USA > Nebraska > York County > York County, Nebraska and its people : together with a condensed history of the state, Vol. I > Part 26
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STATE INSTITUTIONS
Nebraska has well provided for her wards and unfortunates in numerous state institutions. A brief review of these will be given.
Hospitals for the Insane. Up until 1870 Nebraska arranged to send her insane patients to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. From July to Deemeber of that year, the Pawnee County jail was used, and then the institution at Lincoln was finished. The hospital at Norfolk was established by act approved March 4, 1885. The state hospital at Hastings was established by aet approved March 30, 1887, and now Nebraska has these three well built, splendidly equipped institutions.
The School for the Deaf is located at Omaha, and was established by an act approved February 7, 1867, and a building built in 1821. In 1909, the legislature changed the name of this institution from "Institute for the Deaf and Dumb" to the "Nebraska School for the Deaf." The Institute for the Blind, established in 1875, is located at Nebraska City. The Institute for Feeble Minded Youth was estab- lished at Beatrice by an act in 1885. The Industrial School for Boys is located at Kearney, and since this institution was taken charge of some years ago by Hon. R. V. Clark, has been raised to a standard high among institutions of its class.
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The Industrial School for Girls is located at Geneva. The citizens of Kearney donated 320 acres of land to secure the former institution, provided for in 1879. The latter school at Geneva was built in 1892. It seems to be a very difficult institution to handle and has had numerous changes in management. There are two soldiers' and sailors' homes. The older and larger was established at Grand Island, by act of 1887 and opened on July 1, 1888. The citizens of Grand Island donated 640 acres of land for this institution, and it receives some federal aid. A branch home was located at Milford, in 1895, upon a site of thirty-five acres leased on annual rental, and the site purchased in 1899. As the number of veterans of Civil war decreases, it is expected to develop these institutions for the use of veterans of the Spanish-American and World wars, and other military services. A Nebraska Industrial Home was established by act of 1887 at Milford for the shelter and protection of penitent women and girls. In 1918, an institution in the nature of a "Remedial Farm" for unfortunate women and girls was established, and located near York. The Legislature of 1906 provided for a "hospital for crippled ruptured and deformed children" to be located at Lincoln on the grounds of the home for the friendless. This institution developed into the Orthopedic Hospital. The Home for Dependent Children is another institution located on the outskirts of Lincoln and was created in 1909, an outgrowth of the work of a private association since 1876. Its function is to receive those children under six -. teen, and under the new constitutional amendment of 1920 this will be changed to eighteen, who are neglected, ill-treated or left destitute by parents, and do not come within the orphan class. The Legislature of 1911 established a hospital for tuberenlar patients, and this was located at Kearney. The State Penitentiary is located at Lincoln.
STATE OFFICERS
Gorernors
David Butler, 1867, until impeachment in 1871, succeeded by W. H. James, secretary of state. Robert W. Furnas, 1873-1875.
Silas Garber, 1875-1879.
Albinus Nance, 1879-1883. James W. Dawes. 1883-1887.
John M. Thayer. 1882, to January 15, 1891. May 5, 1891, to February 8, 1892.
James E. Boyd, January 15, 1891. to May 5, 1891, February 8, 1892- 1893.
Lorenzo Crounse. 1893-1895.
Silas A. Holcomb, 1895-1899. William A. Poynter. 1899-1901.
Charles H. Dietrich. January 3, 1901, to May 1, 1901.
Ezra P. Savage, May 1, 1901-1903. John H. Mickey. 1903-1907.
George I. Sheldon, 1907-1909.
Ashton C. Shallenberger, 1909-1911. Chester H. Aldrich, 1911-1913. Jolin H. Morehead, 1913-1917. Keith Neville. 1917-1919.
Samuel R. McKelvie, 1919-1923.
Lieutenant Governors
Othman A. Abbott. 1877-1879.
Edmund C. Carns. 1879-1883.
A. W. Agee. 1883-1885.
TI. Il. Shedd, 1885-1889.
Geo. D. Mieklejohn, 1889-1891.
Thomas J. Majors. 1891-1895.
Robert E. Moore, 1895-1897.
