History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time, Part 12

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Nebraska > Custer County > History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time > Part 12

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).

[ Photo by S. D. Butcher] EMIGRANTS HEADED FOR CUSTER COUNTY

we arrived at our claims ard found there, on land adjoining. William Couhig, who had preceded us by ten days. He had made con- siderable progress with his work, having put down a well. which proved to be a great convenience. The well was dug by C. R. Krenz, an expert in that line of business, who still resides in Dale valley, and was the father of the first child born in Dalc.

"Among the settlers that came in that sum- mer were the following: William Corcoran ; Patrick Kilfoil. after whom Kilfoil precinct was named; William Walsh and family ; Joseph Sitler, another young bachelor ; George W. Hartley, who was the first settler in Ortello valley : Andy Sommer, Charles Foote, Lenn Thomas, - Charles Johnson, and John Jacquot, all of whom built residences out of prairie sod, with some of Uncle Sam's cedar for rafters. which at that time was com- paratively plentiful in the canyons from ten to thirty miles west of here. There was no corn raised close by. except a small amount down on Victoria creek, in 1880. and that was held at fifty and sixty cents per bushel, and could be had for no price in the spring. Crops were good in 1881. and those who had ground broken out and raised corn were all right, having plenty for feed and a good home mar- ket for the balance, at a price ranging from fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel.

LOHR RUNS SOME STORE

"Several other settlers came during the year 1880 and took up claims, but did not per- manently locate here until 1882. J. J. Joyner was the only settler that moved in during 1881. and he located in Ortello valley. In 1882 the following came: Conrad Fleischman, Christo-

HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

pher Nichols, James Daley, James Wood. G. N. Thompson, Charles Fodge, S. H. Reed, James Stanford, G. W. Land, Samuel Trout - all with their families. About this time the Dale postoffice was established, with James Daley as postmaster. Mr. Daley afterward resigned in favor of D. S. Lohr, who went into the general merchandise business at Dale. getting quite a trade from fifty to seventy-five miles west and. north of here. In fact it was a typical frontier store. The town of Dale was laid out the previous summer. Dale tried hard for the railroad. but the company could not see it in that way. Dale, however, is ad- mirably located in regard to railroad towns, Merna being five or six miles southeast and Anselmo eight or nine miles northwest.

"The next two or three years the following named settlers moved here: William Moore, Charles Michele, Frank Michele, C. H. Cass, G. D. Grove. C. C. Grove, Henry Sweeney, Dan Foley. A. Glidewell, P. B. Riley, Jason Lucas, A. C. Towle. Henry Barratt, William Brookman, I. A. Coleman, Dr. L. L. Crawford, James Phillips, Thomas Kelley, Joseph Ves- sels, and R. J. Kelley, the last named being a pioneer merchant - a member of the later firm of Kelley & Duncan, who in 1886 moved to Merna, where he has been in business ever since. Nick Jaquot came about the same time, or perhaps a little before. He is a man of great enterprise, being largely interested · in farming, stock-raising. and feeding, also pro- prietor of one of the Merna elevators, and a hog buyer. C. D. Pelham, the pioneer mer- chant of Broken Bow, afterward moved to Dale, where he did business for several years, finally moving to Anselmo."

MORE ABOUT LILLLIN

[The late E. N. Bishop tells the following story about early settlements on the Middle Loup in the vicinity of Lillian creek] :

In 1875 James L. Oxford made the first settlement in what is now Lillian township. He built log buildings and established a ranch on the east bank of Lillian creek, near where his frame buildings now stand. His father-in- law. John Henderson. and family, came from

