USA > Nebraska > Sherman County > Loup City > The trail of the Loup; being a history of the Loup River region > Part 16
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Loup county was at this time a part of the unorganized territory. As the population continued to increase it became expedient to organize the county. This was accomplished in the spring of 1883. The temporary county seat was placed at Kent with David Gard as temporary clerk. The first election was held May 3d of that year and resulted as follows: Clerk, F. H. Sawyer; Treasurer, Joseph Rusho; Judge, B. J. Harvey ; Sheriff, Arthur C Alger; Surveyor, A. J. Roblyer; Superintendent, A. S. Moon ; Commissioners, G. W. Strohl. N. E. Fay and H. L. Reniff.
Next came the inevitable strife for the location of the permanent county seat. Kent lay too far east to be considered in the race. But Taylor, Al- meria, and Clark's Point were all eager to land the plum. None of these places had been platted, but that mattered but little in those days Locate the county seat and the town would spring up! Taylor lay very close to the center of population and was a logical claimant. Almeria became a dangerous rival because Kent might be expected to throw her support to a town as far away as possible from her own zone of influence. For Taylor once the county seat would mean death to ambitious little Kent. So it came about that the election was very close. Indeed Taylor won out by just two votes majority over Almeria.
Taylor was staked off on a farm belonging to and adjoining the home- stead of Joseph Rusho. The original site contained 32 blocks, of which No. 13 was set aside as a public square.
The first store opened was that of Otto Witte, who carried a stock of groceries and drugs. This was very early in 1884. In a short time two ad- ditional stores opened. George Cleveland put in groceries and hardware and E. H. Snow, dry goods, boots and shoes. But these ventures were not to be permanent accessions to the town; they soon tired and left for more promising fields. The first permanent business house to become estab- lished at Taylor was that of Wheeler & Scott, which is still doing business under the name of George F. Scott. Half a decade later Taylor boasted five general stores, two banks, two hotels, two livery stables, two newspa- pers and many other business places. Many of these were built on the ex-
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THE TRAIL OF THE LOUP
pectancy of getting an extension of the B. & M. which had reached Bur- well in 1887. But. alas! Taylor was doomed to bitter disappointment and is to this day an inland town.
The dry years were hard on Loup county and her towns. Almeria,
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Farmlands in Loup County, Showing Abundance. (Irrigation Ditch in Foreground.)
where G. W. Strohl and Fred Hoellworth had opened a general store, man- aged to hold her own and live through the crisis. Kent by degrees dwin- dled down till in 1905 there is nothing left but the postoffice, and this
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LOUP COUNTY AND ITS POSSIBILITIES
too will no doubt soon be discontinued. Taylor saw her banks close their doors for lack of business, and some of her business houses removed, stock, buildings and all. But here, as elsewhere, the tide turned in time, and today the town is slowly rallying from the staggering blow. A new bank has just opened its doors to business and the stores are all doing a thriving business. Geo. F. Scott and Rusho Bros. are carrying large stocks of general merchandise, George P. Emig has a first-class drugstore, Joseph Rusho a complete line of hardware. J. G. Wirsig is proprietor of the Loup County News and a thriving implement business. Joseph Kriegel has built up an excellent business in harness, saddles and trunks. The Taylor Clarion, the oldest newspaper in the county, is edited by E. An- drews. Everything considered, Taylor business men have cause to feel encouraged. The territory from which they draw their trade is rapidly de- veloping, and with the increase in population which is sure to come the town is bound to grow. Taylor has from the beginning been handi- capped because it is an inland town. Several times it has looked as though the B. & M. would extend to it, but it has always ended in disappointment. First, when the Burlington built to Burwell in 1887, Taylor expected to get the line. Then when the same system extended up through Custer county the town became hopeful again. But this extension crossed the southwest corner of the county, passing south of Taylor and missing Almeria just four miles. Even now the situation is not hopeless. Two years ago a sur- vey was made from Burwell up through the valley and Taylor may yet get a connecting line between the Garfield and Custer county branches.
