Class 5:111. 
 
 Book ^ 9_ A^ 
 
 Copyright N^ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
MATHAMiEL M. AYERS 
 
BUILDING A NEW 
 EMPIRE 
 
 By 
 
 NATHANIEL M. AYERS 
 
 A Historical Story of the Settlement of the Wild West. 
 Taking Up the Wild Scenes Incident to the Settlement 
 Of a Country Inhabited By Buffalo and Hostile Indians. 
 
 Dedicated to the Nebraska State Historical Society 
 
 BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 835 Broadway, New York 
 
 BRANCH OFFICESt CHICAGO. WASHINGTON. BALTIMORE. 
 ATLANTA. NORFOLK. FLORENCE. ALA. 
 

 Copyright, 1910, 
 
 By 
 
 NATHANIEL M. AYERS. 
 
 C.CI.A278544 
 
i^ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. 
 
 The Decision .... 
 
 7 
 
 11. 
 
 Going West .... 
 
 • 13 
 
 III. 
 
 The Stockade .... 
 
 . 30 
 
 IV. 
 
 Claims Located — the Missouri 
 
 
 
 Preacher .... 
 
 . 41 
 
 V. 
 
 Matlax, the Trapper . 
 
 . ^5 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Land Office 
 
 . 65 
 
 VII. 
 
 Whistler and Badger Killed . 
 
 . 72 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Organizing the County 
 
 . 88 
 
 IX. 
 
 Wild Horses .... 
 
 . 103 
 
 X. 
 
 Hitchcock County and the Irish 
 
 
 
 Landlord .... 
 
 . 117 
 
 XI. 
 
 General Election and More Prairie 
 
 
 
 Fires 
 
 • 135 
 
 XII. 
 
 More Grasshoppers . 
 
 . 148 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Grasshoppers Destroyed — More 
 
 
 
 Trouble for the Homesteaders 
 
 . 173 
 
 XIV. The Revival and the Penitentiary 183 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The story of "Building a New Empire" is not a 
 story conceived in the vivid imagination of the author, 
 or wrought from the wild scenes of the growing West 
 in fiction or by inspiration, but a story of actual ex- 
 perience in making a new West, and the memory of 
 the events of those trying times has led up to writing 
 this manuscript. 
 
 In general conversation these events have been re- 
 lated many times, and editors have asked for historical 
 events to be written for publication, and the writer 
 has been urged to put these actual facts in book form, 
 so the conditions existing in the early days in the 
 settlement of the "New Empire" might be known to 
 the younger generations coming on to occupy the 
 country so recently wrested from the wild man of the 
 plains. 
 
 The writer had expected to receive assistance from 
 the few old settlers still living, and who had witnessed 
 the meteoric changes in the West in the past thirty- 
 five or forty years, but none could be found that could 
 give additional facts or evidence of value. Many who 
 passed through the wild scenes of the West could not 
 be located, and those that could be found could give 
 but very few reliable facts of value to add to the cir- 
 cumstances related, so the memory of one man is 
 largely in evidence in writing a historical sketch of 
 the last "new West." In some instances fictitious 
 names have been used to represent the real characters, 
 or the letters transposed, but when actual history is 
 
preface 
 
 recorded, as in state and county officers the actual 
 names of the parties are in evidence. 
 
 The purpose of this work is to put in the hands of 
 the reading pubHc the experience and hardships, and 
 the stirring scenes of the actual settlers on the fron- 
 tier of the new West, who with the aid of the soldier, 
 the scout, the hunter, civilized the last frontier of 
 this great Nation. 
 
 Should any gifted writer in future years draw in- 
 spiration from this work to glowingly put in prose or 
 poetry the stirring scenes of taming the wild West, 
 my labor will not have been in vain. 
 
 The Author. 
 
BUILDING A NEW EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Decision. 
 
 At Waukula, Iowa, in the winter of i87i-'72, a 
 young man was clerking in a grocery store, and as 
 a side issue, was buying produce, poultry, and game, 
 with the division of profits on the produce deals, as a 
 part of his salary. Like many other young men of 
 the time, he had a very lucrative position, yet but 
 little could be saved from the salary received, and the 
 profits on the poultry and produce investments as a 
 side line. 
 
 The proprietor was a genial fellow and a good 
 business man, and often took into his confidence his 
 clerk on various matters relative to the business; 
 and in like manner the clerk consulted his employer 
 as to his future plans. Tan Myers was the clerk, and 
 while he was raised on a farm, and had received only 
 a very ordinary common school education, he was 
 agreeable to the patrons of the store, but longed for 
 something diflferent, and wished for the time that he 
 might do business for himself and be proprietor, 
 rather than clerk; so after thinking the matter over 
 and consulting by correspondence with friends and 
 relatives at the town of Manchester, fifty miles dis- 
 tant, he had about concluded that he ought to go 
 West, obeying the edict of Horace Greeley, and 
 "grow up with the country," although he had a very 
 good position and two other places had been ofifered 
 him on a salary, one of which was to act as a solicitor 
 
IBuilDing a i^eUj dBmpite 
 
 for a Chicago commission house, all of which he was 
 carefully considering; but after reading up on the 
 natural resources of the great West, its possible out- 
 come and the probable growth of a new country, he 
 had concluded to mention the matter to Mr. Burkee, 
 the proprietor. 
 
 He had heard old men talk of this and other coun- 
 tries when new, men who had seen a prosperous State 
 made from a country almost unknown to civilization in 
 their time, so why should not he realize the benefits of 
 helping to make a civilized country of a plain or a 
 wilderness? 
 
 After dinner one day, while the snow was falling 
 and but few customers were coming and going, Tan 
 nerved himself up to the emergency of the case and 
 candidly informed Mr. Burkee that he was contem- 
 plating giving up the place in the store, and going 
 West in the early spring, to take up a homestead and 
 make a new start in the wilds of the West. 
 
 The first question was : "Where do you expect to 
 go, and what part of the West do you contemplate 
 locating ?" 
 
 "Well, Mr. Burkee, I have been reading up on Da- 
 kota, Kansas and Nebraska," replied Tan, "and from 
 what I have been able to learn from the information 
 at hand, I believe Nebraska to be the best for a 
 young man, everything considered, the climate being 
 a happy medium between Kansas and Dakota, and all 
 things considered, Nebraska, I believe, has the best 
 future before it than any other portion of the West 
 now being opened to settlement ; besides I have many 
 friends who have gone there, and others of my best 
 friends are going to Nebraska in the coming spring 
 and summer." 
 
 "But," replied Mr. Burkee, "Nebraska is right now 
 
 8 
 
'BuilDing a n^eto Cmpite 
 
 in the midst of a political turmoil ; their legislature is 
 in session, and fraud and corruption are reported from 
 every direction, especially in the removal of the Capi- 
 tol from Omaha to Lincoln, and the location of many 
 of the State institutions at the new Capitol. The 
 officials and many outsiders are accused of graft in the 
 location of the Capitol, and the cry of fraud can be 
 heard from every direction ; and the papers are full 
 of scandal from the new capitol of Nebraska ; and 
 there must be some truth in the reports, for the legis- 
 lature has already impeached the governor, and re- 
 ports say that many indictments will follow in the near 
 future. There seems to be such a political crisis in 
 Nebraska at the present time that it may take the 
 State years to recover from the effects of the condi- 
 tions existing there at the present time. There are 
 also other conditions existing there that are 
 detrimental to the future welfare and prosperity 
 of the State; a portion of the State appeared 
 on the old maps as the Great American Desert, and is 
 said to be very sandy, while a portion of the State is 
 said to have a very good soil, but they are troubled 
 with drouth, and the lack of rain back fifty or one 
 hundred miles from the Missouri River, makes the 
 country worthless as an agricultural country, and it is 
 claimed that a white man cannot exist there, and that 
 the country is covered with hostile Indians and buffalo, 
 and a white man is liable to have his scalp raised at 
 any time that he sees fit to venture far beyond the 
 Missouri River. 
 
 "A hunting party is sometimes made up in the East 
 or in Europe to go to Nebraska on a hunting expedi- 
 tion, but such parties ask the United States Govern- 
 ment to furnish them soldiers for protection, as in the 
 case of the Grand Duke Alexis, who is now out on the 
 
'BuilUfitg a il3eto €mpfte 
 
 Republican River hunting, south of North Platte, with 
 two companies of cavalry. 'Buffalo Bill,' Jack Stil- 
 well, and Charlie Meadows ('Buckskin Charlie'), 
 three of the Government's most daring and trusted 
 scouts as guides and protectors until the party return 
 to civilization ; and you have a desire to go to a coun- 
 try like that?" 
 
 "Perhaps not to the wildest portion of the State, but 
 far enough West to secure a desirable location, where 
 there is good water and some timber, with the prospect 
 of having a good town near us as the country grows. 
 All new States have had their troubles, and many of 
 them have been condemned as worthless, and the hos- 
 tile tribes of Indians have caused trouble to frontier 
 settlers, all the way from Plymouth Rock and Man- 
 hattan West, as far as the white man has ventured to 
 make a settlement ; and it was but a few years ago the 
 Minnesota massacre occurred, yet Minnesota to-day is 
 a prosperous State, and the terrible massacre of its 
 people by a hostile band of Indians is only known as 
 a matter of history ; and as to political affairs in Ne- 
 braska, they are no worse than in some of the older 
 States, and no doubt some of the political grafters in 
 the new State have graduated in the art in some of the 
 older States ; and history will bear me out in the fact 
 that all our States, Territories and Colonies, have had 
 their political troubles. Even the original thirteen 
 colonies had their political broils at home, besides the 
 trouble with the Mother Country, and the political 
 strifes and contentions have been brought down to our 
 own generation. Look, for instance, at the new State 
 of Kansas, the twenty-first State in the Union, had 
 one of the greatest political uprisings on the question of 
 slavery known to any State in the Union. Beginning 
 as early as 1854, when the slave owners made a vigor- 
 
 10 
 
'Building a Ji^eto OBmpire 
 
 ous attempt to control its political destiny while the 
 energy of the friends of freedom were just as vindic- 
 tive for the control of the new territory, and the con- 
 test between the two factions became so marked that 
 the contest eventually resulted in the overthrow of 
 slavery in the United States, and the State of 
 Kansas was styled as the home of the 'Border ruf- 
 fian,' yet Kansas to-day is fast becoming a prosperous 
 State, with the white man making homes well toward 
 the western border of the State, although at one time 
 it was only considered good for the Indian and buf- 
 falo. And in the year 1857 an appeal went forth to 
 the benevolent people of the country for food and 
 clothing, for the drouth sufferers of Kansas, who at 
 that time only occupied a few of the eastern counties 
 of the territory, and yet with all its trials and ad- 
 versities, it is to-day a prosperous State, and you and 
 I can remember when we began the study of geogra- 
 phy, the whole of that country east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, way past the one hundredth meridian, was 
 called the Great American Desert. 
 
 "But the United States Government in 1848 sent 
 Captain John C. Fremont across this vast plain, cross- 
 ing the Smoky Hill Fork, the Solomon, Prairie Dog, 
 Beaver, and the Republican, among millions of buffalo 
 and other wild game, with an occasional skirmish with 
 a hostile band of Indians, and this was followed by 
 other investigations, till within the past two years, the 
 whole of western Kansas and Nebraska, to the Colo- 
 rado line, has been surveyed, and will, in the near fu- 
 ture, be thrown open to settlement for agricultural 
 purposes; and I am of the opinion that the push and 
 energy of the Western emigrant will, in a few years, 
 make that short grass country change from a range 
 occupied by wild game and herds of wild horses to a 
 
 II 
 
prosperous farming country. The State is watered by- 
 many running rivers and creeks, the longest of which 
 is named by the white man the Platte; but the In- 
 dians called it the Nebraska, meaning 'shallow water.' 
 The elevations range from eight hundred and seventy- 
 five feet, on the eastern border, to six thousand feet in 
 the extreme west above sea level, and the rainfall is 
 from thirty-five inches in the east to sixteen in the 
 extreme west annually, and this will increase with the 
 cultivation of the soil. The winters are usually open, 
 with little snow, and I am informed that cattle and 
 horses will winter in the central southern portions of 
 the State with but little or no grain, living entirely 
 on the nutritious buffalo grass ; and in view of the 
 natural resources of that vast territory and the quan- 
 tity and quality of Eastern emigration heading that 
 way, that a homestead in that new country will in time 
 be valuable." 
 
 "But remember. Tan, that in going to that new 
 country, the hardships that must be endured, the 
 amount of labor necessary to make a home, being 
 deprived of good society, with no church, schools, or 
 lodges, and in place of attending church or your 
 favorite lodge, you will perhaps be permitted to visit 
 an Indian village, witness a war dance, entertain a 
 few Government scouts, or join in a buffalo chase, in 
 place of enjoying the advantages of civilization ; and 
 the young lady you seem devoted to would hardly 
 care to give up a place as teacher in the city schools 
 to live in a sod or log house on a homestead in the 
 desert, far away from civilization and the city home 
 she now enjoys. 
 
 "The Government fees for taking a homestead is 
 fourteen dollars, and it is simply a bet. The Govern- 
 ment wagers one hundred and sixty acres of public 
 
 12 
 
ISuilding a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 domain against the fee that you cannot live on the 
 land five years and make the necessary improvements 
 to obtain title ; and here is Mr. Rice, who married the 
 lady of his choice, just after the Chicago fire, in a 
 calico dress, the only one she escaped with, from that 
 dreadful catastrophe, and who, but yesterday, oflfered 
 you a salary of one thousand a year, with all expenses 
 paid for one-half the year you were to travel on the 
 road, and I am really surprised that you would turn 
 down a position of that kind in the busy commercial 
 scenes of civilization, to a wild life on the frontier 
 with a very uncertain prospect of future prosperity, 
 and the known disadvantages of the frontier to con- 
 tend with." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Burkee, there is something in the wild 
 life that is fascinating, at least in imagination, and I 
 have thought for some time that I would like to try it, 
 and if it is agreeable to you, I will make arrange- 
 ments to go in the early spring; and if you will have 
 a man to take my place on March first I will quit 
 the store then, and get my outfit ready to start as soon 
 as the weather warms and the grass gets a start so 
 the stock can graze on the prairies as we travel to 
 the Southwest." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Going West. 
 
 Trecking over the Iowa prairies in early spring 
 could be seen several wagons with white canvas cov- 
 ers, some drawn by horses, while others were drawn 
 by oxen, and all loaded with provisions, clothing, bed- 
 ding, and the necessary mechanical tools and farm im- 
 plements with which to begin the necessary work of 
 
 13 
 
IBuilDing a J3eto OBmpire 
 
 the pioneer settlers on the extreme border of civiliza- 
 tion. The first day out found half the wagons swamped 
 in some of the Iowa sloughs familiar to the traveling 
 public at that time ; but by hitching on an extra team 
 or two to the mired wagon, and perhaps a pry with a 
 rail or long pole used as a lever, the wagon was 
 again pulled out of the mire and placed on firmer 
 ground. But this was only the beginning of the 
 trials in store for the little party of pioneers seeking 
 homes in the far West. Day after day this experience 
 was repeated, and one Saturday, after traveling in 
 the rain a part of the forenoon, word was passed along 
 the line that Tan had a "chill," and one of the party 
 driving the loose cattle came to his wagon and drove 
 the team till a stop could be made. Tan laid down in 
 the wagon with his "chill" for company until that 
 passed off, and a burning fever took its place and re- 
 mained with him until a favorable camp ground was 
 reached to remain over Sunday. One of the good 
 women of the party had provided a quantity of medi- 
 cine for the journey, and had generously administered 
 large doses to the ague patient, which, with the shaking 
 of the wagon, had produced what on the water would 
 have been called sea sickness ; and everything that was 
 loose he disposed of in artistic manner, which left him 
 weak and trembling with an empty stomach, and he 
 was really glad his friend Burkee or his best girl could 
 not see him in this condition, yet he would have en- 
 joyed their sympathy under different circumstances. 
 But Sunday's rest, with the result of the prescription 
 taken, cured the patient, and Monday morning found 
 him quite weak in body, but ready for another move 
 toward the wild West. Thus, day after day, the effort 
 continued, some days through mud and rain, and 
 others were bright with sunshine, and the ardor of the 
 
 14 
 
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 8 
 
'BullHing a iBetai €mpxte 
 
 members of the party still buoyed up with the hope of 
 making a home in the West. Getting swamped in the 
 Iowa sloughs, or to double team up a long, steep hill, 
 did not seem to discourage a single man of the party, 
 but all pushed anxiously forward to the West. To 
 queries asked by passersby, and to those with whom 
 we talked by the wayside, were all given the same 
 answers as to our destination being Nebraska, and one 
 of the party, to more fully express his enthusiasm, had 
 painted on his wagon cover "Nebraska or bust," while 
 another more inclined to morality, and who was ad- 
 vocating the new motto for the American dollar, which 
 was much talked of at the time, had painted in big 
 letters on the side of his wagon cover "In God We 
 Trust." We stopped at Des Moines, the capitol of 
 the State, and viewed with admiration the beauties of 
 the city which one of our party had seen in the winter 
 of i865-'66, when there was not a railroad in sight, 
 and but little else, except an inland town with a State 
 capitol to be reached only by your own conveyance 
 or a stage coach. But in six years it had increased in 
 population, until it had nearly six thousand people, 
 and boasted of having two railroads running through 
 the city limits, which gave to our party evidence of the 
 possibilities of development in the West, and still more 
 hope for the future. 
 
 At this point we crossed the Des Moines and the 
 Coon rivers, moving along in a westerly direction, 
 camping at night where water and fuel were plentiful, 
 and grazing for the live stock was excellent, nothing 
 of importance occurring to mar the pleasure of our 
 overland journey. Every day our hunters who were 
 practising for big game, brought in prairie chickens, 
 quail and rabbits, and while these were being eaten 
 as we sat round the campfires, many were the com- 
 
 15 
 
'BuilDing a ii^eto OBmpire 
 
 ments on the prospects of big game to be slaughtered 
 on the plains, which we hoped to see in the near 
 future. 
 
 The heavy continued rains of the past week had 
 made the Missouri River bottom, on the Iowa side, 
 almost impassable, and more than a whole day's time 
 was taken up in reaching the river from the bluffs, 
 after which the river was crossed at Plattsmouth, 
 where the Burlington railroad system had located their 
 shops for the Nebraska division. This was then a 
 rival of Omaha for commercial supremacy, and the 
 Burlington system were laying their plans to make 
 Plattsmouth the metropolis of the State, diverting all 
 traffic for the southwest through Plattsmouth, and 
 allowing nothing to go through Omaha that could 
 possibly be turned in this direction. 
 
 Here the rains had ceased, the air was pure and 
 healthful, vegetation in abundance, and the people 
 of the new State seemed to be wearing a smile of 
 contentment and prosperity, peculiar to any prosper- 
 ous country. 
 
 Here we met a large number of teams with covered 
 wagons headed for the Republican Valley, and other 
 parts of the new West. Here we also met men promi- 
 nent in the State, advertising a new town out in the 
 valley situated in what was destined to be the center 
 of James County, Nebraska ; at least that was the 
 statement made by Captain Murphy, who introduced 
 himself to Tan, who seemed to be the spokesman of 
 the party. Tan called the Captain's attention to the 
 fact that the counties east of this new territory (which 
 as yet was unorganized), were twenty- four miles 
 square, and if this new county was organized in size 
 the same as those directly east, would put their new 
 town of Arapahoe near the north line of the county, 
 
 16 
 
'BuilDing a Beto OBmpire 
 
 and a town would be started on the north Sappa, in 
 or near the center of the county which would also bid 
 for the county seat. 
 
 "But, young man," retorted the Captain, "we are a 
 strong company, with plenty of capital and political 
 influence sufficient to organize the county as we want 
 it. One of our party was formerly Secretary of State, 
 and I was Captain in an Iowa cavalry regiment during 
 the war, and have been on the frontier fighting In- 
 dians most of the time since the war closed. We will 
 go to the legislature during their session next win- 
 ter, and with the influence and capital at our com- 
 mand will have the county organized thirty miles 
 square, which will place our town near the center. 
 We will then elect and control the county officers, who 
 will declare Arapahoe the county seat, and this will 
 lay the foundation for the best town in that part of 
 the valley. We already have a store started there 
 by Messrs. Love and Colvin, who went from here, 
 and they have sent in a petition for a post office, ask- 
 ing that the mail route from Red Cloud be extended 
 on west to Arapahoe, and these things will give us the 
 advantage of any rivals that might spring up else- 
 where. Our political influence will be of great value 
 to us in many ways, and especially when it comes to 
 the organization of the county, and we would like for 
 your party to locate with us and help build up the 
 country." 
 
 "Your plans, Captain, have no doubt been care- 
 fully laid with a view of executing them without oppo- 
 sition, but there are other things to be considered. 
 I have a map here showing the lay of the territory 
 out there and if a county is organized, as you sug- 
 gest, it will leave but three townships north of James 
 County, to the organized territory north, which is only 
 
 17, 
 
OBuilDing a H^eto OBmpire 
 
 eighteen miles, and the legislature will not make one 
 county thirty miles broad and the next one eighteen 
 to accommodate a few politicians or to gratify the 
 desires of a townsite company. These counties are 
 usually organized for all the people and not for the 
 exclusive benefit of a select few. All United States 
 townships, unless fractions are six miles square, and 
 counties are usually made four townships, or twenty- 
 four miles square, and you and your company must 
 wield a powerful influence in this new State to be 
 able to overcome these advantages in the natural 
 course of organizing counties. You will also see that 
 the south Sappa, north Sappa, and the Republican run 
 parallel from west to east, through this unorganized 
 territory, and if this new county should be organized 
 uniform with the counties east, leaving room for an- 
 other county between this and the Platte River, it 
 must of necessity be twenty-four miles square, or at 
 least twenty-four miles north and south, so your 
 theory looks wrong, and your town would look bet- 
 ter to me if it were on the north Sappa, the lay of the 
 country and the natural advantages being equal." 
 
 "Yet you must remember that we are the first on 
 the ground, and in this we will take every possible 
 advantage, besides we have the capital, and the political 
 influence which we will use to the limit, and we are 
 bound to win." 
 
 At this point our party was ready to move, and 
 we again started for the great West. That night in 
 camp our maps were brought out and the situation 
 fully discussed by all members of the party, and the 
 conversation with the Captain fully canvassed, but at 
 this time we were headed for Red Cloud and hardly 
 had expected to go as far West as the original un- 
 organized county of James, but our party were eager 
 
 i8 
 
IBuilhim a ^^to dBmpite 
 
 for all the information that could be had relative 
 to the new country, some part of which was to be their 
 future home. We now moved leisurely toward the 
 new capital of the new State. Lincoln, the new capital 
 was now four years old, and was quite a flourishing 
 young city with two railroads and the prospects favor- 
 able for a third road. A small stone building was 
 used for a penitentiary, that accommodated the few 
 prisoners confined there at the time. The insane asy- 
 lum was also a small affair, and contained but few 
 patients, and the State capitol building was of small 
 proportions. The State buildings were all being en- 
 larged and the young city was growing rapidly. We 
 camped here one day and one of our party had a watch 
 that refused to keep time, although frequently shaken 
 and the hands repeatedly turned it would not respond 
 with a single tick, and positively refused to run. The 
 jewelry shop of J. B. Trixley was visited. The jew- 
 eler wound up the watch and off it started, but the 
 jeweler insisted that the watch was very dirty and 
 needed cleaning, and that seemed to be the only 
 trouble, but the owner knew it had been cleaned by a 
 reliable jeweler not more than thirty days previous, 
 and took his watch and went on his way rejoicing, 
 knowing now that he had simply failed to wind up his 
 watch and this was why it had refused to run. Out 
 on Salt Creek, near Lincoln, over the little band of 
 homeseekers that night came howling across that vast 
 extent of prairie a thunder storm of mighty propor- 
 tions, accompanied by a terrific wind, and violent peals 
 of thunder that was awful to behold, even by those 
 who were protected by substantial buildings from the 
 terrors of this awful storm, and when the rain came, 
 it came in torrents seldom witnessed by human beings. 
 The terrors of the storm were appalling in the extreme. 
 
 19 
 
'BuilDing a jfi^eto OBmpfre 
 
 The rain drifted through the heavy canvas wagon 
 covers as though they were made of cheesecloth, and 
 the contents of the wagons were almost as thoroughly 
 soaked with water as if they had been left out in 
 the rain with no protection whatever; and the party 
 found it necessary to devote the next day to drying 
 the contents of the wagons in the bright sunshine fol- 
 lowing the rain. The party had now had the ex- 
 perience of a Western storm which, in velocity, had 
 almost assumed the dimensions of a tornado or a 
 cyclone ; and as we advanced on our journey we found 
 the storm to have been quite general, and about the 
 little town of Crete we found much wreckage, denot- 
 ing that the storm had been even more severe there 
 than on the Salt Creek flats, wrecking many small 
 houses and temporary buildings over the prairies 
 and scattering fragments in every direction. Over 
 the prairies we continued our journey, camping at 
 night with the blue canopy of heaven covering our 
 little camp, while Will, one of our party, and who 
 was the anti-secret society member of the party and 
 was frequently, in a joking way, telling Tan of the 
 sins and wrongs of Masons and members of all secret 
 societies. But here Tan explained that in olden times 
 Masons met on a high hill or a low vale and their cov- 
 ering was the blue heavens above, just as our camp 
 was covered that night, and from this had originated 
 the term "Blue Lodge Masonry," and that perhaps in 
 future ages we might be referred to in history as 
 blue-capped emigrants seeking homes in the West. 
 Here and there were sod houses scattered over this 
 vast prairie, and small towns were springing up 
 along the new line of railway now being built to 
 Kearney. When the town of Harvard was reached, 
 which was then the terminus of the road, we turned 
 
 20 
 
'BuilDing a K3etti (Bmpitt 
 
 south to Red Cloud on tHe Republican River, a place 
 hardly deserving the name of a town, its dimensions 
 not being equal to the farm buildings of many of the 
 eastern Iowa farmers, but it was a new start in the 
 great West and must have a name. At our first camp 
 south of Harvard we were given a lesson in the in- 
 stincts of dumb animals. Arising early in the morn- 
 ing we observed one of the cows coming toward the 
 wagons in the little camp seemingly for treatment, 
 suffering from a snake bite, with her head and body 
 swollen up almost beyond recognition and in great 
 agony, but with proper treatment and a half day's 
 rest we were again on our journey. This incident is 
 mentioned to bring to mind the fact that dumb ani- 
 mals will come to their human protectors for assist- 
 ance in times of trouble, just as they come home for 
 food when hungry, and later in this story will be 
 given a case where wild fowl came to a white man 
 for protection when assailed by an enemy. Here at 
 night we camped on the Little Blue, at the home of a 
 noted hunter and frontiersman, who was nicknamed 
 "Wild Bill," although not the "Wild Bill" who shot 
 and killed the desperadoes on Rock Creek and was 
 afterwards city marshal at Abaline, Kansas, and was 
 killed by Jack McCall in Deadwood in 1876. Between 
 here and Red Cloud we saw the first wild buffalo, but 
 too wild to get in shooting distance. We were now 
 meeting hunting parties who had been out where buf- 
 falo and other wild game and Government land were 
 plentiful. Some of these parties were out for a hunt 
 and what sport could be had from the trip, while 
 others had taken homesteads, and some through idle 
 curiosity. We finally reached Red Cloud, a prospec- 
 tive town, but at this time had one store and two 
 small houses. Guide Rock was a few miles further 
 
 21 
 
'BuilDittg a JI3ehJ Cmpite 
 
 east, but it was only a small settlement named from 
 a point of rocks south of the Republican River, 
 named by the Government expeditions who used the 
 rocky bluff as a guide, and was thus named "Guide 
 Rock" long before it was thought of making this a 
 home for actual white settlers. The first settlers 
 here at these places had built a stockade in which 
 they could protect themselves and families from the 
 vicious attacks of hostile tribes of Indians roaming 
 over the Western prairies. Two years previous a band 
 of Cheyenne Indians had made a raid as far east as 
 Fairbury, killing many settlers, carrying off prisoners, 
 burning property, and driving off live stock belonging 
 to the homesteaders. The Indians saw the white man 
 gradually moving further west every year, killing the 
 wild game, and crowding the red man further west 
 year after year, and through their hostile jealousy 
 of civilization would make raids on the settlements as 
 they have done ever since the white man came from 
 Europe and made settlements on the Atlantic coast, 
 and pushed out toward the setting sun. 
 
 Indian massacres have occurred in all our States, 
 and many of them within the recollection of our 
 oldest citizens; but with all the cunning of these 
 aborigines, their savage force, and brutal butchery 
 they have been driven to reservations, killed by the 
 thousands, and contracting the diseases peculiar to the 
 white man, of which they had no knowledge and 
 could not cope with their ravages. Countless thou- 
 sands have died and yet the savage instinct prevails, 
 and butchery is the watchword, and but two years 
 previous to these events. Captain Brown and S. J. Al- 
 exander with their two companies of State militia, 
 assisted by a company of United States cavalry, drove 
 from the Blue and the Republican that ravenous band 
 
 22 
 
'BuilDing a iOetti OBmpite 
 
 of Sioux warriors who were devastating this sparsely 
 settled country, and making it desolate, with but few 
 living to mourn the loss of friends killed by a mur- 
 derous band of rebellious savages. And right here, 
 for a moment, let us call to mind the battle of the 
 Arickaree in 1868. In September of that year a band 
 of Ogalalla Sioux, under Chief Roman Nose, had 
 been raiding the settlers in Nebraska and Kansas, 
 killing the homesteaders and driving off their stock, 
 working mostly on the Solomon and the Republican 
 and their tributaries, until an organized effort was 
 made to stop these depredations. The Kansas Pacific 
 railroad was being built across the Indians' hunting 
 ground, and this greatly enraged the hostile Indians, 
 and for revenge they had made the effort to kill and 
 drive away all white people intruding on their terri- 
 tory; and raids were made as far east as Fairbury, 
 Nebraska, and Concordia, Kansas, until a volunteer 
 company was made up of noted hunters and frontiers- 
 men under command of Captain Forsyth, of the 
 regular army. This company consisted of fifty-one 
 picked men, who had seen service in Indian warfare, 
 on the cattle trail, and as Government scouts. This 
 little company of picked men were to fight against a 
 horde of Indians, and they knew not how many, but 
 the trail was taken after a raid made on the Solomon, 
 and continued for several days across a country un- 
 inhabited; but the trail of the departing Indians was 
 easily followed, and as the days passed the trail be- 
 came fresher and more plainly visible, till the little 
 party came near the Arickaree, the trail was fresh, 
 and it was known they were near the hostiles' camp. 
 A camp for the night was made, and in the early morn- 
 ing every man in the command was in his saddle ready 
 for action, but none too soon, for as dawn began to 
 
 23. 
 
break in the east, Indian activity began to be visible on 
 all sides, and hostile signs became more visible as 
 dawn advanced, and by sunrise Indians were seen on 
 all sides, and the little company of volunteers realized 
 that they were surrounded, and the fight they had 
 courted was now right at hand. A sand bar in the 
 river was near at hand, on which stood one solitary 
 Cottonwood tree and a heavy growth of willows, 
 A dash was made by the order of Captain Forsyth 
 to this little island, which was reached amid a fusil- 
 lade of bullets and arrows, and the horses were 
 fastened to willows and as speedily as possible sand 
 pits were made for the protection of the soldiers, to 
 be used as breastworks. The horses were soon killed 
 by the Indians, which also were used by the soldiers 
 as breastworks, and here for more than a week the 
 battle lasted, the soldiers drinking river water and 
 eating dead horse flesh, their pack mules having been 
 lost when the dash was made to the island. The sol- 
 diers had the Spencer rifle, which was a seven-shot 
 gun by one loading, and in this they had the advantage 
 of the Indian, but the Indians outnumbered them 
 twenty to one. Two men were finally detailed to make 
 an efifort to get through the lines and get word to Gen- 
 eral Phil Sheridan, who had command at Fort Hayes, 
 asking for reinforcements. Whether they could get 
 through the Indian lines was a problem, and should 
 they succeed there was a distance of one hundred 
 miles to travel for reinforcements and the same dis- 
 tance back. The Indians had in the meantime met 
 with such reverses in their attempt to storm the little 
 island that a state of siege had been adopted by them, 
 and they were quietly waiting to starve out the little 
 army holding the island fort. Finally a dark object 
 appeared on the horizon after many days of waiting, 
 
 24 
 
'Building a n^etti OBmpire 
 
 and as it drew nearer it was found to be a battalion 
 of cavalry with ambulance waggons, all under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Carpenter, who soon put the hostiles 
 to flig-ht and rescued the soldiers from their perilous 
 experience of more than a week, with a third of their 
 party either killed or wounded, and those remaining 
 did not know whether their comrades had gotten 
 through the lines and reached headquarters or not, 
 until the relief party was seen coming to their rescue. 
 Many of the party, who were yet alive, were badly 
 wounded, Colonel Forsyth having been shot in the 
 leg, which wound he dressed himself. This was one 
 of the hardest-fought battles ever fought on the fron- 
 tier, with the chances of success largely in favor of 
 the renegade Indians on account of numbers from 
 the start, and had reinforcements not come to the 
 rescue of the party, none would have been left to 
 tell the story. After the battle of the Arickaree Gen- 
 eral Phil Sheridan wrote that "the. present system 
 of dealing with the Indians is an error. There are 
 too many fingers in the pie, too many ends to be sub- 
 served, and too much money to be made ; and it is to 
 the interest of the Nation and to humanity to put an 
 end to this inhuman farce. The peace commission, the 
 Indian department, the military and the Indian make 
 a balky team." 
 
 Such has been the history of our Nation. The 
 Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Osages, 
 Kickapoos, Pawnees, Sioux, and other tribes have 
 been crowded by the white man from their hunting 
 grounds with an occasional treaty of peace and a 
 purchase for a paltry sum on the part of the white 
 man, of lands and possessions belonging to the red 
 man, that were in reality worth millions. While on 
 the other hand butchery, destruction, devastation, tor- 
 
 25 
 
'BuilDing a il^eto OBmpire 
 
 ture and plunder was the pride of the red man, and 
 every white person killed, added another feather to 
 his crown of glory, and placed him that much nearer 
 the happy hunting grounds. It was treachery and 
 trickery on one hand, and butchery and destruction 
 for the other. We are now in a territory claimed by 
 the Indians as a hunting ground for ages, until very 
 recently the United States Government surveyed and 
 mapped it out, declaring it open for homestead entry 
 to all citizens of the United States, over the age of 
 twenty-one, or the heads of families, and aliens hav- 
 ing declared their intention of becoming citizens, could 
 also file on a claim of one hundred and sixty acres. 
 
 Four square holes were dug by the surveyors at each 
 section corner and the sod taken from these square 
 holes was used for making a mound in the center, 
 marking each section corner in this manner, and 
 the quarter section corners was marked in the same 
 manner except that only two holes were dug, and a 
 smaller mound was formed. I have often thought that 
 the experience of these surveyors in making these 
 mounds, far in advance of civilization, often driven 
 from their work by the Indian of the plains, and par- 
 taking of all the hardships of a frontier life would 
 make interesting literature for those who occupy this 
 territory in future generations. Here we met hunting 
 parties who had been further west, and who gave our 
 party vivid descriptions of the fine country further 
 west on the Republican, the Sappa, and the Prairie 
 Dog. Here also was located a colony from Iowa, 
 headed by Captain Garber, who won his title as Cap- 
 tain in the Civil War, and with whom we had had a 
 personal acquaintance for many years. Here there 
 was plenty of Government land subject to homestead 
 entry, but the choicest locations were taken. Some 
 
 26 
 
TBuilDing a iBetti empire 
 
 claims had small houses and other improvements on 
 them, but no one living on the land, and our party 
 soon became convinced that claims were being held un- 
 lawfully by parties on the ground for friends in the 
 East who were to arrive and file on the claims later. 
 This we found later to be the case all over the country 
 subject to homestead entry. When we discovered that 
 all the best locations were taken or covered up we 
 became more interested in the country further west, 
 and after looking over this locality for several days, 
 and consulting with numerous hunting parties about 
 the country further west, we were considering the 
 matter of moving on. Will and Charlie, of our party, 
 were now fully determined to go further west, while 
 Tan and Ed. were fearful of less rainfall, and the 
 country being more subject to drouth, and here the 
 Captain and his friends advised our locating near 
 Red Cloud, or Guide Rock, as the further west we 
 went the lighter would be the rain fall. The higher the 
 altitude the more subject we would be to drouth and 
 hot winds, and the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were 
 troublesome, as some of the chiefs under Red Cloud 
 were not satisfied with the late treaties, and did not 
 share in the belief of Red Cloud, the head chief, that 
 further hostilities against the whites was useless, but 
 such under chiefs as Spotted Tail, Crazy Horse, Whist- 
 ler, Sitting Bull, American Horse and others were con- 
 stantly making trouble, and raiding the white settle- 
 ments, and a massacre, such as the Minnesota massacre 
 could be looked for at any time, and it was not safe 
 to go further west at that time. Tom's reply was: 
 "Captain,* you have now been here for almost two 
 years, and although you have a stockade, you have 
 
 * Captain Silas Garber afterwards served two terms as 
 Governor of Nebraska. 
 
 27i 
 
OBuiltiing a l^eto OBmpire 
 
 never had occasion to use it, and you have not been 
 troubled with Indians, except when the Omahas, Otoes, 
 or Pawnees passed back and forth on their hunting 
 expeditions, and I beheve we will be equally safe 
 seventy-five miles further west. The Government has 
 troops of cavalry guarding the frontier for the pur- 
 pose of keeping back from the settlements these hostile 
 bands of roving Sioux and Cheyennes, and are using 
 all due diligence to protect the homesteaders, and keep 
 the hostile Indians back on the buffalo range. While 
 here you are beginning to see a little touch of civiliza- 
 tion, and a little further west will be as good as this in 
 another year or two, and better locations can be se- 
 cured there than here, we getting the first choice there, 
 as you did here two years ago, and it looks to this 
 party of homeseekers that some of the best land here 
 was being held in reserve for speculation, or for 
 friends of those who are already located here." Tan 
 here produced a map and pointed out the possibility 
 of locating a town on the north fork of the Sappa, 
 in or near the center of a new county now called 
 James, but as yet unorganized. 
 
 "But," replied the Captain, "in attempting this you 
 may lose your scalps, and in this you will meet with 
 strong opposition from the new town of Arapahoe, 
 which is already started on the Republican, and an 
 effort will be made to establish the boundary lines 
 of the county when organized to suit the interests 
 of this company at the back of the enterprise. That 
 is a fine country to look at up on the Sappa, as I was 
 up there on a buffalo hunt last winter, and there are 
 as fine valleys to look upon in that wild country as 
 you would wish to see, but the names have been some- 
 what changed since that map was made, or at least 
 since it was properly revised. Sappa is the Indian 
 
 28 
 
'BuilDing n Jl3eto Empire 
 
 name of Beaver, and they called them the Big and 
 Little Sappa, but when the Government surveyed the 
 lands they plated the south fork with the Indian name 
 of Sappa, but gave the north fork the English name 
 of Beaver, to its connection with the Republican River, 
 making the north fork the main stream and the Sappa 
 a branch emptying into the Beaver. This is the 
 Government record, yet some of the hunters and trap- 
 pers insist on calling the Sappa the main stream, but 
 the Beaver is fifty miles the longer, with a larger flow 
 of water." 
 
 The arguments kept up, with no more possibility 
 of yielding on either side than when they began, till 
 finally the little party of homeseekers held a council 
 among themselves, after talking with numerous hunt- 
 ing parties, and arguing the question from all points 
 of vision, they decided to move on. 
 
 Here our party received the first mail since leaving 
 Lincoln. A number of newspapers telling of the 
 events in the civilized world, and many letters from 
 the home folks, and Tan a liberal supply from the 
 "girl he left behind," and for the time was absorbed 
 in reading the stack of letters, and seemed to care 
 little whether he took a homestead or not. The party 
 had looked over the country about Red Cloud, in- 
 cluding a trip over the line in Kansas, on the White 
 Rock Creek, but found the best claims, on which there 
 was timber and water, had been taken, and all the 
 party agreed that it could be no worse and perhaps 
 much better to take chances further west. 
 
 29 
 
'Building a Beto empire 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Stockade. 
 
 Moving up the valley the next day" could be seen a 
 party of several covered wagons, a bunch of cattle 
 driven by men on horseback, and every man carried 
 a gun or navy revolver, and other weapons were in 
 the wagons loaded and ready for easy access. Letters 
 had been written to the home-folks before the start, 
 telling them of the decision to go on further west, and 
 Tan had written a letter to his best girl taking double 
 postage, telling of the trip and the decision to move 
 on further west, where he hoped to make a home 
 for her, and how he longed to see her, and talk it 
 all over with her before moving on. Log and sod 
 houses were visible along this beautiful vaHey of the 
 Republican River, and in the main valley as well as 
 on the tributaries were timber sufficient for fuel and 
 for building purposes such as were constructed on 
 the frontier. Every day we met parties from the 
 hunting grounds, and they were all well supplied with 
 "jerk." The first time the party had heard dried 
 buflFalo meat called "jerk," and one party of hunters 
 stopped to talk with our party, and during the con- 
 versatbn asked if we did not want to buy some 
 ^"jerk." Tan was out of his wagon at once and says : 
 "Show me ; I want to know what 'jerk' is." The hardy 
 hunter held up a piece of dried buffalo meat, and in- 
 formed the party that was what they called "jerk," 
 "and the way we dry it in the summer is to cut the 
 hump and hams in strips, put them in salt water for a 
 few hours, then take them out and hang on poles, 
 
 30 
 
iCV--. 
 
 AN IMPROVED DUGOUT. 
 
 (Building a New Empire Page 30) 
 
'Bull Ding a Ji^etti Cmpfre 
 
 supported by forked stakes driven in the ground, and 
 under this was built a slow fire, the smoke and the 
 sun drying the meat, and the smoke also keeps off 
 the flies and all insects, leaving the meat clean and 
 wholesome ; and the smoke preserves the meat for 
 months during the hot summer season. And to us 
 plainsmen is our principle article of food," and many 
 times he said he had lived on this diet for days with 
 nothing else to eat. We began to get interested, for 
 he was really what in civilization would be called "a 
 hard looker." He was crosseyed, a full beard, long 
 hair flowing down on his shoulders, and wore a buck- 
 skin suit, and looked a perfect athlete. Said his 
 name was Cave, and was usually called "Joe." That 
 he had not seen a barber, or a razor for a year. He 
 seemed interesting to us "tenderfeet," and told us 
 that this process of curing meat had been borrowed 
 from the Indians, who were experts in the art. That 
 he spent his time in hunting and trapping west of the 
 settlements, and hauled his pelts to Buffalo Station 
 on the Kansas Pacific railroad, or to North Platte on 
 the Union Pacific. Said he had but little trouble with 
 the Sioux Indians for they, as a rule, feared the men 
 who followed the wild life on the plains. When on 
 the warpath, would seldom molest one of us hunters. 
 During the conversation he advised us to locate on the 
 Beaver or the Sappa, as there was plenty of timber 
 and better soil than in many other places. 
 
 From here we began to see more straggling buffalo, 
 antelope, and an occasional flock of wild turkey. Ante- 
 lope at the time being very plentiful, and their skins 
 were used largely in the manufacture of high-grade 
 gloves, but since they became extinct, skins from the 
 Mocha sheep along the sun-baked coast of British East 
 Africa, and the sweltering plains of Arabia, are being 
 
 31 
 
'BuilDing a jBeto empire 
 
 imported to America in shiploads, to make the Mocha 
 gloves so highly prized now, taking the place of gloves 
 once made from the skins of antelope killed on the 
 Western plains of North America. 
 
