Prairieland Talk . . .
Story of 1,000-Mile Race Revived
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS, Retired, Former Editor The Frontier
LINCOLN—Magazine writers have discover
ed that north-Nebraska is rich in material for pi
oneer stories. The adventures, the daring, the un
usual. Where and when in human history had
there ever been conceived a 1,000-mile horse race?
After the passing of 62 years, a magazine now
comes out story and pictures to recount again the
tale of the cowboy race from Chadron, up in
Dawes county, to Buffalo Bill’s show grounds at
the world’s fair in Chicago, 111.,
in 1893. They did a very good
job telling the story.
A bit of fiction adorns the
tales of the moderns who write
of the past. O’Neill was on the
route of the riders who entered
the race and I saw Rattlesnake
Pete, the first rider to get here,
coming in from the west on
what is now. known as Douglas
street. Each rider had three
horses, not two, as the story
states; mounted on one and Romaine
leading two. One rider was Saunders
physically unable to continue in the race when he
reached O’Neill and the engineer of this depart
ment, then a young rider, was asked to take those
three splendid looking thoroughbreds through and
would have undertaken it only his mother lay
* seriously ill. The Chadron editor mentioned in
the magazine story was Addison E. Sheldon, who
later became the reorganizer and director of the
Nebraska State Historical society. Jim Dahlman,
sheriff of Dawes county at the time, also men
tioned in the story, later became mayor of Omaha
and a thorn in the side of Edward Rosewater of
the Omaha Bee.
The race was a trial of endurance of western
horses and the thoroughbreds. It was won by a
buckskin bronco, the mount of John Berry. Berry
was out of a job at the time and had a family
to provide for. He won because he rode all night
across Illinois and collected the $1,500 in purses
•while hi? nearest competitor holed up for the
night before crossing the Mississippi.
Doc Middleton, probably the most notable
figure of the outfit, fell in with former cronies in
O’Neill and did not finish the race on a horse.
Gen. Nelsen A. Miles, after having seen riders
from all lands, said that the American cowboy
was the most accomplished horseman of them
all. '
* * *
He stopped the car, picked up his bag and
headed for the bank. The two holdup guys con
fronted him! “Give us that bag!” They took it
and made their getaway. The bag contained the
leftovers of a noon lunch.
■* * *
Another fact and fiction writer has it that the
late Moses P. Kinkaid, who as congressman drew
up and secured the passage of the amendment
to the homestead laws that enlarged the home
stead in his congressional district to 640 acres,
had made his home at one time in Atkinson.
Judge Kinkaid had been in Atkinson, Stuart and
most of the towns in north-Nebraska, but always
counted O’Neill his home since coming to Ne
braska from his native Virginia. I had the story
first hand from him. He left Virginia and went
to the Northwest coast. Standing by Puget Sound
debating whether to board a ship and go to
British Columbia or come to Nebraska, the prai
ries then attracting settlers, he left it to the tap
of a bell. If it sounded at a certain minute he
would take a train east. The bell rang. Kinkaid
next found himself standing on the depot plat
form in Fremont waiting to board a train for O’
Neill. He had to do with the organizing of the
Holt County bank, the putting up of the bank
building at Fourth and Douglas streets (building
now owned by Emer Hagensick), and had his
office and living quarters on the top floor—his
profession was that of law. He served one term as
state senator, then district judge, then back to
lawsuits when other attorneys feared him. He
was a bachelor to the last, but we had it that the
instinct of all men throbbed in his legal breast but
the fair one of his choice married another gent
who had been elected to congress. Kinkaid then
resolved to go to congress, became the republican
candidate in what then was the Sixth congres
sional district and was elected. Kinkaid was al
ways successful at the polls when no other repub
lican could be elected.
As it is with the city of O’Neill, now the vil
lage of Page reflects only the memory of the W.
W. Page family. The last of that Holt county pio
neer family closed life’s record of toil and pain,
joy and laughter, hopes come true and disap
pointments, romance and adventure, when George
Page came to the end of the trail in a West coast
city. Was it little baby George whom Mrs. Page
held to her heart in mother arms that day in the
long ago when she faced a prairieland winter with
nothing but parched sweet com to eat? The pri
vation, the sacrifice, the struggles, the loneliness
that beset the lives of such as Mrs. Page, out of
which came the fruitage this generation of Holt
county citizens now gathers, none can know only
those who saw it. Yes, another and the last of a
pioneer family has responded to the roll call of
eternity that hourly sounds around the earth.
