USA > Nebraska > Nebraska history and record of pioneer days, Vol. VI > Part 10
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"In the fall of 1873 our section gang was ordered to Stevenson. Stevenson comprised two section houses located four miles west of where Kearney now stands. When we got there we shoveled grasshoppers off the track so that trains could get through. The track was so oily and greasy that the wheels of the engines would just spin and they could not pull a train. This was during the grasshopper plague in Dawson county and the hoppers were so thick and flew in big droves that some times they shut out the sun just like a cloud does. The reason they - settled at Stevenson was because they met a storm and heavy wind."
The editor of this magazine wonders whether grasshoppers came in such numbers in 1873. The great grasshopper invasion came on July 20, 1874-as he very well remembers.
Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Templeton, of Pawnee City, own a clock which has been running continuously since 1838. It is all made of wood ex- cept one small brass cog wheel. It is believed by experts in clock making to have been made prior to 1810.
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First Nebraska Creamery
Franklin W. Corliss died at 2912 South 24th St., Omaha, Nebraska, October 20, 1922, aged 80. In 1871 he built the Waterloo Creamery which is stated to have been the first creamery in Nebraska. For many years he continued in the dairy business and was a pioneer in the in- troduction of pure bred Holstein cattle in the state. He was active in the construction of the drainage canal from the Elkhorn to the Platte which reclaimed a large tract of rich swampy land.
Frank Cline, the first white boy born in the Logan Valley, visited Oakland, where he was born 65 years ago, in December, 1922. His father was the first government carpenter at the Omaha Indian Agency.
Death of Charles Wooster
One of the remarkable and original characters of Nebraska, Charles Wooster, aged 80, died at Silver Creek, December 30, 1922. Mr. Wooster was a Union Soldier in the Civil War with scars received from wounds in battles. He took a soldier's homestead near Silver Creek in 1871 and for more than 50 years was a practical farmer as well as thinker and writer. He was prominent in nearly all the farmers' movements during the past half century. His strongest role was that of critic. This gen- erally led him into controversy, even with those working in the same cause, so that a great part of the voluminous writing of Mr. Wooster during his half century of Nebraska life, is composed of the keenest criticism of men and measures of his time. Mr. Wooster was an open and aggressive critic of the churches and of current religious belief. He delighted in this controversy and pursued the subject into the columns of all the leading Nebraksa newspapers. Mr. Wooster was often a can- didate for office, but was elected to office of prominence only once, serv- ing as a member of the legislature, (with the editor of this magazine) in. the session of 1897. Mr. Wooster left a large mass of newspaper clippings and manuscripts at his home near Silver Creek. The editor of this magazine understands that members of his family plan to as- semble and publish some of the more important of these writings. They deserve preservation among the printed records of Nebraska, for they illustrate the life of one of the most unique and original pioneers of the state.
Wm. Hawxby, Nemaha County Pioneer
Died at the home of his son, Fred G. Hawxby at Auburn, November 20, 1922, aged 89. He was born in Yorkshire England, January 29, 1833, educated at Rugby and came in a sailing ship to America in 1855. In the spring of 1860, he crossed the Missouri river at Brownville, located on a farm near Nemaha City which continued to be his home until his death. He was freighting on the plains for several years, having many perilous adventures from Indian attacks. He was a lover of fine live- stock and active in developing that interest in Nebraska. He moved to Lincoln to educate his children in the state University and when that was completed, moved back to his farm.
A. B. Wood of the Gering Courier began publishing his newspaper at that point when Dome Rock was a hole in the ground and Scottsbluff was an ant hill. In a recent issue he called attention to the discovery of an iron tube about two inches in diameter and three feet long found in a recent excavation and explains that it is the bottom part of a lo- comotive boiler flue, used thirty years ago as a telephone pole on the Boiler Flue Telephone Line between Gering and Alliance. Like some of the colonial furniture in the historical society museum, no one could have guessed its use who was not there when it was used. We should be glad to add one of these boiler flue posts to our museum.
THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Made a State Institution February 27, 1883.
