USA > Nebraska > Nebraska history and record of pioneer days, Vol I > Part 7
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At Chicago the party divided, some to go by rail across Illinois and Missouri to St. Joseph and then up the river by steamboats to Omaha, the others to go across Iowa to Council Bluffs. The account of the trip across to St. Joseph is very glowing. It tells that the railroad had been so splendidly improved and rebuilt that at times "the flying train smoothly made its thirty miles an hour!"
The excursionists left St. Joseph Friday night on the two steam- boats Denver and Colorado, which had been sumptuously furnished for the occasion. The profusion of food, as shown by the bill of fare, was almost a crime. The boats did not set a very swift pace up the river, being obliged to tie up part of each night. They arrived at Omaha Monday morning.
In the meantime the other party left Chicago on the 20th of October in sleeping cars and arrived at Denison, Iowa, the western terminus of the Northwestern. There they boarded stages and went seventy miles to Council Bluffs. They reached' there Sunday night and Monday morning crossed over and took up their quarters on the steamboat Elkhorn, in lieu of a· hotel.
The two parties joined at Omaha and were shown the town in early Omaha fashion. Speeches were made by Mayor Lorin Miller, Governor Alvin Saunders, the vice president of the board of trade and other citizens. Responses were made by C. T. Sherman, of Ohio, and J. W. Patterson of New Hampshire. The guests were loaded in carriages and taken to see the new shops, roundhouses and other railroad works. The compiler of the booklet here takes the oppor- tunity to give a history of the railroad venture and its progress up to the time-much interesting and valuable data.
Monday evening there was a grand ball at the Herndon House, after which the excursionists retired to their steamboat quarters to rest up for the trip across Nebraska the next day.
The united party left Omaha on a special train consisting of the "sumptuous director's car," five coaches, and the "Lincoln" car, which the road had purchased. Governor Saunders, Senators Thayer and Tipton and local construction officials joined the party from Omaha. B. F. Bunker and N. A. Gesner, were in charge of the special train.
The story describes the trip, gives technical measurements of bridges across the Papillion and Elkhorn and glows over the fine soil and crops, until "the valley of the Platte burst unheralded upon the sight." The statement is made that the Platte valley is fertile to a little way beyond Columbus.
The train reached Columbus at nightfall, and the excursionists unloaded and went a quarter of a mile where tents had been set up for a camp. A freight train had run out the day before with the tents, mattresses from the steamboats and provisions for the party. Sup- per was eaten in a big dining tent which had been set up for the occasion. After supper the entertainment consisted of a big Indian war dance, a large party of Pawnee having been brought down from up on the Loup. The account of the war dance goes into minute detail. After the excursionists had retired to their, tents some gay members arranged with the Indians to make a mock attack on the camp. This they did at two o'clock and kept up the noise until five. In the morning, after the tents had been struck and the tired visi- tors had boarded the cars, the Indians engaged in a sham battle.
On Wednesday the train ran to Platte City, as it was called-the construction camp at the end of Brady's Island, two hundred and seventy miles from Omaha. The bridge was not completed across the North Platte at that time, and the rails were just being laid from Brady Island to the bridge.
The train reached Platte City at night, and the tents were again pitched. After breakfast the next morning there were many speeches by the Nebraska officials and by eastern gentlemen. Resolutions were adopted praising Omaha and Nebraska and congratulating the officials of the road and everybody else.
The day was spent in watching the laying of track, and in vari- ous performances. During the day a newspaper was printed on the special train, type, press and printers having been loaned by the Omaha Republican. The book gives two sample pages of the news- paper, which was called the Railway Pioneer. Besides much foolery the paper gave market reports from the east and from London, received by wire, gave the local prices of game, and printed some genuine news of the excursion. Game prices quoted for Platte City were, "Buffalo meat, per pound, 15c; elk meat, 12c to 15c; antelope, 16 to 18c; prairie chickens, per pair, 50 to 60c; wild ducks, pair, 75c to $1.00; wild
geese, each $1.25 to $1.50; sage hens, 50 to 65c; snipe, each 25 to 30c."
The Railway Pioneer records the eastern newspapers that had representatives on the excursion as follows: New York Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Republican, New York Observer, Chicago Times, Springfield, Ill., State Journal, Philadelphia Enquirer, Cin- cinnati Gazette, Cincinnati Commercial, Cleveland Herald, Waltham (Mass.) Sentinel, Council Bluffs Nonpariel, Council Bluffs Bugle, Omaha Republican, Omaha Herald and G. F. Alien for the National Intelligencer.
