USA > Nebraska > York County > York County, Nebraska and its people : together with a condensed history of the state, Vol. I > Part 14
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COLFAX COUNTY
Colfax is in the third tier from the Missouri River, on the north banks of the Platte River, and contains 276,480 acres of land. It was first settled in 1856, but the early settlements did not flourish very generally until the Union Pacific Railroad was built through in 1865-6. Schuyler, the county seat, was established in 1869. The story of the foundation of Buchanan has been told in another chapter in this work, relating to establishment of towns. Rogers and Richland were early shipping points on the Union Pacific main line. Richland at one time was ealled Benton and was a town of some promise. Lambert is another station on the Union Pacific main line. A line of the Northwestern road running east and west through the north side of the county has built up Howells, Clarkson and Leigh, three thriving little towns, and Bissell, Heun and Wells are inland towns,
CUMING COUNTY
Cuming County is in the northeastern part of the state, with only Burt between it and the Missouri River to the east, and contains 504 square miles. It was originally settled in 1856, by Benjamin B. Moore, wife, daughter and three sons, from Hillsdale, Mich. They settled at Catherine, or Dead Timber, as then called. In March, 1857, Uriah Bruner, John J. Bruner, Henry A, Kosters, William Sexaner, Andrew J. Bruner, Peter Weindheim, Henry Eike, Charles Beindorf and
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others of Omaha, organized as "The Nebraska Settlement Association," and the results of their surveys and excursions was the town of West Point, in the southeast corner of the county, and the future county seat of the county. John D. Neligh was an early settler and the first treasurer of the county. West Point was platted and surveyed as a town in 1869. A store was opened at Wisner the same year. Baneroft was platted in 1880 when the branch to Pender went through. Beemer is another town, between Wisner and West Point that has built into a thriving trade center. Monterey is an inland point. Cuming County has about as few towns in the state as any county of its size, but is in an excellent agricultural district and is a very prosperous county.
CUSTER COUNTY
Custer County is the second largest county in the state, and is situated right in the center. The geographical center of the state is near Westerville in eastern Custer County. It would take a separate volume to do justice to even a condensed history of Custer County. Settlements were not made in this county, of a per- manent nature, until 1873 and 1874. The county was organized in 1877 and named after the martyred Gen. George A. Custer, who had met his tragie death in the preceding year. The first county seat projected was Custer, on the South Loup River, some twenty miles south of its eventual successor, Broken Bow. A proposed Garber County, just west of Valley, and in present northeastern Custer County, failed of organization, but the name stuek for some time to that territory until after the organization of the present Custer County. The remainder of the unorganized territory in this region was for a time known as Kountze County, after the wealthy bankers of Omalia, but that name was likewise superseded by Custer. Lewis R. Dowse, who settled in the Middle Loup Valley in 1873, is accorded generally the honor of being the first settler in the county, antedating the others. The first post- office established in the county was at New Helena by C. R. Matthews. The different localities gradually settled up; Lee's Park, in 1874: Spencer's Park, in 1879; Lillian, 1880 or 1881; Merna Valley in 1882: W. G. Brotherton being one of the pioneer settlers of this region: Custer Center in 1880, when there was no Broken Bow yet : but there was a postoffice of that name kept by Mr. Pelham. The west table filled up from 1883 on. In June, 1889, settlers commenced to come to Dale. Redfern Table started to settle up in 1883-4. W. A. George, who had been in the county temporarily thirteen years before, settled near Georgetown in 1887, and thus the county filled up during the '80s very rapidly. In 1880, Wilson Hewitt was postmaster upon his homestead, but the name sent in had been rejected, and while he was trying to figure out a new name, the children brought in a broken arrow and bow, and he sat down and sent in the name "Broken Bow" which was accepted, and for many years remained the only town in the country with that name, until a large lumber company which had started its business career at Broken Bow, named a town in Oklahoma after the Nebraska town. The townsite was platted in 1882 by Jess Gandy, and the postoffice there then kept by (. D. Pelham, who had a store also. Westerville was an early town, and lost the county seat to Broken Bow, but two county fairs were held there, in 1883 and 1884. but Broken Bow secured the fair after that. Merna was projected in 1883, and has developed into a very important town. Lee's Park was laid out in 1884. But this town and Wescott
