Lincoln City (part 12 of 19)

In 1868 Robert Silvers got the contract for the building of the state university. The first thing he did w^as to start a brick yard. He bought all the wood he could find in the country and had to haul it with teams, as there were no railroads here at that time. He hauled the foundation stone from Yankee Hill, which was of sand rock. This was of little account. There was no other stone around Lincoln at that time with which to build foundations. The first bank at the corner of Tenth and O streets was built of it. At that time Mr. Silvers did not know how to find stone for the steps at the three principal entrances, south, east and west, to the university. He told me to search the county, as he hated to put wooden steps in a state university. I started out on my pony and the first day I could find no stone which would suit. The second day I went east and found stone located south of Bennett in a ravine. I returned and told Mr. Silvers that I had found- the stones that would make the steps. I got all the stones that had been long exposed to the sun and frost, dressed them, and there they are today. The three landings cost $1,000.00. , -v

The Seat Of Government At Lincoln

To found a city is a human ambition older than history. The name of the engineer that set the metes and bounds of the first block and street in Jerusalem, or Athens, or Philadelphia, or Minneapolis, may be obliterated by the tide of time, but his work endures to this day, and the man who would tamper with his records or shift his landmarks, is a miscreant by the unanimous voice of the nations. But there are other ambitions almost as exigent. (Jther than dreams of immortality nerve many a pioneer to make the fight for his rival site for the seat of government of a state, or of a county, or for a railroad station. It is a dream of corner lots, of speculation, of bonds and mortgages, and deeds and commissions, and sudden wealth.

The transformation of a rough pebble to a diamond, of a fragment of dirty looking carbonate, trodden under foot by a hundred prospectors, to a button of shining metal, are realizations of the fairy tales of childhood, no more seductive to the bearded son of the child than the transformation of a square mile of wilderness, for the present dear enough at the cost of measuring it with compass and chain, by the breath of a law or an ordinance into a realm worth a prince's portion.

Upon the area of a new commonwealth, therefore, are waged incessant contests. The larger armies fight for capital sites, lesser powers war for county seats, and finally small squads here and there struggle over the location of a postoffice or a sawmill, and wounds are given and received, and graveyards filled with the politically slaughtered on the field or in the skirmish line, with as much recklessness as if the fate of administration and the control of empires depended upon the issue.

The first governor of the Territory of Nebraska was clothed with imperial powers by the organic act and the appointment of the President in the matter of setting up his official residence. Empowered to select the spot for the political center of his virgin domain, he wielded for a time, in the minds of his fellow citizens, the thunderbolt of Jove, and guided the courses of Appollo. But hardly had he arrived in October, 1854, at the old mission house at Bellevue, the site of the first white occupation of the territory, before he sickened, and in less than a week he was dead. His last hours were troubled by the delegations on hand and forcinj^ their way to his bedside, who came to urge the respective claims of Omaha, or Florence, or I'lattsmouth, or Nebraska City for the seat of government. Bellevue considered herself safe, and the words of the dying Burt are often quoted by old citizens to this day as indicating that she would have won the crown, had the governor lived long enough to issue the necessary proclamation.

His secretary of state, who was his successor, Governor Cuming, unembarrassed by the past, pledged to no one, because no one had dreamed of his approaching greatness, had an embarrassment of riches in the shape of eligible sites offered hitn at once. Bellevue had perhaps the first claim, because she had the largest settlement and the greatest prestige. But all along the muddy banks of the Missouri, above and below her, were other cities, mostly on paper, though some had arrived at the dignity of a few scattering log cabins and dugouts, that wrestled for the supremacy. Most of their inhabitants lived over in Iowa, but the fact that they intended to elect, and did elect, a goodly portion of the coming Territorial Legislature, was a sufficient excuse for their pleading, and they made the executive ears warm with their arguments.

By what pathways the acting governor was led to pitch the imiierial tent upon the plateaux of Omaha is not our province to inquire. If the statesmen of Kanesville, later Council Bluffs, had a hand in the matter, that city soon had reason to mourn that the nest of the new commonwealth was lined with plumage from her own breast. From its very cradle, her infant despoiled her of her commercial prestige, and now scoff's at her maternal ancestor every time she glances across the four miles of dreary bottom that separates the waxing from the waning metropolis.

For the time being Omaha was the capital, and the first Legislature, with ample power to endorse or cancel the governor's location, was the next object of the executive attention, and it was his chiefest care to fortify and defend Omaha. A pretended enumeration of the inhabitants of the territory was made in November, 1854, upon which the governor proceeded to base the representation of the members of the territorial council and house of representatives. Four counties were constructed north of the Platte, named Burt, Douglas, Washington, and Dodge. Four were assigned to the south Platte : Cass, Pierce, Forney and Richardson. Douglas County extended to the Platte, embracing what is now Sarpy and Pierce, and Forney stood for what are now the counties of Otoe and Nemaha.

To the counties north of the Platte were apportioned seven councilmen and fourteen representatives, and to the southern counties were given six councilmen and twelve representatives. The enumeration made next year showed that the four northern counties contained 2,065 inhabitants, and the four counties south of the Platte contained 2,944. Here was the beginning of the trouble, the inequitable apportionment of the legislative representation, by which the section of the state known thenceforth as the "South Platte" country, was arbitrarily placed in the minority in each branch of the legislature, though greatly preponderating in population and wealth.

It is a matter of tradition that there was no definite eastern boundary of the territory during the first legislative election. The candidates were often residents of Iowa, who had claims on the other side of the great river, whose name as well as birth right had been stolen by a lesser affluent of the Mississippi to the eastward.

and were voted for in Pottawatamie, and Mills, and Fremont, as well as in Washington, Douglas and Cass. Sometimes the electors would form a camp for polling purposes on Nebraska soil, but where this was inconvenient it is rumored that they transacted the necessary business without leaving their Iowa homes, and merely dated their papers from the new commonwealth.

The governor's location was not disputed by that body, or the next. But when the third annual session of the Territorial Legislature opened in 1857 the trouble began immediately. The council still numbered seven from the north and six from the south, while the house had been increased to thirty-one members, sixteen from the north, and fifteen from the south. Douglas County absorbed twelve of the sixteen north Platte members. But her delegation was divided against itself. The memory of the lost chances that had stricken Bellevue with dry rot and had blighted the buddmg hopes of the Florentines, rankled in the bosoms of two representatives, one of whom hailed from the southern, and the other from the northern, extremity of the county. Youthful politicians wear out their hearts with the vain imagining that "to get even" is the chiefest end of statesmanship, and these united with the chafed warriors of the south in a raid on Omaha.

A bill was passed early in the session by both houses locating the seat of government "in the town of Douglas, in the County of Lancaster." It was a curious prophecy of the event ten years later. Stephen A. Douglas was then the rising star of the party that had been dominant for thirty-two out of the forty years last past. He was the idol of the democracy of the north, and was exhausting the resources of an acute and fertile intellect in plans for conciliating his southern brethern without losing his hold upon the aflfections of the north. He was certain to be a candidate for President, and if the party was united was certain of election. Three years later he and his cunningly devised statesmanship were swept away, his old townsman and hitherto almost unknown competitor, had supplanted him as the great popular leader, and ten years later gave the name to the capital of Nebraska.

Governor Izard, who had in the meantime relieved acting Governor Cuming of the burden of executive honors, promptly vetoed the bill. He explained in his message that it was a sudden movement of the enemies of Omaha, that the question had not been agitated by the people, that the alleged town of Douglas, in the County of Lancaster, was a mere figment of the legislative imagination, invented for the occasion and that its actual location in the county named was problematical, being as yet the football of factions within the faction that had passed the removal bill.

A year later, at a meeting of the fourth legislative assembly, the quarrel broke out afresh. Governor Izard had resigned, and Richardson, his successor, had not arrived, and Secretary Cuming was again in the chair. Nine days prior to the expiration of the session, on the "th of January, a bill was introduced for the removal of the capital to Florence. The various tactical obstructions in the reach of the minority, engineered by such rising young statesmen as Dr. George L. Miller, president of the council, and A. J. Poppleton and J. Sterling Morton in the House, made it impossible to accomplish the object without strategy. The strategy resorted to was simple, but startling. On the morning of the 8th Mr. Donelan of Cass placidly rose in his place and moved "that we do now adjourn to meet at Florence tomorrow morning at the usual hour." Speaker '

Decker, who was one of the removers, put the question from the chair, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to meet at Florence tomorrow morning; and the motion presailed, and the speaker and all hut thirteen members of the house picked up their hats and left the chamber. The thirteen held the fort, elected Morton speaker pro tern, and gallantly eiifected an adjournment to rneet again on the morrow at the old stand.

