USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > History of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska : with brief historical sketches of the state and of Lancaster County > Part 2
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One of these natives, willing to sacrifice his life for the salvation of the rest, and with a self-sacrificing spirit wonderful for a savage, took upon himself the task of carrying the scheme agreed upon into oper- ation. Early one morning he suddenly appeared before Coronado, with much mystery in his movements, and great pretended hostility to the natives. He described a far-off country with such eloquence of language that the country pictured surpassed all previous imaginings of the Spaniards. The man came, he said, from a land far to the northeast, where there was a river seven miles in width. "Within its depths were huge fishes as large as horses, and upon its broad bosom floated canoes which carried twenty oarsmen on a side; huge vessels with sails which bore upon their prow a golden eagle, and upon the poop a sumptuous dias, whereon their lords were wont to sit beneath a canopy of cloth of gold. That every day the monarch of this favored region, named Tartarrax, long bearded, gray haired, and rich, took his noontide sleep in a garden of roses under a huge spreading tree, to the branches of which were suspended innumerable golden bells, which sounded in exquisite harmony when shaken by the wind; that this king prayed by means of a string of beads, and worshiped a cross of gold and the image of a woman, the queen of Heaven ; that through- ont the land the commonest utensils were of wrought silver, and the bowls, plates, and porringers, of beaten gold. This land of plenty, he said, was
THE KINGDOM OF QUIVERA,
And thither he waited to conduct his friends whenever they should be pleased to accompany him."
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EARLY NEBRASKA.
The tale was well concocted, and told with consummate skill. The king being pictured as a man who worshiped after the fashion of the men to whom the tale was told, naturally made them more ready to believe, and the stories of such magnificent wealth, pictured with every appearance of honesty, made them eager to conquer the land. Coro- nado, while a brave, intrepid, and ambitious man, was superstitious, and had a wonderful belief in signs and omens. In his youthful days he had made the acquaintance of an Arabian sage, who, after long study and travel in the East, where he had collected the knowledge and skill in necromaney supposed to be native there, had taken up his residence in the city of Salamanca, Coronado's birthplace. To this sage Coronado intrusted the duty of looking into the future and tell- ing him what was in store for him in the years to come. After con- sulting his saered parchments and communing with the supernatural beings who had imparted to him their wisdom, the necromancer re- ceived Coronado, and gave to him what the gods said was in store for him. The mystic forces which reveal future events to mortals he said foretold that the then young Salamancan student should one day become the lord of a great and distant country; but the portents thence forward were gloomy and sinister: they foretold that a fall from his horse would end his life.
This made a strong impression on Coronado's mind, which grew as the years passed, and as he stood in the midst of the vast prairie which stretched beyond the vision of the eye on every side, surrounded by only a handful of dissatisfied, jealous, restless men, and listened to the marvelous tale of the Indian, who had volunteered to guide him to the fabled realm where wealth was piled mountain high, no wonder that the fate predicted by the sage of Salamanca came to his remem- brance. The first prophecy had come true-he was the lord of a great and distant land; - and how soon would the second one prove true? But the story of the Indian was so straightforward, and he stood the rude cross-examination of the Spaniards so well, that Coro- nado threw his fears to the wind, and determined to make this last at- tempt to find the kingdom of Quivera and the seven cities of Cibola. So on the 5th day of May, 1541, Coronado and his army quitted the valleys which they had terrorized and "Christianized" so thoroughly, crossed the Pecos river from Santa Fé, and soon entered upon the treeless prairies of what is now Indian Territory and the State of Kan-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
sas. Aero- mighty plains so bare and treeless that the adventurers had to make large piles of buffalo chips to guide them on their return, they made their way for 800 miles northeasterly, to the banks of a considerable river, which is admitted by all who have studied the route and the distance traveled to have been the Arkansas.
At this point of the march a soldier named Castaneda, ignorant and credulous, but pious, became the historian, and he records the story of this weary march. Its weariness may be imagined by thinking of this band of soldiers, clad in the heavy armor of the times, plodding its way through the long summer days over the burning plains of Kansas, grim and silent, each one counting his steps, the more accu- rately to compute the distance passed. And the picture has a tinge of sadness hanging over it -a pathetic tint coloring both the foreground and the perspective.
