Sheridan County History
AND ITS STORY
By Mrs. Fred (Betty E.) Evans, Hay Springs, Nebraska
from "Recollections of Sheridan County,
Sheridan County gets its name from the Civil War general
Philip H. Sheridan. Principal Indian tribes at that time
were the Sioux, Pawnee, and Cheyenne. A band of the
Sioux, known as the Brule (Broo-la) Indians, lived on
Beaver Creek. Here in 1871 was established the Spotted
Tail Agency named for the Indian Chief Spotted Tail.
Spotted Tail disappeared after a few years and in 1874
Fort Sheridan was established on Beaver Creek not far
from the agency's previous location. This was on the
Creek north and east of Elmer Cilek's house. In 1881 Fort
Sheridan was discontinued.
Sheridan County was originally a part of Sioux County.
Sioux county was a great block of unorganized territory
with no administrative, judicial, or tax set-up. Because
it had no organization "set-up" it was attached
to Cheyenne County to carry out any taxation,
administration, etc. This vast territory extended from
Holt County to the Wyoming line.
The first white settlement was made on White Clay Creek
approximately twenty miles northwest of the present site
Rushville. Most of the first settlers took
"squatter's rights" upon the land, filing later
at Valentine after the U.S. land office was established
On July 1, 1885, Gov. James W. Dawes proclaimed the new
County of Sheridan, the same being a strip 69 miles long
and 36 miles wide off the east edge of Sioux County.
These boundaries had been defined by an act of the
Legislature approved the 25th of February of the same
year a county seat election was held, the four
contestants being Gordon, Rushville, Hay Springs and
Clinton. Rushville had a plurality, but no place had a
majority. Rushville had 919 votes and Hay Springs had
839, a majority of 80. But a story had come in that
Hunter precinct which was for Rushville, had voted many
illegal votes; that the ranch had voted its payroll for
This story may or may not have any foundation in fact --
"It was stated that John Riggs was bringing in the
returns from Hunter ranch when he met a friend and
stopped to talk. The friend had said, "It looks like
Rushville has lost out." Riggs asked how far it was
behind Hay Springs and was told, "about 200
votes." Riggs is said to have remarked that he
guessed he would have to go back to the ranch and get
some more votes. The facts are that the returns from
Hunter precinct gave 226 votes for Rushville. The
canvassing board, consisting of Abel Hill, Clerk, James
W. Loofbourow, and William
Waterman, refused to count the extra-ordinary vote, but
by some process of selection did county 42 of the votes
and rejected 184. This action gave Hay Springs 837 and
The county commissioners declared Hay Springs the
successful candidate and ordered the seat of county
government to be moved to Hay Springs. Rushville
partisans resented what they termed unauthorized
proceedings and went into court. It resulted in a
pre-emptory writ eventually issuing been the State
Supreme Court. Samuel Maxwell was the Chief Justice and
Guy A. Brown the Clerk. This writ ordered the canvassing
board to reconvene and canvass the vote as moot in having
no authority to go behind the returns. This opinion, made
nearly a year after the election, gave Rushville the
permanent county seat, and during this time it had been
the temporary seat of government.
The towns soon became incorporated after the county was
formed. Rushville was first on October 9, 1885, with
Gordon and Hay Springs incorporating on November 19,
1885. The first trustees of the village of Hay Springs
were William Waterman, A. McKinney, George Millard,
George Ballet, and J. E. Brown.
At Hay Springs the early doctors were Dr. Anderson, Dr.
A. N. Sheffner, Dr. Stanley Clements, and Dr. Albert J.
Molzahn and Dr. Bowman.
The railroad was first built only to Valentine. The
settlers could travel this far by train but from there on
they had to travel by team. One of the first of these was
the Rev. J. A. Scamahorn, a Methodist minister. Judge
Tucker, the U. S. Commissioner at Valentine, had gone to
the Louisville Exposition. While staying at his hotel he
met the Rev. John A. Scamahorn of Indiana, who was
suffering from a stomach ailment to such an extent that
his doctor recommended a change of climate.
Judge Tucker sang the praises of Northwestern Nebraska to
such an extent that the following autumn, 1883, six or
seven men, Scamahorn and his friends, came out and looked
the situation over. They liked it and returned with
glowing reports and during the winter of 1884, 104
people, men and their families, made the journey with
their possessions to Valentine, camping there until they
could move farther west by means of teams of oxen and
horses. Most of our old times came to Sheridan County by
this method, in the early days of 1884 and the few
following years. James Evan, Fred's grandfather, came
from Kankakee, Illinois by team in 1884. At Valentine one
of his horses died and he walked the rest of the way,
filing on a homestead 6 miles south and west of
Rushville, proving upon it.
Later he walked back to Kankakee, Illinois, bought a team
of oxen and drove back to Rushville. Soon his wife and
son, E. R. Evans, or Rex as he was called, filed on a
released claim and homesteaded it. This quarter is the
quarter that the buildings are on, on the Evans home
place, which Rex Evans still owns and operates.
The very first church was organized and the first
services held in Sheridan County near Gorgon by the Rev.
Scamahorn. This took place in front of his home, a tent,
in May 1884. This was the first Methodist Church west of
Valentine. The service was opened with the hymn,
"Guide Me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah," then a
prayer was offered, and the Twenty-third Psalm was read,
and then the latter part of the 4th Chapter of St. John.
