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Gc 978.202 L63h 1204334
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
n
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01066 6524
first Je
Stillen 120,000 Nmadrid. of Course the 1st Stepin
HUTCHINS & HYATT. LINCOLN
Anthracite and Bituminous
COAL
I.C.E
COMPANY.
PURE OAK CREEK AND BLUE RIVER ICE.
1040 0 STREET,
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LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.
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UFFMAN & RICHTER.
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THE STATE CAPITOL.
العنف +
ון
- --
HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF LINCOLN,
NEBRASKA
WITH BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE STATE AND OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
AN ACCURATE COMPILATION OF FACTS AND HISTORICAL DATES, TOGETHER WITH MANY INTERESTING REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF LINCOLN.
THE LINCOLN OF TO-DAY AND THE TERRITORY OVER WHICH SHE HOLDS COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY.
BY A. B. HAYES AND SAM. D. COX.
LINCOLN, NEB .: STATE JOURNAL COMPANY, PRINTERS. 1889.
PREFACE. 1204334
The authors of this work have undertaken the task of recording the history of Lincoln at this time, because they felt that it was a work that should be performed while it was still possible to get the facts from those who are personally cognizant of them. Even at this time, only twenty-two years away from the founding of the city, much difficulty has been experienced in getting the absolute facts of the early days; and while great care has been taken to secure strict accuracy in all the features of this work, the authors cannot hope to have been en- tirely successful in their endeavor. But the volume is given to the public with the request that such credit be given to it as is due to work conscientiously and honestly performed. History is made rapidly in this representative city of a wonderfully developing State, and the authors of this work expect to continue in the future the work they have begun in the following pages. They therefore request all who read this volume to notify them of any inaccuracies that may be dis- covered in its pages, and to communicate to them any facts omitted herein and which would be of interest and value to the people of Lin- coln and of the State as a part of the city's history. The authors de- sire to express their thanks to those persons who have generously assisted in the preparation of these pages, among whom may be men- tioned Hon. C. H. Gere, Hon. John Gillespie, Col. Simon Benadom, Hon. Thomas Hyde, Hon. John S. Gregory, Major Bohanan, and others.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
The Lincoln of To-day.
9
II. Coronado's Discovery of Nebraska. 15
III. Nebraska from Territorial Times
25
IV. Nebraska's Resources.
57
V. Early Settlement of Lancaster County 67
VI. Lancaster County Politically
82
VII. The Salt Basins
90
VIII. Removal of the Capital to Lincoln.
100
IX. Incidents of the Capital Removal.
114
X. An Interesting Document -The Original Report of the Capital
Commissioners
124
XI. The Village of Lancaster from its Founding to 1867 - Reminis- cences of the Early Days. 136
XII. Lincoln from 1867 to 1869.
147
XIII. Lincoln for Twenty Years-The Wonderful Growth into a City, 164 XIV. Lincoln Politically 177
XV. The Railroads which Enter the City -The great Territory which
they lay Tributary to Her
200
XVI. The State Institutions - The Penitentiary Revolt
213
XVII. Lincoln as an Educational Center.
226
XVIII. The Churches of the City.
247
XIX. Secret Orders.
277
XX.
Irish National League-Sketches of its Prominent Leaders.
299
XXI. Financial Institutions of the city 313
XXII.
The Press of Lincoln.
325
XXIII.
Incarceration of the City Council
335
XXIV.
The Tartarrax Pageant
339
XXV. Formation of the Old Settlers' Association -Its list of members, 346
XXVI. Lincoln's Remarkable growth -Sketches of Some of her Prom- inent Citizens 357
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
CHAPTER I.
THE LINCOLN OF TO-DAY-WHY THE CITY HAS GROWN SO RAPIDLY, AND WHY EXPECTATIONS OF FUTURE GROWTH ARE REASONABLE-THE COUNTRY TRIBUTARY TO LINCOLN-WHAT LINCOLN REALLY IS AND HAS.
