The history of Clay
County does not date far back into the past. Only a few years have elapsed
since the
Territory it now
comprises was an undivided portion of the "Great American Desert," uninhabited
by civilized man, and, indeed,
regarded as incapable of sustaining settlement at all. The bison, the wolf
and the antelope alone were the monarchs,
whose possessions were invaded only by occasional visitations from some
roving bands of Indians.
To fix the date
of advent of the first white man in this country is impossible, but it
is generally regarded as most probable that
one of the expeditions of "The Path-Finder" (J. C. Fremont) passed through
this section in 1840, and this was the
first time the soil was pressed by the foot of white civilized man.
A freight and stage
route was established in 1849, leading from Atchison, Kan., to the Pacific
Coast, by way of Fort Kearney,
and passed through this county. It was on this route, and more as a station
than as a permanent establishment,
that the first permanent settlement was made by James Bainter, in 1864,
who built a ranch on the opposite side
of the river from where the village of Spring Ranch now stands. It was
also a relay station for the celebrated "Pony
Express." This institution, which did such excellent service as a carrier
of news before the advent of the
railroad and telegraph, deserves more than a passing notice as a matter
of historical interest.
The design of it
was to afford a speedy mode of transporting letters and dispatches and
it was admirably managed Letters
were frequently carried from Atchison to Sacramento, a distance of 2,000
miles, in eight days, and, on one occasion,
dispatches were sent from St. Joseph, Mo., to Denver, Colo., 625 miles,
in fifty-nine hours, the last
ten miles being made in thirty minutes.
The means employed
were ponies and riders, the animal being kept on a full run between stations,
which were twenty-five miles
apart, and, upon one messenger reaching a station, whatever the time of
day or night, or the condition of the
weather, another, ready mounted and waiting, took the little mail-sack,
and, plying whip and spurs to his steed,
dashed off wildly for the next post.
EARLY SETTLEMENT
The first white settler upon the territory now known as Clay County was John B. Weston,
since Auditor of the State of Nebraska, who settled some time in 1857 and built a log
house at Pawnee Ranch, on Section 16, Town 5, Range 8, on the Little Blue River, in
Spring Ranch Precinct.
In the early summer of 1870, Peter O. Norman and his brother, natives of Sweden,
settled and built a dug-out on the creek, and were the first white settlers in
School Creek Precinct. In October, 1870, John Kennedy came from Ohio and settled
and built his dug-out on Section 2, Town 8, Range 5, in the north part of the
precinct. January 27, 1871, Albert K. Marsh settled and built a log house on the
creek below the Normans. His wife was the first white woman in the precinct.
A. A. Corey settled on the creek near the Fillmore County line, early in 1871,
and built a log house, At that time the creek was heavily timbered. In the same spring,
J. Steinmetz and the Ballzer boys settled on the prairie on Section 34. F. F. Brown,
Charles W. Brown, George Brown and R. G. Brown came April 10 and took up a section of
land, excepting one eighty, and are among the early settlers in School Creek. W. Cunning
and wife settled on the northeast quarter of Section 34, May 4, 1871, spending four
weeks under a wagon bed before building his dug-out. Mrs. Cunning was one of the earliest
white married women who came into the town. R. L. Garr and family settled the same year.
W. F. Bemis settled in September, 1871. The Normans built a frame house in 1871 out of
elm boards, which they sawed out with an old-fashioned whip saw.
The Conants, William and his brother T. Van Tress, came in and settled May 1, 1871, and
were the first settlers in Lincoln Precinct. They built sod houses. W. T. McNight came
in and settled, August 14, 1871.
May 10, 1875, D. A. Smith shot and killed Orin Conant. The dispute arose about a claim.
Smith was afterward indicted for manslaughter, but, on a final trial, was discharged.
Glenville Precinct was first settled by Daniel Fitch, a frontier trapper, in 1871. Later,
by J. W. Small and Leroy S. Winters. The St. Joe & Denver Railroad passes northwest
through this precinct.
W. H. Chadwick and J. D. Moore came together and located on Section 12, Town 7, Range
7, May, 1871. L. J. Starbuck and B. F. Hocket came and settled on Section 2 at the
same time. These were the first settlers in Lynn Precinct. They all built sod houses,
Hocket building his first. M. L. Latham and C. D. Moore came soon after. Mr. Latham
was the first Commissioner from the Harvard Precinct. At that time there were plenty of
antelope on the prairie.
A. D. Peterson, a native of Sweden, settled in Lewis Precinct in the spring of 1870.
Louis Peterson and Jonas Johnson, of the same nationality, came in soon after. John S.
Lewis, of Virginia, after whom this precinct was named, settled April 20, 1872.
The first election in the precinct was for member of Constitutional Convention, in
May, 1875; all the precincts in the county at this time adopted name, it being the
first election held after the county was divided into sixteen precincts. Lewis
then polled thirty-nine and now polls sixty votes. I. C. Christianson, a Dane, was
the first of that nationality in the precinct; this was November 1, 1873; the Danes
now number about sixteen in the county.
Luther French, native of Ohio, settled permanently on the north one-half of the
northwest quarter of Section 2, Town 7, Range 5, in 1870, and was the first white
settler in Sutton Precinct. Soon after, he built a dug-out, logging it up on the
inside, covering the roof with bark and shingling it with dirt. His first neighborly
call was soon after the house was finished, by Capt. Charley White, of Indian fame,
and Miss Nellie Henderson, who came on horseback eight miles from the West Blue and
chased down and caught an antelope on the way. Mr. French was the first Postmaster
in Sutton and the second in the county. He laid his homestead out as the town of
Sutton, August 10, and sold it November 1, 1871, to I. N. and M. Clark, who came
from Illinois and Ohio respectively. H. W. Gray and son, with G. W. Bemis, came from
Iowa May 4, 1871, and settled on Section 2.
That same spring, William and Henry Smith, the Brownells and Hollingworths, and
J. S. Schermerhorn, James Vroman and the Angbergs came, soon after Mr. French.
May 10, 1871, Henry Evans and wife came in and settled. Mrs. Evans was the first
married woman in the precinct. J. R. Maltby came in the summer of 1871. On June 8, 1864,
however, James Bainter had settled and built at Spring Ranch, and thus was the first
permanent settler in the county. He took the first homestead in the county, in 1864,
on Section 8, Town 5, Range 8, and ran the ranch on the overland stage route.
Mr. Bainter had a store and about $5,000 worth of goods, besides live stock, produce,
etc.
