they came, and the husband, to punish her and emphasize his authority, had tied her hands and lariated her out in the sun. He disappeared and was not seen afterwards.

The other incident was as follows: In 1870 a Mr. Newburn, who lived on a homestead near the present site of the town of Beemer, had cultivated a patch of watermelons. A party consisting of Hon. Lorenzo Crounse (then district judge and since governor of Nebraska), Z. Shedd, M. B. Hoxie, and C. W. Walton, attorneys, was driving past en route to West Point. Crounse, Shedd, and Hoxie entered the melon patch to test the products. Each took a melon under each arm and started to their wagon, when Newburn appeared, demanding in angry tones, "what kind of a set of d-d thieves" were stealing his melons. Shedd, gathering his senses first, replied indignantly by asking what he meant by such language, and asked if he knew whom he was addressing, explaining, "This is his honor, Judge Crounse, and I am Z. Shedd, a lawyer from Fremont," etc., to which Newburn replied, "I do not care a d-n who you are, you will pay me fifty cents each for those melons, or I will go with you to West Point and have you arrested, as you deserve." Three dollars were promptly paid, and the party left. Shortly after they arrived at West Point, Newburn came in, and as he had known the Judge and Shedd all the time, he told the story, which their friends enjoyed, he returning the three dollars and giving the party more melons. Newburn was satisfied, and all enjoyed the joke.

In 1879 the Elkhorn R. R. was extended to Battle Creek, in 1880 to Neligh, the present county seat of Antelope county. In the fall of 1880 I came to the road. I found all that northern portion of the state very sparsely settled or wholly unoccupied, and in fact but little known about it. I found there were millions on millions of acres of government land which was available under the "homestead," the "pre-emption," and the "tree claim" or "timber culture acts," whereby a man could procure 160 acres, and after living on it fourteen

months could commute the remaining four years by paying $1.25 per acre and get patent. That he could move onto another 160 acres as a "homestead” and at the same time file on another 160 acres as a "tree claim," and by planting a certain number of trees, ten acres, I believe, plowing a fire-guard around them, at the same time occupying his homestead, at the end of five years, if he had done the stipulated small amount of work on the homestead, and could also make affidavit that the requisite number of trees were alive and growing on his claim, he could get patents for both. Thus, in six years, he could acquire 480 acres of land, only having paid the filing fees, about $14 on each quarter, and the commutation of $200 on one quarter.

These conditions, with some knowledge of human nature, gave me the inspiration on which I promptly acted, advertising in flaming posters and seductive, but more modest, folders

"FREE HOMES FOR THE MILLION."

That was my slogan, or rallying phrase. It headed every circular, folder, and poster which I issued, and I issued them by the million. I spread them over Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio, and even worked some in New York and Pennsylvania. Everywhere, and in every possible publication and newspaper, printed in black, blue, and red ink, in the English and German languages, this sentence of

"FREE HOMES FOR THE MILLION."

There seems to be an inherent desire in human nature to get "something for nothing," and here I was offering free homes-160 acres of good American soil-by the million. It took with the people, and the tide of immigration started to north Nebraska. There was a very sparse population in the counties upon our line as far as Antelope county. This will appear from an old folder which I issued, probably in 1883

or 1884 (it was not dated), which states in English and German that there were

"FREE HOMES FOR THE MILLION.”

"The above invitation is to all who come early."

Then, for those who have money and want a home nearer by, I say

"In Washington county there are 150,000 acres of unimproved land available at from $10 to $20 per acre.”

In Dodge county were 190,000 acres unimproved land at from $7 to $20 per acre.

In Cuming county there were 240,000 acres unimproved land at from $3 to $7.50 per acre.

In Stanton county 225,000 acres unimproved land at $2.50 to $5 per acre.

