USA > Nebraska > Dixon County > History of Dixon County, Nebraska > Part 4
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In the June after, the commissioners came together and
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
proceeded to equalize the assessment and make the levy, and take such further steps as would at the proper time in the future. result in the collection of taxes, the amount of which was about $300.
During this year very few buildings were built in Ponca and not many in the country. Here and there a new comer would be seen putting up a sod or log house on his claim, or breaking a few acres of land. A feeling of discouragement had grown until settlers were averse to improving their places, and they preferred to sell out if they could, and go elsewhere. Many did go, so that in 1859 the county had less inhabitants than two years before.
Of course under such a state of affairs, improvements, public or private, were not thought of. The roads were mere paths over the face of the country. Bridges were. as vet, too costly a luxury for the county to build. Groves. fruit orchards and vineyards had not yet been dreamed of and were not for several years afterwards.
Residents of Dixon County, who in these later days talk about hard times, do not realize that their predecessors had in 1858 and 1859, more real, solid privations in one hour of time than can now be suffered in an entire year.
In the following year. 1860, the pressure of hard times was not quite so severe. In the spring a grist mill was built at Ponca by Stough Brothers and N. S. Porter. Thus a little more life was given to the town. and a better market for the county. Aside from this there were few new build- ings or improvements. As a pointer showing what was being done, take the amount of land broken. In 1857 there had been abont two hundred and seventy acres: in 1858, four times that amount, and in 1859 and 1860, scarcely any.
As in the previous year, many settlers moved away in 1860 and few came in to take their places, and the population dwindled down to about two hundred. Not very en- couraging, in fact, to those who remained. It is said that more would have gone, if they had been able to raise money enough to pay the ferriage across the Missouri, which. as merciless as the river Styx. barred the way. Among those who went to Pike's Peak were Messrs. Putnam, Farwell. Carpenter, Alexander. Felter and Higgins. They went in the spring and a few of them returned in the fall.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
In the meanwhile, in spite of the universal discourage- ment, the county officers, in a dim sort of way to be sure. kept up the county organization. The commissioners met, ordered an assessment, levied taxes, established voting precinets and went through the forms and ceremonies which they deemed necessary to keep the flag of Dixon county fly- ing at mast-head. During this year, as in the year before and for several years afterwards, county offices were not much sought after. Neither the honor nor profit sufficiently compensated for the trouble and annoyance. Hence, when one was elected he was liable to neglect the honor thrust upon him and the office would become vacant and have to be filled by the commissioners. In another place we have given a list of the officers of the county from its organization to the present time. That there are probably mistakes, especially in regard to the sheriffs and commissioners, is owing to the frequent changes and neglect to record them.
In some instances the only proof to be found that a man had held an office at all. was the account which he filed with the commissioners for his services. Such account being ap- proved and allowed (though with the depleted treasury we may be sure it was not paid) became conclusive proof. There were no records of commissioners' proceedings at all until July. 1860, and for years they were too incomplete to give much of an idea what was being done. It was on account of the slipshod way of doing business in those days, that the legislature afterwards came to the aid of the com- missioners, and by a legalizing act covered. as with a merci- ful blanket, their illegal omissions and commissions.
The years 1861 and 1862 may be said to have been repetitions of 1860. Hard times continued and the few who came hardly equalled the number who went away.
In the spring of 1862 the first school of which there is any account, was held in the county. It was taught by Miss Mary Jones, of Elk Creek, Dakota County, in the first school house built in Ponca on the ground where Ponca's school building now is. That school is claimed to have been the first nor is there much to show to the contrary. the only paper bearing on this point being a report from Ionia in October. 1860, which notified the county board that there were fifteen children of school age in that district.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Whether the lonia report was merely a hint that a school was needed or whether it is proof that Ionia school district had a school in full blast, readers must determine for them- selves. From such report it appears that the seven families which contributed the aforesaid fifteen children to the popu- lation of the county, were those of L. T. Hill. S. P. Baltzley, A. Curry, Henry Hoese, Gustavus Smith, R. A. Hotchkiss, and A. Smith. The distance between the places where these families resided at that time, indicates that their school district was fully as large as two government townships.
