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EARLY HISTORY OF FRONTIER COUNTY NEBRASKA BY W. H. MILES AND JOHN BRATT
WITH POEMS BY BOYD PERKIN
EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE OF FRONTIER COUNTY NEBRASKA
By
W. H. MILES
and
JOHN BRATT, NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF FRONTIER COUNTY BY A SUBSCRIBER
Published by BOYD PERKIN Maywood, Nebr.
Previous
Publications by
N. H. BOGUE, Editor of THE EAGLE
Maywood. Nebraska, A. D. 1894
and
W. H. BARTON in THE EAGLE-REPORTER, in 1911
PRICE $1 (Six Copies for $5)
6
2
EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE
Copy
. F& Ms4
1910
HOME IN THE WEST
Give me a home out in the West, Where the softest breezes blow; Among the fields of golden grain- It is there that I would go.
On the wide prairie let me live, In the saddle there to roam; Four walls leave little space indeed For a man to call his home.
1 Let me live beneath the heavens' blue; Yes, give me the rain-filled clouds, Crimson glory of sunset skies -- Away from the city's crowds. -Boyd Perkin.
--.
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FRONTIER COUNTY, NEBRASKA
PREFACE
"Early History and Reminiscence of Frontier £ County, Neb." was published in the Eagle by N. H. Bogue in 1894 and again in the Eagle-Reporter in 1911 by W. H. Barton.
As only a few of the original copies were printed in booklet form and it is now, almost impossible to obtain one, I thought it would be a service, and might, as it has to me, a source of in- spiration to old settlers and others interested in the tales of the pioneers, so with the permission of the Editor of the Eagle-Reporter I decided to have copies published.
BOYD PERKIN.
FOREWORD
With appreciation of courtesy from the editor of Studio News Magazine, in which "Mammoth" and other poems included in this book were first published.
The author of "Mammoth and Other Poems," Boyd Perkin, pre- sents his first work in book form. We find his poems and writings of excellent type, that will be beneficial to readers. He has written Stories, Poetry and Songs. His latest songs: "On Irish Linen" whose words were written with the help of the Editor of Studio News and melody by Jimmy Crane has been published and with "When Autumn Turns The Leaves to Gold and Crimson" which was written in collaboration with Annie Peltokangas, who also com- posed the music has been broadcast over K.O.D.Y.
"Mammoth And Other Poems" are written thoughtfully and sin- cerely .
We highly recommend this book in the literary field. May it help you along life's pathway.
LETA S. BENDER, Editor Studio News, Friend, Nebr.
4
EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE.
"BUD"
The frost lies on the ground, Bud- A whiteness everywhere ; The sky is dark and gloomy, A chilliness in the air.
The birds have all gone South, Bud, Where skies are blue and fair; And there comes now no music From trees, so lone and bare.
The years lie on my head, Bud, And snow-white is my hair; My friends have all departed- I've none with whom to share.
They say there is a land, Bud, Where there is no more care ' And there will be no parting; I'll meet the loved ones there.
-- Boyd Ferkin.
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FRONTIER COUNTY, NEBRASKA
A HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SKETCH OF NEBRASKA
On the first day of March, 1867, Nebraska was admitted into the Union. Through the mist of years the chronology of Nebraska has been handed down, tinged with romance as well as the sterner realities. The name itself possesses a mysterious charm. Young men who comprise the bone and sinew of the young State's 1,000,000 inhabitants have taken the land as they found it with scarcely an inquiry as to its origin. Misfortunes are long remembered. Per- haps they have a faint recollection of an Eastern home where kind friends busied themselves in providing things needed in a land sorely stricken with the plague of Egypt. Even youth born within Nebraska borders and educated in its boasted institutions of learn- ing may have glanced at its history only hurriedly.
