USA > Nebraska > History of Nebraska > Part 41
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ISLAND PRECINCT lies in the north-eastern part of the County, and is so named from its being located between the two channels of the Platte River. Mr. Bouker Beebe made a settlement in this Precinet in the summer of 1870. In the spring of 1871 Rudolph Kummer, Dr. H. M. Mills, Wm. Thomas, Henry Augustine, and Alex. T. Simmons, located here. The first school district organized was No. 17, with Miss Jennie Osterhaut, as teacher. Seventy-five acres of land were under cultivation at the end of the year 1871.
CLEAR CREEK PRECINCT derives its name from a beautiful stream of the same name that runs through the northern part of it.
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The first settlers in the Precinct were Geo. D. Grant, G. E. Barnum, Guy C. Barnum, and Levi Kimball, who all came abont the same time. School district No. 4, was organized in 1871, and a school house was built in the spring of 1872; Miss Vandercoff, first teacher. About ninety acres of land were under cultivation at the end of the year 1871.
CANADA PRECINCT is one of the largest and best improved. , James W. Snyder located in this Precinct in 1871, and has the honor of being the first settler. Closely following him were Peter Bull, William Jarmin, Geo. Bull and family, S. O. Whaley, M. H. Whaley, J. A. Palmer, Rufus Burnett, William Fosbender, H. W. Chase, M. W. Stone, and D. D. Bramer. School district No. 14 was organized with twenty-six scholars. Cyclone Postoffice was organized in 1873; Albert Cowles, postmaster. Rev. A. G. Whitehead organized a Methodist Church in the fall of 1873, at what is known as the Burly School House. A building was erected by this organization in the spring of 1876, called WESLEY CHAPEL. Number of acres of land under cultivation in 1871, 100.
OSCEOLA PRECINCT derives its name from the County Seat. James Query and V. P. Davis settled in this Precinct in October, 1868. II. C. Query came in 1869, and was followed shortly after- ward by J. R. Stewart, Geo. Kerr, John A. Beltzer, Henry Hilder- brand, Geo. W. Kenyon, J. F. Campbell, William Query, Lumin Van Hoosen, H. T. Arnold and others. About fifty acres of land were in cultivation in 1871.
STROMSBURG PRECINCT was first settled in the fall of 1869, by Wm. H. Records. B. F. Smith, Thomas Records, J. P. Smith, A. P. Buckley, P. T. Buckley, J. C. Smith and A. L Larson came in the spring of 1870. The town of Stromsburg is located in this Precinct. School district No. 10 was organized in the winter of 1872, with six scholars; Mr. J. A. Palmer, teacher. The Baptists formed an organization in the summer of 1873; the Lutherans organized in the fall of 1874. The Congregational Church of Pleasant Prairie, in this Precinct, was organized in the fall of 1873; the Methodist Episcopal Church formed a society in the winter of 1875-6. The Baptists and Lutherans have each a Church build- ing, worth together over $3,000. In 1871 there were about fifteen acres of prairie under cultivation.
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JOHNSON'S HISTORY OF NEBRASKA.
PLEASANT HOME PRECINCT is in the southwestern part of the County; and S. C. Davis has the honor of being its first settler. He came here on the 29th of October, 1870. Shortly afterward, Milo Barber, Wm. Maston, J. N. Nickell, John and Henry Marty, J. D. Darrow and J. N. Skelton settled in the Precinct. In the fall of 1872, School District No. 6 was organized with fifteen scholars; Jay N. Skelton, teacher. In the summer of 1872, Pleasant Home Postoffice was established, with S. C. Davis, postmaster. The United Brethren formed an organization in the fall of 1872; the Methodists in the fall of 1875. There is also an organization of Adventists. In 1871, there were about sixty-five acres of prairie broken.
