USA > Nebraska > Antelope County > A history of Antelope County, Nebraska, from its first settlement in 1868 to the close of the year 1883 > Part 10
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Mr. Bennett next proceeds to relate his experience in hunting for his lost ox. He started out on Thursday morning and hunted all day without finding him, or hear- ing anything of him, and stopped over night with Jim Stanton in Rae valley. He then continues the narrative thus:
"Friday morning the sun rose bright and clear and it was a very warm day. Soon after we got our morning refreshment I set out again on my ox hunt. I thought I would go back two or three miles farther east than I came over, so I started eastward, passing near where Petersburg now is; sun shining very warm. When I reached the summit of the Beaver divide I came to a pile of sod about two feet high, and each way I could see more right along the highest points of the divide. I followed it southeast to where it turns down a point toward the Beaver valley, then changed my course and steered for the Cedar settlement right across the hills; sometimes on
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bare ground, for by this time the hot sun had melted away the thin places of snow. I came up on a ridge from where I could see down into a ravine ahead, and I saw two deer feeding in a place where the snow had melted away and the green grass had started before the storm. I pointed toward them and hissed the dogs a little, and they saw them and went for them, getting tolerably close before they saw the dogs coming.
"They did not go far till the dogs stopped one of them, and when I got there the greyhound had it by the throat and the shepherd dog by the nose. I took out my pocket- knife and was going to cut its throat, when it made a flounce, striking the shepherd dog with its front feet and knocking him loose, and started to run, with the grey- hound hanging to its throat. It did not get very far till it was anchored again, and when I got to it that time the shepherd dog had it by the ear. I caught it by both hind legs and threw it, holding to one leg with one hand, my knee across its neck, and both dogs holding fast. With my other hand I took out my knife, cut its throat, and when it was dead, dressed it in good order, dug a cave in a snow- drift, buried the meat and hide in it, and then traveled on for the settlement. About dark I found my way to Wil- liam Duncan's on Cedar Creek, both tired and hungry. There I heard of my lost ox. He had got back to my brother's, where he had been wintered, the evening the storm ceased, so weak he could walk only a few rods with- out resting.
"Now comes the most remarkable part of my story, yet it is true. To tell you that a snowstorm in the middle of April filled the Elkhorn River so much above the banks that it could not be told where the river was, and that solid enough to drive horses and wagons over, and no ice underneath either, is a hard story, but true. David Dun- can, brother of William Duncan, stayed over night at Mr. Duncan's the same night I got there on my ox hunt, and he told me he crossed that day not far from where Neligh now is, with horses and wagons, and could not tell where
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the river was. Saturday being another nice, warm day, I led my ox to the sod mansion. In the afternoon we got our horses and went after our venison. The snowdrifts were getting so soft we were afraid to try the wagon. On the way we saw quite a large drove of antelope. The wolves had not disturbed our meat. As the snow melted we found lots of dead prairie chickens, meadow larks, and spring birds that had perished in the storm. Also cattle and horses perished; some in stables and some out."
[NOTE .- Mr. Bennett seems to fear that his account of the crossing of the Elkhorn with a team on a snowdrift might be doubted. This fact was, however, well known to many old settlers. The place where Mr. Duncan crossed was on section 34, Neligh township. Other parties are said to have crossed the Elkhorn on a snowdrift near the Yellow Banks in Madison County. Mr. C. H. Frady, Sun- day school missionary, also states that he crossed the Elk- horn on a snowdrift, on foot, in the Hopkins settlement, the same year, and that the snow was so solid he could easily have driven over it with his team. The writer also conversed with Mr. Duncan and got the facts from him personally.]
CHAPTER XXIII
A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS.
NOTE .- The incidents related in this chapter are perhaps not very important, but they are interesting and illustrate the olden times perhaps better than can be done in any other way. These few are selected from a large number on file.
T HE following is taken from the West Point "Repub- lican" of June 17, 1873 :
THE FISH QUESTION
"Thus discourseth the Lincoln 'Journal' upon the acci- dent which let thirty thousand dollars' worth of fish, great and small, into the waters of the winding Elkhorn.
"A car of little fishes collected in the east at a cost of $30,000 was precipitated into the Elkhorn River by the Sunday accident. The oysters were fished out and roasted by the wrecked passengers. The tautogs will not survive, but there is a large assortment of escaped swimmers that will live and flourish. We suggest to those fish a trip down the Platte and up Salt Creek. We can give them a little brine, and cool shady retreats, and if a few county bonds would be an inducement we'll vote some. We should like to see the mighty shad, and the salty cod, the silver eel, and the Massachusetts cat, sporting in the depths of our tawny river."
