By J. C. F. McKesson
I came to the territory of Nebraska with my
parents in April, 1864, from the state of Kansas, where my father,
Samuel W. McKesson, had been sent by the conference of the
Evangelical church for the state of Iowa. My father was an
itinerant preacher, and our moving anywhere was not specially for
the purpose of settlement, but for the purpose of being as near
and convenient to such religious charges and missionary work as
might be laid out for him.
During the two years previous to moving into the
territory the field of his labor was largely marked out for him by
a missionary department of the conference, and in this case was
not confined to county or statewide boundaries. And so, prior to
our moving into the territory, father had made frequent circuits
within its boundary.
We moved to Arago, in Richardson county, on the
banks of the Missouri river. It is not now an organized town,
having been abandoned and its place taken by the town of Fargo.
Altho the town was situated on the banks of the river, it had no
ferryboat connection with the Missouri side of the river. The
manufacturing industries were a brickyard, a shingle sawmill and a
brewery. The town was quite prosperous and progressive. The bluffs
had been dug down half for the cutting thru of streets, and the
ravines were filled and leveled. Besides the manufacturies and
residences, many of them quite respectable wooden structures, the
town supported a public school, an Evangelical church, a Catholic
church and school, and several saloons.
Not much of interest to me occurred during the
first year of our residence at Arago. I remember seeing boats
travel up and down the Missouri river and stop to load and unload
their cargoes of merchandise and to let off and take on
passengers. The names of some of these river boats were the
"Denver," "St. Mary's." "St. Joseph," and "St. Louis." They were
of various sizes, some side-wheelers, some sternwheelers, some
with single smokestacks and some with double smokestacks, but all
with fog horns whose noise was anything but musical.
It was in this year also that I saw and tasted
my first cherries. I accompanied father on a missionary tour into
Pawnee county. where we stopped at a house in the country
for noonday lunch. An elderly man was shaving shingles on a shaving horse under the shade of a cottonwood tree. While father was talking with him I was standing close by, and I pulled his coattail and asked him what those little red things were, pointing to the cherries. He smilingly called the man's attention to my inquiry, and he stated that they were cherries, and good to eat, and for me to climb up and help myself, which I did. In the spring of 1865 the news of the termination of the war and the victory of the union armies had scarcely reached the territory until the news of the assassination of Lincoln was also received. I remember the sorrowful day when men and women congregated in little groups, many of them with tears streaming down their faces, exclaiming "President Lincoln is killed." his death appeared to be a personal bereavement to the people. Shortly after this I remember seeing the soldier boys returning. They were met by their parents, relatives and sweethearts with open arms and cheers. Public receptions were also given them and on one occasion I remember that a barbecue was held in honor of their return. Roast ox was served, prepared over a pit improvised for the occasion, of cobble stones, over which were laid slats of iron, picked up from the rear of the blacksmith shop. Anvils were fired and a general holiday held. The march to the front of the soldier and his return seems to create like feelings in the breasts of men. It was in this year also that I saw the first circus come to town. Of course this was of special interest, and I note it here that we may know that the early settlers were not without this feature of amusement. The menagerie was not so complete as now, but the performances were of similar character to those in vogue at present and these were more enjoyed by the early settlers because in his ordinary life on the frontier he had probably seen mountain lions, wild cats, deer and antelope. On the day of the circus in a run-away accident, father's leg was broken. On account of poor surgical treatment in the setting of the bone he was confined to the house, most of the time in bed, during the summer, which was a very hot one. It was late in the fall before he was able to get about on crutches and visit some of the nearby charges. The following winter we were visited by my father's brother, John M. McKesson, a physician and homesteader adjacent to the townsite of Lancaster, Lancaster county, Nebraska. whom he had not seen for twelve years. I remember the glowing accounts given by my uncle of a prosperous settlement out at Salt Creek. This was the first we had heard of such a place in what to us, living on the
Missouri river, was the far interior, inhabited by the Indian,
tile buffalo, and the coyote. In addition to a pleasant visit the
doctor held several semi-public meetings to acquaint the people
with the great promise of the new colony which had been
established at the Salt basin and the great work which the
Lancaster seminary, which had also been founded, was doing for the
education of the young ladies of the territory. This was offered
as an inducement to all those who heard it to flock to the new
settlement. This appealed to a widow with a little girl living in
the neighborhood who a year or more later had an opportunity to
come with us to this new colony. Here she found a place to educate
her child and also found a home by marrying John Giles, one of the
homesteaders, located on the southwest quarter of section
twenty-six, afterward a part of the original townsite of
Lincoln.
