History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 63

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

USA > Nebraska > Richardson County > History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions > Part 63

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653

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

PIONEERS CAPTURE MONSTER CATFISH.

The Mormons of Utah erected a monument to the memory of the sea gulls on the temple grounds at Salt Lake City. So far as is known this is the only monument in the world which has been. dedicated to such a purpose and the reasons for building such a monument takes one back to the pioneer days of the settlement of the Mormon state. The crops planted by the early Mormons were threatened with extinction by a pest of insects, grasshoppers probably, and great flocks of sea gulls attacked them and ate the pests so fast that enough of the crops were saved and the Utah pioneers were thus enabled to sustain themselves while building up their state.

A parallel to this is to be found in the early history of Richardson com- ty. whereby the streams furnished sustenance to the early pioneers. A monu- ment could be erected to the memory of the vanished game which abounded in the wooded portions and on the plains of southeastern Nebraska. The succu- lent catfish should be given the credit for playing a great and important part in keeping alive the families of the pioneers. The catfish was not only a staple article of food for the pioneers, but the oil extracted from his flesh furnished light for the old-fashioned lamps used in the pioneer homes.

William E. Slagle, a pioneer of Barada, whose father and grandfather settled in this county as early as 1859. is authority for the statement that the pioneers used the oil from the catfish caught in the Missouri river for illum- inating purposes. He is also authority for a very interesting fish story, which is without a parallel, and tells of the great size of the catfish caught in those early days when the great river and streams swarmed with fish and the woods abounded in game. Mr. Slagle says :

Hiram Slagle, my father, could not have lived in Richardson county and supported his family had it not been for the abundance of wild game and fish. Every few days he would go hunting and lay in a supply of venison, wild geese and ducks, which were very plentiful. The young people living nowadays cannot imagine how the early pioneers lived in this county in the most meager and primitive manner. For three years after settling in the timber we had no cook stove in our rude cabin. Mother cooked johny- enke on a skillet laid on the hot coals of the fireplace.

She also made flapjacks in a larger skillet, laid flat on the hot coals. Our boiled dinners were cooked in a large kettle suspended from iron rods directly over a roaring fire. Father did not own a cookstove until I was about three years old, when he managed to buy one at a sale of some settler's household effects.

We used the old-style grease lamps, filled with oil obtained from rendering the flesh from catfish caught in the Missouri river. Many of the fish caught by the early settlers were of large size. Father caught a great many on trot lines baited with frogs and minnows. One Sunday when a camp-meeting was in progress up the river aways,

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

a steamboat had passed, going up the river, and father concluded, in the afternoon. it was a good time to take a look at his fish lines. it being the case that catfish seemed to "bite" better after a steamer had passed, rather than at any other time. Upon attempting to haul in the line he found it to be more than he could possibly handle alone, and he returned to shore, where he secured the assistance of two other men. The three men went out to where the lines were stretched and father hauled in an immense fish while the other two men held down the opposite side of the boat to keep it from capsizing, on account of the weight of the monster fish. Large gaff hooks were necessary to haul the fish into the boat. After some difficulty the big fish was landed on the shore; father took a stake from a stake-and-rider fence, thrust the stake through the gills of the fish which was then carried on the shoulders of the two men, the monster's tail dragging on the ground. This great fish actually measured nine inches between the gills. Father had no scales with which to weigh his catch, but after it was dressed he managed to weigh the meat with his hand steel-yards and found that the weight of the meat alone was a little more than one hundred pounds.

TRULY A IIUNTER'S PARADISE.

Charles Loree is authority for further information concerning the great value of the catfish as a means of assisting the early pioneers in maintaining body and soul together. The catfish oil was rendered in a typical pioneer manner. The flesh of the fish was cut up and placed in a large-mouthed glass jar, or bottle ; a cord tied around the neck of the bottle and the bottle, with its contents, hung up in a tree so that it would be fully exposed to the heat of the sun. The heat would gradually fry out the oil from the flesh of the fish and a very pure product would be the result. The oil was used for a variety of purposes such as to grease the boots of the entire family, oiling or greasing the harness, and to oil the gun locks: the oil also being considered a fine specifie for rheumatism and sore throat.