PLATTE PRECINCT is situated in the northern part of the County. Messrs. P. C. King and W. T. Dodge located claims in March, 1871, and Guy, Faustus and Beebe, in April following. J. A. Powers, A. J. Sherwood, G. W. Cadwell, Oliver Scott, and oth- ers, came in shortly afterward. School District No. 7 was organ- ized in the fall of 1871, and a school house was built in 1872. The . school consisted of eight scholars; John P. Heald, teacher. Thorn- ton Postoffice was established in August, 1874; J. N. Hurd, post- master. The United Brethren formed an organization in Decem- ber, 1872; the Methodists organized in March, 1875; and the Lutherans (Swedish), in 1876. The last named have erected a neat Church edifice in the southeastern part of the Precinct.
VALLEY PRECINCT Was first settled by B. H. Keller, who lo- cated in the spring of 1871. He was soon followed by Charles R. Clarke, J. W. Sheldon, Levi Kelley, James Bell, Wın. B. Day- mude, James Harmon, William Stevens, D. C. Place, Andreas Horst, John and Joseph Curran, M. C. Stull, John Benson, Collin and Robert Beebe, and Thomas Clarke. School District No. 5 was organized in June, 1871, with James Bell as teacher. The first Church organized was the Methodist. In 1871, there were about 200 acres of prairie under cultivation. There are about 100 acres of natural timber in this Precinct.
The first election for County officers was held on the 6th day of August, 1870, and resulted as follows: Commissioners, S. Stone, C. A. Ewing, Jonathan Crockett; Clerk, Frank Reardon; Probate Judge, James Query; Treasurer, John H. Mickey; Sheriff, Ole Bredeson.
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JOHNSON'S HISTORY OF NEBRASKA.
On the 14th of December, 1870, F. M. Stone was appointed County Surveyor, and John Fox Superintendent of Public Schools.
At the same date, the County was divided into two Precincts -Hackberry and Clear Creek. In April, 1871, Platte Precinct was formed.
On the 10th of November, 1871, the question of the perma- nent location of the County Seat was voted upon by the people, and on the 14th day of November following, the County Commis- sioners issued a proclamation declaring the County Seat located on the southeast one fourth of section sixteen, township fourteen north, of range two, west, in accordance with the vote at said election. The name selected for the seat of justice was Osceola.
On the 16th day of November, 1871, bids for the construction of a Court House were advertised. The contract was awarded to M. W. Stone, who completed the building, and it was accepted by the Board of Commissioners, March 20, 1872.
A large Swedish colony was established in the western part of the County, mainly by Lewis Headstrom. The town of Stroms- burg is its chief trading point. The Canadian settlers are mostly settled in Canada Precinct, in the eastern part of the County. The German element is well distributed throughout the County; and their thrifty, well-improved farms may be seen in almost every township.
The first newspaper in the County was the Polk County Times, W. D. Ferree, editor, established at Stromsburg in the summer of 1872. It lasted only six months. The Osceola Home- steader was established a few months later, at Osceola. In Janu- ary, 1876, its name was changed to the Osceola Record, and it is still a live, prosperous paper.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS .- Number of districts, fifty-six; school houses, fifty-two; children of school age-males 995, females 840; total, 1,835; total number that attended school during the year, 1,293; qualified teachers employed-males, thirty-one, females, forty-six; wages paid teachers for the year-males, $4,104.77, females, $4,- 725.67; value of school houses, $22,649.95; value of sites, $638.50; value of books and apparatus, $1,262.20.
TAXABLE PROPERTY .- Acres of land, 215,523, average value per acre, $3.33; value of town lots, $17,116; money invested in mer-
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chandise, $9,470; money used in manufactures, $4,570; horses, 2,423, value $75,646; mules and asses, 290, value $9,833; neat cattle, 3,696, value $31,359; sheep 217, value $217; swine 10,284, value $9,889; vehicles, 980, value, $15,582; moneys and credits, $3,627; mortgages, $15,441; stocks, etc., $474; furniture, $3,352; property not enumerated, $35,867; total valuation for 1879, $950,295.
RAILROADS .- The Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad enters the County near the middle of the eastern border, and is now in running order to Stromsburg, in the south-central part of the County. A branch line from this road has just been completed, from Arcadia, in this County, to Jackson, on the Union Pacific.