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lost ont, when the railroad built up the Middle Loup Valley, and Comstock, surveyed in 1899 and named for W. Il. Comstock, and Sargent, secured the railroad line. The first settler in the South Loup Valley was Frederick Schreyer, who came in 1825. Mr. J. Woods Smith, in 1885, while reading in a paper in the lobby of the Paxton Hotel in Omaha that the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad was going to build a branch up the South Loup Valley. from the Wood River Valley and Kearney. went to the map and chose a site for a townsite, which materialized into Callaway, the town being named in honor of S. R. Callaway, then general manager of the Union Pacifie road. Dr. L. Micheal, Harry O'Neill and John Moran were among the first to build business places in the new town. The postoffice on the Graves farm called Delight was moved and name changed to Callaway. Berwyn started in 1882. Mason City, the "Queen City of the Muddy," was located by the Lincoln Land Co. in 1886; Sargent was laid out in 1883; Ansley was projected in 1886: Anselmo, named for Anselmo Smith, a Burlington surveyor, was started about 1886: Oconto was located in 1886, and Arnold, named in honor of George Arnold, was laid out in 1883, but waited practically forty years for the arrival of the railroad. Other stations in Custer County, are Lodi, Triumph. Milldale, on the Union Pacific branch that runs through Callaway, Oconto and Arnold on up to Stapleton. Inland points are Scandia. Cumro, Georgetown. Etna. Table. Tuekerville, Ryno, MeKinley, and Klump in the southern and western part of the county, some of which have been virtually abandoned in recent years. In the eastern and northern parts, there are Huxley, Kingston, Coburg. Elton, Weissart, Round Valley. Gates, Millburn, Phillipsburg and Walworth.
DAKOTA COUNTY
This county is in the northeastern corner of the state, with the Missouri River as its northeastern border, being virtually a triangular county, with only 253 square miles of area. It was created in 1855. Dakota City, the county seat was located in 1856. Ten miles west of Dakota City was started Jackson, first called Franklin, the name changed to avoid conflict with another town of that name. This started about 1860. Homer, in the southeastern part of the county. started in 1822. Other towns in the county are Hubbard, started 1880: Covington, started 1856, five miles north of Dakota City on the Missouri River: Emerson, formerly in this county, but now in Thurston County, was established in 1881. Other more modern towns are Nacora, Coburn, Wood Park, Goodwin and Vista.
DAWES COUNTY
Situate within a few miles of the foot of the famous Black Hills, in the extreme northwestern portion of Nebraska, with only Sioux County between it and Wyoming, lies Dawes County. The territory embraced in Dawes County was first settled in 1884, by a band of as hardy and determined pioneers as ever crossed the plains to seek homes in the Great West. Prominent citizens who signed a petition in 1885 included the following carly settlers among others, Cyrus Fairchild, B. S. Paddock. E. S. Nesbitt, E. Egan, B. F. Carley, F. M. Dorrington, J. Il. McMillan and W. II. Reynolds. The location of the county seat was hotly contested between Chadron and Dawes City, the latter now known as Whitney, but Chadron won by
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a vote of 582 to 364, and 3 cast for Bordeaux. The county is 36 miles square. The Nebraska and Northwestern division of the Northwestern, has developed the towns of Bordeaux. Chadron. Dakota Junction ; Whitney, and Crawford, the junction of this line and the Burlington, which also has the stations of Horn, Rutland, Belmont. Dooley and Marshland at the southern border of the county. Wayside is on a branch that leads from Chadron into the Black Hills. Inland points are Pine Ridge. Dunlap, Pepper Creek, Antelope, Wolvington, Manchester, Hongh. Any county with two such thriving, metropolitan cities as Chadron and Crawford has a future before it. In recent years, different wholesale houses over the country have been choosing one or the other of these cities for distributing center, and Crawford is especially well located for this purpose, while Chadron is developing as a railroad point.
