to +compile that part of his map covering the vast unknown regions of the +west. Guess-work and supposition resulted in elongations and +abbreviations of territory and rivers that made it possible for him to +show our own Blue river as emptying into the Gulf of California, and the +great kingdoms of Quivera and Teguayo as extending from the Missouri +river to the Pacific coast. The greater part of what is now Mexico is +shown as "New Biscay" and "New Navarre," while Mexico or "New Spain" is +crowded down towards Central America. The existence of the Rocky +Mountains, at the time this map was made, was unknown; and the whole +region covered by them is shown as a vast plain. While spending leisure +hours among some rare old books in the library of the Union League of +Philadelphia, I came across the chronicles of Coronado's wanderings and +adventures, as detailed by his monkish chaplain and preserved in the +Spanish archives. A careful perusal of these fully convinced me that the +route traversed was through eastern Nebraska as far northward as the +present site of Lincoln, and possibly as far as the Platte. The great +salt marsh was referred to, and the particulars of a disastrous +encounter with the warlike Otoes are given. Mention is made of the +Missouri nation and its bold warriors, as well as of other tribes whose +habitat and hunting grounds were the plains or prairies of eastern +Nebraska. In prehistoric times the Indian trails led along the level +river bottoms where both wood and water could be obtained and where game +was usually most abundant, and also in the direction of salt springs or +licks where salt might be obtainable and the larger kinds of game be +more plentiful. At the time of its settlement by white people the bottom +lands of the Blue were threaded by many deeply worn trails that had +evidently been traveled for centuries and a careful consideration of +happenings, as recorded by the monkish chronicler, and the fact I have +just stated in regard to the prehistoric routes of travel, forces the +conclusion that Coronado's weary cavalcade must undoubtedly have +followed the course of the Blue river to a point where the well worn +trail diverged towards the great salt basin. Possibly the party may have +encamped on the site of Beatrice and there can be little doubt that one +of the Indian cities mentioned by the faithful monkish historian, +occupied the present site of Blue Springs, where evidences of an ancient +Indian town can still be seen, and the outlines of ancient +fortifications be traced. Fragments of Indian pottery and stone knives +and implements, of both the paleolithic and the neolithic ages, are +frequently turned up by the plowshare in that vicinity, all indicating a +long established occupancy that must have continued for centuries. As +late as the early part of the last century the Pawnees occupied the +site; and when the writer as United States government agent took charge +of the Otoes and Missouris, in the summer of 1869, there were still old +warriors living who remembered hearing their fathers tell of deeds of +bloody warfare done in this very vicinity, and who pointed out to the +writer the very spot, in a deep draw or ravine on the prairie a few +miles east of Blue Springs, where a war party of thirty Otoes met a +well-deserved, but terrible death. At the time of this occurrence the +Otoes were living at the mouth of the Nemaha and were on very bad terms +with the Pawnees, many of whose scalps the writer has seen adorning Otoe +medicine bags or hanging in their wigwams. The Pawnees had started on a +buffalo hunt, leaving at home only the old and decrepit and a few +children, and the Otoes, knowing that the defenders of the village had +started on the hunt, made an attack at daybreak the next morning, +murdering and scalping old and young alike and after loading themselves +with plunder, hastened on their homeward trip. Unfortunately for the +Otoes the Pawnee hunters had encamped only eight miles up Indian creek +and one of them that morning had returned to the village on some errand +and arrived just in time to discover what was going on. The Otoes +wounded him severely, but he succeeded in escaping to the Pawnee camp +and giving the alarm. The enraged Pawnee warriors, mounted on their +freshest and fastest ponies, were not long in reaching the village, nor +were they long in discovering the trail of the Otoe war party, which +they followed until they overtook it at the place pointed out to the +writer. Here a fierce battle took place which resulted in the complete +extermination of the Otoe party; the tall slough grass, in which they +took shelter, having been set on fire, the wounded all perished in the +conflagration. This is probably one of the most tragic incidents of +which we have any knowledge as having happened within the limits of Gage +county. + +The first store established within the county was located in a log house +on Plum creek near the present site of the village of Liberty. It was +established, primarily as an Indian trading place, by a Mr. MacDonald, +of St. Joseph, Missouri, but was under the management of Mrs. Palmer, +who with her husband, David, were the first white settlers within the +limits of the county, having arrived in 1857 a few weeks prior to the +coming of the founders of Beatrice. David was drowned a few years ago +while bathing in the Blue. The store on Plum creek, on one occasion, was +raided by a party of Pawnees who, loaded with plunder, were pursued by a +large party of Otoes, who overtook them on the Little Blue some distance +above the present site of Fairbury, and killed them all. The site of +this battle was pointed out to the writer by the Otoes while +accompanying them on a buffalo hunt in 1870. The skulls and bones of the +slain were still in evidence at that time, being concealed in the dense +thicket in which the battle had taken place. + +About the year 1868 a war party of Osages made a raid on the aboriginal +inhabitants of the county and murdered and scalped several squaws who +were chopping wood near the Blue. The trail of the Osages was followed, +by a war party of Otoes, to the reservation of the former and +satisfaction exacted in the shape of a gift of forty head of ponies. On +their way back the Otoes concluded that they had settled too cheaply and +feared they might be censured by the kindred of the murdered women. +They halted, and leaving the forty head of ponies under guard, made a +flying raid on the Osage pony herds and succeeded in stealing and +getting safely away with another forty head. In due time, with eighty +head of Osage ponies, they made a triumphal daylight entry into their +home village. If they had been unsuccessful they would have stolen in +one by one during the darkness of the night. + +The last Indian war party to traverse the soil of Gage county consisted +of thirty naked and painted Omahas. It transpired that a party of +Kickapoos had raided the pony herds of the Omahas and stolen thirty head +of ponies, and in order to throw suspicion on the Otoes, had cunningly +directed their trail towards the Otoe reservation, passing in the night +as near to the Otoe village as possible without being discovered. The +Otoes at this time were expecting, and trying to guard against, a raid +from the Osages, whom they had great reason to fear, as it was fully +expected that they would exact satisfaction, sooner or later, for that +extra forty head of ponies that the Otoes had stolen. As a protection +from the Osages, the Otoes had constructed a sort of a stockade of poles +tied together with withes and strips of bark, in front of each wigwam, +where they kept their nearly eight hundred head of ponies under careful +watch every night. The Omaha war party stealthily approached under cover +of the darkness and finding sentinels posted and watching, they hid in +the tall weeds and sunflowers as close to the stockades as they could +safely get, until daybreak, when the sleepy sentinels, thinking all +danger over, entered the wigwams for something to eat and a nap, then +emerging from their hiding places the Omahas made quick work of cutting +the lashings that bound the poles and selecting thirty of the best +ponies they could get hold of. The noise of the ponies' hoof-beats, as +the Omahas rode swiftly away, aroused the Otoes, and in a very few +minutes the whole village was in a commotion. Fierce war whoops +resounded; the heralds went about calling the braves into action and +soon there was mounting in hot haste. The writer, awakened by the +tumult, stepped out upon a balcony in front of the agency building and +beheld a sight such as no historian of the county will ever again +record. In the far distance the naked Omahas were riding for their very +lives, while perhaps a hundred or more Otoes were lashing their ponies +in a wild frenzy of pursuit. In the village the greatest commotion +prevailed, the women wailed, the heralds shouted, and the dogs barked; +scores of women stood on the tops of their wigwams shrieking and +gesticulating and the temper of the community closely resembled that of +a nest of hornets when aroused by the rude thrust of a pole. It was +nearly noon when the distant war whoops, announcing the return of the +pursuers, were heard; as they drew near it was apparent that they were +wildly triumphant and were bringing with them the thirty hideously +painted Omahas. The prisoners were delivered to the agent who directed +his police to disarm them, and cause them to be seated on the floor of +the council room where they formed a dejected looking group with their +naked bodies and shaved and vermillion painted heads. It was then that +their leader explained that their seizure of ponies was honestly +intended as a reprisal for ponies which they had lost. Old Medicine +Horse, an Otoe chief, assured them that his braves would have killed +every one of them if the agent had not talked so much about the +wickedness of killing, and it was only their fear of displeasing him +that caused them to take prisoners instead of scalps. After much +speech-making, the agent adjourned the council and suggested that the +Otoes take the Omahas to their wigwams, feed them, and allow them to +depart in peace; and this was done. The only blood shed during the +campaign was in the shooting of one of Elijah Filley's hogs by the +Omahas. The first notification I had of this atrocious and bloody affair +was when Elijah, then quite a young man, came to see me and file a +complaint, bringing with him the blood-stained arrow that had pierced +the vitals of his innocent hog. + +Perhaps one of the saddest tragedies of those early days occurred in +1870 when two homesteaders, returning to their families from a trip to +Brownville for provisions, were brutally murdered by a half-breed named +Jim Whitewater. Jim was just returning from a buffalo hunt and had +secured a supply of whiskey from a man named Wehn, at Fairbury. Being +more than half drunk, he conceived the idea that the bravest thing he +could do would be to kill some white people; and it happened that he +came across the poor homesteaders just at that time. It was about dusk +and the poor fellows had halted for the night, by the side of a draw +where the grass was tall enough to cut for their horses. They had +unharnessed their teams, tied them to the wagons and were in the act of +mowing grass for them when a pistol shot rang out and one of them fell +mortally wounded; the other, being attacked, and though mortally hurt, +tried to defend himself with the scythe that he had been using, and in +doing so cut the Indian's hand, almost severing the thumb. The scene of +this terrible affair was just over the Gage county line in Jefferson +county and consequently it devolved on the sheriff of that county to +discover and arrest the murderer. As Whitewater had been seen in the +vicinity, suspicion pointed to him and his arrest followed. He soon +escaped from the officers and was hidden for two weeks, when the Indian +police discovered his place of concealment in the timber on Wolf creek. +His own brother, assisted by other Indians, captured him by strategy, +bound him securely with their lariats and delivered him at the agency. +The writer had gone to Beatrice on business and was not expected back +until the next day, but in his absence his wife, then a young woman of +about twenty, took energetic measures to insure the safety of the +prisoner by ordering him placed in irons, and kept under a strong guard +until the agent's return. In the meantime, having finished the business +at Beatrice and there being a full moon, the writer decided to drive the +twenty miles to the agency between sundown and midnight, which he did, +arriving there shortly after midnight. Of course, until his arrival, he +had no intimation that Whitewater had been captured. Before leaving home +the Indians had reported that they had reason to believe that he was +hiding somewhere on Wolf creek, as his wife had taken dried buffalo meat +to that locality, and as the writer, in returning, had to drive for +about forty rods through the heavy timber bordering that creek and cross +it at a deep and rather dangerous ford, and knowing that Whitewater had +declared that he would take both the agent and the sheriff with him to +the other world, and that he was heavily armed, the writer is not +ashamed to confess to a feeling of nervousness almost akin to fear, as +he was about to enter that stretch of timber shaded road dimly lighted +by the full moon. He first carefully let down the curtains of the +carriage and then made his team dash at full speed through the long +stretch of timber, plunge and flounder through the ford, and out once +more upon the open prairie, the driver expecting at almost any moment +to hear the crack of a pistol. On arriving within sight of the agency +building, instead of finding it dark and silent as he had expected, the +writer was greatly surprised to see it well lighted and many Indian +police standing about it as if on guard. The next morning the writer +with several Indian chiefs and the Indian police started for Fairbury +with the prisoner; the Indians riding two abreast and carrying a large +United States flag at the head of the procession. The trip was made via +Beatrice and the distance traveled was about fifty miles. The Indians +feared an attack from the Rose creek settlers; neighbors and friends of +the murdered men, and as they approached Fairbury the entire line of +Indians commenced a melodious chant which the interpreter explained as +nothing less than an appeal to the Great Spirit asking him to incline +the hearts of the people to treat the Indians kindly and fairly. On +arriving at Fairbury the cavalcade halted in the public square and was +soon surrounded by the entire population of the hamlet. It was nearly +dark, but the good ladies of the place set about preparing a bountiful +meal for the hungry Indians, to which they did ample justice. There +being no jail in the place, we waived a hearing and started the next +morning for Pawnee City, where prison accommodations could be had. +Shortly after leaving Fairbury the interpreter told the Indians that +evidently the Great Spirit had heard their appeal, to which they all +vociferously assented. Jim was kept at Pawnee City until his trial, +which took place at Fairbury before Judge O. P. Mason, who sentenced him +to imprisonment for life. Whitewater was one of three individuals among +the Otoes who could read and write, the other two being Battiste Barneby +and Battiste Deroin, both of whom were very capable interpreters. +Polygamy being allowable among the Otoes, Deroin was one who had availed +himself of its privileges, his two wives being sisters. On learning that +Whitewater had been imprisoned for life, his wife soon found another +husband, greatly to his sorrow and chagrin. It was during Whitewater's +imprisonment that the reservation was sold and the Indians removed. +Eighteen years after his conviction he received a pardon and left the +penitentiary to rejoin the tribe. What retribution he meted out to those +who aided in his capture or to his wife's second husband, the writer has +never learned. + +A year before the writer took charge of the Otoes and Missouris, a +delegation of their chiefs had accompanied their agent Major Smith, to +Washington and made a treaty under which the whole reservation of +160,000 acres was to be sold at $1.50 per acre. The writer was informed +by Major Smith that a railroad company would become the ultimate +beneficiary, provided the treaty was ratified by the senate, and that he +had been promised a section of land if the scheme proved successful. +Smith urged the writer to use all the influence possible to secure the +ratification of the treaty and before the writer had taken any steps to +secure its defeat, he also received an intimation, if not an absolute +promise, from interested parties, that in the event of its ratification, +he should have his choice of any section of land on the domain. +Believing that such a treaty was adverse to the interests and welfare of +the Indians, the writer at once set about to accomplish its defeat, in +which, through the aid of eastern friends, he was finally successful. + +Coronado's chronicler mentions, among other nations with whom the +expedition came in contact, the _Missourias_ as being very fierce and +warlike, and it may be a matter of local historical interest to state +that the Missouri "nation" with which Coronado became acquainted, and +from which one of the world's largest rivers and one of the largest and +richest states take their names, reduced to a remnant of less than one +hundred individuals, found an abiding place within the limits of Gage +county for more than a generation. Placed on a reservation with the +Otoes and under the care of the same agent, they still retained their +own chief and their own language, though circumstances gradually induced +the adoption of the Otoe tongue. The old chief of the Missouris was +called Eagle and was known as a war chief. It was his province to +command and direct all hunting operations. He was a man of very striking +appearance, over six feet in height, straight as an arrow, with fine +features and apparently about seventy-five years of age in 1869. He was +an hereditary chief, and probably a lineal descendant of one of the +kings of the Missouri nation that Coronado and his followers met. Old +Eagle was the only chief of the Missouris, and was respected and highly +esteemed by both the Missouris and the Otoes. During a buffalo hunt, in +which the writer participated with the Indians, Eagle chief was the +highest authority in regard to all matters pertaining to the chase and +attack on the herd. In 1869 the head chief of the Otoes was Arkeketah +who was said to have been appointed to that position by Major Daily. He +was a polygamist and very much opposed to the ways of the white man. In +fact he was such a reactionary and stumbling-block to the progress of +the tribe that the writer finally deposed him and advanced Medicine +Horse to the position of head chief. + +The number of Indians living within the borders of Gage county in 1869 +was probably not far from eight hundred. The reservation, comprising two +hundred and fifty square miles, extended some distance into Kansas and +also took in a part of Jefferson county in this state, but the Indians +were all domiciled in Gage county. Their principal village was situated +close to the site now occupied by the town of Barnston and where a fine +spring afforded an ample supply of water. The wigwams were of a type +adopted by the Indians long before the discovery of America, and most of +them were large enough to accommodate several families. It was a custom +of the Otoes to vacate the wigwams and live during the winter in tipis +which were pitched in the timber where fuel was close at hand. In 1869 +only three persons in the confederated tribes wore citizens clothes, the +rest were all blanket Indians, who, during warm weather, went almost +naked, and habitually painted their faces and shaved heads, with +vermillion and indigo. + +The principal burial place of the Otoes was on a bluff overlooking the +river bottoms, and within a short distance of where Barnston now stands. +For years it was visited, as one of the curiosities of the reservation, +by the white settlers and strangers, chiefly on account of the weird and +ghostly funeral oaks that stood on the brink of the bluff, bearing, +lashed to their gnarled and crooked limbs, gruesome burdens of dead +Indians, wrapped in bark and partly mummified by the sun and wind; there +was probably a score of these interesting objects resting peacefully on +the boughs of these three oaks; they had been there for many years, and +might possibly have remained to this day had not a great prairie fire +during the summer of 1871 destroyed the oaks and their ghastly burden, +leaving only an assortment of charred bones and skulls to mark the site. + +A strange and pathetic tragedy, in connection with this old burial +place, transpired shortly before the writer took charge of the agency +and its affairs; and it was from the interpreter, Battiste Deroin, that +the particulars were obtained. The incident may be worth preserving by +the local historian, as illustrating the absolute faith of the Indians +in a continued existence of the spirit beyond the grave. Dogs were +frequently strangled at children's funerals in order that the dog's +spirit might accompany that of the child, and it was a common sight to +see a dog's body sitting upright with its back to a stake and securely +tied in that position, in the vicinity of the old burial place. The man +who figured in this tragedy was very aged and feeble, and the little +child was very dear to him; he doubtless knew that he had not long to +live and that he very soon would have to travel over the same lonely +trail that the little child was about to take. Doubtless he realized +fully what a comfort it would be to each, if they could take the long +journey together. The Otoes always buried their dead in a sitting +posture; and the old man, when seated in the grave, held the body of the +child in his arms. The relatives took a last farewell of both the dead +child and its living caretaker; the grave was covered with a buffalo +robe supported on poles or heavy sticks, and the mass of earth taken +from the grave was piled thereon; this being their usual mode of burial. + +The custom of strangling a horse or pony at the burial of an Indian +brave was a common occurrence among the Otoes prior to 1870 and the old +burial place on the bluff was somewhat decorated with horses' skulls +laid upon the graves of warriors who are supposed to have gone to heaven +on horseback. The tail of the horse sacrificed was usually fastened to a +pole that stood at the head of the grave. + +The first school established within the limits of the county was a +mission school under the care of the Rev. Mr. Murdock, and the old stone +building, built for it on Mission creek, was the first stone building in +the county. It was a ruin in 1869. + +In 1869 there were still some beavers to be found along the Blue; and at +that time the river abounded with large gars, some of which were three +or four feet in length; a fish which has since become entirely extinct +in the Blue, probably because the water is no longer clear. The gar was +one of the primitive fishes of the silurian age; it was very destructive +of all other fish. White people never ate it, but the Indians thought +it fairly good. The Indians obtained most of their fish by shooting with +arrows from the river banks. They often succeeded in shooting very large +fish owing to the clearness of the water. This could not be done now +that the prairies have been put into cultivation, as that has destroyed +the clearness of the water. + +As late as 1869 there were some wild deer in the county and little +spotted fawns were occasionally caught. The writer procured two of the +latter from the Indians and gave them to Ford Roper's family in +Beatrice; they became very tame and were frequently seen on the streets +of the town. In 1870 the writer, while driving from Blue Springs to +Beatrice, met a large buck with antlers, as it emerged from an opening +in the bluffs. + +Among the first settlers of the county were some families from Tennessee +who settled near the present town of Liberty on Plum creek. They did +their own spinning and weaving, and having been accustomed to raising +cotton and mixing it with the wool for spinning, they undertook to raise +it here. The writer remembers seeing their cotton patches, but never saw +them gathering cotton. + +The first bridge built in the county to cross the river, was built on +Market street, Beatrice, about the year 1870. It was a very narrow +wooden structure, only wide enough for one wagon at a time to pass over. +The firm of Peavy and Curtiss of Pawnee City were the contractors and +the contract price was $4,000. It was regarded as a public improvement +of very great importance to the town. + + + + +RANCHING IN GAGE AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES + +BY PETER JANSEN + + +I came to Beatrice, Nebraska, in 1874, after having been through +Minnesota, Dakota, and Kansas, looking for a place where a settlement of +our people, the Mennonites, could be established. Of all the land I had +looked over, I liked southeastern Nebraska best, and the little town of +Beatrice on the banks of the Big Blue, then consisting of maybe fifty +dwellings and a few stores on lower Court street, seemed very +picturesque and attractive. After forty years I have not changed my +opinion. We found a suitable tract of prairie just across the line in +Jefferson county, which we bought of the Burlington and Missouri River +railroad at $3.50 per acre on easy payments. Beatrice remained our chief +place of business. Smith Brothers had just started a banking business in +one-half of a little shack, the other half being occupied by a +watchmaker carrying a small stock of jewelry. Klein & Lang had a general +store on the corner of Second and Court streets, and here we did nearly +all of our trading. The "Pacific House" on Second street was the only +hotel. Here I made headquarters for some time. Mr. and Mrs. Randall, the +hosts, were very kind to me. The latter died a few years later in the +prime of her life. + +We soon commenced to build up what was for years known as "Jansen's +Ranch," about twenty miles southwest of Beatrice, and stock it with +sheep, which we brought from Wisconsin. The first summer I had a +temporary sheep corral about where the West Side schoolhouse now stands. +We used to drive from the ranch to Beatrice diagonally across the +prairie; very few section lines had been established, and there was only +one house between the two points. + +Major Wheeler, of stage route fame, lived at the Pacific house and took +a kindly interest in the young emigrant boy. I remember on one occasion +I had brought in a carload of valuable breeding sheep and quartered them +for the night in the corral of the livery stable across the street from +the hotel, run then by S. P. Lester. I was afraid of strange dogs +attacking them, and sat up all night on the porch watching. In the +morning, while washing up in the primitive wash-room, I overheard the +major telling Mr. Randall about it. He concluded by saying: "That young +fellow is all right; a boy who sits up all night with a few sheep will +certainly succeed." I felt proud over the praise, and it encouraged me +very much. + +We were told by the few settlers who had preceded us that the upland +prairie would not grow anything and that the bottom land was the only +place where crops could be raised with any assurance of success. +However, we were going to try farming, anyway. I bought a yoke of young +oxen and a breaking plow and started in. The oxen were not well broken, +and the plow was new and would not scour. Besides, I did not know +anything about breaking prairie or driving oxen. The latter finally +became impatient and ran away, dragging the plow with them. It was a hot +day in May, and they headed for a nearby slough, going into the water up +to their sides. I had by that time discarded my shoes and followed them +as fast as I could. When I reached the slough, quite out of breath and +thoroughly disgusted, I sat down and nearly cried and wished I were back +in Russia where I did not have to drive oxen myself. About this time the +nearest neighbor, a Mr. Babcock, living four miles away, happened along +driving a team of old, well broken oxen. He asked what my trouble was, +and after I told him in broken English, he said: "Well, Pete, take off +your trousers and go in and get your oxen and plow out, and I will help +you lay off the land and get your plow agoing," which he did, and so +started me farming. + +My younger brother, John, and I bached it for two years. One of us would +herd the sheep and the other stay at home and do the chores and cooking. +We took turns about every week. We had a room partitioned off in the end +of the sheep shed, where we lived. + +Game was plentiful those days, and during the fall and winter we never +lacked for meat. + +I had by that time, I regret to say, acquired the filthy American habit +of chewing (I have quit it long since), and enjoyed it very much while +doing the lonely stunt of herding the flock. + +One day we had gotten a new supply of groceries and also a big plug of +what was known as "Star" chewing tobacco. Next morning I started out on +my pony with the sheep, the plug in my pocket, and anticipating a good +time. Soon a severe thunder storm came up, and lightning was striking +all around me. I felt sure I would be hit and they would find me dead +with the big plug of tobacco in my pocket. My mother knew nothing of my +bad habit, and I also knew that it would nearly kill her to find out, so +I threw the plug far away and felt better--for awhile. The clouds soon +passed away, however, and the sun came out brightly and soon found me +hunting for that plug, which, to my great disappointment, I never +recovered. + +Those early winters, seems to me, were severer than they are now, and +the snow storms or blizzards much fiercer, probably because the wind had +an unrestricted sweep over the vast prairies. + +In a few years our flocks had increased, so that we built a corral and +shed a mile and a half away, where we kept our band of wethers and a +herder. + +About Christmas, I think it was in 1880, a blizzard started, as they +usually did, with a gentle fall of snow, which lasted the first day. +During the night the wind veered to the north, and in the morning we +could not see three rods; it seemed like a sea of milk! We were very +anxious to know the fate of our herder and his band of sheep, and +towards noon I attempted to reach them, hitching a pair of horses to a +sleigh and taking a man along. We soon got lost and drove around in a +circle, blinded by the snow, for hours, my companion giving up and +resigning himself to death. We probably would have both perished had it +not been for the sagacity of my near horse, to which I finally gave the +reins, being benummed myself. He brought us home, and you may believe +the barking of the shepherd dogs sounded very musical to me as we neared +the barn. + +We got our fuel from the Indian reservation about eight miles south of +us on the creek, where now stands the thriving town of Diller. The +Indians were not allowed to sell any timber, but a generous gift of +tobacco was too tempting to them to resist. + +Rattlesnakes were found frequently in those days, and their venomous +bites caused great agony and sometimes death. One Sunday afternoon, wife +and myself were sitting on the porch of our small frame house, while our +baby was playing a few feet away in a pile of sand. Our attention was +attracted by her loud and gleeful crooning. Looking up, we saw her +poking a stick at a big rattler, coiled, ready to spring, about three +feet away. I have always detested snakes and would give even a harmless +bull-snake a wide berth. However, I took one big jump and landed on Mr. +Rattler with both feet, while my wife snatched the baby out of harm's +way. + +The next ten years made a great change. We had proven that farming on +the tablelands could be made a success, railroads had been built, and +towns and villages had sprung up like mushrooms. We even got a +telephone. The wilderness had been conquered. + +When I look back upon those first years of early settlement, with their +privations and hardships, I cannot refrain from thinking they were the +happiest ones of my life, especially after I got married in 1877 and my +dear wife came to share joy and sorrow with me. To her I attribute to a +very large extent what little I may have achieved in the way of helping +to build up this great commonwealth. + +[Illustration: MRS. FRANCES AVERY HAGGARD + +Third State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1898] + + + + +EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF GAGE COUNTY + +BY MRS. E. JOHNSON + + +Emerson aptly said, "America is another word for opportunity." We +realize this most truly when we compare present prosperity with early +day living in the middle West. + +In 1878 my brother, A. M. McMaster, and family, arrived in Nebraska +City. They came overland to Gage county and settled on section 15, two +and a half miles northeast of Filley and one mile south of what was then +known as Melroy postoffice, so-called in honor of two little boys born +the same year the postoffice was established, Mell Gale and Roy +Tinklepaugh, whose parents were among the earliest settlers in this +neighborhood. + +My brother built his house of lumber he had shipped to Nebraska City. +Beatrice was our market place. We sold all our grain, hogs, and produce +there. Eggs were five cents a dozen and butter six cents a pound. The +first year we came we bought five hundred bushels of corn at twelve +cents a bushel delivered, and cribbed it. + +There was an Indian trail across the farm, and often the Indians would +pass going from the Omaha reservation to the Otoe reservation at +Barnston; the children would become frightened and hide under the bed; +the Indians would often call and ask for flour and meat. + +There was not a house between Elijah Filley's stone barn and Beatrice on +the Scott street road, and no bridges. The trail we followed going to +Beatrice led us north to Melroy, making the traveling distance one and a +half miles farther than in these times of well preserved section lines +and graded country roads. This stone barn of Elijah Filley's was an +early landmark. I have heard Mr. Filley tell interesting anecdotes of +his early years here, one of an Indian battle near the present site of +Virginia. + +Before the town of Filley was in existence, there was a postoffice +called "Cottage Hill," which is shown on old time maps of the state. + +One of the curiosities of the early times was a cow with a wooden leg, +running with a herd of cattle. The hind leg was off at the knee joint. +She was furnishing milk for the family of her owner, a Mr. Scott living +on Mud creek, near the town of Filley. + +Mr. Scott often told of pounding their corn to pulverize it. The nearest +mill was at Nebraska City. This difficult traffic continued until 1883, +when the Burlington came through Filley. + +Two or three years after we had located here, two young men came along +from Kansas looking for work. My brother was away from home, working at +carpentry, and his wife, fearing to be alone, would lock the stair door +after they retired and unlock it in the morning before they appeared. +They gathered the corn and then remained and worked for their board. One +day, one of the young men was taken sick. The other was sent for Dr. +Boggs. He lost his way in a raging blizzard and came out five miles +north of where he intended to, but reached the doctor and secured +medicine, the doctor not being able to go. The next day Dr. Boggs, with +his son to shovel through the drifts, succeeded in getting there. The +young man grew worse, they sent for his mother, and she came by stage. +The storm was so fierce the stage was left there for a week; the horses +were taken to Melroy postoffice. The young man died and was taken in the +stage to Beatrice to be shipped home, men going with shovels to dig a +road. Arriving there it was found that the railroad was blocked. As they +could not ship the body, they secured a casket and the next day brought +it back to our house. My brother was not at home, and they took the +corpse to a neighbor's house. The next day they buried him four miles +east, at what is now known as Crab Orchard. + +True, life in those days tended to make our people sturdy, independent +and ingenious, but for real comfort it is not strange that we prefer +present day living, with good mail service, easy modes of +transportation, modern houses, and well equipped educational +institutions. + + + + +BIOGRAPHY OF FORD LEWIS + +BY (MRS. D. S.) H. VIRGINIA LEWIS DALBEY + + +As my father, Ford Lewis, was one of the pioneer land owners in Nebraska +and assisted actively in settling the southeast part of the state, I +have been requested to give a brief sketch of his life and early +experiences in this state. My only regret in writing this is that he is +not here to speak for himself. Ford Lewis was born in Deckertown, New +Jersey, July 25, 1829, son of Phoebe and Levi Lewis, the latter engaged +in mercantile business both in Hamburg and Hackettstown, New Jersey. + +After finishing his education at William Rankin's Classical School and +studying under Chris Marsh, author of double entry bookkeeping, he +assisted his father in the mercantile business for some time. However, +he preferred other pursuits and after a successful test of his judgment +in real estate, started west. At Syracuse, New York, he was induced to +engage in partnership under the name of Chapman & Lewis, watch case +manufacturers and importers of watch movements; keeping standard time +for the New York Central and other roads and supplying railroad +officials, conductors, and engineers with the highest grade of watches. + +Selling his interest in 1856, he accepted the general agency of the +Morse Publishing House, New York, making his headquarters at Charleston, +South Carolina, in winter and at Cleveland, Ohio, in summer, until 1859, +when he went to Jerseyville, Illinois, with his parents and sister, +buying and selling real estate in that city and Jersey county until +1867, when, with Congressman Robert M. Knapp, he visited Nebraska, and +made his first investment in government land, many of his United States +patents being signed by Presidents Grant and Johnson. + +Ford Lewis was in pioneer days one of the largest owners of farm lands +in Nebraska, his holdings being chiefly in Pawnee, Otoe, Gage, Johnson, +and Lancaster counties. On one of his advertising cards he states that, +"occupied for eighteen years past in the purchase and sale of over +80,000 acres of other lands, these, on account of their well known +intrinsic value have been reserved intact." + +Mr. Lewis founded the towns of Lewiston in Pawnee county and Virginia in +Gage county, naming the latter in honor of his daughter. + +At a meeting of the Nebraska legislature held at Omaha in 1867, Mr. +Lewis was an interested spectator, and before the capital of the state +was changed he predicted its location in the salt basin, almost on the +spot where Lincoln now stands. He accordingly purchased property in the +vicinity of what is now Beatrice, making a comfortable fortune as the +result of his wisdom and foresight. By Ford Lewis' liberality to those +purchasing land from him, in selling at reasonable prices, and extending +their contracts during hard times, instead of making purchasers forfeit +their land because of inability to meet their payments, he encouraged +and assisted many settlers who are now some of Nebraska's most +prosperous farmers to keep their land, which is now the source of their +prosperity. During the period when he was borrowing money for his +investments in Nebraska land, many Illinois people remarked that Ford +Lewis was "land crazy," but have since wished they had had his vision, +and courage to hold their purchases through the crop failures and +drouths which are sometimes the portion of every community: those who +followed his advice now "rise up and call him blessed." + +That he was not alone in his judgment is evidenced by the large land +holdings of the late Lord Scully of England and the late John W. +Bookwalter of Springfield, Ohio, who recently died in Italy, and was a +warm personal friend of my father's, having purchased some of his land +from him. + +Mr. Lewis married Miss Elizabeth Davis of Jerseyville, Illinois, in +1864. She was the first girl baby born in that town, her parents being +among the earliest pioneers there from New Jersey; so her childhood +memories of bears, Indians, and slave refugees during the civil war, and +roaming the woods surrounding their home prepared her to be a capable +and sympathetic helpmate for my father during his many pioneer trips to +Nebraska. + + + + +A BUFFALO HUNT + +BY W. H. AVERY + + +In the fall of 1866, about the last of October, a party of nine men, +myself included, started out from Rose creek for a buffalo hunt. At +Whiterock, Kansas, we were joined by another party of four men with "Old +Martin Fisher," an early Whiterock settler, as official guide. Our +equipment consisted of four wagons, one of which was drawn by a double +ox team. There were numerous firearms and plenty of provisions for the +trip. The party was much elated over the first day's experiences as +night found us in possession of four fine buffalo. That evening while we +were riding out after one of the buffalo our ears were greeted by the +Indian yell. Looking back up a draw we saw five redmen galloping toward +us. At the time we did not know they were friendly, but that was proven +later. They came up to us and wanted powder or "bullet" and also wanted +to swap guns. All they succeeded in getting was a necktie which one of +the men gave them. After a short parley among themselves they left, +going back to our camp where we had left one man to guard the camp and +prepare supper. There they helped themselves to the loaf of bread the +guard had just baked, a $12 coat, a $22 revolver, and one good bridle; +away they went and that was the last seen of them. The night was passed +in safety and the next day we hunted without any exciting experiences. +The following day we met with only fair success so thought we had better +start for home. In the morning the party divided, our guide, Fisher, and +two men going on and leaving the rest of us to hunt as we went along. We +succeeded in getting only one buffalo, but Fisher's men had done better +and were ready to make tracks for home. That night they had suspicions +that there were Indians near so built no fire and in the morning soon +after breaking camp a party of Indians came upon them. There was +considerable parleying about a number of things which the Indians wanted +but the men were unwilling to make any bargains whatever. All the +Indians but one started off and this one still wanted to parley and +suddenly drew his revolver and shot Fisher in the shoulder. The Indian +then rode off at breakneck speed and that was the last seen of them. +Fisher warned the men not to shoot as he was uncertain as to how many +redmen might be in their vicinity and he did not want to take any great +risk of them all being killed. Our party did not know of the accident +until we returned home and we had no encounter with the party of +Indians. We were thankful to be safely home after a ten days hunt. + + + + +A GRASSHOPPER RAID + +BY EDNA M. BOYLE ALLEN + + +Perhaps children who live in a pioneer country remember incidents in +their early life better than children living in older settled countries. +These impressions stand out clearly and in prominence all the rest of +their lives. + +At least there are several things which happened before I was six years +old that are as vivid in my memory as if they had happened but +yesterday. Such was the coming of the grasshoppers in 1874, when I was +two years old. + +My father, Judge Boyle, then owned the block on the north side of Fifth +street between I and J streets, in the village of Fairbury. Our house +stood where J. A. Westling's house now stands. Near our place passed the +stage road to Beatrice. A common remark then was, "We are almost to +Fairbury, there is Boyle's house." + +Father always had a big garden of sweet corn, tomatoes, cabbage, etc., +and that year it was especially fine. + +One day he came rushing home from his office saying, "The grasshoppers +are coming." Mother and he hurried to the garden to save all the +vegetables possible before the grasshoppers arrived. I put on a little +pink sunbonnet of which I was very proud, and went out to watch my +parents gather the garden truck as fast as they could and run to the +cellar door and toss it down. I jumped up and down thoroughly enjoying +the excitement. Finally, the grasshoppers, which were coming from the +northwest like a dark cloud, seeming so close, father shut the cellar +door before he and mother returned to the garden for another load. They +had just filled their arms when the grasshoppers began to drop and not +wishing to let any down cellar they threw what vegetables they had on +the ground and turned a big wooden wash tub over them. By this time my +little pink sunbonnet was covered with big grasshoppers. Mother picked +me up in her arms and we hurried into the house. From the north kitchen +window we watched every stalk of that garden disappear, even the onions +were eaten from the ground. + +When father went to get the vegetables from under the wooden tub there +wasn't a thing there. The grasshoppers had managed to crawl and dig +their way under the edge of that tub. + +The only time an Indian ever frightened me was in the fall of 1875. I +was used to having the Otoe Indians come to our house. Mother was not +afraid of them so of course I was not. Among them was a big fellow +called John Little Pipe. The door in the hall of our house had glass in +the upper half. One afternoon mother being nearly sick was lying down on +the couch and I took my doll trying to keep quiet playing in the hall. +Looking up suddenly I saw John stooping and looking in through the glass +in the door. I screamed and ran to mother. He didn't like my screaming +but followed me into the sitting room and upon seeing mother lying down +said, "White lady sick?" Mother was on her feet in a moment. He sat down +and after grumbling a while about my screaming he began to beg for a +suit of clothes. Mother said, "John, you know well enough you are too +large to wear my husband's clothes." Then he wanted something for his +squaw and children. Finally mother gave him an old dress of hers. He +looked it over critically and asked for goods to patch it where it was +worn thin. Grabbing his blanket where it lay across his knees he shook +it saying, "Wind, whew, whew." After receiving the patches, he wanted +food but mother told him he could not have a thing more and for him to +go. He started, but toward the closet he had seen her take the dress +from. She said, "You know better than to go to that door. You go out the +way you came in." He meekly obeyed. I had seen him many times before and +saw him several times afterward but that was the only time I was +frightened. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN PAWNEE COUNTY + +BY DANIEL B. CROPSEY + + +In March, 1868, I left Fairbury, Illinois, with my two brothers and a +boy friend in a covered wagon drawn by two mules. We landed at Nebraska +City after swimming the mules to get to the ferry on which we crossed +the Big Muddy. We then drove to Lincoln the first week in April. My +father had purchased a home there on the site where the Capital hotel +now stands. Lincoln then was but a hamlet of a few hundred people. There +were no shade trees nor sidewalks and no railroad. Later father built a +larger house, out a considerable distance in those days, but today it +faces the capitol building. The house is a brick structure, and all the +bricks were hauled from Nebraska City. Afterwards father sold the home +to Chancellor Fairfield of the State University. + +The year before we came father had come to Nebraska and had bought a +large body of land, about ten thousand acres, in Pawnee county. I being +the oldest boy in our family, it devolved upon me to go to Pawnee county +to look after the land, which was upland and considered by the older +inhabitants of little value; but the tract is now worth about a million +dollars. Among other duties I superintended the opening up of the lines +and plowing out fifty-two miles of hedge rows around and through this +land. I am sorry to say that most of the money and labor were lost for +prairie fires almost completely destroyed the hedge. + +I had many experiences during my two years' sojourn in Pawnee county. +The work was hard and tedious. Shelter and drinking-water were +scarce--we drank water from the buffalo wallows or went thirsty, and at +times had to brave the storms in the open. The people were poor and many +lived in sod houses or "dugouts," and the living was very plain. Meat +and fruit were rarities. The good people I lived with did their best to +provide, but they were up against it. Grasshoppers and the drouth were +things they had to contend with. At times our meals consisted of bread +and butter and pumpkin, with pumpkin pie for Sunday dinner. The barn we +usually carried with us. It consisted of a rope from sixty to a hundred +feet long for each mule or horse and was called the lariat. I put the +pony one night in the barn across the ravine, I well remember, and in +the morning I found a river between the barn and me. A rain had fallen +in the night and I had to wait nearly a day before I could get to the +pony. + +Our only amusement was running down young deer and rabbits and killing +rattlesnakes. + +We often met the red man with his paint and feathers. He was ever ready +to greet you with "How!" and also ready to trade ponies, and never +backward about asking for "tobac." As I was neither brave nor well +acquainted with the Indians I was always ready to divide my "tobac." +Later I found out I was easy, for the boys told me whenever they met the +beggar Indian they told him to "puckachee," which they said meant for +him to move on. + +We had no banks, and we cashed our drafts with the merchants. David +Butler was governor at that time. He was a merchant as well, and made +his home in Pawnee, so he was my banker. On two occasions I had the +pleasure of riding with him in his buggy from Pawnee to Lincoln. It was +indeed a privilege to ride in a buggy, for we all rode ponies those +days, and I think I was envied by most of the boys and girls of Pawnee. +On one of my return trips with the governor my good mother had baked a +nice cake for me to take with me, which I put under the seat along with +a lot of wines of several kinds and grades which the governor's friends +had given him. Of course mother didn't know about the liquids. I'll +never forget that trip. We grew very sociable and the Nemaha valley grew +wider and wider as we drove along; and when we arrived at Pawnee the +next day the cake was all gone, our faces were like full moons, and it +was fully a week before I had any feeling in my flesh. + +I also well remember the first train which ran between Lincoln and +Plattsmouth. That was a great day, and the Burlington excursion was made +up of box cars and flat cars with ties for seats. Crowds of young people +took advantage of the excursion and we enjoyed it much more than we +would today in a well-equipped pullman. + + + + +EARLY EVENTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY + +BY GEORGE CROSS + + +Along in the seventies, when everyone was interested in the project of +the erection of a United Brethren college in Fairbury, the leading +promoter of that enterprise held a revival in the Baptist church. The +weather was warm and as his zeal in expounding the gospel increased he +would remove his coat, vest, and collar, keeping up meantime a vigorous +chewing of tobacco. The house was usually crowded and among the +late-comers one night was W. A. Gould, who was obliged to take a seat in +front close to the pulpit. The next day some one offered congratulations +at seeing him in church, as it was the first time he had ever been seen +at such a place in Fairbury. "Yes," said Gould, "I used to attend +church, but that was the first time I ever sat under the actual +drippings of the sanctuary, for the minister spit all over me." + +The most closely contested election ever held in Jefferson county was +that in 1879 on the question of voting bonds to the Burlington and +Missouri railroad to secure the passing through Fairbury of the line +being built east from Red Cloud. The proposition was virtually to +indirectly relieve the road from taxation for ten years. As bonding +propositions were submitted in those days this was considered a very +liberal one, as the taxes were supposed to offset the bonds and if the +road was not built there would be neither bonds nor taxes. It required a +two-thirds vote to carry the bonds and as the northern and southern +portions of the county were always jealous of Fairbury the contest was a +bitter one. Some of the stakes of the old Brownville & Ft. Kearny survey +were yet standing and some still hoped that road would be built. The +people of Fairbury resorted to all known devices to gain votes, some of +which have not yet been revealed. It was long before the days of the +Australian ballot and more or less bogus tickets were in circulation at +every election. On this occasion a few tickets containing a double +negative were secretly circulated in a precinct bitterly opposed to the +bonds. Several of these were found in the ballot box and of course +rejected, which left on the face of the returns a majority of one in +favor of the bonds. It has always been believed that Fairbury lost the +road because the officials of the road, who also comprised the townsite +company, thought they could make more by building up new towns of their +own. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT ON THE OREGON TRAIL, THREE MILES NORTH OF +FAIRBURY + +Erected by Quivira Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. +Dedicated October 29, 1912. + +Cost $200] + + + + +EARLY DAYS OF FAIRBURY AND JEFFERSON COUNTY + +BY GEORGE W. HANSEN + + +The first white settler in what is now Jefferson county was Daniel +Patterson, who established a ranch in 1856 where the Overland, or Oregon +trail crosses the Big Sandy. Newton Glenn located the same year at the +trail crossing on Rock creek. The first government survey of land in +this county was made in 1857, and the plat and field notes show the +location of "Patterson's Trading Post" on the southeast quarter of +section 16, town 3 north, range 1 east. + +Early in May, 1859, D. C. Jenkins, disappointed in his search for gold +at Pike's Peak, returned on foot pushing a wheelbarrow with all his +possessions the entire distance. He stopped at the Big Sandy and +established a ranch a short distance below Patterson's place. A few +weeks later, on May 25, 1859, Joel Helvey and his family, enroute for +Pike's Peak, discouraged by the reports of Mr. Jenkins and other +returning gold hunters, settled on the Little Sandy at the crossing of +the trail. About the same time came George Weisel, who now lives in +Alexandria, James Blair, whose son Grant now lives near Powell, on the +land where his father first located, and D. C. McCanles, who bought the +Glenn ranch on Rock creek. The Helvey family have made this county their +home ever since. One of Joel Helvey's sons, Frank, then a boy of +nineteen, is now living in Fairbury. He knew Daniel Patterson and D. C. +McCanles, and with his brothers Thomas and Jasper, buried McCanles, Jim +Woods, and Jim Gordon, Wild Bill's victims of the Rock creek tragedy of +1861. He drove the Overland stage, rode the pony express, was the first +sheriff of this county, and forms a connecting link between the days of +Indian raids and the present. Alexander Majors, one of the proprietors +of the Overland stage line, presented each of the drivers with a bible, +and Frank Helvey's copy is now loaned to the Nebraska State Historical +Society. Thomas Helvey and wife settled on Little Sandy, a short +distance above his father's ranch, and there on July 4, 1860, their son +Orlando, the first white child in the present limits of Jefferson and +Thayer counties, was born. + +During the civil war a number of families came, settling along the +Little Blue and in the fertile valleys of Rose, Cub, and Swan creeks. In +1862 Ives Marks settled on Rose creek, near the present town of +Reynolds, and built a small sawmill and church. He organized the first +Sunday school at Big Sandy. + +The first election for county officers was held in 1863. D. L. Marks was +elected county clerk, T. J. Holt, county treasurer, Ed. Farrell, county +judge. In November, 1868, Ives Marks was elected county treasurer. If a +person was unable to pay his entire tax, he would accept a part, issue a +receipt, and take a note for the balance. Sometimes he would give the +note back so that the party would know when it fell due. He drove around +the county collecting taxes, and kept his funds in a candle box. He +drove to Lincoln in his one-horse cart, telling everyone he met that he +was Rev. Ives Marks, treasurer of Jefferson county, and that he had five +hundred dollars in that box which he was taking to the state treasurer. + +Fairbury was laid out in August, 1869, by W. G. McDowell and J. B. +Mattingly. Immediately after the survey Sidney Mason built the first +house upon the townsite of Fairbury, on the corner northwest of the +public square, where now stands the U. S. postoffice. Mrs. Mason kept +boarders, and advertised that her table was loaded with all the +delicacies the market afforded, and I can testify from personal +experience that the common food our market did afford was transformed +into delicacies by the magic of her cooking. Mrs. Mason has lived in +Fairbury ever since the town was staked out, and now (1915), in her +ninety-sixth year, is keeping her own house and performing all the +duties of the home cheerfully and happily. + +Mrs. Mason's grandson, Claiborn L. Shader, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. +Shader, now of Lincoln, was the first child born in Fairbury. + +One of the most vivid and pleasant memories that comes to me after the +lapse of forty-five years is that of a boy, tired and footsore from a +hundred-mile walk from the Missouri river, standing on the hill where +the traveler from the east first sees the valley of the Little Blue, +looking down on a little group of about a dozen houses--the village of +Fairbury. This was in the summer of 1870, and was my first view of the +town that was ever after to be my home. + +On the second floor of Thomas & Champlin's store I found George Cross +and my brother, Harry Hansen, running off the _Fairbury Gazette_, +alternating in inking the types with the old-fashioned roller and +yanking the lever of the old-fashioned hand press. This was about the +first issue of the _Gazette_ entirely printed at home. The first issues +were set up at home, hauled to Beatrice in a lumber wagon, and printed +in the office of the Beatrice _Express_, until the press arrived in +Fairbury. + +When subscriptions were mostly paid in wood, butter, squash, and +turnips, you can imagine what a time Mr. Cross had in skirmishing around +for cash to pay for paper and ink, and the wages of a printer; so he +decided if the paper was to survive and build up the country, he must +have a printer for a partner, and he sold a half interest in the +_Gazette_ to my brother and me. The principal source of our revenue was +from printing the commissioners' proceedings and the delinquent tax +list, taking our pay in county warrants. These warrants drew ten per +cent interest, were paid in a year, and we sold them to Editor Cramb's +grandfather for seventy-five cents on the dollar. On that basis they +yielded him forty per cent per annum--too low a rate, we thought, to +justify holding. + +Prairie grass grew luxuriantly in the streets. There were not enough +buildings around the public square to mark it. On the west side were +three one-story buildings, the best one still standing, now owned by Wm. +Christian and used as a confectionery; it was then the office of the +county clerk and board of county commissioners. The second was the +pioneer store of John Brown, his office as justice of the peace, and his +home; the third was a shanty covered with tarred paper, the office and +home of Dr. Showalter, physician, surgeon, politician, and sometimes +exhorter; and a past master he was in them all. On the north side were +two of the same class of buildings, one occupied by Mr. McCaffery, whose +principal business was selling a vile brand of whiskey labeled +Hostetter's Bitters, and the other was Wesley Bailey's drug store and +postoffice. George Cross had the honor of being postmaster, but Wes drew +the entire salary of four dollars and sixteen cents per month, for +services as deputy and rent for the office. On the east side there was +but one building, Thomas & Champlin's Farmers' store. On the south side +there was nothing. On the south half of the square was our ball ground. +Men were at work on the foundation of the Methodist church, the first +church in Fairbury. We were short on church buildings but long on +religious discussions. + +Where the city hall now stands were the ruins of the dugout in which +Judge Boyle and family had lived the previous winter. He had built a +more stately mansion of native cottonwood lumber--his home, law and +real-estate office. M. H. Weeks had for sale a few loads of lumber in +his yard on the corner northeast of the square, hauled from Waterville +by team, a distance of forty-five miles. All supplies were hauled from +Waterville, the nearest railroad station, and it took nearly a week to +make the round trip. Judge Mattingly was running a sawmill near the +river, cutting the native cottonwoods into dimension lumber and common +boards. + +The Otoe Indians, whose reservation was on the east line of the county, +camped on the public square going out on their annual buffalo hunts. The +boys spent the evenings with them in their tents playing seven-up, penny +a game, always letting the Indians win. They went out on their last hunt +in the fall of 1874, and traveled four hundred miles before finding any +buffalo. The animals were scarce by reason of their indiscriminate +slaughter by hunters, and the Otoes returned in February, 1875, with the +"jerked" meat and hides of only fifteen buffalo. + +The Western Stage Company ran daily to and from Beatrice, connecting +there by stage with Brownville and Nebraska City. The arrival of the +stage was the great and exciting event of each day; it brought our mail +and daily newspaper, an exchange to the _Gazette_; and occasionally it +brought a passenger. + +After resting from my long walk I decided to go on to Republic county, +Kansas, and take a homestead. There were no roads on the prairie beyond +Marks' mill, and I used a pocket compass to keep the general direction, +and by the notches on the government stones determined my location. I +found so much vacant government land that it was difficult to make a +choice, and after two trips to the government land office at Junction +City, located four miles east of the present town of Belleville. I built +a dugout, and to prevent my claim being jumped, tacked a notice on the +door, "Gone to hunt a wife." Returning to Fairbury, I stopped over +night with Rev. Ives Marks at Marks' mill. He put me to bed with a +stranger, and in the morning when settling my bill, he said: "I'll +charge you the regular price, fifteen cents a meal, but this other man +must pay twenty cents, he was so lavish with the sugar." On this trip I +walked four hundred and forty miles. Two years later I traded my +homestead to Mr. Alfred Kelley for a shotgun, and at that time met his +daughter Mary. Mary and I celebrated our fortieth anniversary last May, +with our children and grandchildren. + +The first schoolhouse in Fairbury was completed in December, 1870, and +for some time was used for church services, dances, and public +gatherings. The first term of school began January 9, 1871, with P. L. +Chapman for teacher. + +In December, 1871, I was employed to teach the winter and spring terms +of school at a salary of fifty dollars a month, and taught in one room +all the pupils of Fairbury and surrounding country. + +Mr. Cross announced in the _Gazette_ that no town of its size in the +state was so badly in need of a shoemaker as Fairbury, and he hoped some +wandering son of St. Crispin would come this way. Just such a wandering +shoemaker came in the person of Robert Christian, with all his clothes +and tools in a satchel, and twenty-five cents in his pocket. He managed +to get enough leather from worn-out boots given him to patch and +halfsole others, and was soon prosperous. + +During the summer of 1871 C. F. Steele built a two-story building on the +lot now occupied by the First National bank, the first floor for a +furniture store, the second floor for a home. When nearly completed a +hurricane demolished it and scattered the lumber over the prairie for +two miles south. It was a hard blow on Mr. Steele. He gathered together +the wind-swept boards and, undismayed, began again the building of his +store and business. + +In the fall of 1871, William Allen and I built the Star hotel, a +two-story building, on the east side, with accommodations for ten +transient guests--large enough, we thought, for all time. + +In the early days of my hotel experience, I was offered some cabbages by +a farmer boy--rather a reserved and studious looking lad. He raised good +cabbages on his father's homestead a few miles north of town. After +dickering awhile over the price, I took his entire load. He afterwards +said that I beat him down below cost of production, and then cleaned him +out, while I insisted that he had a monopoly and the price of cabbages +should have been regulated by law. Soon after, I was surprised to find +him in my room taking an examination for a teacher's certificate, my +room-mate being the county superintendent, and rather astonished, I +said, "What! you teach school?"