M.U Gc 978.2 Sh9h v. 2 1192386 GENEALOGY COLLECTION 1833 01065 1435 History of Western Nebraska and its People : -- (T History of Western Nebraska *. -- -- and its People GENERAL HISTORY. CHEYENNE, BOX BUTTE, DEUEL, GARDEN, SIOUX, KIMBALL, MORRILL, SHERIDAN, SCOTTS BLUFF, BANNER, AND DAWES COUNTIES. A GROUP OFTEN CALLED THE PANHANDLE OF NEBRASKA GRANT L. SHUMWAY, SCOTTSBLUFF, N…

Wyeth, of "Cape Bay," and His "Down Easters" CHAPTER XI 21 Nez Perce and Crow Indians -- Crow Creek Named CHAPTER XII .... - 22 Little Moon Lake -- Famous Missionaries CHAPTER XIII 24 Forts at the Laramie CHAPTER XIV 26 Robideaux of St. Genevieve -- Kiowa Raid by Red Cloud CHAPTER XV 28 The Steamboat El Paso Here -- Reuleau, the Trapper CHAPTER XVI 30 Government Buys Fort Laramie -- Ft…

Red Cloud and Spotted Tail -- Massacre of Cottonwood Canyon CHAPTER VIII 51 Sunset on the Platte -- The C.ibralter of Nebraska -- Cheyenne S on Bellechugwater CHAPTER IX 53 In the Shadows -- The Fire Fly Song-- Cached Furs -- Old Land Marks -- Trapper's Rock CHAPTER X 55 Stage Drivers -- Road Agents -- Pony Express Riders -- Chas. Cliff's Adventures -- Jules and Slade Feud -- Creighton's Q…

Coad's Battle on Lawrence Fork -- "Shorter" Countv Organized -- Tank Fighting on the Platter-- Buffalo Bill Kills Tall Bull CHAPTER XX 77 Indian Vgencies Adjusted-- Sitting Bull's Determination -- Battle of War Bonnet Creek CHAPTER XX] 79 Sand Hills Station Robbery -- Big Bear, or Crazy Woman -- The Sod Cabin -- Privations "t Early 5 ears CHAPTER XX 11 82 Revolt of Dull Knife -- Winter Figh…

Surveyor Schleigel's Teamster Hung at Sidney -- The Bosler Range -- The VB Brand -- Minnie Montgomery Honeymoon -- The House of La Grange CHAPTER IX 104 Creighton's -- The First Ranch of All -- Death of Creel in Bull Canyon -- Tom Kane's Adventure -- A Cowboy Wedding CHAPTER X 106 First Ranch in Nebraska West of North Platte, Keith & Barton -- H. V. Redington's Ranch -- Nerud's Corner -- La…

Frewen's Ranch Experience -- Hanging of Billy Nurse by Vigilantes -- Holding up Doc. Middleton -- Death of the Famous Character CHAPTER XVI 121 Perry Yeast's Success -- Judge Gaslin, Who Wrote "The Law of the West" -- Tom Ryan's Defiance CHAPTER XVII 123 Newman's Ranch on the Running Water -- Bartlett Richards & Company -- The Scourge of the Land Inquisition -- Cattle Rustlers -- Hall & Evan…

viii CONTENTS Paxton's Ogallala Company-- Hall'? Famous Drive to Pine Ridge-- Dick Bean's Death -- Gun .Men and Frantz's Comical Episode I \. Hall and Robert Graham's Old Time Ranch -- Ogallala Men and Events-- Indians Get Southers -- Bargain Sales of Ranch Locations -- Harper's Deal An Indian Wagon Race -- Building Camp Clarke Bridge -- Round-up -- Wild West Shows -- Tom Horn's Outlaw Horse…

The Virginian -- Arbuckle's Ranch -- Romance of Parents of Madeline Force -- Lingle of Valley View -- Connoly's of the "PF" -- New Ranches -- Hank Inghram's Narrow Escape The Shifting Sands -- The Storm of 78-- First Settlers on Pumpkin Creek -- First Cow in Western Nebraska-- Mental Giants of the Big Cow Days Vigilantes Hang Reed at Sidney-- The Great Bullion Robbery -- Whispering Smith Gets …

First Ranch in Dawes County -- Graham and Snvder on Niobrara River -- Other Ranches War Fort Robinson -- Stampedin' on the Old Trail CHEYENNE COUNTY Historj of ilu- Count) ('II M'TKk M Wihh-t Days <ll M'l'Kk HI nization of Cheyenne County CONTENTS ix CHAPTER IV 182 Ivodgepole CHAPTER V 188 State Officials CHAPTER VI 191 The Press CHAPTER VII 192 Fraternal Orders and Clubs CHAPTER …

The Churches in Deuel County CHAPTER IX 237 The Press-- Banks and Finance -- Bench and Bar -- Medical Profession -- Fraternal Organizations CHAPTER X 242 Deuel County's War Record -- Grand Army of the Republic CHAPTER XI 244 Climate and Products of Deuel County x CONTEXTS GARDEN COUNTY CHAPTER I 246 Early History CHAPTER II 252 Boundary Disputes -- As Between Individuals CHAPTER HI ■ …

Organization of Sioux County -- County Officials CHAPTER VI 296 Sioux County in the World War -- Early Schools -- Wild Life KIMBALL COUNTY CHAPTER I 302 The History of Kimball County CHAPTER II 313 Soil, Climate and Possibilities CHAPTER [II 321 Transportation -- I [ighwaj s CI I \ITKR IV 325 The Community of Kimball CHAPTER V 337 Kimball County in the World War MORRILL COUNTY CHAPT…

Gering -- First of Many Things CHAPTER III 454 City of Scottsbluff CHAPTER IV ...... ' 463 The Newspapers -- Early Days in the County CHAPTER V 469 Incidents and Personalities CHAPTER VI . 476 The Story of Irrigation CHAPTER VII 480 More of the Irrigation Storv CHAPTER VIII 487 Scotts Bluff County Schools CHAPTER IX +90 Officials Scotts Bluff County CHAPTER X 494 The Farmers Revolu…

Early Days -- And Crawford -- Many Fir County Organization and Government CHAPTER VI .... Town of Chadron CHAPTER VII ... Businesses and Professions Churches and Schools - Banks -- In the World War Things LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "Came From the; Sea" 3 Robert Stuart's Winter Camp, 1812-13 11 Death oe Hiram Scott 14 Grave of Red Cloud's Daughter, Fort Laramie, Wyoming 49 Camping Ground of…

An Old Prairie Schooner 172 Old Court, Sheriff's Residence 177 Cheyenne County Court House, Sidney 178 New High School, Sidney 180 Catholic Square, Sidney 180 Birdseye View, Sidney 181 Carnegie Library, Sidney 181 North Side of ShElden Street, Lodgepole 183 High School, Lodgepole 184 Blind Cannon Near Point of Rocks 186 ■Methodist Church, Sidney 194 "Samie Girls" 197 How the Court Hous…

First Store, Oshkosh First Dwelling, Oshkosh Street Scene, Oshkosh Main Street, Lewellen First National Bank, Lewellen Street View, Lisco .... Residence of Mr. Myers. Lisco Schoolhouse, Lewellen Old Stone Schoolhouse, Oshkosh Grade School, Oshkosh State Bank Building, Oshkosh "Feeding Time," Nicholson Bros. Ranch "Some Winter/" April 17, 1920, Harrison First House Erected in 1886 Sio…

Birdseye View of Kimball in 1900 . Street Scene, Kimball * . . . Residence of Robert Garrard, Near Kimball Kimball County High School, Kimball Modern School Near Kimball Known as "Pedrett Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday School Residence of John Ewbank. Near Kimball Residence of Chas. E. Jacoby, Photographer, Ki High School, Dix Residence of Petrus Peterson, Dix Residence of E. E. Go…

A. T. Crawford's Garage, Scottsbluff Old Home Place of Jesse Pickering Near Mix at.- Farm Ranch of J. A. Jones Spillway Pathfinder Dam, Nebraska's Niagar. Rev. J. B. Currens Scotts Bluff Mountain Sugar Factory, Scottsbluff Lover's Leap "Twix Sisters" Ruck Smoke Stack Rock Early Schoolhouse Wheat Seeding Marketing Potatoes School xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Hampton's Golden Wedding 528…

We will begin at the beginning, and add a chapter to the geology of the state, a geology heretofore treated by Barbour, and Condra, and Schramm, and to which research and exploration has added much of valuable information. We will tell of the far-off , misty past, when White river, and the Niobrara, Snake creek, Bluewater, the Lodgepole, and the twin merging valleys of the Platte, or Flatwa…

Clumsily, I have sought to assist, and in reading the rocks, I find the story of the ancient sea, the islands and the antecedent streams of our own state, and this particular part thereof, written legibly upon the cliffs, and in the hills and valleys. So while the floor of the world is granite, we find above that floor, Nebraska, even as it stood in the midst of the first landed area of the…

Around it is spread the sedimentaries of the Mississippian, and over it the Pennsylvanian formations, for the greater part of Nebraska took another plunge into the sea. Eastern Nebraska came up from the ocean, with almost all of the North American continent at a little later date. But an estuary from the Pacific covered that part of the state west of the one hundredth meridian, and it also …

When the more violent disturbances shook the fractured region, great slabs of granite one hundred feet thick and miles in area, were in places thrust out almost horizontally through the comparatively newer rocks and shales, and these granitic intrusions have puzzled geologists, and turned aside the tides of oil prospectors from time to time. Granite and Red Beds have been discouraging featur…

West of this mountain range rolled the waves of the last Cretaceous sea -- the vast marine water which divided the American continent. Perhaps a low coastal range separated it from the Gulf, and it probably extended, widening, to the arctic circle. Between the Nebraska-Kansas range and the Ozarks there was an estuary, which might be called Topeka bay, and on the western shore of the sea wer…

In the rapidly shallow- ' ing sea that covered most of Nebraska's central plains, the Niobrara, the Pierre, and other shales were laid. Much of this part of the ocean for long year.-,, probably ranged in depth from one hundred to two hundred fathoms. There the little grains of glauconite occurred from decomposition of organic matter contained in tiny foraminiferal shells. This hydrous silica…

Marine animal life lingered over into the new and marshy conditions, while plants changed quickly, and the old varieties passed away. Quite likely, the Cretaceous was before and the Tertiary after, and the Laramie during the Rocky Mountain revolution. It was the period of transition. Benton oysters found new expansion, then changed into large fresh water clams, ten inches long. Soft woods of…

The original horse, a dozen varieties of the hippos family, from tree climbing horses and five toed ponies eighteen inches high, to the almost modern horse, left skeletons in the Agate fields. And there are bones of giant hogs, HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA that once wallowed in the marshes of White river, and duck-billed dinosaurs that crawled awkwardly through the water and mud. Croaking a…

Over stretches of water and sand islands, aeolion agitation bore volcanic ash and dust and sand, which found lodgement in deep lagoons and moist places. When the later igneous activity stirred the western mountains, air currents carried the ashes high and far, and then for days and days they sifted down into the wastes of water on Nebraska. Thousands of acres in the Holdrege-Orleans district…

Ah, what a time that would have been to have lived, and seen old Nature build the heart of the American continent. A nearly mountain range, "that died a bornin' " ran from Furnas county to Dawes and Sioux counties. Nearly volcanoes sprung the earth in a dozen counties of Nebraska. The Goshen Holes, east as far as Broadwater, Nebraska, swelled like a poisoned carcass, and there today are rou…

We have traced the course of the Gering river; we find it between the forks of the Platte, and in the Scotts Bluff- Wildcat mountains. Partly broken and gone, partly eroded away, yet sufficient remains to trace the majestic current, that left coarse grey and brown sandrocks, flecked with rectangular specks of black. The turreted facades in the castellated hills, from Courthouse rock to Eagl…

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA OLD TRAILS There is a woof and warp to every garment. And the garment of frontier history is made over and upon old trails that twist and wind through canyons and woods, over mountains, and in the valley. These trails were old when the trapper came, when the first Latin adventurers penetrated the wilderness, which is now so alive and teeming with inspiration, wit…

Before the periods of those industrious peoples -- the mound-builders of the Mississippi valley, and the cliff-dwellers of the sad southwest, and the earth-dwellers of Nebraska -- this land about us, newly risen from primeval sea, this mystical sunland of the younger world, became a land of trails. At the foot of Scotts Bluff mountain, in the bad lands north of Harrison, in the bluffs of the…

They knew not thai man's mentality had begun to grow, and would continue until the world was swept free of the cumbersome, useless creatures of Pliocene, and their old trails would be no more. These trails are buried now, under the drill of glaciers and the wash and ashes of the ages. And the trails of glaciers, the ice-grind of centuries are strewn with stranger rocks and stones, torn fro…

Deer, buffalo and elk, kindred and hostile beasts of early America, made the trails of the later "Overland." They crossed the gaps in the Pineridge, and in the Scotts Bluff- Wildcat range; they meandered up and down the valleys, and made worn thoroughfares over the South Pass, long before the American Indian found the heart of the new world. We can go back only a relatively short period in …

They may find incredulous minds, but to me they have become fixed as signal fires along the horizon of the past, indicating the mark of the first white.man's foot in all of Nebraska. The opening trail of civilization in the mighty west. The first story dates back to about the time of Coronado's search for Quivera, the wonderful city of gold, which brought about the discovery of the great pla…

At a trading post I met an old Navajo, who directed some remark to the ladies of our party which the trader interpreted as "pretty women." For us, he asked the weather beaten man if he could tell where we were from, and he made a comprehensive gesture to the north and said the one word "Cheyenne." As an indication of how he knew, he touched a fur worn by one of the party, which was of beave…

In this I loitered by day pouring over old scraps of history, and at night I would leave the hotel to stand in the Plaza, listening to the whispering winds and voices out of the past. It was at Santa Fe that I learned of Dacombo, who, so far as I can learn, was the first white man to visit America's valley of the Nile. With an introductory note from Don Juan Jaquez I met Don Sol Luna, then…

About twenty-five miles east of Taos, near the summit of the continental divide, is a lonely hut and when I went to Taos, I paused there for refreshments, and also because Senor Sol Luna had given me a token of introduction to Miguel Dacombo; and here it was that he, knowing of my desire, sat squat upon the ground, and with a stick sketched crudely in the sand, after the manner of story tel…

"The desert men came running, whereupon Padre Padillo told all to hide and he would meet them alone. He knelt down to pray, and the desert men fell upon and killed him, while kneeling. Fra de La Cruz, some days later, saw a small band, and being in sore need of food, he tried to reconcile them, but they also killed him. Then it was that the Soldier spoke : 'They are God-less, -- they are d…

They blessed the Holy Virgin that they were out of the sand mountains. One day, as in a vision, great cities shone in the sunset; and they travelled towards them many days. At last they saw they were mountains, almost like great pueblos. Mountains, many miles of them, that stood up, like ruins of castles. The Soldier said to Lucas and Sebastian, 'This is like dear old Spain.' There were gia…

Many times they left it, and wandered into the desert trying to get home, but they were driven back famished. Finally, captured by a tribe of desert men, they were taken toward the sunset until they reached mountains that shone red at sundown like the Blood of Christ. Here there was water, and wood, and game and berries. How far did they go? Once Sebastian had fever, and once Lucas had sore…

The Padres Padilla and Le Cruz were killed, probably near Columbus, and the river of castles is quite likelv the North Platte river, and the time about 1540-1550. THE FLAG OF FRANCE IN THE WILDERNESS 'flic nexl old trail, the mxt white man's foot dial made iis mark upon the soil of Nebraska, was in 1739, when Mallei brothers made their journey into the wilderness, and research of historian…

Some history makers say that they ascended the Missouri river to the Arikarie villages, then turned south and crossed the Platte and Arkansas rivers. Watkins says their journey is somewhat shadowy, and Chittendon tells us that they left the Missouri river at or near the present site of Sioux City, on May 29th, and reached the Platte July 2d (a physical impossibility in those days of slow tra…

Old-timers, over on Gonneville, or Pumpkin creek, will remember Francois Jourdain, and around Sixty-Six mountain the pioneers will remember "Tommy" Chaunavierre. (The cowboys called him "Shunover.") In the old days, thirty or more years ago, I frequently visited "Frenchy" Jourdain's cabin, which was about three miles east of Wildcat mountain, and I enjoyed his stories. He was not a volubl…

Irion once was in the mercantile business. Then up Whistle creek and Coyote canyon, crossing the Snake creek valley, a few miles west of the present site of Curley, then near Spottedtail springs and down the west Sportedtail to the Platte river, then up Horse creek to a point some distance above the old Y- cross ranch, then turning southward, keeping close to the foot-hills, they arrived a…

Cardinal Fleury. was engaged in the desperate task of reconstruction. There was only one way by which this could be accomplished, and that was by keeping the youthful king busy with frivolous pastime, while the master-hand performed the labor. And in this matter, the careless act of a nurse materially assisted. She was an attendant of Louis XV, when he was a child, and permitted him to play…

the French King with some one of Castillian nobility, and it is not the character of the Spaniard to take kindly to the shattering of hopes because of a blacksmith's daughter. The conditions had reached such a stage that they involved the territory of the new world. Spaniards had been endeavoring to get a foothold in the valleys of the Arkansas and the Platte, and it was under the direction…

Cardinal Fleury, and it was the same force that prompted the expedition of Verendrye into northern Wyoming in 1740. Whatever feeble collateral history there is available at this time, was probably inspired by Lady Pompadour. And from Duiderot, one of the famous scriveners of the time, and from De Margry, are the only references to the journey, that I have been able to find. I would give mu…

The dangers attendant during the Indian wars, the thrilling experiences of emigrants and pony express riders, and the overland stage, and the later inspiration of the cowmen, each have important parts ; and in the evolution of the past, the homesteaders of twenty-five to thirty-five years ago, and the people of the later periods, each have been history makers. The slow process of irrigation…

The fierce competition waged by the Hudson Bay company, on the upper Missouri river and its tributaries, effected a change of base. We find no record of Lisa visiting this section of the state, but his mark is stamped indelibly on this land. A number of writers seem to think he was here about 1809, but no real record has been found. Manuel Lisa and his wife were the first white people to s…

For how many years they had been coming there is no record, but that they might have been associated with Manuel Lisa, seems quite probable. They appeared as free trappers at the mouth of the Laramie in the later years. When Robert Stuart and party met them at Grand Island, they had come up the river in a boat, and they disposed of the elkskin craft to the Stuart party. Rio and Dornin them…

Probably the change in the name was due to the Mormons, who probably misunderstood it in the first place. The notes of many paragraphers call it "Goshen Hole" after the Mormons' pilgrimage to the valley of Great Salt Lake. John Henry Smith, a once prominent Mormon, now passed, told me that there was something about this country that appealed to those of his faith, when journeying into the m…

The latter then became known as Gonneville creek, until the coming of the cowmen. It seems natural for successive classes of people in any territory, to unconsciously endeavor to obliterate the names and the glory of the departing peoples. Thus the reckless and contemptuous cowmen changed much of our geographical nomenclature. Lodgepole creek became commonly known as Pole creek, and Gonne…

But it does mean the obliteration of an historical identity and association, and a sentiment that the generations of men would appreciate. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA ROBERT STUART'S WINTER CAMP On June 20th, 1812, Robert Stuart, with a party of six others, left Astoria, Oregon, carrying dispatches to John Jacob Astor, of New York. The personnel of this party were hardened mountaineers and …

Upon the upper Mad river, now called Snake, they met with a party of four trappers, which the Astorians had left in the mountains the year previous. These consisted of Edward Robinson, a Kentuckian who in a brush with the Indians at an earlier date had lost his scalp, and John Hoback, Jacob Rizner and Jacob Miller. The Blackfeet had stripped them completely, and the first three named return…

Stuart told him that if In- heard another word of it. the man who made the suggestion would be the one to die. The Canadian subsided, and fortunately they soon thereafter killed a run-down buffalo bull. With lives sustained, the party was enabled to continue proceed as tin- discoverers of 1 Iverland Trail, which from the east as far west as western Wyoming, has been used with only slight v…

But they were not destined to remain undisturbed in their comfortable quarters. Early in December they \vere visited by a score or more of hungry Indians, professing friendship after the manner of the early redmen when destitute and hungry. They were fed from the abundant stores of the Stuart party and sent upon their way with several days rations. This visit, the travelers knew, would be onl…

In the years that have passed since then, the river has changed its course, and has cut into the lower end of Spring creek, leaving the location of the old camp upon what is know n as Big Island just at its lower extremity. At this place some of the older dwellers of the valley -- Theo. D. Deutsch and others -- can recollect the very old cottonwood stumps, possibly the very trees cut by th…

perished on the bluff that bears his name, and was twenty years earlier than the time that Captain Bonneville visited the Scottsbluff county and made mention of the famous mountain. The hut builded by these adventurers consisted of cottonwood posts, over which were fastened buffalo robes, making a wall that kept out the sweeping blasts that came down through Platte canyon, and roared over …

It is quite generally known these peculiar creatures of the wild used to frequent the most inaccessible cliffs of old Scotts Bluff, and they could be seen standing out in bold relief on the outermost pinnacles, surveying the bad lands and the valley with proprietary dignity. They would bound along the ledges that no hunter would dare to follow, or would leap over precipices when hard presse…

But occasionally great droves of antelope could be seen in the open or passing over some distant ridge. The timbered hills to the southward afforded plenty of blacktail deer, and when the hunters first appeared among them they were too wild to be scared. Upon the approach of the white man they would bound out of the thicket only a few feet away, and turn and stand looking at one, with wide…

These arc the men who made the' wonderful and hazardous trip, without the loss of a man, in the worst part of the year, who discovered and traversed the most practical route across the continental divide, and laid the foundation for a great national, ocean to ocean high- HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA wey, and to whom a stone shall be raised that will fittingly commemorate their achievements :…

It is true that like many another of his kind, he died far away from civilization, and wild animals gnawed at, and fought over his bones. Too many of them shared this melancholy fate ; and too many of them shared the fate of Manuel Lisa who put so much spirit end energy into the fur enterprise. He was of more than average intelligence and had much practical knowledge of the business, but it…

caused peace loving men like Jacques Laramie to leave the partisans of the trade, and engage in free trapping. He held that the world was large enough for all. The result was that a large number who believed as he did, had decided to let the partisans fight it out ; and they had taken to the newer fields of enterprise, and had made a rendezvous at the junction of the Laramie Fork and the Nor…

Louis through the valley of the "Flat Water," in 1812-13, never again returned to the mountains. But civilization was not of his kind, and he died less than two years thereafter. Jacques Laramie was an unusual character among the people of long ago. Too many of the wilderness men were inclined to forget their obligation. Expediency and the needs of the moment were of vastly greater concer…

For five years after 1S15 the trappers met in May of each year, and when conditions were favorable, the peltries were loaded on the bullboats, and Laramie with a party would convey them down the river. Another party would take horses to a point about four hundred miles below to assist their return. Keelboats plying on the Missouri river, would take Laramie "and his cargo from the mouth of th…

Thus it transpired that from 1815 onward, there were troops of horse, and fleets of batteaux frequently traversing the great valley of the North Platte. There was always plenty of driftwood for their small needs, as the trips were made quickly. The boats traveled about seventyfive miles per day, and the horses about thirty, so that five or six days would take the boat to the island rendezvo…

The Cheyennes, also south of the river, were of the same unreliable nature, and about 1815, they joined the Arapahoes, and operated with them for several years. On the other hand, the Tetons and Ogallalas were always friendly up to this period. Even in the later wars, Spotted Tail, the famous chief of the Ogallalas, was a peace loving Indian, and regretted the necessity of fighting the whit…

Goshe was found dead in his cabin, and Gonneville was killed on the creek that bore his name for so many years, and even that friend of the Indian, the gentle Jacques Laramie, was not immune from the vicious Arapahoes. In 1820, he announced that he would trap on Laramie fork the coming season, and when the other trappers pointed out the dangers, he said he would go alone. He did -- and he…

At the forks, he sent a small detachment up the south river with instructions to meet the main party on the Seeds-keedee, or prairie-hen river, which had been called the Spanish river for some time, and soon after it was changed to Green river. With about thirty men he crossed the south fork of the Platte at the point where the city of North Platte now lies, and the north fork at or near t…

There was an old saying among the Indians thai " Vbove the forks of the Platte, the grass does not burn." In the shadowy first years then- was very little grass in this country, and the little that did spring up in the early season, and much of the prairie was absolutely ban- by the middle of July. Thus it occurred that when General Ashley reached "the meadows," he rested for a few day. to l…

in the autumn of 1823, and Scott had become a free trapper, when he met LeClerc. (Ferris says that Scott was clerk of the American Fur Company, and that may have been true at one time, but not in 1828.) The competition among the companies had driven the most enterprising men into the free trapper fraternity, and the exactions of free trappers drove the companies to consolidation. The Northw…

and Scott decided upon "Northwest Fur Company," as the name for their new concern. Thus it transpired that a considerable number of free trappers were assembled under the leadership of LeClerc, with Hiram Scott as clerk and bookkeeper. And they were enroute for St. Louis in 1828, to dispose of their first collection of peltries, and formally launch their company. Chittendon says that this n…

After a few days the boat was launched, but was upset in the canyon, and all provisions and ammunition were lost. The three men reached the shore, however, and after some difficulty reached Laramie's fork. While searching for food, Roi and Bissonette came upon the fresh trail of LeClerc and party, and abandoned Scott in the wilderness. On reaching the big bluff, they found that the others …

He had married a squaw -- several of them in fact -- and was the chief of a small band when visited by Parkman. They were camped near the present site of La Grange, and were miserably poor. Their principal food consisted of choke berries crushed with stones and dried on buffalo robes in the sun. They had journeyed in from the south, and on the trip had lived for the most part on huge wingles…

For a while he confined himself to short journeys up the river as far as Grand Island where he met trappers coming from the mountains, and up the Loup and other tributaries trading with the Pawnees. In September, 1827, he started from Council Bluffs, where he had a trading station, with a party of forty-five trappers for Salt Lake Valley. This was the first recorded time of his journeying a…

Pilcher followed the usual method and divided his party at the forks of the Platte, a small detachment crossing both forks of the river near that point, and going up the south side of the "South River." with instructions to join the main party in the vicinity of the "Southern Pass." With thirty men he proceeded up the north side of the "North river," leaving the forks of the river on Septe…

And the southern tribes, hungry and hostile, were meeting them a) tin- river, and chasing them over the hills to the south. On the morning of October Sth, a large herd was espied in the valley to the westward, and the hunters experienced no difficult) in crossing the river, as it was at low water stage. Several fat buffalo were slaughtered in what later became known as Mitchell valley. The …

Pilcher had one of the most wonderful trips ever made in the mountains, going with only one companion for many hundreds of miles. He returned to St. Louis in June, 1830, and after the death of General Clarke in 1838, he became Superintendent of Indian affairs, which position he held for nine years. It was under his regime that Andrew Drips became Indian Agent at Fort Laramie at a later date…

William Sublette was one of the characters in history building in the western country for several years, and it is right that more than passing mention be made of him and his achievements. He was born in 1799 and at the age of nineteen started in business for himself by ope/iing a billiard hall at Saint Charles, Missouri. He was a Kentuckian, and his father was said to be the man who killed …

This partnership with Smith and Jackson ended in 1831 upon the death of Smith. And immediately thereafter he formed a partnership with Robert Campbell, another of General Ashley's "enterprising young men." Going a little ahead of my story, Campbell, in June, 1835, with thirteen men, began the erection of a trading post about a mile from the mouth of the Laramie river, and in honor of Willi…

He died on the 2d of July, 1845, and the lady later married her first love, Solomon, that probably being the intention of William when he put the provision in his will. FIRST WAGONS ON OVERLAND TRAILS The valley of the "Flat Wrater" had become well known as a highway for trappers. While data of special trips are a little difficult to obtain, yet mention is made frequently of the movement …

The old world whirls on, blazing a trail across the wilderness of space, yet probably the path it moves along has been worn smooth by vagrant worlds still moving on before. Having traversed this part of the wilderness with a pack horse several times, it was quite natural that one should look for easier modes of conveyance. Thus it was that in the early spring of 1830 two years before Captai…

About the middle of August the wagons laden with peltries, returned through the valley, and arrived at St. Louis early in October. Speaking of this trip, Smith, Jackson and I IIS TORN' OF WESTERN NEBRASKA Sublette wrote a letter in October, 1830, to Chouteau, which found its way into the Conggressional Record. It covers a wide variety of subjects. The feasibility of carrying on traffic by w…

And from this time for a few years, the plan was to bring merchandise by water up the Missouri to the Platte, then by wagons into the mountains. Returning parties brought wagons to the Missouri and transferred the beaver to boats, letting the mules rest while the journey was made to St. Louis and return. Thomas Forsyth in a letter to the Secretary of War in October, 1831, called the river …

The death of Hiram Scott on the mountains "i- bluff, bad at last given it a name, and "Scott's Bluff" smm became known as a landmark by practically every trapper in the wildand H brought about a change in the habits (if the fraternity in journeys up and down the valley. If there is one sentimenl in which the whole human race is in accord, that sentiment is the desire to \ isil a graveyard. …

Could they conveniently pass the grave of a comrade who had shared the joys and tribulations of the wilderness, they would have taken some additional hazard for the privilege. What old cowman of this country has not yisited "Boot's Graveyard," at Sidney, where sleep many of the comrades of the days of Creighton, Snodgrass, Coad, Sheedy and Robinson-- cowboys who died with their boots on, …

In April, 1831, seventy men under Zenas Leonard for Gant & Blackwell, left St. Louis, and on the first of August, arrived at the forks of the Platte. The next month was spent in the North river country between the forks and the Laramie river. The slow progress was made because of side trips hunting and trapping, on Gonneville creek, and over on Blue Water, and to L'Eau qui court, and in th…

everything of value, as they were on the line of clashes between the northern and southern tribes. In the early summer of 1832, a general i rendezvous of all the fur companies and trappers had been arranged for at Pierre's Hole, some six hundred miles to the northwest. Fitzpatrick and Bridger were to be there with supplies which William Sublette was to bring from St. Louis. To hurry him al…

The meeting of these two hardened hunters -- one from the mountains and the other fresh from the white man's world, was an event that called for liberal libations, and much genialty. Being admonished of the urgent need of haste, Sublette left his famous old cow and she was never seen again. Spurred onward, he made the six hundred miles to Pierre's Hole in thirty-two days. The party picke…

Wyeth, of Boston and his "down easters." Wyeth learned where Sublette and party were bound, and with the directness and frankness of the New Englander character he told him his purpose and dilemma. Sublette readily agreed that the two parties travel together. On the way across the prairies. Sublette's experienced hunters had taught the New Englanders how to hunt, and much other necessary in…

"I am sitting on a rock with plain dried buffalo as my entire meal." "I gave the boys some alcohol, more than was good for the peace of the party, and went on a good sized spree myself," etc. Wyeth raised the American flag over the wilderness of Idaho, when he built Fort Hall, and on the Columbia over the lost Astoria. But in the end he sold his fort on Wappatoo island to the Hudson Bay, an…

The party had left Fort Osage, on the first day of May, with twenty wagons drawn by oxen, and further consisted of a large number of horses with one hundred and ten men under the leadership of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, and his able lieutenants, M. S. Cerre and I. R. Walker. They had followed the Sante Fe trail to White riume's agency, then blazed a new trail in a northwesterly course, …

And on this identical day, June 13, 1832, William Sublette and Nathaniel J. Wyeth were fording the North fork at the point just above its junction with the "Laramie." It would be utterly impossible to improve upon the language of Washington Irving in describing this trip. And I would not vary from it in the least, except that I want to identify spots of interest by modern landmarks, and inc…

march of nine miles took them over the high rolling prairie to tin- North fork." "Skirting the North fork for a day or two, I) annoyed by the misquitos, and buffalo gnats, they reached, on the evening of June 17th, a -mall but beautiful grove, from which issued the confused notes of singing birds, the first they had heard since crossing the boundary of Missouri." This is the ravine that be…

He remarked that the bulls and the cows generally congregated in separate herds." Here they began to see blacktail deer, which abounded in the hills, and were larger than the "prairie species," or antelope. In the gap back of Castle rock they discovered the trail of four or five pedestrians, which later proved to be Crow spies, who had dogged the train in secret for several days, astonished…

Inasmuch as Bridger came to the mountains with General Ashley in 1823, and was guide during the Indian wars as late as 1865, it may be accepted that he ought to know. "On the 21st," Bonneville's party "camped amid the high and beetling cliffs of indurated clay and sandstone, bearing the semblance of towers, castles, churches, and fortified cities. At a distance it is scarcely possible to pe…

Indeed, it seems to be a pleasure to them to seek the most rugged and frightful situations, doubtless from the feeling of security." On the 22nd of June, Captain Bonneville negotiated the passage of the big gap in the mountain, experiencing considerable difficulty. Thus were wagons taken over this road for the first time in history, and the gateway between the mountains and the plain on the…

They proved to be the deputation of Nez Perce Indians (meaning pierced nosed Indians) which had been sent from their nation over on the Columbia to the White Fathers of the east, to learn of the White Man's Book and the Great Spirit of the White People. Bonneville remarked they were far from their native habitat, and while they had previously met the wagons of Sublette they were greatly imp…

They came galloping forward in a body, as if about to make a furious charge, and when close at hand opened to the right and left and wheeled in wide circles around the travelers, whooping and yelling like maniacs. "This done their mock fury settled into a calm, and the chief, approaching the captain, who had remained warily drawn up, though informed of the pacific nature of the maneuver, e…

They lost three scalps in the engagement that followed, which satisfied their pursuers. War signs were left by the Crows, as a warning forever to the Cheyennes ; and from this circumstance, Indians and whites who since have visited the ravine south of Pine Bluffs, referred to it as "Crow Creek," which name it bears today. The cow and calf with Bonneville's party came in for a full share of at…

They then proceeded toward the northwest "to appease the manes of their comrades by proofs that his death had been avenged, and they intended to have scalp dances and other triumphal rejoicings." On the 26th, Bonneville's party camped at Laramie's fork "a clear and beautiful stream rising in the southwest, maintaing an average width of twenty yards, and winding through broad meadows, aboun…

He was likely to omit anything that detracted from his glory. Bancroft is exceedingly severe in his criticism of Bonneville. Irving, who was Bonneville's chronicler of events, was a novelist. And one who has read Irving much is frequently amused at his exaggerations of the character of his heroes. Should his principal character, together with others, go on a spree, his would always "maintain …

June 22. 1X.i2, an elkskin boat bearing four Indians came plunging out of the rapids at the lower end of Platte canyon and pulled in upon the shore, making camp at about the present site of Guernsey. < >n the following day they ■ 1 down the river to a grove upon what to be .hi island. To the right of it. the waters rushed with increasing velocity, but on the left were invitingly quiet, Th…

About noon the following day, the swift current of the river carried the four strangers "near the breast of a mountain on which they could plainly see bighorns," and at night they passed "the wigwam," no doubt referring to Chimney rock. Then there was the long journey through prairies the like of which they had never dreamed, and at the river mouth they were taken on a keel-boat coming dow…

They had "seen his Star in the East." General Clarke entertained and fed them royally after the manner of white people, but it was too much for their uneducated systems, and the two elder members of the party died from excesses. The others remained for some time, being taken from one manner of white man's amusements to another, and finally on the announcement of their intention to return …

We leave them asleep by your great waters and wigwams. They were tired in many moons and the moccasins wore out. My people sent me to get the white man's Book of Heaven. You took me where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, and the Book was not there. You showed me images of the good spirits, and the picture of the good land beyond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the wa…

This Macedonian cry, "come over and help us," given by this brave upon his departure on the long journey home, was published in the Christian Advocate, in March, 1833, and made a profound sensation. It started missionaries all over the west. The two Lees, Jason and Daniel, were the first to respond, and they went for the Methodist church, in 1834. While their trip through this country was …

Some two hundred miles to the northwest of Scottsbluff is an extinct crater of a volcano, and the basin has filled with the clear sweet water of the Big Horn mountains. The lake, fed by everlasting springs, is named Lake De Smet. ~ There were many other heroic bearers of the Cross in the wilderness, but forever will the names of Jason and Daniel Lee. Marcus Whitman, Samuel Parker and Peter…

In the shimmering mirage of the west they saw the silhouettes of mountains -- the wigwam, and far away the dim trembling outline of Scottsbluff. And glad to see the beginning of their native element -- the mountains -- they sent reverberating up to the silent sky, the shrill and plaintive cry of the coast tribe Indians. They broke into a run -- down into and out past the shadows of the grov…

This was accomplished in 1826. While on the Santa Fe Trail in 1831, he was killed by Comanches, and the firm of Smith Jackson & Sublette was dissolved. It was then that William Sublette and Robert Campbell became partners in transportaion and fur enterprise. In 1834. Mr. Campbell accompanied Sublette to the mountains. The route taken was the cut off from Fort Osage to "Great Island," whi…

Previously to this date, the Indians had learned to come to the rendezvous of free trappers, and many hundred of them journeyed annually to trade their peltries for the bright shining trinkets and tinsel so dear to their nature. After naming the place "Fort William," it occurred to Campbell that there were other Fort Williams in the west, and to prevent confusion in shipments, goods addres…

a century ago, who accompanied General Connor on his Powder river expedition. Ladeau's father was a French-Creole and his mother a Pawnee squaw. When a small boy he was captured by the Sioux, by whom he was brought up. He was born on the Platte river, was an old timer at the Fort, and died about thirty years ago. This is the story handed down by John Hunton, now living at the old fort and …

One day, there being no one handy of whom this shipping clerk might inquire, he marked a number of bales and boxes destined for "Fort William on the Laramie," simply for "Fort Laramie," remembering only the river on which the fort was situated. Campbell, observing this, liked the idea and he changed the name as it would prevent confusion in future. This incident occurred some time after Su…

Fontenelle was made general manager, and after that date they had practically all the fur trade of Wyoming and western Nebraska. In later years there were many smaller establishments that ran for a time, but the bulk of the business went to the well established American Fur Company. Among these smaller concerns was Adams and Sabylle who built Fort John in 1836, and who later built another …

Hundreds of trappers periodically appeared, and from here some journeyed to civilization while others returned to the wilds. Thousands and thousands came from the east, and went on into the west ; some for homes on the Williamette and the Columbia, others to follow the trail of Jedediah Smith into the golden mecca of California. Adventurers going and coming across the continental divide drifte…

So when Joshua Pilcher became commissioner of Indian affairs after the death of General Clarke, the influence of the American Fur Company was such that they were able to secure the appointment of Andrew Drips, an employee of the company at Fort Laramie, as resident agent. It raised quite a storm of protest from the other traders, but the department soon became fully advised that it was only …

This man Richards gave the federal authorities no little trouble, but in resisting a detachment from Fort Laramie, which had been seent out to destroy the quantity of liquor which he had brought in from the south, he was killed about 1850. ROBIDEAUX OF ST. GENEVIEVE -- KIOWA RAID BY RED CLOUD Sources of information in matters of history are often widely scattered, and the stories themselve…

(For those who care to know, the exact location was where the spring house is now situated, just southeast of the big spring.) Last, but not least, there was old "Buckskin Charley" White, the intrepid government scout. From these, and partly through the kindly offices of Perry Braziel, Runey Campbell and John Peters, I am able to patch together an interesting tale, which otherwise would lik…

He claimed to be an alchemist, avowing to have discovered formulas for defying the ravages of time and age, and also of turning baser metals to gold. He said he was born 300 B. C. and expected to live forever. He was not an adventurer, for he had independent means, although the sources thereof were unknown. He was wonderfully informed, and talked intelligently of conversations he claimed to …

Louis, until Napoleon, with his tremendous energy appeared to change the maps of the world, the population of the city was largely French, and the voyageurs who allied with trapping, hunting and exploring expeditions, were largely of French extraction. Readers will note the preponderance of French names appearing in these stories. St. Genevieve, near St. Louis, was formerly one of the points …

Joseph, Missouri) or on the Gunnison, or on the Unitah, but a humble kinsman, of a later generation. For a number of years, Basil Robideaux led a hard life in the wilderness. He had the smallpox in 1838 which swept with such virulence over the plains, and depopulated Indian tribes. And at this time, the instinct of self preservation caused his compaions to desert him, as they thought, to di…

After days of hunger he would fall in with the fortune to kill a deer, wolf or buffalo. All indifferent to its kind, indiscriminate as to its quality, he would greedily fill of its carcass bloodraw ; and striking a fire to keep away creatures that were a little more wild than he, he would lie down by the remnants of the half eaten carcass to sleep the fitful sleep of the jungle man ; while a…

By the spring of 1848, he had accumulated enough to lay in a supply of traders goods, and removed to "Scotts Bluff Hills." Scotts Bluffs were originally designated in the plural, and extended along the range, intersecting with the main Chalk mountains to the south and southwest. Robideaux built a small trading station near the springs near the head of a canyon, and put up a blacksmith sho…

History connects the naming of Kiowa creek with Robideaux, in that the same raiders from the souih who burned the trading post were the following morning completely wiped out on the creek. The regular hunting ground of the Kiowas is south of the Arkansas, and east of the Purgatory. As a tribe they are more often mentioned as Comanches, by early writers. They wen- very warlike and treacherou…

Crossing the hills, they stopped at a spring leading down to the northwest. Here they rested after their pillaging of the old post. At this time a dashing young Sioux warrior, with a small band of young braves, came down from the north, thinking perhaps to meet some of their ancient enemies, the Arapahoes. His spies discovering the camp of Kiowas, and being somewhat indiscriminate as to wh…

This reference is no doubt to old Robideaux, as no other such ruins exist, or is there any memory of them among old timers. And there are none on the line of the trail that leads through Mitchell Gap. The naming of several gaps in the bluffs is clear. Robideaux station doubtless led to the naming of the pass of that name, and the passage through the hills to the north of the old post, tow…

The wilderness about it, and the people at the fort, were startled by the scream of a steam whistle, and so far, as was within the knowledge of man here, there was no such thing nearer than the Missouri river. The winter previous had 'been one of considerable severity and much snow had fallen in the mountains. The spring had turned off bright and warm, and the river presented much the same…

The advance up the river was made at the rate of about thirty-five miles per day, below the junction of the rivers, and from that point to Platte canyon the average was about twenty-five miles. On the return the boat travelled from seventy-five to ninety miles per day. On the trip both ways it was also found necessary at times to use green cottonwood and ash for fuel, and to keep the fires …

Among the few passengers alighting at Fort Mitchell from the El Paso was Reuleau, the trapper, who has a history. He is first mentioned in 1833, when he met the lone Nez Perce brave on his journey into the west, after the futile visit to St. Louis. Francis Parkman mentions him at Fort Laramie in 1847. Previous to the latter date, he had had the misfortune to freeze off the fore part of both …

But for him the trail was near its end. This was the last time he ever came to light. He sleeps somewhere in the wilderness about us, but where, no one knows. I am glad that my own father met him once at Fort Mitchell in 1850, when he made his first journey to California. For it was from Reuleau that father learned much that was of value regarding Indian strategy, and the dangers of the t…

Their number grew until there were a half dozen or more at play, chasing each other down the slide, and swimming away sputtering, and slapping as they went about it. Then an otter appeared, and he quietly ascended the bank, to the top of the slide. He would take the slide in the manner that the beaver did, but upon striking the water, would go under and remain for a distance of forty or fi…

It appears that of a sudden the animals quit their playing, and the Indian saw or claimed he could see the outline of an elk in the bushes upon the other bank of the improvised lagoon. He said the elk had given the water animals some warning of the near approach of men. He claimed that there was a language of the animal kingdom, which all animals understood -- the language of danger, by whi…

In 1845, when a number of posts had been built around Fort Laramie, cutting off the travelers before they reached the central and larger institution, they builded two other subsidiary posts. One was on the north bank of the Platte opposite the mouth of the Laramie river, that remained there until after the gold excitement in California, and the other was a little north of the present site …

One suggested was where Fort Sedgewick was later established (near Big Springs), and another "on Horseshoe creek, about forty miles west of Fort Laramie in the Black Hills." At this time the mountains around Hartville and extending southwest, including Laramie Peak, were called the Black Hills. Horseshoe creek was not Horse creek, as will be seen from the designated location, although from …

This post was commenced at once, and its location was upon the west bank of the Platte just south of the west end of the bridge between the city of Scottsbluff and Mitchell valley. Anyone who has visited this historic spot, can see the advantage of location. It commands an excellent view of the valley in all directions, yet is far enough away from the bluff to be out of range of any fire from…

The report referred to did not have the element of fact, for it is certain that Fontenelle was alive as late as 1852, when my father met him at Fort Mitchell. Lucien Fontenelle had a remarkable history. He was of direct royal lineage, and his parents, Francois and Moreonise Fontenelle. came from Marseilles. France, and Lucien and his sister were born in the early part of the century at New O…

Thus it transpired that Lucien Fontenelle, having for so many years braved the dangers of the wilderness, being a veteran of the mountains, now that he had attained the age of about forty-five years, should be relieved of some of the activities and -stress of a hunter, the new fort at Scotts Bluff offered the retreat. For a time it was called Fort Fontenelle, but the partizan's native modes…

An almost continuous stream of wagons stretched for five hundred miles, along the great highways over the mountains. Is it any wonder that the Indians who came down to Fort Laramie with Peter DeSmet in 1852, when they looked upon the great wide bare trail, should imagine that there must be a great void in the east, and could not comprehend that this was only a small fragment of the white r…

And now Fort Mitchell had become the rendezvous for trappers, as well as a halting place for overland travelers. It was here that trapping parties disbanded and went their several ways, and it was here they met to journey to the white settlements. When a number had made ready for the trip eastward they would take boats or horses, and with the voice of the wilderness, and with the yodling ca…

After a time the sameness of the city grew tiresome, and when another trapper outfit was preparing for the west, the most of them would be ready to come back to the life that was life to them. The joy of returning to the haunts of the mountains was theirs, and happiness beamed from the countenances, as they danced, capered and sang about the camp getting ready for the journey. And here at …

French language was much in use by the Americans, who in the main disdained the happy-go-lucky French camp attaches. They were frequently referred to as "Le Foux" or the fools, but laughter and song were unyielding to the shafts of ridicule, and whenever a fleet of boats cast off from the old fort, the splash of paddle, or the movement of poles were to the rhythm of French boat songs with w…

It was in 1833, so says Rufus Sage, that a party were descending the river, and they stopped upon an island some distance below the junction of the two branches of the Platte. A man named Brady and his French companion bad quarrelled. Tin- others of the party had gone out to hunt, and. upon returning they found Brady dead. 1 lis companion said it was by accidental discharge of his own weapon…

No one has ever confessed the murder pf the Frenchman, but it seemed that providence had a way in dealing with murderers in the wilderness. It is generally believed that providence used in most cases, the hand of some friend of the murdered man. The death of Brady gave name to Brady Island, which name time has never effaced. One of the most distinguished caravans to visit the famous statio…

All inquiries of the latter nature led him to Jim Bridger, who was at Fort Laramie at that time. The meeting was mutually interesting to the principals, and to the spectators. Gore was accustomed to command, and he had all the imperial instincts of his nativity. On the other hand, Bridger cared absolutely nothing for rank or station. In the mountains all men were to him the same. If they cou…

Of the former Bridger "lowed it was too highfalutin fer him, and he did not like that Pullstuff anyway ; he thought too much of lager beer." Munchausen's stories struck him as "a leetle too big," but when his own stories were repeated to him, he said, "well, maybe they air too big too," with a twinkle in his eye. These and similar discussions continued while the two remained in the mountain…

In one year, 1847, the American Fur Company shipped from Fort Mitchell, then just being established as Fort Fontenelle, and from Fort Laramie, then soon to be transferred to the government, forty-seven thousand buffalo robes. Fort Mitchell was the last trading post of the American Fur Company, and remained their property until 1864, when it was sold to the Northwest Fur Company, of St. Pau…

Perrin de lac in his book, 1802. puts on his map "Ancient Village of the Paducas," on the upper Niobrara near Rawhide Buttes. Robert Harvey, when doing some surveying in Sioux county, about forty years ago, came upon "old ruins" northwest of Agate. An early map of Nebraska indicates "ancient ruins" across the river and some distance north of the present site of Bridgeport. These were likely…

Major Long also stated that in 1820 the Cheyennes, "on the Cheyenne river" secured goods from the British -traders through the Sioux and they would bring them to the Platte where at "distant periods" evidently meaning long intervals, a sort of an Indian trading fair is held, usually on "Grand Camp creek," by the Cheyennes. Arapahoes, Kiowas, and Comanches. Tin's may have been as far up the …

The Sioux would have undoubtedly followed the business had it not been for the interference of the white trader, who took it over entirely. In 1814-15 the Sioux and Kiowas were at war, and a decisive battle was fought on Kiowa creek in the west part of the present Scotts Bluff county. Here the Kiowas wrere beaten and retired into the mountains. They later went south and joined the Comanche…

They attacked at night, and at their sudden approach the old woman, who was grinding bones in an improvised mortar, and had a torch of pitch pine stuck down her back, with the upper end alight, started to run toward the river. The village was situated upon a bluff. As she approached its precipitous shore with the Assinaboines in close pursuit, she took the torch from her back and threw it f…

Sioux Red Cloud's father had a brother who married a Northern Cheyenne woman about 1820, and the Cheyenne Red Cloud was their son. This indicates that the Northern Cheyennes and Ogallala Sioux were at peace and intermarrying at that time. This Red Cloud, half Sioux and half Northern Cheyenne, married a Southern Cheyenne woman, and lived with the Southern tribe. This would indicate peaceful …

Volume I of Wyoming historical publications, in an article on Fort Laramie says in 1835 two men were sent to the Black Hills to induce Bull Bear's Ogallalas to come to the Platte to live, and that this was the first Sioux band to come near Fort Laramie to trade. There was no Fort Laramie then, and the Fort William that was the antecedent of the historic fort was builded 1835. Lone Horn's h…

The North Platte river was the dividing line, in the days of the trappers, although the Sioux were sometimes found south of the line. _i3/2386 In 1850 the scourge of cholera swept along the trail, and spread among the Indians east of and around Scotts Bluff, and its vital effect drove all else out of mind for a time. Stansbury found five lodges full of Sioux, all dead of cholera, at Ash Ho…

This was in line with the promises of Colonel Kearney at Fort Laramie in 1845, where he warned twelve hundred Sioux that they must not try to close the Great White Medicine Road, "for it was used by the people who with their wives and their children and the cattle, were moving to the other side of the mountains, to bury their bones there, and to never return." Colonel Kearney said in addre…

The killing took place in a dry run leading down to the Platte, and the widowed squaw seemed .quite proud of the fact that it took so distinguished a man as Colonel W. F. Cody to kill her man and chief. Captain Clark, who later figured conspicuously in western Nebraska history, says that Whirlwind told him that the dates of the Horse Creek Councils marked the division of the Cheyenne and th…

Years ago, on the banks of the White river, an old Indian story teller sat by the fire, telling his midnight tales. And he said: "My story winds as winds a river, sometimes on one side of the valley, and sometimes on the other side, and sometimes turning backward for a distance, then turning again to continue its journey onward to the Big Water." So, while these events, and the chronicles t…

This story teller assured us, there in the shadow of the pines, the glow of the campfire illumining his face, and not so brilliantly the faces of his listeners, that, when the moon was full, the evil spirits began to eat it, and they never ceased until it was entirely devoured. Then the Great Spirit knowing it was not well to let evil spirits run about at all times of the night, and that th…

An inside knowledge of Indian life yields the information that their sentiments, their romance, their poetry, their natural human inclinations are not far different from those of their white brothers. The "Indian in a man" has been referred to in many ways -- wild nature, vindictiveness, treachery, and is more frequently used to indicate cruel or evil characteristics. That is because the side …

Fatalism is a part and parcel of the mountain and plain, and the greater frontier, as we well know, and we presume it is the same of war. The belief that "a man who is born to be hung will never be drowned," is old as the hills. In the remote periods of ancient India, Sanjoya sang the battle song of fatalism. But old chief Wau-bo-jeg, who once loved and roamed over the land of western Nebra…

"Five winters in hunting we'll spend -- we'll spend Five winters in hunting we'll spend. When youths grown to men, We'll to war lead again, And our davs like our fathers' will end." The last line indicates the fatalistic resignation. Thus the teachings went on from one generation to another, and the glories of war were forever dangled before the eyes of the young braves. He who cautiously…

She tried every wile known to a woman's heart to get him to give up his intended journey, she held their little brown baby up to be kissed, and then clung to him pleading with him. But when she knew that it was useless to plead longer, she hugged her child to her bosom and ran shrieking into the night. Their second son, soon to be, was prematurely born, as the result of the intensity of h…

In each case a Sioux father had sold his daughter to a young Ogallala brave, but in each case that Indian maiden had a sweetheart of her own. The story of the Banner county episode is this : The village was situated on the little tableland where in 1885 Vance Cross homesteaded, just south of Long Springs branch, then unnamed, and the Ogallala had brought his ponies. On the morrow he was to c…

The music, as it came to the village, all the inhabitants of which were now watching her, sounded weird and sweet, but was instantly recognized as the song of death. A dozen braves ran to save her, but in vain. They had almost reached her when she threw aside her blanket and as a statue of bronze stood for a moment in the morning sun, then with a cry that she would meet her lover in the …

"Then we shall cheerfully, praisingly sing, O-ka-gis, (the frogs) the heralds of Spring, First to renounce the Winter bound ball ; Hail sunshine and verdure and gladness for all." And they have a "Winter Song," a song of pleasing defiance to Par-kab-il-on-ac-ca, the god of winter. This thing with such a dreadful name, had decided to drive all the people south wiili the buffalo, so he himse…

They touch the heart of that which they seek to express, in simple language, while we stumble through the phraseology of mythology and ages and leave a sentiment so buried in verbiage that it is all but lost. It must be the communion and mutual understanding which is given by living close to nature. The common language of the birds and beasts and redmen, where all are attuned. A little extr…

No word picture in the classics has so vividly described this common incident in nature. Indians educated at Carlisle return to their tribes and the education gives them no better expression. Neither are they improved in arts, their work on the canvass with the single exception of landscape work is as crude as that of native ochre painted on the mountain sides. Their minds for the most part …

On each occasion the Babylonian splendors struck them and they cried out: "Washtay, lela-wash-tay, lela-wash-tay te-pee," (fine, very fine, very fine houses) which was the limit of their expression; but, back in their wigwams, if unspoiled by education, they can tell the folklore stories of their people, as wonderful as Arabian Nights, yet in words and symbols of simple comprehension. The yo…

