USA > Nebraska > Buffalo County > Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 5
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September 13, 1860: "The people of the Pike's Peak mining district, together with all concerned, will be pleased to learn that after being swindled, gouged, imposed upon, and literally robbed in the matter of mail facilities and service, by that arch-monopoly, Jones, Russell & Co., for nearly two years they are now provided by the department, at American rates, a mail from Omaha, by this place
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' HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
and Fort Kearney, once a week and back. The Western Stage Company, the most punctual, accommodating and reliable in mail service, has the contract and have already sent out one mail." This is believed to have been the first mail route established by the general Government, passing through Buffalo County. On August IIth it is related this stage company made a record trip from Fort Kearney to Omaha in thirty-three hours carrying six passengers.
In the winter of 1860-61 the editor of the Huntsman's Echo visited the Paw- nee Indians on their reservation at Genoa in Nance County and in the February 2Ist issue gives the following interesting account of this visit: "The Pawnees number at present about four thousand souls and a fraction over, and when 'at home' live in a cluster of huts built with crotches and poles, covered, top and sides, with willows, then with grass and dirt, giving the appearance at a little distance of an immense collection of 'potato hills,' all of a circular shape and oval. The entrance is through a passage walled with earth, the hole in the center at the top serving both for window and chimney, the fire being built in the center. Along the sides little apartments are divided off the main room by partitions of willow, rush or flag, some of them being neatly and tidily constructed, and altogether these lodges are quite roomy and comfortable, and each is frequently the abode of two or more families. In these villages there is no regularity of streets, walk's or alleys, but each builds in a rather promiscuous manner, having no other care than to taste and convenience. The tribe is divided into five bands, each being under a special chief or leader, and the whole confederation being under one principal chief. Each band has its habitation separate and distinct from the other, three bands living in villages adjoining and all composing one village, the other two villages some little distance. There is frequently some con- siderable rivalry between the several bands in fighting, hunting and other sports, and not infrequently one band commits thefts upon the effects of another."
In the issue of April 25, 1861, speaking of the agricultural prospects of the Wood River Valley the editor says: "Corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, and all sorts of vegetables and roots grow to perfection. For melons and other vines the fruit is almost spontaneous. The timber consists of cottonwood, elni. ash, hackberry, box elder and oak. Eighteen miles below there is a sawmill. lumber $30 per thousand. There was a one-horse grist mill at Wood River Center. The vast emigration going up the valley at that time demanded far more of the products of the region than the supply. Corn brought from $1.25 to $2.50 per bushel, flour $5 to $7 per 100 lbs., butter 25 cents per pound, eggs 25 cents per dozen, and potatoes $2 per bushel. We have growing apples, peaches, English gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries, set last year. All stood the winter fine and look well." It is related that in the two sum- mers' life of the Huntsman's Echo the far-seeing editor prophesied as to the future greatness of the Wood River Valley. In the last issue, August 1, 1861. appears the following :
"ADIEU
"Friends and patrons -- adieu. We have 'secessed,' and tomorrow shall start westward and shall probably become a citizen of Utah, and perhaps-soon our
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Echo may be re-Echoed from the tops of the mountains. We go from turmoil, strife and bloodshed, to seek quiet in the happy, peaceful vales of Utah. This republican reign of terror, blood, tyranny and oppression is too much for our democratic style of free thought, free speech and freedom, when men who may chance to differ in opinion with wild, blood-thirsty fanatics, are threatened and sometimes despoiled or murdered. * Should our life and abilities be spared, our friends may find our foot-marks through the boundless West, and again hear the shrill, oracular notes of the old bugler, re-echoed from the vales of the mountains. Again, adieu."
Mr. E. Oliver, now a resident of Shelton, and who was employed by Mr. Johnson to work in his garden, states that Mr. Johnson took great pride and pleasure in tilling the soil, not only raising quantities of vegetables, but was also a lover of flowers and small fruits to which he gave much attention. The store and printing office was in a building fourteen feet square, built of hewn logs, and was located on the bank of Wood River, east of the main street. In front of this store was the Overland Trail; across the trail, to the south, was the house in which Mr. Johnson lived, and his garden extended to the south as far as the present railroad tracks. This garden was enclosed with a fence built of poles. After the removal of Mr. Johnson to Utah, the store building was used as a residence by the families of E. Oliver and A. Meyer.