James E. llarris, 1897-1899.
E. A. Gilbert, 1899-1901.
(. F. Steele. 1901-1905.
Edmund G. MeGilton, 1905-1907.
M. R. Hopewell, 1907 to May 2, 1911; died May 2. 1911.
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John Il. Morehead (president pro tem. senate), May 2, 1911-1913. S. R. McKelvie, 1913-1915. James Pearson, 1915-1917. Edgar Howard, 1917-1919. P. A. Barrows, 1919-1923.
Secretaries of State
Thomas P. Kennard, February 21, 1867. to January 10, 1871. William II. James, 1871-1873. Acting Governor, June 2, 1861, to Jan- mary 13. 1823. John J. Gosper. 1873-1815. Bruno Tzechuck, 1875-1879.
S. J. Alexander, 1879-1883. Edward P. Roggen, 1883-1887.
Gilbert L. Laws, January 6, 1887, to November 20. 1889, when he resigned to fill unexpired term in congress caused by death of James Laird.
Benjamin A. Cowdery, November 20, 1889, to January, 1891, vice Laws. John (. Allen, 1891-1895. Joel A. Piper, 1891-1892.
William F. Porter, 1897-1901.
George W. Marsh, 1901-1905.
A. Galnsha, 1905-1907. George C. Junkin, 1907-1911.
Addison Wait. 1911-1915.
Charles W. Pool, 1915-1919. Darius M. Amsherry, 1919-1923.
State Auditors
John Gillespie, 1867-1873. Jefferson B. Weston. 1873-1879. F. W. Liedtke. 1879- John Wallichs. November 12, 1880- 1885.
H. A. Babcock. 1885-1889. Thomas H. Benton, 1889-1893.
Eugene Moore. 1893-1897. John F. Cornell, 1897-1901. Charles Weston, 1901-1905. Edward M. Searle, 1905-1909. Silas R. Barton, 1909-1913.
W. B. Howard, 1913-1915. William H. Smith, 1915-1919. George W. Marsh, 1919-1923.
State Treasurers
Augustus Kountze, February, 1867- 1869. James Sweet. 1869-1871.
Henry A. Koenig, 18:1-1875. J. C. McBride, 1875-1879.
George M. Bartlett, 1879-1883.
Philip D. Sturdevant, 1883-1885. Charles H. Willard, 1885-1889.
John E. Hill, 1889-1893. Joseph S. Bartley, 1893-1897. John B. Merserve, 1897-1901. William Stuefer, 1901-1903. Peter Mortensen. 1903-1907.
L. G. Brian, 1907-1911.
Walter A. George, 1911-1915.
George E. Hall. 1915-1919. D. B. Cropsey, 1919-1923.
Commissioners of Public Lands and Buildings
F. M. Davis, 1897-1881.
A. G. Kendall, 1881-1885. Joseph Scott, 1885-1889. John Steen, 1889-1891.
A. R. Humphrey, 1891-1895. Henry C. Russell, 1895-1897. Jacob V. Wolfe, 1897-1901. George D. Follmer, 1901-1905.
Henry M. Eaton, 1905-1909. E. B. Cowles, 1909-1913. Fred Beckman, 1913-1917. Grant L. Shumway. 1917-1919. Dan Swanson, 1919-1923.
Attorneys General
Champion S. Chase, 1867-1869. Seth Robinson, 1869-1871. George H. Roberts, 1871-1873. J. R. Webster, 1873-1875. George H. Roberts, 1875-1879.
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(. J. Dilworth, 1829-1883. Isaac Powers, Jr., 1883-1885.
William Leese, 1885-1891.
George II. Hastings, 1891-1895. Arthur S. Churchill, 1895-1897.
Constantine J. Smyth. 1897-1901.
Frank N. Prout. 1901-1905.
Norris Brown, 1905-1907.
William T. Thompson, 1907-1910.
Arthur F. Mullen, October 31. 1910, to January 5, 1911, vice Thompson, re- signed.
Grant G. Martin, 1911-1915.
Willis E. Reed, 1915-1919. Clarence A. Davis, 1919-1923.