A Pawnee Indian
first brought him the news that the Sioux were coming and had attacked
the other ranch above.
He sent his family
to Pawnee Ranch, about a mile east, then kept by the Ropers, and, mounting
a fast horse, rode
up to the river
to meet them. He found them about nine miles up the river; after shooting
at them at long range, he
turned and ran
his horse back, loosed his stock and went to Pawnee ranch. He soon saw
the smoke of his store,
house and stable
and other improvements. Shortly afterward, Pawnee ranch was attacked by
from 150 to 200
Sioux. There were
with him in the ranch (a sod building with palisades around it) three other
men, besides several
women and children.
They fought for three days, keeping the Indians at bay, and were materially
assisted by Mrs.
Bainter and the
other women, who showed great bravery in assisting to watch the enemy and
in loading guns for
the men as fast
as they were discharged. At last, Mr. Bainter succeeded in killing the
Sioux chief, when they
withdrew from
that immediate vicinity. A large number of Pawnee Indians came up soon
after, who were friendly,
especially toward
Bainter, and, with their assistance, the Sioux were driven off for that
time.
The Sioux soon
after attacked all the ranches along the Little Blue and Bainter and all
the settlers were driven out;
a large number
of settlers and nearly all the stage-drivers were killed; also one wagon
train of nearly sixty persons
were slaughtered.
James Urquhart,
Nicholas Nagle, Thomas Reed, Swingle and Schwab were among the early settlers.
Leicester Precinct
is situated in the northwest corner of the county and is watered by branches
of the West Blue
River. Among the
first settlers were William Woolman, A. Woolman, Joseph Rowe and Stephen
Brown, who
came in the winter
of 1871.
Miss Truelove Tibbles,
an adopted daughter of Rev. William Woolman, was drowned accidentally in
April,
1876, while attempting
to cross one of the creeks in this precinct. The Coroner's inquest in this
case was the third
one in the county
and the first one under Dr. Clark, then Coroner.
G. W. Briggs and
George McIntire were among the first settlers in Scott Precinct. It is
situated on the west
boundary of the
county directly south of Leicester. The Burlington & Missouri Railroad
passes through the
northern portion
and the St. Joe & Denver Railroad cuts across a very small part of
the southwest corner of the
precinct.
Lone Tree Precinct
is east of Scott and was first settled by John P. Scott in 1871, who was
for some time the
only settler between
Spring ranch and School Creek. He settled near the "Lone Tree," from which
the precinct
received its name.
He was Postmaster of White Elm Post Office in this precinct until the winter
of 1872-73, when
the office was
moved to Fairfield. Charles Osborn was among the first settlers. The St.
Joe & Denver Railroad
crosses a considerable
portion of the southwest part of this precinct.
Glenville Precinct
was first settled by Daniel Fitch, a frontier trapper, in 1871. Later,
by J. W. Small and Leroy
Winters. The St.
Joe & Denver Railroad passes northwest through this precinct. The town
of Glenville is located
in this precinct.
The settlement
of Fairfield Precinct commenced at Liberty Farm ranch, at the mouth of
Liberty Creek on the
Little Blue. The
first settler in the precinct was at the ranch and was agent of Wells,
Fargo & Co.'s Pony Express.
It was a post
on their route from Atchison, Kan., across the continent to Pike's Peak
and San Francisco, Cal.
These posts were
also the depots of the United States Overland Mail Service. So troublesome
were the warlike
Sioux in these
days that the Pony Express riders were, when carrying on the business of
the company, usually
chased by them
from one post to another; their custom was to ride always at full gallop
through this part of the
country, then
considered a dangerous part of the route. The Indians repeatedly broke
up the route and at times it
was entirely abandoned
to them. Some time in 1858, James H. Lemon kept the ranch and was succeeded
by
Benjamin Royce,
who, with his brother John, natives of Ogle County, Ill., settled in the
latter part of 1867. Ben
was at that time
a State militia man, in the United States service, and stationed at the
military post at Kiowa, on
the Blue, in Thayer
County. He was in numerous battles between the Sioux and the settlers.
Soon after he took
his claim, the Indians broke up the entire settlement along the Blue, stealing
stock, burning the
ranches and driving
the settlers down the river to Kiowa.
In the fall of
1868 and spring of 1869, the Indians were driven back, and practically
gave up their hold on the
country, and from
this time forward settlements took place with astonishing rapidity.
T. A. Shaw, John
R. Lawhead, Cyrus Griffith, John R. Thompson and Reuben Peachy were among
the early
settlers. Mr.
Peachy built and stocked a store some time in 1870. He was the first Postmaster
appointed in this
county after the
re-establishment of the mail routes. The mail was brought from Hebron via
Kiowa, Liberty Farm
and Spring ranch,
to the stockade at Red Cloud, on the Republican River.
Early in 1870,
Richard Bayly, a worker in metals and one of the Commissioners of Clay
County, settled on his
farm at the mouth
of Buffalo Creek and operated a blacksmith shop. H. J. Higgins settled
soon after. Up to this
time the settlements
had been confined to the river and its tributaries, but, in the fall of
1871, the table-lands on
either side of
the Little Blue began to be occupied.
Alfred Mills built
a water saw-mill on the river near the old Liberty Farm ranch in the year
1871. In 1872, a small
run of stone was
put in to grind feed. Among the early settlers coming in 1872 are A. S.
Willis and his son-in-law,
W. H. Frey, both
Justices of the Peace.
W. A. Way came
from Crete, and, after contesting the title right of James C. Vroman, who
came the year
before, extinguishing
the title to the two eighties lying directly south of the original town,
they laid it out in 1872 as
the first addition
to the town of Sutton.
Situated on three
eighties at the northwest part of Section 2 is the town of Sutton, the
county seat, the largest
town in the county.
The Chandlers,
J. Longstreth, A. S. Twitchel, Charles Moon, John D. McMillan and D. L.
Herrick were among
the early settlers.
In February, 1872,
John Yates made the first settlement in Sheridan Precinct and built a frame
house. He was
followed by Dennis
Layhane, Richard Hillard, R. M. Mariner, a carpenter, and Patrick Nagle,
a railroad man,
and T. R. Elder.
All these men were on their claims six weeks after Yates' settlement. A
school district was
organized in September,
1872, a house was erected in December, 1872. Joseph Tout, afterward American
Express agent
at Sutton, taught the first school, with sixteen scholars.