As the Huntsman's Echo mentions migrating grasshoppers as destroying crops in 1860 it might be of interest to mention that a rainfall record had been kept at Fort Kearney from 1850 to and including 1861, and that the rainfall for the years 1859-60-61 was the least for any years during that period, being 16.10 inches in 1859, 16.85 inches in 1860, and 19.34 inches in 1861. This is the least rainfall, for a period of three years, as appears in the rainfall record kept at Fort Kearney and Ravenna between the years 1850 and 1914. The least rainfall record in any one year in this time, 1850 to 1914, being 15.67 inches in 1894.
THE FIRST POSTOFFICE
The first postoffice established in Buffalo County was at Wood River Center in 1860. The first contract to carry mail was let by the general Government in 1850. This was a monthly mail between Independence, Mo., and Salt Lake City, Utah. This mail was carried over the Oregon Trail, through Nebraska Territory south of the Platte River and via Fort Kearney to Utah. This contract was let to Samuel H. Woodson of Independence, Mo. In 1859 this contract was trans- ferred to Russell, Majors and Waddell, and the initial or starting point was made Nebraska City. The celebrated Pony Express was put in operation in 1860 be- tween St. Joseph and Sacramento, passing south of the Platte via Fort Kearney. Previous to the breaking out of the Civil war Missouri was a hotbed of secession and the home of border ruffians and more and more emigration to the Pacific Coast followed the trail north of the Platte River. In the latter '50s the Western Stage Company of Iowa extended its route to Fort Kearney, following the mili- tary road established by the general Government in 1858, from Bellevue and Florence via Fremont, Columbus, Nebraska Center to Fort Kearney. In August, 1860, the Western Stage Company were awarded a contract by the general
-
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Government to carry mail over this route as far west as Fort Kearney. Pre- vious to this date it seems that the mail between Omaha and Fort Kearney up the valley of the Platte was carried and charged for the same as freight or express, the rates of course being high. These extortionate rates for carrying mail doutbless account for the rather violent language used towards Jones, Rus- sell & Co. in the Huntsman's Echo of September 13, 1860.
ide
RI
South
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BUFFALO
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River
wood
NebraskaCenter
Platte
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F+ Kearney.
Through the kindness of Senator Norris Brown it is learned that the records of the Postoffice Department show that the postoffice at Wood River Center was established August 20, 1860, and discontinued May 28, 1864. The postmasters at Wood River Center were as follows: Joseph E. Johnson, August 20, 1860, to September 30, 1862; Henry Peck, September 30, 1862, to July 18, 1863; Edward Huff, July 18, 1863, to May 28, 1864. Thus it seems that Joseph E. Johnson was the first editor of a newspaper for Nebraska Territory, the Omaha Arrow, July 28, 1854: the editor and publisher of the first paper printed in Buffalo County, and the first postmaster in Buffalo County.
Buffalo Creek.
CHAPTER VI
ORGANIZATION OF BUFFALO COUNTY-RETURNS OF AN ELECTION IN BUFFALO COUNTY IN 1858-NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF AN ELECTION OF COUNTY OFFICERS IN 1860-BUFFALO COUNTY ORDERED TO ENLIST SOLDIERS IN 1862-AN ACT OF THE TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE TO CONTINUE THE ORGANIZATION OF BUFFALO COUNTY, 1866-COUNTY CLERK OF BUFFALO COUNTY, NEBRASKA TERRITORY, USES A COUNTY SEAL.
ORGANIZATION OF BUFFALO COUNTY
It has generally been understood and accepted that the first organization of Buffalo County was in the year 1870, the appointments to office in the county being made by Governor David Butler on petition of Patrick Walsh, Martin Slattery and Sergeant Michael Coady, the tradition being that Governor Butler named Patrick Walsh as probate judge with power to appoint temporary county officers and that Probate Judge Walsh did so name and appoint the first county officers and yet, there are official records which disclose that there was a county organization in Buffalo County in territorial days, possibly dating from the year 1855 when the county was first named and its boundaries established. These records seem to disclose that the said county was divided into one or more pre- cincts and that there was elected county officials. In the office of the secretary of state there is an election return from Buffalo County for the year 1859 as follows :
"This is to certify that at a general election held in the several precincts of and for the County of Buffalo and Territory of Nebraska on Tuesday, October II, A. D. 1859, the following named persons received the number of votes' annexed to their respective names for the following described offices :
"Estabrook had 292 votes for member of Congress.
