USA > Nebraska > Seward County > General history of Seward County, Nebraska > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
-
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Chicago & North Western Rail Road in Seward County.
The C. & N. W. rail road was perhaps the earliest great railway system in the north-west. Its first operations were from Chicago up Lake Michigan to Green Bay, finally bran- ching out, in early rail road days, through the territory of Wis- consin. In the early sixties the North Western Company bought the Chicago & Galena line west and extended that line through Illinois and Iowa in 1866, reaching Council Bluffs in the fall of that year, being the first railway to reach the Missouri river from Chicago. It was the policy of the company to locate their own stations and to lay out and own the towns along its new lines, and twenty-five miles north- east of Council Bluffs, where the Bouyer and Missouri val- leys unite, forming an extensive area of bottom land, they founded a station and town, calling it Missouri Valley. From this point they extended a line up the Missouri bottom to Sioux City calling it the Sioux City & Pacific Rail Road. It also extended a branch line from the same point west, cross- ing the Mo. river at Blair, to Fremont as a short cut connec- tion with the Union Pacific rail road, saving the round-about trip by way of Omaha and thereby shortening the distance from the far west to Chicago. They called this branch the Fremont & Missouri Valley Rail Road. This branch was finaly extended up the valley of the Elkhorn river and on to the Black Hills country when the road was renamed Free- inont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Rail Road.
The company was always on the alert for paying enter- prises, which generally seemed to be successful, and seeing an opportunity to make another extension of their branch
249
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
line, the F. E. & M. V. from Fremont south-west through many miles of rich and productive Nebraska territory and make a valuable connection with the Atchison, Topeka & San- ta Fee Rail Road at Superior, they commenced negotoations with counties through which the desired line might pass, for a bonus in the way of bonds for its construction. Propo- sitions were made to the precincts of each county through which the road would pass to build it provided the precincts voted to give them a specified amount of twenty year interest bearing bonds. It taxed the precincts of Seward county six- ty thousand dollars, fifteen thousand dollars of this was re- quired of the city of Seward while ten thousand dollars were demanded from - G- precinct in which the city is located, the total for the city and precinct amounting to twenty-five thousand dollars. The road was only to touch one corner of -L- precinct therefore it was only charged five thousand, but the precincts of - B-, -K- and -M- were each held up for ten thousand dollars. The company made it clear to the minds of the citizens that they did not care to traverse their county with the road, but would do so provided the bonds were as- sured. And of course the voters wanted the road more than the company wanted a paying line through thier lands and therefore when the propositions were voted upon they car- ried by large majorieties. The line was established and con- structed through the county in 1887.
The North Western has added a large amount of taxable property to the county. It is undoubtedly worth all it has cost the precincts through which it passes, but they prac- ticially made the road or paid the railway company for doing so. And it is a matter worthy of note that the North West- ern company has added to its own wealth many thousands of dollars more than it has to the counties along its Superior line. The C. & N. W. assumed its proper name about 1895 when the name of F. E. & M. V. was dorpped.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Seward County Farms and Farmers. The County's Agricultural Wealth. The Extended Drouth Period. Schools and School System. Gold Agitation.
What has been said of Seward county: "There are but few, if any, more progressive, active, wide-awake and pros- perous farming communities than that represented by Sew- ard county, Nebraska. This district of country is possessed of natural soil resources that have been spared from the hand of the soil robber. Its gentle undulating surface, which characterizes the greater portion of its area, with its finely planned and well laid out farms, nicely cultivated fields, bear- ing orchards, beautiful groves, home grounds with their large and elegant residences, lawns tastefully decorated with ever- greens, shrubs, vines and flowering plants, all combine to tell the story of 'the home beautiful,' the farm home of Sew- ard county."-Twentieth Century Farmer.