Sometimes the popular belle would pretend to find one, for the joy of the simultaneous rush towards her by her many admirers. But if one found a red ear that was not well filled, or was crooked or tapering, all would shout with glee and sing the song "Wa-ge-nim," "Wa-ge-nim. Wa-ge-nim, crooked ear, Walker of night, Stop, little old man. And take not to flight. Crooked ear, crooked ear, …

Many, many moons ago; many moons and many winters, the Pawnees came up the river from the ruins of Quivera. The underground people of pre-historic Nebraska, and the corn raisers of hundreds of years ago, had left their "wallows." in the sands of the eastern part of the state, and had joined "the innumerable caravan that moves to the pale realm of shade," and the Pawnees, naturally nomadic,…

This boat had a skeleton fn.me made of wood four feet wide, twenty feet long, and eighteen inches deep, and it took five elk hides to cover it. As Lisa says : he put great activity into his operations, and went long distances alone into HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA the wilderness, and for long periods he was buried in the forest, or wandered about upon the plains. He introduced the "mammot…

They knew that such a movement would entail conflicts with their hereditary enemy, hence no village of small proportions would hazard the undertaking. In the village was one very old and neglected squaw, who, by silent consent and the custom of the tribe, was to be left behind. What cruel purpose or tradition originated this custom, I know not, but frequently the old and infirm, particularly …

It, too, was crippled and stiff and old, was dun of color and its back was sore, and it was very poor. Partly because of compassion and not washing to leave the old horse to the mercy of prowling, camp-following beasts, and partly because Ik- wanted oik- horse, however poor, the young brave took the half-starved animal along, and found it of much service in carrying their After many days th…

A Spotted Robe was Big Medicine among the Pawnees, and the chief sent a crier through the village announcing that a charge should be made from the village, and the brave who brought back the spotted robe might marry his beautiful daughter. And the young brave mounted his old dun horse to take part in the race, but the others laughed at him and he drew aside. Then to his surprise the horse…

One by one the other braves came back to the village, and as they came, they rode by the lodge of the boy's grandmother to tell her of his good fortune, but she thought they were jesting and answered them angrily. When the young brave came up with the old dun horse snorting and prancing, laden with buffalo meat and a great robe, for her, and the spotted robe which he retained for himself, …

So the next day was a great battle between the Pawnees and Sioux at a point nearly opposite the opening in the hills now known as Round House or Reddington Gap. The young brave and the old horse were there, and they charged into the thick of the conflict. As he rode in among the Sioux, the air was thick with arrows, but he found the chief and slew him, and returned untouched. HISTORY OF WE…

Across the river with great tumult and splashing, they were driven, and up one of the arroyos to the north, and because of the many relics of the battle found in this vicinity, that arroyo and the water that flows down therefrom is known today as Indian Creek. The young brave mourned the loss of his now famous dun horse, and after the battle, he went out on the field and gathered up the …

Then came another storm alike but fiercer than the first, and when it passed he saw the form of a horse. Then came a third storm, more terrible than the others, and when it passed he went down upon the field of battle and there he found his old dun horse, sore of back, and crippled and poor as when he had first found him. And the brave was sad for he knew that it Was his disobedience and im…

He followed the directions, and on the morrow he returned, and found his old dun horse and a beautiful white gelding. This he took to the village and it was better than the horses ridden by other Pawnee braves. The next tomorrow, he rode home a coal black steed, and so each succeeding day he rode another horse of another color into the village, grey, roan, pinto, bay, etc., and each was fine…

Then the old dun horse died, and disasters fell thick and fast upon the Pawnees. The Sioux made it so uncomfortable that the Pawnees decided to retire some distance down the river, having no particular objective, and to cover their retreat, they left a number of the braves to keep the Sioux engaged while the main village was moving. And these were attacked by the Sioux with such fiercenes…

Under the stars and moon forty-six Sioux and sixty Pawnees were cold in death, and HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA many another nursed his wounds. The Pawnees were so humiliated and discouraged, that they retired three hundred miles farther down the river, and gave up their claim to the North Platte valley. In the new land they have worked out the fulfillment of their destiny, and their merging…

He climbed back up the rope to await the following night. When the darkness came over the land he called his men together, and told them of his plan for escape, and they all crawled to the edge where the perforation in the brule rocks made the well. One by one they went down the rope, and crawled out through the hole at the bottom and away in the darkness. And the last to go was the young…

We were talking of Indian mythology and he told me this story which he said was sometimes told of the Chadron Plains, sometimes of the valley north and east of Scotts Bluff mountain, and sometimes of the high divide known as the Flowerfield Swell. Algon, a Sioux hunter, had chased a deer out upon the prairie, until its trail led to a circle where all the grass was trodden down, but from …

After it had alighted they all jumped out and began to dance in the circle and sing as they danced. One of them was very beautiful, and it seemed to the young brave that he must have her for his very own. Watching as she came to the side of the circle where he was concealed, he leapt out and tried to catch her, but quick as he was, they were the quicker, and all leapt into the basket singi…

Finally he made him a covering of deer hide with head and all, and he ran into the circle, HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA and leaped into the basket. Immediately all the maidens vanished and twelve deer bounded over the prairie toward the pine clad hills. After a time he left the basket, and the circle ; and the deer came running back, and they disappeared, and twelve maidens jumped out of the…

Seemed, I say, for all unknown to Algon, she worked upon and made a wicker basket. And one day he returned from the hunt and found she and the baby were gone. Someone had seen her going to the Magic Circle, on the prairie. He hurried out, but was too late, for as he neared the spot he heard her sing, and saw the wicker basket going up. Her song was of her happiness, but it was a dirge of hi…

His entreaties won the heart of the grandfather, who told his daughter to take her young son, and return to the tepee of his father, and ask him to come, and to bring with him a specimen of every bird and animal he had ever killed in the chase. Algon, who ever hovered near the enchanted spot, heard her song before he could even see a speck in the far blue. She seemed to come so slow, but at…

One chose a wing, another a foot, another a tail and another a claw, until all the guests had chosen something. And those who chose a foot or tail became animals and ran off, those who chose a wing or claw became birds and flew away. Algon himself had chosen a white hawk's feather, and his wife and boy had done the same. Immediately they became white hawks, and flew down upon the earth, and …

The Chugwater came by its name because of a rock along its course, which stands abruptly out of the level valley and resembles a chimney, and "chug" is an Indian name for chimney. Hence Chimney creek, or Chugwater. The traders at Fort Laramie became impatient for the fur of the Indians and sent over with the complaint a "hollow wood" (keg) of firewater. In the succeeding debauch a drunken fi…

For several days previously the old scoundrel had been a visitor at the post, offering furs and ponies and the beads and blankets off his back for a hollow wood of firewater. This intimation that single blessedness was not well for him, and Chintzille's nervousness had seen what was coming. After some sparring for an opening, which was cleverly avoided, the old villain came out plainly and…

In one of these affairs, where a trader of less principle than Long Knife, sold some liquor to the Indians about the fort, there followed a drunken brawl and Susa-chiecha was killed, and around the body of their chief that night the Indians revelled in their frightful orgies. LTntil Captain Bonneville went into the mountains, and for some time afterward, the Cheyennes were totally averse to d…

Belden, because he voluntarily went among the Indians and married a squaw, two of them in fact, and lived with the savages for a great many years. Yet in the struggles that later took place between the people of his tribe, and the people of his race, he sometimes was on one side and sometimes on the other. More often, his blood asserted itself, and on many occasions where he fought hard in…

Bridger told Belden of the doubting Thomas and that gentleman returned within his tent. After a time he came out with verses he had just written, and while long and somewhat crude, we repeat the production here because of its local color, and the references to distinguished characters of the west, none of which, I think, is now living. Ben Harding was a scout and was the subject, and his m…

You darned old polecat, or wuss. Where's your hoss? right there; yes, you're right, Tied up to a cottonwood tree. Well, you're going along with us on this tramp, None of your lyin' you bully old scamp, You are. How that's said. Suppose we all damp To success to Jack Grey's company. Why, dang it, it's more than a year since we met At the foot of old Court House Rock, And if memory don't …

Now, tell us the truth -- let up on the lies -- Why, what the blazes got into my eyes ? It stings so darn bad ; it almost makes me cry, When I said at that joke take a laugh. Well, no more of this, you're blubberin', Grey, A pretty frontiersman you are. Not a man in this crowd but has his day, Wrapped up in his blanket and laid away Some long tried friend, and no one to say A scriptural ver…

Then we'll mount and away for another year, other Court House Rock. On the prairies green, in the mountains drear, To trap the beaver,, and hunt the deer, From Arkansas to Yellowstone. Jim Bridger is one, John Nelson's another, And Gilman, he's two by himself, And we'll count him the third ; then Dick, and me, Jack Jones, Jack Morrow, Jack Grey -- Jacks three, A good poker hand, but by y…

And if it is Indians, we will soon make them find They have no business here, when we go it blind, And must take tother road, or strike ile. Why there's only one -- a horseman at that, Dick, us two can get off with him, Easy enough, can't we, be he friend or foe, For there's no two men have better rifles, you know. Don't appear to you though, that he's comin' darned slow; That horse and…

So again, we are ten, countin' Slippery Ben, Ghost Ben and his shadowy steed. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA One day Jim Bridger and Jim Baker were hunting together in the wilds a little west of here, when they came upon a mother grizzly bear and two half grown cubs. A lucky shot finished the old one and Baker proposed that they waste no more ammunition. That each take one of the cubs, and "…

"Ye tarnal fool, Jim, ye got me into this scrape, and I got myself out. I wanted to shoot mine, but you wanted to kill and sculp 'em with butcher knives. So as the ba'r fight were yourn, I thought I wouldn't interfere, and let ye have it plenty." After some reflection. Baker answered : "Dod rot it, Jim, if ye aint right, but I'll never fight nary another grizzly, without a good shootin' i…

On June 23, 1832, there was a Grand Council of the Chiefs of the lodge of Angry Man. On July 5. 1835, Col. Dodge held a council at a point about twenty miles above the forks of the Platte, which was attended by Angry Man, Two Axe, Little Chief; Mole in the Face, Bloddy Hand, Two Bulls, Big Head or Star. Mole in the Face was chief spokeman, and the years of wandering had been lean ones, so …

And the people of a generation ago knew of Little Moon Post-office, at the crossing of the Pony Express on Horse Creek, which site is now ( 1919) owned by L. J. Wyman. In his reports of 1835, Col. Dodge makes no mention of travel on the trail, but ten years later Col. Kearney tells a different story. The latter also tells of a thousand Indians at Fort Laramie, and he also advised the govern…

About the time the conferences were being held by Colonel Dodge, the Presbyterian Church sent out Samuel Parker and his bride, in answer to the call of the Nez Perce Indians, and they made their "honeymoon journey" into the west, which journey ended in their death at the hands of "praying Indians." Their melancholy fate has been laid to the door of commercialism, and the Hudson Bay Company …

The law of the early forties, that gave to each emigrant, who found his way to Oregon, a section of land, might have been legally applicable to the sand hills of Nebraska, sixty years before the achievement of Wm. Neville and M. P. Kinkaid was upon the statutes. The territory of Nebraska was unorganized for many years after the passage of the Oregon homestead act, and in Idaho the Oregon s…

another of nature's wonders, called "The Chimney, but I should say it ought to be called Beacon Hill from its resemblance to that famous land mark of Boston." "I crossed the river to get a nearer view with one assistant. When some distance from the river, we heard and then saw the stampeding of buffalo. We rode for the river to get out of their line of progress. They probably would have fai…

In Mitchell valley Parker found two thousand Pawnees, of which he said : "Their lodges were comfortable and easily transportable, and they moved from place to place as occasion dictated. They were constructed of eight or ten poles about eighteen feet long, set circular and the small ends fastened together and the large ends about twenty feet apart. This frame was covered with skins of elk an…

drop out of line, and a fire would be hastily kindled, and at night the wagon would come along and join the caravan, and the cheerful face of the doctor would tell to all the anxious matrons who might expect a similar event before the journey's end. that all was well, and that the mother and child were both doing nicely. He ministered to the failing, and said the last sad rites over the imp…

At night when the newly-weds would retire to their own wagon, the golden chariot that would be forever theirs, not infrequently did the youngsters serenade, or oftener still, run the wagon in the ditch, or creek or river. Among the chroniclers of events along the old trail, occasionally one indulged in classical poetic expression. It was John Minto, I think, who tells of the prosaic activ…

And lo ! the herds, they come, they come, A sweeping thunder-cloud of life, Loud as Niagara, and grand As they who rode with plume and brand On Waterloo's red slope of strife, Wild as the rush of tidal waves That roar among the crags and caves, The trampling besom hurls along; A black and bounding fiery mass That withers as with flame the grass, Oh, terrible ! ten thousand strong. Meanw…

One can well believe the hail storms are nothing new to western Nebraska, but the first record that we have seen was on July 21, 1844, the, Minto party were on the high divide between the Plattes, near Ash Hollow, when there came a sudden storm, and the people and the stock suffered from a severe pelting by hail, "some of the hailstones being as large as hen's eggs." In the storm the cattle…

George Cooke felt when he reached the summit of Robideaux Pass, when he saw stretched out before him the wide meadows or Horse Creek bottom, the billowy hills beyond, the treeless plains for miles on miles, then the mountains, "and Laramie mountain towering, at eighty miles." This is what he said: "Let the wide arch of the ranged empires fall. This is my space." HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASK…

Red Cloud's distinction as a leader had already been increased by encounters with and victories over Pawnees, Crows, Shoshones and Kiowas from time to time. He now became the fighting chief of the Ogallala Sioux, and was the main leader in the wars of 1864 to 1869. It was he who planned and executed the Fetterman massacre, in which Captain Fetterman and ninety-six of his command were ambush…

One can imagine the impetuous youth of sixteen, with the love of color and action, and indifference to consequence, riding like a whirlwind, silhouetted against the golden red of the sunset sky, and his sire seeing in him the Red Cloud of Destiny, prophetically cried out, "Marpiya Luta, Marpiya Luta." Ah! that was a name for an Indian. At twenty-five Red Cloud had a difficulty Red Cloud wa…

While nominally the head of all the Sioux during the great wars along the Trail, the activities were largely in the hands of the war loving members of the tribe, who with their independent bands moved without orders from the supreme head. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA The experience of the United States at the close of the Black Hawk wars in the valley of the Mississippi, was so successful, t…

Names in Indian life are certainly an indication of character, for one naturally expects the assassin of a truly great Indian, to bear some such cognomen as "Crow Dog." While Spotted Tail was inclined to peace, while he would rather take his people to the hunting grounds at the head of Spotted Tail creek, or over on the Blue Water ( Snake creek) and there lay in a winter's supply of jerked…

There had been no signs of hostiles for sometime and they felt secure. Mitchell and Anderson wTere the only two to carry arms. As they started to return on that beautiful autumn afternoon, the Indians were observed pouring into the canyon to head them off. Mr. Bentz, who was mounted on a fine black horse, rode ahead with such surprising rapidity and suddenness, that he passed the closing g…

Anderson seized the reins and held them until Cramer could come forward, then he returned to the use of his rifle. The horses with the heavy ambulance could not keep pace with the light-footed Indian mustangs, and it soon became evident that the Indians would close around them. Captain Mitchell and Anderson Were shooting, but the roughness of the prairie, and the shaking of the ambulance, mad…

The Indians immediately following came to the ridge and stopped, for it was plain that those ahead were closing in on the luckless ambulance, and its occupants. One Indian dismounted and looked long and intently on the ground. He wore a spotted head dress of wild turkey feathers gayly colored, and reaching nearly to the ground. Captain Mitchell knew him to be none other than the famous Spot…

Another shot and another Indian stopped, but there were now returning shots. A sudden rush was made by a dozen or more of the Indians, but three shots in quick succession sent them back dragging with them three companions. That deadly aim was disconcerting. Captain Mitchell says he determined it was time for him to take a part, as he saw some thirty Indians preparing to make a rush. It was …

The Indians could not have known how many might be concealed about them, and the delay and incertainty would have given time and the possibility of Bentz returning with assistance. But Mitchell remained quiet and the Indians made the rush. Notwithstanding his disabled condition, Anderson did work the Spencer to the effect that four more Indians bit the dust before they dragged him from the …

It was back in 1889 that the writer, then a budding young poet (as he thought), visited Gering, on the Fourth of July. The party consisted of Miss Ida Eckerson, now Mrs. A. E. Scott of this city, Miss Minnie Shumway, now Mae Shumway Enderly of Los Angeles, William Wallace White of Gering, and the writer. We crossed the old bridge that had then but recently been built, and as we crossed the…

It lighted upon the fleecy western sky ; A symbol of the great, now dead and gone, Who leave a brilliant lustre when they die. The sky back of the stream, reflecting, cast Resplendent lights of purple and of gold, And all the rainbow colors, changing fast, From lurid red, 'till fading grey turns cold. But here and there, the shimmering surface mars, HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA Its glossy…

Yet, grim and earlier relic, doth it tell Its history in its own inspiring way. But from the crag of noble grandeur leaping Our vision falls upon the level plain, Swift over it, the evening shadows creeping Leaves a dull dreary waste upon the main. Beneath the plain a wall of dingy brown, Obscured the last faint rays of waning light. The lark's last note sounds through the twilight gloom …

Like every earthly pleasure, leaves behind Dark shadows, creeping on to darker night. Now here, new scenes on the then new bridge, and we were the new people. Ah ! surely here was an original poem, something of a descriptive nature that people would like, and the like of which I felt had never before been written. And for over twenty years I lived in the thought that I was the only "poet"…

A heavy storm was approaching from the west, and the party went into camp on the summit of the hill. "A thousand Sioux were in the vast amphitheatre just east of Scottsbluff." They were breaking camp in great excitement, having determined to cross the river before the storm came upon them. The braves were galloping about, the dogs and children were scurrying to and fro, and the women with hu…

Chimney Rock stood alone like a pillar of fire struck by the setting sun." Then my eye fell upon these words : "The sun set in the clouds ; but the glorious day, Parts not in gloom ; the thick veil is riven -- HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA The river and the sky in lovely array Are radiant now, with the light of Heaven. "Like an aurora, or the flashing trace, Of Angel's flight to the utmos…

I really wonder if this voice of eighteen forty-five was not reechoed from mountain and sky, while we were driving over the bridge in eighteen eighty-nine. At any rate, Cooke's advice to on peevish couple on this occasion will bear repeating now, as a solace to any regrets that one may have. "Now, for the love of Love, and her soft bowers, Let's not confound the time with conference harsh…

When the Cheyenne belles came among them they beheld a captain who wore glasses, and they screamed and rushed wildly to their village tents, nor could they be induced to come out so long as the captain was in sight. It was very embarrassing to him, for how could he know that they had been told that with glasses one could see through opaque substances and their gayly colored calico gowns wer…

Then at night in the low-ceilinged room with its sloping sides, close under the shingles where my mother put me to bed. How I did dread to see her carry out the candle. How I hoped she would leave the "middle room" ajar, for the few moments respite from the dark. What a comfort to hear her moving about, and to know that as long as she was there the goblins of the dark would not come out. Bu…

They could merrily go to bed, and joyfully go to sleep if the little fire fly would only give the safety of its feeble light. The young trappers and boy scouts, if they look, may find some evidences of the cache of furs that the American Fur Company once had in the bad lands at the foot of Scotts Bluff mountain. It was during the spring freshet of June, 1842, that fourteen trappers from Fo…

He met them about two weeks after the unloading, and the men were in considerable distress as their tobacco had given out. A limited supply was given them, to last until they should reach the settlements. Next to Scotts Bluff mountain Court House Rock and Chimney Rock were the more famous land marks of the Trail in western Nebraska. And every chronicler had a different name or suggestion as …

In the vicinity of Chimney Rock there came up one of the heavy rains, for which that spot seemed famous, and for three days the downpour continued and thoroughly soaked the party. On the third day as they were slowly moving to the west, they ascended the hill to the west of Creighton valley, Scotts Bluff mountain suddenly loomed distinct and clear above the fog that enveloped its base, and th…

Kelly's "vision" had pictured Fort Laramie as a fortress, but in realization it proved "a cracked, dilapidated adobe quadrangular enclosure." "No wonder it was sold to the government." Bruce Husband was then in charge, and Fort Fontenelle Was in course of construction or almost completed. A short distance above Julesburg, at a point off to Mud Springs there stands a solitary rock which bears…

The vow of his partner had been broken, and the condition of the girl was such that she could not return to the same circle of friends she had left. A short time after she had died. The brother said nothing of his horrible discovery, and together they made their way working toward the east. At the point indicated, the brother set upon and tied the other fast. He took him in this condition to…

The brother of the girl moved on into the east, satisfied with his fiendish revenge. When he reached St. Louis he found that his brother had tried to make all amends, that he had sought and plead with the girl to marry him, but an old aunt had persuaded her to have nothing to do with him. Failing in that, he made a will giving her all his property, which was considerable, at the time of h…

The operations of the road agents became so bad that the Overland stage traffic came near being abandoned, soon after its institution. The first Overland stage to California was put in service in 1859. and shortly after the pony express was inaugurated. The time for mail from New York to Sacramento, by the "Butterfield Stage Route," was twenty-one days, and the pony express shortened it to…

President Lincoln's inaugural address was started from the Missouri river, March 4, 1861, and in just seven days and seventeen hours it was delivered at Sacramento. It then became a regular schedule of eight days to travel the two thousand miles, or two hundred and fifty miles each twentv-four hours. On April 3, 1860, the first start of the Pony Express was made, and on the eleventh there …

Cody rode the Pony Express, and he was first hired by Jules Reni and put in '"Bill Trotter's division." He was the youngest rider on the entire two thousand miles of the road. He quit the prairie and went to the mountains in the summer, and met Joe Slade at Horseshoe station, where he offered his services, but Joe Slade said he was too young. Cody then gave him a letter from Trotter, and h…

I've been mighty nigh all over three counties in Illinois." Slade's seemed to have been a wonderful nerve, for he drove stage through the wildest part of the road and shot down the road agents on sight. It was something different. Heretofore at the sight of desperadoes, the drivers would whip their horses into a fury of getting away, but now Slade would simply slow down and the first man w…

Slide would always take any advantage that cunning quick action or a quick wit would give, and on one occasion when the gentleman with whom he had had a dispute appeared to he the nimblest artist, Slade quickly said that it was useless for life to be wasted over such a small matter, and proposed that they throw their guns on the ground and fight it out with their fists. The other party agr…

Slade retorted that he would live long enough to wear one of Jules' ears on his watch guard. Just at that time the stage came along, and the superintendent happened to be on board. He ordered Jules' arrest, and they proceeded to hang him. He was strangled until black in the face, and then was let go on the promise that he would forever leave this part of the country. This promise was kept …

When Slade reached Bordeaux, this was the condition in which he found him. He went up to the helpless man, deliberately shot him twice, killing him instantly. He then returned to Fort Laramie, and went through the farce of giving himself up, and was discharged. This was in 1862. It is believed that there was no mutilation, and that this was just an exaggeration of partisans growing out of t…

He had the line completed to Salt Lake City on the 17th of October and on the 24th of the same month the California company reached the City on the Lake. Creighton had bought during the summer one hundred thousand dollars of Western Union stock for $18,000.00 and when the project was completed, he was given three shares for one. And shortly afterwards he sold his one-third of his holdings …

In some cases it left no hope and they became derelicts that lived about in the sod shanties on the outskirts of army posts, or ranches, like "Dirty Woman's Ranch," near old Wellsville and Camp Clarke. Calamity Jane became a combination of courage and vice. Virginia Dale, attached to the notorious character Slade, had a certain strength of personality that forced a degree of respect. Joseph…

It broke her heart, and she heaped curses upon the perpetrators of the deed, and she cursed the silent friends of Slade, many of whom had witnessed the tragedy, demanding to know why one of them had not shot her husband, and saved him from the "dog's death." She told the leaders of the vigilantes to beware, that death was upon their trail, and that everyone of them was marked. In the main…

He weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds, and his wife was good looking and was about the same size, age and complexion, and often interfered in his business, and was generally a trouble maker. Virginia Dale, one of the stage stations west of here, was named for her. Much is said of the noted characters like Jules and Slade, but not as much of their wives. A short time ago there live…

Inghram, now living at Scottsbluff, indicate that Jules' demise was at Bordeaux, (near Cold Springs) fifteen miles east of Fort Laramie. It would seem when Jules was killed that his friends did not correctly relate to the widow all the details of the tragedy; they probably thought to temper the grief and colored the story, or possibly, in the years that have followed, she has lost track of …

If they could reconstruct that other expedition, where mothers put their babies into carts, with their meagre personal belongings, and pushed them on and on, over the hundreds and hundreds of miles of prairie, of sand, of sagebrush, up hill and down, fording streams and traveling long stretches without water under a superheated sun and burnished sky. they might have a conception of what sa…

And with the profoundest self respect, Her natural impulses inclined Toward the lord of humankind -- Toward her own elect. Mysterious motherhood is there, And love of children chastened her, And made her life calm and serene. For they, and not for wanderlust, Part of "the Overland," she crossed Before the "closing scene." Within these caverns two, her eyes Looked up toward her Paradise, …

The younger, whose brave still lived, said a few days later that she was going to return to the tent, because she was no longer fit to live with white people. Perhaps some mother can tell us whether that was the real reason she went back to the tribe. For back there in the wigwam of its father was a tiny little half-breed son, whose mute arms stretched through the desert night and whose wa…

The hired girl was stripped naked and left dead, tied standing to a post and shot with a dozen arrows. The cabin was in ruins and Mrs. Eubanks and one child and her friend Miss Roper were carried away prisoners. The following January Two Face, with Mrs. Eubanks and child were captured near the present site of the Rawhide ranch, and Blackfoot with Miss Roper on Snake Creek, nearly due north …

This summary execution brought much criticism, and the easterners whose sob squad had been after the scalp of Colonel Moonlight and others of his strong kind, sent up a howl that was heard as far as Washington, and one mountaineer and trader said it would center the Indians at Fort Laramie for revenge, and "we will all be masscred," he declared. Colonel Moonlight's answer was that perhaps s…

I am not surprised that General Harney obtained the name "squaw killer," at the battle of Blue Water, for at that time it seemed that the extermination of the Indian race was the best solution of a bad problem. And it is no wonder that Qister said, when they accused him of throwing papooses into the South Platte river. after he had destroyed an Indian village, "if you kill the nits there wil…

All the Indians agreed that "the great Road" along the Platte, and across the mountains should be free and open for white people, and the United States agreed to pay the Indians fifty thousand dollars a year in goods, for the use of the road through their country. The Indians agreed not to rob or attack the white people on this road, and the United States agreed to keep the white people fr…

The grave of Rebecca Winters, on the Burlington right-of-way in the east part of Scottsbluff City, is one of the land marks on the Old Overland Trails. The original mark was only a wagon tire set half in the ground with her name, and a few important facts chiseled thereon. The buffalo and then the range cattle found it a convenient rubbing place, and it was always kept bright and shining by t…

< Mi arrival at the Indian lodges, he demanded of a sub-chief "Bear," the guilty parties. Bear informed him that the chief had already gone to the fort to apologize and make amends. Such a tame conclusion would reflect but little glory >"1 a Wesl Pointer, and Grattan determined thai the guilty man must be produced. Bear again told him that he did not consider the matter very serious. The c…

Battiste Good says the chief's name was Mato-Wahyui, "Mato" signifying "Bear" and "Wahyui" means to "arouse or startle." Spotted Tail, the young warrior, then took a prominent part, and the Indians, infuriated, turned in with clubs and tomahawks, and destroyed the entire detachment, save one, who, though wounded, reached the fort. Richards, a squaw man, is said to have aided in the escape …

Fleming, in the meantime, martialed all the available men about the fort, which were maintained strictly on the defense of the station without any journeys or sallies out to assist the emigrants. A mail stage was stopped a little west of the Horse creek station and the driver and all the guards murdered. This was done under the supposed leadership of Spotted Tail. And it was for "the murd…

killed in plain view of the caravan, but the river separated them, and they were powerless to aid him. After the murder, and some threatening demonstrations toward my father's party, the Indians retired in the direction of Sixty-six mountain. The event made a powerful impression upon the party, especially the women, who for the first time had witnessed a tragedy of this sort. I have never …

The event of the Bald Knob tragedy being of so recent date, the women became hysterical, and began to cry and sob, but retreat meant certain disaster before they could possibly reach the fort. The party proceeded without undue haste or hesitation down the hill and through the smoky city of tepees, and as slowly and unconcernedly climbed the hill farther on. The Indians made some demonstratio…

This pile was about eight miles east of the fort, and unless it has been obliterated, is still there, the only monument that marks the spot of this, the really first military tragedy in the North Platte valley. When General Harney demanded the surrender of the murderers of the Horse Creek mail party, Spotted Tail with a number of the other so-called murderers marched into the fort in full w…

Ware says that he attended two of the councils at Camp Cottonwood in 1865, or the year following the date of Spotted Tail's leading in the Massacre of Cottonwood Canyon. After these councils, he moved with his band to the head of Spotted Tail creek, and rambled the country over for miles thereabout. He wanted peace, but he could not hold the young men, and when a peaceful man goes to war he…

The attempt at arrest was made by a man who had contempt for Indians as fighters, and knew nothing of the characteristics of the race. Every effort seemed to have been made by the chief of the Brules to effect a peaceful settlement of the affair. He offered a mule to Grattan, as a recompense for the loss of the cow, but Grattan effected to think that it was offered to him personally as a brib…

A Minneconjou, "shooters of the mist," a stranger camped among the Brules, killed the cow, and it was eaten. On the 19th, Grattan with his twenty-nine men and an interpreter, (a hanger on around forts and camps, a hard drinker, and very boastful) with two cannon, a twelve pound howitzer, and a mountain howitzer, arrived aboul three I'. M. to arrest the Minneconjou. Grattan took a position …

The Indians started to rush him then, and he fired his cannon and muskets in a volley. The Bear and a few Indians fell, the Bear mortally wounded. Grattan and five men were killed around the cannon, and the rest were all cut down within a mile of camp. One soldier, terribly wounded, was picked up by one of the sub-chiefs and kept in his lodge over night, and the next day taken to Bordeaux…

After the looting of Bordeaux and Chouteau trading posts, the Indians took the body of their dead chief, and went over on the Niobrara, where he was wrapped in rich robes and put in a burial tree. Activities of Spotted Tail .and Little Thunder, after the Grattan Massacre, brought General Harney to Fort Laramie with re-inforcements from Fort Kearney. Little Thunder became the nominal chief af…

Little Thunder was in charge at the time General Harney with his powerful force, came into the North River country. Little Thunder was not anxious to fight, and wished to parley. He had with him on the Blue, forty-one lodges of Brules (or Burnt Thighs), and eleven lodges of Ogallalas, (or Dust Throwers). According to regular count this would indicate 326 Brules, of which 65 were braves, and…

It was not intended that the Indians should be allowed to escape, and he was returning to the proper position when a squaw, who was out picketing a pony for her brave who was belated in arriving in camp that night, heard the sound of the creaking saddles in the darkness and gave the alarm. The Ogalallas rushed out of their tents and the cavalary charged. The Indians fought desperately, and…

An order was issued to cease firing, and the Indian braves, taking advantage of the respite, dodged out of the rocks and ran away into the hills. Then to the rocks the soldiers went, and they found that a bullet had struck a woman sitting upon a rock. She had been holding a papoose, with its little feet between her legs. The bullet had passed through both her thighs and shattered both ankle…

On the battle field of the dead a cavalryman was riding across it when he saw an Indian move, and turned his horse that way. The battle was over, and he no doubt intended to see what could be done for the wounded man. But the Indian raised his arm, and with his pistol shot the cavalryman from his horse. Another rushed up to sabre the Indian, but broke his sabre, both parts of which fell near …

After this battle, and Harney had passed on to Fort Laramie and Fort Pierre, he undertook to show the Indians what a superior man he was, by chloroforming a dog. He told them that he could kill a dog, and then bring it back to life. Accordingly he administered the chloroform, and the dog went to sleep. Then he undertook to revive it, but the dog was too dead for that and the Indians had the…

Doane Robinson, historian of South Dakota, says "though hailed as a great victory, and an additional plume in Harney's crest of fame, Ash Hollow was a shameful affair, unworthy of American arms, and a disgrace to the officer who planned and executed it. It was a massacre as heedless and as barbarous as any which the Dakotas have at any time visited upon the white people." I am led to belie…

Eastman, in the Outlook, says that Spotted Tail was killed because he betrayed the Brules to the whites, and Crow Dog's killing him was the result of a pact made thirty years before by the Brules, that Spotted Tail should die if it were ever proved that he had played false to his tribe. This sounds like an apology for the murder of the great Indian, and the thought has probably been foster…

It was eight years later that Crow Dog started trouble among the young braves, and some say that Spotted Tail was arranging to shoot him as he had shot Big Mouth. Crow Dog did not wait. In the terse language of the West he "beat him to it," and Spotted Tail was the one to die. Father DeSmet speaks of Crow Dog as a man of courage and with a withered arm. This was forty years before Spotted …

He did the work uncomplainingly, and with not a murmur of discontent, for many years. One day they missed him from the work, and they never made a search. They knew that the wilderness had beckoned to him, that he had heard the call of the wild solitudes, and had gone. They let him go, to spend his few remaining years in the old familiar fastnesses, where his rapidly dimming eyes would so…

At the close of the war, many men re-enlisted for service in the west, and they were among the best, for their experience in guerilla warfare well fitted them for the character of Indian fighting. Al. Wiker, of Alliance, with five others of his original company were with the Harney convoy that had a battle in Scottsbluff Mountain Pass. This convoy was in August, 1866, in charge of freigh…

The sound of battle reached the soldiers who were just mounting, and they started forward at a gallop. Instead of heading straight for the gap they rode toward the point of rocks, known as Eagle Crag, just north of the present pathway that leads up to the mountain top from the east. At its base the cavalry parted, and one-half swung around to the south, skirting Engine Rock, and the others…

Of the causualties on the part of the whites, five were soldiers, one a colored cook, and the others emigrants. Three wagons were burned. Owing to having left their horses in the Bad Lands, pursuit of the Indians was impossible, but the soldiers ran down across the Pass and climbed the hill that guards it on the south, and snipped off several of the Indians while they were mounting, still wit…

Tin (.nil. were being taken along the riverside through the Bad Lands, but before they reached there, the noise of the battle was heard. Of the thirty-live men in charge, thirty joined in the ride towards Eagle Crag, leaving but five t<> take can- of the cattle. The thirty-eight dead were buried a few rods west of the west end of the gap, but a few days later, the bodies of the whites were …

A BUFFALO BILL EPISODE -- MORE INDIAN TROUBLES There seems to have been little systematic endeavor on the part of the Indians following the Grattan trouble. Bands of hostiles, independent of others, committed depredations here and there at widely scattered intervals. The Plum Creek affair, the Massacre of Eubanks, the surveying party of the Republican and attacks on the Overland : always the…

The other detachment of wagon were to follow a day later. The three were some distance in the rear of the first wagons, after they had passed over the big hill east of Ash Hollow, which, having been gone several hours, were out of sight. The guards were riding mules, and the J Indians were of such superior numbers, they concluded their only means of defense was continued resistance until t…

them from the tension that for over forty hours had deprived them of rest and with but little food. The war of the Rebellion had a bad effect upon the Indians, for in 1864 at a council at Camp Cottonwood, one of the Indian orators asked the embarrassing question, how the Great Father expected the Indians to keep peace, when he was unable to keep his own children from quarreling. It showed…

"This meeting is to come to an understanding and make a treaty so that each of us will know what to do. The government will give the Indians blankets, flour, bacon and other supplies so that they will have plenty. That they should live in houses and the government will furnish them with carpenters and blacksmiths, and they should live like white people. But they must stay out of the valley of…

But we want to come to the Platte valley to trade and we will not give it away. We have let the white man pass over it, and he has gone over it so often that he now thinks he owns it. But it is ours, and it always has been ours. It belonged to our fathers and their graves are along the hills overlooking the valley from the Missouri river to the Rocky mountains, and we will not give it up.…

Some have said that Spotted Tail's daughter was one of the potent factors that made him incline to peace, but that is open to question. One time for instance, the great chief was so incensed with his daughter, because she wanted him to get her a white general or officer for a husband, that he upbraided her for her foolishness and ambition, and knocked her down. After the conferences, while t…

Before we agree to anything, you must stop the surveyors who now, at this very time, are going west on the Niobrara." While we all know that the traders were of a class that took advantage of the untutored savage, we wonder if the soldiers were any better, and we also wonder if this interpretation was not construed to mean something that was not really said, with the view of centering in t…

Colonel Kearney had nearly twenty years earlier addressed the Indians at Fort Laramie in the number of 1200 braves, telling them that he was opening a road for the white people that were going to bury their bones where the waters flow toward the setting sun. Of course this road was already opened, but like Fremont, the Pathfinder, he found paths that had been trod for a generation of white …

"If my people will be good to the whites, they will find that the presents they are about to receive will often come. Father, this does very well and pleases me. What you have told me, I am glad of from my heart. All you have told me is very good. I have found a father. We will no longer think of dying, but will live. I remember the words you have this day spoken to us. My people will do as I…

While these episodes of adventure, and the causes of war were accumulating, there were, during the winter of 1864-1865, in the neighborhood of Fort Laramie about two thousand Indians who professed to be friendly. They said that the war tribes had made it dangerous for them to pursue their usual vocation of hunting, and under orders from Washington, they were fed and sustained through the co…

While they appeared to be doing his bidding, he was confident that some of them were better scouts for their native tribes. The element of integrity did not seem at first to be requisite, according to Indian standards. One time, a chief of some note among the Sioux had offered his son as a candidate for position in a place requiring integrity, and one of the recommendations given was that th…

Through Butler and Hyde, comes a story, evidently of Indian origin, that the Indians were furious at certain white officers and soldiers, for taking young Indian girls into their tents, and keeping them there all night. It seems doubtful that there was any truth to the story, for the reason that there were a number of white women in the party, that were being taken out of the danger zone an…

On the morning of the fourteenth, the advance guard started at five o'clock, the idea being to cover the eighteen miles to the meadows near Fort Mitchell for the next camping place. The wagons were strung out for a mile or more, when rapid firing was begun by the Indians upon the rear guard. Captain Fouts had ordered that no ammunition be distributed, fearing that some hair-trigger individua…

The Indians numbered more than five hundred warriors, and when at a distance of about three hundred yards, firing was begun by them, and answered with telling effect by the military forces. While Indians advancing from the front were checked by the fire from the Gallagher rifles, both flanks advanced as if to hedge in and surround them. Over the hills from the west side of Horse creek poured…

About nine o'clock, Captain Shuman arrived with forces from Fort Mitchell, and thus reinforced another attack was made upon the Indians, but it was a little late. The squaws and papooses had by this time all succeeded in crossing the river, and the warriors were following. The military could not follow, for it would be impracticable, and quite likely impossible to cross the river in the face …

They pursued the Indians for two days and on the night of the second day camped near Dead Man's Gulch, which is now in the vicinity of Broadwater, it being the ravine where George Hacksby now lives (1919). At that time there was a bend in the river with steep banks on three sides and the camp was at the outer neck of the Horseshoe, with horses in the rich grass of the peninsula. Contrary t…

After losing the horses there was nothing to do but to destroy the saddles and other heavy materials and walk back to Fort Laramie. The distance was 120 miles and the way was not pleasant, especially with cavalry boots, and it was this walk as the culminating event, that HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA caused Colonel Moonlight to retire from military service. An investigation by General Connor …

Eubanks) and her daughter, whom he purchased from the Cheyennes. During the same evening and the next morning early the other Indians who were with Two Face, and who had fled on the approach of the Elston party, were also captured and lodged in the guard house here. Mrs. Eubanks gave information of the whereabout of Black Foot and the Indian village, and a party of soldiers started to brin…

She had been captured by the Cheyennes on the Little Blue, and after Black Foot and Two Face had purchased her the autumn before, she was compelled to such treatment that it was a wonder that she had survived. Her husband had been killed with several others. The woman had been compelled to do the work of an ordinary squaw, and had been dragged across the Platte river with a rope, and she t…

It was in the spring of 1865 that the author of this book and several other noteable people visited Fort Laramie, coming by way of "The Leavenworth and Fort Laramie Military Road," as the Overland Trail was then called. This line was along the south side of the Platte to the Fort Sedgwick Crossing (near Julesburg), thence via Wind Springs and the south side of the North Platte to the mouth…

During the war, when we were adding a couple of million dollars to our national debt every day, I did not care about encouraging the increase in the volume of the precious metals. We had the country to save first. But now. that the rebellion is overthrown and we know pretty nearly the amount of our national debt, the more gold and silver we mine, makes the paymenl of that debl so much easier…

He did not know then as we do now, that the agricultural products of the territory would at some future time prove of far greater value than her minerals. While millions have been torn from the ribs of the rock bound mountains, in the form of mineral wealth, there is within the radius of five hundred miles of where I am sitting, vastly more millions taken from the soil in the form of farm pr…

Having little means, he obtained a second hand light wagon and harness and a pair of dilapidated mules. With this outfit he began a journey of three thousand miles through an Indian infested and mountainous region. One of the mules had in its young days injured one front leg, and it lacked about three inches of being the length of the other. To overcome this, he invented a raised shoe -- a…

It was determined to burn the prairie south of the "South River," and thus drive the Indians to the Arkansas for food for their horses, as well as for game. So, one night when there was a strong north wind blowing, tires were set out, and for two hundred miles a sheet of flame swept the country from the South Platte river, for a long distance to the southward. It was a magnificent pyrotechn…

They then went up the Lodgepole valley to the point near the present city of Chappell, "twenty-four miles from the mouth HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA of the creek," and from there crossed to Mud Springs (now Simla) which they attacked on February 4th, driving off some horses and mules and a lot of Ed Creighton's work cattle. Creighton had the cattle on what was known as "Rankin's Fork." The…

The impudence of coming practically under the walls of the fort, caused decisive and prompt action on the part of the military. Captain O'Brien, with thirty-seven intrepid and mounted men, rode out and charged a very superior number of Indians. There was a frightful carnage, and hand to hand encounters. The soldiers lost half their number, and made a fighting retreat. Fourteen of the thirty-…

Captain O'Brien and an escort were bringing the stage from the east, when they discovered the Indians and the smoking ruins of the station. There were four men and one woman in the stage and five of the escort, and they had just overtaken two teamsters. The small cavalcade made a show of bravery, and moved steadily along. Captain O'Brien rode to an eminence, gave signals, which the Indians …

They were apparently well satisfied for the time to revel in their plunder. They were in such numbers, being several thousand, that it would be impossible for them to subsist except for such raids. This large band was made up of several tribes, but for the most part, were Sioux, Arapahoes and Ogallalas. Great quantities of supplies were being forwarded with the intention of feeding the frie…

On proceeding to Cedar Creek it was found that the Indians had crossed the river. In pushing forward they discovered a large war party on the opposite bank, and were preparing to cross when they discovered that the Indians were crossing to the south side, with the apparent purpose of engaging the military. A position was taken and rifle pits dug, the howitzer that had been brought from Fort …

Some two hundred others started after the daring little band of soldiers, which fought its way back with a loss of two men. The Indians then gave up the attack for the day. The following morning they renewed the fight, but not with the same heart as the day before, and soon gave it up and retired into the hills on the north side of the- river. The whole cavalcade of the savage hordes, contai…

One of the disheartening things about Indian fighting was the lack of knowledge displayed by those in charge higher up. For instance, long after hostilities were commenced and the Indians were congregating to resist establishment of posts along the Bozeman road in the Powder river country. General Dodge wired to General Mitchell, who was about to leave i imaha fur Fort Laramie, to keep him …

After the battle, the hostiles moved to Bear Butte in the Black Hills, and early in March, the bands separated, Spotted Tail and his Brules moving east of the Hills, while the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, joined the Northern Cheyennes under Red Cloud, on Powder river. In April, Spotted Tail, Little Thunder, and sixty lodges of Brules, came in to Fort Laramie and voluntarily surrendered, and acc…

Wilcox, no relation, that I can find, of the captain, was employed by the government to disinter the bodies and remove them to the government cemetery at Cottonwood. He quite easily located the grave of Captain Fouts and a soldier at Fort Mitchell, and after an extended search he found the two other soldiers, who had been buried on the battlefield. Later,- two other soldiers were disinterr…

General Conner, in the Spring of 1865, moved his headquarters from Denver to Fort Sedgwick, which was built not far from the site of the burned Julesburg, for from this point he could better direct operations. Mooney says that Red Cloud was "the most famous and powerful chief in the history of the tribe, and rose to distinction by his own force of character." "He was not a hereditary chie…

Butler, "the nature of the system that prevailed among the Sioux and Cheyennes as to the authority and position of the acknowledged chiefs, and the war chiefs or leaders like Red Cloud and Crazy Horse and Roman Nose. One might imagine there would be much conflict of authority. But evidently not." Crazy Horse was not much known until after 1865, when he had a brother killed by the whites n…

M. Chivington, at Fort Lyons, on the South Platte, drove the peace loving Indians into the more desperate of the savages. The latter was an unprovoked attack upon a large village of inoffensive Indians. Over the lodge of the chief there floated the stars and stripes, yet an hysterical, or a deliberately brutal, commander brought about wholesale murder, with the result that many hundreds of …

He was furnished an escort from Julesburg to the "wood reserve" on "Lorron's "fork, and there erected a small log house, called by him the "ranch." The day following its completion, he and three others were at work loading some wood about three miles from the "ranch." The thermometer was about twentyfive degrees below zero. His party was attacked by Indians, which rode clown into the valley…

The savages then drove away their horses and mules and some of their cattle, but the latter could not travel sufficiently rapid to suit them. The next day it was decided to return to Julesburg, and ask that the government furnish guards to protect them from future similar experience. They took the oxen and went to the tableland in the direction of the old Water Holes, but were caught in a f…

About ten miles north of the present site of Sidney, he came upon a detachment that had already been sent out. They said that the day before, they had had an engagement with some Indians near there, and had taken from them a number of horses, which proved to be Goad's, and the Indians had fled in the storm towards the south. A few days later thirty-six men arrived at a "ranch" on the Lodgep…

A military post was established, and soldiers were garrisoned there. "Shorter" county, the antecedent of Lincoln county, had tried to organize five or six years earlier, but the only officer who had qualified was Charles McDonald, judge, who did so in order to perform marriage ceremonies. The county seat had been designated as Cottonwood Springs, but the county was re-organized as Lincoln Co…

With this they made merry, tying one end of a bolt to a pony's tail, one would ride out across the prairie with a hundred yards of brilliant calico streamers trailing in the wind. At another time "Dutch Frank" saw the Indians on the track ahead of him, and feeling sure that it meant death to stop, he opened the throttle, plowing through them throwing them into the air and killing many. He a…

It was at this time that Tall Bull, one of the most bestial and brutal, although brave Indians, obtained the title of the "scourge of Kansas," because of his numerous raids, culminating in the massacre of the "German Settlement," and taking away two of the young women. General Carr had at hand the strategy, of maneuvering of the best known of all the old scouts on the pursuit of this band, none…

INDIAN AGENCIES ADJUSTED -- SITTING BULL'S DETERMINATION -- BAT- TLE OF WAR BONNET CREEK Then for a few years, the work of establishing agencies and locating the Indians in places where each might better work out his destiny, without the interference or trouble making of another tribe was the duty of the war department. Early in the seventies the old Red Cloud agency was built at the Wyomin…

None of the equipment nor any trace of them was ever found. Nothwithstanding Spotted Tail's avowed friendship for the whites, and his expressed opinion of the uselessness of struggling against the white race, when Wiltse's surveying party reached the vicinity of White Earth Creek, one hundred and sixty-two miles west of Keya Paha river, a number of Indian scouts armed with Winchester rifl…

The establishing of Fort Robinson, in 1876, was practically contemporaneous with the adjustment of the Indians in their different agencies. It was nearer to Red Cloud because the Red Cloud Indians needed watching more than those under Spotted Tail. In 1876, Red Cloud was deposed by the whites, and he no longer ruled as chief. The "great red cloud" -- his warriors wore red blankets, and move…

If having business at Laramie they would go up the river to Laramie ferry or bridge, then by the mail route to White river. Freighters frequently forded the Platte at Old Red Cloud, and then struck down the Platte a number of miles, to avoid the sand ridges that lay directly north of the agency. From the old agency to the new, there seems to have been several roads, and they were all calle…

The Sioux Trail from White river to the Republican ran parallel with this route, and it was used as late as 1876 by Brules and Ogallalas. Fort Robinson and the New Red Cloud agency on White river was where all the trails merged into one. The fall of Red Cloud, and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills brought forth another leader of the war division of the Sioux. Sitting Bull came into …

I have walked over the battle ground and observed the location of the graves, as shown by the little white stones, for each was buried where he fell, and it tells the story of a struggle better than all else. All who are making a trip into the northwest, should, if possible, stop over one day at Crow agency, Montana, just over the Wyoming line, and spend that day at the battle ground, and …

Events justified his disobedience, as it often did in the kaleidoscope changes in fighting Indians. Colonel Cody, who at that time was in the midst of a Wildwest exhibition, at the Centennial Fair, abruptly closed his show at tremendous loss, and volunteered his services. He was made chief of scouts with General Merritt. To intercept the movements of the Indians the cavalry moved as directed…

It fell with a forward momentum, and the horse Cody was riding fell over it. Yellow Hand and the veteran of the plains were both afoot, and went at each other without a moment's delay, one with his tomahawk, and the other with his knife. With his left hand Cody caught the blow of the tomahawk, and plunged the knife into the heart of the Indian. Falling upon him as he went down, Buffalo Bill …

There was some apprehension that when they got among the five thousand friendlies they would excite them to violence. It was determined to make a show of courage, and the troops, in solid formation, ready for any emergency, rode straight through the agency, to Fort Robinson. That ended the insurrection at the agency, and Sitting Bull, whom Custer was trying to prevent from going north, wh…

I have a letter from Koch in which he speaks of his connection with the Sand Hills station, which is located a few miles over the line in Wyoming, and he says : "eighteen miles west of Scottsbluff." This would indicate Robideaux Gap, far eighteen miles west of Mitchell Gap would not reach the state line. It was shortly after the Grattan Massacre that Spotted Tail and a band of Sioux are c…

It is one of the many branches of the Cheyenne river, not much more than a creek or canyon, occasionally widening to small hay valleys. In the early days it bore the Indian name "Big Beard." the same obtaining from the character of the grass that grew along the bank of the stream. But for the last generation it has held the name of "Crazy Woman," because of incidents and adventures I have …

This unexpected denouement, for there had been no intention of murder, for a moment disconcerted the outlaw, and in the moment the father and the girl escaped, but were separated in the night. The story tells of their wandering up through the valley of the Nortn Platte, and to the Horse creek caves. Then on through the Rocky Gap, where their persecutor chased the "Prairie Rose," as the hero…

The girl's sweetheart was temporarily away from the lodge on the Medicine, and when he returned he found the cabin in ruins, and all had departed, including the woman. Of course he knew nothing of their fate, nor that the woman had been hit by a tomahawk, and had wandered away "a crazy woman." Some instinct sent him on into the west, and there is quite a long story of it, and of how he wi…

They then lived for a time in a huge sod cabin, some distance west of the Big Horn range in Wyoming, but later left their happy mountain domicile for the old home in Ohio. "Sometimes when Lillie musing sits, A dreamy mist before her flits, And to her waking memories come Fair visions of a mountain home. And all her gilded marble halls Become transformed to sodded walls, Her frescoed ceil…

We all had the same ambitions, and all did our level best to make those humble places of abode, real homes. We had no wild or extravagant ideas or desires, but we wanted that farm for ours and our children. A few, like the dwellers in the cabin west of the Big Horns, went back to better things (perhaps) in the east. The most of us that have survived are still here, where our lives are woven…

era and the Sterling & Cheyenne branches of the Burlington drew heavily from the granges of western Nebraska for the help needed to build them. Young and Hiersche brought in from Colorado the few sheep that was the nucleus of their later large herds. Irrigation in the North Platte valley was in its infancy. A few of the smaller ditches were in operation, and others had been crudely surveye…

We are told that they again sought for but could not find the owners, and as they had apparently been abandoned for a long time, no doubt for better equipment, the old ones were loaded in the wagons and brought into western Nebraska. It is yet an open question if they sought very diligently for the owners, and also what they would have done had they not found them for they had no money to …

He said that there was no flour in the house, no food, that the children cried because they were so hungry, that he had brought a load of wood to town to try to trade for something. No one wanted to trade; the merchants needed money and not fire wood, and no one else would buy it. He only wanted a few dollars, and he could not borrow at the banks, or get credit at the stores. "I think I g…

Those three dollars were the last three dollars that he had in the world. What was he to do ? He managed it some way, just as many another managed it, and to this day, they can look back and say : "I do not see how it was done, or where it came from, or what kept the wolf away. Elijah was fed by the ravens, and I guess the ravens must have looked after us." HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA REVO…

On the night of September 9, 1878, eightynine men and two hundred and forty-six women and children, vanished in the darkness, leaving their tepees standing to deceive the soldiers. As soon as the departure was discovered, hundred of troops from a half dozen posts, were detailed to overtake or intercept them. Guards were placed along the Kansas Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads to preven…

In their flight of five hundred miles, they had, besides the damage inflicted on the settlements, fought three engagements, each time with more than twice their number, and with a total loss of only fifteen Indians killed. From prisoners taken later, it was learned that they were trying to reach their kinsmen in Montana, where they intended to surrender if they would he allowed to remain i…

When Dull Knife's band reached the sand hills of Nebraska, they scattered into small bands, and the pursuit of any single band resulted in that band breaking into fragments, and if a capture was effected, it was only a single Indian. The soldiers, weary of the long chase, and the baffling tactics of the Indians, went to Fort Robinson ; and after a brief respite, together with re-enforcements…

Red Cloud requested of the army officers that the knives be taken away from the Indians, for in event that the government should order that they be taken again south, they would, rather than yield to the order, take their own lives. This request was ignored by the military. In. the time that elapsed in getting orders from Washington there was apparently some laxity in vigilence, and the Ind…

They then tore up the floors and constructed rifle pits in the enclosure, to command all the windows. About ten o'clock at night, on the night of January 9th, they killed two sentinels, took their guns and made good their escape. As they fled over the snow in the valley of Soldier creek, the alarm was given and hundreds of shots were exchanged with not many casualties, after which a tense qu…

