USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > History of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska : with brief historical sketches of the state and of Lancaster County > Part 10
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Having learned, one Sunday evening, that another raid would be made in the morning, before daylight, he made it a point to be on hand. Before daylight, Monday morning, the teams were heard ap- proaching from town, and on their arrival, one wagon backed up to. the opening in the bin. Mr. Green accompanied them as the party interested in the results not of his own labor, and took his position in the wagon to shovel forward as thrown in at the end of the wagon bed. The owner of the salt appearing at this stage of the proceed- ings, the German teamster, who was shoveling out the salt, upon being informed of the kind of business he was engaged in, emphasized with a few flourishes of a good-sized ax-handle, and not understanding English perfectly, thought his life was threatened, and commenced hallooing : "I don't want to be kilt ! I don't want to be kilt !" and stopped work. Mr. Green, finding no salt coming out, came into the building to find out what detained it, and meeting the owner, he was informed that his stealings were known, and had a few other facts called to his attention. He did not adopt the latest rules in such en- gagements, but started in on general principles to whip the owner, and being much larger than his opponent, he came down on the upper-
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THE SALT BASINS.
side. Having a long beard, the under man ran his fingers through the beard, and taking a twist on this, soon brought the belligerent to his terms, and Mr. Green returned to town with empty wagons. Suit was commenced for the full amount of the salt taken, judgment given, and the salt paid for.
Subsequently Bullock Brothers manufactured salt, but the works, after they closed up, remained idle for a long time.
A transfer of the former interest of Horace Smith was made to E. E. Brown and J. T. Green, and subsequently a company of Eastern capitalists was formed to develop the salt interest, and the State made an appropriation for sinking an artesian well, which was sunk to the depth of 2,465 feet. Aside from determining the different formations, this well did not result in any practical good.
The brine's having a regular tide twice a day would indicate that the supply from which it comes is not directly underneath. The brine oozes up through the muck on the basin, and if not confined by dykes, runs off into Salt creek. Where the basin is covered with brine when the tide is in, during the middle of the day it will be dry enough to walk over, and often a thin layer of salt will cover parts of the ground.
In the earlier history of Lincoln a well was sunk several hundred feet deep, on the east side of Oak, near, if not in, what is now known as West Lincoln. This was finally abandoned, as, like the artesian well in the postoffice square, no brine of sufficient strength was found that would answer for manufacturing purposes. On the banks of Salt creek may be found numerous small springs from which salt water flows, and it is probable that the material from which to make several hundred barrels of good salt per day, in good weather, all runs to waste. The water is fine for bathing purposes, and possesses medicinal qual- ities. As to the best means of utilizing this brine, there are different opinions, but no one has as yet solved the problem, and the question will remain for future determination.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
CHAPTER VIII.
REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL TO LINCOLN -LEGISLATIVE INCIDENTS PRECEDING THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE WORK-CARRYING THE CAPITAL AWAY ON WHEELS.
The one great epoch in the history of Lincoln, the one event which, more than any other, gave the city its start, from which it has grown, by reason of its commercial advantages and the push and enterprise of its citizens, to its present size and importance among Western cities, the turning point in its career, so to speak, was the location of the State capital here, in 1867. And the incidents attending the location of the seat of government form one of the most interesting chapters in the history of the State of Nebraska.
In 1854, when the Territory of Nebraska was created, Francis Burt, of South Carolina, was appointed Territorial Governor by President Pierce. On the 7th of October of that year the new Governor ar- rived. Although ill at the time, he took the oath of office on the 16th, only to die on the 18th. Governor Burt, by the organic act, and the appointment of the President, was clothed with almost absolute power in the location of the Territorial capital ; and although he was Governor but two days, he gave expression to sentiments and prefer- ences that led the people to believe that had he lived Bellevue would have been the Territorial capital. After the death of Governor Burt, the Secretary of Nebraska, T. B. Cuming, became acting Governor, and soon after taking the oath of office, located the seat of Govern- ment at Omaha.
