F 6 .Wo? |^||;|^'|:vi;; : LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. RECEIVED BY EXCHANGE Class OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY BY ALBERT WATKINS HISTORIAN OF THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY A SPECIAL PUBLICATION LINCOLN NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY BY ALBERT WATKINS HISTORIAN OF THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY A SPECIAL PUBLICATION LINCOLN NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1910 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY In view of the great expenditure in Nebraska of time and money in working other historical fields, no apology need be made for un- dertaking to facilitate the study of the history of the state. In the following outline, topics have been indicated and sources and other bibliography cited fully enough to meet the needs of teachers and students as well as general readers. The card index of the State Historical Society shows the way to information in still greater de- tail. The Society's stock of classified and accessible knowledge of Nebraska history is constantly increasing, and it is its policy to as- sist in spreading such knowledge in every feasible way, and espe- cially to encourage the systematic study of the subject. The Society will furnish requested information as far as practicable for the use of schools, clubs and individuals. ORIGINAL APPLICATION OF THE NAME. TERRITORY COMPRISED IN "THE NEBRASKA COUNTRY." ^ Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. I, p. 136 et seq. Executive Documents, 1852-53, v. I, pt. i, Doc. I, p. 380, and v. i, pt. 2, p. 71. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, p. 241, foot note 6. Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Ray. THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, pp. 117-130, foot notes, and authorities cited. John B. McMaster in David Nutt's History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,- v. i, p. 7. Territorial Development of the Louisiana Purchase. Al- bert Watkins. Ms., Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Evolution of Nebraska. Albert Watkins. Proceedings Mississippi Valley Historical Association, v. 3. 317709 6 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, pp. 131-159, foot notes and citations. TERRITORY ORIGINALLY COMPRISED IN NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. Ibid, and the bill itself. COMPARISON OF KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL WITH OTHER TERRITORIAL ORGANIC ACTS. Ibid., v. i, p. 158. Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Ray. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NEBRASKA. a. GEOLOGICAL. Geology of Nebraska by Jirwin H. Barbour, Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 3. x Nebraska Geological Survey. Erwin H. Barbour. v. i and succeeding numbers. f Darton's Geology and Water Resources of Nebraska West of the io3d Meridian. U. S. Geological Survey. f Darton's Geology of the Great Plains. U. S. Geological Survey. ^ See also Geological Bibliography of Nebraska by Barbour and Fisher. Report on Honey Creek Coal Mine. Nebraska Geological Survey, v. 2. Coal in Nebraska. Roy V. Pepperberg. Nebraska Geo- logical Survey, v. 3, pt. 10. Nebraska and the Northwest. Wilber. b. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. ^ Geography of Nebraska. Condra. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, pp. 80-87; also PP- 82, 83, 86 and 89 for illustrations. ^ Explorations in Nebraska. Lieut. G. K. Warren. Execu- tive Documents, 1858-59, v. 2, pt. 2, Doc. 2, pp. 634, 649. Article on Nebraska in Cyclopedia Americana. Sketches of Physical Geography and Geology of Nebraska. Aughey. OUTLIXI-: OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 7 c. METEOROLOGY. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. I, beginning p. 12. Nebraska. Cyclopedia Americana. Climatic Conditions of Nebraska. Swezey. Northwestern Journal of Education. July, 1895. Climatological Data for the United States. Sections 35, 36, 37. Loveland. Explorations in Nebraska. Lieut. G. K. Warren. Execu- tive Documents, 1858-59, v. 2, pt. 2, Doc. 2, p. 645. Nebraska and the Northwest. Wilber. VEGETATION. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 17. Charles E. Bessey. Ibid., chap. 7, v. 2; also forthcoming v. 3. INDIANS IN NEBRASKA. 1 8th Annual Report American Bureau of Ethnology, pt. 2, schedules and maps of Indian territorial locations. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, chap. 2, and v. 2, chap. 6 classification and treaties, foot notes and citations. jr The Pawnee Indians. Rev. John Dunbar. Magazine of American History, v. 4, 5. Life, Letters and Travels of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S. J. 1801-1873. De Smet, according to index. Ms. by John Dunbar. Library of Nebraska State His- torical Society. Explorations in Nebraska. Lieut. G. K. Warren. Execu- tive Documents, 1858-59, v. 2, pt. 2, Doc. 2, p. 662. ^- Sketch and Diary of Moses Merrill. Transactions Ne- braska State Historical Society, v. 4, pp. 157-191. Ms. of Samuel Allis, Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Part of the Making of a Great State. John A. MacMurphy. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. I, 2d series, p. n. The Poncas. Jay Amos Barrett. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, 2d series, p. u. O OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY General history and account of the condition of the tribes. Report Secretary of Interior, 1872, p. 391. Pawnee council 1855 at Fremont village. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, pp. 190-192. Indian Wars on the Nebraska Plains, 1864-1880. Albert > Watkins. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Territorial Military History. Illustrated History of Ne- braska, v. 2, chap. 5. Card Index, Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Some Sidelights on the Character of Sitting Bull. Doane Robinson. Proceedings of Mississippi Valley Historical Association, v. 3. True Story of Sitting Bull. Major E. G. Fechet. Trans- actions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, 2d series, p. 179. ^ Letters and Notes on the North American Indians. Catlin. New Indian Sketches. De Sniet. EXPLORATIONS. CORONADO'S EXPEDITION. Fourteenth Annual Reporr Bureau of Ethnology, pt. i. Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States. F. W. Hodge. Harahey. Jacob V. Brower. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 45. The White Man's Foot in Kansas. John B. Dunbar. Kan- sas Historical Collections, v. 10, p. 69. MALLET BROTHERS' EXPEDITION. The Conservative, May 22, 1902. The Christening of the Platte. James W. Savage. Trans- actions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 3, p. 67. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 48. LEWIS & CLARK. Journals of Lewis & Clark. The Trail of Lewis & Clark. Olin D. Wheeler. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, chap. 2. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 9 Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi and through the Western Parts of Louisiana, 1806, 1807. Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 2. CROOKS & MCLELLAN. History of the American Fur Trade. Chittenden. v. I, p. 159- j> Journal of a Voyage up the River Missouri, 1811. Brack- enridge. p. 78. Travels in the Interior of America. Bradbury. ASTORIAN EXPEDITION. History of the American Fur Trade. Chittenden. Chap. 10. ^ Astoria. Irving. Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America, 1811-14. Gabriel Franchere. Published with Bracken- ridge's Journal in Early Western Travel Series. Magazine of American History, March, 1885, v - I 3 no - 3- Travels in the Interior of America. Bradbury. Journal of a Voyage up the River Missouri, 1811. Brack- enridge. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 57. History of Wyoming. Coutant. v. I, chaps. 7, 8, 10. YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION. Account of an Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Long. History of the American Fur Trade. Chittenden, v. 2, p. 562. American State Papers Military Affairs v. 2, pp. 68, 69, 324- Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri. Chittenden. v. i, p. 282. Niles Register, v. 19, p. 47 September 16, 1820. ELLSWORTH'S EXPEDITION. United States Statutes at Large, v. 7, p. 448. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. I, p. 44, foot note. Indian Sketches. John T. Irving. 10 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY FREMONT'S EXPEDITION, 1842. . Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Fremont. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 61. YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION (Capt. F. W. Raynolds). Exploration of the Cheyenne, Yellowstone and Powder river regions. Senate Documents, 1859-60. Report of Secretary of War, pp. 541, 549. Ibid., 1 860-6 1, v. 2, Doc. i, p. 146. EARLY TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION. Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains and map. Fremont. s, Travels in the Interior of North America. Maximilian. v. i. Thwaites' edition. OREGON TRAIL. 1830 Letter of Smith, Jackson & Sublette. Senate Docu- ments, 2d sess., 2ist Cong. Doc. 39, pp. 21-23. Quarterly Oregon Historical Society, December, 1903. P- 395- 1832 Wyeth's Journals. 1832 Captain Bonneville's Adventures. Irving. 1835 Travels in North America. Murray. "> J &35 Journal of an Exploring Tour. Parker. 1842, 1843 Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Moun- tains. Fremont. 