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A Ride from
Beatrice to Blue Springs
October 25, 1870
Editor Daily Bulletin :—Through the kindness of
Messrs. Charles Dorsey and J. N. McConnell of the firm of
Dorsey Bros. & McConnell, Real Estate dealers, your correspondent was
invited to take a scat in that “stunning” outfit of Mc's for a ride to Blue Springs,
a distance of twelve and half miles south of Beatrice.
The country over which the
traveler passes in making the trip is one continual scope of beautiful undulated
prairie as ever any one would wish to behold, with the exceptions of a
belt of three miles, which seems to your correspondent too broken and too
rocky to ever become valuable for agricultural purposes. That belt however, does
not reach to the Blue River which stream the traveler
does not loose sight of.
On our arrival at Blue Springs we partook of a sumptuous
repast prepared by the estimable wife of Mr. R. A. Wilson, who is one of Blue
Springs' first settlers and one of Gage County's well to do farmers. Ample
justice being done to the dinner, Dorsey and myself took a stroll through the
woods in pursuit of game, and had gone but a few rods from the house when we discovered a
squirrel, which after the second shot was induced to let go all
holds, and his lifeless body no sooner struck the ground than "Cap a pie" was feeling prouder than a 6
year old over his new top—just here a messenger was dispatched to inform us
that we had murdered the pet squirrel. It is useless to say that here our
gunning expedition ended, and what it cost us to adjust matters the public
shall never know.
The next thing in order was to
visit the different places of interest in the village of Blue Springs. We found Mr. S. M. Hazen
busily engaged in retailing a well selected stock of dry
goods, groceries and everything pertaining to a first class country store. Next was
the mill owned and ran by Casbeer, Tienor & Preston. This mill is doing an excellent business and runs nearly all the time.
The dam is an excellent one, affording an eight foot fall, which is sufficient
to run both the grist and saw mills.
Several new houses are being built, but I
did not stay long enough to gather many details.
The Otoe Indian Reservation lies two miles
south of this village. This Reserve extends twenty-eight miles north and south,
and has a population of about 430 Indians.
Nearly this entire
tract of land lies in, what will be, Gage County, Nebraska. Many are the “land sharks”
anxiously awaiting an opportunity to "gobble" it up.
Blue Springs, like all other western towns,
is not devoid of great railroad prospects. The citizens, with whom I talked, look upon the building
of the Burlington & Southwestern and the Omaha & Southwestern as fixed
facts. In case these roads are built,
this town most assuredly has a bright future, as the surrounding country is
abundantly fertile and susceptible of a high state of cultivation.
After waiting a few moments for the mail, M. C. announced himself ready, and we
were off for Beatrice, where we arrived just in time for supper at
the Emery House, feeling that our trip had been one of pleasure, to at least.
Cap-A Pie
Leavenworth Bulletin - October 31, 1870
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