In the silence, they moved forward, and came upon tracks in the snow, indicating, the route taken by the fugitives. There was a dark spot upon the snow, that as they approached proved to be Buffalo Hump, a relative of Dull Knife, and he was near unto death. So near, that his only movement thereafter was a futile attempt to kill Bronson, which effort took his last ounce of vitality, and he …

Of the three hundred and thirty-five that left Indian Territory, seventy-two were the total number killed. Two hundred and six were recaptured, and sixty finally made good their escape. They won their fight, however, for instead of sending them south, the others were brought north from the territory. The tribe was given a reservation in Montana, to which many of them were taken, but a large n…

Clark, captain of the Second Cavalry, followed the work of Major North in training Indians for scouting and police work. North had a number of Pawnees at Summit Springs when Tall Bull's band was annihilated ; and as they were preparing to go into battle, they discarded Uncle Sam's uniforms, and wore only breachclouts. They painted the bodies thick with vermillion, red and black. That was th…

It was the universal language of the race. So impressed was General Sheridan with its importance that he detailed Captain Clark to prepare and submit to him a work on the silent language. This was not completed until 1881 ; too late to be of value in the wars, but of great interest and merit. Old Indian fighters and frontiersmen had, however, absorbed much of it in the earlier years, and it…

THE WINDING STORY-- SAGES TALE OF ORGIES -- THE NEW DAWN "The story winds as winds the river," and memory and history goes back along the Red Cloud Trail, when it did not bear the distinction of the common translation of the name, "Marpiya Luta." It was used, however, by the trapper and the trader, and the country of North Sioux county, then unorganized, was alive with dangers similar to th…

Life, morality, soul, all the finer Instincts of man, were subordinated and submerged in the one great purpose of greed. The stories of Sage in Rock Mountain Travels, include events in the history of the Panhandle of Nebraska. Sage went out over the route later designated as the Red Cloud Trail, with a party of the traders, and his is a harrowing recital of the drama of life on the Running W…

About the same time two traders from another fur company appeared and one had liquor and the other goods to trade. The Indians were treated, and as usual, commenced to fight. In the end they attacked the other trader. He was compelled to flee, and through the friendly assistance of squaws, he managed to escape with his life. His goods were taken, and one of the Indians who had defended him, wa…

Bull Eagle, another chief, was intoxicated and laughed at him. Inflamed he rushed to Sage's quarters, intending to kill "Yellow Hair," as Sage was called. He was tall, well made, and wild-eyed. Bull Eagle, in sudden anger appeared, and made a thrust at him with his knife, but the old chief caught the blade and nearly severed two of his fingers. His wife then interfered, but twenty of the pa…

Low Bow, his son. preached a sermon, calling on "Wakan-tunga" the Great Spirit for help. All the Indians" cried like children, and the whites helped prepare a burial scaffold. After all the chaos of early years, we wonder that there is anything left of the red men ; but time and another generation accomplish marvelous changes. There was a change in the few years that followed the visit of Sa…

In the soul of Standing Bear, the "new day" was breaking. And the highly intelligent Indian, the farmer and the cattle raiser of the Pine Ridge, may some day know that the destruction of the serpents in White river, started the new thought, which, when the fires of the fourteen years of war burned out, left his race a new people, and his tribe with new ideals, and a destiny in common with t…

She did not want them to be at war with the white race, and through all the years of the last great conflagration she suffered, and plead for the cause of peace. To cure her infatuation for an officer at Fort Laramie, Spotted Tail took her over to the far Powder river. Here she pined away and died, the doctors said of tuberculosis, but the soul of White Flower has never died. "The dawn" f…

They wrapped her body in beautifully dressed deer skins, and out north of the present ruin that was once the post hospital, they erected a scaffold, for her burying place. The soldiers helped to erect the scaffold, they went out to meet the burial pageant, and over her resting place they fired the burial salute. . Her favorite white horse was killed and its head and tail fastened to the s…

From every source available we have thought to make this part of the story of the development of the high plains, complete, there being no authentic record. Only fragmentary incidents here and there, that have fiction and inaccuracy as a basis or for filling, it gives but little idea of the magnitude of the business. Naturally from the broken stories -- the material at hand -- this part will be…

I find particular objection to the stories that picture the man of the range, on a dance floor with his "chaps" on, or wearing a hat or spurs or gun. When such are given, it shows the ignorance of the writer. He never saw a cowboy dance, but has been at some low joint called a "dance hall" where "four-flushers" and tinhorn gamblers congregate ; a place that would not exist if the cowboys wer…

J. Robb. John 'Wright'. Charles H. McDonald, and a score of others now that HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA have taken the "long, long trail," to Other Ranges. And from those living, (1919), Frank and Jess Yoder, H. V. Redington, R. U. Vantassel, John Adams, Charles F. Coffee, John Hunton, Granville Tinnen, Joe Wilde, Eugene A. Hall, Perry Braziel, Robert Graham, Charles Nelson, Runey C. Camp…

Neuman, W. F. Gumaer, Billy King, Harry Hynds, John Evans, Tom Hughes, and dozens of other of the old guard have come the stories of the time when the Panhandle of Nebraska was one vast pasture where roamed the long horns, and where wild horses and the bronchos ran free in the western wind. In the new mode of travel, the motor car, I have gone many miles to find the man or the setting. Som…

In the upper story about fifty rooms have been fitted out for the accommodation of the public, and the other half of the upper story is one immense hall with oak floors used by the people of the country wide as a meeting and dance hall. It is one hundred and seventy-five feet long and twenty-four in width. Around about this building the barren severity of soldier's quarters has been changed…

It was not uncommon in those early days of rough men for quick retort and challenge and resort to arms. And many a man was buried in the cemetery with "boots on" to lie in unmarked graves. To the west and south of an oblong square formerly used for parade grounds, stands what is left of the officers quarters, which were excellent, well-built domiciles, and in the midst of them is "Bedlam."…

The larger outfits, the Creightons, the Coads, and a few others, established "ranches" or a headquarters for a few caretakers, who were to look after the "bull herds," during the winter months. Bull canyon, in western Banner county, is one of these wintering places. Another point was on Cedar creek and Smith's lurk, near Mud Springs. In Carter canyon is the ruins of another of the old camps,…

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA STAGE STATION RANCHES -- NAMING FORT MITCHELL ON THE NORTH PLATTE RIVER FIRST RANCHES Jules Beni, of early fame, once had a "ranch," on the south side of the South Platte about a mile from the mouth of the Lodgepole creek, and as early as sixty-four this ranch, which was nothing but a trading post, where occasionally a lame ox was left to recuperate, had (like…

He, Holliday, obtained his wood supply from Jack Morrow's canyon. Ware tells us that there were two crossings of the Platte at Old Julesburg, one almost opposite the station and curving up the stream to a point about a half mile above the entrance, and the other several miles farther west. After crossing the Platte, these two routes continued up the Lodgepole on opposite sides for a number of…

Consequently, General Mitchell determined to drive them south so that they would cease their murdering and depredations along the Overland and Denver trails. On the evening of January 27, 1865, he set out prairie fires, simultaneously all the way from Fort Kearney to Denver. There was a brisk north wind blowing, and it "sure" was one sight to see the sheet of flame three hundred miles long, s…

Tracy came to the country as early as 1867, and he cut cordwood in the Pine Bluff hills which he sold to the Union Pacific. This railroad was just then penetrating into the western part of Nebraska and they used, handled and sold large quantities of wood. Tracy had one pile of a hundred cords or more, cut in the winter of 1867, or the spring of 1868, waiting for the* acceptance of the compan…

John Hunton is authority for the statement that the first real cow business in the vicinity of Fort Laramie was when Benjamin Buckley HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA Mills ( Buck Mills), a Kentuckian, brought two hundred and fifty short horn cows from southern Iowa and northern Missouri in October, 186S. These he located on the Laramie river about three miles up that stream from the position o…

Coad, the government wood contractor" up to 1872, yielded to Hunton, the contract for Fort Laramie, which Hunton held for ten years. Hunton began to see something in ranching when the larger herds commenced to arrive, and he located a ranch about four miles up the river, and began to accumulate cattle. This he continued during the period he was supplying wood for the fort. His ranch is a sho…

He crossed the Kaw river on pontoon bridges and drove his herd through the streets of Topeka, when it was but a village. These were among the first of the ranchers west of the junction of the Platte rivers. This magnificent cow country which lies west of the forks of the Platte, and east of Fort Laramie, soon was filled with great herds. The first herds were gathered about the places prote…

John Hunton would not be sure about that, but he thought the mountain was unnamed pior to the locating of the 66 brand. However, a number of old timers, namely: D. McUlvane, Colin Hunter, H. M. Ingraham, and others have said that the mountain was named before the Daters appeared in this country. The thrilling events that led to the naming of mountain forms another chapter in the history of…

The fame of the mountain does not extend far across the wide reaches of western prairie, except along the Texas trail, where from the Panhandle of the Lone Star state to Assinnaboine, the cow-punchers knew of the Daters and the famous Sixty-six brand. Only a few have heard of the battle of Sixty-six mountain, and most of the early ranchmen assume that the cattle brand brought into use the …

The mystery of it is that Ed. connected up with these people, and that he lived and experienced events that transpired many years before he had come into the west. About the silence of the wagons, and about the solitude of Sixty-Six mountain, there is wrapped one of the great tragedies of the west ; and one person only can tell that story in all its graphic details. It forms one of the most…

The lady slipper, that rare wild flower, grew unplucked beside the trails that he had made. The people interested in him, his relatives, had many children of their own ; he was as a fifth wheel to a wagon, and they thought that he might make a place for himself in the west. So, at the age of fifteen or sixteen years, they sent him out to the far wilderness of Cheyenne, "to find work upon a …

He also sought at the restaurants, and offered to leave the gun as security for his breakfast. One of the old night women of Cheyenne, straggling along in the grey dawn of morning, saw him, and bought him his breakfast. Her motherly intuition had sensed his needs, and her ragged heart had pulsed for the moment with the eternal sensibility of charity. Thus even in the lowly and the sinful, …

The bees and the butterflies were calling him. The lone environment, the solitude of the prairies, are enough to try the intellects of mature people, and there is graver danger for the young. Out of the high tablelands, the mirage makes everything seem so unreal. Lakes where lakes are not, trees where the trees have never grown, inverted cities on the sky, mountains lifting themselves sudd…

A "touch of the prairie," is madness incipient, and unless relief comes in some exciting diversion, or in the rush of tears, the victim will perish in the wilderness, or come wandering into the edges of civilization in a sort of driviling lunacy that may be permanent. The writer remembers well his own experiences in Goshe's Holes, now called Goshen Park, where the goblins of the desert led him…

When the tempest of his homesickness passed and the frame shook spasmodically with subsiding sobs, he would return to the duties of the range. By and by, the prairies began to look different, he began to make friends with the cattle he tended, the horses he rode, and other life of the plains. Nomadic red men drifted by at intervals and he had no fear of them. Like Fiddler Campbell, he fou…

But she did describe the violinist as a "bow-legged, left-handed, red-headed and freckle-faced fiddler, who played with the violin standing on its head." If one recognizes anyone from this description, perhaps one best be as circumspect as was Mrs. Stickney, and mention no name, for though now a grizzled veteran of the prairies, the described can clip the ears of a coyote at a distance of o…

I had heard of it before, but had never heard the story in its entirety until the side partner of "Shanghai" Pierce, dropped a few words that put me on the trail. It was after the Union Pacific was builded, and the old Overland trails were falling into disuse, that Ed. Stemler came into the west, and the summit of Sixty-six mountain knew his homesick .grief and loneliness. Likewise the su…

They were a party of emigrants, and had left Julesburg several days previously; the grasses of the Lodgepole valley were so alluring to them and their worn stock, that when they reached the point where the Jules Cutoff left the valley for the table-lands, they were reluctant to follow the continental thoroughfare. So, up the Lodgepole valley they continued for several miles. Here amidst luxur…

The trail of the runaway horses took the emigrants to the head of "Lorren's Fork," then to the springs in the hills bordering Gonneville or Pumpkin creek. Now they had come back, but were going again. Abandoning his purpose of going to Ohio, the lone herdsman hereafter journeyed with them, showing them the way to Fort Laramie. He knew the route, the watering places, and the passes in the h…

They took refuge in the hills and fought long and hard. It was days before the remnant of the sixty-six were overcome near a spring on the north side of the mountain, and here it was that Ed. Stemler fell, as the others had fallen, fighting stubbornly. There is a superstition among the Indians about red hair, atid it is said this fact is all that saved him from the shocking fate, and the …

After a few weeks of solitude, an adventure like this, and its miraculous finale for the one that lived, and who knew no reason why he had been spared, will make it all seem like a vagrant dream. A nightmare of the prairie, a figment that never had real substance. Why had he left his herds? What directed him to these people, and how came they there ? Why had the Indians singled him out, and …

For over forty years he has lived on the 66, sometime on one slope of the mountain and sometimes on the other, but always with the wraiths of the 66 emigrants that faded out of the world over a half century ago. He has his thousands of acres, and his thousand cattle, but sometimes at night, the moonlight calls out images from the rocks -- images of the long ago -- and the shadows flee and fl…

The harnesses were rotting on the wagon tongues. That Stemler knew of these wagons, that in the solitudes and the isolation he came in touch with People already gone, that in some way he connected up with Them, and Intelligence went through Experiences and in Companionship of possibly ten years before, is an explanation satisfactory to many old plainsmen, who have heard Voices out of the pa…

He owned the old ranch at the time of his death, and his son. Tom Hunter, still owns it. Tom has an office in Cheyenne. Colin Hunter was coming with a wagon train to Fort Laramie in 1867, when, on July 4th, the sound of guns attracted their attention. The sight of the blue coats gave them some apprehension. When the shooting subsided, they found the soldiers and a civilian or two, with one …

Many of the older people will remember Jim Bellamy, and his Nine Mile station, or ranch nine miles up the Platte river from Fort Laramie. On the night of December 24, 1866, late in the night, Bellamy and Daniel McUlvane, and several others were sitting by a roaring fire at Nine Mile station, when out of the bitter cold and darkness appeared four horsemen, whose names should go down in his…

Old Bedlam was alive with a merry party, which had been dancing all the night. On the upper floors the officers had administrative quarters, and the lower part of the building was full of the dancers. Dillon, because of his bashfulness, found it difficult to attract the notice of any of the soldiers who were busy dancing attention to the ladies ; and while hesitating, Phillips grabbed the di…

Dan Dillon, the bearer of the message that reached the fort, having returned from the south and rejoined his command, was in 1881, given some dispatches at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, for delivery on the other side of the Indian reservation, at Fort Meade, South Dakota. He vanished somewhere in the Cheyenne river country. Nor has he or his remains, .or any of his effects, horse, saddle, or accou…

Others were Antelopeville, Cheyenne, Ogallala, Sidney, and Camp Clarke. Alliance, the present headquarters of the Stockmen's association, was not then on the map. The Box Butte table lay in all its virgin glory under the western sun. The Texas trail was three hundred miles wide, if you take in all its deflections and ramifications. From east of Ogallala to the Laramie plains ran the parallel l…

The route of the original Texas Trail was not direct, it swung eastward across Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, to Coffeyville ; then swung westward up the Arkansas river valley a hundred or more miles, and while such a route had water advantages over a route more direct, I had often wondered if that was the reason for its being in such an indirect way. The story came to me in the later eighti…

One of those beautiful moonlight nights so common to the southwest, while the cattle were all lying down apparently at ease, they suddenly arose, and after a brief thunder of hoofs, seemed to melt into the moonlight mist, and the night riders had gone with them. When daylight came the trail was followed a short distance after which it became too indistinct to follow. In the night a sudden w…

The cowboy's long, low whistle And singing by their side." Suddenly, like one, the entire herd arose, and the silence of the night was changed to a pandemonium of sound. The earth trembled with the beating of hoofs, the cowboy's tranquil call rose to a shrill crescendo, shouts and shots woke the startled prairie owls, and all was feverish anxiety. The two men who returned to Texas were at t…

When he looked forward, it was upon an empty plain, save for the one lone horseman, that came riding back to him. "Did you see it?" he asked. The other had seen nothing that could be designated as "It." "The Phantom Steer" said the first spokesman. "As sure as we live there was a big, shadowy steer that led the bunch, and these that came on became as he, for I rode through them, and cut …

The cattle were brought north by rail and unloaded at Wendover, and trailed from there into the Big Horn Basin and the British possessions. I "skinned mules" on the head of Pole (Xodgepole) creek, Horse creek and the Chugwater, and I cooked for an outfit from the river to "the basin." I had had no experience at cooking to amount to anything, but I could boil spuds and beans, make "sore-fing…

Hughes -- all HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA alive today (1919), and still able to draw a bow across the strings. In fact I would like to go to one of the old fashioned dances, \Vith the old fashioned music, and a crowd of the old timers. To be sure, it would be nothing like the gymnastic performances of the new people, the dips, the trots, and the wiggles that we are told is dancing now. W…

All were more or less concerned, for Tate was supposed to have intentions of giving evidence against the Bay State Company concerning some of their acquisition of land from the government, and the empty saddle looked bad, for Jimmy was a good rider, even when intoxicated. "Long" (Wyatt) Heard, now (1919) and before of Uvalde county, Texas, then headquartered on Pumpkin creek, was telling a…

He now lies in "Boots Graveyard," a part of the Sidney cemetery, that was set aside for the boys who died in the classic way of the early west. "Bad men" were always drifting in and out of the early camps, and through the frontier towns, and it was somewhat difficult to distinguish the real from the make-believe. Occasionally one would make his bluff stand up for a time, but he eventually m…

One time a "bad man" drifted into Cheyenne, and his name was enough to strike terror to tenderfeet. "Red Path Bill" was a dread combination. "Bill" was a favorite name in the wild first years of the west, especially if the person was a bad man; but "Red Path" prefixed would certainly indicate for a bad man nothing less than a trail of human gore. Red Path Bill was hungry -- voracious for h…

His business developed, and at the time Red Path Bill appeared, the place contained a vestibule, with cigars and the like ; and behind swinging doors of mahogany was a mahogany bar and crystal glass, and then a third room separated from the second by swinging doors of green. In this latter room were the choice of any number of tame amusements : the faro box, the roulette wheel, monte, twent…

Furthermore the boys did enjoy seeing the gamblers duck for cover under the tables or behind the bar. Red Path Bill, with moccasined feet, came silently in. His deep voice called for the strongest at the bar, and then, to the swinging doors of the inner room. Suddenly he was electrified. A heavy fist smote simultaneously each door, and they swung wide. With spectacular effect he had made a…

He went about annoying the players, who tolerated him with rare good nature, until he trod upon the toes of a bystander. Fred Ashford was working in the Union Pacific shops at the time. He had for several years whacked bulls on the Black Hills route for Billy Hecht. Fred was a man r f medium stature and prodigious strength. He quit freighting in 1882 and joined a cow outfit, and then lat…

That is : the soldier aKvays treated the cowboys as "herdsmen," and the cowboys returned the sentiment with vigor. The gamblers respected the men of the range for their money, for the game way they took a loss, but generally with utter contempt for their skill at cards. Occasionally they miscalculated. Sandy Ingraham caught a fellow "out on a limb" once in the Capitol saloon of Cheyenne. A…

About 1870, the Coad Brothers took possession of the old Stage station, "Scotts Bluffs," and put in a herd of cows. This they developed to colossal proportions. The younger Coads still have the ranch north of Cheyenne at which Mark M. Coad was killed a few years ago by a Mexican. At the early date, however, the principal ranch was just a little west of the present site of Melbeta, and their …

It faced the south, and was 20 by 50 feet, its walls were thirty inches thick and the sod were eight or ten inches in thickness. It had red cedar cross logs and ridge poles, and poles and dirt were used for the roof. A row of posts through the center supported the center ridge log. The building contained two rooms, the smaller being about 12 by 20, was used for the kitchen. A large sod fir…

Dennis Sheedy bought this outfit sometime after, and here was the famous Seven-U (7U) brand. He increased the herd to large proportions. Sheedy accumulated a fortune and has been busy for years in the commercial affairs of Denver, being president of the Denver Dry Goods Company only a short time ago, and now (1919) vice-president of Colorado National Bank. It is to be ventured that his active…

Tim Montrose was the cook, and a good one he was, albeit that he "was not much larger than a drink of water," as the cowboys used to say. Tim was particularly tired of one fellow in the olden days who settled down near the ranch and made it his general source of provender. Almost; daily he would sojourn from his squatter's cabin to the ranch to visit Timmy, and incidentally "get his fill of …

Montrose made regular trips to Chicago, to his old home ward, and he invariably came back with the scars of battle, for he loved a fight. One time in a cow outfit, a big bully tried to "run a whizzer" on Timmy. For a little time those who knew Montrose were surprised to see the stranger apparently "getting by with it." Suddenly the battle fire in the little Irishman blazed up, and after a …

He planned deeply and from his pondering a scheme of revenge was formed, that lacked only one little essential element of successful strategy. He saddled his pony, from the woodpile he selected a club. Ordinarily he was a good man with his fists, but this time he was taking no chances. He took his station at the door from which he had been ejected. Soon one of the boys stepped out to take …

But scratches and bruises were common in those days, and after a brief delay to ascertain how serious were the casualties, the gay party went on with the dance until after sunrise. At the Seven-U there are four graves -- two of which were emigrants and two are old cowboys that died with their boots on and were so buried. One of the latter was a brother of Henry Bradford, who was with the …

Here he proceeded to blind it with a gunny sack, and then saddle and bridle it. One sudden upward swing of the head at an unexpected moment took "Brad," who was leaning over the partition from an adjoining stall, squarely in the face, and he lost all the teeth of his upper jaw on the left side. Occasionally afterwards, he would point out and display the gold teeth with which they were replace…

Contemporaneously with the establishment of the Powers ranch (about 1871), Bosler Brothers & Company built their home ranch on the lower Blue, near the present site of Lewellen, and extended their business to include several ranches up and down the North Platte river on the north side, but they always maintained the principal quarters on the Blue. They ran 15,000 to 20,000 cattle and were on…

This territory he was to invade was generally known as the Bosler range, although it was occupied by Boyd brothers, of which Ex- Governor James E. Boyd was one ; and the other ranches of less importance in relation to size. Schleigel had been at the work two or three weeks, when he took two men and teams and crossed the country to Sidney for supplies. He bought his provisions at the old C. A…

SchleigeFs party believed the dead man had stolen no horses, but that cattlemen thought so little of human life, they had hung an innocent man, in order to scare them into giving up the survey. There was no evidence that it was the work of the Boslers or any clue as to the identity of the parties who committed the deed, and perhaps the man had stolen a horse some time and the vigilantes ha…

After settling down on Bear creek he returned to Denver and sought out his "Virginia," and brought her with him to the ranch. The romance of Virginia Bouton, placed upon the range the old and familiar name. "VB" brand. One born to the range, cannot change his habits instantly, and while anchored on BeaT creek, Mark Bouton traveled much. Mrs. Bouton frequently accompanied him, and at such …

One lady fell dead, and she had much the same graceful carriage as Mrs. Bouton, but proved to be another and an entirely innocent girl. Her companion was Minnie Montgomery, the daughter of John Montgomery, who owned the log stage station on the Black Hills route, at the north end of the Fort Laramie bridge. Miss Montgomery did not see the assailant, and whoever he was, he made good his esca…

He had a series of hurdles of various kinds over a given run and he mounted one of his well broken ponies and rode away. The first hurdle, which was an insignificant affair, proved too much for his thoroughbred, and they went down in a heap. A great shout of laughter went up from the assembled ladies and gentlemen, which provoked young Gardner into a torrent of language so inelegant, albeit …

This was located by a man named Brown, and the forty acres on which it was situated was sold to the Bay State. This spring is known as the "Four- Jay-Spring." Ed Bouton, a brother of Mark Bouton, of the VB, followed from Texas soon after the location of the VB ranch on Bear creek. He also had a temper and an inclination to homicide. A sister arrived and in due time was married to one of th…

Reaching the city late one evening, the punchers went into an emporium for a bracer, before going to break the news. The Dutchman waited some time, and being thirsty, and also rightly sensing the boys were taking several before returning, he decided to make the delivery alone. Mrs. Bryant heard the knock on the door, and answered the summons. The Dutchman said simply : "Mrs. Bryant, Ed is h…

This foreman used to make periodical visits to Deadwood, taking from the ranch some of the fat cattle for Deadwood markets. The P. F. people were not receiving the liberal returns that they had been led to believe was in the ranching business, and grew suspicious of their foreman. An examination of the books seemed to give an impression that all the cattle sold in Deadwood were not account…

We lack interest in history and the older events, frequently because we have no intimate relationship. Yet, to know that this new land of ours had its loves and romance fifty or more years ago, attunes our hearts to the reception of stories of the days so long past. We travel about and find places named ; and they are of mountain or plain, or city or valley, and we seldom stop to think what …

I think she had buried a round half dozen husbands, before she met Tommy Chanavierre (Shunover) and in the late eighties Tommy was her spouse -- the one we knew. Tommy was the one whose pride of ancestry runs back to the time when Marchioness La Pompadour was spreading the French Empire over the western world, but to us he was merely a jolly old Frenchman, who liked to talk with his hands,…

It will be observed also that this line was the path of the buffalo at an earlier date, and it later became the route of the travelers into the gold field of the Black Hills, where Henry T. Clarke's steel lined stages went over the old toll bridge. Now the travel is by motor, or over the Burlington. Creighton went west up Gonneville or Pumpkin creek. Then over to Horse creek, and up to th…

The half-circlebar brand, of the very early days, developed into the quarter-circle-block, generally called "circle-block" in the later years. Pumpkin creek ranch became the "Home Ranch" after its acquisition by the Bay State, and the name Pumpkin creek, in place of Gonneville creek, rose in usage, as the wild vegetable which provoked it gradually disappeared. The range cattle were very fon…

These animals were not always enduring, and they required periods of rest. A man named Creel decided he would make a business of handling the tired cattle until they should be able to resume the burden of the yoke. Bull canyon was unnamed and unappropriated, and there was an abundance of water, and the nearness of the range to Cheyenne made it a desirable spot for the purpose. So Creel bui…

The plan failed, and Creel was killed, and Bull Canyon became only a name and a memory. Tom Kane used to run the ranges of the Pumpkin creek country. Kane was known in Sidney in the early days. One day he had a brush with the Indians, and escaped into the rushes on the creek bank ten miles east of Wild Cat mountain, where he lay three days caring for his wound before he managed to get aw…

He was driving by, and stopped to watch me turn over the sod with my grasshopper breaker. , In the course of our conversation I said that it would be a mighty good thing if the grangers and the cowmen could dwell together in harmony. John exclaimed that I was the first granger that he had ever heard say such a thing, and asked me why I thought so. I told him that I thought the cowmen would …

wine, and in the early prodigal way of the west, a dish pan full of this was set out on the table for use of any who desired to partake. It was said that they even insisted that the Elder take some, and that he did touch it to his lips. This was taken as evidence that he did not hold himself above his associations, and there were few boys on the range that would not swear by Elder Stephens.…

As Pogue straightened up, he wiped the tears from his eyes, and said: "Bill, I always did have a good time when I was with you." The groom was a bit nervous, and the boys would urge him to "take a bracer and buck up. It ain't as bad as it seems," and otherwise "jolly" him. Boots usually was a very brave man, but the boys' tormenting got on his nerves, and he wept during the ceremony, whi…

The wild bronc made a quick swerve, and the man swung out clear of him and the ground while it ran in a short circle. The quick wit of some other cowboy, and his skill, saved the man. He dropped a rope over the animal's head, and brought it up, head end to the man on the ground. "Swing your pardners," shouted that worthy, as he jumped to his feet. The near tragedies of old times were so l…

The first to actually engage in ranching in western Nebraska, that is west of North Platte, was Keith & Barton. Morrill C. Keith was grandfather of Ex-Governor Keith Neville, and Guy C. Barton was well known in Omaha business and club circles for many years. The location of their ranch was at O'Fallon's Bluff, and about eighteen miles west of North Platte. Guy Barton was the originator of t…

but the altitude, and the better grasses in the vicinity of North Platte, made a change in his plans and he was almost as early in that vicinity as Keith & Barton. His first ranch there, however, was south of the river and east of North Platte city, and the high posts a little east of the state experiment farm, indicate the gateway of the original ranch. He later moved to the Birdwood, twen…

His ranch dates the same year that Coad Brothers took over Scottsbluff Stage station for their cattle operations, but earlier in the year. The country along the Platte was a year or two later than Mr. Redington in the matter of seniority of ranch locations. But north of the river into the Black Hills remained Indian domain until some years after when gold discoveries in the Hills brought a…

This ranch branched into mercantile business and had a post-office. This location later became known as Nerud's corner, and the four corners were occupied by different branches of business. A timely wag immortalized them in verse that ran as follows : Nerud's corner, Baxter Street, Foster's restaurant, And nothing to eat. Joe Nerud had long since become the owner of a valuable place on…

He told the officers of the law that he would take Bill out to the ranch, if they would let him off. The humor of the situation was too great to be resisted, and he was put into the wagon alongside of Joe. and sent out to Snake creek. I cannot say what brought about the transformation in Nerud's sentiment, but the fact is, that a day or two later, Bill Bowen arrived on the Burlington with a…

Pearson's ranch was one of the later places on Snake creek, and he needed more range and came into the hills about three miles north of the west end of Lake Alice, where he established a camp -- as a sub-station for the ranch. These sub-stations consist usually of a well and windmill and a set of watering tanks. Sometimes a small shack and corral is added. This sub-station of the Pearson ranc…

Akers were building their first irrigation ditch over the Wyoming line, when they saw John coming, riding like the wind, and when he got in hearing distance he commenced to shout the news : "There is a whole colony settling on the river down below Scottsbluff, and they have brought along everything, even a postoffice." This latter was, of course, an invention or imagination, but all who knew…

He also needed more range than was obtainable near there and he came into the Lake Alice country, and established a sub-station about a mile northwest of the Pearson wells, Wallace's wells then became a watering place for many travelers. In due time. Wallace's business took him to Scottsbluff, and he and his family have resided in that city for about all the life of the municipality. He i…

The Mud Springs in Sioux county soon passed to the hands of the Schoonovers, and they in turn sold it to Ed Eastman. Eastman used to live at Minatare, and was identified in the story of Jimmy Moore, related elsewhere. Eastman wanted more land, and Mrs. Eastman secured a divorce on very good grounds of periodical intoxication. She then took a claim near his land, and in due time made final …

He had bought out Frank Harris, Will Benn, Iperhope and some others, and made quite a ranch. After Billy's death, Mrs. Haines sold the ranch to Wilson brothers. Doc. Wilson was quite active for a time, but the ranch finally went to Scotty Henderson. Scotty has been in the Snake creek for a third of a century, and is the present owner of the valuable ranch, the history of which runs back to a…

Charlie was quite a fellow to "play his own hand," so he soon went over on the Box Elder in the Goshen Holes and built his initial ranch on the northern range. The following year he went to the river, for hay and grasses of the Goshen Holes then made rather short picking for the stock in winter. Around the Rock ranch location, then as now, there were some excellent meadows. The summer range…

None of the chroniclers of events along the Overland trail has mentioned it, and the trail fell into disuse about the time or shortly after slavery was abolished. The overland stage and the pony express had a stopping place near the present ranch, and the meadows were used for supplying feed for their stock. But I am conviced that Rock ranch as a ranch- came into existence, almost simulta…

They had what was called, "The Wild West Exchange" at Ogallala at this time, and here the boys challanged one another for feats of doing or daring characteristic of the Wild West. Someone had captured a young buffalo, and had it properly confined. While generally the talk was of horses, and Gordon was expostulating concerning the merit of his horse, as a racer, Coffee told him his horse was …

At the time they were at Ogallala, a noted character named "Fly Speck Bill." his face being well spotted with freckles that had the appearance of fly specks, had been apprehended and placed in the city jail. But the jail was a flimsy affair, and failed to hold him for long. A day or two later, as Coffee was leaving Sidney for the north on the stage, Bill was found to be one of the passenger…

point him out, as he had reason to believe the horsethief was in town. They went into the Tivola saloon, then on the corner west of the old Inter-Ocean hotel, and the man was sitting at one of the tables. Likens pressed a gun muzzle against the back of his neck and said : "Fly Speck Bill, you are my meat." The arrest proved a tame affair, for the man merely glanced at the officer, and thre…

Coad early refused to follow the custom, and the calves of other fellows found in his herds were left unbranded. One time a calf belonging to the Coads crawled through the bars, into Mitchell valley, and was found by a bunch of fellows from higher up the river. That Coads might understand the custom, they singed the hair on one side of the calf with big letters "M-A-R-K" and on the other si…

He estimated his speed, and took note of the time by his watch, until he had reached, as he thought, about fifteen miles -- that being a neighborly distance. There he and his wife and boys, Charles T. Jr., the youngest was only six months old, settled down in a cabin on what proved to be section fourteen, township thirty-three, range fiftyfive. There the O-Ten-Bar brand and ranch was born. Co…

Two of the hangers on about the S-Bar-E ranch were "Whitney Jim," and "Trapper Tom," and they built an independent cabin on a branch of Hat creek, where they could follow their own inclinations wittiout interference. Jim had an inclination, or propensity, for strong drink, and a pronounced aversion to cleanliness. In season he would gather a wagon box full of wild plums, take them to Fort L…

The different branches of Hat creek and White river began to take on the euphoneous names of early days, such as "Dirty Jim Creek," "Sow-belly Creek," "Tom Creek," "War Bonnet Creek," and the like, and Coffee's ranch, after he had removed to Chadron and the kangaroo rats made merry around the place, was nick-named "Lickit ranch." While the place was abandoned part of the time, it was kept …

Their range included the lower Pumpkin creek country and Lawrence fork. Adams in a recent letter tells of it, and emphasizes the name "Lorren's fork," explaining its original significance. "Lorren's," of French derivation, indicates robbers, and the rocks about the head of this stream were once the rendezvous of a band of robbers, who preyed upon the unprotected stragglers along the Overlan…

A lady told us "No, we never feed travelers," and she no doubt meant it. The travel along the route was doubtless quite extensive and they had adopted the system. We asked how far it was to the next ranch, and she stepped outside to show us the road. Seeing our horses and accoutrements, she exclaimed : "Oh, you are cowboys, are you ? Well, come right in, and we will find a bite for you." …

I was later informed that there was this much truth to his reply: The cows he used to run were branded "L" on the left shoulder; also several years before his father had bought a bunch of Oregon mares, and some of them had gotten away, and never came back. C. C. Nelson and Dr. Geo. C. Keenan bought this ranch, and I think they own it now (1919). Keenan was a brother of Mrs. Tusler. A lett…

In fact each ranch was supplied with the necessities of life in abundance and the way-farer was welcome to help himself without awaiting the presence of, or asking the consent of the owner or his representative. This practice was continued until the county settled up more thickly, and the abuses of such generous courtesies caused the stockmen to discontinue their liberalities to some extent. …

He was quite dead, apparently from heart disease, and was taken back to Sidney, from which point the fact was communciated to the widow at the ranch. "Ark" or "Henry County" Hughes was working for the Tusler people at the time. Hughes had come up from the mines of Colorado in 18S0. He went to work on the Tusler ranch in 1883, and remained there for four years. In the meantime he had "picked …

The Rush creek shown on the maps today, was originally called Smith's Fork. Moore had from one thousand to two thousand cattle and his range extended from the mouth of Smith's Fork to the ranch. When the Shiedley Brothers acquired this ranch, Moore went into the mercantile business. He established a big supply depot at Sidney for ranch supplies and Black Hills outfitting. And at one time th…

The widow of Jim Moore, the pony express rider, having some means, acquired an interest in this ranch, which she sold at the time of her moving to Cheyenne to become Mrs. VanTassel. Tom Kane purchased her interests, and Henry Newman also took a part in the ranch's destinies. Then a number of railroad men organized a company, and bought the entire outfit, and put George Green in charge. The…

His field has always been Wyoming, although at the time this ii written (1916) he is in a hospital in Denver, attended by his present faithful and charming wife. I say "present" for the reason that he has been married four times. Once before his uniting with Mrs. Moore, and twice since. The first two died, and the third, who was an excellent woman and the daughter of Big Alex Swan, is divo…

Then came the work of "booming ties," one of the perilous, daring and strength-testing undertakings in the west. Men were detailed to keep the ties from jamming, and to break jams should they occur. At Medicine Bow, a string of ties fastened together stretched across the stream, and workmen pulled the floating ties ashore and piled them up in great ricks as fast as they came down to this obs…

score-keepers would record -- one -- two -- three -- four -- tally, etc., etc. It developed that about every other tap that the Irishman made, was with the smooth end of the hammer on a tie already marked or next to be marked. So that for a while the Union Pacific was receiving only about half the ties that they paid for. I did not learn whether the Irishman got fired or promoted, but he "…

So wonderful indeed was his skill in the saddle that he traveled with Buffalo Bill's wild west show around the world, and finally he married one of the women riders of that aggregation. Lowe bought the place from Daters, and Hi Kelly once owned it. In 1888 it was a sort of a road house, where mighty poor meals were served for "six bits a throw." About 1900 it was bought by the Yoders, and …

Chamberlain closed out his interests and went to Douglas, from which city he was elected to the State Senate. He made a lot of money in the sheep business later. Doty held to the place for twelve years, when he sold to the Two-Bar people. Both Doty and Chamberlain are now with the Final Roundup over the Great Divide. The ranch is still owned by the Clays, and Curtis Templeton is the genial l…

Around cow outfits, at night he loved to get strung out with his yarns, and get the "boys agoing." But the foreman always settled matters when his stories reached too far into the night. He would roll up in his "tarp," and if "Henry County" failed to take the hint, he would say : "Ark, you better catch a horse, and go on night herd tonight," and that meant an order, and it also meant no mo…

It was twenty-four by twenty-six feet inside, and the walls were thirty inches thick. It had three windows and a door. The door was made of plank, and the windows had shutters made of plank, which were hauled from a sawmill located in the Laramie mountains. This was the same mill that supplied much of the material used in the buildings at Fort Laramie. The floor and roof board were double, an…

It must have been abandoned about 1874, for Lancaster resigned and returned to the eastern part of the state, and went into the drug business. The house faced the southeast. In addition Mr. Sparks had about two acres, enclosed by a sod wall, three feet thick and five feet high. He also fenced a meadow of about one hundred and sixty acres, and some of the posts are still in use after nearly …

Frank McCreary of Scottsbluff,) who was then foreman at the Circle Block, and who recently died in Arizona, was riding "Old Fox," as the horse was called, when he came upon a bunch of wild horses. Old Fox so quickly overtook them that Robb did not have time to get his lariat into action. He seized one of them by the tail, and threw her off her step, and so delayed her progress, that another…

Sturgis & Lane organized the Union Cattle Company, and Mr. Goodell was one of the big stockholders. The Bridle-Bit brand was theirs, and it was one familiar to the early grangers. This company is credited with hiring men from the Union Pacific shops at Cheyenne, and the women of the wild district, as well as cowboys, to file upon lands. Be that as it may, it secured a vast acreage, much of…

When the Scotchmen were becoming excited over the bonanza ranching in the high plains region, the Oelrich brothers, Harry and Charlie, came out from Cheyenne, and acquired a small holding of hay meadows, on the north side of the river in the vicinity of the present site of Morrill. This they fenced like the Sturgis & Lane hay meadows were fenced, with native cedar and pitch pine posts, and…

The Union Company, had a large number of filings made by men who were to work in the railroad shops, and by women, some of whom it was said had not the best of reputations. Some of these claims were desert claims where a pretence of developing irrigation was possible, and there are yet the marks of the old ditches that run up and down the hills along Horse Creek, in Wyoming, that were used …

Hank Ingraham had just been up to Fort Laramie, and bought a team of condemned United States horses, and had paid thirty-seven dollars for the team. This was about 1883. Charlie Oelrich ran across Hank on his way down the river to the feeding meadows in Mitchell Valley, and wanted to buy the team. Hank said : "They will cost you four hundred dollars." Charlie never hesitated ; he wrote him…

On arriving there, those of the party were in such haste for the cool, inviting waters of the pool, that they forgot to tie the team, with the result that in a smashup that followed, one of the horses was killed. The other was ridden back to the ranch for a mate, while the crowd had abundance of time for bathing, and waiting for the return. Charlie's wife was an actress, of whom it is said…

James Gordon Bennett took care of him after that, and for eight years before his death he was utterly helpless. One of the old Two-Bar men tells me that Harry, who though not married, was infatuated with a theatrical celebrity, who frequently visited the Oelrich ranches ; namely, Lillian Langtry, well known on the stage a generation ago. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA AROUND CAMP WAGONS -- A …

Yet old as he was to the ways of the round-up, he, in an unguarded instant, let a wild horse at the end of his lariat catch the horse he was riding with the taut rope in a sidewise position. Anyone versed in the work of the range knows that to meet the jerk at the end of a rope it to have the horse end to, with the front end towards the careening animal. Chris' horse went down, and he was i…

But the news of the accident to Streeks filtered through the Goshen Holes, across Horse creek and down Pumpkin creek and finally reached Streeks's wife, who lived then just southeasl of the present Airdale ranch. Mrs. Streeks and her sister took a wagon and started to run down the rumor and tryto find Chris, for betime the story had reached them it was merely a rumor that he had been hurt, …

In the Scotts Bluff mountains, about ten miles southwest of Gering, they passed the home of a "nestor," or one of the "sooners" that have exhausted all their land rights, yet move ahead of settlement, squatting on tracts which they think will become desirable, and for which they will be able to obtain a few dollars for a "squatter's right." The woman, a large lady of Irish antecedents, ran…

Are there golden streets, or is it the winding trail over beautiful fresh prairies that are like these were when the west was new? HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA One time in the early eighties, when Doc. Middleton "went wrong," (or shall we say that what he did was wrong?) Chris Streeks was riding in the usual duties of the range, when a tall spare man with keen eyes, came "fogging up the tra…

Middleton sent it," he said. When Streeks opened the package he found it contained one hundred dollars. That was a big price for the common horse of the range in those days. That is the way Doc. Middleton did things. And while he was an outlaw according to the statutes, there were extenuating circumstances, and the civilians of the west generally assisted him in his efforts to keep out of t…

Sidney, Antelopeville (now Kimball) and Cheyenne were the regular cowtowns. Those were the halcyon days of the cow business. Big companies were being organized, and absorbing the ranches, and buying -- book value -- 'the local institutions. Post sold out to the Arbuckles, and several were absorbed by the big Bay State Land and Cattle Company. The Swans had Scotch millions behind them. Big …

When Arbuckle broke Post and his Cheyenne bank, it took the saving of nearly all the boys, that were at all frugal, for Post's bank was their depository. Yet few of them would blame Post. They were firm in the faith that his grand-stand play in Cheyenne, when his wife allowed him to sell her jewels, and the house over her head, to put the proceeds into the assets of the wreck, that it was a…

They were Davy Morris, who now lives at Squaw Mountain south of Laramie Peak, and Jim Hubbard, who once homesteaded the farm in Mitchell Valley that was owned by Harry Thornton for many years. That these men were experts with the paint brush goes without saving, for some of the eye witnesses of the affair tell me that about every other number that they called was an animal invisible to t…

I am not surprised that John Clay came out and took over the ranch and holdings of the Swan Land & Cattle Company in 1886. but I am surprised that he could make anything out of the wreck. Under his management, however, the Two-Bar is a most substantial institution. Clay says: "Still sticking by the ship. I found many of the faithful old cowboys of better days. There was Billy Hooker, and Al…

A few held their herds together and went to other ranges, one or two other, particularly the Bay State and the Union Land & Cattle Company, acquired landed possessions that eventually pulled them out of the hole. The Ogallala was one that went into Wyoming with the herds, and Paxton pulled that company through in due time, and good shape. FREWEN'S RANCH EXPERIENCE -- HANGING OF BILLY NURSE B…

As John Bratt says : "from 1867 the business kept changing. From the date that they drove their first herds from Texas to the Laramie Plains, for ten years, ten thousand head was considered a large herd. But in the next ten years, or until about 1886, twenty thousand was not considered a big herd, and some book accounts ran as high as forty thousand." It was in the early eighties that the …

When the ten days' storm in the spring of 1886 had passed and when every creek and gully was full of dead cattle, when about the only live cattle in this section were found in protected places, there was little left of the Frewen holdings. The brothers have returned to London, long ago, and when someone asks them about going into ranch business, they whisper low: "Don't say 'ranch' -- say…

It was in the early seventies, before J. S. Robb had gone back to Texas, that he was with an outfit that had just turned loose a big Texas herd at Creighton's Horse Creek ranch. The boys were away, in pairs, looking after and getting the cattle acquainted with their new range, when one of the queer spells seized Billy Nurse, the cook. This one was, unfortunately, a drug eater before he went …

named Parks were returning, when a shot came out of the bushes, and the bullet whistled uncomfortably near. They rushed to the cover of brush but found no one. That night, while Parks was writing a letter in the old soddy, the cook shot him in the back, killing him instantly. Before he could get any further action with his six-shooter, the boys overpowered him. He was taken to Pine Bluffs, t…

There was no pentitentiary in Wyoming at the time, and the custom of taking care of prisoners of this character, was to take them to the prisons of other states, the state of Wyoming paying the state which furnished the accommodation a stipulated fee. The cook, Nurse, was accordingly taken to Joliet, Illinois, to serve his sentence. For some cause or other he obtained a parole, and as is fre…

S. had been south, and was returning by train over the Union Pacific out of Denver to the north. At that time gambling for mild stakes was but a frivolous pastime and was permitted on the trains running through the western country. Robb and a number of others were passing away the time with a little game of "twenty-five cent limit," and were having considerable amusement. Some one called Rob…

Robb got to mulling the incident over in his mind, and decided that when his attention was directed outside the car window, there had been some juggling of the cards. "My friend," he said, and there was that tense thrill and the quiet that always followed certain tones of expression in the west, "My friend, I guess I will have to trouble you to hand me back that money. I am too old a stag…

Middleton became an outlaw that made his a name that ranks high in importance. He knew the location of more good horses than any man on the western ranee, and he could take them from the South Platte to Cheyenne river in less time than any other. The organization of the cattlemen's association of Wyoming and western Nebraska, was brought into active use in bringing him to justice. This was c…

I looked out at the pine ridges that are visible to the south from this highway, and thought of the old days when Middleton knew every canyon and gulch, and where were the best hiding places for horses. In my blithesome way, I suggested that if the auto played out Middleton might know where there were horses to pull us in. In some way, I received an impression that the pleasantry was not a…

Along the line of the Union Pacific, between the towns of Lewellen and Keystone, there is a sand hill ridge that runs down from its associates almost to the railroad track. This section up which it is situated contains just about enough level ground for the location of a house and ranch buildings, and the buildings are there. This was once the humble home of Perry Yeast, who now lives in hi…

He cleared up several thousand dollars in the deal. When the Burlington built through the Sand Hills he contracted to furnish meat for the construction gangs and he did furnish it in such quantity that Bratt & Company thought he could not be supplying it entirely from his own herd. An investigation and search of the Sand Hills disclosed a secluded spot with the fragments of about a hundre…

The section homestead act went into effect, and he was one of the men who saw its possibilities under the older lax methods of the land office department, and a number of men who settled around him were supposed to have contracts to deed him the land after acquiring title. He was indicted on the federal charge of conspiracy to defraud the government, at the same time that Bartlett Richards …

There came a time when all of this changed in western Nebraska, and also a time when courts reached out. There was a judge who wrote the law on the sunset sky, who by sheer courage compelled the wild west to lift its sombrero to the majesty of legal jurisprudence. Courage alone would not have done it, but integrity and justice took the place of mouldy statute, and silly precedent or decisio…

The judge had a name as a dispenser of justice that struck terror to evil doers, and echoed all the way from Texas to Assiniboine, for the nomads that went north in the spring and south in the fall, knew that Judge Gaslin was in western Nebraska. One stormy night, the men of the trail were in the old hotel that used to stand just opposite the depot at Ogallala, and as the night was stormy…

Finally one of the originators of the quarrel stepped sheepishly forward and extended his hand to the judge, mumbling something about being a little excited over a political argument. "Yes," said the judge in answer, "and if I had not arrived just as I did, I suppose I would have had you up before me for trial the next time I came up this way." "No, God forbid!" exclaimed the man, impulsiv…

It seemed to the jury there was some ground for leniency, so they brought in a verdict of guilty, with recommendation of a light sentence. The judge took the recommendation as a transgression of the prerogatives of the court, and said: "Alright, we will say -- well, fifteen years." The jury was angry, and so fast as cases come up they returned verdicts of not guilty. At the close of the te…

Two men named McCauley and Clarke had been incarcerated in Cheyenne county jail on a felonious charge, and big Tom Ryan appeared before the judge at Sidney to arrange for their release. The court was sitting, and as usual, hitting the evil-doers hard, and Clarke and McCauley were getting their share of the roast. To assail one's friend is to offend the man, and Tom Ryan took serious offens…

In the next few days, he rode past the ranch two or three times, but each time he "played his hunch" to ride on. One day, Ryan met a friend of Fowler's, and told him to tell Sam, that he had seen him ride by the ranch several time lately, and. to say to him, that he (Ryan) knew what Sam was looking for. "You also tell Sam that he played his hunch right each time when he failed to stop. And …

Newman established the largest ranch on the Niobrara or Running Water, and it was the first in point of time, in this part of the sand hills. It was there as early as 1878 or earlier. He ran as high as twenty thousand cattle at one time, and ranged them all the way from Hat Creek, and over the Wyoming and Dakota lines to the northwest, as far east as Valentine. The ranch was located in the…

Newman ranch was followed by Newman & Hunter's, and later Newman retired. Hunter & Evans had a ranch at the confluence of Pine Creek with the Niobrara in the western part of Sheridan county as early as 1878. Among the many brands well known in this territory at an early date were Z-Bar and Lazy-33. When the granger came, the big herd was driven to Milk River, Montana, where the company conti…

They were accused of attempting to follow the precedent established by the Bay State, the Bridle Bit, Sturgis & Lane, and others, and sought to acquire title to a vast acreage of government land, through the then prevailing loose land office methods. L. C. Baldwin, of Council Bluffs, who had several thousand cattle ranging on the Lodgepole in the vicinity of Pine Bluffs, and on Crow Creek, …

Some parts of the west were seared as by a prairie fire, and finally came President Taft and Secretary Ballinger. Pinchot sunk into the oblivion that his ill-advised activities deserved. When a man attempts to climb over the wrecks of others he has ruined, natural laws of compensation will prevail. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA The Standard Cattle Company, with headquarters at Cheyenne, ranged …

One of the rules adopted by this organization was that all unbranded cattle found by the roundups were to be taken to the final rendezvous, and there sold to the highest bidder, the proceeds to go into the treasury of the association. This was obviously about the only thing they could do, but should the roundup catch the lone cow of an early settler, if she chanced to be unbranded, it was app…

Many cows raised "twins" and on one occasion, a steer was credited with raising seventeen calves in one season. The smaller ranches were as busy as the grangers in this work. That is they did as much or more of it, but they held aloof from any entangling alliances. The cowboys learned the trick, and located unbranded stuff in the herds driven ahead with the roundup. At some likely place, in s…

On one occasion, I was coming through the Wildcat Range on my way to Gering, and stopped at a settler's place near Rifle Gap, for the night. The man of the place and I were talking when a roly poly boy came to his father's knee. The father fondly patted his round form, and said : "My son, what makes you so fat?" The little imp looked up and grinned as he answered: "Bay State Beef." The fa…

They had about two hundred and fifty head of cattle, and forty or fifty horses. They put up several hundred tons of hay along the river bottoms, and they milked from thirty to fifty cows. Mr. Evans was in the County Clerk's office at North Platte, and Mr. and Mrs. Hall, whose only daughter was Mrs. Evans, lived upon the ranch. They made butter, and kept several hundred hens, and had privat…

"Grandpa" and "Grandma" Hall are gone to their rewards, both being devout Methodists. John E. Evans, his wife, and son Everett, are still at North Platte, and John E., as usual, is doing official duty. He served in the legislature at the time Millard and Diederick were elected United States senators, after the all winter deadlock. It will be remembered that D. E. Thompson of Lincoln desired …

Ritner, now living at North Platte, (1919) for her faith in the dairy of western Nebraska. This resource is yet in its infancy, but thirty-five years ago, Mrs. Helen Randall, widow of Ex-Governor Randall, now Mrs. Ritner, had about five hundred head of cattle, principally dairy stock, upon her ranch, on the north side of the North Platte river, between White Horse creek and the Birdwood. …

Burke Brothers, with the flat iron brand on three or four thousand cattle between North Platte and Fort McPherson, were not in the Panhandle ; nor was C. W. Wright, now to be found about the Denver Club, who ranged his two or three thousand cattle branded D D on Brigadier creek, Bad Water and Poison Spider in Wyoming. All of these had scattering cattle in western Nebraska and they had repr…

What the Bay State accomplished at Kimball and north, and Tom Swan in Wyoming, the Ogallala company did at Alkali, now Paxton, Nebraska, and north and west. This company put ten or twelve thousand cattle into the business at the home ranch, and then bought the Shiedley outfit with its many thousands, Sheedy's Seven U, Boyd Brothers' herd. Sharp's ranch, the Tusler cattle, and several of th…

Sidney was the accessible trading point, and there was more or less social life there on account of the fort. It was determined that a ranch nearer Sidney would also have its advantages, especially at shipping time. Cattle could be moved to the railroad and allowed to rest on the fine pasturage and hay meadows, then shipped with little or no shrinkage. The best available spot for the use of A…

After the building of the Union Pacific, for many years there were parties of emigrants crossing the continental divide in the old way. There were parties of different nationalities occasionally, and one time forty or fifty Turks were making their way up the Lodgepole valley. True to their faith and custom, they wore the picturesque costumes of their native land. As they neared Newman ranch,…

Down at Big Springs, besides the Shiedley ranch, were the Walraths, whose ranch dates back to 1873. The Walrath ranch was owned by A. J. and Baggage Walrath. Their herd was a comparatively small one at the time, but it later grew to large proportions. Baggage Walrath has gone on, to the Final Roundup, but A. J. still lives in the land where he has seen the transition. The veteran of the pla…

Sparks and Timmon, who had ten or twelve thousand cattle on the ranges of Gooseberry creek, Nevada, maintained offices at Cheyenne, and part of the time had cattle on the same range occupied by Watts, in Nebraska, on the Running water and Snake creek. Their herds used to mingle in the early days, but the territory was later left to others. The Hart ranch had occupied the Snake creek countr…

