USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume I > Part 17
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume I > Part 17
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 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
HOOPER BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION
This association was organized at the Village of Hooper in August, 1889, by officers as follows : David Reber, president; J. F. Briggs, vice president ; George W. Heine, secretary ; Ed Uehling, treasurer.
Its statement recently shows amount of loans to members, $22,500. Capital and surplus, $23,000. Number of loans made, 142.
The 1920 officers and directors are as follows: A. M. Tillman, pres- ident ; George W. Heine, secretary; Jacob Sanders, treasurer. Direc- tors, W. E. Sanders, Jacob Kirsch, Joseph Stipsky, William F. Basler, B. Monnich, Ed Edelmann.
This is another of the examples of a well managed association in which a whole community is benefited by such associations.
122
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
FREMONT JOINT-STOCK LAND BANK
This institution was organized June 1, 1919, by Dan V. Stephens, under the banking act of July, 1916. Its object is to loan money on first farm mortgages and bond the mortages under government supervision, the bonds being sold to the public.
This bank is in the Fremont State Bank Building, corner Sixth Street and Park Avenue, Fremont.
The original and present officers are: Dan V. Stephens, president ; D. W. Killen, vice president, Schuyler, Nebraska; T. F. Kastle, treas- urer, North Bend, Nebraska; William Meyer, secretary, Hooper, Nebraska.
The first capital was $250,000-2,500 shares at $100 each.
The present capital is $275,000-2,750 shares at $100 each.
Present surplus, $15,000.
On June 1, 1920, the resources and liabilities were $2,461,127.93.
CHAPTER XII
DODGE COUNTY NEWSPAPERS
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER IN DODGE AND ADJOINING COUNTIES-THE FREMONT WEEKLY AND DAILY TRIBUNE-THE OLD TRI-WEEKLY- GROWTH OF THE PIONEER PAPER PLANT-THE FREMONT WEEKLY HERALD-THE NORTHI BEND EAGLE-THIE HOOPER SENTINEL-THE UEHLING POST-THE SCRIBNER RUSTLER.
The local newspaper was early in this field and aided the pioneer settler in developing the country. The first settlers were composed of men and women who had come in from old settled sections of other States, where the "home paper" was 'a household treasure, hence upon immigrating here they naturally took great interest in supporting the first newspapers published in this and adjoining counties. The Fremont Herald and Tribune were the forerunners of the various newspapers which have since been published in this county, and they still continue as the leading newspapers.
THE COUNTY'S FIRST NEWSPAPER
Outside of Omaha the Fremont Tribune was the first newspaper established in the Platte Valley. In the summer of 1868, J. N. Hays came to Fremont from Plattsmouth with a modern printing outfit, including good presses, type, etc., and founded the Fremont Weekly Tribune.
The first issue pulled from the press was dated July 24, 1868, and the office was in a small, tucked-up attic over Usher & Sawtell's furniture store. The paper was a seven-column folio, well filled with advertising from the start and has been a great business medium ever since. The first office of publication was at the corner of Sixth and "F" streets. It may be of interest to read a part of the salutatory, as it shows the original policy of the paper :
"With this issue we commence the publication of the Fremont Tribune. The paper was started to supply a want existing in this place for some means of making known the advantages of this section of the country and offering a convenient organ for discussion of matters of local inter- est. It will not be indifferent to the great political contest now going on in this country and cheerfully enlists as a supporter of the great principles advocated by the National Republican party and the election of Grant and Colfax."
Mr. Hays conducted the paper until January, 1872, when Frank G. Parcell purchased an interest and became business manager, the firm name changing to J. N. Hays & Co. This continued until death overtook Mr. Hays in 1873.
Soon after his death a company purchased the plant and operated it as the "Tribune Printing Company" with Fred Nye as editor. In 1877 W. H. Michael purchased a half interest and thereafter it was con- ducted by Michael & Nye. In May, 1879, Browne & Hammond came into possession of the plant and the following autumn Mr. Browne sold his half interest to George Hammond & Son-Frank Hammond being
123
124
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
editor. In 1882, Ross L. Hammond secured a half interest and the firm was known as Hammond Brothers, with Frank as business mana- ger and Ross L. as editor. In March, 1891, Harry W. Hammond, a younger brother, came into the firm and later sold his interest to his brothers.
