Old Niobrara's Long Wait for a Railroad
OLDEST INHABITANTS OF NIOnnAIlA WILLI AM LA MONT
AND RED CEDAR CABIN, BUILT IN 1860.
YR I'OltTY-FIVE YEARS Niobrara,
Neb., has waited at the gateway
of tho Ruiiiiingwati r vulley for
the whlMtlo of a railroad locomo
tive and the woi.nme sound of
Ncli.. has waited lit tho gateway
. 11.- 1 I ....II....
car wheels at her doors, (iray-headed men
who camn here In I he Hush of early man
hood to locate on "the only direct route to
the I'uclflc through Soulh l'ass" and reap
Hie reward of un early loi at on at lln fu
ture iiutropolis of the Missouri valley have
long slnro passid newts I he range where
t-piculat ion in town lots Is unknown and
am transportation unn e B.wry. Only one
of that larliest baud of adventurous spirits
who nearly half a century ago cast their
lot at the junction of the Niobrara river
Willi (ho Missouri will bo able (let ug
hope) to wdcomo the first train over the
Elkhorn railway when il steams Into tho
station of Niobrara In the early summer of
l'.tt'2, announcing with deafening whist le
blasls that tho drciim .f fifty years have
at last been realized In mimo degree tha
Niobrara l united with t-1 el bands to tlm
rest o tho world, and to Omaha In par
ticular, only seven hours distant.
Before that glud hour comes before the
cords upon cords of tie., piling and brldgo
timber that now choke the narrow valley at
the terminus of the Elkhorn railroad in
VerdigrlM have been marshaled in uolld
anil symmetric al ordir and knit together
with the toiiB of fieri and Iron now elbow
ing Hum for more room in the Elkhorn
yards; before thu "Old Niobrara" or unful
lilled dreaiiix, of oM graves on th' hill, of
unsatlslled longings and untol I 1 gends Is
swallowed up and becomes a pari of that
modirn woild if Hteam, commerce and
manufacture, from which it has all Its lire
bein Mcpir.itcd -surely th.i vagrant his
torian and legend-lovir may linger among
her memories and even Hi . burr ed iipws
papcr leader find a moment to loiter with
111 in to contrast the old with the new and
be admonished how rluslve is this empire of
commercial wiiilth lu which lit lives and
hiw uncertain man's efforts to track Its
path lu thu wilderness.
Urcam of I hi- Komiiler ,
It was June 7, 18..6. when Dr. I). Y.
Sholley, thu "founder of Niobrara," laid
the log foundation of the first permanent
while aettleiiient near thu old l'onca In
dian village, at the mouth of the Niobrara.
A few days later, at Sluux City, was or
ganized the "L'eau qui Court Company,"
with Dr. Shelley as one of the leading
Hpiriti for the purpose of booming the
low unite of the future metropolis at the
junction of the L'eau qui Court, as the
Freiii h (rappers had named tho beautiful
hw Ift-llow ing river, and tho Missouri. Tho
large map that was irolttn out by this com
pany, shows 2.IH'0 acres of land surveyed
mid platted Into lta on tie Ndiriska
ill. ilf. just below the junction of the two
rivers. Along the river front of three
miles si roll In the significant legend
"levee," magtilflccnt space to accommodate
I v; "-Z? -'i . s-r
j. """ in- j
HI8TORIC CANNON AT "OLD NIOBRARA.'
r.. ....... i,. vi ...i . ...fll..
while abovo is a map of the region from
tt... ,1... ... n. I r. f'l.l
lllti luni'B lu lui' iiiuuuiaiiia, nuunnig v. i -
cago, Milwaukee mid St. l'uul, each with
a railroad t t r f I 1 1 1 1 1 n acrosB the prairie in
direct it lr line to the rising emporium of
railroad and river commerce and from
"Nlobrarah," as they spelled the word,
westward on an air line through to tho
South 1'um to tho Paeiile coast. The only
copy of IhiH map known to he In existence
is the property of Frank Lundak of Nio
brara, who has kindly loaned it for photo
graphic reproduction a dllllcult task for il
was soaked in Missouri river water and
discolored In the great freshet of 1881. Alas,
fur early dreams. Who would have believed
that I lie South l'ass, the only practicable
ror.ii through the mountains, as the docu
ments of the time recite would have been
avoided by each of half a dozen Pacific
railroads? Who would have believed that
the boaHted direct route up the Running
water valley would remain one of the wild
est and most unfrequented parts of the
great west long after railroads had covered
the rest of the region, or that almost fifty
years later Missouri river navigation would
be an anticuarlaii study and the advent of
the first steam curs from Omaha be hailed
with joy by the Inhabitants of Niobrara
long after their adventurous whistle had
echoed amid the forests of Central Africa.
