County and in the National Business Training
School at Sioux City, Iowa. He is a member of the
Republican party and has been appointed Deputy County
Treasurer. Mr. Wilkins was one of the employes of Ashford
Brothers' General Merchandise store before his
appointment.
DAWES COUNTY.
Dawes County was
organized in 1885 with an area of 1,404 square miles. A
good deal of land in Dawes County is untillable on
account of its rough surface; the tillable land is mostly
a clay loam. Along the foothills in the southern part of
the county there is considerable pine timber. Some land
is irrigated in the valley of the White River. Good
drainage is furnished by the White River and its
tributaries, the Alkali, Bush, Lone Tree, Big Cottonwood,
Little Cottonwood, Beaver, Dry, Bordeaux, Chadron, Dead
Man, Trunk Butte, Indian and Hooker Creeks, and by the
Niobrara and its branches, the Pepper, Cottonwood, and
Willow Creeks. The supply of water from wells, six to
three hundred feet in depth, is abundant. Farming is
carried on successfully on the tableland. Some wheat,
rye, corn, oats and barley are raised and potatoes do
well. Hay is the principal crop and 1,132 acres are
devoted to the culture of alfalfa. Many cattle, horses
and sheep are raised on the large ranches; the value of
live stock in 1900 was $159,355.00. There are two
flouring and grist mills and one brickyard in the county.
Five years ago there was little demand for farms and
ranches, but such as are in the market have increased in
value twenty-five per cent. There are 90.79 miles of
railway. The county has four towns--Chadron, the county
seat, with a population of 1,665; Crawford, 731; Ft.
Robinson, 185, and Whitney, 51 inhabitants. The county
has 6,215 inhabitants.
C. L. FREEMAN was
born in Omaha, May 8, 1872, and three years later came to
what is now Dawes County with his parents, his father
being manager of the Prost Traders' Store at Fort
Robinson. He has spent most of his life in the county,
having been educated at the Crawford High School and
Chadron Academy. In 1897 he married Miss Kate M. Buncher,
and they have two children. He has been engaged in the
mercantile business and was elected Clerk of the District
Court on the Republican ticket.
C. DANA SAYRS
was born in Alexandria. Virginia, May 15, 1839. He was
educated in Hollowell's Institute. In 1857 he went to
Kansas and later to Idaho, where he was admitted to the
bar. He was a member of the Idaho Legislature in 1866. He
returned to Kansas, where he was County Attorney of
Crawford County from 1880 to 1885 and in 1887 he came to
Chadron, Nebraska, where he was postmaster from 1893 to
1898. He is now serving his second term as judge of Dawes
County, having been elected on the Republican ticket.
R. G. SMITH is a
native of Iowa, having been born in Cedar County,
November 4, 1855, where he was educated in the public
schools. In 1889 he went to Kansas and the next year to
Nebraska, where he has since made his home, engaging in
the hardware business. In 1895 he was married to Miss
Mettie Lawrence and they have three daughters. He has
been elected County Clerk on the Democratic ticket.
T. S. SMITH is a
native Nebraskan, having been born on a farm in Burt
County; August 21, 1874. In 1885 he came with his parents
to Dawes County, where he lived until his seventeenth
year. He received his education in the Chadron Academy
and the Crawford High School. He was manager of a lumber
yard at Crawford, where he was City Clerk. He is a
Republican and serving his first term as County
Superintendent. In 1901 he married Miss Bertha Mason and
they have two children. He served in Company H of the
Second Nebraska Volunteers in the Spanish-American
War.
W. A. BIRDSALL,
now serving his second term as Sheriff, is a pioneer of
Dawes County. He and his cousin, George Birdsall, put up
the fourth building in the old town of Chadron on White
River near where Dakota junction now stands, before the
organization of the County. They engaged in handling
provisions and doing a general livery and hack business
between Valentine and Black Hill points, and have
identified themselves ever since with the advancement of
Dawes County.
ERNEST M.
SLATTERY was born in Shelby County, Missouri, July
10, 1868, came to Platte County, Nebraska, in 1872, and
graduated from the Columbus High School in 1885. He soon
after came to Dawes County, studied
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