USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 16
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 16
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HIAYES COUNTY
Hayes County is one county removed from the west, being east of Chase, and one county removed from the southern line of the state, being north of Ihitchcock. It was given legislative organization in an Act of 1877 and named for the new President, Rutherford' B. Hayes, but formed no actual county government for some years later, during which time it was for judicial and revenue purposes
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attached to Frontier County. The first postoffice, antedating any actual towns, were Carrico, Estell, McNaughton, and Thornburg. The only railroad facilities the county now has, more than forty years later, in 1920, is the Imperial branch of the Burlington cutting across the southwest corner through the town of Hamlet. Palisade in Hitchcock County and Wauneta in Chase County are each barely across from the Hayes County line and influence Hayes County trade considerably. Hayes C'enter, the county seat, is an inland town, started in the 80s. Other inland points in the county are, Robert, Lucile. Rain, Strickland, Marengo and Thornburg.
HITCHCOCK COUNTY
This county is in the southwestern corner of the state just east of Dundy, and itself on the Kansas border. It was organized in 1873, by proclamation of Governor Furnas, and named in honor of Ex-United States Senator Phineas W. Hitchcock, father of present United States Senator, Gilbert M. Hitchcock. It contains 724 square miles in area, two more than Hayes, its neighbor to the north. It was first settled by ranchmen in 1869, but it was in 1873 that the first permanent settlers ar- rived, when G. C. Gessleman took a claim near the mouth of Blackwood Creek. A dozen or so other settlers came in May of that year. Nineteen votes were polled at the first election, on August 30, 1843, and Culbertson was chosen as county seat. The townsite of Culbertson was selected in 1823, and surveyed in 1875 by D. N. Smith. In the fall of 1873 took place in this county and near Culbertson the memorable battle in which the Sioux so decisively and destructively defeated the Pawnee. Following Culbertson, Stratton on the Burlington line and Palisade, as an inland town sprang up. When the branch went from Culbertson to Imperial, Palisade became a railroad station and Jater Beverly moved up to the railroad. But the greatest blow to Culbertson, was the location of Trenton, near the center of the county, on the Burlington line and its capture of the county seat.
HOLT COUNTY
Ilolt County is on the northern edge of the state, with the Niobrara River as its northern border, and immediately west of Knox and Antelope counties. It is the fourth largest county in the state in area, only excelled by Cherry, Custer and Lin- coln, and has an area of 2,393 square miles, after losing Boyd County from its north section. The first settler in the county is reputed to have been Wm. H. Inman, who erected a house on the banks of the Elkhorn in 1822. In 1873 a good sprinkling of settlers came in, and an attempt for organization was made, and upon a showing of facts a proclamation secured from Governor Furnas, but in 1826. the permanent organization of the county was proclaimed by Governor Garber, and the first election held on August 26, 1876. On May 12, 1824, Gen. John O'Neill, in whose honor the town was named, with a colony of his countrymen arrived. In this party were Neil Brennan, Patrick S. Hughes, Timothy O'Connor, Henry Curry, Thomas Connolley. Michael II. MeGrath, Thomas N. J. Hynes. Michael Dempsey, Thomas Kelly, Robert Alworth, Ralph Sullivan. Patrick Brennan, Thomas Cain, Henry Carey and Patrick MeKarney. Others eame soon, and in 1825, the general brought his second colony. The townsite of O'Neill, of 160 acres, was laid out and platted in May. 1844, and another eighty acres platted in 1825 by General