Missouri and settled near him in 1878, until the spring of 1879, when the level and fertile plains became so attractive to those seeking homes that they began to wend their way up the south side of the Middle Loup river. Dur- ing this season Perry Lyle, J. E. Ash, J. C. Hunter, J. M. Ash, S. Gates, with their fami- lies, and David McGuigan. A. C. Ash, and Ervin Ash, old bachelors, settled on the river bottom and J. O. Taylor, Ole Johnson, N. K. Lee, S. K. Lee, John Lee, and Nelson T. Lee, with their families, settled in Round val- ley. As if by magic the sod houses arose one by one, and dotted the valley and plain in every direction. In the spring of 1880 Jesse Gandy started a ranch at the place afterward known as the Hartley ranch, and the follow- ing named settlers, with their families, if they had any. and with good digestive organs, if they were bachelors, made their appearance on the scene of action and became permanent residents, or homesteaders as they were then called to distinguish them from ranchmen : Thomas Lampman, Frank Luse, E. N. Bishop, Frank Doty, Hugh M. Goheen, John Goheen, J. M. Goheen, Austin Goheen, James McGraw, D. O. Luse, Jarvis Kimes, A. W. Squires. O. S. Woodward, Charles Griffiths, J. E. Gwinn, J. N. Peale, A. N. Peale, and Samuel Oxford. The winter of 1880-81 was what has been since known as the "hard winter." To convey some idea of the difficulty of traveling where a track was not broken out, I will endeavor to give a short description of a trip I made one day of but two miles and back, which took me from early morning until after dark. The layers of sleet cut the horses' legs so that in- stead of wading through the snow they would jump upon it as if climbing on top of ice, which kept breaking and letting them through. In a few minutes they were so exhausted that I had to stop and let them rest. Their legs were cut and bleeding so badly that they left a crimson trail behind them in the snow. To make matters worse, the grass was very short and entirely covered by snow, so that one could not tell what was under the drift ahead. The first thing I knew the horses dropped down into a draw about five feet deep, where

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they floundered about, unable to get out. I went to work with a scoop shovel I had brought along with me. and by noon had the team out on the level ground. Although it was dinner time and I was somewhat hungry, yet I had no dinner to eat, as I was on my way with a sack each of wheat and corn to be ground in a feed grinder that was owned by one of our neighbors, T. J. Butcher, where I arrived about four o'clock, having had to dig my horses out of draws four times on the way. It took but a few minutes to grind my feed and as I had broken the road on my way over pretty thoroughly, the return trip was made with comparative ease and without inci- dent.

During the winter of 1880-81 S. Gates and the writer circulated a petition for the forma- tion of Lillian precinct, this territory at that time being a part of Victoria precinct, with the voting place at New Helena. As some of the citizens had to go twenty-four miles to vote, the county commissioners readily granted our request and established Lillian precinct. with nearly the same territory as the present township of Lillian embraces. From this time forth, public improvements were made as fast as the financial condition of the county would permit. Among these were three bridges across the Middle Loup river on the northern boundary of Lillian precinct.

On February 16, 1880, Eri postoffice was established at the residence of J. E. Ash. with his wife. Alice Ash, as postmistress. It was named Eri. after Mr. Ash's brother, and was located on section 14. township 19, range 20. It was on the route to New Helena, and con- nected with the Kearney and New Helena mail at the latter point. The mail was carried twice a week, by way of Westerville and Round Valley, the latter office being established some time in 1880. Mrs. Ash resigned in favor of Frank Doty and recommended the removal of the office to his residence, three miles distant, which appeared to meet the approval of the authorities at Washington. The office was re- moved and remained there until it was discon- tinued. when the Walworth postoffice was re- moved to the bridge, by W. H. Predmore,

1885. Mr. Gates sent in a petition for the establishment of Gates postoffice, with himself as postmaster, which was granted. and the first mail was delivered there July 4, 1884. Soon after this Mr. Gates put in a small stock of groceries, added hardware and dry goods. and in 1886 he built a good frame store build- ing. For several years, during the prosperous seasons, he kept a good store and did quite an extensive business. But in 1893 it had all evaporated except the postoffice. But like everything else in this western country, it could not be stopped entirely. Another small store was started by Joseph Beckwith, the new postmaster, who in about two years sold out to S. M. Hinkle. Mr. Hinkle kept the store and postoffice about a year and then sold out to Peter Fackley. When the railroad was built to Ord, the mail route was changed, and came from there to New Helena instead of from Loup City, and ran tri-weekly until the B. & M. Railroad was built through Anselmo, when the route was changed and ran from Anselmo to Sargent, daily, via New Helena, Lillian, Gates, Walworth, and West Union, giving to all this section, as at present, a mail service that it may well be proud of, especially since the railroad was completed to Sargent.

DOWN ON THE REDFERN TABLE

For the following statement of the settle- ment in Redfern Table we cull from the writ- ing of James Whitehead.