1843 Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer. Peter H. Burnett. Quarterly of Oregon Historical Society, March, 1904. > 1843 A Day With the Cow Column in 1843. Jesse Ap-. plegate. Quarterly Oregon Historical Society, De- cember, 1900. 1844 Reminiscences of Experiences on the Oregon Trail. John Minto. Quarterly Oregon Historical Society, June and September, 1901 ; March, 1904. 1845 Journal of Travel over the Rocky Mountains. Joel Palmer. 1846 Oregon Trail. Parkman. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY II *> 1846 What I saw in California. Bryant. 1846 Oregon and California. Thornton. 1849 Stansbury's Expedition. Captain Howard Stans- bury. 1849 Across the Rocky Mountains. Kelly. 1849 Report of Major Osborn Cross, Q. M. G., Senate Documents, 2d sess. 3ist Cong., 1850-51, v. i, Doc. i, p. 128. 1850 Solitary Places Made Glad. Henry T. Davis. Chap. 5. 7* 1850 Journal of John Wood. Wood. 1851 Western Missions and Missionaries. De Smet, pp. 97-98. s 1852 Ventures and Adventures of Ezra Meeker. Meeker. > 1852 In the Early Days Along the Overland Trail. Cole. 1852-1857 Explorations in Nebraska. Lieut. G. K. War- ren. Executive Documents, 1858-59, v. 2, pt. 2, Doc. 2, p. 620. 1858 The Prairie Traveler Containing Itineraries. Cap- tain Randolph B. Marcy, U. S. Army, and Captain Richard F. Burton. 1859 Beyond the Mississippi. Richardson. > 1859 Overland Journey from New York to California. Greeley. 7 1860 The City of The Saints. Burton. v 1865 Bullwhacking Days. George P. Marvin. Trans- actions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 5, 2d series, p. 226. 1865 Across the Continent. Bowles. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, chap. 3. History of the American Fur Trade. Chittenden. > The Overland Stage to California. Root and Connelley. > The Great Salt Lake Trail. Inman and Cody. Western Incidents connected with the Union Pacific Rail- road. Seymour. 12 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY }> On the Road to Oregon. Charles M. Harvey. Atlantic Monthly, May, 1910. /> The Story of the Salt Lake Trail, ibid., July, 1910. / The Ox Team. Meeker. The Oregon Trail. F. G. Young. Quarterly Oregon His- / torical Society, December, 1900. Evolution of Nebraska. Albert Watkins. Proceedings Mississippi Valley Historical Association, v. 3. Articles on Freighting and Staging in Early Days. Trans- actions Nebraska State Historical Society, 2d series, v. 5. Seventy Years on the Frontier. Alexander Majors. NAVIGATION OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. Journals of Lewis & Clark. Astoria. Irving. Journal of a Voyage up the River Missouri, 1811. Brack- enridge. Travels in the Interior of America. Bradbury. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburg to the Rocky Mountains, 1819-20. Long. American State Papers Military Affairs v. 2, pp. 68, 69, 324- Col. Henry Leavenworth's Arikara Expedition, ist sess. 1 8th Cong., v. i, Doc. 2, p. 90. In the library of Chicago University. Travels in the Interior of North America. Maximilian, v. I. Thwaites' edition. Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River. Chit- tenden. Thirty Years a Fur Trader. Larpenteur. v. 2, Appendix. Cones' edition. List of Steamboats on Missouri River, 1860. Nebraska City News, February 23, 1861. St. Joseph and Omaha Packet. Nebraska City News, Feb- ruary 1 8, 1860. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. I, pp. 99-107. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 13 Steamboat Disasters. Executive Documents, 1857-58, v. 2, pt. 2, Doc. 2, p. 344. The Oregon Recruit Expedition. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Albert Watkins. Messages and Documents, Report Secretary of Interior 1 860-6 1, p. 306. Alfred J. Vaughan. NAVIGATION OF THE PLATTE RIVER. Evolution of Nebraska. Albert Watkins. Proceedings Mississippi Valley Historical Association, v. 3. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, pp. 104, 105, 108. ROADS. INDIAN TRAILS. Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Map. Fre- mont. 1845 edition. The Conservative. August 8, September 5, 1901. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. I, p. 73. WAGON ROADS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. in and foot notes. Ibid., v. 2, p. 73, foot note. Laws of Nebraska, First Territorial Session, p. 329, et seq. The Prairie Traveler. Marcy. > Handbook of Overland Expeditions. Burton, p. 179. Western Incidents Connected with the Union Pacific Rail- road. Seymour. ? Platte River to Running Water River. Report of George L. Sites, Supt, Executive Documents, 1858-59, v. 9, p. 101. Ft. Kearny, South Pass and Honey Lake. Executive Doc- f uments, 1858-59, v. 9, Doc. 108, p. 5. y Ibid. Executive Documents, 1 860-61, v. 9, Docs. 63, 64. MILITARY ROADS. ^ Ft. Riley to Bridger's Pass. Senate Documents, 1857-58, v. 3, Doc. n, p. 455; includes table of distances. Ibid., 1858^-59, v. 3, Doc. i, pp. 1031, 1044, 1097. Ibid., 1859-60, v. 2, Doc. 2, pp. 692, 760, 796-799. 14 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY Omaha to Ft. Kearny. Senate Documents, 1857-58, v. 3, Doc. i, pp. 293, 525-534. Ibid., 1858-59, v. 3, Doc. i, pp. 1031, 1288. Ibid., 1859-60, v. 2, Doc. 2, pp. 692, 797. From Mendota, Opposite Ft. Snelling, to Mouth of Big Sioux. Senate Documents, 1857-58, v. 3, Doc. n, p. 292. Ibid., 1858-59, v. 3, Doc. I, p. 1200. Ft. Benton to Walla Walla. Senate Documents, 1 860-61, v. 2, Doc. i, p. 147. Ibid., 1861-62, v. 2, Doc. i, p. 549. Explorations in Nebraska. Lieut. G. K. Warren. Pre- liminary report. Executive Documents, 1857-58, v. 2, pt. 2, Doc. 2, p. 39. Ibid., 1858-59, v. 2, Doc. 2, pp. 585, 620; pp. 649, 658, com- parative routes and rates. ^ Rocky Mountain Gold Region and Emigrants' Guide. Burt and Berthoud. y Guide to the New Gold Region of Western Kansas and Nebraska. EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. ~ Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 164, and citations in index. s Nebraska in 1857. James M. Woolworth. Bellevue, Larimer and St. Mary. John Q. Goss. Nebraska, Its Characteristics and Prospects. James Davie Butler. v Johnson's History of Nebraska. Harrison Johnson. / *\ History of Nebraska. Andreas. History of Omaha. Sorenson. History of the City of Omaha. Savage and Bell. History of Lincoln. Hayes and Cox. Journey Through Kansas. Chap. 25. Boynton and Mason. ? -V Kansas and Nebraska. Edward Everett Hale. A Frontier Life. Wells. Life and Labors of Reuben Gaylord. Gaylord. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 15 The Trail of the Loup. H. W. Foght. y Pioneers of the West. John Turner. Addresses at the Astorian Centennial Celebration, Bellevue, Nebraska, June 23, 1910, under auspices of Nebraska State Historical Society. Chancellor Samuel Avery. University of Nebraska, President George E. MacLean, University of Iowa, Albert Watkins, Gurdon W. Wattles, President John Lee W T ebster, Nebraska State Historical Society. Mss. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. COUNTY HISTORY. Antelope County. History of Antelope County. Leach. Boone County. Pioneers of the West. Turner. Dakota County. History of Dakota County. Warner. Dixon County. History of Dixon County. Huse. Nemaha County. Nemaha County. Dundas. Seward County. History of Seward County. Cox. Valley County. The Trail of the Loup. Foght. History of Nebraska. Andreas. Johnson's History of Nebraska. Harrison Johnson. J> National Atlas of Nebraska. Gray. > Nebraska and the Northwest. Wilber. Mss. and clippings. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Adams, Clay, Webster and Nuckolls Counties. Goodspeed Publishing Company. MAILS, EARLY. The City of the Saints, p. 5. Burton. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, pp. 93, 112, foot note. Seventy Years on the Frontier. Alexander Majors. NEBRASKA CITY TO NIOBRARA. Communication of Hadley D. Johnson. Transactions Ne- braska State Historical Society, 2d series, v. 5, p. 56. OMAHA TO COLUMBUS. Cuming City Star, June 19, 1858. l6 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY OMAHA TO DAKOTA CITY. Ibid. COLUMBUS TO FT. KEARNY. Omaha Times, June 24, 1858. NEBRASKA CITY TO FT. KEARNY. Nebraska City News, May 24, 1862. Overland Stage to California. Root and Connelley. History of Wyoming. Coutant. v. i, pp. 359-390. The Great Salt Lake Trail. Inman and Cody. PONY EXPRESS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 96. Overland Stage to California. Root and Connelley. History of Wyoming. Coutant. v. i, pp. 369-370. The Great Salt Lake Trail. Root and Connelley. Seventy Years on the Frontier. Alexander Majors. FERRIES. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 93, foot note; 108- 109; 112, foot notes; 239-242 and foot notes; 274. Laws of Nebraska First Territorial Session, p. 425. Journey Through Kansas, p. 192. Boynton and Mason. STEAM. Council Bluffs and Omaha. The Omaha Arrow, July 28, 1854. Omaha's Early Days. Alfred D. Jones. Transactions Ne- braska State Historical Society, v. 4, p. 152. Trader's Point. History of Mills County, Iowa. Des Moines State His- torical Company, p. 515. Annals of Iowa, October, 1908, p. 518. RAILROADS. Report Nebraska Railroad Commission, 1885, 1886. % Report Nebraska Board of Transportation, v. 1-13. Illustrated History of Nebraska as index indicates. Report of Nebraska Board of Transportation, 1888, p. 125. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 17 History of Railroad Control in Nebraska. Albert Watkins. Nebraska State Journal, May 24, 1908, pamphlet in Li- brary Nebraska State Historical Society. TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION'. NUMBER OF WHITE INHABITANTS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 165. ORGANIZATION PROCLAMATIONS. Laws of Nebraska First Territorial Session, pp. 41-53. Early Times and Pioneers. J. Sterling Morton. Trans- actions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 3, p. 101. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 172, et seq. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, 2d series, pp. 135-161. PERSONNEL OF FIRST LEGISLATURE. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, 2d series, pp. 88-134. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, chap. 7, includes portraits. LOCATING THE CAPITAL. Ibid., chaps. 6-7. Johnson's History of Nebraska, pp. 285-286. Harrison Johnson. FIRST TERRITORIAL ELECTIONS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 187. PROCEEDINGS OF FIRST LEGISLATURE. Ibid., p. 194. JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION. Ibid., p. 251. CLAIM CLUBS, THE FIRST OR PROVISIONAL JUDICIAL AUTHORITY. Ibid., p. 231. FIRST LAND SURVEYS. Ibid., pp. 229, 379-389, foot notes. IMPORTANT EVENTS WHICH DISTINGUISHED THE FOURTH AND FIFTH LEGISLATURES. Ibid., chaps. 9-10. l8 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY GOVERNOR FRANCIS BURT. The Life of Governor Burt. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. I, 2d series, p. 25. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 160. FIRST PUBLIC LAND SALES. Ibid., p. 377. ATTEMPT TO ANNEX THE SOUTH PLATTE SECTION TO KANSAS. Ibid., p. 396, and references. Nebraska City News, December 25, 1858. Nebraska Advertiser, March 18, December 2, December 9, December 23, December 30, 1858; January 6, January 13, February 10, 1859. An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco, p. 57. Horace Greeley. Kansas-Nebraska Boundary Line. George W. Martin. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. ORGANIZATION OF PARTIES. History of Nebraska, v. I, chap. 12. TERRITORIAL BANKING. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. I, and refer- ences. Nebraska Advertiser, July 23, September 24, October i, October 29, 5857; April i, April 8, December 9, 1858. Omaha Times, January 27, 1858. Peoples Press, November 17, December 22, 1859; February 3, 1860. Banking in Nebraska. Henry W. Yates. Illustrated His- tory of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 8. Wild Cat Banks. A. G. Warner. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, p. 22. Early Nebraska Currency and Per Capita Circulation. Henry W. Yates. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. i, 2d series, p. 67. Some Financial Fallacies among the Pioneers of Nebraska. J. Sterling Morton. Ibid., v. i, 2d series, p. 201. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 19 SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 2. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. I, 2d series, p. 109. Underground Railroad in Nebraska. Alice A. Minick. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, 2d series, p. 70. THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 3. Western Incidents Connected With the Union Pacific Rail- road. Seymour. MORMONS IN NEBRASKA. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 4. > Mormon Settlements in the Missouri Valley. Aitchison. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 10, 2d series, p. 7. MILITARY HISTORY. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 5. Col. Leavenworth's Ankara Expedition. Ibid., p. 141. Explorations in Nebraska. Lieut. G. K. Warren. Execu- tive Documents, 1858-59, v. 2, Doc. 2, p. 669. ^ Indian War History. Van Osdel. The Historian, July 8 August 5, 1910. ist session i8th Congress, v. i, Doc. 2, p. 90. In the Li- brary of Chicago University. Indian Wars on the Nebraska Plains, 1864-1880. Albert Watkins. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Pawnee expedition, 1859. J onn M. Thayer. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 5, 2d series, p. 232. The Indian Campaign of 1864. Eugene F. Ware. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. Adventures of Major Frank North. Ms. Library Nebraska State Historical Society. 2O OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY History of Nebraska. Andreas, p. 227. The Utah Mormon Expedition, 1857. Capt. John I. Ginn. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 7. Address of J. Sterling Morton, ibid., v. I, p. 390, foot note. First Territorial Fair, ibid., v. I, p. 387. Salt Works, ibid., v. 2, p. 275. Salt Works, Transactions State Historical Society, v. 3, p. 8 7 . History of the Lincoln Salt Basin. Ames. Ibid., v. 15, p. 83- TERRITORIAL PRESS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 9. FREE MASONRY. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. 10. INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chap. n. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, chaps. 12-21. ^Life and Labors of Reuben Gaylord. Gaylord. History of Nebraska Methodism. David Marquette. Ms. by Samuel Allis. Library of Nebraska State Histo- rical Society. Ms. by John Dunbar. Library of Nebraska State Histo- rical Society. Sketch and Diary of Moses Merrill. Transactions Ne- braska State Historical Society, v. 4, pp. 157-191. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. i, p. 72, foot note 3. Ibid., v. 2, p. 244, foot note 4. Ibid., v. 2, p. 249, foot note 5. Ibid., v. i, p. 222, foot note 2 and cut. Ibid., v. 2, p. 253, foot note 7. Life, Letters and Travels of Father Pierre- Jean De Smet. S. J. 1801-1873. De Smet, according to index. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 21 Solitary Places Made Glad. Henry T. Davis. Four Years of Cooperation. A. D. Williams. Congregational Nebraska. Motier A. Bullock. The First Catholic Priest in Nebraska. Michael A. Shine. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. ADMISSION TO STATEHOOD. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. I, chaps. 14-15. Admission of Nebraska into the Union. Charles H. Gere. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. i, p. 162. CAPITAL REMOVAL. Illustrated History of Nebraska, forthcoming v. 3, chap. I. THE FOUNDING OF LINCOLN. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. IMPEACHMENT OF GOVERNOR DAVID BUTLER. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. BRIBERY CASE AGAINST GOVERNOR ROBERT W. FURNAS. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. Clippings in scrapbook made by Robert W. Furnas. Li- brary of Nebraska State Historical Society. GRASSHOPPER INVASION. Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1864. Executive Documents, 1864-65, v. 5, pp. 492, 526. Ibid., Executive Documents, 1868-69, P- 689- Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 10, 2d series, p. 172. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. Indian Wars on the Nebraska Plains, 1864-1880. Albert Watkins. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical So- ciety, pp. 65, 77, 85, 90, 139, 144. Reminiscences. Edgar Reynolds. Ms. Library of Ne- braska State Historical Society. Laws of Nebraska, 1875, p. 173. Ibid., 1877, PP- 63, 154, 253. 22 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY Nebraska Senate Journal, 1875, pp. 54, 88, 91, 93. Ibid., 1877, p. 104. Clippings. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1871, 1875. Official Report Debates and Proceedings in the Nebraska Constitutional Convention, 1871. Addison E. Sheldon. Nebraska State Historical Society Publications, v. n, 12. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. The Nebraska Constitution. Charles S. Lobingier. Trans- actions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 5, 2d series, p. 96. LIQUOR TRAFFIC IN NEBRASKA. Regulation of the Liquor Traffic in Nebraska. Albert Watkins. Ms. Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. First Prohibition Law in America. Melvin R. Gilmore. Journal of American History, v. 4, no. 3, p. 397. TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. History of Nebraska, p. 210. Andreas. History of the Nebraska W. C. T. U. Ada M. Bitten- bender. STATE UNIVERSITY. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. History of the University of Nebraska. Albert Watkins. Report Superintendent Public Instruction, Nebraska, 1910, p. 630. A Brief History of the University of Nebraska. H. W. Caldwell. Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 3, p. 201. INVESTIGATIONS OF STATE ADMINISTRATION AND' IMPEACHMENT OF STATE OFFICERS. Senate and House Journals, 1893. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE MOVEMENT. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 23 The Farmers' Alliance in Nebraska. Thompson. Trans- actions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 5, 2cl series, p. 199. THE GOLD-SILVER SCHISM. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE. Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 3. Biennial Reports Bureau of Labor and Statistics, v. i-io. Bulletins Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 1902 to date. Address of Governor Ashton C. Shallenberger at the As- torian Centennial Celebration, Bellevue, June 23, 1910. Historical Sketch. A. E. Sheldon. Semi-Centennial His- tory of Nebraska, p. 114. Clippings, Library of Nebraska State Historical Society. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY The Nebraska Country. The Louisiana Purchase. SUMMARY OF NEBRASKA HISTORY Nebraska, the Indian name of the most important trib- utary of the Missouri river, is a Siouan, or at least an Omaha word, meaning wide with a shallow brim. Ac- cording to the ^Jaxgr^L^apers, the present name of the river was first applied to it by ^ Father De Smet says it was first applied by Canadians. It is a French translation though not accurate or ade- quate of Nebraska. The region between the Missouri river and the Rocky mountains, east and west, and the 43d and 37th parallels of latitude, north and south, came to be known as "the Nebraska Country" in the early part of the decade of 1840-1850. The Nebraska Country is part of the Louisiana pur- chase which the United States acquired from France, April 30, 1803. At. the time of the purchase Louisiana was understood to comprise the territory indefinitely bounded by the Mississippi river and the Rocky moun- tains, east and west, and the British possessions and the Gulf of Mexico, north and south. Ferdinand La Salle, passing down the Mississippi river in 1682, claimed the country for France and called it Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV, the reigning monarch. France ceded Louis- iana to Spain in 1763, and Spain retroceded it in 1800. The boundaries were definitely fixed by the treaty of 1819, between the United States and Spain; the treaty of 1783 between the United States and Great Britain ; and a con- ference of experts in 1899-1900. The Louisiana pur- chase comprises 890,921 square miles, including land and water ; 878,641 square miles 562,330,240 acres of land. The United States paid to France for Louisiana a pur- chase price of $15,000,000, or about 2 3/5 cents an acre. This purchase has been organized into thirteen states, namely : Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma. About two-thirds of Colorado, one-third of Minnesota, one-fourth of Wy- oming, the extreme southwest corner of Kansas, the nar- OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 25 row strip of Montana lying west of the Rocky mountains, and the narrow northwestern wing of Oklahoma, for- merly known as the public land strip, are outside the limits of the purchase. The original territory of Ne- braska comprised a small area just east of the mountains which was conceded to Spain in the boundary treaty of 1819. It is now included in Colorado and Wyoming. The surface of Nebraska is a plain which slopes grad- Physical nally from west to east and also from north to south. Geography. There is a low chain of mountains called Pine Ridge, about loo miles in length, north of the North Platte river. It is the northern border of the Box Butte plain which extends to the North Platte river, running across Sioux, Box Butte, the southern part of Dawes and into the northern part of Sheridan county, with an elevation rang- ing from about 5,000 feet in the west to about 4,000 feet in the east ; area, about 500 square miles. It slopes from north to south. Wild Cat Range extends about 50 miles along the south side of the North Platte. It has many picturesque peaks, the two highest .being Hogback moun- tain, 5,082 feet, and Wild Cat mountain, 5,038 feet. The Cheyenne plain lies south of the Wild Cat range between the forks of the Platte. It is about 100 miles long and 40 miles wide. It attains an elevation of 5,300 feet -on the western border of the state, in the northwest part of Kimball county. This is the highest land in Nebraska. The north and south and east and west slopes are illus- trated as follows: The elevation of Benkleman, in the extreme southwest, is 2,968 feet; of Rulo, in the south- east, 842 feet ; of Harrison, in the northwest, 4,849 feet ; of Dakota City, in the northeast, 1,102 feet. The eleva- tion of Kimball, 100 miles south of Harrison, is 4,697 feet. The elevation of Plattsmouth is 960 feet ; of Kear- ney, 2,152; difference, 1,192 feet. At a point the same distance west of Kearney the increase is less than 100 feet greater than that between Plattsmouth and Kear- ney, the total distance covered by the comparison being 336 miles. Owing to the uniformity of the southward slope no tributaries of importance come to the Platte from the south. In relation to its south border the bed of the 26 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY Meteor- ology. Political Organiza- tion. Platte is a bench rather than a valley. The sand hill re- gion occupies about 15,000 square miles between the 981)1 and iO2d meridians on the north border and extends southwesterly and southeasterly between two irregular lines running from the two northern corners to the south border of the state; but its features are less marked in the south than in the north. The sand hills proper are in the northerly part of the region. There is an artesian flow of water in 35 counties. The average temperature of the southwest is 2 degrees below that of the southeast. It decreases toward the north about I degree for each 40 miles in the eastern and southerly parts, but less in the northwest. The annual precipitation is about 30 inches in the southeast ; at the middle of-the western border, 1 5 inches ; in the northwest corner, 18 inches. The decrease northward is about i inch to each 40 miles on the east side to 27 inches in the northeast ; westward along the north border i inch in 50 miles, to 18 inches in the northwest. The moisture comes mainly from the Gulf of Mexico; 70 per cent of the precipitation falls in the five growing months, April to August. Nebraska was organized as a territory by an act of Congress approved May 30, 1854, known as the Kansas- Nebraska bill. It comprised all of the Louisiana pur- chase west of the state of Missouri and the Missouri river to the mouth of White river, which formed its extreme northeastern boundary, and north of the 4Oth parallel of latitude. The Canadian line was its north boundary and the Rocky mountains its west boundary. The territory of Kansas, organized by the same act, comprised the coun- try between Nebraska and the 37th parallel, north and south, the state of Missouri on the east and New Mexico and Utah on the west. Both territories comprised about 485,000 square miles. Nearly all of Montana, about three-fourths of Wyoming, about one-third of Colorado, and that part of North Dakota and South Dakota lying west of the Missouri river were taken from the territory of Nebraska. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 27 The Missouri Compromise, so called because it was enacted by the Congress in 1820 as a condition on which Missouri should be admitted as a slave state, and pro- vided that there should be no* slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana purchase north of the parallel of 36 30', the extension of the southern boundary line of Missouri, was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska bill. The repeal greatly excited anti-slavery sentiment in the north and precipitated secession and the resulting war. At the time when white people began to occupy the Indians in territory now comprised in Net raska, along the Mis- Nebraska. souri river and for the purpose of trapping and trading with the Indians the Ponca tribe occupied the territory about the mouth of the Niobrara river; the Omaha the northeast section; the Oto and Missouri, amalgamated tribes, the southeast; and the Pawnee a great central sec- tion from the country of the Omaha and Oto as far west as the forks of the Platte river. The country of the Sioux or Dakota comprised that section west of the Pawnee and north of the North Platte river. The enne of the Arkansas jointly held the remainder or south- western section. The Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne had an interest with the Sioux in the northern part of the tatter's holding. All of the tribes have been limited to comparatively small reservations. The Omaha reserva- tion is in Thurston county, Nebraska; the Sioux reser- vations are in the Dakotas, Montana and Nebraska ; the Northern Cheyenne in Montana; that of the Southern Cheyenne and affiliated Arapaho in Oklahoma ; a part of the Arapaho are in Wyoming. The lands of the Kansas tribe lapped over into southeastern Nebraska, but that part of them was ceded to the United States as early as 1825. The Omaha, Oto and Missouri, Pawnee, and Ponca may be designated as our domestic tribes. They had a definite habitat in Nebraska. The other tribes did not, being of a more roving habit. In October, 1881, about 75 of the Oto and Missouri tribe, with their live stock and other property, were removed from Nebraska to a new reservation in Indian Territory. Two hundred of them had anticipated a removal and had voluntarily gone 28 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY to the new reservation. In 1873 and 1874 most of the Pawnee voluntarily withdrew from their reservation and went to the Indian Territory. In 1876 the small remain- der were removed and all of them 2,026 in number were settled on a new reservation in Indian Territory. In March and May, 1877, the Ponca, about 700 in num- ber, were removed to a new home in Indian Territory. A part of them soon returned to Nebraska and were al- lowed to remain with the Santee. According- to revised estimates of Lewis and Clark, Numbers. 3 _ **. . in 1804 the Omaha numbered 600; the Oto and Mis- souri 800; the Pawnee 4,000; the Ponca 200. Lewis and Clark found -the Omaha village in the same locality as their reservation is now. About two years be- fore they had been reduced by smallpox from 3,500 to 300. The population of these tribes in various years, as reported by the Commissioner of Indian Af- fairs, is as follows: Omaha, 1836, 1,400; 1903, 1,216; 1910, 1,276; Oto and Missouri, 1836, 1,600; 1903, 367; 1906, 390; Pawnee, 1836, 10,000; 1903, 646; 1906, 649; Ponca, 1836, 800; 1903, 236 in Nebraska and 556 in Oklahoma; 1906, 263 in Nebraska, 570 in Oklahoma; 1910, 290 in Nebraska. The Sauk and Fox, the Iowa, the Santee Sioux, and the Winnebago were all imported into Nebraska in comparatively recent times. The Sauk and Fox and the Iowa came in the latter part of the dec- ade of 1830-40, but did not get well settled until about 1854-55. In 1842 the Iowa numbered 479, the Sauk and Fox 414; in 1865 the two tribes numbered respectively 294 and 95; in 1906, 246 and 90; in 1910, 273 and 87. Their reservation comprised a narrow strip in the south- east corner of the state and lapping over into Kansas. All of it has been allotted to individuals. On account of their participation in the Sioux massacre in Minnesota, the Santee Sioux were removed from that state to Crow Creek, Dakota, in 1863. In April, 1866, they moved again to a small reservation in Nebraska on the south side of the Niobrara river, now within Knox county. When they came to Nebraska they numbered 1,350; in 1903. 