--a remark he never forgot. He read law +with Slocumb & Hambel, was some time afterwards elected county attorney +and later judge of this district. Ten years ago he was elected one of +the judges of the supreme court of the state of Nebraska, and this +position he still fills with distinguished ability. I scarcely need to +mention that this was Charles B. Letton. + +A celebration was held on July 4, 1871, at Mattingly's sawmill, and +enthusiasm and patriotism were greatly stimulated by the blowing of a +steam whistle which had recently been installed in the mill. Colonel +Thomas Harbine, vice-president of the St. Joseph & Denver City R. R. +Co., now the St. Joseph & Grand Island railroad, made the principal +address, his subject being "The railroad, the modern civilizer, may we +hail its advent." The Otoe Indian, Jim Whitewater, got drunk at this +celebration, and on his way to the reservation murdered two white men +who were encamped near Rock creek. He was arrested by the Indians, +brought to Fairbury, and delivered to the authorities, after which chief +Pipe Stem and chief Little Pipe visited the _Gazette_ office and watched +the setting of type and printing on the press with many a grunt of +satisfaction. I was present at the trial of Whitewater the following +spring. After the verdict of guilty was brought in, Judge O. P. Mason +asked him if he had anything to say why judgment should not be +pronounced. Whitewater proceeded to make a lengthy speech, ridiculed the +former sheriff, S. J. Alexander, and commenced criticizing the judge. +The judge ordered him to sit down. A look of livid rage came over +Whitewater's face, and he stooped slightly as though to spring. Then the +judge turned pale, and in that rasping voice which all who knew him +remember well, commanded the sheriff to seat the prisoner, which was +done. + +The spring of 1872 marked a new era in the life of Fairbury. On March +13th of that year the St. Joseph and Denver City railroad built into and +through our city. From the time the track-layers struck Jenkin's Mills, +a crowd of us went down every day to see the locomotive and watch the +progress of the work. One of our fondest dreams had come true. + +In the fall of 1873 Col. Thomas Harbine began the erection of the first +bank building, a one-story frame structure on the east side of the +square. George Cross was the bank's first customer, and purchased draft +No. 1. Upon the death of Col. Harbine's son John, in August, 1875, I +became cashier, bookkeeper, teller, and janitor of the "Banking House of +Thomas Harbine." In 1882 this bank incorporated under the state banking +law as the "Harbine Bank of Fairbury," and I have been connected with it +in various capacities ever since. + +We had our pleasures in those pioneer days, but had to make them +ourselves. Theatrical troupes never visited us--we were not on the +circuit--but we had a dramatic company of our own. Mr. Charles B. +Slocumb, afterwards famous as the author of the Slocumb high license +law, was the star actor in the club. A local critic commenting on our +first play said: "Mr. Slocumb as a confirmed drunkard was a decided +success. W. W. Watson as a temperance lecturer was eminently fitted for +his part. G. W. Hansen as a hard-up student would have elicited applause +on any stage." + +Election days in those "good old times" gave employment to an army of +workers sent out by candidates to every precinct to make votes, and to +see that those bought or promised were delivered. John McT. Gibson of +Gibson precinct, farmer, green-backer, and poet, read an original poem +at a Fourth of July celebration forty years ago, one verse of which +gives us an idea of the bitterness of feeling existing in the political +parties of that time: + + "Unholy Mammon can unlock the doors + Of congress halls and legislative floors, + Dictate decisions of its judges bought, + And poison all the avenues of thought. + Metes out to labor miseries untold, + And grasps forever at a crown of gold." + +I do not care to live too much in the past; but when the day's work is +done, I love to draw aside the curtain that hides the intervening years, +and in memory live over again Fairbury's pioneer days of the early +seventies. Grasshoppers and drouth brought real adversity then, for, +unlike the present, we were unprepared for the lean years. But we had +hope and energy, and pulled together for the settlement of our county +and the growth and prosperity of Fairbury. + +We dreamed then of the days to come--when bridges should span the +streams, and farm houses and fields of grain and corn should break the +monotony of the silent, unending prairie. We were always working for +better things to come--for the future. The delectable mountains were +always ahead of us--would we ever reach them? + + + + +THE EARLIEST ROMANCE OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA + +BY GEORGE W. HANSEN + + +One hundred and three years ago Hannah Norton was born "away down east" +in the state of Maine. Hannah married Jason Plummer, and in the year +1844, seized by the wanderlust, they decided to move west. One morning +their little daughter Eleanor, four years old, stood outside the cabin +door with her rag doll pressed tightly to her breast, and watched her +parents load their household goods into the heavy, covered wagon, yoke +up the oxen, and make preparations for a long journey. + +As little Eleanor clambered up the wheel and into the wagon, she felt +none of the responsibilities of the long pioneer life that lay before +her, nor did she know or care about her glorious ancestry. + +Only a few decades previous her ancestor, Major Peter Norton, who had +fought gallantly in the war of the Revolution, had gone to his +reward. His recompense on earth had been the consciousness of +patriotic duty well performed in the cause of liberty and +independence. A hero he was, but the Maine woods were full of +Revolutionary heroes. He was not yet famous. It was reserved for +Peter Norton's great-great-great-granddaughters to perpetuate the +story of his heroic deeds. One, Mrs. Auta Helvey Pursell, the +daughter of our little Eleanor, is now a member of Quivera chapter, +D. A. R., of Fairbury, Nebraska, and another, Lillian Norton, is +better known to the world she has charmed with her song, as Madame +Nordica. + +But little Eleanor was wholly unmindful of past or future on that +morning long ago. She laughed and chattered as the wagon rolled slowly +on its westward way. + +A long, slow, and painful journey through forests and over mountains, +then down the Ohio river to Cincinnati was at last finished, and the +family made that city their home. After several years the oxen were +again yoked up and the family traveled to the West, out to the prairies +of Iowa, where they remained until 1863. Then, hearing of a still +fairer country where free homes could be taken in fertile valleys that +needed no clearing, where wild game was abundant and chills and fever +unknown, Jason, Hannah, and Eleanor again traveled westward. After a +toilsome journey they settled in Swan creek valley, Nebraska territory, +near the present northern line of Jefferson county. + +Theirs were pioneer surroundings. The only residents were ranchers +scattered along the creeks at the crossings of the Oregon trail. A few +immigrants came that year and settled in the valleys of the Sandys, Swan +creek, Cub creek, Rose creek, and the Little Blue. No human habitation +stood upon the upland prairies. The population was four-fifths male, and +the young men traveled up and down the creeks for miles seeking partners +for their dances, which were often given. But it was always necessary +for a number of men to take the part of ladies. In such cases they wore +a handkerchief around one arm to distinguish them. + +The advent of a new family into the country was an important event, and +especially when a beautiful young lady formed a part of it. The families +of Joel Helvey and Jason Plummer became neighborly at once, visiting +back and forth with the friendly intimacy characteristic of all +pioneers. Paths were soon worn over the divide between Joel Helvey's +ranch on the Little Sandy and the Plummer home on Swan creek, and one of +Joel's boys was accused of making clandestine rambles in that direction. +Certain it was that many of the young men who asked Eleanor for her +company to the dances were invariably told that Frank Helvey had already +spoken. Their dejection was explained in the vernacular of the +time--they had "gotten the mitten." + +The music for the dances was furnished by the most energetic fiddlers in +the land, and the art of playing "Fisher's Hornpipe," "Devil's Dream," +and "Arkansaw Traveler" in such lively, triumphant tones of the fiddle +as played by Joe Baker and Hiram Helvey has been lost to the world. +Sometimes disputes were settled either before or after the dance by an +old-fashioned fist fight. In those days the accepted policy was that if +you threshed your adversary soundly, the controversy was settled--there +was no further argument about it. At one dance on the Little Sandy some +"boys" from the Blue decided to "clear out" the ranchers before the +dance, and in the lively melee that followed, Frank Helvey inadvertently +got his thumb in his adversary's mouth; and he will show you yet a scar +and cloven nail to prove this story. The ranchers more than held their +own, and after the battle invited the defeated party to take part in the +dance. The invitation was accepted and in the morning all parted good +friends. + +On August 6, 1864, the Overland stage, which had been turned back on its +way to the west, brought news that the Sioux and Cheyenne were on the +warpath. They had massacred entire settlements on the Little Blue and +along the trail a few miles west, and were planning to kill every white +person west of Beatrice and Marysville. + +For some time the friendly old Indians had told Joel Helvey that the +young men were chanting the old song: + + "Some day we shall drive the whites back + Across the great salt water + Whence they came; + Happy days for the Sioux + When the whites go back." + +Little attention had been paid to these warnings, the Helvey family +believing they could take care of themselves as they had during the past +eighteen years in the Indian country. But the report brought by the +stage was too alarming to be disregarded; and the women asked to be +taken to a place of safety. + +At this time Mrs. Plummer and her daughter Eleanor were visiting at the +home of Joel Helvey. They could not return to Swan creek, for news had +come that all Swan creek settlers had gone to Beatrice. There was no +time to be lost. The women and father Helvey, who was then in failing +health, were placed in wagons, the boys mounted horses to drive the +cattle, and all "struck out" over the trail following the divide towards +Marysville, where breastworks had been thrown up and stockades had been +built. + +During the day Frank found many excuses to leave the cattle with his +brothers while he rode close to the wagon in which Eleanor was seated. +It was a time to try one's courage and he beguiled the anxious hours +with tales of greater dangers than the impending one and assured her, +with many a vow of love, that he could protect her from any attack the +Indians might make. + +The first night the party camped at the waterhole two miles northwest of +the place where now an imposing monument marks the crossing of the +Oregon trail and the Nebraska-Kansas line. Towards evening of the next +day they halted on Horseshoe creek. In the morning it was decided to +make this their permanent camp. There was abundant grass for their +stock, and here they would cut and stack their winter hay. + +A man in the distance saw the camp and ponies, and mistaking the party +for Indians, hurried to Marysville and gave the alarm. Captain +Hollenberg and a squad of militia came out and from a safe distance +investigated with a spyglass. Finding the party were white people he +came down and ordered them into Marysville. The captain said the Indians +would kill them all and, inflamed by the bloodshed, would be more +ferocious in their attack on the stockade. + +The Helveys preferred taking their chances with the Indians rather than +leave their cattle to the mercies of the Kansas Jayhawkers, and told the +captain that when the Indians came they would get to Marysville first +and give the alarm. + +Their camp was an ideal spot under the grateful shadow of noble trees. +The songs of birds in the branches above them, the odor of prairie +flowers and the new-mown hay about them, lent charm to the scene. Two of +the party, at least, lived in an enchanted land. After the blistering +heat of an August day Frank and Eleanor walked together in the shadows +and coolness of night and watched the moon rise through the trees. And +here was told the old, old story, world old yet ever new. Here were laid +the happy plans for future years. And yet through all these happy days +there ran a thread of sorrow. Father Joel Helvey failed rapidly, and on +September 3 he passed away. After he was laid to rest, the entire party +returned to the ranch on Little Sandy. + +The day for the wedding, September 21, at last arrived. None of the +officers qualified to perform marriage ceremonies having returned since +the Indian raid, Frank and Eleanor, with Frank's sister as chaperon, +drove to Beatrice. On arriving there they were delighted to meet +Eleanor's father. His consent to the marriage was obtained and he was +asked to give away the bride. The marriage party proceeded to Judge +Towle's cabin on the Big Blue where the wedding ceremony was solemnly +performed and "Pap" Towle gave the bride the first kiss. + +And thus, just fifty years ago, the first courtship in Jefferson county +was consummated. + + + + +EXPERIENCES ON THE FRONTIER + +BY FRANK HELVEY + + +I was born July 7, 1841, in Huntington county, Indiana. My father, Joel +Helvey, decided in 1846 to try his fortune in the far West. Our family +consisted of father, mother, three boys, and three girls. So two heavy +wagons were fitted up to haul heavy goods, and a light wagon for mother +and the girls. The wagons were the old-fashioned type, built very heavy, +carrying the customary tar bucket on the rear axle. + +Nebraska was at this time in what was called the Indian country, and no +one was allowed to settle in it. We stopped at old Fort Kearny--now +Nebraska City. In a short time we pulled up stakes and housed in a log +cabin on the Iowa side. Father, two brothers--Thomas and Whitman--and I +constructed a ferry to run across the Missouri river, getting consent of +the commandant at the fort to move the family over on the Nebraska side; +but he said we would have to take our chances with the Indians. We broke +a small patch of ground, planting pumpkins, melons, corn, etc. The +Indians were very glad to see us and very friendly--in fact, too much +so. When our corn and melons began to ripen, they would come in small +bands, gather the corn and fill their blankets. It did no good for us to +protest, so we boys thought we would scare them away. We hid in the +bushes close to the field. Soon they came and were filling their +blankets. We shot over their heads, but the Indians didn't scare--they +came running straight toward us. They gave us a little of our own +medicine and took a few shots at us. We didn't scare any more Indians. + +When word came in the fall of 1858 that gold had been discovered in +Pike's Peak by the wagonload, that settled it. We got the fever, and in +April, 1859, we started for Pike's Peak. We went by the way of Beatrice, +striking the Overland trail near the Big Sandy. An ex-soldier, Tim +Taylor, told us he believed the Little Sandy to be the best place in +southern Nebraska. We built a ranch house on the trail at the crossing +of Little Sandy and engaged in freighting from the Missouri river to +the Rocky Mountains. This we did for several years, receiving seven to +eight cents per pound. We hauled seven thousand to eight thousand pounds +on a wagon, and it required from seventy-five to eighty days to make a +round trip with eight and ten yoke of oxen to a wagon. I spent about +nine years freighting across the plains from Atchison, Leavenworth, St. +Joseph, and Nebraska City to Denver, hauling government supplies to Fort +Laramie. In 1863-64 I served as substitute stage driver, messenger, or +pony express rider. I have met at some time or another nearly every +noted character or "bad man" that passed up and down the trail. I met +Wild Bill for the first time at Rock Creek ranch. I met him often after +the killing of McCanles, and helped bury the dead. I was well acquainted +with McCanles. Wild Bill was a remarkable man, unexcelled as a shot, +hard to get acquainted with. Lyman, or Jack, Slade was considered the +worst man-killer on the plains. + +The Indians did not give us much trouble until the closing year of the +civil war. Our trains were held up several times, being forced to +corral. We were fortunate not to lose a man. I have shot at hundreds of +Indians. I cannot say positively that I ever killed one, although I was +considered a crack shot. I can remember of twenty or more staying with +us one night, stretching out on their blankets before the fireplace, and +departing in the morning without making a move out of the way. The +Pawnees and Otoes were very bitter toward the Sioux and Cheyennes. In +the summer of 1862 over five hundred Indians were engaged in an all-day +fight on the Little Blue river south of Meridian. That night over a +hundred warriors danced around a camp-fire with the scalps of their foes +on a pole, catching the bloody scalp with their teeth. How many were +killed we never knew. + +My brothers and I went on one special buffalo hunt with three different +tribes of Indians--Otoes, Omahas, and Pawnees--about one thousand in +all, on Rose creek, about where the town of Hubbell is situated. We were +gone about four days. The Indians would do all the killing. When they +got what they wanted, then we boys would get our meat. There was plenty +for all. The prairies were covered with buffalo; they were never out of +sight. On the 4th of July, 1859, six of us with two wagons, four yoke +of oxen to a wagon, went over on the Republican where there were always +thousands of buffalo. We were out two weeks and killed what meat we +wanted. We always had a guard out at night when we camped, keeping the +wolves from our fresh meat. We came home to the ranch heavily loaded. We +sold some and dried some for our own use. + +I homesteaded, June 13, 1866, on the Little Blue, five miles northwest +of Fairbury, and helped the settlers looking for homesteads locate their +land. My father, Joel Helvey, entered forty acres where we had +established our ranch on Little Sandy in 1861, the first year any land +was entered in this county. I was the first sheriff of this county; +served four years, 1867-1870. No sheriff had qualified or served before +1867. County business was done at Big Sandy and Meridian, and at the +houses of the county officers. We carried the county records around from +place to place in gunny sacks. + +I am glad I participated in the earliest happenings of this county, and +am proud to be one of its citizens. + +[Illustration: MRS. ELIZABETH C. LANGWORTHY + +Seventh State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1905-1906] + + + + +LOOKING BACKWARD + +BY GEORGE E. JENKINS + + +Looking backward forty years and more, I feel as Longfellow so +beautifully expresses it, + + "You may build more splendid habitations, + Fill your rooms with sculpture and with paintings, + But you cannot buy with gold the old associations," + +for in that time I have seen Fairbury grow from a little hamlet to a +city of the first class, surrounded by a country that we used to call +"the Indian country," considered unfit for agricultural purposes, but +today it blossoms as the rose and no finer land lies anywhere. + +I have read with great interest of the happenings of ten, twenty, thirty +years ago as published each week in our Fairbury papers, but am going to +delve into ancient history a little deeper and tell you from personal +experience of the interesting picture presented to me forty-odd years +ago, I think in the year 70 or '71, for I distinctly remember the day I +caught the first glimpse of Fairbury. It was a bright and sunshiny +morning in July. We had been making the towns in western Kansas and had +gotten rather a late start from Concordia the day before; a storm coming +up suddenly compelled us to seek shelter for the night. My traveling +companion was A. V. Whiting, selling shoes, and I was selling dry-goods, +both from wholesale houses in St. Joseph, Missouri. Mr. Whiting is well +and honorably known in Fairbury as he was afterwards in business there +for many years. He has been a resident of Lincoln for twenty-three +years. + +There were no railroads or automobiles in the country at that time and +we had to depend on a good pair of horses and a covered spring wagon. We +found a place of shelter at Marks' mill, located on Rose creek fifteen +miles southwest of Fairbury, and here we stayed all night. I shall +always remember our introduction there, viz: as we drove up to the house +I saw a large, portly old man coming in from the field on top of a load +of hay, and as I approached him I said, "My name is Jenkins, sir--" but +before I could say more he answered in a deep bass voice, saying, "My +name is Clodhopper, sir," which he afterwards explained was the name +that preachers of the United Brethren church were known by at that time. +This man, Marks, was one of the first county treasurers of Jefferson +county, and it is related of him that while he was treasurer he had +occasion to go to Lincoln, the capital of the state, to pay the taxes of +the county, and being on horseback he lost his way and meeting a +horseman with a gun across his shoulder, he said to the stranger, "I am +treasurer of Jefferson county. My saddle-bags are full of gold and I am +on the way to Lincoln to pay the taxes of the county, but I have lost my +way. Please direct me." + +Returning to my story of stopping over night at Rose creek: we were most +hospitably entertained and at breakfast next morning we were greatly +surprised on being asked if we would have wild or tame sweetening in our +coffee, as this was the first time in all our travels we had ever been +asked that question. We were told that honey was wild sweetening and +sugar the tame sweetening. I cannot refrain from telling a little +incident that occurred at this time. When we had our team hitched up and +our sample trunks aboard, we asked Mr. Marks for our bill and were told +we could not pay anything for our entertainment, and just then Mrs. +Marks appeared on the scene. She had in her hand a lot of five and ten +cent war shinplasters, and as she handed them to Mr. Marks he said, +"Mother and I have been talking the matter over and as we have not +bought any goods from you we decided to give you a dollar to help you +pay expenses elsewhere"; and on our refusing to take it he said, "I want +you to take it, for it is worth it for the example you have set to my +children." Politely declining the money and thanking our host and +hostess for their good opinion and splendid entertainment, we were soon +on our way to pay our first visit to Fairbury. + +We arrived about noon and stopped at a little one-story hotel on the +west side of the square, kept by a man by the name of Hurd. After dinner +we went out to see the town and were told it was the county-seat of +Jefferson county. The courthouse was a little one-story frame building +and is now located on the west side of the square and known as +Christian's candy shop. There was one large general store kept by +Champlin & McDowell, a drug store, a hardware store, lumber yard, +blacksmith shop, a schoolhouse, church, and a few small buildings +scattered around the square. The residences were small and widely +scattered. Primitive conditions prevailed everywhere, and we were told +the population was one hundred and fifty but we doubted it. The old +adage reads, "Big oaks from little acorns grow," and it has been my +privilege and great pleasure to have seen Fairbury "climb the ladder +round by round" until today it has a population of fifty-five hundred. + + + + +THE EASTER STORM OF 1873 + +BY CHARLES B. LETTON + + +Spring opened very early in the year 1873. Farmers plowed and harrowed +the ground and sowed their oats and spring wheat in February and March. +The grass began to grow early in April and by the middle of the month +the small-grain fields were bright green with the new crops. Most of the +settlers on the uplands of Jefferson county were still living in dugouts +or sod houses. The stables and barns for the protection of their live +stock were for the most part built by setting forked posts in the +ground, putting rough poles and brush against the sides and on the roof, +and covering them with straw, prairie grass, or manure. Sometimes the +bank of a ravine was made perpendicular and used as one side. The +covering of the walls and roof of these structures needed continual +renewal as the winds loosened it or as the spring rains caused it to +settle. Settlers became careless about this early in the spring, +thinking that the winter was over. The prairies were still bare of +hedges, fences, or trees to break the winds or catch the drifting snow. + +Easter Sunday occurred on the thirteenth of April. For days before, the +weather had been mild and the air delightful. The writer was then living +alone in a dugout seven miles north of Fairbury in what is now the rich +and fertile farming community known as Bower. The granary stood on the +edge of a ravine a short distance from the dugout. The stable or barn +was partly dug into the bank of this ravine; the long side was to the +north, while the roof and the south side were built of poles and straw +in the usual fashion of those days. On the afternoon of Easter Sunday it +began to rain and blow from the northwest. The next morning I had been +awake for some time waiting for daylight when I finally realized that +the dim light coming from the windows was due to the fact that they were +covered with snow drifts. I could hear the noise of the wind but had no +idea of the fury of the tempest until I undertook to go outside to feed +the stock. As soon as I opened the door I found that the air was full +of snow, driven by a tremendous gale from the north. The fury of the +tempest was indescribable. The air appeared to be a mass of moving snow, +and the wind howled like a pack of furies. I managed to get to the +granary for some oats, but on looking into the ravine no stable was to +be seen, only an immense snow drift which almost filled it. At the point +where the door to the stable should have been there appeared a hole in +the drift where the snow was eddying. On crawling into this I found that +during the night the snow had drifted in around the horses and cattle, +which were tied to the manger. The animals had trampled it under their +feet to such an extent that it had raised them so that in places their +backs lifted the flimsy roof, and the wind carrying much of the covering +away, had filled the stable with snow until some of them were almost and +others wholly buried, except where the remains of the roof protected +them. + +Two animals died while I was trying to extricate them and at night I was +compelled to lead two or three others into the front room of the dugout +and keep them there until the storm was over in order to save their +lives. It was only by the most strenuous efforts I was able to get to +the house. My clothing was stiff. The wind had driven the snow into the +fabric, as it had thawed it had frozen again, until it formed an +external coating of ice. + +I had nothing to eat all day, having gone out before breakfast, and when +night came and I attempted to build a fire in the cook stove I found +that the storm had blown away the joints of stovepipe which projected +through the roof and had drifted the hole so full of snow that the snow +was in the stove itself. I went on the roof, cleared it out, built a +fire, made some coffee and warmed some food, then went to bed utterly +fatigued and, restlessly tossing, dreamed all night that I was still in +the snow drift working as I had worked all day. + +Many other settlers took their cattle and horses into their houses or +dugouts in order to save them. Every ravine and hollow that ran in an +easterly or westerly direction was filled with snow from rim to rim. In +other localities cattle were driven many miles by this storm. Houses, or +rather shacks, were unroofed and people in them frozen to death. +Travelers caught in the blizzard, who attempted to take refuge in +ravines, perished and their stiffened bodies were found when the drifts +melted weeks afterward. Stories were told of people who had undertaken +to go from their houses to their outbuildings and who, being blinded by +the snow, became lost and either perished or nearly lost their lives, +and of others where the settler in order to reach his well or his +outbuildings in safety fastened a rope to the door and went into the +storm holding to the rope in order to insure his safe return. Deer, +antelope, and other wild animals perished in the more sparsely settled +districts. The storm lasted for three days, not always of the same +intensity, and freezing weather followed for a day or two thereafter. In +a few days the sun shone, the snow melted, and spring reappeared; the +melting drifts, that lay for weeks in some places, being the only +reminder of the severity of the storm. + +To old settlers in Nebraska and northern Kansas this has ever since been +known as "The Easter Storm." In the forty-six years that I have lived in +Nebraska there has only been one other winter storm that measurably +approached it in intensity. This was the blizzard of 1888 when several +people lost their lives. At that time, however, people were living in +comfort; trees, hedges, groves, stubble, and cornfields held the snow so +that the drifts were insignificant in comparison. The cold was more +severe but the duration of the storm was less and no such widespread +suffering took place. + + + + +BEGINNINGS OF FAIRBURY + +BY JOSEPH B. MCDOWELL + + +In the fall of 1868 my brother, W. G. McDowell, and I started from +Fairbury, Illinois, for Nebraska. Arriving at Brownville, we were +compelled to take a stage for Beatrice, as the only railroad in the +state was the Union Pacific. + +Brownville was a little river village, and Tecumseh was the only town +between Brownville and Beatrice. It probably had one hundred +inhabitants. There was only one house between it and Beatrice. The trip +from Brownville to Beatrice took two days with a night stop at Tecumseh. +The scenery consisted of rolling prairie covered with buffalo grass, and +a few trees along the banks of Rock creek. We stopped for dinner at a +house a few miles northeast of the present site of Endicott, where the +Oregon trail stages changed horses. + +On our arrival at Beatrice we found a little village of about three +hundred inhabitants. The only hotel had three rooms: a reception room, +one bedroom with four beds--one in each corner--and a combination +dining-room and kitchen. There was a schoolhouse fourteen by sixteen +feet, but there were no churches. We bought a few town lots, entered two +or three sections of land, and decided to build a stone hotel, as there +was plenty of stone along the banks of the Blue river, and in the water. + +We then took a team and spring-wagon and started to find a location for +a county-seat for Jefferson county. We found the land where Fairbury is +now located was not entered, so we entered it with the intention of +making it the county-seat. + +On our return to Beatrice we let the contract for the stone hotel, which +still stands today. We returned to Illinois, but the following February +of 1869 I came back to look after the building of the hotel. I bought a +farm with buildings on it, and began farming and improving the land I +had entered. In the summer of 1869 my brother came out again, and we +drove over to lay out the county-seat of Jefferson county, which we +named after Fairbury, Illinois, with the sanction of the county +commissioners. We shipped the machinery for a sawmill to Waterville, +Kansas, and hauled it to Fairbury with teams. Judge Mattingly bought it +and sawed all the lumber that was used for building around Fairbury. +Armstrong Brothers started a small store in a shack. + +About 1870, I came over from Beatrice and built the first store +building, on the east side of the square, which was replaced a few years +ago by the J. D. Davis building. The Fairbury Roller Mill was built in +1873 by Col. Andrew J. Cropsey. I bought his interest in 1874 and have +had it ever since. In 1880 I came to make my home in Fairbury and have +watched its steady growth from its beginning, to our present thriving +and beautiful little city of 1915. + + + + +EARLY EXPERIENCES IN NEBRASKA + +BY ELIZABETH PORTER SEYMOUR + + +In the spring of 1872, we came from Waterloo, Iowa, to Plymouth, +Nebraska. My husband drove through, and upon his arrival I came by train +with my young brother and baby daughter four months old. + +When my husband came the previous fall to buy land, there was no +railroad south of Crete, and he drove across the country, but the +railroad had since been completed to Beatrice. There was a mixed train, +with one coach, and I was the only lady passenger. There was one young +girl, who could not speak any English, but who had a card hung on her +neck telling where she was to go. The trainmen held a consultation and +decided that the people lived a short distance from the track, in the +vicinity of Wilber, so they stopped the train and made inquiries. +Finding these people expected someone, we waited until they came and got +the girl. My husband met me at Beatrice, and the next morning we started +on a fourteen-mile drive to Plymouth, perched upon a load of necessaries +and baggage. + +We had bought out a homesteader, so we had a shelter to go into. This +consisted of a cottonwood house fourteen by sixteen feet, unplastered, +and with a floor of rough boards. It was a dreary place, but in a few +days I had transformed it. One carpet was put on the floor and another +stretched overhead on the joists. This made a place to store things, and +gave the room a better appearance. Around the sides of the room were +tacked sheets, etc., making a white wall. On this we hung a few +pictures, and when the homesteader appeared at the door, he stood amazed +at our fine appearance. A rude lean-to was built to hold the kitchen +stove and work-table. + +Many times that summer a feeling of intense loneliness at the dreary +condition came over me, but the baby Helen, always happy and smiling, +drove gloom away. Then, in August, came the terrible blow of losing our +baby blossom. Cholera infantum was the complaint. A young mother's +ignorance of remedies, and the long distance from a doctor, caused a +delay that was fatal. + +Before we came, the settlers had built a log schoolhouse, with sod roof +and plank seats. In the spring of 1872, the Congregational Home +Missionary Society sent Rev. Henry Bates of Illinois to the field, and +he organized a Congregational church of about twenty-five members, my +husband and myself being charter members. For a time we had service in +the log schoolhouse, but soon had a comfortable building for services. + +Most of the land about Plymouth was owned by a railroad company, and +they laid out a townsite, put up a two-story schoolhouse, and promised a +railroad soon. After years of waiting, the railroad came, but the +station was about two miles north. Business went with the railroad to +the new town, and the distinction was made between New Plymouth and Old +Plymouth. + +Prairie chickens and quail were quite abundant during the first years, +and buffalo meat could often be bought, being shipped from the western +part of the state. In the droves of cattle driven past our house to the +Beatrice market, I have occasionally seen a buffalo. + +Deer and wolves were sometimes seen, and coyotes often made havoc with +our fowls, digging through the sod chicken house to rob the roosts. +Rattlesnakes were frequently killed and much dreaded, but deaths from +the bite were very rare, though serious illness often resulted. + +Prairie fires caused the greatest terror, and the yearly losses were +large. Everyone plowed fire guards and tried to be prepared, but, with +tall grass and weeds and a strong wind, fire would be carried long +distances and sweep everything before it with great rapidity. + +Indians frequently camped on Cub creek for a few days in their journey +from one reservation to another to visit. They would come to the houses +to beg for food, and, though they never harmed us, we were afraid of +them. More than once I have heard a slight noise in my kitchen, and on +going out, found Indians in possession; they never knocked. I was glad +to give them food and hasten their departure. + +In the summer of 1873, quite a party of us went to the Otoe reservation +to see just how the Indians lived. We had two covered wagons and one +provision wagon. We cooked our food by a camp-fire, slept out of doors, +and had a jolly time. We spent nearly one day on the reservation, +visiting the agent's house and the school and peering into the huts of +the Indians. At the schoolhouse the pupils were studious, but several of +them had to care for papooses while studying, and the Indians were +peering into the doors and windows, watching proceedings. Most of the +Indians wore only a blanket and breech cloth, but the teacher was +evidently trying to induce the young pupils to wear clothes, and +succeeded in a degree. One boy amused us very much by wearing flour +sacks for trousers. The sacks were simply ripped open at the end, the +stamps of the brand being still upon them, one sack being lettered in +red and the other in blue. Preparations were going on for a visit to the +Omahas by a number of braves and some squaws, and they were donning +paint and feathers. The agent had received some boxes of clothing from +the East for them, which they were eager to wear on their trip. Not +having enough to fit them out, one garment was given to each, and they +at once put them on. It was very ludicrous to see them, one with a hat, +another with a shirt, another with a vest, etc. At last they were ready +and rode away on their ponies. As we drove away, an Indian and squaw, +with papoose, were just ahead of us. A thunder storm came up, and the +brave Indian took away from the squaw her parasol and held it over his +head, leaving her unprotected. + +Although the settlers on the upland were widely scattered, they were +kind and neighborly, as a rule--ready to help each other in all ways, +especially in sickness and death. One Thanksgiving a large number of +settlers brought their dinners to the church, and after morning services +enjoyed a good dinner and social hour together. That church, so +important a factor in the community in early days, was disbanded but a +few years ago. Pioneer life has many privations, but there are also very +many pleasant experiences. + + + + +PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS + +BY MRS. C. F. STEELE + + +Calvin F. Steele came to Nebraska, in March, 1871, staying for a little +time in Beatrice. He heard of a new town just starting called Fairbury. +Thinking this might be a good place for one with very little capital to +start in business, he decided to go there and see what the prospects +were. Nearly all of the thirty-three miles was unbroken prairie, with no +landmarks to guide one. Mr. Steele had hired a horse to ride. Late in +the afternoon the sky was overcast, and a storm came up. He saw some +distance ahead of him a little rise of ground, and urging his horse +forward he made for that, hoping he might be able to catch sight of the +town he sought. To his surprise he found himself on top of a dugout. + +The man of the house came rushing out. Mr. Steele explained and asked +directions, only to find he was not near Fairbury as he hoped. He was +kindly taken in for the night, and while all slept in the one room, that +was so clean and comfortable, and the welcome so kindly, a friendship +was started that night, a friendship that grew and strengthened with the +years and lasted as long as E. D. Brickley, the man of the dugout, +lived. + +I arrived in Fairbury the first day of May, 1871. The morning after I +came I counted every building in the town, including all outbuildings +having a roof. Even so I could only bring the grand total up to thirty. + +That summer proved a very hot one--no ice, and very few buildings had a +cellar. We rented for the summer a little home of three rooms. The only +trees in sight were a few cottonwoods along the ravine that ran through +the town and on the banks of the Little Blue river. How to keep milk +sweet or butter cool was a problem. At last I thought of our well, still +without a pump. I would put the eatables in a washboiler, put the cover +on, tie a rope through the handles, and let the boiler down into the +well. In late September a lady told me as her husband was going away she +would bring her work and sit with me. I persuaded her to stay for +supper. I intended to have cold meat, a kind of custard known as +"floating island"; these with milk and butter were put down the well. +After preparing the table I went out and drew up my improvised +refrigerator, and removing the cover went in with milk and butter. +Returning almost instantly, the door closed with a bang and frightened a +stray dog doubtless attracted by the smell of meat. He started to run +and was so entangled in the ropes that as far as I could see, dog, +boiler, and contents were still going. + +The whole thing was so funny I laughed at the time, and still do when I +recall that scene of so long ago. + + + + +HOW THE SONS OF GEORGE WINSLOW FOUND THEIR FATHER'S GRAVE + +BY MRS. C. F. STEELE AND GEORGE W. HANSEN + + +_Statement by Mrs. Steele_ + +I have been asked to tell the story of how the sons of George Winslow +found their father's grave. + +In April, 1911, it was my pleasure and privilege to go to Washington to +attend the national meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution. +I went in company with Mrs. C. B. Letton as well as a number of other +delegates from different parts of the state. While passing around to +cast our votes for president general, an eastern lady noticing our +badges exchanged greetings with some of our delegates and expressed a +wish to meet some one from Fairbury. She was told that Fairbury had a +delegate and I was called up to meet Mrs. Henry Winslow of Meriden, +Connecticut. She greeted me cordially, saying her husband's father was a +"Forty-niner" and while on his way to California was taken sick, died, +and was buried by the side of the Oregon trail. In February, 1891, a +letter appeared in a Boston paper from Rev. S. Goldsmith of Fairbury, +Nebraska, saying that he had seen a grave with the inscription "Geo. +Winslow, Newton, Ms. AE. 25" cut on a crude headstone, and that he was +ready to correspond with any interested party as to the lone grave or +its silent occupant. This letter came to the notice of the sons of +George Winslow, and they placed Mr. Goldsmith in communication with +David Staples, of San Francisco, California, who was a brother-in-law of +George Winslow and a member of the same company on the overland journey +to California. + +Mr. Staples wrote him about the organization of the company, which was +called the "Boston and Newton Joint Stock Association," and the sickness +and death of George Winslow; but after this they heard nothing further +from the Nebraska man. + +Mrs. Winslow asked me if I knew anything of the grave. I did not, but +promised to make inquiries regarding it on my return home. + +[Illustration: MRS. CHARLES B. LETTON + +Eighth State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1907-1908] + +Soon after reaching home, Judge and Mrs. Letton came down from Lincoln +and as guests of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Hansen we were all dining together. +The conversation turned to the trip Mrs. Letton and I had enjoyed +together, and we told the story of the talk with Mrs. Winslow. To my +great surprise and pleasure Judge Letton said, "Why, Mrs. Steele, I +remember seeing, many years ago, close by the Oregon trail, somewhere +near the head of Whiskey Run, a grave marked with a red sandstone, and +it is probably the grave you are searching for. I believe Mr. Hansen can +find it." + +A few days after this Mr. Hansen reported the finding of the grave. He +said the headstone had been knocked down by a mower and dragged several +rods away, and that he had replaced it upon the grave; that the +inscription on the stone was as distinct as though freshly cut. I at +once wrote to Mrs. Winslow, giving her the facts, and telling her Mr. +Hansen would gladly answer any questions and give such further +information as she might wish. + +The grateful letter I received in reply more than compensated me for +what I had done. + + +_Statement by Mr. Hansen_ + +Upon a beautiful swell of the prairie between the forks of Whiskey Run, +overlooking the charming valley of the Little Blue river, in a quiet +meadow, five miles north and one mile west of Fairbury, close to the +"old legitimate trail of the Oregon emigrants," is a lone grave marked +with a red sandstone slab, twenty inches in height, of equal width, and +six inches thick, on which is carved "Geo. Winslow, Newton, Ms. AE. 25." + +Through this meadow untouched by the plow may still be seen the deep, +grass-grown furrows of the Oregon trail; and when George Winslow's +companions laid him at rest by its side, they buried him in historic +ground, upon earth's greatest highway. + +To the honor of George Winslow's comrades be it said they loved him so +well that in their grief the feverish haste to reach the gold fields was +forgotten, and every member did what he could to give him Christian +burial and perpetuate his memory. They dug his grave very deep so that +neither vandals nor wolves would disturb him. They searched the +surrounding country and found, two miles away, a durable quality of +sandstone, which they fashioned with their rude tools for his monument, +his uncle Jesse Winslow carving with great care his name, home, and age, +and on a footstone the figures 1849. This service of love rendered him +that day gave to his sons their father's grave, and enabled us +sixty-three years afterwards to obtain the story of his life, and the +story of the journey of his company to California. + +Of all the thousands of men who were buried by the side of the old trail +in 1849 and 1850, the monument of George Winslow alone remains. All the +rest, buried in graves unmarked or marked with wooden slabs, have passed +into oblivion. + +In June, 1912, it was my pleasure to meet George Winslow's sons, George +E. of Waltham, Massachusetts, and Henry O. at the home of the latter in +Meriden, Connecticut. They were intensely interested in the incident of +their father's death and in the protection of his grave. It was planned +that they should obtain a granite boulder from near their father's home +in which the old red sandstone set up by his companions in 1849 might be +preserved, and a bronze tablet fashioned by Henry O. Winslow's hands +placed upon its face. This has been done, and the monument was unveiled +on October 29, 1912, with appropriate ceremonies. + +I learned from them that Charles Gould, then in the eighty-ninth year, +the last survivor of the party, lived at Lake City, Minnesota. Mr. Gould +kept a record of each day's events from the time the Boston and Newton +Joint Stock Association left Boston until it arrived at Sutter's Fort, +California. A copy of this interesting diary and a copy of a +daguerreotype of Mr. Gould taken in 1849 are now in the possession of +the Nebraska State Historical Society. The original letter written by +George Winslow to his wife Eliza from Independence, Missouri, May 12, +1849, and the letter of Brackett Lord written at Fort Kearny June 17, +1849, describing Winslow's sickness, death, and burial, and a copy of a +daguerreotype of George Winslow taken in 1849, were given me by Mr. +Henry O. Winslow to present to the Nebraska State Historical Society. + +From the Winslow memorial published in 1877, we learn that George +Winslow was descended from Kenelm Winslow of Dortwitch, England, whose +two sons Edward and Kenelm emigrated to Leyden, Holland, and joined the +Pilgrim church there in 1617. Edward came to America with the first +company of emigrants in the Mayflower, December, 1620, and was one of +the committee of four who wrote the immortal compact or Magna Charta. He +became governor of Plymouth colony in 1633. His brother Kenelm came to +America in the Mayflower with the long hindered remainder of the Pilgrim +church on a later voyage. + +His son Kenelm Winslow was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1635. His +son, Josiah Winslow, born 1669, established the business of cloth +dressing at Freetown, Massachusetts. His son James Winslow, born 1712, +continued his father's business, and was a colonel in the second +regiment Massachusetts militia. His son Shadrach Winslow, born 1750, +graduated at Yale in 1771 and became an eminent physician. At the +outbreak of the Revolutionary war, being a gentleman of independent +fortune, he fitted out a warship or a privateer, and was commissioned to +attack the enemy on the high seas. He was captured off the coast of +Spain, and confined in a dismal prison ship where he suffered much. His +son Eleazer Winslow, born 1786, took up his abode in the Catskill +mountains with a view to his health and while there at Ramapo, New York, +on August 11, 1823, his son George Winslow was born. + +The family moved to Newton, Mass., now a suburb of Boston, where George +learned his father's trade, that of machinist and molder. In the same +shop and at the same time, David Staples and Brackett Lord, who +afterwards became brothers-in-law, and Charles Gould were learning this +trade. + +George Winslow was married in 1845. His first son, George Edward, was +born May 15, 1846. His second son Henry O., was born May 16, 1849, the +day the father left the frontier town of Independence, Missouri, for +California. + +The Boston and Newton Joint Stock Association consisted of twenty-five +picked young men from Newton and the vicinity of Boston, each member +paying $300 into the treasury. The incidents along the journey we obtain +from Mr. Gould's excellent journal. They left Boston, April 16, 1849, +traveling by rail to Buffalo, taking the steamer Baltic for Sandusky, +Ohio, and then by rail to Cincinnati, where they arrived April 20, at +9:00 o'clock p. m. + +They left Cincinnati April 23rd, on the steamer Griffin Yeatman for St. +Louis, and arrived there April 27th, then by steamer Bay State, to +Independence, Missouri. The boat was crowded principally with passengers +bound for California. A set of gamblers seated around a table well +supplied with liquor kept up their game all night. Religious services +were held on board on the Sabbath, Rev. Mr. Haines preaching the sermon. +The usual exciting steamboat race was had, their boat leaving the +steamer Alton in the rear, where, Mr. Gould remarks "we think she will +be obliged to stay." + +On May 3rd, they landed at Independence, Missouri, and began +preparations for the overland journey. In the letter written by George +Winslow to his wife, he says: + +"We have no further anxiety about forage; millions of buffalo have +feasted for ages on these vast prairies, and as their number have been +diminished by reason of hunters, it is absurd to think we will not have +sufficient grass for our animals.... + +"We have bought forty mules which cost us $50 apiece. I have been +appointed teamster, and had the good luck to draw the best wagon. I +never slept better in my life. I always find myself in the morning--or +my bed, rather--flat as a pan cake. As the darn thing leaks just enough +to land me on terra firma by morning, it saves me the trouble of +pressing out the wind; so who cares.... + +"Sunday morning, May 13, 1849. This is a glorious morning and having +curried my mules and washed my clothes and bathed myself, I can +recommence writing to you Eliza.... + +"We engaged some Mexicans to break the mules. To harness them they tied +their fore legs together and threw them down. The fellows then got on +them and wrung their ears, which like a nigger's shin, is the tenderest +part. By that time they were docile enough to take the harness. The +animals in many respects resemble sheep, they are very timid and when +frightened will kick like thunder. They got six harnessed into a team, +when one of the leaders, feeling a little mulish, jumped right straight +over the other one's back. One fellow offered to bet the liquor that he +could ride an unbroken one he had bought; the bet was taken--but he had +no sooner mounted the fool mule than he landed on his hands and feet in +a very undignified manner; a roar of laughter from the spectators was +his reward. I suppose by this time you have some idea of a mule.... + +"I see by your letter that you have the blues a little in your anxiety +for my welfare. I do not worry about myself, then why do you for me? I +do not discover in your letter any anxiety on your own account; then let +us for the future look on the bright side and indulge in no more useless +anxiety. It effects nothing, and is almost universally the bugbear of +the imagination.... The reports of the gold region here are as +encouraging as they were in Massachusetts. Just imagine to yourself +seeing me return with from $10,000 to $100,000...." + +On May 16th this company of intrepid men started out upon the long +overland trail to California. They traveled up the Kansas river, delayed +by frequent rains and mud hub deep, reaching the lower ford of the +Kansas on the 26th, having accomplished about fifty miles in ten days. +The wagons were driven on flatboats and poled across by five Indians. +The road now becoming dry, they made rapid progress until the 29th, when +George Winslow was suddenly taken violently sick with the cholera. Two +others in the party were suffering with symptoms of the disease. The +company remained in camp three days and the patients having so far +recovered, it was decided to proceed. Winslow's brothers-in-law, David +Staples and Brackett Lord, or his uncle, Jesse Winslow, were with him +every moment, giving him every care. As they journeyed on he continued +to improve. On June 5th they camped on the Big Blue, and on the 6th, +late in the afternoon, they reached the place where the trail crosses +the present Nebraska-Kansas state line into Jefferson county, Nebraska. +Mr. Gould writes: "About a half hour before sunset a terrific thunder +shower arose, which baffles description, the lightning flashes dazzling +the eyes, and the thunder deafening the ears, and the rain falling in +torrents. It was altogether the grandest scene I have ever witnessed. +When the rain ceased to fall the sun had set and darkness closed in." + +To this storm is attributed George Winslow's death. The next morning he +appeared as well as usual, but at 3 o'clock became worse, and the +company encamped. He failed rapidly, and at 9 o'clock a. m., the next +day, the 8th of June, 1849, painlessly and without a struggle, he sank +away as though going to sleep. He was taken to the center of the corral, +where funeral services were performed, by reading from the scriptures +by Mr. Burt, and prayer by Mr. Sweetser. He was then borne to the grave +by eight bearers, and followed by the rest of the company. Tears rolled +down the cheeks of those strong men as each deposited a green sprig in +the open grave. + +For him the trail ended here--in these green pastures. All the rest of +his company traveled the long old trail across plains, mountains, and +deserts, and reached the fabled gardens and glittering sands of El +Dorado, only to find them the ashes of their hopes. He alone of all that +company was never disillusioned. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY + +BY MRS. M. H. WEEKS + + +When I look upon the little city of Fairbury and see the beautiful +trees, fine lawns, and comfortable homes, it is hard to realize the +feelings I had in July, 1873, when as a bride, coming from the dear old +Granite state, we came to our future home. I wanted to "go on" somewhere +else, for everything that is usually green was so parched and dreary +looking and desolate. The only trees were at the homes of L. C. Champlin +and S. G. Thomas. + +We spent the night at the Purdy house, and the following day drove to +our homestead; and in fording the river where the Weeks bridge is now, +the water poured into the express wagon (finest conveyance in town) +driven by Will Hubbell. At least two of the party were much alarmed--our +sister Mary Weeks and the writer. + +It was the first of many peculiar experiences, such as taking my sewing +and a rocking chair, on a hayrack, to the hay field, rather than stay +home alone for fear of the Otoe Indians. The first intimation of their +presence would be their faces pressed against the window glass, and that +would give one a creepy feeling. + +I have ridden to town many times on loads of sand, rock, and hay; and +when the ford was impassable with wagons, I would go on horseback, with +arms around the neck of faithful Billy, and eyes closed for fear of +tumbling off into the water. On the return trip both of our horses would +be laden with bags of provisions. + +In 1867 my husband went with a party of twenty-five on a buffalo hunt +with a man by the name of Soules as guide. They secured plenty of elk, +deer, and buffalo. The wagons were formed in a circle, to corral the +horses and mules nights for fear of an attack by the Indians; each one +taking turns as sentinel. The mules would always whistle if an Indian +was anywhere near, so he felt secure even if he did sleep a little. They +only saw the Indians at a distance as they were spearing the buffalo. + +All things have surely changed, and now we ride in autos instead of +covered wagons. What will the next fifty years bring? + + + + +LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL AT LINCOLN + +BY JOHN H. AMES + + +By an act of the legislature, approved June 14, 1867, it was provided +that the governor, secretary, and auditor of state, should be +commissioners for the purpose of locating the seat of government and +public buildings of the state of Nebraska, and they were vested with the +necessary powers and authority for proceeding, as soon as practicable, +to effect that purpose, and required on or before the fifteenth day of +July in the same year, to select from among certain lands belonging to +the state, and lying within the counties of Seward, Saunders, Butler, +and Lancaster, "a suitable site, of not less than six hundred and forty +acres lying in one body, for a town, due regard being had to its +accessibility from all portions of the state and its general fitness for +a capital." + +The commissioners were also required, immediately upon such selections +being made, to appoint a competent surveyor and proceed to "survey, lay +off and stake out the said tract of land into lots, blocks, streets, +alleys, and public squares or reservations for public buildings"; and +the act declared that such town when so laid out and surveyed, should +"be named and known as Lincoln," and the same was thereby declared to be +"the permanent seat of government of the state of Nebraska, at which all +the public offices of the state should be kept, and at which all the +sessions of the legislature thereof should be held." + +The act further provided that the lots in the alternate blocks, not +reserved as aforesaid, in said town, should, after notice thereof had +been given by advertisement for the time and in the manner therein +prescribed, be offered for sale to the highest and best bidder; and the +commissioners were authorized, after having held the sale for five +successive days, as therein provided, at Lincoln, Nebraska City, and +Omaha, to adjourn the same to be held at such other place or places +within or without the state, as they might see proper, provided that at +such sales no lots should be sold for a less price than a minimum to be +fixed on each lot by the commissioners, previous to the opening of the +sales. All moneys received for the sale of said lots were declared to be +a state building fund, and were directed to be deposited in the state +treasury and kept separate from all other funds for that purpose. Notice +was directed to be issued immediately after the sale of lots, asking +from architects plans and specifications for a building, the foundation +of which should be of stone, and the superstructure of stone or brick, +which should be suitable for the two houses of the legislature and the +executive offices of the state, and which might be designed as a portion +of a larger edifice, but the cost of which should not exceed fifty +thousand dollars. Provision was also made for the letting of the +contract for its construction, and appointing a superintendent thereof, +and also for the erection at Lincoln, as soon as sufficient funds +therefor could be secured by the sale of public lands or otherwise, of a +state university, agricultural college, and penitentiary; but no +appropriation, other than of the state lands and lots as above +described, was made for the aid of any of the enterprises herein +mentioned. + +What was the result of sending three men fifty miles out into an +unbroken, and at that time, almost unknown prairie, to _speak_ into +existence simply by the magic of their own unconquerable, though +unaided, enterprise and perseverance, a city that should not only be +suitable for the seat of government of the state, but should be able, +almost as soon as its name was pronounced, to contribute from its own +resources sufficient funds for the erection of a state house and other +necessary public state buildings, remains to be seen. + +It appears from the report of the commissioners, made to the senate and +house of representatives at its first regular session, held in January, +1869, that, having provided themselves with an outfit, and employed Mr. +Augustus F. Harvey, as surveyor, to ascertain the location of the lines +of the proposed sites, they left Nebraska City on the afternoon of the +18th of July, 1867, for the purpose of making the selection required in +the act. + +After having visited and examined the town sites of Saline City, or +"Yankee Hill," and Lancaster, in Lancaster county, they proceeded to +visit and examine the several proposed sites in each of the counties +named in the act, in which occupations they were engaged until the +twenty-ninth of the same month, when they returned, and made a more +thorough examination of the two sites above referred to, at which time +the favorable impressions received of Lancaster on their first visit +were confirmed. Says the report: + +"We found a gently undulating surface, its principal elevation being +near the centre of the proposed new site. The village already +established being in the midst of a thrifty and considerable +agricultural population; rock, timber, and water power available within +short distances; the centre of the great saline region within two miles; +and in addition to all other claims, the special advantage was that the +location was at the centre of a circle, of about 110 miles in diameter, +along or near the circumference of which are the Kansas state line +directly south, the important towns of Pawnee City, Nebraska City, +Plattsmouth, Omaha, Fremont, and Columbus.... Under these circumstances +we entertained the proposition of the people residing in the vicinity of +Lancaster, offering to convey to the state in _fee simple_ the west half +of the west half of section 25, the east half and the southwest quarter +of section 26, which, with the northwest quarter of section 26 (the last +named quarter being saline land), all in town 10, range 6 east; the +whole embracing 800 acres, and upon which it was proposed to erect the +new town. In addition, the trustees of the Lancaster Seminary +Association proposed to convey to the state, for an addition to the site +named in the foregoing proposition, the town site of Lancaster, +reserving, however, certain lots therein which had been disposed of in +whole or in part to the purchasers thereof." + +After being satisfied of the sufficiency of the titles proposed to be +conveyed to the state, and having carefully "considered all the +circumstances of the condition of the saline lands, the advantage of the +situation, its central position, and the value of its surroundings over +a district of over _twelve thousand square miles_ of rich agricultural +country, it was determined to accept the proposition made by the owners +of the land." Accordingly on the afternoon of the 29th of July the +commissioners assembled at the house of W. T. Donavan, in Lancaster, and +by a unanimous vote formally declared the present site of the capital +city of Lincoln, which action was first made public by a proclamation +issued on the 14th day of August next following. + +On the 15th of August, Messrs. Harvey and Smith, engineers, with a corps +of assistants, commenced the survey of the town, the design being +calculated for the making of a beautiful city. The streets are one +hundred and twenty feet wide, and all except the business streets +capable of being improved with a street park outside the curb line; as, +for instance: On the one hundred feet streets, pavements twelve feet +wide and a park or double row of trees outside the pavement, and planted +twelve feet apart so as to admit of a grass plat between, may be made on +both sides the street. This will leave on the one hundred feet streets a +roadway fifty-two feet wide; with pavements as above, and parks fifteen +feet wide, will leave a roadway on the one hundred and twenty feet +streets of sixty feet; while on the business streets a ninety-foot +roadway was thought to be amply sufficient for the demands of trade. + +Reservations of about twelve acres each were made for the state house, +state university, and a city park, these being at about equal distances +from each other. + +Reservations of one block each were made for a courthouse for Lancaster +county, for a city hall and market space, for a state historical and +library association, and _seven_ other squares in proper locations for +public schools. Reservations were also made of three lots each in +desirable locations for ten religious denominations, upon an +understanding with the parties making the selections on behalf of the +several denominations, that the legislature would require of them a +condition that the property should only be used for religious purposes, +and that some time would be fixed within which suitable houses of +worship, costing not less than some reasonable minimum amount, should be +erected. One lot each was also reserved for the use of the Independent +Order of Good Templars, and Odd Fellows, and the order of Ancient Free +and Accepted Masons. These reservations were afterwards confirmed by the +legislature, with conditions recommended by the commissioners, and +religious denominations were required to build on their reserved lots +previous to or during the summer of 1870. + +In anticipation of the completion of the survey, due advertisement +thereof was made as provided by law, and a sale of lots opened at +Lincoln on the 17th day of September, for the purpose of raising the +necessary funds for commencing the construction of the state house. + +Owing to the unpropitious state of the weather but few bidders were +present, and the results of the first day's sales were light and +disheartening; during their continuation, however, circumstances were +changed for the better, and at the end of five days $34,000 had been +realized. Subsequent sales were held at Nebraska City and Omaha, which +by the fourth day of October had increased that amount to the sum of +$53,000. Sales were subsequently held at Lincoln on the seventeenth of +June and September, 1868, from which were realized the sum of $22,580. + +On the tenth of September, 1867, the commissioners issued their notice +to architects, inviting, for a period of thirty days, plans and +specifications for a state house; and upon the tenth of October, after +having considered the merits of the several plans presented, they +concluded to accept that of Prof. John Morris, of Chicago, whom they +thereupon appointed superintendent of construction, and issued notice to +builders, inviting proposals for a term of three months, for the +erection of the work; Prof. Morris in the meantime commencing such +preliminary work as excavations for foundations, delivery of material +for foundation, and other arrangements as should tend to facilitate the +progress of the work after the contract was let. + +On the tenth of November the superintendent caused the ground to be +broken in the presence of a number of the citizens of Lancaster, the +removal of the first earth being awarded to Master Frele Morton Donavan, +the first child born in, and the youngest child of the oldest settler of +Lancaster county. + +On the eleventh of January, 1868, the bid of Mr. Joseph Ward, proposing +to furnish the material and labor, and erect the building contemplated +in the contract for the sum of $49,000, was accepted, and from that time +forward the work steadily progressed, with the exception of a few +unavoidable delays, until its completion. + +On account, however, of the increasing wants of the state, the +difficulties attending, the changes of material and increased amount of +work and additional accommodation found necessary and advisable, the +commissioners deemed it expedient to exceed the amount of expenditure +contemplated in the statute; the additional expense being defrayed from +the proceeds of the sales of lots and lands appropriated for that +purpose. + +It was originally intended that the walls of the building should be +built of red sandstone, and faced with blue limestone, but upon +proceeding with the work the architect and builder found that the +difficulties attending the procuration of the last named material would, +unless the object was abandoned, result in an impossibility of the +completion of the work at contract prices; and in so far retarding its +progress as to prevent its erection in time for the use of the next +session of the legislature. Its use, therefore, was accordingly +abandoned, and it was decided to substitute in lieu thereof the +magnesian limestone of Beatrice, which the experience of the architect +had proved to be of far better character for building purposes than the +blue limestone, it being less liable to wear or damage from frost or +fire or any other action of the elements. + +This change having been made, the work was pushed vigorously forward, +and on the third day of December, 1868, was so far completed as to be +ready for the occupancy of the state officers, and the governor, +therefore, on that day issued his proclamation announcing the removal of +the seat of government from Omaha to Lincoln and ordering the +transportation of the archives of the state to the new capitol. + + + + +AN INCIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF LINCOLN + +BY ORTHA C. BELL + + +On February 1, 1872, I arrived in Lincoln, the capital of the state. +About the middle of January, 1875, the residents of Lincoln were greatly +startled at seeing a man, shoeless and coatless, mounted on a horse +without saddle or bridle, coming down Eleventh street at full speed, and +crying at the top of his voice, "Mutiny at the pen!" The man proved to +be a guard from the penitentiary heralding the news of this outbreak and +calling for help. The prisoners had taken advantage of the absence of +Warden Woodhurst, overpowered Deputy Warden C. J. Nobes, bound and +gagged the guard. The leader, Quinn Bohanan, disrobed the deputy warden, +exchanged his own for the clothing and hat of the deputy, and produced +the effect of a beard with charcoal. This disguise was all so complete +that the guards did not detect the ruse when the prisoners were marched +through the yards, supposed to be in charge of the deputy. When on the +inside of the prison they used the warden's family as hostages and took +possession of the arsenal, and were soon in command of the situation. + +The man on horseback had spread the news through the city in a very +short time and soon hundreds of men with all kinds of guns had left +their places of business and gone to the penitentiary, which they +surrounded, holding the prisoners within the walls. + +The governor wired for a detail from the regulars, stationed at Fort +Omaha, and with all possible haste they were rushed to the scene. They +were soon in charge of the situation, and negotiations were begun for a +restoration of normal conditions, which result was attained in three +days' time. + +During all this time Warden Woodhurst was on the outside of the walls +and his brave little wife, with their two small children, were on the +inside. Mrs. Woodhurst used all the diplomacy at her command to save her +own life and that of the two children. She and the children had served +as shields to the prisoners, protecting them from the bullets of the +soldiers on the firing line around the penitentiary. + +The incident closed without loss of life to citizen or prisoner, but has +left a lasting impression on the minds of those who were present. + + + + +LINCOLN IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES + +BY (MRS. O. C.) MINNIE DEETTE POLLEY BELL + + +In the spring of 1874 my father, Hiram Polley, came from Ohio to +Lincoln, I being a young lady of nineteen years. To say that the new +country with its vast prairies, so different from our beautiful timber +country, produced homesickness, would be putting it mildly. My parents +went on to a farm near what is now the town of Raymond, I remaining in +Lincoln with an aunt, Mrs. Watie E. Gosper. My father built the barn as +soon as possible and this was used for the house until after the crops +were put in, then work was begun on the house that they might have it +before cold weather. + +The first trouble that came was the devastating plague of grasshoppers +which swept over this section of the country in the years 1874 and 1875. +Not long after this a new trouble was upon us. The day dawned bright and +fair, became hotter and more still, until presently in the distance +there could be seen the effects of a slight breeze; this however was +only the advance of a terrible windstorm. When the hurricane had passed, +the barn, which only a few months before had served as the house, was in +ruins. Undaunted, my father set about to rebuild the barn, which still +remains on the farm; the farm, however, is now owned by other parties. + +In the winter of 1875 there was quite a fall of snow, and one of the +funny sights was a man driving down O street with a horse hitched to a +rocking chair. Everything that could be used for a sleigh was pressed +into service. This was a strange sight to me, having come from Ohio +where we had from three to four months of sleighing with beautiful +sleighs and all that goes to make up a merry time. + +During this winter many were using corn for fuel and great quantities +were piled on the ground, which of course made rats very plentiful--so +much so that when walking on the streets at dusk one would almost have +to kick them out of the way or wait for them to pass. + +In the course of time a young man appeared upon the scene, and on +December 10, 1874, I was married to Ortha C. Bell. We were married in +the house which now stands at the northeast corner of Twelfth and M +streets, then the home of my aunt, Mrs. Gosper. Four children were born +to us: the first, a daughter, dying in infancy; the second, Jennie +Bell-Ringer, of Lincoln; the third, a son, Ray Hiram Bell, dying at the +age of three; and the fourth, a daughter, Hazel Bell-Smith. Two +grandchildren have come to brighten our lives, DeEtte Bell Smith and +Edmund Burke Smith. Our home at 931 D street, which we built in 1886, is +still occupied by us. + + + + +A PIONEER BABY SHOW + +BY (MRS. FRANK I.) JENNIE BELL-RINGER + + +I am a Nebraska product, having been born in the city of Lincoln, just +across the street from the state university, on R street, between +Eleventh and Twelfth. + +When yet very young my proud mother entered me in an old-fashioned baby +show which was held in the old opera house, known as "The Hallo Opera +House." This show was not conducted as the "Better Babies" contest of +today is conducted, but rather along the line of a game of chance. The +judges went around and talked and played with the various babies. The +baby that made the best impression on the judges, or perhaps, more +correctly speaking, the baby that was on its good behavior, was the one +that made the best impression on the judges. + +To make a long story short, I evidently, at that tender age, knew when +to put on my company manners, and when the prizes were awarded, I held +the lucky number and rode away in a handsome baby buggy, the first +prize. + +The second prize was awarded to John Dean Ringer, second son of Mr. and +Mrs. Bradford Ringer. The third prize was given to Harry Hardenburg; and +an impromptu fourth prize was awarded to a colored baby. + +The day I was married my newly acquired brother, in bestowing good +wishes upon me, said there was only one fault he had to find with me, +and upon inquiry as to what that might be, he answered, "You took the +first prize away from me at the baby show." + +[Illustration: BOULDER AT FORT CALHOUN + +Commemorating the Council of Lewis and Clark with the Otoe and Missouri +Indians, August 3, 1804. Erected by the Daughters of the American +Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Nebraska State +Historical Society] + + + + +MARKING THE SITE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK COUNCIL AT FORT CALHOUN + +BY MRS. LAURA B. POUND + + +Looking backward for thirteen years, it is difficult for me to realize +that at the beginning of my fourth term as state regent, in 1902, there +were as yet only two chapters of the Daughters of the American +Revolution in Nebraska. From 1894 to 1902 there had been three other +state regents besides myself; and it was surely through no lack of +diligence or patriotism that the organization grew so slowly. Mrs. S. C. +Langworthy had been appointed organizing regent at Seward in 1896; Mrs. +J. A. Cline at Minden, and Mrs. Sarah G. Bates at Long Pine in 1897; and +Miss Anna Day at Beatrice in 1899. The total membership in the state +probably did not exceed two hundred and fifty, and these, with the +exception of the regents already named, belonged to the Deborah Avery +and the Omaha chapters. + +In 1899, Mrs. Eliza Towle reported to the president general and the +national board of management that the Omaha chapter had decided to place +a monument at Fort Calhoun--undoubtedly at the suggestion of Mrs. +Harriet S. MacMurphy, who was much interested in the early history of +that place. + +As the hundredth anniversary of the acquisition of the Louisiana +territory approached, and interest began to center around the expedition +of Lewis and Clark, it was found that the only point touched in Nebraska +by these explorers which could be positively identified was old Council +Bluff, near Fort Calhoun; and here the Omaha chapter had decided to +erect a monument. At a meeting of the Omaha chapter in 1901, the state +regent directed the attention of the members to this fact, and it was +voted to enlarge the scope of the undertaking, to make the marking of +the site a state affair, and to ask the coˆperation of the Sons of the +American Revolution and of the State Historical Society. This action was +ratified at the first conference of the Daughters of the American +Revolution held in Nebraska, the meeting having been called especially +for that purpose, in October, 1902. A committee in conjunction with the +Sons of the American Revolution asked the state legislature of 1903 for +a sum of five thousand dollars to buy the site of Fort Atkinson and to +erect a suitable monument, under the auspices of the Sons and the +Daughters of the American Revolution, the monument to be erected +according to plans and specifications furnished by the two societies. + +Disappointed by the failure of the legislature to make the desired +appropriation but in no way discouraged, the Daughters of the American +Revolution at the second state conference, held in October, 1903, voted +to observe the anniversary of the first official council held by Lewis +and Clark with the Indians in the Louisiana territory, and to +commemorate the event by placing a Nebraska boulder upon the site. As +chairman of the committee, it fell to my lot to raise the money and to +find the boulder; and it is with pleasure that I record the ease with +which the first part of my duty was accomplished. The Deborah Avery +chapter gave seventy-five dollars, the Omaha chapter one hundred, and +the two new chapters organized in 1902, Quivira of Fairbury and +Lewis-Clark of Fremont, raised the sum to two hundred, each promising +more if it was needed. + +To find a Nebraska boulder was more difficult; and it was still more +difficult to find a firm in Nebraska willing to undertake to raise it +from its native bed and to carve upon it the insignia of the D. A. R., +with a suitable inscription. Finally a boulder of Sioux Falls granite +was found in the Marsden farm, north of Lincoln, and it was given to the +society by the owner, who remarked that he was "glad to be rid of it." +Its dimensions were 7-1/2x8-1/3x3-1/2 feet. Its weight was between seven +and eight tons. The firm of Kimball Brothers of Lincoln took the +contract for its removal and inscription. Through the assistance of Mr. +A. E. Sheldon of the State Historical Society, the Burlington and +Missouri railroad generously transported it to Fort Calhoun, where its +placing was looked after by Mr. J. H. Daniels of the Sons of the +American Revolution. As the project had drifted away from the original +intention, and had become a memorial to commemorate an event rather than +to mark a spot, the boulder was placed on the public school grounds at +Fort Calhoun. At last, almost five years from the time of the broaching +of the project, the wish of the society was accomplished. + +The following condenses an account of the unveiling of the boulder, and +the program, from the report of Miss Anna Tribell Adams of the Omaha +chapter for the _American Monthly_ of January, 1905: + +"On August 3, 1904, the village of Fort Calhoun, fifteen miles above +Omaha on the Missouri river, was the scene of the unveiling of a boulder +commemorating the first peace council between the United States +government and the chiefs of the Otoe and Missouri Indian tribes. The +town as well as the school grounds were brave with bunting and flags. +Everyone wore with a small flag the souvenir button on which was a +picture of the boulder with a suitable inscription. As a matter of +history it is a pleasure to record that the button was designed by Mrs. +Elsie De Cou Troup of the Omaha chapter. One worn by one of the speakers +is in the collection of the Deborah Avery chapter in the rooms of the +State Historical Society at Lincoln. + +"Among those present were Brigadier General Theodore Wint, representing +the United States government, Governor J. H. Mickey, Adjutant General +and Mrs. J. H. Culver, Mr. J. A. Barrett and Mr. A. E. Sheldon of the +State Historical Society, Senator J. H. Millard, ex-Governor J. E. Boyd, +and others. + +"The Thirtieth Infantry band from Fort Calhoun opened the program. Then +came a brief reproduction, in pageant-manner, by the Knights of +Ak-Sar-Ben of Omaha, of the Council of 1804, enacting the Lewis and +Clark treaty. Mr. Edward Rosewater of the Omaha _Bee_ extended the +welcome of the day, and brought to the attention of the audience the +presence of Mr. Antoine Cabney, the first white child born in Nebraska, +whose birthplace, in 1827, was near the site of Fort Calhoun. The state +regent, Mrs. Abraham Allee, introduced Governor Mickey, who spoke +briefly. He was followed by J. A. Barrett of the State Historical +Society, who gave an account of the Lewis and Clark Council. Honorable +W. F. Gurley of Omaha then delivered the address of the day. At the +conclusion of the formal program the boulder was unveiled. In the +presentation speech by Mrs. S. B. Pound of Lincoln, the boulder was +committed formally, in the name of the Sons and the Daughters of the +American Revolution and of the State Historical Society, to the care of +the citizens of Fort Calhoun." + + + + +EARLY HISTORY OF LINCOLN COUNTY + +BY MAJOR LESTER WALKER + +(Late captain Fifth U. S. Cavalry and brevet major U. S. Army) + + +It is supposed that the first white men who visited Lincoln county were +the Mallet brothers, who passed this way to Santa Fe in 1739. Pierre and +Auguste Chouteau were sent out from St. Louis to explore the +northwestern country in 1762. In 1780 another expedition was sent to +explore the country between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains. + +After the expedition of Lewis and Clark, which followed up the Missouri +river, the first government expedition was made in 1819, under Major +Stephen H. Long, who traveled up the north side of the Platte and +crossed just above the forks of the two rivers, then going up the valley +between the two streams to the site of the present town of North Platte. + +Titian Peale, the naturalist of Philadelphia, was with this expedition +and the Peale family living at North Platte, are relatives of his. In +1835, Col. Henry Dodge visited this section of the country in the +government employ to treat with the Arikara Indians. + +In 1843, Col. John C. Fremont, making his expedition up the Platte, +celebrated the Fourth of July of that year, in what is now Lincoln +county. During the year 1844 travel up the Platte river became quite +heavy and the first building in the county was erected by a Frenchman +(name unknown) near the present residence of Mrs. Burke at Fort +McPherson, and was used as a trading ranch, but was abandoned in 1848. + +In 1852, a man by the name of Brady settled on the south side of the +island now known as Brady Island. Brady is supposed to have been killed +some time during the following year by the Indians. + +In 1858, the first permanent settlement in the county was made at +Cottonwood Springs and the first building was erected in the fall of the +year by Boyer & Roubidoux. I. P. Boyer had charge of this ranch. In the +same year another trading ranch was built at O'Fallon's Bluffs on the +south side of the river. In 1859 Dick Darling erected the second +building at Cottonwood Springs. This building was purchased by Charles +McDonald for a store, and he stocked it with general merchandise. In +1860, Mr. McDonald brought his wife from Omaha, she being the first +white woman to settle in Lincoln county. Mrs. McDonald lived here about +three years before another white woman settled at Cottonwood Springs. +Mr. McDonald is now living at North Platte, engaged in the banking +business. Mrs. McDonald died in December, 1898, and is buried at North +Platte. + +In the spring of 1860, J. A. Morrow built a ranch about twelve miles +west from Cottonwood, to accommodate the great rush to California. To +give some idea of the extent of the freight and emigrant business along +this route, it was no uncommon thing to count from seven hundred to one +thousand wagons passing in one day. + +During the year 1861, the Creighton telegraph line was completed through +the county. In June, 1861, the first white child was born. His name is +W. H. McDonald, son of Chas. McDonald, now of North Platte, Nebraska. + +In the spring of 1860, W. M. Hinman removed from Port Laramie to +Cottonwood Springs, and opened up a farm, trading with the emigrants and +Indians. In November, 1863, Fort McPherson was established by the +government at this settlement of Cottonwood Springs. This military post +was first commanded by Major George M. O'Brien. + +Fort McPherson was established none too soon, for it was in the +following year, 1864, that the war with the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians +commenced. This war continued for over five years and many emigrants and +soldiers were killed. + +What is now known as Lincoln county, was first organized as a county +under the territorial government of Nebraska in 1860. Cottonwood Springs +was made the county-seat. The following officers were elected: County +commissioners--I. P. Boyer, J. C. Gilman and J. A. Morrow; +judge--Charles McDonald; treasurer--W. M. Hinman. Instead of calling the +county Lincoln, it was named "Shorter." Nothing, however, was done under +this organization. Judge McDonald qualified and the only business was +the marriage ceremony. + +On September 3, 1866, a meeting was held and arrangements made to +reorganize Shorter county under the name of Lincoln county. Under the +reorganization, the following officers were elected: J. C. Gilman, W. M. +Hinman, and J. A. Morrow were elected county commissioners; S. D. +Fitchie, county judge; Wilton Baker, sheriff; and Charles McDonald, +clerk. The county seat was at Cottonwood Springs. W. M. Hinman built a +sawmill near Cottonwood Springs and did a large business. The Union +Pacific railroad was then being constructed through this county and the +caÒons south of the Platte abounded with cedar timber, furnishing an +abundance of material. + +During November, 1866, the Union Pacific railroad was completed to North +Platte and a town was laid out by the railroad company. The plat of the +town was filed with the clerk of the county on January 31, 1867; a +military post was established, and a garrison of soldiers was stationed +here. + +In 1867 the Union Pacific railroad began the erection of shops and +roundhouse, North Platte having been designated as a division station. +During the year 1867, a freight train was wrecked by the Indians. +Several of the trainmen were killed and the train plundered and burned. +In September, 1867, the Indian chiefs were all called to assemble at +North Platte, where they were met by the commissioners appointed by the +government to treat with them. These commissioners were General Sherman, +General Harney, and John P. Sanborne, and a treaty of peace was entered +into. During the stay of these commissioners, they were well entertained +by the citizens of North Platte. The county-seat was moved from +Cottonwood Springs to North Platte at an election held October 8, 1867. +A total of twenty-one votes were cast. The officers elected were B. I. +Hinman, representative; W. M. Hinman, county judge; Charles McDonald, +clerk; O. O. Austin, sheriff; Hugh Morgan, treasurer, and A. J. Miller, +county commissioner. There was no courthouse, and the records were kept +at the home of W. M. Hinman, who had moved from his farm to North +Platte. The first county warrant was issued in 1867. The first term of +district court was held at North Platte in 1867, Judge Gantt then being +the circuit judge for the entire state. July 1, 1867, the first levy on +the Union Pacific railroad in Lincoln county was made on an assessed +valuation of $49,000.00. + +During this year, there was an Indian scare and settlers throughout the +county thronged to the military parks at McPherson and North Platte, +taking refuge in the railroad roundhouse at the latter place. + +The first money collected from fines was that paid into the county +treasury on February 1, 1868, by R. C. Daugherty, a justice of the +peace, who fined a man $21.50 for stealing an overcoat. + +The first school in the county was taught at North Platte during the +summer of 1868. Theodore Clark was the first teacher. The next term of +school began November 30, 1868, and was taught by Mary Hubbard, now Mrs. +P. J. Gilman. + +The first Sunday school in the county was at North Platte, and was +founded by Mrs. Keith, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Cogswell, and Mrs. Kramph. +There were only three children in attendance. + +During the year 1868, troubles with the Indians were on the increase. On +one occasion, "Dutch" Frank, running an engine and coming round a curve +with his train, saw a large body of Indians on each side of the road, +while a number were crowded on the track. Knowing it would be certain +death to stop, he increased the speed of his train and went through +them, killing quite a number. + +In May, 1869, the Fifth U. S. Cavalry arrived at Fort McPherson under +General Carr. Eight companies were left here and four companies went to +Sidney and Cheyenne. The government was surveying this county at that +time and the troops were used to protect the surveyors. Large bands of +Indians had left the reservation and were killing settlers and stealing +horses. During the summer of 1869 the order from General Auger, +commanding the department, was to clear the country of Indians between +the Union Pacific and the Kansas Pacific. I was an officer of the Fifth +U. S. Cavalry and was in command of the post at North Platte in 1869 and +1870, and was in all the Indian campaigns until I resigned in 1878. + +The first bank in North Platte was started in 1875 by Walker Brothers +and was later sold to Charles McDonald. + + + + +GRAY EAGLE, PAWNEE CHIEF + +BY MILLARD S. BINNEY + + +It is not often that one sees a real Indian chief on the streets of +Fullerton, but such happened in June, 1913, when the city was visited by +David Gillingham, as he is known in the English tongue, or Gray Eagle, +as his people call him, chief of the Pawnees. + +Gray Eagle is the son of White Eagle, whom the early inhabitants of +Nance county will remember as chief of the Pawnees at the time the +county was owned by that tribe. + +Gray Eagle was born about three miles this side of Genoa, in 1861. He +spent his boyhood in the county and when white men began to build at the +place that is now Genoa, he attended school there. When he was fourteen +years of age he accompanied his tribe to its new home at Pawnee City, +Oklahoma, where he has since resided. The trip overland was made mostly +on horseback, and the memories of it are very interesting as interpreted +to us by Chief Gray Eagle, and John Williamson, of Genoa, one of the few +white men to make this long journey with the red men. Gray Eagle made +one trip back here in 1879, visiting the spot that is now +Fullerton--then only a few rude shacks. + +Uppermost in Gray Eagle's mind had always been the desire to return and +see what changes civilization had brought. In 1913 he was sent to St. +Louis as a delegate to the Baptist convention, after which he decided to +visit the old scenes. From St. Louis he went to Chicago and from that +city he came to Genoa. + +"I have always wanted to see if I could locate the exact spot of my +birth," said Gray Eagle, in perfect English, as he talked to us on this +last visit, "and I have been successful in my undertaking. I found it +last week, three miles this side of Genoa. I was born in a little, round +mud-house, and although the house is long since gone, I discovered the +circular mound that had been its foundation. I stood upon the very spot +where I was born, and as I looked out over the slopes and valleys that +had once been ours; at the corn and wheat growing upon the ground that +had once been our hunting grounds; at the quietly flowing streams that +we had used so often for watering places in the days so long gone by; my +heart was very sad. Yet I've found that spot and am satisfied. I can now +go back to the South and feel that my greatest desire has been granted." + +When asked if the Indians of today followed many of the customs of their +ancestors, he answered that they did not. Occasionally the older +Indians, in memory of the days of their supremacy, dressed themselves to +correspond and acted as in other days, but the younger generation knows +nothing of those things and is as the white man. In Oklahoma they go to +school, later engage in farming or enter business. "Civilization has +done much for them," said Gray Eagle. "They are hard workers and have +ambitions to accomplish great things and be better citizens. Only we old +Indians, who remember the strenuous times of the early days, have the +wild blood in our veins. The younger ones have never even seen a +buffalo." + +Then he told of his early life in the county and related interesting +stories of the past--Gray Eagle, the Indian chief, and John Williamson, +the pioneer, talking together, at times, in a tongue that to us was +strange, but to them an echo of a very real past. + +The Loup he called Potato Water, because of the many wild potatoes that +formerly grew upon its banks. Horse creek he remembered as Skeleton +Water, the Pawnees one time having fought a band of Sioux on its banks. +They were victorious but lost many warriors. Their own dead they buried, +leaving the bodies of their enemies to decay in the sun. Soon the banks +of the creek were strewn with skeletons and ever after the creek was +known to the Indians as Skeleton Water. The Cedar was known as Willow +creek, Council creek as the Skidi, and the Beaver as the Sandburr. + + + + + LOVERS' LEAP + + BY MRS. A. P. JARVIS + + + I pause before I reach the verge + And look, with chilling blood, below; + Some dread attraction seems to urge + Me nearer to the brink to go. + The hunting red men used to force + The buffalo o'er this frightful steep; + They could not check their frantic course; + By following herds pressed down they leap, + + Then lie a bleeding, mangled mass + Beside the little stream below. + Their red blood stained the waving grass, + The brook carnation used to flow. + Yet a far more pathetic tale + The Pawnees told the pioneer + Of dusky maid and stripling pale + Who found in death a refuge here. + + The youth had been a captive long, + Yet failed to friendly favor find; + He oft was bound with cruel thong, + Yet Noma to the lad was kind. + She was the chieftain's only child, + As gentle as the cooing dove. + Pure was this daughter of the wild; + The pale-face lad had won her love. + + Her father, angered at her choice, + Had bid'n her wed a chieftain brave; + She answered with a trembling voice, + "I'd rather lie within my grave." + The day before the appointed eve + When Wactah was to claim his bride, + The maid was seen the camp to leave-- + The pale-face youth was by her side. + + She led him to this dangerous place + That on the streamlet's glee doth frown; + The sunlight, gleaming on her face, + Her wild, dark beauty seemed to crown. + "Dear youth," exclaimed the dusky maid, + "I've brought thee here thy faith to prove: + If thou of death art not afraid, + We'll sacrifice our lives to love." + + Hand linked in hand they looked below, + Then, headlong, plunged adown the steep. + The Pawnees from that hour of woe + Have named the place The Lovers' Leap. + + + + +EARLY INDIAN HISTORY + +BY MRS. SARAH CLAPP + + +In 1843 Mr. and Mrs. Lester W. Platt were first engaged in missionary +work among the Pawnees, and in 1857 the government set aside a tract of +land thirty miles by fifteen miles, in the rich prairie soil of Nance +county, for their use; and when the Indian school was established at +Genoa, Mrs. Platt was made matron or superintendent. + +My mother taught in this school during the years 1866-67. She found the +work interesting, learned much of the customs and legends of the Pawnees +and grew very fond of that noble woman, Mrs. Platt, who was able to tell +thrilling stories of her experiences during her mission work among the +members of that tribe. + +At the time my mother taught in the Genoa school, the Sioux, who were +the greatest enemies of the Pawnees, on account of wanting to hunt in +the same territory, were supposed to be friendly with the settlers, but +drove away their horses and cattle and stole everything in sight, +furnishing much excitement. + +My father, Captain S. E. Cushing, accompanied my uncle, Major Frank +North, on a number of expeditions against the hostile Indians, during +the years 1869 until 1877. He was with Major North at the time of the +famous charge on the village of the Cheyennes, when the notorious chief, +Tall Bull, was killed by my uncle. + +In 1856, when Frank North came to Nebraska, a young boy, he mingled +fearlessly with the Indians along the Missouri in the region of Omaha, +where our family first settled, learning their mode of warfare and +living, and their language, which he spoke as fluently as his mother +tongue. In 1861 he took a position as clerk and interpreter at the +Pawnee reservation and by 1863 he had become known as a daring scout. + +The next year the building of the Union Pacific railroad was started, +and as the work progressed westward the fierce Arapahoes, Cheyennes, and +Sioux began attacking the laborers, until it seemed deadly peril to +venture outside the camps. It was useless to call on the regular troops +for help as the government needed them all to hold in check the armies +of Lee and Johnston. A clipping from the Washington _Sunday Herald_, on +this subject, states that "a happy thought occurred to Mr. Oakes Ames," +the main spirit of the work. He sent a trusty agent to hunt up Frank +North, who was then twenty-four years old. "What can be done to protect +our working parties, Mr. North?" said Mr. Ames. "I have an idea," Mr. +North answered. "If the authorities at Washington will allow me to +organize a battalion of Pawnees and mount and equip them, I will +undertake to picket your entire line and keep off other Indians. + +"The Pawnees are the natural enemies of all the tribes that are giving +you so much trouble, and a little encouragement and drill will make them +the best irregular horse you could desire." + +This plan was new but looked feasible. Accordingly Mr. Ames went to +Washington, and, after some effort, succeeded in getting permission to +organize a battalion of four hundred Pawnee warriors, who should be +armed as were the U.S. cavalry and drilled in such simple tactics as the +service required, and my uncle was commissioned a major of volunteers +and ordered to command them. The newspaper clipping also says: "It would +be difficult to estimate the service of Major North in money value." +General Crook once said, in speaking of him, "Millions of government +property and hundreds of lives were saved by him on the line of the +Union Pacific railroad, and on the Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana +frontiers." + +There is much to be said in his praise, but I did not intend writing a +eulogy, rather to tell of the stories which have come down to me, with +which he and my other relatives were so closely connected. + +During the many skirmishes and battles fought by the Pawnees, under +Major North, he never lost a man; moreover, on several different +occasions he passed through such hair-breadth escapes that the Pawnees +thought him invulnerable. In one instance, while pursuing the retreating +enemy, he discovered that his command had fallen back and he was +separated from them by over a mile. The enemy, discovering his plight, +turned on him. He dismounted, being fully armed, and by using his horse +as a breastwork he managed to reach his troops again, though his +faithful horse was killed. This and many like experiences caused the +Pawnees to believe that their revered leader led a charmed life. He +never deceived them, and they loved to call him "Little Pawnee Le-Sharo" +(Pawnee Chief), and so he was known as the White Chief of the Pawnees. + +The coming of the railroad through the state, bringing thousands of +settlers with household furnishings and machinery for tilling the soil, +was of the greatest importance. It was concerning the guarding of that +right of way that a writer for the _Horse World_ has some interesting +memories and devotes an article in a number in February, 1896, to the +stories of Colonel W. F. Cody, Major Frank North, Captain Charles Morse, +Captain Luther North, Captain Fred Mathews, and my father, Captain S. E. +Cushing. The correspondent was under my father, in Company B, during one +of the scouting expeditions, when the company was sent to guard +O'Fallon's Bluffs, west of Fort McPherson on the Union Pacific. He tells +much more of camp activities and of his initiation into border life than +of the skirmishes or scouting trips. He was fond of horses and tells of +a memorable race in which a horse of Buffalo Bill's was beaten by my +father's horse "Jack." + +My uncle, Captain Luther North, who also commanded a company of scouts +at that time, now resides in Omaha. + +While yet a boy he freighted between Omaha and Columbus and carried the +mail, by pony, during a period when my grandmother felt that when she +bade him good-bye in the morning she might never see him again, so +unsettled was the feeling about the Indians. He was intimately +acquainted with every phase of Indian life. He knew their pastimes and +games, work of the medicine men and magicians, and especially was he +familiar with many of their legends. I am happy to have been one of the +children who often gathered 'round him to listen to the tales of his own +experiences or stories told him by the red men. + +One personal experience in the family happened before the building of +the railroad, probably in sixty-one or sixty-two. A number of men, +accompanied by the wives of two of them, went to put up hay for the +government, on land located between Genoa and Monroe. One night the +Indians surrounded their camp, presumably to drive away their stock. +Naturally the party rebelled, and during the melee which followed Adam +Smith and another man were killed and one of the women, Mrs. Murray, was +wounded but saved herself by crawling away through the tall grass. The +recital of this trouble grew in magnitude the farther it traveled, until +people grew frantic with fear, believing it to mean an uprising of the +Sioux. The settlers from Shell creek and all directions, bringing +horses, cattle, and even their fowls, together with personal belongings, +flocked into the village of Columbus for mutual protection. My mother, +then a young girl, describes the first night as one of much confusion. + +Some of the fugitives were sheltered with friends, others camped in the +open. Animals, feeling as strange as did their masters, were bawling or +screeching, and no one could sleep, as the greatest excitement +prevailed. + +"They built a stockade of upright posts about eight feet high, around +the town," says my uncle Luther, thinking that as the Indians usually +fought on horseback, this would be a great help if not a first-class +fort. + +They organized a militia company and men were detailed for guard duty +and stationed at different points along the stockade, so serious seemed +the situation. One night Luther North and two other young men were sent +on picket duty outside the stockade. They took their horses and blankets +and went up west of town about half a mile, to keep an eye on the +surrounding country. A Mr. Needham had gone up to his farm (now the John +Dawson farm) that day, and did not return until it was getting dark. The +guards thought it would be great fun to give him a little scare, so as +he approached they wrapped themselves in their blankets, mounted, and +rode down under a bank. Just as he passed they came up in sight and gave +the Indian war whoop and started after him. He whipped his team into a +run; they chased him, yelling at every step, but stopped a reasonable +distance from the stockade and then went back. Mr. Needham gave graphic +description of how the Indians had chased him, which so upset the entire +population that sleep was out of the question that night. Moreover he +cautioned his wife in this wise: "Now, Christina, if the Indians come, +it is everybody for himself, and you will have to skulk." This remark +made by Mr. Needham became a byword, and even down into the next +generation was a favorite saying and always provoked a smile. The young +guards had no fear whatever of marauding Indians, and, blissfully +unaware of the commotion they had aroused, went back up the road to a +melon patch, ate a sufficient amount of the luscious fruit, picketed +their horses, wrapped themselves in their blankets, and lay them down to +pleasant dreams. The next morning they rode into town and reported no +red men in sight. After a few weeks, when there was no further evidence +of trouble from the savages, the people gradually dispersed to their +homes and farms which were, by that time, much in need of attention. + +[Illustration: MRS. OREAL S. WARD + +Ninth State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1909-1910] + + + + +THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 + +BY MINNIE FREEMAN PENNEY + + +On January 12, 1888, the states of Nebraska and South Dakota were +visited by a blizzard so fierce and cruel and death-dealing that +residents of those sections cannot speak of it even now without an +involuntary shudder. + +The storm burst with great suddenness and fury, and many there were who +did not live to tell the story of their suffering. And none suffered +more keenly than did the occupants of the prairie schoolhouses. Teachers +and pupils lost their lives or were terribly maimed. The great storm +indicated most impressively the measure of danger and trial that must be +endured by the country school teacher in the isolated places on the +frontier. + +Three Nebraska country school teachers--Loie Royce of Plainfield, Etta +Shattuck of Holt county, and Minnie Freeman of Mira Valley, were the +subjects of much newspaper writing. + +Miss Royce had nine pupils. Six went home for luncheon and remained on +account of the storm. The three remaining pupils with the teacher stayed +in the schoolhouse until three o'clock. Their fuel gave out, and as her +boarding house was but fifteen rods away, the teacher decided to take +the children home with her. + +In the fury of the storm they wandered and were lost. Darkness came, and +with it death. One little boy sank into the eternal silence. The brave +little teacher stretched herself out on the cold ground and cuddled the +two remaining ones closer. Then the other little boy died and at +daylight the spirit of the little girl, aged seven, fluttered away, +leaving the young teacher frozen and dumb with agony. Loie Royce "hath +done what she could; angels can do no better." Miss Royce lost both feet +by amputation. + +Etta Shattuck, after sending her children home (all living near) tried +to go to her home. Losing her way, she took refuge in a haystack, where +she remained, helpless and hungry Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, +suffering intensely and not able to move. She lived but a short time +after her terrible experience. + +Minnie Freeman was teaching in Mira Valley, Valley county. She had in +her charge seventeen pupils. Finding it impossible to remain in the +schoolhouse, she took the children with her to her boarding place almost +a mile from the schoolhouse. + +Words are useless in the effort to portray that journey to the safe +shelter of the farmhouse, with the touching obedience of the children to +every word of direction--rather _felt_ than _heard_, in that fierce +winding-sheet of ice and snow. How it cut and almost blinded them! It +was terrible on their eyes. They beat their way onward, groping blindly +in the darkness, with the visions of life and death ever before the +young teacher responsible for the destiny of seventeen souls. + +All reached the farmhouse and were given a nice warm supper prepared by +the hostess and the teacher, and comfortable beds provided. + +Minnie Freeman was unconscious of anything heroic or unusual. Doing it +in the simple line of duty to those placed in her care, she still +maintains that it was the trust placed in the Great Spirit who guides +and cares for His own which led the little band-- + + "Through the desert and illimitable air, + Lone wandering, but not lost." + + + + + AN ACROSTIC + + _Written to Miss Minnie Freeman in 1888 by Mrs. Ellis of St. Paul, + Nebraska. Mrs. Ellis was then seventy-eight years old--now + deceased_ + + 'Midst driving winds and blinding snows, + Impending dangers round her close; + No shelter from the blast and sleet, + No earthly help to guide her feet. + In God alone she puts her trust, + Ever to guide the brave and just. + + Fierce and loud the awful storm, + Racking now her slender form, + Eager to save the little band + Entrusted to her guiding hand. + Marshalled her host, see, forth she goes + And falters not while tempest blows; + Now God alone can help, she knows. + + See them falling as they go; + Angry winds around them blow. + Is there none to hear their cry? + Now her strength will almost fail; + Tranquil, she braves the fearful gale. + + PreÎminent her name shall stand, + A beacon light o'er all the land, + Unrivalled on the page of time; + Let song and story swell the chime. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN NANCE COUNTY + +BY MRS. ELLEN SAUNDERS WALTON + + +In 1872, after passing through a great sorrow, a longing came to me to +enter the missionary field among the Indians. At that time the Pawnee +tribe was located on their reservation, now Nance county, and I was sent +to work among them. It was interesting, at the same time sad and +depressing, to witness the degeneration and savagery of tribal life; and +ofttimes it was seemingly hopeless to civilize and christianize them. + +In 1874 the Pawnees were removed by the government to Indian territory, +now Oklahoma, and the reservation was thrown on the market. This became +Nance county, and a new order of things followed. Settlers came to the +little hamlet of Genoa, that had been first settled by the Mormons in +1857, and though later given over to the Indians, it was one of the +oldest towns in Nebraska. + +A church was established under the care of the New England +Congregational Mission and Rev. Charles Starbuck was put in charge. A +small farmhouse where travelers could be accommodated, and a few homes +of those who had bought land, comprised the village life. This freedom +from restraint was indeed new to one accustomed to the rush of busy life +in New York. Daily rides over the prairie on my pony were a delight. + +It was wonderful how many cultured people drifted into the almost +unknown western country. It was not infrequent to see in humble sod +houses shelves filled with standard books and writings of the best +authors. This was the second wave of population, and though many things +had to be sacrificed that in the old life were considered necessary to +comfort, pioneer life had its happy features. One especially was the +kindly expression of helpfulness in time of sickness or sorrow. The +discomforts and self denials and the longing for dear ones far away grow +dim and faded! only memories of pleasant hours remain. Then came the +third wave of men and women settling all around, bringing fashion and +refining influences, and entertainment of various kinds. Churches, +elevators, banks, and business houses were built and Nance county began +to show the march of civilization and progress. Where first we knew the +flower-gemmed prairie, modern homes spring up and good roads follow the +trails of the Indian and the hunter. + + + + + THE PAWNEE CHIEF'S FAREWELL + + BY CHAUNCEY LIVINGSTON WILTSE + + + As I strolled alone, when the day had flown, + Through the once Pawnee reserve, + Where the memories keep of the brave asleep + By the winding Cedar's curve-- + Methought the leaves of the old oak trees + 'Neath the sheltering hill-range spoke, + And they said: "It's here that hearts knew no fear, + Where arose the Pawnee smoke! + + "In the eventide, when all cares subside, + Is the hour the tribe liked best; + When the gold of day crossed the hills away, + And, like those who tried, found rest. + O'er this Lovers' Leap, where now shadows creep, + Strode the chief, in thought, alone-- + And he said: 'Trees true, and all stars in view, + And you very winds my own! + + "'I soon shall pass, like the blades of grass, + Where the wandering shadows go; + Only leaves will tell what my tribe did well-- + But you Hearts of Oak--you know! + To those Hunting Grounds that are never found + Shall my tribe, in time, depart; + Then it will be you to tell who were true, + With the dawn-song in their heart! + + "'You will sing a song, with the winds along, + How the Pawnee loved these hills! + Here he loved to stray, all the wind-glad day-- + In his heart the wind sings still! + You will whisper, too, how he braved the Sioux, + How life's days he did his part; + Though not understood, how he wished but good, + With but love within his heart! + + "'The White Father's call reaches us, and all + To his South Wind land we fly, + Yet we fain would stay with you hills alway-- + It is hard to say good-bye! + You, our fatherland, we could once command, + We are driven from, so fast; + But you hills alway in our hearts will stay + And be with us at the last! + + "'Here we took our stand for our fatherland, + Here our sons to manhood grew; + Here their loves were found, where these hills surround-- + Here the winds sang to them, too! + By this Cedar's side, where the waters glide, + We went forth to hunt and dream; + Here we felt the spell of you oaks as well, + And felt all that love may seem! + + "'Here we felt the pang of the hot wind tang, + Here we felt the blizzard's breath; + Here we faced the foe, as the stars all know-- + Here we saw the face of Death! + Here we braved the wrath of the lightning's path, + Here we dared starvation's worst; + Here tonight we stand, for our fatherland, + Banished from what was ours--first! + + "'Bravely we obey, and will go away; + The White Father wills it so; + But our thoughts will roam to this dawntime home + Where our fathers sleep, below! + And some shining day, beyond white men's sway, + We will meet our long-lost own-- + Where you singing winds and the dawn begins, + One will say, "Come in--come home!" + + "'Just beyond you hills, the Rest Land still + Is waiting for us all; + At earth's sunset hour One will wake each flower, + And us home will softly call! + Trees and stream, good-bye! Now our parting's nigh; + Know you memory's sweet to me! + Though our footsteps go, you may always know + You've the heart of each Pawnee!' + + "As the chief passed by, stars filled the sky, + And the moonlight softest fell-- + But the night winds said, 'Peace is overhead!' + And the hills said, 'All is well!'" + + + + +MY TRIP WEST IN 1861 + +BY SARAH SCHOOLEY RANDALL + + +In 1857 my brother, Charles A. Schooley, landed at Brownville and soon +after purchased several tracts of land near there, one being the old +home of Church Howe and adjoining the present site of the village of +Howe. Incidentally, my husband's father, N. G. Randall, three years +later purchased land within three miles--known later as Bedford. + +In 1860, while my brother was visiting his old home, White Deer Valley, +near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the smoldering flames of adventure were +kindled in my mind which nothing but a trip west could quench. On +March 1, 1861, we left Williamsport by train from Pittsburgh and on +arriving there went to the Monongahela hotel, then a magnificent +building. Abe Lincoln had just left the hotel, much to our +disappointment. After a few days we engaged passage on the _Argonaut_ to +St. Louis via the Monongahela, the Ohio, and the Mississippi rivers. Our +experiences were varied and exciting enough to meet my expectations. +During one night we stood tied to a tree and another night the pumps +were kept going to keep us from sinking. Small consolation we got from +the captain's remark that this was "the last trip for this old hulk." We +had ample time for seeing all the important cities along the +shore--Cincinnati, Louisville, etc. + +Arriving at St. Louis we took passage on a new boat, _Sunshine_, and set +sail upstream. Perhaps we felt a few pangs of fear as we neared the real +pioneer life. We changed boats again at St. Joe and then our trip +continued, now up the treacherous Missouri. Every now and then we struck +a snag which sent the dishes scurrying from the table. I am reminded +that this trip was typical of our lives: floating downstream is easy but +upstream is where we strike the snags. + +Of our valued acquaintances met on the trip were Rev. and Mrs. Barrette, +the former a Presbyterian minister coming to Brownville, and our +friendship continued after reaching our destination. Arriving in +Brownville, we went to the McPherson hotel, where we continued to hear +disturbing rumors about the coming civil war. + +After a few days we took a carriage and went west ten miles over the +beautiful rolling prairies to our ranch. I was charmed with the scene, +which was vastly different from the mountains and narrow winding valleys +of Pennsylvania, and was determined to stay, though my brother had lost +his enthusiasm and gave me two weeks to change my mind. Many a homesick +spell I had when I would have very quickly returned to my father's home +of peace and plenty, but the danger of travel detained me. I assured my +brother that if he would only stay I would be very brave and economical. +I only wanted five small rooms plainly furnished and a horse and +carriage. When the place was ready we left Brownville in a big wagon, +drawn by oxen, and fortified by a load of provisions. When we came in +sight of our bungalow it proved to be a one-room, unpainted and +unplastered edifice, but I soon overcame that defect by the use of +curtains, and as all lived alike then, we were content with our +surroundings. Our first callers were three hundred Indians on an +expedition. I had been reading extensively about Indians, so knew when I +saw their squaws and papooses with them that they were friendly--in +fact, rather too familiar. + +My brother fenced his land and planted it in corn and all kinds of +vegetables. The season being favorable there was an abundant crop, both +cultivated and wild. The timber abounded with grapes, plums, nuts, etc., +and strawberries on the prairies. We had a well of fine water, a good +cellar or cave, and a genuine "creampot" cow. Instead of a carriage I +had a fine saddle horse (afterwards sold to a captain in the army), and +how we did gallop over the prairies! One of my escapades was to a +neighbor's home ten miles away for ripe tomatoes. In lieu of a sack we +tied together the neck and sleeves of a calico wrapper, filled it with +the tomatoes, then tied the bottom and balanced it astride the horse in +front of me. Going through the tall slough grass in one place near +Sheridan, now Auburn, the horse became frantic with heat and flies and +attempted to run away. The strings gave way and the tomatoes scattered. +Finally the saddle turned and the well-trained horse stopped. An +inventory revealed one sleeve full of tomatoes remaining. + +Among our near neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Milo Gates and family, and +Mr. and Mrs. Engle. Mrs. Gates's cheerful optimism made this pioneer +life not only possible but enjoyable. + +After five months, my brother joined the army and went south as a +captain; was several times promoted, and stayed all through the war. A +year after I went back to Brownville to stay until the war was over, and +there made many valued acquaintances: Senator Tipton's sister, Mrs. +Atkinson, Judge Wheeler, H. C. Lett, the McCrearys, Hackers, Whitneys, +Carsons, Dr. Guin, Furnas, Johnson, etc. About this time the citizens +gave a party for the boys who enlisted, and there I met E. J. Randall, +whom I married soon after he returned from the army. Of the four Randall +brothers who enlisted one was killed, one wounded, and one taken +prisoner. Two of them still live, Dr. H. L. Randall of Aurora, +forty-seven years a practicing physician in Nebraska and at one time +surgeon at the Soldiers' Home, Grand Island; and A. D. Randall of +Chapman, Nebraska, who enlisted at the age of sixteen and served all +through the war. + +After a college course of four years my husband entered the ministry and +served for twenty-five years in Nebraska, except for one year of mission +work at Cheyenne, Wyoming. The itinerant life is not unlike the pioneer +life and brought with it the bitter and sweet as well, but the bitter +was soon forgotten and blessed memories remain of the dear friends +scattered all over the state of Nebraska, and indeed to the ends of the +earth. + +Dr. Wharton said when paying his tribute to my departed husband, "He +still lives on in the lives of those to whom he has ministered." Our +children are Charles H. Randall of Los Angeles, California, member of +congress, and Mrs. Anna Randall Pope of Lincoln, Nebraska. + + + + +STIRRING EVENTS ALONG THE LITTLE BLUE + +BY CLARENDON E. ADAMS + + +_Painting a Buffalo_ + +The following narrative of Albert Bierstadt's visit to what is now +Nuckolls county, Nebraska, was told to me by Mr. E. S. Comstock, a +pioneer of the county. Mr. Comstock made his first settlement in this +county at Oak Grove, in 1858, and was in charge of the Oak Grove ranch +when this incident took place. + +In 1863 Mr. Bierstadt returned from the Pacific coast via the Overland +stage route, which was then conducted by Russell, Majors & Waddell, the +pioneer stage and pony expressmen of the plains. Arriving at Oak Grove +ranch, Mr. Bierstadt and his traveling companion, a Mr. Dunlap, +correspondent of the New York _Post_, decided to stop a few days and +have a buffalo hunt. In company with E. S. Comstock, his son George, and +a neighbor by the name of Eubanks, who was killed by the Indians the +next year, they proceeded to the Republican Valley and camped the first +night in the grove on Lost creek, now known as Lincoln Park. The +following morning the party proceeded up the river to the farm now owned +by Frank Schmeling. Here they discovered a large herd of buffalo grazing +along the creek to the west and covering the prairies to the north for +several miles. Mr. Comstock says that it was one of the largest herds of +buffalo he had ever encountered and that Mr. Bierstadt became greatly +excited and said, "Now, boys, is our time for fun. I want to see an +enraged wounded buffalo. I want to see him so mad that he will bellow +and tear up the ground." Mr. Comstock said they arranged for the affray: +Mr. Bierstadt was to take his position on a small knoll to the east of +the herd, fix himself with his easel so that he could sketch the +landscape and the grazing bison, and when this was done the wounding of +one of the buffalo bulls was to take place. + +Bierstadt was stationed on a small knoll in plain view of the herd; Mr. +Eubanks was stationed in a draw near Bierstadt, in order to protect him +from the charges of the buffalo, if necessary. George Comstock was to +select a buffalo bull from the herd and wound him and then tantalize him +by shaking a red blanket at him until he was thoroughly enraged, then he +was to give him another wound from his rifle and lead out in the +direction of Mr. Bierstadt. + +The wounded buffalo became furious and charged Comstock's horse +repeatedly, but Comstock, being an expert horseman, evaded the fierce +charges and was all the time coming nearer to Bierstadt. When within +about three hundred yards Comstock whirled his horse to the side of the +maddened monster. As a buffalo does not see well out of the side of his +eyes on account of the long shaggy hair about the face, Comstock was +lost to his view. The infuriated animal tossed his head high in air and +the only thing he saw was Bierstadt. Onward he rushed toward the artist, +pawing the ground and bellowing furiously. Bierstadt called for help and +took to his heels. The buffalo struck the easel and sent it in splinters +through the air. Onward he rushed after the fleeing artist, who was +making the best time of his life. Mr. Comstock said he was running so +fast that his coat tails stuck so straight out that you could have +played a game of euchre on them. The buffalo was gaining at every jump. + +At this point in his story Mr. Comstock became greatly excited. He was +standing on the identical spot telling me the story, and was living the +exciting scene over again. "Why," he said, "I thought Eubanks never +would shoot. I was scared. The buffalo nearly had his horns under +Bierstadt's coat tail. He was snorting froth and blood all over him, but +the gun cracked and the buffalo fell and Bierstadt was so overcome he +fell at the same time entirely exhausted, but saved from a fearful +death." When he recovered sufficiently to talk, he said, "That's enough; +no more wounded buffalo for me." Mr. Bierstadt was several days +recovering from his fearful experience, but while he was recovering, he +was painting the picture. "Mr. Dunlap, the correspondent, wrote a +graphic and vivid pen picture of the exciting scene," said Mr. Comstock; +"but when Mr. Bierstadt finished his picture of the infuriated charging +buffalo and the chase, the pen picture was not in it." + +This was the painting that brought Bierstadt into prominence as an +artist. It was exhibited at the first Chicago exhibition and was sold +for $75,000. I saw the picture in Chicago before I heard Mr. Comstock's +narrative, and as I was one of the owners of El Capitan Rancho, the +landscape of the famous painting, I fixed his story vividly upon my +memory. Mr. Mike Woerner now owns a portion of El Capitan Rancho, the +landscape of this famous painting. A portion of this original painting +is embraced in Mr. Bierstadt's masterpiece, "The Last of the Buffalo." + + +_An Indian Raid_ + +The settlement of the section now included in Nuckolls county was +attended with more privation and suffering from Indian raids and +depredations than any other county in the state of Nebraska. The great +Indian raids of August 7, 1864, extended from Denver, Colorado, to Gage +county, Nebraska, at which time every stage station and settlement along +the entire line of the Overland trail was included in that skilfully +planned attack. A certain number of warriors were assigned to each place +and the attack was simultaneous along the line for four hundred miles in +extent. + +The Oak Grove ranch was among the most formidable in fortifications and +a band of forty well-armed braves was sent to capture and destroy it. On +the day of the attack G. S. Comstock, owner of Oak Grove ranch, was away +from home; but besides his family there were five men at the stockade. +The Indians came to the ranch about mid-day in a friendly attitude. They +had left their ponies about a quarter of a mile away. They asked for +something to eat and were permitted to come into the house with their +guns and bows and arrows on their persons. They finished their dinner +and each received a portion of tobacco and some matches. Then without +any warning they turned upon the inmates of the ranch yelling and +shooting like demons, and only for the quickness and great presence of +mind of one of the Comstock boys the whites would all have been killed +or taken away captives to submit to the cruelty of the savage foe. + +A Mr. Kelly, from Beatrice, was there and was the first to fall pierced +with an arrow. He had a navy revolver in his belt. The Indians rushed +for it but young Comstock was too quick for them and seized the revolver +first and shot down the leader of the braves. Seeing the fate of their +leader, the Indians rushed to the door in great fright. The revolver was +in skilful hands and three more of the braves went down under the +unerring aim of young Comstock. Kelly and Butler were both killed +outright. Two men by the name of Ostrander and a boy were wounded. All +the other occupants of the ranch had their clothes pierced with arrows +or bullets. + +The Indians ran to their ponies, and while they were away planning +another attack, the wounded were cared for as best they could. The doors +were securely barred and the living were stationed in the most +advantageous places for defense. The friendly game of the Indians had +not worked as they expected, but they were not daunted and soon they +encircled the house, riding, shooting, and yelling. This fiendish +warfare they kept up all the afternoon. They tried several times to set +the buildings on fire but shots from experienced marksmen, both men and +women, kept them at bay. + +The new leader of the Indians rode a white pony and seemed at times to +work his warriors up to great desperation, and young Comstock made up +his mind to shoot him the next time that he appeared. It was now too +dark to distinguish one man from another. Mr. Comstock, senior, was +mounted on a white horse and he was enroute home about the time the +Indians were expected to return. The vigilant son raised his gun, took +aim, and was about to shoot, when one of the girls, remembering that her +father rode a white horse, called out, "Father, is it you?" An +affirmative answer came back just in time to prevent the fatal shot +which would have followed in an instant more. Mr. Comstock had ridden +through the Indian lines, while returning to his ranch, unmolested. He +said to me he believed the Indians spared his life that evening on +account of favors he had always granted them. + +Five miles east of the Comstock ranch that day a boy eighteen years old +by the name of Ulig was met by two Indians. One of them shook hands with +him while the other pierced his body with a spear and then scalped him +and left him writhing in the broiling sun to die on the prairie. This +savage and brutal act was followed by others unparalleled even in savage +warfare. Four miles above Oak Grove at a place called the Narrows on the +Little Blue river, lived a family of ten persons by the name of Eubanks. +They were from the East and knew nothing of Indians' cruel warfare and +when they were attacked they left their cabin and ran for the trees and +brush along the river banks. Nine of them were murdered in the most +brutal manner: scalped and stripped of their clothing. Two of the women, +Mrs. Eubanks, with a young babe in her arms, and Laura Roper, a school +teacher who was there on a visit, were the only ones who arrived at a +place of concealment and would have escaped had not the babe from heat +and fright cried out. The practiced ear of the Indians caught the sound +and they were made captives and subjected to the most inhuman and +beastly treatment by the horrible savages. After the mother was made a +captive the baby cried from hunger. The mother was so famished she could +not nourish the babe but held it fondly in her arms trying to soothe it; +and one of the merciless savages stepped up and brained it with his +tomahawk. No pen or brush can tell the horrors of this diabolical deed. + +The two women were subjected to six months of bondage impossible to +describe. I was telling this story one day to the late Captain Henry E. +Palmer of Omaha, and learned from him that he and his command of +soldiers and Pawnee scouts followed these inhuman wretches over the +plains trying to bring them to bay, and finally down on the Solomon +river in Kansas captured some of the Indian chiefs and succeeded in +exchanging them for the two women captives. + +This is one of the terrible chapters in the early settlement of Nuckolls +county and was graphically detailed to me by Mr. Comstock soon after I +settled in the county. + + + + +MY LAST BUFFALO HUNT + +BY J. STERLING MORTON + +(Read before the Nebraska State Historical Society, January 10, 1899) + + +Among all the glowing and glorious autumns of the forty-odd which I have +enjoyed in clear-skied Nebraska, the most delicious, dreamy, and +tranquil was that of 1861. The first day of October in that year +surpassed in purity of air, clouds, and coloring all the other October +days in my whole life. The prairies were not a somber brown, but a +gorgeous old-gold; and there drifted in the dry, crisp atmosphere +lace-like fragments of opalescent clouds which later in the afternoon +gave the horizon the look of a far-away ocean upon which one could see +fairy ships, and upon its farther-away shores splendid castles, their +minarets and towers tipped with gold. The indolence of savagery +saturated every inhalation, and all physical exertion except in the hunt +or chase seemed repellent, irksome, and unendurable. + +Then it was that--like an evolution from environment--the desire and +impulse to go upon a buffalo hunt seized upon and held and encompassed +and dominated every fibre of my physical, every ambition and aspiration +of my mental, make-up. Controlled by this spontaneous reincarnation of +the barbaric tastes and habits of some nomadic ancestor of a prehistoric +generation, arrangements for an excursion to Fort Kearny on the Platte +(Colonel Alexander, of the regular army, then in command) were +completed. With food rations, tent and camping furniture, and arms and +ammunition, and pipes and tobacco, and a few drops of distilled rye (to +be used only when snake-bitten), a light one-horse wagon drawn by a +well-bred horse which was driven by the writer, was early the next +morning leaving Arbor Lodge, and briskly speeding westward on the +"Overland Trail" leading to California. And what rare roads there were +in those buoyant days of the pioneers! All the prairies, clear across +the plains from the Missouri river to the mountains, were perfectly +paved with solid, tough, but elastic sod. And no asphalt or block-paved +avenue or well-worked pike can give the responsive pressure to the touch +of a human foot or a horse-hoof that came always from those smooth and +comely trails. Especially in riding on horseback were the felicities of +those primitive prairie roads emphasized and accentuated. Upon them one +felt the magnetism and life of his horse; they animated and electrified +him with the vigor and spirit of the animal until in elation, the rider +became, at least emotionally, a centaur--a semi-horse human. The +invigoration and exaltation of careering over undulating prairies on a +beautiful, speedy, and spirited horse thrilled every sense and +satisfied, as to exhilaration, by physical exercise, the entire mental +personality. Nature's roads in Nebraska are unequaled by any of their +successors. + +This excursion was in a wagon without springs; and after driving alone, +as far as the Weeping Water crossing, I overtook an ox train loaded with +goods and supplies for Gilman's ranch on the Platte away beyond Fort +Kearny. + +One of the proprietors, Mr. Jed Gilman, was in command of the outfit, +and by his cordial and hospitable invitation I became his willing and +voracious guest for the noonday meal. With a township for a dining room +over which arched the turquoise-colored sky, like a vaulted ceiling, +frescoed with clouds of fleecy white, we sat down upon our buffalo robes +to partake of a hearty meal. There was no white settler within miles of +our camp. The cry of "Dinner is now ready in the next car" had never +been heard west of the Mississippi river nor even dreamed of in the +East. The bill of fare was substantial: bacon fried, hot bread, strong +coffee, stronger raw onions, and roasted potatoes. And the appetite +which made all exquisitely palatable and delicious descended to us out +of the pure air and the exhilaration of perfect health. And then came +the post-prandial pipe--how fragrant and solacing its fumes--from +Virginia natural leaf, compared to which the exhalations from a perfecto +cigar are today a disagreeable stench. There was then the leisure to +smoke, the liberty and impulse to sing, to whoop, and to generally +simulate the savages into whose hunting grounds we were making an +excursion. Life lengthened out before us like the Overland route to the +Pacific in undulations of continuously rising hillocks and from the +summit of each one scaled we saw a similarly attractive one beyond in a +seemingly never-ending pathway of pleasure, ambition, and satisfaction. +The gold of the Pacific coast was not more real then than the invisible +possibilities of life, prosperity, success, and contentment which were +to teem, thrive, and abound upon these prairies which seemed only farms +asleep or like thoughts unuttered--books unopened. + +But the smoke over, the oxen again yoked to the wagons and the train, +like a file of huge white beetles, lumbered along to the songs, +swearing, and whip-crackings of the drivers toward the crossing of Salt +creek. However, by my persuasive insistence, Mr. Gilman left his wagon +boss in charge and getting into my wagon accompanied me. Together we +traveled briskly until quite late at night when we made camp at a point +near where the town of Wahoo now stands. There was a rough ranch cabin +there, and we remained until the following morning, when we struck out +at a brisk trot toward Fort Kearny, entering the Platte Valley at +McCabe's ranch. The day and the road were perfect. We made good time. At +night we were entertained at Warfield's, on the Platte. The water in the +well there was too highly flavored to be refreshing. Nine skunks had +been lifted out of it the day of our arrival and only Platte river water +could be had, which we found rather stale for having been hauled some +distance in an old sorghum cask. But fatigue and a square meal are an +innocent opiate and we were soon fast asleep under the open sky with the +moon and stars only to hear how loudly a big ranchman can snore in a +bedroom of a million or more acres. In the morning of our third day out, +we were up, breakfasted with the sunrise, and drove on over the then +untried railroad bed of the Platte Valley at a rattling gait. The stanch +and speedy animal over which the reins were drawn, a splendid bay of +gentle birth, had courage and endurance by heredity, and thus we made +time. Ranches were from twenty to thirty miles apart. And the night of +the third day found us at Mabin's. + +This was a hotel, feed barn, dry goods establishment, and saloon all +under one roof, about thirty miles from Fort Kearny. After a reasonably +edible supper, Mr. Gilman and I were escorted to the saloon and informed +that we could repose and possibly sleep in the aisle which divided it +from the granary which was filled with oats. Our blankets and buffalo +robes were soon spread out in this narrow pathway. On our right were +about two hundred bushels of oats in bulk, and on our left the counter +which stood before variously shaped bottles containing alleged gin, +supposed whiskey, and probable brandy. We had not been long in a +recumbent position before--instead of sleep gently creeping over us--we +experienced that we were race courses and grazing grounds for +innumerable myriads of sand fleas. Immediately Gilman insisted that we +should change our apartment and go out on the prairies near a haystack; +but I stubbornly insisted that, as the fleas had not bitten me, I would +continue indoors. Thereupon Gilman incontinently left, and then the +fleas with vicious vigor and voracity assaulted me. The bites were +sharp, they were incisive and decisive. They came in volleys. Then in +wrath I too arose from that lowly but lively couch between the oats and +the bar and sullenly went out under the starlit sky to find Mr. Gilman +energetically whipping his shirt over a wagon wheel to disinfest it from +fleas. But the sand fleas of the Platte are not easily discharged or +diverted, from a fair and juicy victim. They have a wonderful tenacity +of purpose. They trotted and hopped and skipped along behind us to the +haystack. They affectionately and fervidly abided with us on the +prairie; and it is safe to say that there never were two human beings +more thoroughly perforated, more persistently punctured with flea bites +than were the two guests at Mabins's ranch during all that long and +agonizing night. However, there came an end to the darkness and the +attempt at sleep, and after an early breakfast we resumed the Fort +Kearny journey to arrive at its end in the late afternoon of the fourth +day. + +There I found Colonel Alexander, of the regular army, in command. John +Heth, of Virginia, was the sutler for the post and after some +consultation and advisement it was determined that we might without much +danger from Indians go south to the Republican river for a buffalo hunt. +At that time the Cheyennes, who were a bloodthirsty tribe, were in arms +against the white people and yearning for their scalps wherever found. +But to avoid or mitigate dangers Colonel Alexander considerately +detailed Lieutenant Bush with twelve enlisted men, all soldiers of +experience in the Indian country, to go with us to the Republican Valley +as an escort or guard--in military parlance, on detached service. Thus +our party moved southward with ample force of arms for its defense. + +The four hunters of the expedition were Lieutenant Bush, John Heth, John +Talbot (who had been honorably discharged from the regular army after +some years of service) and myself. The excursion was massed and ready +for departure at 8 o'clock on the bright morning of October 6, 1861. The +course taken was nearly due south from the present site of Kearney city +in Buffalo county. The expedition consisted of two large army wagons, +four mules attached to each wagon, a light, two-horse spring wagon, and +four trained riding horses experienced in the chase, together with +twelve soldiers of the regular U. S. army and the gentlemen already +named. It had not traveled more than twenty-five miles south of Fort +Kearny before it came in view of an immense and seemingly uncountable +herd of buffalo. + +My first sight of these primitive beeves of the plains I shall never +forget. They were so distant that I could not make out their individual +forms and I at once jumped to the conclusion that they were only an +innumerable lot of crows sitting about upon the knobs and hillocks of +the prairies. But in a few moments, when we came nearer, they +materialized and were, sure enough, real bellowing, snorting, wallowing +buffaloes. At first they appeared to give no heed to our outfit, but +after we saddled and mounted our horses and rode into their midst they +began to scatter and to form into small bands, single file. The herd +separated into long, black swaying strings and each string was headed by +the best meat among its numbers. The leading animal was generally a +three-year-old cow. Each of these strings, or single-file bands, ran in +a general southeast direction and each of the four hunters--Bush, Heth, +Talbot, and the writer--selected a string and went for the preÎminent +animal with enthusiasm, zeal, and impulsive foolhardiness. + +In the beginning of the pell-mell, hurry-scurry race it seemed that it +would be very easy to speedily overtake the desired individual buffalo +that we intended to shoot and kill. The whole band seemed to run +leisurely. They made a sort of sidewise gait, a movement such as one +often sees in a dog running ahead of a wagon on a country road. Upon the +level prairie we made very perceptible gains upon them, but when a +declivity was reached and we made a down hill gallop we were obliged to +rein in and hold up the horses, or take the chances of a broken leg or +neck by being ditched in a badger or wolf hole. But the buffaloes with +their heavy shoulders and huge hair-matted heads lumbered along down the +incline with great celerity, gaining so much upon us that every now and +then one of them would drop out from the line upon reaching an +attractive depression, roll over two or three times in his "wallow," +jump up and join his fleeing fellows before we could reach him. + +But finally after swinging and swaying hither and thither with the band +or line as it swayed and swung, the lead animal was reached and with +much exultation and six very nervous shots put to death. My trophy +proved to be a buffalo cow of two or three years of age; and after she +had dropped to the ground, a nimble calf, about three months old, +evidently her progeny, began making circles around and around the dead +mother and bleating pitifully, enlarging the circle each time, until at +last it went out of sight onto the prairie and alone, all the other +parts of the herd having scattered beyond the rising bluffs and far +away. + +That afternoon was fuller of tense excitement, savage enthusiasms, zeal +and barbaric ambition than any other that could be assorted from my life +of more than sixty years. There was a certain amount of ancestral +heathenism aroused in every man, spurring a horse to greater swiftness, +in that chase for large game. And there was imperial exultation of the +primitive barbaric instinct when the game fell dead and its whooping +captors surrounded its breathless carcass. + +But the wastefulness of the buffalo hunter of those days was wicked +beyond description and, because of its utter recklessness of the future, +wholly unpardonable. Only the hump, ribs, the tongue, and perhaps now +and then one hind-quarter were saved for use from each animal. The +average number of pounds of meat saved from each buffalo killed between +the years 1860 and 1870 would not exceed twenty. In truth, thousands of +buffaloes were killed merely to get their tongues and pelts. The +inexcusable and unnecessary extermination of those beef-producing and +very valuable fur-bearing animals only illustrates the extravagance of +thoughtlessness and mental nearsightedness in the American people when +dealing with practical and far-reaching questions. It also demonstrates, +in some degree, the incapacity of the ordinary every-day law-makers of +the United States. Game laws have seldom been enacted in any of the +states before the virtual extinction of the game they purposed to +protect. Here in Nebraska among big game were many hundreds of +thousands of buffaloes, tens of thousands of elk and deer and antelope, +while among smaller game the wild turkey and the prairie chicken were +innumerable. But today Nebraska game is practically extinct. Even the +prairie chicken and the wild turkey are seldom found anywhere along the +Missouri bluffs in the southern and eastern part of the commonwealth. + +Looking back: what might have been accomplished for the conservation of +game in the trans-Missouri country is suggested so forcibly that one +wonders at the stupendous stupidity which indolently permitted its +destruction. + +The first night outward and southeastward from Fort Kearny we came to +Turkey creek which empties into the Republican river. There, after dark, +tents were pitched at a point near the place where the government in +previous years established kilns and burned lime for the use of soldiers +in building quarters for themselves and the officers at Fort Kearny +which was constructed in 1847 by Stewart L. Van Vliet, now a retired +brigadier general and the oldest living graduate of West Point. After a +sumptuous feast of buffalo steak, a strong pint of black coffee and a +few pipes of good tobacco, our party retired; sleep came with celerity +and the camp was peacefully at rest, with the exception of two regular +soldiers who stood guard until 12 o'clock, and were then relieved by two +others who kept vigil until sunrise. At intervals I awoke during the +night and listened to the industrious beavers building dams on the +creek. They were shoveling mud with their trowel-shaped tails into the +crevices of their dams with a constantly-resounding slapping and +splashing all night. The architecture of the beaver is not unlike that +which follows him and exalts itself in the chinked and daubed cabins of +the pioneers. + +The darkness was followed by a dawn of beauty and breakfast came soon +thereafter, and for the first time my eyes looked out upon the +attractive, fertile and beautiful valley of the Republican river. All +that delightful and invigorating day we zealously hunted. We found +occasionally small bands of buffaloes here and there among the bluffs +and hills along the valley of the Republican. But these animals were +generally aged and of inferior quality. Besides such hunting, we found a +great quantity of blue-winged and green-winged teal in the waters of +the Republican and bagged not a few of them. There is no water-fowl, in +my judgment, not even the redheaded duck and canvasback duck, which +excels in delicate tissue and flavor the delicious teal. + +Just a little before sundown, on the third day of our encampment, by the +bluffs land of the Republican, Lieutenant Bush and Mr. Heth in one +party, and John Talbot and I in another, were exploring the steep, +wooded bluffs which skirted the valley. The timber growing at that time +on the sides of these bluffs was, much of it, of very good size and I +shall never forget going down a precipitous path along the face of a +hill and suddenly coming upon a strange and ghastly sight among the top +limbs and branches of an oak tree which sprang from the rich soil of a +lower level. The weird object which then impressed itself upon my memory +forever was a dead Indian sitting upright in a sort of wicker-work +coffin which was secured by thongs to the main trunk of the tree. The +robe with which he had been clothed had been torn away by buzzards and +only the denuded skeleton sat there. The bleached skull leered and +grinned at me as though the savage instinct to repulse an intruder from +their hunting grounds still lingered in the fleshless head. Perfectly I +recall the long scalp-lock, floating in the wind, and the sense of dread +and repellent fear which, for the startled moment, took possession of me +in the presence of this arboreally interred Indian whose remains had +been stored away in a tree-top instead of having been buried in the +ground. + +Not long after this incident we four came together again down in the +valley at a great plum orchard. The plum trees covered an area of +several acres; they stood exceedingly close together. The frosts had +been just severe enough to drop the fruit onto the ground. Never before +nor since have my eyes beheld or my palate tasted as luscious fruit as +those large yellow and red plums which were found that afternoon lying +in bushels in the valley of the Republican. While we were all seated +upon the ground eating plums and praising their succulence and flavor we +heard the click-cluck of a turkey. Immediately we laid ourselves flat +upon the earth and in the course of ten minutes beheld a procession of +at least seventy-five wild turkeys feeding upon plums. We remained +moveless and noiseless until those turkeys had flown up into the tall +cottonwood trees standing thereabouts and gone to roost. Then after +darkness had settled down upon the face of the earth we faintly +discerned the black forms or hummocks of fat turkeys all through the +large and leafless limbs of the cottonwoods which had been nearly +defoliated by the early frosts of October. It required no deft +marksmanship or superior skill to bring down forty of those birds in a +single evening. That number we took into camp. In quick time we had +turkey roasted, turkey grilled, turkey broiled; and never have I since +eaten any turkey so well flavored, so juicy and rich, as that fattened +upon the wild plums of the Republican Valley in the year 1861. + +At last, surfeited with hunting and its successes, we set out on our +return to Fort Kearny. When about half way across the divide, a +sergeant, one of the most experienced soldiers and plainsmen of the +party, declared that he saw a small curl of smoke in the hazy distance +and a little to the west and south of us. To my untrained eye the smoke +was at first invisible, but with a field glass I ultimately discerned a +delicate little blue thread hanging in the sky, which the soldiers +pronounced smoke ascending from an Indian camp. Readjusting the glasses +I soon made out to see three Indians stretched by the fire seemingly +asleep, while two were sitting by the embers apparently cooking, eating +and drinking. Very soon, however, the two feasters espied our wagons and +party. Immediately they came running on foot to meet us; the other +three, awaking, followed them; speedily they were in our midst. They +proved, however, to be peaceful Pawnees. Mr. John Heth spoke the +language of that tribe and I shall never forget the coolness with which +these representatives of that nomadic race informed him that Mrs. Heth +and his little two-years-of-age daughter, Minnie, were in good health in +their wigwam at Fort Kearny; they were sure of it because they had +looked into the window of the Heth home the day before and saw them +eating and drinking their noonday meal. + +These Indians then expressed a wish for some turkey feathers. They were +told to help themselves. Immediately they pulled out a vast number of +the large feathers of the wings and tails and decorated their own heads +with them. The leader of the aboriginal expedition, in conversation with +Mr. Heth, informed him that although they were on foot they carried the +lariats which we saw hanging from their arms for the purpose of +hitching onto and annexing some Cheyenne ponies which they were going +south to steal. They walked away from home, but intended to ride back. +The barbaric commander in charge of this larcenous expedition was named +"The Fox," and when questioned by Mr. Heth as to the danger of the +enterprise, and informed that he might probably lose his life and get no +ponies at all, Captain Fox smiled and said grimly that he knew he should +ride back to the Pawnee village on the Loup the owner of good horses; +that only a year or two before that time he had been alone down into the +Cheyenne village and got a great many horses safely out and up onto the +Loup fork among the Pawnees without losing a single one. "The Fox" +admitted, however, that even in an expedition so successful as the one +which he recalled there were a great many courage-testing inconveniences +and annoyances. But he dwelt particularly upon the fact that the +Cheyennes always kept their ponies in a corral which was in the very +center of their village. The huts, habitations, tipis, and wigwams of +the owners of the ponies were all constructed around their communal +corral in a sort of a circle, but "The Fox" said that he nevertheless, +in his individual excursion of which he proudly boasted, crawled during +the middle of the night in among the ponies and was about to slip a +lariat on the bell-mare without her stirring, when she gave a little +jump, and the bell on her neck rang out pretty loudly. Then he laid down +in the center of the herd and kept still, very still, while the horses +walked over him and tramped upon him until he found it very unpleasant. +But very soon he saw and heard some of the Cheyennes come out and look +and walk about to see if anything was wrong. Then he said he had to stay +still and silent under the horses' hoofs and make no noise, or die and +surely be scalped. At last, however, the Cheyennes, one after another, +all went back into their wigwams to sleep, and then he very slowly and +without a sound took the bell off from the mare, put his lariat on her +neck quietly, led her out and all the herd of Cheyenne ponies followed. +He never stopped until he was safe up north of the Platte river and had +all his equine spoils safe in the valley of the Loup fork going towards +the Pawnee village where Genoa now stands. + +The Fox was an "expansionist" and an annexationist out of sympathy for +the oppressed ponies of the Cheyennes. + +"The Fox" declared that the number of horses he made requisition for at +that time on the stables of the Cheyennes was three hundred. At this +statement some incredulity was shown by Mr. Heth, myself, and some +others present. Immediately "The Fox" threw back his woolen blanket +which was ornamented on the inside with more than two hundred small +decorative designs of horses. Among the Pawnees, and likewise, if I +remember rightly, among the Otoes and Omahas, robes and blankets were +thus embellished and so made to pass current as real certificates of a +choice brand of character for their wearers. Each horse depicted on the +robe was notice that the owner and wearer had stolen such horse. +Finally, after expressions of friendship and good will, the expedition +in charge of "The Fox" bade us adieu and briskly walked southward on +their mission for getting horses away from their traditional enemies. + +It is perhaps worth while to mention that, it being in the autumn of the +year, all these Indians were carefully and deftly arrayed in +autumn-colored costumes. Their blankets, head-gear and everything else +were the color of dead and dried prairie grass. This disguise was for +the purpose of making themselves as nearly indistinguishable as possible +on the brown surface of the far-stretching plains. For then the weeds +and grasses had all been bleached by the fall frosts. We were given an +exhibition of the nearly perfect invisibleness of "The Fox" by his +taking a position near a badger hole around which a lot of tall weeds +had grown upon the prairie, and really the almost exact similitude of +coloring which he had cunningly reproduced in his raiment made him even +at a short distance indistinguishable among the faded weeds and grasses +by which he was surrounded. + +In due time we reached Fort Kearny and after a pleasant and most +agreeable visit with Mr. Heth and his family, Colonel Alexander and +Lieutenant Bush, I pushed on alone for the Missouri river, by the North +Platte route, bringing home with me two or three turkeys and a quarter +of buffalo meat. + +About the second evening, as I remember it, I arrived at the agency of +the four bands of the Pawnee on the Loup fork of the Platte river, near +where the village of Genoa in Nance county now stands. Judge Gillis of +Pennsylvania was the U. S. government agent then in charge of that +tribe, and Mr. Allis was his interpreter. There I experienced the +satisfaction of going leisurely and observingly through the villages of +the four bands of Pawnees, which there made their habitation. The names +of the four confederate bands of Pawnee Indians were Grand Pawnee, Wolf +Pawnee, Republican Pawnee, and Tapage Pawnee. At that time they all +together numbered between four thousand and five thousand. + +Distinguished among them for fearlessness and impetuous courage and +constant success in war was an Indian who had been born with his left +hand so shrunken and shriveled that it looked like the contracted claw +of a bird. He was celebrated among all the tribes of the plains as +"Crooked Hand, the Fighter." Hearing me express a wish for making the +acquaintance of this famous warrior and scalp accumulator, Judge Gillis +and Mr. Allis kindly volunteered to escort me to his domicile and +formally introduce me. We took the trail which lay across Beaver creek +up into the village. This village was composed of very large, earthen, +mound-like wigwams. From a distance they looked like a number of great +kettles turned wrong side up on the prairie. Finally we came to the +entrance of the abode of Crooked Hand. He was at home. I was presented +to him by the interpreter, Mr. Allis. Through him, addressing the tawny +hero who stood before me, I said: + +It has come to my ears that you are and always have been a very brave +man in battle. Therefore I have made a long journey to see you and to +shake the hand of a great warrior. + +This seemed to suit his bellicose eminence and to appeal to his barbaric +vanity. Consequently I continued, saying: I hear that you have skilfully +killed a great many Sioux and that you have kept the scalp of each +warrior slain by you. If this be true, I wish you would show me these +trophies of your courage and victories? + +Immediately Crooked Hand reached under a sort of rude settee and pulled +out a very cheap traveling trunk, which was locked. Then taking a string +from around his neck he found the key thereunto attached, inserted it in +the lock, turned it, and with gloating satisfaction threw back the lid +of the trunk. It is fair to state that, notwithstanding Mr. Crooked +Hand's personal adornments in the way of paint, earrings, and battle +mementoes, he was evidently not a man of much personal property, for the +trunk contained not one other portable thing except a string of thirteen +scalps. This he lifted out with his right hand and held up before me as +a connoisseur would exhibit a beautiful cameo--with intense satisfaction +and self-praise expressed in his features. + +The scalps were not large, averaging not much more in circumference than +a silver dollar (before the crime of 1873). Each scalp was big enough to +firmly and gracefully retain the scalp-lock which its original possessor +had nourished. Each scalp was neatly lined with flaming red flannel and +encircled by and stitched to a willow twig just as boys so stretch and +preserve squirrel skins. Then there was a strong twine which ran through +the center of each of the thirteen scalps leaving a space of something +like three or four inches between each two. + +After looking at these ghastly certificates of prowess in Indian warfare +I said to the possessor: "Do you still like to go into fights with the +Sioux?" He replied hesitatingly: + +"Yes, I go into the fights with the Sioux but I stay only until I can +kill one man, get his scalp and get out of the battle." + +Then I asked: "Why do you do this way now, and so act differently from +the fighting plans of your earlier years when you remained to the end of +the conflict?" Instantly he replied and gave me this aboriginal +explanation: + +"You see, my friend, I have only one life. To me death must come only +once. But I have taken thirteen lives. And now when I go into battle +there are thirteen chances of my being killed to one of my coming out of +the fight alive." + +This aboriginal application of the doctrine of chance is equally as +reasonable as some of the propositions relating to chances found in +"Hedges' Logic," which I studied in the regular college course. There is +more excuse for a savage faith in chance than can be made for the +superstitious belief in it which is held by some civilized people. + +My last buffalo hunt was finished and its trophies and its choicest +memories safely stored for exhibition or reminiscence at Arbor Lodge. +More than thirty-seven years afterwards I am permitted this evening by +your indulgence and consideration to attempt faintly to portray the +country and its primitive condition at that time in that particular +section of Nebraska which is now Franklin county. + +But in concluding this discursive and desultory narrative I cannot +refrain from referring to and briefly descanting on another and an +earlier and larger expedition into the valley of the Republican which +set out from Mexico in the year 1540 under the command of Coronado. + +That explorer was undoubtedly the first white man to visit Nebraska. In +his report to the Spanish government is a description of buffalo which +for graphic minuteness and correctness has never been excelled. Thus it +pictures them as they appeared to him and his followers more than three +hundred and fifty years ago: + +"These oxen are of the bigness and color of our bulls, but their horns +are not so great. They have a great bunch upon their foreshoulders, and +more hair upon their fore-part than on their hinder-part; and it is like +wool. They have, as it were, a horse mane upon their back bone, and much +hair, and very long from the knees downward. They have great tufts of +hair hanging down their foreheads, and it seemeth they have beards, +because of the great store of hair hanging down at their chins and +throats. The males have very long tails, and a great knob or flock at +the end, so that in some respects they resemble the lion, and in some +other the camel. They push with their horns, they run, they overtake and +kill a horse when they are in their rage and anger. Finally, it is a +fierce beast of countenance and form of body. The horses fled from them, +either because of their deformed shape, or because they had never seen +them before. Their masters [meaning no doubt the Indians] have no other +riches or substance; of them they eat, they drink, they apparel, they +shoe themselves; and of their hides they make many things, as houses, +shoes, apparel and robes; of their bones they make bodkins; of their +sinews and hair, thread; of their horns, maws and bladders, vessels; of +their dung, fire; and of their calf skins, budgets, wherein they draw +and keep water. To be short, they make so many things of them as they +have need of, or as may suffice them in the use of this life." + +It is perhaps a work of supererogation for me after the lapse of three +and a half centuries to endorse and verify the accuracy of that word +picture of the buffalo. A photograph of the great herd which I rode +into during my hunt could hardly better convey to the mind the images of +buffalo. The hundreds of years intervening between my own excursion into +the valley of the Republican and the invasion of Coronado had neither +impaired, improved, nor perceptibly changed either the buffalo or the +soil of that fertile section now comprising the county of Franklin in +the state of Nebraska. Of that immediate propinquity Coronado said: "The +place I have reached is in the fortieth degree of latitude. The earth is +the best possible for all kinds of productions of Spain, for while it is +very strong and black, it is very well watered by brooks, springs and +rivers. I found prunes" [wild plums, no doubt, just as my party and the +wild turkeys were feasting upon in October, 1861] "like those of Spain, +some of which are black; also some excellent grapes and mulberries." + +And Jaramillo, who was with Coronado, says: "This country has a superb +appearance, and such that I have not seen better in all Spain, neither +in Italy nor France, nor in any other country where I have been in the +service of your majesty. It is not a country of mountains; there are +only some hills, some plains and some streams of very fine water. It +satisfies me completely. I presume that it is very fertile and favorable +for the cultivation of all kinds of fruits." + +And this land whence the Coronado expedition upon foot retraced its +march to Old Mexico, a distance, by the trail he made, of 3,230 miles, +was in latitude forty degrees and distant westward from the Missouri +about one hundred and forty miles. Geographically, topographically, and +in every other way, the description of Franklin and the neighborhood of +Riverton in that county. + +Here then in Franklin county it is recorded that the last horse +belonging to Coronado and his band of precious-metal hunters died. At +that time all the horses on this continent had been imported. The loss +of this animal that day at that place was like the loss today of a +man-of-war for Spain in a great naval conflict with the United States. +It was discouraging and overwhelming and resulted in the relinquishment +of further exploration for the land of Quivera--the home of gold and +silver--and the return to Old Mexico. There was no use for saddles, +bridles and other equestrian trappings, for with no horse to ride even +stirrups were thrown away, and it has been the good fortune of Nebraska +to have them exhumed after a sequestration of more than three centuries. + +And thus, after so many years of delay, I give you the story of the +first buffalo hunt and the last buffalo hunt in the Republican Valley +concerning which I am competent to make statement. + + + + +HOW THE FOUNDER OF ARBOR DAY CREATED THE MOST FAMOUS WESTERN ESTATE + +BY PAUL MORTON + + "The memories that live and bloom in trees, that whisper of the + loved and lost in summer leaves, are as imperishable as the seasons + of the year--immortal as the love of a mother."--J. STERLING + MORTON. + + +I suppose the story of a successful pioneer will always interest and +encourage people. The narrative of a strong, far-sighted man who makes +something out of nothing seems to put heart into the average worker. +That is why I am telling the story of how my father, J. Sterling Morton, +and his young wife, set their faces toward the West, one October day in +1854, and built them a home on the prairies. + +Arbor Lodge as it stands today, with its classic porticoes, its gardens, +and its arboretum, the present country home of my brother, Mr. Joy +Morton, is not the home that I remember as a boy. That was a much more +modest edifice. Yet even that house was a palace compared with the first +one, which was a little log-cabin standing on the lonely prairie, +exposed to blizzards and Indians, and with scarcely a tree in sight. + +My father was a young newspaper man in Detroit, only recently out of +college, when he took his bride, two years his junior, out to the +little-known frontier. Attracted by the information about the new +country brought out by Douglas and others in the Kansas-Nebraska debates +in congress, he conceived and acted on the idea that here were fortunes +to be made. Taking such household goods as they could, they traveled to +the new land, making the last stage up the Missouri river by boat. + +Nebraska at that time was the Indian's own country. There were not over +1,500 white people in the entire state. All the country west of the +Missouri was called in the geographies the Great American Desert, and it +took a good deal of faith to believe that anything could be made to grow +where annual fires destroyed even the prairie grass and the fringes of +cottonwoods and scrub-oaks along the rivers. Today this section, within +a radius of some two hundred miles, includes perhaps the most fertile +soil in the world and has become a center of industry, agriculture, and +horticulture for the middle west. There was then no political +organization, no laws; men went about fully armed. There were no roads +and no bridges to speak of in the entire state; it was "waste land." + +This was part of the land of the Louisiana Purchase, and my father +bought a quarter section (160 acres) from the man who preÎmpted it from +the government. The price paid was $1.25 an acre. Today the estate +comprises about 1,000 acres, and the land is readily saleable at a +hundred times this price. + +On the spot where Arbor Lodge now stands, my father built his first +log-cabin. This was soon replaced by a modest frame house; there was not +then another frame house between it and the Rocky Mountains, six hundred +miles away. On the same place two succeeding houses were built by my +father, the present, and fifth, Arbor Lodge having been built by his +sons after his death. My father called these first four houses, "seed, +bud, blossom, and fruit." + +The first winter was a mild one, fortunately, but there were plenty of +hardships for the young people. There were no very near neighbors, the +village of Kearny Heights, now Nebraska City, being then over two miles +away. The Indians formed the greatest danger. I can remember a day in my +boyhood when we had everything packed up, ready to flee across the +Missouri to Iowa from the murderous Pawnees and Cheyennes, who, +fortunately, did not come that time. A part of that first winter my +father and mother spent in Bellevue. + +When spring came they set about building their home. Later on they had +young trees sent to them from the East, including some excellent +varieties of apples, peaches, cherries, pears, etc. Things grew fast; it +was only the prairie fires that had kept the land a desert so long, and +year by year these fires had enriched the soil. + +The farm was located on the Overland trail, the favorite route to Pike's +Peak and the El Dorado. Many of the Mormon emigrants crossed the river +at that place. I can remember the big trains of ox and mule teams +passing the house. + +My father's interests were always inseparably joined with those of the +community; he was in public life from the start, and Nebraska's fortunes +were his. His neighbors all had the same experiences, and many a farmer +who started with nothing is now wealthy. The farmers had to bring in +from Missouri and Iowa all the food for themselves and their horses and +cattle the first year. They were living on faith. During the first +spring and summer the anxiety was great, but they were rewarded by a +good harvest in the fall. The success of that harvest settled the +Nebraska question forever. It was a land that could support its +inhabitants. + +But the end was not yet. The "get-rich-quick" fever struck the +community. Immigration was over-stimulated, and town lots were +manufactured at a great rate. In a few months they increased in price +from $300 to $3,000 apiece. Banks were created and money was made plenty +by legislation. My father never caught this fever, being always a +sound-money man and believing in wealth based on the soil. + +At the end of the second summer the crop of town lots and Nebraska +bank-notes was greater than the crop of corn. But the lesson was not +learned until the panic of 1857 drove out the speculators and left the +farmers in possession of the territory. With the spring of 1858 sanity +came to rule once more, and there was less bank making and more prairie +breaking. The citizens had learned that agriculture was to be the +salvation of the new country. In 1857, two dollars a bushel had been +paid for imported corn, but in 1859 the same steamers that had brought +it in bore thousands of bushels south at forty cents a bushel, bringing +more money into the territory than all the sales of town lots for a +year. + +The first territorial fair was held in Nebraska City in 1859, and on +that occasion my father made a speech in which he reviewed the history +of the new territory up to that time. I speak of these things because my +father was always a man of public interests, and his fortunes were +wrapped up in those of the territory. His hardships came when the +community went crazy, and his fortune grew when sanity was once more +restored. + +I know of nothing that better illustrates my father's private character +than an editorial which he wrote and published in _The Conservative_ a +short time before the untimely death of my brother Carl. The fact that +both the author and the two loved ones of whom he so tenderly wrote have +passed to the Great Beyond, imparts to this beautiful passage a most +exquisite pathos: + +"It was a bright, balmy morning in April more than a quarter of a +century ago. The sun was nursing the young grass into verdure, and the +prairie was just beginning to put off its winter coat of somber +colorings. Tranquil skies and morning mists were redolent at Arbor Lodge +of the coming resurrection of the foliage and flowers that died the +autumn before. All about the cottage home there was hope and peace; and +everywhere the signs of woman's watchful love and tidy care, when, +suddenly, toned with affectionate solicitude, rang out: 'Carl, Carl!' +but no answer came. Downstairs, upstairs, at the barn, even in the well, +everywhere, the mother's voice called anxiously, again and again. But +the silence, menacing and frightening, was unbroken by an answer from +the lost boy. At last, however, he was found behind a smokehouse, busily +digging in the ground with a small spade, though only five years of age, +and he said: 'I'm too busy to talk. I'm planting an orchard,' and sure +enough, he had set out a seedling apple tree, a small cottonwood, and a +little elm. + +"The delighted mother clasped him in her arms, kissed him, and said: +'This orchard must not be destroyed.' + +"And so now + + "'I hear the muffled tramp of years + Come stealing up the slopes of Time; + They bear a train of smiles and tears + Of burning hopes and dreams sublime.' + +"The child's orchard is more than thirty years of age. The cottonwood is +a giant now, and its vibrant foliage talks, summer after summer, in the +evening breeze with humanlike voice, and tells its life story to the +graceful, swaying elm near by, while the gnarled and scrubby little +apple tree, shaped, as to its head, like a despondent toadstool, stands +in dual shade, and bears small sweet apples, year after year, in all +humility. But that orchard must not be destroyed. It was established by +the youngest tree planter who ever planted in this tree planter's +state, and for his sake and the memory of the sweet soul who nursed and +loved him, it lives and grows, one cottonwood, one apple tree, one elm. + + "'But O, for the touch of a vanished hand, + And the sound of a voice that is still.' + +"The memories that live and bloom in trees, that whisper of the loved +and lost in summer leaves, are as imperishable as the seasons of the +year--immortal as the love of a mother." + + + + +EARLY REMINISCENCES OF NEBRASKA CITY + +BY ELLEN KINNEY WARE + + +_Social Aspects_ + +As a girl graduate I came to Nebraska City from Virginia, at an early +day. It seemed to me that I was leaving everything attractive socially +and intellectually, behind me, but I was mistaken. On arriving here, I +expected to see quite a town, was disappointed, for two large brick +hotels, and a few scattered houses comprised the place. Among my first +acquaintances was the family of Governor Black, consisting of his +daughter about my own age, his wife, and himself. He was not only bright +and clever, but a wit as well, and famous as a story-teller. Alas a sad +fate awaited him. For leaving here to take command of a Pennsylvania +regiment, he was killed early in the civil war. + +Those were freighting days and Russell, Majors and Waddell, government +freighters, made this their headquarters. Alexander Majors brought his +family here adding much socially to the town. Major Martin, an army +officer, was stationed here. He was a charming gentleman and had a +lovely wife. Dancing was the principal amusement with the young people. +Informal dances at private homes and occasionally on a steamboat when it +arrived, brilliantly lighted and having a band of music on board. At the +"Outfit" as it was called, where the supplies for the freighting company +were kept, dwelt a family, Raisin by name, who were exceedingly +hospitable, not only entertaining frequently, but often sending an +ambulance for their guests. At these parties no round dancing was +indulged in, just simple quadrilles and the lancers. Mr. and Mrs. J. +Sterling Morton, who lived on a country place, a short distance from +town, which has since become widely known as Arbor Lodge, were among the +most active entertainers, dispensing that delightful hospitality for +which in later times they were so well known. + +And so we lived without railroads, without telephones, automobiles, or +theaters. But I believe that our social enjoyment was greater than it is +now. Instead of railroads, we had steamboats arriving almost daily +from St. Louis, St. Joseph, and other towns. In carriages we drove to +Omaha and back, and the social intercourse of the two towns was much +greater than it is now. + +[Illustration: OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT, LOCATED AT THE POINT WHERE THE +LINE BETWEEN JEFFERSON AND GAGE COUNTIES INTERSECTS THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA +STATE LINE + +Dedicated May 12, 1914. Cost $350. Trail crosses state line 1,986 feet +east, and crosses Jefferson-Gage county line 2,286 feet north of this +point. Erected