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Henry Sprick of Fontanelle
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RESIDENCE
HE death of Henry Sprick at th
vlUupo of Fontanelle, Washington
county, last week, recalls the life
of a sterling type of Nebraska
pioneer. Mr. Sprick passed sway
at tne ripe age of 7V, rich In the happiness
that usually comes to well ordered and
honorable endeavor and the will to make
the best of clrcumstunces, no matter what
they may be.
He had dreamed, when he came to Ne
braska In lfio. of founding the metropolis
and capital of the stale. With others he
h;td planned such an enterprise before de
parting from Illinois. Every precaution.
In selecting the site of Fontanelle, was
taken to Insure Its geographical advantage
for such honors. But destiny held another
fate for the village of Fontanelle. Instead
of tall building, paved streets and many
people, most of the townslte was to be
the location of profitable farms In one of
the most fertile sections of Nebraska.
Of the band who saw Its hopes go to
pieces, only Mr. Sprick remained. He
quietly did what lay to his hand and passed
his declining years In comfort and ease,
secure In the possession of a sufficient com
petence. . ,
Patrlarrh of the Coramnaltr.
Representing the only resident remaining
of the original company that laid out
Fontanelle, Mr. Sprick for years was re
garded as the patriarch of the community.
Ho was a man of strong flber, entirely cap
able of subduing the natural difficulties of
the virgin plain and surviving the vlscisst
tudea of the first settler. Ha was always
wore or less of an active leader in polll
tlcs and affairs In Washington county and
the townslte of Fontanelle. His lifelong
political affiliation was with the repub
lean party, carrying among his convictions
a strong hatred of monopoly and uncon
trollable power by mere wealth. He was
elected to the lower house of the legislature
In 1873, 1877 and lsSl, and to the state senate
from Washington and Dodge counties In
1887. He was recognised tai a leading
force In all of these bodies ond served with
credit.
Mr. Sprick had two political hobbles
which he pressed at every opportunity.
One was the Arm belief that all good gov
ernment must come from the proper edu
cation of the manses of the people, and
. the other that it is the plain dutr. under
all clroumstances, for every citizen to cast
his ballot whenever an election is held in
his community. Carrying out these plainly
conceived theories, he was a power In pro
viding an excellent public school system in
the township. From 1IA6 to the day of his
death he had never failed to vote at an
election whenever it was possible for him
to du so.
Borne History of Fontanelle.
When Mr. Sprlrk first settled in Fon
tanelle he and five young men who were
his companions In the expedition to a new
land, built a log cabin, the first house
erected in Fontanelle. Some remains of
the cabin still exist, but In 1866 a more
comfortable frame dwelling was built,
proof of the fruits of Mr. Sprick' s labors.
In 1883 the brick home which he tenanted
the remainder of his life was constructed
and the trees and shrubs about It were
planted at the same time. The pictures
show Mr. Sprick as he sat on the porch,
of the house some six years ago and the
place at that time. The other photograph
shows the second house he built in Fonta
nelle. The three domiciles well Illustrate
the three phases of his experiences in Ne
braska; the first of hardship and rude
usages, the second of humble comfort and
the third of ease.
There is more historic Interest to the
village of Fontanelle than the mere fact
that It set out to be the blgge3t town in
the state and possessor of the capitol. So
well were Its claims pressed that Fon
tanelle lacked but one vote less thun
Omaha In the race for the location of the
oapltol of the territory of Nebraska. At
that time Omaha and Fontanelle hud about
Reign of
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OF THE LATE HENRY SPRICK AT FONTANELLE.
the same population. Possession of the
capital then meant the Impetus that would
make a metropolis.
Omaha secured the prize, relinquished It
when It was no longer Indispensable and
Is the principal city of the state with
1.15.000 inhabitants. On the other hand, not
more than 160 persons live in Fontanelle.
These, without exception, are In good cir
cumstances. No poverty or want Is known
there. The claim Is made, and with a
good deal of reason, that the townshln Is
Recent Progress Aade in the
Electricity Snpplantlna; Steam.
WO of the huge electric locomo
tives ordered by the New York
Central for terminal work In New
York City have been ordered to
the metropolis to begin service.
