History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 29

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011

USA > Nebraska > Hall County > History of Hall County, Nebraska > Part 29

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).

STATE TREASURER HENRY A. KOENIG

Hall County furnished the state her third state treasurer (1871-1875.). Henry Arnold Koenig was born in Gutersloh, Westphalen, Prussia, May 3, 1836. His father's people were mercantile and manufacturing people and his mother's family (the Zimwinkels) were identified with the pork packing interests of Westphalen. He grew to manhood in his native land, graduated from the educational institution at sixteen years of age, spent four years as clerk in Arnsberg, then three years as bookkeeper in an uncle's pork-packing es- tablishment, and one year in the regular army. In 1859 he joined an elder brother, who had

was home on a visit. He came to Omaha and was clerking there when he enlisted in Com- pany B, First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. He was on duty until the fall of Fort Donel- son, when he was discharged for disability and returned to Omaha. In 1863 he became associated with Fred A. Wiebe in the general mercantile business in Denver, Colorado. He sold out there and returned to Omaha, but almost immediately came to Grand Island and opened up a mercantile establishment, the well-known "O. K. Store." During the con- struction of the Union Pacific railroad he was general contractor in railroad ties, furnished supplies, kept a state station and telegraph office for the Western Union Telegraph com- pany. Mr. Koenig and his partner built the first saw-mill in Grand Island, and in 1867 attached a grist mill. They opened up a lumber yard, which can trace its succession down to the present day. They started a gen- eral banking business early in their business ventures, but in 1871 it had grown extensive enough so that they opened the State Central bank, later known as the Citizens' State bank, of which Mr. Koenig became president. In 1887 the United States Investment Company was founded, and when the street railway was started, Mr. Koenig became its president. Mr. Koenig was an active spirit in promoting the first steps of the beet sugar industry in Hall County. He served the county as county treasurer several terms.

STATE AUDITORS - JOHN WALLICHS, SILAS R. BARTON

Hall County has somewhat specialized along the line of state auditors and has furnished the state with two.

John Wallichs served as state auditor from November 12, 1880, until January 8, 1885. Mr. Wallichs had served Hall County in the last territorial legislatures, and was the first clerk of the district court of Hall County, when that office came into existence, by virtue of being county clerk at that time.

Silas' R. Barton served four years as state auditor from 1909-1913. Mr. Barton had Digitized by Barton badle

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been Grand Recorder of the A. O. U. W. for a number of years prior to his election to the state office. Mr. Barton was later elected to Congress in 1913. He served efficiently one term, and was the nominee of his party at the election in 1916, but was suddenly stricken and died on election day.

SECRETARIES OF STATE

Hall County has never furnished the state with a secretary of state. But nevertheless we have a peculiar interest in two of the men who have been elected to this office.

SILAS R. BARTON

Hon. Addison Wait, who was elected from Syracuse in 1911 and served two terms in that office, is now a resident of Hall County. He was appointed in 1918 to the position of adjutant at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Burkett, and is now in active charge of the home as commandant of the institution in which he took a special interest during his four years membership on various state boards.

Hon. Darius M. Amsberry, the present secretary of state, was elected in 1918 from Custer County, where he has resided for a great many years. But forty years ago Mr. Amsberry was residing in Washington town- ship, and about that time was teaching in the second school house in District Number One

of Hall County. Mr. Amsberry therefore feels a keen interest in Hall County and Hall County feels it has some claim on him.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

One member of the Hall County bar after serving as county judge for Hall County and district judge for the judicial district to which this county was then attached, was elevated to the position of justice of the supreme court, and served also as chief justice of the supreme court. Judge T. O. C. Harrison was the jurist who thus carried the honor of Hall into the highest court of the state, and rendered a very creditable record for both himself and the county of which he was a part for so many years.

Another member of the Hall County bar, Hon. Richard C. Glanville, was a member of the supreme court commission in 1902-3.

