USA > Nebraska > Gage County > History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time > Part 4
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Scattered along the banks of this mighty stream Lewis and Clark found many Indian tribes, amongst them the Otoe and Missouri, which long afterward became domiciled in Gage county. While encamped at Council Bluffs, a point since identified as Fort Cal- houn, the explorers made the following entries in their journal :
"The meridian altitude of this day [July 31, 1804] made the latitude of our Camp 41° 18' 1.4". We waited with much anxiety the return of our messenger to the Otoes. Our apprehensions were finally relieved by the arrival of a party of about fourteen Otoe and Missouri Indians, who came at sunset, on the 2d of Angust, accompanied by a Frenchinan who resided among them and interpreted for us. Captain Lewis and Clark went out to meet them and told them we would hold a council in the morning."
The first political event of great signifi- cance in the history of Nebraska was the enactment by congress into law of a bill entitled "An act to organize the Territory of Nebraska." As early as 1848 the organi- zation into a territory of that part of the pub- lic domain lying west of Missouri and extend- ing to the Rocky mountains had received serious consideration in the halls of our na- tional legislature, and in 1852 a bill for that
purpose had been actually introduced in con- gress. The following year a bill was brought forward for the organization of Nebraska territory, which covered substantially the territory now included in the states of Kan- sas and Nebraska, extending from the Mis- souri frontier to the crests of the Rocky mountains. Neither of these measures at- tracted great public attention or received legislative sanction, but early in January, 1854. Stephen A. Douglas, who was then dominant in national politics, reported from the senate committee on territories, of which he was chairman, a bill to organize the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This was the historic Kansas-Nebraska bill, the passage of which through congress stirred the nation, north and south, east and west, to its greatest depths. and aroused passions destined to be cooled only in the agonies of fratricidal strife. No such public upheaval as followed the introduction of this bill had ever before been known in the United States. The act was drawn with the politician's most consummate art and with a boldness that startled the entire country. There was no effort on the part of the pro- jectors of this measure or any one else to dis- guise the fact that it repealed the "Missouri Compromise," the most obnoxious measure to the slave-holding class ever passed by the na- tional legislature, and permitted the extension of slavery north of the famed "Mason and Dixon Line." On the other hand, the bill, with the appearance of fairness, permitted the people of each of the proposed territories to determine, as states, whether they should be dedicated to slavery or freedom. Thus by adroitly uniting the Democratic representa- tives in congress, both north and south, in sup- port of his measure, and having first by sub- stitution divided the original bill into two or- ganic acts, one applying to Kansas and the other to Nebraska alone, Senator Douglas se- cured the passage of the substitute bills through both houses of congress in May, 1854, and on the 30th day of that .month the act creating the territory of Nebraska received the official approval of Franklin Pierce, then President of the United States.
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
In the interval between the introduction of the bill and its passage, great preparations were on foot in anticipation of the act ulti- mately becoming a law. On the 17th day of April, in that year, the federal government. by treaty stipulations, acquired the title of the various Indian tribes to all the lands within the boundaries of the proposed territories which bordered upon the western bank of the Missouri river. On the eastern shore of that great stream, during the spring of 1854, people gathered from many states and anxiously awaited final action on the bill and the Presi-
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS
dent's proclamation opening the new territory of Nebraska for settlement. No white man had previously been or was at that time ad- lowed to enter or remain on Nebraska soil without permission from the war department, and then only while engaged in hunting, trap- ping, or commerce with the Indians. While the act was effecting its passage through con- gress, the commissioner of the general land office at Washington, after a personal ex- ploration of the eastern boundaries of Ne- braska, asserted that there were not three
bona fide white settlers in the entire territory. The President's proclamation declaring it open for settlement was issued June 24, 1854, and with the wave of immigration that imme- diately broke over our eastern boundary, the long, exciting struggle which attended the erection of Nebraska into a territory came to an end.
