USA > Nebraska > Platte County > Past and present of Platte County, Nebraska : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 22
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During the same summer the Town of Bedford was laid out, embracing the intervening land not occupied by the Towns of Colim- bus and Cleveland. In the summer of 1857 an election was held for delegate to Congress. The previous incumbent was Bird B. Chapman who, although representing the territory, had never been a resident of it. his family residing in a very comfortable home in Elyria, Ohio. It was a sort of scrub race, Governor Thayer being one of the candidates, Dr. B. P. Rankin and perhaps others. But the race was between Chapman and Fenner Ferguson, who had been chief justice of the territory from the time of its organization and
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who was put in nomination by a people's convention held at Florence. The settlers at Columbus favored Chapman's selection because they believed he could and would get an appropriation to build a bridge across the Loup River at the Military Road. Monroe County favored Judge Ferguson, because it wanted a stage route, and this time the whole county succeeded in polling the entire vote, rolling up a nice little majority of four or five hundred and electing the judge. Among the voters at Genoa were "Oliver Twist," John Doe and Richard Roe.
At the election for representative that fall, Columbus favored the candidacy of Henry W. DePuy and showed it by returning a majority of 175 which, considering that the county had about seventy- five voters, some of whom were away, was as much as he could rea- sonably expect. He received the certificate of election and was elected speaker of the house. He was appointed agent of the Pawnees and lost his job in about a year afterwards through the intrigues of his employers and others.
In the year 1858 the Pawnee Indians, who had then their village on the south bank of the Platte opposite Fremont, started out on their summer hunt and when on the Elkhorn River, near West Point, committed some depredations on some families who had settled there. Word was sent to the authorities at Omaha, who organized an expe- dition to pursue and punish them. Governor Thayer was made gen- eral of the Nebraska militia and was in command. The Columbus Guards, Captain Brewer, and John Brown, orderly, went across the country and made a junction with them. They followed the Indians, overtook them at Battle Creek, where they were in camp 3,000 strong. Great was the consternation of the Indians when they saw them. The head chief, Pe-ta-la-shara, threw down his arms, leaped on his pony and rode toward them, and uncovering his breast invited them by signs to fire at his heart. A parley was held with the chiefs and they agreed that the amount of their depredations should be deducted from the first annuity they should receive. This proposition was probably very gladly accepted by the officers, for if there had been a fight few of the whites would probably have returned. The troops returned by way of Columbus and remained here over night, which made it very lively.
HIS NAME WAS JOHN RECK
Early in the year 1857 there arrived in Columbus a man about forty years of age, a native of Belgium. He had come to Omaha
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at an early period after the organization of the territory and had lived there and at St. Mary's, Iowa. He was destined to play a prominent part in the politics of the early days of this country, being a natural politician. His name was John Reck.
The headquarters for the transaction of business of the Columbus Land Company had been at Florence, and that year it was trans- ferred to Columbus. John Reek was chosen president and J. P. Becker, secretary. At the legislative session in the winter of 1857, Reck was elected doorkeeper and in the year 1858, Platte County being entitled to one representative, John Rickly and John Reck were the opposing candidates, and the latter carried the election by a few votes. The following year C. H. Whaley was the representative. The following year Reck was a candidate for the democratic nomi- nation and was defeated by S. II. Fowler. C. H. Whaley was nomi- nated by the republicans and Reck ran as an independent candidate. He was elected by a fair majority. The following year the race was again between Reck and Rickly, resulting this time in the election of John Rickly.
The war had by this time burst on the country and the Govern- ment had made an assessment of the states and territories to raise money to carry on the war. As Nebraska was poor and unable to pay her quota, the appropriation for legislative expenses was applied to paying that assessment and no session of the Legislature was held.
In course of time Reck changed his politics and became a repub- lican. Heretofore he had sufficient political influence to secure a position as doorkeeper or sergeant at arms during the session of the Legislature, of which he was not a member, and when the internal revenue law was passed, received the appointment of deputy assessor, which he held at the time of his death, which occurred in the fall of 1863. His remains were buried in the old cemetery on the hill, later a part of the Fred Blaser farm. Many years ago the officials of the Columbus Cemetery Association removed his remains to the present cemetery. Thus passed away a pioneer who long will be remembered by those who knew him for his amiability and kindness of heart and who was a born politician and diplomat.