It is believed that over all this vast region once rested an im- mense lake, compared to which Lake Superior is a mere pond. Over the bottom of this lake were spread, through the changing scenes of time, lacustrine deposits of soil five to two hundred feet deep. A small area on the north side of the State seems to have emerged first, for the soil is entirely gone from it. But it must have been at one time a tropic isle of marvelous luxuriance of vege- table and animal life. In the hardened clay of its low hills are to be found vast numbers of fossil animals that have no existence outside the tropics. Here were immense numbers of rhinoceroses, horned and hornless, some with two horns, and others with none. Here ranged the hippopotami and vast herds of carnivorous ani- mals; here are found petrified turtles, one specimen perfectly pre- served, being seven feet across. "It requires but little imagina- tion," says Bishop Warren, "to cover the region of the month of the Niobrara with abundant forests through which meandered great rivers full of huge animals, while chattered the monkey, and flew the gorgeous bird of paradise above them."
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EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE
MAMMOTH
What picture shall we paint from these huge bores, A Mammoth of the Pleocene age?
Vainly we'll ask the artist or the sage Unless the poet's gift he freely owns : For only poets truly can portray That ancient beast in colors for Today.
Who else can place a heart in that huge frame
And 'round these naked bones a robe array?
Can others set that ancient heart aflame,
That it again may trumpet forth its love
For the vast herd now gathered far above? -Boyd Perkin.
Afterward the surrounding country, covered with the richest soil, arose above the water; the climate grew more severe, and the tropical animals and birds gave place to those of a colder climate. One race of men lived here and disappeared; another took their place, but they have passed away, leaving but little trace o' their existence; a third, now known as the Indian, luxuriated in the abundant meat of the buffalo, but they are being pushed rapidly off the stage of time, and their labors will be as extinct as the two races that have sunk beneath these waves of land, "unwept, unhonored and unsung."
Nebraska was a part of the large unexplored country that was claimed by La Salle for the King of France and named Louisiana. It was said to be full of mines and richer in ingots than Peru. John C. Fremont crossed its borders and opened up a new world, California gold hunters made a lasting path through its waving prairies, and the old trail made by the Mormons on their weary
The origin of march to the city of saints is not yet obliterated. The Nebraska had great influence upon the fate of our nation.
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in 1854, threw open the ter- ritory to slavery, gave birth to a party that was made up of Whigs, antislavery Democrats and free-soilers, known at first as anti-Ne- braska men and later as Republicans. The antislavery branch of the know-nothing party opposed the extension of slavery. Thus did Nebraska, in its infancy, figure in political history.
Nebraska being a portion of the Louisiana territory, divisions were made from time to time, resulting in the formation of Mis-
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FRONTIER ( OUNTY, NEBRASKA
souri and Arkansas, between 1804 and 1854. In the latter year the Kansas-Nebraska bill became a law and defined Nebraska as that territory between 40 degrees and 49 degrees north latitude, the Missouri River on the east and the Rocky Mountains on the west. In 1863, the year before the question of statehood arose. the final boundaries were estabished. The enabling act was passed by Con- gress and approved April 22, 186 :.
The bill gave Nebraska one representative in Congress, and granted large tracts of public lands for the purpose of endowing colleges and erecting public buildings necessary in forming a seat of government. It gave the people the right to formulate a consti- tution and that was to prohibit slavery. In 1866 the Territorial Legislature met and submitted a constitution to the popular vote; in June '66 the vote was cast, and declared accepted by a small ma- jority. This constitution was submitted to Congress with the hope of gaining admission.
An attempt was made to ingraft a clause prohibiting discrim- ination on account of color. The bill was passed without that clause, but the measure was not signed by President Johnson, and did not become a law at that session; but when the next Congress assembled the measure was again called up before that body and passed. President Johnson vetoed the bill on January 29, 1867, and on February 8th it was taken up in the Senate and passed over the President's veto by a vote of 120 to 43 amid great applause from the floor and galleries.
The legislature was called in special session on February 20, 1867, by the territorial governor, Alvin Sanders, for the purpose of taking action upon the conditions imposed by Congress. The gov- ernor went before the legislature and presented a brief message in- forming that body that the constitution adopted by the people of the territory in June, 1866, restricted the elective franchise to "white male citizens." The condition imposed by Congress was that "this act shall not take effect except upon the fundamental condition that within the State of Nebraska there shall be no denial of the elective franchise, or of any other right, to any person by reason of race or color. excepting Indians not taxed." The joint convention adjourned and the Senate at once passed a bill assent- ing to the act of Congress admitting Nebraska into the Union. The House concurred immediately, and President Johnson issued his
8
EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE
proclamation announcing the admission of Nebraska into the union of States on March 1, 1×67.
