Custer County, Nebraska - In the Beginning, 1919 (part 1 of 2)

In the Beginning

Custer County - Probable Battles - Well Marked Rifle Pits - The Signs of Battle - A Fort IN Custer County County - New Helena Frightened - An Indian Battle - The Clarion Article - - Who was the First White ]\Ian? - Did Coronado Find Us? - Plenty of Wild Game - Other Expeditions - General Warren was Here in 1855 - John Wilmouth the First Man Here - Uncle John's Story

"In the beginning God made Custer county." That is a famous old Hebrew declaration, with a localism attached - a localism which does no violence to the text, nor sins against the truth. In that far ofif morning when creation was the order, the Great Creator seems to have inspected the product of his hand and in each case, so far as the record goes, pronounced it good. So it is taken for granted that after he made Custer county, he pronounced it good, and there is little doubt in the minds of the thirty thousand people who have their homes in this western county that he was right.

If God made it good in the beginning, he expected the ages to improve it. He seems to have blended soil and climate into splendid conditions for human life and happiness. When, after the lapse of ages, he turned loose upon its virgin prairies the sturdy, progressive young manhood and womanliood who came, red-blooded, from the homes of Iowa, Ilhnois, Wisconsin, Ohio, and all the rest of the older states, it was charged and surcharged with natural resources and opportunity. They were a tribe of men and \\'omen in whose veins flowed the warm blood of energy, and whose characters massed the traits of virtue, strength, and progress. They came to subdue a soil in which opportunity lay in the surface stratums, or protruded in ledges from the hillsides. They came to find, in fine assortment, the elements

The First Owner

France was the first owner of record. It came to France by right of exploration, if not discovery. All that part of North America known as the Middle West, came without disjmte or protest to the royal house of the Ivouises. Through the process of some barter, not vital to this story, the Louises ceded it to Spain in 1763. It was some land transaction. A vast wedge of territory, bounded on the east by the Mississippi and ranging irregularly westward until it reached the Oregon shore of the Pacific, went from French to Spanish possession. So far as the territory itself is concerned it profited little by exchange of owners. It should go unnoticed but that Custer county, then unnamed and unmarked, was in this territory, and represented then the equity of its present inhabitants. In 1802 Spain and France again became swappers, and possession went back to France. This prepared the way for the transaction of 1803, when Thomas Jefferson shied his young repubHc into the auction ring, from which it emerged with the Louisiana Purchase. If former transactions were big land deals, this outranked them all. The extent of land in the Louisiana Purchase was vastly more than the original transaction of 1763. Custer county was in it, however, - it had survived the shuffles and now and for all time it is in the jX)ssession of, and is an integral part of, the United States of America.

Imagination runs, always, back into the far ofif days and asks a thousand times the questions : "Who was the first human being to see that spot of earth now known as Custer county? Whose eyes first beheld its hills and valleys or swept across its plain, or were there any hills and valleys when the first human eye beheld this region ? Was its land exhibiting naught but barren waste, or were its fields green robed and grassed ? Did the scene present anything that is familiar to this modern day? Or was it water covered, a part of an inland sea, in which was housed the mastodonic life of some far off amphibious day? (Jr had the waves subsided, leaving exposed to sun and wind flats of silt, and dunes of sand ?" All these questions, and a thousand others, come surging into the mind tliat contemplates the ancient days of the formative period. The great majority of these questions will never be answered. Neither the historian nor the geologist brings any message from that distant age.

Did the primitive inhabitants of North America ever traverse Custer county? Did the descendants of the cliff dwellers ever look for building sites along our river bluffs or canyon breaks? Did the Algonquin Indians of the far east New England ever drift as far west as central Nebraska, or did the Myas and the Aztecs graze their cattle here before they immigrated to Mexico and Yucatan ? When the tribe, to which now the famous Calaveras man belonged, was delighting in a higher civilization farther west, were any of his kinsmen located in Nebraska? All these questions are hard to answer and it may be that the world will have to wait the results of the archeologists' long search.

hoary centuries of the past there is abundant evidence of occupancy by a pre-historic race. Rich discoveries of broken pottery, stone implements and many other relics of a forgotten people have rewarded the Nebraska ethnologists and archeologists. Nebraska was once the home of a people who either antedate the American Indian by uncounted centuries or else were the far off ancestors from which he both descended and degenerated.

Nebraska archeolog}- is still in the morningtwilight of commencement, yet twenty-four village sites have been discovered, explored, and charted. Along almost every Nebraska stream, stone implements and weapons have been found. Some scientists declare that the possessors of these stone implements had no jiottery and belonged to a race which antedates the molders of earthen vessels. These are not questions to be settled here. We pass them along to the student and the scientist.

The Fixuixg Of I'Otterv

The possessors of potter)' once lived in Custer county, how long ago no man can tell, but the fact is not disputed. I\Iany stone implements, such as stone hammers, stone tomahawks, battle axes, stone knives, and arrow heads have been found.

Al. Morgan, one of the early settlers, in the vicinity of Cumro, has gathered many curious implements, many of which were produced and used by Indians who inhabited Custer county, perhaps generations before the tribes of a later day were found here by the white man.

The molders of pottery once roamed these hills and drank from these springs and streams. It is presumed that this potterj' was manufactured by the remote ancestors of laterday Indians. If it is argued that the molders of the pottery and the makers of the flint iin- ])lements indicate a higher civilization than that of the modern red man. the ethnologists reply that these plains and hills were not always covered with buft'aloes and elk. and that some time in the remote past the ancestors of the noble red man were grain eaters. Grain eaters rise to a higher degree of intelligence

1 - Iron arrow-heads used by Indians after tliev began trading with white men. 2 - Indian stone knives and spear-heads. 3 - .\rrow-heads found in Custer county bv A L Morgan 4 - Specimens ot pottery excavated from Indian grave on the Bentlev "farm near Sargent' 5 - Indian battle-axe found on the South Loup. " oaigini.

and civilization than meat eaters. When the Indian was compelled to find his bread in the soil and gather the har\'est of fields' and forests he was more enlightened and civilized than his descendants, who found life easy when the bulTalo and the elk made it too easy for him to subsist.

The grain eaters needed stone implements with which to grind and dig. and vessels in which to conserve and retain. It required mental effort, as wel^ as physical, so evidences of a creditable mentality are found in the vessels and implements they have left behind.

A few years ago Frank Kelley and others found fragments of pottery, each piece clearly defined, on the Ed. Neth farm some eight oi* ten miles west of Broken Bow. All this testifies to the fact of former inhabitants.

In 1916 H. M. Bentley, who lives in section 32, township 20 north, range 17 west, which is located appro.ximately four miles northeast of Sargent in this county, while plowing on a hill top, uncovered some thirty or forty pieces of gray pottery. This pottery had evidently been made by weaving grass baskets and daubing clay mud or slime on the inside and then burning them in some kind of an improvised kiln. This process left the pottery with the imprint of the grass basket embossed on the exterior.

The material of the pottePi- resembles a form of hard gray-blue stone. Two or three of the pieces found are of good size, and one is from the rim of the vessel of which is was once a part, and describes an arc of at least one-fourth of the circumference of the vessel. At the same time and in the same place Mr. Bentley uncovered parts of human bones, among which, still clinging to a f ragmen* of a human jaw-bone, was a well preserved human tooth.

The size of the tooth and the bones indicates that they belonged to a child of twelve or thirteen years, or else to some diminutive adult. Drs. Bass, Beck, and Mullins. all reputable dentists of Broken Bow, have examined the tooth and declare it to be the upper first molar of the right side. They believe it to be the first or baby tooth, but in this they are not certain, as the tooth gives evidence of much wear, perhaps more wear than a child's tooth would have received. The wear indicates that the tooth belonged to a grain eater and, if so, its owner lived at a time when the ancestors of the present Indian families were grain eaters, and a higher intelligence made them manufacturers of ware and implements.' Other pieces of pottery and similar relics left by an aiicient tribe were found on a high hill on the farm of J. E. Grint, some two or three miles south of the Bentley farm.

Not long since Professor Elmer E. Blackman, curator of the Nebraska Historical Society, visited the scene of these finds and spent some time in making examinations. On this tour of inspection he was accompanied by Judge Humphrey, associate editor of this publication. Professor Blackman believes that these relics were deposited by the far-off ancestors of the present Pawnee Indians. He further believes that these Indians were not permanent occupants of the region, but that they came here on summer hunting trips, during a period when the elk and buffaloes were numerous. This would place this particular people, who have so kindly left us the relics, in the transition period between grain-eating and meat-eating Indians. In support of his theory he submits the following statements :

"In relation to the Indian remains in Custer county which I inspected with Judge Humphrey, August 20, 1918, I may offer the following conclusions :

"A little preliminary study of the situation shows that the area of Custer county was part of the land ceded to the United States by the Pawnees on the 24th of September, 1837. The treaty was signed at Table Creek, Nebraska Territory. Table Creek is near Nebraska City, and we have in the museum of the Nebraska Historical Society a photograph of the signing of this treaty, the same showing Pe-ta-Le- Sharu, Samuel Allis. J. Sterling Morton,

James W. Denver, and others who were present at the signing. For the full text of this treaty reference may be made to the United States Statutes at Large, \'olume XI, page 729.

