Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-26

ONE OF ORD'S BUSINESS STREETS.
the following summer by Miss Kate
Badger. The first store in the county wal
established at North Loup in the summe
OF 1873 by w. ]. Holiday. The first fran,
house was erected in the county in 1877;
by Orson S. Haskell, about three miles
north Of Ord. The first lawsuit was tried
in 1873 in the dugout residence Of Peter
Mortensen.
The first newspaper in the county was
established at Calamus in the fall of 1915
by w. H. Mitchell. 1t was called the Val
ley County Herald. On February II, 1873
Governor Robert W.. Furnas issued a
proclamation ordering an election to be held
at the residence of George Larkin on March
1S, 1873. The first regular election after
the organization of the county took place
in October, 1873. At this election w. b.
Long was elected clerk; E. D. McKenney,
treasurer; Oscar Babcock, judge, and H.
A. Babcock, sheriff. On August %, 1874,
a special election was held for the purpose
of voting 5000 bonds for the building of
a bridge across the North Loup at Ord.
The bonds carried and the bridge was soon
after completed. In 1876 the court house, a
very small, one-story building, was erected
at Ord, the county seat. The first term
of district court for the county was held
in Ord in August, 1876, Judge Thomas L.
Griffey presiding.
In the spring of 1881 the rapid settlement
and Improvement OF the county again com
menced and its prosperity seemed to be
assured. The season of 1878 was a dull
one, owing to the crop failure of the previ-
Gus year. In 1876 a town called Vinton
was projected on the prairie about seven
miles southwest from Ord.
From the time of the grasshopper vista
ton in the summer of 1874 until the spring
of 1873 the settlement Of the county ad-
vanced but little. In 1878 there was a very
large immigration to the county and a
large acreage of cultivated land added to
the county. The crops for this year were
excellent. In 1850 the immigration to the
county was large. BY June 1 the popula-
ton was 2,S24 and by January l It was
5000. In 1852 it had a population of 1000.
Valley county! Have you seen 1t? If
in all this beautiful, bountiful Loup river
country there is one county that deserves
this name 1t is the one that is rightly
named Valley county. A glowing new life
has come upon this county. The past few
years ave been years Of great prosper
tty, and the people are looking into the
future with a good feeling and high prom
ises of solid prosperity. All the army of
industry has work at good wages. 1t is
the proper destiny of every quarter sec
tion in the county to be occupied by the
farmer and dairyman. The home maker
are passing this way and the stock range
is giving way to the field. The cowboy
has seen his best and his widest days.
The old Indian trail has become the
highway of civilization. The spirit Of
progress and prosperity has a firm hold
upon the people. And this spirit has much
to do with the prosperity and development
of this county. From the earliest settle
ment the Loup river has been a potent
factor in it's affairs.
Nearly all the counties of central Ne
braska have some speciality that has con-
tribute to a greater degree than any
other factor to their growth and pres
tige. But Valley county has one industry
that surpasses not only all other counties
OF the state, but all other portions of the
world. We refer to the popcorn industry
1t is not generally known that Valley