At that place the first Territorial Legislature met on Tuesday, Jau- uary 16, 1855. Omaha continued to be the capital until the admission of Nebraska as a State, when the change was made to Lincoln, not, however, without much wrangling and a hard fight. Not that many attempts were not made to remove the capital to Bellevue, Nebraska City, Florence, and other places, for in many sessions of the Territo- rial Legislature "capital removal" was a cause of much bitterness-a bone of contention. The root of the whole trouble was a pretended
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REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL.
enumeration of the inhabitants of the Territory in 1854, on which the representation in the first Legislature was based, that Legislature hav- ing the endorsing of Governor Cuming's location of the capital. The North Platte fellows got away with those from the South Platte, and hence carried their point. In 1857 an attempt was made to " remove," and again in 1858, when the exciting events which were just begin- ning in the East and South attracted the attention of the legislators from their local biekerings. In a sketch, "The Capital Question in Nebraska, and the Location of the Seat of Government at Lincoln," by Hon. Charles H. Gere, read before the State Historical Society, January 12, 1886, he gives the incidents of these times very fully, and from that sketch the account of the capital troubles during the year 1867 is purloined :
"But the war came to an end, and when the last Territorial Leg- islature of 1867 met, the old question of unfair apportionment came to the front again. The population of the South Platte section had increased until it was about double that of the counties north of the troublesome stream. But the superior tactics of the Douglas county leaders held its representation down to such an extent that it had but seven of the thirteen Councilmen, and twenty-one of the thirty-seven Representatives. Two threads of policy had intertwisted to make the resistance to a reapportionment based upon actual population, suf- ficiently strong to overcome the justice supposed to be latent in the minds of statesmen.
"The first was the fear entertained by Douglas county of the re- opening of the capital agitation. The North Platte was now about a unit in favor of Omaha as against a southern competitor. The second was a political consideration. A reapportionment meant a cutting down of the representation from Otoe as well as Douglas county, both Democratic strongholds. These counties, with the as- sistance of some lesser constituencies on the north of the Platte, which sent Democratic delegations, were able to hold a very even balance in the Legislature against the Republicans, though the latter had an unquestionable majority in the Territory. Now that Statehood was imminent, and there were two United States Senators to be elected by a State Legislature, soon to be called, in case President Johnson should not succeed in his plan of defeating our admission under the enabling act of 1864, it was of immense importance to stave off a reapportion-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
ment. Hence for capital reasons the Republicans from the North Platte and the Democrats from the South Platte worked in harmony with the Douglas county members in preserving a basis of representa- tion in its original injustice. The usual bill for a new apportionment had been introduced, and passed the Senate, and came to the House, but the four votes from Otoe county being solid against it, it was sleeping the sleep of the just. In the Speaker's chair was William F. Chapin, of Cass, an expert parliamentarian, cool, determined, watchful, and un- tiring. The session was drawing to a close, and it was Saturday; the term expired at twelve o'clock, midnight, on the following Monday, and, as usual, the results of pretty much all the toil and perspiration of the forty days depended upon a ready and rapid dispatch of bus- iness during the remaining hours of the session.
"There was something sinister in the air. It was whispered about that morning that the reapportionment bill had at last a majority, in case Deweese, of Richardson, who was absent on leave, should put in an appearance. A vote or two had been brought over from some of the northern districts remote from Omaha, and anxious for Republican domination. 'Fun' was therefore expected. It came very soon after the roll was called on the opening of the session. The credentials of D. M. Rolfe, of Otoe, who had not been in attendance during the session, but who was an anti-reapportionist, were called up, and it was moved that they be reported to a special committee. The ayes and nays were de- manded. Pending roll call, it was moved that a call of the house be ordered. The call was ordered, and the doors closed. All the members answered to their names but Deweese, of Richardson, and Dorsey, of Washington. Then the other side made a motion that further proceedings under the call be dispensed with. The ayes and nays were demanded, and there were seventeen ayes and sixteen nays. Speaker Chapin announced that he voted 'no,' and that being a tie, the motion was lost. An appeal was taken from the decision of the chair, and the vote resulted in another tie, and the appeal was de- clared lost. The rule is that an affirmative proposition cannot be carried by a tic vote, but that all questions are decided in the nega- tive. The usual form of putting the question is : 'Shall the decision of the chair stand as the judgment of the house?' The negative would be that it should not so stand. But in that case a decision of the chair is reversed by less than a majority of the members voting,
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REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL.
which is, of course, absurd. It was a deadlock. The result was a curious demonstration of the absurdity of manipulating a proposition by the use of misleading formulas, so that the negative side of a ques- tion may appear in the affirmative.