In 1862 the settlers were first invited to help in the war then raging. and in the fall of that year, a number of the patriotic residents of Dixon county enlisted in Company l of of the 2nd Regiment of Nebraska Infantry, commanded by Colonel Furnas. This company was recruited from Dakota. Dixon and Cedar counties, and camped a part of the winter of 1862-3 at Ponca.
Those who enlisted from Dixon county were N. S. Porter. Pat Scollard, John Scollard. Bernard Cavanagh, Francis Freeman. Charles Freeman. Ed. Freeman, Edward Arnold, John Malone. James O'Conner. John O'Conner. O. P. Baltzley, Frank Jourdan, W. P. Heydon. Nelson Feauto, James Clark, Elias Shook. P. J. Winston, James Alexander. M. Lathrop and Mons Nelson. The next spring. (1863, Gen. Sully ordered the regiment to go up the river to assist in capturing the Sioux Indians which were then on the war- path. In the battle of Whitestone Hill. Company I partici- pated, and one of its members from Dixon County, Ed. Free- man, was killed. The regiment returned down the river in November and was mustered out of service.
Dixon county since its first settlement had sometimes had Indian scares and in 1863 they were more frequent and serious than before. Once. four marauding Sioux Indians made a raid to steal cattle and horses. Messrs. Porter, Wil- bur and some others went after them. exchanged shots with them and chased them out of the South Creek and Silver Creek country, and finally ran them across the Missouri.
One day in the summer a great crowd of people. com- prising nearly every one living west as far as the Niobrara river came rushing into Ponca. They came with wagons. horses, cattle, furniture and provisions, and were frightened
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
almost to death. They reported that the Indians were coming in force, killing and burning everything in their path. The terror stricken people had not seen the Indians nor any evidence of Indian depredations, but a vague rumor started by some rascally up-river traders had excited them into an ungovernable stampede. So they came. a great drove of unreasoning and wildly frightened people, into Ponca. They proposed to continue their flight the next morning but by the efforts of cooler headed men in Ponca. they were induced to stay until a party could go back and see what real reason there was for the panic.
Accordingly a company of forty well armed frontiersmen started on the back track the next morning. They saw no Indians but they saw and shot at several buffalo. The prairies were generally on fire on both sides of the river. They went to Niobrara and never in the whole trip saw a hostile face. Their trip lasted about a week and in that time many fat turkeys and chickens. and all the government tobacco and whiskey within reach were disposed of to the satisfaction of all concerned. After their return the frightened up-country people laughed at their previous fears and took up their line of march back to their homes again.
About this time a much more serious matter, a most atrocious tragedy in fact, occurred. In Cedar county and near the Dixon county line, a small party of Sioux Indians who came over from Dakota, murdered the Wiseman family. The murderous band was immediately pursued but escaped across the river. All these matters kept up much unhappy excitement throughout the river counties, and not until the Indians were again brought under subjection were settlers fully assured of peace and safety.
Thus the county, without much improvement and with many hardships, drifted along until 1864. and this year seemed to be the climax of grief. There was a drouth that year. Previously they had grumbled over poor crops. Now there were no crops at all.
Concerning that ill-fated season. C. F. Putnam and John MeKinley tell us that there was not a drop of rain from late in the fall of 1863 to early in the spring of 1865, fifteen months. A terrible experience. certainly. and presenting an almost hopeless outlook. The torrid heat. the ground baked
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
to the hardness of briek. the failing springs and streams and not a blade of corn or grass, or sign of crop of any kind to vary the desolate monotony, seemed to denote that the productive forces of nature were dead and the country had become a desert.
There was no corn, no vegetables and no grain, and no grass excepting a little on Logan Slough. Corn and wheat which had been put into the ground in the spring remained there all summer without a sign of life. That the settlers managed to get through the trying time was a source of wonder even to themselves. Their land was barren and worthless for the time and the livelihood of themselves and cattle had to be obtained from other sources.
