Lincoln City (part 4 of 19)

"The Commissioners have also reserved lot 13, in block 101, for the use of the Independent Order of Good Templars; lot 14, in block 101, for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and lot 15, in block 101, for the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. We respectfully ask the Legislature to confirm our action in respect to all the reservations.

"The surveying of the town was done in the most careful manner, and with the utmost patience, and we believe that the lines are so well established that future litigation about Mapping' of lots will be practically impossible. In every third street running north and south and every fourth or fifth street running east and west, there were set, at the center of intersection with every other street, a stone monument, even with the surface, in the top of which a mark was fixed at the exact point of crossing the lines. The work occupied Messrs. Harvey and Smith, and a double party of assistants, constantly, until the 10th day of September, when having staked oif every lot in town, except in a few blocks in the northwest part of the northwest quarter upon the 'Saline land,' the work was completed.

" In anticipation of the completion of the survey, and to insure parties purchasing lots in time to build upon them for winter, and an early provision of the means of commencing work upon the State House, the Commissioners, upon the 17th day of August, issued their advertisement for the first sale of lots, to be held on the 17th day of September.

"This advertisement was authorized to be printed in such newspaper as could give it the widest circulation. Upon the day of sale the weather, which had been excessively disagreeable for nearly a Aveek, culminated in a cold, drizzly rain, in consequence of which not more than one hundred persons were present, and but few of these the bidders we had expected. The aspect of affairs was disheartening. Persons who had loudly boasted of their great expectations in buying lots and building houses ; others who had been lavish in prophecies of the unparalleled success of the enterprise; others who had been free with advice to us in regard to appraisements and sales - these, and still others, who were certainly expected to be on the ground and foremost in purchasing, had given us the cold shoulder, and were not present or within hearing. Indeed, your Commissioners almost felt that failure was after all to be the result.

"However, the first lot was put up, and after some delay in getting^ a bidder, it was sold to J. G. Miller, Esq., for an advance of twentyfive cents on the appraisement of S40.

"This small beginning was an index to the proceedings for the day,^ and when the evening closed, the sales footing up to about one-tenth of our expectations, our spirits or our hopes were in nowise improved.

" The second and third days gave a better result, and on the fourth and fifth, sunshine having come again, bringing more persons to the sales, and getting every one to feeling well, the bidding became encouraging, and the summing up of the five days' offering was nearly if not quite satisfactory.

"The offering of lots was continued at Nebraska City from the 23d to the 27th of September, inclusive, and in (^maha on the 30th of September to the 4th of October.

"The sales at Nebraska City and Omaha amounted to about nineteen thousand dollars, and aggregated, with the amount at Lincoln, about S53,000, a sum sufficiently large to dispel all despondency and Ayarraut reue\yed exertions.

"Under the 'Capitol Bill/' your Commissioners were required to pay oyer the amount receiyed from the sales of lots to the State Treasurer, and pay all expenditures by warrants upon the State Treasurer building fund held by that officer. We haye, in this regard, to plead guilty to a technical yiolation of law. Except the sum of 8148, none of the money receiyed by us has eyer been paid oyer.

"As soon as the town was suryeyed, there began rumors that the enemies of the enterprise were determined to defeat it if possible, and that nothing which could accomplish that end would be left undone.

"AVe were assured in the most reliable quarters that one of these defeating means would be the enjoiniug of the Treasurer against the payment of money upon warrants upon the building fund, an effort which, eyen if the injunction had not in the end been sustained, in the ordinary course of the courts would haye preyeuted actiye operations until it should be too late to secure the erection of the State House.

"' lu consequence of this rumor, well founded as it seemed to be, hundreds of persons who would otherwise haye inyested largely in Lincoln lots, declined so doing ; others who had purchased or bid off" lots, hesitated about paying the money and taking their certificates; while others became so fearful of a bad result, that they eyen applied to the Commissioners for a restoration of the amounts paid and a cancellation of their certificates.

"At this juncture some friends of the enterprise, who were sureties upon our official bond, called upon the others, and prepared and furnished us with the following protest :

" Nebraska City, November 23, IttiT. "To the Honorable David Butler, Thomas P. Kennard, and John Gillespie, Commissioners: -'Gextlemex - The nndersigned having become sureties on your official bonds for the faithful performance of your duties as Commissioners, respectfully beg leave to formally protest against the deposit of any of the funds received by you from the sale of State property with the State Treasurer, for the following reasons:

" 1st. Because it Las been repeatedly intimated by the enemies of the present capital location, that all moneys so deposited will be attached and held, so as to defeat the wishes of a majority of the people of the State by preventing the erection of the captol buildings till after the sitting of the next Legislature.

"2d. Because we. having in good faith become sureties, not as a personal favor to the Commissioners, but to secure the success of the proposed location and early completion of the capitol buildings, are unwilling that the enterprise should either be defeated or delayed by useless litigation. We therefore, respectfully but earnestly request the Commissioners to withhold the funds which may now be in their hands, as well as those which may yet be received, and deposit them with those bankers who have made themselves sureties, and who may furnish the Commissioners satisfactory security for the prompt payment of the money deposited with them. Very respectfully, your obedient servants,

"Under the cireuiiistaiiees which surro unci eel us, and being unwilling to jeopardize the money held by us as the representatives of the State in trust for the persons who had advanced it unon the risk of the success of the town of Lincohi, we felt that we could not do otherwise than accede to the demand and protest of our sureties, and having made satisfactory arrangements for the deposit and w'ithdrawal of the funds with private bankers, we did so, and liave assumed all the responsibility of the financial affairs of the enterprise.

"At the sale in September, 18G7, and June, 1868, we had offered lots only in the alternate or even numbered blocks, with those in four odd numbered blocks to make up for half of the reserved blocks, all of which, excejit the court house scjuare, fell upon odd numbers. At the last sale, in September, 1868, we offered the lots in the odd numbered blocks on the old town site of Lancaster. The presumption of the authority to make this sale was upon the consideration of our occupancy of the ground. We accepted it from the proprietors as so much over the toAvn of Lincoln proper, and excess beyond the section and a quarter whicli wc had located as the capital, as an addition to the town, for the purpose of h.aving no rival in the business of selling town lots upon ground adjacent to the capitol, and where having a village already established, the proprietors could easily have derived large profits, which otherwise would have been invested with the State.- Besides, the building of the town had so far been accomplished in the direction of and upon that quarter that the appreciated value of property in second hands made it so probable that we could realize more money from a few lots there than from many upon the south side of the townsite proper; and standing in need of much more money than we had reason to believe these last-named lots would bring, we deemed it advisable to offer all that were then unsold.

"The lots were appraised prior to the first sale, according to the law, due consideration being had to their relative situation regarding the public reservation, and the probable business center, and their particular condition.

"Accompanying this report, appendix marked 'B' will contain a detailed statement of the purchasers of lots, of the lots purchased, and their prices.

"On the 10th of September the Commissioners issued their notice to architects, inviting for a period of thirty days plans and specifications for a State House.

"In response Messrs. Taggart & W. R. Craig, of Nebraska City, and John Morris, of Chicago, submitted the drawings and specifications of designs.

"On the same day Mr. Morris, having been appointed superintendent of construction, issued a notice to builders, inviting proposals for a term of three months, for the erection of the work.

"At the same time Mr. Morris was directed to commence such preliminary work, as excavation for foundations, delivery of material for foundation walls, and other arrangements as would facilitate the progress of the work after the contract was let.

" The removal of the first earth was awarded, in the absence of anv state officer, to Master Frele Morton Donovan, the first child born in and the youngest child of the oldest settler of Lancaster county."

"On the 11th of January the bid of Mr. Joseph Ward, proposing to furnish the material and labor and erect the building, for the sum of 849,000, was accepted, and from that time forward the work steadily progressed, with a few uncontrollable delays, to the completion of the work contemplated in the contract.

" For a report of the difficulties attending the work, and an estimate of the allowance proper to be made to the contractor for changes in material, increased amount of work, additional accommodation, and fitting.s, by Mr. ]Morris, the architect, is appended hereto, marked

" The entire expenditures have been made by the Commissioners as in the following classification, for a detailed statement of which see Appendix ' D.' "

The red sandstone, referred to in the foregoing report, and out of which the Commissioners expected to build the capitol, proved to be rotten and worthless, and the blue limestone of Beatrice was substituted, at a necessary additional cost of several thousand dollars.

As a suggestion of the prices received for lots at the sales in 1867-8 and 1869, a few are given to represent the value of property at that time:

Irot 7, in the block containing the Burr Block, sold for $80 to J. E. LaMaster. N. C. Brock bought lot 12, same block, for SGI. The Capital National Bank corner sold to Jacob Blum for 880. These were average prices. Few lots sold at less than .S40, and few o\er $150.