In February, 1873,
a Methodist Episcopal Church was organized, Rev. Mr. Penny, pastor, with
a membership of
fifteen. A Union
Sunday school was organized in June, 1873, with twenty-five scholars. The
Superintendents
have served in
the following order: J. M. Ramsey, S. B. Montgomery, Daniel Michael and
John Yates. The first
birth was Johnnie
Nagle, son of Mr. and Mrs. P. Nagle. Mrs. Nagle was the first woman in
the precinct. The first
death was an infant
child of Daniel Michael.
From 1862 to 1869,
there were no settlements along the Little Blue above Meridian, in Jefferson
County, and no
whites except
a few adventurous hunters at Liberty Farm.
A portable circular
steam saw-mill was brought into the county by J. Stover & Co. in the
fall of 1871, and was
the first mill
in the county and remained till the fall of 1872. It was operated near
the old Spring ranch, after which
this precinct
was named.
Peck & Meston,
of Harvard, submitted a proposition to build a grist-mill at Spring ranch
in consideration of
$7,000 precinct
bonds, to be voted under the Internal Improvement Act of the State Legislature.
It was
submitted to the
people August 3, 1873, and carried. Afterward, the bonds were adjudged
by the United States
Courts to be illegal,
a mill not being within the meaning of the act under which they were voted
and issued. The
mill was built,
28x40 feet, three stories high and with three run of stones, and commenced
operations in August,
1874. It is situated
on the Little Blue River, on the northwest quarter of Section 17, Town
5, Range 8 west. June
1, 1876, it passed
into the hands of Alex Meston, one of the partners, and is being successfully
operated by him.
Albert Curtis was
the first settler in Logan Precinct, and came on March 7, 1871. Following
him came John
Yandle, Riley
Thurber, May, 1871, Wright Stacy, E. M. Isham, Nathan Tucker, A. Christison,
the Pascall
brothers, Fletcher
Page. So rapidly did this precinct settle up that all these men had settled,
built and commenced
cultivating the
land before June 1 the same year. J. B. Dinsmore, afterward County Clerk,
settled in this precinct
May 28, 1872.
In July, came Ashley and Woodhead. M. J. Hull settled here November 1,
1871.
August 3, 1872,
the first school district in the precinct was organized as District No.
21, with J. B. Dinsmore,
Director; A. S.
Harding, Moderator, and A. N. Walworth, Treasurer. The first schoolhouse
was partly dug-out
and partly sod,
built by a "bee," everybody turning out to help. It was heated by a miserable
old sheet-iron stove.
The first teacher
there was Josephine Reed, at $25 per month. District No. 24 was organized
ten days thereafter;
the first schoolhouse
was built in this district. The Big Sandy Grange was organized in this
precinct in the spring of
1873, Jonathan
Sanderson, Secretary.
In July, 1872,
Flavius Northrup came from Buffalo County, Wis., and settled in Marshall,
and was the first settler
in Marshall Precinct.
He brought with him about seventy-five sheep, the first brought into the
county for
permanent rearage.
When he first came, the wolves troubled the flock considerably, and, in
the great snow storm
of the following
spring, many of them perished; but the flock afterward increased, and sheep-raising
here is
counted a success.
In September, 1872,
W. S. Randall and his brothers, Addison and Warner, came in from Washington
County,
Iowa, and settled
upon Sections 28 and 30, and have since erected comfortable frame houses.
W. S. Randall was
a candidate for member of the Constitutional Convention of this State from
Clay County, in
April, 1875. He
was put in nomination by a number of citizens, without reference to party,
and was barely
defeated by Dr.
M. W. Wilcox.
William Tolle and
J. Prawl came in from Missouri and settled October, 1872. This was in one
of the center
precincts in the
county, now called Marshall with a post office at Marshall Center. Davis
Post Office is also
situated in Marshall
Precinct.
In November, 1871,
J. K. Sanborn made the first settlement in Edgar Precinct, and built a
log house. A. F. and
Jacob Ritterbush
came in the spring of 1872, and settled on lands adjoining the town site
of Edgar. Mr. Carr
came in soon after.
Henry Gipe pre-empted the land on which Edgar now stands. The first store
in what is now
Edgar was started
by Ritterbush & Graham in a log house. S. T. Caldwell started the second
store and
Ritterbush &
Mills the third. The first post office in that part of the county was established
at Edgar. A. F.
Ritterbush was
the first Postmaster, W. A. Gunn the second and W. J. Waite the third Postmaster.
Situated in
this precinct,
on the St. Joe & Denver City Railroad, is the flourishing town of Edgar,
with a weekly newspaper; it
is the third town
in size in the county.
David D. Jones
and family, from Columbus, Ohio, settled here June 7, 1872.
CELEBRATIONS
The first celebration
in the county since its organization was at Sutton, July 4, 1872, H. W.
Gray, President of the
Day; Rev. A. Burlingame,
Chaplain; A. C. Burlingame, Reader of the Declaration; R. G. Brown delivered
the
oration, followed
by Hon. W. H. H. Flick, of the House of Delegates of West Virginia. It
will be long
remembered as
one of the best we ever had.
At the celebration
July 4, 1873, it being a union celebration between Harvard and Sutton,
E. J. Moger, of
Harvard, was President
of the Day; Rev. A. Burlingame, Chaplain; Miss Anna Foster, Reader of the
Declaration;
Attorney General
Roberts, Orator; T. Weed, Marshal.
At the celebration
July 4, 1874, Dr. W. M. Wilcox was President of the Day; Rev. A. Burlingame,
Chaplain; T.
Weed, Reader of
the Declaration; Hon. John I. Redick, of Omaha, Orator; George Stewart,
Marshal.
July 4, 1875, H.
W. Gray was President of the Day; T. Weed, Chaplain; Mrs. I. N. Clark,
Reader of the
Declaration; the
orators were R. G. Brown, J. E. Bagley, G. W. Bemis and George Nuse, the
latter in German;
James Sheppard,
Marshal.
The Centennial
celebration, July 4, held at Sutton, had for its officers; C. M. Turner,
President of the Day; Rev.
C. L. Smith, Chaplain;
Dr. W. M. Sammis, Reader of the Declaration; Dr. M. W. Wilcox, Orator,
followed by
George Nuse in
German, and N. Anderson in Swede; Dr. Martin V. B. Clark, compiler and
reader of the history
of Clay County.
Sixteen years previous
to the 4th of July, 1881, before the county was organized, part of the
Second and Sixth
Michigan Cavalry
camped between Spring and Pawnee ranches, in this county, on their return
from Salt Lake.