The next hymn was "Rock of Ages," after which
Rev. Scamahorn preached to his audience who were seated
upon the ground, on the woodpile, and on wagon tongues.
The text chosen was "Then Simon Peter answered and
said, 'To whom shall we go? Thou hast the word of Eternal
Life.'" Following the service the first church was
organized; there were .... members; it was a Methodist
Church. Thirty years thereafter the First Methodist
Church was built at Gordon at a cost of $15,000. Rev.
Scamahorn added much to the life at this time. He served
Valentine, Chadron, Crawford and Gordon as pastor and for
six years was the presiding Elder of the District.
The earliest church of Hay Springs was the Congregational
organized in 1885 with the Rev. R. H. Gammon, Methodist
pastor both at Hay Springs and Rushville. He was the
father of Lew Gammon, a well-known rancher living sough
of Hay Springs.
Rev. Scamahorn's party was not the only party who came
west. Six men from Pawnee City, Nebraska, came to a
region just north of Rushville in 1883 and five of them
took claims. They were Bruce Hewitt, J. C. Morrison,
Louis Ertel, and George E. Morey.
In those days every vicinity tried to bring in new
settlers. Rushville did quite a bit of boasting -- their
best boast was the one about the climate being so good
that they had to shoot a man in order to start a
The homes of the early settlers were tents, dugouts and
sod houses. I remember when I first came to Hay Springs
(1931-1932) there was still a sod house standing. It was
east of the road going south between the 16-mile corner
and Alliance. I know of one sod house that is still being
used -- it has been stuccoed -- the only difference
between it and other housed is the very wide window
casings. The house is completely modern and very warm and
free from drafts.
Going back to the religious aspect, they tell the story
of Elder Martin who used to come to Rushville from Ord to
preach to the people. The only building he found large
enough to hold his service in was the saloon. There he
held services with the respectful attention of all who
happened to be there.
I enjoyed Charley O'Kieffe's description of his mother
making baking powder biscuits. As taken from his book
"Western Story," their source of fuel in the
very early days was buffalo chips. This was his
description (his mother went through this several times a
day): Stoke the stove (buffalo chips); get out the flour
sack' stoke the stove' wash your hands; mix the biscuit
dough; stoke the stove; wash your hands; cut out biscuits
with top of B.P. can; stoke the stove; wash your hands;
put pan of biscuits in oven; keep on stoking stove and
washing hands until biscuits are done.
This process was more or less followed in any cooking
procedure, especially with one requiring the use of the
oven. What must we think? Are we glad of our Twentieth
And so the lives of our early pioneers were woven and our
county of Sheridan came to be. How thankful we are that
there were men who were not afraid of poverty, and who
had the integrity to follow their beliefs and ideals, so
that today we enjoy the results of their having lived.
Paper given at Utopia Woman's Club of Hay Springs in 1959
or 1960 (approximately) by Mrs. Fred Evans.
Researched by Mrs. Evans from such sources as: issues of
Nebraska Farmer (Special 100th Anniversary issue,
January, 1959); articles in Midland Magazine of Omaha
World-Herald under "Bygone Nebraska"; History
of Nebraska by Morton & Watkins, Western Publ. &
Engraving Co., Lincoln copyright 1918; Information
Service of New York, N.Y.
SHERIDAN COUNTY HISTORY
By Mae Manion
from "Recollections of Sheridan County,
In June, 1885, Rushville's prominent leader, James
Loofborrow, and others called upon the Nebraska Governor,
James W. Dawes, to create by proclamation Sheridan
County. The Governor proclaimed the new county, a strip
69 miles long and 36 miles wide at the east edge of Sioux
County. Sheridan County was named after the Civil War
General Phillip H. Sheridan.
Rushville was named the temporary county seat. The new
county was divided into three commissioner districts and
ten voting precincts. The clerk, James W. Loofborrow, was
ordered to issue call for an election and to prepare
ballots in the ten precincts.
The first elected officers were: Judge C. Patterson;
Treasurer, A. McKinney; Superintendent, S. S. Murphy;
Clerk, Able Hill; Sheriff, John Riggs; Coroner, Jas. F.
Parker; Surveyor, Solomon V. Pitcher; and commissioners
T. B. Irwin, G. T. Morey and J. D. Woods.
On September 8, 1885, the county seat question was
submitted to the voters. Rushville, Gordon and Hay
Springs were up for the seat. In the finals, Rushville
and Hay Springs were the contestants. There was the usual
bitterness that accompanies and contest between these
Fraud was apparent in this election. Hay Springs had a
majority, but the Hunter precinct with only 40 eligible
voters had 226 votes cast in favor of Rushville. The
votes from Rushville exceeded the limit by 130. Hay
Springs had 243 more votes than voters and in Gorgon 65
fraudulent votes were cast.
These charges of fraud and corruption during the election
brought the issue to court. In 1888 the Nebraska Supreme
Court decided in favor of Rushville. Rushville, in the
northern one-third of Sheridan county, is almost at the
midpoint of the east-west boundaries. Gordon is 14 miles
to the east, and Hay Springs is 12 miles west. The
Supreme Court couldn't have made a better choice.
The early Court House was in the Hoyt building. The
county leased this brink building from Mr. Hoyt. The
lower floor was divided into rooms for county offices:
County Judge, Treasurer, County Clerk, and Clerk of the
Court. The District Court was held on the top floor. It
also served as the town's theatre and dance hall. The
annual Fireman's Ball, graduation exercises and class
plays were held there.
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