WHILE we have been telling the story of the North Loup, the Middle Loup in Valley county and its history has not for a moment been lost sight of. It was indeed purposely held back for the present chapter in as much as this part of the work really forms its own unit whole.

     For the beginnings of the Middle Loup settlement it becomes necessary to go back to the spring of 1873, when the pioneers arrived. First came one George McKellar, together with his father and mother. He settled a claim which later has been known as the John Wall farm near Arcadia. Mr. McKellar was a man of irascible temperament. When under the influence of liquor he was positively dangerous. To him belongs the unenviable notoriety of having been the first person tried in Valley county on a criminal charge. Porter Brown and family arrived from Louisa county Iowa, during the early days of April, '73. He had just reached the protecting woods on Hawthorne Creek when the terrible storm of April 13 broke. As good fortune would have it shelter was found in a trapper's cabin, which alone saved him and his devoted family from certain death. Porter Brown entered a claim near the present townsite of Arcadia.

     During the summer of '73 the "yellows" were more than usually destructive in the fruit sections of Michigan. They came to Berrian county and there ruined the peach-orchards of Mingerson Coombs, who in despair left the Wolverine State to seek his fortune in the West. Thus it came about that "Ming." Coombs arrived on the Middle Loup early in September. He immediately took a homestead and a timberclaim, lying respectively two and three miles from the present-day Arcadia. About this same time a widower by the name of W. H. Fradenburg arrived and took a claim two miles east of Arcadia. Alonzo Fradenburg with family (149) was the fifth settler to come into the settlement. Next spring came Samuel A. Hawthorne with family, and settled near the present townsite. It fell to the lot of Boone Hawthorne to settle where Arcadia now stands.

     To narrate in full the story of these first comers would in reality be to retell the narrative of the North Loup settlements. There was the building of suitable dwelling-places, and the hauling of red cedar logs to older settlements. Corn was planted, and then came the locusts in great swarms destroying every vestige of planted things. When the Indian scares fell upon the North Loup Valley, the Middle Loup was affected also. A stockade was erected on W. H. Fradenburg's farm whither the settlers might congregate at the first intimation of danger. Fortunately, however, the settlers were not troubled by hostile bands. Several times much excitement was caused by the approach of begging Pawnees, who, as some of the settlers will have cause never to forget, were mistaken for the terrible Sioux.

     At first the settlement was practically isolated from the outer world. At length in 1874, a post office was opened on Samuel A. Hawthorne's place, and mail was then brought in from Loup City twice a week. When it came to the matter of naming the post oflice all were united in calling it "Brownville" in honor of Porter Brown, who was considered the real father of the settlement, George McKellar having been eliminated from consideration through his own misdeeds. It soon appeared, however, that there was already one Brownville in the State; then the present euphoneous name--Arcadia--was adopted.

     Arcadia has from the earliest time been noted for her interest in education. The colonists had no sooner become settled in their now home than they determined to open a school for the education of their children. A teacher was found in the person of Mingerson Coombs, and the sod house of Boone Hawthorne furnished the necessary school-quarters. Here then was the school taught. Seven children, all told, assembled daily from the sod-shanties scattered up and down the valley, and here was laid the foundations to the learning of many men who are making the history of Arcadia today.

     But soon there arose a cry for better accommodations for holding School. Why not issue bonds and build a structure worthy of the community? Thus argued one Ingersoll from Loup City, and he found a willing tool and coworker in George McKellar, who together with Samuel Hawthorne comprised the school-board.

     It was proposed to vote bonds in the sum of $4000.00 which Ingersoll was ready to accept in lieu of cash, provided of course that the contract be given him. A hurried election was held and the bonds were declared carried. But the proceedings were soon found illegal, as it was quite apparant that the notice provided for by law had not been given. A second election was ordered, and again, after some "strenuous" work on the part of McKellar chiefly the bonds carried by a small majority.