DAWSON COUNTY
Dawson County is situated 215 miles west of the Missouri River, on the banks of the Platte River, and contains 985 square miles. In the times of the overland freight and emigrant traffic, Dawson presented many lively aspects, and in the days of the cattle range, Plum Creek was a terminus of fame, along with Ogallala to the west. The county was settled in 1861-3 to a very slight extent. The county was organized in 1871. It was in Dawson County that the famous raid was started in 1864 with the massacre of the emigrant train of eleven wagons. Plum Creek, was established in 1871. In 1889 its name was changed to Lexington, and it is today a thriving little city. Overton was first settled in 1823, and in that same year. John J. Cozad came out from Ohio and bought land of the Union Pacific, and made arrangements for a town there. It was at one time called Hundredth Meridian, as it is located practically on that line, but eventually took the name, C'ozad. Willow Island was laid out early in the '80s, and later another town started west of it, at the very western edge of the county, that is a very thriving small town, Gothenberg. Farnam in the southwest corner is on a Union Pacific branch ; Summer and Eddyville in the northeastern corner are on another Union Pacific branch. Josselyn is a station some forty years old. Dass and Buffalo are about the . only inland points.
DEUEL COUNTY
Denel County was organized in the fall of 1888, when it was cut off from Cheyenne County. This division held until 1910 when Garden County was divided from the north portion. Denel County was named after a division superintendent of the Union Pacific. Much of the early history of the county is embraced in the general story of Cheyenne. Its county seat, Chappell, like Sidney, dates back to its first beginnings to the time the Union Pacific came through about 1866, or 1867. Big Springs and Barton sprang up before the county was settled for more than ranching purposes. Perdu and Ralton are other stations on the Union Pacific line. Between Big Springs and Chappell, the two main towns of the county, the Union Pacific line delves down into Colorado and touches Julesburg. This famous old frontier town has been so closely associated with Denel County, or perhaps vice versa, that it is hard to separate the two. With Garden County taking 1,652 square miles of area, Deuel was left with only 439 square miles, so it must make up in quality what it lost in quantity.
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DIXON COUNTY
Dixon county is the most northeasterly county in the state, and has an area of 472 square miles. Previous to the advent of white men, this county was the home of various tribes of Indians, mainly the Poncas. The first settlers, so far as can be as ascertained, arrived in 1856, and among them were John, Solomon B., and Jacob Stough, two brothers named Brown, C. F. Putnam, and W. H. Jones. Hard times visited these first colonies in 1857 and 1858, and the Indian massaeres in 1862 retarded growth for a time. Ponca, was surveyed and platted in 1856 by Doctor Stough and Frank West. its first chief proprietors. Martinsburg, now an inland point, was started in 1813. Towns that once flourished in this county were. Logan Grove. Parkhill postoffice. New Castle, Ionia, Lime Creek, Aoway Creek, Dailey Branch. Ellis, Silver Ridge, Hawkeye, and Spring Bank. Like other older counties, many changes have taken place in the smaller settlements. Towns now prominent in this county are. Wakefield, on Wayne-Dixon county line; Concord on the Hlartington branch of the C., St. P .. M. & O .: Dixon and Allen on another branch line, and Newcastle and Manskell in the northern part of the county above Ponca.
DODGE COUNTY
Dodge County is located in the second tier of counties from the Missouri River, and on the Platte River. It has an area of 531 square miles. The first settle- ment was made in 1856, when John and Arthur Bloomer made claims near the mouth of Maple Creek, in April. On May 25th. Mrs. Wealthy Beebe and her children and Abram MeNeal, her son-in-law, settled two miles west of where Fremont later sprang up. On July 4th. the North Bend Colony arrived, and in August, 1856, the first settlements were made toward the inception of Fremont, where a town company was formed under the name of Pinney, Barnard & Co. On September 3. 1856, the town was named for Gen. John C. Fremont. the republican presidential candidate, and a man who certainly played no small part * in discovering the possibilities of Nebraska. But, with all that appropriateness, it might have never received that name had it not been for its rival, twenty-five miles away on Shell Creek, named Buchanan, When the Sioux City & Pacific, the Elkhorn Valley branch of the Union Pacific was built. Seriber and Hooper sprang up about 1821. Timberville and Wallace, early stations on the Union Pacific have been displaced by Sandberg, and Ames, and Bay State. On the Scriber and Hooper branch, some forty years ago were also Oak Springs and Crowell, but now that northern part of the county boasts of Dodge and Snyder, as well as Crowell and Junction. Pleasant Valley, Everett and Clyde are inland points, and Nickerson. West End and Winslow are on another branch line. Mapleville, Pebble, Webster. Bohemia. Glenroe, Jamestown. Jalapa and Galena were formerly thriving inland points.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
