Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 9, 1909, Page 16

2 L —— THE O MAHA SUNDAY BEE: MAY 9, 1909. Dixon County’s Broad and IXON county is first of all an agricultural county. The old- time farmer was a jack of all trades. He sought to produce 0 a little of everything he needed. L) Tho new farmer s looking fhout for an opportunity to specialize in #’ 1o particular line suited to his tempera- oot and advancement. The old-time wrmer grew every kind of crop known to “xon county, and with the ald of the alddle men, marketed in some fashion a lttle of each. And so the results were financlally unsatisfactory. The up-to-date, and sclentific farmer finds that the capital necessary and the knowledge required to care properly for and breed fine animals, to grow products and look after the sale of the same, Is too much for one individual. As a consequence, ho speclalizes and limits his activities and endeavors to get his melghbors to do the same. His supreme ob fect le to grow a few articles well and then turn them over to a specialist to market them. The work s done through a farm-' ers' organization or assoclation. The mod- ern farmer has come to realize that spe- clalization 1s the foundation of industrial development of the last century and that organization is the means by which It Is carried forward. The old farmer may op- pose the idea of organization if he sees fit, but the knowledge, use, economics and united efforts are such that if he would at- tain financial success, will be compelled to adopt the principles worked out and used by special Industries, It will be seen that the ploneers who braved the perils of frontler life in Dixon county had no easy task for many years. Most of those who ventured Into the county had o good supply of common sense and vlenty of courage and perseverance. Some began life hero as farmers, others hung out their shingles and announced them- selves as carpenters, blacksmiths, lawyers, sactors and land agents. In all of their frades and professions they could pride themselves on thelr good judgment and hence they ultimately were successful. Dixon county was organized by an act of the territorial leglslature in 1838, Its boundary lines as first established have never been changed. The county contains between thirteen and fourteen townships and 304,000 acres. The northern part of the county is quite rugged, theugh the surface of the entire county is sufficlently diversi- fled. Among the rugged hills in the north- ern part wind the Lime, Turkey and Powder creeks. There are ten streams In the county, making it one of the best watered section of the state. Valleys along these streams vary from one-half mile to three miles in width and comprise in the aggregate about one-third of the county's surface. Very little timber is to be found along the small streams, but along the bluffs quantities of huge timber are found, The Popca Indlans were the most numer- ous of the three tribes. Thelr principal village was near the present location of Ponca, the county seat. The first settlers who came into the county arrived in 1856 Among them were John 8. Olomon, B, Jacob Stough and two brothers by the name of Brown. In June, 185, N. 8. Todd and C. W. Todd moved in, and in the fol- lowing August E. M. Bisbee, who was at one time county clerk. At this ®ime there were about 100 people in the county, and twenty of them were in Ponca. Dixon county, in common with other counties of the territory, suffered largely from the hard times of 187 and '8. Gold and siiver disappgared and paper money of the wildcat specles became entirely worthless. In 1862, the settlement of the county was again retarded by fears of a general Indlan massacre. The progress of the county was steady, however, until the famous grasshopper visitation of 1574. Previous to December, 188, Dixon county was attached to Dakota county for legls- lative and revenue purposes. In Decem- ber, 188, an election was held for the purposo of determining the county seat. Beveral places desired to become the capi- tal of the county and a heated tontest was the result. At that time there was a town called North Bend at the northern of the river, of about_four houses another named Concord,” on Lime cr about the same size. Ponca, then, was a town of four log houses and a grocery. Since then there have been attempts to re- move the county seat, eléctions having been held at different times. The most violent disturbances among the people took place at these contests. Then It was that the embryo of civilization in the shape of & few log houses and a general grocery bend and °k, of (would compete with any other for the much valued prize. Buch clections always caused great excitement. At the counting more votes wero shown to have been polled than there were white men, Indians, horses, buffaloes, coyotes or prairle dogs in the county. In these primitive times, here from the east and the west and brought with them the habits, customs, laws and religlons and methods of busi- ness prevailing in their late homes. Thus, the minds and hearts of all were ex- panded. 