In Madison county 200,000 acres at $2 to $7 per acre. Antelope county 500,000 acres at $1.25 to $6.50 per acre. Holt county 300,000 acres at $1.25 to $6.50 per acre. Pierce county 200,000 acres at $2.50 to $6 per acre. Knox county 160,000 acres at $1.25 to $6 per acre. Over 2,000,000 acres in these counties at $1.25 to $20 per acre. It is perhaps needless to say that now no land can be purchased in Dodge county on the east at less than $45 to $60 per acre, nor in Holt county, the farthest west of the counties named, for less than $20 to $40 per acre. I rode over a farm in Antelope county a few weeks ago for which $50 per acre was offered and declined, and which I know at the time of the above advertising could have been bought at $5 or less per acre.

All that territory west of Holt county, now embraced in the counties of Rock, Keya Paha, Brown, Cherry, Sheridan, Box Butte, Dawes, Sioux, and all that part of Boyd lying south of Keya Paha river, was attached to Holt county for judicial purposes, and known as Sioux county, otherwise unorganized. There were not five hundred people in all of them. I am not able to say what was in Wheeler, Garfield,

Blaine, Thomas, Hooker, Grant, or Scotts Bluff, lying immediately south of the large unorganized country named, but no doubt they were as unsettled as the above. In fact, outside the little settlement by General O'Neill's party and a few others there were no settlements in Holt county, only about 3,000 people in all.

Now, there is a population of over fifty thousand in those new counties, most of which, at the time I referred to above, were attached to Holt county for judicial purposes.

There is an increased population in Holt county and the counties east of our main line, of about one hundred thousand.

There are half as many more, or an increase of at least fifty thousand, in that territory west of our main line and along and west of the branch line since built, which leaves the main line at Scribner, passing through Colfax, Platte, and Boone counties, and joining the main line again at Oakdale.

The extension of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley R. R. enabled me to continue this, as it pierced that wholly unoccupied section. The railroad was extended in 1880 from Norfolk to Plainview; in 1881 from Plainview to Creighton, and from Neligh to O'Neill, and to Long Pine; in 1882 from Long Pine to Thatcher; in 1883 from Thatcher to Valentine; in 1884 the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley R. R. was purchased by the Chicago & North-Western Ry. Co., and its future extension directed under that ownership. In 1885 it was extended from Valentine to Chadron, and from Chadron to Buffalo Gap, at the base of the Black Hills; in 1886 from Buffalo Gap to Rapid City, South Dakota, and the same year another line was constructed starting from Chadron, or rather starting from a point now called "Dakota Junction," which is five miles directly west of Chadron, whence it ran through Nebraska to the Wyoming state line, and thence through Wyoming in succeeding years to Casper, in Natrona county.

This railroad had no land grant, and the Union Pacific and the Burlington & Missouri R. R. both having large grants, out of which they could pay for liberal advertising, and offer other liberal inducements, drew people to the South Platte. I was at a great disadvantage; our company was running into an unoccupied country, and had little business comparatively; and I trust I may be forgiven for having resorted to the only method within my means and at my disposal to attract attention to the north Nebraska country. At any rate, it clearly resulted in adding at least two hundred thousand people to the population of that portion of the state, and the section is now, I believe, recognized as the very best in the state, and the people are prosperous, thrifty, and contented. When I commenced advertising

"FREE HOMES FOR THE MILLION,"

I knew the land and conditions in all the northeastern part of the state and as far west as Holt county were superb, and would respond bountifully to good farming. I took pains to have the soil west of there analyzed, and found the constituents adapted to cropping. I had also investigated the rainfall. An army officer at Ft. Niobrara took account of it regularly and reported to me the precipitation was 16 to 22 inches in the spring, summer, and fall. At the same time, the precipitation at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and at Rochester, New York, was reported about 18 to 23 inches during the same time. This, I believed, justified my belief that there was sufficient precipitation to warrant the expectation that crops would grow where there was so much vegetation growing. Then, too, I shared the common belief that turning up the moist soil would add to the moisture in the atmosphere, resulting in added precipitation, and so that each such effort and growing crops would aid in redeeming that portion of the so-called arid belt, and I accordingly encouraged—even piloting some-colonies to go well westward, where I knew there was excellent soil. Those who confined themselves to crop