Adams County, Nebraska - Chapter 21, 1916

Chapter 21

The first bill passed by the Congress of the United States providing for homestead entries was j^resented to James Buchanan, President of the United States, for his signature and approval, in .Time. 1860, and upon the 22d day of that month was by him vetoed in a vigorous message denying the jjower of Congress to disjjose of the ])ul)lic lands in that way. The closing sentence of the message was that "This bill, which proposes to give away land at an almost nominal price out of the j^roperty of the Government, will go far to demoralize the people and repress the noble spirit of independence. It may introduce among us those pernicious social theories which have proved so disastrous in other countries."

On ]May 20, 1862, the Homestead Bill was presented to President Lincoln for his signature and approval, the same having passed both houses of Congress. The bill was promptly signed and approved. This became the original homestead law, and under its provisions every person who is the head of a family or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years and is a citizen of the United States, or has filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws, shall be entitled to one quarter section or a less quantity of unapj^ropriated public land.

Under the law as passed, anyone filing upon public lands within the limit of a railroad grant could only acquire title to one-half of tlie quarter section. These homestead filings carried with them the right on the part of the entryman of commutation after one year's occupancy and improvements. That is to say, he could pay to the Government at the rate of $2.a0 per acre for land within the limits of any railroad grant, and upon payment and j^roof of compliance with the terms of the law in other respects, receive his patent for the quantity of land filed upon. In like manner, with entryman who had filed upon land beyond the limits of any railroad grants, except in his connnutation he would only be required to pay $1.2.5 per acre for the quantity of land filed upon to entitle him to the issuance of a jjatent upon the same. As a badge of title in the interim between the acts of commutation and the issuance of a patent, the entryman received from the receiver of the local land office a receiver's final receipt, which was a valid basis for subsequent transfers.

In the absence of commutation, entrymen were required to occujjy, cultivate and improve their claims as sjjecified in the law for the i^eriod of five years at least. Public lands were also acquired through complying with the preemption and timber culture laws. By means of the three methods, homestead, preemption and timber culture, one jjerson could acquire title to three tracts, not exceeding in the aggregate 480 acres. From experience it was found that as a means of securing the permanent settlement and improvement of the public domain, the homestead method was the preferred one, and the j^reemption and timber culture acts were repealed and wise amendments were adopted for the homestead law. Chief among tliese amendments was that allowing the entryman Avithin railroad land grant limits to take additional lands sufficient to make the total of each holding a quarter section. In the semi-arid lands the homestead entry may cover an entire section. While there are none of the semi-arid lands near Adams County, yet many of her citizens have taken advantage of the teftipting provisions of this amended law and emigrated to parts where these lands are found, and under the stimulus of pioneer pluck have prospered.

It is conceded that a great body of the men who have acquired land titles by virtue of these generous land laws were soldiers of the United States Army in the Civil war. Their number and influence were such that from the early '70s until overtaken by age and infirmity this soldier element dominated in the offices of school, church and state. Having been faithful soldiers, they readilj' became good citizens, and by patient industry have transformed the wild and raw prairie into the richest and best farm lands in the world.

All have moved out of the sod house or dugout into wellajjpointed modern homes. Their sons and daughters return home from the State University and other colleges each year in large numbers, carrying back to father and mother well-earned di2:)lomas. The father and mother foimd their way to their claim forty years ago in an ox cart. They niee'i their sons and daughters now at the railroad station with an elegant motor car that conveys them to a beautiful home ujion a farm valued from twelve thousand dollars uj^wards.

version of products into cash. In this county now, in the year of our Lord 1916, the average homestead of 160 acres, whose entry fee was the trifling sum of a few dollars, is now readily sold in some instances for $20,000 and always at a veiy satisfactory price. To si^eculate as to the futin'e advance in the price of these farm lands would only be a leap into the midst of uncertainties. Prices are now beyond the reach of the man of moderate means, and with enhanced yields resulting from a more intensive culture, they will go higher.

