Omaha daily bee., 1918-11-24

There is so much of interest in
Nebraska City, seat of Otoe county,
that the visitor is at first in some
thing of quandary as to where he
should start. One might lead off
in the old fashioned way, by saying,
Once upon a time but that sounds
hackneyed, conventional. Once
upon time in this instance would
take us back to 1874, but we will
skip few years by starting with the
first era of prohibition in Nebraska.
Nebraska was dry" from 1855
to 1858, and Nebraska City was the
cause thereof. The condition during
those three years was not OF the
"bonedry' and parched form of ex-
iStence which prevails in Nebraska
today, but prohibition was on the
books. Hiram P, Downs of Ne
braska City was the father of the
first prohibitory law of this state.
He and 80 other prohibtionists pre-
sented to the legislature a petition
for the passage of law against the
traffic in intoxicants and against the
licensing OF dram shops"
Douglas County Voted eyes"
The petition was prepared in Ne
braska City and it was introduced
in the first legislature by Taylor
Goodwill of Omaha. The records
show that all of the members of
Douglas county voted yes" on the
proposition. The law, however,
soon became a dead letter and it
was replaced by an excise enactment
in 1858.
Mr.. Downs succeeded Col. John
Boulware in 1850 as custodian of
old Fort Kearny, which occupied
tn present site of Nebraska City.
He was one of the origina, owners
of the townsite and owned a log
cabin in which the first sessions OF
district court were held and where
the first election was held. The first
hotel in the town was built by him
and he served as postmaster from
1853 to 1854.
Choice of Names.
On April p, 1874, the government
established Fort Kearny, with
Captain Allen in charge of the
troops. A block house, which was
erected near Central avenue and
Fifth street, served many purposes
until it was demolished in 1865.
During l848 the troops were moved
to a new Fort Kearny on the Platte
river. Colonel Boulware established
government ferry across the Mis-
souri, river at Nebraska City in 1916,
and his son, John B. Boulware,
built a ferry house in 1852, this hav-
ing been the first permanent build
ing along the river front. From
l847 to 1850 General D. P. Wood
bury occupied the old block house
as protection of the route to Ore
gon. In 1852 postofice was open
ed with the name of Table Creek"
Colonel Boulware being postmaster;
and in 1854 the name was changed
to Nebraska City, with c. w. Pierce
in charge. At that time the county
bore the name of Pierce" the name
of Otoe being adopted on March
2, 1855, when the town of Nebraska
City was formally organized as the
first settlement of the county.
The genesis of big business in Ne
braska City occurred in 1858, when
the government established depot
for military supplies which were
freighted overland to the west by
ox-and mule-drawn wagons. The
progress which has been made dur
ing the last 90 years in transporta-
ton methods may be imagined when
it is stated that those early day
freighters travelled IS miles per day
under favorable conditions. Those
were the days of freighting, stage
coach travelling and the famous
Pony Express mail routes.
Stories of Old Freighting Days.
1t is interesting to meet in Ne
braska City man who can relate
a few facts of the old freighting
days of which he was part, He is
Frank J. Carson, who has lived in
the seat of Otoe county since Oc-
tober IS, 1854. and who claims to
be the oldest living resident of the
county. He is a nephew of the ia
nous westerner, Kit Carson. who
guided Fremont's exploring expedi-
ton. Carson freighted for Russell,
Majors and Waddell from Nebras-
ka City to Fort Laramie and he
"bullwhacked" out of Omaha in
1864. The advent of the railroad