"The Repulilican Pawnees once lived south of the Platte - Pike says he was at their village in 1806. 1 find the ruins of their habitat along the Republican river, even west of Orleans. From the banks of the Republican they chiefly secured the flint which was used for implements. This was easy to get. splendid in quality, and was probably the cause of their residence there. This implen;ent-making material became the direct cause of the supremacv which this tribe gained over their neighbors, and which they held until the whites came with firearms and 'fire-water.'

"The area now occupied by Custer county was the abundant buffalo plains over which the Pawnees hunted during the time preceding contact with the whites, as well as later ; but the site explored does not show contact with white men, and antedates firearms - hence the reference to the earlier date.

"Both the sites visited may be classed as one. Due east of Sargent are evidences that show this to be the point where the hunting party probably left the Middle Loup river, and thence was afforded an easy trail to the location farther north and west of this point, which I determine as the location of the camp.

"In the hill-encircled valley near where the farm house stands is a beautiful, level expanse upon which the summer tepees were .set up. This was an ideal spot, protected from observation by the hills which separate this sheltered valley from the Middle Lou]) river. There was ample timber for fuel, and water from springs. Probably year after year the same tribe came here to secure the meat supply. Doubtless small game was abundant. We know that vast herds of buffaloes roamed this region, and from here the hunters sallied forth to capture the wintc'j- sujjply of meat and hides, while the squaws remained in the sheltered valley, to clry the meat and dress the hides.

"Some of their people died from sickness or accident, and the surrounding hill-tops (especially west of the camp) were the sites for the final resting places of the noble dead.

"The pottery found on the hill-top indicates that these Indians had a custom of placing food and water in the graves, for the use of the departed on their journey to the happy hunting-ground. Many tribes observed the custom. The Pawnees practiced it.

"I believe this site antedates contact with the whites. This is proven by the absence of any white man's artifacts. I believe it is one of the sites used soon after the Pawnees migrated to the plains region, because the chips of flint found on this site are from the flint found in the Texas region from which they migrated. I do not doubt but this summer camp was occu])ied by the Pawnees. First, l^ecause the specimens of pottery found are identical with the pottery made by the Pawnees, and, second, because the flint chips are from nodules which originally were found in the vicinity of the Brazos river in Texas, the land from which the Pawnees originally came.

"The implement-making material brought w ith them on their migrations north, would be exhausted in time, so, finding the chips from these nodules leads us to believe the camp was used at an early date.

"The small, flint arrow-heads found on the same hill-top as were the pottery and bones, are not so crude or large as those used by the modern red man. They give evidence of a skill and workmanship the latter did not possess. The workmanship declares a degree of civilization, while the barl>ed flint itself tells the story of the battle and chase in that unknown time. The bow and arrow constituted the equipment of both the warrior and the hunter of this primitive race. The flint-head, well formed, well edged, and sharjily outlined, would argue that the arrow to which it was attaciied, with thong or grass, was skill-fashioned and high-grade, and likewise that the bow would be designed and modeled with more skill than those used by the later Indians.

cution and is more deadly than in the hands of the untutored savage. And then, as the workmanship declares the degree of skill and intelligence, we must conclude that these arrows were once used by a people who in some degree outranked in civilization the Indians of the present century, and were very effective in their hands. They served their owners well and were the Winchesters of their day. This race used the arrow for the hunt, and if. like their civilized brethren of to-day, they slaughtered each other, they relied for victory over their enemy, upon the same implement, which, like the vendor's liniment, was made for man or beast. This is all we know - it would be useless to add more. Their past is sealed. Their centuries are dead."

Coming down to the day of maps and records, we know something about the Indian tribes which inhabited Custer county in the generations next preceding the white man's advent.

into live great families, and with glib tongue rattle off the names "Caddoan family, Siouan family, Algonkain family, Shoshonean famil}', and the Kiowan family."

At least four of these families were represented in the tribal relations of the red man who once hunted and haunted the wild game herds of these prairies.

The Pawnees were here. This was their treaty reservation. It was their legal home'. They were owners, in fee simple, and claimants b}' possession. If Professor Blackmail is right, they were here for a thousand years before the white man bothered them. The Pawnees belong to the Caddoan family. The Omahas. the Poncas. and the Otoes hunted these plains and here warred with the Pawnees. These tribes belonged to the S'iouan family. An Indian authority says that the domain of the Omahas lay north of the Platte river. That might include Custer county or at least a part of it. If they never lived here they were ofttimes visitors and long-time campers on these hills and river vallevs.

Fremont records the Cheyenne Indians as located on the Platte above Grand Island. From this location the buffalo chase would often take them over the South Loup country. The Cheyennes held their family membership with the Algonkains. Mooney, in his eighteenth annual report to the bureau of ethnology, says that the Comanches, who have sometimes been called by the Siouan name of Padoucas, once had a permanent home on the north fork of the Platte river and that their ordinary range over the plains was from five to eight hundred miles. A range of less than half that circle would center their hunting field in Custer county. The Comanche belonged to the Shoshonean family.

This is all that is known about our Indian predecessors. Their tepees are down, their camp fires are out, and the bronzed master of the wild herds is gone. When any of his descendants come to Custer county now they wear the white man's garb, - pants, white collar, and a red necktie, or, if the gender is more favorable, a calico skirt, of wall paper pattern, and a silk handkerchief over plaited hair. The Indian pony and the Indian dog live only in the pictures of the past; their bones and poverty are forgotten ; with hoof beats and yelps they follow the herds no more.

Beyond doubt the early trappers and hunters in Custer county had many e.xciting times and several of them may have been killed by the Indians, but concerning tragedies of this time we have no records. John W'ilmoulh, who will be mentioned later, claims to have been engaged in an Indian battle in the year 1860, somewhere in the vicinity of Milburn. He makes the claim that three or four white men were killed at this time. Mr. Wilmouth is ninety years of age and his memory hardly accurate.

days when these prairies were ranged by scouting parties from the United States forts at Kearney and Hartsetif. Old settlers claim that several battle fields have been found in the county : one is located near the present town site of Berwyn, and one on the Forsythe farm near New Helena. On both of these fields arrow-heads, human bones, and other relics of conflict have been found.

Well Marked Riele Pits

Perhaps the most clearly defined of any battle field in Custer county is the one located in section 16, township 17, range 18, which location is in the school section owned by and this helped, of course, to form aii improvised breastwork. These pits with their accompanying mounds vary in length from six to sixty feet and if they were ever fully manned, at least four or five hundred white men or soldiers must have been engaged.

In the center of the enclosed area is a depression which early settlers say was a water hole when they came to the country. If a stand was to be made by a company of soldiers on ground of their own choosing there would naturally be some provisions for water.

After much investigation, in which the services of the state historian, Professor A. E. Sheldon, and Curator E. E. Blackman have been rendered, it can be stated positively that here a battle of some importance has been fought. Here a line of rifle pits, clearly demarked, encloses an area of perhaps six or eight acres, the line conforming more nearly to an ellipse than a circle. The pits were probably three feet deep at the time they were dug. The dirt was thrown to the outside, now owned by Judge A. R. Humphrey. J. T. Douglass, who saw this field, says that originally a well had been dug in the center of the enclosure. Talking with a former United States soldier who served in the regular army in the days of the early '60s and who for a number of years, during the '60s, was stationed at Kearney, Mr. Douglass learned that the soldiers of the fort had located in a number of places what they called outposts, where they dug pits, threw up breastworks made in circle form, enclosing water, and marked them, so that in case they were too hotly pressed by the Indians they could make a run for

It is altogether probable that the Allen field was one of these outposts, and was probably attached to Fort Kearney. It will be noted in another place that State Surveyor Robert Harvey finds an old wagon trail coming out of \'alley county through Mira valley and entering Custer county in the vicinity of ^^'oods Park. This trail came from the northeast and led in a southwest direction directly in line with the rifle pits described. It is in the battle was in evidence when the first settlers came to the countrj-. A skull which belonged to an Indian was found by the Allen brothers near the battle ground, where it had probably been exhumed by wind or coyotes from a shallow grave.