Our townsman,
F. M. Davis, County Treasurer, was in the Second Cavalry and took part
in the celebration.
They had speeches,
etc., by "the boys," and two gallons of whisky with which to "cheer up,
comrades, and be
gay."
ORGANIZATION
William H. James,
Acting Governor of Nebraska, on a petition of citizen voters, issued a
proclamation
September 11,
1871, authorizing an election and designating the time and place of holding
the same to elect a
board of county
officers, and locate the county seat. Accordingly, the first election in
this county was held on the
14th day of October,
1871, at the house of Alexander Campbell, on Section 6, Town 7, Range 6,
near the
present water-tank
on the Burlington & Missouri Railroad, east of Harvard. At that election,
there were
eighty-nine votes
polled; fifty-six of these were cast for Sutton, making it the county seat.
The Commissioners
elected at that
election were: A. K. Marsh, three years, P. O. Norman, two years; A. A.
Corey, one year; John
R. Maltby, Probate
Judge; F. M. Brown, Clerk; J. Hollingsworth, Treasurer; P. T. Kearney,
Sheriff; R. S.
Fitzgerald, Surveyor;
J. S. Schermerhorn, Superintendent of Public Instruction; J. Steinmetz,
Coroner.
The first session
of the Board of Commissioners was on November 4, 1871; at that meeting
the county was
divided into three
equal parties and designated as Commissioner and voting precincts, and
were named Harvard,
Little Blue and
School Creek.
The Commissioners
precincts remain, but the voting precincts were increased to sixteen in
the spring of 1875.
December 4, 1871,
R. G. Brown was appointed Treasurer to fill the vacancy caused by the failure
of
Hollingsworth
to qualify. At the December 4 session of the Commissioner Board, G. W.
Bemis was appointed
Assessor for School
Creek, and resigned; J. C. Merrill was appointed to fill the vacancy; Charles
Canfield for
Harvard and John
W. Langford for Little Blue Precincts.
The population
in the fall of 1871, when the county was organized, is estimated on the
basis of the vote then
taken at 356.
The census taken by the Assessors in the spring of 1876 was 4,797, and,
in 1881, the population
was about 12,000.
COUNTY SEAT CONTESTS
As is common in
the establishment of new counties, much difficulty and controversy has
attended the locating of
the county seat
of this county. With the first organization of the county, this was the
"bone of contention" between
competing sections.
At that time the contest lay between Harvard and Sutton, the voting strength
of the two
places being almost
equal.
An election for
the removal of the county seat was held on August 14, 1875. The places
voted for were Sutton,
Harvard, Fairfield,
and the center of the county. At this election nothing could be final,
as the law in such cases
required that
when three or more places are voted for, the three receiving the highest-number
of votes should be
the places submitted
to the vote of the people at another election, and the two receiving the
greatest number of
votes at this
election should again be submitted to the people at a third election, and
the one receiving three-fifths
of all the votes
cast should be the county seat.
Accordingly, Sutton,
Harvard and Fairfield were the points submitted at an election held on
September 20, 1875.
On the count of
the vote, that of Edgar Precinct, in favor of Fairfield, was thrown out
for fraud. The vote was
recanvassed October
5 by a board composed of J. B. Dinsmore, Cyrus Stayner and E. P. Burnett,
and on a
mandamus sued
out by citizens of Harvard, the vote of Edgar Precinct was counted, the
vote standing: Sutton,
497; Harvard,
391; Fairfield, 355. Another election was necessary to decide the matter
between Sutton and
Harvard, which
was held on the 7th of November, 1876, and stood as follows: Sutton, 606
votes; Harvard, 802;
neither place
receiving three-fifths of all votes cast, no removal was effected. The
attempt to remove the seat of
government was
not again made until January 9, 1879, at which time no change was effected.
The law had been
changed and now
required that the place for which the highest number of votes was cast
should be the county
seat.
Another election
was held February 20 of that year, and, upon the count of the vote by the
election board, the
vote of Harvard
Precinct was thrown out on general principles of fraud, and because the
returns were not good
returns, not being
certified and sworn to by the Judges of the Election, as is required by
law, and for other
informalities.
Harvard's enemies
were jubilant over this result, and the County Commissioners made declaration
that the county
seat was at Clay
Center, ordering the county officers to remove their offices, records,
etc., to that place. In
obedience to this
order, all went, except E. P. Burnett, County Judge, who refused.
On July 14, 1879,
John M. Mills filed letters of impeachment before the Commissioners, against
Judge Burnett,
for his refusal
to comply with the order made by that body. A summons was served upon Burnett
to appear
before the Commissioners
and show cause for his non-removal. Burnett filed a long answer, setting
forth his
reasons for refusing.
This, however, did not serve to satisfy the judgment of the Commissioners,
and accordingly,
on the 22nd of
July, 1879, Judge Burnett was impeached from office. The office of County
Judge was then
declared vacant,
and W. S. Prickett was appointed to fill the unexpired term. Soon after
this action of the County
Commissioners
declaring the office of the County Judge vacant, a mandamus was issued
by the Supreme Court
compelling the
County Clerk to remove his office and records back to Sutton. The Clerk
obeyed his order, and
the other county
officers who had taken up their abode at Clay Center followed him and removed
back to
Sutton.
At the next meeting
of the Board of County Commissioners held at Sutton about September 1,
1879, they
passed a resolution
expunging from their records the record of all proceedings against Judge
E. P. Burnett;
whereupon the
Judge took possession of his office and records that had previously been
ordered from him.
After the county
seat had been declared to be at Clay Center, a party of men with teams
and wagons proceeded
to Sutton on a
Sunday night, seized the county records, the Treasurer's safe, etc., loaded
them into the wagons
and took them
to Clay Center, in the act of doing which one of the party lost a horse,
having died from over
exhaustion. Great
rejoicing was indulged in over the result, by those friendly to the change,
while the defeated
Harvard party
remained dejected and crestfallen. On the 31st of October, 1879, a celebration
was held in Clay
Center, a barbecue
was prepared, speeches were made, songs were sung, bands of music played
the march of
victory and the
day was spent in general jollification. From early morning, long processions
poured in from all
parts of the county,
with flags, bands and banners bearing such mottoes as "Solid for Clay Center,"
"We Demand
a Fair Count,"
"The Faithful Few," etc. The jubilation, however, was ill-timed, as was
subsequently determined.