The area of the new territory as defined by the organic act far exceeded its present boun- daries. Beginning at a point where the fortieth parallel of latitude crosses the Missouri river, that is to say at what is now the southeastern corner of Richardson county, the southern boundary line of the territory stretched away westward to the eastern boundary of Utah and the summit of the Rocky mountains, thence northward on the principal chain of those mountains to the British possessions, thence eastward on the national boundary line to Minnesota, and southward to the Missouri river, following the main channel of that stream to the point of beginning.
In addition to the present boundaries of our state, this fledgling territory embraced within its borders Montana, North and South Da- kota, the northern part of Colorado, a por- tion of Idaho, and nearly the whole of Wyom- ing. It comprised a variety of soils, scenery, climate, and products. It was inhabited only by the red man and was the range of the greatest herds of wild buffalo known to man- kind, as well as elk, deer, mountain lion, and many other wild and ravenous beasts. It con- tained vast deposits of coal, mines of precious ores, oil fields of great and unknown value, immense forests, lakes, plains, and rivers with their rich, productive valleys. Doubtless the organic act which conferred upon the new territory such magnificent proportions was passed by congress under the belief that the major portion of the great plains region of the Missouri valley was unfit for human habita- tion.
But the act provided that congress might, from time to time, as appeared proper or ex- pedient, reduce the area of this territory by creating other territories or parts of territories from it, and it, is by virtue of this original pro-
HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
33
vision that Nebraska has suffered successive diminutions until our present boundaries were finally reached.
The organic act provided for the im- mediate, complete civic organization of the
1804. About 1835, the Presbyterian church had established at this point a mission for the Pawnee, Otoe, and Missouri Indians, and it was the most widely known spot in the terri- tory at that time. It was beautifully located
From photograph owned by the Nebraska State Historical Society.
FRANCIS BURT First governor of Nebraska territory
new territory, and to this end Francis Burt, of North Carolina, was apointed governor, and Thomas B. Cuming, of Iowa, secretary of state for the territory of Nebraska. These two officials arrived at Bellevue, in Sarpy county, October 10, 1854. This small west- ern outpost of civilization had been a sta- tion of the American Fur Company since
on a rising plateau, near the Missouri river, and for some months it was the prospective capital of the new territory. On his way out to assume the duties of his office, the governor had contracted an illness, and on the 18th day of October, eight days after his arrival, in the old Mission House at Bellevue, at the foot of the hill, "Big Elk," in that remote village, he
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
died, and Cuming succeeded to the office thus made vacant, as acting governor of Nebraska territory.
In matters pertaining to the organization of the territorial government the organic act had clothed the governor with autocratic power and authority. Amongst other things it was made his duty, immediately upon his arrival, to take a census of the people and of the qualified voters of the territory; to apportion amongst the counties the members
THOMAS B. CUMING First secretary and twice acting governor of Ne- braska territory
of the two houses of the legislature, desig- nated by the act as the council and house of representatives; to call an election for members of that body, and select a place for holding its first session. Before his arrival at Bellevue, Governor Burt had marked off the inhabited portions of the ter- ritory into counties, and the proclamation of Acting Governor Cuming, issued on the 21st day of November, 1854, calling the first terri- torial election, included eight counties, name- ly: Burt, Cass, Dodge, Forney (now Ne- maha), Pierce (now Otoe), Richardson, and
Washington, - all bordering upon the Mis- souri river.
The first official act of the acting gov- ernor was the issuing of a proclamation containing the announcement of the death of Governor Burt, and dated the day of his demise. Three days thereafter, to wit, October 21, 1854, the acting governor, in order that all absent residents might return to the territory for registration, issued his procla- mation announcing that an enumeration of the census would commence on the following Tuesday, namely October 24, 1854. When completed, this census showed the entire population of the new territory to be 2,722. Upon the return of the census enumerators. Governor Cuming apportioned the thirty-nine members of the legislature provided for in the organic act amongst the eight counties already mentioned, and issued a proclamation for their election. On the 20th day of December, 1854, the election having been held, a call was issued convening the "General Assembly of the Ter- ritory of Nebraska on the 16th day of Janu- ary, 1855."