"William W. Wyman had 292 votes for territorial treasurer.
"Robert C. Jordan had 292 votes for territorial auditor.
"Alonzo D. Luce had 292 votes for territorial librarian.
"William E. Harvey had 292 votes for territorial commissioner of schools.
"James G. Chapman had 292 votes for district attorney, First Judicial District.
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto attached my name for official pur- poses this 12th day of October, A. D. 1859.
"(Signed) GEO. MILLER,
"County Clerk of Buffalo County, N. T."
It is understood that in the canvass of the returns for member of Congress and for territorial officers the votes from Buffalo County, as above certified to,
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
were thrown out (not counted), on the ground that Buffalo County was unorganized.
COUNTY OFFICERS ELECTED IN BUFFALO COUNTY IN 1860
The Huntsman's Echo was published at Wood River Centre (now Shelton) in 1860-61. The following account of an election of county officers, taken from the Huntsman's Echo of November 2, 1860, makes certain that there was a county organization in Buffalo County in territorial days and previous to the year 1870. Files of the Huntsman's Echo are in possession of the State His- torical Society and from which the following account of the election is taken :
HUNTSMAN'S ECHO, NOVEMBER 8, 1860. 1
"The election on Tuesday last (November 6th) in our county went off as quietly and pleasantly as we ever witnessed. Forty-two votes were cast, thirty- nine of which Mr. Morton (J. Sterling Morton) received and the three others were given to J. P. Daily. Our humble self (Joseph E. Johnson, editor of the Huntsman's Echo) received the largest number of votes for representative of the Hall County district. Henry Peck was elected probate judge ; J. H. Wagner, Joseph Huff and Thomas Page, county commissioners ; P. H. Gunn, sheriff ; L. Vanalstyne, coroner; J. E. Boyd and J. H. Wagner, justices of the peace ; J. E. Boyd, treasurer and register; Edward Huff, county clerk; P. H. Gunn and John Evans, constables; and our learned self (Joseph E. Johnson) superintendent of schools.
"We did not see one drunken or boisterous man through the day and we enjoyed the fulness of democratic harmony and union. So much for Buffalo County and her industrious, peaceful and democratic law-and-union-loving citizens."
BUFFALO COUNTY IN 1862
The records in the office of the governor disclose that "On September 16, 1862, Buffalo County was ordered to enlist its quota of men to fill the ranks of the First Nebraska Regiment."
If Buffalo County was unorganized to whom was this order issued? In the muster roll of the First Nebraska Regiment, found in the office of the adjutant general, Department of Nebraska, Grand Army of the Republic, are the names of men who enlisted in the First Nebraska whose address are given as Fort Kearney. Among the names is that of John Oliver, who it is known was a resident of Buffalo County and later, in 1870, served as sheriff of the county, and it is believed that of the enlistments in the First Nebraska Regiment at Fort Kearney at that date, a portion, at least, of the number were credited to Buffalo County, the office or place for enlistment being Fort Kearney.
BUFFALO COUNTY IN 1866
That there was a county organization in Buffalo County previous to the year 1870, attention is invited to a special act of the Territorial Legislature passed and approved February 12, 1866.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
It will be noted that while this act is "to continue the organization of the County of Buffalo, Nebraska Territory," it has especial reference to the office of probate judge in said Buffalo County. Attention is invited to the fact that this is a special act of the Legislature applicable to Buffalo County only.
At the session of the Legislature this act was passed, Isaac Alberton repre- sented the counties of Platte, Merrick, Hall, Buffalo, Kearney and Lincoln in the Territorial Council and John Walliohs the counties of Platte, Hall, Buffalo and Merrick in the House.
This act may be found in the "Statutes of Nebraska-1867," compiled by E. Estabrook, and in part is as follows :
"An Act to continue the organization of the County of Buffalo, Nebraska Territory.
"Section I. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska: That the probate judge of the County of Buffalo, Territory of Nebraska, is hereby authorized and required to appoint all officers in said county necessary to complete county and precinct organizations ; said per- sons so appointed to qualify before and file their bonds with said probate judge, the same to be approved by him and to be of the same amount and tenor as now provided by law, and to hold their offices respectively until the next general elec- tion succeeding their appointment and until their successors are elected and qualified.