     The sum called for was now $8,000.00. Ingersoll got the bonds and (150) the contract for the school house, the site chosen was about one mile east of the present town. Here the work of erection was commenced . The framework was actually raised but that was as far as the work ever proceeded. Ingersoll left for parts unknown and the new community was left wiser though poorer for their experience.

    
       Much bad blood was engendered as a result of this fiasco. Staunch Samuel Hawthorne had bitterly opposed the bond deal, and as a result had trouble with George McKellar, who was arrested on a charge of assault and battery. The prisoner was carried overland to Peter Mortensen's dugout, three miles north of Ord, and there for the first time in the history of Valley county was a man tried on a criminal charge. Orson S. Haskell presided as judge and after a careful hearing and much deliberation, fined the defendant a good round sum of money, and then let him go with an admonition to keep the peace or worse things would befall.

     It may not be altogether out of place here to follow out the checkered career of this George McKellar, the first settler of the Middle Loup. He, as we have said, was ever quarrelsome, and this was particularly true when he was in his cups. It appears that he had fallen out with a man named Chapman, who lived across the line in Sherman county, about a pig. In February, 1877, the two chanced to Meet in Loup City, when McKellar was very much under the influence of liquor. Chapman went into a grocery store there to purchase some tea, and as he came out, was shot by McKellar and fatally wounded. A surgeon was called but the victim died within forty-eight hours. Immediately after the murder, McKellar coolly saddled his horse and rode away, while the men who stood about did not attempt to stop him, as they were waiting for the sheriff to procure a warrant for his arrest. After the escape followed a week of excitement in pursuit of the criminal. A reward of $500.00 was offered for his arrest. After a week, however, he was brought to Loup City, by his own father and given up. He was then placed in jail and securely guarded until the time of his trial in April. He was found guilty and sentenced to the State penitentiary for life. Here, we are told, he was shot and killed by a guard some years ago, while attempting to escape. Thus ends the life story of George McKellar, the first settler on the Middle Loup in Valley county.

     The story of the Middle Loup in Valley county is of late years centered in the rise of Arcadia. The first postoffice it will be remembered was established on the homestead of Samuel A. Hawthorne, a short distance from the present townsite. For some years no move was made to build a town. The settlers made Loup City and St. Paul their trading points. This seems a long distance for us now to go to dispose of one's butter and eggs and to get groceries in return; but in early days the inconvenience of the thing (151) .was not taken into consideration, and then, too, all in all considered, time was not so valuable as now.

In 1880 there came up the Middle Loup a man, every inch of him a practical business man-this was John Wall, today known as one of the grittiest and most successful lawyers and business men in his part of the state. It struck him forcibly that the lands adjacent to the river bottom and Hawthorne Creek would make an ideal site for a town. The valley was fast filling up with settlers now and the railroad was bound soon to follow upon their trail. So why not stake out a town and become its founder! The project soon took form and Boone Hawthorne's homestead was chosen for the original townsite. While the beginnings were made in 1882 the town was not properly platted till some three years later. The plat was put on record, Oct. 3, 1885, and shows that Parley Round, Alice Round, John Wall and Isabella Wall were all associated in the new enterprise.

     The first store in town was a general merchandise establishment, operated by Ed. Fuller. W. B. Reynolds soon afterwards opened a hardware store. Then came W. S. Owens with a harness shop and George Hastings with another general merchandise store, The Landers Block and the first good hotel were erected and Mrs. Sylvina Gilchrist moved the postoffice to town from her farm one and a half miles out from the new site. These business places were practically all the accessions that the town could boast for several years. But the last half of the decade 1880-190 saw substantial additions made to Arcadia, both in the business quarter and the residence portion of the town. Then came that season of disasters, 1890-'91.

     In the fall of this year the very heart was burned out of the business street. Some eight leading firms were put out of business, several of them never to reopen. To this day the scars of the conflagration can plainly be seen. And now right on the heels of the first calamity came the first dry season and Arcadia naturally enough came to an absolute standstill. From 1891 to 1896 and even later the young town saw some
distressing times. Many of the population became absolutely disheartened and pulled stakes and left the country. A number of houses were actually moved from town and transformed into farm dwellings. Arcadia was on the retrograde. But this is only telling over again the story of every other town in the Valley.

