Dixon County, Nebraska - Chapter 4, 1896

Dixon County's Progress Its Officials and Their Methods of Doing Business- First Hoard of Commissioners, Their Proceedings and Records, and the Many Difficulties They Had to Encounter- The First Assessment of Property and the Povertystricken Display of Wealth Hard Times and Few Improvements First School in County -Call for Troops in 1862 and Enlistment in Dixon County Fd. Freeman Killed in Battle of Whitestone Hill Indian Scares iN 1863 Stampede of Settlers from the Niobrara Country The Drouth in 1864 and the Great Crops in 1865 -Railroad Proposition of 1869 The (Irowth of Ponca and the Rise and Fall of Ionia.

There are no records in existence of what the first board of county commissioners did, or where they met. Old settlers, however, say that the first meeting was held in Bramble's log store, that the second was in blacksmith Roger's house, and that afterwards and for several years the commissioners met in Davis' tavern (now Bigley's).

Of the commissioners acts at their first meeting, or during the first year we have but slight information. If they kept any proceedings at all, they were not preserved. II may reasonably be presumed, however, that they came together, swore one another into office, and in some way more or less skillful, commenced turning the new county machinery. They divided the county into commissioner's districts, appointed the metes and bounds of' road and school districts, took into consideration two or three proposed roads, and talked about the prospect of raising money in the future by taxes so as to keep the wheels of the county's progress suitably greased. It is not likely that at the first meeting of the commissioners, nor indeed during the first year, many bills were presented. If there were, we may safely assert that none were paid. There were no funds and it was generally understood that any pay for what was done, was. as to the county, a long way off.

The county did not in fact, start out in a very propitious time. The prosperous days of L856 and 1857 had gone by. Then every one had his pockets full of money and felt rich; now the reverse was the rule. The winter of 1S57-S had been one of tremendous snows and much suffering. In the spring following, hard times, and scarcity of money and provisions had induced many to leave, some to Pike's Peak, others to their old homes in the east. While many left, the few new settlers who came in were not one-fourth as many as in 1856 or 1857. The winter of 1858-9 was also a hard and unhappy winter and the general scarcity of provisions and other comforts of life which had prevailed for more than a year past, seemed to have become chronic. Hence when the commissioners and other officers started in to pilot their new county during the first part of its voyage, the outlook was discouraging. That they persevered and kept up the organization when everything naturally seemed to indicate that the abandonment of the country to the Indians again would be the result in the near future, was certainly in their favor.

In the following spring, '1859) the first assessment of the county took place. It was made by Sheriff Putnam and was one of the most poverty-stricken displays of a county's wealth ever seen before or since. Mr. Putnam lells us that about twenty tracts of land, each of one hundred and sixty acres, were assessed, the valuation being fixed at $1.25 per acre. There were also a few hogs and cattle and half a dozen horses. That was all there was of it. There were no such elaborate inventories of property as are used by assessors now-a-days. There was no need. A trivial array of cattle, horses and hogs, and the few tracts of deeded land comprised the entire property, the assessed valuation of which, according to Mr. Putnam's recollection was not far from $4,800. It is obvious that the assessment was not a job which occupied any great length of time.

proceeded to equalize the assessment and make the levy, and take such further steps as would at the proper time in the future, result in the collection of taxes, the amount of which was about $300.

During this year very few buildings were built in Ponca and not many in the country. Here and there a new comer would be seen putting up a sod or log house on his claim, or breaking a few acres of land. A feeling of discouragement had grown until settlers were averse to improving their places, and they preferred to sell out if they could, and go elsewhere. Many did go, so that in 1859 the county had less inhabitants than two years before.

Of course under such a state of affairs, improvements, public or private, were not thought of. The roads were mere paths over the face of the country. Bridges were, as yet, too costly a luxury for the county to build. Groves, fruit orchards and vineyards had not yet been dreamed of and were not for several years afterwards.

Residents of Dixon County, who in these later days talk about hard times, do not realize that their predecessors had in 1858 and 1859, more real, solid privations in one hour of time than can now be suffered in an entire year.