This first legislature, or general assembly, as it was called, was an able and a wonderfully active body. Following the Iowa statutes, from which it borrowed with the utmost freedom, it enacted general laws for the government of the people, adopted codes of civil and criminal procedure, established numerous territorial roads, created and de- fined the boundaries of nineteen new counties. and provided for the establishment of seats of justice therein. It passed laws for the incorporation of insurance, railroad, land, manufacturing, milling, bridge, ferry, bank- ing, colonization, and immigration companies. It incorporated cities, of which many were mere figments of some speculator's brain. their very names having been lost in the efflux of time. It incorporated colleges and seats of learning destined never to have faculty or curriculum, and finally, on the 16th day of March, 1855, it expired amidst a whirlwind of joint resolutions and memorials to con- gress.
It is foreign to the purpose of this work to
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
pursue at length the history of the territory of Nebraska. The organic act was passed and approved May 30, 1854, and, as we have seen, it was quickly followed by executive procla- mation opening the new territory to settle- ment. In October, 1854, on the arrival of Gov- ernor Burt at Bellevue, there were probably less than two thousand white persons in the entire territory. But the territorial period quickly passed. The national census of 1860 showed a total population of 28,841. In 1870 the census gave the state of Nebraska 123,993. As early as 1864 a movement was inaugurated which had for its object the admission of Ne- braska into the Union of States. That year, on the 19th day of April, congress passed "An act to enable the people of Nebraska to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states." After prescribing the boundaries of the pro- posed state, directing the election of delegates to a constitutional convention to be held for the purpose of framing a state constitution, and fixing the date for holding such conven- tion, the act provided that the constitution of the proposed state, when framed, should be republican and not repugnant to the constitu- tion of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. The act further provided that such constitution should, by proper articles which should be forever irrevocable without the consent of congress, provided inter alia that slavery or involuntary servitude should be forever prohibited in Nebraska, and that perfect tolerance of religious sentiment
should be secured, and no inhabitant of the state should ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of re- ligious worship. 1271399
In compliance with this enabling act and pursuant to the directions thereof, an election was held in the territory on the 6th day of June, 1866, for the selection of delegates to the proposed constitutional convention. At the same time, by a sort of referendum, the question of statehood was also submitted to a vote of the people. The election returns showed a clear majority against statehood, and the constitutional convention which assembled in June, in conformity with the enabling act, promptly adjourned without action.
In 1866 the subject of the admission of Ne- braska as a state into the Union again chal- lenged public attention. The territorial legis- lature for that year, on its own motion, sub- mitted a state constitution, prepared under its direction, to the voters of the territory, and at an election held June 2, 1866, this action of the legislature was ratified and the constitution was adopted. Congress, thereupon, under date of February 9, 1867, passed a supple- mental enabling act, wherein it was specified, as a condition precedent to statehood, that the legislature of Nebraska must declare that there should never be a denial of the right of suffrage on account of race or color, by the prospective state. This condition was finally accepted, and on March 1, 1867, the territory of Nebraska ceased to be, and the great state of Nebraska came into existence.
CHAPTER IV
GAGE COUNTY
ACT DEFINING BOUNDARIES - NAME - AREA - SEAT OF JUSTICE - WHITESVILLE -- PREP- ARATION FOR ELECTION - ORGANIZATION - FIRST MEETINGS OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS - COUNTY SEAT
Among the nineteen counties which were created by the first session of the legislative assembly of Nebraska territory was the county of Gage. This act was entitled "An act to define the boundaries and locate the seat of justice in Gage county." In conferring a name upon the new county it was the aim of the assembly to honor the Rev. William D. Gage, a Methodist clergyman, who was then serving as chaplain for both houses of the legislative assembly.
