Custer County, Nebraska - In the Beginning, 1919 (part 2 of 2)

A Near-Battle

Early in the fall of 1884 a few settlers located homesteads in the northeast corner of the Brighton Ranch Company's pasture, on Ash creek. This pasture was about fifteen miles square and extended several miles south of the Loup river almost to Broken Bow, and was inclosed with a wire fence. The land being government land, and subject to entry, these settlers served notice on the ranch company to remove their fences from about their claims within thirty days. The company paid no attention to this request, and at the expiration of the time the settlers made a raid on the fence and appropriated the posts to make roofs for their sod houses. Roofs in those days were made by laying a large log, called a ridge log, lengthwise of the building at the top. The fence posts were then laid up to form the rafters, to which brush was fastened, the whole being covered with one or two layers of prairie sod, coated with several inches of yellow clay, procured from the canyons, which turned water very eft'ectually.

settlers arrested and taken to Broken Bow for trial. The sheriff had no sooner departed with the prisoners than the second foreman of the ranch rigged up two large wagons, drawn by four mules each, and proceeded to the houses of the settlers, accompanied by a number of the cowboys. They drove up to a house, took a team and a large chain, hitched on to the projecting end of the ridge log, and in about three seconds the sod -house was a shapeless mass of sod, hay, brush, and posts mixed up in almost inextricable confusion. The ranchmen then culled their posts from the wreck and loaded them into the wagons, when they went to the next house and repeated the operation, leaving the occupants to pick their few household goods out of the ruins at their leisure. The boys were having great fun at the expense of the settlers, cracking jokes and making merry as the work of destruction went on. After destroying several houses in this manner they proceeded to the claim of a Air. King, and Airs. King, seeing them approaching, met them with a shotgim and dared them to come on. Had it been Mr. King, the invitation would possibly have been accepted, but the cowboys were too gallant to enter into a quarrel with a lady, and withdrew without molesting her.

In the meantime a boy of the settlement had been despatched to Broken Bow, on the fastest pony that could be procured, to secure help, and quite a posse of men from the town started for the scene of action. The foreman of the ran;h, who was in Broken Bow at the time as complaining witness against the settlers, heard of this and sent one of his cowboys in haste to warn the second foreman of the impending invasion. The messenger arrived at the settlement in advance of the citizens and gave the alarm. The housewreckers were thoroughly scared, and. turning the heads of their mule teams toward the South Loup, a]3plied the whij) freely. As the mules began to run over the rough prairie the posts began to fall off the wagons, and as the teams began to show signs of weariness the cowboys began to heave off more posts to lighten the load as they bumped along, leaving a trail behind them like that of a railroad construction gang. Arriving at the ranch, they turned out their mules, secured their ^^'inchesters and made a break for tlie hills on the south side of the river, to await developments. When the posse of rescuers arrived at the little settlement and found the invaders gone, they did not follow them, but returned to Broken Bow. The cowboys remained in the hills two days, waiting for the approach of the enemy in vain.

The ranch company failed to make anv case against the settlers, it being shown that the ranch pasture was government land and that the claims were lawfully held by the homesteaders, who had a perfect right to remove the fence which inclosed their property. The prisoners were accordingly released and were.' not again molested. The second foreman of the ranch was subsequently arrested for tearing, down the houses of the settlers, was tried at Broken Bow, found guilty, fined twentv'- five dollars and costs, and confined one day in the county jail.

The winter of 1880-81 marked the termination of extraordinary profits in the cattle industrv' in Custer county. The severe winter entailed frightful losses upon cattlemen. Some whole herds were wiped out of existence. This opened the door to the settlers, who were not slow to flock in and settle in all parts of the county, picking out, of course, the choice and level land without regard to whether it was in some ranchman's range. By the close of 1884 there were fully 18.000 people in Custer county, and probably not to exceed 4,000 cattle.

As the ranchman and the Texas steer in the '60s and early '70s had driven out the Indian and the buffalo, so now in the '80s the ranchman and the steer were compelled to give way to the farmer and the horse.

It may be well to record here one more incident which illustrates the kind of war waged in those days between settler and rancher. In 1875 Frederick Schreyer located a homestead about five miles up the river from where Callaway now stands. His only neighbors were cowboys, and peace and harmony did not prevail in his neighborhood. He was not given a welcome reception. No bands played in his honor. There were presented no testimonials expressing the pleasure of the ranchmen and cowboys because he had moved in. In order to discourage the lone homesteader, the festive cow-punchers stampeded their herds over the roof of his dugout, and herded their steers in his cornfield. When he resorted to arms to defend himself he was arrested and put into jail. But Schreyer was an indomitable spirit and not easily put down. His career, however, was so marked in the early days that it is given another place on these pages.

