History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I, Part 9

Author: Burr, George L., 1859-; Buck, O. O., 1871-; Stough, Dale P., 1888-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 9
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 9

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Manuel Lisa was not only the founder of Old Nebraska, but his life in this territory was romantic. Ile led in the explorations of this territory, established trading posts, and opened trading relations with the Indians. He somewhat emulated the example of some Indians in having more than one wife. Every year from 1807 to 1819, inclusive, with perhaps one exception, he made trips into the Northwest. While he had a white wife in St. Louis he married an Omaha Indian girl, telling her people he had another wife down the river. This Indian wife, Mitain, was the mother of his daughter, Rosalie, and son Raymond. After the death of his wife in St. Louis, he married in 1818, Mary Hempstead Keeney, who survived him many years and was familiarly known as "Aunt Manuel." She was the first white woman to come into Nebraska, with the possible exception of Madam Lajoie in 1770. Lisa died in 1820, but "Aunt Manuel" lived nearly fifty years afterwards.

Milton Sublette in the spring of 1830 traveled over nearly the same trail Robert Stuart used in 1813.

Capt. Benjamin Louis Eulalia Bonneville took a party of about one hundred inen with twenty-four horse wagons over the Oregon trail in 1832. He took the first wagon train over that part of the trail known as the cut-off between Independ- ence, Kansas, and Grand Island, Nebraska.

Peter A. Sarpy became agent for the American Fur Company at Bellevue, and for about thirty years was the leading spirit of that region. He first came to Nebraska about 1823 as a clerk for this same company. He was intimately asso- eiated with the Indians of his period, and was accorded the title "White Chief" by the Omahas. He married according to Indian eustom, Ni-co-mi (Voice of the Waters), a woman of the Iowa Indians, to whom he was greatly attached.

John C. Fremont, the "Pathfinder," was detailed in 1842 to "explore and report upon the country between the frontiers of Missouri and the south pass of the Rocky Mountains and on the line of the Kansas and great Platte rivers." He followed the Oregon trail to the mountains, and left behind him a very descriptive and valuable report of the Nebraska country at that time.

Col. Stephen W. Kearny made an expedition through the "Indian country" in 1845. He became an important figure in Nebraska's early history, and in his honor, with the spelling of the name slightly changed, has been named a county. Kearney, and one of the leading eities of the state, Kearney, as well as the historie forts, first near Nebraska C'ity, and seeond, on the Platte, between present Kearney City and Lowell, Nebraska.

Father Peter J. De Smet was a Belgian, who came as missionary to the Indians of the Platte and upper Missouri in 1838. He was the first Catholie missionary in this country, and here he worked for thirty years. He died in 1873, and was buried in St. Lonis.

IHISTORY OF NEBRASKA

George Catlin was the first painter of Nebraska scenery and Nebraska Indians. Ile made his first voyage into this region in 1832. He painted pictures of Blackbird Hill, of the junetion of the Platte and Missouri rivers, of prairie fires, buffalo hunting. Indian weapons, games, customs and portraits of prominent Indians, and since in those days there were no camera or moving-picture machines, Catlin's oil- paintings made Nebraska's first picture-gallery.

Prince Maximilian, of Germany, made a trip up the Missouri River in 1833, on the second voyage of the steamer Yellowstone. In his publication of a three volume work on his American travels, the Nebraska of that day received practically its first introduction to élite Europe.

GOVERNMENTAL CHANGES IN NEBRASKA TERRITORY

1803. Taking up the governmental administration of this region, at the point when the Spanish Governor relinquished it to the United States in 1803. On April 30th of that year, Napoleon Bonaparte, acting for France, ceded to the United States this 1,182,752 aeres of land, in the most important real estate transaction in American history, for $15,000,000, or about 4 cents an acre. The American "Stars and Stripes" were raised in New Orleans, and the purchase became formally American soil.

1804. In this year, and less than sixty days after the first council was held on Nebraska soil, between representatives of the United States and Indians, at Fort Calhoun, Nebraska became part of the territory of Indiana. It so remained from October 1, 1804, until July 4, 1805.

1805. On March 3, 1805. Congress changed the district of Louisiana to the Territory of Louisiana, and it remained a portion of that territory, with the capital at St. Louis, until in June, 1812.

