A Handful of Pioneers

Cowboys cursed, kicked and prodded to move reluctant steers up loading chutes and through the doors of 22 slat-sided railroad cars parked at a siding of the new Burlington line. For these cowboys from the Benkelman Brothers' ranch, the days of long, dusty trail drives to distant shipping points were over. It was 1882 and these steers bound for Kansas City markets had been driven only as far as new loading pens the railroad had built near the sleepy little cowtown of Collinsville.

Once the stock was loaded there was not a great deal of entertainment available for the cowboys in Collinsville. The town consisted of two stores, a hotel where the post office was located, a blacksmith shop and a half dozen or so homes, most of them either sod shanties or dugouts. Except for the hotel all of the town was scattered across a flat space between the new rails and the forks of the North and South branches of the Republican River.
The townsite, just north of the river junction, was at a location which had been known as The Forks for several years. The Forks had been the location of an Overland Stage Coach Way Station before the Civil War. It was on one of the main routes taken by California-bound gold-seekers and had seen heavy traffic for a few years. Hundreds of years before that the flats had probably been farmed by Indians who had cultivated crops up and down the Republican. Since the mid-'70's it had been ranch headquarters for the "25" Ranch, occupied by the ranch foreman Elmer Miller and his wife, Nora. The Millers had buried their daughter on a hill above their ranch house. The child had lived long enough to go down in record as the first white child born in Dundy County.

The most imposing building in Collinsville was the Scott Hotel. In 1879 Freeman Scott had heard about the railroad to be built along the Republican. Correctly assuming that railroad workers would appreciate a good hotel, he brought one to Dundy County. That's right. Brought, not built. Scott already owned a sturdy two-story hotel in Atwood, Kansas, and he simply jacked up the building, loaded it on wagons and transported the two-story structure across 30-some odd miles of prairie to set it down on a foundation north of the new Burlington rail route. (Some researchers doubt the validity of this story).

The Scott Hotel was the first building north of the tracks, and almost immediately Scott was in trouble with the railroad. The Burlington claimed that land as part of their right-of-way grant and ordered the building removed. Scott claimed squatter's rights to the site and refused to budge. Eventually, the Burlington conceded, the hotel remained north of the tracks, and within a few years the entire town had moved north along with Freeman Scott.
The coming of the railroad began to change Dundy County even before actual roadbed construction was under way. In the official U.S. census of 1880 the government headcounters had found 37 people living in Dundy County; 36 men and one woman, Mrs. Nora Miller, wife of "25" Ranch foreman, Elmer Miller. By the time the railroad was completed in 1882 county population had increased several-fold, with newcomers attracted by a vision of prosperity to be brought on by the railroad.

Some of the newcomers were merchants and businessmen such as Freeman Scott and W. Z. Taylor. In 1880, about the time Scott was starting his dispute with the railroad, Taylor opened a general store in the little settlement by the river forks, the first store in Dundy County.

Other newcomers were interested in acquiring land under provisions of the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act had been passed by Congress in 1862. It allowed an adult, man or woman, to pay a $14 filing fee and lay claim to 160 acres from large parcels designated as open under provisions of the Act. To gain full ownership homesteaders were required to build a home on the property, make some other improvements, then live on the land for five years. At the end of the five-year period a settler could "prove up" the claim and acquire clear title to the land. Thousands of homesteaders took advantage of the Act in the 1860's and '70"s, but their claims were in eastern Nebraska and along the route of the new transcontinental railroad. The southwestern part of the territory was ignored because it was considered too wild and too arid for agriculture. For the first 20 years the Homestead Act was in effect Dundy County was still part of the Great American Desert, fit for human habitation by Indians, buffalo hunters and a few cattlemen, but of no interest to farmers.
Indeed, the first few people to take advantage of the Homestead Act in Dundy County were ranchers rather than farmers. Number one homestead claim in the county was filed on August 12, 1879, by a rancher named Hendrick W. Davenport. In following months about a dozen other ranchers, taking a cue from Davenport, also filed claims. These claims were for land around ranch headquarters or favorite water holes. Davenport and others realized that without a legal title to the property anyone could come along and take their homes or fence off water holes.