The last cowboy has disappeared from the South Loup country, from the Middle Loup, and from other parts of Custer county that were once covered with cattle. The plucky pioneers, however, who paved the way for others to follow, are still with us, for the most part, full of years and honors, living in the enjoyment of the fruits of their toil.

An Underground R.Mlroad

The following story, told by Robert Harvey, describing a discovery made in the South Loup country in July, 1872, by himself and surveying party, seems to disclose the "main line" of the famous "underground railroad," over which a great number of valuable horses, and perhaps other property, passed through the county in the days of the early '70s.

"During the last days of July we completed all but six miles of lines south of the fourth standard parallel and camped at the corner of townships 15 and 16 north, ranges 23 and 24 west, near the northeast edge of a beautiful round, flat valley, located on wliat is now the line between Triumph and Delight precincts. The depression, is, no doubt, a very remote lake-bed or basin formed by the rocking of an ancient iceberg.

"In the afternoon we started north on the last six miles of the range line of this part of the work and ascended the long, grassy south s\oY>e of a high hill or promontory. After considerable labor and fatitrue. we reached the summit of the clean-cut northeast rim. The diagonal descent along the steep northeast slope was attained with considerable difficulty, and having reached the bottom I found that the bluffs' dark shadows cast far out into the valley, rendering farther progress that evening impossible. We proceeded to camp, which we found on the right bank of the South Loup river.

"Next morning we resumed the work of projecting our abandoned line northward, and at the half-mile corner between sections 13 and 18 we crossed a small spring brook having its source in springs under the east slope of the high bluff". A little farther north we ascended an elevated clay spur formed by the river on the north and the little brook on the southeast. Ihe bluff terminated a little east of our line in a low bottom covered with wild hemp and sunflowers.

"Crossing this spur, I noticed a deeply cut wagon track, which appeared to have been made in soft wet ground and then grass grown, which excited my curiosity, and turn.- ing down the trail a few yards I came upon a cowbell and a spring of a wagon spring-seat, to that period. Descending to the low bench I passed to the left along the foot of the spur and near its point suddenly came upon the door of a cave which was set flush with the perpendicularly cut bank.

"Pushing open the door, I entered a room containing a fireplace at the north end, a single sleeping bunk at the south end and an old rough-board table. Evidently it was the kitchen, dining room, reception hall, parlor, and cook's sleeping room. Passing through a door in the partition I entered a large room which had feed stalls arranged along the north side and west end, and sleeping bunks along the south side. Some shelled corn was scattered about and a copy of Harper's Weekly of the previous June lay on the floor.

"On the outside we searched in the grass and weeds for signs of occupancy, but found no tracks or paths leading to the river or creek, but at the water's edge of the brook found a block about three feet long, cut from

Histury Of Cl'Ster Couxty. Nebraska

"Tlie dis:overy of such an abode, far from any settlement, and in an Indian infested country where hunters had not yet ventured, was remarkable. It brought to my recollections a story I had heard repeated in Benton county, Iowa, three years before. The story ran that a young man of the neighborhood had gone west in 1866 or 1867, and joined a band of horse thieves whose 'runway' was from Mexico to the British possessions. The party with which he worked operated in Nebraska and perhaps Dakota Territory.

"One of the stations along the route was in a cave on a branch of the Loup river and near the foot of a high, dark hill, with pine timber growing along the blufifs and a little stream of spring water flowing past the mouth of the cave. Their next station was two days' ride from this cave and located in a forest of pine and cedar in the canyons of the Loup river.

"The story seems to describe this place. Here was a cave on the right bank of a branch of the Loup, with a small spring brook only a few yards away. There was a high, dark, frowning hill nearby, while scatteringpine timber grew along the blufifs on the opposite side of the river, and about seventy-five miles to the northeast, about two days' ride, were the cedar and pine-wooded canyons of the North Loup below the mouth of the Calamus river. All of the details of the story dovetailed exactly with the place.

