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A HAPIKNnA RANCH HOUSE. FIVE
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HE story of tho Battlement of
T
Dawson county Is like the
story of the American colonies,
like the story of the Saxon
conquest, Just a story of fifty
years go, when Dawson
county wrs mnrked on the map a desert
and for most part It wns a desert Indeed.
I'.efore civilized men came to grapple It
this desert lay Krecn and tempting In May
nd Jun" and brown and dreary the rest
of the year. Aloni; the streams the giant
bhi'stf-m grass hid the de.r and antelope
and formed a plnce of forana for tha
coyote and the pray wolf that lived In tha
thickets of the river bottom. Every fall
from the state's northern to Ita southern
boundary great pralrte fires, house high
roared over the plains and marked It with
ribbons of black desolation scores of miles
wide, for the north wind and the south
wind that carried the fires across this
prairie made forests Impossible, and no
creature not fleet of foot or Hcht of wing
'could make this place Its habitat. The
Mormons nnd the forty-niners left sun
flower seedy by the roadside and the yellow
flowers In their seasons marked with a
blaze of glory the main trail that followed
the ever winding stream. On these trails
or near them the forts and trading posts
of the government and the relay stations
of the freighters and the mall carriers
were found. He who would venture north
; or south from these highways had only
i the sun and stars to guide him. And
when settlers did come Into tha prairie
i their early Journeys over the virgin, track
; less sod were accompanied by a mimic that
! has been still for these twenty years the
i purring of the tall bluestem under the
' wagon bed In the rich valleys, marked with
; a strangely beaten time as the heads of
! the resin weeds tattooed upon the wagon
f bed- and spokes. It was a sound like the
i lapping of velvet wavea upon golden sands
and many and many a child lying curled,
up on the bottom of the mover's wagon
has known It for his lullaby. And In the
dreams of thousands of men and women
of mature years, pilgrims In the uttermost
parts of the earth, this song of the blue
stem, and the resin weeds tattoo come
bringing with them a memory of clear,
blue sky, hung at the horlson with long,
trailing clouds that beckoned Into an en
chanted distance. So came the settlers to
Dawson county.
Clvllfzatlon upon the 4,000-foot slope that
rises westward from the Missouri river
i ,
FACULTY OF LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL.
1
Carpenter's Letter
Continued from Page Two.)
and also the low alluvial soils farther
down. They breed their cattle In central
places where the bulla are kept and when
they have a goodly flock drive them from
place to place to find pasture. During
this time their homes are round tents of
hide, which they can set up or take down
as they please. When the cattle are ready
for the market they drive them to tha
Russian or Manchurlan cities for sale.
At the present time there Is no great
demand for meat in this part ef the world.
The -Chinese live upon grain, vegetables
and fish, with a bit of native pork now
and then. The UuiMhlsts do not eat meat
at all and the demand Is confined to the
Mohammedan Chinese, to ftie Russians
and to such foreigners as come Into the
country. The price for a 6-year-old ateer
ta only $Ul in gold.
' The cattle are so poorly kept that it
takes from six to eight years to fit a steer
for the market instead of three years, as
at home. Mr. Parker says that the ani
mals are much like our old Texas long
l;oin. They have Urge but not heavy
fismes, and on that account they would
form an ideal cattle to cross with our
Hereford. He says their meat la ex
cellent, resembling the compaot flesh of
the grass-fed cattle of Montana, but not
at all like tha corn-fed bullocks of Iowa.
The best markets today are those of Rus
sian Siberia. Vladivostok takes consider
able meat, and there Is a packing plant
there with ammonia coolers and concrete
- floors. About 6,000 cattle are consumed a
month at Harbin and droves are sent over
land to Blagovestchensk, on the A moor,
and also to other Russian stations with
large military forces.
As to the pork of Manchuria, no for
eigner eats that If he can possibly help
It. The hogs are the scavengers. They
ar4atldom fed, and they root about
through the mud and filth, eating all sjrts
of vile stuff- As a result, they are black
bristled, big-stomaclud, small-hammed,
hungry-looking animals. They are much
like uur rasor-backs, but their flesh Is
by no means ao good. They are very
piollilc, having from twelve to fourteen
pigs at a litter; and by cross brding
niifc-ht be turned Into excellent atock.
-Ike
Bread Baekei of Asia.