The Signs Of E.Xttle

Accepting the theory that this was an outpost, it is also evident that it was the scene of a battle. Arrow-heads in abundance have been picked up. This would show that Indians were the parties engaged on one side, while broken gtins, bullets, and parts of a sabre, would indicate that white men and soldiers were the occupants of the pits. A mound supposed to be a field grave for soldiers killed

This is all that we know positively. There is a tradition that in an early day a band of Indians attacked a party of gold miners, returning from the Black Hills, and robbed them of a large amount of gold dust, that the soldiers followed them to recover the gold and that here they overtook the Indians and made their stand. Tradition also has it that a large number of Indians were killed and

A Fort In Custer Couxtv

To guard against the depredations of Indians, the citizens of Douglas Grove built, in 1876, a fort which, at first, they named Fort Garber, in honor of the governor, but later, because no Indians came and the scare did not materialize in war whoops, tomahawks, and scalps, it was called Fort Disappointment.

It was built with bastioned corners, so that the Indians could not scale the walls from without, and was large enough to hold all the settlers. A well was dug inside for water supply, forty stands of arms were obtained from the government, and a company of state militia organized, called the Garber County Regulars. W. H. Comstock was made captain and from that time forth the genial pioneer was known as Captain Comstock.

About the same time, rumors of an Indian outbreak and massacre further north frightened the people of New Helena or Mctoria Creek. The Omaha Bcc published an account of the massacre of settlers in the ?\Iiddle Loup valley. J. N. Dryden. now of Kearney, then sent the following note addressed to the surviving citizens of Victoria Creek :

The clippings are from the late Omaha and Chicago dailies. Saw Mr. Merchant's folks off all right on the 6:45 train Thursday morning. They were vtrj uneasy about !Mr. Merchant. Truly. J. N. D.

This general uprising of the Sioux, who resented the intrusion of miners pushing into the Black Hills territory, so frightened the people of New Helena that when they received the Dryden note, they rallied the settlers and built a fort of cedar logs on the Forsythe place, but some of the families were so frightened that thev fled the countrv. After the fort was built Judge Mathews applied to the state for arms and received fourteen rifles and two thousand rounds of cartridges. Jilost of the people who had fled for safety returned to their claims. Their fears proved groundless. No Indians came. So it can be stated on the best authority that no settlers of Custer county were ever seriouslv molested bv Indians.

An Indian Battle

On the 4th day of July, 1918, A. K. Holmes, editor and publisher of the Tavlor Clarion, published the following account of an early battle, which took place in Custer countv, between a surveying party of twelve men and a marauding tribe of Indians. The article here appended has been submitted to the old settlers of the northeast corner of the county and, according to their testimony, the Clarion account is authentic. Mr. Holmes writes a personal letter in which he states that the William Stevens mentioned in the article is a very reliable and trustworthy citizen and absolute dependence can be placed upon his word. C. E. Gibbons, of Comstock, also bears testimony to the standing and character of William Stevens, and he, with others, locates the scene of battle close to the junction of Spring creek, which heads on Gibbons' place three or four miles southwest of Comstock and almost directly south of Comstock forms its junction with the Middle Loup river. This locates the battle ground aproximately three and one-half miles south of Comstock.

The Clarion Article

Like all the pioneer settlers of forty years ago, William Stevens depended on Central City and Grand Island as his railroad points. The road down the valley, as then traveled. was long and wearisome. It was sometimes on one side of the Loup river, and then on the other, just as the exigencies of the breaks and soils and untamed wilds demanded. The trips were not always free from dangers, nor were the drivers always care free as to the safety of families and properties left at home during the week or more of absence. There was no rapid transit of message in those days, and the valley never echoed the chug of the auto bringing help in case of unanticipated distress or Indian visitation.

But the trips were frequently enlivened by impressive incident, experiences related, or traditions and tales told over, which now stand out in the memory of the pioneer as a pleasurable and cherished reminiscence. It has been so always, and everywhere. In taming the wilds of every country the pioneers enacted the scenes which sul)set|u.entiv became the play puppets of the retrospective hour.

^Ir. Stevens occasionally hauled loads of cedar posts to Central City. Small and few as were his financial transactions in those days, some were certain to come, and the posts offered one of the very few solutions to the incoming revenue problem.

Stopping at nightfall with some lone settler on the endless prairie, who was trying to develop a home amidst the haunts of the coyotes, the owls, and the rattlesnakes, the driver could get his night's lodging and hay for the team for twenty-five cents. The quarter looked ver}^ big and very welcome to the owners of the soddies on the claims down the valley.

On one of those trips, jMr. Stevens found the bridge at St. Paul washed away, and so he proceeded to FuUerton, in the hope that he might be able to get across, perhaps over the ferry. It was while there that Mr. Stevens met a resident of the town who had in previous years been a member of a United States surveying party of twelve which made the original federal survey of this country. And thence we get this little tale.

Like in many such instances, there are no positive means of identifying locations. Distances were not accurately known. But from the surveyor's minute description of the creek, its bank, another draw to the southward, separated from the creek by a level prairie, the upward slope to the south of the draw, and the hills and canyons beyond, - these, and other minutiae, enabled Mr. Stevens to feel satisfied that the location lay upon the land he had subsequently homcsteadcd. He has another proof - which is quite conclusive. In the field and pastured hills on the up-slope south of the draw, he has since picked up perhaps half a hundred of rifle balls, which had in the after years lain where they struck or fell. Their numbers indicated* an oldi-time battle-field.

The surveying party was engaged along the creek near its mouth, one morning, when a band of Indians came out of the canyon to the south and advanced northward. It didn't matter to what tribe they belonged,^ for they were warlike in manner and too numerous to justify a parley for negotiations. The surveyors dropped below the creek bank for shelter, feeling that such situation would olTer means for an advantageous resistance. The government had provided them with the oldtime, long-range "Needle-guns" - and it was now time to use them.

Before the Indians got to the draw the surveyors began to i)ick them off as best they could. So it was l.ut natural that the redskins should crouch in the draw for their own protection. Their guns were of the sJiortrange class, and they could not reach the surveyors. They were safe in the draw, but thev dare not venture across the level to- ward the surveyors. Both parties were safe where they were, but neither dared to show itself in open, and neither cared to assert claim to the expanse between - for it was a "No Man's Land" of another day.

Yet neither could get away without takingchances. So they kept up their spasmodic exchange of compliments through all that bygone day, both waiting for the welcome cloak of the night-time to cover their strategic designs.

The same hills that reverberated o'er the valley the desultory crack of the defender's rifle that day are still sitting guard at the valley's brink, but they now send back the echoes of agricultural and pastoral pursuit - for the "No Man's Land" of that pioneer day is a field in the "one man's land" of the present, sending its corn from the ditches and dairy products from the herd, - all as silent testimony of the changes of time.

party began its "strategic withdrawal." Slipping along under the bank of the creek to the river, they were soon quietly going with the stream to surroundings that promised greater safety. But there was no further conflict.

Such is the story as it was outlined to us. The original relator went no further. The next chapter, if any, was not revealed. And why did the Indians not follow ? It is everybody's guess. They could have harassed - but they did not. Possibly they, too, were strategists. Perhaps they also longed for the cover of darkness, in order that they might likewise resort to a "strategic retreat," and go slinking back to the canyon from whence

More rifle balls lie plugged in the slope and the hill sides, waiting to be picked up by some wandering stroller who will stand and wonder. He may not have even the shadowy tradition of the two belligerent parties - each sneaking away in a strategic retreat - to give direction to his imaginative tread.

white man that ever set eyes on Custer county? \\'ho, among all the explorers of early days, had opportunity to cani^j in this region? Following Columbus came the Cabots, Vespucius, and Magellan, DeSoto, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Coronado. Drake, and a dozen such kindred spirits. They tramped the continent and sought for gold, for territory, for hot springs of youth and any form of wealth the new land might possess, but did they ever see Nebraska ? Did their expeditions ever extend so far west or so far east, did any of them come up from the south or drop down from the north into our central Nebraska? Suspicion attaches to none of them unless it be to Coronado.

If we can believe his biographers, some of his exploring party may have been the first Euro- ])caiis to have seen Custer county. In July of 1541 this Spanish general and explorer, bent on exploring the country he called Quivcra, came out of New Mexico from the south and west and penetrated into the region of Nebraska as far north as the Platte river, and how much farther we do not know. From the Coronado camp on the Platte, it is not unlikely that the hunters rode out in all directions and, if so. perhaps they might have touched the south part of our young dominion. If Coronado did not find us then, ])erhaps we were discovered a few years later Ijy Padilla. a Franciscan friar, who was one of the Coronado party and who returned to do missionary work among the Indians in the Platte region. According to tradition. Padilla not only labored for several months among a powerful tribe of Nebraska Indians, but it was here that he lost his life and in Nebraska soil, perhaps not far removed from Custer county, his bones went back to virgin dust. During his operations he had with him perhaps a dozen men, mostly friars and bodyservants, and imagination need not labor hard to believe that some of them wandered far enough north to reach this county and to have been among the first, if not the first, to set foot on Custer county soil, or walk the green

Plenty Of

Perhaps here they hunted the buffaloes or other denizens of the new land. The country then m n s t have been a hunters' paradise. B u fif a 1 o e s ranged in such numbers that s t a m peding herds made the ground tremble, while the sound of their treading resembled distant thunder. Elk and deer were plentiful in those days. Antelope and wild turkeys, with goose and grouse, added variety to the hunters' menu and fattened the red man on savory meats that kings could not buy.

