THE PEBBLE CREEK fight led the settlers to petition the National Government to establish an army post on the upper North Loup River. A mass meeting was called to meet at Willow Springs and a committee consisting of Melville B. Goodenow, John Case, E. D. McKenney, W. A. Harper and G. W. McAnulty were selected to bring the matter to the notice of Congress. The first step was to draw up a petition and place the same in the hands of Hon. Frank Welsh, who represented the congressional district of which the Loup country at that time formed a part. Congressman Welsh seems to have recognized the urgency of the case, as he lost no time about getting the bill through the Lower House of Congress. United States Senator Hitchcock piloted the same bill through the Senate. It called for the appropriation of $50,000 to be expended for the purpose of establishing a permanent military post near the head of settlement on the North Loup River. This appropriation was later increased to $75,000, but even this was increased. A fire in the partially completed structures swelled the eventual outlay to fully $110.000.

     The actual work of construction did not begin till September 1, 1874. Meanwhile Company C, 9th U. S. Infantry, Captain Samuel Munson commanding, came into the upper valley and forthwith allayed all fear of further Indian trouble. Later in the summer the old Civil War veteran Gen. E. O. C. Ord--after whom the city is named--arrived and with him came a corps of engineers who should help locate the fort. The site chosen had some strategic importance, and was not far from the excellent gravel beds on Gravel Creek and but a short distance from the Clifton and Jones Canyons, which furnished the bulk of the timber needed in the construction of the several buildings.

     The building of the fort in the fall of '74 was a most fortunate event in the history of the Valley. The swarms of locusts had earlier in the season destroyed every vestige of crops, and starvation actually stared the settlers in the face. (131)

     But just in the nick of time came the fort and with it an abundance of work at good wages for every man who cared to take it.

     The buildings were to be constructed from concrete of gravel and cement. This called for a great deal of hauling. There were the sand and gravel to be moved from the pits four miles south of the fort, and the timber to be cut and drawn from the canyons eight miles north. The lime was to be carted from the kilns on "Dr. Beebe's" ranch forty miles down (132) the river, and every sack of cement and all the finishing lumber came from Grand Island, eighty miles by road.

     Every team for miles up and down the river was requisitioned and every man and boy who could wield a shovel 

was given something to do. Indeed, settlers came all the way from the Platte River country and from the Middle Loup to seek work. A saw mill was erected near the site of the fort. Here all the rough timber for use in roofs and floors was prepared.

     In one way only did the erection of the fort work ruin to the valley. (133) Through the wholesale destruction wrought in the cedar canyons. "The Jones Canyon," says Truman Freeland, "which is now a dreary waste of broken cliffs and naked ravines with scarcely a bush ten feet high, was then heavily timbered; the tall graceful pines stood by the thousands on the hillsides, while the cedars grew so close together in the canyons that a team and wagon could with difficulty make a way through them. Tall cottonwoods, three and four feet in diameter, were found here and there along the canyon Boxelder, hackberry, ash and elm were also in abundance and in places on section eight there towered fine groves of poplars.

     "This evergreen forest" he continues, "was the haunt of thousands of bright plumaged birds, and the shelter from the bitter winds of the surrounding prairie for hundreds of deer and other game-animals, and bore not the mark of a single stroke from the woodman's axe in 1871." But now,--what a desolation!

     Fort Hartsuff was a fort in name only; it comprised a number of officers' quarters, barracks for the privates, commisary buildings, stables, and other structures arranged in a hollow square. The only defensible part of the fort was the waterworks, which lay on the hills back of the officers' quarters. This was protected by a circular stockade, accessible from the fort by an underground passage. This stockade which might well have remained a lasting memorial of the pioneer days was some years back ruthlessly destroyed and sold as old lumber. The completion of the first buildings in December, '74 was celebrated with a grand ball to which the entire country side was invited. Everybody was proud of Fort Hartsuff. Indeed it was from the first considered by officers and men alike, the prettiest and in every way the most desirable station in the Department of the Platte.

     Captain S. Munson was the first commander of the new fort. His Company was relieved April 14, 1875 by Company A 23rd Infantry, under the command of Capt. John J. Coppinger, a son-in-law of the statesmen James G. Blaine. A further change was made in December, 1876, when Company K, 14th Infantry, under Captain Carpenter, came to garrison the post. Finally, in November, 1878, Captain Munson again assumed command, which he retained until the fort was abandoned in May, 1881.

     At the close of the Sioux War of '76 the broken remnants of the warring tribes were settled upon their reservations in the two Dakotas, and since that time they have never been much of a menace to Nebraska settlers. The Pawnees had already been removed to their new home in Oklahoma. It thus came about that Fort Hartsuff early outlived its usefulness as a defense against the old-troublers of the valley, and it was accordingly discontinued as an army post.

     Its later history is quite prosaic. The buildings, erected at such great cost to the government, were sold in July, 1881, to the Union Pacific Railway Company for the paltry sum of $5000.

     The reservation, comprising two sections, was sold later, at public auction, and purchased by Peter Mortensen, Ed Mitchell, and Mrs. J. L. (134) McDonough of Ord. It is now used as a stock ranch by Collison Brothers and Lindquist.

     Life at Fort Hartsuff was such as one usually finds at the American frontier post. There was the usual routine of drill and guard-mount, of scouting trip and hunt; the same old round of balls and gaming and idleness--a life which unfortunately too often has lead to vicious living in one form or another. Our fort was no exception to this rule, and a certain looseness is yet to be marked in a few families of 

the old campfollowers, which remained in the vicinity where the post was abandoned. This should not, however, be taken as a reflection on the many good citizens of Valley, Garfield and neighboring counties, who were directly or indirectly identified with the fort. It is of interest to note that Joe Capron, the prosperous Ord real estate dealer, was quartermaster's clerk at the fort from 1878 to '81, (135) while George Clement of Mira Valley was one of the government contractors who built the fort. Hon. Judge Norris, who now holds high office in the Philippine service was 2nd Lieutenant in Company K. Ed. Satterlee, for many years proprietor of the Satterlee House, and Arthur Schaefer whose business career in Valley county ended so sadly some years back, were both members of Company K. John Luke of Ord held the position as musician in Company A., and George McAnulty of Scotia was a member of Company C.

"Please keep in mind that I do not know anything about the areas covered on any of the maps or historical books I scan in for your benefit,
not who lived there or commercial info, so please try searching the net or check out ... http://www.Cyndislist.com "