Previous
to 1859, the territory included
within the present limits
of Butler County had never
been cumbered with
any
human
habitation, except for the
dismal "tepee"
or "wick-ee-up."
The
first people of whom we
have any account as inhabitants
of Butler County are the
Pawnee Indians. As
far as
our
history of the county is
concerned, only three villages,
or permanent homes of this
tribe, were ever located
within
this county, and of these
none were on the table-lands
and none on any of the tributary
streams, except
very
near their confluence with
the Platte, a location where
water is always available
in midwinter by a people
who
dig no wells.
Traces
of temporary residences
are still distinct along
the line in which the Platte
bluffs or breaks meet the
table-land.
These
consist of an abundance
of fragments of rude pottery,
made from the odd blue clay,
outcropping from and
underlying
the south bank of the Platte,
together with shells, pebbles,
pieces of flint, and arrow
and spear heads.
The
Paw, or Pawnee, nation,
with all its branches, was
certainly a strong and numerous
people but a hundred years
ago.
What is left of them
now live in Kansas; the
Kittikorak's band are in
the Indian Territory, and
also the Pawnees
proper,
who were removed there in
1875, the latter for some
years occupied a fine reservation
near Columbus. The
Pawnees
anciently lived on Skull
Creek, near the spot where
Linwood now stands.
Probably
the exploring party of General
John C. Fremont were the
first white men who stepped
upon Butler County
soil.
The
Mormans came next, on their
long journey to Salt Lake,
leaving their foot-prints
in the shape of a winding,
deeply
beaten roadway, familiarly
known to early settlers
as the "Old Morman
Trail." This
historical trail enters
the
county
in the southeast, thence
following up one of the
continuous divides to the
table land, and thence around
its
northern
edge to the point where
Deer Creek leaves the hills,
where it decends to another
short divide to the Platte
bottoms.
Subsequently, the
overland travel to California,
and later, to Pike's Peak
and to the mountains generally,
then
an immense travel across
the county, established
two great trails, of which,
the most remarkable was
first
traveled
by the military, and now,
as then, called the "Old
Government Road". This
road also entered the county
on
the east, at a point near
the dividing lines of Skull
and Oak Creek Precincts.
Winding in a crooked
manner along
the
divide to the site of Dave
Reed's Ranch, established
in 1862 and operated for
five years after. From
this point it
took
up the Morman Trail, and
followed it to Fort Kearney,
the old "Fort Kearney
Road", or "Pike's
Peak Trail",
hugged
the Platte, passing through
the old sites of Waverly,
on Skull Creek, Ellisworth,
on Bone Creek, and
"Gardner's
Ranch", established
in 1859 by David R. Gardner,
and afterward the site of
Savannah, the first county
seat.
In
1858, an addition was made
to the travel on the famous
overland thoroughfare, by
the location of Shinn's
Ferry,
at a point midway between
the county limits, near
the present residence of
Mr. Tennis Hoekstra.
On
the portion of the old Government
Road between Deer Creek
and the county line west,
and dispersed
along
the foot of the bluffs,
were several ranches: McCabe's
on the Deer Creek, established
1859; Thompson
Bissell's,
on Elm Creek, established
1860 and Simpson's, later
Grant's, also established
in 1859. Thomas
Bissell
removed to Saunders County
in 1865.
D. R. Gardner and David Reed yet claim Butler County as
their home. They are among the very oldest citizens
and have frequently
been vested with positions of honor and trust by those who have since
followed them into this
prairie domain. Several graves of "Forty-niners"
may yet be seen on the hill points, near McCabe's ranch, but of the
old
ranch little is visible beyond a profuse growth of gigantic weeds.
Ranch
life in Butler County covered a period of about ten years, ending about
1868, when the county was organized,
and "freighters," customs and road
laws give way to legislative enactments.
Although no longer traveled,
these comparatively ancient roads are still plainly visible in their
entire length, running at
random through meadows, groves and grain fields.
The first attempt to settle in the county was made in 1857 by the
Waverly Town Company, of Plattsmouth, upon
the banks of the Skull Creek,
so named from the surprising number of Pawnee skulls found strewn about
near the
ruins of an ancient village of that tribe, which once flourished
near the spot where Linwood now stands.
At this date, this region was still in the possession of the Pawnees,
not to speak of an occasional visit by marauding
bands of the Sioux.
Messrs. Hultsizer, Barker, Garrison and nine others were the members of
this pioneer company, which was of brief
existence, owing to the Pike's
Peak excitement of the next year (1858-59). They erected the first house
in Butler
County, which was situated about a half mile above the Linwood
mills, on the west bank of Skull Creek.
