Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, April 11, 1909, Page 19

OMAHA SUNDAY BEE HE home-making well - developed trait in braska character. The of the great p'ains cattleman dering when he reached enne county he called a halt. He instinct was Che; demanded thought. are made by accident was a good busine: This trafl did he lis own language, and knew in the day or night each item in his business. And yet this well-equipped business man for a long tima 14 not see further than the end of his nose. Some cowman—whose name was forgot- ten It ever known—got to the northern market too late and was obliged to winter @ herd of cattle In a northern climate. Ha found by accident against his will that the buffalo grass, the bunch gross, the various other plains grasses, together, with . the sharp, cold winter, which forced the animal to put on a provision of tallow for its self- preservation, would cause .a Toxas steer merely to double In its gross welght The first drover who failed to sell his herd sat down and wept; he found that, facing sudden ruln, he had found sudden wealth. Two years In the north had multi- plied his holdings by four. His animals would welgh almost double, and they would bring almost twice the price by rea- #on of thelr superior quality in beef. This was a great and remarkable discovery. It became the more Interesting in that it took place about the time American railroads began to cross the western plains. This business of the trall drover then is act two of the drama of the Nebraska steer. Tn 1868 occurred certain phenomena of in- terest to students.. The corn-belt feeders from the Mississippl valley . followed the railroad west. These farmers wanted cattle to feed. The railroads in these days were meek and lowly. They fought for this new business which came up out of the ground. The banks of the middle west got strictly Into the game. They would back to any limit the reputable farmer who would go west and buy cows to ship to the corn- belt. Land in 1571 was bought freely in Texas at 2)f cents per acre. A milch cow and calf at her side was worth a section of land in Texas. One could drive a cow north to market, but he could not drive a sectlon of land. That absurd creature, known diffe rently as “homesteader,” “granger,” “farmer” or ‘“nester,” began to persecute the soul of drovers, north and south. The government at this time bought much beef for the army and the Indians. Note now that they began to demand northern wintered beef. Note also that this range beef, doubly wintered In western Nebraska, began to compete with the corn-fed beef in the middle west. In 1876 Texas land jumepd to the awful price of $100 per tion. Elght times to what it was two yeawms earlier. But cows kept up their march along this dusty highway to the west. Bold men pushed into the cattle range s~ PUPILS OF THE LODGE s a Ne- plone:r the In his aimless wan- wanted time to think and the problem before him Most great discoveries drover s man, and certainly no man in all the world ever knew the cow as He could converse with a steer in the most in- timate thoughts of its heart at any hour He knew the cost of BIDNEY HIGH PLOWING BY STEAM POWER ON A CHEYENNE COUNTY FARM. of Cheyenne county. The American people had formed the beef habit. By this time it had been fully demonstra county's cattle range had this faculty of doubling values. The industrious drover was 1o fool; he began to locate ranges for himself. The Spaniard was the original cattle ranchman In the west and he made Progress from the start. You will hardly turn a corner in our dictionary in west Nebraska without running up against him. Yet it gives one a little thrill to find all across the plains country where they left their bones these unobliterated foortprints of the ploneers. The live stock interests have undergone a marked change since the organization of Cheyenne county. With the thinning out of the larger ranches, the largely’ Increasing acreages of alfalfa, the inevitable development of the dairying industry is not far off. The Nebraska steer is responsible for hundreds of prosperous homes in all part of Cheyenne county, but little winter feeding is done. The ranch house usually occuples some little valley on a clear stream, and it is an Interesting sight and undoubtedly a reassuring sight to the ranchman to view the hundreds of cattle on their first great wave of the prairie—and beyond. The cowboy of today does not live under the conditions that marked his life a gen- d that Cheyenne eration ago. The old cattle trall from Dodge City to Ogalalla and Sidney has been thoroughly obliterated. The raiiroads have superseded the trail, and what the rallroads left undone the small