 That night v^e camped near the log cabin of a 
 homesteader, who had been in the valley for more than 
 a year. He and his wife paid our camp a friendly 
 visit in the evening, and gave us the information that 
 the man we had met and talked with, was none other 
 than Joe Cave, but whom everybody in the West 
 knew as "California Joe." That no man on the plains 
 was feared more by the Indians than "California Joe," 
 and that no surer shot walked the plains than he. That 
 he was an athlete in the true sense of the word ; could 
 run five miles as fast as the best "bronco" on the 
 prairie, and then shoot straight without a rest, and 
 seldom missed his mark. Here we witnessed one of 
 the beautiful sunsets on the plains, more magnificent 
 and beautiful than can be witnessed on the ocean or by 
 a wooded landscape, and can be no better portrayed 
 than in this beautiful little poem by my friend and 
 comrade, Dr. J. W. Webster : 
 
 "No man may pen the beauties of a sunset on the 
 
 plains. 
 Nor artist paint its splendor, all efforts are in vain. 
 It sinks to rest, beyond the hills, a burnished ball of 
 
 gold, 
 Leaving a beauteous trail of glory, twilight o'er the 
 
 world. 
 
 "The sun-gleamed clouds' reflected glow mellows the 
 
 distant lea, 
 Behold a strange transfiguration, a green and waving 
 
 sea. 
 
 32 
 
OBuilDing a Betu OBmpite 
 
 Ten thousand gold-tipped arrows, flung from the set- 
 ting sun, 
 
 Dance and quiver in gorgeous glory, on the western 
 horizon. 
 
 "The fleecy clouds are mustered near the day god's 
 
 failing light, 
 And the stars in timid grandeur steal out from silent 
 
 night. 
 Now the penciled rays of glory are furled slowly in the 
 
 west, 
 Black night reigns victorious, the sun hath sunk to 
 
 rest." 
 
 We had seen no rain now for about two weeks, and 
 the short buffalo grass was beginning to turn brown 
 and dry, and the mirage on the prairies which we 
 had been seeing in the glaring sun for the past two 
 weeks became more plainly visible, and looking over 
 the bare prairies we could plainly see groves of tim- 
 ber, lakes, and streams of water that did not exist. 
 Yet they could be plainly seen by the casual observer, 
 although it is but an optical illusion, and in fact does 
 not exist, but many have been the travelers over the 
 Western plains deluded by the mirage into the belief 
 that water or timber was in sight, when in fact it 
 was blank space and not what it seemed. We occa- 
 sionally found an attempt to start a town along the 
 valley, and some energetic fellow had built a sod or 
 log house, put in a load or two of meat, flour, and 
 other staple articles, called it a store and gave it a 
 name suitable for a city of the first class ; and in 
 fact nearly all the towns of the great West had been 
 started in this way, with a very small beginning, and 
 the homesteader made the trail blazed by "California 
 
 33 
 
'25uilliin0 a ii3eto empire 
 
 Joe," "Wild Bill," "Schoonover," "Cole," "Stout," 
 "Matlax," and other of the old hunters whose place in 
 history should rank with Kit Carson, Daniel Boone and 
 otfiars whose names are now only known in history, 
 but who have blazed the trail for the advance of 
 civilization. These frontiersmen who killed thousands 
 upon thousands of buffalo as a matter of business for 
 the profit there was in the business selling the hides, 
 and leaving the carcasses to decay on the prairies, or to 
 be devoured by the ravenous wolves that swarmed 
 over the plains of the West where wild game was 
 plentiful. We passed Riverton, Franklin, and Alma, 
 where a post office had been established, the furthest 
 west in the Republican Valley at the time, and a few 
 miles west we found a little settlement called Melrose, 
 where a stockade had been built in 1870 in which to 
 house the few families located in the vicinity as a 
 protection against hostile Indians. Nearing this place 
 we met a German who talked broken English, who 
 said he lived at Plattsmouth, "and I comes oud Vest 
 to makes me von homstead, und I goes mit de Re- 
 bublican River down ver I vinds von mocazine drack 
 mit de sand in, an I nod makes any homstead dare. 
 I vraid de big Injen makes my hair raise; me nod 
 make any homstead dare. Me vor Bladsmouth, vere I 
 vorks mit de railroad gumbany mit der machine shops 
 in." Here a man introduced himself as Galen James, 
 who had taken a claim about twelve miles west of the 
 stockade where the Sappa empties in the Beaver. He 
 had taken the claim- in 1870 and had made some im- 
 provements on his place, but had spent a goodly por- 
 tion of his time at the stockade. He asked if we had 
 heard anything of the Indians. To which question 
 we informed him that, from the best information we 
 had, Red Cloud was north of the Platte, but a roving 
 
 34 
 
CHIEF RED CLOUD 
 After Living on Reservation 30 Years 
 
 {Building a New Etitf>ire Page 33) 
 
IBuilDing a il3eta) Cmpite 
 
 band of warriors under Chief Crazy Horse was on 
 the Republican River further west. Tan had taken 
 particular delight in reading up on the Sioux Indian 
 problem and told Mr. James that usually we spoke 
 of the Western Indians as Sioux, which they were; 
 but there was many bands of them under subordinate 
 chiefs, but were really one immense band of hostiles 
 under one great leader, as many regiments of soldiers 
 compose an army corps. These Indians were known 
 as the Sioux, Cheyennes, Brules, and other bands un- 
 der subordinate leaders, but Red Cloud was the chief 
 over all. The Sioux were the deadly enemy of the 
 Pawnees, Omahas, Otoes and the Crows, and had 
 been at war with these tribes for many years, and 
 fought many bloody battles, but from the Sioux being 
 so numerous, had killed many of their enemies belong- 
 ing to these other tribes and defeated them in battle 
 so many times that the Sioux had taken courage at 
 their success, and the others had met defeat so often 
 that they were greatly discouraged and willingly ac- 
 cepted reservations offered by the Government and 
 Government protection, but Red Cloud and his fol- 
 lowers continued in a warlike mood toward these 
 tribes and the whites, and in 1866 said to a commission 
 at Laramie that the white man could take his terri- 
 tory extending from the North Platte to the Yellow 
 Stone, but he would "mark every mile of the trail with 
 the dead bodies of soldiers." He made war on the 
 whites and raided wagon trains, and whether they 
 were private property or the property of the United 
 States Government or not, it made no difference to 
 him. He also raided small military posts, driving off 
 stock, and captured numerous bands of cattle and 
 horses belonging to the Government, raided the settle- 
 ments in the Platte Valley and extended his territory 
 
 3S 
 
'BuilDing a Jl3etti empire 
 
 as far south as the Kansas Pacific railroad, which 
 was then being built west to Denver. He delayed 
 work on the Union Pacific railroad by continued raids, 
 and under his leadership the Western plains was a 
 battleground between the forerunners of civilization 
 and the Sioux warriors, resulting in Red Cloud re- 
 ceiving a crushing blow by the Eighteenth Infantry, 
 resulting in his total defeat, and in 1869 he was 
 rounded up and put on reservation. He had decided 
 that fighting the paleface was useless, and from that 
 time forward the Sioux fought the white man and 
 raided the settlements under subordinate chiefs com- 
 manding small bands of Sioux who were not ready to 
 follow the advice of their old leader, and surrender 
 their warlike tendencies to the dictates of the white 
 man. Red Cloud is now the last of the great chiefs 
 such as Powhatan, King Philip, Pontiac, Tecumseh, 
 Red Jacket, Blackhawk, and Black Bird, and aside 
 from Geronimo, no Indian chief of later years has 
 gained the notoriety and caused the Government and 
 frontier settlements as much trouble as Red Cloud. 
 Mr. James informed us that this stockade was built in 
 the autumn of 1870 by the few settlers who had lo- 
 cated land in the vicinity, and had been occupied the 
 two previous winters. 
 
 The hardships endured, the privations of the first 
 settlers of a frontier life in a new country had been 
 experienced in this lonely stockade, built with lay- 
 ers of sod one upon another had made a solid wall 
 two and one-half feet thick, and as high as an ordinary 
 one-story house, which was covered with brush and 
 sod to turn the rain as a shingle roof. The walls were 
 bullet proof, and the building as warm and as com- 
 fortable as an ordinary brick or stone house. Mur-^ 
 derous bands of marauding Indians from the Sioux 
 
 36 
 

 -^ 
 
 't] 
 
 
 8 
 «) 
 
'Building a il3etai OBmpire 
 
 tribes, visited the vicinity on several occasions, but 
 did not venture an attack, and no doubt for no other 
 reason than a Sioux Indian is afraid to make an at- 
 tack on a sod or log house occupied by white men well 
 armed. The Pawnees, Omahas and Otoes, passed by 
 the stockade frequently on their hunting trips for 
 big game, but these tribes were friendly. They would 
 beg and pilfer, but aside from this were harmless. 
 
 "We have lived largely on wild game, but last 
 winter," said Mr. James, "there was more snow than 
 usual, and the main herd of buffalo moved south, 
 and obtaining meat became a serious problem ; and of 
 course our supply of other provisions were running 
 low, and to replenish the depleted stock became a 
 serious matter. But something must be done; and 
 while he and a few others had lived for three months 
 the previous winter on wild game alone, something 
 now must soon be done to relieve the situation. A 
 consultation was held, and it was decided that five 
 of the party should remain and defend the stock- 
 ade, while the other twelve should arm themselves and 
 cross the trackless prairie to Fort Kearney, a distance 
 of sixty miles, to purchase provisions. The party left 
 at the stockade inspected their supply of provisions, 
 and found that one bushel of beans would have to 
 answer the demands of their ravenous appetites for 
 seven days, the time in which the Fort Kearney party 
 were expected to return. Seven days passed, and 
 there was no tidings from the relief party, and the 
 bean soup was made thinner. Day after day the prai- 
 ries were watched for the return of the relief party, 
 and day after day the bean soup was getting thinner. 
 Fourteen days passed away and still no signs of 
 their companions from Fort Kearney. Beans were 
 getting terribly scarce and again the amount of water 
 
 37 
 
IBuiir^im a ii3eto OBmpite 
 
 must be increased and the number of beans reduced 
 in their soup. Four more days and the soup became 
 terribly thin, and in fact too thin to keep them longer 
 at the stockade, which they resolved to desert and 
 search for the provision train and their missing com- 
 panions, w^hom they supposed had been frozen to 
 death. Four more days they spent on the dismal 
 prairies in search of the missing train loaded with 
 provisions, almost famished for the want of food, 
 and finally they came in sight and together they all 
 wended their way back to the stockade. All this 
 extra time the party had been lost and wandering over 
 the trackless prairie; had gone west to Plum Creek 
 and were compelled to return to Fort Kearney and 
 make a new start for the stockade in the Republican 
 Valley. After their return the soup was thickened 
 with more beans, fat pork and less water. 
 
 "Many ask if the proposed new county west, in 
 which my land is located, is called James County in 
 honor of my being the first to locate land on the 
 Beaver, and aside from Ben Burton up on Deer 
 Creek, am the first actual settler in the proposed 
 county, but to this I will say that such is not the 
 case. The unorganized county is named for the 
 Honorable William H. James, Secretary of State, 
 who has been acting as Governor since Governor But- 
 ler was impeached by the legislature last winter; and 
 as for me, I claim no such honor as the naming a 
 county." 
 
 Here now had located a number of new settlers, and 
 two small stores had been started, one by Casey & 
 Conoly, and the other by Hooper & McKee. The 
 people expected to start a town here, and explained 
 that it was near the junction of the Beaver, Sappa, 
 and many smaller streams, and was also near the 
 
 38 
 
'BuilDtnu a l^eto OBmpire 
 
 Prairie Dog, and the trade from all these valleys would 
 naturally drift to Melrose, the name adopted for the 
 new town which they hoped to make the metropolis 
 of the Republican Valley. But the turning of this vast 
 country into a farming country, and filling it with 
 people who would devote their time and interests to 
 agricultural pursuits, looked to this little party of 
 homeseekers like a stupendous undertaking, and the 
 idea of building up a town or city in the Republican 
 Valley, and especially as far west as Melrose, when 
 there were but few settlers, and they protected from 
 hostile Indians by a stockade built of native sod, among 
 the impossibilities by many of the party during this 
 conversation. 
 
 Tan said other frontier settlements had suffered th^ 
 hardships and inconveniences that you were now ex- 
 periencing, and where other settlements had been made 
 by the white man under conditions as discouraging 
 as yours have been and are at present, prosperous 
 farming communities have been established, with 
 towns and cities built that are now known to the world, 
 and many of the people who first located these com- 
 munities were killed by the hostile Indians, their cab- 
 ins burned and their horses stolen. Revenge has been 
 the watchword of the red man for being deprived of 
 his lands and his usual hunting grounds, and revenge 
 has also been the cry of the white man for the 
 murder of his family or his friends, and cases are 
 numerous where men counted the "notches" on their 
 gun barrels for the number of hostile lives taken, 
 just as the red man has counted the number of scalps 
 at his belt, or the number of feathers in his war cap, 
 each feather denoting a white man's scalp. And this 
 revenge on the part of the white man was the real 
 cause of the battle of the Arickaree. Only a few 
 
 39. 
 
l5uilDmg a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 years ago a trapper on a tributary of the Missouri 
 River in Dakota was killed by a band of renegade 
 Sioux, and a brother who escaped death at the time 
 by a mere chance, sought revenge and killed one 
 hundred red men, regardless of whether they were 
 hostile or friendly, and for every Indian killed a notch 
 was cut on a stick and carried in a metal tube hung to 
 his belt, and but three years ago I saw this man and 
 his stick, and talked with him before his story called 
 "Notches on the Stick" was published in the New 
 York Weekly. 
 
 Where the city of Chicago now stands, the second 
 city in the United States in population, and the sixth 
 city in the world, only one hundred years ago had 
 but one log cabin occupied by a negro trapper, and 
 not until 1803 was there a military post established, 
 and during the war of 181 2 this post was destroyed, 
 and the few people living there were massacred. Yet 
 beginning on the night of October 8, 1871, starred 
 the greatest fire known to modern civilization, burn- 
 ing over an area of two thousand and one hundred 
 acres of land built in a solid city of stone, brick, 
 iron and timbers, containing seventeen thousand five 
 hundred massive buildings, and making homeless over 
 one hundred thousand people, and all this occurred 
 within the past fifty-four years ; so why not build a 
 small metropolis in the Republican Valley in the 
 years to come. 
 
 Hundreds of other cities and towns have been 
 built up in even a shorter space of time. Hunters 
 and others, even those interested in the development 
 of the West, claim we will always be troubled with 
 drouth and hot winds out here, that communities 
 further east did not have to contend with, that here 
 drouthy conditions will prevail, and growing crops 
 
 40 
 
o 
 
 pa 
 
 fa 
 o 
 
 G 
 < 
 
 
 
 cq 
 
13uiIDinj9: a il^eto empire 
 
 may suffer for moisture during the growing seasons." 
 "Yes," said Mr. James, "all this may be true, for 
 the settlement of this country is an experiment, but 
 the past season there were some small fields of corn 
 planted which produced good results, and vegetables 
 of different kinds produced fairly well, and vines of 
 all kinds done excellent." 
 
 After talking over the situation in all its phases 
 with these forerunners of civilization, and discuss- 
 ing the pros and cons with the members of our own 
 party, and giving our stock a day's rest, we moved on 
 up the Beaver. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Claims Located — the Missouri Preacher. 
 
 Here appeared to the vision one of the most beauti- 
 ful and romantic scenes ever witnessed by the eyes 
 of civilization. Spreading out from bluff to bluff on 
 either side of the dim trail was a beautiful valley 
 varying in width from one to three miles, down 
 through the center of which coursed the Beaver, 
 bordered on either bank with a growth of elm, ash, 
 box-alder and cottonwood, growing out to the prai- 
 rie's edge, which made the scenery beautiful to look 
 upon. And from the higher points of elevation this 
 meandering growth of timber could be seen for miles 
 in its course from west to east. Small bands of buf- 
 falo could be seen grazing on the high lands either 
 north or south, with an occasional antelope showing 
 its curiosity by shying round us in an attempt, seem- 
 ingly, to learn the cause of our presence on their graz- 
 ing grounds, and this wild, romantic scene was occa- 
 sionally made hideous by a howling band of ravenous 
 
 41 
 
050110100 a Ji3eto Cmpite 
 
 wolves which always followed the buffalo. Here the 
 fear of being destroyed or trampled under the feet 
 of an immense band of wild buffalo, being devoured 
 by wolves, or scalped by a murderous band of hos- 
 tile Indians, began to show on the faces of the ladies 
 in the party, and the fear of all these dire calamities 
 was plainly visible, and some of the men in the party 
 were beginning to fear the results of a venture so 
 far west. 
 
 Winding our way up the beautiful valley of the 
 Beaver we occasionally saw a homesteader plowing 
 up the sod and planting a little corn, but in every case 
 a heavy revolver was in its scabbard attached to his 
 belt, or a breech-loading rifle strapped to his plow, 
 and in most cases both weapons were visible. No 
 wagon road was visible or could be seen in this wild 
 country, although the few hunters and homestead- 
 ers ahead of us had left their tracks, which were scat- 
 tered over the prairie. Their general course could 
 be followed, and in this way we followed the dim 
 trail over the buffalo grass, passing the homesteads 
 located by James, Dolph, French, Keiser, Harman and 
 others. We discovered a little improvement a little 
 out of our regular course, and here we decided to turn 
 in and endeavor to learn further facts relative to the 
 location of vacant land in this immediate vicinity. 
 We first found a big, burly boy about seventeen or 
 eighteen years old, breaking prairie with a team of 
 horses, and on our approach he accosted us with 
 "Howde," the backwoods' phrase of Missouri for "how 
 do you do." 
 
 Will asked if he had located a homestead there, to 
 which he said: "No; this is Dad's claim, an' mine 
 is over yender; but we only bin hur three weeks, an' 
 
 42 
 
MAS YAMO, THE MISSOUEI PREACHER 
 
 {^Building a New Empire Page 43) 
 
"ISuilDing a Jl^eto OBmpire 
 
 I hain't don' nothin' on my claim yit, only laid a 
 foundashun." 
 
 Asked where his father was, said: "Dad he's down 
 yender bildin' a house." 
 
 So "down yender" Will and Tan went to see "Dad." 
 They found a man of monstrous proportions, laying 
 up logs on the foundation started for a log house, 
 while his good wife and a girl, seemingly about fifteen 
 years old, were hauling logs from the timber nearby 
 to be used in the construction of a house on the new 
 homestead. This man, as stated, was a monster in 
 size, being much over six feet in height, and large in 
 proportion ; long hair flowing down on his shoulders, 
 and as we approached we were greeted with the 
 same "howde, men." The conversation drifted first 
 to the building after the rather informal introduction, 
 in which he said he was from Missouri, and that his 
 name was Yamo, but where he was raised in Missouri 
 they alius called him Mas, which was his nickname. 
 
 "Yes," said he, "I used ter preach in old Missouri; 
 but don't reckon ther'U be much ter preach to hur fur 
 sum time to cum. I is gwine ter bild a house hur 
 just like the one we had back yender. Bill and me 
 goes down in the timber and cuts the logs, and the 
 old woman an' Fannie snakes 'em up, while Bill goes 
 out an' plows, an' I lays up the logs." 
 
 Asked if that was not pretty heavy work for one 
 man, said : "No, that hain't nothin', I kin sholder an' 
 carry the biggest log thar. W'y, tother day I killed 
 a big buffalo yearlin' an' carried to camp, half a mild 
 on my sholder ; no, that hain't nothin'," and he looked 
 like he could back up the assertion. A monster in size 
 and every motion indicated that he was a Sandow 
 in strength. "I don't know if this count, y will ever 
 be worth nothin', but I is sure gwine ter try it, an' 
 
 43 
 
ef I cain't raise a livin' on this sile, I kin kill buffalo 
 an' I kin go furder east to the settlements an' preach 
 an' mebby thatawa I kin git sum corn for the bosses 
 an' sum bredstuff fur the family. I'd like fur uns 
 ter git sum land bur clost, but thar hain't nothin' rite 
 clost around bur with timber on it. Bill he has tuk 
 that ar claim over yender, but I'll tell yer honest, he 
 ain't quite uv age yit, but we want ter hold the claim 
 fur him." 
 
 This was our first acquaintance with the preacher 
 from Missouri, and we passed on up the line, reach- 
 ing the claims located by the Armstrong brothers the 
 following day, where we found good land with timber 
 and water, and bluestem grass growing in abun- 
 dance on the low lands near the creek which could be 
 cut and cured for hay, making excellent winter feed 
 for live stock. Here we decided to locate, and after 
 killing and drying some buffalo meat, we divided 
 camp, a portion of the party going about two miles 
 west, near the claims already located by the Hadley 
 brothers, Kinzie and Danforth. 
 
 Now began the first work in making a home in 
 a new country surrounded by thousands of wild buf- 
 falo, wolves by the hundred, with an occasional black 
 wolf or mountain lion, either of which could carry 
 off a calf or a good-sized boy or girl. A small piece 
 of ground was plowed and made in a garden, where 
 we also planted an early variety of corn, hoping to 
 raise some for food. Logs were cut for houses, and 
 in a few weeks we were living in rough log houses, 
 not extremely handsome, but answered as a protection 
 from the inclemencies of the season, and the con- 
 struction was of our own handiwork, and while this 
 work of construction was going on we had guns or 
 revolvers at our sides at all times and on all occasions. 
 
 44 
 
'Building a Betti OBmpite 
 
 Every day wild game was in sight, while rattlesnakes 
 and vipers were everywhere to be seen, and especially 
 about the prairie dog towns where rattlesnakes of all 
 sizes, from the little fellow with a single button, up 
 to the size of six feet or more in length, with often 
 twenty-five or thirty rattles. These rattlers would 
 drive the prairie dogs from their burrows in the 
 ground and occupy them as a home. The idea pre^ 
 vailing in many places, that the prairie dogs, rattle- 
 snakes, and prairie owls lived together as one family 
 in one burrow is a false impression, although some 
 writers have attempted to make the fact a matter of 
 history. It is erroneous, and the rattlesnakes are the 
 deadly enemy of both the prairie dog and the owl, and 
 drove them from their habitations to make a home of 
 their own. 
 
 When a bunch of buffalo appeared on the scene with 
 a good chance for a shot, work for the time was sus- 
 pended for the sport, and if successful, the best of 
 the meat was saved and dried while the work was pro- 
 gressing. 
 
 One day while we were getting some logs out of a 
 ravine near where the first house was to be built, 
 Tan looked up the south divide and saw a great herd 
 of long-horn cattle coming down the divide with 
 horsemen on either side of the herd, and a horseman 
 riding far in advance and who now had reached near 
 the place where the homesteaders were at work, and rid- 
 ing up to the parties, looked like a Government scout, 
 or a cattleman of experience. He introduced himself 
 as the guide for the cattleman, making a trail over the 
 country to the northwest. Said he was looking for the 
 old Government trail running from Fort Hayes, on 
 the Kansas Pacific railroad, to Fort McFerson, on 
 the platte, which was located on the south side of the 
 
 45 
 
'BuilDing a n^cto OBmpire 
 
 Platte River at the mouth of Cotton Wood Canon. 
 Said he had been over the trail many times in the 
 regular army, but admitted that he had been off the 
 trail for two days and was unable to find anyone to 
 give him any information as to where it was, although 
 he believed he must be near the trail. We informed 
 him that the trail was just a little west from where 
 we now stood, and pointed out the track on the north 
 side of the Beaver where it climbed the divide to the 
 northwest. We walked out a little further in the di- 
 rection the cattle would pass and a big, burly, raw- 
 boaed man rode up to us, the guide informing us 
 that he was the foreman, and he. too, was seeking the 
 information about the old trail. He talked quite freely, 
 and seemed quite relieved when informed that he 
 was near the old trail. Asked if he were driving from 
 Texas, informed us that he was, and was driving to 
 California. Asked if he did not think that a pretty 
 long drive, said: 
 
 "Oh, no, that ain't fur; we can drive through in 
 two years easy enough by wintering in some of the 
 valleys out in the mountains." 
 
 This man had in his herd two thousand head of 
 cattle, and behind him was two thousand more be- 
 longing to the same company, which would be there in 
 about two days. 
 
 This was made the permanent trail over which 
 passed thousands of cattle to the northwest every 
 year, and which made Dodge City, Elsworth, North 
 Platte and Ogallala, famous as frontier towns as 
 famous as the cattle trail of itself. 
 
 This year a count was kept of the cattle going over 
 this trail, which numbered over thirty-four thousand 
 head, and fully as many in the next year's following 
 passed over the trail. Texas cattle had been brought 
 
 46 
 
IBuilDing a jfl3etD (J^mpire 
 
 into Kansas to be turned loose on the range, and fur- 
 ther east to be wintered by farmers, but this was 
 really the beginning of the big cattle ranches on the 
 Western plains, of which more will be said later in 
 this story. 
 
 One Sunday morning, after we had moved into 
 the new log house, an Indian wearing buckskin 
 breeches and a blanket appeared on the scene with 
 a "how ; how," meaning the familiar term of the 
 whites of "how do you do?" and said in broken Eng- 
 lish : "Me want salt." 
 
 Tan asked: "You Sioux?" 
 
 "No, me Omaha. Me good Injen. We hunt up 
 Drift Wood, Sioux heap mad, heap fight. Omaha get 
 no buffalo ; Omaha heap hungry. Kill em buffalo las' 
 night, heap want salt." 
 
 His wants were supplied in a small way, and he 
 informed us, in his way, that his party was camped on 
 the creek nearly half a mile away, and Tan, with 
 some of the other homesteaders, made a visit to the 
 camp where they found about six hundred Omahas 
 camped on the banks of the Beaver. They were of 
 the true frontier type, but friendly, and two were 
 found who could talk very good English, and informed 
 us that they had been Government scouts during the 
 Civil War on the frontier. 
 
 Some of the bucks were out as sentries guarding 
 the camp and the two hundred or more ponies, while 
 others were lazily loitering about the camp, some 
 cooking meat, some drying meat, while others were 
 busily engaged in fleshing and graining hides, making 
 them ready for the regular process of tanning. 
 
 We watched the process of cooking and eating in 
 what seemed to us its primitive state, and after 
 their ravenous appetites had been satisfied, twenty of 
 
 47 
 
IBuilDing a j^efej OBmpire 
 
 their best horses were brought in, raw-hide bridles 
 were provided, bows and arrows, the former with raw- 
 hide strings, and the latter with steel points were 
 being brought out by some of the younger men, and 
 we surmised a hunt was being planned, which sug- 
 gestion was confirmed by one of the interpreters. 
 Our next thought was to see this hunt without court- 
 ing the displeasure of the Indians, and through the 
 interpreter we made our desires known to the chief, 
 who readily consented, provided we carried or used 
 no firearms, as they preferred the still hunt where 
 game was plentiful. 
 
 So on our horses and out we followed twenty In- 
 dians clad principally in Nature's garb, each riding 
 a strong, well-muscled pony, and each carrying a bow 
 with a quiver full of arrows, but not a firearm in the 
 company. They were under the leadship of an under 
 chief, who gave orders and instructions in his own 
 language as to how the hunt was to proceed, and 
 out about one mile from the camp a bunch of eighteen 
 buffalo was seen, and by the order of the chief a 
 trail was taken up a draw (in the East these draws 
 would be called hollows), and as soon as near the 
 buffalo a run was made at full speed, the chief in the 
 lead. The buffalo undertook to run ahead of the lead- 
 ing horseman, which was their custom, and the leader 
 of the band of buffalo was shot down by two arrows, 
 and the buffalo were put to running in a circle, 
 followed by the Indians on their well-trained ponies, 
 some shooting their arrows in a straight sitting posi- 
 tion, while others seemed to lay flat on the sides of 
 their ponies, shooting under their necks, and in less 
 time than it takes to write it down, all the eighteen 
 buffalo had been killed on a space of ground not to 
 exceed ten acres in area. 
 
 48 
 
IBuilDing a n^eto OBmpire 
 
 Other Indians were bringing up the rear with pack 
 horses that we had not seen, and in a short time 
 the eighteen buffalo had been skinned and cut up, 
 and loaded on the ponies headed for the camp, and 
 we had seen a real, live Indian buffalo hunt on the 
 plains of the West, such, no doubt, as had been prac- 
 ticed on these prairies for a thousand years or more 
 by the different tribes that had roamed these plains for 
 ages. While our friends in the East were attending 
 church, reading the Sunday papers, or lounging in the 
 parks, we were watching the Indians kill a small herd 
 of buffalo on the Western plains. 
 
 The next day the Omahas broke camp and moved on 
 eastward, but the interpreters had told us that up on 
 the Arickaree and Driftwood was a camp of Sioux 
 under Chief Whistler, but a battalion of cavalry was 
 camped on the Red Willow with "Buffalo Bill" and 
 Jack Stilwell as scouts, and would not allow the Sioux 
 to come any further east. 
 
 The work of the homesteader went merrily on, 
 building log houses, dug out stables, and cutting hay 
 for the stock to be fed during the winter. We knew 
 but little of the winters except what "Wild Bill," 
 "California Joe" Matlax and other hunters and trap- 
 pers had told us. They were usually dry, open, and 
 but little snow, although the previous winter had been 
 very severe, with snow, ice, and extreme cold 
 weather. 
 
 A few more people came and took claims along the 
 river and creeks, and an effort was made to extend 
 a mail route from Alma as far west on the Beaver 
 as "Wild Turkey" (now called Wilsonville), but this 
 was a slow process. The postmaster at Alma either 
 neglected or refused to recommend a route up the 
 Beaver until late in the winter of i872-'73. The recom- 
 
 49 
 
iSujlDing n n^eta empire 
 
 mendation was secured, and in the spring of 1873 an 
 office was established at Beaver City with C. A. Dan- 
 forth as postmaster, and one also at Wild Turkey with 
 Miss Jennie Plumb as postmistress, and until this 
 was done the people carried the mail from Alma, a 
 distance of twenty-seven miles, and to Wild Turkey, 
 a distance of forty-three miles, the settlers taking 
 turns going for the mail once a week. 
 
 Arapahoe had been more fortunate, having secured 
 a mail route and a post office in 1872. And still the 
 asking for post offices and star routes went merrily on, 
 and immigration kept moving along further west, and 
 our own neighbors were becoming more numerous. 
 
 Claim jumping was talked of on many occasions, 
 and the unmarried man who was attempting to hold 
 a claim unless in actual possession, eating and sleep- 
 ing on his claim, was in danger of losing his rights 
 at any time. The Government land office was closed 
 and would not be open until September first, and no 
 papers could be had either for homestead or preemp- 
 tion, and one young man whose intentions had not 
 been questioned, but who had only made slight im- 
 provements on his claim he had selected, having been 
 living with a neighbor who had a family, and had as- 
 sisted the neighbor in building a house. 
 
 A new man coming in had heard that the young 
 man was not living on his claim and holding the land 
 according to the strict letter of the law, had decided 
 to move on the land and take chances on a contest. 
 The move was made one evening and the breaking 
 plow was started the next morning by the claim 
 jumper, while across the Beaver, in the timber, axes 
 were making the chips fly cutting house logs. 
 
 The neighborhood was soon aware of the contest 
 for possession, and the young man was advised to 
 
 50 
 
ISuilDing: a Beto OBmpire 
 
 call on the claim jumper and talk the matter over. 
 He did so and informed the claim jumper that he 
 had taken this land in good faith, had been helping 
 a neighbor to build a house in which to shelter his 
 family, and when this was done the neighbor was to 
 help him in return. That he had taken the claim in 
 good faith and intended to hold the claim at all haz- 
 ards, and by force, if necessary. 
 
 The newcomer had informed him that he had under- 
 stood that he had not been fulfilling the law and was 
 not living on the claim as the law directed he should, 
 and he had decided to take the claim and improve it. 
 That he had a family, while the other had not, and 
 if force was necessary to hold the claim, that he would 
 resort to force. 
 
 The first claimant saw that force was now neces- 
 sary, and he backed off a few paces with his Sharps 
 rifle in hand, and told the claim jumper that the matter 
 could be settled now as well as to wait longer. The 
 claim jumper seeing the situation was beginning to 
 look serious, made a move to get his gun from the 
 wagon nearby, while the other put his gun to his 
 shoulder, with the command to halt or die. The young 
 man had the drop on his man and intended to keep 
 it, and while he was holding his opponent in range of 
 his trusty rifle, five horsemen rode up and gave the 
 claim jumper the positive command to hitch to his 
 wagon and move on ; that where a man was holding a 
 claim in good faith, and was doing all he could to 
 improve it, and was acting in good faith within the 
 meaning of the law, that other claim holders would 
 protect him, and if he did not want more lead in his 
 body than he could carry away he had best move on, 
 which he did. 
 
 This was the spirit of the homesteader as a rule, 
 
 51 
 
IBniltim a n^eUJ OBmpire 
 
 and the principle of ri^ht and justice was supported 
 on all occasions by the majority of the people, and 
 the claim jumper had no sympathy with the com- 
 munity of homesteaders Avho were endeavoring to 
 make homes in the far West. 
 
 This would-be claim jumper took a claim a few 
 miles further west, adopted the true spirit of the bor- 
 der of civilization, and became a good citizen. 
 
 One morning- the Hadley Brothers discovered that 
 during the night two of their horses had disappeared, 
 but how and by what means was never known. Al- 
 though a general search was made throughout the 
 country no trace of them was ever found, and it was 
 never known whether the horses were taken by In- 
 dians or white men ; but they were gone, and it was a 
 severe loss to the owners, and the brothers making the 
 supreme efforts of their young lives for a home of their 
 own in the wild West, were the victims of the first 
 horse thieves to visit the Beaver Valley, and no 
 one knew who would be the next victim, or suffer 
 a similar loss. Whether it was done by prowling In- 
 dians, a lone white man or two, who wanted horses 
 to ride back home, or whether a regular banditta had 
 been organized by renegade Indians, whites and half- 
 breeds, to rob the homesteaders and force them to 
 leave the country and the buffalo range to the Indian 
 and the plainsman, and abandon the idea of making 
 this an agricultural country. All these conditions 
 were discussed by the homesteaders and many feared 
 this might be the beginning of a reign of terror to 
 the settlers that must either be endured, or abandon the 
 lands selected for homes, and while during the sum- 
 mer, autumn and winter a few abandoned their lands, 
 going back to the parental roof, or seeking solace with 
 their wives' people, yet the majority remained and 
 
 52 
 
•BuilDinfif a il3etti (Empire 
 
 the fear of further loss by theft gradually wore away. 
 
 After the search for the stolen horses had been 
 abandoned, and the conditions being discussed in the 
 Hadley and the Kinzie camps, a lone horse with saddle 
 and bridle came running down from the divide, and 
 seeing the camp came to it, and it was caught and care- 
 fully examined for blood stains, thinking its rider had 
 been shot by Indians ; but not a drop of blood could be 
 found, nor did there seem to be any indications of 
 violence, but the horse was tethered to a rope and the 
 party waited for further developments. 
 
 An occasional shot could be heard up the divide, 
 and it was supposed that a party of hunters were on 
 the divide, which was literally covered with buffalo, 
 and at that time a person could see from an elevated 
 position on the divide countless thousands of buffalo, 
 and as many expressed it : "The hills were black with 
 them." 
 
 Late in the afternoon a lone footman was seen 
 coming toward the camp, and as he drew nearer it 
 could be seen that it was a white man carrying a 
 gun, and as he came to the camp expressed himself 
 as being delighted to find his horse. Said his name 
 was Hasty, and that he and some other parties had 
 been looking over the divide and taking an occa- 
 sional shot at buffalo when a herd stampeded and 
 scared his horse. The animal had fallen with him, 
 and in the struggle had gotten loose from him and 
 headed this way, and that he had followed with his 
 needle gun, but at the start he had only seven cart- 
 ridges. Coming down a draw to avoid the throng 
 of buffalo (which in day time always grazed on the 
 highest grounds) he followed the horse in this direc- 
 tion until he encountered a surly bull that had evi- 
 dently been wounded and was standing in his course. 
 
 S3. 
 
"BuilDing a n^eto OBmpire 
 
 To go round it in sight of the main herd meant a 
 stampede, and no doubt death by being trampled under 
 the feet of a thousand or more monarchs of the plains, 
 so he decided to take a position behind a bank and 
 kill the one solitary buffalo guarding this trail down 
 the draw. His first shot only staggered the animal, 
 which looked as large as an elephant, but he did not 
 fall. This left him six cartridges, and he waited, 
 thinking the brute might have been struck in a vital 
 spot and would drop. But he still stood his ground, 
 and to attempt to pass him he knew meant death, 
 for nearing a wounded buffalo was like bearding a 
 lion in his den. Finally the huge animal moved par- 
 tially around, and stood broadside to him, and taking 
 advantage of the situation he chanced another shot, 
 and fortunately the bullet pierced his heart, and he 
 dropped dead in his tracks. Not being certain that 
 his bullet had done its work successfully, he waited 
 for a time till he could see no further struggle, and 
 then passed on with only five cartridges left, and no 
 doubt a thousand buffalo within the sound of his 
 voice ; and a stampede meant death in its most agoniz- 
 ing form to the lone footman following the trail of 
 his lost horse. 
 
 Numerous herds of Texas cattle still continued to 
 come over the trail driven by the Texas cowboys, 
 seeking the grazing grounds on the North and South 
 Platte rivers, where cattle ranches were being estab- 
 lished on a large scale, and where cattle and horses 
 were supposed to live and thrive, winter and summer, 
 on the grasses native to the country, and which had 
 sustained millions of wild animals for centuries past. 
 
 54 
 
< 
 
 b&i> \ -^1^ ^ 
 
 O 
 
 2; 
 
 
 8 
 
 «5 
 
IBuiMm a ii5eto OBmpire 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Matlax, the Trapper. 
 
 Geo. W. Hill and Joe Miller, who had settled on 
 the Republican River, made a canvass of the county, 
 or the territory which was expected would compose 
 the county, with a petition asking the acting governor 
 to issue a proclamation organizing the county and 
 naming it James County. During the visit of these 
 parties to Tan's camp under a big cottonwood tree 
 it was learned that but very few of the citizens were 
 members of any secret society, there being at that 
 time but four Masons in the proposed county, and a 
 like number of Odd Fellows, but there were many of 
 the new settlers that were or had been church mem- 
 bers, and nearly all were anxious for the building up 
 of a moral community, and it would require the efforts 
 of all morally-inclined people to accomplish this, but 
 church organizations and secret societies were as yet 
 far away, the nearest Masonic or Odd Fellows' lodge 
 being at Grand Island, one hundred and thirty miles 
 away, and a church organization was not known to 
 be in existence any nearer. The petition was signed 
 to organize the county by a majority of the 'squatters," 
 for this was all the settlers could be termed, for no 
 papers could yet be had on these lands. The peti- 
 tion was duly transmitted to the governor, who 
 promptly returned it with the following letter : 
 
 Executive Office, State of Nebraska, 
 
 Lincoln, Neb., August 2nd, 1872. 
 Mr. Joe Miller, et al. 
 Dear Sir: — Replying to your letter of recent date 
 
 55 
 
13uilDin0 a Jl3ett) (Bmpitt 
 
 accompanied with a petition for the organization of 
 a county to be known as James County, I beg to state 
 that no boundary lines have been estabHshed for a 
 county in the territory named, and until a legislature 
 establishes the boundaries of a county, the executive 
 of the State has no jurisdiction in the matter. But 
 where the boundaries of a county have been estab- 
 lished, the governor may, at his discretion, and on 
 the petition of the citizens, issue his proclamation 
 authorizing the citizens to hold an election for the 
 organization of the county. Until organized you will 
 be attached to Harlan County for revenue and elec- 
 tion purposes. 
 
 (Signed) William H. James, 
 
 Governor. 
 
 This move on the part of the citizens had not been 
 approved by the owners of the town site at Arapahoe, 
 and many of the citizens thought the cause of the 
 governor declining the proclamation was due to this 
 cause, and it was plainly visible that these people 
 were laying plans to control the politics and the des- 
 tiny of the county when it should be organized, and 
 this very feeling grew into distrust, which caused the 
 owners of the Arapahoe town site much trouble, and 
 resulted in the defeat of this place for the county 
 seat. 
 
 Tan was still keeping up correspondence with the 
 "girl he left behind," and as the time passed she 
 seemed dearer to him than ever before, although so 
 many hundred miles apart, she teaching in one of the 
 city schools at Waukula, and he homesteading in the 
 West with the intention of making a home for her to 
 occupy in the near future ; she picturing in her mind's 
 idea a small white house with green blinds standing 
 
 56 
 
O 
 
 X 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 Si 
 
 
 8 
 
 « 
 cq 
 
ClBufIlrftt0 a Jl3eto Empire 
 
 out on the prairie, when in fact it could be nothing 
 better than a log house, with sod for a roof and per- 
 haps the earth for a floor. These log houses were 
 built by laying one log upon another, notching the 
 corners so they would lay solidly and firm in their 
 place until they were completed to the gables. Then 
 one long, straight log was laid full length of the build- 
 ing on top, and one on either side between this log, 
 at the top of the gable and the eaves. Then poles were 
 placed on these logs in place of rafters, and to fill 
 any vacancies between these poles, willows were cut 
 and laid in closely, then a layer of prairie hay, and 
 on top of this were carefully laid two courses of 
 sod, breaking joints like laying shingles, and each 
 layer was carefully smoothed down with a spade, 
 the loose dirt filling up crevices, and after this was done 
 a layer of clay or marl was carefully spread over the 
 roof, and it was completed ready for any kind of 
 weather. This clay, or marl, was a species of lime, 
 and by many was called "native lime," and this made a 
 roof that would turn the heaviest rain. The openings 
 between the logs were chinked and all cracks were 
 plastered over outside and in with clay, marl, or 
 lime mortar, and a house of this kind would last 
 for years. Sod houses were made by plowing up tough 
 sod well covered with grass, so the grass roots were 
 well woven through the sod to make it tough. These 
 furrows of sod were cut in pieces about two feet long 
 and laid in the wall one on top of the other, smoothing 
 down the rough places in the sod with a spade, using 
 the loose dirt to fill up the joints where two pieces 
 were joined together, and in this way the sod walls 
 were built; and the covering was made the same 
 as on the log houses. Some people plastered their sod 
 houses with marl or lime mortar, just as brick or stone 
 
 57 
 
'BuilDing a i^eto OBmpire 
 
 walls are plastered. Lumber for floors was so far 
 distant that but few could spare the time and ex- 
 pense of enjoying the luxury, but used the natural 
 ground for floors, which being tramped continually 
 became almost as solid as a cement floor and was 
 objectionable only in name. Homes of this kind had 
 been built years before in eastern Nebraska and Kan- 
 sas and were still standing in a good state of preser- 
 vation. In the States further east, where timber 
 was more plentiful and of a better quality, shingles 
 were made by cutting logs two to three feet long, and 
 these were split with a fro into boards about six inches 
 wide, and these boards were used for roofing, as 
 shingles are now used, and in this the early settlers 
 farther east had a decided advantage over the home- 
 steaders on the Western prairies, but necessity is the 
 "mother of invention." Just as ancient architecture 
 originated from the necessity of providing shelter from 
 the inclemencies of the seasons, so has modern knowl- 
 edge with the history and experience of past ages been 
 found equal to all emergencies in building up empires 
 and the nations of the world. 
 