LANDS .- Improved lands range in price from $6 to $25 per acre. The Union Pacific Railroad Company owns some 25,000 acres in this County, the price ranging from $2 to $6 per acre.
POPULATION .- The following are the Precincts and population of each in 1879: Hackberry, 695; Canada, 608; Clear Creek, 339; Island, 269; Stromsburg, 746; Osceola, 807; Valley, 439; Pleas- ant Hill, 664; Platte, 456.
Total, 5,023-males, 2,725; females, 2,298. Increase in pop- ulation over 1878, 1,092.
OSCEOLA,
The County Seat, is located on the line of the Omaha & Republi- can Valley Railway, in the middle-eastern part of the County. It is pleasantly situated near the North Blue River, and contains about 700 inhabitants-its population having fully doubled within the past year, or since it has been made a railroad town. Business is flourishing, and is represented by a full line of stores, offices and shops. The Osceola Record, a weekly paper, is issued here.
The town site of Osceola was purchased and surveyed in June, 1872, by Wm. F. Kimmel and John H. Mickey. The Court House, completed in January, 1872, was the first building on the town site; the first store was opened by W. H. Waters. During the same year, a school house was erected, and the Methodist Episco- pal and Congregational Churches organized. The first child born in the town was Evan Mickey, on January 26, 1874.
STROMSBURG,
Located on the North Blue, in the south-central part of the County, is the present terminus of the Omaha & Republican Val-
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ley Railroad. It contains about 400 inhabitants, and is at present a very prosperous and brisk business place. The town site was surveyed in the summer of 1872, by Lewis Headstrom, who acted for the Stromsburg Town Company. The first building was erected in the fall of 1872. The Baptists organized a Society in 1873, and the Lutherans in 1874; both have neat Churches. The surrounding country is thickly settled by Swedes, who have some of the finest and largest farms in the County.
PLEASANT HOME, WAYLAND, CYCLONE, REDVILLE, and THORN- TON, are young towns, with stores, Postoffices, school house, etc.
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PHELPS COUNTY.
Phelps County was organized in 1873. It is located in the south-central part of the State, bounded on the north by the Platte River, east by Kearney, south by Harlan, and west by Gosper County, containing 500 square miles, or 320,000 acres.
Ninety per cent. of the area consists of undulating prairie. The bottoms of the Platte, extending. across the northern portion of the County, are from two to six miles wide. Several Creeks, tributaries of the Republican River, water the southern portion of the County, along which there are some fine bottom lands. Good water is obtainable on the prairies, at a depth of thirty to seventy feet. The soil is well adapted to the growth of small grain. No returns have been made of crops, timber, or fruit. The Platte River is spanned with bridges affording easy access to the shipping stations on the Union Pacific Railroad. There is still a large amount of good government land in this County. The Union Pacific Railroad Company own some 50,000 acres here, ranging in price from $2.50 to $5.00 per acre.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS .- Number of districts, ten; school houses, four; children of school age-males 195, females 150; total, 345; qualitied teachers employed, six; amount of wages paid teachers for the year, $387.50; value of school houses, $1,675.50; value of sites, $200; value of books, etc., $136.54.
TAXABLE PROPERTY .- Acres of land, 130,239; average value per acre, $1.88. Money used in merchandise, $1,505; money
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used in manufactures, $648; horses 496, value $19,315; mules 111, value, $5,948; neat cattle 916, value $12,255; sleep 190, value $197; swine 315, value $387; vehicles 248, value $5,723; moneys and credits, $3,673; furniture, $3,879; total valuation for 1879, $300,842.
The population of the County in 1879 was 1,275.
WILLIAMSBURGH,
The County Seat, is located on the Platte bottom, near the center of the County from east to west. It contains 250 inhabitants, the County Offices, a school house, good general stores, and a weekly newspaper.
HOPEVILLE and SHERWOOD are small villages located on the Platte bottom, in the eastern part of the County. ROCK FALLS is a new town established on Spring Creek, in the southwestern part of the County.