In the following year, I860, the pressure of hard times was not quite so severe. In the spring a grist mill was built at Ponca by Stough Brothers and N. S. Porter. Thus a little more life was given to the town, and a better market for the county. Aside from this there were few new buildings or improvements. As a pointer showing what was being done, take the amount of land broken. In 1857 there had been about two hundred and seventy acres: in 1858, four times that amount, and in 1859 and I860, scarcely any.

As in the previous year, many settlers moved away in 1860 and few came in to take their places, and the population dwindled down to about two hundred. Not very encouraging, in fact, to those who remained. It is said that more would have gone, if they had been able to raise money enough to pay the ferriage across the Missouri, which, as merciless as the river Styx, barred the way. Among those who went to Pike's Peak were Messrs. Putnam. Farwell. Carpenter, Alexander, Felter and Higgins. They went in the spring and a few of them returned in the fall.

In the meanwhile, in spite of the universal discouragement, the county officers, in a dim sort of way to be sure, kept up the county organization. The commissioners met, ordered an assessment, levied taxes, established voting precincts and went through the forms and ceremonies which they deemed necessary to keep the flag of Dixon county Hying at mast-head. During this year, as in the year before and for several years afterwards, county offices were not much sought after. Neither the honor nor profit sufficiently compensated for the trouble and annoyance. Hence, when one was elected he was liable to neglect the honor thrust upon him and the office would become vacant and have to be filled by the commissioners. In another place we have given a list of the officers of the county from its organization to the present time. That there are probably mistakes, especially in regard to the sheriffs and commissioners, is owing to the frequent changes and neglect to record them.

In some instances the only proof to be found that a man had held an office at all, was the account which he hied with the commissioners for his services. Such account being approved and allowed (though with the depleted treasury we may be sure it wTas not paid) became conclusive proof. There were no records of commissioners' proceedings at all until July, 1860, and for years they were too incomplete to give much of an idea what was being done. It was on account of the slipshod way of doing business in those days, that the legislature afterwards came to the aid of the commissioners, and by a legalizing act covered, as with a merciful blanket, their illegal omissions and commissions.

The years 1861 and 1862 may be said to have been repetitions of 1860. Hard times continued and the few who came hardly equalled the number who went away.

In the spring of 1862 the first school of which there is any account, was held in the county. It was taught by Miss Mary Jones, of Elk Creek, Dakota County, in the first school house built in Ponca on the ground where Ponca's school building now is. That school is claimed to have been the first nor is there much to show to the contrary, the only paper bearing on this point being a report from Ionia in October, 1860, which notified the county board that there were fifteen children of school age in that district.

Whether the Ionia report was merely a hint that a school was needed or whether it is proof that Ionia school district had a school in full blast, readers must determine for themselves. From such report it appears that the seven families which contributed the aforesaid fifteen children to the population of the county, were those of 1,. T. Hill. S. P. Baltzley, A. Curry, Henry Hoese, Oustavus Smith. K. A. Hotchkiss. and A. Smith. The distance between the places where these families resided at that time, indicates that their school district was fully as large as two government townships.

In 1862 the settlers were first invited to help in the war then raging, and in the fall of that year, a number of the patriotic residents of Dixon county enlisted in Company I of of the 2nd Regiment of Nebraska Infantry, commanded by Colonel Furnas. This company was recruited from Dakota, Dixon and Cedar counties, and camped a part of the winter of 1862-3 at Ponca.

Those who enlisted from Dixon county were N. S. Porter, Pat Scollard, John Scollard, Bernard CaYanagh, Francis Freeman. Charles Freeman. Ed. Freeman. Edward Arnold. .John Malone, James O'Conner, John O'Conner. 0. P. Baltzley, Frank Jourdan, W. P. Heydon, Nelson Feauto. James Clark, Elias Shook, P. J. Winston. James Alexander, M. Lathrop and Mons Nelson. The next spring, (1863) Gen. Sully ordered the regiment to go up the river to assist in capturing the Sioux Indians which were then on the warpath. In the battle of Whitestone Hill. Company I participated, and one of its members from Dixon County, Ed. Freeman, was killed. The regiment returned down the river in November and was mustered out of service.

