18 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [296 



of the failure to colonize at an earlier date. First, the lands 

 lay at some little distance south of the Platte river, and so 

 were out of the direct course of the earliest settlements; and 

 second, the region was in too great proximity to the favorite 

 hunting grounds of the Sioux Indians. In March of 1870 

 two typical plainsmen took claims which they held for about 

 three years, but then gave them up to get further away from 

 the settlements, which were becoming too thick to suit them. 

 The same year saw still other settlers, and in the spring of 

 '71 a party of Englishmen came in and took claims in the 

 county. By the fall of this year there was a voting popula- 

 tion of twenty-nine. From this time on the rate of settle- 

 ment was so rapid that by the census of 1880 the county had 

 a population of 10,235. 



The life of the early settlers of Nebraska, though full of 

 hardships, had its pleasant aspects, and probably was much 

 easier than that of the settlers of many of the states. For 

 one thing, the pioneer stage was everywhere very short, and 

 the discomforts attendant thereon proportionately reduced. 

 This may be attributed, from a local point of view, to two 

 things: first, to the absence of forest lands, this doing away 

 with the necessity of the clearing process, so that the lands 

 as they lay could be brought into cultivation with a com- 

 paratively small outlay of time and money; and second, to 

 the uniform fertility of the lands, this allowing settlers' farms 

 to lie contiguous for many miles, thus giving the benefits 

 of easy mutual assistance. Of course the existence of a 

 great mass of emigrants ready to flow into whatever region 

 offers them the greatest advantages is a necessary prelim- 

 inary to such a rapid settlement of any particular state. An- 

 other influence that may be mentioned, of very great im- 

 portance for Nebraska, was the railroad building in the state, 

 especially between 1866 and 1870 or '72. 



The early settlers along the Missouri had the advantage of 

 being near their base of supplies, for Iowa was already quite 

 well settled, and, as we have seen, owing to the intensely 

 speculative activity of the time, merchants and towns had 