" The hours passed, but ' no thoroughfare' was written on the faces of the reapportionists. They said that until they had some assurance that a reapportionment bill would be passed before the adjournment, they would prevent the transaction of any more business. Secretly they expected Deweese, who was rumored to be well enough to attend, and they waited for his appearance, but he did not come. The Door- keeper and Sergeant-at-Arms had orders to let no man out, and when noontide passed and the shadows lengthened, the members sent out for refreshments and lunched at their desks. The night came. Some of the refreshments had been of a very partisan character, and there was blood on the horizon. Many became hilarious, and the lobby was exceedingly noisy. From hilarity to pugnacity is but a short step. Arms and munitions of war were smuggled in during the evening by the outside friends of both sides, and it was pretty confi- dently whispered that the conclusion was to be tried by force of re- volvers.
"A little after ten o'clock P. M., Augustus F. Harvey, of Otoe, rose, and moved that Speaker Chapin be deposed, and that Dr. Ab- bott, of Washington, be elected to fill the vacancy. He then put the question to a viva roce vote, and declared the motion adopted and Dr. Abbott elected Speaker of the House. The stalwart form of Mr. Parmalee, the fighting man of the faction, immediately lifted itself from a desk near by, and advanced, with Dr. Abbott, toward the chair, backed up by Harvey and a procession of his friends. As he placed his foot upon the first step of the dias, Speaker Chapin sud- denly unlimbered a Colt's Navy, duly cocked, and warned him briefly to the effect that the Pythagorean proposition that two bodies could not occupy the same space at the same time was a rule of the House, and would be enforced by the combined armament at the command of the proper presiding officers. Daniel paused upon the brink of fate, and hesitated upon his next step. To hesitate was to be lost. The speaker announced that in accordance with the rules of the House in cases of great disorder, he declared the House adjourned until nine o'clock Monday morning, and sprang for the door. The Omaha
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
lobby had promised faithfully, when the crisis came, to guard that door, and permit no rebel from the South Platte to escape. The first man to reach the door was said to be Kelley, of Platte, who had joined the forces of the reapportionists, and it is a tradition that he leaped over the legislative stove to get there in time. The door was burst open, and before the volunteer guard could recover its equilibrium, the seceders had escaped, and were out of the building, scattering to the four quarters of the globe. But they had a rendez- vous agreed upon in a secret place, and in half an hour they were safely entrenched, and on guard against any Sergeant-at-Arms and posse that might be dispatched to return them to durance vile.
"The Abbott House immediately organized, admitted Rolfe, of Otoe, to full membership, and proceeded to clear the docket of ac- cumulated bills. Members of the lobby trooped in and voted the names of the absent, and everything proceeded in an unanimous way that must have astonished the walls of the chamber, if they had ears and memory. About dawn, however, the situation began to lose its roseate hue, and an adjournment was had till Monday morning. Before that time arrived the hopelessness of the situation dawned on both factions. They perceived that nothing whatever would come of the deadlock. Neither party had a quorum. Deweese, of Richard- son, could not be brought in to vote for reapportionment, and by common consent a peace was concluded, and Monday was spent in an amicable settlement of the arrearages of routine business."
These incidents, however, created a great sensation all over the State, and made sectional and partisan feeling run high. The adjournment took place on February 18th, and two days later, on the 20th, the State Legislature, (chosen at the same election at which the State con- stitution had been adopted under the enabling act, held June 2, 1866,) was called together by Governor Saunders, to accept or reject the " fundamental condition " insisted on by Congress as a condition pre- cedent to the admission of the State. The condition was that the word "white" in the constitution theretofore passed by the Legislature and ratified by the people, should not be construed as debarring from fran- chise any citizen of Nebraska on account of race or color. On the 21st day of February, 1867, the second day of the session, the bill accepting these conditions passed, and was signed by Governor But- ler, who had taken his seat that day. On the first of March Presi-
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REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL.
dent Johnson issued the proclamation deelaring Nebraska a State, the State officers were sworn in, and Governor Butler began to prepare his call for a special session of the Legislature to put the machinery of the State in motion.