"Section 2. Said probate judge is further authorized and required to demand and receive all records, books and papers belonging to said county, and safely keep the same until the proper officer in whose custody they may severally belong, shall have been appointed and qualified as provided in the foregoing section of this act.
"Section 3. * *
"Section 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
"Approved February 12, 1866."
COUNTY CLERK USES A SEAL OF THE COUNTY
In this chapter covering the organization of Buffalo County it has been shown that in the year 1859, in the County of Buffalo, Territory of Nebraska, an elec- tion was held, in which 292 votes were cast and the election returns certified to the secretary of state for the territory by George Miller, county clerk of Buffalo County, Nebraska Territory. It is further proposed to show by official records in the office of the secretary of state that in the year 1866 elections were held in Buffalo County, Territory of Nebraska, certified to by a county clerk who used an official seal of the county.
The first election returns in the office of the secretary of state in which it appears that a seal was used by the county clerk of Buffalo County, Nebraska Territory, is as follows :
"This is to certify that at an election held in the several precincts of Buffalo County, Nebraska Territory, on Saturday, the 2d day of June, A. D. 1866, the following named persons received the number of votes annexed to their respective names for the following described offices, to-wit :
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
"Governor-J. Sterling Morton, 32; David Butler, 10. Secretary of State- Chas. W. Sturgis, 32; T. P. Kennard, 10. State Auditor-Guy C. Barnum, 31 ; John Gillispie, 10. State Treasurer-St. John Goodrich, 33; Augustus Kountze, 9. Chief Justice-Wm. A. Little, 35; O. P. Mason, 7. Associate Justice-E. W. Thomas, 33; B. E. B. Kennedy, 33. Associate Justice-L. Crounse, 9; George B. Lake, 9. Representative in Congress-John R. Brooks, 32; T. M. Marquette, 9. For the constitution, I vote. Against the constitution, 41 votes. .
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto attached my name and the seal of said county this 4th day of June, A. D. 1866.
Seal of (Signed) JOSEPH BOYD, County Clerk."
Buffalo County,
Nebraska Territory.
On the same date as the foregoing is the following :
"This is to certify that at an election held in the several precincts of Buffalo County, Nebraska Territory, on Saturday, the 2d day of June, A. D. 1866, that the following named persons received the number of votes annexed to their respective names for the following described offices, to-wit :
"U. Kummer received 34 votes for state senator, Fifth Council District. James E. Boyd received 42 votes for state representative for joint district of Platte, Merrick, Hall and Buffalo counties.
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto attached my name and the seal of said county this 4th day of June, A. D. 1866.
Seal of Buffalo County,
(Signed) JOSEPH BOYD, County Clerk."
Nebraska Territory.
At this election James E. Boyd was elected as representative in the Terri- torial Legislature. Joseph Boyd, who certified to the election returns as "county clerk," was a brother of James E. Boyd.
It will be noted that James E. Boyd was elected a justice of the peace and also county treasurer of Buffalo County at the November election in the year 1860.
In the office of the secretary of state may be found the returns of an election held in Buffalo County in October, 1866, as follows :
"This is to certify that at a general election held in the several precincts of Buffalo County, Nebraska Territory, on Tuesday, the 9th day of October, A. D. 1866, the following named persons received the number of votes annexed to their respective names for the following offices, to-wit :
"Delegate to Congress-J. Sterling Morton, 17; T. M. Marquette, 12. Terri- torial Auditor-Frank Murphy, 18; John Gillispie, 12. Territorial Treasurer-4 John S. Seaton, 18; Augustus Kountze, 12. Territorial Librarian-Robert D. Jordan, 16; R. S. Knox, 12. Member of Congress-Algeron S. Paddock, 16; John Taffe, II.
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto attached my name and affixed the seal of said county this 13th day of October, A. D. 1866.
Seal of
(Signed) AMBROSE STOWELL,
Buffalo County,
County Clerk of Buffalo County."
Nebraska Territory.
CHAPTER VII
BUFFALO COUNTY IN ISZO-RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY-TRADITION RELAT- ING TIIERETO-PROCLAMATION OF GOVERNOR DAVID BUTLER-RETURNS OF SPECIAL ELECTION JANUARY 20, 1870-FIRST REGULAR ELECTION OCTOBER II, IS70.
BUFFALO COUNTY IN 1870
We now come to the history of the organization, or more appropriately, the reorganization, of Buffalo County in the year 1870.