RICHARDSON COUNTY.
Richardson County, named in honor of Wm. A. Richardson, of Illinois, third territorial Governor, was created by proclamation of Acting Governor Cuming, in 1854, and re-organized by the first Territorial Legislature in the spring of 1855. It is located in the south-east corner of the State, bounded on the north by Nemaha County, east by the Missouri River, south by the State of Kansas, and west by Pawnee County, containing 550 square miles, or 352,- 000 acres.
WATER COURSES .- The County is finely watered by the Mis- souri and Great Nemaha Rivers and small streams. The Missouri washes the entire eastern border. The Nemaha flows in a general easterly direction through the southern portion of the County. The North Fork waters the northwestern townships, and the South Fork the southwestern portion of the County. The principal tributaries of the Nemahas are Pony, Walnut, Contrary, Wild Cat, Rattle Snake, Easley, Sardine, Deer, Half Breed, Rock, Long Branch and Muddy Creeks, the last two being fine large streams. Water-power is abundant.
CHARACTER OF THE LAND .- About fifteen per cent. is valley and bottom land, and the remainder rolling prairie, with a small
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per cent. bluff. The valley of the Nemaha is three miles wide on an average. Muddy Creek also has a beautiful valley extending through the central portion of the County, and wide sloping bot- toms are found along several of the other streams. Altogether Richardson is one of the finest and richest Counties in the State. The prairies have a deep rich soil, and there is but little waste land in the County.
CROPS .- Area under cultivation, 109,179 acres. Winter wheat, 4,756 acres, 89,637 bushels; spring wheat, 22,944 acres, 188,130 bushels; rye, 2,485 acres, 31,700 bushels; corn, 61,182 acres, 2,215,810 bushels; barley, 2,644 acres, 57,169 bushels; buck- wheat, 77 acres, 709 bushels; sorghum, 213 acres, 18,886 gallons; flax, five acres, forty-two bushels; broom corn, ten acres, three and, a half tons; millet, 240 acres, 195 tons; potatoes, 5522 acres, 45,- 167 bushels; onions, six and one eighth acres, 1,0853 bushels.
TIMBER .- This is one of the very best timbered Counties in the State, the streams being skirted with a heavy growth, and beautiful natural groves are frequently met with, while large thrifty domestic groves adorn every farm. The total number of forest trees planted is 2,827,816, or 14,742 acres ; hedging 9492 miles.
FRUIT .- Large orchards have been in bearing here for several. years past and fruit is now abundant. The following statement will show the number of trees in the County: Apple, 101,229; pear, 2,365; peach, 118,466; plum, 2,901; cherry, 13,944; grape vines, 13,618.
COAL is found in thin seams and is mined to some extent.
BUILDING MATERIAL .- Limestone and sandstone abound, and many fine quarries have been opened. Good brick and fire clays are plentiful.
HISTORICAL .-- The first settlement by whites in the County was in August, 1854, although Stephen Story, Charles Martin and F. X. Dupuis, white men who had intermarried with the Indians, came shortly before that time, and settled upon what has since been called the "Half Breed Tract." Story, still residing in the County, laid out, platted and surveyed the town of St. Stephen, which was up to 1865, a thriving village, but is now nearly vacated. Dupuis lived with the widow of the great Iowa Chief, "White Cloud," whose remains are interred in the Rulo Cemetery ..
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JOHNSON'S HISTORY OF NEBRASKA.
The first white settler outside of the "Half Breed Tract," was a man by the name of Level, who in the spring of 1854, dug a hole in the side of a hill near the townsite of ARCHER, and kept whiskey to sell to the Indians, until the Chiefs came in and emptied his whiskey barrel.
In the summer of 1854, Jesse Crook, Wm. G. Goolsby, John A. Singleton and J. C. Lincoln, passed through the County, mak- ing a survey, naming the streams, and taking elaims-Crook and Goolsby, near ARCHER, and Singleton and Lincoln, near SALEM, to which they returned with their families in the fall. They were soon followed by Isaac Crook and J. F. Harkendorff, who settled near ARCHER, John Crook and Win. Roberts near SALEM, and Thomas F. Brown and Wm. Withrow, who located in the west end of the County.