Dixon county since its first settlement had sometimes had Indian scares and in 1863 they were more frequent and serious than before. Once, four marauding Sioux Indians made a raid to steal cattle and horses. Messrs. Porter, Wilbur and some others went after them, exchanged shots with them and chased them out of the South Creek and Silver Creek country, and finally ran them across the Missouri.

One day in the summer a great crowd of people, comprising nearly every one living west as far as the Niobrara river came rushing into Ponca. They came with wagons, horses, cattle, furniture and provisions, and were frightened almost to death. They reported that the Indians were coming in force, killing and burning everything in their path. The terror stricken people had not seen the Indians nor any evidence of Indian depredations, hut a vague rumor started by some rascally up-river traders had excited them into an ungovernable stampede. So they came, agreat drove of unreasoning and wildly frightened people, into Ponca. They proposed to continue their flight the next morning hut by the efforts of cooler headed men in Ponca, they were induced to stay until a party could go hack and see what real reason there was for the panic.

Accordingly a company of forty well armed frontiersmen started on the back track the next morning. They saw no Indians hut they saw and shot at several buffalo. The prairies were generally on lire on both sides of the river. They went to Niobrara and never in the whole trip saw a hostile face. Their trip lasted about a week and in that time many fat turkeys and chickens, and all the government tobacco and whiskey within reach were disposed of to the satisfaction of all concerned. After their return the frightened up-country people laughed at their previous fears and took up their line of march back to their homes again.

About this time a much more serious matter, a most atrocious tragedy in fact, occurred. In Cedar county and near the Dixon comity line, a small party of Sioux Indians who came over from Dakota, murdered the Wiseman family. The murderous band was immediately pursued but escaped across the river. All these matters kept up much unhappy excitement throughout the river counties, and not until the Indians were again brought under subjection were settlers fully assured of peace and safety.

Thus the county, without much improvement and with many hardships, drifted along until 1S(U. and this year seemed to be the climax of grief. There was a drouth that year. Previously they had grumbled over poor crops. Now there were no crops at all.

Concerning that ill-fated season. C. F. Putnam and John McKinleytell us that there was not a drop of rain from late in the fall of lSC>o to early in the spring of 1865, fifteen months. A terrible experience, certainly, and presenting an almost hopeless outlook. The torrid heat, the ground baked to the hardness of brick, the failing springs and streams and not a blade of corn or grass, or sign of crop of any kind to vary the desolate monotony, seemed to denote that the productive forces of nature were dead and the country had become a desert.

There was no corn, no vegetables and no grain, and no grass excepting a little on Logan Slough. Corn and wheat which had been put into the ground in the spring remained there all summer without a sign of life. That the settlers managed to get through the trying time was a source of wonder even to themselves. Their land was barren and worthless for the time and the livelihood of themselves and cattle had to be obtained from other sources.

How did they manage? Old settlers say that the body of timber along the Missouri helped them to bridge the crisis. From this forest, great numbers of logs, especially of black walnut, were cut by the settlers, some from their own land and others from that of the government, and rafted down the river and sold. Again, settlers went out (not for fun, that word being out of date that sea.son) and beat the fields and woods for game and the river and creeks for fish. Deer, wolves and bear wrere met with sometimes, and squirrels. prairie chickens and wild ducks. In the winter, mink, beaver and muskrat were trapped and their skins sent to market. Those who had cattle and hogs, sold them when want pinched too hard. Thus in various wTays the flour barrel was kept replenished, and means provided to sustain life, give shelter and clothing and drive the wolf from the door.

Fortunately at the end of this fifteen months of hades. rain came. Not a gentle moisture, daintily spread, but an abundant and long continued downpour. The hard baked earth yielded to its influence and vegetation awakening from its sleep again bedecked the valleys and plains with verdure and flowers. Courage came back, and again the settlers plowed and planted, and their hope turned into joy as their crops boomed and rich harvests became certainties. No more hungry days wxere in store, no more trapping of muskrats or stealing government timber, and no more solacing ravenous hunger with corn bread and salt, washed down with brackish water. As if ashamed of itself for its previous niggardly treatment of the settlers, nature gave them in 1865, enormous crops, the greatest, grandest and most lavish that had ever been seen in the country.