Some time in the early seventies, probably in 1872, the legislature of California made an appropriation to be ex- pended by the state agricultural society to stock the waters of that state with choice varieties of fish of such kinds as were not then found in California. Accordingly, a car- load, consisting of three hundred thousand in number, was purchased from Seth Green, the famous fish breeder of New York. These consisted of such varieties as the tautog, the black bass, the striped bass, the perch, the wall- eyed pike, the silver eel, oysters, lobsters, and trout. The
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car was in charge of Livingstone Stone, Assistant United States Fish Commissioner. The bridge over the Elkhorn was weakened from the great flood that followed the April storm of 1873, and when the train drawing this car was crossing the bridge a trestle gave way and the car contain- ing the fish was precipitated into the Elkhorn, breaking the car to pieces and liberating the fish to our advantage and at California's expense.
The first settlers found the Elkhorn stocked with such varieties of fish as pickerel, catfish, two or three kinds of suckers, buffalo fish, bull-head, sun-fish, and possibly some other varieties. This accident added to the waters of the Elkhorn the black bass, silver eel, perch, and wall-eyed pike, and possibly one or two other kinds. The trout did not survive, and recent efforts to plant trout in the Elkhorn have not been successful.
In an early day, before the native groves along the Elk- horn and its tributaries had been stripped of their best timbers, a very fine grove of cottonwood saw timber was standing on the south half of section 20, of Neligh township, adjacent to what is now the city of Neligh. This was one of the best groves anywhere along the river. It was on state land, and, as stated in Chapter VI, timber found on state or government land was in those days considered com- mon property. A party of nine men from St. Clair valley and vicinity, consisting of Peter S. Ballatt, Jonas J. Irish, Orson Fields, Orville Fields, W. W. Wilkinson, N. P. Bliss, Sidney Frink, J. H. Eickhoff, and Peter T. Wilkinson, arranged to cut this timber, believing that they could form it into rafts and easily float it down the Elkhorn to Bennett's saw-mill. Mr. Bennett agreed to do the sawing for one half the lumber, and money being a scarce article in those days, it was thought that each one of the party would come into possession of a nice lot of lumber without expending and money. W. W. Wilkinson and N. P. Bliss were to do the team work, and the others were to cut the logs.
About July 1, 1871, they had the logs all cut and ready
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to float, but being about out of rations they arranged to go home, attend the fourth of July celebration to be held on section 7, Burnett township, and return with supplies on the 5th. On their return the river had fallen about eighteen inches, and was still going down. Rafting was impossible. They therefore determined to float the logs down singly, using the teams when necessary to roll them off the sand bars. On reaching the mill, which was done after a vast amount of labor, Mr. Bennett declined to saw the logs on account of the great amount of sand lodged in the bark, which he claimed would ruin his saw. Finally, however, it was agreed that the owners should remove the bark from the logs, and for this labor they should be entitled to the slabs. To this all agreed except J. J. Irish, who declared he didn't want any slabs, The others barked the logs, the sawing was done, and each one of the nine men received two wagon loads of good lumber for his share, and eight of the party received each his share of slabs besides.
The prairie fire of October 15, 1878, was the most de- structive fire ever known in the history of the county. The village of Neligh was barely saved from being wiped out, and only by the most strenuous efforts on the part of its citi- zens. In some neighborhoods nearly every one lost some- thing in the fire, either hay, grain, buildings, or stock. Gildon Donner of Taylor Valley, where the fire was es- pecially destructive, lost his house, bedding, clothing, stable, and grain.
The "Pen and Plow" of October 19, four days after the fire, had the following: "A Christian has turned up in Antelope County, one of the born again sort, with a halo around his head. His name is Potter, and he sojourns until life's fitful fever is o'er on Antelope Creek. He was offered since the fire eight dollars cash per ton for his hay, but he declined, and let a burnt-out neighbor have it for three dollars per ton. We feel lonesome. Send him up here that we may bless him, may weep over him, and press him to these palpitating bosoms." The old settlers will
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recognize the foregoing quotations as very characteristic of the editor of the "Pen and Plow."
