I
THE SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE SECTION
he moved right out, house and all, and started a real
estato ollice on Broadway, one block smith of the
Grand I'aeifle Hotel, which was Ike's and my house.
Sam was a hustler if there ever was one, and he
had n't been a citi.eu more than half an hour until
he nnnounced that Jupiter City could now support
a saloon, and that he was going to see that the town
got its deserts before he was a week older. And
sure enough, Sam rode down to Butte, Nebr., and
came back in less than a week with one of the most
talented thirst docs, you ever saw. In another week
the Imperial Cafe was ready for business, and when
we got her all cleaned up and painted a stylish blue
with red stripes and a sign on the front as big as
any I ever saw in Chicago, Ike and I almost burst
with pride. We had a right to burst, too. Just two
weeks before we had been setting in front of our
dugout with nothing but a sunset and a deed to a
bum section for company. And now wo were the
pioneers and leading citizens of
as neat a little town as you could
find in four days ride, with a
real estate office, hotel, laundry,
only saloon in the county, ami
all modern conveniences. The
only thing that marred our joy
was the Thunder Creek fellows.
You never saw such a sarcastic
and superior bunch. They had to
pat ionize our new saloon, but
they were mighty nasty about it.
When Ike brought the news back, we gave a loud
yell of pleasure and went after those houses. It was
a still two weeks' work, but when it was done, Jupiter
City was so big we had to get off a quarter of a mile
to do her justice looking at her. She had thirty
houses, tastefully arranged, and when we began to
olTer a house and lot to each new citizen, the rush
began. Inside of a week, we had taken four people
away from Thunder Creek and the next week one of
tho stores came over with Sim Atwell, the proprietor,
setting on the porch driving the team and selling
goods with one hand before be 'd even yelled "whoa"
inside the city limits. We gave him a lot in the llnan
cial district across from the saloon, and there wasn't
a citizen who did n't go on his books the first day. He
was one of us and we meant to stand by him till
death. Iko and me near killed ourselves eating ham
that next week. It was such a relief to step across
the street and buy it of a friend who had faith
TICK spot here," says Pel.
(iardn
rdner, "but you ought
to plant a tree so 's people can
find it."
"That's right," says Andy
Samuelson, "my horse came near
stepping on it."
"Say, do you take your town
in nights?" asks Link Stevens,
the mayor. "I had a town like
this oncost when 1 was n boy, and
dam if I did n't forget where 1
put it one night. You gotta be
careful leaving things like this
around."
"Want to double your popula
tion?" asks Len Kdwards, the
eating house man. "I got a
couple of hunting dogs 1 'II sell
you cheap."
Jealous as women they all was
anil we had a dozen fights that
night. They had a right to be
jealous, too, for Jupiter City
kept a humping right along. Tho
next week it got three more citi
zens. Sander Swanson, who made
a specialty of waiting for the
hunting season to open, took a
lot on Broadway anil put up a
nice lent with a fly front, and
l'ete Smith, who had kind of
soured on Butte, brought up a
friend and a few decks of com
mon cards, and 'lowed they M
stay with us until the town got
too crowded for comfort. Counting in the cow, we
had eleven citizens, and when things were going nice
and friendly at night yon could hear Jupiter City
hum for half a mile. It was too big a town to run
along all by itself, so we elected a mayor. We did
it while Ike and Sam were off hunting, and me, being
the oldest inhabitant and familiar with the town, I
was chosen. Sam and Ike were pretty cool about it
for a few days after they came back; but I appointed
Sam city clerk, and Ike marshal, and they got over
their nmds after a while.
When Jupiter City was two months old and had
fourteen bona fide citizens and was cramped like
thunder for house-room, lumber being spot cash in
those regions, Ike happened over to Ozone City,
twenty miles west, one day, and discovered a rich
deposit of empty houses. Ozone City had been
founded by a lot of scientists who had figured out
just where the new railroad was going, and had cal
culated on getting right in tho middle of the right of
way, where it would have to collide with a number of
$1,000 city lots. They missed their guess about ten
miles and tho population dried up and blew away
between seasons. Hut the houses was left. There
was about twenty-five of them, in tolerable condition,
including a postofllce. a store building, and a livery
bam big enough for four thin horses and a buck
bonrd, and not a soul about to claim them.
I
Organized government teetered on her hocks for a minute but order finally prevailed
in Jupiter City and her pair of onselfish founders.