An investigation
was made, the vote reviewed by a canvassing board and, under a mandamus
from the Supreme
Court, the vote
of Harvard Precinct, which had been thrown out, was counted in, and the
result showed that no
change had been
made in the location of the county seat. The Commissioners were then compelled
to
countermand their
hasty actions and order the officers and records back to Sutton. An election
was then held on
November 7, 1879,
at which time the change was effected by a comparatively legal vote, and
resulted in favor of
Clay Center by
a majority of 100 votes, the vote being 1,967, for Clay Center and 1,867
for Harvard, and thus a
just and final
determination of the matter was made.
During all these
campaigns, much spirited work had been done. Much personal abuse, calumny
and vituperation
was indulged in
by both parties, in speeches, through the press and in numerous printed
circulars of various kinds
and character,
and a feeling of bitterness and hatred was engendered both between individuals
and sections,
which will require
a long time to obliterate. The Burlington & Missouri Railroad, always
hating Sutton, took active
part against that
place in favor of Harvard, omitting nothing to detract from the advantages
of the one and add to
those of the other.
Various negotiations were made by the road with the citizens of Sutton,
by which they were to
receive certain
favors as a town, in consideration that they voted for Harvard for the
county seat, but a failure on
the part of the
company to comply with the agreement, released the citizens from obligations
under it. As an
instance of the
extent to which the railroad company went in this matter, they even took
up the "editor's pass,"
held by F. M.
Comstock and J. S. Le Hew, editors of the Clay County Globe, at Sutton,
whose influence was
given in favor
of their own town and Clay Center and against Harvard.
With the last election,
the location became permanently fixed, and, notwithstanding the feeling
of enmity that yet
remains with some,
there are but few in the county who are not satisfied with the result,
believing it to be just and
equitable to all
concerned.
OFFICIAL ROSTER
Beginning with
the organization of the county, the following persons have been elected
as the officials of Clay
County, with the
date of service, the term of office being two years, excepting the office
of Commissioner, which
is three years,
one being elected each year:
1871--Commissioners,
A. K. Marsh, A. A. Corey, P. O. Norman; Treasurer, J. Hollingsworth; Clerk,
F. M.
Brown; Surveyor,
R. S. Fitzgerald; Coroner, Jacob Steinmetz; Superintendent of Schools,
J. Schemmerhorn;
County Judge,
J. R. Maltby; Sheriff, P. T. Kearney.
1872--During this
year Surveyor Fitzgerald died; Hollingsworth failed to qualify, and R.
G. Brown was appointed
to fill his place.
The Commissioner elected this year was J. B. Dinsmore, who failed to serve
out his term, having
resigned to accept
the office of Sheriff the following year. A. Tracy was elected to fill
the unexpired term of J.
Hollingsworth.
1873--Commissioners,
Ezra Brown, A. K. Marsh, R. Bayly; Treasurer, F. M. Davis; Clerk, F. M.
Brown;
Surveyor, J. F.
Fleming; Coroner, M. V. B. Clark, M. D.; Superintendent of Schools, D.
W. Garver; County
Judge, E. P. Burnett;
Sheriff, J. B. Dinsmore.
1874--Commissioner
elected, C. M. Turner; Commissioners, Ezra Brown, C. M. Turner, R. Bayly;
Treasurer,
F. M. Davis; Clerk,
J. B. Dinsmore; Surveyor, M. S. Edington; Coroner, M. V. B. Clark, M. D.;
Superintendent
of Schools, F.
W. Broobank; County Judge, E. P. Burnett; Sheriff, O. P. Alexander.
1876--Commissioner,
F. Northrop.
1877--Commissioners,
F. Northrop, Ezra Brown, R. Bayly; Treasurer, W. S. Randall; Clerk, E.
E. Howard;
Surveyor, W. A.
Gunn; Coroner, M. V. B. Clark, M. D.; Superintendent of Schools, I. D.
Newell; County
Judge, E. P. Burnett;
Sheriff, A. J. McPeak.
1878--Commissioner
elected, W., R. Hamilton.
1879--Commissioners,
R. Bayly, F. Northrop, W. R. Hamilton; Treasurer, G. H. Van Duyne; Clerk,
W. J.
Keller; Surveyor,
L. A. Varner; Coroner, J. G. Nuss; Superintendent of Schools, I. D. Newell;
County Judge, E.
P. Burnett; Sheriff,
J. P. Nixon. The county having the necessary population, D. T. Phillips
was elected Clerk of
the District Court.
1880--Commissioner
elected--C. Stayner.
1881--Commissioners,
R. Bayley, W. R. Hamilton, C. Stayner; Treasurer, G. H. Van Duyne; Clerk,
L. F. Fryar;
Surveyor, L. A.
Varner; Coroner, J. G. Nuss; Superintendent of Schools, I. D. Newell; County
Judge, E. P.
Burnett; Sheriff,
J. P. Nixon.
COUNTY BUILDINGS
Court House.--A
court house, and the first in the county, was built at Sutton, that being
at that time the county
seat, in the winter
of 1871-72. It was a two-story frame, the upper story being used as a court-room,
and the
offices were located
in the lower story.
At the election
held February 20, 1879, the question whether a three-mill tax should be
levied for building a court
house was put
to the vote of the people, and was carried. During that year, it was declared
by the
Commissioners,
upon the determined result of the election of February 20, that Clay Center
was the county seat,
and preparations
were made immediately by those favoring that location to have it moved
to that place. In May,
W. D. Young built
a large frame house, which he rented to the County Commissioners for a
court house, to be
used until another
could be erected. Upon a subsequent investigation, it was found that Clay
Center was not the
county seat, and
the officers were ordered back to Sutton, and thus Clay Center, as the
county seat, with all the
preparations that
had been made, stood tenantless. As soon, however, as the location was
fixed, all arrangements
were made for
the building of a court house, the evident intention of those favoring
Clay Center as the county seat
being to erect
such costly buildings as to render any further removal impracticable, except
with much outlay and
expense to the
tax-payers of the county, and thus to clinch the determination of the present
site.
The contract to
erect a court house was awarded to W. D. Young in February, 1880, the estimated
cost being
$11,000. Work
began upon the building the 1st of May, and it was completed by November
1, costing, including
furniture, "etc.,"
and fixtures, "etc.," $22,000, or double the estimated cost. It is a large
two-story brick,
sixty-four feet
long by forty-seven feet wide, and upon the center of the roof rests a
substantial dome. In the
second story is
the court room, 40x47 feet, adjoining which are the jury room, judge's
and witnesses' rooms. On
the first floor
are the county offices, those being constructed with fire-proof vaults,
for the security of the records,
the Treasurer's
office being also supplied with a burglar-proof safe. The building is of
appropriate architecture
and commands a
fine appearance.