But the adventurous knights seem to have had some little amuse- ment to beguile the weary hours-their regular amusement of robbery. On one occasion it is related of them that finding a village with an enormous quantity of skins, they cleaned it out so thoroughly and ex- peditiously that within fifteen minutes there was not a skin left. The Indians tried to save their precious possessions by force of arms, and the entreating tears of the squaws, but neither availed.
Coronado at first, it will be remembered, had been suspicious of his guide, but had conquered his fears and suspicions. Now again these same suspicions became aroused in Coronado's mind, and they quickly spread among his troops. It was noticed that when they met with the wandering nomads of the plains, if the Turk, as they called the guide, was the first to meet and converse with them, they confirmed his stories, and pointed to the eastward as the true course, whereas if com- munication was prevented, the tribes knew nothing of the riches and splendor of the land of Quivera, and insisted that the country lay to the north instead of to the east.
Coronado, therefore, seeing that the guide had deceived him, and that with the exception of the meat of the buffalo provisions were grow- ing scarce, called a council of war to consider with his captains and lientenants the best plans to adopt for the future. It was there decided that the general, with thirty of his bravest and best mounted men and six foot soldiers, should proceed northward in search of the land of Quivera, while the main body of the army should return to the vicin-
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EARLY NEBRASKA.
ity of the Pecos river. So, with the Turk securely bound, and with guides selected from the Indian tribes, Coronado recommenced his march.
Northward from the Arkansas river for many weary hours the lit- tle band pursued its way over the Kansas plains. July had come; the days were long and hot, and the nights sultry. But dogged per- severance and good horses brought them at last to the southern boundary of Nebraska. And near there, along the Platte river, they again found the long-sought kingdom of Quivera, with Tartarrax the hoary-headed ruler of the realm, But alas for their expectations ! Their dreams of glory and conquest had a most rude awakening. The only precious metal that they saw was a copper plate hanging from the old chief's breast, by which he set great store, and which he seemingly regarded as a god. There were no musical bells, no golden eagle, no silver dishes, no indications of a religious worship-the light of truth had dispelled the dreams of magnificence. Coronado hung his guide, but the guide met death bravely, and with his last breath declared that he knew of no gold, of no cities, of no realm of magnificent riches, and that he had led the Spaniards away from his people that they might be free from persecution and spoliation. In August, Coronado, after erecting a cross which bore the inscription,
" Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, general of an expedition, reached this place,"
set his face southward and passed out of the land of Quivera; but Nebraska had been discovered.
THE NEXT EXPEDITION.
For one hundred and twenty-one years the great plains of Ne- braska were untrodden by the feet of any save the Indian tribes that for centuries had roamed from the Missouri to the Rockies. Their buffalo-skin tents formed the only cities, and the battles of the vari- ous tribes the only excitement on the prairies, except the chase of the buffalo and deer, and the festive pranks of the storm-king. For a century and nearly a quarter, the copper-colored wild man of the prairie held sway undisputed in his possession of the land. In the year 1662 another visit was made to Quivera, which has been recorded by the Spanish historians, and is the second visit of which record is
.).)
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
made, the latter visit and the points reached being more easily deter- minable than of the first in 1541.
The second civilized man to set his foot upon the soil of Nebraska whose visit has been recorded in authentic history, was a soldier, a knight of Spain, Don Diego, Count of Penalosa. This knight, who belonged to that period marked by all the glitter, romance and ad- venture which throw such a charm over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was not a Spaniard, but a Creole ; that is, one of American birth but Spanish descent. He was born at Lima, South America, in 1624, and after a career of wonderful vicissitudes, finally left his native continent and drifted northward to Mexico. Here he came into high favor with the Viceroy of the country, who made him, at the age of thirty-six, Governor and Captain-General of New Mexico. This was a most responsible position ; but once settled in it, Penalosa became again restive, and sought to perform some feat which would bring him everlasting glory and renown. Quivera was then the same goal of bright prospects that it had been to Coronado, and to that fabled country this knight resolved to force his way. So on the 6th of March, 1662, while the colonists in New England and Virginia were laying the foundations of an empire that has since taken in Quivera, and not only that but thousands of square miles beyond, this Spanish knight set out from Santa Fe to explore the regions to the north and east, to accumulate precious stones and metals, to annex a vast territory to his domains, to conquer the fabled opulent cities, and to win for himself renown and added power and influence at the Spanish court.