As the result of long conversations with
Messrs, Parker and Tomhave, and from
I n.y own ti avals over Manchuria. I am
' furJrJ to tha conolvulon that one of tha
rte,teat ad moat vaauaeia sections oi
rfllffl
Unk
MILES NORTH OF
to the Rockies planted Itself per
manently at the rate of about a
mile a month. There were, of course,
waves of population reaching out Into the
wlldernetts from time to time, but they
were often beaten back, so the slow rise
of man's domination over the desert was
accomplished by a tide rather than by a
flood.
There are. roughly spesklng. five differ
ent agricultural levels, or steps, in the
state. On each of these levels different
seeds and different methods of growing
crops must be used. If Dawson county
could have known this In advance It
would have been settled and delivered
ready-made as a self-sustaining common
wealth many years in advance of what it
was. They had to learn that seed corn
from the eastern border would not grow
well In Dawson county. They had to learn
that the Shorthorn and Hereford cattlo
pay better than native atock. They had to
learn the value of the cow and the hen as
by-products of the big products of the
farm.
But the Dawson county farmer of the
eighties did not know how to choose and
plant and harvest so that the rainfall
would occur at the proper season for their
crops. The tuition In the wchool of ex
perience was high, and the pupilH had to
learn this tuition as they went along. It
was hard work heart-breakinc, cruel
work; many were called and few were
chosern All over the western country men
and women may be found who have re
ceived their degrees from the Nebraska
school of experience.
And now Dawson county has conquered
the soil and la getting crops from It with
wopderoua regularity. In the last ten years
this county has pulled Itself out of debt.
It'a proportion of rented farms Is smaller
than that of most any other county in
the state. Three-quarters of the homes
of the people are owned. The per capita
wealth of Dawson county may not be lar
ger than that of other counties In Ne
braska and other states, but Its wealth Is
more evenly distributed. There are no
rich men and no paupers, but there are
many men worth from fo.OOO to $26,000.
Dawson county is 24 x 42 miles In extent,
has 1,020 square miles and Is one of the
wealthy counties of the Platte valley.
This Is accounted for It part by the valley
of the Platte, being fifteen miles wide and
contains 200,000 acres which la especially
' 1 uZr
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undeveloped farm lands of the w-orld lies
right here. The whole of Manchuria has
a climate and soli fitted for good culti
vation, and It will raise inconceivable sup
plies of wheat, corn and all sorta of hardy
gralne. The soil of tha greater part of
the province Is Just like the prairies of
the Mississippi valley. Much of it com
pares well with the best parts of the
wheat belt of Canada, and not a little In its
fertility will surpass that of the Red river
valley. The country has some mountain
ous regions; but there are wide valleys
and rolling plains, so rich that they need
to be only tickled with the plow to laugh
with the harvest.
The southern half of Manchuria Is now
fairly well settled. Above Mukden' the
farms are widely scattered and there are
huge areas of government land which tha
authorities are thinking of throwing open
to immigrants. The two American agri
cultural experts tell me that they have
traveled tor days over land as rich as
that of any part of America, which Is now
practically waste. They say the farming
methods are so crude that if employed in
the United States they would produce prao
tlcally nothing. Nevertheless, the Manchu
rlan land yields from thirty to fifty bushels
of sorghum seed per acre, and twenty
bushels of wheats It produces about fifty
bushels of corn, and with Improved seed
and cultivation similar to ours it would
probably yield as much maize on the aver
age as tha corn belt of the United Stales
Where the wheat Is Hoed
All crops here are planted In rows.
Just aa we plant corn or potatoes. Tha
rows are about eighteen inches apart and
the land is thrown up In furrows each
year. In the spring the grain Is sown
with the hand in the old furrows of the
year preceding, and the plow is then
run along the sides to cover It. It is
tramped down by the feet of the farm
ers, and is plowed again and again through
out the summer. In this way the grain
has to start from hard ground, which H
roots cannot easily penetrate. Nevertheless,
the crops are good. In most plaues the
grain la kept weeded, and in not a faw
wheat and millet are boed as wa hoe
cotton.
A curious feature of the farming is
that the rows are never plowed, straight.
They wind their way over the fields with
all the regularity of the undulations of a
marcel wave. They are perfectly parallel
and beautifully winding, but never straight.
Upon my atklng a Tartar fanner why
this was he replied that one could get
more grain from a field of crooked roas
than from one of straight Mas.
IJ
adapted to the growing of alfalfa. The
entire valuation of the county Is ,912.000,
and It has a population of 19.100. This
makes It one of the Btrong counties In the
state both in the matter of population and
valuation. The county Is well supplied
with railroads, having sixty-three and one
half miles within Its borders and eight
thrifty, progressive railroad stations. Sev
enteen rural mall routes established In the
county serve 6.500 people, and cover over
600 miles of rural route dally. The county
also has 1.0U0 miles of public high-ways
and 100 miles of Irrigation ditches. There
are about 2.&00 farms In the cou:ity and It
Is these farmers that are looked to as the
weulth producers.