County Jail.--The
first jail built for the incarceration of criminals in the county was in
1876, and was a small
wooden structure.
When the seat of government was supposed to be permanently fixed at Clay
Center, steps
were at once taken
by the Commissioners to erect a court house and jail. The contract to build
a jail was
awarded to F.
A. Pyle and W. D. Young on April 1, 1879, the main building to be 24x36
feet in linear
dimensions and
12 feet high, to which should be a wing 24x26 feet in size and 14 feet
high--the whole to cost,
when completed,
$2,250. Before work was commenced under the contract, a temporary injunction
was sued out
before Judge Weaver
by citizens of the county, retraining work upon the building until a final
determination of the
vote upon the
location of the county seat. Upon a recanvass of the vote, it was found
that the county seat was still
at Sutton, but
at the election of November 7, 1879, it was changed to Clay Center. Work,
therefore, began upon
the jail building
in January, 1880, and was completed during that spring, costing $2,200,
being a wooden
structure, the
main part of which is twenty-four feet wide by thirty-eight feet long and
one story high; on the rear
of this is a wing
twenty feet wide by forty feet in length, in which are the cells, which
are lined with steel cages. It
is a very neatly
constructed building, being tastefully furnished, and has capacity for
the "accommodation" of
several "guests."
Poor House--The
people of Clay County, out of their abundance, have always found charity
for their poor and
needy. For the
comfort of those who are unable to care for themselves they have made suitable
provision. In
May, 1874, the
County Commissioners bought a quarter section of railroad land, two miles
east of Clay Center,
for a poor farm.
A house was built in February, 1880, and is a two-story frame, the main
part being 24x26 feet,
to which a two-story
wing, measuring 20x26 feet, is appended. The farm, a fine body of land,
is in a fair state of
cultivation, and
the institution is run under contract by A. C. Masterson, who receives
a half share of all that is
produced upon
the farm and $3.50 per week for the support of each inmate, of whom there
are now twelve.
RAILROADS
The iron horse,
which in the West heralds the advance of civilization, made its first appearance
in Clay County in
the autumn of
1871, when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska was
completed to Sutton, at
which place a
settlement was made in the summer of 1870. During the summer of 1872, the
St. Joseph & Denver
City Railroad
(since changed to the St. Joseph & Western) was completed, and the
young county was traversed
by two well-equipped
lines of railroad, affording facilities for transportation which the pioneers
of other States did
not enjoy for
many years. Both of the roads, however, were constructed more for the purpose
of obtaining large
grants of land
from the Government than as lucrative enterprises in themselves. The Burlington
& Missouri River
road runs across
the northern portion of the county, nearly east and west, and the St. Joseph
& Western enters
the southeast
corner and passes through the county in a northwesterly direction. By means
of theses lines of
railway, the people
of the county are supplied with all desirable conveniences for travel and
the transportation of
products to the
best markets both East and West.
COUNTY ASSOCIATIONS
The Clay County
Agricultural Society was formed April 15, 1872, at the Court House in Sutton.
A. K. Marsh was
chosen President, and J. M. Ramsey, Secretary.
Annual fairs were
held, ever since its establishment, at Sutton, until 1881, when the exhibition
took place at Clay
Center, the county
seat.
The fair grounds,
embracing forty acres of land, are owned by a stock company composed of
about fifty of the
most wealthy citizens
of the county, and the use of these grounds is extended to the society
for making their
exhibits. The
grounds are supplied with a large floral hall, which is the only permanent
building that has yet been
constructed.
So far the society
has not failed to make a creditable exhibition, even during the disastrous
years of the
grasshopper plague,
and has always paid up the premium list in full, and at present has a balance
in the treasury.
A meeting of the
society was held March 4, 1882, in the court room at Clay Center, at which
the following
officers were
chosen:
D. Leitch, President;
J. E. Kenyon, First Vice President; E. Austin, Second Vice President; N.
G. Perryman,
Third Vice President;
A. P. Randall, Vice President; C. Shetler, Vice President; A. J. McPeak,
Secretary; G. H.
Van Dryne, Treasurer;
T. R. Elder, Superintendent; Jesse Eller, Marshal. Board of Directors:
George Schwartz,
of School Creek;
J. A. Davis, of Lincoln; N. M. Huling, of Harvard; S. V. Phelps, of Leicester;
A. M. Lathrop,
of Inland; Thomas
Wood, of Lynn; P. McMartin, of Lewis; Thomas Thorpe, Sr., of Sutton; E.
D. Kessler, of
Sheridan; C. Eller,
of Marshall; D. Nettleton, of Spring Ranche; W. T. Newcomb, of Fairfield;
H. C. Hart, of
Edgar; Riley Thurber,
of Logan; John C. Ward, Center, Director at Large.
Clay County Sunday
School--On Thursday, February 11, 1872, a Union Sunday School was organized
at the
residence of T.
Weed by the Rev. Mr. Jones, a Congregational minister, who was laboring
in this county under
the auspices of
the A. M. H. M. Society.
T. Weed was chosen
Superintendent, and Charles Moon, Assistant Superintendent; Dr. Martin
Clark, Secretary,
and John R. Maltby,
Treasurer. The charter members were I. N. Clark, Dr. Martin Clark, J. R.
Maltby, W.
Cunning, and T.
Weed and wife. The first session of school was held in a small frame building
standing near
where Mr. Wittenberg's
store now stands. This same building is now owned and used by J. M. Gray
& Co., as a
lumber office.
There were only seven persons present at this session of school. The school
remained in this
building until
spring, when the Clark Bros. kindly donated their hall for its use. This
building is now known as the
Clark House.
It remained in
Clark's Hall until a schoolhouse was built east of town, which was occupied
until the court house
was built, where
it was held for about two years, and then removed to Grosshans' Hall, remaining
there until the
Congregational
Church was built in 1876. While in Grosshans' Hall the M. E. friends withdrew,
forming a school
of their own.
The first Sunday School concert was given in Clark's Hall. The subject
was the stories of the Bible.
Miss Letta Gray
conducted the singing, and the Rev. D. B. Perry, now President of Doane
College, came from
Aurora, walking
part of the way, to attend and take part in the concert. This first concert
was quite a novelty in
the new community.
It was quite a success. The hall was filled, and an instructive and entertaining
time was
enjoyed.
The next concert
was given in the schoolhouse. The subject was Bunyan's Pilgrim, Mr. Perry
taking the part of
pilgrim. Mrs.