A similar scene was transpiring in the council. Doctor Miller, in the chair, refused to put the motion to adjourn to Florence, and it was put by Reeves of Otoe, declared carried, and eight councilmen stalked out into the cold world and prepared themselves for an eternal exodus to the village up the river. As to this emigration Douglas County was again divided against herself. Bowen and Allen, the one representing Florence, and the other standing for that cruel Juno, licllevue, whose lofty mind still was revoh-ing some plan of vengeance for the judgment of Paris and her injured beauty, were the leaders in the race, and behind the twain marched Bradford and Reeves of Otoe, Kirkpatrick of Cass, Saft'ord of Dodge, and F"urnas of Nemaha.

Governor Richardson arrived about this time, to find two capitals and two legislatures in full blast, and himself the unwilling arbitrator of the war. He promptly refused to recognize the Florence legislature, though it had the majority of both houses. The forty days' limit of the session broke up both bodies, and they each adjourned, leaving the business of the session undone, and the territory without a code of criminal law. and thus ended the first and last attempt recorded in history to attach the removal of a seat of government to a motion to adjourn until tomorrow morning.

The consequence was an extra session not long after, in 1859, at which muck business was done, and in which Mr. Daily of Nemaha introduced a bill to abolish slavery in the territory, but during which the capital agitation slumbered and slept.

Then there was an interregnum. The Civil war quenched sectional bickerings, and the ambitions of leaders had objects more alluring than the founding of cities. But the war came to an end. and when the last Territorial Legislature of 1867 met, the old question of unfair apportionment came to the front again. The population of the south Platte section had increased until it was about double that of the counties north of the troublesome stream. But the superior tactics of the Douglas County leaders held down its representation to such an extent that it had but seven of the thirteen councilmen. and twenty-one of the thirty-seven representatives. Two threads of policy had intertwisted to make the resistance to a reappointment, based upon actual population, sufficiently strong to overcome the justice supposed to be latent in the minds of statesmen.

The first was the fear entertained by Douglas County of the reopening of the capital agitation. The north Platte was now about a unit in favor of Omaha, as against a southern competitor. The second was a political consideration. A reapportionment meant a cutting down of the representation from Otoe as well as Douglas counties, both democratic strongholds. These counties, with the assistance of some lesser constituencies in the north of the Platte, which sent democratic delegations, were able to hold a very even balance in the Legislature against the republicans, though the latter had an unquestionable majority in the territory. Now that statehood was imminent, and there were two United States senators to be elected by a State Legislature soon to be called, in case President Johnson should fail in his plan of defeating our admission under the enabling act of 1864, it was of immense importance to stave off a reapportionment.

Hence for capital reasons the republicans from the north Platte, and the democrats from the south Platte, worked in harmony with Douglas County members in preserving a basis of representation in its original injustice. The usual bill for a new apportionment had been introduced and passed the Senate, and came to the House, but the four votes from C)toe County being solid against it. it was sleeping the sleep of the just. In the speaker's chair was William F. Chapin of Cass, an expert parliamentarian, cool, determined, watchful, and untiring. The session was drawing to a close, and it was Saturday ; the term expired at 12 o'clock, midnight, on the following IMonday, and as usual the results of pretty much all the toil and perspiration of the forty days depended upon a ready and rapid dispatch of business during the remaining hours of the session.

There was something sinister in the air. It was whispered about that morning that the reapportionment bill had at last a majority in case Deweese of Richardson, who was absent on leave, should put in an appearance. A ^-ote or two had been brought over from some of the northern districts, remote from Omaha, and anxious for republican domination. "Fun" was therefore expected. It came very soon after the roll was called in the opening of the session. The credentials of D. M. Rolfe of Otoe, who had not been in attendance during the session, but who was an anti-reapportionist, w'ere called up, and it was moved that they be reported to a special committee. The ayes and nays were demanded. Pending roll call, it was moved that a call of the house be ordered. The call was ordered, and the doors closed. All the members answered to their names but Deweese of Richardson and Dorsey of Washington. Then the other side made a motion that further proceedings under the call be dispensed with. The ayes and nays were demanded, and there were seventeen ayes and sixteen nays. Speaker Chapin announced that he voted "no," and that being a tie, the motion was lost. An appeal was taken from the decision of the chair, and the vote resulted in another tie, and the appeal was declared lost. The rule is, that an affirmative proposition cannot be carried by a tie vote, but that all questions are decided in the negative. The usual form of putting the question by the speaker is, "Shall the decision of the chair stand as the judgment of the house?" The negative would be that it should not so stand. But in that case a decision of the chair is reversed by less than a majority of the members voting, which is of course absurd. It was a deadlock. The house still refused to suspend proceedings under the call, and there was no recourse except by revolution. The result was a curious demonstration of the absurdity of manipulating a proposition by the use of misleading formulas so that the negative side of a question may appear to be in the affirmative.

The house passed, but "No Thoroughfare" was written on the faces of the reapportionists. They said that until they had some assurance that a reapportionment bill would be passed before the adjournment, they would prevent the transaction of any more business. Secretly they expected Deweese, who was rumored to be well enough to attend, and they waited for his appearance. But he did not come. The doorkeeper and the sergeant at arms had orders to let no man out.

and when noontide passed and the shadows lengthened, the niemhers sent for refreshments and kniched at their desks. The night came. Some of the refreshments had heen of a very partisan character, and there was blood on the horizon. Many became hilarious, and the lobby was exceedingly noisy. From hilarity to pugnacity is a very short step. Arms and munitions of war were smuggled in during the evening by the outside friends of both sides, and it was pretty confidently whispered about that the conclusion was to be tried by force of revolvers.

A little after lo o'clock, P. M. Augustus F. Harvey of Otoe rose and moved that Speaker Chapin be deposed, and that Doctor Abbott of Washington be elected to fill the vacancy. He then put the question to a viva voce vote, and declared the motion adoi^ted and Doctor Abbott elected speaker of the house. The stalwart form of Mr. Parmalee. the fighting man of the faction, immediately lifted itself from a desk nearby, and advanced, with Doctor Abbott, toward the chair, backed up by Harvey and a procession of his friends. As he placed his foot upon the first step of the dais. Speaker Chapin suddenly unlimbered a Colt's navy duly cocked, and warned him briefly to the efifect that the Pythagorean proposition that two bodies could not occupy the same place at the same time was a rule of the house, and would be enforced by the combined armament, at the command of the proper presiding officer. Daniel paused upon the brink of fate, and hesitated upon his next step. To hesitate was to be lost. The speaker announced that in accordance with the rules of the house in cases of great disorder, he declared the house adjourned until g o'clock Monday morning, and sprang for the door. The Omaha lobby had promised faithfully when the crisis came to guard that door, and permit no rebel from the south Platte to escape. The first man to reach the door was said to be Kelley of Platte, who had joined the forces of the reapportionists, and it is a tradition that he leaped over the legislative stove to get there on time. The door was burst open, anil before the volunteer guard could recover its equilibrium, the seceders had escaped and were out of the building, scattering to the four corners of the globe. But they had a rendezx'ous agreed upon in a secret place, and in half an hour they were safely entrenched and on guard against any sergeant-at-arms and posse that might be dispatched to return them to durance vile.

The Abbott house immediately organized, admitted Rolfe of Otoe to full membership, and proceeded to clear the docket of accumulated bills. Members of the lobby trooped in and voted the names of the absent, and everything proceeded in an unanimous way that must have astonished the walls of the chamber, if they had ears and memory. About dawn, however, the situation began to lose its roseate hue and an adjournment was had until Monday morning.

Before that time arrived, the hopelessness of the situation dawned upon both factions. They perceived that nothing whatever would come of the deadlock. Neither party had a quorum. Deweese of Richardson could not be brought in to cast his vote for reapportionment, and by common consent a peace was concluded, and Monday was spent in an amicable settlement of the arrearages of routine business.

But this episode created a sensation all over the state, and intensified partisan and sectional feeling. The adjournment took place on the i8th of February, and two days later, on the 20th, the State Legislature chosen at the same time, under the enabling act, met at a call of Governor Saunders, to accept or reject the

"fundamental condition" insisted on by Congress as a condition precedent to the admission of the state. The condition was that the word "white" in the constitution theretofore passed by the Legislature, and ratiiied by the people, should not be construed as debarring from the franchise any citizen of Nebraska, on account of color or race.

The State Legislature promptly ratified the "fundamental condition," and declared that white meant in their constitution any color whatever. Ten days later and the President's proclamation had been issued declaring Nebraska a state in the Union. The state officers were sworn in immediately after official notice had been given, and Governor Butler began at once to prepare his call for a special session of the Legislature to put the machi'nery of state in motion.

