USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume I > Part 17
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Salt Creek and its principal tributary, Oak Creek, were wonderfully supplied with fish. Black suckers and buffalo were the leading varieties. The settlers had plenty of sport and much profit in fishing. We all had plenty of fish ; great numbers were caught which would weigh ten or fifteen pounds each and I have seen them tip the beam at thirty-five pounds. Elk and antelope were plentiful and the nimrods of that day had exciting sport in the chase. Some of the settlers spent a great portion of their time roaming the prairies in search of game. Many of them never came home without a supply of meat. If elk could not be found or captured, some luckless freighter's steer had to suffer the ordeal of being converted into elk meat. Many a steer has undergone the change in short order, and Mr. Steer's only safety was in staying close to camp. The basins were a great place for wild water-fowl to congregate. Geese, brants, swans, ducks and pelicans were there by the thousands; it was the hunter's paradise. Wild fruits, such as grapes, plums, gooseberries and elderberries were abundant along the streams and were gathered by the bushel.
As the Union armies regained the rebels' strongholds of Missouri, great numbers of rebels found it convenient to find other quarters, and many of them seemed to have the idea that salt would save their bacon, consequently hordes of them would gather at the basins and frequently they would show their rebellious spirits in acts and words which were very unpleasant for Union men to endure At one time they became so insolent and threatening that the Union men of the valley thought it necessary to organize for self-defense. Our Missouri friends came to the conclusion that "discretion was the better part of valor," so nothing very serious occurred.
Elder Young preached the first sermon of the locality at our house, on the Sabbath following the 4th of July, 1862, to a fair sized congregation. A Sabbath School was organized very soon afterwards and was of great value to the youth of the community. This was probably the first Sabbath School between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. Religious meetings were held fre- quently under the leadership of Elder Young, Reverend Doctor Mckesson and Rev. Peter Schamp, and other ministers who chanced to stray so far into the wilderness.
As a general rule the settlers enjoyed themselves very well and were reason- ably prosperous, but it was not always so. Sometimes winter storms would shut us off from communication with the world at large, and provisions would get short. and we would be driven to desperate straits. I have known families to live on boiled corn or wheat for a week at a time with no seasoning but salt. The winter of '63 and '64 was a most desperate one. The cold was extremne. The last day of
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December, 1863, was a memorable day for the intensity of the cold. I had no thermometer except my own blood, but that signified that it was the most intense cold of my life. Snow and salt combined to make my home about the coldest spot in North America. I afterwards learned that at Burlington, Iowa, the thermometer indicated thirty degrees below zero. That winter was one of much suffering. Salt had declined materially in price and the demand had fallen off, while the wood for boiling had become scarce and the weather was so severe, and it seemed that all things conspired against the people, and for a time the whole settlement was on the verge of starvation. The spring of 1864 found the settle- ment in rather a dilapidated and impoverished condition, but hope soon revived. Immigrants began to arrive in goodly numbers and they began opening up farms, and that gave new life and hope to all. Settlements began to extend westward and all the people began to have more faith in Nebraska. It may be well to relate here a common saying of those days just to show how absurd the expressed views of many people were in regard to this country. If an incoming immigrant talked of going over to the Blue Valley to look for a location, he was told at once that it was of no use to look at that country for it never rained west of Salt Creek. That fool notion had become so thoroughly inbedded in the minds of many of the early settlers that I expect some of them firmly believe it until this day.
It has been claimed that F. Morton Donovan was the first white child born in the locality, but the locality was very large, for the fact is he was born on Stevens Creek ten miles distant. The first white child born at the basin or in the immediate vicinity of the present city was a son born to Joseph Chambers in the summer of 1862. He died in infancy. My son Elmer Elsworth Cox was born March 3, 1863, and was the first white child born in the immediate vicinity that is now living.
