Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-11-17
More Than 300 Have DiSap-
Deared From View
MISSOURI RIVER one CAUSE.
Shifting % Treaeherous Channel
Doomed many. While Others Sue
cur1ped 70 Changes In Railroad
Routes. Political Juggling In Legs.
ts,ure arc So.a" Marriages.

Nebraska i the state Of lost towns.
since. the time Il il settlement, sixty
Years ago. more than 81 u them have
disappeared.
some went into the nav Of the
shifting Missouri river. Others were
he victims II hard luck II one kind
md another. TIE shifting II county
...-s brought DOOM Oh some u them
~ q f.w were eft stranded when
lie railroads ,Aey expected decided 10
70 ke other routes.
Perhaps the history Of Archer is as
Interesting a. that II any OF these.
.l,oo>t forc gtteu communities. The
5r., territorial legislature. which met
n l~5J. made Archer the seat u Rich
.rIsou county. Among its earliest set
,!ers was q party II French. They
married Indian squaws and reared nu-
merous families.
Couldn': Leave Reservation.
Curious!y enough it was this fact
hat w.ped Archer of the map. When
The government prt into erect the
reservation method Of dealing with
he Indians II found itself confronted
with the problem arising out OF the
presence Of so many French haif
breeds. As solution OF il The conf
missioners decided 10 set aside spe-
,.a, reservation in Richardson county
for these families.
When the survey was made il was
found that the town OF Archer was
Included in the reservation. The army
onSt was abandoned. the capital was
( located elsewhere. the railroads pass
/ I'd it by. il dwindled into mere ham
let and the university closed its doors.
Its prosperity lasted seven years and.
although Archer men sought TO have
the government change its lines. they
were. unsuccessful. and within few
months there was nothing left of the
town.
Fort Calhoun. the site OF the Lewis
and Clark treaty with the Indians in
1904. was In the early sixties town
+ about l2;0 persons. due. in
part to the proximity 10 the military
post. II was then the county seat OF
Washington county and II strong con-
tender Tor choice as the capital when
the whites decided that they would
not live in reservation town or re-
tain it * Il county seat.
Legislators Change Location.
Fontenelle. another Washington
county town. now hamlet. had a col
lece once. did much trading with the
Indians and trei-.ters and was the
county seat Of Dodge county. The
politicians changed the county lines at
legislative session when Fon,enelle
wasn't looking and threw il into Wash
ington county. which caused il to be
ov5-S3cdowcd ard speedily killed.
Bellevue and Florence. both located
near Omaha. the one south and the
other north along The Missouri. We're
each at one time much larger than
Omaha Florence once had 5000 peo-
pie: now il has less than CSC II was
the winter quarters Of great num-
Der Of Mormons. who camped there
while on their way to Utah in the late
forties and early ffties. Later it was
the westernmost point of heavy immi-
grafton.
Fer q time il was doubtful whether
Omaha or Florence would win in the
race between the two cities. hut when
the scales turned in favor Of Omaha
tv favor Of the Union Pacific railroad
Florence became almost a deserted vii
lase.