IT WAS midsummer in the year 1904. The author found himself aboard an "accommodation" train on the Burlington running between Palmer and Burwell. For hours had the puffing engine been jerking and jolting the creaking cars through deep cuts in the grotesque hills of Greeley county. A thunder-storm was passing overhead. This was the last cut: then came the down-grade. And that meant that we were about to enter the North Loup Valley. A sudden careening around a steep curve and the first glimpse of the Valley is caught. Wonderful! Beautiful! The, angry thunder-cloud has passed by and only scattered drops are falling, glistening in the sudden burst of sunlight. A few puffs of cloud by contrast give life to the deep blue afternoon sky. Right before us the bluff chain is broken, and we gaze through the beautiful natural gap to the far-stretching panorama beyond. Through a fringe of gnarled, dark green scrub-oak the eye seeks the landscape just beyond--a vista of river valley, reaching out some four or five miles in width. Through it winds like a silver chord, the clear, low-banked North Loup river. Broad acres of waving corn, just bursting into tassle; golden squares of wheat and oats in shock, and stack. Well-built farm houses surrounded by orchards and groves of shade-tree, stud the beautiful expanse everywhere. On all sides are manifest signs of thrift. Ah! this is indeed "God's Country." The magic wand of enterprise has already out-stripped the words of the poet who sings:

     Indeed it has been shaping swiftly. Thirty-three years ago saw the first furrow broken, and now this thronging humanity, this throbbing life and thrift!

     Years ago--a quarter century past--the author, then a little chap, herding cattle in the valley above Ord, according to his daily wont, had retreated (58) to a shady nook on the batik of the river, while his charges were left to shift for themselves. And well they might. for was not the prairies theirs for miles around! He was dreaming all enrapt in the charm of the virgin prairie--dreaming of things yet to be. As he lay there seeing visions and listening to the gurgling eddying waters swishing by he could almost

     And they came, those pioneers, and they are silently leaving us again passing away to the realm beyond. And the great human sea is rolling, wave upon wave, over the prairie, first trodden by them, obliterating their footprints, making this a new land, almost strange to the first comer. They endured much, those pathfinders, for us their children, that we might reap the fruits of their industry and toil. And shall we thus repay them by leaving the history they made unsaid, unsung? No! a thousand times no! Let it be taken down that the generations yet unborn may know at what a cost the way was paved. How they suffered and toiled and even died that the trail of the Loup might be opened. And now where and what is the North Loup Valley--this much praised garden spot of Nebraska! Let us answer this query at once. By the North Loup Valley or region, as here understood, is meant all that portion of this drainage system included in Loup, Garfield, Valley, Greeley and Howard counties, linked into one commonality by one common history, by mutual ties of friendship and good will, cemented at the time of first settlement, which have drawn these political communities into a bonded union strong enough to disregard mere artificial boundary lines set up by law of government. It includes, on the rough, the Taylor-Kent district in Loup county, the Burwell-Willow Springs lowland in Garfield county, all of Valley county, the Scotia district of Greeley county, and the Cotesfield district in Howard county. In other words it includes not merely those communities which have a history in common but virtually all the really fertile, valuable lands drained by the North Loup river and sections from the Middle Loup as well.

     The most important of all this region is the river valley. Here we find a fine alluvial floodplain, usually marked by two terraces, the upper bench so well adapted to all agricultural purposes, and the "bottoms" chiefly important for their rank growth of forage grasses. The valley, in places, reaches a width of almost six miles, and then again, in its upper course, dwindles down to a few yards. Geologically almost the entire region belongs to the Champlain Period of the Quaternary Age. The mighty rolling or abruptly jutting hills, everywhere flanking the river basin, are composed almost exclusively of the wonderfully loess clays characteristic of that period. As this clay is inexhaustible in its fertility, even the steepest hills may be cultivated year after year without the aid of artificial fertilizers. The upper part of the region only belongs to another and more ancient period--the Pliocene. Portions of Loup and Garfield counties (59) and a few square miles in northeastern Valley county are encroached upon by the great Pliocene Sand Hills. This part of our Valley is therefore more properly a grazing district. To get a more definite idea of its topography, let the reader study carefully the maps of Loup and Garfield counties given elsewhere in the book. The North Loup river rises among a cluster of small lakes in western Cherry county, just east of the 101st meridian and about 50 miles from the north line of the state. Some twenty or more lakes comprise this group. And a more beautiful region can hardly be imagined. Some of the lakes are crystal clear, with pebbly bottoms. All nestle in the sandhills, but they are immediately surrounded by grass plots of remarkable richness. Out of them flows the river at first a mere

