History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 28

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742

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the old days had been regularly employed on the Missouri boats and it is to him we are in some measure indebted for first-hand information in regard to river traffic.

Gambling on the river boats in those days was by no means restricted and furnished means for amusement, which at times provided all the thrills which might be lacking from other sources, and all early accounts seem to agree that while the "plunger" was as common then as now, the stakes were as high or higher.

There were lines of boats which might be termed "through" boats destined to and from certain ports, scheduled for regular and direct service to and from those places only, while others had longer routes. The boats were run much as trains nowadays, in that there were "through" boats, and the local or "slow" boat, which might stop to pick up or discharge freight or passengers at every stop en route.

FIRST EFFORT IN BEHALF OF A RAILROAD.

First in importance of all the drawbacks of this new country as it was found by the pioneers, was the lack of adequate transportation facili- ties and the question of finding a remedy was one that occupied the minds of the people from the beginning. The first official action to be found looking toward the solution of this then weighty problem may be found in the territorial statutes, where is recorded the passage of an act by the Terri- torial Legislature, which was approved on November 4, 1858. This act was for the purpose of incorporating what was to be known as "The Missouri River & Nemaha Valley Railroad Company." Section I of this act named the following well-known pioneer business men and farmers as the incorporators and moving spirits in the enterprise : Francis .L. Goldsberry, Archer; Charles Martin, Rulo; Eli Bedard, Rulo; D. T. Easley, Rulo; B. F. Cunningham, Rulo; S. B. Miles: Joseph G. Ramsey; William Kenceleur, Rulo; A. C. Lierft, A. L. Currance, Joseph Yount, William P. Loan, St. Stephens ; William Goolsby, Archer; Jesse Crook, Archer ; Samuel Keiffer, J. Cass Lincoln, Salem; T. R. Hare, Salem; Arnett Roberts, Salem; J. Lebo, John A. Burbank, Falls City: Thomas J. Whitney, Christian Bobst, Cincin- nati; John Frice, F. F. Limming, H. N. Gere, J. P. Sutton, J. C. Peavy, E. W. Fowler, E. Jordan, and their successors and assigns. The objects of this act, as stated therein, "was to locate, construct and finally complete a railroad at, or as near as practicable, the junction of the Missouri and the Great Nemaha rivers, upon the most eligible route to Ft. Kearney,

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

there to unite with any railroad which may hereafter be constructed up the Valley of the Great Platte." The capital stock of the company was to consist of $3,000,000. This road did not materialize.

, FIRST LICENSED FERRY, AT ARAGO.

An act passed by the Legislature and approved on January 3, 1862, authorized H. W. Summerland and George Walther to keep a ferry across the Missouri river at Arago, Richardson county, Nebraska Territory. They were allowed to charge the following rates: For two horses, mules, oxen and wagon, 75 cents; for each extra pair, 25 cents; for each horse or mule and rider, 25 cents; for two horses or mules and buggy, 75 cents; for. one horse or mule and buggy, 50 cents; for each horse or mule led, 25 cents; for loose cattle per head, 10 cents; for hogs and sheep under the number of 10, each 5 cents; for over 10 and under 50, each 3 cents; for over 50, each I cent; for each footman, 10 cents; for each crate of freight, 5 cents, for lumber per hundred feet, $1.

NEMAHA RIVER FERRY.

A petition was presented to the commissioners court of Richardson county on April 3, 1860, praying that a ferry license be granted to Daniel Reavis to keep a ferry across the Great Nemaha river. The said petition was granted for the term of one year and the following rates for ferriage were affixed :

One pair of horses or yoke of oxen and wagon 25 cents

For each additional span of horses or oxen. IO cents

Man and horse IO cents

One horse and carriage

15 cents

One Footman 5 cents 1

Loose cattle per head 3 cents

Hogs and sheep per head 2 cents

The said Daniel Reavis to pay into the county treasury for said. license the sum of two dollars. In addition to the above ferriage fees fifty cents may be added when the river is more than two-thirds bank full.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

OVERLAND FREIGHTING.