Quoting Hon. C. H. Gere again : "It was insisted upon by the leaders of the Republican party in the south and west, that a reap- portionment of members of the Legislature should be one of the ob- jeets of legislation enumerated in the call. This was opposed by many Republicans in Douglas and other northern counties. It was also asked, this time by Democrats as well as Republicans, from Otoe as well as from Cass and Richardson and the southwestern counties, that a clause should be inserted making the location of the seat of government of the State one of the objects of the special session. The Governor was averse to commencing his administration with a capital wrangle, but thought it would be good policy to make use of the sug- gestion, for the purpose of securing a reapportionment without a repe- tition of the bitter struggle of the winter. He therefore opened negotiations with the Douglas county delegation to the coming Leg- islature, and promised them that he would leave out the capital question, provided they would pledge themselves to sustain a reappor- tionment. They flatly refused. They claimed that the Legislature could not constitutionally reapportion the representation until after the next census, and as for capital removal, they were not brought up in the woods to be scared by an owl. The Otoe delegation had, however, changed its base. The Senators had been elected and seated, and polit- ical considerations had lost their force with the democrats of that county. They wanted the capital removed south of the Platte, and they promised if the Governor would ' put that in' they would march right up and vote for apportionment.
" His Excellency had gone too far to retreat, and when his call was issued it embraced both capital removal and reapportionment, he hav- ing consulted a distinguished constitution constructor, Judge Jamison, of Chicago, on the latter point, and obtained an elaborate opinion that it was not only in the power of the Legislature, but its bounden duty, under the constitution, to reapportion the representation at its first, session.
"The Legislature met on May 18th, and the lines were quickly. drawn for the emergency. Reapportionment was a fixed fact, and af-
S
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
ter a few days spent in reconnoitering, a solid majority in both houses seemed likely to agree upon a scheme for capital location. Mr. Har- vey, who had led the assault upon reapportionment at the late session of the Territorial Legislature, was an active leader of his late antag- onists for relocation. Party affiliations were ruptured all along the line, and the new lines were formed on a seetional basis. The bill was prepared with deliberation, much caucusing being required before it would satisfy the various elements in the movement, and it was in- troduced in both honses on the 4th of June. It was entitled, 'An act to provide for the location of the seat of government of the State of Nebraska, and for the erection of public buildings thereat.' It named the Governor, David Butler; the Secretary of State, Thomas P. Kennard, and the Auditor, John Gillespie, Commissioners, who should select, on or before July 15th, (a date changed by a subsequent bill to September 1, 1867,) from lands belonging to the State, lying within the counties of Seward, the south half of the counties of Saun- ders and Butler, and that portion of Lancaster county lying north of the south line of township nine, a suitable site of not less than 640 acres lying in one body, for a town ; to have the same surveyed and named ' Lincoln ;' and declared the same the permanent seat of govern- ment of the State.
" The bill directed the Commissioners, after the site had been sur- veved, to offer the lots in each alternate block for sale to the highest bid- der, after thirty days' advertisement, and after having appraised the same; but that no lot should be sold for less than the appraised value. The first sale should be held for five successive days at Lincoln, on the site, after which sale should be opened for the same duration, first at Nebraska City, and next at Omaha. If a sufficient number of lots should not by this time be disposed of to defray the expenses of the selection and survey, and to erect a building as prescribed in the bill, further sales might be advertised and held in Plattsmouth and Brown- ville. All moneys derived from these sales, which should be for cash, should be deposited in the State Treasury, and there held by the Treas- urer as a State building fund. From the proceeds of these sales the Commissioners should proceed to advertise for plans and contracts, and cause to be erected a building suitable for executive offices and the accommodation of the two Houses of the Legislature, that might be a part of a larger building to be completed in the future, the cost
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REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL.
of which wing, or part of a building, should not exceed $50,000. The bill passed the Senate on the 10th day of June.
"Those voting for it were: Jesse T. Davis, of Washington ; James E. Doom and Lawson Sheldon, of Cass; Oscar Holden, of Johnson ; Thos. J. Majors, of Nemaha; William A. Presson, of Richardson ; and Mills S. Reeves and W. W. Wardell, of Otoe .- Eight.