by the citizens of Gage and Jefferson counties, Nebraska, +Washington county, Kansas, and Elizabeth Montague Chapter, Daughters of +the American Revolution] + +Amateur theatricals took the place of the theater, and often brilliant, +undreamed of talent was shown. Literature also was not neglected, many +highly educated men and women were among our pioneers and literary +societies were a prominent part of our social life. We played chess in +those days, but not cards. This alone might be taken as an index of how +much less frivolous that day was than the present. + +In 1860 Bishop Talbot arrived here from Indianapolis and made this his +home, adding greatly socially and intellectually to the life of the +community. In his family was the Rev. Isaac Hager, beloved and revered +by all who knew him, a most thorough musician, as well as a fine +preacher. + +Remembering old times we sometimes ask ourselves, where now are the men +and women, equal to the ones we knew in those days, certainly there are +none superior to them, in intellect, manners, wit, and true nobility. + + "Oh brave hearts journeyed to the west, + When this old town was new!" + + + + +SOME PERSONAL INCIDENTS + +BY W. A. MCALLISTER + + +My father and family came to Nebraska in 1858, living two years at +Genoa. At this time the government assigned what is now Nance county, to +the Pawnee Indians, as a reservation. When the white settlers sought +other homes our family located eight miles east of Columbus, at +McAllister's lake. Every fall my father hired about sixty squaws to husk +out his crop of corn. Only one buck ever came to work, and he was always +known as "Squaw Charlie" after that. He spoke English quite well. They +were slow workers, husking about twenty bushels per day. They were very +gluttonous at meals, eating much bread, with meat soup containing +potatoes and other vegetables, cooked in large twenty gallon camp +kettles. This was supplemented by watermelons by the wagonload. It +required a week or ten days to harvest the corn crop. The Indians were +very thievish, stealing almost as much as their wages amounted to. +During these years I often witnessed their "Medicine Dances." + +When fifteen years old I enlisted in Company B, Second Nebraska Cavalry, +and went to Fort Kearny. Our company relieved the Tenth Infantry, which +went to the front. In less than twenty days this company was nearly +annihilated at the battle of Fredericksburg. + +While at the fort a buffalo hunt was organized by the officers, and I +had an opportunity to go. Our party went south to the valley of the +Republican. The first night we camped at the head of the Big Blue, and +the second day I noticed south of us, about eight miles distant, a dark +line along the horizon extending as far east and west as the eye could +reach. I inquired what it was and an old hunter replied "buffaloes." I +could not believe him, but in a few hours found he was right, for we +were surrounded by millions of them. They were hurrying to the east with +a roaring like distant thunder. Our sportsmen moved in a body through +the herd looking for calves, not caring to carry back the meat of the +old specimens. Strange to say this tremendous herd seemed to be +composed of males, for the cows were still on the Oklahoma ranges caring +for their calves, until strong enough to tramp north again. We noticed +an old fellow making good progress on three legs, one foot having been +injured. One of the party wished to dispose of him, but his wooly +forehead covered with sand, turned every bullet. Finally the hunter +asked me to attract his attention, while he placed a bullet in his +heart. In doing this, he almost succeeded in goring my pony, but I +turned a second too quickly for him. I was near enough to see the fire +flashing from his angry eyes. In a few minutes he fell with a thud. + +Several years after the war being over, I worked for the Union Pacific +railroad company. At Kearney, in 1869, we met the Buck surveying party, +who had come west to lay out, for the government, the lands of the +Republican Valley. In this company was a young man from Pontiac, +Illinois, named Harry McGregor. He left a home of plenty to hunt buffalo +and Indians, but found among other privations, he could not have all the +sugar he wished, so at Kearney he decided to leave the party and work +with us. This decision saved his life, for the rest of the surveyors, +about ten in all, after starting south next morning, were never seen +again. They were surprised and killed by the Indians. Their skeletons +were found several years later, bleaching on the Nebraska prairie. + + + + +MAJOR NORTH'S BUFFALO HUNT + +BY MINNIE FREEMAN PENNY + + +A party under the direction of Major Frank North set out with six wagon +teams and four buffalo horses on November 13, 1871, to engage in a +buffalo hunt. The other men were Luther North, C. Stanley, Hopkins +Brown, Charles Freeman, W. E. Freeman, W. E. Freeman, Jr., and Messrs. +Bonesteel, Wasson, and Cook. They camped the first night at James +Cushing's ranch, eighteen miles out; the second night at Jason Parker's +home at Lone Tree, now Central City, and the third night arrived at +Grand Island. On the way to Grand Island one of the party accidentally +started a prairie fire six miles east of Grand Island. A hard fight was +made and the flames subdued just in time to save a settler's stable. + +Leaving Grand Island on the sixteenth they crossed the Platte river and +camped on the West Blue. From this point in the journey the party +suffered incredible hardships until their return. + +About midnight the wind changed to the north, bringing rain and sleet, +and inside of an hour a blizzard was raging on the open prairie. The +horses were covered with snow and ice and there was no fuel for the +fires. The men went out as far as they dared to go for wood, being +unsuccessful. It was decided to try to follow the Indian trail +south--made by the Pawnee scouts under Major North. Little progress +could be made and they soon "struck camp" near some willows that +afforded a little protection to their horses and a "windbreak" was made +for man and beast. This camp was at the head of the Big Sandy, called by +this party the "Big Smoky" for the men suffered agonies from the smoke +in the little tipi. + +For two days the storm continued in all its terrible force. The wind +blew and the air was so full of snow that it was blinding. The cold was +intense. The men finally determined to find some habitation at any price +and in groups of two and three left camp following the creek where they +were sure some one had settled. A sod house was found occupied by two +English families who received the party most hospitably. Charles +Freeman, older than the other men of the party, suffered a collapse and +remained at this home. During the night the storm abated and next +morning, finding all the ravines choked with heavy snow drifts, it was +decided by vote to abandon the hunt. They dug out their belongings from +under many feet of snow, sold their corn to the English families to +lighten their load and started back. The journey home was full of +accidents, bad roads, and drifted ravines. Reaching the Union Pacific +railroad at Grand Island Major North and Mr. Bonesteel returned to +Columbus by rail, also Mr. Stanley from Lone Tree. The rest of the party +returned by team, arriving on November 24. + +Major North admitted that of all his experiences on the prairie--not +excepting his years with the Pawnee scouts--this "beat them all" as +hazardous and perplexing. + +The foregoing is taken from my father's diary. + + + + +PIONEER LIFE + +BY MRS. JAMES G. REEDER + + +It is almost impossible for people of the present day to realize the +hardships and privations that the first settlers in Nebraska underwent. +Imagine coming to a place where there was nothing but what you had +brought with you in wagons. Add to the discomfort of being without +things which in your former home had seemed necessities, the pests which +abound in a new country: the rattlesnake, the coyote, the skunk, the +weasel, and last--but not least--the flea. + +My father, Samuel C. Smith, held the post of "trader" for the Pawnee +Indians under Major Wheeler in 1865-66. We lived in a house provided by +the government, near the Indian school at Genoa, or "The Reservation," +as it was commonly called. I was only a few weeks old, and in order to +keep me away from the fleas, a torture to everyone, they kept me in a +shallow basket of Indian weave, suspended from the ceiling by broad +bands of webbing, far enough from the floor and wall to insure safety. + +I have heard my mother tell of how the Indians would walk right into the +house without knocking, or press their faces against a window and peer +in. They were usually respectful; they simply knew no better. Sometimes +in cold weather three or four big men would walk into the kitchen and +insist upon staying by the fire, and mother would have hard work to +drive them out. + +The next year my father moved his family to a homestead two miles east +of Genoa where he had built a large log house and stables surrounded by +a high tight fence, which was built for protection against the +unfriendly Indians who frequently came to make war on the Pawnees. The +government at times kept a company of soldiers stationed just north of +us, and when there would be an "Indian scare," the officers' wives as +well as our few neighbors would come to our place for safety. Major +Noyes was at one time stationed there. Firearms of all sorts were +always kept handy, and my mother could use them as skilfully as my +father. + +One night my father's barn was robbed of eight horses by the Sioux and +the same band took ten head from Mr. Gerrard, who lived four miles east +of us. E. A. Gerrard, Luther North, and my father followed their trail +to the Missouri river opposite Yankton, South Dakota, and did not see a +white man while they were gone. They did not recover the horses, but +twenty years after the government paid the original cost of the horses +without interest. The loss of these horses and the accidental death of a +brother of mine so discouraged my father that he moved to Columbus in +1870. + +One of the delights of my childhood were the nights in early autumn when +all the neighborhood would go out to burn the grass from the prairie +north of us for protection against "prairie fires," as great a foe as +was the unfriendly Indian of a few years before. + +In the summer of 1874, which in Nebraska history is known as "the +grasshopper year," my grandmother, Mrs. William Boone, accompanied by +her daughter, Mrs. Mary Hemphill, and granddaughter, Ada Hemphill, came +to make us a visit. For their entertainment we drove in a three-seated +platform spring wagon or carryall to see the Indians in their village +near Genoa. Their lodges were made of earth in a circular form with a +long narrow entrance extending out like the handle of a frying pan. As +we neared the village we came upon an ordinary looking Indian walking in +the road, and to our surprise my father greeted him very cordially and +introduced him to us. It was Petalesharo, chief of the Pawnees, but +without the feathers and war-paint that I imagined a chief would always +wear. He invited us to his lodge and we drove to the entrance, but my +grandmother and aunt could not be persuaded to leave the surrey. My +cousin, being more venturesome, started in with my father, but had gone +only a few steps when she gathered up her skirts and cried, "Oh, look at +the fleas! Just see them hop!" and came running back to the rig, +assuring us she had seen enough. The Indians must have taken the fleas +with them when they moved to Oklahoma, for we seldom see one now. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN POLK COUNTY + +BY CALMAR MCCUNE + + +In the early history of the county, county warrants were thicker than +the leaves on the trees (for trees were scarce then), and of money in +the pockets of most people there was none. Those were the days when that +genial plutocrat, William H. Waters, relieved the necessities of the +needy by buying up county warrants for seventy-five cents on the dollar. +Don't understand this as a reflection on the benevolent intentions of +Mr. Waters, for he paid as high a price as anybody else offered; I +mention it only to illustrate the financial condition of the people and +the body politic. + +Henry Mahan was postmaster and general merchant. The combined postoffice +and store which, with a blacksmith shop, constituted the business part +of the town of Osceola, was located on the west side of the square. It +was a one and one-half story frame and on the second floor was _The +Homesteader_ (now the Osceola _Record_). Here H. T. Arnold, W. F. +Kimmel, Frank Burgess, the writer, and Stephen Fleharty exercised their +gray matter by grinding out of their exuberant and sometimes lurid +imaginations original local items and weighty editorials. In those days +if a top buggy was seen out on the open, treeless prairie, the entire +business population turned out to watch it and soon there were bets as +to whether it came from Columbus or Seward, for then there was not a top +buggy in Polk county. The first drug store was opened by John Beltzer, a +country blacksmith who suddenly blossomed from the anvil into a +full-fledged pharmacist. Doctor Stone compounded the important +prescriptions for a while. + +I need not try to describe the grasshopper raid of 1874 for the +old-timers remember it and I could not picture the tragedy so that +others could see it. To see the sun's rays dimmed by the flying agents +of destruction; to witness the disappearance of every vestige of green +vegetation--the result of a year's labor, which was to most of the +inhabitants the only resource against actual want, to see this I say, +one must live through it. Many of the early settlers were young people +newly married, who had left their homes in the East with all their +earthly possessions in a covered wagon, or "prairie schooner" as it was +called, and making the trip overland, had landed with barely enough +money to exist until the first crop was harvested. Added to the loss and +privation entailed by the visitation of the winged host was the constant +dread that the next season would bring a like scourge. + +On Sunday afternoon, April 13, 1873, I left the farm home of James Bell +in Valley precinct for Columbus, expecting to take the train there +Monday morning for Omaha. The season was well advanced, the treeless +prairie being covered with verdure. It was a balmy sunshiny spring day, +as nearly ideal as even Nebraska can produce. + +As I left the Clother hotel that evening to attend the Congregational +church I noticed that the clouds were banking heavily in the northwest. +There was a roll of distant thunder, a flash of lightning, and a series +of gentle spring showers followed and it was raining when I went to bed +at my hotel. Next morning when I looked out of my window I could not see +half-way across the street. The wind was blowing a gale, which drove +large masses of large, heavy snow-flakes southward. Already where +obstructions were met the huge drifts were forming. This continued +without cessation of either snow or wind all day Monday and until late +Tuesday night. Wednesday about noon the snow plow came, followed by the +Monday train, which I boarded for Omaha. As the train neared Fremont I +could see the green knolls peeping up through the snow, and at Omaha the +snow had disappeared. There they had had mainly rain instead of snow. I +may say that the storm area was not over two hundred miles wide with +Clarks as about the center, the volume gradually diminishing each way +from that point. It should be borne in mind that the farmers raised +mainly spring wheat and oats. These grains had been sown several weeks +before the storm and were all up, but the storm did not injure them in +the least. + +On leaving Omaha a few days later I went to Grand Island. At Gardner's +Siding, between Columbus and Clarks, a creek passed under the track. +This had filled bank high with snow which now melting, formed a lake. +The track being bad the train ran so slowly that I had time to count +fifty floating carcasses of cattle upon the surface of the water. This +was the fate of many thousands of head of stock. + +Nobody dared to venture out into that storm for no human being could +face it and live. The great flakes driven by a fifty-mile gale would +soon plaster shut eyes, nose and mouth--in fact, so swift was the gale +that no headway could be made against it. + +In those days merchants hauled their goods from Columbus or Seward and +all the grain marketed went to the same points. Wheat only was hauled, +corn being used for feed or fuel. + +A trip to Columbus and return the same day meant something. A start +while the stars still twinkled; the mercury ten, twenty, or even thirty +degrees below, was not a pleasure trip, to the driver on a load of +wheat. But the driver was soon compelled to drop from the seat, and +trudge along slapping his hands and arms against his body to keep from +freezing. Leaving home at three or four o'clock in the morning he was +lucky if he got home again, half frozen and very weary, several hours +after dark. Speaking of exposure to wintry blasts, reminds me of a trip +on foot I made shortly after my arrival in Polk county. December 24, +1872, I started to walk from the Milsap neighborhood in Hamilton county, +several miles west of where Polk now stands, to the home of William +Stevens, near the schoolhouse of District No. 5. It was a clear, bitter +cold morning, the wind blowing strongly from the northwest, the ground +coated with a hard crust of snow. I kept my bearings as best I could, +for it should be remembered that there were no roads or landmarks and I +was traveling purely by guess. Along about mid-day I stumbled upon a +little dugout, somewhere north of where Stromsburg now stands--the first +house I had seen. On entering I found a young couple who smiled me a +welcome, which was the best they could do, for, as I saw from the +inscriptions on a couple of boxes, they were recent arrivals from +Sweden. The young lady gave me some coffee and rusks, and I am bound to +say that I never tasted better food than that coffee and those rusks. I +did not see another house until I reached the bluffs, where, about +sunset, I was gladdened by the sight of the Stevens house in the valley, +a couple of miles distant. When I finally reached this hospitable home +the fingers of both hands were frozen and my nose and ears badly +frosted. + +In the early days we traveled from point to point by the nearest and +most direct route, for while the land was being rapidly taken up, there +were no section line roads. Whenever the contour of the land permitted, +we angled, being careful to avoid the patches of cultivated land. There +were no trees, no fences, and very few buildings, so, on the level +prairie, nothing obstructed the view as far as the eye could carry. The +sod houses and stables were a godsend, for lumber was very expensive and +most of the settlers brought with them lean purses. It required no +high-priced, skilled labor to build a "soddy," and properly built they +were quite comfortable. + +When I grow reminiscent and allow my mind to go back to those pioneer +days, the span of time between then and now seems very brief, but when I +think longer and compare the _then_ with the _now_, it seems as though +that sod house-treeless-ox driving period must have been at least one +hundred years ago. It is a far cry from the ox team to the automobile. + + + + +PERSONAL REMINISCENCES + +BY MRS. THYRZA REAVIS ROY + + +In March, 1865, my husband, George Roy, and I started from our home in +Avon, Illinois, to Nebraska territory. The railroad extended to St. +Joseph, Missouri. There they told us we would have to take a steamboat +up the Missouri river to Rulo, forty miles from St. Joseph. We took +passage on a small steamboat, but the ice was breaking up and the boat +ran only four miles up the river. They said it was too dangerous to go +farther so told us we would have to go back or land and get some one to +drive us to Rulo, or the Missouri side of the river across from Rulo. We +decided to land, and hired a man to drive us across country in an old +wagon. It was very cold and when we reached the place where we would +have to cross the Missouri, the ice was running in immense blocks. It +was sunset, we were forty miles from a house on that side of the river. +There was a man on the other side of the river in a small skiff. Mr. Roy +waved to him and he crossed and took us in. Every moment it seemed those +cakes of ice would crush the little skiff, but the man was an expert +dodger and after a perilous ride he let us off at Rulo. By that time it +was dark. We went to a roughly boarded up shanty they called a tavern. +It snowed that night and the snow beat in on our bed. The next morning +we hired a man to take us to Falls City, ten miles from Rulo. Falls City +was a hamlet of scarcely three hundred souls. There was a log cabin on +the square; one tiny schoolhouse, used for school, Sunday school, and +church. As far as the eye could reach, it was virgin prairie. + +There was very little rain for two years after we came. All provisions, +grain, and lumber were shipped on boats to Rulo. There was only an +Indian trail between Rulo and Falls City. Everything was hauled over +that trail. + +After the drouth came the grasshoppers, and for two years they took all +we had. The cattle barely lived grazing in the Nemaha valley. All grain +was shipped in from Missouri. + +The people had no amusements in the winter. In the summer they had +picnics and a Methodist camp-meeting, on the Muddy river north of Falls +City. + +[Illustration: MRS. CHARLES OLIVER NORTON + +Tenth State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1911-1912] + +Over the Nemaha river two and one-half miles southwest of Falls City, on +a high hill above the falls from which the town was named, was an Indian +village. The Sac and Foxes and Iowa Indians occupied the village. Each +spring and fall they went visiting other tribes, or other tribes visited +them. They would march through the one street of Falls City with their +ponies in single file. The tipi poles were strapped on each side of the +ponies and their belongings and presents, for the tribe they were going +to visit, piled on the poles. The men, women, and children walked beside +the ponies, and the dogs brought up the rear. Sometimes, when the +Indians had visitors, they would have a war-dance at night and the white +people would go out to view it. Their bright fires, their scouts +bringing in the news of hostile Indians in sight, and the hurried +preparations to meet them, were quite exciting. The Indians were great +beggars, and not very honest. We had to keep things under lock and key. +They would walk right into the houses and say "Eat!" The women were all +afraid of them and would give them provisions. If there was any food +left after they had finished their eating, they would take it away with +them. + +Their burying-ground was very near the village. They buried their dead +with all accoutrements, in a sitting posture in a grave about five feet +deep, without covering. + +The Indians cultivated small patches of land and raised corn, beans, +pumpkins, etc. A man named Fisher now owns the land on which the Indians +lived when I reached the country. + +The people were very sociable. It was a healthy country, and we had +health if very little else. We were young and the hardships did not seem +so great as they do in looking backward fifty years. + + NOTE--Thyrza Reavis Roy was born August 7, 1834, in Cass county, + Illinois, the daughter of Isham Reavis and Mahala Beck Reavis. Her + great-grandfather, Isham Reavis, fought in the war of the + Revolution. Her grandfather, Charles Reavis, and her own father, + Isham Reavis, fought in the war of 1812. She is a real daughter of + the war of 1812. She is a member of the U. S. Daughters of 1812, a + member of the Deborah Avery Chapter D. A. R. of Lincoln, and a + member of the Territorial Pioneers Association of Nebraska. Her + husband, George Roy, died at Falls City March 2, 1903. + + + + +TWO SEWARD COUNTY CELEBRATIONS + +BY MRS. S. C. LANGWORTHY + + +I recall one reminiscence of my early life in Nebraska which occurred in +1876, when we first located in Seward. We could have gone no farther, +even had we wished, as Seward was then the terminus of the Billings line +of the Burlington railroad. + +We soon learned that a county celebration was to be held on the fourth +of July, and I naturally felt a great curiosity to know how a crowd of +people would look to whom we had been sending boxes of clothing and +bedding in response to appeals from the grasshopper sufferers. My +surprise cannot be imagined when I saw people clothed as well as +elsewhere and with baskets filled with an abundance of good things for a +picnic dinner. + +The same pretty grove in which this gathering occurred thirty-nine years +ago is now our beautiful city park, where during the summer of 1914 our +commercial club gave an old-time barbecue costing the members twelve +hundred dollars. They secured the state band and fine speakers, and +served a bounteous dinner to about fifteen thousand people. Everything +was free to all who came, and a happier crowd can not be imagined. I +speak of this because in the years to come it will be a pleasant +reminiscence to many who may have been present. + + NOTE--Elizabeth C. (Bennett) Langworthy, fourth state regent of the + Nebraska Society D. A. R., is a daughter of Jacob and Caroline + (Valentine) Bennett. Her paternal grandfather was also Jacob + Bennett, a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was taken prisoner + and held in an English ship off the coast of Quebec for some time. + Mrs. Langworthy was born in Orleans county, New York, in 1837. The + family moved to Wisconsin in 1849, and the daughter finished her + education at Hamline University, then located at Red Wing, + Minnesota. In 1858 she was married to Stephen C. Langworthy, and in + 1876 became a resident of Seward, Nebraska. Mr. Langworthy died + March 3, 1904. + + Mrs. Langworthy has been active and prominent in club work, and is + widely known. She served for five years as a member of the school + board at Seward and organized the History and Art Club of Seward of + which she was president for several years. She was the first + secretary of the State Federation of Woman's Clubs, and was elected + president in 1898. Mrs. Langworthy is the mother of six children. + + + + +SEWARD COUNTY REMINISCENCES + +COMPILED BY MARGARET HOLMES CHAPTER D. A. R. + + +Seward county shared with other counties all of the privations and +experiences of pioneer life, though it seems to have had less trouble +with hostile Indians than many localities in the state. + +The struggles of pioneer settlers in the same country must necessarily +be similar, though of course differing in detail. The first settlers +deemed it important to locate on a stream where firewood could be +obtained, and they were subject to high waters, prairie fires, constant +fear of the Indian, and lack of provisions. + +At one time the little band of settlers near the present site of Seward +was reduced to one pan of corn, though they were not quite as reduced as +their historic Pilgrim forefathers, when a load of provisions arrived +that had been storm-bound. + +Reminiscences are best at first hand, and the following letters, taken +from the _History of Seward County_ by W. W. Cox, recount some of the +incidents of early pioneer life by those who really lived it. + +Mrs. Sarah F. Anderson writes as follows: + +"At the time of the great Indian scare of 1864, my father's family was +one of the families which the Nebraska City people had heard were +killed. It had been rumored throughout the little settlement that there +were bands of hostile Indians approaching, and that they were committing +great depredations as they went. + +"One Sunday morning my uncle and Thomas Shields started down the river +on a scouting expedition. After an all-day search, just at nightfall, +they came suddenly upon an Indian camp. The men thought their time had +come, but the redskins were equally scared. There was no chance to back +out, and they resolved to know whether the Indians were friendly or +hostile. As they bravely approached the camp, the Indians began to +halloo, 'Heap good Omaha!' The men then concluded to camp over night +with them, and they partook of a real Indian supper. The next morning +they went home satisfied that there were no hostile Indians in the +country. + +"A day or two after this, my father (William Imlay) and his brothers +were on upper Plum creek haying, when grandfather Imlay became +frightened and hastened to our house and said the Indians were coming +upon the settlement. He then hurried home to protect his own family. +About three o'clock in the afternoon we saw a band of them approaching. +They were about where the B. & M. depot now stands. We were living about +eighty rods above the present iron bridge. My mother, thinking to escape +them, locked the cabin door, and took all the children across the creek +to the spring where she kept the milk. To kill time, she commenced +churning. Very soon, four Indians (great, big, ugly creatures) came +riding up to the spring and told mother that she was wanted over to the +house. She said, 'No, I can't go; I am at work.' But they insisted in +such a menacing manner that she felt obliged to yield and go. They said, +'Come, come,' in a most determined manner. The children all clinging to +her, she started, and those great sneaking braves guarded her by one +riding on each side, one before, and one behind. Poor mother and we four +children had a slim show to escape. They watched our every movement, +step by step. When we reached the cabin, there sat sixteen burly Indians +in a circle around the door. When we came up, they all arose and saluted +mother, then sat down again. They had a young Indian interpreter. As +they thought they had the family all thoroughly frightened, the young +Indian began in good shape to tell just what they wanted. They would +like to have two cows, two sacks of flour, and some meat. Mother saw +that she must guard the provisions with desperation, as they had cost +such great effort, having been hauled from the Missouri river. The +Indians said, 'The Sioux are coming and will take all away, and we want +some.' 'No,' said mother, 'we will take our cattle and provisions and go +to Plattsmouth.' 'But,' said the Indian, 'they will be here tonight and +you can't get away.' Mother at this point began to be as much angry as +frightened. 'I will not give you anything. You are lying to me. If the +Sioux were so close, you would all be running yourselves.' At this point +another brave, who had been pacing the yard, seeing mother grow so warm, +picked up our axe and marched straight up to her and threw it down at +her feet. She picked it up and stood it beside her. Mother said +afterward that her every hair stood on end, but knowing that Indians +respect bravery, she resolved to show no cowardice. We could all see +that the whole river bend was swarming with Indians. Mother said with +emphasis, 'I now want you to take your Indians and be gone at once.' +Then they said, 'You are a brave squaw,' and the old chief motioned to +his braves and they marched off to camp. The next day our family all +went over to Plum creek and remained until things became settled. + +"The following winter father was at Omaha attending the legislature; and +I am sure that over a thousand Indians passed our place during the +winter. It required pluck to withstand the thievish beggars. Sometimes +they would sneak up and peep in at the window. Then others would beg for +hours to get into the house. + +"A great amount of snow had fallen, and shortly after father's return +home, a heavy winter rain inundated all the bottom lands. We all came +pretty near being drowned but succeeded in crawling out of the cabin at +the rear window at midnight. Our only refuge was a haystack, where we +remained several days entirely surrounded by water, with no possible +means of escape. Mr. Cox made several attempts to rescue us. First he +tried to cross the river in a molasses pan, and narrowly escaped being +drowned, as the wind was high and the stream filled with floating ice. +The next day he made a raft and tried to cross, but the current was so +rapid he could not manage it. It drifted against a tree where the water +was ten feet deep, and the jar threw him off his balance, and the upper +edge of the raft sank, so that the rapid current caught the raft and +turned it on edge against the tree. Mr. Cox caught hold of a limb of the +tree and saved himself from drowning. A desperate struggle ensued but he +finally kicked and stamped until he got the raft on top of the water +again, but it was wrong side up. We then gave up all hopes of getting +help until the water subsided. The fourth day, tall trees were chopped +by father on one side and by Mr. Cox on the other, and their branches +interlocked, and we made our escape to his friendly cabin, where we +found a kindly greeting, rest, food, and fire." + +The following from the pen of Addison E. Sheldon is recorded in the same +_History of Seward County_: + +"My recollections of early Seward county life do not go back as far as +the author's. They begin with one wind-blown day in September, 1869, +when I, a small urchin from Minnesota, crossed the Seward county line +near Pleasant Dale on my way with my mother and step-father (R. J. +McCall), to the new home on the southeast quarter of section 18, town 9, +range 2 east--about three miles southeast of the present Beaver +Crossing. Looked back upon now, through all the intervening years, it +seems to me there never was an autumn more supremely joyous, a prairie +more entrancing, a woodland belt more alluring, a life more captivating +than that which welcomed the new boy to the frontier in the beautiful +West Blue valley. The upland 'divides' as I remember them were entirely +destitute of settlement, and even along the streams, stretches of two, +three, and five miles lay between nearest neighbors. + +"What has become of the Nebraska wind of those days? I have sought it +since far and wide in the Sand Hills and on the table lands of western +Nebraska--that wind which blew ceaselessly, month after month, never +pausing but to pucker its lips for a stronger blast! Where are the seas +of rosin-weed, with their yellow summer parasols, which covered the +prairie in those days? I have sought them too, and along gravelly ridges +or some old ditch yet found a few degenerate descendants of the old-time +host. + +"Mention of merely a few incidents seeming to hold the drama and poetry +of frontier life at that time: 'Pittsburgh, the city of vision, at the +junction of Walnut creek and the West Blue, inhabited by a population of +20,000 people, with a glass factory, a paper factory, a brick factory, +oil wells, a peat factory, woolen mills, junction of three railway +lines, metropolis of the Blue Valley.' All this and so much more that I +dare not attempt to picture it; a real existence in the brain of +Christopher Lezenby in the years of 1871-72. What unwritten dramas sleep +almost forgotten in the memories of early settlers! When Mr. Lezenby +began to build his metropolis with the assistance of Attorney Boyd of +Lincoln and a few other disinterested speculators, he was the possessor +of several hundred acres of land, some hundreds of cattle, and other +hundreds of hogs, and a fair, unmarried daughter. What pathetic +memories of the old man, month after month, surveying off his beautiful +farm into city lots for the new metropolis, while his cattle disappeared +from the prairies and his swine from the oak thickets along the Walnut; +with sublime and childish simplicity repeating day after day the +confession of his faith that 'next week' work would begin; 'next week' +the foundation for the factories would be laid; 'next week' the railway +surveyors would set the grade stakes. And this real rural tragedy lasted +through several years, ending in the loss of all his property, the +marriage of his daughter to Irwin Stall, and the wandering forth of the +old man until he died of a broken heart in California. + +"One monument yet remains to mark the site and perpetuate the memory of +Pittsburgh, a flowing well, found I think at the depth of twenty-eight +feet in the year 1874 and continuously flowing since that. Strange that +no one was wise enough to take the hint and that it was twenty years +later before the second flowing well was struck at Beaver Crossing, +leading to the systematic search for them which dotted the entire valley +with their fountains. + +"There were no high water bridges across the West Blue in those days. I +remember acting as mail carrier for a number of families on the south +bank of the Blue during the high waters of two or three summers, +bringing the mail from the city of Pittsburgh postoffice on the north +bank. A torn shirt and a pair of short-legged blue overalls--my entire +wardrobe of those days--were twisted into a turban about my head, and +plunging into the raging flood of the Blue which covered all the lower +bottoms, five minutes' vigorous swimming carried me through the froth +and foam and driftwood to the other side where I once more resumed my +society clothes and, after securing the mail, upon my return to the +river bank, tied it tightly in the turban and crossed the river as +before. + +"I remember my first lessons in political economy, the fierce fight +between the northern and the southern parts of the county upon the +question of voting bonds to the Midland Pacific railway during the years +1871-72. It was a sectional fight in fact, but in theory and in debate +it was a contest over some first principles of government. The question +of the people versus the corporation, since grown to such great +proportions, was then first discussed to my childish ears. One incident +of that contest is forever photographed on my brain--a crowd of one +hundred farmers and villagers lounging in the shadow of T. H. Tisdale's +old store. A yellow-skinned, emaciated lawyer from Lincoln who looked, +to my boyish vision, like a Chinese chieftain from Manchuria, was +speaking with fluent imaginative words in favor of the benefits the +people of Seward county might secure by voting the bonds. This was H. W. +Sommerlad, registrar of Lincoln land office. A short Saxon opponent, +Rev. W. G. Keen of Walnut creek, was picked from the crowd by +acclamation to reply to the Lincoln lawyer. The impression of his fiery +words denouncing the aggressions of capital and appealing to the +memories of the civil war and the Revolutionary fathers to arouse the +people's independence is with me yet. + +"Next in the economic vista is the old Brisbin sod schoolhouse east of +Walnut creek where a grange was organized. Here a lyceum was held +through several winters in which the debates were strongly tinctured +with the rising anti-monopoly sentiment of those hard times. George +Michael and Charley Hunter, leaders of the boyish dare-deviltry of those +days, were chosen as judges upon the debates in order to insure their +good behavior, and they gravely decided for the negative or affirmative +many deep discussions of doubtful themes. + +"Beaver Crossing in the early days was remarkable for the great number +of boys in its surrounding population, and I have observed in these +later years when visiting there, that the custom of having boy babies in +the family does not appear to have entirely gone out of fashion. That +great swarm of restless boy population which gathered, sometimes two +hundred strong, Saturday afternoons on the Common! What 'sleights of art +and feats of strength' went round! What struggles of natural selection +to secure a place upon the 'First Nine' of the baseball team! For years +Beaver Crossing had the best baseball club in three or four counties, +and some of her players won high laurels on distant diamonds. + +"One custom which obtained in those frontier days seems to have been +peculiar to the time, for I have not found it since in other frontier +communities. It was the custom of 'calling off' the mail upon its +arrival at the postoffice. The postmaster, old Tom Tisdale--a genuine +facsimile of Petroleum V. Nasby--would dump the sacks of mail, brought +overland on a buckboard, into a capacious box upon the counter of his +store, then pick up piece by piece, and read the inscriptions thereon in +a sonorous voice to the crowd, sometimes consisting of one or two +hundred people. Each claimant would cry out 'Here!' when his name was +called. Sometimes two-thirds of the mail was distributed in this way, +saving a large amount of manual labor in pigeon-holing the same. Nasby +had a happy and caustic freedom in commenting upon the mail during the +performance, not always contemplated, I believe, by the United States +postal regulations. A woman's handwriting upon a letter addressed to a +young man was almost certain to receive some public notice from his +sharp tongue, to the great enjoyment of the crowd and sometimes the +visible annoyance of the young man. At one time he deliberately turned +over a postal card written by a well-known young woman of Beaver +Crossing who was away at school, and on observing that the message was +written both horizontally and across, commented, 'From the holy mother, +in Dutch.' If I should ever meet on the mystic other shore, which poets +and philosophers have tried to picture for us, old Tom Tisdale, I would +expect to see him with his spectacles pushed back from his nose, +'calling off' the mail to the assembled spirits, the while entertaining +them with pungent personal epigrams. + +"One startling picture arises from the past, framed as Browning writes +'in a sheet of flame'--the picture of the great prairie fire of October, +1871, which swept Seward county from south to north, leaving hardly a +quarter section of continuous unburnt sod. A heavy wind, increasing to a +hurricane, drove this fire down the West Blue valley. It jumped the Blue +river in a dozen places as easily as a jack rabbit jumps a road. It left +a great broad trail of cindered haystacks and smoking stables and +houses. A neighbor of ours who was burnt out remarked that he had 'been +through hell in one night,' and had 'no fear of the devil hereafter.' + +"At the other end of the scale of temperature are recollections of the +'Great Storm' of April 13, 14, 15, 1873. There burst from a June +atmosphere the worst blizzard in the history of the state. For three +days it blew thick, freezing sleet, changing to snow so close and dense +and dark that a man in a wagon vainly looked for the horses hitched to +it through the storm. Men who were away from home lost their lives over +the state. Stock was frozen to death. In sod houses, dugouts, and log +cabins settlers huddled close about the hearth, burning enormous baskets +of ten-cent corn to keep from freezing. + +"In these later years of life, Fate has called me to make minute study +of many historical periods and places. Yet my heart always turns to +review the early scenes of settlement and civilization in Seward county +with a peculiar thrill of personal emotion and special joy in the risen +and rising fortunes of those who there built the foundations of a great +commonwealth. No land can be dearer than the land of one's childhood and +none can ever draw my thoughts further over plain or ocean than the +happy valley upon West Blue whose waters spring spontaneously from +beneath the soil to water her fortunate acres." + + + + +PIONEERING + +BY GRANT LEE SHUMWAY + + +On September 15, 1885, I crossed the Missouri river at Omaha, and came +west through Lincoln. The state fair was in full blast but our party did +not stop, as we were bound for Benkleman, Parks, and Haigler, Nebraska. + +After looking over Dundy county, Nebraska, and Cheyenne county, Kansas, +the rest of the party returned to Illinois. + +I went to Indianola, and with Mr. Palmatier, I started for the Medicine. +He carried the mail to Stockville and Medicine, which were newly +established postoffices in the interior to the north, and his conveyance +was the hind wheels of an ordinary wagon, to which he had fashioned a +pair of thills. He said that he was using such a vehicle because it +enabled him to cut off several miles in the very rough country through +which we passed. + +The jolting was something fierce, but being young and used to riding in +lumber wagons, I did not mind. I was very much interested in everything, +but the things that linger most clearly in my mind after all these years +are the bushy whiskered, hopeful faces of the men who greeted us from +dugouts and sod cabins. The men's eyes were alight with enthusiasm and +candor, but I do not remember of having seen a woman or child upon the +trip. + +It seems that men can drop back into the primitive so much more easily +than women: not perhaps with all the brutality of the First Men, but +they can adjust themselves to the environment of the wilderness, and the +rusticity of the frontier, with comparative ease. + +I stopped for the night in Hay caÒon, a branch of Lake caÒon, at Hawkins +brothers' hay camp, and I remember when they told me that they had three +hundred tons of hay in the stack, that it seemed almost an inconceivable +quantity. On our old Illinois farm twenty-five or thirty tons seemed a +large amount, but three hundred tons was beyond our range of reasoning. +However, we now stack that much on eighty acres in the Scottsbluff +country. + +In due time I went on over the great tableland to the city of North +Platte, and going down the caÒon on the south side of the south river, I +killed my first jack rabbit, an event which seemed to make me feel more +of a westerner than any circumstance up to that time. + +My first impression of North Platte, with its twelve saloons, was not of +the best. And my conception of Buffalo Bill dropped several notches in +esteem when I saw the Wild West saloon. But in the light of years, I am +less puritanical in my views of the first people of the plains. In +subsequent years I rode the range as a cowboy, and drove twenty-mule +teams with a single line and a black-snake, and while always I remained +an abstainer and occasionally found others that did likewise, I learned +to tolerate, and then enjoy, the witticisms and foolishness of those +that did indulge. Sometimes the boys in their cups would "smoke up" the +little cities of the plains, but they never felt any resentment if one +of their number did not participate in their drinking and festive +sports. + +I spent the winter of 1885 on the ranch of Hall & Evans, near North +Platte, and one of the pleasantest acquaintanceships of my life has been +that of John Evans, now registrar of the land office at North Platte. + +In the spring of '86 the constant stream of emigrant wagons going west +gave one an impression that in a little time the entire West would be +filled, and I grew impatient to be upon my way and secure selections. In +May I arrived at Sidney and from there rode in a box car to Cheyenne. +When we topped the divide east of Cheyenne, I saw the snow-capped peaks +of the Rockies for the first time. + +During the summer I "skinned mules," aiding in the construction of the +Cheyenne & Northern, now a part of the Hill system that connects Denver +with the Big Horn basin and Puget sound. + +Returning to Sidney in the autumn, I fell in with George Hendricks, who +had been in the mines for twenty years and finally gave it up. We +shoveled coal for the Union Pacific until we had a grub stake for the +winter. I purchased a broncho, and upon him we packed our +belongings--beds, blankets, tarpaulin, provisions, cooking utensils, +tools, and clothing, and started north over the divide for "Pumpkin +creek," our promised land. In a little over a day's travel, one leading +the horse and the other walking behind to prod it along, we reached +Hackberry caÒon, and here, in a grove by a spring, we built our first +cabin. + +Three sides were log, the cracks filled with small pieces of wood and +plastered with mud from the spring, and the back of the cabin was +against a rock, and up this rock we improvised a fireplace, with loose +stones and mud. + +When we had rigged a bunk of native red cedar along the side of this +rude shelter, and the fire was burning in our fireplace, the coffee +steaming, the bread baking in the skillet, the odor of bacon frying, and +the wind whistling through the tree-tops, that cabin seemed a mighty +cozy place. + +We could sometimes hear the coyotes and the grey wolves howl at night, +but a sense of security prevailed, and our sleep was sound. Out of the +elements at hand, we had made the rudiments of a home on land that was +to become ours--our very own--forever. + + + + +EARLY DAYS IN STANTON COUNTY + + +_Statement by Andrew J. Bottorff_ + +I came to Nebraska at the close of the civil war, having served during +the entire campaign with the Seventeenth Indiana regiment. I came west +with oxen and wagon in the fall of 1866, bringing my family. We wintered +at Rockport, but as soon as spring opened went to Stanton county, where +I took a homestead. Here we had few neighbors and our share of +hardships, but thrived and were happy. + +One day I heard my dogs barking and found them down in a ravine, near +the Elkhorn river, with an elk at bay, and killed him with my axe. + +The first year I was appointed county surveyor. Having no instruments at +hand, I walked to Omaha, over a hundred miles distant, and led a fat cow +to market there. I sold the cow but found no instruments. I was told of +a man at Fort Calhoun who had an outfit I might get, so wended my way +there. I found E. H. Clark, who would sell me the necessary supplies, +and I bought them; then carried them, with some other home necessities +obtained in Omaha, back to Stanton, as I had come, on foot. + +I am now seventy-five years old, and have raised a large family; yet +wife and I are as happy and spry as if we had never worked, and are +enjoying life in sunny California, where we have lived for the last ten +years. + + +_Statement by Sven Johanson_ + +With my wife and two small children I reached Omaha, Nebraska, June 26, +1868. We came direct from Norway, having crossed the stormy Atlantic in +a small sailboat, the voyage taking eight weeks. + +A brother who had settled in Stanton county, 107 miles from Omaha, had +planned to meet us in that city. After being there a few days this +brother, together with two other men, arrived and we were very happy. +With two yoke of oxen and one team of horses, each hitched to a load of +lumber, we journeyed from Omaha to Stanton county. Arriving there, we +found shelter in a small dugout with our brother and family, where we +remained until we filed on a homestead and had built a dugout of our +own. + +We had plenty of clothing, a good lot of linens and homespun materials, +but these and ten dollars in money were all we possessed. + +The land office was at Omaha and it was necessary for me to walk there +to make a filing. I had to stop along the way wherever I could secure +work, and in that way got some food, and occasionally earned a few +cents, and this enabled me to purchase groceries to carry back to my +family. There were no bridges across rivers or creeks and we were +compelled to swim; at one time in particular I was very thankful I was a +good swimmer. A brother-in-law and myself had gone to Fremont, Nebraska, +for employment, and on our return we found the Elkhorn river almost out +of its banks. This frightened my companion, who could not swim, but I +told him to be calm, we would come to no harm. I took our few groceries +and our clothing and swam across, then going back for my companion, who +was a very large man, I took him on my back and swam safely to the other +shore. + +While I was away, my family would be holding down our claim and taking +care of our one cow. We were surrounded by Indians, and there were no +white people west of where we lived. + +In the fall of 1869 we secured a yoke of oxen, and the following spring +hauled home logs from along the river and creek and soon had a +comfortable log house erected. + +Thus we labored and saved little by little until we were able to erect a +frame house, not hewn by hand, but made from real lumber, and by this +time we felt well repaid for the many hardships we had endured. The old +"homestead" is still our home, but the dear, faithful, loving mother who +so bravely bore all the hardships of early days was called to her rich +reward January 28, 1912. She was born June 15, 1844, and I was born +October 14, 1837. + + + + +FRED E. ROPER, PIONEER + +BY ERNEST E. CORRELL + + +Fred E. Roper, a pioneer of Hebron, Nebraska, was eighty years old on +October 10, 1915. Sixty-one years ago Mr. Roper "crossed the plains," +going from New York state to California. + +Eleven years more than a half-century--and to look back upon the then +barren stretch of the country in comparison with the present fertile +region of prosperous homes and populous cities, takes a vivid stretch of +imagination to realize the dreamlike transformation. At that time San +Francisco was a village of about five hundred persons living in adobe +huts surrounded by a mud wall for a fortified protection from the +marauding Indians. + +Fred E. Roper was born in Candor Hill, New York, October 10, 1835. When +three years old he moved with his parents to Canton, Bradford county, +Pennsylvania, and later moved with his brother to Baraboo, Wisconsin. +Then he shipped as a "hand" on a raft going down the Wisconsin and +Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, getting one dollar a day and board. He +returned north on a steamer, stopping at Burlington, Iowa, where his +sister resided. + +In 1854, when he was nineteen years of age, Mr. Roper "started west." +His sister walked to the edge of the town with him as he led his +one-horned cow, which was to furnish milk for coffee on the camp-out +trip, which was to last three months, enroute to the Pacific coast. + +There were three outfits--a horse train, mule train, and ox train. Mr. +Roper traveled in an ox train of twenty-five teams. The travelers +elected officers from among those who had made the trip before, and +military discipline prevailed. + +At nights the men took turns at guard duty in relays--from dark to +midnight and from midnight to dawn, when the herder was called to turn +the cattle out to browse. One man herded them until breakfast was ready, +and another man herded them until time to yoke up. This overland train +was never molested by the Indians, although one night some spying +Cheyennes were made prisoners under guard over night until the oxen were +yoked up and ready to start. + +[Illustration: OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT, TWO MILES NORTH OF HEBRON + +Erected by the citizens of Hebron and Thayer county, and Oregon Trail +Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, dedicated May 24, 1915. +Cost $400] + +The prospectors crossed the Missouri river at Omaha, which at that time +had no residences or business buildings. Enroute to Salt Lake City, the +South Platte route was followed, averaging about twenty miles a day. +Enough provisions were carried to last through the journey and as they +had some provisions left when they reached Salt Lake City, they were +sold to the half-starved Mormons at big prices. + +Some perplexing difficulties were encountered on the journey. At one +point in the mountains, beyond Salt Lake City, the trail was so narrow +that the oxen were unhitched and led single file around the cliff, while +the wagons were taken apart and lowered down the precipice with ropes. + +When crossing the desert, additional water had to be carried in extra +kegs and canteens. When the tired cattle got near enough to the river to +smell the fresh water, they pricked up their ears, stiffened their +necks, and made a rush for the stream, so the men had to stand in front +of them until the chains were loosened to prevent their crazily dashing +into the water with the wagons. + +Mr. Roper worked by the day for three months in the mines northeast of +San Francisco. While placer mining, he one day picked up a gold nugget, +from which his engagement ring was made by a jeweler in San Francisco, +and worn by Mrs. Roper until her death, October 28, 1908. The ring was +engraved with two hearts with the initials M. E. R., and is now in the +possession of their son Maun, whose initials are the same. + +Mr. Roper was one of a company of three men who worked a claim that had +been once worked over, on a report that there was a crevasse that had +not been bottomed. The first workers did not have "quicksilver," which +is necessary to catch fine gold, but Mr. Roper's company had a jug +shipped from San Francisco. Nothing less than a fifty-pound jug of +quicksilver would be sold, at fifty cents a pound. This was used in +sluice-boxes as "quicksilver riffles," to catch the fine float gold, +when it would instantly sink to the bottom of the quicksilver, while the +dirt and stones would wash over; the coarse rock would be first tossed +out with a sluice-fork (similar to a flat-tined pitchfork). In three +years the three men worked the mine out, making about fifteen hundred +dollars apiece. + +With his share carried in buckskin sacks belted around his waist under +his clothes, Mr. Roper started in a sailing vessel up north along the +coast on a trip, hunting for richer diggings. Then he went on a steamer +to the Isthmus of Panama, which he crossed with a hired horse team, then +by steamer to New York and by railroad to Philadelphia to get his gold +minted. + +After his marriage in 1861 Mr. Roper returned to the West and in '64 ran +a hotel at Beatrice called "Pat's Cabin." When Nebraska voted on the +question of admission to statehood, Mr. Roper's ballot was vote No. 3. + +Desiring to get a home of his own, Fred Roper came on west into what is +now Thayer county, and about six miles northwest of the present site of +Hebron up the Little Blue, he bought out the preÎmption rights of Bill +and Walt Hackney, who had "squatted" there with the expectation of +paying the government the customary $1.25 per acre. In certain +localities those claims afterwards doubled to $2.50 per acre. Mr. Roper +paid only the value of the log cabin and log stables, and came into +possession of the eighty acres, which he homesteaded, and later bought +adjoining land for $1.25 per acre. + +Occasionally he made trips to St. Joe and Nebraska City for supplies, +which he freighted overland to Hackney ranch. At that time Mr. Roper +knew every man on the trail from the Missouri river to Kearney. On these +trips he used to stop with Bill McCandles, who was shot with three other +victims by "Wild Bill" on Rock creek in Jefferson county. + +The first house at Hackney ranch was burned by the Cheyenne Indians in +their great raid of 1864, at which time Miss Laura Roper (daughter of +Joe B. Roper) and Mrs. Eubanks were captured by the Indians near Fox +Ford in Nuckolls county and kept in captivity until ransomed by Colonel +Wyncoop of the U. S. army for $1,000. Si Alexander of Meridian +(southeast of the present town of Alexandria), was with the government +troops at the time of Miss Roper's release near Denver. Her parents, +believing her dead, had meanwhile moved back to New York state. (Laura +Roper is still alive, being now Mrs. Laura Vance, at Skiatook, +Oklahoma.) At the time of the above-mentioned raid, the Indians at +Hackney ranch threw the charred cottonwood logs of the house into the +well, to prevent travelers from getting water. Fred Roper was then at +Beatrice, having just a few days before sold Hackney ranch to an +overland traveler. After the raid the new owner deserted the place, in +the fall of 1869, and in a few months Mr. Roper returned from Beatrice +and again preÎmpted the same place. + +In 1876 Mr. and Mrs. Roper moved to Meridian and ran a tavern for about +a year, then moved back to Hackney, where they resided until the fall of +1893, when they moved into Hebron to make their permanent home. Mr. +Roper was postmaster at Hebron for four years under Cleveland's last +administration. + + + + +THE LURE OF THE PRAIRIES + +BY LUCY L. CORRELL + + +The memories of the long hot days of August, 1874, are burned into the +seared recollection of the pioneers of Nebraska. For weeks the sun had +poured its relentless rays upon the hopeful, patient people, until the +very atmosphere seemed vibrant with the pulsing heat-waves. + +One day a young attorney of Hebron was called to Nuckolls county to "try +a case" before a justice of the peace, near a postoffice known as +Henrietta. Having a light spring wagon and two ponies he invited his +wife and little baby to accompany him for the drive of twenty-five +miles. Anything was better than the monotony of staying at home, and the +boundless freedom of the prairies was always enticing. An hour's drive +and the heat of the sun became oppressively intense. The barren distance +far ahead was unbroken by tree, or house, or field. There was no sound +but the steady patter of the ponies' feet over the prairie grass; no +moving object but an occasional flying hawk; no road but a trail through +the rich prairie grass, and one seemed lost in a wilderness of unvarying +green. The heat-waves seemed to rise from the ground and quiver in the +air. Soon a wind, soft at first, came from the southwest, but ere long +became a hot blast, and reminded one of the heated air from an opened +oven door. Added to other inconveniences came the intense thirst +produced from the sun and dry atmosphere--and one might have cried "My +kingdom for a drink!"