Custer County, Nebraska - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 15 of those read), 1919

Present Day Wealth And Resources

A complete manifest of Custer county's present wealth and resources cannot be made. Statistics are too lame. Data cannot be obtained. The best that can be done it to give general statements and approximate figures. It is safe, however, to say that Custer is the peer of any county in the state - a ranking county on almost every proposition. It has a population of from thirty-two to thirty-three thousand people and in point of population ranks fourth in the state. Its people have good homes, v,'ell improved farms, with all the accessories of comfort and luxury. The people are happy, prosperous, and industrious. They have the progressive spirit, and latest methods are employed in every vocation and profession. Schools and churches constitute an asset in which the people have pardonable pride.

Custer county is practically forty years of age. and between the sparsely settled, unplowed prairies of forty years ago and the high culture and splendid improvements of the present day there is a bright-red contrast - a contrast that can neither be pictured nor described.

Then there were about 200 people. To-day that number has been increased more than a hundred and fifty times. Then there were few roads. People traveled across country unmindful of trails or lines, and cared only for directions. Thev forded streams and wound their way along the canyons or through the hills. To-day there are splendid roads, bridges, and culverts wherever they are needed. Everv stream has been conquered, every hill subdued, and every place made accessible. Well marked automobile roads traverse the length and breadth of the county and bring the travel of other counties and of the state over the Custer highways. The central Nebraska automobile route runs through the county east and west, touching Westerville, Broken Bow, Merna, and Arnold. The potash road runs from the southeast to the northwest through the county, practically following the main line of the Burlington Railroad. The White Star line, from Lexington to Ainsworth, crosses the county north and south, passing through Lomax. Oconto, Broken Bow, Lillian, and Milburn. The Holdrege Black Hills trail crosses the county north and south in the eastern part, and connects the Black Hills and Loup river highway, at Burwell, with the Lincoln Highway at Elm Creek and the Burlington Highway at Holdrege. Another splendid automobile road runs through the southwest corner of the county and connects the central Nebraska route, at Arnold, with the Lincoln Highway at Kearney. This road follows the Union Pacific Railroad and traverses the South Loup and Wood river valleys.

steam car>, bicycles, or motorcycles, and only a very few buggies in the county. Travel was mostly on horseback. Some few had spring wagons, but if the family wanted to go any place and tiiere were not enough saddle horses - and nine times out of ten there were not - they took the lumber wagon. Sometimes the wagon was drawn by a yoke of slow-paced o.Ken. In any event, traveling accomodations were very meagre, and speed regulations were not required. One old settler declares that common consent, if not law, prohibited the driving of a yoke of oxen faster than ten miles an hour. To-day all this is changed. Top buggies came to take the place of lumber wagons and spring wagons and in them youth and age rode everywhere, in local territory. Phaetons and family carriages added a touch of aristocracy to this family of vehicles. Then came the bicycle, which brought a mode of mobilization that developed leg muscle and appealed to the young bloods. As a family conveyance, however, the bicycle was never in high favor. To-day, the buggy and carriage are out of date, and motor cars frisk the poi> ulation over the highways from farm to town and from town to farm, across county or across state.

Forty years ago the breaking plow was the king of implements. Custer county husbandry' began with the old "grasshopper"' plow. It was a prairie breaker, with a square share running at almost right angles with the beam. A few curved rods guided the cut sod into its place bordering the furrow, where it was supposed to rest bottom-side up. The second plowing was done with small, walking stirring-plows, and later corn was cultivated with the one-horse, double-shovel corn-plows, or small one-row cultivators of the primitive type then in vogue. There were no riding plows of any description.

The old-fashioned mowing machine came in for its share of work. Hay was the principal forage, and as grass grew abundantly everywhere, a mowing machine, a couple of bronchos and a little energy insured enough roughness for cattle and horses. The first grain crops were cut with the mowing machine, although one or two instances are recorded in which the grain was cut with the oldt i m e cradle. \\'ith the Custer count)- people, the cradle was more jxjpular in the house than in the field. Later came the McCormick reaper, the Buckeye reaper, and then a little later the Marsh and Deering harvesters.