THE STATE SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' HOME

In 1884 the bill providing for the establish- ment of a soldiers home was passed. The first meeting to secure the location of the home for Grand Island was held in September. 1884, George Cornelius presiding, with S. P. Mobley as secretary. J. O. West and Rey. P. C. Johnson, with Col. Leib and Rev. Wi- liams as alternates, were a local committee appointed to wait upon the commissioners at Dayton, Ohio, and Gen. John M. Thayer was invited to accompany them. They were authoriezd to offer 320 acres for a site. In April, 1887, the home was located three miles north of Grand Island on lands purchased by the citizens. The sum of $22,000 of the $25,600 paid for the land involved was con- tributed within thirty-six hours by citizens. The state appropriated $30,000. Charles Rief was one of the representatives and the other was Samuel N. Wolbach, state senator from this district, and both were untiring workers to secure this state institution for Grand Island. The corner-stone was placed October 20, 1887, by Governor Thayer, and a gala day was enjoyed by the community and the entire country for miles around. The building was dedicated June 26, 1888. The first visiting Digitized by Google

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and examining board of the Soldiers' Home was appointed in April, 1887: Samuel B. Jones, Omaha; Ezra S. Howard, Edgar; W. S. Webster, Central City; Mrs. B. P. Cook, Lincoln, and Mrs. L. A. Bates, Aurora. John Hammond of Columbus became the first commandant.

An interesting coincidence has developed in ths history of this institution. Samuel B. Jones, who came to the Home in 1919 as

tenance or assistance. The canvass showed there were twenty-one in such circumstances, and this led to a campaign for the installa- tion of such an institution in this state.

General Thayer, as department commander of the G. A. R., became interested and lent very material assistance in carrying this enter- prise to a successful close. Coincidentally, General Thayer was governor at the time the Home was completed and dedicated.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS HOME, GRAND ISLAND

the commandant, during the early 'eighties was assistant general passenger agent of the Union Pacific railroad. He was in the east and visited an old soldiers' home in Massachusetts and was impressed with the splendid idea behind the institution and the useful purpose it accomplished. Upon his return he consulted with the authorities in charge of the work of the G. A. R. in the state and a series of circular letters were addressed to the county clerks throughout the state and inquiry made as to how many vet- erans of the late Civil War might be de- pendent upon the various counties for main-

But the present commandant, S. B. Jones, remarks now that he had no thought what- ever, thirty-five years ago when he was work- ing on this proposition, that he should ever become the executive and managing officer of the institution he was then promoting.

The commandants of the Home, through its thirty-five years have been : John Hammond, W. C. Henry, John W. Wilson, General Cole, D. W. Hoyt, Miles Zentmeyer, D. C. Sco- ville, W. S. Askwith, Eli A. Barnes, Ferdi- nand Zimmerer, J. F. Walsh, Samuel B. Jones, and Ex-Secretary of State Addison E. Wait.

The adjutants have been: W. H. Wesley,

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BRIANUIT CIGAR CHI

OLD POSTOFFICE, GRAND ISLAND

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the war

U. S. POSTOFFICE, GRAND ISLAND

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M. K. Walker, Dan Athen, John H. Powers, . larder and assets of the Home. The Home J. W. Bowen, G. G. Vreeland, Joe McGraw, C. C. Ellis, Craig, Lane, Maxwell, and from July, 1918, until recently Ex-Secretary of State Addison Wait. Rev. Wait at present is adjutant.

There have been 19 physicians: Doctors Duncan, Swegart, W. T. Putt, Lawson, Gordon, Griffith, Claude P. Fordyce, Graff, Waggoner, Phelan, Gamber, Warner, Leahy, Hinchman, F. E. Taft, A. J. Chapman, Hayes, Steele, and the present physician and surgeon is W. T. Dever.

The principal building of the institution is 160 feet long and 90 feet wide, and with the stone basement is four stories high. A high stairway of stone, 10 feet wide, leads to the main entrance. Broad hallways run through the center from one end to the other on each floor. The lower or basement story con- tains a storeroom, a large dining hall, a smok- ing room, an extensive kitchen supplied with modern steam cooking utensils, a pantry, cold storage room, bath and baggage rooms. On the second floor are the headquarters, com- mandant's private consultation room, large library, two elegant parlors, large dining hall, and a smaller one for the officers. The third and fourth stories are used for sleeping rooms, a veteran's wit having christened the fourth floor the hurricane deck. An addi- tion has been built to the main building. The sleeping rooms are furnished with iron cots, mattresses, and sufficient covering. The build- ing is heated by steam and lighted by elec- tricity. The hospital of the Home, located a little north-west of the main building, is a much newer and fairly substantial building. Several smaller building are used for sleep- ing quarters. A number of cottages have been built around the grounds and are as- signed to the married couples mainly. The power house and laundry, stables, and num- erous other buildings are scattered about the ground.

Farming operations are carried on upon the 640-acre tract which are of no small pro- portions. Very good crops are raised and the produce forms a valuable addition to the

has been an asset to Grand Island, in no manner insignificant from a financial view- point. A considerable portion of the gov- ernment and state appropriations for the in- stitution and of the pension money received by the inmates is spent in Grand Island.