After tho store came over, the real ill-feeling be
tween our town and Thunder Creek began. They
hadn't paid much attention to us before, except to
josh us about the dillieulty of noticing our town as
they passed through, but when Jupiter City bloomed
out with thirty houses and one hundred and fifty
people, according to the most reliable census figures
we was able to announce, the Thunder Creekers woke
up and began to treat us as a real rival. They
humped themselves and started a saloon with real
mirrors back of tho bar. That did n't bother us any.
We voted to pave Broadway as soon as we could
afford to, and you should have seen the scornful looks
we gave the old dirt trail they used for a business
street. They laid out a boulevard four miles long
over through the prairie, with lath sign posts to show
where it was. We divided our town into two wards,
started a public library with the Sioux City Journal
anil a set of books Sam Linthiciis had, and inveigled
Frank Allen of Hutte to drive over to Jupiter City in
the only automobile in those parts and get arrested by
our new speed ordinance.
THAT last was a stroke of genius' and it made
Thunder Creek so mad that she raised one hun
dred dollars actual money and built a court house.
And as soon as she did it, we Jupiter City men began
to sit around and think, and think, and count noses,
and cuss softly and jubilant. Thunder Creek was
the county seal because she M grew up in ihe county
first. Hut what was to prevent Jupiter City from
rising up and taking said court house away from her?
Nothing but a darned small majority, and what was
a majority to a band of loyal, determined patriots?
That was where affairs began to get full of dyna
mite. There aint nothing in those parts that will stir
men's souls like a county seat fight. Men Out there
will get along like brothers, beating each other up a
little now and then over little disagreements regard
ing card deals and land titles; but when a county seat
comes up for debate, there aint enough peace left to
fit out a funeral. Men get excited in a court house
campaign, and do things that would be considered
olf-color in lovo or war, or even in national polities,
and after a couple of towns have discussed the mov
ing of tho court house, pro and con and tooth and
nail for a year or two, vou can
tell one of these arguments n long
ways off by the thick cloud of
dust, seasoned with teeth.
JUIMTKU CITY needed a eoun
J ty seat the worst way. People
were a streaming in right along,
and when they found that all tho
city ollices had been gobbled up,
they acted as grieved and nasty
about it as if we'd done it on pur
pose. The county seat would
give us plenty of ollices for every
one, and besides, it would boom
the town, and Thunder Creek
would have to help pay the bills.
So Sam Linthiciis, who knew
more about law thai) any of us,
ho having had experience with it
both ways, rode over to the rail
road and went to Yankton, where
he borrowed a book of the Stat
utes of South Dakota and a law
yer who was n't doing much any
way, and brought them both back
to help in the campaign. Horatio
P. Simms, the lawyer's name was,
and he certainly entered into the
life of our beautiful little city
with zest. It was five days before
he was able to focus his mind on
the court house question, and
even then he was pretty nervous.
Hut he was a good lawyer, and
inside of two weeks he bad got a
petition signed up to locate the
county seat at Jupiter City. IIo
took it over to Thunder Creek and
filed it, but the county clerk lost
it. Ho said it beat all how he did
it, but ho kept his county papers
in his pants pocket with his chew
ing tobacco, and accidents would
happen. Took us another week
to get up another petition, and
we all went over this time to help
file it. We filed it all right, but
some of us did n't get well for
don't say there was anv violence;
seat fight, when both sides get into
several da vs. I
but in a counts
the same town, there's bound to bo more or less shov
ing around.
We argued and threatontM for a week or two more,
and finally Thunder Creek give in and called a special
election. They were willing to settle the thing fair
any way, they said, having the most votes. So they
called an election and divided the county into two
precincts, one in Thunder Creek and one in Jupiter
City. It came off tho next month, and was wonderful
close really remarkable. There must have been
some kind of mind-reading connected with it. Wo
polled 4,5:12 votes, and Thunder Creek polled 4,001.
We M have polled more but we were careless and
run clean out of paper about four o'clock in tho
afternoon.
As soon as the vote was announced Judge Simms
raised an awful cry of fraud. He'd scented it all
along, he claimed. Both towns were equally guilty.
He 'd pled with his own fellow citizens to respect tho
sanctity of tho ballot, he declared, and he rose to
protest ngninst their actions. He yelled and pawed
around and threatened to take the case to tho Stato
Supreme Court, and finally the Thunder Creek fel
lows gave in, mad as all get out, and called another
election. They would put the ballot box squarely
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