     By 1900 the rallying point had been reached. The population was then 350. In 1902 it reached 374, and in 1905 it has increased to nearly 700. Modern dwelling houses are

springing up in every part of town. John Wall has (152) lately completed a fine brick business house to take the place of the one destroyed by fire some time ago, entailing a net loss of $25,000; an up-to-date Odd Fellows' Hall is under construction and ground has been broken for the new Kinsey bank building. Substantial cement walks are rapidly supplanting the old wooden structures; beautiful shade trees and well kept lawns begin to mark a prosperous, growing community.

     The Arcadia Champion sets forth the year's growth in the following language:

     This foots $30,300. Comment is unnecessary. Bring on your improvements, you towns.

And again a week later:

     Besides the sum of nearly $35,000 that is being spent in new buildings in this city this year, the following sums have been expended in building additions to buildings already here:

      Besides this there have been cement sidewalks built by Hastings, Raish, Boyce, Cooper Bros. and Landers at a cost of about $40 each. This adds $4,000 more to the amount spent in improvements this year, which (153) added to the $35,900 as shown in the Champion of last week makes a total of over $39,000 spent in improvements in this city this year.

     A chronicle of the Middle Loup Valley would not be complete without a passing glance at Lee's Park, lying some five miles southwest from Arcadia. The "Park" is a beautiful valley lying on the border line of Valley and Custer counties, right between the Middle Loup river and Clear Creek. It is surrounded with hills and unfolds itself in many gentle undulations. This remarkable valley, containing some 4--5000 acres, is one of the choicest farming and fruit raising regions in the entire state. The soil is a rich, dark loam, capable of withstanding almost any amount of dry weather.

     The valley takes its name from the first settler, James Lee, who reached the hills overlooking it in September, 1874. The wild beauty of the scene struck a romantic chord in this pioneer's breast, who immediately selected a choice spot at the center of the valley and squatted there. In '75 he pre-empted one quarter and entered an adjoining quarter as a timber claim. Thus settlement was begun.

     Mr. J. L. H. Knight, one of the enterprising stock raisers and farmers of Lee's Park, may here be allowed to take up the thread of the story. He says: "Mr. Lee kept bachelor's hall in a sod house, and began to subdue the native soil. He evidently succeeded, as his first wheat crop of one acre testified. He obtained from it forty bushels of wheat, which is supposed to be the largest yield ever raised in the park. The following spring he continued his operations on the farm, and planted some trees on his timber claim, but the grasshoppers again found him, and ate up his corn crop, and also all of his small trees. During these years, as hunters and adventurers passed through, they occasionally stopped at the bachelor's sod mansion, and the fact of his being the only settler, and working with his trees on his (154) timber claim, caused the travelers to name the valley "Lee's Park." Here then this settler dwelt, year after year, in solitude-farming, planting trees, and doing his sewing, cooking and washing. He tried to get others to locate, but no one volunteered. Nearly four years had passed by, and his courage, which had remained firm for years, began to wane, and he at last decided to leave his beautiful half section of land.

     "About this time, however, Frank Wright offered to locate in the park, providing Mr. Lee surrendered to him his pre-emption, on which was his house and well. This Mr. Lee agreed to do, and soon after, Mr. Wright started to claim his new possessions. On his way he fell in with some land seekers who seemed to be headed for Lee's Park, so they went together and on arriving at Mr. Lee's, Wright asked for the papers, which were immediately surrendered. Soon on after, however, this Mr. Wright sold the place for $25 to F. E. Morrison. These land lookers were William and Joseph Murray, who, in February, 1878, took claims in the park, and their families arrived in May the same year. Soon after this, in March, Benjamin Knight located in the Park and returned to his Wisconsin home to claim the hand of his "best girl," and together they journeyed to their frontier home. From this time on, settlers flocked in rapidly, and James Lee, no longer alone, decided not to leave. His pre-emption right, however, being gone, he proceeded to the extreme end of the park and filed on a 160-acre piece as a homestead, on the bank of the little stream afterwards known as "Lee's Creek."