Jacob Isele came to Antelope County in 1872 from Fort Dodge, Iowa, by the way of Sioux City, bringing along with him a woman, with whom he was living and whom he intended to marry at Sioux City. However, on arriving at Sioux City the weather was cloudy and thinking that a bad omen, put off the intended marriage. For some un- known reason he also failed to get married on arriving at Dakota City. He brought along with him quite a number of cattle and located in Clearwater township, on a home- stead. In the spring of 1873, he lost part of his cattle in the April storm, they all having drifted over to Beaver Creek, and only part of them could be found again. In June, 1874, Isele and his woman came to M. A. DeCamp's house, DeCamp being then a justice of the peace, and asked to be married, but had no money to pay for the ceremony. They were duly united in wedlock, and Justice DeCamp received for the job three bushels of millet seed as pay.
In the early days, probably in 1871, but the date is not certain, four families, consisting of fourteen persons, all lived for a time in a log house, sixteen by twenty-four feet, located on the northwest corner of section 22, Neligh township, and did not quarrel. They were: Emmet B. Gillett, his wife and son Willie; Henry Trowbridge, his wife and children, Albert, Mary, and George; Stephen Hills, his wife and children, George and Retta; John H. Crawford and his wife.
Marshal Dugar settled on section 14, Neligh township. He used to spend his winters, for a number of years, in burning charcoal. This he sold in part to the blacksmiths and tinners of Antelope County, but hauled the most of it to some market point on the railroad. He burned char- coal for several years on what is now Riverside Park, adjacent to the city of Neligh.
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In the winter of 1874-75 there was great destitution in some neighborhoods, especially where the country had been settled only a year or so. Willow Creek was settled in the fall of 1872, and of course the settlers in 1873 raised sod crops only. In 1874 the grasshoppers destroyed everything they raised and left the settlers without much to live on. John Hunt was appointed by the board of commissioners to look after the Willow Creek settlement, together with his own neighborhood, which was in somewhat better shape. Mr. Hunt on his first trip to the Willow called at the first house he came to and making known his business, asked if they were in need of any supplies of any kind, saying, "There are provisions and clothing on hand ready for dis- tribution." The lady informed him that "We are not hungry, and when we are we will let you know," and shut the door in his face. However, before spring, she came with her husband and, apologizing for her rudeness, declared she was hungry, and asked for aid.
In the spring of 1877, while the Ponca Indians were enroute from their old home on Ponca Creek to the Indian Territory, in charge of an agent, they stopped for several days in camp near Neligh on account of rainy weather and the bad state of the roads. While there an Indian child died and was buried in Neligh cemetery. The agent em- ployed Stephen Hills to make a cross of oak lumber to place at the head of the grave. On this cross was placed the following inscription :
"White Buffalo Girl, died May 23, 1877, aged 18 months, daughter of Black Elk and Moon Hawk, of the Ponca Indian Tribe enroute to their new home."
At the grave the father made the following address, speaking in his own tongue, which was interpreted to the audience: "I want the whites to respect the grave of my child just as they do the graves of their own dead. The Indians do not like to leave the graves of their ancestors, but we had to move and hope it will be for the best. I leave the grave in your care. I may never see it again. Care for it for me." The mother was not present.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SECOND GENERAL ELECTION - OAKDALE SURVEYED AND PLATTED - NELIGH SURVEYED AND PLATTED - THE COUNTY SEAT LOCATED - BUILDING OF THE OAKDALE AND NELIGH FLOURING MILLS
W HEN the first general election was held in the county after its organization, the question of the location of the county seat should have been sub- mitted to the voters. This election occurred in October, 1871, but the question of the location of the county seat was not considered at that time. It is probable that few if any of the voters of the county at that time knew of the provisions of the statute, requiring that the question of the location of the county seat should be submitted to the voters at the first general election after the organization. As mentioned, in Chapter IX, there was not a copy of the statutes of Nebraska in the county, and the county officials were acting solely on their own judgment. Very fortunately they did not go far wrong. Besides, the ques- tion of the location of the county seat had hardly been talked about at that time, and there had been no place sug- gested as suitable.
The second general election occurred in October, 1872. There were three county officers to be elected at this time, namely: commissioner for the 3d district, county treasurer, and surveyor. Robert Marwood had held the office of county treasurer for one year, and George H. McGee that of surveyor. Both had been elected in 1871 for two years, but failing to qualify in time, they had held their positions by appointment. At this election in October, 1872, Zeb- ulon Buoy was re-elected commissioner of the 3d district. Mr. Marwood, whose work as county treasurer had been very satisfactory to the people, absolutely declined a renomination as treasurer, and J. M. Callison was elected
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to fill the vacancy. It was a poor trade for the county when this exchange was made. George H. McGee was re- elected surveyor to fill the vacancy. The location of the county seat was also submitted to the voters at this election.
