Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 30, 1909, Page 17

s D — Bhtler Coun DAVID CITY HIGH SCHOOL. HE eatly ploneer struck Butler county just when the Hudson Bay Fur company failed in the line of settlement and civiliza- tion. One carried In the tra per and the trader, the other, maker and his wife. One his rifie, the other his seed wheat Ohe shot an Indian for killing a of season and the other paid the wolf and the coyote. One hunted and traded for what he dould carry the traps home and and plow beaver out bounty on out of the county, the other planted and buflded for what he could leave in it for hig children. One counted his muskrat nests and the other his hills of corn. One his bale of furs, the other his bushels of graln. In short. the fur trader paddled his boat tream and drove his dog team 1 along the Platte river, 1o bring out furs amd peltries, while the Amorican emigrant hauled fn with his prairie schooner the twentlsth century olvilization. Morning In David City dated from that time. It is generally the opinfon that the ex- ploring expedition under the command of John C. Fremont, “the Pathfinder,” was the first visit of the white men to the ter- ritory now comprised within the limits of Butler county. The Mormons in thelr transcontinental march from Nauvoo to Utah passed thiough the county, leaving a plainly marked road, well known to the old settiers as the “old Mormon trail.” This cntered the county in the southeast- ern part, what is now Richardson town- ship, on the east, thence following up one of the contihuous divides to the table land, and from there, round its northern edge, to the point where Deer creek leaves the hill, from which it descended to the Platte bottoms, During the excitement attendant on the discovery of the precious metals at Pike's Peak In 1889, thousands of adventurers passed through this part of the state on thelr way to the new diggings, traveling by what was known as the “Fort Kearney road,”" or, “Plke's Peak trail.”” The old California trall, also, closely following the Platte, passed through the old sites of Waverly, on Skull creek; Ellsworth, on Bone creek, and Gardner's Ranch, on sito of Savannah, the first seat. This ranch was established by David R. Gardner in 1850. The year previous Shinn's Ferry was established, which is about ten the county miles due north of David City. The “old Government trafl,” or “Military road,” en- tered the county near the line dividing 8kull creek and Oak Creek townships, and wound in many a devious way along the divide to a polnt In what fs now the town of Oak Creek, the site of “David Reed's ranch,” at which point it became ohe with the Mormon trail. Reed estabe lished his place In 1862, and operated it for about five years. Along the line of this last trall were scattered several ranches McCabe's, on Deer creek, established in 180; Thomas Bissell's, on Elm creek, com- menced in 1860, and Simpson's, afterward Grant's, established in 1569, The first attempt at a settlement in the county was made in 1857 by the Waverly Town company of Plattsmouth on the banks of Skull creek in what is now the township of Platte. Messrs. Hultsizer, Barker, Garrison and nine others were the ploneers in this movement, but owing to the Pike's Peak excitement of 1850, the set- tlement was soon abandned. In 188, after the exodus of the Waverly people, Solomon B. Garfleld and James Blair came to the county and made settlements with thefr families in what s now the township of Platte, and were, therefore, probably the first permanent settlers within the limits of Butler county. In 189, Thompson Bis- sell, William Bissell, Willlam Barl, Moses Shinn, David R. Gardner, David Reed and several others made settlements within the boundaries of the county. In the year 1800 but two ploneers settled here. These were A O AY BEEF: M .I\ \‘ 30, 1909, ty Where Peace an d Pientv NORTH Willlam Butler and 8. D. Shinn, who both located in the vicinity where Savannah was afterwards laid out. Most of these and thelr successors in the tollowing years located on the bottom lands near the Platte river; close to wood and water, the prime necessitles of life A few made settlements each year there- after, but during the civil war their num- ber was quite small, but on the cessation of hostilities the tide of emigration again commenced to turn thither and each year saw the population of Butler county con- siderably increased. During the early years the settlers experienced many hard- SIDE OF SQUARE, DAVID CITY. independent, and while they vet re their farms they are taking life easy. A few years ago the grade or breed of cattle Wwas