The Sod House

A very considerable number of the homesteaders who settled in Adams County in accordance with the provisions of the laws outlined in the foregoing jiortion of this chapter by Judge WiUiam R. Burton lived in sod houses very similar in appearance to that of INIr. Dean's, a photograph of which is among the illustrations of this history. William Croft, who now resides in Hastings, at 803 North Burlington Avenue, has had a good deal of experience in the building of sod houses. Many of the homesteaders had had no experience in constructing these houses and so they sought the assistance of those who had built them before.

INIr. Croft was among those who assisted many in the erection of their houses. "To build a sod house," said ]Mr. Croft, "would require about three weeks' work for a man and team. The first tiling done was to clear a place the size of the house, which would usually be about 16 by 24' feet. The walls would then be built inside the clearing and would be about two feet thick. The door and the front window were made in one opening. The best place to get sod was from lagoons, where furrows would be plowed that would make strips of sod about a foot wide. The strips would be about two feet long and in building the wall would be laid on top of one another. The ridge pole at the top was generally about ten inches in diameter and quite often brush would be used in place of rafters, and then the sod laid over them. Many of the sod houses were papered with newspapers, and a well-made sod house was cool in summer and warm in winter.

"Where a side hill was available, dugouts were often made, and there were a few log cabins. The last man to live in this kind of a house that I remember was Jacob Yocum, who lived in his dugout in the southwest pai't of the county until about 190.5."

Development In Values

Wlien the first county commissioners, E. j\I. Allen, S. L. Brass and Wellington W. Selleck, ordered the first taxes to be levied in Adams County they declared the number of acres subject to taxation to be 182,043, and the valuation they placed averaged a little more than $.5.00 per acre, making an aggregate of $921,235. The aggregate value of the personal property in the county that year was jjlaced at $20,003. The value of the town lots in Juniata was placed at $1.5,94'.5. These were the valuations in 1872. The total valuation of the taxable proj^erty the first year was $957,183.

The assessor's record shows that in 1904 the total acres of taxable land in Adams County was 34.5,826, with an aggregate actual value of $10,467,-511. Of the total acreage, 316,625 acres were under cultivation and 29,201 not under cultivation. The actual value of the cultivated lands is recorded as $9,097,776 and of the uncultivated as $469,735.

In 1916 the cultivated acreage is recorded as 350,244, with an actual value of $18,274,225. The improvements on the farms are recorded with a valuation of $1,370,675, bringing the total of taxable lands and improvements, actual value, to $19,644,900. In so far as the assessor's records indicate the total increase in the value of farm lands in the twelve years intervening between 1904 and 1916 amounts to $9,067,399.

In 1904 there were in Adams County 5,529 improved city lots, with an aggregate actual value of $4,030,657, and 7,791 unimproved lots, with an actual value of $353,563. Total value improved and unimproved lots, $4,384,220.

In 1916 there are recorded 6,390 improved lots, the lots having a valuation of $2,819,825 and the improvements $4,349,505. The unimj)roved lots are recorded as numbering 7.737. with an actual value of $813,300. Total value of lots, improved and unimproved, $7,982,630. In 1916 there are 1,177 more lots than there were in 1904, and there was an increase of $3,638,410 in the total actual value of city lots throughout the county. This includes improvements.

as follows: 1912, $7,638,237; 1913, $7,601,957; 1914, $7,682,885; 1915, $7,847,559; 1916, $7,924,659. These figures represent one-fifth of the actual value and include lands, personal jjroperty and railroads. The assessed valuation in 1916 is apportioned as follows: Personal property, $1,277,960; lands, $3,924,383; lots, $1,599,381; railroads and car companies, $1,122,935. According to these figures, the total wealth of Adams County in 1916 is $39,623,295. It is the consensus of opinion of many versed in land values that the figures on the assessment books rejiresenting actual values as a matter of fact represent about 80 per cent of actual values.