1812. At this time, the territory of Louisiana became the Territory of Missouri. 1819. A bill was passed providing statehood for Missouri, and the territory of Arkansas was created out of the balance of the territory of Missouri.

1820. After Missouri reached formal statehood the great western territory was thrown into the "Indian Country." Woeful neglect of this region followed, until in 1834, the jurisdiction of the United States District Court of Missouri was extended over it, portions of it were annexed to Michigan and Arkansas territories. The slavery controversies, increased in bitterness by the controversies following the admission of Missouri, and the California problem, continued to interfere with development of governmental functions in this far-away region of the western part of the Louisiana purchase.

Finally in the '40s and '50s, came the struggle to establish the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, outlined in another chapter of this work, upon the Terri- torial Government of Nebraska.

THIE MORMONS

During the half century between the days of the military expedition of Lewis and Clark, and the arrival of Manuel Lisa in 1805, and the actual organization of Nebraska into a territorial government, circumstances conspired to send thousands of white men into, but mostly through, Nebraska. First, the chain of explorers

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

and adventurers whose effect upon and participation in Nebraska's early history has already been detailed. Second, the soldiers who were sent in for various purposes by the Government. Third, the trappers and hunters, and the traders who came in. Fourth, the missionaries. Fifth, the emigrants who passed through the state, and lastly, the earlier settlers who stayed and made their homes in the unbroken wilder- ness.

Those who passed through the state, or stayed but a short time, comprised mainly the emigrants going farther west; the Mormons and the gold seekers. These last two divisions of visitors or short-time residents will now be taken up briefly.

First, in point of numbers and time, among these various migratory bands, came the Mormons. This religious sect had been driven from its home at Nauvoo, Illinois, and was now, after much buffeting around, massing on the banks of the Missouri, preparatory to crossing the "Great Desert" to the Promised Land beyond the reach of law. They had crossed Iowa by various routes, squatting for a time here and there, and finally massing, in 1845 and 1846, about six miles north of Omaha, at what is now known as Florence, but was then termed by the Mormons as "Winter Quarters." Here it is estimated by students that about fifteen thousand people con- gregated. The devastation wrought upon their wild lands by such an army of non- producers naturally aroused the wrath of the Indians, to whom those lands then really belonged. They felt that the Mormons were cutting too much timber. When this complaint began to bring about an exit of the Mormons, many took refuge on the east side of the river, in what is now Pottawattamie County, near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Soon an expedition of eighty wagons was sent out in search of a permanent home for the Latter Day Saints, and that action resulted in the selection of the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. But at what a cost ! The trail from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake ('ity was indelibly marked out for later comers. Cast away garments, broken and burned vehicles, bleaching bones of cattle and horses fallen by the wayside, and graves of weary pilgrims scattered along the route of a thousand miles told the cost.

Many a disheartened wanderer shrank from facing these hardships and preferred to settle along the route of progress in the fertile valleys of Nebraska. In this way numerous small Mormon settlements sprang up along the Platte and its forks. Among these, some of the most interesting, were the Genoa settlement in Nanee County, and the Shelton settlement, at old Wood River, clustered around the county line between Hall and Buffalo counties. At the Genoa settlement a large tract of land was enclosed and divided among a hundred or so families, comprising the original settlers, and they supposed foundations had been laid for solid prosperity. But, unfortunately for them, this land was part of the traet set aside for the Pawnee Indians, by the treaty of 1857. So they could not obtain title to these lands, and by reason of this fact, and the harassment of the Sioux and Pawnee, they had to move on.

The first Mormons had settled near Salt Lake City about 1847. The emigration continued from then for more than ten years. The fact that so many finally reached their destination was perhaps due to their careful organization when traveling in parties. Each man carried a rifle or musket and such discipline was maintained on the march that oftentimes the Indians passed up a squad of Mormons and attacked a much larger body of emigrants. The route blazed by the Mormons from Keokuk, Towa, to the Missouri River gained the name of the "Mormon Trail," and Omaha became a favorite crossing point. For a decade or so, the trade with these excur-

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

sionists formed a profitable part of the Omaha business interests. They stayed but a few years in the Wood River Valley between Grand Island and Fort Kearney, and they too passed westward.

