Furnas
County lies in the southern tier of counties in
Nebraska. It is bounded on the north side
by Frontier and
Gosper
Counties, on the east side by Harlan County, on
the south side by the State of Kansas and on the
west
side
by Red Willow County.
The
first settler to the county was Benjamin Burton,
In the summer of 1870, pushed on far in advance
of all
civilization
and settlements. He established a ranch at
the mouth of Deer Creek, on the north side of the
Republican
River, about six miles above the present town of
Arapahoe.
The
place of his settlement is now known as Burton's
Bend. At that time there were no other settlements
in the
Republican
Valley, except the ones just being settled at Red
Cloud and Guide Rock, some one hundred miles
away.
Here
Burton lived with no close neighbors until the settlement
of the county began the following year. Burton
still
lives at the place of his first settlement. He
is one of the leading men of the county, and has
been very
prosperous.
This
was not the only settlement made in 1870. In
September of that year, Galen James made his way
from
Melrose
stockade, which had been established in Harlan County,
to the junction of the Beaver and Sappa
in
the eastern part of what is now known as Furnas,
but then known as James County. He built a
dug-out
and
lived alone, having no family or associates with
him. No neighbors, as he was the first white
settler in this
part
of the Republican Valley. He only saw white
men when he visited the stockade. James remained
here for
about
six years, struggling with adverse circumstances,
but he left the county and moved to Washington Territory
a
poor man.
In
the spring of 1871, Theodore Phillips settled with
his family on the Republican River, at the mouth
of
Turkey
Creek. This formed the center of a large settlement
that was soon established in this area
and
known as New Era. Shortly after, John and
Benjamin Arnold settled near Dry Creek.
Early
in the spring of 1871, a town company was formed
at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, for the purpose of
locating
a town in the present county of Furnas and on the
Republican River. An exploring party, made
up
of Captain E. B. Murphy, George W. Love, William
Cunningham, W. R. Colvin, W.H. Orr, R. A.
Van
Orman, H. Taylor and John Hinchman was sent out.
They chose the present site of Arapahoe
as
a twon site and some of the party entered claims.
The
explorers returned to Plattsmouth and made a favorable
report. A small party was organized to make
a
settlement
there. The party consisted of: George
W. Love and family, H. M. Crum, Henry Brainard,
O.
Moreoff, Lewis Davis, W. R. Colvin and G. W. Colvin.
They arrived in July 1871, the town site of
Arapahoe
was surveyed on a tract of land about half way between
Elk and Muddy Creek. George W. Love
and
G. W. Colvin were left behind to hold the claims
and town site. The remaining party returned
to the east.
H.
M. Crum took a claim early in the spring, the first
one entered in the county. He remained until
August,
when
he improved his claim, and returned to his original
home in New York.
There
was not much settling done in 1871, but in the spring
of 1872, there was a lot of immigration. There
were
more than 150 settlers that year, and most of the
best land along the streams were taken.
The
first post office was established at Arapahoe in
the spring of 1872. George W. Love was the
postmaster.
The
first settlers to follow James in the settlement
of the south part of the county were Eugene Dolph
and
John
Mitchell, they settled on the Beaver and Sappa in
April 1872. The settlement along these two
streams
progressed
quickly until the fall. Most of the valuable
land was settled as far up as the present town
of
Beaver
City. This town was located in October 1872,
by J. H. McKee and Jacob Struve, when a post office
was
established.
In
May 1872, Carlos A. Wilson, A. Gibson, J. R. Johnson
and John Soaper traveled on up the Beaver and
began
a settlement known as Wild Turkey, later named Wilsonville,
in the western part of the county.
In
the spring of 1873, a post office was established,
Miss Jennie Plumb was postmistress. Later
that year
L.
M. Wilson built a store in the settlement and the
post office was then moved there and called Wilsonville.
The
first birth in the county was the child of Frank
Griffin. Born in June, 1872, before there
was a physician
in
the county.
The
first marriage in the county was Benjamin Luce and
Miss Lanver, some time in 1873. The license
was
issued
and the ceremony performed by the first county judge,
H. W. Brown.
In
early 1873, a mail route was established by the
government.
In
1873, the settlement of the county continued to
grow rapidly, and extended throughout all parts
of the
county.
Improvements were made on the new farms. Large
crops were planted on the land broken the
previous
year.
The
first Fourth of July celebration was held in 1873.
Beaver City and Arapahoe had celebrations.