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O'Neill. Thirteen men, two women and five children lived one season in a little sod house erected, and facetiously called the "Grand Central Hotel." In the first skirmish for the county seat, Paddock won. This settlement, on the Niobrara, was started by Mr. Wm. T. Berry, in 1824. Its name was at first Troy, but changed to honor United States Senator A. S. Paddock. Atkinson, twenty miles from ('Neill was started in 1825. Upon resubmission in 1879, O'Neill won the county seat. When the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad, now the Northwestern system, was built through in 1829 and 1880, towns sprang up along its line. The early railroad stations were, Ewing, Inman, O'Neill, Emmet, Atkinson, and Stuart, all thriving now, forty years later. Since then, Stafford appeared on the railroad near where old Hart was. Chambers, an inland town in the south part of the county, while a long distance from a railroad, is considered one of the greatest hay-pro- ducing and shipping points in the country, and were it on a railroad would produce a wonderful traffie. In 1920, under the recent Federal Transportation Act of 1920, an effort is being made to secure an extension of the Greeley-Ericson branch of the Burlington to Chambers. Some inland towns or trading or postal points of forty years ago are still actively on the map of Holt County. Among these are Deloit, Little, Swan Lake, or Swan, but the majority are no longer active. Many of those which seem to have passed from the scene were Cache Creek, Lambert, Brewer, Apple Creek, Mineola, Hainesville, Turner, Blackbird, Clifton Grove, Greeley, Saratoga, Cleveland, Menla. Laura, Grand Rapids. But Holt County, even now in 1920 has many inland points, among which are Tonic, Bliss, Amelia. Martha. Harold, Inez, Middlebranch, Tonawanda, Slocum, Agee, Staro, Dorsey, Scottville, Redbird, Meek, Leonie, Joy, Ray, Phenix, Badger, Dustin, C'elia. Catalpa, Scottville and Paddock still located near the Niobrara. Page and Emporia sprang up as stations on the Burlington-Sioux City-O'Neill branch as it comes into the eastern part of the county.
HOOKER COUNTY
This county is one of the sandhill counties bordering on the sonth edge of Cherry County. Before the advent of the Burlington line to Wyoming and Billings, Montana, it was a part of the great Unorganized Territory, or Big Sioux County. Its organization finally took place about 1889. Forty-five years ago there were no settlements in this county. It has only built up four stations along the Burling- ton line, its only railroad. The main town, as well as being county seat, is Mullen. This has developed into a thriving town, being the greatest shipping center along the Burlington between Ilyannis and Broken Bow. The other towns on the rail- road are Weir, Hecla, and Kelso. The inland points in the southern portion of the county, over toward the Dismal River, are Eclipse, Moore Dunwell, Douald and Summit.
HOWARD COUNTY
Howard County is situated in the fertile Loup Valley, first county north of Hall. It contains an area of 561 square miles. James N. Paul, who was then surveying, and for several years had been in company with Major Frank North, and who for sixteen years, from 1901 to 1912, was District Judge in the Central and Western Nebraska Eleventh Judicial District, discovered the site of St. Paul,
Vol. 1-9
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This was in 1820 when he made the observation that it was a good site for a town. In December, 1820, his brother, N. J. Paul and the Danish vice-consul, Mr. Moeller visited this valley, and started a party up there on January 9, 1821. The point selected was the junction of the North and South Loup rivers, and near this point, the town of St. Paul, named after the Paul family, sprang up. An Act of the Legislature in 1871 formed the establishment of Howard and Boone counties. The first homestead claim in the county was taken by J. E. Cady on March 11, 1871. In May, 1821, the county seat was located at the proposed site of St. Paul. There had been a Danish settlement made near Oak Creek, and in the fall of 1821. (. O. Schlytern bought several sections of land from the Union Pacific Railroad and made preparations to start the town of Dannebrog, and the town was really laid out in 1823. A postoffice was started that year at Warsaw. St. Libory is a small station and town that built up on the Union Pacific road midway between St. Paul and Grand Island. Other points in the county before the railroad extended north from St. Paul were Loup Fork and Kelso in the southwest corner; Wola, Dannevirke and Cotesfield in the northwest corner: Fair- dale. Glasgow in the northeast and Gage Valley in the east central. When the Union Pacific extended its line to North Loup and then to Ord, Cotesfield became a railroad station, and Elba sprang up. The branches built by the Burlington and Union Pacific from St. Paul to Loup ('ity gave railroad facilities to Dannebrog. Nysted, Kenyon Spur and Boelus, the latter a town which had become noted for the power plant projected there on the Loup River, which furnishes electric power for many towns, and to the north to Warsaw and Farwell. The line from Palmer to Greeley touches Cushing, a town in the northeast corner of the county.