It was insisted upon by the leaders of the republican party in the south and west, that a reapportionment of members of the Legislature should be one of the objects of legislation enumerated in the call. This was bitterly opposed by many republicans in Douglas and other northern counties. It was also asked, this time by democrats, as well as republicans from Otoe, as well as from Cass and Richardson, and the southwestern counties, that a clause should be inserted making the location of the seat of government of the state one of the objects of the special session. The governor was averse to commencing his administration with a capital wrangle, but thought it would be good policy to make use of the suggestion, for the purpose of securing reapportionment, without a repetition of the bitter struggle of the winter. He therefore opened negotiations with the Douglas County delegation to the coming Legislature, and promised them that he would leave out the capital question, provided they would pledge themselves to sustain a reapportionment. They flatly refused. They claimed that the Legislature could not constitutionally reapportion the representation until after the next census, and as for capital removal, they were not brought up in the woods to be scared by an owl. The Otoe delegation, however, had changed its base. The senators had been elected and seated, and political consideration had lost their force with the democrats in that county. They wanted the capital removed south of the Platte, and they promised if the governor would "put that in" they would march right up and vote for apportionment.

His excellency had gone too far to retreat, and when his call was issued it embraced both capital removal and reapportionment, having consulted a distinguished constitution constructor. Judge Jamison of Chicago, on the latter point, and obtained an elaborate opinion that it was not only in the power of the Legislature, but its bounden duty, under the constitution, to reapportion the representation at its first session.

The Legislature met on the i8th of May, and the lines were quickly drawn for the emergency. Reapportionment was a fixed fact, and after a few days spent in reconnoitering, a solid majority in both houses seemed likely to agree upon a scheme for capital location. Mr. Harvey who had led the assault upon reapportionment at the late session of the Territorial Legislature, was an active leader of his late antagonists for relocation. Party affiliations were ruptured all along the line, and the new lines were formed on a sectional basis. The bill was prepared with deliberation, much caucusing being required before it would satisfy the various elements in the movement, and it was introduced into both houses on the 4th of June. It was entitled "An act to provide for the location of the seat

Scenes In Lincoln In 187.5

The House passed the bill two days later, under suspension of the rules, forwarding it to its third reading. As in the Senate, so in the House, the opponents of the bill resorted to strategy for stampeding the friends of the measure, and offered numerous amendments to locate the capital or the university or the agricultural college at Nebraska City, or in the boundaries of Cass or Nemaha counties. But all amendments were steadily voted down by a solid phalan.x. The gentlemen in the House voting "aye" on its final passage were David M. Anderson, John B. Bennett, William H. Hicklin, Aug. F. Harvey and George W. Sroat of Otoe, J. R. Butler of Pawnee, John Cadman of Lancaster, E. L. Clark of Seward, W. F. Chapin, D. Cole, A. B. Fuller and Isaac Wiles of Cass, George Crowe, W^illiam Dailey, Louis Waldter and C. F. Haywood of Nemaha, J. M. Deweese, Gustavus Duerfeldt, T. J. Collins and J. T. Hoile of Richardson, Henry Morton of Dixon, Dean C. Slade and John A. Unthank of Washington, Oliver Townsend of Gage and George P. Tucker of Johnson - twenty-five.

The "noes" were O. W. Baltzley of Dakota, Henry Beebe of Dodge, George N. Crawford and A. W. Trumble of Sarpy, George W. Frost. Joel T. Griffin,

It will be obsen-ed that several votes were cast for the bill from the northern counties. Tied up with the capital removal was a bill engineered by the secretary of state, Mr. Kennard, then a resident of Washington County, and Senator Davis, appropriating seventy-five sections of state internal improvement lands for the building of a railroad, now a part of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Line running from the river near Blair to Fremont. It was then called the "North Nebraska Air Line." Another measure was also attached to these two to make the syndicate solid in Namaha, the only county that had sent up a remonstrance against the removal of the capital. It was a bill accepting for the state the tender of the Methodist Episcopal Seminary at Peru for a state normal school, and donating twenty sections of state lands for the endowment of the same. The thiee. bills and the reapportionment bill received virtually the same support in both houses and all passed about the same time.

The plans of the capital removers so far had not met with the determined resistance that had been anticipated, although the parliamentarians from Douglas and other counties had e.xhausted the resources of ordinary tactics at the command of the minority. The fact was that for several months Omaha had been making such a rapid commercial growth, owing to the extension of the Union Pacific Railroad to the frontier and the incoming of the Chicago & Northwestern Road from Central Iowa to Council Bluf¥s, that her business men had tlieir hands full. Their ambition had expanded. The capital question was dwarfed by the prospect of becoming in the near future a great commercial metropolis. Real estate was going up like a rocket. Capitalists were crowding in every day, and the faces of the newcomers seen on the streets greatly outnumbered the familiar physiognomies of the old settlers of '54 and '60. What had Omaha to fear even if the Utopian scheme of founding "'a city fifty miles from anywhere," as they called it, should succeed? It was too far away from the Union Pacific and the Missouri to be of any importance. The lobby was therefore conspicuous for its absence. There was more money to be made in a day in trading lots and securing railroad contracts than in a month of wrestling with the fads of rural legislators. Just at that time, it is due to historical truthfulness to say that Omaha cared little for the questions that were taking up the attention of the lawmakers at the state house.

The departure of the capital commission to hunt a site for Lincoln was a subject of merriment to the newspapers of the old capital. Not until after much traveling to and fro, looking at the sites through the length and breadth of the territory defined by the act, the commissioners on the 29th of July having issued their order locating Lincoln, in Lancaster County, on and about the site of Lancaster, its county seat, and commenced to survey the same into blocks, lots, reservations, streets and alleys, did the press of Omaha wake to the realities of the situation.

Then there was music in the air. The act provided that within ten days after its passage the commissioners should qualify and give bonds to be approved by a judge of the Supreme Court. The bonds were to be filed with the state treasurer. Now it had been ascertained that though the commissioners had sent in their bonds to the chief justice, and he had approved them in the stipulated time, they had not been filed with the treasurer inside of the ten days. It was announced, therefore, that they had no authority to do anything under the law, and that if they sold what purported to be lots in the Townsite of Lincoln, the treasurer, Hon. Augustus Kountze of Omaha, would receive the money and hold it for future disposition, but he would not pay out any of it as a capitol building fund. At any rate injunction would be applied for to prevent him. The announcement was calculated to discourage those intending to become purchasers of Lincoln lots. It did have a very depressing effect. The commissioners said that to be forewarned was to be forearmed, and as they had determined to avoid litigation and the possible tying up of the money until the meeting of the next Legislature, they should keep it in their own hands and pay it out without the intervention of the treasurer. This promise was faithfully kept. The next Legislature formally legalized this and other departures from the strict letter of the law made by them in the pursuit of success, but for the time being it was a very serious embarrassment.

The sale of lots opened on the new site in October. The commissioners were on tlie spot with cjuite a number of possible purchasers. The auctioneer was a handsome man and had a good voice. There was a band of music in attendance, and it played as well as any band ought to play so far away from ci\'!lization. But not a bid could be coaxed from a single soul. The commissioners had decided, upon consideration, that they would not personally invest. It was decided proper to observe the proprieties very strictly, and to avoid future scandals they would keep out. But this was a matter of suspicion to the crowd present. If the commissioners had not enough confidence in the new city to purchase a residence or business lot, why should the)' venture any in\'estment? Night came on and not a lot had been sold.

A council of war was summoned in the evening in the Donovan House and the connnissioners and certain gentlemen from Nebraska City were in attendance. The Nebraska City capitalists said that the commissioners ought to bid on lots, and the commissioners said that the Nebraska City men who were so much res])onsible for the scheme ought to bid. Finally it was conceded that both ought to bid. The Nebraska City men formed a syndicate that agreed to bid the appraised value on every lot as it was offered and as much more in case of competition as they thought safe, until they had taken $10,000 worth of lots. But there was a proviso that in case the sales did not amount in five days to $25,000, including the syndicate's $10,000, the whole business should be declared "off," the enterprise abandoned, and no money be paid in. The commissioners also rescinded their compact against becoming personal bidders, for they saw that matters were in a very precarious condition and they had to imbue the people ]>resent with confidence in Lincoln. The next day business began in earnest. When the five days had passed $44,000 had been realized, and the prospects were considered certain for the erection of a capitol building. By the time the sales at Nebraska City and Omaha had been finished $53,000 had been taken in, and no supplementary sales at Plattsmouth and Brownville were held, though comparatively few lots had been disposed of, to realize the necessary amount.