The leading buyers were Samuel E. Allen, Jacob J^lum, S. R. Brown, Hawks & Bush, V>\ A. Brown, N. C. Brock, J. H. Bryant, David Butler, S. W. Burnham, Isaac Cahn, M. M. Culver, A. J. Cropsey, D. R. Dungan, Jacob Dawson, Wm. Findley, L. A. Groff, H. Harvey, U. S. Harding, Bob Hawke & Co.j AY. 8. Horn, Thos. H. Hyde, C. J. Hull, H. S. Jennings, H. W. Kuhns, Levi B. Ivennard, T. P. Kennard, J. E. LaMaster, Wm. Morton, J. J. Murphy, J. ^y. ]\Iillard, Jason G. Miller, J. D. McCann, Pat. O'Hawes, K. D. Presson, A. L. Palmer, Philetus Peck, George Ross, Amos Reid, J. M. Riddill, John Roberts, S. A. Strickland, James Sweet, John M. Taggart, Geo. P. Tucker, and Henry Witte. "We notice such names among the buyers as John M. Thayer, Avho bought lot 1, in block 13, for $115; T. W. Tipton, John Taife, and W. R. Yaughan. Five ladies bought lots, namely, Mrs. D. Babcock, Miss S, H. Chapman, Mrs. J. A. Harvey, Miss A. Peck, and Miss M. Wilson. The latter bought lot 5, in block 226, for $15. The ladies all looked out for bargains, or the men refused to bid against them. James Sweet Avas by all odds the heaviest buyer, his individual purchases amounting to $4,074, and as trustee, to $15,000.

Chapter Xi

The City of Lincoln - The Early Beginning - From Pre-Historic Times to 1867 - The Towns of Lancaster and Yankee Hill - The County Seat Contest - The Building of the Lancaster Seminary - Early Buildings and Reminiscences,

In 1860, Government Square, Lincoln, was a rounded elevation. About the center of the square was a knoll about twelve feet higher than the present surface at the artesian well. Standing in summer on this graceful tumulus, as lovely a scene was spread out before the observer's eyes as ever was beheld in prairie landscape. To the west his hill of observation sloped evenly away to the valley of Salt creek. In the valley to the west of the creek, and north of O street, there was a beautiful grove of honey locust trees. South of O street there waved a little forest of stately elms and cottonwood, interspersed with a few honey-locust and hackberry trees. Besides, the stream in that direction was fringed with plum and other small trees and brush. Back from the trees the low ground between the hills was one sea of tall grass and yellow sunflowers. To the northwest could be traced the valley of Oak creek, also fringed with trees, and to the southwest the valley of Haines's creek, radiant with flowers. On the low ground directly westward the saline crust of the Salt Basin glistened in the sun like the surface of a lake, and far to the west the valley of jMiddle creek receded in a vista of green leaves, waving grass, and flowers. The valley of Salt creek could be traced for miles to the northeast, and the banks of the Antelope also had their fringe of grass, flowers, and trees, to the eastward. When the observer looked to the southward he saw his hill decline into a drain, almost deserving the name of a small ravine, in the vicinity of N street. This ravine originated in a basin of low ground in the locality a little distance to the northeast from the present site of the Burr block, and its course was southwesterly to Twelfth and O streets. Here it bent southwaixl for a short distance and at tiie place where the alley south of Funke's opera house now is,, it again turned westward. Its course then was southwesterly to a lino now occupied by the Latta block, on Eleventli street. Here it was deepest and the descent into it pretty abrupt from either side. It crossed Tenth street at N, and was soon lost in the flat surface of the bottom land to the westward. In the vicinity of the Capital National Bank, at O and Eleventh, there was a depression, where water stood to a considerable depth when the street came to be graded across N street. More than one old settler can now tell how he or some other man had a vehicle swamped in the mud on Eleventh street in attempting to cross this drain in early days, the reputation of the slough in the vicinity of Eleventh street being particularly notorious.

Owing to this ravine, the elevation on which the capitol now stands looked higher, and the incline of its long, sweeping, northern sloi)e more sharp, than at present. In all directions from the observer the distance faded away in a rim of hills, with gracefully undulatimi- sides. In fact, it seemed that he stood on a conical elevation in a grand natural amphitheater, where surrounding heights were located at magnificent distances. The high ground on which the observer is supposed to stand, was covered with buffalo grass, as were all the high prairies twenty-nine years ago. Across the elevated surface sj^arse lines of blue joint marked the course of travel by ox teams from 1847 to 1860. The cattle of the west-bound trains had eaten the seed to the eastward and spread it along the trails in their journey toward the west. Indian ponies and buffaloes probably contributed to sow the seed also.

A few buffaloes could at times be seen, about this date, on the present city plat. The common deer and black-tailed deer were frequently seen on the site of the coming capital. Also the white-tailed and mule deer were occasionally observed. Herds of pronghorn antelope were often seen on the ground where Lincoln stands, in I860, and during several years later. Elk had formerly been abundant. Prairie wolves, or coyotes, were numerous within the present city limits in 1860 and for years afterv/ard. Pelicans, wild geese, ducks, prairie chickens, and quail, were seen in large numbers. ISIany small animals and birds made this region their home. Perhaps one thousand species and varieties of plant life could have been seen within the present platted limits of the city, twenty-nine years ago. This seems extravagant, but when it is known that the flora of Nebraska

With the landscape more beautiful than an ideal picture, the soil manifestly of unbounded fertility, and the land SAvarming with animal life, it can not be wondered that the early pilgrim who stood on the mound on post-office square and absorbed the prospect, thought that he had seen no spot so promising as this on which to found a city.

The land on which Lincoln now stands was surveyed in 1856 by the Government. The salt springs in the Salt Basin were then discovered and reported by the Government surveyor. Fabulous anticipations at once filled the minds of adventurers and enterj)rising men who then had begun to congregate along the JNlissouri river. In 1856 the Crescent Company was organized at Plattsmouth, and Captain W. T. Donovan, who commanded the steamer "Emma," from Pittsburg to Plattsmouth, was selected to represent the company at the Salt Basin. The captain and his family came on and settled on section twenty-three, on the west bank of Salt creek, and south of the mouth of Oak creek. The Crescent Company proposed to find out the value of the salt water flowage as a commercial investment. During the same summer William Norman and Alexander Robinson, representing a company similar to that of Donovan, came on and located for a time near the big Salt Basin, on section twenty-one. They soon became satisfied with their profits, and left the basin permanently. Owing to the threatening aspect of the Pawnee Indians during the latter part of 1858, Captain Donovan also abandoned the schemes of the Crescent Company, and removed to the Stevens creek settlement, where he remained until 1861, when he returned to the vicinity of the Salt Basin once more and located at Yankee Hill, a point nearly identical with the site of the present Insane Hospital.

In the autumn of 1859 a scheme for county organization was set on foot. At that time a large elm tree, with spreading branches, stood not iar from what is now the Burlington Poad round house. Under this tree the settlers met to take ])reliminary steps for the erecti<m of countv machinery. This caucus selected A. J. AVallingford, Joseph J. Forest, and Caj)tain W. T. Donovan, as a committee to select a site for a county seat and lay out a town. That committee, with most commendal)le judgment, selected the jiresent site of Lincoln, and called it "Lancaster," being named by Captain Donovan, probably, after Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania. He named his first settlement at the Salt Basin, in 1857, "Lancaster." But the new town went without inhabitants for several years, and settlers came into tlie (-(.imty very slowly until about 1864.

On July 2, 1861, Captain Donovan brought W. W. Cox, now of Seward county, to the Salt Basin, and on August 20th Cox and Darwin Peckham began to boil salt at the Big Basin, in section 21. Thev immediatly set up an extensive business by trading salt for all manner of useful commodities in the line of provisions, such as meat flour, butter, potatoes, eggs, fruit, wood, clothing, etc. Salt was very scarce in the West, and during the war very high, so that j)eople came even from near Des Moines, Iowa, for salt, and traded flour for the same, pound for pound. Settlers came from far and near to boil salt for themselves, and the Salt Basin was a lively place during the later months of 1861. No salt could be made in the Minter time, and Mr. Cox wintered with Captain Donovan, at Yankee Hill. Durino- the fall of 1861 such prominent men of the future as J. Sterling Morton, O. P. Mason, and Phineas AV. Hitchcock, visited and inspected the Salt Basin. JMr. Morton then probably contracted some ideas that were unfortunate for him in after years. The Territorial Governor, Alvin Saunders, who had been elected in May, 1861, also visited the basin during the fall.

John S. Gregory arrived during this year, and boiled salt by the Basin on section 21. Many others came and went, and the salt business was very prosperous. During the final week of May, Milton Langdon and family arrived, and settled on the north side of Oak creek, not far west of its junction with Salt creek. A connty convention was held at the basin on the first of May, and it was attended by about every old settler in the county. An election was held in the fall, but there was nothing connected Avith it of particular interest in the history of Lincoln.

But there was one thiuo; Avhich did affect the destin^' of Nebraska and this city which occurred in that year, and that was the final passage by both Houses of Congress of the Homestead Act. This had passed the Senate in February, and was passed by the Honse in- Mav. This act bronglit settlers to Lancaster county with some activity during 18G3.

