SEC. 2. At said election the legal voters in said county who are in favor of said division of the county shall place on their ballots the words "for a division of the county", and those legal voters who are opposed to said division of the county shall place on their ballots the words, "Against a division of the county.'

SEC. 3. When the election returns are canvassed in accordance with the ninth chapter of the first part of the code of Nebraska, if it shall appear that a majority of the votes have been polled for a division of the county, the fact shall be certified by the county clerk to the county commissioners who shall thereupon proceed to erect a new county to be named "Sarpy" out of that portion of Douglas county now embraced in the southern election district of said county.

SEC. 4. If at the election as provided for in the second section of this act a majority of the legal voters shall vote against the division of the county, the said new county shall not be erected.

The amendment was rejected by a vote of twenty-two ayes to ten nays. February 5, Mr. Strickland, as chairman of the committee on county boundaries and county seats, reported council file 12, "A bill for an act to erect the county of Sarpy", with the following amendments, recommending its passage.

First. To the title add after the word "Sarpy", the words "and for other purposes".

Second. In lieu of section 1 insert the following:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska,

That all that portion of the territory included within the following boundaries, to-wit: Beginning at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river due east of a point in the middle of the main channel of the Platte river where the same disembogues into the Missouri river; thence up the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river to a point two miles due south of the north line of township number fourteen, north; thence due west on section lines to the middle of the main channel of the Platte river; thence down the middle of the main channel

of said Platte river to the place of beginning; be and the same is hereby created and erected a new county by the name of Sarpy.

SEC. 3. Add section 2 after the word "erected", and that said commissioners shall make said location on or before the first day of July next, and shall make a report of their acts and doings in the premises and file the same in the office of the register of said county.

SEC. 4. That section four (4) be changed to section 5 in the bill, and that the following be inserted as section four (4): And be it further enacted that all that portion of the territory lying south of the fourth (4) standard parallel and east of the main channel of the Platte river and not included in the boundaries of this act of Sarpy county, be and the same are hereby declared to be a part and portion of the county of Douglas.

Mr. Armstrong moved to amend the amendments of the committee by adding after the words "Douglas county in the fifth section the words "Approved January 22, 1856, be and the same is hereby repealed, and the said county of Sarpy shall have a representation in the legislative assembly under the last census in the same ratio as provided in the act hereby repealed."

At this point Mr. S. E. Seely of Dodge county awoke to the fact that his county would lose some of its territory if the bill should pass and moved to amend by inserting after the word "line" in the twelfth line of the first section, the following words: "To the eastern boundary of Dodge county, thence south on said eastern boundary of Dodge county to the main channel of the Platte river, thence down said main channel to the place of beginning," and further by striking out all that portion which attaches a part of Dodge county to Douglas county. This amendment was rejected. February 6, the house passed the bill, as amended by the committee and Mr. Armstrong, by a vote of nineteen ayes to eleven nays.

The printed journal does not contain anything about the return of this bill to the council nor its action concurring, but it was evidently done, because on February 9 the governor sent formal notice of his approval.

It was thus that Sarpy county came into existence, and on May 25, 1857, an election was held for county officers which resulted in the choice of S. D. Bangs, county clerk; W. F. Wiley, county treasurer; John N. Enoch, sheriff; Wm. H. Cook, probate judge; C. D. Keller, register of deeds; H. A. Longsdorf, superintendent of public instruction; W. H. Harvey, surveyor; and J. B. Glover, Robert McCarthy and Philander Cook, county commissioners.

The organization of the county was completed June 10, 1857, by the first session of the board of county commissioners and the assumption of their duties by the other officers. A map accompanying this paper, and filed with the State Historical Society, shows the boundaries of Douglas and Sarpy counties, created by the last act. The board of county commissioners on January 14, 1857, gave the Bellevue people a commissioner's district, as follows: It was ordered by the board that the county of Douglas be districted and organized according to section 2 of an act entitled, "County Commissioners", as follows: "District No. 1. Bounded south by Platte river and north by section line parallel with and two miles north of the township line between townships thirteen and fourteen, and east and west by the county boundaries." [Commissioner's Record A, 4.]

As Sarpy county was soon after created, no election was held. Consequently "District No. 1" was not represented by any one from the Bellevue end of the county.

KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE

BY GEORGE W. MARTIN1

Before any reference to boundary lines, permit me to congratulate you on the start you have made toward a home for your historical collection. There is no duty more important than that of preserving public archives or general records showing the advancement of your people in all lines of activity, there can be no interest of more value and pleasure than the use of such when needed, and there is nothing more exasperating than the need of something you do not have. The extent and variety of a public collection, such as the state assumes to keep, is to meet the needs of the citizen who in the nature of things can not have everything at his home or place of business. I have. experience every day with individuals who are amazed at the extent of the "trash", as they call it, that is stored, and I have enjoyed the discomfiture, if not the profanity, of the same people, who call for the most insignificant and unheard of thing which we do not have. I maintain that the best thing a state has is its historical collection. Here all men and all interests end. Old records and papers with us have a commercial value to the individual, to say nothing of the instructive feature demanded by every patriotic citizen.

Everybody concedes this. The only advice in order, therefore, is to go to the limit of liberality in providing a home and necessary conveniences for proper care. These twin states should keep abreast of each other. True, one

1 1 Paper read at the annual meeting of the Nebraska State Historical Society, January, 1910.

has been a trifle wild and reckless, but fifty years of statehood has brought some dignity, sobriety and a steady step. Each state has started on the erection of a historical building. The legislature gave the Kansas Society $200,000 for this purpose. This, it is estimated, will only enclose the building, which will be four stories and a basement. The plan with us is to place steel stacks upon the completion of the building sufficient to give us double the shelf room we now occupy. The building is to be partly occupied temporarily by other state interests; but ultimately there will be space for the Historical Society for thirty or forty years, and it is to be absolutely fireproof. We shall have foundation and walls sufficient to carry two or three additional stories.

Barring ten years of hell we had on the border, from 1855 to 1865, the history of Kansas is the history of Nebraska. Four-fifths of our territory came into use and prominence after the close of the war between the states. We had the same task of opening up a new country. The noble red man caused us about the same anxiety. The development of these plains from the barrenness of fifty years ago to the service of mankind we see today will always far exceed battles and blood, raids and robbery. We have been slowly, but with increasing rapidity each year, reclaiming the most fertile and beautiful country on the face of the globe. Wonderful history has been made in these two states by men who established our schools and churches, built our railroads, opened our farms, improved our cattle and hogs, and who established large and small industrial plants. Such history is worth preserving with the utmost care. The individual without interest in history, while he may not so understand it, is without pride of ancestry. We start very enthusiastically with our building in Kansas, and I hope we will end up correspondingly. But, however rich, handsome and perfect we may do our