Lancaster, the site of which had been swallowed up by Lincoln after the proprietors had deeded it to the state in consideration of the location of the capital, was a hamlet of five dwellings, a part of one being used as a store, and the stone walls of a building commenced as a seminary by the Methodist Church, but which had partly burned before completion and had been temporarily abandoned. The residents on the original plat of Lincoln were Capt. W. T. Donovan, whose house stood on the corner of Ninth and O ; Jacob Dawson, w^hose log dwelling was on the south side of O, between Seventh and Eighth, and who had commenced the foundations of a residence on the corner of Tenth and O; Milton Langdon, who lived in a small stone house east of Dawson's, between O and P; Luke Lavender, whose log cabin stood in Fourteenth, just south of O ; and John McKesson, who was constructing a frame cottage two or three blocks north of the university. ( Note : Lavender's cabin location is now understood to have been on Fifteenth and O, and was the first house on the site of Lincoln.) Scattered about just outside the city limits as then established, on premises that since then have been brought in as additions, were tlie residences of Rev. J. M. Young, William Guy, Philip Humerick, E. T. Hudson, E. Warnes and John Giles. Between the date of the location and the first sale of lots a number of buildings were erected on the site, the owners taking their chances at the sales of securing their titles by purchase. There were two frame stores, one occupied by Pflug Brothers, and another by Rich & Company, a law office by S. B. Galey, a shoe shop by Robert and John Monteith, a stone building, afterwards rented to the Commonwealth, the predecessor of the State Journal, by Jacob Drum, a hotel called the Pioneer House by Colonel Donovan. These buildings were located on or in the vicinity of the public square and fixed the business center of Lincoln.

As soon as the sale was finished the commissioners proceeded to advertise for plans for a capitol building. John Morris was the successful architect and Joseph Ward secured the contract for its construction on his bid of $49,000.

The excavation w-as commenced in November and by the ist of December of the following year, 1868, was sufficiently completed for occupancy, and the governor issued his proclamation transferring the seat of government to Lincoln and for the removal of the state offices and archives to the new building. The first capitol was constructed of sandstone, quarried at various points within Lancaster County, with a facing of magnesian limestone from a quarry near Beatrice. This stone was hauled the forty miles over roads and bridges in part constructed by the contractor.

The considerations that led the commissioners to select Lincoln in preference to the sites offered at Ashland. Milford, Camden and other points were, first, the fact that in the several preliminary surveys made from various points on the Missouri River from Plattsmouth down to Falls City, all had this place as a common point ; it was the natural railroad center, to all appearances, for the large and irregular parallelogram running west from the Missouri, between the Platte on the north, and the Kansas or Kaw on the south, to the plains of Eastern Colorado. The eastern portion of this parallelogram was e\en then alleged by enthusiastic Nebraskans to be the garden spot of the continent. It has produced the largest average of corn to the acre of any equal and continuous area reported by our census gatherers. At that time, though its capacity for corn was not fully appreciated, it was regarded as a wonderful wheat growing section. It has lost its prestige in spring wheat, but it holds its own in corn, oats, grass, and fruit, and is all that the fancy of the fathers of '67 painted it.

Early Scenes In Lincoln

all the salt springs of the state that gave promise of future importance were located. It was generally believed that the salt manufacture alone would build a stirring city. The third reason was that it was about as far from the Missouri River as it was advisable to go. To take it twenty miles farther west would be to remove it from any immediate expectation of rail communication, and so increase the expense of building that it would be impossible to dispose of the lots or to erect a capitol with the proceeds within the two years, and hence the enterprise would fail. It was furthermore generally believed that the site selected wasabout midway between the western limit of arable land, and that it would always be the center of population.

The Legislature met in January, 1869, in the new capitol, approved the acts of the commissioners without very much criticism, provided for the erection of a state university and agricultural college on the site reserved, and for an insane hospital on state lands secured by the commission on Yankee Hill, and ordered the sale of the remaining lots and blocks belonging to the state to furnish the funds for such buildings in connection with certain lands available for the purjjose. They also made appropriations amounting to about sixteen thousand dollars for completing the capitol building with a dome, and for defraying the expense of "extras" ordered by the commissioners on the state house to make it comlcmable and habitable. Several thousand dollars were used in grading the grounds, fencing the same, planting them with trees, and erecting outbuildings. The total cost of the building, fittings and grounds, is finally stated at $83,000.

Under the various acts and appropriations of that Legislature the sale of lots continued at intervals during '69 and '70. Three hundred and sixteen thousand dollars was the sum realized from these sales, making a sum total of about three hundred and seventy thousand dollars that the original site of Lincoln brought into the state. It was not a bad investment for young Nebraska, but its success as a real estate speculation was almost wholly due to the energy and pluck of the commissioners, that led them from time to time to overleap technical obstacles and defects in the law, and take desperate political and financial chances as the alternative of the ignominious failure of the schemes. They were applauded and honored in "69 and '70, but a reaction set in in '71 and they met a Nemesisthat for a time threatened them not only with disgrace but absolute destruction.

But for three years these men played the star parts on the political stage in the infant state, and they have left a monument to the efficiency of their work, to their business sagacity, and to their political courage, that bids fair to be as enduring as history.

In its first year Lincoln grew to be a village of about 800 inhabitants. In 1870 the census revealed a population of 2,400. In 1875 it was the second city in the state and numbered 7,300. In 1880 it had 13,000 people and in 1885, it had reached and passed 20,000.

When it was surveyed the nearest railroad connecting with the eastern markets was at Omaha and St. Joseph, Mo. In 1880 it had eight diverging lines to all points of the compass, and in 1890 it bids fair to have a round dozen spokes to its commercial wheel. In this remarkable progress, she is but ait exemplar of her state and her people. A century of improvement in twenty years is the rule in Nebraska and has been from the day she took her place irk the galaxy of the Union.

Notwithstanding the great honor that had been accorded Lancaster County in placing the capital of the State of Nebraska within her borders, the struggle to keep the capital here and to create the new City of Lincoln was a contest of discouragement, of inward machinations and hopeless outlook. The story of the first lot sales and attendant circumstances is related elsewhere. The first half year, 1867, brought little improvement beyond a few squatters, but in the next year, 1868, the Town of Lincoln acquired new courage and by the end of the year had fully five hundred inhabitants. Many of these settlers owned lots in the town which they had bought for prices from twenty to fifty dollars, some of them now being worth as much as thirty thousand dollars. The settled portion of the town was bounded by Eighth, Twelfth, R and N streets.

When the capital was located here there were just two stores on the site of the town, one being owned by the Pflug Brothers and the other by Max Rich & Company ; these two places stood on opposite sides of the square. As stated before, the very first house to be constructed on the site of Lincoln was the log cabin of Luke Lavender, located very near the site of the Lincoln Public Library. Jacob Dawson abandoned his log cabin near O and Eighth streets, and erected a log and stone house back some distance from the corner of O and Tenth, southwest. The first business l)lock erected in Lincoln was the Sweet Block, on the northeast corner of Tenth and O streets. This was constructed early in 186S by Darwin Peckham and is still standing, although not to be recognized in its present form. The structure was in fact three buildings erected together Ijy James Sweet, the largest purchaser of the first Lincoln lots, A. C. Rudolph and Pflug Brothers. Mr. Sweet and N. C. Brock opened the first bank in Lincoln in the southwest corner room, first floor, in June, 1868. This bank continued until 1871, when it was reorganized as the State Bank of Nebraska by Samuel G. Owen, James Sweet and N. C. Brock. Near the same time that the bank opened lor business, A. C. Rudolph opened a grocery store in the next room to the north and Pflug Brothers a stock of merchandise in the third room from the corner. The upper part of the building was used for offices, some of them, for many years, being used for county purposes. Mr. Sweet also kept the papers of the state treasury there when he held that office in 1869.

The first clothing house in the town was opened in 1868 by Bain Brothers on the southeast corner of Tenth and O streets. Prior to this they had conducted a real estate business in a front room on Tenth Street, just south of their clothing house. D. B. Cropsey also conducted a real estate office on the southwest corner of Tenth and C) in company with his father, A. J. Cropsey. In 1868 Bohanan

Tenth Street, Lincoln, Between O And N, 1875 Sweet Block. Corner Of Tenth And O, 1H6S

Brothers opened up a meat market west of the Cropsey office. Squire Blazier also opened up a meat market near the present site of the federal building, Government Square then being called Market Square. Early pictures of the square show that the area was a very popular place as a meeting ground for wagons, horses, cattle, emigrant trains and such. Quite an amount of business, particularly land business, was transacted in the open ground of this square. On O Street, third door west from Tenth, immediately across from the present city hall, then the postoffice, David May opened a small stock of clothing for sale in 1868. The statement has been made, and believed, that David May's store was on Tenth Street, but the early photographs printed herein will show that it is untrue. South of the alley on Tenth R. R. Tingley opened a small drug store and a short distance south C. F. Damrow started a tailoring shop. S. B. Pound had a small stock of groceries at what is now 915 O Street, where he went into partnership with Max Rich during a few months of 1867-68. The next year he sold his interest in the establishment to Rich & Oppenheimer. Mr. Pound afterward entered the law and became noted for his success in this profession.