TIIE GOLD HUNTERS

Next after the Mormons came the flood of emigrants to California, in search of the most seductive, most powerful, metal known to man. The fever of 1849, sweep- ing over the country, brought a veritable flood of emigration through the Platte Valley and played a material part in permanently blazing the numerous famous "trails" or "highways" through Nebraska. This event had other effects upon the state. "The moving host left here and there a permanent impress on the land." In many instances, the land so charmed the eye, and created so abiding an impression on the mind of many a beholder, that, wearied with the unequal contest of the camp, they abandoned the piek and spade for the surer implements of husbandry. Almost every Nebraska county can number among its earliest pioneers those adventurous spirits who chased the lure of the gold about so long, and then turned to the plow and herd for slower but surer competence and gain. Some stopped off ; others went on farther and returned ; and many traversed the entire weary trail, and then disheartened retraced their steps this far. Another effect of this emigration was the establishment of a ferry between what is now Omaha and Council Bluffs, by William D. Brown, in 1851 or 1852. In 1853, he laid claim to the site of Omaha. The western travel, which had at first been crossing via "Winter Quarters," as Florence was then called, began to divert rapidly to "Lone Tree" as the site of Omaha was then ealled,

"LIFE ON THE PLAINS"

A beautiful word-picture from the pen of Prof. Samuel Aughey, forty years ago, will prove a fitting climax to this brief review of pre-territorial days of Nebraska.

"Life on the plains! What memories are awakened within the breast of many a resident of Nebraska at the 'sight and sound of those words.' When the golden spike was driven which bound together the iron links in the great national highway, the knell of that wild period in the history of the wild west was struck." The whistle of the first locomotive in its fierce rush across the hitherto traekless expanse ended forever that seene in the drama of progress, which was alike comedy and tragedy. 'I crossed the plains' are words, when spoken by the bronzed and hardy pioneer, which signify more than men of later generation can conceive of. The toiling caravan of emigrants to the El Dorado of the Pacific slope; the venturesome cavaleade of daring huntsmen : the solitary group of mountaineers-a class peculiar to the "Rockies"-have passed beyond the view, and all that now remain of them are seattered traces of forgotten graves, a few survivors of those seenes, busied with other tasks, and vague traditions of the times, which horrify or charm, as deeds of murder, robbery or love perchance to give the coloring to the tale.

"Nebraska was the highway to the West when huummbering wagons furnished the only means of transport, as now, when steam and palace cars augment the speed and comfort of the journey. Imagine-if you can-and you, survivor of the olden time, conjure up a vision of modern methods, as in faney you live once more those

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

days of hardship. You lift your head from the damp earth, and by the flickering light of waning camp fire, see the mighty engine dashing by, with train of sleeping coaches, freighted with slumbering voyagers. And, as you gather abont the morning fire, with scanty meal, behold the men who look disgusted at their morning bill of fare within the dining coach, and sigh because their journey is a wearying one. They will reach their destinations within the week, while you can count the time by months since you stood looking eastward, as night shut down upon you and blotted out the last rude traces of the 'States'! And still long months of deprivation must ensue before you gain the end of that slow march.

"Let us give place in this history to mention of those events which were, if not direet, at least subsidiary, agencies in the original settlement of Nebraska, and which demonstrated the fact that the Valley of the Platte was the only route of travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific within the limits of the more temperate latitudes."

We must not run amiss and devote our entire time in a work that is chronological and analytical of the evolution of the wonderful State of Nebraska from the wild prairie, abode of the Indian and his companions, the wild animals of the wilderness, to its present stages of development, without devoting at least a small space to a recital of the hardships and struggles, characteristic of those endured by the many thousands of pioneers, emigrants and first settlers, who each individually played their part in this drama. It is not possible to pause here and compile the roster for each county, of its early settlers, as we have stopped to pay tribute to a score or so early explorers and adventurers who led bands of people into or across the state. But a few hundred more words will also allow to embrace in our narrative a characteristic account of the journeys across these plains, endured by the gold seekers and early settlers alike. This is also from the pen of Nebraska's notable early historian Prof. Samuel Aughey.