The forgoing estimate of the present conditions in Seward county is a true pen picture of the high standard of agri- cultural wealth gained by proper application to naturial re- sources in their time. In early years nature had here been lavish of those advantages which only required the develop- ing hand of human enterprise to yield rich and sure returns. There was no area of territory of equal size to that of Seward county in the domain of Nebraska capable of yielding more sure or more ample rewards to industry, or offered greater facilities for future support of a large population of enter- prising people. The present large fields of cereal grasses and grains produced each year bear ample testimony to the quality of the soil. Add to this the fact of easy culture,
251
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
speedy and cheap transportation and good and never failing markets and the dream of the agricultural utopians appear to be realized. The great anticipations of the first settlers and the feverish excitement occasioned by the construction of rail roads through the county, many visionary and delusive, have subsided into a more practicial view of things and there is, not only a rational appreciation of the facilities which na- ture has afforded, but a substantial and grand exhibition of that practicial application and energetic action which formed a sure presage of success, hence the "home beautiful, the farm home of Seward county."
EXTENDED DROUTH PERIOD.
The drouths of pioneer times in Seward county were dis- couraging to the early settlers who felt keenly their damag- ing effects. But they were not so blighting to vegitation as the dry seasons of later years. New ground that was just previously put under cultivation seemed to stand drouth much better than land that had been under cultivation until the soil was rotted down through the subsoil. And while the county was subject to an occasional drouth by which corn would be a partial or entire fallure it seldom damaged small grain, and through that early period dry spells were not known to continue for a longer time than one season. And it was left for the modern era period to see all records of drouth extension broken and three years, 1893, 1894 and 1895, of continuous dryness when crops in Seward county were almost entire failures. During those three years there was but a small amount of snow fall in the winters and not enough rain in the growing seasons to lay the dust on the highways. This drouth period extended from the season of early vegetation in 1893 until January 31st, 1896 when an all night downpour of rain gladdened the hearts, at that unseas- noable time, of weary watchers for gladdening, refreshing, long delayed moisture to at least refresh the earth. During
252
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
this unparalleled dry period there was a redeeming feature in the fact that many other localities of Nebraska were not effected by the lack of moisture and raised an abundance of the necessaries of life to spare their unfortunate neighbors at reasonable prices.
SEWARD COUNTY SCHOOLS.
We have seen the schools of the county in their primi- tiveness, taught in the manner and rude structures of the pi- oneer period, amid the surroundings of destitution and want, blazing the way for the coming unexcelled school method of which Nebraska boasts today. The school system which is being enjoyed by the young people at the present time is a native of the state. It originated as a pioneer by the ever increasing efforts and desire of the early settlers who labored to provide places of learning almost before they had a sod home. And that system has grown up with the country un- til it has reached an eminence unsurpassed in any state.
And at the head of this school system stands the rural or district schools which annually reinforce the high schools, where the higher branches of English education are taught. Poverty is no impedimen tto learning in Seward county; every thing necessary for the pupils' use, even to the text-books, are included in the free system of education for those of all school ages.
Seward county now has twelve high or graded schools and each precinct contains from four to seven district schools and all are housed in fine buildings. The high and graded schools accomodate many hundred students, affording super- ior advantages to those who wish an education, and numer- ous young people have taken advantage of the opportunities, and year by year well educated and sterling young men and women are given to the world by Seward county.
GOLD EXCITEMENT IN SEWARD COUNTY.
Real estate in some localities took quite a boom in price
253
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
in the years of 1895 and 1896 on account of the supposed existance of gold in paying quantities in the soil. Several incouraging items were published in local newspapers of Sew- ard county and at Crete, in Saline county. One of those items in the Milford Nebraskan, gave the following flattering information in regard to the amount of the precious metal found in the dirt in the vicinity of that village:
"The dirt has stood the assayer's test in at least five trials on J. S. Dillenbeck's farm, ranging $57, $71, $96, $160 and $ 196 per ton. These tests were made by experts of national reputation and are considered reliable."
Unfortunately it was discovered that it is not all gold that glitters and the gold agitation went up the dark river to join the spiritulist coal anticipations at Milford in 1870. But there is no denying the existance of gold in the soil of Seward county, and it is being taken out already coined into dollars every year through the gold producing products of the farms of the county. And it is a fact that this system of obtaining gold from the dirt has advanced the price of Seward county real estate very much above the most sanguine thoughts of those gold boomers of 1895.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Miscellaneous Items. Produce Statistics of Mid Pioneer Period. First Marriages in Seward County. Rattle Snakes More Dangerous Than Indians. Seward County Court House and Court House Propositions Death of Etta Shattuck. Rememberance of Henry Cashler.
