USA > Nebraska > York County > York County, Nebraska and its people : together with a condensed history of the state, Vol. I > Part 13
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ARTHUR COUNTY
This is the youngest county in Nebraska, formally organized in 1913. Prior to the land drawings at North Platte and Broken Bow in 1912, when the major portion of the land in this county was thrown open to homestead settlement, this vicinity was a sparsely settled west end of MePherson County. Big ranches were built up in those days, and a considerable portion of the county is yet devoted to ranching. The county seat town, Arthur, is a small inland village. Other post- offices or trading points in the county are Zella. Melrose, Hillsdale, Cullman, Read and Rice, in the southern portion of the county; Edward, Flora, Collins, Willett. Lena. Carman and Calora, in the northern part. The county is reached by automo-
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bile stage or private conveyances from Lewellen, Lemoyne or Keystone in Keith County, or Ilyannis or Whitman in Grant County, and to Arthur town is about forty miles drive through sandhills either way.
BANNER COUNTY
This county is just north of Kimball, the southwestern county in the Nebraska Panhandle, and borders onto the State of Wyoming, to the west. It has an area of 742 square miles and a population of approximately 1,500 to 2,000. It is an inland county, reached from Union Pacific stations in Kimball County or towns in Scotts Bluff County. Its county seat, Harrisburg, is a small inland town. The early settlements were made in the county in the late '80s. The first invasion of the county by white men was for ranching purposes when it was used by a couple of large ranches before the farming population arrived. It was organized, upon its division from Cheyenne, in 1888. Postotlices or trading centers other than Harrisburg, are Gary, Flowerfield and Epworth, in the southwest part ; Heath and Kirk, in southeastern part; Hull, in the northwestern, and Big Horn, in eastern part of county. The highway from Scotts Bluff to Kimball traverses the county north and south and is the main thoroughfare of travel. Banner County is a great wheat producing area.
BLAINE COUNTY
This county is located north of Custer County, and south of Brown County. It has an area of 711 square miles. This county has a population of between 1,700 and 2,000. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad line to the Black Hills, and Billings runs through this county with stations at Linseott, Dunning and at Ilalsey, which is on the Blaine-Thomas County line. Both the Middle Loup and North Loup rivers flow through this county. Brewster and Purdum are both inland towns. Brewster, the county seat, is situated in a most beautiful valley. Dunning, the largest town in the county is a very progressive business town, and has in 1920 the best hotel between Grand Island and Alliance, and numerous other modern, up-to-date briek business buildings. Blaine County, in early days, was the scene of much interesting cowboy history and many very profitable "hunting and tishing" episodes. A great deal of traffic is carried on between Brewster and Dunning by auto trucks in recent years.
BOONE COUNTY
This county is in the fifth tier west in the state and the third north of the Platte River. It has an area of 692 square miles. The first settlements made in the county were in 1871 by people chiefly from Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Minnesota, among the first party being S. D. Avery, Albert Dresser, N. G. Myers. W. H. Stout, W. H. Prescott, and other early settlers being S. P. Bollman, Harvey Maniele, L. H. Baldwin, Richard Evans, T. T. Wilkinson, Elias Atwood, Sr., and John Hammond. Albion, the county seat, was platted in October, 1872, by Loran Clark. The county was organized by act of Legislature, approved March 28, 1871. Towns on the Union Pacific branch to Albion are Boone, St. Edward and Boon- ville. On the Spalding branch of the Union Pacific, the towns are Cedar Rapids and Primrose. On the Chicago & Northwestern branch into Albion from the north,
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
are Petersburg and Loretta. St. Edward was laid out in 1821: and Cedar Rapids in 1879. Inland points in the county are, Arden in the very Northwestern corner ; (loster and Olnes in the eastern part ; and Bradish is on the Northwestern branch into Albion from the east. With three branch lines running into the county, and two of them making junction at Albion, this little city has become an important trading center for a very extensive territory, and hardly any county fair in the state excels the annual exposition held at Albion, each September. Early towns in the county's history that have disappeared, or play no very important part any longer. were Waterville, Dayton, Dublin. Myra. Raville, Oxford, Roselma, Boone and Coon Prairie, some of which never had much more than a general store and school house.