Here and there one survives who has come down
the highway of life who knew the Page family be
fore a village named for the family was planted
on the open prairie. Seated at the dinner table at
a public eating place in O’Neill were three native
sons who seemed to form a connecting link with
the past as I sat there with them a day last week.
A past that is rich in memories. And could there
be one remaining descendant of Gen. and Mrs.
John O’Neill? The last one, Kitty O’Neill Dwyer,
still survived a few years ago, making her home
in San Diego, Calif.
♦ * *
Three friends of a lifetime rolled out across
the verdant landscape of southwest Holt a day
last week. We were out to see other friends and
revel in the charm of autumn colors that have
tinted tree and bush with gold. Some friends we
had planned to see were not at home. The stories
of a hot, rainless summer had created a mental
picture comparable to scenes of long ago when
nothing grew and the land lay dead. Not so after
this much exaggerated dry season. Cattle grazing
in green pastures or lying by the still waters of
little inland lakes, haystacks row-upon-row stand
in clusters ready for winter feeding operations
or are still on meadows where stacked like houses
on uncrowed streets of a Nebraska village. The
herds look slick, white homes of ranch families
and red barns seemed to hold out a lure to turn
in only to find the folks gone either pheasant
hunting, to town or out riding some miles of
fences to make any repairs that might be needed.
But the prairie picture is there—alluring in its
quiet charm, its open hospitality, its farflung
beauty here men and women and kids reap the
reward of living in untrammeled environment.
* * *
From two hasbeens we learn what Mr. Wal
lace said that Mr. Truman said and Mr. Tru
man says what Mr. Wallace said he had not
said. The white house stands and the govern
ment still functions.
* *
L. G. Gilsespie’s picture and the story of his
connection with an Alaska gold mine expedition
appeared in a recent isuse of the magazine sec
tion of a Sunday paper. They failed to find gold
but had the experience of digging through moun
tains of snow. At least one, John Hazelett, is re
puted to have made money out of the trek to
Alaska by abandoning the search for gold under
snow drifts for the more certain method of re
ward by extracting it from the purse of each
new-comer in the form of a fee as a locating
agent. I didn’t get up to the Yukon but in the
long ago acquired a number of beautifully em
bossed certificates of shares in the Yukon Gold
Mining company, which, if Lloyd has been over
taken by a new longing for Alaskan yellow metal,
he can have my interests at face value.
* * *
Many had felt that the board of control had
dealt unfairly with George Morris by removing
him from the job at the state reformatory. But
many will not approve his course since. Had he
taken it on the chin and quietly withdrawn—
but as Paul Harvev puts it, I don’t know!
* * *
Have you noticed the number of farmers and
ranchers closing out their holdings this fall?
* * *
No community will grow and develop when
its people are envious of each other.
* * *
When you discover a liar, you know how to
protect yourself against what he says.
Editorial ....
No Added Rainfall
•.
A four-year study of cloud-seeding for rain
making conducted at Oregon State college indi
cates no definite increases in rain are caused by
the process.
The report, carried in the November issue of
Successful Farming magazine, says that the -study
was made in a 2,642,000-acre tri-county region
where rainmakers have been seeding clouds with
silver iodide since 1950.
The resultant rainfall was compared with 20
year weather records for the area before 1950.
The comparison indicated no significant rain
increase during the test period.
Cloud-seeders don’t claim a formula for mak
ing it rain. Rather, they say, when conditions are
suitable they can make it rain MORE than if sil
ver iodide generators were not used.
Several years ago the Canadian government
conducted exhaustive rain-making tests and
spared no expense to check out the cloud-seeding
technique. The United States weather service,
with all its vast resources, will have no part of
cloud-seeding schemes and offers no encourage
ment to enthusiasts.
Currently we are hearing considerable talk
about cloud-seeding, mostly from our neighbors
in Boone, Platte and Madison counties. An ex
periment is underway there at a nominal cost per
acre.
