Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1958)
Prairieland Talk— Rival Once Tried to Wreck Plant By BO MAINE SAUNDERS, 4110 South 51*t St., Lincoln 6, Ncbr. LINCOLN The year 1958 brings The Frontier up to the venerable age of 78 It was approaching the spring of the year in 1880 when there came to the prairie village of O'Neil] a newspaper guy from a southern Wisconsin town to look into the pros pects for starting an O'Neill paper Pat Hagerty, who had a trading post where the Goldent hotel now stands, had induced Doc Mat- . T hews to "come west” and start a pajier, so The Frontier was launched upon the sea of ac tivities among the early set tlers, cow punchers, Indians anti ambitious young politi cians. The Frontier has survi ved two fires and one attempt by an envious rival over at Niobrara to wreck the plant, has outlived six editors and a score of printers, has not missed a week coming from Romalne the press, the first a Wash- Saunders inglon hand press, in these years The paper had a large part in inducing settlers to come to praine land The Frontier is still read by everybody in th community and many in distant ptaces_ It has ex pended from a four-page six-column sheet to £ig,. eight-column paper that others are copymg Xr My bn it her Ezra was the first printer to set ,he type for Doc Mathews’ glowing word Futures of "God's Country” and he now lies upon the hi under the sod as do others who had been connected with paper as publishers or printers Nine other newspapers once were published in O Neill, tailed and died The Frontier goes on still under capable management. • • • Nebraska History, a quarterly magazine put> lished by the State Historical Society with oftices and headquarters at 15th and ft street m Lincoln^ draws our attention now to newspaper notables of the state instead of the politicians and army offi cers that have been about the only theme of state historians in recent years. A full page picture of James Lawrence and the story of his life's work as an editor appears in the latest issue of the mag azine. Having turned their gaze away from mili tary posts and government officials, the editors of Nebraska History may catch a vision of the pio neer men and women of prairieland from whose toil worn hands this generation has its heritage. Who were they that subdued a wilderness and forminl the empire of Holt? It was men like Walt O’Malley and his forebears, men like Wallace John son like Hugh O'Neill, like Will Riley who brought to the prairies of Holt county purebred Shorthorns to take over and drive out the longhorns, men Uke Sam El wood who brought to the county the first herd of purebred Angus; women like Mrs. Dustin, like Mrs. W. W. Page, like Mrs. J. J McCafferty and other wives and mothers w'ho maintained the homes and reared families; the men and women in the towns, on the land from the Missouri river to the foothills, from the Sioux Indian country to the valley of the Republican-these were the hands, the minds, that made Nebraska history. • • • Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit; and our wandering thoughts in prayer are but the neglects of meditation and recessions from that duty; and according as we neglect meditation, so are our prayers imperfect, meditation being the soul of prayer and the inten tion of our spirit.—Jeremy Taylor. A native daughter of O’Neill. Mrs. Edwin Johnson, writes me from her home in Omaha: "I feel close enough to write you as we have in com mon O’Neill. Never miss your column and I sure hope you have many more years of good health in which to write. Others here from up there join me and say they read your column first, and there are quite a few here and say they followed Arthur Mul ien down here, but I remember when we used to come down to see Dr. Dwyer.” Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of a pioneer couple , of O'Neill, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Tierney, both now lying under the sod upon the hill in the abode of the dead. Mrs Tierney was a sister of the late j Dave Stannard and his brothers. Tom was the town drayman until he passed away more than 40 year ago. Mrs. Johnson wonders if that was before my time. Not hardly as I landed in O’Neill be hind a pair of range bred horses something like 75 years ago and now traveled the rugged highway of life a little more than 87 years. Cordial greetings to you, Mrs. Johnson, and others from out of the groenrobed prairies of Holt county now anchored in Omaha. • • • In commeration of the 501h anniversary' of the opening of a school of journalism at the University of Missouri the postal department will issue a spe cial stamp early this year. Schools of journalism have sprung up in about every state, while news papers are becoming few'er and fewer. Something like a dozen less in Nebraska in 1957 than there were in 1956. Holt county at one time had 17 nows l>apers; today there are four. Simultaneously with the introduction of schools of journalism has dis appeared the gifted writers and their charming word pictures have given way to the common place "news stories." No more the songs of a Doc Bixby, the wit and literary beauty of the writings of Ross Hammond of Will Maupin nor the charming elo quence of an Edgar Howard. No longer the thrill of a line by Clyde King, Jim Riggs, John Wertz or George McArthur nor the slashing vindictiveness in a paragraph by John Sprecker. This is the age of school of journalism "news stories” that leave you guessing as to what did happen. • • • There stands in O’Neill today a magnificent court house, a monument to R. R. Dickson and John Weeks without whose promoting it would not be there; public school buildings, an academy, churches and a city library—monuments to a people that make the history of a community. The Frontier building stands as a monument to Denny Cronin, the Golden hotel, a monument to Tom Gold en and a seven-room white cottage on South First street a monument to my mother! • • • Every man has two educations—that which is given to him, and the other, that which he gives himself. Of the two kinds, the latter is by far the' most valuable. Indeed all that is most worthy in man, he must work out and conquer for himself. It is that, that constitutes our real and best nou rishment. What we are merely taught, seldom nourishes the mind like that which we teach our selves.