There were some exciting and almost ludicrous scenes in the courts at the basin. Milton Langdon and J. S. Gregory were the two prominent attorneys and in all matters of judicial nature they were arrayed against each other. Both of them were keen and tricky, ever on the alert to catch the enemy napping and they had some high times. Occasionally a case would arise which tried the mettle of court attorneys and officers. A rough customer who it was said had graduated in the rebel army had put in an appearance and had made some violent threats in which he promised to kill some citizens. An information was filed and a warrant was issued and placed in the hands of the sheriff. A crowd gathered at the court room and it soon became known that the culprit refused to surrender to the sheriff. All became excited and while the court was giving some directions to the citizens about assisting the sheriff, the fellow came stalking into the court room, carrying his rifle in a position for immediate use. The sheriff followed at a convenient distance of probably ten yards. The court invited the man to take a seat, which was promptly declined, but he took a careful survey of the court and all the surroundings and, with the rifle ready cocked and finger on the trigger, he began to retreat and all hands seemed to stand out of his way. The justice remarked to the sheriff and posse, "you will be justified in taking that man if you have to kill him to do it," but they did not take him. He backed off with drawn weapon and bid defiance, and no one was willing to take the risk of his capture. He was bent on vengeance and had no intention of leaving until he
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ARLINGTON HOTEL, LINCOLN, 1885
MONEYSANIZ
PHOTOGRAPHS
By courtesy of G. R. Wolf of Lincoln
ELEVENTH STREET BETWEEN N AND ALLEY, FACING EAST, 1875
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had wreaked it on somebody. He became angry at the justice for saying "take him dead or alive," and during the next morning while his Honor was busy at his salt furnace he happened to observe the sneaking scoundrel creeping up a little ravine in the rear with a view of getting a sure shot at him, but finding that his victim had observed him he started off at a rapid pace across the basin. Ilis Honor quickly halted him. He instantly cocked his rifle, but sternly and most emphatically his Honor commanded a truce, and marched straight up to the fellow, who curled down like a whipped cur, and received a court blessing in the open air and took his final departure for parts unknown. Had it not been for a good degree of firmness on that occasion it is quite probable that some other speaker would have had the honors of this occasion.
On the morning of August 20, 1862, there was a heavy frost that killed all the corn on the lowlands throughout Nebraska.
During the spring of 1863 J. S. Gregory built the first frame house in the vicinity of the basin and made extensive improvements. Mr. Eaton of Platts- mouth, an uncle of our friend Gregory, became quite well acquainted with him during these years and their fraternal relations are spread upon the court records, for many years, of Lancaster County. Settlements increased rapidly during the spring and early summer of 1864 and 1865.
The first term of district court was held on the 8th day of November, 1864 (the day Lincoln was elected to the second term), in Jacob Dawson's double log cabin and was presided over by Judge Elmer S. Dundy, with the same dignity that is manifest in these days in the government courthouse. Members of the bar present were T. M. Marquette and Judge Pottenger of Plattsmouth. Uncle Jake's eabin stood just where the Commercial Block now stands. Uncle Jake was put to straits to properly entertain the judge and the attorneys. I remember that he came over and borrowed all the store coffee at the basin. As if to add to the pleasures of the occasion we enjoyed a regular blizzard of whirling, drifting snow. The judge appointed Pottenger prosecuting attorney and friend Pott, as we called him, drew up an indictment against one Pemberton for shooting into a bird's nest. The charge was malicious assault with intent to kill. His Honor allowed Pottenger $75.00. Marquette defended Pemberton for $10.00 and quashed the indictment, and Pemberton skipped the country before other pro- ceedings could be had. The story of the crime is as follows: Old man Bird had some difficulty with Pemberton about the chickens and one of the young birds (a pullet ) sung some unsavory songs for Pemberton's benefit. Pemberton met the old bird at the door one morning and demanded satisfaction, and finally drew a revolver and shot, the ball missing the old bird, but passing through the door and lodging in the wall just above a bed full of young birds. Then he hit the old bird a lick on the head with the butt of the revolver. The old bird flew to the justice office all covered with blood, just as the judge was seating himself at the breakfast table, and of course a little scene occurred which I will not relate.
