The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1911-02-22

vaults, called for IN expenditure Of
$13, 800. This was money that had
been accumulating in the county
treasury for years through . very
economical expenditure of funds.
Since the original contract Vas let .
new board of county judges has gone
on with the work of construction, and
is now completing the dome Of the
building, making the complete cost To
date $14,675.50, which has exhausted
all the available funds Of the county.
and involved it in debt nearly 81, 600.
The county judges who conceived
the brilliant idea which will give Mil.
Ter county 4 handsome new stone court
house were not candidates for re-elec.
ton, and they have been replaced BY
4 new board. But their work ID
marching on. The new board is COM
posed of w. NJ. Harrison, presiding
judge, Eldon; S. G. Crum, judge Of
the northern district, Olean, and j. L.
Winfrey, judge Of the southern dis
trict, Iberia. But the rivals Of Tus-
cumbia, Iberia and Eldon, realize that
it would be useless to ask their repre-
sentatives on the board to waste
$4,000 of the peoples money by raz'
ing the new court house, the shell OF
which is now practically finished.
Such . proceeding, they understand,
would not advance their ambitions to
be county seats.
The new court house Is q handsome
affair. In dimensions it is 80 BY liz,
completely enveloping the old court
house, which is ~ by IS. There were
eight rooms in the old building. When
the new building is completed it will
have twenty rooms. including . cpm-
modious circuit court auditorium, i've
fireproof vaults and a concrete base.
ment. 1t is built of native stone.
I'VE are to have such modern court
conveniences rs lawyer consultation
rooms and witness rest rooms" Judge
Crum said. 1--WE have not yet pro-
vitied a means Of obtaining running
water to supply the building. We
have other things to worry Us now.
And up there" the judge pointed
to a large space empty to the roof
since the outside stone walls were ex.
tended in front Of the old court house
without the addition Of any flooring
''up there is to be q ladies' waiting
room and that joist is to support u
long plush seat"
One can see how the new judges are
entering into the spirit Of improve
ment.
The five freproof vaults already
have been completed and are housing
the county records. In the new wings
Of the building but few windows have
yet been provided, the other openings
being covered with boards.
1t will take four years to accumu.
late the funds necessary to complete
the court house, say the judges, and it
has made necessarya most rigid system
Of saving in every department, except
ing the maintenance of schools. OF
course, if the county wants to reconcile
itself to Tuscumbia's possession of the
official seat, the thing to do would he
to start sentiment for another election
and provide the $4,000 or so that is
necessary to finish the structure.
Otherwise the county will have to
content itself with unkept roads, shaky
bridges and other delinquencies in
county work. The money saved by
this neglect Of highways is going into
the new court house.
Tuscumbia has been the seat of
Miller county ever since the state leg.
islature in 1887 chopped off the edges
Of Cole and Pulaski counties and
Miller. That WAS twenty
years before the Missouri Pacific rail.
road was built through the state, and
Tuscumbia, by reason of it, location |
on the banks Of the Usage river, year.
" navigated, and almost precisely in |
the center Of the county, was made the |
seat. Tuscumbia still 10 four.
teen miles from the railroad station
It Eldon.
Miller county Is in the foothills Of
The Ozarks. To appreciate the true
altitude sf Tuscumbia, one should
Know that chickens from hack yards
hallway down the hill roost ut night
N tho ton,,,ooe h.>unk>. - lo<s. /