During the winter of 1862-3, an old man named Van Benthusen was camped at the Salt Basin boiling some salt in a large open pan. An Indian hit him a rap over the knuckles with a ramrod, for a joke. The old man did not see the joke the same way, and flew into a rage and knocked the Indian over into the boiling salt, burning him fatallv. The settlers went to the Indian camp in alarm, fearing this act had incensed the aborigines, but they were found making sport of the scalded Indian, who roared with pain in his dying agony. They called him a squaw, and pointed their fingers at him in scorn.

During the winter of 1862-3 a son was born to the family of Joseph Chambers, then camped at the Salt Basin. The child lived but a short time, but was, probably, the first child born within the limits of the present city. On March 3, 1863, Elmer E. Cox, now of Seward, was born at the basin.

The summer of 1863 found W. W. Cox and family still at the basin. During the spring of 1863 John S. Gregory built a frame house where West Lincoln now is, and made other improvements, and the same season he was made the first postmaster of this locality. The office was named " Gregory's Basin," but did not continue very long. Mr. Gregory received a salary of S3 per annum. During the summer of 1863 Mr. Gregory erected salt-making apparatus at the basin having a capacity of about two tons per day, for which he found a ready sale to pioneers and travelers in all directions, except, perhaps, to the westward. Few white men had then settled west of Salt creek. William Imlay also conducted a salt-manufacturing business in 1862-3, at the small basin near where the stock-yards are now located. Milton Langdon and others were engaged in making salt during 1862 to 1864.

.John S. Gregory was elected to the Territorial I^iCgislatu re for Lancaster county on October 13, 1863, and l)ecame a prominent figure in the county and city thenceforward for many years. Fifty-five votes were cast at this election. Mr. (iregory was probably the first permanent settler within the present city limits.

From Pee-Historic Times

On the morning of July 4, 1863, Mrs. W. W. Cox proposed that the family celebrate Independence Day. AVild gooseberries were very plentiful along Salt creek, and Mr. Cox went out to pick a quantity to be used in the festivities. When he had filled his pail he heard some hallooing, and stepping out of the bushes to see what the disturbance was about, he saw a small group of men near by, and on closer inspection he found that it was the party of Elder J. M. Young, Rev. Peter Schamp, Dr. J. McKesson, E. AV. AVarnes, Luke Lavender, and Jacob Dawson. They were hunting for a good place in whicJi to plant a colony. They. at once joined in the celebration project. The neighbors were called in, dinner was served, the elder made a speech, and a small flag they had with them was raised ; and this first patriotic event of its kind on the soil of the present capital, they do say, was a very soul-stirring occasion. Perhaps the flag then floated for the first time on the present site of Lincoln. The was looking for a place to locate a colony and establish a Methodist mission, and like most of the pioneer Methodist preachers, he was a very good judge of business possibilities as well as of yellow-legged chickens. After a careful inspection of all the surrounding region, he came back to the Salt Basin about July 10, 1863, and decided that the present site of Ijincoln was the most desirable for his purpose of any spot he had seen. He dedicated a portion of section twenty three to colonial purposes, and christened it "Lancaster." But no attempt was made to settle the town until 1864, when the village life of Lancaster really began.

The winter of 1863-4 was one of intense cold, and the pioneers of the valley of Salt creek were threatened with starvation as well as with the rigors of the winter. But when spring came, settlers began to come in with renewed energy, and homesteading began in earnest, for it then became probable that the Union would be saved. People began to think they would risk this region, whose soil had so long been viewed with suspicion, owing to its radical contrast in ajipearance with that of States further east, and the libels long taught by ill-informed geographers. Jacob Dawson and John Giles took homesteads next to Young's new site of Lancaster in 1863. Captain W. T. Donovan had already taken a homestead - the first in the county - on January 2d, east of the Asylum. In 1864 Elder J. M. Young and his sons, Dr. J. McKesson, Luke Lavender, E. AV. AVarnes, and J. M. Riddle, made a permanent settlement on the town site of Laneastcr. The southeast quarter and the east half of the southwest <|uarter, of seetion twenty-three, were platted by Jaeob Dawson, and the plat is dated August 6, 1864. The streets were named North, Nebraska, Saline, AVashingtou, ]Main, Lincoln, College, High, and Locust, from the north to the south side of the plat. From west to east they were numbered from one to twelve. The plat contained sixty-four blocks, of eight lots each. The streets were to be sixty -six feet wide; the alleys were to run east and west, and were twenty feet wide. Tiic plat had a "Court-house" and a "Seminary" square. Three years later, when the capital commissioners replatted the town on a much broader scale, the original jilat was practically discarded. j\Iuch of the prosperity of the early part of LSG4 was lost by the scare caused by the Indian outbreak of that year, and most of the settlers left in September. Captain Donovan, John S. Gregory, and E. AV. Warnes, stuck to the vicinity of the Lancaster plat. The Indians committed several butcheries west of the Big Blue, but did not molest the Salt creek settlement. Still, those who remained were in great fear at times lest they might be attacked.

The season of 1865 opened with but a few more settlers than that of 18G4, on account of the Indian scare of 1804. Most of those who fled the fall before, returned in the spring of 18(3o, and others came and took homesteads.

Lancaster county had but one county-seat tight, which, owing to the few persons engaged, did not develoj) the exciting or sanguinary aspects that often grow out of such contests. AVheu John Cadman and John S. Gregory were in the Territorial Legislature in the winter of 1804, Cadman was in a scheme to partition Clay county between Gage and Lancaster. Gregory at first opposed this hotly, but he finally came around and supported the scheme. The agreement to dismember Clay comity was easy, comparatively. But when it came to the details of how it should be done, the problem was too nuich foi' Cadman and (ircii'orv. It was an original case, this takinir the life of a municipal government, and it required skill in law and the principles of civil and constitutional government mA thought of when the scheme was Jiatched. At this jwint in the dilemma Cadman and Gregory called in T. M. Marquett, representing this county in the Council, and he was made a sort of referee, after much higgling, for the adjustment of the whole matter of division of tciTitoiy, f'luuls, uiul cxtiiiiiiiislinient of the life of Clay eounty. His work was so well clone that it has never been questioned since.

This elimination of Clay eounty from the map was intended to iix the county seat of Gage county at Beatrice, and also that of Lancaster near where it now is. With Clay county in existence, tiie first would have had to go further south and the second further north. Cadman wanted the capital of Lancaster county at a point near tlie present Insane Asylum, which he at once staked otF as a town site under the name of " Yankee Hill," Elder J. M. Young caused his site to he platted the same summer of 1864, and then thse two generals set out to capture the eounty seat of Lancaster county. Gregory had cnnsed the Legislature to appropriate i?")00 for a bridge over Salt creek "to be located in Lancaster county," hoping to get the bridge opposite Lancaster. But Cadman was not asleep, and when tiie commissioners came to view the ground he ])lead so m'cII for a bridge at Yankee Hill that the money was equally divided between the Yankee Hill and Lancaster bridge sites. With the addition of subscriptions, both sites secured a bridge over Salt creek, and were so far even in the fight. Lancaster had the Salt Basin and Yankee Hill had the freight road from the jMissouri, making them about a tie. Yankee Hill secured a blacksmith shop and a small store, and was a little ahead on the count. But Elder Y''oung was a shrewd and energetic leader, anil Cadman Avas unfortunate in at least one particular. 'Die settlers south on Salt crock had generally located near what they supposed would be the county scat of Clay county, and the prospective capital they had named Olathe. When Cadman joined hands MJth H. \V. Parker, of Beatrice, and slaughtered Clay county in cold blood, he also annihilated the prospects of Olathe. The visions of the Olatheans suddenly went glimmering. Their anger against Cadman rose to a high pitch, and they "laid for him." And it is not recorded that Elder Y^oung tried to smooth down the rnfHed temper of the people of Olathe. So, when the people came to vote on the location of the county seat in the summer of 1864, Lancaster was victorious by odds. Olathe got even with Cadman. But Cadman did not long sulk in his tent. He joined with the ]ieople of Lancaster to make it a successful town, and was soon afterward a hotel keeper in Lancaster, and the justice of the peace of the place. He was elected to the next Territorial Legislature, and was a member of the first State Senate. He was also probate judge, sheriff, and treasurer of Lancaster county. At present he is residing in California, but be paid Lincoln a visit during July of the present year. He has a son residing in the city now, and anotlier in Omaha.

