USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 11
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"Believing that then was the time to strike, A. D. Jones conferred with Thomas and William Allen, subcontractors in the construction of what was formerly known as 'the grade' for the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Com- pany, to whom he set forth the importance of crossing the river at once. They agreed with his proposition and the trio visited Mr. Brown, from whom they procured a small, leaky scow that lay on the bank of the river, in which they proposed to cross, though it was considered a risky and dangerous undertaking. The plan of operations having been agreed upon, the point at which claims should be made, etc., the three men went to Thomas Allen's residence and obtained a supply of edibles preparatory to setting out. The frail craft was launched into the waters of the 'Big Muddy,' with Thomas Allen as oarsman, 'Bill' Allen to bail out the water, and Mr. Jones as helmsman. Thus situated, these modern voyagers for the Golden Fleece struck out from the end of the grade opposite Davenport Street, passed the foot of the sandbar in the middle of the river, and landed below where Iler's distillery was located at a later day. The bottom was covered with a tall, stiff grass, much higher than the explorers' heads, which they were compelled to part with their hands to enable them to make their way through. They next came to a wide slough along the low plat of ground upon which the distillery above mentioned stands. This they crossed by wading, crawling over the tops of fallen trees. The bottom was then heavily timbered, but is now (1882) covered with city residences or manufac- tories. Being wet and fatigued, the explorers sought the first favorable place for camping for the night, and, after building a fire and cooking their supper, seated themselves about the embers and congratulated each other upon their safe arrival.
"Being in a strange land, owned and occupied by aborigines, a feeling of timidity and insecurity was experienced. To the north, on the prairie bottoms, fires could be seen burning, and 'Bill' Allen informed his companions that the Indians were coming, fortifying his assertion by drawing their attention to what seemed to be hordes of savages moving rapidly to and fro before the flames to the northward, fed by the dry vegetation found in their path. The party gazed with wonder and alarm at the distant figures, but becoming satisfied that no danger menaced the camp, and quieting the fears of the too susceptible 'Bill,' each sought a log for his pillow, inviting sleep, occasionally awakening, however, to replenish the dying fire, as the night was chill and crisp.
"Early the next morning, as soon as there was sufficient light to enable them to make their way through the brush, the party arose from their primitive and unsatisfactory couches, ate the last morsel of corn bread and bacon, and started out over an unknown region for the purpose of marking the claims which they had previously selected. Mr. Jones, with a hatchet he had brought with him, blazed a corner tree, near where the camp was located, and put therein the initials of his name with his survey marking iron. Then continuing, he blazed lines north (to the point afterward occupied by the residence of Mr. Kountze), thence south to a point (Mr. Goodman's present place) which he was desirous of taking into his claim, as it was the most prominent point on the hill. The Allens now suggesting that Mr. Jones had taken in his share of the timber. the latter gentleman marked a corner on the ridge (east of Tenth Street) and started east, blazing line trees until he came to deep ravine heavily
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timbered with exceedingly tall trees, but somewhat clear of underbrush. He descended into the valley and named it 'Purgatory,' by which name it was afterward familiarly known. As he descended the valley he discovered that the creek which coursed within its confines ran sometimes above the surface and sometimes was hidden from view for a considerable distance. He also ascer- tained that the lower end of the ravine was the bed of an excellent article of building stone. Upon emerging from the valley and gaining the plateau, rejoicing over his discovered acquisitions, he met the Allens, who had sur- rounded their respective claims, over which they were much pleased. Here Mr. Jones made his fourth corner and continued to mark a line along the margin of the plateau contiguous to the slough to the place of beginning. He then went above (to where S. E. Rogers afterward resided) and laid his claim foundations regularly, completing the requisites for making a good and valid claim accord- ing to the laws and customs among squatters in other new portions of the public domain.