Weighing each 175,0(10 pounds, they are the
first of the order for thirty-five electric
locomotives given by the New York Cen
tral railroad to the American Locomotive
company to be delivered. There are eigh
teen more nearly completed and due to
arrive before September 1, the day set for
the opening of electrical service on that
railroad from the Grand Central station
to Hlghbrldge on the main line and Wake
field on the Harlem division. While the
big electric locomotives are to draw' the
through trains to and trom Hlghbridgo
until the main line service Is finally ex
tended to Croton, the motor cars, running
In five and seven-car trains together with
steel trailers, are to care for the suburban
service. Fifty-five trailers have be.en or
dered from, a St. Louis car building com
pany, and the first lot will soon arrive.
The electric locomotives are capable of
making the regular trip from the Grand
Central station to Croton, a distance of
thirty-four miles, with a total train weight
of 435 tons, in forty-four minutes without
a stop. The heaviest of these trains will
be 875 tona and will be drawn by two
locomotives. Maximum speeds of from
sixty to sixty-five miles an hour are to be
attained, but undoubtedly this will be
largely increased as the curves are
straightened and the roadbed further im
proved. The designers have secured the best me
chanical features of the high speed steam
locomotive, combined with the enormous
power and simplicity In control made pos
sible by the use of the electrlo drive. The
locomotive has .four driving axles, on each
of which Is mounted the armature of a
gearless electric motor having a normal
rating of 650-horse power. The total rated
capacity of the locomotive is 2,200-hoise
power, although for short periods a con
siderably greater power may be developed,
making It more powerful than the largest
steam locomotive In existence.
According o the electrical experts the
electric locomotive has many advantages
over the steam locomotive. All danger
from fire and explosion, which Is always
present In a steam locomotive carrying Are
under a forced draught and a boiler
charged with high pressure steam, is elim
inated from the electric locomotive. The
experts also say that the substitution of a
simple rotating member In the electrlo lo
comotive for the cranks, side rods, pistons
and other parts connected with recipro
cating motion In the steam locomotive di
minishes the possibility of accident.
Preventing; rolllstons.
For twenty-five minutes the other night
the power waa turned off on the division
of the Utlca and Mohawk Valley Electric
railroad extending from New York to
Frankfort In order to avert a head-on crash
between a. couple of crowded trolley cars
traveling toward each other at a sixty-mllos-an-hour
clip.
West of the vlllsge of Frankfort, reports
the New York Sun, the electric railway
the Motor Cycle Established
SIXTEEN ENTHUSIASTIC MEMBERS OF "J HE LOCAL CLUB
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the most productive of the soil of any in
the commonwealth. No one Is Inordinately
rich, but a satisfactory abundance exists
which blights envy and life-wracking striv
lr. Colony That Didn'f Grow.
The Idea that resulted In Fontanelle had
Its origination in the Qulncy Colonization
society, organized st Qulncy, 111., In 1854.
The society sent a committee to Nebraska
to select a site for a town, it being the
company is repairing its tracks, and for a
section both eastbound and westbound cars
have been unlng the same track. To pro
tect the car In the block watchmen aie sta
tioned at either end of the single track and
permit only one car in the block at a time.
While the watchman was absent the otfter
night an eastbound car dashed pant the
danger point. For a second the watchman
contemplated the horror of a collision
which appeared unavoidable, and then,
rushing to a telephone, he directed that the
power on that division be shut off.
This was done. At brief intervals the
current was sent through the wires, ena
bling the two cars to move ahead slowly
and show by their headlights that they
were approaching each other. Had the
watchman not acted promptly In having
the power turned off nothing could have
saved the cars from collision.
Electrical Supplies.
The discussion in England aroused by the
Quaint and Curious Features
Never Saw a Railroad.
f ELRID TROY, 18 years of age,
I ( j I Carroll county, Virginia, long and
Y I Iran unit Hfl Innnrent fl tall.
spent a night at the Central po
lice station In Cleveland.
Oelrld had never pcen a railroad train
until three days before. AH of the eigh
teen years of his life had been spent on a
farm in the back part of Carroll county;
but after Oelrld's father died and his
mother became 111, four years ago, things
began to break bad at the farm and soon
there was a heavy mortgage In sight.
A chance seemed to offer Itself In the
way of a Job proffered to Oelrld by his
cousin In Ohio, and it was then that Oelrld
made the long Journey from his home to
the nearest railroad station and started on
his still longer Journey to his cousin's home
In Ohio.