Since Coronado and Padilla may have ftunid our location and looked it over full centuries before this generation fell heir to its possessions, we will list their advent as among the possibilities, and for want of better record, let it go at that.

Other Expeditions

The Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803 passed by so far to the north and east, that it is not likely that any side expeditions were made into the Custer county region. They followed the Missouri river from their Council Bluff's camp to where it crosses the state line, a route that missed the Custer portion of the state by nearly a hundred miles.

There is still another chance that we may have been exposed to the survey of an early expedition. A party of French Canadians, eight or ten in number, in charge of Pierre and Paul Mallet spent one winter at the junction of the Niobrara and Missouri rivers an,d from there journeyed south until they discovered and named the Platte river. As the river course seemed to lead in the direction they wished to go, they followed it sourceward for seventy m.iles and then traversed a woodless plain. Some of their side expeditions or hunting parties might have visited some of the places now in the confines of this county, and have been the first or second white party to behold it.

Zebulon INI. Pike missed a mighty good chance to pay us a visit as long ago as 1806, when he conducted his expedition from eastern Missouri to the Colorado mountains, where he nailed his name to the high, bald mountain now known as Pike's Peak. Some writers claim that he traveled through parts of southern and central Nebraska. But Kansas is selfish, and down four miles south of Hardy, Nebraska, and at least three miles south of the Nebraska-Kansas state line, it has erected a monument and marked it "The northern limit of the Pike route." Unless that stone comes as wide of the truth as tombstones often do. Lieutenant Pike never saw our territory, unless he had unusually long vision when he looked north and east from the tip-top rocks of his mountain namesake.

In the winter time of 1812, one Robert Stuart, a Scotchman, who went west in the vear before, in an expedition headed by himself and Wilson Price Hunt, wandered back with a few of his party to the headwater of the Platte river, where thev undertook to winter.

The Indians routed them out of their winter quarters, and they journeyed east three hundred and thirty miles down the river, when they were stopped by heavy snows and, not finding comfortable winter cjuarters, they turned back toward what is now Scotts Bluff county, where they remained for the rest of the winter. It may be that they invaded Custer county.

Captain Henry Dodge, with an expedition of soldiers, came out of the southeast in 1835 and must have penetrated almost, if not quite, to the Custer county line.

In 1855 or 1856 Lieutenant G. K. Warren, a major-general in the Civil war, conducted a military exploring expedition up the Loup valley in search of the most suitable route for a transcontinental railway. His route was along the north side of the Loup river, through the Pawnee Indian village, forded the North Fork and crossed the present townsite of St. Paul, as later shown by his wagon tracks, thence along the north side of the Middle Loup to its source. This road was very plain in 1872 when Robert Harvey made the government survey on the north side of the river. It was made by an old military expedition as shown bv the uniform wide-gauge and grasscovered wagon tracks, and was the onh' wagon train in the Loup valley. There was also an old, wide-gauge, grass-covered wagon trail through Woods Park, leading out of Mira valley in \'alley county. These trails cross each other on the north side of the Middle Loup river in the Woods Park vicinity, yir. Harvey mentions in his surveyor's field notes the point where the trails cross.

One of the questions of burning interest for the purposes of this history is : Who was the first white man to come into the county on any pretext whatsoever, is now alive, and of whom there is a definite record? If information obtained is correct the question can be answered. In the hills seven miles northeast of Merna is the home of L'ncle John Wilmouth. Uncle John lives on the same homestead upon which he settled in the spring of 1883 and which has been his home continuously since that time. He has never mortgaged it nor offered it for sale. He lives in a sod house, which has been repaired as the occasion required, and as the years passed. His good wife lives with him and although they are advancing in years they are in comfortable circumstances.

If the story that Uncle John tells is correct, beyond any doubt he is the first white man to have seen Custer county and who is still living.

Uncle John does not know his age but thinks that he was born probably in 1831 or 1832. His brother, George Wilmouth, who lives in Broken Bow, is sixty-six years of age, and George is the youngest of eleven children, while John is the oldest. Naturally that would substantiate the dates Uncle John gives for his birth. He says that when he was a boy of sixteen or seventeen he ran away from his home in Virginia, with another boy about the same age, and that they made their way down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, where they joined a caravan of Mormons en route for Salt Lake ; that with them he passed over the Platte river trail through Nebraska in 1851. He claims to have spent nine very exciting years in Utah and the mountain region, during which he had many startling encounters with Indians. He claims to have been captured by Indians two or three times and exhibits knots and scars on his wrists and hands which show the Indians tied him with sharp thongs that cut through the skin into the flesh. In the early spring of 1860, in company with twenty or twenty-five other men, he started on the return trip to the states. They made their way through Wyoming and into the region of the Bad Lands and the south line of the Dakotas. Here L^ncle John gives a graphic description of a rendezvous of thieves whom they found in this locality and with whom he and one or two others of the party had an exciting adventure. From this place the party headed south in an endeavor to reach Fort Kearney. Members of the party fell out along the route or were killed by Indians until there were only eight or nine left in the company that turned south through Nebraska. Uncle John thinks that his party struck the ^liddle Loup river and followed it down into the .region of Custer county and that they were probably in Custer county when surrounded by a band of Indians with whom they had a hard fight. Their horses got away from them but were not captured by the Indians, and after Uncle John and three or four of the survivors succeeded in crawling away from the Indians under cover of night they were fortunate enough to find their horses in a canyon pocket next morning. They succeeded in catching the horses and started south in the direction of Kearney with all possible haste. They crossed the South Loup river, L'ncle John thinks, somewhere near the present site of Oconto and in about a days ride from that place they came in sight of the United States flag and in a short time after they sighted the flag they met United States soldiers. They were none too soon, however, for a cloud of dust rising from the plains back along the way they had come showed plainly that the Indians were pursuing them.

This is Uncle John's story. It has to be taken, analyzed, and examined in the light of every possibihty. Could it be true? Is it possible that it is true? Is it probably true? All these are questions to be considered. It must be taken into consideration that L'ncle John is old, and memory is treacherous. Uncle John's neighbors are inclined to believe that approaching old age makes suggestions and fancies personal realities. This is one of the caprices of old age and halting memory. On the other hand the story could have been true. The dates fixed make it all possible if not probable. Seven years ago Uncle John recited to a creditable witness the same story, with the same details, which he recites now to Judge A. R. Humphrey and the recorder of this story. Uncle John's description of conditions in Utah and western Colorado is true to conditions that prevailed at the time he says he was there. His account of the thieves en- countered in Dakota and description of their rendezvous tallies exactly with the underground railroad story related by Robert Harvey in another chapter of this volume. The United States flag which he claims to have seen at or near Fort Kearney helps to corroborate his story, for there was at that lime a tall flag pole from which the flag continually floated, standing on a promiinence in front of the fort. A portion of this flag pole is now in the historical museum in the state library at Lincoln.

It is altogether probable that Uncle John's stimulated imagination may account for some of the details he recites, yet we think it altogether possible and probable that he made the trip he claims to have made, at or near the time he claims to have made it, and as none can dispute the story it becomes creditable history and accordingly we make the statement that Uncle John Wilmouth is the first man to have seen Custer county who is still alive.

Chapter Tt Descriptions, Lines And Boundaries

If Nebraska is the central state nf the L'nimi, Custer county is the central county of the state. If Nebraska is the heart of the nation, Custer county is the heart of Nebraska, and in its relation to the entire country is the lieart fif the heart. All that Nebraska is in rank and place to the United States, Custer county is to other counties of the state. If there are advantages in a central location, they accrue, in the whole, to Custer county. So far as north and south are concerned the north line of the county is eighty-three miles south of the north line of the state, while the south line of the county is seventy-two miles north of the south line of the state. In its relation to east and west, the east line of the county is one hundred and seventy-four miles west of the average east line of the state, and the west line of the county is one hundred and si.xty-two miles east of the average west line of the state. This ])laccs the geographical center of the state well into the heart of Custer conntx'. As nearly as can be ascertained by map measurements, the northwest corner of township LS, range 2^ west, townsliip IS north, is the geographical center of Nebraska. This falls in Custer county and is approximately four miles south of .Xnselmo.

But since it is best, perhaps, to trace its boundaries so as to record size as well as location, drive a stake down on the northeast corner of section 1, township 20 north, range

17 west, 'ith princi|)al meridian, then run a straight line west fifty-four miles over hills and valleys to the northwest corner of seclion 6, township 20 north, range 25 west, thence south in a straight lline foTtv-eight miles to the southwest corner of section 3L township 13 north, thence east in a line straight and true to the southeast corner of section 36, township 13 north, range 17 west, th.ence north forty-eight miles, as the surveyor would say, to the place of beginning. Now we have run the boundaries of the county. We have enclosed seventy-two townships of thirty-six sections each or a tract of land containing 2,592 square miles. The average man can perhaps best understand the extent of territory if it is described in acres. Custer county contains 1.658.880 acres of land.