The following statement of acreage of land under cultiva- tion and crop yield in 1879, about the middle of the pioneer period, is from a report made to the B. & M. Railway Com- pany by Edwin McIntire, of Seward, agent for the sale of that company's Seward county real estate.
Total number of acres under cultivation in Seward county, 109, 590. Number of acres in rye 1283, yield 19, 240 bushels. Number of acres in spring wheat 43, 825, yield 482, 362 bush- els. Number of acres of barley 8, 900, yield 170, 900 bushels. Number of acres of oats 5, 718, yield 227, 720 bushels. Num- ber of acres in buckwheat 112, yield 2, 240 bushels. Num- ber of acres in flax 2, 109, yield 18,981 bushels. Number of acres in corn 46, 594, yield 2,096, 280 bushels. Number of acres in broom corn 160, yield 53 tons. Number of acres in potatoes 966, yield 36,840 bushels. Tame grass, timber and fruit trees. Blue grass, 17 acres. Timothy 1, 272 acres. Clover 1, 179 acres. Number of acres of cultivated timber 4,500. Number of apple trees 30, 500; pears 300; peaches 26.450; plums 8,000; cherries 16,000; grapes 33,000 vines.
These estimates were made on the returns of 1877 and the proportionate increase.
The following market prices taken in June, 1892 is a fair sample of prevailing prices through the entire pioneer period, varying at times by a drop in the price of corn to fifteen and twenty cents, and eggs to three cents.
-
255
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Market prices on that date for farm produce were as fol- lows: Wheat 55 cts per bushel. Corn 30 cts. Oats 23 cts. Flax seed 70 cts. Millet seed 45 cts. Hogs $4.00 per hun- dred lbs. Steers $3.00 to 3.50; cows and heifers $1,50 to 2,00. Eggs 10 cts per doz. Butter 10 cts per lb.
FIRST MARRIAGES IN SEWARD COUNTY.
W. W. Cox states in his history that the first marriage in Seward county occurred on the 12th of November 1866 , at the residence of Samuel Long when his daughter, Eva was united in wedlock with John W. Pitt, C. J. Neighardt J. P. officiating. The first marriage in -G- precinct and the locality of the city of Seward was on the 20 of March 1867, . at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Moffit, the contracting parties being David P. Imlay and Miss Mary Moffiit, W. W. Cox, J. P. officiating. The sec- ond wedding in -G- precinct occurred April 20, 1867, at the home of the brides father, one and one-half miles north-east of the present city of Seward, the contracting parties being James A. Brown and Miss Sarah A. Imlay, W. W. Cox officiating. In addition to the foregoing we wish to present -L- precinct's and southern Seward county's first marriage, being that of James G. Anderson and Miss S. Alice Reed, at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roland Reed, near old Beaver Crossing, in -L- precinct, December 18, 1866, Judge J. L. Davison officiating. We are suspici- ous that Brother Cox didn't know there was anybody living down on the West Blue so early in the pioneer period.
RATTLERS DANGEROUS NATIVES.
Rattle snakes were more dangerous in Seward county dur- ing the pioneer period than the Indians. The greater danger was with small children, with whom the bites of the reptiles frequently proved fatal. Chris Hoops, a farmer living about ten miles north of Seward, went out one day, about the mid-
256
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
dle of June 1887, to his barn to gather some eggs, and in a nest that was partially hid from sight he felt sure there were some eggs and putting his hand in got an egg, and at the same time felt something like the prick of a thorn on his hand, and putting his hand in the nest for another egg the same thing occurred again. He thought nothing of it, but after going to the house his hand began to pain him and one of his sons, learning of the occurrence, went out to see what was in the nest and found a rattle snake. After killing the snake the boy reported what he had found and wanted to go for a doctor, but his father objected, saying there was no need of it. He was given some whiskey which had no effect upon him and he soon became delirious, requiring three men to hold him. Dr. Breed, of Seward was summoned and administered remedies which relieved his distress and he recovered after several days.