not a question; now It is different. Farmers are constantly searching for the finest and most perfectly bred cattle and horses; in fact, of all kinds that can be procured. As an illustration of what can and has been done in this line, a few weeks ago State Senator C. H. Aldrich held a sale of Hereford cattle. Forty-four head de on stock was sold at an average price of more than $100 per head. Sixteen of those were less than 6 months old. One cow sold for Most all of this was bought by farmers of Nebraska, or The Union Pacitic, Chicago & hwestern, and Burlington and Missourt river railroads all cross its limits and have depots. It has three hotels. The Perkins, buflt by a stock 18 the being a three story brick structure. largest, The company, original plat of the city, the property of Phebe W. Miles, laid put by W. T. Rich- ardson, wue filed for record June 1878, To this have been added about sixteen additions. The was legally incorpor- ated March The court house, lo- cated on a block of ground in the center of the clity, Is a structure second to none in this part of the state. It was bullt CITY NATIONAL BANK. ships, particularly when the grasshoppers came and devoured everything in sight. Since then a new Nebraska had developed and Butler county has done ite share in this development and has also shared in the beneficial results therefrom. That farming and its allied industries is profit- able is no longer a question that can be successfully contradicted. The farmers of Butler county have been wonderfully suc- cessful in the last few years. Many of them who eight, ten or twelve years ago were In moderate clrcumstances are now reslding in Butler county. The last report shows Butler county has Within her borders, live stock as follows: Cattle, 22,364 head; sheep, 1,63 head; hogs, 31,674 head; horses, 10,277 head; mules, 963 head. The various products raised in the county In the year 1908, are as follows: Corn, 8,731,757 bushels; winter wheat, 1,341,~ T4 bushels; spring wheat, 24,62 bushels; oats, 1,174,000 bushels; barley, 2,26 bushels Trye, 6,645 bushels; potatoes, 91,096 bushels tame hay, 64,765 tons; wild hay, 43,08 tons alfalfa, 6,60 tons. Butler county has seventeen banks, three national and fourteen state, the combined capital of which fs $364,000; surplus, $145,000; deposits, $2.467,000. That the mortgage in- debtedness is on the decrease is evidenced by the following, copled from the reports for the years 1906 and 1%07: 1906 farm mort- 8ages filed 282, released 243 average rate of Interest per cent; 1907 farm mort- gages filed 198, released 279, average rate of Interest, 5 per cent; 1% city mortgages filed eighty-one, released eighty-nine, av- erage rate of Yinterest 8 per cent; 1907, city mortgages filed seventy-six, average rate of interest 7 per lands have increased rate, the av $150 per acre. A further evidence of the rapld develop- ment and increase in wealth of the county I8 In citles and villages, Of those there are seventeen, all rallroad stations. David City, the county seat, is located within half a mile of the center of the county, and has a population of more than 2,500, With its natural and rallway advantages and the enterprise of its cltizens, it prom- ises to largely increase in the future and assume Importance among the larger cities released 108, ent. Farm in value at a rapid rage price belng from $10 to CENTRAL NEBRASKA NATIONAL BANK. about $58,000. All kinds of business {s represented and the merchants all seem to be prosperous. Two department stores are doing business here, and each employs a large number of clerks. Three national banks, with abundant ecapital, are doing a profitable business. In the manufacturing line, there are two flouring mills with a combined capacity of 2% barrels per day and a brick vard, employing eighteen men and turning out 3,000,000 brick annually, twenty years ago, at a cost of Follow the Plowman’s BUTLER COUNTY The Davia schools, three employing fourteen teachers, are City publie buildings crowded to their utmost eupacity. There i also & parochial school employing four teachers. That the eitizens of the city are religlously inclined, is evidenced by the fact that four Protestant ehurches and one Catholic are mamtalned, all attended by large congregations at all scrvices. David City has fourteen fraternal organizations, ench with a membership. A bospital was constructed about a year of $10,000. nner, tepublican, and the But democrat, take care of new 1RO the large at n cost Two newspapers, People’s T ler County the local news. Press, David City has a svstem of water works, and is just completing a system of sewe: age. The