The larger concerns had visions as broad as the western horizon, but the smaller men had a more correct interpretation of the trend of the times. Westward the tide of empire was wending and it soon moved into western Nebraska, driving before it the Big Stampede. The men of lesser means mingled with the grangers, and stuck to the land. Many are still to be found, grizzled pioneers, and the …

A few miles down the Laramie river from Creighton's ranch on the Laramie Plains, John Bratt, in 1867, built the second ranch located in Wyoming. This location antedated the activities of Bratt at North Platte, but a short time. The Circle Arrow ranch, which is on Lodgepole creek a few miles east of Kimball, was established by J. J. Mcintosh in 1872. Griffin & Harken bought it and later sold…

Peters had been up to the tie camps at Medicine Bow, and his muscles wrere hard from hewing ties, but "Big Nose George" was totally unused to work. He was a gambler of some repute, but had had a streak of bad luck, which his skill could not overcome. Being on his uppers, he had to do something, and fell in with Peters on this job. His lily white hands were a mass of cruel blisters, but he …

Simpson came out from Boston, and organized the Bay State Land & Cattle Company in 1882, and he was its president. He managed to get Evans interested, and Evans held the startegic real estate of the J. H. D. Simpson bought it and then he undertook to make terms with O. W. Mead, the senior and remaining principal stockholder of the old concern. Mead refused to capitulate. He moved the cattle …

The Bay State Company bought the Circle Arrow in the Spring of 1883, and Creighton sold to the Company in the autumn of the same year his entire ranch possessions, including Pumpkin creek, Horse creek, and Laramie Plains ranches. In 1883, the Bay State Company branded all their cattle with the "Circle Block," which correctly speaking is only a "quarter circleblock," and that remained their …

These Indians were perfectly harmless, but McShane did not know it. They had been visiting somewhere down south and were returning to the Red Cloud Agency on White river. They could not resist the temptation to throw a little scare into people as they went along. At the Circle Arrow they shot off their rifles and left some stones lying in peculiar positions, which old Bill Gaw, the trapper…

There was Muldoon, the best cook that ever dipped a pail of water from the creek. It is said that once one of the boys of Muldoon's outfit had an aversion to rice. Rice was a staple food on the roundup, and Muldoon told him that he just had to eat it. He came in hungry one night, and the dinner had a pudding that met nicely his taste. He said it was fine and asked of what it was made. "It is…

And in addition to McShane, and Muldoon HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA and Raley, the writer officiated over the pots apples, dried currants, rice, and occasionally the and kettles once, and cannot find the heart to luxury of prunes. These with coffee. A cook say that it was not a first-class profession, es- who cannot satisfy a hungry man with variapecially where dominated by a first-class man. …

The spring of 1884 witnessed further changes in the Bay State developments. Three quarters of a million dollars had already been spent in acquiring Creighton's and other ranch possessions. Now the company reached over to the North River and bought out the Coads, paying therefor seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The Bay State people ran over fifteen thousand cattle by actual count, al…

John Snodgrass had built a large dwelling on the north side of the railroad track, east of the Pumpkin Creek Trail at Antelopeville. This he made his headquarters. Kimball, who was one of the big eastern investors, spent a great deal of his time at the different ranches of the company, getting in touch with the business first hand. It was in his honor that the Union Pacific and the post-off…

She often had visiting with her, one of the women of the ranch proprietors, or what she really enjoyed more, were the visits of the girls that were just then beginning to come into the valley. In the summer of 1S87. Mary Rose, whose father was a soldier in Sidney and whose mother was dead, came out to visit the Livingstons, who had cared for her during her childhood, and were like parents …

Robb had one of the best memories, and if one could get him started on reminiscence, he could string out interesting stories by the hour, and his experiences would fill a book. Before Runey Campbell knew that Robb was a foreman, he and J. S. fell in together, and were traveling up the Horse creek country going to the J. H. D. ranch. At this branch there was a queer old pair of people, such…

She kept on running still thinking he was in pursuit. As she rounded a corner of the house she met him face to face and it was too late to escape. That time he caught her and gave her the whipping which he thought she needed. Perhaps it was from that event, came the old saying: "I whipped a woman once fifty years old, and I believe T could have whipped her had she been a hundred." Below t…

He told them that he had been boss for the day. It appeared that the bully had begun to work off his ugly feelings, by abusing the kid, finally daring him to fight, and offering to let him tie his hands behind him, and start in. The kid did tie his hands securely, and then jumping on his horse he threw a rope over the cook, and dragged him into the creek, and up and down the creek a number o…

As they approached they observed the big tent was lying flat, and there was no one stirring about it. They dismounted and proceeded to put the tent up, when they discovered under it a number of men who were asleep. It occurred that the wind had blown it down, and the boys finding by calling to one another that no one was hurt, and being sleepy and perfectly' dry and comfortable, they went …

The trail of the wicked are broad, and easy to follow even out on the wide prairies. One of these "sky pilots" landed at Pine Bluffs, and the boys rigged up the hall over the saloon, which generally served as a place to dance, and the saloon was closed for an hour or two that all might hear the sermon. After the missionary had told the old, old story, and sang a few hymns, they again went …

In the night he drove up in front of the Lynch hotel, and observing a light in the office called to men there to come out and help him "unload a dead man." During the journey, the preacher had slumped over against the driver, and he believed him to be in a drunken stupor. He called him a dead man in attempted jocular manner, but imagine his surprise, when they came out and carried him into …

PAXTON'S OGALLALA COMPANY -- HALL'S FAMOUS DRIVE TO PINE RIDGE DICK BEAN'S DEATH -- GUN MEN AND FRANTZ'S COMICAL EPISODE The organization of the Ogallala Cattle Company, was contemporaneous with that of the Two-Bar and the Bay State, and while Alex Swan was buying the big herds of Wyoming, and G. W. Simpson, at Antelopeville, W. A. Paxton was buying those from Sidney to Ogallala. Among his …

Mr. Sheedy's books showed that he had thirty-five thousand cattle, but the Ogallala boys had been over the range and had found large quantities of dead cattle of that brand. 'Gene Hall estimated the survivors at not to exceed one-half of the book number. Paxton made two offers on this basis : one at twenty-eight dollars per HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA head on actual count, or about half tha…

To prevent any such complication, he sent two other outfits of equal dimension, under Radcliffe and Bean, to assist. On the first day of August, 1884, six thousand cattle were rounded up out of Nine Mile canyon, now in Scotts Bluff county, and delivered at the Seven-U ranch. The thirty men had them about half branded with the receiving brand, when four thousand more were delivered from the Wi…

It was a great stroke of business for the Ogallala, for big dividends of the company followed the shipment of beef cattle the three following years, and these beef cattle came very largely from the Bosler herds. Ten thousand beeves were shipped in the autumn of 1885, practically all Bosler cattle, and the company paid seventeen per cent, dividends. The following year ten thousand more, pri…

The granger settlements made it advisable to move the remainder of the cattle to Wyoming, and the home ranch was to be on Little Wind river, about sixty-five miles northwest of Fort Fetterman, or Douglas. Paxton had bought the Boyd herds which were on the lower North river, and in all he had about probably fifteen thousand head to move, besides several thousand calves. One of the Boyds (Jam…

Irvine had ideas of economy that meant reduced wages, and one was to cut 'Gene's salary from one hundred dollars to seventy-five dollars per month. 'Gene said "nothing doing," so he remained out the . season at the old figure, for Paxton had told Irvine that he had better keep him at that. Knowing that Hall intended to quit at the end of the season, he thought he would give him a job that…

To avoid this loss, after the cattle were bedded down and the boys had turned in, Hall would go back along the trail three or four hundred yards, and tethering his broncho to his wrist, would crawl into his tarpaulin. The lowing of a straying steer never failed to awaken him, and he would rise and turn it back into the herd. Eight or ten other steers were picked up along the way, and they m…

I once witnessed a meeting between the Cow-premier and Roosevelt. Paxton was timid, and appeared ill at ease in the presence of Theodore, evidently looking up at the position of President, and had a consciousness of his own inferior position. Yet, I am sure there are others who join with me in the thought that in many ways Paxton was the greater of the two. And that takes nothing from the …

He held out from September until the following July, when a visit to Ogallala, and the meeting of some old friends, ended in a spree of unusual dimension'. John was a brother of Al Stringfellow, who was with the late Bay State round-ups in western Nebraska. Al was the fellow who, with Bill Kelly, at the wedding of Ed. A. Boots and "Dude" Wright on Pumkin creek, were found in the grey dawn …

Stepp had charge of a bunch of cattle that had to cross the river a little below Camp Clarke and Bean was to assist. The river was high, and the cattle turned down stream when they reached the deep water, and commenced to swim. Bean was looking after the lead cattle to keep them from turning about, and start a mid-stream mill -- or circling movement. Stepp became excited, and shouted to Be…

They were turned easily, and quietly, and swam straight for the other shore, as desired. Stepp realized that he had made a bad break, and that night and for several days, he tried to show favoritism for Bean, but he was too dignified to acknowledge that he had broken HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA cow-camp ethics, or to apologize. Not long thereafter, Bean quit the outfit and went to Cheyen…

Bean went over to the store, and soon returned with a straw hat, and dragging a new linen duster by the sleeve. They insisted that 'Gene join them in the celebration, but Hall said the country was settling up with civilized folks, and that he did not aprove of the "rough stuff" they were pulling off, and that he told them as much. Which little lecture on proper etiquette was received with …

Hunter & Evans were not so vigilant as Shiedleys, Daters, Boslers, Coad, Swan, Creighton, Paxton and many others, in keeping out the undesirables, but all had their troubles. Floyd Grey was a "Bosler terrier" one season, but was let out at its close, as many another was let out for the same reason. Grey was a very angry man, and said if he ever met George Bosler, he would knock his teeth do…

One day he arrived off the range at Kimball, and stopped at Ham Lilly's front street livery barn, which then stood next to the alley at the rear of the present Wheatgrowers hotel. Between the barn and the corner west, was Gassman's grocery store, and the few who could play horns, had gathered out in front of the store, practicing as "the Kimball Cornet Band." Johnny stepped into the alley …

A. HALL AND ROBERT GRAHAM'S OLD TIME RANCH -- OGALLALA MEN AND EVENTS -- INDIANS GET SOUTHERS -- BARGAIN SALES OF RANCH LOCATIONS -- HARPER'S DEAL Gene Hall, the foreman of the Blue River ranch, was but a kid of eighteen years, when he "drove drags," up the Texas trail in 1878. The older men of the outfit made him "eat dust," which consisted of picking up the stragglers in the rear of the he…

In the spring of seventy-nine, Hall returned and arrived in Sidney "broke flat." He stopped at the "Miner's Hotel," which was in the southwest corner of the block in which you will now find Hon. W. P. Miles, and the Hons. Joseph and Robert Oberfelder. three of the old timers of Sidney. In the days of the middle eighties this block contained the emporium of Mike Tobin and Harry Winters, and …

After the episode, Graham quit the range and took up his old trade of blacksmithing at Ogallala, waiting for the opportunity to pay them back in their own coin. He wanted to get the four together and "clean the whole outfit" at one time. Once he had the affair almost in hand, when Frank King, who recently died at Broadwater, and who was then an officer of the law at Ogallala, got "a whiff o…

Years afterwards, the story comes out, of a meeting between Bill Nagles. of Hunter & Evans' outfit, and E. A. Hall of the Ogallala, which took place on Box Butte creek, north of Alliance. Nagles was in charge of a bunch of horses when they met. "Get down, 'Gene, and let's visit," says Bill. And they did, sitting cross-legged on the prairie for a long time. Finally the conversation turned to…

This unwritten law "to get the man who gets your friend" is responsible for one ol the graves at the Seven-U. When Powers Brothers were still at the helm, in 1879. two Texans drew their pay and started for their old range, and both had considerable money. The mother of one of them lived there. A week or two later one of them returned and said that he had changed his mind, and came back to w…

One day the Texan who had returned, said he guessed he would go to Camp Clarke, and the young man said : "I guess I'll ride along." Some of those about the old ranch said they felt that vibrant tenseness of the old west, that presaged "an event." But it was not the policy of one man to interfere with the "affairs" of another. The young man came back alone, and they buried the Texan with h…

He paid six hundred dollars for the land, buildings and equipment at the place. He was sheriff of Keith county at one time. Tom Fanning, who lives near Mitchell, came from Saint Louis in 1877, and went to work for Paxton & Wier on the Keystone ranch, which was on Clearwater creek.' Tom Lawrence was foreman. He was afterwards with Wier at Ogallala. when Wier was range manager of the Ogallal…

The latter still lives at Ogallala, and when the herd was taken to the northwest, Jacket parted with his interests, and located a ranch in Spring Canyon, just south of Lewellen, where I believe he still lives (1919). Jacket's men captured a pair of young buffalo over on the Stinking water, in the south part of Keith county, now Perkins county, in 1885. He kept them with his herd until 1891,…

The several locations of ranches that had come into the possession of the Ogallala concern were sold on about the same basis of that sold to Frank King -- a few dollars each. The values of such places were not considered of much consequence. Watering places had been early appropriated, and usually some cow puncher would make a government filing, and after making final proof, he would sell t…

There is Remsburg's ranch at Pussy Springs, Lisco ranch on Cedar and Rush creeks, Beerline's ranch HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA at the mouth of Brown creek ; Wagner's ranch, a little below it on the river; Slater's ranch in the Tar valley section ; Richardson's ranch, south of Horse Lake ; and there is J. W. Rodger's ranch, Hibler's ranch, Peer's ranch, Hubble's ranch, Smith's ranch, Johnson…

Fowler asked $1,400.00 for the whole acreage, which Harper thought was too much. But Fowler sold it to an Iowa man by the name of Battleax, I believe, and he immediately offered to sell it for $2,200.00. Harper again refused to buy it, and Battleax sold to Bickel, another Iowa man. Bickel again tilted the price, and Harper, as he relates it, says : "I was afraid to take any more chances on …

At the end of three years, all the increase of the herd was to belong to Redington and the land to belong to Harper; and Harper was to make up the calf shortage each year, so that Redington was to have the full number of calves to start. Redington made some money by the transaction and Harper made more in the long run. About five years ago he sold the land to Neihus brothers for $19,250.00…

There was a gradual speeding up of the teams, in spite of the efforts of the cavalry to hold them down. By the time they reached the vicinity of Chadron they were going at a swift trot. In the meantime the drivers, who had been clad in overalls or jeans for the first time had become uncomfortable from the heat, and they had cut out the seats of their pantaloons to add to their comfort. When …

The third route was more of importance to western Nebraska. It was from Sidney, north, and was known as the Sidney trail. Its disadvantages were that during the early part of the season, the North Platte river was high and dangerous to cross. Fort Laramie had a cantilever bridge, which is still in use (1919), and which had been hauled by wagons from Fort Leavenworth more than a decade earli…

Camp Clarke became the most important place of crossing the North Platte river, and it was on the center line of the Texas Trail. In the days of the cowmen it became a place of tremendous significance. According to stories of the early days the bridge also served other purposes than for crossing the river. A white desperado was found hanging there one time, with a placard rudely daubed pi…

Five hundred cowpunchers of the real sort gathered here in the early eighties, and they made a show of such marvelous dexterity and horsemanship that the trained athletes of Buffalo Bill's and Frontier Aggregations seem like fading images on the sky-line of a glorious past. Camp Clark was situated on the south bank of the river, and the fort and a trading post, afterwards named Wellsville,…

Just then he noticed "Pete," he said mournfully, " 'taint because 1 don't like it. but I just can't keep it," -- and he justified the statement. Then this man who had ridden a runaway "loco" over a sixty foot bluff, killing the horse, he himself coming up unhurt ; and who had ridden before stampedes on stormy nights, perhaps felt closer to the summit of the Great Divide than ever before ;…

It seemed to have the justification of being the effect of a cause. For instance, the picturesque name of Tom Horn's outlaw horse was "Damned-if-I-Do,"' which obtained from its peculiar characteristic never to carry a rider across a stream. Horn's experience was none different from others. He was thrown in midstream and came near drowning. Perhaps, in view of his later achievements and deat…

The Mexican is not a daredevil fatalist like the American cowpuncher, and the hazard of crossing the river was "a plenty" to inspire him to indolence and waiting. The foreman was J. S. Robb, well-known as a good cowman, who was worried by the delay. He finally obtained the assistance of Johnny Peters and Runey Campbell. The former "went the Long-long Trail" a number of years ago, being a res…

On horse between the waves, the shores were hidden by walls of water, and then a ten foot wave would slap horse and rider in the face and roll over their heads, like a comber on the beach. The flaring cow-ponies met the succeeding waves head end. In the troughs between two waves their hoofs braced in the yielding sand, their ears back, and the waves often lifted them backward a few feet. Em…

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA THE FARQUERERS AND CROSS COUNTRY RIDING -- HUNTING GEESE ON HUGHES ISLAND -- FUN OF THE FRONTIER -- JIMMY MOORE'S LONG WALK About the time of the coming of the grangers, Farquerer Brothers arrived, and located in the canyons between Redington Gap and Chimney Rock. They were also picturesque Englishmen, like Geo. Laing. Henry Bradford who stayed at the Seven-U muc…

The others, with true western spirit, told him that they did not care for his money, but that they wanted his society. He said: "Alright, boys, if it is my intellect that you want, I am with you, but I am out of cash." These English boys used to keep good hounds and guns, and horses, and rode their English postage-stamp saddles straight up and many was the time that they rode to hounds, ch…

a horse would strike a honey-comb place in the sand and go down, the rider taking a full dive into the water over the animal's head. The young geese would try to swim away from their pursuers, but when nearly overtaken they would dive, coming up hundreds of feet away, and then hunters and hounds would go after them again. It was great sport for the sportsmen, but a little hard on the young …

1887 and 1888 witnessed the last round-ups in Nebraska, where I assisted in driving the Circle-Block cattle across the state line into Wyoming. In 1888 a considerable party of North river folks had gone to Sidney to make final proof on pre-emptions, crossing the river at Clarke's bridge. A number, including Jimmy Moore, (not the Pony Express rider,) were from Minatare. They had been togethe…

After several visits into the inner sanctuary of the sod cabin, Jimmy startled his friends by emerging in the open, hugging the pony in his arms, and declaring himself the reincarnation of the Pony Express rider, and that in the hereafter he would carry the pony as a penance" for the pony's previous experience in carrying him. Only a part of this voluntary acceptance of Karmic law, came to …

His six guns, weighing several pounds, had been thoughtfully transferred to the wagon before starting. While Jimmy lacked a bit the night before in ability to stay by his friends, today he gave evidence of his splendid qualities. And for the twenty miles he followed the wagon at a maximum distance of about one hundred yards. When he ran the wagon rattled along a little faster, and when he wa…

Malloy, and others, who were at times almost within hailing distance, and plain in view for the greater part of the twenty miles. They had witnessed a splendid triumph of mind over matter. The obsession of Jimmy's intellect in the one determination to ride in the one particular wagon, and intense interest in the lines of conversation, obscured the slightest flash of reasoning that by waitin…

In the turbulent years of the Overland Trail, Howard Stansbury wrote of the great dead forest of red cedar, fallen as if destroyed by a storm, and young pines were growing in the midst thereof. These pines had reached the proportions of sizeable house-logs when the pioneers of a generation ago availed themselves of the gift of nature, to build homes, barns, sheds, corrals, and they took th…

And "with heart and fiddle still in tune," Campbell and his fine family reside happy in their rugged, comfortable bungalow, and surrounded by the broad fertile acres of alfalfa, which, like a carpet of green stretches away towards the hills and to the river. Runey Campbell, is a distant relative of Robert Campbell, who erected the first rude stockade on Jacques Laramie's Fork, which was de…

Jim Kinney, the veteran ranchman and attorney of Kimball county, lived in one, and in the other dwelt Will Gaws, the hunter and trapper, surrounded by his simple wants -- his traps, his guns, his few handy untensils, and the skins of animals slain. Campbell secured employment with the Circle-Arrow ranch, then operated by Mead, Evans & Company. Jim Shaw was foreman. Shaw and Campbell became …

The game had proceeded with • the regular grind, without premonition of trouble. Shaw sat facing the bar, with Collins, the gambler, directly opposite. Collins, the bartender, came along and stood behind Collins the gambler, when the latter, with deliberation took his sombrero from his head, and with a downward sweep, extinguished the lamp. There followed a flash and report. My informant b…

Akers, the veteran irrigator built near Collins (now Morrill) the famous "sod house that covered seven Akers," as the old settlers used to tell the tenderfeet. Wild horses were plentiful then, while blacktail deer and droves of antelope were common, and mountain sheep sported in the rocks of Scotts Bluff and Castle Rock. Campbell has always been direct in his dealings with his fellow men, and…

Mills and Joe Smith were the first to build houses on the north side of the river in the present limits of Scotts Bluff county. Mills started his first and Smith finished his the first. The first pump was driven by Wellington Clark on the place of Mr. Purdy, and while a man was on the way to the river to get some water to prime the pump, a cow was milked and the pump was primed with milk. O…

PERRY BRAZIEL ARRIVES ON THE TEXAS TRAIL -- TRAILING CATTLE TUDITH BASIN -- SUNDERLING'S ELK-SKIN TROUSERS -- THE DRIVE TO PINE RIDGE -- TWO GIRLS OF THE PRAIRIE Along about 1879, Perry Braziel "met up" with "Shanghai" Pierce, at Coffeyville, Kansas, and from there to the North Platte valley was only a short drive according to old ways of thinking. Colonel Braziel said that the country looke…

There ought to be eight hundred or more old cows ready for the market. With a fifty percent loss, the proceeds from the ranches purchased would show up considerably less than anticipated from an examination of the books. Sixteen hundred marketable cattle, which would more than pay the original investment, were cut down to eight hundred by actual roundup count. It was better business tactics …

George W. had one crowning virtue that gave him the respect of all his associates, although some of the boy> treated him lightly. He was loyal and indulgent to his mothers and sisters. The mother was one who aspired for a more aristocratic life than their humble circumstances would permit, and had a considerable degree of intellectual attainment, and Grace and Bessie shared in the ambition.…

It was sometime later, before George W. learned of the place where he had secured them, but as he really needed them, and had experienced no ill effects from their use, he continued to wear them. They were of excellent material for they lasted him three or four years. The last heard of George Sunderling he was sheep inspector for the state of Montana, and wore a Prince Albert coat with a …

In the spring of 1888, Colonel Braziel trailed his last large herd, which were fat cattle from Mitchell valley, and were taken to the Pine Ridge, or Spotted Tail agency. They were routed down the river through the granger settlements to Camp Clarke, and from there through the sandhills into Sheridan county. After that year the roundup ceased to be an institution of great importance in this s…

In 1885 and 1886 the grangers came up the North river in long caravans. Among the earliest to arrive were the Rayburns, who settled in Horseshoe Bend, and the Ashfords, who located on Pumpkin creek near Wildcat mountain. Ida Rayburn and Gertrude Ashford were about the first eastern young ladies to arrive, and they became great chums, often visiting one another. That is how I first met Colon…

"The wild goose haunts on the willowed isles, And mad, mad rides for a dozen miles.' These were elements that diverted analytic minds. They fell in love with the prairie and the mountains, and we were entities thereof, which was our good fortune. Signal Buttes stand sentinels above the broad irrigated acres of Colonel Braziel and family, in the west edge of Scotts Bluff county, while the B…

But a branch trail used by ranchmen and early travellers, left the Black Hills Road sixteen miles northwest of Sidney, at what was known as the "Water Holes." These holes are located about six or seven miles south and the same distance west of the present site of Dalton. This was the branch generally used by early grangers, and there 'was a drive of about twenty miles to "Lorren's" Fork an…

Most people have been very considerate, and have refrained from shooting them, but those on the islands west of Scottsbluff were nearly exterminated by the Japanese before they knew what value local people place upon the cheerful "Bob Whites." Laing was one of the best of fellows, ordinarily, but he would go to Sidney frequently, and drink was about the easiest thing attainable in those da…

A number of dead skunks and jack rabbits were removed, and the wells thoroughly cleaned. Just as they were finishing the work Sim Laing arrived from Sidney with "plenty on board." He also had picked up an old human derelict at Sidney, in an impulse of sentiment, and was taking him out to the ranch. Laing swung into the Water Holes with a whoop, drove his mustangs across the depression and…

"Old man," said Laing, penitently to his derelict friend, "I am used to this kind of a thing, but I am sorry if I hurt you." The Water Holes, at that time, had a roadhouse on the slope north of the depression, and it was run by Wheeler & Son. Ordinarily the grangers would take along their "grub," but occasionally they would drop in for meals. There were unsophisticated strangers who occasion…

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA sort of a person, and it is probable that he kicked or struck at the dog, before it attacked him. Wheeler, however, started a suit for damages, but it was never finished. Just below Laing's ranch on "Lorren*s" Fork. about half way to the ranch of Adams & Redington, Sam Fowler, well known in the Democratic politics of old Cheyenne county, had his location, where…

Situated about two miles up the Platte river from Bridgeport, on the south side of the river, is a cottonwood grove. It was once the ranch of George Laing, a young Englishman who came out here for the love of adventure, and the alluring profits in raising cattle. His ranch cannot be classed as one of the early locations, but it was ahead of the grangers, and that puts it back about thirty-f…

George told him that the "blawsted 'awgs are increasing so fawst that they are about to run us off the place, and if you will come down and get them, you can 'ave a pair." Laing was then a candidate for sheriff, and it is possible that his generous feelings were partly inspired by that good brotherhood spirit that gets into a man's blood when he is running for office. Laing was defeated, …

Out of the canyon there scurried in all directions wild animals that had been down to drink. There were wild horses, deer and antelope. Being Grangers, the Ashfords wanted pigs as well as cattle, and there were none. Then it occurred to Mrs. Streeks, (also a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Ashford) that Laing had told them of his hogs. It was a long ways to Laing's ranch, the nearest sour…

At first they stopped and killed them, but there were so many, after they had killed fourteen or fifteen, they gave up the work of extermination, and passed a great many, which rattled saucily at them. Laing had many of the charming characteristics of his native land, his accent was delightful and perfect, and he was a good entertainer. He fixed up a crate, and loaded the two pigs for the wo…

While the mothers of a number of sleeping infants were dancing, the boys changed the wraps which the babies wore and changed their positions, to the end that when the dance broke up, most of the parents started home with the wrong baby. As the discoveries were not made until the parents were at home, in some cases twenty miles from the scene, it took considerable time to straighten out the…

This sometimes runs so literally true that one thinks the writer thereof had lived long years. Take the story of the family of Astors, for illustration. In 1812 and 1813 Robert Stuart and his party of Astorians wintered a little north of Scottsbluff. and since then four generations of the Astors have had some calling back to the land of western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming, although their int…

The Arbuckles made money, and contracted the ranch fever. They came to Cheyenne, and bought the A. M. Post horse ranch on "Pole" creek, sixteen miles north of that city. They built a large two story ranch house, with modern conveniences on each floor, and otherwise improved the place to make it coincide with their views of what a ranch should be ; and they had saddles and talahoes, and serv…

He made money by a number of transactions, and then they advised the big plunge as a rare opportunity. It broke him and his Cheyenne Bank, and with it went the savings of the frugal cowpunchers. William A. Force was put in charge of the ranch of Pole creek, and among the young fellows who went to work for him was Fred Wolt, for many years a well known resident and business man of Gering, a…

He, the grandson of John Jacob Astor the first, went down on the Titanic a few years ago, when that great vessel sank in the Atlantic on its maiden trip, and but for the romance of the high plains here related, Madeline Force would never have been born, and he would likely not have been on the fatal trip. The horses from Arbuckle's ranch often were brought to the "North River" to winter. R…

This was located in the valley of the Rawhide, and when the Burlington built the North River branch, they named a town near his several thousand acres of fine alluvial land in honor of his genius and enterprise. He bonded the whole acreage with several thousand additional under the Carey Act and built an irrigation system. About this time the government irrigation act was passed, and the Nor…

Connoly was the foreman for a number of years, and was a remarkable man, having a grasp upon the details of all the several locations that was almost uncanny. What happened to him never came out clearly, but it may have been the weariness of the grind. At any rate, he quit the ranch work and made quite an extended search of Wyoming, with the hope of locating a bed of "coking coal." Had he be…

In 18S4, Ferris was in charge of the State Line ranch, which later went to Colonel Pratt. Al. Smith, in the early days designated "Swearing" Smith, to distinguish him from "Extract" Smith and "Whispering" Smith, had charge of the ranch later, and now I believe his son is managing the place or owns it. Sheldon has a picture of one of the partly dismantled sod houses on this place that was ere…

In addition to this he sells real estate for the Leiter people, as the town of Lingle is rapidly developing into a city. When Connoly took charge of the Leiter local affairs, Billy Ashby, an Englishman, was foreman of the Bridle Bit ranch, but he left soon after and went to Douglas. While on the cow ranch, he hated sheep "like skunks," but HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA not long after he was …

Miller, who acquired extensive ranch possessions north of Morrill about fifteen miles, has "gone to another range," but the excellent property is owned and managed by his son, True Miller. Chas. Loucomer has the old Wind Springs ranch. E. von Forrell has lately acquired a large acreage north of Lake Alice in Sioux county, where Forrell and son run their fine Herefords. On the Harry Haig ran…

It was after sundown, twilight settled quickly, and the party became separated, but all headed in the general direction of Soldier creek, making their several ways by moonlight. They were chased for a part of the distance, and one Irishman who arrived safely at dawn declared that he had been pursued all night. The others arrived at an earlier hour, and Inghram had his pants cut with bullets …

CREEK -- FIRST COWT IN WESTERN NEBRASKA -- MENTAL GIANTS OF THE BIG COW DAYS When the west was young, who would have selected W. F. Cody for the historic character of the "Wild West?" Who could have guessed the destiny of Paxton. or Creighton, or Bratt, or Van Tassel, or McShane. or Coffee, or Swan? The other men of the west shifted and strayed abroad, or settled on their local acres, or th…

He then kicked the broncho and it ran away, leaving him suspended. When found he was quite dead. Some of the boys were removing his boots preparatory for burial, when Smith, the foreman of the outfit, accused them of trying to steal a dead man's boots. The others were thinking only of the newer methods of burial, but Smith insisted on the old order being carried out. McFee was therefore bu…

The storm caught Tommy Chaunavierre ( Shunover), Bob Cavalier, and "Scotty," hunting mountain sheep. The)- had killed one on Wildcat mountain, before the storm struck, n headed for Dicky Brown's place at Kane' Point! Shunover was the one of the three to reach shelter. The other two hardy frontiersmen perished in the drifts on the way. After the storm, Cavalier was found near Sand Hill sout…

Dicky sold out to Wright a short time afterwards. His brother, Jonathan Brown, built the cabin at the Four-J spring, east of Wildcat, and he made final proof on the land. John Wright's ranch became the center of affairs for a number of years on the valley of the Pumpkin. Will Kelly located near him, and then came Earley, and Livingstons, who secured a postofhce and built a story and a ha…

But the first domestic cow in western Nebraska, was that which William Sublette trailed after his wagon in the trapper days, when he drove the first wagons into the mountains. When he met Fitzpatrick, and necessity required more speed than they were regularly making, they turned the cow loose, near the present site of Morrill, and she became the first range cow in the Panhandle of the state. T…

They were in a measure fixed here several years before any of the others, but it was in the capacity of rangers looking after cattle. They settled down and took land in the early eighties. ■ Runey C. Campbell, who still resides upon his homestead (1919), George Marsh, lately removed to the newer land of Montana, and W. E. Ingraham, who was killed by a colt on his farm in Mitchell valley, …

One day his boy got his foot tangled in a lariat rope, the other end of which was attached to a wild saddle horse. The animal promptly ran away, and dragged the boy to his death, after which Hanson sold out, and left the country. Perry Braziel, who had been here off and on since 1882, took some land adjoining the old Bay State ranch in Mitchell Valley, about this time. Perry had been at th…

proud of the people of the west. Much may justly be said of later people, but I am to speak of them in their turn and place. I refer now to the men of old. Of Creighton, and Paxton, and Swan, and McShane. and Bratt. and Sheedy, and Van Tassel, and Coffee. Of the men who pioneered in their line. Who were unafraid of Indians or personal dangers, and bad men, and roughed it with the roughest. …

Firm and enduring were the foundations of their fortunes. And so much of their great work was after they had attained middle age. Paxton told me once that some men have youthful minds until they are forty of fifty years of age. He himself was thirty-nine before he had accumulated a thousand dollars. But all the earlier years he had been learning at the University of Nature, the School of Ab…

And some of them bid fair to hold him off for many years to come. 1 1 [STORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA VIGI] WTFS II \XG REED AT SIDNEY -- THE GREAT BULLION ROBBERY WHISPERING SMITH GETS TWO The cowman's period of taming the wilderness also included the period of Black Hills gold discoveries, which had a tendency of concentrating rough elements at the terminals of the trails to and from the gold …

Gamblers and saloon men of the time always justified any act necessary to get the money, with the following philosophy : "These men are naturally spenders, booze fighter.-, and otherwise dissolute. When they have money, they lay around the towns, drink, and make themselves generally disgusting and disagreeable. Therefore take the money from them as quickly as any device can be arranged. It…

Reed had lied to the rocks north of Sidney, bul was taken by Sheriff Zweifel and a posse, and incarcerated in jail. About eleven o'clock in the night four hundred masked men arrived ai lb. jail, overpowered the guards, and took Reed to a telegraph pole on the south side of the track opposite the Union Pacific depot. A ladder was procured, and a rope thrown over tin' cross-bar of the pole, …

This was believed to have been planned some days in advance, and with the co-operation of rbe stage driver and the Sidney express agent. On the day mentioned the stage arrived too late to catch the east bound train. C. K. Allen, a fine-looking man, was express agent. He took four gold bars, valued at twenty thousand dollars each, and several thousand in currency and put them in the freight…

After carefully looking over the situation and weighing all the circumstances, it was concluded by the railroad officials that the robbery was committed by four men ; that the leader was a man named McCarthy, who had served as sheriff in 1876 and 1877, and at this time was conducting the Capitol saloon and gambling house. He was a man of considerable political influence and had for his warme…

"When the case came up for trial Thurston appeared as prosecutor. In relating the story of this affair to me, in the summer of 1916, ex- Senator Thurston told some interesting incidents regarding Whispering Smith, who was assisting him in the case. They occupied Superintendent Law's private car and every night Smith asked Thurston to take a walk up the track to a lonely spot and there in a l…

That evening, just as Thurston was about to leave for Omaha, Smith took him behind the station and whispered to him : "I told you so, but Pm a-goin' to stay here a day or two, and I think Pll get one or two of 'em." At midnight "Long" Kelly, the train conductor, woke Thurston and handed him this dispatch from Superintendent Law : "Jim got Patsy." At noon the next day Thurston received anoth…

Somebody knocked out the lights and I emptied my gun over the heads of the other people and then came away." Patsy was badly wounded, and was a long time in recovering. His wound was at the very place that Smith said the hole would be found. Smith was arrested but was discharged the next morning on the ground of self-defense. A few minutes later as he was approaching the Lockwood house, b…

That night the prisoner was informed that he was to be hanged in the morning and a friendly informant told him that the best thing he could do was to mount a saddled horse standing outside the jail and leave the country. He took the hint, the jail door being opened for his exit. He was probably allowed to escape by the sheriff with the consent of the vigilantes. McCarthy never returned to …

McCarthy, who fled to Montana, was said to have been a "Molly Maguire" who escaped from Pennsylvania, after the great "Molly Maguire" excitement, in which he was a leader in the coal fields against law and order. Col. A. B. Persinger, owner of Hardscrabble ranch near Lodgepo'.e, was a resident of Sidney at the time of the "great bullion robbery," as it was called, and while in Omaha last we…

He knew Smith very well, and regarded him more as an outlaw. Whispering Smith was a dead shot ; a man of nerve ; cold-blooded, calculating and fearless ; and a man who would cunningly and tauntingly provoke an enemy to commit the first overt act, thus giving Smith ground for self-defense. That was Smith's game. Such is Colonel Persinger's iconoclastic estimate of the hero of Spearman's nov…

\ great many people passing along that valley, on the < )verland trains, or the Lincoln 1 lighway, have admired a green oasis near the pretty village of Lodgepole, which is the Oberfelder ranch. < >berfelder Brothers are pioneer merchants al Sidney, and this ranch was a side issue. I [ere was where a demonstration of what hogs would do, if properly handled in alfalfa fields, proved of great v…

seventeen, north of Range forty-four west. He organized the Oshkosh Land & Cattle Company. D. C. Hooper arrived and went into ranching about the same time. Previously, Knowles- Baldwin Company, the Ogallala Company,, Adams, Redington & Company, and the LJsco ranch were in practical control of the range, the Ogallala having taken over many of the _ other ranches. This company had a "camp" …

With the coming of the granger the ranch was abandoned. Earnest Brothers, who located on the Niobrara in Sioux county, in 1882, held the ranch for twenty years or more. Wilse Earnest moved to Scottsblufr about 1900, but Jim was ranching some years later. Both are now dead. Mr. Meeks, who located on the Niobrara, about 1878, fifteen miles up the river from Agate, was at the crossing of the …

After the burial, a strong board was set up at the head of the grave, and to properly identify it as the burial place of one of the western bunch, it was shot full of holes. Some of these boards marked the graves of departed ones for years, and no doubt some of them are still to be found. Occasionally, to let their sleeping comrades know that those "still on top of the turf," were keeping al…

In fact, the stories of the others are generally unknown. In the rush of fifteen hundred a day that passed through Sidney, if one fell by the wayside, even though suddenly and violently, it left no lasting impression. Only the passing of someone who was identified with the community, as townsmen or herdsmen, occasioned any extensive remark. Men like Loomis, or Tate, or the Pinkstons, or perha…

Many old timers knew Fritzie as the onelegged cowpuncher who, for a time, ran Miner's hotel in Sidney. Fritzie's infirmity was caused by the intoxication, carelessness, and magnified sense of humor possessed by his buddy. Said buddy arrived home late one night, after an hilarious time in Sidney. Fritzie was sleeping when his buddy entered, and buddy decided it would be funny to shoot into t…

out on the prairie somewhere, and Harris said he would ride a wild one. Jerry held the lantern and Harris threw a rope at random into the corral. He caught a wild-eyed mare. They snubbed her up to the fence, saddled her,' and Harris mounted in the saddle. In the lantern light she reared, knocked out the light and disappeared in blackness. Jerry struck a match, and saw Harris aholding the a…

The boys liked him, but he wasted whatever they liberally bestowed upon him, and in useless dissipation. chapter xxxii Mcdonald hung by vigilantes at sidney-- sheriff trognitz's toke -- practical tokes of old timers By 1881, the gun men of Sidney were again making themselves so generally obnoxious, that a drastic and a lawless exhibition became necessary to show them that it must end. The …

Thi soldiers stationed at Fort Sidney were not "t" the lily white variety. An Irishman named John Mathews and his wife ran a joint some distance east of the present site of tin- American Stale Bank, and they got mixed up in an embroglio with a bunch of soldiers. Early in the morning those who had retired, I Sidney was then a town where sale open day and night) wen- awakened b) hots, and the…

West of the living room was the bedroom, and in front of that was another room occupied by a milinery store and living room, which was owned by a Mrs. Ferguson. Thoelecke had a brothe'r at North Platte, who occasionally shipped hay to Sidney, and Julius attended to the distribution. Sam Fowler was then sheriff, he having succeeded Mose Howard who had resigned. He had a deputy named "Cotton…

Still bent upon his purpose, he turned out of the door and ran around the millinery store towards a side door of the kitchen. But here Mrs. Thoelecke again met him, and demanded that he leave the place "like a gentleman." The story of the event spread like a prairie fire. The gamblers gathered in force on the corner in front of Tobin's saloon, and condemned Mc- Donald for his fiasco ending …

He and Hugh Bean, "the gentleman gambler," Dan Sullivan, Frank Anderson, and some half a dozen others were disarmed, marched to the old Sidney jail, and locked in. Sometime in the night a number of men, some of whom still reside in the new and better Sidney, got their heads together. In the morning McDonald was found near the court house hung to a pole, and the other gambler prisoners, ha…

This was the last hanging by vigilantes in the Panhandle, but occasionally the cow-punchers, to give travelers on the Union Pacific a thrill, would pull off a stunt by hanging a dummy to a pole near the railroad, and shoot it full of holes, as a train pulled into town. In the middle eighties, Charley Trognitz was sheriff of Cheyenne county, and he had a bill disallowed by the commissioners, …

Harper was in Omaha, and he met Colonel Charles Coffee of Chadron and a number of other old timers. They had stopped for lunch at the Millard cafe, and one of the fellows more bibulous than the others, had lingered long over his chops. The others grew tired of waiting and wandered up town. After a time their absent friend joined them and told them of a wonderful work of art, the portrait of …

The fellows looked at each other, ami Cof- HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA fee broke the silence. "Come on, boys, I'll buy." The coming of prohibition will forever end certain of the rough pranks and jollity of men. Much of the good fellowship and humor of the west was where the spirits were enlivened by frequent and sundry libations. Not all of the early men drank, but those who did not, fre…

The unusual article Valentine suggested could be hid in the stranger's cap, which would be an unlikely place to look for it. Charley was then called in, and he experienced some difficulty in getting his mental apparatus in working order. He maneuverated about, and reached up his arms, for a while, and finally, when it was in the right position, he said : "Well, whatever it is, I have a feelin…

GORDON'S AND WHITEHEAD'S RANCHES -- YODER'S BEGINNING AND EX- PANSION -- NEW DEVELOPMENT IN GOSHEN HOLES -- BE- GINNING OF ALFALFA AND SUGAR BEETS On our first trip up Horse creek in the eighties, we stopped at the Gordon ranch, in company with George Whitehead. Gordon was .'in active Scotchman and had built an irrigation plant. He, in one place, had made a tunnel through a hill, as I remem…

The building and improving of the ranch involved Gordon in heavy obligations which he was unable to meet in the later money-pinch. He built an ideal, but was unable to retain it. like so many of the ideals which dreamers build. Someone else absorbed the benefits of his genius and industry, because he built on borrowed money. I do not know the present ownership of the old Whitehead ranch, a…

Frank Yoder. attended school here in the winter of 1881 and 1882, being the only white pupil in attendance. Five daughters of Goodman attended this school, they being beadyeyed half-breeds of varying ages. At the tap of the bell for intermission, noon or night, these girls would move silently to the door, but as soon as in the clear, they would scatter and run for the brush like scared rabbi…

Yoder, about five years ago, acquired the fine old Brown ranch near La Grange. This place had 3,160 acres of excellent land. Here Frank keeps in the neighborhood of one thousand cattle. The Yoder boys are active in banking and finance in the Citizen's National Bank of Cheyenne, the Torrington National Bank at Torrinsrton, and elsewhere. The Hawk Springs Development Company was of their conce…

Some excellent alfalfa fields are in this part of the valley, and a sugar factory is one of the early anticipations after the advent of the railroad. It takes a long time to realize dreams, but the west was built by dreams. There are living and active in business in the state capital, Lincoln, Nebraska, men who sat in the shadow of sod houses, and dreamed that some day there would be a rail…

In that day it was known as Lucerne, Chilan clover, or California clover, the name alfalfa coming into general use later on. It is difficult to estimate the value which Colonel Parks initiation has been to our community and commonwealth. During the campaign of 1920, the output from the four sugar mills at Scottsbluff, Gering, Bayard and Mitchell will be approximately one thousand pounds of…

In early granger days, and while the sand hills were passing to title under the section homestead act, we heard stories of feudal despots known as "cattle barons." But always these bold, bad buccaneers were "over the hill," somewhere. They were elusive, and no one ever quite "met up" with one. A few half insane bachelors like John Krause, added a touch of realism to the stories told. But t…

He runs vast herds -- probably more than 10,000 cattle and 1000 horses. In the big storm of March, 1913, fifteen hundred cattle were lost by their drifting into Swan lake. The Avery ranches are also large. Charles has a ranch covering two townships, and well stocked. Sam also has a fine ranch. Fine hay meadows, and a hunting lodge on one of the Avery lakes, built for the accommodation of …

Neither do we have the stampedes that used to wither the grass as the trampling feet of wild-eyed cattle passed. Those were days when "The Phantom Steer" led herds to perdition. To quote from verse written in the running style of the running cattle: "For at my side with a flaming nose, And eyes that glowed as foxfire glows, With a body of quivering, pulsing mist My rope cut through as it, …

A crowd moving about was "milling around." Dancing the old "round dances" were sometimes called "milling." Occasionally dancers and dancing were referred to as "the night herd is a-running," or "the herd, it got to milling when the fiddle got in tune." Wyatt ( Long) Heard, of Uvalde county, Texas, drifted through Banner county, on the last roundup. He liked the social early times, but had…

There were a lot of pranks pulled off at parties and dances, and where some "puncher's" horse, or buggy team was tied at the gate or corral of a place where one of the first girls were known to reside. I found my broncho untied late one night when I was starting for home. The "fool critter" traveled ahead of me in the moonlight from fifty to one hundred yards distant, all the way. It was a …

Also, the ponies failed to pick up any speed, and seemed to be pulling hard on the light rig. Xext morning he discovered the cause. One of the jokes of the ranchmen in north Garden county, whenever visiting Omaha or other markets, was to pose as the "Mayor of Mumper." Mumper was a postoffice at a ranch in the Sand Hill country, and while "Mayor of Mumper" was impressive among distant stra…

Bronson moved to the Niobrara in 1879, and located about twelve miles east of Graham and Snyder. He became a writer of considerable note, publishing a book of western adventure. Captain Cook is also a well known character in western Nebraska early life when Indians were a menace. At the Agate ranch has been unearthed and developed one of the most famous fossil beds of the world. Mr. Cook, t…

Carpenter's boy -- Willie -- arrived in the winter of 1879-1880 and was snow-bound in Sidney for three or four weeks. He was a nice kind of a kid and stayed in Oberfelder's store. Some years later a big, wiskered man with a deep voice came into the store and asked for Bob. When Bob appeared he said: "I want your father," but after a bit he discovered it was the same Bob of old. He asked if …

He had a shaft down about six feet, when one of these fits rendered him helpless. He drowned in less than a foot of water. Tom Sturgis had Whispering Smith employed in the eighties to keep Cheyenne county from going for the herd law. He failed in his efforts for the grangers were strong for it. McGinley and Stover located three miles west of Agate in 1882, and Earnest Brothers located thre…

Every little while we now hear of one who has gone "stampedin' on the Old Trail." Yet, today, we find a few anchored to the soil of the wonderful land, which they have helped to tame from the wilderness of old, to the present wilderness of green, done in seventeen shades of glory and productivity. Recently there seems to be a Stampede of the old boys, heading for the Home Ranch Across the …

To drift or fade away, Were Jimmy Tate at Sidney, And" Kimball Billy Day. He's put in Boot Hill Graveyard, With boots on, as he died, W7hen Jimmy quit the Lodgepole And hit the Great Divide. And then to take the High Roau Was our old Captain Jenks ; He went with the Rough Riders When shuffling off the kinks. Then Chris Streeks of a sudden Snuffed out the light, and died -- He swung into…

He was trailin' o'er The Ridge. The Maycock brothers, John and Joe, Each passed along The Way. John dropped in from the sagebrush, And Joe from Canada. And boys, a waitin', millin' 'round. For calls to come up higher. Saw Colonel Pratt fade up The Trail A settin' her afire. Then from the Runnin' Water Went the Earnests -- Jim and Wilse, And from the Mitchell valley Went a ridin' John R. S…

To travel on The Road, A lookin' for old Snodgrass, McShane and Mark M. Coad. He'll find them sittin' in the game In good old fashioned style, And, maybe, lookin' on, he'll find His neighbor, Milton Byal. There's Tusler, and~Sam Fowler, And Laing, who lived upon The "Lorren's Fork" a plavin' With old Doc Middletom It sure is quite an outfit Of saddle boys that goes. Jim Brantner, of Whi…

He crossed the Cheyenne Plain Where Gordon had gone on before, Along with Doc. Tremaine. Sam Lawyer -- arms a flappin' And floppin' like a sail Went foggin' and a fannin' up The Dim and Dusty Trail I faintly hear an anvil, And ringin' blacksmith tools : I wonder if Jack Hilton's there A shoein' Spanish mules. Bronson left the Deadman's\ creek A "Ghost" upon the Wind. Doc Graham went fr…

Wouldn't do at all. So Bratt, he said, no Bogy Could scare one of his stamp, If he had men like Cody Or Likens, in his camp. He'd hunt the scattered Dogies And as he found his pals, He'd round 'em up and drive 'em in To his Home Ranch Corrals. I wonder if the old boys. Join in the "round up mill :" I wonder if the bronchos Are linin' the corral: And girls with merry laughter. And boys…

And callin' Collins, bring 'em in An overbrimmin' cup. D'ye reckon that is why they Are tearin' down The Slope. Like rippin' into Sidney, Or down on Antelope. D'ye reckon there's a Camp Clarke, A Hartville or Cheyenne, A waitin' for us yonder where The other boys have gone. Is Jim Moore there a playin' A game of solitaire, Or is he ridin' "the Express," And fannin' through the air? For …

Then later with the voyage of La Salle when he took New France, now Canada, and the region of the Great Lakes and the territory of Louisiana, in the name of Louis the Great, King of France. Spain followed by France thus became the first owners of the territory now comprised in Nebraska ; in 1763, Louisiana Territory was* ceded back to Spain, and what is now Cheyenne county, though unmarked …

Cheyenne county was created by act of the first state legislature in 1867, and at that time contained the territory since erected into Banner, Deuel, Garden, Kimball, Morrill and Scotts Bluff counties. At the present time the county lies in the Panhandle section of Nebraska, in the second tier from the western boundary and the south tier north of the Colorado-Nebraska boundary. Cheyenne coun…

In addition to this major stream, the Lodgepole valley has a south branch running northeast from the western line and smaller valleys, many unnamed. Lodgepole valley is generally "level, deep soiled and well watered and in an early day was attractive to the homeseekers. The lands were the first lands to be settled and today are the sites of the oldest ranches and farms. In the early days th…

In 1869 and 1870, cattle were wintered in the country now' comprised in Cheyenne county though the ranges had been used before that time for oxen. For a number of years no taxes were levied against the cattle, no investments in real estate were necessary and the profits were large. Later the cattlemen and ranchers had to pay their taxes to the organized counties adjacent. They had no benefit…

The first purpose of the soldiers at Fort Sidney was to protect the builders of the railroad; four troops of the Third and Fifth United States Cavalry were stationed there and a portion of the Third Infantry for a time but they were later sent to another post. General Dudley was in command of Sidney Post and remained two years before being relieved by Genera] Merritt. A companv of soldiers wa…

The Union Pacific railroad was built on to the west from Sidney in 1868, and with it went a large part of the population of the town when it was the end of the road. There was a large, nomadic, rough element in the country at the time, which always followed the rail head where it could prey on the laborers. The post was reduced to the mere needs of protection from Indians, which grew less a…

Even at this early day there were indications that a political ring had been formed in Cheyenne county and unless a man was favored by the members he did not succeed in public life. The Cattee Business The stagnation of the town and county continued through the next five years. The trail herds passing through the town and county enlivened life occasionally, when cattle werei driven from Te…

Some of the most important companies and ranchmen with their holdings are as follows : Adams, Redington & Co., six thousand head ; Codd Brothers, five thousand head ; Creighton Herd, three thousand head ; Tusler Brothers, thirty-five hundred head; Pratt & Ferris, three thousand head ; Bostler & Irwin, twenty-five hundred head ; Bostler & Lawrence, two thousand head ; other men who had lar…

A log hut served as the first store building in Sidney and was built by a man called "French Louis." It was located about four miles south of the present town site, but when a station was established at Sidney on the railroad, he moved the store to the town. Most of the stock of goods at that day consisted of necessary supplies and whiskey. In 1868, Charles Moore built a frame hotel, store…

He became secretary of the Cattle Association of Western Nebraska when it was formed, taking part in the settlement of many of the cattle disputes and diffi- A Fine Residence of Sidney culties of the early days. When the railroad tried to evade paying taxes Mr. Kane siezed an engine on the track. First he order the deputy sheriff, A. Solomonson, to stand in front of the engine ; then the e…

Sidney one time had twenty-three saloons in one block between First and Second streets west of Rose street, now Center street. Now there is none. The business died of its own excesses and vice. Carrigan went into other business and became one of the progressive citizens, in later years. Saloon business in a "cow town" was vastly different from the same business in the mining rush. The people …

Custer Cily. am . route may 3U,ip \|pad flt Sidney, Care_6f.H._T._CLARKE, Sidney, Neb.; -ac-sStl^of. js.vvKU.PE fsjiD I-', Tii I^viV^ESS_DC5rNt;SS. pill lilt SIDNBY SHOR'Ii ROXFtW THI BLACK BXLXil ISKOW OPEN FOR TRAVEL. AND, WITH THS ROAD.lS " . Guarded £y the United ^States Troops'! v ONLY 167 MILES TO CUSTER CITf , TOOa THE BSIOll PACIFIC BAIUOAD. _ la'.y. aEd^Ctmp Olarto^liU* Klv…

of city government and a permanently platted city engaged much attention, although gold was the item of paramount interest to everyone. It was not until May 1, 1877, that a plat of the town was filed. In 1876 and 1877, there arrived and departed from Sidney about fifteen hundred people daily in the rush to the Black Hills for gold. People were going to and from the Black Hills, except for …

MOORE' H'lTEL cJLl operated the Star Clothing House which for a time rivalled the Oberfelder store. P. J. Cohn was the original senior member. His nephews operated the store. Louis and Mike Cohn were cousins and Louis later became sole owner. Mike sold his interest for $40,000, took it to Chicago, and lost it. William France had a hardware store here in 1876, and among the grocers were He…

Grant and John Carrier were the first men to run barber shops, the called "fashionable barbers," soon followed by J. H. Surles and Charles M. Rouse. Pratt and Ferris, well known as the "P F" were the early freighters, doing an extensive business in Cheyenne county and the Black Hills, while G. W. Dudley advertised "Dear's Stage Line to the Black Hills." The main HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA…

Sidney Probst was the driver from 1876 to 1878, and his many experiences of those early days are interesting and instructive, telling of the life of the vanguard of civilization. Probst died a few years ago in Colorado. This route did not compare in peril with that to the north on the Black Hills' route, for that line ran through hostile Indian country, and the stages were lined with steel f…

