NEGenWeb Project
Nance County

 

Clark Cooncey located his ranch on Council Creek, and Andrew Erickson squatted near the mouth of the Cedar, on the east side. Later in the season, September, Frank Hodges cast anchor on the magnificent farm now owned by him, just below the mouth of Timber Creek. Eric Nelson and Andrew Thompson located between Council and Plum Creeks. In October, Henry L. Vandewalker, Frank S. Gay, Wm. Barton and Jacob Piatt, with their families, comprising in all sixteen souls, settled on Timber Creek around what was then called the "big grove," being the largest body of timber in the county. W. H. Bowman, from Minnesota, about this time located on the ranch now owned by Elmer Crow, and Alfred Bixby, from Emmett county, Iowa, with his three sons, Edward, John and Charles, located on the farm now owned by M. S. Lindsay and operated by Samuel Clayton.

     August 16, 1877, the board appointed to appraise the reservation lands sent in their report to Secretary Schurz, by whom it was approved, November 17, 1877. The land was appraised at from $2.50 to $6 per acre, and it has been reported, whether true or not we do not know, that the "year spent by the appraisers in viewing every quarter section of land comprising the reservation was spent at the government building at Genoa, in viewing the surveyor's plat and having a good time generally." Our readers have right to doubt this version of the matter, though it is not entirely an unreasonable one.

     In the summer of 1877 O. H. Crow returned from Minnesota, accompanied by his brother Elmer. They brought a small drove of cattle. Randall Fuller also brought another herd to summer on the rich grasses of the Loup and Cedar valleys. D. A. and George Willard, with an eye to future possibilities, took squatter's possession of the town site of Genoa. The winter of '77-8 was an exceptionally open and lovely winter, which made things much more tolerable for the settlers on the reserve. But, nevertheless, few of them fared sumptuously. The nearest attainable market place was Albion, and Columbus was the nearest railroad point. The settlers traded fence posts with the farmers of Boone county at the rate of a load of posts for eight or ten bushels of wheat, which they would take to the Albion mill to be ground. Bob Compton furnished the settlers with plenty of juicy, grass-fed pork, and all who possessed firearms helped themselves to rabbits and prairie hens. Potatoes were hard to get, but corn meal was plenty, and mush and milk flowed freely on every hand. Money was scarce, and Bill Bowman, who has justly earned the title of "William the Truthful," states upon his word as a Christian gentleman, that for one whole year the only approach to currency in his possession was a three-cent stamp.

     During the spring of 1875, news having reached the Interior Department at Washington that the settlers of Merrick, Platte and Boone counties were stripping the reservation of its most valuable timber, Deputy U. S. Marshall Ball of Omaha was directed to make a descent upon the rascals, and forthwith bring them before the high tribunal of the U. S. Circuit Court, then in session at Omaha. The order was quickly obeyed, and more than forty innocent wood gatherers were rounded up for trial within three days. Several were captured in the very act of cutting down the timber. Others were drawing it home, and a few were arrested wholly on suspicion. It was a motley throng of very blue looking men that boarded the train at Columbus enroute for Omaha. Each man expected that his neighbor would furnish testimony against him, but a general understanding was reached before they struck Omaha, and when the day of trial rolled around, out of the forty culprits who were called upon to testify, not one could testify of his own knowledge that a stick of timber had ever been unlawfully taken from the reservation land. And while a few pleaded guilty to the charge of taking loads of wood from the reservation, they averred to a man that they had purchased the same from other parties whom they supposed had procured the wood in Howard county. The result of the trial was the acquittal of all concerned, with a severe reprimand. On reaching home many of them immediately set out for the reservation after more wood. Marshal Ball was a generous, whole-souled man, and in his heart he had no desire to oppress those who were simply taking wood for home use and not for speculation.

     In connection, with this historic episode, it is said of Charley Best, the present sheriff of Merrick county, who was one of the most ardent wood-gatherers in the country, that on the approach of Marshal Ball to his habitation, he sought to conceal himself under the lounge. The marshal entered the house, and Mrs. Best, to appear at ease, commenced sweeping the floor. It proved an unwise move, for the dust caused the refugee to sneeze, and he was dragged forth and compelled to appear, with the rest of the gang, before "His Honor," at Omaha.

     To return to the settlers. The nearest postoffice being Genoa, of which the jolly Win. Kellough was the honored postmaster, the settlers on the Cedar took turn about in carrying the mail. Toward spring, 1878, Elmer Crow decided to return to his old home at Osakis, Minnesota, 600 miles distant, and the question arose as to the easiest, safest and quickest and most economical method of reaching there. After figuring on the matter for some time, he finally

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Page Seventeen

© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 by Ted & Carole Miller