This is the county of largest population in the state. With the City of Omaha, in its borders, having a population of over 191,000, or virtually 200,000 people, and perhaps one-sixth or more of the population of the state within its borders, this county presents a volume of history that it is absolutely impossible to condense
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in the space this review can allot, and do ample justice in a fractional measure. It was one of the eight original counties, proclaimed by Governor Cuming. The first important settlements, as outlined in the chapter dealing more closely with towns, was made by the Mormons at Florence. The foundation of Omaha was also sketched therein. In 1854, the territorial capital was located at Omaha, and though that distinetion was some thirteen years later surrendered to the new village of Lincoln. Omaha at once started to grow into the position of the metropolis of the state, and now not only has that position firmly launched, but is a serious contender for the broader distinction of being the commercial, industrial and manufacturing "Gateway of the Northwest." From the time the first ground was broken for the Union Pacific Railroad on December 3, 1863, Omaha's growth started by leaps and bounds. By 1870 the city had a population of 16,000, a figure now only eclipsed in the state. fifty years later, by Omaha and Lineoln. By 1880, Omaha was a city of around 40,000, and in 1920 barely missed 200,000. Florenee, Dundee. Benson and South Omaha were recently taken into the corporate limits of Omaha, and became a part of Greater Omaha. The latter, South Omaha, with its great packing houses and stock yards, located therein, had reached the proportions of a city of almost 30,000 when it joined its bigger sister. Allbright and Ralston are thriving suburbs, so far escaped from annexation. Waterloo, laid out in 1871, and Millard, also laid out in 1871, and named for Ezra Millard, its founder, are thriving outside towns in the county, Mercer, Bonnington, Briggs, Elkhorn and Lane are smaller points in this county. The history of the state eannot be written on any subject treated elsewhere in this state historical review without touching extensively upon Omaha and Douglas County.
DUNDY COUNTY
Dundy County is situated in the extreme southwestern corner of the state with Colorado bounding it on the west, and Kansas on the south. Its area is 927 square miles. The census of 1880 showed a population of 1,880, and its settle- ments before that, dating back to 1872, were mainly for cattle ranching pur- poses. At the mouth of the Arickaree, J. Haigler had a ranch in 1822. The first principal settlement was around Collinsville, named in 1880 for Moses Collins. During 1881 and part of 1882, this point did a considerable business, being for that time a supply distributing station for the railroad. Early in the spring of 1882, the railroad company, having built a depot, changed its name to Benkleman, in honor of the extensive stock raiser, J. G. Benkleman. Other stations along the Burlington line in this county are Haigler, in the southwestern corner of the county ; Parks and Max. Inland points are Lamont, Rollwitz and Lux. The county was organized for governmental purposes lông after its legislative estab- lishment, which was enacted in 1823, and was named in honor of United States Judge, Elmer S. Dundy. For many years it was attached to Hitchcock County for legislative, judicial and revenue purposes, and composed of but one precinct in its local government.
FILLMORE COUNTY
Fillmore County is located twenty-four miles north of southern boundary of the state, and ninety miles west from the Missouri River, with an area of 376 square
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miles. The first settlement in the county was made in 1866, by William Bussard and William Whitaker. In 1868 a few more settlers came in. but it was in 1840 that the rush of emigration started. The county was organized in 1871, and in that year Geneva and Fairmont were laid out. Of the other towns, Grafton was founded in 1844, and Exeter. in 1871. The Burlington system built into the county in 1871, and in 1888 the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley (now Northwestern) came in. Exeter is the junction of the Burlington east and west line, and a branch crossing from Seward down to Superior and the other towns that have developed on this line through the county are Sawyer (Geneva already mentioned ), Martland, Shickley and Carlisle. In the south part on another line of railroad are Strang, W. Strang, E. Strang and Ohiowa, with Shiekley as the junction between that B. & M. branch and the other one just named. Milligan and Burress are on a branch that comes up from Fairbury and comes into Fairmont. Lyman is on still another branch. With six branch lines entering or traversing such a small county, it is one of the few counties in the state without an inland point of any consequence, for no farm in Fillmore County could be very many miles away from at least one or two lines of railroad.