Charles Fordyce, one of the pony express riders, was killed by Indians a little north of that station. In 1877, a white man who had been selling or trying to sell trees in the Hills drove into the Newman station. It was snowing and the Newman outfit tried to persuade him to stay until the storm was over but he pressed on. Later appeared an advertisement asking Pony Express and Overland Mai…

The Indians then seemed to rise out of the prairie and the surveyors "dug in" making a hole about eight feet square into which they put the provisions and water, then crawled in themselves. The Indians circled about on ponies, swinging over their sides and shooting under the animals necks; but the soldiers heard the firing, returned in haste, and the Indians fled. No one was hurt although …

The bridge was built, however, and was used by the people passing north and south. SIDNEY'S WILDEST DAYS Sidney had by this time become a boiling caldron of humanity, some serious and hurried, others serene, methodical and unruffled, all with the one object, gold. The town was wide open, and day and night business houses, saloons, dance halls and theatres were thronged with people. It has …

The men committing these offenses were "Three-finger Jack," "Hold-'em-up Johnny" and others of their kind. Jack made a tactical blunder in a storm and held up a citizen of the town, following which he and some of the worst citizens "dusted," as a result of public sentiment. A number of incidents, some tragic, and others nearly so, and some of boisterous humor, are here chronicled, which indica…

Newman was nearby in the corral on a horse when the wild animal attacked him, knocking horse and rider down. It then reared, and was on the point of setting his forefeet down on the prostrate man and stamping him to death, when R. S. Van Tassell seized the rope which was trailing from the wild horse's neck, and '"set on it," swerving it from its objective by a few feet. Quick action saved a…

About the time of Sidney's last lynching episode, that of McDonald'in 1881.' frightful orgies were common at a road house some dist iiiii' north of town, at one of the spring creeks leading down to the Platte river. One night, a dance and carouse was going full '•win- when a soldier accidentally shot himself dead. The others deposited the body in a corner of the room and ordered the music t…

A hastily selected jury heard the boy's story that Wild Bill had killed his brother in Kansas the year before. He was found "not guilty," according to the code of the times, but was told to get out of the Black Hills. Before the event, Wild Bill had heard that a kid was looking for him, and he had said, "a kid looking for me, is the only kind I am afraid of : he may get me." A Yellow Affai…

Evidently the painter was unhappy, and took an unkindly departing shot at his neglectful spouse. According to codes then prevalent, either the Black Hills wagon boss or the painter would have tarried permanently somewhere beside the Trail. One or the other failed to measure up to the standard required by the red-blooded men of the period. True, it was probably better thus, for none of them …

According to Reynold's story it started at the supper table over a difference of five dollars in wages, whether the amount due was seven dollars or twelve dollars. He said the Pinkstons attacked him with clubs and he used the axe in self defense. His first story, however, told at Trognitz barn, which then occupied the present site of tht U. S. A. Theatre at Sidney, was that a stranger came…

Never discouraged by adverse circumstances, for the darkness of the night meant to them the sun was soon to rise. "Whitie" was one of these genial souls. "Whitie" had a run of luck that put him "down upon his uppers," and conceived a scheme for a moderate stake. He invented a calf and valued it at ten dollars. He told three companies he had such a calf, and if they would give him two and…

They selected the names of several hundred people in all parts of the United States, and wrote letters on "Lockwood House" stationery, of similar import to each. These were to the effect that someone had died in the hotel owing a little bill. Upon examination of his effects they were led to the opinion that the deceased was a relative of the one addressed, that the deceased had left some pe…

They reasoned that the recipients of the letters would send the money to get the goods, even though not expecting any legacy, and not having any relation, who would likely be in Sidney to die. They were not mistaken in the weakness of their fellow men. The money came by check, draft and money order. After they had accumulated about forty thousand dollars. Postmaster Fred Clary became suspic…

He wanted three thousand cash immediately, and would leave the other five thousand on deposit. There was little cash available HISTORY < >F WESTERN NEBRASKA and the bank did not accept the proffer. Henry St. Rayner and Mr. Donaldson, were at Cheyenne at the time, and when they returned to Sidney, told the local bankers of "the preacher with the eight thousand dollar draft." As expected, Bento…

However, Trognitz found four of the Bickel five dollar bills in the end of his spectacle case, and some silver in his pockets. The papers headlined a story of "cowboy Sheriff arrests a preacher." Two days later Cashier Stone of Sioux City Savings Bank, arrived and identified Benton, as a swindler named Simpson. His method was to get part cash on a large draft, drop his c!ergyman"s attire, …

"The National salute of one hundred and one guns was fired by Sidney's battery at sunrise. Let it be stated, for once, that more than a hundred shots were fired in Sidney without in a< ' ident." "Fitzpatrick was ruled out of the greasedpole climbing contest because of his great length. He was too near the top of the "pole :ii the start." "C K. Allen came within an ace of plucking immon, bu…

A friend of the Oberfelders from New York had come to Sidney, and Bob, while showing him around, dropped in Zobel's place. At one table sat three distinguished characters ; Hank Clifford, from the Stage station on the Niobrara river ; Ben Tibbets, beef killer and squawman from Red Cloud agency, and "Arkansas John" Wyseckler. Their bibulous feast had reached a stage of mellowness where they w…

Contemporaneously others made it a business, using the settler as a "Smoke screen." As often as possible they made the granger an accomplice, giving him meat for domestic needs, which needs were frequently sufficient. Occasionally cowboys and near cowboys became cattle detectives, and sometimes outside detectives were empolyed. Jack Crittendon's services were presumed to be on the side of cat…

Talbert apparently decided to join in homing making, and as brought out at Nunn's trial, he made the suggestion and induced Nunn to' join him in killing a range beef. There was no dispute as to fact, but the question of the value would settle the sentence, whether a fine or the penitentiary. Talbert was the expert witness for the cattlemen who wanted the accused "sent over the road." Judge …

The lean years of the early nineties, broke many cattlemen, and the grangers were "not yet upon their feet." Intense privation and heart-aches covered the broad acres of Cheyenne county. The prices of merchandise dropped very low in Sidney and elsewhere. Brilliant financiers and politicians call it back to normal, and helpless mortals echo the apology for the crime of financial depression, fr…

A deformation, or structure points to oil land, and an old surveyor's report shows oil seeps east of Sidney but up to the present no well has been brought in. United States Land Office The United States Land Office was established in Sidney in July, 1887, with the first officers as follows: John M. Adams, register and G. B. Blakely, receiver ; G. B. Blanchard, register and L. M. Neeves, re…

In 1870, Thomas Kane went to Lincoln, the state capital, to prevail upon Governor David Butler, to call an election for choosing officers for Cheyenne county, which was done by a proclamation in August, 1870. The following officers were chosen: Thomas Kane, treasurer; John Ellis, sheriff; C. A. Moore, Fred Glover, and H. L. Ellsworth, commissioners, and H. A. Dygart, clerk. The latter served…

The offices were not as attractive as they are now and not sought. A list of the officers of the county down to 1918, follows: 1872, the commissioners were Henry Newman, and Joseph Cleburne; Judge, G. W. Heist; sheriff, J. J. Ellis; coroner. P, Bailey (refused to qualify) ; treasurer, Thomas Kane; superintendent of schools, George R. Ballou; surveyor, John Griffin i refused to qualify): Jus…

H. Troelstoup, W'illiam Codings and J. L. Reed. County Treasurers A complete roster of the county officers has been hard to obtain. Some of the offices have been created since the organization of the county but the persons who have been trusted with the public funds are as follows : Thomas Kane. Henry Snyder, C. K. Allen, Carl E. Borgquist, James Sutherland. C. D. Essig, Adam Ickes, James…

Ballou, being succeeded in September, 1874, by I_. Jenkins, then in 1875, by L. H. Bordwell. Since that time the following men have filled that office: Daniel Hirlihy, E. M. Day, Joseph Oberfelder, Leslie Stevens, Mrs. Julia Shelton, Mrs. E. O. Lee, Mattie McGee, C. P. Chambers, Otis D. Lyon, Mrs. A. B. Knox, Minnie E. Chase, William Ritchie, Jr., Edith H. Morrison, and Anna McFadden. The rec…

In 1873, precincts for the first time took on importance and elected officers and from this time have continued to elect the necessary officers from time to time. The first county surveyor was elected in 1872, being John Griffin who refused to qualify; Joseph Callihan was elected in 1873, and refused to qualify, since which time the surveyors elected have served. The first coroner was P. Bai…

Samuel Savage next sat upon the bench but his were not the years of stress that preceded or followed as he held office from 1880 to 1884. From 1884 to 1888, Francis G. Hamer, afterwards a member of the Nebraska supreme court, served in this district. His record is written in the hearts of the people whose homes he saved by delay of process of law in the interests of justice. In the end ever…

Judge Grimes still presides when court meets in Cheyenne, Deuel, or Kimball counties. He starts now upon his twenty-fifth year as judge of the district in which Cheyenne county is located, which is evidence of a satisfied people. From 1868 to 1885, the statutes provided for the election of district attorneys. During those years one name stands alone to the credit of the Panhandle of Nebras…

There are three full stories including the basement which is light and airy and contains the jail, the furnace room, and two convenient rest rooms for the public. eel with it is an office for the judge. On this floor are jury rooms, counsel chambers and the caretaker's apartments. The old county buildings were sold and wrecked when the new court house was placed in use so the grounds today …

The offices include those of thi il-il. superintendent, assessor, commissioners, surveyor and county judge, which includes an office and court room. The third floor or second story houses the district court ii h i- large and convenient. Connectsix hundred and forty acres, and to such homesteaders under the old law, who had vacant lands adjoining, they could increase their acreage to a section…

The law was then confined to Nebraska, but now includes all the western states. Cheyenne; County Schools District No. 1, was organized in 1871, with C. E. Borgquist, moderator; D. Carrigan, director, and Joseph Cleburne, treasurer. It included Cheyenne county as it then existed, and unorganized Sioux county which then extended eastward to the present line of Holt county. In a period of les…

Districts Nos. 2 and 3 were organized in Sioux county with John Tucker and W. V. Pennington directors of the two districts, in the order named. There seems to have been no county superintendent in Cheyenne county until January, 1871, when George Ballou assumed the duties of that office. He was the first county superintendent of a territory covering nearly a third of the state. On the first Sa…

J. Walrath, director; a man named Green was treasurer, but the district was abandoned as no school was held. On August 4, 1879. a petition for reorganization of district No. 2, was filed and asked that the following officers be named : R. J. Coerdon, moderator; E. W. Ormsby, director; A. J. Walrath, treasurer. No. 2 district was created by E. M. Day, superintendent, who had been appointed t…

Mcintosh as a saloon. This served until the school grew and required more room and better quarters, which were provided. The old frame structure was sold to the Swedish Lutheran church and in 1920, was still used for church purposes though remodeled and with additions. District No. 4, was organized at Lodgepole, August 19, 1879, by E. M. Day. county superintendent. H. Barrett, was moderator …

Districts Nos. 8 and 9, were "formed on the railroad at Bronson and Colton. District No. 10, the first organized away from the railroad, in Cheyenne county, was on Pumpkin creek at the old Wright ranch, while Leslie Stevens was superintendent. It came into existence in March, 1885, and the district comprised practically all the territory now embraced in Banner county, and all south of the No…

The district was organized March 7. 1886, with George Williams as director. Cheyenne county has since been divided and retains only a small part oi it- original territory but the schools have maintained a high standard of efficiency in tional work. 'I'l'<- firsl school in unorganized territory later Sioux county, and now Sheridan county Wished by fas. i Iberfelder in 1882 It was located …

There are consolidated schools at Sunol and Gurley, the first having five teachers and twelve grades, while Gurley has seven teachers and eleven grades. The rural schools, sixty-five in number do, not seem to be following the extreme consolidation plans of some other counties, it being the general opinion in Cheyenne county that schools of two or three rooms and a teacher's cottage are best…

Its quality is of the purest. It is pumped to the reservoir on the hill and from there distributed to the town by a fall of a hundred and twenty feet. The reservoir will hold a hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons. The system is owned by the city and was put in at a cost of $25,500. Consumers get a water rate that is very reasonable. A sewer system has been a badly needed innovation and has…

located in the Cleburne Block and enjoys a large patronage. More than four hundred subscribers are served and have connections with about any place in the world. Four girls are busy throughout the twenty- four hours. Sidney has more than sixteen miles of cement sidewalks, much of it twelve feet wide. These lead to all the better portions of the town town and take the pedestrian past houses th…

The payroll for the current months has amounted monthly to $15,000. The round house, car department and coal heavers received $5,800, monthly, while the roadmaster's office and the five sections within the county total $2,0^7.07. There are thirteen passenger trains on this road each day and at this point two local freights carrying passengers. An attractive depot of stone, steam-heated and w…

A dam was built across the creek and the waters thus impounded were used to irrigate the tracts of land alloted to the companies. Rivalry existed between the companies is growing the best gardens. Let it be known to the credit of this early tillage that the soldiers raised nice gardens, but the grasshoppers discouraged their efforts. The first produce was intended to supply two hundred and…

This is explained by the fact that the stream is fed from numerous springs along its entire course and also by the fact of the valley being from one to three miles in width. The irrigation of such land thus being very close proximity to the stream that water reappears promptly, after being spread over the bordering land. It has been observed frequently that when all the flow was being divert…

They have adopted the newer standards of an ownership of acreage, instead of the open range. There arc the first grangers also, who came and remained through the years of stress, a number of which are ye< residents after the lap e of a third of a century. Here was horn the first white boy in thai part of the county; Guy C. Newman. Here also is Col. V B. ■ and his I tardscrabble ranch. Here…

Lodgepole also had to its credit one of the state's best members of the legislature in 1917- 1919, and who in 1921 became regent of the State University, William L. Bates. Fred Lehmkuhl is another Lodgepole name HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA that runs steadily through the progress of town, county, and community welfare, from the very beginning. J. R. Young is still another long familiar nam…

After its incorporation and the good years of plenty, sidewalks were laid. Miles of concrete walks were laid, and an electric light plant and water system were established that render excellent service and give Lodgepole a metropolitan aspect. The electric plant and water works are housed in the same building. Lodgepole has a modern school house of cut stone and it is rated one of the bes…

the grain, hardware and implement houses have been started and furnished the country side with all machinery and articles needed by the farmers. The leading mercantile house was started in 1888 by a Mr. Young and a large fine building was erected to house the store in 1892. It is an establishment of which Lodgepole may well be proud. A furniture store was one of the early business houses, …

William and Andrew McAdam built on the corner where the James Lumber Company now has an office. They were engaged in the furniture business. The Mc- Adams also built the old school house which stood for years on school house hill, whkh was later remodeled and used for a hotel on Main street. This old school was built about 1887 or 1888, but after being removed from the station the first sc…

One of the first postmasters was Fred Nelson. The old livery barn was built by Frank Hyde and was one of the oldest buildings in Potter outside the section house and depot. He dug a well, the first in Potter and put up a tank and windmill, and even went so far as to pipe water to some of the buildings and houses, installing the first water system in the town, though it is primitive, and of …

Stevens was hired by some enterprising men to reestablish the Review and has been published ever since under that name. By 1890 the farmers who had settled around Potter began to raise grains, mostly wheat and oats and as 1892 was a good year, Potter had to build grain storage houses but not of the type used today. Everything seemed bright for the young village of Potter but the droughts of…

The Union Pacific railroad built a new station and tank, while the farmers organized and put up a large grain elevator; later they also erected a flour mill. Mr. Seyfang projected a theatre building and hall for the growing town. New additions were laid out while many fine homes were constructed. Farming was prosperous and was reflected in the growth and development of the town, so that today …

I am sure our little pony team was the first to go up that hill with a wagon out of Big Horn canyon on the east side of the place where the principal road now runs. We crossed Lawrence Fork at the same point this road now occupies. We were unable to sell or trade the posts in Potter and drove to Sidney, where we made the necessary exchange with A. Pease, then in business there. On the way…

It was taken out to Pumpkin creek, the first domestic cat in the present Banner county limits. The Potter Review calls that town the "biggest little city in Nebraska," which is emphasized by the character of its numerous business houses of today. Among these are Farmers Union Trading Company, Johnson-Cords Company, Thornburg & Hager, Housen-Seyfang Mercantile Company, Potter Lumber Company, J…

In 1920 Potter shipped 375 cars of wheat, of a value of approximately $700,000. a drop of probably one-third from last year's total cash, but twenty-five percent of the wheat is yet in the fanners' bins. Dalton The high divide north of Sidney was traversed by the overland stage, pony express, and western bound emigrants, before Sidney existed. The Jules Cut-off from the South Platte valley…

As water was two hundred to three hundred feet below the surface, welldigging was no small undertaking. These "Water Holes" were some distance southwest of the present town of Daiton. Eventually such beaut ful lands were destined to become homes ; they were settled upon by homesteaders, many of whom are yet to be found in the prosperous community. At first wells were dug at rare intervals',…

Twenty -five years ago this site was a field of grass ; a wagon road leading from the river country wound through this territory, and the location was visited by a party of eastern men. as they passed over the divide in a freighter's wagon, for Sidney was then the first town south of Alliance. On reaching the "highest point," where Dalton, "Queen of the Prairie," today lifts her head, the me…

Other farmers questioned why large fields would not yield as well as small ones. Macaroni wheat was introduced, which had drouth resisting qualities. Farmers remembered the years of 1893 and 1895, which were well nigh rainless. The pioneer merchant. W. S. Woolsey, became busy and prosperous and another man ventured into the station town to establish the Clough store. During this period farms g…

The busy blacksmith shop was conducted by Herman Martin and a hardware and furniture store by Charles Veith ; a confectionery store by H. C. Christensen and a livery and implement house by C. W. Handley. J. B. Hire managed a restaurant while A. P. Gustin operated a pool hall and barber shop. The garage of Dalton was opened by Ben Carter, while his wife was in charge of the telephone exchang…

Jones & Company are large realty dealers of Dalton ; they have handled several hundred families in farms and also deal in city property. Due to the growing business Mr. Jones took into partnership in 1913, A. J. Jorgenson, who had been the local manager of the McNish Land Company. The Western Realty Company was organized in 1906 with W. E. Swartzlander as president. This company always has a…

Dalton now has a population of about three hundred and fifty, two excellent banks, and four elevators. Its mercantile interests are well represented. The Farmers and Merchants Bank, and the Dalton State Bank look after financial affairs, which is an undertaking in a wheat town where elevators of the capacity of those at Dalton are in evidence. Three hundred and forty-one cars of wheat were …

This year's crop is only seventy percent marketed, thirty percent being in local elevators and farmers' bins. The character of the country about Gurley is a continuation of the Dalton community. Huntsman I [untsman lies still further south on this tableland, and nearer to Sidney. The town has a bank and mercantile facilities. There being no station agent the grain shipments and other pro…

It has a bank, stores and garage, being on the Lincoln Highway- Government statistics put the total wheat product of Cheyenne county at 2,900,000 bushels for 1920. Shipments, however, were in excess of that amount. Conservative figures show a total of 2,111 cars of wheat shipped out, or about 3,100,000 bushels, and that represents but seventy percent of the crop. The other thirty percent o…

The territory of Lyons, Taylor and Monroe counties later erected into Cheyenne county and the "Beavais Terres" to the north, was included in the district represented by V. Krummer, of Columbus, in 1866, or the last territory legislature. This district included all of western Nebraska. The representative district was limited in 1873, to all territory west of Hastings and Grand Island, while t…

The law at the time required a petition of two hundred of whom ten must be "taxable inhabitants," to organize a county. Sioux county, then unorganized, was attached to Cheyenne for administrative, judicial and taxation purposes. In the Senate and Legislature G. H. lewett, of Sidney was state senator in 1879 ; G. W. Heist, of Sidney, in 1883 ; D. Carrigan, of Sidnev, was representative in 18…

A private bank, the first in this part of the state, was established by Raynolds and Wallace and was called the Cheyenne County Bank." A. H. Raynolds was from Canton, Ohio, and was a relation of President McKinley. William Wallace was for years connected with the Omaha National Bank, and a figure of prominence in the financial world. After establishing and operating their bank for a time Rayno…

Mcintosh, president of the American Bank, was made receiver of the Exchange. Edwin M. Mancourt, of Terre Haute, Indiana, a proficient banker, established the Merchants Bank. He was more conservative than had been his predecessors in Sidney's banking circles. After a few years he liquidated and went east, being a large banker in Detroit, Michigan, today, and also vice-president of the consol…

The First National Bank came into existance in 1902. It has a capital and surplus of $75,800, and its present officers are: W. E, Swartzlander, president ; A. K. Greenlee, vicepresident ; Leslie Neubauer, cashier ; Charles L- Mann and Lena L. Jensen, assistant cashiers. The men who were influential in its organization were B. A. Jones, J. W. Harper, Charles Callihan, Milton Ahrends, A. K. Gre…

The bank has a capital and surplus of $54,670. The Liberty State Bank came into existence in 1919, with F. N. Slawson, president ; H. R. Fuller, vice-president ; R. A. Barlow, cashier; and Marius Christenson, assistant cashier. It has prospered since organization and today has a capital and surplus of $33,000. The oldest bank in Cheyenne county, outside of Sidney, was established at Lodgepole…

The Citizens State Bank, began business in 1917. It has a capital and surplus of $18,000, with the following officers : G. A. Roberts, president ; Clarence Johnson, vice-president ; R. A. Babcock, cashier and D. F. Enevoldsen, assistant cashier. Dalton has two banks, both established in 1908. The Dalton State Bank has $33,800 capital and surplus, with W. J. Ewing, president ; H. A. Fecht, …

The Farmers State Bank of Sunol, was organized in 1914, and has a capital and surplus of $24,930, and the following officers : T. W. Rogers, president ; W. G. Nielton, vice-president and G. W. Barlow, cashier. The Huntsman State Bank, six miles north of Sidney began business in 1919, and now has a surplus of $4,500 and a capital of $10,000. Its officers are : W. A. Sparks, president ; J. A. C…

Lukins and Frank Connell, the former acting as lookout while Connell took the money. He locked C. W. Smith, the cashier in the vault and started away with the loot, but two men were in the road. He shot through the windshield and killed them both. Others headed him off, and he ran his car into a corn field. Lukins was arrested in the town and Connel was captured in the willows near Tobin's …

It was then bought by Joseph B. Gossage in the autumn of 1874, and the next year George C. Darrow became a partner in the ownership. The Telegraph was then published under the firm name of Joseph B. Gossage & Company. In 1878, a rival newspaper appeared, the Plaindcaler, which was started by W. H. Michael. In 1881, this paper was sold to A. C. Drake who consolidated it with the Telegraph whi…

It was supported by some politicians who were dissatisfied because the Telegraph sold space to the Democrats. They declared that the Telegraph, which was then managed by Charles Callahan, "had sold its birthright for a mess of pottage." The new paper won official patronage during 1890-1891, but its owner sold out. The paper was not successful and its publication ceased. The farmers rise i…

The paper is now known as the Kimball Observer, and was the second newspaper to appear in the Panhandle and Cheyenne county outside of Sidney, for a number of years. Randall later published the "Centropolis World" which became "The World," then "The Early Day." It was consolidated by C. L. Burgess, with "The Advocate," and is now the Banner County News, issued at Harrisburg, Nebraska. In …

Grisham was formerly of Scottsbluff, a member of the staff of the Star-Herald and later on the Republican. In 1920. Lodgepole had a population of five hundred. The Potter Review was started in 1912, although prior to that date, years ago, there was a newspaper published there from about 1888 to 1891, called the Press. The first paper had quite a patronage at the time of final proof of claim…

The paper was first established in 1914, and has a good circulation, being in fact the successor to the Herald. Dalton itself came into existence with the building of the Burlington railroad in 1901, and the town plat was filed April 4, 1906, and today Dalton has a population of three hundred and' fifty people. This completes the roster of the newspapers of Cheyenne county which is well and…

The lodge is now contemplating the erection of a fine new temple to take the place of the first building. There are sixty Shriners in Sidney and they have a Shrine Cluli organized which has arranged social events that are attractive, pleasant and instructive. Following the organization of the Masonic lodge, an Order of the Eastern Star came into existence and has had a consistent growth wi…

The Oberfelder brothers were active in establishing the Modern Woodmen in Cheyenne county and Joseph Oberfelder was state consul in 1917. The Woodmen have had a consistent growth from the start and are one of the strong organizations in the county today. The present officers are: Joseph Oberfelder, vice-consul ; V. F. Kucero, adviser ; F. D. Wooldridge, banker ; F. M. Wooldridge, clerk ; and…

The Knights of Pythias has been a strong organization from the first with most of the prominent men among its members ; many of the charter members are still alive and are today active in its councils. Sidney Lodge No. 196, Ancient Order of United Workmen was started in 1891, with thirty-five members and the following officers : Joseph Oberfelder, past master workman; George F. Blanchard, …

Chambers, past grand, and Mr. Jones, secretary. C. M. Wright is treasurer with N. W. Olson, O. M. Harris and C. P. Chambers, trustees. Charles Couch is district deputy grand master. The Odd Fellows is a very live organization living up to the tradition for charity for which it is noted. Naturally the Daughters of Rebekah are as active and have the usual social affairs in which the brother Odd …

President Buckner and Secretary Keppler have for the past year set an example of proficiency which the new officers say they are going to excel for the upbuilding of the community. The following men are to make the attempt : M. Dimery, president ; E. L. Uptagrove, vice-president ; Leon Fine, treasurer, with the following men on the board of directors : C. W. Hornaday, W. P. Miles, Frank Wh…

The story of the church in Cheyenne county is a romance of life in this section of the country. For the first few years after the building of the railroad, there were no towns and Sidney was small. The lack of permanent settlers made church activities of necessity supported almost entirely by outside contributions, and there were not many of these from 1869 to 1875. The "Panic of 73" and the…

The house which was a dance hall to that date, was renovated and remodeled, and the firsl Methodist church was established by 1879. By this work this abode of sin and crime, became consecrated ground. As he had promised, the judge left Sidney after the church was founded and went to the Black Hills; later he became a changed man and a pillar of tin* Methodist church in the home he adopted…

In 1918, the new edifice was built at an approximate cost of seventy thousand dollars and was dedicated April "13, 1919, by Bishop Matt S. Hughes. It is one of the finest church buildings in the Panhandle and, in 1921, there are three hundred members, while the Sunday School has an enrollment of over four hundred. Reverend T. Porter Bennett, the present pastor, is a man of unusual vitality and…

DcCostro, clerk and Lieutenant Daniel Carnman, superintendent of the Sunday School. Colonel Stone was also made lay reader. At this time eighteen persons partook of the Holy Communion and it was estimated that twenty families were connected with the church. Sixty dollars a month was pledged for a minister and the Masonic Order volunteered the use of its hall for church purposes. A church …

Pease built the church which was completed and consecrated July 28, 1889. Reverend Callaghan McCarthy succeeded Mr. Babcock and Reverend Thomas W. Barry, chaplain of the United States army at Sidney Post, and Reverend Robert G. Osborn followed in turn. In 1920, Reverend Henry Ives has charge and is Dean of western Nebraska, including Kimball and Scottsbluff. He is faithful and unfailing in …

Father Conway used to come here from North Platte, and occasionally a priest from Cheyenne came both before and after 1880. Father Conway had the rectory built in 1883 and Vallie Williams says that there was a small frame church built here a few years earlier, about 1880. Father M. J. Barrett was the first resident priest, coming to Sidney in 1883. The parish then included Paxton and Ogall…

Reverend Campman was in charge until June, 1913, when Father Anton Link, the present efficient priest was placed in charge, and Chappel. Lodgepole, Kimball and Angora were added to the parish. In August, 1912, the new stone church was commenced, the corner stone laid in October following, and it was completed and dedicated November 18, 1914. That year the old parish house was wrecked and a…

Fifteen sisters are now members of the teaching force of the school and there is an attendance of a hundred and seventy-five day scholars and a hundred and twenty-five boarders who live at a distance. Sidney has two Lutheran churches. The English Evangelical Lutheran, presided over by Reverend Kahl, who also has Gurley charge of Reverend Karl Fenske, and the Trinity Lutheran church is und…

J. Watson, W. T. Hafer, and Fred Lehmkuhl. The last named, served on both building committees. The comer stone of the new building was laid July 2, 1920, by Grand Master Joseph B. Fradenburg, of the Masonic order of Nebraska. The edifice cost thirty-five thousand dollars. Reverend A. W. Amsbury held the first quarterly conference here January 21, 1893. and the constitution of the church wa…

Woten is the present executive head and is ably directing it for civic and communal good. In addition to the churches mentioned and those in the interior of the county rural districts, a tribute should be paid to the congregations that assembled in sod houses, log huts and dug outs in the days when the grangers were spreading over the western prairies and before churches were built. Service…

Naturally there were not very many resident lawyers in that vicinity at that date, so in this list will be found the mention of numerous other attorneys who used to journey to Sidney when court was in session there. Surviving members of this list have assured the compilor that this occasion was one that had not been forgotten in the thirty-three years since it took place, and that they had e…

Wellington, of the Democrat, and J. C. Bush of the Telegram. Cheyenne County Bar The Bar of Cheyenne county has been represented by men of ability and sound judgment since the courts were stablished. The first lawyers to practice in Sidney and Cheyenne county were Messrs. Heist, Bierbower, Kane and Norval. Many other lawyers have been mentioned on other pages of this history where their many…

He was followed by Dr. J. G. Ivy in the" fall of 1878. The first dentists in this section were the Urmy brothers. With the passing years well known professional men have opened offices and today the medical fraternity is well represented by the following: Doctors Mantor, Eichner, Roche, Taylor, Simons, Schwartzlander, regular physicians ; Doctors Donahoe, Pettibone, Webster and Witham, denti…

Glenn M. ; Anderson, Emery Evert; Aldrich, J.; Armstrong, Raymond William ; Anderson, Emil ; Anderson, Edward Christian ; Ahlm, Sexton David V. ; Bangert, Harry Fred ; Brott, John Peter ; Bassett, Kenneth ; Blackwell, Wesley ; Bryan, Ilyod McKinley ; Bartholamew, Leo A. ; Bentley, Charlton B. ; Bolm, William A. ; Burkland, Edgar ; Borquist, Carl August ; Baumbach, Herman R. ; Brachtenbach, J…

Roy ; Calwell, Fred ; Couch, James Clarence ; Copeman, Andrew C. ; Cook, Simmons W. ; dishing, Fred A. ; Clinton, Ray Lawrence ; Chambers, Allen; Chambers, Guy ; Clark, Carl ; Cook, Delbert; Davis, James; Davis, Walter F. ; Daniel, Lee Marion ; Durnell, Lennie ; Dedrick, Russell Franklin; Dedrick, Guy Clayton; DiMarks, Joe; Dowing, Oliver Holden; Doofe, Henry; Dunbar, Charles T. ; Dennv, Al…

Albert ; Kluck, Rudolph ; Kucera, Joseph T. ; Kottwitz, Henry Chas. ; Konlroulis, Mike ; Knudson. Knud Olaf ; Greuger, Elmer Jay ; Kelley, Emerson W. ; King, F. A. ; Kucera, James ; Kretz, Winfield ; Lawson, Charles A. ; Loval, William Carl ; Lingwall, John Albert ; Ledbetter, Carl ; Lampros, Alex ; Lorimore, Kenneth Claire ; Langhram, James Arthur ; Lauritsen, William ; Lindberg, Oscar R.…

E. ; Spearow, Herschel ; Spearow, Lynn ; Simodynes, Joseph ; Sauer, Hughlen O. ; Schimpy, Frederick C. ; Shoemaker, Edward Joseph ; Stikal, Joe J.; Straight, Albert Peter; Sullivan. John Lawrence; Semoian, Naazov; Sparks, Harry; Stratta. James: Shea. Thomas Lawrence; Schroeder, Frank Rudolph; Stowell, David: Schwartz, Harry Benjamine; Schroeder, Sidney .Albert ; Straight, Walter F. ; Spitle…

Soon after the outbreak of hostilities of the World War a chapter of the American Red Cross was established in Cheyenne county and did valiant service throughout the war, and is now engaged in splendid work of relief at home. Mrs. C. W. West was head of the Sidney organization and proved an excellent executive. Leon Fine, the retiring treasurer of the Sidney Red Cross Society turned over to …

The start was made by the building of the Union Pacific railroad ; the building of the Burlington has given Cheyenne county a stragetic position, as it has also Sidney, which will become a distributing center for the two lines of railroad. Though Cheyenne county is much reduced in size from the "old Cheyenne" county, it has retained rich land of great fertility. A large proportion of the coun…

A convention was held during the summer of 1886, and at that convention it was decided that steps be taken to secure a division of Dawes county and that the new county erected in the south half, if division succeeded, should be called Box Butte county. Committees were appointed, petitions were circulated and unanimously signed, asking the County Commissioners of Dawes county to submit the que…

Underwood, Julius Atz, Jack Mettlen, Henry Clayton, George Gadshy, and possibly a few others. Prior to this special election, political conventions were held when Democrats and Republicans each nominated a complete ticket of candidates for the county offices. The country being rather thinly settled and no rapid means of communication, people were unable to become personally or intimately acq…

When the result of the election became known, Judge-elect Field drove to Chadron and there took the oath of office as County Judge, returned to Nonpareil and administered the oath of office to his associate officers. He approved the bonds of the county commissioners, who immediately met in special session and commenced to plan to launch the new county upon its career as a struggling commonw…

This building was not plastered, neither did it have a chimney, the floors were all rough boards, counters, tables and other furniture was manufactured out of rough sawn Pine Ridge lumber by local carpenters. A large fire proof safe, costing one thousand dollars was bought on long time payments, which the commissioners promised to pay when funds were derived from taxation. This was complet…

This set of county officers were elected to serve for the remainder of the year 1887, a period of about nine months, and their successors were elected at the election held November 4. 1S87. After a very warm political battle staged between the Republican and Democratic parties, with the Prohibitionists casting aboul thirty votes in the county, a ticket composed of both Democrats and 'Republi…

Nonpareil continued to be the seat of county government until the first day of January, 1891, a period of three and one-half years. The Burlington railroad having been built diagonally through the county during the spring and summer of 1889, passing through the new town of Alliance which had sprung up in the meantime, and the village of Hem- How the Court Hocse in Alliance, Nebraska, WAS MO…

Neither of these places received the necessary threefifths vote required for removal, so it was necessary to call a second special election, which was done by the Commissioners, and the election held on Tuesday, the 8th day of April, 1890. This election was also indecisive, although Nonpareil failing to receive the necessary two-fifths vote which would enable it to retain the county seat, drop…

The people of Alliance were sorely disappointed and felt very bitter at the opposition, especially the action of the railroad company, and were at first disposed to not abide by the decision of the voters. Their first plan was to seize the county records from the flimsy courthouse at Nonpareil, convey them to Alliance by force of arms, contest the election in the hope that by showing that fr…

This enabled Hemingford to win by a majority of sixteen votes. ton officials had an engine fired up and a coach attached, loaded with Burlington detectives, special agents, and other employees, which they intended using upon evidence that the mob had left Alliance. This special train was to have been run to Hemingford and the posse coin-eyed by team, a distance of five miles, to Nonpareil,…

In the meantime, the county commissioners purchased of the Lincoln Land Company, to whom it had reverted, the Hemingford courthouse, at a price of fifteen hundred dollars. This was moved to the present court house site. at Alliance on the Burlington railroad, and was considered a great engineering feat. The building was forty-five by fifty-four feet with trussed roof forty feet in height. E.…

This village, at the time the county seat was located there, consisted of two general stores, a blacksmith shop, two livery barns, one bank, one newspaper, two hardware stores, a harness shop, one law office, one feed store, lumber yard and agricultural implement depot combined. Nonpareil ceased to exist soon after ili'- removal of tin- county seat to Hemingford in 1891, There is nothing le…

Like most villages, it had what was then well known as a Locator's office, a term now obsolete. The business of this functionary was to secure government plats from the land office of the district in which he was located, showing the govtrnment land unfiled upon, and which for a fee of ten to twenty-five dollars he would show to the prospective homesteader, prepare his filing papers and loca…

If a bid of seven dollars was received and no higher bid made, it would be sold to the bidder on payment of one-tenth of the purchase price down, and the balance in twenty-one years at six percent interest. If not sold, it would be offered for lease at its appraised value, the lessee to pay six percent per annum on that appraisement which ranged from one dollar and a quarter to four dollars…

Finally the last forty acre tract, it being where South Alliance is now located, was dropped to Mr. Sigafoos at a price of thirty-eight dollars per acre. The high price which this land brought was convincing proof to the people of western Nebraska that upon the arrival of the Burlington railroad then building westward, this would be made an important division point with shops and other thi…

It had four banks, two newspapers, several general merchandise stores, livery stable, hotels, a blacksmith shop, and residences, all housed in rude structures built of rough Pine Ridge lumber, supplemented by canvas. The railroad grade of the Burlington which had been rapidly pushed westward during the spring and summer of this year from Anselmo, closely followed by the laying of rails, re…

This brought a train load of prospective citizens, mechanics, artisans, merchants, hotel men, and included all the elements that generally rush to a new mining discovery or a new town. The little village of Grand Lake was overrun and was unable to adequately shelter or feed the train load of excursionists. Many men came already prepared to go into business, their stocks of goods were bought,…

Knight was then cashier, and has remained in the hands of the original purchasers since that time. This lot was sold for one thousand and fifty dollars. The prices from these corners extending back were graded down where the lot upon which the present Chinese laundry is located sold for six hundred dollars. Some residence lots were sold in the vicinity of Sixth and Cheyenne Avenues at pr…

After a lapse of a few months a mass meeting was held and it was decided to incorporate as a village under the laws of the state. A petition was presented to the county commissioners asking that it be incorporated under the name of the village of Alliance and that five village trustees be appointed to serve until the following April when a regular election would be held and regular trustees e…

All material for the building of Belmont tunnel, culvert pipe, machinery for the Newcastle coa mines and supplies for the grading camps from Alliance to Newcastle was freighted by team from Alliance out along the right of way. Hundreds of men were shipped out from eastern centers to work on the grade and Alliance with its six saloons did a thriving business with hoboes. However, it was fairly…

hogs during the summer season and the corn to finish them in the fall. Hog cholera is unknown. Dairy products are of much importance. The county has one large creamery, which uses a large percent of the native product, but considerable is shipped to outside factories. The Snake Creek valley, having an average width of five miles and a length of thirty miles, produces a great deal of wrild h…

The next largest crop is of small grain -- wheat, oats, rye and barley all making satisfactory yields. Corn is a secondary crop, but the yield is continuously increased so that many more hogs are raised than formerly. Alfalfa is increasing in acreage and importance every year. This crop is used to pasture the serving ensilage. The soil is very easily cultivated and the surface being very near…

About eight hundred employes in normal times are on the paytion of their children. These pioneer schools first were conducted in a small room of a private house, in a dugout, or any other shelter that was available until school houses could be erected. As the county grew, these primitive school houses gave way to modern frame school houses equipped with the best appliances for teaching, and …

The very earliesl settlers considered the school of sufficient importance that among their first public act- was to organize school districts, tax and provide schools for the educathe one at Hemingford occupying two buildings and employing five teachers. The public schools of Alliance occupy three large commodious buildings with a superintendent and a corps of thirty teachers. More than one …

Practically all of the leading church denominations have organizations and church buildings in the county. The Catholics have churches in Alliance and Hemingford and Lawn. The Methodists have churches at Alliance, Hemingford, and at Fairview, twelve miles northeast of Alliance. The Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Seventh Day Adventists, and Lutherans each maintain a church in All…

Fetz and W. E. Hitchcock. After two months publication it was moved to Grand Lake and its name changed to "Grand Lake Times." In the spring of 1888 it was again moved to the present town of Alliance and the name changed to "Alliance Times," and continued under the same ownership and management until 1892 when it was purchased by H. J. Ellis, and continued under his ownership and management …

Paradise at Hemingford in 1889 and its publication continued there until the spring of 1898, when it was moved to Alliance where it was published for one year and was then absorbed by its rivals. Hemingford was without a newspaper about a year when the "Hemingford Herald" was established by T. J. O'Keefe. This was moved to Alliance in 1901 and the name changed to the "Alliance Herald." Mr.…

During the year 1887 their numbers were increased by admission to practice of R. M. Hampton, W. J. McCandless. J. V. Parker and Smith P. Tuttle. Among the lawyers arriving in the county and engaging in practice during the next two years were B. F. Gilman, J. P. Arnott, R. C. Noleman, Charles T. Jenkins and William Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell has been in continuous and successful practice for more t…

This district was about three hundred miles in length, extending from the east line of Holt county to the Wyoming state line. Judge Bartow was succeeded by Honorable W. H. Westover in 1896, who lias held the office and is still judge of this district. Judge Westover had for his colleague, after the election of fudge Kinkaid to Congress, Judge J. J. Harrington of O'Neill, Nebraska. Later the …

Smith looking after the physical ills of the people of Nonpareil and vicinity. Dr. Blood was a middle age man, wore a silk hat and full beard, drove a fasl stepping team and made quite a dignified appearance, and it was generally understood thai hi- knowledge of the horse far exceeded his knowledge of the human anatomy. Dr. Smith was a young practitioner just mil of schooli whose principal …

The next amputation was performed by Doctors Smith and Miller, who amputated the limb of William Morton, a victim of a gun shot wound, and as they consumed most of a forenoon Morton did not survive the shock and died that night. Dr. F. M. Knight was a regularly accredited practitioner, but being engaged in the more remunerative business of banking, practiced but very little ; and, as he use…

\\ hen the county was organized there were three hanking institutions in operation within its borders. These were the Box Butte Bank. of which C. A. Burlew was president and manager; The Farmers' & Merchants' Bank, of which B. F. Jones was president and E. A. Coates was cashier, both located at Hemingford. Nebraska; and the Bank of Nonpareil, located at Nonpareil, with F. M. Sands, president…

The next oldest bank in existence was started in Alliance and called the American Bank, operated under a state charter, which later absorbed the Citizens' Bank, and also took over the business of Porter, Eihlers & Company, and was continued under this name until the fall of 1889, when it was reorganized with the same officers and became the First National Bank of Alliance. Its first presiden…

The next fraternal organization was that of the Masons. A preliminary meeting was held in November of that year, in the second story of the wooden building on the north side of west Third Street in Alliance, which is now used as a cream station. Word was sent out and about all the Masons living in Box Butte county assembled in this small hall and selected a committee to secure a dispensati…

M., assigned, which has had a continuous existence since that time, and has grown to a membership of over three hundred and fifty, owns and occupies a fine three story temple at the corner of Laramie Avenue and Third Street in Alliance, which is also used by Sheba Chapter No. 54, Royal Arch Masons, Bnena Commandery No. 26, Knights Templar, Aloyah Chapter No. 185, Order of the Eastern Star, …

It has had a prosperous existence and continuous growth and is numbered 961. It now has a membership of over six hundred and owns a handsome building located on Box Butte Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets. Other fraternal orders which have had more or less precarious existences are the Modern Woodmen, Woodmen of the World. Ancient Order of United Workmen, Highlanders, Eagles, Owls, M…

After a sergeant major and other sergeants numbering up to the eighth, with a corresponding number of corporals, musicians, saddlers, and farriers were appointed, there were just two left as privates. These were James H. Danskin and Ira E. Tash, who, because they could not have any office, refused to be sworn into service. This broke up the company, as the officers did not have anyone to co…

The nearest Box Butte county ever came to war was in the winter of 1890-91, when the Sioux Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation, seve,nty-five miles north became crazed over what the) believed to be the coming of a Messiah, whom they thought would, with their help, drive all the white settlers from the western county, bring back the buffalo and the game, .mil organized for a general massac…

This county did its full share in furnishing men and the sinews of war for the World War of 1917-18-19. A volunteer company was formed at Alliance, known as Company "G" of the Fourth Nebraska National Guard which entered the federal service and became later Battery "D" of the 127th United States Field Artillery. This organization spent nearly a year at Camp Cody, New Mexico, and was a par…

Of this number over three hundred were actually called into service, while there were many enlistments from this county, of which there is no record. No roster of the soldiers from Box Butte county, who were in the service of their country, has as yet been compiled. Four Box Butte county boys are known to have given up their lives for their countrv while serving in France. They were W. C. …

They oversubscribed their quota of every liberty loan, practically doubled the quota for the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, Salvation Army, and finally in the combination drive for funds. They maintained a local chapter of the American Red Cross and an active and efficient County Council of Defense, a Home Guard of uniformed and armed men, strictly enforced the food regulati…

A few of the earliest settlers came in over the Union Pacific as far as Sidney and then traveled overland following the Sidney trail, and took up homesteads in the southwestern part of the county. On the completion of the Northwestern railroad to Chadron in 1885, the railroad company advertised the rich lands tributary to it throughout the east, and there was a great inrush of settlers, most of…

Later, Sioux county was divided into three equal portions -- the western part named Sioux, the central part Dawes, and the eastern third Sheridan county. Sheridan and Sioux still retain their original boundaries. Mr. McLaughlin, without changing his residence, then became a citizen of Dawes county and served as one of its county commissioners. Chadron was the county seat. Upon the division of …

Four of these families are still residents of the county and with the increase in the families can buast of being the only nationality which now has more representatives than they had at the time the county was organized. The pioneers probably endured more hardships than fell to the lot of their brothers who settled the middle and eastern states. While they had no forests to clear or stone…

Then, hitching on the breaking plow he turned a quantity of sod which he cut into three foot lengths with the spade, carried and erected the walls of their future habitation, placing the ridge poles upon this, covi red with a layer of boards or poles, upon which he placed a layer of sod with the grass side down, thus forming a rude shelter from the elements. The same process was followed i…

with now and then a deer ; but fresh pork was an unknown quantity, there being no corn or other fattening food produced upon which hogs could be raised. There was also a scarcity of material with which to make enclosures for the hogs. One settler tried the expedient of building a pig pen out of sod, but on leaving home one Sunday for a call upon a neighbor some miles distant and returning aft…

An eighteen hundred pound horse belonging to his neighbor, Frank Porter, got out of his stall one Sunday night, wandering over to Neighbor Schilling's, first walked on the cave cellar and from that to the leanto and from there to the main part of the house. His weight was too much for the ridge pole, which broke, and precipitated him bottom side up down among the soundly sleeping Schilling…

Another accident which resulted fatally occurred at the home of Allan Bearss, in the western part of the county. While the family were surrounding the breakfast table one morning, the ridge pole of their house, which was not of sufficient diameter to support the weight HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA of the sod roof, suddenly snapped asunder, precipitating tons of sod and roof boards down onto t…

A rope was placed about the horse, the team attached to the other end, and he was hoisted to the surface ; but, through some miscalculation, he did not get into the clear. The gray team commenced to back up when Mrs. Wilmot, thinking they would be drawn into the well, and being one of their most valued possessions, seized a sharp butcher knife, rushed out and drew its edge across the taut…

It was too dangerous to attempt the rescue of the body, so the surviving wife mortgaged the homestead for about four hundred dollars, made a contract with some experienced well diggers, who sank a new well some ten feet away from the old well, tunneled from the new to the old, rescued the body, brought it to the surface, and it was given decent interment. Box Butte The county derives its …

They were followed up by a company of soldiers under the command of Major Thornburg, who followed the trail to Bronco Lake near Alliance : and the trail seeming to scatter there, the command left their wagons, camp equipage, etc., while they scouted the sand hills to the south, believing the Indians were hidden in some of the canyons. Upon their return to camp, they found the Indians had visi…

A roster of Civil War veterans officially prepared in the year 1891, showed the names of eighty-one men residing in the county, who wore the blue uniform of their country during the '60s. and now that a generation has passed this number has been lessened to barely a dozen survivors. The ranks have been reduced principally by death, there being fifty-two graves of Civil War soldiers in Greenw…

McLaughlin, 18th Iowa Infantry, Marsland ; Ambrose Hadley, 3d Rhode Island Infantry, Alliance ; Lewis R. Corbin, 83d Pennsylvania Infantry, Alliance. Concerning the boys in service in the great World War, a list has come to the editor in chief which is added to the splendid story of Ira L. Tash, the county editor. This list may not be complete, but is presumed to be. There were three ways…

Donovan, John T. Fitzgerald, Howard Oliver, Frederick A. King, Joe Lando, Roy A. McCluskey, Herbert E. Milan, Harrv A. Morrisey, Leo M. Nicolai, William L. O'Keefe, Gaylord H. Pry, Clifford T. Roberts, Howard Rucker, Charles F. Schafer, James H. Tally, Rex Truman, James E. Rundle, Guy E. Speaker, Lloyd Thomas, Walter H. Voight, Frank M. Schmidt, George C. StoII, Chester M. Thompson, Chester Z.…

Burns, John Thomas Capps, Fred W. Cloud, Frederick E. Cutts, Robert Duchon, Jacob H. Elsea, Clarence O. Baldwin, Fred A. Beckenbach, John S. Bostrom, Frederick R. Brown, William H. Butler, William M. Casey, Harold I. Cochrane, Harrison H. Derric, James Earl Eaton, Henry G. Emde, X'eal W. Erskine, Martin L. Fitzgerald, Joe B. Frohnapfel, Harry Gavelick, Eddie W. Green, lames Theo. Halev, Geor…

Fileff, Wilard J. Freshla, Thomas W. Gahagan, Royce L. Glass, Leslie A. Hall, Obe Harris, Cyril Havalik, George R. Heckman, John H. Hessler, Fred Homan, Thomas A. Jewell, Gilbert F. Kays, James E. Keenan, Albert Kibler, Robert Klase, Olaf David Kuhn, Armond J. LeSage, Adam Jay Lortz, Arthur Macken, Fred L. Marsh, Chester A. Melvin, Fred J. Meyer. Jr., Martin Nelson, Ranson Herby Parks, ]ohn …

Walker, George E. Whalev, Noble F. Zerbie. There were thirteen rejections and discharges from physical disability, and a service flag in Box Butte county should have five known gold stars, and perhaps there are others. Box Butte county contingent contained five colored men, one of whom died of injuries. The organization of a company at Alliance early in the war gave to Box Butte county volun…

When the meeting was held in Alliance, Superintendent Phelan of the Burlington had present, as he usually had at any gathering, a man who would report to him what "was doing." The man in this case "fanned it" to headquarters that the crowd was organized to go out and take the records, and as stated Phelan had the engine ready. Also the wires conveyed the information to Hemingford. The people …

Several brave boys jammed in the doorway and tore out the side of the building, others smashed the windows, carrying the sash away with them. In fact, it is said, that the north side of the building was a wreck, this side being in the direction of Hemingford. I have no doubt that Hall and Tash stood the test all right, but of the rank and file, one party reports at least four of them went do…

Fred Shonquist, the first sheriff of Box Butte county, was a prince of good fellows, but occasionally he undertook to put the distillers out of business, by drinking everything in sight. At such times, instead of being a guardian of the law, he would shatter about all the statutes that had anything to do with good government. The Republicans renominated him, however, in 1890, but the Democr…

Jack Elliott, who was agent for the cattle association, located the cattle, and he and a banker named Sterling came up from Colorado to replevin them. Cochran and Holliday were both in Kimball, and the cattle were in charge of George Zimmerman, and two other nun. and were just over the line in Sioux county. It took a bit of maneuvering to get tin' cattle nver the line into Box Butte county,…

"Bob" Noleman of Alliance was secured, and the Colorado crowd had secured the services of Tuttle and Tash. Tuttle directed the legal process, and Noleman had Webb, who had been very busy condemning the procedure, ask for the writ. Tuttle had wisely anticipated that this would be done, and had put the name of Webb in the original process. Sheriff Hall told him that he was one of the parties d…

Cochran determined to make another raise, and turned his attention to northern Colorado. Near the state line, almost directly south of Kimball, lived an elderly couple named Ross, and their son, who had accumulated a nice bunch of cattle, and on these fell the covetous eyes of Cochran. ( )ne mi •ruing they were missing from their usual haunts, and Willie Ross, the young man, went out to lo…

An extensive search brought about the discovery that the body had been buried in a sand draw, and also the horse and saddle. Cochran, it appeared, had gone to a nearby house and borrowed a spade, and when he returned it there was no one at home. He had entered the house, secured some writing materials, and made several attempts at writing a bill-of-sale before he had succeeded in getting one…

This surveyor party was at work when some of Scotts Bluff county people were on their way to Colorado to pick spuds, among whom were William P. Young and Antoine Hiersche. Cochran was never tried for the murder. He was tried for cattle stealing, convicted and given forty-five years in the penitentiary at Canyon City. After about twenty years penal servitude, he was paroled on account of bei…

Clerks : The office of county clerk was also ex-officio clerk of the district court, and of the board of county commissioners, when the county was organized. The first clerk who served for the nine months of 1887, was Geo. W. Clark. At the regular election following Charles A. Burlew was elected, and he was follwed by Ira L. Tash. Mr. Tash was clerk at the time the county seat was moved from…

Shonquist was the first sheriff of Box Butte county, serving the short term of 1887. and then one full term. At the election of 1889, Eugene A. Hall was elected, serving three terms. Then came Edwin P. Sweeney, then Ira C. Reed. Albert Wiker was the next sheriff, and he was followed by Calvin M. Cox, and James W. Miller in turn, the latter being the present popular head of the law enforceme…

The first county attorney of Box Butte county was James H. Danskin, who served the short term when the county was organized, and was reelected. In June, 1890, he resigned to accept the office of Receiver in the United States Land Office at Alliance. William M. Iodence was appointed and filled out the unexpired term. Robert C. Noleman next served for one term and then Burton F. Gilman for tw…

The following doctors of Box Butte county have held the position: Tohn Blood, W. H. 'Smith, W. W. Hamilton, W. K. Miller, L E. Moore, G. W. Mitchell and Chas. E. Slagle. Commissioners : The first county commissioners, who served for the nine months of 1887 were James Barry. Louis C. De Coudress and Thos. L. Irvine. On these fell the first duties of the new countv's organization. Ai ill.- fi…

County Assessor : This office is of comparatively recent origin and has been filled in turn by A. S. Reed, E. P. Sweeney, John Jelinek, J. A. Keegan and John Pilkington, the last named being the present incumbent. Box Butte county can well be proud of those who have served it in an official capacity. The offices have been quite equally distributed between the political parties, and there has…

In 1917 Lloyd C. 'Thomas was chosen. Thomas was one of the members joining in the introduction of the Nebraska mineral statute, which was passed at an extraordinary session of the legislature in 1918. He volunteered for the world war, but was not inducted into service owing to its abrupt end. John W. Thomas w;as deputy state land commissioner during the administration of G L. Shumwav as chie…