As near as Oelrld could remember, that
cousin lived In a place called Rich Hill,
somewhere in Ohio; but he lost the card
bearing the address and is not now sure
where his cousin lives. Oelrld had spent
his last cent on street car fare and was
wandering aimlessly about the streets, his
baggage under his arm, when a kind-hearted
citizen's attention was attracted to his
forlorn appearance. The man brought the
boy to the station and Oulrid was glad to
stay there all night.
Offlrlaly Dead, Though Living.
For an cSlclolly dead man Henry ran
coast, a llveTman of Vlneland, N. J., man
ages to enjey his meals and surroundings
fairly well, and his Is one of U.e oddest
of records. Panco&st enlisted in the civil
war from Atlantic county and was dis
charged from the Echington hospital,
Washington, D. C. on January 7, 18C3.
Somehow the dates got mixed and he was
reported as dead by the surgeon, and so
the records state today. It took him
twenty years to prove he waa alive enough
to get a pension
HWJSD Vf ON CArVlOt, AVENUE READY
THE OMAHA SUNDAY DEE: JULY
and the Dream That
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THE LATE HENRY SPRICK. FOL'NDEIt
OF FONTANELLE.
avowed intention to make this town the
capital. In Omaha the committee was
urged by the few Inhabitants to cast their
lot with them, but declined. They looked
over the ground as much as possible and
decided that the Ideal situation for a great
town was at the juncture of the Platte
and Elkhorn rivers. They chose for the
townslte a section of land on a bluff over
looking the valley, two miles from the
present town of Nickerson and nine miles
from Fremont. It was fully expected that
plans of the London county council to en
gage In the electrical supply business elicits
an interesting comparison of the output of
electricity in the British metropolis and In
New York. It Is calculated that, whereas
New York, with a population of 3,500,000,
produces 971,000,000 units of electricity per
annum, or 2S2 units per capita, London,
Which has a population of 6,000,000 within
the area for which the county council leg
islates, has an annual output of only 53,
000,000 units, or only 42 units per head. This
illustrates two things: The Immense ad
vance of the American development of elec
tric energy over the British and the enor
mous field for supply In London yet un
touched. A Transatlantic Telephone.
While It might never pay to lay a tele
phone cable across the Atlantic, it would
undoubtedly pay, and pay well, to lay a
cable which, wlillo beins effective for tele
For thirty-one years Pancoast has been
In the livery busienss at Vlneland, and
during that time he has never entered a
church, never attended a circus, never waa
in the local opera house or attended any
amusement whatever, and never went to
a Fourth of July celebration. The only
place of entertainment he has visited was
a reunion of his regiment, the Twenty
first New Jersey volunteers, in Atlantic
City a year or two ago. He says there Is
not another record like his In the state.
The old soldier has left his home every
morning before the family was up, and
returned most of the time after they had
retired for the night, and hardly had a
speaking acquaintance with his four chil
dren, all of whom grew up to fill promi
nent positions in life.
Stranft-0 People In Sew Guinea.
Sir Francis Winter, acting administrator
of New Guinea, has recently been exploring
the recesses of the great Island territory
over which he presides. He fell In with
several unknown tribes. By far the most
remarkable of these are the Ahgalambo,
a race of swamp dwellers.
For past ages these people have lived In
a huge morass, dwelling In houses raised on
piles twelve feet above the surface of the
water. They travel in canoes dug out of
Ioks, and, as they never by any chance
leave their native swamps, they have prac
tically lost the art of walking.
The result of this strange existence has
been that the whole tribe is deformed. Their
legs have atrophied so that none of them
can walk property on har1 K"unJ- Their
feet have become short, broad and flat, ex
cellently adapted for swimming, but the
skin Is so thin that they bleed on firm
ground.
The legs are very thin and the usual
muscles above the knee missing, the skin
hanging In loose folds. The shin muscles
are developed, those of the calf almost ab
sent. Into the bargain the leg of an aver
in Omaha
ft
TO START FOR A RUN.
29, 1906.
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FRESENT APPEARANCE OF THE SITE OF THE FIRST BUILDINO AT FONTANELLE.
the Union Pacific would be run up the
selfsame valley when the railroad was
built If it was built. This bit of fore
sight seems . !iee been good, though de
fective, for ths ihilon Pacific did run up
the valla, t1" on the opposite side of the
river.
