The Grand Army of the Republic
In the vicinity of Harrison there are but few of the boys of the Civil War remaining. Most of them have bivouaced on another camping ground, yet we are not unmindful that but for them there would not have been the great America to quickly decide the contest overseas. The county of Sioux early provided that these heroes of the sixties should have all the fostering care that law and system provided.
The first soldiers' relief committee was selected by the county commissioners February twenty-fifth, eighteen ninety. Eli J. Wilcox and Edgar G. Hough were named. The historian does not find a record of any later appointments than those of nineteen seventeen, at which time William J. A. Raum, James A. Sailors and Sanford Hill were chosen. Sailors has since gone on, and we are told by a number of old timers that the other two and John Plunkett are so far as they recall the only remaining local members of the old guard and Grand Army of the Republic.
Agricultural Society From the story of the war we return to the story of the triumphs of peace. Sicux county's prosperity to date is entirely due to agriculture in one form or another.' But until about ten years ago there was no agricultural society. Dry farming had by that time taken a firm hold upon the high plains, and the citizens of Harrison and vicinity organized such a society in nineteen eleven. The organizers were headed by John H. Lacy, A. L. Schnurr, T. H. Wilhermsdorfer, G. L. Gerlach, R. L. Keel, J. H. Dickman, E. A. Bigelow, J. A. Anderson, P. X. Summers and others. The county now has an annual fair and agricultural "exhibit. The livestock exhibit is generally very fine. The society lias regular fair grounds and a race track, well arranged for the accommodation of tlu- public.