Dorrington died in office in January, 1903, and was succeeded by Bruce Wilcox. Akers and Wilcox administered the office for four years, and were replaced by W. W. Wood of Rushville as Register and H. J. Ellis of Alliance as Receiver. Upon the election of Woodrow Wilson as president in 1912, J. C. Morrow, of Scottsbluff, became Register, with T. J. O'Keefe. of Alliance, as Receiver, and they c…

He conducted that office for one year, then the office was moved to Hemingford, the county seat, and after four years, in 1894, he formed the law firm of Tuttle & Tash. which continued there until 1900, when the firm moved its offices to Alliance. In 1895 he was appointed receiver of the Bank of Hemingford and settled its affairs. While living at Hemingford he served on the school board and …

DEUEL COUNTY ORGANIZATION OF DEUEL COUNTY Deuel county, one of the smallest in the state and the most southeasterly county in the Panhandle of Nebraska, lies in the most southerly tier of counties and in the third east from the western boundary of Nebraska. At the present time it is bounded on the north by Garden county, on the east by Keith county, on the south by Colorado and on the west …

Many of the early events of Deuel county are to be found in the history of "Old Cheyenne." By the election of 1888, the eastern third of Cheyenne county was erected as Deuel county and later the northern portion of Deuel county became Garden county. In the early history and general treatment of the Panhandle, will be found stories of Deuel county, long before Nebraska became a state. Also r…

The Lodgepole valley is the longest in the county ; it enters at about the center of the western boundary, flows southeast and a little west of the center of the southern boundary passes out into Colorado. The Platte valley crosses the southeastern corner of the county and while not so long as the Lodgepole, is wider. In addition to these major valleys there are smaller valleys. Lodgepole…

After the coming of the railroad, there were increasing numbers of homesteaders and in time they counted by the hundred to the cattlemen's one. The southeastern and southwestern parts of Deuel county settled first as the railroad crossed the southeastern corner of the county, ran to Julesburg, Colorado, then turned across the southern boundary of the county a little west of the center and ran …

Among the settlers there was practically no money and all business was carried on by barter. Posts, wood, or the bones of dead animals were traded for groceries and supplies, as the merchants of the early days took anything for which they could find a market. Out on the north divide, there were hundreds of people in the same condition, among them Herman Kuehnn, Anton Hatterman, August Fonna…

However, water for domestic uses was rarely denied if a person did not have the pay for it, but stock water was sometimes as high as seventy-five cents a barrel. One time Adam Zimmerman went to Colorado to work to earn some money and in a month had earned twenty dollars, but his expenses going and coming cost seventeen dollars so he was not much better off. Another time a neighbor hired hi…

Carl Pigeon, who had no use for his threshing machine outfit in the early nineties, has had plenty of work for it during the later years and has had a fine business, which shows the development and prosperity of the wheat and grain industry in Deuel county for some time HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA past. John Steward, who early saw what irrigation would do when water was applied to the fert…

were not that many people in the county. Riley Ford laughs over the time the roundup took him to Julesburg and "shot up" the town. A hearty laugh in that early day served to enliven the pulses and break the tenseness of conditions and save many a man and woman from "going crazy." Hard times parties were held where old clothes were worn as though it were a joke although it was no joke but the…

Later the northern portion of Deuel was cut from Deuel and became Garden county, greatly reducing the size of Deuel county. In January, 1889, Deuel county was organized. The first meeting of the county board is recorded on January 21, 1889, with the following officers : George P. Smith, judge ; Ed. Herrington, clerk ; W. H. Sigler, treasurer, and B. G. Hoover, H. G. Gumaer and Willis Lee, …

The county then contained eleven precincts as follows: Alkali, Lisco, Lost Creek, Blue Creek, Park, Sughrue. Rush Creek, Green, Chappell, Swan and Big Springs. In their order road districts one to eleven were created of the same name and size as the precincts. The first bills allowed by the commissioners were for election services, viz : C. G. Jones, A. T. Stewart, J. H. Roudebush, Frank …

The board of commissioners, sitting as a board of equalization, on June 19, 1889, found the following assessable property in Deuel county: personal, $93,345.79; real estate, $443,558.50; Union Pacific railway, $303,- 503.20; Western Union Telegraph Company, 83,448.90, a total of $848,856.39. The first levy for taxes was: for roads three and a half mills ; bridges, one mill ; sinking fund, …

The company which was to handle the project was known as the Belmont and Froid Canal and Reservoir Company. One hundred and seven persons of Union precinct asked for an election to vote fifteen thousand dollars in subsidizing bonds; one hundred and eighteen petitioners proposed twenty thousand dollars of bonds as the quota of Froid precinct; fifty-one persons in Green precinct wanted to vo…

Mass meetings were called and Anderson was asked to explain. The versatile Anderson said that an hydraulic power station on Rush creek would lift the water and at the same time an electric generating plant could be added. However, the seed of doubt had been planted in the minds of the people, and the scheme failed. The elections were re-called. The writer was then publishing the Ashford Ad…

Tim was chief bookkeeper in the Senate and I was chief engrossing clerk in the House. Kelliher met R. B. Howell, whom he introduced. Howell, Senator J. H. Danner and I framed an irrigation district bill which was introduced by Darner. The complete story of its development is told in Scotts Bluff County History, but it was suggested to the writer for the first time through the efforts of J. B. …

Toward nightfall of election day it appeared to be a contest of endurance of the presses and supply of paper for ballots. The news came up the valley that the Big Springs vote had reached three thousand. Chappell beat it by a few and quit. Big Springs had a few thousand extra ballots printed at Ogallala, "enough to fill the ballot box," as told by one of the partisans, with a final total o…

Clark, and a number of other men petitioned to organize an irrigation district on Blue creek and an election was called for July 30, which resulted in five votes for and six against the petition, so it was lost. October 20, 1898. Ira Paisley and others petitioned for an irrigation district taking in a smaller tract on Blue creek. The election to decide upon it was called for November 12, …

Blue Creek Irrigation District was organized April 3, 1905, and the first officers were : Division No. 1, Richard Clark, director by a vote of thirteen to four for A. S. Ross ; division No. 2, Henry Black, director by eleven votes with no opposition ; division No. 3, James Orr, director, by sixteen votes with no opposition; George McCormick was elected treasurer by sixteen votes without oppo…

So it is to be seen that while a large part of the original irrigated district was taken away, enough was left Deuel to make it a county which is introducing more irrigation as it is found feasible and profitable. Humor and Incidents of Deuel History The pages of history and record are often enlivened by humor which takes away the dullness of mere facts. Simon Hopper, who was reelected com…

Garden County Created The next high light in the history of Deuel Court House. Chappeel In 1900, occurred in Deuel county one of the unfortunate affairs of politics that had a violent climax in Scotts Bluff county, and its echoes still reverberate. E. S. Kennison was elected Sheriff in 1899, taking office the following January. At that time he was a likable man, but had a weakness for drin…

"in behalf of ourselves and four hundred tax payers." Wilcox and Halligan of North Platte were present to argue the case for the protestants. The county board heard the matter and by unanimous action called an election to decide the question for November 2, 1909. The commissioners at the time were A. G. Newman, Albert S. Ross, and D. F. Fickes. The election carried and the history of Garden c…

The corner stone was laid by the Master Workmen of the Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Nebraska, May 15, 1915, A. L. 1915, Thomas M. Davis, Grand Master. The board of county commissioners at that time consisted of : Simon Hopper, chairman, George Kalb, and James Brown; their names being cut in the corner stone with those of J. J. Huddart, architect, and M. J. Kenney, builder…

The vote when counted stood five hundred and sixty-three for and four hundred forty-two against the building of the school, and there was not the necessary two-thirds majority to carry. A protest was made against counting the vote of Big Springs, as it was mostly adverse as that town already had a high school. The county commissioners overruled the protest and declared the election lost. On …

These men with William Mack, of Big Springs, Emil Olson, of Swan precinct, and O. C. Brestel, of Chappell, constituted the board. The meeting of January, 1921, indicates that added interest is being taken in the agricultural development of the county which is of general benefit to all. The bureau is doing excellent work throughout the county and the farmers are cooperating with it in an eff…

period for one man, whose efficiency has been marked. The first county clerk of Deuel county was Ed. Herrington, who was twice reelected and served in that capacity five years. He has been followed in office by Kirk A. McCall, for four years; Jackson Gyger, for four years; Robert A. Day, for four years ; Eugene De- Latour. for four years ; Jack McCormick, for two years ; Cyrus O. Brown, w…

The first man to serve as county attorney for Deuel county was W. H. Sigler, elected in 1889, was reelected but resigned, to be followed by S. P. DeLatour, who was appointed to finish the term. Jacob Keifer followed, serving three years before he resigned. George C. McAllister was elected in 1897, served until 1906, when he was succeeded by L. ( ). Pfeiffer, who is still the attorney starti…

Gumaer, and Willis Lee, who were installed in 1889. John Robinson and J. S. McLaughlin succeeded Lee and Gumaer in 1890. Hoover served three years and was succeeded by M. P. Clary. Mc- Laughlin served two years and Robinson three years. Since then the county commissioners have been : James Thompson, W. W. Fought, Simon Hopper, J. H. Roudebush, F. H. Barber, H. G. Gumaer. who was returned f…

Roudebush, F. H. Barber and George Kalb, each have six years' service to their credit, while Albert Ross, and James Brown have nearly six years. The county officials of Deuel county in 1921 are as follows: H. R. Busse, judge; Isaac WToolf, special judge in some cases; H. D. Betts, county clerk and he also holds office as clerk of the district court and register of deeds, being assisted by …

This position is an appointive one and filled by the commissioners annually. Dr. Hudson served three years, being succceeded by Dr. W. H. Babcock for six years. The office was then taken over by Dr. H. H. Hough who held it two years. ' Dr. W. Mullen was county physician "for a number of years after 1902, and in 1914 Dr. M. B. Patty was appointed and today is also a member of the town board o…

It is located in the west central part of the county, on the main line of the Union Pacific. John O'Neil, who was station agent here about 1S80 to 1885, located in the old improvised depot, was so far as is known, the first operator and agent, of the railroad at this point, and the first permanent resident. The depot was partly dug out and partly old railroad ties, while the rest was construct…

He has gained prominence since the early days as he is president of the Deuel County Bank. Frank Wolf is cashier of the Cheyenne County State Bank, at Lodgepole, which shows that the early day training was excellent. In this section house on January 10, 1881, Dora Wolf was born, the" first white child born in what is now Deuel county. She married Cyrus Brown, a native of Mercer county, Illino…

Simpson also bought a number of lots in block 18 for a hundred and fifty-seven dollars, which gives some idea of the value of real estate in those days in a new country and new town. Thomas Farmer was also a purchaser of lots on that eventful day. The conclusion of that day's transactions. I should say, "Land office business," was the sale to Henry W. Wiemer of lot 11, block 12 for twenty …

Johnson came to Sidney in 1882 with ranching in view; he was from Missouri and kept thinking he might go back but with another man worked together selling land, though really looking for something for himself. The other man was a surveyor and had work near Lodgepole. When they were through there they decided to come on to the Chappell locality and drove down the valley. They arrived quite…

Jack Crowe had a drug store at Lodgepole at the time Chappell was started and within a short time built quite a pretentious store building in Chappell about 1884. It cost six hundred dollars or more and he put in a stock of drugs with his brother in charge. Eugene Fish started the first pool hall in Chappell, but did not have much business. In 1888, he and a Mr. Lazerus put in a stock of dr…

Johnson and his friend were out in the country and looked over some railroad land, where a tract that suited Johnson was found and he bought it. When they came back to the station, O'Neil and Short tried again to get him to buy a lot in the town site. Mr. Johnson looked about and asked what they would take for a certain corner of three lots. They said to start it, "four dollars a lot. or …

Fred Sudman thus started in the mercantile business, and later formed a combination with Eugene Fish in the Sudman-Fish Company, which became and continued an important business concern for years, with stores at Chappell, Oshkosh and Lewellen. Today the company is out of the mercantile business in which they prospered. Isaac Woolf is one of the sturdy characters of Deuel county development,…

Business House, Chappell The destinies of people are so interwoven that one can hardly understand it. In the years when John O'Neil was teaching school in the crude surroundings of the depot at Chappell, Allie Warner was teaching school in New York. One of her pupils was F. G. LaSelle ; something brought Miss Warner to Chappell, and when they built the frame school house and established t…

Babcock and Isaac Woolf, the business enterprises of Joe Johnson, Fred Sudman, and 'Gene Fish, the ranch home properties ni August Neuman, Mr. Wolf and others all combined early in the formation years to build an enduring basis for Chappell's ultimate success. Gordon & Chingreen started a store in 1886 and then Chingreen sold his interest to Gordon and later Gordon sold to Milliken & Swanso…

In the light of experience Attorney Pfeiffer would notice the difference it would make in the village tax possibilities, if the south line of the corporate limits was on the south line of the railroad right of way, instead of upon the north line. At that time it would be but natural that he would not notice any particulars, except the details of accuracy in drawing the petition. In this way C…

Fish & Company's drug store had not yet consolidated. W. D. Post was in the lumber business, and B. D. K. Wertz had a hardware store. McEldowney & Wertz ran a livery stable. Milliken & Swanson had by that time acquired the store started by Gordon & Chingreen. C. C. Reynolds had put in a line of farm implements, although most of the grangers brought theirs with them. A. P. Wilcox had taken up …

to other business and we now find Ryan's Chain Department Store. The Bostonian, Chappell Mercantile, Stephens Grocery, Airs. McAuliff, Dry Goods, Chappell Cash Grocery and other new institutions lining the business thoroughfares. Thompson's Pharmacy, modern and upto-date occupies the site of Chappell's first drug store, and "Rexall" has an active representative in H. J. Handley's Pharmacy. C…

Bracken's Undertaking and Furniture establishment is a comparatively new and up-to-date establishment which meets with the needs of the town and surrounding territory. Land and investment firms have prospered amazingly with the rise of land values and more settlement in Deuel county. Distinctively as an example of progressive cooperation, the Farmers Elevator Company, managed by Mr. Morrison…

The Chappell Commercial Club is one of the live oraginzations of its kind and has done much for the development of the town and county. Western Lumber & H The Chappell State Bank is doing much for the town and county, the First National Bank, the oldest in the county is an institution that from the first has been of influence in the upbuilding of the town, while the Deuel County Bank is d…

It is located in the southeastern part of the county on the Union Pacific railroad in the Platte valley; is the center of a fine irrigated farm district and is a growing town of progressive people. Big Springs was platted and the plat recorded at Sidney, November 6, 1884 ; the Union Pacific railroad filed the plat. At an earlier date the station was known as Lone Tree. Big Springs was known …

A tramp painter arrived in Big Springs and struck Abbott and Kimball for a job of sign painting; they told him to paint the name of the firm on the side of the store building. Carefully measuring the space, he began in the middle with the form "&." then the last letter of Abbott and the first of Kimball ; he persevered until he had the last three letters of Abbott and the first three of Ki…

Phelps built a hotel in 1884, and opened it Christmas eve of that year. He has run the hotel for thirty-seven years, being the pioneer man of his line and one of the oldest business HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA men in the town. Gotlieb Manser opened a blacksmith shop in Big Spring in 1886, the first in this section. Mr. Manser still resides in the town but is not so active as thirty-five y…

The town of Big Springs has in addition to the Farmers Store, the old Abbott & Kimball store and the newer Eagle-Tucker Mercantile Company, Peterson's Pharmacy, the LaGrange Market, Junge Brothers Implement House, McKipps & Company, Furniture ; Neilson & Brown, Autos and Tractors ; Caskey Electric Supply Store ; Phelps Motor Company ; Flora's Big Springs Lumber Company; Klindt's Cafe, and…

These men ably represent the modern spirit of Big Springs, which stands for development and progress. Big Springs has a fine school building which would be a credit to a town many times its size. The town is the shipping and supply point for the irrigated district along the South Platte river as well as the dry farming lands nearby. It is a thriving community with every prospect of growth.…

She left some excellent records of the first schools under the new county administration. In 1892 Mrs. S. C. German became superintendent, and she in turn was succeeded by Allen Chamberlain, in 1894. Mr. Chamberlain was later presiding elder of this HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA district for the Methodist church. He was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Williams of Scottsbluff. After his …

The next school was organized in the Chappell diserintendent in 1904, being twice reelected, thereby serving six years. The health of her mother, Mrs. Coe. required Mrs. Bernhard's complete attention thereafter and she did not run for office. She atttended the mother to the old home in Illinois, then to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota and then back to Deuel county, where Mrs. Coe pass…

Of these, nine had sod school houses ; ten had lumber school houses ; and one was of logs. Eight contained no report of the character of the housing facilties. The teachers at the time of the organization of the county were: William Bradlev. 1. P. Krum. Mrs. C. A. Glass, Ida Hibbs, A. D. Maxwell, Mrs. C. J. Slocum. 1. W. Mills. Mrs. Clara Graf, J. C. Gyger, Erna Pickering, C. W. Snodgrass, A.…

Superintendent Stark's record of certificates issued is missing so that the record begins February 15, 1890, when 1. C. Gvger was issued a certificate. On March 8, following, Fred L. Gilliard, Eva M. Gilliard, and Mollie Hilber were issued certificates. District No. 1, was organized March 4, 1889, upon petition of George Shirley, John Enslow and others, and was located in 14-42. District No.…

In the present Deuel county, since Garden county was cut from the territory, there are thirty districts, forty-five teachers and a thousand and seventeen pupils, with one parochial school at Big Springs, conducted by the German Lutheran church. There are no consolidated schools except in the northwestern corner, a Garden county unit. There are eleven grades at Big Springs, which has a fine mod…

Like the rest of the history of Deuel county, the earliest religious activities of the county were in Cheyenne county, of which it was a part for many years. The first meetings were of necessity held in private houses as there were no church buildings in the early days and when a visiting missionary, elder or priest was known to lie coming the people would gather in some sod house in the e…

Following him came Methodist Episcopal Church, Chaitki.i. Dr. W. H. Babcock, who ministered to the sick in body and in spirit as well, for when not engaged in the duties of his medical profession, he preached good sermons wherever and whenever he found time and a few people gathered to listen. After the frame school house was built in Chappell, services were held there which was the start …

He has taken an active part in increasing the membership of both the church and Sunday School ; is a man who works for the interest of church and community, and with the other auxiliaries of the congregation the Methodist church is taking a place of importance in the affairs of Chappell. The Methodist church was also the pioneer religious organization at Big Springs, for Elder Stephens p…

Today, however, the Catholics are second strongest in the county, in membership and activities, although until 1915, there was no church building. The meetings up to the time the church was built were held whenever a visiting priest came. However, at the present time the Catholics have a fine commodious church with Father Keller as resident priest. This church serves the town and a large con…

pastor. This church is sometimes referred to as the "Holy Rollers," but by its pastor is called "The Assembly of God Church." A membership organization of the Christian church was effected at Chappell in 1920, but no minister has yet been assigned. A minister comes from Sidney or some other town occasionally, also visiting ministers who held services for the people of this congregation. Regu…

Six miles northeast of Chappell, the Mennonites have a church, as that part of the tableland was largely settled by that denomination. Fourteen miles northeast of Chappell there is a Swedish settlement and a Swedish church has been organized and church building erected to serve that corner of the county. In the settlement about the old Day postoffice, there was a Methodist church organized ma…

In Big Springs in the early days, considerable liquor was sold, but without license, and bootlegging to a limited degree is practiced in Chappell and Big Springs. When the territory now included in Garden county, was a part of Deuel county, a few saloons were licensed in the North Platte river country, but for only a few years. Recently a car was seized and sold near Chappell by state law enf…

He became the moving spirit in the establishment of the newspaper, and the Chappell Rustler came into existence. It was printed on a job press and published without regard to regular sequence for a time. Mr. Brashears was an old soldier, and as has been recounted, though a layman, he preached in Chappell and the country for some years. He was a man of excellent character and just the man n…

It is possible that the Rustler was its antecedent, and there had been fourteen numbers of that paper previously issued. The fight over the location of the county seat waxed warm during the first part of 1889, the Register fighting valiantly for Chappell, and the Journal, appearing at Big Springs, published by Mr. O'Day, fighting for Big Springs. The Register accused Mr. O'Day of being an i…

I'M Searles at this time had begun to bring land seekers from Ogallala to the Chappell locality to buy railroad land. It was geni rally -"Id at about seven dollars an acre, one tenth of the purchase price being in cash. Searles, who later became state auditor of Nebraska, inspired both Morgan and Yensen in the future of Chappell and the surrounding country. Yensen's primary object was to get …

Harvey Talbott was born in Clay county thirty years ago and after brief schooling in the high school there, began to work as a compositor there at the age of fourteen, on the Clay County Patriot. He was married to Miss Emiline A. "Gillette, March 17, 1914. Dyer Gillette, Mrs. Talbott's father, left Oberlin College to enlist in the army during the Civil War and afterwards served as clerk of the…

O'Day gave up his paper there and the Journal ceased to exist, there was not much for a number of years to encourage a new man to take up such an enterprise. However, the Progress has come into existence and being during the last part of 1920. It was first printed in Denver, and the new plant at Big Springs is not yet fully installed in January, 1921. but there is the promise that Big Sprin…

"Jim" Robson, as he was familiarly known, came from Illinois, where his brothers Jack and Dick were well known about the Rio country as breeders of fine cattle and heavy feeders of hogs and cattle, as well as men of the happiest and most cheerful dispositions. In 1890 the Commercial Bank had a capital of $20,000. J. L. Robson was president ; Frank McAuliff, vice-president ; arid Eugene Fis…

Hamilton, later advancing to more important positions, and for many years now has been the guiding spirit. The capital of the First National Bank is $25,000, with a surplus of $45.- 000. Its officers are: J. R. Wertz, president, T. M. Johnson, vice-president; H. I. Babcock, cashier ; H. D. Betts and F. A. Burling, assistant cashiers. Frozen loans and low prices for wheat, together with the p…

The present officials of the State Bank are : H. C. Peterson, president; M. P. Jensen, and C. M. Empson, vice-presidents ; and E. C. Peterson, cashier. The Peoples Bank, with a capital of $15,000, was organized in 1917, with L. P. Sorenson, president, and J. W. Knox, cashier. In 1919, the Deuel County Bank was also established, with E. C. Wolf as president ; H. R. Isenberger, vice preside…

Wolf, the president of the Deuel County Bank, came to Chapped as a section boss in the late seventies, and Ed and his brother Frank, as told in an earlier part of this history, received their early educational instruction at the school of John O'Neil, in a box car which was used for the station at the railroad in Chappell. Later the Wolfs developed a ranch northwest of Chappell and so near …

H. Klendt, assistant cashier. It has a capital of $20,000, and surplus of $3,000. The American State Bank of Big Springs was organized in 1917, with $15,000 capital and $3800 surplus. It is officered by John Jensen, president; ( )tto F. Riss, vice-president; and Sylvia Jensen, cashier. This closes the story of the banks of Deuel county. They have taken an important part in the history of …

H. Sigler soon after this hung out his sign as a general practicing attorney, and S. P. DeLatour and E. D. Hamilton opened offices for the practice of their profession in the early nineties. Following them came next in order Jacob Keifer and George McAllister, who was afterwards state representative several times, and county attorney a number of years. He became a leader in the legal professi…

Busse, is county judge; Isaac Woolf, is special acting county judge in a number of cases wherein Judge Busse has been an attorney : L. O. Pfeiffer is county attorney, a position he has held for fourteen years and still has another term ahead of him, which shows in what esteem he is held by the people of Deuel county. Isaac Woolf has served Deuel county as judge for twenty-eight years and h…

The general good health prevailing in the high plains region of Nebraska, exists in Deuel county, which limits the activities and necessities of numerous medical men and a medical clinic, as are to be found in older communities. The professional men in the county are of exceptionally high standing as physicians and dentists, and are qualified to give the people the best of service and advice w…

Babcock, Stephen Strong, August G. Newman, Abial C. Copeland, Jacob Keifer, George H. Ahrends, Ellsworth D. Hamilton, Edmond Herrington, Reuben Lisco, Martin Nicholson, John Robinson, Henry Weigand. John M. White was on the petition as was W. F. Gumaer, but failed to get their demits in time for the charter. E. F. Clayton carried the dispensation report to the Grand Lodge at Omaha, in June, 1…

Peterson, Andrew Peterson, Eugene DeLatour, Harvey I. Babcock, William E. Roudebush, John O'Neil, Minnie Zimmerman, Mrs. Christy Manuel, James Manuel, August G. Newman, John R. Wertz, William G. Melton, August Sudman, Mrs. August Sudman, Miss Lucy Johnson, Fred Sudman, Miss Minnie Sudman, facob Roudebush, Miss Maude Sudman, Frank C. LeSelle, Harriet B. LaSelle, Airs. Helen Babcock, and Mr…

The charter members and first officers of the organization were : W. P. Miles, Noble Grand ; T. P. Morgan, Vice Grand ; John Hinshaw, Recording Secretary ; George P. Smith, Financial Secretary; and Martin Michelson, Treasurer; H. W. Chowins, H. H. Chowins, W. V. Rielly, John N. White, and O. B. Shobert. This order now has a hundred and two members and the officers in 1921 were: Amel Peterso…

There were fifty-seven members in this organization while the present officers were: Alta Nosland, Noble Grand ; Hazel Peterson, Vice Grand ; Retta Brown, Secretary ; J. C. Gyger, Treasurer ; and Lydia Crawford, Chaplain. Royal Neighbors, No. 6950, was instituted at Chappell April 6, 1911, with the following members: Nettie Bailey, Retta F. Brown, Dollie M. Cave, John E. Cave, Laura J. Chr…

Modern Woodmen of America, Red Oak Camp No. 2518, was instituted at Chappell October 11. 1894. with the following charter members : Allen Chamberlain, William E. Coumbe, Charles W. Ferguson, Ed Herrington, Tames W. Head, Tr., John Howitt, William R. Miller, George W. Moore, F. 1'. Morgan, James F. McLaughlin, Harry C. Mc- New, August G. Newman, Gustav Newman, Julius W. Newman, E. C. Park, Lin…

McPheeters, Warder; Truman E. Richardson, Sentry ; George L. Herrick, M. A. N. ; Fred H. Gibson, M. H. N. ; Joseph E. Barton, A. H. N. ; Lester E. Vandiver, Physician ; Clara M. Cave, Eva A. Herrick and Leota Jacobson. This fraternity has not been very active though its membership has increased some. Clyde McConaughey has gone to the home office at Lincoln, Nebraska, and no leader has yet t…

Brown, years ago sheriff of Mercer county, Illinois, inducted the following officers into service: Commander, J. C. Johnson; Senior Vice, Jake Roudebush ; Junior Vice, August Guenin; Adjutant, A. J. Withers; Quartermaster, J. H. Brown; Surgeon, J. W. Conyers; Chaplain, R. V. Beach; Officer of the Day, W. Saunders ; Officer of the Guard, J. W. Statler; and Patriotic Instructor, J. H. Brown. Th…

In that instance the reason was ample, for it was at the time when the local resources were driven the limit in financing the wheat growers of the county. The first important duty of the United States and the farmers was to produce wheat and they had to have money to do so. The second drive fell thirty thousand dollars under the quota, but the third Liberty Loan went over by sixty thousand,…

John Cave were nominated a Committee to solicit members. Red Cross Tag Day netted four hundred and ninety-four dollars and some cents, which with previous collections amounted to seven hundred and twenty-five dollars. The executives and committee met at the home of Mrs. H. C. Heming to plan their additional work on June 30. There were by that time a hundred and fifty active mem- HISTORY OF WE…

A. also became active and the drive of November, 1917, went fifty per cent over the quota for Deuel county, which was alloted fifteen hundred dollars and subscribed two thousand, two hundred and ninety seven dollars. Among the "four minute men," speakers for the Liberty Bond drives and other war movements were Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Busse, Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Betts, Mrs. Retta Brown, and othe…

McPheeters, Arthur Rfeibe, A. W. Robbins. J. R. Hill, Fred Sudman and J. M. Miller, corporals. In the main corrider of the court house hangs the service flag of Deuel county. Of the one hundred and twenty-three names thereon nine shine with golden stars, and those who gave their lives for democracy are : Hilmer E. Jeppson, Clinton McAuliff, Frank Deutscher, Glen Harmon, Claude Remington, E…

Johnson, Frank Gray, Vancil Stalancker, Walter W. Kallsen. Sam H. DePriest, Frank Best, Glen Harmon, R. D. Updike, Roy Fredrick, Henry Brestel Clifford Shattuck. Mark Gyger, Laurence E. Miller. Herman A. Andre, Lee Stutzman. Earl Nieier, Wallace Armstrong, Joseph R. Beckman, Joe Tarred, Neil Diehl, George McCleary, Fred D.'Stoki, Wm, E. Zehr, Leonard Hodgman, Claude Remington, Henry W. Brian,…

In Big Springs the boys who served in the army and navy during the war have an active branch of the American Legion and have recently purchased a building, formerly a church, but later used for mercantile purposes, for the use of the Legion club rooms. This was bought of R. V. Taylor of Scottsbluff and will be converted into suitable rooms for club activities and meeting purposes; so that th…

Taking into consideration the soil of western Nebraska with the climate a fine combination is had. The soil of the broad prairies and some of the tablelands is a dark loam with sufficient sand to make it work easily. This is underlaid with lighter loam under which is a clay subsoil. There is no alkali or gumbo of any considerable area, in Deuel county. The land absorbs the rainfall to a gre…

Wheat has a firm hold on the county since the days when settlers first came here to farm. Both the fall and spring varieties do well in Deuel county. Wheat has practically become the greatest one crop, though others have been introduced with irrigation in the districts where water can be had that pay well, but wheat has the greatest acreage and brings in the greatest returns from one produ…

The cattle and live stock business while not large as in the days of the open range is still of great importance in Deuel county. The farmers are working into high grade stock, which they raise on the farms and ship to the markets. Alfalfa is a profitable crop in this part of the state ; it produces a large yield per acre, more than double that of clover and has a high feeding value. The …

Reasoning that it is bankruptcy to sell now, they are sticking for higher prices, feeling that they cannot lose by delay. The wealth of Deuel county must be attributed to the thrift and energy of her citizens for it has been the product of the years. Soil has yielded rich rewards to the tiller, but the process has been slow. However, farms have developed, homes been established, the railroad…

fields that the old time implements began to work ; planters, drills, listers, seeders, harvesters or binders, double rowed cultivators, riding harrows, six foot mowers, rakes, sweeps, stackers, threshers, and every other implement that has a name or place in modern husbandry, are now in use in Deuel county fields on Deuel county farms. Today the telephone places the farmer in a position to …

The spirit that has presided over her destines has been that of the pioneer; the creative, formative forces have been the same as those which won the west from the wilderness and within the last two decades the county has been pioneering in the establishment of its irrigation and last phase of development. GARDEN COUNTY EARLY HISTORY This locality was a favorite hunting ground of the Am…

This possible way of approach, however, comprises not more than one tenth of the circumference of the hill. At all other places, no man or animal can ascend or descend. Any time the Indians could scare a few buffalo onto this hill, they could prevent them from taking the back track and there was no place for them to go except to try a jump and light upon the rocks fifty to one hundred and f…

The way becomes tortuous, and rocky, but without any particularly steep ascent in any place, we arrive on the level tableland nearly three hundred feet above the river bottom. The canyon is said to have been a dangerous place to pass through in early times because of hostile Indians. The first settlers found several graves at the lower end of the hollow, upon one of which was a board marke…

Farther, farther west, was the cry. Not more than fifty years ago, the cattlemen began ranging stock in the valley here. First among them were the Adams Reddington Company south of the river and the Knowles Baldwin Company and Ogalalla Land and Cattle Company north of the river. One of the first permanent habitations in the county was a camp built near the mouth of Blue Creek by the Ogalalla …

The big herds of cattle kept the grass eaten off and the sand trampled up ; so that the soil looked to be too sandy for any use. Furthermore, the homeseeker would often be told that the place of his choice had already been filed upon or patented, when, in reality, it was open for homestead entry. Then, too, the government corners were few and far between ; so that determining locations were …

Hooper and others, and the Oshkosh settlement was started by John Robinson and H. G. Gumaer, Rueben Lisco had located on Rush Creek and S. P. Delatour on Blue Creek. So, today, Mr. Delatour and Mr. Lisco are about the oldest of the "old timers." Both of them are still in the ranching business and both are successful in the banking business. Mr. Delatour located and still lives .in Cheyen…

After settlements were made on the north side of the river and teaming had to be done via Chappell, the Geo. W. Hulse place was the half-way house and feeding station. William Keizer established the Kowanda postoffice in 1889, bringing the mail up from Julesburg by stage. The postoffice is still being used, the mail coming over from Chappell now. Mrs. Henry G. Smith is the present postmistres…

He built a cart, nailing two thicknesses of boards together crosswise and trimming them into shape for wheels. The tire was a curved ash root nailed on this. The hub was an ash stump and the shafts were ash poles ; all topped off with a bed large enough to carry half a wagon load. With his horse "Old Jim*' and this cart he gathered bones and hauled them to Big Springs to pay for groceries.…

There is a large cemetery there now, and here was placed and dedicated, one of the Oregon Trail monuments. Rock at Ash Hollow, near Spring The Killing of the Last Two Buffalo In 1886, a band of Sioux Indians came down from the Reservation in South Dakota. They reached the Blue and startled the settlers somewhat ; but it proved to be merely a hunting expedition, finding so little game they …

These were some of the sturdy ones who outlived the troubles of the dry years, hauling water and supplies for miles. They would sometimes sit in the dark in the evening for they were out of oil. These people were often twenty-five miles from a postoffice, and forty miles from a doctor, but as Mrs. L. M. Myers expressed it, the outdoor life made people much more healthy. They didn't need a d…

This same lady when a girl was often out hunting for Indian beads, arrow heads, etc. One day she came to an old hollow stump, upon investigation it was found to contain many human bones and a button. It had evidently served as a grave for a child. It was beside the Old Mormon Trail and some Mormon emigrants had spent a winter here in years gone by. There was also a grave marked Sarah Turner…

The hardships of these years tested the endurance of these brave people to the limit and only the strongest HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA ?49 ones remained. It was during those dry years that A. D. Remington, who had located at Day, on the south table in 1887, did so much for the preservation of the settlers. He had started a store, postoffice, dairy and creamery. At the crisis in the dry y…

Marsh, living near the river was a carpenter so went where he could work at his trade. Others, like Mr. I. H. Kimbel and Kirk McCall living near Oshkosh and George Gilliard near Lewellen, made money by hunting. They would come home with a wagon load of geese, ducks, etc. They would dress, pack in barrels and ship them to Denver or Omaha making enough to buy groceries for themselves and ofte…

Over in the canyons just south of Oshkosh is Wild Horse Corral, a natural corral formed by steep rocks, in which wild horses were trapped and caught. There were fewer birds then, than now, many' felt that the birds were real friends by cheering up some lonely settlers with their bright happy songs. To illustrate some of the inconveniences of early settlers, one lady near Lisco used a bakin…

to sleep About ten o'clock they were awakened by the bright' light from the fire which had come quite close to them. They dressed hurriedly, took sacks and water to beat it away from the house and corral. Mrs. Jones' brother, Lee Henderson, had gathered a large pile of wood for her winter's supply. The fire got into that and burned it up, almost getting to the house. The two women worked un…

abundance in the canyons and among the rocks, while in the sandhills are found the sand cherries. There were very few settlers in the sandhills then, few and far between. In the early days', a family wished to get up to a northern settlement so struck out across the county through the sandhills. They got lost and wandered around for some days. They ate up all the provisions they had and fed…

These materials could usually be found handy and in abundance, and when properly constructed such a house is nearly as good as a brick house. About 1906, the fashion changed and the frame house or concrete house became popular. It was about that time that Archie Wynes and Herman Bushnell hauled cement from Julesburg and made a large stone and cement block opera house in Oshkosh. The porch …

He also had some experience in crossing the ice. He started across with a load of hogs for market. He tried twice and finally had to unload them on the ice and drive them home. The third time he took them down to Oshkosh and crossed on the bridge. Jesse Lee Colyer said many a time they had tied a rope to a board and dragged that over the ice in order to have it to cross the open channels …

On one occasion he went to Mr. Jackett's home and after a bitter quarrel, Mr. Jackett grabbed a revolver and ordered him off the place. Helms started to leave but unknown to Jackett he had left his shotgun leaning against the doorjam as he came in. Just as he stepped out he grabbed the shotgun and noticing that Jackett was off his guard, turned and shot his hand off and the revolver droppe…

Plummer came back unsuccessful ; so Mr. Remington brought suit in replevin. Sheriff Lisco went to serve the writ ; but Mr. Wilson and his sons and sonin-law resisted so stoutly that the sheriff went back to Chapped and procured a warrant for their arrest. On his second trip accompanied by Bill Plummer and a boy from Chicago he pulled into a hunting camp on Island Lake just as a blizzard ca…

Wilson felled the Chicago boy with a huge beef bone and the dog having got out a little to one side Mr. Kirribel shot and killed it, but Mrs. Wilson's anger still raged, thinking that the poor dog had been shot by the boy. After the sheriff and constable had gone with their prisoners, the hunter deputies stayed and visited until the exasperated Mrs. Wilson got in a good humor and treated t…

Eugene Delatour, county clerk, at once executed the certificate that the county was divided and that the part north of township fifteen to be henceforth known as Garden county. The first county officers were : Robt. A. Day, Clerk ; Charles Davis, Treasurer; Walter Clark, Sheriff; T. C. McKee, Superintendent of Schools ; Lee Minner, Attorney ; John Robinson, Surveyor; J. C. Hartman. Assessor…

The measure failed to carry and the. county is still renting the old cramped, unsuitable building for a court house. The county officers at this time. March, 1920. are: G. E. Melvin Clerk ; Ed. S. Wood, Treasurer ; A. W. Gumaer, Judge; R. H. Smith, Sheriff; H. J. Curtis, Attorney; H. A. Mark, Surveyor; Esther M. Johnson. Superintendent; D. F. Fickes, Assessor; Wm. L. Law, J. R. Woolery, and W.…

H. H. Hough. 1910-1916; Dr. Geo. H. Morris, 1916-1918; H. I. Curtis, 1918, still in office. Judge: A. W. Gumaer. 1910. still in office. Commissioners: Third district, M. P. Clary, 1910-1916; Roscoe Vance. 1916-1918; W. C. Clark, 1918-1920: W. R. W. Taylor, 1920. appointed to fill vacancy. Second district. D. F. Fickes. 1910-1911; I. C. Roudebush, 1911- 1916; W. L. haw. 1916, still in office.…

There has always been a great scramble for hay land especially in the northern part of the county, where the valuable hay lands lie in small valleys surrounded by rough pasture lands. Anyone resorting to litigation to determine a boundary line was at once confronted with the necessity of spending a large sum on surveyor's fees ; it being necessary in many instances to survey an entire towns…

Devasher was found to be insane and committed and sent to the State Hospital for the insane. Within three weeks he was discharged and was back home continuing the fight for what he believed to be his legal rights. After several rounds in court and out, Mr. Devasher discovered that he had made a big mistake in measuring off his claim and that it neither included hay land, the Ballenger buil…

Dymond and party were not armed and did not resist. Mr. Yeast and his party were arrested and tried at the fall term of court on a charge of unlawful assembly. It being practically impossible to prove that they had planned and conspired together to commit the act ; they were all acquitted and discharged. They did not attempt to deny that they destroyed the machinery and cut up the harness a…

The territory now organized as Garden county was in early times the northeastern part of Cheyenne county and, from the year 1888 until the year 1910, it was the northern part of Deuel county. The eastern boundary of Cheyenne county was defined by the legislature to be the 25th degree of longitude west from Washington. This 25th degree was hard to find, but soon after the creation of Deuel c…

This range line was generally recognized by county and state officers and citizens as being the eastern boundary of Deuel, despite the fact that as there had been no vote of the people on the question, the statute of 1895 was unconstitutional and void. About a year after the time of the organization of Garden county in 1910, McPherson county then having charge of Arthur county judicial and …

The contention of Arthur county was, that the original eastern boundary of Cheyenne county, to-wit, the 25th degree of longitude, must hold for Cheyenne county's successors, Deuel and Garden'counties ; that the Statute of 1895 was unconstitutional and void and therefore the exercise of control over the disputed strip by Garden county was illegal. < >n the other hand, Garden county contended th…

Garden county further alleged that all along, prior to, and ever since the legislative act of 1895, Deuel county, within its inherent and statutory power, exercised jurisdiction and authority in all public matters over said strip of territory as a part of Deuel county, and continued so to do until Garden county was organized ; that since its organization, Garden county has continued to exerci…

At the 1916 fall term of the district court of Garden county, Nebraska, Judge Hobart held that the range line between ranges 40 and 41 is the boundary between Arthur and Garden counties and dismissed Arthur county's petition. Arthur county appealed the case to the supreme court of the state. Which court affirmed the decision of Judge Hobart and in the opinion filed November 17, 1916, and re…

Upon hearing thereon the demurer was overruled and William Mitchell of Alliance was appointed as referee to take the evidence and report findings of fact and conclusions of law to the court. After taking the evidence at Hyannis and Oshkosh and cogitating thereon for six months, the referee found that the 25th degree of longitude was and is the boundary line between Grant and Garden counties ; …

Thus we remain, fifty-four miles long, north and south, twenty-eight miles wide in the southern part, thirty-three miles wide in the middle part, and thirty-one miles wide in the northern part, and having a total area of one million and fifty-six thousand acres. And no more boundary fights for ours; no, not one. AGRICULTURAL AND LIVE STOCK INDUSTRIES The southern part of Garden county is a …

The Campbell system of farming is not popular here, although spring grain is sometimes cut down to about half a normal crop because of drouth. A good crop can be raised every year by rotating winter wheat and other crops. The last failure was in the year 1895. The average crop of winter wheat is twentytwo luishels per acre, but a yield of thirty-five bushels per acre is nut uncommon. This lan…

Now, however, the "big noise" of the sugar beet is heard in the land and the old order is changing. In 1918, automatic beet dumps were constructed at Oshkosh and Perm and numerous tracts of from twenty to two hundred acres were planted, to beets. The yield was so satisfactory that in the year 1919 the acreage was greatly increased, and the sugar beet industry is with us to stay. The 1919 …

No doubt most of the whole valley of the North Platte is good, but if there is any place more worthy to be called the garden spot of the great plains, than Garden county's irrigated belt, we know not the name of that place. "Where once the redskin to the death. Fought pioneer and scout, The Swede with non alcoholic breath. Sets rows of cabbage out." However our champion cabbage raiser is J…

The largest of these is called the "west table" which lies north of Lisco. This table has just the right soil for corn and potatoes, and in early times, A. B. Allen made it famous for the production of navy beans. Here lies the winter wheat ranch of G. W. Berge; and he and his neighbors will tell you that their lands will produce good crops of grain. Dry land, well, yes, but isn't that bett…

make it apparent that within a short time the range steer will have some tame hay to vary the monotony of his diet, and the flavor of his wonderful carcass. Another innovation is the raising of big gardens by the ranchmen. They have at last decided that the homegrown vegetable is worth while. Many of them now milk a sufficient number of cows to provide themselves and ranch hands with milk a…

He has his own wild hay meadows to produce his winter's feed and is planning a big increase in his alfalfa acreage. During the blizzard in March, 1913, he lost 1,500 head of cattle. They drifted with the storm into Swan Lake, which was in the pasture. Orlando is his postoffice and Belle Avery postmaster. Samuel and Charles Avery each have large ranches. Charles' ranch contains 40,000 acres…

On the valley and north and west table farms, the hog is the important animal. Many Garden county fanners have carried off honors from the Denver Stock show. Mr. John Mevich who settled on Blue Creek in 1886 has been particularly successful with hogs. For five straight years he took the grand prize for best carload of hogs, besides, many other prizes. He has a large pillow cover made of hi…

acres of school land at this point in addition to section 36, and they expected to be able to purchase the whole tract. They built their headquarters ranch near the east side of section 35, purchased section 36, and applied to purchase the balance of the tract. They soon found that the whole tract outside of section 36 was government land, so they filed on as much as possible and were able …

Hugh Boggs of Lewellen had the contract for carrying the mail to Oshkosh, and employed Charley Ransom to drive part of the time. They used a span of vicious mules that were always hard to hitch up and always looking for a chance to run away. Hartmans carried the mail from Oshkosh to Hartman. Before securing the postoffice they had been obliged to go to Ramsey for their mail. In 1890 the Oshk…

Will Rolfing, were sitting in the store, when a man came in, bought some tobacco and matches, then went out. In a short time two masked men with revolvers came back marching Kirk McCall ahead of them. One made the men hold up their hands while the other helped himself to all there was in the safe. They got $300 in checks, etc., belonging to the store, and $60.00 from the postoffice besides …

Rhiley went to work to build an automobile that one man could run. and he succeeded ( almost ) . He got one finished up and in running condition and succeeded in trading it off to Jim Duffin. He then got an agency for the Oakland and did a good business. He is now the Western Nebraska distributor for Buick automobiles, G. M. C. trucks and the Hudson Super-Six and is the seventh oldest deale…

Time, half mile, 30J/2 seconds ; one mile, one minute and 3y2 seconds; 25 miles, 28 minutes and 15 seconds. Mr. Rhiley's natural ability and many years of experience over the ordinary race car gave him some advantage over the ordinary race car driver. He enjoys the racing game, he designs and builds his own racing cars, and by great care in the construction and adjustments thereof he elimi…

They had been running a hotel, in a way, in the rooms over the store, since Mr. Sudman had moved into his new residence in 1900. At this time, the Wehn Telephone Company established a telephone system from Bridgeport to Oshkosh, Lewellen and other points It was a great convenience, as well as a pleasure and is still appreciated. In 1920 the Wehn Company sold out to a company with Mr. Warner…

He is still there, March, 1920. One rural route was established in 1913 out east and north of Oshkosh ; on which the mail is carried daily. In 1906 Col. Wisner of Bayard became interested enough in Oshkosh to come here and start a newspaper called the Oshkosh Herald. It was published by various owners in a small building on the east side of Main street until the building over by the depot w…

Valentine, who took charge in 1914. In 1905, LaSalle & Miles built and opened up a general store, half way between the hotel and Corner Store, and Dan Atchinson started the first drug store just north of them and called it the Oshkosh Drug Company. W. W. Bowers and Mr. "Dad" Potts bought this, carrying it on under the same name. It still goes by the same name, although it has changed hands …

Blair, twisted his buildings into splinters, picked him up out of the house and broke every bone in his body, and left him lying lifeless on the prairies about a half mile east of his home. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA The splinters and pieces of furniture and books lay along the path of the storm for a distance of three miles. He had several valuable documents in his trunk. Of these, his w…

The Woodman hall was sold in 1905 to Newkirk and Burchard who put in a stock of hardware. Burchard soon sold to Newkirk who continued to run the business until the spring of 1911, when he sold to Robert Quelle and Albert Quelle. The next year Quelle Brothers put up the hardware store near the depot. Albert Quelle was the manager from the first until March, 1917, when he sold his share to Rober…

The rails were laid and the first train reached here August 8, 1908. That spelled grow to Oshkosh. The division of the county came the next year with Oshkosh for county seat. L. Aufdengarten & Son came from Ogalalla in 1909 and bought the old LaSalle & Miles store from W. W. Bowers, who had purchased it of LaSalle & Miles late in 1906. LaSalle & Miles only stayed about one year. Mr. Aufde…

Oshkosh has no museum but Miles J. Maryott has a collection of mounted birds, Indian relics, bones, coins, etc., that is worth traveling across the continent to see. Mr. Maryott is an artist and finds ready sale for his paintings. He paints animal and landscape pictures, but his wild bird pictures take up a large part of his time. His hobby is collecting prehistoric animal bones and Indian …

The fanners are beginning to take a prominent part in the business of the town. They have organized two corporations, one of which handles the only grain business of tin- town, and is called the Farmers Elevator Company. In 1916 this company was chartered and bought out the elevator which had been run tor several years by the Oshkosh Lumber Company. The other farmers' corporation is the Gard…

Oshkosh had reached the stage where electric lights were needed. On September 11, 1915, a plant was put into operation by A. D. Riddile. It has been enlarged and improved and in 1919 it was sold to the village. It is now run under village management, as well as a water system being started. Bonds for the water and lights were voted June 5, 1919. Some defect was discovered in the proceedings …

They put up the new garage in the north part of town, and moved up there in October, 1917. W. L. Kimbel has charge of it now. as he bought Peterson's interest February 20, 1918. Robert J. Dalton is the proprietor of the Oshkosh Automobile Paint Shop. For awhile he tried to run his photograph gallery and paint shop too ; but for the past year he has had such a rushing business in the paint s…

Sudman Company platted the original town of Oshkosh in 1905, the following additions have been platted : The A. Sudman Company Addition, Duffin's Addition, Maloy's Addition, Bott and Hart's Addition. There are about six hundred and forty acres of land within the corporate limits of Oshkosh. On March 1, 1920, the population was 725. Lewellen . In 1884, S. P. Delatour, the first settler in thi…

The mail was brought up from Ogalalla ; in fact, all of the hauling was done from there as the Keith county bridge near Ogalalla gave a much better way than fording in crossing the North Platte river. About seven miles northeast of Lewellen, on the present site of Lutherville, a postoffice was started by Mr. Ramsey, about 1887, called Ramsey postoffice. The mail also came from Ogalalla. …

The village of Lewellen began with that little store and postoffice. A bridge across the North Platte river at this point in 1891 had its effect on this village. A few settlers had gathered there, a small school started and in 1890 a frame building, which is still standing was built. This was used about fifteen years when it was decided that a larger building was needed. It was sold in 190…

years before another building was put up, so the school was held in the Hall during that time with L. H. Warner and Lyle Mewhirter teachers. At last in 1911 they were comfortably housed in a good building. In the meantime the Lutherville and Bergeson schools were discontinued. The Lewellen school was growing and in 1918 the 11th and 12th grades were added, making it a complete high school. Th…

The company was composed of a man by the name of Hurst, his wife and children. It created quite a stir; the show was given in the school house. Everyone who heard of it was there if possible. After the railroad was surveyed through the valley, 1. C. McCoy laid out the village of Lewellen in July, 1906. The first addition was soon needed and was platted in ( >ctober, 1907. Two additions have …

Gates Hardware Company is the successor of the Rohlfing and Berquist Company, who sold to them in 1916. The first church was the Methodist, which was built in 1889, although it had been organized before that. Services were held in the school house. In 1910 the Baptist church was built, Rev. Elkins being pastor at the time. A small organization was formed and has continued to thrive. A. J. Co…

The McCoy hotel was built in 1908. Thomas Eggers who settled in this valley in 1900, started in the mercantile business in 1917, but the next spring he built a new brick hotel which was furnished and opened for business in August, 1918. business in September, 1913. with a stock valued at $10,000, composed of everything in ready-to-wear and piece goods for ladies, misses, men and boys. The …

Garden County Fair Association The citizens in and around Lewellen believed that an annual fair for the exhibition of products would be a benefit. It was decided to hold a Corn Show in the fall. On September 21, 1910, the Garden County Fair Association was organized with John Mevich, president ; C. G. Berquist, secretary, J. H. Wehn, treasurer. A board of directors consisted of ]. C. McCoy, …

Marsh, Fred Johnson, Joe Brunt, I. H. Orr and M. S. Gates. The Woman's Club of Lewellen was organized in October, 1913, as an auxiliary to the Farmers Institute. Mrs. Cal McCormick was the first President and Mrs. Dick Clark Secretary. It was federated with the State Federation of Woman's Clubs in March, 1917, and has thirty members. It has its year book of programs and hostesses, etc. ; wor…

The telephone line was continued up to Lisco in 1909, branches to other points and the farmers line coming on soon after. The Lisco hotel and depot, besides two or HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA three residences were completed in 1909. This same year the Presbyterian church was built but not dedicated until the spring of 1910. This year saw the erection of a fine new brick building to be occup…

A small stock of drugs carried by the Lisco Mercantile Company was sold in May, 1916, to J. A. Ray ; and in the fall he moved into the new brick building now occupied by the drug store, postofhce and printing office which Mr. Lisco completed in the fall of 1917. In the summer of this same year, Frank- Browning put up a building and opened up a hardware store. Wm. Mankin bought him out in 1…

One of the best hotels in the county is at Lisco run by Mrs. Smithern who came there in 1918. Chas. Minshall bought out a man named Pelton in 1915, but sold to the Farmer's Cooperative Company in 1918. This company is putting up a new building which will give them more room, as well as an improvement to the town. There are a number of very good residences in Lisco, among them is Mr. Lisco's…

This line was built in 1907 and 1908, reaching Lewellen in 1907, and the first train arriving at Oshkosh on August 8, 1908. In September a huge celebration and barbecue was held at Oshkosh to show to the world the gladness of a new railroad town. People came from miles around Julesburg, ( Igalalla, Chappell, etc. All went well and everyone had a good time, even though the meat was not done …

It was a common occurrence for the children to be obliged to go from five to eight miles to school. The first school building in the county was in what is now Joint district No. 2. known as the Wendt school on the south table west of Ash Hollow. It was built of sod in 1887, by M. F. Clary, Nicholas Opp, Bob Taylor, and Pete Ferry, on section 33, southwest corner. Eva Gilliard (now Mrs. J. …

The school districts would sometimes get badly in debt, so the patrons would hire a teacher and pay the salary out of their pockets. Lewellen. for instance, had to do that in 1902. Mrs. Chris McCormick was the teacher hired. On the south table the old sod school buildings are of the past. They now havi g frame buildings well equipped for work, good salaries are paid for good teachers. In t…

They had expected to have a new building ready for the next year, but there was some trouble about the bonds, leaving the community without a school building for three vears. During this time school was held in the Hall, 1.. II. Warner and Lyle Mewhirter were two of the teachers who taught in the Hall. In 1911 a good frame building was completed. In 1918 the 11th and 12th grades were added…

That old sod house was used until 1896, when a new sod building was put up in the north edge of town near where the old stone building now stands. John Twiford taught in this building in 1903, and Laura Laycock taught one of the last terms of school in the old "Soddy." The stone building consisting of two rooms was erected in 1905. It was quite a pretentious building at that time, but soon …

Oshkosh school soon had outgrown its quarters. The eleven grades needed more room so a commodious brick building was erected in 1914, giving ample space to accommodate the school for some years to come. But now, 1920, that building is filled to its full capacity, employing seven teachers for the pupils of the first eight grades. The teachers are: Nellie Coffin, Superintendent, Kate Waters, M…