1,056; in 1906, 1,111; in 1910, 1,155. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 2Q The part of the Winnebago living in Minnesota were removed to Crow Creek at the same time that the Santee were moved there and for the same ostensible reason. They refused to stay there and squatted on the reserve of their friendly kinsmen, the Omaha, and in 1865 a stl "ip of the north side of the reserve was bought for their per- manent home. They then numbered 1,900; in 1903, 1,102 ; in 1906, 1,070; in 1910, 1,063. The entire Sioux nation in 1842 was estimated at 25,- ooo ; their number was nearly the same in 1906 ; with the Blackfeet and several smaller tribes, sometimes counted as Sioux and sometimes not, about 28,000. In 1865 there were 3,300 Arapaho, 1,800 at the Upper Platte agency and 1,500 at the Upper Arkansas agency; in 1906 there were 1,758 in all, 885 in Oklahoma and 873 in Wyoming. In 1865 there were 2,320 Cheyenne, 720 at the Upper Platte agency and 1,600 at the Upper Arkansas agency. In 1906 there were 3,334, 1,894 in Oklahoma and 1,440 Northern Cheyenne in Montana. The earlier enumerations are not as reliable as the later because they were often mere estimates; whereas, since the Indians have been confined to comparatively small reservations, it has been practicable to count them with accuracy. The early estimates were often, if not usually too high. Under the improved conditions of the reserva- tion system a slight increase has succeeded the former rapid decrease of our Indian population. The Iowa, Omaha, Oto and Missouri, and the Ponca are offshoots of the Siouan family; the Pawnee belong to the Caddoan family ; the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sauk and Fox are Algonkian. Rev. Moses Merrill settled at Bellevue in 1833 as mis- sionary to the Oto and Missouri. So far as is known this was the first definite Indian mission in Nebraska. Rev. John Dunbar and Samuel Allis came to Bellevue in 1834 as missionaries to the Pawnee. In 1905 the Indian school at the Omaha reservation was discontinued, and the children of the tribe attend the public schools. Schools are still maintained by the Indian 3O OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY bureau at the Winnebago and Santee agencies. A general Indian school is maintained at Genoa. The increasing encroachment of white people into the Indian country and especially the construction of the Pacific railroads precipitated wars with the Indians of the plains which lasted with little intermission from 1864 to 1880. Explora- Following the acquisition of Louisiana, there were tions, Early man y expeditions into the country under the auspices of Trans or ^ le ^eral government for the purpose of exploration tation. an( l treating with the Indians. Others were sent out by private enterprise to trap fur animals and trade with In- dians. The Lewis and Clark expedition organized by President Thomas Jefferson followed the Missouri river from St. Louis to its headwaters, where it crossed the Rocky mountains and descended the Columbia river to its mouth. Astorian The Astorian expedition organized by John Jacob As- Expedition. ^ or ' s American Fur Company in 1810 traveled up the Missouri river in the spring of 1811 to the Arikari vil- lages, situated just above the mouth of Grand river, now near the northern border of South Dakota, then went overland westward, crossing the mountains not far south of the south boundary of the present Yellowstone Na- tional Park, striking the subsequent line of the Oregon trail in the neighborhood of the place where Ft. Hall was afterward established, now in southern Idaho. In 1812-13 a part of the members of the outgoing Astorian expedition returned, following the line of the Oregon trail as it was afterward established, except that they followed the Platte river to its mouth and then descended the Missouri river to St. Louis. In 1830 Jedediah S. Smith, David E. Jackson and William L. Sublette, famous explorers and trappers, and partners of Gen. William H. Ashley in the organization of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1822, took ten loaded wagons and two dcnr- borns from St. Louis to the South Pass of the Rocky mountains. As far as is now known, they were the first vehicles on wheels taken along this route, except that in 1826 or 1827 Gen. Ashley had drawn a mounted cannon over it to his rendezvous in the mountains. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 3! In 1832 Capt. Bonneville, the hero of Washington liv- ing's famous story, took twenty wagons over the trail. He started from Fort Osage and struck the Platte valley 25 miles below the head of Grand Island and so undoubt- edly followed the Little Blue river, which about ten years afterward became the- established shortened or cut-oil line. In the same year the expedition of Nathaniel J. Wyeth and William Sublette followed the Big Blue to its Oregon headwaters and thence across to the Platte. Wyeth's party were the first to traverse continuously the entire length of the trail, with the exception noted. Occasional small parties of Oregon emigrants passed over the trail during the decade of 1830-40; but Dr. Elijah White's party of 120 began the important Oregon emigration in 1842. It abandoned wagons at Ft. Hall. The great party of 1843, numbering about 1,000, took the first loaded wagons through to the Columbia river. The emigrant movement from 1842 until the rush to California began in 1849 distinguished this route and christened it as the Oregon trail. Independence and Westport, now suburbs of Kansas City, were the eastern terminals of the Oregon trail, and it entered Nebraska near the southeastern cor- ner of Jefferson county. Mormons started the first important travel over the California Council Bluffs route in 1847, an d it became general inR a d- 1849. This route was called the California road. Until the Union Pacific railroad begun in 1865 was steam- constructed, travel in Nebraska was confined to wagon boats- roads and to steamboats on the Missouri river. The Western Engineer, which in 1819 carried Long's scien- tific and exploring division of the Yellowstone Expedi- tion to old Council Bluff, was the first steamboat to run up the Missouri beyond the Nebraska line. In 1859 a steamboat reached a point just below Ft. Benton, the head of navigation. In 1860, two boats, the Chippewa and Key West, landed at Ft. Benton, the first to reach that point. Steamboat traffic on the Missouri river was heaviest during the decade of 1858-68. By that time railroads headed it off as far up as Omaha. It was greatly reduced when the Northern Pacific railroad reached the 32 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY river at Bismarck in 1873 and nearly abandoned after railroads were built to Pierre in 1880 and Chamberlain in 1881. Wagon Soon after the organization of the territory the federal Roads. government began to construct -wagon roads through it, primarily for mail and military purposes, but also to facil- itate general travel. February 17, 1855, Congress made the first appropriation $50,000 for such a road to run from a point opposite Council Bluffs the future Omaha to new Fort Kearny. The second appropriation, $30,000 was made March 3, 1857, for a road from the Platte river near its mouth to the mouth of the Niobrara. The first road was constructed during the years 1856, 1857, and 1858; the second, in 1857 and 1858. The work of construction consisted mainly in bridging water courses, though some grading was done. The bridge across the Elkhorn was the principal structure on the Ft. Kearny road; but the refusal of Congress, against persistent local petitions, to appropriate money to bridge the difficult and treacherous Loup seriously crippled that route. In 1860 an important short line from Nebraska City to the Platte river which crossed Salt Creek at Cad- man's, eight miles south of the future site of Lincoln, was constructed by local enterprise. The original road crossed the Salt at Ashland. Early The first local mail route in the territory between Ne- Mails. braska City, Bellevue, Omaha City and Ft. Calhoun was established by act of Congress August 3, 1854. Mail was first received at Omaha from Council Bluffs in May, 1854 by Alfred D. Jones, the first postmaster, who was appointed May 5th of that year. In the fall of the same year a four-horse tri-weekly coach began to carry mail from Council Bluffs to Omaha. A postoffice was first established at Table Creek, later Nebraska City, 'December 20, 1853, by the appointment of John Boulware as postmaster. This was the first post- office in Nebraska. March 14, 1855, the name of the office was changed to Nebraska City, and Charles H. Cowles was appointed postmaster. The contract for the first mail through the territory now comprised in Ne- OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 33 braska was let to Samuel Woodson. It was to be carried/ once a month from Independence, Missouri, to Salt Lake! City from July i, 1850, to July i, 1854. In 1858 the serv-\ ice became weekly. In April, 1860, Russell, Majors and Waddell, through the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Company, established the famous