Elder J. i\[. Young was a man of great enterprise, very large mind, and possessed of a warm heart. He was an antagonist whom most men could well atford to respect. He not only planted his colony on the sight of Lincoln, but was the inspiration which had much to do with inducing the commissioners to locate the State capital on his site rather than at Seward, or one of the other competitive points. He came to Lancaster county to found a female seminary when this region was almost literally a howling wilderness. Coyotes did the howling. So did the Pawnee and Otoe Indians. But he set about building his seminary, (in 1864, probably,) and had it in operation in 1866. It was built of the soft red sandstone of this region, and was about 30x50 ft. in dimensions, and two stories high. It stood on the rear part of the lot now occupied by the State Journal building, owing to the fact that the plat of Lancaster was totally disregarded by the surveyors who surveyed Lincoln, in 1867. It then became the school house, meeting house and public rallying point generally, until burned down in the spring of 1867. The first school on the site of Lancaster was taught in the " seminary " by Mr. H. W. Merrill, in 1866, in the latter part of that season, with an attendance of about thirty. School was continued in the "stone house" in 1866, when it was in charge of j\Irs. Merrill, whose husband had a homestead on the Antelope. After it was burned, in 1867, John Cadman opened a hotel on its site, late in 1867, using the walls, in part, for his hostelry. This was the second hotel in I^iincoln. Cadman afterward sold out to N. S. Atwood, who greatly enlarged the Cadman House, as a brick structure, and after running it for some time, it burned also. Before the Cadman House was built, the Pioneer House was erected on the southeast corner of Ninth and Q streets. It was the first hotel in Lincoln, and was well managed by L. A. Scoggin, who afterward mysteriously left, and has not since been heard from. The Pioneer was built in 1867, and was burned a few years later.

When T. M. Marquett ran for Congress in 1866, with J. Sterling Morton as ojiponcnt, jNIorton challenged Marquett to a campaign joint debate. The campaign was opened by tiie first debate, in the "seminary" just referred to, in August. The pioneers came from fjir and laear, but this mass meeting numbered only about fifty persons. The meeting was a lively one, and the campaign resulted in the election of Marquett. So much for the history of the Stone Seminary.

The first term of the Territorial court in Lancaster county was held in November, 1864, at the house of Jacob Dtiwson. Dawson's house was a double log cabin, situated on the ground on west O street now occupied by the St. Charles hotel, between Seventh and Eighth, on the south side of the street. The officiating judge was Elmer S. Dundy, now United States District Judge for this district. Mr. Dawson acted as clerk, and Judge Pottenger, of Plattsmouth, was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for the Territory, at a salary of $75. T. M. Marquett, of Plattsmouth, was present as an attorney. Milton Langdon and John S. Gregory were the local attorneys, who were nearly always arrayed against each other in the local courts. The leading -case of the term was that of Bird, or The Territory, against Pemberton. The latter had shot his revolver into Bird's house, and thumped Bird with it afterward, owing to some difficulty Pemberton had had with one of Bird's daughters. The Birds had talked, and Pemberton *'did up" the father in consequence. After a good deal of trouble, a grand jury was impaneled, the venires for both grand and petit juries being exhausted in getting the panel. Then it took about three -days to find a petit jury, owing to the lack of men. The eligible male inhabitants were nearly all on the grand jury. There were no professional jurymen in court on this occasion. The trial of cases was delayed about three days in the endeavor to find petit jurors.

The grand jury found several indictments. Pemberton was indicted and came to trial on a charge of " Malicious assault with intent to kill." T. M. Marquett defended him for a fee of ten dollars. He urged upon his honor. Judge Dundy, that his client should not be required to lie in jail, (there was no jail until 1868,) and should not be required to give bond, even if he could, if the Territory was unable to try him. It was not his client's fault that a jury could not be found. Citizens should not be made responsible for the failures of the Territory. He thereibre moved to quash the indictment. Judge Dundy granted the motion, and Pemberton was discharged. Pcniberton left, to avoid further trouble, Marquett assuring him that if he assaulted Bird again, that he would come to Lancaster and prosecute him. Another indictment was quashed in the same way.

a second term, November 8, 1864. There was a foot of snow on the groiuul, and the day was stormy. In returnins; to Phittsmouth, the court and attorneys were obliged to shovel through drifts. When within eight miles of Plattsmouth, the party learned of the election of Mr. Lincoln, and all five of them then and there gave three cheers. The drive to Plattsmouth was made in a single day. This long drive was frequently made in a day. Simeon Benadom made the drive in a dav in 1868, when he brought his wife to tiie city. Siie was one of the first women who became a resident of Lincoln.

There was one term of court in Lancaster in 1865, and probably one court in 1866. The famous litigation of those early years was between John S. Gregory and his LTncle Eaton, of Plattsmouth. The war continued for several years, and was red hot. On one occasion ]\Ir. Gregory expressed a decided (»pinion that Eaton would be a resident of Sheol in the future. Eaton prom])tly replied that he should, in such a case, be compelled to regret his misfortune, owing to the necessity he should be under of keeping such company as Mr. Gregory.

On June 21st, 1866, an election was held to ratify the State constitution framed by the Territorial Ijcigslature early in the year. The people ratified the instrument all right, aiid the I^egislature elected under that constitution met July 4, 1866. But the bill for the admission of Nebraska as a State, which passed Congress on July 28th, was vetoed by Andrew Johnson. This compelled the people to wait until 1867 for statehood. Congress passed another admission bill in January, 1867, which was also promptly vetoed by President Johnson, on the grounds that the Territory did not contain sufficient j)opulation to warrant it in claiming statehood ; that the admission bill was at variance to some degree with the enabling act, and that the ccmstitution had not been formed in the prescribed manner. It took Congress just two days to pass this bill over Johnson's veto: February 8 and 9, 1867. The Legislature met at Omaha, February 20th and ratified the provisions on which Nebraska was to be admitted : that she should enter into an obligation to deny no citizen the elective franchise on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. President Johnson proclaimed Nebraska a State on ^Nlarch 1, 1867. The Legislature immediately took steps t(» remove the capital from Omaha. JIow this was done is told in another chapter.

Growth Of The Village Chapter Xii

The Geowth of the Village - The Change of Name - The Effect of THE Location of the Capital - Early Business Houses and Residences - The Days of '67 and '68.

In 1864 Hon. John Gillespie returned from the army, in company with a son of Elder J. M. Young, on a furlough. When the steamer reached Nebraska City Elder Young was on the wharf watching for his son, whom he greeted cordially. He then gave Mr. Gillespie a neighborly reception, and the latter inquired whether the Elder was still living in Nebraska City. Mr. Young replied that he had located at Lancaster, in Lancaster county. Mr, Gillespie had a high opinion of Elder Young's ability and character, and expressed surprise that he should be incarcerated in the wilderness on Salt creek, and asked what he expected to do there.

'HJh, I am founding a colony out there," said the Elder, "and am building a female seminary. We will soon have the county seat, and will have the capital there someday."

The idea of founding a female seminary on the raw prairie, where there was scarcely a young woman to attend it, and of getting the Territorial capital out in the same nondescript region, struck Mr. Gillespie as visionary, if not actually absurd. But no fiction is so romantic and surprising as real human experience, esijecially in a new State, where almost anything within reason is possible.

Within about a year from the time that boat touched the Nebraska City wharf, John Gillespie was elected Auditor of the Territory of Nebraska. As Auditor he acted as one of three Commissioners, three years after the boat landed, to locate the capital of the State of Nebraska on Elder Young's colonial grounds, and in almost precisely three years from the time the Elder made the prophecy, the capital of Nebraska actually was in existence on the ground he had picked out for the site of "Lancaster" in 1863. His "seminary" was not very successful, but that was not very material, for in about five years from the date of his declaration to Mr. Gillespie that he proposed to found a seminary, tlic contract for the erection of the building for the University of Nebraska was let, and ~ Elder Young lived to see all his dreams more than realized. His death occurred in 1884. Lincoln then was a city of about 20,000 people.

On the afternoon of July 29, 1867, the Commissioners finally met, at the house of Captain AV. T. Donovan, to ballot on the location of the capital of Nebraska. The meeting was in the attic of the house. Lancaster had two votes on the first ballot and Ashland one. The one vote was by Mr. Gillespie, who said he feared that Lancaster was short on a water supply for a city of large population. But he was also influenced, doubtless, to vote for Ashland because that place was the favorite for a capital site of the Plattsmouth people, while Yankee Hill was the chosen site of the Nebraska City schemers. Plattsmouth was opposed to almost anything that Nebraska City favored. Mr. Gillespie was really in favor of Lancaster, and on the second ballot voted for it and made the choice unanimous. The citizens of the handet were gathered about the house awaiting the result in hopeful but anxious suspense. Presently Governor David Butler and Commissioners T. P. Kennard and John Gillespie came out of the house, and the Governor, standing on the east side to avoid the heat of the sun, formally proclaimed the decision of the Commission in favor of Lancaster. Of course the few^ settlers present rejoiced exceedingly.