Iirst Automobile

In 1904 automobiles were not considered of enough importance to schedule separately, but were listed with bicycles, tricycles and other similar vehicles. Charles Jacobs of Hastings brought the first automobile into Adams County in the spring of 1901 and the first motorcycle in 1894. The automobile was a Mobile Steam, made by the ])resent manufacturers of the IMaxwell. One of the first trips made by JNIr. Jacobs took him past the Presbyterian Church at Hansen, where a great commotion was caused among the horses and some very hard things were said about the automobile by their owners who were worshiping in the church. The car had neitlier Avindshield nor horn nor scarcely any of tlie equipment with which the automobile of today is identified. It could travel about twelve miles per hour and it consumed about a gallon of gasoline per mile, but gasoline sold at 8 cents per gallon. Dr. C. V. Artz and Rev. William INIc- Donald were the first in Adams Comity to ride in the first ear with ]Mr. Jacobs. The growth in the ownership of cars is indicated as follows in the ofHce records of tlie assessor: 1914, (346; 191,), 876; 1916. 1,172.

Probably the first farming done in Adams County was by "Wild Bill Kress" and his partner, Jerome Fonts, or "California Joe," in 1870, upon their homesteads in Little Blue Township. That year they i^lanted a few acres of sod corn, which yielded fairly well and indicated something of the future of the county agriculturally. In 1880 there M'ere cultivated 57,809 acres of wheat, 31,276 acres of corn, .5,793 acres of oats, 4,443 acres of barley, 571 acres of broomcorn. 295 acres of rye, 58 acres of potatoes, and there were 353 acres of tame hay.

How the county where JNI. X. Kress planted a few acres of sod corn developed as a farming country can be sensed by reflection upon the report made by the Nebraska State Department of Labor upon the ])roducts of Adams County in an average year like 1914. In that year there were planted 60,089 acres of corn, yielding 1,448,145 bushels; 134.253 acres of winter wheat, yielding 3,060,968 bushels: 42 acres of spring wheat, 378 bushels; 13,714 acres of oats, 479.990 bushels; 862|/o acres of rye, 21,131 bushels; 570 acres of barley. 15, 390 bushels; 13,940 acres of alfalfa, 30,668 tons; 1,465 acres of sorghum; 54 acres of speltz; 191 acres of speltz and Hungarian; 1,247 acres of Irish potatoes, 121,030 bushels. There were also 9,100 acres of wild hay, yielding 14,560 tons: 946 acres of timber; 78,740 jioultry.

In 1914. 817 Adams County farms were occupied by the owners and 690 bv tenants: in 191.5, 778 were occupied by oAvners and 947 by tenants. In 1914, the first year that income tax was collected, tax was paid by fifty-one Adams County individuals; of these forty-four resided in Hastings and the remainder outside.

Roseland Townsliip, including the Town of Roseland, had a population of 782 in 1890, 847 in 1900 and 857 in 1910. The Town of Roseland had n population of 227 in 1900 and 249 in 1910. Silver

The population of Hastings for 1890 is given as 13,584; 1900, 7,188; 1910, 9',338. At a special census taken in 1915 and announced upon December 18th, that year, the population of Hastings was announced as 10,843. The population of the First Ward in 1910 was 2,970; Second Ward, 2,404; Third Ward, 1,470; Fourth Ward, 2.494. The population as given for Hastings in 1890 is an indication of the padding tlnoughout Nebraska that year and should not be taken as a measure of decrease, as the census figures of subsequent years seem to indicate.

The 1910 census shows that those of foreign birtli. white, resident in Adams County when the census was taken were apportioned among the nations as follows: From Austria 124. Canada (French 21, other 110), Denmark 150, England 160, France 12, Germany, 1,227. Greece 8. Holland 9, Hungary 2, Ireland 133, Italy 13, Norway 17, Russia 768, Scotland 28, Sweden 161, Switzerland 15, Wales 22, other foreign countries 28. In 1890 there were 327 negroes, 63 in 1900, 97 in 1910. Of the negro population of 1910, 83 were black and 14 mulattoes.