silver thread, making its way by tortuous windings through the hills, which in the upper course approach almost to the river brink. After it enters Loup county the valley becomes well defined, though at first narrow and of a sandy consistency. By degrees, however, an alluvial soil appears, which becomes deeper and richer as Garfield county is approached. The stream itself is. shallow and bounded by low, usually treeless banks. Small islands, often coveted with a dense growth of cottonwood, boxelders, ash, and thickets of wild plums and choke cherries, dot the rippling, eddying stream, and add much to a scenery which might otherwise become a little monotonous. The river bottom is, for the most part, fine shifting sand, but compact enough to make fording by heavy wagons perfectly safe (60) The river sands are, as far as we can ascertain, of Pliocene origin. It should be added, though, that in places these beds have been worn through and the underlying Miocene sandstones laid bare. A most remarkable instance of this water activity is seen in the falls of the North Loup in the sand hill region. Here the river suddenly tumbles over a sandstone ledge 12 feet high and almost 50 feet wide, forming quite a romantic fall, and indeed the second largest in the state. At Burwell, in Garfield county the North Loup receives its only important tributary, the Calamus. This beautiful, clear stream drains a large section of the sand hills and is remarkable for the numberless springs that everywhere well up from its bottom.

     The sand hills cover hundreds of miles lying north of the Loup and even encroach greatly upon its upper drainage. They must have originated, as pointed out in Chapter 1, from a disintegration of young and poorly consolidated Miocene and, more particularly, Pliocene rocks.

     Before the advent of white man the hills were not so stable as now.

     The vast herds of buffalo which used to roam here, trampled the grasses and loosened the sand exposing it to wind and weather, thereby causing a perpetual shifting in surface. Then too, the great prairie fires which in bygone years annually laid the surface bare and destroyed a very important fertilizing debris, are now much more infrequent and may soon be a thing of the past. Within the memory of the oldest settler important changes have taken place in the once decried sand hills. Now they are completely grassed over and are coming to be recognized as some of the most important grazing and alfalfa, lands in the state.

     An impetus was given to the settlement of the sand hills when in the (61) summer of 1904, the so-called Kinkaid Law went into effect. Under this act any bona fide settler in this region may homestead as many as four quarter sections of land where previously one quarter section was the limit allowed any one homesteader. The wisdom of the law is already manifest in the great increase in actual settlers during the first year after its passage.

     To the northeast of the river, covering a few square miles in Valley county and extending into Garfield county, lie the "Sand Flats." This weird tract has always been of absorbing interest to the writer. As one drives along over its undulating surface, abrupt bluffs rise out of the distance, encompassing the whole area. It appears for everything in

the world like an immense amphitheatre. The bluffs along the horizon, many of them, rise in steps much like the tiered Roman theatres. There cannot be the least doubt as to the origin of this strange land formation. It represents the bottom of a lake, drained out almost within historic times. Drifting sands have then blown over the lake bed and given to it the present undulating surface.

     South of the sand hills Valley county is a mighty, wavy loess plain pierced diagonally by the flood trough of the North Loup River, which divides the county into two unequal triangles. The hill lands to the northeast have a southward trend and drain through a series of small creeks (62) into the river. The Middle Loup River cuts across the southwest corner of the county. whence it runs parallel with the north fork till the two unite in Howard county. The uplands between the two streams in Valley county form a rolling plateau and drain partly into the North Loup, partly into the Middle Loup. The soil is highly fertile and almost every foot of ground may be tilled.

     It is interesting to note that the three forks of the Loup, which after uniting to form one stream, meandering along for a hundred miles parallel to the Platte before pouring their waters into the latter, flowed at one time as three separate streams and emptied as such into the Platte. "Later, the stronger Platte, while building up a bed some 300 feet thick, obstructed the flow of the Loup by throwing sandbars across their mouths, and thus forced them to shift their courses, eastward or down the Platte valley to find a new and united outlet over the steadily rising barrier of sand."