ranchers have completed. But there is still plenty of work for a good cowboy, and there is no lack of romance in his work. Owing to the breaking up of the great herds, there has come an increased demand for men who know how to care for cattle. Saddle manu- facturers are turning out more cowboy saddles today than in the days of the range kings, simply because there are more men in the cattle business and more herds. It Is no longer a question of what so- clety one will find in Sidney. Men and women are not far to seek in this thrifty city as gentle in manners, as refined in speech, as clean in life as can be found anywhere. Life is a little more joyous and light-hearted, we think: there is a little of the frontier, of the picnic about it still, but that will take care of itself in time. The stern law of individual responsibility is in force here. They are b people in Sid- ney today, but never too busy to take a look at the past. And if you care to ac- company them into the country you will find some of the frontler life remaining, just as it existed years ago. The social atmosphere is characteristically western in its spirit of open hospitallty and good fel- lowship, and is particularly noticeable to the stranger. The early history of Sidney s the most pecullar, of any city in the state of Ne- braska. It belongs strictly to the wild and woolly west. The completion of the Union Pacific railroad in 1867 was the beginning of Sidney. The establishment of Fort Sld- ney soon after had but little tendency to improve the moral tone of soclety. It was a falr type of western border towns, where frontier element had full sway. Hotels would spring into existence in a day; a bank and an opera house would rise simultaneously, side by side; stores and outfitting establishments of every variety would line the main street, with their quaint signs and emblems of trade. Me- chanics and artisans poured In from other parts of the state, and with them came the lawyer and the doctor, both great heuling mediums with peculiar methods. They were a part of the rude civilization of frontier life, which paved the way for the gentler influences that follows; to mold the morals of the race that the cities of the prairies. Every store in the city on the Sabbath contracted and carried peopled on more business than upon any other day of the week. The frelghter, cowboy and the fur trader all gathered here, and to each and all the work of developing the west was both a duty and an advantage. The old cattle trail has disappeared for- ever. The cattle trafler and his herds have faded together, alonk the great lines of rallroad plowing their lightening way through these once vast solitudes. All is life and activity, towns and cities have in- vaded their silent paths. Men who fol- lowed the faint trali of civilization have themselves beheld the great tide roll over thelr own foot prints and view with won- der its ever advancing waves. Schools, churches and happy homes have appeared to enlighten the multitude and mold to morals of the new born oountry. The Anglo-Saxon spirit of enterprise lald the hand of industry upon the prairies. 'The ploneers of the western plains came as a mighty army. They were soldlers of in- dustry, drilled by labor and hardehip, and went forth only to Industrial conquests, The fruits of the pioneer ripen into the full measure of wealth and refinement, their names may not live in history, no monument of the everlasting hill will bear their fame, but they were the sturdy pio- neers and subdued the prairie. Previous to. 1870 county was attached to Lincoln county for revenue and judiclary purposes. The first regular el tion of the county was held in October, 1, one ear after its organization. The first school district was organized in Sid- ney In 1871. The first school was taught in the winter of 1§71 and 1872 by Mrs Irene Sherwood, at her residence. In 1582 Cheyenne county had 9,072 square miles, Cheyenne APRIL SCHOOL FACULTY. 11, 1909. GATHERING OF NEIGHRBORS IN CHI and but present time three school districts, the county At the has 1,194 square miles and seventy school districts. The first marrlage of white persons in the county was that of Henry Neuman and Miss McMurry, who were married in Sep- tember, 1869. The first newspaper estab- lished in the county wos the Sidney Tele- graph, the first number of which was issued in May, 1873, by L) Connell. The military post at Sidney was established in 1867, and during the following year Fort Sidney was established. The first large herd of cattle was brought into the county in 189, when Edward Creighton started a stock ranch, bringing in a herd of several thousand head. Previous to this time the danger of the