While this was a case of recovery the following case was not so fortunate. A German lady whose name was given to us as Mrs. Swantzenburg, pioneer settler near the Seward and Butler county line, who was quite a help in the art of binding grain in the harvest field, went to the field, one day in 1873, to assist in binding some sheaves of wheat which had lain some time after being cut, and going to the first one kicked it to get it closed together for binding and received seven rattle snake bites upon her limbs before she could get away from the reptiles. A doctor was immediatly summon- ed but the unfortunate woman died before he reached her.
In the following case which, perhaps is the only one ever known of a child sleeping all night in bed with a rattle snake, there is room for doubt of the reptile's temper at all times. Mark A. Armagost, section foreman on the North Western railway, at Beaver Crossing, son of James Armagost who settled on a homestead in Butler county, Nebraska in 1870, has the distinction of being the only living person who shared
257
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
his bed when three years old with a rattle snake. The pio- neer homes were not air tight and many of them become open enough to admit gophers and rats. One night in the spring of 1871 young Mark was put to bed and in a short time he called his mother and told her there was a snake in his bed. She didn't think so and told him to go to sleep. He did so and in the morning after he got up and his mother went to make the bed she turned the covers down and there in the middle of the bed lay, nicely coiled up, the boy's bed- fellow with thirteen rattles on him. Rattle snakes do not bite; their upper jaw seems to be on hinges and when they become excited the upper jaw is thrown so it stands perpen- dicular, and in the upper part of the mouth is a small sac of poison, and extending form this are two fangs laying close together and closed with the point back, or inwards. And when the snake is angry that fang is thrown stright out from the roof of the mouth and he coils and strikes the fangs into his victim by jumping from his coil the two fangs sprading sufficient to emit the poison into the wound. It is possible and probable that Mark's bed companion could not open his mouth and strike when covered with bed clothing, and the warmth of the child's body soothed his anger.
COURT HOUSE AND COURT HOUSE PROPOSITIONS.
The pioneer part of this work mentions the first court house in Seward county, which was a result of the action of wide-a-wake citizens of Seward soon after the question of the location of the county seat had been settled in favor of that place. A court house was considered not only a necessity, but a help to seal the location of the county capital, therefore funds were procurred by brivate donations to errect a court house in accordance with the needs of the county, and it was built at a cost of twelve hundred dollars, but was not suppos- ed to have been any expense to the county. And at that time the house was an expensive structure. Had it been
258
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
built to correspond with the general wealth of the county as it would if the expense had been boren by the county, it would have been constructed of sod, the same material as the school houses, churches and dwellings were made of. But it was a frame building, well arranged with rooms for the different county officials. It was found after a few years that there was such an accumulation of records and other valuable county books in the different offices that there was not only insufficient room for them in the old house, but great danger of their loss by fire, therefore rooms were rented in some of the more fire proof buildings and used for all the purposes of a court house. And the old, and first Seward county court house was abandoned and finally sold and used for a black- smith shop. The county continued to rent rooms for a court house from about 1879 to 1906, and during that period there were two propositions submitted for the issuing of bonds to build a court house at the expense of the county, but the people seemed too well pleased with paying rent to put the same money into a building of their own and defeated the propositions at the poles.
Along in 1904 a new proposition to issue county bonds to the amount of $ 100,000 to build a court house and jail, the former to cost $88,000 and the latter $12,000, was sub- mitted to a vote at the general election. In the mean time following the defeat of the last proposition in 1901, voters of the county had brushed the scales from their eyes sufficient to see the unnecessary extravagant waste in renting, and add- ed to this Lewis Moffitt had bequeathed a large and valuable farm to the county to be sold after his and his wife's death, the procedes to be applied on the building of a new court house and when the vote was taken the proposition for the issuing of ten year optional bonds carried by a vote of 2,406 for to 1, 228 against. The court house was built in 1905 and 1906, an illustration of the structure is presented on the op- posite page. An error in handling the funds for building the
-
SEWARD COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
The grand structure of which the above is a fair illustra- tion was erected in 1905-1906 at a cost of eighty-seven thousand, two hundred and twenty-five dollars. It is com- posed of Indiana white stone and is as near fireproof as it is possible to make any building. The expense of the building was borne in a large degree by LEWIS MOFFIT AND WIFE, pioneer settlers and enterprising founders of the city of Seward, who bequeathed the proceeds from the sale of a large and valuable farm for that purpose. And the court house stands today as a monument to the memory of those noble and worthy early settlers.