Our lay knowledge of weather is confined to
the idea that there are rivers of dry and moist
air upstairs. These are developed in hemispheric
and global bases and influenced by forces far
more powerful than isolated bits of silver iodide.
But Nebraska’s current crop of rain-making
enthusiasts will be content if the precipitation is
boosted just a wee bit—and it’s their money.
Safety Features on Cars
It is good to see that automobile manufactur
ers (most of them, at least) have at last begun to
take safety seriously. Much credit is due a nation
al magazine for pounding hard on this theme.
The latest model — some of the first 1956
models, that is — reflect a trend toward safety
which will, beyond a doubt, save many lives in the
coming year. In the next few years these new
safety features will undoubtedly save lives by the
thousands and injuries by the hundred thousand.
Some of the new safety features are: Door
locks that stay locked under the impact of a crash.
This will prevent passengers, and the driver, from
being injured as a result of being thrown through
an open door after the collision.
Another commendable safety feature is the
soft dashboard, which was introduced on a few
models in earlier years but which is widely ac
cepted this year. Seat belts will save as many
lives as any other safety improvement and they
are being offered widely this year.
All in all, then, the 1956 cars are probably
the safest offered the motoring public in years. It
is about time, as everyone knows, for we Ameri
cans were killing each other and ourselves at the
rate of about a hundred a day—believe it or not.
Every high school in the country now crowns
a half-dozen kings and queens per school year
Why the Old World pageantry? The schools come
by it naturally when our adult friends down Om
aha way knock themselves out in the Ak-Sar
Ben coronation. O’Neillites don’t run a fever when
Omaha ermines march.
Prairieland Talker visited O’Neill on a recent
weekend. Before departing for his home in Lin
coln, he indicated he planned to spend the win
ter in the sunny clime of California.
CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher
Editorial & Business Offices: 122 South Fourth St.
Address correspondence: Box 330, O’Neill, Nebr.
Established in 1880 — Published Each Thursday
Entered at the postoffice in O’Neill, Holt coun
ty, Nebraska, as second-class mail matter under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. This news
paper is a member of the Nebraska Press Associa
tion, National Editorial Association and the Audit
Bureau of Circulations.
lenns of Subscription: In Nebraska, $2.50 per
year; elsewhere in the United States, $3 per year;
rates abroad provided on request. All subscriptions
are paid-in-advanoe.
Audited (ABC) Circulation—2,463 (Mar. 31, 1955)
When You and I Were Young . . .
Pranksters Unde
Memshs Team
Confronted with Walk
Home
50 Years Ago
Bill Menish came near having
to walk home. With a load of coal
on his wagon, he tied his team to
a post, threw blankets over them
and left them there for a few
minutes. Someone untied them,
unsnapped the lines and started
them off. They were found and j
sent back toward town . . . |
A scene of activity began around
the county treasurer’s office when
the sale of property under the
scavenger law was opened. . .
The Women’s Christian Temper
ance Union met at the home of
Mrs. Klimes. . . Peter Kelly says
he is not a candidate for the of
fice of township treasurer.
20 Years Ago
Miss Connie Lou Williams had
her tonsils removed at the O’Neill
hospital. . . New sidewalks have
been built in front of the public
library. . . Despite the lack of a
good corn crop in this county,
automobile dealers are enjoying a
good business. . . Mrs. Elizabeth
Engel Gatz died at her home in
this city after an illness of five
days of a paralytic stroke. . . An
other bubbling flowing well has
just been brought in in the
Amelia community, a town with
out a pump. It is for the use of
patrons at the Floyd Adams fill
ing station. . . The Presbyterian
Ladies Guild will meet at the
home of Mrs. C. J. Malone.
10 Years Ago
Between 800 and 900 people
viewed the new Ford at the Lo
haus motor company. . . Prof, and
Mrs. Ira George returned from
Norfolk where they had attended
Teachers convention. . . Miss
Margaret Sauser, who is attend
ing Wayne State Teachers’ col
lege, spent the weekend with her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence
Sauser. . . The St. Mary’s Card
inals, led by their great all
around back, Jerry Tomjack, de
feated the previously undefeated
St. Agnes of Alliance six man
ners 18-7. . . A group of Metho
dist young people held a Hallow
een party and scavenger hunt. . .
