Merrick County, Nebraska - Chapter 23: Merrick County. - 1880-1895, 1898

77 BITH the year 1880, it may be safely said that Merrick County A A I had passed beyond the "pioneer" stage of its growth. In the half-decade immediately preceeding, it had acquired four towns, spanned the Platte with wagon bridges, aud settled down to the more quiet and orderly life which is common to the established community. Yet the passing away of Merrick County's pioneer days must not be construed to mean the closing of its history. It was in the years of which this chapter treats that the greatest growth of the county in population and substantiality took place, and during which the more permanent elements of its life were given their first form and influence.

Merrick County, and particularly its county seat, Central City, has always been a prominent battleground of the temperance and license forces. Previous to 1880 the fight had been more or less intense under the local option system, and in that year a commotion of con¬ siderable magnitude was created by the blowing up, by gunpowder, of a Central City saloon. So far as the records go, the responsibility for this affair was never definitely located, and at the time each element was active in accusing its opponents of the deed. One thing appears on the surface of the affair, however, and that is that the temperance element, as such, neither participated in nor had knowledge of the existence of such a plot. The saloon was badly wrecked, and the bitterness of the fight was much increased for some time, but as it be¬ came more and more evident that the deed was one of personal, rather than partisan, purpose, popular interest subsided, and the struggle was renewed along the old line. The result has been that common to all reform work - a more or less steady swing from one extreme to the other, with perhaps a greater share of the real benefits accruing to the anti-license advocates.

The year 1880 was made memorable to Central City people in particular, and to the county in general, by the holding of the state G. A. R. reunion of that year at that place. Central City had. reached the stage where it was to take a large step forward, and become the town which Grand Island afterwards became, or to accept the more humble station of a thriving country town. The coming of the reunion was regarded as a favorable omen, and aroused the hope that the state would recognize the ambition of its people, and accord the county the honor of an inland metropolis. The reunion was held north of town, on the pasture lands east of the extension of Cattaraugus avenue, and was attended by an immense number of people. The Courier and the Item made the gathering the subject of special daily editions. That the aspirations of those early days were too great it is not difficult for the citizen of today to discern, but in spite of the unrealized hopes which it emphasizes, the memory of the reunion of '80 is one which the average inhabitant of Merrick County retains with pleasure.

It will be recalled that in the early portion of our history was noted the first trouble to which the farmer of the county was subjected - the grasshopper raid. It was not until 1882 that a second disturber of the agricultural peace appeared, in the form of a hail storm of wide range. In that year there swept over a large part of the county a storm of hailstones which demolished crops and injured property, giving to the people a new experience, of whose repetition they have ever since stood more or less in dread. .Two years later in 1884 their fears were realized, and again, and to an even greater extent, was the farmer's crop sacrificed to the storm god. The destruction of 1884 was of sufficient extent to produce a decided financial stress among the farmers of Merrick County, and, reacting, among all who were in any way connected with Merrick County life.

Through all of the fifteen years which are embraced in this chapter, was going steadily on that gradual change by which the county adapted itself to its larger growth. The commissioner system was dsopped and the supervisor system was substituted for it. Central City grew into a city of the second class (1886) and acquired a mayor and council. The small-postoffice stage of growth - resulting in such as Vick, Burlingame, Loup, and other little "crossroads" postal accommodations - was passed and the mail facilities, as well as commercial transactions, con¬ fined to the towns, which had in the meanwhile been increased in number by the addition of Archer and Palmer. The annual county fair came into existence and achieved its highest popularity during these years, starting on a slow decline in their latter end. Social and political life became more compact throughout the county, and the county's people, brought nearer a common center by the gradual extension of the improved roadways reaching out from the county seat, became more alive to the common interests and less exclusively con¬ cerned with the affairs of their own neighborhoods.