There was no regular outfitting point for freighting in the early days in the confines of what is now Richardson county. Most of this kind of traffic, either passenger, freight or mail, was carried on from other points on the river, notably from Atchison, Kansas, and Brownville or Nebraska City, in this state. Atchison was the principal point and was chosen as an outfitting point for most of the Salt Lake freighters, because it had one of the best steamboat landings on the river, and the country lying west made possible the best wagon road in the country.

Twenty-four miles west of Atchison this road was intersected by an old overland mail trail from St. Joseph. Leavenworth also had a road west, over which was planned to run the Pike's Peak express stages in the spring of 1859. During the period of overland freighting on the plains more trains left Atchison than at any other point on the river.

The cost of shipping merchandise to Denver was very high, as every- thing was carried by the pound rather than the hundred pounds. Flour, bacon, molasses, whiskey, furniture and trunks were carried at pound rates. The rates per pound on merchandise shipped by ox or mule wagons to Denver, prior to 1860, were as follow: Flour, 9 cents; tobacco, 121/2 cents; sugar, 131/2 cents; bacon, 15 cents; dry goods, 15 cents ; crackers, 17 cents; whiskey, 18 cents; groceries, 191/2 cents ; trunks, 25 cents; furni- ture, 31 cents.

It has been said by those who witnessed the tremendous overland traffic of the late fifties and early sixties, that the people of this generation can form no conception of the enormous amount of traffic overland there was in those days. Trains were being constantly outfitted, not only at Atchison, but at all points on the river. Twenty-one days were about the time required for a span of horses or mules to make the trip to Denver and keep the stock in good condition. It required five weeks for ox trains to make the same distance, and to Salt Lake, horses and mules were about six weeks making the trip, and ox trains were on the road sixty-five or seventy days. It was the ox upon which mankind depended in those days to carry on the commerce of the plains. They were the surest and safest for hauling the large part of the freight destined for the towns and military camps pr garrisons of the frontier. Next in importance to the ox, was the mule, because they were tough and reliable and could endure fatigue. The year ofushing do one of the big years of freighting across the plains. [1] ose parties 10 129.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

It was not unusual to see a number of steamboats lying at the levees discharging freight, while as many more were in sight either going up the river from St. Louis or down from St. Joseph. It was very common for boats to be loaded at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Cincinnati, Ohio, destined for Kansas and Nebraska points and not unusual to see these boats loaded with wagons, ox yokes, mining machinery, boilers, and other material neces- sary for the immense trade in the West.

A very large part of this traffic West from river points was over what was known as military roads along the south bank of the Platte. On these roads could be seen six or eight yoke of cattle hauling heavily loaded wagons and strings of four or six horse, or mule teams. These formed an almost endless procession.

BRISKEST PERIOD OF OVERLAND TRADE.

The liveliest period of overland trade extended from 1859 until after the war in 1865, during which time there was on the plains and in the mountains, an estimated floating population of two hundred and fifty thou- sand. The greatest majority of people on the plains produced but few of the necessities of life, and consequently they must be supplied from the river points. During the closing year of the Civil War, the travel was immense, most of the immigration being lured to the mining camps of the West and Northwest.

Those trails had been used during the Great Mormon exodus to Salt Lake and by the California forty-niners, in their dash for the fascinating gold fields. By this time people were beginning to stop in Nebraska and stake out claims, and to become residents. Among the early-day freighters and mail contractors and carriers were Col. Stephen B. Miles, later a mil- lionaire resident of this county and his able assistant, Joel T. Jones, and . Francis Withee, a freighter, and others. Colonel Miles and his men car- ried mail from St. Louis to Salt Lake and their experiences. if reduced to the printed page, would make a good sized volume in itself.

In the vicinity of Sabetha, Kansas, are many graves of travelers, over the Santa Fe and California trails, who, unable to survive the hardships of the trip, died and were buried with scant ceremony. In the woods surrounding Sabetha were many wild plum trees. When the body of a forty-niner was buried, the rest of the train would sit around the while and eat plums. As a result a small plum thicket grew up around ever-nie of T11 the early-day graves. A well-known resident of that section 111

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

a distance of sixteen miles from Sabetha, he has counted thirteen of such graves, all of them being directly on the old trail, which has now become a highway. A few graves are scattered on adjacent farms. A famous one is on the farm of Matthias Strahm, near Sabetha, which is called the McCloud grave. McCloud was returning from California, when he was followed and struck down by an enemy. It was afterward learned that McCloud was not the party sought by his murderer.