This county has 262.000 acres of land un
der a high state of cultivation, and is one
of the strongest counties In the state In
regard to the amount of beef and pork
sent to market each year. The farmers of
tills county sold and shipped out last
season 30.FM0 beef cattle, 67,100 fat hogs and
8.300 fat mutton sheep. While there Is a
large amount of grain sent to market by
the farmers of this county each year the
amount Is small compared to what Is con
sumed on the farm. Last season these
farmers sold land shipped out of the
county 1.047,000 bushels of corn 637,000
bushels of wheat and 297.000 bushels of
oats. It is but little wonder that these
farmers are prosperous when one stops
to realize what these figures mean.
But the chief glory of the county Is not
its material wealth, but Its schools. In
the amount of money spent for schools
In proportion to the wealth and population
this county has but few equals. Never be
for in its history has the school shown
greater progress. Dawson county at the
present time has ninety-three school dis
tricts and 104 school buildings with' 13S
rooms. Vhe county at present employes
nineteen male and 136 female teachers.
Professional spirit of teachers Is strong.
One hundred and twenty-seven teachers
have had more or less normal training.
Nearly all attend the annual Institute.
Three of the high schools of the county,
those at Lexington, Gothenburg and
f v
Few people have any idea of the ex
tent of these rich lands of Manchuria.
The country is enormous, and at present
not one-fifth of it Is under cultivation,
and that fifth is not half farmed. Man
churia, all told, covers more area than
ten states the size of Indiana. It has
more ground than Germany and France,
and you could put the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland Into one
half of It, and there would be lota of
room around the edges. It la bigger than
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VT
THE OMAIIA SUNDAY BEE: AUGUST 1, 1909.
issaafsMastsWlleMJshtfsi
BIRD SETE VIEW OV LEXINGTON, NEB.
Overton, are doing regular high school
normal training work. There are some
excellent school buildings, both town and
rural, In the county. Within the last two
years the rural school houses have been
greatly Improved as to exterior and In
terior, by the use of paint, wall paper,
pictures, etc. About 60 per cent of the ru
ral schools have libraries. Many of them
are provided with musical instruments. The
school grounds are also being improvoil
with fences, trees, etc. At the National
Corn exhibit at Omaha two premiums
were won by George and Joseph Seberger,
school district No. 16. L. A. Olinger is
serving the county for the sixth year as
superintendent of schools, he is a man
well qualified for the position, being a
graduate of the state normal, and having
thirty years experience In school work.
He is both a worker and a winner.
Whn Daniel Freeman came to the county
and settled In the Platte valley he little
thought that In so short a time that the
wild prairie on which he had settled would
be a garden. After the first pioneers had
broken the ground others on their way
west to find homes were attracted by the
smiling genial rolling land of the future
country and stopped to make it their home.
Some of the settlers arrived ahead of the
railroad, a few coming with ox teams.
The early days of the county were not
days of profit and pleasure. The little
settlement struggled for many years
against many kinds of adversity. The In
dians, chiefly Otoes and Pawnees, made
some trouble.
In the time of the old freight emigrant
roa"ds across the plains the route extended
up the Plalte on the south side through
Dawson county. The oyerland telegraph
was established through the county In
1861, and this county is the only place
where It was ever Injured by Indians.
There were ranches established every few
miles along the route In this county. The
most important of these was that of Plum
Creek, now Lexington, which was the tele
graph and stage station and the most im
portant one between Fort Kearny and
Cottonwood Springs. Several murders
were committed, here by the Indians. The
COUNTY OFFICERS OF DAWSON COUNTY.
all New England, Delaware, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia and South
Carolina combined. It is more than twice
as big as Japan, and bigger than the
states of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois,
Wisconsin and Minnesota put together.
This enormous territory has rivers run
ning north and south. It has a stream as
big as the Mississippi, and, on the whole,
it Is fairly well watered. Prof. Parker
tells me that the grain area Is probably
as large as Iowa. Minnesota and the
Commercial Club Executive
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COLONEL GLASSFORD AND Hid STAFF AND TUUJl
1 c; J i-'l-:-
most notable of these was the Plum Creek
massacre, which took place August 7, 1V.
The bluffs at this point were regarded as
the most dangerous point In crossing the
plains and probably more men were killed
here than at any other point along the en
tire route.