The County when first organized, comprised what is now known as Richardson, Pawnee and Jolinson Counties, there being but little settlement in the territory of the two last named Coun- ties, and they were detached and organized by themselves some two or three years later.
Richardson County, in 1855, consisted of two election Pre- cinets-SALEM and ARCHER.
The following is a list of the first County officers, as appointed by Governor Cumming, to wit: John (. Miller, County Judge; F. L. Goldsberry, Clerk; Louis Misplais, Treasurer; and - Mc- Mullin, Sheriff.
At the election in 1856, there were ninety-eight votes polled in the County.
The first Court was held at ARCHER, then the County Seat, in 1856, at Judge Miller's large log house, which served as Court House, jail, and tavern, all in one. Archer was then quite a busy little place, with two stores, two hotels, a blacksmith's shop and quite a number of dwellings.
At the election in 1857, there were 320 votes polled in the County, and the following County officers elected, to wit: W. II. Mann, Clerk; Isaac Crook, Treasurer; Samuel S. Keefer, Sheriff; and Joseph Yount, Arnet Roberts and George Coffman, County Commissioners. At the election in 1859, the election Preeinets
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were Rulo, St. Stephenson, Falls City, Salem, Spizer and Frank- lin; 800 votes were polled.
In the winter of 1857, the Half Breed Line was run, and the land east of it to the Missouri River, reserved by the U. S. Gov- ernment to be divided, 320 acres each, between certain Half Breeds or mixed Indians, according to the treaty of PRAIRIE DU CHEIN, WIs., made in 1831. Archer being supposed to be on the Half Breed Track, the County Seat was removed to SALEM in 1857, where it remained until 1860, when it was removed by Act of the Legislature to FALLS CITY, the present County Seat.
The first death in the County was that of the wife of Francis Purkett, who died in child-birth, near Archer, in the fall of 1854.
The first birth in the County was that of Frank Luchman, born near Archer, in the spring of 1855.
The first marriage in the County, was in May, 1855, at St. Stephen, between N. J. Sharp, Esq., and Miss Tramel (daughter of Esquire Tramel, afterwards Probate Judge of the County.)
The first saw mill run by water power was built in 1856, by Chas. Rouleau, Wm. Kencelear, E. Bedard, E. H. Johnson, E. Plant, and others, at the mouth of Muddy Creek where Thacker & Jones' grist mill now stands. The first steam saw mill run in the County was put up at Rulo, in the spring of 1858, by Israel May.
E. H. Johnson, residing at Rulo, was the first practical sur- veyor and engineer who came to the County. In the fall of 1856, Mr. Johnson surveyed the townsite of Rulo (named from Charles Rouleau, one of its proprietors) for Charles Martin, Charles Rouleau, Wm. Kencelear and Eli Bedard, proprietors of the town.
In 1858, the Rulo Western Guide, published by a man by the name of Barret, was commenced at Rulo, and also the Falls City Broad Axe, published at Falls City, by J. E. Burbank and S. R. Jamison, and these were the two first newspapers published in the County.
Dr. Whitmeyer, of St. Stephens, Dr. Johnson, and Dr. H. O. Hanna, of Falls Bity, John R. Brooks, of Salem, and A. Godfrey, of Rulo (the last now dead) were the first practicing physicians in the County.
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JOHNSON'S HISTORY OF NEBRASKA.
The first practicing attorneys in the County were IIon. E. S. Dundy, now U. S. District Judge for Nebraska, IIon. Isham Reavis, late U. S. Judge in Arizona, and Hon. Augustus Schoenheit, of Falls City; A. D. Kirk, and A. M. Acton (killed while a Col- onel in the Confederate army) of Rulo, and Hon. J. J. Marvin, of Falls City.