Table Lands And Valleys

The general to|K)graphy of the county might be described as rolling or undulating, ranging from precipitous and broken cliffs along the rivers to the level lands of tables and valleys. There are several plateaus which arc comnionly called table land, antl accordingly have received their res])e:tive cognomens. In the central part of the county is the celebrated "West" table, a very fertile, jirdduclive soil region and the largest table in the county. Directly east across on the eastern side of the dale or Merna vallev is the "East" table.

Over in tlie northeast section of the county the tahlc and "Bog-gs" table have prominent place and arc celebrated for their ]irochictive farm lands. South of the center of the county is the "Ryno" table. In the southeast corner there is a large tract of table land that is called "P-lackhill r.a,sin.'" Let no man think because this table is called the "Blackhill Basin" that it is not table land. All plateaus (m- tables are higher at their outer edge or rim than in the center. The southwest corner of the county has a ni(in(ii>oty, nine miles west of the soutlieast corner. The Middle Loup valley is appro.ximately forty-eight miles long and from three to eight miles witl'e. It conies in from the north, crossing- the county line in the exact center of the county east and west, and runs out tiirough the east line of the county eighteen miles south of the northeast corner. In addition to these major valleys there are smaller valleys, along the creeks and smaller streams, that are unnamed. Other well defined valleys have been gfivcn place and name on the ly of small tables. I lere are located "Redfern" table, "Stop" table, "Tallin" table, "Odensciants" table, "Rock Island" table, and several others.

Along with the tables go the valleys, and if the county is celebrated for its table-land it is also noted for its extensive and fertile valleys. The South Loup valley leads all the valleys of the county in size. It is :ipproximately sixty miles long and from ihnc to five miles wide. It enters the county at the west line, west and north of .\rnold, and runs out through the south line of the coun-

Custer county niaj) and demand a place and name in this volume. In the northwest section of the county are Dale valley, Ortello valley, Eureka valley, Sand valley, lloosier valley, and Muddy Creek valley. Over in the northeast the valleys are dignified by the name of ])arks, accordingly we have Cnmniings Bark, Woods Park, Lee's Bark, and Sjiencer Bark. Roten valley is over in the snutheast corner of the county. All these valleys are generally level, deep-soiled, and well-watered and in an early day were very attractive to home-seekers. They were the

In addition to the two forks of the Loup river which flow through the county there are several other small streams which affect more or less the topography of the county, - Clear creek, in the east portion of the county, the ]\Iuddy, originating in the center of the county and flowing down toward the southeast corner : Deer creek. Spring creek, Ash creek, and Wood river are all in the south half of the county. Over in the north, Mctoria creek, Lillian creek, and Rifle creek are the principal water courses, outside of the rivers. The lineal measurements of Custer county's rivers and creeks are more than two hundred and fifty miles. In the early days many of these streams were well wooded with ash. bo.\-elder. jack oak, willow, elm, and other varieties, among which red cedar figured prominently.

U Ndul.Vtioxs Tabulated

A more detailed description of the topography of the county given by townships and ranges as displayed in the records of the state office of the surveyor general is as follows :

Range 25

Custer county has a deep, rich soil, well suited to all kinds of agriculture and grass production. In the north and west part of the county is a region known as the sand hills, but these hills are well grassed and produce continually a nutritious crop of more than forty different kinds of grasses. These grasses are very nutritious and make splendid grazing for cattle. Many of the vallevs in the sand liill region have a mixture of clay or black loam in the sand composition which makes them profitable for farming or agricultural purposes. In all other sections of the county the hills are generally clay subsoil and in addition to producing luxuriant grasses produce in abundance all kinds of agricultural products. The table lands and valleys are adapted to all kinds of grains and especially to the growth of alfalfa.

No Technical Terms

In the description of soil, it does not serve the purpose to be technical. This is not a scientific treatise. Geologists tell us that the soils of the county that are tillable are of cretaceous rock formation, or in other words decomposed rock. When decomposition was complete the soil thus formed was distributed over the lower levels by the action of wind and water. A recent soil survey of central Nebraska west of Hall and Howard counties, made by the United S'fates government, designates the soil of Custer county generally as "Colby silt." Silt is defined as mud and fine earth deposited by water, and in its distribution, if not in its production, the water has always been aided and abetted by the wind. Generally speaking, the soil is from a few feet to many feet in depth and may be divided into three principal kinds. The alluvial soils of the creeks and river valleys are called Lincoln loams. The hills or upland table soils are called "Colby silt" and the sandy silt, ranging from a good sandy soil to almost pure sand, is found on top of the sand dunes. -Ml these soils have value in the ])ropagation of plant life. The soil character so far as the valleys are concerned is generally uniform. For miles on either side of the -Streams the alluvial soil belongs to the Lincoln silt series and is rich in humus and very productive. This silt has a strata of Colby silt, washed from the hills and higher ground in the formative periods. The Colby silt of the hills or upland tables is also uniform and exceedingly productive when climatic conditions are favorable. Like the soils of the valley it contains nitrotjcn. ])otash. and phosphorate in sufficient amounts to produce abundant plant life.

For a full three dozen years the soils of Custer county have been in cultivation, and (luring these years, when rainfall was sufficient, have justified the claim that they are well adapted to ag'ricultural purposes.

L'nderneath the soil stratum lies a deep bed of glacial gravel, through which flows an inexhaustible quantity of purest water, ven>- soft, and free from mineral compositions. All deep wells in the county go down into this gravel stratum and are thus guaranteed the finest kind of water, in absolutely inexhaustible quantities.

[Robert Harvey, the man who ran the lines of Custer county survey and who has been Nebraska stale surveyor for many years, n:akes the following contribution to this volume] :

The territory embraced within the hmits of my exterior lines was a tract thirty-six miles north and south and forty-eight miles east and west, and during the progress of the work there naturally occurred incidents of trivial moment at the time and few of them found a mention in the field notes of surveys or in the reports to the surveyor general ; but as the years pass and the generations succeed each other on the stage of action their thoughts turn back to the first things, first happenings and the first movements toward planting a new civilization.

In all new countries a certain line of alleged incidents becomes current, stock stories and traditions, and some have found their way into jHiblished histories as historic facts.

I will endeavor in the following pages briefly to tell the story of some of the incidents which occurred in connection with mj' party and progress of the work and obsen^ations made, some of which are of record and some of memory.

work I proceeded up the south side of the Middle Loup and over the table land to Clear creek, which I found to be about ten feet wide and five feet deep, near the north line of section 1, township 15 north, range 17 west. The banks were soft and there was no timber within five or six miles, except a small clump of box-elders near our camp. I cut steps in the banks and on these set four ten-gallon water casks, two on each bank, and upon these we placed the empty wagon-box. For approaches, the end-gates and the box - elders, were used. The supplies were carried over and the four mules led through, all within two hours. A few days afterward two surveying parties of about eighteen men spent half a day building a bridge six miles below, of cottonwood logs, cut in a nearby canyon.

A Mutiny

After reaching our initial, which was the corner of townships 14 and 15 north, ranges 17 and 18 west, on the south side of Muddy creek, I ran north six miles, when, upon reaching camp, I found that the camp luen, unused to conserving the water supply, had nearly exhausted it, so after a late dinner I told the men we would hitch up and run the line a mile or two north to where I supposed the creek to be, and camp for the night. Two of the men revolted, struck, said they had done their day's work and would go no farther. I had not known these men before they were engaged, they having been recommended to me. During our travel to the work they had studiously avoided reaching the noon and night camps until after the camp work was done, but always in time for their meals ; jocosely they said to the men, out of my hearing, that they were out on a "lark," a "picnic" and to "have a good time." Now I considered the time had come when there must be a "show of hands," so after e.xplaining the necessity for the move and their still declining to move, I told them they could either obey orders or quit ; they said they would quit. I told them to turn in theirarmsand ammunition (which belonged to the government), roll their blankets, take two days' rations and get outside of the camp ground within fifteen minutes, and that fifteen meant fifteen and not sixteen ; it was done and they walked out. When the surveyor general heard of this he mildly reprimanded me. saying that it was a dangerous procedure to discharge men in an Indian infested county, but I said they were given a choice and they volunteered to quit. In after years when I went into the jurisdiction of another surveyor general, in one of the southwestern territories, I found I had a record, the story had preceded me. I was compelled, however, to return and procure other men.

Find Ruixs Of Old Fortifications

I completed the township Hnes south of the fourth standard parallel, returned to the east side of the work, and began running the lines between the fourth and fifth parallels. (3n running east on the line between townships 18 and 19, range 17, we found on the right bank of the Loup river a circular line of fortifications overgrown with grass and extending from bank to bank. In the grass we found rust-eaten tin plates and tin cups and in the brush on the east side an old set of hay scales.