 Nearly every emigrant brought with him one or 
 more dogs of all classes and description, from the little 
 worthless "fist" to the mastifif and the bull dog, with 
 his massive jaws, and the latter proved quite valu- 
 able in catching buffalo calves, which proved to be 
 lively sport for those who enjoyed something strenu- 
 ous. Catching calves was always done on horseback, 
 and when one or more was singled out from the 
 herds by the horsemen, the dogs were brought into 
 the game and a short run with the dogs and horses 
 would catch a calf, when the horseman would dis- 
 mount and tie the calf with ropes carried for that 
 purpose, while the dogs held it. Sometimes the 
 
 58 
 
'Buiining a jl3eta) (JBmpite 
 
 mother would move off with the herd, and would often 
 return in defense of her young, and in such cases 
 the only safe proposition was to shoot the mother, for 
 under such conditions she was desperate and would 
 gore to death either horse or rider, and would fight to 
 death for her young. Some in hunting calves caught 
 them with a noose in a rope dropped over the calf's 
 neck. In these cases no dogs were used. Cowboys 
 often caught calves with their lariat ropes, and some 
 of the more daring homesteaders with good mounts 
 caught calves in this manner and threw and tied 
 them. This was the most exciting sport known to 
 the early settler in the buffalo country, and was ex- 
 tremely perilous and dangerous to those who dared 
 to participate in the exciting chase for calves. 
 
 "Buffalo Jones" and others started herds of domes- 
 tic buffalo by catching the calves in the manner de- 
 scribed and raising them with domestic cattle, when 
 they became as docile as other animals raised on a 
 farm. 
 
 Full-grown buffalo were sometimes caught by the 
 largest dogs and held until they could be shot. On 
 one occasion a large buffalo bull was caught, thrown 
 and tied on a wager by two Mexican herders passing 
 through with a herd of Texas cattle. This feat was 
 performed by one man throwing his rope over the 
 short horns of the animal, and the other throwing 
 his rope in a loop catching the hind feet, and when 
 the two ropes were fast the horses were quickly turned 
 in opposite directions and the animal brought down on 
 broadside and held there by the trained horses until 
 he could be shot by one of the riders. This feat 
 was seldom performed on the plains, catching a full- 
 grown buffalo bull by two horsemen, but this was an 
 actual occurrence. 
 
 59 
 
Men who rode the plains and handled tliese wild 
 Texas cattle became experts with the rope, but none, 
 to my knowledge, had the nerve to rope and tie a 
 full-grown buffalo, and this single case of these two 
 Mexicans was the only circumstance of the kind that 
 I ever heard or knew of its being done successfully, 
 with a full-grown animal, although the roping of 
 calves and yearlings were often done. 
 
 A few hunters on the big prairies hunted on horse- 
 back, with swift, well-trained horses, by running to a 
 herd and shooting from the saddle. This was ex- 
 citing in the extreme, and none but the expert horse- 
 man, with the swift-running, sure-footed, well-trained 
 horse could hunt in this manner. This manner of 
 hunting often caused the buffalo to change their 
 range, it having a tendency to scare them more than 
 the hunting on foot. Such hunters as "California Joe," 
 "Wild Bill" Schoonover, Cole, and others, who made 
 hunting a business, always hunted on foot, and would 
 kill more game with a less risk of losing Hfe or limb 
 than the horseback hunter. 
 
 Matlax was a trained hunter and a hardy frontiers- 
 man, a finished scholar, an artist of ability, and made 
 hunting and trapping his business. He was genial in 
 every sense of the word, but always refrained from 
 talking of his relatives. He admitted that he was 
 raised in Pennsylvania, but when questioned further 
 would drift the conversation to his experience in the 
 West. 
 
 As he and Tan sat in the shade of a box-alder tree 
 Matlax related some of his experiences of the previous 
 winter out beyond the settlement. Said he hired a man 
 at the stockade to take him up on the Beaver with 
 his tent, traps, and camp equipment, and provisions 
 sufficient to last the entire winter, and went west 
 
 60 
 
'Bull Ding a il3eto OBmplte 
 
 about sixty miles beyond the stockade with no settle- 
 ments nearer, except, perhaps, a few on the Republi- 
 can River which might be a few miles nearer, and 
 here he made his camp for the winter. Here he lived 
 alone from October till April, spending his time in 
 setting and watching his traps, killing such wild ani- 
 mals as had valuable pelts, and caring for the skins of 
 fur-bearing animals caught in his traps, not a white 
 man in the hearing of his voice, or even within the 
 hearing of the report of his big fifty gun, except oc- 
 casionally a band of Indians, or a hunting party com- 
 posed of white men from the settlements further east, 
 who called on him, and sometimes camped with him 
 for a day or two, which helped to break the lonely 
 monotony ; but for weeks he would not hear the sound 
 of a human voice, or the neighing of a horse, unless 
 perhaps he might hear a wild horse calling for its 
 associates. 
 
 All hunters, trappers and men accustomed to life 
 on the plains, provided protection against the small 
 striped skunk which were very numerous, and were 
 dreaded much more than the rattlesnake, for many of 
 the frontiersmen had learned, to their sorrow, that 
 the bite of one of these little animals would cause 
 hydrophobia from which there was no relief, and 
 death followed in a few days. They were always seen 
 around camp grounds, were aggressive and fearless, 
 and seemed to have no dread or fear of man or beast. 
 The experienced campers would either enclose their 
 tents so these little rodents could not enter, sleep in 
 their wagons or build up a bunk with small poles 
 high enough so these little animals could not reach 
 them, on which they slept with safety. These little 
 animals, hardly as large as a common house cat, had 
 no fear of man or beast, and seemed to realize that all 
 
 6i 
 
ISuilDing a Beto OBmpire 
 
 other animals as well as man dreaded their "flowing 
 extract" almost as much as their fatal bite. Prowling 
 wolves carried ofif and devoured the carcasses of the 
 fur-bearing animals killed and trapped after the pelts 
 had been removed. Grey wolves, large and small, 
 were very common, and an occasional black wolf as 
 large as an African lion, would appear on the scene, 
 and on one occasion he watched from his camp a 
 pair of these black wolves catch a full-grown buffalo 
 cow, hamstring her and in a very short time had the 
 cow killed and were devouring a portion of the carcass. 
 One bright frosty morning while making the rounds 
 of his traps with his trusty rifle, to gather the animals 
 caught during the night, he saw, some seventy-five 
 paces away, a huge mountain lion attempting to tear 
 loose from the trap a beaver caught during the night 
 previous, and fortunately the lion was discovered in 
 the act before the animal had discovered the man. 
 The trusty rifle was brought in range, a loud report, 
 a terrific howl from the mountain lion, and a rush 
 made in the direction from where the shot had come. 
 On came the ferocious brute by bounds, but partially 
 dazed from the eflfect of the shot, and Matlax laying 
 behind a bank knowing that death was near for him 
 unless the shot should prove fatal, or another could 
 be landed before the infuriated animal could reach 
 him. Quick action was necessary to save his own life 
 and kill the animal, and many thoughts shot through 
 his excited brain as the enraged brute came nearer, 
 but it finally paused in its mad rush, seemingly to defi- 
 nitely locate its enemy, he having secreted himself 
 behind the bank of the creek. But something must 
 be done and that quickly. The lion's stop settled the 
 question as to who was master of the situation, and 
 a bullet from the hunter's rifle crashed through the 
 
 62 
 
lion's brain and the battle was won. The lion dropped 
 dead in its tracks, and Matlax lived to tell the tale, 
 and secured the pelt as a trophy of his narrow escape. 
 The skin measured eight feet and seven inches from 
 tip to tip, and was kept by the hunter as a trophy 
 of his winter on the Beaver. 
 
 On another occasion when making the rounds of 
 his traps in the early morning as he passed through 
 a grove of timber toward a bend in the creek where 
 a large elm tree stood, he heard quite a commotion 
 that indicated a large flock of wild turkeys, and halt- 
 ing for a look at the situation, discovered a large 
 black eagle in the top of the elm tree which he shot 
 with his rifle, and as it fell down through the branches 
 of the tree, a run was made from the tree by a flock 
 of wild turkeys estimated at fifty or sixty birds, com- 
 ing belter skelter through the trees and brush, and in 
 an instant the hunter was surrounded by a large 
 flock of wild turkeys which moved on quietly to the 
 open prairie where they rose and flew away far enough 
 to be out of danger. As the hunter passed on he dis- 
 covered a coyote behind the big elm tree watching for 
 a chance at the flock of turkeys, while the eagle was 
 preparing for an air dive from above, and the turkeys 
 had sought protection from the white man against 
 the attack of their wild, deadly enemies. In several 
 cases we have seen domestic animals in distress come 
 to their owners for help or assistance, but never be- 
 fore had we known of wild animals or fowl to come 
 to their natural enemies for protection. But the hunter 
 informed us that the largest gobbler in the flock, and 
 which seemed to be the leader, came so near him that 
 he could have picked him up with his hands. 
 
 When Matlax was camped for the winter near 
 where the town of Danberry now stands, "California 
 
 63 
 
'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 Joe" was ten miles further west, and of course that 
 much further from civihzation ; but here Joe main- 
 tained a camp all winter. Joe had a man with him 
 that winter, and the camp was kept open till early in 
 the spring, one of the party spending a good portion 
 of the time on the road hauling hides and furs to the 
 railroad, while the other remained in camp and con- 
 tinued to slaughter game. This young man, at one 
 time a partner of Joe Cave, afterward went wrong 
 and his name has no place in history as one of the 
 pioneers of the great West. It is only the men of 
 proved honor and integrity, enduring the hardships 
 of frontier life, the forerunners of civilization, that 
 have a place in history, and their names engraved on 
 the pillars of fame, as blazing the trail, and marking 
 with the little sod mounds, the path followed by the 
 hardy homesteaders, who makes the desert plains a 
 home of civilization. Such men as Kit Carson, Daniel 
 Boone, and others, made history in some of the older 
 States by blazing the trail to civilization, and just as 
 important in the settlement of the new West are the 
 names of "Bill" Cody, Jack Stilwell, Charlie Meadows, 
 as army scouts, and Joe Cave, "Wild Bill," Amos Cole, 
 Schoonover, Stout and "Buffalo" Jones, for clearing 
 the way and marking the trail for the new Empire 
 on the plains. 
 
 "Wild Bill" was at this time near the forks of the 
 RepubHcan River following his usual profession of 
 killing buffalo for their hides, and while he was 
 threatened with destruction on several occasions by 
 the hostile Sioux, he and his party stood their ground, 
 and the fear of the hostile Indians to make the attack 
 on these hardy frontiersmen, experts with the gun 
 and pistol, was the only means of grace that saved the 
 party from annihilation. The Sioux, under Chief 
 
 64 
 
IBuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 Crazy Horse, knew they could kill the little band of 
 •hunters, and while they knew this they were also 
 aware that the little band of hunters would kill many 
 of their warriors also, and with their fast depleting 
 numbers the risk was too great for so small a victory. 
 The Indian did not hunt much on the Beaver, Sappa 
 or Prairie Dog that winter, and the hunters and trap- 
 pers there were seldom molested. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Land Office. 
 
 September first was drawing near when the land 
 office was to be opened. Some had homes built and 
 were living in them, others were hurrying the work 
 of building along as fast as possible. Some few had 
 begun cutting hay, which was mostly done by hand 
 and was a slow process, and everyone was desirous of 
 being present at the opening of the land office, which 
 had been established at the new town of Lowell, 
 twelve miles east from Kearney on the new line of 
 the Burlington railroad, just being completed from 
 Lincoln to Kearney. A party of about half the nearby 
 settlers was made up to go to the land office and file 
 on their claims and also to file on others for those re- 
 maining on the claims, and the start was made with 
 four to six in each wagon, going first to the stockade 
 on the Republican, and from there the start was 
 made across the big divide, sixty miles without fuel 
 or water, except on Turkey Creek, a dry hollow, a 
 little fuel could be had, which was about fifteen miles 
 from the stockade, but water must be carried both for 
 the men and the teams. 
 
 The start was made and at the crossing of Turkey 
 Creek we found a lone, solitary Swede, who intro- 
 
 65 
 
IBuilDittg a Betai CBmpire 
 
 duced himself to the party, saying: "I vas a Svede 
 man, an' me vork in Viscondsin vor Melican man 
 dwendy dollar mond an' com her dis zummer do make 
 me von omstead; me bild von pig zod house an' von 
 stable and dig me von well boud one hunderd feet. 
 Den me keeps von ranch." 
 
 Asked where he got water while he was digging his 
 well, he said : "Veil ven id rains much me ged vader 
 in der deep holes by der greek down, den ven der is no 
 rain me haul vader den miles. Me dink dis makes a 
 fine gundry; no vader, no Ingen. Ingen go vere 
 much vader; no Ingen here." 
 
 On we went leaving the Swede to his solitude, and 
 on the big divide, about half way between Lowell 
 and the Republican River we found some men camped 
 and digging a well, who informed us that the in- 
 tention was to build a big barn and a ranch house 
 to be known as Walkers Ranch, to provide feed and 
 shelter for travelers, and the well to furnish water at a 
 nominal price for the people and stock that were com- 
 pelled to cross the big divide. Water was being 
 hauled thirty miles to supply this camp until the weu 
 was finished. 
 
 Tan asked the man at the windlass how deep he 
 expected to go for water, and he said: "One hundred 
 feet or more." 
 
 "There is a prairie dog town near here, the only one 
 that has ever been found on this big divide, and the 
 prairie dog always digs to water, and using the in- 
 stinct of these little animals, we decided that water 
 could be had at a less depth near this dog town than 
 elsewhere, and this fact proved true wherever tested 
 that some of the holes in a dog town went down to 
 water." We learned this lesson from the little prairie 
 dog and after this proved the theory by actual tests. 
 
IBuiltimg a i3eto Empire 
 
 After we gained this information we drove on 
 across the dismal prairie, and through the sand hills, 
 we came to the new town of Lowell, a typical new 
 town in the West, and the saws and hammers were 
 busy in every direction, and everybody seemed to 
 be busy with that hustle and bustle known only to a 
 Western town. Stores, hotels, barns and dwellings 
 were being rushed to completion as fast as possible, 
 and a magnificent school house was being erected that 
 would have been a credit to many of the cities in the 
 States further East. 
 
 The land office was to be opened the next morning 
 at nine o'clock, and there was plenty of attorneys on 
 hand to make out our application papers for a fee 
 of one dollar. The Registrar, Charlie Walker, and 
 the Receiver, Even Worthing, were courteous in their 
 treatment, but always advised us to "see a lawyer." 
 
 Moudy and Stein, and Gaslin and Morlan had of- 
 fices opened and were surely doing a "land office 
 business," making out papers for homestead and pre- 
 emption entries for the hundreds of applicants for 
 lands, and most of these applicants for papers to secure 
 lands were actually living on their lands, while there 
 were some asking for homestead papers on lands hav- 
 ing timber and water, desiring to secure a homestead 
 entry and take advantage of the homestead law giv- 
 ing the applicant six months in which to move on the 
 land and begin improvements. 
 
 This provision in the law was the cause of many 
 contests, some securing homestead papers on lands 
 that were occupied by actual settlers, with substantial 
 improvements, who had not yet put in an application 
 at the land office for entry papers. 
 
 The applicants for a homestead entry were required 
 
 67 
 
IBuilDing: a jf5eUJ OBmpire 
 
 to make affidavit that the land in question was unoccu- 
 pied by other parties and had no improvements, and 
 land claimed by two different parties was usually held 
 by the one in actual possession, if he was a real occu- 
 pant and had made substantial improvements. 
 
 The contests in these cases were a harvest for the 
 lawyers, and many laid the foundations for fortunes 
 in their practice before the United States land offices 
 of the West, while others took advantage of 
 the large acquaintance formed in this way and 
 used it for political advantage when opportunity 
 favored, and many of these Western attorneys 
 became judges and State officers in later years. Our 
 party all secured their entries at the land office with- 
 out trouble or hindrance of any kind, and after making 
 some needed purchases of provisions, clothing and am- 
 munition were ready for the return trip over the 
 big divide. 
 
 One of our party to the land office was our dis- 
 tinguished friend and neighbor, Mas Yamo, the Mis- 
 souri preacher, a man who would be classed as il- 
 literate, yet in his uncouth way could preach a power- 
 ful sermon and could quote Scripture day after day 
 without referring to a Bible. He claimed to be of 
 the Baptist persuasion, but from his appearance he 
 had never taken water, except inwardly. As stated 
 in our first introduction of this particular character, 
 he was a powerful man physically, standing six feet 
 and four inches, and weighing two hundred and forty 
 pounds, and boasted of the fact that he had never 
 been knocked down by man, beast, or steam power, 
 and his appearance indicated the statement to be 
 true. His hair hung down in rolls on his shoulders 
 and he said it had not been cut since "before de wah." 
 He claimed to have come from "old Missouri," but one 
 
 68 
 
IBuilding a n^eto empire 
 
 would judge that he belonged further down the line 
 and might have come from the backwoods of Arkan- 
 sas. A rumor was afloat that he was in the Con- 
 federate Army during the war, a fact that he would 
 neither confirm nor deny. He was a good horseman, 
 a dead shot, and one of the most successful hunters 
 on the Beaver. 
 
 The evening before our start for home he made 
 known the fact to some of the party that he was out 
 of money, and was very much in need of some provi- 
 sions for the family down on the Beaver, and the 
 suggestion was made that he preach a sermon that 
 evening on the street to the vast crowd then in 
 Lowell. There being no places of amusement in the 
 new town the suggestion was accepted and a collection 
 was to be taken up after the sermon. As the shades 
 of night began to gather a dinner bell was secured 
 from the new Brown Flotel, and with a willing hand 
 and a voice louder than the bell, it was noised through 
 the streets that a sermon would be delivered in front 
 of the livery barn beginning in a few minutes, and 
 the crowd that quickly gathered was a surprise even 
 to the ones who had suggested the idea. 
 
 But our hero was equal to the occasion, and when 
 the standing room was occupied for nearly a block on 
 either side, his ponderous figure with his long, flowing 
 locks, arose and without book or note of any kind, 
 quoted : "For the love of money is the root of all 
 evil," after which he asked everyone present to join 
 in singing "On Jordan's stormy bank I stand and 
 cast a wishful eye," which they did with a relish, 
 as if hungry for some of those good, old revival 
 hymns. He talked to that great gathering of frontiers- 
 men for a full hour whom he held spellbound with 
 his plain gospel truths. None of his auditors had 
 
 69 
 
'BuilDing a n^eto OBmpjte 
 
 heard a sermon for months, and some of the hardy 
 plainsmen present had not heard a sermon for years. 
 
 As soon as the sermon was over Tan rose and 
 addressed the audience, suggesting that he had learned 
 that the minister was a poor man and that, owing to 
 the fact that the audience had been so ably entertained 
 by the eloquent sermon discoursing gospel truths, that 
 at least three or four men present pass their hats and 
 take up a collection for the benefit of this able and 
 eloquent orator of gospel truth. The suggestion was 
 met with a cheer. Hats went circulating through the 
 crowd and when returned with the contents, which 
 was emptied on a coat spread on the ground and 
 counted and found there was forty-six dollars and 
 twenty cents, and all passed over to the minister, who, 
 in a few well-chosen words, thanked the people for 
 their generous donation, which was returned with 
 three cheers for the Missouri preacher. 
 
 The return trip was made across the big divide fac- 
 ing a fierce wind from the southwest and as hot as if 
 passing over an immense furnace heated to the limit. 
 Hot winds had been heard of as being one of the ob- 
 jectionable features to making the great West an 
 agricultural country, and on previous occasions dur- 
 ing the months of July and August an occasional hot 
 wind had been felt, but nothing like this one coming 
 across this great prairie covered with short buffalo 
 grass parched by the extreme heat of the noonday's 
 sun and suffering for rain, which had not fallen for 
 the past six weeks, and the test of endurance on the 
 teams through the hot sun and facing this terrific hot 
 wind with a very scant supply of water, was terrible, 
 and now thirty-seven years after the event it makes 
 me shudder to think of it. 
 
 At Walker's ranch no water could be had, and the 
 
 70 
 
ISuilding a H^eUi (Bmpitt 
 
 supply we carried with us had been dealt out to the 
 faithful animals in limited quantities until it was ex- 
 hausted. We passed on to Turkey Creek where no 
 water could be had, but we made a camp and fed our 
 teams and, after talking over the situation, it was 
 decided to give the teams two or three hours' rest 
 and drive on to the stockade during the night, thus 
 avoiding another drive in the hot sun without water. 
 At ten o'clock the moon began to show in the east, 
 and the small caravan of homesteaders was soon in 
 motion and three o'clock in the morning brought us 
 to the stockade on the Republican with an abundant 
 supply of water for man and beast. A rest of a 
 few hours was taken here, and the journey was re- 
 sumed and that evening brought most of the party to 
 their new homes, such as they were. 
 
 On our way up the Beaver we stopped at the home 
 of Major Gartin, who had just completed a dugout in 
 which was a fireplace, and the principal cooking uten- 
 sils were a frying pan and a "Dutch" oven, benches 
 for chairs, hewn from box-alder logs, bedsteads, made 
 of rough poles, and over the place intended for a 
 door was hung the motto : "God bless our home." 
 
 Numerous reports of depredation and massacres by 
 the Indians were afloat, and all kinds of stories started 
 to cause unrest among the settlers, but the blood- 
 curdling depredations were always reported to be in 
 some other locality; but by the time they reached the 
 telegraph office seventy-five or a hundred miles away, 
 the reports of Indian raids, which had never been 
 committed, were wired to the Eastern press and pub- 
 lished as being at the Swede stockade, or on the 
 Republican or Prairie Dog, where a hostile Indian 
 had not yet been seen by an actual settler, yet every 
 man trying to make a home in the new West realized 
 
 i7i 
 
that such a calamity might happen as there were 
 enough Cheyenne or Arapahoe Indians within a hun- 
 dred miles of us to swoop down and murder every 
 white man as far east as Red Cloud, provided the 
 Government troops of cavalry could be caught napping 
 or off their guard for a sufficient length of time to 
 allow the red man to make the raid on the settlers, 
 which they were willing and anxious to do. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Whistler and Badger Killed, 
 
 Making hay and providing shelter for man and 
 beast was the watchword on every hand. While those 
 going to the land office were returning with provisions 
 and other necessities for the coming winter, and some 
 late in the autumn went as far as Grand Island for 
 their winter's supply of provisions. Smoke showing 
 on the horizon at intervals indicated the possibilities 
 of prairie fires, so common to the prairies of the great 
 West, and it was known that hostile Indians had in 
 ages before devastated countries and destroyed the 
 homes of settlers by starting prairie and timber fires, 
 and the result could be imagined should all the coun- 
 try south of the Platte River be burned over, driving 
 the wild game to other parts and destroying the 
 range and grazing grounds of the homesteader, and 
 many had not even turned a furrow for a fire break, 
 nor was there any well-bealen roads or trails to stop 
 the force of a fire, but dry grass everywhere covered 
 the ground which could be eaten up by a fire, and if 
 pushed on by a western wind no power or fight made 
 by the small number of settlers could think of stopping 
 its course. These matters were all talked over at 
 
 72 
 
'BuilDing a Jl3eto (lEmpite 
 
 different times, while but few prepared for the pos- 
 sible calamity. In the meantime hunting parties were 
 following up the moving bands of buffalo and bring- 
 ing in wagon loads of meat for consumption during 
 the coming winter. 
 
 One morning, after the wind had gently blown from 
 the north the previous day, and changed round during 
 the night, coming from the south, the ground seemed 
 to be literally covered with grasshoppers, and of a 
 different species from any seen here during the sum- 
 mer. Where they came from no one seemed to know, 
 and how they came so suddenly was a mystery. Their 
 ravenous appetites seemed to indicate that they would 
 soon devour any green vegetation suited to their 
 tastes. Will Thomas was mowing with a machine in 
 some heavy grass near the banks of the Beaver, and 
 about ten o'clock in the forenoon the grasshoppers 
 began to raise from the "ground in immense swarms 
 and fly to the southwest. Thomas thought perhaps it 
 was the noise of the machine that caused the migra- 
 tion, but others had noticed the movement as well, and 
 it was also observed that just previous to their raising 
 and flying the wind had again changed to the north, 
 and they rose and flew with the wind to the south. No 
 one here at the time seemed to know anything of the 
 nature of these little pests, nor had we read anything 
 in the papers from the outside world of the grasshop- 
 per plague which followed in after years and destroyed 
 vegetation in several States, that caused scientists 
 and historians to comment and look wise, and of which 
 more will be said in a future chapter. We did not 
 know whether it was merely an event in the course of 
 nature or whether it was a calamity to be made a mat- 
 ter of history. 
 
 One evening Tan observed a prairie fire coming 
 
 73 
 
'Building a JSeto OBmpire 
 
 over the divide from the south being carried along 
 with a gentle wind from the south, and in a short 
 time was plainly visible only about a mile away. The 
 ground was dry and hard and the grass was burning 
 like excelsior scattered over a dry floor. Ed had gone 
 to Lowell for supplies for the winter, other nearby 
 settlers were away at the time either hunting, or for 
 their winter's supplies. Bob Armstrong, a neighbor, 
 living half a mile away, was at home, and he and 
 Tan were all that was at home in this immediate 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Tan saddled a horse and rode over to see Bob, 
 who came back with him to assist in the endeavor to 
 save the house and the stacks of hay. The fire still 
 kept moving along driven by a slow south wind, and 
 it was now getting dark. The first attempt was to 
 back fire along the cattle trail to prevent its crossing, 
 but this proved a dismal failure, and the fire soon 
 crossed the trail. The next attempt was to plow furrows 
 around the house and stacks of hay, but the ground 
 was so dry and hard that this also proved a failure, 
 and was soon abandoned as an impossibility, and sacks 
 soaked in water was resorted to as the only means 
 available to save the new house from the devouring 
 flames. Faithfully and with energy did these men 
 work to stop the fire until "low twelve" at night, when 
 the fire still gaining on their efforts was only one 
 hundred feet from the house and stacks. The fire 
 coming on from the south with the wind and total 
 destruction seemed inevitable, with only the two men, 
 now almost exhausted but still fighting this awful 
 wave of destruction, when suddenly the wind changed, 
 and a brisk breeze came from the north turning the 
 blaze, which was then soon whipped out with the wet 
 sacks, and by an act of providence in the change of 
 
 74 
 
the wind, the home and its contents on the prairie was 
 saved together with the winter's supply of feed for 
 the stock. Tan and Bob then whipped out the side 
 fire to the Beaver, one hundred rods away, and saved 
 the range to the east for winter pasture. This was 
 our first fighting of prairie fires on the Beaver, but 
 not the last. 
 
 Prairie fires in this, as well as new settlements in all 
 prairie countries, have destroyed millions of dollars' 
 worth of property, and the loss of many human lives, 
 and yet the neglect of protecting against the loss by 
 fire has been visible in all frontier settlements. 
 
 The town of Beaver City was located by McKee 
 and Denham, a log house was built for a dwelling, 
 and a small frame store building put up with lumber 
 hauled by wagon from Lowell, this being the first 
 frame building in what was to be the new county. 
 A small stock of goods was put in and this was called 
 a store; not very pretentious, but it was a start. 
 The town had not yet been named, and it seemed a 
 difficult matter to give it a name suited to the general 
 conditions, or agreeable to all concerned. But finally 
 on Christmas day, 1872, most of the citizens in the im- 
 mediate vicinity had congregated, and a petition was 
 being signed for a mail route and a post office, and 
 the necessity of a name became an item of importance. 
 Several names had been suggested, but none seemed 
 to meet with unanimous approval, but finally a ballot 
 was taken by all present, and Creswell, in honor of the 
 Postmaster General, was adopted as first choice, and 
 Beaver City as second choice, and when the appoint- 
 ment of C. A. Danforth as Postmaster was made, the 
 Postmaster General had eliminated his own name and 
 given the office the name of Beaver City, and this, 
 of course, named the town. 
 
 7i 
 
'IBuilDing a jaeto OBmpire 
 
 Some of the citizens of the neighborhood were now 
 considering the propriety of having some social events 
 called off during the holidays, and arrangements were 
 made for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's 
 dinners. The first was to be a Thanksgiving dinner at 
 the home of Ed Ayers, the first function of the kind 
 in the new settlement, and on that occasion there were 
 present about twenty-five guests. The meats served 
 on this occasion were buffalo, Texas beef, and wild 
 turkey; and the Christmas and New Year's dinners 
 were served at Henry Moore's, and Thomas Williams', 
 with a similar bill of fare. 
 
 There was no sectional strife existing in the settle- 
 ment, no aristocracy, no clan or clannish ideas, and 
 everybody was called by their first names, or a nick- 
 name, such as Jess, Tom, Ed, Joe, Bob, Jack, and so on 
 down the line. 
 
 Buffalo hunters were coming and going all the 
 winter, and all kinds of supplies were being hauled in 
 from Lowell. A party of hunters came in from Kan- 
 sas headed west to the buffalo range, but not a man 
 in the party had ever killed a buffalo, and although 
 the opportunities were many they failed to kill the 
 coveted meat, and one evening the party drove into 
 the camp of Joe Cave and told to him their hard luck 
 story, of their finding plenty of game but none of their 
 party had had any experience in hunting big game. 
 Joe was hunting for the hides, and cared nothing for 
 the meat, so a deal was made that Joe should kill 
 buffalo the next day, he to have the hides, and the 
 Kansas homesteaders to have the meat ; an early start 
 was made to the divide the next morning, and Joe that 
 day fired twenty-one shots with his "big fifty" and 
 killed twenty buffalo and the Kansas homesteaders re- 
 turned to their homes with the wagons loaded with 
 
 76 
 
'BuilDing a ii^eto OBmpire 
 
 meat, and Joe enjoying the happy reflections of hav- 
 ing secured fifty dollars' worth of hides in one day's 
 hunting. 
 
 The prairies burned off both on the north side 
 of the Frenchman, and the south side of the Republi- 
 can during the fall, and this left only the land between 
 the two rivers as grazing grounds for the buffalo 
 that had remained in that part of the country for the 
 winter. Many Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were 
 hunting that winter where the main herd was grazing, 
 and the anxiety of the homesteader for his safety was 
 constantly on a strain. Soldiers were scouting over 
 the country between the settlements and the Indians, 
 and white men were hunting on the same grounds 
 with the Indians, and it was feared that some dis- 
 pute might arise at any time between the white 
 hunters and the Indians that might cause a massacre 
 of all white people on the Republican and its tribu- 
 taries. The Indians were in a sullen mood, realiz- 
 ing that the white man was fast taking possession of 
 his hunting grounds, and that the United States sol- 
 diers were there to guard against any possible danger 
 to the White people. But the Indian was hostile to 
 the whites, and with their anger held in check, fearful 
 of the results of an attack on the settlers, yet it was 
 known that if a fight between the Indians and the 
 white hunters ever started, it meant a war with the 
 Sioux, and unless there was soldiers enough on the 
 ground to properly handle them and whip them com- 
 pletely, the white people would all be killed, for their 
 number was too limited to stand long before the 
 swarms of hostiles on the buffalo range. Every white 
 man was well armed, but they were scattered out in 
 small hunting parties, or at home on their homesteads, 
 while the Indians were two or three thousand strong, 
 
 77 
 
OSuflDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 
 
 as well armed as the whites, and were all condensed 
 in or near one central camp. 
 
 A party of Pawnee Indians went to the hunting 
 grounds, out on the Arickaree in hopes of killing 
 meat, and securing hides and robes for their use and to 
 sell to the white man. But the Sioux scouts, which 
 were always kept out, soon discovered the presence of 
 the Pawnees, and a fight ensued which, of course, re- 
 sulted in the complete defeat of the Pawnees, and 
 they were driven from the hunting grounds, and 
 started towards the reservation hungry and cold, and 
 a portion of the way through snow they dragged their 
 weary feet homeward begging from the white people 
 on the route, or trading their meager supply of furs 
 for something to eat, feeling sorely their defeat in 
 battle, and the loss by being killed and wounded of a 
 number of the tribe. Coyote carcasses killed for their 
 pelts with strychnine, and thrown away by the white 
 man were eagerly sought for food by the hungry 
 Pawnee, and when all other means of obtaining food 
 was exhausted a pony would be sold or traded for 
 food. 
 
 The feeling of unrest was still visible among the 
 hostile Indians, and small parties of hunters were 
 often accosted by a band of hostiles and if their de- 
 mands were not readily acceded to, force compelled 
 the white man to deliver the goods, and many small 
 parties venturing far out on the range were compelled 
 to deliver all their provisions and feed to the barbarous 
 aborigines making the demand. To resist was useless, 
 as the bands of Indians were of sufficient numbers 
 to force compliance with their demands, and the suc- 
 cess of these small raids nerved the hostiles to extend 
 their raids till it became unsafe for small parties of 
 white hunters to take chances with them, and when 
 
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 hunting was persisted in the white men went in larger 
 parties for protection. The regular hunters, such 
 as "Wild Bill," "California Joe,*' Schoonover, Bill 
 Street and others, known to the Indians as regular 
 hunters and plainsmen, and whom they feared, were 
 seldom molested, but on one occasion when two regu- 
 lar hunters, whose real names will be withheld, but 
 who we will call Bill Cresley and Rawls Jackson, were 
 in camp one evening, when two under-chiefs. Whistler 
 and Badger, came to the camp and demanded some- 
 thing to eat. Provisions were given them which they 
 ate and then demanded more, and on being refused 
 one of them attempted to rob the mess box, and as 
 he raised the lid, Cresley jumped on it and caught the 
 red man's fingers between the box and cover. He 
 howled with pain and when released drew a knife 
 attempting to cut Cresley's throat, but Bill was too 
 quick for him and put a bullet from a Colt's revolver 
 through his brain, killing him instantly; and Badger 
 attempting to assist his friend Whistler, was promptly 
 shot by Jackson, and the two Indians died with their 
 moccasins on, making two good Indians where a few 
 moments before there was two bad ones. Knowing 
 these two to be chiefs they were well aware of the fact 
 that trouble would follow, the bodies of the two chiefs 
 were safely deposited a due westerly course from the 
 camp, in a cafion running a due east and west coursa, 
 and covered with rubbish from the brow of a hill. 
 They gave word out to other hunters in the vicinity, 
 and asked that the word be passed on to others, that 
 they were moving east as they feared trouble with 
 the Indians. They advised all to pass the word down 
 the line and move promptly. 
 
 The two chiefs were missed on the following day, 
 as they were not present with their tribes to give 
 
 79 
 
'Building a H^eto €mpice 
 
 orders, and a general search was made for the two 
 Indians. They found Cresley and Jackson had aban- 
 doned their camps and had gone east, and west of 
 the camp the two dead bodies were found, which were 
 taken to camp and buried in due form, which was in 
 a tree or on four posts set in the ground, across the 
 tops of which were placed poles, and the body placed 
 on these poles as its final resting place, his imple- 
 ments of warfare and his ornaments were buried with 
 him and his favorite horse was shot and left by 
 the burial place. 
 
 Upon the discovery of the death of their two under- 
 chiefs by the hands of the white hunters, a council 
 of war was held under the direction of Chief "Spotted 
 Tail," and it was soon decided to go east on a trail 
 north of the Republican Valley, but crossing the 
 tributaries and go as far east as the stockade, and 
 there rush down on the settlements, and in a dash 
 west, after dividing their forcer, following up the 
 Republican, Beaver, Sappa, and Prairie Dog, murder 
 all the settlers, burn their dwellings and drive off the 
 horses, thus devastating the whole country giving it 
 back to the Indian for a buffalo range, and stop the 
 progress of civilization as well as to get revenge for 
 the murder of their two comrades, who were tried 
 warriors and under-chiefs. In planning this kind of a 
 raid it was thought they could make a dash of this 
 kind, lay waste a scope of country one hundred miles 
 long and fifty miles wide, and be back on the buffalo 
 range before he could be stopped in his mad career 
 by the Government soldiers. It was soon known by 
 all the hunters on both branches of the river that the 
 two Indians had been killed, and that trouble was 
 feared. Camps were broken and the trail from the 
 Upper Republican to the Swede stockade was soon 
 
 80 
 
ISuilDing a n^cto OBmpire 
 
 dotted with teams going east, and most of ti em trav- 
 eled night and day until they thought they had passed 
 the danger line. 
 
 The wily red men were not aware of the fact that 
 there was a battalion of cavalry camped on the Red 
 Willow Creek, and the officers were soon in possession 
 of all the facts, and scouts soon located the moving 
 band of Indians going east on their mission of murder, 
 massacre and destruction, and to leave in their trail 
 ruin and destruction. But quick action on the part 
 of the soldiers, under the command of efficient officers, 
 headed them off with their contemplated raid, and 
 after a parley between the commanding officer, with 
 Jack Stilwell and Charlie Aleadows, his chief scouts, 
 and "Spotted Tail" and some of his assistants, the 
 whole band were turned back to their hunting grounds 
 without a shot being fired or any blood shed, and the 
 Indians were allowed to camp and hunt on the buffalo 
 range as before, but the guard was more rigid for 
 some time than it had previously been, and the hostiles 
 were in a bad mood for the balance of the winter, 
 and but few hunters ventured out among them or 
 even near them. 
 
 Rawls Jackson went on to Lowell, where he re- 
 mained until early spring, when he dropped out of 
 sight and disappeared as though swallowed up by 
 the earth, and no one seemed to know where ; but 
 Bill Cresley was soon back on the range again, but 
 made no special effort to find or locate near this band 
 of Sioux ; but he and Sol Reese, another hunter well 
 known on the range at the time, and who had a ranch 
 on the Prairie Dog, formed a partnership and fol- 
 lowed the moving band of buffalo to western Texas, 
 and hunted the animals for their hides as long as there 
 were enough buffalo left to make hunting profitable. 
 
 8i 
 
OBuilDing a il3eto OBmpire 
 
 A complete story of these hardy hunters on the 
 Western plains, following after the footsteps of Dan- 
 iel Boone and Kit Carson, and others before their 
 time, who "blazed the trail" through trackless forests 
 of States further east for civilization, would fill vol- 
 umes with daring deeds and facts, that could hardly 
 be realized or appreciated by the present generation. 
 
 Many after reading these pages will think 'twas only 
 fiction conceived in the mind of the writer that put 
 these characters out on the Western plains away from 
 civilized life, while in reality these men made the 
 settlement of the new West possible. 
 
 "Buffalo Bill" (W. F. Cody), "Buckskin Charlie" 
 (Charlie Meadows), Jack Stilwell, and other army 
 scouts, the advance guard of a conquering army, who 
 knew the ways and the paths of the wily hostile 
 tribes, as the farmer knows the ways and grazing 
 grounds of his flock, and whom the hostiles feared as 
 the bite of a serpent, first opened the way to the hunter 
 who dared to pass out beyond the danger line. Fol- 
 lowing the daring army scouts came "Wild Bill," 
 "California Joe," "Buffalo Jones," "Texas Jack," 
 Amos Cole, John Schoonover, Sol Reese, Mas Yamo, 
 and others of their kind following up the millions 
 of buffalo, and other wild game roaming oyer the 
 vast prairies of the West, slaughtering the wild ani- 
 mals by the thousand, and daring the hostile red 
 men of the plains to make the attempt to cease the 
 slaughter. 
 
 Proceeding with the destruction of the bison, croM^d- 
 ing the remaining thousands further back from civili- 
 zation, and the bloodthirsty Indians going with the 
 herds of wild game, made it possible for the home- 
 steader to mark civilization further west year by year, 
 which in time drove all the hostile tribes of Indians 
 
 82 
 
'Building a iQeto Empire 
 
 to reservations, and the danger to frontier settlers 
 had passed. 
 
 The present generation will never see the cattle 
 trail, the wild horses, the slaughter of the buffalo, or 
 the building of a new Empire in the West, as has 
 been witnessed in the past forty years. It is a history 
 that will never be repeated in this country. The mil- 
 lions of buffalo roaming over the Western plains, 
 and the thousands upon thousands of long-horned 
 cattle that succeeded the buffalo are of the past, and 
 will never again be seen in this country by mortal 
 man. The Indian that once delighted in making life 
 uncertain to the frontier settler, and that delighted 
 in dangling the white man's scalp to his belt, is no 
 place to be found. He has died of old age, or of 
 disease contracted from the white man, been killed 
 in battle or driven to the reservation by the thrift of 
 civilization all around him, and these hardy frontiers- 
 men were blazing the trail for an empire of civiliza- 
 tion to follow their path which could not at the time 
 be fully realized. They were the advance guards of 
 a future great country, and but few have Hved to see 
 the fruits of their daring exploits in a wild country, 
 the story of which will only be partially told to future 
 generations. 
 
 The history of the buffalo in this country is in- 
 complete and will never be known in full, as their 
 passing was one of the results of the settlement of 
 the country by the white man, but there was a time 
 that buffalo was as plenty on and about the shores 
 of Lake Michigan, as they were in western Nebraska 
 and Kansas in the '60s and early '70s, Back in the 
 early '70s the following item was clipped from the 
 Chicago Illustrated Journal, which shows that but 
 little more than a century ago, where the great city 
 
 83 
 
'BuilDing a Ji3eto OBmpire 
 
 of Chicago now stands were grazing grounds for im- 
 mense herds of the wild bison, and the monarch of the 
 plains had possession of what is now the finest country 
 of the central United States : 
 
 "The member of the bovine family, to which the 
 American Indian and the early pioneers gave the name 
 of buffalo, but which is not the genus buffalo of zo- 
 ology but the bison, is now in a fair way of extinction. 
 Year by year the Indians and hunters of the Western 
 mountains and plains are destroying these animals by 
 thousands, and in a very few years the bison will be 
 among the many extinct quadruped tribes of this 
 continent. Therefore, whatever fact of history can 
 be ascertained in reference to this peculiar and once 
 numerous denizen of our American wilds, before he 
 shall have entirely disappeared, should be carefully 
 recorded for preservation. In a conversation a few 
 days ago, with Captain Leonard C. Hugunin, one of 
 Chicago's oldest residents, still surviving. He came 
 from Oswego, New York, in 1833. He informed 
 the writer that among his private records that were 
 lost in the Great Fire, were memoranda of many his- 
 torical events and Indian traditions, which he had 
 obtained from Billy Caldwell, the second head chief 
 of the Potaswattamies, then over sixty years old ; and 
 that among these memoranda, was one important fact 
 for natural history that he distinctly remembers, 
 namely : That in 1833 in the course of an interview 
 with the old chief, the latter informed him that 
 seventy years previous to that time, that is, in 1763, 
 there was the severest snow storm that had ever been 
 known east of the Mississippi River; that throughout 
 the region now known as Illinois, the snow was from 
 twelve to fifteen feet deep, and that, among other dis- 
 astrous effects of that visitation in this region, was 
 
 84 
 
'Building a jeetti (Bmpitt 
 
 the total destruction of the bison, which although up 
 to that time as plentiful here as the trees of the forest, 
 perished by wholesale by being overwhelmed in snow, 
 or by starvation. 
 
 "He said that some of the elk and deer also per- 
 ished in the storm, but many of these, taking refuge 
 in the timber, subsisted on the browses of the hazel 
 brush and other shrubbery until the snow melted 
 and freed them from their temporary embargo. Cap- 
 tain Hugunin, in confirmation of the correctness of 
 Billy Caldwell's statement, also informed the writer 
 that, in the autumn of 1840, while on a stage trip from 
 Chicago to Galena, his attention was arrested by see- 
 ing, here and there, throughout the prairies, which 
 had but recently been burned over, great fields or 
 yards of bleached bones ; and that, on inquiry of Mark 
 Beanbien, the old half-breed keeper of a tavern in 
 this vicinity, and of other pioneer settlers and In- 
 dians, he was assured that the bones were those of 
 "buffalo" ; that these boneyards, some of which were 
 ten acres in extent, were the Golgotha of the bison, 
 which, gathered in vast groups during the great snow 
 storm many years previous, were literally imprisoned 
 in the deep snow and there died in multitudes. 
 