Southeastern Nebraska of the sixties and early seventies was truly a hunter's paradise. Wild geese and ducks abounded in the ponds and lakes of the Nemaha valley. Mr. Loree states that the valley land of the Nemaha was at that time a succession of small lakes and ponds and millions of ducks and geese frequented the waters and it was an easy task to kill any number, run- ning into the hundreds; the birds were so plentiful and tame that they could be caught or killed without difficulty. Herds of deer and antelope fed on the higher ground and venison was a staple article of meat in every home. The number of prairie chickens were countless, as were quail. Everybody wore fur caps and coats made from the skins of wild animals killed on hunting forays. In the early seventies, as the country began to be settled up the

655

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

game also became less plentiful and gradually disappeared before the advanc- ing hosts of civilization. As grain crops were grown and grain fields became more extensive the squirrels made their appearance, feeding on the grain. and have ever since remained.

PORK PACKING IN ARAGO IN 1870. By L. Allegewahr, 1878.

I think that the development of the agricultural resources of this county cannot be explained in any shorter or more definite way than by stating the actual amount of stock raised yearly for market, and as I am desirous that the people of Richardson county should know the facts by which I judge of the present development of our county and its future prospects, I give you the following statistics of my pork-packing business.

Seven years ago [prior to 1870] I commenced packing pork in Arago. on a small scale. Hogs were then scarce, and of a very poor breed-hardly any susceptible improvement took place until about three years ago [prior to 1870] when I was agreeably surprised at the improvement of the breed, and consequently the weight, in comparison with former years. This season [1870] the quality and quantity of hogs was a great and surprising improve- ment on last year and the year before that, and I believe the quality was as good as can be found in any section of the West, and the quantity as large, in proportion to population, as in any other county west of the Mississippi. During former years the yield of hogs in this county was from 500 to 1,000 . head-this year I salted 2,500 head (independent of the hogs I bought in Missouri and packed in St. Joseph), which averaged 228 pounds net, which . is a better average than I have seen or heard of from any other source. To this number may be added 500 hogs sold in Aspinwall ( Nemaha county ). and 500 more, packed by the farmers themselves, making in the total 3.500 hogs fattened in this county. Taking the average weight of the hogs packed by me, 228 pounds, at 9 cents per pound, this county has realized from the hogs prepared for market, $70,875. This is an increase of at least 500 per cent. in hogs in value. For the encouragement of our farmers to improve their stock, last fall I offered and awarded the following premiums: $20.00 to the person having the ten best hogs, $10.00 to the 6 best hogs, and $5.00 to the person having the best hog :

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RICHIARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Herman Tiehen, 10 hogs, 3,306 pounds. $20.00

J. R. Wilkes, 6 hogs, 2,433 pounds 10.00

J. R. Wilkes, I hog, 540 pounds. 5.00

M. Rhine, had 10 hogs weighing 3,264 pounds.

F. Kitsh had 10 hogs, 3.127 pounds.

L. Ribbe, 10 hogs, weighing 3,035 pounds.

I. Kloepfel, 10 hogs weighing 2,282 pounds. All net weight.

These hogs were principally Chester and Suffolk, mixed with the old stock. J. R. Wilkes, Esq., deserves credit for the importation of the pure Chester White. The old stock is about extinct, and next fall, our stock will undoubtedly by an improvement upon the last crop. I am of the opinion that the raising of hogs will pay better than anything else in this country. and I advise and solicit our farmers to pay particular attention to the improvement of the stock of hogs, and the raising and fattening of them for market.

We have at this time as good a quality of horses, cattle and hogs, as can be found in any section of the country, and we have the grass, hay and grain to feed them, and feed them well. And the united efforts by our farmers to improve the stock, and to raise enough to consume the grain at home, with proper attention to shelter and food, will cover every hill with a drove of good cattle and horses, and the barnyard with plenty of fine fat hogs. Then welcome prosperity will be visible at every farm and enjoyed by every occu- pant.

NEBRASKA BOUNDARIES.

Nebraska takes its name from the Nebraska river, generally known as the Platte. The word is of Indian origin and signifies "shallow water." The earliest recorded exploration of the region now constituting Nebraska was made in 1739 when Frenchmen followed the Platte to its forks in the West. In 1804 the United States government expedition under Lewis and Clark passed up the Missouri river, which forms the eastern and northeastern boundary of the state. returning in 1806. The first settlement was made in 1807, when Emanuel Lista, a French fur trader, built Ft. Lista, near the present site of Ft. Calhoun. Other trading posts, as well as military posts, were established from time to time, but very few settlers came to this region until about the middle of the century.

