14: The Condition of the Western Farmer. [292 



ments from the point of view of agriculture, to include them 

 as early residents; so, when the term "first settler" of any 

 county is used, it will mean the first actual farmer who 

 entered upon permanent possession. 



In probably all the counties along the Missouri, except 

 those on the northern boundary of the state, quite a number 

 of inhabitants could have been found by the close of the year 

 1854; but owing to the character of the people and the con- 

 ditions of life in a frontier state, almost no farming can have 

 been attempted before 1856 or 1857. Meanwhile the set- 

 tlers began to push backward from the river, though the 

 advance was quite slow. Indian scares were frequent, though 

 the real danger was comparatively slight. Moreover, an idea 

 that had gained wide currency was that beyond the Salt Creek, 

 a stream some fifty miles west of the Missouri, the land was 

 utterly uninhabitable; that in fact the little stream marked 

 the beginning of the Great American Desert. But the exper- 

 ience of an adventurer here and there proving this view fal- 

 lacious, settlements extended, so that we are safe in saying 

 that, with one possible exception, every county within eighty 

 miles of the Missouri had by 1860 a few, at least, actual 

 settlers living within its borders. 



The early settlers followed naturally the course of the little 

 rivers in eastern Nebraska, partly for the sake of the easy 

 water supply, partly for the shelter of the timber along the 

 banks, and partly also on account of the easy means of com- 

 munication thus offered. So also when settlers ventured 

 further into the interior of the state, the first claims were 

 placed upon the banks of the streams, while the intervening 

 country was passed over. Almost the whole state of Ne- 

 braska is an alternation of valleys and uplands, and almost 

 invariably the latter were entered upon only after the former 

 had been pretty thoroughly occupied. The same thing is 

 to be observed with reference to the Platte river, for at a 

 very early day settlements had followed it upwards for quite 

 a distance. It is to be noticed that they followed the river in 

 preference to the old emigrant trail across the country. The 