On Friday the party started back to Omaha, after having or- ganized a mock municipal government for the excursion camp. In the election which was held the mayor conferred full suffrage on the ladies.
On arrival at Omaha the tired travelers went back to their steam- boat quarters and Saturday took stages for Denison, and proceeded thence by rail to Chicago, where they spent several days before scat- tering to their homes.
RECENT EXPLORATION
An overland trip to western Nebraska in an automobile with Amos H .Haile proved instructive in the matter of a general knowledge of the country traversed. We made inquiry in relation to historical ma- terial available in each of the localities visited and interviewed a few of the early settlers.
At Doniphan I visited the brick yard, where the ash heap was discovered twenty feet under the soil some years ago. The present excavation is not being carried deep enough to reveal new lugnt, but the man in charge will keep a close watch for any interesting feature.
We visited our president, Mr. S. C. Bassett, at his home near Gibbon.
At the site of Fort McPherson we paused long enough to take some photographs and get some measurements. We gathered a num- ber of interesting relics from the site of the old fort at the entrance to Cottonwood Canyon, and viewed the outline of the ruins where once stood the McDonald trading post. At North Platte we inter- viewed Mr. Charles McDonald, who came to Cottonwood Springs from Pawnee county in 1859 and established the famous McDonald Ranch. Dick Darling, a relation of John Experience Estabrook, of Omaha, had begun the erection of the storehouse. Mr. McDonald bought it from him. He completed it and other buildings of the trading post, which he conducted until 1872.
The first building for Fort McPherson was erected in October, 1863. The buildings were mostly one story log structures with sod roofs, but some of the officers' quarters were a story and a half with shingle roofs.
Mr. Burke, father of Peter Burke, who now lives on the site of Fort McPherson had formerly lived twenty-six miles southeast of Te- cumseh, Nebraska. He started to Pike's Peak in 1862 with his family. He stopped at the place where Fort McPherson was being built and helped to get out logs for the houses. It is strewn with relics, and the stump of the old cedar flagstaff set by Eugene Ware in 1863 is said to be still in existence. The spot where his flagstaff stood is marked by a marble slab.
I suggested that a suitable sign should be painted and placed near the site of the fort on the main road, which passes, this spot. Mr. Peter Burke has agreed to gather a collection of relics from the site for the Historical Society. John Burke, an older brother, lives in North Platte.
We met a number of interesting historical characters who still bear an active part of the world's work, but we failed to locate any ancient Indian habitat worthy of being explored on the trip.
E. E. BLACKMAN,
Curator Historical Society Museum.
AN OLD STATION AGENT
One of the interesting pioneers of Nebraska is E. M. Searle, Sr., of Ogallala. While yet a mere boy he went to the war from Indiana. As a telegraph messenger at the front he learned telegraphy. After the war he worked a year for an Indiana railroad. Then the lure of the new Pacific railroad brought him west. He sought a job at Omaha, but was advised to go out along the railroad line. He was offered one of the advance stations in Wyoming, but declined when he found the former agent had been killed in an Indian raid. He went to North Platte, which was then the end of the line of road, and was assigned to Alkali, thirty-one miles west, where the station was a tent. He saw the road build on past toward the Pacific, and after about twenty years' service as agent at Alkali, later named Paxton, he was transferred to Ogallala, where he had taken a homestead. He has long since given up railroad work, but has remained active as a builder, of western Nebraska.
8
Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
PIONEERS OF EARLY PERIOD First Real Estate Agents' Union Prices
NEBRASKA'S FIRST EDUCATOR
Dr. John M. Mckenzie died at his home in California, May 19, 1918. He is remembered by the early pioneers as a Methodist preacher and an earnest promoter of education. In the sixties he helped to establish an academy at Pawnee City. The fact that the new institution was to be under the Christian church did not lessen his zeal. When the hard times of the then border county caused the new academy to lapse and die, Mckenzie transferred the idea to Peru, and through his work the Methodist academy was established there, to be soon merged into a state normal school.
Dr. Mckenzie was the second state superintendent of Nebraska,. ' wrote most of our school laws, promoted the organization of the state teachers and left his impress on every branch of education in Ne- braska. In his later days he sought a milder climate, but he never lost his interest in the state where he had done so much work. The newspaper at the old school town fittingly says: "He and Mrs. Mc- Kenzie witnessed the crowning glory of their lives, the semicentennial celebration held at Peru last summer."
HON. HERBERT P. SHUMWAY
Herbert P. Shumway, well known citizen of Nebraska, died at a Lincoln hospital, June 30, after an illness of several months. The body, accompanied by Mrs. Shumway, a brother and sister, and other relatives, was taken to Lyons, Neb., for burial.