No white man had broken a permanent trail through the Platte bottoms, but the Mormon trail and the old Government
road had
wound their lengths in dusty majesty along the divides and
table-lands for many years prior.
In 1858, after the advent and exodus of
the Waverly Town Company, Solomon B. Garfield and James Blair settled
with
their families on Section 26, Town 17, Range 4, taking up their lonely but
romantic abode in the dwelling alluded
to, and are entitled to the honor
of being the first permanent settlers in the county. As is usual with the
pioneers of
every new country, they avoided the high ground, preferring to
settle along the valleys of the streams, snuggling into
the little groves
and nooks, under the pro section of the hills and bluffs, in the vicinity
of the prime necessities of pioneer
life, water and wood, each new arrival
venturing a little farther up the stream to the next grove or thicket.
Thus such portions of the valleys along the Platte, the Blues, the
Oaks, were first selected and occupied by the early
settlers, while the
highlands were still a vast wilderness, inhabited only by the antelope and
coyote, with an occasional
herd of buffalo.
In 1859, Thompson Bissell,
William Bissell, William Earl, J. W. Seeley, Moses Shinn and Messrs.
Simpson, Beardsley,
McCabe, David R. Gardner, David Reed made settlements
in the county.
Thompson Bissell, D. R. Gardner, David Reed, Simpson and
McCabe established ranches as previously stated, the
others locating in
the vicinity of Savannah and Linwood.
Thompson Bissell remained in the
county until 1865, when he settled near Wahoo, in Saunders County, at
the
point known as Bissell's Grove, where he still resides.
Mr. Garfield has
been dead some years.
David Reed settled upon the Big Blue, in 1867, where
he has since continued to live.
Mr.. Simpson settled upon Oak Creek, some
time after, his claim and ranch passing into the hands of Ransel
B. Grant,
who was murdered by one Robert Wilson.
Wilson received summary justice,
being hung to a neighboring tree, and his body dropped into the Platte by
way of burial.
The others, with hardly an exception, remained upon their
first locations.
The next year (1860), only two settlers came into the county. These
were William Butler and S. D. Shinn. They located
in the vicinity of
Savannah. Mr. Shinn afterward became proprietor of Shinn's Ferry.
In 1861, A. U. Briggs settled near Grant's ranch. Jehiel Hobart, F. C.
Johnson and two or three others, are the only
settlers who located here in
1862, making Linwood the point of their settlement.
This village is
beautifully located on the east bank of Skull Creek, on the old Waverly
town site, on a little bench or
plain under the bluffs which lie to the
south. It was formerly begun and located in 1870-71, but, owing to its
distance
from the railroad, has never assumed any great proportions, the
population now being only twenty-nine. It has a good
substantial
schoolhouse, an excellent grist and flouring-mill and a store with stock
of general merchandise.
Among the older inhabitants of Linwood are Josh P.
Brown, S. O. Crawford, Gilbert Hobart, John L. Smith,
William Spring and
James McBride.
Several considerable efforts to find coal have been made,
but none of the shafts have been sunk deep enough to
practically test the
presence or non-presence of this valuable mineral, although the
superficial indications are said to be quite favorable.
During the years of the war of the rebellion, scarcely any settlers
came into the county. Among the few are Levi Clark,
who made the first
location in Pepperville Precinct, in 1863, and Joseph Shields, who made
the first settlement in 1864,
upon the Big Blue in the southern portion of
the county.
In 1865, Isaac Clark and Hubbel Pepper made settlements in Pepperville
Precinct, at the organization of the county.
Three years later, Mr. Pepper
was elected as the first County Clerk, which position he held until the
close of 1873.
In May, 1865, James D. Brown made the first settlement on
Oak Creek, and, a few months later, J. C. Hatchett, J.
Crowley and Robert
Lee arrived, locating in the immediate vicinity. They selected the timber
groves bordering the creek
as the site of their future homes, and gave the
name of Urban to the new settlement.
Other settlers came to this point in
1868, locating upon the creek south, among whom were Richard Brooks, Grove
Diznee, and Willis T.
Richardson, in Richardson Precinct.
During the years 1870, 1871 and 1872, fully 2,500 persons settled in
the county. The immediate cause of this
remarkable influx of immigration was the completion of the Union Pacific
Railway, affording both an inlet and outlet
to this isolated
territory.
More than 40,000 acres of prairie sod were overturned by the
plow, and hundreds of dwellings erected. With a
population containing all the elements and conditions found in communities
that have been generations growing up to
their present
state.
Source:
Andreas History of Nebraska