Cbe Conscratiw. .
. . . . . . .
VOL. III. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , FEB. 7 , 1901. No. 31.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOOE.
J. STERLING MORTON , EDITOR.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OT POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK 10,000 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year , in advance ,
postpaid , to any part of the United States or
Canada. Remittances made payable to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Neb.
Advertising Rates made known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City
Neb. , as Second Class matter.July 20th , 1898.
* n December
ABBiXEVUE
BANQUET. 1854 > a banquet
was given by Ool.
Peter A. Sarpy at the trading post of
the American Fur Company. That
pretentious edifice was constructed of
hewed cottonwood logs. It was two
stories high. It had a south frontage of
about forty-five or fifty feet. It rejoiced
in a piazza along each floor , upper and
lower. At the east end was an additional
structure of one story which contained
the kitchen , pantry and store room.
The entrance into the dirl ft room was
from the west side of the kitchen. The
building and its out-houses , rejoicing in
the neatest and purest of whitewashes ,
shone in the sunlight and contrasted
with the tepees of the Omaha Indians ,
which were around about them , as do
uniformed soldiers with half-naked
savages. The property was located
about a quarter of a mile north from the
present depot of the Burlington railroad
and a trifle eastward. The site is now
in the Gulf of Mexico , having been
carried away by the tawny flood tides
of the Missouri River many years ago.
Aside from the building of the Ameri
can Fur Company , standing at Bellevue
, . , , , in 1854there were
. . . .
Historic Buildings.J ,
the Presbyterian
Mission House , occupied by the Rev.
William Hamilton , his family and the
teachers in the school for Omaha In
dians , and the McKinney House , in
which was the printing office that pub
lished the Palladium , a few log cabins
which had been built by the United
States government for the Indian agency
of the Omahas and Otoes , and a grout
house put up by Isaiah Rennet. Bellevue
was really the largest settlement count
ing permanent edifices and accommoda
tions for human beings in the territory
of Nebraska , in November , 1854. Even
the Masonic fraternity recognized this
fact by going there to install their first
lodge and to initiate Colonel Sarpy at
the old trading post. And when it came
to social functions Bellevue was the
belle of the Missouri valley. Councils
with the Indians and social entertain
ments for the white people were a
specialty with Colonel Sarpy , and a
square meal , well-cooked , and made up
of something else than pork , hot bread
and black coffee , was a most alluring
and exceedingly rare felicity in those
days of our first autumn on the west
bank of the Missouri. Therefore when
an invitation to dine at the trading post
came the recipient could not be re
strained from its acceptance by any
ordinary appliances , obstacles or threats.
THE CONSERVATIVE calls to mind , from
down the. long avenue of forty-five
years , one of those primitive dinners
and the guests who sat about the well-
filled table.
Among them was the first chief justice
of the territory of Nebraska , Fenner
, _ Ferguson. He was
Fenner Ferguson. . . . - T
a native of New
York. He was , by President Pierce ,
appointed chief justice of Nebraska from
Albion , Michigan , where hehad an
enviable reputation as a man and citizen
of irreproachable character and a lawyer
of learning and honesty. He was about
forty years of age , six feet in height ,
well-proportioned and possessed of a
most agreeable expression of face and
features. His eyes were blue , his com
plexion fair and his hair a light brown.
He was genial and agreeable ; no one
enjoyed the amenities of social life more
and no one could contribute more to the
enjoyment of others than Judge
Ferguson.
Next to him sat Addison B. Qilmore ,
the first superintendent of the Chicago
and Bock Island
Addison R. Gllmore. n . , , . . .
Railroad , when the
western terminus of that line was at
Book Island. Colonel Gilmore became
the first receiver of the first United
States land office which was established
and opened at Omaha in April , 1857. He
was a most affable , genial and agree
able gentleman. He wrote a most
legible and uniform hand and was
master of a peculiarly fascinating
epistolary style. There was no promi-
nent citizen of the territory who had a
stronger or more abiding faith in Belle
vue and in the agricultural and com
mercial possibilities of all Nebraska. He
saw all in his imagination which we
today behold in reality. The Union
Pacific and all the other railroads now
operating and more were visible to his
eye of faith. He was a man of about
fifty-four years of age , of average height
and weight , fine features and a pair
of splendid sky-blue eyes that laughed
in mirth and gleamed fire in wrath. He
was quick of mind and body , capable ,
efficient and convivial and charming as
either host or guest.
At the feast in-question an honored
and most entertaining guest was the
first governor of
Ansel Brlggs.
the state of Iowa ,
Hon. Ansel Briggs. There was present
also Dr. J. P. MoMahon of Council
Bluffs , in the same state.
The dinner was bountiful. It was
served on tin plates. The coffee was
poured into cups of the same precious
metal. The principal dish was a stew.
It was served smoking hot and from it
there steamed a most savory and appe
tizing fragrance , suggestive of the most
palate-satisfy ing viands. Everbody ate
with relish and avidity. Everybody
praised the repast and was filled to
satisfactory repletion. Pipes and tobacco
came on and the leisurely after-meal
smoke was filling the room with the
fragrance of old Virginia's best , when
suddenly Colonel Sarpy called the
ancient French trapper , who acted as
master of the kitchen , into the presence
of the guests and in angry tones ex
claimed :
"Antoine , you ought to b'e shot. For
my friends here I ordered you to pre
pare a feast fit for chiefs , head men and
braves only. I told you that you should
kill and cook for this occasion , sir , only
the fattest and youngest dogs about the
post. And here are bones off which we
have gnawed the tough meat of old
dogs , you scoundrel I"
The reprimand only reached this point
when Colonel Gilmore , throwing up
both handsexclaimed with pallid horror
depicted on every lineament : "Great
God , Colonel Sarpy , have we been eat
ing dog meat ? " And before Sarpy
could answer the cowed and frightened
Antoine said :
"Colonel Sarpy an gentlemen ze
pup ze young and tendaire dogs escap