pony ex- press. Relays of men on horseback carried telegrams and important letters from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Cali- fornia. The telegrams were forwarded by wire from Placerville, California, to San Francisco, and the letters were taken from the pony line at Sacramento and for- warded by boats on the Sacramento river to San Fran- cisco. The entire trip was made in about ten days. The first ferry line across the Missouri river to Ne- Ferries, braska was probably established about 1842 by Peter A. Sarpy. Bellevue was its Nebraska terminus. William D. Brown established a ferry across the river from Council Bluffs as early as 1850 or 1851. The Union Pacific line was the first railroad in Ne- Railroads, braska. Its actual construction was begun at Omaha in 1865 and completed to the western border of the state in 1867. In that year, also, the Chicago & Northwestern railroad reached the Missouri river at Council Bluffs. This was the first railroad built to the Missouri river op- posite Nebraska. Until its arrival, material for the con- struction of the Union Pacific road was transported by steamboats on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers. The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was the sec- ond railroad built in Nebraska. It was begun at Platts- mouth in the spring of 1870; the track was completed to Lincoln in the latter part of July. Trains began to run regularly to that place during the first week of August. The point of junction with the Union Pacific at Kearney was reached September 2, 1872. This company received through the federal government a grant of 2,441,600 acres of public lands 12,800 acres per mile as a bonus. No other railroad company in Nebraska, except the Union Pacific, received a federal grant of land, but the "internal improvement" lands 500,000 acres, granted by the federal government to the state at the time of its admis- 34 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY sion to the Union, were given to various local companies to encourage the construction of railroads. At the close of the year 1909 there were 6,104.97 miles of single track road in the state, owned and operated by nine companies as follows: Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, 2,865.48; Chicago & Northwestern, 1,102.51 ; Union Pacific, 1,065.47; Missouri Pacific, 376.84; Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, 308.39; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, 250.25; St. Joseph & Grand Island, 112.53; Omaha Bridge & Terminal, 22.25 J Missouri Valley & Blair Railway and Bridge, 1.25. The total mileage, in- cluding second track, 206.27 miles, and yard tracks and sidings, was 7,712.58. Railroad Attempts to pass laws for the regulation of railroad Legislation, traffic failed until 1885 when the legislature authorized the Secretary of State, the State Auditor, and the Attor- ney General to act as a railroad commission. This ex- periment was unsatisfactory and the legislature of 1887 established a "board of transportation" consisting of the three officers just named with the addition of the state treasurer. In November, 1890, the state supreme court decided that this act was unconstitutional and thus put an end to the board. The legislature of 1891 then tried di- rect control by passing a bill reducing freight rates ; but the governor, James E. Boyd, defeated it by his veto. In 1893 a similar bill was passed, but in November, 1894, it was virtually annulled by the United States Circuit Court. In 1906 an amendment* to the constitution was adopted providing for an elective commission of three members, who organized for business April 9, 1907. This last at- tempt to regulate railroads in Nebraska is now on pro- bation. In 1907 the legislature passed a law prohibiting the issue of free passes by railroad companies, and an- other reducing passenger rates on all roads in the state to two cents a mile. The effect of the first of these meas- ures has been very salutary, and the second has not yet been annulled by the courts. Political Or- The territory which was originally included in Ne- ganization. braska formed a part of the "Indian Country" which in 1834 had been set apart by act of Congress for the ex- OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 35 elusive use of Indians and from which white people, other than Indian agents and licensed traders, were in- terdicted by law. When the Nebraska bill was passed there were about 275 whites within the territory, 200 at Fort Kearny and 75 at other points, more of them at Bellevue than at any other place. According to the first census, the white population was 2,732 in November, 1854; but the count was freely padded. Another census, taken ten months later, showed a population of 4,494, probably nearly a correct enumeration. Thus the terri- tory began its political business with a population less than that of most of the county towns of the present day. At this time the southern section of the country domi- nated the democratic party, then in power, and so surplus aspirants for office in the south were sent north to fill ap- pointive territorial offices, just as the republican party, in power after the war of the rebellion, sent carpetbag- gers from the north to fill offices in the reconstructed southern states. Thus Francis Burt, a South Carolina politician, became the first governor of Nebraska ; but he died from the effects of the long journey from his home, October 18, 1854, two days after assuming his office. By a provision of the organic act, the secretary of the territory Thomas B. Cuming of Iowa became acting governor, and political organization was effected under his vigorous administration. Governor Burt settled at Bellevue as his provisional First capital ; but Acting Governor Cuming was under Cou Bluffs-Omaha influence and so called the first legislative assembly to meet at Omaha, instead of Bellevue, January 16, 1855. This first session was held in a brick building situated on Ninth street, between Farnam and Douglas, and which had been erected for the purpose by the Coun- cil Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company. At this session the assembly confirmed the location of the capital at Omaha, and passed the laws necessary for establishing a government. It appropriated the civil and criminal codes of Iowa. The first legislative assembly was composed of a Council of thirteen members and a House of Repre- sentatives of twenty-six members. The second assembly 36 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY increased the members of the House to thirty-five, and the fifth increased them to thirty-nine. These additions were first effective in the third and sixth assemblies re- spectively, and no more were made during the territorial period. The The session of the fourth assembly was disrupted on Florence account of an attempt to remove the capital from Omaha. The removalists, who were in the majority, after a vio- lent collision with the anti-removalists, retired to Flor- ence, where the session was continued, but its enactments were not accepted as valid. A special session of the fifth assembly was called to meet September 21, 1858, to do the work which the fourth assembly neglected, and espe- cially to reenact a criminal code in place of that which was repealed by the third assembly. This was the only special session of a territorial assembly. On the 4th of October the special session was merged into the regular session without change of organization. At the continu- ous session a new criminal code was adapted from that of New York and a civil code of procedure from that of Ohio. First Liquor A liquor license law was passed to supersede the pro- License hibitory law passed by the first assembly, which had been Law. disregarded. The twelfth and last territorial assembly was in session from January 10, 1867, to February 18, 1867. The regular sessions were annual. There were twelve territorial assemblies and thirteen sessions in all. Territorial There were four territorial governors. Francis Burt Governors, was governor from October 16 to October 18, 1854; Mark W. Izard, from February 20, 1855, to October 25, 1857; William A. Richardson, January 12, 1858, to De- cember 5, 1858; Samuel W. Black, May 2, 1859, to Ma . v n, 1861 ; Alvin Saunders, May n, 1861, to March 27, 1867. Under the organic act the Secretary of the Terri- tory acted as governor during a vacancy in the office of governor. Secretary Thomas B. Cuming was therefore acting governor in the intervals between the death of Governor Burt and the beginning of Governor Izard's term, and between the end of Izard's term and the be- ginning of Governor Richardson's term. J. Sterling OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 37 Morton became secretary July 18, 1858, and was there- fore acting governor from the time Richardson quit the office until Black assumed it. Algernon S. Paddock, who succeeded Morton as secretary, May 18, 1861, was acting governor during the last session of the territorial assem- bly owing to the absence of Governor Saunders from the territory. Nearly all of the appointive officers of the territory Carpet- were non-residents. Governor Burt was a resident of baggers. South Carolina ; Governor Izard, of Arkansas ; Governor Black, of Pennsylvania ; and Governor Saunders, of Iowa. Fenner Ferguson, Edward R. Harden, and James Brad- ley, the first three judges of the territorial court, were appointed, respectively, from Michigan, Georgia, and In- diana. Mark W. Izard came from Arkansas as the first marshal of the territory. Napoleon B. Giddings, the first delegate to Congress, was a resident of Savannah, Mis- souri, and never lived in Nebraska. All of the governors and secretaries of the territory Political but two were Democrats and were appointed by Presi- Parties, dent Pierce and President Buchanan. Governor Saun- ders and Secretary Paddock were appointed by President Lincoln. There were five territorial delegates to Con- gress, namely: Napoleon B. Giddings, Bird B. Chapman, Fenner Ferguson, Samuel G. Daily, Phineas W. Hitch- cock. Daily and Hitchcock were Republicans. Political parties Democratic and Republican were first organ- ized in 1858-59. The Republican party had a small ma- jority during the later years of the territorial period. The base line between Nebraska and Kansas was sur- pj rst veyed in 1855, 1856, 1858, and 1859, beginning at the. Surveys, east end. The survey of interior lines was begun in the southeastern part of the territory in the fall of 1855. The fifth assembly, 1858 passed the law under pi rs t which the first territorial board of agriculture was organ- Territorial ized. Robert W. Furnas was the first president of the Fair - board, and the first territorial fair was held at Nebraska City, September 21 to 23, 1859. In 1858-59 there was a strong movement in the South . X ation Platte section to annex that part of the territory to Kan- to Kansas. 