NEGenWeb Project
Nance County

concluded that as "money saved was money earned," he would make the trip on foot. The next morning he set out at a two-forty gait, and his brothers relate that nothing could be seen of him from the moment he "turned himself loose" but the veritable "blue streak" spoken of in that passage of Proverbs where it says "Get there, Eli." He reached home in just three weeks, having traveled at the rate of thirty miles per day, and laid by one Sunday for repairs.

     The previous year the famous transport, the "Black Mariah," was launched in the Loupe, in the immediate region of the new bridge-to-be, but did not work well, and in the spring of 1878 was taken seven miles up the river, where it has since done valuable service, for the most part under the able management of Capt. Whitney, of whose history and proud antecedents we shall be pleased to speak further on.

     During the fall of 1877 Randall Fuller secured the services of J. C. Knapp of Merrick county to make a survey of the original town site of Fullerton. Shortly before this event the Cedar settlement had been reinforced by the arrival from Minnesota of Martin McCrellis and family, who took up their abode with Crow Brothers, but shortly removed to Fuller's ranch. Most of the settlers constructed rude "dug-outs" or "soddies," which, though not strikingly ornamental, made decidedly comfortable habitations for winter. Several persons put in their time in November and December husking corn on shares south of the Platte and by this means a fair supply of grain was provided for the stock. Those who assisted in the labor of transporting the corn over the unfrozen Loupe, or via St. Paul, a distance, round trip, of nearly one hundred and fifty miles, have always been of the opinion that every ear was well earned.

     The winter of 1877-78, remarkable for its mildness, was quiet and uneventful. The ambitious "squatters" improved their "spare moments" by laying in, a supply of firewood and building timber, as the numerous ravines abounded with small groves. Nothing of an exciting nature created any enthusiasm in "social circles" save now and then a genuine country hoe-down at Compton's Ranch, in which old and young took animated part. Bill Bowman, John Foster, John Paul Jones (not of Revolutionary fame), et al., scraped the violins on these joyful occasions; and while the music was not the most aesthetic, it was loud, and strong and durable, and the "time" was perfect.

     Toward spring the settlers began to feel uneasy in regard to how and when, the lands were to be disposed of, and a petition was sent to Congress asking that they be opened for homesteads. But in April the edict went forth from the Department that the Pawnee Reservation lands would be sold at auction at Central City, commencing the 15th of the ensuing July. On the strength of the belief, or hope, that no one would bid against them for the lands upon which they had squatted, the settlers began making improvements of a permanent nature. A large amount of breaking was done before the sale.

     In the spring of this year, O. E. Stearns took formal possession of the land adjoining the town site on the east. Charley Wier, who came from Minnesota a few months later, claimed the land upon which Mr. Stearns was located on the ground that he had selected it the year before; but, as he could furnish no evidence in the way of improvements to justify his claims, Mr. Stearns concluded to exercise his sovereign right of "eminent domain" and alow [sic] Mr. Wier the privilege of selecting some other spot.

     One day in April, when the wind was blowing a gale from the southwest, a careless traveler in the Loupe valley started a fire which swept with terrible velocity over the divide, directly onto the Crow boys' big ranch. Hart Crow was at Genoa that day, it being his turn to bring the neighborhood mail, and Ed. was alone. As the fire passed over the bluffs above the ranch a young man who had seen the approaching smoke arrived upon the scene, and these two persons made a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to stay the flames. Their large herd of cattle chanced to be at a safe distance, but the horses and hogs about the sheds were liberated with no little trouble and danger to the individuals. A fine young mare had been hitched to a sapling a few rods away, where she was deemed perfectly safe, but the heat from the flaming, seething sheds became so intense that she was roasted alive. Several attempts were made to cut the animal loose, and each proved futile on account of her rearings and the inability of the men to endure the frying process more than two seconds at a time. All the household goods, rifles, saddles, harness, wagons, implements, etc., went up in gas and smoke. The fire was whirled over the river and all the hay in the meadows vanished in the flames. The total loss was nearly one thousand dollars. That night Ed. and Hart slept beneath the roof of a neighboring "soddy," houseless, homeless and forlorn. Of their subsequent successful endeavor to "rustle" out of the financial troubles which followed this disaster, their fine ranch and property up the Cedar will tell.

     In May, Elmer Crow and family, Mrs. H. H. Knight (sister of the boys) and George Gowan and family arrived from Minnesota.

(Continued)

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Page Nineteen

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