1918, they were obliged to fit up a room over the Lisco Mercantile Company store again. In 1919, two rooms over the store were needed as the tenth and eleventh grades were added to the course. The teachers in Lisco at this time were Cora Felker. Principal, Eva Snider, Assistant, Mrs. R. O. Stevenson and Miss Lela Mosser. Garden County High School June 26, 1915, a Garden county high school …

They did so well that they were allowed to go to the state tournament. They were not in the best of condition, two players were sick with hard colds, but they won the first game from Bassett and lost the second to Pawnee' City. The players were Frank Robinson, Clyde Sudman, Lee Henderson, Everett Dennis. Walter Stroud and Ralph Snell. The basket ball team in 1918-19 won their monograms an…

first field meet was held in the second week of May and was a grand success. It consisted of baseball, basket ball, tennis, novelty events, and all track events. Garden county high school won the meet with a lead of 96 points, with Lewellen second. The champion athletes were Ivan Hartman, Lewellen, first ; David Curtis, of Garden county high school, second; Rex Proper of Garden county high…

Garden county schools have taken prizes on exhibits at the State Fair at Lincoln. In 1918 the rural schools of districts 40 and 56 won first prize on drawing and district 40 on penmanship. In 1919 Oshkosh won first in the four best drawing cards, district 56. district 19 sent a collection of work that took' first prize. A rural school took second prize on two drawings. Oshkosh took third on…

Clary's house in time for the service. Mr. Ruckman was the pastor in charge. The first church in Lewellen was a Methodist church built in 1S99. Rev-. Coslet, Eggers, and Bollan preached in the school house before the church was built. Rev. Elmer Keller was the first pastor to preach in the new church. It naturally was a small organization at first. The churches of Lewellen and Oshkosh hired a …

That year a nice church was built and dedicated, during Rev. Clark Powell's pastorate. They join with the church at ( >>hk<>4i in hiring a minister, who has resided in Oshkosh until 1920. Rev. R. A. Helms, the present pastor, lives in Lewellen. In 1911 a Baptist church was built. Rev. Elkins was pastor. The organization has steadily been growing. They have decided to build a parsonage this y…

A revival was held by Evangelist Flowers, thereby adding many more members. The church organization was perfected at this time with about sixty members. Among them were the Bowers, Twifords, Sherleys, Sterlings, McCords. Duttons, Henrys and Aufdengartens. Both the Lewellen and Oshkosh churches were growing stronger and able to stand alone. In the spring of 1916 each decided to hire a pastor …

Oshkosh joins with the Lewellen church in the support of a pastor. Rev. Heidenrich's wife's health was poor, so he decided to go to a lower altitude. He resigned May 22, 1910, after staying here four years. He was well liked, and the church regretted very much to have him leave. Since that time, they have had Rev. Collier who stayed a short time, Rev. Woods, Rev. Clark Powell, Rev. Ebright (w…

They held meetings in the schoolhouse until 1915 when a church building was erected. Rev. Jensen of Lewellen came here to preach at times. Rev. Koch. Baker and Kuhler of the Oshkosh Methodist church have preached over there every other Sunday since 1916. A good Sunday School has been maintained. At Lisco the Presbyterians were the first denomination to get busy. Rev. Currens, seventy years o…

In 1915 the Catholics in and around Lisco determined to have a church home and that summer it was begun. Father Burns from Scottsbluff came for services. The following spring it was dedicated with the usual ceremonies. They have forty members. Out on what is called the west table about eight miles northeast of Lisco, we find a thriving Adventist church called the Lisco Adventist church. In J…

This was a weekly paper named the Oshkosh Herald. In the following year the Colonel sold out to Calkins and Loob. Calkins soon disappeared, but Loob continued to publish the Herald for a few months longer. Will Twiford acted as editor until tjre spring of 1908, when R. A. Day and Charles Tomppert bought the business and were soon publishing the Herald as an eight page paper, printing two p…

Tomppert finding himself out-voted at every turn by the Bentz family, sold out to them for what he could get and gracefully retired from the Company. He at once planned to established a rival paper, and in August, 1912, bought out the Garden County News which Mr. Warner had been running for two or three years at Lewellen, bought a new press and linotype, and proceeded to make the old News t…

He is rapidly improving it, building up the circulation and making a real newspaper out of it. Mr. John B. Barton established the Lewellen Optimist on March 22, 1917. Each year, it is steadily increasing in quality and circulation and it is loyally supported especially in the eastern part of the county. The Bench and the Bar Garden county has no resident district judge. When first organiz…

Although not a member of the bar, Judge Gumaer is well read in the law, and ever preserves the honor and dignity of the bench. About the only time the magisterial calm was ever ruffled was on the occasion when a well dressed young man and woman with every appearance of candidates for matrimony presented themselves before him and smiling recited, "Will you divorce us from each other, Judge…

Curtis, county attorney of Garden county, was born in Knoxville, Marion county, Iowa, on September 24, 1871. His paternal ancestors came from England in early colonial times and each new generation joined the western bound pioneers. In the early fifties when Mr. Curtis's father. Stephen Curtis, was a small boy, the Curtis family emigrated from Ohio to the Des Moines river bottom near the s…

By teaching school a portion of the year, and attending school and doing odd jobs the remainder of the time, he secured a first class teacher's certificate, and the degrees of Bachelor of Didactics, and Master of Didactics from the Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa. He then took the Principal Teachers' examinations in the United States Civil Service, and in 1895 received an appointment…

In the fall of 1912, he entered into partnership with Frank Dutton under the firm name of Curtis & Dutton, lawyers. This partnership was dissolved in December, 1914. In 1914, Mr. Curtis was elected county attorney, reelected in 1916, and again reelected in 1918 for a four year term. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis have three children : David, born in Beecher county, Minnesota, May 7, 1903 ; Helen, born …

Geauga county, Ohio, and, in 1897, he with his parents and brothers moved to the town of Telluride, Colorado, where they engaged in the mining business for ten years. On January 31, 1907, he was united in marriage with Miss Clara Dutton and they at once moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. In September, 1907, Mr. Dutton enrolled as a student in the Law College of the State University of Nebraska, co…

When the railroad was surveyed and located, the new bank was unfortunately found to be in the middle of the right of way, so they sold the building to the railroad company, and moved into a small frame building on the east side of Main street. About this time Rob't A. Day succeeded P. W. Burke as cashier, which position Mr. Day held until January, 1919, when he was elected president. Three …

Since 1911, this bank has been owned by our citizens, the heaviest stockholders being Rob't A. Day, J. C. Schlater and A. Sudman, up to the time when Mr. Wood bought in and became president, in 1919. Lewellen's first bank, The Bank of Lewellen, HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA was organized in 1905, with a capital of $5,000, by J. W. Wehn, President, Chas. Burke, Vice- President, and J. H. Wehn…

The first officers were M. R. Scripter, Sr., President ; M. P. Clary, Vice President; G. L. Stout, Cashier; W. A. Hostetter, Assistant Cashier. Its growth was assured, and the capital increased to $30,000, with total assets of $315,000 and a slight change in officers : M. P. Clary, President and Chris McCormick, Vice President. Cashier and Assistant remain the same, with Irving Tilgner, Bookk…

THE COUNTY'S PART IX THE WORLD WAR At the declaration of war, by the United States, the county responded to all calls with good spirit. A Council of Defense was appointed consisting of L. H. Stroud, Chas. Tomppert and Dr. Geo. H. Morris. It did its work loyally. The Advisory Board was A. W. Gumaer, F. A. Dutton, W. W. Aldridge and R. S. Laycock. The Government Appeal agent was H. J. Curtis a…

The hanks had charge of the Bund 27. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA drives, five in number, and the War Stamp Drives. All quotas were raised with a goodly surplus. The War Savings societies were in charge of Mr. F. A. Dutton. A great many societies were formed giving added interest to the Thrift Stamps habit among school children as well as older ones. All calls from the Y. M. C. A. were a…

This was done August 28, 1917. Oshkosh and Lisco soon followed with organizations September, 1917. Each started with the regulation ten members, and a few others besides. The drives for membership brought good results. Before the Armistice was signed Lewellen had five hundred members, Oshkosh and Lisco had over nine hundred. Successful Red Cross sales were held in the three places. Oshkosh r…

L. Stout, Treasurer. Those at Oshkosh were Mr. F. A. Dutton. Chairman; Mr. H. A. Mark, Vice; Mrs. Blanch Riddile, Secretary; Mrs. Hattie Sarver, Treasurer. The work of carrying on the sewing and knitting at the Red Cross room at Lisco was superintended by Mrs. R. Lisco and Mrs. Wm. Stevenson. There were a number of Junior Red Cross societies in the schools in the county. Many rooms were 10…

Cattron, Ralph McKonkey, and Armal Lane Allen died of pneumonia while in the service. Of those most severely wounded in action, were Daff Young, of Lewellen, and Duane Marshall, of Oshkosh. The former lost one arm and one leg in the Argonne drive, November 5, 1918, and the latter on July 17, 1919, was so severely wounded in the leg that amputation was necessary. The bones were shattered and…

Company "H," Sixth Nebraska Infantry was recruited on and after June 24, 1917, in two detachments, one at Chadron, Nebraska, and one at Lewellen, Nebraska, and vicinity. The following named Garden county volunteers constituted the Lewellen detachment: Mucho Balka, Russell Beerup, Jesse K. Bradley, Miles Branson. Louis Brown, Ray Brown. Gordon Cary, Ross W. Casey, William E. Dowson, Dwight …

Two weeks later, the company together with sixty-five enlisted men from Company "I," and forty men from Company "F," Sixth Nebraska Infantry, was transferred to the 109th Engineers and announced as Company "F," 109th Engineers. Day after day and month after month, the boys expected orders to go "over there." After a year of training, worrying and waiting at Camp Cody, the orders came, and t…

Harold' Wilson, Robert Holmes, Jack L. Anderson, Sam T. Bradley, Abraham Barbris, Wallace E. Elkins, Chance Goodro, Charles W. McConkey, Thomas Lewis, Thomas Richardson, Berrie Rahman, David Colyer, Jess Cunningham, James Shuler, Harry Horn, Walter Pitzlin, Robert Brown. Forrest Hunnell, Bud Bastin, John Schultz, Stephen Shaw, Walter Shaw, Herman Pickerel, Benjamin Shepard, Henry Twiford, D…

Hollister. Royal Ernest Hittle, Francis Merritt Halstead. Ray Hutchinson. Arthur C. Hedin, Lester Holler>, Cole Henderson, Bernard Albert Hassenstab, George W. Hammond, George A. Jackson, Paul H. Jones, Fred Christ Jensen, Fred H. Koberstein, Alfred Ernest Crouse, John R. Kiley, Carl William Kaschke, Glenwood Charles Long, Edward V. Liestritz, Herman W. Musolf, Harry L. Mason, Everett Martin…

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA SOCIAL AND FRATERNAL ORGANIZATION In all early settlements real fraternity exists without any named and officered organization. Where a few are gathered together a social good time resulted. At country jollifications some would ride on horse back, or in a farm wagon, a distance of thirty or forty miles in order to get some enjoyment, to mix with the hard work. G…

The first fraternal organization in Garden county was the Modern Woodmen. It received its charter in September, 1897, having fourteen members. August Sudman was the first clerk. It didn't seem to grow much until 1900, when the membership was greatly increased. A hall was built in 1898, but sold in 1904. Its membership in 1920 has decreased. Only thirty-two members are enrolled, with Robt. Qu…

In 1920 they have a membership of thirty-five beneficiary and twenty-three social members, with Maggie Kingery, Oracle; Zulah Gumaer, Vice Oracle ; Jessie Aufdengarten, Past Oracle ; Clara Dutton, Chaplain ; Sarah Taylor, Recorder ; Mildred Robinson, Receiver ; Mamie Stephenson, Marshal ; Myrtle Brostrom, Assistant Marshal ; Mary E. Potter, Inner Sentinel ; Belle Wood, Outer Sentinel ; Blanc…

D. ; John Robinson, Tyler. The lodge has grown until now it has sixty members with G. E. Melvin, W. M. ; C. L. Tomppert. S. W. ; H. P. Madison, J. W. ; A. W. Gumaer (acting) Treasurer; D. F. Fickes, Secretary ; Fred A. Pickering, S. D. ; Chas. A. Harris. J. D. ; John Robinson, Tyler. This lodge has lost but two members by death; these were Henry G. Gumaer and Eugene Delatour, both charter m…

Curtis, Secretary; Arthur Riddile, Treasurer; Alary Jones, Adah; Viola Day, Ruth; Kate Wynes, Esther ; Beulah Tomppert, Martha ; Irene Fickes, Electa ; Josie Clary, Organist ; Sarah Roudebush, Warder ; Floyd Jones, Sentinel ; Lou Clary, Chaplain. A banquet and a social good time was given at this meeting to celebrate the receiving of the charter. All has moved along nicely with new members …

Kiley and Leroy Nigh, Managers ; Joe Williams, P. C. The lodge has grown smaller instead of larger having only nineteen members at present. The following are in office now: Roy E. Swanson, Consul; Leroy Nigh, Adviser Lieutenant ; Samuel Van Newkirk, Banker and Clerk ; Geo. W. Rose, Escort ; Dr. Geo. H. Morris, Physician ; Geo. Rose, Leroy Nigh, and Isadore Richstein, Managers ; Moses Wether…

Madison, Outer Sentinel ; Jeanette Wetherby, Manager ; Dr. G. H. Morris, Physician ; Eva E. Swanson, Captain. They have only beneficial members, and they now number twenty-three. One of their number, Silvia Kiley, died in March. 1917. Early in the fall of the same • year, they held a very impressive service at the unveiling of her monument, in Antelope Valley cemetery, all the members taking …

L. Hooper, Commander; Ross Carsey, Vice Commander ; Mucho Bolka, Vice Commander; Irving Tilgner, Adjutant; Jesse K. Bradley. Finance Officer. The executive committee consists of C. L. Hooper, Ross Carey, Irving Tilgner, Jesse K. Bradley, Geo. Post, Ira Paisley and Wm. Thacker. The Post has a membership of eighty, and is proud of the fact that it has not received any outside aid. It was repre…

They moved to Weiser, Idaho, where they are on a small dairy and fruit farm. In the meantime, in 1909, Dr. Morris came to Lewellen and Dr. Stanley Clement opened up an office in Oshkosh. The latter only stayed about two years. Dr. Morris stayed in Lewellen, but has since given up practicing. By this time, in 1911, Dr. Geo. H. Morris located in Oshkosh, making two doctors by the name of …

Oshkosh had needed another physician, as the work was too heavy for one ; so, many were pleased when Dr. Kelly arrived in May, 1917. His work here was cut short by the "Flu" epidemic. He and his wife were both down with it and Dr. Kelly died in November, 1918, after being here only about one and onehalf years. Dr. C. L. Hooper came to Lewellen in 1916. When war was declared, he volunteered…

He has ever since been our principal tooth doctor and did all work free for the local boys who needed tooth repairing preparatory to their acceptance as soldiers in the World War. Dr. Baker came in 1909, opening an office in his residence. His health was poor and he passed away in February, 1914. At Lewellen, Dr. Gainsforth came, in 1917. Mrs. Gainsforth taught in the public schools there…

Oshkosh having been without a licensed dentist for several years, Dr. Dunlavy jumped into a big business from the start. SIOUX COUNTY DESCRIPTION AND EARLY HISTORY Sioux county lies in the extreme northwestern corner of the state. It is sixty-nine miles long, with an average width of about thirty miles. There are three correction lines in the county with the net result that the county is …

The oldest of the present generation of people there do not seem to have heard of it. Fifty years ago, March 1, 1867, Nebraska became a state, and by an arbitrary act of the legislature, Sioux county came into existence. Its eastern boundary was the present west line of Holt county, and its south line the forty-first degree of latitude, which is its present south line. There was no county …

Water Resources and Uses The Niobrara river, first called L"Eau Qui Court, and later Running Water, is the most important stream as to size in Sioux county. It enters the county about twenty-five miles south of the northwest corner, running southeasterly to Agate, a distance of about twenty miles, thence nearly east an almost equal distance to the county line, the point of leaving the coun…

Ranches are to be found in all the attractive places. Good dry-land farms are to be found north and east of the creek, while to the south are rough, sandy and broken plains, furnishing what is necessary for the ideal of ranching, an early spring range. The warming sun strikes a quick response from these low sandy ridges, and grass, far enough along for grazing, is often ten days earlier h…

The benchlands to the west are called Iowa flats, and to the east are called the Dutch flats, both being exceedingly fertile and well farmed. Spottedtail springs are near the south line of the county, about centrally east and west. The two branches of the valley bear the names of Wet Spottedtail and Dry Spottedtail, formerly characterizing the conditions obtaining. But the building of the go…

The territory now embraced in Sioux county was first claimed by Spain, due to Coronado's trip from New Mexico into the land of Quivera, which was without doubt Nebraska. After 1739, when Mallet brothers made their trip into the great plains, it was claimed by France. For a time it was the pawn of kings, but finally was sold by Napoleon to the United States. At the time of the sale the Span…

That these peoples were as far west as Sioux county is not yet demonstrated. There were, however, found ancient ruins north of Bridgeport and near Agate, about a half a century ago. Those near Agate were on the top of a high hill after the manner of the Aztec ruins of the southwest. Yet according to the best authorities, I am led to the opinion that the ruins were left by the Paducas or Com…

The stories of the Indian wars of the early trappers in this vicinity, and as well as much of the ccw man's story appears in other parts of these volumes, and need not be repeated here. The Indian agencies known as Red Cloud on White river, and Spotted Tail on the pine ridges northeast of Chadron were the original cause for building Fort Robinson, but the discovery of gold in the Black Hill…

Dry land farming is not a safe proposition under the usual amount of rainfall, but the excessive precipitation of the last few years may prove of a permanent nature. In all the high prairie country, winds of considerable velocity are not uncommon. Before the groves of the later settlers began to dot the prairie these winds were more common and more violent than of later years. Meteoric con…

The next was the establishment of Fort Robinson, and then the Black Hills discovery of gold. In the late seventies the ranchmen came. It is difficult to call a restless mortal like Edgar Beecher Bronson a ranchman because he tarried on Soldier creek for a few weeks or months, or on the Niobrara river a similar length of time. There were many flyby-nights that came and tarried, then went on i…

Down on the Niobrara river Doctor Graham was building the Agate ranch, which has become historic. As distinguished from ranchmen the first real# settlers arrived about eighteen eightyone* They settled in the vicinity of the fort for the protection it gave them. L. E. Belden was the first. John Foxwell came, but did not stay long. Daniel Klein arrived soon after. The Rigdons arrived the same…

It is possible that there were born children at the fort in an earlier year, but they were transient, and there is no record. Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Zimmerman, who also arrived in eighteen eighty-five, believe this to be the first known or recollected birth. This is also the recollection of Daniel Klein, who settled on White river in 1882. The first wedding was that of Carl Lux and Rena Feller…

In eighteen eighty-eight she was married to W. E. Fiddler whose wife died the year before. Together they went on westward to Oregon. Miss Hunt had followed Miss Delahunty as teacher in District number one. The latter had removed to Antelopeville (now Kimball). Jennie Hunt was the first teacher in Harrison, then called Bowen, in 1886. The school in Harrison was in the second story of YVernec…

Hunter's little daughter was named "Oressa," which was suggested as the name for the post-office. Down in Texas, there is a shrub called "Bodarc." The people of a Texas community were asking for a postoffice and that it be named "Bodarc." In some inexplicable way, the department at Washington crossed the names, and gave the Texas post-office the name of Oressa, and the Sioux county post-off…

B KOI XX IXC, OF I [arrison The building of the Chicago ec Northwestern line through Sioux county put the first railroad within its limits. In eighteen eighty-six the work reached the present site of Harrison. The place was then called Summit, because of its altitude which is forty-eight hundred and seventy-seven feet above sea level. Some distance north of the line of the survey was Bodarc…

Sellers & Griswold were the first to thus engage in merchandising. Anderson & Company opened the first drug store at the same time. Both were east of the depot as it is new located. The first permanent building in the town for merchandising purposes was the Ranch Supply store, which building is now occupied by the Marstellers who are engaged in general merchandise trade. The census of nine…

Bi wen and llat creek precincts, Harrison being located in the former, agreed to and did. in eighteen eighty-eight, build the presenl courthouse. The architects were Whitney & Murphy. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA The brick used were burned on Sowbelly creek. George Klein burned a kiln or two of brick on Spring creek, which he expected to sell to the builders of the courthouse, but they coul…

A number of soldiers on scout duty out of Fort Robinson found themselves hard pressed by Indians, and were held in close quarters until nearly starved before the rescue party arrived. When relieved from their tension of resistance they were "hungry enough to eat a raw dog." The sole article of provision which the rescuing party had, was old dry-salt bacon, which in the language of the rough…

They called a spade by that name. In that perfect expression, the world of the time was cor- HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA rectly recorded, and there was no doubt about it. Sometimes we wonder if the press has deteriorated, or, having taken cognizance of the weaknesses and frailties of ourselves and our brothers, most of us speak with observance of the rules of charity. The next generation …

The Herald was published by Ed Satterlee on a street fronting the present site of the depot at Harrison, and the post-office was next to it. Judge Hunter had started the Republican at Bodarc, for the purpose, so his political enemies declared, of having an organ through which he could exploit his theories and opinions. That some of these opinions were not of the highest and the judge had a…

Burke, in January, nineteen hundred five, sold it to J. H. Newlin, and went to Bridgeport. The Harrison Sun, which came into existence May eleventh, nineteen hundred, was started by Win. II. Ketchmun, then of the Crawford Tribune, and L. C. Wright. It had been purchased by Newlin in the fall of nineteen hundred three, and he had taken possession in February following. He consolidated the Sun…

Both were in the first teachers' institute in Sioux county, and both are yet living. They have two living daughters : one married Milo E. Wolff and they live on a ranch in Wyoming, thirty miles northwest of Harrison. Bessie, the other daughter is at home and assists on the Journal, in the news notes, the business department, and the linotype department. Both Jessie and Bessie are state norm…

there was one single knight of the grip that knew him, but that sincerely regretted the illness and permanent incapacity that made it necessary for him to retire from business. On Activi There are others that were active officially and otherwise in the early history of which brief mention should be made, aside from references to them in some of the stories told in this work. There was J.…

Fred now being county treasurer; the Cherrys, Earl Cherry being the county clerk and to whom this chronicler feels a debt of gratitude for assistance in compiling this history. The list of officials in Sioux county for efficiency from beginning to the present time, stand high in the counties of the Panhandle. The records were and are well kept, and these that we have met are splendidly cou…

In the early nineties Doctor Bridgeman and Doctor Julian E. Phinney were practising in the Harrison vicinity. In the late nineties, Doctors L. W. Bowman and Levi J. C. Berchard, registered. The first veterinarian registered in eighteen ninety-eight was Doctor E. E. Barr. Shortly after nineteen hundred Doctors Albro J. Ames and Clyde Davis were practicing physicians in Sioux comity. These wer…

Paul Herbert Priest registered as physician and surgeon in nineteen twenty, being the last resident doctor to engage in practice. Earl Emanuel Dale of Lusk, sometimes comes into Sioux county to attend cases, and some of the other registrants reside in other and adjoining counties. The only resident doctors today are the Priests and Borglum. Francis Harrold Wallace was the only dentist to reg…

In eighteen ninety-one the fifteenth district came into existence. A. W. Crites was appointed to divide the work of the district. Alfred Bartow of Chadron succeeded Crites, and in eighteen ninety-six W. H. Wrestover became judge in the place of Bartow. J. J. Harrington took the place of Kinkaid in nineteen hundred. The sixteenth judicial district was created in nineteen twelve, including Siou…

Fern Samuel Baker came to Harrison about a decade ago and is the present county prosecutor. Colonel J. W. Hartwell and Mr. Baker now constitute the total resident membership of the bar of Sioux count}'. The Story of the Schooi - As heretofore stated the first school organized in Sioux county was while it was yet unorganized territory, and attached to Cheyenne county. Jo. Oberfelder was the…

Therefore number one and number three, which were near the old fort, are the two oldest districts in the county, and both antedate the county. Sioux county records give little history of number one, except that Jacob Klein was the director. Of number two. Win. A. Raum petitioned for its organization, the election was held at the residence of Win M. Pennington, and the officers elected were: …

Thomas, the first county superintendent of the organized county, created it, and the first officers thereof were: Henry Rogers, moderator ; John S. Tucker, director, and Chas. T. Kyle, treasurer. Thomas also created fifteen other districts during his term of office. Between March fourth and December fifteenth of eighteen eighty-seven, Superintendent Thomas issued teachers' certificates to n…

In eighteen ninety-one Superintendent Cox made a separate record for all certificates issued, which plan was generally followed until nineteen hundred five, when the new law was adopted that changed the issuance of certificates to the state superintendent. The first state apportionment, made January first, eighteen ninety was five hundred twenty dollars and thirty-five cents. There were twen…

While commissioner of public lands and buildings in nineteen seventeen and eighteen, this writer inaugurated a new policy which has been followed since, a higher valuation of school lands. The result is that nineteen twenty-one apportionment from the state is nearly two dollars per pupil for January, or a total of twenty-three hundred fifty-eight dollars and sixty cents, as compared with app…

The first teachers' institute in Sioux county convened July twentieth, eighteen ninetyone and continued ten days. Professor N. E. Leach and wife were the instructors. The teachers in attendance were : Sarah Parsons. Minnie Smith. Will H. Davis, Eva E. Conner, Ben B. Smith. J. H. Newlin, Elsie Merriam. A. P. Babcock, Mabel Robinson, Minnie Crane, Anna Kirbey, Myrtle Zimmerman, Mrs. Sarah Shaw, M…

Seventeen districts in the county have bonded debt, only two of which levy more than ten mills for the sinking fund. Seven districts have a building fund with none over ten mills. The levy for the county high is eight mills, and the total county levy for other purposes is twelve and one-tenths mills, and the total county levy for other purposes is twelve and one-tenth mills. Harrison villa…

Katherine Graham, wife of Doctor Graham, who located the ranch in eighteen seventy-eight, called the few neighbors and the cowboys together and held services at regular intervals after that date. Reverend J. H. Skinner in eighteen eighty-eight came to Harrison and preached in a building on Main street where the Lowry hotel is now situated, until the first Methodist church was built. Reveren…

Albertson and Edward McGill followed in turn, and in September, nineteen twenty. Reverend Clare L. Yan Metre arrived and he has splendidly followed up the work. The church now has a membership of about one hundred and the Sunday school an enrollment of one hundred seventy-two. A new and modern church edifice is contemplated in the near future. Harrison's other church is the Catholic's. When …

BANKING AND FINANCE -- FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS -- INDUSTRIES The story of the banks in Sioux county tells the story of its material progress only in part, because many of Sioux county people do their banking in adjoining counties : Lusk and Torrington, Wyoming ; Ardmore, South Dakota; Crawford, Hemingford, Marsland, Alliance, Henry, Morrill, Mitchell, Scottsbluff, and Minatare, all the latte…

The bank was called the Bank of Harrison. The next bank organized was called the Commercial State Bank. B. E. Brewster was president ; C. F. Coffee the vice president, and Chas. C. Jameson, cashier. The names of these three men have been written in large letters upon the northwestern part of Nebraska. March seventeenth, nineteen hundred four, this bank had a capital of ten thousand, and t…

Its capital stock is fifty thousand, its surplus forty-five thousand, and deposits over onehalf a million. It has loans and discounts reaching five hundred and seventy-nine thousand, cash and exchange, fifty-eight thousand three hundred; real estate about eleven thousand, and bonds, stocks and securities thirty-seven thousand dollars, according to its statement of December twenty-ninth, nin…

Many people around Scottsbluff are well acquainted with Mrs. George Gerlach, whose acquaintance they delighted in when she was living there as Miss Crete Powell. Under the present stress and pressure of the federal reserve and ethers high in finance, and the consequent slump of prices of farm products and livestock, the banks of Harrison have held up strongly and steadily with "nose to th…

This was organized April twenty-fifth, eighteen ninety-five, with an even twelve charter members, as follows :_ W. C. Bonsell, Albert R. Dew, J. E. Phinney, Tames W. Scott, Junius W. Smith, E. E. Smilev. Samuel L. Ulery, Charles H. Unitt, Joseph C. Varley, T. 6. Williams, H. S. YVoodruff and Wm. B. Wright. This fraternity also is still a virile institution with forty-six members. The present…

The present officers are : Clara Unitt, oracle ; Elizabeth Davis, vice oracle ; Alice Davis, recorder, and Zua Wilhermsdorfer, receiver. The first lodge organized in Harrison outside of the fraternal beneficiary institutions was that of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, on August twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred six. Edward F. Pontius was noble grand. Other charter members were : J. H. …

F. Wilhermsdorfer, Miss Karma D. Priddy, Mrs. Maggie Priddy, Mrs. Avis A. Burke, Mrs. Ella M. Newlin, Mrs. Elizabeth Pontius, Mrs. Mattie A. Parsons, Mrs. Ida M . Proctor, Mrs. Maude Shorow, Mrs. Emma Bige low, Mrs. Elizabeth Bigelow, Mr-. Ella Wilson, Mrs. Fannie Murphy, John II. Nfewlin, Vernon Hanson, Chris Shorow, E. V Bigelow, John D. Proctor, and William Murphy. Carrie Woodruff is the pre…

Hall, David W. Hamaker, Daniel Jordan, Thos. C. Lewis, Andrew McGinley, John E. Mann, John Marking, Joseph C. Parsons, George F. Phillips, Edward F. Pontius, Tressie M. Powell, Walter C. Reed, Albert L. Schnurr, Nathan R. Tisdale, Charles H. Unitt, Francis H. Wallace, Cyrus O. Wertz, Jerman B. Wilkerson. There are sixty-seven Mason members of this order at the present time, and the officers no…

The old-timers are strung the length and breadth of the county, from Joe Sanford on the south to John Anderson on the north, from Scotty Henderson and Ben Swanson to the Wyoming line. Stock Industry Back in the beginning the buffalo ranged the pastures of Sioux county, and then came the time of the big herds of cattle. This in time passed and the smaller ranchman came to be the prosperou…

The increased uses of automobiles, trucks and tractors in the last three or four years accounts for the decline in the number of horses. A recent movement is to increase the number of dairy cattle in the county. This means new prosperity, for where the dairy cow goes there are fine houses and big farms and incidentally creameries and bank accounts. The record of one eastern bank is an inc…

This is but limited, except under the government irrigation canal, in the south part of the county, and here are the fertile fields of the Dutch flats, the Iowa flats, Sheep creek country and the Spottedtail region. Scattered spots have been irrigated on the Niobrara river. Snake creek, Hat creek and White river, and where irrigated are wonderful yields of alfalfa, potatoes, sugar beets and n…

The virgin character of Sioux county soils are being exploited at the present time and it may be that valuable minerals, such as vanadium, thorium, and mica may be found in quantity to mean mineral wealth to the count}-. But the mind of her people has lately been drifting towards the great probability that oil and gas underlie a considerable portion of the land. This is emphasized by the st…

While the matters are not given out concerning what the well has developed, it is believed that paying sands have been reached, although the promoters are going to the deeper and more productive sands. A group of Columbus parties, including lieutenant governor Edgar Howard, are arranging to put up a drill on Cottonwood about ten or twelve miles northwest of Harrison, and geologist G. W. Har…

Satterlee and others, Governor Dawes issued a proclamation for the organization of Sioux county with its present boundaries. As previously stated the unorganized county was much larger, but in ones and twos and numbers, counties had been taken from it circumscribing its boundaries to those that now prevail. As is stated in the history of Dawes county, many of the inhabitants there desired th…

The county was divided into four voting precincts only, and the clerk was instructed to have ballots prepared and the election was called for November fourth. The precincts named were : War Bonnet, with the polling place at S. E. ranch ; Bowen precinct, with polling place in the building owned by T- G. Morris; White river, with the polling place at the residence of C. H. Rigdon, and Running …

Lockwood ; attorney, Edward D. Satterlee ; superintendent, Benjamin F. Thomas; sheriff, J. F. Pfost; surveyor, William M. Pennington; coroner, Charles H. Andrews, and commissioners. J. G. Morris, A. M. McGinley and Daniel Klein. The county seat was located at Harrison. On November twenty-fourth the county official paper was named for the first time -- the Sioux County Herald. At the commissi…

Decker, of White river precinct, was the first constable in the county to qualify. Herd Law Repealed On January twenty-fifth a vote was taken upon the question of herd law or no herd law. Previously to that date, cattle were permitted under the law to roam at will, and the homesteader had to protect his crops as best It* could. This election changed the method however for the herd-law carr…

Whistle Creek, Robert Neice. The next meeting of the board was April twenty-ninth, at which the first liquor New Road, Monroe C, Xf.ak Harrison license in Sic'itx county was ordered issued to Charles H. Weller, who made it a practice to be about the first man on hand at the towns along the railroad. Harrison was not incorporated, so it was a county license for the precinct of Bowen, and …

The first brand committee appointed in Sioux count}' was in February, eighteen eighty-seven, and consisted of George Walker and Samuel B. Coffee. Owing to the creation of commissioner's districts throwing two of the members of the board in one district, and one of the other districts being without a member. Commissioner Morris resigned March fifteenth, and Samuel B. Coffee was appointed to …

The nineteen twenty returns of railroad property with the added Burlington railroad, seems to be considered worth less money than the value of eighteen eighty-seven. Personal property, by comparison seems to have about doubled, and real estate increased ten-fold. On June twentieth, eighteen eighty-seven, the name Bowen was changed to Harrison. The courthouse of Sioux county, while commodio…

This goes to show that official berths are not always what they seem to be -- a bed of roses. Verity refused . to remain longer in the office, and resigned on Julv twentieth. Following Verity, John W. Hunter was appointed and then elected. Sleightholme Barker was then judge for four years, and S. H. Jones was special judge in a few specific cases. Chas. Verity was in eighteen ninety-twc< …

He served for six terms or a total of twelve years, and then declined to be a candidate for re-election. In February, nineteen nine, Justin Wilhermsdcrfer was appointed a special judge, and in nineteen twent\'-one he returned to the office by election. In October, nineteen sixteen, and again in June, nineteen nineteen. E. F. Pontius had the service of special judg'e in a number of cases. Ju…

Raum, recently killed near Glen by the fall of a horse he was riding, served two terms following nineteen hundred. Then came the long and wonderfully efficient record of E. F. Pontius. Six terms, or a total of twelve years, he held the dual office of county clerk and clerk of the district court. Cyrus O. Wertz served one term following and his record was up to the high standard of excellence…

Jordan then followed for two terms, and Thos. S: Boyd succeeded him for two terms. In nineteen seventeen the present treasurer. Fred W. Meyer, was elected. He was re-elected in nineteen nineteen, and the change in the law gives him additional service for two years. Mr. Meyer has proven an excellent official, and has for his deputy, Jess Anderson, and is up to the standard of capableness an…

John Barky was elected in nineteen four, and Arthur F. Becker in nineteen eight. Mary J. Fenske was chosen in nineteen twelve and served five years. In nineteen seventeen Miss Vinnie Newell was superintendent, and re-elected two years later. In January of the present year, nineteen twenty-one, she began her third term, but under a different name. One of the romances of Sioux county occurred …

Before Lowry was chosen in the first instance Edwin B. Lyon occupied the office from October, nineteen hundred, to January, nineteen one. After Lowry had served two terms, Lyon was elected and he held the office for two terms. In nineteen ten Oscar F. Ward took over the sheriff's office, after which he served three terms. Then the law enforcement duty fell to Geo. W. Hill, who is beginning h…

Grant Guthrie was appointed to fill the vacancy, afterwards elected for a full term. M. J. O'Connell was elected and took the office in eighteen ninety-nine, being reelected five times, making a total service of twelve years. Fern Samuel Baker, who succeeded him, has a record about as long. By the close of his present term he will have attained the distinction of being the one who has had t…

Green, and Chas. U. Grove. In the following years the count}- lias had for its "county dads" some of the best men in the county, and all the time has been ably and economically handled. The following list will show the high character of the men who have managed the county business. In the nineties there were Fred W. Knott. M. 1. Weber. I:. F. Johnson, Frank Tinkham, I. Mittlen. Jens C. Meng,…

SIOUX COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR -- EARLY SCHOOLS -- WILD LIFE The part that western Nebraska performed in the World War will never be forgotten by the grateful people of the community and the republic. We may feel that we are paying great penalty when we make out the income tax report or otherwise contribute to the war taxes that are found on nearly every theater ticket, or drink at the soda fo…

In many counties, "'every scrap of paper'' connected with the draft has been sent to the federal authorities at the Washington war department, but in a few counties the clerks or others interested, made a list of those who were inducted into the draft, and the record of each. County clerk Earl R. Cherry is one of the few that realized the importance of this, and saved a list, which the public…

Selby, Henry Kistler, Stanley B." Paulis, Roy Buckley, Bennie N. Nortness, Iver T. Lingwood, John Markuson, Charles W. Reedy, Albert A. Lechner, Brownie D. Phinney. Herbert D. Mann. Victor H. Mets, Arthur E. Saxton, Frank M. Baumgardner, De P. Davis, Bert G. Mielke, Ivor Meeker, George E. Casson, Bruce B. Morten, Henry M. Bourne, George L. Davis, Jeremiah Snyder, Paul C. Gieke, Frank B. Ander…

Larsen, Ju Gerl, Marcellus H. Howard, John Marking. Five who went failed to return. Those The Red Cross was commanded bj Reverend Clare Van Metre, as chairman, and Mrs. Maude Pontius, secretary. Among those must active were A. L. Schnurr, Mrs. Charles Unitt, Mrs. John Martin, and John Marsteller. The splendid work of this branch of war activities is best told 1>\ the fact that it never falt…

The record does not show the names of these who volunteered, and in some of the counties this is being collected through the assessors. It should be done throughout the United States. A. L. Schnurr was most active in home work and had charge of the bond drives, thrift stamp drives, and various other activities. Sioux county never failed to respond and go over the top. man, and the work of…

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 foster…

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…

Andrews and Glen are on the Northwestern railroad, and no other station is named on that road or the Burlington. In the interior of the county are a number of postoffices and small stores for the convenience of their immediate neighborhoods and the pressing wants thereof. Much of the merchandising needs of Sioux county are supplied by towns and cities in adjoining counties, on the east an…

McClarey is the tonsorial artist, and Frank Beerbower runs a pool hall. Doctor Borglum and the Doctors Priest look after the general health, while F. H. Wallace is the dentist. A. C. Davis is general abstractor, and C. P. Broderick is auctioneer. Airs. Louise Peters operates a creamery station, and there is a movie show twice a week. This is given in the opera house which was erected by the …

Pontius are not surprised at this, for their names are synonyms of neighborly kindness and personal friendship. E. F. Pontius was the first head of the first fraternal and beneficial organization in the county, the Woodmen of the World, and he is the present secretary, and Mrs. Pontius is a charter member of the first woman's fraternal in the county. Mr. Pontius was a charter member of the …

Where achievement stands out so boldly it is indeed remarkable that the principal should let the record alone tell the story. The fellowship of Sioux county would not have been so complete had it not been for the activities of the Pontius folks. That First School The story of the organization of the first school in Sioux county is variously told, particularly that part relating to the iden…

In eighteen eighty-five, "Mollie" Delahunty was teaching in Antelopeville (now Kimball) and staying at the home of the Lynchs. Jennie Hunt is frequently referred to and believed to be the first teacher, but according to Oberfelder, she must have followed Miss Delahunty. This is also supported by the record of teachers' certificates issued in Cheyenne county. Daniel Klein says that the first …

While rambling through the hills northwest of tin town, he stumbled upon the slightly exposed remains of some of the Indians that had fallen when Dull Knife's band had made its break for liberty from the barracks al Fort Robinson. Among his findings was the scalp and long hair of an Indian, and a skull. He decorated his. own head with the wig of the Indian and elevated the skull upon a sti…

One hole of large size started at the creek bed. and came out upon the bench level at the point where they were excavating. In their work they had dug away a part of the upper end of the runway. Dusk had fallen and the young men were still persevering in the work. The dog started a rabbit along the creek bed and as it reached the lower opening, it darted in with the dog in full pursuit. Up …

He was staying in a cabin in the pine ridges, taking care of some cattle and he had a quarter of fresh beef hung outside on the corner of the cabin. One night he heard a prowler and thinking it was a coyote, he slipped on his trousers and ran outside to scare it away. As he rounded the corner of the cabin, a huge shadow loped around the next corner. It seemed to be as large as a small bear…

Abundant Wild Life In the days when Harrison was in its swaddling clothes, wild life was very abundant thereabouts. As many as a dozen or fourteen in a pack, the grey wolves roamed through the pine ridges, after sheep, youngcattle or colts, ham-stringing and pulling down yearlings when needing them for fcod. In the Spoon Butte country there was once one of the largest bunches of antelope th…

either unafraid of them, or is so terrorized that it will fight them with the wonderful skill of the wilderness. When an antelope finds a rattlesnake it immediately gives battle. Its manner of attack is three quick jumps. The second time its hoofs strike the ground it is with great rapidity, directly upon the snake and away before it has time to strike. Time after time it repeats the maneuv…

A fire guard is to be plowed around the den at a safe distance, and then a truck having several barrels of gasoline will be run over the recks and the gasoline emptied into the den. The truck will be driven outside the fire guard, and the prairie within the circle set on fire. It is believed that after the fire reaches the gasolene there will be short work of the snakes. This being probably…

True I had never heard of Cooke at that time, but there are thousands who for the first time have beheld the pine ridges of Nebraska, have heard their hearts say to them the same words. We who have lived here long have grown familiar, and day after day in the plodding toil of men we notice them not. Yet occasionally we will straighten our shoulders and look out across the hill or plain, an…

The county of Kimball adjoins the state of Wyoming on the west and Colorado on the south, and is the southwestern corner countv of the Western Nestate government until 1888, when its division from Cheyenne county was effected. But before that time settlers had entered the western corner of great Cheyenne county and started Antelopeville (now Kimball) and Bushnell. The population of the count…

The total population of 1912 reported in the 1910 census has increased to 4,498 in 1920, more than doubling in the intervening decade. Approximately one-half of the population of the county is in the towns of Kimball, Dix, and Bushnell, and the major portion of the other half in the Lodgepole Creek valley and around the inland settlements of Crossbar, Beacon, Bethel and Leaf dale, and around…

The federal aid road north from Kimball to Harrisburg, Gering and Scottsbluff is generally in excellent condition. First Settlement in the County The first permanent settlements in Kimball county were made about 1868. This was about the time the Union Pacific railroad was extended through the county. But the very early history of Kimball county is most extensively covered in other parts of …

Prescott, and others whose names will appear throughout the portion of this work given to Kimball and Cheyenne counties. Descriptions of life upon the ranches prior to the advent of the Union Pacific road, and the identity of the various ranches after the arrival of the railroad will be left to another portion of this work. A description of the trials and troubles of the Indian days will …

Early Settlement of Kimball and Vicinity The purchase bv Hon. |. T. Clarkson, from the U. P. Ry. Co. of a'll of their lands lying south of the railway, from the vicinity i >i" Pi itter, near the \\ estern edge of the present Cheyenne count}, across the presenl Kimball count}, to the Wyoming line, was the first step toward the settlement of the western end of old Cheyenne count}-, or prese…

The Bay State Company, through its president, H. H. Robinson, made a tender to the Union Pacific people. Later the bondholders of the Union Pacific brought foreclosure proceedings on their bonds ; and then the Bay State people intervened on their contract, and on a compromise reached, the government ratified afterwards. The land in the vicinity of present Kimball county not involved in these…

Menges had at one time practically a thousand acres, which since his departure has been split up and sold to various parties. J. J. Kinney's ranches, which expanded to about four thousand acres, were west of town, on both sides of the railroad. He sold these holdings to H. A. Clark of Columbus, who disposed of them to Wm. Webster, of Kansas City. While part of this ranch has been split up. …

A good grasp of the state of progress then made by Kimball county can be secured from that portion of a booklet issued in 1886 by a "Guide to the Lands cf Cheyenne County." issued that year by the members of the Real Estate Association of Cheyenne county, Nebraska. Those members of that association then living within the present confines of Kimball county were: Jones & Stevens, S. F. Fleh…

The beginning of the present crop season was very unfavorable ; all over the country there was a phenomenal drought, our state suffering with the rest, though the drouth ended in Cheyenne county several weeks earlier than in other parts of the country. Heavy rains in the early part of July saved our crops ; after that time, at frequent intervals for several weeks, the whole of western Nebra…

There is also one hardware store, a drug store, a shoe shop, and a first-class lumber yard. The Bank of Kimball was recently established and opened in a neat and commodious building. A newspaper, the Nebraska Observer, was started here in the spring of 1885; it has flourished and done much to promote the settlement of the country. The fact that Kimball is sure to become a county seat when the…

One of the picturesque characters who has played an inseparable and invaluable part in not only starting but building the community of Kimball, is Mrs. Alary Lynch, who upon June 24. 1919, celebrated her eighty-seventh birthday and at the same time marking practically the period of forty-six years' residence in Kimball. At that time this noble "grandmother" of the town of Kimball was in a ver…

This message read, "With your ether old friends and admirers may I also extend my congratulations and best wishes on your eighty-seventh anniversary and with added hope that through the years to come there will be many sunshiny days. In recalling your many kindnesses in the old days when a youngster at Kimball and how you lectured me. I am reminded of the daily newspaper picture, 'When a fe…

Lynch, the compiler secured seme of the points from her, as she could remember them, the morning after this memorable birthday party. Mrs. Lynch narrates that she came out to Kimball in 1873. Mr. Darling was then agent for the Union Pacific. He later moved her here from below Sidney near Colton, to run the section house. There were then no houses here but a few 'dobes where the section me…

ity of this place grew so swiftly that many of the railroad men would eat with her and would arrange their work in order to take a meal with her instead of staying at Sidney. Mrs. Lynch relates that when she was in Colton the Indians came during the two were mostly Sioux and Cheyenne. The government furnished them with provisions but they did not know how to use them. They would trade their…

People came in from Illinois and especially from Chicago and from all over the country east of here and were astonished to find that potatoes could be grown here without irrigation. The impression had become general that this part of the country was so dry that nothing could be raised. Of course a few years later when the drouth came on this, it became true and only those who did not have …

Mother Lynch relates an incident connected with the storm of 1873, the biggest that this part of the country had ever known. She says a train got as far as Kimball and had to stop here. They faced starvation unless they could get succor from outside. The conductor worked his way over to Lynch's to get meals. With him he brought a lawyer from Chicago named Clayton. This "high-toned" lawyer at…

Lynch said she soon attended to influencing him into having a school here anyway. She relates while Mr. Kinney sided in with them, "I told him we were going to get it." Mrs. Lynch gave notice that she could not stay there without a school building. A train man came in about that time and asked her why she was leaving town and she said on account of there being no schools. The trainman said…

Lynch's took a claim about seven miles west of town and held it until they proved up. On account of sickness and ill health, Mrs. Lynch had to give up the hotel. After that she had an operation in Omaha, then she came back and made her home with her sonin-law. Mr. Bushee wanted to go in the hotel, so she took a house in as part payment which she later sold to her son-in-law, and then moved t…

She has one son, Dennis, in Iowa Falls, and two sons by her second husband now living in Wyoming: James in Casper, and Mike elsewhere in the state. In the cow-boy days, Mother Lynch had to take care of the cow-boys as well as the railroad beys. Familiar figaires in those days included the McShanes, especially Tom, a cousin of John McShane. Jim Shaw was another figure. One of her sons, Mik…

Lynch recounts that Kimball has remained a pretty dry county through all its history and never had a real bad fight or had anybody killed in a drunken brawl. County Division The agitation for a division of Cheyenne county started rather actively as early as 1884." One of the leading spirits in 'this movement was Theo. Menges, a real estate agent at that time. He unceasingly and untiringly …

A futile effort to submit the question was made in January, 1888, when a petition signed by Charles Anderson and 122 others was filed, asking the board to set aside a territory named therein into a county to be called "1 'otter" and a vote be taken thereon at the next general election. The board found that this petition did not contain a majority of the legal voters residing in the territo…

The proposition made for a count}' that would give Potter a county-seat placed Sidney right on a county line and would deprive her of any county seat, and drove Sidney to a point where her adherents had to favor the final division proposition. The division adherents figured if they would make the next trial on a plan that would give Lodgepole and Potter county seat chances and still leave …

M., thence west on township line between Townships 16 and 17, North, to a point where the line intersects with the east boundary line of the Territory of Wyoming, and thence south along the west boundary line of the State of Nebraska to a point where said line intersects with the north boundary line of the Slate <<\ Ci >li >- rado, and thence east ah ng the south boundary line of the Stale…

vicinity), 101 for, 3 against; Sidney, 74 for, 241 against; Lodgepole, 14 for, 145 against; Potter, 3 for, '101 against; Chappell, 159 for, 1 against ; Big Springs, 41 for, 84 against ; Dix, 7 for, 26 against : Pumpkin Creek, 39 for, 3 against ; Bronson, 29 for, 21 against; Bushnell, 3 for. 21 against; Hull, 19 for. 63 against; Long Springs, 38 for, 66 against; Wright, 51 for, 71 against; …

A brief review of the vote cast in November, 1887, on the first proposal forming two new counties, and making three counties out of Cheyenne, would serve the purpose of showing the divisions by precincts and communities that Cheyenne county had then been formed into. Lost Creek, 2 for, 5 against; Tabor, 2 for, 7 against; Coulton, 3 for, 19 against; Antelope (now Kimball Kiowa, 50 for, 5 aga…

B. Evans, justice of peace and assessor by election that fall, for Antelope precinct. In 1874. J. J. Mcintosh was justice of the peace and road supervisor and T. B. Evans, justice of the peace. H. V. Redington was justice of the peace and road supervisor for Potter, and also served about this time as county commissioner from Potter and vicinity. Officers who served Antelope precinct about 18…

At a jail election held on May 13, 1879. the voting for Antelope precinct was done at the Union Pacific railroad station at Antelopeville. This election called for the submission of a five mill tax to build a jail, and in Cheyenne county as a whole carried by a vote of 236 to 12. At a special election on April 5, 1881, the proposition of issuing $20,000 of bonds for funding of warrants of …

Dix vicinity of the eastern portion of present Kimball county. He was born in Province of Ontario, Can., at a place named St. Andrews, June 17, 1850. and married in Omaha,. Neb., in 1871, to Miss Mary Heelan, of Chicago, III. His wife died in April, 1875. By their union they had two sons, John Thomas and James L. He was married again at a later date in Sidney, to Miss Mollie Kelly of Grand I…

Chattborg, as judges, and IP Vogler and John Clausen as clerks. When Kimball count)- was given separate organization in 1888, its first officers were Samuel Woolridge, county clerk and clerk of district court; N. IP Carman, county treasurer; J. B. Timmony. county attorney; George W. Beard, county judge; I'M Rathburn, sheriff; Rufus Cooley, county superintendent of schools; L. R. Markley, co…

Beard became treasurer, and his successor in 1916 was the present county treasurer. Isaac Roush. County Attorneys The record of county attorneyship will pretty well reflect the history of the Bar of Kimball County, for most of her lawyers have been honored with the public prosecutorship at one time or another. After J. B. Timmony, the next county attorney was James W. Davis; in 1892, J, J. …

Marshall undertook this office, and his successor was W. J. Leoning. In 1895, H. H. Prouty became judge and in 1899, Gus Linn was elected judge. H. H. Prouty then resumed the office and served for about ten years. Geo. W. Wright then became judge for a term and he was succeeded by P. Schwenk, and in 1913 a second long incumbency began when the present efficient county judge assumed the office…

In 1901 Alice Wilkinson assumed the office, and two years later B. K. Bushee returned to the work. In 1905 Alice Wilkinson returned to the office and served until Nellie M. Crandall took office in 1910. In 1912, Claude L. Alden succeeded to this office, and his successor was Ethel McElheney, who held until the advent of the present superintendent, Racheal McElrcy, who has served four years an…

Drake has held this post in recent years and is the present incumbent. County Commissioners As heretofore noted, the first board of commissioners to undertake the administration of the affairs of Kimball county consisted of L. W. Bickel, James Newell and Henry Cholberg. In 1889. Newell remained over with J. H. Campbell and J. V. Brady as new colleagues. In 1890 J. T. Jefferson succeeded Ca…

H. Amos. In 1911, John Claussen returned t>. duty upon the board and served with Amos and Johnson. In 1912. Charles F. Snyder succeeded Johnson. J. Pedrett came on in Amos' seat the following winter. Pedrett and Snyder remained in 1914 with Joe Peverly as the new member. In 1915, Snyder remained on duty, but W. D. Atkins and Henry Phillips were the new members. These three faithfuls served …

Rodman is the present and only other member of the house of representatives from the county, serving his second term. I'.. K. Bushee was the first member of the state senate from Kimball county, now serving his fifth term, and once serving as president pro tern of the senate. William L. Bates was the first and only state official to be elected from Kimball county, and he is now serving as re…

The county consists of a moderately rolling plain, dissected by the valley of Lodgepole creek, from one to two miles wide and about 200 feet deep, extending across the center of the count}' in an east-west direc tion. It is sharply defined, with broad areas of undulating table-land on each side. The valley ' is characterized by steep upper slopes, or bluffs, with gentle, extended slopes at …

Along- the lower courses of the larger draws, however, the valleys are sharply cut into the plain and are defined on their outer edges by steep slopes or bluffs, which in a few places are rugged and barren of soil. The floors of the small valleys, however, are comparatively wide and nearly level. Small, isolated, leveltopped hills or buttes and low, rounded knolls seldom more than twenty t…

Short draws occur throughout the upland, so that no part of the county is poorly drained, except some of the low bottom land along Lodgepole creek. The draws are dry throughout the year, except immediately after heavy rainstorms. Lodgepole creek has a small flow of water. It is a perennial stream, although for a few miles of its course in the eastern part of the county it disappears benea…

The average date of the latest killing frost in the spring is May 16, and of the first in the fall, September 21, giving a normal growing season of 128 days. However, frosts frequently occur as late as June and as early as August. The earliest recorded date of killing frost in the fall is August 25, and the latest in the spring, June 5. The grazing season lasts ordinarily from the middle …

Stockraising continued the dominant industry until about 1905, when a federal law was enacted under which the public land could be homesteaded in tracts of 640 acres, and the lands rapidly passed into private ownership. This had the effect of breaking up the large cattle ranches and giving an impetus to farming. Many of the homesteaders, however, practiced farming for only a short time, and a…