--but there was no "kingdom." + +After riding about nine miles there came into view the homestead of +Teddy McGovern--the only evidence of life seen on that long day's drive. +Here was a deep well of cold water. Cheery words of greeting and hearty +handclasps evidenced that all were neighbors in those days. Again +turning westward a corner of the homestead was passed where were several +little graves among young growing trees--"Heartache corner" it might +have been called. The sun shone as relentless there as upon all +Nebraska, that scorching summer. + +As the afternoon wore on, looking across the prairies the heat-waves +seemed to pulse and beckon us on; the lure of the prairies was upon us, +and had we chosen we could not but have obeyed. Only the pioneers knew +how to endure, to close their eyes to exclude the burning light, and +close the lips to the withering heat. + +At last our destination was reached at the homestead of the justice of +the peace. We were gladly seated to a good supper with the host and +family of growing boys. After the meal the "Justice Court" was held out +of doors in the shade of the east side of the house, there being more +room and "more air" outside. The constable, the offender, the witness +and attorney and a few neighbors constituted the prairie court, and +doubtless the decisions were as legal and as lasting as those of more +imposing surroundings of later days. + +But the joy of the day had only just begun, for as the sun went down, so +did even the hot wind, leaving the air so heavy and motionless and +oppressive one felt his lungs closing up. The boys of the family sought +sleep out of doors, the others under the low roof of a two-roomed log +house. Sleep was impossible, rest unknown until about midnight, when +mighty peals of thunder and brilliant lightning majestically announced +the oncoming Nebraska storm. No lights were needed, as nature's +electricity was illuminatingly sufficient. The very logs quivered with +the thunder's reverberations, and soon a terrific wind loaded with hail +beat against the little house until one wondered whether it were better +to be roasted alive by nature's consuming heat, or torn asunder by the +warring elements. But the storm beat out its fury, and with daylight Old +Sol peeped over the prairies with a drenched but smiling face. + +Adieus were made and the party started homeward. After a few miles' +travel the unusual number of grasshoppers was commented upon, and soon +the air was filled with their white bodies and beating wings; then the +alarming fact dawned upon the travelers that this was a grasshopper +raid. The pioneers had lived through the terrors of Indian raids, but +this assault from an enemy outside of the human realm was a new +experience. The ponies were urged eastward, but the hoppers cheerfully +kept pace and were seen to be outdistancing the travelers. They filled +the air and sky and obliterated even the horizon. Heat, thirst, distance +were all submerged in the appalling dread of what awaited. + +As the sun went down the myriads of grasshoppers "went to roost." Every +vegetable, every weed and blade of grass bore its burden. On the +clothes-line the hoppers were seated two and three deep; and upon the +windlass rope which drew the bucket from the well they clung and +entwined their bodies. + +The following morning the hungry millions raised in the air, saluted the +barren landscape and proceeded to set an emulating pace for even the +busy bee. They flew and beat about, impudently slapping their wings +against the upturned, anxious faces, and weary eyes, trying to penetrate +through the apparent snowstorm--the air filled with the white bodies of +the ravenous hordes. This appalling sight furnished diversion sufficient +to the inhabitants of the little community for that day. + +People moved quietly about, in subdued tones wondering what the outcome +would be. How long would the hoppers remain? Would they deposit their +eggs to hatch the following spring and thus perpetuate their species? +Would the old progenitors return? + +But, true to the old Persian proverb, "this too, passed away." The +unwelcome intruders departed leaving us with an occasional old boot-leg, +or leather strap, or dried rubber, from which the cormorants had sucked +the "juice." + +The opening of the next spring was cold and rainy. Not many of the +grasshopper eggs hatched. Beautiful Nebraska was herself again and +"blossomed as the rose." + + + + +SUFFRAGE IN NEBRASKA + + +_Statement by Mrs. Gertrude M. McDowell_ + +When I was requested to write a short article in regard to woman's +suffrage in Nebraska I thought it would be an easy task. As the days +passed and my thoughts became confusedly spread over the whole question +from its incipiency, it proved to be not an easy task but a most +difficult one. There was so much of interest that one hardly knew where +to begin and what to leave unsaid. + +This question has been of life-long interest to me and I have always +been in full sympathy with the movement. When the legislature in 1882 +submitted the suffrage amendment to the people of the state of Nebraska +for their decision, we were exceedingly anxious concerning the outcome. + +A state suffrage association was formed. Mrs. Brooks of Omaha was +elected president; Mrs. Bittenbender of Lincoln, recording secretary; +Gertrude M. McDowell of Fairbury, corresponding secretary. + +There were many enthusiastic workers throughout the state. Among them, I +remember Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, of Beatrice, whom we considered our +general; Mrs. Lucinda Russell and Mrs. Mary Holmes of Tecumseh, Mrs. +Annie M. Steele of Fairbury, Mrs. A. J. Sawyer, Mrs. A. J. Caldwell, and +Mrs. Deborah King of Lincoln, Mrs. E. M. Correll of Hebron and many more +that I do not now recall. + +There were many enthusiastic men over the state who gave the cause +ardent support. Senator E. M. Correll of Hebron was ever on the alert to +aid in convention work and to speak a word which might carry conviction +to some unbeliever. + +Some years previous to our campaign, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy +Stone on one of their lecture tours in the West were so impressed with +the enthusiasm and good work of Hon. E. M. Correll that they elected him +president of the National Suffrage Association, for one year. I also +recall Judge Ben S. Baker, now of Omaha, and C. F. Steele of Fairbury, +as staunch supporters of the measure. During the campaign, many +national workers were sent into the state, among them Susan B. Anthony, +Phoebe Couzens, Elizabeth Saxon of New Orleans, and others. They +directed and did valiant work in the cause. We failed to carry the +measure in the state, but we are glad to note that it carried in our own +town of Fairbury. + +Thanks to the indomitable personality of our Nebraska women, they began +immediately to plan for another campaign. In 1914, our legislature again +submitted an amendment and it was again defeated. Since then I have been +more than ever in favor of making the amendment a national one, +President Wilson to the contrary notwithstanding--not because we think +the educational work is being entirely lost, but because so much time +and money are being wasted on account of our foreign population and +their attitude towards reform. It is a grave and a great question. One +thing we are assured of, viz: that we will never give up our belief in +the final triumph of our great cause. + +It is a far cry from the first woman's suffrage convention in 1850, +brought about by the women who were excluded from acting as delegates at +the anti-slavery convention in London in 1840. + +Thus a missionary work was begun then and there for the emancipation of +women in "the land of the free and the home of the brave." We can never +be grateful enough to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. +Anthony, and other noble, self-sacrificing women who did so much pioneer +work in order to bring about better laws for women and in order to +change the moth-eaten thought of the world. + +Many felt somewhat discouraged when the election returns from New +Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York announced the defeat of the measure, +but really when we remember the long list of states that have equal +suffrage we have reason to rejoice and to take new courage. We now have +Wyoming, Kansas, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, +Nevada, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, and Illinois, besides the +countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, New Zealand, +Australia, Nova Scotia, and some parts of England. + +In the future when the cobwebs have all been swept from the mind of the +world and everyone is enjoying the new atmosphere of equal rights only a +very few will realize the struggle these brave women endured in order +to bring about better conditions for the world. + + +_Statement by Lucy L. Correll_ + +Hebron, Thayer county, Nebraska, was the cradle of the Nebraska woman +suffrage movement, as this was the first community in the state to +organize a permanent woman's suffrage association. + +Previous to this organization the subject had been agitated through +editorials in the Hebron _Journal_, and by a band of progressive, +thinking women. Upon their request the editor of the _Journal_, E. M. +Correll, prepared an address upon "Woman and Citizenship." Enthusiasm +was aroused, and a column of the _Journal_ was devoted to the interests +of women, and was ably edited by the coterie of ladies having the +advancement of the legal status of women at heart. + +Through the efforts of Mr. Correll, Susan B. Anthony was induced to come +to Hebron and give her lecture on "Bread versus the Ballot," on October +30, 1877. Previous to this time many self-satisfied women believed they +had all the "rights" they wanted, but they were soon awakened to a new +consciousness of their true status wherein they discovered their +"rights" were only "privileges." + +On April 15, 1879, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, upon invitation, +lectured in Hebron and organized the Thayer County Woman's Suffrage +Association. This society grew from fifteen, the number at organization, +to about seventy-five, many leading business men becoming members. + +Other organizations in the state followed, and at the convening of the +Nebraska legislature of 1881, a joint resolution providing for the +submission to the electors of this state an amendment to section 1, +article VII, of the constitution, was presented by Representative E. M. +Correll, and mainly through his efforts passed the house by the +necessary three-fifths majority, and the senate by twenty-two to eight, +but was defeated at the polls. + +During that memorable campaign of 1881-82, Lucy Stone Blackwell, and +many other talented women of note, from the eastern states, lectured in +Nebraska for the advancement of women, leaving the impress of the +nobility of their characters upon the women of the middle West. + +The Thayer County Woman's Suffrage Association was highly honored, as +several of its members held positions of trust in the state association, +and one of its members, Hon. E. M. Correll, who was publishing the +_Woman's Journal_, at Lincoln, at the time of the annual conference of +the American Woman's Suffrage Association, at Louisville, Kentucky, in +October, 1881, was elected to the important position of president of +that national organization, in recognition of the work he had performed +for the advancement of the cause of "Equality before the Law." + +This association served its time and purpose and after many years was +instrumental in organizing the Hebron Library Association. + +The constitution and by-laws of this first woman's suffrage association +of the state are still well preserved. The first officers were: Susan E. +Ferguson, president; Harriet G. Huse, vice president; Barbara J. +Thompson, secretary; Lucy L. Correll, treasurer; A. Martha Vermillion, +corresponding secretary. Of these first officers only one is now +living. + + + + +AN INDIAN RAID + +BY ERNEST E. CORRELL + + +In 1869, Fayette Kingsley and family resided on the Haney homestead at +the southeast corner of Hebron, where Mr. Haney had been brutally +murdered in the presence of his three daughters in 1867, the daughters +escaping and eventually reaching their home, "back east." + +On May 26, 1869, "Old Daddy" Marks, accompanied by a young man for +protection, drove over from Rose creek to warn Kingsley's that the +Indians were on a raid. While they were talking, Mr. Kingsley heard the +pit-pat of the Indian horses on the wet prairie. From the west were +riding thirty-six Indians, led by a white man, whose hat and fine boots +attracted attention in contrast to the bare-headed Indians wearing +moccasins. + +In the house were enough guns and revolvers to shoot sixty rounds +without loading. When Mrs. Kingsley saw the Indians approaching she +scattered the arms and ammunition on the table where the men could get +them. There were two Spencer carbines, a double-barreled shotgun, and +two navy revolvers, besides other firearms. + +Mr. Kingsley and Charlie Miller (a young man from the East who was +boarding with them) went into the house, got the guns, and leveled them +on the Indians, who had come within 250 yards of the log-house, but who +veered off on seeing the guns. One of the party at the house exclaimed, +"The Indians are going past and turning off!" Mr. Marks then said, "Then +for God's sake, don't shoot!" + +The Indians went on down the river and drove away eleven of King +Fisher's horses. Two of Fisher's boys lay concealed in the grass and saw +the white leader of the Indians remove his hat, showing his close-cut +hair. He talked the Indian language and ordered the redskins to drive up +a pony, which proved to be lame and was not taken. The Indians continued +their raid nearly to Meridian. + +Meanwhile at Kingsley's preparations were made for a hurried flight. Mr. +Marks said he must go home to protect his own family on Rose creek, but +the young man accompanying him insisted that he cross the river and +return by way of Alexander's ranch on the Big Sandy, as otherwise they +would be following the Indians. Mr. Kingsley, with his wife and three +children, went with them to Alexander's ranch, staying there two weeks +until Governor Butler formed a company of militia composed of the +settlers, to protect the frontier. A company of the Second U. S. Cavalry +was sent here and stationed west of Hackney, later that summer. The +Indians killed a man and his son, and took their horses, less than two +miles from the soldiers' camp. + +On returning to the homestead, two cows and two yoke of oxen were found +all right. Before the flight, Mr. Kingsley had torn down the pen, +letting out a calf and a pig. Sixty days later, on recovering the pig, +Mr. Kingsley noticed a sore spot on its back, and he pulled out an arrow +point about three inches long. + +The Indians had taken all the bedding and eatables, even taking fresh +baked bread out of the oven. They tore open the feather-bed and +scattered the contents about--whether for amusement or in search of +hidden treasures is not known. They found a good pair of boots, and cut +out the fine leather tops (perhaps for moccasins) but left the heavy +soles. From a new harness they also took all the fine straps and left +the tugs and heavy leather. They had such a load that at the woodpile +they discarded Mr. Kingsley's double-barreled shotgun, which had been +loaded with buckshot for them. + +Captain Wilson, a lawyer who boarded with Mr. Kingsley, had gone to warn +King Fisher, leaving several greenbacks inside a copy of the Nebraska +statutes. These the Indians found and appropriated--perhaps their white +leader was a renegade lawyer accustomed to getting money out of the +statutes. + +In 1877 Mr. Kingsley's family had a narrow escape from death in a +peculiar manner. After a heavy rain the walls of his basement caved in. +His children occupied two beds standing end to end and filling the end +of the basement. When the rocks from the wall caved in, both beds were +crushed to the floor and a little pet dog on one of the beds was killed, +but the children had no bones broken. Presumably the bedding protected +them and the breaking of the bedsteads broke the jar of the rocks on +their bodies. + +Mr. Kingsley has a deeply religious nature, and believes that Divine +protection has been with him through life. + + + + +REMINISCENCES + +BY MRS. E. A. RUSSELL + + +In September, 1884, Rev. E. A. Russell was transferred by the American +Baptist Publication Society from his work in the East to Nebraska, and +settled on an eighty-acre ranch near Ord. Mr. Russell had held +pastorates for twenty-six years in New Hampshire, New York, and Indiana, +but desired to come west for improvement in health. He was accompanied +by his family of seven. Western life was strange and exciting with +always the possibility of an Indian raid, and dangerous prairie fires. +It was the custom to plow a wide furrow around the home buildings as a +precaution against the latter. + +The first year in Nebraska, our oldest daughter, Alice M. Russell, was +principal of the Ord school, and Edith taught in the primary grade. + +On the fifth of August, 1885, late in the afternoon, a terrific +hail-storm swept over the country. All crops were destroyed; even the +grass was beaten into the earth, so there was little left as pasture for +cattle. Pigs and poultry were killed by dozens and the plea of a +tender-hearted girl, that a poor calf, beaten down by hailstones, might +be brought "right into the kitchen," was long remembered. Not a window +in our house remained unbroken. The floor was covered with rain and +broken glass and ice; and our new, white, hard-finished walls and +ceilings were bespattered and disfigured. + +This hail-storm was a general calamity. The whole country suffered and +many families returned, disheartened, to friends in the East. + +The Baptist church was so shattered that, for its few members, it was no +easy task to repair it. But they soon put it in good condition, only to +see it utterly wrecked by a small cyclone the following October. + +The income that year from a forty-acre cornfield was one small "nubbin" +less than three inches in length. + +All these things served to emphasize the heart-rending stories we had +heard of sufferings of early pioneers. The nervous shock sustained by +the writer was so great that a year elapsed before she was able to see +clearly, or to read. As she was engaged on the four years' post-graduate +course of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, her eldest son +read aloud to her during that year and her work was completed at the +same time as he and his younger sister graduated with the class of 1887. + +Some time later the writer organized a Chautauqua Circle, Ord's first +literary society. Its president was a Mr. King and its secretary E. J. +Clements, now of Lincoln, Nebraska. + +During our second winter in Nebraska the writer did not see a woman to +speak to after her daughters went to their schools in Lincoln, where one +was teaching and the other a University pupil. + +Of the "Minnie Freeman Storm" in January, 1888, all our readers have +doubtless heard. Our two youngest boys were at school a mile away; but +fortunately we lived south of town and they reached home in safety. + +In 1881 Fort Hartsuff, twelve miles away, had been abandoned. The +building of this fort had been the salvation of pioneers, giving them +work and wages after the terrible scourge of locusts in 1874. It was +still the pride of those who had been enabled to remain in the desolated +country and we heard much about it. So, when a brother came from New +England to visit an only sister on the "Great American Desert," we took +an early start one morning and visited "The Fort." The buildings, at +that time, were in fairly good condition. Officers' quarters, barracks, +commissary buildings, stables, and other structures were of concrete, so +arranged as to form a hollow square; and, near by on a hill, was a +circular stockade, which was said to be connected with the fort by an +underground passage. + +A prominent figure in Ord in 1884 was an attractive young lady who later +married Dr. F. D. Haldeman. In 1904 Mrs. Haldeman organized _Coronado_ +chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Her sister, Dr. Minerva +Newbecker, has practiced medicine in Ord for many years. Another sister, +Clara Newbecker, has long been a teacher in the public schools of +Chicago. These three sisters, who descended from Lieutenant Philip +Newbecker, of Revolutionary fame, and Mrs. Nellie Coombs, are the only +living charter members of _Coronado_ chapter. The chapter was named in +honor of that governor of New Galicia in Mexico who is supposed to have +passed through some portion of our territory in 1540 when he fitted out +an expedition to seek and christianize the people of that wonderful +region where "golden bells and dishes of solid gold" hung thick upon the +trees. + +About all that is definitely known is that he set up a cross at the big +river, with the inscription: "Thus far came Francisco de Coronado, +General of an expedition." + +And now, in 1915, the family of seven, by one marriage after another, +has dwindled to a lonely--two. + +The head of our household, with recovered health, served his +denomination twenty years in this great field, comprising Nebraska, +Upper Colorado, and Wyoming. He retired in 1904 to the sanctuary of a +quiet home. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF FORT CALHOUN + +BY W. H. ALLEN + + +I reached Fort Calhoun in May, 1856, with my friends, Mr. and Mrs. John +Allen; coming with team and wagon from Edgar county, Illinois. I was +then eleven years old. Fort Calhoun had no soldiers, but some of the +Fort Atkinson buildings were still standing. I remember the liberty +pole, the magazine, the old brick-yard, at which places we children +played and picked up trinkets. There was one general store then, kept by +Pink Allen and Jascoby, and but few settlers. Among those I remember +were, my uncle, Thomas Allen; E. H. Clark, a land agent; Col. Geo. +Stevens and family, who started a hotel in 1856, and Orrin Rhoades, +whose family lived on a claim five miles west of town. That summer my +father took a claim near Rhoades', building a log house and barn at the +edge of the woods. We moved there in the fall, and laid in a good supply +of wood for the huge fireplace, used for cooking as well as heating. Our +rations were scanty, consisting of wild game for meat, corn bread, +potatoes and beans purchased at Fort Calhoun. The next spring we cleared +some small patches for garden and corn, which we planted and tended with +a hoe. There were no houses between ours and Fort Calhoun, nor any +bridges. Rhoades' house and ours were the only ones between Fontenelle +and Fort Calhoun. Members of the Quincy colony at Fontenelle went to +Council Bluffs for flour and used our place as a half-way house, +stopping each way over night. How we children did enjoy their company, +and stories of the Indians. We were never molested by the red men, only +that they would come begging food occasionally. + +I had no schooling until 1860 when I worked for my board in Fort Calhoun +at E. H. Clark's and attended public school a few months. The next two +years I did likewise, boarding at Alex. Reed's. + +From 1866 to 1869 inclusive I cut cord-wood and railroad ties which I +hauled to Omaha for use in the building of the Union Pacific railroad. +I received from $8.00 to $15.00 per cord for my wood, and $1.00 each for +ties. + +Deer were plentiful and once when returning from Omaha I saw an old deer +and fawn. Unhitching my team I jumped on one horse and chased the young +one down, caught and tamed it. I put a bell on its neck and let it run +about at will. It came to its sleeping place every night until the next +spring when it left, never to be seen by us again. + +In the fall of 1864 I was engaged by Edward Creighton to freight with a +wagon train to Denver, carrying flour and telegraph supplies. The cattle +were corralled and broke at Cole's creek, west of Omaha known then as +"Robber's Roost," and I thought it great fun to yoke and break those +wild cattle. We started in October with forty wagons, seven yoke of oxen +to each wagon. I went as far as Fort Cottonwood, one hundred miles +beyond Fort Kearny, reaching there about November 20. There about a +dozen of us grew tired of the trip and turned back with a wagon and one +ox team. On our return, at Plum creek, thirty-fives miles west of Fort +Kearny we saw where a train had been attacked by Indians, oxen killed, +wagons robbed and abandoned. We waded the rivers, Loup Fork and Platte, +which was a cold bath at that time of year. + +I lived at this same place in the woods until I took a homestead three +miles farther west in 1868. + +My father's home was famous at that time, also years afterward, as a +beautiful spot, in which to hold Fourth of July celebrations, school +picnics, etc., and the hospitality and good cooking of my mother, "Aunt +Polly Allen" as she was familiarly called, was known to all the early +settlers in this section of the country. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF WASHINGTON COUNTY + +BY MRS. EMILY BOTTORFF ALLEN + + +I came to Washington county, Nebraska, with my parents in the fall of +1865, by ox team from Indiana. We stopped at Rockport, where father and +brothers got work at wood chopping. They built a house by digging into a +hill and using logs to finish the front. The weather was delightful, and +autumn's golden tints in the foliage were beautiful. + +We gathered hazel nuts and wild grapes, often scaring a deer from the +underbrush. Our neighbors were the Shipleys, who were very hospitable, +and shared their garden products with us. + +During the winter father bought John Frazier's homestead, but our home +was still in a dugout, in which we were comfortable. We obtained all +needed supplies from Fort Calhoun or Omaha. + +In the spring Amasa Warrick, from Cuming City, came to our home in +search of a teacher and offered me the position, which I accepted. Elam +Clark of Fort Calhoun endorsed my teacher's certificate. I soon +commenced teaching at Cuming City, and pupils came for miles around. I +boarded at George A. Brigham's. Mr. Brigham was county surveyor, +postmaster, music teacher, as well as land agent, and a very fine man. + +One day, while busy with my classes, the door opened and three large +Indians stole in, seating themselves near the stove. I was greatly +alarmed and whispered to one of my pupils to hasten to the nearest +neighbor for assistance. As soon as the lad left, one Indian went to the +window and asked "Where boy go?" I said, "I don't know." The three +Indians chattered together a moment, and then the spokesman said. "I +kill you sure," but seeing a man coming in the distance with a gun, they +all hurried out and ran over the hill. + +I taught at Cuming City until the school fund was exhausted, and by that +time the small schoolhouse on Long creek was completed. Allen Craig and +Thomas McDonald were directors. I boarded at home and taught the first +school in this district, with fourteen pupils enrolled. At this time +Judge Bowen of Omaha was county superintendent, and I went there to have +my certificate renewed. + +When all the public money in the Long Creek district was used up, I went +back to Cuming City to teach. The population of this district had +increased to such an extent that I needed an assistant, and I was +authorized to appoint one of my best pupils to the position. I selected +Vienna Cooper, daughter of Dr. P. J. Cooper. I boarded at the Lippincott +home, known as the "Halfway House" on the stage line between Omaha and +Decatur. It was a stage station where horses were changed and drivers +and passengers stopped over night. + +At the close of our summer term we held a picnic and entertainment on +the Methodist church grounds, using the lumber for the new church for +our platform and seats. This entertainment was pronounced the grandest +affair ever held in the West. + +The school funds of the Cuming City district being again exhausted, I +returned to Long Creek district in the fall of 1867, and taught as long +as there was any money in the treasury. By that time the village of +Blair had sprung up, absorbing Cuming City and De Soto, and I was +employed to teach in their new log schoolhouse. T. M. Carter was +director of the Blair district. Orrin Colby of Bell Creek, was county +superintendent, and he visited the schools of the county, making the +rounds on foot. I taught at Blair until April, 1869, when I was married +to William Henry Allen, a pioneer of Fort Calhoun. Our license was +issued by Judge Stilts of Fort Calhoun, where we were married by Dr. +Andrews. We raised our family in the Long Creek district, and still +reside where we settled in those pioneer days. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER LIFE AT FORT CALHOUN + +BY MRS. N. J. FRAZIER BROOKS + + +I came to Nebraska in the spring of 1857 from Edgar county, Illinois, +with my husband, Thomas Frazier, and small daughter, Mary. We traveled +in a wagon drawn by oxen, took a claim one and one-half miles south of +Fort Calhoun and thought we were settling near what would be Nebraska's +metropolis. My husband purchased slabs at the saw mill at Calhoun and +built our shanty of one room with a deck roof. For our two yoke of oxen +he made a shed of poles and grass and we all were comfortable and happy +in our new home. In the spring Mr. Frazier broke prairie, put in the +most extensive crops hereabouts, for my husband was young and ambitious. +We had brought enough money with us to buy everything obtainable in this +new country, but he would often say, "I'd hate to have the home folks +see how you and Mary have to live." Deer were a common sight and we ate +much venison; wild turkeys were also plentiful. They could be heard +every morning and my husband would often go in our woods and get one for +our meat. + +In 1859 he went to Boone county, Iowa, and bought a cow, hauling her +home in a wagon. She soon had a heifer calf and we felt that our herd +was well started. The following winter was so severe that during one +storm we brought the cow in our house to save her. The spring of 1860 +opened up fine and as we had prospered and were now making money from +our crops we built us a frame house, bought a driving team, cows, built +fences, etc. I still own this first claim, and although my visions of +Fort Calhoun were never realized I know of no better place in which to +live and my old neighbors, some few of whom are still here, proved to be +everlasting friends. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF DE SOTO IN 1855 + +BY OLIVER BOUVIER + + +Mother Bouvier, a kind old soul, who settled in De Soto in the summer of +1855, had many hardships. Just above her log house, on the ridge, was +the regular Indian trail and the Indians made it a point to stop at our +house regularly, as they went to Fort Calhoun or to Omaha. She +befriended them many times and they always treated her kindly. "Omaha +Mary," who was often a caller at our house was always at the head of her +band. She was educated and could talk French well to us. What she said +was law with all the Indians. Our creek was thick with beavers and as a +small boy I could not trap them, but she could, and had her traps there +and collected many skins from our place. I wanted her to show me the +trick of it, but she would never allow me to follow her. At one time I +sneaked along and she caught me in the act and grabbed me by the collar +and with a switch in her hand, gave me a severe warming. This same squaw +was an expert with bow and arrow, and I have seen her speedily cross the +Missouri river in a canoe with but one oar. Our wall was always black +and greasy by the Indians sitting against it while they ate the plates +of mush and sorghum my mother served them. I have caught many buffalo +calves out on the prairies, and one I brought to our De Soto home and +tamed it. My sister Adeline and myself tried to break it to drive with +an ox hitched to a sled, but never succeeded to any great extent. One +day Joseph La Flesche came along and offered us $50.00 for it and we +sold it to him but he found he could not separate it from our herd, so +bought a heifer, which it would follow and Mr. Joseph Boucha and myself +took them up to the reservation for him. He entertained us warmly at his +Indian quarters for two or three days. I have cured many buffalo steak +(by the Indian method) and we used the meat on our table. + + + + +REMINISCENCES + +BY THOMAS M. CARTER + + +In the spring of 1855, with my brother, Alex Carter, E. P. and D. D. +Stout, I left the beautiful hills and valleys of Ohio, to seek a home in +the west. After four weeks of travel by steamboat and stage, horseback +and afoot, we reached the town of Omaha, then only a small village. It +took us fourteen days to make the trip from St. Louis to Omaha. + +While waiting at Kanesville or Council Bluffs as it is now called, we +ascended the hills back of the town and gazed across to the Nebraska +side. I thought of Daniel Boone as he wandered westward on the Kentucky +hills looking into Ohio. "Fair was the scene that lay before the little +band, that paused upon its toilsome way, to view the new found land." + +At St. Mary we met Peter A. Sarpy. He greeted us all warmly and invited +all to get out of the stage and have a drink at his expense. As an +inducement to settle in Omaha, we were each offered a lot anywhere on +the townsite, if we would build on it, but we had started for De Soto, +Washington county, and no ordinary offer could induce us to change our +purpose. + +We thought that with such an excellent steamboat landing and quantities +of timber in the vicinity, De Soto had as good a chance as Omaha to +become the metropolis. We reached De Soto May 14, 1855, and found one +log house finished and another under way. Zaremba Jackson, a newspaper +man, and Dr. Finney occupied the log cabin and we boarded with them +until we had located a claim and built a cabin upon the land we +subsequently entered and upon which the city of Blair is now built. + +After I had built my cabin of peeled willow poles the Cuming City Claim +Club warned me by writing on the willow poles of my cabin that if I did +not abandon that claim before June 15, 1855, I would be treated to a +free bath in Fish creek and free transportation across the Missouri +river. This however proved to be merely a bluff. I organized and was +superintendent of the first Sunday school in Washington county in the +spring of 1856. + +The first board of trustees of the Methodist church in the county was +appointed by Rev. A. G. White, on June 1, 1866, and consisted of the +following members, Alex Carter, L. D. Cameron, James Van Horn, M. B. +Wilds, and myself. The board met and resolved itself into a building +committee and appointed me as chairman. We then proceeded to devise +means to provide for a church building at Cuming City, by each member of +the board subscribing fifty dollars. At the second meeting it was +discovered that this was inadequate and it was deemed necessary for this +subscription to be doubled. The church was built, the members of the +committee hewing logs of elm, walnut, and oak for sills and hauling with +ox teams. The church was not completely finished but was used for a +place of worship. This building was moved under the supervision of Rev. +Jacob Adriance and by his financial support from Cuming City to Blair in +1870. Later it was sold to the Christian church, moved off and remodeled +and is still doing service as a church building in Blair. + +Jacob Adriance was the first regular Methodist pastor to be assigned to +the mission extending from De Soto to Decatur. His first service was +held at De Soto on May 3, 1857, at the home of my brother, Jacob Carter, +a Baptist. The congregation consisted of Jacob Carter, his family of +five, Alex Carter, myself and wife. + +The winter before Rev. Adriance came Isaac Collins was conducting +protracted meetings in De Soto and so much interest was being aroused +that some of the ruffians decided to break up the meetings. One night +they threw a dead dog through a window hitting the minister in the back, +knocking over the candles and leaving us in darkness. The minister +straightened up and declared, "The devil isn't dead in De Soto yet." + +I was present at the Calhoun claim fight at which Mr. Goss was killed +and Purple and Smith were wounded. + +The first little log school was erected on the townsite of Blair, the +patrons cutting and hauling the lumber. I was the first director and +Mrs. William Allen _nee_ Emily Bottorff, first teacher. + +I served as worthy patriarch of the First Sons of Temperance +organization in the county and lived in De Soto long enough to see the +last of the whiskey traffic banished from that township. + +I have served many years in Washington county as school director, +justice of the peace, and member of the county board. + +In October, 1862, I joined the Second Nebraska cavalry for service on +the frontier. Our regiment lost a few scalps and buried a number of +Indians. We bivouacked on the plains, wrapped in our blankets, while the +skies smiled propitiously over us and we dreamed of home and the girls +we left behind us, until reveille called to find the drapery of our +couch during the night had been reinforced by winding sheets of drifting +snow. + + + + +FORT CALHOUN IN THE LATER FIFTIES + +BY MRS. E. H. CLARK + + +E. H. Clark came from Indiana in March, 1855, with Judge James Bradley, +and was clerk of the district court in Nebraska under him. He became +interested in Fort Calhoun, then the county-seat of Washington county. +The town company employed him to survey it into town lots, plat the +same, and advertise it. New settlers landed here that spring and lots +were readily sold. In June, 1855, Mr. Clark contracted with the +proprietors to put up a building on the townsite for a hotel; said +building to be 24x48 feet, two stories high, with a wing of the same +dimensions; the structure to be of hewn logs and put up in good style. +For this he was to receive one-ninth interest in the town. Immediately +he commenced getting out timber, boarding in the meantime with Major +Arnold's family, and laboring under many disadvantages for want of +skilled labor and teams, there being but one span of horses and seven +yoke of cattle in the entire precinct at this time. What lumber was +necessary for the building had to be obtained from Omaha at sixty +dollars per thousand and hauled a circuitous route by the old Mormon +trail. As an additional incident to his trials, one morning at breakfast +Mr. Clark was told by Mrs. Arnold that the last mouthful was on the +table. Major Arnold was absent for supplies and delayed, supposedly for +lack of conveyance; whereupon Mr. Clark procured two yoke of oxen and +started at once for Omaha for provisions and lumber. Never having driven +oxen before he met with many mishaps. By traveling all night through +rain and mud he reached sight of home next day at sunrise, when the oxen +ran away upsetting the lumber and scattering groceries all over the +prairies. Little was recovered except some bacon and a barrel of flour. + +Finally the hotel was ready for occupancy and Col. George Stevens with +his family took up their residence there. It was the best hostelry in +the west. Mr. Stevens was appointed postmaster and gave up one room to +the office. The Stevens family were very popular everywhere. + +Mr. and Mrs. John B. Kuony were married at the Douglas house, Omaha, +about 1855 and came to the new hotel as cooks; but soon afterward +started a small store which in due time made them a fortune. This +couple were also popular in business, as well as socially. + +In March, 1856, my husband sent to Indiana for me. I went to St. Louis +by train, then by boat to Omaha. I was three weeks on the boat, and had +my gold watch and chain stolen from my cabin enroute. I brought a set of +china dishes which were a family heirloom, clothes and bedding. The +boxes containing these things we afterward used for table and lounge. My +husband had a small log cabin ready on my arrival. + +I was met at Omaha by Thomas J. Allen with a wagon and ox team. He +hauled building material and provisions and I sat on a nail keg all the +way out. He drove through prairie grass as high as the oxen's back. I +asked him how he ever learned the road. When a boat would come up the +river every one would rush to buy furniture and provisions; I got a +rocking chair in 1857, the first one in the town. It was loaned out to +sick folks and proved a treasure. In 1858 we bought a clock of John +Bauman of Omaha, paying $45.00 for it, and it is still a perfect time +piece. + +My father, Dr. J. P. Andrews, came in the spring of 1857 and was a +practicing physician, also a minister for many years here. He was the +first Sunday school superintendent here and held that office continually +until 1880 when he moved to Blair. + +In 1858 the Vanier brothers started a steam grist mill which was a great +convenience for early settlers. In 1861 Elam Clark took it on a mortgage +and ran it for many years. Mr. Clark also carried on a large fur trade +with the Indians, and they would go east to the bottoms to hunt and camp +for two or three weeks. + +At one time I had planned a dinner party and invited all my lady +friends. I prepared the best meal possible for those days, with my china +set all in place and was very proud to see it all spread, and when just +ready to invite my guests to the table, a big Indian appeared in the +doorway and said, "hungry" in broken accents. I said, "Yes I get you +some" and started to the stove but he said, "No," and pointed to the +table. I brought a generous helping in a plate but he walked out doors, +gave a shrill yell which brought several others of his tribe and they at +once sat down, ate everything in sight, while the guests looked on in +fear and trembling; having finished they left in great glee. + + + + +SOME ITEMS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY + +BY MRS. MAY ALLEN LAZURE + + +Alfred D. Jones, the first postmaster of Omaha, tells in the _Pioneer +Record_ of the first Fourth of July celebration in Nebraska. + +"On July 4, 1854, I was employed in the work of surveying the townsite +of Omaha. At this time there were only two cabins on the townsite, my +postoffice building and the company claim house. The latter was used as +our boarding house. Inasmuch as the Fourth would be a holiday, I +concluded it would be a novelty to hold a celebration on Nebraska soil. +I therefore announced that we would hold a celebration and invited the +people of Council Bluffs, by inserting a notice in the Council Bluffs +paper, and requested that those who would participate should prepare a +lunch for the occasion. + +"We got forked stakes and poles along the river, borrowed bolts of +sheeting from the store of James A. Jackson; and thus equipped we +erected an awning to shelter from the sun those who attended. Anvils +were procured, powder purchased and placed in charge of cautious +gunners, to make a noise for the crowd. The celebration was held on the +present high school grounds. + +"The picnickers came with their baskets, and the gunner discharged his +duty nobly. A stranger, in our midst, was introduced as Mr. Sawyer, an +ex-congressman from Ohio." + +I had a life-long acquaintance with one of those early picnickers, Mrs. +Rhoda Craig, a daughter of Thomas Allen, who built the first house in +Omaha. Mrs. Craig was the first white girl to live on the site of Omaha. +She often told the story of that Fourth of July in Omaha. Their fear of +the Indians was so great that as soon as dinner was over, they hurried +to their boats and rowed across to Council Bluffs for safety. + +Another pioneer woman was Aimee Taggart Kenny, who came to Fontenelle +with her parents when a small child. Her father was a Baptist missionary +in Nebraska, and his earliest work was with the Quincy colony. I have +heard her tell the following experience: + +"On several occasions we were warned that the Indians were about to +attack us. In great fear, we gathered in the schoolhouse and watched all +night, the men all well armed. But we were never molested. Another time +mother was alone with us children. Seeing the Indians approaching we +locked the doors, went into the attic by means of an outside ladder and +looked out through a crack. We saw the red men try the door, peep in at +the windows, and then busy themselves chewing up mother's home-made +hop-yeast, which had been spread out to dry. They made it into balls and +tossed it all away." + +John T. Bell of Newberg, Oregon, contributed the following: + +"I have a pleasant recollection of your grandfather Allen. My father's +and mother's people were all southerners and there was a kindliness +about Mr. and Mrs. Allen that reminded me of our own folks back in +Illinois. I often stopped to see them when going to and from the Calhoun +mill. + +"I was also well acquainted with Mrs. E. H. Clark, and Rev. Mr. Taggart +and his family were among the most highly esteemed residents of our +little settlement of Fontenelle. Mr. Taggart was a man of fine humor. It +was the custom in those early days for the entire community to get +together on New Year's day and have a dinner at 'The College.' There +would be speech-making, and I remember that on one of these occasions +Mr. Taggart said that no doubt the time would come when we would all +know each others' real names and why we left the states. + +"The experiences of the Bell family in the early Nebraska days were ones +of privation. We came to Nebraska in 1856 quite well equipped with +stock, four good horses, and four young cows which we had driven behind +the wagon from western Illinois. The previous winter had been very mild +and none of the settlers were prepared for the dreadful snow storm which +came on the last day of November and continued for three days and +nights. Our horses and cows were in a stable made by squaring up the +head of a small gulch and covering the structure with slough grass. At +the end of the storm when father could get out to look after the stock +there was no sign of the stable. The low ground it occupied was levelled +off by many feet of snow. He finally located the roof and found the +stock alive and that was about all. The animals suffered greatly that +winter and when spring came we had left only one horse and no cows. That +lone horse was picking the early grass when he was bitten in the nose by +a rattlesnake and died from the effects. One of those horses, 'Old Fox,' +was a noble character. We had owned him as long as I could remember, and +when he died we children all cried. I have since owned a good many +horses but not one equalled Old Fox in the qualities that go to make up +a perfect creature. + +"After the civil war my brother Will and I were the only members of our +family left in Nebraska. We served with Grant and Sherman and then went +back to Fontenelle, soon afterward beginning the improvement of our farm +on Bell creek in the western part of the county. By that time conditions +had so improved in Nebraska that hardships were not so common. I was +interested in tree planting even as a boy and one of the distinct +recollections of our first summer in Nebraska was getting so severely +poisoned in the woods on the Elkhorn when digging up young sprouts, that +I was entirely blind. A colored man living in Fontenelle told father +that white paint would cure me and so I was painted wherever there was a +breaking out, with satisfactory results. + +"Later the planting of cottonwood, box elder, maple, and other trees +became a general industry in Nebraska and I am confident that I planted +twenty thousand trees, chiefly cottonwood. To J. Sterling Morton, one of +Nebraska's earliest and most useful citizens, Nebraska owes a debt of +gratitude. He was persistent in advocating the planting of trees. In his +office hung a picture of an oak tree; on his personal cards was a +picture of an oak tree with the legend 'Plant Trees'; on his +letterheads, on his envelopes was borne the same injunction and the +picture of an oak tree. On the marble doorstep of his home was cut a +picture of an oak tree and the words 'Plant Trees'; on the ground-glass +of the entrance door was the same emblem. I went to a theater he had +built and on the drop curtain was a picture of an oak tree and the words +'Plant Trees.' Today the body of this useful citizen lies buried under +the trees he planted in Wyuka cemetery, near Nebraska City." + + + + +COUNTY SEAT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY + +BY FRANK MCNEELY + + +In 1855 an act was passed by the territorial legislature reorganizing +Washington county and designating Fort Calhoun as the county-seat. + +De Soto, a small village five miles north of Fort Calhoun, wished the +county-seat to be moved there. In the winter of 1858 a crowd of De Soto +citizens organized and with arms went to Fort Calhoun to take the +county-seat by force. Fort Calhoun citizens barricaded themselves in the +log courthouse and held off the De Soto band until the afternoon of the +second day, when by compromise, the county-seat was turned over to De +Soto. One man was killed in this contest, in which I was a participant. + +The county-seat remained in De Soto until an election in the fall of +1866 when the vote of the people relocated it at Fort Calhoun, where it +remained until 1869. An election in the latter year made Blair the +county-seat. + +A courthouse was built in Blair, the present county-seat of Washington +county, in 1889, at a cost of $50,000. + + NOTE--In the early days every new town, and they were all new, was + ambitious to become the county-seat and many of them hopefully + sought the honor of becoming the capital of the territory. + Washington county had its full share of aspiring towns and most of + them really got beyond the paper stage. There were De Soto, Fort + Calhoun, Rockport, Cuming City, and last but not least--Fontenelle, + then in Washington county, now a "deserted village" in Dodge + county. Of these only Fort Calhoun remains more than a memory. De + Soto was founded by Potter C. Sullivan and others in 1854, and in + 1857 had about five hundred population. It began to go down in + 1859, and when the city of Blair was started its decline was rapid. + Rockport, which was in the vicinity of the fur trading + establishments of early days, was a steamboat landing of some + importance and had at one time a population of half a hundred or + more. Now only the beautiful landscape remains. Cuming City, like + De Soto, received its death blow when Blair was founded, and now + the townsite is given over to agricultural purposes. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF FONTENELLE + +BY MRS. EDA MEAD + + +When Nebraska was first organized as a territory, a party of people in +Quincy, Illinois, conceived the idea of starting a city in the new +territory and thus making their fortune. They accordingly sent out a +party of men to select a site. + +These men reached Omaha in 1854. There they met Logan Fontenelle, chief +of the Omahas, who held the land along the Platte and Elkhorn rivers. He +agreed to direct them to a place favorable for a town. Upon reaching the +spot, where the present village is now situated, they were so pleased +that they did not look farther, but paid the chief one hundred dollars +for the right to claim and locate twenty square miles of land. This +consisted of land adjoining the Elkhorn river, then ascending a high +bluff, a tableland ideal for the location of the town. + +These men thought the Elkhorn was navigable and that they could ship +their goods from Quincy by way of the Missouri, Platte, and Elkhorn +rivers. + +Early in the spring of 1855 a number of the colonists, bringing their +household goods, left Quincy on a small boat, the "Mary Cole," expecting +to reach Fontenelle by way of the Elkhorn; and then use the boat as a +packet to points on the Platte and Elkhorn rivers. + +But the boat struck a snag in the Missouri and, with a part of the +cargo, was lost. The colonists then took what was saved overland to +Fontenelle. + +By the first of May, 1855, there were sufficient colonists on the site +to hold the claims. Then each of the fifty members drew by lot for the +eighteen lots each one was to hold. The first choice fell to W. H. +Davis. He chose the land along the river, fully convinced of its +superior situation as a steamboat landing. + +The colonists then built houses of cottonwood timber, and a store and +hotel were started. Thus the little town of about two hundred +inhabitants was started with great hopes of soon becoming a large city. + +Land on the edge of the bluff had been set aside for a college building. +This was called Collegeview. Here a building was begun in 1856 and +completed in 1859. This was the first advanced educational institution +to be chartered west of the Missouri river. + +In 1865 this building was burned. Another building was immediately +erected, but after a few years' struggle for patronage, they found it +was doomed to die, so negotiated with the people of Crete, Nebraska, and +the Congregational organizations (for it was built by the +Congregationalists) in Nebraska. It therefore became the nucleus of what +is now Doane College. + +The bell of the old building is still in use in the little village. + +The first religious services were held by the Congregationalists. The +church was first organized by Rev. Reuben Gaylord, who also organized +the First Congregational church in Omaha. + +In Fontenelle the Congregationalists did not have a building but +worshiped in the college. This church has long since ceased to exist, +but strange as it may seem after so many years, the last regular pastor +was the same man, Rev. Reuben Gaylord, who organized it. + +There was a little band of fifteen Methodists; this was called the +Fontenelle Mission. In 1857 an evangelist, Jerome Spillman, was sent to +take charge of this little mission. He soon had a membership of about +three score people. A church was organized and a building and parsonage +completed. This prospered with the town, but as the village began to +lose ground the church was doomed to die. The building stood vacant for +a number of years but was finally moved to Arlington. + +The settlers found the first winter of 1855-56 mild and agreeable. They +thought that this was a sample of the regular winter climate; so when +the cold, blizzardy, deep-snow winter of 1856-57 came it found the +majority ill prepared. Many were living in log cabins which had been +built only for temporary use. The roofs were full of holes and just the +dirt for floors. + +On awaking in the morning after the first blizzard many found their +homes drifted full of snow; even the beds were covered. The snow lay +four or five feet deep on the level and the temperature was far below +zero. + +Most of the settlers lost all of their stock. Food was scarce, but wild +game was plentiful. Mr. Sam Francis would take his horse and gun and +hunt along the river. The settlers say he might be seen many times that +winter coming into the village with two deer tied to his horse's tail +trailing in the snow. By this means, he saved many of the colonists from +starvation. + +Provisions were very high priced. Potatoes brought four and five dollars +a bushel; bacon and pork could not be had at any price. One settler is +said to have sold a small hog for forty-five dollars; with this he +bought eighty acres of land, which is today worth almost one hundred +eighty dollars an acre. + +A sack of flour cost from ten to fifteen dollars. + +At this time many who had come just for speculation left, thus only the +homebuilders or those who had spent their all and could not return, +remained. + +Then came trouble with the Indians. In the year 1859 the Pawnees were +not paid by the government, for some reason. They became desperate and +began stealing cattle from the settlers along the Elkhorn around +Fontenelle. The settlers of Fontenelle formed a company known as the +"Fontenelle Mounted Rangers," and together with a company sent out by +Governor Black from Omaha with one piece of light artillery, started +after the Pawnees who were traveling west and north. + +They captured six prisoners and held them bound. While they were camped +for rest, a squaw in some way gave a knife to one of the prisoners. He +pretended to kill himself by cutting his breast and mouth so that he +bled freely. He then dropped as if dead. Amidst the confusion the other +five, whose ropes had been cut, supposedly by this same squaw, escaped. + +As the settlers were breaking camp to still pursue the fleeing tribe, +they wondered what to do with the dead Indian. Someone expressed doubt +as to his really being dead. Then one of the settlers raised his gun and +said he would soon make sure. No sooner had the gun been aimed than the +Indian jumped to his feet and said, "Whoof! Me no sick!" They then +journeyed on to attack the main tribe. When near their camp the settlers +formed a semi-circle on a hill, with the artillery in the center. + +As soon as the Indians saw the settlers, they came riding as swiftly as +possible to make an attack, but when within a short distance and before +the leader of the settlers could call "Fire!" they retreated. They +advanced and retreated in this way three times. The settlers were at a +loss to understand just what the Indians intended to do; but decided +that they did not know of the artillery until near enough to see it, +then were afraid to make the attack, so tried to scare the settlers, but +failing to do this they finally advanced with a white rag tied to a +stick. + +The Indians agreed to be peaceable and stop the thieving if the settlers +would pay for a pony which had been accidentally killed, and give them +medicine for the sick and wounded. + +Some of the men who took part in this fight say that if the leader had +ordered the settlers to fire on the first advance of the Indians every +settler would have been killed. There were twice as many Indians in the +first place and the settlers afterwards found that not more than +one-third of their guns would work; and after they had fired once, while +they were reloading, the Indians with their bows and arrows would have +exterminated them. They consider it was the one piece of light artillery +that saved them, as the Indians were very much afraid of a cannon. This +ended any serious Indian trouble, but the housewives had to be ever on +the alert for many years. + +Each spring either the Omahas or Pawnees passed through the village on +their way to visit some other tribe, and then returned in the fall. Then +through the winter stray bands would appear who had been hunting or +fishing along the river. + +As they were seen approaching everything that could be was put under +lock, and the doors of the houses were securely fastened. The Indians +would wash and comb their hair at the water troughs, then gather +everything about the yard that took their fancy. If by any chance they +got into a house they would help themselves to eatables and if they +could not find enough they would demand more. They made a queer +procession as they passed along the street. The bucks on the horses or +ponies led the way, then would follow the pack ponies, with long poles +fastened to each side and trailing along behind loaded with the baggage, +then came the squaws, with their babies fastened to their backs, +trudging along behind. + +One early settler tells of her first experience with the Indians. She +had just come from the far East, and was all alone in the house, when +the door opened and three Indians entered, a buck and two squaws. They +closed the door and placed their guns behind it, to show her that they +would not harm her. They then went to the stove and seated themselves, +making signs to her that they wanted more fire. She made a very hot +fire in the cook stove. + +The old fellow examined the stove until he found the oven door; this he +opened and took three frozen fish from under his blanket and placed them +upon the grate. While the fish were cooking, he made signs for something +to eat. The lady said she only had bread and sorghum in the house. This +she gave them, but the Indian was not satisfied; he made a fuss until +she finally found that he wanted butter on his bread. She had to show +him that the sorghum was all she had. They then took up the fish and +went out of doors by the side of the house to eat it. After they were +gone she went out to see what they had left. She said they must have +eaten every bit of the fish except the hard bone in the head, that was +all that was left and that was picked clean. + +Among the first settlers who came in 1855 was a young German who was an +orphan and had had a hard life in America up to this time. + +He took a claim and worked hard for a few years. He then went back to +Quincy and persuaded a number of his own countrymen to come out to this +new place and take claims, he helping them out, but they were to pay him +back as they could. + +Years passed; they each and all became very prosperous. But this first +pioneer prospered perhaps to the greatest degree. The early settlers +moved away one by one; as they left he would buy their homes. + +The houses were torn down or moved away, the trees and shrubs were +uprooted, until now this one man, or his heirs--for he has gone to his +reward--owns almost the whole of the once prosperous little village, and +vast fields of grain have taken the place of the homes and streets. + +It is hard to stand in the streets of the little village which now has +about one hundred fifty inhabitants and believe that at one time it was +the county-seat of Dodge county, and that it lacked only one vote of +becoming the capital of the state. There are left only two or three of +the first buildings. A short distance south of this village on a high +bluff overlooking the river valley, and covered with oaks and +evergreens, these early pioneers started a city which has grown for many +years, and which will continue to grow for years to come. In this city +of the dead we find many of the people who did much for the little +village which failed, but who have taken up their abode in this +beautiful spot, there to remain until the end of time. + +This story of Fontenelle has been gathered from my early recollections +of the place and what I have learned through grandparents, parents, and +other relatives and friends. + +My mother was raised in Fontenelle, coming there with her parents in +1856. She received her education in that first college. + +My father was the son of one of the first Congregational missionaries to +be sent there. I received my first schooling in the little village +school. + +[Illustration: MRS. WARREN PERRY + +Eleventh State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1913-1914] + + + + +THOMAS WILKINSON AND FAMILY + + +Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wilkinson, early Nebraska settlers, were of English +birth, and came to America when very young. They met in Illinois and +were married in 1859 at Barrington. They moved to Louisiana, remaining +there until the outbreak of the civil war, when they returned to +Illinois for a short time, and then emigrated to the West, traveling in +a covered wagon and crossing the Missouri river on the ferry. They +passed through Omaha, and arrived at Elk City, Nebraska, July 27, 1864, +with their two children, Ida and Emma, who at the present time are +married and live in Omaha. + +Soon after arriving in Elk City, Mr. Wilkinson lost one of his horses, +which at that time was a great misfortune. He purchased another from the +United States government, which they called "Sam" and which remained in +the family for many years. + +At one time provisions were so high Mr. Wilkinson traded his watch for a +bushel of potatoes. + +At that time land was very cheap and could be bought for from two to +five dollars per acre. The same land is now being held at two hundred +dollars per acre. Labor was scarce, with the exception of that which +could be obtained from the Indians. There were a large number of Indians +in that part of the country, and the settlers often hired the squaws to +shuck corn and cut firewood. + +Mrs. Wilkinson has often told of the Indians coming to her door and +demanding corn meal or beef. They always wanted beef and would not +accept pork. They would come at night, look in at the windows, and call +for firewater, tobacco, and provisions. Their visits were so frequent +that Mrs. Wilkinson soon mastered much of their language and was able to +talk to them in their own tongue. + +Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson first settled about twenty-five miles from Omaha +on the old military road. During the early days of their life there, +Mrs. Wilkinson made large quantities of butter for regular customers in +Omaha. They often arose at three o'clock, hitched up the lumber wagon, +and started for town, there to dispose of her butter and eggs and return +with a supply of provisions. + +As a rule the winters were extremely severe and Mrs. Wilkinson has often +told of the terrible snow storms which would fill the chimneys so full +of snow it would be impossible to start a fire, and she would have to +bundle the children up in the bedclothes and take them to the nearest +house to keep from freezing. + +During their second year in Nebraska they went farther west and located +at "Timberville," which is now known as Ames. There they kept a "ranch +house" and often one hundred teams arrived at one time to remain over +night. They would turn their wagons into an immense corral, build their +camp fires, and rest their stock. These were the "freighters" of the +early days, and generally got their own meals. + +During their residence at Elk City, two more children were born, Nettie +and Will. + +They continued to live on the farm until the year 1887, when they moved +to Blair, Nebraska, there to rest in their old age. + +Mr. Wilkinson died July 18, 1912. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Lucy +Wilkinson, a son, Wm. W. Wilkinson, and two daughters, Mrs. J. Fred +Smith and Mrs. Herman Shields. Mrs. George B. Dyball, another daughter, +died May 13, 1914. + + + + +NIKUMI + +BY MRS. HARRIET S. MACMURPHY + + +He glanced from the letter in his hand to the Indian woman sitting in +the door of the skin tipi, and the papoose on the ground beside her, +then down the river, his eyes moving on, like the waters, and seeing +some vision of his brain, far distant. After a time his gaze came back +and rested upon the woman and her babe again. + +"If I could take the child," he murmured. + +The squaw watched him furtively while she drew the deer sinew through +the pieces of skin from which she was fashioning a moccasin. She +understood, although spoken in English, the words he was scarce +conscious of uttering, and, startled out of her Indian instinct of +assumed inattention, looked at him with wide-opened eyes, trying to +fathom a matter hardly comprehended but of great moment to her. + +"Take the child"--where, and for what? Was he going to leave and sail +down the great river to the St. Louis whence came all traders and the +soldiers on the boats? Going away again as he had come to her many +seasons ago? "Take the child," her child and his? Her mouth closed +firmly, her eyes darkened and narrowed, as she stooped suddenly and +lifted the child to her lap; and the Indian mother's cunning and +watchfulness were aroused and pitted against the white father's love of +his child. + +Fort Atkinson was the most western post of the line established by +President Monroe in 1819, after the Louisiana Purchase, to maintain the +authority of the United States against Indian turbulence and British +aggression, and had been in existence about four years before our story +opens. + +Here had been stationed the Sixth U. S. Infantry, who had wearily +tramped for two months the banks of the Missouri river and dragged their +boats after them, a distance of nearly a thousand miles of river travel +to reach this post in the wilderness. Not a white man then occupied what +is now the state of Iowa, except Julien Dubuque and a score or so of +French traders. Not a road was to be found nor a vehicle to traverse +it. But one or two boats other than keel boats and barges had ever +overcome the swift current of the great Missouri thus far. + +The Santa Fe trail, that wound over the hills west of the fort, +connected them with the Mexican Spanish civilization of the Southwest, +and the great rivers with their unsettled land far away on the Atlantic +seaboard. + +Seventy-five years ago these soldiers dropped the ropes with which they +had dragged the barges and keel boats and themselves thither, and +picking up spade and shovel, dug foundations, molded and burned brick, +cut down trees, and built barracks for themselves and the three +detachments of artillery who terrified the redmen with the mysterious +shells which dropped down amongst them and burst in such a frightful +manner. + +They numbered about twelve hundred men, and the bricks they molded and +the cellars they dug still remain to tell of the Fort Atkinson that was, +beside whose ruins now stands the little village of Fort Calhoun, +sixteen miles north of Omaha on the Missouri river. + +Dr. Gale, whom we have thus seen considering a question of great +importance both to himself and to the Indian woman with whom he seems to +have some relation, was the surgeon of the Sixth Infantry, an +Englishman, short, thick-set, and evidently of good birth, although the +marks of his rough life and rather dissolute habits obscured it in some +degree. + +The point where Fort Atkinson was built was the noted "Council Bluff" at +which Lewis and Clark held the Indian council famous in the first annals +of western explorations, and it still remains a rendezvous for the +various tribes of Indians, the "Otoes, Pawnees, 'Mahas, Ayeaways, and +Sioux," attracted thither by the soldiers and the trading posts, and +secure from each others' attacks on this neutral ground. + +Shortly after the troops were located here an Ayeaway (Iowa) chief and +his band pitched their tents near the fort. The daughter of this chief +was named Nikumi; she was young and had not been inured to the hard +tasks which usually fell to the squaws, so her figure was straight, her +eyes bright, and her manner showed somewhat the dignity of her position. + +Not a white woman was there within a radius of five hundred miles except +a few married ones belonging to the fort; was it strange that Dr. Gale, +the younger son of an English family who had left civilization for a +life of adventure in the New World, and who seemed destined to dwell +away from all women of his own race, should woo this Indian princess and +make her his wife? He had chosen the best of her race, for all who +remember her in after years speak of her dignified carriage, her +well-formed profile, and her strength of will and purpose, so remarkable +among Indian women. + +For four years she had been his wife, and the child she had just seized +and held in her arms as if she would never let her go, was their child, +little Mary, as her father named her, perhaps from his own name, Marion. + +But now this union, which her unknowing mind had never surmised might +not be for all time, and his, alas, too knowing one had carelessly +assumed while it should be his pleasure, was about to be severed. + +A boat had come up the river and brought mail from Chariton or La +Charette, as the Frenchmen originally named it, several hundred miles +below, and the point to which mail for this fort was sent. + +These uncertain arrivals of news from the outside world made important +epochs in the life of the past. The few papers and letters were handled +as if they had been gold, and the contents were read and reread until +almost worn out. For Dr. Gale came a bulky letter or package of letters +tied together and sealed over the string with a circle of red wax. There +was no envelope, as we have now, but each letter was written so as to +leave a blank space after folding for the superscription, and the +postage was at least twenty-five cents on the three letters so tied +together. The postmark of the outer one was New York City; it was from a +law firm and informed Dr. Marion F. Gale, surgeon of the Sixth Infantry, +stationed at Fort Atkinson, the "camp on the Missouri river," that the +accompanying letters had been received by them from a firm of London +solicitors, and begging to call his attention to the same. His attention +being most effectually called thereto elicited first that Messrs. +Shadwell & Fitch of London desired them to ascertain the whereabouts of +Marion F. Gale, late of Ipswich, England, and now supposed to be serving +in the U. S. army in the capacity of surgeon, and convey to him the +accompanying information, being still further to the effect that by a +sudden death of James Burton Gale, who died without male issue, he, +Marion F. Gale, being next of kin, was heir to the estate of Burton +Towers, Ipswich, England. Last came a letter from the widow of his +brother, telling him the particulars of his brother's death. + +Ten years before he had left home with a hundred pounds in his pocket +and his profession, to make himself a career in the new country. + +There were two brothers older than he, one of them married, and there +seemed little prospect that he would ever become proprietor of Burton +Towers; but they, who lived apparently in security, were gone, and he +who had traversed the riverway of an unknown and unsettled country, +among Indians and wild animals, was alive and well to take their place. + +He thought of the change, back to the quiet life of an English country +squire, after these ten years of the free life of the plains, and the +soldiers and the Indians. The hunting of the buffalo, the bear, and the +elk exchanged for the tame brush after a wild fox, or the shooting of a +few partridges. + +But the family instinct was strong, after all, and his eye gleamed as he +saw the old stone house, with its gables and towers, its glorious lawns +and broad driveway with the elms meeting overhead. Oh, it would satisfy +that part of his nature well to go back as its master. This vision it +was that had filled his eyes as they looked so far away. But then they +came back again and rested on Nikumi and the child. + +A certain kind of love had been begotten in his heart for the Indian +maiden by her devotion to him, although he had taken her without a +scruple at the thought of leaving her when circumstances called him +away. But now he felt a faint twinge of the heart as he realized that +the time had come, and a stronger one when he thought that he must part +with the child. "But why need I do it?" he soliloquized. "I can take the +child with me and have her educated in a manner to fit her for my +daughter; if she is as bright as her mother, education and environment +will fit her to fill any position in life, but with Nikumi it is too +late to begin, and she has no white blood to temper the wildness of the +Indian. I will take the child." + +Not a care for the mother love and rights. "Only a squaw." What rights +had she compared with this English gentleman who had taken her from her +tribe, and now would cast her back again and take away her child? But +ah, my English gentleman, you reckoned without your ordinary sagacity +when you settled that point without taking into consideration the mother +love and the Indian cunning and watchfulness, their heritage from +generations of warfare with each other. + +"What have you got?" she asked in the flowing syllables of the Indian +tongue, for like the majority of Indians, though she understood much +English she never, to the end of her days, deigned to speak it. + +"Some words from my friends in the far-away country over the waters, +Nikumi," he answered. "My brother is dead." + +"Ah, and you are sad. You will go there to that land?" she said. + +"I don't know, Nikumi; I may have to go over, for there is much land and +houses and fields to be cared for. I am going down to see Sarpy, now. He +came up on the boat today." + +She watched him as he strode off down past the cattle station towards +the fort. In the summer time her love of her native life asserted +itself, and she left the log quarters which Dr. Gale provided for her, +and occupied a tipi, or tent of skins, down among the cottonwoods and +willows of the bottom lands where portions of her tribe were generally +to be found. When he passed out of sight she took her baby and went to a +tipi a short distance from hers, where a stalwart buck lay on a shaggy +buffalo robe on the shady side, smoking a pipe of kinnikinick, and +playing with some young dogs. She spoke with him a few minutes. He +ceased playing with the dogs, sat up and listened, and finally with a +nod of assent to some request of hers started off towards the fort. She +followed shortly after and glided about from the post store to the +laundresses' quarters, stopping here and there where groups of soldiers +were gathered, and listening attentively to their talk about the news +that had come by the boats. + +She learned that these boats were to be loaded with furs from Sarpy's +trading post and go back to St. Louis in a few days. In the meantime the +young buck, who was her brother, had gone by her directions to Sarpy's +trading post, just below the fort. She had told him what she knew and +surmised; that the "pale-faced medicine man," as the Indians called him, +had received a paper from his friends across the great waters towards +the rising sun which told his brother was dead, and that he might have +to go there to care for the houses and lands his brother had left; that +she had heard him say "If I could take the child," and she feared he +might take her papoose away; "and he shall not," she said passionately. +"I must know what he will do. Go you and listen if the medicine man +talks with Sarpy; watch him closely and find out all." + +He had followed the Indian trail which skirted along the edge of the +high bluffs on the eastern boundary of the fort, and reached the trading +post from the north. Going in he uttered the single word "tobac," and +while the clerk was handing it out to him he glanced around in the +aimless, stolid Indian manner, as if looking over the blankets and skins +hung against the logs. Back at the further, or southwest, corner of the +store, near a window, and partially screened by a rude desk made of a +box set upon a table and partitioned into pigeon-holes, sat two men. One +of them was Dr. Gale, the other, Peter A. Sarpy. + +To the ears of most readers the name will convey no particular +impression; if a resident of Nebraska it would call to mind the fact +that a county in that state was named Sarpy, and the reader might have a +hazy consciousness that an early settler had borne that name; but in the +days of this story and for thirty years later it meant power and fame. +The agent of the American Fur Company in that section, Peter A. Sarpy's +word was law; to him belonged the trading posts, or so it was believed; +he commanded the voyageurs who cordelled the boats and they obeyed. +Every winter he went down the great river before it was frozen over, to +St. Louis, and every spring his boats came up after the ice had broken +up, and before the great mountain rise came on in June, with new goods +that were anxiously looked for, and eagerly seized in exchange for the +buffalo robes, the beaver, mink, otter, and deer skins that had been +collected through the winter. He was of French parentage, a small man, +with the nervous activity of his race; the brightest of black eyes; +careful of his dress, even in the wilds; the polish of the gentleman +always apparent in his punctilious greeting to everyone; but making the +air blue with his ejaculations if his orders were disobeyed or his ire +aroused. Famous the length of the river for his bravery and +determination, he was a man well fitted to push actively the interests +of the company of which he was the agent as well as a member. + +The Indian passed noiselessly out and going around to the side of the +building seated himself upon the ground, and pulling his long pipe from +the folds of his blanket, filled it with the "tobac," rested it on the +ground, and leisurely began to smoke. It was no unusual thing for the +Indians thus to sit round the post, and no one took any notice of him, +nor in fact that he was very near the open window, just out of the range +of vision of the two men sitting within. + +"So upon me devolves the succession of the estate of Burton Towers," +Gale was saying to Sarpy, "and my sister-in-law writes that some one is +imperatively needed to look after the estate as there is no male member +of the family left in England." + +"And you will leave your wild life of the prairies to go back to the +tame existence of rural English life? Egad, I don't believe I could +stand it even to be master of the beautiful demesnes which belong to my +family. Power is sweet, but Mon Dieu, the narrowness, the +conventionalities, the tameness of existence!" + +"No worse than the tameness of this cursed fort for the last year or +two. It was very well at first when the country was new to us and the +Indians showed some fight that gave us a little excitement, but now +we've exhausted all the resources, and an English squire, even, will be +a great improvement. You've some change, you know. St. Louis in winter +gives you a variety." + +"What are you going to do with Nikumi and Mary?" + +"That's what I want to talk to you about. I find I'm fonder of the child +than I thought, and indeed it gives my heartstrings a bit of a wrench to +leave Nikumi behind; but to take her is out of the question. Mary, +however, I can educate; she is bright enough to profit by it, and young +enough to make an English woman of. I believe I shall try to get her +away quietly, and take her with me." + +"You ought to have lived here long enough to have some knowledge of the +Indians, but I'm damned if I think you are smart enough to get that +child away from its mother," said Sarpy. + +"Well, I'll try it, anyway. The worst trouble I apprehend is getting +away myself at so short notice. When do your boats go down again?" + +"In about a week." + +"To leave the troops without any surgeon is rather risky, but they're +pretty healthy at this season, and young Carver has been studying with +me considerably, and can take my place for a short time. If I succeed in +getting leave of absence to go on to Washington, Atkinson will probably +send some one up from St. Louis as soon as possible. I shall have to get +leave of absence from Leavenworth here, and then again from Atkinson at +St. Louis. Then I can send in my resignation after I arrive at +Philadelphia. All this beside the intermediate hardships and delays in +reaching there." + +To the Indian outside much of this was unintelligible, but he heard and +understood perfectly "I think I shall try to get her away from her +mother and take her with me," and later the reply that the boats would +go down in about a week. + +That was sufficient for him, and he arose, gathered up his blanket that +had dropped down from his shoulders, slipped the pipe into his belt +which held it around his waist, and then his moccasined feet trod the +narrow trail, one over the other, the great toe straight in a line with +the instep, giving the peculiar gait for which the Indian is famous. + +He found Nikumi back at her tipi: the kettle was hung from the tripod of +three sticks over the fire, and a savory smell arose which he sniffed +with pleasure as he approached, for Nikumi was favored above her tribe +in the supplies which she received from the camp, and which included +great luxuries to the Indians. Nikumi was very generous to her relatives +and friends, and often shared with them the pot which she had varied +from the original Indian dish of similar origin by diligently observing +the methods of the camp cooks. + +She had learned to use dishes, too, and bringing forth two bowls, some +spoons, and a tin cup, ladled some of the savory mixture into them, for +she had evidently learned the same lesson as her white sisters: when you +would get the best service from a man, feed him well. + +On the present site of Fort Atkinson may be found, wherever the ground +is plowed over or the piles of bricks and depressions that mark the +cellars of the buildings are overhauled, a profusion of old buttons, +fragments of firearms, cannon balls and shells, and many pieces of delf. +A quaint old antiquarian who lives there has a large collection of them +which he shows with delight. + +Who knows but that some of the fragments are pieces of Nikumi's bowl, +for as her brother told her of Gale's words to Sarpy, her face added to +its bronze hue an indescribable grayish tinge, and starting suddenly, +the bowl fell from her hand, striking the stones which formed a circle +for the fire, and broke into fragments. She forgot to eat, and a rapid +flow of words from her lips was accompanied by gestures that almost +spoke. They should keep strict watch of the loading of the boats, she +said, and of the voyageurs in charge of them, and when they saw signs of +departure of them, she would take the child and go--and she pointed, but +spoke no word. He must make a little cave in the hillside, and cover it +with trees and boughs, and she would provide food. When the white +medicine man had gone he could tell her by a strip of red tied in the +branch of a tree like a bird, which could be seen down the ravine from +her hiding place, and she would be found again in her tipi as if she had +never been absent. He grunted assent as well as satisfaction at the +innumerable bowls of soup, and then stretched himself comfortably and +pulled out his pipe. + +Meanwhile little Mary, the heroine of this intrigue, was eating soup and +sucking a bone contentedly. Would she be an Indian or an English maiden? +She was an Indian one now and happy, too. And Nikumi? She had come to +her white husband and remained with him contented and happy. He had been +good to her in the main, although he swore at her and abused her +sometimes when he got drunk or played at cards too long, but he was +better than the braves were to their squaws, and she did not have to +work as they did; she had wood and food and she could buy at the trading +post the blankets and the strouding and the gay red cloths, and the +beads with which the squaws delighted to adorn their necks and to stitch +with deer sinew into their moccasins. She had lived each day unconscious +that there might not be a tomorrow like it. But it had dropped from the +skies, this sudden knowledge that had changed everything. + +Had she had no child she would doubtless have mourned silently for the +man who had come and taken her life to be lived beside his and then left +her worse than alone; but the greater blow had deadened the force of the +lesser, and only her outraged mother love cried out. + +She sat on the buffalo robe inside the tipi and watched the child +rolling about outside with the little fat puppy, hugging it one moment, +savagely spatting it over the eyes the next. She had no right to rebel; +an Indian did what he would with his squaw, how much more a white man, +and to any decree concerning herself she would doubtless have submitted +silently, but to lose her child--that she would not do, and she knew how +to save it. + +All unconscious of this intrigue, Gale made his preparations for +departure, and it was soon known through the camp that he was about to +go to the "states." + +He had taken pains to conceal the fact of his intended final departure +for England. + +He secretly made arrangements with the man who acted as cook for the +boats to take charge of little Mary until they got to St. Louis, where +they could get a servant, and going down the river would take but a few +days. + +Gale's condition of mind was not to be envied during the interval before +he started. He scarcely felt the injustice to Nikumi in thus leaving +her, but he could not quite reconcile with even his weak sense of her +rights that he should take the child away from her, and yet he fully +intended to do so. He spent much of the time with Nikumi at her summer +residence, the tipi, and she treated him with the same gentle deference +and quiet submissiveness that were usual to her, so completely deceiving +him that he did not once surmise she knew anything of his plans. The +last two or three days he occupied himself in packing a case of articles +of various kinds that he had accumulated: an Indian pipe of the famous +red pipestone of the Sioux country, with its long flat stem of wood cut +out in various designs and decorated with feathers and bits of metal; +moccasins of deer skin, handsomely beaded and trimmed with fringes, some +of them made by Nikumi's own hands; specimens of the strange Mexican +cloths woven from the plumage of birds, brought by the trading Mexicans +up the Santa Fe trail; a pair of their beautiful blankets, one robe, a +few very fine furs, among them a black bear skin of immense size, a +little mat woven of the perfumed grasses, which the Indians could find +but the white man never, some of the nose and ear rings worn by the +squaws. + +Nikumi came to his quarters while he was taking these things down from +the walls and shelves where she had always cared for them with so much +pride. In answer to her inquiring gaze he said: "I go Nikumi, to the far +eastern land, and these I shall take with me to show my friends what we +had that is beautiful in the land of the Indian and the buffalo, that +they wish to know all about." "And when will you return to Nikumi and +Mary?" "I can not tell; I hope before many moons; will you grieve to +have me go Nikumi?" "Nikumi will look every day to the rising sun and +ask the Great Spirit to send her pale-faced medicine man back safely to +her and the child." He put his arms about her with a strange spasm of +heart relenting, realizing for a moment the wrong he was purposing to +commit. But ah, the stronger taking advantage of the weaker. The strong +race using for their own pleasure the weak one. "Ye that are strong +ought to help the weak." He also prepared at Sarpy's trading post, and +by his advice, a smaller package of such things as would be desirable +for little Mary's welfare and comfort. + +It was greatly lacking in the articles we should consider necessary +these times, but when we realize that every piece of merchandise which +reached this far away post had to be transported thousands of miles by +river it is matter of wonder how much there was. + +The morning of the day before the boats were to start he occupied +himself with some last preparations, giving Nikumi a number of articles +that she had used around his quarters to take to her tipi, and telling +her he would leave money with Sarpy so that she might get what was +necessary for herself and Mary. In the afternoon he went down to the +post and did not return to the quarters until late, where he supped at +the mess table and then went in the direction of Nikumi's tent. He had +devised, he thought, a cunning plan to get Nikumi to go the next morning +for some fresh leaves of a shrub which she often procured for him to mix +in his tobacco, and of which he was very fond; and after her departure +he would make for the boat and embark hastily with little Mary, whom he +would keep. Resolving the broaching of his plan as he approached the +tipi, he did not notice that it failed to show the usual signs of +habitation until he drew near when he observed that the kettle hanging +from the tripod over the circle of stones had no fire beneath it, and no +steam issuing from it, no dogs were playing about, and there was no sign +of Nikumi and little Mary. He began to look about for them; the flap of +skin usually fastened up to form a doorway was dropped down; he put it +up and stooping, entered the tipi. It was almost entirely empty; the +skins which had formed the beds were gone; the dishes seemed to be +there, but the food of which he knew she always kept a supply, was all +gone, and there were no signs of the articles of clothing belonging to +them. Sarpy's words come to him, "I'm damned if I think you are smart +enough to get the child away from its mother," and he knew that Nikumi +had outwitted him. He should never see mother or child again. + +He turned and traced angrily the narrow trail to Sarpy's. Striding in +and down the low, dingy, fur odorous room to the rear where Sarpy sat +lazily smoking his pipe he exclaimed, "You were right, Sarpy, Nikumi has +gone with the child." Sarpy took his pipe from his mouth slowly, "Well +I'm sorry you are disappointed, but it will be better for you and the +child, too; she would have grieved herself to death, and worried you +almost to the verge of lunacy first, and you would have had the burden +on your conscience of Nikumi unhappy, and all for no good." "But I'll +not give her up. I had set my heart on it; I shall start a search party +for her at once." "And much good it will do you. There isn't a soldier +in your camp that can find what an Indian chooses to hide, if it is not +more than six feet away from him. You will only inform the camp of your +design and of the fact that a squaw has outwitted you." + +Gale knew too well the truth of his statement, but he paced up and down +the building angrily for some time, determining at each turn towards the +door to start out at the head of a search party, but turning again with +an oath toward the rear as the futility of it all was forced upon him. + +Sarpy regarded him quietly, a half smile in his eyes. He understood the +conflict of feelings, the pain at leaving Nikumi, not very great, but +enough to cause him some discomfort; the now added pain of separation +from the child, also; the chagrin at being outwitted by a squaw, and one +who had always seemed so submissive, and whom he had not dreamed +possessed so much acuteness; the English obstinacy aroused by +antagonism, all struggling against his knowledge that he could do +nothing. Sarpy in his place would have invoked all the spirits of the +darker regions, but he probably would never have put himself in a like +predicament. To his class, seekers of fortunes in the New World, the +Indian was simply a source of revenue and pleasure, treated fairly well +to be sure, because that was the better policy; while it suited their +convenience to use them they did so; when the need was supplied they +cast them off; possibly Gale, if he analyzed the situation at all, +thought the same, but under the present circumstances, a different set +of emotions dominated him. Nikumi, superior to her tribe, had inspired +inconveniently deep feelings, and he found his fatherly love a factor he +had not counted on. + +At last he approached Sarpy, and throwing himself in a chair, took out +one of the two great soothers of man's woes, his pipe, lighted it and +proceeded to mingle its smoke with that of Sarpy's. "I suppose I shall +have to give it up, but I'm damned if I can submit to it with +equanimity, yet; outwitted by an apparently innocent and submissive +squaw, I suppose two months from now I'll be thanking my lucky stars +that I'm not saddled with a brat of an Indian, and at intervals +thereafter shall be falling upon my knees, and repeating the operation. +But I'm blessed if I can see it so now." + +"Yes it will be better for you as well as the others, and as soon as you +get away from here you will view it very differently," said Sarpy. + +And Nikumi in her cave dug into the bluff, held her baby tight in her +arms, and listened to every sound, while she watched by aid of the rude +but cunningly devised dark lantern, the reptiles and insects which +crawled about, moving only to dispatch a snake or two that were +venomous. + +Could Gale have seen her would he have relented and left the child to +her? Has it been the history of the union of the stronger and weaker +races that the stronger have given up their desires? + +"You will have to look out for Mary, too, Sarpy, as you have promised to +do for Nikumi. I haven't any more money to leave with you at present, +but I will send you some from England. I don't want her to grow up +without any education at all, and have to slave and toil as squaws do +generally, nor Nikumi either." "I'll see to them," said Sarpy, briefly, +"there isn't much chance for education unless they keep up the post here +and she be permitted to learn with the white children; for I don't +suppose Nikumi will ever let her go away to school as Fontenelle sends +his boys, but she shall have what education she can get and Nikumi shall +not be obliged to go back to her tribe for support as long as I am +here," and the smoke of the Frenchman's and Englishman's pipes ascended +to ratify this compact. + +The next day at sunrise the boats dropped swiftly down the river. A +figure at the stern of one of them watched until the last sign of the +landing place faded in the early morning light. + +Dr. Gale had played a brief part in the settlement of a new country from +which he now disappeared as if he had never been. + +In after years only the few who belonged to that early settlement +remembered that Mary was his child, and told of it sometimes, when they +recounted the adventurous life of those early days. A young man listened +to these reminiscences from the lips of the strange, irascible, but warm +hearted Frenchman, and treasured them in memory. Hence this true tale. +Nikumi released from her reptile inhabited cave by the little red bird +in the tree down the ravine, came back to her tipi. She had kept her +child but she had lost her lover and her life. How should she take it up +again? She had been always quiet and little given to the chatter and +laughter of the young squaws; she was only a little more quiet now, and +Mary's lot was decided; she would always be an Indian woman. + +One day Sarpy came to her and told her that Gale had left money for her +and she was to come to the fort for what she wished. And after a time it +came to pass that Sarpy took her to wife as Gale had done. Perhaps that +was in his mind when he looked at Gale with a smile in his eyes; but +Nikumi would not listen to him till she had waited long, and until Sarpy +told her and she heard from others that Gale would never come again. And +she was his faithful wife for many years, occupying always, because of +her inherent dignity and real womanliness, a position high in the +estimation both of the white and the red men. Many tales are told of her +life with Sarpy, how at one time she carried him miles on her back when +he was stricken with fever in the mountains, until she brought him to +aid and safety. Another time when he had given orders that no more goods +should be given her from the post (she was always very liberal to her +relatives and he wished to check it) she quietly picked up two or three +bolts of calico, and walking to the river bank, threw them in; a second +armful followed, and then the enemy capitulated. And still another time +when Sarpy had bought a beautiful black mare, "Starlight," to minister +to the pleasure of a designing English widow, she one day quietly +appeared when the horse was driven round by Sarpy's black servant, and +ordered it taken to the stable, and enforced the order, too. But this is +another story. + +In later years, as Sarpy's dominion ceased with the gradual decline of +the fur company, and he spent much of his time in St. Louis, Nikumi +lived with Mary, who had married an Indian like herself, with a mixture +of white blood in his veins, although he was French, and who occupied a +prominent position in one of the tribes to whom was given a distinct +reservation. From this mixture of English, French, and Indian bloods has +arisen a family which stands at the head of their tribe, and one member +who is known throughout this country. It is worthy of notice, too, that +with one exception it has been the women of the family who have shown +the qualities which gave them preÎminence. + +Nikumi died March 23, 1888, at the home of her daughter Mary; but her +children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren live to show that +sometimes the mixture of races tends to development of the virtues, and +not, as has been so often said, of the vices of both races. + + + + +THE HEROINE OF THE JULES-SLADE TRAGEDY + +BY MRS. HARRIET S. MACMURPHY + + +Our two weeks' ride over Iowa prairies was ended and we had reached our +new home in Nebraska. I sat in the buggy, a child of twelve, with my +three-year-old brother beside me, on the eastern bank of the Missouri +river, while father went down where the ferry boat lay, to make ready +for our crossing. + +In the doorway of a log cabin near by stood a young girl two or three +years older than I. We gazed at each other shyly. She was bare-headed +and bare-footed, her cheeks tanned, and her abundant black hair +roughened with the wind, but her eyes were dark and her figure had the +grace of untrammeled out door life. To my girl's standard she did not +appeal, and I had not then the faintest conception of the romance and +tragedy of which she was the heroine. + +We gazed at each other until father gave the signal for me to drive down +on the clumsy raft-like boat behind the covered half-wagon half-carriage +that held the other members of our family, which I did in fear and +trembling that did not cease until we had swung in and out as the boat +strained at the rope to which it was attached, the waters of the "Old +Muddy," the like of which I had never seen before, straining and drawing +it down with the current, and a fresh spasm of fear was added as we +reached the far shore and dropped off the boat with a thud down into the +soft bank. We had reached Decatur, our future Nebraska home, adjoining +the Indian reservation with its thousand Omahas. + +For a long time I did not know anything further of the girl of the log +cabin by the river side, only that they told us the family were named +Keyou and the men were boatmen and fishermen and ran the ferry. This +first chapter of my little story opened in the spring of 1863. + +Six years later my girlhood's romance brought marriage with my +home-coming soldier, who in his first days in the territory of Nebraska +had passed through many of the romantic events that a life among the +Indians would bring, among them clerking in a trading post with one +"Billy" Becksted, now the husband of my maiden of the riverside log +cabin. And Billy and John always continued the comradeship of the free, +happy, prairie hunting life, riding the "buckskin" ponies with which +they began life together, although they came together from very +different walks of life. + +And I learned of my husband that "Addie," as we had learned to call her, +young as she was when first I saw her, had been the wife of a Frenchman +named Jules, after whom the town of Julesburg (Colorado) is named, and +his dreadful death at the hands of one Slade was one of the stock +stories of the plains well known to every early settler. + +Billy and Addie after a time drifted away from Decatur down the river +and we lost sight of them. + +We, too, left the home town and became residents of Plattsmouth. + +One day my husband, returning from a trip in the country said, "I ran +across Billy and Addie Becksted today and they were so glad to see me +that Addie put her arms round me and kissed me, with tears in her eyes." +Later we learned with sorrow that Billy was drinking and then that he +had come down to Plattsmouth and tried to find my husband, who was out +of town and had gone back home and when almost there had taken a dose of +morphine, and they had found him unconscious and dying near their log +cabin under the bluffs half a mile above the Bellevue station. And my +husband really mourned that he had not been at home, perhaps to have +kept good-hearted Billy from his woeful fate. After a time Addie married +Elton, a brother of Billy's, and one Sunday I persuaded my husband to go +down to them in their cabin under the bluffs. + +"I have always wanted to get Addie to tell me her story of her life with +Jules," I said. + +"I don't believe you can get her to talk about it," said Mac, "she never +speaks of it, Elton says." + +We went, and they were delighted to see us, killed the fatted chicken +and gathered for us some of the wild berries that grew in the bluffs, +and then as we sat under the trees with the bluff towering above us, I +asked her for the story of her girlhood's days out on the plains, when +only a single house that sheltered three or four people was her home, +and not another for many miles. + +"I was just a child," she said, "and Jules was more like my father than +my husband. But there were few women in the country in those days and +Jules said to my parents that he would take good care of me, and so they +gave me to him, and they went on to Denver. He had a man and his wife to +take care of the place and do the work, and I just did whatever I wanted +to. We were on the great trail to California and Pike's Peak and trains +would come by and purchase supplies from us, so I did not get lonesome. +Jules had had some trouble with a man named Slade a few years before and +had shot Slade, but had taken him to Denver and put him in a hospital +and paid to have him cared for and Slade and he had made it all up, my +husband thought. Slade's ranch was further west and on the other side of +his ranch Jules had another ranch with cattle on, and one day he started +off with two or three men to bring some of the cattle back. He had been +told that Slade had threatened to kill him but he did not believe it, +although he went armed and with good men, he thought. This time he did +not take me along as he had the cattle to drive. When he got near +Slade's place Slade and his gang came down on Jules and his men, +shouting and shooting, drove off Jules' men, took him and carried him to +Slade's ranch. One of Jules' men followed them and saw them tie Jules up +to a great box and then Slade stood a ways off with his rifle and shot +at Jules, just missing his ear or his neck or his hand that was +stretched out and tied; sometimes hitting him just enough to draw the +blood. He kept this up all the rest of the day and then towards night he +fired a shot that killed him. The boys who were with Jules came back to +us and told us what had been done. We were so frightened we did not know +what to do at first, for we expected every minute that Slade and his +gang would come and kill us. They did come the next day and carried off +a lot of the stuff we had in the trading post but did not do any harm to +us. The man and his wife that were with us and the boys then got a team +together and put enough stuff into the wagon to do us until we could get +to Denver. All the rest and the cattle I guess Slade got. Jules had +money in some bank in Denver, he had always said, but we never could +find it. I found my folks and after a while we came back here where we +had lived before we went to Denver." + +She told her story in the simplest commonplace manner, but it did not +need any addition of word or gesture to paint on my memory for all time +the pathos beneath. + +A girl of fourteen, happy and care-free under the protection of her +father husband one day, putting him in the place of father, and mother, +trusting to him, and suddenly standing beside the rude trading post way +out on the treeless spaces of the trail that seemed to come from +solitude and lead away to it again, and listening to the story of the +frightened cowboy on his broncho whose almost unintelligible words +finally made her understand that her protector, the kind man she had +learned to love, had died a death so horrible it would make the +strongest man shudder. And with only three or four frightened, +irresponsible people to save her, perhaps from a similar or worse fate? +But the women of the plains had but little childhood, and must act the +part that came to them no matter what it might be. + +Afterward she told me more of her strange life with Jules, of his +fatherly, protecting care of her, of his good heart, of the trouble with +Slade, which was Slade's fault in the first place, and it was plain to +see the ideal that had always been cherished way down in her +subconsciousness of the man who played such an eventful but brief part +in her life. It was a wrong, perhaps, but natural feeling to have when I +found by after reading of annals of the plains that Slade died the death +that such a fiendish nature should have suffered. + +Addie Becksted still lives in a little cabin down among the hills about +Bellevue, her children and grandchildren about her, and still bears +traces of the beauty that was hers as a girl. She is only about ten +miles distant from Omaha but has not visited it for years. + +When I go to see her, as I do occasionally, she puts her arms about me +and kisses me on the cheek. And her still bright brown eyes look the +affection of all the years and events that we have known together. + +It is well worth while to have these humble friends who have lived +through the pioneer days with us. + + + + +THE LAST ROMANTIC BUFFALO HUNT ON THE PLAINS OF NEBRASKA + +BY JOHN LEE WEBSTER + + +In the autumn of 1872 a group of men, some of whom were then prominent +in Nebraska history, Judge Elmer S. Dundy and Colonel Watson B. Smith, +and one who afterward achieved national fame as an American explorer, +Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, and another who has since become known +throughout Europe and America as a picturesque character and showman, +Colonel Wm. F. Cody, participated in what proved to be the last romantic +buffalo hunt upon the western plains of the state of Nebraska. + +Elmer S. Dundy was a pioneer who had come to Nebraska in 1857. He had +been a member of the territorial legislature for two successive terms; +he was appointed a territorial judge in 1863, and became the first +United States district judge after the admission of the state into the +union. Colonel Watson B. Smith at that time held the office of clerk of +the United States district and circuit courts for the district of +Nebraska. Some years afterward he met a tragic death by being shot +(accidentally or by assassination) in the corridors of the federal +building in the city of Omaha. Colonel Smith was a lovable man, of the +highest unimpeachable integrity and a most efficient public officer. +There was also among the number James Neville, who at that time held the +office of United States attorney and who afterward became a judge of the +district court of Douglas county. He added zest, vim, and spirit by +reason of some personal peculiarities to be mentioned later on. + +These men, with the writer of this sketch, were anxious to have the +experience and the enjoyment of the stimulating excitement of +participating in a buffalo hunt before those native wild animals of the +plains should become entirely extinct. To them it was to be a romantic +incident in their lives and long to be remembered as an event of pioneer +days. They enjoyed the luxury of a pullman car from Omaha to North +Platte, which at that time was little more than a railway station at +a division point upon the Union Pacific, and where was also located a +military post occupied by a battalion of United States cavalry. + +[Illustration: MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN + +Erected in Antelope Park, Lincoln, Nebraska, by Deborah Avery Chapter, +Daughters of the American Revolution, in memory of Mary M. A. Stevens, +First Regent of the Chapter (1896-1898). Dedicated, June 17, 1914. Cost +$300] + +Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, a regular army officer and American +explorer, at one time commanded an arctic expedition in search of traces +of the remains of Dr. Franklin. At another time he was in command of an +exploring expedition of the Yukon river. At another time he commanded an +expedition into the northernmost regions of Alaska in the interest of +the New York _Times_. He also became a writer and the author of three +quite well known books: _Along Alaska's Great River_, _Nimrod in the +North_, and _Children of the Cold_. + +At the time of which we are speaking Lieutenant Schwatka was stationed +at the military post at North Platte. He furnished us with the necessary +army horses and equipment for the hunting expedition, and he himself +went along in command of a squad of cavalry which acted as an escort to +protect us if need be when we should get into the frontier regions where +the Indians were at times still engaged in the quest of game and +sometimes in unfriendly raids. + +William F. Cody, familiarly known as "Buffalo Bill," who had already +achieved a reputation as a guide and hunter and who has since won a +world reputation as a showman, went along with us as courier and chief +hunter. He went on similar expeditions into the wilder regions of +Wyoming with General Phil Sheridan, the Grand Duke Alexis, and others +quite equally celebrated. + +This Omaha group of amateur buffalo hunters, led by Buffalo Bill and +escorted by Lieutenant Schwatka and his squad of cavalry, rode on the +afternoon of the first day from North Platte to Fort McPherson and there +camped for the night with the bare earth and a blanket for a bed and a +small army tent for shelter and cover. + +On the next morning after a rude army breakfast, eaten while we sat +about upon the ground, and without the luxury of a bath or a change of +wearing apparel, this cavalcade renewed its journey in a southwesterly +direction expecting ultimately to reach the valley of the Republican. We +consumed the entire day in traveling over what seemed almost a barren +waste of undulating prairie, except where here and there it was broken +by a higher upland and now and then crossed by a ravine and +occasionally by a small stream of running water, along the banks of +which might be found a small growth of timber. The visible area of the +landscape was so great that it seemed boundless--an immense wilderness +of space, and the altitude added to the invigorating and stimulating +effect of the atmosphere. + +We amateurs were constantly in anticipation of seeing either wild +animals or Indians that might add to the spirit and zest of the +expedition. There were no habitations, no fields, no farms. There was +the vast expanse of plain in front of us ascending gradually westward +toward the mountains with the blue sky and sunshine overhead. I do not +recollect of seeing more than one little cabin or one little pioneer +ranch during that whole day's ride. I do know that as the afternoon wore +on those of us who were amateur horsemen were pleased to take our turns +as the opportunity offered of riding in the army wagon which carried our +supplies, and leading our horses. + +When the shades of night of the second day had come we had seen many +antelope and now and then heard the cry of the coyote and the wolf but +we had not seen any sign of buffalo, but we did receive information from +some cattlemen or plain wanderers that there was a band of roving +Indians in that vicinity which created in us a feeling of some +anxiety--not so much for our personal safety as that our horses might be +stolen and we be left in these remote regions without the necessary +facilities for traveling homeward. + +Our camp for the night was made upon a spot of low ground near the bank +of a small creek which was bordered by hills on either side and +sheltered by a small grove of timber near at hand. The surrounding hills +would cut off the sight of the evening camp fires, and the timber would +obscure the ascending columns of smoke as they spread into space through +the branches of the trees. + +The horses were picketed near the camp around the commissary wagon and +Lieutenant Schwatka placed the cavalrymen upon sentinel duty. The night +was spent with some restlessness and sleep was somewhat disturbed in +anticipation of a possible danger, and I believe that all of us rather +anxiously awaited the coming of the morning with the eastern sunlight +that we might be restored to that feeling of security that would come +with freedom of action and the opportunity for "preparedness." When +morning did come we had the pleasure of greeting each other with +pleasant smiles and a feeling of happy contentment. We had not been +molested by the Indians and our military sentinels had not seen them. + +On the afternoon of the third day of our march into the wilderness we +reached the farther margin of a high upland of the rim of a plain, where +we had an opportunity of looking down over a large area of bottom land +covered by vegetation and where there appeared to be signs of water. +From this point of vantage we discovered a small herd of browsing +buffalo but so far away from us as to be beyond rifle range. These +animals were apparently so far away from civilization or human +habitation of any kind that their animal instinct gave them a feeling of +safety and security. + +We well knew that these animals could scent the approach of men and +horses even when beyond the line of vision. We must study the currents +of the air and plan our maneuvers with the utmost caution if we expected +to be able to approach within any reasonable distance without being +first discovered by them. + +We intrusted ourselves to the guidance of Buffalo Bill, whose experience +added to his good judgment, and so skilfully did he conduct our +maneuvers around the hills and up and down ravines that within an hour +we were within a reasonable distance of these wild animals before they +discovered us, and then the chase began. It was a part of the plan that +we should surround them but we were prudently cautioned by Mr. Cody that +a buffalo could run faster for a short distance than our horses. +Therefore we must keep far enough away so that if the buffalo should +turn toward any of us we could immediately turn and flee in the opposite +direction as fast as our horses could carry us. + +I must stop for a moment to recite a romantic incident which made this +buffalo chase especially picturesque and amusing. Judge Neville had been +in the habit of wearing in Omaha a high silk hat and a full dress coat +(in common parlance a spiketail). He started out on this expedition +wearing this suit of clothes and without any change of garments to wear +on the hunt. So it came about that when this group of amateur buffalo +huntsmen went riding pell-mell over the prairies after the buffalo, and +likewise when pursued by them in turn, Judge Neville sat astride his +running war-horse wearing his high silk hat and the long flaps of his +spiketail coat floating out behind him on the breeze as if waving a +farewell adieu to all his companions. He presented a picture against the +horizon that does not have its parallel in all pioneer history. + +It was entirely impossible for us inexperienced buffalo hunters while +riding galloping horses across the plains to fire our rifles with any +degree of accuracy. Suffice it to say we did not succeed in shooting any +buffalo and I don't now even know that we tried to do so. We were too +much taken up with the excitement of the chase and of being chased in +turn. At one time we were the pursuers and at another time we were being +pursued, but the excitement was so intense that there was no limit to +our enjoyment or enthusiasm. + +Buffalo Bill furnished us the unusual and soul-stirring amusement of +that afternoon. He took it upon himself individually to lasso the +largest bull buffalo of the herd while the rest of us did but little +more than to direct the course of the flight of these wild animals, or +perhaps, more correctly expressed--to keep out of their way. It did not +take Buffalo Bill very long to lasso the large bull buffalo as his fleet +blooded horse circled around the startled wild animal. When evening came +we left the lassoed buffalo out on the plains solitary and alone, +lariated to a stake driven into the ground so firmly that we felt quite +sure he could not escape. It is my impression that we captured a young +buffalo out of the small herd, which we placed in a corral found in that +vicinity. + +On the following morning we went out upon the plains to get the lassoed +buffalo and found that in his efforts to break away he had broken one of +his legs. We were confronted with the question whether we should let the +animal loose upon the prairies in his crippled condition or whether it +would be a more merciful thing to shoot him and put him out of his pain +and suffering. Buffalo Bill solved the vexatious problem by concluding +to lead the crippled animal over to the ranchman's house and there he +obtained such instruments as he could, including a butcher knife, a +hand-saw, and a bar of iron. He amputated the limb of the buffalo above +the point of the break in the bone and seared it over with a hot iron to +close the artery and prevent the animal from bleeding to death. The +surgical operation thus rudely performed upon this big, robust wild +animal of the prairie seemed to be quite well and successfully +performed. The buffalo was then left in the ranchman's corral with the +understanding that he would see it was well fed and watered. + +We were now quite a way from civilization and near the Colorado border +line, and notwithstanding our subsequent riding over the hills and +uplands during the following day we did not discover any other buffalo +and those which had gotten away from us on the preceding day could not +be found. During that day we turned northward, and I can remember that +about noon we came to a cattleman's ranch where for the first time since +our start on the journey we sat down to a wooden table in a log cabin +for our noonday meal. During the afternoon we traveled northward as +rapidly as our horses could carry us but night came on when we were +twenty miles or more southwest of Fort McPherson and we found it again +necessary to go into camp for the night, sleeping in the little army +tents which we carried along with us in the commissary wagon. + +Colonel Cody on this journey had been riding his own private horse--a +beautiful animal, capable of great speed. I can remember quite well that +Mr. Cody said that he never slept out at night when within twenty miles +of his own home. He declined to go into camp with us but turned his +horse to the northward and gave him the full rein and started off at a +rapid gallop over the plains, expecting to reach his home before the +hour of midnight. It seemed to us that it would be a desolate, dreary, +lonesome and perilous ride over the solitude of that waste of country, +without roads, without lights, without sign boards or guides, but +Buffalo Bill said he knew the direction from the stars and that he would +trust his good horse to safely carry him over depressions and ravines +notwithstanding the darkness of the night. So on he sped northward +toward his home. + +On the next day we amateur buffalo hunters rode on to Fort McPherson and +thence to North Platte where we returned our army horses to the military +post with a debt of gratitude to Lieutenant Schwatka, who at all times +had been generous, courteous, and polite to us, as well as an +interesting social companion. + +So ended the last romantic and rather unsuccessful buffalo hunt over the +western plains of the state of Nebraska--a region then desolate, arid, +barren, and almost totally uninhabited, but today a wealthy and +productive part of our state. + +The story of the buffalo hunt in and of itself is not an incident of +much importance but it furnishes the material for a most remarkable +contrast of development within a period of a generation. The wild +buffalo has gone. The aboriginal red man of the plains has disappeared. +The white man with the new civilization has stepped into their places. +It all seems to have been a part of Nature's great plan. Out of the +desolation of the past there has come the new life with the new +civilization, just as new worlds and their satellites have been created +out of the dust of dead worlds. + +There was a glory of the wilderness but it has gone. There was a mystery +that haunted all those barren plains but that too has gone. Now there +are fields and houses and schools and groves of forest trees and +villages and towns, all prosperous under the same warm sunshine as of a +generation ago when the buffalo grazed on the meadow lands and the +aboriginal Indians hunted over the plains. + +[Illustration: MRS. CHARLES H. AULL + +Twelfth State Regent, Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American +Revolution. 