Geographically considered, the territory comprising the scene of our following History and Reminiscence, of local interest, is two hundred and twenty-five miles west of the Missouri river, seventy_ two miles from Colorado and in the second tier of counties north from Kansas. It is in latitude 40 degrees 30 minutes, and in longi- tude 23 degrees west from Washington, the area of which is about the size of the state of Rhode Island.
EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE OF FRONTIER COUNTY
BY W. H. MILES
Ho! Brothers, come hither and listen to my story, Merry and brief will the narrative be;
Here, like a monarch, I reign in my glory; Master am I, boys, of all that I see. Where once frowned a forest a garden is smiling, The meadow and moorland are marshes no more; And there curls the smoke of my cottage beguiling The children who cluster like grapes at the door. Then enter, boys; cheerily, boys, enter and rest; The land of the heart is the land of the West.
Well, boys, I am going to follow my trail back to 1870, when { came into the Medicine Valley-and the true facts are in store for you. It is rather a lonely trip, as I am left alone: a part of my companions then have long since gone to that far away hunting ground, while the others, like the Arab, have folded their tents and silently stolen away.
The first settlers in the Medicine Valley found no exception to the numerous hardships endured by pioneers of other portions of the Great West. To settle down in this wild country, the nearest habitation being Fort McPherson, fifty miles away, not a road, bridge or church to guide the weary traveler, who was exposed to heat and cold, rain and drouth, lawless bands of white men, Indi- ans and grasshoppers; to tranp down the prickly pears and kill the
9
FRONTIER COUNTY, NEBRASKA
rattlesnakes, hunt the elk and buffalo, haul the meat to the fort and trade it for supplies-was not as romantic as some may think. Yet pleasures were strewn along the weird scenes that would ap- pear upon our horizon and pass away like the morning dew. We were free from the banker, lawyer, doctor and mortgages; we had no church quarrels, no grades in society or wealth; no parties or politics; all worked together and shared alike.
The first settlers here had passed over this territory on a trip through the west but found no place as good or inviting as the Medicine Valley. Here the Indian ponies were fat and could run all day with no feed but the buffalo grass. I did not know then that this would become an agricultural land, but thought it the best stock country in the world. Daily hundreds of fat buffalos, deer, elks, antelopes and wild horses came down to the Medicine creek to drink. Wild turkeys were numerous; the trees would be black with them when they went to roost, but they were soon killed or driven away.
BUFFALO CREED
For me these canyons and these tow'ring hills And rushing streams have romance and a charm I deem them riches that the brave man wills should be; More precious far than any golden vein Of storied lore where men have fought in vain, Their fleeting earthly treasure and brief fame, His perished long ago, but here the name Of valiant scout anid rugged pioneer, Are fresh in memory and it will remain, Verdant as growing fields. The golden grain Is but a symbol of the trust and faith That tried beyond the years can still behold The Westerr. vision glimpsed by prophets old.
-Boyd Perkin.
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EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE
FIRST CHRISTMAS
The Indians that can;ped on the Medicine in 1870 were Whistler's Band, that had been cut off from the tribe of Spotted Tail, the big Sioux chief. Hank and Montie Clifford and John Nelson were with them and had Indian families; W. H. Miles found them, built a smoke-house, dried buffalo meat and trapped during the winter. Also, the writer took a homestead, the first in the territory now comprising Frontier County.
We killed the buffalos, and he squaws tanned the robes, un_ til we had ten thousand pounds : meat and a thousand tongues dried, that we expected to ship East.
But, alas! a shadow came over the spirit of our dreams of wealth, in the shape of sixty Indians that came down to spend the winter with us, which they did. The meat and tongues went to entertain our guests.
We prepared for a "big time" on Christmas; so Clifford went into town and brought out some "fixin's" such as currants, sugar, etc .; last but not least, a keg of whiskey, of which Indians and all indulged freely. The Indians had a war dance which came very near to a "killing off," but we had a good time all the same.