"In the latter part of September I was operating north of the parallel and on the 30th pitched my camp on the long, high mesa, or table-land, west of where Broken Bow is now located. Being almost destitute of water in the afternoon, I sent two men with the light wagon to the south branch and gave instructions to fill the barrels that evening and return early next morning. It was about seven miles to the river and six to our initial point on the parallel for the survey of the line between ranges 23 and 24 west, township 17 north.

the south edge of the high undulating tableland about three miles south of camp, when we halted to scan the country. We expected to find evidence of two surveying parties operating south of us, who should be near the close of their work and about ready to return to their homes. We had brought with us a lot of written mail, hoping We might send it with them.

"We scanned the country south, east, and west, and finally observed a bright spot far up the river. It looked like the reflection from a bright surface, and a dark object loomed near it. To ascertain if it was moving I directed the instrument towards it and made out that it was moving down the valley.

"After watching the object for a time we concluded it was a wagon. But our curiosity was excited when we discovered that only one or two men were walking and several rode in the wagon, which was a very unusual thing for surveyors to do. when traveling over the prairie. The bright spot we had seen was the reflected sunlight from the bright tire of the hind wheel. The wagon proceeded down the valley and halted on the clay spur where our cave of July was found. Here the horses were turned out and the men passed from sight over the end of the spur.

"It was now quite late and my suspicions were thoroughly aroused, and being anxious for the safety of the teamster, who had not returned from the river, and the team, I determined to go to their relief. Sending a man to camp, we hurried to the river and reached it at dark, just as the wagon arrived. The men were entirely ignorant of the presence of strangers and surprised at the suspected character of their very nearby neighbors. Giving directions for guard duty during the night, Charley Starkweather and I walked along the bank, perhaps a hundred yards, and yelled several times without receiving an answer, then fired two shots, which brought a feeble voice inquiring what we wanted. We told him we were surveyors and had lost our way to camp, that we were hungry 'and tired and wanted accomniodations for the night. The fellow told; us thev were strangers in the

"Fording the river, we followed him to the dugout, which it really was. and instead of there being three or four men. there were sixteen. After explaining who we were and our business we asked for supper and a place to sleep. \\'e tried to be friendly and agreeable, but none of the men would talk except equally strange to us that so many men were there, far from settlements, in an Indian country. They claimed to be hunters, yet, in a splendid game country, they had gotten only one or two deer in a week and were poorly supplied with bedding and food.

supper, we lay down on a blanket before the fire-place, but each of us quietly slipped a cartridge into his gim and each took a turn on guard, feigning to be asleep. At break of day we quietly slipped out. and, one abnut tifty years old who appeared to be the spokesman and leader. He said they were hunters, had been there about a week, had killed only one or two deer, and were out of provisions, excepting a little coffee. A team and two men had gone that morning to Plum Creek station on the Union Pacific railroad for provisions, but had not returned, therefore they could not feed us.

"It seemed very strange to us that one man should do all the talking for the gang and he refused to tell us where they were from, except that he came from Iowa. It seemed on going around the south side of the spur, saw two fine black horses and a n.ew top buggv". I have been told by some of the early settlers that this was the rendezvous or hiding place of Doc Middleton ; but Doc had not gained notoriety in 1872, nor do I think he had gone into the rustling business then. If this was the cave, or station, attributed to the young man in Iowa, which I have every reason to believe it to be. Doc Mitldleton and he were one and the same person. Doc Middleton was only a boy when the cave was occupied by the horsethieves."

The Wild West Has Wild Horses

Dan Haskell, who came to Custer county before its organization, and who had to do with its development as much as any other man, gives this interesting account of a wild horse hunt in the county :

"A correspondent of the Chicago Drovers' Journal says: 'I have seen the stag hunt in Scotland and the steeple chase in Ireland, but compared with a wild-horse hunt on the Haskell & Company ranch in Nebraska, these are tame sports."

"In the summer of 1884. we had a herd of six hundred horses on our ranch. ( )ne evening about sundown we were driving them across a small bridge when they became frightened and commenced to run. This raised a dense cloud of dust, which added to the fright of the animals, causing them to stampede, break through a fence on either side, and kill five of them, the balance of the herd flying in every direction into the hills. During the night they became mixed up with a herd of wild horses, of which there were large numbers roaming over this country at that time. One would naturally suppose that the wild horse could outstrip his domesticated brother in a long race, but in separating our stampeded herd from the wild ones we discovered that such is not the case. The domesticated horse, being better bred, proved to have superior powers of endurance. As the wild horse has long ago disappeared from Custer county, a short description of his habits and the manner of hunting may be interesting to the reader.