Indians was so great that cattle had to be personally guarded to prevent them from being stolen. In 1882 there were 300,000 head of cattle in Chey- enne county, but the county long since ceased to be strictly a cattle country, and diversified farming is now the order of the day. Good farm homes are seen in every direction, and In many places good and commodious barns are to be seen. Last year the farmers shipped out 14148 head of cattie, besides 1,497 fat hogs, 1,50 head of horses and mules and 700 head of mut- ton sheep. Besides using grain enough in fattening the stock, these farmers shipped out 3,665 bushels of corn, 135800 bushels of wheat, 6000 bushels of oats, 3,000 bushels of barley and 55,600 bushels of rye, and it is stated by the county officers that thers is more grain on hand, being held by the farmers, than at any time in the history of the county. The farmers of the county are making rapld progress along the dalry industry. At the present time these farm- ers have 3,700 acres seeded in alfalfa, and Dickinson’s Herolsm. HERE'S an incldent In the life of J. M. Dickinson, the new secretary of war, which his in- nate modesty will not permit him to discuss. It hap; wa2d some twelve or fif. teen years ago, the year the American Bar association met at Detroft, relates the Cin- cinnatl Times-Star. The business session had come to a close, and that evening the party went up the Detroit river In yachts for an excursion. They were late return- ing. It was pitch dark. One of the members of the party was James F. Joy, then a man about 80 years of age, one of the prominent and dis- tinguished men of Detrolt, president of the Michigan Central raflroad, and otherwise ldentified with the best commercial, social and political interests of his state. He died some yeurs On the evening in ques- tion, Mr. Joy started to leave the boat off the gungplank. The darkness decelved him, and what he supposed was the wharf was one of the shadows cast athwart the water. He stepped from the boat out Into spac ago There was a splash, a muffled scream, th slience. Dickinson, he who Is now secretary of war, was directly behind Joy. He did not hesitate an instant. There was no time to pull off or kick off shoes. It was & case of Instant action, or no action what- ever. An expert swimmer, a man of daring and judgment, Dickinson required no prep- aration. He plunged into the darkness and the waters below to save a life if to suve it were x ible. Fer a moment the waters closed over him, then he came to the surface, treading water, and looking about. Within a few seconds he spied Joy who was supported by the great coat he wore, ballooning about him. The octo- genarlan was growing feeble, and help came just in time. Dickinson scized the cape of the that enveloped Joy and held him above waler The greatest danger that now was that he might be the wharf and the boat In the meantime the excitement of the sit uation had communicated iiself to the other a coat coat threatened crushed between members of tie party, and the engineer was warned in the nick of time. Dickin- son's son. then a boy, now a man engaged In business in Seattle, was the first to vender practical assistance. He caught up a coll of rope and threw one end over. His father grasped it, the boat's searchlight having been turned on to ald him In his work of rescue, and gave it to Joy, who was yet able to cling to It and help in some slight measure those who then pulled him out of the water. Dickinson kept him- If above water until Joy had been rescued and turn Thep. his wet clothes sticking to him and the water run- ning from them, he, too, was pulled aboard. He was hurried Into « cabin. The first man to enter It was Willlam Howard Taft, one of the members of the bar as- own came soclation. He didn't care how wet Dickin- son was. He just threw both arms around him and hugged him In the exuberance of his joy and admiration. “That was a splendid thing you did to- night, old man,” he shouted. The next day everybody made a hero of Dickinson. The whole town wanted to tell him what it thought of him. But Dickin- son couldn’t stand it. It was entirely too much for him. He just took a train and sneaked away. Recently I called on Secretary Dickinson and charged him with the act of heroism In question. He didn't want to talk about it. He just laughed “If you want to know what really hap- pened,” he sald, “ask President Taft. He was there. Roosevelt and Blaine. “Former President Roosevelt's whole public career has shown a startling inde- pendence of thought and actlon,” remarked Arnold C. Scheer, former auditor of West Virginia, quoted by the Washington Post. “To me it has been one of the most interesting in this