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Jefferson County was mapped out by the Territorial Legislature, January 26, 1856, under the name of Jones County. At the same time, the adjoining county on the west. now Thayer County, received the name of Jefferson. Jefferson made its formal organization in 1864 with its first election at Big Sandy. February 18. 1867, "an Act to enlarge Jefferson County" passed the Legislature which united Jones to Jefferson. This gave the county an aereage of :06,560 which the Legis- lature of 1871 considered too large and it decreed division. The former Jones County in the divorcement retained the name of Jefferson, and incidentally the county records, while the former Jefferson assumed the name of Nebraska's states- man, who was both United States Senator and Governor, Thayer. From 1857 to 1864 Jefferson had been attached to Gage County for judicial and revenue pur- poses. The Otoe Indian Reservation for awhile ent off twenty-four square miles from the southeast corner, but that was about the first reservation land sold. The county as finally defined contains 528 square miles. Its original settlement dates back to 1854 when Jack Nye settled in this county. for a residence that proved brief. as did those attempted in 1855-6. Settlements from then until 1860 were spasmodic and some of them short-lived. In 1864 when the county began its actual organization, there were only thirty-five settlers established therein. Fair- bury, the county seat, was laid out in 1869 and its establishment more fully treated in the town section of this work. Steele City was laid out in 1873 by Mr. D. M. Baker and Robert Crinklow and named in honor of D. M. Steele, president of
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the St. Joe & Western Railway. Endicott, at the crossing of the Burlington and St. Joe lines, was laid out in 1881. The advent of Reynolds was the fall of the railroadless Rose Creek which had been established in 1863. In 1881 when the Burlington line passed about a mile from it, the new town of Reynolds sprang up. Diller, on the B. & M., was laid out in 1881 on the Otoe Reservation lands, and named for one of the earliest settlers in the county. H. H. Diller. Meridian was commenced in 1865 but was irretrievably injured in 1872 by the St. Joe & Western passing two miles from it. Plymouth was started before the railroad arrived. Rock Creek, Georgetown, Bower, Jefferson, Little Sandy and East Mer- idian were towns forty years ago, but without railroads. Now, the St. Joe and Grand Island, successor to the Old St. Joe & Western has Steele City, Endieott, Fairbury, K. C. & O. Junction and Powel. The Rock Island main line from Chicago to Denver passing through Fairbury also touches Plymouth, Jansen, and Thompson. The B. & M. into Fairbury also touches Helvey and Daykin. A C. B. & Q. branch across the southern edge of the county has as stations Reynolds, Kesterson, Endicott, Shea and Diller. Bower is left without a railroad.
JOHNSON COUNTY
This county located direetly west of Nemaha, the only county between it and the Missouri River and north of Pawnee, the only county between it and the Kansas line. It was named in honor of Gen. R. M. Johnson, of the United States Army, and was created by an Act of the first Territorial Legislature, March 2, 1855, and formally organized in the fall of 1856. The first permanent settlers, James Riggles and Isaae Irwin, both natives of Indiana, settled three miles southeast of Teenmseh, early in the spring of 1856. They were soon followed by a goodly list of brave pioneers. The county seat was located at Tecumseh, February 13, 1857. The town of Tecumseh, in the central part of the county, was first located and surveyed in 1856, and christened "Franees" after the wife of Gen. R. M. Johnson, bnt later changed to Tecumseh, the name of the famous Indian warrior, who is supposed to have been killed in battle by General Johnson. Twelve miles northwest of Tecumseh, the town of Sterling was laid out and platted in 1870 after the survey of the Atchison & Nebraska railroad. Elk Creek, on the same line, was surveyed in 1873. Smartville was another early station on this line. Helena, an early town in the county, laid out in 1867, was left deserted in a few years after the railroad missed it by six miles. Inland points in the county forty years ago were Crab Orehard and Vesta, which the railroad, C. B. & Q. line, reached in time and are still flourishing. This line later brought Graf into existence. A line of the Missouri Pacifie cutting across the northeast corner of the county caused the town of Cook to come to life. Spring Creek, and Latrobe were formerly thriving postoffices.