Afterj the completion of the Union Pa
cific railroad In the fall of IK66. the Im
mense travel and heavy freighting business
was. of course, discontinued. Rome of the
ranchmen and stagers left the country
ond others remained and engaged in vari
ous occupations. Among those who re
mained In what Is now Dawson county was
Daniel Freeman, who had carried on a
ranch on the overland route since lsfil.
Some time after he removed to Plum
Creek station and opened a small store.
On the 20th day of June, 1S71, acting
Governor William H. James Issued his
proclamation for the organization of the
county. The first election was held at the
store of Daniel Freeman In Plum Creek.
Thirteen votes were polled and the entire
population of the county did not exceed
forty people. The celebrating of the open
ing of the first Platte river bridge west
of Columbus was held July 4. 1873. This
bridge Is a mile in length and Is located
directly south of Lexington.
Under the land grant to the Union Pa
cific Railroad company, this company re
ceived In this county 316,000 acres of land.
At Plum Creek station from January 1,
1S67 to January 1, 1H68. the total receipts
of the railroad amounted to $1,176.40, and
from January 1, J875 to January 1, 1876, the
receipts were $37,630.54. The first fourth
of July celebration 'held In the county
was In 1872. Daniel Freeman was orator
tabllshed at Plum Creek In 1872 and was
of the day. The first postofflce was es
kept at the Union Pacific depot. At this
time there- was but one school district In
the county In which thero was but six
children of school age. The first social
gathering was a dance at Plum Creek
on New Year's night, 1S72. The first news
paper published In the county was Novem
ber 20, 1873, by Daniel Freeman and called
the Pioneer. Though Plum Creek waa al-
Dakotas, and that crops will grow much
farther north herd than in the United
States. Wheat sown tn April matures six
weeks sooner than that sown in the like
latitudes at home. It is the same with
Indian corn, which la ripe by tha first
of September, ' or about two weeks earlier
than in the United States.
The soy bean does not grow at Its
best in our country above the cotton
belt. Here in Manchuria it thrives in
such latitudes as St. Paul and Winnipeg,
Committee at Fort
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QUESTS IN FRONT OF HEADQUARTERS
V7
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1
IMPLEMENT llrtl'SR
LAKUEST WEST
ready quiet a village, it was not laid out
and platted as a town until 1873. This was
the first town In the county. During the
fall of 1873, a great deal of local excite
ment was created over what was supposed
to be a gold mine about one and a half
miles east of Plum Creek. (Sold seekers
from all part of Uie country flocked to this
point.
Though Dawson was at the time of Its
settlement ccupled os a herding ground by
the rattle men, no serious trouble with
theni was ever experienced by the settlers.
The crops on which the county had to
depend for Its prosperity were not gener
ally as good as they are today. Some of
the fainter hearted gave up the fight In
those days and returned to the east or
pushed on farther west. Hut the far
Sighted ones stuck to the fight with a
faith In the county which was Its own re
ward and which In due time bore ample
fruit. Today Dawson county Is among the
most fertile and productive and progres
sive counties In the state.
The lost five years In Dawson county
have been banner ones for the farmer
and business man. Years In which all
previous records In the way of crop raising
and general progress have been broken.
These years go down In the history of thU
county as ones of unparalleled prosperity
and clinch in the minds of tha citizens
as well as the outsiders the fact that
there Is no more favorable spot In the
whole Platte valley for a farm and home.
The growth of root crops as well aj grains
and fruits has been so prolific that It Is
hard to say which has had the advantage
and merits the most praise. Hay, grains
of various kinds, potatoes and other root
crops, fruit and vegetables have been pro
duced and prosperity and plenty have
reigned everywhere. It might be said
right here, however, that the crop which
has left the most cash In circulation, 'the
crop which has raised the mortgage from
the farm and placed the farmer on firm
substantial footing is the corn crop.
Dawson county stands among the very
first counties of the state In the growing
of alfalfa, which also makes It one of the
leading as well as one of the coming
counties of the state In the dairy Industry.
The farmers at the present time have
28,896 acres seeded to alfalfa. On these
farms are 6,785 cows kept and from these
cows were produced last year and shipped
' ! JELL-J' eWa5Si
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PLOWING' AND HARROWING
and It Is raised in great quantities.