In the block bounded by O, N, Eighth and Ninth streets there was one building, Dunbar's livery stable, on the northeast corner. A photograph of this accompanies this chapter. In the block bounded by O, P, Eighth and Ninth there were two or three buildings. On the southeast corner Dr. H. D. Gilbert, formerly of Nebraska City, had established a mercantile house. His small home stood just north of the store. Humphrey Brothers succeeded Doctor Gilbert shortly afterwards. Milton Langdon lived in the rear of the southwest corner of Eighth and Q streets. Elis milk house, a little to the south, served for a time as the first jail in the city and county. In the block bounded by P, O, Eighth and Ninth H. S. Jennings built a stone residence near the northeast corner. In the block bounded by P, Q, Ninth and Tenth there were several buildings, large and small. On the northwest corner was the Pioneer House, the first hotel in Lincoln, managed by L. A. Scoggin. John Cadman built up the walls of the burned seminary, opened it as a hotel and called it the Cadman House. After running it for a few months he sold it to Nathan Atwood. who constructed a brick front to it and named it the Atwood House. The building was burned in 1879. In this same block, on the northeast corner, was the Methodist Church. The lots for this were donated by Governor Butler. On P Street, Seth B. Galey, then county clerk, constructed a small stone office. Next to him on the west was a small building occupied by S. B. Pound and Seth Robinson, lawyers. At 922 P Street was the Monteith shoe shop. In the block enclosed by Q, R, Eleventh and Twelfth, north of the southwest corner, was the stone schoolhouse, the first in Lincoln. Between O, P, Tenth and Eleventh streets the first saloon in Lincoln was started by Ans and George Williams. Their building was the first completed on the east side of the square. It stood north of the center of the block and the upper floor was used for various offices. In the front room Thomas H. Hyde conducted a land office, a popular rendezvous for the politicians of the day. The saloon on the lower floor became a notorious resort of early Lincoln. D. A. Sherwood had a real estate office near the southeast corner of the block, also a small stock of groceries. Behind these shops, to the north and west, was located the first lumber yard in the city, owned by the firm of Monell & Larkley. Shortly \'alentine Brothers started a lumber yard on Eleventh, between M and N. During 186&-69 both of these himber concerns employed wagons and teams to transport kmiber from the Missouri River, from a point six miles above Nebraska City. A. JCropsey built a residence near where the south end of the Capital Hotel stands.

W. W. Carder's newspaper, the Commonwealth, was located near the middle of the east side of the block enclosed by N, O, Tenth and Eleventh streets. On the southwest corner of the block William Shirley had a boarding house and next to it, on the north, was Cox's grocery and boarding house. Near the present location of the Harley Drug Store William Rowe owned a harness shop, the first in Lincoln. About three lots east on O Street was the real estate office of J. P. Lantz. Air. Lantz published a real estate monthly, the Nebraska Intelligencer, for seven years. Two lots farther east was the residence of \\'illiam Guy. On the southeast corner of Twelfth and O streets, where Rector's drug store is located, Charles May conducted a bakery. North of this, in the vicinity of the old Burr Block, stood William Allen's residence. Leighton & Brown had a small drug store on the southeast corner of O and Eleventh. Seth H. Robinson lived on the northwest corner of Twelfth and P streets.

On the petition of a majority of the inhabitants of the city the county commissioners ordered on April 7, 1868, that the Town of Lincoln be declared a body corporate. L. A. Scoggin, B. F. Cozad, Doctor Potter, W^ W. Carder and A. L. Palmer were appointed trustees of the new corporation. An election was held May 18, 1868. when H. S. Jennings, S. B. Linderman, H. D. Gilbert, J. J- Van Dyke and D. W. Tingley were elected trustees. The town organization of 1868 was not maintained and a petition for a new organization, signed by 169 citizens, was presented to the board of county commissioners. The town was then reincorporated on April 7, 1869, and made to include section 26, the west half of section 25, the southwest quarter of section 24, and the south half of section 2'},, all in town 10 north, range 6 east. H. S. Jennings, S. B. Linderman, H. D. Gilbert, J. L. McConnell and D. W'. Tingley were selected as trustees and Seth Robinson, A. J. Cropsey and T. N. Townley were appointed judges of election. The first election under the new organization was held May 3, 1869. The following men were elected trustees of Lincoln: H. D. Gilbert, C. H. Gere, William Rowe, Philetus Peck and J. L. McConnell. The board organized with H. D. Gilbert, chairman: J. R. DeLand, clerk; and N. C. Brock, treasurer.

In all, the year 1869 was a very good one for the new City of Lincoln. Lots had sold well and had commanded good prices, or what were considered good prices at that time. The Legislature met that year and ratified the work of the commissioners in selecting Lincoln as the state capital. This gave confidence to the people and the future of the town, its development and progress were assured. Mr. C. H. Gere wrote the following in regard to the first Legislature :

"The members of the first Legislature brought their cots, blankets and pillows with them in their overland journeys in wagons (hired) or the jerkies of the stage line, and lodged, some in newly erected store buildings, some in the upper rooms of the state house, while the wealthier lawmakers boldly registered at the Atwood hostelry, and paid their bills for extras, including 'noise and confusion' during the senatorial mill between Tipton, Butler and Marquett ; and how they all agreed, after some preliminary hair-pulling, that the new capitol was a success, and or- dered a dome erected thereon reaching the upper atmosphere, and confirmed the deeds, regular and irregular, of the commission, and gave us a cemetery in which to bury our dead ; how they passed a bill for the organization of the state university, and ordered a further sale of lots and lands to build the dome and construct a university building, a wing of an insane hospital, and a workshop for the penitentiary and how they were all built in part or in whole of the old red sandstone of the vicinity, and came to grief soon after, may not be an interesting story today, but it was full of eloquence, fire and significance for those who were on the ground at the time.

"From the adjournment of that Legislature, the body that took in hand the building up of the' new commonwealth and the laying of the foundation of its great institutions, so ably aided by the executive officers of our first state administration to this time, every six working days of every week of the twenty years ( written in 1889) has seen completed an average of ten buildings on the site of the city consecrated to the memory of the great emancipator and war President.

"No body of men in forty years accomplished more. Every law passed by that memorable Legislature of '69 weighed a ton. Its work was original and creative, and it did it well. Its moving spirit was the governor, David Butler. Some of its members came down to Lincoln from hostile localities, and had it in their hearts to destroy him and his works; but before the session was a fortnight old, his genial though homely ways, his kindness of heart, his sturdy common sense, the originality of his genius, and the boldness of his conceptions, captured them, and when the forty days were done, no man in the two houses avowed himself the enemy of David Butler."

"Only about 2j,4 years have elapsed since the commissioners, by official proclamation, called the Town of Lincoln into existence. The Village of Lancaster, which was included within its site, contained in all less than a half dozen buildings' of every description. At the present time that number has been increased to over three hundred and fifty, and the number of inhabitants in the town will not fall short of twenty-five hundred souls. The appreciation of real property, which was so low at the time of the first public sales that the commissioners nearly despaired of being able to make sufficient sales of lots to defray the expenses of building the state house, has risen to such an extent that means have been obtained from that source sufficient not only for the building of the state house, but also for building the state university and agricultural college and the state lunatic asylum, and about six hundred lots belonging to the state yet remain to be sold.

"The cash valuation of the real property of the town belonging to private individuals, as ascertained from the assessment rolls, is $456,956. Nine of the church societies for which reservations of town lots were made, as has been stated, have erected neat and commodious houses of worship and edifices will be erected by the remaining societies early in the autumn. There are three schools in town in which the ordinary branches of common school education are taught by an able corps of teachers. * * *

"In Lancaster County there are no longer any Government lands subject to homestead or pre-emption, although there are hundreds of thousands of acres of such lands in the state; many of them as fine as any lands in the state; many of them as fine as any lands in the world are situated on the Blue River, only about twenty-five miles from the capital. Excellent farm lands, situated within a radius of ten or twelve miles of the capital, may be purchased both from railroad corporations and individuals at prices ranging from five dollars an acre upwards, according to location and the nature and extent of improvements."

In 1871 the City of Lincoln entered upon a period of gloom and discouragement which lasted for several years. The Legislature of that year committed many acts of indiscretion which led many people to believe that the future of Lincoln was doomed. Perhaps the greatest folly of this body of lawmakers was the impeachment of Governor Butler. So great was the depression that the value of property in the city fell at an alarming rate. To add to the troubles, the grasshoppers fell upon the county in 1873 '" billions and destroyed property everywhere, throwing farmers into financial ruin and causing many to leave the county. The coming of the year 1877 heralded a return to the normal order of things. The greatest factor in this renewal of hope was the disappearance of the grasshoppers. By 1880 the City of Lincoln had a population of 14,000 people.