The year 1865 was indeed, a most generous year. More land was broken, more houses built and more improvements made than all combined since 1S57. Grand crops, a bigemigration and a general lifting from despair to joy and plenty. The tide had now turned, and from that time forward, rapid growth and development was assured.

The great number of those who came in 1865 as well as in succeeding years to make their homes in Dixon County, renders it impossible, except in few instances, to mention them separately. In another place, however, notices of many of the leading pioneers will be given, as well as sketches of those citizens whose energy and good works in behalf of the county are and have been prominent.

In the presence of plenty, the previous hard times were soon forgotten, and the incoming settlers, from 1865 onward during many prosperous years, joyfully took their homesteads, plowed and put in crops, fenced, built houses, started groves and planted orchards. As time went on, and people became able, the desire was awakened to have homes which were more than mere shelters from the storm. No longer the gloomy cabin, the rude home-made benches and table, and from the narrow window, no longer the dreary outlook, sufficed. The neglected garden, usually a wilderness of tangled growth, was made useful as well as beautiful in its order and cleanliness, and its vegetables, sweet corn, grape vines and shrubbery.

The home by degrees became transformed into a brighter and more enjoyable place to rear a family in. The rude necessaries gave place to tasty furniture and adornments, the dingy walls, doors and casings were made new and cheerful by paint and paper, and larger windows were demanded to give views of the gardens, flower beds and fields. Even some homes had carpets, and the family library, previously a collection of almanacs, could boast of a few useful and interesting books.

A great field of wheat or corn, or herd of fat cattle, demanded of the farmer that he become posted on the markets, and hence newspapers became necessary, and he was thus introduced to what was going on in the outside world. Previously his main care had been to feed and protect his family, now, however, under the stimulus of prosperity and awakened reflection, the feeding of the stomach became secondary to the desire to learn and know, and to give his family those advantages of education and society which he, himself, had by his lonely frontier life been deprived of.

In those days Sioux City was the main place of market for the residents of this county. To go to Sioux City and return, required two days' time and a hard journey by wagon. Merchandise was brought in that way, and as to wheat and hogs, what was not sold in Ponca was carted to Sioux City in a laborious and expensive manner.

A. railroad into Dixon county, therefore became a growing desire. The first project of that kind was in 1869. It was originated by S. T. Davis of Sioux City, who proposed to build a railroad from that place through Dixon County to Niobrara. Preliminary surveys were made, and all that was needed to complete the undertaking was the money necessary to build and equip it. Propositions for aid were therefore made to Dixon and other counties on the west. Dixon County was asked to vote $68,000, and the people were assured that if such bonds were furnished, the road would be built without delay.

The proposition, plausible and alluring, inasmuch as a railroad was exactly what the county needed, was talked over and considered by the citizens, but they hardly felt able to incur a debt of such magnitude. It was, therefore, abandoned, and railroad building had to wait until a more propitious time.

As has been mentioned in chapter third, Ponca was surveyed in part and named in the fall of 1856, and a loghouse was built by Hoese Brothers, and in 1 S~>7 houses were put up by Stough Brothers, John Cavanagh and H. A. Fuller, a house and blacksmith shop by Mr. Rogers and a store by Mr. Bramble.

which stood on the claim of Leander Davis near New Castle was moved to Ponca and placed on a lot near where the school house is. Afterwards in 1860 it was moved by Porter. Bisbee and Todd to the Biglcy lot on East street. To the same lot they soon after moved a house which had been built in 1859 for Mr. Bramble on the lots where Dr. Stough's residence now is. These two buildings were joined together and made into a hotel (the first hotel in town) which was kept by Mr. Davis and is now known as the Bigley House.

Up to 1858, Ponca people crossed the Aoway by a log bridge which had been built by settlers two years before. It was a dubious sort of a bridge and dreaded by everyone who crossed. In 1858 the government built a good, substantial bridge, and passing over the Aoway was no longer a terror to man and beast.

Among other evidences of Ponca's rising importance it may be mentioned that on May 14. 1859, it held its first election of trustees. Five were to be elected, and twrelve votes were cast. Of these N. S. Porter received ten votes; Leander Davis, nine; E. M. Bisbee, eleven; H. A. Fuller. eleven; D. T. Bramble, ten, and C. W. Todd, J. C. Harrington. H. Rogers and .lames Barrett received one each.