They are producing tobacco here as far
north as Canada, and the experts of the
American Tobacco company say that if
it were properly grown the tobacco would
be as good as that of Virginia. It Is be
lieved ,that the southern part of Man
churia will produce cotton, ao that al
together this Is potentially one of the
richest lands upon earth. That it is not
o today Is largely due to bad government,
bad transportation and ignorant farming,
Omaha
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BUILDING
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OF J. S THOMAS & SON. LEXINGTON
OF OMAHA.
out of the county 9;?.0"0 pounds of butter
and 100.000 gallons of crciini. while the
poultry iniliisliy of the county was repre
sented by the sale of 142.000 dozen of eggs
and 722.000 pounds of dressed poultry.
The flouring mills of the county are
becoming manufacturing Institutions o(
much Importance. Last year the four milla
manufactured, sold and shipped out 6,000,
000.000 pounds of flour and 200,000 pound
of mill feed.
Lexington, the county sent of Dawson
couny, has a population of about 3. WW,
and Is the largest little city In the Fiatte
valley. It is decidedly a city of homes.
Somehow, one can alvas tell whether a)
dwelling Is a house or a home; that air
of comfort and contentment prevades even
the Inanimate boards and the very shingles.
As a visitor gets Into an automobile and
glides around the town or takes a Sunday
afternoon stroll, that fact forces Itself U
him at every block. This is a city of
homes. Few cities of its size In the state
have as many miles of cement side-walk
as Lexington. The business blocks and
the stock of merchandise carried Is en
tirely adequate to the trade. The count
agricultural society, which Is a new or
ganization, bids fair to be an entire suc
cess from every standpoint. The alfalfa,
meal mill and the flouring mill are the
principal manufacturing Institutions and
add much to the prosperity of the city.
Hut there Is no one organization that Is
doing more for this little city than tha
commercial club. It Is composed of the
representative business men of the city and
county nnd ever on the alert for anything
that will advance the best interests of a
new county. The city has good telephone
service that reaches over the entire county
and state. It also has a good system of
water works and is supplied by electrlo
light and power by one of the local man
ufacturing plants.
The county has some of the best blooded
stock In the state. Oeorge Allen has a
thousand head of Shropshire sheep and
176 head of Shorthorn cattle that he keep
entirely for breeding purposes. Mr. AJlen
has secured several hundred medals and
premiums In different states on his stock.
E. E. Young is also a prominent stock
breeder In the county. He makes a specialty
There are several large feeders of atock
In this county that furnish an excellent
market for the surplus grain.
t'-
ON LA HACIENDA RANCIL
all of which evils will probably be reme
died in the not distant future.
FRANK O. CARPENTER.
Up-to-Date Building Methods
Continued from Page Two.)
man, says the rest of the theater will rise
mushroom-Ilka to completion.
"So far tha work has seemed to drag,
but to us on the Job It has been going re
markably fast Men who stand around on
the street and look Into tha hole do not
realise how much work la being done
down there. It la a alow task to dig
trenches and put In re-enforced concrete.
"But after wa get the foundation and
the walls up to tha first story then the
people will ba surprised at tha rapidity
with which wa will shoot up the theater.
"Nearly everybody doubts our ability to
get the theater port ready for December
27. Why. It will be tha easiest kind of a
job. If necessary wa can turn the whole
building over to Mr. Brandeis by that
time. Wa now era figuring on that, too."
It is not generally known among tha
people who atop to look at tha work on
tha Brandeis theater that men employed
by tha same firm and working In tha
same half block are excavating for an ad
dition to Tha Bee building, which occu
pies the ground across tha alley south
of tha new theater.
This addition to Tha Bee building will
atand against the south wall of the thea
ter extending 133 feet from tha west end
of the Brandeis structure. Its dimensions
are 33x132. It will ba three stories high
besides Jthe basement, which will go twelve
feet below the level of the alley.
It will be connected with the main build
ing through the basement
The forlorn Hope,
The general consulted the topographical
chart.
"X'ou understand, colonel," he said, "that
tills chuige on the enemy's f urtif lcatluns
iieieHMltate the moat reckleas disregard,
fur human life."
"1 undei staiKl, general," the colonel re
plied. "The furlorn Uope that leads the
movement will be composed xcluaiely of
amateur ihaufteuts! ' lievuland i'lam
iJtaler.
Optimism.
A small hoy was hoeing corn In a sterile
fleid by the ioalnldo up near lielhel, incl.,
when a passerby stopped and said:
" 'I'eam to rue your corn Is ratuer small."
"Certainly," said the boy. "lis dwarf
corn."
Hm It iouka yaller."
"Certainly. We planted the yaller kind."
"Kui It looks as If you wouldn't get mora
ttiar: half a crop."
'of course nut," said tha bi
plauud it oa the ituarea,"
"Wa