A common practice among early ranchers was to have dependable cowboys file claims with the understanding that when title was gained the land would be signed over to the boss. With enough cowboys out homesteading, a rancher could gain ownership of several choice 160-acre blocks along the Republican and other streams. The thousands of acres of free grazing land away from the streams caused little worry to ranchers. They were all sure no sensible farmer would consider putting a claim on dryland prairie, and if a sodbuster were that dumb he would quickly starve out. By the time ranchers realized their mistake it was too late to do anything more than watch plows rolling back dryland sod.
It is interesting to note that not a single one of those early cattlemen's claims was ever proved up. By the time the mandatory five-year waiting period was finished, farmers were taking over the country and ranchers simply let their claims drop as they moved on in search of greener, unfenced pastures.

The first Dundy County claim entered by someone other than a stockman was filed on April 3, 1880. The claimant was a French Canadian fur trapper named Max Monvoison. Monvoison believed the railroad would open up Southwest Nebraska and he planned to be firmly established on the scene when the good times arrived. While waiting for civilization to catch up with Dundy County, he planned to survive by trapping and engaging in a little farming on the side.

As a trapper Monvoison was apparently fairly successful. As a farmer his experience and farming knowledge left something to be desired. He planted and cultivated following methods patterned after those he had learned from his French ancestors. To say the least, French farming methods were not suited to Dundy County soil and climate. For the first three years Monvoison's attempts at agriculture ended each fall in a resounding total failure. The pessimists said this was proof farmers could never succeed in Southwest Nebraska. Monvoison, being an eternal optimist, hung on while he learned from his mistakes until he became one of the most successful farmers in Dundy County, as well as a merchant and over-all leading citizen.

Another early pioneer who was to have a great effect on the organization of Dundy County first arrived in 1881, although he did not become a full-time resident until 1882. He was James R. Porter, a well-known Nebraska businessman and politician who had owned a major freight hauling firm which served military forts from eastern Nebraska into the heart of Indian country in Wyoming Territory. As a politician he had served in the Nebraska Territorial Legislature and when Nebraska became a state in 1867 he was the first Democratic candidate for governor, a race he lost.

In '81 Porter filed a claim on a quarter section about two miles east of Jake Haigler's place, although he didn't bring his family or make the move permanent until early summer of 1882. When the family did move west Porter avoided the usual problems of digging a dugout or cutting sod for a home by bringing a house with him. With help from his sons, Porter dismantled a frame house in eastern Nebraska, marking each board as it was removed. The lumber was then shipped via the new Burlington and the house was reassembled at the Dundy County homestead.

The beginning of the towns of Max and Haigler can be directly traced to Monvoison and Porter, but the beginnings of Benkelman are not so clear cut. As Dundy County historian E. S. Sutton has written of the beginnings of Benkelman, "It just growed."
When a mail route was started from Culbertson to Dundy County, a drop-off point was established at the headquarters of the "25" Ranch. Cowboys and ranchers would pick up mail for themselves and neighbors whenever they were near the "25", but the ranch was not an official post office. From the "25" Ranch the mail route continued on west to the Three Bar Ranch where Jake Haigler's living room served the same purpose as did the Miller's.
When it was known the railroad was coming and a section house for construction would be set up near the "25" Ranch house, several other people moved into the area near the forks of the Republican. With the population building, it was decided to make application for an Official Post Office.

While Dundy Countians waited for the Post Office Department to process the paperwork, mail service continued on the Star Route from Culbertson. The mail carrier was an eccentric character named George Washington Boone who claimed to be a direct descendant of the famous Kentucky frontiersman, Daniel Boone. The mail carrier ran a trap line along the Republican in conjunction with his mail route and the mail schedule depended directly on how good the trapline catch was on any particular day. If the trapping was good, therefore making the mail late, Boone would make up time in a frantic rush along the road leading to Millers and Haiglers. He was known to run other travelers off the road by waving his mail sack and shouting for the right-of-way under authority granted him by the U. S. Mail. Following his stint as a mail carrier Boone remained in the country for several years, working as a chuckwagon cook for various ranches.