A city is builded upon a great water way, where the commerce of half a hundred states may float to its wharves; near the waters of a rapid stream that frets its banks with the impatient power which might turn the busy wheels of a hundred mills; where the generous earth needs but to be asked, to give up for man's uses unlimited stores of baser metals and the fuel with which they may be converted into things of utility and beauty ; at the foot of mountains filled with gold and silver that attract thousands of fortune seekers, wild with dreams of sudden wealth, and yield to Fortune's favored few the incomes of princes and kings.
Another city is builded where no vessels float, no water power roars and foams, no coal nor iron nor gold nor silver rewards the delver in the earth ; where nature offers no bonus to the favored few, nor cheats the many with the baseless fabric of dreams never to be fulfilled, but with even-handed justice holds out to all the promise of an adequate return for labor faithfully performed.
Capital flows to the first city to take the bonus held out by nature's hand, and builds with the accumulations of other times and other fields, in the hope of an ultimate return. Men to whose imagina- tions the extraordinary advantages of the place appeal, flock to it in the hope that there they may obtain the reward of labor without the unpleasant necessity of its exercise. It is built from without. Its future is mortgaged to the capitalist -it has borrowed his money in- stead of making it. Its continuing present is menaced by its poorer citizens, who have come to find wealth, not to produce it. But its
(9)
2
10
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
growth i- rapid, for it holds out the gambler's hope of enormous gains, and appeals to the imagination of the restless emigrant.
The second city attracts little capital from the outside; it has no extraordinary inducements to appeal to capital. . The eyes of the coun- try are not turned upon it ; it has nothing within it to excite the im- agination of the emigrant or fortune hunter. The capital within it is that only which it has itself produced. The residents are only those who have come because of the employment which they have been enabled to find in the ordinary avenues of life.
If these two cities grow side by side, and the second shows the same percentage of growth as the first, which is the more remarkable? the one which has displayed lavish natural advantages to attract capital and excite the imagination of the world, or the one which could only hold out as an incentive the hope of moderate returns for energy and industry ?
If these two cities grow at an even pace, which has the more sub- stantial prosperity and the more solid basis for future growth? the one which has been built up from the outside, which has attracted population by vague and extraordinary promises; or the one which has grown out of its own resources, and whose people have come to it because they saw work awaiting them which they were willing to do?
An extraordinary effect ceases to be extraordinary when it is found to follow an extraordinary cause. An extraordinary effect for which no extraordinary canse ean be discovered, becomes a phenomenon.
The growth of Lincoln has been more remarkable than that of any other city in the West. It has no fuel, no mines, no water power, no remarkable natural advantages : and yet, on the spot where twenty- one years ago the emigrant, in his lonely covered wagon, scared the timid antelope from its grassy couch, and seanned the horizon with anxious eye to see if he might discover the form of some Indian brave entting its even line, fifty thousand busy people throng the streets of a great city; a city which reaches 200,000 square miles of territory, and 2,000,000 people, by ten radiating lines of railroad which do a business of nearly a million tons per year, and give employment to 1,350 men ; a eity which is traversed by thirty-five miles of street railway, and has seven miles of paving, with as much more provided for : twenty miles of sewerage, twenty miles of water mains; a hun- dred jobbing houses and as many factories ; four great State institu-
11
THE LINCOLN OF TO-DAY.
tions, besides the Capitol ; three universities ; a million dollars invested in church property; and hundreds of the finest residences in the State.
The growth of Lincoln has not excited widespread interest over the country because there has been nothing sensational connected with it ; and yet there is no visitor to the city who does not express the amazement which he feels when he learns its size and importance. Indeed, half the residents of' Lincoln are themselves amazed when they drive about the city and see the growth and improvements which have been going on while they slept. The reason of this is that the growth has been due not to extraordinary causes, but to the steady though rapid development of the country of which Lincoln has be- come the most convenient point to supply. An agricultural region is the richest in the world; but its development is steady and com- monplace. Lincoln is the railroad center of as magnificent an agricul- tural empire as exists in the world ; and the whole secret of her great and rapid growth lies in this fact. This growth has been so quiet as hardly to excite comment ; but it is as substantial, and certain of con- tinuanee, as is that natural and irresistable development in which its roots are driven deep.