The M. M. club had a party at
the home of Mrs. Ted McElhaney
in honor of Mrs. Clarence Berg
strom of Omaha. . . William A.
Van Dover of the Star neighbor
hood died at his home at the age
of 74.
One Year Ago
It was announced by the 4-H
office in Lincoln that Robert Bee
leart of Page is the state forestry
champion for 1954. . . Chambers!
will be the scene of a centennial
celebration. . . Neighbors con-j
verged at the farm place of Mr. I
and Mrs. C. J. Harmon and made|
short work of one hundred acres
of corn still in the field. Mr.
Harmon was injured recently
while cabling hay. . . Mrs. Nora
Brown, 65, died at the home of
her daughter in O’Neill. . . Miss
Mary Louise Birmingham has (
been transfered from Korea to
Japan. Miss Birmingham will re-1
main in the Far East until spring.
. . . The O’Neill volunteer firemen
were called to the Danny Helmer
home where a switch on an elec
tric stove caused a fire.
Mrs. Lorenz Reports
on State Assembly
INMAN — Arbutus Rebekah
lodge met Wednesday evening,
October 26, at the IOOF Hall for
their regular meeting. Mrs. Zola
Morrow, vice - grand, was in
charge. Mrs. Hazel Lorenz, dele
gate to the Rebekah assembly in
Lincoln, gave an interesting
report on the session. The group
enjoyed a Hallowe’en party with
Mrs. Mareta Nielsen and Mrs.
Zola Morrow in charge of the
program. Refreshments in keep
ing with the occasion were served
by Mesdames Lois Tompkins, Pa
tricia Mattson, Emma Moore, Wil
lametta Kelley and Mary Ellen
Coventry.
■
Former Operators
of Store Visit Here—
Mr. and Mrs. Bert Powell ol
Corvallis, Ore., visited severa
days last week with his niece
Mrs. Will Buxton of Page. Tht
Powells formerly operated the
Opportunity store. They left here
in 1931.
Mr. and Mrs. Powell were en
route to Chicago, 111., to visii
their daughter, Marilyn Powel
Zagmoli, and her husband. Mrs
Zagmoli has retired from radic
and television to care for hei
family. She was a member of the
Northerners group and appeared
as a singer of classical music.
Page News
Mr. and Mrs. Merwyn French
jr., and daughter, Stephanie
were Sunday afternoon and sup
per guests of Mr. and Mrs. Ton
Chilvers at Pierce.
Sterling (Herbie) Alb rig h
came from Muscatine, la., anc
spent the weekend with his moth
er, Mrs. F. G. Albright. He work:
with a construction crew whc
were in the process of movhif
from Muscatine to Pocohontas
where they will continue to work
as long as weather permits.
Roy Haynes accompanied his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Aller
Haynes, and sister, Miss Viola, tc
Page Sunday. He returned to his
home at Denton Sunday after
noon. Miss Viola attended the
teacher’s convention at Lincoln
and her parents visited Mr. and
Mrs. Roy Haynes at Denton.
The young adult Sunday school
class will pick corn on the land
they farmed this year today
(Thursday).
Mr. and Mrs. Dale Waring and
family came Thursday to visit his
mother, Mrs. Ethel Waring and
other relatives. They were Fri
day supper guests at the J. W.
Finch home. Mr. and Mrs. Ro
bert Pease of Center and Miss
Margie and Helen Finch attended
the two day session at Norfolk
Thursday and Friday and were
also supper guests. Mrs. Finch
kept the Pease children during
their absence.
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Goldfuss
and son moved from the Lamason
property to their new home in the
northwest part of O’Neill, Friday.
Gerald works for Tom Zakrzew
ski and drives one of his fleet of
trucks.
The Improvement club served
lunch during and after the auc
tion sale at the old Townsend
hardware building on Friday eve
ning. The sale will be continued
an Friday evening, November 4.
Mr. and Mrs. Walt Christon
and Mrs. Marie Beelaert of Ew
ing were Sunday guests of Mr.
and Mrs. Frank Beelaert.