KEARNEY COUNTY
Kearney County is one county removed from the Kansas line, with Franklin to the south, and the Platte River to the north side. It has an area of 516 square miles. It ean date its active history back farther than any other eentral or western Nebraska County, starting with the establishment of Old Fort Kearney, within its borders, when that post was transferred from the site of future Nebraska
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City to the troublesome scenes of the Platte River banks. A fort on the Nebraska section of the Overland trail was considered necessary, and thus Kearney County antedates its neighbors by a good margin. This fort has an interesting history. After examining sites near Aurora, and Lone Tree, later Central City, in Merrick County, and selecting the site the first fort was built on in this county, and having it flooded, another site was chosen and the post, at first called Fort Childs, in honor of Captain Childs, the commanding and locating officer. His successor, in Febru- ary. 1849, was Major Rupp. Succeeding commanders were Colonel Chittenden, by which time the fort was called Fort Kearney "Oregon Trail" and by 1854 as "Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory": Phil Kearny, for whom it took its final name, and then General Harney commanded. Then came Major Morris, Colonel May. Captain MeGowan. Colonel Bachus, Colonel Miles, then Colonel Alexander, Captain Fisher, Colonel Wood, Colonel Livingstone, then Colonel Wood again, Colonel Carington, then the First Nebraska troops under Colonel Baumer, then Maj. T. J. Majors, later contingent congressman-elect. Then as subsequent com- manders. Captain Ladd, General Wessels. Lieutenant Dibble, Major Dallas, General Gibbon, Lieutenant Foulk, Colonel Ransom, Major Sinclair, Captain Fenton, and Captain Pollack, who was in command of the post when it was abandoned in 1871. Central City, about two miles from the fort, was projected in 1858, by speculators from St. Joseph, Mo. Abont the same time, Doctor Ransom, Dr. C. A. Henry, John Young, J. E. Boyd, Loran Miller and others, from Omaha, laid out Kearney City. In 1860 this place was designated as county seat. It so flourished that at one early election it cast 300 votes. Valley City was another early town in this county, but it did not last, as neither did Jacksonville. Centoria was another dream city of this county, missed by the railroad and disappeared, and Mirage proved true to its name. Eaton. Osco and Fredericksburg did not survive all these years. Keene, there forty years or so ago, was reached by the Chicago. Burlington & Quincy in time, so it is still flourishing. Heartwell has built up on this same line. that incidentally runs through Minden. Lowell, on the Hastings-Kearney branch of the Burlington, was laid out in 1872, and has been a famous town in central Nebraska. It is another of the children of D. N. Smith's locating and promoting abilities. Its United States land office was removed to Bloomington, and in 1874 it started a deeline almost as rapid as its sensational rise. Its final blow was struck in 1828 when Minden was projected, and this town soon took the county seat, and has made an excellent little city. Newark was settled in 1828, is first station west of Lowell and near the old fort. It is still a good town. Minden is on the Burlington main line, from Hastings to Holdrege, and so is Axtell, another good town, built up after Minden started. Another later town is Wilcox in the very southwest corner of the county.
KEITH COUNTY
Keith County lies in the western part of the state, just west of Lincoln County, and east of Deuel County. It has an area of 1,068 square miles. The first permanent settlements accompanied the building of the Union Pacific main line through the county in 1867. It had a prolific Indian history during that period and on into the early tos. It was organized in 1823. Its county seat, Ogallala, for a long time the only town in the county. became famous as a cattle center. This
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point became the headquarters for an immense cattle trade and vast herds from Texas were brought up here for pasture purposes and distribution to ranches. Alkali, Roscoe and Brule are railroad stations that developed along about the '70s. Paxton, Korty and Plano later developed along the Union Pacific line. When the Union Pacific built its branch up to Scottsbluff country a group of Keith County towns sprang up, including Sarben, Nevens, Keystone, Martin, Lemoyne, Belmar and Ruthton. Those towns do not depend on Keith County alone for trading support, but govern much of MePherson and Arthur county trade to the north. A few inland settlements along the north edge of the county on the very southern edge of the "sandhills" are Spear, on the Lincoln County line, Orin, Glenrose, Triangle, Bertha, and Rice.