The explanation of the growth to greatness, of a city which could boast of no water power, mines, fuel, nor other so-called "natural ad- vantages," lies in the fact that it is commerce, and not manufactures, that builds great cities. Natural advantages may afford the founda- tion for a limited number of factories ; cheap coal may give birth to a few industries in the operation of which fuel is the most expensive item ; abundant raw material may attract a few of the factories which use the material; and these factories may support a hundred or a thousand families : if they support five thousand families the limit of population may be little beyond this number. Some of the largest manufacturing institutions in the United States are in small towns. They present no attractions to anybody except to a man who wants to buy a bill of goods and get away, or to the sight seer whose curiosity is of a limited and special character. But commerce knows no natu- ral limitations. Given the means of reaching a great and populous territory, and a commercial city lays under tribute the factories of the world, and turns to its own profit the special advantages that have given rise to a thousand manufacturing towns. It becomes the center to which tradesmen of every kind collect to purchase their wares; to
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
which the members of all professions gather to procure those things which they use in the practice of their vocations; to which the sight seer and the politician gravitate to see the most of things or persons in the shortest time. In the commercial center supply and demand meet in every avenue of life,-mercantile, professional, physical, in- tellectual, :esthetic, moral. The diversity of interests in such a city becomes its greatest power of attraction : every source of supply seeks there a demand ; every demand seeks there a source of supply. There are no waterways west of the Mississippi river which are of service to commerce, and it is at the great railway center, wherever that may by man be placed, that she sets her throne.
It is by virtue of being such a railway center that Lincoln has grown so marvelously; grown in spite of the lack of "natural ad- vantages;" grown in the face of the repeated predictions of her own citizens that no further growth could be looked for. And that growth will continue until the development of the country which her railroads make tributary to her shall cease. The railroad system of most im- portance to Lincoln is the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, which has nearly 2,500 miles of track in the State, and almost as much as all the other roads. There is no city in the country so pre- eminently the center of any railroad as Lincoln is of the B. & M. The road has six lines radiating from Lincoln to every part of the State. It handles all its transferring and reshipping here, as it has no yardage at any other place in the State. Here it has forty-two miles of side track, on which 800 men handle from 1,000 to 2,000 cars a day. Over these radiating roads there run out from Lincoln every week-day thirteen passenger trains and from fifty to seventy-five freight trains. The system girds the entire southern half of the State, and reaches out into northwestern Nebraska by three parallel lines which will occupy three-fourths of the northern half of the State and extend into the mining regions of Wyoming and Idaho, and the cattle ranches of Dakota and Montana. Every pound of merchandise that passes into all this vast territory from eastern points of supply, and every pound of grain, and every hog and steer that goes out of the State over the B. & M. system, passes through Lincoln.
Besides this system, the Elkhorn operates over 960 miles of road in the State, giving Lincoln connection with all the northwestern part of the State to the line; the Union Pacific operates over 875 miles of
13
THE LINCOLN OF TO-DAY.
track, giving Lincoln connection with the Pacific coast and with the southern systems in Kansas; the Missouri Pacific has 400 miles of track in the State, and gives Lincoln a short line to Kansas City, St. Louis, and the Atlantic seaboard, and places the city in direct com- munication with the southern markets.
In an elaborate review of Lincoln's railroad situation, published March 12, 1888, in a special edition of the State Democrat, prepared by one of the authors of this history, it was shown that the popula- tion reached directly by Lincoln's railroads was 989,591. This was an accurate estimate, made up from the censuses and votes of the coun- ties reached by the roads in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, and did not include any of that vast territory in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, which is reached by lines connecting with Lincoln's roads, and in which Lincoln jobbers are doing a large and rapidly- increasing business.
There is a philosophy of history ; and this brief discussion of the territory tributary to Lincoln, and the city's facilities for reaching it, has been given in recognition of the fact that it is a part of the his- torian's duty to explain the causes of events, as well as to chronicle events themselves. The value of such historical study is in enabling the student to make the past foreshadow the future; and the follow- ing summary of the possibilities of Lincoln's growth, taken from the article referred to above, is deduced from the study made therein :
" But it may be asked what grounds there are on which to expect that the country tributary to Lincoln will increase so steadily and rapidly in population as to build up a great commercial center here. The reply is that nearly all this territory is the very best kind of agricultural land, and that such land is too valuable to be idle. This, we take pains to say again, is not mere assertion. The settlement of the western counties of Nebraska has been and is marvelous. A few examples are given below, with authentic figures showing the popula- tion in 1880, in 1885, and in 1887, together with the population that the same territory would have at thirty-five per square mile :
1.4
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
-
Population in ISin.