Although there have been years when Lincoln apparently was at a standstill, with little or no progress, nor growth, the general development of the city has been steady. Lincoln has never been a boom town, but has maintained a position of strength and respectability in the Middle West. Financial panics and crop failures have at times threatened the prosperity of the community, but these attacks have been weathered without exception.

Chapter Xi

In the last days of June, 1861, I chanced to meet Wilham T. Donovan on the streets of Nebraska City and upon learning that he lived on Salt Creek and in the neighborhood of the wonderful salt basins, I speedily arranged to accompany him, that I might see for myself the country and the basins of which we had heard so much. If I remember correctly, after passing the old Majors farm four miles out. we passed over an unbroken wilderness, save Wilson's Ranch at Wilson's Creek, until we reached McKee's Ranch on the Nemaha, where widow McKee and her sons lived. James Her also lived near the same point. , This was twenty miles out and near the present Town of Syracuse. The next improvement was that of John Roberts on the Nemaha, near the present site of Palmyra, and five miles farther to the west lived Mr. Meecham, a weak-kneed Alormon who had fallen out by the way. These were all of the people we saw on that trip until we reached Salt Creek. After enjoying the hospitalities of our friends here for the night a somewhat novel mode of conveyance was improvised for our trip to the basin. A tongue was fastened to the hind axle of a wagon and a pair of springs were made of short ash sticks and a board was laid across the ends of the sticks to serve as a seat. This completed our carriage and Buck and Bright served for motive power. On the 2d of July, 1861, we followed a dim track down to Lincoln - no, to Lancaster - no, but down Salt Creek (we hardly ever go up Salt Creek), to the mouth of Oak Creek, where we forded the stream. There was at the time a magnificent grove of honey locust timber on the west side of Salt Creek, and just south of Oak Creek, and a little to the south of the foot of O Street in the large bend of the creek, there were perhaps a hundred majestic elms and cottonwoods, with here and there a hackberry and honey locust. Those lovely groves would now. if they could have remained in their natural grandeur and beauty as we saw them, be of priceless value to the city for a park. Joseph, the elder son of Mr. Donovan, was our teamster and guide. The big flies which infested the low bottoms v.xre a great help as persuaders to our oxen ; and at times our ride was exciting in the extreme, as the oxen would dart first to the right, then to the left, to get the benefit of a brush to rid themselves of the flies.

It brings peculiar thoughts to mind as I look around us now and consider the changes that have been wrought in twenty-six yeHs (this was written in 18S8). One dim track only crossed the site of the future city from east to west, that had been made by hunters and salt pilgrims, and the one already men- tioned, running up and down the creek. As I viewed the land upon which now stands this great city I had the exciting pleasure of seeing for the first time a large drove of the beautiful antelope cantering across the prairie just above where the Government Square is located. We forded Salt Creek just by the junction of Oak Creek and what a struggle we had in making our way through the tall sunflowers between the ford and basin. There was something enchanting about the scene that met my eyes. The fresh breeze sweeping over the salt basins reminded me of the morning breezes of the ocean beach. The basin was as smooth as glass and resembled a slab of highly polished clouded marble. The wrecks of some old salt furnaces and two deserted cabins were the only signs of civilization ; all was wild and solitary ; but my soul was filled with rapturous delight. The geese, brant and pelicans had undisputed sway, and the air was filled with their shrill notes.

The nearest human habitation to either the basins or the present city was that of Mr. Donovan on the Caldwell place on Salt Creek, about five miles up that stream, or south of the ford ; Joel Mason lived a mile farther up. Richard Wallingford lived at his present home. A. J. Wallingford also lived just across the creek. John Cadman lived just across the county line, as the counties were first constituted, in old Clay County, and where the Village of Saltillo now stands. Doctor Maxwell lived in that neighborhood, also Festus Reed, and where Roca now stands J. L. Davidson and the Prey family had located. William Shirley on Stevens Creek was the nearest settler to the eastward. Charles Retslef and John Wedencamp, also Judge J. D. Maine, held the fort a little farther up the creek, and Aaron Wood was located near the head of Stevens Creek. John and Louis Loder lived down Salt Creek near Waverly, also Michael Shea and James Moran. To the westward there was nothing but a complete wilderness.

In company with Darwin Peckham I commenced making salt on the 20th of August, 1 861. We pre-empted one of the log cabins and bached during the fall. Salt was very scarce in war times and was high in price ; and as a necessity great numbers of people came to scrape salt. They came from the whole of the settled portions of the territory, from Kansas, Missouri, and as far east as Central Iowa. At the time of the second visit, we found the roads well broken by pilgrims in search of salt. Going for salt in those days was like going fishing. It was all in luck. I f the weather was perfectly dry, they could get plenty of it, for it could be scraped up by the wagon load ; but three minutes of rain would end the game. I have seen a drove of men who came a full hundred miles and arrived just in time to see a little rain clear all the salt of the basin in a moment. We found a goodly number there when we arrived and they were holding the empty sack, for it had just rained and the basin was as black as ink. I remember Milton Langdon as one of the disconsolate pilgrims. The next morning all except our partv pulled out and we "were monarchs of all we surveyed." We immediately built a small furnace, made a sheet iron salt pan, and began boiling salt : and by the time the next drove of pilgrims came we had salt to trade or sell them. Many farmers would bring their sorghum pans to make their own salt and when they would get enough, or get tired, we would trade salt for their pans and all their spare provisions. When the weather was dry, many would scrape up more than they could haul home and we would trade for their scrapings at twenty-five cents per hundred. In dry times we would accumulate a mountain of scraped salt, and as soon as the first rain came our scrapings would be worth from fifty cents to one dollar per hundred. Pilgrims would grab for it. They brought up all manner of provisions to trade for it ; meat, flour, chickens, butter, fruit, potatoes, eggs, and others were willing to go to the groves, cut and iiaul wood with which to trade for the salt. Others would haul up a large pile of wood and then rent our furnaces for the night, and thus get a supply. So we had salt to sell, scrapings to sell, furnaces to rent, and generally provisions to sell. One man, I remember, brought a fine suit of clothes and traded them to us for salt. A party brought us two four-horse wagon loads, 5,000 pounds, of flour from Winterset, Iowa, and we made him an even exchange of 5,000 pounds of salt. It was a lively time, for hundreds were going and coming contiiuially during the fall.

I remember several distinguished visitors of that fall, among whom were the Hon. O. P. Mason and the Hon. J. Sterling Morton. We treated them to slapjacks of our own make, which the judge seemed to relish, but our friend Morton did not seem to appreciate our cooking. Hon. P. W. Hitchcock, afterwards United States senator, and his Excellency Governor Saunders, then our governor, also made us a visit. They were not repairing fences, but were quite likely examining J. Sterling Morton's fence around the saline land. Many of lesser note visited us during the fall.

Late in the fall I moved my family to Salt Creek and wintered in one apartmept of the log cabin which Mr. Donovan occupied, and as the salt business always ceases when winter begins, we put in the time as best we could, chasing rabbits, etc. Uncle Dick Wallingford. learning that I had graduated at the carpenter's bench, besought me to build him a house. I suppose that I have the honor of having built for Uncle Dick the first frame building in Lancaster County, in the winter of 186 1-2. I made the doors of black walnut lumber that was about as hard as glass. I also remember the struggle I had one night in the following summer in making a coffin for Grandmother Wallingford out of that hard lumber.

I took up my abode at the basin with my wife and two children on the ist of May, 1S62. That same day a county convention was held at the basin and nearly every man in the county was there, but I remember none of the proceedings, as I was occupied in setting my house in order. Two or three days later Milton Langdon arrived with his family and took up their abode just west of the B. & M. bridge north of Oak Creek. The season of 1862 was exceedingly prosperous. Great numbers of people came and went every day. Numerous other furnaces were started and the salt works presented quite the appearance of business.

Here I must beg indulgence while I relate a little story: In the winter of 1862-3 there was an old fellow by the name of Ben Vanthiesen camping and boiling salt, and there was an Indian camp a little distance away. The Indians had been bothering Ben until he had become impatient with them. A young, stalwart brave thought to play a joke on him and approached him with the usual aborigine salutation, "How," and at the same time ofifcred Ben a finely polished ramrod, which he reached out to take, when Mr. Indian struck him a violent blow across the knuckles. Ben could not stand that and as quick as thought returned the compliment with his fist, propelled by his stalwart arm. The blow took effect just under the ear of the young, brave and he reeled backward and sat down in a pan of boiling salt water. A sharp shriek, and Mr. Injun jumped for life and ran wildly into the swamp and mired down, hallowing all sorts of bloody murder in the Indian tongue. Other braves went to his relief and carried him to camp. He was thoroughly cooked and well salted. The little settlement soon became alarmed, fearing that the Indians would be enraged and seek vengeance. A hurried consultation was held and the camp was visited to learn, if possible, the temper of the redskins. We found the man almost dead and while he was writhing in agony the other Indians were making all sorts of fun of him, calling -him squaw man, etc., and pointing their fingers at him. Finally Ben Vanthiesen appeared on the scene and they began at once to lionize him, as if to further tantalize the poor unfortunate. They finally made a litter of a buffalo robe and carried him away with them, while in a dying condition.

