USA > Nebraska > History of Nebraska > Part 39
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horses, 5,994, value $137,814; mules, 725, value, $21,487; neat cattle, 18,460, value $169,081; sheep, 5,649, value, $4,244; swine, 31,742, value, $30,709; vehicles, 1,967, value, $32,278; moneys and credits, $34,329; mortgages, $40,903; stocks, etc., $80,075; furniture, 60,565; libraries, $2,510; property not enumerated, $92,424; rail- roads, $208,911.82; telegraph, $2,250.45; total valuation for 1879, $3,279,104.77.
RAILROADS .- The Nebraska Railway, now operated by the Bur- lington and Missouri R. R. Company, runs westward from Nebraska City through the center of the County, and it has recently been extended from Nebraska City southward along the Missouri River to Nemaha City, in Nemaha County. This road also connects with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, St. Joe and Council Bluffs Railroads, on the east side of the Missouri, opposite Ne- braska City.
LANDS .- The price of improved lands ranges from $7 to $30 per acre. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company owns 10,000 acres in this County, for which they ask from $6 to $10 per acre.
POPULATION .- The following will show the population of the County by Precincts, for 1879: Hendricks, 328; South Branch, 258; Osage, 493; McWilliams, 407; Rock Creek, 720; Otoe, 949; Four Mile, 564; Nebraska City, 4,551; Belmont, 693; Delaware, 369; Syracuse, 919; Russell, 903; Palmyra, 1,137; North Branch, 420; Berlin, 504; Wyoming, 648.
Total, 13,863,-males, 7,412, females, 6,451.
NEBRASKA CITY,
The County Seat, is the third largest city in the State, having about 8,000 inhabitants. It is an enterprising, well built city, situated on the banks of the Missouri, near the center of the County from north to south, and contains seventeen Churches, three elegant school buildings, an Episcopal College, the State Blind Asylum, a fine court house, an opera house, several good hotels, commodious brick business blocks, several manufactories, machine shops, a well-appointed steam ferry, excellent railroad advantages, three first class flouring mills, large steam grain elevators, two newspapers, the Press, daily and weekly, and the weekly News, etc. The streets are broad, and in the resident part
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of the city planted with shade trees. The open plain to the south and west, is divided up into highly cultivated farms, while large orchards and vineyards, bearing the choicest fruits, dot the surface in every direction.
SYRACUSE
Is a prosperous town of 800 inhabitants, located in the central part of the County, on the line of the Nebraska Railway, and on the north bank of the Little Nemaha River. The first stake was driven in the ground toward laying off the town site on September 18, 1871, and the first house was erected thereon by T. E. Sensa- baugh. The town was incorporated on the 6th of January, 1875. It contains a $4,000 school house, two Churches, a weekly news- paper, the Journal, several stores, three grain warehouses, a flour- ing mill, lumber yard, and all the general branches of trade are represented. The County fairs are usually held here on account of its central location. A thriving trade is carried on with the surrounding country, which is a well settled farming section, and. the shipments of farm products are extensive.
PALMYRA,
Located on the Little Nemaha and on the line of the Nebraska Railway, in the northwestern part of the County, contains some 500 inhabitants. It was laid out in 1870 by J. M. Taggart, and is situated on a beautiful slope facing the river, thirty-four miles, by rail, west of Nebraska City, and twenty-three miles east of Lincoln. The surrounding country is well settled by an industrious class of farmers. The Presbyterians and Methodists have each comfortable houses of worship here, and the Baptists are well organized. In 1874, a $3,500 school house was erected, and in the following year the Masons and Odd Fellows, together, built a fine Hall. There are an excellent steam flouring mill, two grain elevators, two hotels, several general merchandise stores, hardware and drug stores, mechanics' shops, lumber yards, etc., and the shipments of hogs, cattle and grain are very large.
DUNBAR, UNADILLA, MINERSVILLE and BARNEY, are prosperous young towns on the railroad.