"In remote times-remote for the West-the beginning of the 'West' was at the Mississippi. Western Illinois and Wisconsin and Eastern Iowa were accessible by water by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The region beyond was known only to the courageous few who had braved the perils of a wilderness inhabited by hostile tribes. But, in 1850, when the fever for gold had spread throughout the East, the limits of civilization had extended so far that supplies of horses, mules, cattle, wagons, coffee, flour, bacon, sugar and the indispensables of a trip across the plains were obtainable at points on the Missonri River, in the State of Missouri. Parties endeavored to reach that stream early in the spring, that they might take advantage of the growth of vegetation as food for their teams. While some caravans followed the Arkansas (in the present state of Kansas), many more chose to come up the Missouri, and thence travel westward along the rich Valley of the Platte. Thus was first opened up to observant pioneers the beauties of this region. Hundreds of improvident but eager mien set out so late in the season as to encounter the rigor of the winter in the mountains, and many perished miserably from exposure and starva- tion. Others started early enough to safely pass the Rocky Mountains, only to meet their fate in the inhospitable fastnesses of the Sierra Nevada, where snow frequently piles to the depths of thirty and forty feet in localities. Among the very early trials were the dangers incident to crossing a country inhabited by fierce Indians. If the truth could be known, probably every mile from the Missouri to the Pacific would demand at least one headstone to mark a victim's grave. The stages

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

of life, from birth, to the closing of the drama. were here exemplified. Many a poor mother hushed her new-born babc amid the rough scenes of a camp, while she herself was suffering from lack of those comforts so essential to maternity. Along the trackless plain many a maiden awoke to the revelation of love, and many a troth was plighted.

"At the time referred to, the whole region, from the Missouri to the Pacific, was vaguely known as 'the plains,' though it embraced almost every variety of country. First. the emigrant crossed the rich, rolling prairies of Nebraska. The soil grew thinner and thinner until it merged into dreary sand deserts. Upon these he found myriads of prairie dogs, sometimes living in towns twenty miles square herds of graceful antelopes bounded over the hills, and huge, ungainly buffaloes, which num- bered millions then, blackened parts of the landscape. A day's journey was from ten to twenty miles. When the company halted for the night. they turned out their animals to graze, with such precautions as served to prevent their escape ; lighted a fire on the prairies of buffalo chips, and supped upon pork, hot bread or 'flap-jacks" and washed the frugal repast down with the inevitable tin cup of coffee. Their trusty guns were kept within easy reach, and the whitened skull of a buffalo, perhaps killed by some emigrant long before in wanton sport, served as a seat. At night, the travelers slept soundly, with the blue of heaven for a canopy. The wagons were covered with stout eanvas, and afforded protection to the few women and children during the later years of excitement. All became inured to the conditions of outdoor life. When large streams were reached, the heavy wagons were floated or hanled, and where it was convenient to do so, rude bridges were constructed over smaller streams. Every source of ingenuity was developed. If a wheel gave way, and the mechanical productiveness of the party could not replace it, a cottonwood log. with one end dragging on the ground, was made to serve instead. If a pole broke. another was extemporized from the nearest timber. If an ox died, some mekless cow was yoked in his place. Sometimes one family, or one party of half a dozen men, journeyed alone, and sometimes there were a hundred or more wagons in a single `train' with their white covers enveloped in an increasing cloud of dust. During the seasons when emigration was very heavy, caravans could, from an eminence, be seen stretching out for miles and miles, and at night every pleasant eamping-ground was a populous village. The journey was not without its enjoyments. though one's philosophy was sorely tried at times. There were often long delays for hunting lost cattle, waiting for swollen streams to subside, or in climbing the mountains. Storms and mishaps frequently taxed the patience of all, and sickness came to feeble frame and hardy men alike. The first of a long line of trains often elimbed steep hills, instead of going the longer and easier way through ravines, and the followers along the new roads were forced to desert the beaten track, and risk untried courses, or labor on in their wake. It was not uncommon to see from ten to thirty yoke of oxen hitched to a single wagon, working slowly up the mountain. The summit reached at last. the wagon would be emptied, and, with a huge log trailing behind as a brake. the teams would descend to repeat their experience in ascending with other loads. The wild, majestic scenery along the way may have been a partial compensation to some for the hardships they endured; but it is reasonable to believe that few would have refused to forego those delights if thereby they might have gained easier transit. The tragedies of those days were numerous. The very nature of the journey, and the chances of sudden wealth, combined with the

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

freedom of the manner of the living, gathered many a desperate character in the civil army. The baser passions were too often allowed full scope, and hence it must be recorded that many a villain found his end at the hands of outraged companions. The travelers were a law unto themselves, and greed or lust were summarily avenged."