FRANKLIN COUNTY
Franklin County is in the southern tier of counties, 125 miles west of the Missouri River, and has an area of 578 square miles. It was settled in 1870 by a colony from Omaha, among whom were Wm. C. Thompson. Jas. W. Thompson, Richard Beckwith. John Corbin, Isaac Chappel and Barnett Ashbourne. In the following year practically every man in the colony joined a military company, formed to protect the settlements against the Indians. The county was formally organized in September, 1871. Bloomington, the county seat until 1920, was laid out in 1872. The Burlington Railroad line came in during 1879. The original Thompson party located at a point that later became Riverton, where the postoffice was established in 18:1. Naponee was made a postoffice also in 1871. Franklin City was the earliest settlement that made a town, but another town which was first called Waterloo, was laid out, and always known as Franklin. and this place held the county seat until 1874, when Bloomington captured it. and in 1920 Franklin recaptured this coveted prize. In 1899. a town was laid out by the railroad company between the two Franklins, and it was that town which eventually captured the name. An academy, started in 1881 at Franklin, is an educational institution of wide repute. In the north part of the county along the Burlington branch to Curtis, the thriving towns of Campbell, Upland and Hildreth, have built up. Macon is still an inland point, and points that used to play a part in Franklin County affairs were Moline. Ash Grove. West Salem, Stock- ton, Amazon, Langdon, Marion, Clyde, Sand Hill, Freewater and Orange. The Republican River traverses the county through the southern tier of townships.
FRONTIER COUNTY
Frontier County is situated well toward the southwestern part of the state, in the second tier from the south, and with two counties yet west of it. It has an area of 975 square miles. The county was organized in January, 1822. At that
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time there were several stock raisers, and two permanent settlers, Henry C. and Mortimer II. Clifford, who had married squaws and settled on the Medicine, a short distance from where Stockville was later located, and lived in lodges there. Stockville, very nearly in the center of the county, was the first settlement pro- jected, and became the county seat. Curtis is the principal town in the county, and in 1911 secured the new State Agricultural College, to be located in the central or western portion of the state. Three other towns have built up along the Burling- ton Railroad in this county, besides Curtis. These are Maywood, Moorefield and Eustis. Besides Stockville, the only well-developed inland towns, are a number of inland points for postoffices or trading purposes, among these being Osburn, Counterpoint, Havana, Freedom, Essex, Quick, Stevens, Orafino and Earl. Laird, Stowe, Afton and Equality were formerly such inland points on this county's map that no longer seem to be on the scene of action.
FURNAS COUNTY
This county lies in the southern tier of counties, with three more counties to the west. It contains 421 square miles. The first settler is reputed to have been Benjamin Burton, who located there in 1870. Galen James made his way up the Republican Valley about this same time, to near Melrose and located at the junction of Sarpy County with the Beaver, which is a point practically on the present Furnas- Harlan county line, but in what was then known as James County. Theodore Phillips came in 1871 to a locality that became the settlement of New Era. Burton's Bend was started in 1871 by J. B. Burton at a point five miles west of Arapahoe. Arapahoe was surveyed in 1872. The first store in Beaver City, was started in 1843, but the town was settled in October, 1872. Arapahoe had been started through the efforts of a townsite company organized at Plattsmouth, in 1871, with Capt. F. B. Murphy, Charles Brown, Geo. W. Love, John Fitzgerald, Dr. W. E. Dowland, D. H. Wheeler, H. M. Crum, George W. Colvin, and A. Lashley as lead- ing spirits. In the first elections with Arapahoe and Beaver ('ity contesting for the advantage of being county seat, Beaver City had the most votes, but its returns did not arrive in the office of the secretary of state until the day after the canvassing was set, and as only Arapahoe's votes were counted it won, for the time being. But at the first general election in the county, in 1823, Beaver City won the prize, and has since retained it. Wilsonville was settled in 1842 and established as a post- office in 1823. Hendley was established by a Hastings townsite company in 1888. Other towns along the Imperial branch of the Burlington, besides Arapahoe, are Oxford, Edison, Holbrook and Cambridge and all four of these have developed into very well known trading and shipping centers. Only Springgreen and Precept remain actively on the list of inland points, which formerly some forty years ago also included Wilmot, Midway, Richmond, Sherman, Rockton, Coldwater, ('arisbrook, Lynden. Whitney, and Rexford, and it might also be noted that in the early '80s, Beaver City and Wilsonville were, of course, also inland points.
GAGE COUNTY
Gage County is in the third tier of counties west of the Missouri River, and is the only county between Lancaster (Lincoln) and the Kansas line, and contains
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