38 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY sas, which would have succeeded but for the unwilling- ness of Kansas at the last to accept the proffered addition. Slavery in A bill abolishing slavery in the territory was passed by Nebraska, fa^ seventh general assembly 1861. This act was in accordance with the popular sovereignty doctrine of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Fifteen negroes were held as slaves when the United States census of 1860 was taken. These were almost, if not quite all body-servants whom the territorial officers from the South brought with them. They were held at Ft. Kearny and Nebraska City. Early The Nebraska Palladium was the first newspaper pub- Newspapers. Hshed for Nebraska and, also, the first published in Ne- braska. Its first number was issued July 15, 1854, at St. Mary, a hamlet situated just below Bellevue, on the Iowa shore of the Missouri river. The first issue printed at Bellevue was dated November 15, 1854. Its last issue was dated April n, 1855. Thomas Morton was its pub- lisher and Daniel E. Reed & Company, editors and pro- prietors. The Omaha Arrow was the second paper. Its first number was published by Joseph E. Johnson and John W. Pattison, July 28, 1854, and the last issue was dated December 29, 1854. All of its issues were printed at Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Nebraska News was first published at Sidney, Iowa, by Dr. Henry Brad- ford. It was first issued at Nebraska City, November 14, 1854, from the blockhouse of old Ft. Kearny. It was owned by the Nebraska City Town Site Company, and April 12, 1855, J. Sterling Morton was employed as its editor at a salary of $50 a month and Thomas Morton as foreman. The latter soon bought the paper and con- tinued to own and publish it until his death in 1887, with the exception of a period from July, 1869, to January, 1871, during which it was merged into the Times at Ne- braska City. The Omaha Nebraskian was the first news- paper printed at Omaha and its first number was issued January 17, 1855. ^ was established by Bird B. Chap- man, who became the second delegate to Congress from Nebraska. Its last issue was dated June 15, 1865. The Nebraska Republican was first issued May 5, 1858. Its name was changed to Omaha Republican, August 15, 1859. The daily issue was finally suspended July 29, OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 39 1890. The Omaha Daily Herald was started October 2, 1865, by Dr. George L. Miller and Daniel W. Carpenter. It was bought by Gilbert M. Hitchcock, its present owner, in March, 1889. Mr. Hitchcock merged the Herald with his paper, the Evening World, with the name of World- Herald. Edward Rosewater established the Omaha Daily Bee June 19, 1871. The Nebraska Commonwealth, the first newspaper in Lincoln, was started as a weekly by Charles H. Gere, September 7, 1867. Its name was changed to Nebraska State Journal, May 22, 1869. The Journal was first published as a daily, July 20, 1870. The Nebraska Advertiser was started at Brownville by Robert W. Fur- nas June 7, 1856. The Omaha Republican was the only Republican paper of importance in the territory until 1860 when the Advertiser changed to the Republican side. The Omaha Nebraskian, the Nebraska City News, and the Advertiser experimented with daily issues as early as 1859, but the Omaha Republican was the first permanent daily. Its first daily issue was January 7, 1864. The sixth legislative assembly passed an act authoriz- Admission ing an election to be held March 5, 1860, at which a vote as a State, should be taken for or against state government and for the choice of 52 delegates to a constitutional convention to be held on the second Monday in April of the same year if the proposition for statehood should carry; but as it was defeated by a vote of 2,372 against 2,094, no convention was held. In response to a request of the ninth legislative assembly an act of Congress was passed April 19, 1864, which authorized the governor of the ter- ritory to order an election to be held June 6, 1864, to choose members of a constitutional convention which should convene on the fourth of the following July. But at the same election the majority again voted against as- suming statehood, and, thereupon, the convention merely met and adjourned without framing a constitution. The eleventh legislative assembly, acting under the same au- thority, submitted a constitution to be voted upon at an election held June 2, 1866, and it was declared to have been adopted by a vote of 3,938 to 3,838. State officers 4O OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY were chosen at the same election, and David Butler, the Republican candidate, was declared to have been elected Governor by a vote of 4,093 to 3,984 cast for his demo- cratic opponent, J. Sterling Morton. There was a bitter contest over the result of the election, the Democrats al- leging that it was reached by a fraudulent count. All of the Republican candidates for state offices were elected except Oliver P. Mason, candidate for the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was defeated by Wil- liam A. Little, Democrat. First State Under the first constitution the legislature was called the general assembly and consisted of a Senate of thirteen members and a House of Representatives of thirty-nine members, the same number as the later territorial as- sembly contained. The assembly had regular biennial sessions. The first session of the state legislature began July 4, 1866, according to a provision of the constitution. The only business transacted at this session was the elec- tion of John M. Thayer and Thomas W. Tipton for United States Senators by a vote of 29 to 21 cast for J. Sterling Morton and Andrew J. Poppleton, the Demo- cratic candidates. Admission The constitution contained a provision, which was as a State, found in the constitutions of most of the states of that period, limiting the right to vote to white men ; but Feb- ruary 9, 1867, Congress passed an act, over President Johnson's veto, requiring the legislature to formally de- clare that the right of suffrage should not be denied to any person on account of race or color. Accordingly, Governor Saunders territorial governor called the sec- ond legislature, whose members were chosen at the regu- lar election in October, 1866, to meet in special session on the 20th of February, 1867, to comply with this act of Congress. The condition having been accepted, on the first of March following President Johnson issued a proclamation declaring that the territory was duly ad- mitted as a state. Removal of The third session of the general assembly convened tbe Capital. May 1 6, 1867, on the call of Governor Butler, for the purpose of passing such laws as were thought necessary OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 4! for the new state. At this session, on the I4th of June, a bill was passed which authorized three commissioners, consisting of the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Auditor, to select not less than 640 acres of land be- longing to the state for the site of a town to be called . Lincoln, where the capital, the state university, and the state penitentiary should be located. The commission- ers were limited in their choice of a site to Seward county, the south half of Butler and Saunders and the part of Lancaster lying north of the south line of town- ship nine, and they were directed to construct a capitol and pay its cost out of the proceeds of the sale of the land comprised in the site. The name of the new capital was changed from "Capitol City" to Lincoln just before the passage of the bill. On the 29th of July, 1867, the commissioners chose . the site which comprised 960 acres and included a hamlet of about forty people called Lancaster. On the I4th of August they issued a proclamation announcing their ac- tion. One hundred and sixty acres of the site was saline land belonging to the state. The remaining eight hun- dred acres was under private ownership. The Lancaster Seminary Association gave one hundred and sixty acres. Some of the several holders received money raised by subscription for their part, while others were content with the consideration of the increase of value of other land, held by them in the vicinity, which would result from the transaction. The capitol, which cost about $75,000, and the first Construc- building for the asylum for the insane, which