G. W. Bemis conducted the musical part, using a melodeon, borrowed for
the occasion of Mrs. R.
G. Merrill. This
melodeon was the first musical instrument ever landed on the banks of School
Creek, excepting
the inevitable
fiddle. This concert was more widely advertised than the first one, and
drew an immense crowd,
and was an event
in the annals of the new town. People came from the Blue on the north,
and from all the county
around. The house
held but a small part of the crowd. The night was warm, and people sat
in wagons around the
house; the program
was carried out in full, and all went away well pleased. There have been
twenty-eight
teachers since
the organization of the school, viz.: Mrs. T. Weed, Mrs. Corey, Mrs. Charles
Moon, Mrs. George
Cunning, Mrs.
W. Cunning, Mrs. George Brownell, Mrs. A. S. Twitchell, Mrs. E. P. Burnett,
Mrs. C. F. Graves,
Mrs. A. Higginbotham,
Mrs. J. B. Dinsmore, Mrs. Goodrich, Miss Phoebe Dewstowe, Mrs. Pruyn and
Mrs. J.
Rowley, Mr. I.
N. Clark, J. R. Maltby, E. H. White, Father Burlingame, S. B. Montgomery,
W. E. Thompson,
S. M. Emerson,
C. F. Graves, J. D. McMillian, A. G. Sherwood, A. S. Twitchell and E. P.
Burnett.
There have been
six deaths of members of the school, viz: Father Burlingame, Farris Brownell,
Mrs. Farmer (nee'
Dewstowe), Nellie
Marsh, Mamie Clark and Lizzie Galletly.
There have been
seven accessions to the church from the Sunday School, viz: Mina Marsh,
Ella Twitchell, Jessie
Galletly, Mary
Galletly, Margaret Galletly, William Galletly, and Farris Brownell.
Soon after the
organization of the school, a committee of three ladies were selected,
viz: Mrs. Dr. Clark, Mrs. W.
Cunning and Mrs.
T. Weed, to solicit funds for a library. Mrs. Dr. Clark could not serve
on account of domestic
duties, and Mrs.
I. N. Clark served in her place. They raised $43 in two hours' time. The
largest amount given by
any one was $5,
and the smallest 50 cents. One saloon-keeper, Mr. Curran, gave $3, and
Dennis Lynch, another
saloon-keeper,
gave 50 cents; Mr. Lynch said, "Yis, ladies, I don't belave yer docthrine,
but I'll give ye 50 cints
anyhow." When
taking into consideration the small number of people here at that time
(there were only about
forty, all told),
we think they gave liberally. The money was expended for books, which,
together with fifty
volumes donated
by the A. M. H. M. Society, made a fine library. The school has distributed
about 15,000
Sunday school
papers in ten years, and has raised about $300 for expenses. We had the
largest and most
successful school
while we were in Grosshans' Hall that we have ever had. There were a large
number of boys in
school at that
time, who have since graduated. There was a hearty co-operation among parents
and the teachers
and officers;
without this, no school can succeed.
In looking back
over the last ten years, it seems that more might have been done, and yet
some progress has
been made. This
was the first Sunday school organized between Crete and the Rocky Mountains
that we have
any record of.
Medical Society.--The
Central Nebraska Medical Society was instituted June 24, 1876, at the village
of Sutton.
The society comprises
the counties of Clay, Fillmore, York and Hamilton, and at its organization
contained fifteen
members, which
have since been increased to twenty-five. The officers elected by the society
at that time were:
Dr. J. R. C. Davis,
of Aurora, President; Dr. M. V. B. Clark, of Sutton, Secretary and Treasurer.
The object of the
association is to regulate the practice of medicine within this territory,
having adopted a fee bill,
and also for mutual
exchange of ideas on the theory and practice of medicine. None, except
physicians of the
regular school,
are admitted to membership. The present officers of the society are: Dr.
William Knapp, of York,
President; and
Dr. A. O. Kendall, of Sutton, Secretary and Treasurer.
Regular meetings
are held quarterly at the towns of Sutton, Fairfield, York and Hamilton,
respectively.
Old Settlers' Association.--On
the 8th day of October, 1880, several of the old settlers of Clay County
met in
Sloat's Hall,
in the village of Harvard, for the purpose of forming themselves into an
association. A society was
formed under the
name of "The Pioneer Settlers' Association of Clay County," and a constitution
and by-laws
were adopted,
and the fee for admission of members fixed at 25 cents.
The objects of
the society were for the taking of steps to commit to record for preservation
the early incidents of
the settlement
of the county, and to perpetuate pioneer reminiscences. For this purpose,
a historian was chosen
as one of the
regular officers of the association, whose duty was to gather and put in
proper shape all matters of
historical interest
pertaining to this county. The first officers elected were as follows:
I. N. Clark, of Sutton,
President; George
Noble, of Fairfield, First Vice President; C. J. Martin, of Clay Center,
Second Vice President;
M. J. Hull, of
Edgar, Historian; H. E. Goodall, of Lynn, Secretary; D. N. Nettleton, of
Spring Ranche, Treasurer;
T. R. Elder, Officer
of the Day.
The following-named
gentlemen were appointed a committee to obtain signatures, and work up
the interests and
advancement of
the society: J. B. Dinsmore, of Sutton, J. J. Walley, of Edgar; L. Brewer,
of Fairfield; Samuel
Sloat, of Harvard;
L. N. Bryant, of Spring Ranche.
The next meeting
was held on the first Tuesday of December, 1880, but owing to the inclemency
of the weather
the attendance
was small. The membership at this time was increased to forty. Nothing
of importance was
transacted at
this meeting more than the adding of assistant historians to the list of
officers. So far, but little has
been done by the
association toward carrying out the objects of its formation.
STORMS AND OTHER
CALAMITIES
Sunday night, April
13, 1873, there commenced a storm that will be long remembered by the early
settlers of
Clay County. It
had been raining through the day, and just before dark the wind veered
from southwest around to
northwest--the
rain increasing. Long before light, Monday morning, the rain changed to
sleet; and at
daybreak--the
morning still dark--the air was filled with what seem like solid snow;
so wet was it, and carried so
swiftly by the
gale, that it was almost impossible to move against it; it would wet a
person through like rain in a
few moments. All
day Monday and Monday night, Tuesday and Tuesday night, it snowed, the
storm increasing
all the time until
Wednesday morning. Many banks of snow were as high as the houses, and many
of the draws,
creeks and rivers,
were level full of snow. Driven before the gale, almost the entire live
stock of the county
perished in the
snow. In School Creek Precinct, Mrs. Kelley and child were trying to go
a few rods to a
neighbors, got
lost, chilled and froze to death in the wet snow; before starting out,
she remarked that she would
die with her child
is she could not get through with it alive. They were both found dead after
the storm.