OVERLAND TRAIN DESCRIBED.

A regular train consisted of from forty to sixty wagons, each wagon drawn by six or seven yoke of oxen. The driver of each team outfit walked beside the wagon. The wagon boss rode on a pony and took great privilege with the king's English. Each driver carried a whip over his shoulder when not in use. The lashes on the whips were fifteen feet long. On either side of the trails, for many years after the wagon travel ceased, could be discerned plainly the footpaths made by these drivers. The regular gov- ernment trains passed over the roads every two weeks; in addition there was a multitude of individual freighters. The great trails were sixty feet wide and perfectly smooth. There were from five hundred to one thousand tons in a train of fifty or sixty wagons. When the wagon hoss had secured a camping place, the lead team made a circle: then the next team stopped the front wheel against the front one's hind wheel, and so on until the forty or sixty wagons were in a circle with an opening of only a rod or two to leave the highway clear. At night the oxen were unyoked and turned loose to graze, and regularly employed herders looked after then until morning. The hind wheels of the wagons were as high as a man's head, while the front wheels were no higher than those in use on wagons of the present day. The tires of the wheels were four inches wide.

If there had been nothing other to lure people into the West in the early days, there was the ever recurring stories of gold to be found in the Western mountain slopes and these stories became greatly magnified as they traveled Eastward. The press, too, of those days, was not adverse to "playing up" the stories and the result was a rush to the mountains. Such a rush occurred in 1859 when the great Pike's Peak excitement was on. There was a continuous stream of people, some of whom appeared in grotesque equipment. Men were on the trail with packs on their backs, some pushing carts, and others using every conceivable means of conveyance. In these parties every man had a pick, spade and pan to be used in getting his

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share of the coveted gold. On one occasion during this great rush to Pike's Peak when the wagons had reached Julesburg, ninety miles from Denver, some Irishmen were met who had gone out the previous year, but were now returning empty-handed. They declared that there was no gold to be found, that the stories circulated to the contrary were all humbug. This statement caused a stampede Eastward again. Men on this trip declare that they do not believe that there was a spot of ground on the trail for fifty miles that did not show where a wagon had turned around and headed Eastward.

This trail is now marked as the Rock Island highway. with the poles painted with a ring of white and, where wagons with four to six inch tires, heavy laden, were drawn by fourteen long-eared oxen at a gait ap- proximating not more than two miles per hour. It is now a national high- way for the high-powered auto in the hands of the tourists, who may speed along at forty or fifty miles per houh and negotiate the distance to Pikes Peak in a couple or three days.

A few of the pioneer freighters still living can recall the gathering of these immense trains of fifty or sixty wagons, ten to sixteen horses to the wagon, as they would go into camp on the prairie for the night. The big circle was made, fires built, horses, oxen or mules tied to the wagon wheels or turned loose for the night while the party gathered under the starry canopy of the heavens, to indulge in story or song and the few straggling settlers of that day, drawn by the spectacle, would hover on the outskirts, thrilled by the adventures of the traveler pilgrims who had braved the desert, plain and Indian in quest of gold.

In 1861 a daily overland mail and stage line was established from the river points west to the Pacific coast and with the exception of but a few weeks in 1862-64-65, on account of the Indian uprisings, the service was continuous for more than five years.

OVERLAND FARES.

The distance by the overland stage line from AAtchison to Placerville was 1,913 miles, and was the longest and most important stage line in America. There were 153 stations between the above points, located about twelve and one-half miles apart. The local fare was $225, or about twelve cents per mile, and as high as $2,000 was frequently taken in at the Atchison office for fare alone. The fare between the river points and Denver was $75. or a little over 8 cents per mile. and to Salt Lake City, $150. Local fares ran as high as fifteen cents per mile. Each passenger was allowed twenty-

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

five pounds baggage, and all in excess of that amount was charged for at the rate of $1 per pound. During the war the fares ran as high as $100 and $175, or nearly 27 cents per mile.