On the morning of the 4th of July, my wife suggested that we celebrate by gathering a lot of gooseberries, of which there were great quantities. Just as we had filled our buckets we heard someone hallowing and as we emerged from the bush we saw Elder Young and party, consisting of Rev. Peter Schamp, Doctor McKesson, Mr. Warnes, Luke Lavender and Jacob Dawson. They were on the search for a suitable location for a colony. They were patriotic and had not forgotten the Hag. Dinner was quickly provided and disposed of, the neighbors Avere called in. and we had a celebration that was a feast to the soul. As the dear old elder talked to us of our blessed flag and how it had been trailed in the dust by recreant hands, and of the mighty struggle that was then going on to maintain its supremacy, how our hearts swelled with emotion as we realized that our country and our all was at the moment trembling in the balance. This was probably the first time our national flag ever kissed the breezes of Lancaster County, and it was an occasion long to be remembered by all the participants. Some, we know not how many, have gone to their long home. Uncle Jacob Dawson lived just long enough to see the foundations of Lincoln well laid, and was called away. Our dear friend. Elder Young, lived to see the city of his founding great and strong and marching forward to greater achievements.

In the second week in July and after making a thorough examination of the surrounding country, the party made a settlement on the land where Lincoln now stands, and dedicated a portion of section twenty-two for a townsite and christened it Lancaster. Lancaster did not grow as more modern towns do. A few settlers began to arrive and settled on the beautiful lands in the vicinity, but not many cared to try their hands at building a city just then. Town building was a slow process in those days, so far inland.

It must be remembered that the bill providing for the LInion Pacific Railroad had passed but the previous winter and the eastern terminus had not been fixed by the President. Our nearest railroad was at St. Joseph, Missouri, and Ottumwa, Iowa, and further it was yet very questionable whether our upland prairie was of any value for agricultural purposes. The farms were all yet confined to the creek bottoms. Prairie fires would sweep the prairies just as soon as the grass was dry in the fall and leave the roots exposed to the scorching rays of the autumn sun, and then to the frosts of winter. The snow would gather into huge drifts, there being nothing to hold it except the ravines. This resulted in very short grass crops on the upland and frequently there was scarcely enough to hide a garter snake in the summer. People saw the fact, that the prairie produced hut little grass, but were slow to discover the causes, and were ready to condemn the land as worthless for cultivation. Some are led to believe that great changes have taken place in the general character of the soil, as well as the climate. We have frequently been asked if the land was not all covered with buffalo grass. To this question we answer most emphatically "No." It may have been at some remote period, but never since white men have known it. Many are of the opinion that it scarcely ever rained in those early days. That is certainly a mistake. The summer of i860 produced scarcely any rain ( I well remember that year of the Kansas famine - I resided at Nebraska City at the time ) and to help matters along there were sixteen days and nights of continuous hot south wind. It w^is almost insufferably hot, so stifling it was that people could not bear to sit in the wind, even late in the evenings, but would be compelled to seek a windbreak. Except that memorable year rains were just as plentiful and as well distributed through the growing season in those years as they are now, and vegetation where it had a fair show made the same luxuriant growth, but we do not wonder that the overland immigrant who passed through this country in the early spring, or late in the fall, pronounced this a desert land, for as far as the eye could reach in all directions nothing could be seen but the black prairie; most dreary indeed was the spectacle. There being nothing to retain the moisture and the sun bearing down on the defenseless head, and the dancing vapor playing in the distance like specters, it did not seem as if it ever could be a fit abode for civilized man.

It took men and women of strong nerve and great faith to attempt to build a home in this wdlderness then, but there were some brave souls that were equal to the hour, and such were the men who founded Lancaster. The story of the founding of the embryo city and its struggle over the location of the county seat is an interesting theme. The settlement at Yankee Hill (where the insane hospital now stands) under the leadership of John Cadnian and William Field made an interesting and energetic fight for the prize. These men looked with jealousy upon the Lancaster colony. Our friend Cadman was wide awake and with a fertile brain and was ready for almost any emergency. It will be remembered that the boundaries of the county were materially changed in the winter of 1862 and 1863. Friend Cadman secured the election to the Legislature from old Clay County. John Gregory was by some trick of legerdemain elected to represent Lancaster, and Hon. H. W. Parker was sent from Gage. The trio each had an axe to grind. Parker wanted to make the county seat secure for Beatrice and Cadman wanted to spoil Elder Young's little game and make a new town, and clothe it with the honors of the county seat. So they arranged and carried through the scheme to eliminate Clay County from the map of Nebraska and gave to Gjige the south twelve miles and the north twelve miles to Lancaster in the interest of Cadman and his friends. Thus it came that Gage and Lancaster are each thirty-six miles long, and that Clay County was buried out of sight to be resurrected at a later day farther to the west. I have never been able to learn just what interest our friend Gregory was to have, but suppose he was to be endorsed for the postofiice at a salary of one dollar per month at the basin, and also to have his name perpetuated by renaming the great basin "Gregor}' Basin," both of which he secured, but the honors of the office and the name were very much hke a soap bubble, they got away from him in a very short time. Cadman and his friends lost no time in fixing upon a point for their new town at Yankee Hill and then came the tug of war. About this time what was known as the steam wagon road was located from Nebraska City to the west and the crossing of Salt Creek fixed at Yankee Hill. An appropriation of $500.00 was secured by the Legislature for a bridge on Salt Creek in Lancaster County, to be located by territorial commissioners. When these gentlemen came to fix the location of the bridge the Lancaster party headed by Elder Young and the Yankee Hill folks led by Cadman each made an earnest showing why they should have the bridge, and I take it for granted that each succeeded in convincing the commissioners that their claim was the best, for they divided the money between the two points and thus with the aid of private help two good bridges were secured. Each place made slow progress ; a little store and a blacksmith shop were secured by each. Lancaster had the help of the salt interest while its rival had the freight road. Each had energetic men as leaders and they were equally well situated, but Lancaster had the sympathy of the greater number of people in the county. Friend Cadman had aroused the ire of all his old neighbors on the heads of Salt Creek. They were very sore over having all their pleasant dreams of a county seat at Olathe suddenly disappear and their county torn in two and swallowed by her greedy sisters.

When the county seat problem came before the people for settlement the Lancaster folks had a walkaway and secured a grand triumph at the polls.

The county seat election occurred in the summer of 1864 and was held at the house of your humble servant just south of the great basin. Notwithstanding his defeat in his pet project of founding a county seat Cadman secured a return to the Legislature for several terms and had an honorable part in moulding the destiny of the county, in helping to secure the capital removal bill, and securing the location of the capital within her borders, and while Elder Young may be justly honored as the founder of Lincoln, to John Cadman belongs the honor of doing splendid work in securing a grand triumph in removing the capital, and of securing the pricipal benefit to his county, and while he did not realize the full fruition of his hopes in getting it at Yankee Hill I am glad to know that he has been duly rewarded, and that in his green old age he is blessed with plenty of the world's goods and friends innumerable to brighten his pathway.

In the early summer of 1862 I had the pleasure of helping to raise a log house for Charles Calkins on Middle Creek, on what was afterwards known as the Hartman farm and about five miles west of the city. This was the first log cabin between the basin and the Grand Island settlement. In the beautiful month of June my good wife made a visit to Nebraska City and left me alone "with my glory" for a little season. One afternoon a vast throng of Omahas camped at the head of the basin, but we thought nothing of it as it was a common thing to see great numbers of Indians on their way to their summer hunting grounds on the Republican River. John Chambers' family lived a little way from our cabin. I went to bed as usual that night with my bright sabre under my pillow and a rifle standing within easy reach. Near midnight I heard a (not very) "gentle tapping as of someone rapping at my cabin door." "What's the matter," I cried. "Matter enough," said poor trembling John, his wife clinging to him like grim death, and crazed with fear. "The Indians are upon us and for God's sake what shall we do ?" Whether I dressed or not you may guess. I forgot that I ever had a sabre or gun. When 1 awoke my ears were greeted with the most unearthly sounds, as if a thousand devils were cut loose. We all ran as most folks do when badly scared, and we hid as best we could among the hills, and waited the coming of events which we expected in about a minute. The pandemonium continued, but came no nearer. We waited patiently for the enemy, but they did not come. We were disappointed. The Indians were expecting to meet their mortal foes, the Sioux, on their hunting grounds and were having a war dance, "only this and nothing more."