HENDRICKS, SALON, BURR OAK, OSAGE, NORTH BRANCH, ELA and WYOMING, are Postoffices with general stores, etc. In the County there are seven flouring mills and three cheese factories.
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PLATTE COUNTY.
Platte County was organized by an Act of the first Territorial Legislature, in 1855, and was composed of the twenty-four miles square included in townships seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty north, of ranges one, two, three and four east of the Sixth Principal Meridian. In 1858, it was made to include, in addition, all of Monroe County, on the west, which was not comprised with- in the Pawnee Indian Reservation. In 1868, the County of Col- fax was created, taking from Platte all of the three east ranges. Subsequent legislation fixed the boundaries of the County as they exist at present. It is located in the middle-eastern part of the State, in the fourth tier of Counties west of the Missouri River, bounded on the north by Madison and Stanton Counties, east by ·Colfax County, south by the Platte River, Merrick and Nance Counties, west by Merrick, Nance and Boone Counties, containing 684 square miles, or 437,760 acres.
WATER COURSES .- Platte is a finely-watered County, and possesses numerous excellent mill privileges. The Platte River washes the southern border, a distance of about twenty miles. The Loup River flows from west to east through the southern por- tion of the County. Shell and Looking Glass Creeks, both large, beautiful streams, water the western and central portions of the County. Union Creek waters the northeastern townships, and there are besides a large number of rivnlets and springs.
TIMBER is in fair supply along the streams, and in the north- ern part of the County are found some fine natural groves, consist- ing principally of hardwood. The amount of timber reported under cultivation is 16612 acres; hedging, 15¿ miles.
FRUIT .- The amount returned is as follows: Apple trees, 4,936; pear, fifty-one; peach, 714; plum, 2,345; cherry, 557; grape vines, forty.
SANDSTONE is found in several localities.
CHARACTER OF THE LAND .- One-third of the County is valley and bottom land, and the balance gently rolling prairie. The wide valleys of the Platte and Loup embrace about one-sixth of the
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area. Shell Creek has a magnificent valley, extending directly through the central portion of the County, from northwest to southeast. Eastward from this, the surface consists of undulating prairie, with an occasional small valley. The soil is composed of a deep, vegetable mould, and is the same throughout the County. No crop returns have been received.
HISTORICAL .- Early in the spring of 1856, Fred. Gotteschalk, Jacob Lewis and George Roush marked the site of the present town of Columbus, and returning shortly afterward to Omaha, the Columbus Town Company was organized, and a committee of ex- ploration sent out, consisting of Vincent Kummer, in charge; Charles Turner, Surveyor; John C. Wolfel, carpenter; Fred. Gottschalk, Jacob Lewis, Jacob Guter, Carl Rienke, Henry Lusche, Michael Smith, Adam Denk and John Held.
On the 28th day of May, 1856, the outlines of the town were determined, and the whole was soon blocked out. A rough build- ing of logs was erected, and roofed with grass and sod, which answered all their purposes for dwelling, storage and fortification, and was long known as the "Old Company House." On the 7th day of October, 1856, other settlers arrived, among whom were J. Rickley, J. P. Becker, John Browner, Anthony Voll, Charles Bremer, John H. Green, William Distlehorst, Jedediah Mills, George Berni, Martin Heintz, the Quinns, Haney's and Mrs. Walfel. To Mrs. Walfel, as the first lady adventurer, the Company afterwards gave one share in the capital stock of the Company-equal to ten lots in the town. In December, came J. M. Becker and D. Hashberger, the latter driving his stake where the town of Schuyler is now located; and thus was com- pleted the immigration to Platte County in 1856-twenty-five souls, all told.