cost about tion of State $90,000, and the first building for the university, which BuiIdings ' cost $152,000, were paid for by the proceeds of the sale of the lots into which the site was divided. The capitol was ready for occupancy by December, 1868. The leg- islature first convened in it at its fifth session, begun January 7, 1869. An act of the legislature of February 15, 1869, authorized the construction of a building for the state university and one for an asylum for the insane. They were built during the years 1869 and 1870. The corner stone of the first university building was laid Sep- 42 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY tember 23, 1869, and it was ready for occupancy by Jan- uary, 1871. The first term was opened in it September 7, 1871. The asylum was finished November 8, 1870. . All of these buildings were badly constructed. The asy- lum was burned by the act of incendiaries, April 17, 1871, presumably to procure the insurance upon it, since there was imminent danger of its collapse; it was necessary to replace the foundation of the university building-; and the capitol was in a tumble-down condition before it was razed to make place for its successor. Impeach- Governor Butler was impeached for malfeasance in J? en ** r the office ^ the legislature of 1871. He was found guilty on the first of the eleven articles which charged him with appropriating to his own use $16,881.26 belonging to the school fund of the state. He was removed from office and William H. James, the Secretary of State, was Act- ing Governor until the end of Butler's term. Butler was elected governor three times, in 1866, in 1868, and in 1870. State Con- The first constitution was inadequate for a growing stitutions. state and so a convention, comprising 52 members, which sat in Lincoln from June 13 to August 19, 1871, con- structed another, which was rejected by a majority of 641 at an election held September 19 of that year. The present constitution was prepared by a convention of 69 delegates who were chosen at an election held April 6, 1875, an d which convened May n, and finally adjourned June 12 of that year. The constitution was approved by a vote of 30,202 to 5,474 at an election held on the I2th of the following October. Farmers' The first local Farmers' Alliance was organized in Alliance. Gage county in 1880. The State Alliance was organized in 1881. The Alliance was at first a non-partisan body, but June 28, 1890, it issued a call for a state convention of the Peoples' Independent party to be held July 29. This convention nominated a state ticket headed by John H. Powers, for governor, and the new party controlled the legislature of 1891. The State Grange and Knights of Labor were represented in the convention. OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 43 Until 1890 republicans held firmly to power, but that Political year James E. Boyd, Democrat, was elected governor, Changes, receiving 71,331 votes against 70,187 cast for John H. Powers, Independent, and 68,878 for L. D. Richards, Re- publican. At the same election William J. Bryan, Demo- crat; William A. McKeighan, Independent-Democrat; and Omer M. Kem, Independent, were chosen for mem- bers of Congress. The Senate of 1891 comprised 18 In- dependents, 8 Democrats and 7 Republicans; the House of Representatives, 54 Independents, 25 Democrats, and 21 Republicans. This legislature passed the first Aus- tralian ballot law and a law materially reducing railroad rates for transportation of freight. In 1892 Lorenzo Crounse, Republican, was elected governor. In 1893 the legislature elected William V. Allen, Populist, United States Senator. In 1894 Silas A. Holcomb was elected governor by a fusion of the , Democratic and Peoples Independent parties. He re- ceived 97,815 votes against 94,613 cast for Thomas J. Majors, Republican. All of the Republican candidates for other state offices were elected. Five of the six mem- bers of Congress elected this year were Republicans. The entire fusion state ticket was elected in 1896 and 1898. The Republican party again came into control in the leg- islature of 1895. In 1900 the Republican state ticket was elected, and the Republican party continued to control the executive and legislative departments until 1908 when Ashton C. Shallenberger, Democrat, was elected governor by a plurality of about 7,000 votes, and the legislature was democratic. In 1910 all of the Republican candidates for executive offices were elected; but the legislature was democratic and Gilbert M. Hitchcock, Democrat, was elected United States Senator. William J. Bryan, candi- date for president of the United States, carried the state by a plurality of about 13,000 votes in 1896 and in 1908 by a plurality of about 4,000 votes. In 1874 grasshoppers invaded the state and did great Q rass . injury to crops. They' remained during 1875 and 1876, hopper but most of the damage was done in 1874 and 1875. In Tnvasion. the early part of 1875 the federal congress appropriated 44 OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY The Drouth Period. Political Corruption and Im- peachment of State Officers. $30,000 iii money for the purchase of seeds, and rations and clothing to the value of $150,000 to be distributed among the people of the several states which had suffered. The legislature of 1875 authorized the issue of ten-year, ten per cent bonds in the sum of $50,000 for the purchase of seed grain. In September, 1874, the Ne- braska Relief and Aid Association was formed, through which donations of money, food, and other supplies were distributed. The State Grange also vigorously conducted the work of relief ; army officers cooperated in it and rail- toad companies interested in the state were large con- tributors. Donations were received from all parts of the country. It was estimated that 5,000 persons in eleven frontier counties were almost wholly dependent upon this charity during the winter of 1874-75. Severe drouths in 1890, 1893, and 1894 were disastrous to crops, especially in the western part of the state. The legislature of 1891 authorized the issue of five- year, four per cent bonds to the amount of $100,000 for the purchase of seed grain and other supplies to be dis- tributed, through a board of relief consisting of nine members, to sufferers from loss of crops in 1890. The same legislature authorized counties to use surplus funds and to issue bonds for the purchase of supplies to be sold at cost to such sufferers, and it appropriated $100,000 from the state treasury for immediate relief. The legis- lature of 1895 appropriated $50,000 for food and cloth- ing and $200,000 for the purchase and distribution of seed, and feed for teams. County boards were also au- thorized to issue bonds and use surplus funds for the lat- ter purpose. In 1891 supplies were distributed in 37 counties during about six weeks to an average of 8,000 ^families; in 1895, in 61 counties and to about 30,000 fam- ilies. Donations amounting to $28,999.38 were received from people in all parts of the country. The legislature of 1893 presented articles of impeach- ment against the Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer of State, and the Attorney General, who constituted the Board of Public Lands and Buildings in 1891 and 1892, and also OUTLINE OF NEBRASKA HISTORY 45 the Auditor of State from 1889 to 1892 and the Attorney General from 1886 to 1890. These officers were charged, with liability for frauds committed in the management of the state penitentiary and the hospital for the insane, but the defendants were all acquitted, part of them on the ground that they were then out of office and could be im- peached only while in office, and the rest on the ground that the frauds were really committed by subordinates and the officers themselves were not legally responsible for them. These defenses were more or less technical. There was a general investigation of the administration of state institutions on charges of corruption and mis- management, especially at the penitentiary and the hos- pital for the insane. The exposures resulted in the criminal prosecution of several persons implicated in frauds on the insane hospital. By the failure of the Capital National Bank in Febru- ary, 1893, the state lost $236,364.62 which had been wrongfully deposited there by the state treasurer. Dur- ing his two terms of office Joseph E. Bartley, state treas- urer, misappropriated $555,790.66 of the public funds, which was a complete loss to the state. In his annual message of 1907 Governor Mickey said: "The people were robbed of this immense sum which had been exacted from them to run the government in times of financial distress." Bartley was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to the state penitentiary for a term of 20 years, but December 31, 1901, Governor Ezra P. Savage com- muted the sentence to five years seven months and eight days. This act met with severe public denunciation. To 1909 inclusive, there have been 23 state legislatures, Number of and they have held 31 sessions, 21 regular and 10 spe- Legisla- cial. Six of these legislatures were organized under the ture ^ and first constitution, of 1866, and they held four regular Sessions> and nine special sessions. The last special session was convened May 10, 1882. According to the United States census reports the pop- Population, ulation of Nebraska in 1860 was 28,841 ; 1870, 122,993 ; 1880, 452,402; 1890,^1,058,910; 1900, 1,066,300; 1910, 1,192,217. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. OCT 13 1932 OCT 14 1932 OCT 15 DEC 29 1 OCT 9 1940 SEP 12 JUN 1 REC'D LD FEB 1 8 1963 33 LIBRARY USE FEB 251957 LD 21-50m-8,-32 YC 28 1 90 7709 35-ta JO -LJIO