Loup county is in many respects a remarkable county. It is chiefly a grazing district, well adapted for the raising of cattle, horses and sheep. But at least forty per cent is made up of good tillable lands. The value of the county live stock is esti- mated at $500,000. This will increase rapidly hereafter. Alfalfa, bromegrass, and Eng- lish bluegrass are even now on the point of revolutionizing the cattle industry. When such remarkable grasses shall have had time to clothe the sand-hills with their mantle of green, these decried sections will become a source of untold Hog Ranch in Loup County. wealth to the county; indeed they will be the making of a great and pros- perous county. It is surprising how well fruit trees grow in the county. Some of the apple orchards in the valley and on the higher benches to the south can scarcely be excelled by any in the state. It is an eye-opener to the Easterner to see such orchards as are grown by L. F. Ruppel and others in this county. Since the passage of the Kinkaid homestead law, every section of land in the county has been snapped up and land is steadily in-
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THE TRAIL OF THE LOUP
creasing in value. To have land holdings in Loup county is now to be fortunate.
STATISTICS.
Population (1903) 1,700
Area 576 sq. mi.
Best tillable land $25.00 to $55.00
Fair tillable land $10.00 to $20.00
Rich hay land $20.00 to $25.00
Pasture land . $3.00 to $6.00
DESCRIPTION BY TOWNSHIPS. *
Range 17.
T. 21. North Loup valley ; rest rolling; all fertile.
T. 22. Calamus valley, fertile in part; rest rough grazing land.
T. 23. Rough, sandy grazing land.
'T. 24. Rough, sandy grazing land.
Range 18.
T. 21. North Loup valley, three miles wide, fertile; rest rolling, fer-
tile.
T. 22. Rough: few farms in south, rest grazing land.
T. 23. Rough, sandy grazing land.
T. 24. Rough, sandy grazing land.
Range 19.
T. 21. North Loup valley, three miles wide; rest rolling; good soil.
T. 22. North Loup valley, over two miles wide, fertile; rest rough.
T. 23. Rough, sandy grazing land.
T. 24. Rough, sandy grazing land.
Range 20.
T. 21. Rough, sandy soil, used for farming and grazing land.
T. 22. Rough, sandy soil, used for farming and grazing land; Loup valley.
T. 23. Loup valley in southwest, tillable; rest rough grazing land.
T. 24. Rough, sandy grazing land.
* From the Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, Lincoln, Nebr., 1902
Scotia and Her Builders.
CHAPTER XV.
Behind the scared squaw's birch canoe The steamer smokes and raves; And city lots are staked for sale Above all Indian graves. -- Whittier, The Genius of the West.
W E HAVE already learned in Chapter VI. how the committee of the Seventh Day Baptists reached the chalk hills in Greeley county, opposite Scotia, on the last day of October, 1871, and laid claim to the southern bank of the North Loup river for their constituents back in Wis-
consin. But they were not the first comers in the Valley after all. For the northern bank of the stream was even then in process of settlement. In September, before autumn was fairly ushered in, the first band came. By handfuls they advanced up the north bank of the Loup through Greeley county by the old trail. The beautiful bend in the river where Scotia now lies, and immediately across from "Happy Jack's Look out, " charmed them and held them fast. Here and up and down the valleys of Fish Creek and Wallace Creek they reared their homes and started life anew after their weary westward tramp.
The very first to file on a claim in all Greeley county was Alcie P. Fish of Fish Creek, whose papers were executed in October, 1871. About the same time the grand old patriarch, William Scott, settled north of Scotia. Alza M. Stewart took a claim across the line in Valley county. John G. Kellogg, the well known Greeley county bard, and Alonzo Shepard settled in the same neighborhood.
Other early comers in the North Loup valley in this vicinity were James Harlow, Daniel Benson, George Babcock, W. Whitford, G. Craig, Patrick Coyne, J. J. Bean, David Moore, Horace Moore, Geo. R. Small, Fred Housmann, Henry Grosse, Ben Mullenbeck, James L. Wallace, George Ferrell, W. Cramer, Wm. Havens, Thos. Townley, Fred Stensby, Frank Roberts, Thos. Watson, John Vairy, the Skay and Gray families. John Dougherty, Andrew J. Gillespie, Jr., Simon Bilyeu, Jesse Bilyeu, George Hillman, Alfred Hillman, John A. Buchan, John V. Alderman. Leslie E. Scott, Loring E. Gaffy and Elihu Fish.
Up Wallace Creek came Joe Littlefield, D. C. Johnson, Henry Calvin,
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THE TRAIL OF THE LOUP
Elias Walker, Albert Barker, Elias Jeffries, Tom Miller, Joe Brown, Geo. Rutherford, Geo. Stubblefield, Joseph Hamilton, Maurice Johnson and Richard Johnson. On Fish Creek settled Fred Meyers, David Locker, John Phillips, W. Hayden, B. F. Griffith and William Halpin.