He set out with a great company of soldiers, Indians, and retainers, two score of baggage wagons carrying his trappings and provisions, and six cannon with which to batter down the walls of the cities of Cibola when he should reach them. A friar, Nicholas de Freytas, was the historian of this expedition, and gives with much elaborate- ness and detail the events of the march northward, the disappoint- ment, disaster, and return of Penalosa. After proceeding for several weeks along the route laid out, the little Spanish army found itself confronted by a mighty river, along which dwelt an Indian nation who were called the Escanzaquas, the residence of this nation being near the fortieth parallel of latitude. This nation was at war with the Indians of Quivera, and when Penalosa arrived were just on the
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EARLY NEBRASKA.
point of starting northward to give their enemies battle. The force of the Escanzaquas numbered about 3,000, and immediately upon his arrival Penalosa joined this force and accompanied the Indians on their journey. For a day this army marched westwardly along the right bank of a mighty, rushing river, until it made a bend so that its current came from the north. For another day the march was continued to the northward, until toward evening the soldiers per- ceived across the river, now flowing eastward again, a high ridge whose sides were covered with signal fires, which showed that the na- tives were aware of their approach. Still marching forward, follow- ing the curves of the river, the little army came to a spot where, on the opposite side, another river, flowing from the ridge, entered the stream previously followed. Here was found a very populous city - one of the cities of Quivera-of vast extent. The chiefs of Qui- vera came over the river to welcome the Spaniards, and showed then every mark of esteem ; but on that same night the Escanzaquas crossed the river, burned the city, and put thousands of the Quiverans to death. The next day the Spaniards spent some time in extinguish- ing the flames, admiring the vast number of dwellings and the great fertility of the soil, and in hunting for the fabled wealth of Quivera. After spending some time in this search and finding nothing, Penalosa, on the 11th of June, 1662, turned his troops southward and departed for his Mexican home.
To what points these expeditions penetrated has been the subject of much contention and of much difference of opinion. But none claim that Coronado failed to enter this State some distance, and none dis- pute that Penalosa reached the Platte. At just what point the Platte was touched, or at what point Nebraska was penetrated, is the dis- pute.
As to the visit of Coronado: The most generally accepted opinion, based upon the description of the country, its grasses, animals, and general topography, is that Coronado entered the State somewhere be- tween Gage county on the east and Furnas county on the west, probably east of the present location of Superior, Nuckolls county. Author- ities differ as to the distance and direction traveled by Coronado; but the opinion of Gen. Simpson and of Mr. Gallatin is that the Republi- can river was crossed and the march taken in a northeasterly direction, and that the northern point reached was somewhere west of and on
J
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
nearly the same parallel with the present site of Lincoln. The Span- ish cavalier evidently did not reach the salt basin, or his chronicler would have noted the peculiar appearance of the country, and the presence of the salt. Coronado himself states that his expedition reached beyond the fortieth degree of north latitude, but how much further can only be judged by the description of the country trav- ersed, the streams crossed, and the direction of the line of march. The recent finding of Spanish stirrups, bridle-bits, and other horse trappings of Moorish pattern, near the Republican, buried deep in the ground, while it does not prove that so early a visit was made to Ne- braska, does indicate that the Spaniards, hundreds of years ago, trav- ersed the region now embraced in the State, and left traces of their presence.
The point reached by Penalosa has not so much to do with the present treatise ; but without entering upon any discussion of the reas- ons for the location, it seems to be the most generally accepted theory that Penalosa reached the Platte at or near the spot now occupied by the city of Columbus.
It will be noticed that the land of Quivera was located by these early explorers in a half dozen different places, each spot being dis- carded on fresh reports of wealthy regions "just beyond," and the Quivera of tradition never was discovered. But the legends spurred on those carly explorers mile after mile, league after league, north- ward from their southern home, until they had crossed the line that brought them within the confines of the State of Nebraska. The realm of Quivera is now a reality, and the seven cities of Cibola are legion. The dreams of the Spaniards have come true, and in this land, visited by them centuries ago, are found the gold and silver, the populous cities, the magnificent houses, the wealth and civilization, of the fabled kingdom of Tartarrax.
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NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
CHAPTER III.
NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES-THE FIRST OFFICERS UNDER THE TER-
RITORIAL ORGANIZATION, AND A LIST OF STATE OFFICERS FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE PRESENT TIME-THE PRESENT STATE OFFICIALS.
In 1673 the domain of modern Nebraska was claimed by Spain. It was a part of the great Northwest Territory, then but dimly known or appreciated. In 1683 La Salle claimed this region in the name of the king of France. In 1762 the French formally relinquished Lou- isiana to Spain ; but it was receded to France in 1800, and Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to the United States, a master stroke of good policy on the part of the great Frenchman, and an act which alone would serve as a foundation for the fame of Thomas Jefferson. The sale was ratified by the United States October 31, 1803. The formal transfer was made December 20, 1803. On the 26th of March, 1804, Congress divided the territory into two sections, the southern por- tion being named "The Territory of Orleans," and the northern, "The District of Louisiana." Nebraska was included in the District of Louisiana, as was the domain lying west of the Mississippi, north of Louisiana, as far west as claimed by the United States, including Minnesota. This magnificent territory, of 1,122,975 square miles, was organized as the "Territory of Louisiana," under an act of Con- gress passed March 3, 1805. St. Louis was made the capital, and President Jefferson promptly selected General James Wilkinson for Governor, and Frederick Bates for Secretary. These two officials, together with Judges R. J. Meigs and John B. C. Lucas, of the Su- preme Court, were given legislative control of the great Territory.
Great Britain looked with resentful eve upon the success of the United States in getting possession of the splendid Louisiana domain. She had expected to wrest it from Napoleon, but by a swift stroke of diplomacy he placed it beyond her reach. But it was not her inten- tion to give up the great advantages offered by the possession of at least a portion of Louisiana, and she only awaited the time when re- 3
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
lief from continental war should enable her to recover the lost advan- tage. Thomas Jefferson knew this, and with masterly decision and genius he proceeded to do all that lay in his power to seize upon the fullest possible interpretation of the stipulations with Bonaparte. To that end he set up a government under General Wilkinson, as re- lated. He at once organized an expedition under the command of Captains Merriweather Lewis and William Clarke, known as the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, to go into this unexplored region by way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, in order to claim portions of the terri- tory by virtue of discovery, to estimate its resources, and find a short and practicable route to the Pacific ocean. This party of forty-three men left the Mississippi one mile below the mouth of the Missouri river on Monday, May 14, 1804. On the 21st of July the expedition camped at the mouth of the Platte river, and the next day stopped near Bellevne. On the 2d of August, a conneil with chiefs of the Otor and Missouri Indians of the Platte country was held, on the site of Fort Calhoun, in Washington county.
The party proceeded northward, stopping near the mouth of the Niobrara river, on Nebraska soil for the last time until its return, in 1806, after having made its way through a trackless wilderness for over four thousand miles, in going and returning.
The first permanent settlement upon the present territory of Ne- braska was made by the American Fur Company, at Bellevue, in 1810, under the leadership of Col. Peter A. Sarpy, a shrewd, bold, and en- terprising Frenchman. In 1842 John C. Fremont made a path across the Territory, up the Platte valley, and in 1847 the Mormons widened the trail in finding their way to the "promised land." About 1850 the great rush to the California gold fields opened the great highway across Nebraska never to be discontinued, and exhibited the splendid possibilities of the "Platte country " to a class of men who did not fail to let the light of Nebraska's great natural resources, which they had seen, shine before the Eastern States in after years, when the craze for the golden West had subsided. In 1847 the Presbyterian church established a mission at Bellevue. In 1848 Fort Kearney was planted by the Government, on the present site of Nebraska City, but was afterward removed to Kearney county, taking the name of Fort Childs, but later the name of Fort Kearney.
Congress made an effort to organize a Territory west of Iowa and
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NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
Missouri in 1851-2, which failed, owing to the clash of party zeal for and against the spread of slavery.
In 1852-3 a bill was introduced to create " Platte Territory," com- prising all of the present domain of Kansas and all of Nebraska south of the Platte River. This bill went to the House Committee on Ter- ritories, which reported a bill creating the same domain into Nebraska Territory. The people of Iowa were anxious to have the new Terri- tory directly west of their border, and to that end such of them as were interested in having a good field for schemes of emigration, sent Hadley D. Johnson, of Council Bluffs, to Washington to induce Con- gress to readjust the boundaries of the proposed Territory. Through his zealous activity two Territories were recommended by the commit- tee instead of one, in the famous Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which devel- oped such a bitter war between the slavery and anti-slavery parties, in Congress and out.