Population in 1885.
Pop. at Population thirty-fire in 1837.
sq. mile.
Blame Iunorganized in 15-0
6689
16971
80640
Brown (unorganized in 1820).
170
5196
30240
Chase.
1558
1653
13800
275625
Cheyenne.
2619
8500
195300
Cherry junorganized in 1 == 0)
2211
12399
21600
90720
Custer.
2516
10000
47 -- 0)
Dawes (nnorganized in 1 == ().
2919
10000
86310
Sheridan ( unorganized in ] == 0)
3239
29240
87591
831915
Total
COINTIE>
275
1524
25200
" These figures are accurate, although one who is unacquainted with the development of the great West might well imagine that they were the creation of some statistical romaneer. Here is a region, nearly all of which was so sparsely settled as to be unorganized in 1880, now supporting a population of 87,591; an empire which would easily support 800,000 people. The estimate of thirty-five per square mile is not an extravagant one. Kentucky has forty people per square mile: Indiana and Illinois have each fifty-four; Ohio has seventy- seven : New York has 103; Connecticut has 124; and Rhode Island has 243. If Cheyenne county had as many people per square mile a> Rhode Island, her population would be 1,918,620.
" Is it any wonder that Nebraska villages have grown into cities in a few years? Is there any reason to doubt that this growth is but the substantial and inevitable result of the development of the State ?? Is there any reason to doubt that Lincoln will become a great city when the 1.000.000 people now directly tributary may be swelled to 5,000,000 without making the population more dense than that now supported by Indiana and Illinois?"
15
EARLY NEBRASKA.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY NEBRASKA-ITS DISCOVERY IN 1540-THE EARLY LEGENDS OF THE LAND OF QUIVERA-CORONADO'S VISIT-THE EXPLORATIONS OF PENA- LOSA-THE POINTS REACHED BY THESE FIRST VISITORS TO NEBRASKA.
Nebraska as a State is comparatively new. As a country its his- tory dates back centuries, covered partly by the records of the priests, the old-time chroniclers, and partly by the legends which have come down to us through generations from the old Spanish settlers in Mex- ico, and the Indians who inhabited the land. The early history of Nebraska is a part of the history of all this western country, extend- ing from the Missouri river to the Rocky mountains, and from the Platte river to the Rio Grande, and westward into Mexico. Around and over all this region is thrown the glamour and halo of the early days of chivalry in America, and the tales the legends tell are vague and weird enough to form the climax of any tale of chivalry, ro- mance, or discovery. Away back three centuries and a half ago be- gins the legendary history of Nebraska. At that time the Land of the Sun, Mexico, had been taken possession of by the Spaniards, and from the City of Mexico exploring parties were wont to take their trips of discovery and exploration, led hither and thither by the fre- quent stories of wealth and splendor told the people by Indians who had straved into that southern capital, or had been captured by the Spaniards in some of their frequent raids into the adjacent territories. Legend has it that years before the first recorded date, troops of Spanish cavaliers, traveling northward, entered a vast territory of grassy plains, crossed by broad rivers, which was said to be the home of a wonderfully wealthy people, whose cities, rich beyond compare, numbered seven. Later research has shown that some of these expe- ditions undoubtedly crossed what is now the northern boundary line of Kansas, and camped and traveled within the territory now known as Nebraska.