BOX BUTTE COUNTY
Box Butte is in the northwestern part of the state, just east of Sioux County, the extreme corner northwestern county. It has an area of 1,076 square miles. It owes its existence to the gold discoveries in the Black Hills in 1876. Prior to then, it was a part of the Brule and Ogallala Sioux Indian reservation territory. But the "Old Sidney" trail to the Black Hills traversed this county, and the mighty rush of gold seekers and freighters verily drove the Indians back. On this noted trail, through Box Butte there were three important stopping places, Hart's ranch at the crossing of Snake Creek, Mayfield's and later the Hughes ranch, at the crossing of the Niobrara, and Halfway Hollow, on the high tableland between. After the Northwestern Railroad was extended to Deadwood, the trail dropped into disuse. Then came the great range herds of the Ogallala C'attle Company, Swan Brothers, Bosler Brothers, the Bay State, and other cow outfits. A unique elevation in the eastern part of the county, the cowboys named "Box Butte." and from that. the county received its name. Later, as the Burlington line built up through the sandhills, the rush of homesteaders came in. This county has a great reputation as a potato raising region and Hemingford is a great potato shipping point. Alliance, the county seat, has built up to a thriving city of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. Letan is on the Burlington branch to Sidney ; and stations other than Alliance on the Burlington main line through the county are, Yale, Berea, Heming- ford, Girard and Nye. Marple is an inland point.
BOYD COUNTY
Boyd is a narrow, long county of some five hundred thirty-five square miles in area ent off from the north end of Holt County. Lying between the Niobrara River and the South Dakota state line. it is entirely eut off from the mother county. Ilolt. With the Niobrara on the south, Ponca Creek running through the county, and the Missouri River along the northeast edge of the county, it is pretty well watered. The Northwestern branch to Winner, South Dakota, runs diagonally southeast and northwest. and stations along this line, within Boyd County are 'Monowl, Lynch, Bristow, Spencer, the largest town in the county, Anoka and Baker. Other than Butte, the county seat, which the railroad barely missed, inland points are Naper, Gross and Rosedale. The settlements in this county really began much later than those of llolt, and most of the towns built up after the railroad came through.
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The county was separated from HFolt in 1891, and is the ninetieth county in the state. It. therefore, has a rather short separate history.
BROWN COUNTY
This county borders to the east of Cherry County, and the 100th meridian runs through it. The Niobrara River is its north border, and Blaine County is to the south, and Rock County to the east. It has an area of t.235 square miles. The Northwestern Railroad runs through the county practically east and west. The stations on this line are the three main towns of the county. Long Pine, Ainsworth and Johnstown, the latter a village of slightly over a hundred and a quarter. Ainsworth. the county seat, is the largest town in the county, having a popu- lation of over one thousand. Long Pine is the oldest settled town. H. M. Uttley went from Wisner to Long Pine with a steam saw mill on May 13, 1878, and was the first settler there. Dennis Sullivan and A. N. Bassett settled in that vicinity. A postotlice was established at Bone Creek in August or September, 1828. but in 1881 discontinued and located at Long Pine. The present town of Long Pine, first called Long Pine Station, is probably ten miles below the first Long Pine, located on Long Pine Creek. In 1880 the only points in this vicinity were Long Pine Station, Long Pine, Bone Creek, Evergreen and Burrows. All of the other points in this county are now south of the railroad, and south of Ainsworth and Long Pine. Among these little inland points are, Almi. Sunnyside, Raven, Midvale, Pike, Beardwell, Mary, Giles, Enderslake, Lakeland, and Burgan.
The county was established in 1883, and in the following year. Keya Paha County was taken off the north. Prior to 1883, it was a part of the unorganized territory, and for a while, of the big Sioux County, when that was in an unorganized state.
BURT COUNTY
Burt County lies in the eastern tier, flanking on the Missouri River, and is the second county north of Douglas County, containing 475 square miles. It was named in honor of Nebraska Territory's first governor, Franeis Burt, being one of the original eight counties. Its county scat. Tekamah was founded in 1855 by B. R. Folsom, W. N. Byers, J. W. Patterson, H. C. Purple, John Young. Jerry Folsom, Mr. Maynard, William T. Raymond, and a Mr. White, in the name of the Nebraska Stoek Company, organized in October, 1854. Decatur, in the northeast corner of the county, was located in the fall of 1855. by the Decatur Town and Ferry Company. the principal members of which were Stephen Decatur, Peter 1. Sarpy, B. R. Folsom, and W. B. Beck, and platted in the summer of 1856. Settle- ments were made at Lyons in 1867 and 1868, but the first store opened in 1871. Oakland was started in 1870, upon a site which John Oak, who settled there in 1862, had purchased from the original owner, Mr. Aaron Arlington, who settled in that vicinity in 1859. Bancroft started upon the arrival of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad in 1880, but this town is now in Cuming County. Other stations on the railroad just named are Eureka, Zion, Craig, Peak, and in addition to Decatur being an inland point now. so is Argo. Newton, Arizona, Riverside. Alder Grove postoffice and Golden Spring were former settlements in this county.
