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 53

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 53

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).

In 1915 the city installed a municipal plant and took over the city lighting, besides which it is now doing some commercial and residence lighting. Broken Bow is the only town in the county where two lighting plants are doing business.

TOWNS ILAVE GOOD WATER

Over and again it has been mentioned that Custer county has the best water in the world. This is true not only of the country districts where hydraulic wells go down to gravel and tap the under-stratum of sheet water which is always found on the river levels, but it is also true of all the towns and villages in the county. Every town has a water plant of its own, and good, healthful, pure water is pumped out of a deep municipal well and forced into some adequate reservoir. from which it is distributed in mains and laterals all over the town. Because of the abundance of water and the easy and comparatively in- expensive method of putting down deep wells. all of the smaller places have been enabled to procure water plants that might well be en- vied by the larger cities of the east.

NO MINING INDUSTRY

With all her resources, no deposits of coal. iron, or other minerals have ever been found in the confines of Custer county. Indications of salt, potash, and other lesser productions of the earth have been found, but no investiga- tion of the deep, underlying strata has ever been made. Down on the Charles Humphrey place. some five or six miles west and north of Callaway, oil indications are so prominent that talk of prospecting has been indulged. but to date no determined effort has ever been

made to find out what underlies the surface soil.

Buried underneath the surface of Custer county, are. beyond doubt, rich deposits of minerals, oil or gas, which await discovery and the push and pluck to develop and bring to the surface for man's utility. What may be the result of future reseach and investiga- tion can now be only conjectured.

HAS DEVELOPED WEALTH SLOWLY

The phenomenal wealth described in the last chapter of this volume and attributed to the thrift and energy of Custer county citizens. has been the product of years. Soil has yielded rich reward to every persistent tiller. but the process has been slow - so slow that perhaps it is safe to say that thousands became dis- couraged and abandoned their attempts long before their labors could possibly be rewarded by nature, who weaves her pattern slowly and awaits her time for rewarding labor.

In 1878, one year after the organization of the county, the first tax-roll was made up and. notwithstanding the fact that a great many cattle still were in the county, located on ex- tensive cattle ranches. the taxable property amounted to only $136,054.50. This, of course. was the tax valuation of the property and in reality only one-fifth of the cash value of the property at the time of its assessment, but even at the actual value the property was far short of one mill- ion dollars- about one-seventy-fifth of the actual amount of property in Custer county to- day. It took seven years for the county to pass the million-dollar mark in property valu- ation, which it reached in 1886, when the tax- able property was valued at $1.131,507.20. The next year was a prosperous year, and more than a half-million dollars was added to the public assets. Two years from the time they crossed the million-dollar line, or in 1888. they crossed the two-million-dollar line. with an as- sessed valuation of $2.256,281.00. Then for seven years little progress was made in the accumulation of property. Then came the memorable year of 1894, which found them

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

with only $100.000 more than they possessed in 1888. But the notable change comes the next year, 1895, when, owing to removals and depreciation of values, there was a decrease instead of an increase. The years 1894 and 1895 are the only two years in the history of the county in which a decrease in taxable prop- erty is disclosed. In all other years small pro- gress was made and some addition noted. In 1895 values depreciated below the two-million- dollar mark and stood for that year at $1.970,- 300.95. The next year, however, they again passed the two-million-dollar line, and held the two million and a little more for nine years. Then, in 1904, they crossed the three-million- dollar-line, and the next year, 1905. crossed the four-million-dollar line. For two years more they stayed below the four-million-dollar line, and then, in 1908. a wave of prosperity seemed to strike them, or else increased valuations brought the holdings up to $7,114,658.52. They stayed below or close to the seven-million line for seven years, or until 1916, when the assess- ed valuation of $8,060.249.00 put them into their present place, above the eight-million-dol- lar line. In 1917 they added more than a half- million to the county prosperity, and from this time forth increases, on a larger scale than in the past. may be expected. The last report of the state auditor. for 1917. gives the Custer valuation at $8,594,451, which, multiplied by five, would give us the actual valuation of property at $47,972.255, which is many millions below a conservative estimate of property if it should be appraised at present high valuations.

HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NOW

Forty years of trials, hardships, and experi- ments are over. The farms are developed. homes established, the towns are located and permanent. the railroads are in vigorous oper- ation and prosperous years have come to the Custer county people. The working over debts unpaid and mortgages that threaten to take the homesteads, are in the main part things of the past. and the feeling now of the old settlers is well described in R. F. Green's poetical lines in the Wall Street Journal :

SINCE WE PAID THE MORTGAGE

We've done a lot of scrimpin' an' livin' hand- to-mouth.

We've dreaded, too, wet weather an' we've worried over drouth,

For the thing kept drawin' int'rest, whether crops were good or bad,

An' raisin' much or little, seemed it swallowed all we had.

The women folks were sayin' an' there ain't a bit of doubt

But that things they really needed lots of times they done without.

So we're breathin' somewhat easy, an' we're feelin' less afraid

Of Providence's workin's, since we got the mortgage paid.

wish I'd kept a record of the things that mortgage ate

In principal and interest from beginnin' down to date !-

A hundred dozen chickens, likely fowls with yellow legs ;

A thousand pounds of butter, and twelve hundred dozen eggs ;

Some four or five good wheat crops and at least one crop of corn.

An' oats an' rye - it swallowed in its life- time. as sure's you're born.

Besides the work an' worry, ere its appetite was stayed!

So we're more contented since we got the mort- gage paid.

We've reached the point. I reckon, where we've got a right to rest.

.An' loaf aroun' an' visit, wear our go-to- meetin' best -

Neglectin' nothin' urgent, understand. about the place.

But simply slowin' down by bits an' restin' in the race !

In time I'll get the windmill I've been wantin', I supose ;

The girls can have their organ, an' we'll all wear better clothes.

For we've always pulled together, while we've saved and scrimped and prayed,

An' it seems there's more to work for since we got the mortgage paid.

THE FIRST SETTLER TELLS THE STORY OF THE YEARS

In 1915 Lewis R. Dowse, one of Custer coun- ty's first settlers, visited the home of his child- hood, Sherborn, Massachusetts, and while there was entertained by a historical society before which he paraded the experiences of a pioneer

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY. NEBRASKA

in Custer county. The Yankee State Daily contains the following :

.An interesting paper was read at the Octo- ber meeting of the Sherborn Historical So- ciety by Lewis R. Dowse, of Comstock. Ne- braska, in which he said :

"After five years in Iowa we pulled out for Nebraska. We went in a regular prairie schooner. Some put the motto 'Nebraska or bust' on their wagons. I put up no sign. but have been bursting out there in Nebraska for forty-two years. I finally located in what is now Custer county, in the middle Loup valley. As we were the first and only settlers in the valley, we had our choice of some fine lands along the river. The soil there is very rich. but very different from that in Iowa. Those were days of real pioneer hardship. We had to go seventy miles to railroad and I had to make that trip to get provisions. That first winter the nearest white settler was twenty-five miles away. There were no roads, and elk. buffalo, and other wild animals were very numerous. We had some visits from friendly Indians, and once four startled my wife. com- ing to our camp when she was alone with the children. All they wanted was plenty to eat. and of course they got it.

"As soon as I could. after selecting my land, I rolled over the sod and got in a little corn. Then the grasshoppers came and ate it all up. and we were out for that year. The next year we raised a little, but the following year the grasshoppers again kindly harvested our crops. From that time on we gained a little, got more

land under cultivation and widened our circle. "Then came our Indian scare, some time the last of the '70s, when General Custer and his men were massacred. Fearing that Indian war parties might wander into the valley of the Loup. the few settlers organized a company called the Rangers, and received arms from the government. They built a sod fort. with embrasures at the corners, so arranged that riflemen could gather there and sweep the sides of the fort with their volleys. and thus prevent storming parties from scaling the walls. Many of the settlers fled to the states farther east. but the dreaded redmen did not come to attack us. At last the Indians were overpow- ered and the scare was over. Our county was named in honor of General Custer.

"Years of prosperity followed. All through the '80s we had good crops and, with the ex- ception of the drouth of 1894. things have been growing better and better. Then came the railroad, and now we are very comfortably situated. Where once was a free range. is now cultivated land. Where once I saw only wild animals, I now see the railroad train. The automobile goes over the old trail. Comstock has more people. more stores, more business than Sherborn. Such are the changes of forty years. My daughter Alice was the first white child born in Custer county.