Superintendents of Public Instruction
S. Dewitt Beals, appointed February 16. 1869. to 1871.
J. II. Mckenzie, 1821-1877. S. R. Thompson, 1897-1881. W. W. W. Jones, 1881-1887. George B. Lane, 1887-1891.
A. K. Goudy, 1891-1895.
Henry R. Corbett, 1895-1892.
William R. Jackson. 1897-1901.
William K. Fowler, 1901-1905.
Jasper L. Mo Brien, 1905-1909.
E. C. Bishop, 1909-1911.
James W. Crabtree, January to October, 1911.
James E. Delzell, October, 1911-1915. 1. O. Thomas, 1915-1917. W. H. Clemmons, 1917. J. M. Matzen, vice Clemmons, deceased, 1920; reelected 1920.
United States Senators
John M. Thayer. 1868-1871. Thomas W. Tipton, 1867-1875. Phineas W. Hitchcock, 1861-1877.
Algernon S. Paddock, 1875-1881, and 1887-1893. Alvin Saunders, 1847-1883. (. II. Van Wyek, 1881-1887. Charles F. Manderson, 1883-1895.
John M. Thurston, 1895-1901.
William V. Allen, 1893-1899; Decem- ber 13, 1899, to March 28, 1901. Monroe L. Hayward, elected March 8, 1899, died December 5, 1899, never qualified. Joseph H. MiHard, 1901-1907. Charles II. Dietrich, 1901-1905.
Elmer J. Burkett, 1905-1911.
Norris Brown, 1907-1913.
Gilbert M. Hitchcock, 1911 to date. George W. Norris, 1913 to date.
Representatives in Congress Entire state in one district
Turner M. Marquette, March 1-4, 186%. John Taffe. 1867-1873. Lorenzo Crounse, 1843-1872.
Frank Welch, 1822; died 1822.
Thomas JJ. Majors, elected 1878 to fill vacancy.
E. K. Valentine, 1879-1883.
. First District
A. J. Weaver, 1883-1887. John A. McShane, 1884-1889.
W. J. Connell, 1889-1891. W. J. Bryan, 1891-1895.
J. B. Strode, 1895-1899.
E. J. Burkett, 1899-1905. E. M. Pollard, 1905-1902. John A. Maguire, 1909-1915. C. F. Reavis, 1915-1923.
Second District
James Laird, 1883 to August, 1889. Gilbert L. Laws, vice Laird, 1889 to 1891. W. A. McKeighan. 1891-1893. David HI. Mercer, 1893-1903. Gilbert M. Hitchcock, 1903-1905 : 1907- 1911. John L. Kennedy, 1905-1907. C. O. Lobeck, 1911-1919. Albert W. Jefferis, 1919-1923.
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
Third District
E. K. Valentine, 1883-1885. G. W. E. Dorsey. 1885-1891.
O. M. Kem, 1891-1893. Geo. D. Meiklejohn, 1893-1897. Samuel Maxwell, 1897-1899.
John S. Robinson, 1899-1903.
J. J. MeCarthy, 1903-1907. J. F. Boyd. 1907-1909. James P. Latta, 1909-1913.
Dan V. Stephens, 1913-1919.
Robert E. Evans, 1919-1923.
Fourth District
E. J. Hainer, 1893-1897. William L. Stark, 1897-1903. Edmund HI. Hinshaw, 1903-1909.
Charles II. Sloan, 1911-1919. M. O. Mclaughlin, 1919-1923.
Fifth District
W. A. McKeighan, 1893-1895. W. E. Andrews, 1895-1897.
R. D. Sutherland, 1897-1901.
A. C. Shallenberger, 1901-1903.
G. W. Norris, 1903-1913. Silas R. Barton, 1913-1917.
A. C. Shallenberger, 1917-1919.
W. E. Andress, 1919-1923.
Sixth District
O. M. Kem, 1893-1897. William L. Greene, 1899-1901. William Neville, 1901-1903. Moses P. Kinkaid, 1903-1923.
Vol. I-14
CHAPTER VIII
THE RAILROADS OF NEBRASKA
THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD- WHAT THE ENGINES SAID-THE BURLINGTON SYSTEM -RAILROAD BUILDING AND EXTENSION ( BY YEARS) -THE STATE RAILWAY COM- MISSION-RAILROADS PALMY POLITICAL DAYS.
THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD
The father of railroads in this state was the Pacific Railroad project. Whether it is correct as intimated in past records that Jonathan Carver foreshadowed its construction in 1978, or whether in the years that the first railroads in the eastern part of the country were being built, the idea of a railroad to the western coast was being scouted as impracticable, it is realiably credited that Senator Thomas H. Benton, as early as 1825, urged upon Congress the "occupation of Columbia" with a view of forming a "communication for commercial purposes between the Pacific and the Mississippi, and to send lights of science and religion into Eastern Asia." The development of this idea will be carried chronologically as the briefest way to fully cover its evolution into the finest system traversing the western plains.
1835. Rev. Samuel Parker, in his journal of a trip across the continent, recorded an opinion that the mountains presented no insuperable obstacle to a rail- road.
1836. The first publie meeting to consider the project of a Pacific railway was called by John Plumbe, a civil engineer of Dubuque, lowa. Editorial mention of such a project appeared in the columns of the Emigrant, Ann Arbor ( Michigan Territory), February 6, 1832, presumably accreditable to Judge S. W. Dexter. Lewis Gaylord Clarke, in the Knickerbocker Magazine, in 1836, urged such an idea. Jonathan Carver's grandson, Heartwell Carver, was urging it in 1832.
Maj .- Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railway from 1866 to 1820, the period of its most active construction, has narrated the story of "ffow We Built the Union Pacific Railway" (published in Senate Docu- ment No. 447: 61st Congress, Second Session). Stating that interest in the projeet of a Pacific railway increased from 1836, he continues :
"The explorations of Fremont in 1842 and 1846 brought the attention of Congress, and A. C. Whitney was zealous and efficient in the cause from 1840 fo 1850. The first practical measure was Senator Salmon P. Chase's bill, making an appropriation for the exploration of different routes for a Pacific railway in 1853. Numerous bills were introduced in Congress between 1852 and 1860, grant- ing subsidies and lands, and some of them appropriating as large a sum as $96,000,000 for the construction of the road. One of these bills passed one of the houses of Congress. The results of the explorations ordered by Congress were
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printed in eleven large volumes, covering the country between the parallels of latitude thirty-second on the south and forty-ninth on the north, and demonstrat- ing the feasibility of building a Pacific railway, but at a cost on any one of the lines much larger than the Union Pacific and Central Pacific were built for. It is a singular fact that in all of these explorations the most feasible line, in an engineering and commercial point of view, the line with the least obstacles to over- come, of lowest grades and least curvature, was never explored and reported on. Private enterprises explored and developed that line along the forty-second parallel of latitude.
The route was made by the buffalo, next used by the Indians, then by the fur traders, next by the Mormons, and then by the overland immigration to California and Oregon. It was known as the Great Platte Valley Route. On this trail, or close to it, was built the Union and Central Pacific railroads to California. and the Oregon Short Line branch of the Union Pacific to Oregon.
In 1852 Henry Farmun and Thomas C. Durant were building the Mississippi Railroad, a line westward across the state of lowa as an extension of the Chicago and Rock Island, then terminating at Rock Island, Ill. They desired to end that line at the Missouri River, where the Pacific Railroad following the continent where the forty-second parallel of latitude would commence. Under the direction of Peter A. Dey, who had been a division engineer of the M. & M., in lowa, I made the first survey across the state of lowa, and the first reconnoissances and surveys on the Union Pacific for the purpose of determining where the one would end and the other commence, on the Missouri River. I crossed the Missouri River in the fall of 1853 and made our explorations west of the Platte Valley and up it far enough to determine that it would be the route of the Pacifie road."