On that historic July day the hamlet of Lancaster did not contain more than six or seven buildings, "shacks," log-houses, stone buildings, and all. The Commissioners then stood in front of Captain Donovan's house, which stood about sixty feet southwest of Opelt's Hotel, or near the southwest corner of Ninth and Q streets. This Avas a small stone and cottonwood frame house. Jacob Dawson's double log cabin of 1864 still stood on the south side of O street, between Seventii and Eighth, where the St. Charles Hotel now is. In the front end of this house S. B. Pound had set uj) a small grocery store in 1866, and it was still in existence when the Capital Commissioners came. Dawson also had the postoffice at that time, and took it "up town" with him when he removed two blocks east, in 1867. Milton Langdon resided in a little log-house near the southwest corner of Eighth and (^ streets. Dr. and Kev. John McKesson, for he represented both the Methodist ministry and the medical profession, lived on his claim on the north side; his house was being erected at what is now W and Twelfth streets. The cotton wood grove now there was planted by McKesson, the trees at first being switches. The doctor added McKesson's Addition to Lincoln, and was offered $40,- 000 for it in the early seventies, but declined to take it. He wanted more. He then went into the manufacture of a harvester he invented, and lost all his money, and now lives a poor man at La Cygne, Kansas. S. B. Galey, who came here in April, 1866, had a small stone building on P street near Tenth, on the site now occupied by John Sheedy's elegant block. Linderman & Hardenbergh, who next to S, B. Pound were the earliest merchants of Lincoln, had opened a small stock of goods at a point that would now be in Ninth street, near P, possibly partly in both streets. They had sold their shop to INIartin and Jacob Pflug, early in 1867, who conducted it in the firm name of Pflug Bros. They kept a small stock of groceries, including a barrel of whisky, some hardware, and a few dry goods. Robert Monteith and his son John had a little shoe shop at what is now 922 P street. They soon after built the little frame building now on that lot and now used by M. Adler for a pawn shop. This is one of the few structures remaining of that date in the city, and when first built passed for quite a building.

Elder J. M. Young lived in what is now O and Eighteenth street. The sandstone house now on that corner was afterward erected by the Elder. Luke Lavender's log homestead residence was at O and Fourteenth, his eighty acres lying to the south and east. This house has been considered the first residence erected on the plat of Lincoln. If this is true, it must have been placed there before the fall of 1864, for it is positively known that Jacob Dawson's double log-cabin, on the south side of O street, between Seventh and P^ighth streets, was completed before the close of October, 1864, fi)r Judge Dundy held a term of court in that house during the first few days of Noveml)er, 1864, and T. M. Marquett was in attendance as an attorney. Dawson's and Lavender's houses were, doubtless, built in the summer of 1864. Both men came to the county in company with Elder Young's exploring party, in July, 1863. William Guy, Philip Humerick, E. ^I\ Hudson, E. Warnes, and John Giles, had homesteads near the plat of Lancaster, and the farms they then were opening are now all ]>art ol' the city of Lincoln. The walls of Elder Young's old stone seminary stood Oil the rear part of the lots on the northeast corner of Ninth and P streets, wliere the State Journal block now stands. There may have been thirty inhabitants, all told, on the present site of Lincoln in July, 1867. Judging by the vote cast in the following fall election, there may have been five hundred people in the entire county. From thirty souls to fifty thousand inhabitants, in twenty-two years, is a record of rapid growth equaled by few cities of the world ; but such has been the progress of Lincoln since 18(37.

The Commissioners called the capital "Lincoln," according to the terms of the bill, which provided for the relocation of the seat of government of the State of Nebraska. How the name ''Lincoln" came to be selected is told in the chapter on the removal of the capital.

When it became known that the Commissioners had selected Lincoln for the State capital, a number of men squatted on the site, expecting to bid in the ground they were on at the fall lot sales. But there was a good deal of doubt about the outcome of this capital venture. The North Platte people were generally unfriendly to the choice of the Commissioners, and Omaha was disposed to prevent the consummation of the removal, if such a thing Mere possible. The lot sales were not opened until September 17th, and the lack of confidence Avas so great that the sale, on the first day, was a failure. No lots could be disposed of. And the year of 1867 was practically closed before the sales were known to be sufficiently successful to assure the funds necessary to erect a capitol building. Had it not been for the courage of the Commissioners and the enterprise of the Nebraska City men, who were friendly to this as a site for a new capital, it is very doubtful if this removal scheme would have succeeded. Nebraska City considered it good strategy to get the capital out of Omaha, when it was thought that the latter town might be outstrij)ped, and Nebraska City become the metropolis of the INlissouri. It seems never to have occurred to the schemers, who were trying to protect themselves from Omaha, that the new capital would spring into such importance in twenty-two years as not only to overshadow Nebraska City, but even to rival Omaha herself. As Lincoln has passed all other towns on the river, she may yet pass Omaha. This is much more reasonal)le than a prediction of her present importance would have seemed in 1867.

dates from 1868. The lot sales had fairly succeeded. Confidence then had a substantial foundation; so that business houses and inhabitants came quite freely during 1868, and Lincoln became a town of about 500 people toward the close of the year.

Even now the records and traditions of 1868 are beconiing- dim - especially the traditions. It has taken days of patient inquiry to reproduce the landmarks of that year even witli approximate correctness. Old settlers differ radically about various points. Certain buildings are located by some at one place and others feel sure they were somewhere else. But the village was substantially all confined to a space bounded on the west and east by Eighth and Twelfth streets, and ou the north and south by 11 and N streets.

site of the St. Charles Hotel, near O and Eighth, and had erected a large sc^uare stone and log house back some distance from the southwest corner of O and Tenth. The Sweet Block, on the northeast corner of O and Tenth, was finished early in 1868, by Darwin Peckham, who still is a leading mechanic of the city, and one of very few who did business on this plat in 1868. This building was just half its present size. Where the O street stairway now is there was an outside stairway for entrance to the upper story. The building was really three buildings erected together, by James Sweet, A. C. Kudolph, and Pflug Bros, Sweet and N. C. Brock opened the first bank in the city, in the southwest corner room, on the 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, aud Nelson C. Brock. About tlie same time that the bank opened, A. C. Eudolph opened a grocery store in the next room north, and Pflug Bros, a stock of dry goods in the third room from the corner. The upper part was used for offices, and later on, part of the county offices were there, and the State Treasury Mas practically at the bank in 1869, Mr. Sweet then being State Treasurer. Bain Bros, opened the first clothing house in the city in 1868, on the southeast corner of Tenth and O streets. They had previously had a real estate office fronting Tenth street, to the south of their clothing house. D. B. Cropsey had a real estate office on the southwest corner of O and Tenth, where the State National Bank now is, his father, A. J. Cropsey, being with him. During that year Bohanan Bros, opened their meat market where it has been ever since, next to Cropsey's office, to the west, and where they have since done an enormous business. Squire Blazier also opened a meat market about where the postoffice now stands, postoffice block then being known as " Market Square." The square was used in those days for a camping ground for immigrants and land seekers, and was generally thronged with machinery, covered wagons, horses, cattle, and men. Here the early land agents found many of their customers. On south Tenth street, about where the Lancaster County J^ank now stands, David May opened a small stock of clothing during the year. A little south of the alley R. R. Tingley opened a little drug shop ; and a short distance south of this C. F. Damrow set up the first tailoring establish- ment in the capital. On the north side of tliis^ Uock, about the center, facing "Market Square," was Moll's grocery. S. B. Pound had removed his stock of groceries to what is now 015 O street, Avhere he united with Max Rich, of Rich & Oppenheimcr, of Nebraska City, in the grocery business during a few months of 1807 and 1868. The next year he sold his interest to Rich & Oppenheimcr, who carried a general stock there for a number of years.

Judge Pound, as a merchant, was noted for his close application to his law studies. He really made his grocery business a sort of subsidiary arrangement to fill up the time while he prepared for the bar.

Southwest Cokner O And Ninth

On the northwest corner of this block a colored man named ISIoore had a barber shop, and near the southwest corner was the residence of L. A. Scoggin.

In the block bounded by O and X and Eighth and Ninth, there was one building, Dunbar's livery stable, located on the northeast corner of the block. It was a long low shed.

In the block bounded by O and P and Eighth and Ninth, tlieix? were two or three buildings. On the southeast corner, where tlie Humphrey Bros.' stately block now is. Dr. H. D. Gilbert, of Nebraska

Citv, liiul established a mercantile house, carrying the peculiar combination of" books, drugs, and hardware. His little house stood beside the store to the north. Humj)hrey Brothers succeeded Dr. Gilbert j?oon afterward. JMilton Langdon, the first County Treasurer of Lancaster county under the new order of things, lived a little back from the southwest corner of Eighth and Q. His milk house, which Avas a little to the southward, became the first city and county jail. "When a citizen became too "wild and woolly," they "put him in the milk house." It is a question in dispute whether J. I). Minshall had a small store of dry goods and groceries on P, between Eighth and Ninth, or not, in 18G8. Simon Benadom says he is certain that he did. Charles F. Damrow thinks that he did, also. Others think he never was anywhere but on O street, between Tenth and Eleventh, south side. liut he was doubtless there.

In the block bounded by P and Q and Eighth and Ninth, there were two or three houses. H. S. Jennings had put up a stone residence near the northeast corner. It is thought by several pioneers that there were two or three small houses on the south side, facing P, one of which was the AVidow (Jardner's dance house, which was a famous, or infamous, attraction during the legislative session of 1869. But these are not all fnllv authenticated. Near the northwest corner of Ninth and Q a story-and-a-half cottonwood framo stood. It was thirty -three feet square, and was partly used for public and partly for private purposes.