260
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
jail delayed its erection until 1915, about ten years. The following taken from a Seward newspaper dated May 11th, 1915, is undoubtedly a correct version of the transaction:
"After being lost to sight for nine years the missing court house and jail bonds were found Tuesday in the vault of the First National bank pigeonholed among some old pa- pers where they had been handled many times perhaps, but mistaken for old insurance policies. At the time the court house was built an agreement was made between the trust- ees of the Lewis Moffitt estate and Mrs. Lewis Moffitt by which the trustees were allowed to sell 400 acres of land that Lewis Moffitt had set apart, the proceeds to be used in the erection of the court house after Mrs. Moffitt's death. By an agreement of the trustees and Mrs. Moffitt, $ 15,000 of the county bonds was to be reserved and the interest on same was to go to her support during her lifetime. However, Mrs. Moffitt died not long after and from that time $ 10,000 of the bonds could not be found and no coupons were ever presented at the county treasurer's office for payment. Several times when a movement has been started to erect a new county jail the matter has been held up because of the missing bonds. This year, however, the county board of supervisors took up the matter of building and appointed a committee to try to locate the bonds with the result that at last they were found."
With the finding of the lost bonds the building of the new jail was almost immediatly commenced and rushed to completion during the season of 1915.
DEATH OF ETTA SHATTUCK.
The subject of this sketch, whose suffering and tragic death should touch the sympathetic heart of christiandom, was a young lady resident of Seward. She made a living for her father, an aged and helpless veteran of the war of the rebellion, by teaching school. In the winter of 1888 she was teaching a country school. On the evening of January 12th
261
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
that year, during the fierceness of that terrible calamitious fury of wind and blinding snow, she dismissed her school. In her misgivings for the safety of the children her kind heart was touched and she thought only of their wellfare, and after making every possible effort to guide them safely to their homes she became bewildered and lost, wandering for hours in that fearful night, she come upon a haystack in which, with trembling limbs and frozen fingers she burrowed sufficient space to admit her exhausted body, where without norish- ment, suffering with her frozen feet and limbs she laid for forty-eight hours, and until found by a searching party. She was taken to her home at Seward where it was found neces- sary to amputate her limbs, but she died from the effects of the severe and dreadful ordeal, February 7, 1888. Death relieved her, after nearly a month of intense suffering in mind and body, and she was laid to rest at Seward where her aged and heartbroken father, Benjamin Shattuck, shortly followed and was laid by her side.
REMEMBERANCE OF HENRY CASHLER.
Many of those who were young people living in the south west quarter of Seward county in the early seventies will re- member Henry Cashler who lived at the York and Seward county line, and who was found dead in his house, Monday, November 11, 1901; at whose pioneer home they frequently met to enjoy an old time social dance while he sat with his good wife by the stove and listened to the music of his son John's fiddle, smoked his cob pipe and watched the grace- ful dancers and the great clouds of dust from the sod house floor, set afloat by their merry feet. We distinctly remem- ber many occasions of the kind when with others we faced the cold north-west winds five miles to his home, well know- ing that when we reached there we would meet with a warm welcome and a good fire. The kind old people are both dead now as are the times when we enjoyed those pleasures
262
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
at their home. Two sons, Alex. and John, still living, and six daughters, Mrs. Paul Peterson, Mrs. George Bray, Mrs. Laurance Deidle (now dead), Mrs. White, Mrs. Mann and one we knew as Miss Belle, survived to mourn the departure of the most kindly parents.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.