During the autumn, a change was made in the town plat. A Messrs. Burtch & Mitchell, who had established a ferry on the Loup, laid out a town extending from the ferry and interfering with the other. Finally a compromise was effected, and " Pawnee City "-Burtch & Mitchell's town-was abandoned, and Messrs. Kummer and Rickley were appointed to lay out a new plat. Un- der their superintendence, Col. Loren Miller, of Omaha, surveyed the town site of Columbus.
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During the winter of 1856-7 the whole plain was covered with snow to the average depth of three feet, while the drifts on low ground were from ten to twenty feet deep. The situation of the little colony was not only trying, it was perilous. In December, a few of the settlers went to Omaha and purchased ox teams and provisions, but on their return the deep snow stopped them at the Elkhorn River, where they had to leave their teams; so equipping themselves with snow shoes, they hauled the provisions to Colum- bus on hand sleds, a distance of about seventy-five miles. Wolfel, Bremer and Hashberger made a second trip to Omaha that winter, bringing back provisions on hand sleds. They followed the frozen channel of the Platte River, and made the round trip in ten days.
Early in 1857, Dr. Chas. B. Stillman, Geo. H. Hewett, Patrick Murray and Patrick McDonald, arrived at Columbus. Michael Kelly, Thos. Lynch, Pat. Gleason and Jolin Denean soon afterwards located on Shell Creek. On the first day of May, L. Gerrard located claims for himself and his father's family on Looking Glass Creek.
Two and a half to three miles northwest of Columbus was laid out, in 1857, on a magnificent scale, the town of Cleveland. George W. Stevens, Wm. H. Stevens and Michael Sweeny were the active workers, and for a while occupied the premises.
Three or four other towns were started in 1857, all of which were short lived. But while these cities faded out of sight, farms. came into view, and during this, and the next two years, valuable accessions were made to all the neighborhoods.
To the German settlement came Held, Erb, Marohn, Will,. Wettner, Rickert, Ahrens, Hengeller, Matthis, and the Losekes .. To the Irish came Hays, Doody and the Carrigs. To the eastern end came Nelson Toncray, William Davis, Robert Corson, and farther up, Rolfel, Russell, Skinner, Kemp, Clough, Spaulding and Fayls. In September, 1859, came the Salt Lake emigrants, also Father James Galley and his three sons, Geo. W., James H. and Samuel, and his two son-in-laws, William Draper and John Barrow. Later came M'Allister and Anderson. Beyond the Loup, in this. County, settled Barnum, Clother, the Beebe brothers, Stevens, Morse, Perry, Clark, Cushing, Curtis and Witchie.
During the years 1860-1, the line ofranchmen that filed out on the military road was much extended, in order to accommodate the
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surging tide of emigration and through travel to and from Colorado, Utah and California. The hotel business and ranching was then at its height, and all shared in it to some extent-every house was a ranche, and every floor a lodging, and every table a cake and pie stand.
In the month of May, 1866, the construction trains. of the Union Pacific Railroad entered the eastern border of the County, and on the first day of June the track was laid through the town of Columbus, under the management of the Casement Brothers. The whole city-men, women and children-turned out to witness the wonderful spectacle of a line engine slowly creeping along as . the rail were laid, a pair at a time, by a gang of disciplined men, all moving with the harmony of a clock, and completing the track- laying at the rate of ten feet per minute. This event was to Col- umbus and Platte County the beginning of a new life.
The lower Platte Valley is well settled by English and Scotch, mostly of the Mormon faith. The Germans possess the lower Shell Creek Valley, with all its tributaries, and are mostly Lutherans. The northeast and Tracy Valley are New Englanders and are largely Presbyterians. The Irish have got the upper Shell Creek Valley, and the lower north shore of the Loup, and are Catholics. The Scandinavians possess the upper Looking Glass and Lost Creek, and are mostly Lutherans. The upper north shore of the Loup Valley is pretty well settled by Quakers, from Pennsylvania. Stearns' Prairie, in the center of the County, is a mixture of all denominations-Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant.