In the spring of 1866 an earthquake shock was
felt at Arago. The shock was very perceptible but of short
duration. My mother and I were raking up the rubbish in the
backyard when we heard a dull sound like the roaring of wind or
the rushing of water. We stopped our work and looking about us
noticed that the board division fence between our lot and the
neighbors was wabbling, and then that the house, which was a one
and a half story building with the gable fronting us, seemed to
vibrate about a foot at the top. The ground beneath our feet, too,
seemed to wave, almost unbalancing us. A woman and two children
were engaged in a like occupation in an adjacent lot to the south.
Gathering her children in her arms the woman started for the
house, screaming as she went, "earthquake! earthquake!" No serious
damage came from the shock. Practically the only evidence of it we
could find were the disarranged and nicked dishes in the
old-fashioned high cupboard.
Something more fatal and disastrous occurred
later in the summer of 1866, the dreadful scourge (sic) of cholera
breaking out in the little town of Arago and nearly depopulated
it. The first death was that of the shingle maker's child, five or
six years of age, who died suddenly on Wednesday and was buried on
Friday. On Friday night the infant child of the shingle maker
died, also suddenly, and was buried the following Sunday. The two
deaths occurring in the same family and so closely together
aroused suspicion on the part of the people that they had been
poisoned and the father and mother were arrested. The stomach of
the infant was removed and before its interment on Sunday the body
of the other child was exhumed and its stomach also removed at the
cemetery in the presence of the people gathered for the burial,
Both stomachs were to be sent to St. Joseph for analysis. One of
the grounds for suspicion was the fact that
the mother of the infant was the shingle maker's second wife.
On the following Wednesday the man died suddenly and the same
night or the next day several other citizens died in like manner.
This changed public sentiment and aroused the people of the town
to the fact that a scourge was upon them. One very pathetic
incident occurred. A woman, the wife of a Kansas homesteader, and
her two little children were stopping at our house at the time,
and being fearful father sent a courier to notify her husband to
come and get her. He came several days afterward, but the night
before they intended to go home the wife and both children died
and were buried here. Father had charge of the services at most of
these funerals and mother and I invariably accompanied him. Many
opinions were advanced by the people as to the cause of the
malady, among them that the disease was brought there by someone
who got off a boat.
In the fall of 1866 a merchant in the town named
Allgware built a temporary plant for packing pork on the river
bottom not far from the river. During the winter of 1866 and 1867
the hogs were slaughtered here and the pork packed in dry salt.
The packing was not as modem as now, tho the packer had as sure
control as the packer of today. The meat was packed in layers, two
men walking around on top, sprinkling a layer of salt and then a
layer of pork. The intention, of course, was to ship this meat
down or up the river where markets might be found in the spring
-before the hot summer months. While the packed meat was to be
used for the sustenance of the white man the Indians came in
droves and helped themselves by carrying away all of the
offal.
In the spring of 1867 the Kansas conference of
the Evangelical church delegated to father the duty of visiting
the various outposts of settlement in southeastern Nebraska, among
them chiefly the Lancaster colony on Salt creek, for the purpose
of establishing churches among them. We started with a team of
ponies and spring wagon with a light driving buggy tied behind and
one loose pony following. We drove from Arago to Brownville, from
there to Nebraska City, and then on to Lancaster over what was
then called the "steam wagon" road. This road started at Nebraska
City and had been mapped out and designated thru to Palmyra. Here
it forked, one road leading toward Beatrice and another passing
thru Roca and Saltillo to Yankee Hill on Salt creek and from
thence west, touching Middle creek, not far from the homestead of
James Iler near Pleasantdale. Here the road again forked, one
branch leading south to Camden on the Blue, the other following
west toward Fort Kearney. Beside the road this side of Nebraska
City not far from the J. Sterling Morton homestead the steam wagon
was then standing.
It was not a success as a means of transportation and the
project had been abandoned.
On this road in 1866 a Mormon train of about 255
wagons moved westward to a place then called Half-Way slough,
located two miles south of Emerald and almost a half west. While
in camp one of the members of the train force died and was buried
on the east slope of the long hill just after crossing the slough.