Up to 1880 cattle men had undisputed pos- session of thousands of acres of land that in the three years following its occupancy yielded an average of twenty bushels of wheat per acre. But the settler came, and he came to stay. Many were veterans of the Civil war, in the prime of vigorous manhood, and held life as cheap and could shoot as straight as the dare-devil cowboy, and not unfrequently "got the drop" on those who had heretofore boasted of having things pretty much their own way. Thus, in part, the problem of settlement had become adjusted and the way made easy for those who in 1883 and 1884 were pioneers in the settlement of the southwestern part of Cus- ter county.

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

The way of approach in those days was from Kearney along the Wood river valley to its confluence with the South Loup, at a point near the present site of Callaway. Further west were Plum creek and Cozad, points on the line of the Union Pacific,-the former about thirty miles from the south line of Cus- ter, the latter fifteen miles nearer. At this point there was a gently undulating tract of country then known far and near as "Buffalo Table," located in townships 13 and 14, ranges 22 and 23, being within the twenty-mile limit. Every odd-numbered section of this entire table land was included in the grant of the Union Pacific. Inviting as it was, with its deep, rich soil, none of its lands were appropriated until the latter part of 1883. The first entry made in this locality was by no less a personage than Patrick Egan, of Lincoln. It was on section 34, township 14, range 23. No breaking being done the first year, by contest it passed into the hands of Ernest Schneider. The first homestead entries were made by Harvey Stock- ham and Otto Jaster, November 14, 1883, and by Charles B. Drum, December 13th, which comprised all entries made during that year. February 11, 1884, James Whitehead made homestead entry for lands adjoining Charles Drum, and with the opening of spring. Ernest Schneider, John Helmuth. Charles W. Red- fern and his son Frank, with Henry, Chris, and John Miller, appeared upon the scene, se- lected and settled upon their lands and im- mediately begun improvements.

PLENTY OF ROOM IN A SMALL HOUSE

It was the purpose of the writer to secure by purchase a half-section of railroad land ad- joining or as near as possible to his home- stead ; this he supposed he had done, but on reaching his home in Wisconsin he was ap- prised by Hon. J. H. MacColl, of Plum Creek, agent for the railroad company, that the lands selected by him had passed into other hands. This necessitated his immediate return to Nebraska. Accompanied by J. A. Mahaffy and George Healy, we reached Plum Creek about the 10th of March. The morning fol- lowing our arrival we started for the table-

lands accompanied by Mr. Huey, surveyor of Dawson county. It was after night when we reached the divide. The weather, which had been warm, had turned cold and snow began to fall. It had been our intention to pass the night upon the prairie and we had come pre- pared, bringing robes and blankets and a sup- ply of provisions to last us several days. The increasing cold and falling snow, which Mr. Huey, who was an "old timer," assured us might develop into a regular blizzard, made the outlook anything but encouraging. After traveling some distance in the darkness we saw a glimmering light and heard the barking of a dog; this led us to the claim of Ernest Schnei- der. Though he had arrived but a day or two before, he had a frame dwelling partly erected. which, with his own and other families, and be- lated travelers like ourselves, seemed full to ov- erflowing : notwithstanding this we received a hearty welcome. The building was but partly roofed and through the night the snow de- scended upon those who stretched themselves upon the floor and sought rest and forgetful- ness of discomforts in sleep. Beneath a pile of blankets, in one corner of the room that was better protected from the storm, lay the sick wife of our host. She never recovered, but died shortly afterward and was buried nearby, - the first death and burial that marked the early settlement of that vicinity. In addition to those I have named, William Greenfield, Joe Malson, Ezra Wright, R. E. Williams, J. W. Bissell, John Matz. William Gibson, Chris Hel- muth, the Wysharts, were pioneer settlers of the table or its environments, followed in time by John McGuigan and the Armours, also Joe Gilmore, A. P. Cox, Oliver Whitehead, Willis Hines, the Langes. David and William Bain, John Runcie, and John Berwick. The all-ab- sorbing question that presented itself to every settler was water. and how it might be ob- tained. Away to the east in Wood river val- ley, Van Antwerp and Thurman had wells, but they were from six to ten miles distant ; there were none nearer and the combined means of all was not sufficient to put one down. To meet this exigency cisterns were dug on the edge of draws or bordering lagoons, the

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IHISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

supply depending upon the rainfall and their ability to secure and conserve it. All that was met, endured, and overcome, the difficulties and obstacles to success in the way of those early settlers will never be known or written. Water there was in abundance,- the best, purest, and most wholesome that could slake the thirst and gladden the heart of man or beast, but it was from four to five hundred feet below the surface and the means of securing it an un- solved problem.