Prior to this, however, the Omaha & Northwestern Railroad had received from the state of Nebraska a grant of Internal Improvement lands for building their road from Omaha north to Tekamah, in Burt County. About thirty- two thousand acres of these Internal Improvement lands lay in Antelope County, being on both sides of the Elkhorn River, and extending up the valley from the county line on the east to a point about five miles above Neligh. Two separate parties purchased some of these lands with the intention of laying out townsites and of getting the county seat.
In the early part of the year 1872 Mr. I. N. Taylor, of Columbus, Nebraska, who was also at that time a member of the state board of immigration, with his office in Omaha, made a visit to the Elkhorn valley and looked over these lands, and on his return made a report to others interested. He recommended the northeast quarter, section 11, and the northwest quarter, section 12, in what is now Oakdale town- ship, as a suitable location for a townsite, Accordingly five men, namely: Chas. F. Walther, F. W. Hohman, Frank M. Jenks, I. N. Taylor, and John Rath, purchased these lands of the Omaha & Northwestern Railroad Co., and pro- ceeded to lay out the townsite of Oakdale. The townsite was surveyed and platted by J. G. Routson, county sur- veyor of Platte County in July, 1872, assisted by I. N. Taylor, and the survey was certified to by I. N. Taylor. The plat was filed with the county clerk, August 28, 1872.
The name "Oakdale" came about in this way. In Chap- ter VIII it is related how the settlers met at J. H. Snider's and petitioned the legislature to organize the county of "Oakland," and why it came to be named Antelope instead. Mr. Taylor, having heard of this, intended to name the town-
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site Oakland, but finding that there was already a post-office in the state by that name, he named his townsite Oakdale.
The townsite of Oakdale as originally platted contained a good mill site, and this was sold the following winter to R. G. King of West Point, Nebraska, together with the west half of the townsite, Mr. King also contracting to im- prove the water-power and erect a flouring mill. The steam saw-mill, before referred to, which had been running for about a year and a half at Judge Snider's, was moved over to Oakdale, a large quantity of oak and cottonwood saw logs having been delivered in anticipation of its com- ing. Thus the town of Oakdale was started. The follow- ing is taken from a manuscript of Mr. Lambert as to the way in which the town of Neligh was started.
"A party of four men from West Point attended district court at Norfolk in August, 1872. The party was com- posed of John D. Neligh, John B. Thompson, Allen D. Beemer, and Niels Larsen. After the adjournment of the court they concluded to take a trip up the Elkhorn to view the country, as none of them had ever been up the river farther west than Norfolk. They left Norfolk and traveled west as far as the French settlement in Antelope county. After crossing the Belmer Ravine, on their way up, they were all so favorably struck with the lay of the land for the purpose of a townsite that on their return they stopped and gave the place a thorough examination, in company with D. V. Coe, Alexander Belmer, and others, and also took into consideration the feasibility of damming the river, and the amount of water-power that could be ob- tained. On examination, everything proving satisfactory, they determined on their return to West Point to purchase the land, lay out a town, erect a flouring mill, and also open up a store of general merchandise. After canvassing the matter with rather unsatisfactory results, Mr. Neligh deter- mined to go to Omaha and purchase the land of the Omaha and Northwestern Railroad Company. On Mr. Neligh's arrival in Omaha he found the company had the very tract of land he proposed buying marked out as a townsite on
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their plats and that it was reserved from sale. After examining their plats under pretense of buying, with apparently no particular tract in view, he succeeded in having the numbers inserted in the contract under which he bought the present site of the town. Mr. Kountze, the vice-president of the road, before signing the contracts in duplicate, made particular inquiry as to whether it em- braced the tract they had reserved as a townsite, and be- ing assured by a careless clerk that it did not, he affixed his signature to the contracts, and Mr. Neligh came out victorious."