This grave is now close to the middle of the east line of the
northwest quarter of section 34, township 10, range 5, Middle
Creek precinct. The land is now owned by Harry W. Lee. The
following epitaph was placed on a board at the head of the
grave:
"Father, here we leave thee beneath the prairie sod, but again we hope to meet thee in the promised land, Salt Lake."
James Iler is the man whose wife was killed
by Sioux Indians in their last raid of the settlements this far
east in 1865. It might be noted here that some of the inhabitants
around the Salt basin and Lancaster packed their belongings and
started eastward toward Weeping Water after this tragedy, altho
the Indians never came this far east. Word was sent to Nebraska
City of the threatened raid and Captain Bauman ordered out the
cavalry to drive them back which they did, commanding the officers
to shoot the papooses as well as the warriors. As Mr, and Mrs.
Iler were driving along the wagon road in a covered wagon they
were overtaken by Indian warriors, who rode past them. Looking
back they saw a woman driving, Mr. Iler having lain down in the
wagon bed, thinking that they would not molest a woman and that
thus he might save both of their lives. However, on turning they
shot Mrs. Iler. Her husband removed the arrow, but the wound
proved fatal and she died shortly after. Mr. Iler remained on his
homestead altho the Indians had burned his premises and driven off
his stock. He established a postoffice on his land in the early
seventies, called Pleasantdale. This was located about one-half
mile north and one-half mile east of the present town of
Pleasantdale in Seward county.
Coming out from Nebraska City we stopped for
lunch at what was called the Walling and Luff's crossing in Otoe
county. We were just hitching up to start on again when a finely,
caparisoned outfit of horses and carriage drove by with three or
four apparently celebrated personages. On arriving at Lancaster
the next morning we found that these were David Butler, Thomas P.
Kennard and John Gillespie, commissioners to locate a new capital
for the new state. They arrived in Lancaster that same night. We
did not drive so fast, only reaching the Wallingford homestead on
Salt creek about six miles south of Lincoln, and it was late at
night when we arrived there. We would not
have known that anybody lived here had we not seen a flickering
candlelight moving around. We stopped the horses and father walked
toward the light and found that someone lived there. They were out
about the stable caring for a young colt which had been attacked
the night before by a stray mountain lion, which had clawed off
part of one of the colt's hips. We were hospitably received and
stayed there that night. The next morning we continued our journey
to the then famous town of Lancaster and to the home of J. M.
McKesson, who had taken his homestead June 22, 1863. His log house
stood about two blocks and a half north of where the oldest
building on the university campus now stands and a little east of
Eleventh street on the knoll of the hill. Some of the same
cottonwood trees are still there.
We arrived the fore part of June, 1867. We saw
the seminary and in a day or two became acquainted with some of
the few scattering residents of the Lancaster town site and
adjacent homesteads. I remember that Cyrus Carter lived not far
from R street east of the Antelope at about Twenty-fourth street
on a homestead. Elder John M. Young, who was a first cousin of my
father, lived at about the intersection of Seventeenth and O
streets, and his son, James Young, lived at about Twenty-seventh
and O streets on the south side. Jacob Dawson lived close to the
intersection of Eighth and O streets on the south side and in a
room in his house a grocery store was kept by a young man, Stephen
B. Pound. Selling goods did not keep him very actively employed,
and between times he continued the study of law. He was a student
in a law office in New York before coming here. The writer
remembers him well, because with of Doctor McKesson's boys we had
raided the McKesson hen roost and taken the eggs down to swap with
Mr. Pound for stick candy. Mr. Pound later became a practicing
attorney in the capital city and judge of the district court, his
record on the bench being a just and equitable one and of such
high character that he was beloved by the bar and all those with
whom he came in contact. He retired from the bench voluntarily,
refusing re-election, and again engaged in the practice of law.
Across O street from this grocery store stood the residence of the
blacksmith, and on O street a little west stood the blacksmith
shop and north of that was a sawmill. There were several other
residences in and about the town side built of sandstone and
located about where The State Journal now stands.
This particular settlement of Lancaster was a
Protestant Methodist colony. Nearly all of them were preachers who
as quickly as they settled on the public domain began inducing
others of their calling to locate here. The church
then, as always thru the centuries, was a prominent feature in
the early settlements of new lands. The Lancaster seminary
association was organized on August 22, 1864, in the following
manner as shown by the territorial records: "On August 22, 1864,
Jacob Dawson, Milton Langdon, John M. McKesson, G. A. Newman, J.