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CHAPTER XVII
REMINISCENCES-CONTINUED
In the year 1875 David Anderson made this article a part of his recollections of early days in Platte County :
"I have often been requested to write something of interest con- cerning the first and early settlement of our part of the Platte Valley; also about the progress and prosperity of some of the old settlers. I will state in brief that about all the pioneer settlers have undergone immense hardships and dire tribulation, having braved all manner of dangers and endured untold suffering and privations. For many long years we were compelled to freight from Omaha and the Mis- souri River all groceries, provisions, etc., with .ox teams, as but few horses were then in the country; in fact, a horse was a rare thing to be seen and a prize to be possessed of. Corn was also very high and horseflesh too much of a luxury to indulge in. For several years after our first settlement the nearest flouring mill was at Fort Cal- houn, eighty miles away; and a trip with oxen in midwinter was tedious indeed. Frequently the journey was delayed until the last sack of flour in the whole settlement was consumed and often our people lived for days and weeks on parched corn and salt. In the winter of 1857 some of our Columbus neighbors sallied forth on snow shoes and drawing handsleds, made the trip to Omaha for a fresh supply of provisions. This party followed the meanderings of Platte River as their only guide and landmark to pilot them on their journey. The snow on the level was about three feet deep. On their return they stayed over night with a family at North Bend who were entirely out of food; but these good Samaritans divided their small supply most cheerfully with this suffering family and finally reached Columbus again in safety. I believe your fellow townsman and old citizen, Mr. Hashberger, also performed this journey on snow shoes, besides draw- ing his fuel that winter on handsleds from off the "tow heads" and islands of Platte River. The reader will remember this was at a period before the existence of any human habitation between old
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Fort Kearney and the base of the Rocky Mountains along the south trail of the Platte, consequently the great tide of immigration to Colo- rado that lined the Military Road in after years had not then made its welcome appearance and the dim thoroughfares of that day were seldom trodden. In those times our people were considered neighbors fifty miles apart and would come together that distance from east and west to attend a little social gathering or a big dance; and on all such occasions a general good feeling prevailed and all met on a common equality for the purpose of fun and amusement. Some time during the winter of 1861 I recollect seeing quite an unusual outfit passing my place. It was a large prairie schooner with a very small jackass and huge ox attached. The driver was an Irishman, who talked the German and French languages fluently. It seems he started from the mountains with a large yoke of cattle and a jack hitched behind. On the way one ox died. Then it was the "mother of invention" induced our hero to unite the surviving ox and ass together.
"I will now proceed to relate something about one of the oldest and oddest settlers in this section; Pat Murray came to Platte County seventeen years ago. His stock in trade consisted of an old blind horse and $40. Pat today is reputed to be worth $30,000-all made and saved since his debut in Nebraska. He has farmed, raised stock, dabbled in Government contracts and had a lively trade with the Pawnee Indians- anything to turn an honest penny has been Pat's motto. The fruits of his marriage, however, are not as yet perceptible to the naked eye and it is thought by many that a legal heir will never bless the portals of his household. Yet he looks around and takes in and provides a good home for homeless and orphan children. Mur- ray's farm is a model well worthy of imitation; the dwelling and out- buildings are commodious and well arranged and the arrangements for stock are complete in all their departments. In the summer of 1863 a roving band of hostile Sioux swooped down upon Murray's camp near the reservation where his laborers were engaged making hay. They at first feigned friendship and begged for victuals, which were freely given them, but they soon got possession of the weapons in the camp and began an indiscriminate slaughter of the whole party. killing Adam Smith, Murray's brother-in-law, and the hired man. Mrs. Murray, who was there cooking for the party, heat off the Indians with a pitchfork, but received five arrows in different parts of her body. She was thought by the red devils to be dead but crawled over the prairie all night and was picked up next day insensi-
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ble. The Indians, after their bloody work was accomplished, got away with six large valuable mules belonging to Murray. Pat, like most frontiersmen, has met with many reverses and drawbacks, but nothing daunted, has persevered and by industry and striet economy has aceumulated a competenee. Twenty years ago he worked by the month on a farm near Paoli, Chester County, Pennsylvania, near the birthplace of the writer.