In the summer of 1864 the whole West was very easily excited after the horrible massacre in Minnesota. Wild rumors were afloat continually, and the scattered settlements were harrassed with fears throughout the whole summer and fall. The most trifling circumstances were magnified as they were related by the panic stricken people into general massacres of wholesale slaughtering of
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some neighboring settlement. The impression prevailed that the rebel govern- ment at Richmond was inciting the redskins to a merciless warfare all along the frontier. Tomahawks and scalping knives of the red devils were vividly pictured in all our dreams. We knew that the dark hours of the war presented a grand opportunity for them to clean us out root and branch. We also knew that they were in no friendly mood, or, in other words, we were quite sure that they were thirsting for our blood, and all that kept them back was their fear of a terrible retribution and further the fire we saw was not all fox fire. There were people murdered by them in Nebraska and not a few of them. At Plumb Creek on the west, on Turkey Creek, on the Little Blue, there were murders and kidnappings, such as make my blood boil to this day as we think of them. We had just cause to fear, and it would have been foolhardiness to be otherwise than on the alert.
In the month of August while I was on a trip to the river with a load of salt. a panic occurred, the story of which I shall relate in brief as tokl by my better half who helped to enjoy it in full. During the day word was received that all the settlement on the Blue had been murdered, and from every appear- ance the Indians would bounce upon the Salt Creek settlement that night. It was nearly dark, wife and children were at the mercy of the neighbors, as they had no team. Uncle Peter Bellows came to the rescue and with his broad German accent he said, "Mrs. Coax you shall go wid us." Blessed be the name of Uncle Peter forever, but Uncle Peter had his peculiarities. He was a great hand to gather up things, such as old log chains, old plow shares, broken pitch- forks, horse shoes ( he did not have a horse), ox yokes and all sorts of old irons. He was rich in old irons. In packing up to go Uncle Peter had, of course, to take the last one of those precious jewels, but in the hurry and excitement he forgot to take any provisions for the family. When he came for my wife he said, "Mrs. Coax, we takes you and the childrens, but we can't take notings else. V'ell dot ish so, hurry up mine Gott, the Injuns is coming sure." My wife pro- tested that she must take something to eat, and some bedding, and finally per- suaded him to take a sack of flour ( 50 pounds) and a ham of meat and a bed, pro- vided she would walk herself. We then had three children, the oldest, Mrs. Kate Ruby of Marquette, Nebraska, then aged five years, the next aged three years, now Mrs. Nettie M. Pingree of Colby, Kansas, and then Elmer, aged sixteen months. The oldest girl walked and Nettie was perched upon the load of goods ; my wife carried the babe upon her right arm and with the left she carried one end of a trunk a mile and a half to the ford. The babe she carried the full ten miles that dark, stormy night. Wild with fright they went pell mell. Imagine if you can the terrors of that awful night, the rolling thunder, the lurid lightning, and the mortal dread of the savage foc. Weary and fainting they arrived at Shirley's ranch late at night. In the morning it developed that the sack of flour and meat ham were all the provisions in camp for a hundred hungry souls, except green corn bought of Shirley, but they had plenty of old irons. It further developed that there had been no hostile Indians within a full hundred miles.
When it became certain that the Union would triumph over the Confederate States, and there would be ample security here as elsewhere for life and property, then great numbers came. Also a further stimulus to settlement was the cer- tainty of the building of the Union Pacific Railroad ; its eastern terminus had been fixed in the fall of 1864 and the first ground was broken, and it may fairly
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be said that Nebraska had awakened to a new and vigorous life. During the spring of 1864, having become convinced that it occasionally rained on Blue River, we made up our minds to cast our lot with the little settlement in the neighborhood where now stands the beautiful little city of Seward, and made preparations during the summer and accomplished our object, making the re- moval December Ist. Thus ends our immediate connection with the struggling pioneers of Lancaster County .*
BIRTH OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA By Charles Wake
NOTE .- The following paper was read before the Nebraska State Historical Society on January 14, 1908, and is reprinted from the Collections, Volume XVI.
When I returned to your city a few weeks ago after an absence of nearly forty years, I missed the once familiar faces of Elder Young, Doctor Mckesson, John Cadman, Peter Schamp, Luke Lavender, and others of the pioneers who located the Town of Lancaster, the county seat of Lancaster County. I have been able to find but three of these pioneers as yet, Judge Pound and Edward Warnes, who live in the city, and Mr. Hawker, now living at Havelock.