KEYA PAHA COUNTY
This county lies along the Niobrara River, on the northern boundary of the state. It has an area of 115 square miles, and lies north of Brown and Rock counties. It is an inland county, separated by the Niobrara River from Brown and Roek counties, and without railroad facilities. It was taken off from Brown County in 1884, right after the organization of Brown County. Its county seat is Springview, and a few other postoffices and small trading centers have developed, including Norden, Marleank, Enterprise, Carns, Pinecamp, Simpson, Mills, Broeks- burg and Jamison. Its earlier history is merged into that of Brown County, the predecessor of Sioux, and as a part of the great unorganized territory.
KIMBALL COUNTY
The separate history of Kimball County as a county begins perhaps with its organization, following its separation from the mother county, Cheyenne, after the election of November 6, 1888. Antelopeville, which was the original name of the town of Kimball, flourished soon after the Union Pacific Railroad went through, in the late '60s. Adams and Bushnell came in early. Jacinto, Dix, Owasco, Kimball, Oliver, Bushnell and Smeed are now the stations along the Union Pacific line through this county. Troy. Beacon, Hodges, Bethel, Gifford, and Dye are inland points.
This is the very southwest corner county, in the Panhandle section of the state. Pinebluffs, Wyoming, is just across the state-county line. In the early history of Kimball County, John T. Clarkson purchased practically all of the lands from the Union Pacific Railroad on the south side, and Bay State Live Stock Co., the land on the north. In the middle '80s, settlers began to come in and on the second wave of settlement of the county, the agricultural period set in. By 1888, when the county was separated Antelopeville revived, its name was changed to Kimball. in honor of an officer of the Union Pacific, and it has steadily developed into as substantial a town of its size as can be found anywhere.
KNOX COUNTY
This county is on the northern border of the state, the fourth county from the east end, and first county east of Holt, and has an area of 1.114 square miles. It was organized by the Territorial Legislature in 1852. under the name of L'Ean-qui-
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Court. the French name for Nebraska River. In 1867 its name was changed to Emmett, and in 1823 to Knox.
June 4, 1856, Dr. B. Y. Shelley and R. R. Cowan came to the present site of Niobrara and located a town. A town company, called the L'Eau-qui-Court Company, erected some houses and built a fort for the protection of the settlers. Indian annoyances and depredations were very frequent and troublesome during the late '50s. The first company failed, and in 1860, the Niobrara Company took the helm. Three other settlements were formed in this county very early. Frank- fort settled in 1856 by S. Loeber, and the town laid out in 1852. Breckenridge. later the Santee Agency, was located in 1857 and the Running Water settlement was laid out in 1958. Later the Santee Indians broke up this settlement, and in 1820 Pishelville was started by a Chicago colony in this vicinity. Immigration in substantial numbers did not come to this county until after 1869 or 1870. Indian depredations again became so troublesome in 1871 that help was sent from Fort Randall on the Missouri River to protect the settlers. The Santee Indian reservation of 115,200 was placed in the northern part of this county, bordering on the Missouri River.