     The following description of Valley county townships is taken from the Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, Lincoln, 1902, and gives in the main a fair estimate of our soil:

     By far the larger fraction of lands in the Loup Valley is fertile though here and there right in the heart of the best loess and alluvial soils are found unproductive alkali spots. These are, it is true, less frequent and smaller in our part of the state than in many other localities. (63)

     They appear usually in tablelands and lowlands having poor drainage. The standing water escapes by evaporation and the saline compounds, found in all water, are left behind. An analysis of the white, brine-like substance gathered on the surface of such spots will usually contain a large proportion of soda compounds, with an occasional excess of lime, potash or magnesia. Alkali lands should be kept well plowed, and, be given artificial drainage if at all possible. Careful tests have proven that wheat rapidly

consumes the alkali. A few crops of this cereal on alkali grounds is known to have made the latter well adapted for other grains.

     Thirty-five years ago the Valley was preparing for the advent of the pioneer. Before this an occasional pathfinder had hunted and trapped along its water-courses; but the Sioux war which dragged along and hardly came to an end before the close of the sixties made such expeditions (64) extremely hazardous, and kept all but the most foolhardy away. Now, however the war was closed and the trapper set his face in earnest northward, intent on making the beautiful valley his home. And close upon his trail followed the pioneer farmer, the maker of the valley. But here let us pause again to picture the virgin soil as it must have appeared to the first comer, with its flora and fauna.

     A luxuriant growth of wild grasses covered hill and valley, all untouched by the plow. Myriad wild flowers in their season helped to give color to the landscape. A heavy growth of hard and soft wood trees then covered the river islands much the same, as in our day. The really important forest growth of those times was the cedar canyons, now long ago despoiled of their giant cedars and pines. The most extensive of these were found on the north side of the river between Fort Hartsuff and Willow Springs, although well-timbered canyons were found on both sides of the river as far up as Taylor, in Loup county. East of the Forks of the Loup and Calamus grew an abundance of the Western Yellow Pine (Pinus Ponderosa), a remnant of the great fir forests which at one time covered much of the sandhill region, and which may again under government care be made to flourish, there. The cedar canyon especially celebrated was "Jones' Canyon" in the immediate vicinity of Willow Springs, known to settlers for many miles up and down the valley. The canyons were usually deep rifts in the hills, running more or less at right angles to the river plain, with sides so steep and broken as to form an adequate protection against the annually recurring prairie fires. Here a splendid growth of evergreens flourished. The red cedar (Juniperus Virginianus) was the most important for all purposes. Out of them the best dwellings in the settlements were erected; and so sought after were they that settlers would come from two and three days' journey to get the coveted timber. During the early days, when the grasshoppers ravaged the crop; leaving the settlers to stare starvation in the face, this logging industry became their salvation. Great oxloads of cedars were carted all the way to Grand Island, a distance of fully eighty miles, and sold to the Union Pacific Railway Company.

     Three of the most valuable native grasses, growing on the Loup in the early days, were the sorghum grass Sorghum nutans), the blue joint (Andropoaon furcatus), and the buffalo grass (Buchlae dactyloides). Of these all but the latter yet flourish and form the bulk of all our wild forage grasses. The sorghum grass is by many experts picked as Nebraska's most nutritious native grass. In early springtime it is not easy to distinguish it from, bluejoint when, however its russet like spikelets in a compact panicle make their appearance, all danger of such mistakes disappear. It is very hardy and if cut just before frost, makes splendid hay. Blue joint grows ranker than the foregoing, the stem when full grown is from four to five feet high and is surmounted by a cluster of four to six straight, rigid and hairy spikes, from three to five inches long, and of a purple color. (65)

     The famous buffalo grass once grew over the whole region between the Missouri and the mountains. It formed the chief food of the buffalo and has ever been favorite with all kinds of domestic stock. This nutritious grass, too well known to need description, is curiously enough rapidly

disappearing from the plains, and is in our state threatened with total extinction. In the Loup valley where it used to be so abundant now only isolated patches are found and these in depressions and alkali spots. Many theories have been advanced to explain this disappearance, occurring as (66) it did contemporaneously with that of the buffalo. The most common sense explanation seems to be "that change of climate, especially increase of rainfall, had most to do with this phenomenon."