This act became a law on the 16th day of March, 1855. As denned by the act, the county consisted of a tract of land twenty- four miles square, lying directly west of Paw- nee county, which had been likewise created by this session of the legislative assembly and its boundaries prescribed by an act approved March 6, 1855. The second section of the act creating Gage county reads as follows: "Wil- liam D. Gage, John B. Robinson and I. L. Gibbs be and are hereby appointed commis- sioners to locate the seat of justice in said county." And by the third section these com- missioners or a majority of them were re- quired to meet "at some convenient point (as may be agreed upon) on or before the 10th day of June next, or within three months thereafter, and proceed to locate the seat of justice for said Gage county." By the fourth section of the act the commissioners were re- quired to commit their findings to writing, giving a particular description of the place so selected, and to file the same in the office of the county clerk of Richardson county, who
was required to file and keep on file such findings. The place thus designated was de- clared to be the "seat of justice" for the new county. The act further required the setting aside of "fifty lots of land" in the town so selected to be reserved for the use of such county, the moneys arising from the sale there- of to be by the county judge applied to the erection of a court house and other necessary public buildings.
Prior to the passage of the foregoing act. Acting Governor Cuming had evidently marked out a county, lying west of Richard- son, to be known as Jones county. This pros- pective county began at the northwest corner of Richardson county, as then constituted and which included both the present counties of Pawnee and Richardson, and apparently it was meant to extend thence northward to the Platte river, and along the south side of that stream to the western boundary of the terri- tory, on the crest of the Rocky mountains ; fol- lowing this chain in a southeasterly direction to the south line of the territory and thence back again to the southwest corner of Rich- ardson county and north to the place of be- ginning.
In preparing for the election of members for the first legislature, the governor detailed Jesse Lowe, the deputy United States mar- shal, to visit the proposed county and as- certain the number of settlers therein. He was instructed to apportion to it one or more representatives, as the number of inhabitants should require, and to arrange for-
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
the holding of an election in such county. Whether the deputy marshal actually visited the prospective county is doubtful, but on the 10th day of December, 1854, he reported to the acting governor that there were no voters in said county, "unless a few living in the neighborhood of Bellews precinct in Richard- son county, and who would naturally vote in said precinct." But as we have already seen, within three months from the date of this re- port, a bill passed both branches of the legis- lative assembly and became a law, creating the county of Gage, defining its boundaries and providing for the location of a seat of jus- tice in and for said county.
But it takes more than broad acres and legis- lative enactments to create a body politic. At the time the first territorial legislature sought to immortalize its chaplain, the Rev. William D. Gage, by bestowing his name on that por- tion of the public domain which it had erected into Gage county, there is not known to have been a single actual settler within its boun- daries, and it is doubtful if at that time there was a single white person in the county. It was, in fact, more than two years after the passage of this act before a sufficient number of settlers had gathered in the county to at- tempt its organization.
No evidence is known to exist which shows that the commission charged with the duty of locating a county seat or "seat of jus- tice" for Gage county ever met or acted under the authority thus conferred upon it. But at the third session of the territorial assembly, begun and held at Omaha, Jan- uary 5, 1857, an act was passed (and ap- proved February 13, 1857), locating the "seat of justice" of said county at Whites- ville. The site thus selected by the assembly as the future county seat of Gage county com- prised the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty-nine in Rockford township, located a little south of the present village of Holmesville, two miles east and one- half mile north of the geographical center of the county as originally created. For several years thereafter the stout oak stakes driven into the prairie to mark the corners of lots in
Whitesville were plainly visible. Prairie fires finally consumed them and with their destruc- tion all trace of the projected "seat of justice" for Gage county disappeared.