"All the late settlers and neweomers into Nebraska take eourage and not be discouraged, drouth, grasshopper raids, ete., to the con- trary notwithstanding."
IMPRESSIONS OF COLUMBUS AFTER TWENTY YEARS' ABSENCE
One Platte, under date of September 1, 1881, after an absenee of twenty years, revisited the seene of his former friends as a pioneer of the great West, and wrote as follows:
"This flourishing and prosperous little city of 2,500 inhabitants, named after the capital city of Ohio and destined somewhat to rival it as a railroad eenter, is situated on the north bank of the Loup River, four or five miles above its confluence with the Platte, on a high and level plateau, and already makes quite an imposing appear- ance as you approach it from the east. Although this valley was originally a treeless plain, the town is well shaded with cottonwood. elm, box elder and other trees. The surrounding country is also putting on the appearance of a wooded country, as nearly every farmer has planted groves of timber, some of which are now quite large and look like our original Ohio forests. * * This part of the great West has made wonderful progress sinee my visit twenty years ago. At that time the farms between Columbus and Omaha could be counted on the fingers! now the farms are continuous all the way-a distance of ninety-five miles-and extend north and south indefinitely. In spite of the very unpropitious season the corn crop is going to be good. Some fields will run seventy-five to eighty bushels to the aere. Wheat has not turned out as well as usual- perhaps not more than a half crop will be garnered this year. Pota- toes are of an excellent quality but not of good quantity, owing to the extremely dry season.
"Columbus now has four railroads entering here-Union Pacific, which passes through from Omaha to San Francisco; the Burlington & Missouri, eonneeting Columbus and Lineoln; and two branches of the Union Pacific, one running from this place to Madison north
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some fifty miles, and the other up the Loup Valley to Albion. All the stations along these lines seem to be flourishing. The country north of here is very undulating in character and is interspersed with numerous small streams, having many charming little valleys. Land can be purchased anywhere within ten miles of a station at $4 to $10 per acre. As yet cattle raising is the most productive business. Pasturage is abundant and of good quality; hay for winter feeding can be made from the wild prairie grass. The meadow lands are generally situated in the valleys and depressions in the midst, although much hay is cut on the uplands. It is all native grass and nutritious.
"I find all the pioneers of twenty years ago well fixed on large farms in the country, or at the head of flourishing businesses in the city. They came here without capital and grew up with the country, and the result is they have attained to position and wealth, many having come from the older states with a combined capital not exceed- ing $3,000, who today are worth from $10,000 to $30,000 each. There are quite a number of Columbus boys here who are prominent in business and in official stations and all doing well. You meet Ohio people everywhere, and, as in affairs of the nation, they are gener- ally found at the top of the heap."
COLUMBUS AND PLATTE COUNTY THEN AND NOW
Francis J. Echols has long been a resident and is one of the leading business men of Columbus. Some impulse led him to prepare the following article in 1912, which is a good word picture of Platte County and its seat of government as they appear today :
"In the spring of 1856 a colony of men arrived from Columbus, Ohio, and settled in what is now the southeastern part of this city. The colony consisted of J. P. Becker, Charles A. Speice, Frank Becher, Vincent Kummer, John Wolfel and Jacob Lewis. Upon their arrival they found the nucleus of another town called Cleveland, just west of the Meridian road. Soon after the arrival of the Colum- bus colony the Cleveland inhabitants left and the Village of Cleve- land died in its infancy.
"The first hotel was the American. Soon after its construction it was moved to the corner of Tenth and Olive. Here it was veneered and is being conducted at present under the name of the Pacific. Another hotel was built about a quarter of a mile east of Stevens Lake. It was moved to the location where the Meridian Hotel now stands and was known as the Hammond House. The first and only
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doctor Columbus had for a number of years was Dr. C. B. Stillman, who located here in 1857. In 1860 the Western Union Telegraph Company established an office at this point; that was the first impor- tant event in the city.