—Richter. • • • The .Methodist church of O’Neill forwarded the brochure of the church's 75th anniversary to the Nebraska State Historical Society and is now in the society’s archives in Lincoln. Editorial— Flaws of Quality, Not Quantity Conservatives in the United States congress and elsewhere—are bracing themselves to with: stand the most powerful onslaught todate on behalf of federal aid to education. "Liberals" of every description—including some in Nebraska’s stateliouse—-have seized upon the SiHitnik furore as a heaven-sent opportunity to ram through schemes of shotgun legislation to pro dace federal and centralized control of education to some degree. Viewed as particularly ominous by the nation s lawmakers are (1) Secretary Folsom s one-billion dollar program of federal grants-in-aii to schools, and <2> the lioast of the left-wing National Educa tion association that its profederal aid lobbying will bo conducted this session on a •’round-the clock” basis. Many educators, who are members of the asso ciation and ribminally foes of federal aid, are afraid to speak out because of possible reprisals. The education hierarchy has so manuev.ered certi fication of teachers some of the membership teels muzzled relative to controversial matters. (At a local level, some teachers opposed to the fash ionable hatchet plan for small schools are afraid to speak out because “labor boss tactics might be employed.) . . . _ Opponents of federal aid say that American conservatives must work as never before to im press their congressional representatives with this fact- The flaws of American education are flaws of quality, not quantity. The piling on of federal dollars will only intensify the existing evils and shortcomings in the present educational setup, while creating new ami equally grievous dangers of federal control and waste Two supporters of this argument, neither ot whom can be snifTed away as "reactionary”, have offered this comment: President Harry Heald of the Fold foundation: "Under present mass education policies, the re quirements for graduation art' scaled down for the weaker students; the more able ones do no more.’ Dr. Howard L. Bevis, chairman of the presi dent’s committee on scientists and engineers: • American education should increase the require ments of science, mathematics. English and other basic disciplines through high school”. Earth Is Warming Up Dr. Edward Teller says the earth is warming up. Taking his stand in the controversy concern ing the trend of the weather. Teller says that the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the air is warming up our earth. Teller says accurate measurements show that then' has been an increase of two percent in the carbon dioxide content in the air since the begin ning of the industrial revolution This has been caused by heavy uses of fuels such as coal, oil, and its derivatives. Unless there is a halt to the trend. Teller be lieves the earth will become overheated before the end of the Twentieth century. He believes that when the amount of carbon dioxide has increased much further, ice caps on the Poles will begin to melt tthey are already receding) and the amount of water in the oceans will increase. This will inundate such port cities as New York and such countries as Holland. The answer? Teller believes the answer is the use of nuclear fuel. The associate director of the University of California’s radiation laboratory says that we must put nuclear fuel to work, powering electrical plants which otherwise would consume coal, or oil or other carbon dioxide producing fuels. Soil Plan Will Depopulate A headline in the Omaha World-Herald suggests the effect of the “pilot plan" for turning a substantial hunk of Nebraska back to grass and trees for five- and 10-year periods will have an ad verse effect on the economics of small towns. Our guess is the effect will be adverse on some of the larger ones, too, and will be a boon to absentee owmers who will “bid in" their places and shuffle off to the West coast on some distant place to spend the dough. The result w ill be a depopulation of an already sparsely populated area; less services will be re quired; fewer groceries will be sold. Nebraska is one of four states in the trial balloon plan. The object, of course, is to reduce production while science and industrious fanners are doing everything possible to increase produc tion. It’s our guess socalled poor land will im mediately find its way into the new soil bank while better land will produce more and more Hence, the agricultural department experts will be back where they started. Common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in; and these are always ready at the mouth; so people come faster out of a church that is almost empty, than when a crowd is at the door.—Swift. Open your purse and your mouth cautiously; and your stock of wealth and reputation, shall at least in repute, be great.