The great blizzard of 1888, which swept so devastatingly over all the western country, did not spare Merrick County. The Courier of January 19th, 1888, thus reports the storm which, it says, "will be historical:"

Last Thursday afternoon, while inhabitants of this part of the country were congratulating themselves on the enjoyment of such mild weather in mid- winter, suddenly, without a moment's warning, a blast of wind from the north, accom¬ panied by a shower of snow, swept across the earth like an avenging fury. The view of objects more than a few yards distant was obliterated in an instant, and the thermometer commenced falling with astonishing rapidity. Windows rattled, buildings shook, and the snow commenced piling itself in drifts across the thoroughfares. Those who were away from home contemplated the situation uneasily, and parents thought with great anxiety of their children at school. The blizzard raged on into the night with unceasing force, but Friday morning the wind had moderated and the air was clear. The thermometer continued falling, however, until Sunday, when it astonished the individual who walked out into the quiet almosphere about daylight to look at it, by registering, according to various reports, all the way from 35 to 40 degrees below zero. This record, we believe, beats any that is reported by the "oldest inhabitant."

So far as we have been able to learn, the blizzard numbers no victims in Merrick County, although some harrowing experiences are reported. Mr. J. E. Miller and wife, of Mead Precinct, started home Thursday evening and lost their way. Their team, after floundering around awhile, stumbled into Prairie Creek, and Mr. and Mrs. Miller got wet. In this cheerless condition they found their way to a deserted house, sheltered their horses there as well as they could, and spent the night inside. Necessarily they suffered considerably, and Mr. Miller had hard work to keep his wife from succumbing to the intense cold, but they managed to endure their surroundings and get home the next day. We under¬ stand, however, that Mrs. Miller's condition is somewhat serious. A gentleman in the employ of Mr. L. C. Hart was loading a wagon with hay from a stack when the storm struck him. After several vain endeavors to get his team to face it, he sheltered them on the lee side of the stack, burrowed into it himself, and, hauling in after him a couple of dogs he had with him, spent the night very comfortably. Mr. Bice* who is teaching school north of Chapman, spent the night in the build¬ ing with his pupils. As they had plenty of fuel they suffered only a little incon¬ venience. We learn that other teachers and scholars in the county went through the same experience. Many parents in town went to the school-house after their children and brought them home.

In the year following the blizzard, considerable interest was aroused in the county by the announcement that medicinal springs had been discovered on the farm of Mr. P. C. Moore, about a mile and a half east of Central City. Visions of a profitable summer resort, and a consequent increase in the population and reputation of the locality, appeared to the citizens of the county. But either the discovery was exaggerated or else the importance of the project minimized by subse¬ quent events, for no serious attempt was afterwards made to develop this "natural resource."

Only once has a large portion of the county been more or less seriously deluged by floods. In June, 1891, the first flood came. Said the Courier of June 24th: "The northern part of town [Central City] this morning reminds one of 'A Street Scene in Venice,' while a broad river has cut the southern part in two. An unusually heavy rain last night on top of an already saturated ground and swollen streams, has sufficed tp beat the flood record in this part of the country. Locust street is navigable from the M. E. Tabernacle to the Phelps House. Nearly all sidewalks across sloughs have been washed out, and the 'draws' in this locality have been converted into lakes. The B. & M. and U. P. tracks east of town have both been washed out and trains have l>een delayed at this point.'' The remainder of the county did not escape, for wherever there was a low place there was a lake, and rivers rushing through every little 'draw.' was the third and greatest foe of the agricultural region. Grasshoppers and hail had always been more or less local, but drouth was general. During the years 1893, 4> and 5* the people of the county came to know the full meaning of drouth, for failure of crops was almost universal, only those in the lowlands reaping anything from their sowing. We shall not go into further detail upon the subject of the years of drouth. 'Those who went through them know the hard grind of increasing discouragement which they brought with them, and their history is but an undesirabie tale of hardship. At times it seemed as if some permanent good might come of these years of worry, for an irriga¬ tion ditch, running east and west through the county, was discussed, and soiUe steps taken toward the carrying out of the plan. But it was never realized, and the lesson of the drouth was in that much lost.

Thus is practically ended the history of Merrick County up to the year 1895. In our next and last chapter we shall give the history of the "college movement" which at one time promised so much for the county. This might have been included in the present chapter, but seems important enough to be entitled to an entire chapter, which shall take up in more or less detail its inception, organization and duration.