The area now known as Nebraska was originally a part of the vast

657

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Louisiana region, which was ceded by France to Spain in 1792, receded to France in 1800, and purchased by the United States in 1803. The area now forming the state belonged successively to the District of Louisiana ( 1804- 05), the Territory of Louisiana ( 1805-12), the Territory of Missouri ( 1812- 34), and the "Indian Country" (1834-54).

In 1854 the Territory of Nebraska was organized from the section of the Indian Country lying between the fortieth and forty-ninth parallels and extending from the Rocky mountains to the Missouri and White Earth rivers. It thus included, in addition to the area of the present state, territory now forming portions of North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colo- rado. In 1861 the area of Nebraska was greatly reduced by the organization of Dakota Territory, which extended westward to the Rocky mountains, and of the Colorado Territory, in which was included what had been the southwestern corner of Nebraska. In the same year, however, territory was added to Nebraska by the extension of the western boundary to the thirty- third meridian from Washington (approximately the 110th from Greenwich ). In 1863 Idaho Territory was organized, with boundaries including that part of Nebraska lying west of the twenty-seventh meridian from Washington (approximately the one hundred and fourth from Greenwich) and the Terri- tory of Nebraska was left with substantially the same limits as those of the , present state.

In March, 1867, Nebraska was admitted into the Union. In 1882 a small tract of land, formerly a part of Dakota, lying south of the forty-third parallel and between the Keya Paha and Missouri rivers, was added to Nebraska, since which time there have been no changes in the boundaries of the state.

POPULATION OF THE STATE.

The population of the state in 1910 was placed at 1, 192,214. Compared with the population of 1,066,300 in 1900, this represented an increase during the decade of 125,914, or 11.8 per cent. During the same period the total population of the continental United States increased twenty-one per cent. The rate of increase for the population of the state during the preceding decade, 1890-1900, was only three-tenths of one per cent.

Nebraska was organized in 1854 and was enumerated separately for the first time at the federal census of 1860. During the thirty years from 1860 to 1890 the growth of Nebraska was very rapid, although some doubt has been cast on the accuracy of the returns of 1890. The population of the state

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658

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

increased more than four-fold during the decade of 1860-70, about three and two-third times during the decade 1870-80, and a little more than two and one-third during the decade 1880-90. The absolute increase for this thirty- year period was 1,033,815. During the twenty years since 1890 the popu- tation of the state, according to the census, has increased 129.558, or only 12.2 per cent.

During every decade from 1860 to 1890 the rates of increase for the state were very much higher than the rate of increase for continental United States, the population of the state being more than thirty-six times greater in 1890 than it was in 1860, while that of continental United States had about doubled. Since 1890, however, the population of the United States las increased much more rapidly than that of Nebraska, the rate of increase for the country as a whole during this period being 46.1 per cent., as against 12.2 per cent. for the state.

Nebraska has ninety-two counties. The population of these counties range from 981 in Hooker county, to 168,546 in Douglas county.

The total land area of the state is 76,808 square miles. The average . number of persons to the square mile in 1910 was 15.5: in 1900 and 1890 it was 13.9 and 13.8, respectively. The average number per square mile for continental United States, as a whole, in 1910 was 30.9. The density of pop- ulation of Richardson county is 26 per square mile.

ASSESSABLE WEALTH OF RICHARDSON COUNTY IN 1916.

The aggregate assessable wealth of Richardson county ( 1916) is divided among the towns and townships of the county as follows :

Townships.

Personal

Real Estate

Total $1.524,660

Speiser

$249.570

$1.275.150

Humboldt

327,980

1,389,140

1,717,120

Franklin

296.355

1,695.775

1,992,130

Nemaha

144,095

1.472,850

1,616.945

Grant

+36.365

1,522,125

1,958.490

Porter

435,810

1,672,580

2,108,390

Salem

293,600

1,254.370

1,547.970

Liberty

391,920

1,684.705

2,076,625

East Muddy

238.750

854,150

1,092,900

Muddy ( West)

186,920

827.465

1,014.385

Falls City

359.265

1.752,865

2,112.130

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

659

Townships.