A heavy snow-storm
occurred through this section of the State in November, 1871. The snow
fell with
bewildering rapidity
and drifted into massive heaps, covering buildings and blockading roadways.
During the
storm, a man by
the name of McGoon, living three and a half miles south of the town of
Harvard, started on foot
for that place,
accompanied by his son. So thick did the snow fall, blown swiftly by the
winds, that it was with
difficulty they
could maintain their course in the direction of the town. Upon nearing
the town, the old man
became fatigued
and bewildered, and was unable to keep up with his son, who could not afford
his father any
assistance, and
pressed on to secure his own safety. Blinded and overcome by the shifting
snow, the old man lost
his way, and upon
search being made, as soon as it was safe to venture out, he was found
on the edge of town
frozen stiff.
In the summer of
1881, a severe hail-storm passed across the northern part of the county,
coming from a
northwest direction.
The storm was accompanied with a heavy wind, blowing in a circular motion,
and hail fell for
about three-quarters
of an hour, covering the ground, and was carried, with the water, into
heaps. Extending over
a course five
miles in width, crops were beaten into the ground by the hail and entirely
destroyed, resulting in
great loss to
many.
On the 14th of
November, 1872, a fire broke out from a dug-out, and spread over a large
territory in the vicinity
of Harvard, and
reaching to the property of E. J. Moger, burned his implements and tools,
also a stable, in which
were four valuable
horses and two cows, all of which perished in the flames.
Some time later,
as the section men on the B. & M. Railroad were burning a fire brake
along the south side of the
track, the wind
carried some fire to the opposite side of the track, which caught in the
grass and began spreading.
A heavy wind was
blowing, and the fierce flames rolled swiftly through the thick carpet
of dead grasses,
consuming houses
and all combustible material that lay in their course. The wide spread
burnings were
unmanageable,
and were not extinguished until they had burned over a wide scope of country,
extending
northward nearly
to the Platte River, destroying property to the value of several thousands
of dollars. The railroad
company at once
dispatched agents to the burnt district to ascertain the condition of things
and to assess the
damage to settlers,
whose losses were adjusted and paid, to the satisfaction of all.
In July, 1874,
swarms of grasshoppers came from the northeast in such countless numbers
as to make the
sunlight dim.
So swiftly did they destroy the crops, that a forty or an eighty-acre corn-field
would not last them
more than two
hours. The rank growing corn would literally bend over to the ground by
the weight of
grasshoppers.
Potatoes, garden vegetables, and crops of all kinds, excepting wheat and
barley already harvested,
sugar-cane and
broom-corn, were swept out of existence in every part of the county in
the short space of two
days. Not a bushel
of corn was raised in the county. The year before, settlers burned corn--it
being only 15 cents
a bushel. The
grasshopper year it was shipped from Iowa and brought $1 per bushel. The
people had nothing but
wheat and barley
to eat and feed their stock. When winter set in, many of the settlers had
no money, no fuel, and
scarcely anything
to eat. Want and starvation was upon them, when, by the timely aid of the
Eastern States, the
settlers were
rescued from actual death by starvation. In the fall of 1874, a committee
to procure and distribute
aid was formed
at Sutton, consisting of C. M. Turner, Chairman and distributing agent,
with F. W. Hohmann, R.
G. Merrill, George
Stewart and J. Steinmetz.
Mr. Turner went
to Omaha at his own expense and secured from the State Aid Society the
power to constitute
Sutton an aid
supply depot. Parts of Fillmore, York and Hamilton Counties were included
in this aid district.
There were distributed
from Sutton depot four carloads of coal, four carloads of miscellaneous
supplies, including
flour, meal, bacon,
dried apples, sugar, etc. Lieut. Brown, of the Fourth United States Infantry,
from Omaha
Post, assisted
by Mr. Turner, distributed a large lot of army clothing to the most needy.
The committee to
procure and distribute aid was formed at Harvard before that at Sutton.
Harvard was a
distributing point
for Edgar, also for Hamilton County, and distributed large quantities of
supplies.
An aid society
was formed at Edgar, which drew its supplies from Harvard (W. A. Gunn,
President, and M. J.
Hull, Vice President),
and did the principal part of the work. There were distributed about three
carloads of coal,
one carload of
miscellaneous supplies, besides one-half carload of United States Army
clothing.
STATISTICS OF PROGRESS
The first district
was organized in December, 1872. The three earliest teachers in the county
were W. L. Weed,
District No. 2,
Thomas M. Gregory, District No. 5, and Laura M. Bancroft, District No.
6; Mr. Gregory taught
the first school
commencing about the first of December, 1861, before the district was organized.
There are at
present sixty-nine
districts and seventy-four schoolhouses. Of these schoolhouses, sixty-eight
are furnished with
patent seats and
furniture. The districts were originally organized on a basis of nine government
sections to the
district, but
have been modified to some extent, smaller districts being called for as
the population increases.
Directors' reports
for the last year (1881), just sent in to the County Superintendent, furnish
the following
statistics:
Number of children of school age in the county--
Males...................................2,008
Females.................................1,819
________
Total...................................3,827
Total value of school property.....$53,991 46
Number of teachers employed........
89
Total of wages paid teachers.......$20,548 71
Total cost of running schools
(teachers' wages included).......29,953 26 |
Every district
in the county had schools during the year. Fifty-seven districts had six
months and more school
during the year
and sixty-three districts had four months and more.
In the organization
of the county, the districts, or most of them, were bonded for the building
of houses, purchase
of furniture,
etc. This indebtedness has been disappearing quite rapidly in the last
few years, and the entire
indebtedness of
the county is now $13,092.91. This will probably all be discharged in two
years more.
Reviewing the history
of Clay County, it is justly astonishing to note the rapidity with which
it has sprung from an
uninhabited waste
in 1870 to the thickly populated and comparatively wealthy community it
now is, with its many
fine farms, numbering
thousands of improved and fertile acres, and its several thrifty, growing
and prosperous
towns. The county
is regarded as one of the most fertile in this section of the State, and
with its excellent natural
resources, railroad
facilities, good government and industrious people, there is no reason
why this county should
not become one
among the wealthiest and most important counties in the State.
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