1f they brought with them little- ness of soul, they were soon seen to forget their old habits and to adopt generosity and nobleness of character. The settlers might differ with one another in their view, but if one, although an opponent, were sick or hard up, his neighbor was most willing to become unselfish and gen- erous. Such was the frontier life in Dixon county, as well as elsewhere in Nebraska. The whole country was thinly settled, the people were, indeed, not excessive In their wealth, but still they had many grounds for contentment. Nearly every one bad good health, and occasionally ambition was sustained by profitable adventures. No man or woman gave special heed to fashion books or to the cut of thelr gar- ments. There wero no bickerings, back- bitings or Jjealousles. All were equally rich and equally poor. As a consequence the early settlers were, In the main, a harmonious brotherhood, and are well wor- thy of the respect and rememberance of those who follow them. In 1560, the white population of the county was 27, in 1870 1,845, In 1875 2,88, and in 1890 4,000. The Dixon county voleano gave this part of the state more extensive free advertising than any other event in its history. The mountaln that formed this voleano was lo- cated about forty rods above Ionfa and im- mediately upon the bluffs of the Missourl It attracted the attention of Lewls and Clark when on thelr famous expedition. It was again observed In 1865, but caused the most sensation in 1§77. At that time a mass of earth 560 feet long and 110 feet high and thirty-five feet thick was un- dermined by the river and slid down into the stream. Few phenomena were exhih- ited and these feebly and spontaneously There is little or nothing now about this matter worthy of notice except for the purpose of correcting erroneous impres- sions. Ponca, the county seat of Dixon county, not only s, but has been for years one of the substantial towns of eastern N braska. It was surveyed and plotted in 1856 by Mr. Stough and Frank West. It was named Ponca after the Ponca Indlans, the largest tribe, generally friendly to the whites. Their principle abode was near the present location of the city of Ponca. Many of thelr tepees were standing as late as 1856 Th first bullding erected was bullt by Henry A. Fuller in 1856 At the first term of court held in Dixon county the justice of the peace had for his desk & beer barrel and for his seat a whisky barrel, and all the strict order and respect for the dignity of the court was rigidly en- forced. Stough brothers bullt their flour mill in 188 In this mill, before the ma- chinery was put in, the first term of dis- trict court was held by Judge Wribly, the term commencing May 24, 1569 In 1561 a saw mill was erected In connection with a grist mill. In 1862 the first Fourth of July celebration was held in this mill. The first hotel was bullt in 1860 by Henry A. people came THRESHING ON A DIXON COUNTY FARM. Fuller and kept in connection with a small grocery. In 1847 and in the following year, several large companies of Mormons went across the county on their way to Salt Lake and thelr varlous routes, the old Mormon tralls, as they are now called, hard and worn like turnpikes and devold of grass, are plain to be seen. During the year 189 but little progress was made in the county. Of course, under such a state of affairs, improvements, pub- lic and private, were not contemplated. Tn 1867 there had been about 210 acres of land put under cultivation. In 1858 there was four times this amount, while in 1859 and 1800, there was scarcely any development among farmers, In 1882, the first school of which there is any record, was held in the county. It was taught by Miss Mary Jones of Elk Creek DIXON COUNTY PIONEERS ASSOCTATION. in the first school house bullt in Ponca. In 1862, this part of the state was called on for & company of soldiers and a com- pany was recrulted from Dixon, Dakota and Cedar counties, who camped.a part of the winters of 1862 and '63 at Ponca. Thus the county without many improvements and with many hardships drifted along until 1864 and this year seemed to be the olimax of grief. It came in the shape of a flerce drouth and it is said by prominent citizens that no rain fell from late in 1863 untll the spring of 1865, a period of fifteen months. A few citizens tided over this drouth by cutting timber along the Missouri river and other streams, much of it walnut, and floated it down to market. Many homesteaders kept the wolf from the door largely by hunting, fishing and trap- ping. Deer, wolves and bear were secured in quite large quantities and also prairie chickens and wild ducks. In the winter, miok, beaver and musk rat were trapped and their furs sent to market, Dixon county at the present time has 243,000 acres of farms with 126,300 acres un- der a high state of cultivation. The far- mers of this county sold and shipped out last yvear, 1,418,000 bushels of corn, 84,000 bushels of wheat and 93,000 bushels of oats. This s but a small share of the grain raised in the county, as most of it went to market in the shape of fat stock. Dixon county sold and shipped out last year, 28,000 beef cattle, 69,000 fat hogs, 430 well bred horses and 1,300 mutton sheep, making it one of the very best counties of the state in the production of beef and pork. But this county is learning to not depend largely beef, pork, corn and wheat. Bach year the farmers are taking more and more Interest in the dairy busi- on Selections Warm at Both Ends. ROF. A. L. LOWELL, the new president of Harvard univer- sity, paused in one of his re- cent lectures and smiled. *“That governmental difficulty,” e sald, “was great—as great us the difficulty of Lincoln's farm hand. “Two farm hands,” Lincoln used to say, vere set upon by a huge bull while cross- Ing a rocky field. One managed to gain a tree. The other took refuge in a hole that proved to have an exit in the rear. “The man who had chosen the hole was no sooner in at one end than he was out at the other. With a bellow the bull made for him. He turned and again shot lke Ught- ning through the hole. The bull once more bore down upon him, and once more he was in and out of his hole, “This strange pursult kept up some ten minutes or more. At first it mystified the farm hand In the tree; then angered him. ‘‘Hey,' he shouted, ‘ye danged nin- compoop, why don't ye stay in the hole? “The bull was dashing from one end of the hole to the other at great speed, and the man was bobbing in and out des- perately. He heard, however, his com- rade’s shout, and found time before his next brief disapperance to shout back * ‘Darned nincompoop verself! There's a bear in the hole!"