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BUFFALO COUNTY
Buffalo County is nearly in the central part of the state: being just south of Custer County, in which the geographical center of the state is located. A famous ranch has been established at the point which is 1.433 miles from New York, and the same distance from San Francisco. this being the midway mark of the continent, east and west, and is very close to the City of Kearney. Buffalo County was first settled by the Mormons in 1858, when they located at Wood River Center. now Shelton, in the very eastern edge of the county. This county suffered some material damage in the Indian raids of 1864, and the exodus of settlers that took place then was a deterrent for a time to its settlement. But by 1820 it had sufficiently recovered to form its own organization. For some ten years it had virtually been a part of Hall County. The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad came through in 1872, some six years after the Union Pacific had built across the eounty. Kearney Junction, later City of Kearney, was settled in 1820. at the point where the Burlington joined the Union Pacific main line, upon a townsite selected by D. N. Smith, representing Burlington interests. This location was made under the guidance of Moses II. Sydenham, who had resided in that vicinity since 1856. and to whom great credit is due for a guiding influence he exercised in the earliest days of central Nebraska. The Huntsman's Echo, a paper started in 1858 at Wood River Center, by Joseph Johnston, while a Mormon sheet. was probably the first notable venture of the Nebraska Territorial Press in the central part of the state, and is one of the most quoted from of all territorial papers for historical data of that period. Buda, located as Kearney Station. when the Union Pacific reached that point in 1866, for some time was the county seat. but lost this distinction and waned down to a small village. For a few years its name was Shelby and then changed to Buda. Gibbon was laid out in 1871 and has been a most enterprising small town in all of the years. Perhaps no citizen of Gibbon had done more to make its name well known and revered in the State of Nebraska than Hon. Sammel C. Bassett. Mr. Bassett has served the agricultural interests of the state in many ways, and been one of the foremost students of Nebraska history and writer of a most interesting and instructive column in recent years published weekly in the Nebraska State Journal. Some years ago he prepared an excellent history of Buffalo County, and has served as president of the State Historical Society for the past few years. Elm Creek was started along about 1870, and Stevenson and Odessa became stopping points on the railroad very carly. Butler's Ranch and Optie are also merely flagging stations. When the Burlington line to the Black Hills and Wyoming was built, St. Michael. Ravenna, the second largest town in the county and a Burlington division point, and Sweetwater sprang up. There are several stations on a Union Pacific branch from Kearney toward Stapleton ; being Glenwood Peak, Riverdale, Amherst, Watertown and Miller. Natasket, South Ravenna. Pleasanton and Poole, are in the very northern edge of the county on another Union Pacitie branch, and inland points are Sartoris and Peake.
BUTTLER COUNTY
This county is located in the eastern part of the state, fifty-one miles directly west of the Missouri River and even with Omaha as to north and south position,
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containing an area of 583 square miles. The county was visited by Fremont in his expedition of 1842, but the first permanent settlement was made in 1852. The county was organized in 1868, and Savannah, the first county seat held that distinction for only four years, when it lost to David City, the present county seat. The first railroad built in was the Burlington & Missouri River Company in 1880. Since then the county has become pretty well honeycombed with railroads, David City being an important junction point for diverging branch lines. Ulysses, at the very southern edge of the county was started in 1868. and is several years the senior of David City. During the four years. Savannah, which was laid out as early as 1859, had the court house; it was a thriving village. When the Omaha & Republican Valley branch, now Union Pacific, built through this county in 1878 several enterprising stations were located, among which were Rising City and Brainard. Other towns in the county along this line are Loma and Poley. Brainard was on the old Mormon trail through this vicinity. Other towns in the county now are Surprise, Millerton, Dwight, in the southern part, and Octavia, Brono, Able. Nimburg. Linwood, and Edholm, in the northern part. The Platte River forms the northern boundary of the county.