"Wild horses roamed over the prairie in small bands, each led by a stallion, who was the head of the family. The first business of the hunter was to shoot these band stallions, which would cause the mares and colts of that family to unite themselves with another band. By repeating the operation of shooting the leading stallions quite a bunch of horses would soon be gathered together, the object being to chase as many down at once as possible. Having gone thus far. the work of the hunter has just begun. \\'hen pursued, we found that wild horses always traveled in a circle, and that they would eventually get back to the place from which they started. After getting a bunch of the required size together, by shooting the stallions as described, our next move was to establish camps along the course we concluded the animals would run. with a man at each station to take care of the saddle horses, which were used in relays. Two men. well mounted, then started the herd of wild horses, and crowded them to their utmost limit, giiving them time neither to eat nor rest until they were completely run down, and would permit themselves to be corralled. It usually took about five days of constant motion to accomplish this, although sometimes a herd would succumb in two or three davs. Whenever we reached a relay camp our saddle horses were changed, thus keeping the wild horses on the constant move day and night. The long race generally broke the old ones down so that they were seldom of any use afterward, but the young ones seemed little the worse for their chase after a few days' rest.

"Occasionally we would start a bunch led by an old stallion that would, when pushed hard, start out and run for fifty miles in one direction, taking us away from our camps iiltogether and compelling us often to ride a hundred miles without a change of horses. At intervals in the chase one or more of the wild horses would drop back, not able to keep up with the flying herd. These were alwavs roped, thrown, and hobbled, so that we could return and get them after the main bunch had been run down. We had a onearmed man on our ranch, by the name of Jim Hunnell, who could rope and hobble a wild horse with the best of them. With one end of his lariat tied to the horn of his saddle, he would take the bridle-rein in his teeth, and, holding the coil and loop both in his hand, would catch and throw his horse every time, putting on the hobbles by using his hand and teeth. Those who have tried to rope a wild horse and hobble him with two good hands will appreciate the work done by Jim Hunnell. The most favorable time to chase wild horses was when there was snow on the ground, as we could then follow the trail much easier dur- ing the night. We carried small, dark-lanterns with us, to be used when it would be impossible to follow the trail without them. We would sometimes be caught by a blizzard, in the middle of a chase, and be obliged to give up and get back to the camp as best we could. In February, 1883, my brother and myself started out to catch a small bunch of eleven horses headed by a fine roan stallion. One of the neighbors had been catching the colts for two seasons. We had si.x good saddle horses with us, expecting to locate them at two different points along the course we thought the wild horses would take, but when we reached our friend's house he said he had chased the bunch several times and they took a circle only of ten or twelve miles, so we left our extra horses at his place and set out with but one feed of corn and a lunch in our pockets. \\'c soon located the herd, and away they went like the wind, the fine old roan stallion in the lead. When the old fellow found out that some one was after him that meant business, he struck oflf on a tangent at the top of his speed in a southwesterly direction. Late in the afternoon we struck the North Platte valley northwest of Ogallala. The roan then changed his course to northwest, and traveled at such a killing gait that, had it not been for the snow on the ground, we could hardly have been able to follow him. .As we neared the B. and M. Railroad, the snow became quite fleejx and after the darkness came on we ' lighted our lanterns and followed the trail without any trouble. At three o'clock in tlie morning we concluded to stop and give our saddle horses a rest, as they had been ridden hard all day and night, except when we had stopped to feed them the corn and to eat our lunch. We scraped a little round place in the snow, which was twelve inches deep, and lay down on the frozen ground together, holding our horses by the bridle reins. We were so cold our teeth chattered together, while our horses stood and shivered. As soon as daylight appeared we arose from our downy bed and rode up to the top of a high bluflf. from which we discerned the wild horses huddled up in a small valley with their heads down, taking a much-needed rest. Hearing the bark, of a dog, we ])roceeded in that direction and came to the ranch of Carl Gross, southwest of Lakeside, where we remained that day and the following night. We were both snow-blind. Early next morning, we took up the trail of the horses and followed them back to the place from which they had started. We procured fresh saddle horses, set out after them again, and two days later had the entire Inmch in a corral at our home ranch. While in pursuit of this roan band, we sighted another herd of fourteen, headed by a fine brown horse, and next month gave them chase and had them corralled in two days. This was our last horse hunt. "Wild horses have almost entirely disappeared from Nebraska, although it is said there are still a few small bands in the vicinity of Blue river. The writer has seen hundreds of them on Tallin Table in Custer county, and i: was a grand sight to see the fat, sleek fellows watering at the pools, which stood there as late as the month of June, each leader herding his family to keep it from mixing with other herds."