THIE OVERLAND TRAILS

In our present state of prosperity and happiness, we must not be prone to forget the aspect that nature wore in those primitive solitudes to the wandering view of the first inhabitants of our state. We can well pause a bit, to go into a little more detailed examination of the pathways and methods of early travel and transportation of our state. The mighty wave of travel which has just been described in the immediately preceding pages naturally traversed a few beaten paths, and it is an examination of those "beaten paths" we will now undertake.

There is as yet but scanty knowledge of Indian or prehistoric routes of travel through Nebraska. From the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Pike's expedition, Fremont's expedition and Thwaite's admirable compilation of early explorations in this vicinity, we find the accounts of the state of travel and the condition of the territory then. The chroniclers of the '40s intimate that there were then no well defined trails between the locations of the different tribes of the Indians, but that each tribe had its own trails between the locations of the several hands of its own tribe.

But whatever the story of the Indian trails may be, as they related to the earliest history of Nebraska, we know that a number of notable routes sprang up across the state, which became the main arteries of commerce to the Northwest, preceding the arrival of the transcontinental railroad.

HAVE YOU AN EYE

Have you an eye, for the trails, the trails, The old mark and the new ? What scurried here, what loitered there, In the dust and in the dew ?

Have you an eye for the beaten track, The old hoof and the young ? Come name me the drivers of yesterday, Sing me the songs they sung.

O was it a schooner last went by, And where will it eross the stream ? Where will it halt in the early dusk, And where will the eamp-fire gleam ?

They used to take the shortest eut The cattle trails had made; Get down the hill by the easy slope To the water and the shade.

But it's barbed wire fence, and section line, And kill-horse travel now; Scoot you down the canyon bank - The old road's under plough.

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

Have you an eye for the laden wheel, The worn tire or the new ? Or the sign of the prairie pony's hoof That was never trimmed for shoe ?

O little by-path and big highway. Alas, your lives are done. The freighter's track, a weed-grown ditch. Points to the setting sun.

The marks are faint and rain will fall The lore is hard to learn. O hear, what ghosts would follow the road If the old years might return.

The most famous of these great transcontinental highways was known to the traders, ranchmen, and overland stage drivers, as the "Military Road." but more commonly and properly known as

THE OREGON TRAIL

A fairly accurate itinerary of this trail as it traversed the State of Nebraska can be taken from the notes of Fremont and travelers of his period, and indieate it passed as follows :

"From the point at Independence, Missouri, where the trail starts northwest, for a distance of 41 miles, it is identical with the Santa Fe Trail; to the Kansas River. 81 miles: to the Big Blue River, 242 miles: to the Little Blue, 296 miles : Platte River, 316 miles ; lower ford of South Platte River, 433 miles; upper ford of South Platte River, 493 miles; Chimney Rock, 521 miles; Scotts Bluff. 616 miles. Adding the distance from the northwest boundary of Nebraska to Fort Vancouver, the terminns, yields a total of 2,020 miles. The trail erossed the present Nebraska southern boundary line at or very near the point of the intersection of the 97th meridian, about four miles west of the southeast corner of Jefferson County. It left the Little Blue at a bend beyond this point, but reached it again just beyond Hebron. It left the stream finally at a point near Leroy, and reached the Platte River about twenty miles below the western or upper end of Grand Island. Proceeding thence along the south bank of Platte River, it crossed the south fork about sixty miles from the junetion and touched the north fork at Ash Hallow, twenty miles beyond the south fork erossing.

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History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I, Part 9

Author: Burr, George L., 1859-; Buck, O. O., 1871-; Stough, Dale P., 1888- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Burr, George L., 1859-; Buck, O. O., 1871-; Stough, Dale P., 1888-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886