"The previous afternoon, upon starting in the small boat, the captain of the Marion informed Mr. Jones and the Allens that he would come after them on the succeeding day when they returned to the bank, but for some reason the captain failed to respond to their calls and signals. The river was filled with floating ice on both sides of the sandbar, making it very dangerous for them to start out in their leaky craft, but there was neither house nor living person any- where about their surroundings, except one lone Indian who was seen on the bluffs, but who refused to approach them. They were without anything to eat; and trouble seemed imminent, whether they ventured into the floating ice or remained on the Nebraska soil. They finally concluded to try their luck in the ice, and, dragging the scow up the shore for a considerable distance, launched it and struck out through the ice to reach the sandbar if possible. They barely reached the objective point, and, pulling the boat high along the east side of the bar, they again ventured into the turbid stream amid the floating ice, through which they drifted and after hard work landed on the Iowa shore about opposite Iler's distillery.
"This was probably the first survey ever made in Douglas County, and the first claim made, not by right, but with the tacit consent of the Indians, Mr. Jones and his confreres becoming squatters by their acquiescence in the acts necessary to such privileges. During the remainder of that year, and in the winter of 1853-54, there was some inspection of the lay of the land, but no claims or acts tending to establish settlements undertaken, other than those cited. The present state was still an unorganized territory, in possession of the Indians, who were jealous of every intrusion and guarded their freehold with more than ordinary diligence. Such then are the facts regarding the attempts primarily made to found a settlement west of the Missouri."
No apologies are offered for the introduction of this extended quotation, for the reason that the main facts in the story as related in Andreas' History were furnished to the writer by Mr. Jones, who was one of the principal actors. It is therefore probably as nearly correct as any account of past events can be, where human memory has to be depended on for many of the details. The expedition of Mr. Jones and the Allens was not made by the authority, or under the auspices, of the ferry company, but was purely a personal under-
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taking, the participants hoping thereby to forestall William Knight and his associates in the selection of the best claims on the west side of the river.
LAYING OUT THE TOWN
Nebraska became an organized territory under the Act of May 30, 1854, and on the 24th of June following President Pierce issued his proclamation announcing the ratification of the treaty concluded with the Omaha chiefs in March. This meant that the lands on the west side of the Missouri were opened to settlement and the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company lost no time in choosing a site and having a survey made of their proposed town. Alfred D. Jones was employed to make the survey and was assisted in the work by Capt. C. H. Downs, who carried the chain and drove the stakes. The original town plat consisted of 320 blocks, each 264 feet square. Capitol Avenue and Twenty-first Street, respectively running east and north from "Capitol Square," were each 120 feet wide. All other streets were made 100 feet in width. From Mr. Jones' plat the first "Map of Omaha" was lithographed and printed in St. Louis. The late Byron Reed had one of these maps in his collec- tion of historic relics. It bore date of September 1, 1854, and in one corner was the legend: "Lots will be given away to persons who will improve them- private sale will be made on the premises. A newspaper, the Omaha Arrow, is printed weekly at this place; a brick building, suitable for the Territorial Legislature is in process of construction, and a steam mill and brick hotel will be completed in a few weeks."
While Mr. Jones was engaged in making the survey, the question of a name for the new town came up for discussion among the members of the ferry com- pany, and it is said the name "Omaha" was adopted at the suggestion of Jesse Lowe, who was for many years connected with the city's business interests. No better or more appropriate name could have been selected.
CELEBRATING THE EVENT
On July 4, 1854, before the survey of the town was fully completed, a party of excursionists came over from Iowa to celebrate Independence Day upon the site of the future city. Among them were Alfred D. Jones, Andrew J. Hanscom, William D. Brown, Thomas Davis, Frederick Davis, Hadley D. Johnson, Har- rison Johnson, John Gillespie and several others. A number of women had pre- pared a quantity of food for the Fourth of July dinner and a wagon was brought into requisition to convey the baskets of provisions to the place appointed for the picnic. This was doubtless the first Fourth of July celebration ever held on Nebraska soil. In an address before the Nebraska State Historical Association on January 12, 1887, Hadley D. Johnson, in speaking of the picnic, referred briefly to the fact that it occurred before the white men had acquired the right to locate permanently on the Indian lands and added :
"I remember that some resolutions were adopted and a few speeches made. The stand on which the speakers stood was a common wagon owned by my old friend Harrison Johnson, now no more, who, with some of the members of his family, constituted a portion of the party."