Personal

Real Estate

Total

Ohio

503,855

1,624,295

2,138,150

Barada

619,225

2,129,190

2,748,415

Jefferson

360.345

I,III.785

1,472,130

Rulo

374-555

918,595

1,293.150

Arago

151,625

1,510,030

1,661.655

Total

$28.075.245

Towns

Preston

$ 24.035

$ 29,225

$ 53.260

Barada

53,225

32,500

85.755

Falls City

1,371,415

2,554,115

3.925.530

Humboldt

423,070

676.470

1.099.540

Rulo

117,675

169,1IO

286.785

Salem

134,560

113.325

248,885

Stella

269.565

228,085

497,650

Verdon

182.745

171,210

353.945

Dawson

169,180

166,185

335-365

Shubert

182,170

163,860

346,030

(irand total

$35.308.000

Livestock

Average per head

Horses

$80.00

Cattle

49.82

Mules

84.20

Sheep

6.28

Hogs

15.48

MORTGAGE INDEBTEDNESS RECORD.

The report of the register of deeds for January 1, 1915, showed that there were filed for record during the year just past 306 farm mortgages to the amount of $1,065,578.81, of which 251, aggregating $832,225.39 had been satisfied, with but one proceeding in foreclosure; town and city mort- gages filed, 205, to the amount of $199.622.38, of which, 135 had been satis- fied, aggregating $113,298.05, with eight foreclosures chattel mortgages. 504 to the amount of $308,041.74, of which 261 were satisfied, aggregating $164.922.03.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

1916-Farm mortgages, 299, to the amount of $1,661,740.29, of whichi 253 had been satisfied, aggregating $747.329.92; town and city, 169, amount- ing to $154.984.27, with 167 satisfactions aggregating $148.436.39-fore- closures, six : chattel, 574, amounting to $404.569.42, with 341 satisfactions aggregating $284,020.63.

1917-Farm mortgages, 281, to the amount of $1, 113.775-74. of which 278 were satisfied to the aggregate of $905.778.94. with one proceeding in foreclosure ; town and city, 173. to the amount of $191.538.69, of which 143 were satisfied to the aggregate of $121,750.09. with twelve proceeding's in foreclosure ; chattel. 645. to the amount of $527,027.35. of which 355 were satisfied to the aggregate amount of $329.094.84.

GLOWING TRIBUTE TO NEBRASKA. By C. F. Reavis.

Perhaps I am biased because I was born there, but to me Nebraska does not mean just a part of God's footstool that has been bounded and mapped and given a name. The real Nebraska is not to be expressed in fer- tile fields and wide reaches of land. If all that you know of Nebraska can be told in bushels of grain and numbers of live stock; if the Nebraska within your heart is a thing exclusively of dollars and cents, then you do not know the Nebraska that I know, nor do you love the Nebraska that I love.

The real Nebraska is an environment, an atmosphere, within which are being reared a manhood and womanhood as fine and sweet and wholesome as the unpolluted streams of the mountain. True, the fields and the valleys, the grain and the stock are essential to the product, but they are the means-not the end.

You ask me for a tribute to Nebraska. What greater one can I give than the men and the women of its yesterday who builded for today, unless it be the men and women of today who, with earnest purpose and clean hearts. unsoiled by intimate contact with the idleness and profligacy of our time, build for the security, for the tomorrow of the republic and the race.

They are the state.

Congressman C. F. Reavis was born in Falls City on September 5. 1870. and at present (1917) is serving his second term as representative in Congress from the first Nebraska congressional district, which includes Richardson, Pawnee, Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe, Cass and Lancaster counties.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

RICHARDSON COUNTY'S PART IN IMPEACHMENT OF GOVERNOR BUTLER.

Nebraska's first experience with a governor of the people's choice, after being admitted into the Union as a sovereign state, was one long to be remem- bered. There were usual opportunities to play to favorites in the location of the state capitol and the public institutions, in the handling of the school funds and the leasing of the school lands. The settlers were of pioneer stock, nearly all were poor but were willing to get ahead in the world and kept an eye open for the main chance. The politicians especially never let opportunity knock at their door, but went out in the road to give her the glad hand and save her that much trouble, but they were ready to knock on one another, for there was not room nor places and honors and salaries enough to go round. Prosperity was not as pronounced then as now and office-seeking filled many with a consuming desire. Butler's first term had not expired before backbit- ers, traducers and jealous politicians began to assail his record and question his integrity. Politically, Richardson county was a strong factor in public affairs at that time. Her public men were strong characters and have left all imprint on the history of the state. One of them has told the story of the inception of the impeachment proceedings. Cunningham, Dundy and Fulton are well remembered by all the citizens of this county whose residence ante- dates 1880. The following story appears in a volume of Nebraska history recently published.

