(135) ON the 24th of May, 1873, William P. Clark, county commissioner from the first district, lost his life while returning home from Oakdale. The water in the Elkhorn was still very high from the effects of the flood that followed the April storm. There were no bridges as yet over the Elkhorn and the river had not been fordable for five or six weeks. Mr. Clark had kept a boat for crossing the river in making his trips to and from Oakdale. He came over on the morning of May 24 to Oakdale, leaving his skiff at the south bank of the river until his return. Having transacted his business, he started for home, carrying some small packages in his hand. Before reaching the bank of the river, where his boat had been left, he had to cross a slough through which some of the overflow water from the river was running. The wagon road also crossed this slough at a place where the water was shallow. Here Mr. Clark had taken off his shoes and stockings to wade the slough at the shallow crossing, but in some way got into the deep water and was drowned. When found, he was in the edge of the deep water, but only a few feet from the road, still grasping, in his hands the packages and shoes. The slough is still called by his name, Clark's sloughs There is something strange about it, as it was very plain to see where the road crossed the slough, and Mr. Clark was very familiar with the road and had crossed in safety in the morning. He might have had a paralytic (136) stroke or a fainting fit just at the moment when he was wading the shallow water and in his struggles had gotten into the deeper part. The proper authorities at once appointed A. Warner to fill the vacancy on the county board caused by Mr. Clark's tragic death.

     In March, 1873, A. J. Leach, county superintendent of schools, resigned and the board appointed B. C. Palmer to the office to fill the vacancy.

     At the general election in the fall of 1873 the following county ticket was elected:

     These officers-elect all qualified, but all did not serve out the full term for which they were elected. B. C. Palmer, county treasurer, died in the fore part of November, 1874, and M. S. Bartlett, the publisher of the Oakdale "Journal," was appointed, November 17, to fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr. Palmer's death. J. E. Lowes, county superintendent, resigned and Robert Wilson was appointed to fill that office November 24, 1874, and R. G. King was appointed county judge May 26, 1875, in place of D. V. Coe, who was absent from the county.

     At the October election in 1874 only one county office had to be filled. L. A. Boyd's term of office, as county commissioner for district No. 2, expired, and S. S. King was elected to that position.

     At a meeting of the county board September 1, 1874, a new precinct was established, called Taylor precinct, consisting of the southern part of Center precinct and being twelve miles long north and south and eight miles wide east and west. Some time prior to this last date a precinct called Valley had been formed out of the northern (137) parts of Twin Grove and Center precincts, but owing to the grasshopper raids it was nearly or quite depopulated, and on September 6, 1875, was discontinued by an order of the county board, the territory comprising it going back to the precincts from which it had been taken.§

     On the 6th of July, 1876, the county board reorganized the county into five precincts as follows: Twin Grove, Elm Grove, Cedar, Center, and Mills. Twin Grove and Elm Grove precincts occupied the eastern third of the county, the division line between them being a zigzag line following as near as practicable the course of the Elkhorn River. All south of this line was known as Twin Grove, and all north as Elm Grove. Cedar and Center precincts constituted the middle third of the county, the division line between them being the north line of township 24, Cedar lying south, and Center north of this line. Mills precinct was left the same as before, being the west third of the county.

     At the general election held October 13, 1875, the following ticket was elected:

     At this election also a vote was taken throughout the state upon the adoption of the new state constitution. The vote in Antelope County resulted as follows: For the adoption of the constitution, 235; against the adoption of the constitution, 8.

     Reuben C. Eldridge represented Antelope County in the constitutional convention which completed its work on the 12th day of June, 1875. The result of the vote in (138) the state on the adoption of the constitution was as follows: For adoption, 30,202; against adoption, 5,474.

     The county officials who were elected at this October election all qualified and served the full term for which they were elected, with the exception of H. M. Cox, who failed to qualify as coroner, and April 29, 1876, the board appointed E. M. Blackford to that position.

     Prior to the summer of 1875 there was no bridge over the Elkhorn River anywhere in Antelope County. The small streams in the county had been bridged on all the principal roads throughout the most thickly settled parts, but the bridging of the Elkhorn was a big undertaking for a new community that was already in debt for a set of county books and for the regular expenses to keep the county business in running order. A petition was presented to the county board June 2, 1874, asking for a special election in Twin Grove precinct to vote bonds to the amount of four thousand dollars for the purpose of building a bridge at Snider's ford, in said precinct. The petition was granted and the election called for the 15th of July, 1874; the bonds were voted, but were never issued. The county board, having some doubt about the legality of the transaction, submitted the question on the 25th of July to E. A. Gerrard, of Columbus, attorney for the board of commissioners. Mr. Gerrard rendered an adverse opinion and the project had to be given up. On February 16, 1875, a special election was held, by order of the county board, to vote bonds for the construction of bridges at three different places across the Elkhorn River. These bonds were defeated by a majority of 157 votes.

     The latter part of February, 1875, the citizens of Neligh held a meeting and decided to bridge the Elkhorn at that place, the funds to be obtained by subscriptions of labor, money, and material. A subscription was at once started and about everybody in Neligh and vicinity signed it. The following quotation is from a memorandum found among Mr. Lambert's papers:

      "After a sufficient subscription had been obtained to justify the commencement (139) of the enterprise, W. C. Gallaway and Company drove the piling while the ice was yet on the river, and quite a large amount of work was done by several parties who subscribed, when the work came to a halt, owing to the funds being exhausted. In July following W. C. Gallaway and Company finished the work at their own expense. This was the first bridge erected across the Elkhorn River in Antelope County, being also the first one west of Norfolk." This bridge was made entirely of home material and without cost to the county.

     On the 6th of January, 1876, R. G. King and others filed a petition with the county board for a bridge across the Elkhorn at Snider's ford, in Twin Grove precinct. Snider's ford was near the south line of the southeast quarter of section 6, in Burnett township. The petition was granted, the board providing that three fourths of the road levy in road districts Nos. 1 and 2, for the years 1874 and 1875, could be used for that purpose. The work of building the bridge was to be left to the oversight of the road supervisors of these districts. The board also granted aid from the county to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars with a proviso that the warrants should not be expended for less than seventy-five cents on the dollar. The remaining expense for building the bridge was to be paid by private subscriptions. The piling for this bridge was all hauled from the pine timber found along the banks of Long Pine Creek, in what is now Brown County, Nebraska. The other timbers and the plank were cut from the timber growing along the Elkhorn and Cedar creek.

     In October, 1881, a bridge was completed over the Elkhorn on the county line between Antelope and Madison counties, Antelope County bearing four hundred dollars of the expense. On June 18, 1883, the committee on bridges reported that the iron bridge across the Elkhorn, on road 48, near Clearwater, had been completed according to contract, and the bridge was accordingly accepted. Thus bridges had been built over the Elkhorn in four of the most convenient places in the county, but it took almost thirteen years from the first settlement of the county to accomplish it. 

§The record showing the formation of Valley precinct was destroyed by fire at the burning of the court-house, but the record showing when it was discontinued is clear.