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Johnson's History of Nebraska, by Harrison Johnson. [Link]
Published by Henry Gibson, Herald Printing House, Omaha, Neb., 1880.
           Blair Public Library: REF 978.2 J
 

Washington County was organized by an Act of the first Territorial Legislature, approved February 22, 1855. It is located on the middle-eastern border of the State, bounded on the north by Burt County, east by the Missouri River, south by Douglas County, and west by Dodge County and the Elkhorn River, containing about 400 square miles, or 256,000 acres.

WATER COURSES.--The County is finely watered by the Missouri and Elkhorn Rivers and tributaries. The Missouri washes the entire eastern border, and the Elkhorn the southwestern border for a distance of about two townships. Bell Creek, a beautiful tributary of the Elkhorn, flows from north to south through the western portion of the County. Among the smaller streams are Fish, Long, New York, Stewart, North, South, Turkey, Deer, Moore, Little Bell, Brown, Walnut, and Papillion Creeks. Every township in the County has running water.

TIMBER.--There is an abundance of timber for fuel in this County. On the Missouri bottoms and along several of the streams there is a fine native growth. The amount of timber planted is 1,840 1/2 acres; hedging, twenty-four and a half miles.

FRUIT.--59,629 apple, 1819 pear, 3,287 peach, 3,277 plum, 9,960 cherry trees, and 19,013 grape vines are reported under cultivation.

TOPOGRAPHY.--Thirty per cent. of the County is valley and bottom, sixty per cent. rolling prairie, and ten per cent. broken and bluffy. The bottoms of the Missouri at this point are very wide, ranging from three to seven miles. The bottoms of the Elkhorn, on the southwestern border of the County, vary from three to six miles in width, while the beautiful valley of Bell Creek, extending through the County from north to south, is from one to three miles wide, with fine level table lands adjoining. Everywhere in the County the soil is of an excellent character.

CROPS.--The area in cultivation, reported for 1879, was 77,657 acres. Winter wheat, forty-two acres, 893 bushels; spring wheat, 23,057 acres, 259,241 bushels; rye, 1,857 acres, 28,002 bushels; corn, 34,084 acres, 1,308,486 bushels; barley, 1,597 acres, 17,856 bushels; oats, 7,772 acres, 36,662 bushels; buckwheat, sixty-six acres, 585 bushels; sorghum, 106 acres, 10,357 gallons; flax, 211 acres, 1,772 bushels; broom corn, 1 1/2 acres, nine tons; onions, five acres, 910 bushels; potatoes, 543 1/2 acres, 39,706 bushels.

HISTORICAL.--The first permanent settlement was made in the southeastern part of the County, upon the beautiful plateau upon which old Fort Calhoun stood. The buildings of the old Fort consisted of about sixty small brick structures, arranged in four lines inclosing about ten acres of ground. Outside of this inclosure [sic], to the north, were a number of other buildings supposed to have been used by officers and Indian traders. The brickyard was southeast of the Fort, at the foot of the bluff. Some eighty rods to the west was a spring, where was erected a spring-house for dairy purposes, and still further to the north was a large cultivated field where grain and vegetables were raised to supply the fort. The, stone magazine building was still standing in 1854. This site was selected as a claim early in the summer of 1854, by John Goss, Sr., who, however, soon after donated it, with the exception of two shares, to a Town Company consisting of Casady & Test, Addison Cochran, and H. C. Purple, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; and Mark W. Izard, A. J. Poppleton, and Hadley D. Johnson, of Omaha.

This Company built a cabin on the site of the old Fort, near the magazine; and in March, 1855, the town was surveyed and platted by E. H. Clark.

Several families came to the new town immediately after it was located, and a number of others settled on claims near by.

By Act of the Legislature, approved February 22, 1855, Fort Calhoun was made the County Seat; and at the same time the County was fully organized by the appointment of Stephen Cass, Probate Judge; George W. Newell, Recorder; and Thomas J. Allen, Sheriff.

During the spring of 1855, an immense immigration came into the County, and many settled at Fort Calhoun.

The first District Court in the County was opened here in June of this year, in the claim cabin of the Town Company. It was presided over by Hon. Fenner Ferguson, with Major J. W. Paddock, as Clerk; Gen. E. Estabrook, U. S. Prosecuting Attorney; and Thomas J. Allen, Sheriff. The attorneys present were A. J. Poppleton, E. H. Clark, Jonas Seeley, and J. McNeal Latham. The first case tried was that of Elias Wilcox vs. James M. Taggart for claim-jumping; verdict for the defendants.

