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COUNTY HISTORY

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County and in the National Business Training School at Sioux City, Iowa. He is a member of the Republican party and has been appointed Deputy County Treasurer. Mr. Wilkins was one of the employes of Ashford Brothers' General Merchandise store before his appointment.

 

DAWES COUNTY.
      Dawes County was organized in 1885 with an area of 1,404 square miles. A good deal of land in Dawes County is untillable on account of its rough surface; the tillable land is mostly a clay loam. Along the foothills in the southern part of the county there is considerable pine timber. Some land is irrigated in the valley of the White River. Good drainage is furnished by the White River and its tributaries, the Alkali, Bush, Lone Tree, Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, Beaver, Dry, Bordeaux, Chadron, Dead Man, Trunk Butte, Indian and Hooker Creeks, and by the Niobrara and its branches, the Pepper, Cottonwood, and Willow Creeks. The supply of water from wells, six to three hundred feet in depth, is abundant. Farming is carried on successfully on the tableland. Some wheat, rye, corn, oats and barley are raised and potatoes do well. Hay is the principal crop and 1,132 acres are devoted to the culture of alfalfa. Many cattle, horses and sheep are raised on the large ranches; the value of live stock in 1900 was $159,355.00. There are two flouring and grist mills and one brickyard in the county. Five years ago there was little demand for farms and ranches, but such as are in the market have increased in value twenty-five per cent. There are 90.79 miles of railway. The county has four towns--Chadron, the county seat, with a population of 1,665; Crawford, 731; Ft. Robinson, 185, and Whitney, 51 inhabitants. The county has 6,215 inhabitants.

     C. L. FREEMAN was born in Omaha, May 8, 1872, and three years later came to what is now Dawes County with his parents, his father being manager of the Prost Traders' Store at Fort Robinson. He has spent most of his life in the county, having been educated at the Crawford High School and Chadron Academy. In 1897 he married Miss Kate M. Buncher, and they have two children. He has been engaged in the mercantile business and was elected Clerk of the District Court on the Republican ticket.

      C. DANA SAYRS was born in Alexandria. Virginia, May 15, 1839. He was educated in Hollowell's Institute. In 1857 he went to Kansas and later to Idaho, where he was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the Idaho Legislature in 1866. He returned to Kansas, where he was County Attorney of Crawford County from 1880 to 1885 and in 1887 he came to Chadron, Nebraska, where he was postmaster from 1893 to 1898. He is now serving his second term as judge of Dawes County, having been elected on the Republican ticket.

      R. G. SMITH is a native of Iowa, having been born in Cedar County, November 4, 1855, where he was educated in the public schools. In 1889 he went to Kansas and the next year to Nebraska, where he has since made his home, engaging in the hardware business. In 1895 he was married to Miss Mettie Lawrence and they have three daughters. He has been elected County Clerk on the Democratic ticket.

      T. S. SMITH is a native Nebraskan, having been born on a farm in Burt County; August 21, 1874. In 1885 he came with his parents to Dawes County, where he lived until his seventeenth year. He received his education in the Chadron Academy and the Crawford High School. He was manager of a lumber yard at Crawford, where he was City Clerk. He is a Republican and serving his first term as County Superintendent. In 1901 he married Miss Bertha Mason and they have two children. He served in Company H of the Second Nebraska Volunteers in the Spanish-American War.

      W. A. BIRDSALL, now serving his second term as Sheriff, is a pioneer of Dawes County. He and his cousin, George Birdsall, put up the fourth building in the old town of Chadron on White River near where Dakota junction now stands, before the organization of the County. They engaged in handling provisions and doing a general livery and hack business between Valentine and Black Hill points, and have identified themselves ever since with the advancement of Dawes County.

     ERNEST M. SLATTERY was born in Shelby County, Missouri, July 10, 1868, came to Platte County, Nebraska, in 1872, and graduated from the Columbus High School in 1885. He soon after came to Dawes County, studied

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SEMI-CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

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law under Judge Crites of Chadron and was admitted to the bar in 1898. That same year he married Miss Maud Foxwell and they have three children. He homesteaded in Dawes County in 1890. Mr. Slattery is in partnership with W. H. Reynolds in the law business and also in ranching, having a ranch in McPherson County stocked with three hundred head of

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