The Indians said they would celebrate Christmas too, by killing and eating all the dogs in the village. I had a fine deg and told them to spare him; but the first thing I saw Christmas morning was poor Dodge roasting on the fire. There were ten dogs eaten at the first Christmas celebration in Frontier County .
Mr. John Brati, the cattle king of Nebraska, came over from the Platte and proposed to organize a county. We favored the pro- position, but our population was so numerically small we hadn't enough to fill the offices. There being four of us, I was the only one but what belonged to the Sioux Indians in the territory of .he proposed county. Mr. Bratt, being a man of indomitable will, did not intend that the want of a few men should hinder the organiza- tion at that time.
It scarcely seems twenty-two years ago when a few of us got together and determined to organize the county of Frontier, at that time the home and paradise of the buffalo and the Indian. I had already consulted with Montie and Hank Clifford, who were at that time living in teepees with their squaws, papooses and Indian re- lations. near Coon Creek; also with that nature's nobleman. the whole-souled, generous hearted Sam Watts, W. H. Miles and a
11
FRONTIER COUNTY. NEBRASKA
few others, as to the boundary of the county, location and name of the county seat, Stockville, and who the county officials should be. These matters decided, we went to work with a will, and con- siderable expense; succeeded in getting an act passed by the leg- islature, which was approved January 17, 1872, by Wm. H. James, then acting governor and Secre ary of State, bounding the county of Frontier, whose organization was entrusted and commissions is- sued to Levi Carter, my partne ; as county treasurer; John Kirby. clerk; Hank Clifford, sheriff; E . Nesbitt, superintendent of pub- lic instruction: Samuel F. Watts, judge; A. S. Shelly, coroner; James Kerr, assessor; John Y. Nelson, surveyor; W. H. Miles, Monte Clifford and your humble seribe,. commissioners.
Well do I remember starting out from Ft. McPherson at be- tween eleven and twelve o'clock on a bitter cold night in January, 1872, the day prior to our organization set by law, in company with John Kirby, whom I had to take before a justice of the peace, E. E. Erickson, to have sworn into the office of clerk, before starting.
We were both mounted on two slippery shod horses; the ground being partially covered with ice and snow made the trip from Ft. McPherson to our ranch, at the head of Fox Creek, anything but pleasant, especially to a man of Mr. Kirby's size, an inexperienced lider as he was. His horse, though I had given him the best one, persisted in falling down on the ice, and it was only by coaxing that i got him to finish the journey to Fox Creek Ranch, where we arrived shortly before daybreak and where I had sent, the day previ- ous, a team with the county books, blanks, commissions, etc., in care of Jones and Kerr, two of our men, who were appointed to fill two of the offices.
After partaking of a hasty breakfast consisting of biscuits. buf- falo meat and coffee, Kirby and I started in a light rig with the box of books, etc., followed by Kerr and Jones on horseback, en route for Hank Clifford's tepee on Coon Creek. At this time there was not much of a road between Fox Creek and the Medi- cine, east of Curtis Creek, and it usuallly required the skill of a careful driver, even with a gentle team, to go through the breaks of Fox and Curtis creeks without upsetting.
Before leaving Fox Creek Ranch, I had put in the team a green Texas horse that had scarcely ever seen a rig, say nothing about pulling one. It took four of us to hitch him up; but once started, after kicking, rearing and plunging for about a mile, he
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EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE
sobered down to his share of the work, but was far from being bridlewise.
We had got safely out of the second canyon east of Fox Creek, and had stopped preparatory to descending a steep
hill leading into another canyon, when I insisted that Kirby should get out, to which he strenuously objected, remarking that he dared to ride where I rode. The hill was long and very steep, some parts of it covered with ice, especially at and near the top; other parts of the buffalo trail we were following were covered with snow. The morning was bright but stinging cold with a sharp wind blowing.
I hesitated some time, surveying my intended route down the hill before starting, having a lack of faith in the Texas side of our team when and where careful driving was needed to get us over bad places without accident, since our Texas horse, in the short distance we had come, had indicated a very strong desire to go one way while I would endeavor to persuade him to go anothe .. This caused me to insist and then beg of Kirby, who was an old Missourian and knew no fear, to get out, telling him at the same time we were liable to upset.