An act of the Nebraska legislature,' recommended by Governor James W. Dawes in his inaugural and signed by him, made the State Historical Society a State institution in the following:
Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska:
Section 1. That the "Nebraska State Historical Society," an or- ganization now in existence-Robt. W. Furnas, President; James M. Woolworth and Elmer S. Dundy, Vice-Presidents; Samuel Aughey, Sec- retary, and W. W. Wilson, Treasurer, their associates and successors- be, and the same is hereby recognized as a state institution.
Section 2. That it shall be the duty of the President and Secretary of said institution to make annually reports to the governor, as required by other state institutions. Said report to embrace the transactions and expenditures of the organization, together with all historical addresses, which have been or may hereafter be read before the Society or furnished it as historical matter, data of the state or adjacent western regions of country.
Section 3. That said reports, addresses, and papers shall be pub- lished at the expense of the state, and distributed as other similar official reports, a reasonable number, to be decided by the state and Society, to be furnished said Society for its use and distribution.
Property and Equipment
The present State Historical Society owns in fee simple title as trustee of the State the half block of land opposite and east of the State House with the basement thereon. It occupies for offices and work- ing quarters ground floor rooms in the University Library building at 11th and R streets. . The basement building at 16th and H is crowded with the collections of the Historical Society which it can not exhibit, including some 15,000 volumes of Nebraska newspapers and a large part of its museum. Its rooms in the University Library building are like- wise crowded with library and museum material. The annual inventory of its property returned to the State Auditor for the year 1922 is as follows:
Value of land, 1/2 block 16th and H $75,000
Value of Buildings and permanent improvements. 35,000
Value of Furniture and Furnishings. 5,000
Value of Special Equipment, including apparatus, Ma- chinery and Tools. 1,000
Educational Specimens (Art, Museum, or other) 74,800
Library (Books and Publications) 75,000
Newspaper Collection 52,395
Total resources. $318,195
Much of this property is priceless, being the only articles of their kind and impossible to duplicate.
£
Beginnings of Nebraska Literature
NEBRASKA AND RECORD OF
HISTORY PIONEER DAYS
Published Quarterly by the Nebraska State Historical Society
Addison E. Sheldon, Editor
Subscription, $2.00 per year
All sustaining members of the Nebraska State Historical Society receive Nebraska History and other publications without further payment.
Vol.H
October-December, 1923
No. 4
CONTENTS
Page
Albert Watkins 97-98
The Ground Bean-Melvin R. Gilmore 99-101
Indian Fighting in 1864-Mark M. Coad. 102-108
Indian Villages in Webster County-John M. MacColl 108
Washington Irving-John D. Rockefeller 109
The Saxon Colony in Buffalo County. 110
Early Banks in Nebraska-W. S. Harding 111-114
Letter from Senator William Campbell. 114-115
Rev. A. A. Cressman's Clock 115
From the Daughter of Major Pearman
116
The Beecher Island Battlefield
116
A Find Near Crawford-The Buffalo Wallow 117
A Letter From Scout Mienhall. 118-119
A Pioneer Log House.
119
Recitations of Prof. Dake-Nellie Williams Keefer 120
The Early Day Dug-out-The Rawhide
Story-The Valentine Court House. 121
To An Old Branding Iron-Early York County Days 122
A Hamilton County Pioneer Story 123
Historical Notes 124-128
Entered as second class matter February 4, 1918, at the Post Office, Lincoln, Nebraska, under Act August 24, 1912.
THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Founded September 25, 1878
The Nebraska State Historical Society was founded Sep- tember 25, 1878, at a public meeting held in the Commercial Hotel in Lincoln. About thirty well known citizens of the State were present. Robert W. Furnas was chosen president and Professor Samuel Aughey, secretary. Previous to this date, on August 26, 1867, the State Historical Society and Library Association was incorporated in order to receive from the State the gift of the block of ground, now known as Hay- market Square. This original Historical Association held no meetings. It was superseded by the present State Historical Society.