The first territorial assembly, by an act passed and approved March 14, 1855, provided that whenever the citizens of any unorganized county desired to organize the same a majority of the legal voters of the county might make
REV. WILLIAM D. GAGE Chaplain of the first legislature
application to the probate judge of the county to which it was attached for election purposes for an order calling an election for county officers in such unorganized county. The act further provided that all unorganized counties should be attached to the nearest organized county to the eastward for election, judicial, and revenue purposes. Under this act, Gage county at the moment of its creation became automatically attached to Pawnee county for the purposes specified in the act, until such date as it had perfected its own organization.
On the 5th day of August, 1857, shortly after the arrival of the company of colo- nists who founded the city of Beatrice, steps were initiated by them to organize Gage
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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
county, with Beatrice as the county seat, and this without complying with the provisions of the act above mentioned. The townsite en- thusiasts appear to have gone through a form of an election of county officers at that time. It is said that thirty-three votes were cast and it seems that a full list of county officials were chosen. At that date there could not have been over fifty white persons within the county of Gage and it is doubtful if there were a dozen voters outside of the Beatrice Town- site Company. The minutes of the county commissioners, or county court, as it was then called, in and for Gage county, begin March 13, 1858, wherein it appears that Albert Towle and H. M. Reynolds acted as county commis- sioners and Nathan Blakely as county clerk of said county. These minutes are the first county records of any kind in existence, and in a sense they form an unbroken, continuous record of the transactions of the county board of the county from the beginning. The min- utes of the first meeting read as follows :
"Commissioners court, held March 13, 1858, at which ordered that a county election should be held on Saturday, March 28th, to relocate the county seat of Gage county ; also to elect a sheriff in place of Daniel P. Taylor, who failed to qualify ; also to elect a county trea- surer in the place of Calvin Miller, who failed to qualify ; also to elect a recorder in the place of John Hart, who failed to qualify; also a superintendent of common schools in place of N. B. Beldin, who failed to qualify.
"It was ordered: That the county be di- vided into two precincts for election purposes ; that townships one and two shall be called precinct No. 1, and that townships three and four shall be called precinct No. 2.
"Isma Mumford, John McDowell and Ben- nett Pike were appointed judges of election in precinct No. 2; Rankin Johnson, James John -- son and Henry Elliott judges of election for pricinct No. 1. The court then adjourned."
The next meeting of the commissioners' court was held at the house of Albert Towle October 7, 1858, and the third meeting was held at the same place November 29, 1858, both designated as regular meetings, with the
same officers present as at the first meeting. The next regular meeting of the commission- ers' court was held January 3, 1859; present Commissioners Towle and Reynolds and County Clerk Nathan Blakely. And on April 13, 1859, at a special meeting of the commis- sioners' court, there occurs the following en- try :
"At a meeting at a special term of the Co. Court held at the house of A. Towle, on the 13th day of April, 1859, present: Commis- sioners Albert Towle and H. M. Reynolds. It was ordered and the following preamble and resolutions be adopted :
"WHEREAS, We have been officially in- formed by the county clerk of Pawnee county that certain individuals residing in precinct No. One of Gage county have petitioned the county commissioners of Pawnee county to issue an order for an election for the purpose of organizing said Gage county, Therefore,
"RESOLVED, That we protest against any such order being issued by the aforesaid com- missioners of Pawnee county or any action being taken thereon by the citizens of pre- cinct No. One of Gage county.
"RESOLVED, That we claim that Gage county was regularly organized by an election held on the 3d day of August, 1857; that as evidence of this fact we have the certificate from the county clerk of Pawnee county cer - tifying that the officers elected at the said elec- tion were duly elected. And also the fact that the county clerk of said Gage county elected at the said election was duly qualified by the county clerk of Pawnee county.
"In addition to the above the returns of an election held since the above named have been recognized by the board of territorial can- vassers as being issued by a regularly organ- ized county.
"It is ordered that the county clerk of Gage county forward a copy of the above preamble and resolutions to the county clerk of Pawnee county. Also send a copy of the same into precinct No. One of Gage county.
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