     "In July Messrs. Overton, Chandler True, Jay Hamlin, George Hamlin, Jr., E. Stephens and William Vanalstine settled. In August, T. J. Johnson and Amos Smith; then followed Parish Freeman and his son Charles; William Hall, Joseph Peacock, and James Thompson. In 1879 Edward Knight, Phillip Lynch, James Wisely, N. Mehrhoff, Nelson Potter, Sam Minchell and Mr. Abel located here. In 1880, David and Archie Todd, F. E. Morrison, James Bradford, and Thomas, John and Sam Berridge arrived. Next year J. L. H. Knight settled permanently here with his father, Edward Knight, who had arrived two years prior to this.

     The early settlers of Lee's Park underwent many hardships and privations. Corn stalks and willows were the main reliance in those days for fuel. The mail service at first was not very good; for a while their postoffice was at Loup City, a distance of twenty-two miles; afterwards there was an office established at Wescott, which was twelve miles distant, but shortly it was arranged to have an office on Clear Creek, four miles west of the park. This was quickly followed in the fall of 1878 or '79 with Uncle Sam's locating one in Lee's Park.

     "During the fall of 1878, the first district school meeting was held in Lee's Park, which was then organized as Joint District No. 11, of Custer and Valley counties. This meeting was held at the house of Parish Freeman, and it was decided to build a sod school house, which was completed the following spring. During the summer of 1878, a Sunday School was organized with Benjamin Knight as superintendent. It was held from (155) house to house, and occasionally Father Cook, a Baptist minister living on the Middle Loup, came over and preached. After the schoolhouse was built the Sunday School and preaching was held there. This sod schoolhouse was occupied for years, until it was declared unsafe, when a sod building was rented of F. E. Morrison, to hold school in. During these years, the school district being large, and in two counties, caused much disagreement. Some wished it divided, while others wished it to remain as it was. Finally the south end was allowed to go off with District No. 91. This, however, did not settle the matter, and school meeting after school meeting was called, which finally resulted, in 1889, in dividing the district on the county line. The following summer, these districts built new frame schoolhouses, one in Custer county, and one in Valley county.

     "In April, 1884, the, town of Lee Park was laid out in Custer county on the town line, and the same year, the Lilly and Houder addition to Lee Park was laid out, adjoining the original town, and in Valley county, with the postoffice in Valley county. Then came quite a boom for the new town. A general merchandise store was built by Lilly & Houder, to which the postoffice was removed; then followed a blacksmith shop, a hotel, a wagon shop, and a feed stable. This little town was progressing finely when the B. & M. railroad concluded to outdo the U. P. railroad, and so built past Loup City, the terminus of the U. P. railroad, and stopped at Arcadia, five miles from Lee's Park. The little town held out for a while, but the railroad town of Arcadia took away its vitality, and after some struggles, the town of Lee Park was no more. All the buildings were torn down or removed, and an attempt was made to take away even the postoffice. The attempt was nearly, or quite successful, as the office was actually removed to Arcadia, but prompt action was taken by patrons of the office, and an order came for its return, only a day after its removal. The postoffice was afterwards removed from Valley county across the line into Custer county, where it still remains. The fact that originally the postoffice was in Valley county, and is now in Custer county, has caused some confusion as to the real location of Lee Park, some thinking it in Valley and some in Custer county. The name of the town and postoffice has also been confused with the name of the valley. Originally the postoffice had the same name as the valley, but Jay Hamlin, while postmaster, had the name of the office changed to Lee Park, consequently the name of the postoffice is Lee Park, and the name of the valley is Lee's Park.

     "The farmers of Lee's Park are honest and industrious, and are not of the shifting kind. Most of the old settlers are still residing here, and seem to have no idea of soon changing their location. This makes it difficult to purchase a farm in Lee's Park, and when one is sold, it is at good figures.

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