In August, 1857, the Counties of Platte and Monroe were or- ganized. Judge Smith, of Fremont, issued a proclamation calling elections for County Officers and the location of County Seats. In Platte County, the result was as follows: Probate Judge, Isaac Albertson; Clerk, George W. Hewitt; Recorder, J. P. Becker; Treasurer, V. Kummer; Sheriff, Cyrus Tollman; Justice of the Peace, C. B. Stillman; Constable, J. Guter; County Commission- ers, Gustavus Becher, George Spaulding, and Abram Root. And in Monroe County: Probate Judge, Charles H. Whaley; Clerk, George W. Stevens; Recorder, G. E. Yeaton; Treasurer, C. Wha- ley; Sheriff, N. Davis; Representative, Leander Gerrard; Surveyor, 32
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P. Kimball; County Commissioners, H. Peck, C. H. Pierce, and H. J. Hudson.
The first election in Monroe County was also the last; for in the winter session of the Territorial Legislature of 1858-9, on joint petition of the two Counties, Monroe was consolidated with Platte County.
The first store in Columbus was kept by Mr. Becker; the first postmaster was John Rickley; the first mail came July 4, 1857. The first boy born in the County was Lewis Erb, on Shell Creek; the first girl born was Mary Wolfel, at Columbus. The first wed- ding was that of John Will and Marie Rickart; the second wed- ding was between J. E. North and Nellie Arnold, who were mar- ried on horseback in the streets of Columbus. First blacksmith, Jacob Ernst; first house-builders, Wolfel and Becker; first shoe- maker, Louis Phillippi; first lawyers, L. Gerrard and A. B. Patti- son; first doctor, C. B. Stillman; first school teacher, G. W. Stevens; first Catholic Priest, Father Fourmont; first death and burial was that of J. M. Becker.
In 1857, the mammoth steam mill of Rickley & Co. was erected. It was a grist, saw, lathì and shingle mill. In 1868, a steam flouring mill was built by F. A. Hoffman. In 1869, Beck er's mill on Shell Creek came into operation.
The Churches of the County, in the order of their organiza- tion, are as follows:
The Catholic Church of Columbus (St. John's), organized in 1860; Church property, $4,000.
The Congregational, organized September, 1866; Church pro- perty, $1,000.
The Protestant Episcopal Church, organized Oct. 19, 1868; Church property, $2,000.
The Methodist Episcopal Church; first class formed in 1867, by Rev. David Hart; good edifice.
The Presbyterian Church, organized Jan. 30, 1870; neat house of worship.
Shell Creek Catholic Church, established in 1872; value of Church property, $1,200.
Congregational Church, of Monroe, organized in 1868.
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German Reformed Church, Columbus, organized December 25, 1875; value of Church property, $3,000.
Shell Creek Lutheran Church, organized September, 1873.
Stearns' Prairie Catholic Church, organized in 1875; value of Church property, $1,000.
Church of Latter Day Saints, organized July 30, 1865; Church property, $600.
Tracy Valley Presbyterian Church, organized in 1875; value of Church property, $900.
The fraternal Lodges and Societies are: Lebanon Lodge No. 58, A. F. & A. M .; charter, June 30, 1875. Eastern Star or De- gree of Adoption Right; chartered June 15, 1872. The Wildey Lodge No. 44, I. O. O. F .; chartered May 5, 1874. Daughter of Rebekah, Columbia Degree No. 11; chartered February 18, 1876; Sons of Temperance; chartered February 22, 1873. Knights of Pythias Lodge, started in August, 1875. Good Templars' Lodge 176; chartered June 16, 1876.
The first newspaper published in the County was the Colum- bus Golden Age, by C. C. Strawn, commencing June 21, 1866, and ending with its twelfth number. Next came the Platte Valley Journal, by O. T. B. Williams. It was maintained one year, and was followed by the Columbus Journal, by M. K. Turner & Co., the first number bearing date May 11, 1870.
