EARLY HISTORY OF FRONTIER COUNTY NEBRASKA

EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE
OF
FRONTIER COUNTY
NEBRASKA

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF
FRONTIER COUNTY

By A Subscriber

The history of the development of any county will show that its growth and prosperity have not been realized at a single bound but year by year a little has been achieved. New resources have been discovered and developed, obstacle after obstacle has been met and overcome. Experiments have proven what kind of crops to sow, when is the proper time to sow, and what kind of cultivation is best suited to the soil and climate. Until these have been decided, a county must be considered in an experimental state.

The history of agriculture in this county dates much later than the organization. In 1883 the writer, in answer to a letter of inquiry concerning this county, received from Westgate, then county clerk, the following:

"Don't come to this county with a view to farming-a farmer would starve here. This is a good county in which to raise cattle."

Traveling over a large portion of the county in the fall of that year, I found that the settlers here were of the same opinion. No land was broken, no crops were planted, more than garden patches. All the talk was sheep, horses and cattle. All seemed to think that in this county this was the only means by which a living could be made. In proof of which, through the kindness of our county officers I have been able to submit to you these facts taken from the assessors' books of that year:

Number of taxpayers in the year 1883 was 331.

Valuation of personal property	$275,714.50
Valuation of real estate	24,773.50

Total	$300,488.00

(37) This assessment was made on a 25 per cent of cash value and shows that on an average each taxpayer would be rated at $3,450.00 on personal property, and about $320.00 each on real estate.

At this period the range had all the stock it could support, for it was depended on for both summer and winter. In 1884 there were three hundred forty-five children of school age, fourteen schools, seven teachers and four schoolhouses. In the autumn of 1883, the happy days of the stockmen began to wane. A new era began to dawn in Frontier County, and with the balmy springtime of 1884 came grangers of all races and previous conditions. They came in all conceivable conveyances, by ones and twos and in large flocks. They brought with them cows, pigs, farming implements, and their merry, joyous children, to help subdue the soil, to fill our schools and become useful citizens to our county and State. The granger had come to stay--God had made this land for him. Uncle Sam said he could have it, in 160 acre lots; and in the summer of 1885, when free range and herd law were voted for, by his vote he placed his seal on this county, making it henceforth an agricultural county.

He who has pushed out on the frontier, and has reclaimed the wilderness or the desert, has added to his county, his State, and his nation's wealth. He has also helped fill the world's storehouse with provisions, from the abundance of which its starving millions could be fed. The hope of the agricultural element of this county has been more than realized during the last decade. True, there have been two partial failures in crops; but in the remaining eight years, we have raised such crops that, taking the ten years on an average, we would be able to compete with any county in the State, on an acreage yield.

The soil of Frontier County is deep and exceedingly rich. Wheat, corn, oats, barley, flax and potatoes, in fact all the principal crops, grow here and make a large yield. Receiving such large crops has caused our farmers to become reckless about the preparation of the land and the care of the crop. I will make out a bill of expense showing the amount of labor required by the average farmer for seeding eighteen acres to spring wheat: sowing, one-half clay, man and team; cultivating, three days; dragging, one day. We have seen land that received about this amount of work yield from twenty to thirty bushels of wheat per acre.

The following is about a fair sample of planting and cultivating seven acres of corn: one day's listing, two days' cultivating; giving two and one-third acres of corn ready for shucking, for one (38) day's work for a man and a team. We have seen a field that had received just this, and no more, yield sixty-three bushels of corn per acre. This was an exceptional crop, and probably twenty bushels above the average of that year.

The above were given to show how large a crop can be grown in good seasons with a very small outlay of labor.

We believe that Nebraska is destined to outstrip its neighboring States, owing to its diversity of resources in agriculture. The sugar-beet industry, with or without legislative aid, will sooner or later become a leading industry of the State. The soil seems especially rich in those elements necessary for the growth of the sugar beet; and beets grown in this State have been tested, both in this country and in Germany, and have shown that Nebraska can produce beets as rich in saccharine matter as any country on the globe. In 1891 the State Agricultural Society offered a premium of $90.00 for the greatest number of tons of beets, showing the largest per cent of sugar, grown on one-fourth of an acre. Mrs. J. W. Gates of this county received the award.

Alfalfa is another crop that is rapidly gaining in favor in this county. It seems to be the forage plant we have so long needed--capable to stand drouth. The number of crops cut from it yearly, the largest yield per acre, and the excellent quality of the hay, bespeak for it a place on every farm in the county. East of us cattlemen fat their cattle on corn. West of as cattle are fatted on alfalfa hay. The feeders of this county will soon be able to fat their cattle on corn and alfalfa hay, both grown in the county. Shall we not then be able to compete with any locality on cheaply fed stock?