But it was no use; might as well talk to a stone. After taking a big drink out of a suspicious-looking canteen, he gave orders to "let her go," and I obeyed, using all the precaution 1 possibly could. We had proceeded but a little way down the hill when our horses lost their footing, and the wagon likewise. The dashboardI was on my neck, and both horses; especially my Texas friend was making a target of my head with his hind feet. Fortunately I held onto the reins and, after being dragged under the buggy about two hundred yards, I was finally extricated by Kerr and Jones.
Alas! poor Kirby lay groaning where he had fallen, the box of books having rolled down the hill some distance from him. We were sorry to find Mr. Kirby's arm broken in two places, an.l collar bone fractured. The only words we succeeded in getting from him were:
"Let me die right here."
As soon as we could fix up the breakages on the wagon and tongue, we lifred poor Kirby into it, much against his protests, and I led the team back to Fox Creek Ranch. Here we laid him carefully on the bed, at which I knelt while he swore me intc. office of county commissioner, and I left him in care of three of our men with orders to take him to Ft. McPherson as quick as they could and as easy as possible.
13
FRONTIER COUNTY, NEBRASKA
This done, I again started with that team and that box, with which I arrived at Hank Clifford's Indian lodge, near Coon Creek, at nearly six o'clock that night. Here our would-be county dads bad assembled and were impatiently awaiting my arrival. It was but a few moments before our box was opened, the officers sworn in, the commissions distributed. But lo! when we came to sign our names we had neither ink, p n nor pencil. Necessity, the mother of invention. came to our rescue. A stick was sharpened. some soot scraped from the teepee poles, our names signed-the organization of Frontier County was complete.
Returning to Fox Creek Ranch the following day, I was almost paralyzed to find my friend Kirby yet on the bed where I had laid him, his arm and shoulder swollen to an enormous size. He had a six-shooter by his side and threatened to shoot the first man that disturbed him. I took the revolver away from him unnoticed. Meantime I had our men prepare a wagon with hay and quilts, into which it took six of us to handle and lay him. We got him into the hospital at Ft. McPherson about three o'clock the r.ext morning, where Dr. Elbery, one of the most efficient of army sur- geons, attended him and I am pleased to say saved his Iile, which for some years afterward was devoted to the interests of your county. Kirby finally went back to Missouri, where he died. Finis.
CONTINUED BY W. H. MILES
We went on each other's bonds; and as the whole population of the new county was in bond to protect its interests, the new organization was a, success under the watchful eyes of Judge Watts and Commissioner Bratt.
FIRST FARMING
The first farming in the county was a failure. We planted some squaw corn and pumpkin seed, which soon gave promise cf good returns for time and labor bestowed. But one morning we heard bellowing in the field. We gathered our cartridge belts an.l guns, then went to see what the intruder was.
About one thousand buffalos had taken possession of our field. We protested with a vengeance and brought down fifteen of those lordly brutes of the plains, but the entire crop of Frontier County was tramped out of sight or that year. The squaws came out, butchered our game, and a feast followed the loss of our crop.
14
EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE
FIRST HERD OF CATTLE !
John Bratt built a ranch near where Curtis is now, one at Medicine Lake and one on Fox Creek. and brought in the first herd of cattle, which numbered many thousand head. Cattle were sold, beef-fat off the nutritious buffalo grass, with no care of expense but rounding up and branding. Every ranch stood open to all that came, so hospitable and free-hearted were those pioneers. The cook would "rustle" up a good meal, and when it was ready he would sing out, "Grub pile!" And when the meal was over, all would sit around the fire, tell stories, sing songs until tired out, then sleep, perchance dream of the loved ones and their homes far away, that they had not seen for many long, weary years.
INDIAN OUTBREAK
In 1871 there came veny near being an Indian outbreak on the Medicine. Chief Whistler and two of his braves started for Ft. McPherson. While in camp, preparing some food they were discovered by three white men who were passing through and shot them in the back. Then the bodies were taken and thrown in a canyon. It was several days before they were found. During this time the cowardly murderers had fled from the country. The !1- human act so enraged the Indians that they would have killed all of us for revenge on the white people, had it not been for the great influence Hank Clifford held over them.
BUILD COURT-HOUSE
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