The Columbus Era, under the management of W. A. Hens- ley, commenced in February, 1874.
In May, 1875, the Columbus Republican was established.
The first settlers of Platte County were more or less harassed by the Indians. The Pawnees, in the early days, when they were strong and the settlements weak, begged and stole, insulted and threatened, until their insolence became unbearable, and the Gov- ernor of the Territory sent the militia to chastise them. Platte County furnished over fifty of the little army of 300 that pursued the fugitive tribe and overtook them at Battle Creek, where they surrendered without a battle, and were permitted to return to their homes upon promise of good behavior.
In the summer of 1864, Pat. Murray had a hay-making camp on Looking Glass Creek, near Genoa. One evening, about sunset, while Mr. Murray was absent, a squad of twenty-five Sioux rode
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into camp from the hills. They demanded food and were supplied by Mrs. Murray. This done they began to untie the teams from their fastenings, which the men of the camp resisted, and in the twinkling of an eye the weapons of savages were in play. An old man was instantly brained and scalped. Adam Smith, Murray's brother-in-law, fell pierced with eight arrows, and others in a like manner yielded to the fatal poisoned arrows. Mrs. Murray, with hay fork in hand, defending the property, was badly wounded with arrows. Only one escaped-a boy who hid underneath a pile of hay. The noise of the fight being heard at a distant farm, parties came in the darkness and carried away the dead and dying. Mrs. Murray had crawled away in the tall, damp grass, and spent the lonely night in agony of pain and horror. She after- wards recovered. The Indians made off with $2,500 worth of property.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS .-- Number of districts, 62; school houses, 51; children of school age, males, 1,507, females, 1,301, total, 2,808; qualified teachers employed, males, thirty-one, females, thirty-nine; wages paid teachers for the year, males, $5,343.50, females, $4,909.30, total, $10,252.30; value of school houses, $21,335; value of sites, $1,151; value of books, etc., $3,660.
TAXABLE PROPERTY .- Acres of land, 315,191; average value per acre, $3.54; valne of town lots, $272,718; money invested in merchandise, $80,025; money used in manufactures, $13,085; horses, 3,313, valne $113,204; mules and asses, 288, value $9,835; neat cattle, 9,123, value $98,517; sheep, 3,173, valne $4,238; swine, 7,206, value $7,111; vehicles, 1,820, value $22,569; moneys and credits, $25,958; mortgages, $22,815; stocks, etc., $1,015; furni- ture, $37,470; libraries, $3,095; property not enumerated, $63,819; railroads, $201,100.40; telegraph, $1,649; total valuation for 1879, $2,103,SSS.40.
RAILROADS .- The Union Pacific traverses the southern portion of the County from east to west. The Omaha, Niobrara and Black Hills Railroad runs from Jackson, on the Union Pacific north ward through the County. Six miles north of Jackson a branch of the Omaha, Niobrara and Black Hills Railroad is now being con- structed, running up the valley of Beaver Creek through Boone County.
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LANDS .- Improved lands are worth from $S to $30 per acre. The Union Pacific and Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Companies each own a large amount of land here, the price of which ranges from 12 to 16 per acre.
POPULATION .- There are sixteen Precincts in the County, the population of each in 1879, being as follows: Granville, 202; Creston, 205; Looking Glass, 275; Woodville, 226; Pleasant Valley, 309; Humphrey, 324; Sherman, 356; Monroe, 430; Lost Creek, 510; Bismarck, 501; Butler, 622; Columbus, 2,210; Stearns, 340; Walker, 312; Burrows, 392; Shell Creek, 373.
Total, 7,5$7,-males, 4,125, females, 3,462.