General Dodge goes on in an article on "How We Built the Union Pacific" some forty pages long and from which the compiler of this brief review can take only enough to give the reader an idea of the magnitude of the task, and the difficulties surmounted in securing the selection of the eventual route:
"The times were such that the work on the M. & M. Railway was suspended for some years. Meanwhile I located at Council Bluffs, continuing the explora- tions under the directions of Messrs. Farnum and Durant and obtaining from voyagers, immigrants, and others all the information I could in regard to the country farther west. There was keen competition at that time for the control of the vast immigration crossing the plains, and Kansas City, Fort Leavenworth (then the government post), St. Joseph and Council Bluffs were points of concen- tration on the Missouri. The trails from all points converged in the Platte Valley at or near old Fort Kearney, following its waters to the South Pass. A portion of the Kansas City immigration followed the valley of the Arkansas west, and thence through New Mexico. The greak bulk of the immigration was finally concentrated at Council Bluffs as the best crossing of the Missouri River. From my explorations and the information I had obtained with the aid of the Mormons and others, I mapped out and made an itinerary of a line from Council Bluffs through to Utah, California and Oregon, giving the camping places for each night, and showing where wood, water and fords of the streams could be found. Dis- tributed broadcast by the local interests of this route the map and itinerary had no small influence in turning the mass of overland immigration to Council Bluffs, where it crossed the Missouri and took the great Platte Valley route. This route
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was up that valley to its forks. and then up either the north or south fork to Salt Lake and California by way of the Humboldt, and to Oregon by the way of the Snake and Columbia rivers. This is today the route of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific to California and the Union Pacific to Oregon.
"AAfter collecting all the information we could as to the best route for a railroad to the Pacific. I reported to Messrs. Farnum and Durant, who paid out of their private funds for all of my work.
"In 1854, when Nebraska was organized. we moved to its frontier. continuing the explorations under the patronage of Messrs. Farnum and Durant. and obtain- ing all valuable information, which was used to concentrate the influence of the different railways east and west of Chicago to the support of the forty-second parallel line."
General Dodge continues :
"In 1861 we discontinued the railroad work because of the Civil war. The passage of the bill of 1862. which made the building of a transcontinental railroad possible, was due primarily to the persistent efforts of Hon, Samuel R. Curtis, a representative in Congress from Iowa, who reported the bill before entering the Union service in 1861. It was then taken up by Hon. James Harlan. of Iowa. who succeeded in obtaining its passage in March, 186 ?. "
In commenting upon how this road obtained its name, General Dodge narrates that various lines proposed had received the names of the "North Route." "Buf- falo Trail." "South Route." but that in 1858 a bill was fostered that gave out the name "Union Pacific." One of the arguments advanced for the bill that eventually passed was that the route proposed would tend to hold the people of the Pacific Coast in the Union. Ile adds :
"Lincoln advocated its passage and building, not only as a military necessity, but as a means of holding the Pacific Coast to the Union. This bill became a law in 1862, and there is no doubt but what the sentiment that the building of the railroad would hold the Union together gave it the name of the Union Pacific."
General Dodge described the initiation of this work as follows:
"In 1862 the Union Pacific Railway was organized at Chicago, and soon after Mr. Peter A. Det continued the explorations, and in 1863 be placed parties over the Black Hills and in Salt Lake and over the Wasatch in Utah. In 1863 I was on duty at Corinth when I was called to Washington by Mr. Lincoln, who had met me in 1859 at Council Bluffs and had questioned me very systematically as to the knowledge I had of the western country and the explorations I had made there. Remembering this he called me to Washington to consult with me as to where the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railway should be. I explained to him what my surveys had determined. and he fixed the initial point of the Union Pacific (at Council Bluffs). At this interview with Mr. Lincoln he was very anxious to have the road constructed. It was my opinion then that it could not be constructed unless it wa . built by the Government, and so I informed Mr. Lincoln. He said that the United States had at that time all it could handle, but it was ready to make any concession and obtain any legislation that private parties who would undertake the work would require.
"I then went to New York City and met Mr. Durant and others connected with the Union Pacific and informed them of what Mr. Lincoln had said. It gave
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them new hope and they immediately formulated the amendments to the law of 1862, which was passed in 1864 and enabled them to push the work.
"The ground was broken in Omaha in December of 1863, and in 1861 about $500,000 was spent in surveying and construction, and in 1865 forty miles was completed to Fremont. Mr. Dey, who had charge of the work as chief engineer, resigned, and stated in his letter that he was giving up the best position in his profession this country had ever offered to any man.