In the block bounded by P and Q and Kintli and Tenth, there were six or more structures of various sorts and sizes. At the northwest corner was the Pioneer House, the original hotel in Lincoln, kei)t by L. A. Scoggin. John Cadniau had overcome his disappointment at not getting the capital, and having bought the lots at the southwest corner of the block, on which the walls of the old stone seminary stood, he built up that structure late in 1867, and opened it as the "Cadman House." He only owned it a few months, until he sold it, in 1868, to Nathan Atwood, who built a brick front to it of much larger proportions, and opened the "Atwood House," which was the principal hotel of the town for several years, but was burned down in 1879. On the northeast corner was the Methodist church, a low white building, erected late in 1867 or early in 1868. It was the largest audience room in town for several years, and was used for ehurch services, political and business meetings, lectures, and sindlar public purposes. Its dimensions were about 25x40 feet.

Seth B. Galey having been appointed County Clerk in April, I8(i7, and been elected to that office in the fall of 1867, erected a small stone office on P street, where John Sheedy's block now is, in which he transacted the county's business belonging to his department. Next to him on the west was a little building in which S. B. Pound and Seth Robinson opened a law office. At 922 P street was the Monteith shoe shop, heretofore mentioned.

On the block bounded by Q and P and Eleventh and Twelfth, a short distance north of the southwest corner, was the stone ^cliQolhouse." This was the first school-house in Lincoln. The stone school-house was the educational center during several subsequent years.

In the block included between O and P and Tenth and Eleventh streets the first saloon v.as started, by Ans. and George A\'illiams. This was the first buildnig completed on the east side of the Government Square. It stood north of the center of i\\Q block, and the uj)- per floor was used for offices. The front room was Thomas H. Hyde's land office, where he transacted the leading land business of the town durino; 1868 and later. Mr. Hvde was an auctioneer at the State lot sales ill 1868. His office was head-quarters for State officers ami politicians, Governor Butler often resorting there to transact business. In after vears the lower room became a notorious saloon, where more prominent men of the town drank whisky to their detriment than at any other place in the city. It is said that from fifteen to twenty leading men of Lincoln have snuffed out their prospects at that bar. This old Cottonwood frame still stands, at 1320 O street, and is used as a second-hand store.

A good story is told on Colonel J. E. Philpott, who arrived in the capital about this time. When he looked around for a law office, he found empty the upper front room of the building in which the Williams boys had their bar. He took possession, and awaited the process of events. After a few days a tall, dignified-looking man came into his office, and said he was looking for a room in which to transact a land business. Colonel Philpott thereupon proceeded to lease the stranger a part of his office, and everything went on swimmingly, until it was developed, later on, that the stranger was the owner of the building, or ^Ir. Thomas H. Hyde, and Colonel Philpott had leased Mr. Hyde quarters in his own building. Mr. Hyde had been away on a landexploring tour, and finding Colonel Philpott in his house on returning, played "tenderfoot" to have a little fun.

Behind these shops, to the north and west, was located the first lumber yard in Lincoln. The proprietors of the yard were Mouell & Larkley. Soon afterward Valentine Brothers opened a lumber yard on the ground fronting on Eleventh, from M to N streets, where Temple Block and the Billingsley Block now are. This firm supplied most of the lumber used in building the old State capitol. During 1868 and 1869 both yards employed teams to bring the lumber from the Missouri river, at a point about six miles above Nebraska City. Farmers and freighters going to the river with loads would return loaded with lumber, and the lumber trains were often long caravans.

A, J. Cropsey built a residence where the south end of the Capital hotel now is. Early in the fall of 1867 W. W. Carder had established the first newspa])er of the town, near the middle of the east side of the block bounded by X and O and Tenth and Eleventh streets. This was the CorinnonioedHh, which in the summer of 1868 became the

State Journal. A little west of Carder's office was the beer saloon of Joe Hodges, who is said to have dished out the first lager sold in Lincoln. Whisky had been sold for two years or more before tiiis. Over on the southwest corner of this block AVilliam Shirley had erected a boarding house, and next to this building, on the north, was Cox's grocery and boarding house. About where Ilarlcy's drug store now is, at the southeast corner of Eleventh and O, stood A\'illiam Rowe's harness shop, who was the pioneer horse furnisher of the town. About three lots east on O street M-as J. P. Lantz's land office. Mr. Lantz also conducted a real-estate monthly for about seven years, called the Nebraska Intelligencer. Of that he used to print an edition of 10,000 copies at times, and it was the means of inducing many to come to Nebraska. Mr. Lantz is still in the real estate business, on nearly the .same spot he occupied in 1868. A couple of lots to the eastward was William Guy's residence. On the southeast corner of Twelfth and O streets Avas Charles May's bakery, where D. B. Alexander's block is now located. May baked 150 loaves per day in 1868. He also had a homestead. William Allen had a residence nearly opposite, north, uear where the Burr Block stands. Leiffhton & Brown had a small drug store on the southeast corner of O and Eleventh, on the present site of the Richards Block. Seth H. Robinson lived on the northwest corner of Twelfth and P streets, where Mr. R. E. Moore now resides. It is said that Thomas Roberts had the first harness shop in town, near the southwest corner of Eleventh and O; but this is in dispute.

Such was Lincoln in 1868. There may have been a few small shops and residences in addition to those named, but those described substantially constituted the capital of Nebraska twenty-one years ago.

The ordinary trades were fully represented at this time. The professions were also. S. B. Galey, Seth Robinson, S. B. Pound, Ezra Tullis, Major Strunk, and J. E. Philpott, were the lawyers of this period. The first man admitted to the bar in this county was John S. Gregory, who became a disciple of Blackstone under the authority of Judge Dundy in 1866. He and Milton Langdon had practiced in the little legal affiiirs of Lancaster settlement back in 1864 and 1865, but they did this because they were somewhat more " posted " than the other pioneers of the neighborhood. Robinson was a man of brilliant mind, but not perfectly balanced. He became Attorney General of Nebraska in LS69. He died in California of quinsy a few years ago. S. B. Pound has since held the office of Probate Judge, [1871,] District Judge in 1875, and State Senator. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1875, which framed our present State constitution. He formed a law partnership with L. C. Burr in 1887, having resigned the judgship at that time, owing to the low salary attached to it. Major Strunk was a resonant political orator of the early days, and slipped from the community in an unceremonious halo of social indiscretion. Col. Philpott is in the addition to the Sweet Block, having officed in the original block when some of the county and State officers were doing business there. It was here, in 1869, that the colonel became the unwilling victim of one of his own practical jokes. He was in partnership with Sam Tuttlc, with an office at the east end of the block, on the upper tloor. H. G. Brown, a good fellow, with a disposition to take things too seriously, was on the same floor, and was Deputy Clerk of both the District and Supi-eme courts. Philpott and Tuttle persuaded Brown to go down to the back yard at night to appropriate a little fire-wood for them from a pile belonging to the county. Brown obligingly w^ent down for the w^ood, and Philpott slipped out and hid behind some sunflowers that grew further east in the yard. When Brown had filled his arms with wood, Philpott rose up suddenly and began to fire off his revolver, as if he had caught Brown stealing wood, expecting that the latter would drop the wood he had and run precipitately to cover. Then they would enjoy the joke on Brown at their leisure. This was the theory of the joke. But plans of jokers, like those of mice, do not always go the satisfactory ^\^^dy. No sooner had Philpott's gun flashed than Brown dropped his wood and wheeled toward Philpott's hiding place with the savage remark :

And to Col. Pjiilpott's dismay he began to reach for his hip pocket to get out his revolver. Col. Philpott saw that something must be done to ease the situation, and that in a hurry. So he sprang out into Brown's view and thrcM' up his hands, gesticulating wildly while he protested with an intense earnestness he had not experienced for years: ness." Then Brown went off indignantly, and refused to be friendly for some time. All this time Tuttle was looking out of the windowhaving all the fun there was in the performance.

In 1868 a drove of 1,000 Texas cattle passed through J.iiuoln northward bound. In going over the Salt creek bridge, at the foot of O street, the cattle broke the structure down, precipitating a lot of the long-horned bovines of Texas into the stream. The owner of the herd camped just across the creek, and the town trustees, Messrs. H. 8. Jennings, S. B. Linderman, Dr. H. D. Gilbert, J. J. Van Dyke, and D. W. Tingley, donned their official dignity and proceeded to\\ard the camp to require the proprietor of the herd to pay for the bridge. Major Bohanan and others of the population who were posted on tiie science of the Texas steer, followed at a prudent distance to see tiie fun. The trustees marched up to the steers in solemn state and ai-tless innocence. The animals raised up their heads in audacious amazement, and began to move toward the officials of the city, who found it convenient to commence retracing their steps. This official retreat was at first conducted in good order, but the accelerated movement of the steers, and finally a charge from the animals, turned the retirement of the town officers into a precipitate rout, and they came pell mell back to cover with the steers in full pursuit. Having escaped, they then summoned the jiosse comitatus, and the owner of the steers was required to pay for the bridge; and their terms were not improved by the bad manners of his wild western cattle.