"I am glad to revisit my old home and see the few now living who were here fifty years ago. I wish I could have with me my seven children and thirteen grandchildren. We will soon make Nebraska the real .Dowse's Cor- ner.

CHAPTER XVIII

PRESENT DAY WEALTH AND RESOURCES

A BRIGHT-RED CONTRAST - THEY GO FASTER NOW - THEY HAVE TRADED PLOWS - NO TELEPHONE GOSSIP - NO MORE FREIGHT HAULING - CUSTER COUNTY RESOURCES - PERSONAL PROPERTY - LIVE STOCK AND CROPS OF THE PRESENT YEAR -THIE AUTOMOBILES HONK - BANKS AND BANKING - FIGURES IN RECAPITULATION - ANOTHER STATEMENT

A complete manifest of Custer county's pres- ent wealth and resources cannot be made. Statistics are too lame. Data cannot be obtained. The best that can be done it to give general statements and approximate figures. It is safe, however, to say that Custer is the peer of any county in the state - a ranking county on almost every proposition. It has a popula- tion of from thirty-two to thirty-three thou- sand people and in point of population ranks fourth in the state. Its people have good homes. well improved farms, with all the accessories of comfort and luxury. The people are happy, prosperous, and industrious. They have the progressive spirit, and latest methods are em- ployed in every vocation and profession. Schools and churches constitute an asset in which the people have pardonable pride.

A BRIGHT-RED CONTRAST

Custer county is practically forty years of age, and between the sparsely settled, un- plowed prairies of forty years ago and the high culture and splendid improvements of the present day there is a bright-red contrast - a contrast that can neither be pictured nor described.

Then there were about 200 people. To-day that number has been increased more than a hundred and fifty times. Then there were few roads. People traveled across country un- mindful of trails or lines, and cared only for directions. They forded streams and wound

their way along the canyons or through the hills. To-day there are splendid roads, bridges. and culverts wherever they are needed. Every stream has been conquered, every hill sub- dued, and every place made accessible. Well marked automobile roads traverse the length and breadth of the county and bring the travel of other counties and of the state over the Custer highways. The central Nebraska auto- mobile route runs through the county east and west, touching Westerville, Broken Bow, Alerna, and Arnold. The potash road runs from the southeast to the northwest through the county, practically following the main line of the Burlington Railroad. The White Star line, from Lexington to Ainsworth, crosses the county north and south, passing through Lo- max. Oconto, Broken Bow. Lillian, and Mil- burn. The Holdrege Black Hills trail crosses the county north and south in the eastern part, and connects the Black Hills and Loup river highway. at Burwell, with the Lincoln High- way at Elm Creek and the Burlington High- way at Holdrege. Another splendid automo- bile road runs through the southwest corner of the county and connects the central Ne- braska route, at Arnold, with the Lincoln Highway at Kearney. This road follows the Union Pacific Railroad and traverses the South Loup and Wood river valleys.

THEY GO FASTER NOW

Forty years ago there were no automobiles.

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY. NEBRASKA

steam cars, bicycles, or motorcycles, and only a very few buggies in the county. Travel was mostly on horseback. Some few had spring wagons, but if the family wanted to go any place and there were not enough saddle horses -- and nine times out of ten there were not - they took the lumber wagon. Sometimes the wagon was drawn by a yoke of slow-paced oxen. In any event, traveling accomodations were very meagre, and speed regulations were not required. One old settler declares that common consent, if not law. prohibited the driving of a yoke of oxen faster than ten miles an hour. To-day all this is changed. Top buggies came to take the place of lumber wag- onsand spring wagons and in them youth and age rode everywhere. in local terri- tory. Phae- tons and fam- ily carriages added a touch of aristocracy to this family of vehicles. Then came the bicycle, which brought a mode of mob- ilization that developed leg muscle and ap- pealed to the young bloods. As a family conveyance. however, the bicycle was never in high favor. To-day. the buggy and carriage are out of date, and motor cars frisk the pop- ulation over the highways from farm to town and from town to farm, across county or across state.