 "Taking together the tradition of Billy Caldwell, 
 and those boneyard evidences throughout the Kanka- 
 kee, Illinois, Fox and Rock River valleys, Captain 
 Hugunin, who is himself an amateur zoologist and 
 ornithologist of no mean order, came to the con- 
 clusion that it is only a little over a century ago 
 since the bison were as plentiful between the Missis- 
 sippi River and Lake Michigan as they have been in 
 our day between the Missouri and the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. That the American buffalo on the east side 
 of the Mississippi River was completely destroyed by a 
 
'^uiltiing a n^eto OBmpire 
 
 tremendous snow storm in the winter of 1763, and 
 that in 1840 the oseous remains of the animals were 
 still to be found in northern Illinois. Possibly a 
 careful survey might find some of these remains in 
 the same localities even at this day." 
 
 Although this had been a bufifalo range for ages, 
 and no doubt had been occupied by Indians for cen- 
 turies long before they ever saw or knew a white 
 man, and their implements for hunting wild game 
 were simply bows and arrows and spears, with stone 
 or flint points, the same as had been used all over 
 North America and South America, and by the 
 aborigines of Europe. Hundreds of tribes, although 
 thousands of miles apart, with oceans and lakes 
 separating one from the other, used the same kind 
 of spears and bows and arrows. One tribe, per- 
 haps, knew that no other tribe existed ; knew noth- 
 ing of the lakes, rivers and oceans separating the 
 tribes of the earth ; yet for thousands of years they 
 had used the same kinds of implements. The flint ar- 
 row or spear point, quarried from the solid mass of 
 rock without the use of axe, hammer, or any tool of 
 iron, and then made into projectile points, knives and 
 other implements, that served the same purpose to the 
 savage tribes, that steel implements do to the educated 
 and trained artisans of the Caucasian race ; yet on the 
 great plains but few of these flint implements were 
 found by the first settlers, but the few that were 
 found were of excellent finish, and showed that they 
 were made in the most artistic manner known to the 
 barbarous tribes. 
 
 The flint quarries were operated by fire and water. 
 When a flint quarry was found, or a body of flint 
 suitable for use in making stone implements, the dirt 
 was removed and a huge fire built on the rock and 
 
 86 
 
-Building a iBeto Empire 
 
 kept burning until the rock was thoroughly heated, 
 then cold water was dashed on the rock quickly, which 
 caused the rock to break loose, and large quanti- 
 ties would be removed at one heating, which were 
 then worked down into articles such as were com- 
 monly used before the white man taught them the 
 use of steel. Their arrows and spears were tipped 
 with stone shaped for the purpose. Their knives, 
 axes, scrapers, and in fact all their implements and 
 tools were of stone, and many ornaments, pipes, and 
 ceremonial subjects were of stone, each shaped for 
 its particular purpose. Some of the stone implements 
 that were found on the plains indicated that they had 
 been brought from a long distance. Mullers were 
 from California and Colorado granite, while stone 
 knives and arrow points indicated they had come from 
 the flint quarries of Ohio or other far away places 
 where the same quality of stone was found. 
 
 Indian pottery was also very scarce on the Western 
 plains, and but little of it was found. The innovations 
 of the white man caused the Indians to use steel 
 arrow heads and spear heads, and the stone toma- 
 hawk was soon replaced by the steel ones made by 
 the white man, and the steel implements were more 
 commonly found than the stone ones, which were 
 used for ages before the white man taught the sav- 
 ages the use of steel and iron; and, of course, the 
 fire arms were introduced by the white man, which 
 had largely done away with the bow and arrow, yet 
 some still used the bow and arrow on the still hunt; 
 but the arrow had a steel tip or point in place of 
 the flint tip. 
 
 Many steel arrow points were found in bufifalo 
 bones, and an occasional one was found embedded in 
 the flesh of bufifalo killed by the white man. 
 
 -82 
 
'BuilDing a il3etti OBmpite 
 
 The Indian soon learned the use of fire arms intro- 
 duced by the white man, which he traded to the 
 Indian for furs, deer skins and buffalo robes, and 
 they became experts with the rifle as well as the bows 
 and arrows. But when the buffalo were plentiful 
 they preferred the still hunt with the bows and arrows, 
 and the buffalo by this mode of hunting were not 
 scared so badly, or stampeded as they were when 
 hunted with the rifle, but when the animals became 
 less numerous and it became necessary to kill them 
 at a long range, the modern needle gun, or the Win- 
 chester, was used, with which a buffalo could be 
 killed at distance of five hundred or even one thousand 
 yards. 
 
 Many a homesteader in the early settlement of the 
 great West would have gone hungry for meat had it 
 not been for the supply furnished by the great herds 
 of wild animals on the plains. Pork was an expensive 
 luxury, as when it was obtained at any price it had 
 been hauled from the railroad in wagons, a distance 
 of from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty miles. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Organizing the County. 
 
 The organization of the new counties in the West 
 was among the important events in the establishment 
 of the new empire, and as an illustration of the or- 
 ganization of the majority of these new counties 
 we will take up the one in Nebraska as a sample of 
 nearly all others. 
 
 The legislature was to convene early in January, 
 and all the settlers seemed to take an interest in 
 public affairs, and those who were interested in town 
 
 88 
 
'Builtiing a Beto empire 
 
 sites, or in the prospects of a town building near 
 them, or in the boundary lines of counties to be or- 
 ganized, or established by the legislature, were busy 
 laying plans for county organizations to suit their in- 
 dividual interests. 
 
 Franklin and Harlan counties had already been 
 organized under the general statutes, the boundary 
 lines having been previously established, making these 
 counties twenty-four miles square, and county seat 
 locations were being fought out by localities, and 
 contests started that went into the courts, and many 
 of them were not settled for years, the cases going 
 to the supreme court, or court of last resort, for final 
 settlement. Nebraska was not alone in these county 
 seat locations and contests, for Kansas had like ex- 
 periences, and within their borders were "troubles 
 of their own." 
 
 The citizens of Arapahoe were awake to the situa- 
 tion, and the town site company had decided to send 
 Captain E. B, Murphy to Lincoln during the sess'on 
 of the legislature, to interview the members and see 
 that the boundary lines of the new county were estab- 
 lished so that when the county was organized it would 
 be thirty miles square, placing the town of Arapahoe 
 near the center of the county, which would give it 
 the county capital with little or no opposition. The 
 people interested in and about Beaver City were just 
 as determined that the county should be twenty-four 
 miles square, thus placing this prospective town near 
 the center of the county, with an excellent prospect 
 of making this the county's seat of government. Pub- 
 lic meetings were held on several occasions in the new 
 town of one small store, and it was finally decided 
 that Captain J. H. McKee should go to Lincoln and 
 remain there during the session of the legislature and 
 
 89 
 
building a i^eto CBmpite 
 
 endeavor to induce the legislature to establisK tKe 
 boundary lines of the new county twenty-four miles 
 square, to suit the individual interests of the people 
 in that part of what was then known as James County, 
 and this placed two lobbyists in Lincoln during the 
 legislative session, each to antagonize the other and 
 the other's interests. 
 
 While this locality was busy in attempting to organ- 
 ize a county, citizens who had located claims further 
 west, were as actively engaged in their efforts to 
 have boundary lines established so that a town would 
 be located on the Red Willow Creek, where Royal 
 Buck and Captain Wildman had located claims and 
 hoped to establish a town, with a view of a county 
 seat in the near future. Even further west it was 
 hoped by some to organize a county in the near 
 future, and build a town at the junction of the two 
 forks of the Republican river, and these two enter- 
 prises had been joined with the interests of Arapahoe, 
 making it look like a dismal prospect for the location 
 of a county seat away from the main Republican 
 Valley on a small tributary. 
 
 The fight went on for the organization of the pro- 
 posed new county, and the two lobbyists were very 
 busy in the interests of their localities, and the legis- 
 lature finally decided to organize the territory known 
 as James County, twenty-four miles north and south 
 by thirty miles east and west, and gave it the name 
 of Furnas County, in honor of Robert W. Furnas, the 
 governor of the State. 
 
 During the same session boundary lines were estab- 
 lished the same as this one for two counties further 
 west, the first being named Red Willow, from the 
 name of one of the principal streams running through 
 the county and the thrifty growth of the timber of 
 
 90 
 
the same name in this particular locahty. The next 
 county was named Hitchcock, in honor of United 
 States Senator Hitchcock, of Nebraska, who was 
 then a member of the upper house of Congress. 
 
 Making these counties twenty-four miles north and 
 south gave territory sufficient between the north line 
 of these counties and the Platte River for another row 
 of counties south of the Platte River. The act estab- 
 lishing these counties authorized the governor to issue 
 a proclamation for the election of officers preliminary 
 to the organization of the counties. The lobbyist 
 from the north side of the new county of Furnas, 
 which had previously been called "J^'^^s," caught the 
 man napping who had been sent to Lincoln to repre- 
 sent the interests of the south part of the county, and 
 representing to the governor that all the settlers in 
 the county were located in the Republican Valley, 
 succeeded in persuading the governor that one voting 
 place was all that would be necessary, and Arapahoe 
 was made the voting place for the whole county by 
 •the following proclamation : 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY. 
 
 State of Nebraska, Executive Department. 
 
 Whereas, A large number of the citizens of the un- 
 organized County of Furnas have united in a petition 
 asking that an election be called for the purpose of 
 choosing officers preliminary to the organization of 
 said county, 
 
 Therefore, I, Robert W. Furnas, Governor of the 
 State of Nebraska, by virtue of the authority in me 
 vested, do hereby order an election to be held in said 
 county at Messrs. Love & Colvin's store on Tuesday, 
 
 9J 
 
'BuilDing a 3l3etti OBmpite 
 
 the eighth day of April, A. D. 1873, for the purpose of 
 choosing three (3) county commissioners, one (i) 
 probate judge, one (i) county clerk, one (i) county 
 treasurer, one (i) sheriff, one (i) surveyor, one (i) 
 county superintendent of schools, one (i) coroner, 
 three (3) judges of election, and two (2) clerks of 
 election, and I do further designate and appoint Alex 
 Hagberg, Milton Fisher and John Ulman, as judges, 
 and Charles Caldwell and George Hill as clerks to con- 
 duct said election in accordance with "an act for the 
 organization of counties" approved June 24th, 1867, 
 and the election laws of this State. 
 
 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
 and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State 
 of Nebraska. 
 
 Done at Lincoln this 3rd day of March, 1873. 
 The Great Seal Robert W. Furnas, 
 
 of the State Governor. 
 
 of Nebraska. John J. Gosper, 
 
 Sec. of State. 
 
 When this proclamation was made known to the 
 public, and the citizens of the south part of the new 
 County of Furnas learned there was but one voting 
 place named in the proclamation, and that place was 
 Arapahoe, and that the Republican River with its 
 quicksand bottom, was between the voting place and 
 half the voters in the new county, a protest against 
 the action of the governor soon went up that was 
 heard as far away as the capital of the State. Should 
 there be heavy rains the river could not be forded, 
 and half the voters in the county would be disfran- 
 chised, and with conditions favorable, the river could 
 only be crossed in a few places, the quicksand bottom 
 making the crossing treacherous at any time. A peti- 
 
 92 
 
'BuilDinff a Btto (Empire 
 
 tion was circulated and promptly signed by all the 
 voters in the south half of the county, asking the 
 governor to issue another proclamation calling an elec- 
 tion, or voting place, in the south part of the county at 
 the store of McKeen & Denham to accommodate the 
 voters in the south part of the county, and on receipt 
 of the petition by the governor he promptly issued 
 the following proclamation naming another voting 
 place in order that all might have the privilege of vot- 
 ing and none disfranchised: 
 
 State of Nebraska, Executive Department. 
 
 Whereas, A large number of the citizens of the un- 
 organized County of Furnas have united in a petition 
 asking that an election be called for the purpose of 
 choosing county officers preliminary to the organiza- 
 tion of said county. 
 
 Therefore, I, Robert W. Furnas, Governor of the 
 State of Nebraska, by virtue of the authority in me 
 vested do hereby order an election to be held in said 
 county at the store of J. H. McKee, in Section Seven- 
 teen (17) Township, Two Range, twenty-two west, 
 on Tuesday, the eighth day of April, A. D. 1873, for 
 the purpose of choosing three (3) county commission- 
 ers, one (i) county clerk, one (i) county treasurer, 
 one (i) county sheriff, one (i) probate judge, one 
 (i) surveyor, one (i) county superintendent of 
 schools, one (i) coroner, three (3) judges of elec- 
 tion and two (2) clerks of election. 
 
 I do hereby designate all that portion of the terri- 
 tory lying south of the center of line to be known 
 as Beaver Precinct. 
 
 And I do hereby further designate and appoint T. 
 M. Williams, H. W. Brown and Joseph Armstrong 
 
 93 
 
OBuiminff a Jl^eto Empire 
 
 as judges and C. A. Danforth and J. H. McKee as 
 clerks to conduct said election in accordance with "An 
 act for the organization of counties," approved June 
 24th, 1867, and the election laws of this State. 
 
 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
 and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State 
 of Nebraska. 
 
 Done at Lincoln this 13th day of March, 1873. 
 Great Seal Robert W. Furnas, 
 
 of State. Governor. 
 
 John J. Gosper, 
 
 Sec'y of State. 
 
 This last proclamation soothed the minds of the 
 people living on the south side of the river, but the 
 attempt to compel all the voters from the south side 
 to go to Arapahoe to vote or to be disfranchised 
 proved detrimental to the interests of the promoter 
 of the town of Arapahoe, as some of their own citizens 
 rebelled against the action, and joined the south side 
 in the nomination of candidates for the county offices, 
 and voted against the sharp practice of the town site 
 promoters on the north side, and this very act, no 
 doubt, changed the destiny of the county seat question 
 in the new county. 
 
 The election was held with two sets of candidates in 
 the field, one representing the interests of the Arapa- 
 hoe town site company, and the other in their oppo- 
 sition, representing the interests of the south side, but 
 the south side won the election with the help of the dis- 
 satisfied element on the north side. 
 
 The returns were soon started to Lincoln to be can- 
 vassed by the Secretary of State, but before the re- 
 turns from the south side reached Lincoln a terrific 
 storm had passed over the country, blockading the one 
 
 94 
 
•BuilDing a Jl^etti Cmpite 
 
 railroad, and the returns were delayed until the block- 
 ade could be raised, which lasted a whole week, but 
 the returns from Arapahoe went in on the last train 
 before the blockade, and the Secretary of State was 
 informed that these were the full returns from the 
 county and no other election had been held, and on 
 this representation the Secretary of State issued cer- 
 tificates to the ones who seemed to be elected by these 
 returns. 
 
 The returns from the south side finally arrived in 
 Lincoln a week after the certificates had been issued, 
 and letters to the Secretary of State brought no satis- 
 factory reply, so a delegation of two was sent to Lin- 
 coln to investigate and if possible secure certificates of 
 election for the ones who were elected by a majority 
 of all the votes polled in the county. These two dele- 
 gates saw that their mission was published in the State 
 Journal, on their arrival in Lincoln, and when the 
 office of the Secretary of State was visited it was 
 found that the returns from the south side of the 
 county had never been opened, and their seals were 
 unbroken. But the certificates of election had been 
 issued to parties who had not received a majority of 
 all the votes cast in the county, but only a majority of 
 the votes from one precinct. 
 
 The Secretary was out of the State, and his deputy 
 would not act on the matter. The governor was ap- 
 pealed to, who said he would advise the Secretary to 
 open onr votes and count them, and if entitled to them 
 would advise that he issue certificates to the parties 
 representing the south side. 
 
 The Secretary of State was communicated with by 
 wire, but without satisfactory results. A petition 
 was presented to Judge Geo. B. Lake, Chief Justice, 
 asking for a mandamus on the Secretary of State 
 
 95! 
 
ISuilding a i^eto OBmpue 
 
 ordering him to count all the votes cast in Furnas 
 County on the 8th day of April and issue certificates 
 to those receiving a majority of all the votes cast in the 
 county. 
 
 After waiting nearly two weeks for the Secretary's 
 return, and using all the outside influence obtainable, 
 with the advice of the Governor and other state offi- 
 cers, and the help of duly employed attorneys he was 
 finally induced to open the returns and count all the 
 votes cast in the county which changed the results 
 of the election, and an altogether different set of offi- 
 cers were elected than had received the certificates, 
 as shown by the returns from the one precinct. 
 
 These parties were presented finally with their cer- 
 tificates of election and, like the others, were sworn 
 into office, and the result was that the new County 
 of Furnas had two sets of county officers, duly quali- 
 fied and armed with certificates from the Secretary 
 of State. Each purchased a set of books and records 
 at the expense and on the credit of the county, and 
 each set proceeded to do the business of the county, 
 the friends of one side encouraging and patronizing 
 those of their choice, and the other side receiving 
 patronage and encouragement from those in sympathy 
 with them. But the south side were not sleeping in 
 their opportunity, and a term of district court was 
 to be held in Harlan County, with Judge Gant on the 
 bench, and at this term of court a petition was pre- 
 sented to the court asking for a writ of ouster against 
 the parties assuming the duties of county officers, with- 
 out having been elected by a majority of all the 
 votes cast at the election for the organization of 
 the county. The writ was granted and the Sheriff 
 of Harlan County was directed to serve the writ and 
 oust the parties from assuming the duties as officers, 
 
 96 
 
'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 and to demand from them all the books, papers, rec- 
 ords and emoluments of office in their possession. 
 
 The writ was served and the records demanded, 
 but the defendants claimed the records had been stolen 
 from their office and nothing was turned over, but it 
 left the county with but one set of officers. 
 
 The people interested in the development of the 
 town of Arapahoe had voted on the location of the 
 county seat at the election for the organization of 
 the county, with the intention if they had been suc- 
 cessful in the election, to declare the county seat duly 
 located at Arapahoe, and in this manner to hold it 
 indefinitely, but the statute provided that when an 
 election was called for the organization of a county 
 the commissioners elected should locate a temporary 
 county seat, and at the general election following 
 an election should be called for the location of a 
 permanent county seat, and this the legally elected 
 county officers did at the election following. 
 
 This writ of ouster proved a hard blow on the 
 promoters of the town site of Arapahoe, as they had 
 not expected so much opposition by a band of home- 
 steaders from a portion of the county practically un- 
 known when the Arapahoe town site company had 
 been organized. But such is the history of the settle- 
 ment of new countries. Towns were started with 
 bright prospects of future prosperity, and for reasons 
 unseen at the time would pass into oblivion, and would 
 soon be forgotten by the inhabitants, and future 
 generations knew them not. They passed as an event 
 unrecorded in the history of the country where they 
 once existed, and were known no more. While some 
 progressed and forgot their defeat of the purpose for 
 which they were originated, others fell at the first 
 defeat and were known no more to future generations. 
 
 97 
 
IBuilding a Beto empire 
 
 Now we will turn back to the troublesome Indians 
 of the several Sioux tribes with which the Government 
 had trouble for many years, and who were causing 
 more or less trouble and anxiety among the settlers, 
 who very well knew that if the Government released 
 their watch of the movement of the Indians, or if the 
 military were called from the frontier, that a massacre 
 could not be avoided. While the soldiers were relent- 
 less in their watch over the movements of the Sioux, 
 the Indians were just as eager in their watch over 
 the movements of the military, and no move of impor- 
 tance was made by the soldiers that the Indians did 
 not know in a very short time. They constantly 
 had spies or scouts out to learn of any movements of 
 importance, and the different camps of the hunters 
 were known by all the tribes within a distance of one 
 hundred miles or more, and in case a friendly band 
 of Indians appeared on a hunting expedition, they 
 were at once located and driven away by the Sioux 
 warriors. 
 
 Their mode of signaling information from one 
 place to another was never fully understood by the 
 white man, but it is a well-established fact that they 
 had modes or systems of signaling, one being by 
 mirrors flashing signals from hill to hill, across coun- 
 try carrying messages long distances in short intervals, 
 passing the flashlight from one signal station to an- 
 other. This mode, of course, was adopted after the 
 white man had introduced the mirror. Another mode 
 of signals was by building fires on prominent eleva- 
 tions, while another, miles away, would take the mes- 
 sage of fire, build another and pass the message on 
 in this manner to another station, and in this way 
 messages of a battle or other important event could 
 be passed for perhaps a hundred miles in a very short 
 
 98 
 
OBuilDinff a il3eU) empire 
 
 space of time. The peculiar manner in which the 
 fire was built had its meaning to the savages of the 
 plains, and in this way messages have been sent miles 
 away from one camp to another, and no doubt this 
 mode of signaling has been used by the savages for 
 ages, and they understood their signals of fire as our 
 trained experts understand the code of the signal corps 
 of the United States army. 
 
 Garrisons of United States soldiers were main- 
 tained at Fort Hayes, Kansas, Fort Kearney, Fort 
 Robinson, Fort McPherson and Sidney. Fort Rob^ 
 inson was also known as Red Cloud Agency. Fort 
 Kearney was now an old military post, having been 
 established in 1848 by the United States Government 
 as a frontier outpost when emigration began crossing 
 the plains, and for many years was a post of great 
 importance in guarding the frontier, and no doubt the 
 occupation of this garrison prevented the annihilation 
 of many parties of emigrants in their efforts to cross 
 the great plains. Red Cloud, when in his glory as 
 head chief of all the Sioux tribes of Indians had 
 avoided this fort in his determined wars against the 
 whites, and had made repeated raids down the Platte 
 Valley leaving a trail of blood and desolation in his 
 path, the horrors of which have never been written, 
 and but few, if any, now living could tell the story 
 of the fiendish crimes committed on those raids. 
 
 Fort Kearney was named in honor of General 
 Phil Kearney, a gallant general of the United States 
 army, but at the time of these scenes in the West 
 was only used as a reserve station, and only a squad 
 or company of soldiers were kept there, the posts fur- 
 ther west being of more importance, and in closer 
 touch with the treacherous and troublesome Sioux. 
 
 During the fall and winter months the ground was 
 
 99 
 
'BuilDing a Jl^eto O^mpire 
 
 very dry and the settlers, as well as the hunters were 
 troubled with their wagon tires becoming loose, and 
 many a breakdown was the result, and the Missouri 
 elder riding up to Tan's one day, Tan asked him how 
 he managed to keep his wagon tires on as there was 
 no blacksmith in the country, and no way to have them 
 set or tightened. 
 
 "That's a mighty easy thing to do, and I will just 
 help you set your tires so you will have no more 
 trouble." 
 
 And again we found that "necessity was the mother 
 of invention." We went to work under the Parson's 
 instructions. The tires were all loose, with the ex- 
 ceptions that a few wedges had been driven in to 
 hold the tires on temporarily. The tires were first 
 removed, and buffalo hides were cut in strips about 
 three inches wide and these were tacked to the felloes 
 as tight as they could be drawn, first being soaked in 
 water. Then a fire was built, and the tires well heated 
 and put on the wheels just as a blacksmith would put 
 them on after making them shorter, and the job was 
 soon done, and just as durable as if a blacksmith had 
 done the work, and Tan asked the "Parson" where 
 he caught the idea. 
 
 "Wall, this hur idee ain't mine. We ust to use 
 hickory bark, or elm bark, in Missouri befo' and after 
 de wah, jus' like we used buffalo hide fur dis job, and 
 once when I wus out on a hunt I seed 'California 
 Joe' set his tires jist like we did these uns, and he 
 lowd it wus better than a blacksmith cud do." And 
 it surely was as good. 
 
 During the winter months the settlers were either 
 hunting or making improvements on their claims, and 
 by springtime they knew practically all their neigh- 
 bors for twenty-five miles in every direction, and the 
 
 100 
 
15uilDing a ii^eto OBmpite 
 
 regular hunter, who hunted as a business, was known 
 to all the settlers, and such characters as "California 
 Joe," "Wild Bill," "Buffalo Jones," John Schoonover, 
 and Matlack, were as well known to the homesteaders 
 as the prominent politician is to the citizens of the 
 older settled communities. 
 
 Our minister from Missouri, "Mas Yamo," became 
 quite popular, not only with the homesteaders, but 
 spent much of his time hunting, and became a promi- 
 nent figure on the buffalo range. He was considered 
 a "dead shot," and with his fine physique and mighty 
 strength, was said to be one of the strongest men, 
 physically, on the range. To carry a pair of buffalo 
 hams to camp three or four miles, the hams weighing 
 three or four hundred pounds, was not considered 
 out of the ordinary. On one occasion when hunting 
 on the Beaver, near the crossing of the John C. 
 Fremont trail, he and some of his party were out 
 hunting and had left three men to guard the camp, 
 which a roving band of renegade Indians had found 
 and had virtually taken possession of the camp; had 
 bluffed the men in charge of the camp, had them fully 
 intimidated, had taken their guns from them and 
 were about to depart with their plunder from the 
 camp when suddenly the Parson appeared on the 
 scene, and taking in the situation at a glance, knocked 
 down the leader with his fist without a word of ex- 
 planation, struck a second intruder with a Colt's navy. 
 Three of the intruders quickly broke camp and ran for 
 the hills, and another was caught by the Parson 
 and thrown head first into the Beaver, and the band 
 of six renegade Indians were thus disposed of by 
 the Fighting Parson from Missouri. One Indian, as 
 he ran away from the camp, leaving his own gun be- 
 
 lOI 
 
OSuilDing a il^eto OBmpite 
 
 hind, was heard to say: "Heap big white chief; kilum 
 Injen in Sappo; heap drown bad Injen." 
 
 When Mas Yamo was on the range he was as wild 
 and daring as any of the old hardened plainsmen, 
 yet when he returned to civilization he could preach 
 a sermon that would be a credit to the pulpit orator 
 of the East. This had been demonstrated in the 
 street sermon at Lowell, and also at the home of 
 Major Garton when, on a Sunday evening in January, 
 1873, he preached the first sermon ever heard in 
 what was then known as James County, Nebraska, 
 from the text: "Lest he fall upon us with pestilence 
 or the sword." 
 
 The fear of a possible uprising among the Indians 
 west of the settlements was still uppermost in the 
 minds of the homesteaders, and several attempts were 
 made to arrange for protection by organizing in com- 
 panies and building stockades ; but no systematic or- 
 ganization was effected, and all took a chance on their 
 own defense in their log or sod houses. 
 
 The people at Norton and other frontier places 
 were cognizant of the fact that a sufficient number 
 of Indians were camped west of the settlements to 
 kill every white person within a radius of one hun- 
 dred miles if they could pass the United States sol- 
 diers, and yet the new settlers took the desperate 
 chances of their lives and remained on their home- 
 steads. 
 
 The press of the East was continually publishing 
 news of trouble with the Indians that was either 
 wholly or in part imaginary, and many events were 
 published that never occurred, and in this the citizens 
 of eastern Nebraska and Kansas were in part at fault. 
 Every emigrant on his way to the West was told all 
 kinds of frightful stories concerning happenings in 
 
 102 
 
'IBuilDing a il3eto Empire 
 
 tHe West for the purpose of inducing the emigrant to 
 remain in the east portion of the State. It was true 
 that the Western homesteader was in danger of an 
 Indian raid, at any time, and had reinforcements come 
 to the Indians now hunting on the RepubHcan River, 
 from Red Cloud's forces north of the Platte River, 
 there was not a sufficient number of soldiers on the 
 frontier to prevent the hostile Indians from devastat- 
 ing the western half of both States. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Wild Horses. 
 
 Wild horses were occasionally seen by the hunters 
 on the range in bands, and up to this time no organ- 
 ized effort had ever been adopted for their capture. 
 Hunters' horses would occasionally get loose and 
 stray away from the camp, and if they chanced to 
 meet with a band of wild horses all efforts to re- 
 capture them were useless, for as soon as a well- 
 broken domesticated animal became associated with a 
 band of wild horses, he seemed as wild as the others, 
 and would remain away from his owner for the free- 
 dom of the plains, and would remain in the company 
 of his wild associates. A wild horse was occasionally 
 caught by "creasing," which was done by shooting the 
 horse wanted in the upper part of the neck near the 
 spinal column, which partially paralyzes the animal 
 for a time, and if the shot is accurate the horse falls, 
 and before he could regain his feet he is tied and 
 haltered with a lariat rope. Of course if the shot 
 is a little high or not just to the exact spot, he will 
 regain his feet and run away before he can be tied, or 
 if the shot should be a little too low, the spinal chord 
 
13uilDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 
 
 is broken and the horse dies. It took an expert with 
 the rifle, and who knew just where to shoot, to secure 
 a wild horse in this manner, and even the experts 
 only secured one occasionally. 
 
 After making a careful study of the habits and 
 customs of the wild horses on the plains, a party 
 of six men, who were used to the life on the plains 
 of the wild West, who had had experience in hunting 
 buffalo, deer, elk and antelope, had been over the 
 cattle trail from San Antonio, Texas, to North Platte, 
 Nebraska, and knew the range and customs of the wild 
 horse, had studied on a plan to capture a whole band 
 of wild horses consisting of forty-two head, and some 
 of them very fine animals. This band of horses had 
 been seen many times, and if the whole band could 
 be run down and captured it meant several thousand 
 dollars to the captors, for as soon as the horses could 
 be caught and halter broken, they could readily be 
 sold at good figures. Men who had seen them claimed 
 half the herd would sell from two to four hundred 
 dollars each, as many of them were very fine animals. 
 
 The party determined to make the effort and, if 
 possible, capture the prize. It was a great undertaking 
 to capture forty-two head of wild horses, yet these 
 riders of the plains believed it could be done, and 
 the plans were laid. The men knew every foot of the 
 ground and were determined on the capture. Out on 
 the prairies of western Kansas, at least fifty miles 
 from the nearest sod house, or log cabin, the six 
 plainsmen made their camp near a spring of good 
 fresh water. A deep cafion nearby was found sloping 
 down from the divide between the Saline and the Solo- 
 mon, and on going down this cafion, some three miles 
 from the divide, a place was located where the banks 
 were almost perpendicular, and at least one hundred 
 
 104 
 
'Building a n^eto (Smpite 
 
 feet high. A few shade trees were here growing, and 
 under one of the banks a fine spring of fresh water 
 and the bottom of the canon was nearly level, and here 
 they decided to build a corral. Trenches were dug 
 three feet deep across the canon from bank to bank, 
 the two trenches being several rods apart. Poles 
 from twelve to fifteen feet in length were cut and 
 hauled several miles and set on ends in these trenches 
 and the dirt was then replaced in the trenches around 
 the bottom of the poles. An extra pole was run across 
 the tops of the upright poles and tied with willows 
 to make the upright poles perfectly solid. Two large 
 gates were then made to swing open and shut, and in 
 this way the two fences were made across the caiion 
 about twenty rods apart, the walls of the canon and 
 the two fences making a complete corral and perfectly 
 secure when the gates were closed. With running 
 water in the corral from the flowing spring, and 
 everything in readiness, the round-up began. 
 
 There was no excitement, no running of horses, 
 no wild chase, but everything quiet, calm and delib- 
 erate. The first man out of camp rode leisurely after 
 the band of wild horses for six hours, only occasion- 
 ally being in sight of them, but they saw him often 
 enough to be suspicious, and kept constantly moving, 
 not stopping to eat or for water, and this was the 
 beginning of the programme arranged for the cap- 
 ture of the horses. 
 
 At the expiration of the first six hours the man 
 on duty was relieved and another took his place and 
 rode for another six hours, keeping the band of wild 
 horses constantly moving slowly, but still no excite- 
 ment or noise to cause serious alarm. 
 
 In this manner the band of forty-two wild horses 
 were kept constantly on the move for four days 
 
 105, 
 
IBuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 and nights, and at the end of this time they were 
 completely worn out, but not in the least excited or 
 frightened. In the four days they had not been per- 
 mitted to eat, sleep or drink, or to stop long enough 
 for a rest, and they had now become quiet enough so 
 a horseman could ride close to them and follow them 
 closely. 
 
 It was move quietly all the time, and when it was 
 decided that the time had arrived when they could 
 be driven to the corral, a horseman appeared in the 
 lead of the band and the others followed, and they 
 simply followed the man ahead to the corral, followed 
 by the five horsemen bringing up the rear. In this 
 way they were put in the corral, the gates closed, 
 and the battle was won. 
 
 The capture of the forty-two head of wild horses 
 had been a success, and when the gates were closed 
 the property belonged to the captors. There were 
 several young colts in the band that were not counted 
 as a part of the forty-two head. In looking over the 
 capture it was found that nearly half the number of 
 animals caught were branded, and some had saddle 
 and harness marks on them, showing that many of 
 them had not always been wild. Those having the 
 saddle and harness marks were first caught and 
 taken out, and when once roped and taken away from 
 the wild herd were as docile as the horses ridden by 
 the men who had effected the capture. All the bal- 
 ance of the band were roped and handled while in 
 the corral, and they were fed on grass mowed by 
 hand until they could be taken out and driven east 
 to the settlements and sold. Other bands were after- 
 wards caught in the same manner, and in a short 
 time there were but few straggling wild horses left in 
 western Kansas and Nebraska. 
 
 1 06 
 
'Building a il3eto empire 
 
 But few settlers came in during the winter, but in 
 early spring covered wagons with homeseekers began 
 coming, and the road which had been opened up 
 from the stockade up the Beaver, was beginning to 
 show the effects of travel, and the bridges across the 
 Beaver were a great help to the travelers. The grad- 
 ing down the steep banks to the draws, all done by 
 volunteer work of the homesteaders was fully ap- 
 preciated by the traveling public, and the incoming 
 emigrants. 
 
 Some of the new settlers coming in were going on 
 further up the Beaver, and the same was true of the 
 settlers on the Republican, Sappa, Prairie Dog, Saline 
 and the Solomon, while many others settled in the fine 
 valleys on land devoid of timber and running water, 
 preferring to remain where a fair start had been 
 made toward making a settlement, and the prospects 
 of a town nearby, while others moved on further west 
 in the hope of obtaining claims with timber and 
 water. 
 
 Many were the homesteaders coming so far west 
 turned this way by parties of hunters going east 
 who had described this beautiful country in glowing 
 terms that parties intending to stop further east were 
 induced to come on further west to make their homes 
 in the new empire. The beautiful valleys and fine 
 streams of running water, with more timber than 
 many of the eastern counties could boast, caused 
 many a homesteader to cast his lot further west than 
 had been his intention. 
 
 At the beginning of April, 1873, the winter was 
 supposed to have passed, and no more bad weather 
 was expected, but the disappointment came on Easter 
 Sunday, April 13th, when one of the worst blizzards 
 known to Western civilization came down from the 
 
 107 
 
'BuilDing a il3eto €mpire 
 
 north without warning, and with the noise and roar • 
 equal to a million buffalo on a stampede, and all 
 bellowing at the same time. The noise of the on- 
 coming storm was terrible to the listener, and no 
 pen can describe its fury as it approached in its 
 mighty roar and seeming terror, and the prairies 
 having been burnt over, the black ashes, and burned 
 grass with the dry dust all blown in the air made it 
 as black as the darkest night. Many homeseekers 
 were traveling, or in camp, when the storm struck in 
 all its fury, and some who had been on the ground 
 for nearly a year were not prepared for such a terrible 
 storm. 
 
 Tan Myers and C. A. Danforth were out on a 
 buffalo hunt, and were camped under a bluff on the 
 banks of the Beaver, and when the roar of the ap- 
 proaching storm was first heard, Tan climbed the 
 bluff to learn, if possible, the cause of the roaring 
 noise, and soon spoke back to Danforth to get ready 
 for a storm, for it was upon us. The camp outfit was 
 soon gathered up, and the horses put in the timber 
 which would break the force of the storm. By this 
 time the storm was upon us, and the cover could not 
 be kept on the wagon, and we were simply out in one 
 of the worst storms that ever blew over the prairies 
 of the West. 
 
 We had witnessed storms in Iowa and Wisconsin, 
 but none as terrific as this one. Near the camp, and 
 under the same bluff where they were camped, was a 
 "dug out" where a hunter had camped during the 
 previous winter, and in this "dug out" the two men 
 camped. A place had been left open for a door on 
 the east, and over this they hung the wagon cover, 
 and a small fire place inside was utilized for keeping 
 
 io8 
 
Iduiltiing a l^eto (Bmpixt 
 
 a fire and cooking the provisions, which was princi- 
 pally buffalo meat. 
 
 For three long days and nights the storm continued 
 blowing a terrific gale, mingled with snow and dust, 
 and the cold was intense for the time of year. Many 
 draws and canons running east and west were drifted 
 full of snow and dirt. Further east, in the settle- 
 ments, men going to the barns to look after their 
 horses and cattle, used ropes as guides, the ropes being 
 fastened to the houses, and were used as guides for re- 
 turning to the house. 
 
 The storm was so terrific that a barn or house could 
 not be seen a few rods away. Several men lost 
 their lives by not using the precaution to attach ropes 
 to their houses and follow these ropes to the barns. 
 The Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads were 
 blockaded, and the Burlington road did not get the 
 blockade raised between Lincoln and Kearney for a 
 whole week. People who dared pass out any distance 
 from their homes perished in the storm, and there 
 were many homeseekers caught in the storm who 
 suffered almost the agonies of death. The home- 
 steaders' cattle and horses drifted with the storm, 
 and many perished for want of food and shelter. 
 No storm had ever been seen by the army officers, 
 or the scouts, that equaled this in all their experi- 
 ence on the frontier, although during the winter 
 months storms had been endured that was much 
 colder, but none so severe in all its phases as this 
 one. 
 
 This was the storm that delayed the returns from 
 the south part of Furnas County reaching the Secre- 
 tary of State promptly, and which caused the contest 
 as to the rights of the officers of that county. 
 
 Had Jesley had gone to Iowa to visit his father's 
 
 109 
 
family, and reports had been received that he had 
 taken unto himself a wife to share his pleasures, as 
 well as the hardships of a frontier life, and his father 
 had given him a team of horses to replace the ones 
 which had been stolen from their camp the summer 
 previous. 
 
 Judging from the letters coming in, addressed with 
 feminine hands, others of the young men who had 
 taken homesteads were contemplating matrimony, and 
 Tan especially, was receiving letters every mail ad- 
 dressed in a lady's handwriting. The married women 
 were all encouraging the young men to marry and 
 bring their wives out West to share their joys and 
 sorrows, and all comers to the new country with 
 families were urged to locate, and especially those 
 with children were urged to locate so in the near 
 future, when the county was organized schools could 
 be established, and thus aid in the advancement of 
 civilization in the new West. 
 
 A mail route had now been established as far west 
 as Wild Turkey with C. A. Danforth as postmaster 
 at Beaver City, I. N. Meyers at Lynden, and Miss 
 Jessie Plum as postmistress at Wild Turkey, and 
 Henry W. Brown soon followed with a commission as 
 postmaster at Richmond, six miles south of Beaver 
 City on the Sappa. 
 
 In the meantime Norton and Long Island, over 
 the line in Kansas, and on the beautiful valley of 
 the Prairie Dog, were beginning to shape up with a 
 view of making towns, with a prospect of another 
 town starting up the Sappa, to be called Oberlin. 
 
 As the spring advanced homesteaders were endeav- 
 oring to put in cultivation a portion of their lands, 
 but the winter had been exceedingly dry, with but 
 little moisture, neither snow or rain falling in any 
 
 IIO 
 
IBuilDing a Ji^eto OBmpire 
 
 amount since the previous September, and the ground 
 was so dry and hard that it was very difficult to plow 
 the sod, and these conditions continued to exist until 
 the twenty-ninth day of April. After a three days' 
 wind from the southwest, a rain began, coming from 
 the northeast, and this rain continued for three days, 
 and when it ceased the ground was thoroughly wet, 
 and plowing began in earnest, followed by planting 
 corn, vegetables and gardens. 
 
 About this time a rumor came which had been 
 started from some unknown source or authority, and 
 which had been published in the papers of eastern 
 Kansas and Nebraska, to the effect that Royal Buck 
 and his party, who had settled on the Red Willow, 
 had been killed by the Sioux Indians, their homes 
 burned, and all property destroyed, and that a horde 
 of hostile Indians were in what had been named Red 
 Willow and Hitchcock Counties ; that "Buffalo Jones" 
 had lost his team and equipment; that Amos Cole, 
 John Schoonover and Bob Stout, with a few other 
 hunters, had defended their lives by hiding under 
 banks and shooting from ambush, while the hostile 
 Indians had run off their stock and burned their 
 wagons and equipment, and that Captain Brown, of 
 Beaver City, had been killed while out with a supply 
 wagon. All of which proved untrue. Royal Buck and 
 his party were busy breaking prairie, planting corn 
 and other necessary work about their places. Cap- 
 tain Brown came home to learn that he had been 
 killed while out with his supply wagon. Jones came 
 in with a load of buffalo meat, and told that he had 
 been to the headwaters of the Beaver, crossed over 
 to the Republican, and on to the Frenchman, and had 
 seen but four Sioux Indians, and they were scouts 
 looking for the Pawnees. The main band of Sioux 
 
 III 
 
were gone from their camps on the hunting grounds 
 of the previous winter, and no large herds of buffalo 
 could be seen. 
 
 The following clipping from the Nebraska State 
 Journal fairly describes the situation: 
 
 Beaver City, Neb., March 3rd, 1873. 
 
 Editor Journal: — The recent Indian excitement and 
 would-be scare, makes one feel like giving the farcical 
 affair a little "vent." As to where the excitement 
 originated, relative to the Republican Valley, no one 
 seems to know, but, nevertheless, some alarming re- 
 ports have been started and, being continually re- 
 peated, have been greatly exaggerated. First came the 
 report that the Sioux were in Hitchcock County mur- 
 dering the settlers and driving off stock, and several 
 reported killed, but the number not definitely stated. 
 Next came the report that the settlement of Red 
 Willow was burned, and Royal Buck, with others, 
 had been killed. Then the report that Captain 
 Brown, from Beaver City, while out with a supply 
 wagon, had been killed ; also that "Buffalo Jones" had 
 lost his train and equipment while out hunting. All 
 these reports were believed by some, while others 
 treated them with the derision justly due them. It 
 appears now that Red Willow and Hitchcock counties, 
 are all free from any Indian troubles whatever. Royal 
 Buck and his settlement are reported "statu quo, 
 ante helium," and Captain Brown returned home be- 
 fore the report of his massacre, and "Buffalo Jones" 
 had passed through with a load of meat, and the 
 Kansas hunters were all safe. 
 
 How and where these infamous and unfounded re- 
 ports originated is as yet an unraveled mystery. But 
 they have been afloat, and should be denounced in the 
 
 112 
 
IBuilhms a iOeto OBmpire 
 
 strongest language possible, as they seem to have been 
 originated for no other purpose than to impair emi- 
 gration, and such will be the case unless these false 
 reports are properly ventilated. But to those coming 
 West we will say that two hundred miles east from 
 here they will hear vague reports of Indian depreda- 
 tions, purporting to have occurred in this and ad- 
 joining counties ; but when you get this far west you 
 will hear of the outrages perpetrated up about Fort 
 Laramie, the Red Cloud Agency, and other places 
 as far away as the places named. We have now been in 
 this country nearly two years, and in that time there 
 has never been a Sioux in the county, and we antici- 
 pate no trouble from Mr. "Lo." 
 Yours truly, 
 
 N. M. A. 
 
 The reported trouble had been started by some 
 unscrupulous hunters on their return to civilization 
 with a view of turning the Western emigration back 
 from the hunting grounds, and the report was picked 
 up by the real estate brokers in their efforts to sell 
 lands, and also by the papers endeavoring to settle 
 the eastern portions of the States first. 
 