AN ACCOMMODATING ENGLISHMAN

Among those who had come into this locality were two men, Mr. Edward Crewdson, a wealthy Englishman who had purchased three section of railroad land and was engaged in stock-raising, and Mr. Gregory J. Campau, of Detroit, who had purchased a large tract of land and was also a man of considerable means. These men put down hydraulic wells and se- cured a never-failing and abundant supply of water to which the settlers had free access. The last-named even put down a large cistern into which a stream of water was pumped con- tinuously for the use and accommodation of those who had no other means of securing the life-giving beverage. On several occasions Mr. Crewdson deprived his cattle of the water they craved. in order that the wants of his neigh- bors might be satisfied. These men have passed away ; but monuments have been raised to perpetuate the deeds and memory of many whose claims to remembrance were not so well founded. But their names are cherished and their unselfish generosity remembered by those whose gratitude could alone compensate for their kindness.

TOO MANY ROOSTERS FOR REAM AND JEFFORDS

The first settlers in the vicinity northwest of Broken Bow were J. D. Ream and C. H. Jef- fords. J. D. Ream settled in the neighborhood now known as Custer Center, in the spring of 1880. To show the innocence of those two 1111- sophisticated bachelors, who had only just enough farm education to be able to drive a yoke of oxen hitched to a farm wagon, which contained all of their possessions, the old settlers tell this story at their expense :

As they began to leave the settlements on their journey west into the wilderness. they thought it would be a fine thing to have fresh eggs during the summer, in their new home. and in order to be able to enjoy this luxury they struck a bargain with a thrifty house- wife for a dozen fine young chickens, the flock being shortly afterward increased by the addi- tion of six hens which they got at an astonish- ing bargain from another housewife along the way. When they arrived near the present site of the city of Broken Bow they camped with Wilson Hewitt, and as that kind and accom- modating pioneer invited the wayfarers to make their headquarters there until they got their claims located, they turned their chickens loose, inviting Mrs. Hewitt out to inspect the flock. Mrs. Hewitt looked them over with the eye of an experienced housewife and then fell into such a fit of laughter that the boys thought she had gone crazy. When she re- covered her composure she informed the young poultry fanciers that their flock consisted of eleven young roosters, one pullet, and six old hens that had probably come over in Noah's ark and that had long since passed the period of their usefulness as layers of eggs. The boys were of course very much crestfallen as their visions of fresh eggs were thus suddenly dashed to the ground, and also very indignant at the unfair advantage that had been taken of their ignorance by the women who had sold them the chickens. They promptly made Mrs. llewitt a present of the whole flock and did not again attempt to embark in the poultry busi- ness until after they were married.

The next settler to locate in the vicinity was HI. C. Reyner, with his wife and one child. lle also imported two mules and one cow, and from the latter Mrs. Reyner supplied the whole settlement with butter during the following summer. churning it in a half-gallon crock. The baby. Paul, grew to manhood and served as a soldier in the First Nebraska Regiment in the Philippine Islands. These settlers cele- brated the Fourth of July. 1880, in a canyon south of the table-land which lies east of Merna, together with a number of others from the vicinity of Broken Bow, among whom

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were Wilson Hewitt, C. D. Pelham, Moses Lewis, and others, with their families.

Mr. Jeffords located just east of what is known in Broken Bow as the West Table, in a section of country known at that time as South Muddy Flat. Among the next settlers in the vicinity were R. M. Longfellow and Se- bastian Neth, the latter widely known for his energy and business capacity, having served the people ably several times as a member of the county board of supervisors. The neigh- borhood was also favored in the acquisition of a couple of school teachers from Ohio. named Mary E. and Agnes A. Price, but they soon ended their career as school teachers and formed partnerships with two bachelors, Jef- fords and Brown, and the result of these part- nerships is a number of young bug-eaters who will probably figure in Custer county history long after their parents are forgotten.