THEY HAVE TRADED PLOWS

Forty years ago the breaking plow was the king of implements. Custer county husband- ry began with the old "grasshopper" plow. It was a prairie breaker, with a square share running at almost right angles with the beam. A few curved rods guided the cut sod into

its place bordering the furrow, where it was supposed to rest bottom-side up. The second plowing was done with small, walking stir- ring-plows, and later corn was cultivated with the one-horse, double-shovel corn-plows, or small one-row cultivators of the primitive type then in vogue. There were no riding plows of any description.

The old-fashioned mowing machine came in for its share of work. Hay was the prin- cipal forage, and as grass grew abundantly everywhere, a mowing machine, a couple of bronchos and a little energy insured enough roughness for cattle and horses. The first grain crops were cut with the mowing machine, al- though one or two instances are recorded in which the grain was cut with the old- time cradle. With the Cus- ter county people, the cradle was more popular in the house than in the

Ok'Sou midsiel Lour Bridee Milsera

MILBURN BRIDGE OVER MIDDLE LOUP RIVER

field. Later came the McCormick reaper, the Buckeye reaper, and then a little later the Marsh and Deering harvesters.

To-day the machinery is much improved and up-to-date. Gang plows, drawn by large. well fed draft horses or tractor engines, stir the same fields in which the old-time imple- ments began the work. Planters, drills, seed- ers, harvesters or binders, listers, double- rowed cultivators, riding harrows, six-foot mowers, rakes, sweeps, stackers. threshers, and every other implement that has name or place in modern-day implement husbandry, are now in use in Custer county fields or on Cus- ter county farms.

NO TELEPHONE GOSSIP To the generation which has fallen heir to

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

modern-day improvements it seems strange that people could have lived and trans- acted business without the telephone, but forty years ago there were no telephone lines. The housewife could not call up the other women of the neighborhood for an hour's visit when- ever she felt so disposed. The farmer could not take down the receiver and inquire all over the neighborhood for a stray cow. If a message had to be sent to a neighbor a mile away or ten miles away. it had to be carried.

NO MORE FREIGHT HAULING

The early settlers had no railroads. All kinds of supplies had to be hauled from rail- road points east or south. It required days to make these trips. Almost indescribable hardships were endured by the men who made them. Teams were small and generally under- fed. because grain was scarce. Wagons were old and often in pour repair. All this meant small loads, break-downs. tired-out horses, and innumerable other difficulties in transport-

FARM HOME OF JOHN CHERRY, ON THE SOUTH LOUP

There was no other way in those days. message required a messenger. They could neither talk across the farm nor the county.

Now the wires run everywhere. Rural lines connect almost every farm not only with the business houses of the towns and villages, but also with every other farm house in the county. A great part of business is to-day transacted over the telephone lines. Neighbors visit, call the doctor, order from the stores, ad- vertise meetings, hunt stray stock, sell their produce, and get weather reports over the telephone. All this has been the development of two score years.

ing freight from a railroad terminal to Custer county. It meant, too. a scareity of supplies. It meant that only the bare necessities could be procured. and that no luxuries could be considered, but with the coming of the rail- road all this has changed. The people of Cus- ter are as well served by modern transporta- tion as any part of the middle west. They have access to the markets of the worldl. They sell their grain at home, and buy their mer- chandise within thirty minutes' ride of their homes, no matter where they are located. Their live-stock rides out of the county in slat-sided Pullmans. There are no more long

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

drives, with heavy shrinkage. in getting stock to market. The pioneers have lived their day, have weathered their storms, and have given to the present Custerites a heritage rich in convenience and almost voluptuous with lux- uries and comforts.

CUSTER COUNTY RESOURCES

In round numbers. Custer county has 1.658,880 acres of land. That comprises the sum total of her area. If it all belonged to one man he would have its intrinsic value carefully figured. He would know how much it was worth in dollars and cents. Every acre has a commercial value. It is worth more as a community hokling than it would be as an individual holding. Therefore, it is proper to figure out its land value, for in no other way can the full resources or combined wealth of the county be ascertained. Figure one-third of Custer county land at twenty dollars an acre, which would make a valuation of $11 .- 059,200: then figure another third at thirty dollars an acre, and that will add $16,588.800; the last third will comprise all the choice land of the county - land that ranges in price all the way from fifty to 150 dollars per acre. It will, therefore. be very conservative to value this portion of the county at sixty dollars an acre, which amounts to $33.177.600. making a grand total of $38,919,040. which amount would stand out in fine comparison with the valuation that might have been placed upon the county land forty years ago.