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John Gillespie, who was the first state auditor of Nebraska after the state was admitted in 1867, in a communication to the Lincoln Journal the next day, said: "Now I wish to add to that brief bit of history of the early days of Nebraska, that the Hon. Hadley D. Johnson, then reputed to be Nebraska's delegate to Washington, was called upon for a speech. He responded and got up into the only wagon on the ground, that had hauled over the baskets of provisions and two blacksmith's anvils to fire a salute. After the salute was fired Mr. Johnson commenced a spread eagle speech, but had not gotten very far along when the reports of the anvils brought in sight a number of Indians. The women became frightened and baskets and anvils were piled into the wagon and the driver started the team for the ferry-followed by the entire audience. The result was that the speech was never completed, unless the honorable gentle- man intended his speech of last evening as the finish. His modesty no doubt prevented him from giving the details."
Gillespie was one of the party and at the picnic offered the toast-"Nebraska ; may her gentle zephyrs and rolling prairies invite pioneers from the muddy Missouri River to happy homes, and may her lands ever be dedicated to free soil, free labor and free men."
THE FIRST BUILDINGS
On the day of the picnic above mentioned a log cabin was raised "to the square" and made ready for the roof, but the first completed building was the one erected by Thomas Allen for the ferry company. It was a rude log cabin at the corner of Twelfth and Jackson streets and was given the high-sounding name of the "St. Nicholas," though it was generally referred to as the "Claim House." William P. Snowden and his wife came over from Iowa on July II, 1854, and soon afterward opened a hotel in the St. Nicholas.
The second house was built by M. C. Gaylord at the corner of Twenty- second and Burt streets, and the third was the "Big Six" grocery and saloon of Lewis & Clancy, on the north side of Chicago Street, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth.
William P. Snowden is entitled to the honor of building the first dwelling in Omaha, the three structures that preceded his house being used for business purposes. The ferry company gave him a lot on the west side of Tenth Street and before the close of the summer of 1854 he erected thereon a cabin, the opening of which was celebrated by a big dance, in which most of the pioneers participated. At the time of this "house warming" the building was not com- pleted. Quilts were hung at the doors and windows while the guests "tripped the light fantastic toe," to the music of Ben Leonard's fiddle. The ferry com- pany also gave a lot to Mrs. Snowden as a prize for being the first woman to become a resident of the new town. She held it for some time and then sold it for about two hundred dollars.
P. G. Peterson, who was subsequently the first sheriff of Douglas County, erected the fifth building. It was a frame structure and stood on the west side of Tenth Street, between Farnam and Harney. A. J. Poppleton, the first lawyer to locate in Omaha, had his office in the Peterson block. Samuel E. and William Rogers built on the south side of Douglas Street between Tenth and Eleventh.
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Others who settled in Omaha before the close of the year 1854, most of whom erected buildings of some type, were: George Armstrong, Alexander, John and Thomas Davis, Lyman and Origen D. Richardson, John M. Thayer, Joseph W. Paddock, Patrick and Thomas Swift, Andrew J. Hanscom, James G. Megeath, James Ferry, Alfred D. Jones, Experience Estabrook, Hadley D. Johnson, Jesse Lowe, Andrew J. Poppleton, Dennis, Maurice and Michael Dee, Thomas Barry, Timothy Sullivan, O. B. Selden, John Withnell, Thomas O'Connor, Dr. George L. Miller, Dr. Enos Lowe and Lorin Miller.
SETTLERS OF 1855-56-57
Before the close of the year 1857 three hundred or more men brought their families to Omaha and established their homes. Among these were quite a number who afterward became more or less prominently identified with the business, professional and official life of the city. In this list appear the names of G. C. Bovey, James E. Boyd, William N. Byers, Randall Brown, Clinton Briggs, Rev. Peter Cooper, the Creightons, the Crowells, George W. Doane, Frederick Drexel, Rev. Reuben Gaylord, George I. Gilbert, Charles W. Hamil- ton, P. W. Hitchcock, John A. Horbach, J. R. Hyde, Harrison Johnson, B. E. B. Kennedy, Augustus and Herman Kountze, George B. Lake, William A. Little, Samuel Megeath, Ezra and Joseph H. Millard, Samuel Moffatt, Thomas Murray, Samuel and A. R. Orchard, A. S. Paddock, William A. Paxton, John R. Porter, Patrick Quinland, John I. Redick, Byron Reed, J. Cameron Reeves, Jacob Shull. Charles B. Smith and James M. Woolworth.