He was born in Caledonia, Minn., in 1856. Soon after coming to Nebraska he engaged in the lumber business at Lyons and Wakefield. Nebraska in 1880, he engaged in the lumber business at Lyons and Wakefield. In 1901 to 1904, he was associated with others in the build- ing of a line of railroad in Mexico. He was a member of the state senate of Nebraska in 1901 and again in 1913 and 1915.
Senator Shumway was a member of the Masons, Shriners, Elks, Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen, United Workmen, Eastern Star and Sons of Veterans and was on the staff of Governors Crounse, Mickey and Sheldon.
He was a candidate for lieutenant governor on the republican ticket at the last election, but went down with the rest of the ticket in the democratic landslide. He had filed for the republican nomina- tion for the same office this year.
TALES OF STRONG MEN AND WOMEN
The study of Nebraska history, as well as the history of the United States, should be encouraged. This state has been developed upon the same principles of freedom and equality and democracy as the entire nation. The people should know these things.
A. E. Sheldon, secretary of the state historical society, has launched the first issue of a magazine destined to bring home to the people of Nebraska these cardinal rights for which the early settlers fought. He calls the publication, to be issued monthly, "Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days." To the pioneer, it brings a memory of days which they call "the best of all;" to the younger Ne- braskans it brings a message of sturdy growth of a democratic com- monwealth and inspiring tales of strong men and women .- Lincoln Daily Star.
WILLIAM B. LEE, PIONEER
William B. Lee, who died at the home of his daughter at Douglas, Wyoming, July 1, was the last of the band of pioneers who came to Fremont, Nebraska, in 1856. . Mr. Lee had resided at Fremont for sixty- two years, and his body was brought back to the old home for burial. Mr. Lee was a native of Ireland, and came to America when a young man. He was 85 years old at the time of his death. Two daughters, Mrs. John Flynn and Mrs. A. R. Merritt, of Douglas, Wyoming, and two sons, Ed, of Brownlee, Neb., and Frank, of Oregon, are the close surviving relatives.
NEBRASKA HISTORY
The Nebraska State Historical Society with headquarters at Lin- coln began the publishing of a monthly, "The Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days." The magazine is ably edited by Addison E. Sheldon and a staff of the Nebraska State Historical Society. The subscription price is $2.00 per year. Every school and library in the country should become subscribers, as to enable the pupils and readers to become more familiar with pioneer Nebraska .- Clarkson Press.
A RED WILLOW PIONEER
John Longnecker writes us from Indianola wishing to become a member of the Historical Society and receive its publications. He came to Red Willow county November 20, 1871, which is getting back near the beginnings of white settlements in that part of the state.
INTERESTING EARLY HISTORY
"Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days" is the title of a new monthly publication by the State Historical Society. The first issue was sent out last week. The editor is Addison E. Sheldon, the very competent secretary of the Society, and many very interesting bits of early history of the state are published. The subscription price is $2.00 per year. All sustaining members of the Nebraska State HIS- torical Society will receive "Nebraska History" without further pay- ment .- Albion News.
MARY L. MCKENZIE KEYSER
Mrs. Mary Keyser, wife of Herbert T. Keyser, of Byron, Cal., and daughter of the late J. M. Mckenzie of Stockton, Cal., died at the Damerin hospital in Stockton, June 3, 1918, after an illness of six days, only a short time after the death of her illustrious father.
Mary L. Mckenzie was born in Fayette, Iowa, April 21, 1860. When two years of age she came with her parents to Nebraska, where
she grew to womanhood, graduating with honor from the Peru State Normal school in June, 1883.
After graduating she taught successfully in the schools of Syra- cuse, Harvard and York. The family moved to Oakdale, Cal., in 1888. Here Mary proved an able assistant to her father in the Seminary and Normal school, which was afterwards merged into the Oakdale high school. She taught several terms at Langworth and in the Oak- dale grammar school. In the fall of '98 she accepted a position in the Excelsior school near Byron. Here she met her future husband, H. T. Keyser. They were married at Oakdale, September 26, 1900, and lived together happily for nearly eighteen years.
SOME PIONEERS OF RICHARDSON COUNTY
In the spring of 1866 four or five families came from Grundy county, Ills., taking six weeks to make the trip. They crossed the river at Rulo and settled in Richardson county. One was the Sinclair family,-Jamie and Jane, and five children. Two more children came later to fill the household.
The Scotch are hardy people. Jane Sinclair celebrated her 90th birthday at Falls City on the 27th of June, 1918, and was able to tell the assembled friends that all her children were alive and flourishing, and all living within a hundred miles of where the family settled fifty- two years ago.