To-day the machinery is much improved and up-to-date. Gang plows, drawn by large, well fed draft horses or tractor engines, stir the same fields in whirh the old-time implements began the work. Planters, drills, seeders, harvesters or binders, listers, doublerowed cultivators, riding- harrows,, six-foot mowers, rakes, sweeps, stackers, threshers, and every other implement that has name or place in modern-day implement husbandry, are now in use in Custer county fields or on Custer county farms.

No Telephoxe Gossip

modern-day improvements it seems strange that people could have lived and transacted business without the telephone, but forty years ago there were no telephone lines. The housewife could not call up the other women of the neighborhood for an hour's visit whenever she felt so disposed. The farmer could not take down the receiver and inquire all over the neighborhood for a stray cow. If a message had to be sent to a neiglibor a mile awav or ten miles awav, it had to be carried.

Xo .Moke Freight H.Aulixg

The early settlers had no railroads. All kinds of supplies had to be hauled from railroad points east or south. It required days to make these trijis. Almost indescribable hardships were endured by the men who made them. Teams were small and generally underfed, because grain was scarce. Wagons were old and often in poor repair. .All this meant small loads, break-downs, tired-out horses, and innumerable other difficulties in transport-

Now the wires run everywhere. Rural lines connect almost every farm not only with the business houses of the towns and villages, but also with every other farm house in the countv. A great part of business is to-day transacted over the telephone lines. Neighbors visit, call the doctor, order from the stores, advertise meetings, hunt stray stock, sell their produce, and get weather reports over the telephone. All this has been the development of two score years.

ing freight from a railroad terminal to Custer county. It meant, too, a scarcity of supplies. It meant that only the bare necessities could be ]1rocured, and that no luxuries could be considered, but witli the coming of the railroad all this has changed. The people of Custer are as well served 1)y modern transportation as any part of the mid<lle west. They have access to the markets of the world. They sell their grain at home, and buy their merchandise witliin thirty minutes' ricle of their homes, no matter where they are located. Their live-stock rides out of the county in slat-sided Pullmans. There are no more long drives, witli heavy shrinkage, in getting stock to market. The pioneers have lived their day, have weathered their storms, and have given to the present Custerites a heritage rich in convenience and almost voluptuous with luxuries and comforts.

In round numbers. Custer county has 1.658,880 acres of land. That comprises the sum total of her area. If it all belonged to one man he would have its intrinsic value carefully figured. He would know how much it was worth in dollars and cents. Every acre has a commercial value. It is worth more as a community holding than it would be as an individual holding. Therefore, it is proper to figure out its land value, for in no other way can the full resources or combined wealth of the county be ascertained. Figrire one-third of Custer county land at twent\^ dollars an acre, which would make a valuation of $11.- 059,200: then figure another third at thirty dollars an acre, and that will add $16,588,800: the last third will comprise all the choice land of the county - land that ranges in price all the way from fifty to 150 dollars per acre. It will, therefore, be very conservative to value this portion of the county at sixty dollars an acre, which amounts to $33,177,600, making a grand total of $38,919,0-K). which amount would stand out in fine comparison with the valuation that might have been placed upon the county land forty years ago.

Next comes the question of town lots. A part of Custer county's land is divided into small city lots. In the towns and villages of Custer county there are 10.204 which have an average value of $100 per lot. over and above the acreage value referred to above, w^iich adds another $1,020,400 to the grand total of land values.

Perso.V.M, Property

The last available records for 1917 accredit Custer comity with 115.58 miles of railroads, valued at $1,485,340. In addition to this the terminal properties of the Burlington and Union Pacific Railroads amount to $419,430. Before the live stock is listed, let it be noted that Custer county has 680 shares of mining and oil stock, and other industrial enterprises, that the owners are willing to acknowledge. They have 1,381 pianos, 757 orgfans, and 1,400 victrolas. Under the head of steamboats and other water craft in a state report, Custer county comes in for two. There are 321 gasoline or steam tractors, 154 threshing machines, 2,093. cream separators, and agricultural tools and implements to the value of $175,220. Xext come seven typesetting machines, valued at $28,000; seventy-three cash-registers, valued at $10,950; and 260 stands of bees, every stand filled with a fine grade of alfalfa honey. It might just as well be observed here as anywhere else that Custer is credited with 1.266 dogs, which an expert values at thirty cents. Whether the expert means to value the dogs at thirty cents each or the whole bunch at thirty cents, is not clear.