On May 30, 1854, President Franklin Pierce signed the Nebraska-Kansas bill by which act Nebraska became a territory.
On March 4, 1867, on proclamation of President Andrew Johnson, Nebraska became a state. As before noted, at the second session of the Territorial Legis- lature which convened December 18, 1855, Buffalo County was named and its boundaries defined. Of the other counties in the territory named and their boundaries defined, not one adjoined Buffalo County. In fact until the year 1858 there was not a county adjoining Buffalo County. The establishment of Fort Kearney in 1848, the fertility of the Wood River Valley, the enormous emigra- tion over the trail north of the Platte River, doubtless led many people to make temporary settlement along the trail and within the limits of Buffalo County as first named and bounded. When the county was named and its boundaries defined in 1855, Nebraska Center was named as its county seat. In the year 1860 the county seat was known as Wood River Center and now known as Shelton. It was at Wood River Center that the election of county officers was held in the year 1860 as reported by the Huntsman's Echo. From the earliest history which we have of the county there was a "center," a village as it were, at that point.
It is not difficult to understand why county organization in Buffalo County became disorganized under the territorial form of government and other condi- tions which existed at that date, when we consider that all lands comprised in said county (except the Fort Kearney Military Reservation) were Pawnee Indian lands until ceded to the general Government in the year 1857. That these lands were not surveyed and opened to settlement until the year 1867. That in the year 1871 Indians were still hunting wild game over the prairies of the county. That the first piece of land owned by an individual in the county was the "Boyd Ranch," purchased from the Government by Joseph Boyd in the year 1867, and that when the county government was reorganized in the year 1870, there was not a land owner by purchase, by deed, by pre-emption or by homestead claim
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PATRICK WALSH
Pioneer settler of Buffalo County in 1865. Served as county judge, deputy county clerk, deputy county treasurer, deputy superintendent of schools and county commissioner.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
in the county except James E. Boyd, owner of the Boyd Ranch, who was then living in Omaha. In territorial days and previous to 1870, settlers in the county were not land owners, were not home builders; with a few exceptions such as the Walshs, the Olivers, the Dugdales, the Owens, the Slatterys, the Nutters, August Meyer, and a few others, they were a migratory class and if one held a county office he, seemingly, did not deem it important to keep an official record of his administration of the office and when he "moved on," as most of them seem to have done, he took with him whatever of official record of his office he possessed.
RE-ORGANIZATION OF BUFFALO COUNTY
The tradition as it relates to the re-organization of Buffalo County is substan- tially as follows: In the year 1869 Patrick Walsh, Martin Slattery, together with Sergt. Michael Coady, who was stationed at Fort Kearney in Kearney County, and others, sent a signed petition to Governor David Butler asking that an election be called in the county preliminary to the organization (or reorganiza- tion) of the county. In response to this petition Governor Butler issued a proc- lamation, of which the following is a copy as found in the official records of the executive office of the state :
"State of Nebraska-Executive Department
"Whereas: The county of Buffalo in this state became dis-organized in the year 1867 by the removal of the county officers to the territory of Wyoming, and "Whereas, A large number of the citizens of the said un-organized county of Buffalo have united in a petition asking that an election be called for the purpose of choosing county officers preliminary to the organization of said county,
"Therefore, I, David Butler, Governor of the State of Nebraska, by virtue of the authority in me vested, do hereby order that an election be held in the school house in precinct No. I, of said Buffalo county, from 9 o'clock a. m. to 6 o'clock p. m. on Thursday the 20th day of January, 1870, for the purpose of choosing three county commissioners, one county clerk, one county treasurer, one sheriff, one probate judge, one county surveyor, one county superintendent of schools, one coroner, three judges and two clerks of election, and, I hereby designate and appoint Edward Oliver, Patrick Walsh and William C. Booth as judges, and C. S. Johnson and William Nutter as clerks to conduct said election in accord- ance with the 'Act for the organization of counties' approved June 24, 1867, and the election laws of the state.
NEBRASKA
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Nebraska.
SEAL OF "Done at Lincoln this Ist day of December in the year of our Lord, One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-nine.
"(Signed) DAVID BUTLER, "By the Governor. "(Signed) THOMAS P. KENNARD, "Secretary of State."
SPECIAL ELECTION, JANUARY 20, 1870
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