In recent years there has been somewhat too much inclination to make the Home the football of politics. Since the establishment of the Milford Soldiers' Home certain very active members of the state G. A. R. have lobbied and worked during legislative sessions to build up that Home, and various boards and officials have all too much neglected the Grand Island Home. The fact that men and women of the age of those residing at this Home must climb to the third and fourth stories without aid of elevator transportation is one of the things that go to bear out the statement just made.

IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Grand Island has always been, since her first start, the seat of considerable govern- mental activities upon the part of the federal government for this part of the state. A postoffice was established at the old Grand Island location in 1859 with Richard C. Barn- ard in charge. This was the first postoffice in the county, or in this part of the state.

In 1866 the Grand Island postoffice was located at the new town, with D. Schuller in charge as postmaster. W. R. McAllister was appointed in 1868 at $1 per month. When he resigned the office in 1878 it was paying him $1,400 per annum. C. P. R. Williams succeeded Mr. McAllister, July 1, 1879, followed by C. L. Howell, April 1, 1883, and he in turn was succeeded by Lafayette Myers. Mr. Myers brought the office to a high state of efficiency. On October 1, 1887, the free delivery system was installed. By 1889 four carriers were employed, making three deliveries a day. In January, 1890, M. Murphy became postmaster. Upon the ex- piration of Mr. Murphy's service, J. A. Costello served a term; and his successor was W. H. Harrison. Dr. H. C. Miller be-le

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came postmaster in 1902 and served for nine years, having one year of service in the new postoffice building. A. F. Buechler served from 1911 to 1915, and since then D. A. Geil has been postmaster, and in 1919 was re- appointed for another four year term. For some years past now A. J. Baumann has served as assistant postmaster.

THE LAND OFFICE

The land office at Grand Island was es- tablished by an executive order dated April 20, 1869, under. an act of Congress approved July 27, 1868. The office was formally opened about December of that year, 1869. The office was, under an executive order dated September 11, 1893, closed December 31, 1893, and consolidated with the Lincoln, Ne- braska, land office, January 1, 1894. The records of the General Land Office at Wash- ington, under the department of the interior, show that the following registers and re- ceivers carried on the work of this land office:

Date of Appointment

Edward W. Arnold, register, April 28, 1869. Jacob C. Denise, receiver, April 28, 1869. Jesse Turner, receiver, April 5, 1872. (Died December 18, 1872.)

Joseph Fox, receiver, March 26, 1873. Edward W. Arnold, register, February 12, 1874.

William Anyan, temporary receiver, April 23, 1877.

William Anyan, receiver November 10, 1877.

William Anyan, reappointed receiver, July 11, 1882.

Melville B. Hoxie, temporary register, July 1, 1878.

Melville B. Hoxie, register, January 6, 1879. C. Hostetter, register, March 7, 1882.

John G. Higgins, temporary register, August 15, 1885.

John G. Higgins, register, March 27, 1886. Alexander H. Baker, receiver, July 20, 1886.

Franklin Sweet, register, March 19, 1890. Darwin C. Hall, reveiver, June 17,: 1890.

J. W. Ferguson, temporary register, June 28, 1893.

J. W. Ferguson, register, September 11, 1893.

The records of the general land office show that Frederick Schultz made the first home- stead entry December 6, 1869, for the Sy2 Ne1/4 Sec. 8 T. 19, N., R. 6, E. for 80 acres. Henry C. Shaw made the first cash entry December 6, 1869, for the E1/2 Se1/4 Sec. 22, T. 16 N. R 3 W., and paid for it with warrant location No. 107182, 160 acres, act of 1855. This was patented April 15, 1874.

OTHER FEDERAL OFFICERS

Grand Island is the location for a number of other federal local officers. There has been a referee in bankruptcy in charge of that work for fourteen counties, a district comprising Hall, Howard, Greeley, Valley, Wheeler, Garfield, Loup, Blaine, Grant, Thomas, Hooker, Sherman, Custer and Buffalo counties for some years. Bayard H. Paine, now district judge, was referee in bankruptcy for nine years. His prede- cessor, Arthur C. Mayer, then took up the duties of that office again and is the present referee.

Grand Island has had a branch office of the clerk of United States Court for Ne- braska for a number of years. George H. Thummel of Grand Island was clerk of the United States District Court at Omaha for a number of years and also was United States marshal. The present deputy to Hon. R. C. Hoyt, the present clerk of the court for Ne- braska is George Cowton. His only prede- cessor in this office at Grand Island was Henry Allen, later clerk of district court for Hall County.

