YORK COUNTY NEBRASKA
OLD SETTLER'S HISTORY

      (4) York County is situated in the center of the most beautiful, and when all conditions are, considered, the agricultural district to be found in the fertile and far-famed Nebraska.

     Measuring from the center of the county it is ninety-two and one-half miles to the Missouri river, and from the same point it is sixty miles to the Kansas state line, while the Platte river is thirty-three miles north and thirty-six miles west in a direct line.

     The county is as near the center of the-celebrated South Platte country as it is possible to locate the center of a section of country, the extent of which is so indefinite. The County is twenty-four miles square, and contains 575 (5) sections or 368,640 acres of land. Upon the "divides" or plateaus the surface of the country is very level and smooth, slightly undulating, and as one travels towards the streams, he finds the surface traversed by numerous ravines or  "draws," but very few of these are so deep or abrupt as to forbid of cultivation. They are a natural shelter for stock and in days gone by were the favorite feeding ground of the buffalo and elk. They produce the very best of wild native grasses, and are considered an advantage rather than a detriment. The faint outlines of the "buffalo paths" are still visible in many places and the appearance presented would indicate that immense herds once frequented these favorite haunts.

     The West Blue River traverses the southern edge of the county, running in a zig-zag course, the general direction being east and west. This stream furnishes excellent natural water-power, and there are now located upon it some of the best flouring mills in the State, three of which are in the limits of this county.

     Beaver Creek crosses the west line of the county near the center north and south and runs nearly due east about half way across it, when it turns southward and runs in a southeasterly direction until it meets the West Blue River, about one and a half miles east of the county line in Seward County.

     Lincoln Creek traverses the north half of the county from west to east and furnishes a number of good mill sites

     The Blue River, the least important of the four water courses, traverses the northwest portion. These streams are not "mighty rivers" but furnish abundant water for stock and drive machinery all the year round.

     They are skirted by a belt of timber, in some places very light, and heavier in others. The valleys formed by theirs are picturesque and very beautiful, in many localities almost enchanting.

     The soil throughout the entire county is uniformly rich and productive. The "divides" or uplands seem equally (6) productive and fertile as the bottom lands of the valley. Since the first settlements of the county an entire failure of crops has been unknown. There have been partial failures of one or more of the cereals, but there has always been a harvest, and after the first severe trials incident to the settlement of any new country leave been surmounted, the county has been more than self-supporting. There is a copious rainfall every year, and the soil and sub-soil are such that the earth is always moist just below the surface.

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