     The Loup was formerly a veritable paradise for game and carnivorous beasts. The monarch of all the game roaming here was the bison (Bos Americanus), popularly known as the buffalo. Almost incredible stories are told by early settlers and freighters across the plains about the size of herds they so often encountered. Thus we hear of "Buffalo Bill" estimating a certain herd at 500,000. By 1872 the large herds had already left the valley of the Loup. Bands from half a dozen to a score continued to roam in Garfield and Loup counties for several years longer. As late as the summer of 1874 Charles Post and his brothers killed some fine specimens on Pebble Creek, and even in 1875 James Barr found a last straggler, dead in a wallow near "The Forks." They had for some time been drifting over onto the Middle Loup, soon to disappear altogether. For years skulls, with fairly well preserved horns, could be found on the prairie and in many an old time home may they yet be seen, adorning some mantel piece or wall.

     Great herds of elk (Cervus caInadensis) frequented the Loup for years after its settlement and were a source of much highly valued food. They usually kept to the hills, but would occasionally enter the valley. Mira valley, with its surrounding hills, seemed to be their most favorite haunt. Two old timers Truman Freeland and A. R. Harper, state that on one occasion they counted fully 500 in one herd grazing in that valley, with many smaller bands scattered over the hillsides. Again we are told that while Fort Hartsuff was being erected away back in 1875, one day a fine herd estimated at at least 300 poured out of, the hills on the opposite side of the river, near where Elyria now stands, and sought the bottoms at the water's edge. All work on the fortifications immediately ceased as the workers to the last man threw down pick and shovel to seize the rifle instead. In the pine groves at "The Forks" the elk held out the longest, Alex Draver slaying the last one there in the winter of 1882. It was not an uncommon thing in those days to see tame elk and deer grazing peacefully about the dooryard of some homestead.

     The pronghorn antelope (Antilocapera Americana) was very common. Herds of from 20 to 100 of these graceful animals were common sights along the hill ranges. Their natural curiosity made them an easy prey for the early hunter and they passed from the valley about the same time that did the elk. Three species of, deer were formerly found here. These were the common red deer (Cervus virginianus), the white tailed deer (C. leucrus). and the black tailed deer (C. columbianus). 1885 saw the last deer in the valley proper. At that time they sought the less frequented sand hills to the north, where they were hunted for some years. Even in our day an occasional deer may be shot on the Calamus or in the lake country. The writer had the good fortune to see several excellent specimens on the reed grown banks of Dad's Lake as late as 1893. (68)

     Bears were never plentiful in our state, the Niobrara country alone being their natural haunt. In 1875, however, it appears that one had wandered far to the south of his native wilds, for in that year William Pierson killed a large silvertipped bear (Ursus Americanus) between the North Loup River and Brush Lake.

     Of carnivorous beasts several species of timber wolves skulked about in the wooded canyons, and the night on the prairie was often made hideous with the yelp of the prairie wolf, or coyote. A few lynxes and wild cats were shot in the timber lands. Such valuable fur bearing animals as the beaver, otter, mink and marten were numerous. Raccoons and badgers yet survive. Opossums, while more at home farther south, have been

found on the Calamus and the upper Loup. Polecats and skunks, prairie dogs and ground squirrels of many species have always been with us. Gallinaclous birds were represented by four species, and of those only three now remain. Of these the wild turkey has been seen only a few times in our section, and that long ago. The sharp tailed grouse were very numerous at one time but are now much reduced in numbers. The prairie chicken and quail arrived in the settlements with the first crops and have been with us in goodly numbers ever since. The enforcement of stringent game laws has made both of these birds, and especially the industrious and useful little quail or "Bob White" very plentiful.

     Answerine birds are represented in many species of ducks, geese and brants. Wading birds, such as the king plover, the piper and the gray snipe, are abundant in the lowlands while the shrill call of the long billed (69) curlew is still heard in the sand hills. Numerous songsters, piscarian birds, and birds of prey of many species make the valley their home in season. Of reptiles and saurians various turtles and lizards are represented. Of snakea, the black snake, the garter snake, the bull snake and the prairie rattlesnake have been common. Of these the latter has now fortunately become practically extinct. Many species of edible fish have ever been abundant in our water courses. Much other animal life, altogether too numerous to dwell upon here, filled land and water and air when the first settler arrived.

     Hill and valley were inviting and rich with an almost profligate abundance of natural wealth. Nature awaited only the hand of civilized man to turn it all to practical uses. And he was coming. The forerunners were already in the Valley.

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