In the early '70s a new crop of towns started up in this county. Creighton was promoted in 1871, first by the "Bruce Colony." organized in Omaha. The first house and first store were erected hy J. A. Bruce, an officer of this company. Samuel D. Brooks located the first claim where Bazile Mills sprang up shortly after, but the town was laid out in 1878. The postoffice at Millersboro was estab- lished in 1874. In the early '80s only Creighton and Bazile Mills were railroad towns, and the other towns named were inland points. Verdigris Bridge was a postoffice located on the creek of that name, about 1879, though settlement had been made there three years before; Welsh postoffice came from a settlement made in 1870: Kemma was established as a postoffice in 1875; Knoxville was established as a postoffice June 20, 1879, twenty-four miles southwest of Niobrara: Sparta postoffice was opened in 1880, about twelve miles south of Niobrara; Armstrong. twelve miles from Niobrara and three miles from that river was settled by Bohemians in 1871, and the postoffice established July 1, 1880, named after an early settler of that vicinity, J. L. Armstrong, upon suggestion of E. K. Valentine. Venus post- office was established August 9, 1880, in the southwest corner of the county ; Wal- nut Grove in the western part of the county was established on December 1, 1875; Blyville, established in 1823 in the northeast part of the county, was named after George W. Bly, one of the old settlers of that vieinity. Plum Valley was settled in 1875 and established as a postoffice in 1828; located on Bazile Creek in the center part of the county : Reidsville, about six miles northwest of ('reighton, was estab- lished as a postoffice in 1825: Dukeville, fourteen miles west of Niobrara on that river, was established as a postoffice in 1826; Verdigris Valley postoffice was estab- lished in 1826; Middle Branch in 1880. Other early postoffices established were Sweden, in 1882: Anawan in 1882: and Herrick, Secret Grove, Millerboro, and Plum Valley. The extension of the Northwestern line to Winner, S. D., allowed other Knox County towns to gain railroad facilities, among these being Winnotoon, Verdigris, Niobrara and Verdel. In the southeastern corner the Chicago, St. Paul. Minneapolis & Omaha branch comes through Wausa and up to Bloom- field. Center, the county seat of the county now, is an inland town. Other inland towns are Venus, Mars, Millerboro, Bazile Mills, a mile or two off the track now ;
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Morrillville, Sparta, Addison, Weigand, Santee, Pishelville, Knox, Watson, Duke- ville, Armstrong, Walnut, Herrick and Le Blanc.
LANCASTER COUNTY
This is the second county in the state in general importance and population, ranking next to Douglas. It contains as its county seat, the capital city, Lincoln. It was organized in the fall of 1859, and previous to that had been attached for revenue, judicial and election purposes. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, with only Cass County between it and the Missouri River and only Gage between it and the Kansas line. The first permanent settlers are reputed to have been John D. Prey and his sons, John W. David, and William, with his wife and daughter, who, early in 1852, located at Olathe, on Salt Creek, about fifteen miles south of Lincoln. Several pioneers had penetrated the borders of this county in 1856, but no permanent settlement was made until the next year. The settlement of the county from 1859 to 1863 was very slow. The records of the elections of 1860-1-2 show no apparent increase in numbers. But after homesteading opened up in January, 1863, the settlement started with a rush. In the summer of 1863, Elder J. M. Young and others, representing a colony, selected a townsite which embraced the old town of Lancaster, then destitute of inhabitants and belonging to the Government. In the Indian scare of 1864, many settlers left. In 1865, Ezra Tuttle, lawyer, settled on Oak Creek and in 1866, S. B. Galey and S. B. Pound, settled at Lancaster. From the discovery of the salt basins, near Lincoln, in 1856 by government surveyors, they attracted much attention. Capt. W. T. Donavan, in 1857, representing the "Crescent Company," organized at Plattsmouth, pitched his tent there, but both Donavan and representatives of another company soon abandoned the enterprise. In 1862, John S. Gregory, Jr., laid siege to the basin, and a couple years later had some vats erected and enough salt made to supply the settlers and overland travel. A postoffice, called "Gregory's Basin," started there in 1863. Meanwhile J. Sterling Morton and Colonel Manners, one of the original discovering surveyors had been getting claims to this region. Soon after the state was organized under its state government, the governor leased the big basin for twenty years to A. (. Tichenor and J. T. Green, and they expended about twelve thousand dollars on it. Then Messrs. Morton and Manners got their claim into the courts by writ of ejection, and stopped the work. After years of litigation, the state made good its claim to the land, and her title was made perfect by a decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1875. From 1874 to 1884 ('harles T. Bullock maintained the plant with very slight success. In 1885 Jesse T. Green attempted to revive the works, and various attempts were made after that. In 1916, the Traction Company at Lincoln leased the site for a pleasure resort. intending to build up a resort, Capital Beach, which had already been started there on a rather extensive scale. In recent years, considerable sand and gravel have been taken from this locality. The question of the state reserving saline deposits is by no means dead, and was submitted in the new constitution voted upon September 21, 1920. The establishment of Lincoln has been detailed in another chapter, on location of towns; John S. Green, the first settler at Waverly located there in 1869 and the town was started in 1821 with a postoffice. the first store being erected there in 1874. Firth was organized
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