It required 2,750 horses and mules to run the stage line between Atchison and Placerville. It required, in addition to the regular supply of horses to operate the stage lines, some additional animals for emergencies, and it was calculated that the total cost of the horses on this stage line was about $500,000. The harness used was the finest that could be made, and cost about $150 for a complete set of four, or about $55,000 for the whole line. The feeding of the stock was one of the big items of expense, and there were annually consumed at each station from forty to eighty tons of hay, at a cost of $15 to $40 dollars per ton. Each animal was apportioned an average of twelve quarts of corn per day, which cost from 2 to 10 cents per pound. On the Salt Lake and California divisions, oats and barley, grown in Utah, was substituted for corn, but cost about the same.

The stage coaches used by those lines were manufactured at Concord, New Hampshire, and their quality made them famous wherever stages were used. They were built to accommodate nine passengers inside, and one or two could ride on the box with the driver. Some of the stages were built with an extra seat above and in the rear of the driver, so that three addi- tional persons could ride there, making fourteen, with the driver. and some times an extra man would be crowded on the box, making as many as fifteen persons who could ride on the Concord coach without very much incon- venience.

The coaches cost about $1,000 each. and the company owned about 100 of them; besides which they were financially interested in about one-half of the stations, in addition to thousands of dollars worth of miscellaneous property, at different places on the lines. There was a crew of superintendents, general and local attorneys, paymasters and division agents, all of whom drew large salaries.

Those were the greatest stage lines the Western world has ever known, carrying passengers, mail and express. They were also regarded as the safest and most rapid means of transit across the plains and mountain ranges. The investment in the undertaking was huge and the cost of main- tenance. like that of the railways of later days, gigantic, and the receipts at the time seemed in keeping with the bigness of the enterprise, yet the great loss soon to be sustained by those thus engaged with the coming

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of the railroad left many of them almost paupers, as their loss was enorm- ous, the property being rendered practically worthless.

The Oregon trail was the best known of the trails in Nebraska and the first. It commenced at Independence, a small town just east of the present site of Kansas City, Missouri, and cutting across the northeast corner of Kansas, struck the Nebraska state line near the dividing line between Gage and Jefferson counties. The beginning of this trail in Nebraska was made in 1813 by a party returning from the mouth of the Columbia river. This party left no trail that might be followed, but their coming opened up the way for others who traversed the ground later from both directions.

Father DeSmet, who knew the trail well and had traversed it, had the following to say in describing a trip made with a company of Indians in 1851: "Our Indian companions, who had never seen but the narrow hunting paths by which they transport themselves and their lodges, were filled with admiration on seeing this noble highway, which is as smooth as a barn floor swept by the winds, and not a blade of grass can shoot up on it on account of the continual passing. They conceived a high idea of the countless white nations. They fancied that all had gone over that road and that an immense void must exist in the land of the rising sun. They styled the route the 'Great Medicine Road of the Whites."" Some of the wagon trains on these trails were fifty miles long.

THE COMING OF TIIE RAILROADS.

During the early settlement of the county, and in fact, until more re- cent years, many projects and schemes were formed for the building of railroads across the county, and several were built-on paper-that have never to this day materialized. Among those were the St. Louis & Nebraska Trunk railway. This road was to run northwest from Rulo, passing through Rulo, Arago and St. Stephens precincts, and on to Brownville and north to Omaha. For the building of this railroad the people were to issue to the railroad company $60,800 in bonds. The election to vote on the proposition to issue the bonds was called for July 6, 1872. at which time the proposition was defeated, and the road was never built. In the fall of 1875, what was then known as the Midland Pacific railway. by some, and by others, the Falls City, Brownville & Fort Kearney railway, was projected. This road was to run from Falls City to Nemaha City, and from there to Brownville and Nebraska City. In order to help the project along, Falls City voted $70,000 and Muddy precinct. $12,000, and

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grading was commenced. During the grading of the bed, however, dissatis- fied parties got into courts and the courts decided that the precincts had no right to issue the bonds. Those of Falls City were destroyed in open court by Judge Weaver, but the ones issued by Muddy precinct, for some reason, were declared legal and had to be paid. The grading, however, was all that was ever done to the road, part of which remains to this day.

