Whitney Reflections

A tribute to the early settlers of a western Nebraska village

The Dawes County News

Whitney, Dawes County, Nebraska, Thursday, January 18, 1923 -  Vol. 1 No. 5-Page 1

WHITNEY IN EARLY DAYS 

AUTHENTIC REPORT AS SEEN BY OLD PIONEER OF WHITNEY AND DAWES COUNTY 

(The following is a writeup composed by W.M Burkitt, merchant.)

Whitney’s first name was Dawes City.  It was established before the railroad was built on the south side of river in the middle of the quarter section, now owned by Walton Howard, the quarter on which the cemetery is now located.

In the fall of 1886 several of the buildings were there still, though none of them were occupied by a business establishment.  Two or three families were living in them however.

The railroad, then the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley ignored the established town and built its station and platted its townsite on the north side of the river.  It was also rechristened Earth Lodge, which was once the name of the Big Cottonwood creek.  But some of the town’s leading citizens, fearing that possible immigrants might infer that this was a community of dugouts and sod houses, and so move on to other locations, petitioned the postoffice department and the townsite company for a change of the name, and as a delicate compliment to the head of the townsite company, Mr. Whitney, chose his name as the new town name.

The postoffice department granted the petition, but apparently Mr. Whitney did not appreciate the intended compliment, for it was months before the station name was changed.

Of course this resulted in nude confusion.  People becoming interested, through letters from enthusiastic citizens and real estate men, would be told on asking for a ticket for Whitney, that there was no such station on the railroad.  But the difficulty was finally smoothed out and the change was made.

If the name Earth Lodge really suggested to intending settlers houses made of earth it gave a wrong impression, for the majority of the homestead dwellings (and there was one on nearly every quarter section) were built of logs, though many had roofs made of sod.

 In those days Pine Ridge deserved its name, for it was green with pine trees and a benevolent government allowed each settler to take as much timber from the government land as he needed for his personal use.  So houses were built of logs and wood was our fuel for many years, and sawmills, wherever a suitable site could be found, made lumber of government timber, until today the hills are pretty well cleared.

Then our two lumber yards did not ship in carloads of western but load stocks of native and Black Hills pine and cottonwood and with pine from the east.

The first year or two were good ones, but then came the lean years which thinned out the homesteaders until, instead of a settler on every quarter, one could pass section after section without seeing an occupied house, and those of us who were left were hanging on mostly because we couldn’t let go, though partly, too, because we didn’t want to let go.

The railroad came in the spring of 1886 and with it came a Congregational missionary, who preached in a tent-tabernacle that summer.  So the beginning of the town was the beginning of the Church, too.  The Missionary was (a) fine young man, a good preacher and well liked, but for some reason his church did not follow up the good beginning, and the first church organization was that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Not many of the original members are left now.

At first service, Sunday School alone to begin with, but preaching, too, was afterwards held in a vacant room of the Carter grocery store, that is now known as the Cartwright building.  Later we used the upstairs of the building known as the Wood’s Hotel.  It was built by C. E. Stewart and used but a short time as a hotel.  It stood across the street from the Cartwright building.

Our first preacher was Father Taylor, a man of 70 years.  He was one of those pioneer preachers who are always on the outward fringe of advancing settlements, proclaiming the gospel message.  He preached in Missouri in the days of border welfare, in Kansas and in Eastern Nebraska; and in 1886, he was living on a homestead near Crow Butte, ready to answer the call to the new work in another new field.  He was faithful and earnest, giving his best, usually walking from his home to our church to hold services here, and preaching in a school house or two, besides.  He preached for us a number of years, and afterwards returned to the eastern part of the state, to be near his children, who could care for him in his declining years.  He has long since gone to his reward, but his work lives after him.

The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1887, but we had no parsonage for several years, our ministers being bachelors, who kept house for themselves in the class room of the church.  Those were the lean years and the preacher’s salary did not permit any luxuries.  Our first married preacher was Mr. Smith, as he found one room too small for his family, the house now occupied by E. E. Copper and his mother, was built for a parsonage – it contained but two rooms then.

Later we bought the house now used as a parsonage.  It was built by Mr. Still, who was part owner of a lumber yard in the earlier days.  It was one of the first private residence built in Whitney.

Most of the business men were bachelors and boarded at the hotel kept by Canfield and Garner, or at one of the two restaurants.  A few were married, but their families were holding down claims.

One other residence was built in those old days – that of the banker, E. J. Carpenter.  It stood where the W. H. Kaiser home is now, but was moved and remodeled and is now the home of Wm. Hitchcock.

Whitney’s other bank was managed by L. N. Cartwright.

A Catholic church was built a year or two after the beginning of Whitney.  It was on the hill near where the new school house stands.  There was never a resident priest, though for several years services were conducted regularly – about once a month I think.  But it was abandoned as a church years ago and for some time has been the Woodman Hall.

Wherever there is a community of American citizens there must be a public school, and Whitney’s first winter found one in progress on the first floor of the Wood’s building.  It was taught by my daughter, Eleanor, now Mrs. W. G. Gillam, of Chadron.  There were about thirty youngsters of various ages and all grades and all sorts of books.  For free textbooks had never been heard of, and each pupil brought the books he had used “back east”.  However, some pretty good citizens came of that school, though of course, some not so good, too.

Frank Currie, now of Washington, put up the building that housed Whitney’s first general store, of which G. B. Chase was the proprietor.  Both the building and business have changed owners many times since – some of the firms being, Currie & Hitchcock, Ramburg, L. N. Gibson & Co., Ed. Collins, Lee Garner, Garner & Canfield, Vet Canfield and now B. D. Austin.

My store building was begun in the spring of 1887, and I opened for business as soon as it was finished.  I have been here since, having my ups and downs in the good years and the lean years, the same as my neighbors and customers.

Whitney boasted two newspapers, The Champion (Republican), whose first editor was A. G. Shears, and the Times (Democratic) edited by M. Bisbee.  Both flourished when land notices were plentiful and both succumbed when these were no longer available.  But the Champion outlasted its rival.

Whitney had its saloons, too.   I do not remember the first one, but the last was located in what is now the bank building and did not last long.

For many years Whitney had the best equipped roller mill in the county.  It was owned by Seeley and Jackson, and run by water power, the mill dam being between the railroad the wagon bridge.  But it was torn down and the machinery moved away long ago.

Besides the business establishments I have mentioned, Whitney supported (for a time) a hardware store, a harness ship, two blacksmith shops, two butcher shops, a flour and feed store, two drug stores, two or three law and real estate offices, a livery stable or two, and at various times a doctor.      

So now, as new enterprises are started, it reminds the old-timers of what used to be.  Except that now Whitney is on the up-grade instead of slipping down-grade as in the old times.