generation. My first knowledge of Mr. Roosevelt was In tho republican national convention In Chicago In 1884, when James G. Blaine was nomi- nated. I was a delegate to the convention from West Virginia, and the New York delegation was seated not far away from us. Mr. Roosevelt, then a member of the New York assembly, was charman of the delegation; if my memory s correct. The New Yorkers were supposed to favor Blaine's nomination, but Mr. Roosevelt was an ardent supporter of Senator Edmunds of Vermont. He then was but twenty-six years old, but he took a leading part in the convention. That was the convention which confirmed the action of a previous con- vention abrogating the unit rule “Former Senator Sabine, who was chair- man of the national committee, sought to control the conventibn by voting the state delegations as & unit, and after he arose and rapped for order he announced that inasmuch as the chalrman of the various delegations had voted for General Powell Clayton as temporary chairman, he would declare General Clayton elected. “Mr. Roosevelt was quickly on and vigorously denounced the action of Chairman Sabine, saying that the unit rule had been forever abrogated In repub- lican conventions. He thereupon placed in nomination John R. Lynch of Mississippi George Willlam Curtis came to the support of Mr. Roosevelt and they won thelr point. Young Roosevelt did all he could to bring about the nomination of Senator Edmunds, but when the late editor Gorham, the con- fident of Roscoe Conkling, appeared among the Blaine supporters It was evident that Blaine would win. “When the convention nominated Mr. Roosevelt walked out of th ball and declared his feet him, convention that he would bolt the ticket. He went back to New York and then hied himself o his ranch in the Dakotas. He did not bolt the republican ticket, but he did not support it. Nelther did George' Willlam Curtis.” Candld Tribute to Booth. Edwin Booth used to tell this story of the most candid tribute he cver received: “We opened our engagement in Atlanta, Ga., with ‘Othello,’ sald Mr. Booth, “and I played Othello. After the performance my friend, Mr. Malone, and 1 went to the Kimball house for some refreshment, The long bar was so crowded that we had to go around the corner of it before we could find a vacant space. While we were waiting to be served we couldn't help hearing the conversation of two fine look- ing old boys, splendid old fellows with soft hats, flowing mustaches and chin tufts, black string tles and all the other para- phernalia. “I didn't see you at the theater thig evening, Cunnel, sald one. *“‘No,' replied the other, ‘I didn't buy seats until this mawnin,’ and the best we could get were six rows back in the bal- cony. I presume, suh, you were in the orchestra? “‘Yes, Cunnel, I was in the orchestra, said the first man. ‘Madame and the girls were with me. We all agreed that we nevah attended @ mo' thrillin' play. The com- pany was good, too; excellent company. And do you know, Cunnel, in my opinfon that damned niggah did about as well as any of ‘em o How & Lawyer Lost a Fee. According to Texas old timer: late Colonel Bob Taylor of Bonham once met a woman in the road as he was riding on horseback to hold €ourt in Delta county, he being then district judge. The woman had a jug of water and the judge was thirsty, relates the Dallas Times. Belng & man with a cheery everyone, the colonel stopped her. “My dear madam,” he sald, smiling, “if you will give me a drink of cool water from yonder jug, when you want a divorce from your husband I will see that it costs you nothing." “Are you a lawyer?" inquired the woman, banding him the jug. The colonel explained who waving a farewell, departed woman gazing after him, The very next morning the woman showed up in the court room and asked for him. She explained that she wanted a divorce. She had been separated from her husband for a long while and the colonel had put an idea into her head. The colonel was game, however. He pro- cured a lawyer at his own expense and in due course of law the woman was given a divorce, and Colonel Taylor would tell the joke on himselt often. word for he was and, leaving the PUPILS OF THE SIDNEY SCHOOLS YENNBE COUNTY. from these farms last year they sold 42,000 pounds of butter and 42,00 gallons of cream. These farmers have on their farms at the present time over 5,000 milch cows, and at the present time are using ° cream separators, Besldes this they hav 102,00 stock cattle on thelr farms. The poultry industry of this county Is of no small importance. Last year the farmers 801d 107,000 dozen of eggs and 20,000 pounds of dressed poultry. Cheyenne county ks a population of 6,000, with a valuation