Next comes the question of town lots. A part of Custer county's land is divided into small city lots. In the towns and villages of Custer county there are 10,204 which have an average value of $100 per lot. over and above the acreage value referred to above. which adds another $1,020,400 to the grand total of land values.

PERSONAL PROPERTY

The last available records for 1917 accredit Custer county with 115.58 miles of railroads. valued at $1.485.340. In addition to this the terminal properties of the Burlington and Union Pacific Railroads amount to $419.430. Before the live stock is listed. let it be noted

that Custer county has 680 shares of mining and oil stock, and other industrial enterprises, that the owners are willing to acknowledge. They have 1.381 pianos, 757 organs. and 1.400 victrolas. Under the head of steamboats and other water craft in a state report, Custer county comes in for two. There are 321 gas- oline or steam tractors. 154 threshing ma- chines, 2.093 cream separators, and agricul- tural tools and implements to the value of $175,220. Next come seven typesetting machines, valued at $28,000: seventy-three cash-registers, valued at $10.950: and 260 stands of bees, every stand filled with a fine grade of alfalfa honey. It might just as well be observed here as anywhere else that Custer is credited with 1.266 dogs, which an expert values at thirty cents. Whether the expert means to valne the dogs at thirty cents each or the whole bunch at thirty cents, is not clear.

LIVE STOCK AND CROPS OF THE PRESENT YEAR

In 1917 Custer county had 32,710 head of horses and 2.903 mules: total valuation of horses and mules. $2.228.880. It had 103.613 head of cattle. worth $5.180.650: 59.722 head of hogs, worth $1,194.440: and 2.884 sheep, worth $43,260.

Forty-five hundred acres of spring wheat that will average fifteen bushels per acre, mak- ing a total valuation of $135.000, starts off the crop valuation. Next comes the winter-wheat crop, which will add $1.800.000, or approxi- mately $2.000.000 to Custer county wealth. This is followed with 5.000.000 bushels of corn, which, valued at one dollar a bushel. makes bushels and dollars even figures. Now add 600.000 bushels of oats. 10.000 bushels of barley. 140,000 bushels of rye. 100.000 tons of alfalfa. 60,000 tons of prairie hay. 10.000 tons of millet and sorghum hay. 200.000 bushels of potatoes. 13.561 dozen chickens. 500,000 pounds of butter. 300.000 gallons of cream - and one begins to get some idea of the al- most fabulous wealth and mammoth resources of Custer county.

THE AUTOMOBILES HONK

One of the assets of Custer county is a

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

parade of automobiles. Statistics show that in proportion to population Nebraska has more automobiles than any other state in the Union, and Custer county stands well at the head of Nebraska counties in the possession of motor cars. There is operated in the county one car for every eight persons. The county treasur- er's books show in round numbers that 4,000 automobiles are owned and operated in the county. This includes motor trucks as well as motor cars. Counting the population at 32.000. it makes one car for every eight per- sons. If these cars should all turn out some day and form a procession on a good Custer county road, allowing 100 feet for each car, which is as close as they could run in safety, cars would cover seventy-six miles of road, or make a procession seventy-six miles long. Running at fifteen miles an hour, it would take five hours for the procession to pass a given point.

Of the four thousand cars for which state licenses have been granted, 2,376 are Fords, 197 are Dodges, 145 are Overlands, 219 are Maxwells, 138 are Buicks, 122 are Chevrolets, 62 are Studebakers, 47 are Oaklands. The remaining 604 range to big cars of expensive models, such as Hudsons, Chalmers, Willys- Knights, Moline-Knights, and Cadillacs. Many expensive Sedan tops are in the list.

BANKS AND BANKING

Forty years ago Custer county had 110 banks, no credit, and no money. To-day, lo- cated and doing business in the county, there are a full two dozen financial institutions, all chartered as state banks and all financially sound.

The following is a report of the financial condition and total resources of the Custer county banks, as per call report, under date of May 10, 1918. for which this volume is in- debted to J. J. Tooley, secretary of the state. banking board :

Anselmo State Bank. Anselmo. . $ 264,681.11 Peoples State Bank, Anselmo. 153,861.96 Farmers State Bank, Ansley 210.877.15

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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 53

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