Of these men James E. Boyd was afterward elected governor of the state, P. W. Hitchcock, Joseph H. Millard and A. S. Paddock served in the United States Senate; Samuel Moffatt was elected treasurer of Douglas County in 1856; J. Cameron Reeves was elected sheriff at the same time ; Harrison Johnson wrote a history of Nebraska, and several others became prominent in professional and business circles.
FIRST THINGS
The first sermon ever preached in Omaha was by Rev. Peter Cooper, a Methodist Episcopal minister, who held services in the St. Nicholas on August 13, 1854, his audience consisting of twenty-five persons.
There are some contending claims, as is usually the case, concerning the first white child born in the city. Some insist that William N. Reeves, son of Jesse Reeves, is entitled to that honor, but investigation has shown that he was born outside of the town limits. A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. James Ferry in October, 1854. while the family was living in a hay hut, not far from where the Union Pacific depot now stands, and she was doubtless the first white child born in the town. The Reeves child was born about a month earlier.
The first marriage was solemnized on November II, 1855, the contracting parties being John Logan and Miss Caroline M. Mosier. Rev. Isaac F. Collins performed the ceremony.
The first newspaper, the Omaha Arrow, made its appearance on July 28.
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1854, less than one month after the town was surveyed, though the paper was printed in Council Bluffs.
The first brick yard was started in the summer of 1854. The town com- pany, being desirous of erecting a brick building for the use of the Territorial Legislature, induced Benjamin Winchester to come over from Kanesville (now Council Bluffs) and open a brick yard. The yard was located on the square bounded by Fourteenth, Leavenworth, Fifteenth and Marcy streets. Mr. Win- chester prepared a kiln ready for firing and covered it with canvass to protect it from the weather. One night the canvass was stolen and a heavy rain reduced the bricks to a shapeless mass of clay. Discouraged by his loss, Mr. Winchester gave up the yard and returned to Iowa.
O. B. Selden was the first village blacksmith. Soon after his arrival in the summer of 1854, he established a forge on the north side of Howard Street, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets. No "spreading chestnut tree" shaded his smithy, but he made the sparks fly from his anvil "like chaff from a threshing floor," and proved to be a valuable addition to the population.
The first saw-mill was built by Alexander Davis and Samuel S. Bayliss in the summer of 1854. It stood on Otoe Creek, a short distance north of where the Union Pacific depot is now located, and was kept busy manufacturing lumber for the pioneers. A little later it was traded to Thomas Davis for 400 acres of land.
Charles Childs was the proprietor of the first grist mill, which was built in the spring of 1856. It was not in the town, but was located about six miles south, and consisted of one run of buhrs for grinding corn. He also had a saw-mill in connection and ran the grist mill but one day in the week. Farmers came from as far west as Grand Island to Childs' mill. Subsequently he added a flour mill and made the first flour ever manufactured in Nebraska.
The first school was taught by Miss Adelaide Goodwill, the term begin- ning on July 1, 1855, one room of the old state house being utilized as a school room. The school remained in session until Miss Goodwill was compelled to vacate the room for the assembling of the second session of the Legislature.
The first hotel was kept by William P. Snowden and his wife in the St. Nicholas, as above stated. The St. Nicholas was not a very spacious edifice, being only sixteen feet square, and the first building erected for hotel purposes was a frame structure on the southwest corner of Eleventh and Harney streets. It was completed in the fall of 1854 and was opened as the "City Hotel."
Tootle & Jackson were the first merchants. Their store, which was located on the corner of Tenth and Farnam streets, was opened late in the year 1854 or early in 1855, the first stock consisting of a few wagon loads of goods suited to the wants of the few people then living in Omaha and vicinity. Other early merchants were James G. Megeath and John R. Porter. Megeath & Company had a large trade with the Mormons, who purchased their final outfits at Omaha on the way to Salt Lake, and while the Pacific Railroad was under construction this firm, by means of portable warehouses, kept a branch at the end of the line, where a thriving business was conducted.