"The noes were : Harlan Baird, of Dakota; Isaac S. Hascall and J. N. H. Patrick, of Douglas; E. H. Rogers, of Dodge, and Frank K. Freeman, of Lincoln .- Five.
" The House passed the bill two days later, under suspension of the rules, forwarding it to its third reading. As in the Senate, so in the House, the opponents of the bill resorted to strategy for stampeding the friends of the measure, and offered numerous amendments to lo- cate the capital, or the university, or the Agricultural College, at Ne- braska City, or in the boundaries of Cass or Nemalia counties. But all amendments were steadily voted down by a solid phalanx. The gentlemen in the House, voting 'ave' on its final passage, were : David M. Anderson, John B. Bennett, William M. Hicklin, Aug. F. Harvey, and George W. Sproat, of Otoe; J. R. Butler, of Pawnee; John Cadman, of Lancaster; E. L. Clark, of Seward; W. F. Chapin, D. Cole, A. B. Fuller, and Isaac Wiles, of Cass; Geo. Crowe, Wil- liam Dailey, Louis Waldter, and C. F. Hayward, of Nemaha; J. M. Dewcese, Gustavns Duerfeldt, T. J. Collins, and J. T. Haile, of Rich- ardson ; Henry Morton, of Dixon; Dean C. Slade, and John A. Un- thank, of Washington; Oliver Townsend, of Gage, and George P. Tucker, of Johnson .- Twenty-five.
" The noes were: O. W. Baltzley, of Dakota; Henry Beebe, of Dodge; George N. Crawford and A. W. Trumble, of Sarpy ; Geo. W. Frost, Joel T. Griffin, Martin Dunham, J. M. Woolworth, and Dan S. Parmalee, of Douglas, and John A. Wallichs, of Platte .- Ten."
Early in the capital fight the Omaha newspapers made great sport of the removal scheme, and the departure of the Commissioners to hunt up a location was the cause of much merriment among them. It was not until the Commissioners had announced the location of the new capital that the newspapers woke up to the real situation, and then there was lively music in the air. Every little technicality that could be seized upon was used to defeat the scheme, but of course all efforts in that direction failed.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
While the heated contest over the bill was in progress, every ruse, stratagem, and dodge, the North Platte party, and particularly the Douglas delegation, could devise, was employed to compass the defeat of the bill. It so happened that the Otoe delegation were Democrats, and Senator Mills S. Reeves, of Nebraska City, had been a bitter rebel, who had disliked the name of Lincoln more than he could that of Satan. The name of the proposed new town, as the removal bill was at first drawn, was "Capital City." Knowing the intense prejudice of Senator Reeves, Senator J. H. N. Patrick, of Omaha, rose in his place, and moved that the bill be amended by striking out the name "Capital City,"' and substituting that of "Lincoln."
Instantly Senator Reeves was upon his feet calling, "Mr. Presi- dent !"
"The Senator from Otoe has the floor," said the President of the Senate.
" I second the motion of the Senator from Douglas," said Senator Reeves, in a quick, firm voice.
The South Platte men caught the spirit of the performance, and at once adopted the amendment. The bill was passed with the name of the illustrious Lincoln in it, and so the new capital became Lincoln. Thus Nebraska's capital bears the name it does as the result of an at- tempted sharp trick, designed to defeat the removal bill, and not ow- ing to the admiration of the first State Legislature for the great war President.
During the fight the greatest bitterness was displayed on the part of the anti-removalists, and a great many amusing incidents are re- lated of the men and times. During the great fight in the last Terri- torial Legislature, when pandemonium reigned supreme, and shotguns and revolvers played the most significant part in the Legislative pro- ceedings, Jim Creighton (as he was called then) heard the noise of the contention at one of its fiercest parts, from below in the office of Au- ditor Gillespie. Rushing out with uncovered head, and flaming eye and check, he sought for some weapon of attack. An old mop stick belonging to Father Beals was found by the irate Creighton, and seiz- ing this, he hurried to the door of the chamber, exclaiming, " I'll elean out the whole of those d-d South Platte people !" at the same time tearing the rag from the mop, in order to make of it a more murderous weapon. But before "Jim " got to the door, the South Platte people, led
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