Of the old-timers here named only a very few arrived in '71. The great ma- jority did not come till the succeeding spring and summer and even years later. The list contains but three or four who professed allegiance to the Seventh- Day Baptist Church. The Wisconsin colony, as a whole, settled on the south side of the river in Town 17, and more Alcie Fish. First Settler in Greeley County . particularly in Town 18 in Valley county.
For some five or six years settlement of Greeley county was restricted to the southwestern part. The rolling uplands, and Clear Creek and Cedar River valleys were not invaded till the spring of 1877. Meanwhile this lit- tle handful took measures to organize their county and elect county officials. Application was made to Acting Governor Wm. H. James, who issued a proclamation ordering an election to be held on the 8th day of October, 1872. The election was held at Lamartine postoffice south of Scotia, where Elihu Fish was at that time postmaster. Thirteen votes were cast and the following officers elected : Commissioners, A. P. Fish, T. C. Davis and Alonzo Shepard; Clerk, E. B. Fish; Treasurer, S. C. Scott; Sheriff, G. W. Babcock; Judge, George Hillman; Surveyor, Mansell Davis: Superin- tendent, John G. Kellogg; and Coroner, C. H. Wellman.
The next question of importance to come up for settlement was the in- evitable county seat location. This first contest was, however, but a friendly rivalry. The county commissioners held a meeting at Lamartine postoffice on January 20, 1873, transacting all business incident to the late organization of the county, and calling an election for the purpose of select- ing a county seat. Said election was ordered to be held February 11, 1873. Two points were voted for, namely : The N. W. } of the N. W. } of Section 23, Town 17, Range 12, and the N. E. { of Section 9, in the same town and range. The former location-Lamartine-won out by one vote and became the temporary county seat.
In November, 1874, another election was beld. The aim apparently was to draw the county seat northward. The two points in contest this time were scarcely two miles apart-the N. W. { of the N. E. } of Section 9, Town 17, Range 17 West, and the N. E. { of the N. E. } of Section 16 of the same town and range. The records show that in the election the former place received sixteen votes and the latter ten votes. Thus it came
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SCOTIA AND HER BUILDERS
about that Scotia-so named from his old homeland by Sam C. Scott -- was made the county seat.
For a long time there was really no town. In the fall of 1875 a small court house was built. This humble structure was also used for school purposes. Thus we are told that Mrs. E. Craig used to hold school here in the same room where the county clerk would be busy over his records. Judge John J. Bean located at Scotia in May of 1876 and commenced the
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SEMMIT PO
Old Precinct Map of Greeley County. Showing Scotia and Vicinity.
construction of a hotel. The same year Sam Scott moved the postoffice to town. from his farm and relinquished it to Mr. Bean, who was regularly ap- pointed postmaster in January, 1877. In October of that year E. O. Bart- lett and A. B. Lewis, two enterprising young business men from St. Paul, Howard county, established the Greeley Tribune, which did much to adver- tise the county and town. The first general merchandise store was opened by W. H. West of Grand Island, under the management of Ed Wright, in
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North Loup Aver
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THE TRAIL OF THE LOUP
March, 1878. The railways were beginning to exploit their lands in the North Platte country rather freely by this time. To further this end the B. & M. in Nebraska built a small im- migrant house at Scotia. This home 3 was in charge of the kind and public- CLEVELAND AV spirited David Moore, one of the men 31 N EN DRICAS HENDRICKS who never lost faith in the possibili- ties of the beautiful Loup.
ORTH SCOTIA
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LAPIAN
GREELEY
DOANE
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So far the village was a straggling, haphazard affair. But this same year, 1878, Lee L. Doane platted the site and a systematic though slow growth commenced. In 1881 the population was yet under one hundred. The business houses were few though these few had a good trade.
Plat of Scotia. Just now too a cloud was rising on the horizon of Scotia's prosperity. Men of foresight had seen it coming for some time. It was again the same old question of county seat location. For some years the county had been rapidly filling up with settlers. Could Scotia then hope indefinitely to retain the county seat? Many realized that it would only be a question of time when some more centrally located town would rise as an aspirant for the honors. And the first mutterings of trouble came in December, 1881, when O'Connor commenced a contest. But let us go back for a glimpse of the settlement of Greeley county at large.