CASS COUNTY
C'ass is one of the original counties of the state, immediately south of Sarpy County. Its first settlement by Sanmel Martin in 1853 has been elsewhere narrated. In 1856 it had a population of 1,251. Plattsmouth, its county seat, very early became an important railroad town and one of the important towns of the state. The first company of Nebraska volunteers in the war of the Rebellion was organ- ized at Plattsmouth on the same day that the news of the breaking out of the war was received. Soon after the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad built into Plattsmouth in 1869, it located its principal shops there. The Missouri Pacific Railroad came into the county in 1882. Speculators, as well as settlers, came into this county in the late '50s, and by the speculating element, three townsites were laid out on Weeping Water Creek; that of Weeping Water, which has survived and made a splendid town; of Grand Rapids and Caledonia, the later town of Grand Rapids taking another site. Louisville was incorporated by the Legislature in 1857, but no substantial building took place until the Burlington Railroad arrived in 1870. Greenwood, in the very northwest corner of the county. was located in 1869 by S. C. Bethel ; Rock Bluff City, later Rock Bluff, was laid out in 1856, and another town North Rock Bluff, laid out about the same time, was consolidated with it in 1858. South Bend was laid out by speculators in 1857, but not much done in way of building until 1870 when the railroad arrived. Factoryville was the site of three mills and an attempt to build a town around the early milling industry. Avoca was platted in 1882, at the crossing of the Missouri Pacific and Wabash tracks; Union grew from a settlement made as early as 1869; Elmwood grew from a very early settlement ; and many newer towns have sprung up and flourished. Among the more prominent of these are perhaps Nehawka, which though small has furnished the state with statesmen; in recent years Gov. Geo. 1 .. Sheldon and Congressman E. M. Pollard living in that vicinity. Avoca platted in 1857; Englo, on the Lancaster County line in southwestern corner; Wabash : Murray, Mynard: Oreapolis, a railroad point of some importance: La Platta,
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Cullom, Cedarcreek, Munley, Murdock, Alvo, and Prairie Home. Among numerous towns projected in this county, which further evidence the spirit of speculation that strikes every new country and of which Cass County was a good example of its effect on our territorial days, were Cedarcreek City, filed plat in 1870; Elgin. 1852: Clay City, November, 1856; Troy. 1857; Saline, 1856; Cladonia, 1851; Capital City, 1857; Carlisle, 1856; Bluffdale, 1857; Centerville, 1852: Kanosha. 1858, and Eldorado, 1857.
CEDAR COUNTY
This county is located in the very northeastern corner of the state, and has an area of 735 square miles. It was organized in 1857. In the years 1858, 1862 and 1863. the Indians committed many depredations in Cedar County, burning homes, stealing stock and murdering a few settlers. St. Helena, was the early county seat, succeeding the very first county seat, St. James, in 1859. These two places are now inland points in the very northern part of the county. The first settlers in the county were a group from Harrison County, lowa. Waueapona as well as St. Helena was settled in 1858. Then Saby Strahm and a few others started Strahmberg, in northwest corner of county opposite the present town of Yankton, South Dakota. This county had a number of other towns, that no longer extensively flourish. being Smithland, Logan Valley, St. Peters, Center Bow, Bow Valley, and Menominee, most of which had a postoffice, store and school, and did not survive railroad extensions. Hartington is now the county seat and principal town of the county. A group of very splendid towns grew up in the south part of the county after the arrival of the railroads, being Randolph, a junction point of two lines ; Belden, Laurel, likewise a junction point of two lines of railroad ; Magnet, Coleridge. In the northern part, are a new station called St. James: Wynot, Fordyce, with Aten as an inland point. practically at the old Strahmberg location.
CHASE COUNTY
This county is located in the extreme western part. bordering on Colorado, and being just north of the extreme corner county, Dundy. The early occupation in this county was cattle raising exclusively, and it was not until in the late '80s that settlement for farming purposes came in very thickly. Frease and Wauneta were the first towns in the county, and the latter is still an important town, being serond town in the county. Imperial, the county seat, is the terminus of a branch from Culbertson, the only railroad line into the county. Imperial, Wauneta and Enders are the three railroad stations in the county. The other points, all being inland, are Best, Champion, Lamar and Chase in the western part of the county, and Catherine and Blanche, in the northeastern part. While the county was given legal establishment in 1873. it did not really function for some years later.