In 1859, Francis Freeman completed a dwelling house. Blacksmith Kogers built a frame residence. Mr. Chapman a blacksmith shop and two or three small houses were put up by parties whose names are now unknown.

In that year Ponca's first school house was erected. It was on the ground where the high school building now stands and was built by subscription. The building was afterwards sold and removed, and a larger school house built about the year 1865 by H. Beardshear.

In 1860, several more buildings were erected, one of the most important of which was the grist mill of Stough Brothers. Two years afterwards a saw mill was built in connection with the grist mill.

The first Fourth of July celebration ever held in Ponca. took place in that mill in 1862. On that momentous occasion the eagle was assisted to scream by W. H.James (afterwards governor of the state) who was orator of the day, and Judge Arnold who read the Declaration of Independence.

In 186] the first Lutheran church was built and was the only church building in town until 1S71 when churches were erected by the Presbyterians and Methodists.

During the years from 1862 to 1870 the growth of Ponca continued very slow. In 1869 a store building was erected on Third street by Stough and Mikesell and another by Porter and Gamble in 1S71 on the corner of Third and East streets.

hi '69, '70 and '71 an unusually large number of residences were built, some of them quite expensive and stylish. Among them was the brick house of John Stough (the first brick house in town), and the large frame residences of Dr. Stough and N. S. Porter.

From 1860 to 1870 and for a few years afterwards, the town next in importance to Ponca, was Ionia. Ionia had a beautiful, but as it burned out, unfortunate location on the bank of the Missouri.

In 1856, a Sioux City company, in which were said to be Messrs. Cunningham, White and John H. Charles, surveyed and staked out the town of Ionia, twelve miles from Ponca up the river.

In the spring of 1857, L. T. Bill, a merchant of Davenport, Iowa, engaged J. J. Pierce and his son, H. M. Pierce, of that city, to come west and locate a town site for him. The accordingly journeyed across the state to Sioux City, and from thence into Dixon county. It was a long trip. There was no railroad, and an ox team and wagon was with them as it usually was with others at that early day, the mode of conveyance.

In Dixon county they found that the Sioux City proprietors of Ionia wished to sell out, and Messrs. Pierce purchased and held the site for Mr. Hill until May 22. 1859, when he and his family arrived.

He found a very wild country. A few settlers were scattered up and down Aoway Creek, and two families were living near the new town of Ionia, one of which was that of Mr. Massenger and his son-in-law, Andrew White, and the other was the Hotchkiss family on the Hotchkiss bottom, so called. In Ionia two small buildings had been built the year

From this time forward for several years, Ionia, like other new western towns of that period, was not greatly encouraged by growth and business. In I860 Mr. Hill built Ionia's first ferry boat, a boat which was a great assistance to the farmers of Dixon and Dakota counties who had to cross the Missouri while making trips to Fort Randall with produce. Fort Randall with a garrison of live hundred soldiers furnished an excellent market, the best within reach, and high prices were paid for everything the farmers had to sell.

In 1862, the large amount of timber on the Ionia river bottom induced Mr. Hill to erect a steam saw mill there. Tt was started in December and for several years did a large business. In the spring of 1865, the excessively high water in the Missouri cut away the bank and endangered the mill, and in the next year it was moved to a safer point, and a grist mill was added in ISfw. In that year, 1867, Messrs. Fitzgerald and Lynes built the first store, and in 1868 Isaac Hughes built a hotel.

An encouraging number of residences, shops and other buildings were also added in that year, and in 1870 a large amount of building was done, and the town was increased by many new families.

An inventory of Ionia's business houses at that time shows in addition to the mill and hotel, three stores, one blacksmith shop, one wagon and repair shop, one shoe maker shop and several carpenter shops.

In 1S74 the encroachment of the river, which previously had not excited much apprehension became alarmingly worse. The channel changed so that its force threatened the destruction of the town. Afterwards up to 1878, the cutting away of the bank continued and increased. For safety many of the buildings were moved away, and in that year the river swept out a large share of the town site and within two or three years thereafter the work of destruction was completed. Such in brief was the beginning and end of Ionia.