D. Main, J. W. Prey, William Shirley, Joel Mason and P. S. Shamp,
they having provided by donation the sum of $500 for the purpose
of establishing and maintaining a seminary, have adopted the name
of Lancaster seminary and organized by electing Jacob Dawson,
president; Milton Langdon, secretary, and G. A. Newman, treasurer.
Organized under the provision of an act entitled 'An act to
regulate corporations in the territory of Nebraska approved
February 15, 1864'."
For the purpose of further carrying out the
building of the seminary and endowing it, John M. Young purchased
from Julian Metcalf and his wife, Juliana B. Metcalf, on May 14,
1864, the southeast quarter of section 23, T. 10, range 6, east.
The metes and bounds of this quarter section, according to the
present town plat of Lincoln would be from Seventh street to
Fourteenth street and from O street to the alley of U street. This
deed was filed for record August 22, 1864, considration (sic)
$140. Julian Metcalf located this quarter section of land June 27,
1863, and purchased it from the government with a military bounty
warrant, and the same was patented to him May 10, 1864. The law
for issuing the military bounty warrants was an act of congress
passed in 1855 for the benefit of the survivors of the war of 1812
and the Mexican war of 1848. The number of this particular warrant
was 100953. What the warrant cost Mr. Metcalf, or whether he was a
direct beneficiary, I do not know. This land, with eighty acres
lying directly west of it, was also platted as a part of the
Lancaster town site and filed by Jacob Dawson, surveyor, and by
order of the county commissioners: August 6, 1864. The streets
were only sixty-six feet in width and the blocks 264 feet square,
John M. Young and wife, Alice Young, deeded to the Lancaster
seminary association for the consideration of one dollar every
alternate block of the town site of Lancaster for the endowment of
the seminary. The seminary was built out of sandstone, and opened
for school. It appears by the records that certain school taxes of
the school district included in this town site and surrounding
country were paid toward the support of the seminary and it was
used as a public school to some extent. Four ladies now living in
Lincoln attended this seminary. Professor Merrill was the
teacher.
There was much rivalry between the postoffice
located on Salt creek as to the merits of their various locations,
for the
founding of cities and towns. A postoffice had been established
at Roca in 1860. Mr. Davidson, who later built a grist mill at
Milford, completing the same about the time the capital was
located, was the first postmaster. At Saltillo a postoffice was
established in 1862 or 1863, and Miranda Wilson was the first
postmistress. She was the mother of Mrs. Effie Lee Scott, formerly
of Lincoln, but now of Denver, and died at Denver about a year and
a half ago. The postoffice at Yankee Hill was established in 1865
with W. T. Donovan as postmaster.
One of the chief attractions for settlement at
the town of Lancaster was its closeness to the Salt basin. Early
settlers believed that surely a great salt industry would be
developed here. Some political scandal among the officials of the
state and would-be officials at that time was created, various
parties being charged with an attempt to get hold of these lands
for the purpose of manufacturing salt. They seemed to think there
were millions in it. This may have been one factor in locating the
capital here later on. Considerable money and time and energy had
been spent by adventurers and people in and about the community in
trying to manufacture salt, by evaporation of salt on the two
large basins. Their efforts, however, were not crowned with
success. About the only manufactured salt that it was possible to
get was that which was evaporated by nature, and in the warm dry
summer months in the salt basins and tributaries on the bare
saline ground on the Salt creek bottoms north and west of town
salt was scraped up by hand, the ground being white as snow.
Having been sent on horseback one day to scrape
up some of the salt and bring it home I filled a small gunny sack
partially full of salt, divided it and threw it across the pony's
back, and got on and rode home. The hot sun, speed and distance
did some more evaporating. Needless to say, the horse and rider
did not care to wear harness for several days after that.
In the summer of 1866 the Hardenberg brothers
associated with some other residents, undertook to built salt
works at the big basin. They were at this time running a store in
the town of Lancaster and located in what is now P street just
west of Ninth. They paid their help principally in merchandise
which was almost as scarce as money. Rev. Peter S. Shamp, who
assisted them, related that in constructing the salt works at the
big basin he hauled logs from up Salt creek and lumber from
Nebraska City and took his pay in such groceries as could be
procured at the Hardenburg store, beans, codfish, sugar and
coffee. Beans were about as scarce then as now. Dried codfish took
the place of meat. Bacon was a scarce article not usually
kept in stock then at the country store. It was usually sent
across the plains from Nebraska City.