—Zimmerman. Why do so many women waste money trying to look young and attractive and at the same time eat their way to 200 pounds? FrontTfr CARROLL W. STEWART. Editor and Publisher 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 Terms of Subscription: In Nebraska, $2.50 per year; elsewhere in the United States, $3 per year; rates abroad provided upon request. All sub scriptions payable in advance. When You & I Were Young . . . I Sullivan, Uttley Tell of ’88 Storm Teacher, 13 Pupils Marooned SO Years Ago F O Hammerberg. one of The j Frontier's friends from up at Ce lia, was a caller Wednesday dur- i ing the editor's absence from the | office. Call again Anthony Stanton and John Hickey return ed Monday from West Point. . . John R. Hollar, one of the best known and well respected citiz ens of Shields township, died sud denly at his home January 4. Nearly 54 years old, he was a na tive of Canada. He came to this country 18 or 20 years ago He was a prominent member of the Mennonite church in his commu nity. . . Weddings: Dey S. Wey gint of Meadow Grove and Miss Fanny L. Johnson of Tilden and John Cleary and Inez Murray, both of this community. . . The Tuesday club met with Mrs. J. J. Harington. Shakespeare is the topic being studied. Those taking part wrere: Mrs. G. W. Smith, Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Mote, Mrs. A. F. Mullen and Miss Ruth Evans. . . Men’s overalls advertised at the Cash store for 48 cents; cotton flannel mitts at 6 cents a pair; men's overcoats at $3.60 and bed blankets at 48 cents each. 20 Years Ago .‘Montana Jack’’ Sullivan and Mrs. Mary A. Uttley told of their experiences in the blizzard of 1888. Montana Jack recalled that ‘‘the cattle became agitated and by instinct, they scented the dan ger”. He goes on to relate that on the horizon appeared a whirl ing grey blur that roared toward him like an express train. It was proceeded by a snapping and cracking sound like static elect ricity. ‘‘I was so fascinated with the extreme terror of it,” he says, "that I stood spell bpund until the storm rolled over me”. Mrs. Ut tley, a teacher in a little sod schoolhouse just across the Nio brara river at Hogan’s bridge in Keya Paha county, had 13 pupils with her the day of the storm (January 12) and they remained with her in the schoolhouse all: day and all night with neither food, fuel nor light from 4 o’clock in the j afternoon. She says the storm! struck about 9 o’clock in the mor-; ning and raged until about 3:30 j the next morning. About 5 o’clock Mr. Hogan and two neighbors came to their rescue. 10 Years Ago Nancy Elaine Harshfield, who was born at 6:35 a m., new year’s day at Atkinson, won The Front ier’s first baby contest. She weigh ed 7% pounds. James F. Lewis, 4, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Lew is of near Spencer, was "goo«L af ter having his right arm amputa ted at Sacred Heart hospital in Lynch. He was the victim of a power saw accident. . . The tem perature reached 50 twice this week. . . Those fearless Frickel trappers, Ronnie, 8, and Donnie, 10, of Celia, closed 1947 with a skunk and a badger added to their triumphs. One Year Ago Kathleen Marie Blake, who was born Thursday, January 3 at St. Anthony’s hospital, won The Frontier's first baby of the year contest. . . Larry Wayne Papke. 11, of Stuart, was fatally wounded by an accidental charge of a .22 calibre repeater rifle. . . Deaths: J W. Roche, 66, of Atkinson; Jane Tangeman. 85, of Chambers; George H. White, 80, of Atkinson; William Kramer, 72, of Stuart; David Everett Lee, 6, of Atkinson; Mrs. Agnes Slaymaker of Atkin son. Tubercular Patients Will Be Remembered Partners from O'Neill, Pierce, Stanton and Norfolk were in at tendance at the regular January Marche of the Madison County 410, 8 et 40, which met Thursday evening at Hotel Madison in Nor folk. Mrs. A. R. Andrews, shapeau, appointed Mrs. Jesse Walker of Norfolk as salon chairman of education and scholarships, a new project of the 8 et 40 which pro vides scholarship funds for grad uate nurses to take advanced study for nursing of tubercular patients. Mrs. Andrews also reported Income Tax For assistance in filing your self-employment and tax reports, call on Geo. C. Robertson O’Neill Accounting and former em ployee of Internal Revenue. Dow ney Bldg. Phone 534 Wednesday, Jan. 29 through Saturday, Febr. 8 Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments Wed. & Sat. Matinee—1 p.m. Adults 90o: Children 50c Sunday shows starting at 12:00. 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. Adults $1.25; Children 50c One Show Nightly—7 p.m. Ainsworth Theatre AINSWORTH, NEBRASKA % that the salon had rasied $89 from the sale of greeting cards. Miss Daisy Rohinson of Stanton chairman of finance, presented the 1958 budget which was unan imously approved. Bernice Bussman, child welfare chairman, read thank-you notes from several patients in the Nat ional Jewish hospital of Denver, Colo., and was appointed to secure names of local tubercular patients who may be hospitalized, either in the Kearney State hospital or In Denver so that they may be re membered on holidays and special occasions by the salon. A pre-inarche dessert was ser ved by the hostesses. Mrs Wil liam MeGinty, Mrs Virgil Sch-' lack. Mrs Ervin Ashy and Mrs Andrews. Games furnished entertainment following the marche. Mrs. Lester Riege of O'NetH won first prize at bunco and Mrs Robert Lowery also of O'Neill, had low score At bridge, Mrs Ann Warner of Nor folk won high and Mrs A L Maier of Norfolk won low scon* Partners front O'Neill who at tended the ntarche included Mrs Lowery, Mrs Melvin Ruzicka, Mrs. Riege and Mrs ohn David son. Ray Lawrence ON Ell J. — PHONE 174 Dealer of Nixon St Co. 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