The land thus purchased by Mr. Neligh embraced the south half, of the southeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter, section 17; the north- east quarter and east half of the northwest quarter, section 20; and the northwest quarter of section 21, in what is now Neligh township and includes the present city of Neligh. This purchase was made October 4th, and as the election was to be held October 8th, Mr. Neligh hurried back to West Point, and the next morning sent Anton Psota,a young Bohemian in his employ, with a letter addressed to Judge Coe, notifying him that he had bought this land and that he intended to lay out a town, and erect a saw-mill and grist-mill thereon as soon as possible. He asked Judge Coe to confer with L. A. Boyd and others and to use their best endeavors at the coming election to have the county seat located on the northeast quarter of section 20. Un- fortunately young Psota, who could scarcely speak English at all, lost his way and did not reach Judge Coe's until noon on the day of the election.
The county seat was located at Oakdale by a large majority, considering the number of votes cast, but as the returns were burned with other records at the burning of the court-house three years later the result cannot now be given. There are those, however, who think that if this information had reached the voters in time the result would have been in favor of the northeast quarter of section 20. This view is probably incorrect, as at that time the
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country tributary to Oakdale had more settlers than that around Neligh.
A memorandum found among Mr. Lambert's papers states that the townsite of Neligh was surveyed and platted by Niels Larsen, county surveyor of Cuming County, in February, 1873, and Charles E. Fields' " History of Neligh," published in 1880, makes the same statement. However, Mr. McGee, who was well conversant with the facts, thinks that Niels Larsen came up to do the surveying about December 1, 1872, and that he was stopped by the in- clemency of the weather. Mr. Larsen did not complete the work. The final survey was made by George H. Mc- Gee in July, 1875, and the plat filed September 30th of that year. However, Larsen had done enough work so that some of the lots could be located and offered for sale. The town was not named until the summer of 1873, when it was called "Neligh," at the suggestion of William B. Lambert.
Mr. Neligh arranged in the summer of 1873 for the build- ing of a brick flouring mill, and with this in view contracted with John H. Crawford to burn the brick. He also built a frame dam across the Elkhorn River and put in the ma- chinery for a saw-mill and began to saw cottonwood lumber. The financial panic of 1873 coming on, Mr. Neligh was unable to proceed with his plans. He therefore sold the unfinished flouring mill, the saw-mill with all the machin- ery and material, to William B. Lambert and William C. Gallaway.
Both Oakdale and Neligh continued to develop rapidly. In the fall of 1873 the Oakdale flouring mill began running, and theNeligh mill commenced to grind in September, 1874. These two mills were appreciated by the settlers. They were the greatest convenience, without exception, that they had known up to this time. There were no mills west or south of these for several years. Their customers came fifty miles or more from these directions. Both mills also did a large business with the cattle ranches at the head of the Elkhorn and on the Niobrara, shipping hundreds of wagon loads of flour and feed to these points, and also to the Black Hills mining country.
CHAPTER XXV
THE DEATH OF WILLIAM P. CLARK, COUNTY COMMISSIONER - A. WARNER APPOINTED TO FILL VACANCY - ELECTION OF OCTOBER, 1873 - DEATH OF B. C. PALMER, COUNTY TREAS- URER - ELECTION OF OCTOBER, 1874 - TAYLOR PRECINCT ESTABLISHED - VALLEY PRECINCT - THE COUNTY REDIS- TRICTED INTO FIVE DISTRICTS - ELECTION OF OCTOBER, 1875 - CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION - FIRST BRIDGE OVER THE ELKHORN - OTHER BRIDGES BUILT
O N the 24th of May, 1873, William P. Clark, county commissioner from the first district, lost his life while returning home from Oakdale. The water in the Elkhorn was still very high from the effects of the flood that followed the April storm. There were no bridges as yet over the Elkhorn and the river had not been fordable for five or six weeks. Mr. Clark had kept a boat for crossing the river in making his trips to and from Oakdale. He came over on the morning of May 24 to Oakdale, leav- ing his skiff at the south bank of the river until his return. Having transacted his business, he started for home, carry- ing some small packages in his hand. Before reaching the bank of the river, where his boat had been left, he had to cross a slough through which some of the overflow water from the river was running. The wagon road also crossed this slough at a place where the water was shallow. Here Mr. Clark had taken off his shoes and stockings to wade the slough at the shallow crossing, but in some way got into the deep water and was drowned. When found, he was in the edge of the deep water, but only a few feet from the road, still grasping, in his hands the packages and shoes. The slough is still called by his name, Clark's slough. There is something strange about it, as it was very plain to see where the road crossed the slough, and Mr. Clark was very familiar with the road and had crossed in safety in the morning. He might have had a paralytic
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