The coming of this Grundy county party to Nebraska was of course because somebody else that they knew had settled in the land ahead of them. The Grants, another Scotch family, had led the way, and located on the edge of the "half-breed" tract northeast of Falls City. The others came into the same neighborhood.
That locality where they settled represented to a remarkable de- gree the different nationalities that were pouring into the new state. There were in that one school district: two Scotch families, Grant and Sinclair; two French, Benwire and Mousau; two Welch, Jones and Roberts; two Germans, Frey and Vogelein; two Irish, Harrison and Lawrence; one Pennsylvania Dutch, Fierbaugh; and one South- erner, Abbott, who had with him a ormer slave, "Nigger Bill"; and there were two families from England,-Wilkes and Burch.
But the Germans were coming into the neighborhood, and they soon bought out all the others. That precinct, Jefferson, has been solidly German for many years. The Illinois people scattered over Richardson and Pawnee counties. Jane Sinclair, and Bridget Pattison, of Table Rock, are the only ones now living of the heads of families who crossed the Missouri with that wagon train in 1866.
A. K. Lawrence was one of the first to go. His wife, Julia, died last April, at the age of 83, leaving many children and grandchildren in Johnson and Lancaster counties. W. P. Pattison lived to celebrate his golden wedding with his good wife, and passed away at Table Rock four or five years ago, at a ripe old age, and leaving behind many des- cendants. J. D. Harrison and his wife both died about ten years ago, leaving many children and grandchildren at Grand Island and in Lin- coln. Of the other old folks in that pioneer party,-Billy Randall and wife, Ben Butler and wife,-they have been gone on their last journey these many years.
And the other people of the old school district: Wilkes and Burch, "Cash" Roberts and Bill Jones, Geo. A. Abbott and his good wife, Eli Fierbaugh and the others-even "Nigger Bill"; they are all gone. The two French families drifted away. The children of that neigh- borhood populated many other parts of Nebraska. The Germans re- mained in Jefferson precinct, and their children of 1866 and the few years following, now own the land. F. A. HARRISON
STORY OF HOW THE REAL ESTATERS ORGANIZED
The book of proceedings of the Nebraska State Board of Real Es- tate Agents and the correspondence of the organization have come into the hands of the Historical Society. The board was organized in May, 1870. D. H. Wheeler, of Plattsmouth, presided at the meet- ing. The officers elected were: president, J. F. Kinney, Nebraska City; vice president, D. H. Wheeler, Plattsmouth; secretary, W. H. Hoover, Brownville; treasurer, E. S. Seymour, Omaha; committee on arbitration, B. M. Davenport, W. W. Wardell, Nebraska City, and H. C. Lett, Brownville; committee on membership, A. P. Cogswell, Brown- ville; I. B. Compton, Lincoln.
The members were assessed five dollars apiece to cover incidental expenses. The prime object of the organization was to establish a uniform scale of fees or commissions. The scale adopted was $5 for a sale not exceeding $100; on sales not exceeding $1,000, 5 per cent; 3 per cent on the next $1,000 and 21/2 per cent on succeeding amounts -not much difference from the scale now in effect among real estate agents.
In addition to the members noted as officers, there were A. P. Cogswell, Brownville; H. N. Cornell, Nebraska City; B. F. Lushbaugh, Omaha; William J. Austin, Brownville; Smith & Cunningham, Falls City; Central Land Company, Omaha; Andrew J. Stevens, Columbus; Moses H. Sydenham, Kearney; A. J. Poppleton, Omaha. The record indicates that only one meeting was held after the organization.
So far as known this is the first organization of land talkers and first fixing of price for their services in Nebraska.
SARPY COUNTY REUNION
Two years ago, on a week's notice, fifty territorial pioneers of Sarpy county got together at Papillion for a picnic. One member came home from California to attend the gathering. Many similar meetings could be held. It takes very little effort to get the old set- tlers together.
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THE STATE
NEBRASKA AND RECORD
HISTORY PIONEER DAYS
Sí
NEBRASKA HISTORY AND RECORD OF PIONEER DAYS
Published Monthly by the Nebraska State Historical Society
Editor, ADDISON E. SHELDON Associate Editors The Staffs of the Nebraska State Historical Society and Legislative Reference Bureau
Subscription $2.00 Per Year
q All sustaining members of the Nebraska State Historical Society receive Nebraska History without further payment.
q Entered as second class mail matter, under act of July 16, 1894, at Lincoln, Nebraska, April 2, 1918.
VOLUME I.