Forty-five hundred acres of spring wheat that will average fifteen bushels per acre, making a total valuation of $135,000. starts off the crop valuation. Xext comes the winter-wheat crop, whicii will add $1,800,000. or approximately S2.000.000 to Custer county wealth. This is followed with 5.000.000 bushels of corn, which, valued at one dollar a bushel, makes bushels and dollars even figures. Xow add 600,000 bushels of oats, 10,000 bushels of barley, 140,000 bushels of rye, 100,000 tons of alfalfa, 60,000 tons of prairie hay, 10,000 tons of millet and sorghum hay, 200,000 bushels of potatoes, 13,561 dozen chickens. 500,000 pounds of butter. 300,000 gallons of cream - and one begins to get some idea of the almost fabulous wealth and mammoth resources of Custer county.

The Automobiles Hoxk

parade of automobiles. Statistics show that ill proportion to population Nebraska has more automobiles than any other state in the Union, and Custer county stands well at the head of Nebraska counties in the possession of motor cars. There is operated in the county one car for every eight persons. The county treasurer's books show in round numbers that 4,000 automobiles are owned and operated in the countv. This includes motor trucks as well as motor cars. Counting the population at 32.000, it makes one car for every eight persons. If these cars should all turn out some day and form a procession on a good Custer county road, allowing 100 feet for each car, which is as close as they could run in safety, cars would cover seventy-six miles of road, or make a procession seventy-six miles long. Running at fifteen miles an hour, it would take five hours for the procession to pass a given point.

Of the four thousand cars for which state licenses have been granted. 2,376 are Fords, 197 are Dodges, 145 are Overlands. 219 are .Maxwells, 138 are Buicks. 122 are Chevrolets, 62 are Studebakers, 47 are Oaklands. The remaining 604 range to big cars of expensive models, such as Hudsons, Chalmers, Willys- Knights, AIoline-Knights, and Cadillacs. Many expensive Sedan tops are in the list.

Forty years ago Custer county had no banks, no credit, and no money. To-day. located and doing business in the county, there are a fiiU two dozen financial institutions, all chartered as state banks and all financially sound.

The following is a report of the financial condition and total resources of the Custer county banks, as per call report, under date of Mav 10, 1918. for which this volume is indebted to J. J. Toolev. secretary of the state, banking board :

Perhaps it will be easier to understand the vast resources of this oversized and progressive county if some of the figures set forth in the foregoing paragraphs are here repeated and tabulated, so they can be more easily comprehended :

While the foregoing figures afe very careful estimates, they are very conservative, and are given only to enable the reader to determine approximately something of the present-day wealth.

Another Statement

.To illustrate the resources of Custer county, it might be stated s6mething like this. We have a record, nearly 4,000 years old. concerning the children of Israel, who found themselves swamped, down in Egypt, and planned to emigrate to another country. They picked up bag and baggage and struck out in the middle of the night. They took their children and live stock with them, but the record declares they had to walk ; they liad no money to pay railroad fares and freight bills.

If the people of Custer county should decide to hunt another lo;ation. unlike the Israelites, they would not have to walk. They have the money to pay both passage and freight. It would take, however, something like the following equipment to load them up and haul them out of the country.

They would probably go over the Chicago, llurlington & Ouincy Railroad, which has fifty-four miles of road in one line running diagonally through the county. So run the engines down to the county line east of Mason City and let the Ixjx cars extend west to where the road crosses the county on the north. Then we will begin to load. Now fill 2.524 cars with machinery and farming implements, 7,000 cars with furniture and household goods, including merchandise from the stores. Then load 1,781 cars with horses and mules. 5.181 cars with cattle. 1,000 cars with small grain, 10,000 cars with corn. 1,700 cars with hay, 300 cars with potatoes, 500 cars with poultry and dairy produce. It will take 1,000 cars to haul the automobiles.