About the 10th of August, the Calhoun town site was jumped by Charles D. Davis, who moved into the town house, where he and his friends fortified themselves. The Town Company and citizens undertook to put him off, which resulted in the killing of Mr. Goss, the shooting of Mr. Purple through the shoulder, and the wounding of Mr. Thompson in the thigh--all being of the Town party. Thus matters rested until November, when Davis made sale, or pretended sale, of his interests; and a new Town Company was formed, taking in several new members, including the widow of Mr. Goss.

During the summer of 1855, E. H. Clark built a hotel for the Town Company, which was opened to the public the following spring, by Col. Geo. Stevens.

A court house was built in 1856, in which Hon. E. Wakely presided as Judge, with Hon. Geo. M. Doane, prosecuting attorney, Roger T. Beal, clerk, and Orrin Rhodes, sheriff.

During this summer, Rev. Collins, a Methodist minister, residing at Omaha, preached in the court house once a month.

In 1857, the town was entered at the land office by Hon. Elam Clark, Mayor.

In 1858, the Fort Calhoun flouring mills were erected by Z. Vanier & Brother, and in 1861, they passed into the hands of Hon. Elam Clark & Co., the present proprietors. These mills soon became widely celebrated, and during the days of freighting across the plains they manufactured thousands of sacks of flour for shipment to Colorado and Utah. Many of the early settlers came a distance of seventy-five to one hundred miles to these mills.

FORT CALHOUN,
On the O. & N. road, has about 400 inhabitants, several stores, two Churches, a good school house, etc. The old Fort Calhoun steam flouring mills, which gained such wide notoriety in the early days of the Territory, are still running to their full capacity.

FONTENELLE,
Situated in the middle western portion of the County, on a fine piece of table land commanding a splendid view of the Elkhorn and Platte Valleys, was settled in the summer of 1854, by a company from Quincy, Illinois, called the "Nebraska Colonization Company," of which Jonathan Smith was President, and Rev. W. W. Keep, Secretary, and including as members, J. W. Richardson, J. C. Barnard, O. C. Barnard, H. Metz, John Evans, J. Armor, James A. Bell, and others.

Before the close of the year many additional settlers had flocked to the town and surrounding country. The first stock of goods at Fontenelle was opened early in 1855, by Wm. H. Davis, who also kept the first hotel in a double log house, called the "Fontenelle House."

The first child born in the town was Mattie Francis, daughter of Samuel Francis, October 2, 1855. A few hours later, on the same night, a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Davis, and named Fontenelle. In May, 1856, Rev. Reuben Gaylord, organized a Congregational Church, with about twenty-five members, and Rev. Thomas Waller as pastor. A Sabbath School was organized at the same time. The new Church was presented with a handsome communion service by the First Congregational Church of Quincy, Illinois. In 1856 a college was erected under the auspices of the Congregationalist Church, and was a flourishing institution for a number of years, Professor Burt being the first teacher. The first saw mill was brought in by Thos. Gibson in 1856, and run by Samuel and Silas Francis. The first marriage was that of Henry Whitter to Miss Emily Strickland, in the fall of 1866. Miss Strickland taught the first school the winter previous. On the evening of the 15th of July, 1855, a Mr. and Mrs. Porter, and a young man named Demaree, came up from Bell Creek, where they had been breaking prairie, and encamped on Sam Francis' lake, a mile north of Fontenelle, intending to go up into the settlement, on Sunday morning. As they were about to leave camp on Sunday, a party of Indians rode out of the willows and approached Porter's wagon. One of them snatched Demaree's hat off his head and was riding away with it, when the owner called to him to stop, or he would shoot him, picking up his rifle as he spoke. The Indian turned, saw this demonstration on the part of Demaree, called out "Pawnee!" and shot him instantly, the ball passing through Porter also, killing both men. The Indians then rode off, leaving Mrs. Porter alone with the dead. This double murder caused the greatest excitement in Fontenelle, all the settlers in the neighborhood flocking thither for safety, and it was many months before they considered themselves safe from assault and massacre by the Indians.

Fontenelle is now a village of some 150 inhabitants. It contains a Church, school house, blacksmith and wagon shop, and a large general merchandise store. The adjoining country is well settled and fertile.

DE SOTA,
On the Missouri River, was laid out in the fall of 1854, by Dr. John Glover, Gen. J. B. Robinson, Potter C. Sullivan, E. P. Stout, Wm. Clancy and others. It was incorporated by an Act of the Legislature, in March, 1865. During the summer of 1855, thirty frame and log houses were built in the town. Dr. A. Phinney opened the first store, and Chas. Seltz the second. P. C. Sullivan was the first postmaster. Judge Jesse T. Davis located there in the fall of 1855. The first child born in DeSota, and probably the first in the County, was John Critz, in June, 1855. The first marriage was that of Thomas M. Carter to Miss Sullivan. In 1856 the Kennard Brothers established themselves in the mercantile business here, and the Bank of DeSota entered upon a career of brilliant, but short lived prosperity, with Samuel Hall as president, and Geo. E. Scott, cashier. In the same year the Waubeek Bank was established, and the following spring the Corn Exchange Bank opened for business.