—Judge. gDk Same Thing. Hlsle Janis, in “The Fair Co-Ed,"” was from the Story Teller's Pack watching a dyspeptic friend solemnly ex- tracting two tablets from a silver purse and swallow them, after a dinner at the Knickerbocker. “I wonder,” she sald “dld Moses have that complaint you've got?" “Bh?" said the friend, do I know? Why?" ‘Our Sunday school teacher used to say," pointed qut Miss Janis gravel hat the Lord gave Moses two tablets.”—Young's Magazine. contemplatively, same after-dinner “How on earth ] One Way of Keeping a Cook. “What you laughing at?" grumbled Carle- ton C. Crane, all in one word, as he straightened up, red In the face, with a handful of clearing house certificates re- covered in fragments ‘from the waste bas- ket into which he had cast them, thinking they were cigar coupons. “Not at you,” chuckled John A. Gill, soothingly. “This letter here's from an old friend of mine, Captain Hutchinson, an Englishman living down at Lindsay, near Porterville. He's the man that planted the first orange seed that raised the first orange blossoms for the first marriage ceremony ever performed at Lindsay. Listen to this: ave my Chlnese cook, Ah Lui, his egular check for $%0. He took it to the benk. All they gave him was $ cash, rest in certificates. He came back, threat- ened to throw up his job; fine cook, too; had him a long time. “‘All lite, I no go, you make me one chleck five hun dollar.' " *‘Five hundred dollars, Ah Lui!' I ex- claimed, “I can't afford any such prices as that No afflod. 1 takee chleck flive hun dollar, blank he play me fifty dollar all same he pay me flitty dollar ome flifty dollar chleck." ‘8o he handed be back the $ and the certificates, and I wrote him & check for $600 and telephoned an explanation to the bank. Ah Lui got his $0 in cash, and he is still cooking for us.'"—San Francisco Chronicle. s A Surnrise for Jim, A mission worker visiting a reformatory near that city not long ago when she observed among the inmates an old acquaintance, a negro lad long thought to be a model of in- tegrity. “Jim!" exclaimed the “Is it possible I find you ‘Yassum,” blithely responded the back- slider. “I's charged with stealin’ a barrel o' sweet pertaters.” The visitor sighed. “You, repeated. “I am surprised “Yassum,” sald Jim. “So was I, would not be here!"—Lippincott's Maga- zine. in New Orleans ws mission worker. here?" Jim!" she PONCA HIGH SCHOOL BULLDING. D ——— ness. ‘At the present time, tney have more than 7,00 cows on their farms and last year they worked 363 (hand separators. Last year they sold and shipped out 164,700 pound of butter and 11790 gallons of cream. Tho farmers' wives marketed last year, 81,00 dozen of eggs and 50,000 pounds of poultry. One of the reasons for the splendid progress whigh this county Is making in the stock and dalry business Is that In many places the farmerd are turn- ing their attention to the growing of al- falfa. At the present, there are 4,000 acres well seeded to alfalfa. Dixon county Is fast coming to the front in the production of fruit for home con- sumption. At the present time, there are growing and in full bearing in the county, 37,100 apple, 1% pear, 420 peach, 11,00 plum and 8,0 cherry trees. Besides these, farm- ers are learning the advantage of a lib- eral strawberry bed very rapldly. Dixon county 18 not one of the largest in the state, but it is one of the richest in proportion to its size. The county has a population of 13,000 and a valuation of $19,000,000. The county is well supplied with raflroads and of the ten thrifty and pros< perous towns, nine aro railroad stations. ‘While the people of the county are justly proud of its farmers and its happy homes and its herds of fat stock, they are much more proud and take greater interest in their public schools. Dixon county has elghty-four school districts with elghty-four school houses and a school population of 4,200, requiring 12 teachers. Over $5,000 was spent for school purposes last year. The average salary pald to county teachers is $6. Practically all the country schools have good bulldings, nice grounds and are well equipped. With the except of two or three schools, each has a district li- brary, several having over 30 volumes. Four country scheols have modern build- ings with the most approved systems of heating, ventilating and lighting. Of the ten town schools, three are accredited to the University of Nebraska and five are ap- proved for free high school purposes. Emer- son has a type of consolldated school with tive country schools, doing eight grades of work, and a central high school accredited to the university. Emerson also has the only normal training high school In the county. Two hundred and fifteen eighth grade puplls took the examination for ads mission to these high schools last year. Mr. A. V. Teed Is serving his fifth year as county superintendent of schools. He 1s 4 young man and Is In love and in touch with his work and the county is to be con- gratulated on securing a man for this po- sition