Ax Impending Indian Battle

This was in section 33, township 19, range 17 north. Being nearly out of provisions, I only ran this line east to the river and i)roceeded down the river to the upper end of an island which I think is about opposite Comstock, and camped close to the river bank. C^n the west, about fifty or a hundred yards, was a broad, bulrush slough which entered the river farther down. I thought this a good defensive position against Indians, as the only way they could get at us with their ponies would be to come down along the narrow strip of solid ground between the ruin and slough for a mile or two.

While the cook was getting dinner, I looked across the valley and noticed several horsemen on the bluffs, who were going southeast toward the river, and before reaching the valley they saw us and came directly toward our camp : of course, they were Indians. I therefore sent the two best shots into the bulrushes with instruction not to let them cross the slough, while we threw up a line of breastworks in front of the camp. While thus engaged I got into the wagon, so I could see across the swamp. Someone said, "Where is Jim Scott?" His spade was in the rifle pit but he was gone and the word went round that Jim had run. The wagon stood close to the cut bank and looking over I saw Jim putting on a new pair of overalls. I yelled, "Jim, what arc you doing? Whv ain't vou digging?" "Well, boss," said Jim, "I just thought if we are to fight I don't want to

No sound came from the bulrushes, neither could I see any signs of Indians or my two men. when finally one of the men appeared and called that they were white men and soldiers. Captain John Mix, of a cavalry command, was out on reconnoisance and was camped about tw'o miles down the river, behind some timber, and these men were returning hunters for the command.

After having received supjilies I continued the range line north. I camped at the corner of townships 18 and 20. ranges 17 and 18. and completed the line between townshijis 19 and 20. range 18. in the afternoon. Next morning I found that the teamster, Charlev Storey, had brought, from the river the evening before, only one barrel of w-ater and the stock and camp had used nearly all of it. leaving only a small supply for use of the men and team that were to go north to the county line, or parallel. So Storey was instructed to return to the river for more w'ater.

The tent stood about three chains north of tlie township corner and it had to be taken down so that I could see to set the flagman. We reached the county line at noon and at the last flag station, on a hill just south of the line, I looked back and noticed a thin column of smoke shooting straight up and directly over the line. We hurriedly ate our dinner and hurried back to camp, and from the bluflf overlooking the valley saw that the camp was on fire, the tent down and men trying to put out the fire. It seemed that after we had started north on the line the cook concluded to go with Storey to the river, for Storey's father had bt-cn killed by the Indians and he was very unsafe to be trusted alone. Before going, however, he dug a trench, emptied the fire bo.x of the sheet iron stove into it. sjirinkled water on the living coals and then covered them over with earth. They were at the river when they noticed the smoke. Inn the cook ran the three miles, reached camp before the tent fell, saved the small trench containing field notes and maps, etc., and carried out the box of five hundred rounds of paper cartridge ammunition for revolvers. The pine box had burned through at one corner, scorched the inside paper lining and in perhaps another instant the entire contents would have exploded. The tent, one wagon-cover, all of our bedding, extra clothing, and the grain and flour sacks were consumed. John M. Daugherty, who was running section lines, was camped in front of the entrance to Woods Park and lent us what assistance he could by loaning us grain sacks, boxes, etc., to hold what we were able to save, and some extra blankets. Mr. Daugherty's party was at dinner when they saw the smoke and through a field glass said they saw some men at the camp, saw the team returning from the river and saw the tent fall. They thought it was Indians raiding the camp. It was suggested that the two men discharged in July, had returned to commit the depredation. Upon exainination it was found that the dry buffalo grass had not been burned for several feet around the stove, and there was no evidence of there having been an explosion of the buried coals. I have never been able to formulate a satisfactory theory as to the cause of this fire. This caused me a loss of several days in going to the settlement on the Loup where I was loaned tents, blankets, etc., by Captain Munon, of Company C, Ninth United States Infantry, who was then camped near the present town of Cotesfield, Howard county.

Resuming work, I returned to the 4th parallel and projected the next range line with its complement of township lines, and at the end of the twenty-four miles I should have intersected the 3th parallel or county line north of a cedar canyon, and after a half day's search found the corner nearest my intersection had within a few days been torn down and a new one built about fifty rods west, and on the west side of the canyon near a pine tree. Here was more trouble.

Loup river and Daugherty's camp on the south side below. On my return 1 reported to Daugherty what I had found and proposed a joint examination. He opposed it, as it would cause a loss of time and besides that, that our authority was to close on the line as we found it. We locked horns at once. I insisted that according to my closing six miles east a few days before a great balk had been made somewhere along the line and we would have to show to the surveyor general's office that it was not in our lines, by pointing out by an examination wdien it existed, and since I had the township lines between the 5tli and 1th parallels I would then have to explain the discrepancy. In fact, I would not be able to run their lines until it was reported and passed upon by the surveyor general. Further, that I proposed to find the error and report it, as neither of us would be able to get jiay for any work in townships 20 in any of the ranges until it was settled. I insisted that he should bear a part of the expense, so n was finally agreed that next morning he bring his team and two or three men, and that I should send to his camp three men so that his work could go on. We spent two days on that examination and found that Park had torn down his original line and set all of the corners west from fifty to sixty rods f6r five miles and from the southwest corner of section 36. range 18, had set a section corner west 15.80 chains and marked it for the corner of sections 34 and 35, which we found on the west side of the canyon among some trees and south of the old Kent postoffice in Loup county. The corner one mile west of it was marked the same. The construction of the new corners showed fraud, for some of them were scarcely distinguishable. We left them as found, for we knew they must or should be destroyed and a new line run. On our return to camp we made out a report to the surveyor general, read it to the assistants, vihich were subscribed to before us. Next day Mr. Daugherty, being in need of provisions, sent his team and driver with one of my men to St. Paul, with the report to be mailed to the surveyor general. We also

I had a partial acquaintance with Mr. Park in 1869, in Omaha, had been in his camp and had seen him at work in the field. In the Civil war he was lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, which captured Jefferson Davis, and therefore came to the state with political and military prestige. His first connection with the surveys of the public lands that I find in the re:ords is his contract number 1, dated July 2, 1867. In the same party with me in 1869 were two men who were with Park in 1868, in Howard and Sherman counties, and I heard a great deal about him. so I was anxious that Mr. Daugherty should join me in the examination of the parallel for his individual and moral support.

Park, Daugherty, and myself were called in conference in January following, when it was agreed that Mr. Park should correct the line in early spring and correct our closing comers to alignment on the new line and report the same to us. I never received any report, but I notice in my notes that my figures, in black ink, are corrected, in red ink. by the surveyor general's office.

.\ L.x-ME ox .\xn tup: remkov In early September one of the oxen became very lame in one of its hind feet, by reason of the wearing through of the sole of the hoof. \'arious schemes were tried without relief and it became a question of turning it loose in the brush 'along the river, when it was bethought to try shoeing it with hoop iron. A heavy hoop was taken from a water barrel and a shoe cut out to fit the toe. The ox was tied up along the ' side of the camp wagon with the foot strapped down on top of the hub. \\e were unable to drive the shingle nails through the edge of the dry hard hoof. The holes were drilled and the burned nails driven and clinched. We had no further trouble and the shoe remained for several months.

at the south edge of the oak grove, in township 18, range 17, on finding rock in the bottom of the river at its mouth ; the name of Lillian to the stream on the south side of the Loup in township 19, ranges 18 and 19, and Mctoria in townships 19 and 20, ranges 20 and 21. after two nieces living in Indiana.

Foolixg The Cook

During all my previous years on the plains, I had heard it claimed that the antelope was a species of the sheep family, and especially the pilgrim plainsmen maintained they had the odor of sheep, that the meat tasted like sheep and they were sheep. So it was with nearly all of my party in Custer county, and the cook was so very positive that they were mutton that his stomach rebelled when he cooked the meat. To bring matters to a test, a bet was made of an oyster supper for the entire crew that he could not distinguish the difference blindfolded. So one forenoon by good luck a deer and antelope were killed, and the saddles and sirloin cut out. In the evening the cook fried in separate pans cuts of sirloin of each, so that he knew he would have a square deal. When blindfolded he was given a piece of the deer and then the antelope and failed each luiie. It was tried in various ways and finally he was given one kind several times in succession, then the other. He guessed it correctly once and his stomach never rebelled after that. Antelope and sheep are of an entirely different and distinct species.

Goverxmen'T Surveys

John Calhoun, of Springfield. Illinois, was rq^pointed surveyor general, by President Franklin Pierce, .\ugiist 15. 1854, with head- (|uarters at Leavenworth, Kansas.