 In addition to the usual troubles of settling a new 
 country, the extreme West had this contention before 
 them at all times. The Eastern press, real estate deal- 
 ers, the railroads, and the entire population of eastern 
 Kansas and Nebraska, seemed to be exerting all pos- 
 sible efforts to prevent emigration from going so far 
 west. While there was a possibility at any time that 
 the Indians would evade the soldiers and make trouble 
 with the Western homesteaders, yet stories of massa- 
 cres and Indian depredations were told the home- 
 steader headed for the West, with no fact of circum- 
 
 "3 
 
'BuilDing a ii3eto Cmpite 
 
 stance to justify the story. Tales of drouth, prairie 
 fires, and all imaginary kinds of disaster were told 
 to emigrants going further west. 
 
 While the danger from the Indians to the frontier 
 settler was great, and the wonder was that so many 
 would take the chances. The whole State of Nebraska 
 west of Salt Creek and Columbus, and the entire por- 
 tion of Kansas lying west of Manhattan and Wichita 
 were subject to drouth, the country undeveloped, and 
 no one knew what the future of this vast territory 
 would be, whether it could be made a successful 
 agricultural country, a grazing country, or whether 
 it would be turned back to the Indian and the wild 
 beasts of the Western plains for a habitation. It 
 was all an experiment and we could only wait for 
 future developments. 
 
 The Union Pacific, the Burlington, and the Kansas 
 Pacific systems had extensive land grants along their 
 rights of way, and it was known that supreme efiforts 
 by these systems would be made to dispose of these 
 lands to actual settlers so the country would be de- 
 veloped, and farm products raised to be transported by 
 the railroads to Eastern markets. Further west on 
 the Platte River and on west to the mountains exten- 
 sive horse and cattle ranches were being established 
 and stocked with cattle and horses from the exten- 
 sive ranges in Texas, and driven over the trail by 
 thousands. The ranges were depended on to support 
 these countless thousands of cattle winter and sum- 
 mer. Mild winters, when the weather was not severe, 
 or no snow on the prairies they done fairly well, but 
 when the ground was covered with snow for a num- 
 ber of weeks, the cattle and horses could not get the 
 nutritious buffalo grass, thousands would die from 
 starvation, and those that chanced to live through 
 
 >l 14 
 
'BuilDing a Betoi OBmpite 
 
 the winter were so poor they were practically 
 worthless. 
 
 This cattle industry started in central Kansas when 
 that section was practically the wild West, and was 
 becoming quite an important industry, till in the win- 
 ter of i87i-'72. Cattle had wintered on the wild 
 grasses for several winters and it was a conceded fact 
 that this was a stock country, and cattle would do 
 well on the range at any time. But this winter was 
 their disappointment. On November 13th it snowed 
 and turned cold. Soon more snow came and again it 
 was cold. Just after the holidays a thaw came and 
 the snow melted down to a slush, and while in that 
 condition the weather again turned extremely cold 
 and froze this slush to a solid ice, which remained 
 for several weeks, and the cattle died of starvation. 
 No hay had been prepared for the cattle, and corn was 
 a scarce commodity in those early days. Ten thou- 
 sand cattle starved to death in Jewell County, Kan- 
 sas, and Webster County, Nebraska, that winter. The 
 tragedy of the cattle business was everywhere in 
 evidence the following spring, as the skeletons of 
 ten thousand dead cattle covered the prairies and 
 filled the ravines in that locality. 
 
 Many continued the business, however, and the 
 industry spread to the mountains on the west and to 
 Wyoming on the north, but disaster often overtook 
 the cattleman in the same way, and thousands died 
 of starvation on the plains. Those continuing the 
 business of raising a better grade of cattle, and the 
 long horns were crossed with the thoroughbred and a 
 fine grade of cattle was in this way produced, and 
 as the industry increased it was evident that some 
 provision should be made for the winter. Mowing 
 machines, rakes and stackers were purchased, and 
 
 115 
 
'BuilDing a Jl^eto empire 
 
 thousands of tons of hay was cut and stacked every 
 year to be used during the winter months when con- 
 ditions required it. This furnished work for the 
 homesteaders in the Republican Valley and its tribu- 
 taries, and many of them went to the big ranches 
 and worked during the haying season. 
 
 There was no limit to the extent of the range along 
 the Platte River as no farming had been attempted of 
 any consequence west of Kearney, and there was 
 free range for any one choosing to take advantage 
 of it. Ranch houses and corrals were built from 
 the timber along the streams and in the caiions on 
 Government lands, but in the early days no one seemed 
 to take much interest in conserving the natural re- 
 sources. 
 
 During June and July of each year extra forces 
 of "cowboys" were employed by the ranchmen, and 
 a general round-up was engaged in, and all cattle 
 rounded up and calves branded, after which they were 
 again turned loose on the range. An occasional 
 "Maverick" was found having no brands, but these 
 were apportioned out and branded. A round-up would 
 usually take in a scope of country of one hundred 
 miles, or fifty miles in each direction from the starting 
 point, and all this country thoroughly looked over by 
 the cowboys on their ponies. Camp outfits were car- 
 ried in wagons, consisting of provisions and neces- 
 sary supplies for the round-up, lasting for several 
 weeks. Seldom was a tent used, the men sleeping 
 on the ground with no protection except their saddle 
 blankets. 
 
 During a storm every man was on duty, and on 
 constant watch to prevent a stampede which often 
 occurred during a storm. In case of a stampede the 
 leaders of the herd were started in a circle and others 
 
 ii6 
 
H 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 M 
 
 Q 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
IBuilding a i^eto OBmpite 
 
 hustled after them still following in a circle, and by 
 quick work, and dare-devil push, a whole herd of 
 thousands were soon running wildly mad in a circle, 
 while the rain and perhaps hail fell in torrents, and 
 the wind blowing a furious gale, and the herds could 
 only be seen by the vivid glare of lightning which 
 caused the stampede, but by the aid of this vivid light 
 the cattle were kept in a dizzy whirl until the fury of 
 the storm had passed, and the herds again quieted 
 down to rest or to graze on the wet prairie. No 
 cowboy dared desert his post or seek shelter during 
 a stampede, but must remain on duty like a soldier in 
 the heat of a battle. A desertion at a critical time 
 during a storm would permit the whole herd to 
 stampede and allow them to scatter for miles, re- 
 quiring days of hard riding to get them together 
 again. It required a supreme effort on the part of 
 these rough riders of the Western prairies to pre- 
 vent the herds from stampeding during a severe storm. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Hitchcock County and the Irish Landlord. 
 
 The buffalo were not so plentiful as they had been 
 the previous year, and those that did put in an ap- 
 pearance were hunted by the settlers so they were 
 kept continually on the move, and the main herds 
 were grazing further west, where it was necessary to 
 go for any quantities of meat or hides. The breeding 
 grounds were on the high grounds, and where a calf 
 was foaled by the mother, as if by knowledge or in- 
 stinct, the mother buffalo was surrounded by other 
 members of the herd, who tramped in a circle around 
 the new mother until the calf was old and strong 
 
 IJ7 
 
'Builtiing a il^eto dBmpire 
 
 enough to move off with the mother and mingle with 
 the herd. This was done to protect the newly born 
 buffalo calves from being devoured by the wolves that 
 were constantly following the bands of buffalo, and 
 the newly born calves were always guarded in this 
 way until they were able to travel with the herds for 
 self-protection. 
 
 These breeding grounds remained plainly visible for 
 years, and the circles made by the guarding buffalo 
 could be seen for years, and no doubt some of them 
 are visible yet after a lapse of more than thirty-five 
 years. Many persons for years who were not fa- 
 miliar with the customs of the buffalo, saw these 
 circles of an extra growth of grass, with a peculiar 
 light green tint and wondered at the cause of these 
 many circles, not knowing it was the breeding ground 
 of the buffalo, so plainly visible after the many years 
 of exposure to the elements and even to cultivation. 
 But few of the people living on these prairies to-day 
 realize the countless thousands of the monarchs of 
 the plains roamed over these vast prairies from Texas 
 to the British possessions on the north only so few 
 years ago, and now they are extinct except the few 
 in captivity ; draw a picture in your mind if you will, 
 of your farms and towns, only so short a time ago 
 being covered with countless thousands of buffalo, 
 that are now no place to be found except in the city 
 parks, or with the "Wild West shows." Think also of 
 the great fall of snow that destroyed the buffalo in 
 Illinois in the winter of 1763, and what such a fall of 
 snow would do for us at the present day ; not a train 
 could run in any direction ; no food could be obtained 
 from the towns or villages unless carried on snow 
 shoes, and but few there are now living that know 
 anything of their use or construction ; no fuel could be 
 
 :ii8 
 
'BuilDing a i^eto OBmpite 
 
 obtained from the railroad stations, and food for 
 stock it would be utterly impossible to obtain, unless 
 already on the ground or in the mows or granaries, 
 and most of the live stock in the middle states would 
 perish for want of food, although protected from the 
 storms and snow with shelter. 
 
 Nature had provided the buffalo of the West with a 
 natural instinct of what was best to do in severe win- 
 ter weather, and this instinct was to move South in 
 severe winter weather when the northern plains were 
 covered with snow, and this they did in countless 
 numbers during severe weather on the Western plains, 
 moving South beyond the snow line, to graze on the 
 prairies of Western Texas, returning North as the 
 spring and summer advanced, but from the historical 
 facts the buffalo in Northern Illinois had evidently 
 been caught napping, or delayed their march South 
 until the deep snow had made it impossible to move. 
 
 Tan, like many others, had built a neat, hewed log 
 house with one door and two half windows, and Ne- 
 braska soil for a floor, with the usual sod roof; an 
 opening under the door had been left to be leveled up 
 with the floor, at such time as a floor could be obtained 
 and laid in place, which it was hoped would be in the 
 near future. One evening just at dusk he was going 
 in his house, and on opening the door he was startled 
 with the familiar B-z-z-z-z-z of a huge rattlesnake 
 coiled up in the opening under the door, and jumped 
 back to avoid the bite which was sure to follow if he 
 was close enough to receive it ; he hurriedly secured a 
 large stick, and his snakeship was killed: it was gen- 
 erally conceded that where one rattler was found an- 
 other was near, so in the dark a careful entrance to 
 the house was made, with club in hand, and on light- 
 ing a lamp a thorough search was made, but no other 
 
 1119 
 
OBuilDing a Beto OBmpire 
 
 snake was found; it was like the search of a woman 
 for a man under the bed that she does not want to find 
 and it was so with Tan, he looked for a snake that he 
 hoped he would not find. 
 
 Tan was still keeping up a vigorous correspondence 
 with his best girl back East, and matters were begin- 
 ning to assume a more serious aspect, and it was his 
 desire to have with him a life companion, but would 
 the conditions justify such a move ? It was an expen- 
 sive luxury to make the trip to Eastern Iowa, espe- 
 cially for a homesteader who had but little capital, and 
 who had not earned a dollar for more than a year; 
 and again would a lady of refinement, knowing noth- 
 ing of frontier life, who had been raised in the best of 
 society, and who had a fine position as teacher in the 
 city schools, be contented in a homesteader's cabin on 
 the Western prairies, where the howling of wolves 
 made the nights hideous, rattlesnakes and vipers could 
 be seen daily, buffalo and antelope could be seen quite 
 often running over the wild prairies, and her asso- 
 ciates would be homesteaders, their wives, cowboys, 
 scouts, Indians, and soldiers, and who had never lived 
 outside a city or large town. 
 
 Tan decided to write the cold facts just as they ex- 
 isted, and to leave none of the disadvantages untold, 
 nor to portray in brilliant terms the delights of a 
 frontier life. The affection expressed was simple but 
 positive, and all the facts as to conditions were written 
 in language that could not be mistaken, or miscon- 
 strued, so no censure or reproach could come to the 
 writer in years to come ; nothing was overdrawn, and 
 nothing underestimated, but facts written in full just 
 as they existed in the new West, and the choice left to 
 her own selection. Whether she would accept the 
 rough home in the new West, or the engagement 
 
 I20 
 
'BuilDittg a n^etti OBmpite 
 
 broken off with no ties binding on either party to the 
 contract, and the answer was waited with earnest 
 anxiety. 
 
 The answer came in due time, and was read with 
 so much interest that he took no heed of the jokes and 
 other conversation about him, and the lady of refine- 
 ment had decided to join her fortunes, joys and sor- 
 rows with Tan in the little log cabin on the claim. 
 Tan now got busy, as there was extra work to be 
 done in order to make the new home more attrac- 
 tive. Logs were cut and hauled twenty miles to a 
 saw mill to be sawed into lumber with which to make 
 furniture for the new home. No furniture could be had 
 nearer than Lowell, eighty miles away, and then at 
 an exorbitant price. The logs were hauled with an 
 ox team to a mill that had been established near the 
 stockade, or Melrose, as it was now commonly called. 
 
 Millions of grasshoppers could be seen going north, 
 flying with the wind coming from the south, and 
 to all appearances were the same species seen the 
 autumn before on their way south, and much appre- 
 hension was felt as to the safety of the crops should 
 these little pests light down and endeavor to satisfy 
 their ravenous appetites. But the wind continued 
 from the south and the grasshoppers continued on 
 their northern journey until the air was clear and no 
 more could be seen. 
 
 Everybody worked with a will, fully determined to 
 use every possible efTort to make a home in the new 
 West, and to test the fertility of the soil, the suffi- 
 ciency of rainfall, and ascertain as fast as possible the 
 crops best adapted to natural conditions in this far 
 West undeveloped country. 
 
 There were enough buffalo to supply the settlers 
 with fresh meat, and much of the meat was converted 
 
 [121, 
 
'25uiIDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 
 
 into "jerk," and this would keep for months, just 
 as our forefathers formerly kept dried beef of their 
 own curing. Meat and bread was the principal diet 
 of the homesteaders, and the lack of vegetables had 
 its effect on the health of the people, and there was 
 cases of scurvy all round us, but as yet none had 
 developed of a serious nature. The nature of the 
 country indicated its healthfulness, being a high alti- 
 tude, a pure, dry air, no stagnant water, and conse- 
 quently no malaria, and men had lived outdoors 
 freighting and hunting practically all winter, and 
 had not even taken a cold. This was true with the 
 hunters who spent years on the plains in a high 
 altitude living out of doors or in tents year after 
 year, and never knew what it was to have a cold 
 or a fever, nor was it necessary to take drugs or 
 nostrums to prevent colds or diseases, the high alti- 
 tude and pure air being all that was desired as a 
 preventative of disease. The severe winds and dust 
 storms caused some cases of catarrh, but aside from 
 tliis, the ordinary ills of the human race were un- 
 known to the frontiersman of the new West. 
 
 Early vegetables were planted, such as radishes, 
 lettuce, turnips and onions, and as soon as grown suf- 
 ficient for use they were freely used, and the cases of 
 scurvy soon ceased to exist. Melons and pumpkins 
 were planted to be used for food later in the season, 
 and many potatoes were planted for the next winter's 
 use. knowing that a free use of vegetables would 
 prevent a return of the scurvy. 
 
 One Van Orton had settled on a claim on the 
 Beaver, but having a large faniily to support, and 
 he being a poor man, had neglected to take out papers 
 on his land, supposing his occupying the land would 
 be sufficient to hold it. He had made a dug-out and 
 
 122 
 
'BuilUing a Ji^eto €mpire 
 
 was living in it with his family and working a part 
 of the time on the land, and when work could be 
 had away from home he worked for others, and all 
 was going along smoothly until it was learned that 
 his claim had been homesteaded by a man named Pat 
 Roden, and one of his neighbors, Gill James, was 
 accused of locating Pat on the claim. Van was a stout- 
 built man with a good physique, and to all appearance 
 was a giant in strength, and carried the characteristics 
 of being very aggressive, and rather inclined to pro- 
 voke a quarrel. James was six feet and two inches 
 tall, raw-boned, quiet in appearance, seldom talked 
 and was far from being sociable. No one seemed to 
 know much about him except that he was raised in the 
 hills of southern Ohio, and had no friends or relatives 
 in the new West. The two men met in Beaver City 
 one day and Van accused James of showing Pat the 
 claim and advised him to go to the land office and 
 homestead it. The accusation was promptly denied 
 by James. A few words were passed back and forth 
 and a fight soon started. Van being the aggressor. 
 Blows passed thick and fast and both men were soon 
 bloody. Van was game and was doing his best, and 
 for a time it looked like he might be the victor, but 
 James was cool and had the advantage of Van in 
 reach with his long arms, and finally succeeded in 
 putting in a left hand undercut on the jaw which 
 put his antagonist down, but Van was game and 
 came up again, this time attempting to clinch his op- 
 ponent, but the long arms of James were too long, 
 fast and furious for his assailant, and Van again 
 went down, when the bystanders interfered and 
 stopped the fight, James persisting that he knew noth- 
 ing about the jumping of the claim, while Van claimed 
 
 123 
 
that James was the whole cause of the trouble, and 
 had induced Pat to jump the claim. 
 
 It was known that a lone Irishman with an ox 
 team had been up the valley looking over the coun- 
 try, and the last seen of him he was headed for the 
 land office at Lowell. Tan went to Lowell shortly 
 after this, and in looking over the plats with the offi- 
 cers of the land office, it was learned that this man, 
 Pat Roden, had asked the officials to show him some 
 vacant land on the Beaver in this vicinity with timber 
 and water. The records showed that this particular 
 piece of land was vacant and he then and there home- 
 steaded it, and this gave him six months in which to 
 move on the land and make actual settlement, which 
 he did, and Van Orton located another piece of land, 
 and one of his neighbors loaned him money enough 
 to file on the land, and Gill James had won the battle 
 and was vindicated. 
 
 This was the first fist fight on the Beaver and per- 
 haps in the county. The settlers coming to the new 
 county, with very few exceptions, were true law- 
 abiding citizens, and the tough element followed later 
 on the trail blazed by the homesteader, and the cattle 
 trail from Texas. 
 
 More trouble in the county organization was now 
 in sight when the parties duly elected, qualified and 
 serving as county officers were notified to appear be- 
 fore Judge Gant in Chambers in the city of Lincoln 
 ar>d show cause why and by what authority they were 
 holding office. This caused another trip to Lincoln 
 by the clerk accompanied by two attorneys, ex-Attor- 
 ney General Roberts and M. V. Moudy, who again 
 argued the case, making it plain to the judge that these 
 parties had received a majority of all the votes cast 
 in the county at the election for the organization of 
 
 124 
 
'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 
 
 the county that they had been duly qualified accord- 
 ing to the law in such cases made and provided, that 
 they were recognized as the legal officers of the county 
 by the State officers, the United States land office, 
 and that all the county business was being transacted 
 at Beaver City, which had been declared the temporary 
 county seat, that all county business came to Beaver 
 City, and these officers were recognized by the courts 
 of the State as the legally elected and qualified officers 
 of the county. The judge soon decided that these 
 were the legally elected and qualified officers, and this 
 settled another question in the organization of the 
 county, which was causing grief and trouble for all 
 parties at interest. Other counties were sufifering 
 agonies of like character, but the struggles still con- 
 tinued. 
 
 The organization of Hitchcock County was reported 
 at the time as being organized by a select few, and 
 nearly all of those present being residents of other 
 counties. Of those elected to office, Judge Lucas lived 
 in Harlan County, if anywhere; "Wild Bill" in Clay 
 County, but the writer will not attempt to give the his- 
 torical facts in this case as in some of the other 
 counties, but will give word for word a clipping from 
 the State Journal at the time giving an account of the 
 organization. (The original clipping is in my pos- 
 session) : 
 
 "From the Frontier." 
 
 "A gentleman just returned from a buffalo hunt, 
 a Mr. Spencer, graphically describes scenes that 
 occur in that region that are sometimes ludicrous, and 
 sometimes tragic. Mr. Spencer says that the county 
 seat oi Hitchcock County is located at the mouth of 
 
 125 
 
IBuilDlng a Jl^eto OBmpire 
 
 what is known as Frenchman's Fork, and that a 
 house, or rather an original design situated there, 
 serves as hotel, store, ranch, justice office, court house, 
 etc. This structure is i6 x 24, story and a half high, 
 and the siding and roofing is made of deer skins 
 tanned on both sides, similar to that used by the Sioux 
 Indians in the construction of their tents. A piece of 
 well tubing such as is used in small bored wells, serves 
 as a flue or chimney. 
 
 "A short time ago an election was held in this 
 building for the election of county officers, and the 
 town was called Culbertson. The bulk of the voters 
 present was 'Texas Jack,' 'Curly Jack,' 'Wild Bill,' 
 'Wild Jack,' 'Old Lengthey,' and one or two others. 
 While the election was in progress there was a dis- 
 tinguished arrival from Republican City, east one 
 hundred miles, in the person of one Lucas, who from 
 his long hair and generally dilapidated appearance, 
 was hailed as an A No. i frontiersman. He had the 
 reputation, or rather 'Wild Jack' had heard some- 
 where, that Lucas had read law once in his career, 
 so he was unanimously chosen county judge. Then a 
 justice was elected, and then 'Old Lengthey' was 
 elected sheriflf, and 'Wild Bill' constable. Each hav- 
 ing voted for the other a keg of ancient benzine was 
 brought forth and bufifalo liver and stewed goose 
 helped to make a banquet and carouse the next day. 
 A party of hunters and trappers passed down the 
 valley, and three or four hours afterwards came a 
 lone hunter on foot who told these newly elected 
 county officers that his horse had followed this party 
 of hunters. 
 
 "They said at once that the horse was stolen, and 
 Judge Wild Lucas made out a warrant for the arrest 
 of the entire party, and Sheriff Old Lengthey went 
 
 126 
 
'IBuilDinfif a ii5etti <2^mpire 
 
 after and brought back the party. After they had 
 arrived the Wild Justice took the leading man of this 
 hunting party aside, and told him that for forty dol- 
 lars in hand he would cause them to be released. Not 
 having the money the party was forced to give up 
 eighty wolf pelts at fifty cents each to get off at all, 
 and the horse was not worth six bits." 
 
 Deeds and other instruments of a legal nature came 
 pouring in for record and the clerk was compelled to 
 devote all of his time to the duties of his ofiice, which 
 was held in the small store room of McKee & Den- 
 ham, also used for the office of the county commis- 
 sioners, county judge, and all other county business 
 was transacted in this little store room, and to avoid 
 such a disaster as had befallen the north side records 
 a man slept in the building at night with doors and 
 windows barred, and an arsenal of no small propor- 
 tions by his side, but no further attempts were made 
 to remove the records, although other counties nearby 
 had troubles of this nature. 
 
 Tan left his growing crops and by arrangements 
 already made went to Lincoln, where the bride-to-be 
 met him at the Douglas House, where they were 
 married in the parlors of the hotel, in the presence of 
 a small gathering, and Governor Furnas and Colonel 
 O. Wilson witnessed the ceremony, and the happy 
 pair were started anew on life's journey to walk the 
 prairie pathways in the new West, where they would 
 soon be at home in the little log cabin on the claim. 
 A few days were spent at the capital and then the 
 journey homeward. They met a man at Lowell 
 who had been down on the Republican where a com- 
 pany of them had decided to build a mill and dam 
 the river. A superintendent had been sent down 
 
 127 
 
'BuilDing a jOeto €mpite 
 
 there to take charge of the work, and it was believed 
 he was using too much money for the work, and 
 this man had been sent down to make an investigation, 
 and when asked as to the results of his investigation, 
 he said "he found a dam by a mill site, but no mill by a 
 dam site." 
 
 Over night at Lowell and after loading up the 
 necessary provisions and household equipment, with 
 trunks and baggage, a start was made through the sand 
 hills, and about noon took the party through the hills 
 and out on the open level prairie, where a halt was 
 made for noon in the boiling hot sun, with no shade 
 in sight, or water except what had been brought from 
 Lowell in a keg. Fat bacon, baker's bread, and black 
 cofifee for dinner, but the bride ate sparingly. About 
 mid-afternoon a man, who lived at Melrose, with a 
 load of freight from Lowell, had indulged too freely 
 in bad whiskey and he was stretched out on his load 
 of freight sound asleep, and his team had stopped on 
 the prairie. Tan let the man sleep, but turned the 
 team into the road behind his team, and they fol- 
 lowed him to Walker's Ranch. Here the night was 
 spent. 
 
 Mrs. Hademan was now running this famous ranch, 
 and judging from her uncouth manner and general 
 make-up she might have been taken for one of the 
 Bender family. She seemed to enjoy the company 
 of some of her drunken guests, and the situation was 
 anything but desirable to the bride, who was not 
 accustomed to such associates, and she began to won- 
 der if such characters were predominant in the new 
 empire, and if the whole West was as devoid of timber 
 as this big divide between the Republican and the 
 Platte. Whether what she had seen to-day was a 
 fair sample of the new West, and if this woman was 
 
 128 
 
'BuilUfng a 313etu aBmpire 
 
 a fair sample of Western civilization. Then to make 
 matters more uncomfortable for the sober guests, two 
 more teams headed in to the ranch with their drivers 
 hilariously full, but fortunately good natured. Then 
 the bride did look confused and began to ask ques- 
 tions. One of the last guests driving in gave an 
 exhibition of pouring whiskey from one quart bottle 
 to another without the use of a funnel, holding one 
 bottle in one hand as low as he could, and the other 
 bottle in the other hand as high as he could reach, 
 and strange to stay, although severely under the in- 
 fluence of liquor he was an expert in pouring from one 
 bottle to another and but little was wasted in pouring 
 the liquor back and forth several times. The drunken 
 guests finally went to sleep and the bride became recon- 
 ciled to the situation, but her slumbers that night was 
 none too sound, and the next morning she looked a 
 little haggard and worn from the ride in the sun and 
 the scenes witnessed the night before. 
 
 Another day through the bright hot sun, with 
 neither shade nor cold water, except that carried in 
 the keg in the wagon, brought the couple to Mike 
 Manning's Tavern at Melrose. Mike was among the 
 first settlers in these parts and had made an attempt 
 to build and equip a hotel to accommodate the travel- 
 ing public. Mike was a "hale fellow well met"; his 
 wife a good Irish housewife, and Mike, senior, was 
 always about to do the social act with all comers 
 and goers. He was a typical old Irish gentleman with 
 a perfect Irish brogue, and when he learned that Tan 
 and his bride were to be guests of the hotel over night 
 his cup of joy was full. 
 
 "Sure," said he. "an' we are glad ye's are to be wid 
 us the noight, and it's the best rume in the huse ye's 
 can have, an' the very best to ate that we have about 
 
 129 
 
'BuilHing a n^eto OBmpite 
 
 the place, an* the spickl'd heffer sure gives the richest 
 milk uv any cow we hav, and it's the crame from 
 this we'll save for yere coffee in the morn. It's not 
 the loikes of ye's that stop with us vary of'en, an' we's 
 sure glad ye's are here ; and Missus did ye's ever sa the 
 grasshoppers flyin' in the air? An' sure when they 
 lighted down they ated the scranes from the window, 
 sure they did, an' the loikes of them was niver sane 
 before ; an' they can sure ate a field of corn as asy as a 
 herd of Tixes cattle; an' the buffalo, sure an' they 
 runs right through the town itsself; an' the antilope 
 wud stand out on the flat yonder an' wach ye's while 
 ye's stud in the dure of yer house an' blow yer nose. 
 Sure an' a fine healthy cuntry this is ; niver a chill or a 
 faver has iver been sane in the Republican Valley, and 
 the foinest lady niver takes cold in the couldest wither, 
 no mather how hard the wind blows. Sure, Tan an' 
 'Wild Bill' cums down from Hitchcock County las' 
 week an' tould us that Hitchcock County was sure 
 organized, an' Culberson wud sure ba the county sate. 
 Ould Lingthy was shuriff and little Lucas was Judge, 
 an' sure now we'll call him Judge Lucas, an' he lives in 
 this county, an' a foine judge he'll make. Why, mon, 
 he's no bigger than a tin yer ould boy, with a mustach 
 loik the beard on a full-grown buffalo ; an' wudn't the 
 loikes uv him look foine on the judge's chair in a 
 county that has no peepel. Sure, an' if the loikes uv me 
 had ony money I'd not loike to be brot into that court ; 
 fur divil a cint wud I have when I cum out. 'California 
 Joe' was down fur some grub two weeks ago an' 
 tould us that he played the fiddle for a dance at 
 B'aver City, an' a foine toime they had there. Sure, 
 an' Joe is a foine tumbler, an' art to be in a circus. 
 He can turn more trix than ony man I ever saw out- 
 side a show, an' he can run foive moiles as fast as 
 
OBuilDmu a l^etti Empire 
 
 the best horse on the range, an' thin shoot straiter 
 than onybody, an' it's said him an' Amos Cole is the 
 swiftest runners on the range, but Schoonover an' 
 Pracher Yamo is the stoutest men this soide uv the 
 mountains." 
 
 In this manner Uncle Moike entertained the guests 
 of the new hotel with bits of information gathered 
 by actual experience, or heard from others who were 
 posted on the situation in the surrounding country. 
 The bride had been a great friend of the Irish and 
 enjoyed the surroundings much better than she had 
 the night previous at Walker's Ranch, presided over 
 by Mrs. Hademan. Everything here quiet and home- 
 like in its way, with nothing of a boisterous or un- 
 couth nature visible. But Pat, senior, talked Irish to 
 Tan and his new wife till they drove out of hearing 
 the next morning on the way up the Beaver. They 
 arrived at the brothers' home at noon and for the 
 first time the bride viewed her new home on the 
 prairie with a sigh of relief, and said it looked just 
 as it had been pictured in the many letters written 
 under that sod roof. But the change was great, com- 
 ing, as she had, from a city of eight thousand, with 
 the whirl of business on every hand, the throngs 
 of people coming and going in every direction, the 
 hum and noise of the schoolroom during the week, 
 and the ringing of church bells on the Sabbath. Here 
 not a church or Sabbath school in the county, and so 
 far but one sermon had ever been preached in the 
 county. No chime of bells to be heard, and no rush 
 of human beings going and coming, no whistling of 
 engines, no rumbling of the loaded trains over the 
 iron rails, no call to labor from the machine shops, 
 factories or mills, no delivery boys with your daily 
 supply of provisions, no Dagoes calling out their 
 
'BuilDing a jQeto OBmpire 
 
 wares, no peddlers to insist on selling their wares to 
 the housewife, and no aristocratic afternoon calls or 
 fashionable evening parties or lawn socials. 
 
 All these luxuries of the East were unknown on the 
 frontier, and would they ever be a reality in our 
 lifetime in this wild country ? Or would we live along 
 for a few years partaking of the hardships of a fron- 
 tier life, and finally abandon the country as worth- 
 less? Or would the country prosper as other new 
 countries had done, and would we live to see a pros- 
 perous country, and tell to the new people coming in 
 in later years of our experience in the years past, and 
 the hardships endured in the first settlement of the 
 country. This was as fine a valley to look upon as 
 man would wish to see, some two miles or more in 
 width, inhabited now with a few homesteaders, plenty 
 of prairie dogs, rattlesnakes and vipers, a stream 
 of water running down through the center of the 
 valley, fringed on either side with a growth of timber, 
 and in less than a mile to the south of this little home 
 was the gradual slope of the ground upward to the 
 divide. An occasional straggling buffalo or a small 
 band of them could be seen from the house moving 
 across the valley, and antelope almost as plentiful, 
 passing in the sunhght, while wolves were as plentiful 
 as hounds and cur dogs are in the backwoods of Ar- 
 kansas. The contrast of scenery and conditions be- 
 tween the East and the wild West were the two ex- 
 tremes, but the young people were content with the 
 situation, fully determined to improve the home in 
 the new West, and if prosperity mingled with the 
 conditions, to "grow up with the country." 
 
 The people were sociable and neighbors came for 
 miles to greet the new bride, and these visits made 
 conditions as pleasant as could be under the circum- 
 
 132 
 
IBuiMnq a ii3ehi OBmpire 
 
 stances. On the Sunday following their arrival at 
 the new home Dr. George A. Hobson preached the 
 first sermon ever heard in Beaver City. Dr. Hobson 
 was a recent arrival from Iowa and it was suggested 
 that he preach in a log house adjoining the new town, 
 which he did, and the people had the opportunity of 
 hearing their first sermon. There was no pulpit for 
 the minister's convenience, neither was there any pews, 
 reserved or not reserved, but hewed logs had been put 
 in place to receive the floor when it was to be put 
 in place in the near future, and these logs served as 
 seats for the audience, who no doubt enjoyed the meet- 
 ing as well as their friends in the East, who attended 
 divine worship in the stately, well-furnished churches 
 of the Eastern towns and cities. The logs were per- 
 haps not as comfortable as some of the Eastern 
 church pews, but they answered the purpose, and 
 the people were making history for the new empire. 
 
 The cattle trail started the year before was becom- 
 ing well worn by this time, and every week or two 
 a herd of two or four thousand head passed over 
 the trail headed for the Northwest, and some of the 
 men who passed over the trail the year before were 
 recognized on the drive again this year, and many 
 stopped at the little log cabin on the claim for a good 
 cool drink of well water, or wanting to buy melons, 
 or other eatables, and late in the summer many 
 melons were sold to the cowboys by settlers who 
 lived near the trail. The cowboys returned over the 
 trail in the early fall with their ponies, some of which 
 were used for pack animals for carrying the camp 
 outfits, consisting of provisions, cooking utensils, and 
 occasionally a tent was carried, but this was con- 
 sidered a useless luxury by most of the cow men. 
 
 All these conditions helped to break the monotony 
 
 133: 
 
of a lonely frontier life. The novelty of the sur- 
 roundings were fascinating in the extreme, and when 
 a gloomy hour seemed to cast a shadow over the new 
 homes something would surely happen to make the 
 surroundings more cheerful or exciting. A visit from 
 a neighbor, a herd of Texas cattle, a new settler 
 coming to the new empire, a buffalo chase, a buffalo, 
 or an antelope shot from your own doorstep, or killed 
 while it ran through the town, served as gossip and 
 excitement or amusement for the people. A rattle- 
 snake or viper or other venomous serpent frequently 
 made its way through the open door of the rough 
 houses, which caused pandemonium to reign supreme 
 in the little home until his snakeship could be de- 
 spatched. Especially was this true if the lady of the 
 house chanced to be alone at this time, for very few 
 women had the nerve to kill a snake of large size. 
 Some will make the attempt, but in the excitement 
 she will fail to deal a deathly blow and the serpent 
 will make his getaway or seek a hiding place. 
 
 Tan's bride had the experience of seeing a huge 
 snake crawling on the shelves on the wall, and not 
 having the nerve to tackle the huge monster she ran 
 to a neighbor's, a quarter of a mile away, to get a 
 man to come and kill the snake, which he promptly 
 did, and it measured five feet and nine inches in length. 
 On another occasion, soon after this, when alone in the 
 house, she saw a large rattler ready to come in the 
 house through the open door, but a scream such as 
 only a frightened woman can give, scared the rattler 
 from the premises and he was seen no more. 
 
 The twice-a-week mail carried on horseback also 
 furnished diversity of ways and its arrival always 
 brought the people together to get the news from 
 the outer world. Thus in various ways the monotony 
 
 134 
 
'Building a jaeto OBmpite 
 
 was broken and the loneliness imagined by outsiders 
 did not exist, and the true love and family joys existed 
 in the log or sod cabin on the claim as that which pre- 
 vailed in the model homes, and little white cottages 
 in the East, where the inhabitants of the present day 
 have forgotten and only know from history, that 
 they, too, now live in a country once inhabited by 
 savages and wild animals who had been crowded 
 farther West by the hardy frontiersman, who have 
 always been the forerunners of civilization. That a 
 few hunters and trappers had opened the way for the 
 farmer, the mechanic, and the tradesman in the wilds 
 of the West, where now was cultivated the finest of 
 farms, where magnificent cities had sprung up and 
 grown from nothing, where the noise of the mills and 
 the factories could be heard on every side, and the 
 tremor of commerce was on every hand. And yet they 
 were in dreaded sympathy with their friends out on 
 the frontier who had blazed the way for the building 
 up of a new empire in the West, which in a lifetime 
 might equal in wealth and industry, their own civilized 
 country which had been opened up as was now being 
 done in the new empire of western Kansas and 
 Nebraska. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 General Election and More Prairie Fires. 
 
 The cool winds coming down from the north as 
 autumn approached brought the migratory grasshop- 
 pers of the year before on their flight south, and as 
 had been observed the year before at this time they 
 only moved with a wind from the north, and when 
 the wind changed and came from the south they 
 
 [1351 
 
IBuilding a if5eUi OBmpire 
 
 would alight and remain eating the green vegetation 
 until the wind was again favorable for their voyage 
 south, which in the spring or early summer was re- 
 versed, and they would only travel with a wind from 
 the south, carrying them in a northerly direction. 
 But partial damage was experienced this year from 
 the ravages of the grasshoppers as the homesteaders 
 were as yet farming on a small scale, but some pieces 
 of corn were badly eaten by the pests, and various 
 plans were tried to drive them away. One was for 
 two men on horses, riding several rods apart, with 
 a long rope between the two, and each man holding 
 an end, thinking this would drive them away, but it 
 proved useless, and the attempt was vain, and they had 
 no fears of a bluff of this kind. Another plan was 
 tried by setting fire about the fields with the attempt 
 to smoke them out, but the smoke only seemed to 
 sharpen their appetites, and the more rope and smoke 
 we gave them the more ravenous they seemed to be, 
 and the harder they eat the growing vegetation. The 
 screen cloth in the windows they ate with a ravenous 
 appetite, just as "Moike Manning" had told us they 
 would do. Alighting down on the tracks of the Union 
 Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroad tracks they were 
 crushed by the wheels by the millions, and the greasy 
 slime from the crushed grasshoppers greased the 
 tracks until the trains were stopped and could not 
 run, although sand was used by the engineers in abun- 
 dance, but the wheels would spin around on the 
 greased tracks, making it almost impossible to operate 
 the rolling stock while the grasshoppers were on 
 the ground. Railroad officials were studying means 
 of keeping the tracks clear, and scientists were begin- 
 ning to talk of ways and means of eradicating the 
 pests. Some claimed they were the Egyptian locusts, 
 
 136 
 
'Building a i^eto OBmpite 
 
 some the Rocky Mountain grasshoppers, and others 
 said they were simply a migratory grasshopper, un- 
 known to science. 
 
 The time for the general election was drawing 
 near, and the county commissioners issued a proclama- 
 tion calling an election for the election of county 
 officers, and for the location of a permanent county 
 seat. The election was to be held at the time pro- 
 vided by statute, which was on the fourteenth day 
 of October. Notices were duly posted by the sheriff 
 in all the precincts of the county. Two mass conven- 
 tions were called in the county, one at Beaver City and 
 the other at Arapahoe, both called Republican con- 
 ventions, but in fact the party lines were not drawn. 
 The Democrats and a few scattering "greenbackers" 
 affiliated with the Republicans, probably for the good 
 of the country, but really the only division was for 
 the location of the county seat. The convention at 
 Arapahoe nominated a full ticket, composed of men 
 who were favorable to the location of the county seat 
 at Arapahoe, while the convention held at Beaver 
 City nominated candidates who were just as positively 
 in favor of the county seat being located permanently 
 at Beaver City. It was not politics, it was not the 
 drawing of party lines that entered into the campaign, 
 but the location of the county seat was the paramount 
 issue. Both sets of candidates were good men so far 
 as was known, but the officers elected would have 
 much to do with the location of the permanent county 
 seat. 
 
 The candidates all made a personal canvass of the 
 county, and formed the acquaintance of every voter in 
 the county, and those interested in the towns aspiring 
 to be the county seats canvassed the county thor- 
 oughly advocating their interests. A more thorough 
 
 137 
 
OBuilDing a il3eto empire 
 
 canvass had never been made in any of the counties 
 east in any political campaign than was made here 
 during this one, and the ability developed by the can- 
 didates and others interested was remarkable for a 
 new country, as but few of them had ever had political 
 experience in other counties or States. 
 
 Political conditions warmed up as the campaign 
 advanced, for really the county seat question was 
 more involved than the election of the officers. The 
 people favorable to the location of the county seat 
 at Arapahoe, had voted on the proposition at the elec- 
 tion held on April eighth for the organization of the 
 county, holding that the county seat should have been 
 located at that time, while those interested in the 
 location of the county seat at Beaver City, held that 
 under the general statutes the first election was only 
 for the organization of the county, and that a per- 
 manent county seat must be located at the general 
 election following. 
 
 Many other counties, both in Nebraska and Kansas, 
 were having contests on this and other grounds, so 
 this was not the only county having political and 
 county seat troubles in their midst. Fearing that, 
 perhaps, the supporters of Arapahoe to gain the county 
 seat had made an error in the attempt to locate at the 
 special election for the organization of the county, 
 they had decided to vote on the county seat question 
 at the coming general election, and if they failed to 
 carry the election, to then resort to legal proceedings 
 and endeavor to hold the capital on the former elec- 
 tion. The people in favor of Beaver City had not 
 voted at the first election, as that was only called for 
 the organization of the county, but Arapahoe could 
 come in and say that they had a majority of all votes 
 cast for county seat at that election, which was true. 
 
 138 
 
15uilDm0 a i^eto OBmpire 
 
 Election day came, and there had been no rain 
 for weeks, and the prairie grass was as dry as the 
 glaring light of the noonday's sun could make it, 
 and the wind was blowing a terrific gale from the 
 southwest across the barren prairies. The polls were 
 duly opened at the several voting places, and the 
 voting places on the north side were closely guarded 
 by vigilants from the south side, and likewise the 
 north side had watchers at the voting places on the 
 south side, and each committee had the names of all 
 legal voters, as well as the names of those who were 
 not supposed to be legal voters according to the true 
 meaning of the statutes. However, there is and never 
 was a doubt in the minds of anyone knowing the 
 conditions that some fraudulent votes were cast on 
 both sides, but not enough to change the results of 
 the election, and no mention was made by either side 
 of fraudulent votes in the legal contest that followed. 
 
 Many votes were challenged that day on both sides 
 of the contest, but a few no doubt voted who were 
 not entitled to cast a vote on both sides, and when 
 the election was over neither side dared to take a case 
 to the courts on the grounds of illegal voting. 
 
 A house-to-house canvass had been made on both 
 sides of the county by supposed land seekers to ascer- 
 tain how long each and every man had been in the 
 county, and if he had not been in the county long 
 enough to be entitled to a legal vote he was black- 
 listed and on election day his vote was challenged. 
 One man canvassed the north side trying to sell fruit 
 trees, when in reality he was learning who were and 
 who were not legal voters, and when he had finished 
 his canvass and the pretended homeseekers were 
 through, the question was well settled as to who were 
 legal voters and who were not entitled to a vote. 
 
 139 
 
'BuilDing a s^tto OBmpite 
 
 There were but few orders taken for fruit and orna- 
 mental trees, and the reader will no doubt understand 
 that none of the orders were ever filled, but the scheme 
 worked very successfully. 
 
 Many of the voters on the Beaver lived east from 
 the little town and early in the forenoon all from that, 
 and in fact all directions, were on hand to cast their 
 votes and witness the proceedings. It was generally 
 expected there would be some excitement and perhaps 
 trouble should the opposition come over in large num- 
 bers. 
 
 About ten o'clock in the forenoon a report came 
 to the voting place that a big prairie fire was raging 
 in the south, being swept at a furious rate by the 
 terrible wind blowing from the southwest, and that 
 it would soon reach the Beaver and the lower Sappa. 
 All from that vicinity hurriedly cast their ballots and 
 hurried homeward to endeavor to save their property 
 from the devouring flames sweeping over the dry 
 prairie, fanned to fury by the sweeping gale. Some 
 hay and fodder belonging to the homesteaders was 
 burned, but by hard work the houses were all saved 
 from the flames, but the flames swept for miles in 
 width, and from the Prairie Dog on the south, to 
 the Platte River, near Grand Island, on the northeast. 
 Some surmised that the fire had been set by someone 
 interested in the result of the election, either in Harlan 
 or Furnas counties, with a view of keeping the voters 
 at home to fight the flames, and in this way deprive 
 many of their votes. This supposition, if true, would 
 have the effect of helping one town in each county, 
 and if true was one of the most fiendish and dastardly 
 acts attempting to disfranchise the honest people ever 
 attempted in any country new or old. 
 