SEPTEMBER, 1918 NUMBER 5
ANNOUNCEMENT
The June, July and August numbers of the Nebraska History have been omitted. The pub- lication has been effected by the war activities, and we ask the consideration of readers on this account.
THE TRIBAL RELATION OF LOGAN FONTENELLE.
The following letter and newspaper clipping deal in an interesting way with persons intimately connected with the early history of Ne- braska. The letter is addressed to the historian of the Historical So- ciety and the clipping is from the Omaha World-Herald.
"Some time ago Mrs. Mary Mitchell, Omaha Indian interpreter, visited me here (at Omaha) and showed me a letter which you had written to Mrs. Henry Fontenelle in regard to some article you were getting out touching the right of Logan Fontenelle to be called chief of the Omaha.
"She explained that Mrs. Henry Fontenelle, Sr., was in Pawnee, Oklahoma, and this letter was delivered to Mrs. Henry Fontenelle, Jr., wbo is Mary Mitchell's daughter, and the wife of Eugene Fontenelle's son. She asked me to write you about it, and I am sorry that I have been so slow about doing so.
"Mrs. Henry Fontenelle, Sr., came up through here to Decatur two or three months ago, and has now come down here for two duties, as the enclosed story will show. She will be over to Council Bluffs probably the remainder of the week and then will come over here and with me and Mr. Gilder and Mr. Scott, photographer, will visit the graves; Eugene going also. She is getting quite feeble physically, but retains her mental faculties remarkably.
"I questioned Mary Mitchell, after reading your letter, and she has the clearest idea of any one I have talked with about the condi- tions of the time of Logan, gained from the very few old people still alive. I very much wish someone could go with me to Decatur, and gather the few things that can be gathered from the few old ones still living.
"One thing they all agree in. Logan Fontenelle did not have to be adopted by the tribe. He was a member of the tribe through his mother, a full blood Indian. The tribal membership came as much through the women as the men. You have got that idea because Joe La Flesche had to be adopted, his mother beiing a Pawnee. He was adopted by Big Elk to take the place of Big Elk's feeble son. It seems that Big Elk was a relative of Fontenelle's, too, but I cannot remember just how.
"Mary Mitchell states that she has learned that White Elk, a brother of Big Elk, should have been chief instead of LaFlesche, and that No-Knife, son of White Elk, was made chief after, LaFlesche was
deposed. She told me some more but I did not take notes, thinking to go up there this summer.
"I am writing you this as you may possibly want to arrange to see Mrs. Henry, Sr., while here. You may not have another chance. She returns to Oklahoma in the late fall. I doubt if she gets up here aga n.
Very truly yours, (Mrs.) Harriet S. MacMurphy.
The newspaper story referred to by Mrs. MacMurphy follows:
"Eugene Fontenelle and his mother, Mrs. Henry Fontenelle, mo- tored down from Decatur the first of the week and are spending some time with Otis Allis of Council Bluffs. Mr. Allis is a son of Wiilliam Allis, one of the early missionaries at Bellevue, in whose home Mrs. Fontenelle lived much of the time after the death of her father, Louis Pappan, while she was obtaining her education in the mission school. Mrs. Fontenelle says she must do two things this summer while she is still able-visit her old-time friends, the Allis's and make a trip to the graves of Logan and Lucian Fontenelle, brother and father of her husband. These graves lay side by side on the brow of the wooded bluffs near Bellevue, and Mrs. Fontenelle, who with her husband, Henry Fontenelle, was living in Logan's house when his body was brought back from the hunt in which he was massacred by the Sioux, is now almost the only person living who was present when Logan was buried. The event occurred a few months after her wedding, and her recollection of the places and all that occurred is still vivid, although she has reached her eightieth year. Her two grandsons, Henry and Cecil, are at Camp Funston, having gone with the first reserves."
The article referred to by Mrs. MacMurphy is a discussion of the much mooted question whether Logan Fontenelle was a legitimate chief of the Omaha, by Melvin R. Gilmore, curator of the State His- torical Society of North Dakota. Dr. Gilmore's paper is printed in the forthcoming volume XIX of the publications of the Nebraska State Historical Society. The editor of the volume, in the letter adverted to, requested Mrs. Henry Fontenelle to state the case for Logan Fonte- nelle as she understands it, but she neglected to do so in time for full presentation with Dr. Gilmore's discussion. It should be said that Dr. Gilmore has made a careful and scholarly investigation of his sub- ject. Dr. Gilmore's contention that according to the constitution or fundamental law of the tribe descent through the male line was es- sential to chieftainship is strongly adduced and supported.
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