SETTLEMENT OF GEORGETOWN

In June, 1872, W. A. George, then a boy of eleven summers, with his father, mother, broth- er, and four sisters, bade adieu to his New England home and friends near the old witch town of Salem, Massachusetts, and started westward by rail. Their destination was Nebraska. The boys, of course, had to shrink considerably in size and age whenever the con- ductor came around, in order that they might get through on half-fare tickets, but it may be remarked right here that they took full ra- tions whenever the grub basket was passed around. At Omaha they saw their first In- dians, robed in their red blankets, as they sold their trinkets alongside the train and through the car windows. They arrived at Gibbon, their destination, tired and hungry, and being turned loose on a box of sweet crackers, W. A. George ate so many of them that he has never had an appetite for that form of bread since. Gibbon was at that time an ideal west- ern town, being the county seat of Buffalo county and surrounded by as fine land for homesteaders as the most exacting could wish. The sound of the hammer was heard from early morning until late at night. Many

people were living in box cars and tents until they could erect something to call a home.

WV. A. George made his first trip to Custer county in 1875. They had some horses stolen and his father thought he had a clue to their whereabouts. Hle and his son started to hunt them up. They traveled about fifteen miles to the north the first day and stayed all night with a settler whom the father hired to go with them the next day as a guide. They struck the South Loup river about where Pleasanton now stands. From there they worked up the river for several miles, seeing but a cowboy with a fine deer strung across his saddle, and a little further along they met another cowboy, who was carrying a saddle over his shoulder. He said that his horse had broken its leg and that he had to kill it and walk into camp.

HELP YOURSELF

In a short time they came to a lone dugout, but no one was at home. On the door was a card which read "help yourself but for God's . sake shut the door." The "shut the door" part was in a good deal bigger letters than the rest of the sentence. They had not yet been educated to the point of walking into a man's house and helping themselves to whatever they might find, so they passed the invitation up. They did, however, dig some potatoes, which came in very handy at the camp-fire that night.

The next trip W. A. George made into Cus- ter county was in 1878, when he came to visit a sister living near where Berwyn now stands. He made the trip on horseback and was so pleased with the conditions in the county that he made a resolve to locate permanently. Ac- cordingly, he became a Custer county citizen some years later. In 1901 he wrote an account of his early experiences, mentioning some of his neighbors who were among the early-day landmarks, and from his writings of that day we gather the following :

In 1887 W. A. George returned to Custer county and located permanently. He leased land of his uncle. H. W. George, and launched into the stock and farming business very ex- tensively. Later he was able to buy the land

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and also additional territory, until at one time he owned 1550 acres of good deeded land and held a lease on 640 acres more of school land, all on the South Loup river.

The next year he bought out the small store at Georgetown, then operated by a firm named Sterk & Means, and for the next five years George ran the store as a side proposition while still improving and developing his ranch. The ranch kept growing, quarter-section after quar- ter-section was added until when Mr. George sold the place he had in all nearly 5,000 acres, on which were more than forty miles of fence with all kinds of barns, sheds, and outbuildings which go to make up good farm equipment.

"GETTING IN BAD"

It was in May, 1882, after the first pioneers had made a dim, shadowy trail over the border into Custer county.

John M. Morrison and J. D. Strong left the main road leading from Kearney to this upper country at a point in Buffalo county, in Pleas- ant valley, and went north through the hills,, following a very dim trail which persisted in growing dimmer, and which, as darkness came on, disappeared altogether. Their hope was to reach McEndeffer's, on the Muddy, that night, so they pressed on, over high hills and down long, winding canyons, one of them walking in front of the team to figure out the trail, and the other driving as directed by the guide.

A more gloomy and desolate prospect could hardly be imagined than that presented to them as the shades of night began to come down over the brown prairie, tumbled and piled about in the most haphazard manner,- high hills, long and terraced ridges, each line seem- ing higher than the other,-two "tenderfeet" alone amidst all this waste, was enough to make them wish they were back in civilization again.

After some hours-or ages, they could hardly tell which - they began to see cattle and horses on the range, which gave them hope. They soon struck a broader trail, made by the stock, leading to the ranch, and had less diffi- culty in keeping the way. After a time they

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History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time, Part 12

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company
Number of Pages: 1180