On January 17, 1867, the first railroad train from the east arrived at Omaha on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. The occasion was one of rejoicing for the people, who were thus placed in touch with the eastern markets.
CAPITOL AVENUE ON THE LEFT, HIGH SCHOOL FENCE IN THE FOREGROUND View in Omaha taken in the late '60s
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THE CLAIM CLUB
When the first settlements were made in Nebraska the land had not been surveyed, and the only way of perfecting and protecting titles was by forming an organization among the settlers themselves for that purpose. Such organiza- tions, known as "Claim Clubs," were established in every settlement in the terri- tory. Their motto was: "An injury to one is the concern of all," and woe to the speculator or land-shark who tried to jump a squatter's claim.
In the first issue of the Omaha Arrow was an account of the "Omaha Town- ship Claim Association," which was organized on July 22, 1854, at a meeting over which Samuel Lewis presided, M. C. Gaylord acting as secretary. Officers were elected as follows: Alfred D. Jones, judge; Samuel Lewis, clerk; M. C. Gaylord, recorder; Robert B. Whitted, sheriff. The organization soon became generally known as the Omaha Claim Club. Among its members were such men as John M. Thayer, Andrew J. Poppleton, Dr. George L. Miller, Lyman and Origen D. Richardson, Byron Reed, Gov. Thomas B. Cuming, Enos and Jesse Lowe, George E. and Joseph Barker, John I. Redick and James M. Wool- worth-in fact, practically all the male residents of the town, prior to the completion of the government survey and the opening of the land office at Omaha in March, 1857.
The Omaha Claim Club differed from similar organizations throughout the territory, in that it permitted its members to hold 320 acres of land each, the general rule being to protect members in claiming only 160 acres. Those who "got in on the ground floor" with a claim for. 320 acres, together with the fact that the Town and Ferry Company claimed about six sections as town site, quickly monopolized all the most desirable lands in and around Omaha. Later immigrants grumbled at the conditions that allowed such large tracts of land to be held by persons who could not make use of them, and in a few instances claims were "jumped" by these later arrivals. But the club was true to the purpose for which it had been organized. The intruders were notified that the land was claimed by a member of the club, whose rights would be protected at all hazards, and that the trespasser must vacate or there would be trouble. In a majority of such cases the would-be "claim jumper" yielded to force of numbers and surrendered the land to the original claimant. In a few instances, however, the new comer offered resistance and the club was called upon to act in its protective capacity, which it never refused to do.
Early in 1855 Jacob S. Shull located on a quarter section just south of the town plat, which was claimed by another. Being warned that the Claim Club was going to pay him a visit, Mr. Shull left his shanty and went to the store of Brown Brothers, where he remained concealed under the counter for several days. He then decided to surrender his claim to the land and was permitted to leave without further trouble, his shanty having been destroyed in the meantime by members of the club. The following spring he returned to Omaha with his family and lived but a few months after his arrival. Mrs. Shull then put in a claim to the land, which was finally allowed by the land department at Wash- ington, after a thorough investigation.
George Smith, a surveyor, commonly called "Doc" Smith, took a claim in the northern part of the town in May, 1856. A few days later, when he had his Vol. I-6
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house about finished, seventy-five or one hundred armed men appeared upon the scene, tore down the house, scattered the lumber to the four winds, and ordered Smith to leave the territory. He went to Glenwood, Iowa, where he remained until the early part of 1858, when he employed a lawyer to prosecute his claim to the land. The commissioner of the general land office decided that as Smith had been absent for a year or more, without making any improvements on the land, he had forfeited all title to the same.
Thomas B. Cuming, acting governor of the territory, took a claim, on which he built a small house and hired a man named Callahan to live in it, paying him forty-five dollars a month, to perfect his title. Callahan thought he saw an opportunity to get some land of his own, went to the land office and filed upon his employer's tract. The Claim Club immediately took the matter in hand and demanded of Callahan that he surrender his certificate. He refused and a com- mittee of the club took him to the Missouri River, where a hole was cut in the ice and the obstinate son of Erin was ducked until he changed his mind. He surrendered his certificate and afterward remarked to a friend that he "did not want that land very bad no how." He disappeared soon after his ducking and gave the club no further trouble.
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