In May, 1883, the Tribune blossomed out into a daily edition. Later on the weekly edition was changed into a tri-weekly, which was discon- tinued in 1917 because of the inroads made on the tri-weekly subscrip- tion list by the establishment of rural routes, when the farmers were given a daily mail service.
In January of 1920, Ross L. Hammond, who held a half interest, sold most of his holdings to other stockholders and retired to a comfortable home in Southern California, after forty years' continuous service as
HON. Ross L. HAMMOND, EDITOR FOR FORTY YEARS OF FREMONT DAILY TRIBUNE
editor. Mr. Hammond's retirement made an official change in the man- agement which is as follows: Frank Hammond, president and editor ; Ray W. Hammond, vice-president and manager ; Lucius R. Hammond, secretary and assistant manager; Walter B. Reynolds, treasurer and circulation manager. Harvey C. Kendall, who is advertising manager, with the foregoing officers constitute the board of directors.
In 1881 a two-story brick block was erected by the Tribune owners and partially occupied at that time. As the business grew, tenants moved out and the plant spread into the building until it now occupies the orig- inal building, with a 50 per cent addition erected in 1902. In that year the plant was visited by a destructive fire but not a single issue of the Daily Tribune was missed through the kindness of competitors granting use of their presses. The newspaper department is well equipped with linotype machines and a rapid press of the rotary type, that will print
125
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
30,000 sixteen-page papers per hour. The news of the world comes direct to the editorial rooms over a leased wire. Twenty carrier boys deliver the papers in the city. Some of the best business men of the city have been carrier boys for the Daily Tribune.
A large job printing and manufacturing plant is operated in conjunc- tion with the newspaper and equipped with all the latest machinery for rapid and efficient work. Traveling men cover several states soliciting for this department. A combined force of seventy people, besides the carrier boys, are required to take care of the volume of business that has been developed. The annual payroll is in excess of $100,000.
The burden of the present management rests in the hands of young men who are competent to maintain the growth and prosperity that has marked a history of the institution since its founding in 1868 and the Tribune will continue to be one of the leading factors in the development of the town and state.
THE FREMONT WEEKLY HERALD
The Fremont Herald is a weekly paper published in the City of Fre- mont, each week on Friday. It was established in 1870 by W. T. Shaffer. Later it was owned and conducted by R. D. Kelly, who in 1873 estab- lished the Daily Herald, which was continued for some years.
In 1876 Nat W. Smails came into possession of this plant, when the weekly was issued each Thursday, and the daily each day except Mon- day. The Herald is among the oldest newspapers in Nebraska, the daily being the oldest of any paper in the state outside Omaha and Lincoln. In the nineties its editor was a Mr. Smith of Coldwater, Michigan.
Today, the Weekly Herald is an independent Democratic paper. It is a six-column paper with from eight to fourteen pages, all home print. Its subscription rate is $2.00 per year in advance. Its circulation is largely in Fremont and Dodge County, with a fair list in adjoining counties.
In 1905 this newspaper was taken possession of by an incorporated company, of which Marc G. Perkins was made president; Frank S. Per- kins, secretary, and Marion M. Perkins, vice president. It is published at present at 229-233 East Fifth Street.
The printing plant is fully equipped with the latest improved machin- ery for both newspaper and commercial printing. The Herald is a clean, well-edited, handsomely printed newspaper and it always seeks to give the people the latest news in the best style, hence is appreciated by a large patronage.
THE NORTH BEND EAGLE
This newspaper was established at North Bend November 1, 1897, by Charles S. Fowler and Joseph C. Newsom. It was owned and con- ducted by Messrs. Fowler & Newsom from November, 1897, to Septem- ber 27, 1900, when Mr. Fowler's interest in the paper was purchased by Mr. Newsom, who has retained the ownership and management ever since, except for one year during 1918-19 spent in France, when the paper was leased for that time to E. O. Holub.
Politically this is an independent paper. In size and form it is an eight-page, six-column paper and has a good circulation in North Bend and tributary country. It is published on Thursday each week. Sub- scription rate is $1.50 per year in advance.
126
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
The paper is published in a building owned by the proprietor of the paper and is valued at $2,500. As to its mechanical equipment it may be stated that it has a Prouty power press, two Gordon jobbers, Model "L". Standard linotype, paper cutter, stapling machine, etc.