It seems to be the general experience that the winter wheat slightly exceeds the spring wheat in yield. Corn is generally grown on the upland as a feed crop for use on the farm. The varieties grown produce smaller stalks and smaller ears than those of the eastern part of the state. The White Cap Dent seems to be one of the most successful varieties, and good yields have been obtained from B…

On the upland alfalfa is both planted in rows and cultivated, and seeded broadcast, the yields being considerably less than on the irrigated land. The quality of the alfalfa grown in the county is good. Irish potatoes constitute one of the special cash crops of the county. This crop is grown principally under irrigation in the Lodgepole valley. The yields are commonly 150 to 175 bushels per…

Small numbers of cattle, sheep, and hogs are fed for market in good crop years. Alfalfa is the principal feed crop, while corn, barley, beet tops, oats, emmer, and such other feed and forage crops as may have succeeded during the season are utilized. I >airying is carried on to a small extent, but is a comparatively unimportant industry. Sufficient milk and butter is produced to supply the …

The law-makers at Washington either did not know (.r did not take into ci nsideration the fact that there was a whole lot of land in southwestern Nebraska that doe- not belong in the sand hill classification and is a virtual garden spot, but it came within their laws all to the fortunate and yet deserving efforts of these settlers whose goi d judgment led them to that locality. One of the…

The Farmers Union Co-operative Association of Bushnell was organized May 19, 1917, with the following charter members : E. T- McKinnon, G. A. Millett, G. E. Bloomfield, Arthur Olson, L. N. Van Pelt, Geo. Schindler, Lee Hall, Glenn Williams, H. J. Miller, H. C. Bloomfield, J. L. Miller, W. F. Choffer. W. E. Daniels, S. H. Wright, H. L. Wright, Lon Van Pelt, Mrs. F. U. Van Pelt, W. R. Jones, C. O…

Huff, Lee Reed, Thomas Phillips. Walt J. Blackmail and Miss Esther V. Ernst. The Kimball Farm Association was flourishing as early as 1914. The officers for that year were : President, Geo. Ernst ; vice president, John Tucker; secretary, E. O. Ulrich ; treasurer, F. J. Bellows. The governing board was John Irwin, John Rassmussen, John Clausen, D. K. Atkins, Jake Pedrett, Will Nelson, Chris T…

A roster of the workers of this association shows who had been the active business people and agricultural people of that vicinity in recent years. E. E. Coding. John Clausen, C. O. Anderson, D. K. Alkins, Hans Gunderson, A. B. Beard, L. C. Christenson, Claude Alden, Hans Hansen, Fritz Rotke, Emil Anderson, John Blake, J. A. Irwin, Louis Nielson, Foster Lumber Company, John Graham, L. W. Thors…

The group in attendance made a trip to Fort Collins and Greeley, potato region, from Kimball and made a special study of potato experiments. Farm Bureau Kimball county was one of the first counties in the state to take up the farm bureau work. It was first organized in 1915, and has shown a steady growth from year to year. Since the organization there have been five countv agents: Geo. Un…

The local organization also belongs to the Nebraska Potato Exchange. Their county exhibit took first place at the state show. The sugar beet growers were organ ized into an association of thirty-two members and secured a modern dump at ( Iwasco. Experiments were conducted with the following miscellaneous crops: kaffir, feterita, broom corn, and limine grass. A strenuous campaign was waged f…

The splendid agricultural record of Kimball county is reflected by the various achievements of its citizens at the state and county fairs in the past few years. In 1913 Kimball and three neighboring counties carried off fifty-one prizes at the state fair. Premiums awarded Kimball county were : First on red spring wheat in bundle, Nelson. First on Durham wheat in bundle. Nelson. First on w…

In the irrigated divisions, Morrill, Lincoln and Keith carried away the honors. District Honors Kimball county won sixty-two per cent of all prizes at Rushville show. Kimball not only landed the 1920 convention of the Western Nebraska Potato Growers, but carried away sixty-two per cent of the prizes at this year's meeting. Kimball sent 1,600 pounds of her choice spuds to the exhibition hel…

Bradt, first; Pearl, E. J. Horrum, second ; Pearl, Henry Yogler. third; Pearl, C. S. Bradt. fourth; Blue Aletors, C S. Bradt, first ; Blue Victors, Conrad Trout, second; Downing. Aug. Gadeken, first ; Downing. Aug. Gadeken, second ; Triumphs. Gus Forsling, third ; Cobbler, Reuben Peterson, first ; Cobbler, Reuben Peterson, second ; Russet Burbank, Aug. Gadeken. first; Russet Burbank, Fay White…

In more recent years the granger came and settled in the valley and on the table lands surrounding, producing good crops by scientific methods of dry farming. Forty per cent of the land in the district is under cultivation. But to the minds of the settlers the fact has been apparent for man}' years that eventually where practicable the country should be, and must be irrigated to produce th…

It is estimated by many irrigation experts that one acre foot of water is sufficient to irrigate one acre of land, but the Kimball project is not dependent upon this calculation because it is the first and only reservoir filling on the creek and its water appropriation entitles it to approximately 9.000 acre-feet of water during the year, which can be obtained by refilling from the stream …

A rocky ledge on the south side of the reservoir furnishes a natural spillway of ample capacity to take care of the situation in the event the reservoir should be filled to overflowing, providing the necessary outlet for this surplus so that none of this water can go over the dam. A second reservoir site is owned by the district, which is located on the same creek six miles west of the < …

As previously stated, an important feature of the Kimball project is the close proximity of the storage reservoir to the land which it is intended to irrigate. The outlet canal is only one-half mile long, and at the point where it reaches the land of the district, divisii n gates are located. At this point two main canals branch off. One is known as the South canal and is flumed across the…

This is especially advantageous for the raising of heavy tonnage crops such as potatoes, sugar beets and alfalfa. The organization of the Kimball Irrigation District was consummated on November 6, 1909. at an election of land owners in the district who were qualified voters. There was not one dissenting vote at this election. Their organization wa- brought about through the efforts of four …

These were issued under date of July 1, 1911. They were sold during 1911, the purchasers being mostly local men. When the Kimball Irrigation District formation was attempted in August, 1909, the petition was signed by Irving Walker, Will Davies, C. A. Eorsling, Henry Vogler, Fred Morgon, Thos. Wilkinson, Chas. Dillon, A. H. Amos, G. S. Brady, J. Pedrett, H. A. Clarke, L. H. Lilly, John Ewban…

He is an expert on irrigation projects, having been a resident of the Greeley, Colorado, district for more than thirty years. The preliminary survey for the district was made in 1905 by H. O. Smith, who at that time was deputy state engineer of the state of Nebraska, and the first estimates were made by him for Messrs. W. Walker, Maginnis and Forsling, Mr. Lemon not being a resident of the c…

The contract was let to Atchison and Dailey of Fort Morgan, August 14, 1910, and by December 1, 1911, the entire work was practically completed, a few details only remained. The cost of construction was $235,000, or approximately $33.00 an acre. No irrigation project was ever completed in such short time, and the promoters point with pride to the fact that the cost was approximately the sam…

These cost $35,500 in place. The largest flume is 1100 feet long and has a maximum height of fifty-six feet. The financial condition is A-l. There are no unpaid interest coupons, all semi-annual interest on bonds has been promptly paid since issued. Very few registered warrants on general fund, said warrants taken at par by the banks. Cost of maintenance for 1914, sixty cents per acre; for …

Lodgepole Irrigation Company The Lodgepole Irrigation Company was organized in November, 1913. with $250,000 capital stock. The announced intention of this company upon its organization being to put the Bennett Live Stuck Company's range, overtake all fertile acres into irrigation and divide into eighty-acre tracts for sale to settlers. This range was then composed of approximately 5,000 ac…

The progress of the county to its present high state of development in this, or in other lines, is fairly well measured by the evolution of its transportation and highway facilities whose first entrance for proper facilities beyond the original trails and the tourist was of course the arrival of the U. P. "Trans-continental Railroad." This long preceded the establishment of Kimball county as…

The interesting story of the inception and consummation of the dreams of the "Transcontinental" rail-builders who gave this wonderful system to the great west, can best be distinguished in the words of one who played a leading part in the scenes of those days. Ox the P. I'. Trail Major-General Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific railway from 1866 to 1870, the period of…

One of these bills passed one of the houses of Congress. "The route was made by the buffalo, next used by the Indians, then by the fur traders, next by the Mormons, and then by the overland immigration to California and Oregon. It was known as the Great Platte Valley Route. On this trail, or close to it, was built the Union and Central Pacific railroads to California, and the Oregon Short L…

Dey, who had been a division engineer of the Rock Island and was chief engineer of the M. & M. in Iowa, I made the first survey across the state of Iowa, and the first reconnoissances and surveys on the Union Pacific for the purpose of determining where the one would end and the ether commence, on the Missouri river. I crossed the Missouri river in the fall of 1853 and made our explorations…

Farnum and Durant and obtaining from voyagers, immigrants, and others all the information I could in regard to the country farther west. There was keen competition at that time for the control of the vast immigration crossing the plains, and Kansas City, Fort Leavenworth (then the government post), St. Joseph and Council Bluffs were points of concentration on the Missouri. The trails from al…

Distributed broadcast by the local interests of this route the map and itinerary had no small influence in turning the mass of overland immigration to Council Bluffs, where it crossed the Missouri and took the great Platte valley route. This route was up that valley to its fork to Salt Lake and California by way of the Humboldt, and to Oregon by the way of the Snake and Columbia rivers. This…

In commenting upon how this road obtained its name, General Dodge narrates that various lines proposed had received the names of the "North Route," "Buffalo Trail," "South Route," but that in 1858 a bill was fostered that gave out the name "Union Pacific." One of the arguments advanced for the bill that eventually passed was that the route proposed would tend to hold the people of the Paci…

"In the winter of 1866 we planned to build the next 288 miles to Fort Sanders. As cur work had to be clone under the protection of the military, I was continually in communication with General Sherman. Although he had expressed the belief that our proposition of building so far in 1867 would be almost a miracle, yet during the year 1867 we reached the summit cf the Black Hills and finishing…

state in the following biennium came forth the gigantic appropriations and program of the 1919 legislatures and the federal aid providing approximately $10,000,000 for the construction of some 4,200 miles of state highways mapped out by the state engini er. The Kirrlball-Harrisburg project of 19.85 miles secured a very early place on the lists of projects as No. 16, in the state, far ahead …

The ccntribtuors in 1913 were: ]. W. Ewbank. Chas, Anderson, F. M. Wooldridge, C. W. Richards. C. L. Alden. L. H. Lilly, George Yogler, Bank of Kimball, I). C. Mockett, J. L. Jones. C. E. Lockwood, Hubbard & Nugent, F. E. Reader, Gus Linn, B. K. Bushee. V. I'.. Car-ill. Sam Hanna. Will Young, 1. A. Tracy, [saac Roush, E. T- Dillon, P. Maginnis, I. S. Walker, Hans Nelson. Fred Morgan, F. M. Whi…

T. Dillon, Reo; Geo. Ernst, Overland; Frank Goodwin, Chalmers-Detroit; F. M. Woolridge, Buick; W. B. Cooper, Ford; Hans Peterson, Ford; E. J. Dillon, Ford; Wm. Ballard, Ford; H. C. Erwin, Ford ; F. O. Baker, Ford ; J. A. Erwin, Ford ; Mr. Holladay, Ford ; Mr. Van Pelt, Ford; B. K. Bushee, Reo; W. D. Atkins, Buick; A. H. Amos, Ford; W. J. Davies, Studebaker; Hubbard & Nugent, Buick; C. E. Lo…

In the era in which we now enter the motor vehicle on the modern highway will be the main factor in the development of communities and national advancement. When we first built the railway we first provided the roadbed, then bought our rolling stock and then put it in commission. Now we have reversed the order. We have purchased our rolling stock, a costly and delicately constructed mechan…

Science has provided a substitute so well adapted to the purpose that today one-third of the people of the United States have resorted to the use of the passenger car, while I am informed that even in the newest part of the country where agriculture has taken its most rapid strides within the past five years and where from Ogallala to Kimball I have been surprised at the magic growth of n…

The fact that needs to be impressed today is that the entire human family is going to resort to the motor vehicle as rapidly as these can be manufactured, the means provided for their purchase, proper roadbeds constructed for their operation, and skill developed for the operation and upkeep. We are conducting a national drive for these purposes." The Motor convoy which consisted of a large nu…

In 1885 this little community had a population of about one hundred. One of the first numbers of the Kimball Observer gave the following data concerning this community which is now instructive as well as interesting. "Some of our most prominent citizens have made their homes here and have been holding responsible positions with the railroad company. The location of the town is on a gentle s…

Clarkson owned the land that part of the town site is formed from and has large interests adjoining the new town. A. Burg laid out part of the town. F. W. Schaffer has been east projecting a line of lumber. Theo. Menges is a leading land agent and locater. Others have been Jones, Fleharty, Root and Robertson. Mr. Wolf keeps a restaurant. J. J. Kinney has a horse ranch three miles west of to…

Randall in recent years became a member of the national congress from California, being the . first and only Prohibitionist congressman ever elected, as a member of that partv. The name of the Nebraska Observer was changed to the Kimball Observer after the change of the name of the town. This paper was published in 1887, by Beard & Riddle and later by A. B. Beard, who sold it to G. L. Car…

I. Sullivan, contractor; HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA P. Magihnis, blacksmith shop; Jas. Lynch, meat market ; Minnie Shirley, millinery ; Miss M. Marston, millinery; J. McAllister, barber; L. K. Markley, physician; Geo. W. Beard, Hotel Martha'; C. C. Clewett, contractor; N. E. Gassman, groceries; Jas. M. Bearse, postmaster and drug store ; S. N. Paulson, shoes; L. A. Ballenger, livery stable;…

Phelps, dray and express wagcn ; George Holton, dray line in winter and farming in the summer ; William J. Ballard, attorney, who located in Kimball seye View of Kimball in 1900 purchased it. George F. Wilkinson had the Kimball Pharmacy in 1900. F. H. DeCastro was attorney and Dr. W. L. Carlyle, physician. B. K. Bushee, in 1907, was in the general merchandise business. Other business houses…

Fonda, cashier, as officers and then having deposits of $115,000, in sharp contrast to the prosperity some twelve years later; Dr. P. C. Mockett physiin 1903; Dr. G. E. Darrow, who came from Omaha about this time, and Dr. J. H. Dullard, and Kimball Grain Company, elevator. Business Roster, 1919-1920 A comparative roster of business people of Kimball in 1919 and 1920, will serve as a fair ba…

Lockwood, "The Land Man"; Lodgepcle Land Company, Mutual Oil Company, National Refining Co., Nebraska Telephone Co., Observer Printing Office, Prairie Oil & Gas Co., Richards & Kennemer, Securitv Land Farmers Co-operative Association. Gibson Motor and Tractor Co., Highland Live Stock Co., Kimball Mill «!v Elevator Co., Kimball County High School, Kimball Irrigation District, Kimball Irrigat…

Meat Markets: Waggoner's Market, City Meat Market. Bullock's Vulcanizing Plant, Carter Land Company, V. B. Cargill, editor Observer : Civic Activities Kimball has, like every other town in it~ early history, made spasmodic spurts towards maintaining a commercial or community club but in recent years built up a very active and creditable organization, the Kimball Club. In 1917 its officers…

The Bank of Kimball, was started in 1886 by the Bickels. In 1907 H. A. Clarke of Columbus undertook the banking business. A. C. Fonber, 1915. B. K. Bushee was president and Wm. Rodman, cashier. W. S. Rodman was vice president. W. J. Davis and Benjamin Levinski were stockholders. Later the Rodmans left this bank and started the American State Bank, of which W. S. Rodman is president, Wm. Rod…

The directors are now Gus Linn, president ; Geo. L. Vogler, cashier; John Filer, Dr. P. C. Mockett, Vernon Linn. This bank is now housed in a room with magnificent fixtures. It has an especially equipped ladies' rest room, private telephone booths, two waiting rooms equipped with large desk, chairs, and settee. A private consultation room, safe deposits vaults with 250 boxes. The bookkeeping…

Rodman, entered practice at Kimball in recent years. Attorney A. O. Torgeson came to Kimball some three or four years ago and in 1920 he was joined by Attorney R. M. Higgins of Omaha. So Kimball county now has a splendid bar, of both older and younger legal lights. James A. Rodman is making a legislative record in the sessions of 1919 and 1921, and in the constitutional convention of 1920,…

K. Bushee, Peter Nelson, Henry Vogler. L. W. Bickel. In 1906: B. K. Bushee, P. Maginnis, rmEtm giving Kimball county an important voice in moulding Nebraska legislation. City Government Kimball was incorporated shortly after its change to that name about 1888. Its officers about 1890 were: L. R. Markley, L. E. Shaefer, J. M. Bearse, P. Maginnis, G. F. Hark, Isaac Roush, clerk; X. ( ). Calk…

Beginning with 1910 the officers of the city have been: I. S. Walker, F. Lemon. B. K. Bushee, F. H. Cunningham, D. L. Regione, Geo. Vogler, treasurer; Jas. A. May, clerk. In 1911: B. K. Bushee, F. F. Reader, Frank Cunningham, Fred Eichenberger, Wm. Young, W. J. Ballard. Geo. Vogler, treasurer; lames May, clerk. In 1912:" B. A. Lathrop, F. E. Reader, Frank Cunningham. B. 1\. Bushee, Wm. Youn…

In 1917 Kimball voted to put in sewers by a vote of 98 to 49. In June, 1918. electric lights bonds were voted upon with a vote of 56 to 17. At the spring election of 1920, new councilmen chosen were : F. E. Reader, F. J. Eichenberger and Thomas Campbell. For school directors, C. L. Alden and Mrs. O. A. Hedlund were chosen. City Clerk Overton was retained at that post of duty and J. D. Renne …

Rodman, chairman; F. E. Reader, treasurer; Mrs. O. A. Hedlund. secretary; Claude Alden, Gus Linn and Mrs. M. Markley. On the Kimball county high school the present board officers are: W. S. Rodman, chairman; Isaac Roush, treasurer; Rachel McElroy, secretary; E. A. Selover and Ed. A. Bergman. The teachers for Kimball county high school are : C. P. Beale, superintendent ; Ida Roberts, Elmer O.…

In 1890 Rev. W. H. Bancock was pastor. Rev. J. P. Bradley assisted this charge about this same time and in 1892 Rev. W. H. D. Hornaday entered upon a pastorate which lasted for several years. In 1898 Rev. Benjamin Hornaday was in charge, and was succeeded by Russell Link, who served as pastor of this flock until the arrival of Rev. R. Randolf. In 1906 N. G. Medlin came and after him, Rev. E. …

John and the organization of the Union Presbyterian church of Dix will illustrate the close co-operation of the Presbyterian church of this part of the state. Called from the farm to the pulpit, Mr. O. O. St. John of the south table was ordained a minister of the gospel in the Kim- HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA ball Presbyterian church in the presence of a large and appreciative audience and …

After a canvass of the Dix community their representatives, Mrs. Emma Williams and Airs. Rena Peterson, arranged with Dr. Hunter to preach regularly on Sabbath afternoons in the village schoolhouse north of the Union Pacific railroad. This plan was entered into May 20. 1918. will known to our readers and will no doubt be a success in his new calling. No higher recommendation is needed in an…

Williams' residence, the congregation agreed that they would open the way for the organization of a church. The name of the church was to be determined by the vote of the large congregation present. The votes taken resulted in the choice of the Presbyterian church, by about two-thirds the majority of all the votes cast. And the result of this vote was stated to the minister later, who was…

Kearns, D.D., superintendent of Home Missions for Synod of Nebraska and of the Home Missions Committee of the Presbytery of Box Butte, the Rev. Thomas K. Hunter, D.D., a member of the Home Mission Committee of said Presbytery, did organize the Union Presbyterian church of Dix, Nebraska The names of some twenty-three persons were enrolled as charter members of this church, and two elders we…

John, did receive into and enroll the names of the following named persons in the Union Presbyterian church of Dix, Nebraska, and declare the ecclesiastical organization of the church complete. The list of names of members received November 23, 1919, and on the roll at that time, are: Arthur W. Wilson, Ernest Otis Houghtaling, Wm. Elwood Mc- Kinney, Emery J. Horrum. Mrs. Mary Claussen Wendt…

In the meantime the Rev. Dr. R. W. Taylor was elected Assistant Synodical Superintendent of Home Missions, and made his headquarters at Scottsbluff. A part of his duty was to assist the Rev. O. 0. St. John in the raising of funds for the building of the church at Dix. Dr. Taylor's efficient and persistent efforts in connection with the pastor and co-operation of a willing and generous peopl…

Civ; iND Spanish War Veterans Kimball county's settlement started much too late to have any participation as a community in the Civil War, and was too sparsely settled to support a separate company in the Spanish War, but taking the roster of Civil and Spanish War veterans living in Kimball county in 1915. shows the presence of a proportionate number. HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA KIMBALL C…

Willis. C. E Kimball Bat ery. Vessel Company or Regiment Fro m State of Ind. Ind. S. D. Okla. P. Mo. Kas. B. L F. A. Ind. Pickett Post No. 221. G. A. R.. was organized very early. Some of the commanders were : C. Schooly as early as 1886, and in the early nineties were B. Deason, I, N. Broyles, H. H. Prouty. Early adjutants were: N. O. Calkins, Jas. Newelt, G. W. Beard. Front…

Dick. P. Maginnis. Some of the presiding officers were: G. F. Wilkinson, John Gharst, I. S. Bradv, O. E. Forsling. The Masonic order was installed in December. 1914. with the following members: W. J. Davies. Dr. W. K. Mvler. V. B. Cargill, F. R. Morgan, W. S.' Rodman. I. S. Walker, C. W. Richards. F. L Bellows. A. 1',. Morgan, Al Mangan, O. W. Seyfer, I. T. Dean. J. J. Jefferson, C. L. Alden, j…

It was the first time that they had all been together in years and the first time that they had all attended the same lodge. At Grand Island, in 1907. seven of them had been present, but one brother, Charles, was then living in Los Angeles and could not get there. Fred Morgan had been attempting for several years to secure their presence at one time, but accomplished this for the first tim…

The local lodge No. 2547 of the Modern Woodmen of America was chartered on November 1, 1894, with the following members: Dowe Buckeman, Harrv J. Bloom, Louis W. Bickel, C. J. Campbell, A. Coch- Near Kimball opened the work that evening: Horace Morgan, Clarion, Iowa, W. M. ; George Morgan.^St. Joseph, Mo., S. W.; Charles Morgan, Los Angeles, J. W. ; Jess Morgan, Moberly, Missouri, Sr. Deacon; …

Royal Neighbors lodge No. 804 was installed December 20, 1900, with the following members : Rose L. Wooldridge, Daisy E. Johnston, Irving S. Walker, Oscar E. Forsling, Rose Forsling, Geo. Herrick, J. W. Sprague, Ruth Bushee, Conrad Burg, Winnie DeCastro, Geo. F. Wilkinson, Annie L. M. Fletcher, Barney Martin, Clarence A. Forsling, Ida Hall, Jennie Bickel, Hattie E. Walker, Henry S. Fletcher, Fra…

Resiukxce of Chas. E. J the following: Mrs. Nellie Alden, Claude L. Alden, Mrs. Kate Bellows, Frank J. Bellows, Mrs. Belle Cargill. V. B. Cargifl, Mrs. Mary M. Caldwell, Evan Caldwell, Mrs. Louise Mvlar, Wilber K. Mylar, Mrs. Rachel McElroy, Mrs. Hazel Mangen, Mrs. Helen I. Rodman. Mrs. Grace 1'.. Rodman. Alary J. Richards. Chas. Richards. Mrs. Esther' Horam, Mrs. Winifred Seyfert. Oscar W. Sevf…

Maginnis, Airs. Fred Morgan, Airs. Art Morgan. In October, 1917, R. D. Wilson, former publisher of the Nebraska Observer, bought the Banner County News at Harrisburg. Air. Wilson had the Observer when it was Whitney at the home of his daughter. He came to Kimball in 1898 and lived there twenty years, excepting four years. Two of these were spent in Harrisburg and two near Bushnell. For th…

He went in the Civil War with Company 3, Second regiment, and in the fall of 1874, was promoted to captain of Company D. He came to Kim- E. E. Gom> Dix by Frank Cunningham. This hotel is a really unique venture, for a town of this size. It is one story in height with a full basement, making practically two stories. It has a commodious lobby on the first floor with two rows of guest rooms …

The year 1917 also saw the death of Fred for a ball room as well as dining room, with a splendid soda fountain in the front end. Dix The town of Dix was laid out on the land of Margaret Robertson and was later moved to a point south of the railroad station where it was platted by D. H. Shultz. The original town was laid out by C. T. Robertson and secured its name from Dixon, Illinois, the…

tw> restaurants, one hotel, Foster Lumber Company, two garages, a meat market, telephone exchange, municipally owned water and light plant, an enterprising newspaper, the Dix Tribune, published by E. K. Goding and L. F. Price, one drug store, one millinery store, Gunderson livery stable, Citizens State Bank, started in 1919, of which George W. Winkleman is president, E. E. Goding, W. R. Ehl…

Out of the total increment of armed forces of 4,034,743 for the entire United States, Nebraska produced an increment of 49.614. Of these 29,807, or only 60.08, represent inductions under the registrations into the National Army; 14,416, or 29.06%, were enlistments in the army; 4.944, or 9.96%, enlisted in the navy, and 447, or .90%, in the Marine Corps. The per cent of increment in the Nati…

Nebraska furthermore claims the record of having subscribed more money per capita for Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps, and given more money to the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., and K. of C. than any other state. She oversubscribed ever) quota from 1% on first liberty loan to 4i>2'; on the Knights of Columbus drive. Nebraska was the first state to go over the top in the War Savings Stamps c…

on June 5, 1917, and a total of 410 in that C. A., and other war subscription quotas first registration. In common with every that were allotted to Kimball county, other countv in the state, or community in the country; June 5. 1917, will stand out as The First Drawing a red-letter day. Since the foundation of While it was held in Washington, D. C, the republic, the American people had in- tn…

might voluntarily assume, seemed to many bowl at 9:30 a. m., Friday. Julv 20, and the almost a dangerous risk for the federal gov- iast at 2:16 a. m„ Saturday, July 21. 1917: ernment to take. But it turned out decisive- elapsed time, sixteen hours, forty-six minly that this tradition was more than offset utes, and during which time the numbers by a popular will to win the war, and so im- were t…

Alden Those who registered for call to military and F. J. Eichenberger. Johnson, R. D. service on June 5th, 1917, were: Walter Wilson and F. E. Reader. The registration Brown Adair, James Delanev Austin, Fredof 361 on that day was divided between the erick Achziger, Carl August' Anderson. \rprecmcts as follows: Antelope, 152; Bush- thur Earl Atkins, Charles Wilson Avery, nell, 73; Dix. 54; John…

C. Bergerhoff, Rav Everett Bessev, Ed- Actually inducted and accepted at camp, win A. Bergman, Wm. F. Boop, Elmer Otto 108. There were 161 in general service, 4 Bergman. Carl K. Belgun, Ralph Bowers, remediables. and 28 placed in limited ser- Boyd Frank Badglev, John Frederick Buess. vice, and only 21 from this county disquali- Peter S. Bourlier, Nathaniel Bernev. A. C. fied. The record of de…

Flovd Flohrer (died in camp) 10. Geo. Mc 1 unp^ev (killed in action 11. Arthur H. Atkins 1_>. Shirlev II. YogU 13. Ernest Linn 14. Chester Seguine 15. ririch Pedrett 16. Howard Smith 17. Harvev Smith IS. Merle A. P.radv 19. Earl Bicknell 211. Alfred Sequinc 21. Fred Miller 22. Roger Wilson 25. A.J.Fritzler 26. Ernest Parker 27. Leonard E. Smith 28. Geo. Semler 29. Wilbur K. Mvl…

Donahue, Ralph Wright Dillon, John W. Delay, Shelby Dennison, George John Dreith, Dillard Earl Dennison, Harold Dankman. Randolph Churchill Davis, Hugh Dean. Josiah L. Disney, Guy Andrew Disney, Arnold E. Dickman, Carl August Dickman, Lester Walter Domena, Walter A. Eden, Edward H. Eden, Max Allen Emerson. Ezra Jacob Ernst, Geo. G. Evertson, Harrison Easier, Wm. Lester Ely, Frank Oliver Ever…

Imes, Albert Wm. Imes, Clarence Glenn Irby, Clarence A. Johnson, Cecil F. James, Charles M. Johnson, Jens Jensen, Wilmer McKarty Jones, Henry Lee Jones, Ole Jensen, Jas. Chris Jensen, John Robert Johnson, Ichezo Kubdtera, Chester Crockett Kaderli, Geo. E. Ketch, Frederick Kane, Christian F. Krans, Gustalf O. Karlstrum, John Knippel, Conrad Knippel, Geo. Klippel. Raymond C. Kaufmann. Bernard…

Prime, Bill Pawpanikolan, Wm. B. Peters, Olaf Alexander Petersen, Ralph Adolph Phillips, Ernst Arthur Peterson. Alexander Purchuis, Ulrich Pedrett, Ernst Wesley Parker, Emanuel Harrison Piper, Phil Marten Piper, Joseph Andrew Pease, Delmar Laurence Pickett, Fay Lavern Pyle, Reuben Peterson, Lee James Peterson, Albert Alexandria Petersen, Frederick Peterson. Cloe Walt Petersen, Hans Emiel Pe…

Benjamin Harrison Sims, Benjamin Milton Swayze, Edward Saunders, ( )liver Simpson, Albert M. Straub, Worth Story, Glenn F. Scott, J. E. Sumner, Elmer August Seth, George Schroeder, John Roy Schrceder, Harold Eugene Sterner, Hans Schmidt, Arthur E. Torgeson, Lewis J. Tretbar, Ralph E. Truax, Nathan P. Thorn, John Joseph Tworney, Perle James Traer, Elmer Jay Taylor, George Tomlin, Erwin L. Ti…

Five lists were then prepared, one retained for the records of the local board, one copy posted in a conspicuous place in the courthouse, one copy given out for publication by the press, and two remaining copies furnished to the state authorities and the offices of the provost marshal general at Washington. In order then to designate with the utmost impartiality the sequence in which registr…

Amos accepted the position of cashier of the Citizens State Bank and thus resigned the place on the County Elective Service Board. In November. 1917. Kimball was assigned a quota of $1,500 for the Y. M. C. A. drive. This county for that work was in the district with Box Butte. Banner, Scotts Blurt. Cheyenne, Morrill. Kimball, Deuel. The work was to begin on November 12th. and on November 9t…

On December 13th. the first Food Administration price was published and shewed that the prices then for the staple commodities should be: Sugar. 1 lb.. 9c; flour, 1 sack, $3.10; corn meal. 1 lb., 6) \c\ bread, loaf, 10c; potatoes, cwt, $2.25: creamer) butter, 53c; fresh eggs per do/., 50c. Those who served upon the County Council of Defense were: B. K. Bushee, president; John I. Filer, vice p…

By January 3, 1918. the Kimball chapter of the Red Cross had a membership of 1013, exclusive of those who took out life membership before the drive. The result of the recent drive enabled Chairman W. S. Rodman to report for Kimball, 884 members ; for Bushnell, 127, and for Dix, 102. The financial report showed membership reports, Kimball, $927.00 ; Bushnell, $127.00; Dix, $103.00. Balance o…

Professor Johnson of Kimball schools resigned to take effect Saturday, January 26, 1918, to enlist in the navy ; though he was not yet twenty-one and not subject to the draft, he had hastened into the service. By September, 1918, Treasurer George L. Vogler of the Kimball chapter of Red Cross showed a membership of 1,150 which was certainly remarkable for the population of the county. In 191…

In March, Kimball was announced to have won a second place among the ninetythree counties in the state for having the largest per cent of membership in the Red Cross in proportion to its population. While it did not win first place it came the next thing to it and the only count}' ahead of it w-as a well-settled eastern county. The table showing membership and per cent in relation to popula…

A group of men in Seward county held a meeting around the holiday season in 1917, shortly after the appointment of count}- chairmen and local committees, to devise ways and means to meet the quota in Seward county, accepted the suggestion of Mr. W. H. Brokaw, now director of the Agricultural Extension Department of the State University and Farm Bureau work. They drew a plan from this idea, to…

The success of the Nebraska plan so attracted the attention of those in charge of the national campaign, that Mr. Burgess was called east to assume charge of its application to the nation and a second date set for the War Savings Stamps campaign, in every state in the Union except Nebraska. In this campaign, as in the others. Kimball county followed the policy of having a large percentage of …

Walker, president of Kimball irrigation district, received this welcome gift from the Great Western Sugar Company at Denver, and explaining that out of their S2.000,- 000 Liberty Loan quota they were crediting $7,000 as the proportion that Kimball production entitled this company to receive. Red Cross Drive On May 9th, County Chairman C. L. Alden received the Liberty Loan honor flag for the …

The advertisements of the Red Cross Fighting Dollars was contributed by the Farmers State Bank of Bushnell. The advertisement shewing how the last war funds were spent was contributed by other Bushnell business houses: Tin- Cash Bargain Store, Bushnell State Bank, O. D. Pickett, Foster Lumber Company, and Western Lumber Company. From Dix two advertisements were financed. "Facts about the A…

Kimball was well over on its second Red Cross drive. < >n June 2nd, the Union Pacific took off five trains a day and the public began to notice the effect of the move upon its convenient passenger service. Some of the trains affected were numbers 3, 7. 17. westbound, and numbers 8, 6, 10. eastbound. Number 19 took over the work of number 3. and number 1 that of numbers 7 and 17. With a Red…

Gallogv, Dix; O. D. Pickett, F. O. Baker, Bushnell; Robert Pahl, Harold Sterner, South Divide ; O. P. Cromwell, C. E. Bert, Union, and W. W. Chamberlain and Mr. Meredith, Johnson Precinct. The division of this registration as to precincts was as follows: Antelopeville, 329; Bushnell, 100; Dix, 87; Union, 25; South Divide, 23, and Johnson, 36. The Count}' Draft Board consisted of Sheriff F…

There were 17,000 numbers drawn, the first capsule being taken from the same glass bowl that had been used in the first drawing, at noon, Mondav, September 31st.- and the last at 8 a. m., Tuesday, October 1st, 1918, elapsed time, twenty hours. The first fifteen capsules were drawn by the following government officials, and the numbers drawn, when low enough to affect Kimball, were held by …

Chief of ( (perations, I'. S. Navy. No. 6147. 13. Lieutenant General Samuel B. M. Young of U. S. Army, retired, 10086. 14. Provost Marshal General Enoch Crowder, 432, Hans Peterson Dix. 15. Col. Charles Warren, Judge Advocate, Army. 904. The next seven numbers applied to Kimball men were: 20, Fred Strickler; 525. Peter Christensen ; 219, John Randolph Tritt ; 72, Jacob Miles Grubbs; 134, Ch…

Bushee, A. B. Beard. W. F'. Davies. The Red Cross election showed the officers elected were: Thomas Campbell, F. E. Reader, Mrs. Thomas Campbell, and Airs. Emma Williams. November 11th, Armistice Day. beyond any doubt the happiest day in the history of Kimball county, was celebrated as no 4th of July was ever celebrated in this locality. Bon-fires, artillery play featured the occasion. Servi…

Ratliff, Gail H. Russell, Harry P. Shuler, O. G. Linn, Glen V. Osborn, A. E. Irwin, Clifford P.. Greenwait, W. Chris Thomson, Aimer Funk, Fred Harrison, Cecil Barnett, Arthur P. Hubbard, Ulrich Pedrett, ERYIX L. TITMAN (died in Funston), Jens Jensen, Henry L. Jones (colored), Irven Sample, William C. Wisworth, Ernest W. Parker, Peter S. Bourlin, Earl Brest, William Robinson (colored), Edward W.…

Plook, Otto A. Morris, Karl A. Paw. Those who volunteered, but were not subject to registration at the time: John R. Henderson, Edwin Mangan, Ralph Hall, John Gearo'U, Israel Levenski, Ephraim Levenski, Olaf Gunderson, Ed.^ar Peterson, Klmer Peterson. James Peterson, Robert Peterson, Hobart Peterson, Earl Sizermore, Irwin Pierson, Elmer Nelson, Paul Nelson, Harold Nelson (student's training…

But the tale of the settlement and development of the area of territory which comprises Morrill county reached back into the Cheyenne county realm, and the narration of the part played by those pioneer spirits who have built up Merrill county is most appropriately told under this section of the general story of the western Nebraska garden spot. Fortunately, some years before his death, J…

Before its cuter limits were trimmed bv the formation of the counties named, it was known as the largest organized county in the state and during that period it had become the cradle of the cattle business. It was while Edward Creighton was building the Far West telegraph line, which antedated the construction of the LT. P. railroad, that the discovery was accidentally made that cattle, tu…

When this fact was reported to Edward Creighton. his quick apprehension suggested what might be done by driving Texas cattle to Cheyenne county in the fall and turning them loose. Later he did turn a larger bunch of cattle loose in that locality and the remarkable manner in which they went through the winter caused that experiment to be repeated by Mr. Creighton and many others who had lea…

This vast area was covered with a thick coat of buffalo grass which as long as the virgin soil was not broken did not show a weed to mar the beaut}- of the surface. The peculiarity of this grass was not alone in its wonderful nutritious quality, but the fact that as it cured in the dry atmosphere and under the constant sunshine of our peculiar weather, it became coated as if with a thin cov…

Neither cattle business nor cattle baron could forever hold them back and in the eighties Cheyenne county became thickly dotted with dwellings built by the homesteader, though a large per cent of them were so small as to have been dubbed "claim shacks." So far from cities and trading marts, so high were freight rates, and so few were lumber yards and scarce was money that the settler in t…

For the cowboy, while feared by some, was loved by many and admired by all ; for there never was a truer friend, a braver boy to face the many perils common to his day and duty, nor a more faithful guardian of the interests intrusted to his care. Fair weather meant a holiday fur him but when the storms of winter raged in their greatest severity, he would disdain shelter and defy old Boreas…

The name of "Camp" was given liecause the tide of travel to and from the hills had become so great awaiting its completion, that the caravans and pedestrians congregated on either side of the valley in that immediate vicinity gave the appearance of a bivouac. That Sidney, the county seat of Cheyenne county, should frequently have gotten its name, together with a photograph giving a bird's-ey…

The buoyant gold-seeker naturally craved the best, and he whose hopes had already been clashed, would take what he could best pay for -- generally known as "forty rod." Hence originated the saying that "Every drink contained a dance, a song and a fight." and it was the common lament of the frequenters of those places that if you stopped to watch a fight in one salocn, you would miss seeing…

For him who thus showed himself wiser in his generation than the homesteader proper, "life went merry as a marriage bell." for during this period of transition, which culminated in the eighties, a few years in the cycle of seasonable showers seemed to indicate that the rain belt extended as far west as the foothills. Hut those who prayed to Jupiter Pluvius instead of plowing their fields d…

Just a few short years after the departure of the Indian, the soldier and the cattle, one following up the grass-grown but still well defined trail from Sidney to the hills, would see on either side as far as the eye could see, deserted and crumbing "soddies" as so many tombstones standing at the grave of buried hopes. All of which meant that man in his extremity must resort to other means …

Cheyenne county had all of the river frontage within her limits well marked and covered and wherever a land owner or the land owners under any completed canal gave proper attention to the cultivation of the land and the irrigation of their crop, most satisfactory results were obtained. Railroads were quick to see the possibilities and they paralleled and crossed the valley. Towns sprang up. M…

With this renewed influx of home-makers and new railroads, came the feeling that we in the northern half of old Cheyenne county were too far removed from the county seat and as early as 1907 a properly signed petition for a division of the county was presented to the count}- commissioners, and when submitted received the requisite majority. The county was divided and a little mere than half…

This process of thus reducing- the acreage and multiplying the yield has shown that there is an idle acreage oh which thousands of farmers could soon gain independence under the half-dozen canals in this county, all completed and in yearly operation. It is safe to say that there are 60,- 000 acres under these completed enterprises which lie idly basking under the three hundred sunshiny days …

Since the canals mentioned were constructed, the idle and unbroken acreage sub-irrigated from them has produced the finest natural hay, and where water has been turned upon the unbroken prairie, a natural growth of what is called wheat grass springs up which makes the finest wild hay that is to be found upon the western market. While the elevation naturally shortens the seasons, and because…

And if at any time the local supply of corn falls short, it can be shipped in from the locality known as the "corn belt" at a rate several cents per hundred cheaper than Fort Collins, Greeley and other great feeding points can obtain, so that with unlimited quantities of alfalfa grown here, with oats in abundant supply, yielding as it does when properly handled, from 80 to 120 bushels per a…

From this it is easy to be seen that the owner of an irrigated farm in the North Platte valley will soon be rated among the most independent classes of our citizen's. From what has been said of the irrigated section, however, it must not be inferred that the farmers beyond or above the line of canals are not making good. It has been conclusively demonstrated in recent years that there are …

Morrill county has no need of an alms house and there is not a pensioner on the bounty of the county today. By cultivating a portion of the section of land which Uncle Sam in his bounty bestowed upon him. and by pasturing milch cows on the remainder of his land, the homesteader has attained a degree of independence which a landless man in the older sections of the country would labor years bef…

Foot passengers paid a dollar each for the privilege of crossing the bridge, while teams were charged at the rate"of from $5.00 to S10.00. The tolls collected on the day of the opening of the bridge amounted to more than $10,000, and for several years the bridge was a mint for its owner and' a great convenience to the restless pioneers who struggled for gold and gain in the unexplored fastne…

There was one house between Sidney and the bridge, a distance of fifty miles, and one house between Camp Clarke and Camp Robinson (the Red Cloud Sioux Indian Agency), seventy miles distant. This was a Sioux and Chevenne Indian country prior to the treaties. Mr. Clarke asked the government for protection. They furnished him a plan for Fort Clarke, which he built for the government: at its comp…

He put on the Clarke Centennial Pony Express, supplying all towns in the Black Hills. He was postmaster at Camp Clarke, the government turning all mail over to him, accepting it from him, which was conducted until the government put on mail service. Hay was then from $100 to $150 a ton ; corn, 12c to 15c a pound. The Indians were troublesome. One of the pony riders, Rockafellow, at one time rod…

Xebraska, believing that the town would some time become the western terminus for a railroad. "In the spring of 1856 Mr. Clarke became the steamboat agent at Bellevue and from dealing in a small way in provisions he soon branched out into a general merchandise business. In 1862 he took a contract to furnish the government with corn and oats at Fort Kearney, on the south side of the Platte…

The first ten miles of the line was built and is now operated by the Burlington. "Mr. Clarke became engaged in the building of railroads and highway bridges in 1870. The last bridge he built was at Camp Clarke. "The Clarke Centennial Pony Letter Express was established by Mr. Clarke in 1876, operating between Sidnev and mining points in the Black Hills. He also established postoffices in th…

At present he is chairman of the state railway commission. "In 1862. during its territorial years, Henry T. Clarke was a member of the Nebraska house of representatives. In 1864 he was elected to the council (now the state senate). He was a prominent candidate for the gubernatorial nomination in 1SSS. He was a member of the board of education at Omaha for three years and president of the …

He presented it to the Presbyterian synod of Nebraska together with two residences and two hundred and sixty-five acres of ground. The institution is now the collegiate department of the University of Omaha. "Mr. Clarke received a large amount of land for building railroads in the state and put many thousand acres under cultivation, giving his personal attention to raising grain and stock.…

Anyone who failed to throw five aces was given four shots at the four legs of the chair. If he missed all four shots he had to treat. The man in the chair was not permitted to wriggle, swear or chew tobacco, for they tended to disconcert the man with the gun. The chair victim could hold his own legs as high as he wanted to, and fifteen minutes was the time limit that anyone had to remain …

It will also be noted by a reference to the early history of that part of Cheyenne county, which is now Morrill county, as presented in the general history of the entire Panhandle territory, and in the separate history of Cheyenne county, that there came upon the stage and has largely disappeared an early generation. This first generation of pioneer spirits left their imprint upon the ulti…

He died some time ago Next along the river there was Olaf Lift". He hired a man to haul him out there from a ranch though he did not know where he was going. He made an application for filing but did not know wdiere the land was. He told a fellow to just unload him there. The next day he went to town and found out where the land was and then made for himself a dug-out and lived in it. Tha…

Putman place, taken in 1884, as was that of Ora Remsburgh. Mrs. C. Nelson filed on a quarter about 1886. Andrew Hansen came about that time and three of the Adams' filed just about then. Mr. Lape and his two sons-in-law, Jake Amer and Dick Meredith, came about the same time and the two Van Gorder brothers filed three miles below the present Bridgeport on what is now the Mark Iddings place. Th…

Clarke had filed in the seventies and the story of the Camp Clarke ranch, store and toll bridge are more fully narrated elsewhere. Past Camp Clarke in the eighties were the filings of Frank Durnell and Henry Randall, his father and brother, and the Ccad filings. "As to the development on the north side on the Platte river on the west side the town of Bayard sprang up in the nineties north…

Graham of Alliance on the Graham holdings in the north end of the county has had perhaps in excess of one thousand head. Frank 1 '.lain has run several hundred at a time. R. M. Hampton at Alliance has had a large ranch out there. He sold to Hall and Graham. Also over in the north part of the county have been Henry Swan in early times, Joe Vaughn of Alliance, and Burk & Tiernan in the northw…

As early as 1878, the county records of Cheyenne county show local officers elected for Court House Rock precinct. In that year among the precinct officers elected for that territory were : L. Mined, justice of peace, and Julius Hill, also justice of peace; constables, Ed. Countryman, Chas. Patten ; Thos. Crosby, assessor; election officers: D. B. Powers, judge; D. B. Lynch, judge; H. Best…

This somewhat overestimates that sparse population of this territory at that date. Redington precinct had been formed by HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA September. 1887. Camp Clarke precinct was formed about that time. By 1887 the map showed this north end of Cheyenne county which later became Morrill count}- to be divided between the original Court House Rock precinct in the south part of said…

Morrison, Frank Cravett and two hundred other electors, a vote was requested upon Court House Rock, South of Bridgeport county commissioners of Morrill county were Fred R. Lindberg, Herman E. Smith, Win. T. McKelvey. It was agreed that the assessed valuation of Cheyenne county, being twice that of Morrill county, that Cheyenne county should get two-thirds of the property and Morrill one-thi…

the issuance of SI 5,000 bonds for the building a court house of which it was remarked by said petitions was not necessary for reason that said board is in favor of said bond issue. It favored said election asked for in the said petition so the election was called for the 29th of June. 1909, and carried by a substantial majority. The commissioners districts and the precincts of the new count…

The heating- and plumbing contract was awarded to the Sterling Heating and Plumbing Company for $2,100. The Lincoln Land Company aided in getting the site of the court house located for Bridgeport, and to donate a choice of two blocks of land, one being a block 300 feet square abutting River and Nemaha streets, lying 420 feet north of block three of the original town of Bridgeport, and the …

The legislative and administrative functions pertaining to getting the various county offices established, supplied and equipped, and under their guidance. The work of building the new court house as y:_,,- m ^•11 1 l |FF of block two of the original town of Bridgeport. This offer being contingent upon the condition that the court house was not to cost less than $15,000 and was to be comple…

Randall succeeded Mr. Mc- Kelvey and remained on the board four years. When Messrs. Lindburg and Smith "left the board, J. J. Grimes came on with Leslie Bocdrv who resigned and was succeeded by F." H. Putman. After Randall, Putman and Grimes had served together for one and one-half years, then Fred R. Lindburg returned to the board and served with Messrs. Randall and Grimes and these three …

Bradbury, justice of the peace; F. P. Boone, assessor; F. P. Boone and F. E. Bredbury, tie for overseer of highways. Broadwater precinct : Walter A. Canaday, police magistrate; Thos. O. Haiston, justice of the peace; C. V. Gilbert, assessor; W. T. Carr, overseer of highways. Camp Clarke precinct: Dave Kelly, police magistrate; P. C. Wade, justice of the peace ; Thos. Burke, assessor ; O. M.…

Becker, justice of the peace; Albert Acker, assessor; William Marquardt, overseer of highways. Haynes precinct: A. D. Hull, justice of the peace; Leslie Boodry, assessor; F. W. Wood, overseer of highways. King precinct : D. S. Kelsey, justice of the peace: D. S. Meek, assessor; C. F. Hagerty, overseer of highways. Kinkaid precinct: B. L. Gillespie, justice of the peace; Sam Sawyer, assessor…

This officer had not only the duty of county clerk and therefore clerk of the board of commissioners, but was also clerk of the district court and register of deeds for the county. In 1912 J. R. Minshall took this office. For the last three years of his term Z. H. Jones served as his deputy and in 1917 Mr. Jones became the county clerk and clerk of district court and has since then acceptably …

Mount as deputy, served the first term as sheriff and from 1912 until 1921, Wm. I. Dyson has been the sheriff of Morrill county, until he was succeeded by R. C. Neumann. County Superintendent The first county superintendent after the organization of the count}- was Mary E. Walford. Succeeding her for live vears HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA came Cora A. Thompson who later went to Lincoln to …

McDonald has discharged the duties of this office. County Judge Morrill county has been more steadfast in its political affections in the matter of the county judge when they captured John H. Steuteville, at the inception of the county's career, and it has kept him to this date. Judge Steuteville has served as colleague with all of the county officials who have served Morrill county. He ga…

Rouse, Louis Larson. Frank Hunt. Court House Rock, W. F. Hollingsworth, Marion Dugger, John Hall, Marcus Hallway, Frank Halloway. Lnion. A. L. Adams, L. E. Buck. Gilchris't, J. A. Hutchinson and C. A. Snow. Storm Lake, Arthur Feagins. S. M. Hickman. King. Chas. Tolle, Fred Anderson, Andrew Hansen. Broadwater, C. G. Fairman. Anthony Johnson, Pat Row- Ian, George Beerline. Eastwood, Frank Mul…

The last court held under Judge Grimes' jurisdiction as district judge'was April 4, 1911. The district then was composed of the counties of Lincoln, Perkins, Keith, Cheyenne, Kimball, Banner, Deuel, Garden, Logan, Mc- Pherson, Scotts Bluff, and Morrill. In June. 1911, R. W. Hobart of Gering became the presiding judge of Morrill county district court. Morrill county was then removed from the…

Camp Clarke precinct 619 556 Court House Rock precinct 313 195 Eastwood precinct 291 282 Gilchrist precinct S7 131 Good Streak precinct 61 118 Haynes precinct 358 408 King precinct 172 199 Redington precinct 397 396 Reilly Hill precinct 138 122.... Storm Lake precinct 66 112 ... . Union precinct 200 137 .... Weir Lisco precinct 323 135 .... Yockev precinct 435 Incorporated Place 1920 …

In producing and setting forth the arguments for the fruition of these many hopes, Morrill county has herself discovered and been prompted to set forth to the rest of the world her physical and material resources. Not as a tale of dead hopes, but as a vivid portrayal of the valiant struggle kept up for some two decades by the active, loyal citizens of Morrill count}', do we divert to portray …

The Hill people said little about this project, but newspapers professed to believe that it was the intention to connect that line with the roads centering in Bridgeport. Besides providing a short and direct line across the continent, the read would pass through a good country the entire distance. The Hill interests maintain a line of steamers plying from Buffalo to Duluth, and another line…

Bridgeport then began to anticipate the long deferred line connecting Bridgeport and Kearney, and the following appeared in the local press of the time : "Every man and every team that can be crowded into the big tunnel work west of Guernsey is being rushed to the scene of activity and carload after carload of outfits and equipment are being shipped to that point. The Burlington is using …

Bridgeport to Harriseurg "An Electric Line would be a Direct Benefit without Proving a Menace to Our Business Interests," was headlined at Bridgeport in May, 1913, when Banner county was in a fever for a railroad. With the possibility that the effort to build a standard gauge railroad from Cheyenne to Bridgeport might not prove successful, the News-Blade suggested that a company be at once org…

The proposition was discussed freely and while all were in favor of the proposed road, the question of details was referred to the railroad committee which was to confer with the promoters of the enterprise at a date to be fixed to suit the convenience of all parties. Bridgeport-Newark Line In 1915, railroad officials announced that definite arrangements were being made for the building o…

It is a far cry from the trail of the Indian, <>r the unbroken surface of the boundless prairie, which greeted the earliest trappers, ranchers and homesteaders of the Morrill county area to the wonderful gravel-surfaced, boulevarded roadways being constructed by the Nebraska State Department of Public Works in this second decade of the twentieth century. This single feature in the physical …

As soon as the road on the east side of the railroad track can be put in shape for travel, the markers will be changed to that route. The "Pat King road"' runs northwest from Angora for a number of miles, and then northeast to Alliance, and is about ten miles longer than the road on the east side of the railroad track, but it will be used until the east side road can be put in better cond…

line of section 29, township 19, range 46, and runs in an almost direct line northwest to Broadwater, where it crosses the river to the south side and follows along comparatively close to the river about five miles. Then it runs west for about two and a half miles, and then north and west for short distances until it reaches the Guthrie ranch. Then it runs west from the Guthrie ranch until…

From Bayard the new road runs north four miles, which is some departure from the old road that used to run west from Bayard past the sugar factory, the commissioners desiring to get the road away from the "seep land" near the sugar factory that has made the road so hard to travel and keep up. From the point four miles north of Bayard the new road runs straight west until it enters Scotts Bluf…

This does not mean that the road on the north side of the river between Bridgeport and Broadwater will be neglected, as it will be maintained by the county, but it does mean that the route on the south side would serve the greatest number of people at this time. The state and federal aid is for roads most needed. The commissioners are pledged to a good roads program, and each district will …

W, Atkins donated over a mile and a half of the right of way through his ranch, and other land owners signed up so as to make certain the best road. This road will require a little more work at the beginning than the road through the hills. Twice or three times as much tonnage can be hauled in one load and the cost of hauling thereby materially reduced. It will run through the irrigated s…

In the valley below, and in front of him, lay the muddy waters of the North Platte, which seemed to broaden cut and lose themselves in the yellow sand, only to be collected later as by some unseen force, and to be swept swiftly through the channel where the banks narrowed. Again its course widened ; the river spread its waters over sand bars and around clumps of willows, passing lazily fro…

No longer shall the brave red men hunt buffalo over the hills or on the grassy plain. The white man comes to build houses and towns. The antelope will be gone, and the sunny hunting ground be plowed to raise food for the pale face and his children. He comes from the rising sun. The braves of the once great tribe are gone, and I am left: I go.' Then shouldering his rifle, the old warrior mo…