PRESENT GOVERNING BOARD
Executive Board-Officers and Elected Members
President, Hamilton B. Lowry, Lincoln
1st V-President, W. E. Hardy, Lincoln
2nd V-President, Rev. M. A. Shine, Plattsmouth
Secretary, Addison E. Sheldon, Lincoln Treasurer, Don L. Love, Lincoln James F. Hanson, Fremont Samuel C. Bassett, Gibbon John F. Cordeal, McCook Novia Z. Snell, Lincoln
*Robert Harvey, Lincoln
Ex Officio Members
Charles W. Bryan, Governor of Nebraska
Samuel Avery, Chancellor of University of Nebraska J. S. Kroh, Ogallala, President of Nebraska Press Association Andrew M. Morrissey, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Nebraska.
*Died, Nov. 1, 1923.
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ALBERT WATKINS
Albert Watkins died at his home in Lincoln, November 19, 1923. Mr. Watkins was born at Worcester, England, November 16, 1848, He came with his parents to America when he was a year old and settled in Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1871 and next year received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was county superintendent of Iowa county, Wisconsin between the fall of 1874 and 1877 and newspaper editor at Mineral Point in that county. In 1877 Mr. Watkins came to Sioux City and did editorial work on the Sioux City Tribune. In 1882 he moved to Lincoln and became a partner of General Victor Vifquain in the publishing of the Lincoln Daily Democrat.
Mr. Watkins was a very ardent tariff reform, gold standard demo- crat and allied himself with the J. Sterling Morton wing of Nebraska democracy. The election of Grover Cleveland as President of the United States in 1884 put Mr. Watkins in line for official reward and he was made postmaster at Lincoln in 1885, holding the office some- thing over four years. Later when Cleveland was again elected Presi- dent in 1892 and Mr. Morton became Secretary of Agriculture Mr. Watkins was again rewarded by receiverships of national , banks of Nebraska, especially the one at Ponca.
When the free silver fight for control of the democratic party in Nebraska and in the nation under the leadership of William J. Bryan, began about 1893, Mr. Watkins became one of the most active champ- ions of the Grover Cleveland-J. Sterling Morton gold standard democ- racy. The final triumph of Mr. Bryan and his friends in 1896 left the
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
gold standard democrats in Nebraska few in numbers and quite stranded politically and as the effort to maintain a separate organization proved a failure, most of them, including Mr. Watkins, came back into the re- organized democratic party under the Bryan leadership with just a little more touch of independence in their party affiliation than they had ever enjoyed before.
About the year 1898, during the Omaha Exposition, a history of Nebraska was projected chiefly by Iowa people, including Mr. Clarence S. Paine. J. Sterling Morton was chosen by this group as the strongest man for literary head of this publication. It was not at all to Mr. Morton's liking to do the detailed work required for a real history of Nebraska. He therefore persuaded Mr. Watkins, his close friend for many years, to become associated with him in the editorship of the pro- jected history of Nebraska. The final result was that Mr. Watkins did by far the larger part of the editorial work upon the Morton History and outside of special articles by well known Nebraskans, most of the narrative writing in that work. Preparation and publication of the three volumes of this history finally printed stretched over the period from 1898 until 1911.
Since 1911 Mr. Watkins has held the position of Historian of the State Historical Society and as such historian much of the editorial work on volumes 16 to 20 of the Historical Society Reports was his.
Mr. Watkins was of an independent and original type of mind. His mind was critical rather than constructive. His criticism was keen and caustic. In fact, his bias toward the critical point of view was one of the great limitations of Mr. Watkins' achievement in his life. Mr. Watkins' delight was in finding out-of-the-way phrases and words in which to convey his meaning. This was a further limitation for popular writing. Both as a critic and a writer, Mr. Watkins was, to use one of his own pet phrases "meticulous" in the extreme. Probably his chief literary joy was a never-ending search for little defects in any docu- ment.
Mr. Watkins was a student of the best English literature all his life. Here, again, he sought out the writers of the inner group, who appealed to the specialist in literature rather than the general public. His work as a whole is a distinct contribution to Nebraska letters. Much of it is scattered in various publications, but forms an interesting commentary on Nebraska life in its formative period.
For several years Mr. Watkins has been failing in physical strength, greatly curtailing his achievement in the later period of his life. He was, to summarize,-a singular character, original, pessimistic, argumentative,-a natural dissenter from the established custom or faith. These qualities made Mr. Watkins greatly appreciated by those qualified to enjoy his incisive discussion , On the whole they made his life less happy than it might have been. He always felt that his services, to the democratic party for example, were never appreciated or rated at their true value and that the rewards he received in his political life were far less than his desert. So,-a peculiar spirit has departed from Nebraska life, leaving a contribution to its historical literature which future generations must pass upon in order to evaluate.