The following abstract of the Eagle runs about as follows:
The Eagle succeeded the North Bend Argus, founded April, 1890, by W. K. Fowler and C. S. Fowler, and the North Bend Republican, founded in November, 1892, by Anna L. Dowden, were merged or con- solidated by C. S. Fowler and J. C. Newsom, Fowler having previously purchased his brother's interest in the Argus, and J. C. Newsom having purchased the Republican of Mrs. Dowden.
The first newspaper published in North Bend was the Independent, established by Doctor Elwood in 1879.
THE HOOPER SENTINEL
This newspaper was established at Hooper, April 22, 1885, by W. A. Crandall. The owners of this property have included these: W. A. Cran- dall, E. W. Renkin, C. E. Bennett, J. I. Brorby, Shipley & Thompson, W. G. Thompson, Glen Howard, Sedgwick & Ring, H. T. Ring, the last named owning it since 1914.
Politically the Sentinel is independent. It circulates mostly in Hooper and surrounding country. It is a six-column eight-page paper, printed each week on Thursday morning. It is $1.50 per year subscription rate in advance and has six pages "home print."
The office equipment includes these items : A 10 by 15 jobber, a paper press that prints four pages at one time ; and all necessary material for a country newspaper plant. Locally the Sentinel is a most excellent paper.
THE UEHLING POST
This newspaper is published at the new Village of Uehling in the northeastern part of Dodge County. It was established in 1919 by Gus H. Weber, who still owns and conducts it as a weekly local newspaper. It is a six-column folio paper, printed each Friday. It circulates through- out Logan Valley Township and its subscription rate is $1.50 per year. The proprietor is his own printer and is a hustler in all that this term has come to mean.
The first paper started in Uehling was the "Press" by R. S. Honey.
R. D. Kelly started the Times which ran about five years and went down. Politically it was republican.
THE SCRIBNER RUSTLER
This local newspaper was established at Scribner in January, 1895. Just who the founder was is not known, but it is known that it was owned ยท by Henry Kidder ten years : by Otto Metschke six years; R. R. Roberts one year and Charles E. Majers has owned and conducted it since December 1, 1918. Politically the Rustler is an independent paper, cir- culating in various parts of Dodge County; is a six-column, eight-page paper all home print. It is published each Thursday at a subscription price of $2.00 per year.
The Rustler and Scribner News, the other paper of the town, con- solidated about 1912.
127
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
Five years ago (1915) a wood-cement block building was erected especially for newspaper business. The office equipment includes a six- column quarto press-a folder, job press and a Cranston pony cylinder press for job and book work. In all the plant has in operation four presses and a linotype machine, stapler, perforator and all usual type found in such an office.
The present owner edits a clean local paper and has a large job printing patronage in first-class work. "If you see it in the Rustler it is true" would make a good motto for the Rustler.
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
Fremont had the honor of being one of the first points in Nebraska where a Young Men's Christian Association was established. It was formed here even before the state was admitted into the Union. This did not flourish many years, but in May, 1881, it was reorganized with charter members as follows: A. C. Hopkins, M. G. McCoon, Rev. A. B. Byram, C. C. Birdsall, A. R. Wightman, R. E. Doran, Mark C. Sander- son, Robert Hewett, F. M. Smith, Rev. A. T. Swing, F. M. Griswold, G. King, E. T. Smith, W. A. Marlow and L. C. Sweet.
The first officers were: Robert Hewett, president; W. A. Marlow, vice president ; D. A. Lumbard, secretary ; L. C. Sweet, treasurer. The first active president was Prof. A. R. Wightman. Meetings were held in the churches, a lecture course was provided for, prayer meetings were instituted and continued until the fall of 1884 when the society disbanded.
Again in 1888 the work was resumed and the ensuing November the association had a membership of fifty-three men and by 1892 it had increased to 175. They were legally incorporated in September, 1891, and purchased forty-four feet on the southwest corner of Broad and Fifth streets, and from that time on the "Y. M. C. A." became a perma- . nent fixture among the religious societies in Fremont.
The present magnificent three-story modern brick block on the loca- tion last named was erected in 1907 at a cost of $80,000 and it has none of the best modern appointments lacking.
WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION
This society has been for more than a generation a power for good in Fremont. It was formed by devoted Christian women who loved temperance and virtue more than money or even life itself. They organ- ized in 1874 with only a half dozen members, including Mesdames Hitchcock, Bullock, Griswold and Rogers. The first president was Lucy Rogers. Up to 1888 they met at private houses, but that year erected the Women's Christian Temperance Union Temple at the corner of Broad and Military avenue, in which they had a library and reading room, as well as a fine audience chamber. All along down the years the devoted women of the city have battled against the rum traffic until their prayers have been answered and liquor is no longer master in the fair state and nation.
CHAPTER XIII SOIL AND DRAINAGE OF DODGE COUNTY
(BY DAN V. STEPHENS)
Dodge County, Nebraska, is one of the very best agricultural districts to be found in the United States, due to its uniformly rich soils and excellent natural drainage.
The soils of this county may be roughly divided into three groups, upland, terrace and bottom soils. The upland group includes the Mar- shall and Knox series; the terrace soils are classed in the Waukesha and Scott series, and those of the bottoms in the Wabash, Lomaure, Cass and Sarpy series. The bottom soils represent alluvium, derived from border- ing uplands.
Of these three groups, the Marshall soils represent about one-third of the area of the county and is a remnant of the original loess plains. It is also the highest in elevation. It is cut into four areas, the largest covering the northwest portion of the county, west of the Elkhorn and north of Maple Creek valleys. The second covers the north central section between the Elkhorn and Logan valleys. The third covers the northeast part of the county lying east of Logan Valley and north of the Elkhorn Valley. The fourth section covers the central part of the upland lying south of Maple Creek extending from the Knoell Ravine on the east to School No. 30 on the west, a distance of about ten miles. The remaining portions of these uplands lying to the east and west belong to the terrace classifications and are of a more recent formation.
The Marshall soil is characterized by its uniform soil particles and its tendency to split into vertical planes producing perpendicular bluffs along water courses and roads subject to erosion. The Marshall soil is the result of the loess formation supposed to have had its origin in the ice age. It is uniform in character and contains in proper proportions all the natural elements for crop productions throughout its entire depth. These Marshall hills have given rise to the terrace soils much of the same character.
The terrace lands, constituting in the main the upland between the Platte and Maple Creek valleys, is a valley filling deposit laid down in prehistoric times from the wash from the original loess plains. One can imagine the great slowly moving ice sheet shaving off the tops of the loess hills and filling up the then existing valleys to be later recut by our present water courses without regard to the ancient channels. This theory at least explains why the upland south of Maple Creek is com- posed of both the old Marshall formation and the more recent terrace deposit, both soils being similar in character and productiveness, one . being the wash of the other.
The bottom lands in the main consist of alluvium, a product of ero- sion from all the various soil formations in the adjoining uplands. It naturally follows that rich upland soils produce rich bottom lands. With the exception of the Platte River Valley, the other bottom lands of the county form a colluvial soil resulting from the erosion of the near-by uplands. The Platte Valley soils, however, have been modified some- what by the erosions from the mountains where the river finds its source.
128
129
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
The Marshall and Waukesha soils comprising the uplands of the county are remarkable crop soils, exceedingly friable and productive. These soils resist drouth longer than any other soil known and will pro- duce a wider range of crops. Corn, wheat, oats and alfalfa are the staple crops, but these wonderful soils will produce any cereal crop that will grow in this latitude.
A little to the south and west of the center of the county on the high- est point of the upland between the Platte and Maple Creek valleys just east of School No. 30, a magnificent view is afforded of a very large sec- tion of the county. Standing on this eminence of the Marshall formation looking south, one can get, on a clear day, a magnificent view of the great Platte River Valley. For 25 or 30 miles east and west, the mighty checkerboard of farms can be seen with its alternating fields of corn and wheat. Turning to the north, the beautiful Maple Creek Valley winds from the west to the east, visible for a dozen miles in its course and far beyond it over the upland table to the northeast, the Elkhorn bluffs twenty miles away are clearly outlined against the sky line. It is a marvelous sight not only from a scenic point of view but from an agri- cultural one as well, for practically every acre of this land is highly productive and tillable. Few spots like it can be found in the whole wide world and none excel it.