The doctors were here with the earliest comers. Dr. J. M. Mc- Kesson has already been mentioned as one of Elder Young's i)arty, of 1863. Besides him there were in 1868 and 1869 Doctors H. D. Gilbert, George W. French, and J. W. Strickland. When the Lancaster County Medical Society was organized, on the 24th of ^lay, 1869, the following-named resident physicians of^the capital were present: D. W. Tingley, F. G. Fuller, J. M. Evans, II. D. Gilbert, L. H. Bobbins, and George \V. French. In the fall of the same year the following additional names were added to the roster: J. W. Strickland, John AV. Xorthup, George A. Goodrich, and C. C. Badmore.

Politics in a new country never exhibits a character of tameness. Some one, probably Seth P. Galey, had organized the Beiniblican party about 1866. Galey was a natural leader. He stood six feet ill liis stockings, and was as successful as he was large j3hysically. He was county judge in 1867 and 1868. In 1870 lie went to the Legislature, and in 1879 was chosen Mayor of Lincoln. He carried a hod to finish the stone seminary in 1866, and was attorney for the Atchison & Nebraska railroad in 1871 or 1872. He is uoav living in Portland, Oregon. There were many Union soldiers here in 1868> ouly three or four years out of the war, and they were intensely enthusiastic for their old leader, General Grant, in the Grant and Colfax campaign of 1868. So it was easy to stir up a hot discussion, especially with such candidates as Grant and Seymour, the iatter's war record being decidedly unsatisfactory to the soldiers.

Some time during September, 1868, Simon P. Benadom, who had been appointed a postmaster in Jones county, Iowa, in 1856, by Buchanan, and was a warm Democrat, called a county convention of the Democratic party of the county. This was rather regarded as a joke by the Republicans. When the day came there were just three Democrats, besides Benadom, present in the old stone school house, two of whom were Irish stone cutters from the State Capitol building. Benadom was chairman and secretary of the convention, and an organization was effected. Benadom was selected for chairman of the county committee, and also of the senatorial committee, places he held for years afterward. It was decided to erect a Seymour and Blair "liberty pole" on Market Square, preparatory to holding a rousing Democratic rally there in October, A committee was selected to procure the pole, but on the appointed day not a man appeared but Benadom. He remembered the old story of the lark and the farmer, and immediately drove his lumber wagon to his woods, near Saltillo. There he found Matt Brackin, now commissary to the city jail, whom he invited to aid in getting 'the pole. Brackin was then and is yet a Democrat, and readily consented. They loaded three .stalwart hickory saplings, and drove to Lincoln. Benadom welded iron rings, and the three poles were spliced together, and made a flag staff probably fifty-five feet high. It took all the Democrats in the town to raise it to a perpendicular pcjsition. But they planted it, a little to the southeast of the place where the Government Square artesian well now is. Benadom renienil)ers this zealous work yet as a hot and difficult performance that almost sweat ])olitics out of him for the time.

About three weeks afterward the Democratic rally took i)la(c around that pole. A platform had been erected at its base, and upon it Judge Savage, of Omaha, stood while he made a short and fierv speech to the assembled Democrats. Then A. J. Poppleton addressed the crowd for two hours, and it seemed to the followers of Seymour present that they had never heard a more eloquent speech. It established Poppleton's reputation as an orator of power, from that day to this, among Lancaster Democrats, and also among many Republicans. General Victor A^ifquain, now Consul of the United States at Aspinwall, Panama, was present also.

This demonstration of the Democracy around the hickory pole, supposed to be symbolic of "Old Hickory," fired up the Republicans. They had to have a pole also, and to excel the Democrats. They sent to the river yards, (it was at that time told to the Democrats to Chicago,) for several very fine pine timbers. The base timber was perhaps a foot square, and was left square. The next section was smaller, and was made with eight sides. The next was of less dimensions, and Avith more faces. The pole finally tapered off in a graceful round staff not lai'ger than a man's wrist. When completed by Mr. Sam McClay, the leading Democrats admitted it to be the most graceful and lofty flag staff" they had ever seen. It was so heavy and tall that the Democrats had to assist in planting it. It was so top heavy and flexible in the wind, that it had to be stayed by ropes. It penetrated the atmosphere to a height of one hundred feet. It cost the Republicans, it Avas reported at the time to the Democrats, three hundred dollars. This was perhaps a little higher than the facts. It was set up some distance north of the Democratic ])ole. The Republicans Avere very proud of the surpassing excellence of their pole, and probably took some pains to exult at the expense of the Democratic staff'.

At any rate, toAvard the close of the campaign it Avas found one morning to have been broken in three pieces, and two fragments, with the flag, Avere on the ground. This fired the blood of the Republicans, particularly of the old soldiers. They thought their staff' had been broken through political envy, or even malice. They suspected a stage driver named Pool Avith having committed this flagi'ant act, and a Avarrant was immediately procured of County eludge Jt>hn Cadman for Pool's arrest. Sheriff J. 11. Hawke brought Pool back to the city at the close of the day, and he was immediately arraigned before Judge Cadman in a little frame building, used for a saloon by Joe Hodges, on O street, between Tenth and Eleventh, where McConnell's brick block now stands. The room was packed with men, and the ground in front was occupied l)y an angry crowd of old soldiers and others, who freely declared they would hang Pool if found guilty ; and very few who saw the menacing demonstrations doubted that they would carry out their threat.

S. B. Pound and C. H. Gere conducted the prosecution, and J. E. Philpott, H. S. Jennings, and Col. Van Armin, the defense. The trial had hardly opened before the floor broke down, and dropped the court, attorneys, prisoners, and reporters, to the ground, about a foot below. But a small afi^air like this cut no figure when a man was on trial for his life on a vague suspicion of having cut down a Grant and Colfax flag staif, and the trial went on. It soon developed that there was no evidence against Pool, and he was discharged, and was hustled ofl" into the dark, by the back way. While the Grand Army men did not wish to hang a man who really had not committed the oifense, yet Pool found it convenient to keep out of sight for a good while after this. The pieces of the broken staff had been arranged for a gallows in front of the court room, the rope was adjusted, and the whole aspect of affairs looked so like some one was goiiig to be executed, that no one could blame him for finding as though it was not conducive to long life to remain in the capital of Nebraska..

At the election following this fiery pi'oceeding there were 4G0 votes cast in the county, of which the Republicans polled 320, and the Democrats 123.

This was not the only time that a man escaped by a hair's breadth from being taken from a Lincoln court and hung. In 1869 a man named Bill McClain was suspected of horse stealing. He was arraigned before Judge Cadman, and an angry crowd, led by Martin Pflug, the merchant, were actually uncoiling their rope; but the emphatic protestations of Simon Bcnadom and the size of Judge Cadman induced the mob to cool down and disperse. Judge Cadman was a very powerful i.nan, and he told Benadom that he would have pitched out the leaders of the mob ihstcr than they could come into the room where he was, had tliey attempted the assault.

in 1868, has been prepared for this book. It shows where each house then in existence stood, as remembered by the pioneers now living. There is some difference of opinion about several buildings, and some may be omitted, but this chart is approximately correct. It is accompanied with a key, so that it can be readily understood.

The contract for building the old State capitol having been let, on January 11, 1868, to Joseph Ward, the work had progressed steadily all the season of that year, so that on December 3, 1868, Governor Butler announced by proclamation the removal of the seat of government from Omaha to Lincoln,

The United States land office was removed from Nebraska City to Lincoln in 1868, and Mr. Stewart McConiga, the popular Register, was kept as busy as a bee assisting immigrants to take homesteads. In fact, men stood in rows, awaiting their turn to take a claim.

So 1868 was a successful year for the new capital, and the future was full of hope. On petition of a majority of the citizens of the village, the County Commissioners, on April 7, 1868, ordered "that the town of Lincoln be declared a body incorporate, and that the powers and privileges be granted them as by the Statute in such cases are made and provided." Messrs. L. A. Scoggin, B. F. Cozad, Dr. Potter, W. W. Carder, and A. L. Palmer, were appointed Trustees of the corporation. An election was held on May 18, 1868, at which H. S. Jennings, S. B. Linderman, H. D. Gilbert, J. J. Van Dyke, and D. W. Tingley, were elected Trustees. But sixty votes were cast at this election, and the town government failed to continue the organization during that year.

The corporate existence of Lincoln, therefore, dates from 1869, and the events of that period of almost precisely twenty years, 1869 to 1889, will be the subject of the next chapter.

Chapter Xiii

Lincoln foe Twenty Yeaks, From 1869 to 1889 - Its Remarkable Growth - The Increase in Population by Years - Water Works, Paving, Sewerage - Evidences of the City's Wonderful Improvement - The Floods of 1868, 1869, 1874, and 1889.

On petition of 189 citizens, the town of Lincoln was ordered incorporated by the County Commissioners, April 7, 1869, about twenty years and three months ago at this writing. The corporate limits w^ere made to include section twenty-six, the west half of section twentyfive, the southwest quarter of section twenty-four, and the south half of section twenty-three, in town ten north, range six east. The town officers were as subjoined :

The town election was held on May 3, 1869, and a Board of Trustees were chosen, as follows : H. D. Gilbert, C. H. Gere, William Rowe, Philetus Peck, and J. L. McConnell. The officers of the Board were: H. D. Gilbert, Chairman; J. R. DeLand, Clerk; and ^Nelson C. Brock, Treasurer.