The commissioners authorized to locate the site
of the capital for the new state of Nebraska visited the various
locations offered them at Seward, Milford and various other
places, among them Yankee Hill, which was a candidate for this
high honor. But the final decision made the town of Lancaster the
seat of government for the new state and the name of the capital
was to be Lincoln. This declaration, was made in front of the
residence of W. T. Donovan, situated somewhere at about Eighth and
Q streets, in the presence of fifteen or twenty citizens of
Lancaster and the surrounding country. The official proclamation,
however, was not made until August. On the day of the informal
declaration by the commissioners, the writer, with several other
boys, had been swimming and fishing in what was then the public
swimming pool, called the Willow bend, just north of where the gas
works are now located in the old channel of Salt creek, and came
by, each with black mud boots and a string of fish. We looked at
the unusual crowd and noticed the waving of hats and cheering,
but, feeling that it was of little consequence as compared with
the fun we bad been having, we soon left and went home.
Included in the original town site of the city
of Lincoln were the following titles: The southwest quarter of
section 23, which lies between Seventh street and Fourteenth
street and O street and the alley of U street was located by
Julian Metcalf June 27, 1863, and purchased with military bounty
warrant, patented May 10, 1864; the northwest quarter of section
25, the west half of which only is included in the original town
site, extending from Fourteenth to Seventeenth street and from O
to H street was the homestead of Luke Lavender filed on August 1,
1863, commuted August 1, 1867, at $1.25 an acre, patented August
20, 1868; the southwest quarter of section 25, the west half of
which was in the original town site, between Fourteenth and
Seventeenth and A and H streets, was located by Edith Dawson,
October 3, 1864, and purchased with military bounty land warrant
at $1.25 per acre, patent issued June 15, 1866; the northeast
quarter of section 26, homesteaded by Jacob Dawson, July 9, 1863,
commuted August 1, 1867, purchased at $1.25 an acre, patent issued
March 15, 1869, the land lying between Seventh and Fourteenth
streets and H and O streets; the southeast quarter of section 26,
located by Edith Dawson, April 12, 1864, purchased with military
bounty land warrant at $1.25 an acre, patent issued November 1,
1865. the land lying between Seventh and Fourteenth and A and H
streets; southwest quarter of section 26, homesteaded by John
Giles, January 18, 1864, commuted August 14, 1867, at $1.25
per
acre, patent issued December 1, 1868; northwest quarter section
26 was saline land. A little later an extension of the town site
included also the southwest quarter of section 23, which lies
between First and Seventh streets and O street and the alley of U
street. This was saline land. The Burlington and Union Pacific
railroads occupy the larger portion of this land now.
Such part of the old town site of Lancaster
lying east of Seventh street, the southeast quarter of section 23,
except such lots and blocks as had been purchased by other
parties, was quitclaimed to the state by John M. and Alice Young
August 3, 1867. On September 14, 1867, Julian Metcalf and Julia B.
Metcalf quitclaimed to the state of Nebraska. The Lancaster
seminary gave a warranty deed to the state August 1, 1867, after
having passed the following resolutions: "Minutes of the annual
meeting of the board of trustees of Lancaster seminary. Resolved
that whereas the board of trustees have conveyed to the state of
Nebraska all their interest in the town of Lancaster, thus parting
with all funds for building the seminary, therefore we do not deem
it necessary to collect from the school district any more than
sufficient to pay the just indebtedness of the seminary.
Resolution was adopted. Moved that when this meeting adjourns it
be a final adjournment and that the organization be dissolved.
Motion carried. Signed by W. T. Donovan, president; M. Langdon,
secretary; Martin Pflug, John Montieth, Stephen B. Pound."