Ebenezer E. Cunningham in the following letter to the editor of . Falls City Journal, dated at San Francisco. January 6, 1905, throws additional light on this most turbulent period of the state's history.

I enclose a serap of paper which has remained in my keeping for thirty-four years. It is in the well-known hand-writing of the late Judge E. S. Dundy, and was the first move made in proceedings which ended in impeachment and removal from office of the state of Nebraska's first governor. As its history has never been told and may prove of interest I will relate it.

Throughout the summer of 1870, and prior to the meeting of the Republican state convention, charges of fraud and speculation were made daily by the Roman Herald, and other Democratic papers, against Gov. David Butler and his associates in the board of commissioners, in connection with loaning school funds and the sale of Lincoln lots, and contracts for erecting public buildings at the new state capital. These charges were believed by many Democratic citizens, and by not a few Republicans, and of the number who feared the charges might prove true were Judge Dundy and the writer.

Judge Dundy and myself were chosen as delegates to represent Richardson county at the Republican state convention of 1870, which met in the new capital building at Lincoln. Governor Butler was a candidate before the convention for re-nomination and his principal competitor was Col. Robt. W. Furnas, of Nemaha county. At that time the people of Richardson and Nemaha counties were straining every nerve to

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

seenre a railroad. The Richardson county people were bitterly opposed to F'urnas, believing his success would prove fatal to a railroad through Richardson county.

When the state convention assembled Dandy and I were the only delegates who attended, and we held the proxies of the other delegates from Richardson. We did not feel at liberty to support Furnas, on account of local interests and feeling, and we feared to see Butler renominated. therefore we cast the vote of Richardson county for Samuel Maxwell, of Cass county. After several ballots without a choice. Maxwell's strength began to fall away. some votes going to Furnas and some to Butler. Finally Dundy and I were reduced to the extremity of choosing between the two leading candidates, and we cast Richardson's vote for Butler, nominating bim. When the convention adjourned the Judge and I returned to the Tichenor House filled with gloom over the victory we had helped to win.

At the fall election I was re-elected to the state Senate, and when the Legislature met was chosen president of the Senate. Butler. of course, was re-elected governor.

During the winter of 1870-71. 1 roomed with Judge Dundy, or rather we roomed together at the old Tichenor House. Atter the senatorial election was over the war on Butler and his associates was renewed with ten-fold fury. One evening in our rooms at the Tichenor. there being present besides Dundy and myself. Tom B. Stevenson. a lawyer and former state senator from Nebraska City, and S. A. Fulton. a young lawyer of Falls City. the Butler charges were discussed at length and the four Repub- licans present were agreed that an investigation of the charges was required, in the interests of the Republican party as well as the state. 1 was the only member of the Legislature present and I requested Dundy to draw a joint resolution providing for an investigation. The enclosed paper with its erasures and intertiveations was the result. After it had been completed it was copied thy either Stevenson or Fnlton-my recoller- tion is that it was by the latter)-the Judge very naturally not wishing to be knowu in the matter. A copy was placed in the hands of each member of the House. introduced and finally adopted by both houses, with amendments. I presume, and the result of the investigation was resolutions of impeachment.

After the first copy was made I asked Judge Dundy to allow me to .take the original paper, which request was granted, and it has remained in my possession since. Now that the Judge is gone ! see no harm in making the facts known and giving the paper to yon. that it may find a place among other scraps of early history in case you doem it of sufficient value.

I understand Tom Stevenson is long since dead, that Fulton is out of the state and maybe under the sod, and I am probably the only one living of the four who were in the room where this incident had its birth. It has seemed to me that there was a sort of retributive justice in the fact that the two who gave the casing votes which made Butler the nominee of the Republican party should have had something to do with the action which in a measure repaired their mistake and that of the Republican party.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 63

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