Finally, Nebraska was organized as a Territory on May 30, 1854, with an area of 351,558 square miles. It reached from the 40th par- allel of north latitude to the present boundary of the British posses- sions, and from the Missouri river westward to the summit of the Rocky mountains. On February 28, 1861, 16,035 square miles were cut off to be attached to Colorado, and on March 2, 1861, 228,907 square miles were set apart for Dakota. Finally, on March 3, 1863, another slice was taken off to form Idaho Territory. This was the final change in the area of Nebraska Territory, and consisted of 45,- 999 square miles.
President Franklin Pierce appointed as officers for the new Terri- tory, the following : For Governor, Francis Burt, of South Carolina ; for Secretary, Thomas B. Cuming, of Iowa; for Chief Justice, Fen- ner Furguson, of Michigan ; and for Associate Justices, James Bradley, of Indiana, and Edward R. Harden, of Georgia; for Marshal, Mark W. Izard, of Arkansas; and for Attorney, Experience Estabrook, of Wisconsin.
Governor Burt reached Bellevue, the Territorial capital, October 7, 1854. He took the oath of office on October 16th, and died there October 18, 1854. Secretary Cuming became the acting Governor.
The Territory was divided into the eight counties of Burt, Wash- ington, Dodge, Douglas, Cass, Pierce, Forney, and Richardson. One or more voting precincts were established in each of these counties.
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JHISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
An enumeration of the Territorial inhabitants was made in Octo- ber, 1854, for Legislative representation. According to this, each county was entitled to one Councilman, except Douglas, which was entitled to four, and Pierce, which had three. Burt, Washington, Dodge, Forney, and Richardson, cach had two Representatives. Doug- las had eight, Cass three, and Pierce five. The first general election took place on December 12, 1854, and the first Legislature met at Omaha, whence the capital had been removed, on January 16, 1855. This pioneer body was composed of the following-named gentlemen :
THE FIRST COUNCIL.
RICHARDSON COUNTY-J. L. Sharp, President.
BURT COUNTY-B. R. Folsom. WASHINGTON COUNTY-J. C. Mitchell.
DODGE COUNTY-M. H. Clark.
DOUGLAS COUNTY-T. G. Goodwill, A. D. Jones, O. D. Richard- son, S. E. Rogers.
CAss COUNTY-Luke Nuckolls.
PIERCE COUNTY-A. H. Bradford, H. P. Bennett, C. H. Cowles. FORNEY COUNTY-Richard Brown.
OFFICERS OF THE COUNCIL-Dr. G. L. Miller, of Omaha, Chief Clerk ; O. F. Lake, of Brownville, Assistant Clerk ; S. A. Lewis, of Omaha, Sergeant-at-Arms: N. R. Folsom, Tekamah, Doorkeeper.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
DOUGLAS COUNTY-A. J. Hanscom, Speaker; W. N. Bvers, Wil- liam Clancy, F. Davidson, Thomas Davis, A. D. Goyer, A. J. Pop- pleton, and Robert Whitted.
BURT COUNTY-J. B. Robertson, A. C. Purple.
WASHINGTON COUNTY-A. Archer, A. J. Smith.
DODGE COUNTY-E. R. Doyle, J. W. Richardson.
Cass CorxTy-J. M. Latham, William Kempton, J. D. H. Thompson.
PIERCE COUNTY-G. Bennet, J. H. Cowles, J. H. Decker, W. H. Hail, and William Maddox.
FORNEY COUNTY-W. A. Finney, J. M. Wood.
RICHARDSON COUNTY-D. M. Johnston, J. A. Singleton.
OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE-J. W. Paddock, Chief Clerk ; G. L.
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NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
Eayre, Assistant Clerk ; J. L. Gibbs, Sergeant-at-Arms ; B. B. Thomp- son, Doorkeeper.
Napoleon B. Gidding was elected delegate to Congress at the same election that the Legislature was chosen.
The several counties were divided into three Judicial Districts. A capitol building was completed in Omaha in January, 1858.
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