 Hostile Indians had many times put the torch to 
 
 140 
 
15uiIDin0 a Jl3etu dBmpire 
 
 prairie and timber alike to destroy the landmarks 
 of civilization, and the approach of the white man 
 to their hunting grounds, but never had the v^^hite 
 man attempted to destroy his neighbor's home or 
 property for the purpose of disfranchising him of one 
 solitary vote. 
 
 Many believed at the time that the fire had been set 
 for this purpose, but no positive proof could ever 
 be obtained to substantiate the facts as believed by 
 many, and had these facts been known positively 
 to be true, or could have been proved beyond a reason- 
 able doubt, a local war of extermination would have 
 been inaugurated that a battalion of United States 
 cavalry could not have stopped until capitulation was 
 complete. Aside from this calamity the election passed 
 off very nicely, but the spotters at the different polling 
 places were the marks to which were thrown many 
 jests, jeers and jokes during the day. 
 
 There were a few who had decided to vote for 
 the location of the county seat on a vacant piece of 
 Government land nearer the center of the county 
 than either Beaver City or Arapahoe, making the 
 three places as candidates for the county capital. 
 When the votes were cast and counted it was found 
 that Furnas Center had received twelve votes, Arapa- 
 hoe one hundred and forty votes, and Beaver City 
 one hundred and sixty-six votes, giving the latter 
 a majority of fourteen votes over both the other 
 places. The result of this election for county seat, 
 of course, was not satisfactory to the losing parties 
 at interest, and the result was that it went to the 
 courts. It hung fire in the courts for more than a 
 year before a hearing was had, and finally Judge 
 Gaslin heard the case in chambers at Junietta, which 
 was then the county seat of Adams County, and the 
 
 141 
 
decision was handed down in favor of Beaver City. 
 Buf the case was appealed to the supreme court, 
 and after hanging fire in the courts for nearly four 
 years Beaver City was successful in the contest and 
 retained the county seat permanently. Her opponent 
 "died hard" and fought to the "last ditch," and rumb- 
 ling from the county seat contest could be heard for 
 years after the question was permanently settled. 
 
 Other counties, both in Nebraska and Kansas, were 
 having similar contests, and in many cases resulted 
 in the shedding of blood. The contests were fought 
 out with all the vim and energy at the command of the 
 contestants, and many lasted much longer than the 
 one just described. They all created discords and con- 
 tentions that lasted for years, and in some cases rec- 
 ords were taken from one place by force, or at the 
 dead of night, and moved to a competitive point 
 with the determination of securing the advantage of 
 possession. Bloodshed was common and, in some 
 cases, murder committed in carrying to extremes these 
 county seat contests in the newly organized counties, 
 and hundreds of the counties in the West experienced 
 troubles of a like character, and no doubt history 
 has repeated itself in these cases, for hundreds, and 
 I might say thousands, of towns and counties in the 
 eastern and central portions of the United States 
 had troublesome times in locating county seats, and 
 the strife and contentions of rival towns caused feuds 
 that were handed down to posterity, and lived for 
 years after the first participants had passed from earth. 
 
 It was but a few days after the election and the 
 scenes just recorded when the majority of the people 
 had accepted the results of the election, and the_ newly 
 elected county officers had received their certificates 
 of election, a proclamation was issued by the county 
 
 ,142 
 
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IBuiltiing a Behi dBmpire 
 
 commissioners declaring the county seat duly located 
 at Beaver City by a majority of all the votes cast 
 at the general election. 
 
 The people were again preparing for another winter. 
 Frost had killed the blue stem grass, so its nourish- 
 ment was gone, and the short buffalo grass, though 
 the stems and blades were dry as powder and would 
 burn at the slightest touch of fire, the roots in the dry, 
 parched ground were green, and a portion of the stem 
 from the root to the blade was also green, similar in 
 nature to the cactus, which is always green. No dif- 
 ference how dry and parched the ground, the cactus 
 was always green, and so the roots and lower stems 
 of the buffalo grass. 
 
 Cattle and horses were now grazing in the timber 
 where wild rye and muskeek grass had been protected 
 from the frost, or were out in the open on the short 
 buffalo grass which afforded excellent feed for horses 
 and cattle, when not covered with snow or sleet. This 
 was •:' e grass that had supported the millions of 
 buffalo and antelope on the plains for ages, and no 
 one knows how long, but petrified bones of the pre- 
 historic buffalo, much larger than the buffalo of the 
 present day, have been found in the new empire, 
 buried in the soil down near the water's level, or 
 buried under millions of tons of magnesia rock, where 
 geologists tell us he has lain buried for the past twenty 
 thousand years. Also the remains of the mound 
 builders have been found with relics of barbarism, of 
 which the present generation knows nothing. 
 
 How long these plains have existed, how long they 
 have supported the millions of wild animals swarming 
 over them, how long these prairies have produced the 
 buffalo grass and blue stem, and how long these 
 plains have been swept with flame and hot winds, tem- 
 
 -143 
 
IBuilDing a n^eto aBmjjfre 
 
 pered with the cold blasts of winter, no man knows, 
 and the scientific geologist can only estimate. 
 
 According to Bible history God created the universe 
 and all living things nearly six thousand years ago, 
 yet geologists tell us there were thousands of living 
 beings on this vast plain more than twenty thousand 
 years ago, and tribes of human beings undoubtedly 
 peopled this county thousands of years ago. Go 
 where you may, to the innermost recesses of the 
 earth, you will find people with a language of their 
 own, and customs suited to their conditions and lo- 
 cality, yet they are human but may be savages or un- 
 civilized, but they adapted themselves to the surround- 
 ing conditions as did the homesteader when building 
 a new empire. 
 
 The conditions were changing. The savage races 
 for ages had learned to kindle fires with flint, or by 
 rubbing two sticks together until ignited, but this 
 process was too slow for the homesteader, who was 
 taking the place of the savages, and using the cus- 
 toms of civilization, and the little match made into a 
 burning torch by a touch, and the little torch could 
 in an instant kindle a fire that in a few hours fanned 
 to fury by a fierce gale burn over a number of coun- 
 ties, or perhaps an area equal in surface to one of the 
 large Western States. 
 
 The wind was blowing a fearful gale from the 
 north, but it was yet too early in the season to be 
 unusually cold. This was the second day of hard 
 wind from the north. Clouds of smoke could be seer 
 at a distance. The ground and grass were extremely 
 dry, no rain having fallen for weeks. It was evident 
 that a fire was coming from the north, and as the daj 
 advanced the smoke seemed nearer and more dense 
 and the wind blew as the wind blows in no othei 
 
 144 
 
IBullHing a l^ctai dBmpire 
 
 country. The high altitude and dry atmosphere seems 
 to help the wind along in its mad career. Some people 
 were out preparing fire guards about their premises, 
 while others were unconcerned, although the smoke 
 kept coming nearer. Up to the north some teams 
 were out on the prairies, and as the fury of the fire 
 came nearer with a head fire running like mad, and 
 faster than a team could travel, a man alighted from 
 his wagon, stooped down on the dry grass with a 
 blanket over him for a wind break and started a 
 fire with a match, and as soon as the fire had burned 
 sufficient he drove his team on the ground his fire 
 had cleared, and in this way he saved his life and his 
 team, for no team could travel fast enough to keep 
 away from the head fire being driven by this fearful 
 wind, and many were the lives saved on the plains 
 from these destructive prairie fires in this way. 
 
 The fire swept on in its mighty fury towards the 
 Beaver. One settlement on the south side of the 
 Beaver saw it would soon reach the valley and with 
 that hard wind could not be stopped unless something 
 was done and that quickly. They proceeded to back 
 fire along the north bank of the Beaver, which gradu- 
 ally backed up to the north and in due time met the 
 head fire, and in this way saved their homes. One 
 widow woman, with six children, deserted their home 
 and went to a nearby plowed field and remained out 
 all night. The head fire had jumped the creek, but 
 neighbors had come to the rescue and saved the house, 
 hay and stables. 
 
 The wind continued to blow and the fire kept com- 
 ing from all parts of the northern country. Every- 
 body, men and women, were out fighting fire, and if 
 their own property had been saved, or was out of 
 danger, the rush was made to help a neighbor, and 
 
 145 
 
IBuilDing a J^eto OBmpire 
 
 the fight continued during the entire night, and as 
 morning dawned the fury of the wind had ceased, 
 and a tired, dirty, smoky lot of homesteaders sought 
 their humble homes for rest and refreshment. 
 
 The fire had originated north of the Platte River, 
 and in its fury had carried fire brands across the 
 river, a distance of more than half a mile, and had 
 then rushed forward to the Republican River, which 
 seemed no obstruction in its mad career, the flames 
 leaping across from bank to bank, and in a short 
 time the prairies south of the river were ablaze for 
 miles east and west, and hurrying along to the north- 
 ern boundary line of Kansas, and in another day, at 
 the rate it was traveling, it would reach the Indian 
 Territory, 
 
 Many were the travelers who were compelled to 
 build fires and drive to the burned ground to prevent 
 their teams and themselves from being roasted alive. 
 No team of horses burdened with the weight of a 
 heavy wagon, and that perhaps heavily loaded, could 
 travel fast enough to avoid the rush of flames under 
 these conditions, and the experienced man of the 
 plains knew too well that his only hope of safety 
 was to burn the grass ahead of the onrushing flames, 
 and there seek refuge and safety till the fiery fiend 
 had done its work. 
 
 Tan Myers saw the flames fast approaching as they 
 came roaring and cracking down the southern slope 
 of the divide, and he with the good, young wife, with 
 pails of water in which they could wet the heavy bags 
 to fight the flames, and with a rush to save the new 
 home, began to backfire up to the garden ground 
 which had recently been plowed. Then a side fire was 
 run down the road on the west till it passed the house, 
 and this was easily handled with the wet bags, but the 
 
 146 
 
'BuilDing a JI3eto OBmpire 
 
 worst was to come. The big fire from the north, witll 
 the heavy gale sweeping it along, was now plainly 
 in sight through the blinding smoke, and another 
 backfire must be burned along a narrow hedge row, 
 plowed more for a fireguard than for a hedge. The 
 backfire was started near the plowing and burned 
 a narrow strip the length of the furrows, but burning 
 back against the wind was a slow process, with the 
 big fire getting nearer from the north every moment, 
 and the heat from the main fire could now be plainly 
 felt. Still another fire was built back a few rods from 
 the one that had burned along the hedge row, and this 
 soon widened the strip of burned ground. Now 
 the main fire had jumped the Beaver by lapping the 
 high burning flames over the belt of timber on the 
 banks of the creek, and igniting the heavy growth 
 of dead grass on the opposite side, and while these 
 people worked like mad to save their little possessions 
 the fire swept madly on. 
 
 Now came the moment of suspense, the fire was 
 now but a short distance from the back fire and the 
 flames leaping skyward, and if they should leap over 
 and beyond the back fire the little home and its con- 
 tents in the new empire was gone, and this they well 
 knew. All their possessions were there, and another 
 moment would decide the fate of the little home. A 
 breath of prayer went up to heaven to save the home. 
 The head fire met the back fire, and did not lick its 
 fiery tongue across the space. The home was saved, 
 and after the head fire had passed on east of the guard 
 and back fire, the side fire was easily extinguished, 
 and a happy pair thanked heaven their little home 
 was saved. 
 
 This was the experience of many during the settle- 
 ment of the new West, and many lost their homes 
 
 147 
 
IBuiltiing a il^etu dBmpite 
 
 and all their possessions as the result of these raging 
 fires that swept the West, with nothing to obstruct 
 or stop . their progress. Fires were often set by 
 bands of hostile Indians for the purpose of driving 
 back, or retarding the approach of the white man with 
 his modes of civilization. Campers were often careless 
 with their camp fires, and allowed them to spread in 
 the grass, and in this way many fires were started 
 that burned over millions of acres, and made many 
 families penniless and homeless. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 More Grasshoppers. 
 
 The herds of buffalo were not so numerous now 
 as they had been the year previous, and hunters in 
 pursuit of meat and hides were compelled to travel 
 further than before, and the animals were more scat- 
 tered than in former years, and the hardships to be 
 endured in search of meat were many, and unless 
 a man had had experience in hunting he would fare 
 better by his own fireside on the claim. Some were 
 compelled to secure the services of the old hunters 
 in order to secure a load of meat. The hide hunters, 
 who were experts in killing buffalo, would kill the 
 animals for the hides, where the homesteader was will- 
 ing to take off the pelts and bring them into camp, and 
 in this way many homesteaders secured their winter's 
 meat. 
 
 Rev. Mas Yamo and others spent a portion of the 
 winter on the buffalo range with "Wild Bill," "Cali- 
 fornia Joe," Matlax, Bill Street and other plains- 
 men, and the Missouri preacher became a favorite 
 with the old hunters. He was a sure shot, a jolly 
 
 148 
 
IBuilDing a j^etti Cmpite 
 
 companion, of monstrous proportions, and a Sandow 
 in strength. It was said that he often carried to 
 camp on his shoulders, a distance of two to four miles, 
 a yearling buffalo weighing three or four hundred 
 pounds, and considered it nothing out of the ordinary 
 feats of a hunter. He entertained those around 
 the campfires in the evenings with happenings in Mis- 
 souri before "de wah." 
 
 "Why," said he, "we killed deer an' catched pos- 
 sum and coon fur de livin' der wus in it, an' wen we 
 had a lot of fur hides we tooken 'em to de stor' strung 
 on a wire ober our sholder an' de stor wus miles away. 
 We'd buy a pound of coffee an' thro frum de string uv 
 furs a possum hide, an' fur a pound uv 'backer we'd 
 give a coon skin, an' fur tAvo bits wuth uv sugar we'd 
 give another possum hide, an' fur a pair uv jeans 
 briches or a pair uv canvas overalls, we'd hav tu give 
 a hull deer skin, an' fur a calicur dress fur the old 
 woman it tuk another hull deer hide, an' this ere way 
 we traded all our furs an' skins fur store stuf tu take 
 hum tu the old woman and the childern. If we cud 
 git enuf furs an' skins me and the old woman wud 
 git cowhide shus, but ef we didn't hev good luck the 
 woman an' de childern wud go barefut all winter, an' 
 ef de man cudn't git boots he made mocisins uv deer 
 skins like the Ingins used to do. 
 
 "Furs wus all the muney we had them days, an* 
 we'd farm a patch in the summer an' rase corn fur 
 bred, an' kill hogs fatted on de nuts frum de trees, 
 an' dis wus our livin' wid de game we killed. We 
 never red nuthin but the Bibel an' never seed a news- 
 paper only w'en we went tu town onct or twict a year. 
 It wus so far we cudn't go offen, fur it tuk two days 
 to go an' cum. Then wen the wah cum it was wus 
 than we hed ever seed it befoh. The Yanks wud take 
 
 149 
 
de Johnnie corn and hogs, an' hosses, and kill der cat- 
 tel, and de Yanks wud hunt out all de Johnnies, and de 
 Johnnies wud hunt de Yanks an' tuk all their stuff, an' 
 so der wus nuffin lef to eat but possum, coon an' deer 
 meat. Sum men that didn't want to jine the armies 
 an' fite jest lived out in de hills fur four long years, 
 an' I want ter tells yer dat we wus all mighty glad 
 when de wah wus over. The Johnnies sed dey didn't 
 see why de Yanks wanted to cum down and fite usuns 
 fur, an' de Yanks sed if weuns wud go home an' quit 
 fitein de wah wud sure be dun quit. De nigger wusn't 
 wuth wile fiten fur, an' dey wusn't fitein tu du nuthin 
 fur demselves, an' want no good fur nuthin only to 
 wurk under a boss. Den de common peepel wus doin 
 de fitein an' da didn't hav no niggers. Only de rich 
 wat hed niggers an' we wus doin der fitein fur dem. 
 De poor white man didn't hav nuthin agin de Norf, but 
 we sure had ter fite. We uns down dar thot de Yanks 
 hed horns an' carried fire brands nite an' day, but 
 wen we seed 'em dey didn't look so bad, but da wus 
 sure too well fed fur de Johnnies, and weuns wus al- 
 mighty glad wen de wah wus done quit, an' wat fue 
 men wusn't killed on bof sides done cum home, but 
 dere wus bad feelin on bof sides, fur sum hed fout on 
 one side and sum on the other, rite frum the same 
 settlement, an' no man hardly dast say wat he thot ur 
 wat his politics wus, an' sum uv us cum West to git 
 away frum truble hached by de wah, fur I tells yee 
 it's like the Yank said to the Englishman when he 
 was boastin' uv a big gun in Englend, with the muzzle 
 as big as the end uv a house, an' the report cud be 
 heard for three ours w'en the gun was shot, an' the 
 Yank sed that wus purty small fur a gun. That we 
 had a gun planted on Fort Sumpter that reached from 
 Maine to Texas, that it wus fired off in 1861, an' you 
 
 1150 
 
IBuiltiinff a n^eto Cmpite 
 
 cud hear the report yit, an' that's sure a fact in old Mis- 
 souri to-day, fur there you can sure hear the report yit, 
 an' I'm mighty glad to git away from thar an' be a 
 free man on the Western plains, an' I dun shore told 
 you I never want to see anoder wah." 
 
 In this way the Missouri parson entertained and 
 amused his hearers about the camp fires of the hunting 
 camp. He never would say whether he took part in 
 the war or not, but he knew the conditions existing 
 in the South during that mighty struggle, and the 
 conditions of the "backwoods" people before the war, 
 and the envy existing between factions after the war 
 
 closed. 
 
 The winter gradually wore away and the time 
 of the homesteader was again taken up in preparing 
 fuel for the coming summer, building additions to 
 their little homes, and adding to their stables and out- 
 buildings. The Pawnees had passed through to the 
 west on a hunting expedition, expecting to secure 
 meat, robes and furs, but as usual the Sioux had 
 scouts out, and the Pawnees were soon located in their 
 camp on the Republican in a deep caiion, about ten 
 miles west of Culbertson, as it now stands. The 
 Sioux organized their forces, and many of their war- 
 riors appeared on the prairie to the northeast of the 
 Pawnee camp, laying on their ponies covered with 
 buffalo skins, which the Pawnees took, from the dis- 
 tance, to be buffalo, the deception proving so complete 
 that the Pawnee hunters ventured out for the coveted 
 game, and when near the robes were thrown off, and 
 the Sioux warriors attacked the Pawnees from all 
 sides, killing and wounding half their number in much 
 less time than it takes to write the story, thirty-seven 
 years after the battle occurred. The supposed buffalo 
 were Sioux warriors, disguised as buffalo, and from 
 
CtSuilDing a Ji3eto Cmpire 
 
 the distance the disguise was complete. In this man- 
 ner the Pawnee hunters were drawn far away from 
 the protection of their camp and slaughtered, while 
 the camp was left practically helpless in the hands of 
 the old men, women and children. 
 
 While the slaughter was going on to the northeast 
 of camp between the Sioux warriors and the Pawnee 
 hunters, another band of Sioux held in reserve for 
 the purpose, swept down on the Pawnee camp in 
 the canon killing old men, women and children without 
 reserve and showing no mercy to any occupying the 
 Pawnee camp, but slaughtering helpless women and 
 infants, they sharing the same fate as the warriors, 
 and each in turn was scalped according to the old 
 custom of Indian warfare. 
 
 Those escaping the Sioux scattered in various di- 
 rections, but eventually moving east to the reserva- 
 tions, leaving the dead and badly wounded on the 
 battlefield together with their camp equipment, hides, 
 blankets, arms and many articles of value to be 
 carried away by the Sioux, the homesteaders, or the 
 relic hunter, and the dead left to exposed rays of the 
 August sun, who were afterwards buried by a detach- 
 ment of soldiers sent out from Fort McPherson. The 
 Sioux accomplished their deadly work with bows and 
 arrows in order to guard against the noise of fire- 
 arms which might attract the attention of United 
 States soldiers, or other Pawnees that might be in 
 the vicinity. 
 
 This slaughter occurred on the fourth day of Au- 
 gust, 1873, and the place has ever since been known 
 as Massacre Caiion. Surprised in the attack, not 
 knowing the Sioux were so near, but they fought des- 
 perately with the odds against them until overpowered 
 and one-third of their number killed, they were com- 
 
 152 
 
'BuilDing a H^eto empire 
 
 pelled to retreat, the Sioux following them up on 
 their retreat, killing both men and women alike. 
 Nearly two hundred Pawnees were killed in this battle, 
 and their bodies left on the dismal prairies, and about 
 thirty of the Sioux were also killed, and many 
 wounded on both sides. The Sioux carried away their 
 dead and wounded, but the Pawnees were compelled 
 to leave their dead on the battleground, but succeeded 
 in removing most of their wounded. 
 
 The Sioux made a "hasty getav/ay" in fear of the 
 soldiers, and the Pawnees moved on toward their 
 reservation, leaving their dead and their equipment, 
 such as blankets, guns, ammunition and trinkets on 
 the battleground. Settlers went to the battleground 
 and carried away Indian equipment by the wagon 
 load, and no doubt some of the relics of that battle 
 are yet in the vicinity of the battleground owned by 
 those who carried them away, or by their descendants. 
 Those of the Pawnees who were not killed in this, 
 their last battle with the Sioux, returned broken- 
 hearted to their reservation in eastern Nebraska, and 
 this was the last expedition ever undertaken by the 
 Pawnees to the buffalo range. 
 
 The first intimation Tan had of the return of the 
 Pawnees from their hunting trip, was one bright 
 morning when the inmates of the little log cabin were 
 at breakfast, two big burly Indians, well armed, and 
 dressed in the Indian blanket costume, looked in at 
 the uncurtained window, which was the custom of all 
 uncivilized Indians in making their presence known. 
 The settlers did not know there was any Indians with- 
 in a hundred miles of this settlement, and the reader 
 may judge their surprise in seeing these two husky 
 braves looking in at the window, and who or what they 
 were for a short time was the mystery. Both hostile and 
 
 ^S3 
 
reservation Indians were dressed alike, and who were 
 these ? If they were a band of Sioux it meant trouble, 
 and they were prepared to kill the settlers, burn their 
 homes and drive off their stock, and was this a plan 
 to see how well we were prepared to defend our- 
 selves, or was it a plan laid to gain admission t-o 
 the house? 
 
 If they were Pawnees or Omahas they would beg 
 and pilfer, but if they proved to be Sioux it meant 
 murder, and it was a critical condition. The chance 
 was great, but we must know the truth, and that 
 quickly. If they proved to be Sioux, Tan decided in 
 a flash to defend the little home at all hazards. 
 The decision was quick and decisive. He deliberately 
 took down from the wall his trusty Sharps rifle, and, 
 at present arms, as the two bucks came toward the 
 door he demanded: "From what tribe?" With their 
 hands ud by this time, one who could talk a little Eng- 
 lish said: "Me Pawnee." 
 
 Tan doubted the assertion and said in reply : "You 
 Sioux," and the Indian spokesman saw his word was 
 doubted and that he or both of them might be shot on 
 the spot, replied quickly : "Me Pawnee ; me heap good 
 Injin ; Sioux heap fight Pawnee, Sioux kill 'em Paw- 
 nee lots, Pawnee get 'em no buffalo, Pawnee go 'em 
 home, heap many Sioux, lick 'em Pawnee, kill 'em heap 
 Pawnee." 
 
 Tan asked how many, and the Pawnee pointed to 
 the two, and being asked where the band was, he 
 motioned that they had gone down on the other side 
 of the Beaver, and by this time being convinced that 
 they were really Pawnees and that it was not a mere 
 ruse to get in the house for the purpose of murder 
 and plunder, and after closing the door and looking 
 round to see if there was no others in sight, Tan in- 
 
 ii54 
 
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 Ed 
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 «5 
 
'Building a i^eto empire 
 
 vited them in the house, and after the little family 
 had finished their morning's meal, the Indians made it 
 known that they were hungry by saying: "Pawnee 
 heap hungry." Of course we knew they were hungry, 
 for they are seldom seen in any other condition. A 
 rough meal was prepared for them hurriedly, and 
 enough of it to feed seven or eight ordinary men, but 
 when these two hungry Indians had finished there was 
 not enough breakfast left to feed a chicken, but the 
 two hungry sons of the plains seemed to be satisfied, 
 and the spokesman's excuse for eating so much was: 
 "Pawnee heap hungry; Pawnee heap hog," and the 
 family thought he had told the truth, for they had 
 eaten three large loaves of bread, nine pounds of 
 meat and everything else in sight, and had drunk 
 more than a gallon of coffee, but Tan said it done his 
 soul good to see them hungry Indians eat, and after 
 they had finished their breakfast they passed on to 
 join the band on their pilgrimage to the reservation 
 in eastern Nebraska. 
 
 After this fight between the Sioux and the Paw- 
 nees, the Sioux were in an ugly mood, and were 
 determined to follow the Pawnees to the reservation 
 and exterminate the whole tribe, but a battalion of 
 United States cavalry had appeared on the scene 
 under command of Captain Bradley, with "Jack Stil- 
 well" as chief scout, who was sent out to hold a con- 
 ference with "Man Afraid of His Horse," the chief 
 who seemed to be in command of the hostile Sioux at 
 the battle, who, during the conference, promised to 
 turn his hostile band back to the buffalo range, which 
 he did, but had it not been for the presence of the 
 cavalry and the nerve of Jack Stilwell more trouble 
 would have followed, which, no doubt, would have 
 involved the Western homesteaders. 
 
 [155 
 
'Bufltiing a i^elo OBmpire 
 
 As the spring advanced and the time for plowing 
 and planting was approaching, rumors from the out- 
 side world began to come in with reports of raids by 
 the Indians of the most fiendish nature, and every 
 wild rumor was taken up by the Eastern press, as 
 sensational news, and they published stories of murder 
 and the most fiendish outrages that could be conceived 
 by the human mind of deeds perpetrated by the dem- 
 ons of the Western plains, when in fact there was but 
 little truth or foundation to the reports that caused 
 the publication of these fiendish crimes that did not 
 exist and never occurred. 
 
 It is true that these Sioux Indians had massacred 
 trains of emigrants in their 'dttempt to cross the 
 plains, and had killed and outraged thousands of 
 people at different times and in different ways, but 
 at this time Red Cloud, as head chief of all the Sioux 
 tribes, had seen the folly of his hostility to the whites, 
 and had desisted from further hostilities in that direc- 
 tion since 1869, but some of his under chiefs and 
 many of his warriors were still hostile, and were doing 
 a sort of guerrilla warfare against the whites. Such 
 under chiefs as "Crazy Horse." "Sitting Bull," "Man 
 Afraid of His Horse," "Spotted Tail," "Standing Elk," 
 and "Big Ribs," and some of the smaller or less impor- 
 tant chiefs with their following would steal out and 
 make raids on settlements, wagon trains, and even 
 squads of soldiers, but the under chiefs, and not 
 Red Cloud, were responsible for the raids made on 
 the whites after 1869, when Red Cloud and his fol- 
 lowing were placed on a reservation known for years 
 as Red Cloud Agency, w^hich was afterwards moved 
 to Fort Robinson nearby the old agency on White 
 River. 
 
 From this place were the raids made by the under 
 
 156 
 
IBujIDing a j8eto OBmpite 
 
 chiefs as far south as the Solomon in Kansas, and east 
 as far as Fairbury in Nebraska, and out in Colorado 
 and Wyoming and Dakota it was not an uncommon 
 occurrence to encounter a band of Sioux Indians out 
 for buffalo meat and plunder. There was something 
 peculiar about these chiefs in their raids and their 
 capture of prisoners. While they were not Free 
 Masons in a sense, as viewed by the civilized nations 
 of the earth, yet they knew something of the order, 
 or had an order of their own similar to ancient craft 
 Masonry, and a chief would not allow a Mason to be 
 killed or burned at the stake if the prisoner made him- 
 self known as such. It may be Masonry or it may 
 be something else of a similar nature. They do not 
 know how or where it originated. Like all other 
 Indians they know nothing of history or tradition. 
 They simply know what they see, what they hear, and 
 what they possess, but have no knowledge of history, 
 or their ancestors. However, they regard this order 
 with favor, but none except the chiefs and medicine 
 men are admitted as members of their fraternity. 
 Old Red Cloud admitted being a Mason as he termed 
 it, and said he received his Masonry under a big rock. 
 The regular Sioux and Cheyennes were bad enough, 
 and if not held in restraint, nothing was too bad or 
 too mean for them to attempt on the white people 
 in revenge for crowding them back from their familiar 
 hunting grounds, but their many defeats in battle 
 with the Government troops, and being constantly 
 watched by the soldiers kept them in restraint, and 
 their acts were not as bad as was sometimes pictured 
 in the Eastern press, whose sole purpose seemed to 
 be to keep the emigration from opening up a new 
 empire on the Western plains. It is also true that if 
 "Crazy Horse" or other of the Sioux chiefs had not 
 
 157 
 
been held back by the fear of being cut to pieces by the 
 soldiers, and the white citizens, and the experience of 
 defeat on so many former occasions, it would not have 
 been possible for civilization to make the inroads 
 on the Indians' hunting ground as had been done 
 in the past few years. 
 
 It was generally conceded that rich leads of gold 
 were deposited in the Black Hills and the white man 
 was making strenuous efforts to reach this coveted 
 spot and wrest this territory from the Indian, who 
 had occupied it for ages without molestation, and a 
 few venturesome whites did succeed in gaining ad- 
 mission to the Hills, some of whom were killed by 
 the Indians, and others were removed by the United 
 State soldiers, with little of the wealth hidden in 
 those mountains; and not until the autumn of 1875 
 did the Government secure title from the Indians 
 to this valuable territory. And in the early spring 
 of 1876 emigration poured into this newly acquired 
 territory by the thousands from all over the world, 
 and in a few months what had for ages been 
 the hunting grounds of the Indians, where no white 
 man dared to enter, were built cities of importance, 
 and was made the habitations of people from all points 
 of the compass, and what was the happy hunting 
 ground of the hostile Sioux in a few months became 
 civilized, and evidence of the white man's thrift and 
 industry were visible on every hand. Cities were 
 built, and the miner's cabin could be found through- 
 out the hills, and what for ages had been viewed from 
 a distance as the Indians' hunting ground had in a 
 few months been made an important part of a new 
 empire. 
 
 The settlers had been hearing reports of Indian 
 depredations ever since the country had begun to see 
 
 [11^ 
 
15uil0ing a jfi^eto OBmpire 
 
 the settlers coming in, and none of the dreadful re- 
 ports had been verified by an actual massacre, and 
 such reports had been heard so often, and as often 
 proved to be untrue, that the homesteaders were tired 
 of them and noticed a reported massacre no more 
 than any other flying report of an ordinary character. 
 
 The stork was hovering over the homes of many 
 settlers in the new West, and the arrival of a new 
 addition to one of the little families in this new 
 country was becoming quite common, and were not 
 considered as matters of so great importance as 
 when the first and second children were born in the 
 unorganized territory soon to be known an Furnas 
 County. 
 
 Farmers were beginning to plow and plant, and 
 many now had ground so, wheat, oats and barley could 
 be sown, and many traveled to Lowell, a distance of 
 eighty miles or more, for seed to plant and sow, and 
 the first attempt was now made to sow the smaller 
 grains, and corn, vines, and vegetables had been 
 grown successfully the year before, and a united effort 
 was now being made to grow other grains and test 
 the fertility of the soil and climatic conditions for 
 other crops. 
 
 The spring rains began to fall on the twenty-ninth 
 day of April, the exact date of the two previous 
 seasons, which was followed by the bright, warm 
 spring sunshine, and vegetation started with vigor, 
 and the small fields were soon looking green and 
 thrifty, with the vast extent of prairie showing a 
 carpet of green vegetation, beautiful to behold, and 
 everything had the appearance of the opening of a 
 prosperous season. The mail was now being carried 
 in an open spring wagon, which was an improrement 
 
IBuilDing a Jl5eto dBmpire 
 
 on the horseback way adopted at the opening of the 
 route by the Government. 
 
 The newly elected county officers in the new coun- 
 ties were holding the reins of government, and while 
 many of these officers were well qualified to fill the 
 positions to which they had been elected, others were 
 totally unfit for any place of trust and emoluments, 
 some ignorant of the law or their duties, and others 
 having no conception of morality, integrity, or the 
 oath they had taken to perform the duties of the 
 office to which they had been elected. One county 
 judge had been elected who affixed his official jurat 
 after signing his name as County Jug, and who 
 placed the name of attorneys employed in civil or 
 criminal cases where ought to have been written the 
 names of the plaintiff and the defendant, and in one 
 criminal case the name of an attorney went in place 
 of The State of Nebraska, and the opposing attorney's 
 name went in place of John Doe, the defendant. The 
 same county judge said, with a slight impediment in 
 his speech, which brought out a "ker" at the end of 
 many words : "That the law required that every first 
 mundiker in each monthiker be a term day, but he 
 would have a term day the first mundiker of every 
 weekiker, there foriker there would be a court every 
 first mundiker of every weekiker." 
 
 Another judge discharged every criminal brought 
 before him for trial or examination on any charge 
 whatever, no matter whether for trespass, grand lar- 
 ceny, or horse stealing, he was discharged. After a 
 time the people became suspicious, and a little in- 
 vestigation on the part of other officials and the citi- 
 zens revealed the fact that a small bonus from the 
 defendant would bring his discharge, no matter how 
 strong the evidence of guilt. The result was that 
 
 1 60 
 
'BuiUfng a Jl3etii OBmpire 
 
 an indignation meeting was held, and a committee 
 was appointed to wait on the judge and inform him 
 that his presence was no longer wanted in the county, 
 and the citizens had decided to give him twenty-four 
 hours to leave the county or abide by the consequences. 
 No time was required by the judge for reflection, but 
 quickly replied : 
 
 "That is just twelve hours' longer time than I need," 
 and in less than twelve hours he and his effects were 
 on the road to parts unknown, with his resignation in 
 the hands of the county clerk. 
 
 Some of the sheriffs were equally devoid of honor 
 as this judge, and totally unfit for the places they 
 were filling, while others were well qualified for the 
 places and were doing their duties. There was one 
 sheriff in a nearby county in Kansas who had been 
 instrumental as a mere boy in bringing many criminals 
 to justice, among whom were some noted horse 
 thieves, and in his work in running down criminals 
 he had made a reputation for himself, which caused 
 his election as sheriff when he was only nineteen years 
 old. He was considered a good man for the place 
 and his age was not considered. He was doing his 
 duty as an officer and was bringing many bad men 
 to justice, and the capture of horse thieves was his 
 delight until he met his "Waterloo." 
 
 He and a deputy was on a long ride after some men 
 who had stolen a small herd of horses, and they 
 finally rode on to the men with the horses. He had 
 instructed his deputy to watch his motions and when 
 action was taken to shoot to kill. 
 
 The officers rode quietly up with the men in pos- 
 session of the horses and engaged them in conversa- 
 tion. "Three Fingered Mike," as he was known, 
 had charge of the horses, and he was known as a 
 
 li6i 
 
'BuilDing a iOeUi Cmpfte 
 
 bad man, having been a cowboy, and a hunter on the 
 buffalo range. Alex Ramsey, the sheriff, engaged 
 him in conversation, but Mike was suspicious and 
 eyed the sheriff constantly. Finally Ramsey thought 
 he saw his chance and quickly threw his revolver 
 down on Mike, who was equal to the occasion and 
 returned the compliment, and in a flash Ramsey 
 fired which was as quickly returned. Each man sUd 
 down on the opposite side of his horse and the firing 
 continued until both men and both horses were dead 
 in reaching distance of each other, and the deputy 
 sheriff had killed Mike's partner, while the shooting 
 was being done by Sheriff Ramsey, and "Three 
 Fingered Mike," a noted desperado and horse thief, 
 had been killed with his partner in crime, but a faith- 
 ful boy sheriff had also been killed who was faithful 
 to his trust and a terror to all evildoers, although but 
 a boy when elected to the high office of sheriff. 
 
 But few of the officers in these new counties were 
 elected for merit, for the people were all comparative 
 strangers, and the acquaintance had not been cf long 
 duration and the merits of those seeking office were 
 unknown. Many officers were elected in these new 
 counties for their influence or assistance in locating 
 county seats, and in many cases it was not a question 
 of honor or qualification that candidates for office 
 were selected, but the ones were taken who could pull 
 the most votes to a particular place for county seat, 
 this being of more importance to certain leaders, or 
 promoters, who had pressed themselves forward as 
 leaders, than honesty and proficiency. And while this 
 was true to a great extent there was elected to office 
 many men who were capable of conducting the affairs 
 of the office to which they had been elected and were 
 
 162 
 
'BuilDing a Ji^ett) empire 
 
 endowed with the gift of honor perceptible in every 
 official act. 
 
 Many of the county officials in the new counties 
 were hampered up with their records in small rooms 
 or small buildings. Perhaps a log house, twelve by 
 sixteen, was used for clerk, commissioners, judge, 
 sheriff and all, and if the court house was of larger di- 
 mensions, it was considered very commodious, and 
 officers were frequently congratulated on their spa- 
 cious offices, and how much better they were equipped 
 with office room than some of the neighboring 
 counties. 
 
 Much agitation was now being heard on every 
 hand of an organization in eastern Nebraska known 
 as the Lincoln Land Company, supposed to be owned 
 and controlled by the officials of some railroad com- 
 pany, and the general supposition was that it was the 
 Burlington system, but its real identity was safely 
 guarded by the promoters from the scrutiny of the 
 homesteader's eye. But enough was visible to con- 
 vince the casual observer that something was in store 
 for the Republican Valley. Lands were purchased 
 and plans laid for a town to be a rival of Melrose 
 that would eventually cause its ruin and build up the 
 rival which, when fairly started, was named Orleans. 
 
 Further east a rival of Blue Springs was financed 
 which eventually became Wymore, and promoters of 
 other town sites along the Republican Valley saw 
 the situation, and one D. N. Smith, who seemed the 
 promoter, and who had the matter in charge, began 
 to receive offers of interests in town sites all along 
 the line, and Smith, or his backers, in a few months 
 became part or full owners of all the town sites in 
 the Republican Valley, and the original owners were 
 
 163 
 
'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 
 
 shorn of the privilege of any benefits arising from 
 the locating of these towns. 
 
 In the bright light of the noonday sun could be 
 seen, as the south winds warmed the vast prairies, 
 passing to the north immense swarms of grasshoppers 
 such as had been seen the two years previous, but 
 the wind continued from the south and in a few 
 days they had disappeared, and for a time no more 
 was seen. 
 
 The wheat, oats and barley crops grew to maturity 
 and was harvested, and the result of the experiment 
 proved very satisfactory in this line, but the weather 
 was turning dry and the corn began to suffer for rain. 
 The rain did not come, but the burning hot winds 
 came sweeping over the dry buffalo grass from the 
 southwest, as if coming from a furnace or an immense 
 fire. Day after day the hot winds continued, and 
 the corn blades rolled tightly as if scorched by fire, 
 and the tassel turned as white as snow losing their 
 green verdure. Homesteaders were watching, with 
 bated anxiety, the result of the hot winds on the 
 growing corn, some contending that the corn would 
 yet mature with favorable weather conditions, while 
 others contended that with the tassel dry as powder, 
 and the blades rolled by the burning winds, no corn 
 could be produced, and famine stood staring them in 
 the face. A few pieces of corn on the low bottom 
 lands where the roots were near the sheet water under 
 the surface were still doing fairly well, and the corn 
 planted on what was termed the sod, or the first 
 breaking, had yet retained some signs of life, and 
 hope for many days of hot winds was still entertained. 
 The wheat and oats had been stacked, and everybody 
 waited the result of the hot winds on the corn. 
 
 But little had been raised the year before and 
 
 164 
 
IBniltjitiQ a il3eto OBmpire 
 
 the little product had all been exhausted, and the 
 two years previous but few had taken land early 
 enough in the season to produce a crop, so the country 
 was as devoid of sustenance as though no furrow had 
 been turned, or any attempt made at farming in what 
 was hoped would be the making of a new farming 
 country. 
 
 The anxious waiting was in vain and useless, for 
 ere many days had passed after the corn seemed with- 
 ered beyond resuscitation the hot winds ceased, and 
 instead a cool wind came from the north, and with 
 the north wind came countless myriads of grass- 
 hoppers, that actually darkened the sun as a cloud, 
 and when near the ground they were so numerous that 
 man or beast could scarcely pass through them, and 
 at night when the wind ceased they lit down on 
 growing vegetation, or if the wind chanced to change 
 to the south and meet them in their flight they would 
 come to the ground and would be several inches deep 
 on the ground. 
 
 Any person not seeing them could realize the num- 
 bers or the destruction wrought by them in a short 
 time, but wading in grasshoppers shoe top deep could 
 be done any place, and when in the air they formed 
 dark clouds that could not be believed without seeing 
 them. Corn fields were eaten to the ground in a few 
 hours, leaves stripped from the trees, and all growing 
 vegetation destroyed in a very short time. Attempts, 
 as the year before, was made to drive them from the 
 corn fields, but they were as ineffective as a paper bag 
 before a cyclone, and the attempt to drive them away 
 was soon abandoned. They had never been seen as 
 numerous before, and all hope of saving an)rthing 
 green was soon abandoned. 
 
 Whole fields of corn was eaten to the ground in a 
 
 1651 
 
'BuilDinjj a Ji^eto OBmpire 
 
 few hours, gardens were in like manner destroyed, 
 onions were eaten out of the ground and nothing left 
 but the hole in the ground to tell the tale of the growth 
 of the onion, melons were eaten with the relish of a 
 Mississippi darkey, screens were actually eaten from 
 the windows, and one man left carelessly on an outside 
 shelf a pound plug of navy tobacco which was de- 
 voured seemingly with a relish. The only living vegeta- 
 tion they seemed to dislike was sorghum, broom corn 
 and castor beans. These three articles did not seem to 
 appeal to their ravenous appetites. 
 
 During the troubles of this siege of the grasshop- 
 pers, rumors of troubles on the railroads of the two 
 years before was a sore reality. The Union Pacific 
 and the Kansas Pacific were the only railroads built 
 and being operated at this time across the new West, 
 and trains on these lines crushed millions upon millions 
 of grasshoppers on the rails, and the slimy oil crushed 
 from the little pests greased the tracks like pouring 
 thousands of barrels of crude oil on the rails, and 
 the attempt to move trains under these conditions 
 were useless. The experience of the two years before 
 were seemingly as bad as we wished to see, but there 
 was no comparison to the condition at this time. The 
 engine and car wheels would whirl on the greased 
 track, but the trains refused to move. Sand was 
 freely used on the tracks, but it was almost useless, 
 and while these conditions lasted it was almost im- 
 possible to move trains on these Western roads, al- 
 though the tracks were level, and no heavy grades. 
 