1915-1916] + + + + +OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE NEBRASKA SOCIETY, DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN +REVOLUTION + +BY MRS. CHARLES H. AULL, _State Regent_ + + +The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution was +organized in Washington, District of Columbia, October 11, 1890, and +incorporated under the laws of Congress, June 8, 1891. Its charter +membership numbered 818. Its declared object was: + + "To perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women who + achieved American Independence by the acquisition and protection of + historical spots, and the erection of monuments; by the + encouragement of historical research in relation to the Revolution + and the publication of its results; by the preservation of + documents and relics, and of the records of the individual services + of revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of + celebrations of all patriotic anniversaries. + + "To carry out the injunction of Washington in his farewell address + to the American people, 'to promote, as an object of primary + importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge,' + thus developing an enlightened public opinion, and affording to + young and old such advantages as shall develop in them the largest + capacity for performing the duties of American citizens. + + "To cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of American + freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid + in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty." + +Although there were previously some "members at large" in Nebraska, no +chapter had been organized until the formation of Deborah Avery chapter +in 1896. At present (1916) there are thirty-three chapters with a +membership of fifteen hundred, and a well organized state society +actively engaged in historical, educational, and patriotic work. Each +chapter pays to the state society a per capita tax of twenty-five cents. +A conference is held annually to plan the state work and promote the +purposes of the national society. + +Mrs. Charlotte F. Palmer of Omaha was appointed by the national society +as organizing regent for Nebraska, June 7, 1894. She was reappointed in +February, 1895, and again in February, 1896. + +No chapters were formed until in 1896, when Mary M. A. Stevens of +Lincoln was admitted to membership in the national society, January 8, +and was made organizing regent by Mrs. Philip Hichborn, vice-president +general in charge of organization. Under the direction of Miss Stevens, +Deborah Avery chapter was formed May 15, 1896, and chartered June 17 +following. + +In May, 1896, Mrs. Laura B. Pound of Lincoln was appointed state regent +to succeed Mrs. Palmer and the real work of organization was begun. + +Omaha chapter was formed June 29, 1896, and approved by the national +society October 1, 1896. In December, 1896, Mrs. Elizabeth C. Langworthy +was appointed organizing regent at Seward but a chapter was not +completed there until nine years later. In February, 1897, Mary M. A. +Stevens of Deborah Avery chapter and Mrs. Henry L. Jaynes of Omaha +chapter were delegates to the continental congress at Washington. Miss +Stevens nominated Mrs. Pound for state regent and Mrs. Jaynes nominated +Mrs. John M. Thurston of Omaha for vice-president general from Nebraska. +Their election followed. Mrs. Thurston died March 14, 1898, and her +sister-in-law, Mrs. Angie Thurston Newman of Lincoln was elected at the +following congress to succeed her. No new chapters were perfected in +1897 but Minnie Shedd Cline of Minden and Mrs. Sarah G. Bates of +Valentine were appointed organizing regents. + +Mrs. Frances Avery Haggard of Lincoln was elected state regent by the +continental congress in February, 1898. She devoted her energies to +raising money and supplies for the relief work undertaken by the +Daughters during the Spanish-American war. At the close of her first +term Mrs. Haggard declined a renomination. + +The third state regent was Mrs. Elizabeth Towle of Omaha, who was first +elected in 1899 and reÎlected in 1900. Miss Anna Day of Beatrice was +appointed organizing regent by Mrs. Towle. + +In 1901 Mrs. Laura B. Pound was again elected state regent and served +two terms. The national society having made provision for state +vice-regents, Mrs. Mildred L. Allee of Omaha was elected to that office. +Mrs. Annie Strickland Steele was appointed organizing regent at +Fairbury, Mrs. Janet K. Hollenbeck at Fremont, and Mrs. Olive A. +Haldeman at Ord. In her last report as state regent Mrs. Pound recorded +two new chapters, Quivira chapter at Fairbury, organized December 3, +1902, and Lewis-Clark chapter at Fremont, January 17, 1903, with +chapters at Beatrice and Ord in process of formation. Quivira chapter +was chartered February 3, 1903, and Lewis-Clark chapter was chartered +February 13, 1903. + +The first state conference was called by Mrs. Pound in October, 1902, +and was held in Lincoln at the home of the late Mrs. Addison S. +Tibbetts. This conference was called to nominate a state regent and plan +for observing the centennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. This +event was celebrated August 3, 1904, the anniversary of the council of +Lewis and Clark with the Otoe and Missouri Indians. On this date a +Nebraska boulder was dedicated at Fort Calhoun with appropriate +exercises, participated in by the Sons of the American Revolution and +the Nebraska State Historical Society. This was the first historical +event commemorated by the Daughters in Nebraska. + +Mrs. Mildred L. Allee of Omaha was nominated for state regent at the +conference in 1902, and Mrs. Emma Kellogg of Lincoln for vice-regent. +These nominations were approved at the continental congress in 1903 and +both nominees were elected, and reÎlected in 1904. + +Coronado chapter at Ord was organized January 25, 1904, and Elizabeth +Montague chapter at Beatrice June 17, 1904. The former was chartered +September 30, 1904, and the latter June 21, 1905. + +On October 20, 1903, the second annual state conference was held in +Omaha. Mrs. Charles Warren Fairbanks, president general of the national +society, was the guest of honor and delivered an address upon the +subject, "The Mission of the Daughters of the American Revolution." + +The third annual state conference assembled in Lincoln, October 19, +1904, for a two days' session. Mrs. Elizabeth C. Langworthy of Seward +was chosen for state regent and Mrs. Janet K. Hollenbeck of Fremont was +the choice of the conference for vice-regent. Both were elected, and +both were renominated at the fourth state conference held at Fairbury in +October, 1905. Mrs. Langworthy organized the Margaret Holmes chapter at +Seward April 10, 1905, and Nikumi chapter at Blair, February 23, 1906. + +Lincoln entertained the fifth annual state conference October 29-30, +1906, Mrs. Donald McLean, president general, being the guest of honor. +At this conference a state organization was perfected and by-laws +adopted providing that nominations for state regent and vice-regent +should be made by the state board of management and submitted to the +continental congress for election. Other officers for the state +organization were to be elected at the annual conference. This system +was followed until 1910, when the by-laws of the national society were +changed to permit each state organization to elect its own regent and +vice-regent. + +Mrs. Charles B. Letton of Quivira chapter, Fairbury, was nominated for +state regent and Mrs. Janet K. Hollenbeck for vice-regent at the meeting +of the board of management in the spring of 1907, and were elected at +the national congress immediately following. Mrs. Letton was reÎlected +in 1908 and Mrs. S. D. Barkalow of Omaha was elected vice-regent. + +The sixth annual state conference was held in Omaha October 22-23, 1907. +Mrs. Letton appointed three organizing regents, one at Aurora, where no +chapter has yet been formed; Mrs. Arthur E. Allyn at Hastings, and Mrs. +Charles Oliver Norton at Kearney. On May 16, 1908, she organized the +Fort Kearney chapter at Kearney, which was chartered October 27, 1908, +with Mrs. Norton as its first regent. + +Mrs. Richard C. Hoyt presented the following resolution to the sixth +annual conference and moved its adoption, the motion being seconded by +Mrs. Henrietta M. Rees: + +"Therefore, be it resolved that the D. A. R. of Nebraska coˆperate with +the State Historical Society in taking some steps toward marking the old +Oregon trail in Nebraska and that a committee be appointed to act in +unison with the Historical Society." + +The resolution was adopted. Members of the Omaha chapter who were +interested in this matter at the time, say that the idea was suggested +by Dr. George L. Miller of Omaha, then president of the State Historical +Society. In accordance with the foregoing resolution Mrs. Letton, state +regent, appointed the following committee: Mrs. John J. Stubbs, +Omaha; Mrs. George H. Brash, Beatrice; and Mrs. Stephen B. Pound, +Lincoln. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT LOCATED IN BEMIS PARK, OMAHA, ON THE CALIFORNIA +TRAIL OR MILITARY ROAD + +Erected by Omaha Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution] + +[Illustration: MONUMENT IN RIVERSIDE PARK, OMAHA, MARKING THE INITIAL +POINT OF THE CALIFORNIA TRAIL + +Erected by Omaha Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution] + +The seventh annual conference was held at Fremont October 29-30, 1908. +At this conference Mrs. Letton urged that plans be made for marking the +Oregon trail across Nebraska, and called upon Mrs. Charles Oliver Norton +who had been appointed chairman of the Oregon trail committee to present +the subject to the conference. + +In April, 1909, Mrs. Oreal S. Ward of Lincoln was elected state regent +and Mrs. S. D. Barkalow of Omaha was reÎlected vice-regent. In 1910 Mrs. +Ward was reÎlected state regent with Mrs. Charles Oliver Norton as +vice-regent. + +The eighth state conference was held at Beatrice October 28-29, 1909. At +this conference it was voted to present two marble pedestals to Memorial +Continental Hall. It was resolved to vigorously prosecute the efforts to +secure an appropriation from the legislature for the marking of the +Oregon trail. Mrs. Charles B. Letton, during her last term as state +regent, had endeavored to have the legislature of 1909 appropriate money +for marking this trail, but no action was taken by that body until the +session of 1911, when, through the efforts of Mrs. Oreal S. Ward, who +had been elected state regent, $2,000 was appropriated "for the purpose +of assisting in the procuring of suitable monuments to mark the Oregon +trail in the state of Nebraska." This money was to be expended under the +direction of a commission composed of "the state surveyor of Nebraska, +the state regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the +state of Nebraska, and the secretary of the Nebraska State Historical +Society." This act was approved April 7, 1911. On April 10th following, +the above-named commissioners met and organized as the "Oregon Trail +Memorial Commission," with Robert Harvey president, Mrs. Oreal S. Ward +vice-president, and Clarence S. Paine secretary-treasurer. + +During Mrs. Ward's term as state regent she organized four chapters, St. +Leger Cowley chapter, Lincoln, December 3, 1909; Niobrara chapter, +Hastings, October 12, 1910; Otoe chapter, Nebraska City, February 15, +1911; Major Isaac Sadler chapter, Omaha, March 1, 1911. + +The ninth annual state conference was held in Seward, October 19-20, +1910, and Mrs. Charles Oliver Norton of Kearney was elected state +regent, and Mrs. Warren Perry of Fairbury vice-regent. They were +reÎlected at the tenth state conference, held at Kearney, October 23-25, +1911. The following eleven chapters were organized during Mrs. Norton's +administration: + + Platte chapter, Columbus, October 20, 1911. + Reavis-Ashley chapter, Falls City, January 5, 1912. + Superior chapter, Superior, January 12, 1912. + Thirty-seventh Star chapter, McCook, February 21, 1912. + David City chapter, David City, March 5, 1912. + Pawnee chapter, Fullerton, March 28, 1912. + David Conklin chapter, Callaway, February 22, 1913. + Josiah Everett chapter, Lyons, February 26, 1913. + Bonneville chapter, Lexington, February 26, 1913. + Nancy Gary chapter, Norfolk, February 27, 1913. + Stephen Bennett chapter, Fairmont, February 28, 1913. + +Mrs. Norton attended the third meeting of the Oregon Trail Commission, +held May 2, 1911, and was elected vice-president in place of Mrs. Oreal +S. Ward whom she had succeeded as state regent. During her term Mrs. +Norton vigorously prosecuted the work of marking the Oregon trail, with +the assistance of Mrs. Charles B. Letton, whom she had appointed as +chairman of the Oregon trail committee. During her administration the +contract was made for regulation markers to be used in marking the +trail, and several were erected. There were also several special +monuments erected ranging in cost from $100 to $350. The first monument +to be planned for during this period was the one on the Kansas-Nebraska +state line, to cost $350, which, however, was not dedicated until later, +and the last monument to be dedicated during Mrs. Norton's term was the +one on the Nebraska-Wyoming line, costing $200, for which Mrs. Norton +raised the money from the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution +in Nebraska and Wyoming. During this time there was also a very careful +survey made of the trail and sites for monuments were selected. + +In April, 1910, Mrs. Andrew K. Gault of Omaha was elected vice-president +general from Nebraska at the national congress and reÎlected in 1912, +serving, in all, four years. + +The eleventh annual conference was held in Lincoln, October 22-24, +1912. Mrs. Mathew T. Scott, president general, was the honor guest. +Amendments to the by-laws were adopted in harmony with the by-laws of +the national organization and the date of the state conference was +changed from October to March. It was provided that all state officers +should serve for one term of two years, and the per capita tax was +raised from ten cents to twenty-five cents. Mrs. Warren Perry of +Fairbury was elected state regent and Mrs. Charles H. Aull of Omaha +vice-regent. + +The twelfth annual state conference convened at Fairbury, March 17-19, +1914. During Mrs. Perry's term of office there were organized the +following chapters: + + Oregon Trail chapter, Hebron, October 20, 1913. + Jonathan Cass chapter, Weeping Water, January 23, 1914. + Elijah Gove chapter, Stromsburg, February 16, 1914. + Fontenelle chapter, Plattsmouth, April 21, 1914. + Reverend Reuben Pickett chapter, Chadron, March 4, 1915. + +At the close of her administration twelve organizing regents were at +work: Mrs. Eleanor Murphey Smith, Crete; Mrs. Capitola Skiles Tulley, +Alliance; Mrs. Mabel Raymond, Scottsbluff; Miss Jessie Kellogg, Red +Cloud; Mrs. Alice Dilworth, Holdrege; Mrs. Clara King Jones, Wayne; Mrs. +C. M. Wallace, Shelton; Mrs. Charles Brown, Sutton; Mrs. Margaret Orr, +Clay Center; Mrs. Viola Romigh, Gothenburg; Mrs. Leona A. Craft, +Morrill; Dr. Anna Cross, Crawford. + +The most important work to engage the attention of the state society +during the administration of Mrs. Perry was the erection of monuments on +the Oregon trail, and the accumulation of material for the present +volume of reminiscences. A large number of the regulation markers on the +Oregon trail were erected during this time; several special monuments +dedicated and others arranged for. + +The thirteenth state conference was held in Omaha, March 17-19, 1915. +Mrs. Charles H. Aull of Omaha was elected state regent, and Mrs. E. G. +Drake of Beatrice vice-regent. Three chapters have been organized under +the present administration: + + Capt. Christopher Robinson chapter, Crawford, June 16, 1915. + Butler-Johnson chapter, Sutton, June 17, 1915. + Three Trails chapter, Gothenburg, December 31, 1915. + +At the present time plans are being formulated for marking the +California trail from Omaha and Florence along the north side of the +Platte river to the Wyoming line. This work will be carried forward by +the Daughters, through the agency of the Nebraska Memorial Association +of which the state regent is vice-president. + + + + + FINIS + + + "The moving Finger writes, and having writ, + Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit + Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, + Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it." + + --_Omar Khayyam_ + + + + +INDEX + + +Abel, Anton, 60 + +Adams, Anna Tribell, 189 + +Adams, Clarendon E., _Stirring Events along the Little Blue_, 214 + +Adams County _Gazette_, 17 + +Adams county, historical sketch of, 11, 18 + +Adriance, Rev. Jacob, 291 + +Akers, William H., 14 + +Ak-Sar-Ben, Knights of, 189 + +Alexander, Colonel, 219, 222, 229 + +Alexander, S. J., 144, 270 + +Alexander's ranch, 279 + +Alexandria, Nebraska, 139, 270 + +Alexis of Russia, Grand Duke, 327 + +Allee, Mildred L. (Mrs. Abraham), 189, 334, 335 + +Allen, Edna M. Boyle, _A Grasshopper Raid_, 133 + +Allen, Edwin M., 16 + +Allen, Mrs. Emily Bottorff, _Reminiscences of Washington County_, 286 + +Allen, Mr. and Mrs. John, 284 + +Allen, Pink, 284 + +Allen, Thomas, 284, 295 + +Allen, Thomas J., 299 + +Allen, William, 143 + +Allen, William Henry, _Reminiscences of Fort Calhoun_, 284, 287 + +Allen, Mrs. William Henry, 291 + +Alliance, Nebraska, 339 + +Allis, Samuel, 230 + +Allyn, Mrs. Arthur E., 336 + +American Baptist Publication Society, 281 + +American Fur Company, 312 + +American Monthly magazine, 189 + +American Woman's Suffrage Association, 278 + +Ames, John H., _Location of the Capital at Lincoln_, 176 + +Ames, Nebraska, 306 + +Ames, Oakes, 199 + +Anderson, Mrs. Sarah F., 255 + +Andrews, Dr. J. P., 287, 294 + +Anthony, Susan B., 276, 277 + +Arapahoe, Nebraska, 58, 60, 63 + +Arbor Lodge, 219, 231, 235, 239, 240 + +Arkeketah (Otoe chief), 120 + +Arlington, Nebraska, 300 + +Armstrong brothers, 162 + +Arnold, Mrs., 293 + +Arnold, Major, 293 + +Asche, Mrs. A. Dove Wiley, 96 + +Atkinson, Mrs., 213 + +Atkinson, General Henry, 314 + +Auburn, Nebraska, 212 + +Auger, General C. C., 193 + +Aull, Mrs. Charles H., _Outline History of the Nebraska Society, +Daughters of the American Revolution_, 333, 339 + +Aurora, Nebraska, 213 + +Austin, O. O., 192 + +Avery, W. H., _A Buffalo Hunt_, 131 + +Ayres, James, _Life on the Frontier_, 54 + + +Babcock, ----, 124 + +Babcock, C. C., 17 + +Babcock, Russell D., 16, 17 + +Babcock, Titus, 16 + +Badger family, 97 + +Badger, Henry L., 97, 101, 104 + +Badger, Mrs. H. L., 101 + +Badger, Lewis H., 97 + +Badger, Mary A., 97 + +Bailey, Wesley, 141 + +Bainter, James, 11 + +Baker, Ben S., 275 + +Baker, Joe, 148 + +Baker, Wilton, 192 + +Bancroft, Dr. William M., 57, 67 + +Banking House of Thomas Harbine, 145 + +Barber, F. B., 30 + +Barkalow, Mrs. S. D., 336, 337 + +Barnard, E. H., 78 + +Barneby, Battiste, 118 + +Barnes, Mrs. P. S., 38 + +Barnston, Nebraska, 120, 127 + +Barr, P. F., 15 + +Barrett, Jay Amos, 189 + +Barrette, Rev. and Mrs., 211 + +Bartlett, Iowa, 31 + +Bassett, Samuel C., _A Broken Axle_, 27; _Dreamland Complete_ (poem), 28 + +Bates, Rev. Henry, 164 + +Bates, Mrs. Sarah G., 187, 334 + +Bauman, John, 294 + +Bay State Cattle Company, 26 + +Beatrice _Express_, 141 + +Beatrice, Nebraska, 111, 113, 117, 118, 122, 123, 127, 128, 133, 142, +149, 152, 161, 163, 166, 181, 187, 216, 270, 271, 275, 334, 335, 336, +337, 339 + +Beaver creek (Sandburr creek), 195 + +Beaver Crossing, Nebraska, 258, 259, 260, 261 + +Becksted, Addie, 323, 325 + +Becksted, Billy, 323 + +Becksted, Elton, 323 + +Bedford, Nebraska, 211 + +Beeson, Jane, 94 + +Bell creek, 30, 287, 297 + +Bell, James, 249 + +Bell, John T., 296 + +Bell, Ortha C., _An Incident in the History of Lincoln_, 182, 185 + +Bell, Mrs. Ortha C., _Lincoln in the Early Seventies_, 184-185 + +Bell, Ray Hiram, 185 + +Belleville, Kansas, 142 + +Bellevue, Nebraska, 236, 323, 325 + +Beltzer, John, 248 + +Beni, Jules, 323, 324, 325 + +Benkleman, Nebraska, 263 + +Bennett, Caroline Valentine, 254 + +Bennett, Jacob, 254 + +Berwyn, Nebraska, 46 + +Bethlehem, Iowa, 41 + +Betz, ----, 58 + +Bierstadt, Albert, 214, 215 + +Bifkin, Colonel, 105 + +Big Blue river, 123, 151, 173, 242 + +Big Sandy, 139, 140, 148, 152, 154, 245, 280 + +Binfield, S. B., 15 + +Binney, Millard S., _Gray Eagle, Pawnee Chief_, 194 + +Bittenbender, Mrs. Ada M., 275 + +Black, Gov. Samuel W., 240, 301 + +Black Hills, 25, 50, 52, 110 + +Blackbird creek, 30, 32 + +Blackwell, Lucy Stone, 277 + +Blaine, William H., 101 + +Blair, Grant, 139 + +Blair, James, 139 + +Blair, Nebraska, 287, 291, 294, 298, 336 + +Blizzards, 20, 59, 75, 99, 109, 125, 128, 158, 160, 203, 205, 244, 245, +249, 250, 261, 282, 300 + +Blue river, 111, 113, 121, 161, 261 + +Blue Springs, Nebraska, 112, 113, 122 + +Blue Vale, 102 + +_Blue Valley Record_, 111 + +Boggs, Dr., 128 + +Bohanan, Quinn, 182 + +Bonesteel, ----, 244, 245 + +Bonneville chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Bookwalter, John W., 130 + +Boone, Mrs. William, 247 + +Bosler brothers, 26 + +Boston and Newton Joint Stock Association, 168, 170, 171 + +Bottorff, Andrew J., _Early Days in Stanton County_, 266 + +Boucha, Joseph, 289 + +Bouvier, Adeline, 289 + +Bouvier, Mother, 289 + +Bouvier, Oliver, _Reminiscences of De Soto in 1855_, 289 + +Bowen, Adna H., 16 + +Bowen, Judge, 287 + +Bower, Nebraska, 158 + +Box Butte county, _Historical sketch of_, 25, 26 + +Boyd, ----, 258 + +Boyd, James E., 189 + +Boyer and Roubidoux, 190 + +Boyer, J. P., 190, 191 + +Boyle, Judge, 133, 142 + +Bradley, Judge James, 91, 293 + +Brady, ----, 190 + +Brady Island, 61, 190 + +Brash, Mrs. George H., 336 + +Brass, Samuel L., 16 + +Brewster, Mrs. S. C., 91 + +Brickley, E. D., 166 + +Brigham, George A., 286 + +Brisbane, ----, 260 + +Broken Bow, Nebraska, 46, 48, 49 + +Brooks, Mrs. ----, 275 + +Brooks, Mrs. N. J. Frazier, _Reminiscences of Pioneer Life at Fort +Calhoun_, 288 + +Broome, Francis M., _Frontier towns_, 22 + +Bross, Rev. Harmon, 50 + +Bross, Mrs. Harmon, _An Experience_, 50 + +Brown, Mrs. Charles, 339 + +Brown, Mrs. Charles M., _First Things in Clay County_, 43 + +Brown, F. M., 43, 44 + +Brown, Hopkins, 244 + +Brown, John, 141 + +Brown, R. G., 44 + +Brownell hall, 96 + +Brownville & Fort Kearny railroad, 137 + +Brownville, Nebraska, 31, 111, 116, 142, 161, 211, 212 + +Buchanan, a frontier town, 22 + +Buck surveying party, 243 + +Buffalo, 18, 19, 27, 59, 60, 64, 71, 76, 99, 103, 104-106, 111, 117, +119, 131, 142, 153, 154, 164, 175, 214, 216, 219, 234, 242, 243, 289, +326, 332 + +Buffalo county, 29, 61, 223 + +Buffalo creek, 58, 60 + +Burgess, Frank, 248 + +Burke, Mrs. ----, 190 + +Burlington and Missouri R. R. Co., 15, 16, 18, 43, 66, 122, 128, 136, +137, 188, 254 + +Burt, Mr. ----, 174 + +Bush, Lieutenant ----, 222, 223, 226, 229 + +Bussard, Kate, 103 + +Bussard, William, 109 + +Buswell, Judson, 19 + +Butler, ----, 217 + +Butler, Gov. David, 99, 136 + +Butler Johnson chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 339 + +Byers, Mr. and Mrs. William N., 91 + + +Cabney, Antoine, 189 + +Caldwell, Mrs. A. J., 275 + +California trail, 88, 339 + +Callaway, Nebraska, 49, 338 + +Cameron, L. D., 291 + +Camp, William M., 16 + +Campbell, Alexander, 43 + +Capital hotel, Lincoln, 135 + +Captain Christopher Robinson chapter, Daughters of the American +Revolution, 339 + +Carney family, 75 + +Carpenter, J. A., _Early Days in Nebraska_, 111 + +Carr, Gen. E. A., 193 + +Carson family, 213 + +Carter, Alex., 290, 291 + +Carter, "Billy," 24 + +Carter, Jacob, 291 + +Carter, Mr. and Mrs. J. R., 14 + +Carter, Thomas M., _Reminiscences_, 290 + +Cass county, Nebraska, 37, 94 + +Cedar creek (Willow creek), 195 + +Central City, Nebraska, 244 + +Chabot, C., _Early Recollections_, 62 + +Chadron, Nebraska, 24, 50, 339 + +Champlin and McDowell, 156 + +Champlin, L. C., 175 + +Chandler, John S., 16, 19 + +Chapman, Nebraska, 213 + +Chapman, P. L., 143 + +Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, 282 + +Cheyenne and Northern R. R., 264 + +Cheyenne county, Kansas, 263 + +Cheyenne, Wyoming, 193, 213 + +Chief Pipe Stem (Otoe Indian), 144 + +Chouteau, Auguste, 190 + +Chouteau, Pierre, 190 + +Christian, ----, 156 + +Christian, Robert, 143 + +Christian, William, 141 + +Claim clubs, 93 + +Clapp, Mrs. Sarah, _Early Indian History_, 198 + +Clark, E. H., 266, 284, 293 + +Clark, Mrs. E. H., _Fort Calhoun in the Early Fifties_, 293, 296 + +Clark, Elam, 286, 294 + +Clark, Isaac N., 44 + +Clark, Dr. Martin V. B., 44 + +Clark, Theodore, 193 + +Clarks, Nebraska, 249 + +Clarkson, Rev. John F., 15 + +Clay Center, Nebraska, 44, 339 + +Clay county, 11, 18, 43 + +Clements, ----, 33 + +Clements, E. J., 282 + +Cline, Mrs. J. A., 187 + +Cline, Minnie Shed, 334 + +Clother hotel, Columbus, 249 + +Cody, William F. (Buffalo Bill), 200, 263, 326, 327, 329-331 + +Cogswell, Mrs., 193 + +Colby, Mrs. Clara Bewick, 275 + +Colby, Orrin, 287 + +Cole, Gen. Albert V., _Early Experiences in Adams County_, 18 + +Cole's creek, 285 + +Collegeview (Fontenelle college), 300 + +Collins, Rev. Isaac, 291 + +Columbus, Nebraska, 59, 60, 201, 242, 247-250 + +Comstock, E. S., 214, 216 + +Comstock, George S., 214-217 + +Concordia, Kansas, 155 + +Conroy's ranch, 77 + +Cook, ----, 244 + +Cook, Capt. James H., 52 + +Cooper, Dr. P. J., 287 + +Cooper, Vienna, 287 + +Corey, A. A., 43 + +Coronado chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 282, 335 + +Coronado, Francisco de, 112, 113, 119, 232, 233, 283 + +Correll, Ernest E., _Fred E. Roper, Pioneer_, 268; _An Indian Raid_, 279 + +Correll, E. M., 275, 277, 278 + +Correll, Lucy L., _The Lure of the Prairies_, 272, 275; _Suffrage in +Nebraska_, 277, 278 + +Cottage Hill postoffice, 127 + +Cottonwood Springs, 190, 191, 192 + +Council Bluff (Fort Calhoun), Nebraska, 308 + +Council Bluffs, Iowa, 31, 92, 276, 284, 290, 295 + +Council creek (Skidi creek), 195 + +Cox, William W., 255, 257 + +Crab Orchard, Nebraska, 128 + +Craft, Mrs. Leona A., 339 + +Craig, Allen, 286 + +Craig, Mrs. Rhoda, 295 + +Cramb, J. O., 141 + +Cramb, Will F., 141 + +Crane, George, 20 + +Crawford, Nebraska, 24, 51, 339 + +Creighton college, 90 + +Creighton, Edward, 285 + +Creighton telegraph line, 191 + +Crete, Nebraska, 15, 20, 163, 300, 339 + +Crook, General George, 199 + +Crooked Hand, the Fighter (Pawnee Indian), 230 + +Cropsey, Col. Andrew J., 162 + +Cropsey, Daniel B., _Early Days in Pawnee County_, 135 + +Cross, Dr. Anna, _Legend of Crow Butte_, 51, 339 + +Cross, George, _Early Events in Jefferson County_, 137, 141, 143, 145 + +Crow Butte, Legend of, 51 + +Crow Heart Butte (poem), Pearl Shepherd Moses, 52 + +Cub creek, 140, 148, 164 + +Culbertson, Nebraska, 60 + +Culver, Gen. Jacob H., 189 + +Culver, Mrs. Jacob H., 189 + +Cuming City Claim Club, 290 + +Cuming City, Nebraska, 286, 287, 290, 291, 298 + +Cuming county, 36 + +Cuming, Governor Thomas B., 91 + +Cuming, Mrs. Thomas B., 91 + +Cumming, Mrs. Nils, 43 + +Cushing, James, 244 + +Cushing, Capt. S. E., 198, 200 + +_Custer County, Reminiscences of_, by Mrs. J. J. Douglas, 46, 48 + + +_Daily-Gazette-Journal_, 17 + +Daily, Major, 120 + +Dalbey, Dwight S., 129 + +Dalbey, Mrs. Dwight S., member Book committee, 5 + +Dalbey, Mrs. Virginia Lewis, _Biography of Ford Lewis_, 129 + +Daniels, J. H., 188 + +Darling, Dick, 191 + +Daugherty, R. C., 193 + +Daughter of the American Revolution, 168, 187, 188, 253 + +David City, Nebraska, 338 + +David City chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Davis, Frank M., 18 + +Davis, J. V., 162 + +Davis, Mrs. Thomas, 91 + +Davis, W. H., 299 + +Dawson county, 57, 61-64, 67, 72, 74 + +Dawson, John, 201 + +Day, Miss Anna, 187, 334 + +Deadwood, South Dakota, 66 + +Deborah Avery chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 187, 188, +189, 253, 333, 334 + +Decatur, Nebraska, 30-33, 287, 322, 323 + +Deep Well ranch, 105 + +Delahunty, Patrick, 54 + +DeMerritt, Case of, 48 + +Deroin, Battiste, 118, 121 + +De Soto, Nebraska, 287-289, 290, 298 + +Diller, Nebraska, 125 + +Dillon, Ira G., 17 + +Dilworth, Mrs. Alice, 339 + +Dilworth's Islands, 55 + +Dinsmore, John B., 44 + +Dismal river, 63 + +Ditto, Hank, 24 + +Dixon, Mr. and Mrs. Nimrod J., 102 + +Doane college, 300 + +Dodge county, 298, 303 + +Dodge, Gen. Grenville M., 91 + +Dodge, Col. Henry, 190 + +Donavan, Frele Morton, 180 + +Donavan, W. T., 178 + +Douglas county, Nebraska, 326 + +Douglas house, Omaha, 92 + +Douglas, J. J., 48, 49 + +Douglas, Mrs. J. J., _Reminiscences of Custer County_, 46 + +Douglas, Stephen A., 235 + +Dubuque, Julien, 307 + +Dundy county, Nebraska, 263 + +Dundy, Judge Elmer S., 326 + +Dunlap, ----, 215 + +Drake, Mrs. E. G., 339 + +Dreamland Complete (poem), 29 + +Dyball, Mrs. George B., 306 + + +Eagle (Missouri Indian chief), 119 + +Eddyville, Nebraska, 66 + +Edgerton, Gordon H., 11, 12, 17 + +El Capitan Rancho, 216 + +Elijah Gore chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 339 + +Elizabeth Montague chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 335 + +Elk City, Nebraska, 305, 306 + +Elkhorn river, 78, 84, 266, 267, 297, 299, 300 + +Ellis, Mrs. ----, _An Acrostic_, 204 + +Elm creek, Nebraska, 61, 65, 75 + +Endicott, Nebraska, 161 + +Engle, Mr. and Mrs., 213 + +Erickson, Charles J., 76 + +Erickson, Frank, 76 + +Erickson, John, 76 + +Erwin & Powers company, 58 + +Estabrook, Mrs. Experience, 91 + +Eubanks, Mr. and Mrs., 214, 215, 217, 218, 270 + +Evans, John, 264 + +Evans, Mrs. May, 43 + +Everett, Mr. and Mrs., 33, 34 + +Everett, B. W., 30, 32 + +Everett, Eleanor, 32 + +Everett, Mrs. Elise G., _Experiences of a Pioneer Woman_, 32 + +Everett, Frank, 33, 34 + +Everett, Josiah, 30, 32, 33 + +Ewing, ----, 55 + + +Fagot, Mrs., ----, 68 + +Fairbanks, Mr. and Mrs., 103 + +Fairbanks, Mrs. Charles Warren, 335 + +Fairbury _Gazette_, 141-143 + +Fairbury, Nebraska, 75, 116, 118, 133, 137, 139-146, 147, 154-158, 161, +162, 166, 168, 175, 188, 275, 335-337 + +Fairfield, Chancellor E. B., 135 + +Fairmont, Nebraska, 20, 75, 101, 338 + +Falls City, Nebraska, 252, 253, 338 + +Farnam, Nebraska, 77 + +Ferguson, Susan E., 278 + +Fifth U. S. Cavalry, 190, 193 + +Filley, Elijah, 116, 127 + +Filley, Nebraska, 127 + +Fillmore county, 75, 97, 102, 107, 109 + +Fillmore postoffice, 27 + +Finney, Dr., 290 + +First National bank, Fairbury, 143 + +First Territorial Fair, 237 + +Fisette, Mrs. Charles H., _Pioneer Women of Omaha_, 90 + +Fish creek, 290 + +Fisher, ----, 253 + +Fisher, King, 279 + +Fisher, Martin, 131 + +Fitchie, S. D., 192 + +Florence, Nebraska, 27, 80, 93, 248, 339 + +Fontenelle chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 339 + +Fontenelle college, 296 + +Fontenelle, Logan, 299 + +Fontenelle mission, 300 + +Fontenelle Mounted Rangers, 301 + +Fontenelle, Nebraska, 284, 295, 296, 297, 298, 301, 304 + +Fort Atkinson, 188, 284, 307, 308 + +Fort Calhoun, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 293, 294, 298, 308 + +Fort Cottonwood, 285 + +Fort Hartsuff, 282 + +Fort Kearney chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 336 + +Fort Kearny (Nebraska City), 152 + +Fort Kearny, 12, 28, 60, 65, 88, 95, 176, 219-223, 225, 227, 229, 242, +285 + +Fort Laramie, Wyoming, 76 + +Fort Leavenworth, 314 + +Fort McPherson, 74, 76, 190, 191, 193, 200, 327, 331 + +Fort Omaha, 182 + +Fourth of July celebration, 295 + +Fouts, Marion Jerome (California Joe), 11, 13 + +Fowlie, Peter, 15, 17 + +Fox, The (Pawnee Indian), 228, 229 + +Fox Ford, 270 + +Francis, Samuel, 300 + +Franklin, Dr., 327 + +Franklin county, 232, 233 + +Frazier, John, 286 + +Frazier, Thomas, 288 + +Freeman, Charles, 244, 245 + +Freeman, Daniel, 57, 66 + +Freeman, Mrs. Daniel, _Recollections of the First Settler of Dawson +County_, 64 + +Freeman, Minnie (see Penney), 203, 204 + +Freeman, W. E., 244 + +Freighting, 11, 25, 37, 64, 95, 153, 270, 285 + +Fremont, John C., 12, 78 + +Fremont, Nebraska, 78, 82, 84, 178, 188, 249, 267, 335 + +French, Luther, 43-44 + +Frenchman river, 59 + +Fritt's grove, 32 + +_Frontier Towns_, Frances M. Broome, 22 + +Fullerton, Nebraska, 194, 338 + +Furnas, Gov. Robert W., 96, 213 + + +Gage county, 111, 112-122, 123, 127-130, 216 + +Gale, Dr. Marion F., 307-321 + +Gale, Mary, 307-321 + +Gale, Mell, 127 + +Gantt, Judge Daniel, 192 + +Gardner's Siding, 249 + +Gates, Mr. and Mrs. Milo, 213 + +Gates, Susan, 13 + +Gault, Mrs. Andrew K., 338 + +Gaylord brothers, 20 + +Gaylord, Georgia, 91 + +Gaylord, Ralph, 91 + +Gaylord, Rev. Reuben, 91, 300 + +Genoa, Nebraska, 194, 198, 200, 206, 228, 229, 242, 246, 247 + +Gerrard, E. A., 247 + +Gibson, John McT., 145 + +Gilkerson, Alice Flor, 78 + +Gillingham, David (Gray Eagle), 194 + +Gillis, Judge, 230 + +Gilman, J. C., 191, 192 + +Gilman, Jed, 220, 221, 222 + +Gilman, Mrs. P. J. (Mary Hubbard), 193 + +Gilman's ranch, 77, 220 + +Gilmore, Boss, 104 + +Gilmore, Elias, 102 + +Gilmore, Jake, 104 + +Gilmore, Lydia, 102 + +Gilmore, Minnie, 103 + +Glenn, Newton, 139 + +Glenwood, Iowa, 41 + +Goldsmith, Rev. S., 168 + +Goodwill, Mrs. Taylor G., 91 + +Gordon, Jim, 139 + +Gordon, Nebraska, 24 + +Gosper, Mrs. Watie, 184 + +Goss, ----, 291 + +Gothenburg, Nebraska, 76, 339 + +Gould, Charles, 170, 171 + +Gould, W. A., 137 + +Grand Island, Nebraska, 13, 20, 62, 67, 105, 106, 213, 244, 245 + +Grant, U. S., 15 + +Grasshoppers, 21, 68, 82, 109, 133, 184, 247-248, 252, 273, 274 + +Gray Eagle (Pawnee chief), 194-195 + +Great American Desert, 235, 282 + +Green, Albert L., _Reminiscences of Gage County_, 112 + +Grimes, L. R., 44 + +Guin, Dr., 213 + +Gurley, W. F., 189 + + +Hackberry caÒon, 265 + +Hacker family, 213 + +Hackney ranch, 270, 271, 280 + +Hackney, Walt, 270 + +Hackney, William, 270 + +Hager, Rev. Isaac, 241 + +Haggard, Mrs. Frances Avery, 334 + +Haigler, Nebraska, 263 + +Haile, ----, 12 + +Haines, Rev., 172 + +Haldeman, Dr. F. D., 282 + +Haldeman, Mrs. Olive A. (Mrs. F. D.), 282, 335 + +Halfway Hollow ranch, 25 + +Hall & Evans, 264 + +Hamer, Judge Francis G., 48 + +Hamilton county, 250 + +Hamilton, Mrs. Cynthia, 79, 80 + +Hamilton hotel, 92 + +Hamilton, Mrs. William, 79, 81 + +Haney, ----, 279 + +Hanscom, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J., 90 + +Hansen, George W., _Early Days of Fairbury and Jefferson County_, 139, +145; _The Earliest Romance of Jefferson County_, 147; _Finding the Grave +of George Winslow_, 168-174 + +Hansen, Harry, 141 + +Hansen, Mary Kelley, 143 + +Harbine Bank of Fairbury, 145 + +Harbine, John, 145 + +Harbine, Col. Thomas, 144, 145 + +Hardenburg, Harry, 186 + +Hardy, Nebraska, 111 + +Harney, General W. S., 192 + +Harrington, Sarah P., 79 + +Hart ranch, 25 + +Harvard, Nebraska, 18, 43 + +Harvey, Augustus F., 177, 178 + +Harvey, Robert, 337 + +Hastings _Journal_, 17 + +Hastings, Nebraska, 11, 12, 15, 17, 19, 336, 337 + +Haunstine, Albert, 48 + +Hawkins brothers, 263 + +Hawthorne, Mary Heaton, 78 + +Hay caÒon, 263 + +Hay Springs, Nebraska, 24 + +Haynes, Jack, 14 + +Heaton, Rev. Isaac E., 78 + +Heaton, Mrs. Isaac E., 78 + +Hebron _Journal_, 277 + +Hebron Library association, 278 + +Hebron, Nebraska, 270-272, 275, 277, 279, 339 + +Helvey, Frank, 139, 148-151, _Experiences on the Frontier_, 152, 154 + +Helvey, Jasper, 139 + +Helvey, Joel, 139, 148-150, 152, 154 + +Helvey, Orlando, 140 + +Helvey, Thomas, 139, 152 + +Helvey, Whitman, 152 + +Hemphill, Ada, 247 + +Hemphill, Mrs. Mary, 247 + +Henderson, George, 16 + +Henderson, Nellie, 43 + +Hendricks, George, 264 + +Henrietta postoffice, 272 + +Herndon house, 92 + +Herrick family, 32 + +Heth, John, 222, 223, 226, 227, 228, 229 + +Heth, Mrs. John, 227 + +Heth, Minnie, 227 + +Hewitt, Lucy R., _Early Days in Dawson County_, 67 + +Hewitt, Thomas J., 67 + +Hewitt, Mrs. Thomas J., 67 + +Hichborn, Mrs. Philip, 334 + +Hickok, James B. (Wild Bill), 139, 153 + +Hiles' ranch, 77 + +Hinman, Beach I., 192 + +Hinman, Washington M., 191, 192 + +History and Art club, Seward, 254 + +Holdrege, Nebraska, 339 + +Hollenbeck, Mrs. Janet K., 335, 336 + +Hollenberg, Captain, 150 + +Holloway & Fowler, 78 + +Holmes, Mrs. Mary, 275 + +Holt county, 203 + +Horse creek (Skeleton Water), 195 + +Horseshoe creek, 150 + +Howe, Church, 211 + +Howe, Nebraska, 211 + +Howell, William, 109 + +Hoyt, Mrs. Richard C., 336 + +Hubbard, Mary (Mrs. P. J. Gilman), 193 + +Hubbell, Nebraska, 153 + +Hubbell, Will, 175 + +Hughes' ranch, 25 + +Humphries, ----, 65 + +Hungate family, 38 + +Hunter, Rev. A. V., 39 + +Hunter, Charley, 260 + +Hunter, George Michael, 260 + +Hunter, I. N., _Recollections of_, 36 + +Hunter, Mr. and Mrs. L. D., 36 + +_Huntsman's Echo_, 27 + +Hurd, ----, 156 + +Huse, Harriet, 278 + + +Imlay, William, 256 + +Indians, 28, 33, 34, 36-38, 41, 42, 51, 54-56, 59, 60, 64, 65, 72, 74, +76, 79, 80, 86, 87, 95, 97-100, 102, 104-106, 108-110, 112-122, 134, +136, 142, 144, 149, 150, 152, 154, 164, 165, 175, 189, 191-202, 208-210, +216-218, 222, 227-231, 242, 246, 247, 253-257, 270, 279, 280, 286, 289, +294, 296, 301-303, 305, 307-321 + +Indian burial, 120, 121 + +Indian creek, 113 + +Indian massacres, 12, 28, 54, 59, 65, 243, 285 + +Indian police, 117, 118 + +Indian school, Genoa, 246 + +Indianola, Nebraska, 263 + +Inland, Nebraska, 18 + +Independence, Missouri, 170, 171, 172 + +Irvington, Nebraska, 91 + + +Jackson, James A., 295 + +Jackson, Zaremba, 290 + +Jacobson, John, 19, 54 + +Jacobson house, 19 + +James, Gov. William H., 16, 99, 43 + +Jansen, John, 124 + +Jansen, Peter, _Ranching in Gage and Jefferson Counties_, 123 + +Jarvis, Mrs. A. P., _Lovers' Leap_, 196 + +Jascoby, ----, 284 + +Jaynes, C. S., 18 + +Jaynes, Mrs. Henry L., 334 + +Jefferson county, 117, 120, 123, 137, 139-151, 156, 158, 161, 173, 175, +270 + +Jeffrie's ranch, 77 + +Jenkins, D. C., 139 + +Jenkins, George E., _Looking Backward_, 155 + +Jenkins' Mill, 145 + +Johanson, Sven, _Early Days in Stanton county_, 266 + +Johanson, Mrs. Sven, 267 + +Johnson county, 129 + +Johnson family, 213 + +Johnson, Mrs. E., _Early Recollections of Gage County_, 127 + +Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. E. D., 57, 58, 67, 70 + +Johnson, Elleck, 58 + +Johnson, Mrs. Hadley, 92 + +Johnson, Mrs. Harrison, 92 + +Johnson, Jim, 104 + +Johnson, Joseph E., 27 + +Jonathan Cass chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 339 + +Jones, Alfred D., 295 + +Jones, Mrs. Alfred D., 91 + +Jones, Mrs. Clara King, 339 + +Josiah Everett chapter, daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Judson, H. M., 92 + +Julesburg, Colorado, 323 + +Junction City, Kansas, 142 + +Juniata, Nebraska, 15, 16, 18, 19 + +Juniata house, 19 + + +Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, 92, 290 + +Kansas City & Omaha R. R., 14 + +Kansas Pacific R. R., 193 + +Kearney county, 11 + +Kearney, Nebraska, 48, 67, 70, 75, 223, 243, 270, 336, 337 + +Kearny Heights (Nebraska City), 236 + +Keen, Rev. W. G., 260 + +Kehoe, John, 72 + +Keith, Mrs., 193 + +Kelley, Alfred, 143 + +Kelly, ----, 216, 217 + +Kelly, John, 93 + +Kelly, Margaret F., _A Grasshopper Story_, 82 + +Kellogg, Miss Jessie, 339 + +Kellogg, Mrs. Emma, 335 + +Kenesaw, 11, 12 + +Kenny, Aimee Taggart, 295 + +Keyou, ----, 322 + +Kimball brothers, 188 + +King, ----, 282 + +King, Mrs. Deborah, 275 + +Kingsley, Fayette, 279, 280 + +Kirk, George, 31 + +Kittle, Fred, 78 + +Kittle, Robt., 78, 79 + +Klein and Lang, 123 + +Knapp, Robert M., 129 + +Koontz, J., 78 + +Kountze, Mrs. Herman, 91 + +Kramph, Mrs., 193 + +Kress, Mortimer N. (Wild Bill), 11, 13, 14 + +Krier, B. F., _Pioneer Justice_, 72 + +Kuony, Mr. and Mrs. John B., 293 + + +La Flesche, Joseph, 289 + +Lake caÒon, 263 + +Lancaster county, 129, 177, 180 + +Lancaster, Nebraska, 177, 178, 180 + +Langworthy, Elizabeth C. (Mrs. Stephen C.), 187; _Two Seward County +Celebrations_, 254, 334, 335 + +Lazure, Mrs. May Allen, _Some Items from Washington County_, 295 + +Lee, General, 199 + +Leflang, E. M. F., 66 + +Leonard, Emma, 16 + +Lepin hotel, 15 + +Lester, S. P., 124 + +Lett, H. C., 213 + +Letton, Mrs. Charles B., 168, 169, 336, 337, 338 + +Letton, Judge Charles B., 144; _The Easter Storm of 1873_, 158-160, 169 + +Lewis and Clark, 187, 188, 189, 190, 308 + +Lewis-Clark chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 188, 335 + +Lewis, Elizabeth Davis, 130 + +Lewis, Ford, 129, 130 + +Lewis, Levi, 129 + +Lewis, M. K., 17 + +Lewis, Phoebe, 129 + +Lewiston, Nebraska, 130 + +Lexington, Nebraska, 54, 57, 67, 72, 338 + +Lezenby, Christopher, 258 + +Libby, E. R., 33 + +Liberty, Nebraska, 122 + +Lincoln, Nebraska, 43, 107, 109, 112, 135, 156, 176-182, 184-186, 188, +213, 259, 260, 275, 278, 334, 335, 337 + +Lincoln county, 61, 190-193 + +Lindgren, Elof, 109 + +Lingle, Mrs. Addie Bradley, 70 + +Lingle, W. H., 70 + +Lippincott Halfway House, 287 + +Little Blue river, 11, 12, 43, 44, 104, 105, 148, 149, 153, 154, 166, +217, 270 + +Little Pipe, John (Otoe Indian), 134, 144 + +Little Sandy, 139, 148, 152, 153 + +Lockwood, Judge William F., 91 + +Logan creek, 30, 32 + +Logan Valley, 32 + +Lomas (or Loomis), Roderick, 13 + +Lone Tree (Central City), Nebraska, 244, 245 + +Long creek, 286, 287 + +Long, Major Stephen H., 190 + +Longshore, ----, 60 + +Long Pine, Nebraska, 187 + +Lord, Brackett, 170, 171, 173 + +Lost creek (Lincoln park), 214 + +Louisiana Purchase, 236, 307 + +Loup river, 63, 88 (Potato Water), 195, 228, 229, 285 + +_Lovers' Leap_, 196 + +Lower 96 ranch, 77 + +Luey, Francis M., 13, 14 + +Lyons, Nebraska, 338 + + +MacColl, John H., 57, 60, 74 + +MacColl, Laura, 74 + +MacMurphy, Harriet S., 96, 187; _Nikumi_, 307; _The Heroine of the +Jules-Slade Tragedy_, 322 + +MacMurphy, John A., 323 + +McAllister, W. A., _Some Personal Incidents_, 242 + +McCabe's ranch, 221 + +McCaffery, ----, 141 + +McCall, R. J., 258 + +McCandles, Bill, 270 + +McCanles, D. C., 139, 153 + +McCashland, Addie, 107 + +McCashland, John R., _Pioneering in Fillmore County_, 107 + +McCashland, Mrs. John R., 107 + +McCashland, Sammy, 107 + +McComas, ----, 95 + +McCook, Nebraska, 338 + +McCreary family, 213 + +McCune, Calmer, _Early Days in Polk County_, 248 + +McDonald, Mrs. Charles, 191 + +McDonald, Charles, 191, 192, 193 + +McDonald, Thomas, 286 + +McDonald, W. H., 191 + +McDowell, Mrs. Gertrude M., _Suffrage in Nebraska_, 275 + +McDowell, Joseph B., _Beginnings of Fairbury_, 161, 162 + +McDowell, W. G., 140, 161 + +McElroy, William John, 14 + +McGovern, Teddy, 272 + +McGregor, Harry, 243 + +McLean, Mrs. Donald, 336 + +McMaster, A. M., 127 + +McNeely, Frank, _County-seat of Washington County_, 298 + +McNeil, Miss, 78, 180 + +McPherson hotel, Brownville, 212 + +McPherson station, 76 + +Mabin's ranch, 221, 222 + +Mahan, Henry, 248 + +Mahum, Tom, 55 + +Major Isaac Sadler chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 337 + +Majors, Alexander, 139, 240 + +Majors, Col. Thomas J., 95 + +Mallet brothers, 190 + +Mallott, James B., 60 + +Maple Creek, Iowa, 30, 82 + +Margaret Holmes chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, _Seward +County Reminiscences_, 255, 335 + +Marks, Mrs. Ives, 156 + +Marks, Rev. Ives, 140, 143, 156, 279 + +Marks' mill, 142, 155 + +Marsden, ----, 188 + +Marsh, A. K., 43, 44 + +Martin, ----, 105 + +Martin, E. L., 97 + +Martin, Major, 240 + +Marvin, Seth P., 78 + +Mary Cole steamboat, 299 + +Marysville, Kansas, 149, 150 + +Mason, Judge O. P., 118, 144 + +Mason, Sidney, Mr. and Mrs., 140 + +Mathews, Capt. Fred, 200 + +Mattingly, J. B., 140, 142, 144, 162 + +Maxwell, Nebraska, 76 + +Mayes, Charles, 71 + +Mayfield's ranch, 25 + +Mead, Mrs. Eda, _The Story of the Town of Fontenelle_, 299 + +Medicine, Nebraska, 263 + +Medicine Horse (Otoe chief), 116, 120 + +Mellenger, "Doc," 59 + +Mellenger, Edgar, 58 + +Melroy, Nebraska, 127, 128 + +Melvin brothers, 44 + +Memorial Continental Hall, 337 + +Meridian, Nebraska, 153, 154, 270, 271, 279 + +Merritt, Asa, 31 + +Mickey, Gov. John H., 189 + +Midland Pacific R. R., 259 + +Milford, Nebraska, 102 + +Military road, 305 + +Millard, Joseph H., 189 + +Miller, Mrs., 193 + +Miller, A. J., 192 + +Miller, Charlie, 279 + +Miller, Dr. George L., 91, 336 + +Minden, Nebraska, 187, 334 + +Minor, Ella Pollock, _Incidents at Plattsmouth_, 41 + +Mira Valley, 203, 204 + +Mission creek, 121 + +Missouri river, 18, 27, 31, 41, 80, 97, 107, 111, 112, 135, 140, 152, +153, 189, 190, 198, 211, 219, 335, 247, 252, 256, 263, 269, 270, 289, +290, 299, 305, 307-309, 322 + +Missouri river ferry, 322 + +Monroe, Nebraska, 200 + +Moore, John S., 15 + +Moore, Sadie Irene, _The Beginnings of Fremont_, 78 + +Moote, Mr. and Mrs. W. S., 14 + +Morgan, Hugh, 192 + +Mormon trail, 27, 28, 293 + +Mormons, 27, 89, 93, 206, 236, 269 + +Morrill, Nebraska, 339 + +Morris, Prof. John, 180 + +Morrow, J. A., 191, 192 + +Morse, Capt. Charles, 200 + +Morse, Col. Charles F., 15 + +Morton, Carl, 238 + +Morton, Caroline Joy, 235, 240 + +Morton, Charles, 33 + +Morton, J. Sterling, 96; _My Last Buffalo Hunt_, 219, 235, 239, 240, 297 + +Morton, Joy, 235 + +Morton, Paul, _How the Founder of Arbor Day Created the Most Famous +Western Estate_, 235 + +Moses, Pearl Shepherd, _Crow Heart Butte_ (poem), 52 + +Mott, Lucretia, 276 + +Mud creek, 128 + +Mullen, Mrs., 58 + +Murdock, Rev., 121 + +Murray, Mrs., 201 + +Murray, Nebraska, 94 + + +Nance county, 194-195, 198, 206, 207, 229, 242 + +Nancy, Gary chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Narrows, The, 217 + +National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, 333 + +National Suffrage Association, 275 + +Nebraska City, Nebraska, 76, 97, 102, 104, 109, 111, 127, 135, 176, 177, +178, 180, 236, 270, 297, 337 + +Nebraska Memorial Association, 339 + +Nebraska Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, 254 + +Nebraska Society, Sons of the American Revolution, 335, 338 + +Nebraska State Historical Society, 95, 139, 170, 179, 187-189, 219, 335, +336 + +Nebraska Territorial Pioneers' Association, 253 + +Needham, Mr., 201 + +Needham, Mrs. Christina, 201 + +Nemaha river, 253 + +Neville, Judge James, 326, 329 + +Newbecker, Clara, 282 + +Newbecker, Dr. Minerva, 282 + +Newbecker, Lieut. Philip, 282 + +Newman, Mrs. Angie Thurston, 334 + +_Nikumi_, 307-321 + +Nikumi chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 336 + +Niobrara chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 337 + +Niobrara river, 25 + +Nobes, C. J., 182 + +Nonpareil, a frontier town, 22 + +Norfolk, Nebraska, 338 + +Norman, P. O., 43 + +North, Major Frank, 198, 200, 244, 245 + +North, Capt. Luther, 200, 201, 244 + +North Platte, Nebraska, 190, 191, 192, 193, 264, 326, 327, 331 + +Northwestern R. R., 26 + +Norton, Mrs. Charles Oliver, 336, 337, 338 + +Norton, Hannah, 147 + +Norton, Lilian (Madam Nordica), 147 + +Norton, Major Peter, 147 + +Noyes, Major, 246 + +Nuckolls county, 214, 216, 218, 270, 272 + +Nye, Mrs. Theron, _Early Days in Fremont_, 84 + + +Oak, John, 30 + +Oak Grove ranch, 214, 216 + +Oakland, Nebraska, 30 + +O'Brien, Major George M., 191 + +O'Conner, Mrs. Thomas, 92 + +O'Fallon's Bluffs, 191, 200 + +Ogallalla Cattle Company, 26 + +Oliver, Sr., Edward, 27 + +Oliver, Edward, 29 + +Oliver, James, 29 + +Oliver, John, 29 + +Oliver, Robert, 29 + +Oliver, Sarah, 28 + +Omaha, Nebraska, 30, 36, 62, 78, 80, 88, 90, 93, 130, 176, 178, 180, +181, 189, 191, 198, 241, 249, 263, 266, 267, 269, 275, 284-287, 289, +290, 294, 295, 299, 300, 301, 305-306, 308, 325, 326, 329, 333-339 + +Omaha _Bee_, 189 + +Omaha chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 187, 188, 189, 334, +336 + +Omaha Mary, 289 + +Omaha _Republican_, 75 + +Onawa, Iowa, 32 + +Ord, Nebraska, 281, 335 + +Oregon trail, 11, 65, 76, 139, 150, 161, 168, 169, 336-339 + +Oregon Trail chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 339 + +Oregon Trail Memorial Commission, 337, 338 + +Orr, Mrs. Margaret, 339 + +Osceola, Nebraska, 248 + +Osceola _Record_, 248 + +Ostrander, ----, 217 + +Otoe chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 337 + +Otoe county, 129 + +Otoe Indian reservation, 112-122, 125, 127, 142, 322 + +Overland Stage line, 139, 149, 214 + +Overland trail, 139, 152, 216, 219, 220, 236, 268, 269 + +Overton, Nebraska, 58 + + +Pacific house, Beatrice, 123 + +Pacific Telegraph line, 76, 78 + +Paine, Mrs. C. S., 5 + +Paine, Clarence S., 337 + +Palmatier, ----, 263 + +Palmer, Mrs. Charlotte F., 333, 334 + +Palmer, Capt. Henry E., 218 + +Parker, Jason, 244 + +Parks, Nebraska, 263 + +Parmele, Mrs. Lilian, 42 + +Patrick, Mrs. Edwin, 91 + +Patterson, Daniel, 139 + +Patterson's trading post, 139 + +Pawnee City, Nebraska, 118, 122, 136, 178 + +Pawnee county, 129, 135, 136 + +Pawnee Indian reservation, 198, 206, 208, 230, 242, 246 + +Pawnee ranch, 43 + +Pawnee scouts, 199, 218 + +Peale, Titian, 190 + +Pearson, Capt. F. J., 57 + +Peavy and Curtiss, 122 + +Penney, Minnie Freeman, _The Blizzard of 1888_, 203; _Major North's +Buffalo Hunt_, 244 + +Perry, Mrs. Lula Correll (Mrs. Warren), 5, 337, 339 + +Petalesharo (Pawnee chief), 247 + +Peterson, Martin, 54 + +Pierce, Judge Robert D., 57 + +Pine Bluff reservation, 59 + +Pine Ridge country, 24 + +_Pioneer_, Dawson county, 57 + +_Pioneer Record_, 295 + +Pittsburgh postoffice, Nebraska, 258, 259 + +Plainfield, Nebraska, 203 + +Platt, Elvira Gaston, 198 + +Platt, Lester W., 198 + +Platte chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Platte river, 11, 27, 44, 55, 56, 58, 70, 76, 79, 84, 87, 94, 105, 190, +192, 219, 220, 228, 229, 245, 285, 299, 339 + +Platte Valley, 221 + +Plattsmouth, Nebraska, 18, 41, 136, 178, 256, 323, 339 + +Pleasant Dale, Nebraska, 258 + +Plum creek, 55, 57, 58, 64, 256, 257, 285 + +Plum creek (Gage county), 114, 122 + +Plum creek (Lexington), Nebraska, 54, 57, 60, 62, 66, 67, 70, 72, 75 + +Plummer, Eleanor, 147, 149, 150 + +Plummer, Mrs. Jason, 149 + +Plummer, Jason, 147, 148 + +Plymouth, Nebraska, 168 + +Polk county, 248, 251 + +Polk, Nebraska, 250 + +Polley, Hiram, 184 + +Pollock, Mrs. Thomas, 41 + +Pony Express, 64, 65 + +Pope, Mrs. Anna Randall, 213 + +Poppleton, Mrs. Andrew J., 92 + +Porter, A. J., _From Missouri to Dawson County in 1872_, 75 + +Pound, Mrs. Laura B., _Marking the Site of the Lewis and Clark Council +at Fort Calhoun_, 187, 189, 334, 335, 336 + +Pumpkin creek, 265 + +Purdy house, Fairbury, 175 + +Purple, ----, 291 + +Pursell, Mrs. Auta Helvey, 147 + +Purviance, Edith Erma, _A Pioneer Family_, 93 + +Purviance, Erma, 96 + +Purviance, Dr. W. E., 96 + +Prairie Chicken (Omaha Indian), 100 + +Prairie fires, 68, 120, 164, 247 + +Pyle and Eaton, 44 + + +Quincy colony, 284, 296, 299-304 + +Quivira, 112, 233 + +Quivira chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 147, 188, 335, +336 + + +Randall, Mr. and Mrs., 123 + +Randall, A. D., 213 + +Randall, Charles, 46, 213 + +Randall, E. J., 213 + +Randall, Dr. H. L., 213 + +Randall, N. G., 211 + +Randall, Sarah Schooley, _My Trip West in 1861_, 211 + +Rawhide creek, 79 + +Raymond, Mrs. Mabel, 339 + +Raymond, Nebraska, 184 + +Reavis-Ashley chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Reavis, Isham, 253 + +Reavis, Mahala Beck, 253 + +Red Cloud, Nebraska, 137, 339 + +Red Lion mill, 109 + +Redman, Joseph, 93 + +Reed, Alexander, 284 + +Reeder, Mrs. James G., _Pioneer Life_, 246 + +Rees, Henrietta M., 336 + +Republic county, Kansas, 142 + +_Republican_, Omaha, 95 + +Republican river, 60, 61, 105, 154, 222, 225, 242 + +Republican Valley, 58, 214, 222, 243, 327 + +Reverend Reuben Pickett chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, +339 + +Reynolds, Nebraska, 140 + +Reynolds, B. W., 80 + +Reynolds, Wilson, 80 + +Rhoades, Orrin, 284 + +Rhustrat, Dr., 80 + +Richardson, Lyman, 92 + +Ringer, Mr. and Mrs. Bradford, 186 + +Ringer, Frank J., 186 + +Ringer, Jennie Bell, 185 + +Ringer, John Dean, 186 + +Riverton, Nebraska, 239 + +Rock Bluffs, Nebraska, 37, 94 + +Rock creek, 139, 144, 153, 161, 270 + +Rockport, Nebraska, 266, 286, 298 + +Rockwood, Martin T., 67 + +Roe, Thomas, 107 + +Rogers, Mrs. Samuel E., 92 + +Romigh, Mrs. Viola, 339 + +Root, Aaron, 92 + +Root, Mrs. Allen, 91 + +Roper, Ford, 122 + +Roper, Fred E., 268-271 + +Roper, Joe B., 270 + +Roper, Laura, 218, 270 + +Roper, Mann E., 269 + +Roscoe, B. S., 30, 31, 32 + +Roscoe, Mrs. Isabel, _A Pioneer Nebraska Teacher_, 30 + +Rose creek, 140, 144, 148, 153, 155, 156, 279 + +Rosewater, Edward, 189 + +Roy, George, 252, 253 + +Roy, Mrs. Thyrza Reavis, _Personal Reminiscences_, 252, 253 + +Royce, Loie, 203 + +Rulo, Nebraska, 252 + +Rushville, Nebraska, 24 + +Russell, Alice M., 281 + +Russell, Mrs. E. A., _Reminiscences_, 281 + +Russell, Rev. E. A., 281 + +Russell, H. C., 49 + +Russell, Mrs. Lucinda, 275 + +Russell, Majors and Waddell, 214, 240 + + +St. Joe & Denver City R. R. Co., 144 + +St. Joe and Grand Island R. R., 75, 144 + +St. Joseph, Missouri, 155, 211, 241, 252, 270 + +St. Leger Cowley chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 337 + +St. Marys, Iowa, 290 + +St. Nicholas hotel, 92 + +St. Paul, Nebraska, 204 + +Saline City, 177 + +Salt creek, 221 + +Saltillo, Nebraska, 97 + +Salt Lake City, 269 + +Sanborne, John P., 192 + +Sand Hills, 258 + +Santa Fe trail, 308, 316 + +Saratoga (Omaha), Nebraska, 93 + +Sarpy, Peter A., 290, 307-321 + +Sarpy's trading post, 311, 317 + +Saunders county, 80, 87 + +Sawyer, Mrs. A. J., 275 + +Saxon, Elizabeth, 276 + +Schmeling, Frank, 214 + +School creek, 18, 43 + +Schooley, Charles A., 211 + +Schwatka, Lieut. Frederick, 326, 327, 328, 331 + +Schwerin, Rev. W., 45 + +Scofield, T. D., 17 + +Scott, ----, 128 + +Scott, Miss Lizzie, 16 + +Scott, Mrs. Mathew T., 338 + +Scottsbluff country, 264 + +Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 339 + +Scully, Lord, 130 + +Second Nebraska Cavalry, 242, 292 + +Second U. S. Cavalry, 280 + +Selden, Mrs. O. B., 92 + +Selleck, Wellington W., 16 + +Seward, 254 + +Seward county, 254, 255, 262 + +Seward, Nebraska, 187, 248, 250, 334, 336, 337 + +Seymour, Elizabeth Porter, _Early Experiences in Nebraska_, 163-165 + +Shader, Mr. and Mrs. A. L., 140 + +Shader, Claiborn, 140 + +Shattuck, Etta, 203 + +Sheldon, Addison E., 188, 189, 258 + +Shell creek, 201 + +Shelton, Nebraska, 339 + +Sheridan (Auburn), Nebraska, 212 + +Sheridan, Gen. Phil, 327 + +Sherman, General, 192 + +Shields, Mrs. Herman, 306 + +Shields, Thomas, 255 + +Shipley, 286 + +Shirley, William, 44 + +Shorter county, 191-192 + +Showalter, Dr., 141 + +Shumway, Grant Lee, _Pioneering_, 263 + +Sidney, Nebraska, 25, 193, 264 + +Sidney trail, 25 + +Sixth U. S. Infantry, 307, 309 + +Slade, Jack, 324, 325 + +Slade, Lyman or Jack, 153 + +Slocumb, Charles, 145 + +Slocumb and Hambel, 144 + +Sluyter, Isaiah, 16 + +Smith, ----, 178, 291 + +Smith, Adam, 201 + +Smith Brothers, 123 + +Smith, C. B., 91, 92 + +Smith, Mrs. C. B., 91 + +Smith, Charles, 78 + +Smith, Dan, 77 + +Smith, Mrs. Dan, 77 + +Smith, De Etta Bell, 185 + +Smith, Edmund Burke, 185 + +Smith, Mrs. Eleanor Murphey, 339 + +Smith, Hazel Bell, 185 + +Smith, Mrs. J. Fred, 306 + +Smith, J. G., 78 + +Smith, John, 13 + +Smith, Major, 119 + +Smith, Samuel C., 246 + +Smith, Towner, 78 + +Smith, Col. Watson B., 326 + +Snake creek, 25 + +Snowden, Mrs. William P., 92 + +Solomon river, 218 + +Sommerlad, H. W., 260 + +Sons of the American Revolution, 187, 188 + +Soules, ----, 175 + +Southwell, ----, 33 + +Spade, Dan, 109 + +Spade, William, _Fillmore County in the 70's_, 109 + +Spanish American War, 334 + +Spillman, Jerome, 300 + +Stall, Irwin, 259 + +Stanley, C., 244, 245 + +Stanton county, 266, 267 + +Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 275, 277 + +Staples, David, 168, 171-173 + +Starbuck, Rev. Charles, 206 + +Star hotel, Fairbury, 143 + +Stark, Isaac W., 16 + +Stark, John, 15 + +Stark, Margaret, 15 + +State Federation of Woman's Clubs, 254 + +Stebbins, Mrs. W. M., _The Erickson Family_, 76 + +Steele, Annie M., 275 + +Steele, Mrs. Annie Strickland, 334 + +Steele, Calvin F., 143, 166, 275 + +Steele, Mrs. C. F., _Personal Recollections_, 166-167; _Finding the +George Winslow Grave_, 168 + +Stephen, Bennett chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Stevens, Col. George, 284, 293 + +Stevens, Mary M. A., 334 + +Stevens, William, 250 + +Stiles, James, 32 + +Stilts, Judge, 287 + +Stockville, Nebraska, 263 + +Stone, Dr. ----, 248 + +Stone, Lucy, 275 + +Storer, William, 28 + +Stout, D. D., 290 + +Stout, E. P., 290 + +Stromsburg, Nebraska, 339 + +Stubbs, Mrs. J. J., 336 + +Stuckey, Capt. John S., 58 + +Stuckey, Joseph, 58 + +Stuckey, Samuel Clay, 58 + +Stuhl, Joseph, 16 + +Stutzman, Henry, 14 + +Sullivan, Potter C., 298 + +Sumner, Nebraska, 66 + +Superior chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Superior, Nebraska, 111, 338 + +Sutton, Nebraska, 18, 43, 44, 339 + +Swan Brothers, 26 + +Swan creek, 140, 148-149 + +Sweetser, ----, 174 + +Sweezy, William F., 92 + + +Taggart, Rev. J. M., 296 + +Talbot, Mr. and Mrs. Ben, 47 + +Talbot, Bishop, 241 + +Talbot, John, 223, 226 + +Talbot, Dr. Willis, 49 + +Tall Bull (Cheyenne Indian), 198 + +Tash, Ira E., _Historical Sketch of Box Butte County_, 25 + +Taylor, J. O., 46 + +Taylor, Tim, 152 + +Tecumseh, Nebraska, 161, 275 + +Tenth U. S. Infantry, 242 + +Thayer county, 140, 270, 277 + +Thayer County Woman's Suffrage Association, 277, 278 + +Thayer, Gen. John M., 92 + +Thayer, Mrs. John M., 92 + +_The Conservative_, 238 + +_The Homesteader_, 248 + +Thomas, S. G., 175 + +Thomas & Champlin, 141, 142 + +Thompson, Barbara J., 278 + +Thirty-seventh Star chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Thirty-two Mile creek, 12 + +Three Groves, Nebraska, 95 + +Three Trails chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 339 + +Thurston, Mrs. John M., 334 + +Tibbetts, Mrs. Addison S., 335 + +Timberville (Ames), Nebraska, 306 + +Tinklepaugh, Roy, 127 + +Tipton, James, 59 + +Tipton, Thomas W., 213 + +Tisdale, Thomas H., 260, 261 + +Tooth & Maul, 91 + +Towle, Albert, 151 + +Towle, Mrs. Eliza, 187 + +Towle, Mrs. Elizabeth, 334 + +Tree planting, 238, 297 + +Trefren and Hewitt, 46 + +Tremont house, 92 + +_Tribune_, The Fremont, 79 + +Troup, Mrs. Elsie De Cou, 189 + +Tucker, ----, 60 + +Tucker family, 57 + +Tucker, Tudor, 58 + +Tulley, Mrs. Capitola Skiles, 339 + +Turkey creek, 225 + +Turner, Eliza, 78 + +Turner, Mrs. George, 82 + +Turner, Mrs. Margaret, 78 + + +Ulig, ----, 217 + +Union Pacific R. R., 16, 29, 54, 55, 57, 62, 66, 75, 76, 82, 84, 91, 95, +104, 106, 161, 192, 193, 198, 199, 200, 243, 245, 264, 327 + +United States Daughters of the War of 1812, 253 + +Upper 96 ranch, 77 + + +Valentine, Nebraska, 22, 334 + +Vallery, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob, 41 + +Valley county, 204 + +Van Horn, James, 291 + +Van Vliet, Brig. Gen. Stewart L., 225 + +Vance, Mrs. Laura (Laura Roper), 270 + +Vanier brothers, 294 + +Vermillion, A. Martha, 278 + +Virginia, Nebraska, 127, 130 + + +Wahoo, Nebraska, 78, 221 + +Walker brothers, 193 + +Walker, Major Lester, _Early History of Lincoln County_, 190 + +Wallace, Mrs. C. M., 339 + +Walnut creek, 258, 259, 260 + +Walton, Mrs. Ellen Saunders, _Early Days in Nance County_, 206 + +Ward, Joseph, 180 + +Ward, Mrs. Oreal S., 337, 338 + +Ware, Ellen Kinney, _Early Reminiscences of Nebraska City_, 240 + +Warfield's ranch, 221 + +Warrick, Amasa, 286 + +Warrington, T. L., 68 + +Warwick, Rev. J. W., 13 + +Warwick, Lila (or Eliza), 13, 14 + +Washington county, 286, 287, 290-298 + +Wasson, ----, 244 + +Waters, Stella Brown, 49 + +Waters, William H., 248 + +Waters, W. W., 49 + +Waterville, Kansas, 162 + +Waterville, Nebraska, 142 + +Watson, W. W., 145 + +Wayne, Nebraska, 339 + +Webster, John Lee, _The Last Romantic Buffalo Hunt on the Plains of +Nebraska_, 326 + +Weed, Thurlow, 44 + +Weed, William L., 44 + +Weeks, M. H., 142 + +Weeks, Mrs. M. H., _Early Days in Jefferson County_, 175 + +Weeks, Mary, 175 + +Weeping Water, Legend of, 39 + +Weeping Water, Nebraska, 36, 37, 38, 339 + +Weeping Water river, 220 + +Wehn, ----, 116 + +Weisel, George, 139 + +Wells Fargo Express Company, 25, 77 + +West, ----, 80 + +West, Mr. and Mrs., 79 + +West, Julia, 79 + +West Blue river, 43, 97, 107, 245, 258, 262 + +West Blue postoffice, 97 + +West Point, Nebraska, 36 + +Western Stage Company, 142 + +Westling, J. A., 133 + +Weston, John B., 43 + +Wharton, Rev. Fletcher L., 213 + +Wheeler, Judge, 213 + +Wheeler, Major, 123, 246 + +Whiskey Run, 169 + +Whitaker, ----, 103 + +Whitaker, Sabra Brumsey, 101 + +White, Rev. A. G., 291 + +White, Capt. Charles, 43 + +White Eagle (Pawnee Chief), 194 + +White, Luke, 100 + +White, Sammy, 98, 100 + +Whiterock, Kansas, 131 + +Whitewater, Jim (Otoe half-breed), 116, 117, 144 + +Whiting, A. V., 155 + +Whitney family, 213 + +Whittaker, Mrs. Clifford, _A Good Indian_, 74 + +Wiggins, Horace S., 15 + +Wigton, A. L., 15, 17 + +Wigton, J. W., 17 + +Wilbur, Nebraska, 163 + +Wild Bill (James B. Hickok), 139, 153, 270 + +Wild Cat banks, 237 + +Wilds, M. B., 291 + +Wiley, Araminta, 96 + +Wiley, Gertrude Miranda, 93 + +Wiley, Hattie, 96 + +Wiley, Dr. William Washington, 93 + +Wilkinson, Emma, 305 + +Wilkinson, Ida, 305 + +Wilkinson, Nettie, 306 + +Wilkinson, Thomas, 305, 306 + +Wilkinson, Mrs. Thomas, 305, 306 + +Wilkinson, William W., 306 + +Williamson, John, 194, 195 + +Wilson, ----, 58 + +Wilson, Capt., 280 + +Wilson, Luther, 78 + +Wilson, Perley, 56 + +Wilson, W. R., 82 + +Wiltse, Chauncey Livingston, _The Pawnee Chief's Farewell_, 208-210 + +Winslow, Edward, 171 + +Winslow, Eleazer, 171 + +Winslow, George, 168-174 + +Winslow, Mrs. George, 170 + +Winslow, George E., 170 + +Winslow, George Edward, 171 + +Winslow, Henry O., 170, 171 + +Winslow, Mrs. Henry, 168 + +Winslow, James, 171 + +Winslow, Jesse, 170, 173 + +Winslow, Josiah, 171 + +Winslow, Kenelm, 170, 171 + +Winslow, Shadrach, 171 + +Wint, Brig. Gen. Theodore, 189 + +Woerner, Mike, 216 + +Wolf creek, 117 + +_Woman's Journal_, 277, 278 + +Woman's suffrage, 275-278 + +Wood, Mr. and Mrs. Kentucky, 91 + +Wood river, 27, 60, 66 + +Wood River Centre, 27, 28 + +Woodhurst, Mrs., 182 + +Woodhurst, Warden, 182 + +Woods, Jim, 139 + +Work, George F., _Historical Sketch of Adams County_, 11 + +Wright, Eben, 13 + +Wyncoop, Col. ----, 270 + +Wyoming Society Daughters of the American Revolution, 338 + +Wyoming Society Sons of the American Revolution, 338 + +Wyuka cemetery, Nebraska City, 297 + + +Yankee Hill, 177 + +Yankton, South Dakota, 247 + +Young, Brigham, 65 + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Punctuation has been standardised. + +Minor printer errors (e.g. omitted, superfluous or transposed +characters) have been fixed. + +Kearny and Kearney are both used in this text. + +Page 13, "Rhoderic" changed to "Roderick" (Roderick Lomas) [per internet +search] + +Page 25, "Eldorado" changed to "El Dorado" (trip to the new El Dorado) + +Page 96, "Asch" changed to "Asche" (A. Dove Wiley Asche) [per internet +search] + +Page 125, "benumed" changed to "benummed" (being benummed myself) [per +Webster's 1828 Dictionary] + +Page 170, "daguerrotype" changed to "daguerreotype" (daguerreotype of +Mr.) (daguerreotype of George) + +Page 171, "1833" changed to "1633" (colony in 1633) + +Page 219, "repellant" changed to "repellent" (seemed repellent, irksome) + +Page 226, "repellant" changed to "repellent" (and repellent fear) + +Page 226, "arborially" changed to "arboreally" (arboreally interred) + +Page 227, "markmanship" changed to "marksmanship" (no deft marksmanship) + +Page 281, "Nemeha" changed to "Nemaha" (grazing in the Nemaha) + +Page 308, "Ottoes" changed to "Otoes" (the "Ottoes, Pawnees) + +Page 315, the spelling of "delf" was retained (per Webster 1828 +Dictionary) + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEBRASKA PIONEER REMINISCENCES *** + +***** This file should be named 34844-0.txt or 34844-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/8/4/34844/ + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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