The deed of the commissioners to the state of
Nebraska by David Butler, Thomas P. Kennard and John Gillespie,
commissioners, dedicated the land forming the plat of Lincoln to
the capital of Nebraska and located the same on the southwest
quarter of section 23, T. 10, range 6 east and other lands under
the provision of the act of the legislature approved June 14,
1867. The plat of the town of Lancaster was never vacated, the
title to all lots- and blocks finding its way back to the state of
Nebraska prior to August 14, 1867, when the plat of Lincoln was
made. All lots in that part of Lincoln located on said southeast
quarter cover some lots, streets or alleys or parts thereof in the
town of Lancaster. In preparing an abstract of many lots in
Lincoln that are located on said southeast quarter, lots lying
between Seventh street and Fourteenth street and O street and the
alley of U street it is necessary for the abstracter to ascertain
what part of the town of Lancaster is covered by the lot and then
show on the abstract any transfers affecting the title to such
part of the town site of Lancaster.
On none of these lands was there a single tree.
The site of Lincoln was virgin sod and covered with prairie grass.
The topography of the town was much the same as now
with the exception of one or two changes. The present site of
the postoffice was on a hill, which was lowered fifteen or twenty
feet. There was a slough where the conservatory of music now
stands at Eleventh and R streets and a deep ravine running west
across Tenth and Ninth streets, toward Salt creek a little south
of N street. This ravine was the outlet for a slough which was
located about the corner of Twelfth and O streets.
The activity of building the new capital
commenced with the declaration of its location in June and streams
of wagons poured in from Nebraska City and other river points to
get in on the ground floor and to be present at the first sale of
lots, which took place in September. From this beginning has grown
the beautiful city of Lincoln, and the growth has been marvelous,
especially within the last quarter of a century. Its future is
bright from every point of view. It may never become the
metropolis of the state, but it is destined to become its chief
residence city, school city and home of the retired wealthy
classes of the state.
The social condition of the early pioneers was
much more enjoyable, than the later generation, who have grown up
with surroundings and advantages which to them seem more
agreeable, realize. At the time of the location of the capital,
while the communities were generally located along the creeks and
streams, they were not so far apart that visiting and association
was impossible. It was not considered a hardship but a pleasure to
go ten or twenty miles to make a visit, attend a dance or reunion
of pioneer families. A further advantage was the pleasure of
seeing the beautiful rolling prairie, now gone. And then there was
the hunting and fishing, which was a real sport and only limited
by the will and endurance of those engaged in the chase. And the
game was worth while. There were buffalo, deer and antelope, ducks
and geese innumerable; quail and prairie chickens in abundance.
There were no restricted season on any of these. These pleasures
will not come again. The land of the prairie has been settled.
Provisions were sometimes scarce, being hauled
mostly from Nebraska City. Corn was raised in abundance and also a
fine quality of spring wheat. Garden vegetables grew bountifully
as did watermelons and muskmelons. Wild onions were plentiful on
portions of the prairie. Fruit was plentiful in its season, such
as it was, and some of it was good. There was the wild goose plum,
the wild grape, and the choke cherry. The plums were sometimes
cured for winter use in the following manner: Territorial recipe
No. 1 -- Put as many firm wild goose plums as you want to in a
barrel and cover with water. Remove as needed until January 1
following. Recipe No. 2 -- Plum leather. Boil as many wild goose
plums as you want until done. Squeeze them thru
a colander, if you have no colander pick seeds out with
fingers. Lay the pulp out in the sun to dry on a cloth, paper
being scarce, or on brown wrapping paper. Soak and make pies, stew
for sauce or give to babies to chew.
Dried pumpkin was also pretty good, and pumpkin
butter. Potatoes, of course, and turnips were plentiful. It was
told that one homesteader's family lived almost exclusively on
turnips during one winter. Very few preserves and jellies were
made. Sugar was very scarce, altho not very dear compared with
present prices, being 3 or 4 cents a pound for the Dutch standard
16, a very black sugar, and unrefined.
The early settlers who had a perspective (sic)
of the future remained to do their part, with the assistance of
the inflow of newcomers, in building up and developing the natural
resources of the city and state. They have seen the lands advance
in price and importance beyond their dreams. Think of agricultural
lands within the space of fifty years after early settlement,
being sold at $250 to $275 an acre. It is safe to predict that the
next fifty years will find them selling at from $500 to $800 and
possibly $1,000 an acre in this portion of the state. There are no
better agricultural lands anywhere, and a quarter section of
eastern Nebraska land, will support as large a population as any
quarter section anywhere on the globe.
"Quaeque . . . ipse vidi, et quorum pars magna
fui."--Aeneas.