city Is lighted by electriclty, the plant being owned by private parties. It aleo has two systems, and a large majority of the farmers of the county have telephones In their homes. telephone Besides David City, sixteen other towns are located In the county. north, Rising City on the west, Ulys. Tellwood on the % on the south, and Brainard on the east, vach having a population of about 7 e thriv- ing villages. Bellwood has one bank, Rising City Ulysses two and Brainard two. Brainard also has a steam flouring mill of 100-barrel capacity, and an electric light plant. Ulysses has a water power flouring mill. Other villages in the county, all of which are good markets for Jfrain and llve stock, are: Loma, Yanka, Foley, Garrison, Linwood, Octavia, Millerton, Sur- prise, Dwight, Bruno, Abie and Nimburg. two, Surprige has a water power flouring mill and a bank. Garrison, Linwood, Octavia, Dwight, Bruno and Able each support a bank. Abfe, a thriving little village in the east part of the county, also has a steam flouring mill with a capacity of 100 bar- rels. Rising City, Ulysses, Bellwood and R Pty COURT HOUSE. Brainard each support newspapers, -ach of them having a large subseription MNst. The ninety-two schopl distriots of Butler county employ 148 teachiers, twenty-sif male and 1% female. Wages are coms paratiy g00d, the highest paid in the country district being $65 a month; lowest, 835, There were 180 elghth grade graduates last year. The county has & flourlshing teacher's association. The educational feas ture of the year 18 the educational come vention held esch year toward the last of March, In 1867, the county owned one log school house. In 1876 it possessed fifty-four, of which forty-elght were neat and commos dious frame structures, well finished. The first teacher's certificate was lssued to Allen Jilson, October ), 1869, The first school district was formed December 6, 1868, In 188 Mahala City was made county #eat by speclal act of leglslature. August 8, 1860, & patent was issued following the first entry of land, which was made by J. W. Seeley. In 1869, the United States govern- ment granted 97,000 acres of land to the Unfon Pacific Rallroad company. April 10, 1871, and April 14, 1§73, are remembered as the days of the great snowstorms and 1872 1s marked as the year of the great prairie fire, David City town site was surveyed In 1873, and the first house bullt was the court hou in the same year. Rev. Wil liam Worley of the Methodist church, or- ganized the first olrcult in the ocounty and preached his first sermon in a grove on the Blue river. The Butler County Press, a weekly journal, issued its first number September 25, 1873. This 1s a homestead county and for & lovely country, with orchards and groves and hedges, with productive flelds of corn and other grain, with sleck, well fed cate tle and lusty swine, with prosperous farme ers anfl thelr happy wives, it certainly vies with all creation. Judiciul Experience of Taft Family. BELIEVE it s true” writes President Taft in MoClure's, “that 1 am the only success- ful candidats for the presidency who ever had extended judiclal experience. Mr. Van Buren Lad been a surrogate or probate judge early in his career, and Andrew Jackson, 1 belleve, did serve as & judge of the su- preme court of North Carolina, but it was & very unimportant part of his life, and his service did not bring into the issues of his campaigns any discussion of his work as a Judge. Judge Parker, as far as 1 know, ls the only other candidate who had been for any number of years on the bench, and while there was some reference in the mpaign (0 his judiclal opinions, they did not involve any issues made in the plat- were not given special promi- stump or In political edi- of the supreme m and torlals. In 189% the judgment court in the Income tax case was made a subject of heated discussion, and sug- gestions that the court might be increased { one party was successiul, so as to bring about a reversal of the decision, were not wanting. 