Rev. Jacob Adriance, of the Methodist Church, was the first regular minister. In 1857, the town had fifteen or twenty business houses, and between six and seven hundred inhabitants, and prosperity was the order of the day, until the Pike's Peak excitement broke out in 1859, when it was almost entirely deserted.

DeSota which at one time boasted several hundred inhabitants is now a mere village of half a dozen houses.

HAYES, KENNARD, MILLS, WASHINGTON, AMHERST, MEADS, NERO and ADVANCE, are Post offices in the County.

CUMING CITY,
Was "claimed" in September, 1854, by P. G. Cooper, and two others, and in the spring of 1855, it was laid out as a city, and named in honor of the Acting Governor, T. B. Cuming. For a while it grew very rapidly, but the financial crash of 1857, gave it a check from which it never recovered, and it was soon afterwards abandoned entirely. Among the first settlers were Jacob Pate, Lorenzo Pate, J. Zimmerman, J. Gall, E. Pilcher, P. G. Cooper, J. S. Stewart, L. M. Kline, T. C. Hungate, and O. W. Thomas. In 1857, it had fifty-three dwellings, several business houses, and a weekly newspaper.

MURDERS.--In April, 1856, one Isaiah Peterson jumped the claim of a Mr. Coon, near Ft. Calhoun, and built a house upon it in an out-of-the-way place. Mr. Coon went to see him, and was there found dead soon afterward, with a bullet through his heart.

In 1858, a man named Blackwood, living near DeSota, was arrested for cutting a man named Lamb, with an axe. He broke jail and returned to his house, where he barricaded himself, and Wm. Frazier, Deputy Sheriff, in endeavoring to arrest him, shot him dead. Frazier was tried and acquitted.

In 1859, Henry Seevers, while under the influence of liquor, stabbed a man named Povie in a saloon at DeSota, killing him. Seevers was arrested, but the Grand Jury failing to find an indictment against him, he was released.

In 1861, Hiram Frazier, a boy thirteen years old, shot a German who had said the boy stole a whip, the man dying within a few hours from the effects of the wound. The boy was sentenced to be hanged, but the Governor commuted the sentence to imprisonment for life. He was subsequently pardoned.

In the winter of 1869-70, one McAuley, a clerk at the Quimby House, at Blair, was killed by John Jones, head cook of the hotel. McAuley was running away from Jones, when the latter threw a butcher's cleaver at him, which severed the main artery of the arm,

causing him to bleed to death in a few minutes. Jones was tried in June, 1870, when the jury disagreed, standing eleven to one. At the second trial he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, and was pardoned at the end of two years.

On the 8th of February, 1875, Mrs. Phillip Kleinburg, living on the Brainard farm, a mile north of Fontenelle, was brutally murdered by having her throat cut, while her husband was absent, hauling wheat. Willard Randall, a young man, nineteen years of age, who occupied a house alone about a half mile distant, was arrested on suspicion of being the murderer. He was tried at Blair, in November, 1875, and the jury disagreeing, a change of venue to Douglas County was obtained. At the second trial, in March, 1876, a verdict of murder in the second degree was returned by the jury, and the prisoner was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

In May, 1876, Henry Koing, a German, was killed by Minor Milton. It was the result of a feud which existed between Milton and two Swedes, named respectively, John Christian, and Jans Jensen, on the one side, and Henry and Edward Koing, brothers, on the other. The parties all lived in the same neighborhood, some, ten miles south of Blair. On the day of the killing, the Koing brothers were overtaken on their return home from Blair, by Milton and the two Swedes, who immediately commenced an assault. The Koings jumped out of their wagon and started too run into a farm house. Henry was pursued by Milton, who struck him over the bead with a heavy club, breaking his skull, and knocking him senseless to the ground. Edward Koing was also knocked down by either Milton or Christian, while Jensen held the team. Henry Koing died from the effects of his injuries, but his brother recovered. Milton was found guilty of murder in the first degree at the special term of court held by Judge Savage, in the latter part of May, and was sentenced to be hanged, September 22, 1876. Christian was tried and acquitted, and a nolle was entered by the State in the case of Jensen. The case of Milton was appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted him a new trial. At the second trial lie was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.--The number of school districts in the County is forty-five; school houses, forty-six; number of children of school age; males, 1,481, females, 1,402, total, 2,883; qualified teachers employed, males, twenty-three, females, fifty-six; value of school houses, $43,470; value of sites, $2,935, value of books and apparatus, $2,355.

