the Union Pacific was the spirit that settled Nebraska. Indeed, many of the very men who helped to build the one tarried to assist in the development of the other, lending their genius and courage to the making of a state.

It was in the early seventies that the general settlement of the state began. Following the war the discharged soldiers, turning westward in search of homes, were attracted to Nebraska, and thousands of them arrived in a short time. No better citizens ever lived. Inured to hardships, schooled in discipline, abounding in patriotism, they had been tried in the fires of a mighty conflict and were fit subjects out of which to make a commonwealth. The majority of them were young men, and they had families. They came to make homes and there was nothing of uncertainty about their purpose. They were terribly in earnest; for they were without much means and their whole future depended on their efforts. They came largely in families, companies and a few colonies, which did much to create a home atmosphere from the beginning. It is not strange, therefore, that their first concern was to establish schools and churches. The experience, for instance, of Samuel C. Bassett, of Buffalo county, furnishes a striking illustration of this early desire for educational advantages. Mr. Bassett reached Buffalo county with a colony, April 7, 1871. At that time but four claims had been filed in the United States land office, and not an acre of railroad land had been sold. The county had been organized less than one year.

The

4 It is more accurate to say that Buffalo county was reorganized about a year before this time. The first territorial legislature passed an act, March 16, 1855, declaring that certain prescribed territory "is hereby organized into a county to be called Buffalo" and constituting Nebraska Center the county seat. (Laws of Nebraska 1-3 Territorial Sessions, p. 339.) In 1859 the territorial canvassing board counted the vote purporting to have been cast in Buffalo county for a delegate to congress; but in the ensuing contest at Washington the house of representatives threw it out on the ground that the county was not organized at the time of the election.

families lived in the cars until they could build homes. On the 15th of April, 1871, before any members of this company had filed on homesteads, and while they were yet living in the cars, a meeting was held to consider the organization of a school district. On the 22d of April a meeting was held, school district officers were elected, and a tax voted to build a schoolhouse. Think of it! Within two weeks after the arrival of this little company of pioneers and before they had even commenced to erect homes of their own, even before they were certain that they would have homes, taxes had been voted to build a schoolhouse! And in less than three months a term of school began in the wing of a private house, just completed. Do you wonder that Nebraska is able to boast of the lowest percentage of illiteracy of any state in the Union? Is it surprising that the state is right in the forefront of all progress

The county voted at the congressional elections of 1860 and 1866, and at the provisional state election, June 2, 1866.

At the eighth session of the territorial legislature an act was passed, December 31, 1861, constituting Hall, Buffalo, Kearney, and Lincoln, counties a legislative district. (Laws of Nebraska Eighth Territorial Session, p. 107.) At the eleventh session of the territorial legislature an act was passed, February 12, 1866, authorizing the probate judge of Buffalo county "to appoint all officers in said county necessary to complete county and precinct organizations", who should hold their respective offices until their successors were elected and qualified. The probate judge was authorized also "to demand and receive all the records . . . belonging to said county", and to keep them until the proper officers for their custody were elected and qualified. Thus Buffalo exercised distinct county functions intermittently from 1860 until its permanent organization in 1870. (Special Laws of the Eleventh Territorial Session, p. 710.) By the act of June 12, 1867, Buffalo county was placed in the third judicial district. (Laws of Nebraska Third Session, p. 50.) By the act of February 10, 1871, Buffalo county was attached to Hall county for judicial purposes. (Laws of Nebraska 1870-71, p. 195.) By the act of February 27, 1873, terms of the district court to be held in Buffalo county were appointed. (General Statutes 1873, p. 260.)-ED.

'The percentages of illiteracy in the three states having the lowest rate for the four decades ending 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, are as follows: 1880: Wyoming, 3.4; Nebraska, 3.6; Iowa, 3.9. 1890: Nebraska, 3.1; Wyoming, 3.4; Iowa, 3.6. 1900: Nebraska, 2.3; Iowa, 2.3; Oregon, 3.3.

in educational matters and that other states are demanding our educators as fast as we can produce them? Our standing in these things is not a matter of chance. It was determined by the men and women who had a passion for selfimprovement and who laid a foundation so broad and deep that we could not overturn it if we would. To be sure, Nebraska is favored by many advantages in the way of geographical location, climatic conditions, soil fertility, transportation facilities and unlimited natural resources; but it took the vision, the foresight and the indomitable will of the pioneers to make them full measure of benefit. These little clusters of war veterans, with their families and friends, composed an influence that ramified into every part of the political, commercial, social and moral life of the community.

It would be easy to cite other examples to show that in the play of the great forces that shaped the destiny of this nation Nebraska was favored as only one or two other states were favored; but we have indicated enough to show that Nebraska civilization grew from good seed, selected without a doubt by the great Agriculturist Himself and cultivated according to his eternal design.

I cannot leave the subject, however, without turning my eyes for a moment from the past to the future. We must remember that the success of the pioneers depended almost wholly on the fact that they kept their eyes steadfastly to the front; and we will not be true to the spirit that dominated them if we do not follow their example. It is our duty to acknowledge the obligation we owe to the men and women who handed us an empire, enduring and glorious, which they had fashioned out of a wilderness, but their splendid example will be lost if we halt, contented

1910: Iowa, 1.7; Nebraska, 1.9; Oregon, 1.9. (Twelfth Census U. S. 1900, v. 2, Population Part 2, p. c; Thirteenth Census, 1910, Abstract With Nebraska Supplement, p. 245)—ED.

with what has already been accomplished. Croly says, "All history is but a romance unless it is studied as an example." There is much of the desert to conquer yet, many streams to bridge, many schools to build, many farms to improve, many resources to develop, many wrongs to right and many problems to solve. The future has a challenge to strong men as compelling as any that came to the pioneers of fifty years ago, and it will be as rich as the past if we keep our minds open to the visions that they had and our hearts free to make them come true. In closing I am tempted to borrow a verse that the poet, Harry Kemp, has recently dedicated to Kansas, because it is expressive of the sentiments and aspirations of all loyal Nebraskans

"Let other countries glory in their Past,

But Nebraska [Kansas] glories in her days to be,

In her horizons, limitless and vast,

Her plains that storm the senses like the sea:

She has no ruins grey that men revere

Her time is Now, her Heritage is Here."

INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF

NUCKOLLS COUNTY

BY GEORGE D. FOLLMER

[Paper read at the annual meeting of the Nebraska State Historical Society, January, 1912.]

In the winter of 1870-71 I started with a team and an old style mail buckboard from Grant, in Montgomery county, Iowa. I passed through Red Oak and Sidney, crossing the Missouri river at Nebraska City, and thence, by way of Beatrice, to Oak Grove Ranch in Nuckolls county. I struck the Oregon Trail at the Helvey Ranch on Big Sandy in Jefferson county. There were but few settlers between this point and Meridian where there was a small store and post office kept by Hugh Ross. From Meridian to Kiowa Ranch (in Thayer county, kept by E. Vanderwork) there were no settlements; and there were none along the trail between Kiowa Ranch and Oak Grove Ranch which was situated at the mouth of a large draw on the north side of the Little Blue river, in the northwest quarter of section 15, township 3, range 5 west of the sixth principal meridian. The ranch house was erected in September, 1865, by E. S. Comstock. The stockade on the south ' side of the house was put up by Philip Michael in April, 1870. The house was twenty-four feet in length and fourteen in width, with an addition on the north side eight feet by ten feet. The main building had one story.

About fifty feet a little east and south from the house, the first election for the organization of Nuckolls county was held under a large elm tree, on the twenty-seventh of June, 1871. Thirty-two votes were cast at this election.