The question has been asked, "How did a few poor homesteaders manage to donate 800 acres of land to the State of Nebraska in order to locate the capital at this point?" We were all poor enough in money, but rich in land, or, perhaps, we were land-poor. The land we held had but little cash value. We had bought some of the best of it with "college scrip" at about sixty cents an acre and the rest we had taken under the homestead and preemption laws. We made the donation in this way: every settler within a few miles of Lancaster subscribed forty acres of land ; then Dawson, Lavender and John Giles vacated as much of their farms as was needed to make the town site, and took other land and more of it in lieu of that which they relinquished.
Lavender gave up the eighty acres of his homestead on which the capitol is built and got as a balance an eighty of James Young which joined him on the east and a thousand dollars in cash. His demand for that thousand dollars came near wrecking the whole scheme. He was told that if he did not moderate his demands the capital would be located elsewhere, but he declared that rather than move away from his home and get nothing for his improvements he would let the capital go to the Blue River or elsewhere. After some heated talk about a rope necktie, tar and feathers, etc., we surrendered and in some way managed to satisfy him.
How this princely sum of a thousand dollars and some other hundreds needed to pay the Government for its claim on these lands was obtained I have 110 knowledge. I remember that Elder Miller was deeply interested in the scheme, but did not put in any money of his own. He asked me if I would not rather give $100 in cash than to give some of my land. I was willing but had not the money, so the elder took my note and advanced the cash.
If I remember aright, when I came to this place in the fall of 1866, there was but one house that had both a board floor and a shingle roof. Dawson and
* EDITOR'S NOTE: I knew most of the pioneers mentioned in the foregoing and so far as I know none of them are now living, not even Mr. Cox.
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Lavender lived in log houses with shingle roofs, but earthen floor. Elder Young's house had a board floor, but the roof was of earth. Doctor Mckesson lived in a dugout half a mile north of O Street. Mr. Hardenbergh, who was inter- ested in some salt works and kept a small store, had, I think, a stone house that was fairly comfortable and decently furnished. He was the one aristocrat of the town. He managed to sell out very soon after and return to New Jersey. There was some timber in the county at that time and one or two saw mills. A man by the name of Cozad had one of these mills not far from where the Burlington depot now stands. Town lots were so cheap they were offered free to anyone who would build a house worth $100. A friend of mine secured a fifty foot lot on these terms just east of the present Journal office. He borrowed a wagon and two yoke of oxen, and I went with him to a sawmill on Oak Creek, where he loaded on cottonwood boards with which we built a shanty about sixteen by twenty or twenty-four feet. The snow was deep, we were poor teamsters, and had many mishaps by the way, but finally completed our task and moved into the new house on the first day of March, 1867-a month long to be remembered by the early settlers of Nebraska, as every night the thermometer fell to zero or below. The last day of February was warm, the snow melted and every little ravine had a running stream. A poor man living at the salt basin driving an ox team could not force them through the broken ice and melted snow. He labored with them until he was soaking wet, then the weather turned intensely cold and he got home at last so badly frozen that, after weeks of suffering, he insisted that his feet should be amputated, and Doctor Mckesson undertook the operation. He had no proper amputation saw, and I wish, right here, to correct a story that has often been told that the Doctor used a common handsaw for this surgical work. He borrowed the saw from my partner, Mr. Biles, who now lives in Los Angeles, California. It was a stiff-back saw with fine teeth, suitable for use in cabinet work, which Biles had brought from London, and though larger than a surgeon's saw it was very well adapted for such an emergency. One foot was taken off, but the patient was too weak to recover and died soon after.
There is another item of interest which I do not find recorded in the history, an incident which reflects honor on one of the early settlers in the new city. Darwin Peckham was a carpenter and contractor, and he built the stone block of two stories still standing on the northeast corner of O and Tenth streets, which was occupied by the banking house of James Sweet and Brock, the grocery house of Rudolph, and the general store of Martin Pflug & Brother. Whilst Mr. Peckham was busy earning money for the support of his family and perhaps laying the foundation for a modest competence, it was reported one day that in one of the hotels a man was sick with smallpox. He was at once taken to a shanty on the outskirts of the town, and a volunteer nurse was called for. Mr. Peckham undertook this disagreeable and dangerous duty, caught the disease himself and barely escaped a horrible death. There are many men today wearing those bronze buttons in the lapels of their coats and drawing pensions from a grateful nation for heroic services on a hundred battlefields who never performed a nobler deed, or suffered more for our common humanity than this unassuming citizen of whom I write.
