The
first settlement was made by Dr. B.
W. Shelley, now a resident of the county,
and one R. R. Cowan, who came
to
the present site of Niobrara, the county
seat, for the purpose of locating a
town.
Previous
to 1853 this portion of Nebraska, and
indeed all the country between the Platte
and Niobrara rivers, was claimed
by the Omaha Indians; but by a treaty
made in this year between the Omahas
and the United States, they relinquished
to the government all claim to the lands
lying between these rivers, save what
might be sufficient for a suitable
reservation.
The
Indians would appear by the terms of
the treaty, to have intended that part
of their old domain lying between Aaoway
Creek and the Niobrara for their reservation,
as by an article in the treaty this
section was expressly designated as
such, but with a shrewd proviso that
they might select some other under certain
conditions.
In
this year, 1853, the agent with the
chief men of the Omahas, without examining
the Niobrara country as directed by
the government, chose the Black Bird
Country, their present reservation,
as the permanent home for their tribe.
The
result of this change of the Omaha reservation,
confirmed by the government, was that
the country between Aaoway Creek
and the Niobrara river, reverted to
the United States subject to preemption
laws like other public lands.
But
no sooner had matters been definitely
settled with the Omahas than the Poncas
influenced, as it is claimed, by traders,
began
very strenuously to urge their claims
to this Niobrara country. They
warned the whites to keep off, and certain
white men
interested in trade with them did all
they could to create the impression
that this portion of Nebraska was not
open to settlement.
In
June, 1856, however, the gentlemen
above referred to, satisfied that the
Indian title to this country had been
extinguished, set
out to explore it. On arriving
at the west branch of Aaoway Creek,
at the sight of the present town of
Ponca, in Dixon
County, they found at the crossing of
the creek a post set in the ground with
a board nailed upon it, and on which
was
written the following warning:
Little
attention, however, was paid to this
warning, and the journey was continued
near enough the Missouri river to note
where the Niobrara poured its waters
into the former.
On
arriving on the Niobrara bottom a Ponca
Village was found. Antoine, one
of the present chiefs of the Poncas,
came out
and met these pioneers some distance
below the village and conducted them
into the presence of the head chiefs
Our
pioneers told the Indians that they
came to see their country, but came
as friends, and asked if they had any
objection to
their going up the Niobrara, to which
the Indians replied, "No objection."
They
proceeded as far as the second small
creek above Niobrara, accompanied by
three young braves, who had been sent
along by the chiefs. Here they
turned back and camped near where Joseph
Sedivy now lives.
Next
morning they came down the river until
they reached the timber near William
Lamont's place. Here the doctor
blazed
a willow tree and marked it the southwest
corner of their claim. They then returned
to the Ponca Village and told Michel
and Antoine what they had done, and
that their object was to locate claims
for themselves and a number of friends,
and that they
might as well be the first to come upon
their lands as anybody else.
Our
pioneers asked permission to lay a "foundation"
with logs down in the timber, which
the Indians readily granted.
After
laying their "foundation"
they returned down the river, and on
reaching Sioux City and Council Bluffs
they told some
friends what they had done, and asked
them to join in starting the town of
Niobrara.
A
company was then for the time formed
and called "L'eau qui-Court Company".
The company shortly afterward commenced
to make improvements, but this did not
please the Ponca Indians, who had already
been instigated by their old
friends, the French traders.
These
traders were the parties who originally
started the town of Kulo, in the southeastern
part of the State, and it was thought
desired the Niobrara country at this
time for their own use.
During
this winter of 1856-1857 all the houses
and improvements, except the "old
fort," in which the settlers at
that time had gone
for safety, were burned by the Indians.
Recourse
was also had to misrepresentations,
and urgent appeals to the commander
at Fort Randall. Colonel Lee, then commanding
there, represented in his orders that
they were sanctioned, or recommended,
by the then Governor of Nebraska
and other functionaries of the Territory,
which orders were peremptory to the
white residents of Niobrara to leave
the place forthwith, or he should be
obliged to coerce them as intruders
upon Indian lands.
This
combined attack of Indians, speculators,
and men of different ranks, grades and
stations, powerful as it may seem, was
successfully resisted and overcome;
although it manifested itself also with
considerable strength in its efforts
to defeat
the passage of an act incorporating
the L'eau qui Court Company.
The
commander at Fort Randall having been
furnished the opinion of the Secretary
of the Interior, declaring the disputed
country
open to white settlers, and corresponding
instructions having been received from
the Secretary of War, immediately suspended
all interference with these determined
men.
After
this the prospects of the company seemed
to brighten, but still continued, and
during the spring months of 1857 numerous
acts of hostility were committed.
Live
stock and other property were destroyed.
The Poncas, made drunk by traders, frequently
tried to intimidate and frighten
settlers away from their claims.
It
is not often that a contest can so long
be waged between frontiersmen and Indians
without being placed upon record with
traces of carnage and blood.
Too
much cannot be said for the wisdom and
cool, prudent conduct in this struggle
of the men who passed the first winter
at
Mobrara. Colonel Lee frequently expressed
his surprise at the unaccountable obstinacy
of those men who held the place;
he advised them to leave "the Ponca
country," as he expected daily
to hear of their being scalped.
During
the session of the Territorial Legislature
of Nebraska, in 1856-1857, the L'eau qui
Court Company, having previously
been
made up of gentlemen scattered over
the Western States and Territories,
was properly and duly incorporated.
In
the act of incorporation the town of
Mobrara was located, the company's claim
defined, and liberal ferry and bridge
privileges
guaranteed. The claim of the company
embraced almost the entire Niobrara
bottom for a town site.
At
the same session an act was passed creating
the County of L'eau qui Court, and by
which Mobrara secured the county seat
in its corporate limits.
The
State Legislature, however, February,
1873, passed an act to take effect April
1, 1873, changing the name of the county
to
Knox, its present name.
The
permanent improvements, however, date
from about the first of July, 1857,
although a small store had been opened
a
month or two earlier. The steamer Omaha,
from St. Louis, laden chiefly for Niobrara,
landed there June 29th, greatly to the
bewilderment of the six hundred Ponca
Indians who swarmed upon the levee,
and who still maintained their ground
upon
the town claim.
Three
days after the first frame building
was completed in Mobrara. The steam
saw mill was immediately put in operation,
and
in little more than three months thereafter
a hotel had been built and opened, at
that time the largest yet erected in
Nebraska,
being three stories high and costing
about $10,000.
In
August of this year there were over
sixty men living at and near Mobrara.
At the Territorial election, held this
month, the
first held in the county, there were
forty-two votes cast.
Source:
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