Salt Creek and its principal tributary. Oak Creek, were wonderfully supplied with fish. Black suckers and buiifalo were the leading varieties. The settlers had plenty of sport and much profit in fishing. We all had plenty of fish; great numbers were caught which would weigh ten or fifteen pounds each and I have seen them tip the beam at thirty-five pounds. Elk and antelope were plentiful and the nimrods of that day had exciting sport in the chase. Some of the settlers spent a great portion of their time roaming the prairies in search of game. Many of them never came home without a supply of meat. If elk could not be found or captured, some luckless freighter's steer had to suflfer the ordeal of being converted into elk meat. Many a steer has undergone the change in short order, and Mr. Steer's only safety was in staying close to camp. The basins were a great place for wild water-fowl to congregate. Geese, brants, swans, ducks and pelicans were there by the thousands ; it was the hunter's paradise. Wild fruits, such as grapes, plums, gooseberries and elderberries were abundant along the streams and were gathered by the bushel.

As the L'nion armies regained the rebels' strongholds of Missouri, great numbers of rebels found it convenient to find other quarters, and many of them seemed to have the idea that salt would save their bacon, consequently hordes of them would gather at the basins and frequently they would show their rebellious spirits in acts and words which were very unpleasant for Union men to endure At one time they became so insolent and threatening that the Union men of the valley thought it necessary to organize for self-defense. Our Missouri friends came to the conclusion that "discretion was the better part of valor," so nothing very serious occurred.

Elder Young preached the first sermon of the locality at our house, on the Sabbath following the 4th of July, 1862, to a fair sized congregation. A Sabbath School w^as organized very soon afterwards and was of great value to the youth of the community. This was probably the first Sabbath School between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. Religious meetings were held frequently under the leadership of Elder Young. Reverend Doctor McKesson and Rev. Peter Schamp, and other ministers who chanced to stray so far into the wilderness.

As a general rule the settlers enjoved themselves very well and were reasonably prosperous, but it was not always so. Sometimes winter storms would shut us off from communication with the world at large, and provisions would get short, and we would be driven to desperate straits. I have known families to live on boiled corn or wheat for a week at a time with no seasoning but salt. The winter of '63 and '64 was a most desperate one. The cold was extreme. The last day of

December, 1863, was a memorable day for the intensity of the cold. I had no thermometer except my own b^ood, but that signified that it was the most intense cold of my life. Snow and salt combined to make my home about the coldest spot in North America. I afterwards learned that at Burlington, Iowa, the thermometer indicated thirty degrees below zero. That winter was one of much suffering. Salt had declined materially in price and the demand had fallen off, while the wood for boiling had become scarce and the weather was so severe, and it seemed that all things conspired against the people, and for a time the whole settlement was on the verge of starvation. The spring of 1864 found the settlement in rather a dilapidated and impoverished condition, but hope soon revived. Immigrants began to arrive in goodly numbers and they began opening up farms, and that gave new life and hope to all. Settlements began to extend westward and all the people began to have more faith in Nebraska. It may be well to relate here a common saying of those days just to show how absurd the expressed views of many people were in regard to this country. If an incoming immigrant talked of going over to the Blue Valley to look for a location, he was told at once that it was of no use to look at that country for it never rained west of Salt Creek. That fool notion had become so thoroughly inbedded in the minds of many of the early settlers that I expect some of them firmly believe it until this day.

It has been claimed that F. Morton Donovan was the first white child born in the locality, but the locality was very large, for the fact is he was born on Stevens Creek ten miles distant. The first white child born at the basin or in the immediate vicinity of the present city was a son born to Joseph Chambers in the summer of 1862. He died in infancy. My son Elmer Elsworth Cox was born March 3, 1863, and was the first white child born in the immediate vicinity that is now living.

There were some exciting and almost ludicrous scenes in the courts at the basin. Milton Langdon and J. S. Gregory were the two prominent attorneys and in all matters of judicial nature they were arrayed against each other. Both of them were keen and tricky, ever on the alert to catch the enemy napping and they had some high times. Occasionally a case would arise which tried the mettle of court attorneys and officers. A rough customer who it was said had graduated in the rebel army had put in an appearance and had made some violent threats in which he promised to kill some citizens. An information was filed and a warrant was issued and placed in the hands of the sheriff. A crowd gathered at the court room and it soon became known that the culprit refused to surrender to the sheriff. All became excited and while the court was giving some directions to the citizens about assisting the sheriff, the fellow came stalking into the court room, carrying his rifle in a position for immediate use. The sheriff followed at a convenient distance of probably ten yards. The court invited the man to take a seat, which was promptly declined, but he took a careful survey of the court and all the surroundings and, with the rifle ready cocked and finger on the trigger, he began to retreat and all hands seemed to stand out of his way. The justice remarked to the sheriff and posse, "you will be justified in taking that man if you have to kill him to do it," but they did not take him. He backed oft' with drawn weapon and bid defiance, and no one was willing to take the risk of his capture. He was bent on vengeance and had no intention of leaving until he had wreaked it on somebody. He became angry at the justice for saying "take him dead or ahve," and during the next morning while liis Honor was busy at liis saU furnace he liappened to observe the sneaking scoimdrel creeping up a httle ravine in the rear with a view of getting a sure shot at him, but finchng that his victim had observed him he started off at a rapid pace across the 1)asin. His Honor quickly halted him. He instantly cocked his rille, but sternly and most emphatically his Honor commanded a truce, and marched straight up to the fellow, who curled down like a whipped cur, and received a court lalessing in the open air and took his tinal (lei)arture for parts unknown. Had it not been for a good degree of firmness on that occasion it is quite probable that some other speaker would have had the honors of this occasion.

During the spring of 1863 J. S. Gregory built the first frame house in the vicinity of the basin and made extensive improvements. Mr. Eaton of Plattsmouth, an uncle of our friend Gregory, became quite well acquainted with him during these years and their fraternal relations are spread upon the court records, for many years, of Lancaster County. Settlements increased rapidly during the spring and early summer of 1864 and 1865.

The first term of district court was held on the 8th day of November, 1864 (the day Lincoln was elected to the second term), in Jacob Dawson's double log cabin and was presided over by Judge Elmer S. Dundy, with the same dignity that is manifest in these days in the government courthouse. Members of the bar present were T. M. Marquette and Judge Pottenger of Plattsmouth. Uncle Jake's cabin stood just where the Commercial Block now stands. Uncle Jake was put to straits to properly entertain the judge and the attorneys. I remember that he came over and borrowed all the store cofYee at the basin. As if to add to the pleasures of the occasion we enjoyed a regular blizzard of whirling, drifting snow. The judge appointed Pottenger prosecuting attorney and friend Pott, as we called him, drew up an indictment against one Pemberton for shooting into a bird's nest. The charge was malicious assault with intent to kill. His Honor allowed Pottenger $75.00. Marquette defended Pemberton for $10.00 and quashed the indictment, and Pemberton skipped the country before other proceedings could be had. The story of the crime is as follows : Old man Bird had some difficulty with Pemberton about the chickens and one of the young birds (a pullet) sung some unsavory songs for Pemberton's benefit. Pemberton met the old bird at the door one morning and demanded satisfaction, and finally drew a revolver and shot, the ball missing the old bird, but passing through the door and lodging in the wall just above a bed full of young birds. Then he hit the old bird a lick on the head with the butt of the revolver. The old bird flew to the justice office all covered with blood, just as the judge was seating himself at the breakfast table, and of course a little scene occurred which I will not relate.

In the summer of 1864 the whole West was very easily excited after the horrible massacre in Minnesota. Wild rumors were afloat continually, and the scattered settlements were harrassed with fears throughout the whole summer and fall. The most trifling circumstances were magnified as they were related by the panic stricken people into general massacres of wholesale slaughtering of some neighboring settlement. The impression prevailed that the rebel government at Richmond was inciting the redskins to a merciless warfare all along the frontier. Tomahawks and scalping knives of the red devils were vividly pictured in all our dreams. We knew that the dark hours of the war presented a grand opportunity for them to clean us out root and branch. We also knew that they were in no friendly mood, or, in other words, we were quite sure that they were thirsting for our blood, and all that kept them back was their fear of a terrible retribution and further the fire we saw was not all fox fire. There were people murdered by them in Nebraska and not a few of them. At Plumb Creek on the west, on Turkey Creek, on the Little Blue, there .were murders and kidnappings, such as make my blood boil to this day as we think of them. We had just cause to fear, and it would have been foolhardiness to be otherwise than on the alert.