The oldest building on the Agricultural College campus at Lincoln was torn down recently. In the structure was found a block of wood on which was written:
"To whom it may concern, know ye that this fifteenth day of December, 1875, that the sunshines bright and the roads are dry anu you can work in your shirt sleeves, J. W. Beatty."
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
THE GROUND BEAN By Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore
There is a native wild bean which grows throughout a very extensive area of North America, and which was an item of great importance in the food supply of all the tribes in its range. But white people have never investigated its usefulness nor its possibilities of improvement under culti- vation and selective breeding. The scientific name of this bean is Falcata comosa; its common name is ground bean, from its habit of producing one form of its fruits in the ground in a manner similar to the peanut. It forms two kinds of branches, bearing two forms of flowers, producing two forms of fruit. Leafy branches climb up over shrubs, or in the absence of any support, form a tangled mass of vines. Upon these upper leafy branches are borne showy, purplish flowers exactly resembling garden bean blossoms in minia- ture. From these petaliferous flowers are produced small bean pods about a half inch to an inch in length. These pods contain each from three to four or five small hard mottled beans about an eighth of an inch long.
From the base of the main stem of the plant the
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branches of the second form grow out in all directions, creep- ing prostrate on the ground under the shade of the over- growth, and forming a perfect network of colorless, leafless branches. The tiny, inconspicuous blossoms borne on these prostrate branches are self-pollinated and push into the leaf mold and soft soil, and there each produces a single large bean closely invested in a filmy pod or husk. These beans, which are formed in the earth, are about the size of lima beans, or even larger. It is the large beans, borne in the ground upon these basal branches creeping on all the surface of the ground under the leafy branches, which are so good for food and so greatly desired. When cooked they are of ex- cellent flavor. These very desirable beans would be very difficult to obtain but for the help of a certain species of small mammal (Microtus pennsylvanicus), commonly called meadow mouse or bean mouse. The bean mice gather great stores of food for winter, certain roots and seeds, and most especially the ground beans. It is for this reason that the animal is called the bean mouse. They hollow out storage places in the ground where they put away their winter supplies.
These stores of ground beans were eagerly sought by Indians of all tribes throughout the range of the plant. And they were grateful to the bean mouse for its work in har- vesting and storing the ground beans. They said that they must not take away all the beans from the stores of the bean mice, for it would be wicked to loot their stores and leave them destitute. They believed that if one were so hard hearted and unjust that such action would surely bring its proper punishment. They said that when they went to look for the stores of beans laid up by the bean mice they must first prepare themselves in heart and mind. One who went out to look for bean stores must go in all humility and charity, not only toward all humankind, but with a feeling of acknowledgment of the rights of all living things, plants as well as animals and human beings, and with a becoming sense of the inter-dependence of all living things. One must have a consciousness of one's debts to all Nature and to all the Mysterious Powers. One going on this quest must, as they said, "have no evil thoughts, must think good _ thoughts, and have a good heart, one must put away any grudge or hard feelings." And especially one should think of our debt to the bean mouse for the favor to be asked. And they thus approached the stores of the bean mouse not as strong robbers of the weak and helpless, but humbly
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asking from the bean mouse a portion from its store for their own need.
Among all the tribes I found a strong popular feeling of affection and respect for the bean mouse. The Omahas have a saying, "The bean mice are very industrious people, they even help human beings."
All the people of the Dakota (alias Sioux) nation who have talked with me about the bean mouse have always said that they never took away any beans from them without making some payment in kind. They said it would be wicked and unjust to steal the beans from the mouse people without making any return. They therefore put back some corn, some suet, or some other food in exchange for the beans they took. They said that thus both they and the bean mouse people had a variety in their food supply.
The bean mouse and its works are regarded with respect, admiration, and reverence by the people of the various In- dian tribes who benefit by its labor. In the fall, after the bean mice have harvested their beans and laid them up in their storehouses for the winter, the people often go out alone and sit upon the lap of Mother Earth near some such storehouse in some quiet place under the open sky, reverently and thankfully meditating upon the mysteries of Nature and on the bounties of Providence in Nature.