The oldest living explorer of this County, or of Nebraska, is a Frenchman named Zephyr Rencontre, now nearly one hundred years old, living at the White River Indian Agency, in Dakota Teritorry, as interpreter. He accompanied Lewis and Clark in their world famed tour of discovery to the Pacific Ocean, and pass- ed through Richardson County, to which he returned in a few years, and residing there for several years, drew land for his chil- dren as Half Breeds, from the Government.
Henri Gonlet, who came to the County in 1854, and laid out the town of Yankton, and Antoine Barrada, who first passed through the County in 1816, and from whom Barrada Precinct takes its name, are two of the old French pioneer settlers, who still live in the County.
In 1855 and 1856 the County was filled with wild game; gangs of fifteen or twenty deer could be seen any day, and wild turkeys and prairie chickens were abundant. In 1856, Wm. G. Goodsby, had during the winter, a cabin filled with venison which he had slaughtered himself, and gave away to his neighbors when they came after it.
The first sermon preached in Richardson County was in St. Stephen Precinct, two and a half miles south of St. Deroin, in the spring of 1855, by Rev. David Hart, a Methodist minister, now dead; the next sermon was delivered near Archer, in the summer of 1855, by Rev. L. D. Gage, also a Methodist.
There are at present from twenty-five to thirty Church build_ ings in the County, costing from $200 to $3,000, and upwards each.
In 1858, the greatest inundation ever known in the County took place, commencing on the 12th day of July, the rain falling for ten days and nights until the Nemaha and its tributaries burst over their banks and inundated all the bottom land in the County. The bridges upon all the streams were swept away, and Falls City
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JOHNSON'S HISTORY OF NEBRASKA.
left isolated and cut off from connection with the rest of the County, and the farmers and their families were compelled to leave their inundated homes, in skiff's or by swimming.
The two first murder trials in the County, were that of one Clifford, for the murder of a young man in his employ, and the suspected murder of his wife, and one Moran for the murder of Hudgins. These murders took place in 1858 and 1859,-and singularly enough, Hudgins, just before he was killed, was one of the Grand Jury who indicted Clifford; both murderers escaped, being found Not Guilty by the Juries who tried them.
A most remarkable change of weather occurred in the County in January or February of 1871-upon a Sunday morning. At ten o'clock, there being some little snow upon the roofs of the houses, the eaves were dripping; at half-past ten a dark cloud came up from the west, with a howling wind, and at eleven o'clock it was as dark as night, and the thermometer had sunk from 30 de- grees above zero, to 10 degrees below-a change of forty degrees in one half hour.
The first Court House in the County was built by subscription, at Falls City, in 1863, and cost $2,500, upon a block donated by Falls City to the County. The County jail was built in 1871, at a cost of $11,000. The present Court House was built upon the site of the old one and cost about $30,000.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS .- The first school in the County was taught near Archer, in the spring of 1856, by Mrs. Samuels. The present number of districts is ninety-five; school houses, ninety-four; children of school age, males, 3,073, females, 2,790, total, 5,863; total number that attended school during the year, 3,816; qualified teachers employed, males, fifty-six, females, sixty-five; wages paid teachers for the year, males, $9,275.45; females, $8,871.56; total, $18,147.21; value of school houses, $73,374.55; value of sites, $4,270; value of books and apparatus, $1,810.40.
TAXABLE PROPERTY .- Acres of land, 325,563; average value per acre, $4.70; value of town lots, $179,483; money invested in merchandise, $67,894; money used in manufactures, $8,193; horses, 7,221, value $171,830; mules and asses, 696, value $19,095; neat cattle, 18,091, valne $142,575; sheep, 3,162, value $2,390; swine, 34,690, value $25,206; vehicles. 2,195, value $30,519;
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JOHNSON'S HISTORY OF NEBRASKA.
inoneys and credits, $57,244; mortgages, $6,820; stocks, etc., $1,585; furniture, $32,790; libraries, $1,560; property not enu- merated, $65,837; railroads, $211,473.43; total valuation for 1879, $2,556,705.43.
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