The first contract for surveys was awarded to Professor Jonathan P. Johnson, November 2, 1854, for the first sixty miles of the Base line on the fortieth parallel of north latitude.

surveying distri:t was changed, Kansas being consolidated with Wisconsin, and Nebraska with Iowa July 28, 1866, under the title of "Iowa and Nebraska," with the surveyor general's office at Plattsmouth. Phineas P. Hitchcock, of Omaha, for surveyor general, was appointed by President Andrew Johnson in April, 1867.

While the two territories constituted the surveying district 233 contracts were awarded for surveys in the two territories, but in the new district contracts began with number 1.

The first survey of the public lands which affected Custer county was the establishment of the southeast corner of township 13 north, range 17 west, or the third initial point of the second guide meridian west, by H. C. F. Hackbusch, 1866.

Table

Table I includes the standard parallels, guide meridians, township lines, and connecting lines, names of the surveyors, date of contract of survey, number of contract, lengths of lines in miles, chains, and links, and the year when the survey was made.

Table Ii

Note : The connecting lines are the distances from the closing corners to the nearest corners on the parallels, owing to the convergence of meridians and not to errors of surveys.

Table II is the subdivision of townships into sections and gives tlie numbers of the 'townships, names of the surveyors, date and number of contract, lengths of lines in miles, chains, and links, and year when survey was made, and includes the length of the right bank of the Loup river and all connecting lines. See note above in table II.

Table Iii Table Iv

The Middle Loup river having been meandered, the water area is deducted from the public lands. The south branch was not meandered and its area was sold as a part of the land area and is therefore not included in the tabulation.

I always employed a full crew of men, consisting of a cook, teamsters, two chainmen, two cornermen, and one flagman. In Custer county I had altogether twelve men ; two were discharged at the beginning, for mutiny, and two discharged after the destruction of the camp by fire in August ; three remained throughout the work, six were accessions. Only five are known to be living.

No detailed description of climatic conditions in Custer county is necessary. It can hv truthfully stated that the climate is much the same as in other parts of the middle west, and admirably adapted to stock-raising and agriculture. It has always been a very healthful climate.

Through the courtesy of G. A. Loveland, meteorologist in charge of the United States Weather Bureau, at Lincoln, Nebraska, the following tables showing precipitation in the county covering a range of thirty-si.x years and temperature covering a period of seventeen years are given.

In The Days Of Cattle

When the white man found this location the prairies were covered with buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope, while the prairie chickens. grouse, wild duck, and goose were found in great abundance. This was nature's suggestion that the country was suited to stock-raising and poultry production, and the demonstration of the years since has justified the prediction. In the early days of Custer county, cattle raising was the only occupation. It indeed was a profitable industry. As early as 1869 the great advantages of this country attracted attention of the cattlemen of the south and east. The territory, well grassed and well watered, was very attractive.

Texas was then the greatest breeding ground for cattle and horses in the United States and probably in the world, but it was railroadless and without means of transportation. Cattlemen were compelled to trail their stock across many hundred miles of prairie to find a railroad shipping point. At that time Ogallala, in western Nebraska, was the shipping point for all the adjacent plains to the south, including the Panhandle territory and all northern Texas. Cattle were brought to this point in such numbers that at times it was estimated more than a hundred thousand head grazed on the surrounding ranges, awaiting shipment. These cattle were sometimes held for months. Grass ranges were in demand.

on the north into the South Loup valley, and thus the Texans and southern cattlemen discovered that their herds could live and keep fat all winter on the rich, luxurious grasses which they found here in great abundance. The fame of the South Loup valley spread among cattleman. They investigated. They found plenty of grass of different varieties, among which was an abundance of buft'alo grass, best adapted for winter pasture. They found hills and breaks that aft'orded shelter from the winter storms. They found an abundance of running water in open streams, and all these advantages combined to make it an ideal cattle country, into which cattlemen v/ere not long in driving their herds.

At this late day it is almost impossible to be accurate about dates or the order in which cattlemen settled in the country. At that time all was government land and the stockmen came in and appropriated their ranges. They set up land marks and made claims for so many miles of prairie in this direction and that direction until they had assured themselves of plenty of territory. Ranges, often overlapped, herds became mi.xed, but that made small difference. Some few erected fences but for the most part herds ran at large. Concerning dates and settlements, the following 13 given uiion the authority of Judge H. AI. Sullivan :

Streeter for the first time wintered cattle in the territory now comprising Custer county. On Ash creek, a short distance soiitli of Broken Bow, lie turned out in the fall 821 cattle, of which 385 were yearlings. They were all Texas cattle ; the following spring he rounded up 819, a loss of only two head.

In 1872 E. J. Boblits came into the South Loup country, located a range on what is now known as Tuckerville and stocked it heavily with cattle. Boblits has since acquired the title of judge, through efficient occupancy of the ofifice of county judge, to which he was several times elected. He is one of the few stockmen who is still in the country occupying the same location. In fact, he claims the distinction of being the oldest continual resident of the county. He also claims to have built the first frame house in the county.

The Boblits family is still living on part of the ranch, in a magnificent country home where generous southern hospitality is still on exhibition.

Childs B. Harrington, H. C. Stuckey, and Anton Abel located ranches shortly after this in the eastern half of the South Loup valley. About the same time Williams and Kilgore and John Myers located in the same region, a little more to the south.

In 1872 John Harrington came from Texas and located a ranch on the South Loup, eight miles northwest of Callaway in the region of Triumph. He brought in about two thousand head of cattle and built three cedar-log houses. These houses were built in true southern fashion, with the passways between them roofed.

A cattle ranch was established by Nimrod Caple and Manly, his son, in 1875, on the head of Spring creek, where bursts forth from the side of a steep hill one of the largest and purest springs in the country. Mr. Caple sold out his cattle and left in 1876. In his departure many a settler rejoiced, for his cattle were always doing some damage to crops. Mr. Caple always offered to pay, but invariably carried a fifty-dollar bill, which none of his neighbors could ever "bust." He always, in this way, got his cattle, but the farmer seldom got any pay.

In 1876 Edward Holway and J. D. Haskell occupied the same ranch formerly located by Harrington, and this ranch was afterwards sold to the Parker Live Stock Company of Illinois. The range claimed by those owning this ranch was the South Loup valley from Triumph west to Cedar canyon and the territory north adjoining.

The Parker Live Stock Company first came to the county in 1876. It located its headquarters at a point about two miles west of Callaway, and claimed as its range what is now known as Sand valley and the territory lying south and west. This company began with 1,500 head of cattle, and J. J. Douglass, afterward clerk of the district court of this county, was the manager.

In 1876 Durfee & Gasman located a ranch a short distance north of Callaway on the north side of the Loup, at what is known as the Big Spring, on the farm now owned by N. M. Morgan, and they began business with 3,0C0 steers.

In 1878 Durfee & Gasman bought out the Paxton ranch and consolidated it with their ranch on the opposite side of the river. The range they claimed after the consolidation was the large valley about Callaway, the Wood River valley and the valley of the Cottonwood.

Some time previously to this, the afterward famous Olive Brothers located a ranch on the Dismal river, in Blaine county. Later, in the fall of 1877, without giving up the Dismal river ranch, they moved headquarters to the South Loup and established a ranch which included a good many thousand acres of South Loup valley and included Spring creek and Turner valley. They claimed to have, in all, something like fifteen thousand head of cattle.

In 1878 Smith & Tee located on the nortli side of the .Middle Loup river, not far from the ranch of Ewing. They turned out about 800 head of cattle.

Ofher cattlemen came into the country during these times of whom it is impossible to get much reliable data. Among these were the Finlen Brothers. Rankin Live Stock Company, and others. The Finlen Brothers remained in the country for years. Thomas Finlen is still a resident.

At this late date it is impossible to know accurately, the number of cattle in Custer county in the summer of 18?0. but there were probably very ncarl\- 60,000 head of cattle, of the value of not less than $1,. 500,000. The greater ])art of these cattle had been reared or brought into the comitv after the vear 1875.

Hig Profits

Probably in the settlement of the I'nitcd States no agricultural or grazing territory of a similar area witnessed such a rapid accumulation of wealth. L'p to the winter of 1880-81 the jjrofits fromi the business had exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the ranchman.

summers. The buffalo grass upon the hills each year made a splendid growth. During the spring and summer the cattle did not graze upon this grass, for there was plenty of bluestem, grama, and rye grass in the valleys and lagoons. But with the advent of freezing weather the cattle at once went to the hills to feed ufwn the buffalo grass. Xo more valuable winter forage e.xists than buffalo grass properly cured. Cattle fed upon the best of wild hay will not be in better condition in the spring than those which have wintered ujjon buffalo grass. In the economy of nature this grass seems to have been created and brought forth especially for winter feed. The thousands of buft'aloes that originally roamed this country and made it their winter home lived upon this grass during the winter ; hence the name.

In those days there was a greater profit in buying young Texas steers and holding them, than in raising calves. Yearling steers brought here from Texas could be bought at from five to six dollars per head ; two-yearold for nine dollars ; three-year-old from twelve to fourteen dollars : cows from ten to twelve dollars.