CHERRY COUNTY
This is the largest county in the state, with an area of 5,929 square miles; but a large portion of this not very densely settled. The county is traversed east and west by the Niobrara Railroad and has the main line of the Northwestern Railroad to the Black Hills running across the county. This county was a part of the
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unorganized territory, until that vast region assumed the name of Sjoux County. It was given separate establishment in 1883, and was named in memory of Lieut. Samuel A. Cherry, Fifth Cavalry, who was killed near Rock Creek, Dakota, about eight miles north of Fort Niobrara, May 11, 1881. The people who thought their "right of petition" had the selecting of a name for the county were most of them acquainted with the valiant soldier, and the name was adopted by practically universal consent. Fort Niobrara in those stormy days was the main center of activities in that region. By the time of the establishment of the county there were practically no settlements within its borders except Fort Niobrara, MeCan. and Poor's Ranch. Cherry County is dotted with hundreds of lakes, but among those which had received a name forty years ago, were Lake Stephenson, Soda Lake in western part of the county; Dad's Lake, Red Deer Lake, Marsh Lake and Pelican Lake. The stations and towns that have built up along the railroad now are Wood Lake, Arabia, Thatcher, Valentine, the county seat and thriving metropolis of the county ; Crookston. Kilgore, Nenzel, Cody, Roxby, Eli, Merriman, Leat, Irwin, Soudan. Cherry County has a myriad of inland points ; along the Niobrara River are, Bayonne, Harlan, Lavaca, Bailey, McCann, Burge, and north of the railroad. are Britt. Harmony, Hire, and Sparks. In the vicinity of Snake River are Dewey Lake, Hood, Lake; along Boardman's Creek, are Lund, Balfe, Rolf, Chesterfield, and Matteson, at its junction with Snake River. Along the North Loup River are Pullman, at its headwaters, Capwell, Ethel. DeWitty, Brownlee, the important trading center of the southern portion of the county ; Lewanna, Cascade and Elsmere. In the southwestern quarter, west and south of the head- waters of the North Loup are Martindale. Survey, King, Pullman, Big Creek, Curlew, Cherry, Erik, and Wells. In the eastern portion of the county, inland points mainly in the lake vicinity are, Kennedy, Oasis, Red, Deer, Conterra, Vian. Rex, Elizabeth, and Simeon. It is very probable that places just as important as some of these have been omitted among the myriad of such inland points in this county, which is in itself a vast and partially undeveloped empire.
CHEYENNE COUNTY
Cheyenne County was organized by the second state legislature by act approved June 12, 1867. An election was not held until 1870, and the first officers were then elected. The county was quite appropriately named for the Cheyenne Indians. The county, in the period extending from 1864, when the Indians began to resent the intrusion of the numerous white settlers, was the scene of a great deal of military activity. Numerous military camps and forts were established in the borders of the county as it then existed. In September, 1864, Camp Shuman was established three miles west of Scottsbluff Gap : and minor fortifications at Ficklin's, nine miles east of Scottsbluff, and Mud Springs, eight miles easterly from Court- house Rock. Fort Grattan was built at the mouth of Ash Hallow, after the battle of that name. Fort Sidney was established December 13, 1867, known then as Sidney Barracks. It became an independent post. November 28, 1870, and was abandoned June 1, 1874. Sidney built up after the railroad came through in 1867. Lodgepole. Sunol. Potter. Colton and Herndon soon followed, and later stations established on the Union Pacific, have been Margate and Brownson. The Burlington branch from Alliance to Sterling and Denver, Colorado, has brought about a
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number of towns. including Lorenzo, Huntsville, Marlowe, Gurley and Dalton. Numerous inland points in this county, as it finally stands after six counties have been taken out of its original area, are Sextorp, Leafdale, lekes, Clara, Henry and Weyerts.
CLAY COUNTY
This name was first given to a county later absorbed by Gage and Lancaster, and in 1867 transferred to the present Clay County, in the second tier from the south border of state and three counties west of Lincoln, with an area of 579 square miles. The first white settlement was made by John B. Weston. afterwards auditor of the state, in 1852. A group of about as evenly balanced towns in population and trade strategical positions has been built up in this county, as it would be possible to find anywhere within such close confines. Of these five towns, Sutton, the largest, and the first county seat of the county, was started in 1870, by settlement of Luther French; but the first business house opened in May, 1871. Harvard started in 1871. Edgar had a postoffice established in 1872, and was laid out in 1873. Fairfield was projected in 1872 when the St. Joe and Western Railroad reached that far. When the B. & M. Railroad came in, Sutton and Grafton had a very bitter struggle for supremacy, as it was proposed to leave Sutton without a depot. Clay Center started in 1879, and eventually won the countyseat-ship. With five such splendid towns, all having more than a thousand population, Clay County has a large number of other railroad stations; among which are Ong. Deweese. Springranch, Alma Junction, Glenville, Verona, Saronville, Inland, Trum- bull and Eldorado. Inland was laid out in 1821 : Glenville in 1843; and Springranch established as a postoffice in 1870.
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