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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1900)
'Che Conservative. NEBRASKA FORTY YEARS AGO. I was clerking in a small store in northern Illinois when gold was found in Colorado , and on the 8th day of May , 1860 , crossed the Missouri river at Atchison - son , Kansas , and as a brother of mine had nn interest in the ox teams and wagons , I was appointed wagon master for the trip to Russell's Gulch , Colorado. We were loaded with machinery for two quartz mills , and after walking the first one hundred miles , about one-seventh the whole distance , wo traveled along very well and made the distance in forty-eight days , which was considered good time for loaded teams. We saw quite a number of Indians , who were all friendly as they were not yet ready to go on the war-path. We saw a few buffalo , but were a little early for them as they were still south of us. In their yearly trips north they generally crossed the Platte some time in June. I have seen and heard at night a constant passing herd of buffalo lasting five days , and you could hear a constant splashing iu the water of the Platte all through the night. Our army officers would pilot the English sports onto the frontier and they would shoot down these creat ures and let their carcasses rot on the ground when their camp was full of meat. We had plenty of antelope and did not need the meat. In my nine years on the plains I helped to kill one buffalo , and then wo were out of meat. After making the trip to Russell's Gulch and helping to build the mills , I tried quartz mining and we went 85 feet through cap rock and missed the pay streak , and as our money was all gone wo went to work for other parties. The vein wo mentioned above proved afterwards to be very rich , aud a spar of the famous Griunell. I afterwards , in company with Wheeler Schofield ( a brother of our General John M ) took a ranch of 240 acres on the Big Thompson , 55 miles north of Denver , where we built the first irrigating dam on that stream , if not the first one in the state , as we built our dam early in ' 61. To show whether irrigation pays , I will tell what was done on chis land. We bought 178 pounds of very small po tatoes in Denver at 15 cents per pound , and planted them in hills , with three pieces in each hill , and raised from one and three-quarters acres of ground 275 bushels of potatoes which we sold in Denver at 6 cents per pound. The next year we put out 18 acres of garden and saw it all go in a few minutes in a flood from the mountains. We then started for British Columbia mines aud stopped at Cherokee Crossing on the North Platte river , about 800 miles north-west of Denver where I rigged a rope ferry to run by the ourrent of the stream. While running this ferry a part of the Michi gan Sixth regiment came along and took the ferry from me and drowned six of their own men , and Tom Ohivington , who was with them as guide or wagon master. I was then sent to Fort Halleck as wagon master for Company C , of the Kansas Oth regiment. From there I was sent to Fort Lcaveuworth with a train to turn in. On this trip the Platte river was dry and wo sunk barrels in the stream to get water for our animals. I then took three six horse teams loaded with groceries for a trader on Cache a Lnpoudrie river and left the teams at Fort Kearney and went to work on the Overland mail route. My run was 40 miles east from Kearney , and on this route have seen all of the stations ( four ) hanging up in the sky aud the old flag at the post with the stripes pointing toward the earth. I was sent to Kear ney to run out each way when needed , and this is what I was doing when I drove into a station and found a dead man to change horses for me. I waited until daybreak and then went on over the drive. I was on this part of the road when the peace commission was attack ed , and if the coach had been on time I would have been its driver. I was next ordered to arrange some way to cross th e mail over the Platte at Kearney , which we did by making a flat boat aud hitched a yoke of oxen to it , aud when there was water the cattle would wade or swim , and in crossing the several strips of land would drag the boat. I next went on a ranch 12 miles west of Kearney as a herder , and one evening while out in the bluffs looking up some stock that had strayed too far out , I was nearly sxirrouuded by 17Cheyeunes who chafed me about two miles to the ranch. After we reached the adobe house we put some guns out of the port holes and Mr. Spotted Tail left us. In 1864 I was captured by General Mitchell , Col. Chiviugtou , and Major Majors , and tak en before Captain Gillette at Fort Kear ney , who appointed me wagon master on an expedition against the Sioux. Wo traveled 18 days , but could not overtake the Indians. We started with 72 wag ons and brought them all back , but had to haul 10 of them as they were badly damaged , having upset over the banks of the Republican river , which we crossed four times on our trip. I have traveled over eighteen thousand miles on horseback in my nine years on the plains. I am 62 and , except rheumatism some of the time , I am as sound as ever. I do not use tobacco in any form and took my last drink in 1871. A. P. HAZARD. Hebron , Neb. In * " ° f.th ! CRUSHING THK ? . , , TRUSTS. alleged determined action of a large number of members of congress to strike at the trusts , we fear that nothing of an effective character will be done , for the reason that the majority of the members ore unwilling to adopt what would be , ' < * the most effective means of accom plishing this result. Those industries which are freely subjected to a world wide competition cannot , in the absence of a trust which controls matters in every civilized country , force up prices to an extent that will be in the least troublesome or oppressive to our people. All but a very few of the industrial combinations that have been formed in this country that are popularly classified as trusts are associations organized for the purpose of preventing domestic com petition , while at the same time sheltered from foreign competition by the pro tective tariff. The old argument of the protectionists used to be that , while temporarily protection would make the price of an American produced article higher than it otherwise would be , this price would stimulate others to go into the business , and the result of their competition would be to force the prices down to such a point that it made not the least difference whether there was protection granted or not. But the organizers of the trusts propose to pre vent this corrective competition , and they usually succeed in doing it. If congress enacted a law that any indus try which was largely carried on by a combination of this kind should no longer receive the peculiar benefits and favors of the protective tariff , it would be the strongest restrictive force that could be applied to trust formations. It is just this effective action that con gressmen seem to be unwilling to take. They are apparently quite ready to pass a number of laws that will have little erne no effect , but when it comes down to a radical treatment such as that just sug gested , they exhibit a cowardice which does uotjarguo well for the effectiveness of any species of trust legislation which they may see fit to adopt. Boston Herald. SERIOUS EFFECT OF CHRISTMAS-TREE DEMAND. Five hundred thousand symmetrical straight-limbed young trees , from three to twenty feet tall , a vast incipient forest , were chopped down to supply the Christmas trade of New York. Of this number car-loads , seventy-two - , with an average of 1,500 trees to the car , came from the Adirondacks , an aggre gate of 108,000 trees. Over four-fifths of the trees used , however , came by boat from Maine , New Jersey and Con necticut. The dealers are naturally jubilant over the trade they have had : "The largest business in trees and greens in their history , " they say. But one among them said : "I could not help but feel sorry at the ruthless slaughter made on our forests to give a single day's joy. The sight of so many tender , beautifully formed trees reminded me of so many youths , whose value lay only in their maturity , being mown dawn to gratify children under the age of reason. "