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Chris
tianson and daughter of Tilden
were Thursday through Sunday
guests in the Loren Libby home.
I - .
Big car luxury and performance are combined in Buick’s medium-priced four-door hardtop se
dan in the Special series (above). Buick for 1956 goes on display Friday at the A. Marcellus Buick
showrooms in O’Neill.
—
88 Improvements
in 1956 Buicks
‘Biggest Engine in Its
Class’
On Friday, November 4, the A.
Marcellus Buick agency in O’
Neill will present the 1956 mod
els.
Buicks for ’56 feature a four
door hardtop in every series,
more powerful V-8 engines, and
fresh new styling in the bold de
sign that has made Buick the
third best seller in the nation for
the last two years.
Horsepower has been increased
to 255 in the Roadmaster, Super
and Century series and to 220 in
the Special. For the first time in
1956 the Special is equipped with
the 322 cubic inch engine, the
same power plant used in the
other three series.
“We have made 88 major im
provements in styling and engi
neering to give our customers the
best possible value for their dol
lar,” according to Mr. Marcellus.
“The entire chassis has been re
engineered to improve ride and
handling. The addition of the 322
cubic inch engine to the Special
gives that series one of the big
gest and most powerful engines
of any car in its class.”
The new variable pitch Dyna
flow transmission has been im
proved for 1956 through the addi
?
tion of a second stator which
increases torque multiplication
and boosts performance import
antly in the 0 to 30 mile range.
Dynaflow has been made stand
ard equipment on the Super and
Century and optional on the Spe
cial. Previously it was standard
on the Roadmaster only.
Dual exhausts are standard
on the Roadmaster and option
al on the other three series.
Style highlights include an all
new front end with a handsome
new V-shaped grille, a refinement
of the rear end design which
proved so popular last year, ex
quisite new interiors and a color
ful new instrument panel that
features the Redliner speedom
eter in each series.
Safety features include seat
belts, available as dealer install
ed equipment on all models; door
locks with an interlocking feature
that prevents them from flying
open in event of a collision; a
foam rubber pad across the top
of the instrument panel, and more
effective brakes for faster stops.
Full rear wheel cutouts,
which lend a sports car look to
the Buick line, are featured oil
all models in 1956. Previously
only the two-door models had
the rear wheels fully exposed.
The new V-shaped grille has av
v.’ide screen which is chrome
plated and buffed to a high luster
and is centered with a large me
dallion carrying the nameplate,
year and series. Two trim wings
extend across the grille from
either side of the center medal
i , *
«
«
p
»* *
• #
#
!B*
It comes upon the heels of the most successful Buick
in history—and beats it on every score.
In shimmering steel and solid sinew, it’s Buick for
1956 — and there’s never been anything like it for pure
automobile.
You get a good hint of what we mean when you take
in its sweep-ahead styling—from the air-splitting
prow of its V-front grille to the robust rake of its canted
rear profile.
You get an even better hint when you open the doors
and see the dazzle there.
But it’s when you put this beauty to the city streets
and the open highways that you learn the best of it
For here is performance without parallel. A new
advance in Variable Pitch Dynaflow* goes airplanes
one better—steps up your getaway in normal driving
without switching the pitch. But when you do need that
When better automobiles are built Bulck will build them
extra surge, it’s there instantly—and in extra abundance.
The might of big 322-cubic-inch V8 engines in every
Series brings new record high power to all Buicks —
Roadmaster, Super, Century, and the bedrock-priced
Special. And to handle such dynamic driving power,
the whole rear end has been endowed with extra brawn
and heft and solidity.
We could spread before you an acre of blueprints
on the engineering gems that spark the spectacular
performance and ride and handling and roadability
of these great Buicks for 1956.
But you can get the full and magnificent story right
now, at our showroom, in a face-to-face meeting with
die best Buick yet-now on display, and setting a
dazzling new pattern for 1956.
*New Advanced Variable Pitch Dynaflow is the only Dynaflow
Buick builds today. It is standard on Roadmaster, Super and
Century—optional at modest extra cost on the Special.
1
A. MARCELLOS
Phone 370 O’Neill