RAILROADS.--The Omaha & Northern Nebraska Railroad runs through the County from south to north, passing up the Missouri Valley. Length of road in the County, 24.47 miles.

The Sioux City & Pacific Railroad, connecting with the Union Pacific at Fremont, in Dodge County, runs through the central portion of this County, from east to west, a distance of 19.60 miles.

LANDS.--Improved lands range in price from $7 to $35 per acre. The Union Pacific R. R. Company owns 5,000 acres in this County, the price ranging from $5 to $10 per acre.

TAXABLE PROPERTY.--Land, 231,834 acres, average value per acre, $3.66; value of town lots, $136,271; money used in merchandise, $27,960; money used in manufactures, $3,690; number of horses, 3,666, value $85,154; mules and asses, 469, value $14,317; neat cattle, 10,656, value, $84,363; sheep, 1,313, value $1,323; swine, 18,408, value, $1,8153 [sic]; carriages and wagons, 1,311, value, $14,710; moneys and credits, $16,209; mortgages, $11,799; furniture, $26,045; libraries, $1,050; other personalty, $26,976; railroad property, $167,902.89; telegraph property, $855; total valuation for 1879, $1,481,733.89.

POPULATION.--The population of the County in 1855 was 207; in 1860, 1,249; in 1870, 4,452; in 1875, 6,114; in 1878, 7,116; and in 1879, 8,361.

BLAIR.
Thirty miles to the north of Omaha, about three miles west of the Missouri River, on a beautiful plateau in the Missouri Valley, at the junction of the Omaha & Northwestern and Sioux City and Pacific Railways, is situated the thriving little town of Blair--the County Seat--containing a population of 1,589. The town was surveyed and laid out in 1869, and on the 10th of March in that year, town lots to the amount of over $100,000 were disposed of at auction.

Few towns in the State have developed more rapidly, or present a more inviting appearance, or offer larger inducements to business industries, than this. Possessing ample railroad advantages, and surrounded by a well-cultivated, rich farming country.

Blair offers inducements to commercial and manufacturing industries that may be looked for in vain in many other sections of the West. The buildings, including both business houses and residences, are as a rule commodious, substantial, and attractive. The streets are wide, and outside of the immediate business center, shade trees have been planted to a large extent, while the public squares are supplied with fine and well-developed groves of maple, cottonwood, and other favorite varieties. To the south and southwest, the city is flanked by a crescent-shaped range of hills, all under a high state of cultivation, and from which a most charming view of the town is obtained. Having direct rail communication with all the prominent market centers at the East and South, it is an important shipping point for grain, live stock, and other farm products.

The first business house established there, was that of Herman Bros., dry goods, and the next, that of Clark & Donavan, dealers in general merchandise. In 1879, there were six stores that handled dry goods and groceries, three hardware, three drug, two that handled groceries exclusively, three agricultural implement depots, two millinery stores, one boot and shoe store, two confectionery stores, two meat markets, four blacksmith shops, four livery stables, one foundry, two elevators, one large flouring mill (steam), two lumber yards, three hotels, and two excellent weekly papers--Pilot and Times.

Religious and educational interests are also well represented, there being several fine Churches, a number of common school buildings, and one very attractive high school structure that was erected in 1872, at a cost of $15,000. Except the jail, which is a fine structure, the County buildings are rather modest in their appearance. The town also has one bank, several loan agents, and a full complement of lawyers, doctors, and insurance agents. In brief, Blair is a pleasant, thriving city, and its geographical position insures for it a prosperous future.

BELL CREEK
Is a flourishing town of 550 inhabitants, situated on the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad, and near the mouth of Bell Creek, in the southeastern part of the County. It was laid out in 1869.

The first improvements on the town site were made by the railroad Company, by the erection of a fine depot and store building, which were soon followed by several dwellings, a lumberyard, by Samuel Francis, a grain warehouse, by L. H. Jones, and a general merchandise store, by A. C. Mansfield. At present all branches of business are well represented. A good water-power grist mill is located near the town. In the fall of 1876, a fine school house was erected at a Cost of $5,000, and in the following year a neat Methodist Episcopal Church was erected. The surrounding country is most beautiful and fertile.

HERMAN,
Located on the Omaha and Northwestern Railway, in the northern part of the County, was laid out in 1870. It contains about 150 inhabitants, has two grain elevators, and transacts a large grain and stock business, being the principal shipping station between Blair and Tekamah.