On February 25, 1880, the Post Office Department made the two mail drop off points in Dundy County into official post offices. At the western edge of the county was Arakan, with Jacob Haigler as postmaster. The "25" headquarters became Saint Elmer, with Elmer Miller filling the postmaster's position. The name Saint Elmer was soon shorted to plain Elmer, a name the Post Office Department rejected because it was similar to an already existing Nebraska post office called Almore.

The people in the little settlement by the river forks got together and decided to rename their town in honor of a respected trapper and cowboy named Mose Collins. Back to the Post Office Department went the application with the name Collins City. When the paperwork was returned from Washington, the Collins part had been accepted but the government apparently thought the "City" part was a bit too much for a collection of sod homes occupied primarily by trappers and cowboys. Under direction of the Post Office Department, Elmer officially became Collinsville. Elmer Miller remained as postmaster but the location was changed. The former ranch foreman built a new hotel and the Collinsville post office went in the lobby. Following the lead of Freeman Scott, Miller also put his new hotel north of the proposed railroad tracks. This time the Burlington offered no objection.
When Collinsville was struggling to justify its existence, there was another town coming along with a true boom. Little remembered today, the town of Sandwich was located at the extreme eastern edge of the county and it was the first real settlement in Dundy County worthy of the designation "town." Sandwich boasted of hotels, restaurants, stores and several other businesses. It did not, however, have a post office. Early mail service was part of G. W. Boone's Star Route and trapline out of Culbertson.

The birth, short life and premature death of Sandwich were all related to the Burlington. The town came into being because the railroad chose the site as a location for a section house. Almost overnight the first boom town in Dundy County was in full swing, but problems soon arose with the railroad. The Burlington expected, in fact demanded, large land grants along their right-of-way. For some reason railroad officials felt the grants around Sandwich were not large enough, so as soon as possible the section house was moved west and relocated near where Max Monvoison had homesteaded.

Monvoison, always alert to any opportunity, saw the prospects of starting a town and immediately applied for a post office. On March 28, 1881, the request was granted and the French Canadian fur trapper/farmer was named postmaster of the post office bearing his first name. "Monvoison" was apparently too French for postal authorities to accept as a name because the new post office went in the books simply as Max. It is interesting to note that Max is the only existing post office in Dundy County which has survived without at least one name change.

The beginnings of Max signaled the death of Sandwich. On May 13, 1886, when the great homesteader boom was under way, a post office was finally established at the old townsite but it stayed in operation less than a year. Max was too near and too prosperous for Sandwich to provide any serious competition. The first town born in Dundy County was also the first to die.

By early spring of 1881 Burlington work and supply trains were running into Collinsville. In addition to laying track the railroad also began construction of cattle pens and loading chutes in the village. Another decision by the railroad was to make Collinsville a major supply depot for further construction as the roadbed was laid on west. The big shipping pens and the supply depot combined to give the settlement an advantage over other towns along the line, and eventually led it to become the leading town in Southwest Nebraska.
Although the complete Burlington from Culbertson to Denver was not finished until 1882, the laying of track through Southwest Nebraska in 1881 marked the real beginning of settlement in Dundy County. The rails brought people other than ranchers, and it brought them in steadily increasing numbers. When the first track was laid, the great homestead boom was still four years in the future, but the handful of pioneers drifting into the county were the people who paved the way for thousands who would follow. Between the spring of 1881 and the spring of 1885, when the rush started, people in Dundy County slowly brought a few refinements of civilization to the prairieland frontier along the banks of the Republican. Dundy County was still cattle country but things were changing.

Continued in III. Getting Settled