of $,426,266. The county s well supplied with railroads, as the main line of the Union Pacific passes through It from east to west, and the Denver and Black Hills line of the Bur- lington from north to south, making venty-five miles of railroad, with five railroad stations in the county. Cheyenne 1s one of the leading countles of western Nebraska, in point of Interest taken In public schools. It has forty- seven school buildings, with sixty-six teachers, with average of salary running from $8 to $51 per month. Miss Edith H. Morrison has lately been appointed by the county cBmmissioners as superintendent of schools, There are about forty countles of the state having women for county super- intendents. Agriculture s attracting more attention today than at any other time in the history of the county. Homeseckers are coming In and building up new agriculture communi- ties of considerable importance, and It must not be forgotten that they are bring- Ing with them, order, social life, and the modern home. One of the surprising dis- appointments of the visitor to Cheyenne county, who Is looking for newness and ®omething western, Is that he cannot find any of the new things described in “west- ern” storles. There is energy, quickness of apprehension and action and character; there is also courtesy, hospitality, educa- tion, acute Intelligence, good manners, ana good clothes. This evolution in rural life has, of course, had the effect of enhancing land values and it can be truly said that the free delivery and the telephone have added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the value of agricultural lands in this county. Cheyenne county has shared liberally in the general prosperity which has blessed the state In the year just closing. Its unsu passed soll, excellent water supply for irr Bat and the favorable climatic condis tions, have brought bounteous harvests to the farmer. Many people have come into the county from the cast and from other parts of the state, attracted by the opportunities for securing homes in a séc- tion where an equable, healthful climate and unexcelled opportunitics for improv- Ing their financlal condition, cxist, coupled with exceptional educational facilities. A gencrous social welcome s extended to the homesceker. * It is a way with the world that its peo- ple grow into the strength of maturity with hardly a consclous note of the chang- Ing seasons. They aw some morning to find themselves men and women and to use their greater strength in greater enter- prises. Cheyenne county is branching out Into the greater activities this year in a way to suggest that the awakening has occurred Though prosperous as a frontler town, Sldney had a population of only about 500, till ar the discovery « gold in the Black Hills country Il region was opened up in 1876 and as Sidney was the best located point there were stage and freight stations soon established, and the greater portion of the immense travel was direct from this town. A bridge was bullt across the North Platte river to accommodate the stage and freight companies. Thus was the route opened not only to the Black Hills, but to all the military posts and Indian agencles to the northwest, Including the Big Horn and Powder river districts. The whole- sale houses of Sidney did an almost fabulous amount of business in the sale of g0ods to supply all this country. A large number of six-horse mail coaches, making time at the rate of ten miles per hour, were put on the route. The freight busi- ness carried on along this route was im- mense. It was no uncommon event for 1,000,000 pounds of freight to leave Sidney daily. One businese firm alone frequently shipped as high as 400,000 pounds of frelght per day. Sidney, the county, s a county seat of Cheyenne town of about 1,500 popula- tion, and a division station of the Union Pacific. It has all the modern improve- ments, as the accompanying cuts will show. Its two banks have a deposit of 800,000 and the county is entirely out of debt and has money in its treasury. Sidney, Indeed, has many attractive fea- tures. Her wide streets, her elegant homes, her substantial business blocks and her abundant trees make her a beautiful city. Her schools and churches, o essential to good society and good government, com- mand the appreciation of anyone who has ever enjoyed even a temporary residence here. Sidney is fortu too, In having high grade business and professional men, who stand together In support of every proposition looking to the welfare of the town. We know of nogcity in the state which has relatively fewer knockers. Bverybody here seems to be pushing and helping thelr home town. T GOOD EXAMPLE OF SIDNEY'S BUSINESS BLOCKS.