When all these worldly possessions are loaded, it will make 35,417 car-loads, and, allowing fifty cars to an engine, it will take eight miles of engines to pull this freight. Switch them out on the main line and run them in trains of one-half mile length with only a halfmile between the sections, and it will require

694 miles of road to line them up ready for starting. When the head engine is ready to whistle for Litchfield, the last caboose would be seven miles beyond Billings.

Now the people theinselves have money to buy tickets, and have small disposition to w^alk. Thev will ride in sleepers and all will want lower berths. So, using low-er berths, by putting them two in a bed, it will require 1,000 Pullmans to accommodate our thirty-two thousand people. It will require 250 baggage-cars to accomodate the trunks, valises, and surplus baggage of the passengers.

Divide them into trains of twenty cars each, then the Custeritcs will ride in sixty-one special trains, which, running only a half-mile apart, will cover thirty miles of track, and, as lined up behind the freight, would extend the Custer county caravans thirty-seven miles beyond Billings. Open the line, give them right of way, and start them out at twenty miles an hour, and it will take them thirty-six hours to pass a given point, or after they have been traveling thirty-six hours the last passenger coach will just get down to where the first engine started, but when it reaches that point the first engine will be thirty-five miles cast of Chicago.

This is as far as it is profitable to trace them, for they would probably roll over the difl^erent lines of the country and, not finding a better location would return and unload in Custer county, where they would start over again, under very different conditions than those under which they made their first start.

In the compilation of any circumscribed history - such as that of a city or county - it is evident that its chief feature of interest will be found to be of a personal, family, or community nature; and by the personal standard is the true value of all history' to be judged. The highest critics of historical work have justly held that any production that lacks personal or human interest is of little lasting value. In the preparation of this history of Custer county the projectors and authors have kept this invaluable quality in mind, the while they have been alive also to the further necessity of carefully and strongly depicting the rela- tions borne by this integral division of Nebraska to the state and nation. Both in the early times and the later periods it has been shown that general as well as specific causes have contributed to the local and county development.

While thus combining the general with the specific and personal, there has been an insistent care in avoiding the mistake of overburdening the narrative with extraneous matter. The general history serves as an effective background for the bringing out, or proper revelation, of strictly home or county matters, and the work thus proves a fitting complement to and adjunct of the volume in which is outlined the history of the state.

Thus it is that the following chapter, or division, needs no voucher for its consistency or its expediency. In the perpetuating of genealogical and personal records concerning those who have wrought well in connection with the development of the great county of Custer, this publication offers still further material of enduring and cumulative historical value, and it is believed that in every instance the individual recognition that is accorded is eminently due. Those who have suffered the vicissitudes and hardships of the pioneer days merit more than passing honor, and the same is accorded in the following pages. Those who have devoted themselves with equal loyalty and constructive energ\- to carrying forward the work initiated by the pioneers and founders, likewise deserve the recognition that is here tendered, and it is believed that the final division of this history rounds out most effectively the more generic history which closes with these paragraphs.

The history of our country has ever been the history of the frontier. The spirit that lias presided over our destinies since the daydawn of freedom has ever been the spirit of the pioneer. The creative, formative forces that marked the nation's miraculous birth ; the achievements of a century distancing those of a cycle of the nations of old ; the spirit that has preserved our honor unscathed aiuid the shock of battle and the riot of war; the progress and prosperity which, unparalleled in the history of the race, have differentiated us from the people of all other cl.imes - all had their inspiration, their birth, and their fruitage in the rugged lives of our pioneers, as they swung the ax in the primeval forest or turned the virgin glebe in the untamed valleys and prairies of the west. "To such "scouts of progress" Custer county must ever pay a tribute of highest honor, for within the confines of this county have been wrought works that measure up to the highest standard attained by the true American pioneer. Thus in a direct way, as well as by inference, the various personal sketches and family reviews that constitute the closing department of this publication shall offer much to those who "read between the lines," both at the present and in future vears.