As early as 1536, legendary history tells us, the Spaniards in Mex-
16
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
ico had heard fairy tales of a land far to the northward, called Quivera -a land of unlimited wealth, of populons cities with lofty dwellings and stores fairly glittering with gold and silver and precious gens, whose people lived in a style of grandeur unknown in this country, and who were highly civilized, and acquainted with the arts. In the year 1536 four men, half starved and worn with toil, heat, cold, ship- wrecks, and battles with the natives, reached the City of Mexico from the mountains and plains of the north. These four men were all that were left of a band of four hundred Spaniards that eight years before had landed on the coast of Florida, for the purpose of exploring that unknown country. That company of troops had traveled to the north- westward many weary years, but hunger, toil, and conflicts with the hostile tribes of Indians they met, had reduced the ranks to the four, whose coming into the City of Mexico, and the marvelous tales they told, excited the curiosity of the people. This band of four hundred had evidently traversed the country from the southeast as far north as Kansas, and west through Colorado. The stories of these four men confirmed the legends that had been handed down among the Mexi- cans for many generations, and if they had been doubted before, none now dared to dispute the existence to the northward of a country such as had been pictured to them.
From this time forward we have not to depend upon legends only, for the events following this date were recorded, possibly inaccurately, by the priests, who were the historians of the time. Immediately fol- lowing the arrival of these toil-worn explorers at the City of Mexico, an expedition was fitted out under the leadership of Mareos de Niza, a Franciscan monk, and sent to discover and report upon these mys- terious cities and pave the way for Spanish colonization. Friar Mar- cos, the commander, soon became discouraged and disheartened by the cruelty practiced upon his band of soldiers by the natives, who slew many of them, and turned back, but not wanting his comrades at home to think him the coward that he was, he instructed his soldiers, who were ready for any scheme that would end their marching, to say that they had really seen the seven cities of Cibola from afar, and that they were more populous and far more wealthy than had ever been told. These tales again excited Spanish curiosity and cupidity and at once a larger and more powerful expedition was fitted out un- der the command of the Viceroy of Mexico, Francisco Vasquez de
17
EARLY NEBRASKA.
Coronado. This expedition marks the time when Nebraska was really discovered -the discovery which history records.
Judge Savage, of Omaha, has spent much time and labor in col- lecting the scattered information to be had upon this early discovery, and from his account many of the facts and incidents of this expedi- tion, and also his conclusions as to the points visited by Coronado and other explorers, are used. According to the authorities upon this subject, Coronado's expedition, composed of three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred natives, set out from the City of Mexico early in the spring of 1540, with bright anticipations and sanguine hopes. These were somewhat dampened by the hardships of the way, for the country traversed was rough, mountainous, and a desert ; and now and then, notwithstanding the marvels of the seven cities which they expected to find at the end of their journey, distrust and homesick- ness overmastered their curiosity, and they longed to return home. It was only the stern resolution of their commander which prevented the expedition being a failure almost at the very start. But at last, after a tedious and toilsome march, what were thought to be the seven cities of Cibola were reached, and here the disappointment was so great that a mutiny was almost successful. And the soldiers were really not to blame, for the highly-colored tales had all proved false. The seven cities were seven hamlets; the houses were small; gold was not found; the minerals were of little value; and farms there were in Mexico far better and richer than all of Cibola.
But the fitting out of the expedition had cost too much money to thus come to an ignoble end, and Coronado began to inquire if there were not other cities, richer and more populous, which it would be profitable to visit. The natives, eager to get rid of their Spanish vis- itors, answered in the affirmative. Two hundred and fifty miles to the eastward, they said, was a rich, peaceful, and populous province, where their desire for wealth and ambition for power might be grat- ified. Following the directions given, Coronado led his little army to this new locality, a point which is identified to-day by its natural characteristics and by its ruins, as being the country which is now the eastern part of the Territory of New Mexico, and not far south of the present site of Santa Fé. Here the natives gave the Spaniards a cordial and sincere welcome, they being of a gentle and kindly nature, in return for which the Spaniards treated them with the utmost cru-
18
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
elty. Having been instructed by the Spanish viceroy to let these people (meaning the inhabitants of the cities of Cibola) know that there was "a God in Heaven." Coronado proceeded to instruct the natives, first by stealing everything they had, then by imprisoning the chief- of the leading tribes, and lastly, by burning their villages. Not satisfied with these outrage, Coronado's soldiers made inroads upon the families of their entertainers, debauching their wives and children. Notwithstanding these acts of "Christian charity," the natives still treated the Spanish troopers with what kindness they could, but naturally schemed for some way by which they could rid themselves of their unwelcome and unbidden guests, in which they were finally successful.
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