COLUMBUS,
The County Seat, is a prosperous city of 2,000 inhabitants, located on the Union Pacific Railroad, ninety-two miles west of Omaha. It is situated on a wide plateau at the junction of the Loup valley with the Platte, the ground being sufficiently sloping to afford good drainage. It is an excellent business point, and contains many good stores, an elevator, a bank, three hotels, several lumber yards, foundry and machine shops, a fine brick court house, elegant school buildings, seven Churches, and four newspapers-the Journal, the Era, the Independent, and the Democrat. The ad- jacent country is exceedingly fertile and well settled. The first bridge built across the Platte River is located at this point, and an extensive trade is derived from the country south of that stream.
JACKSON
Is a station on the Union Pacific Railroad, eight miles west of Col- umbus. It has a very promising future, having been selected dur- ing the present year as the starting point of the Omaha, Niobrara and Black Hills Railroad. The railroads are making extensive improvements here, and new dwellings and business houses are going up very rapidly. A good wagon bridge spans the Platte here also, and makes this a convenient shipping and trading center for the settlements on the south side of the river.
PLATTE CENTER
Is a new town established during the present summer at the forks of the Omaha, Niobrara and Black Hills Railroad, six miles north
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of Jackson. A large elevator, stock yards, depot, several dwelling houses and stores, are now in course of construction here.
ST. BARNABAS,
Situated in the north-central part of the County, was laid out in 1876, by a German colony. It has about 200 inhabitants, three or four stores, and one of the finest school houses in the County.
MONROE, HUMPHREY, METZ, GLEASON, LOOKING GLASS, STEARNS' PRAIRIE, NEBO, CRESTON, ST. MARY'S, WOLF, LINDSAY, FARRALL, and WOODVILLE, are small villages in the County, having from fifty to 200 inhabitants each.
PAWNEE COUNTY.
Pawnee County was created by an Act of the first Territorial Legislature, early in the spring of 1855, and attached to Richard- son County for election, judicial, and revenue purposes, until the 4th day of November, 1856, at which time it was regularly organ- ized. It is located in the southeastern part of the State, in the second tier of Counties west of the Missouri River, and is bounded on the north by Johnson and Nemaha Counties, east by Richardson County, south by the State of Kansas, and west by Gage County, containing 432 square miles, or 276,480 acres of land.
WATER COURSES .- The three principal streams of the County are the North and South Forks of the Great Nemaha River, and Turkey Creek. The North Fork runs diagonally across the north east corner, cutting off about a township and a half; the South Fork passes northeasterly across the southeast corner; and Turkey Creek flows in a general southeasterly direction through the central portion, each furnishing sufficient water-power for manufacturing purposes. The principal tributaries of the North Fork are Dry Branch and Taylor Creeks; of the South Fork, Jake's Run, and Nigger Branch; and of Turkey Creek, Rock, West Branch, and Jolinson Creeks. Ball's Branch, in the central part of the County, is a tributary of the West Branch of Turkey Creek. Mission, Plum, and Wolf Creeks are streams draining the western portion
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of the County, and flowing southwesterly into the Big Blue River. Tipp's Branch and Art-Oceoto, are small streams in the middle- western part of the County, emptying into Plum Creek.
CHARACTER OF THE LAND .-- Ten per cent. of the County is valley, and the balance rolling or undulating prairie. The larger streams have fine smooth valleys which are separated from the upland, usually, by a range of low rounded hills. The per cent. of untillable land in the County is exceedingly small, and the soil is everywhere of the highest order for the production of all the gen- eral crops grown in the State.
CROPS .- Area under cultivation reported for 1879, was 48,580 acres. Winter wheat, S82 acres, 1,656 bushels; spring wheat, 8,908 acres, 68,941 bushels; rye, 1,656 acres, 19,552 bushels; corn, 25,583 acres, 995,207 bushels; barley, 1,241 acres, 30,059 bushels; sorghum, 131 acres, 13,068 gallons; flax, 17 acres, 191 bushels; millet, 425 acres, 1,393 tons; tobacco, 1g acres, 1,479 pounds; po- tatoes, 235 acres, 22,418 bushels.
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