"In May, 1866, I resigned from the army, came to Omaha and took charge of the work as chief enigneer, and covered the line with engineering parties from Omaha to California, and pushed our location up the Platte Valley.
"In 1866 we built 260 miles.
"In the winter of 1866 we planned to build the next year 288 miles to Fort Sanders. During 1867 we reached the summit of the Black Hills and wintered at Cheyenne, where the population of nearly 10,000 gathered around us."
John P. Davis, in his history of the Union Pacific Railway, describes the great moment in American railroad history entitled "Done," when, on the morning of May 10, 1869, the Union and Central Pacifics were ready to meet, except abont a hundred feet left open between the "ends of the track."
"Early in the day, Leland Stanford, governor of California and president of the Central Pacific arrived with his party from the west : during the forenoon, Vice President Durant and Directors Duff and Dillon of the Union Pacific. with other prominent men, arrived."
Davis describes the final culminating scene :
"The ties were laid, about one hundred feet space left open for rails, and while the coolies from the west laid the rails from one end, the paddies from the east laid them at the other, until they met and joined. The 'last spike' remained to be driven. Telegraphic wires were so connected that each blow of the descending sledge would flash the report to cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Spikes of gold, silver and iron were presented by the officials of Arizona, Nevada, and California, and when the last spike of gold was driven with the sledges of silver by President Stanford and Vice President Durant the word Done flashed over the wires. The Central Pacific train back up, and the Union Pacific loco- motive, with its train, passed slowly over the point of junction and back again." The story has poetically been told in the lines of Bret Harte, which Mr. Davis quoted in his work :
WHAT THE ENGINES SAID
What was it the Engines said, Pilots touching-head to head, Facing on the single track. Half the world behind each baek ? This is what the Engines said, Unreported and unread.
With a prefatory screech, In a florid western speech, Said the Engine from the West,
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
"I am from Sierra's crest, And, if altitude's a test, Why, I reckon, it's confessed, That I've done my level best."
Said the Engine from the East, "They that work most talk the least, S'pose you whistle down your brakes ; What you've done is no great shakes, Pretty fair-but let our meeting Be a different kind of greeting, Let these folks with champagne stuffing, Not their Engines, do the puffing.
"Listen! Where Atlantic beats Shores of snow and summer heats, Where the Indian autumn skies
Paint the woods with wampum dyes, I have chased the flying sun, Seeing all he looked upon, Blessing all that he had blest,
Nursing in my iron breast All his vivifying heat, All his elouds above my erest ;
And before my flying feet Every shadow must retreat."
Said the Western Engine "Phew !" And a long, low whistle blew, "Come now, really that's the oddest Talk for one so very modest. You talk of your East ! You do? Why, I bring the East to you ! All the Orient, all Cathay. Find through me the shortest way ;
And the sun you follow here Rises in my hemisphere. Really-if one must be rude- Length, my friend, ain't longitude."
Said the Union, "Don't refleet, or I'll run over some director." Said the Central, "I'm Pacific, But, when riled. I'm quite terrifie. Yet today we shall not quarrel. Just to show these folks their moral, Ilow two Engines-in their vision- Once have met without collision,"
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ITISTORY OF NEBRASKA
That is what the Engines said, Unreported and unread ; Spoken slightly through the nose, With a whistle at the close.
THE BURLINGTON SYSTEM
The Burlington & Missouri River, the second great railroad system of Nebraska in mileage and importance in the early days, has in more recent years, with many of its carly subsidiaries, been merged into the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company's system.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company was chartered by a special act of the Illinois Legislature, dated February 12, 1849, as the Aurora Branch Rail- road Company. It built from Aurora to a connection with the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (now Chicago & Northwestern) at Turner Junction about twelve miles. It had a track laid with wooden rails faced with strap iron when it opened for business on September 2, 1850. In 1852, it changed its name to Chicago & Aurora Railroad Company. On February 14, 1855, the name was changed to the Chi- cago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, and the road was extended through Illinois in the next few years. The bridge over the Mississippi at Burlington, Iowa, was opened for traffic on August 13, 1869.
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