 Reports of the destruction wrought by the grass- 
 hoppers was widely published in the East, and the 
 entomologists began to take notice, and to study the 
 pests as they never had done before. Many claimed 
 we were being visited by the locusts which devastated 
 
 [1 66 
 
'Building a Ji^eto OBmpite 
 
 Egypt during the middle ages and were described 
 by the old authors as the eighth plague of Egypt, 
 and as these locusts were described as migratory no 
 doubt but these grasshoppers were the same, or at 
 least similar to the Egyptian locusts. Some of the 
 scientists classed them as the Rocky Mountain grass- 
 hopper, breeding on the eastern slope of the mountains, 
 but with all the knowledge and advantages of the 
 scientific entomologists, the homesteader of those days 
 learned more of their habits and customs by actual 
 observation than the scientist did from his extensive 
 collection of books. The plainsmen knew they went 
 north in the late spring with the wind from the south, 
 and they also learned that they returned in the early 
 fall with the wind from the north. They also learned 
 that if conditions were favorable they would burrow 
 little round holes in the ground and there deposit 
 their eggs, which were hatched the following spring 
 at the approach of warm weather, but up to this time 
 comparatively few of the grasshoppers had deposited 
 their eggs. 
 
 The homesteader had also discovered that a little 
 red parasite was found on many of the pests under 
 the wing and that when one of these little parasites 
 fastened itself to the grasshopper it took its life blood, 
 and the grasshopper became weak and soon died, but 
 there did not seem to be parasites enough for all the 
 pests, but it was hoped that the parasites would in- 
 crease fast enough so each grasshopper could have 
 one, and the grasshopper plague would soon be settled. 
 The entomologists were shown the parasites by the 
 homesteader, and the scientists then advanced a theory 
 that the parasites would in time destroy the grass- 
 hopper. 
 
 The homesteaders were now up to a serious propo- 
 
 [i'67 
 
OBuilDing a iBeto dBmpire 
 
 sition. Here he had been for the past two years or 
 more honestly toiling and buoyed up by the hope that 
 he would make a prosperous home in this new country, 
 and if he failed in the attempt and gave up now he had 
 lost two years of the best portion of his life, and with 
 the pluck and energy of the average homesteader to 
 give up was an idea not to be entertained. The buf- 
 falo were getting scarce and every man in the new 
 country could not support his family by hunting. 
 Many had friends in the East who were abundantly 
 able and willing to help them, while others could not 
 call for help, but the situation was grave and some- 
 thing must be done. Some were now out of funds 
 and their stock of provisions were running low. 
 
 Meetings of the citizens were called by the people, 
 generally at the county seats, the purpose of which was 
 to devise means of relief during the coming winter 
 and seed for planting in the following spring. 
 
 A meeting was called at Beaver City and other 
 county seats, making it as far as possible a county 
 affair. A president and a secretary were elected, and 
 a call for remarks by those present and interested, it 
 being conceded that a general call for aid would be 
 started from the new West to the benevolent people 
 of the East. Will Thomas, Tan Myers and others 
 were called on for their views in the matter, who went 
 into details on the destruction of crops by the ravages 
 of the grasshoppers, quoting scientific theories and 
 modes of extermination as published in the papers 
 and advocated by entomologists, whose knowledge of 
 "bugology" were unquestioned as to theory at least. 
 
 Rev. Mas Yamo was an attentive listener to all that 
 had been said, and being urged to express his views 
 on the situation he raised his ponderous form to a 
 standing position, his long iron grey hair resting on 
 
 i68 
 
'BuilDing a i^eto OBmpite 
 
 his shoulders he began by addressing the president and 
 quoting Exodus 10-13 : "And Moses stretched forth 
 his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought 
 an east wind upon the land all that day and all that 
 night; and when it was morning, the east wind 
 brought the locusts." "We, as the fruntier forrunners 
 uv civilization, whu hes druv the Injen frum his home 
 in his wigwam tu the furdest recesses uv the wildest 
 West ; us whu hev killed his buffalo by the thousands 
 upon thousands, weuns who hev taken his place in 
 these beautiful valleys that shud be bloomin with 
 growin' grain hev bin sumwhat disappointed. My 
 friends hev told uv scientific plans laid down by the 
 great bugologists uv how the grasshoppers kin be 
 destroyed, an' in high speakin' terms and language, 
 all the theories and isms uv men with book larnin' 
 which ain't doin' us no good. The grasshopper hes 
 cum and hes eat nearly every livin' thing in site, an' 
 de scientists tell us how to drive dem away by smokin' 
 'em out, an' by drivin' 'em away by ropes, an' science 
 may be all right, an' I specs it is, but science and com- 
 mon sense ort tu go hand in hand. They ort 
 tu jine hands an' go tugether. I don't believe thur 
 is parasites enuf on airth to kill the grasshoppers we 
 hev seed this summer on the Beaver; an' talk about 
 eaten 'em as the Egyptians did in the gude old Bibel 
 times, wy there ain't people enough in forty counties 
 tu eat the grasshoppers thet Ht on my cornfield at one 
 litein, an' ef dey multiply in de nex four years as dey 
 has in de last two years thar won't be land enuf frum 
 the muddy Missouri River to de mountains ter lite 
 on, an sum uv 'em will hav ter keep flyin' all the time. 
 But we are told in that gude old Babtist hymn 'to 
 never be discouraged or never shed a tear' but let's try 
 it agin, let's ask the gude peepel of the East tu give 
 
 169 
 
IBuiMnQ a il3eto OBrnpite 
 
 us a lift, let's ask fur corn, pork, flour, beans and any- 
 thing we kin eat an' ware, an' seed fur plantin' in de 
 spring. We kin sure raise sum things here, we hev 
 raised sum wheat an' oats that wus cut afore the 
 grasshoppers cum. Then broom corn an' sorghum dey 
 don't eat, an' I reckon dey don't like 'em, an' de dry 
 wether an' hot winds don't hurt dem Hke it does corn, 
 an' now let me tell you suthin : I am six feet an' four 
 inches high an' weigh two hundred an' forty pounds, 
 an' I raised a castor bean stock this year that I kin 
 climb an' de grasshoppers never teched it ; an' why 
 can't we raise castor beans fur tu sell? Sumbody sure 
 raises 'em fur tu sell, fur they make castor ile out on 
 'em, an' der ain't a drug stor between the Beaver an' 
 Pike County, Missouri, but has castor ile tu sell. We 
 kin raise 'em an' de grasshoppers won't tech 'em. It 
 is used for medicine and fur greasin' buggies an' 
 wagons, an' whu knows but what this new country in 
 a few years will be supplien de wurld with castor 
 ile. I dun raised nine tuns uv melons on one acre uv 
 ground an' de grasshoppers eat 'em all in one nite, 
 but dey sure don't like castor ile, fur dey won't tech 
 a castor bean stock. Don't know why or how it wurks 
 on 'em, but dey sure don like it. Now, friends, let's 
 stay on the claims an' raise castor beans, sorghum and 
 brume corn. Every woman in de land wants a brum, 
 and we kin raise these things the grasshoppers won't 
 eat an' sell 'em an' buy corn. Our cattle an' bosses 
 kin eat grass an' keep fat on it, only when there is 
 snow on, an' that ain't offen, an' we kin cut all the hay 
 we need to feed when the snow is on, besides we kin 
 raise wheat, oats, rye an' barley, that gits ripe befo 
 de grasshoppers cum. We kin go on to de mighty 
 herds uv buffalo an' kill our meat fur de winter, but 
 
 170 
 
'BuilDing a l^eto empire 
 
 les ask the gude peepel uv old Missouri an' de East 
 tu send us de rest." 
 
 Other speeches were made, some claiming the 
 calling for relief would stop emigration to the West if 
 aid was asked, but starvation stared them in the face, 
 and it was finally decided to name a county committee 
 composed of three to advertise, receive and distribute 
 aid for the grasshopper sufferers, to manage and con- 
 trol the distribution of aid when it was received. 
 
 Similar organizations were effected in other counties 
 in both Kansas and Nebraska, and the appeal for as- 
 sistance became general. Letters were sent to the gov- 
 ernors of the two States, who upon investigation ap- 
 pealed to other States through their governors, aid to 
 be sent to the regular committee for distribution. The 
 railroad companies had agreed to carry all donations 
 to the sufferers free, and the matter was advertised 
 broadcast throughout the land, and the grasshopper 
 sufferers became a household word throughout the 
 land. The railroads' proffer to carry aid free meant 
 train load ; for them without pay, and these train loads 
 to be hauled by teams and wagons to the new counties 
 far away from the stations. 
 
 Not only the new settlements, but the whole State 
 had suffered from the grasshopper plague this year, 
 and in the east portion many eggs were laid which 
 meant destruction the following spring to the growing 
 crops until the young grasshoppers were sufficiently 
 developed to fly northward with the south wind. 
 
 The United States Government had also been asked 
 for aid, and it was learned that the Government had 
 stored in their immense warehouses endless quantities 
 of clothing which had been condemned for various 
 reasons. Some was out of date, some moth eaten, 
 some imperfect in cut or workmanship. Some one 
 
 ^171 
 
conceived the idea of donating this clothing to the 
 grasshopper sufferers in the West. Congress took the 
 matter up and a resolution went through both houses 
 of Congress to this effect, and the Government ware- 
 houses were emptied and dumped on the homesteaders 
 of the West, Kansas and Nebraska receiving the major 
 portion of it, and it was distributed by army officers 
 detailed for that purpose. It was nothing uncommon 
 then to see an ex-Confederate soldier wearing a suit of 
 United States uniform, and a pair of easy army shoes. 
 
 Relief began coming into the two States consisting 
 of flour, meal, groceries, piece goods by the bolt, and 
 wearing apparel of all conceivable kinds, both new 
 and second hand. Some articles were worthless and 
 not worth the hauling from the railroad, while the 
 majority of the goods coming were good, some being 
 new and others slightly worn, and nearly all the ar- 
 ticles were suited to the wants of the people; but of 
 course to this general rule there were some exceptions, 
 as one box especially coming from a prominent city 
 in Ohio contained two hoop skirts, three well-wcrn 
 corsets, seven rubber tips for nursing bottles, one 
 truss, six ladies' belts, six nightcaps, seventeen boxes 
 paper collars, four soiled neckties, one baseball, one 
 football, one ball bat, one kite, a lot of fish lines, tin 
 cups, toy dogs, toy wagons, a boy's sled, and sundry 
 other articles. 
 
 Sub-committees were appointed in the different pre- 
 cincts, and the matter of distribution went merrily 
 on. There were some receiving aid regularly who did 
 not need it, while others were too sensitive to make 
 their wants known, and for this reason many children 
 went cold and hungry that winter whose parents 
 were too proud or too sensitive to tell their true condi- 
 tion, while others were taking everything obtainable, 
 
 172 
 
and some of them had abundance of their own and 
 did not need donations from any source. 
 
 It was a great donation made by the people of the 
 East and the Middle West, and was a blessing to the, 
 people of the new West whose condition was no fault 
 of their own. While many received assistance who 
 could have gotten along without it, in a general way it 
 was well handled. In their desire to make indepen- 
 dent and prosperous homes of their own, the condi- 
 tions had placed them in a helpless situation where 
 the fault was not theirs unless the desire to be inde- 
 pendent and make homes of their own was the fault 
 at issue. 
 
 There were a few instances where frauds were 
 worked on the good people during this time of trouble 
 for the settlers, by men going East with forged cre- 
 dentials or letters, claiming to be soliciting for cer- 
 tain localities, and succeeded in getting many contri- 
 butions which were used to satisfy their own personal 
 greed. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Grasshoppers Destroyed — More Trouble for the 
 
 Homesteaders. 
 
 Spring opened up with an abundance of rain, and 
 climatic conditions were favorable for another at- 
 tempt at farming. Seed wheat, oats, barley and 
 corn had been provided through the relief agencies, 
 and a supply of grain for feeding the teams while 
 putting in the crops. Also a supply of garden seeds 
 and potatoes were furnished, and some had secured 
 rye and planted it the fall previous, so everything 
 was favorable for a new start, which was pushed 
 
 173 
 
'BuilDing a JBetti Cmpite 
 
 with vigor throughout the country that had met such 
 a disaster the previous season. Crops were planted 
 and grew vigorously, and a fair crop of everything in 
 the earlier varieties were harvested in the west, while 
 in the eastern portions of the two States and along 
 the Missouri River the eggs laid by the grasshop' 
 pers the season before had hatched and all early vege- 
 tation was destroyed, together with fruit and foliage 
 on the trees, and this destruction continued until the 
 pests grew large enough to fly, and a few days of 
 wind from the south took them to the uninhabited 
 section of northern Dakota and the British possessions. 
 
 All crops in the new West were matured, except 
 corn, before the return of the grasshoppers in the 
 early fall, and a good portion of this was saved from 
 destruction, owing to the fact that the grasshoppers 
 came later in the season than usual, but the "rascals" 
 laid their eggs, and what was to be done the follow- 
 ing season? Scientists had told the people of the 
 West how to destroy the pests, but their theories 
 when tested were unsuccessful, and once more science 
 and commonsense were not going hand in hand on the 
 great question now agitating the whole American 
 people. 
 
 The winter again gradually wore away and at 
 the approach of spring with its warm weather grass- 
 hoppers began to hatch, and as the warm weather ad- 
 vanced the young grasshoppers increased and cov- 
 ered the ground with these little black hoppers, black 
 being the color of the migratory grasshoppers when 
 first hatched. Scientists told the homesteader to 
 plow ditches around his fields to prevent the hoppers 
 from going to the cultivated land, and when the 
 ditches became full of hoppers to put straw on them 
 and burn it with the pests. This was done and as 
 
 .174 
 
IBuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 
 
 soon as the fire burned out the ditches were filled 
 again and climbing the banks of the ditch on the 
 opposite side to the cultivated fields. Everything in a 
 few days would be destroyed with no hope for the 
 future prosperity of the homesteaders. 
 
 Many were discouraged and gave up hope of making 
 a home so far West, and some moved away, abandon- 
 ing their claims and improvements. Some went to the 
 Black Hills to seek employment and left their fami- 
 lies to hold the claims, although it did not require 
 much effort to guard against claim jumpers, for the 
 grasshoppers had complete possession. Some gave 
 up entirely and went to the Pacific coast, leaving the 
 results of their labor to anyone who cared to take it. 
 But the thought of leaving the claim and giving up the 
 last few years of hard labor in an effort to make a 
 home, to abandon this labor and the loss of time while 
 in the prime of life was a proposition that stared them 
 in the face. It has always been said that "the darkest 
 hour was just before dawn," and on Tuesday, April 
 24th, 1875, "the silver lining to the dark cloud" 
 hanging over the entire new West began to appear. 
 
 On this date, near the hour of noon, rain began 
 falling, which continued two days, and on the third 
 day the weather began to turn colder, and soon the 
 rain began to turn to snow, which for a time melted 
 as fast as it fell to the ground, but as the day ad- 
 vanced and the cold increased the snow ceased to 
 melt, but instead froze as it came down, and at sun- 
 set snow and ice covered the ground from the Mis- 
 souri River to the mountains and from the British 
 possessions to Texas. The night was extremely cold 
 for being so late in the season. It was clear and 
 cold during the night, and when the snow and ice 
 had melted away on the following day not a live 
 
 1.751 
 
15uilDing a i^elo OBmpite 
 
 locust could be seen. The destruction of the migra- 
 tory grasshoppers was complete, and this ended the 
 grasshopper plague which threatened to drive every 
 homesteader from the new empire. 
 
 The bacteriological commission appointed by the 
 wisdom of Congress made a thorough and inex- 
 haustible report about a year after the destruction 
 of the grasshoppers by an act of kind providence. 
 The report of this very important commission was 
 not made until the appropriation made by Congress 
 for their salaries and expenses had been exhausted 
 or wasted, for any homesteader could have furnished 
 Congress all the information obtained by this com- 
 mission by the asking. The report was voluminous 
 along scientific lines and may be of great value to 
 coming generations in future ages as one of the his- 
 torical events of the nineteenth cewtury. The home- 
 steaders were now happy and many who had aban- 
 doned their claims returned, and went to work with 
 a will and determination only known to the West. 
 
 Horse thieves had for the past two years been 
 somewhat troublesome to the settlers, not only here 
 but all over the new West, and while some of the 
 sheriffs were willing to run down the thieves, yet 
 definite action was difficult, for no organization was 
 known and it took time to locate the direction horses 
 were taken when stolen, and the regular route located 
 was over the cattle trail. It was gradually learned 
 that horses stolen on the Platte, or to the northwest, 
 and were started south, were headed for Texas over 
 the cattle trail, and those stolen in Kansas, if started 
 northwest, were headed for North Platte, and later 
 to the Black Hills, but of course it took time to learn 
 these facts. There was no telegraph lines except 
 alons: the Union Pacific and the Kansas Pacific rail- 
 
 'fc> 
 
 176 
 
aButltiing a n^eto dBmpite 
 
 roads, and a telephone was not thought of in those 
 days, which made tracing criminals more difficult than 
 in later years. It was generally believed there was 
 a harbor or rendezvous on the Prairie Dog for secret- 
 ing stolen horses, but no organized effort was ever 
 made to raid the place or to arrest the proprietor, 
 who was well known in the West at the time. 
 
 Horses were being stolen and this fact was becom- 
 ing too well known to suit the homesteaders, and to 
 capture the thief with stolen horses was an immense 
 undertaking. The thief was as well armed as the 
 officers and usually had from twenty to twenty-four 
 hours the start of the officers, but many long and 
 daring rides were made in the attempt to run down 
 horse thieves, and sheriffs were known to ride day and 
 night in an attempt to capture a team or horse stolen 
 from a homesteader, when his chance of being killed 
 was greater than the chance of capturing the thief. 
 
 One deputy sheriff from near North Platte fol- 
 lowed two men who had stolen two large mules near 
 that place, on horseback to a Mennonite settlement, 
 twenty-five miles east of Russell, Kansas, where the 
 thieves were negotiating a sale of the mules when 
 they were captured. The deputy and his posse had 
 ridden two hundred and seventy-five miles on horse- 
 back to catch these men with the stolen mules, and 
 the return trip must be made in the same manner 
 with two prisoners to guard the entire trip. 
 
 These mule thieves believed they were in the State 
 of Kansas, and the crime of stealing the mules had 
 been committed in Nebraska, but the plucky officers 
 had no tim.e to wait for requisitions from one governor 
 to the other and wisely pretended to know nothing 
 of the State lines. They knew the mules had been 
 stolen, and they had caught the men "with the goods." 
 
 177 
 
'BuilDing a jfi3eto empire 
 
 They had no time to consult attorneys, or to allow 
 their prisoners to see an attorney, although they pro- 
 tested against being taken from one State to another 
 without the proper authority; but this would cause 
 a delay of two weeks and the officers refused to listen 
 to their protest, and after a little rest and recreation 
 the return trip to North Platte was started with both 
 prisoners across the country. 
 
 The prisoners were handcuffed and their feet tied 
 under the mules. There was no settlement on the 
 route except on the streams, but the return trip 
 was made safely, and the prisoners were landed in 
 the old log jail, which was a landmark of the early 
 days at North Platte for many years. District court 
 was in session at the time of their return, and on the 
 following day both prisoners were indicted, tried, con- 
 victed and sentenced to the penitentiary, each for five 
 years, and on the following day were landed in prison. 
 This was the closing scene of one of the longest 
 successful horseback rides for mule or horse thieves 
 ever written in the criminal history of any State. 
 
 In the fifties an organized band of thieves known 
 as the "Banditti of the Prairies," extending from Ken- 
 tucky to Minnesota, across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and 
 lower Wisconsin, but no record was ever made in run- 
 ning down members of this organized band to equal 
 this ride by two lone horsemen for the capture of these 
 two mule thieves belonging to no organized band. 
 
 Another case is known where two men had stolen 
 thirteen horses in Philips County, Kansas, and the 
 number proved to be the unlucky thirteen. Enough 
 was learned to convince the owners that the horses 
 had started to the northwest. Citizens without an 
 officer started in pursuit, but a sheriff of western 
 Nebraska was called into consultation, and with the 
 
 1178 
 
to 
 
 
 ^ 
 t 
 
 
 O 
 ci 
 
 O 
 
 n 
 
 > 
 
party started in search of the trail which had been lost. 
 The trail was found after a day's search, and followed 
 well up the Frenchman, where "Texas Jack" and 
 Bill Dile were enlisted in the chase. Bill was the 
 owner of a lot of horses and cattle that he was 
 keeping on the range, and "Texas Jack" was a plains- 
 man and cowboy, with several scalps hanging to his 
 belt. 
 
 The information had been gained that two men 
 had stolen the horses and the same two men were 
 driving the horses out of the country. They were 
 finally located in a cafion, and a part of the horses 
 were captured, but a desperate chase followed across 
 the level prairies, and the pursuers seemed to have 
 the best horses, and after miles of running they were 
 gaining on the horse thieves, and coming nearer and 
 nearer all the time, the pursuers were ordered to 
 halt. But of course this order was disregarded, 
 but the thieves were ordered to surrender, which com- 
 mand was answered with lead from Winchester rifles, 
 and one of the fiercest battles ever fought on the 
 Western plains was now inevitable. The men with 
 the stolen horses were desperate characters, and 
 would "die with their boots on" rather than surrender 
 or be captured alive. The pursuers under the leader- 
 ship of a Western sheriff, with the laws of the State 
 in his favor. Some of his party were very poorly 
 armed, but himself and his two new recruits were 
 as well armed as the thieves themselves and had 
 plenty of ammunition. The sheriff dismounted and 
 ordered his helpers to do the same, and then ordered 
 two of his men to take all the horses out of range 
 of the rifles, and ordered all his men who had long 
 range guns to stoop low, keep cool, and shoot to kill. 
 
 Bullets went and come thick and fast, and each vol- 
 
 179 
 
ley seemed to come closer. "Texas Jack" was the 
 first man in the sheriff's party struck. A 44 Win- 
 chester ball had passed fehrough the muscles of the 
 thigh, but Jack never whimpered or complained. The 
 sheriff again gave the order to shoot low, keep cool, 
 and shoot to kill. A hole had been shot through the 
 sheriff's hat, and Tom Straw, one of the party, had 
 been shot through the foot. It was now seen that 
 one man at the other end of the range had either fallen 
 or laid down and his gun was silent, but the other 
 was still pumping his Winchester, but he, too, soon 
 dropped his gun and threw up his hands, and he was 
 ordered forward. He came to the pursuing party, 
 leaving his gun, and when near enough was relieved 
 of his side arms, which was a pair of big navy 44 
 revolvers. Being asked about his partner, said he 
 was shot through the .heart or lungs and was past 
 speaking, and thought he was dead ; and as to himself 
 he was shot through the lungs, and he thought it use- 
 less to continue the fight any longer, as the game 
 would soon be over with him as it was now with his 
 partner. 
 
 The balance of the stolen horses had stampeded, 
 and by this time were somewhat scattered, but some 
 of the pursuing party soon rounded them up and 
 others went to the leader who had planned and 
 executed with his partner the stealing of the thirteen 
 horses and they found he had breathed his last. This 
 made one horse thief less in the West, and the cap- 
 ture of all the stolen animals, and a wounded horse 
 thief on their hands, all of which made the chase a 
 successful one. 
 
 The man captured alive seemed to be badly 
 wounded, but did not complain. The dead man was 
 tied on his saddle and in this manner carried to the 
 
 180 
 
'Building: a Beto empire 
 
 Dile ranch, where he was rolled in his blankets and 
 buried in a grave six feet due east and west, without 
 the sound of song, sermon or prayer, and his body left 
 in its solitary abode to be devoured by the creeping 
 insects of the earth. 
 
 After a rest of thirty-six hours for men and horses, 
 the party passed on, anxious to reach a settlement 
 with their wounded prisoner. The wounded of the 
 pursuing party were not seriously injured, and with 
 treatment available at the ranch seemed to be doing 
 well and would soon be healed over, but the prisoner's 
 wound was serious, and needed medical attention. 
 It was now very sore and it was with difficulty that 
 he was able to ride to the nearest town for treatment. 
 It was a long day's ride, and on arrival a physician 
 was secured as soon as possible, but here the prisoner 
 got but little consolation. The Doctor said the case 
 was hopeless. The wound was fatal, and now 
 gangrene had already developed, and but little hope 
 of his recovery could be entertained. 
 
 The night passed off by giving the prisoner the best 
 care and medical treatment to be had at the little 
 town of C, but the inflammation increased and it was 
 decided he could not possibly recover, and at best 
 could not survive but a very few days. The sheriff, 
 coroner, county clerk and county judge were called 
 in, to whom the prisoner made a statement of the 
 facts in the case exonerating the sheriff and his as- 
 sistants for the killing of his partner, and his own 
 fatal wound. In two more days another horse thief 
 had paid the penalty of his wrongdoings and was 
 wrapped in his blankets and buried on the banks of 
 the Republican. 
 
 It was afterwards learned that the parents of these 
 desperadoes were respected and honored citizens of 
 
 i8i 
 
one of the new counties in western Kansas, The 
 degradation to which these young men had fallen 
 and their tragical end, weighed down their parents 
 with grief, and sorrow stricken, caused them to fill 
 untimely graves. 
 
 Another man had come down over the cattle trail 
 from the north riding a "cow pony" and leading a 
 fine bay mare that seemed to incite suspicion. He 
 stopped at Tan Myers in the evening just before sun- 
 down for some provisions, and after being supplied 
 started south over the trail, and but little was thought 
 of the event except that the indication, or at least 
 the suspicions, were that the bay mare might be 
 stolen. 
 
 That night a terrible rain storm came up, which 
 put all the streams out of their banks and made cross- 
 ing them impossible. Next morning Sheriff James, 
 with a deputy from Plum Creek, appeared on the 
 scene looking for the man with the bay mare and 
 the brown pony, stating the mare had been stolen, 
 and called on Tan for information. 
 
 "Yes," said Tan, "that man with those horses 
 started for the Sappa last night after sundown, and 
 as he was a stranger in a strange land to him, he 
 could not have possibly crossed the Sappa before the 
 storm, and now the stream cannot be crossed. The 
 only bridge on the Sappa was carried away by the 
 flood last night, and your man is still on this side, 
 and not more than seven miles away at the furthest. 
 Follow the cattle trail and he will be your prisoner 
 in an hour's time." 
 
 Tan was urged to accompany the sheriff and his 
 deputy, which he did. Sheriff James was a man 
 of unusual proportions, being six feet and five inches 
 in height, and weighed two hundred and forty pounds, 
 
 182 
 
to 
 
 8 
 
 ^ 
 
 t»l 
 
 0^1 
 
 1-^ 
 
 w 
 o 
 
 K 
 CO 
 H 
 
 d 
 
 W 
 
'25uiIDing a il3eUi (Bmpitc 
 
 feared nothing, and was a terror to all evildoers. 
 
 The three men well armed mounted their saddle 
 horses and were oflf, and after riding about three 
 miles over the trail, Tan saw half a mile away, a 
 lone horse, which was evidently fastened to a rope 
 on the prairie. The object was pointed out and a 
 dash made for the horse. The man lay nearby asleep 
 and the other horse was found in a ravine. The horse- 
 men dashed up, guns in hand, and when near the 
 man the command was given: "Hands up," and the 
 man so suddenly aroused from his slumbers, hardly 
 waiting to open his eyes, responded quickly. "Up — 
 up — there, up," and another horse thief was caught 
 red handed with the horse in his possession. 
 
 He was handcufifed with his feet tied under the 
 horse in the usual way, and started back to Dawson 
 County, where he was tried and convicted, and the 
 presiding judge gave him also the usual term of five 
 years in the penitentiary, the same fate that had be- 
 fallen the men who stole the mules. In this manner 
 the war of extermination was kept up, and the luxury 
 of horse stealing was soon considered too hazardous 
 for safety, and the profession was practically aban- 
 doned. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Revival and the Penitentiary. 
 
 As Samantha said, "resumin backwards." During 
 the winter the homesteaders were drawing aid with 
 but little to do but watch the relief come in and draw 
 their portion. Reverend Yamo came in from a buffalo 
 hunt and proposed to preach a sermon, and, if thought 
 advisable, to hold a protracted "meetin' " if the citizens 
 
'ISuilDing a JOeto (Empire 
 
 should approve the plan. Reverend Hobson had ex- 
 pressed his willingness to assist in the good work, 
 so the word was given out that evening service would 
 be held in the school house, and a general invitation 
 was given out for all to come and assist in the good 
 work. Revivals had been held in the older settled 
 countries for ages, and why not here ? 
 
 The time arrived and people came in from all di- 
 rections and services were opened by singing that 
 good, old familiar hymn: "On Jordan's stormy banks 
 I stand and cast a wishful eye," after which a fervent 
 prayer was offered, and then was sung another old 
 revival hymn: "A charge to keep I have." After 
 which the venerable minister from Missouri, and the 
 professional hunter, delivered a sermon that might 
 have been well received in any place forty or fifty 
 years before this time, dealing, as it did, with eternal 
 and everlasting torment to the wicked, the skeptic 
 and the "onbeliever," while those who believed and 
 were "babtized" for the remission of their sins would 
 inherit eternal life in the land of the blessed. 
 
 After the sermon the congregation joined in sing- 
 ing : "I'm glad salvation's free," after which a general 
 love feast was indulged in by different ones relating 
 their experience in their feeble efforts to lead the 
 life of a Christian, and the sentiments seemed to 
 be warming up their sluggish temperaments, and the 
 interest manifested caused the leaders to announce 
 another meeting for the following night. The con- 
 gregation was dismissed by singing the doxology, 
 and a band of young ladies departed, singing: "Oh, 
 for a man — , Oh, for a man — , Oh, for a mansion 
 in the skies," and the refrain was taken up by the 
 young men singing : "Oh, take a pill — , Oh, take a 
 pill — , Oh, take a pilgrim home with you," and in 
 
 184 
 
ft 
 
 2 
 
 ^ 
 
 05 
 
the visions of many of the listeners that night could 
 be heard in the distance the echoes of "Oh, for a 
 mansion in the skies, and take a pilgrim home with 
 you." 
 
 The meeting continued for several nights, and the 
 interest increased until a goodly number who had 
 become lukewarm in their devotional duties were 
 revived to action, and new converts to their religious 
 duties were coming forward every night, and as long 
 as these accessions came the meetings continued, and 
 much good was accomplished. The old familiar 
 hymns were sung and resung, and the Parson from 
 Missouri, with the assistance of Dr. Hobson, had 
 stirred up a religious awakening long to be felt in 
 the new settlement. 
 
 Other ministers followed in after years and efforts 
 were continually being made to build up churches of 
 the different creeds or denominations, but Yamo ex- 
 horted his hearers to follow the Christ as an example 
 of the true Christian. "Don't look upon me as an ex- 
 ample of living Christianity, and don't do as I do, 
 but do as I tell you if you want to be saved." He 
 seemed to realize that his uncouth ways and rough- 
 hewn character molded in the backwoods of Missouri 
 was not a proper example of everyday Christian life, 
 but his admonition always was to look upon Christ 
 as the model Christian, and "do as I speak and not 
 as I do." 
 
 Such was the nature of the first religious awakening 
 in the new country. While the inhabitants were not 
 all Christians, with but few exceptions they were 
 moral, law-abiding citizens. The building of churches 
 had not as yet been seriously considered, but feeble 
 efforts had been made to organize classes representing 
 
 185 
 
IBuflUfttg a Jl3eto empire 
 
 the different denominations, but the efforts were feeble 
 and had not as yet been a marked success. 
 
 When the crops had been destroyed in the early 
 fall by the grasshoppers Tan had stacked his wheat 
 and oats, which was small and not sufficient to feed 
 his little family and his live stock through the winter, 
 and the idea of drawing aid and living on public 
 charity was not to be considered. He was young, 
 stout, able-bodied, and willing to work if work could 
 be had, but the crops had been destroyed in the entire 
 States of Kansas and Nebraska, and hundreds of 
 homesteaders from both States were headed east look- 
 ing for employment of any kind that would help 
 them through the coming winter. Any kind of work 
 at any kind of wages was being sought by the home- 
 steaders on the road headed to the East. A comfortable 
 home in Iowa was awaiting Tan's wife and boy baby 
 for the winter if she would come, and Tan himself 
 was urged to prove up on his claim and leave it, 
 and to regain the position he had left more than 
 two years before, but this did not suit his ideas, and 
 while he was willing to part with the wife and baby 
 for the winter, he must seek employment for himself. 
 
 Many wagons were on the road East. Some looking 
 on the bright side of the event had labeled their wagon 
 covers with mottos such as: "In God we trusted; in 
 Nebraska we busted" ; "Going back to my wife's 
 people," "The pilgrim's return," and like mottoes 
 were seen traveling East every day. Tan decided 
 that if work could be had he would go East, and if 
 not, he would go further west and camp on the buffalo 
 range for the winter and slaughter the buffalo for 
 their hides. 
 
 An influential citizen of Lincoln, whom he had 
 known in Iowa, was written to seeking employment, 
 
 .186 
 
'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpite 
 
 and an answer soon came stating that he could have a 
 position as guard at the penitentiary, and the first 
 vacancy would be held for him. The wife and baby 
 were bundled up and started to the parental roof 
 in Iowa, while Tan put matters in shape for the win- 
 ter, leaving everything but the team in his brother's 
 care, packed his trunk and started for Lincoln, with 
 a view of entering the penitentiary (on a salary). 
 
 A senatorial convention was to be held at Hastings 
 for the purpose of placing in nomination a candidate 
 for State senator to represent a district extending 
 from Johnson County on the east to the Colorado 
 line on the west, a distance of two hundred and eighty- 
 eight miles, and north to the Platte River, leaving out 
 Lancaster, Seward and Hamilton counties, and it was 
 decided at a county convention that Tan Myers and 
 Captain J. H. McKee should represent the county 
 at this convention, which they did on their journey 
 to Lincoln. Delegates and political strikers were 
 there from all over the district, and all who came in 
 by rail were supplied with free transportation. There 
 were two candidates, and the contest was fierce and 
 extremely interesting. One candidate was Judge 
 Morris, of Crete, whose choice for a United States 
 senator to be elected at the coming session of the 
 legislature was General John M. Thayer, who was 
 the candidate of the Burlington system, who were 
 laying their plans to control the convention, and to 
 extend their control to the political situation in the 
 whole South Platte country, as the Union Pacific 
 system was doing in the portion of the State lying 
 north of the Platte River. Backed also by the Bur- 
 lington system was the Lincoln Land Company, who 
 were seeking to control every town site in the Re- 
 publican River valley. 
 
 187 
 
'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpire 
 
 This was plainly evident, as all those from the Re- 
 publican Valley, whether delegates or not, but who 
 were identified with the D. N. Smith interests in 
 town sites, were all to a man positively in favor of 
 Judge Morris for State senator. 
 
 Tan and the Captain were interviewed, talked to, 
 and admonished to vote for Morris, while they were 
 also interviewed by the opposing element. Judge Mor- 
 ris was an able man and no doubt conscientious in his 
 convictions, but these two delegates looked on with 
 suspicion. 
 
 D. N. Smith in his dealings in the Republican Val- 
 ley had never visited the Beaver Valley, but he 
 had changed the location of towns already started 
 in the main valley. He was building the town of 
 Orleans in opposition to Melrose, because his people 
 owned the land on which the town was to stand, and 
 Melrose was owned by private parties who did not 
 care to sell for a pittance. He had secured an interest 
 in the town of Arapahoe, who was contesting the 
 county seat question with Beaver City, where the 
 two delegates were interested. 
 
 Here was the situation : Vote for Morris and you 
 are voting for a great corporation that have interests 
 in court directly in opposition to your own interests. 
 The contest was warming up. The candidate opposing 
 Judge Morris was N. K. Griggs, of Beatrice, and his 
 choice for United States senator was Honorable A. S. 
 Paddock, also of Beatrice. The system did not seem 
 to want this combination, and were straining every 
 efifort to defeat it. The delegates and friends of the 
 Paddock combination also traveled on free transpor- 
 tation to the convention, but it could readily be seen 
 that the railroad influence was being used in the other 
 direction. 
 
 >l88 
 
ISuilHing: a il^eto dBmpire 
 
 Neither Griggs nor Paddock had any interests in 
 the Republican Valley, nor did they have any financial 
 interests backing them from that direction, and the 
 Furnas County delegates saw the breaking light on 
 the political horizon. Noses had been counted, and 
 leaving out the Furnas County delegation Morris was 
 elected by one majority, and if these two votes could 
 be secured Morris' nomination was assured ; and on 
 the other hand the Griggs element was working to 
 make sure of these two votes, which as yet had not 
 been pledged or promised to anyone, but had kept 
 their own counsel, and the members of the conven- 
 tion were waiting with bated breath to know what 
 these two delegates from the short grass country 
 were going to do, for it was now known that on these 
 two votes depended the result of this convention, and 
 no doubt the election of a United States senator to 
 represent the State of Nebraska in the upper house 
 of Congress for the next six years. 
 
 The convention was organized and after the pre- 
 liminaries were formally disposed of, and the candi- 
 dates were put in nomination by eloquent speeches by 
 their chosen orators, a ballot was taken, and when 
 the clerk called Furnas County, two votes, the two 
 delegates from Furnas passed. All other counties 
 voted for the candidates of their choice, and by keep- 
 ing close watch on the vote it was seen that Morris 
 was one ahead without the Furnas County vote. The 
 clerk, while there was perfect quiet in that court 
 room, again in a clear, distinct voice called again 
 Furnas County, two votes, there was no hesitation this 
 time. When Tan rose to his feet, and in a clear, 
 distinct voice answered, "Two votes for N. K. Griggs, 
 of Gage County." 
 
 Cheers for Griggs broke forth from his friends 
 
 189 
 
l5uilDin0 a Beto Empire 
 
 like the explosion of a powder mill, and pandemonium 
 reigned supreme in that court room, and it was diffi- 
 cult to sustain order long enough to announce the 
 result of the ballot which nominated N. K. Griggs 
 for the State senate, and Furnas County had settled 
 the contest, which no doubt decided the United States 
 senatorship for the next six years. 
 
 Tan and the Captain had come to the convention a 
 distance of one hundred and twenty miles with a 
 team and a covered wagon, and when the convention 
 had adjourned they went on to Lincoln with the 
 same conveyance, camping on the prairies at night 
 and sleeping in the covered wagon and getting the 
 full benefit of the fall rains, the abundance of which 
 had never before been seen by the homesteaders of 
 western Nebraska or Kansas. 
 
 Everyone with whom they talked inquired anxiously 
 as to the general conditions out in the State, and 
 whether the people were actually in a suffering condi- 
 tion. The State papers were especially making all 
 possible efforts to arrive at the actual facts. People 
 about Lincoln were as destitute of fuel and provisions 
 as they were in the more western counties, but the 
 conditions were different. The country here had been 
 settled long enough so that people had raised several 
 crops, but in the west part of the State the country 
 was so new to civilization that but little grain had 
 as yet been raised, and the homesteader had exhausted 
 the means brought to the country with him which left 
 him destitute and helpless. He was willing to work, 
 but the difficulty was in finding the work to do. He 
 asked no aid or assistance if he could only find the 
 employment to work his way through the winter 
 and secure feed and seed for the coming spring. 
 
 Tan worked a few days with his team for a lum- 
 
 190 
 
IBuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 ber company, but in the meantime put in an appear- 
 ance and formal application to the Warden of the 
 penitentiary for the promised vacancy when it should 
 occur. Hundreds of idle men were in Lincoln look- 
 ing for work, and would have been glad to work 
 at any kind of work or at any price, if the labor could 
 be had, and day after day honest homesteaders were 
 looking for work which could not be found. 
 
 Tan seemed a little more fortunate in having a 
 few influential friends there who were willing to 
 assist him in obtaining employment. Arrangements 
 had been made for wintering the team and Tan was 
 in a few days notified of a vacancy at the prison, 
 which was being held open for him, and about the 
 middle of October he appeared within the prison gates 
 ready for duty. 
 
 His first orders were to read the rules and to re- 
 member them, and was shown where he was to sleep 
 on a bunk in the guards' room, and he was to eat 
 with the other guards and officers, eat provisions 
 cooked and served by convicts. The next morning 
 before going on duty he was supplied with a Colt's 
 revolver and a needle gun, and given possession of 
 a board tower, on a board wall, the tower being 
 reached by climbing a ladder from the outside. 
 
 The obstruction, called a wall at that time, was 
 neither built of stone, brick or cement. But was sim- 
 ply a fence built about twelve feet high of pine 
 boards standing on end and nailed to a frame similar 
 to a frame for a picket fence, except that it wa' 
 higher, and the towers for the guards were small 
 octagon houses set up on the board walls that af- 
 forded about as much protection from the inclemen- 
 cies of the season as a log house would without 
 chinking or mortar, and would turn a bullet from a 
 
 191 
 
gun in the hands of an escaping convict, or his as- 
 sistant from the outside, equal to a paper balloon. 
 But it was the best the State had at the time, and 
 Tan being a grasshopper sufferer and in need of the 
 small salary provided by the State, he must accept 
 the situation as it was and do his duty. If a con- 
 vict should scale the wall or in any way make his 
 escape the guard at fault lost his job. The guards 
 were a mixed lot of humanity, and among their num- 
 ber was one Irishman, one Frenchman, three dis- 
 charged regular soldiers, one German, one M. D. just 
 out of college, two farmers, one Englishman, and one 
 grasshopper sufferer, besides the Warden, his deputy, 
 a steward, and a shopkeeper and a couple of inside 
 guards. 
 
 With the main prison yet unfinished, and the build- 
 ing used as a prison practically in one room on the 
 ground floor, a cheap pine lattice work built up inside 
 the stone walls of the building, and in this pen of 
 lattice work was herded the prisoners of all classes, 
 and among whom there was some of the most des- 
 perate criminals known to modern civilization, des- 
 peradoes who were a terror to the West and known 
 as desperadoes throughout the whole country. Yet 
 with these conditions and the desperate character of 
 the convicts, no man was allowed to escape. 
 
 Tan was from the West, and having been out 
 on the buffalo range, was supposed to be a good shot, 
 and having seen many wild Indians it was, of course, 
 conceded that he was not what would be called a 
 coward, so he was placed in a tower on the north- 
 west corner of the wall until a more dangerous and 
 hazardous place could be found, which proved to be 
 on the northeast corner, where it was expected the 
 convicts would make a rush for liberty at any time, 
 
 192 
 
IBuilding a n^etti dBmpire 
 
 using stones and stone hammers to batter down the 
 wall, and at least a majority of them make their escape 
 on the open prairie. But the hammering down the 
 tower and the wall on this corner was avoided by 
 Ed. Cochrane, the shopkeeper, causing several wheel- 
 barrow loads of chips, or small stones chipped from 
 the large ones, to be dumped against the north door 
 where it was known the attempt to escape was to be 
 made, and this foresight of the shopkeeper saved Tan 
 from destruction, and prevented his killing some sixty- 
 odd convicts working in the shops. 
 
 One evening a severe wind storm came up accom- 
 panied with a terrific downpour of rain. The wind 
 was one of those terrific wind storms so familiar to the 
 people on the Western plains, and come with such 
 force accompanied with a blinding dust storm, and in 
 much less time than it takes to record one line of the 
 incident, the fence, or board wall fully half the dis- 
 tance around the enclosure was down, and strewn 
 from the prison yard to the railroad track, half a 
 mile away. Some of the convicts were working in 
 the shops, and others were in the yard when the 
 storm came. Not a single tower on the wall was 
 blown down, and the wall guards remained in their 
 places, but confusion and consternation reigned su- 
 preme among the convicts, and the deputy warden 
 had but little difficulty after the rain began to fall 
 to put the convicts in line and march them to the 
 prison. Again, to the credit of the officers and 
 guards, and the lack of nerve or organization by the 
 prisoners not a convict escaped. 
 