An old man of the Teton-Dakota who still lives (1923) upon the Standing Rock Reservation on the upper Missouri River, went out to the vicinity of a bean mouse's storehouse to meditate and pray. Thinking himself alone in the pres- ence of the powers of nature, this devout old man gave expression to his religious feeling in a prayer which was overheard and recorded by another man who was within hearing but unobserved by the old man who was praying. The words of his prayer, when translated into English, . would be as follows:
"Thou who art holy, pity me and help me I pray. Thou art small, but thou art sufficiently large for thy place in the world. And thou art sufficiently strong also for thy work, for Holy Wakantanka constantly strengthens thee. Thou art wise, for the wisdom of holiness is with thee constantly. May I be wise in my heart continually, for if an atti- tude of holy wisdom leads me on, then this shadow troubled life shall come into constant light."
C. E. Wescott died at Los Angeles, January 5, 1924. He and his wife were pioneers at Plattsmouth, coming there in 1879 and having a prominent part in the business development of that community.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
STORY OF INDIAN FIGHTING IN 1864 By Mark M. Coad, Fremont, Nebr.
On or about the 15th of January, 1864, Coad Bros. owned the ranch known as the Wisconsin ranch in eastern Colorado. At this time the Indians were very hostile, it being after the battle of Sandcreek, in Southern Colorado, where they were severely punished by the Colorado troops.
On the morning of the 15th of January, Lieut. Kennedy, with twenty-five men and some emigrants, passed the Amer- ican ranch which was twelve miles from the Wisconsin ranch and owned by John Morris. The Indians, about sixty in num- ber, attacked the American ranch shortly after Lieut. Kennedy and his men passed out of sight. The ranch was defended by John Morris and six men, having seventeen muzzle loading guns and two kegs of ammunition. The fight lasted one hour, the Indians killed the seven men and captured Mrs. Morris and her two children. By this time the troops had reached the Wisconsin ranch. We could see the smoke at the American ranch and knew it was on fire but did not know the Indians were there. The soldiers were going five miles east of the Wisconsin ranch to Valley station, where they had a large amount of Government supplies, intending to move them to the Wisconsin ranch and take the use of the hay and stables there. Lieut. Kennedy and his men passed on, promising to return the next day. When they had gotten about one-half mile away the Indians made a charge from the hills on the Wisconsin
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ranch about sixty in number. One-half of these chased the soldiers to Valley station and the balance remained to fight at the Wisconsin ranch. This fight commenced at nine o'clock in the morning and it was a battle royal from that hour until sundown.
Ben Danielson, his wife and two children, an old man, a young boy and myself were the only occupants of the ranch. The old man and young boy were only capable of loading the guns, so the fighting was left to two men. We stood the Indians off for about two hours, outside under shelter of the corrals, houses, and wagons. At this time the Indians were reinforced by the party that had captured the American ranch and also those who had chased the soldiers to Valley station, making about one hundred and twenty warriors. A council was held about a half mile from the ranch, after which a charge was made from the east and from the west. The In- dians had liquor which they had taken from the American ranch and, consequently, were very reckless and the fight became fierce and determined. They would come boldly up on foot, although we had killed and wounded several of them. We were forced into the storehouse, which was fireproof and about fifty feet from the other buildings. They then set fire to about two hundred tons of hay, double stables, two hundred and fifty feet long, corrals filled with lumber, and the dwelling house. They made several attempts to force the door and windows of the store house but as often as they came up we poured volleys of shot and bullets into them, killing and wounding quite a number.
We had a large amount of merchandise in the store which we piled against the doors and windows, thus keeping the Indians from breaking in, while we shot through the port holes and openings in the barricades. When they became tired they would retreat to the hills where they had their main command and another squad would take their place. At about one o'clock in the afternoon Lieut. Kennedy and eighteen of his men charged back from Valley station and got within three hundred yards of the ranch, while the stables, corrals and dwelling house were in flames and the smoke blowing across the store house, but were driven back by the Indians.
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