Attraction nml Ailtnntimen.
Yet Niobrara has Its compensations. It
Is In the midst of one of the most Inter
esting geological formations, the Niobrara
cretaceous or "chalk roik," whoso varie
gated cliffs hundreds of feet in height
crowned with trees and washed at the
base by swift waters form a scene of at
tractive beauty for both tourist and geo
logic student, certain to become better
known with the advent of the railroad. It
Is one of half a dozen points of intense
interist to the student of early Nebraska
history- and likely long to remain so not
only because of the early white settlements,
but also because of the presence of rem.
i.ants of the Sautee Sioux and 1'otica In
dian tribes, now citizens and voters of Ne
braska and destined to remain here near
tho ancestral homo of their savage fore
bears. The American flag for thi first tlm
greeted the picturesque cliffs here Septem
ber 4, lstlt, when Lewis and Chirk camped
"Just above the mouth of the rapid river,
or as It Is called by the French, Ia Riviere
qui Court, on the south Bide. The place Is
a fine low ground, with much timber, such
as red cedar, honey locust, oak, arrow
wood, i liu and cofTernut." to quote their own
account. The low ground where they
landed, with all Its timber, was long ago
at en up by tho hungry Missouri, but the
new Elkhorn railway bridge spans the Nlo-
brara Just where it mingles Its waters with
the Missouri and commauds a splendl I
view of "Lewis and Clark 1'olnt," as the
remaining spit of land which juts Into tho
jj-. ' - , A. -,v"'"---"i'V"-'""'--
HOME OF F. BURNS, "OLD NIOBRARA."
DR. It. Y. SHELLEY,
OF NIOBRARA.
FOUNDER
Missourl Is destined to be called if General
1'asscnger Agent Buchanan of that road
does his duty. The piling for the bridge
biaves a flood of Ice, which Is rushing down
from the mountain reaches of the river ami
l he chalk bluffs fronting on the Missouri
echo with the volleys of giant powder
which are Masting a path for the locomotive
four miles long at the water's edge before
it turns and rushes westward through the
fertile l'onca valley to Bonesteel, S. 1)., at
the edge of an undeveloped region of great
promise. "Where Is the Elkhorn headed
for?" is one of the walking interrogations
in this region. Tho shrewdest guess of
fend is that It Is traveling in the path of
Lewis and Clark and will parallel the Mis
souri river at a short distance from that
htrcam, ns It already has a road into tho
Black Hills, and there would seem no ob
ject in building another. If this surmise
proves true It will bring Omaha into Imme
diate rail connection with both South and
North Dakota west of the Missouri river
and make it by many hours the closest
large city to that vast region which has
hitherto traded with Sioux City, St. I'aul or
Chicago. Will the old dream of commerce
down the Missouri come true and the trade
of the Louisiana Purchase seek the sea
down hill Instead of crossing half a dozen
divides, but seek It on steel rails Instead of
uncertain waters? Mighty question for the
hustling Omaha business man as well as
the dreamer by the shore of unnavigated
rivers in the centennial year of Thomas Jef
ferson's bargain with Napoleon.
I.imt of (lie riourrri.
But hero Is the "oldeBt Inhabitant" of
Niobrara to warn against Indulging In
dreams of the future William Laniont.
The same William Lamont who In 1867 came
from the mountains of Pennsylvania to cast
his lot for life at Niobrara the only on-?
now living here of that early band of hope
. ii m i ii ' i TrtMhTi
sC-v' ..vHnrth, i iitii n iliaiimtwwiii iifctni m .nn n
OLD IILLLIIIAN
fuls who Fpuu golden threads nut of the
morning mists on the banks of the Mis
souri. The sanio William Lainout nud the
same log cabin of red cedar logs built by
his own hands forty-two years ago this win
ter, standing In the same place and the
railroad grade stakes set not fifty yard
away. With some gentle leading the ohb st
inhabitant is persuaded to tell Incidents of
the old times how from a hustling, hope
ful embryo city in ISaO-" Niobrara was
transformed Into a collection of deserted
shacks by the Pike's Peak excitement of
1 859. The whole town literally got up and
moved off on the trail for Pike's Peak, leav
ing Mr. Lamont to run his own city gov
ernment and carry on his own system of
public improvements. It would be interest
ing to know how many of the trailers for
Plke'B Peak found their fortune at tho end
of the trail, while Lamont held on to his
half-section of Niobrara bottom, where he
has just gold the railroad land for depot
grounds and yards.