8ull, I think it may be truly said that in no campalgn since the beginging ot the government has there been directly in. d as an issue a question considered ided by one of the presidentidi can- s as & judge, is not the first time in my family a Judicial decision has played an im- ant part in the political fortunes of the Judge deelding it. While tather my was a Judge of the superior court of Cinclnnati the question arose whether the school board of the eity had the power by resolu- tlon to change the rule under which schools Wer Pencd in the morning by the reading he King James version”of the Bible { the judges of the supreme court held that this was beyond the power of ¢ school board, while my father, the third judge, dissented. The case procecded 10 the supreme court, and that court, in a unanimous judgment, approved the views of my father as a ting judge in the cour Notwithstanding this result, hree gubernatorial campaigns my father vas defeated in republican conventions on the ground of his decision in the BLible case, but it never fell ed as a panty ssary to his 1ot to be nom didate and t ihe slump to eayisw car upon that my experience In this respect has been truly exceptional.” ry Thomas was spending an evening with Marse Henry Watterson in Louls- ville, relates the New York Press, and around 2 a. m. they began to feel tired. By 3 they were exhausted. By 4 they were all in and had to quit, separating and going their different ways. Thomas tumbled out of bed the next afternoon at dinner time and looked up Marse Henry, so they could B0 to breakfast together. | “Colonel Watterson,” “where did we night “I don't know, Gu “What did we do?" “I don't know, Gus." “When did we go home?* “I don't know, Gus." “Colonel Watterson, ‘who took me home?" “Marse Henry's trom the “Gus, Gus sald Thomas, 8o after 2 o'clock last " sald Marse Henry, * asked Thomas, face cleared brightly gloom of previous lgnorance. he sald, with confidence, “I took you home, suh." Hall Caine on $300 a Year. Shortly after Rosetti's death, writes Hall Catne in Appleton’s, I topk two rooms (I called them ‘“chambers”) In the old, now demolished Clement's Inn, and there de- voted myself to my work as a journalist, which consisted chiefly of my work on the Liverpool Mercury. It it were necessary to dwell on my do- mestic life T could perhaps tell storles of my days in chambe my income of 100 pounds & yes be my own cook and h my own bed and breakfast own politician and prophet, regulating for the p. of Liverpool affairs of state, and discussing for the world in general the laws of the curious tor with r 1 had to semaid, king as well as my universe. It may be enough to say that I was rather poor and very lonely, having few friends in London, hardly any houses to call at, and litle to live for except my ta which who were far away, and my work, was always with me. \ Later, when my friends were more plen- tiful, my editor discovered that at the moment of the unexpected death of a celebirity he was sometimes hard pressed for an adequate obituary notice, and ther fore resolved to have a sood body of such witicles prepared and pigecndoled W ag or defend his decisions. I think I may say vance of the time when they would be re- quired. In this work of preparation my services were engaged, and I wrote numberless obltuary notices of people still living, In- cluding nearly all the literary friends with whom I used tp dine and smoke. I called these my post-mortem examinations, and, making no secret of them, I engaged the co-operation of my subjects themselves in preparing the substance of what was to be said about them after their deaths, sometimes e Tolstoy at Home. A German tourlst who recently visited Tolstoy writes: ‘“The venerable man makes beroic efforts w disregard the pain which 1s the natural accompaniment of the mal- ady from which he is suffering, and when he can do 80 he takes long walks, know- ing full well that the next day he must pay the penalty in his armchair. His industry is unchecked. He Is writing a history of the revolutionary movement of 1906-'08 and labors diligently on his book entitled 'Chil- dren's Wisdom', which consists of ques- Uons asked by children of their elders and the answers. He is writing also a treatise on Confucius and a book on India. His correspondence is tremendous, but he di- rects it personally and enjoys doing it Plucking a Lover, While on a business trip to Amarillo, x., last January, Alexander Quist, & a retired farmer of Rock Island, 1L, met Mrs. Julla Johnson, 4 years old, of Nashville, Tenn. Friendship ripened into and the couple planned to get married in Kansas City, The couple arrived February 20 and Mr. Quist got & marriage license. He gave his flancee $100 to buy wedding clohing. She did so, but advised him to return to Rock Island until the clothes were made, She went back to Amarillo. On May 18 Mr. Quist passed through Kansas City, g0t his flancee's trousseau and bought her a palr of §30 diamond earrings and a §200 dlamond ring. The couple returned to Kansas Clty to get married on the original license. Still Mrs. Johnson was not prepared and bor- rowed $30 more from her fiancee to shop. love She did not return. At 7 o'clock Quist found a note from her at the hotel, sayiag that “time