The other day I stood on O Street and called the attention of a young law student to the lot on the corner of O and Eleventh streets, on which stands
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DRUGS MEDICINES PAINTS 011.5
HARDWARE &
NORTHWEST CORNER OF O AND NINTH STREETS, 1865 Showing Doctor Gilbert's business house, the first drug store in Lincoln
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BILLIARDS
By courtesy of G. R. Wolf of Lincoln
SOUTH SIDE OF O STREET BETWEEN NINTH AND TENTH, 1-77
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part of Rudge & Guenzel's store, and told him that I stood by and saw that lot sold for $87.50; and he asked me why all of us did not buy lots and grow rich by the investment. This is the question that naturally occurs to anyone at this late day, and in self-defense it should be answered.
Nebraska at that time was supposed to be a great desert. not only by eastern people, but those who lived in the towns along the Missouri River really thought there was no land worth cultivating so far west as Lancaster County. The location of the capital was regarded as a doubtful project, and men with money to invest stood by and saw these choice lots sold for a mere song. It must be remembered there was not a mile of railroad south of the Platte River; that a large part of Iowa was still a howling wilderness; and even on the grand prairie in Central Illinois land could then be bought for five dollars an acre. Some of those who had faith in the city and made heavy investments came to grief when hard times came. One heroic woman told me the other day that she took in washings during several of those hard years so as to pay taxes and save the family property.
It is curious how soon some people forget. MIr. Bashley was the first lumber merchant in the city and some authorities say that Mr. Larkley was the first. Bashley and his son drove two mule teams to east Nebraska City and hauled lumber to the salt basin where I built a salt house for Tichenor & Green. Pine lumber came in with the advent of the capital. In Lancaster times we used cottonwood and walnut. There .was very fine walnut timber at the time on the streams west of here.
In Lancaster times Jacob Dawson was postmaster and Judge Pound was his deputy. I am sorry that the judge did not hold that position a year longer ; if he had I should be $30.00 richer. The first Lincoln postmaster was a thief and I lost that $30.00 in the mail and the postmaster was sent to the penitentiary for this and other robberies. Captain Donovan, his father-in-law, induced Governor Butler to procure his pardon and he disappeared. S. B. Pound, the young lawyer, had so good a reputation for honesty, even in that early day, that a jury of six men, of whom I was one, refused to give a verdict against his client on the sole ground that three of the men declared it to be their unalterable conviction that Mr. Pound would not defend a case that was not absolutely correct and true.
Vol. I- S
CHAPTER XII
LANCASTER AND LINCOLN LOT EXCHANGES
Whereas, Governor David Butler, J. Gillespie and T. P. Kennard, commis- sioners of location of the Town of Lincoln, to be the seat of government for the State of Nebraska, in the United States of America, have promised to accept the southeast quarter of section 23 in township 10 north of range 6 cast of the sixth principal meridian, according to the Government survey of the said state, and now surveyed and platted as the townsite of Lancaster, in the County of Lan- caster and State of Nebraska, have agreed to accept said quarter section of land, as part of the townsite of said townsite of Lincoln, provided the owners of lots in said townsite of Lancaster will submit to a resurvey of said townsite of Lan- caster, to correspond with the plat and survey of the other portions of the Town of Lincoln, to be so located, platted and surveyed, and accept lots, falling in said plat and survey of Lincoln, upon the lots owned by such individuals in the town- site of Lancaster, or nearest thereto, when such lots shall be covered by a street ; said lots. in Lincoln, to be so accepted by such owners, in lieu of said Lancaster lots, shall be of the same superficial area, and after such survey and plat of Lincoln, said owners to quit claim all their title in and to said Lancaster town lots to the State of Nebraska, and the State of Nebraska to quit claim to such owners, the lots conveyed by said state in lieu of said Lancaster town lots, respectively.
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