SURFACE DRAINAGE
Dodge County is drained by the Platte and Elkhorn rivers together with their numerous tributaries, Logan, Maple, Pebble and Rawhide creeks. The uplands are adequately drained with a few exceptions of swales here and there without surface outlets. The valleys, however, being flat with the water table close to the surface, were not naturally sufficiently drained. The Platte and Elkhorn valleys, constituting about one-fourth of the area of the county, represented a great loss to agricul- ture because of the lack of adequate drainage. The lands were given up to the production of wild hay, which contained a minimum amount of food values. Finally about 1890, a few drainage ditches were con- structed in the Platte River Valley, and from this small and inefficient beginning, a few years later a complete system of surface drainage was laid out through the organization of districts. The result has been the reclamation of many thousand acres of land, practically the whole of the Platte River Valley within the county. Drainage ditches have been con- structed in the Elkhorn Valley, also, until the swamp lands have prac- tically disappeared.
TILE DRAINAGE
Some sections of these valleys require still further drainage by tiling, owing to the character of the soils, and some larger farms have been drained with tile. Among them, Maple Grove farm, owned by the author of this article, and Idlewild, owned by Mrs. R. B. Schneider, and a large farm owned by Mr. L. M. Keene, east of Fremont, and scores of smaller farms.
The first effort at reclamation of wet land by tile drainage was made by Phillip Rine on Maple Creek. It was a very successful experiment though on a small scale. This led the author to undertake the first project of any considerable size in the county, namely, 440 acres of his farm at the foot of the Platte River bluffs on the north side of the
130
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
valley six miles northwest of Ames. The history of this operation and theory of the value of tile drainage may be of value in this connection :
By placing under this land a complete system of tile drainage it was possible to keep the water table at a depth of three feet, and as there was a constant supply of water at this level, a remarkable result was obtained- namely, that regardless of rainfall practically speaking, this land could neither "drown out" nor "dry out." During an exceedingly dry season grain roots would go down to the water that was available always just below the level of the tile lines ; when the rainfall was excessive, the sur- plus water rushed away through the vast system of tiles, leaving growing crops free from the effects of too much water.
More than seventy carloads of tile were used on this job which cost the owner approximately $20,000, or nearly $50 an acre. There are six ten and twelve inch mains each from one-half to three-quarters of a mile long, with scores of miles of four, five and six inch laterals extending out from these mains covering the entire 440 acres, so that there is not a foot of ground more than fifty feet from a line of tile.
INCREASE IN CROP PRODUCTION
This system was carefully laid out by two competent farm drainage engineers and in the years it has been in use it has abundantly justified the expense in the increase in crop productions. The second crop of corn on the first 120 acres brought under cultivation averaged for the whole tract seventy bushels to the acre. One wheat crop for the whole farm averaged forty-one bushels with one field reaching a yield of fifty-eight bushels to the acre. The largest oat crop averaged eighty-seven bushels to the acre. There were also poor yields now and then but these maxi- mum yields show the possibilities of the land when properly handled under favorable conditions.
THEORY OF DRAINAGE
Drainage by tiling makes land dryer in wet weather and wetter in dry weather. Any hot, dry day in August one can dig down a foot from the surface over a tile line and find the soil so moist it can be molded into a ball. Half way between the lines the earth will be dry and dusty. The reason for this seeming paradox is found in physics. The subsoil is much colder than the surface. As the warm moisture-laden air at summer heat passes through the colder subsoil in its circulation through the tiling it deposits its surplus moisture in the soil just as beads of water form on the pitcher of ice water in hot weather ; whereas midway between the lines this physical phenomenon would scarcely be noticed at all where the drawing power of the tile is at its lowest point.
On the other hand, it drains quickly from the soil all surplus water. The capillary water is that water which is naturally absorbed by the soil. Every microscopic particle of soil is covered by a film of water. The soil will naturally absorb enough water to envelop its microscopic particles. This film of water cannot be drained out of the soil. Therefore it is impossible to overdrain land. As proof of this law, suspend a dry towel over a pan of water permitting the end to touch the water. Watch the water creep rapidly up the towel. Every particle of fabric hungrily envelops itself in water-just enough and not one drop of surplus is absorbed. That is capillary water and in the soil is lost only in two ways; through absorption by plants and through evaporation.
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.