Mayor J. L. Cleary is the present United States Commissioner.

A. B. Harriott is a deputy collector of internal revenue, under the collector at Omaha. T. P. Matthews and Geo. C. Humphrey of Grand Island have held this office in the past.

Silas R. Barton served as Congressman from the Fifth Nebraska District - the only Hall County man elected to that office although several Hall County men have been candidates at various times. gle

CHAPTER XI

THE FLORA, FAUNA, AND, NATURAL HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY

ELEVATIONS - THE FAUNA OF HALL COUNTY - THE GRASSHOPPERS - THE FLORA OF HALL COUNTY, BY J. M. BATES - CLIMATE OF HALL COUNTY - BAD STORMS - EASTER STORM OF 1873, BY JUDGE CHARLES B. LETTON - ANOTHER DECADE-AND-HALF OF STORMS - BLIZZARD OF 1888, BY MINNIE FREEMAN PENNEY - STORM OF MARCH, 1913 - CYCLONE OF AUGUST 12, 1919

Hall County -is about a third of a mile life contributed by the pioneers. The first above sea level. To be more exact, the meas- settlers mention many phases of the animal life which they encountered; in the narratives of Fred Stolley, Norman Reese, and William E. Martin, and others, found in the earlier chapters of this work, mention is made of the various animals, their habits, and the methods of the humans in hunting them to secure meat for their sustenance in those trying days. ured elevations above sea level, as given in Goodspeed's History of Hall County, 1890, for this part of Nebraska are: Grand Island, 1,860 feet; Kearney, 2,146; North Platte, 2,796; Columbus, 1,442; Central City, 1,697; St. Paul, 1,796; Scotia Junction, 1,905; Ord, 2,047; Hastings, 1,934; Clay Center, 1,687; Fairfield, 1,782; Wood River, 1,963; Alda, 1,913; Shelton, 2,060; Paddock, 1,760; Chap- man, 1,763; Doniphan, 1,948; Hansen, 1,949; Glenville, 1,842; Alma Junction, 1,794; Edgar, 1,728; Sutton, 1,680; Spring Ranch, 1,717; Holstein, 2,011.

A more complete treatment of the topog- raphy of the county will be found in the abstract of the government soil survey which has been incorporated in the next chapter.

It is very common to include in the history of a subdivision of a state, or the history of a state, a very detailed account of the geo- logical formation of the territory of that sub- divison. For this has been substituted what the compilers consider the more practical phases of the very detailed soil survey, of which the farmers and soil students of the county might make some practical usage.

THE FAUNA OF HALL COUNTY

The animal life of this part of Nebraska has been somewhat pertinently touched upon many times throughout the sketches of early

It might be said in one general summariz- ing statement, that when the pioneers took possession of Hall County and for a decade or more thereafter nearly every form of wild life common to this latitude whether of earth, air, or water, inhabited Hall County.

In vast herds, aggregating countless num- bers, roamed the shaggy buffalo, while the shy and lordly elk in great bands fed upon the natural meadows. Many species of Amer- ican deer were here, and the baribou, the moose, and mountain sheep no doubt claimed this great region at times. The wild fox was present, and the shrill coyote even yet roams not far from the Hall County border at times. Gray wolf, lynx, and panther were no doubt here formerly.

The rodents of the forest all lived here: the mole, the wood mouse, the badger, the ground gopher or ground squirrel, the pocket gopher, the unwelcome skunk or pole-cat; and no one ever attempted a census of the prairie dogs in Hall County. Strictly fur-

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bearing animals, such as the mink, the musk- rat, the raccoon, and for that purpose, the skunk, were sought. Frogs, toads, and other batricians could find plenty of channels of the Platte for thriving colonies, and va- rieties of snakes galore had plenty of prairies at their command, the prairie rattler, the common bull snake, the water moccasin, the puffing adder, and other forms of reptilian life abounded about the woods, the barren prairies, and the streams.

There was no shortage of bird life in the early days. Wild turkey, goose, brant, crane, duck, and turkey buzzard were all available, innumerable hawks, owls, and crows, and all of the scores of kinds of smaller birds, among which might most commonly be found the swallows, wrens, robins, yellow hammers, chickadees, pewees, blue jays, meadow larks, thrush, bluebirds, blackbirds, snowbirds, and let us not forget the sparrows. For game birds, the ducks, geese, and turkeys have been mentioned, not to overlook the quail, grouse, and prairie chickens by the thousands.