In Mr. Lr.mont's back yard Is on historic
old cannon, survivor of forty or fifty years'
of service on the frontier. Some say it
was abandoned by General Harney while
inarching across this region in 18tiU, its old
fashioned carriage making it little suited
to field work. In 1867-78 it Is found at th
old l'onca Iudiau Agency, three miles away.
Valiant stories tells Colonel Herko Koster
of the Koster hotel how as sergeant In
charge, at the agency he routed a hostile
attack of the Sioux on the agency in 1875
with a volley from the old guu. Colonel
Ed Fry of the Niobrara Pioneer is inclined
to be skeptical on the subject of this par
ticular battle, but there's no settling a
disputo between colonels on a war topic
more than between admirals on a naval
fight. At any rate the old gun has "seen
service" on the frontier and is engaged
to make the trip to the St. Louis exposi
tion as part of Nebraska's historical ex
hibit. Hud I. mill Itlvrr I. oat lind found.
Sixty years ago on the maps of the west
was a river, "Mauvalses Terres Rivr,"
rising near the center of Nebraska and
pouring its floods north Into the Niobrara.
That river was lost. In the past year let
ters have come to the State Historical
society asking what had become of that
proud stream. It Is now Verdigris creek
and though much abbreviated in length
from the lines of the old geographers, is
a strong, rushing (stream, flowing through
picturesque scenery from the prairies of
Holt county to Its Junction with the Nio
brara, a few miles above the Missouri. It
Is a type of mountain Nebraska streams.
"Mountain Nebraska?" how many people
in the state know that Nebraska has a
mountain area larger and higher than the
White moutalna or the Adirondack, with
real mountain scenery, pine-covered peaks,
rushing mountain brooks, lofty cliffs, deep
canyons, pillars of white and gray and
blue rising from plains to the clouds
when there are clouds theBe not in Colo
,' - '' - . ' ww-, M
f..- -"rV ii' - i- il
LEWIS AND CLARK POI NT CROSSING OF THE FREMONT. ELKHORN & MISSOURI VAL
LEY ROAD.
HOUSE BUILT IN 1867.
rado or Wyoming r.r the Black Hills, but.
in our own Nilnauka, land of corn and
wheat and sugar beet field.
Through the whole length of this moun
tain Nebraska runs the Niobrara rlver-
the most remarkable and constant stream
in the state, capable of developing thed
sands of horse power with small expense
every three or four miles of Its whole
length. "If they can ever find work for
their water power," said Civil Engineer
Stout of the State university, "the Nio
brara country will see the tnoBt remarkable
development of any part of the state."
lEnliln Out Iterortl.
Niobrara has not only outlived her early
disappointments from failure to become the
great railrad center and port of entry for
Missouri river navigation. She is the only
town In the state that has fulfilled the early
Baptist requirement of "going down Into
the water and coming up out of the water."
Old Niobrara was platted on tho Missouri
river bottom. The great flood of 1881 cov
ered the townslte with three feet of water
and the enterprising citizens moved their
city two miles upon a beautiful bench
above anything except a new Noachian del
uge and commanding a view of both the
Niobrara and Missouri valleys. On this
tableland at a depth of "00 feet artesian
water has been found In abundance, run
ning the machinery of a flouring mill and
flowing through the city in a strong, never- J
failing brook. Surveys have been made and
a company formed to tap the Niobrara and
bring its waters across a point a few miles,
de eloping a water power which will offer
powerful inducements to future manufac- ,.
Hirers in this western region.
InjiiHt ! to Hie I'oiicim. l
Tho Btory of tho Tonca Indians when F
will tho poet or novelist be found to fitly J
frame it for literature? There is no eadder .
story of the white man's Injustice to the i
red, not even tho one Helen Hunt Jackson
has given us in "Ramona." Aa far back as j
the earliest French voyageur the PoncaB j
lived at the mouth of the Niobrara. Always
the friends of the whl ej never on the war
path, their lands confirmed to them by the
meet solemn treaties what was their sur
prise to find that In the Sioux treaty of 1868
the United States had deedel away their
lands to their hereditary enemies, the
Sioux. Then came the period of removal to
Indian Territory, In 1877, followed by con
gressional investigation, by a report from a
committee headed by Senator Dawes which
cuts the white man's face like a whiplash.
Sickness and death followed and In the
midrie of winter Standing Bear and others
left their reservation in Indian Territory
and returned to Nebraska, bringing the
bodies of their dead children with tnerrc
Then came the arrest by General CrookJ"
under orders from Washington; the volun
teer by John L. Webster and A. J. Popple
ton of their cervices In behalf of the In
dians; the celebrated trial and decision by
(Continued on Eighth Tage.)