whose whole heart is igp his work As a person passes through the rich valley and looks out of the car window as the car approaches Ponca, he is thoroughly impressed by the unique beauty and sub- stantlal surroundings of this little city. Of the seventcen rural free delivery routes in the county, four of them start from Ponca. Outside of the business part of the town, many fine residences claim the attention. Good taste has generally pre- valled in the buildings and in the sur- roundings. Twenty-five years ago the town could not boast of more than a score of trees. Now It has at least 10,000, They fill the lots of almost every occupled pla and beautify the sldes of many of the streets. They, with the shrubbery, vines, gardens and flower beds and the general neatness displayed, have made Ponca home- like and enjoyable. The same good taste has prevalled in the bullding of churches, school houses and their grounds, in the grading of the streets, in the putting in and repairing of city walks and crossings Fertile Acres Under Successful Cultivation and In the methods and order in which the whole has been fitted out. All of this has been the gradual outcome of forty years. And In a few years, other good towns of the county will enjoy the same attractive adornments. Indeed, with the energy and ambition of the residents, the question of trees, vines and shrubbery 'is only one of the time required for thelr growth. All who havo traveled over this county in spring and summer know how attractive It is. The grass-covered pralries and flower-bedecked hills, the Itallan sky and genial sun are the radlant beauties whigh 0 attract eastern people to this section of Nebraske. Frank West, who took such a prominent part in the starting of the town was quite & rustler in his own way, but it is doubtful it he could look forward to it's present future. He was the son of a Des Moines banker, had unlimited nerve and plenty of money, a large number of friends and was an expert marksman. e was a great Indian fighter and in the Niobrara country south and east of here, his name was a terror to the Pawnees and Poncas. Whether Ponca was or was not started by Mr. West for speculation purposes in the east or whether the object was to make more than @& paper town cannot be stated. At any event, the abundant water power and the natural re- sources around would make certain a per- manent town. Ponca is a city of about 2,00 population. It is not strictly speaking a manufacturing point, yet It has one of the best flouring mills in the state knows as The Farmers' Mill and Elevator company. The city also has an extensive brick yard, employing thirty or forty men through the season and turning out 100,000 bricks per day. The little city seems to be largely sufficent unto itself. It owns it's own water works and gas plant. 1t's two banks have on de- posit about $500,000 and it's Commerical club 1s one of the most active in the state, They have a membership of about elghty, in- cluding the very best class of citizens who are awake to the best Interests of their town. The Mmitations of this club reach beyond the limits of Ponca. It not only bas an eye on the main public highways leading into this little town, but it lends a helping hand to keep other highways In the best possible condition. One desirable and noticeable feature of this section of the country is the service rendered by the citizens which is not only glven free, but which fs also rellable. These men have no land for sale or axe to grind Wakefield is one of the good towns of the county and is situated in the southern part of Logan valley on a slight elevation of land. It affords a good market for a wide section of excellent farming land One of the first, If not the first, settler in the vicinity was C. T. Barton, who located there May 8, 1869, Its first school teacher was Miss Lucy Morey, who com- menced teaching January 7, 187. T. M ritt started the first store and became postmaster October 31, 1881 Rev. E. H Calder, a Methodist minister, was the first minister to conduct religlous service in Mr. Marriott's store. The village of Emerson Is situated In the extreme southeastern part of the county on the Chiago, St. Paul, Minneapolls & Omaha rallroad, and with a population of about 1,00. The county line between Dixon and Dakota countles is its maln street north and south. It was established in 1881, In 1883 R. E. Kuhn plotted the first town site and commenced the erection of a bank, which was completed In 184 Among the first settlers ‘to locate among the hills and prairies and found the town of Emerson were Willam Warnock, P. H. Boyle and H. 8. Boyle. The Echo was the first newspaper venture in the town, estab- lished in the spring of 1883, The first lum- ber yard was started by J. J. McCarthy. All lines of business are well represented in Emerson, and it has all of the require- ments of a thrifty and prosperous town It is an important railroad center, which has greatly benefited the place. The time is not far distant when its population and business will be double what it now is. astlo had no rafl- of the Chicago, Then citizens of New road until the extension St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha rallroad from Ponca In 183. One of the first set- tlers in what was known as Newcastle township was Willlam Pfister, who lécated there In 188 Newcastle village was in- corporated May 16, 1893, and has a class of citizens whose energy and enterprise are shown in the continued improvement in the town. It is one of the hustiing and pro- gressive towns of the county. PONCA HIGH SCHOOL T’Acm