has shown me that we coald ! ¢ happily togeiher, so 1 must leave w. T North Platte, CRUSEN, Neb. ILLIAM J. CRUSEN, a retired Union Pacific engineer, is spend- ing the closing years of his life seeing what good he can do for %l his fellow-men. At North e Platte, where he lives, and all aloug the engineer Pensloned L Union Pacific preacher. he 18 known as the the Union Pacific rallroad, he is now a local preacher with the Meth- odist Eplscopal church and gives his time and talent for the good of mankind by helping pastors in revival work. Since h gave up his engine and entered the serv ice of the church as a volunteer he has been connected with meetings where over 1,300 souls have been converted. He has just finished a revival meeting at Curtis Neb., where 130 were converted, and before that at Ravena, where seventy-five were converted Crusen holds the respeet of all the Union Pacific trainmen and the officlals of the road and people along the line know and respect Crusen, the ensineer preacher He was & good soldier for Uncle Sam dur Ing the civil war; he was a good enginee for the Unlon Facific and for the other roads he worked for prior to that time, and now he is doing the best he can for his On March 19, 1540, on a farm In the Lick tng valley in Ohlo, twenty-six miles up the stream from Zanesville und four miles from Newark, Crusen was born. At the age of 6 he attended a count and for five years gathered a Ii edge of the when he to give up school and help out o For three years he did the best do to help grow the crops ar started out to make his own way in the world. He soon secured employn in a hardwood sawmill &s fireman and engines a position which required some skill and to which he had to exert his best efforts This engineer then had to do his ¢ firing and cut his own wood from the s from the mill as a side diversion. He kept this job for one year at wauges for which few young men would | today. Cursen gave up his job at the mill for a position as fireman on the Central Ohlo railroad, now the Baltimore & Ohlo. He ran from Belair to Columbus and continued In the service of the rallroad for three years The mutterings of discension had changed to the stern realities of war and he listed for three months when Lincoln issued bis tirst call for 7 paying his own fare 10 miles to enlist I Company E, 000 men Twelfth Ohlo volunteers. At the end of that timo it was secn that the war would prob- ably drag on and Crusen enlisted for thre years more in the same regiment. His regi- ment received & sound drubbing seven days after Crusen joined the ranks. He served through the war for three years and then ran a locomotive for the government at Nashville, Tenn,, until the war ended. He then sccured @ position as engineer on the Terra Haute & Richmond road. W. R. McKeen, father of W, R. McKeen, Jr, of the McKeen Motor Car company, was president of the Vandalia at that time and Horace G. Burt, afterwards president of the Union Pacific, was a civil engineer in charge of construction of an extension to Bt. Louls and Crusen was in charge of the engine which carried these to the cele- bration of the extension to was driven. After working for Vandalia Crusen completion of the Vandalia . Louis, when the last spike fifteen years for the bullt a steambeat to try to compete with the raflroads, but soon lost In the venture all the money he had saved by years of hard labor. He then worked for the Big Four and the Wabash until 1851, when he recelved a telegram to come to Omaha and run an engine on the Union Pacific He soon had a regular en- gine and a regular run. He named his engine s a Water Sal"” and that old en- gine and some of its famous runs are still the talk the old-timers on the Unlon Pacific. “Sal” was a pecullar 100king en- ¥ with a straight boller, and ita eylin- ders almost as big as the boller, Many are the tales of experiences with snow drifts and Indians and drifting cattle which Lru- sen can tell when in & reminiscent mood. e time Soda was running in a bliz- rd and became stuck at Lodge Pole and could no further. George Dillard was sent from Sidneyto help him out. They reached Colton, when 101 struck seven yoke of oxen and killed all but one. He tells nan Lale f Iling coyot and rabbits from the cab of his eugine. Bobby," asked the visitor, “how are you getting on with your astronomy?" Aw, 1 gave it up,” pouted Bobby, dis- dainfully. * ot discouraged.” “In what way?" “Why, one day when our parlor was full of company, | remarked that ‘Mars' face is full of lines, and ma thought I meant her face and took me out to the woodshed and 1 baveu't bad such & licking in twe years."" e A A AT