"Travel over the Loup had been by ferry until 1865, when a pon- toon bridge was built over this river. In 1872 the first bridge was built over the Platte River. The main line of the Union Pacific was run through here in 1866.
"The first and only hanging in this county occurred in 1867. A mob broke into the jail, secured its victim, who had murdered a fel- low worker in cold blood, and hung him to a cottonwood tree. They left his body there until life was extinct, then buried it beneath the ice in the Loup River.
"In 1879 bonds to the amount of $100,000 were voted to be given to the Atchison & Nebraska Railway Company. This enabled the company to build a branch of their road from Lincoln to Columbus.
"The biggest celebration in the history of the town took place in 1892, when the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Amer- ica by Christopher Columbus was honored. School children from over the entire county came to Columbus to celebrate. The exer- cises were held in the Second Ward school building, it being the high school at that time.
"The location of our city is very easy to remember, inasmuch as it is the center of the United States. The climate may be spoken of as salutary. In manufacturing interests we rank fairly well. We have two roller mills which manufacture excellent grades of flour; a large planing mill which keeps about fifteen men employed the entire year; a large brewing establishment; a brick factory, whose daily capacity is 20,000 brick. We have a gas plant with seven and a half miles of pipeage; a power house which furnishes electricity every hour of the day; the largest elevator in the state with the exception of the metropolis and the capital cities; three weekly newspapers, two printed in English and the other in German. Columbus has four banks, whose deposits aggregate over $1,500,000; three savings asso- ciations whose assets are over $600,000. On the business streets we have five drug stores; six grocery stores; two five-and-ten-cent stores; three candy factories; three photograph galleries; four meat markets; two gun shops; four tailor shops; five bakeries; five restaurants; five hotels ; two cold storage; a creamery and dairy depot and many other kinds of business enterprises. Columbus has five dentists, eleven attorneys and fifteen doctors. In the way of amusements we have Vol. 1-15
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three moving picture theaters running every night, two of which are also giving vaudeville acts in connection with the pictures; a race track; and in the summer a series of the Nebraska Baseball League. "This is the county seat of Platte County. We have a library of about three thousand volumes; a $40,000 Young Men's Christian Association building and a $65,000 Government building. Columbus is the home of six Protestant churches, besides a Catholic church, school and hospital. The Catholic institutions are valued at $250,000. We have four brick school buildings, with a corps of twenty-eight teachers.
"Now, summing these few facts together, you must agree with me that there are few cities of 5,000 inhabitants in the United States that rank with Columbus, Nebraska."
CHAPTER XVIII
CLIPPINGS FROM THE JOURNAL OF EARLY DAYS
The following statement of the number and character of the im- provements in Columbus, completed in the spring of 1870, appeared in the Platte Journal, May 25, 1870: A large drug store opposite the courthouse nearly ready for occupation, which our German phy- sician, Doctor Hoehen, intends to fill with drugs, medicines, etc. Near by this is a well-built, two-story residence, owned by Henry Wellman; also a two-story business house not yet completed, by William McAllister; and a two-story restaurant owned by Nicholas Blazer. West of these is the Farmers Home, a hotel kept by our German friend, John Bush, a substantial two-story building; on the same street is McAvoy's two-story business house, not occupied at present, on the first floor a large store room, on the second a very good sized hall. Directly opposite are the dwelling of John Kelly and the carpenter shop of Charles Hughes; south of the courthouse, A. J. Arnold's jewelry store and photograph gallery-a very neat and a very substantial two-story house. Nearly opposite this is the large two-story agricultural warehouse of F. G. Becher & Company. East of the courthouse is a large two-story residence owned by H. N. Lathrop; south of Mr. Lathrop's dwelling, Davis & Brewer are build- ing for Mr. Coolidge a neat, two-story residence, which promises to be one of the best houses in the country. It is an old-fashioned frame (no balloon), regularly braced sills of 6x8 posts, six inches square, cellar walled with brick.
Near the Congregational Church is a residence built by Michael Welch. Nearly in the midst of these business and dwelling houses is the courthouse, a substantial brick, two stories high, containing within its walls the county offices and the jail, which last is partly unoccupied.