The first settler near the center of the county, so far as we know, was James L. Reed, who came in 1876. The next spring an Irishman by the name of Patrick Hynes arrived and became local agent for the Irish Cath- olic colonization association just then in its conception. General O'Neill seems to have been the originator of the plan which was no more nor less than to buy up vast tracts of land in Greeley and neighboring counties, which were to be colonized with his countrymen, both from the States and from old Ireland. 25,000 acres were purchased near the center of the county, and it was not long till some twenty Irish families were located on the land through the energetic Patrick Hynes. Other colonies sprang up in Cedar Valley and further north as far as Erina in Garfield county. The movement was organized for more than patriotic motives. Wherever Irish- men settle in numbers they will cluster around their church and parochial schools. The present case was no exception to this rule. Men high in ecclesiastical circles were from the first interested in the scheme. This was particularly true of the Right Rev. James O'Connor, Catholic Bishop at that time of Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.
This great churchman was born in Ireland, September 10, 1823, and came to America in 1838. He was educated at Philadelphia and at the Col- lege of Propaganda, Rome. There he was ordained March 25, 1848, by the great Cardinal Franconi and soon after he returned to America, entering the
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SCOTIA AND HER BUILDERS
diocese of Pittsburg, where he had charge of St. Michael's Theological Seminary for some years. He was also administrator of the diocese for a year. Then he was given charge of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary at Philadelphia for ten years. Later he was consecrated Bishop of Debona, and Vicar Apostolic of Nebraska, August 26, 1876. The same year he took up his residence at Omaha, where he established Creighton Uni- versity, the Academy of the Sisters of Mercy, the Boarding Schools of the Ladies of the Sa- cred Heart and a number of parochial schools.
General O'Neill and John McCreary platted a town near the heart of the Irish land grant in November, 1877, and called it O'Connor in honor of the bishop. For some reason this site was never used and a new town of the same name was later-August, 1880-built only three and a half miles away on a site selected by the bishop himself. The town grew rapidly. Patrick James Obanner Hynes opened the first store in October, and two months later Lanagan Brothers opened the second store. An imposing church edifice and paro- chial school buildings soon followed. R. H. Clayton established the O'Con- nor Democrat early in 1882, and a systematic agitation for the rights of that part of the county took its beginning.
The census of 1880 gave Greeley county a population of 1461, many of whom had to travel 25 miles or more to reach the county seat. Dissatisfac- tion with existing conditions grew with an increase in upper county popu- lation. Finally the county board felt constrained to call a new election. This was held December 6, 1881, and resulted, O'Connor 196, Scotia 171, and the county poor farm, 33. Fortunately for Scotia a two-thirds majority was re- quired for removal and the county seat was for the time being saved.
In 1883, the Union Pacific built its spur into town and confidence was again restored, for was not Scotia the only railroad town in the county? Matters now moved along at an even tenor till 1887. The town grew slowly but surely. Then, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, came the news that the B. & M. had commenced to build across the county, apparently through O'Connor. W.H.EngDENVER This was bad news indeed for Scotia. David Moore of Scotia. Everyone realized what it meant. But while Scotia was sorely disappointed she could hardly have expected any-
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THE TRAIL OF THE LOUP'
thing else: another town, which for the moment was jubilant in visions of coming prosperity was, however, destined to an even sadder fate-this was O'Connor. Located in its beautiful, winding valley this town was on the logical line of the new road. The railroad authorities must also have been of this opinion for grading camps were established near the town and work actually commenced. The inhabitants were unfortunately too confident in their new position. They argued that the road could impossibly go else- where and were altogether too slow to meet the railroad's demand for right of-way, station site and the like. The upshot of it all was that the grading camps were all abandoned and moved into the hills to the south. A committee with full power to grant every request made by the railroad was now sent bot haste to Lincoln. But to remonstrate and beseech was now in vain. O'Connor awoke too late. The B. & M. built a new town at a few miles distance, and called it Greeley Center. This town the Burling- ton system, with its old-time shrewdness for organization, decided upon as the political center of the new county and straightway formulated its plans.
Scotia made one more desperate effort to hold her own. This came in the form of a gift to the county of a new court house built by Scotia Precinct at a cost of
Four Generations of the Hillman Family. Mrs. Blueht. Mrs. Chase. Mr. Geo. Hillman. Mrs. Hillman.
Baby Chase.