How did they manage? Old settlers say that the body of timber along the Missouri helped them to bridge the crisis. From this forest, great numbers of logs, especially of black walnut, were ent by the settlers, some from their own land and others from that of the government, and rafted down the river and sold. Again, settlers went out (not for fun, that word being out of date that season) and beat the fields and woods for game and the river and creeks for fish. Deer. wolves and bear were met with sometimes, and squirrels. prairie chickens and wild ducks. In the winter, mink. beaver and muskrat were trapped and their skins sent to market. Those who had cattle and hogs, sold them when want pinched too hard. Thus in various ways the flour barrel was kept replenished, and means provided to sustain life, give shelter and clothing and drive the wolf from the door.
Another such a fifteen months, had it then followed would necessarily have driven out of the country every man. woman and child.
Fortunately at the end of this fifteen months of hades. rain came. Not a gentle moisture, daintily spread, but an abundant and long continued downpour. The hard baked earth yielded to its influence and vegetation awakening from its sleep again bedecked the valleys and plains with verdure and flowers. Courage came back, and again the settlers plowed and planted. and their hope turned into joy as their crops boomed and rich harvests became certainties. No more hungry days were in store, no more trapping of
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
muskrats or stealing government timber, and no more solacing ravenous hunger with corn bread and salt, washed down with brackish water. As if ashamed of itself for its previous niggardly treatment of the settlers, nature gave them in 1865, enormous crops, the greatest, grandest and most lavish that had ever been seen in the country.
The year 1865 was indeed, a most generous year. More land was broken, more houses built and more improvements made than all combined since 1857. Grand crops, a big emigration and a general lifting from despair to joy and plenty. The tide had now turned, and from that time for- ward, rapid growth and development was assured.
The great number of those who came in 1865 as well as in succeeding years to make their homes in Dixon County, renders it impossible, except in few instances, to mention them separately. In another place, however, notices of many of the leading pioneers will be given, as well as sketches of those citizens whose energy and good works in behalf of the county are and have been prominent.
In the presence of plenty, the previous hard times were soon forgotten, and the incoming settlers, from 1865 onward during many prosperous years, joyfully took their home- steads, plowed and put in crops, fenced, built houses, started groves and planted orchards. As time went on, and people became able, the desire was awakened to have homes which were more than mere shelters from the storm. No longer the gloomy cabin, the rude home-made benches and table. and from the narrow window, no longer the dreary outlook, sufficed. The neglected garden, usually a wilderness of tan- gled growth, was made useful as well as beautiful in its or- der and cleanliness, and its vegetables, sweet corn, grape vines and shrubbery.
The home by degrees became transformed into a brighter and more enjoyable place to rear a family in. The rude necessaries gave place to tasty furniture and adornments. the dingy walls, doors and casings were made new and cheer- ful by paint and paper, and larger windows were demanded to give views of the gardens, flower beds and fields. Even some homes had carpets, and the family library. previously a collection of almanacs, could boast of a few useful and interesting books.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
A great field of wheat or corn, or herd of fat cattle, de- manded of the farmer that he become posted on the mar- kets. and hence newspapers became necessary, and he was thus introduced to what was going on in the outside world. Previously his main care had been to feed and protect his family, now, however, under the stimulus of prosperity and awakened reflection, the feeding of the stomach became secondary to the desire to learn and know, and to give his family those advantages of education and society which he, himself, had by his lonely frontier life been deprived of.
In those days Sioux City was the main place of market for the residents of this county. To go to Sioux City and return. required two days' time and a hard journey by wagon. Merchandise was brought in that way, and as to wheat and hogs, what was not sold in Ponca was carted to Sioux City in a laborious and expensive manner.
A railroad into Dixon county. therefore became a grow- ing desire. The first project of that kind was in 1869. It was originated by S. T. Davis of Sioux City, who proposed to build a railroad from that place through Dixon County to Niobrara. Preliminary surveys were made, and all that was needed to complete the undertaking was the money neces- sary to build and equip it. Propositions for aid were there- fore made to Dixon and other counties on the west. Dixon County was asked to vote $68,000, and the people were as- sured that if such bonds were furnished, the road would be built without delay.
The proposition, plausible and alluring, inasmuch as a railroad was exactly what the county needed, was talked over and considered by the citizens, but they hardly felt able to ineur a debt of such magnitude. It was, therefore. abandoned, and railroad building had to wait until a more propitions time.