The colonization society had fifty mem
bers and most of them came to Fontanelle,
along with others. With a mighty eye
to the future and sound intentions, ample
plots of ground were set aside for a col
Field of
phone service, would also give much better
results than are now attainable In teleg
raphy. This rather breath-catching sug
gestion is made in an Interesting study of
Prof. Pupln, Columbia's electro-magnetic
expert, contributed to the current Har
per's Weekly by Charles Johnston. The
difficulty at present, says Mr. Johnston, is
not an electrical one, but a simple question
of construction. The cable has to be sunk
in two miles of water. It must, therefore,
be able to bear a pressure eciunl to
two miles of water, every thirty-four
feet of which is .equal to one atmosphere,
or fifteen pounds to the square inch; this
amounts to some two tons to the square
Inch at the bottom of the Atlantic, and It
Is a difficult problem to devise colls that
will stand that enormous pressure. But
this Is simply a mechanical difficulty, not
an electrical one. The electrical part of
the matter Is complete and perfect. Messrs.
Siemens and Halske are hard at work on
the mechanical problem; they are at pres-
of Current Life
age man of this tribe Is three inches shorter
than that of any other New Guinea na
tive of the same height.
The Ahgalambos make up for the defi
ciencies In their lower extremities by hav
ing fine chests, thick necks and powerful
arms. Around their waists are folds of
thick muscles. They are fever proof.
In November last there arrived at Dr.
Turner's hospital at St. Petersburg five ex
amples of another race which suffers from
a peculiar deformity. They .are Cossacks
from the transcasplafi territory. While
their beads and bodies are perfectly nor
mal, their hands and feet are only par
tially developed. They have the appear
ance of grownup people with feet and
hands of the size of 12-year-old children.
These patients are descendants of Rus
sian Cossacks who emigrated to the other
side of the Caspian and It appears that
more than half of the community suffer
from the same strange deformity.
Hero of Many Battles.
One fault of a certain extremely popular
general is that he, being rather deaf, is apt
to come to wrong conclusions.
Returning from a campaign, one of the
first men, to greet him was on old acquaint
ance. "Ah, my dear fellow." said the gen.
eral, "so glad to see you again. Hope you
have prospered and had good fortune these
years."
"Yes, general, yes; but I have had the
great misfortune to lose my wife since I
saw you."
Catching the word "wife," the other
guessed at the idea of a recent marriage,
and, patting his old friend affectionately on
the shoulder, he exclaimed:
"Happy man! happy man!"
Majesty of a
U. 8. 8.
Was Not
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lege, for a court house and for the capitol
that never came. The streets were made
broad and regular, which was very easy
to do on blue prints and clean pralrli'S.
It was asserted with truth that the place
was Ideal for a city to build on, and there
is today no gainsaying that the place is
wholly beautiful and attractive.
Sprick In the Vanguard.
The first settlement was made In 185S
and Mr. Sprick was In the vanguard. With
Electricify
ent experimenting with a telephone cable
under Lake Constance, with a stretch of
some fifteen or twenty miles, and a very
considerable depth of water. If they suc
ceed, the next step will be a series of tele
phone cables between England and the
continent, where there Is nowhere any
great depth of sea.
Electrlc-Thermlo Smelting-.
The efforts of the Canadian government
to utilize the electro-thermlo process for
smelting Iron ores are reported to have
proved successful. In 1904 the govern
ment appointed a commission, headed by
Dr. Haanel, superintendent of mines, to In
vestigate the subject. The commission went
to Europe and Inquired into the different
electro-thermic processes which had been
tried, and reported so favorably on the
project that the Canadian government de
termined to experiment with Canadian
ores, and selected Sault Ste. Marie as the
point at. which the tests could be made.
They were begun In November, 1906, and
were finished last March. The result has
been, according to the report made by Dr.