$5,000.00. This was in 1887. The very next year the bitter struggle recommenced. The O'Connor constituency, still smarting from unhealed wounds, joined hands with Scotia and had the satisfaction to see Greeley's aspirations for the time defeated. But in the fall of 1890 the end came. Greeley Center won in the election and became the county seat. Considerable ill feeling and even personal ani-
mosity was engendered during
these years. But these differences are how happily being forgotten. Neither faction could really be blamed. It is natural, I am sorry to say, in times like the above, for personal desires and gains to get away with one's better heart-promptings. But, as said, Greeley county is again getting united, and the less these old rifts be stirred the better for all concerned.
Scotia stood face to face with hard times. She had lost her chief point of prestige. The new court house stood empty and many prominent fami- lies left for Greeley Center. Her population decreased seriously. But she had staunch hearts in her midst. These stood by the old town during the hard years and never lost courage. The court house was turned into a Normal and Business College and did well till some untoward circum- stances forced it too to close down. Then came abundant crops and Scotia rallied. New and modern homes are going up throughout the town; her
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SCOTIA AND HER BUILDERS
population is increasing again. With the remarkably fertile farm districts round about her Scotia is bound to become a wealthy residence town with time. Her future is assured and the first comers will not have come in vain.
Harrowing Tales of a Third of a Century.
CHAPTER XVI.
Then rose a souud of dread. such as startles the sleeping encampments Far in the western prairies or forests that skirt the Nebraska. When the wild horses affrighted sweep by with the speed of the whirlwind. Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush to the river. - Longfellow's Evangeline.
I N THE course of the years which have melted away since the Valley was first settled many things have transpired of a nature so distressing that even now, under the mellowing influence of time, it is hard to read them without shuddering. But in the reading our hearts involuntarily go out to the heroes and heroines who endured so much and endured so silent- ly. The more we learn of their suffering, the more we honor them for their sacrifice, and the more we rejoice with them in their final triumph.
Several of these tales bave already been narrated in previous chapters, and will not bear repetition here. Such were the Great Blizzard of April 13, 1873, and the Locust Plague following soon afterward. A few others may be added here. The first worthy of notice is the Great Fire of Octo- ber 12, 1878.
To a person who has not actually lived on the frontier and with his own eyes beheld a great prairie fire in progress, it is almost hopeless to at- tempt to convey a true picture of its terrors. The awe inspired as the storm wind suddenly hurls great clouds of stifling smoke, mixed with cin- ders and burned grass, over the devoted settlement is beyond the descrip- tion of pen. Then there is the sudden roar and distant glare; the crack- ling and crashing as the fire demon rushes onward: the rush of over-heat- ed air ; the distant glare and the final leap of countless tongues of flame from the seething, roaring hell caldron coming on apace. Now, woe to the settler who has neglected all precautions for fighting fire, or whose guards are not broad and clear ! Woe to him who has not prepared for the evil hour. for soon destruction will be upon him --- the solid, destroying phalanx, burning several hundred feet deep, before whose scorching blast no living thing can stand! And now listen to what befell our North Loup settlements on the 12th day of October, 1878: It was glorious autumn weather. Up and down the valley the farmers were at work threshing, and otherwise disposing of the bountiful crops of the year. The prairie
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HARROWING TALES OF A THIRD OF A CENTURY
grass was deep and matted, the growth of two seasons. It was dry as tin- der and needed but a spark to start a conflagration. The farmers had on this account taken great care to throw up ample fire guards around their possessions.
But what protection are guards when the very air seems to be on fire! For several days fires had been burning on the Middle Loup to the west. At night the lurid glare was distinctly reflected on the peaceful sky.
On the eventful day as time advanced a breeze set in from the south- west. By degrees it increased in power till it blew a veritable gale. The wind swerved gradually to the west and by evening blew from the north ; this fortunate circumstance alone saved the Garfield county settlements
Advent of the Prairie Fire. (From a Kodak Picture Taken by Ina Draver.)
from destruction. Mira Valley lay immediately in the path of the fire-fiend and was the first to suffer. Here, in one place, three young men, Albert Cottrell, and William and Morris Greene, were at work building a sod- house. Before they had time to realize their danger the conflagration was bearing down upon them. There was no time to backfire. Their only hope was refuge in flight. But, alas! what is human speed when measured with the fire fiend let loose ' They were all quickly overtaken; and with a cry of despair threw themselves face downward, as the tongues of flame leaped and swerved round about their victims. From this bed Albert Cottrell was never to rise-he was burned to a crisp. The Green boys were more fortunate and lived through the terrible experience, though fearfully burned, And to the end of their lives will they bear the scars of the fire
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