Prior to either one of these projects, however, there were a few men in Falls City, who, looking down through the years, could discern the magnitude and development of the agricultural and shipping interests of the county, well believing that so grand a producing county should have a more rapid system of transportation for its productions than that offered by the boats on the Missouri river, conceived the idea of building a road from Atchison to Falls City, and to continue from here up the valleys along the Nemaha with its objective point the city of Lincoln. A company was formed for this purpose, with the following officers: John Lorce, president; F. A. Tisdell, treasurer : J. F. Gardner, secretary ; Isham Reavis, attorney; with the following board of directors: John Loree, August Schoenheit, Daniel Reavis, Edward S. Towle, F. A. Tisdell, D. T. Brinegar and W. G. Sargent. The road was to be called the Nemaha Valley, Lincoln & Loup Fork railway. The building of the Atchison & Nebraska rail- road, however, "filled a long felt want" and the company was disbanded. without doing other business.

MOST IMPORTANT EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF COUNTY.

Without doubt the most momentous event in the history of Richardson county, the one which forever secured its future, which sped up its de- velopment and brought a high tide of immigration, extended its commercial activity, increased the selling value of every foot of real estate within its borders, and opened up new homes for thousands of people, who until then had been awaiting its completion, was the railroad.

It is not necessary here to recite of the years of patient waiting and hardships incident to the isolation that had gone before, or to dilate upon the energy expended by those who had fought and worked to bring about the building of the various roads, which had been proposed, but never built, and the consequent disappointment of many connected therewith. It is rather for us to tell of the road that was built-the glorious consummation of years of desire among the then pioneers. They did their part the while ; what they did do did not bring the roads they had hoped to see, nor through

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the territory they had hoped a road would follow, yet the sum total of all the agitation did succeed in interesting capital in the building of a road and that was what the people really wanted.

The first road to enter this part of the state and the one directly in- teresting to us, was what was then known as the Atchison & Nebraska rail- road, connecting southeastern Nebraska with Atchison, Leavenworth, and Kansas City, which cities at the time were already connected by rail with Mississippi river points and the East. The road is now known as a part of the Burlington & Missouri, or Chicago, Burlington & Quincy branch of the Northern Pacific system.

The Atchison & Nebraska was one of the famous "Joy" roads and was owned and controlled in Boston, Massachusetts; all of the directors, except James F. Joy, Detroit, Michigan, and Col. P. T. Abell. of Atchison, Kansas, were of Boston. This important line of railroad was projected by Atchison citizens in 1868, Col. P. T. Abell being the prime mover. Atchi- son county voted $150,000 in bonds, Doniphan county, $200,000, in aid of the building of the road. These bonds were expended in grading the line from Atchison to Nebraska-Kansas state line, thirty-eight miles. Brown & Bier, of Atchison, were contractors and built the road north to the state line.

Every county along the entire line voted bonds in aid of this great enterprise. In 1870 the road and its franchise were transferred to Hon. James F. Joy, who immediately organized a new company. Hon. G. W. Glick, of Atchison, was elected president of the first organization, which position he filled with ability for several months, after it had passed into the hands of Mr. Joy, when he resigned, and Col. P. T. Abell was duly installed as president of the road. Colonel Abell discharged the duties of president with distinguished ability. He was a thorough railroad man and an able legislator, and did as much, if not more, for the organization, and building of railroads than any man in northern Kansas. His best years were spent in laboring for the railroad interests of Kansas and Nebraska.

Soon after the franchise was transferred to Mr. Joy, Col. O. Chanute was appointed chief engineer, Maj. F. R. Firth, resident engineer and acting superintendent, but Colonel Chanute was soon appointed superintendent of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad, and Major Firth received an appointment as chief engineer of the Atchison & Nebraska railroad. Al- though Major Firth was not yet twenty-five years of age, he manifested ability of one twice his years. E. B. Couch was appointed cashier, and Henry Deitz, supply agent, both excellent appointments. Soon after the

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 28

Author: Edwards, Lewis C Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1742

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742