Near the depot on the south side of the track, Turner & Hulst have a neat little office, opposite which and fronting the railroad track are Becker's large new store, Turner's printing office and the office
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of F. G. Becher & Co. Next to Becker's store is a business house and beyond that a substantial dwelling occupied by J. G. Higgins. On the street south of Becker's is a neat cottage, owned by Mr. Brown, one of the worthy members of the great brotherhood of Browns.
North of the railroad track the citizens have not been idle. First on the list is: Bakery and confectionery of Ruegge Brothers & Co., a very neat looking establishment every way and kept by the cleverest of men. East of this is a small house belonging to Major North and occupied as a barber shop and news depot. North of the Clother Hotel is the store of Eben Pierce. Near here is the residence of John Compton and east of it, that of A. J. Stevens. The new postoffice, owned by Compton, is a credit to the city, as is likewise the store of the Bonesteel Brothers.
Lastly we come to the Stevens Addition. Within the past six weeks the following named gentlemen have built residences in this part of the city: Mr. Brewer, Mr. McGinnis, Mr. Collingsworth, Cornelius Having and Mr. Millen. It is estimated that twenty-five more cottages will be erected in the above addition by the first of September.
In May, 1871, M. K. Turner, of the Journal, visited the farm of Guy C. Barnum, about a mile south of Columbus, between the Loup and Platte. At the time Mr. Barnum had a farm of upwards of five hundred acres, and was one of the live stockmen in this section of the state. Mr. Turner published a glowing article relating to his visit to the "Big Ranch" and ends up with the following:
"On our way back to town Mr. Barnum told us that before the years the Union Pacific Railroad was built, during the season of emigration, there was not a day passed that the 'bottom' near the Loup was not literally full of 'prairie schooners,' herds of cattle, besides men, women and children; that often trains of wagons one hundred to two hundred in number would be staying for the night, to be succeeded the next night by still other trains; that there was once a train of handcarts passed this way, also one man trundling a wheel- barrow from Omaha to San Francisco; all sorts of people from every land under the heavens going to California, Oregon, Utah and Colo- rado in all sorts of conveyances. The iron horse in the distance reminded us that the former days had passed away-a trip across the continent being now made in ten days from San Francisco, speeding over the land and over the sea thousands of miles to Liverpool, Lon- don and Paris.
"On a short drive into the country with a friend on the 4th we
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passed the farms of Pat Murray, Henry Kelly, J. W. Early and Robert Pinson. Mr. Murray, we should judge from his vast pos- sessions, must be an extensive farmer and stockraiser. The crops of wheat, corn and oats on his farm were looking well, especially the corn.
"The oats, wheat and corn on the farm of Mr. Kelly were splen- did-the oats and wheat superior to any other we have seen in Ne- braska. Passing up the valley of Lost Creek from Mr. Kelly's we came to the farm of J. W. Early, where we believe we saw the best field of corn met with on our drive. Southwest of Lost Creek School- house is the farm of Robert Pinson, on which was very noticeable an excellent field of corn growing on bluff lands on the divide between Lost Creek and Shell Creek. This field of corn very nearly compared in quality with J. W. Early's.
"Not far from this bluff farm stands on high ground the Lost Creek Schoolhouse, a neat and substantial building and certainly a credit to the people of that district who erected it. At this point we met one hundred and fifty or two hundred of the citizens of Lost Creek celebrating our nation's anniversary."
M. K. Turner had taken a trip through the country on horseback and in his issue of the Journal of date August 7, 1871, had in part the following to say of whom and what he had seen on his trip:
"The first house I stopped at was Maj. Frank North's new dwell- ing about a half mile west of town. I did not find the major at home -he is prospecting up the Loup. The major has here about one hundred acres of land and his windows command as pretty a view as perhaps is found in the valley-the Union Pacific bridge across the Loup, heavy timber to the west, the Town of Columbus to the east, and the sky-grazing bluffs to the north. I believe that it has been only about six weeks since the major began his improvements, and now he has a very neat story and a half house, a good barn, a stable and other substantial improvements, all of the best style.
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