The channels of the Platte and other · streams afforded no small variety of fishing. Insect life has always abounded all too num- erously in all portions of Nebraska. Flies, gnats, mosquitoes, wasps, hornets, vari-col- ored butterflies, bees, moths, grasshoppers, cycads, beetles, miriapods, crickets, locusts, caterpillars, ants, and every other creeping and crawling thing native to this region has left its claim for residence in Hall County, even the more undesirable destructive species, the chinch bug, army worm, cut-worms, Hessian fly, potato-bugs and - well, we will repeat it, for one insect has earned a place in Hall County history, as undesirable as its record may be - that is, the Rocky Mountain locust, or grasshopper.

GRASSHOPPERS

"The Lord only knows which harmed the poor settlers the more, the prowling red-skins who were wont to sally forth from the hills and uplands, or the green imps of satan, the grasshoppers, which pounced upon us in be-

wildering hordes - both literally took the bread out of our mouths."- AN OLD PIO- NEER.

The early history of Hall County shows destrutcive devastation from grasshoppers very early. A paragraph from Goodspeed's History of Hall County details some of the early visitations :

In August, 1862, the first swarms of grass- hoppers were noticed here. On July 15, 1864, they destroyed all the buckwheat in the county to the exclusion of other crops, reappearing on August 1, 1864. Again, in July, 1866, though numerous, they did not do much injury. In 1868 they once more appeared, and in 1869 destroyed nearly all the cornfields. On May 22, 1873, they came with a southwest wind, but did not effect much damage. On July 20, 21, and 22 and on August 5 and 6, 1874, they came in swarms, which sometimes shut off the sunlight, and ate nearly all the crops. A state aid society was at once organ- ized, and also a state grange relief society. Subsistence and clothing were sent to the sufferers. Congress appropriated $150,000, and the state $50,000, for relief purposes. On June 24 and August 8 and 10, 1875, the hoppers did considerable damage, but some parties drove them from their fields by keep- ing up fires around their fields and using pul- verized sulphur. It was discovered that this year a worm took possession of the hoppers, killing them.

It is thought that the first actual visitation of these pests in Nebraska was in 1857, for they are then described in the Brownville Advertiser, as "mowing the prairies." Six invasions into Hall County are mentioned above, before the memorable disaster of 1874. Up until past the middle of July, 1874, crops of every description had never held better promise. Then came the devastating south- west hot wind, blasting the corn crop, and then the terrific grasshopper invasion, which did not hit Hall County or central Nebraska alone, but spread over Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, and what there was then in the territories of Wyoming, Dakotas, and Idaho.

A rather more scientific description of this

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pest, is to be found in Prof. Foght's The Trail . of the Loup :

The particular species formerly such a pest in our part of the country is the Rocky Mountain locust (Melaneplus spretus), lying between latitude 43 degrees and 53 degrees north. Its permanent habitat, according to the United States. Entomological Commission of 1877, covered an area of about 300,000 square miles. The most favorite breeding places in this area were the river bottoms and the uplands or the grassy regions among the mountains. Whenever the weather conditions were favorable they hatched here in astonish- ingly large numbers. And the favorite con- ditions were exceptional dryness and warmth. In the early days two such dry seasons were sure to bring on a locust migration. During the last twenty years, however, the character of these early breeding grounds has been greatly changed. Settlement and agriculture have so restricted the permanent haunts in Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, that the danger from future incursions is very slight. Indeed the locust has practically been driven beyond the borders of the United States, and now breeds freely only in portions of British Columbia.

After the insects hatch out in the spring it takes about seven weeks before they reach a mature state. They go through five moult- ings and after the last, acquire wings. Their appetite becomes voracious, and as they are most numerous in hot and dry seasons when vegetation is scant, it takes but a short time for this to become exhausted. It is now that they manifest their peculiar instincts. With a common impulse they take to wing, swarm- ing in a southeasterly direction. They usually rise between 8 and 10 o'clock in the morning and continue their flight till the middle of the afternoon, when they come down to feed. A fall in temperature or a head wind sud- denly precipitates them to the ground in great numbers. They move not so much in sheets as in great columns from one to five thousand feet thick, resembling great fleecy clouds propelled onward by some strong but hidden agency. Moving, as we have stated, in a southeasterly direction, those that leave their breeding grounds in southern Montana and Canada do not appear till August or September.

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 29

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co. Number of Pages: 1011

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011