As has been mentioned in chapter third, Ponca was surveyed in part and named in the fall of 1856, and a log house was built by Hoese Brothers, and in 1857 houses were put up by Stough Brothers, John Cavanagh and H. A. Ful- ler. a house and blacksmith shop by Mr. Rogers and a store by Mr. Bramble.
In 1858, the growth of the town continued though slowly. During this year several houses were built, and one
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
which stood on the claim of Leander Davis near New Cas- tle was moved to Ponca and placed on a lot near where the school house is. Afterwards in 1860 it was moved by Por- ter. Bisbee and Todd to the Bigley lot on East street. To the same lot they soon after moved a house which had been built in 1859 for Mr. Bramble on the lots where Dr. Stough's residence now is. These two buildings were joined together and made into a hotel (the first hotel in town) which was kept by Mr. Davis and is now known as the Bigley House.
Up to 1858. Ponca people crossed the Aoway by a log bridge which had been built by settlers two years before. It was a dubious sort of a bridge and dreaded by everyone who crossed. In 1858 the government built a good, substan- tial bridge, and passing over the Aoway was no longer a ter- ror to man and beast.
Among other evidences of Ponca's rising importance it may be mentioned that on May 14. 1859. it held its first election of trustees. Five were to be elected. and twelve votes were cast. Of these N. S. Porter received ten votes: Leander Davis. nine: E. M. Bisbee. eleven; H. A. Fuller. eleven: D. T. Bramble. ten, and C. W. Todd, J. C. Harring- ton. R. Rogers and James Barrett received one each.
In 1859. Francis Freeman completed a dwelling house. Blacksmith Rogers built a frame residence. Mr. Chapman a blacksmith shop and two or three small houses were put up by parties whose names are now unknown.
In that year Ponca's first school house was erected. It was on the ground where the high school building now stands and was built by subscription. The building was af- terwards sold and removed, and a larger school house built about the year 1865 by H. Beardshear.
In 1860. several more buildings were erected, one of the most important of which was the grist mill of Stough Brothers. Two years afterwards a saw mill was built in connection with the grist mill.
The first Fourth of July celebration ever held in Ponea. took place in that mill in 1862. On that momentous occa- sion the eagle was assisted to scream by W. H. James (after- wards governor of the state) who was orator of the day, and Judge Arnold who read the Declaration of Independence.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
The music was by Gustavus Smith and family of New Castle.
In 1861 the first Lutheran church was built and was the only church building in town until 1871 when churches were erected by the Presbyterians and Methodists.
During the years from 1862 to 1870 the growth of Ponca continued very slow. In 1869 a store building was erected on Third street by Stough and Mikesell and another by Por- ter and Gamble in 1871 on the corner of Third and East streets.
In '69, '70 and '71 an unusually large number of resi- dences were built, some of them quite expensive and stylish. Among them was the brick house of John Stough (the first brick house in town), and the large frame residences of Dr. Stough and N. S. Porter.
From 1860 to 1870 and for a few years afterwards. the town next in importance to Ponca, was Ionia. lonia had a beautiful. but as it turned out. unfortunate location on the bank of the Missouri.
In 1856, a Sioux City company, in which were said to be Messrs. Cunningham, White and John H. Charles, sur- veyed and staked out the town of fonia, twelve miles from Ponca up the river.
In the spring of 1857. L. T. Hill, a merchant of Daven- port, lowa, engaged J. J. Pierce and his son, H. M. Pierce. of that city, to come west and locate a town site for him. The accordingly journeyed across the state to Sioux City. and from thence into Dixon county. It was a long trip. There was no railroad, and an ox team and wagon was with them as it usually was with others at that early day, the ยท mode of conveyance.
In Dixon county they found that the Sioux City proprie- tors of Ionia wished to sell out, and Messrs. Pierce pur- chased and held the site for Mr. Hill until May 22. 1859. when he and his family arrived.
He found a very wild country. A few settlers were scat- tered up and down Aoway Creek, and two families were liv- ing near the new town of lonia, one of which was that of Mr. Massenger and his son-in-law. Andrew White, and the other was the Hotchkiss family on the Hotchkiss bottom, so called. In Ionia two small buildings had been built the year
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
before, and during the year 1859 two or three more were ad- ded by Mr. Hill.