 The walls of the new prison were being built partly 
 by convict labor of stone, with iron grates built in the 
 wall for the windows. Convicts were working in 
 and about the yards, some cutting stone, some hauling 
 
 193 
 
'BuilDing a n^eto OBmpire 
 
 away spalls, and some were using derricks for hoist- 
 ing stone. The arched front up to the top of the 
 first story had been completed and much time had 
 been occupied by the best stone cutters to be had, in 
 cutting a chain on the stone up the sides and over 
 the arched doorway on a ball on either side at the 
 base, and one day while the inspectors were looking 
 over the work it was discovered that these balls 
 and a portion of the chains near the base had been cut 
 off with chisel and mallet, but when and by who, 
 was never learned, and the results of a thorough in- 
 vestigation proved of no avail, and the person, who- 
 ever it was, went unpunished for desecrating public 
 property. 
 
 One morning as the autumn advanced the men had 
 been working on the north wall, but the weather 
 was too cold for the mortar and it would freeze while 
 being spread, so the men were called off and put to 
 work in other places about the yard. During the 
 forenoon, after work on the north wall had been 
 abandoned, a convict appeared along the wall as if 
 looking for something that had been lost or left 
 on the works, and Tan was watching his movements, 
 hardly thinking he would attempt to make his escape 
 between two guards near the noon hour, but quickly 
 he swung himself over the window grating and 
 climbed to the ground surveying the situation as if 
 looking for something left by the workmen, but which 
 he found in the nature of a long plank. This he put 
 up to the fence nearby with the intention of scaling 
 the wall. 
 
 Tan had watched every move of the convict and 
 now was certain of the design, and he deliberately 
 leveled his gun on the convict with an order to halt, 
 which the man wearing the stripes did, after he had 
 
 194 
 
'BuilDing a il3eto OBmpite 
 
 made sure the guard was in earnest. He was ordered 
 forward so the guard could get his number, and an 
 inside guard was called to take him to the prison. 
 The guard on the other corner never got out of his 
 cage, nor did the convict escape, but Tan was called 
 to the warden's office and reprimanded for not shoot- 
 ing the convict, but after explaining the whole situa- 
 tion and the circumstances connected with it, and 
 promising faithfully to kill the next convict that 
 made a break for liberty, and quietly saying "halt" 
 after being killed, he was permitted to resume his 
 place as guard, and his little salary moved right 
 along as if nothing had happened. But the other 
 guard who did not succeed in getting out of his cage 
 to assist in preventing the prisoner from scaling the 
 wall, lost his job and his salary was stopped that 
 day at high twelve. 
 
 The prisoners were all herded together at night in 
 the big room or cage made of lattice work before 
 described, with an opening all round between the 
 cage and the wall, and in this place the prisoners 
 were kept except when at work, and in this den of 
 desperadoes, composed of thieves, highway robbers, 
 burglars and murderers, were hatched many plans 
 of escape, but the keeping of one idea ahead of the 
 convicts by the officers and guards was all that kept 
 the convicts inside this makeshift of a prison. 
 
 On the afternoon of January nth, 1875, the climax 
 came, and a mutiny of prisoners seldom, if ever, 
 equaled by a gang of desperate convicts was in full 
 force with the warden in the city, the deputy warden 
 tied up in the shop, and no one to give orders or as- 
 sume command. But few of the present residents of 
 Nebraska know or have ever heard of the mutiny 
 at the penitentiary on January nth, 1875, although it 
 
 195 
 
IBuiltiing: a JI3etti OBmpite 
 
 was widely published in the State papers at the time, 
 and in fact throughout the whole broad land, and went 
 down in history as one of the greatest of its kind 
 in many years. 
 
 The officers of the prison were William Woodhurst, 
 warden; C. J. Nobes, deputy warden; George Cole, 
 clerk and bookkeeper, and the guards were E. Col- 
 cow, Weaver, Tan Myers, Pat Fanning, Julius 
 
 Grosjean, Allen, W. Copeland, B. B. Freeman, 
 
 John Roe, and two or three others, with C. J. Gould 
 and W. W. Abbey, as inspectors, and W. H. B. Stout 
 contractor on the new penitentiary building under con- 
 struction. There had been trouble brewing among 
 the convicts for some time, and by the officers and 
 guards being constantly on the watch a break for 
 liberty had been avoided until the day mentioned. 
 
 After the dinner hour the convicts in the plot led 
 by McWatters, all of whom worked in the old stone 
 shop in the east side of the yard, caught and tied Ed. 
 Cochran, the shopkeeper, a Mr. Fox, the contractor's 
 foreman, and a teamster, and waited for Charlie 
 Nobes, the deputy warden, whose custom was to visit 
 tlie shop at least once during the forenoon. Nobes 
 always looked in at the shop window before entering 
 at the door, but on this occasion the weather was 
 very cold and the windows were covered with frost, 
 so the scene of action on the inside of the shop could 
 not be seen from the outside, and Nobes, on entering 
 the shop, was caught by the fourteen prisoners who 
 had entered into the mutiny, and promptly stripped 
 of his outer clothing and tied to an iron post with 
 straps taken from the harness on the horses used in 
 the yard and shop in moving stone from the yard 
 to the shop, and from the shop to the walls. 
 
 McWatters then donned Nobes clothing, blacked 
 
 196 
 
the sides of his face and his upper lip with the black 
 from a stove poker to represent the deputy's black 
 side whiskers and moustache, and marched eleven of 
 the mutineers to the prison in regular order, armed 
 with stone hammers, and were readily admitted to 
 the prison, the inside guard not detecting the deception 
 until too late. They at once made a rush for the 
 armory adjoining the warden's office, and with their 
 stone hammers battered down the door and secured all 
 the arms and ammunition belonging to the prison, 
 except those in the hands of the outside guards. 
 
 The prison at that time was fenced with pine boards 
 about twelve feet high, and towers for the outside 
 guards were made of the same material and placed 
 on the fence or board wall which afforded very little 
 protection to the guards against needle gun balls. 
 
 The convicts then made a run for the guards' room, 
 and donned citizens' clothing, locking in the cells the 
 inside guards, and when they were ready to make 
 the break for liberty they shot Julius Grosjean, the 
 guard over the gate, one ball going through his coat 
 and another lodging in his knee, which he carried as 
 long as he lived. 
 
 They attempted to pass out at the east door, which 
 was open, but the tower guards had stepped down 
 from their shell towers and taken positions behind the 
 fence or board wall, and when the attempt was made 
 to rush out, a volley of lead was thrown at them, 
 causing them to retire in good order. 
 
 They then attempted to unlock the iron doors on the 
 north and west, but the inside guards had presence 
 of mind enough to give them the wrong keys and 
 they were again balked in their attempt to gain their 
 liberty. 
 
 In the meantime Geo. Cole, the bookkeeper, came 
 
 197 
 
IBuilDing a n^ehJ OBmpire 
 
 out of the prison just as the mutineers went in, word 
 having been sent him by one of the guards that there 
 was something wrong in the shop, and he at once 
 took possession of one of Contractor Stout's bareback 
 mules and went to town for assistance. 
 
 The legislature was in session, and Warden Wood- 
 hurt was found at the capital, who made a quick 
 drive to the prison and both branches of the legis- 
 lature adjourned, and nearly every member, besides 
 hundreds of citizens from Lincoln, were soon on the 
 ground, and all seemed willing to do their part. But 
 there was no organization and no discipline except 
 among the guards, and the few of them who retained 
 their presence of mind, aided by their guns and the 
 appearance of the crowd, kept the prisoners from 
 making their escape, although many shots were fired, 
 both by the "ins and outs." 
 
 Deputy Warden Nobes finally untied the straps 
 from his wrists during the afternoon, and with the 
 aid of a hoe. drove the two convicts away from the 
 door who had been left there to guard him, and 
 came to the fence, where the writer handed him, 
 through a knot hole in the board, a Colt's revolver, 
 and with this he drove his former guards to the 
 north end of the shop and released Cochran, Fox 
 and the teamster. 
 
 We then helped Nobes and Cochran over the fence 
 with ladders, but Fox and the driver remained in the 
 shop all night and until the mutineers surrendered 
 the next morning. 
 
 Governor Furnas, after consulting with the ofifi- 
 cials and members of the legislature, wired General 
 Ord, in command of the Department of the Platte at 
 Omaha, for a company of soldiers, who arrived about 
 midnight, under command of Major Randall, and this 
 
 198 
 
IBuilDing a iI3eUJ OBmpitc 
 
 had a quieting effect on the mutineers, and no further 
 attempt was made to escape, although they were 
 boisterous and fired several shots during the remain- 
 der of the night, and they surrendered to Inspector 
 Gould at nine o'clock the morning of the I2th, who 
 went in and locked them up. 
 
 During all this time Mrs. Woodhurst was a prisoner 
 and rendered valuable assistance to the officers and 
 guards on the outside by passing out through the 
 windows messages and signals, and had it not been 
 for her arguments with the desperadoes they would 
 have burned the prison, thinking by this means they 
 could escape through the excitement. 
 
 McWatters was in for murder for a term of twenty- 
 one years and was the leader of the mutiny. But 
 Garey and Elder were the two bravest men in the 
 mutiny. Others as I remember them were Quinn Bo- 
 hannen, grand larceny, five years; Tom O'Neil, mur- 
 der, from Kearney County; Thomas Kinney, robbery, 
 from Douglas County ; O. P. Wright, highway rob- 
 bery, from Saline County, and John Innings, robbery, 
 from Saline County, were among the mutineers. 
 Garey and Elder were from Otoe County. The other 
 names have passed my memory. 
 
 The convicts at one time threatened to put Mrs. 
 Woodhurst to the front and make a rush for liberty, 
 but the plucky woman defied their attempt, and by 
 her nerve this plan was frustrated and finally aban- 
 doned. During the evening, in an unguarded moment, 
 Mrs. Woodhurst obtained possession of four of their 
 guns and a quantity of ammunition, and locked the 
 guns up in a wardrobe and the cartridges she put 
 in a slop pail. 
 
 McWatters had his neck grazed with a bullet 
 from the outside which would have taken his life had 
 
 199 
 
'Building a j^eto OBmpite 
 
 it been two inches to the right, and an iron bar across 
 a window saved Tom Kinney from death, but aside 
 from the wound received by Julius Grosjean and an 
 accidental shot in the foot received by George Cole, 
 the bookkeeper, no one was seriously injured, and 
 not a convict escaped. McWatters was afterwards 
 shot and killed by Hugh Blaney, who succeeded Tan 
 Myers as guard, and who has since died. 
 
 An investigation by the legislature followed the 
 mutiny, which was in many respects a farce, it being 
 a one-sided affair and in the interest of Woodhurst's 
 dismissal, the committee neglecting to call in wit- 
 nesses who had no interest in the matter, and took 
 the evidence of the worst criminals in the State as 
 more valuable than that of the officers of the prison. 
 Woodhurst finally retired and Governor Garber, who 
 was inaugurated as governor on January the 12th, 
 the day after the mutiny, appointed his successor, who 
 acted as warden for a time, but was found to be a 
 defaulter for several thousand dollars and departed 
 for parts unknown. 
 
 This will be a day long remembered by those who 
 took part in the exciting scenes of the mutiny, and 
 if any of the old guards are living and scan this 
 article they will recognize the incidents of that mem- 
 orable day, and call to mind the worst criminals of 
 the day who originated one of the greatest mutinies 
 of modern times, and yet the most insignificant fail- 
 ure of its kind ever attempted. 
 
 Gradually the mutineers were put to work, first 
 being put in heavy irons, so they would be hampered 
 in any attempt to escape. The mutiny, with the 
 dismal failure to escape, had been very discouraging 
 to the convicts and they readily quieted down to 
 the regular routine of everyday prison life and disci- 
 
 200 
 
15nilhim a jeetti Empire 
 
 pline, but the mutiny had been a trying ordeal on 
 the officers and guards, and when the mutiny was 
 over and quiet restored it was discovered that some 
 of the guards were totally unfit for duty and too 
 nervous to be trusted with a gun. One had dis- 
 charged a revolver while it was in his pocket through 
 his nervous excitement. Another had confidentially 
 told Tan that he knew he was too nervous to remain 
 on duty, and believed he would resign, but Tan ad- 
 vised him to try it a little longer, and asked the deputy 
 warden to put him out with the team a day or two 
 to quiet his nerves, which he did, but it was no use, 
 and he decided to resign and go back to the farm in 
 Richardson County. The two soldiers from the regu- 
 lar army soon quit their jobs, and others took their 
 places, but most of the guards remained on duty, con- 
 sidering the mutiny one of the events of a lifetime 
 with no particular significance. Tan stayed with the 
 job until the first of March, when he resigned and re- 
 turned to the homestead. 
 
 After the legislative committee had gotten through 
 with their farce and had taken depositions of the 
 worst criminals of the West who cared nothing for 
 their oath, and had no reputation at stake, and who 
 had refused to call in as witnesses such men as Ed. 
 Cochran and Tan Myers, who knew the situation 
 perfectly, and placed all responsibility on Warden 
 Woodhurst, and in fear of losing his place, discharged 
 the deputy warden and some of the guards, which 
 proved his undoing, and the prison was put tempo- 
 rarily in charge of Charlie Gould, the resident in- 
 spector, who was soon relieved by Captain Wyman. 
 
 While the tumult was in progress at the peniten- 
 tiary homesteaders all over the State were drawing 
 aid, generously donated by the people of the East, 
 
 201 
 
13uilDin9: a n^eto OBmpite 
 
 and while Tan was earning a little money to be used 
 in another attempt to raise a crop in the new country, 
 others were idling away their time and living on 
 public charity, which, under general conditions, would 
 not have been accepted. But this was a scourge, a 
 calamity, an act of providence which could not be 
 avoided, and for which no person was responsible. 
 Stout, able and willing men, who were able to per- 
 form manual labor and would have gladly accepted 
 work of any kind or at any price, but it could not 
 be had. Grasshopper sufferers from the West were 
 in search of work everywhere, and in the devastated 
 country no work was to be had, and in the more 
 fortunate districts east of the Missouri River there 
 was occasionally a man needing help, but the appli- 
 cants for a solitary job came in fives, tens and twen- 
 ties. Calamity had '^oine to these people as a fire, 
 flood or tornado, and destroyed the sustenance of a 
 people, that under ordinary circumstances, were self- 
 supporting, but they had been visited by a dire 
 calamity which made them dependent as paupers, and 
 as helpless as infants. 
 
 It was truly humiliating to these strong, willing 
 hands who, had conditions been different, would have 
 laughed to scorn the proffer of aid from a generous 
 public. The aid was offered and reluctantly taken 
 by a majority of the people, while there was a few 
 who took all they could get and would have taken 
 their neighbor's share also if it were possible to do so. 
 
 Aid consisting of seed for planting and feed for 
 the teams was issued in addition to the other articles 
 of relief, and the homesteaders were again placed in 
 a position to make a new start toward farming and 
 putting himself in a position to be self-sustaining. As 
 the spring advanced work progressed on the home- 
 
 202 
 
steads with willing hands by those who had remained 
 on their claims, or who had gone for the winter and 
 returned, but many had gone never to return, some 
 abandoning their new homes and had gone to the 
 mountains for work, and others had gone to the Pa- 
 cific coast, never expecting to see the wilds of western 
 Nebraska or Kansas again. 
 
 Rains came and moistened the warm earth and 
 vegetation came forth in abundance, and the new 
 empire produced crops that would have been the 
 pride of any of the older settled States, and the home- 
 steaders were well paid for their summer's work, 
 and plenty reigned supreme in the land of the wild 
 West both for man and beast, and the experience of 
 the past few years had proven clearly that the smaller 
 grains could be grown successfully, but the hot 
 winds, drouth and grasshoppers were detrimental to 
 raising Indian corn successfully. 
 
 Captain McKee had said, confidentially, "That this 
 country would be all right if we could only have a 
 little more rain," and Reverend Yamo replied that, 
 "Purgatory would be a better country if they had 
 plenty of water," and both statements were no doubt 
 true, especially of western Nebraska. 
 
 One of the settlers in the West had become dis- 
 couraged with the conditions in the West, and espe- 
 cially of the wind and dust, and returned to one of 
 the Eastern States during the grasshopper trouble, and 
 was taken very sick, and after a time his condition 
 became very serious and his life was given up as a 
 hopeless case, but the physician in charge decided to 
 give him one more chance for his life, and put him 
 in a dirt bath, which soon revived the patient, and 
 on regaining consciousness he found himself covered 
 with dirt, and at once told his friends who were 
 
 203i 
 
IBuilDinff a Jl^eto OBmpite 
 
 around what was supposed to be his death bed, that he 
 was all right and would soon be well, and how glad 
 he was to be back in Nebraska. Suffice it to say that 
 he soon recovered and told his friends that when 
 he first began to regain consciousness he really thought 
 he was in a Nebraska dust storm. 
 
 Tan and his friends had thought many times of 
 the advice given by Captain Garber and others about 
 going too far West. He had told the people going 
 farther west that there was less rainfall, more hot 
 winds and more danger from the Indians. But the 
 Indian they had seen practically settled by placing 
 the hostile Indians on reservations, to be properly 
 guarded by United States soldiers, but the hot winds 
 from the southwest sweeping i ver the barren deserts 
 of western Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, 
 was far beyond a solutior.. No doubt they had swept 
 over this desolate country for ages, and the glaring 
 heat of the sun on the sandy desert, and the short, 
 dry bufifalo grass, add heat to the surface and fury 
 to the wind, and what could a settlement of home- 
 steaders do to stay the winds in their withering heat 
 and destruction as they passed over these vast plains, 
 carrying the fine sands and dust in their passage 
 northward, to be brought back again in the cold, 
 chilly blasts of fall and winter? 
 
 If the Government could only be induced to build 
 storage dams in the canons and draw? of the south- 
 west to store water flowing from the melting mountain 
 snows, and the valley rains when there was a sur- 
 plus, it would no doubt temper the hot winds, cause 
 more evaporation, and consequently more rain in 
 this dry country. But could this be done, and could 
 the great Government of the United States be in- 
 duced to expend millions of dollars in reclaiming a 
 
 204 
 
'BuilDing a Jl5eto OBmpite 
 
 country, which a few years ago had been called the 
 Great American Desert, and which now was being 
 occupied by venturesome homesteaders, who were 
 attempting to supersede the Indian, the Government 
 scout, and the buffalo? 
 
 About this time Tan Myers was advocating a propo- 
 sition that a law should be passed compelling every 
 settler who had a draw on his claim to build a dam 
 in which to store the surplus water that flows to the 
 Gulf during every hard rain, and for the Government 
 to, in like manner, look after the large canons. Then 
 as the ground becomes cultivated it will better retain 
 the moisture, and every forty acres put in cultivation 
 would be equal to damming a draw, which with Gov- 
 ernment aid it was believed that this theory would, in 
 a short time, produce plenty of moisture for all prac- 
 tical purposes, and would make a fine agricultural 
 country, from the barren plains of the whole West. 
 This theory, however, hardly reached the eastern bor- 
 ders of the States interested, and the draws were 
 not dammed, but who in traveling over these track- 
 less plains, before practical civilization, that did not 
 damn the draws ? Who is there in the West, crossing 
 from one divide to another, that did not damn the 
 draws? Who is there, wanting to go from one place 
 to another, with no road or path except the buffalo 
 trail, that did not damn the draws? This matter 
 was thoroughly discussed by the settlers, and the rep- 
 resentatives in Congress were asked to use their in- 
 fluence along this line, and the legislature was asked 
 to pass a law compelling every homesteader to dam 
 a draw, but at the time it claimed no attention of the 
 wise lawmakers of the country. 
 
 Senator A. S. Paddock at the time of his election 
 to the United States senate, began the preliminary 
 
 205 
 
OBuiltiing a Betu (Empire 
 
 work on a "pure food" bill and devoted a good por- 
 tion of his time for the twelve years he was in the 
 senate to pass his pet "pure food" bill but he was 
 unsuccessful in the attempt, but in recent years the 
 members of Congress have "seen the light" and have 
 spent millions of dollars in water storage for the 
 purpose of reclaiming the great West, and the enforce- 
 ment of a pure food bill passed by the wisdom of 
 Congress, both measures being first agitated by peo- 
 ple of the State of Nebraska when it was in its 
 infancy. It was thought at first that the idea would 
 work out all right, but it was of such stupendous 
 magnitude at the time that Congress hooted the idea 
 and said, "Damn the draws." 
 
 There was yet millions of acres of good tillable 
 land farther east in the rain belt that could be bought 
 at a very low price and on long payments, and the 
 progress of civilization to the extreme West, crowd- 
 ing the Indian from his hunting grounds, and the 
 buffalo from their range, had but Httle sympathy 
 in the East, and damming the draws was scoffed by 
 the lawmakers of the Eastern States, and was car- 
 ried to the extreme of being used as a by-word. 
 "Damming the draws" and the "pure food law" were 
 classed together as being unwise and impracticable 
 by the same Congress and the same body of law- 
 makers, who in after years saw the wisdom of such 
 measures and made laws putting both ideas into laws 
 and in practical operation, as measures of great im- 
 portance to the American people. 
 
 206 
 
CHAPTER XV? 
 
 The Post Office Robbery. 
 
 The mail was now being brought in with a two- 
 horse covered hack or spring wagon from Orleans, 
 which had outlived Melrose, and was the principal 
 town in the valley so far West. The mail arrived 
 in the evening and departed in the early morning 
 about seven o'clock. 
 
 One morning on opening the store in which the 
 post office was kept, it was discovered that one of 
 the back windows of the building had been forced 
 open and the office entered through this opening from 
 the outside. Petty thefts had been going on for 
 some time, houses had been entered and plundered 
 during the absence of the owners, articles of value 
 had been stolen from the stores, and tools and imple- 
 ments had been taken, but nothing as bold as a 
 post office robbery had been undertaken in this part 
 of the newly settled country since the white man had 
 invaded the Indians' hunting ground, but here was 
 a crime committed in the little town against the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States ihat would be investi- 
 gated by the post office authorities, and if the perpe- 
 trators of the crime were apprehended they would be 
 handled by the United States courts. 
 
 Further investigation by the postmaster developed 
 the fact that the window had been forced open with 
 tools taken from the blacksmith shop, and a shoe 
 knife had been used to cut open the mail bag, and a 
 large number of letters had been torn open, and all 
 registered mail had been stolen. Stamps, stamped en- 
 
 207 
 
'BuUDing a Ji3eto Cmpite 
 
 velopes and postal cards were all gone, and in fact 
 nothing of value left in the office. Further develop- 
 ments showed the blacksmith shop had been forced 
 open and the tools taken for the purpose of breaking 
 open the post office window. 
 
 The shoemaker soon appeared on the scene and 
 stated the shoe knife used was his and it was soon 
 learned that his shoe shop was still locked, and the 
 windows were securely fastened, and no one but the 
 shoemaker had access to the shop or a key that would 
 open it, so people began to look wise and talk in 
 pairs or in small groups very confidentially, and pub- 
 licly wondered how this knife, which the shoemaker 
 claimed as his, happened to be in the post office, and 
 no one but the owner identify the knife as his prop- 
 erty, which he frankly acknowledged was his, and 
 yet his shop was intact and apparently had not been 
 molested. 
 
 Suspicion began at once to rest on the shoemaker, 
 and public sentiment was decidedly prejudiced against 
 him, and it became the general opinion that he was 
 the guilty party. He was a gambler, a sport, and 
 an expert at the shell game, and had been known to 
 raise a two dollar bill to a twenty and sell it for ten 
 dollars. He worked at shoemaking, but his chosen 
 profession was gambling, and his deepest study was 
 to get something for nothing. All these facts were 
 known and, of course, his reputation in the community 
 was not the best. His past record in the East had 
 followed him when he came to the land of the home- 
 steader. 
 
 The sheriff quietly worked on the theory that other 
 parties had done the work, and had purposely stolen 
 the shoemaker's knife and used it in cutting the mail 
 bags, leaving it in the office to cast suspicion on the 
 
 208 
 
IBuilDing a Ji^eto OBmpire 
 
 shoemaker. If he was guilty why did he admit the 
 knife was his? Yet the postmaster and the citizens 
 generally believed him guilty, but the sheriff and a 
 few of his confidential friends believed the guilt laid 
 elsewhere, with the result that no arrests were made 
 and the guilty man, or men, were still at large. A 
 post office inspector visited the place and made an 
 investigation, but returned to Omaha empty-handed 
 and no wiser than when he came. 
 
 The robbery had been a success and as yet no ar- 
 rests had been made and the guilty parties were quietly 
 enjoying the fruits of their successful robbery. The 
 event had become as a matter of history in the new 
 country, no one had suflfered but the Government, 
 no prospect of bringing the guilty parties to justice, 
 and was beginning to pass as one of the circumstances 
 of a lifetime. A new supply of stamped envelopes, 
 stamps and postal cards had been furnished by the 
 department at Washington to replace the ones stolen, 
 when, to the surprise of everybody, the post office 
 was again robbed in a similar manner as before, and 
 all the valuables taken from the office, including 
 stamps, envelopes, cards and the registered mail. ; 
 
 There was snow on the ground at the time of the 
 last robbery, but the snow had been tramped in every 
 direction until tracking a thief in the snow was a 
 difficult matter, and other means of tracing the thief 
 or thieves must be adopted. There was one Jim Wil- 
 son living there at the time who had registered a letter 
 the day previous to be taken out on the early morning 
 hack, saying it contained thirty dollars which he was 
 sending to his mother in New Jersey, and this letter, 
 with many others, was taken with the registered mail. 
 Wilson claimed this was about all the money he had, 
 and the people of the comm.unity sympathized with 
 
 209 
 
OBuiltiing a Jl^eUi OBmpire 
 
 him and felt sorry for him in his misfortune. The 
 people were now fully aroused that the post office 
 should be robbed twice in three weeks, and no more 
 was known as to the guilty party or parties than 
 when it was first robbed three weeks ago, but every- 
 body was talking of the robbery, and but little else was 
 occupying the minds of the people at the time. Jim 
 Wilson mingled with the crowd and talked freely 
 with all in regard to the robbery and the loss of his 
 money, and Tom Jones, his most intimate friend, was 
 untiring in his efforts to run down the guilty parties 
 who would come into a quiet, peaceable community, 
 and rob the post office, and remarks accusing the 
 shoemaker-gambler of the robbery were now more 
 frequent than on the former occasion, and the belief 
 that he was the guilty party became more general. 
 Wilson and Jones were very positive in their belief 
 that the shoemaker was guilty, and used every oppor- 
 tunity to impress this fact on the minds of the people. 
 
 Tan talked the matter over confidentially with the 
 sheriff, who were both of the opinion that the shoe- 
 maker was not guilty of the robbery and that there 
 was no evidence in sight warranting the suspicion 
 that he was guilty of the crime. Wilson had been 
 staying with a family living in a house joining 
 town by the name of Phelps. Mr. Phelps was inter- 
 viewed by Tan and the sheriff as to Wilson's where- 
 abouts on the nights of the robberies, and Mr. Phelps 
 declared positively that Wilson was at his house on 
 both nights and could not have possibly gone away 
 from the house and returned without his knowing 
 it, and the idea of his committing the crime was ridi- 
 culed, and there could be no possibility of his guilt. 
 
 The sheriff and Tan walked away with no consola- 
 tion from this source, but before leaving Mr. Phelps 
 
 2IO 
 
IBuillrinjjra il3eUJ €mpire 
 
 advised him to examine his oil can and his door 
 hinges, which he agreed to do, saying that the com- 
 mon hinges on the rough door always creaked as the 
 door was opened and shut and this convinced him 
 that Wilson could not have been out of the house 
 either time the office had been robbed. 
 
 Phelps went home and soon returned for a further 
 interview with the sheriff and Tan, and excitedly told 
 them that the hinges to the door had been greased 
 and they opened and shut without the least noise, a 
 fact which he had not noticed until the matter had 
 been called to his attention. 
 
 Myers believed that Wilson had robbed the post 
 office on both occasions, and that he alone had com- 
 mitted the crime, although a glow of suspicion was 
 cast on his friend Jones, and reasoned with the sheriff 
 that Wilson had dropped in there a total stranger a 
 year before, no one knew him, nor did anyone know 
 anything of his past record or his history, and it 
 was not known that he had a friend or acquaintance 
 in the West. He claimed to have come from New 
 Jersey, but we only had his word for it. About the 
 time Wilson appeared on the scene, Tom Jones, also 
 a total stranger, came to the new West, and it was not 
 long until they had homesteaded adjoining claims 
 and were usually seen together. No one knew then 
 anything about the past history of either. Wilson or 
 Jones, who they were or where they had come from, 
 except their own statements, and although Mr. Phelps 
 had been quite positive in his opinion that Wilson 
 could not have left the small house in which they 
 lived on the nights of the robberies without its being 
 known. Tan reasoned that he could, and when the 
 greased hinges was called to the attention of Mr. 
 Phelps he had somewhat changed his mind. The 
 
 211 
 
'BuilDing a Jl3eto OBmpire 
 
 shoe knife left in the post office he reasoned was only 
 done for the purpose of directing suspicion to the 
 shoemaker. 
 
 Wilson and Jones had been met on the roads at 
 night on several occasions with no visible excuse, and 
 while there was no apparent evidence against these 
 parties the sheriff and Tan had agreed in their minds 
 that the robbery of the post office would eventually 
 be traced to these parties. 
 
 The postmaster thought differently and secured the 
 arrest of the shoemaker through a warrant issued 
 by the United States commissioner at Bloomington, 
 and he was arrested by a Deputy United States Mar- 
 shal and taken before the commissioner for investiga- 
 tion. The shoe knife and his general reputation was 
 about the only evidence against him. He was shown 
 up to the commissioner as a gambler, but there was 
 no evidence against him of robbery and he was dis- 
 charged. 
 
 Time gradually wore along with no evidence to 
 justify any further arrests, and Wilson and Jones 
 mailed letters frequently, and it was noticed that 
 they bought no postage stamps, but they were not 
 molested. Houses were frequently robbed by being 
 entered while the occupants were temporarily absent 
 and various articles stolen. Articles were also missed 
 from the stores, and who the guilty parties were that 
 was doing all this petty pilfering was a mystery 
 yet unsolved. The man, or men, who had robbed the 
 post office were yet unknown and unpunished. The 
 few in the confidence of the sheriff were confident 
 that Wilson and Jones had committed the robbery, 
 or knew something about it, while the postmaster and 
 the general public were still of the opinion that the 
 shoemaker was guilty, although the United States 
 
 212 
 
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'ISuilDing a Jl3eUi OBmpite 
 
 Commissioner had discharged him for the want of 
 evidence to convict. The post office robbery was grad- 
 ually passing from view and becoming an event of 
 the past and other things were occupying the attention 
 of the people. 
 
 After the last part of the winter and the summer 
 had passed and it came time to gather the crop of 
 corn, a homesteader came in one day to consult 
 the county judge and the sheriff, to whom he stated 
 that someone the previous night had stolen a load 
 of corn from his crib, and he had followed the trail 
 of the wagon across the dry buffalo grass for several 
 miles, when it had turned to a sod house out three 
 miles from town. A complaint was filed with the 
 judge accusing the occupants of the sod house with 
 the theft of the corn, and asking that a search war- 
 rant be issued. The judge responded to the prayer 
 of the petitioner and a warrant was issued command- 
 ing the sheriff to search the premises of one Jim 
 Wilson, occupied also by one Tom Jones, for the 
 stolen corn or other stolen property, and if found, to 
 arrest Jim Wilson and Tom Jones and bring them into 
 court. 
 
 The sheriff quietly informed Tan of having the 
 warrant in his possession, and expressed the hope 
 that now he might be able to develop some of the 
 many small crimes and misdemeanors committed in 
 the vicinity within the past year or more. Tan ad- 
 vised the sheriff to use that search warrant "to the 
 limit," and give the premises a general overhauling, 
 and to be sure that everything in the house and about 
 the premises were carefully looked over. 
 
 The search was made by the sheriff and his two 
 assistants with the man who lost the corn in the com- 
 pany to identify his property. The corn stolen the 
 
 213 
 
ISuilDing a K3eto OBmpitc 
 
 night before was found in a shed near the house, 
 and Wilson and Jones were at once placed under ar- 
 rest, and an attempt made to complete the search of 
 the premises, to which Wilson and Jones entered 
 a vigorous protest, telling the sheriff he had no right 
 to extend the search after finding the corn, but the 
 protest only convinced the sheriff that the search 
 should be completed, which he did. 
 
 In the house and barn he found stolen articles of 
 all descriptions from a pocket knife to a grindstone ; 
 wrenches, chains, dishes, shovels, carpenter tools of 
 all kinds, shoes, clothing, blacksmith tools, house- 
 hold goods of all kinds, some articles new and some 
 were old, and in one corner of the house stood an 
 innocent-looking barrel covered over with boards and 
 used as a stand; but with its simplicity it had a 
 suspicious look to the sheriff and he concluded to 
 open it, and there carefully packed away in that inno- 
 cent-looking barrel used as a stand was the results 
 of two post office robberies, consisting of stamps, 
 cards, stamped envelopes and general post office sup- 
 plies sufficient to establish a fair-sized post office. 
 The shoemaker had been vindicated and exonerated 
 from all blame in the robbery of the office. The pris- 
 oners were taken into court together with the postal 
 supplies and three big wagon loads of other stolen 
 plunder. 
 
 It was thought best to let the United States au- 
 thorities prosecute the prisoners for the robbery of 
 the post office, and they were turned over to a Deputy 
 United States Marshal and taken to Omaha, where 
 they were tried and sent to the penitentiary for rob- 
 bing the mails. The other plunder gathered from this 
 little homestead was stored in a livery barn, and 
 most of it was claimed by merchants and citizens as 
 
 214 
 
'Bull Ding a il^etti OBmpite 
 
 stolen property, and the articles remaining unclaimed 
 were sold at auction after a few months on Wilson's 
 order. The little gang was broken up, petty thieving 
 ceased, and the post office was no more molested. 
 
 It has been a noted fact in all new countries that 
 the criminal element will follow civilization, being 
 driven from their usual haunts in the East by the 
 officers of the law, they seek new fields in which to 
 operate among strangers, and pose as law-abiding citi- 
 zens until their acts become so bold, or an act of bad 
 judgment brings them to justice. 
 
 By this time the new West was beginning to as- 
 sume the importance of the older sections of the 
 country farther east. The Indians had been driven 
 farther west step by step, and finally to the reservation 
 by the slaughter of the buffalo and other wild game, 
 leaving the plains desolate and devoid of game. The 
 remaining herds of wild horses had been captured, 
 and they were now being used as domestic animals. 
 A few herds of young buffalo were being propagated 
 with domestic animals, and some were worked as oxen 
 on the farms. Schools and churches had been estab- 
 lished in this broad new land. A homesteader had 
 been elected governor for the second term, and one 
 of the newest counties had decided indirectly who 
 should represent the State in the United States sen- 
 ate. Pilferers, post office robbers, and horse thieves 
 had been run down, and were serving terms in the 
 penitentiaries or the buffalo' grass growing over their 
 graves. Men of merit and integrity were holding the 
 positions of trust. Aid had been donated by the gen- 
 erous people of the East to tide the homesteaders over 
 an unforeseen and unavoidable calamity. Many secret 
 societies had been organized in the new West, in- 
 cluding the Grange, purely a farmers' organization. 
 
 2I5J 
 
'BuilDing a il3etn Cmpite 
 
 New judicial districts had been established by the 
 adoption of the new constitution in 1875, and judges 
 elected to preside in the courts of the new counties 
 where no courts had ever been held before. This 
 was a new departure from the provisions of the old 
 constitution, which provided for three district judges, 
 and these three judges composed the supreme court of 
 the State. 
 
 The judges in the western counties had many vex- 
 ing problems to solve. County seat contests in their 
 various forms were to be settled in a majority of the 
 frontier counties, criminals who had drifted into this 
 new country, like the quail, mink, and the prairie 
 chicken following up civilization were to be dealt 
 with, and the newly elected judges elected in their 
 respective districts realized that they were making- 
 judicial history for future generations, and that many 
 legal questions, some of them entirely new to them, 
 would be up for decisions, and many of them would 
 eventually go to the supreme court for final hearing, 
 and that the courts of this new country would be 
 growing to more importance every year. 
 
 In a judicial district of southwestern Nebraska, 
 extending from Clay County on the east to the Colo- 
 rado line on the west, and from the Kansas line on 
 the south to the uninhabited country north of the 
 Union Pacific railroad on the north, and in this dis- 
 trict was elected a judge who soon became well known 
 in the State, and in a few years was talked of through- 
 out the nation. His opinions were his own, and his 
 characteristics were different in many ways from oth- 
 ers. He was honest in every sense of the word, a 
 woman hater, positive in his decisions, and always 
 on time, and a terror to all evildoers. He invariably 
 emphasized the word economy in the managements 
 
 216 
 
'Bull Ding a il3eto Cmpite 
 
 of the courts and the holding of juries. If court was 
 called for a certain day and hour you could be sure 
 that at the exact time specified he was in his seat 
 with the order: "Sheriff, call court," and it was ex- 
 pected that everybody was ready for business, yet 
 he was just to everyone and had no favorites. He 
 was opposed to grand juries, and on one occasion he 
 gave the following charge to a grand jury which had 
 been called for a term of court in one of the western 
 counties : 
 
 "Gentlemen of the grand jury, you are a relic of 
 the dark ages. In the ancient days of one-man mon- 
 archical power, possibly they were desirable in the 
 protection of liberty for the individual, but now con- 
 ditions have changed, and you are no longer a neces- 
 sity, but inasmuch as the constitution of the State 
 has authorized you, the legislature of this State has 
 constituted you, I am bound to recognize you as a 
 branch of this court. But I charge you that if any of 
 you prolong your session longer than is absolutely 
 necessary, for the purpose of augmenting your per 
 diem, thus becoming a useless expense to the county, I 
 will at once discharge you as a set of public plunder- 
 ers and grafters. You will retire to your rooms ac- 
 companied by the bailiff and transact what little busi- 
 ness you have to do with all convenient speed." 
 
 At one time he was to hold a regular term of court 
 at Alma, and he was promptly on hand as usual, and 
 on convening court he called twenty cases on the 
 docket, but no one seemed to be ready for trial. He 
 looked over the court room and at the attorneys, say- 
 ing: "The jury is discharged. Sheriff, adjourn court 
 till the fall term," with the remark that perhaps the 
 attorneys would be ready by that time. 
 
 At another time when Sidney was a wide open 
 
 217 
 
"BuilDing a Jl^eto (Empire 
 
 town, and outfitting point for the Black Hills and 
 many cattle ranches, two important criminal cases 
 were tried, one of the defendants being accused of 
 arson, and the other for murder, and while the evi- 
 dence was positively in favor of conviction, but the 
 jury had been "fixed," and they were acquitted by the 
 jury, which very much displeased the judge. The next 
 for trial was a boy, seventeen years old, without home 
 or friends, for stealing a twenty-dollar pony, and 
 he was promptly convicted. The judge looked over 
 the court room, and in his sarcastic manner told the 
 people "that any community that would turn a man 
 loose who had wilfully burned his neighbor's property, 
 and another that had committed a cold-blooded mur- 
 der, ought to have a horse thief with them," and 
 turning to the boy, said : "Young man, go your way ; 
 I will never pass sentence on you." 
 
 A man had sued a farmer for a job of breaking 
 prairie, which the farmer had refused to pay on 
 account of the bad work the man had done for him, 
 and the case was on trial, and a portion of the evi- 
 dence was in when court adjourned until eight o'clock 
 the next morning. The judge came pufiing in promptly 
 on time as usual, and when the attorney began to call 
 witnesses for the completion of the trial, the judge 
 said : "No more evidence is necessary in this case, 
 as I have been out to see the job and must say it is 
 the worst job of breaking that I ever saw, and the 
 case is dismissed." 
 
 This was the same judge that tried the Olive broth- 
 ers for the murder of Mitchell and Ketchum. Olives 
 had a cattle ranch in Custer County, and the other 
 two men had taken homesteads in the vicinity of the 
 cattle ranch, and the Olives did not want any attempt 
 at fanning in that vicinity, and trumped up a charge 
 
 2l8, 
 
'BuilDing a il5eto OBmpfte 
 
 of cattle stealing against the two homesteaders, and 
 murdered them in the most brutal manner, and it was 
 said that they saturated the clothing of Mitchell and 
 Ketchum and burned them after being killed. The 
 Olive brothers were wealthy and men of influence, 
 but were arrested and brought to trial in Adams 
 County, and finally convicted of manslaughter. During 
 the trial threats of vengeance was made against the 
 judge and the prosecuting attorney, and many extra 
 deputy sheriffs were sworn in to prevent trouble, and 
 the judge sat during that trial with a big revolver on 
 his desk, to assist in protecting the dignity of the 
 court. These men were finally convicted and landed 
 in the penitentiary, but their money and influence got 
 a new hearing in the case and by an order of the 
 supreme court they were sent back to Custer County 
 for a new trial ; but the prosecuting witnesses had 
 abandoned the country, and no one was left to push 
 the prosecution, and no one appeared against them, 
 and they were released and went unpunished. 
 
 Some of the judge's decisions were reversed by the 
 supreme court, and as many of the inhabitants thought 
 too many of them were being reversed, but the judge 
 kept right along doing his duty, and at one of the 
 county seats in his district during a term of court 
 two cattle and horse thieves, who were being held in 
 jail, were taken out and hung to a railroad bridge by 
 a mob, and the next morning the judge, through curi- 
 osity, went to see the bodies before they were taken 
 down, and remarked there was two cases the supreme 
 court would not reverse. 
 
 Enough could be said of the experience of this man 
 presiding over the frontier courts to fill a volume, but 
 will only say that he was the right man in the right 
 place, and brought order out^ of confusion, and in a 
 
 219 
 
few years cattle and horse stealing was not popular. 
 
 Crimes of all kinds decreased as the population in- 
 creased and much of this was due to Judge William 
 Gaslin, who was born in the State of Maine, but 
 chose to make a home in the far West and help to 
 build a new empire and to make much of its judicial 
 history. 
 
 Scenes had been witnessed in this new country 
 that would never be seen by future generations. The 
 wild game, the Government scouts, the roving bands 
 of hostile Indians, the cattle trail, the cowboys, were 
 now of the past and would be seen no more. They 
 had in a few short years become a history to be told 
 and read to oncoming generations. 
 
 Here we leave Tan with his little family and many 
 associates, including the minister from Missouri, who 
 had endured the hardships of a frontier life in the 
 wild West, but were now enjoying the fruits of their 
 labor and experience in more commodious dwellings, 
 and surrounding happy firesides. 
 
 The frontier experience of the past is now a his- 
 tory, and reads like a vivid dream. The hostile 
 Indian is no more to be seen traveling the dismal 
 trail of the forest, or following the path of the buffalo 
 on the vast plains of the West. The fearful prairie 
 fires, dreaded alike by emigrant and homesteader, 
 has been checked by civilization and the cultivation 
 of the soil. The reckless destruction of the thousands 
 upon thousands of wild buffalo, deer, antelope and 
 elk has driven the red man to the reservation, and 
 the white man to the plow. The cattle trail is extinct, 
 and the cowboy is no more. The hand of civilization 
 is now to be seen, where a few years ago the wild 
 scenes of an untamed frontier were only visible. The 
 telephone has taken the place of the horseback mes- 
 
 220 
 
'BuilDing a Beto OBmpite 
 
 senger. The railroads have replaced the freight 
 wagons and the stage coaches, and the automobiles are 
 now traveling the trails blazed by the driver of the 
 ox teams, and a day's journey in the early '70s, when 
 this new empire was opened to civilization, is to-day 
 a thirty minutes' task. All these wild scenes of a 
 few years ago have disappeared and civilization has 
 replaced them. Even the cowboys of the plains are 
 of the past, and the scenes once so common in the 
 wild West are no more. 
 
 THE END, 
 
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|>EC 24 19^0 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div.