These same steers, kept on Custer county range for from eighteen months to two years, would sell from twent\-five to forty and f oi tyfive dollars per head.

For a number of years no taxes were levied against the cattle. Xo investment in real cstatf; was necessary. The cedar canyons furnished material for houses, corrals, and fuel. There was no ex])ense for fencing or wells. The increase in value was nearly all profit. The only important items of expense in the business were supplies for and wages to the cowbo3'S. They received thirty-five to forty dollars per month.

Life With The Cowboys

It would be hard to give a better portrayal of the experiences, hardships, and danger to which the cowboys were subjected in the early days than that written by J. D. Haskell, of .Arnold, who is now a prominent rancher au(l stockman of the South Loup region: that if they furnished a tent for their men to sleep in it would be too much luxury and would make life with the herd altogether too easy. They figured that men would be slow to leave the tent on stormy nights and look after the cattle. On the roundup and on the trail cattle always had to be night-herded. The cattle that had been gathered during the day were never left for a moment until they were back on the owner's range. Night shifts were necessary. The first shift rode around the cattle until eleven o'clock. The second from eleven until two. and the third from two o'clock until after breakfast. These reliefs were composed of from one to four men. according to the size of the herd. In the spring, through the months of April and Alay, a good deal of rain generally fell and not infrequently there was snow and blizzards. It was often cloudy and drizzly for three or four days at a time. The cowboys were compelled to make their beds on the wet ground, and very often a heavy rain would come on in the night and they would find themselves lying in a sheet of water. In such cases there was nothing to do but get up and lean against the wagon or saddle horse until morning.

"\\ith daylight, work would begin and no opportunity was offered through the day to dry clothing and bedding. \\'hen night came on again there was nothing to do but turn into wet blankets.

"No stove was furnished with the cook wagon. Bread was baked in a "dutch oven,' and other food in skillets. Frequently there was no time to eat breakfast. It always seemed strange that the men, compelled as they were constantly to endure this exposure, escaped contracting fatal diseases.

Womf.N Were Scarce

"( )ii a regular cattle ranch no women were to be found. There was always a man to do the cooking. Thojc who sampled cattleranch hospitality claim that the cooks were almost experts.

members of class occupation, were clannish and stuck together in protection of each others' interests. They were generous to a fault among themselves and to any one needy, but for an outsider to mingle in their business was not altogether healthy exercise.

A Stampede

"In 1877 three men and a cook were holding a band of 1,000 Texas steers on the Muddy, where Broken Bow now stands. They had to night-herd the cattle every night. They saw only one. man pass during the three months they were there. They received no mail and had nothing to read. As they were all young men who had been reared in the far east they experienced a lonely time, shut in from the outside world.

"The last of September the owner sent a man to direct them to move the cattle to the ranch near where Callaway now is. that they might be taken from there to Lexington and shipped to Chicago. The first night after the start for the ranch they camped about seven miles west of where they had held the cattle. The earlv part of the night was beautiful. All the boys but the night-herder had turned in and for the first time in three months were enjoying sleep under a roof.

"About ten o'clock the man out with the cattle observed a black, angry cloud moving up from the north. lie rode to the tent, called to the other men to hurry up and help hold the cattle. They got up slowly, grumbling. However, as soon as they looked out and saw what a terrible storm was coming, they rushed for their horses, but before they could saddle and mount, the storm had struck them.

"In the meantime the watcher had hurried back to the cattle. He had almost reached the head of the herd when the storm broke. The darkness was intense. A terrible wind drove the rain in sheets. The entire herd jumped to their feet as one steer and started on a wild stampede before the storm. And oh, such a night !

Histury Of Custer Col'.Xty. Nebraska

"The roar of 4,000 hoof beats, mingled with the constant crash of thunder, made it a race nfever to be forgotten. The cattle could only be seen by the rider at the flash of the lightning, which was so dazzling as almost to blind his eyes. Time and again the wiry pony was on his knees, Ijut almost instantly up and going again.

"Gradually the pon\' gained upon the leaders and the rider held him in against them. They began to swerve from their straight course before the storm. Gradually he brought them to running in a circle, then as he closed in nearer the outside cattle the circle became smaller and smaller until they were at a standstill.

"The storm ended as suddenly as it began. Shortly his companions were there and the cattle were driven back to the tent and held until morning, when, on a count of the herd, it was found twenty-five were missing. These were found later - not far from where the cattle were stopped the night before - lying upon the hillside and resting from their terrible run.

The Roundup

Prior to the winter of 1880-81 very liule hay was prepared for winter use. The cattle wintered on the range where they summered. During the winter the cattle were permitted to roam wherever they felt in.-lined. and nn attention was ])aid to them.

The work of handling the cattle began with the spring roimdup, about the first of May. and closed with the last shipment of cattle to market in the fall, which was about the first of November.

The cowboys, after the long, idle winter, looked forward to the spring roundup with the same desire that the soldier, after months in the barracks, longs for active duty in the field and for battle. As the time for beginning of the roundup drew near the cowboy would be found busily engaged in washing his clothing and blankets ; his saddle and bridle were cleaned and oiled ; bits, spurs, and si.x-shooters were polished : and saddle ponies were curried and given extra feed and attention.

Among these men was found that same diversity of character, temperament, energy, and intelligence common to mankind everywhere. A reputation for courage was a necessary requisite to good standing in cowboy society. He who could display the greatest recklessness, or assume the role of the greatest daredevil, stood foremost and was the leader of that society.

This desire for notoriety among his fellows led the cowboy into many serious difficulties and gave rise to the general opinion that he was without feeling or regard for the rights of others and was naturally cruel. This opinion was erroneous. His recklessness ami occasional cruelty were not the natural products of his nature but were rather, in most instances, assumed in a spirit of bravado. As a rule, the cowboy was true to his friends, and with him it was a religious principle to stand by and never desert a friend in a "tight place."

In the general roundup in the spring, all cattlemen having cattle upon the territory to be covered took part. Sometimes as many as one hundred men worked together. A captain was selected, and he directed the men. Cook wagons were provided and these were kept convenient to the men at work on the range.

Each day cattle found were driven to a r-oint selected by the captain, where the calves \vere branded and the cattle of the different owners were "cut out"" from the others and driven back to the range of the owner, and so work went on from week to week until all the territory where it was probable cattle of those engaged in the roundup could be found, was covered.

After this roundup was completed each ranchman again covered his own range, branded the calves found there, and again, later in the summer, when the steers had become fat. the range was acain irone over, and

A Rouxdup Of Rouxdups

After the South Loup spring roundup was finished the cowboys who had been riding the ranges for from four to six weeks would mount their horses and hike for North Platte, where they would meet the riders from the North Platte roundup, and then would be held a roundup of roundups that made history of its own. On these occasions there would assemble from two to three hundred men, with from five to seven hundred saddle horses. Each ranch outfit represented would have a crack shot, a foot racer, a boxer, a race horse, a bucking broncho, and all these would be trotted out in their turns and matched against the rivals of the other ranches. Defeats and victories w^ere both celebrated by drinks for the crowd. These celebrations lasted as long as the cowboys' money held out. Associated at different times in these lusty carnivals were such characters as Buck Taylor, ^lajor North, John Shores, and Bufifalo Bill, all of whom had race horses of their own and were always ready to back them up with all the money they could get their hands on.

Cattlemex Versus Settlers

As early as 1874 settlers began coming in - that is, a few adventuresome spirits drifted into the ]\Iiddle and South Loup countries and a settlement or two w^as made in the eastern section of the county and also in the New Helena district. They came in slowly at first and their coming was not encouraged by the cattlemen, who saw that the homesteader would sooner or later absorb his range and supplant stock-raising and grazing with farming and stock-raising on the farmer's scale. He was naturally averse to this, and the reckless cowboys, who understood that with the going of the large herd would go their occupation and employment, never put themselves out to make things attractive and pleasant for the settler. One writer says : fair nor just with the other. The weaker was compelled to give way to the stronger. There were a hundred homesteaders to every ranchman. A few of the more courageous cattlemen made a struggle to hold their ranges. They fenced in large tracts of territory, constructed wells in these pastures, and the cowboys in their employ made homestead, preemption, and timber-culture entries therein, under the government land laws.

Frame shacks or shanties were constructed, called by the cowboys, in their application and final proof, houses. These were in many instances upon runners or wheels and were moved from claim to claim. The same shanty ofttimes answered the purpose of a house in making final proof for three or four cowboys upon as many different claims. But all this was of no avail to the ranchman. The homesteader made entries within his pasture. He contested and had cancelled the claims of the cowboy. He cut and destroyed the fences. Bloodshed and murder were in some instances the result. In the courts the ranchman had but little hope of success. In his controversy with the homesteader he must try his case before a jury of homesteaders.