Haanel, . the successful demonstration of
the process of smelting Canadian ores
with electricity. The output was greater
than was expected. Charcoal was suc
cessfully substituted for coke, the con
sumption of electrode was Insignificant and
nlckle pig of fine quality was produced
from roasted pyrrhotlte. Forty tons of
' pig have thus far been produced, and the
process admits ' of Immediate commercial
application. The experiments were made
with hematite, magnetite and titanic ores,
taken from various places, some of which
could not have been treated commercially
by any other known process. The furnace
used was about 250-horse power, and pro
duced from two to three tons a day. Ore
containing 4 per cent of sulphur con
tained, when treated, .003 per cent In the
metal. About 100 tons of ore were treated,
which made fifty-five tons of ore, mostly
of car wheel quality. The pyrrhotlte
treated was roasted nlckelferous ore from
nickel mines of Sudbury. No serious diffi
culty was experienced In making the ex
periments, everything working easily and
smoothly. Dr. Haanel asserts that the
tests made fully demonstrated that the
process Is a commercial success. As soon
as the report of the commlslon has been
prepared and given to the Canadian gov
ernment a copy will be forwarded to the
Department of Commerce and Labor at
Washington. The two principal points
that have been demonstrated are that the
electrical process Is good, so far as the
ore Is concerned. In that It produces a
superior quality of Iron, and the sulphuric,
titanic and other Impure Iron ores, hitherto
considered useless, can be used with com
mercial profit by treating them with the
electrical process. The result of these
conclusions on the future of the Iron In
dustry can scarcely be foretold, but they
will certainly be widespread in their Influ
ence on the trade In America.
Battleship Under Headway
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NEBRASKA AT FULL, SPEED DURINCt
Realized
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him were Henry Brenkman, William bus
ing. Henry Stork, Frederick Haybrook and
William Moscha. The township Is now
practically all settled by these six men
and their descendants and friends. As
showing the spirit of the community,
which grew rapidly for a while, It Is to be
remarked that soon after providing them
selves with shelter, the task of Insuring
education for the generation to come waa
undertaken. A college was contemplated
by the society, fend an organization formed,
which erected a building in 1859. It was
called the University of Nebraska and was
doubtless the first school any here to have
this name applied. The original buildings,'
were burned, but were replaced. It Tvas
necessary for Mr. Sprick and three other
trustees of the college to secure th lum
ber bill. After Fontanelle had Tost out
on the capital proposition the four paid
the bill out of their pockets. The school
was controlled, by the Congregational
t'hurch and was removed to Crete. It is
now the flourishing Doane college.
Knockout for Fontanelle.
The territorial legislature, which planted
the solar plexus on Fontanelle's ambition,
met at Florence. Losing the capital Fon
tanelle fell back on Its possession of the
seat of Dodge county for prestige, but
another legislature spoiled that plan. Fre-
niont had Jealous eyes on the county seat
and determined to have It. Washington
county was a small strip along the Mis
souri river. A plan was evolved to dotal-
h the part of Dodge county In which
Fontanelle lay and attach It to Washing
ton county. As the people of Fremont
wanted the county capital and the people
of Washington county wanted more terri
tory, the deal was put through the legisla
ture, not, however, without protests of
fraud In presenting petitions from voters,
the allegations coming from the vicinity
of Fontanelle.
The last blow, at the little hamlet waa.
struck when the Union Pacific failed to
come up the right side of the Elkhorn '
valley. With other 'towns having a rail
road and Fontanelle off the line, the last
legs of Its glorlous aspirations were
knocked out from under. Years later the
Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valle' road
built up along the Elkhorn rlvi el
ley, Fontanelle had subsided Into a peace
ful, sural calm, scarce desirous of whether
a railroad came or not.
Back to the Land.
The successions of misfortune caused, the
founders to abandon the village, one by
one, taking up fend developing farms In
tho vicinity, until only Mr. Sprick re
mained. He purchased the town lots from
owners when they wished to sell and the '
4ax titles of others who had abandoned
their property. Later he hunted them up
and secured quit claim deeds and con
trived to make his arrangements so thera
was never any litigation or trouble of atiy
kind. He secured the consent of other
owners and had streets and alleys not
needed for highways vacated and the
greater part of the townslte turned into
revenue producing farm land. Thus passed
the metropolis and capital of Fontanelle.
The village has a store, a school house,
blacksmith shop, creamery, two churches
and the dwellings of the small population,
which Includes a number of retired farm
ers. The buildings are well .painted, the -gardens
and lawns neatly kept, the pes
turea sleek with fine stock and the fields
well tilled. There are no signs of despair
or blasted hopes, as neither was there In
the life of Henry Sprick. In the simple
annals of the village lies a story of pro
found truth, namely, that fate cannot
wring happiness from those who have
strength of will to be content.
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OFFICIAL TEST.