The year 1869 was a prosperous one for Lincoln. The lot sales had been wonderfully successful, assuring all needed State improvements to be derived therefrom. Land sales continued to be active, and population multiplied in town and adjacent country. Above all, the famously progressive Legislature of 1869 met early in the year at the new capitol, and not only approved all the splendid work of Governor David Jiutler and Commissioners John Gillespie and T. P. Kennard, but also made provision for further progress on a most wise and magnificent scale.

Hon. C. H. Gere, in his address to the Old Settlers' Association, at Cushman park, on June 19, 1889, tells of the deeds of this great Legislature in the following terms, which are none too complimentary:

Eemarkable Growth And Improvements. 1G5

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 law-makers 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 ordered 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 to-day; but it was full of eloquence, tire, 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 memorial gathering, every six working days of every week of the twenty years 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 days accomplished more. Ever}' 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.

The contract for excavating for and the construction of the basement of the State University was let to D. J. Silvers & Son, of Logansport, Indiana, on June 10, 1869, for S23,o20, and work was immediately commenced. The corner-stone of the university was laid on September 23d, with Masonic ceremonies. The building was to be completed on or before December 1, 1870.

Messrs. Silvers burned the brick for the university building near where the Burlington & Missouri river depot now is. They bougiit hundreds of cords of wood from the settlers, thus aiding them to obtain money for current expenses. The entire bottom in the region of the brick works was covered with cords of wood, sand, lime, chty, and brick. At times, during 1869, one hundred cords or more of wood would be in sight at one time. This was not the first brick bunu-d ill the county or city. Milton Langdoii burned a kiln of brick, on the site of West Lincoln, as early as 1867, assisted by John S. Gregory, who supplied the wood. Simon Benadom burned a kiln of brick, on the ground where the Burlington depot now stands, early in 1868, out of which a number of the chimneys were constructed. Seth Robinson used these brick to construct his residence, the same now occupied by R. E. Moore, on the northeast corner of Twelfth and P streets. Some of the same brick were used in building the Atwood House.

The contract for building the asylum for the insane was let to Joseph Ward, about August 15, 1869, for $1'28,000, and work proceeded soon thereafter.

Besides all this, the people of Lincoln still had a very high notion of the value of the Salt Basin as a commercial aid to the city. Mr. John H. Ames, who was the pioneer historian of Lincoln, having published a series of articles he had previously prepared for the Statesman, a Democratic newspaper of Lincoln ; these were reprinted in pamphlet form in 1870 by the JournaJ "power press." In that work, the correctness of which is formally attested by the Governor, Auditor, and Secretary of State, Mr. Ames estimates that 882,001.60 barrels of salt can be made from a single well. .Vllowing for cost of barrels and every possible shrinkage, he calculates that a single well Avould produce salt to the value of at least $488,970.22. He casts his over the field and says that : " While the railway now being constructed, and those projected, will give us direct connection with the Eastern markets, and enable us to compete with the Eastern salt manufactories upon their own ground, it is certain that we shall be called upon to supply all the vast territory lying between the Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains, so that three dollars per barrel may be considered an extremely low estimate for the minimum price at the wells."

The foretjointr estimate of the value of the wells seems a little fabulous at this time, but when Mr. Ames wrote, the faith in the salt wells was substantially represented by his views. Early in 1869 Messrs. Cahn and Evans leased a section of land from tlie (iovernment, about one and one-half miles from the postofficc, expecting to open thereon extensive salt works. They were still drilling the well when Mr. Ames wrote his account.

Remarkable Growth And Improvements. 1G7

With all these reasons for encouragement, Lincoln enjoyed a lavorable growth during 1869. In reviewing the progress of the town early in 1870, Mr. Ames sums up the results as follows, in the work just quoted: "Only about two and one-half 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 l)uilding8 of every description. At the present time that number has been increased to over three hundred and fifty, and the number of inliabitants in town will not fall short of twenty-five hundred souls. The ai)])rcciation of real property, which was so slow 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 buildino- 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, the Agricultural College, and the State Lunatic Asylum, and about six hundred lots belonging to the State yet remain to be sold."

In a following paragraph Mr. Ames continues: "The cash valuation of the real property of the town belonging to private individuals, as ascertained from the assessment roll, is $450,956. ^'incof 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 present autumn. Six societies, namely, the Methodist Episcopal, Protestant Methodist, Christian, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Catholic, have been duly organized for some time past, maintain pastors, and observe the regular stated services. Advantage is being taken of the facilities offered in the Avidth of the streets for setting out trees for park rows. Two large hotels, in addition to the one large and many smaller ones now in use, have been constructed, while the business of buildino- substantial residences and business houses is being engaged in to an extent difficult of belief to one who has not seen it. .Vnd one thing at least is evident: that is, that every one in Lincoln is confident that he has cast his lines in pleasant places, and where there is to be, within a few years, a large, prosperous, and beautiful city."

At this time, early in 1870, Mr. Ames explains that : "In Lancaster county there are no longer any Government lands subject to homestead and preemption."

In a paragraph further on he remarks that "the cars are now runniug on four raih'oads, which are surveyed and in all likelihood will be built to Lincoln. The Burlington and INIissouri River railroad is now completed to Lincoln, and will take a westerly direction to Ft. Kearney, with the Union Pacific, thus placing it at nearly the center of a irreat transcontinental thoroughfare."

During the summer of 1868 the Co^ninoniccaUh had become the Nebraska State Journal, whicli now was a daily. The Statesman was a weekly Democratic paper, and the Intelligencer was a monthly real estate periodical.

In brief, the town had a continual run of progress - great progress, consideriup; that it started in a wilderness in 1867. Then the wild and vicious Legislature of 1871 disorganized the condition of prosperity of the town greatly. It impeached Governor Butler, whose acts as Commissioner and Governor have seldom been equaled in history for sagacity, courage, and judgment in the founding of a city, and threatened to undo all that had been done. The public was led to believe that the location of the capital had been illegal, and property fell in value greatly, not to fully recover until after the grasshopper raids, which extended from 1873 to 1876. During the visit of these pests was the dismal period of Lincoln's history. Property fell to ruinously low prices, farmers had little to buy with, and hundreds not only left their farms, but the town of Lincoln also. But the more courageous of the people remained through the days of the scourge, and were Avell rewarded for their resolution. It was during the year 1873-74 that ]\Ir. George B. Skinner was elected Street Commissioner for the purpose of giving a large number of men work to keep them from want. Mr. Skinner was fully equal to the situation, and proceeded to reconstruct the surface of the streets around Government Square, and where needed, and to make cuts and fills generally. Some criticised him severely and others applauded, but the needy grasslioppcr sutlerers did what the people in later years conceded willingly : they admitted that he was a benefactor, without whose aid the wolf could not have been kept from the door of many a home.

But the locusts passed away in 1877, probably forever, and the city revived with phenomenal rapidity : so much so that the census of 1880 showed a population of 14,000. And from that day to this the growth has been both constant and rapid. The poj)ulation of the

Eemarkable Growth And Improvements. 16&

The growth of the city was so rapid that the wild animals of this region did not seem to appreciate the situation for several years, and failed to move westward away from civilization. Deer, wolves, and other wild animals, were captured within the present city limits as late as 1872, and Lincoln was a game and fur market for a nundjer of years later. Mr. Simon Benadom was the wholesale fur and game merchant of Lincoln and all surrounding country for many miles, from 1869 for a subsequent period of ten years. In the winter of 1871 and 1872 he went east with his stock, and in a couple of mouths returned to find that Rich & Oppenheimer had purchased |2,000 worth of furs at their store, in course of busijiess in his absence. He purchased these at once and bought .*?1,80() worth besides of Simon Kelly, who had taken a few barrels of whisky out on the Blue river and traded it for these furs with trappers he found there. Mr. Benadom used to buy furs to the value of about $20,000 a season along about 1870 to 1872. The best of the pelts he sold in Xew York, in person. Others were disposed of in Chicago and elsewhere. The fur trade was rather depressed in the winter of 1873-4, and to be busy Mr. Benadom bought prairie chickens and quail. In two months he shipped sixteen thousand of each to New York, packing them in boxes and barrels and sending them East in a frozen condition. It can be seen that this city was in a y;reat p-ame countrv fifteen vears ago, whose natural wildness Avas not by any means subdued. In this connec_ tion we can illustrate by saying that Benadom alone killed fully fifty deer on the present plat of Lincoln during a few years after he came here, in 1868. He generally found them in the brush and tall grass of the Salt creek bottom, and his deer hounds having started one, he would catch the animal on the fly, being a precise rifleman. He also shot twenty-one wolves on the present plat of Lincoln.

The Government postoffice was begun in 1874 and completed in ]879, at a cost of $200,000. It is built of gray limestone from the Gwyer quarries on the Platte river. Its architecture is modern Gothic.