299] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 21 



To the north, nearly parallel with the river, and separat- 

 ing the valley of the Platte from that of the Loup, another 

 chain of low and rather sandy hills runs through the county, 

 and the level country between these hills and the bluffs to 

 the south of the river may properly be called the valley of the 

 Platte, though a mile or two north of its north channel there 

 is a slight rise that divides what are known as the " first bot- 

 tom " and " second bottom " lands. 



It was in early July, 1857, that the nrst settlers reached 

 the county, the party consisting of thirty-seven persons. 

 They came under the auspices of a company controlled by 

 the Washington banking house of Chubbs Bros, and Bar- 

 rows, their object being not so much agriculture as the found- 

 ing of a town, to which the company thought so much were 

 they under the influence of the speculative fever of the time 

 that they could secure the removal of the capital of the United 

 States in the near future. 1 Unfortunately for the hopes of 

 the projectors of the enterprise, the banking house went 

 down under the pressure of the panic of the following year, 

 and the national capital was permitted to remain undisturbed 

 at Washington. The immigrants, immediately upon arrival, 

 staked out claims and put up several log-houses. Only 

 about fifty acres of land were broken the first year, when the 

 approach of winter compelled the cessation of work. The 

 winter was passed under very great trials, owing to the dis- 

 tance from supplies and the impassableness of the roads, so 

 that at times even actual starvation was feared. In the spring 

 came fresh supplies, and with them renewed ability to labor; 

 and the work of preparing the soil for cultivation progressed 

 rapidly. In July of 1858 there arrived a new band of some 

 twenty persons. Thus far the settlers were almost entirely 

 Germans, only about five Americans having cast their lot 

 with the colony. The land on which they settled lay on 



1 At this time the United States survey had not been .extended 

 beyond Columbus, nor were there any settlements west of that 

 point. 