From this time forward for several years, lonia, like other new western towns of that period, was not greatly encouraged by growth and business. In 1860 Mr. Hill built Ionia's first ferry boat, a boat which was a great assistance to the farmers of Dixon and Dakota counties who had to eross the Missouri while making trips to Fort Randall with produce. Fort Randall with a garrison of five hundred soldiers furnished an excellent market, the best within reach, and high prices were paid for everything the farmers had to sell.
In 1862, the large amount of timber on the lonia river bottom induced Mr. Hill to erect a steam saw mill there. It was started in December and for several years did a large business. In the spring of 1865. the excessively high water in the Missouri cut away the bank and endangered the mill. and in the next year it was moved to a safer point, and a grist mill was added in 1867. In that year, 1867. Messrs. Fitzgerald and Lynes built the first store, and in 1868 Isaac Hughes built a hotel.
In 1869 Levins and Rose built a large, two story store and put in a good stock of general merchandise.
An encouraging number of residences, shops and other buildings were also added in that year, and in 1870 a large amount of building was done. and the town was increased by many new families.
An inventory of lonia's business houses at that time shows in addition to the mill and hotel. three stores, one blacksmith shop. one wagon and repair shop. one shoe maker shop and several carpenter shops.
Also Ellyson Brothers built to run between lonia and the Dakota side the first steam ferry boat on the river above Sioux City.
In 1870 and 1871 Ionia continued to grow in size and increase in business. and in 1872 it had a population of abont three hundred.
In 1874 the eneroachment of the river, which previously had not excited much apprehension became alarmingly worse. The channel changed so that its force threatened the destruction of the town. Afterwards up to 1878, the
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
cutting away of the bank continued and increased. For safety many of the buildings were moved away, and in that year the river swept out a large share of the town site and within two or three years thereafter the work of de- struction was completed. Such in brief was the beginning and end of Ionia.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
CHAPTER V.
INDIAN SCARES AND ANNOYANCES -- N. S. PORTER'S INTER- VIEW WITH "SMOKER" OF "LITTLE RABBITT'S" BAND -- L. T. HILL'S EXPERIENCES WITH INDIANS AT IONIA -- J. MURPHY OF SOUTH CREEK HAS AN UNPLEASANT VISIT - - INDIAN POWWOWS AND DANCES -- THE ANCIENT INDIAN TRIBES AND LEGENDS.
Before continuing the history of the general progress of the county from and after 1869. we will make reference to Indian scares and experiences prior to that time as well as to the tales and legends concerning the savage red men who seventy-five or a hundred years before had ruled in Dixon county.
In the time elapsing since the first white settlers came. little real trouble had been occasioned by the Indians except in the few instances related in the last chapter. Indian visits were generally nothing worse than attempts on their part to raid corn cribs or pork barrels. Hence there are no tales of Indian wars in Dixon county since its first settlement by the whites, no massacres of defenseless inhabitants, no midnight glare of burning buildings and no hordes of painted savages with reeking tomahawks. None of these things were ever seen by the settlers, nor often heard of except in the blood curdling tales of eastern romancers, nine-tenths of whom never saw an Indian or knew what they were talking about.
Yet though nothing especially serions ever took place in their intercourse with the red men. old settlers, on looking back over those first years will recall many little ex- periences which they had with them, and which might have been described as comedy but never as tragedy. About the only exceptions to this rule near Dixon county was the murder of the Wiseman children in Cedar county and that of C. S. Munson in Wayne. Aside from these instances.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Indian visits were more amusing than terrifying, and served to break the sameness of frontier life.
The first of such harmless Indian scares took place a day or two after the arrival of the first batch of settlers in May. 1856. On that occasion a squad of Poncas crossed the Aoway and visited the settlers' camp while the men were away look- ing out claims in the neighborhood. With a great flourish of tomahawks and knives the Indians frightened the three women in camp almost to death and made them glad to purchase peace by giving up a generous share of their provisions. This sort of annoyance from roving bands was often afterwards practiced on the settlers, and the story of one was generally the story of all. There would be a blustering display of knives and hatchets, a big fright among the women and children, and finally peace obtained by hand- ing over corn and bacon and whatever else the visiting In- dians took a fancy to carry off.
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